Drug case: No more in slumber, Punjab tells court

Chandigarh, December 7

The State of Punjab has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it was no more in “deep slumber”. The submission came in response to the High Court’s observation that the state was apparently not only lazy, but also in “deep slumber”.

As the ongoing case of drugs menace came up for resumed hearing, the Bench of Justice Augustine George Masih and Justice Sandeep Moudgil expressed a hope that the state woke up from slumber. It was also of the view that so far, there were only talks and no action in the matter. The Bench also made it clear during the course of hearing that it was concerned with the larger aspects of the public interest litigation (PIL) before it and not allegations against individuals. The Bench added it had gone through all orders and made points.

Advocate Navkiran Singh on the behalf of Lawyers for Human Rights International added there was no effective action in the matter since May 2018. He added the High Court had not ordered stay in the matter. Yet, there was no action. The case will now come up for further hearing on Thursday.

Appearing before the Bench, Punjab Advocate General DS Patwalia reaffirmed the state’s commitment to take strict action in the matter while submitting, “We have woken up from the deep slumber”. Representing the state of Punjab along with Patwalia, senior advocate Dushyant Dave agreed that the state had been lazy in taking action in the matter, adding that it had now been advised to act swiftly.

Seeking directions to be made a party of the ongoing proceedings after alleging attempts by his political opponents to target him, Bikram Singh Majithia through senior counsel RS Cheema and Arshdeep Singh Cheema argued that neither the special task force, nor the Enforcement Directorate had found any evidence against the Akali leader and MLA in relation to the case. — TNS