H A R Y A N A

Treasury defrauded of over Rs 2 crore
Ambala, February 21
Following investigations by taxation officials, a major fraud has come to light in the Government Treasury Office here.

Management, faculty at loggerheads
Panipat, February 21
The management and faculty of the local S.D. College are on a collision course over the appointment of Dr H.K. Sehajwani as Acting Principal.

Board decision upsets schools’ functioning
Kurukshetra, February 21
Uncertainty prevails among school teachers and students of the state regarding the abrupt change announced by Mr Mohinder Singh Mor, Secretary, Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani, for starting the ensuing academic session from May 1, this year instead of April 1.

Traders seek protection from criminals
Kaithal, February 21
About 100 shopkeepers marched to the mini secretariat and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. The businessmen were agitated that it is impossible for them to carry on with their business in view of the threats from the criminals. 

Warrants issued against IPS officer
Hisar, February 21
The Judicial Magistrate, Mr J.S. Sidhu, today issued bailable warrants against Suraj Pal, senior IPS officer of Haryana in a case of alleged assault and threat filed by a local advocate, Ms Shalini Atri.

KU teachers oppose govt move
Kurukshetra, February 21
The President of the Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA), Dr Pradeep Chauhan, has condemned the move of the Haryana Government to consider the workload of practicals as 50 per cent of the actual time devoted by the teachers in the class room for effective teaching. 

IMA warns members on female foeticide
Sirsa, February 21
The Indian Medical Association, Haryana, has taken an exemplary stand on the killing of unborn female child by issuing a stern warning to their members against using ultrasound techniques for antenatal sex determination or face expulsion from the association.

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Treasury defrauded of over Rs 2 crore
Rahul Das
Tribune News Service

Ambala, February 21
Following investigations by taxation officials, a major fraud has come to light in the Government Treasury Office here.

The fraud was reportedly perpetrated by claiming wrong refunds from the government treasury. Earlier this month, it had come to the notice of sales tax authorities in Ambala that there were certain irregularities in claiming of refunds.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr D.D. Gautam, said a very serious note had been taken of the fraud and stringent action would be initiated. “I must stress that the investigations are being further carried on and the guilty will not be spared,” he said.

Mr D.P. Sirohi, Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Ambala Range, had picked up certain refund amount of the current year for verification. After comparing these with the records in the office, it was prima facie found that correspondingly these refunds had not been issued from the side of the department.

To ascertain the genuineness of refund vouchers, a special team of officers was constituted and they were sent to get the treasury vouchers from the Accountant-General, Haryana. On the basis of this information, an inquiry was marked to Mr Mukesh Gambhir, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Ambala.

Mr Gambhir, along with a team of officers, visited the Treasury Office, Ambala. With the assistance of the Treasury Officer, Mr S.D. Gautam, the records were verified and the fact that a fraud had been committed was confirmed.

The officers also verified the records from the State Bank of India, Ambala. On verification, it was found that since 1993, someone was presenting refund vouchers under fictitious signatures and claiming the refunds.

The amount of refunds claimed so far exceeded Rs 2 crore. The manager of SBI was directed to stop the payment of an Ambala-based company which had been claiming fictitious refunds through regular bank account.

Management, faculty at loggerheads
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Panipat, February 21
The management and faculty of the local S.D. College are on a collision course over the appointment of Dr H.K. Sehajwani as Acting Principal.

Terming the appointment as “illegal”, the faculty members alleged that the appointment violated Kurukshetra University Calendar as Dr Sehajwani was not the seniormost but placed seventh in list of seniority.

However, Dr Sehajwani claimed that his appointment was in order as he was the only one of the five internal candidates who fulfilled the UGC conditions for appointment as the Principal. The management had taken the decision keeping the interests of the institute in mind, he asserted.

“I was appointed Principal after the seniormost teacher, Prof M.L. Gupta, refused to officiate citing family reasons”, he said. So Provision 16-A of KU Calendar did not come into play in his case, he argued.

The agitated faculty members who have been sitting in dharna since January 29 for the redress of their grievances, have already brought the matter to the notice of the Vice-Chancellor, Mr R.S. Chaudhary, who has assured to resolve the matter amicably, Dr Niranjan Singh, president of the Teachers Union, told The Tribune today.

The tug-of-war between the management and Principal on one hand and the faculty on the other began after the then Acting Principal, Prof O.P. Gupta, retired on May 31 last. Mr Sehajwani assumed charge on June 1.

Even as the staff “cooperated” with him for several months, what set the stage for confrontation was certain “dictatorial” decisions of the Principal. They included the written orders that no teacher could move out of the campus without the permission of the Principal and alleged harassment of a teacher, Ms Sushma Bhatia, who won a case from the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding withholding of her salary by the management.

Refuting the union’s allegations, Dr Sehajwani said the circular restraining the teachers not to leave the campus was aimed at maintaining discipline as according to Rules, a lecturer must remain in college for five-and-a-half hours.

Regarding allegations of harassment of Ms Bhatia, he alleged that she had committed “gross misconduct” by directly shooting off a letter to the Director of Higher Education (DHE) against the Principal. In any case, Ms Bhatia, who had earlier been suspended from the college, had been paid the full due, amounting to about Rs 5.48 lakh awarded by the high court, he said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that a crucial meeting of the management committee is slated to be held on February 23. The issue of the letter written by Ms Bhatia to the DHE, bypassing the Principal, will be taken up at the meeting.

Board decision upsets schools’ functioning
D.R. Vij

Kurukshetra, February 21
Uncertainty prevails among school teachers and students of the state regarding the abrupt change announced by Mr Mohinder Singh Mor, Secretary, Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani, for starting the ensuing academic session from May 1, this year instead of April 1. Similarly, the annual examination for VI, VII, IX and XI classes will be conducted during April, instead of March.

