HC reserves verdict in Punjab DSP selection case

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has reserved its judgement on the public interest litigation (PIL) petitions preferred against the controversial selection and appointment of some persons made by the Punjab government directly as the deputy superintendent of police(DSP) under the sports quota amid allegations of irregularities and illegalities with a view to favour some of those known to be close to the present regime ignoring sports persons with better merit, achievements and the record.
The judgement came to be reserved at the conclusion of arguments on Friday by the counsel for the petitioners and the respondents before the full bench comprising the Chief Justice Binod Kumar Roy, Justices Surya Kant and Rajive Bhalla.
The petitioners among other have sought a CBI probe into the entire gamut of selection of the persons with comparatively low merit which included among others Bikram Inderjit Singh Chahal the son of Bharat Inder Singh Chahal the media advisor to the chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh.
Significantly, it was pointed out by a counsel for the petitioners that ban on fresh recruitment had been imposed in Punjab as per the communication of the chief secretary of February 10, while the applicants had been asked to appear before the selection committee on February 13 and 17 indicating the glaring violation of the ban by the home secretary who headed the selection committee. The counsel sought that a copy of the chief secretary’s communication intimating ban on recruitment be placed on the record.
Peacock Poaching The action to be taken against Puneet Goel an officer belonging to the Punjab civil service(PCS) who was till recently posted as the sub divisional magistrate Pathankot (Gurdaspur) and had been allegedly involved in the poaching of the national bird peacock in Hoshiarpur forest range, is under the3 consideration of the state chief secretary, the counsel for the state of Punjab informed the division bench of the Chief Justice Binod Kumar Roy and Justice Surya Kant of the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the resumed hearing on the matter which has been treated as a petition by the court itself.
The court has also sought to known how an officer allegedly involved in such an incident was given a posting regarded better than the one he held earlier. On transfer , Goel has been posted as /deputy secretary/ joint secretary in the state public works department.
In a related matter, it was also brought to the notice of the court that the security guard given to the honorary forest guard who had been responsible for discovering the poaching incident along with the killed birds from the official vehicle of the officer, could hardly be viewed as a security of any kind since the weapon given to the guard was defective due to rust and could not be put to use.
The bench has sought the response in this regard from the Punjab government while adjourning the hearing till Saturday. Cost Imposed on Haryana The division bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Nirmal Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs.20,000(twenty thousand) on the Haryana government for its decision of December 24, 2002 to have removed Zareena as a member of the Gram Panchayat village Nangal Khurd tehsil and district Sonipat. While allowing her petition against the government decision and ordering her to be restored as a member of the panchayat, the bench has also directed that after depositing the cost the state government should recover same from the deputy commissioner concerned who had passed orders of her removal.
The deputy commissioner Sonipat had removed Zareena as her husband had allegedly been accused of grabbing some panchayat land. It was the contention of the petitioner that she could not be penalised for what had allegedly been done by her husband , especially when the authorities could very well proceed against him. Journalist murder The central bureau of investigations (CBI) has sought six months extension to complete the investigation into the murder of Ram Chander Chhatrapati a Sirsa-based journalist who had been attacked by some persons nearly two years ago. An application in this regard was submitted by Rajan Gupta the CBI standing counsel before the special division bench of the Chief Justice Binod Kumar Roy and Justice Swatanter Kumar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday which adjourned the matter to July 13.
The high court had entrusted the probe to the CBI on the petition of Anshul Chhatrapati the son of the deceased. Some person belonging to the Dera Sacha Sauda , Sirsa are among those allegedly involved in the murder. The adjournment came after the bench had been informed that the apex court recently granted stay on the proceedings.