Chandigarh, January 18
Throwing selection norms to winds, former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala ensured that candidates from their fiefdoms got a lion’s share in the JBT teachers’ recruitment.

Jobs for the “blue-eyed” candidates came at the cost of candidates belonging to other districts, whose quota was drastically cut to “accommodate the favourites” through the preparation of the fake merit lists.

In fact, Chautala, who represented the Narwana (Jind) segment in the Haryana Assembly, and Ajay, who represented the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat in Parliament, took good care of their constituencies with certain districts, including Bhiwani, Fatehabad, and Jind, getting over the allotted quota of teachers in the controversial JBT recruitments. A close look at the 308-page judgment delivered by Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar revealed that marks of 1,577 candidates were increased while marks of 6,103 candidates were reduced. The selected candidates, according to the second fake merit lists, were awarded higher interview marks (ranging from 17 to 19.5 out of a total of 20) with a view to make fraudulent appointments. Going into the modus operandi of the preparation of fake merit lists, the judgment indicated that the high interview marks were awarded to a greater number of candidates of “favoured” districts while in case of the “disfavoured” districts high interview marks were given to a lesser number of candidates. Besides, a ‘specific pattern’ of interview marks was also created for each category to ensure candidates belonging to the reserved categories did not reduce the chances of general category candidates.

“Investigation said the number of JBT teachers declared successful district-wise was not in accordance with the vacancies published in the advertisement on November 15, 1999.

“This shows that candidates of certain districts were favoured, specifically candidates belonging to the districts falling in the Bhiwani Lok Sabha constituency represented by Ajay Chautala,” the court order asserted.

Chandigarh, January 18
The Supreme Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the allegations levelled by Haryana cadre IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar when the apex court was presented by two sets of selection lists of junior basic training (JBT) teachers.

While one set was presented by Sanjiv, which he claimed, to have been prepared fraudulently, another set was presented by the government, which it claimed, was the genuine list, on the basis of which 3,206 teachers were appointed.

Sanjiv had claimed that the set presented by him was made subsequent to the original lists compiled during the time of his predecessors. The officer claimed that he was being harassed by the Chautala government because he had refused to implement the fraudulent list. The apex court felt that an investigation was required to find out which set was genuine and which was fraudulent. Therefore, the court directed the CBI to investigate the same.

The CBI found that the list, which was implemented, was prepared subsequent to the list presented by Sanjiv in the Supreme Court and which, he had claimed to be fraudulent.

It was important for CBI judge Vinod to first determine the genuineness of the lists because the entire case of the CBI as well as that of Sanjiv, the self-proclaimed whistle-blower, rested on this fact.

Sanjiv maintained throughout the trial that the list presented by him in the SC was fraudulent and that the one, which was implemented by him was genuine. The CBI case was reverse of it.

For convenience sake, the Judge termed the list presented by Sanjiv in the Supreme Court as “Supreme Court lists” and those recovered by the CBI from the directorate of primary education as “Directorate lists”.

The Judge concluded that it was the Directorate lists, which were made fraudulently, and the Supreme Court lists were genuine. Hence, the contention 
of Sanjiv that he had implemented the original list was wrong.

After detailed analysis of the two sets, the Judge found that there was no specific pattern of granting interview marks in the Supreme Court lists of various districts and, therefore, it could not said that any person had been specifically favoured.

The trial court further found that the pattern of interview marks in the Directorate lists more or less served the purpose of containing the candidates of reserved categories within the vacancies arising in their respective categories.

The allotment of 17 or over 17 marks to certain candidates (in contrast to the remaining candidates getting very low interview marks) was “almost a sure guarantee of selection of such candidates,” the Judge found.

It also found that in certain districts (which the Chautalas wanted to favour for political reasons), high interview marks of 17 or more than 17 were given to more candidates in the Directorate lists than the vacancies in the districts. On the other hand, in a few districts, only a small number of candidates were given this type of marks.

