Breather to Bindra,HC allows functioning of unit

“The PPCB has given its consent to run the unit and the company would not exceed slaughter of 350 cattleheads a day,” Bindra said in the affidavit.

Advocate A R Takkar,counsel of the PPCB,said: “We will closely monitor the unit.”

With this,Punjab Meats Limited (PML),Dera Bassi,will resume its operations in full swing. The company was in a soup for not installing an effluent treatment plant (ETP),thereby resulting in pollution in the vicinity.

PML Industries established its industrial plant in 1995 for manufacture of boneless meat,bone meat meal and edible oils by slaughtering buffaloes. However,in 1996,residents of the nearby villages filed a complaint alleging the unit was discharging waste water into the drain.

The unit was visited by officers of the Board on June 3,1996,and it was observed that the ETP was not in operation. The unit had also not made proper arrangements for the disposal of waste water.

Notices were issued to the unit for its closure by the department and even its electricity connection was disconnected a couple of times owing to non-installation of ETP.

Aggrieved,the unit moved the High Court in 2006,which granted an interim stay. However,since the company failed to install the ETP,the High Court in 2006 passed orders to close down the unit. The unit,however,got a stay on the HC order from the Supreme Court.

Sending the case back to the High Court,the Supreme Court had directed the PPCB to take fresh samples of water from the unit.

Minor girl missing: HC summons IG
Acting on a petition filed by a woman,Justice TPS Mann of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday summoned IG Patiala range,PS Gill,to appear in the court on the next hearing on March 8.

Sushila,a resident of Nayagaon,said in her petition that her 11-year-old daughter Khushboo had gone missing from her residence on August 18,2008. She had reported to the police following which a daily diary report was registered.

Till date,there is no sign of her daughter and the police have wrongly mentioned in the report that her daughter is mentally retarded,she said. The petition also stated that the police have made no effort to trace the missing girl and her whereabouts are not known so far. “It’s been almost two years she went missing,police need to wake up from their slumber,” said Sushila.

The HC said,“Let the IG appear to apprise the court as to what steps can be taken to find the daughter.”

Cash at judge’s door: CBI submits record
Complying with the court orders seeking additional records in the closure report in the cash-at-judge’s door case,the CBI on Tuesday submitted the records along with the opinion of the then Attorney General Milon Banerjee.

Following the submission of record,CBI Special Judge adjourned the hearing of the case to March 2.

Anupam Gupta,counsel for the Punjab and Haryana Bar Association,which had moved a petition against the CBI’s closure report,urged the court to reject the report. Submitting that the basis of the closure report stands falsified,Gupta said investigation showed the accused were guilty and the closure was solely filed on the basis of non-grant of sanction while no request of sanction was ever made to the CJI.

He stressed that the CBI did not require sanction to prosecute former Haryana Additional Advocate General Sanjiv Bansal and businessman Ravinder Singh,as they are not public servants.

Ravinder’s counsel AS Chahal urged the court to accept the CBI’s closure report in the case.

The case had made headlines after Rs 15 lakh was “wrongly delivered” at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur on August 13,2008,following which she had reported the matter to the police. Police had later arrested Bansal,property dealer Rajiv Gupta and Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh.

Liquor vend near school: Notice to Punjab govt,Admn
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Punjab government and Chandigarh Administration on a PIL seeking direction to the respondents to shift a liquor vend from Sector-52,which is close to the boundary of Government Middle School.

The petitioner,advocate HC Arora,pleaded that as per the Excise Policy of the Punjab government,liquor vends cannot be located within 50 m from any educational institution or a religious place. However,the liquor vend in Sector-52 is situated at less than 10 m from the Government Middle School.

Incidentally,while the liquor vend falls in Punjab area,while the school falls in UT area.

The petitioner stated that the vend causes nuisance and vitiates the environment of the school. Arora also alleged that such liquor vends near educational institutions are quite common in

Punjab. Therefore the respondents should be directed to formulate some procedure so that such situation does not take place in future.