Ex-MP punished
for contempt
CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today convicted Mr Ram Kishan Gupta, a former MP and president of the Dadri Education Society, Charkhi Dadri, and Mr Mange Ram, secretary, for committing contempt of court and sentenced both of them to simple imprisonment for three months.

SC stays arrest of kidnapping accused
ROHTAK, Sept 22 — The Supreme Court has stayed till October 9 the arrest of Gaurav Deep Hooda against whom the Rohtak police has registered a case on charges of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of Ms Rinky Kataria, daughter of Dr Hans Raj Kataria.

Inter-state gangs busted
CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — The Haryana police has arrested 35 criminals belonging to various gangs, including inter-state gangs, involved in a number of cases of loot and dacoity committed in Jind district and recovered property from them during the past three months.

43 per cent hike in Plan outlay

Undertrial flees

Police plan to seal Rohtak

CAT quashes IG’s suspension
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — The local Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal today quashed the suspension of Mr L.D. Narwal, Inspector-General of Police, Haryana who has been under suspension since December 12, 1996.

The Bench directed the Haryana Government to reinstate Mr Narwal with all consequential benefits "without and delay" and the suspension period be treated as on duty.

Mr Narwal was placed under suspension following a CBI inquiry into the killing of two alleged criminals, Jitender Pehal and Randhir Singh, in an alleged encounter with the police in 1994 when he was DIG, Hisar range.

The CBI, which submitted its report to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 6, 1996, recommended criminal prosecution of the then Director-General of Police, Mr Lachhman Dass, and certain other officers. However, the agency only recommended "necessary action as deemed fit" to the state government against Mr Narwal.

Noting that the CBI did not recommend either criminal prosecution or any regular departmental action against Mr Narwal, the Bench, comprising Justice R.K. Nehru and Mr S.C. Vaish, expressed the view that to keep the officer under suspension and that too for such a long period "cannot be termed as just, proper and in consonance with the various rules, circulars and the well-settled principles of law".

Mr Narwal is the second member of the all-India services, accredited to Haryana, whose suspension has been revoked by CAT in the recent past. Earlier, it had quashed the suspension of Mr Amit Jha.

The Bench also went in detail into the circumstances and conditions under which a government servant can be kept under continuous suspension. It said the "discretion of the government to keep a delinquent employee under suspension has to be exercised judiciously by taking into account all relevant material on record.

Holding that the Narwal case was required to be put up for review before the competent authority i.e. the minister in charge or the ministry, the Bench said: "We have not seen any rule which vests the government with such arbitrary powers so as to keep a delinquent employee under continued suspension."

Coming down heavily on the state government for its failure to periodically review the suspension of Mr Narwal, the Bench did not hesitate to observe: "The state government did not conduct itself as a model employer by throwing to the winds well-settled rules and guidelines with regard to the suspension and its periodical review. In a situation like the current one, the government is expected to act as a model employer with grace and positive approach.

"The government should examine the matter with an open mind, free from every possible prejudice or any kind of extraneous pressure or consideration and to see whether the continued suspension of such an officer is in public interest or in the interest of the applicant or is beneficial to the state exchequer.

Outrightly rejecting the respondent counsel's contention that the applicant did not suffer by continued suspension which he contended was no punishment in the eyes of law, the Bench said the "continued suspension is worse than the punishment which is likely to affect the body and the brain of a man who is left with nothing in case he is ultimately exonerated of the charges. In that case there is no balm which would subsequently heal his self-respect."

The tribunal said it was a well-settled principle of law that exercise of power under the guise of administrative discretion could not be used arbitrarily or unfairly. "The exercise of power by the government in such a situation is an exercise of quasi-judicial power and such a power has to be exercised with due application of mind and by adhering to the principles of fairplay and judicial accountability.

"A arbitrary action on the part of the competent authority in exercise of its powers in the matter of suspension definitely leads to an adverse affect on the delinquent employee and the government cannot get away simply by saying that suspension is no punishment," it ruled.

