Written by: Express News Service
2 min readChandigarhApr 14, 2014 02:53 PM IST
First published on: May 17, 2013 at 01:50 AM IST
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday directed Punjab government not to issue the final notification for the Panchayat polls till May 29.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain passed an oral direction to the Punjab government to this effect while hearing a petition filed by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) challenging the “arbitrary and fraudulent” delimitation of wards done by state government.
When the matter came up for resumed hearing,Punjab Advocate General Ashok Aggarwal was unavailable for arguments and a pass over was sought by a junior counsel. The Bench,however,chose to adjourn the hearing till May 29.
Before the hearing could be adjourned,senior lawyer Anupam Gupta,appearing on behalf of PPCC,hinting at an irrevocable damage if the final notification was issued requested the court to direct the state government not to do it.
Taking note,the division bench orally directed the government not to issue a notification till May 29.
Meanwhile,the PPCC Thursday placed on record its additional affidavit filed by state congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa and pertains to a notification prepared by a Deputy Commissioner (DC) and “falsifies” the state government’s claim on the issue of delimitation of wards.
Punjab had taken a categorical stand that “houses situated in the Gram Sabha area have no house numbers”. An affidavit to this effect was filed by Punjab last week,in the High Court,in response to a petition by PPCC.
However,the PPCC produced a copy of the notification issued by DC,Fatehgarh Sahib,in which the government officer has clearly mentioned the house numbers in each ward —- a notification,which clearly belies the state government’s claim.
The affidavit reads that “it is most unfortunate and reprehensible,if not contumacious,that the state (Punjab) has chosen to lie through its teeth in claiming that houses in the Gram Sabha area do not have house numbers”.
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