CHANDIGARH; Venkatramia Commission appointed, to identify Hindi-speaking villages in Punjab to be given to Haryana in lieu of Chandigarh, has set new dates for filing claims by Haryana and reply by Punjab and arguments by both sides, The proceedings of the Commission on Saturday indicated that Commission will complete its work by May 31 as stipulated in the terms of reference of the Commission. The Commission had directed Haryana to file its claim by May 16 mornings and Punjab will find its reply on May 19. Any rejoinder that Haryana would like to make must be filed by May 20.
The Commissioner has fixed May 2ist, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th for final arguments by both states. Though May 23rd and 24th are holidays
The Council for Haryana, Mr. Denu Gopal submitted that they should be supplied the missing portion of the Mathew Commission Report as the full report was not given to them. The Haryana Council also wanted the list of eighty-three villages declared by the Mathew Commissions Hindi speaking villages in Fazilka and Abohar area. The Commission ‘observed that the missing portion of report not supplied to the party was not relevant for submission for Claims hence those portions were ‘not supplied regarding making available the list of eighty-three Hindi-speaking villages to Haryana, it was not right to anticipate the reply of the Punjab government and the decision of the Commission. The Commission said primafaci, this has no relevance to the filing of claims but if a later stage it was found to be necessary it would then be considered. The Council of Punjab, Mr. So rabies, argued that Haryana only wants to delay the proceedings non-supply of lists of these villages will not affect the filing of the claim. The copy of the Mathew Commission report which has been supplied to Punjab and Haryana, does not contain more than about half dozen instances and observations of various kinds. Among the missing portions are copies of two letters written by late Justice Gurnam Singh, who was the Chief: Minister of Punjab. 1969-1970. other by Mr. Bansi Lal, the present Minister for Railways who was Chief Minister of Haryana in 1970. The copy of the report supplied to the two states also does not contain the names of the villages described by the Mathew Commission as Hindi-speaking and result of the enumeration conducted in that area, Perhaps the result of enumeration has been kept away from the two states t0 avoid any pressure on those villages from either side, The two states have been given those portions of the report in which the Mathew Commission has discussed in detail the question continuity and explained his note. Which explains that that the said eighty-three Hindi-speaking are not located in one lot nor ‘are complete connected with each other.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 16, 1986
