Chandigarh, July 27
More than two years after internationally renowned artist and Padma Shri awardee Anjolie Ela Menon first painted a grim picture of “ecological degradation” in Gurgaon in a petition against the taking over of her land, Haryana today offered to appoint a high-level committee.

As her petition came up for resumed hearing before the Bench headed by Justice Jasbir Singh, along with other petitions, against the acquisition of land in Ghata village in Gurgaon district, Haryana state counsel verbally made the offer to set up the committee for examining the petitioners’ cases individually.

The land is being acquired for development and utilisation of land for residential Sectors 58 to 63 and residential commercial Sectors from Sector 65 to 75. The notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued on June 2, 2009, and under Section 6 exactly a year later.

Responding to the state's offer, Menon’s counsel Manmohan Lal Sarin asked for it to be made in writing. In return, state counsel Kamal Sehgal sought time till Monday to seek instructions from the government on the issue.

During the resumed hearing, the Bench was also told that a chunk of land belonging to the Rajiv Gandhi Trust had already been released from the acquisition process. In fact, in one of the petitions, Bega and five other residents of Ghata village alleged discrimination. They claimed the state of Haryana and other respondents were not acquiring the vacant land belonging to persons, who have collaborated with the private builders.

On the other hand, the respondents were violating their own policy dated September 30, 2007, and October 26, 2007, against acquiring the land with built-up houses.

The petitioners elaborated the respondents were not acquiring the land of Buzz Hotels Private Limited, Hi-Energy Realtors Private Limited, Golden View Builders Private Limited, BTVS Builders Private Limited, Adson Software Private Limited and Realtors Private Limited.

In the petition being argued by senior advocate Sarin, Menon has all along been asserting the “acquisition is for proposed development that is clearly violative of several environmental laws and directions of the SC, and additionally is apparently detrimental to the ecological balance and water table of this region since it forms a catchment area of the Aravalli mountains.

Chandigarh, July 27
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced that the services of group ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees working on ad hoc or contract or work charged or daily wages or part-time basis would be regularised subject to certain conditions.

A decision to this effect has been taken by the Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, here today.

As per the decision, the services of group ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees would be regularised subject to the condition that the employees should have continued to work for not less than 10 years as on April 10, 2006, and are still in service but not under cover of the orders of the courts or tribunals, against duly sanctioned vacant posts.

The period of continuous break in such service should not be more than one month in a calendar year.

The employee must also possess the minimum prescribed qualifications for the post on the date of appointment.

The upgradation of Barwala subtehsil into subdivision in Hisar district, Kharkhoda tehsil into subdivision in Sonepat district and Shahbad tehsil into subdivision in Kurukshetra district was also given a go-ahead.

The draft of the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Second Amendment Bill, 2011, to double the salary of Members of Legislative Assembly from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per month with effect from April 1, 2011, was also approved.

The Cabinet cleared a proposal to set up a Selection Board for Teachers to recruit teachers.

It was decided to take all the posts of teachers out of the purview of the Staff Selection Commission and Haryana Public Service Commission and hand them over to the Board. However, the vacancies which have already been advertised by these recruiting agencies would be filled by them.

The Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Home Department for filling two posts of DSP Cyber Crime by direct recruitment through the departmental recruitment committee by taking these posts out of the purview of the HPSC.

Certain clauses of the Rajiv Gandhi Pariwar Bima Yojana were also amended to include hunger or starvation (death only), maternal mortality during child delivery (death only).

It was decided that the gross annual income of the insured or the beneficiary from all sources must not be above Rs 2.50 lakh. 

Services of group ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees to be regularised subject to certain conditions

Barwala, Kharkhoda, Shahbad tehsils to become subdivisions

MLA salaries set to double, from Rs 10,000 to 20,000 per month

Proposal to set up a selection board for teachers cleared 

Chandigarh, July 27
The Cabinet, at its meeting today, decided to promulgate an ordinance amending certain provisions of the Punjab Passenger and Goods Taxation Act-1952, as the state legislature is not in session.