Ex-MP punished for contempt
By Our Legal Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today convicted Mr Ram Kishan Gupta, a former MP and president of the Dadri Education Society, Charkhi Dadri (Bhiwani) and Mr Mange Ram secretary of the said society, for committing contempt of court and sentenced both of them to simple imprisonment for three months and fine of Rs 2,000 each.

The judge, while allowing the contempt petition with Rs 20,000 as costs, also declared that the resolution passed by the general body of the society held on December 29, 1996 for merging the society with the Dadri Education Trust which Mr Ram Kishan Gupta exclusively controlled, stood annulled and would be of no consequence. The status of the parties thus would be what it was before passing the stay order on December 20, 1996. The society, of course, would be at liberty to hold meeting for the same purpose if permitted by this court in writ petition, the judge added.

The contempt petition was filed by Mr Jai Parkash and others. The petitioners including three life members of the Dadri Education Society had filed a writ petition in the high court on the allegations that Mr Ram Kishan Gupta wanted to merge this society with a trust known as Dadri Education Trust which is exclusively controlled by the respondent. A special meeting of the general body of the society was convened for December 29, 1996, to consider the merger with the trust and winding up of the society. The petitioners challenged the notice convening the meeting of December 29. The high court stayed the operation of the impugned notice. It is alleged that the respondents despite service of stay order went ahead with the meeting, and thus committed contempt of court.

The respondents averred that they had no knowledge of the stay order. The inquiry whether the respondent had knowledge was entrusted to Civil Judge, Bhiwani, who reported that the respondent knew about the court’s stay order.

The judge observed that it is unfortunate that the respondent No I, who has been a Congress member of Parliament thrice and was expected to respect court orders chose to wilfully disregard the same and his conduct had to be deprecated. He should have acted in a responsible manner having known that this court had stayed the operation of the notice, he ruled.

"It appears that he was so determined to merge the society with the thrust and to hold a meeting for the purpose that despite the knowledge of the stay order, held the meeting unmindful of the consequences, the judge added.

Providing jobs to urban poor
From Jatinder Sharma
Tribune News Service

ROHTAK: The Swaran Jayanti Shastri Rozgar Yojna (SJSRY) launched by the Centre to provide gainful employment to the urban poor appears to have taken off in this district.

The SJSRY was launched by the Centre in December last year in place of the Nehru Rozgar Yojna, urban basic services for the poor (UBSP) and Prime Minister's integrated urban poverty eradication programmes. The aim is to involve the poor in the governance of poverty alleviation programmes launched by the Centre and the state government.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anand Mohan Sharan, said the SJSRY would rest on the foundation of community empowerment. Rather than relying on the traditional method of top down implementation, this programme would rely on establishing and promoting community organisations and structures to provide supporting and facilitating mechanism for local development.

Towards this end, he said community organisations like neighbourhood groups (NHGs) have been set up in target areas of Rohtak, Meham and Kalanaur. This has been followed by setting up of community development societies (CDSs) for the purpose of identification of the beneficiaries and viable projects suitable for the particular area.

Mr Sharan said the CDS, a formal association of all the NHGs, would be registered under the Societies Registration Act by the end of October so as to provide it access to grant-in-aid under various schemes and for a wider financial and credit base. The CDS will also set themselves up as thrift and credit societies to encourage community savings and also for other group activities.

Mr Sharan said the stress would be on self-employment through setting up micro-enterprises and skill development. This aims at encouraging the under-employed and unemployed urban youth to set up small enterprises relating to servicing, petty business and manufacturing for which there was a lot of potential in urban areas.

Each NHG and CDS would develop a compendium of such projects and activities keeping in view cost, marketability and economic viability. This programme under the SJSRY would be confined to below poverty line beneficiaries who have got education up to ninth standard, he told TNS.

Mr Sharan said the specific problem that this programme addresses was how to reach the benefits of anti-poverty schemes to the target groups without any intermediary resource leak. The whole process focuses on improving the quality of life of women and children. The UBSP schemes that were operational in Faridabad had revealed that the community participation was not effective and the benefits were reaching the creamy layer to the poor instead of poorer of the poor and that the women and children were not cared to the desired goal.

