Jalandhar, February 25
India is rushing in where advanced countries like the European Union, treaded with caution, to allow trials of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), foods as well as “non -food crops” on their soil.

Scientifically, the existing GM processes are at best unpredictable and the resultant new species cannot be recalled even if detected to be harmful at a later stage. DDT and Edosulphan, both agrochemicals, had to be recalled globally years after they were launched in light of their toxicity and harmful effect on the food chain and environment.

Even though the din over the bt brinjal trials conducted last year is yet to die down, Potato trials are underway in Punjab. This is primarily due to the absence of a GMO regulatory and liability mechanism in place to check such experiments in the country.

This and other shocking facts came to light during a meet to stop field trials of GM potato at the Jalandhar station of the Central Potato Research Station (CPRI) by various kisan outfits and social activists here today.

Executive director of the Kheti Virasat Misson (KVM), Umendra Dutt, alleged that the trials were not only illegal but in violation of the Environment Protection Rules, 1989, and should be stopped immediately.

Incidentally, Jalandhar happens to be the potato belt of the state and the government is wasting taxpayer’s money on genetically modifying the Kufri Chipsona 1 variety for reducing discolouration in stored potatoes for processing purposes. This will only profit the processing industry while promoting unhealthy foods among our poor populace, he pointed out.

Director principal of the Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, GPI Singh, said based on existing knowledge and clinical experience worldwide, the health effects of bt toxins and GMOs include initiation of cancers, damage to fertility and reproductive heath, multi organ failure (to liver, kidneys), accelerated ageing, anti-biotic resistance in human/ animal gut bacteria and large scale deaths of animals who fed on bt/ GM crop fields.

Not only this, it bodes ill for us and our environment when no credible and independent testing facilities required under the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) are in place in our country.

Ironically, we are allowing such trials here when all European countries have restricted GMOs based on their adverse effect on human health, biodiversity and protection of native gene pool.

The American Academy of Environmental medicine has asked people to avoid GM foods while urging their government to put a moratorium on such GMOs, he revealed.

The worst fallout of GMOs in India will be on the National Tuberculosis Control Programme since kenamycin resistant gene has been detected in the gut bacteria in GM feeding trials. Kenamycin is used to treat TB patients not only in our country but the world, he pointed out.

Others who spoke on the occasion included General Secretary BKU (Ekta- Ugrahan) SS Kokri Kalan, Kirti Kisan Union H S Sandhu, and secretary KVM Kultar Singh.

Amritsar, February 25
Punjab, which is known as the food basket of the nation, is facing difficulty in feeding its schoolchildren. The reason: food stocks it receives from the Centre under the National Nutritional Programme for the midday meal scheme have fallen short in most of the government or aided schools.

Officials blame the “non-cooperative attitude” of the school managements falling under the zila parishads being the main reason for inadequate food stocks for primary and upper primary classes (up to Class VIII). In the wake of their demand for shifting them under the School Education Board, there has been resentment among the school managements falling under the zila parishads across Punjab and they have boycotted several benefits extended to them by the state government. The midday management is one of them.

District midday meal manager Santokh Singh Sewak said this problem had been prevailing in the entire state, especially in Amritsar, Bathinda and Mansa. “Punjab schools need 1.4 lakh MT of food grain, but it has received just 80,000 MT because schools falling under the zila parishad have not submitted their attendance records since October last, on the basis of which food stocks have to be procured from the Centre,” he said.

“Out of the total 865 schools of Amritsar, 250 fall under the zila parishad. But till date, we do not have any data about their number of schoolchildren to be fed. In spite of this, we have been supplying them food stocks on the basis of the approximate calculation of the attendance of the children. This ambiguous evaluation had resulted in shortage of stocks,” he said.

As a stopgap arrangement, the school managements have been conveyed to borrow either from other schools’ stockpile or from their local flour mills or rice dealers, after taking their respective the Pendu Sikhiya Vikas Committee into confidence.

On the other hand, some school principals said due to delay in the disbursal of payments, they had often been refused by mill owners for supplying further stock of food grains on credit.