As per the amendment, now there would be different slabs of registration fee which would be Rs 100 for light vehicle, Rs 1,000 for medium vehicle and Rs 2,000 for heavy vehicle. This fee is payable only once at the time of registration under the Act.

It was observed that it was necessary to revise the rates in view of the price index which has gone up considerably during the last 40 years. At present, the registration for all types of vehicles under the said Act was Re 1 before 1970 and Rs 5 from 1971 till date. The revised rates would yield Rs 1 crore to the state exchequer.

The Cabinet also approved the implementation of a new Stage Carriage Scheme to provide better transport facilities to the public and augment employment opportunities. Also, this scheme categorises private stage carriage buses as either a full-body bus with 52 or 54 seats or a mini bus having 30 or 32 seats.

The Cabinet approved the proposal to fix a monthly rate of lump sum passenger tax at Rs 25,000 for a full-body bus and Rs 12,500 for a mini bus for new and old operators.

It was decided to revise the rates of toll tax on the Gurgaon-Alwar road (Gurgaon-Sohna Road TP-1). The rates of toll tax would be made applicable immediately and these would be increased to 1.5 times.

As per the revised rates, trucks laden with goods or unladen canters or multi-axled vehicles or earth movers would be charged Rs 300 per trip. Buses or mini buses with Stage Carriage Permits would be charged Rs 300 per trip, including the return journey, and Rs 450 for a daily pass and Rs 9,000 for a monthly pass.

Buses or mini buses with Contract Carriage Permits would have to pay Rs 300 per trip, maxi cabs Rs 20 per trip, light commercial goods vehicle like Mahindra and Tata pick-up vans Rs 50, and vehicles having more than 10 tyres would have to shell out Rs 450 per trip.

The Cabinet also paid rich tributes to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.

Faridabad, July 27
The Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF)has urged the Railways to put on hold its move to remove the unauthorised jhuggies along about a 3-km stretch of the railway track from Bata Chowk to Ballabgarh till July 29.

The MCF today intervened on behalf of the slum dwellers a day before the deadline set by the Railways for clearing the encroachments.

The office of the Commissioner, MCF, D Suresh, has convened a joint meeting of officers from the Railways, the district administration, HUDA, etc on July 29 to sort out the ticklish issue as it involved dislocation of a large number of slum dwellers.

Well-placed sources in the government said that in a missive to the Railways today, the office of the Commissioner pointed out that the councillor concerned of the MCF had expressed concern over the development. The councillor urged the MCF to intervene as it would be difficult for the slum dwellers to find an alternative habitation in a short span of time.

A senior officer of the MCF said the joint meeting was necessary as the issue, if forced, could possibly lead to a law and order problem. It was a problematic issue and the authorities concerned had to tread with caution. The local authorities are said to be also upset over the fact that the Railways did not take them into confidence before serving the notice.

The Railways was laying down a new track from Delhi to Agra. The construction work was to start on the stretch from Bata Chowk to Ballabgarh. The department has put the jhuggi dwellers on notice to clear its land and the deadline for it was tomorrow. There are more than 4,000 jhuggies accounting for more about 20,000 inmates in the slum area. The area accounts for Azadnagar and Gaekward colony.

The area on which the Railways has trained its guns falls in the Ballabgarh Assembly constituency of the district. Since the notice from the department, the jhuggi owners have met politicians of the ruling Congress.

Chandigarh, July 27
The Haryana Cabinet today approved the draft of the ordinance to amend the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holding Act, 1972, by excluding the land put to or proposed to be put to non-agricultural use by adding clauses under the heading “Act not apply to certain lands” in section 5 of the said Act providing for exemption in respect of such lands.

This was necessitated because Haryana has witnessed urbanisation and industrialisation at a fast pace in the past few decades and the government is conscious that the primary section of economy, that is agriculture, needs to be supplemented with the growth of infrastructure and facilities for the secondary and tertiary sectors of economy. The government has already revised its Industrial and Investment Policy-2011 and introduced a number of incentives to attract investments. Such initiatives necessitate acquisition of land by private persons in excess of ceiling laws.

