Chandigarh,January 14
The orders passed by whisteblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka as Director-General, Land Consolidation, continue to haunt the Hooda government.

Even as the controversy surrounding the fast-tracking of Robert Vadra’s land deals is yet to die down, the fragmentation and privatisation of hundreds of acres in the NCR overlooking the Aravalis, including two villages in Gurgaon and Faridabad, whose consolidation process was denotified by Ashok Khemka on the charges of purchase by a business-politico-bureaucratic-police nexus has come under the scanner of the National Green Tribunal(NGT).

The NGT, headed by Justice Swatantra Kumar, has put the Haryana Chief Secretary and the Principal Conservator of Forests on notice for possibly diverting prime agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes by influential persons. The next date has been fixed as January 23.

With land prices in the NCR skyrocketing, influential persons and realty firms had purchased hundreds of acres in the forest area for its exploitation for commercial purposes. The Haryana Government had allegedly allowed the consolidation of common and hilly land in villages falling under the Aravalis. Under the garb of consolidation, which actually aims to reverse fragmentation of agricultural land, the authorities concerned had allowed influential private players, including realty companies, to own land, including forest land.

It may be recalled that Ashok Khemka had denotified the consolidation process of two villages in Aravalis--Roz-ka-Gujjar(August 21,2012) and Kot (August 23,2012)-- before his transfer for reportedly initiating a probe into the land deals of Robert Vadra. While in Roz-ka-Gujar he had withdrawn the consolidation process of 5,744 acres, the affected land in Kot village was 3,184 acres.

"Almost the entire village was purchased by a powerful business-politico-bureaucratic-police nexus with ostensibly no interest in agricultural activities. Some land transactions seemed benami on behalf of a few powerful politicians and bureaucrats," Khemka said in his order regarding land in Roz-ka-Gujjar.

"The land in the village offered excellent potential for real estate sharks for constructing farm houses, resorts and residential zones after obtaining the change in land use permission from the Department of Town and Country Planning," Khemka had observed in his order.

Chandigarh,January 14
The decision of Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma recognising the HJC merger with the Congress by dismissing 14 petitions seeking the disqualification of five HJC MLAs, who had switched sides to join the ruling Congress soon after the 2009 assembly elections, has opened a Pandora’s box.

While in political circles the decision is seen as providing more comfort level to the Hooda government , it has revived the debate in legal circles to have a fresh look at the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution containing the anti-defection laws.

The decision is being interpretated in different ways by legal experts. Senior advocate Harbhagwan Singh says the Tenth Schedule envisaged that the merger of the original political party shall be deemed to have taken place if not less than 2/3rd of the strength of the legislature party concerned agreed to such a merger. If this argument is taken strictly , a 5/6th majority merged with the Congress in the case of HJC MLAs.

However, Satya Pal Jain, counsel for HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, who moved the disqualification petitions against five MLAs, claimed that the November 9, 2009, decision of the Speaker to allot separate seats to the these MLAs was an administrative decision and could not be taken as the merger of the party with the Congress.

“These MLAs were defectors from the party and the parent party still exists with Kuldeep Bishnoi as MP in the Lok Sabha and Renuka Bishnoi as an MLA in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha,” Jain contended.

However, Harbhagwan Singh contended that the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution was brought to strengthen the parliamentary democracy and not to stifle individual expression of conscience. “A minority cannot override voice which is 5/6th majority of the erstwhile HJC Legislature Party. The voice of the majority cannot be stifled by a minority on the basis of some assumption and presumption which have no legal basis,” he contended.

Jain, on the other hand, claimed there was need to review the anti-defection law and concurrence of the president of the party from which legislators defected must to be made mandatory. “Meanwhile, the decision on the fate of the defector MLAs and MPs should be vested with the Election Commission as currently the law is misused by Speakers who are mostly from the ruling party,”he asserted.

Faridabad, January 14
The local unit of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) today criticised the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker for upholding the merger of five of their party MLAs with the Congress and warned that the party would intensify its campaign against him.

The BJP also joined the HJC, its alliance partner, in its tirade against Speaker Kuldip Sharma for his ‘partisan’ approach with regard to the merger of the five HJC MLAs.