Defying this, Santokh Singh said funds for procuring food stocks till March 15 had been disbursed .“If still there remained any lapse on this part, it will be addressed on priority. Meanwhile, to avoid further problem, we have already moved an application for 250 MT of wheat and the same quantity of rice for the primary group, besides 150 MT each for wheat and rice for upper primary students.

New Delhi, February 25
The CBI has filed a chargesheet in a Tis Hazari courts here against former Congress MLA from Sangrur for violation of the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 1976.

The CBI probe, a spokesperson said, revealed that Khanna despite being a sitting MLA of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha between 2002 and 2007 accepted foreign contributions to the tune of over USD 1.48 million, equivalent to almost Rs 7 crore, from nine overseas entities based in the United Kingdom without seeking prior approval of the Central Government, which is mandatory.

The CBI had registered a case against him in 2007 when it found that he had accepted foreign contributions from foreign sources in his savings bank account in a New Delhi-based 
foreign bank in contravention of the provisions of FCRA, 1976.

A relative for the former Union Minister Natwar Singh, Khanna’s and his family’s name had also surfaced in Iraq’s Oil-for-Food Scam which had led to Singh’s removal from the Cabinet. They were also linked with several defence deals under the scanner of the authorities.

CBI sources said Khanna had benefited from defense deals and the money in his account is part of the kickbacks he and his family had received in many such deals.

The CBI’s probe into these deals had thrown up details of the murky association of Khanna, his father Vipin Khanna and brother Aditya Khanna with companies dealing in arms. It had claimed that two Israeli companies had made huge remittances to them.

Chandigarh, February 25
With the long-standing demand for extension of the freight corridor to Amritsar not finding any mention in the Railway Budget, a disappointed Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal issued a statement on Friday saying that special needs of this border state have been ignored. The deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal too said, “I along with the chief minister will call on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to lodge a strong protest over step motherly treatment to Punjab”.

On the other hand Manish Tewari, Punjab’s Member of Parliament from Ludhiana has thanked Mamta Banerjee for giving Punjab one of the three new Shatabdi trains. This one will run between Ludhiana and Delhi. The Vivek Express (to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand) will also run between Bandra and Jammu Tawi via Marwar, Degana, Ratangarh, Jakhal and Ludhiana benefiting the travelers here.

Out of the 1000 kilometers of new railway lines to be laid in the country, Punjab has got two rail links from Morinda to Khamnano and Abohar to Fazilka. Again three trains whose run has been extended will benefit travelers from the region. These are Chandigarh - Jaipur Garib Rath Express which will now go to Ajmer. The Lucknow - Saharanpur Express will come to Chandigarh and the Amritsar - Ambala passenger train (DEMU) will run upt Kurukshetra.

Also for the region, the railway budget has one out of the 13 new passenger trains. This will run between Abohar and Fazilka on a daily basis.

Punjab, Haryana and other states in the region have a large number of unmanned level crossings. With the railway budget proposing to eliminate 3000 unmanned level crossings, the northern states will benefit proportionally.

Punjab MPs are disappointed because they were demanding a Bathinda-New Delhi Shatabdi, Chandigarh-Amritsar Express and the upgradation of Amritsar, Ludhiana and Bathinda railway stations. They had also expected the extension of rail freight corridor up to Amritsar and allocation of additional bogeys to Punjab for wheat and fertilizers transportation.

Ferozepur, February 25
Hundreds of activists of the Congress party led by Ravinder Singh Sandhu (Babbal), former MLA, Ferozepur, today burnt the effigy of former minister and SAD (B) MLA Bikram Singh Majithia for allegedly delivering provocative speeches against the Congressmen in the rallies addressed by him recently.

Sandhu and senior leaders of the district Congress also blocked traffic for few minutes at Sher Shah Wali Chowk against the failure of the authorities concerned to take legal action against Majithia.

He said Congressmen also submitted a memorandum to DC KK Yadav demanding registration of a case under the National Security Act be registered against Majithia. Congressmen in Jalalabad led by former minister Hans Raj Joshan also brunt Majithia’s effigy and demanded legal action against him. — TNS

Patiala, February 25
Following a go-ahead given by the Home Department, a team of Punjab police officers will leave for United Kingdom in March to gather evidence in the murder case of state president of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, Rulda Singh.

