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EC issues notices to 12 MLAs on disqualification issue
Haryana excise policy to hit HP liquor trade
Women get special attention in Budget
Budget populist, says Dhumal
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Online power billing for industrial area soon
Public Information Office opened
Leopard victim fighting for life
Employment scheme launched
Maths, sociology papers cancelled
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EC issues notices to 12 MLAs on disqualification issue
New Delhi, March 4 The EC in its recent order has issued notices to the 12 MLAs directing them to submit their replies by March 16 on the reference of an application to it by state Governor V.S. Kokje, who has sought the comments of the poll panel on the issue as required under the Law. Of these eight MLAs—Mukesh Agnihotri, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Anita Verma, Prem Singh, Tek Chand, Harsh Wardhan Chauhan, Lajja Ram and Harbhajan Singh—were appointed Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) and four—Jagat Singh Negi, Surinder Kumar, Sudhir Sharma and Raghbir Singh—as Parliamentary Secretaries (PS) by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. The Chief Election Commissioner, Mr B.B. Tandon, told The Tribune that the poll panel after receiving the replies from the legislators would decide whether to hold a hearing on the issue or pass an order and send it to the Governor. The High Court by its judgement of August 18, 2005, had set aside these appointments on the ground that the Chief Minister had no power to appoint CPS and PS under the Constitution. Moreover, the state government had taken no financial approval for these posts. Though the state government had challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court, which had admitted its appeal and issued notice on it, a parallel proceedings had been initiated by BJP MLA Ravi Inder Singh by moving an application before the Governor for the disqualification of the 12 MLAs from the House under Articles 191 and 192 of the Constitution, claming that the appointment of a legislator from an office of profit if quashed by a court of law, he would also be disqualified from the membership of the House. As per Constitutional provisions whenever such an application was moved before the Governor, he was required to seek the comments of the EC whether a “prima facie” case was made out or not for the disqualification of the legislator on this ground to enable him to take a decision on it either way. The EC in its notices to the 12 MLAs said since they were the subject matter of the probe on a plea for the disqualification, it proposed to inquire the matter and for that they need to submit written statements. The MLAs had also been asked to clarify whether they would like to appear in person for examination or through their lawyers. The state government has taken a stand that under the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1971, the post of CPS and PS was exempted from being brought under the provision of disqualification in such an eventuality. The other functionaries of the government, who enjoyed such immunity in the event of court quashing their appointments from an office of profit under the state legislation, include Cabinet ministers, ministers of state, deputy ministers, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly and various functionaries of the local bodies. |
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Haryana excise policy to hit HP liquor trade
Solan, March 4 The prevailing system of fixing excise duty as per the liquor brand ranging from Rs 21 to Rs 53 will now lead to liquor being costlier in Himachal. The neighbouring states, on the other hand, will now have to charge a flat rate, making liquor cheaper. While the rates of Rs 5 and Rs 25 per proof per litre have been fixed as the price of country liquor and Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) respectively, by the Chandigarh Administration, the Haryana government has pegged these rates at Rs 10 and Rs 15 per proof per litre, respectively, for the country liquor and IMFL. The local licensees are now demanding rates at par with these neighbouring states. A liquor licensee of the region while expressing concern over this policy said the traders in the border districts of Solan, Sirmour and Shimla would suffer major losses if the excise duty was not made at par with that of Haryana and Chandigarh. The fact is that liquor rates prevailing in Himachal earlier were about 5-10 per cent lower than the neighbouring states and there was an outflow of cheaper liquor from here to these states. This situation would now reverse and could lead to smuggling of cheaper liquor into Himachal. Senior officials in the Excise and Taxation Department while agreeing to the concern, said certain changes would have to be made to ensure that the revenue did not suffer on this account. Revenue to the tune of Rs 264 crore has been generated up till now in the state with is 10.89 per cent higher than the previous year. As much as Rs 97.94 crore has been generated from the three districts comprising Solan, Sirmour and Shimla. |
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Women get special attention in Budget
Shimla, March 4 Besides measures to check the declining female sex ratio regarding which the Planning Commission had also cautioned the state, he also introduced the concept of gender budgeting to ensure that the 30 per cent of the outcome from departmental budgets should positively impact to empower women in various spheres. The emphasis has been on improving the sex ratio for which a number of incentive schemes have been announced. As many as 10 panchayats having best female birth rate relative to male birth rate will be given an additional development grant of Rs 5 lakh every year. The Indira Gandhi Balika Suraksha Yojna will be introduced to check female foeticide. Under the scheme an incentive of Rs 25,000 will be provided to parents who adopt terminal family planning methods after the birth of the first girl child. Those opting for it after two daughters will get Rs 20,000. The amount will be given as an interest-bearing deposit to be encashed at the time of marriage of the girl child. Any persons providing information about illegal female foeticide will be given a cash reward of Rs 10,000. The Mother Teresa Asahay Sambhal Yojna will be introduced to help widows, divorced and deserted women of BPL (below poverty line) families. They will be entitled to an annual grant of Rs 1,000 for the upbringing of their children till they attain the age of 14. Similarly, under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Daan Yojna a grant of Rs 11,001 will be given to destitute women for the marriage of their daughters. |
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Budget populist, says Dhumal
Shimla, March 4 Mr Dhumal said that Mr Virbhadra Singh once again had presented a tax-free Budget, which would aggravate the debt situation. “In his last budget speech Mr Virbhadra Singh had admitted that he had made a great mistake by presenting tax-free budgets year after year and not focusing on resource mobilization but it seems he has once again committed this folly which will worsen economy of the state,” remarked Mr Dhumal. “There is no harm in presenting a tax-free Budget provided you are able to cut down on the non-plan expenditure and get your due from the Centre and other states,” he said. Once again no effort had been made to curb non-plan expenditure which will increase by Rs 798.3 crore compared to an increase of Rs 44.71 crore increase in plan expenditure.
