Charges against ex-DC one-sided, unfair
Documents belie ‘findings’ of ex-parte inquiry
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 15 — The vigilance inquiry against a former Deputy Commissioner, Mr K.K. Khandelwal, reported in this paper on March 24, was a one-sided, preliminary inquiry conducted without notice to Mr Khandelwal and without caring to obtain his version.

An open-ended, fishing exercise, the inquiry appears to be the outcome of certain administrative rivalries and jealousies as subsequent investigation by a Tribune team has shown.

The Deputy Commissioner from October, 1995, to July, 1998, Mr Khandelwal had created a stir with his drive against corruption, and for a single-window service in the Estate Office.

More than two dozen officials working in different departments under his charge were suspended by him during this period.

All that has now backfired. The priorities of the Administration have changed, if the vigilance report is any indication.

The counters got prepared by Mr Khandelwal "in the name of the single-window system in the Estate Office", the inquiry report alleges in an interesting, give-away comment, were "far in excess of requirements".

Documents obtained by TNS clearly belie many of the charges levelled in the inquiry report and show them to be motivated.

The charge regarding close circuit TV sets (CCTVs), for instance.

Mr Khandelwal's proposal to install CCTVs to bring about transparency in the work of the registration and licensing counters and eliminate touts and middlemen was expressly approved by the Adviser to the Administrator, Mr Jagdish Sagar, on April 1, 1998. The proposal was, in fact, commended by Mr Sagar as "good".

Two weeks later on May 13, the purchase and installation of the CCTVs was again discussed and approved at a meeting of the managing body of the UT Red Cross. The meeting was presided over by Mr Sagar himself and attended by 19 others, both officials and non-officials. The Red Cross Secretary (the then SDM, East, Mr Sanjeev Khirwar) was authorised to make the payment for the CCTVs.

And yet, the vigilance inquiry finds Mr Khandelwal guilty of using Red Cross funds to purchase the TV sets!

The pooling of resources and manpower among the 28 departments and bodies, including the Red Cross headed by the Deputy Commissioner, has been, in fact, a long-standing practice in the UT. This has been confirmed by the investigation carried out by TNS.

Each such department under the Deputy Commissioner has its own retinue of clerks, stenographers, drivers, peons, etc. The staff of one department are commonly deputed to work in another, depending upon the exigencies of work. Since many of the departments headed by the Deputy Commissioner have their offices too in the same building in which the Deputy Commissioner's office is located, one gets the impression as if the staff of all the departments are working in the Deputy Commissioner's office.

The inquiry report cleverly exploits this impression and accuses Mr Khandelwal of keeping as many as 46 persons on his "personal" staff. If this yardstick is applied uniformly almost every officer who has worked as the city's Deputy Commissioner in the past would fall into the vigilance net.

The allegation that 30 vehicles worth about Rs 70 lakh were purchased by Mr Khandelwal during his tenure is a similar half-truth. These vehicles were purchased for different departments under the Deputy Commissioner's charge after obtaining the necessary sanction from the competent authority.

Some of these sanction orders (in the possession of TNS) have been issued in the name of the Administrator, UT, Chandigarh.

Twelve of the 30 vehicles purchased were Ambulance vans and two patient check-up vans. One vehicle, a mini Swaraj Mazda, was purchased for the Chandigarh Sports Council after obtaining the approval of the executive committee of the council. The meeting, held on October 22, 1997, was presided over by the Adviser to the Administrator and was attended, among others, by the Finance Secretary.

Three vehicles, including an Ambulance van, were purchased for the Red Cross out of a sum of Rs 15 lakh (known as "liquor fund") received from the Excise and Taxation Department after taking the Adviser's sanction. This again shows the practice of pooling of resources among departments and bodies headed by the Deputy Commissioner.

Another long-standing practice in the UT going back to 1981 is the engagement of staff on daily wages, known as "contingent paid staff", by the Jail Superintendent.

No formal appointment letters are issued to these employees, who are kept on the muster roll. They are deputed to work in the offices of the IG, Additional IG and DIG, Prisons, who have no regular, sanctioned staff of their own, or in other departments such as the Registration and Licensing Branch. The Deputy Commissioner is also the IG, Prisons, while the SDM and the Jail Superintendent are the Additional IG and the DIG, Prisons, respectively, and their offices are located in the same building as the DC's office.

As per data available with TNS, the strength of such contingent paid staff rose from seven in 1981-82 to 29 in 1994-95 and 1995-96. Mr Khandelwal joined as Deputy Commissioner on October 26, 1995.

When the services of some of these employees, who had been working in the Registration and Licensing Branch, were terminated in March, 1997, they approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) by way of OA No 858/CH of 1997.

