Una, November 30
District Magistrate, Una, Abhishek Jain today cancelled the land deal of Saber paper mill located near Santokhgarh town of the district.

He held that since the land transaction was benami and in violation of the provisions of Section 118 of the Land Tenancy Act, the land should be vested with the government.

Owners of about Rs 400-crore Saber Papers had been issued a notice under Section 118 (3) of the Act for allegedly entering into benami transaction for buying land for the project.

Earlier, the SDM had conducted an inquiry into the benami land transaction allegations. The SDM had said it seemed to be a benami transaction.

In the inquiry report that was also tabled in the 2011 winter session of the Himachal Assembly in Dharamsala, it was stated that Saber Papers through its general manager was given permission to buy about 11-hectare land from different land owners for bringing up a paper unit at Haroli in Una district.

However, it was noticed that about 10 hectares of land was purchased from Harbans Lal, a resident of Nalagarh in Solan. Harbans had purchased land from local land owners between March 2008 and October 2009.

The SDM stated that Harbans Lal had admitted that he was used as agent for the land deal on behalf of Saber Papers. He had also admitted that he had neither invested, not received any sale consideration from the company owners.

Harbans also produced an agreement between him and the director of the company for effecting the land sale deed.

The company disposed before the inquiry officer that they had appointed Harbans Lal as estate officer to purchase the land in his name till the Change of Land Use certificate was procured from the state government.

The SDM had held that it was clear that the company purchased the land from the owners in the name of a person who is an agriculturist of Himachal.

He had held that the mill owner invested about Rs 15,91,500 to procure a major chunk of land through benami land deal that was sold at Rs 7,53,46,000 within six months.

Shimla, November 30
The state government today constituted three-member inquiry committee into the death of two patients at the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC).

The committee will be headed by the Director, Medical Education, while the Additional Director, Medical Education, and professor and head of Orthopaedics Department, Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Tanda, would be other members. The committee will submit its report within in one month.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur has announced that the government had taken the death of the two patients seriously and those found guilty would be brought to justice.

A government spokesperson said the committee had been constituted to enquire into the causes of death of two patients at the IGMC, Shimla, recently.

The government had also constituted a committee to enquire into the death of a patient at DRPGMC, Tanda.

Kaul Singh Thakur ordered an inquiry into the death of two patients as the minister has taken a serious view of the lapse, which resulted in the death of the patients a few days ago.

The government has rejected the versions of IGMC Medical Superintendent Dr Ramesh and IGMC Director Dr SS Kaushal who had denied the charges of medical negligence as both patients were well-attended, but they developed complications which was a rare but known problem in such cases.

The two patients, Shalini, a thallasaemia patient, and Rajkumar, an accident victim, had died after they were given blood. The attendants and NGOs had raised concern over the lack of “patient care at the hospital”.

Nurpur, November 30
The local police registered a kidnapping and illegal confinement case late last evening against three unidentified masked persons. This was in response to a complaint of a married woman of Jaloon village under Jawali police station.

The woman stated in her complaint that she was kidnapped by three unidentified masked persons on Wednesday night from near her house. She was forcibly put in a vehicle and forced to consume something, as a result of which she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, she found herself in a room where she was kept confined till Thursday evening.

She alleged that she was thrown from the vehicle by these kidnappers at a deserted place on Thursday midnight. From there, she managed to return home and narrated her tale of woes to her husband.

She alleged that the kidnappers had snatched her ear rings. In her complaint, she named her neighbour with whom she had an altercation two years back.

Meanwhile, DSP, Jawali, DS Verma said a had been registered. He said in the preliminary medical examination conducted at the Community Health Centre, Jawali, no injury marks were found.

Dharamsala, November 30
AIDS cases are increasing in the Tibetan community in exile. This was stated by Health Kalon (minister) Tsering Wangchuk of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in a statement here today on the eve of World AIDS Day.

He said, "Every year on December 1 World AIDS Day, we remember those who died of HIV AIDS and their families and friends who miss them. We unite in the struggle worldwide to fight against this deadly virus."

"In our own Tibetan community in India, despite years of concerted efforts on awareness and education, HIV positive cases are a growing concern. While the surveillance health information system covering selected settlements recorded 13 HIV+ cases in 2012, the actual number of people who are HIV+ in our Tibetan community is believed to be much higher. Stigma, fear, discrimination and poor understanding of HIV are factors that are associated with under-reporting and low uptake of testing for HIV, he said.

He further said with the help of modern medicine and effective anti-retroviral therapy, it was possible for people who had HIV/AIDS to live long productive lives. "We need to treat people with HIV with respect and empathy. Early diagnosis can enable timely treatment. Pregnant women who are HIV positive should talk to their doctors and be proactive about how to prevent the transmission of HIV to her baby," he said.

Shimla, November 30
Over 1,000 students who were to appear in the Master of Arts (MA) Hindi, first semester paper, course II of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) today were shocked to see the paper of Hindi MA II semester course VI being handed out. The in-charge controller of examination (COE) Dr SS Chauhan cancelled the examination and ordered an inquiry into the goof-up as the publisher had fiddled with the paper, going about figuring out the corrections to be done instead of informing the COE.

Like other centres in Delhi, Dharamsala and colleges, the candidates in five centres in Shimla today were shocked to see the Hindi MA I semester course VI paper instead of the Hindi MA paper II semester course II paper for which they were appearing. “We brought it to the notice of invigilators," said the candidates at the PG centre, HPU.

More than 1,000 candidates had come to take the MA Hindi first semester course II examination today.

He said they were not aware who was publisher as the papers were given for printing by COE Nerender Awasthi.

Dr Chauhan said they had ordered the inquiry into the goof-up as the publisher, whose identity remains unknown, allegedly tried to correct the paper himself by changing the name of the paper. “We have ordered an inquiry in the case, but the Vice-Chancellor will reportedly be out of station till December 2,” he added.

President, Students Council Association (HPU), Rajan Harta said the state government should order a probe into the series of blunders and mismanagement of RUSA examinations and fix the responsibility. “Earlier students did not get roll numbers and study material and now for the second time candidates were given the wrong papers today,” he claimed.

Dr Chauhan further said the fresh examination would be held on December 12.

Bilaspur, November 30
Additional Sessions Judge, Ghumarwin, Yogesh Jaswal on Thursday sentenced three persons to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 20 years and also fined Rs 2 lakh each under Section 20 (C) of the NDPS Act, 1985.

The three sentenced are Prakash Chand of Chhaprahan village (Mandi), Krishan Kumar of Pokhari village (Kullu) and Raj Kumar of Surab village (Mandi).

Earlier, Deputy District Attorney Sundeep Attri told the court that these convicts were caught by a police team on November 6, 2011, near Hotel Hill Top at Suharghat. During a search, they were found to be carrying charas weighing 26.15 kg. — OC

Shimla, November 30
Arjun Gautam, a senior assistant in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), and Surinder Kumar, owner of the cyber café on the The Mall, were today sent to police remand after they were produced in the district courts.

The police had arrested them yesterday and charged them with hatching criminal conspiracy under Section 120-B, IPC, in connection with fake DO transfer letters.

The police said Gautam used to write the text on the fake DO letter, while Surender, who runs the cyber café on The Mall, used to get it printed before this would be handed to the beneficiaries, the police claimed.

The police raided the private computer shop in the city and seized a computer hard disk and a printer from the shop two days ago.

The police has seized four fake DO letters out of the 37 DO letters found missing from the note sheet of the CMO, sources revealed.