High court summons IGP (crime), principal secy social welfare dept

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday summoned inspector general of police (crime) and principal secretary, social justice and empowerment department on March 27, for allegedly failing to comply with directions of the high court.

The order was passed by the high court bench of justice Surya Kant and justice Sudip Ahluwalia during the resumed hearing of a suo motu petition wherein the high court is monitoring steps taken by governments of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to fight the drug menace.

The high court bench observed that there was “deliberate defiance” of court orders by the officers of state. It added that court orders are being interpreted in a certain manner so that they don’t have to venture out from their air conditioned

SUMMONS ISSUED TO THEM FOR ALLEGEDLY FAILING TO COMPLY WITH HC DIRECTIONS ON STEPS BEING TAKEN TO FIGHT DRUG MENACE

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The high court bench was miffed over the state government stating that teams of social justice department visited drug de-addiction centres in many parts of the state and found no patient at many places and also could not extract much relevant information.

The government was also dismissive about the menace of synthetic drugs in the state. During the hearing it also came to light that in many of the reports, names of the patients who were interviewed, were revealed by officials.

The state’s report came in response to the high court’s directions of identifying sources of drugs instead of acting against the small time drug peddlers and end users. Upon perusal of the report, the high court bench observed that it appears those who have been identified as source, are small time peddlers.

4,488 CASES BETWEEN JAN 2014 AND NOV 2016, HARYANA TELLS HC

The government also told the high court that a total of 4,488 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act between January 1, 2014 and November 2016. In these, 5,966 people were arrested and 491 ‘sources’ identified.

As per the state’s report, the highest number of cases were reported in Sirsa (748), bordering Punjab, followed by Fatehabad (590). Apart from these, the other districts with high number of cases were Ambala (209), Karnal (416), Kurukshetra (274) and Panipat (271).