Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 7

Haryana is considering ways to recover a whopping Rs 1 crore being spent on paramilitary forces every day to keep a watch on Jat protesters. The state plans to do so under the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for "fixing liability in cases of violence and arson".

“We are seriously contemplating the possibility of recovering the cost of deployment of paramilitary forces from those instigating the people to join the agitation. Because of them the government is spending so much money which could otherwise have been used for development works,” said a government functionary. “A few persons cannot be allowed to hold the state to ransom. If they do so, they must be made to pay for that,” he said.

On the demand for cancelling FIRs registered against Jat quota activists, he said the government’s hands were tied as the High Court was monitoring all the 2,000-odd FIRs. Folowing the violence in Haryana during the first phase of the Jat agitation in February, the Supreme Court had asked the government to fix responsibility for damage to public property during bandhs and agitations. The Prakash Singh Committee report too has a chapter on ‘liability for damages’.

However, Sukhbir Singh Hooda, Punjab and Haryana High Court senior counsel and spokesperson for the All-India Jat Mahasabha, expressed doubt whether the SC guidelines could be extended to fix liability for the deployment of paramilitary forces.

“Though our organisation is critical of Yashpal Malik and his organisation, I do not think that the guidelines meant to recover damages for loss caused to public property can be extended to recover money spent on deployment of forces,” he said.