Chandigarh, April 30
Perturbed over the “bias” in favour of the arts stream, the Haryana education department has decided to increase the number of seats in science and commerce courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Beginning this academic session, the higher education department has decided to increase these seats in government and private colleges in courses of science, commerce, English, computer science and other job-oriented courses.

Says secretary, higher education, Rajan Gupta: “There was a great imbalance in the number of seats available for students wanting to pursue courses other than arts. We wanted to give them an option of taking up other subjects which have some market value instead of arts which hardly promise a bright future. To tackle this, we decided to increase seats in the in-demand courses.”

To realise this, the department has held meetings with the managements of private colleges and zeroed in on a handful of government colleges which can come to the aid of the government.

“We have nearly 70 per cent seats for the humanities stream in the state’s colleges and universities. Against this number, there are only 25 per cent seats available for students opting for science, computers and commerce. We want to do away with this great divide and strike a balance in the number of seats available as an option. We will have a ‘fair rise’ in the number of seats by the time the new session gets under way,” Gupta stated.

Feeling that students were forced to opt for arts subjects in view of the limited availability of seats in courses of their interest, the department has decided to make multi-option courses available while especially focusing on English, computer science and business administration.

Director, higher education, Shiv Raman Gaur said the department had identified 40 big private colleges in the state from a total of 94 colleges. “We have asked these colleges to give us details of the seats they can increase in the chosen courses. So far, we have got a positive response from 24 colleges while that from the remaining colleges is awaited. From the 68 government colleges in the state, we have picked 25 for increasing the number of seats,” he said.

So far, the department has been assured of an increase of 4,560 seats at the undergraduate level in the job-oriented courses of business administration and computer science besides a few others. At the postgraduate level, the department has already received a commitment for 1,700 seats in English, economics and other subjects which have a market.

The department is hopeful of making a substantial difference in the “kitty of seats” available in these sought-after subjects while maintaining that the process would be carried forward in a phased manner in the years to come. 

Hisar, April 30
The election process in the Adampur assembly segment of this district formally began today with former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal becoming the first candidate to file his nomination papers for the byelection here today as a nominee of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL).

Bhajan Lal filed two sets of nomination papers while his wife Jasma Devi also filed two sets of papers as the covering candidate for her husband. His son Kuldeep Bishnoi, MP, also accompanied him to the office of the returning officer.

Before filing the papers, Bhajan Lal inaugurated his election offices at Adampur as well as on the Balsamand road here. Havans were performed at both venues to seek the blessings of the Almighty.

Thousands of supporters of the former Chief Minister, sporting yellow turbans, followed his motorcade to the mini-secretariat where the papers were filed. Traffic on the Rajgarh road remained disrupted for sometime.

The Adampur seat was vacated because of the expulsion of Bhajan Lal from the Vidhan Sabha after he attended a rally in Rohtak last year at which his son Kuldeep Bishnoi announced the formation of a new political outfit.

Later, Kuldeep Bishnoi addressed newspersons at his residence. He demanded the deployment of the CRPF in the area during the campaigning as he feared the Haryana police would try to rig the poll for the Congress nominee.

He said he was now using a bulletproof jacket as the Haryana government had “stopped bothering” about his security despite threats to all members of his family.

He criticised INLD nominee Sampat Singh for raking up the issue of neglect of Adampur by the Congress government. He asked him why he did not raise this issue when he was a minister in the Chautala cabinet and represented the neighbouring Bhattu Kalan constituency.

Karnal, April 30
Two “crorepati” politicians - former Indri MLA and Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) nominee Rakesh Kumar Kamboj and Ekta Shakti party chief Virender Varma - filed their nomination papers for the Indri bypoll today.

Both candidates reached near the mini-secretariat in a cavalcade of cars to file their papers. Enthusiastic supporters raised slogans on the secretariat campus and the police had a tough time handling them.

The office of DDPO-cum-RO Satbir Singh Kundu was packed to capacity by the followers.

Incidentally, both nominees are law graduates.

Meanwhile, the District Election Office today warned parties and their candidates to strictly abide by the Election Commission rules.

Rajesh filed his papers as the covering candidate for his brother Rakesh Kumar Kamboj.

Bhiwani MP and HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi and the party nominee from Gohana Dharam Pal Malik were also present on the occasion.

In his affidavit submitted along with the nomination papers, Kamboj stated that he and his wife had invested Rs 10.40 lakh in LIC and other financial instruments.

His dependant children have LIC policies of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Owner of a 400 sq yard house worth Rs 50 lakh, Kamboj owns an Indica car whereas his wife has two scooters in her name. The couple collectively has gold jewellery worth Rs 9 lakh and Rs 58,000 in different bank accounts.

