Hon’ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, C.J.—The petitioner to the first writ petition is a member of the Indian Police Service (IPS) presently under suspension. Together with his spouse, who is a social activist, he is a petitioner in the second writ petition, Writ Petition No. 9042 of 2015 (MB). In the first writ petition, Writ Petition No. 9020 of 2015 (MB), a disclosure has been sought of the “exact allegations” against the petitioner in a First Information Report (FIR No. 746 of 2015), lodged against the petitioner under Section 13(1)(e) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (Act) at Gomti Nagar Police Station, Lucknow. The petitioner seeks a disclosure of (i) the secret and/or open enquiry report conducted by the State Vigilance Establishment on the basis of which the FIR was registered; (ii) a copy of the report of the Lokayukta which has been mentioned in the FIR and of a letter of the District Magistrate; and (iii) investigation of the FIR in a transparent and unbiased manner so as to enable the petitioner to satisfactorily account for his assets.

2. During the pendency of the first writ petition, the second petition was filed in which the petitioners seek a mandamus of this Court for the appointment of a judicial enquiry committee headed by a sitting or retired Judge of the Supreme Court or of this Court to enquire into the entire set of events, facts and incidents narrated in the writ petition. Broadly speaking, the allegations of the petitioners are that the State has embarked upon a consistent course of conduct with a view to harass a member of the IPS - Shri Amitabh Thakur - as a reprisal for the proceedings which have been instituted by his spouse who is an advocate and social activist on important issues of governance in the State. The first of those proceedings is stated to be a Public Interest Litigation (Writ Petition No. 12396 of 2014 (MB), in which there was a prayer for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the work and conduct of an official alleged to have close political affiliations with corridors of power in the State. The second, it is alleged, is a Complaint (Complaint No. 3540 of 2014) which was filed by Smt Nutan Thakur before the Lokayukta of the State on 26 December 2014 making allegations against illegal mining operations and procurement of huge wealth by the Mining Minister of the State, Shri Gayatri Prajapati. The second writ petition which has been filed for seeking an order for a judicial inquiry by this Court sets out in detail a multiplicity of proceedings instituted allegedly by or at the behest of the State against Shri Amitabh Thakur.

3. Broadly speaking, the writ petitions advert to four sets of facts. For ease of exposition during the course of the hearing, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the State has tendered a status summary of the proceedings. Since the status of those proceedings is not in dispute, we are briefly adverting to them hereinbelow:

1. (A). Smt Nutan Thakur lodged an FIR on 20 June 2015 against various persons under Sections 467, 468, 471, 420, 203 and 120B of the Penal Code alleging that one Smt Pushpa Devi was making a false allegation of rape against her husband. Among the persons named were Shri Ashok Pandey, Member of the State Women’s Commission, Smt Zarina Usmani, Chairman, State Women’s Commission, Shri Gayatri Prajapati, Minister of Mining, Smt Pushpa Devi and her husband and three other persons, Smt Poonam, Shri Dharmendra Kumar and Shri Mahendra Kumar. The final report has not been submitted by the Police in the aforesaid case before the Court of the judicial magistrate. On 21 September 2015, Smt Nutan Thakur moved an application together with a prayer that the police report be filed before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate. The case has now been fixed for 1 October 2015.

(B). Case Crime No. 484 of 2015 was registered on 11 July 2015 at Police Station Gomti Nagar, Luckno