P’kula DM had power to authorise talks with dera leaders, HC told

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16

Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (Home) SS Prasad has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the Panchkula District Magistrate was competent to authorise three officers for carry out negotiations with Dera Sacha Sauda leaders.

At the same time, Prasad submitted that he had no information regarding the authorisation of the three officers by the DM on August 25 for conversation with dera functionaries. Any such authorisation was a matter of record between the DM and the three officers, he stated.

The assertion came more than a month after the Haryana government was asked to seek explanation from three senior officers regarding their conversation with one of the key accused in the Panchkula dera violence case. Panchkula SDM Pankaj Setia has, in the case, claimed that he was asked to get in touch with functionaries of the Sirsa Dera.

In an affidavit before the court, Setia submitted that he was in touch with functionaries of the Dera Sacha Sauda on directions from the District Magistrate-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula.

Setia also claimed that he did not divulge minute details to anyone during his conversation with the accused on August 25, 2017, which could have put the judicial officer in a peril.

Setia submitted that the complete transcript of his conversation with the accused was not presented by Panchkula Deputy Commissioner. He also described as “factually incorrect” claim of the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) that the state government had not authorised him to speak to the accused.