In the affidavit, Kamboj revealed that he owed Rs 4 lakh to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. His total declared immovable assets worth Rs 1.48 crore whereas his wife has land worth Rs 13 lakh.

Ekta Shakti party chief Virender Varma was the first candidate to file his nomination papers this afternoon. His wife Suman is the covering candidate.

He owns agriculture land worth Rs 7 crore and a farmhouse with 20 rooms worth Rs 25 lakh in Karnal district. His wife owns a petrol station worth Rs 50 lakh near here.

Varma has stated that he and his wife have Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh in cash, respectively. Suman has an LIC policy worth Rs 10 lakh.

Varma has two jeeps and one tractor. They have a Tata Safari and a Tata Sumo in their names. The couple possesses gold worth Rs 12 and Rs 15 lakh.

Ambala, April 30
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has claimed that the Congress will win the byelections to the Adampur, Indri and Gohana assembly seats.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said during the past three years, a lot of development works had been done, especially for farmers and traders. The Congress had earned the goodwill of the poor and other sections of society, which would benefit the party candidates in the byelections, he added.

Hooda said Haryana had topped in the per capita investment, wheat productivity and milk production in the country. Similarly, in the field of education, the state had achieved remarkable progress, he added. Asked whether the development works would convert into votes, he said , “Certainly, the people will respond in a positive way.”

Admitting to a power problem in the state, he said four power stations were being set up and in the coming three years, the state would get an additional 5,000 MW of its own.

On the opposition parties’ role, he said these were not been playing a constructive role and wanted to derive political mileage even out of public interest issues. HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana said the byelections would reveal the reality of the opposition parties.

Earlier, he had lunch at Punditji ka Dhaba, one of the cheapest dhabas in Ambala City where generally rickshaw-pullers and the underprivileged sections of society have their food. The Chief Minister relished dal and vegetables along with chapattis.

The dhaba owner had arranged mineral water for the VIP. HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana, Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian, political adviser to CM Virender and MLA Karan Singh Dalal also relished lunch at the dhaba. The DC, the superintendent of police and several Congress leaders were also present on the occasion. 

Yamunanagar, April 30
Efforts of residents of Kanalsi village here to get punishment for those who murdered a childless septuagenarian couple of the village on the night of November 25, 2006, today paid off when a local court sentenced five persons in the case to life imprisonment and imposed a fine on them.

On that fateful night, masked men had strangled Gajye Singh and his wife Bhagirathi to death while they were sleeping in their house.

An adopted daughter of the couple Rajni (then 15 years old) was in the house at the time of the incident. The masked men had gagged her when she tried to raise the alarm. The couple owned seven acres and had sold an equal piece of land a few days before the incident.

The case was registered on a complaint of Rajni. The police had produced 17 witnesses.

On December 2, the police had claimed to solve the murder.

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Darshan Singh sentenced Kiran Pal (nephew of Gajye Singh), Partap Singh (brother of Gajye Singh), Karan Singh, Naseem and Sushil to life term. Another person, Balbir, has been declared a proclaimed offender, said advocate Jai Kumar Gupta, who argued the case on behalf of Rajni.

On December 8, residents of the village had joined hands and formed the Gajye Singh-Bhagirathi Sangharsh Samiti to get the killers punished and hand over the property owned by the deceased to the actual heir. The villagers had performed the last rites of the couple.

Gurgaon, April 30
In a case of misuse of a weapon listed in the arms licence, Bollywood actor Soha Ali Khan was represented by her counsel as she failed to turn up for personal appearance before the district magistrate here today. The decision in the case will be announced on May 8.

Though district magistrate Rakesh Gupta, on a request of Soha Ali Khan, gave her an opportunity of hearing by personal appearance, in the interests of natural justice, he allowed her counsel V. Bhushan Arya to present the case. In reply to a show-cause notice issued to her, she had requested the DM to give an opportunity of personal appearance to plead her case. Accepting the request, the DM gave permission to Soha Ali Khan to plead her case by personal appearance on April 30.

Soha Ali Khan was issued a show-cause notice in which she was asked to explain why her licence should not be cancelled because at the time of issuing the licence she was ineligible for being underage. Moreover, at the time of renewal of the licence, she concealed the fact that the rifle entered in her licence was misused by her father M.A.K. Pataudi and it was in the custody of the Jhajjar police. It was the moral duty of the actor to reveal this fact.