The land in excess of the prescribed limits under the Act has been utilised in the past and is further needed for non-agricultural projects like housing, industrial and infrastructure projects, including SEZs, tourism units and public utilities, which are necessary from the economic development viewpoint.

It was also decided that no refund or adjustment of conversion charges shall be made where the land has been put to intended use as per the terms and conditions of change of land use permission and the applicant or the subsequent owner intends to change the project.

Karnal, July 27
An anonymous letter purported to be written by some relative of the ex-Sarpanch of Kambopura, Karam Singh, who died under mysterious circumstances on June 7, claiming that Karam Singh had enacted a “drama” to build pressure on former minister Om Prakash Jain and former CPS Zile Ram Sharma.

The letter written in broken Hindi, received by the crime branch, claimed that Karam Singh had approached two doctors of the Civil Hospital and asked them about some poisonous substance which did not cause death and only made the person unconscious.

The writer also claimed that he had paid money to Karam Singh for the appointment of his son-in-law and when he asked him to return the money, Karam Singh said that he had passed it on to the former CPS and the minister.

The police took notice of the letter and reportedly made enquiries from the doctors whose names were mentioned in the letter. Both the doctors reportedly expressed innocence about the letter and said that they never met or saw Karam Singh.

They were peeved that an issue was being made on the basis of an anonymous letter whose authenticity was under question.

The police was making investigations to find out the source of the letter and locate the person who wrote the letter.

It could be a mischief to derail the investigations and divert the attention of the investigating agencies, a police official said. 

Hisar, July 27
In a midnight raid, officials of Haryana Agricultural University found outsiders living in official quarters meant for its employees inside the campus. The raid was conducted last night following complaints that unauthorised persons were occupying the residential quarters.

It was found that one of the quarters was occupied by a man who runs a stall outside the university gate. He had been living there for a long time. In other cases, several quarters were found to be occupied by employees other than those to whom these houses were officially allotted. The team was led by Registrar SS Dahiya and included the Deputy Registrar and the Security Officer.

The unauthorised occupants were directed to vacate the houses by this morning. It was not immediately known what action would be taken against those who had obviously sublet their official residences. Significantly, HAU has a large security establishment as the campus is spread over a vast area. 

Rohtak, July 27
The staff of the Haryana Tourism Corporation posted here appears to be worried about its future, with reports of an alleged move to either sell off or privatise Myna Tourist Complex located in the heart of the city.

Opposing this development, the state unit of the Haryana Tourism Karamchari Sangh has asked the authorities concerned to issue a clarification as it was a matter of public importance.

The complex is spread over an area of about four acres and valued around Rs 175 crore according to the prevailing market rate.

The members of the Karamchari Sangh, who staged a two-day long dharna in the complex recently, have raised concern after a meeting of the senior officials of the district administration and the department here on Tuesday, which was convened to discuss “fixing the reserve price of the land/building of Myna Tourist Complex” here.

Though the meeting was held as per schedule, the officials, it is learnt, could not decide the final rate of the land.

This development has left the employees of the tourist complex upset and agitated. They feel that the authorities concerned were trying to dispose the complex off to private parties through an auction or the tender process, claimed Joginder Dalal, the district president of the employees union.

Alleging that this complex, which had been functioning well and earning profit for the department, had been on the radar of private and influential persons, who had been making moves to buy or acquire this prime spot in the city.

Stating that future of about 32 employees was on stake, he said all developments in the department in the recent past indicate that something “fishy” had been going on. The Karamchari Sangh had been kept at bay by the officials concerned, causing unrest and resentment among them.

The delay in the inauguration of another 10 rooms constructed at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore that had been lying ready has also led the employees to believe that the department was under a kind of external pressure, he added.

SN Roy, managing director of the Haryana Tourism Corporation, claimed that there was no such move on the cards at present.

