Shimla, November 18
The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) today sought immediate withdrawal of the notice issued to it by the Registrar of Societies on the ground that he had no jurisdiction and the September 7 notice did not merit for a reply.

“You have called upon a non-existent governing body of a dissolved society to submit its reply but at this stage, the HPCA is a registered company and is governed by the Companies Act and having Board of Directors of the company,” the reply filed today read.

HPCA secretary Vishal Marwah, in a six-page reply, remarked that this had only led to confusion on the purport and intent of the notice of September 7, which too was not issued in accordance with law and was defective and thus did not merit for a reply.

The HPCA contended that the notice be withdrawn immediately in the interest of justice and fair play as it had been rendered otiose as the sports body was no longer a society but a company registered under the Registrar of Companies under the Companies Act, 1956.

“The jurisdiction to investigate the affairs of a company will only be that of the Central Government, Regional Director or Registrar of Companies,” the HPCA stated.

It was on November 8, 2013, that the Registrar Societies had asked the HPCA to file its reply to a show-cause notice issued to it earlier on September 7, 2013. The HPCA in its reply also drew the attention of the Registrar of Societies to the November 5 High Court order where he had been directed not to pass any final order till further orders from the High Court.

“Having given a categorical finding about the legal status of the company, it seems that the present alleged notice is an attempt on your part to review the order you gave on October 28,” the HPCA pleaded.

In its reply, the HPCA said any review of the earlier order of October 28 was impermissible and without jurisdiction. The Registrar of Society had on October 28, 2013, accepted and upheld the plea of the HPCA that he had no jurisdiction over a company but maintained that as a society he had full powers over it.

The HPCA said it was filing a short reply to the notice only to place on record certain essential facts. “At this stage, the present reply is without prejudice to a detailed reply that may be filed on merit, if the need so arises,” the HPCA said. 

Dharamsala, November 18
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has conducted raids to arrest former principal of Dharamsala Government College Narinder Awasthi, during whose stint as principal, the HPCA had allegedly encroached on the institution land.

Sources in the Vigilance said the raids were conducted at the residence of Awasthi and the university campus where he was suspected to be hiding.

Vigilance officials also alleged that the HPCA had encroached on about 3,000 sq metre college land. The fact had come to light during fresh measurements of the international cricket stadium at Dharamsala. During the earlier measurements, the authorities had said the HPCA had encroached on only 720 square metre land of the college.

The HPCA stadium has been constructed on about 45,000 sq metres and the 3,000 sq metre land forms the major portion of land located on the main gate of the stadium.

The land had the residential facility for the staff of the government college, Dharamsala.

The building was demolished as it was in a ramshackle condition and posed threat to the building of the HPCA stadium. The HPCA had also maintained the building was demolished by the district administration after due permission.

The Vigilance on the other hand has been maintaining that there was no official record to show that proper permissions were taken to demolish the residential building and then further allotment of land to the HPCA.

Awasthi had applied for anticipatory bail as he suspected that he might be arrested by the Vigilance. His bail application was rejected by Nurpur court.

The Vigilance is now looking to arrest Narinder Awasthi to find out the circumstances under which the college residential facility was demolished and land was encroached upon by the HPCA. The building was demolished in 2008.

Hamirpur, November 18
The two projects of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department, tenders for which were cancelled a few months ago, have been redesigned again. The scheme to improve the drinking water supply to Hamirpur has been redesigned and the tender for it has been floated online. Similarly, the irrigation project for Nadaun has also been redesigned and the tender for it will be floated soon.

The drinking water supply scheme for Hamirpur and surrounding areas, sanctioned by the Ministry of Urban Development, will now be implemented at a cost of Rs 64.19 crore.

Besides a 400-mm diameter rising pipeline, the 23.5-km pipeline from Palahi to Hiranagar will be laid under the scheme.

