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Cabinet decides to double MLAs’ salary
With land disputes galore, mafia makes
Commercialisation case: MCD submits
Escorts Hospital case: DDA asked
Parents protest against teachers’ transfers
Gurgaon cricket stadium to be upgraded
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Sunder Bhatti’s brother, two others killed
VC flayed for sending out circular censuring protest against PM
Satta racket busted, three held
FIR against Daler Mehndi for
Bid to loot HDFC Bank ATM
Row over jerseys for MCD schoolchildren
Doctors get bail in medical negligence case
Man sent to judicial custody
Six held for village clash
Paul reviews IITF security measures
Youth shot dead in drunken brawl
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Cabinet decides to double MLAs’ salary
New Delhi, November 21 A decision regarding these three issues was taken by the Delhi Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit here in the Capital today. The Cabinet cleared the proposal to increase the salaries to Rs 35,000 per month. At present, they draw Rs 16,500. The move would not only bring the MLA’s salary at par with that of ministers, who used to get Rs 24,000 earlier, but also the chief minister, who got the same amount except Rs 2,000 more on account of sumptuary (regulating expenditure) allowance. MLAs cutting across party lines had been demanding increase in salary, saying their pay that was equal to what a Grade I government officer got should be made equal to if not more than what the Chief Secretary got. Even smaller states got more salary than what was given in the national Capital, they had said. The decision would place a burden of Rs 1.71 crore annually on the state government. The Cabinet’s decision would, however, have to be ratified by the Centre before it could be implemented. The Cabinet
recommended to increase MLAs’ basic from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000, constituency allowance from Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000, conveyance allowance from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000, secretarial allowance from Rs 7,500 to Rs 10,000, telephone allowance from called-based to Rs 4,000, and a daily allowance during the time the assembly was in session from Rs 400 to Rs 500. Besides, a new electricity and water allowance of Rs 2,000 was also proposed. The annual travelling allowance was also proposed to be increased from Rs 35,000 to Rs 60,000 while vehicle loan advance amount was sought to be increased from Rs 1 lakh to 4 lakh. The minimum pension was also proposed to be increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000 and the maximum amount would be Rs 10,000 (Rs 500 per year for every additional year after five years). In another important decision, the Cabinet decided to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on Gold from one per cent to 0.1 per cent. The decision to reduce VAT on the yellow metal was taken as bullion trade in the capital was shifting to neighbouring Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and even Gujarat where the tax on gold was much less, Delhi Finance Minister Dr A K Walia told reporters after a Cabinet Meeting here. The Cabinet also recommended calling a short winter session of the Legislative Assembly from December 19 to 23. The recommendation would be sent to Lt Governor B L Joshi, who would finalise the dates in consultation with Delhi Assembly Speaker Prem Singh. Ahead of the session, the Cabinet also approved a more than 100 per cent increase in salaries of MLAs in an effort to broker peace with the party dissidents as also the opposition. The monsoon session had been a stormy one with Congress members creating more problems for the government that the opposition. Among other things, they had demanded an increase in salary. The opposition had then criticized the government’s decision to only call a three-day monsoon session.
