Ludhiana, July 18
Civil Hospital hospital doctors here today refused to admit SAD councillor and president, district Youth Akali Dal, Simarjit Singh Bains and his friend Kamaljit Singh Karwal, accused of attacking a tehsildar. The doctors said tests had shown them to be normal and they did not require hospitalisation.

Bains and Karwal were brought to the hospital in the morning after Central Jail doctors recommended that they were not keeping good health and be sent to the hospital.

Dr Harvinder Singh of Civil Hospital, who examined them, said their blood pressure and all blood tests were normal. So they did not need hospitalisation.

‘‘We kept them till we had to conduct blood tests on them. They were tested for dehydration and liver problems. The reports were normal. We asked the authorities to send them back,’’ said Dr Harvinder Singh.

This happened despite Bains and Karwal claiming that they were suffering from hypertension and liver problems, respectively. Bains had claimed of high blood pressure (180/120) yesterday and was brought to the Civil Hospital last night. He was sent back to jail last night only.

Again, he was brought to the hospital in the morning along with Karwal. Their supporters gathered in the hospital compound on hearing the news of their visiting the hospital.

The supporters, including several women, were seen crying on meeting them. Bains was looking exhausted, while Karwal seemed to be in good health. Both were clad in white kurta-pyjamas. Bains was wearing an orange-coloured turban and Karwal a turquoise-coloured one.

Balwinder Singh Bains, SGPC member and elder brother of Simarjit, said the doctors felt he did not need admission. ‘‘We just want that he is given medical aid whenever he needs it,’’ he said. 

Patiala, July 18
While more than 20,000 young and fully qualified technicians have been running from pillar to post to attain employment in Punjab, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has decided to go ahead with recruitment of more than 400 sub-station attendants (SSAs) and sub-station officers (SSOs). The move could boomerang as young technicians were contemplating to oppose the move tooth and nail.

The PSEB to re-employ from amongst those retired PSEB officials who were between the age bracket of 58-61 years on the basis of their “experience”. The board has asked all such “eligible persons” to apply by August 15. An SSO will get a monthly salary of Rs 7,000 and an SSA will be given a fixed monthly salary of Rs 5,000.

If this was not enough, the board plans to run certain of its grids with the help of these retired officials on the plea that such people are “armed with a lot of experience”. The move, insiders say, was PSEB’s bid to win over certain quarters of employees or their unions.

On the other hand, statistics pertaining to qualified and yet unemployed youngsters armed with diplomas from state’s ITIs paints a very gloomy picture, particularly, as the PSEB has not gone in for any recruitments since 1997. “More than 4,500 such qualified electricians and linemen are coming out straight on the road as there are no employment avenues for them in absence of any recruitment on the part of the PSEB since 1997,” revealed a PSEB official requesting anonymity.

These unemployed technicians had already held demonstrations following which they were assured by the SAD-BJP leaders that they would be given employment but nothing has happended in this direction so far. “In such situation, the recruitment of old and retired officials will add salt to the injuries of harried unemployed youngsters,” rued Sunil, an unemployed diploma holder

Jalalabad, July 18
It seems you don’t have to be a Chief Minister to wield power over the administration. Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaiya seems to be having it. The MP, whose importance to the party has increased dramatically with Sukhbir Badal entering the fray from this constituency, is acting like a mini CM , ordering the administration here according to his whims .

Yesterday at Mohammadiwala village though as the Chief Minister was taking rest, Ghubaiya was holding his ‘darbar’. People with applications came to him and unmindful of the model election code of conduct, the MP called officers in front of the applicants to recommend their cases.

These calls were to Deputy Commissioner KamalYadav who was asked to accommodate Jagsir Singh who had filed a tender for printing stationery under the NREGA project. The DC’s reaction was not known, but Ghubaiya was satisfied by his reply as was the person who made it.

Another call was made to an official of the PSEB but the applicant did not have details so Ghubaiya told him to get back to him with details later. The person making ‘sifarish’ later said he wanted to recommend the case of lineman Palda Singh who had been transferred to Mamdot from Lohian but was not being relieved.

The Ferozepur MP even rang up the Home Secretary’s office in Chandigarh to recommend transfer of a cop. When told the work would be done only by Sukhbirji, the MP said, “Okay I will get it done on August 19 or 20”. This ‘sifarish’ had been made by Jalalabad SAD circle president Darshan Singh Brar.