The Judge said: “There is no bunching of interview marks in the Supreme Court lists, whereas a common pattern and bunching of interview marks is visible in all the Directorate lists leading to an irresistible conclusion that some central authority in Haryana had planned and executed the creation of Directorate lists with clear objectives in their minds.”

This nailed Sanjiv Kumar.

Sirsa, January 18
In an apparent move to boost the morale of its disheartened party cadre, the Indian National Lok Dal today tried to politicise former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala's conviction in the JBT recruitment scam.

Party leaders addressed press conferences in all districts of Haryana and held the UPA government at the centre and the Congress government in Haryana responsible for "victimising" their leaders for political reasons.

District INLD president Padam Jain, Kalanwali MLA Charanjit Singh and former MLA Sita Ram addressed mediapersons at the Chautala House in Sirsa today.

Similar press conferences were addressed by district president Nishan Singh and former MLA Swatantar Bala Chaudhary at Fatehabad, district president Umed Lohan and former MLA Puran Chand Dabra at Hisar and district president Sunil Lamba and MLAs Raghubir Chhillar and Dharam Pal at Bhiwani today.

"The Congress had been in the habit of harassing its opponents by misusing 'Congress (Central) Bureau of Investigation' whenever it has come to power at the Centre," said Umed Singh Lohan at Hisar.

Sirsa INLD chief Padam Jain claimed Chautala had not been jailed for any act of corruption, but he, the INLD leader said, had to suffer for providing employment to jobless youths.

The INLD leaders, however, expressed "full faith" in the judiciary and said both OP Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala would soon come out of the case clean.

The INLD leaders said the party would go to the people to expose the "misdeeds" of the Congress and tell the electorate how the ruling party "victimised" those who spoke for the common man. In Rohtak, an INLD spokesperson charged the Congress of misusing the CBI to “nail” the INLD supremo on allegedly false grounds. Stating that it was a kind of political vendetta, they said it would not affect the morale of party workers.

Chandigarh, January 18
A breakfast meeting between main conspirator and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and whistleblower-turned-convict IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar on July 10, 2000, set the ball rolling for the perpetration of the infamous JBT scam in Haryana.

Although the then Chief Minister Chautala had already done his "homework" for the appointment of favourite candidates, including a change in the criteria for the selection of the JBT teachers, the breakfast meeting between the convicted politician and disgraced bureaucrat on July 10, 2000, marks the watershed in the replacement of the original merit lists with fake merit lists, resulting in the fraudulent appointment of 3,206 JBT teachers.

Sanjiv was brought in as the Director of Primary Education (DPE) as earlier attempts by the then Chautala-led government to alter the merit lists through the then directors of Primary Education RP Chander and Rajni Sekri Sibal had failed. Two meetings, one held at Haryana Niwas, Chandigarh, on May 5, 2000, and another at IAS officer Vidya Dhar's official residence in Sector 7 of Chandigarh had failed to convince Sibal and other officers about the "need" to change the original merit lists.

"The then CM Om Prakash Chautala asked him (Sanjiv) that the second set of lists was to be prepared afresh because his government has got a clear majority on its own and there was no necessity to oblige the MLAs of the other parties," Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar said in his 308-page judgement convicting Chautala, his MLA son Ajay, his then political adviser Sher Singh Badshami and two IAS officers Sanjiv Kumar and Vidya Dhar.

Chautala's OSD Vidya Dhar told Sanjiv Kumar that the mandate of the District Primary Education Officers (DPEOs) was that fresh lists were to be prepared according to the list supplied by him (Vidya Dhar). "The role of Sanjiv was to replace the lists kept in the almirah and declare the results as per the second set of award lists," the order said.

A close look at the judgement reveals that it was only after the Chautala-Sanjiv meeting that the modalities for the preparation of second lists were chalked out at different meetings among Ajay Chautala, Vidya Dhar, Badshami and Sanjiv and others involved in the JBT scam. While one of the meetings was held at the guest house of the Punjab Water Supply Department in Chandigarh in August, 2000, another meeting was held at the Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi, on September 1, 2000, where the DPEOs were allegedly given instructions to prepare the fresh lists.

