Chief Secy chairs Northern Zonal Council meeting

Haryana Chief Secretary Dr TVSN Prasad chaired the 21st meeting of the Standing Committee of the Northern Zonal Council in Chandigarh on Friday. The meeting was attended by SK Moses Chalai, Secretary of the Inter State Council Secretariat (ISCS); Chief Secretaries Prabodh Saxena (Himachal Pradesh), Sudhansh Pant (Rajasthan), KAP Sinha (Punjab) and senior officers from the participating States, union territories (UTs) and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Participating states included Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, along with the UTs of Ladakh, Chandigarh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. Various important matters were also discussed in the NZC meeting held under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Amritsar last year.

The meeting stressed the need for speedy investigation of cases of rape and sexual offences against women and children. The government in 2018 approved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, prescribing stringent provisions for sexual offences, including the award of the death penalty in the rape of a girl below the age of 12. To ensure compliance with the two-monthly timeline for completion of the investigation under the Criminal Law (Amendment ) Act, advisories are being issued to all the states, UTs along with compliance reports urging them for hundred per cent compliance for the effective implementation of the Act and measures to strengthen investigation.