Ferozepur SSP Surinderpal Singh Parmar also got “orders” from the MP. When a group of people told Ghubaiya they had been harassed by rival group, the MP told the SSP on the spot - pick them up immediately and put them in lock- up.

Ferozepur DC Yadav initially said the MP could have called him but he did not remember it. He said such recommendations could be made by the elected representatives but it did not mean to be acted on unquestioningly.

The by-election has been witnessing unique phenomenon. People can be seen following Ghubaiya with applications. Same is the case at public meetings with people wanting applications to be signed by the Chief Minister immediately. People are being assured of their grievances to be looked into after the elections and that they can forward their applications to their local representatives or Ghubaiya. However, many are not taking the chance and insist on immediate phone calls and the MP does not seem to mind, despite the election code being in force.

Gurdaspur, July 18
President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal today said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would decide on the prosecution of Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon by the CBI regarding malpractices alleged in the recruitment of panchayat secretaries by the previous SAD-BJP government.

To why approval to prosecute Kahlon was not given, Sukhbir said this question must be put to the Chief Minister. He refused to comment on it as he was not in the government now.

About 909 panchayat secretaries were recruited in the Rural Development and Panchayat Department when Kahlon headed this department in the (1997-2002) SAD-BJP government of Punjab.

Following allegations of corruption in the recruitment of panchayat secretaries, the matter was handed over to the CBI for probing by the Congress government led by Capt Amarinder Singh. The Punjab and Haryana High Court also directed the CBI to probe the allegations.

Sources said the Delhi branch of the CBI started probe of the case and the residence of Kahlon was raided during the previous Congress government in Punjab. After the SAD-BJP government came to power again, the CBI, Delhi branch, moved a request seeking consent to prosecute Kahlon in that case.

Kahnuwan (Gurdaspur), July 18
SAD supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal has urged the Prime Minister to declare the less monsoon rains in Punjab as a natural calamity and give a special package to Punjab for its farmers, who have been adversely affected due to it.

Sukhbir, while disclosing that he will write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this connection within day or so, said he would also urge Chief Ministers of states falling in the northern India and facing drought-like situation to make a pressure group and force the Centre to give much-needed aid to them.

“I will talk to Chief Ministers of these states so that joint efforts can be put to bring desirable results,” he said adding that he would meet the PM soon.

Sukhbir, who was here to address a series of rallies for party candidate Sewa Singh Sekhwan for the coming election, while talking to selective mediapersons, said the PM must allocate additional electricity power to Punjab from the Central pool for agriculture use and give additional subsidy on diesel for farmers to run their tubewell motors to irrigate paddy fields immediately.

Not only this, the PM must depute an agency to survey the loss of crops due to the drought-like situation in Punjab and give monetary compensation to the farmers accordingly without delay. He added that the PM must announce a special package, including all these three things, for Punjab immediately.

Sukhbir said farmers of Punjab had been affected adversely as the state witnessed 50 per cent less monsoon rain this year. He said if the Centre did not come to their rescue, they would suffer colossal losses.

“The special package may include the waiver of loans taken by farmers on the same pattern, which has been done in Maharashtra as it will make up the financial losses being suffered by them,” the former Deputy CM suggested.

He said the Central government must show its concern for the poor farmers of Punjab, who had been feeding millions of Indians by contributing about 60 per cent to the food basket of the country every year and were now facing a starvation-like situation.

Amritsar, July 18
Coming out in BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu’s support, the district unit of the party today decided to stand by the MP.

An emergency meeting was held at the residence of former mayor Subash Sharma here this evening to take stock of the situation arising out of the reported resignation of Sidhu from primary membership of the party after Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina joined as chairman of Amritsar Improvement Trust.

According to sources in the party some of office-bearers of the district unit had offered to resign their posts to show solidarity with Sidhu, third time MP from the city. However, they were asked not to do so till the party high command took decision on the issue. Besides Col Amrik Singh, district president, Subash Sharma, Anand Sharma, Reena Jaitley, Tarun Chugh, Kewal Krishan, Dr Rakesh, Inderpal Arora and Ravinder Bunty attended the meeting.

Col Amrik Singh said though he was not aware of the resignation submitted by Sidhu to the party, he said whatever the decision of the party high command they would abide by it. Commenting on the resignation proposals by certain BJP office-bearers, he admitted he had received the offers but urged them not to do so till instructions from party high command. Only BJP MLA, Anil Joshi and mayor Shawet Malik besides Tarun Chug were present at during the swearing-in-ceremony of the Chhina. However, during the road show by Chhina and his supporters in the evening, only Joshi was present while other preferred not to join the rally, it is learnt.