Karnal, January 18
Desperate to spread its tentacles in north India after dismal showing in the recent Himachal assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday demanded Rs 2,100 per month as old age pension and same amount as unemployment allowance for the youth to woo voters.

Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member KD Singh said his party, if voted to power in Haryana, would fulfill both these demands and also make Karnal as the capital of Haryana.

Talking to mediapersons, he said the state government has failed on all fronts. The unemployment allowance and the old age pension being given by the government was a joke with the beneficiaries.

“The government has no moral right to remain in power if it was not in a position to give jobs to unemployed youth, “ the leader said.

He also described the increase of Rs 31 per quintal in Minimum Support Price (MSP) of sugarcane as inadequate and demanded that the MSP should be raised to Rs 500 per quintal.

Lashing out at the UPA government for repeated hike in prices of petroleum products, he said the decision to deregulate diesel prices would spell doom for common man and fuel inflation.

“The Congress is crushing the common man and let us see how long the supporting parties stand with the UPA,” he said.

Singh said the Haryana government had failed miserably to check crime, rape, corruption and unemployment in the state.

“The TMC would announce names of its office bearers in Haryana shortly as it is gearing up for the polls,” he said. 

Jhajjar, January 18
Notwithstanding sorting out the issue of minimum support price (MSP) for sugarcane, farmers seem not to be in a mood to end their struggle to get their other long-pending demands met.

They have now decided to organise a state-level rally under the aegis of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) in Pipli town of Kurukshetra district on February 28 to show their strength to the state government. Arvind Kejriwal, chief of Aam Aadmi Party, would address the rally.

BKU state president Gurnam Singh said the rally aims at pondering over the farmers’ issues. The Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has given his consent to attend the rally as chief guest.

“Our core demands are implementation of recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee regarding farming issues, a transparency in the process of land acquisition and enhancement of minimum wages for farming labourers up to market rates. The farmers have been struggling hard to get these issues resolved but could not succeed so far,” said Gurnam Singh.

“The union government has fixed Rs 186 as minimum wages per day for a labourer working at fields while the farmers have to pay them Rs 250 as per market rates as no one is ready to work on the government rates. That is the reason that farming cost is, every time, assessed so much lower than actual cost as the government adds Rs 186 instead of Rs 250 as labour cost while evaluating total cost for any agricultural production,” said the BKU leader.

Likewise, the state government had also been giving very low award to the farmers for acquisition of their costly land. There were so many instances in the past when the government had paid the farmers less price as compare to the market price for acquisition of their land, said Gurnam Singh. 

Yamunanagar, January 18
The Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) has shut down seven thermal units in view of the reduced demand for power that stood at 4,169 MW of power this evening.

The corporation closed five thermal units at the Panipat thermal power station this morning after the demand crashed. Senior officials of the company said the generation at the first five units of the Panipat thermal plant of 650 MW capacity was suspended this morning.

Besides, the 600-MW unit No. 1 at the Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project, Khedar, Hisar, and 300-MW unit No. 2 at the Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project, Jhajjar, were also shut down in view of the reduced demand.

There was no generation at the 300-MW unit No. 1 of the Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Project, Yamuna Nagar, which has not yet been revived after it suffered damage on March 31 last after which it was sent to Shanghai for repairs. The unit No. 3 at the Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project, Jhajjar, of 500 MW in whichthe state has a 50 per cent share, was also not producing any power in view of less demand.

Against a demand of 4,169 MW of power, the state had an availability of 4,207 MW due to which distribution companies could provide 24-hour power to urban as well as rural customers across the state.

A spokesman for the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam said DISCOMs were able to supply round-the-clock power to the urban as well as rural customers and any disruption in the supply was limited to faults in local areas, adding that DISCOMs also increased the supply to agricultural feeders as excessive power was available.

