National » Other States
Published: October 30, 2014 09:49 IST |
Updated: October 30, 2014 09:49 IST
GURGAON,
October 30, 2014
‘HC decision on green belt will favour expansion of road’
A day after a two-judge Bench of the Punjab and Haryana
High Court upheld the acquisition of a green belt in front of the
Ambience Mall here, lawyers and government officials maintained that the
decision could be seen as favourable to the widening of the DLF-HUDA
sector road.
Disposing a writ petition by Ambience
Hotel and Resorts Private Limited challenging the acquisition of 342
acre of land in Nathupur village in 2011 for development of green belt,
Justice Ashutosh Mohunta, acting chief justice of the High Court, and
Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal had said that land acquired “shall be
utilised for maintaining green belt as defined in the explanatory note
of the Final Development Plan-2031 of Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex”.
Speaking to The Hindu,
advocate Pradeep Rapria, who represented intervener Colonel Talwar,
said: “The petitioner had no legal claim to the piece of land in
question and was using it for its own commercial interest. The
petitioner even offered to continue to maintain the land, but the court
rightly turned down their plea. The court has in its order said the land
in question should be used only for green belt as per the
Gurgaon-Manesar Final Development Plan. Since the belt can be used for
widening of roads, it could be used for the widening of the DLF-HUDA
sector road as well.”
Ambience Mall management and
senior HUDA officials refused to comment on the issue. The land is
question is the starting point of the under-construction DLF-HUDA road,
which covers a distance of 8.3 km on Sector Road and 2.2 km on NH-8. Its
construction has been questioned by urban experts and
environmentalists.
Cities » Delhi
Published: January 8, 2015 00:00 IST | Updated: January 8, 2015 05:35 IST GURGAON, January 8, 2015Appointment of top officials in Haryana AG Office questioned
There is no specified criterion or qualification
required for appointment as Additional/Deputy/Assistant Advocate General
in the office of the Advocate General, the Haryana Government said
replying to a query under the Right to Information Act.
More
than 90 Additional/Deputy/Assistant Advocate General have been engaged
by the Haryana Government over the past two months after the BJP
government took over.
Earlier, the Congress
government had also made similar appointments. While Assistant AG is
paid Rs.80,000 per month, the Additional and Deputy AGs are paid over
Rs.1 lakh per month.
“One wonders how the State
Government decides on the merit of the selected advocates. And,
important aspect is that these advocates engaged without any criteria of
merit, deal with the fundamental rights and other rights of the
citizens in the High Court. So many meritorious and senior lawyers feel
that the opaque procedure of appointment of law officers in the AG
Office, leads to compromise on merit,” said Pardeep Kumar Rapria, a
practicing lawyer in the High Court, who had filed the RTI application
seeking the information.
The RTI reply also revealed
that no applications were invited or received from those appointed.
Questioning the appointments without formal applications, Mr. Rapria, a
practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court and High Court, alleged that a
majority of those appointed were kith and kin of ministers, political
leaders, senior bureaucrats, high court judges, police officers and MLAs
of ruling party in the state.
“It is important to
mention here that as per the latest Bar Council of India Rules an
advocate before starting practice in the High Court must have a minimum
experience of two years of practice of law before a Sessions Judge or
District Judge. However, the Haryana Government has picked up several
lawyers who have less than two years experience,” said Mr. Raparia.
Mr.
Raparia has now challenged the “arbitrary” and “illegal” engagement of
advocates in the AG Office, Haryana, on pick and choose basis, as this
issue affected the “fundamental rights of people and the overall
functioning of the judicial system”.
It
has been alleged that majority of those appointed as
Additional/Deputy/Assistant Advocate General were kith and kin of
ministers and political leaders
Cities » Delhi
Published: January 30, 2015 00:00 IST | Updated: January 30, 2015 05:32 IST GURGAON, January 30, 2015Notice to Haryana govt. on law officers’ appointment
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday issued
notice to the Haryana Government and all law officers in the office of
Advocate General, Haryana, in a case pertaining to selection of law
officers without any rule and without inviting any application.
Pardeep
Kumar Rapria, has alleged that despite having experience of serving
Central Government organisations the government had not selected him,
but selected such lawyers with no experience of appearance before the
HC.
Interestingly, as per a Right to Information
reply in this connection, the government selected the Law Officers
without receiving any application from them.
