 |
H A R Y A N A |  |
 Tuesday, November 16, 1999 |
|
No-trust move against Chautala
fails CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — The Congress and the HVP-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Chautala government in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha was defeated by 24 votes late tonight. While 28 members supported the motion, 52 members voted against it. Haryana Cong workers court arrest CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 —Hundreds of Congress workers today courted arrest at the Housing Board chowk protesting against the hike in the diesel price and "inefficient governance" by the Chautala Government. |
 |
|
|
Distress sale of paddy Fraud
cases: judicial remand for three JVG
chief’s bail plea rejected NSUI
dharnas on Nov 20 |
||||||||
 |
|||
No-trust move against Chautala
fails CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — The Congress and the HVP-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Chautala government in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha was defeated by 24 votes late tonight. While 28 members supported the motion, 52 members voted against it. Mr Anil Vij, Independent MLA from Ambala cantonment abstained. This was the first no-confidence motion against the three-and-a-half-month-old Chautala government. The HVP, the Congress and two Independent MLAs — Mr Dev Raj Diwan and Mr Nirmal Singh — voted for the motion, while the INLD, the BJP and seven Independent MLAs opposed it. Four HVP MLAs, who were recently inducted in the Chautala ministry, did not attend the session today, presumably as a strategy to avoid a situation where they would have to violate the party whip. Mr Chautala highlighted various steps taken by his government in public interest immediately after coming to power. He said his government had restored the grant to Agroha Medical College, enhanced compensation to martyrs’ families to Rs 10 lakh, introduced compensation scheme for injured soldiers, doubled old-age pension and raised the amount of award to teachers. The Chief Minister promised that an inquiry would be held to find out if any official had faltered in the procurement of paddy so that action could be taken against the guilty. He also reiterated his commitment that the canals would be repaired and desilted so that water could reach their tails. The Finance Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, who put up a spirited defence of the government, said the recent Lok Sabha elections in the state were incident-free, which spoke volumes about the government's control over the law and order situation. Several "kachha banian" gangs had been busted in the recent past. He said prohibition should not have been implemented in an autocratic manner. Instead the people should have been educated about the ills of alcohol. He accused the HVP of signing the death warrant of farmers when it agreed to the condition of the World Bank to raise power tariff for agriculture sector to Rs 3.5 per unit within three years. Prof Sampat Singh said the government was reviewing the power sector reform programme. He had to face a lot of criticism from the Opposition about the power situation in the state. Mr Randeep Surjewala (Cong) alleged that the government's policy on the power sector reforms was confusing. Mr Ram Bilas Sharma of the BJP appreciated various steps taken by the Chautala government in public interest. However, he indirectly opposed any proposal to dissolve the House before the expiry of its term. Mr Sharma said while the BJP was not afraid of facing the elections, it was committed to let the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies complete their full terms. The acting leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Mrs Kartari Devi criticised the Chautala government for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, citing the example of the terror spread by the "Kachha Baniyan" gang. Addressing the House she said the government had accepted its failure on this front by asking the public to organise "thikri pehra". Attacking the government on the issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal project she asked the government whether this issue had been placed on priority. There were heated exchanges between HVP and INLD legislators when the HVP MLA's alleged that the four HVP MLAs who had recently announced joining the INLD whisked away from the premises of the Assembly at the instance of the ruling party. Mr Surjewala urged the Speaker to ask the government about these four legislators and inform the House about it. It is pertinent to mention here that these four MLA's can be expelled from the House under the anti-defection law if they defied the party whip. Mr Kanwal Singh of the HVP, who had moved the motion, said he apprehended that the Chief Minister would recommend the dissolution of the House after the current session. Among others who spoke
were Mr Nirmal Singh (Ind), Mr Birender Singh, Mr Jagan
Nath and Mr Narinder Singh (all Congress) and Mr Sat Pal
Sangwan (HVP). |
Ex-IAS man wins case for
super-time scale CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — The Central Administrative Tribunal has directed the Haryana Government to grant super-time scale to Mr J.P. Rattan, a former IAS officer, from the date it was due to him with all consequential benefits, including arrears of salary and refixation of his pension. Mr Jasbir S. Dhaliwal, Judicial Member, who handed down this order ruled: "These amounts shall be paid to the applicant with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the dates these became due up to the date of actual payment. These orders shall be complied with by the respondents within a period of three months from the date of receipt of this order." In his application Mr Rattan had stated that the Haryana government had illegally withheld his super-time scale. He pleaded that he was not involved in any departmental proceedings nor had he been served with a charge sheet. Persons junior to him had been given promotion to the super-time scale with effect from April 1, 1997. He retired from service on December 31, 1997 and even up to the date of retirement he was never served with any charge sheet. He claimed that he had filed a representation during his service and even after retirement but without result. The stand of the respondents, on the other hand, was that two matters were pending against the applicant. While the one related to the alleged overpayment made to Renu Khanna and Associates and Engineers and the second pertained to an inquiry conducted by the Vigilance Bureau into certain alleged irregularities. Explanation of the applicant was called for in these matters and the screening committee had recommended that actual promotion to the applicant should be considered only after a final view was taken on these matters. For this reason the applicant was not given promotion. In his reply Mr Rattan
stated that these matters were more than four years old.