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With land disputes galore, mafia makes a fast buck
Gurgaon, November 21 A senior advocate and former general secretary of the local bar, Mr Arun Sharma, alleged HUDA released land measuring around 4000 sq yard on the Gurgaon- Mehrauli road to benefit some property dealers who were claiming to be very close to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Mr Sharma informed that HUDA showed interest in acquiring this land in 1982 for Sector 16. Then the owners of the land, the farmers, approached the court against the acquisition. Now, in August 2005 HUDA had released the land. Elaborating the modus operandi of the land mafia, Mr Sharma informed that the property dealers allegedly bought such land at throwaway prices for which the cases were pending in various courts. Then they got such land released on one pretext or the other by using their high connections, thereafter selling the land at market rates. The market value of the land measuring 4000 square yard on MG Road, which was released recently by the Haryana Government, was worth more than Rs 10 crore. Advocate Naresh Yadav suggested that if the government did not require this land, public utility facilities like parks, toilets, police post could be developed on such land to avoid controversies. Mr Yadav added that the government must frame fixed guidelines to release any piece of land for which the department had shown interest in acquiring it some time back. Releasing such land which had a huge market price value created doubt about the working of the administration and the political set-up. Mr Yadav further added that the government was also planning to release another piece of land measuring around 4000 square yard on the old Delhi –Gurgaon road. HUDA had then planned to develop a commercial complex on this land for Sector 12. This land now carried a market price tag of more than Rs 15 crore, informed Mr Yadav. The legal fraternity and other citizens of Gurgaon were distressed to notice that the government first released the land on MG Road to benefit a section of property dealers and then allowed them to take the law into their own hands. These property dealers allegedly committed a murderous attack last week on Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, his mother Indermani and brother Praveen for raising the voice against the release of land. Senior BJP leaders, including Prof Ram Bilas Sharma and Mr Sita Ram Singla, had already demanded a CBI inquiry against the release of land. They also questioned the working of the police and the local administration in shielding the culprits. However, some advocates, prominent citizens and social workers of the city would request the high court to direct the state government to form guidelines for acquiring and releasing the land so that the land mafia did not take advantage of certain loopholes in the existing system. According to senior officials of HUDA, who did not want to be quoted, thousands of acres of land was under dispute at various stages in different courts. The land mafia might take advantage of this, added the officer.
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Commercialisation case: MCD submits list to SC
New Delhi, November 21 The list of zones was submitted by the Additional Commissioner, Engineering, Mr. M. M. Kutty, after a direction for filing the details was issued by the court on Friday. Since the MCD had informed the court that it would take up those areas first for demolition where the commercialization was “glaring and blatant”, the civic body has furnished details about violations of the law indicating the nature of it in each locality of 134 wards. The MCD in its report said that major commercial activity was being done in West Zone where 51 roads had been encroached for the major commercial purpose and for minor purpose 31 roads have been encroached. Major violation has been determined in respect of roads where commercialization of buildings is more than 50 per cent in the shape of clusters and minor is less than this. The roads where major activities are being done are identified as N.D. Road to Jail Road, Ganesh Nagar Chowk to Outer Ring Road, Tilak Nagar Police Station to Mukerjee Park, Najafgarh to Bindra Park Road, Main Road Madi Pur, JJ Colony and Rohtak Road. Karol Bagh Zone comes on the second number where major commercial activity is being done on 31 roads and minor on 11 roads. Major affected roads are Balraj Khanna Marg, Govind Lal Sikk Marg, Munshi Ram Sethi Marg, Barket Punjabi Marg, Hardyan Singh Road, Vishnu Mandir Marg, Padam Singh Road, Tank Road and Gadodia Road. Besides, Central Zone has 28 roads, Shahadra South 24, Civil Lines 22, South, Najafgarh and Rohini 14 each, Sadar Paharganj 12, Shahadra North 10 City nine and Narela has no commercial activity, the report said.
