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| Tuesday,
May 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Rattan asks for report on institutes Patiala, May 6 Both the institutions, which were set up by private parties on university campuses, were described a medium of ushering in information technology by the ousted Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, during the year of bicentenary celebrations of the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. According to sources, the acting Vice-Chancellor has asked for a report of the circumstances under which the institutions were allowed to run in the campuses because there is no provision in the University Act for collaboration with any private party or giving franchisee to a private party. There had been complaints that the ousted Vice-Chancellor had subverted university rules to push through the creation of two institutions. It has been alleged that Syndicate meetings held in October, 2000, and March, 2001 had decided to collaborate with a private party in setting up the Department of Information Technology in the campus here as it did not have the funds to generate the resources needed for the job. The sources said subsequently at a meeting of the Syndicate in October, 2001, a private company was allowed to set up shop in the campus. Similarly, another company was allowed to dole out franchises for information technology courses in the distance education sector. Later, it was revealed that the Syndicate was never informed about the nature of the deal in allowing the institutes into campuses. When controversy broke out regarding the setting up of private institutes, the university management disclosed that a governing council had been set up to run the institutes which would be headed by the Vice-Chancellor. However, the governing council had as much control over the institutes as the university had over private-aided colleges with private parties being allowed to make recruitment themselves and there being no university control over the auditing of the fee collected by the institutes. Sources said the terms allowed to the local Maharaja Ranjit Singh Institute were tilted against the University with the private party allowed 74 per cent of the profit even though the University had given it a full-fledged building. Besides, no security was charged from the party and it was given the option of winding up operations according to its choosing. The complaint submitted to the local police against Dr Ahluwalia by the members of the Joint Action Committee states that Dr Ahluwalia initiated a process of giving revenue generating courses to private companies. It had also been alleged that Dr Ahluwalia held personal interviews with the applicants and even though the companies were told that they would not be given high-earning courses, the opposite was
done. It was alleged that a company was allowed to give franchises for correspondence courses in information technology courses. Moreover, it was alleged that at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Institute here, the governing council had representatives of the university who did not know anything about computers. It had also been alleged that the Professor of Computer Science, Dr Chandan Singh, the only university expert who was earlier part of the committee which had been set up to work out the modalities of the project, had not been included in the governing council, because he had raised objections at the manner in which the institutes were being pushed through. |
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Jagman’s counsel seek confessional statement Ropar, May 6 They said the authorities concerned had not provided them a copy of Jagman’s confession despite repeated requests. Until they were officially told about the statements made by Jagman, they could not plead the case properly. His relatives and counsel were also not permitted to meet him they pleaded. The public prosecutor, however, pleaded that Jagman’s statement had been recorded in camera and would be produced in the court at the time of trail. He also maintained that Jagman had made his statement before the court under Section 306 of the Cr PC and was entitled to any bail during the period of trail. Interestingly, the DSP (vigilance), who was also present in the court during the trail, when asked by the judge, said the department had no objection if Jagman Singh was granted bail. The counsel for Jagman Singh also pleaded that Section 306 of the Cr PC did not apply to Jagman’s case. The public approver was kept under detention only to ensure his safety. Since the state was willing to ensure the safety of Jagman Singh, he should be granted bail. The also pleaded that Jagman Singh’s wife was in the eighth month of pregnancy and there was nobody to took after and so Jagman should be granted bail on compassionate grounds. The judge has fixed the next hearing on the bail application of Jagman Singh on May 17. |
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Review judgement in Sidhu case: lawyers Ropar, May 6 People have the right to know the facts in the biggest recruitment scandal in the country. So, the judgement restraining the right of people to information should be reviewed, keeping in view the legal considerations, he said. He said the executive of the AILU held a meeting at Ludhiana yesterday in which a resolution was passed demanding that work should be withdrawn from judges whose names figured in the recruitment scandal. They should not be allotted work till their names are cleared in the case in order to restore the faith of common people in the legal system of the country, Mr Joshi said. A former president of the District Bar Association, Mr Sarbjit Singh, in a separate press note, demanded that the independence of the Press should not be curtailed. The Press should be allowed to expose the corrupt practices in larger public interests, he said. |
