SC judge recuses from hearing Punjab govt plea against bail to Majithia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Jan, 2023 12:21 PM
New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant on Monday recused himself from hearing a Punjab government plea challenging the high court order, which granted bail to Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a drug case.
The matter was listed for Monday before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari.
As soon as the matter came up for hearing, Justice Surya Kant said he was part of the high court bench which passed directions to set up a special task force to investigate the matter.
Majithia, the brother-in-law of SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had been lodged in the Patiala jail on February 24 last year.
The Punjab government, represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, moved the apex court challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated August 10, 2022.
The bench ordered: "Let the matter be listed before a bench in which one of us (Justice Kant) is not a member."
Granting bail to Majithia, the high court had observed that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that he is not guilty. Majithia was released after spending more than five months in the Patiala jail in the drug case.
However, the high court had clarified that the trial court should proceed independently of the observations made by it. Majithia was booked on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug special task force (STF) into a drug racket in the state.
Apart from the arrest of two juveniles in conflict with law, the remaining four module members arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi Numberdar (18) of Naushera Pannua; Gurlal Singh, alias Gahla (19) of Chohla Sahib; Surlalpal Singh, alias Gurlal, (21); and Jobanpreet Singh, alias Joban (18) of Naushra Pannua.
Among the H and L, the H-1B and L-1 are among the most popular non-immigrant work visas in the US. In October this year, the US Embassy in India released over 1,00,000 appointments for H and L visas for workers and their families to cut down the wait time.
Eight persons who were critically injured people have been admitted to the Orai Medical College in Jalaun district, said police. According to reports, a gas stove lit up by a cook triggered the blaze, which spread to a nearby wooden structure.
The state government, in a counter-affidavit, said the Excise Department has been regularly carrying out massive enforcement drives against manufacture and use of illicit homemade liquor/spurious liquor. The state government's response came after the Supreme Court expressed concern at increasing illicit liquor trade in the state.
As a precautionary measure to contain and control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the Kartarpur Corridor was temporarily suspended from March 16, 2020. With the improvement in the Covid-19 situation, the corridor was reopened to pilgrims on November 17, 2021.
The blood samples were also recovered, from bathroom and kitchen, by forensic officials in the Chattarpur house, where both Poonawalla and Walkar had shifted on May 15, three days before her murder.
