Uphaar case: Court refers CBI report to senior most district judge

A Delhi court today again refused to decide a legal question whether it is empowered to take congizance of CBI's probe report giving a clean chit to former IPS officer Amod Kanth in 1997 Uphaar fire case and referred the matter to the senior most district judge.

District and sessions judge SP Garg, to whom the matter was referred back for taking a decision, said that he would not decide on the issue.

"I am sending the case to GP Mittal, the senior most district and sessions judge at Tis Hazari," Garg said. The case was referred to Garg on February 18 by another district judge Gurdeep Kumar.

The courts are refusing to decide the issue of whether a sessions judge can take cognisance of the report or not. According to the CrPC, metropolitan magistrates are empowered to take cognisance of a charge sheet or report before sending the case to a sessions court for start of the trial.

So far, two district judges -- SP Garg and Gurdeep Kumar -- have refused to decide the question as to whether they were empowered to take cognisance of the CBI's probe report, giving clean chit to Kanth in the Uphaar fire case.

Now, the matter would be heard afresh by district judge GP Mittal on February 25, the next date of hearing.

The CBI, in pursuance of a Delhi high court order, had filed a report after probing the role of Kanth, the then Delhi DCP who was accused of allowing an increase in the number of seats in the balcony of the ill-fated theatre.