Shimla, March 7
The government today paved the way for resumption of mining operations in the state after obtaining environment impact assessment (EIA) clearance. The decision was taken by the Cabinet which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

The Cabinet gave its consent to issuance of a letter of intent to applicants for grant of mining lease or renewal of old lease, enabling them to apply for EIA clearance and completing other formalities. The letter of intent will be issued at the directorate level in cases where government has agreed in principle to granting or renewing mining lease.

The Cabinet also granted approval to Budget estimates for 2013-14. The Chief Minister will present the Budget for the next financial year in the Assembly on March 14. The Cabinet decided to have a relook into the amendments made in certain clauses of the hydro power policy by the previous government.

A decision was taken to amend “Financial Assistance and Support Services to Victims of Rape: a Scheme for Restorative Justice”. It was decided that assistance would be available in cases where an FIR had been registered on or after the date on which the state and district criminal relief and rehabilitation boards were constituted or notified (May 21, 2012).

It was also decided to rename the scheme as the Himachal Pradesh Financial Assistance and Support Services to Victims of Rape Scheme, 2012. The Cabinet also reviewed various decisions taken by the previous government during the last six months of its tenure.

A decision was taken to continue the existing policy of sanctioning appointment on compassionate grounds with the approval of the Finance Department. The Finance Department would sanction cases of appointment on compassionate grounds on the basis of seniority as per the date of the death of the government employee and eligibility.

It also approved filling up 11 vacant posts of Tehsil Welfare Officer through direct recruitment on contract. It was decided to fill up nine vacant posts of Child Development Project Officer in the Social Justice and Empowerment Department through direct recruitment on contract.

The Cabinet okayed creating the post of Adviser (Media) for retired IAS officer Subhash Ahluwalia as Co-Terminus with the Information and Public Relations Department. The Cabinet decided to insert provisions in Liquor Licence Rules for ‘ahata’ licence in rural areas. It was observed that liquor was being consumed on wayside ‘dhabas’ in remote rural localities without licence.

Solan, March 7
With the manufacturing licence of the old facility of the Kasauli-based Central Research Institute (CRI) expiring on February 28, production had been hit and it will fail to meet annual targets.

The CRI was manufacturing anti-serra and the DPT group vaccine at the old facility. The licence of the old facility was suspended in January 2008 after the laboratory failed to conform to Schedule M of GMP norms laid down by the WHO.

The licence was granted in February 2010 after the Centre exercised its powers under Sub-Rule 3 of Rule 85 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules and revoked its earlier order.

The institute was granted three-year time to ensure compliance with GMP norms at its old laboratory and this time period expired on February 28 this year.

The institute had to merely complete production of various products which were in the pipeline. This included the DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) group vaccine and various anti-serra.

Being in a phase of transition, the CRI has failed to achieve its target of the DPT vaccine for the current financial year and has opted not to accept targets for the next year.

It had been manufacturing between 10 per cent and 12 per cent of the DPT vaccine used for the universal immunisation programme of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The National Regulatory Authority had approved a new laboratory conforming to GMP (good manufacturing practices) norms laid down by the WHO.

Only trial batches are being manufactured at the moment and it will take almost a year to start commercial production of the DPT vaccine.

Dr Sunil Gupta, CRI Director, said they would meet about 50 per cent of the DPT target fixed for this year and could not have any target for the next financial year as they were yet to get renewal of the old facility.

He said they hoped to receive the renewal soon and then they could begin manufacturing of the DPT vaccine and anti-serra, but the manufacture of the yellow fever vaccine had been put on hold owing to a defect in a freeze dry machine.

Shimla, March 7
The Himachal Pradesh High Court (HC) is heading for a crisis of sorts. More than 70 per cent of its Judges are either moving out or are nearing the age of superannuation. After about a year, the HC will be left with just three Judges.

The situation is unlikely to improve in the immediate future as the names of lawyers have not been recommended for elevation to the Bench so far.

Chief Justice Kurian Joseph had initiated the process of making the recommendations, but could not complete it after his elevation to the apex court.

As a result of the shortfall in strength, not only will Judges find themselves overburdened, but the pendency of cases is expected to mount gradually as well.