Chandigarh, July 18
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has come down heavily on the Punjab government for its failure to properly investigate cases of atrocities on Scheduled Castes (SCs).

At a meeting with senior functionaries of the Punjab government, Chairman of the commission Buta Singh said: “The cases are not investigated properly, no time-frame was followed and most cases were closed without reaching any logical conclusion which resulted in nil conviction”.

The commission suggested a special education drive for the law-enforcing agency on protection of rights of the SCs.

The commission observed that the relief and rehabilitation package to victims of atrocities was either not provided or given after a long delay, thereby defeating the very purpose of the scheme.

Coming down harshly on the “non-serious” attitude of the state government, the commission said, “The state-level vigilance and monitoring committee has not even been set up in Punjab and no review has ever taken place on atrocities at the level of the CM”.

The commission also pointed out that a lot of funds received from the government of India were diverted for other purposes. Commenting on the plight of the SCs, the commission observed that in Punjab 64 per cent of the SCs were living below the poverty line.

The commission said a lot was required even with regard to promotions of SCs in government jobs: 14,000 seats either had to be filled or people in these seats were awaiting promotions. The commission suggested that a liaison officer for SCs be appointed in every department. Due to the poor plight of the SCs, only 15 per cent of them were going in for higher education.

The commission expressed unhappiness over the lack of implementation of rules of reservation in government jobs as provided by the Director, Recruitment. Buta Singh asked government functionaries to apprise the commission after a month at a meeting in Delhi about the corrective steps taken to overcome the shortcomings.

Sangrur, July 18
There has been no meeting of the district grievances redressal committee in more than four months. The chairperson of the committee is cabinet minister Upinderjit Kaur.

Member of the committee and district BJP president Jatinder Kalra said owing to non-holding of committee’s meeting for several months, the grievances of people were not being redressed at a fast pace. Since the formation of this committee, Upinderjit Kaur had attended the meeting only two times, he said, adding that she should chair the meeting once at least in four months.

Talking to The Tribune, chairman, Sangrur district planning committee, Gobind Singh Longowal said the matter related to make every chairperson of a district planning committee as chairperson of the district grievances redressal committees. 

Chandigarh, July 18
Having miserably failed in ensuring adequate power supply for the state, Punjab is now going in for global tendering for purchasing power on a long-term basis. The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has been allowed to purchase about 1,800 MW from as many sources as possible.

Though electricity is unlikely to be available before winter, the PSEB has invited global tenders for supply of power for meeting the base load on a long-term basis under “Case 1 tenders bidding guidelines as notified by the Ministry of Power, Government of India”. The PSEB has invited bids from supplier who can provide at least 50 MW on a long-term basis. The PSEB will receive bids till October 8, 2009.

The decision to purchase power was taken after the Centre refused to help in bridging the shortfall of about 2,000 MW following a sharp increase in consumption in the state since last year. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal informed the Vidhan Sabha earlier this month that the state had kept aside Rs 3,000 crore for power purchase, but the same was not available from anywhere at any cost.

Punjab has been facing an acute power shortage during the current summer season. Both domestic consumers and farmers have been facing 14 or 16 hours of power cuts despite Punjab managing to get about 303 MW additional power from the Centre. The current requirement of power in Punjab is pegged at around 7,870 MW (according to CM’s statement in the Vidhan Sabha) while the availability is only 6,800 MW. The requirement is likely to go up next year.

The Central Electricity Authority had projected that Punjab would suffer massive shortage with the peak demand for the Punjab during 2009-10 estimated at 9,110 MW while the peak availability was estimated at 6,540 MW, a peak deficit of 28.3 per cent. The government claims that despite its best efforts on “power banking”, the shortage could not be fulfilled as other states backed out of their power-banking agreements.

Meanwhile, Qila Raipur MLA Jassi Khangura has written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of India seeking action against the ruling SAD for allegedly influencing voters in three assembly segments of Jalalabad, Kahnuhan and Banur by providing them round-the-clock electricity while the rest of Punjab is reeling under a severe power crisis.

Chandigarh, July 18
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday reviewed the progress of the World Bank-aided Punjab State Road Sector Project (PSRSP), the largest road sector project in the state involving a massive investment of Rs 1,500 crore ($333 million), and asked the state PWD (B&R) to ensure quality as per international standards and its timely completion positively by June 2012.

