chandigarh: the punjab and haryana high court, on friday, directed the punjab director general of police to transfer within 10 days deputy superintendent of police jagtar singh, currently posted in cid at fatehgarh sahib, to a far off place, and also give him a sideline posting till the central bureau of investigation (cbi) case pending against him is not disposed of.
this order was passed by justice vigyan mohan jain on a writ petition filed under section 482 of the crpc by kamaljit kaur of mohali, seeking implementation of the earlier high court orders whereby the director general of police, punjab was directed to consider placing dsp jagtar singh and dsp ramesh chander under suspension. her husband sukhdev singh sukha had been summoned at police station, sohana near mohali in ropar district on february 18 ,1993, and kept there as well as at the cia cell, ropar. the cbi had conducted an inquiry into the matter and concluded that sukhdev singh sukha had been killed allegedly by the police. following this, kamaljit kaur sought action against the police officers involved in the case, including the then superintendent of police, ropar, h s chahal, the then senior superintendent of police, ropar, sanjeev gupta, now deputy inspector general, patiala range, besides ramesh chander who was the station house officer, sohana, and jagtar singh who was inspector, cia staff at ropar when sukhdev singh was in police custody. the high court had ordered placing both ramesh chander and jagtar singh under suspension. in his pronouncement, justice jain observed that so far as dsp ramesh chander was concerned, considering that he was due to retire on november 30, 2001 and considering that he had been transferred to the indian reserve battalion (irb) at ludhiana, no further orders were required to be passed, especially when the case pertained to ropar district and was at presently being held at patiala. "even otherwise, jagtar singh is still in cid, and has been transferred from ropar to fatehgarh sahib. in my opinion, this requires interference by the court. the director general police was competent to deal with the matter at his own level. no case was made out for the dgp to have left the matter to the discretion of the additional director general of police, intelligence in respect of dsp jagtar singh. furthermore, he has been retained in the cid. in my opinion, if he was not to be suspended, he should be transferred to a far-off place instead of being kept in cid. election upheld: justice j s narang of the punjab and haryana high court, on friday, dismissed as without merit the election petition preferred by an independent candidate, altaf hussain, against the victorious indian national lok dal (inld) candidate from nuh constituency of the haryana vidhan sabha, hamid hussain, in the elections held on february 22, 2000. in his observation, justice narang said no material or evidence had been produced by the petitioner to substantiate his plea for declaring the victorious candidate, hamid hussain's election void. the court also imposed a cost of rs 5,000 on the petitioner. mbbs, bds admissions: the situation created by the punjab government decision of august 7, 2001 to relax the condition of securing a minimum of 40 per cent marks in the pre-medical entrance test (pmet) by the candidates belonging to the scheduled castes and other reserved categories, continues to be a subject of writ petitions in the punjab and haryana high court by aspiring entrants to the courses of mbbs, bds etc. a division bench, comprising justices amarbir singh gill and swatantar kumar, on friday, issued notice to the state of punjab for september 3 on a writ petition filed by rajinder kumar, belonging to the reserved category of scheduled castes and a resident of vikas nagar, rahon road, nawanshahar. the petitioner has sought directions to the central admission committee constituted by faridkot-based baba farid university to consider his case for admission, and in the meantime a seat be kept reserved in the interest of justice. in the entrance test, the petitioner had secured 34.5 per cent marks, and in view of the relaxed conditions notified by the punjab government on august 7, 2001, he should be considered for admission. justices gill and kumar, while issuing notice to respondents, directed that in case a candidate lower in merit than the petitioner was called for counselling, the petitioner, too, should be allowed and on the lines of the government notification, and his application be accepted. on another writ petition preferred by nimish sharma, a resident of anand gali, red road, hoshiarpur, claiming counselling and admission under the backward areas candidates category, the division bench ordered that the counselling and admission of those reserved category candidates who have secured less than 40 per cent marks in the entrance test and are being called for counselling and admission on the basis of the government notification, would be subject to the final decision of the writ petition. the counselling and admission of such candidates would be separately made and notified. the petitioner said the notification was patently illegal and needed to be quashed. in yet another writ petition filed by damandeep singh, son of harjit singh bhatia, basti sheikh, jalandhar, seeking admission to medical courses under the reserved category of children and grand-children of those who took part in the dharam yudh morcha or the punjabi suba morcha or the agitation against the 1975 emergency, justices amarbir singh gill and swatantar kumar directed that the petitioner would be allowed counselling on the basis of the certificate issued by the secretary of the shiromani gurdwara parbandhak committee (sgpc). the judges also directed the case to be listed along with other cases pertaining to admissions to medical courses. the petitioner had sought quashing of directions of july 30 issued by the sgpc to get the certificate from the sgpc president. the bench issued notices to the state of punjab, guru ram das charitable trust, guru ram das institute of medical sciences and research, amritsar, baba farid university, the co-ordinator of admissions and the sgpc president. liquor contractor denied bail: justice k c gupta, on friday, declined to grant anticipatory bail to harvinder pal singla, a resident of 1148, sector 34, chandigarh, against whom a case has been registered under sections 16/1/14 of the excise act, sections 467, 468, 471, 120-b, ipc, and section 63 of the copyright act at police station, sector 31, in connection with the recovery of huge quantity of illicit liquor in pouches from 182, industrial area, phase i, chandigarh. justice gupta, while declining anticipatory bail, observed that the allegation against the petitioner regarding the recovery of factory indulging in manufacturing of illicit liquor of various brands, was serious. such a substance being manufactured by the petitioner could create havoc to the lives of people after consumption, hence there was no justification to release him on bail. sub-inspector sukhwinder singh of the chandigarh police had received a telephonic message about a tanker having caught fire at the site on may 24, 2001, but on reaching the spot he found that the fire had been extinguished, but a large quantity of illicit liquor was found to be there, discovered to be belonging to singla liquor contractor. petrol pump site: a division bench, comprising justices amarbir singh gill and swatantar kumar, on friday, directed bharat petroleum corporation not to install a retail outlet in the revenue limits of mahalon village of nawanshahar district or at any other place than the municipal limits of nawanshahar, as the permission was granted for setting up the outlet within the municipal limits, whereas mahalon village was situated outside the municipal limits. the orders were passed on a writ petition filed by tejinder singh, a resident of phase vii, mohali, who contended that the bharat petroleum outlet was being set up in violation of the prescribed conditions.
