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Sacked Lokayukta offers to donate compensation, if given
Chautala woos Muslims
Hike in wheat MSP cruel joke: CM
Bumper cotton crop fails to
cheer up farmers
Cabinet gives approval to Chautala’s
concessions
No poll rallies in Rohtak, Ambala |
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We got Verma removed, says Haryana Cong
Clash on campus: NIT authorities ask police to register FIR
Panchayat slaps fine on
police
BJP-backed candidate wins MC poll
DCC office-bearer shot at
Boy crushed to death under tractor
Woman strangled
Bus drivers block GT Road
HIGH COURT
State function on November 24 in memory of Chhotu Ram
Firm to spruce up railway
station
Science exhibition held
Springfield’s annual function tomorrow
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Sacked Lokayukta offers to donate compensation, if given
Chandigarh, November 3 The former Judge, who was unceremoniously removed from the post of Lokayukta of the state by the Chautala government before the expiry of his term, made this offer before the Punjab and Haryana High Court through his counsel, Mr Sanjay Bansal. Mr Bansal, however, put one rider. Without specifying, he said the donation would not be made to a particular trust named after a person on whose name several parks and other institutions had been named in the state. His obvious reference was to the Devi Lal Memorial Trust promoted by the Chautala family. Justice Vasishth has gone to the High Court seeking compensation from the Haryana Government for the unexpired period of his term. Earlier, the Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, Justice B.K. Roy and Justice Amar Dutt, had asked counsel for the state to consider paying compensation to Justice Vasishth in the light of the Supreme Court judgement in the S.K. Roy versus State of Orissa. However, the state counsel did not respond. Earlier in its written statement, the state government opposed the payment of compensation to Justice Vasishth on three grounds. It said Justice Vasishth as a sitting High Court Judge could not enter into a contract. The statement said : “The unprecedented act of a Judge of the High Court in asking for such facilities under the protection of Article 310(2) of the Constitution of India was considered highly inappropriate. Accordingly, it was decided to recommend the abrogation of this illegal obligation through an Ordinance.” The state also took the plea that the special
protection (to Justice
Vasishth) in the shape of contract under Article 310(2) was not submitted before the Governor. It further said since Justice Vasishth was given the status of a High Court Chief Justice, consultation with the Chief Justice of India was mandatory. In reply, Justice Vasishth through Mr Bansal submitted that since the warrant of appointment stated that the Governor was exercising the powers conferred upon him under Article 310(2), it was wrong to say that the contract under this Article was not put up before the Governor. Mr Bansal also contended that the state had not cited any specific provision of law or convention which could debar the petitioner from seeking protection under Article 310(2) while he was a High Court Judge. He also said the purpose of holding consultation either with the Chief Justice of
India (in case the proposed appointee is a Supreme Court Judge or a High Court Chief Justice) or with the Chief Justice of the High
Court (in case the proposed appointee is a High Court Judge) was limited to the extent of evaluating the suitability of a particular person and had nothing to do with his service conditions. Opening his arguments Mr Bansal assailed the constitutional validity of Section 25(2) of the Haryana Lokayukta Act, 2002, which provides that the Lokayukta would not be entitled to any compensation for the unexpired period of his tenure. He said the provision was a result of “coloured exercise of power” because the Constitution did not empower a state legislature to abrogate a contract entered under Article 310(2). He also contended that this section had been enacted to prevent Justice Vasishth from seeking compensation. Quoting the Supreme Court judgement in the State of West Bengal versus Anwar Ali case, Mr Bansal said though no mala fide could be attributed to an Act of the legislature, the presumption that the Act was good and fair would be displaced if there was evidence to show mala fide. Mr Bansal’s arguments were
inconclusive. The case will come for further hearing on November 5. |
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Chautala woos Muslims
Panipat, November 3 In his latest move to woo Muslim voters the INLD supremo and state Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, not only hosted an Iftar party at Dargah Bu-Ali-Shah Kalander in Panipat on Tuesday evening during the holy month of Ramzan, but also accepted the three-decade-old demand of Muslims regarding providing land for graveyard either in Sector 25, HUDA or in Model Town in the city. Interestingly, Muslims living in Panipat had been demanding at least four acres for the graveyard for the past three decades. One of the representatives of Muslims, Maulvi Bilal, told The Tribune that they had approached Mr Chautala several times in connection with this demand in the past four years and he had accepted their demand yesterday. However, the timing of the acceptance of the demand of providing land for the graveyard has made it appear to be an effort to attract the Muslim voters on the election eve. Assembly elections in the state are just a few months away. Speaking at the Iftar party, the Chief Minister not only directed the Deputy Commissioner to start the process of acquiring the land for the graveyard but he also announced that the government itself would make the boundary wall