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Tuesday,
March 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Governor’s
esteem soars Haryana excise policy okayed Chautala promises to uplift rural areas INLD men hurt in stone throwing Bhajan camp flays Jhajjar rally ‘Withdraw hike’ in urea price |
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HIGH COURT Undertrial freed by stabbing cop ‘Extend deadline for accepting HCS exam forms’ Employees hold procession
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Governor’s esteem soars Chandigarh, March 3 Knowing well under what tense circumstances the Governor took this decision has made this section of the Haryanavis, which is not in a minority, particularly appreciative of Babu Parmanand. It is no secret with the public that the ruling INLD had made the two Bills a prestige issue and badly wanted them to become Acts. Informed sources say that apart from opposition leaders, whose motives in opposing the two Bills, could be suspect, a large number of social workers, opinion-makers and even common men had approached Babu Parmanand during his visits to various districts, urging him not to give assent to the Bills. The Arya Samaj movement has been particularly strong in what is known as the Jat belt of the state. People still remember the days when prohibition used to be the rule rather than the exception in old Rohtak district. What to talk of public gambling, even drinking in private was looked down upon in these areas. True, with the passage of time, the Arya Samaj movement weakened considerably in the state. Still, there are Arya Samaj institutions like Gurukuls, which are active in the area which constituted old Rohtak district. Last year when five Dalits were lynched to death at Dulina in Jhajjar district by a mob which mistook them for cow-slaughterers, the police and the authorities had blamed the influence of these Arya Samaj institutions on the people for the incident. No wonder, gambling in public is still frowned upon by villagers. Another consideration, which may or may not have influenced the Governor’s decision to send the Bills to the President, must have been the possibility of a nexus emerging between the organised crime mafia and those operating casinos. The obvious preferred destination of any investor in casinos would be Gurgaon or Faridabad because of their proximity to Delhi. According to intelligence reports, Gurgaon is already on the map of criminals, who not only indulge in big-time crime but also do not hesitate to undertake anti-national activities on the prodding of Pakistan’s ISI. A base for such criminals in the proximity of Delhi, where VVIPs live, could have endangered national security. Of course, Babu Parmanand, could not officially decide the fate of the Bills on these considerations, even if these were at the back of his mind. Technically, he has found these Bills to be repugnant to the Union Government’s public policy and the Central Act, making these a fit case for presidential consideration. If the Government wanted to “strike a deal” with the Governor on these Bills vis-a-vis the posts of Pro-Vice-Chancellor in three state universities, as reports, which remain uncontradicted, suggest, it seems the government was wrongly advised. The abolition of the posts of PVC does not affect Babu Parmanand personally. In fact, he is believed to be continually receiving complaints from the PVCs that no work had been assigned to them by their Vice-Chancellors. The sources say personally Babu Parmanand was not very happy with the system. Since two of the PVCs are the government’s nominees, “will the
government cut its nose to spite someone else?” as RPI MLA Karan Singh Dalal quipped. |
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Haryana
excise policy okayed Chandigarh, March 3 The Cabinet decided that in place of the tender system, the auction system would be adopted and one or more districts shall be auctioned together. The number of vends will remain the same at 1600. No liquor vend will be opened in the municipal limits of Kurukshetra, Thanesar(except Pipli along the GT Road) and Pehowa in view of the religious sanctity of these places. One “ahata” will be opened for 10 vends. Liquor will be available in glass bottles and PET bottles but the latter would be discontinued after three months. Pouches will not be allowed. VAT would be subsumed in licence fees. The duty or fee on liquor sold through canteen has been increased from Rs 7.50 per bottle to Rs 19.50 per bottle. The interest rate on delayed payments has been fixed at 18 per cent per annum. Clubs and restaurants will be allowed to sell only good-quality liquor. The sale timings would be from 9 am to 12 noon. The licence fee for public functions has been reduced to Rs 500.