About 97.5 lakh litres of water will be supplied to Hamirpur every day after the augmentation of the scheme. The scheme would benefit 35,000 people with a capacity of fulfilling the demand of 56,362 people. The NIT and the State Institute of Hotel Management will also be covered under the scheme. This will be a fully automatic scheme aimed at improving the water quality and supplying mud-free water.

The pipes of different diameters will be laid on the right and left banks of the Nadaun irrigation project. The rising pipeline on the right bank will have four pipes with different diameters — two 200 mm, one 400 mm and one 300 mm. The left bank will have 3 main pipes of 400, 600 and 700 mm diameter with varying intermediate pipelines.

About Rs 104.40 crore will be spent on the scheme and 2,980 hectares of agriculture land will be irrigated by it. LR Chaudhary, Superintending Engineer, IPH Circle, Hamirpur, said, “The both schemes have been redesigned and the work will begin soon.”

Solan, November 18
With the state government having withdrawn subsidy on loading, unloading and transportation of fertilisers from September, the agrarian community has been forced to bear the additional cost, thus making fertilisers costlier.

Since the price of fertilisers had increased from 20 to 30 per cent in the last two years, this added cost, which retailers were passing on to farmers, had further pushed up the cost.

This subsidy on overhead charges was withdrawn on the directions of the Central Government which had also hiked fertiliser prices in the recent past.

The costlier fertilisers were forcing farmers to opt for spurious fertilisers, which had flooded the markets. This point was illustrated from the fact that though no CAN fertiliser had been bought by the HIMFED in Solan ever since one tonne was supplied in 2009, farmers never complained of any shortage as the spurious option was readily available, revealed sources in the federation. Similarly, NPK 15:15:15 and urea were other fertilisers whose spurious versions were available in markets, confided sources in the HIMFED.

The HIMFED was now trying to work out an arrangement with a Delhi-based supplier of organic and bio-fertilisers to facilitate availability of quality fertilisers in the state. The federation was incurring repeated losses on availing loans worth crores for supplying fertilisers and it was paying an average monthly interest of Rs 4.50 crore on loans worth Rs 26 crore availed for the purpose while earning merely Rs 1 crore annually.

The withdrawal of subsidy had acted as a setback as this had drastically affected fertiliser sales from the depots and cooperative societies and farmers opted for cheaper spurious options. However, in a bid to save the federation from incurring further losses, the Registrar Cooperative Society today decided to extend a revolving fund of Rs 15 crore out of which Rs 8 crore would be extended by the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank, Rs 6 crore by the state government and Rs 1 crore by the Jogindra Cooperative Bank. 

Shimla, November 18
The traffic mess in a busy spot of the densely populated suburb of Sanjauli-Dhalli in the capital city continues to trouble residents, making movement of public a nightmare. Commuters in the suburban town of Sanjauli-Cemetery-Dhalli-Mashobra and other places including office-goers coming to the capital city every day from different parts of the district have demanded that the Dhalli tunnel-Sanjauli Road be made one-way for light vehicle traffic on the pattern of Chhota Shimla-HP secretariat.

The traffic mess is mounting every day in the capital city. There are about 70,000 vehicles and 1,000 new ones are added every month in Shimla district. There are no pedestrian paths along the Sanjauli-Dhalli stretch of national highway, along the Chhota Shimla-Secretariat Road that pose hazards to walkers as the three-hour restriction in Sanjauli has served no purpose, said residents.

The tourist traffic inflow adds to the seriousness of the situation. The roadside space that can be used for pedestrians is occupied by vehicles for parking as one walks from Sanjauli to Dhalli. Squatters have sprouted all over roadsides in Sanjauli, making the movement of the public difficult and adding to the traffic mess.

A cross-section of people this reporter talked to said light vehicles should be allowed from the side of the tunnel in the morning and from the side of Sanjauli in the evening to restore order on the highly congested and populated suburb of the city.

Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said, "We have been demanding that this stretch should be made one-way on the pattern of what is being regulated in Chhota Shimla and the HP Secretariat."

ADM, Law and Order, DK Rattan said they had not received any recent representation from the public on the problem in Sanjauli as traffic regulation was notified earlier on the High Court order. But we are open to suggestions as there is a limited space available for paths and roads in the main suburbs, he added.

Dharamsala, November 18
The Youth Congress elections that concluded today have come to light the power struggle going on between the Congress in Kangra district.

The struggle for supremacy in Kangra, the politically most significant district in the state having 15 Assembly constituencies, has been going on between Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education GS Bali and Minister for Housing and TCP Sudhir Sharma, who is considered to be close to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Bali, who has been holding sway in Kangra district, feels that Sudhir Sharma is being allowed to run the show in Kangra due to his closeness to the Chief Minister. The bitterness between both ministers reached its peak during a Cabinet meeting held last week in which both had a verbal duel.

The ministers reportedly clashed at the Cabinet meeting over taking credit for various development works proposed for the district. Bali had also been alleging that Dharamsala was being given preference over other Assembly constituencies of the district as it was represented by Sharma.

In the recently concluded Youth Congress elections also, while Sharma was said to be supporting Sunil Sharma for the post of Youth Congress president in the Kangra constituency, Bali and his son Ragubir Bali had supported Neetu Chaudhary who belongs to the Nagrota Bagwan area.

Political sources said both ministers lobbied hard to get their candidates elected as president of the Kangra Youth Congress. While Sharma was present in the area, the campaign of Bali was handled by his son.

Many Congress MLAs chose the election as an event to air their grievances at being allegedly ignored in terms of developmental works in Kangra district. Sources said the MLAs got their candidates polled against the candidate projected by the Virbhadra’s group.

The fact was also illustrated from the fact that Raghuvir yesterday called the president of the Youth Congress from Kangra and presidents of various Assembly constituencies at his residence. The way voting had taken place illustrates that it might indicate towards changing political affiliations in the ruling party.

Mandi, November 18
Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur and Mandi MP Pratibha Singh today toured several villages under the Darang Assembly constituency and assured people to solve to their problems.

Addressing public meetings at Kufri, Badi dhar and other places, they said the development works were being undertaken at every place and the state government would give priority to development of backward and remote areas.

They said linking rural areas with roads was the priority of the state government and every effort was being made to improve means of transportation in the hilly areas.

The Health Minister said the government was taking steps to improve health facilities and Rs 4.5 crore had been sanctioned to construct a health centre at Padhar and another at Surhani would be built at a cost of Rs 80 lakh.

Solan, November 18
In a bid to introduce stringent licencing system to procure controlled chemicals, which are being diverted to manufacture synthetic drugs, the State Drug Regulatory Authority has taken up the issue with the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

The issue was discussed with the DCGI during a recent meeting with drug controller Navneet Marwaha so that the National Regulatory Authorities could devise some strategy while granting permissions to drugs whose raw materials could be diverted for manufacturing synthetic drugs.

Marwaha while confirming this, said the rising number of such cases where pharmaceutical units were found diverting chemicals for nefarious use had necessitated the need to introduce stringent measures and it had also been suggested to set aside a separate category of licencing system for such cases.

Marwaha added that apart from this, it had been made mandatory for all units manufacturing drugs using such chemicals to file returns of sale, purchase and distribution within the next 10 days and henceforth, file monthly returns by the 5th of every month, along with quarterly report of the Narcotics Control Bureau. Meanwhile, the Drug Control Administration has sealed two units, MBP Pharmaceuticals Limited and Montek Bio-pharma from where 975 kg of precursor chemicals used to manufacture drug ice were seized last week by a team of the Patiala police.

Sources in the police said they had sought details like amount of chemicals the two units were authorised to use for medicinal purposes along with the quantity of drugs manufactured using such chemicals and the content of chemicals actually found in such medicines.