Tejpal Sharma and Ajay Gaur, Faridabad presidents of the HJC and BJP, respectively, alleged that the Speaker acted with some ulterior motive.

The two parties urged President Pranab Mukherjee to make the Speaker resign immediately. They alleged that the Sharma had acted against the principles of the democracy. The BJP said: “The Congress formed the government in Haryana with the help of the five HJC MLAs and the party is now trying to hold on to it by validating their merger with the Congress through the Speaker.”

The two parties alleged that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had effected the defection of the HJC MLAs and their subsequent merger with the Congress.

Fatehabad, January 14
Youths with permanent tattoos anywhere on their bodies will face immediate rejection in the 12-day "Open Recruitment Rally" of the Army being organised here from February 22.

The Hisar-based Army Recruitment Office (ARO), which is holding the rally for candidates belonging to Sirsa, Fatehabad. Hisar and Jind districts, is expecting a turnout of over 40,000 youths at the rally.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Colonel Ranjan Minocha, Director, ARO, HIsar, also warned aspirants to guard against middlemen and touts, who often become active during such exercises.

He also appealed that the candidates should not take performance enhancing drugs and those found taking any such medicines would be disqualified.

The candidates, who clear physical fitness tests and medical tests in the recruitment rally, will have to appear in a common entrance test at Hisar Cantonment on April 28.

Three categories of soldiers — general duty, clerical/storekeeper and technical — are to be recruited during this rally.

While the candidates aspiring for the post of general duty should have passed the matriculation with 45 per cent marks in aggregate and minimum of 32 per cent marks in each subject, those aspiring to join as clerk/storekeeper should be Class XII pass with aggregate of 50 per cent and 40 per cent in each subject.

For technical, the minimum qualification is Class XII with physics, chemistry, mathematics and English.

The minimum age for all categories is 17 years and six months, while the maximum age for general duty is 21 years and for others 23 years.

Ambala, January 14
With an objective to restoring the fast-depleting groundwater in various blocks, the district has been allocated Rs 95.51 crore under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme of the union government.

The project, under which microwater sheds would be developed over an area of 79,579 acres in the district, would be implemented in three phases. The main objectives of the project are to develop wastelands and degraded lands, harvest rainwater for irrigation, promote plantations and encourage village community for further development of potential watershed.

The programme was initially launched by the union government in 1995-96 in 47 blocks of Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Jhajjar, Rewari and Mohindergarh. Ambala is the latest to be included in the scheme.

Under the project, activities like water conservation, development of stock ponds, water channels, gully plugging, percolation of embankment, field-bounding, afforestation, pasture development, land-levelling and piped water supply for irrigation would be taken up.

The district would be allocated Rs 31.77 crore in the first phase of implementation during which 26,482 acres of land would be brought under the microsheds.

The district administration would constitute water shed committees in 110 villages which would oversee proper implementation of the project. Seven watershed development teams have been constituted to achieve the targets.

Meanwhile, the rapidly decreasing water level in the district for the last five years had raised the concerns amongst farmers and agriculture scientists. The farmers said various blocks had registered a fall of 60 to 70 feet over the past five years. They said in 2007, tubewells were installed at a depth of around 190 feet, but now the water level had declined to 270 feet.

The agriculture scientists stated that extensive cultivation of paddy in the district had result in the rapid decline of the watertable.

Jind, January 14
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today inaugurated a newly constructed tehsil complex and a girls’ hostel at Uchana Kalan in the district. He also laid the foundation stones of Kasturba Gandhi Girls School at Kheri Safa village and a nursing college at Uchana. The tehsil complex has been constructed at the cost of Rs 4.25 crore.

Addressing a public meeting, which was also attended by Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and AICC general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh, he said several projects, including a Community Health Centre at Alewa, a Primary Health Centre at Nagura and a 50-bed hospital at Uchana, would also come up shortly.

Quoting official data, the Chief Minister said Rs 428.72 crore had been spent on development projects in the Uchana Assembly segment, whereas the INLD government had spent merely Rs 113.2 crore between 1999 and 2005.

In his address, Azad recounted the contribution of Sir Chhotu Ram. He called upon the people to bring back the Congress in the next assembly elections. The Uttarakhand Chief Minister invited farmers and entrepreneurs to invest in his state. Himachal Cabinet Minister Kaul Singh Thakur was among others present on the occasion.