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Shimla, March 4 In a statement issued here yesterday, the state secretary of the CPM, Mr Rakesh Singha, said that due to the dependence of the state on World Bank and the Central Government for financial assistance, there had been a drastic cut in jobs in the government sector. He said that the Budget had hardly given any relief to the farmers and horticulturists. — TNS
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Online power billing for industrial area soon Baddi, March 4 Stating this during an interaction with the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) here, Power Minister Vidya Stokes today said the board was gearing up to meet the challenges of the expanding industry. A 66/33 kv sub-station would be set up at Manpura by December, 2006 to provide power to the industry. Allaying the fears of the industry about frequent power cuts, she said the state would have no power shortage once all of its hydel power projects were commissioned in the next two years. The government was keen on granting permission to pending projects within next six months, she added. Expressing concern at the delay in setting up a hazardous waste management plant, she said a three-member committee comprising three ministers had been formed to look into the issue of land transfer. With an apex court committee fixing June, 2006 as the time for setting up the plant, the state government would try to expedite the matter, she said. She expressed concern at the increasing noise pollution in the industrial area and said the issue had been ignored till now. Earlier, newly elected president of the BBNIA
A.R. Singh said the state government should consider grading the 70 per cent state intake in industries and give time to train youth in the requisite trades. He said with an exodus of a large migrant labour force the necessity of sewage treatment plant had gained significance. Vice-president of the HP chapter of the CII Rajender Guleria emphasised the need for relaxing stamp duty on land registration and grant of consent to the CII housing scheme by the state government. Executive director, Vardman Group, Sachit Jain expressed concern at the unavailability of adequate technically trained manpower in the pharmaceutical and textiles sector. He underlined the need for opening educational institutes to cater to their needs.
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Public Information Office opened
Palampur, March 4 Addressing the gathering, Mr Abhishek Jain, IAS, SDM, here, stated that the town was one of the leading e-governance subdivisions of Himachal Pradesh. The registration of vehicles, driving licenses etc. was being done on computers. He disclosed that the Public Information Office had been made operational where application forms were made available to get any information from the office, or for inspect any record (subject to exceptions). The public could now exercise their right to information. Separate registers had also been maintained in accordance with the Rules to keep record of the information given to the public. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bharat Kehera, District Magistrate, said the Right to Information Act, 2005, was already operational, and the state government had already framed the HP Right to Information Rules, 2006. Mr Khera Said, the step was taken to enhance public disclosure of information pertaining to the various tasks performed in the SDM office. Mr Khera said the court in the subdivisional office was computerised to enhance the efficiency of the court. List of newly instituted cases, list of decided cases, periodical progress report of cases, details about the status of a particular court case, various registers for record of different nature of cases would be maintained. He said this would help in saving time of the litigants as also of the lawyers who could now get information about any case quite easily. Earlier, Mr B.B L Butial, a local MLA, presided over the function and inaugurated the Public Information Centre. |
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Leopard victim fighting for life
Mandi, March 4 Leopards have wreaked terror in the Mandi-Sundernagar-Jogindernagar-Bilaspur belt, where over four deaths have been reported after victims were mauled by wild animals. Vishal and his mother were going to attend a marriage at a nearby village near Dehar, on the Mandi-Bilaspur border, when a leopard attacked the child and took him away. “My wife chased the leopard and raised an alarm which prompted the leopard to drop him. He was unconscious and bleeding profusely,” said Vishal’s father Raj Kumar. But for the courage of his mother, Vishal could have been devoured by the animal. Passersby rushed him to the Bilaspur hospital. “He sustained serious injuries and was referred to the IGMC for treatment,” informed the doctors. “When leopards injure a person, the victim gets Rs 1,650 and for the grievous injuries one gets Rs 33,000, but nothing is paid for damage to crops,” said Ajay Rana, a farmer from Balh valley, where a couple of leopards have been on the prowl for the past one week. The Chief Conservator of Forests, Mandi, Mr C. S. Singh, said the medical report of the victim has being awaited and Rs 1,650 interim relief has been paid to the family. |
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Employment scheme launched
Chamba, March 4 He distributed job guarantee cards to the eligible members of families of six development blocks of Chamba district. The scheme guarantees the identified 85,676 eligible families a minimum of 100 days’ employment in a year beginning the next financial year 2006-07. Addressing a large public meeting on the occasion at Bhalei, the Chief Minister said 35,000 posts were likely to be created and filled in the next financial year in different government departments of the state while about 25,000 posts had been created during the current financial year and recruitment process was in progress. He said the government was committed to explore vast employment avenues in industrial and hydroelectric projects and tourism, which would benefit the unemployed immensely. The Chief Minister announced the installation of a 33 KV substation for Bhalei and also announced the upgradation of Government Middle School, Dand, to high-school level. |
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Maths, sociology papers cancelled
Kangra, March 4 Mr B.R. Rahi, Chairman, Board of School Education, today told The Tribune that a flying squad of the board headed by the secretary, Dr K.D. Lakhanpal, caught students indulging in mass copying at Government Senior Secondary School, Baggli, GAV Senior secondary School, Kangra, and Government Senior Secondary School, Rait, examination centres at the morning session today and the Board at its meeting decided to cancel the examination of sociology paper of Class XII and mathematics of matriculation at these three centres. Mr Rahi said that the date and name of the centre for holding fresh examinations would be announced later. |
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