Uttarakhand suspends two IAS officials
Dehradun, Sep 12 : The Uttarakhand government has suspended two senior IAS officials for their alleged role in the Haridwar-Udhamsingh Nagar-Bareilly highway (NH-74) compensation scam, an official said on Wednesday.
Pankaj Kumar Pandey and Chandresh Yadav have been found working arbitrarily and being involved in financial irregularities in connection with the widening of the national highway.
The state government had acquired land on both sides of the highway in Rudrapur for widening. It is alleged that many agricultural lands were shown as commercial and compensation was given in violation of rules.
The two officers were then District Magistrate of Udhamsingh Nagar. The suspended officials have been attached to Additional Chief Secretary (Personnel) Radha Raturi for now.
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had ordered the probe and disciplinary action has been ordered against them.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government, soon after coming to power, had ordered the probe into the matter and suspended seven sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) including one who was retired.
A Special Investigation Team was formed later and based on its report action now has been taken against the two IAS officials, Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh said.
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Allahabad HC dismisses petition seeking permission to mount loudspeaker on mosque
Prayagraj, Jan 24 (PTI): The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition seeking direction to the state authorities to permit the mounting of loudspeakers on a Masjid.
The court observed that the religious places were for offering prayers, therefore the use of loudspeakers was not a matter of right.
Dismissing the writ petition filed by Pilibhit-resident Mukhtiyar Ahmad, a two judge-bench, comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Donadi Ramesh, observed, "Religious places are for offering prayers to the divinity and use of loudspeakers cannot be claimed as a matter of right, particularly when often such use of loudspeakers create nuisance for the residents".
At the outset, the state counsel objected to the maintainability of the writ on the grounds that the petitioner was neither a mutawalli, nor did the mosque belong to him.
The court also noted that the petitioner did not have locus to file the writ petition.
The term 'locus' is a legal concept that refers to the right of a person or entity to participate in a legal proceeding or bring a lawsuit.
