The high court of Punjab and Haryana mandated setting up of two committees consisting of senior IAS and IPS officers that shall be tasked with taking stock of forensic laboratories (FLS) across the two states.
The committee concerned with Punjab comprises the incumbent Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, Mr. Dhirendra Kumar Tiwari (1994 batch IAS), Ms. V Neeraja (1994 batch IPS), and Mr. Nikanth S Ahvad (1999 batch IAS), presently posted as the Principal Secretary in the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation.
The committee concerned with Haryana comprises of Mr. Vineet Garg (1991 batch IAS), Vijayendra Kumar (1995 batch IAS), and Mr. Amitabh Singh Dhillon (1997 batch IPS).
These committees have been bestowed with the task of probing into the recurring instances of delays in the preparation and submission of reports by the forensic science laboratories and proposing measures for efficient functioning and expediting the process of submitting reports.
The High Court took cognizance of the matter after a petition relating to a drug case was registered in Panchkula, where the report for the ‘priority case’ was delayed by six months. The court observed that such delays pontificated the recurring problem of delayed forensic science laboratory reports across Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
