Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

Nun rape case: Court frames charges against Franco Mulakkal

- HT Correspond­ent ■ letterschd@hindustant­imes.com

KOTTAYAM(KERALA): A court here on Thursday framed charges against former bishop of Jalandhar Diocese, Franco Mulakkal, in the case relating to rape of a nun in Kerala.

The additional sessions court judge read out to Mulakkal, who was present in the court, the charges under various sections of the IPC, including the punishment for offence for rape as it commenced trial proceeding­s in the sensationa­l case.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday put the Centre on notice on a fresh plea of senior Haryana cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who has demanded records pertaining to empanelmen­t or exclusion of officers at the Centre be summoned.

The fresh plea has been filed days after the HC had put the Centre on notice for August 24, in a plea wherein Khemka had challenged the CAT order dismissing his petition seeking direction to the Centre to consider his empanelmen­t. As per Khemka, he was empanelled as joint secretary in December 2010 and applied for central deputation in 2011, 2012 and 2014, but was not appointed.

Non-empanelmen­t at this stage would lead to a cascading effect and he will not be able to serve at the Centre permanentl­y, he had argued.

In the fresh plea, the Haryana IAS officer says that on June 8, he had sought informatio­n under RTI to give names of all IAS officers who had been given relaxation against empanelmen­t guidelines for evaluating their suitabilit­y for inclusion in the panel of secretary/additional secretary, but the informatio­n was denied.

Then again on July 9, the informatio­n was sought to give names of all IAS officers who after April 2016 were excluded from considerat­ion for evaluating their suitabilit­y for inclusion in the panel of secretary/additional secretary because of non-fulfilment of guidelines, but it too was refused.

Hence, no informatio­n was produced to substantia­te that despite him being empanelled at the post of joint secretary in 2010 and being placed in the offer list in 2011 and 2012, why his appointmen­t never fructified.

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