Srinagar
J&K Sacks Lawyers for Failing to Defend Beef Ban Stand
About two weeks after the Jammu & Kashmir High Court banned the sale of beef in Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP-BJP government on Tuesday terminated the services of two lawyers, including beef ban petitioner Parimoksh Seth, who is the state’s deputy advocate-general, for failing to defend its stand on the issue.
“The government has ordered the disengagement of additional advocate general, Jammu, Vishal Sharma and deputy advocate general, Jammu, Parimoksh Seth with immediate effect,” an official spokesman said. The Law Department is being held by PDP leader Syed Basharat Bukhari. Both Vishal and Seth had been held guilty of not defending the interests of the state in the court, which recently ordered that a law passed in 1932 banning cow slaughter and the sale of beef be enforced strictly.
Seth had filed a petition in the High Court against the sale and consumption of beef in the State. Vishal, son of the state VHP chief, was representing the home department in the court at the time of the ruling on beef.
Magsaysay Winner Donates Award to AIIMS
Ramon Magsaysay award winner and bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi on Tuesday donated the award money to AIIMS for the treatment of poor patients. In a letter to the AIIMS Director, the 2002-batch Indian Forest Service officer said, “I am donating the entire award money into the accounts of the institute (after depositing advance income tax of Rs 5.63 lakh on the said award money) for providing financial assistance for the treatment of poor patients, particularly those affected by various types of cancer.” Chaturvedi has received Rs 19.85 lakh as the award money. He also requested that a separate register be maintained to record details of the patients and the financial assistance granted to them.
Notice to Shah over peer’s ‘We Control EC’ Boast
The Election Commission on Tuesday directed BJP chief Amit Shah to clarify a statement made by his colleague from Bengal, Joy Banerjee, that the poll panel was under the party’s control. Taking strong exception to Banerjee’s claim, it said the statement “denigrates the integrity of the constitutional authority.” The Election Commission shot off a letter to the BJP president, seeking an explanation on actor-turned-politician Banerjee’s comments, made at a public meeting in Birbhum on Sunday. The poll watchdog gave the BJP president time till September 25 to respond. He had alleged that the TMC had defeated the BJP in the last Lok Sabha election by using “unfair means”. “But in the coming Assembly election, it will not be possible as it will be held under Army vigil and the Election Commission is in our hands,” Banerjee had claimed.