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Punjab may seek recall of HC order Chandigarh, May 6 Sources reveal that the Chief Minister has reportedly sought the opinion of the Advocate-General on the subject. A final decision in the matter is expected by tomorrow, the sources added. |
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Punjabi
University Registrar relieved of charge Patiala, May 6 Dr Bhatia submitted an application to the Vice-Chancellor, Mr N. S. Rattan, on May 1 requesting that he be relieved from the charge of Registrar as well as from the charge of Chief Coordinator of the B.Ed entrance examination. He has been relieved of the latter charge also by the Vice-Chancellor. According to an official notification, Dr K S Sidhu has been appointed Registrar for one year or till the time a regular Registrar is not appointed to the post, whichever is earlier. The exit of Dr Bhatia comes following one of the longest tenures as Registrar of the University with a few gaps in between. Dr Bhatia has served as Registrar for most of Dr Ahluwalia's tenure as Vice-Chancellor and also held other important positions like Dean, Research and Dean, Academic Affairs. He has held more than two important posts in the University at one time. Dr Bhatia has being inviting controversy since the tenure of Dr Joginder Singh Puar when he was Dean, Academic Affairs. Then, he had been instrumental in granting affiliation to an Information Technology College managed by his relatives by being part of the three-member team. Recently, Dr Bhatia has been in news due to allegations of the committee that he had manipulated the migration of his son to the local campus besides being charged with favouritism. Sources said there might be further changes in the top-level administration of the university with Dean, Academics, Dr Janak Raj, also bowing out. They said this might happen tomorrow itself before the Vice-Chancellor addresses members of the faculty. |
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Court summons Ahluwalia Patiala, May 6 The order was passed due to the unavailability of the former Vice-Chancellor, who could not be served the summons for today. He had been accused of attempting to rape fine arts student Saru
Rana. The challan had earlier been presented in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjiv Berri. Meanwhile, the third accused in the case, Jaspal Singh, today appeared in person and a copy of the challan was given to him. |
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Vigilance working upsets bureaucracy Chandigarh, May 6 Informed sources said the issue would be taken up by the authorities concerned with the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, on his return from
Delhi. The guidelines have not only become an issue of dispute between the Vigilance Bureau and the state bureaucracy, but also a stumbling block in the state government’s “operation clean-up” launched at the instance of Capt Amarinder Singh. The issue of the guidelines have come to the fore following the registration of a case against an IAS officer, Mr R. Venkataratnam. The IAS Officers Association as well as the top brass of the state bureaucracy (senior IAS Officers) have not only expressed displeasure over the registration of the case against their colleague, but also attempted to “overawe” top officers of the Vigilance Bureau which made a minor procedural lapse regarding the
registration of the case against the officer and others pertaining to recruitment of junior engineers against the handicapped quota in the Punjab Panchayati Raj Department. Vigilance officers were asked as to why they had not sought the permission of the high-powered committee headed by the Chief Secretary before such an action. Sources said it would be impressed upon the Chief Minister, that the only way of waging a war against corruption was that the Vigilance Bureau should be a given free hand by withdrawing the guidelines, which made the Bureau a defunct. The guidelines issued on March 6 (at the time of the Badal government) had almost gagged the Bureau. Informed sources said a detailed note had been prepared for discussion with the Chief Minister. The Council of Ministers is competent to withdraw, review and modify the guidelines, which were, obviously, got issued by the bureaucracy to save its skin. In fact, these, having no support of law and civil service rules, can be withdrawn at any point of time. Under the guidelines now, the bureau cannot register any FIR against a gazetted and non-gazetted officer without clearance of the committees made for this purpose. It cannot even start a regular inquiry against anybody. In case of gazetted officers, the committee is headed by the Chief Secretary. Its other members are Secretary (Vigilance), Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau, Legal Remembrancer and Administrative Secretary of the Department concerned. In case of non- gazetted officers, the committee is headed by Secretary (Vigilance) and its other members are Legal Remebrancer and Administrative Secretary of the Department concerned, besides the Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau. These guidelines can put the state government in a very spot over the PPSC recruitment scam. Before laying a trap against, the permission of the state government is a must. The Chairman of the Punjab Public Services Commission; Mr Ravi Inder Pal Singh Sidhu, was arrested by laying a trap. It is not yet known whether prior permission was taken from the authorities concerned. He not only enjoys a gazetted status, but holds a constitutional office. |