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Escorts Hospital case: DDA asked to file reply
New Delhi, November 21 Justice Anil Kumar said the interim order pronounced earlier would continue and the DDA was directed to protect the possession of the land of the hospital allotted to the Escorts group. It was informed to the court that the Estate Officer of the Union Urban Development Ministry would hear the application of the Escorts on November 28 regarding the land. Escorts chief Rajan Nanda had allegedly sold the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre to the Fortis Group. The DDA had issued notice to the Escorts on the sale of the land as it was allotted at a concessional rate for establishing a charitable hospital. The Court had directed Mr Nanda to maintain status quo and should not transfer its ownership till the matter was decided. “There is prima facie evidence that some alleged violation has been perpetuated in the deal,” the Judge said. Fixing January 9 as the next date of hearing, the court asked the DDA to file a reply in two weeks and the respondents to file rejoinder before the next date of
hearing. Mr Nanda’s estranged brother Anil Nanda, in a petition, alleged that the hospital was being sold, violating all rules and regulations as it was established as a charitable institute. “Late H P Nanda, the founder of Escorts Group of Companies, had conceived the idea of setting up a charitable institute of world fame, to help the weaker sections of society and to create a medical infrastructure for the citizens of India. It is with this vision that EHIRC-Delhi was formed as a charitable society,” the petition filed by Counsel P K Bansal, for Anil Nanda, said. It was reported in various media that the Escorts, which was holding 80 percent of the shares in the hospital, was seeking to divest its shareholding to Fortis Group for about Rs 600 crore, the petition said. The petition sought the direction of the court for a permanent injunction from transferring the hospital to another private company.
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Parents protest against teachers’ transfers
Faridabad, November 21 Some parents’ bodies and social organisations have lodged their protest over the move. They have demanded a stop to all transfers till the end of the present academic session. Though the state government had banned transfers of all kind in the state a few months ago, the recent transfers of several teachers in many government schools, especially those teaching matric and plus two classes, have not only led to mass resentment among the teaching faculty but also the students and their parents, who believe that the move could not be justified and the development had been a clear-cut violation of the government’s own order. Mr Trilok Chand Gupta, president of the Citizen Welfare Association, Haryana, said here today the mid-term transfer of the teachers of the government schools could spell disaster for a large number of students preparing for their annual exams, which are due a couple of months later. He said the policy of rationalisation may be good in its own sense but claimed that it was not the time to implement it when the students were busy with their studies. The unavailability of a subject teacher could result in poor preparation for a majority of the students, who normally hail from poor and middle class families. He said that since most of the students studying in government schools and especially those appearing in board exams could not afford private tuition the move could affect adversely their result. He claimed that at least 120 teachers had either been transferred or were waiting for their new place of posting in Faridabad district. It was expected that the figure for such teachers could go well over 1100 in the entire state. Seeking the Chief Minister’s immediate intervention on the issue, he said the government should stall the process in the larger interests of the students and arrange to provide extra teachers and teaching classes to the students of board exams. The overall passing average of matric and plus two students of government schools in the state had been much lower than that of private schools and the institutions affiliated to the CBSE. The pass percentage of government schools in Haryana had been hovering around 50 per cent on an average. It had been as low as 26 to 30 per cent in some of the districts. The Faridabad Abhibhawak Manch, which has also condemned the mid-session transfers in the district, has claimed that due to very low teaching sessions and guidance the result had been sub-standard and poor in many government-run schools. It has demanded the implementation of the new education policy and a proper check on the non-educational work assigned to teachers in the teaching session. Parents of some students of the government school at Dhatir village in the district, which had been declared a model school, have threatened to block the road if the physics and chemistry teacher were transferred before the exam.
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Gurgaon cricket stadium to be upgraded Gurgaon, November 21 Mr Hooda, who was here to play a cricket match which was organised between Chief Minister’s X1 and Parliamentarian X1, which the latter won by nine wickets, further said his government was taking measures to promote sports in a big way in the state. The match, sponsored by Maruti Udyog Ltd, was organised in memory of Mr Surender Singh, who died in a plane crash while he was a minister in the present Congress government in Haryana a few months ago. He hailed Mr Surender Singh as a sports loving person. Earlier, parliamentarians and legislators from Haryana, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, took a day-long break from their business to participate in the exhibition limited overs cricket match. The Chief Minister displayed his all-round cricketing abilities. Although the Resident Commissioner, Mr Ashok Lawasa, scored the highest for Chief Minister’s X1 scoring 34 runs, Mr Hooda was the next highest scorer (14) but the highest run getter among the elected representatives for his side. He ultimately lost his wicket to the bowling of his own son, Mr Deepender Hooda. For the parliamentarians, Mr Kuldip Bishnoi top scored with 49 runs.