Briefing the Chief Minister about the project, Secretary, PWD (B&R), Kulbir Singh said the project had been divided into two phases, first covering 711 km at a cost of Rs 690 crore and the second phase would cover network management of about 950-km road to be taken under Output and Performance-Based Road Contracting (OPRC) in three networks, spread across Punjab, one each in Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions. The consultancy process was in progress and physical works were likely to begin by August 2010 on the ground.

The first phase included 152 km of upgrade of the Ludhiana-Malerkotla-Sangrur road, Kharar-Banur-Tepla road, Attari-Chabal-Tarn Taran road at a cost of Rs 380 crore. The Attari-Chabal-Tarn Taran road was nearly completion at the cost of Rs 45 crore as 99 per cent work had already been completed; besides 31 per cent and 38 per cent work had been executed on Rs 225-crore Ludhiana-Malerkotla-Sangrur road and Rs 108-crore Kharar-Banur-Tepla road, respectively as on May 31, 2009.

Likewise, 95 per cent work on rehabilitation of 205 km of roads at a cost of Rs 250 crore had been completed on the Ferozepur-Zira-Dharamkot, Patiala-Sirhind, Chandigarh-Landran-Chunni-Sirhind, Kapurthala-Tarn Taran and Phillaur-Nagar-Rahon roads till May 31, 2009. Besides this, 345 km of periodic maintenance on different works at a cost of Rs 60 crore had also been successfully completed.

It may be recalled that this project was commenced on April 2007 and it is likely to be completed in June 2012. The total expenditure till May 31, 2009, on the first phase is Rs 536 crore against the receipt of Rs 509 crore of which Rs 352 crore has been received by the World Bank and Rs 157 crore from the state government.

Amritsar, July 18
The ambitious project of setting up a food street on the premises of Ram Bagh Garden, the Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, at a cost of Rs 5 crore has been hanging fire due to non-issuance of an NOC by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The local Municipal Corporation has already received the first instalment of Rs 25 lakh to begin the project, which could not be utilised for want of an NOC.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industry has identified seven more “safe food towns” and four more food streets for rest of the country in addition to the nine safe food towns and two Food Streets, including one in Amritsar, which were selected last year.

The ministry has proposed to upgrade or create common infrastructural facilities in food streets in 10 cities of tourist importance during the next two years so that the customer can enjoy ethnic cuisine in safe and hygienic surrounding.

The development of a food street at Amritsar is aimed at promoting tourism and bringing the city on international tourist map. The Municipal Corporation, Amritsar, has tentatively finalised the site behind the Panorama building for the project.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said the proposed food street would be developed as per the guidelines framed by the Ministry of Food Processing Industry after receiving an NOC by the ASI.

It is learnt that the MC has given an undertaking that only 25 temporary stalls and entertainment kiosks would be set up. The MC has urged ASI to issue an NOC at the earliest so that tourists get an opportunity to enjoy traditional and hygienic specialities of Amritsar under one roof.

Chandigarh, July 18
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday asked all field officers, especially Deputy Commissioners and Commissioners, to be available in their offices on a fixed-time schedule for at least three days a week to have direct interface with the general public.

Khanna, July 18
Arhtiyas from across Punjab today blocked the GT Road here in protest against the government notification on direct payment to farmers.

The arhtiyas, accompanied by farmers from villages, gathered in the grain market here in the morning and went towards the GT Road and blocked traffic for three and half hours from 10 am.

They raised slogans against the Punjab government, the Chief Minister and Punjab Mandi Board Chairman Ajmer Singh Lakhowal. They threatened to intensify the agitation if the notification was revoked.

“The government is trying to change the old practice of handing over money to farmers by arhtiyas to create rift between arhtiyas and farmers by releasing such notification,” said Harbans Singh Rosha, member of the Arhtiyas Sangharsh Committee.

“Not every farmer is ready to visit the bank to get payment. Thousands of farmers sitting with us on this dharna are testimony to the fact that they too are not happy with the decision,” said Dharam Singh Kang, convener of the committee.

The farmers will not be able to get money in advance for the next crop with this decision and will suffer, said speakers and members of kisan unions. “Our money will not remain secure if it is given to farmers directly as farmers keep receiving money from arhtiyas throughout the year,” said the arhtiyas.

