Haryana bans varsity recruitment
HAU exempted
From Jatinder Sharma
Tribune News Service

HISAR, Aug 13 — The Haryana Government has imposed a ban on the appointment of teaching and non-teaching employees by Maharshi Dayanand and Guru Jambheshwar universities with immediate effect.

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, however, has been exempted from the ban.

The government, in a message faxed to the three universities yesterday, said it had been observed that the universities made appointments without assessing the workload. In certain cases the universities had not adhered to the qualifications laid down by the UGC and the AICTE. As such, the government had decided to stay the appointments.

The order said in case the selections had been made, the appointment letters should not be issued. If the appointment letters had been issued, the incumbent may not be allowed to join duty.

The ban orders have created a piquant situation for the three universities as they have jointly interviewed more than 300 persons for the posts of Professor, Reader and Lecturer.

The Executive Council of Guru Jambheshwar University had on August 11 approved the selections made against the posts of Professor (2), Reader (2) and Lecturer (17). It had also approved the selection of the Training and Placement Officer and System Manager.

Interestingly, two of the selected persons — Ms Neelam Dilbagh, lecturer in Food Processing Department, and Mr Sanjay Singh, Training and Placement Officer, joined duty yesterday before the university received the ban orders.

The Executive Committee of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, was scheduled to meet at Chandigarh on August 11 to approve the selections made for the posts of Professor, Reader and Lecturer. This meeting was, however, cancelled at the last minute without assigning any reason.

The Executive Council of Kurukshetra University had met on July 31 and approved the selections made by the university. While some selected persons have already joined, the university was still in the process of issuing appointment letters to the remaining selected persons.

Ammunition seized in Chamba area
From Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Aug 13 — The Himachal police recovered a big cache of ammunition from Sappa Chalu nullah, in the Kehar area of Chamba district, where Kashmiri terrorists recently massacred 35 persons.

The seizure was made by a police patrol party yesterday, near the Sappa Chalu nullah, which is situated barely 5 km from the Bhaderwah area of militancy infested Jammu and Kashmir.

The seizure in the Kehar area has put the police on tenterhooks, as after striking in Kala Ban and Satrundi, the militants could target this region.

Sources told this correspondent, that the ammunition recovered was in a good usable condition, and could have been hidden there recently. The cache included 20 rounds of AK-47, 73 rounds of medium machine gun, 50 rounds of revolver and 3 grenades. Apart from this the Kashmiri militants had hidden a packet each of pressure switch and release switch, which are used in improvised explosive devices.

It is being felt that since the area is being extensively combed by the police and the Army, the militants could have hidden the ammunition to make their escape easy.

The seizure indicates that the militants are equipped with the most sophisticated arms and have ample ammunition to strike anywhere. Due to pressure being mounted from the Doda side, the militants could have entered Himachal, but instead of merely using it as a safe haven, they struck for the first time at Kala Ban and Satrundi early this month.

Though the militants have been frequenting the Khundi Mural, Langera and Kehar areas, it is for the first time that the police has succeeded in recovering ammunition, hidden by the militants.

One Afghani mercenary was killed in an encounter with the police in 1993, while the terrorists had gunned down two constables in the area.

It may be recalled that after killing 35 persons at Kala Ban and Satrundi, the militants had taken away gelatine and detonators, which was being used for blasting purpose, in road construction. They had taken six persons as hostages, to carry the explosives and ration they had looted.

Meanwhile the Chamba police has constituted teams to locate the hostages. A team is already camping at Pangi. One company each of the ITBP has already reached Tissa and Kehar, while more forces are expected to arrive today. The Himachal police has been deployed in all four sectors of Chamba, which share borders with Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from the Kehar, Tissa and Pangi sectors, adequate security arrangements have been made in the Thairi sector, bordering Kathua district. The Chamera Hydroelectric Project is also located on this side along the Ravi.

Since the ammunition has been found in the Kehar area, it is being felt that to get away from the security forces pressure in Tissa and Pangi sectors, the militants have moved to this area.