Sirsa, January 14
Relay sowing of wheat, a concept under which wheat is sown in fields where the cotton crop is still to be harvested, has helped farmers improve productivity of both the crops in Haryana.

Under the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), an agency responsible for disseminating technology among farmers, relay sowing of wheat has been done on 500 acres in the 11 cotton producing districts of the state. “This is a new concept that helps farmers sow wheat while cotton has not been picked completely. Under this concept, wheat is sown by broadcasting its seeds while cotton crop is still standing on the fields,” said Ravi Chander Poonia, Joint Director (Cotton), Agriculture Department, Haryana.

Poonia along with Dilip Monga, head of the regional office of the Central Institute for Cotton Research, BS Sheokand, senior coordinator of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sirsa, and Amardeep Kuleria, Deputy Director (Agriculture), visited some fields where relay sowing has been done at Handi Khera, Khairekan, Madho Singhana, Suchan Kotli and Jodhkan villages yesterday.

“The ideal time for sowing of wheat is November 1 to November 25 for the early varieties and November 25 to December 25 for the late varieties. However, the late varieties of cotton are picked from the fields as late as mid of January. The later the sowing of wheat the lower is the productivity. In this manner, the farmers have to either suffer loss in terms of cotton by harvesting it when some cotton bolls are still unripe or settle for lesser yield of wheat by sowing it late,” Poonia explained.

“Relay sowing of wheat helps farmers get complete yield of cotton by allowing the crop to stand till the final picking is complete and at the same time sow wheat in time to ensure better productivity of the crop,” he added.

By opting for relay sowing of wheat, farmers can increase their cotton productivity by 1.5 to 2 quintal per acre and that of wheat by 3 to 4 quintals. 

Chandigarh, January 14
Nearly 8.05 lakh eligible voters have been included in the revised lists of voters in the state.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad here today said in compliance with the directions of the Election Commission of India, the photo electoral rolls of all assembly constituencies in the state had been amended by including all eligible voters who had attained the age of 18 years or more as on January 1, 2013.

He said the draft publication of these lists was done on October 1, 2012. In case of applications received between October 1 and November 20, 2012, all eligible votes were included and names of ineligible voters were deleted and the final publication of these voters’ lists would be done on January 15, 2013, for inspection by the public.

He appealed to the eligible citizens of the state to see for themselves the voter lists at their nearest centre of publication so as to ensure that their names existed in the list and all details were correct.

Kurukshetra, January 14
As many as 19 complaints were settled on the spot at a Public Relations and Grievances Redressal Monthly Committee meeting held under chairmanship of Randip Singh Surjewala, Minister of Industries and Commerce, Public Work (B&R), here today.

Surjewala urged officers to adopt positive attitude while redressing public grievances.

He said besides redressing individual complaints they should give priority to redress collective problems related to common people.

The Minister asked them to submit their respective departments' monthly progress reports before this meeting every month.

Kaithal, January 14
Additional district and sessions Judge R. S. Chaudhary here today sentenced two rapists to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 17,500 each after holding them of guilty of gang-raping a married woman. 

The convicts will have to undergo further imprisonment of two years if they failed to pay the fine. A police spokesperson said Gurmeet of Duliana village reached Kharoudi village on May 27, 2011 and knocked at the door of the rape victim whose husband and brother-in-law were mentally disturbed. As she opened the door, her beat her and along with two others forcibly took her in a vehicle and all of them raped her. 

Bhiwani, January 14
A judge’s visit to the prison came as a relief for two inmates of the District Jail here as they are free men now.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Jasmine Sharma, who visited the District Jail to hold a lok adalat under the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), ordered the release of prisoners Pawan Kumar and Vikas Kumar.

“Both Pawan and Vikas, arrested for a petty theft, had served imprisonment for more than four months, which is equivalent to the punishment provided in such cases,” said Chief Judicial Magistrate Amit Kumar Sharma, secretary of the DLSA at Bhiwani. 

Sonepat, January 14
Poonam, a resident of Gohana and married in Ahmedpur Majra village, had allegedly conspired the murder of her husband Dharambir whose body was found lying on the Gohana-Baroda road near Devinagar in Gohana town by the police late last night.