The arhtiyas threatened to stage a dharna in the Jalalabad constituency, from where Sukhbir Badal is contenting elections, on July 27, if their demand was not met.

Fatehgarh Sahib MP Sukhdev Singh Libra also demanded the rollback of the notification.

The dharna was lifted with the intervention of the ADC, SDM and SSP. The traffic was diverted via the Samrala road, streets on the GT Road and through villages in the periphery of the city. Commuters had to take a longer route by covering 5 km to 10 km extra due to the dharna. 

Patiala, July 18
Nearly 30 doctors, who had attained their degrees in medical science from Russia and were given relief by the Punjab and Haryana High Court by allowing them to appear in the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) interviews for the posts of medical officers (MOs) last month, are still awaiting their appointment letters from the Health Department.

The PPSC had earlier denied permission to nearly 250 doctors with degrees or diplomas from Russia on the grounds that the gradation of their certificates was not available with the commission.

But, later they were allowed to appear in the interview along with 80 other candidates with Indian degrees after 30 of the candidates with Russian degrees filed a writ petition in the court.

These candidates were from Punjab and the contentious issue was that of the equivalency of their degrees with the ones attained by candidates from the Indian medical institutes.

After conducting the interview, the commission had sealed and sent the result to the Punjab Health Department last month.

The department had the final authority to decide on the matter and issue appointment letters to successful candidates. But, the candidates are yet to get their appointment letters.

Commission member Satwant Singh Mohi said the panel had performed its duty by conducting the interviews and sending the result to the department. “It was upto the department to push the things further,” he said.

Sources said as many as 110 posts of MOs would still be vacant even if 202 selected candidates were appointed. The commission would conduct interviews for these 110 posts in the first week of August.

Chandigarh, July 18
The Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), Punjab, Ramesh Inder Singh has asked Principal Secretary, Home AR Talwar to issue instructions to the state police to provide protection to RTI activists, wherever it is sought.

The CIC’s request is in response to a letter written to the commission by HC Arora, Convener, RTI Users Association asking the commission to persuade the state government to evolve a policy for protection of whistle-blowers (who are exposing corruption and misuse of public funds by filing RTI applications). Arora has written to the CIC in wake of a recent incident of disappearance of an RTI-Activist and advocate Kiran Kumar Pandey of Ferozepur.

Jalandhar, July 18
Girija Suri of Jalandhar has topped Delhi University’s (DU) BA (honours) in English first-year examination securing 70.4 per cent marks.

Girija’s friend Swati Sadana, student of BA (honours) in economics first year of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, has stood first in DU securing 86.3 per cent marks.

After passing plus II with distinction from Apeejay School here last year, Girija and Swati had moved to Delhi for studies.

Girija chose BA (honours), English, in Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi. However, some teachers, discouraging her, said BA (honours), English, was not her cup tea. “After some days of admission in the course, I was told that I had no aptitude for it and should review my decision. Some teachers advised me that students from Punjab should not opt for English (honours) as they were not talented to do it,” she said.

“Such remarks discouraged me, leaving me depressed and making it difficult to adjust there,” she said. “Such remarks also made me resolve to prove the teachers wrong for taunting me in particular and Punjab students in general. I started working hard, studying daily for 8 hours, besides attending college from 8 am to 5 pm. Apart from it, I taught three slum students for 120 hours because I had opted for the National Service Scheme (NSS) extra-curricular activity,” she said. Girija had topped in the humanities stream in the Panchkula region in the plus II last year.

Happy at the achievement of his daughter, Rakesh Suri, Director, Income Tax, said, “I was on cloud nine after I got a call from the principal of my daughter’s college that Girija had stood first in the university”.

Swati had stood second in the commerce stream in the Panchkula region of the CBSE securing 95.8 per cent marks last year. To how much time she spent daily on studies, she said, “I used to study daily for four hours after attending college. I have been studying on my own and did not join tuition,” said Swati. “I was happy after admission in the top commerce college of the country last year. At that moment I decided to prove my myself,” she said.

Chandigarh, July 18
The state-run Punjab Information Communication Technology Education Society has set a unique example of optimum utilisation of the government school infrastructure.

The computer labs of various government schools across the state are being used in the evenings to impart affordable computer education to the poor. These classes are run by the society for Class XII passouts who had no opportunity to learn computers during their schooling.

Krishan Kumar, member secretary of the society, said the classes began in the first week of July and the three-month course would end with an external test. Those who pass the test would be given a certificate by the society.

