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HC: Stop salaries of staff not vacating govt houses
Grant
to gram panchayats elected unanimously
Policeman shot by undertrials was put on escort duty barely 10 days ago
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Bathinda village in limelight again, for wrong reasons
MBBS fee doubled in Punjab
Bajwa hails court order
Shutrana poll official shifted, Cong cries foul
BJP leader protests, alleges vendetta
Shingar Cinema blast convict found dead in Nabha prison
Strong winds flatten wheat crop
Help make state defence production hub: Badal to CII
Smoke-free status for Sangrur district on cards
Students without books 3 weeks into session
Project to help addicts quit drugs on anvil
ITI for girls being run from youth hostel
Matrimonial dispute turns violent
Appeal
for quashing delimitation
HC seeks record of case against Badal
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HC: Stop salaries of staff not vacating govt houses
Chandigarh, April 26 For, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that government functionaries and others, no more entitled to retain public accommodations earlier allocated to them, will have to vacate these. The High Court also asked the States of Punjab and Haryana, along with Chandigarh Administration, to stop the salaries of serving, and pension of retired illegal occupants, in case they do not vacate the houses. Spelling out the procedure, the Bench asked the authorities concerned to issue notices to illegal occupants within 15 days. In case of refusal to vacate the houses, the court wants initiation and conclusion of eviction proceedings within six weeks. The developments took place on a PIL filed by local lawyer Surinder Pal Singh Tinna. The PIL is against the “illegal” and “forcible” occupation of government houses by high profile politicians, ex-ministers, MLAs and retired bureaucrats in prime Sectors of Chandigarh. The development is significant as the Punjab Government had on a previous date of hearing told the High Court that former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal was not the only one. Former Chief Ministers Surjit Singh Barnala too was an unauthorised occupant of a government house. The Bench also heard that MP Singh, officer on special duty to Punjab Chief Minister and IAS officers NK Jain and BK Srivastava were illegally occupying a house. Also included in the category was Haryana Director (prosecution) HR Jain. The Bench was told that Haryana politicians Kiran Chaudhary was to pay Rs 29,12,995, Savitri Jindal Rs 89,29,455 and OP Jain Rs 38,08,723 for overstay in government houses. Chaudhary has already given consent to pay the penal rent while Jain’s house has been vacated. As the case came up for resumed hearing this morning, the Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain made it clear that a 15-day notice be issued to Savitri Jindal before initiating and completing within six weeks eviction proceedings against her. The Bench also directed the completion of the eviction proceedings against Bhattal within the same period. She is illegally occupying a government house allotted during her tenure as the Leader of Opposition from 2007 to 2012. But, the Punjab Government told the Bench that it has initiated the eviction proceedings against Bhattal.
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Grant
to gram panchayats elected unanimously
Chandigarh, April 26 The directions by Justice Rameshwar Singh Malik came on a petition filed by Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh, after the Bench observed that the issue raised by the petitioner appeared to be prima facie genuine. The directions come at a time when the state is gearing up for the next gram panchayat elections. No less than 2,806 panchayats will benefit if the matter is decided in their favour by the commissioner. Going into the background, the MLA had said that during the 2007 elections, the Punjab Government had decided to provide financial assistance to gram panchayats elected unanimously. But the promise was never fulfilled. The MLA has been claiming that development work in the panchayats has come to a halt as the announcement to grant Rs 3 lakh for unanimous elections was never honoured by the government.
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Policeman shot by undertrials was put on escort duty barely 10 days ago
Bathinda, April 26 The head constable is survived by his wife and three children. His grieving relatives said Avtar Singh had been in service for more than 20 years. Most of the time, he was deployed as driver of a school bus ferrying children of police personnel.
“He was deployed to escort criminals for court hearings only about 10 days ago,” a relative said. on March 4, at least 10 miscreants freed murder accused Gurwinder Bindu, who was lodged in the Bathinda Jail. Bindu was brought to the Bathinda Civil Hospital after he complained of pain in the stomach. From there he fled with his accomplices after throwing chilli powder into policemen's eyes. The police is yet to re-arrest Bindu. The police has announced a cash reward for a tipoff on Head Constable Avtar Singh's killers. The IG of the Bathinda Zone, Nirmal Dhillon, said that anyone who gave vital information on the three fugitives would be rewarded Rs 3 lakh in cash, Rs 1 lakh for each fugitive. He said apart from releasing the photos of the three undertrials, the police had launched a massive combing operation in Bathinda and adjoining villages. The accused would be arrested soon, he claimed. He said police vigil in and around Jai Singh Wala village had been stepped up.
