Taking up a public interest litigation seeking the withdrawal of Punjab police security provided to residents of other states, the Punjab and Haryana high court has issued a notice of motion to the Punjab government and the Centre. The court has also directed the state government to file a status report on the next date of hearing, January 13.
The petition filed by advocate HC Arora came up for hearing before the division bench comprising chief justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and justice Rakesh Kumar Jain on Wednesday. Arora informed the court that threat perception to protectees residing in other states could not be properly assessed by the Punjab intelligence agencies.
The petitioner informed the court that liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother Hardeep Singh Chadha, who died in a shootout on November 17 in Delhi, had also been enjoying Punjab police security at the state's expense. He added that as per newspaper reports, many influential persons such as former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala Anurag Thakur, member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh; Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal)'s Delhi unit president Manjit Singh GK; and SAD (Badal) national general secretary Avtar Singh Hit had also been provided Punjab police security.
The court was informed that the deployment of Punjab police personnel for security duty of other states' residents amounted to wastage of taxpayers' money in Punjab, and as these police personnel did not report to the police authorities of other states, they were discharging their duties in other states in an illegal manner.
{{/usCountry}}The court was informed that the deployment of Punjab police personnel for security duty of other states' residents amounted to wastage of taxpayers' money in Punjab, and as these police personnel did not report to the police authorities of other states, they were discharging their duties in other states in an illegal manner.
{{/usCountry}}Arora submitted that as per Section 3 of the Police Act, 1888, security personnel from the Punjab police, if deployed for discharging of duties in other states, have to act under the police authorities of that state. However, under Section 4 of the Police Act, 1888, police personnel from any state cannot be deployed in any other state without the consent of the government of that state, the court was informed.