Court to pronounce order on Punjab drug racket on Nov 18
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Oct, 2021 11:36 AM
Chandigarh, Oct 26 (IANS) After over three years "delay" in the Punjab multi-crore drug case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday announced it will pass an order on November 18.
It also observed that the matter has been pending adjudication without any effective order being passed since 2018.
Earlier, an application was filed by the state for examining status reports filed in 2018 be taken up on priority.
After examining the plea, an order was passed by a bench of Justices A.G. Masih and A.K. Verma to enable the prosecuting agency to proceed as per law, an official statement quoting the office of Advocate General A.P.S. Deol said.
The bench considered the plea raised on behalf of the state and after hearing the Advocate General for an hour, orally observed that the bench "is conscious of the fact that the matter has been pending adjudication without any effective order being passed since May 23, 2018 and, therefore, the bench does not want to give an impression that we are sitting over the matter".
"So considering the plea raised in the application, the court has directed the Registrar Judicial to produce the status reports in sealed cover in chamber and observed that we will examine the reports in these days prior to passing the order on November 18," said the statement.
The request of Satya Pal Jain, representing the Centre, to file further status report with regard to the progress in the extradition of certain accused as well as the latest report by the Enforcement Directorate and other agencies be filed on November 15, two days before the pronouncement of the order.
Earlier, the case was being heard by the bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Ajay Tewari but the latter recused himself from hearing the case on September 1.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday announced that they will continue the peaceful protest here and will not obstruct any official day to day activities. He said that farmers across the state will continue the agitation on the lines of ongoing protests at the Delhi borders.
The drug money is allegedly linked with the seizure of 17 kg heroin, which was recovered by the police in Amritsar (Rural) on August 26 after arresting Ranjit Singh, alias Sonu.
The demands included an FIR and strict action against SDM Ayush Sinha, who on August 28 instructed the police to beat the protesting farmers. A video-clip of Sinha ordering the force to smash the farmers' heads had stirred a row after it went viral on social media.
Amid farmers protest in Karnal, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Wednesday that the government should avoid confrontation with the farmers and find amicable solution. He said confrontation is not good as farmers have every right to protest peacefully for their demands.
This agreement would set an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Portugal on sending and accepting Indian workers and a Joint Committee will be set up to follow up the implementation of the same.
These internal differences notwithstanding, the Taliban are reaching out to regional/global powers underlining their desire to build "good relations" with the neighbouring countries, especially China which has "always contributed" to the Afghan economy, as well as with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, India and Uzbekistan.
