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Thursday,
September 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Lokayukta Bill okayed Chautala vs Bhajan Favouritism in tubewell connections alleged BJP MLA allowed
to leave country Speedy justice Law Ministry’s aim |
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HIGH COURT Nodal officers to check ration depots R.C. Sharma promoted Gaurav Utreja tops middle exams
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Lokayukta
Bill okayed Chandigarh, September 4 Opening the debate on the Bill, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said though the intention behind the Bill to put a check on corruption were laudable, yet the Bill would be self-defeating it was passed as such. He said the “competent authority(CA)” to refer complaints to the Lokayukta in all cases should be the Governor. The Bill provides that in the case of a complaint against the Chief Minister, the CA to refer it to the Lokayukta would be Governor while in the case of all other public servants, the CA would be the Chief Minister. This provision, he said, could be misused to victimise political opponents of the ruling party and to protect its friends. He said consultation by the Chief Minister with the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India or the Chief Justice of the high court about the person to be appointed as the Lokayukta should be binding on the government and it should not have merely a “pursuasive value” as provided in the Bill. Quoting a nine-Judge Supreme Court judgement in the judges transfer case, Mr Hooda said the court had said that “consultation” should be in writing, effective and binding. The former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, who favoured the Bill, said the consultation should be binding on the government and the maximum age limit for the Lokayukta should be 70. Moreover, the Lokayukta should have the power to take up any complaint suo motu and he should not be dependent upon the CA for referring a complaint to him. He also demanded that the Bill should be referred to a select committee. Mr Bhajan Lal also expressed the fear that the Bill would vest enormous powers in the Chief Minister. The Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Mr Krishan Pal Gurjar, who supported the Bill, also demanded that it should be referred to the select committee. He alleged that the Bill had been brought to establish the supremacy of the Chief Minister. The Government should not rush with the Bill otherwise a well-intentioned Bill would become a “black law”, which could be misused to terrorise “sentinels of democracy”. Mr Karan Singh Dalal(RPI) alleged that the Bill would centralise all power in the hands of the Chief Minister. Since the rules of business of the state government did not confer an absolute right on a minister to take decisions and the Chief Minister was a party to every decision, it was unlikely that a Chief Minister would refer a complaint to the Lokayukta against a decision in which he himself was a party. He suggested that the Chief Minister, the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition should submit their independent panels of names and the Chief Justice should have the final say. Replying to the debate, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Prof Sampat Singh, who had piloted the Bill, said all clauses of the Bill were debated and passed by the House in 1999. However, the President had withheld his assent to the Bill on the ground that clause 16 of the Bill was inconsistent with the Contempt of Court Act, 1971. The government had brought the present Bill after dropping clause 16. He said even the Lokpal Act of 1997, which was passed when Mr Bansi Lal was in power, did not provide that consultation should be binding. He said the INLD Government had widened the scope of the Bill by making it applicable from 1966 when Haryana came into existence. He said no innocent person should be afraid of the Bill. He tended to justify the denial of suo motu powers to the Lokayukta by saying that these powers would overburden the Lokayukta, who had to dispose of a complaint within a year of its receipt. The Opposition walked out of the House after expressing its dissatisfaction with the reply. The House passed the Bill with voice vote. The House also passed the Shri Mata Mansa Devi Shrine(Amendment) Bill, 2002, to provide for the appointment of the Panchkula DC as ex-officio member-Secretary of the shrine board before it was adjourned sine die. |
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Chautala
vs Bhajan Chandigarh, September 4 This was the lesson newsmen learnt today when Mr Om Prakash Chautala and Mr Bhajan Lal came to the press lounge of the Vidhan Sabha after the House was adjourned sine die. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was telling newsmen about the issues which his party had sought to raise by giving notices of various adjournment motions, which were either converted by the Speaker into call-attention motions (against the rules, according to Mr Hooda). Mr Bhajan Lal also came to the lounge and sat beside Mr Hooda. Just as he started a tirade against the Speaker, Mr Chautala, accompanied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sampat Singh, too, appeared at the door of the lounge. Mr Hooda and Mr Bhajan Lal rose to go out after the former Chief Minister told Mr Chautala that they were criticising his government and the Speaker. However, all leaders agreed to sit in the lounge at the request of the newsmen, who smelt good copy and they were not disappointed. Mr Chautala said he had come to invite the newsmen to a lunch he was hosting at his residence in the honour of the Union Law Minister, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy. He said he had already sent invitations to Mr Hooda and