of the proposed graveyard. Later, he also accepted several demands of different village panchayats during “Sarkar Aapke Dwar” programme held at PWD Rest House, Panipat. He gave his approval for the repair of community centres at Binjhol, Nimbhuri, Risalu and Sodapur villages. Apart from this he also approved the repair of veterinary hospital and chopal in Bichpari village. Mr Chautala also announced the construction of a park in Risalu village. Besides he also accepted the demand of constructing and repairing several other projects in different villages. The President of Haryana unit of BJP, Prof Ganeshi Lal, termed these announcements as efforts to attract the voters. Talking to The Tribune on phone, he said all this indicated that Mr Chautala had lost his ground. He said that the voters could see through this ploy and would teach INLD a lesson for ignoring them till now. However, no INLD leader, including the speaker of Haryana Assembly, Mr Satbir Kadian, could be contacted despite repeated attempts to get their version. |
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Hike in wheat MSP cruel joke: CM
Chandigarh, November 3 In a statement issued here today, Mr. Chautala said last year the MSP of wheat was Rs. 630 per quintal. The Haryana Government had made a written request to the Central Government that the MSP for
wheat should be fixed at Rs. 725 per quintal. He said the inflation had increased at the rate of 7 per cent during this year. Therefore, by not making an increase of Rs. 44 in the MSP of wheat, it had been proved that the Central Government was working against the interests of the farming community. He said that the increase of MSP of wheat from Rs. 630 per
quintal to Rs. 640 per quintal was negligible. He said the farmers were already demoralised as a result of the hike in the prices of diesel and agricultural inputs. In such a situation it was necessary to give them the MSP of wheat at Rs. 725 per quintal. |
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Bumper cotton crop fails to
cheer up farmers
Panchkula, November 3 Though the prices of American cotton have not fallen below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), the prices have gone down by over Rs 300 per quintal of American cotton and by Rs 200 per quintal of desi cotton, during the past 15 days. As compared to the MSP of Rs 1,760 for American cotton, the farmers were selling their produce at Rs 2,100 per quintal during the first half of October. For desi cotton, as compared to the MSP of Rs 1,400, the produce was being sold at Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,100 per quintal. During the past 15 days, prices of both varieties have gone down, and, American cotton is now being sold at Rs 1,800 per quintal, while desi cotton is being sold at Rs 1,800 per quintal in the cotton growing belt comprising of Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar and Bhiwani, and parts of Jind, Rewari, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Sonepat. It may be noted that while American cotton had sold for Rs 2,500 per quintal last year, desi cotton had sold at Rs 2,100 - Rs 2,200 per quintal in the year 2003. Officials, in the State Agriculture Department say that with the prices crashing, they have sought the intervention of Cotton Corporation of India
(CCI) for procurement of this important cash crop to avoid further fall in prices. CCI has now started procurement of cotton in five mandis —
Kalanwali, Dabwali, Sirsa, Ellanabad and Hansi. It may be noted that the area under cotton cultivation in the state has increased from 5. 26 lakh hectares last year to 6.5 lakh hectares this year. In the year 2003, 14.05 lakh bales of cotton were produced in the state, with an average productivity of 4.53 kg lint per hectare. This year the cotton production is estimated to go up to 17. 5 lakh bales, and expected productivity is 4.60 kg lint per hectare. The Director, Agriculture, Mr Rajiv Arora, informed TNS: “We are pressurising the Union Government to intervene and stabilise the price of this cash crop so that the farmers do not suffer losses.” It is learnt that the state government had taken up the issue of falling prices with the Union Agriculture Minister on October 20, and sought market intervention by the
CCI. The Haryana Government had also urged the Union Government to increase the tariff level of imported cotton, and also stop the import of cotton for two months in order to boost sales here. This proposal was, however, not accepted by the Union Government. Mr Arora, says that though whatever profit margin the farmer is losing because of fall in price, it is being made up because of high yield of the crop this year. |
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Cabinet gives approval to Chautala’s
concessions
Chandigarh, November 3 The Cabinet approved the enhancement of old age pension, widow pension and handicapped pension from Rs.200 per month to Rs.300 per month with effect from November 1, 2004 to be paid in December 2004. It was disclosed at the meeting that already there were 12.9 lakh beneficiaries, who are getting these pensions, and during the last survey conducted from July to October this year, 1.5 lakh more beneficiaries had been identified. The Cabinet also approved the exemption granted to shoes, chappals and footwear of the sale value not exceeding Rs.200 per pair from the payment of tax under the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, 2003. Earlier, shoes, chappals and footwear up to a maximum retail price of Rs.100 per pair were exempted from tax. The decision would benefit the poor sections of the society to the tune of Rs.3.50 crore per annum. It also decided that the tax on imported liquor, when sold by L4 or L5 and 12C licensees, would be retained at the rate of 20 per cent. The Cabinet also decided to reserve 3 per cent posts of direct recruitment quota meant for Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors and Constables in the Police Department for outstanding sports persons to promote sports in the state. |
