Chandigarh, May 11 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday extended its interim protection for Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak from coercive action till May 15.
After the matter came up for hearing in the court, the state of Punjab, through its counsel, sought time to get instructions to file a reply.
"Interim order dated May 8 shall continue to operate till the next date of hearing," read the order of the court of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu.
On May 8, the Punjab government had assured the court that it would not take any coercive action against Pathak without its permission till Monday.
Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP, had moved the high court, seeking directions to the Punjab government to "forthwith disclose" complete particulars of the two or any other FIRs registered against him.
In his plea, Pathak also sought directions to restrain the state of Punjab from taking any coercive action, including arrest, against him in pursuance of the said two FIRs during the pendency of the present petition.
Pathak was among the seven Rajya Sabha MPs who had quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the BJP last month.
Earlier, there were reports that two FIRs had been registered by the Punjab Police against Pathak but no details about the cases had been disclosed.
In his plea, Pathak sought directions to the Punjab government and police to "forthwith disclose" the complete particulars of the two FIRs registered against him, including the FIR numbers, dates of registration, names and addresses of the police stations and districts where the said FIRs have been registered.
According to the plea, the petitioner came to know through media reports and informal channels that the Punjab Police registered two FIRs against him in different districts.
Despite diligent efforts, the details of the two FIRs have not been supplied to the petitioner, it said.
The FIRs have not been uploaded on the official website of the Punjab Police, which is in flagrant violation of the binding directions mandating such disclosures, it further said.
The plea stated that deliberate concealing of all material particulars of the FIRs from the petitioner is part of a calculated "political vendetta" against the petitioner.
On April 24, AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs -- Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Six of the seven MPs are from Punjab while Maliwal is from Delhi.