As per a copy of the passport of Soha Ali Khan available with the district administration, her date of birth is October 4, 1978, and as such when the arms licence was issued to her in 1996, she was not eligible to hold the licence. At that time her age was 18 years and one month whereas for holding an arms licence, one should be at least 21 years of age. A rifle (No. 91501) was entered in her licence and her father was appointed as the retainer of this rifle on January 7, 2000. It is alleged that this rifle was recovered from Pataudi in the infamous black buck poaching case. She was issued notice under section 17(3)(D) of the Arms Act by the Gurgaon district administration. According to available facts, her licence number was 1/DM/G/NOV-1996 and it was renewed in 1998, 2003 and 2005 after taking reports from the police. 

Chandigarh, April 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today gave a week’s time to former chairman of Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) Dr K. C. Bangar for filing reply to allegations of manipulations of answer sheets of candidates appearing for the Haryana Civil Service (HCS) and allied services in 2001-02.

The direction by the high court Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Jaswant Singh came during resumed hearing on a public interest litigation filed by Haryana’s former minister Karan Singh Dalal and two others.

As the matter came up for hearing, Bangar’s application for grant of six weeks time for filing reply was taken up for consideration.

In the petition, directions have been sought for a CBI probe into the “selection scam”, wherein close relatives of influential individuals were allegedly selected at the expense of better candidates. They were allegedly pushed down the merit list through manipulations.

In his prayer, Bangar submitted, he inspected the relevant record of the HPSC now lying with the high court. However, he needed to consult some other documents, record etc. for filing the comprehensive reply in the matter.

Also, since the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has chosen him to be its candidate to contest the by-election from the Gohana constituency of Haryana Vidhan Sabha, he would remain busy in the election campaign, hence the plea for grant of six weeks time for filing the reply, Bangar submitted.

However, the Bench did not agree to defer the hearing for six weeks and granted a week to the respondent to file his response and fixed May 15 as the next date for hearing. 

Chandigarh, April 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has, in a significant judgement, ruled that activities of medical profession and nursing homes can no longer be regarded charitable, or based on no-profit-no-loss principle.

A Division Bench of the high court, comprising Justice M.M. Kumar and Justice Sabina, has also dismissed a petition filed by medical practitioners running nursing homes in Ambala district.

The petitioners, Dr Satish Kumar Gupta and others, had contended an amendment in the relevant rules, requiring them to be registered by paying Rs 10,000, was liable to be declared unconstitutional and illegal, as their activities could not be regarded commercial.

The petitioners had also sought quashing of proceedings concerning their prosecution initiated in terms of notices dated March 15 issued by the Subdivisional Magistrate, Ambala City.

It was claimed the nursing homes were not commercial establishments and they were only performing professional activities by using their personal skill and intelligence, being doctors.

Taking up the matter, the Bench ruled, “The nursing homes have various other facilities like lab test, including blood test, lipid profile etc., besides x-ray and MRI machines.

“They indulge in profit earning commercial activities and cannot be regarded as the simple professional rendering service with meagre fee on the motto of no-profit-no-loss”.

The Judges added, “We also do not find any extra-ordinary element in the amendment carried in Rule 13(1) of the rules requiring the nursing homes to pay fee as specified. The writ petition is wholly without any substance and is liable to be dismissed”.

In their detailed judgement, the Judges added, the petitioners are aggrieved by the notification dated February 28, 1997, whereby the nursing homes have been included under the head type of establishments without declaring them as commercial establishment under Section 2(1)(iv) of the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1958, (for brevity ‘the Act’) and the rules framed there under.

The Judges further added, a perusal of the rules show that a nursing home is required to make payment of Rs.10, 000 for the first three years as registration fee and equivalent amount of renewal fee for each block of three years.

It may be true that a medical professional might be using their personal skill, knowledge and opinion for rendering service to the general public yet they charge their fee. Their activities can no longer be regarded as charitable or based on no-profit-no-loss principle.

Jind, April 30
The employees of the state government owing allegiance to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh (SKS), Haryana, will stage a demonstration at all district headquarters tomorrow. They will sit on ‘dharna’ in support of their various demands, including the protest against the policy of privatisation and more recruitment in the government departments. It will coincide with the May Day, the day to mark the rights of the labourers and the industrial workers.

According to a spokesperson of the sangh, the members of the SKS and all its affiliated bodies were aggrieved over the various policies and programmes of the government 

Gurgaon, April 30
Gurgaon divisional commissioner Rajiv Sharma has exhorted public information officers (PIOs) and assistant public information officers (APIOs) in the state to help enforce the Right to Information Act “with a positive frame of mind”.

Presiding over a sensitisation workshop of PIOs and APIOs of the Haryana Information Commission here yesterday, he said the RTI Act was a bold and progressive Act aimed at helping the citizens, especially the common people. Therefore, it was the responsibility of the officers to ensure that the people were not harassed and the Act was implemented properly.

