Hisar, September 6
Having allegedly been denied a fresh passport by the Regional Passport Office (RPO) and repeated requests falling on deaf ears for about one and a half years, a Hisar-based orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Ashok Kumar Arora, does not know which door to knock at.

Dr Arora’s passport (T891897) was issued on April 19, 1995, and was due to expire on April 18, 2005. On March 23, 2005, he applied for renewal of his passport through the passport office at Hisar.

In a letter dated April 28, 2005, the RPO, Chandigarh, told him to submit the original passport which he did. However, when he did not receive a renewed passport for several months, he wrote to the RPO to expedite the matter, but to no avail.

At last, in October, the RPO wrote another letter to him, demanding the second passport issued to him in 1997. Dr Arora was shocked on getting the letter as he did not have any second passport.

He was told that another passport had been issued in his name on the basis of his certificate. The doctor did not know anything about the second passport and expressed his ignorance about the matter.

In his written reply sent to the RPO, Dr Arora maintained that he had not got any second passport issued. He also submitted an affidavit denying the issuance of any second passport to him. All relevant documents, including the attested copies of his IMA identity card, MBBS and MS degrees, PAN card and other relevant papers were sent along with the affidavit.

In the meanwhile, police verification of his residence and other credentials was conducted twice, in which no anomaly was found. Still he did not get any solace from the RPO.

Dr Arora, who has served as a Registrar at the Medical College, Rohtak, and as orthopaedic surgeon at the Civil Hospital, Hisar, quit government job and established his own hospital where he has been practising since 1989.

He is also a life member of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Indo-German Orthopaedic Association, World Orthopaedic Concern and Orthopaedic Association of SAARC Countries.

The doctor states that he has not been able to attend several international medical conferences due to the non-availability of passport. He says that he was suffering for no fault of his and was neither being granted appointment for personal hearing nor any satisfactory reply by the officials concerned.

Dr Arora has demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter as he apprehends that a racket involving issuance of passports on forged documents was in progress, of which he is a victim.

Hisar, September 6
With a view to providing quality education in government schools in the state, the Haryana Government has decided to upgrade one government senior secondary school in each district to the level of model school.

In the initial phase, model schools are being set up in Sirsa, Mahendragarh, Panipat and Ambala districts. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr V.Umashankar, in an official press statement issued here today.

He said the standard of these model schools would be comparable to the best English-medium public schools, adding that teachers having a good command over the English language would be appointed for these schools.

The Deputy Commissioner disclosed that the local Government Senior Secondary School had been selected for the purpose.

A proposal for grant of Rs 50 lakh had been sent to the authorities concerned for the upgrading of laboratories, purchase of more books and other infrastructure development.

Hisar, September 6
Dr M.M. Juneja, a noted author and former Head of the History Department at Jat College here, has penned a book on Pt Neki Ram Sharma (1887-1956), an eminent freedom fighter and social reformer of Haryana.

Dr Juneja, who did his Ph.D on Pt Neki Ram Sharma, has written 14 books so far. His earlier works include “History of Hisar”, “Hisar City: Places and Personalities”, “Why War?” and “Eminent Freedom Fighters of Haryana”, besides several biographies. Presently, he is engaged in research on Bhagat Singh and Chander Shekhar Azad.

Addressing a news conference here today, Dr Juneja asserted that the book, “Haryana Kesari Pt Neki Ram Sharma”, was the first research-based book in Hindi on the late leader though an “Abhinandan Granth” on him was published in 1953.

He said going through old editions of The Tribune preserved in the form of microfilms at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi was of great help in finding certain crucial references used in the book.

The historian maintained that Pt Neki Ram Sharma had played a pivotal role in the spread of freedom movement in Haryana. Apart from motivating the masses to join the struggle against the Britishers, he also organised the farmers to fight for their rights. The life and works of Pt Neki Ram could be a source of inspiration for today’s youth, he stated.

Chandigarh, September 6
In an interesting case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside an order of the Haryana Government removing a lady sarpanch for having more than two children.

In her petition, Ms Reshmi Devi, who was sarpanch of her village, had challenged the order dated October 5, 2005, vide which she had been denied the right to lead evidence in the case against her in the matter.

She had also challenged the orders dated March 16 and August 7, vide which she had been removed from the post of sarpanch on the ground that she had more than three living children.

During hearing, Ms Reshmi Devi’s counsel, advocate Arvind Singh, also prayed that she be granted the benefit of the amendment of August 17, where Section 177 (1) (q) has been deleted from the statute retrospectively with effect from January 1, 2005. The deleted Section dealt with the third child norm.

However, soon thereafter, one of her opponents filed a petition seeking her disqualification for having more than two children. In her reply to the charge, the petitioner stated that she had conceived and given birth to the third child on the request of one Ramesh Chand and his wife, who were childless even after 22 years of marriage. One week after the child's birth, he was adopted by the couple and the same was registered in the office of sub-registrar.

She also stated that the petition against her was the result of the enmity of the complainant with her.

Her counsel informed the Bench that the Haryana Government issued an amendment deleting the clause with retrospective effect from the date on which the present gram panchayats in the state came into being. Mr Arvind Singh also informed the court that she continues to hold the post of Sarpanch and no process of re-election had been started.

After hearing counsel, the Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Jasbir Singh and Mr Justice Pritam Pal allowed the writ and set aside the orders by which the petitioner had been unseated.

Rewari, September 6
As many as four persons were killed, while several others were injured in three separate road accidents in the district during the past 36 hours.

In a head-on collision between a scooter and a Tata-407 vehicle (HR 55-2274) occurred on the Jhajjar-Rewari road near Jat Gangaicha village, 8 km from here, on Monday night, two scooterists, Attar Singh of Hisar district and Khazan Singh Yadav of Beharipur village, near here, were killed, while Khazan Singh’s son Sandeep Yadav was injured.

In the second such incident motorcyclist Roop Kishan Yadav of Raipur village, near Bawal, died on the spot while his companion Satish Yadav was injured when a speeding tanker collided with their motor cycle (HR 35-B-7771) on the Bawal road near Krishi Vigyan Kendra, 12 km from here, last evening.

In the third incident when a Tata Sumo (HR-35-B-0427) collided with a camel-cart on the Rewari-Khandora road near Jaitrawas village, 9 km from here, on Monday night, cart driver Jogender of Sulkha village, near Jaitrawas, died on the spot, while Rama Nand and Kuldip of Kharkhari village, near Sulkha, who too were on the cart, were injured.

The police has registered cases of rash and negligence driving under Sections 279, 337 and 304-A of the IPC against the drivers of the Tata-407 vehicle, the tanker and the Tata Sumo.