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Sunder Bhatti’s brother, two others killed
Bulandshahr, November 21 Senior police officers had rushed to the spot and had the bodies of the victims removed even before the arrival of their kith and kin. The police have constituted four teams for tracking down and nabbing the assailants. Several suspected members of the rival gang had been rounded up in police raids from various places in Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Bulandshahr districts for interrogation, the SSP said. Pratap Singh Patwari of Dhandhola village was the elder brother of Sunder Bhatti, who is currently lodged in Bulandshahr jail. On Sunday, Patwari had come along with Shibhu Prohit, Leelu and Leela of his village to his house in Sekanderabad. The four were returning to their village after performing puja in a temple and doing some shopping in the market. They were chased by members of the rival gang who stopped his car by hitting it from the rear, a few kilometres short of Dankore border. Five persons with automatic weapons came out of the car and rained bullets on the Bhatti gang members. Partap Singh Patwari slumped over Leela sitting next to him. The assailants dragged Shibu Prohit out of the car and fired a shot after forcing the pistol barrel into his mouth and shot dead Leela inside the car. Assuming all to be dead, they walked towards Dankore through the field, waving their weapons. The bodies were sent to the district headquarters by the CO, Sekandrabad, who had rushed there with the police force. Bhatti’s brother Sehdev had filed an FIR, naming eight accused, in Sekandrabad police station. Incidentally, this gang war has already claimed the life of eight persons from both the sides. It had started seven years ago between Sunder Bhatti and Naresh Bhatti on the question of collecting extortion money. The gang war, according to observers, is likely to intensify with the latest killings.
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VC flayed for sending out circular censuring protest against PM
New Delhi, November 21 The students are unhappy with the Vice Chancellor, Prof. B B Bhattacharya, for sending out a circular censuring the black flag protest during the PM’s visit. The VC has sent a letter informing the students that the administration will take strict action against those responsible for the protest. The Students Federation of India and the right wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad have criticised the VC’s “involvement”. They are upset that Prof. Bhattacharya should have sent out a letter condemning the protest. “This is an issue that involves the students and should be resolved by the students. The VC cannot act as a stooge of the Congress government and spell out action. If any action has to be taken, then it should be against violence on the campus and not for political reasons,” said former JNUSU President and SFI activist, Rohit. Shiv Shakti Bakshi of the ABVP even sought “an explanation from the administration itself”. He contended, “how did the students manage to take black flags inside. Today it was cloth, tomorrow it can be a weapon.” “We have been raising this issue that while protests are not the problem, the means and the methods should be discussed. The administration and the JNUSU never paid heed, which is why such incidents occur,” he added. Incidentally, the National Students’ Union of India, which is also against the VC’s stand, has initiated a signature campaign asking those students to apologise to the PM. Needless to say, the move has not gone down well with the students. Members of the SFI and the ABVP are resolute on not apologising for what they claim is a democratic right. “We cannot apologise for protesting, which is a right every citizen of a democratic country has,” said Shiv Shakti Bakshi of the ABVP. The NSUI, on it part claims to have collected over 2000 signatures on the letter of apology that they propose to send to Dr Manmohan Singh. Meanwhile, the absence of JNUSU President Mona Das from the campus on the day of the black flag protest is being used by a section of the students to seek her impeachment. Even as her party claimed she was unwell, conjectures were being drawn over the reasons for her “disappearance”. But with Das back on the campus, students are looking forwards to hearing from her. Das, who was recuperating from “severe spondilytis”, will make an appearance on the campus tomorrow, days after the NSUI requisitioned a UGBM (University General Body Meeting) to call for impeachment. In the interim, AISA has been busy explaining the rationale behind the black flag protest against the PM. The protest they claim was not “disruption”, but “dissent”, an essential aspect of democracy. Pointing out that Das “was away for health reasons”, AISA activist, Kavita, claimed that the impeachment call is not against Mona but against the “students’ right to protest”. “Mona was ill and she had informed the JNUSU that she would be away. Had she been here that day, the call for impeachment would still have been made. It is an attempt to strengthen the hands of an administration that wants to crack down on the students who protested,” said Kavita. “We raised slogans because we wanted answers. We were about to sit down after having raised a demand for answers from the PM when the NSUI activists along with members from the Joint Progressive Front, aligned to the RSS, began beating us up,” she added. The violence that ensued between the factions was what led to the “disruption,” she claimed. AISA also alleged that despite their requests, the memorandum, which was to be presented to the PM, did not include their demand for scrapping the Armed Forces Special Act and the Patent Amendment Act.