During
the argument, the petitioner made submission that Law officer should be
law-knowing person, and not political leader-knowing person. Law officer
post is not a political post; it is a public post with greater
responsibility in the administration of justice. The petitioner also
submitted that the law officers conduct cases on behalf of the State and
not at the instance of the ruling party or whichever party comes to
power.
Haryana government mulling policy for appointment of law officers
- HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Chandigarh |
- Updated: Feb 24, 2015 21:39 IST
Manohar-Lal-Khattar-Haryana-chief-minister-HT-Photo
The Haryana government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court
that it is mulling a policy for the appointment of law officers in the
advocate general's (AG's) office at the high court.
During the resumed hearing on Tuesday, the state government sought
more time from the court to file a reply. The government accepted that
as of now, there was no policy in place for such appointments. However,
the government is mulling such a policy, lawyer-petitioner Pardeep Kumar
Rapria said.
Rapria had moved the high court, challenging the appointment of law
officers by the Manohar Lal Khattar government at its advocate general's
office in the high court.
Rapria has alleged that several lawyers who had not even practised
before the district courts had been appointed in the AG's office. He had
submitted that the rate of conviction in criminal cases had gone down
as government matters went undefended.
He had also referred to the recent report of the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India (CAG) in which certain adverse remarks over
functioning of the administration of the justice department (advocate
general) had been made.
The Khattar government has so far appointed more than 100 law
officers at its AG office after coming to power in October last year.
The previous Congress government in the state had more than 200 law
officers in the AG's office.
Printed from
HC extends Kataria's pre-arrest bail
TNN | Aug 27, 2015, 02.29 AM IST
CHANDIGARH:
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday granted one more
opportunity to former Haryana minister Sukhbir Kataria to appear for
investigations in relation to bogus voter card scam and extended his
anticipatory bail till September 21.
The high court, however,
directed the police to file a status report of the investigation before
it on the next date of hearing. When the matter came up for hearing on
Wednesday, the counsel for Haryana government informed the bench of
Justice Shekhar Dhawan that the accused former minister did not
cooperate in the investigation and refused to give his handwriting
samples to the special investigation team (SIT) and therefore the probe
was not progressing.
The court was further apprised that handwriting of the accused was very
important for investigation as it had been alleged in various FIRs that
thousands of forms for registration of voters and even columns of the
voter forms, meant to be filled up by the election department office,
were filled by the accused former minister, which was supported by the
opinion of the handwriting expert obtained by the complainant.
Arguing before the court, advocate Pradeep Rapria, counsel for the
complainant, sought directions to quash Kataria's bail. In his plea,
supported by the long list of cases pending investigation against the
former minister and the history of his alleged involvement in various
FIRs - for kidnapping, causing injury with dangerous weapons, defiling
place of worship and with intent to insult the religion - the counsel
also added that Kataria was in the habit of misusing the bail
conditions.
The counsel also cited various instances of misuse of bail by the
minister by tendering a threat to the complainant and tampering the
evidence by tutoring persons acquainted with the facts of the case duly
recorded in the CDs.
After hearing all parties in the matter, Justice Dhawan, while
extending temporary stay on Kataria's arrest till September 21, granted
one more opportunity to the accused to cooperate in the SIT
Investigation.
National » Other States
Published: August 13, 2015 00:00 IST | Updated: August 13, 2015 05:46 IST GURGAON, August 13, 2015Haryana Sports Minister gets two-week relief from arrest
In a temporary relief to former Haryana Sports Minister
and Gurgaon MLA Sukhbir Kataria, Justice Jaswant Singh of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted two weeks stay on his arrest in
the fake votes scam. However, the judge has directed the former
minister to appear before the police for investigation as and when
required and co-operate in the investigation.
Earlier,
the Additional Sessions Judge, Gurgaon, had declined the concession of
bail to the former minister on the ground that he was not cooperating
with the police.
The counsel for the minister argued
that the case was politically motivated and he could not appear before
the police as his advocate’s clerk did not inform him the date of
appearance before the police. However, while opposing the bail of the
former minister, Pardeep Rapria, advocate for the complainant, argued
that about 24 FIRs had been registered against the minister for creating
bogus voter cards on the basis of fabricated fake documents and the
accused did not at all cooperate with the police, due to which the
investigation into the serious matter of anti-democratic deception had
not been progressing. The bail to the accused would send wrong message
to the society at large, Mr. Rapria added.
O.P.
Katariya, the complainant, said that the Minister had won by 2,138 votes
in 2009 and the Gurgaon administration had since cancelled 32,000 bogus
votes based on his complaint.