However, a senior HPGCL official said the generation at thermal units would be kept suspended till the demand increase.

Yamunanagar/Ambala, Jan 18
The winter rains in Haryana have brightened the prospects of higher wheat production and bring cheer to farmers of the two districts. The farmers are now expecting a bumper crop this season.

Haryana had registered the highest wheat production 130.69 lakh tonnes with productivity of 5,182 kg per hectare in 2011-12. The state had produced a record 116.3 lakh tonnes of wheat with a productivity of 4,624 kg per hectare in the previous year.

According to experts in the field, timely sowing of the wheat, better seeds, fertilisers, and irrigation facilities coupled with the rains could further improve the production of wheat in the state, which had brought around 2,500 hectares of land under the wheat cultivation.

The experts said the scope for increasing area under wheat was limited, as a large number of farmers had now diversified to pulses and various oilseeds.

They said the state was expecting production of over 117 lakh metric tonnes of wheat last year but these estimates were surpassed as the farmers produced 130.69 lakh and this year the productivity was expected to cross even this mark.

Chandigarh, January 18
The Hansi-Butana canal, which is a sticking point between the two states of Punjab and Haryana, is in the midst of a controversy yet again for the alleged failure of the authorities concerned to maintain the “guide bundhs”.

Taking a stern note of the alleged cracks in the bundhs, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked Haryana and the Engineer-in-Chief of the Irrigation Department to “immediately look and, “if required, undertake the repairs of the bundhs without delay”.

The directions of a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain came on a public interest litigation filed by Ajay Pal against the Haryana and other respondents.

He had alleged that the state and other authorities were not carrying out necessary maintenance at the “Bhakra main line, Hansi branch, Butana branch and the multi-purpose link channel (MPLC) crossing Ghaggar”.

The petitioner added that a “huge amount” was spent on setting up the structure. But it was now found that four guide bundhs have developed huge cracks and have not been repaired for three years.

The petitioner also told the court that on June 30, 2011, the then sub-divisional officer prepared an estimate of about Rs 4 lakh for carrying out the repairs, but the then executive engineer returned the estimate, saying it would be difficult to execute the same as the rainy season had begun. But, even after that the work was not undertaken.

The petitioner claimed that he even made a representation on October 30, 2012, to Haryana and the Engineer-in-Chief for “taking immediate action in the matter, but still no action has been taken”.

Taking on record the assertions, the Division Bench disposed of the petition after observing, “In the aforesaid circumstances, we direct the state of Haryana and the Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation Department, Haryana, to immediately look into the matter and, if the submissions of the petitioner are correct, the Engineer-in-Chief is also directed to undertake the repairs of the bundhs without delay.”

Rohtak, January 18
A 14-year-old minor girl has bee  allegedly raped by two persons at Baliyana village of the district. While a case has been registered, no arrest has been made so far in this connection.

The district had recorded 39 cases of rape in 2012.

According to complaint lodged with the police, the girl, a student of class VIII in the village school, was raped by the two accused several days ago when she had gone to the fields for some work.

The matter was brought to notice this morning when the accused made another such attempt on the victim and the girl informed her parents who lodged a complaint with the nearest police station.

The accused, identified as Sunil Kumar and Surjan, had allegedly raped the victim about a fortnight back but she did not find the courage to reveal the incident to her parents then, said the police sources. They had also threatened the victim against disclosing about the incident to anyone, it is learnt.

The police has booked the youths under rape charges and criminal intimidation after the medical examination of the victim. 

Sonepat, January 18
As many as six children, aged between 4 to 14 years, of a nomadic clan had fallen sick after consuming some poisonous substance on last evening.

Their families brought them to the local civil hospital from where doctors referred them to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

According to the information, while playing in the vacant area of Sector 13, children reportedly consumed some eatable lying on the roadside last evening. After sometimes, they developed stomach pain and started vomiting.