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Probe against IAS officer allowed Chandigarh, May 6 The committee also decided that the role of Mr Venkatratnam as chairman of the selection committee, which recruited junior engineers in the Panchayati Raj Department, should also be probed thoroughly. The Vigilance Bureau had acted against Mr Venkatratnam without the permission of the high-level committee. Under the guidelines, the permission of the committee is required to be taken. The IAS Officers Association as well as the Chief Secretary had not liked the way the bureau acted against Mr
Venkatratnam. |
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Cases being reviewed against Congressmen
Moga, May 6 The government was also considering not only to absolve innocent Congress workers but also to prosecute those police officials who followed blindly the dictates of the Akalis to implicate their political rivals in false criminal cases. The minister said the government had no knowledge of the Centre planning to send an high-powered delegation to Punjab to take stock of the situation, as desired by SAD President and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
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Three states join hands to nab militants Pathankot, May 6 The decision to open channels of information was taken at a meeting attended by senior police and civil officials of the three states held here recently. The meeting was necessitated after the attack on Army personnel and bomb blasts near Pathankot. In most cases, the police had failed to nab the culprits as they would flee to the adjoining states after committing the crime. The decision of launching a coordinated drive against the separatist elements also assumed significance as the intelligence agencies had definite reports that Ranjit Singh
Neeta, a self-styled chief of the Jammu-based Khalistan Zindabad Force
(KZF), who figured among India’s 20 most wanted criminals, had joined hands with the Pakistan-based Lashar-e-Toiba to revive terrorism in the region. The district police chief of the border district of Gurdaspur, Mr Barjinder Kumar Uppal, said the next joint meeting of the three states would be held at Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh) next month, in which DIGs, District Magistrates and district police chiefs of the three states would participate to chalk out further strategy. Mr Uppal said the coordinated efforts of the three states would help in curbing the ongoing espionage activities of extremists. He said the KZF, now the frontal organisation of separatists, had been working at the behest of the ISI. Since Jammu was the cradle of the KZF, its activists could easily infilterate into Gurdaspur, especially Pathankot. The town is significant due to many important installations. Mr Uppal said the train blast and the attack on Army jawans near Damtal (Himachal Pradesh) had proved that such geographical locations could be better monitored from here rather than from Himachal Pradesh due to their contiguity with Punjab. The previous meeting held at Madhopur (Gurdaspur) was presided over by Mr Rajan Gupta, Inspector-General (Border Range), Punjab, and attended by officers of intelligence wings, DMs, DIGs and SSPs of Kangra and Chamba (Himachal Pradesh), Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Batala and Jalandhar (Punjab) and Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir). The officials were of the view that such coordinated efforts would also help in nabbing the petty criminals who had been declared as proclaimed offenders in the past. Senior officials of the states had decided in principle that geographical limitations should not become an asset for the criminals or extremists. “If criminals or terrorists can operate across states, why should the police or intelligence agencies lag behind in launching a drive to nab them?” The intelligence agencies had raised a point that some religious places in the border states could be misused by separatists and the police had been keeping a vigil on the activities of suspicious persons who crossed over to Punjab from Jammu and Kashmir during winter. |