Assistant Editor of The Tribune, Chandigarh, V. Eshwar Anand, who was the resource person of the workshop, examined the RTI Act from various angles and suggested measures for its successful implementation and making the administration open, transparent and accountable. He stressed the need for regular staff for the State Information Commission with adequate training so that the normal work of the district officers did not suffer.

For easy access and dissemination of information, he suggested computerisation of all official records and library-type cataloguing of files and documents. “We need to build a relationship of mutual trust and confidence between the officers and the citizens for the success of the RTI”, he said.

Director, Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri (Karnal), Ranbir Singh called for efforts to streamline the administrative system for good governance. He added that the effective enforcement of the RTI Act would help demystify the administration and bring it closer to the people.

Director, Institute of Mass Communication, Kurukshetra University, B.K. Kuthiala spoke about the various provisions of the RTI Act which could help people in seeking information from public offices. Assistant Professor, Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurgaon, Rajvir Singh Dhaka allayed the officers’ fears about the penalty clause in the RTI Act and said that they needed to work diligently to help the people.

About 75 PIOs and APIOs from various government departments of the state attended the workshop which was jointly organised by the District Implementation Agency, Gurgaon, and the Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri.

Chandigarh, April 30
Financial assistance for power, roads, water supply, sanitation and more is on the mind of the Haryana government when a team of the World Bank comes to the state tomorrow. After a meeting with senior functionaries of the state to be presided over by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the government is hoping the World Bank wind will blow its way and bring in much-needed funds to pump into priority areas.

Banking on its image of a "young leader" which ranks among the top three states in software exports, apparel and cars with the highest per capita income of Rs 56,280 at current prices (2008), the government will project the state as a leading industrialised state. Sources said the Haryana government plans to acquaint the World Bank team with development challenges while seeking financial assistance on these grounds in key sectors which directly influence people’s lives.

The sources disclosed that the power sector proposal posed to the World Bank aimed at seeking bank assistance of Rs 380 million for the total cost of projects amounting to Rs 551.38 million. The central government had recommended the proposal to the World Bank in December, 2007.

The government is seeking World Bank assistance to the tune of Rs 595 million for the modernisation of 17 Industrial Training Institutes. In the case of road sector projects, World Bank assistance has been sought for the upgradation of state highways and major district roads at a cost of $ 1,400 million..

Rapid urban growth and the need to augment water supply, sewerage and other basic amenities have prompted the government to prepare a comprehensive project of water supply and sanitation covering 54 towns and costing $ 737.5 million.

The sources said the proposal on the Resource Management and Livelihood Project prepared for external funding was aimed at the sustainable management of degraded natural resources of 500 selected villages in 11 districts through the active participation of stakeholders. To be implemented over a period of nine years, the Project Identification Mission of the World Bank had assessed it as a zero-risk project in March, 2008.

Citing the example of consolidation of water resources and water management by farmers which took place as a result of earlier aid, the government is likely to make a case for grants in the irrigation sector as well.

The delegation of the World Bank would include executive director, India, Dhanendra Kumar apart from executive directors Toru Shikibu, Felix A. Camarasa, Shuja Shah and Rogerio Studart.

Rewari, April 30
With the arrest of Anil Rawat (30), an employee of Autofit Ltd, and resident of the Housing Board Colony, Dharuhera, the police claims to have cracked a six-day-old murder case of a newly-wed woman, Ranjana Rawat (25), wife of Miland Rawat, an employee of Bharti Health Care Ltd, Jauniawas, near Dharuhera, who was stabbed and strangled to death at her residence in Sector 6, Part II of the Housing Board Colony, on April 23.

The police has also seized a knife and two plastic strings used in the crime. It has also recovered Rs 3,000 looted by the accused from the victim’s wallet.

Anil Rawat was today produced in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ajay Tewatia who remanded him in police custody till May 2.

Miland Rawat and Anil Rawat, both residents of Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, live in separate rented houses in the Housing Board Colony along with their friends and were friends.

Anil Rawat was arrested by the police from the bus stand at Dharuhera last night.

During interrogation, he reportedly disclosed that on the evening of April 23 he attempted to molest Ranjana and when she resisted the move, he eliminated her.

Sonepat, April 30
As many as 1,000 bags filled with wheat were destroyed in fire, which broke out in new anaj mandi at Gohana today. However, it was brought under control by the joint efforts of local traders, labourers, fire office and market committee officials. The fire reportedly spread in the stored bags after someone threw a burning matchstick at the dry paddy husk near the bags.

The mandi is full of arrivals and about 10 lakh wheat bags are yet to be lifted. The lifting could be started after the threat of boycott of the Arhtaiya, but so far only 40,000 to 50,000 bags are being lifted daily. The Arhtiyas in the market demand that the daily lifting should be around 1 lakh bags to ease the situation in the mandi.