Amritsar, November 6
A piquant situation has arisen in the Amritsar municipal corporation with the appointment of 1992-batch PCS officer D.P.S. Kharbanda as commissioner, superceding 1986-batch Kirpal Singh, who is working as additional commissioner. As per the gradation and distribution list, the date of appointment of Kirpal Singh is April 23, 1986, while Kharbanda joined his services on December 8, 1992.

Talking to The Tribune, Kirpal Singh said he was proceeding on two-day leave and would take up his case with the chief secretary to the Punjab government. He said he would seek a transfer in case he is not elevated to the post of municipal commissioner, Amritsar.

Municipal commissioner Hussan Lal was transferred in a bureaucratic reshuffle yesterday and his services have been placed at the disposal of the welfare department. He had a short stint of about 10 months in Amritsar. Additional commissioner of the corporation Kirpal  Singh would now work under his six-year junior officer, who is likely to assume charge shortly. He is presently working as SDM, Ferozepore.

Kirpal Singh, who has already served as ADC at Amritsar (about five years back) and at Muktsar (about three years back), said half-a-dozen PCS officers of his batch had already been promoted to the IAS, including the deputy commissioners of Moga and Jalandhar. It should give an idea about my seniority, he said.

Sources in the corporation said Hussan Lal had himself sought transfer out of Amritsar. He would now be serving as executive director, SC Castes Corporation, Chandigarh.

Incidentally, the state government has sanctioned Rs 3,200 crore for development works to be executed by the municipal corporation. A string of development projects involving heavy investments are already under way in Amritsar, including the ambitious elevated road project, which would provide a shorter and easy route to devotees going to the Golden Temple.

When contacted, minister for information and public relations Bikram Majithia, said he would look into the issue and take it up with the department concerned. Most municipal councillors were also of the view that the “out-of-the-way” appointment would create bad blood and eventually the development work would suffer in case the commissioner and the additional commissioner did not work as an effective team.

Nawanshahr, November 6
Expressing deep concern over the incidents of calculated undermining of the sovereignty and independence of the judiciary in Pakistan as well as solidarity with the lawyers’ fraternity and the judicial officer, the members of the District Bar Association (DBA) abstained from work at the judicial courts here on Tuesday. The District Bar Association at an emergency meeting held under the chairmanship of HPS Dhillon, passed a resolution condemning the assault on judicial officer and lawyers in Pakistan.

The association prayed for the well being of the legal fraternity in general and singled out Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramdey of the Pakistan Supreme Court in particular, who originally belongs to Karyam village in Nawanshahr district. 

Jalandhar, November 6
Tej Mohan Nagar resident Sheetal died after falling from the rooftop of a house in the Avtar Nagar locality here today. Sheetal was admitted to the civil hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

The police has registered a case under section 174 of the CrPC. ASI Bhagat Masih said the police had found no foul play behind the death and prima facie it was an accidental death. Sheetal and her cousin had gone to a house in Avtar Nagar where she worked as a domestic help. She fell from the roof of the house accidentally, he added. — TNS