The new system, he said, was based on participatory bottom up planning approach adopted through a two-tier process. Firstly the NHG would prepare the micro plan on the felt needs of the community. Secondly, these plans would be consolidated into a town level plan of action.

Elephant runs amuck, tranquillised
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — An elephant ran amuck damaging canefields for three days before it was tranquillised in the forests near the Tilyar tourist complex in Rohtak on Tuesday.

The tranquilliser darts were fired by the Chhat Bir Zoo director, Dr Vinod Sharma, who stalked the animal in pouring rain through canefields and into the forests. The tranquillising operation began around 12 noon and it took several hours before it went into a slumber after receiving three tranquilliser darts.

The elephant, Raj Kamal, had been brought to the Tilyer tourist complex from Gohana after a sant group abandoned the elephant after it became "mast". The elephant showed signs of going amuck. It entered a Hanuman temple making the worshippers rush out. It then made forays into the canefields doing extensive damage.

There was panic in Rohtak. An SOS was sent to Dr Vinod Sharma on Tuesday morning. Dr Sharma immediately set off for Rohtak. The heavy rain made the operation a difficult one. The elephant ran into the forest after receiving the first tranquilliser shot. The chase continued. The operation finally ended as the elephant was loaded onto a truck around 7.30 p.m. for its journey to Chhat Bir Zoo.

SC stays arrest of kidnapping accused
Tribune News Service

ROHTAK, Sept 22 — The Supreme Court has stayed till October 9 the arrest of Gaurav Deep Hooda against whom the Rohtak police has registered a case on charges of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of Ms Rinky Kataria, daughter of Dr Hans Raj Kataria.

The criminal writ petition, filed jointly by Rinky Kataria and Gaurav Deep Hooda, son of Mr B.D. Hooda, has urged the apex court for quashing of the FIR registered against Mr Hooda and seeking protection as they were being threatened of being eliminated by the Rohtak police at the behest of Dr Hans Raj Kataria.

Rinky Kataria, in her petition, said that her father had lodged a false and frivolous FIR, whereas he knew that she had left the house of her father on September 3 for the purpose of marrying Gaurav Deep Hooda in Delhi.

Rinky Kataria said that she was educated and over 20 years of age. She said she had voluntarily entered into a wedlock with Gaurav Deep Hooda on September 4 at the Arya Samaj Mandir, Bhogal, Jangpura, Delhi.

The criminal writ petition was heard by a Full Bench comprising Chief Justice M.M. Punchhi, Mr Justice G.B. Pattnaik and Mr Justice A.P. Misra. The court stayed the arrest of the petitioners till October 9 or the hearing of the date, whichever was earlier.

The Civil Lines police, has registered a criminal case against Gaurav Deep Hooda, son of Mr B.D. Hooda, Gaurav Hooda and two others, though the name of the father of Gaurav Hooda had not been written. He is the younger son of a former minister, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda.

Mr Krishan Murti Hooda today denied the charge that his son was involved in the kidnapping of Rinky Kataria. He said that even she has told the apex court that she had left the house of her father voluntarily for the purpose of marrying Gaurav Deep Hooda.

Inter-state gangs busted
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — The Haryana police has arrested 35 criminals belonging to various gangs, including inter-state gangs, involved in a number of cases of loot and dacoity committed in Jind district and recovered property from them during the past three months.

A Spokesman of the Haryana police today said three persons, namely Zora, a resident of Kharal, Ram Niwas, a resident of Kithana, and Parveen, a resident of Joli in Uttar Pradesh, were arrested for snatching a sum of Rs 25,000 at Frayan Kalan village from gur sellers of U.P. Jitender and Inderpal of Uklana were arrested for snatching at gun-point an Armada vehicle near Dumrakha village. They had hired the vehicle from Naseeb Singh of Bassi village. They had also looted a sum of Rs 3,65,040, which has been recovered.