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2 get death for kids’ murder Jalandhar, May 6 Harka Bahadur (33), a chowkidar of Doaba College here, and Sat Pal, a resident of Jattan Sarai village, who were sentenced to death by Mr G.K. Rai, Additional Sessions Judge here today, had committed sodomy on Ravi Deep (9) and Vitin Kumar (8), before drowning the two in the Doaba College swimming pool on July 26, 1998. The kids had gone to the college premises to play there when they were sighted by Harka Bahadur and his accomplice Satpal and had gone missing for two days till their bodies were found floating by Gurdeep Singh and Pran Bhalla. Santokh Singh, a child worker at the college canteen and witness to the crime, had deposed before the court that the accused Har Bahadur, now living in Dinanagar, and Satpal, a crippled man working for a private firm, enticed the children to have a bath in the swimming pool. They were taken to two separate bathrooms where the accused committed sodomy on them. Then, the accused tied the hands of the children and pushed them into the pool. Santokh Singh told the court that he was also threatened by the accused if he dared to open his mouth. The report of the medical board maintained that the eyeballs of the children were bulging out. Basing his judgement on the statement of the eyewitness and the post-mortem report, Mr G.K. Rai observed that since the accused had committed the murders in cold blood and had committed acts of sodomy, they deserved no leniency. He sentenced both of them to death under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC. |
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Recruiting
retired persons & even promoting them Chandigarh, May 6 This has come out of the recent investigations into blatant violations of the recruitment norms in various departments of Punjab. The Local Government Department recruited Mr M.M. Kalia, Additional Director of the State Urban Development Agency, who retired in 1994, and a retired District Town Planner in Haryana, Mr Labh Singh and even promoted him Senior Town Planner in the Punjab Government, vigilance sources told TNS here today. Mr L.D Bathala, who retired as Deputy Controller, Finance and Accounts, was re-employed after retirement in the same position. Mr D.K. Makkar, who retired as Personal Assistant in the department, is now working on promotion as Private Secretary in the department. Mr Lal Singh is also among the retired persons who have been recruited. An investigation into recruitment by the Vigilance Department had found that all of them were continuing in service despite having crossed the age of 60. Those responsible for the recruitment of these persons had not taken the mandatory sanction of the Finance Department and the Redeployment Cell due to the ban on new recruitments. The posts were not filled through an advertisement, no interview was conducted and not even a selection committee was formed — a mandatory procedure for recruitment, the sources said. The hopes of youth of getting jobs through Employment Exchanges were dashed as no candidate was sought from these exchanges. Complainants’ pleas that all these persons had been recruited arbitrarily, in a discriminatory, prejudiced, unjustified and illegal manner, were found to be true in the Vigilance Department probe, but no action was taken, the sources said. The investigation into the complaint had been communicated to the government but to no avail. These officers are still in Punjab Government service. The Local Government Department had not even cared to give any justification for the recruitment of the retired persons. The sources said that under no circumstances could persons above 60 years of age be recruited and promoted. Only experts could be hired on a contract basis after following justifiable procedures and giving justification for their need in a certain capacity. |
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Bureaucrats
may head coop banks Chandigarh, May 6 There are strong hints that the government is apparently unwittingly getting entangled in the dragnet it has spread against corruption. From the rumblings one hears in the corridors of power, it seems that bureaucrats and officials are “concotting” cases to either settle old scores with their colleagues or rope in past political masters to please the present politicians. In the process, the ministers are being misled. It is widely believed that an officer of the department is behind that (misleading) report to the minister. It is reported that it was at his residence that the ministers had camped during the Malout byelection. Sources in the department confided that the officer concerned had got his service record set in order from the previous minister, while in the Malout byelection the Akali Dal President had sent a report against him to the Election Commission of India. He is now hobnobbing with Mr Samra. It is also reliably leant that the Vigilance Bureau has sent notice to the officer concerned as his name repeatedly figured in the investigation into the Cooperative Bank Managing Director, Mr Surinderpal Singh Chinna, who is facing criminal cases. The government is caught in a pincer over dealing with surfeit of complaints related to corruption it is receiving. It is getting weary of sending the same to the Vigilance Bureau. One senior bureaucrat admitted that the government had taken a big bite that it was now finding difficult to chew and gulp. Take the case of appointment of one-man commission of enquiry headed by Justice A S Garg. He is already mired in a controversy. The government too has, so far, failed to construct a framework as to how to enable the commission to proceed against the previous government. there are reports that a word has been put across to the Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, that if the government was feeling “embarassed” on the appointment of Mr Garg, he could be asked to put in his papers and quit. The latest against Justice Garg is how a former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, had reportedly obliged Mr Garg by giving him a plot in Gurgaon Urban Estate within a span of few days after Chief Minister's close relation, Mr Dwarka Das, was made to