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| Saturday, March 4, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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New
ST rates to be implemented today Portfolios allocated to Ministers Fresh notice issued to school Surplus staff to be adjusted Chautala reviews working of sugar
mills 10 pc seats for diploma holders MDUTA for removal of Registrar Census training from March 6 Dharna outside HFC office |
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Vidhan
Sabha summoned Sardar Anjum to be honoured Gang
of cheats busted, 1 held
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New ST rates to be
implemented today CHANDIGARH, March 3 — The Government of Haryana today came out with the details about its new excise policy and the new sales tax structure drawn up for the State. The new Cabinet, which had its first meeting here on Thursday, had cleared both decisions. Highly placed officials told TNS that the new excise policy would enable the State Government to mop up about 15 per cent revenue more than what the Department of Excise had collected last year. The officials added that the sales tax structure was decided to be revised as most of the states and union territories in the country had already implemented the minimum floor rates as per the recommendations made by the Standing Committee of the Union Finance Ministry. "The idea behind restructuring of the sales tax rates was not to mobilise additional revenue, but to end the tax war going on amongst the states and UTs for better trade and for wooing industrial investments", an official spokesman said. The new sales tax rates, according to the spokesman, will be operative in Haryana from tomorrow. The Cabinet, however, decided not to levy any tax on fertilisers because it felt that fertilisers should be kept at zero rate. The Cabinet also did not levy any tax on diesel because Chandigarh and Punjab had not increased their rates to the recommended floor level of 12 per cent. Under the new tax regime, tax on vegetable oils has been reduced from the existing 7 per cent to 4 per cent and tractors from 4.5 per cent to 4 per cent. For coffee, condensed milk and dried milk, confectionery and ice, the tax rates have been reduced from 10 per cent to 8 per cent. For hosiery items, kitchenwares, HDPE bags, preserved and processed fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, raw silk and knitting wool the rates have been reduced from 10 per cent to 4 per cent. For butter the rate has been reduced to 8 per cent from the existing 10 per cent. The rates have been increased on important items such as petrol and ATF to 20 per cent, footwear to 8 per cent, tea to 8 per cent, timber to 8 per cent, oil cake and deoiled cake to 4 per cent, all motor vehicles (except tractors) to 12 per cent and tyre and tube (excluding those of tractors) to 12 per cent. The sales tax incentives to industries except those in the pipeline would be discontinued as directed by the Government of India, an official statement said. On the excise front, the Cabinet decided to revise the schedule of auction of vends because of the ensuing panchayat elections in the state. The vends in the districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat would be auctioned on March 11 at Rohtak. For the districts of Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar, the auction would be on March 13 at Ambala and for Gurgaon, Mahendragarh and Rewari, the vends would be auctioned at Gurgaon on March 14. The auction for vends in Panipat, Karnal and Kurukshetra would be at Karnal on March 15 and for Faridabad, the auction would be on March 17 at Faridabad itself. The vends for the districts of Jind, Kaithal and Bhiwani would be auctioned on March 18 at Jind, and those for the districts of Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa would be at Hisar on March 19. The system of auction will be similar to that of the previous year as only country liquor vends will be put to auction and those of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) will be clubbed with the country liquor vends. The highest bidder for country liquor vends will be given license for IMFL at a rate which will be 15 per cent more than the previous year. The earnest money for bidder has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh to prevent "frivolous bidding". the licensees will be allowed to sell country liquor on IMFL vends and vice versa in urban areas. The number of sub-vends has been increased in rural areas to have better control over the sale of liquor. It was also decided to reintroduce pouches "as is the practice in neighbouring states. The facility of temporary licenses can be availed by individuals at the fee of Rs 1,000 per day. The minimum sale price for a bottle of IMFL has been fixed at Rs 80 and that of country liquor at Rs 45. The possession limit of country liquor or IMFL has also been raised from four to six bottles per person. The franchisee fee has
been introduced on bottling plants which were allegedly
avoiding payment of import fee by bottling brands of
other states. Sales tax would not be charged on country
liquor or IMFL as per the old practice. |
Portfolios allocated to Ministers CHANDIGARH, March 3 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has allocated portfolios to the newly inducted Ministers and Ministers of State. Mr Sampat Singh, Mr Dhirpal Singh and Mr Kartar Singh Badhana will retain the portfolios they had in the last Cabinet. The portfolios of Finance, Planning and Parliamentary Affairs will be with Mr Sampat Singh. Mr Kartar Singh Badhana will be the Cooperation Minister, while the portfolios of Town and Country Planning and Urban Estates and Housing will remain with Mr Dhirpal Singh. Mr Dhirpal Singh will also have the charge of Revenue, Rehabilitation and Consolidation Departments. Former Speaker Ashok Kumar Arora has been allocated the portfolio of Transport and Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu will have the portfolios of Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Marketing and Horticulture and Agricultural Education. The five Ministers of State will have independent charge of their departments. Mr Muni Lal Ranga will have the charge of Health, Medical Education and Ayurveda. Mohd Illyas has been allocated the portfolios of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries and Wakf. Mr Rishal Singh has been given the portfolios of Social Welfare, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, while Mr Subhash Chand would be the Minister for Local Self Government. Mr Bahadur Singh has been allocated the portfolio of Education and Languages. The remaining portfolios