On the complaint of Dharambir’s mother Dhanpati, a case of murder has been registered against Poonam in the Gohana city police station. Dhanpati stated that her son was married to Poonam about nine years back and alleged that Poonam’s character was not good. For the past one year, Poonam had been staying with her parents at Gohana.

She said that Dharambir received a phone call from Poonam two days back and he went to his in-law’s house at Gohana to meet her. She alleged that Poonam had conspired Dharambir’s murder.

Sattin house officer Kaptan Sharma said the police received an anonymous call that a person was lying on the road near Devinagar. Police reached the spot and took him to the Civil Hospital at Gohana. However, he succumbed to the injuries caused by sharp-edged weapons.

Gurgaon, January 14
An eight-year-old girl was allegedly molested in Badshapur village today, days after the sexual assault of a two-and-a-half-year-old.

The police has registered an FIR against the accused who is on the run.

The police said the victim hails from Rewari and ives in Ambedkar Colony here. Accused Raju Bengali, a native of West Bengal, lived as a tenant next door and worked as a labourer.

According to the complaint filed by the victim's mother, Raju molested her daughter when she was alone at home on Sunday afternoon.

Raju sneaked in when the girl's parents were away. He escaped when the child started howling for help and drew her neighbours' attention. The neighbours rushed to her rescue and claim to have seen Raju fleeing.

"Accused Raju Bengali hails from West Bengal and is absconding. We have formed teams to search for him. The incident has again highlighted the lack of tenant verification whih creates problem. If these migrant tenants are verified, they can be detered from crime", said inspector Rajpal, station house officer, Badshahpur police station.

A few days ago, a 32-year-old man had allegedly sexually assualted a two-and-a-half-year-old toddler who was playing outside her home. The police nabbed him the next day and insited on tenant verification.

Bhiwani, January 14
A youth was stabbed to death in a dispute over a plot at Maneheru village in Bhiwani this morning.

The police has booked 10 persons for murder on the complaint of the victim's cousin.

Two sides allegedly clashed over a plot at Maneheru village in the morning when some people attacked Ravinder (29) and injured him critically with stab injuries.

The victim was rushed to General Hospital, Bhiwani, where the doctors pronounced him brought dead.

The police has booked 10 persons, including village youths Monu, Sanjay, Vinod, Sunil, Deepak, Shankar, Mukesh and Manoj, on the complaint of the victim's cousin Paramjit.

Sirsa, January 14
Two youths were killed in two road accidents in Sirsa last night.

Gaurav Sharma (20) died on the spot when a truck hit his motor cycle near the Bal Bhawan on the Barnala road. His friend Ashu, who was riding pillion, was critically injured.

In another accident near Moriwala on the Hisar road, Dharminder was killed when the motor cycle he was riding was hit by a tractor trailer.

The youth worked at a liquor shop and was going towards an eatery for a meal when the accident occurred.

He was critically injured in the accident and was shifted to General Hospital here, where he succumbed to his injuries. 

Sonepat, January 14
The CIA unit of the district police claimed to have arrested a notorious car lifter identified as Irshad of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and recovered four stolen cars from his possession.

He was today produced in a court which remanded him in police custody to recovery three other stolen cars.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rakam Singh, while talking to mediapersons last evening, said when he was nabbed by the police near Osram factory on the outskirts of the town, he was driving a stolen Tata Safari. He failed to produce relevant papers of the vehicle and confessed that it was a stolen vehicle.

During interrogation, the DSP said, he confessed to have stolen three other cars, including two Santro and one i-10 car. The cars were new ones and without registration numbers.

The alleged accused also confessed to have stolen two Endeavour and one Innova SUVs earlier and sold these vehicles in Kurukshetra, Delhi and Sonepat, the DSP added.

Chandigarh, January 14
The Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department will organise a three-day state-level paralympic sports competition for athletes with physical disabilities at Panchkula from tomorrow.

An official spokesman said here that this competition was earlier scheduled to be organised at Karnal from January 4 to 6. The list of players participating in this competition would be sent to the District Sports Officer, Panchkula, before January 12. No players other than those in this list would be allowed to participate in this competition.

All teams and contingents in charge along with their teams were expected to reach Panchkula by January 14.