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Bathinda village in limelight again, for wrong reasons
Jai Singh Wala, April 26 Three youths of the village, Kulwinder (26), his younger brother Jaswinder (22) and Nahar Singh (20), shot dead a policeman while being taken to the Bathinda jail late last evening. The two brothers and Nahar Singh were foes and were jailed for a brawl during the 2007 elections. While in jail, they became friends. Their families claim that the three “came under the influence of bad elements” in jail. Nahar Singh, once a baptised Sikh, is fatherless. Villagers remember Kulwinder and Jaswinder as bullies who “ picked a fight at the drop of the hat.” The brothers own seven acres of land worth over Rs 3.5 crore. Their family once owned a combine, a tractor, a thrasher and a bike. All the vehicles, except the motorbike, have now been sold to pay towards litigation cost. The Tribune team found Kuldeep Kaur, Kulwinder and Jaswinder’s mother, alone in the family's sprawling house. She said her husband was away “helping” the police to trace her fugitive sons. Kuldeep Kaur said she had met her sons in jail 10 days ago. “Jaswinder was repentant. He told me he longed to return home,” she said. Nahar Singh’s mother Jaspal Kaur blamed bad karma for the fate of her son. She said her elder daughter could not take her exam because of police raids. “We are landless labourers. I earn Rs 1,200-Rs 2,000 every month. I had no money to fight my son's case. Everybody blames a mother but there is no help from society,” she said.
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MBBS fee doubled in Punjab
Chandigarh, April 26 The government has also increased the admission fee from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000, reliable sources said. The fee for MBBS second year, has been increased from Rs 13,500 to Rs 25,000. The tuition fee will be Rs 20,000. The fee for the third year has been increased from the existing Rs 13,500 to Rs 25,000. The fee for the fourth and the fifth year has been increased from Rs 17,000 to Rs 27,000 As many as 50 per cent of the total seats in an individual college will be of government quota, 35 per cent of management quota and 15 per cent will be reserved for the NRIs. Seat in the management quota will cost Rs 4 lakh annually while the NRI seat will cost 1 lakh dollars. The fee will be increased by 10 per cent every three years. The government will review the overall fee structure after every five years. Punjab has 10 medical colleges out of which three belong to the government. Government Medical College and Hospital, Patiala, has 150 seats, Government Medical College, Faridkot, has 50 and GMCH, Amritsar has 150 seats.
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Bajwa hails court order
Chandigarh, April 26 The order came on a petition by Kapurthala legislator Rana Gurjit Singh. Bajwa said the Punjab Congress had raised the issue of false promises made to the people by the SAD-BJP Government during the last Panchayati Raj elections. He said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had in 2008 lured the panchayats and announced a reward if elected unanimously. “However, five years have passed but the promise has remained unfulfilled,” he said. He alleged the SAD-BJP Government was once again trying to hijack the Panchayati Raj elections by creating wards and zones “arbitrarily”. Rana not pleased Virtually castigating his party president, Rana Gurjit hinted that the latter was trying to take claim for the court order. “I have been working on this issue for the past three months and it is premature on the part of the party president to give any statement on the matter”. He said he would hold a press meet and issue an “appropriate” statement after going through the court order. Wards notified Meanwhile, the Punjab Government has notified the reservation of wards for the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad elections scheduled for May 19. Deputy Director Jaspal Singh said it was for the first time that the wards had been placed under the categories of Scheduled Castes (SC), SC women, women and general. Reservation for each category would depend on the population covered by a samiti or zila parishad. “Except for objections on alleged anomalies in voters' lists and changes in the zoning of wards, the ground work for the elections is ready. Complaints are being addressed on a daily basis,” said Jaspal Singh. Quoting a Supreme Court order, highly placed sources said lambardars too were eligible to contest panchayat elections.
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Shutrana poll official shifted, Cong cries foul
Patiala, April 26 The Congress leader alleged that the Shriomani Akali Dal (SAD) were hell-bent on getting their favourite officials deputed here to win the elections. Parneet Shergill was appointed as RO of Shutrana, but as some SAD leaders allegedly objected to her style of functioning, the administration recommended the name of another officer for the post. The new officer had earlier served as the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Shutrana. Patiala Deputy Commissioner GK Singh confirmed he had written a letter to the Election Commission, Patiala, to get Shergill transferred to Ghanaur constituency. Singh said Parneet had asked him to get her transferred elsewhere as she was uncomfortable travelling to Shutrana. “This is not a political decision and we have
posted an equally competent RO in her place,” Singh said. Parneet, however, skirted the issue and said she would serve anywhere. Punjab Election Commissioner Shivinder Singh Brar said, “The DC decides on who he wants to appoint as the RO. We will
appoint anyone recommended by him.” The zila parishad and panchayat polls in Punjab have been postponed by a week and are expected to be held on May 19.