The HC has been left with just 10 Judges with the elevation of Chief Justice Joseph. The ceremony to administer the oath to him as an apex court Judge is scheduled for Friday in New Delhi.

The number of HC Judges is set to fall further to nine as Justice Deepak Gupta has been elevated to the post of the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.

Mr Justices RB Misra, Dev Darshan Sood, VK Ahuja, Surinder Singh, Kuldip Singh and VK Sharma are approaching the age of superannuation. Mr Justices Sanjay Karol, Rajiv Sharma and DC Chaudhary have many years of service left.

The HC is unlikely to achieve in the near future Chief Justice Joseph’s ambitious target of bringing down pendency of cases to a level where no matter remains pending for more than a year.

The HC had a pendency of more than 53,000 cases until recently, considered high for a small state. The number had increased with the scrapping of the State Administrative Tribunal.

Confirming the impending shortage of Judges, Chief Justice Joseph added the the related problem of pendency was continuing even though the number was down to 25,000 now.

"The HC disposed of 95 per cent cases transferred after the tribunal was scrapped. The target of pendency at a one-year level is yet to be achieved. At least 57,000 cases were disposed of since I took over three years ago. The inflow is more,” he said.

Shimla, March 7
After the elevation of Chief Justice Kurian Joseph as a Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Ram Bhawan Misra, the senior-most Judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, has been appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of the high court.

As per a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, he will perform the duties of the Acting Chief Justice with effect from the date Justice Joseph relinquishes the charge of the office of the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Earlier, he has assumed the charge of the Acting Chief Justice of HP High Court from August 10, 2009, to February 8, 2010.

Justice Misra was elevated as a permanent Judge of the Allahabad High Court on April 24, 2001. He was transferred to the Gauhati High Court on January 7, 2005, and served till April 29, 2008. Thereafter, he was again transferred to the Himachal Pradesh High Court on April 30, 2008. 

Shimla, March 7
The Excise and Taxation Department has refuted the charge that illicit liquor had been stored in the building which collapsed in Mandi yesterday.

A spokesperson of the department said the building at the Sauli Khad locality of the district was registered and valid premises for storing Indian-made foreign liquor and beer by M/s Copia Beverages, which had the licence, and not Shruti and Co, as was reported in the news story published in a section of the press.

Further, the allegation that truck-loads of illicit liquor was dumped in it was also not based on facts as the entire stock was issued from respective distilleries against valid permits and passes. It was a duty-paid stock and the revenue to the government had been paid in advance.

The department was not responsible as to how the building was constructed by the owner and the legality of its construction, the spokesperson added. 

Shimla, March 7
The issue of procurement of sophisticated and latest equipment by the Himachal Pradesh Police which was allegedly used to snoop into telephonic conversation of senior politicians and high-ranking officials has come under the scanner of investigating agencies probing the issue.

The agencies investigating the issue have focused their attention on finding out whether or not the use of this equipment was permissible under norms laid down by the Centre. The police had procured the latest equipment worth over Rs 23.5 crore between 2009 and 2012 under money received from the Centre under the modernisation plan, with the CID getting the largest chunk.

With apprehensions being expressed in some circles that SIM cards of certain high-profile officials had allegedly been cloned to snoop into conversation, this aspect was likely to be probed as well. Service providers would be involved in the exercise as this could not have been possible without their help.

The purchase and illegal use of the bugging device, which is slightly bigger and thicker than a mobile SIM card, will also be probed. Virbhadra Singh had alleged that this device was used to snoop into his conversation while he was staying at the Himachal Bhawan in Chandigarh.

Under the security equipment procured, the police had purchased one SIM card device for about Rs 13,000 and seven voice logger channel machines for around Rs 4 lakh in 2011. The police, which already had four voice logger channel machines bought in 2009-10, procured the more sophisticated three voice logger channels with GSVM, telephone and radio monitoring features later costing about Rs 4.5 lakh in 2010-11.

The police also bought a mobile phone jammer worth Rs 2.4 lakh and a digital potting scope with high resolution audio video recording machine costing over Rs 2.5 lakh. The police also bought four voice recorders and six digital voice recorders in 2008-09. Eighteen voice recorders were again bought in 2009-10.

