RANCHI, May 26: The directive of the Ranchi bench of Patna High Court to Bihar Chief Secretary B P Verma, to personally appear in the court on July 15, and clarify the Government's stand on the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council (JAAC) polls, has given a breather to the State Election Commission and evoked a positive response from the people.

``It will pave the way for the JAAC polls we have been demanding for long,'' says Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and JAAC vice-chairman Suraj Mandal. This view is shared by many supporters of the Jharkhand movement, including Jharkhand People's Party chief Ram Dayal Munda and Jharkhand Party chief N E Horo who are otherwise rivals.

The court directive came in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Jamshedpur-based voluntary body, Institute of Tribal Studies' chairman, Salkhan Murmu. Last year, the JMM had filed a PIL in the High Court, complaining that though the Bihar Government and the Centre had signed a tripartite agreement with the Jharkhand agitationists on September 26, 1994, they had not honoured it in letter and spirit.

``The agreement had made it mandatory for the Government to set up a permanent branch each of the Bihar Public Service Commission and the State Vidyalaya at Ranchi and equip the Council with powers to fill up vacancies for Class III and IV employees. But none of these find a mention in the JAAC Act '94,'' the petitioner had alleged. But the court didn't admit the petition.

Even Murmu's initial plea for dissolving the interim JAAC was rejected by the HC in August last year, a month after the latter took cognisance of his PIL on July 1.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.