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No poll rallies in Rohtak, Ambala
New Delhi, November 3 The fact that Rohtak and Ambala do not figure in the list of places where election rallies are to be organised in the run-up to next February’s Assembly elections, has set off speculation that all is not well in the Haryana unit. Congress insiders were quick to point to the fact that Rohtak MP is Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ms Selja is the Lok Sabha member from Ambala. Given the bitter rivalry between the Rohtak MP and Haryana PCC chief Bhajan Lal, Mr Hooda does not appear too keen on sharing a common platform with his long-time bete noire on his home turf, it was stated. It is the same story with Ms Selja, who does not enjoy a good equation with Mr Bhajan Lal. The latter, however, denied reports about infighting in the state unit. The weekly election rallies, to be kickstarted on November 14 from Karnal, will be held subsequently in Faridabad, Sonepat, Sirsa, Bhiwani, Hisar, Rewari or Mahendragarh and Jind. Plans for the election rallies were chalked out today at a special meeting called by Mr Janardan Dwivedi, AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana. Among those invited included former Chief Ministers, present and former PCC chiefs, CLP leader and MPs from the state. Mr Bansi Lal’s son Surinder Singh, who joined the Congress recently, also attended this meeting. Preparations for these rallies will be finalised at a larger meeting of state leaders on November 9 at Chandigarh. Well aware of the fissures in the state unit, Mr Dwivedi reiterated the importance of putting up a united fight in the elections and even asked all the factional leaders to participate in these district-level rallies and not to conduct individual programmes. Mr Dwivedi told presspersons later that a chargesheet, prepared by a special committee, highlighting the Chautala government’s “misdeeds” will be submitted to the Governor while its contents will be widely disseminated to the public during the proposed election rallies. Those attending today’s meeting were also asked to guard against the deletion of Congress supporters, especially those from the scheduled castes, from the electoral rolls. Mr Dwivedi was non-committal when asked about leadership change in the Haryana unit. “This issue not been discussed yet,” he reiterated while Mr Bhajan Lal emphatically denied media reports that he had resigned as PCC chief. “I will not resign even if I am pushed into doing so,” he declared. He hurriedly clarified that he would abide by Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s decision but added,” There is no question of seeking my resignation. Why should they ask for it... especially since the party did so well in the recent Lok Sabha elections.” He also blamed his detractors for spreading stories about his poor health. “I am as active as ever,” Mr Bhajan Lal maintained. |
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We got Verma removed, says Haryana Cong
Chandigarh, November 3 Mr Gupta said the Haryana Congress had also sought sacking of the Punjab Congress Chief Minister, Mr Amarinder Singh, for introducing the Bill in the state Assembly. Asked why Amarinder Singh was not removed, Mr Gupta said what they essentially wanted was that the Bill should be stalled and that the objective had been achieved with the Central Government referring the Bill to the President of India. Challenging Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala’s allegation that the Congress party was not interested in completion of the SYL canal, Mr Gupta said the Haryana unit of the Congress did whatever was possible to jeopardise the controversial Punjab Bill. Mr Chautala did not do anything to upset the bill, he said. The Congress leader, who was formerly Finance Minister of Haryana, also came down heavily on Mr Chautala for the sops announced by the latter at Kaithal on Monday on the occasion of Haryana Day. He said implementation of the sops would entail heavy additional expenditure for which no budgetary provision had been made by the state government. Besides, enhancement of old-age pension was also on the agenda of the Haryana Congress which had been appropriated by Mr Chautala, Mr Gupta alleged. Mr Gupta also criticised the Chief Minister for turning the Haryana Day celebrations into a political event. “ The government was committed to enhance DA of the state government employees in any case. But Mr Chautala announced it at a rally so that he could get political mileage from the increase”, he said. He added that while Mr Chautala announced sales tax exemptions for sandals, he ignored other grievances of the traders such as the tax imposed on confectioners, introduction of the form 38 and VAT. He said that by making the announcements at the fag-end of his regime Mr Chautala was actually creating problems for those who would succeed the INLD Government. He, however, added that if the Congress came to power in the state, only the anti-people steps of the INLD regime would be rolled back. |
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Clash on campus: NIT authorities ask police to register FIR
