High court disposes of petition against SN Jha commission

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday disposed of a petition against justice (retd) SN Jha panel, which is probing the conspiracy angle in the violence witnessed during the Jat agitation of February 2016.

Earlier on September 27, the HC bench of justice RK Jain, acting on the petition of Virender Kumar, political adviser to then Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had stayed the proceedings.

He had approached the court alleging that Commission of Inquiry Act (COI) provisions are not being followed by the panel.

The state government told the court that he would be served fresh summons and would be allowed to present his side.

The court disposed of the petition fixing October 16 for his appearance before the panel, adding that by then the panel would issue fresh summons to him. The detailed order is awaited.

HC ASKS YOUTH AFFAIRS MINISTRY TO GIVE INFO ON NATIONAL AWARDS

The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the ministry of youth affairs and sports to disclose the information regarding recommendation of National Indira Gandhi NSS Awards for National Social Service (NSS) scheme volunteers.

The high court acted in a petition challenging the Central Information Commission’s decision not to allow the same since the third party had not consented in this regard.

The information was sought by one Jainarayan Jakhar of Hisar, suspecting foul play in granting these awards to the students in December 2014.

He had demanded eligibility criterion and performance evaluation for granting awards to the two students of a Sonepat college.

The mere objection on the part of the third-party cannot be made the basis for denying the information to be supplied because a final decision has to be taken by the competent authority, the court said asking the ministry to provide information about hours completed during volunteership, camps attended, leadership qualities etc and any outstanding performance with respect to the awardee.