Former Punjab Assembly speaker Harbans Lal Gupta passes away

Chandigarh: Renowned freedom fighter and former speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly Harbans Lal Gupta passed away on Friday. Gupta, 95, died at the PGIMER hospital here.

He was the speaker of Punjab Legislative Assembly from March 25, 1964 to March 19, 1967. He served as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court from 1975-1980. Thereafter, he was active as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court for over two decades. Gupta was also a minister of state in Pratap Singh Kairon`s cabinet in the late 1950s. He was one of the founder leaders of the Praja Mandal Movement in undivided Punjab before Independence and was detained by the British during the Quit India Movement. Harbans Lal was elected as MLA (Congress) from Bathinda in 1952, 1957 and 1962. He is survived by his wife Satya, two sons -- Arun Gupta and senior advocate Anupam Gupta -- and daughter Jyotsana. In a condolence message, Chief Minister Punjab Parkash Singh Badal recalled Gupta as a fine human being, an upright politician besides an eminent jurist.