No orders, but Patiala road open only to VIPs

Aman Sood

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Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 12

Commoners here have been barred from using a road situated next to the district courts even while courts across the country have shown concern many times for the growing VVIP culture in the country.

The authorities have sealed the entire road outside the district courts complex, allowing only judges and senior officers to use it.

The police claim they have not raised the gates, but are following verbal orders issued to them by top judicial officials.

While one end has been locked, the other has been barricaded by the police. They are “not allowing vehicles of anyone barring judges, police and administrative officers”.

Even doctors heading to the Mata Kaushalya Hospital seeking entry through the rear gate are not allowed entry.

The road outside the district courts complex from the Mall Road to the Sher-e-Punjab Market has been sealed for the past few months on verbal orders allegedly from the top judicial officials in the district. Five armed policemen and a traffic constable have been deputed to allow “VIP entry”.

Shopkeepers in the Sher-e-Punjab market claimed that their business had suffered following the permanent closure of the gate outside the court complex as customers now have to enter the walled city roads to reach the shops.

SP(D) Jaskiranjit Teja said that he had no idea on whose orders the gate had been closed permanently.

District Legal Services Authority-cum-nodal officer, Mediation and Conciliation Centre, Patiala, Kapil Aggarwal rubbished the allegations.