Three criminals, namely Rajesh, Nafe Singh and Ram Niwas, all residents of Dhasokhurd, had been arrested for snatching Rs 2,000 by showing a knife from those who had purchased calves. The amount had been recovered from them. Jai Parkash, a resident of Kagsar had also been arrested for trying to loot at gun-point some money from the shop of Ram Pratap Mahajan, a resident of Anaj Mandi, Jind.

He said Satish of Rohri Khanda, Naresh of Ismaila, Ram Niwas of Hathi Karoda in U.P. and Jaibir Singh of Kharkada also in U.P., had been arrested for injuring a teacher, Mr Surinder Singh, by firing at him. The criminals had used a Tata Sumo with a forged number plate which was recovered. They had snatched the vehicle at Kalanaur and used it for committing the crime.

He said that six members of Jagta gang had been arrested for murdering Sat Narayan and Prem in a land dispute of Kabarchha village. The gang had also committed a number of other crimes including taking Rs 5 lakh as ransom from Pinky Mahajan of Uklana, stealing a motor cycle from Nagura village, snatching a Maruti car near Kuchrana village and taking a ransom of Rs 40 lakh after kidnapping Mr Ashok Thakur of Hisar. They had also snatched Rs 90,000 from a motor cycle rider at Pundri. A murder case was also registered against them at Hansi. The entire property and cash snatched by them in these cases had been recovered.

Spate in vehicle thefts at PGIMS
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Sept 22 — Thefts of vehicles, especially two-wheelers, have been going on unabated at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here. At least three motor cycles and scooters have been stolen from the campus in the past four days.

A spokesman of the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) said here yesterday that the general secretary of the association, Dr Jai Bhagwan Jatain, was among those whose motor cycle was stolen a couple of days ago from the campus. The motor cycle of another student of the Eye Department was also stolen from the parking area of the Engineering Department at the PGIMS on Sunday, he added.

He further said the association had written to the Chief Minister and sought adequate measures for improving the security on the campus as the number of criminal incidents had gone up sharply in the past six months.

Manoj Godara's bail plea rejected
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr S.S. lamba, today rejected the bail application moved by Manoj Kumar Godara, nephew of the Haryana Home Minister, Mr Mani Ram Godara.

Manoj was arrested in connection with the Sector 10 firing incident in which Manjit Singh was killed.

Manoj and his accomplice, Harvinder Singh, alias Vikky, were arrested by the local police after registering a case against them.

In his bail application, Manoj pleaded that he had been falsely implicated in the case. He denied that he had raised the "lalkara" as alleged in the FIR.

He added that the statement of a shopkeeper recorded by the police merely said that he had seen the accused in the corridor of Sector 10.

He maintained that the complainant was an aggressive party.

43 per cent hike in Haryana Plan outlay
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — It is for the third time in the 32-year history of Haryana that the Annual Plan outlay, showing an increase of over 43 per cent, has been approved by the Planning Commission.

An official spokesman said today that the Rs 2,260 crore Annual Plan of the State for the year 1998-99 as approved by the Planning Commission recently showed a significant increase of 43.40 per cent over last year's Annual Plan of Rs 1,576 crore. Similarly, the Planning Commission had approved the Annual Plan of over Rs 61.38 crore for the year 1971-72, showing an increase of 47.90 per cent over the previous year and of over Rs 90.80 crore for 1972-73 recording an increase of 47.92 per cent over the Plan of the previous year.

The spokesman said that this record increase in the outlay of the Annual Plan for the current financial year as well as for the years 1971-72 and 1972-73 had been achieved during the tenures of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal.

Police plan to seal Rohtak
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Sept 22 — In view of the deteriorating law and order situation in the district, the police has made an extensive plan to seal the town and the district immediately.

Talking to The Tribune here today, the newly posted SSP, Mr P.K. Aggarwal, said 12 permanent nakas had been erected at various places and the 24-hour patrolling intensified.

Undertrial flees

ROHTAK, Sept 22 — An undertrial lodged in the local jail escaped at noon today.

According to police sources, the accused identified as Surender, a resident of Sampla, who was arrested under the Arms Act was being taken to the local courts when he escaped.

A case has been registered against the policemen accompanying the accused.