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BJP leader protests, alleges vendetta
Ferozepur, April 26 Nannu has been at loggerheads with BJP state president Kamal Sharma for a while. His supporters clashed with the Sharma group outside the Senior Superintendent of Police’s (SSP) office on Wednesday and a case was registered against four persons. Nannu said he would take up the matter with the party high command and talk to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, alleging his men were being targeted at the behest of the rival faction within the party. BJP president Kamal Sharma, however, alleged that Nannu had become habitual at breaking party discipline. He said this was not acceptable at any cost and that the brawl had dented the image of the party. SIT formed SSP Varinder Pal Singh said the police had constituted an SIT to look into the matter. “We have deferred the arrest of four accused until the SIT gives its report,” Singh said.
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Shingar Cinema blast convict found dead in Nabha prison
Patiala, April 26 While the police awaits the post-mortem report of the deceased, sources inside the jail said the victim was hooked to drugs and had recently developed heart problems. The police said Sandeep Singh, alias Harry, who was jailed by the court under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosives Act, was found unconscious and shifted to the Nabha Civil Hospital today morning. “He was declared brought dead and initial investigations suggest he died of cardiac arrest,” the sources said. A detailed report in the case is awaited. Sources said Sandeep had completed his five-year jail term in the Explosives Act case and was serving another nine months for defaulting in court fine. “His death could be due to unavailability of drugs and he had recently been advised by doctors against drugs following his heart treatment,” they said. A senior Jail Department officer confirmed that the victim was undergoing treatment for heart ailment at the PGI, Chandigarh, and was not keeping well from the past some time. “He may have been on drug overdose earlier but had been under tight monitoring of late,” he said. Sources said Sandeep usually kept aloof from others and was mostly seen with only a couple of inmates with whom he interacted. This morning, he was shifted to the Civil Hospital after the medical facilities inside the jail were found inadequate to deal with his worsening condition.
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Smart cards for visitors in prisons soon
Chandigarh, April 26 Phillaur said for ensuring the safety of the jail staff, CCTV cameras, mobile jammers and other security gadgets would be installed. He said modalities were being worked out to ban two-storeyed construction up to 100 feet from the outer walls of the new jails. The Minister said the department would re-introduce the Nambardar system to promote a cordial atmosphere between the prisoners and the jail administration. About the quality of food being served in prisons, he said the Jail Department would review the diet norms in consultation with dieticians of reputed institutions. A committee comprising Inspector General (Jails), representatives of Central jails and sub-jails, besides a dietician from the PGI, Chandigarh, has been constituted to recommend healthy food for the inmates. Records to go hi-tech on Tihar pattern Phillaur said the entire records of prisoners maintained in Punjab jails would be computerised on the pattern of the Tihar jail. He said necessary steps were being taken in this direction. The computerised records would contain fingerprints of all the prisoners, date of their release, remissions, parole and good conduct.
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Strong winds flatten wheat crop
Amritsar/Jalandhar, April 26 Areas across Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Batala, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and border belt fields located in Daoke, Rajatal, Rorawala, Pul Kanjri, Khasa and Mahawa faced the wrath of weather fury. The Meteorological department said Tarn Taran received 9 mm rain, Amritsar 4 mm, Patti 7.2 mm, Kapurthala 5 mm and Moga 4.2 mm. Contrary to experts’ observations, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha leader Rattan Singh Randhawa said inclement weather at this juncture would may wreak havoc. The combines cannot operate on the flattened crop and manual harvesting would further delay the process, he claimed. Officials believe the damage could be between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent, but yesterday’s showers surely delayed the harvesting for another one or two days. The farmers also panicked as they would face difficulty in drying the crop. In Jalandhar, farmers who have not yet reaped their crop are worried a lot as rain coupled with strong winds lashed the region. Crop on 35 per cent of the total area under wheat in Punjab is still standing and yet to be harvested, it is learnt. The crop is still standing on over 50,000 hectares in Jalandhar district alone. Jalandhar Chief Agriculture Officer Swatantra Kumar Aeri said, “The total area under wheat in Jalandhar district is 1.71 lakh hectares. The crop has so far been harvested on nearly 65 per cent of the total area.” “The rain has not only partially affected the quality of the standing crop by causing discolouration of grains, but it has also delayed the harvest,” he added. Similar is the case with neighbouring Kapurthala district of the Doaba region where wheat crop was sown on 1.12 lakh hectares area this season and the crop is still standing on a considerable chunk of the area.