Mr Bhajan Lal. He renewed his invitation to the Congress leaders. Mr Bhajan Lal could not suppress his anger at Mr Chautala, who had said in the House yesterday during a discussion on the SYL canal that when the Rajiv Gandhi-Longowal accord was being signed, Mr Bhajan Lal, the then Chief Minister of Haryana, was sitting outside the Prime Minister’s room “like a peon”. The former Chief Minister said: “You have such a bad language that one does not feel like coming to your house.” Mr Chautala tried to pacify him by saying that those were the proceedings inside the House. Mr Bhajan Lal, who, meanwhile, controlled his anger, said he had good relations with Mr Chautala. “Our fight is only for ‘Kursi’. We both want the post of Chief Minister,” he said. When a newsman said if that was the case, let a third person become the Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal spontaneously reacted: “Why a third person? It will be either Bhajan Lal or Chautala.” However, he immediately corrected himself by saying: “It would be either the Congress or the INLD.” Mr Hooda readily agreed. Promising to come for lunch Mr Bhajan Lal asked Mr Chautala whether the venue was his home. Mr Chautala said it was his official residence where he was a tenant. Mr Bhajan Lal retorted by saying that the Chief Ministers never paid rent. It seems the bitterness between Mr Chautala and Mr Bhajan Lal did not end despite a round of repartee. While Mr Hooda was present at the lunch, Mr Bhajan Lal skipped it. |
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Favouritism
in tubewell connections alleged Chandigarh, September 4 The issue came up following a question asked by Mr Dev Raj Dewan, Independent member, regarding electricity connections to tubewells released in each district of the state since April. The answer furnished by the government triggered a volley of questions from opposition and Independent members alleging favouritism in releasing electricity connections to tubewells. Even Mr Gopichand Gehlot, Deputy Speaker, alleged that districts in the southern part of the state were being discriminated against while releasing electricity connections to tubewells. Rao Inderjit Singh, Congress MLA, said that while 324 connections had been released in Sirsa, the home district of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, and 318 connections in Fatehabad, the native district of Finance Minister Sampat Singh, only a small number of connections were released in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Rewari and Hisar districts. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CLP leader and the Leader of the Opposition, said the state government must clarify whether the number of connections mentioned in the government statement were all released under the ‘tatkal scheme’ or there were some ordinary connections as well. Mr Rampal Majra conceded that all connections figuring in the government statement were released under the ‘tatkal scheme’. Mr Majra said 250 applications under the “tatkal scheme” were pending and added that the connections would be released within six months. Heated exchanges took place on the criteria for recruitment in the police force. Rambir Singh had asked whether there was any proposal under consideration to open a police training centre at Bhondsi in Gurgaon district. Mr Rampal Majra replied in the affirmative. However, Mr Sher Singh, Congress MLA, and himself a former police officer, who was allowed by the speaker to ask a supplementary question, said the cut-off height for recruitment in the police must be brought down so that many boys are not deprived of the opportunity to join the force. Mr Sampat Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Mr Rampal Majra, however, vehemently opposed the idea and said that tall boys from Haryana made excellent recruits. Mr Ram Kishan (HVP) also intervened in the debate and said that the minimum educational qualification for candidates must be relaxed to pave the way for boys from the Scheduled Castes to join the force. Mr Sampat Singh claimed that for SC candidates the education qualifications as well as the requirement regarding the minimum height had been relaxed. This was, however, challenged by Mr Sher Singh, who said that the minimum height required for recruitment in the police was the same for general and Scheduled Caste candidates. A question on modernisation of the police force also led to a flutter in the assembly as Mr Karan Singh Dalal (RPI) and Mr Jay Parkash (Cong) wanted to know how much money was spent by the state government for registering false cases against its political opponents. A highlight of question hour was the clash between Ms Anita Yadav (Cong) and Mr Rampal Majra. Ms Yadav apparently accused the state government of writing off loans given by the Haryana Financial Corporation while a statement furnished by the state government on the issue clearly showed that massive loans were written off during the Congress and HVP regimes, the INLD Government had written off only the interest amounts on loans. |
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BJP MLA allowed
to leave country Ambala, September 4 Mr Bhatia in his application filed in the court yesterday through his counsel Davender Bansal stated that the Haryana Government had offered him an opportunity to visit England and France along with a delegation of MLAs led by Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala. Around two months ago, too, he was granted such permission by the court, he counsel added. The counsel for the CBI, however, did not raise any major objection to the application of Mr Bhatia. The CBI counsel said Mr Bhatia should ensure his presence in the court on the next date of hearing. The Judge, while granting the permission, directed Mr Bhatia to surrender his passport to the court after his return.
