Cabinet eases parole rules

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 29

A prisoner in Punjab can now get an outing for reasons as simple as repair or renovation of his house; for agriculture and allied purposes and even if he pleads that a family member is critically ill and requires his (prisoner’s) presence.

Ahead of a crucial Assembly poll, the Punjab Cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, approved the simplifications of the Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Amendment Act, 2015.

The move has political ramifications as several persons, some with criminal records, can use these relaxations to come out of jail and help their political bosses in the elections.

Another amendment to the Act allows the prisoner to divide his parole in parts, thus allowing him frequent trips out rather than a quarterly or yearly trip out of jail, as was the case till date.

The Cabinet also gave nod to the Revenue Department to re-employ patwaris for two years but they should not be above 65 years.

Such employees will be given the last pay drawn, minus the pension.

The decision was taken as the state is facing a severe shortage of such revenue officials. Presently, there are 4,694 patwaris in the state but each of them were overworked and are handling the workload of several revenue circles. As many as 1,900 posts of patwaris are vacant in the state.

There had been no fresh recruitment since 1992. Though the drive to recruit patwaris was initiated last year, but the written test conducted by Panjab University in January this year came under the scanner after the question papers were leaked and the process cancelled.

The Cabinet presided over by CM Parkash Singh Badal here this evening also approved to fill 1,227 posts of patwaris in the state, by getting the recruitment process started soon.

The Revenue Department has been authorised to get the written test conducted from the Technical Teachers Training Institute, Thapar University or Guru Nanak Dev University.

The process to recruit the patwaris will take at least two years and the training will take another six months, thus necessitating the need to re employ retired patwaris.

The Cabinet also gave its approval for filling 16,000 posts in the Police Department, which include creating of a civilian cadre of 5,249 officers like legal and forensic experts, 4,425 additional posts for providing security in Ludhiana, Amritsar and SAS Nagar, and 781 posts in the Intelligence Wing, besides 100 posts of SDOs in the Irrigation Department.

Other important decisions

• Financial assistance for those who opposed Emergency: Rs 1,000 per month to those who underwent imprisonment up to three months; Rs 1,500 per month for three to six month jail and Rs 2,000 per month more than six-month jail.
• Ex post facto approval to the appointment of Manjinder Singh Sirsa as adviser to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal
• Staff for six newly appointed Chief Parliamentary Secretaries approved
• Policy for regularisation of unauthorised houses/colonies extended by six months
• Voter card, electoral roll, ration card/Aadhaar card, matriculation certificate and birth certificate issued by the Registrar of Births & Deaths to be treated as evidence for the purpose of verification of applicants’ age for pension and other benefits
• To increase frequency of free buses to the famous Hindu and Sikh shrines, including Darbar Sahib (Amritsar), Anandpur Sahib, Chintpurni (Himachal Pradesh) and Salasar (Rajasthan) under the Mukh Mantri Tirath Darshan Yatra Scheme
• 121 posts of civil judges (junior division) approved

Joshi infuriated

• Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi raised the issue of Excise and Taxation Department (headed by the Deputy CM) not bringing a memorandum for reduction in VAT on spices
• He got up during the meeting and said there was no point in sitting there if an assurance  made in the Assembly earlier was not to be implemented
• CM Parkash Singh Badal calmed him down