surrender his plot Interestingly, the plot allotted to Mr Garg is reportedly in the name of his wife, Raj. Even the surname ''Garg" is not appended against his own name, which is mentioned as ''Anand Sawarup''. Another question making rounds of the corridors is the reason why the Council of Ministers dropped the item on amending the Acts of all universities in the state. Sources told TNS that all the secretaries concerned, Financial Commissioner, Development, Principal Secretaries, Higher Education and Medical Education and Research and Technical Education had prepared the draft amendment and legal opinion was also taken. As per that amendment, five aspects were listed to ''remove'' a vice--chancellor— 1. Gross irregularities in discharging duties; 2. Moral turpitude; 3. Breach of discipline; 4. Conviction in a court; and 5. Anti-secular stance. As there is no provision for appointment of a “search commitee” for appointment of a Vice-Chancellor, there is a recommendation from the Principal Secretary, Higher Education, that a “search committee” be constituted to find a suitable candidate for Punjabi University, Patiala. |
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Steps on for hydel projects Bathinda, May 6 The state government will also take steps for making the financial condition of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) sound. These will include decreasing transmission losses, stopping power theft and rationalisation of the workforce. This was announced by Mr Surinder Singla, Chairman, Finance Committee, Punjab, while talking to mediapersons here yesterday. He said discussions with the governments of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal were going on in this regard. He said as hydel power was cheaper than other sources of power, steps were being taken to set up such projects. He added that when an agreement would be signed with the states for setting up the projects, care would be taken that the residents of Punjab could also get employment in the projects. Mr Singla said a proposal had earlier been received that Punjab should set up thermal power plants at places where coal pits existed so as to cut the expenses of transport of coal. He said it had not been accepted as setting up of thermal plants at states far away from Punjab would not be beneficial for residents of the state. He said only residents of other states would have got employment in these plants. Asked what steps were being taken to bring the PSEB out of its financial crisis, Mr Singla said he had suggested some measures in that direction. He said steps were needed for reducing transmission losses. He added that if such losses were reduced by 5 per cent, the board would be benefitted of at least Rs 500 crore. Mr Singla said the second reason for financial loss was theft of power. He said special care needed to be taken to minimise this. The other measures he suggested was rationalisation of staff of the board. He said if there was any surplus staff, it should be deployed elsewhere. He added that some other stern steps were needed, but he did not elaborate. |
Civic poll: BJP release list Chandigarh, May 6 The names of following candidates have been approved : Mrs Asha Sharma, Mr Rajiv, Mr R.D. Sharma, Mr Harish Tandon, Mrs Sunita Aggarwal, Mr Brij Nandan Prasad, Mr Surender Sharma, Mr Pran Jagota, Ms Suraksha Rani, Mr Karan Salaria, Mr Parveen Goel, Mr Kamal Chatley, Mrs Prem Bhalla, Mrs Geeta Devi, Mr Sarabjit Singh, Mr Gurdeep Singh Neeta, Ms Bimla Devi, Mr Parveen Bansal, Mr Pran Bhatia, Ms Rama Kapoor, Mr Sudarshan Sharma, Mrs Priya Malhotra, Mrs Sunita Sharma, Mrs Sunita Luthra, Ms Yashpal Thakur, Mrs Neelam Pathak, Mrs Anuradha Sharma, Mr Avtar Krishan, Mr Shakti Kumar, Mr Lavinder Kumar, Mrs Raj Sharma, Mr Rakesh Gill, Mr Naresh Kalia, Ms Neena Chopra, Mr Raj Aggarwal, Mrs Poonam Suri, Mrs Saroj Khanna, Mr Raman Kumar Mahajan, Mrs Santosh Sareen, Mrs Dimple Mahajan, Mr Surinder Sharma, Mr Surinder Pal Mahindroo, Mr Kashmiri Lal, Mr Daulat Ram, Mr Manohar Singh Saini, Mrs Minakshi Sehgal, Mr Shweat Malik, Capt Karam Singh, Mrs Suman Mahajan, Mr Arun Kumar Kapoor, Mr Ramesh Vasika, Mr Rajiv Shalivan, Ms Vidhu Puri, Mrs Santosh Sharma, M Suresh Mahajan, Mr Bhupinder Kumar Happy, Mr Balwinder Kumar Tony and Mr Adarsh Bhatia. The following names have been approved for Patiala: Mrs Jyoti Sharma, Mr Kishore
Madaan, Mrs Sunita Goel, Mrs Usha Goel, Mrs Ramesh Kanta Garg, Mr Surender Kumar
Kakkar, Mr Gobind Ram, Mr Radhey Shyam, Mrs Neelam Gupta, Mr Anil
Bajaj, Mr Balwant Rai, Mrs Seema Sharma, Mrs Asha Rani and Mr Pardeep
Sahota. |
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Cong releases MC candidates’ list Patiala, May 6 Loyalists of senior Congress leader Brahm Mohindra, who had ruled the roost in the corporation earlier, have however failed to make it to the list. Leaders who had been earlier aligned with the former minister, but come out forcefully against him in the recent past, have however been “rewarded” for shifting their loyalties. The 50-member list has three major contestents for the post of Mayor with senior leader Vishnu Sharma heading the list followed by Mr Sohal Lal Jalota and Mr Kabir Dass. A notable leader who has failed to make the grade is former corporator Santokh Singh even though he had worked for the party during the last election. District Congress Committee (Urban) president Ved Prakash Gupta has managed to get seats for his loyalists in the district Congress. These include Mr Gurjeet Singh Guri, Mr Hardev Singh Balli and Mr Pardeep Mittal, besides a few others. The list includes representatives from most of the groups in the district Congress besides some leaders like Mr Ram Kumar Vohra and Mr Nand Lal Guraba who had earlier been aligned with Mr Brahm Mohindra. The candidates are as follows: Santosh Bhatti, (women-SC), Rupinder
