House ‘should take up’ Dalit quota issue
SIRSA, Sept 18 —The issue of reservation for Dalits should be discussed in parliament as was done in the Shah Bano case, said the convener of the Adi Dharam Samaj, Mr Darshan Ratan here yesterday

11,647 tonnes of paddy arrive in mandis
CHANDIGARH, Sept 18 — Haryana has so far received 11,647 tonnes of paddy and the entire amount has been purchased by private millers.

Old woman dead, 20 hurt in mishap
PANIPAT, Sept 18 — An old woman died and 20 persons were injured in a road accident on G.T. Road near Kohand village, about 8 km from here, last evening.

Malik's ACR: Haryana order set aside
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 18 — The Central Administrative Tribunal has set aside the order of the Haryana Government, degrading the ACR of Mr M.S. Malik, Inspector-General of Haryana, for 1991-92, 1992-93 and 1993-94 from "good" to "average".

Mr Justice R.K. Nehru, Vice-Chairman of the tribunal, who gave the order, also quashed the order of the union government, saying that "there is no provision under the relevant governing the All-India Services whereby the grading of an officer can be upgraded consequent upon expunction of his adverse remarks. This contention appears to be lacking lustre and deserves rejection and on the face of it is both illogical and irrational."

Mr Justice Nehru observed: "It is difficult to digest this line of argument for the simple reason that once the authority competent has expunged the adverse entries in the ACRs of an officer, then the necessary consequences have to follow and the only necessary consequences would be of restoration of the overall grading of the officer from the stage his ACRs were downgraded and which he validly challenged within the stipulated period, so much so, that the competent authority i.e. the State of Haryana after the matter was examined by a Cabinet subcommittee headed by the then Chief Minister, restored the original status of the applicant so far as his impugned ACRs are concerned."

The judge observed that consequently the State of Haryana had even promoted the applicant to the rank of Inspector-General of Police without any rider whatsoever and it was on the request of the Haryana Government that the earlier application moved by Mr Malik was dismissed by the Bench as being infructuous. The Union of India was also made a party in the earlier application and was duly served in terms of the affidavit duly sworn in by the applicant in that application.

"If this is so, then it does not now lie in the mount of the authority of the level of the Government of India and of the state government to wriggle out of the situation which was, in fact, created by the State of Haryana by getting the earlier application dismissed as infructuous on the basis of an application moved by them and as a result thereof necessary consequences were given effect to in consequence to which the respondents gave benefit to the applicant in terms of his promotion and restoration of overall grading of his ACRs."

The judge held: "It is also that the State of Haryana and the Union of India chose to rake up the controversy with regard to the powers of the competent authority to restore the overall grading of the applicant after a gap of more than two and a half years of their having given him the benefits in terms of the stand taken in miscellaneous application no 1240/1995 filed by the State of Haryana in earlier application no 784/HR/94 and that too without any notice to the application. This on the face of it violates the principles of natural justice and fair play and, thus dragging the applicant to unnecessary litigation and agony. The state government and the Union of India should conduct themselves as model employers."

Dr K.C. Bangar appointed Pro VC of GJU
Tribune News Service

HISAR, Sept 18 — Dr Krishan Chander Bangar, a well known scientist from CCS Haryana Agricultural University here, has been appointed as the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Guru Jambeshwar University. He is likely to assume the charge on September 20. The post has been lying vacant since November 10 after Prof K.K. Aggarwal completed his term.

Dr Bangar was appointed as Technical Adviser, Science and Technology, to the Chief Minister after Mr Om Prakash Chautala took over the reins of the government. He was working as Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology as soil microbiologist in HAU.

He has done his doctorate from England in soil biomass in the prestigious Rothamsted Institute in the University of Reading.

Dr Bangar joined HAU in 1983. Since 1989 he has been busy with the higher research in countries like England, Germany and Japan. He has as many as 70 research works to his credit which have been regularly published in the international research journals.

GENCO to set up Dadupur power project
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 18 — The Haryana Cabinet which met here today, under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, decided that the 4 MW Dadupur Western Yamuna Canal (Lower) power project be set up by the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (GENCO) instead of M/s Bhoruka Power Corporation Ltd, Bangalore.

It may be recalled that the previous state Government had allocated the setting up of this project to the Bhoruka Power Corporation, which had evoked a lot of criticism in the press since the decision was contrary to the recommendations of the technical committee.

The issue was examined by a Cabinet subcommittee which found that the project could be set up by GENCO and the decision to hand it over to Bhoruka corporation was arbitrary.

The Cabinet also decided to change the decision for awarding other power projects like Baliyala fall and Gogripur sites because the bidders who were evaluated at number two had been given approval to set up these projects, whereas those ranking at the top were ignored. The Cabinet decided to re-advertise these projects.

The Cabinet gave its approval to provide government guarantee in favour of the Housing Board for obtaining a loan of Rs 14 crore from HUDCO for construction of 2046 low income group (LIG) houses in Sector 3 at Faridabad. These houses would incur an estimated expenditure of over Rs 18 crore.

Transport body meeting today
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, Sept 18 — A meeting of the Haryana Sehkari Parivahan Samiti Welfare Association has been convened at Bhiwani tomorrow.

In a statement here yesterday, Mr Krishan Vir Maina, state president of the association said a delegation had met the transport minister and the transport commissioner regarding their problems. Both officials reportedly assured the delegation about timely acceptance of their demands.

Mr Maina said their demands include renewal of their route permits, withdrawal of enhanced passenger tax imposed during prohibition.

House ‘should take up’ Dalit quota issue
From Our Correspondent

SIRSA, Sept 18 —The issue of reservation for Dalits should be discussed in parliament as was done in the Shah Bano case, said the convener of the Adi Dharam Samaj, Mr Darshan Ratan here yesterday.

Mr Ratan was commenting on the recent judgement of the Supreme Court on the reservation issue.

Only parliament can settle the issue once for all.

Mr Ratan said though Dalits outnumber Muslims and are more victimised, yet politicians are less concerned about their plight.

The Dalit leader called upon the youth to abandon addictions and work for the uplift of the samaj.

11,647 tonnes of paddy arrive in mandis
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 18 — Haryana has so far received 11,647 tonnes of paddy and the entire amount has been purchased by private millers.

The Commissioner, Food and Supplies, Mr H.C. Disodia, today said all the 203 mandis and purchase centres in the state were functioning smoothly.

The minimum support price for the common variety of paddy had been fixed by the government at Rs 499 a quintal and that of grade 'A' variety at Rs 520 a quintal.

Old woman dead, 20 hurt in mishap
From Our Correspondent

PANIPAT, Sept 18 — An old woman died and 20 persons were injured in a road accident on G.T. Road near Kohand village, about 8 km from here, last evening.

According to available information, a DTC bus (DL-1P A-2886) was coming from Chandigarh to Delhi with about 40 passengers on board. Near the village, the bus had a collision with a Truck (HR 06-8697), which was coming from the opposite direction.

A 60-year-old woman, Santosh Devi of Ghaziabad was seriously injured and 20 other passengers, including the bus driver, were also injured. The injured persons were brought to the Civil Hospital here, where Santosh Devi succumbed to her injuries.

The Gharonda Police has registered a case against the truck driver, who has reportedly absconded.