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Congress puts up show of unity at general body
Hisar police launch search op at Rampal’s |
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Govt claims rules on retirement age were not amended
Yamunanagar advocate files plaint against former PM
SC directs state to pay
Rs 10 lakh to victims’ family
AAP workers slog it out in Delhi
Khattar govt zeroes in on land acquired during last 9 years
Ram Rahim appears before CBI court through video-conferencing
Son bludgeons mother to death
Drug peddler held, opium seized
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Congress puts up show of unity at general body
Chandigarh, November 29 At the first general body of the Haryana Congress chaired by general secretary in charge of Haryana affairs Shakeel Ahmed, Capt Ajay Yadav, a former minister known for his flip-flops on various issues, struck a discordant note, blaming “faulty policies” of the Congress government in its 10-year tenure. Without naming former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Capt Yadav attacked “the party leadership” for ignoring workers while in power and running the state like a personal fiefdom. He held that the party had not sent back a single MLA from 14 districts because of the indifference meted out to workers whose claims for membership of various boards and committees during the Congress regime had been overlooked. He was even critical of Hooda-led government’s decision to form a committee under former minister and MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala to look into land acquisition in Rewari while sidelining him. As soon as he mentioned that reservation for Jats was “a mistake” which had distanced Other Backward Classes from the party and inaction of the government and inconvenience to the public had done the Congress in, he was hooted down by a section of the workers. Though a few leaders mentioned that workers had not been given their due and pointed out “faulty ticket distribution” which cost the party a few seats, some were of the opinion that the leader in the saddle should take the onus for the party’s debacle as well. Hooda maintained that his government had been “high on delivery” with development as its priority and hallmark. Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hooda said a leader of the rival party changed the outcome. He took a dig at the BJP government in Haryana, saying it had exposed its “anti-public” mindset in the one-month tenure so far. Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Selja emphasised that “mistakes” had been committed at various levels and happened in various quarters, but she did not want to go into the past. “The party and its leaders should come together and work together,” she said. Newly elected Chief Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhry exhorted leaders and workers to bury the past since it was over and done with. Stating that no worker belonged to any faction, she said every single worker was only a Congress member and they should all be ready for a struggle that would require them to come out on the roads to expose the present government and reach out to the people at large. State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar said putting up a united front was the only way forward for the party which had been given the mandate to sit in the opposition. He said the party would focus on rebuilding the organisation and following the path of agitation with the motto of “minimum speech, maximum work”. Party voices
Cong decisions
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Hisar police launch search op at Rampal’s MP ashram
Hisar, November 29 Sources said the team, with the help of the local police, had started the search on the ashram premises, which is spread over 70 acres along NH-69, about 10 km from Betul town. “Nothing significant has been recovered so far. Though there were devotees living in the ashram earlier, they have left after Rampal’s arrest,” they said. The police said there was a possibility that the Betul ashram was being used to train Rastriya Samaj Sewa Samiti (RSSS) commandos. The RSSS is an organisation formed by Rampal’s key aide Ramkumar Dhaka. These commandos, who were reportedly trained in operating firearms and indigenous weapons such as lathis, provided round-the-clock security to him. Rampal had revealed that his son Virender and other relatives used to train young men devotees. Dhaka had claimed earlier that he formed the commando force in 2008 to deal with the Arya Samaj activists, who had been at warpath against Rampal and his devotees. These commandos played a crucial role during confrontation with the police in Barwala. They fought a pitched battle with the police and foiled its attempts to arrest Rampal. With his arrest, the police also started scanning the devotees and detained youths who were found in possession of the RSSS cards and their black dress. The sources said a huge metal shed had been erected at the Betul ashram where over 50,000 persons can assemble. “Other construction activities such as setting up of a residential complex and water
tanks are also underway,” said the police. Betul fortress
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Govt claims rules on retirement age were not amended
Chandigarh, November 29 Amit Arya, media adviser to the Chief Minister, said, “The din and noise kicked up over the decision to roll back the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 58 years is politically motivated, divorced from ground reality and totally unwarranted.” He claimed that the decision was not borne out of any ill will against employees. On the contrary, it was based on the BJP government’s concern and earnestness to provide jobs to the jobless youth and open more promotional avenues for the staff, he
asserted. The media adviser said it was a well thought out move aimed at facilitating large-scale merit-based recruitment spanning all departments in the near future. The reality that more than six lakh youngsters were registered with employment exchanges in the state was not lost on the government, he said. He claimed that the political decision to increase the retirement age from 58 to 60 years had been taken by the previous Congress government with the sole objective of reaping electoral dividends in the Assembly elections. He said the argument that the government could have spared the exchequer outgo of a lot of money on account of retirement benefits by continuing with increased age did not stand the test of facts. Arya said the Finance Department had provided for payment of dues to the staff due to retire. He added that this fact had been brought up during the Cabinet meeting wherein it was decided to lower the retirement age. |
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Yamunanagar advocate files plaint against former PM
Yamunanagar, November 29 The plaint was filed under Sections 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person) and 167 (Public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury) of the IPC. In his complaint, advocate Gupta said Dr Singh committed an offence recommending the appointment of PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner since he was an accused in a pending criminal complaint. He said Dr Singh headed the three-member statutory high powered committee and Minister of Home Affairs and leader of Opposition in the house of people Sushma Swaraj were the other members. He added Sushma Swaraj had given a dissenting note and objected to the selection and appointment of PJ Thomas. The appointment of PJ Thomas was later challenged in the Supreme Court by way of public interest litigation and he was removed from the post as the SC quashed his recommendation for appointment, he added. “The appointment of PJ Thomas was held illegal. So, all remuneration-salary and parks paid to him were illegal charge on national exchequer and that caused injuries to all Indians and the complainant being a public man also feels injured due to the illegal act of former PM. Thus the former PM has committed an offence under Sections 166 and 167 of IPC,” said Gupta. He said he had sought sanction of the then President of India under section 197 CrPC for launching criminal prosecution against Dr Singh under Section 166 and 167 of IPC. But the sanction was neither declined nor granted by the President. “Dr Singh is no more the PM. So no sanction is now needed as per the judgment of SC,” said Gupta. Gupta said that he had sent a legal notice to Dr Singh on September 9, 2014, but his September 27 reply was not based on any logic and was simply based on frivolous pleadings. |