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Help make state defence production hub: Badal to CII
Chandigarh, April 26 A delegation of CII led by its president S Gopal Krishnam called on the Chief Minister here in this connection. During the deliberations, the Chief Minister evinced keen interest in developing the state as a defence production hub as the Centre had repeatedly laid thrust on development of indigenous defence industry for producing defence equipment in the country. He said Punjab had an enormous potential for setting up a defence production park for which the CII should assist the state by coming up with a detailed investment plan. Badal assured the delegation full support and co-operation in accomplishing the task. Laying thrust on the setting up of integrated technical training parks, the Chief Minister asked the delegation to send a high-level team for reviewing the infrastructure in Construction Skill and Training Centres being run in Abul Khurana (Sri Muktsar Sahib) and other parts of the state for imparting skill training to the youth. Badal said the skill training centres should be developed in such a manner that they could help in providing gainful employment to the youth by providing training to them according to the needs of local industry. He said the motive of these centres should be solely to impart training to the youth on a non-profit basis. The Chief Minister apprised the delegation that efforts were afoot in the state for bringing about a second Green Revolution through crop diversification, for which major thrust was being laid on cultivation of cash crops like maize, soyabean, pulses, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetable. He said these steps would prove futile if not supplemented by a much-needed push to the food processing industry in the state as farmers could not get remunerative returns on their produce without proper value addition.
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Loss of sight stares at poverty-stricken family
Rupana (Muktsar), April 26 It all began in 2006 when Raja (50), head of the family who is employed as a sweeper, took his eldest son Hansraj to the local Civil Hospital after he complained of low visibility. Doctors suggested a surgery but the family could not gather funds for it. Hansraj was left to his fate. After him, other members of the family — Raja, his wife Ramwati, second son Vishal and daughter Rekha — too went to the hospital with the same complaint, only to end up meeting the similar fate. All of them initially complained of blurred vision, a disease that later developed into white cataract. While doctors blame it on uncured multi-infections, the family considers it “a punishment of some sin committed unknowingly”. “My children were normal like all others. They were studying in the village’s government school. All was well till they started complaining of low vision. After that, nothing went right,” says Raja, tears welling in his eyes. “Had I been rich, things may have been different,” he adds. Doctors say the family members cannot get back more than 20-30 per cent of their vision. They fear a few of them may not be even that lucky. Raja’s all hopes are now pinned on the free treatment being provided to his children by the Education Department. “The department officials took all of us to a private hospital in Banur where the doctors, about a fortnight ago, performed a surgery on the left eye of my daughter. But, they said they have little hope,” an anguished Raja narrates. Dr Hem Lata, a member of the team looking after the family, says, “This seems to be a congenital disorder. All have white cataract in both their eyes. Even after treatment, they cannot get more than 20 to 30 per cent vision.”
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Smoke-free status for Sangrur district on cards
Sangrur, April 26 However, in a hotel having less than 30 rooms and a restaurant having a seating capacity of less than 30 persons, smoking is strictly prohibited. This direction has been issued under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) to isolate smokers from non-smokers as there is prohibition on smoking at all public places under Section 4 of the COTPA. The authorities have stated that owners of such hotels or restaurants would have to face the music for violating rules of the COTPA as they have made up their mind to check smoking in a big way. This is being done with the aim of protecting non-smokers from the hazards of passive smoking. A team from the PGI, Chandigarh, will visit Sangrur district in the first week of May for a compliance study to declare Sangur a smoke-free district. It has been stated that the team will check there is no active smoking at any public place in the district. Talking to The Tribune, District Health Officer-cum-district nodal officer, Tobacco Control, Dr Surinder Singla said if during surprise checking any type of ash tray or cigarette/’beeri’ butts were found in any hotel or restaurant, it would be considered a violation of the COTPA. Dr Singla said if the manager, in charge or owner of a public place, failed to act or report the violation of the COTPA, he would be liable to pay fine corresponding to the number of individual offenders smoking there at that time. The hotel and restaurant owners had also been directed to ensure display of ‘No smoking’ signboards at the entry and exit points and inside sitting halls, he added. During the first three months of this year, as many as 468 challans were issued for smoking at public places in the district as compared to 125 challans in the corresponding period the previous year.
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Students without books 3 weeks into session
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 26 The new session began three weeks ago and the Education Department hasn’t got its act together. This has become a cause for concern for parents and teachers alike. Though some schools have made stopgap arrangements and borrowed books from senior students, they are unable to provide the material to every student. District Education Officer Harvel Singh said that the department had distributed all the books received by it from the state government among the students.