Tiwana, Balwinder Pal, Asha Rani Kapoor, wife of Ved Prakash Kapoor, Nand Lal
Guraba, Gurjeet Singh Guri, Rajinder Kaur Dhindsa, Hardev Singh Balli, Amar Singh
Maggu, Baljit Punia, wife of Gurdev Punia, Suresh Mehra (BC-reserved), Sukhwinder Singh
Kalon, Sukhwinder Kaur, wife of Gian Chand, Inderjit Singh Boparai, Pawan Kumar
Nagrath, Rama Puri, Harinder Singh Bajwa, Daljeet Singh Chahal, Kamlesh
Kumari, wife of K. K. Malhotra, Surinder Kumar Modgil, Harish Aggarwal, Seema Gupta, wife of Kewal
Gian, Shiv Kumar Khanna, Vishnu Sharma, Gurdeep Kaur, Pardeep Mittal, Sanjiv Kumar
Bittu, Meena Sharma, wife of Vinod Sharma, Harvinder Singh Nippi, Varinder Mittal, Monika Grover, Ram Kumar Vohra, Budh Ram (SC-reserved), Santosh
Kumari, Prem Kishan Puri, Anuj Trivedi, Suman Sharma, Narinder Pappa (SC-reserved), Niranjan Dass (BC-reserved), Jagtar Kaur
Chahal, Pawan Kumar, Sohan Lal Jalota, Sharda Devi (SC-reserved), D. C. Sharma, Sachdev Gautam, Rajni Sharma, Gopal
Singla, Kabir Dass (SC-reserved), Amarbir Kaur Bedi and Naresh Duggal. |
SGPC to file case in SC tomorrow Ludhiana, May 6 The Bench has been hearing cases of the minority communities and the educational institutions for the past few months. Sikh organisations and Sikh intellectuals have also been following the hearing and it is alleged that the SGPC could not present its case at the proper time. Now the case is being prepared by Justice Jaspal Singh, a retired judge of the Delhi High Court, and assisted by a number of lawyers. According to Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, former President of the SGPC, Christians of Nagaland had filed a petition in the Supreme Court a few years ago seeking minority status for the Christian institutions and the SGPC also became a party in the case as a Sikh minority representative. The SGPC had engaged Mr Soli Sorabjee as its lawyer. Earlier, the case was being heard by a seven-judge Bench and later on it was converted into a 11-judge Bench. It is now learnt that Mr Tohra was contacted by certain Sikh intellectuals, including Mr Prithipal Singh Kapoor, former pro Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, bringing to his notice that the SGPC had not presented the Sikhs’ case in the proper perspective. Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, SGPC chief, when contacted by this reporter, denied any indifference by the SGPC in presenting its case before the Bench. He disclosed that the SGPC had engaged eight senior lawyers to present its case. In addition, the day-to-day proceedings of the Bench were being monitored and its lawyers had appeared before the Bench. It was wrong to say that the SGPC did not show any interest in the proceedings. In fact, the Bench did not have adequate time at its disposal and suggested to Justice Jaspal Singh to present a written statement. He said Sikhs were a minority and as this was a very crucial issue for the Sikhs, the SGPC should not show any laxity in the matter. |
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‘Component plan’ for Dalits Phillaur, May 6 This was stated by Punjab Social Welfare Minister Santokh Singh while talking to mediapersons before addressing a social function at Pritam Palace, Phillaur, on Sunday. He said that Rs 5000000 would be spent on the welfare of the communities under the scheme. He said the amount for the welfare of the dalits would be allocated in the next budget, according to their
population-wise ratio. He alleged that the then Badal government stopped all Dalit welfare plans during its rule, but now the Congress Government led by Capt Amarinder Singh has revived all Dalit welfare plans. |
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Plea to release leaders Sangrur, May 6 Dr Darshan Pal, President of the
AIPRF, Mr Nardev Singh, secretary of the Punjab AIPRF, Mr Gurmeet Singh
Ditupur, secretary of the Punjab BKU (Ekta), Mr Ajaib Singh, cashier of the
KMU, and Mr Bhagwant Singh Samaon, state convener of the Inqalabi Naujwan
Sabha, had gone to Jind as members of the fact-finding committee formed in connection with the arrest of Haryana’s agitating farmers on the issue of non-payment of electricity bills. Later, the protesters held a rally in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The speakers warned the Haryana Government if the arrested leaders were not released immediately, the AIPRF,BKU
(Ekta), KMU and PRSU would chalk out its future course of action. |
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Hamdard
leads rally against govt Jalandhar, May 6 It is not for the first time that readers of Ajit and supporters of its Editor, Barjinder Singh Hamdard, have taken to the street in protest against the “discriminatory” attitude of the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Government as a series of protests and dharnas has been organised in the state since the Congress government took over the reigns of the state. It is, however, for the first time that Hamdard, who was known for his proximity to a former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has come out in the open and organised and addressed a public protest rally at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, from where protesters led by him marched to the office of the Deputy Commissioner for submitting a memorandum to the Governor against the “misdeeds” of the state government and its “revengeful” policy towards