Rulda Singh was allegedly shot at his shop-cum-flat at Grain Market on July 28, 2009, by two assailants, who had later fled in a car.

Sources in the police department confirmed that following a green signal from the Punjab police top brass, decks have been clear to probe this international murder mystery, in which four accused were first rounded up and later released in the UK. “Three police officials, including DIG Counter Intelligence Sudhanshu Srivastava, investigating officer Ashish Kapoor and District Attorney Patiala GS Sandhu will leave for England to gather evidence,” claimed Ashish Kapoor.

Earlier in January 2011, the UK police had given a clean chit to the four arrested accused and “released them without pressing any charges”. The UK police team, from West Midland, had visited Punjab and quizzed the two other accused lodged at different jails in Patiala.

The UK police had released Gursharan Bir Singh, Gurdit Singh, Pyara Singh Gill and Amritbir Singh. They are UK Citizens and wanted by the Patiala police. The arrest warrants of the accused have been obtained from the local court till April, 11, 2011.

Meanwhile, the Patiala police is also planning to challenge the orders of the local court, which acquitted Darshan Singh, one of the main accused, in a case registered against him under the Arms Act. Claiming that they had enough evidence against Darshan Singh, Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill, claimed that the plea taken by the accused that his weapon misfired in its forensic examination, would be opposed as misfire could have happened with any weapon.

Jalalabad (Ferozepur), February 25
Border Security Force (BSF) personnel shot dead two Pakistan nationals, in their mid twenties, as they allegedly intruded into the Indian territory in Gatti Basoke border observation post in the early hours this morning.

A country-made pistol with five live cartridges was also seized from the possession of the intruders. The intruders are yet to be identified.

The intruders were wearing kurta pyjamas and were killed when they came close to the cobra wire fencing erected on the Indo-Pak border.

Vimal Satyarthi, DIG, BSF, Abohar sector, who rushed to the spot, said Nandan Kumar, a Constable belonging to the 30 Battalion of the BSF, who was on sentry duty alongside the cobra fencing wire, asked the intruders to stop when he saw them coming towards the fencing. Before the Pakistan intruders could take out their weapons and fire upon Nandan Kumar, an alert Nandan fired at them and killed them on the spot, Satyarthi said.

Nandan would be given a commendation certificate for his act of bravery, he said. Pakistan nationals intruded into the Indian territory when it was pitch dark.

He said initial information collected by the BSF sleuths revealed that these two intruders were carrying out a recce of the area as they wanted to smuggle in a consignment of narcotics or any other thing into the Indian territory.

It was also suspected that few associates of the two Pakistan intruders, who were sitting at a distance from them, fled way from the spot after hearing the sound of gunshots.

He said though a special search of the area where the two intruders were shot dead was carried out by the BSF personnel, nothing could be found. The spot where the intruders were killed is two kilometres away from Shewaj Ke BOP of Pakistan inside the Indian territory.

The official concerned of Pakistan Rangers had been informed about the incident, he said. He said after registering a case in this connection in the police station concerned, the post-mortem examination of the bodies would be conducted.

Pakistan Rangers would be offered to take the bodies back and if they declined to accept, the bodies would be disposed off as per religious rites, he added.

He said BSF sleuths had also been exploring different angles to find out the reasons behind the infiltration by the two intruders.

Amritsar, February 25
While the alleged government inaction in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi coupled with a huge gap between the occurrence and revelation of the Rewari massacre is creating doubts whether justice would be done to Hond-Chhillar survivors, the legal experts feel the case stands a good chance if properly investigated.

Noted lawyer HS Phoolka, who is contesting the case against senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, said though there is a gap of over two and a half decades between the incident and its revelation, it doesn’t mean that there is no scope of reopening the case and starting the trial. “Ultimately, the case has to be tried. I don’t how the police filed a closure report on their own,” he pointed out.

The fact that the incident has come to light after 27 years may result into some handicaps like fading memory of the witnesses with the passage of time, but that can be overcome. He said if some witnesses can identify the assailants or the police gets some evidence which can pinpoint towards the people involved in the carnage it can make a good case.

