The Tribune – Double murder case reaches dead end

Mohit Khanna, Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 9. While the city police has launched a massive combing operation to nab the suspected killers of Moga DSP Balraj Singh Gill and Monica Kapila, who were brutally murdered at a farmhouse in Golf Link area on February 1, with the each passing day the case is heading towards a dead end.

The city has been witnessed to several such high profile murder mysteries, the files of which are gathering dust in various police stations.

The murder of Namdhari leader Avtar Singh Tari and killing of Assistant Sub-Inspector Gurdial Singh are some of the prime examples where the investigating agencies had to eat a humble pie.

Interestingly, when Avtar Singh Tari was shot dead by unidentified assailants on April 13, 2011, near Sahnewal, DSP Balraj Singh was posted as ACP Sahnewal subdivision.

Though the police showed seriousness in cracking the broad daylight murder case of the Namdhadri leader, nearly a year after the incident the murder mystery remains unsolved.

The case of ASI Gurdial Singh, who was shot after a robber opened fire at a police party in Vishal Nagar on May 18, 2011 is another such unsolved case which caused embarrassment for the Police Department. After battling for life for nearly 18 days, the ASI succumbed to his injuries on June 6, 2011.

In the case of Gurdial’s murder, the police launched a massive manhunt operation. Even posters containing pictures from CCTV footages of the ASI’s killers were widely circulated across the state, but no headway could be made in the case.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120210/punjab.htm#7

The Tribune – SGPC heading towards a crisis?

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 10. With the newly elected SGPC House caught in legal tangle over the Sehajdhari issue, the premier Sikh body seems to be heading towards a crisis and may find it difficult to pass its annual budget in March.

The annual budget of the SGPC has to be passed by its executive as well as the General House before March 31. The SGPC needs to issue notices to its members informing them about the Budget Session 21 days in advance after getting it passed from the executive. However, the executive of the newly elected SGPC House is yet to be formed.

This means the SGPC has now less than a month left to get its executive in place and the annual budget passed by it. The executive is formed alongside the election of the new office-bearers, a process which is getting delayed due to the ongoing legal process over the Sehajdhari row.

Though the SGPC election process got completed with the issuance of a notification of the new SGPC House on December 16, following the elections on September 18 and co-option on December 5, the Union government hasn’t given a green signal to the SGPC session for electing its new office-bearers.

As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the elections of the new office-bearers should be held within a month of the notification of the new House. Going by the norm, the meeting of the new House to elect the office-bearers should have been called by January 15.

SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh said they were in a tight spot as the time for the budget session was fast approaching. However, he clarified they had set the ball rolling as far as the preparation of the annual SGPC budget was concerned. He hoped they would get some respite from either the court or the government to facilitate smooth passage of the budget.

Dalmegh Singh said apart from the budget, they were also finding it difficult to run their day-to-day affairs due to the delay in the election of the new SGPC team. “We are managing the work by keeping the nod for various expenses pending. For instance, we have already organised Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib and Maghi Mela at Muktsar Sahib in the absence of necessary sanction for expenditure made in holding these events and now we may have to do the same on Baisakhi if the new SGPC team is not elected by then,” he said.

According to him, the SGPC president has the powers to sanction a maximum of Rs 25,000 and any amount above it has to be sanctioned by the SGPC executive.

Noted lawyer H S Phoolka said the court had not quashed the recent SGPC elections and, therefore, the Centre could call a session of the new SGPC House to elect its office-bearers.

However, former Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission chairman Kashmir Singh Patti said the SGPC could not pass the annual budget in the current scenario.

Legal Tangle

- The newly elected SGPC House is caught in a legal tangle over the Sehajdhari issue

- The case is delaying the formation of the executive body of the SGPC House

- The delay also may affect the SGPC budget, which has to be passed by its executive as well as General House before March 31

- After getting it passed, the SGPC needs to issue notices to its members informing them about the budget session 21 days in advance

- This means the SGPC now has less than a month left to get its executive in place and get the budget passed

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120211/punjab.htm#5

The Asian Age – Age row: SC decision gives major boost to UPA

Sanjay Basak, Deccan Chronicle

New Delhi, 11 February 2012. A few weeks after a Delhi court threw out Janata Party president Subramanyam Swamy’s plea to make Union home minister P. Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G scam, the Supreme Court’s move on Friday to uphold the government’s decision on Army Chief General V.K. Singh’s age row comes as a major political victory for the Congress-led UPA.

If the government was elated with the ministry of defence ‘welcoming’ the Supreme Court decision, the BJP went into a sulk.

What is being viewed as a desperate reaction, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, while terming the incident as ‘sad’, said, “An issue which could have been resolved sitting within closed doors has now been dragged in the open before the public. We hold the Centre, the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi responsible for the incident.” The other Opposition parties, including Prakash Karat-led CPI(M) went quiet.

For quite some time, the government has been pushed to a corner both inside and outside Parliament over the 2G issue and also on the Army Chief age row. The Opposition had not merely boycotted the home minister inside Parliament over the 2G issue, but General Singh’s move to approach the top court had sent alarm bells ringing in the UPA corridor.

Politically, particularly with elections in five states, the Opposition had been trying to combine all the controversies plaguing the UPA into electoral issues. Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani had repeatedly questioned the government over the top ministers’ role in the 2G scam. The BJP had also attacked the government for its “failure” to handle the Army Chief age row.

The judicial verdicts, will not merely silence the Opposition for some time, but also help the Congress-led UPA to regain control over its allies like the Trinamul Congress, which has been relentlessly opening up fronts against the Centre.

If the electoral verdicts in the five states, somehow go in Congress’ favour, the party is likely to emerge much stronger and take a firm grip on the allies looking out for possible political re-alignment.

If the Supreme Court’s decision had gone against the government, it would have completely destroyed its credibility in dealing with the armed forces and could have seen a rise in litigation in service matters.

Similarly, a decision against Mr Chidambaram would have thrown the Centre into a major political crisis.

http://www.asianage.com/india/age-row-sc-decision-gives-major-boost-upa-659