The Commission of Inquiry set up by the Punjab Government to look into the cases of false implication during the past decade may actually provide justice on your doorstep.
The two-member Commission headed by former Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and former District and Sessions Judge BS Mehandiratta as member intends to travel to places such as Bathinda, Ferozepur, Amritsar for hearing the grievances of the people in case it receives a substantial number of complaints and representations from there.
To begin with, the Commission intends to issue an advertisement in the newspaper calling for complaints in the form of affidavits with complete address and credentials along with their mobile numbers. The Commission then intends to study the complaints and proceed further. Available information suggests that the Commission will start functioning in about a week’s time.
The Congress-led Punjab Government, in its first Cabinet Meeting, had decided to probe into the false cases registered during the previous SAD-BJP regime. During his election campaign, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh promised the people of the State that his Government would enquire 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 Capt Amarinder during the electioneering, was also incorporated in the Congress manifesto. He had received several complaints of false cases being registered against the political opponents of the Akali Dal (SAD) in connivance with the district police officials.
The Commission, with the initial tenure of six months which may be extended by the Government when so required, would recommend to the Government measures to be adopted to ensure that for future, such instances do not happen.
The notification to set up the Commission, appointed under The Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, was issued on Wednesday by the state Department of Home Affairs and Justice.
According to the terms of reference, the Commission would "inquire into the cases where persons are said to have been wrongly implicated in allegedly false cases or FIRs in the state of Punjab during last 10 years and submit its report to government after such inquiry".
The notification maintained that the retired Justice Gill would be entitled to the pay of a judge of the High Court, including dearness allowance and would be given a separate travel allowance. Besides, he would also get the facility of staff car, office space and secretarial staff to the Commission.
Already, Capt Amarinder has decided to review all SAD policies of the past six months, including mining, transport and ordered vigilance bureau probe into Rs 12,000 crore food grain scam. In addition, he has also announced to come up with a white paper on the State finances and fix responsibility for the poor fiscal health.