Allahabad: Taking a serious note of damage
to public property during political agitations, the Allahabad
High Court has laid down guidelines for fixing responsibility.
"If any incident of damage to public property takes
place during an agitation called by a political party or a
sitting or a former people`s representative, a report shall be
registered by the concerned police station.
"The report shall be lodged against political parties
or political persons by name," Justice Sudhir Agrawal said in
his order on December two.
After making an assessment of the damage, the owner of
property should file a claim for realisation of such amount
before the competent authority as nominated by the government,
he said.
The Judge also ordered the trial should be given top
priority.
The Court also asked the state government to file a
detailed affidavit mentioning the number of incidents of loss
of public property in the past ten years, the quantum of money
lost and the status of investigation in such cases.
The directions were issued during hearing of a petition
filed by Mohammad Shujauddin, a policeman, who had challenged
his suspension and subsequent transfer.
He had alleged his superiors had acted against him
under political pressure as he had tried to prevent a group of
political agitators from damaging public property when he was
posted at a police station in Gorakhpur.
PTI