The police was scanning the details of sale, purchase and distribution of drugs from the three computers seized from the two units. The Drug Inspector today served a show-cause notice on the two units to submit their sale, purchase and distribution details for one year.

As a face-saving exercise, the drug controller today served a show-cause notice on six pharma units in the Baddi industrial area after violations were found in its manufacturing procures relating to good manufacturing practices norms laid down by the World Health Organisation.

As many as 16 units of Baddi and 11 of Sirmaur district, whose production had either declined or was on the verge of closure, were inspected in the last fortnight.

However, the action appears to be too little too late as the state lacked adequate field staff to keep an eye on the working of 600 pharmaceutical units in the state and as per the recommendations of the Mashelkar Committee, one inspector was supposed to be appointed for every 50 units so that regular inspections could be undertaken and vigilance could be maintained over their working. 

Manali, November 18
After snowfall in the upper Manali region and Rohtang Pass, hundreds of tourists, who arrived in Manali, are thronging Gulaba and the Rahla waterfall to enjoy the snow.

Although the weather is dry in the entire region, tourists will not be disappointed as the Gulaba region and Rahla waterfall, 26 km from here, on the Manali-Rohtang Pass road, are accessible to visitors.

Gulaba and the Rahla waterfall have become the biggest tourist attractions nowadays.

Tourists were seen throwing snowballs at each other and having photo sessions.

Early snowfall in the Rohtang Pass has brought cheer to those related with the tourism industry. They feel that it will boost tourism and usher in a long winter season in Kullu-Manali. 

Shimla, November 18
The HP High Court today issued notice to Capt Ajay Singh, who is a minister in the Haryana Government, on alleged land scam whereby 11.1 bigha was purchased on fake documents.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DD Sud also issued notice to the Centre, state governments and the CBI. The court passed this order on a petition filed by MP Nagar, president, Anti-Corruption Front, Faridabad, alleging that he had learnt from media reports that a fraudulent land scam connecting a land transaction had taken place in Solan on fake documents.

He alleged in the petition that the land was purchased on August 14, 2008, by 17 persons posing as partners, which included son, daughter and wife of Captain Yadav.

Shimla, November 18
The HP High Court today directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit indicating shifting of 43 officials of doubtful integrity to non-sensitive posts within a minimum period. This order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary after perusing an affidavit filed by the officiating Chief Secretary wherein it was informed that 43 officials of doubtful integrity were posted on sensitive posts.

During the hearing of the case, the counsel for the state said the process was going on for shifting 43 officials of doubtful integrity, who were posted on sensitive posts to non-sensitive posts.

He sought some time for doing the needful.

In its earlier order, the court had directed the Chief Secretary to furnish the details of tainted officials, who were posted on sensitive posts. In compliance to this order, the Chief Secretary filed an affidavit furnishing the details of the officials of doubtful integrity with their present postings. It was mentioned in the affidavit that before posting 30 officials of doubtful integrity to sensitive posts, the Chief Minister was consulted and approval was obtained. It further mentioned that for posting nine officials of doubtful integrity, the minister in charge was consulted and an approval was obtained. Similarly, for other officers also approval was obtained from the competent authority.

The orders were passed on a petition filed by former state drug controller Sher Singh.

Shimla, November 18
Himachal Pradesh University’s Central Students Association (CSA) today staged a protest on the campus and demanded a Vigilance Bureau probe into the affairs of the university, charging that the controller of examination (COE) Narender Awasthy was tehsildar when the college land was given to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) in Dharamsala.

Addressing the protesters, CSA president Rajan Harta and secretary Piyush Sebal alleged in the statement issued later that the COE has not been present in the university ever since he was questioned by the Vigilance. The COE should be removed from the post he has been holding for the last two years, it was demanded.

The CSA further said the RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan) had been introduced in the colleges and the examinations had been scheduled for November 21, but the students were yet to get the roll numbers and the date sheet, they rued.

