M A I N   N E W S

Work withdrawn from 39 Sidhu appointees
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 13
Weeks after an inquiry was initiated by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, work was withdrawn from 39 PCS judicial officers, including the daughter of a High Court Judge, Mr Justice Amar Bir Singh Gill.

Patiala's District and Sessions Judge S.N. Aggarwal withdrew work from Mr Shatin Goyal, Mr Gopal Arora, Mr A.K. Aggarwal and Ms Jagdeep Kaur. The four were working as Judicial Magistrates (First Class). Mansa's Additional District and Sessions Judge also ordered withdrawal of work from Mr Avtar Singh. He too was working as Judicial Magistrate (First Class).

Although the Punjab and Haryana High Court is tight lipped about the decision to withdraw the work, highly placed sources revealed that the 39 officers were appointed during the tenure of suspended PPSC Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu. They claimed that the officers were appointed between 1999 and 2001. “A majority of them were from the 2001 batch,” they added.

The orders, sources confirmed, were communicated to the Judicial officers late Monday night. Today, pandemonium broke out in the district courts all over the state as the news about the withdrawal of work spread among advocates. Sources added that the work of these officers was allocated to other judicial officers.

They claimed that the decision to withdraw the judicial work was taken during a full court meeting attended by the Chief Justice, Mr Arun B. Saharya, and other judges of the High Court. They added that the decision was taken on the basis of recommendations made by a committee specially constituted to look into the matter.

Soon after the issue regarding their alleged involvement was raised by the advocates, the Chief Justice had initiated a fact-finding inquiry into their alleged role and had taken the assistance of the Punjab’s then Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence), Mr A.P. Bhatnagar, and Inspector-General of Vigilance Bureau, Mr Chandershekhar.

Candidates selected on the basis of examinations held in 1998 include: Arun Gupta, Puneesh Jindia, Tejinder Singh, Avtar Singh, Sirandeep Singh, Ravinderjeet Singh Bajwa, Amarinder Singh Shergill, Anita Narwal, Gopal Arora, Dinesh Kumar Mittal, Suresh Kumar Goyal, Jagdeep Kaur, Manpreet Kaur Bhatia, Vineeta Modi, Pratima Arora, Rattandeep Singh, Heera Singh and Gurnam Singh Dhillon.

Candidates selected on the basis of examinations held in 1999 include: Arun Kumar Aggarwal, Gurbir Singh, Preeti Sukhija, Maninder Singh, Rajesh Ahluwalia, Krishan Kumar Singla, Promila Chahan, Vijay Kumar, Kawaljit Singh, Jasvir Singh, Lukhwinder Kaur Duggal, Mohammad Gulzar and Surinder Singh II.

Candidates selected on the basis of examinations held in 2000 include: Amol Gill, Harvinder Singh, Shatin Goyal, Rajneesh, Rachpal Singh, Daljit Singh Rahlan, Pushpinder Singh and Balwinder Kaur Dhaliwal.

Gurbachan Jagat appointed UPSC member
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 13
Mr Gurbachan Jagat, a Punjab-cadre IPS officer, who retired as Director-General of the BSF on June 30, has been appointed as a Member of the UPSC, according to information available here. Informed sources said the appointment was cleared late last evening.

Born on June 1, 1942, Mr Jagat joined the IPS in 1966 after doing MA in English literature. He served as the district police chief of Kapurthala, Bathinda, Patiala, Amritsar and also as a DIG in the CBI, Punjab Intelligence and on other important posts, including Additional DGP (Administration), before his selection for a prestigious posting in the trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir by the Union Government.

One of the most decorated cops and a professional to the core, Mr Jagat has had an unblemished career as a police officer. He also served as the DGP in Jammu and Kashmir for three and a half years, the most challenging assignment for him. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1987.