RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, July 11: The Jharkhand High Court today directed State Transport Secretary Kripanand Jha to appear in the court tomorrow in a case related to issuance of an interstate bus permit.
A single bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by a bus owner, Mohammed Kalim.
Kalim, who had applied for a permit last year in November, had knocked the court’s door in the third week of January this year after the transport secretary did not issue the permit despite holding three meetings in this connection till the first week of January this year.
The court while hearing his petition earlier on March 28 directed the department to take decision in the matter within three weeks. In the meantime, the department informed the court that previous notification inviting application of issuance and renewal of road permit was wrong and a fresh notification will be issued.
The court took strong exception to this and directed for the personal appearance of the transport secretary.
Kalim’s advocate Shailesh Kumar Singh confirmed the development saying ‘time given for appearance is 12 ‘o’ clock.’
Kailm said he knocked the door after he incurred a loss of Rs 19 lakh in his transport business due to lack of a road permit. “When the matter arose K.Srinivasan was transport secretary. He always used to give positive assurance but never issued permits,” he said.