Kaithal, July 27
During a surprise visit to some schools by ADC A Mona Sreeniwas and DEO here, a headmaster and some teachers were found absent following which the ADC issued directions for their suspension. While at another school, the teachers were found gossiping and the school compound was found littered with garbage following which action was being initiated against the staff .

According to an official press note, the ADC and DEO were on a visit to inspect the condition of school buildings in some villages. The students were found playing in Government Girls Primary School, Serdha . The cleanliness was not up to the mark and midday meal was not being prepared and served in a proper way. The school in charge Sriniwas, a JBT Teacher, found absent was later suspended by the District Elementary Education Officer ( DEEO). Similarly during a visit to Government Primary School, Serdha, Rajesh Kumar, the headmaster, was found absent and JBT teacher Krishan Kumar was outside the school. Both were suspended .

At Government Senior Secondary School, Rajound, all teachers were found sitting in the office of the Principal, the classes were allegedly not being taken by the staff and poor cleanliness prevailed. Taking a serious view of these lapses, ADC directed initiation of action against the school Principal, Ganga Singh .

The DEEO said that as many as 14 school buildings were initially found in a bad shape out of which the team headed by the ADC and comprising the DEO and Xen, PWD, visited eight buildings today and found these unsafe.

Sirsa, July 27
The Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today failed to appear in the Special CBI Court with regard to cases pending against him owing to his illness. His lawyers submitted an application in the Special CBI Court at Panchkula seeking exemption from his personal appearance, citing his illness as the reason. The Dera chief was to appear in the CBI Court from here through video-conferencing from the local District Courts and the district authorities had made all arrangements.

However, the Dera chief failed to turn up and later it was learnt that he had sought exemption from personal appearance. The CBI Court has started hearing the three criminal cases pending against the Dera chief on a daily basis since yesterday. The court recorded evidences in the Ranjit Singh murder case today.

The case was later adjourned to August 1. The CBI Court had yesterday adjourned the Ram Chander Chhatarpati murder case to August 1.

Karnal, July 27
The Karnal police today registered a dowry death case in connection with the mysterious death of Nidhi Garg and booked her husband and five other relatives under various sections of the IPC.

Nidhi, a resident of Kurukshetra, was married to Amit Aggarwal and was living in Sector 9 here.

Last evening, her in-laws came to the Civil Hospital and left there her body and disappeared. The parents of the deceased alleged that their daughter was being harassed continuously and tortured for dowry and had been poisoned.

The police registered a case against her husband Amit, father-in-law, Naval Kishore, mother-in-law, Deepti, brothers-in-law, Anuj and Aditya, and sister-in-law, Anu, on the complaint of Nidhi’s parents.

Nidhi's mother, Kamlesh, said her daughter was married to Amit three years ago and they had two children. Right from the first day, her in-laws were demanding dowry and torturing her and only a few days back Amit had asked Nidhi to get Rs 3 lakh and even threatened to divorce her.

"My daughter has not committed suicide. She has been killed," said her wailing mother. Nidhi's brother, Nitin Garg, was inconsolable and shouted repeatedly that his sister had been killed.

Her maternal uncle, Bunty, said they received a phone call last evening that Nidhi was not well and when they reached the hospital, they were shocked to find that Nidhi’s body was lying in the hospital and all her in-laws had disappeared. "We want the culprits punished as we are sure that Nidhi has been murdered," he said.

Sirsa, July 27
Three persons, including a woman, were killed when two cars collided head-on near Mithri village in the district today.

Mewa Singh, of Bhuttiwala village in Muktsar, was coming towards Sirsa in his car with his wife Karamjit Kaur, brother-in-law Gurpreet Singh and mother-in-law Hardeep Kaur. Their car collided with a Tata Indica car coming from the opposite direction near Mithri village.

Both cars were badly damaged in the accident. Gurpreet Singh died on the spot, while Mewa Singh succumbed to his injuries at the general hospital, Dabwali. Karamjit Kaur died on way to the general hospital, Sirsa, while Hardeep Kaur has been admitted to the general hospital, Dabwali.