including Home and Excise, will be with the Chief
Minister. |
Surplus staff to be adjusted CHANDIGARH, March 3 — The Haryana Government today made it clear that the staff which would become surplus following the abolition of 29 municipal committees in the State would be adjusted in the same manner in which the surplus octroi staff had been absorbed in other departments. No employee would be removed from service. The Haryana Cabinet, which met here last evening, had decided to abolish the municipal committees of Bawani Khera, Loharu, Siwani, Tosham, Hathin, Hassanpur, Jakhal, Farukhnagar, Haily Mandi, Pataudi, Punhana, Taoru, Narnaund, Uklana Mandi, Beri, Julana, Uchana, Kalayat, Pundri, Indri, Nilokheri, Ateli Mandi, Kanina, Kalanaur, Kharkhoda, Buria, Chhachhrauli, Radaur and Sadhaura. The Cabinet decided that
these municipal committees be replaced with gram
panchayats. The decision to abolish these Municipal
Committees was taken keeping in view the fact that these
were non-viable. These were financially weak for the past
three years even when the octroi collecting system was in
force. These were also not in a position to generate
enough revenue to meet the needs of their own staff,
audit fees and directorate supervision charges. These
were sustaining only on the grants of the State
Government and had failed to even pay the salary of their
staff and other statutory requirements. Also, the areas
under their jurisdiction could not get urban orientation
and continued with the rural touch. |
Chautala reviews working of sugar
mills CHANDIGARH, March 3 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, today reviewed the working of the cooperative sugar mills in the State and stressed that cane crushing should be continued till the entire sugarcane made available to them was crushed. He expressed satisfaction over the cane crushing programme as the mills had crushed 218.01 lakh quintals of sugarcane so far during the current year as against 196.62 lakh quintals during the corresponding period last year. The recovery of sugar had been 9.51 per cent as compared to 8.99 per cent during the corresponding period last year. The mills had so far purchased 218.53 lakh quintals of sugarcane and almost the entire payment had been made to the farmers. He also reviewed the
progress of the setting up of two new sugar mills in
Sirsa and Gohana as their feasibility reports had already
been received. While the Sirsa sugar mill would initially
be of 1750 tonnes per day crushing capacity with inbuilt
possibility of further expansion, the Gohana sugar mill
would be of 2,500 tonnes per day crushing capacity. The
two sugar mills would start functioning from the crushing
season of 2001-2002. |
Fresh notice issued to school AMBALA, March 3 — The controversy regarding the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Ambala cantonment is refusing to die down with a fresh notice being served by Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar to the school for house tax late last week. The Convent of Jesus and Mary received the notice on February 26, demanding an amount of Rs 1,05,000. Following the latest notice, the school has filed another suit in the court of Additional Civil Judge (senior division) praying that "a decree of permanent injunction be passed in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant with cost of the suit, restraining the defendant from recovering the amount alleged to be due as house tax as mentioned in the notice no. 23/43 dated nil received on 8/2/2000 and notice no. 1/13 dated nil received on 26/2/2000." "It is beyond doubt that this notice has been served to put pressure on the plaintiff to give admission to the ward of the VVIP," the suit states. The suit points out that the defendant has not served any such assessment notice on any other educational institution on 8/2/2000, since 5/2/1977 when the municipal committee came into existence. No notice was served upon the plaintiff itself for the assessment of the building since 5/2/1977 or even earlier by the cantonment board, Ambala. "Let the defendant be directed to disclose the names of the other educational institutions on which such notices of assessment have been served and amount recovered from them...That the defendant has acted in unholy haste in issuing notice no. 1/13 dated nil, received on 26/2/2000 as the defendant served no such notice to any public man within a period of just 18 days. Payment in 10 days means that the assesses is entitled to rebate and after 10 days he is not entitled to rebate. The threatened action under section 94 (3) of the Act speaks volumes about the malafide intentions of the defendant," the suit states. The suit further submits "without assessment no demand of tax can be made. The action is totally illegal and unwarranted against the principals of natural justice. That educational institutions, charitable and religious institutions are exempted from payment of house tax under provisions of Haryana Municipal Act, Section 69 etc.." "The circumstances, which led to this arbitrary, unconstitutional and flimsy assessment, are that during the month of January, 2000, when the admissions were being carried out in the LKG class of the school, admission to the ward of a VIP was declined because the ward did not fulfil the admission criteria of the school, which is set forth by the school authorities", the suit states. The suit adds: "This frustrated the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, and he contacted the Principal of the school and wanted to get admission for the ward. The admission was declined because the ward was overage and could not get admission in LKG. On this the Deputy Commissioner became so furious that he threatened the Principal of the school that either admission be granted to the ward or stern action will be taken against the school authorities." "The Deputy Commissioner, Ambala threw a bombshell by stopping Haryana Roadways buses, which come to the school daily for taking and leaving the students from Ambala city. However, after three days the bus service was restored when the parents of the students studying in the school met the Deputy Commissioner." The suit observes:
"In order to terrorise and pressurise the Principal,
a notice for payment of Rs 1,05,000 was served on the
Principal on 8/2/2000 itself by the Executive Officer,
Secretary and Building Inspector. This notice is undated
and without any dispatch number. Three other notices were
delivered on 8/2/2000 by the said employees of the
defendant u/s 208, 208D, 209 and 181 of the Haryana
Municipal Act to the Principal of the school. The
defendant filed a suit for permanent injunction against
the defendant and defendant was restrained from
demolishing the property in question". |
10 pc seats for diploma
holders HISAR, March 3 — Opening up new vistas of higher education for diploma holders in agricultural engineering, CCS Haryana Agricultural University has decided to give them admission in B.Tech. However, these admissions will be made under the lateral entry scheme. Making an amendment in the existing admission policy of B.Tech (agricultural engineering), the Academic Council of the university, under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Vinay Kumar, has reserved 10 per cent seats for the diploma holders. The diploma holders
would be able to seek admission directly to the second
year of B. Tech at College of Agricultural Engineering
and Technology. The admissions would be made through a
lateral entrance test conducted by the Technical
Education Department, Haryana. |
MDUTA for removal of Registrar ROHTAK, March 3 — The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) has sought removal of the Registrar, Mr Ashok Khemka, IAS. In a letter written to
the Governor and Chancellor of the university, Mr Mahabir
Prasad, Mr Sombir Singh, President and Dr Inderjit,
Secretary of the association, have alleged that the
Registrar had been functioning in an 'arbitrary and
'irresponsible' manner. They claimed that a delegation of
MDUTA which met the Registrar in his office, became a
victim of autocratic attitude and unexpected behaviour of
the official yesterday. They said the situation during
the meeting became 'so worse' that one of the senior
teachers had be rushed to hospital due to pain in chest
developed during the incident. They alleged that the
Registrar, instead of listening to the problems of
teachers. His response was insulting. They claimed that
the Registrar had been working on guidance and
suggestions of an officer close to him and belonging to a
particular community. |
Census training from March 6 CHANDIGARH, March 3 — The Haryana Directorate of Census Operations will organise divisional level conferences of census at Ambala, Rohtak, Gurgaon and Hisar from March 6 to 9, respectively. More than 40,000 enumerators and supervisors would be involved in the house-listing operations which will commence in the State from May 15 to 31. The Deputy Commissioners have already been notified as Principal Census Officer who will be responsible for successful census within their jurisdiction. All tehsildars, Executive Offices or Secretaries of Municipal Committees have been designated as Charge Officers. To accomplish this
gigantic task, the primary workers of census like
enumerators and supervisors will be given intensive
training for filling up of schedules by their Charge
officers from April 17 to 28 and May 1 to 12. |
Dharna outside HFC office CHANDIGARH, March 3 — An entrepreneur of Ambala city, Mr Rajmal Verma, today concluded his five-day dharna outside the office of the Haryana Financial Corporation (HFC) . He was protesting against the alleged anti-industry attitude of the corporation leading to the closure of a large number of industrial units. Mr Verma has formed a
collective action body under the style of "Samoohik
Karyavahi" to organise all those entrepreneurs who
have complaints against the functioning of the HFC. |
Vidhan Sabha summoned CHANDIGARH, March 3
— The Haryana Vidhan Sabha has been summoned to meet
at 11 a.m. on March 2000, according to the Secretary of
the Vidhan Sabha, Mr Sumit Kumar. |
Sardar Anjum to be honoured SONEPAT, March 3 — The District administration in collaboration with the Adbi Sangam Haryana will organise an all-India mushaira in memory of Buh Ali Shah Kalandar, a mystic poet of Haryana, and to honour a renowned Urdu poet Padam Shri Dr Sardar Anjum here tomorrow. Mr Sudhir Rajpal, Deputy Commissioner, told mediapersons here yesterday that Mr Om Parkash Chautala, Chief Minister, would be the chief guest and Mr Sukh Dev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, would preside. Several noted poets,
including Dr Bashir Badar, Bekal Utsahi, Saghar
Khaiyyami, Naseem Nikhat and Shahzada Gulrez will take
part. |
Gang of cheats busted, 1 held SIRSA, March 3 — With the arrest of one person, the district police has busted a gang of cheats allegedly involved in duping youths by posing as authorised travel agents and promising to send them abroad. According to the district police chief, Mr K. K. Mishra, the arrested person is Jaswant Singh of Sant Nagar village, who had absconded after the arrest of his Delhi-based partners, Inderjeet and Pritam, on January 24 under Sections 406/420 of the IPC. Mr Mishra said these
persons had been arrested on the complaint of Daleep
Singh of Sant Nagar, who alleged that Jaswant Singh had
taken Rs 2.4 lakh from him for sending his son to the
USA. When he demanded the return of the money, Jaswant
Singh returned Rs 49,500 and gave two cheques amounting
to Rs 1.15 lakh. Jaswant Singh claimed that the remaining
Rs 75000 had been spent. |
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