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Project to help addicts quit drugs on anvil
Patiala, April 26 Under the project, the district police will work with a local NGO to identify drug addicts and send them for regular counselling and treatment. The state government will monitor the project and, if successful, implement it throughout the state. Under the MP project, the police will identify addicts held with drugs for self consumption and those who have just begun using these. “Once out on bail, these addicts will have to attend the de-addiction programme at one of the
various de-addiction centers across the district,” police said. Police is trying to rope in various NGOs to mentally prepare these addicts for de-addiction treatment. The addicts’ parents and relatives will be summoned and counselled by the NGOs on the de-addiction regimen. The local Station House Officer will be deputed to keep a bimonthly record of addicts. “Those found responding to the treatment will be provided all possible help,” said a senior police officer. Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Gupreet Singh Gill confirmed they had drawn a brief outline of the project. “We will tie up with the local government de-addiction centre at the initial stage and seek
the help of NGOs later,” Gill said. Gill said this project would be a first of its kind. “We are launching this project as it is easier for a person to give up drugs in the initial stages of addiction,” he said. Punjab Principal Secretary (Home) DS Bains said they would monitor the project and help the Patiala police execute it. “If the results are good, we will adopt it in other districts also as most crimes are committed by drug addicts,” Bains added.
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ITI for girls being run from youth hostel
Sangrur, April 26 Sources said more than a month ago, the Sangrur Deputy Commissioner had written a letter to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue), suggesting him to allot a vacant piece of land (of about one acre) in the city to the ITI for constructing a building. However, no response has been received yet, they said. They said the ITI had been shifted to this building in January 2010 and it had just four rooms for holding classes and one for office purposes. They said the ITI required five classrooms, five workshop rooms, a conference room, a room for a library, a store, an office block, a room for the principal and washrooms. Due to the shortage of space, the ITI authorities have not been able to start two courses pertaining to fashion technology and hair and skin care. At present, the ITI has been imparting training to 69 girls in three courses - cutting and tailoring, embroidery and needle work and computer operator programming.
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Matrimonial dispute turns violent
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 26 A car belonging to the girl’s family was also reportedly damaged. Both the groups were soon taken to the Fatehgarh Sahib police station. Deputy Superintendent of Police Hardevinder Singh said the girl’s father Tehla Shah, a resident of Dadhere, in his statement alleged his daughter Karamjit Kaur had married Kuldeep Singh of Nandpur Sahnehwal about two and a half years ago. He alleged the boy’s family continued to demand dowry even after their marriage and one-and-a-half-years later sent Karamjit back to his house. Karamjit, driver of the damaged car, said as they returned from the women’s cell in the administrative complex, several youths attacked their car with bricks. Superintendent of Police (Detective) Gurpreet Singh said both the groups had reached a compromise on February 13 this year but the girl’s family approached the women’s cell again. Singh said action would be taken against the culprits.
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Appeal for quashing delimitation
Chandigarh, April 26 Taking up the matter, the Bench directed the PPCC to elaborate upon its legal position. The PPCC was also asked to clearly tell the court whether it was a registered body. The case will now come up on May 1 for further hearing. As the petition came up for hearing this afternoon, the Punjab Government claimed PPCC’s petition was not maintainable. Elaborating, it said notification of wardbandi all over the state had been issued on January 31, 2013. Thereafter, electoral rolls on the basis of wardbandi were completed by the State Election Commission. Objections against the process too were disposed of by the authorities after considering these on merit. Contesting the state government’s response, a PPCC counsel argued that the state’s reply was blatant perjury at highest level. He argued that the fact before the Bench in the petition was a classic case of gerrymandering or manipulation of electoral boundaries by the state government. In its petition filed in public interest through president Partap Singh Bajwa, the party had earlier sought directions to the State of Punjab, and no less than 22 deputy commissioners, to undertake the process afresh. Claiming to have received “numerous complaints” in recent past on “grave illegalities, irregularities and gross violations of law in the process of wardbandi”, the party added that irregularities were being committed by the respondents with malafide and insidious designs.
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HC seeks record of case against Badal
Chandigarh, April 26 A local court on April 22 had issued fresh summons to the Chief Minister and three others in an ongoing suit for damages of Rs 2.1 crore for malicious prosecution. It has been filed by former Additional Director Information and Public Relations Jagdip Singh Chowhan. The fresh summons were issued after the ones issued on March 14 could not be served. The court had summoned Badal, along with bureaucrats RS Mann, Sarvesh Kaushal, Paramjeet Singh Aujla, Mandip Singh Sandhu and Mohinder Singh Kainth, Mukand Singh Sandhu, SK Verma
and seven others for June 11.
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Amritsar/Jalandhar, April 26
Sangrur, April 26