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Satta racket busted, three held
New Delhi, November 21 Acting on a tip-off that some persons were involved in a satta racket in a house in East Rohtash Nagar, the sleuths raided the house and nabbed the suspects. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch today arrested a person involved in a sensational robbery-cum-murder case in Ashok Vihar on August 20. The accused, has been identified as Tek Chand alias Teka, resident of Meerut. Earlier, the sleuths arrested three persons, identified as Suraj Choudhary alias Chinta, Santosh Kumar and Jai Ram from Faizabad on September 26. During interrogation, the accused persons disclosed that their accomplice Tek Chand’s involvement in the case and subsequently a NBW was issued against Tek Chand. He was arrested by the sleuths after a special team received a tip-off on November 20 that Tek Chand has been residing in Dehradun.
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FIR against Daler Mehndi for music piracy
New Delhi, November 21 The FIR was registered following an order by Metropolitan Magistrate Digvinay Singh to raid and seize all pirated stocks in the possession of the accused persons. As per the complaint filed by Magnasound Director V M Saxena, the popular Punjabi singer and the others were unauthorisedly selling audio and video music albums through their websites on which the company had sole copyright. According to Saxena, raids have already been carried out on November 19 at Mehndi’s Hauz Khas-based DM1 Musics. Saxena claimed that he had himself accompanied the raiding party and signed the seizure report. However, police officials have refused to confirm the raids. The complainant had earlier filed a civil suit in the Delhi High court against Mehndi and others in this regard and the case is still going on. Despite this, they allegedly continued the violations prompting the company to file a criminal complaint against all the accused. Mehndi and others have been accused of committing offence under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and various provisions of Copyright Act and Trade Marks Act.
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Bid to loot HDFC Bank ATM
Noida, November 21 The police of Sector 24, after having registered a report, have started investigations. Before tampering with the ATM, the criminals had gained knowledge about operating it from the security guard. But when they could not break through the equipment, security guard Subash tried to oppose them. At this, the criminals pounced upon him and thrashed him thoroughly. Having failed to take out the cash, the criminals went away in their car but only after threatening the guard with dire consequences. The security guard later informed police post in-charge Haridarshan Dhanvir Singh. Soon, the SO police station of Sector 24 and the SP City also visited the spot along with bank officials. The guard told the police that criminals had come in a white Marshal Jeep. It may be added that it is the second time that criminals have tried to loot cash from an ATM in Noida. On March 29, 2004, the ATM at IOB at the KRIBHCO office in Sector 1 here had even brought gas cutters along to break through the equipment. They had murdered security guard Budh Sen with a sharp-edged weapon in the wee hours.
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Row over jerseys for MCD schoolchildren
New Delhi, November 21 This issue was raised by the Leader of Opposition, Mr. Subhash Arya saying that if jerseys were not purchased for the students, the corporation would lapse a hundred crore rupees and children of the poor families who get their wards enrolled in MCD schools would suffer. Last year the corporation had lost Rs 200 crore from plan head and Rs 2 crore from the non-plan head. He said that officers of the education department had left inviting tender to purchase goods after CBI conducted raids and took away samples of cloth material purchased for uniforms of the students. The officers seemed to be scared of the investigative agency. There is no need to be scared if work is done honestly, he said. When opposition parties led by the BJP pressurised the ruling party, the Mayor had called a meeting with the Municipal Commissioner, Mr. Ashok Kumar to decide for calling tender for jerseys. Besides, the meeting will be attended by Leader of the House, Leader of Opposition, Chairman of the Standing Committee. Leader of the House, Mr. Jitender
Kochar, assured the house that primary school students would be provided jerseys immediately. “We will contact the supplier who
provided the material last year. I hope he will supply on rate charged last year”, he said.