They said the COE had announced declaration of the results within 45 days, but the results in some cases were not declared even after six months.

They further alleged that a student who had not done graduation was admitted to the law department and five students were declared pass in MTA even though they had not appeared in the examination.

While Narender Awasthy could not be contacted as he was on leave, HPU spokesperson Dr Ranvir Verma claimed that the SCA was levelling baseless allegations. As far as five students were concerned, it was a clerical mistake, not any a goof-up, he claimed.

On the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, he said the university was collaborating with the director of higher education and the delay was due to the fact that it was introduced for the first time in the state. The roll numbers would be issued soon as the university was aware of the problem, he claimed.

Bilaspur, November 18
Students should take part in all school activities and should ensure that they do not neglect their studies or games and should take part in sports which help in their all-round personality development. This was stated by Deputy Director of Higher Education Pritam Singh Dhatwalia while addressing a gathering as chief guest at the concluding function of the two-day state-level school wrestling championship at Government Boys Senior Secondary School at Ghumarwin near here yesterday evening.

Dhatwalia distributed prizes and trophies to winners and said winning and losing does not matter but we should take defeat in our stride and should work hard to ensure that defeat is converted into victory by dint of hard work and efforts.

Bilaspur district was declared champion in the state in wrestling while Una district was declared runners up.

The following were first, second and third respectively in their respective weight categories: 42 kg - Arun Kumar, Ankush Thakur, Pravesh Mohammed; 46 kg - Mahavir, Surender Singh, Dinesh (50 kg); Suresh, Ramesh, Satish (55 kg); Saurabh, Deepak, Sheentu (60 kg); Karam Singh, Surender Pal, Rohit Chandel (66 kg); Naresh, Amit and Jagdip, Ankush, (74 kg); Rohit Chandel, Vijay and Mukesh, Suneel (84 kg); Suneel, Ravinder and Chiraag, Raj Kumar.

Ninety selected student wrestlers from all districts of the state competed in this state championship. Present on the occasion were prominent wrestlers Jagdish Singh, Physical Education Assistant Director Anant Ram, District ADPO Dharam Pal, Principal Lal Singh Chauhan and School Management Committee president Brij Lal Sharma, Prem Vashishtha and Dr Sanjay Yadav among others.

Shimla, November 18
Governor's XI trounced CM's XI by 123 runs in the T20 charity cricket match organised by the Himachal Pradesh Sports Culture and Environment Association at Bishop Cotton School yesterday.

Batting first after winning the toss, Governor's XI amassed 218 after losing 8 wickets in 20 overs. Amandeep Garg (59) , was the highest scorer while Amitabh Awasthy chipped in with 52 runs. In reply, Chief Ministers XI was bundled out for a paltry score of 95 runs. Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma scored 51. — TNS

Hamirpur/Mandi, November 18
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, while presiding over a function organised here to celebrate the 60th Cooperative Movement Day today at Bajuri, said cooperative societies were playing a very important role in providing relief to consumers from rising prices of essential commodities, and there was a need to strengthen the cooperative bodies today.

Dhumal said the BJP government had formulated service rule for the employees working in the cooperative bodies in 2002 and provided cheap ration to public through the cooperative institutions.

Saying that the state government had failed to provide cheap ration through the PDS system, Dhumal said, "During the past 10 months of Congress rule, ration shops have largely remained deserted and consumers are not getting various articles of need."

He said people were disenchanted with the UPA government and now remembering the NDA rule.

‘Cong not providing subsidised sugar, ration’

Shimla: Dhumal today lashed out at the Congress regime for failing to provide subsidised sugar and ration at fair-price shops being under the public distribution system (PDS).

In a statement here today, he said for the last almost one year, ever since the Congress came to power, there was an acute shortage of subsidised food items in fair-price shops. “The Congress regime has failed to provide relief to people in the form of subsidised ration, as there is an acute shortage of atta and rice in the shops and pulses being provided are of poor quality,” he alleged.

