Punjab and Haryana High Court (File)The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner to take a final decision on the pending request of a Jalandhar resident for the issuance of terrorist affected/displaced family certificate.
The petitioner, Jang Bahadur Gupta, contends that he had settled in Jalandhar after opening a petrol pump in 1975. During the days of terrorism, an attempt was made to carry out an armed robbery at his petrol pump on April 17, 1986. Thereafter, the petitioner started getting threats from terrorist groups and his name figured on the hit list since in the counter-firing, one terrorist was injured and had to flee.
Gupta’s petrol pump was again attacked in January 1987 but he managed to kill a terrorist and injure two others. After this, he had been receiving threats from the terrorist outfits. As a result, the petitioner sold the petrol pump and shifted to Amb tehsil in Una district of Himachal Pradesh. However, in 2000, he returned along with his family and settled in Jalandhar. He has two sons and a daughter. His grand-daughter has cleared her NEET exam and is to apply in medical colleges for MBBS course.
Gupta contends that according to a notification, dated August 22, 2022, there is one per cent reservation for the students whose parents/grand-parents are terrorist affected/displaced persons under Clause 15 (vi). In this connection, he approached the Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare Board, for the issuance of such a certificate. An application was forwarded by the Board to the Deputy Commissioner on July 27, 2022. The Deputy Commissioner forwarded it to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate – II, Jalandhar. But the Jalandhar SDM-II returned the same on August 8, 2022, saying the petitioner’s case falls within the jurisdiction of Adampur Sub-Division.
On August 16, 2022, the Adampur SDM asked the tehsildar concerned to prepare a report and in the said report, it was confirmed by the tehsildar that the petitioner was attacked by the terrorists.
The said report was furnished on August 22, 2022. But since then, there has been no update on the issuance of certificate.
Gupta’s counsel submitted before the HC that the admission process is likely to start in the near future. As such, the respondents should be directed to take an expeditious decision on the matter.
Additional Advocate General of Punjab Saurav Verma said that he has no objection to the petitioner’s prayer being accepted.
After hearing the matter, the Bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj directed the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner to take a final decision on the pending request of the petitioner in a time-bound manner.