“Take the case of Sajjan Kumar in which trial has started after so long but we are fighting it and the same can be done in the case of Hond-Chillar.” He said it is the duty of the police to approach the witnesses.

Navkiran Singh, counsel of the All India Sikh Students Federation and Sikhs for Justice which have filed a petition over the issue in the High Court, said, “The crime has not been properly investigated. The statements of the eyewitnesses or the survivors were never recorded and the case was brushed under the carpet, dubbing it untraced.”

He said the survivors’ claim that the rioters reached the village on a Haryana Roadways bus, hints at the complicity of the state in the crime.

He said though the survivors, who have come out in the open, say they “don’t remember” any assailant, but there are many other people who had left the village post-massacre who may have some crucial leads.

Advocate VPS Bhatia, acting president of Lawyers for Human Rights, said the trial in such cases can be started whenever evidence is found. The case can be re-investigated despite the delay. He said the carnage site should be cordoned to ensure that the evidences are not destroyed and the trial should be conducted in Chandigarh.

Bathinda, February 25
A member of the All India Congress Working Committee (CWC), Jagmeet Singh Brar, has urged the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to send an all-party delegation to Chhillar village, near Rewari, in Haryana, where more than 30 Sikhs were killed on November 2, 1984, to place the facts of that tragic incident on record.

Brar told mediapersons here today that he had met the PM at Parliament House in Delhi the previous day with the demand. He also said the PM had assured him that he would soon take a decision in this regard. The delegation should submit its report to the PM and the guilty must be punished, he said. He also demanded that a sitting judge of the High Court must conduct an inquiry into the tragedy.

Brar also appealed to the SAD and Congress MPs to raise the issue in Parliament.

He said he had even met senior Congress leaders, Ahmed Patel and Mohsina Kidwai, to ensure the sending of a joint delegation.

Jalandhar: Raising the issue of the massacre of Sikhs in Chhillar village in Haryana, Congress MP Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday appealed to the Lok Sabha Speaker to send a parliamentary delegation to the village to get the facts from the local residents and find out the reason for the failure of the police in discharging its duty.

During zero hour, Bajwa urged that the matter should be probed by a sitting Judge of the High Court, he said talking on the phone from Delhi.

Meanwhile, former Deputy Speaker,Punjab, Bir Devinder Singh said the concerns of the Sikh community should be addressed with the same alacrity as was done in the case of other minorities.

He said the SGPC should appoint a high-powered committee of eminent Sikh jurists and provide funds for the cause to decide the course of action.

Singhpura (Kurali), February 25
Amarjit Kaur (65) from Singhpura does not have to lose sleep waiting for water supply. Her village is the first village in Punjab to get round-the-clock water supply under the project of the Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Department, which was assisted by the World Bank.

With a population of 796 persons, the village is the first to initiate this project whose major component is community participation. The villagers have contributed 10 per cent of the funds for the project and have been running it successfully for the past one-year.

“All households in the village have access to drinking water treated with silver ionisation technique. Since the inception of water tank till the installation of meter, the village committee has done everything under its supervision,” said Sarpanch Jagnahar Singh.

Director of the District Program, World Bank, NK Dhir said after the project was initiated, the water supply and sanitation officials have reduced water wastage. Sensitising villagers to save water was one thing and making them implement it was another. He said it was decided to install meters at every household and charge consumers accordingly.

People are charged Rs 3 per unit and every unit comprises of 1,000 litres of water. “Meters have shown results. People use water judiciously now as they know that non-judicious use will only attract heavy bills,” Dhir said.

Owing to the success of the project, the name of the village has been nominated for a national award in the scheme. While Singhpura was the first village to have this scheme, Paprala village at Ropar is first village of state to be running this scheme for three villages.

The tank at Paprala village feeds 338 households of Paprala, Railon Khurd and Rasulpur villages. This multi-village project had had its own share of teething problems. Started in August 2009, the project faced some difficult times. “Villagers started using treated water for irrigation purposes and to bathe their animals. We noticed that water wastage was a major issue. To rule this out, we installed meters here too and it has been running successfully since then,” said XEN Sukhminder Singh. Apart from these four villages, Shatabgarh village in Dera Bassi is also running the project successfully. Department and World Bank now wants to replicate this pilot project in other parts of Punjab as well.