Mr. Katariya, the
complainant, in the FIR alleged that forged documents had been used to
get voter cards made at the behest of the minister in conspiracy with
the senior governemnt officers. Mr. Rapria, counsel for the complainant,
said that in-depth investigation would be required in the facts and the
circumstances mentioned in the complaint to unearth the deep-rooted
conspiracy to hijack the democracy.
After hearing the
arguments of both sides, the court directed the police to file detailed
reply to the bail application to be heard on August 26, 2015.
The judge directed him to appear before the police for investigation as and when required
Printed from
Advocate General engages 183 law officers without any selection procedure, Haryana tells SC
TNN | Sep 8, 2015, 09.31 PM IST
CHANDIGARH: Haryana government has admitted in an affidavit before the
Supreme Court that a total of 183 Lawyers have been selected by the
state government as law officers in the office of state advocate general
Haryana and no procedure was laid down for their selection of law
officers. It was further stated that there was no definite procedure or
statutory rule or Search Committee governing engagement of advocates as
law officers for Haryana.
The affidavit by the Haryana government has been filed on Tuesday before SC in the wake of a petition filed by advocate Pradeep Rapria challenging the appointment of law officers in the AG office Haryana.
Haryana government has also admitted in the affidavit that the Law Officers are paid remuneration up to Rs 1.40 lakh apart from their entitlement to the benefits admissible to a class - 1 officer, including TA/DA, telephone facility, medical allowance, house rent etc.
The case would now come up for hearing on Wednesday before the apex court.
The Petitioner had approached the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High had adjourned the case sine-die. In his petition before the Supreme Court, Rapria has argued that the loyalty to ruling party, and not legal acumen, has become the deciding factor in the appointment of government advocates. Integrity, capabilities, honesty and efficiency of lawyers have become secondary to loyalty to party in power.
"In the democracy, the government cannot behave like a King, who can give benefit to any person as per his whims and fancies," petitioner has argued. The petitioner also submitted that the state exchequer is held by state as a trustee of the citizens. The remuneration to such state counsels from the state exchequer amounts to state largesse, which can not be given to any person according to the sweet will and whim of the political entities.
The Petitioner in his main petition before the High Court had alleged that there is no specified qualification or rule dealing with the engagement of advocates in the AG office and even no application was ever received from the engaged advocates before appointing them. These advocates have been appointed on various posts of additional advocate general, deputy advocate general and assistant advocate general.
According to petitioner, a majority of the Law Officers (in the AG
Office) are kith and kin of ministers, political leaders, senior
bureaucrats, police officers and MLAs of ruling party in the state.
government has admitted in an affidavit before the Supreme Court that a
total of 183 Lawyers have been selected by the state government as law
officers in the office of state advocate general Haryana and no
procedure was laid down for their selection of law officers. It was
further stated that there was no definite procedure or statutory rule or
Search Committee governing engagement of advocates as law officers for
Haryana.
The affidavit by the Haryana government has been filed
on Tuesday before SC in the wake of a petition filed by advocate Pradeep
Rapria challenging the appointment of law officers in the AG office
Haryana.
Haryana government has also admitted in the affidavit
that the Law Officers are paid remuneration up to Rs 1.40 lakh apart
from their entitlement to the benefits admissible to a class - 1
officer, including TA/DA, telephone facility, medical allowance, house
rent etc.
The case would now come up for hearing on Wednesday before the apex court.
The Petitioner had approached the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High had adjourned the case sine-die.
In his petition before the Supreme Court, Rapria has argued that the
loyalty to ruling party, and not legal acumen, has become the deciding
factor in the appointment of government advocates. Integrity,
capabilities, honesty and efficiency of lawyers have become secondary to
loyalty to party in power.
"In the democracy, the government
cannot behave like a King, who can give benefit to any person as per his
whims and fancies," petitioner has argued. The petitioner also
submitted that the state exchequer is held by state as a trustee of the
citizens. The remuneration to such state counsels from the state
exchequer amounts to state largesse, which can not be given to any
person according to the sweet will and whim of the political entities.
The Petitioner in his main petition before the High Court had alleged
that there is no specified qualification or rule dealing with the
engagement of advocates in the AG office and even no application was
ever received from the engaged advocates before appointing them.
These advocates have been appointed on various posts of additional
advocate general, deputy advocate general and assistant advocate
general.
According to petitioner, a majority of the Law
Officers (in the AG Office) are kith and kin of ministers, political
leaders, senior bureaucrats, police officers and MLAs of ruling party in
the state.
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