The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) agreed to urgently hear the Punjab government against a State High Court order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a case and probe allegations of corruption against the office of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
A report with regard to the outcome of the investigation shall be submitted to the court within two months, the High Court Bench had directed. The petition relates to allegations surrounding the involvement of senior officers of Punjab in various scams, including cash for transfers, cash in return for favourable policies, cash for tenders, and such other serious irregularities, with regard to which no investigation had been held, despite the sharing of information with the Punjab Police by the ED.
“The State of Punjab as well as Punjab Police will render all assistance to the CBI in carrying out fair investigation in the matter,” it had added.
The Chief Justice said the court would endeavour to list the case for hearing in the next 24 hours or definitely hear it on October 8. The High Court had, on October 5, directed the CBI to probe corruption allegations linked to Chief Minister Mann’s office. Mr. “This is a State going to polls soon. During election time, these kinds of cases are trumped up. The very federal structure has been violated,” he submitted. The allegations raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against public servants and private individuals linked to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government include corruption in transfers and postings, policy manipulation, cash for tenders, and other serious irregularities.
Singh said the allegations regard administrative matters like transfers, etc, but the High Court has ordered a criminal case to be registered. Pronouncing its order on a public interest litigation case, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra said that, on a cumulative assessment of the material placed on record in the petition, the court was of the view that a fair and transparent investigation was required into the issue. Expressing its dissatisfaction with the manner in which the Punjab Police had handled the matter so far, the court said in its order: “We are also not impressed by the manner in which Punjab Police has acted so far in the matter, and therefore we deem it appropriate to entrust investigation of the present case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which will register an FIR (First Information Report) in the matter and proceed with the investigation forthwith.”
