The charges against the former chief minister, A R Antulay, accusing him of having deceived the cabinet and the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly into sanctioning Rs 2 crore to the Indira Gandhi Pratibha Pratishthan (IGPP) were dismissed by Justice D N Mehta of the Bombay High Court. Justice Mehta was dictating his judgment in the case against Antulay filed by the Janata leader, P B Samant.
One of the last wishes of the slain Akali leader, Harchand Singh Longowal, was the establishment of a Panthic government in Punjab. This was stated by the acting president of the Akali Dal, Surjit Singh Barnala, at the “bhog” ceremony of Longowal. This wish may be fulfilled if the Akali leadership do not leave the path adopted by them now and remain united for the cause of communal harmony and unity, for which Longowal sacrificed his life.
The additional expenses needed for judicial reforms are proposed to be accorded priority and also included in the Seventh Five-Year Plan. This was understood to have been agreed upon at the Chief Justice and Chief Ministers’ meeting, which concluded over the weekend. The Finance Minister, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who was present at the conference, agreed to give central assistance to the proposed reforms.
A record number of 177 nominations had been filed for the 13 Lok Sabha seats from Punjab as the last date for filing papers for the September 25 elections passed. According to reports, the number of candidates for the state assembly, due to go to the polls simultaneously, might cross the 2,000-mark. With reports from four out of 12 districts still awaited, 1,469 candidates had entered the field.