Ajit. |
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HIGH COURT
Chandigarh, May 6 Seeking the grant of anticipatory bail, the MLA had submitted that he had either been or would be implicated in the alleged corruption case pertaining to the cooperative bank. The MLA had added that the government had adopted a revengeful attitude towards the opponents and members of the Akali Dal in order to arrest them in false cases. Notice issued in Harpreet case
Mr Justice M.L. Singhal today issued notice of motion to Punjab’s Advocate-General for May 27 on a petition filed by Nishan Singh, personal security officer of SGPC’s former President Bibi Jagir Kaur, in the Harpreet Kaur murder case. Claiming to have been implicated in the case registered by the CBI, Nishan Singh submitted that no purpose would be served by keeping him in custody and the co-accused had been granted bail in the case. His counsel added that the petitioner was suffering from diabetics. |
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Border
area residents help Army jawans Jalandhar, May 6 In a press note issued here today, the Defence authorities maintained that people’s attitude towards the Army remained unchanged and warm as ever even as they had suffered losses due to landmines and bunkers in their fields and despite the fact that development of border areas had been hit due to this. This positive attitude of the people also led the Army authorities to finish in a record period the task of assessment of claims for compensation to affected farmers at Rs 11,000 per acre announced by the standing parliamentary committee on defence. “The compensation is being disbursed among the farmers at a fast pace and an example of this is disbursal of Rs 1,44.41.399 to farmers of Fezozepore district out of a total compensation amount of Rs 7.64 crore received by the district administration,” said the Defence spokesman, adding that compensation to the tune of Rs 52,98,481 had already been distributed among the affected farmers of Amritsar district. |
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Brick-kiln workers hold rally Gurdaspur, May 6 Mr Gulzar Singh alleged the owners were not depositing money in the provident fund of the workers. Moreover, the wages paid to the workers were far less than the minimum wages fixed by the government, he said. After the rally, the workers marched in procession to the office of the District Labour Officer, where they presented a memorandum of their demands. |
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20,000 gunny bags destroyed in fire Sangrur, May 6 Talking to this reporter, Mr Pawan Kumar, partner in the mill, said about 20,000 gunny bags worth Rs 2 lakh were destroyed in the fire. The fire could not be controlled by the fire brigade till 7.30 p.m. It seemed that a blast in a bulb in the godown led to the incident, he added. |
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Medical
stores at hospital sealed Amritsar, May 6 According to sources, the stores were sealed following complaints of irregularities. The Vigilance Bureau also seized records pertaining to the supply of drugs and medicines. |
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Ban on use of plastic bags Patiala, May 6 The orders proclaim that no manufacturer, dealer, vendor or user shall deal in polythene bags having thickness of less than 20 microns. Recycled polythene bags of any type shall not be used for carrying food stuff. As per the Central Government rules, manufacturers shall have to mark recycled products as ‘recycled’ along with the indication of percentage used of the recycled material. The district administration and the local Municipal Corporation have already launched a ‘clean Patiala drive’ the primary focus of which is to remove such non-biodegradable garbage such as plastic bags and plastic containers. Offenders will punished under the ‘recycled plastic manufacture and usage rules, 1999, IPC’. |
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Anti-corruption
drive hailed Chandigarh, May 6 In an emergency meeting chaired by Prof B.S. Balluwana, the council urged the Chief Minister to furnish details of property and assets of MLAs immediately as per the Supreme Court directions. The meeting demanded removal of those who got jobs through unfair means and hold fresh appointments for the deserving candidates. Those present in the meeting were Col S.S.
Nishan, Mr A.S. Bhangal, Mr G.S. Garewal. Ms Gurtej Kaur and Mr Jatinder Pal Singh Brar. |
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Rehri owners’ stir Bathinda, May 6 The agitating rehri owners did not allow some vehicles which had brought vegetables from other cities to enter the market. |
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Wheat crop on 50 acres destroyed
Amritsar, May 6 According to reports, a number of landmines planted in the area by the Army were detonated in the fire. According to official sources, the cause of the fire had not yet been established. It could have been caused by a short-circuit or even by a landmine blast which could have been caused with a cow or buffalo stepping onto it, the sources said. Similar fires had destroyed wheat crop in the Khem Karan and the Attari sectors last month.