Jalandhar, February 25
The Staff Selection Commission has decided to conduct a common recruitment examination to fill over 53,000 vacancies in the various Central Paramilitary Forces.

It will be for the time that the government has decided to conduct a common test to recruit Constables in all the Central Police organisations through the Staff Selection Commission.

Naveen Sehgal, Deputy Director, Staff Selection Board, North-West Region, said here today that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had intimated the SSB about 49,080 vacancies of Constables in Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Shastra Seema Bal. The test for recruitment in these forces would be conducted in June.

Similarly, there are over 5,000 such vacancies in the Into-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Assam Riffles, said Sehgal. Of the total 53,407 vacancies, quota of 690 vacancies is reserved for Punjab, he added.

He said the SSB was expecting over 5 lakh applications from the North-Eastern states, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir as well as Chandigarh.

Patiala, February 25
The District Grievances Committee meeting, highlighted the problems being faced by the residents. Officials concerned have been given specific time frames to act on various issues like over flowing of the Ghaggar, encroachments and drugs.

The state Irrigation Minister, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, who heads the committee, said the state government had issued instructions to the staff to clean the drains and rivulets before the before onset of monsoons.

Sekhon asked the Municipal Commissioner, MS Narang, to beautify the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial.

Sekhon said the state government was determined to save crops from the fury of floods and necessary steps would be taken to cleanse the seasonal choe and drains.

After the Chairman of the District Planning Committee, Surjit Singh Rakhra, raised the issue of constructing a bridge on Ghaggar, Sekhon directed the staffers from the Irrigation Department to look into the issue.

Warning the district police and the health department officials to check the sale of drugs in the city, Sekhon said any chemist, found selling illegal drugs, would be held accountable and his drugs license would be cancelled. “Police officials should check the sale of opium, smack and other contrabands and unveil the criminals supplying the same,” he said. Meanwhile, taking up the issue of illegal encroachments from the Gagan Chowk in Rajpura to the Mall Road in Patiala, Sekhon asked the authorities to act tough and reduce the problems being faced by commuters.

“The report on all these issues should be prepared in the next 15 days and taken up in the next meeting”, he said. He also directed the officials to ensure the closure of 16 outlets on the Patiala-Bahadurgarh road, to avoid accidents. “FIRs should be registered in case of theft of iron grills on road dividers and strict action be taken against the guilty,” Sekhon said.

Ropar, February 25
The Punjab Government has signed an MoU with the Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) to train 25 naturalists into becoming nature guides. To promote eco-tourism, they will be certified by the state Tourism Department.

Chief naturalist of the JLR Kartik Kumar yesterday visited the international wetland Ropar, forest department’s nature trail at Ropar and national wetland Nangal to conduct a recce of these areas, which are included in the pilot project.

Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, Punjab, Vidhya Bhushan Kumar, said the department had taken up the wetlands of Ropar district, Harike Wetland, Amritsar, and Keshopur Wetland, Gurdaspur, as the pilot project. He said since the JLR was an expert at imparting such training, they decided to take advantage of their services.

“Under the pilot project, a batch of 25 naturalists will be trained and certified for promoting eco-tourism with the help of JLR. The selected candidates will be given two weeks training and will further train for a six months’ refresher course. Their names will be put up at our websites as nature guides for reference of people who wish to seek their services,” he said.

Vidya Bhushan said the main aim of nature guides would be to interpret nature and its bounties for those visiting the places concerned under the eco-tourism project. Depending on the feedback from pilot project, the same would be replicated in other parts of state that has forest cover. The tie-up with the JLR has come up after sub-committee of tourism department visited Karnataka last September.

Barnala, February 25
A day after the Supreme Court set aside the order of pardon granted by the then Governor of Punjab to the three accused who led a struggle against the alleged killers in the Kiranjit gang rape and murder case, several organisations have decided to oppose the SC order. With the order wherein the SC has referred back the pardon to three persons for reconsideration, the latter's power to grant pardon to any convict, using Article 161 of the Constitution, has come under scrutiny.