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SC directs state to pay
Rs 10 lakh to victims’ family
New Delhi, November 29 A Bench comprising Justices V Gopala Gowda and Adarsh Kumar Goel found fault with the Punjab and Haryana High Court for rejecting, without citing any reason, the plea of the victims’ family for compensation. “In fact, even without such a petition, the HC ought to have awarded compensation. There is no reason as to why the victims’ family should not be awarded compensation under Section 357-A of CrPC by the state,” the apex court said. Four persons had kidnapped Devender Chopra and his son Abhishek while they were returning from their factory to their house in DLF Gurgaon on December 18 and called the victims’ family at 11 in the night demanding a ransom of Rs 50 lakh for their release. Unable to mobilise Rs 50 lakh, the victims’ family began negotiations and offered Rs 10 lakh. As the criminals were not budging, the family approached the police on December 24. The police managed to nab them the same day, but they had already killed the businessmen. The SC delivered its verdict yesterday on an appeal filed by two of the convicts, Suresh and Manmohan, challenging the life sentence awarded to them by the trial court and upheld by the HC. Dismissing their appeal, the apex court said it did not find any ground to interfere with the conviction and sentence. It directed the state government to pay an interim compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the victims’ family within a month and clarified that the family was at liberty to seek adequate compensation in any other legal proceeding. The Bench noted that 25 of the 29 state governments had notified victim compensation schemes under Section 357 enacted by Parliament in 2009 and notified on December 31 the same year, empowering the judiciary to award compensation for the rehabilitation of victims of crimes. The SC said the compensation amount announced by some of the states was very low. The gravity of the offence and the need of victims “are some of the guiding factors to be kept in mind” while deciding the compensation amount, the Bench said. It directed the National Judicial Academy to impart requisite training to all judicial officers in the country so that the legal provision for rehabilitation of victims of crimes could be made operative and meaningful. |
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AAP workers slog it out in Delhi
Rohtak, November 29 Sources said a number of AAP leaders and members owing allegiance to Haryana were camping in Delhi these days to rebuild party’s organisational structure and enhance its mass base there. “Today we are launching a rural mission of the party organisation in outer Delhi to attach more people with AAP, which was not able to win any of the 20 seats in this segment in the last elections,” said Naveen Jaihind, a member of the national executive of the party. Talking to The Tribune, Jaihind conceded that the party was in for a tough fight against the “politically and financially strong” BJP and the Congress, but asserted that they hoped to improve their performance and get absolute majority in the upcoming poll. The AAP leader maintained that the people also realised that the short-tenured AAP government in Delhi had not only kept its promises of reducing water and power tariffs, but had also reined in corruption. Jaihind, who had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Rohtak as an AAP nominee against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda, pointed out that AAP’s vote share had increased in the recent Lok Sabha elections as compared to the last elections to the Delhi Assembly. Meanwhile, with a view to reaching out to more and more people ahead of the Delhi Assembly poll, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has also launched a concerted publicity campaign through FM radio. |
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Khattar govt zeroes in on land acquired during last 9 years
Rewari, November 29 The Department of Revenue and Disaster Management recently shot off a communique in this regard was to Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of all districts. The Financial Commissioner asked DCs to furnish the information sought within a month. Sources said DCs were directed to send detailed information about annuity paid or yet to be paid to owners of the land that had been acquired. The previous government had framed a policy to pay annuity to those whose land was to be acquired for development projects. The communique had been issued after a meeting chaired by the Revenue Minister in Chandigarh on October 30, said sources. The minister discussed land acquisition and annuity paid to landowners during Bhupinder Singh Hooda regime, they added. The minister asked officials to collect detailed information about the land acquired and annuity paid to landowners during the last over nine years so that the position could be assessed before further action was taken, they further said. DCs were asked to send within a month details of land acquired and annuity paid from March 5, 2005, to October 31, 2014. Directions issued
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Ram Rahim appears before CBI court through video-conferencing
Sirsa, November 29 The dera chief entered the court complex with a cavalcade of vehicles amid heavy security around 9:30 am and stayed in the video-conferencing room till 12:15 pm. Female devotees lined up across the road near the court complex and sat there till the dera chief was in court. Men wielding lathis guarded the eight-km route from the dera to the complex. The dera head would appear before the special CBI court again on December 6 in connection with three cases against him, the third being journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case.
— TNS |
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Son bludgeons mother to death
Fatehabad, November 29 The accused Pawan was nabbed by people from the spot and was handed over to the police. The victim Krishna lived in Purana Bazar area of Ratia while her husband Roop Singh had died a few years ago. Today morning when Krishna had gone to the bus stand to catch a bus for Babanpur village, Pawan came and started quarrelling with her. After some time the duo left for home, but their quarrel continued. On their way back, Pawan allegedly strangulated Krishna with her duppatta and hit her on the head with a brick several times. Krishna started bleeding profusely and died on the spot. The police sent the body for a post-mortem exam after arresting the accused.
— TNS |
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A Hisar police team today launched a search operation at Rampal’s Satlok Ashram in Betul town of Madhya Pradesh.
On reaching Betul, the three-member team interacted with people living in the area.
Sirsa, November 29