Although, no written instructions have so far been issued by the Haryana Education Department, yet the functioning of schools which are supposed to follow annual school calendar, “Apekshayen”, released by the Director, Secondary Education, have been affected.

The schools, which normally conduct their pre-board examination by February 7 have either postponed or omitted them, because as per these announcements, the school annual examinations will be conducted during April, instead of March, and the annual results will be declared on April 30.

Thus, the forthcoming academic session which will commence from May 1, will have 13 months. However, the ensuing 13-month academic session will be followed by 12-month session from May 1 to April 1, onward, every year. But, who is going to bear the burden of the fees and funds for the 13th month is a moot question.

Interestingly enough, in addition to the VI, VII, VIII, X and XII classes, the admission to IX and XI classes, which used to be made after the declaration of middle and matric board examinations, will be made from May 1 to 19, prior to the declaration of the board examinations. The admission of those IX and XI class students, who may not succeed in their board examination, will automatically stand cancelled after the declaration of the board examinations on June 1.

Moreover, the school vacations coinciding with the rabi and kharif crop harvesting timings in the last year annual school calendar, are being cancelled. Thus implies that students will not be able to help their farming parents because, now, the schools will be closed during summer season for 42 days from May 20 to June 30 every year while winter vacations will be observed for 10 days from December 24 to January 3.

According to another significant announcement, schools will be conducting only December test because the first terminal examination, conducted in September will be abolished and replaced by monthly and unit tests.

Moreover, the annual examination for classes VI, VII, IX and XI, which used to be conducted at school level by school heads individually, will now be conducted on state level with a common datesheet and question papers prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Gurgaon.

The school heads have criticised the setting of annual examination question papers for VI, VII, IX and XI classes by outsiders because they claim that as per Haryana education code, the conducting of terminal examination for all school classes as well as annual examination for other than board classes, is their internal affair.

Critics contend that the centralisation of the examination system, which directs the preparation of question papers by the SCERT Gurgaon, is against democratic norms. Periodic control by the Board of School Education at the V, VIII, X, and XII class level can be justified. But, total centralisation is in no way justified, they add.

It is learnt that the proposals regarding these changes have already been forwarded by the board to the state government for its consideration and approval. 

Traders seek protection from criminals
Our Correspondent

Kaithal, February 21
About 100 shopkeepers marched to the mini secretariat and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner.

The businessmen were agitated that it is impossible for them to carry on with their business in view of the threats from the criminals. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Phateh Singh Dagar, assured them that police would take appropriate action against the criminals. In the latest incident which took place at about 5 p.m. a youth claiming to be member of Satbir Jhabbal gang demanded Rs 15,000 cash and two tins of desi ghee from a proprietor of Aggarwal trading company in Janata Market here yesterday. The shopkeeper over powered the youth and with the help of other shopkeepers and handed him over to the police. The youth was produced before the court of Mr Baljeet Singh, CJM, today who remanded him for 10 days.

When contacted the SP, Mr A.S. Chawla, said the police was keeping a watch on the business and residential premises of those persons who were receiving threats on telephones and assured that they would arrest the persons responsible for this.

Warrants issued against IPS officer

Hisar, February 21
The Judicial Magistrate, Mr J.S. Sidhu, today issued bailable warrants against Suraj Pal, senior IPS officer of Haryana in a case of alleged assault and threat filed by a local advocate, Ms Shalini Atri.

It may be recalled that lawyers of Hisar had launched a stir to demand action against the IPS officer for misbehaving and threatening their colleague.

On the complaint of Shalini the court had issued summons to Suraj Pal thrice but he did not turn up. Later, the summons were served through the Home Department and the DGP but the defendant did not report. Ultimately the court issued bailable warrants.

The date of next hearing has fixed for March 23. UNI

KU teachers oppose govt move
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, February 21
The President of the Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA), Dr Pradeep Chauhan, has condemned the move of the Haryana Government to consider the workload of practicals as 50 per cent of the actual time devoted by the teachers in the class room for effective teaching. He said that this concept seems alien because the University Grants Commission (UGC) has not sent any directive to the state government in this regard.

He said it seemed that the state government had wrongly borrowed this idea from an AICTE. notification in respect of credit-hour system as the university is not governed by the credit-hour system.

Dr Chauhan further told newspersons that were united on this issue and their resentment could turn into a full-fledged movement this step is not stopped immediately.

IMA warns members on female foeticide

Sirsa, February 21
The Indian Medical Association, Haryana, has taken an exemplary stand on the killing of unborn female child by issuing a stern warning to their members against using ultrasound techniques for antenatal sex determination or face expulsion from the association.

Speaking at a seminar held here in which medical specialists from Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan participated, Dr D.S. Jaspal, President, IMA, Haryana, said the IMA had already taken up this issue seriously and organised workshops all over Haryana to eradicate the evil of female foeticide from society.

Dr Ved Beniwal, Patron Haryana State branch of the IMA, said the time had come to isolate the doctors colluding in the killing of unborn female children.

He said the Pre Natal Detection Test (PNDI) Act was a double-edged sword but it should not be used to harass honest doctors. Doctors should establish credibility to a level that no one dared to promulgate such acts against them, he added. UNI

Free bus travel for top writers
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 21
The Haryana Government will give the free bus travel facility in Haryana Roadways buses to noted Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Haryanavi writers. This was stated here today by a spokesman of the Haryana Sahitya Academy.

He also announced that the academy, in collaboration with the Scientific and Technical Terms Commission, Government of India, would organise a two-day workshop on the topic of “Technical terms and epic writing” in Chandigarh next month.