Addressing the mediapersons, Narayan Dutt flanked by the representatives of various mass organisations, including Democratic Teachers Front, Bhartiya Kissan Union (Ekta-Daconda), PSEB (Now PSPCL) Employees Federation, Inqualabi Kendra Punjab, PSPCL Technical Service Union and Punjab Subordinate Service Federation, said, “We have decided to launch a sustained struggle against the order. We will use people’s force to compel the state governor for approaching the Governor to keep the pardon intact.”

He said the High Court had already acquitted Prem Kumar and Narayan Dutt, two of the accused in the case, whereas the third accused had moved the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court convicting him in the case.

Kiranjit Kaur, a teenager of Mehalkalan, was abducted by some village youths on July 29, 1997, when she was returning from school on a bicycle. Her half-naked body was recovered from the fields on August 11 and was cremated the next day. Thousands of people had come together and had formed the anti-Kiranjit rape, murder struggle committee.

The accused were arrested after people held demonstrations. A Barnala court on August 16, 2001, awarded life imprisonment to four persons. Dalip Singh, grandfather of one of the accused was attacked in Barnala court complex on March 3, 2001. The three accused, Narain, Prem and Manjit, founder members of the committee were present in the court in connection with some other case. Dalip had died three-four days after the attack. The three were booked for murder along with some others in this case. They were awarded life sentence in 2005. The order triggered mass protests. The Governor granted pardon but it was challenged in the High Court by the opposing party in January, 2008, and the court had set aside the Governor’s order on March 11, 2008.

New Delhi, February 25
The Supreme Court today allowed nearly 425 families of terrorist victims from Pathankot to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for seeking rehabilitation for leading a “dignified life with bare minimum existence.”

A Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia asked them to withdraw their PIL, filed under the umbrella of the Terrorist Violence Victims Association, from the apex court and move the HC.

Their counsel, Pradeep Gupta, said most of them were BPL card holders and had taken shelter in the Terrorist Affected Punjab Housing Board Colony, Pathankot. Their rehabilitation was necessary in view of reports that terrorist activities were being revived in Punjab, he said.

“First of all, the small place given to them may be regularised for all times to come and the state government may be directed not to harass the members in any way as the police authorities and bad elements are threatening the members from time to time and the sword of danger is hanging over their heads,” they had pleaded in the PIL.

They were still living in open tents and though they were allowed to live there, till date no official letter had been issued to them, the petition said. A majority of the petitioners were working in small shops or as rickshaw- pullers. At least one member from each family should be given some government job, they pleaded.

Chandigarh, February 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has found no fault with the option provided to the candidates of PCS main examination to write answers only in English or Punjabi.

A Division Bench asserted the procedure was not faulty, while dismissing a petition challenging the process on the ground that the official language of the Union, according to Article 343 of the Constitution, was Hindi.

The assertion came on the petition filed by Shamsher Singh of Mohali against the State of Punjab and another respondent.

The Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih asserted: This writ petition has been filed challenging the vires of Clause 6 of Appendix III to Rule 13-A of the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 1976.

“The petitioner who had cleared the preliminary examination and is due to sit in the main written examination, Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination, has questioned the validity of the provisions of the regulations under which a candidate has an option to write his answers either in English or Punjabi and furthermore a compulsory paper in Punjabi with 100 marks has been prescribed.”

The Bench asserted: “The challenge primarily is founded on the basis of the provisions contained in Chapter XVII of the Constitution, particularly Article 343, which declares that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devnagri script.

“The petitioner has also contended that the purpose of competitive examination is to secure the best talent available and keeping in mind the object the option of writing the answers in English or Punjabi has no nexus with the object that is sought to be achieved.”

Giving its findings, the Bench asserted: The basis on which the writ petition has been structured overlooks the provisions of the Punjab Official Languages Act, 1967, by which the official language of the state has been declared to be Punjabi.

“Under Section 6 of the Act continuance of the English language for such time that the contingency mentioned in the Section does not arise has also been visualised. Thereafter, the use of English language is permissible under the State Act and Punjabi is the official language of the state.