A decision had been taken that no action was required and
these be filed. |
Haryana Cong workers court
arrest CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 —Hundreds of Congress workers today courted arrest at the Housing Board chowk protesting against the hike in the diesel price and "inefficient governance" by the Chautala Government. The Haryana Congress had given a call for gheraoing the Vidhan Sabha today. The Congressmen held a rally near the Sector 17 parade grounds earlier which was attended by former union minister, Rajesh Pilot. Marching towards the Assembly Congress workers led by Haryana Congress chief, Bhupinder Singh Hooda tried to force their way through the barricades placed at the Housing Board chowk but were greeted by tear gas shells and water cannons. In retaliation the agitated workers threw back tear gas shells and stones on cops. The protesters were pushed back and loaded into buses by the cops. Earlier, former union
minister, Rajesh Pilot criticised the Central Government
for increasing the diesel price soon after the election. "Mr Chautala had
withdrawn support from the Vajpayee Government when the
prices of fertilisers were increased but he is keeping
quiet now", Mr Pilot said. |
Distress sale of paddy SONEPAT, Nov 15 — The paddy growers of the district, particularly at the Ganaur mandi are facing difficulty in selling their produce at the support price fixed by the government. They are critical of the government procurement agencies for not purchasing the paddy marketed by them. The indifferent attitude of the authorities has forced the paddy growers either to sell their produce at throw away price or divert it to the Narela market of Delhi where the price of paddy was much higher than these prevalent in the mandis of the district. Many paddy growers alleged that the officials of the procurement agencies were acting as an "instrument" for creating a monopoly of the traders and owners of rice shellers. They also pointed out that they wait for the auction of their produce throughout the day in the mandis but it is always put off after the auction of some stock/dheris by the officials on one pretext or the other. Since the growers have no other alternative but to sell their produce to the unscrupulous traders as well as the owners of the rice shellers. An official of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board (HSAMB) told this correspondent here today that the non-cooperative attitude of the traders and owners of the rice shellers and undue haste on the part of the paddy growers to sell their produce were mainly responsible for the whole mess. If the paddy growers exercise patience and wait for the auction of their produce, the situation could be considerably improve, he observed. The officer also pointed out that some owners of the rice shellers and traders are patronised by politicians and bureaucrats and hence no action could be taken against them. On the other hand, paddy growers said the state government was responsible for giving an upper hand to the traders and owners of the rice shellers. Meanwhile,
representative of various farmers organisations have
warned the government of serious consequences if the
interests of the paddy growers were not safeguarded and
measures were not taken to end the monopoly of the
traders and that of the rice shellers who were in habit
of evading sales tax and the market fee every year during
this reason. |
Fraud cases: judicial remand
for three HISAR, Nov 15 — Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Inderjeet Mehta today remanded Congress leader Jaiveer Verma and his son his in judicial custody for 14 days in a fraud case. The bail application submitted by both accused has been marked for tomorrow. Earlier, the Congress leader was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged at the civil lines police station by one Mrs Shanti Devi. The complainant had alleged that the Congress leader had secured loan from a bank after procuring false documents pertaining to the land already registered in her name. In another fraud case, Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjeev Arya remanded Haryana Vikas Party leader Ram Chander Dahiya in judicial custody. Dahiya was earlier
booked and arrested in a Rs 4.80 lakh fraud case. |
JVG chief’s bail plea
rejected FARIDABAD, Nov 15 — Mr P. L. Goyal, Additional District and Sessions Judge, today rejected the bail application of Vijay Kumar Sharma of Mumbai and Chairman and Managing Director of JVG Finance and Investment company in a case of forgery. He was arrested by the NIT police on October 25 under Sections 406, 420, 467, 471, of the Cr.PC . According to a complaint lodged by Harsharan Das Sharma. He deposited Rs 30,000 with the company on the promise that the money would be doubled after 30 months. He was given post-dated cheques which bounced. On enquiry, he found that the Faridabad office of the company had closed and its officials were not traceable. Dismissing the bail
application, Mr Goyal discarded the defence plea that it
was a case of civil liability as there was an offer to
double the money which was enough to presume that there
was no intention to pay. During investigation it
transpired that the general public had been defrauded of
more than Rs 200 crore. |
NSUI dharnas on Nov 20 SIRSA, Nov 15 — The NSUI will oppose the saffronisation of education, Ms Meenakshi Natrajan, president, NSUI, said while addressing mediapersons here yesterday. She was here to participate in a programme organised to celebrate Bal Divas by the Suban Yuva Manch. She was accompanied by national general secretary Prakash Joshi and state vice-president Anupam Singla. She said the NSUI would stage dharnas on November 20 at all district headquarters in the country in order to oppose the saffronisation of education. While admitting
organisational problems in the NSUI earlier she said she
would strive hard to revive internal democracy in the
organisation by constituting committees. She said the
organisation would enrol bonafide regular students so
that the real aim of the NSUI would be achieved. |
Murder case against four ROHTAK, Nov 15 — Sarla of Lakhan Majra village, who had sustained burns and was admitted to the PGIMS here a couple of days ago, succumbed to her injuries in the hospital yesterday. The woman had alleged that she was set on fire allegedly by her in-laws by pouring kerosene over her. The police had registered a case of an attempt to murder against four persons on the basis of a statement made by the woman before the Magistrate in the hospital. No arrest has been made
so far. |
Mela for Orissa relief PANIPAT, Nov 15 —
The Ladies Clubs of the National Fertilisers Limited,
Panipat, organised a millennium mela in NFL Township on
Saturday. Out of the proceeds from this mela, they
donated a sum of Rs 25,000 to the CM's Relief Fund for
the Orrissa cyclone victims. |
 |
||
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