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200 bonded children rescued
New Delhi, November 21 The raids conducted jointly by the Labour Department, Delhi Police and a NGO at zari, embroidery and carpet units in the three areas, freed about 200 children aged between 6-12 years of age, said Labour Commissioner Narendra Kumar. Most of the children
rescued so far hail from Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Sitamarhi in Bihar and were
employed in the cottage industries in these areas. “The raids to free the
minors were conducted after a lot of planning, following surveillance and secret surveys in the area over a period of time,” the Labour Commissioner said. The children had been working under inhuman conditions in these 100 odd units, and were being paid a meagre amount only, the Commissioner added.
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Doctors get bail in medical negligence case
New Delhi, November 21 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Kumar today granted bail to O P Sharma, a doctor of the Shanti Mukund Hospital, and another physician, Mayank, who today appeared before it, on furnishing personal bond and surety of Rs 10,000 each. The court, however, issued fresh summons to S K Singh and S Srivastava of Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (GTB), who failed to appear before it for the fifth consecutive time. The victim’s father P V Ramu has alleged in his complaint that his daughter, who had sustained eye injuries during the assault, had lost sight in her right eye owing to the negligence of the four doctors who treated her. “The hospital took hours to act....their approach was casual and they practically refused to attend the victim as they sent her to GTB without taking any action. There too the doctors did not take timely action,” the complaint said. The nurse was on duty at the hospital at Karkari Mode in East Delhi looking after a comatose patient in the intervening night of December 7 and 8, 2003. She suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to find the convict attempting to force himself on her. When she tried to shrug him off, Bhura plunged in his fingers into her eyes gouging out her right eye. She was then dragged to a bathroom and raped. Bhura was on May 4, this year sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court which rejected his last-ditch effort to get leniency with a proposal to marry the victim.
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Man sent to judicial custody
New Delhi, November 21 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magitrate Vinod Kumar sent the offender Janak, brother of a Sub Divisional Magistrate, to judicial remand after he was produced before it for physically assaulting the prosecutor’s wife and daughter. As per the complaint, an altercation started between Janak and the complainant Veena Walia, wife of Y P S Ahluwalia, Chief Public Prosecutor of Karkardooma Courts in east Delhi, when she objected to Janak’s nephew disturbing them by hitting a ball on her door. An enraged Janak, forcibily entered into the complainant’s house last evening and allegedly assaulted her and her daughter. An FIR under section 323 (hurt), 324 (causing hurt by a weapon) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC was registered by the Anand Vihar Police station.
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Six held for village clash
Faridabad, November 21 The incident took place after several people armed with guns and lathis attacked persons working on fields near Kusak village. The fields belong to Daya Ram, who owned about 1061 acres of land on lease. While the police have registered a case against several persons under various sections of the IPC, it claimed the accused wanted to illegally occupy the land. When the owners resisted, a clash took place on Sunday, leading to serious injuries to some.—TNS
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Paul reviews IITF security measures
New Delhi, November 21 In the wake of serial blasts in the capital on October 29, Dr Paul himself visited the venue to oversee the security arrangements on November 12 and directed his men to be alert to meet any eventuality. The police also advised the public to be very cautious and immediately inform the control room or the staff present at the venue if they come across any suspicious persons or objects at the fair, which is to conclude on November 27.
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Youth shot dead in drunken brawl
Ghaziabad, November 21
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