The police purchased the latest equipment to be able to keep a tab on anti-social elements and other illegal acts like drug trafficking by purchasing weaponry, communication equipment and vehicles and getting training.

The use of the equipment by the police and intelligence agencies is a routine affair. The government is yet to assign the task of the probe into the alleged phone tapping to a high-level team. The chances of an FIR being lodged cannot be ruled out.

Bilaspur, March 7
All Excise and Taxation toll barriers of the Garamoda unit were sold for Rs 15.11 crore for 2013-14. The auction was presided by Deputy Commissioner Ajay Sharma today. Department officials and excise contractors were present.

Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Central Zone, Mandi, DT Negi, Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Shimla Headquarters, Rohit Chauhan, and Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Bilaspur, Vivek Mahajan, were present. — OC

Nurpur, March 7
The construction of the ambitious Shah Nehar project in lower Kangra district remained under fire during the previous BJP government when Rajan Sushant, Lok Sabha MP, had levelled allegations of irregularities and poor quality work in its construction. But now with the change of government, Manmohan Katoch, newly appointed member secretary, HP Khadi Board and former state Youth Congress president, who hails from this area, has openly come out against the poor quality of the ongoing construction of Shah Nehar which is nearing completion nowadays.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Katoch said the testing of the Shah Canal by the Irrigation-cum-Public Health Department (IPH) during the past two days had found breaches at Badukhar, Surdwan and Bhogrwan, which clearly reflected the poor construction quality of the canal, the estimate cost of which had been enhanced manifold during the past two decades.

He said he would take up the issue of poor quality work and wastage of public funds in the construction of over Rs 300-crore irrigation project with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and IPH Minister Vidya Stokes and demand a high-level probe into this alleged construction scam.

“The water of the canal should be in the fields of beneficiary farmers of the area, but due to breaches of the newly built canal, it is going waste in local rivulets,” he rued.

He asserted that he would go to any extent for an impartial and fair inquiry into the poor quality work of the canal so that action could be taken against those who were responsible for it.

Sundernagar, March 7
The newly formed BJP district unit today took out a procession at Nihari, an interior area of the town, against the decision of the government vide which it has ordered the closure of Government Degree College, Nihari, which was opened by the previous BJP government in August 2011.

The procession was led by Rakesh Jamwal, president of the BJP unit of Sundernagar. He was accompanied by other BJP leaders and local residents.

The BJP workers submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the notification and restoration of the college. It was further stated that if the college was not opened, the BJP would start an agitation at Nihari.

Subash Jagota, press secretary of the unit, said the BJP had also decided to challenge the decision of the government in the HP High Court.

Kangra, March 7
The Teachers’ Association of Medical College Tanda (TAMCOT) has objected to the working of the Principal, who has refuted the charge, saying everything is being carried out as per government guidelines and under the law.

TAMCOT vice-president Milap Chand and general secretary Amit Gupta alleged that contrary to government directions, the Principal was not handing over charge to seniormost professor when on leave or out of station.

They claimed that a non-academic person or a junior person was being handed over the charge many a time. They alleged that campus accommodation was not being allotted to faculty members who deserved it.

They added that two Type-V houses had been allotted to HAS officers. They alleged that it had become difficult for hostel wardens to maintain discipline as those involved in acts of indiscipline were being shielded.

They demanded a probe into administrative, discipline enforcement and house allotment activities in the last three years. The Principal, Dr Anil Chauhan, refuted the allegations.

He said he was on earned leave at present and the Director of Medical Education had assigned charge to the Additional Director in view of the upcoming budget session.

He said he did not hand over charge to anyone when he was on leave or tour. He added that the seniormost faculty member available was doing the job in his absence.

He claimed that only one HAS officer, functioning as the Additional Director, had been allotted Class-V accommodation on the campus.

He said the allotment was done following approval of the House Allotment Committee, of which the TAMCOT president was a member.

He claimed that there was no question of shielding any guilty student. He added that all cases of indiscipline were being reported to the Anti-Ragging Committee and information was also being submitted to the HPU authorities.