COMMISSION OF INQUIRY SET UP TO PROBE FALSE CASES/ FIRs OF AKALI RULE

Chandigarh: Actioning upon another of its poll promises, the Captain Amarinder Singh government has set up a Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Mehtab Singh Gill, to review the false cases and FIRs registered under the decade-long Akali regime.

The two-member Commission has former District and Sessions Judge B S Mehandiratta as member.

A notification to this effect was issued on Wednesday by the Department of Home Affairs and Justice. The Commission has been appointed under The Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.

As per the terms of reference, the Commission would “inquire into the cases where persons are said to have been wrongly implicated in allegedly false cases/ FIRs in the state of Punjab during last 10 years and submit its report to government after such inquiry.”

The Commission would recommend to the government measures to be adopted to ensure that for future, such instances do not happen.

The Commission’s tenure would be for an initial period of six months, to be extended by the government when so required.

The decision to set up such a Commission was taken at the first cabinet meeting of the Captain Amarinder government.

Captain Amarinder Singh had, during his election campaign, promised the people of Punjab that his government would inquire into all such false cases to ensure justice for the innocent. He had also promised that all those found guilty of implicating innocent people in fake cases would be brought to book.

The promise, which followed numerous complaints by victims of such cases to Captain Amarinder during the electioneering, was also incorporated in the Congress manifesto. Captain Amarinder had received several complaints of false cases being registered against the political opponents of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in connivance with the district police officials.