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Speedy justice Law Ministry’s aim Chandigarh, September 4 Proposals in this respect are on the anvil and action is being initiated in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. This was stated by Law Minister Jana Krishnamurthy in an tete-a-tete with select newsmen at Haryana Niwas here today. On the present controversy over first the withdrawal and then the restoration of work in respect of three judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the wake of the PPSC job scam, the minister said he would meet the Bar Association in New Delhi on September 12. Though he had read about the controversy in the newspapers, he preferred not to give any reply, saying that the Chief Justice of India is studying the report given to him by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice. Of the proposed 1950 fast track courts, 750-odd are functional and the rest are in the pipeline. In one year, 60,000 cases were decided by these courts. About protecting an individual’s freedom, he disclosed that countrywide 2 lakh undertrials were behind bars. Their maintenance alone cost the exchequer Rs 450 crore annually. Likewise, the number of pending cases right from the apex court to the high courts and subordinate judicial courts delayed justice on several accounts. He maintained that in 80 per cent of the civil suit cases, no law point was involved. Mr Krishnamurthy said against 25,000 pending cases in the Supreme Court, there are 30 lakh pending cases in high courts and 2 crore in subordinate judicial courts. There are over 140 vacancies of judge in the high courts and over 2,000 in subordinate courts. The minister said he would shortly convene a meeting of the Finance Ministers to discuss the recommendations of the Shetty Commission in respect of a new pay structure for the judiciary. The Supreme Court has accepted these and asked the government to implement the same. This was to be implemented by July 30 but the government had sought extension till September 2. The impact and import of implementing the Supreme Court order would mean setting up at least 39,000 additional courts. The apex court wants 50 judges per 10 lakh population against 13 judges at present. The implementation of the SC order in the union territories alone would involve an annual recurring expenditure of Rs 3 crore, besides Rs 20 crore to pay back wages. ‘’The states have represented that there is no money. We will discuss the issue at the meeting of the Finance Ministers’’, he added. On improving law education, he was keen that the model of the institution run by the Bangalore Bar Council should be replicated elsewhere. Similarly, there is need for Judicial academic training institutes like the one in Bhopal. New laws in respect of changing world order due to globalisation, WTO regime, cyber-crime, involvement of multi-national companies in the country’s economic life made it all the more imperative to update law education. Asked if retired judges should be appointment to commissions, Mr Krishnamurthy said the services of retired judges could be useful in this respect. However, for lok adalats and the kind of alternative judicial system the minister has in mind, the services of retired judges could be availed of in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. Mr Krishnamurthy announced that a national school of law would be set up in Haryana on the pattern of a similar institution in Bangalore. The Union Law Minister, who was speaking after inaugurating the office building of Advocate-General of Haryana here today, urged those present on the occasion to give a serious thought to the proposed National Judicial Commission as recommended by the Venkatachalaiah Committee. A bill on the constitution of the NDC would be tabled in the winter session of Parliament. A code of ethics for judges was also being evolved as recommended by the committee. The Law Minister also launched computerisation of the office of the Advocate-General. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, September 4 In her petition against KU, state of Haryana, University Grants Commission and Haryana Public Service Commission, Dr Rupali Bhalla added that she had obtained M. Phil and PhD degree, but had not cleared NET examination and hence was not being considered for the post of lecturer by the commission in view of an advertisement issued by it. |
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Nodal officers to check ration depots Kaithal, September 4 The City Magistrate, Mr Sanjeev Verma, has been appointed the nodal officer for Kalayat block, Mr Jagdeep Singh SDM for Kaithal block, Mr Rajeev Mehta SDM, for Guhla, Mr Chand Ram Sharma, DDPO, for Pundri block and Mr Sanjay Rai DRO, for Rajound block. These officers have been directed to inspect ration depots of at least two villages in a week and submit their report to the ADC. The depot holders have been directed to display the stock of goods , rates and timings of opening and closing of the depots. |
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R.C. Sharma promoted Chandigarh, September 4 Mr Siri Chand, Deputy Economic and Statistical Adviser, has been promoted as Joint Economic and Statistical Adviser. Mr V.K. Gupta, Mr Hari Om Siwatch, Mr P.C. Rajoura and Mr Balwan Singh (research officers), Mr Anil Kumar Gupta and Mr Ram Narain, (District Statistical Officers) and Mr Joginder Singh (Planning Officer) have been promoted as Deputy Economic and Statistical Advisers. The government has also posted Mr Parkash Chand, awaiting posting orders, as Administrative Officer in the office of the Labour Commissioner, relieving Mr K.K. Suneja of the said charge. |
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Gaurav Utreja tops middle exams Bhiwani, September 4 The second position has been bagged by Poonam Chhabra of Sain Adrash Modern School, Adarsh Nagar, Sonepat, by getting 661 marks. Natasha Koshish of Guru Nanak Girls Senior Secondary School, Karnal, obtained the third position by securing 659 marks. This was stated by the board secretary at a press conference here today. |
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Barrage
resolves water row Yamunanagar, September 4 The Superintending Engineer, Hathnikund barrage circle, Jagadhri, Mr Dalbir Singh, said here today that the western Yamuna canal link channel had been successfully tested for carrying the water share of Haryana and Delhi. He disclosed that the fourth powerhouse of 16 mw on the western Yamuna canal would be completed shortly. |
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