Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh
A day after the High Court expressed concern over the manner in which final reports were being filed by the prosecution in drug-related offences, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday “directed the Advocate General to pursue the matter in right earnestness”.
A government statement on Thursday said, “Acting on the Chief Minister’s directives, AG Atul Nanda has written a letter to Director, Department of Prosecution and Litigation, asking him to call for a report from the various districts and ascertain the factual position on ground.”
The statement said Nanda described it as an issue of grave concern, and sought the comments and suggestions of the Director, Vijay Singla, on the issue “so that the matter may be taken forward at the earliest, preferably within two weeks”.
The letter is marked to the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) NS Kalsi, apart from DGP Suresh Arora and ADGP, STF (Drugs), Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
The letter refers to Wednesday’s incident when, while the CM was attending his hearing on an election petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday, Justice Daya Chaudhary called upon the AG as well as the Chief Minister “to look into the manner in which final reports are being filed by the Prosecution in drug related offences, more particularly without attaching the laboratory reports supporting the charges made against the accused.”