In his reply filed on behalf of the UT Administration, the Jail Superintendent-cum-DIG, Prisons, Mr R.D. Sharma, stated that the applicants had been engaged on daily wages to "cope up with the increasing workload" of the Jail Department, including the office of IG/DIG, Prisons.

The daily-wage workers, he said, "were also given additional work sometimes to cope up (with) the workload of the Licensing and Registering Authority" since no additional post had been sanctioned by the Government of India even though the work of the Authority had "increased manifold".

They were all paid out of contingency funds, said the reply, and had been engaged with the approval of the competent authority. The services of such applicants are taken continuously at times and "sometimes for some weeks" keeping in view the nature of the work, it said.

The three applicants before the CAT are among the 16 persons found in the vigilance inquiry to have been illegally, if not fictitiously, appointed by Mr Khandelwal in the Jail Department!

So far as the figure of Rs 1 crore allegedly spent by the former Deputy Commissioner is concerned, the inquiry report again adopts the device of clubbing the expenditure incurred under totally different and unrelated heads in different departments. The entire cost of computerisation as also the amount spent on capital works like single-window counters has been included in the figure.

Single-window counters, computers, CCTVs, telephones, attendance punching machines, furniture, curtains — everything has been herded together. Virtually every penny spent by the former Deputy Commissioner was allegedly wrongly spent. There was nothing, it appears, that the man could do right and everything that he did happened to be wrong.

The Tribune has always stood for objective and fair reporting. Our previous report of March 24 captioned "Ex-DC held guilty of irregularities" was published without proper verification, for which we express regret. It was a typical case of a newspaper being taken for a ride once in a while.

60 furniture shops gutted
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 15 — About 60 shops were gutted and furniture worth lakhs of rupees was damaged in a devastating fire, which broke out during early hours today in the furniture market on the Madanpura road near Badheri village.

The fire also damaged about a dozen generators and about 30-35 trees standing in and around the market.

No loss of life was, however, reported in the blaze, which broke out at around 1.45 a.m. and lasted for nearly seven to eight hours before it was put out by firemen and about a dozen fire tenders, which were called from Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula.

The exact cause of fire could not be ascertained, fire brigade sources said.

Of the 200 shops in the market, an estimated 50-60 shops had been reduced to a heap of rubble.

The intensity of the fire could be gauged from the fact that even after about seven to eight hours of fire-control exercise, smoke was billowing out from the debris till 2 p.m. As the entire market had been raised on an “unauthorised” piece of land, most of the shops had been built of temporary structures, made of steel tins and wooden sleepers.

Pointing towards the damaged shops, Mr Satish Kumar, President of the New Furniture Market, Madanpura Road, said the loss ran into crores of rupees as the shopkeepers had kept large quantity of furniture in the shops owing to a general recession in the market. He claimed that as many as 60 shops had been reduced to ashes in the fire.

The fire was first spotted by a chowkidar of the market and by two police personnel, who were on duty on a naka near the market. “For some moments, I stood still when I saw a portion of the market on the gurdwara side on fire. When I rushed towards that place to save my shop, it was already late as everything had turned into ashes,” said Joginder, a shopkeeper.

“I got a call at around 2.a.m.from my brother-in-law, who informed me about the fire,” said Vinod, another shopkeeper, who said none of the shops had been insured as the market had been raised at an “unauthorised” place.

He said the fire incident in the market was not the first one as a similar incident had occurred about one and half years ago. He praised fire brigade officials and devotees from a nearby gurdwara, who reached the spot and helped in rescue operations.

According to Mr Avtaar Singh, Sub Fire Officer, Fire Brigade, Mohali, they received information regarding the fire from a passer-by at 2 a.m. after which he informed the fire officials of the Chandigarh Fire Brigade. He said in addition to about 10 fire tenders from Chandigarh Mohali and Panchkula, two water dousers of the Chandigarh Fire Brigade were also pressed into service. The fire was extinguished at around 7.30 a.m.

On the other hand, Mr Darshan Singh, Chief Fire Officer, refused to give details saying, “ please talk to the Secretary of the Municipal Corporation on this issue.” Dr Amarpal Singh, Secretary of the MC, claimed that the fire tenders reached the spot within minutes of receiving the call at 1.55 a.m. and the fire was brought under control by 4.am. He claimed that, besides two fire tenders from Mohali and one each from 3 BRD and Panchkula, as many as eight fire tenders of the local fire brigade were pressed into service.

180 withdrawn from security duty
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 15 — After reviewing the security set-up, the Chandigarh police, today withdrew around 180 of their personnel, who were deployed on personal security duty with politicians, public men and senior police functionaries.