“The aim was to utilise the computer labs in schools which are not used after 2 pm when the school closes and also provide affordable computer education to students who had missed the bus,” said Krishan.

An advertisement was issued by the society for the course. “We received over a thousand applications following which two schools in each district in Punjab were chosen to hold the classes. “The choice of the centres was done after sorting out the applications to try and ensure that students did not have to travel too far for the course,” added Krishan.

Three thousand students are now being taught at 74 computer labs from 3.30 pm to 6 pm on all working days. “We charge each students a nominal fee of Rs 2,000 for the entire course. The instructors are chosen from the computer teachers employed in the school. We pay them extra salary for taking the evening classes,” said Krishan. The society also pays the school for the use of electricity and lab facilities.

The students are being trained in basic computers. “By the end of the three months, they would be able to work effortlessly on the computers, enter data, use the internet, etc. In case the society employs data entry operators or staff, we would prefer the students who have our certificates,” added Krishan Kumar.

Sangrur, July 18
An employee of a flourmill at Bhullarherri village detected tablets in wheat bags while putting grains into a container for grinding the same into atta yesterday.

The two bags, containing wheat meant for serving mid-day meal to students, were sent to the flourmill yesterday by the authorities of Government High School, Bhullarherri (Dhuri block), 17 km from here.

Talking to The Tribune today, Pargat, employee of the mill, said, “Two wheat bags, containing about 30 kg wheat each, had been brought to the mill by students of the school for making atta the previous day”.

When he was putting the wheat into the container, he saw the tablets, wrapped in two pieces of cloth, which people often use for keeping insects away from the grain. Sensing trouble, he immediately stopped the crushing of wheat and later handed over the atta and the remaining wheat to the school authorities, he added.

Amarjit Singh, acting headmaster of the Bhullarherri village school, claimed that these were not celphos tablets, but were only Zandu tablets that people often use for protecting “moongi” (green gram) etc. He said the tablets had been put into the wheat bags before the summer vacation to protect it from insects, but a teacher, who was on leave, came to the school the previous day and presumed that these bags contained cleaned wheat. So he sent the bags to the mill, he added.

Nirbhey Singh Bhullar, Sarpanch, Bhullarherri village, said the teachers told them that all this happened due to some misunderstanding and assured them it would not happen in future again. 

Chandigarh, July 18
Skeleton in the grave won’t haunt Khazan Singh anymore.

The prosecution had secured the Ferozepur resident’s conviction after alleging skeleton exhumed from a grave was of a relative he had murdered eight years ago. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now accepted his appeal against the conviction and life sentence; and has set him free.

The outlandish tale has its origin in a complaint lodged with the police by one Jarnail Singh in December 1995. The prosecution had made no bones about it while claiming complainant Jarnail Singh’s grandfather Panja Singh had given Rs 30,000 to another granddaughter Maya after selling land.

But he demanded back the money after coming to know she was allegedly having illicit relations with one Thakar Singh. The demand started a conspiracy between Maya, her husband Khazan, Thakar Singh and one Balbir Singh; and culminated in Panja’s strangulation.

The prosecution had added Panja Singh was then buried in Lallowal village under a tree, eight years before the complaint was made. During the interrogation, Khazan made a disclosure statement and the bones were recovered after the grave was dug, it was alleged.

After hearing the arguments, Ferozepur’s Additional Sessions Judge convicted the accused. But the high court’s Division Bench of Justices Ashutosh Mohunta and Mohinder Pal did not agree. The Bench ruled the first information report was lodged on December 30, 1995 - at least eight years after the occurrence.

It was impossible for the courts to say the skeleton was of Panja Singh. As such, Khazan Singh could not be connected with Panja Singh’s murder.

Chandigarh, July 18
Taking exception to Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner’s non-appearance in a contempt case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the issuance of bailable warrants against him. Ludhiana Chief Judicial Magistrate has been directed to ensure the execution of the warrants. The matter pertains to panchayat elections.

As a petition alleging contempt of court filed by Karnail Singh and other petitioners came up for hearing, Justice RK Garg of the high court observed that two of the respondents were present in the court, along with the record, in pursuance to the earlier order dated July 8.

Justice Garg added respondent number one, Ludhiana DC Vishal Garg, was, however, not present in the court. From the perusal of the record, it was apparent that his personal appearance had not been dispensed with at any stage. As such, his presence be secured through bailable warrants for Rs 20,000.