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POSTINGS/
TRANSFERS Chandigarh, May 6 The Department of Public Works ordered transfer of eight superintending engineers, 39 executive engineers, including three of the mechanical branch, and 73 subdivisional engineers. The Sports Department ordered the transfer of five district sports officers and 20 sports officers and junior sports officers. The superintending engineers transferred are
M.K.S. Virdi (CW Circle, Amritsar), Mr K.J.S. Brar (Pathankot circle), Mr J.P. Chander (Jalandhar circle), Mr Sawatantar Kumar (Hoshiarpur circle), Mr
N.K. Aggarwal (CW circle, Ludhiana), Mr P.L. Dhawan (Bathinda circle), Mr G.S. Sidhu (Punjab
Infrastructure Development Board, Chandigarh) and Mr
H.L. Khurana (Traffic Engineering Cell, Chandigarh). |
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Plea on appointment of
civil engineers Bathinda, May 6 Mr Chiranji Lal, president of this zone of the Diploma Engineers Association, said in a press note that many posts of civil engineers in the department had been filled by appointing mechanical engineers. He urged the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to issue instructions clearly mentioning that only those persons who had got degrees in civil engineering should be appointed on the posts meant for them and not those having degrees in mechanical or electrical engineering. Mr Chiranji Lal said although the Central Vigilance Bureau (CVC) had issued instructions to the Chief Secretary, Punjab, regarding the matters, no action was taken in that matter. He said no criteria was made about the appointments of engineers in the department. Some other members of the union said the trend of appointing mechanical engineers on posts meant for civil engineers was started in 1972 when the Chief Engineer of the department was from the Mechanical branch. The official appointed 250 such engineers on an ad hoc basis in different projects. They were made permanent later. The members of union alleged that they were not fit for the job they were appointed for. Mr Lal said the practice should be stopped and necessary instructions should be issued. |
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JEs to
protest outside SEs’ offices Patiala,
May 6 In a press note issued here today, Mr Davinder Singh, general secretary of the council, said the central working committee had recently reviewed the demands, but the management was ignoring these. He said the management was also ignoring the problems of the junior engineers, who curbed power thefts in spite of various pressures. Mr
Davinder Singh said there was widespread resentment among the JEs in
view of the delay in implementing decisions already approved by the
management. He said, on the pretext of downsizing, more than 12,000
posts would be abolished, affecting consumer service badly. |
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Gursewak
Singh on planning board Chandigarh, May 6 |
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Driver, 2 others held for looting trader Pathankot, May 6 Mr Bachan Singh Randhawa, SP told mediapersons at a press conference here yesterday that a sum of Rs 50,000 was recovered from the robbers. He said Mr Abhay Kumar Mahajan lodged a complaint with the police that he
accompanying was returning from Dhar Kalan in his car driven by Rajesh Kumar, when his car was intercepted at Dhar Kalan chowk by some scooter-borne youths who attacked him with iron roads and took away Rs 2 lakh. Mr Randhawa said the police during the interrogation of the driver came to the conclusion that the driver was involved in the crime. |
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Pirated
CDs seized, 1 held Bathinda, May 6 Mr Ishwar Singh, SSP, said in a press note issued here today that Tarsem Kumar used to prepare pirated CDs and sold to a retailer in the city. The police caught Tarsem red-handed when he was preparing pirated CDs. He also used to give pirated CDs on rent. The police recovered from his possession 20 master prints of pornographic movies, 36 pirated CDs of the same 450 pirated CDs of Punjabi and Hindi movies and 54 master prints of the same. The other material like wrappers of pornographic movies (70) and other movies (197) were also recovered. One VCD player and other equipment used for the duplication of CDs were also recovered. The SSP said a case under Sections 420, and 293 of the IPC and 1957 Copy Rights Act was registered against Tarsem Kumar. |
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PCCTU poll now on May 26 Phagwara, May 6 Earlier, the election was slated for May 19. The step has been taken in view of the elections of four Municipal Corporations to be held on May 19. State office-bearers and 11 executive members will be elected to the union. |
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Shergill
promoted Principal Amritsar, May 6 |
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ACTU clarification on dharna Ludhiana, May 6 “We the members of new management shall take constructive decision in the interest of the institution, teachers and students at large. Bound by a positive approach, we call upon everyone to serve the interests of Arya College, Ludhiana, which is facing the worst-ever economic crises,” he said. |
Sick units hit house tax revenue Bathinda, May 6 Mr Hardev Singh, EO, started the probe after two municipal councillors made these allegations in the monthly meeting of the council held yesterday. The councillors also expressed surprise that the EO was holding the probe when he, along with two members of the sub-committee, had carried out the assessments. Mr Bhuller said the councillors had alleged that some of the premises were not assessed properly. He said to verify these allegations the EO had been asked to probe the matter and action would be taken after the inquiry was complete. He said income from the house tax had declined substantially in the past few years as some big industrial units, which were a major source of income, had closed down. These included Roshan Lal Oil Mill, Punjab Spinning Mill, Punjab Ceramics, Munak Chemicals, Chattar Extraction and Bacospin. He said for the financial year 2000-2001, the projected income from house tax was Rs 1.16 crore but the MC could recover only 52 per cent of this amount. For 2001-2002, the projected income was Rs 1.25 crore while the recovery was only Rs 55 lakh. About Rs 60 lakh, which was due from previous years, was also recovered. He added that assessment of about 70 to 80 premises was being done again. Apart from this, guest houses, which had mushroomed in the city over the years, would also be taxed. Notices were being issued to the guests houses which had not started paying the tax so far. He said the recovery of tax worth about Rs 1.90 crore was yet to be made as cases were pending in various courts. |
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