Dhumal said the government not only failed to provide sugar at the time of Diwali, but in some ration depots sugar was not available for the last four months.

The BJP leader said it was so unfortunate that when it came to their own requirements whether it is a luxury vehicle or other needs, their seemed there was no paucity of funds.

Dalhousie, November 18
The Dalhousie Public School (DPS) Dalhousie has bagged the first prize at the state-level quiz competition organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad. The quiz was organised in the Dayanand Model Senior Secondary School Dharamsala in which several schools of the state participated.

The Additional Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Devraj Sharma was the chief guest on the occasion. He gave away the prizes to the winning teams.

The winning teams of Dalhousie Public School, both at the junior and senior levels, would now participate at the national level in December. Harnam and Sushmita would compete under the tutelage of Gaurav Mahajan, the teacher incharge for the team.

The team members and their incharge were given a warm welcome by the students and teachers of the Dalhousie Public School upon their return today. On the occasion, the Director and Principal Dr (Capt) GS Dhillon congratulated the team and its incharge and inspired the team to work for winning at the national-level contest.

Bani, November 18
MIT International School held its annual day sports meet yesterday.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the MIT Group of Institutions and school Principal Sumiti V Thakur presented report card of the school.

The CEO said emphasis was being laid on co-curricular activities and the overall development of students, besides academic studies.

She said chairman of the MIT Group of Institutions Vinod Thakur and staff members of the school had played a significant role in taking the school to new heights.

Basketball matches and athletics competition was also held on the occasion. The MIT challenger team won the basketball matches. In football, Lotus House won the trophy, in throw ball, Jasmine House was declared the winner and Cricket trophy was won by MIT Fighters. Deepak and Ishika won 100-m race, respectively, in boys and girls section.

Chairman of the MIT Group of Institutions Vinod Thakur, and Rakesh Kumar, Director, Planning, were also present on the occasion. 

Shimla, November 18
The police today arrested school lecturer Sanjiv Kumar posted at Government Senior Secondary School, Rohru, in connection with the fake DO transfer letter approved from the Chief Minister Office (CMO).

Two NSUI workers Rakesh Mehta and Sanjiv Guleria, who prepared the fake letter, have sought anticipatory bail from the high court.

The police said Sanjiv was about to be transferred from Rohru to Una. Being a beneficiary of the fake DO letter, Sanjiv was arrested under Sections 465 and 471, IPC, the police said.

The police launched a manhunt for the two accused, but Mehta today got interim bail till November 21 from the high court.

The accused had forged the signature of the Special Secretary to the Chief Minister on the DO letter. The note was approved by the CM and it was about to go for final order when the CMO detected the fake signature, the police said. DSP, City, Pankaj Sharma said the lecturer was being interrogated.

Nurpur, November 18
The naked body of an aged woman, around 55 years old, brutally murdered in the Indora area, was found in a field at Chuharpur village yesterday.

It was first spotted by village women who crossed the field while grazing their cattle. They informed Surjit Singh, a local villager, who further intimated the police. The police, along with Nurpur DSP Rajiv Atre, reached the spot and conducted preliminary investigations. The deceased has been identified as Shanti Devi, wife of Bishamber Dass of Nadon (Indora).

The DSP said a case under Section 302, IPC, had been registered.

Bilaspur, November 18
The police here has arrested three more accused involved in the midnight theft of spare parts worth lakhs from the shop of one Sukh Ram of Kallar on National Highway No. 21 two days ago.

Reports said one of the accused, Guddu of Bhiyuli in Mandi district, was arrested on the spot while they were committing the crime. He was caught by the shopkeeper’s neighbours while the other three escaped in a tempo.

Those arrested are two real brothers Sanjiv and Guglu of Bhiyuli village while the third is Hem Raj of Baalt village. The police has recovered the tempo, along with the stolen material.