HC notice to govt on appointment of advisors, OSDs

Acting on a petition challenging appointments of three advisors and two officers on special duty with the Punjab chief minister, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Punjab government.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain was hearing a petition filed by one Dinesh Chadha, seeking quashing of the appointments of political advisor Kamal Sharma, industrial advisor Kamal Oswal, advisor Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal and OSDs Gurcharan Singh and Balkaran Singh.

The petitioner alleged that these officials were appointed without issuing any public advertisement and in violation of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Chadha had received the information through RTI. He added: "These appointments were based on politics. No advertisements regarding the posts were ever published in the newspapers." The bench will hear the case next on March 19.

Illegal detention of Burmese family, high court notice to Punjab, Centre

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Union and Punjab governments on a petition seeking release of a Burmese family illegally detained at Amritsar jail. The court was hearing a petition filed by Lawyers for Human Rights, seeking instructions to initiate proceedings for ensuring the release of Sona Ali, his wife Zulekha Begum and four children, who claim to be Burmese citizens. The petition alleged that while the family has completed its sentence on March, 2009 in regard to a case filed against them on September 30, 2008, they were still being illegally held in the jail. The case will come up for hearing on February 18.

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