The withdrawn personnel, including seven ASI and SI-level cops, will now be free for regular duty. A further reduction of security duty is in the offing, senior police functionaries said.

Seventyfive of the police personnel, who were freed from security duty, were deployed on night patrolling on the outskirts of the city tonight. These cops have been posted in the east division and south division where incidents of snatching have been reported on a regular basis during late night hours.

Orders to withdraw guards and personal security officers (PSOs) were issued today after a thorough review of the security requirements and threat perception of the individual. The threat perception was studied as some of the deployment had been made during the time of militancy, a senior official commented.

The escort vehicles and escort parties with the SPs and SSPs have also been withdrawn. They will now carry their own PSO in their cars. The IG, Dr Kiran Bedi, has also reduced her own security. The security of Mr Pawan Bansal and Mr Venod Sharma, both former MPs, has been slashed, among other VIPs of the city. The same is true for the former Mayor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta.

Total of 20 guard pickets were abolished today. The guard duties had also led to staff shortage in Chandigarh police. The deployment was made when the force was augmented with 25 companies of paramilitary forces.

Slowly the companies were reduced to 14 in number while replacements were made with Chandigarh police personnel.

The idea is to strengthen the police stations and use this force on the outskirts. The men will also be used on duties to curb and manage agitations.

Major cremated with military honours
Tribune News Service

KHARAR (Ropar), April 15 — Hundreds of people paid homage to Major Harminder Pal Singh, whose body was cremated with full military honours here today. He had laid down his life for the country while fighting militants in Kashmir valley on April 13.

Belonging to a well-known family of the town, the Major held in great regard among his friends, who turned up in large numbers to bid him a tearful farewell. It was a heart-rending scene at the Rambagh crematorium when the pyre of the Major was lit by Capt Harpal Singh, his father, with the family members, relatives and friends of the deceased weeping inconsolably.

The mother and the wife of the gallant soldier had to be held back firmly and comforted. The mother kept on wailing even after the pyre had been lit and repeatedly asked to be allowed to see her Bittu (the name by which he was affectionately called).

The tricolour draped body of the Major, on top of which were placed his uniform and his cap, was placed on a decorated army truck and carried to the crematorium, followed by hundreds of town residents, relatives and friends, besides a large number of army officers and jawans. Onlookers bowed their head to pay their regards to the hero of the town.

An army contingent reversed arms, fired a volley of shots in the air and sounded buglers, following which the pyre was lit.

Earlier, wreaths were laid on the body by Brig K.S. Kahlon, Director, Sainik Welfare, Punjab, on behalf of the Chief Minister. Brig K.I. Balasubramanian and Col S.K. Raina laid wreaths on the body on behalf of the Army Commanders of the Western and Northern Commands.

Col R.K. Sharma and Maj R.S. Rathore paid floral tributes on behalf of the Station Commander, Chandimandir, and Commanding Officer, 18 Grenadiers, the battalion of the Major. Wreaths were also laid on behalf of several local army units.

Mr J.S. Ahluwalia, Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board, the SDM and DSP, Kharar, were among those present on the occasion.

The 31-year-old Major who married Roopinder Kaur two years ago leaves behind a three-month-old son, Navteshwar.

A harrowing 30 minutes in locked lift
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 15 — A couple of families and their guests had a harrowing experience when they were locked in a lift of Hotel Shivalikview in Sector 17 here this afternoon.

The persons who were locked in the lift included an IAS officer of Haryana, Mr Dharamvir, Professor of Panjab University, and Professor Waghmare of the University of Pune. The incident took place around 2 p.m. They remained inside the lift, which jammed between the ground and the first floor of the CITCO-run hotel, for over 30 minutes.

According to one of the victims, no emergency alarm system functioned in the lift. Their shouts for help were not heard by the hotel staff. They could come out of the lift only when an aide accompanying the IAS officer, who was waiting in the lobby, heard their shouts and called the hotel staff for help.

The victims were critical of the attitude of the staff of the hotel.

Efforts to contact Mr Mohit Gopal, Acting Manager of the hotel, for comments yielded no result.

Pilot visits city today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 15 — Former Union Minister for Surface Transport and a prominent Congress and Gujjar leader, Mr Rajesh Pilot, will visit Chandigarh tomorrow to attend the annual function of the Gujjar Samaj Kalyan Parishad.

According to Mr Amrik Singh, President of the Parishad, Air Cmdre Jasjit Singh (retd), Director, Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, will inaugurate Sardar Patel Institute of Computer Education at the Sector 28 premises of the Parishad. Several other Gujjar leaders, including Mr K.L. Poswal, Dr Yashvir Singh, Mr Masood Chaudhary, Brig Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, Mr Mahender Partap Singh and Mr Katar Singh Chhokar will also attend the function.