HC judge recuses from hearing trustees’ pleas

CHANDIGARH: A Punjab and Haryana high court judge on Tuesday recused himself from hearing the anticipatory bail pleas of Ryan International School trustees in the case of murder of seven-yearold Pradhyumn in Gurgaon last week.

Justice AB Chaudhari referred the pleas to the chief justice of high court, urging him to list the case before some other bench. Trustees Augustine F Pinto, his wife Grace and their son Ryan had approached the high court in two different petitions on Saturday.

“The pleas will be taken up tomorrow by an another bench,” advocate Abinav Sood, a lawyer associated with the matter said.

Pinto and Grace have argued that they would make themselves available whenever summoned. Since they are senior citizens, they are suffering from various ailments and their arrest would adversely affect their health, it has been argued. In the petitions, it has been further argued that the day-to- day management of the school is taken care of by the members of the local management committee,hence by no stretch of imagination they can be made liable for the alleged criminal offence, they have argued. They contended that the family is involved in broader policy matters of 54 institutions they run across country and the dayto-day functioning is taken care of by local management officials.

COMMISSION AGENTS’ CONCERN

The commission agents are not ready to admit any black marketing and corruption in the mandis, which the government is aiming to check with the new move.

They allege that if the farmers are given the payment directly, the latter will not return the money borrowed from them.

“Most of the farmers will not return the money they borrow from commission agents on high interest rates, if they get the payment directly in their account. We cannot take any action against them if they refuse to return the money,” said Naresh Kumar, a commission agent of Kurukshetra district.

Talking to HT, Haryana Beopar Mandal president Bajrang Dass Garg said the government does not have the required

MOVE AIMED AT AGRI REFORMS: GOVT

Talking to HT, a senior official working on the project said e-trading is an essential step to end the black marketing and corruption from the grain markets and provide direct payment to the farmers on time.

Official sources said 54 of the 108 grain markets in the state have already been linked with the online trading system.

POLICE SAID ACCUSED ANJU, ALONG WITH HER PARAMOUR SURAJBHAN, KILLED HER HUSBAND SURJEET SINGH, 42, BY HITTING BRICKS ON HIS HEAD; THE ACCUSED WERE ARRESTED