Summary
The Court rejected an application to scrap the commission inquiring into the alleged police encounter involving Vikas Dubey and replace it with an SIT. Allegations of bias against the Chairman and a member rested on unverified news reports and asserted family connections, without material showing influence or conflict of interest. The commission’s role was fact-finding and recommendatory; the petitioner could participate and its report was to be placed before the Court. Only the miscellaneous application was dismissed.
Issues
- Whether unverified reports and alleged family relationships established a reasonable apprehension of bias warranting replacement of the inquiry commission.
Held
- The evidentiary basis for the bias allegations consisted solely of an unverified news report. Such material did not substantiate the allegations; a petition founded on unconfirmed reports without verification should not ordinarily be entertained. (¶¶ 6, 7, 8, 14)
- The alleged relationship of the Chairman to a legislator and of a member to a police officer did not suffice to establish bias or conflict of interest without material indicating the nature of influence or a dominant position. Reasonable apprehension required cogent material, rather than vague suspicion. (¶¶ 9, 11, 12, 13, 14)
- An inquiry commission investigates, records findings and recommends; its recommendations are not self-executing or binding on a criminal court. Fairness and impartiality still apply, but the fact-finding nature of the inquiry and the evidence offered did not support this challenge. (¶¶ 10, 11, 12, 13, 15)
- The petitioner already had liberty to participate, the inquiry was public and the report was to be filed before the Court. These safeguards and the absence of supporting material defeated the demand to replace the commission; repeated unsupported applications were hampering its work. (¶¶ 2, 5, 15, 16)
Result
Miscellaneous petition/application dismissed as without merit. The constituted inquiry commission was left in place; the underlying writ proceedings were not finally disposed of by this order.