CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 5 issued notice for March 12 to the Punjab Government on a writ petition seeking a judicial inquiry by a silting high court Judge, a District Judge or a Vigilance Judge into the “gruesome murder” of Kulwant Singh, an advocate of Ropar, his wife and a minor child.
A Division Bench comprising Justice $.S.Sodhi and Justice V.KBalialso ordered that the High Court Bar Association and the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana be impleaded as parties to the petition through their president and chairman and issued notice to them.
The writ petition was filed in the public interest by one Suresh Kumar of Thakurpur village in Ambala. Interestingly, the petitioner did not turn up in court when the case was called.
The petition, a copy of which was released to newsmen, refers to the strike by lawyers in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh and their persistent demand for a judicial inquiry, it says that it is in the interest of the Punjab Government that “doubt regarding the mystery surrounding the murder is cleared and the truth brought out.”
It states that lawyers would not be satisfied with an inquiry by any authority other than the judiciary.
Claiming him to be a “public spirited person interested in speedy justice to the masses and in upholding the dignity of the law,” the petitioner says that he was perturbed by the suffering of the litigating public due to the strike.
The entire work within the high court’s jurisdiction has come to a grinding halt and even basic application and stay matters are not being taken up.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 12, 1993
