Ahmedabad Mar 24 PTI The Gujarat High Court on Thursday issued notices to Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly Jethabhai Bharwad and the state forest department over a PIL alleging that Bharwad encroached on forest land and constructed a house there illegallyThe Public Interest Litigation was filed by Congress leaders from Panchmahal district Jasvantsinh Solanki and Dushyantsinh ChauhanWhile Solanki is Leader of Opposition in the Shehra Taluka Panchayat Chauhan had lost to Bharwad in the 2017 assembly elections from Shehra constituency A division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice A J Shastri issued notices to Bharwad a five-time BJP MLA from Shehra and the forest department among others Further hearing will be conducted on June 8The PIL alleged that Bharwad had constructed a huge residential structure inside the notified reserved forest of Chandangadh in Shehra talukaWhile construction by private persons inside a forest area is not permissible the forest department has not taken any action except issuing show cause notices and registering a Forest Offence Report the PIL claimedThe state has been allowing construction to go ahead over a period of three years in spite of repeated communication by petitioners it said Bharwad is also chairman and managing trustee of a trust which manages a temple which stands adjacent to the illegal building inside the forest the PIL claimedTo justify the construction of this building Bharwad had claimed that it was meant for temple-related activities and for providing accommodation to devotees the petitioners saidBut the house which has two bedrooms and an office is meant only for Bharwad and his family members and is also used for political activities such as party meetings the PIL alleged PTI PJT PD KRK KRK

Ahmedabad Feb 23 PTI The Gujarat High Court has sought the director general of polices DGP response on the compliance of the Supreme Courts direction for police stations to keep a list of advocates to provide legal assistance to the victims of sexual assault In its order last week the division bench of Justices Sonia Gokani and Aniruddha Mayee observed that the Apex courts order regarding legal representation for complainants of sexual assault cases at the police station is often observed in breach As per the Supreme Courts order the victim should be provided with legal assistance at the police station where an advocate would explain to her the nature of the proceedings prepare her for the case and assist her at the police station and in court A list of advocates willing to act in these cases should be kept at police stations for victims who do not have a particular lawyer in mind or whose own lawyer is unavailable The advocate would also provide the victim with guidance on obtaining help about mind counselling or medical assistance etc the 1995 order of the Supreme Court stated The High Court said that while hearing the present case of the victim of sexual violence it found that even the investigating officer pleaded her ignorance about the said order of the Apex court There is no list of empanelled advocates noticed in the police stations the court observed in its order The bench directed the DGP to file an affidavit for the purpose of issuing necessary circular direction or notification for every police station of the state to maintain for effective implementation of the directions issued in 1995 without further loss of time it said The minor daughter of the petitioner had gone missing on June 10 2021 after which she approached Visnagar police station in the states Mehsana district with the request to lodge an FIR The victim was found to be have been kept in illegal custody and sexually abused and her medical report revealed that she was 10-weeks pregnant The victim and her parents then urged that the foetus be terminated which was allowed under the provisions of the Termination of Pregnancy Act The court allowed the corpus to join her parents as per her wishes and directed the authorities to provide her legal aid PTI KA ARU ARU

Ahmedabad Oct 27 PTI The Gujarat High Court has said it is very disturbing to note that the laboratories of sewage treatment plants STPs established to clean polluted water before it is released in the Sabarmati river here indulged in manipulation of records and asked the local civic body to look into the issueThe manipulation of records was revealed in a report submitted by a committee formed by the court to look into pollution in the river while hearing a suo motu PILA division bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Vaibhavi Nanavati in an order made available online on Wednesday directed the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation AMC to ensure scientific operation of all the STPs and explore in situ on site treatment of the drains carrying sewage into the Sabarmati riverIt is very disturbing to note that the laboratories of the STPs run and managed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation were found indulging in manipulation of the records the bench said in the order delivered on October 21The court is hearing a suo motu PIL based on media reports of polluted water dumped into the Sabarmati river without being treated properly in accordance with set normsThe HC said as per the report submitted to it by the committee the laboratories staff were ill-trained and their data indicated repetitionThe committee in so many words has stated in its report that the in-house operating and monitoring mechanism of the STP plants and their laboratories is insubstantial said the courtThe bench directed the AMC to immediately look into the affairs of the laboratories as they appear to be not functioning in the manner as the law expects such facilities to operateIn fact it is the duty of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board to keep a close watch on such laboratories If there are inefficient or unqualified people or technicians in the laboratories then the contract should be immediately terminated in accordance with law and fresh appointments shall be made of qualified and efficient staff it statedThe court further directed the AMC to undertake regular exercise of verification of data as well as identify all unauthorised industrial wastewater connectionsThe HC asked the Chief Secretary to keep a close watch on the PIL and extend full cooperation and remain in constant touch with the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner with a view to make a sincere attempt to bring around some better and positive results to pollution in the Sabarmati River PTI KA PD RSY RSY