Kurukshetra, November 3 The police has not registered the case so far. The victim students and their supporters, who are staging a dharna in front of the NIT entrance gate, are demanding the registration of a criminal case against the pre-final year students and rustication of 15 students responsible for the clash. However, the NIT Registrar, Mr R.P.S. Lohchab, told this reporter that the NIT administration had already recommended to the police to register a case against 15 students who had been suspended by the NIT authorities. A five-member inquiry committee had also been constituted by the NIT, Director, Dr S.N. Mahindra, under the chairmanship of the Proctor, Dr S. K. Sharma. Action would be initiated as per the inquiry committee’s recommendations. The inquiry is in progress and hopefully its report would be submitted to the NIT administration by this evening, Mr Lohchab added. Meanwhile, the three seriously injured final year students — Sandeep Kashyap, Shailender Kumar and Manik Gupta — had been referred to PGI, Chandigarh. Both, Shailender Kumar and Manik Gupta had been discharged from the PGI and had been brought back to the NIT campus by the hostel Warden. Both of them are well while the condition of Sandeep Kashyap is stated to be out of danger. In fact, the seed of the clash was sown on the night of October 30 at the NIT Jubilee Hall, when during a cultural programme, as many as 12 students, mostly pre-final year students, reportedly led by a Haryana police officer’s son entered the hall on the pretext of security check. When they created disturbance during the programme, they were asked not to do so by a final year student Bupender. After this Bupender was called outside and was beaten up severely allegedly by the new entrants, but when the final year students came to know about this, they also allegedly attacked the pre-final year students. Next day, a confrontation also took place between both the groups at the mess of Hostel Number 5. Mr Lohchab further claimed that the situation on the NIT campus was under control. |
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Panchayat slaps fine on
police
Hisar, November 3 Interestingly, the police personnel present on the occasion accepted the decision of the panchayat. The panchayat maintained that the local police personnel had let off some persons allegedly taking cattle for slaughter. The panchayat, organised at Lohia Dharamshala in Barwala yesterday, was presided over by Mr Satbir Arya, chief of the Goraksha Samiti. It criticised the police personnel involved in the matter for their laxity and irresponsible behaviour. The panchayat said the amount to be paid by the police would be given to the local cowshed. It was also decided to establish an organisation for the protection of the cattle. Mr Manbir Singh, SHO of Barwala police station, assured the panchayat that the police would tighten the noose around the cattle smugglers. He asserted that nobody taking cattle for slaughter would be spared in future. Meanwhile, DSP Patram from Hisar, who had gone to Barwala to conduct an inquiry in this regard, also found ASI Punjab Singh responsible for the lapse and ordered him to report at the Police Lines. |
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BJP-backed candidate wins MC poll
Sonepat, November 3 According to a report, Mr Kishore secured 650 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Mrs Shikha Batra, who got 568 votes. The INLD-backed candidate, Mrs Vineeta Chauhan, secured 289 votes and the Congress-supported candidate, Mr Gurdeep, alias Chintu, got 223 votes in the bye election. The byelection was necessary following the death of Mr Bijender Batra in a road accident. His wife, Mrs Shikha Batra, contested as an Independent. Mr Kishore was taken in a procession by his supporters through the main streets of Ward No 16. |
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DCC office-bearer shot at
Sonepat, November 3 Mr Sharma has been admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case. Mr Sharma is reported to be out of
danger. According to sources, a youth in his twenties came to Mr Sharma’s residence at Malvia Nagar here at around at 10 pm and asked about his whereabouts from his son, Rajesh. When Mr Sharma asked about his identity, the youth reportedly fired at him. The bullet hit Mr Sharma’s right hand. The youth escaped after the incident. |
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Boy crushed to death under tractor
Panipat, November 3 His body was taken to the Civil Hospital for conducting post-mortem. The driver of the tractor fled, while the police was investigating the matter. |
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Woman strangled
Rewari, November 3 The victim’s father, Banwari Lal Yadav, a resident of Ramchanderpura village in Alwar district, has lodged a complaint with police. The Bawal police has registered a case under sections 302 and 120- B of the IPC against victim’s husband Deep Chand, mother-in-law Sarti Devi, brother-in-law Vinod and his wife Sharda. |
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Bus drivers block GT Road
Panipat, November 3 According to information, a Maruti car was hit by a Yamunanagar depot bus on the GT Road, near Sector 25. The car occupants came out of their vehicle and caught bus driver Rajkumar and conductor Yashpal and starting abusing and beating them. Drivers of buses stopped their vehicles on the GT Road and blocked the road in protest against the incident. However, they lifted the blockage after an assurance by police officers of taking appropriate action against the car-borne persons. A case has been registrered. |
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HIGH COURT The Division Bench of Mr Justice NK Sud and Mr Justice Hemant Gupta has restrained the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) from acquiring land of some Gurgaon residents for carving out industrial plots till further orders. Taking up the petition of Mr Tara Chand and others, who had prayed for quashing of the notice under Section 6, issued through advertisement in some newspapers, the Bench also issued notice of motion to the respondents for March 3.
