Acting on a petition alleging that senior officers of the State of Punjab were involved in various scams, including “cash for transfers, cash for getting favourable policies, cash for tenders and such other illegal activities”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday handed over the probe in the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation.The petitioner’s stand in the matter is that communications have been sent by the Enforcement Directorate to the State of Punjab in this regard, yet action has not been taken.Pronouncing the order in the open Court, the Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor asserted it was of the considered view that a fair and transparent investigation was required to be carried out in the matter.“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 in the matter and proceed with the investigation forthwith”.Before parting with the order, the Bench called for a report on the investigation’s outcome within two months. “The State of Punjab as well as Punjab Police would render all assistance to the CBI in carrying out of fair investigation,” the Bench added.Appearing before the Bench, the ED had earlier blamed the government for not acting on the letter sent by its Jalandhar zone to the state DGP. “The government did not perform its Rajdharam, instead it indulged in Rajnitik Dharam,” senior advocate and Additional Solicitor-General Satya Pal Jain had contended.The petitioner, practising lawyer Nikhil Saraf, had stated that communications had been sent by the Enforcement Directorate under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002, to the State of Punjab. “Despite such facts as well as other facts of corruption in high public office, having been highlighted by the petitioner also, no action is being taken in the matter,” he added.In his petition, Saraf had also stated that a part of the complaint was available on social media with various journalists and politicians. According to the petition, the main allegations were against public persons, public servants and other private individuals working in the Chief Minister’s Office. The petition said some of them were very close to the family of the Chief Minister.It was alleged that they were running a very deeply rooted bribery scandal. They were allegedly influencing transfers of IAS, police officials and other crucial positions in different departments of the Government of Punjab. The petition also referred to allegations of getting tenders, permissions and licences for certain builders, land developers and other entrepreneurs. The petitioner had also alleged that an institutionalised extortion racket was being run by falsely implicating people.