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State function on November 24 in memory of
Chandigarh, November 3 This was decided at a meeting of Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police presided over by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, here today. Mr Chautala said he would lead an official delegation to Pakistan after
Id-ul-Fitr to bring the personal belongings of the great leader, which, at present, were in the possession of the family members of Nawab of Malerkotla at Lahore in Pakistan. Mr Chautala said the personal belongings of Sir Chhotu Ram would be brought to Haryana with the same spirit with which the sacred water was fetched from
Sadhora, the birthplace of Bhai Kanhaiya in Pakistan. He said farmers in the country, especially of Haryana, had always regarded Sir Chhotu Ram as a messiah of the farming community and it was necessary to bring his belongings and preserve them in a befitting memorial being set up at his birthplace at village Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district. He said on his return from Pakistan on November 18, the personal belongings of Sir Chhotu Ram would be brought in procession from Wagah border to Garhi Sampla. The procession would reach Garhi Sampla on November 24. Mr Chautala said that he had already made a fervent appeal to people that in case they had any item relating to Sir Chhotu Ram, they should hand it over to the concerned Deputy Commissioner so that it could be appropriately displayed in the memorial. It was also revealed in the meeting that the first instalment of the enhanced unemployment allowance would be released on December 1 by the state government. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had recently announced enhancement of the unemployment allowance which would be paid at the rate of Rs 200 per month to the graduates or postgraduates or diploma holders and at the rate of Rs 100 per month to matric pass or above. It would be admissible to all unemployed people provided their parents were not income-tax payees. |
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Firm to spruce up railway
station
Ambala, November 3 The mechanised cleaning work has been given on contract and Ambala Cantt railway station will be a pilot project. Depending on the success of the contract system, cleaning work may be given on contract in other major stations. Additional Divisional Railway Manager Dayal Dogra said mechanised cleaning has been given on a monthly contract. “Contractor will clean all platforms, lines, offices at the platforms and in the general circulating area,” he said. He said some workers will have to be employed by the contractor for each platform. “There was an open tender system. The contract is for Rs 1.8 lakh per month,” he said. Mr Dogra said the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station at Delhi was the first railway station in the country to have given out mechanised cleaning work on contract. The system was introduced in Nizamuddin in 2000. He stated that mechanised cleaning work entailed using mechanical brush for cleaning on platforms and rail lines. High-pressure jet cleaning machine would be used. “We will also generate awereness among travellers to maintain cleanliness,” he said. The cleaning contract has been given to “A to Z” maintenance company. This company also has cleaning contract for the Old Delhi railway station and three stations of Metro Rail in New Delhi. With the cleaning work being given on contract at Ambala Cantt staff which will be spared is now going to be used in other areas. Also, mobile groups were be formed. These groups will visit small stations and carry out cleaning work before moving on to another station. |
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Science exhibition held
Ambala, November 3 Nearly about 100 students participated in the exhibition. The exhibits related to energy, conservation, nutrition and environment. Among others, working models of pressure detector, pinhole camera, twinkling star light, centrifugal force and clapping lamp were prepared by the students. Also, planetaurium, solenoid, water level indicator, microbalance, electronic library and bio-gas plan were also made. The students who have stood first in different groups include Abyodaya, Priyanka, Rohit, Aakash & Abhinav and Ghanisht. The students who have stood second include Kishu, Sanya, Esha and Ankur. |
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Springfield’s annual function tomorrow
Ambala November 3 Talking to mediapersons on the eve of the school annual function to be held on November 5, Mr Guglani, said that the school was now an ISO 9001:2000 certified institution. “Our students are excelling in academics and in extra-curricular activities. The students have won several awards in sports,” he said. School principal A.D. Lyall said that students were working hard for the school annual day function. He stated that, Mr Pavneesh Kumar, Controller of Examinations, CBSE would be the chief guest and accompanied by Mr P.I. Sabu, Regional Officer, CBSE. Mr Lyall said that “We are going to have Indian as well as international tie-ups”, he said. |
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