For beer, it will be 12 bottles of 650 ml each. The draft Bill is in line with the decisions taken at the all-India level whereby there would be mainly two rates of tax, 4 per cent for declared goods and goods listed in Schedule C and a revenue neutral rate(RNR) of tax. RNR has been fixed uniformly at 12.5 per cent as per consensus among the states. Apart from the two rates, the commodities listed in Schedule B will be exempt from tax. Petroleum products, bullion and liquor, however, will invite a special rate of taxes. The Cabinet also approved an amendment to Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act. According to the amendment, the provision of ‘property dealer’ has been added in Section 7 of the Act. The Cabinet also accepted recommendations of a subcommittee regarding retaining the existing provision of area on a colony. However, in high-potential urban areas, a provision will be made for reducing the area of a colony.
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Chautala
promises to uplift rural areas Kurukshetra, March 3 This was stated by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, while presiding over the third phase of the Sarkar Apke Dwar” programme held at PWD Rest House at Pehowa, 30 km from here, today. He redressed the grievances of 96 village panchayats and 15 wards of Pehowa city. Mr Chautala announced a number of developmental schemes for the Pehowa constituency, including upgradation of schools, construction of school rooms, boundary walls and retaining walls, installation of tubewells, construction of gau ghat, construction and repair of chaupals belonging to scheduled castes, backward classes and other categories. He also accepted the demand for construction of drain to drain out filthy water of the villages. He also announced the grant for construction of pavement of streets. On the occasion, the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Kumar Arora, the Agriculture Minister and local MLA, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Mrs Kailasho Saini, MP, The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Abhilaksh Likhi, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ms Sukriti Likhi, the SP, Mr Desh Raj Singh, SDM, Pehowa, Mr Prem Chand, co-ordinator INLD, Haryana Minority Cell. |
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INLD men hurt in stone throwing Jind, March 3 According to reports INLD supporters of Kaithal district, were on way to Rohtak via-Jind in a bus to attend vikas rally. At Kandala village several youths, including some students, had assembled at the bus stop and displayed black ‘ghaghri and
handi’ to oppose the rally. This was resented by the INLD supporters and when they tried to remove the ‘ghaghri and
handi’ youths present there opposed it which resulted in an altercation leading to stone pelting. The police has registered a case in this regard, but no arrest has been made so far. The Bharatiya Kisan Union activists have, however, denied their involvement in this incident. |
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Bhajan camp flays Jhajjar rally Chandigarh, March 3 In a statement issued here today, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, HPCC spokesman and a former minister, claimed that Mr Bhajan Lal was acknowledged as the most popular Chief Minister of Haryana and architect of the SYL canal by a reputed weekly magazine. While regretting the direct and indirect references made at Mr Bhajan Lal by speakers at the Jhajjar rally, the statement claimed that the rallies organised by Mr Bhajan Lal at Bhiwani and Panipat were much bigger than the one at Jhajjar. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Leader of the Opposition in Haryana, who was among the chief organisers of the rally at Jhajjar, meanwhile, said that the large participation in the rally had amply showed that people had faith in him and his colleagues as the true
flag bearers of the SYL issue. “People had come against all odds”, Mr Hooda said, alleging that the state government tried various means to prevent people from coming to the Jhajjar rally. He added they would wait till May 2 for the Central Government to announce its plan for completion of the SYL canal. “If by May 2, nothing concrete on the SYL canal comes from the Centre, we shall announce a programme of blocking all roads to Delhi from Haryana”, he said. |
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‘Withdraw
hike’ in urea price Kaithal, March 3 He said it was a pity that on the one hand a number of concessions had been given to industrialists and other sections of society and on the other hand the farmers had been heavily burdened. Mr Mann urged the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala to withdraw his party’s support to the Central Government if it did not withdraw the hike. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, March 3 Taking up an appeal filed by the state of Haryana against former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, the Commission, Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh Chautala, the Bench also issued notice of motion for April 25. Challenging the judgement on as many as 24 grounds, the state, in its appeal, had earlier contended that the order was liable to be set aside as it was based on conjectures and surmises. The judgement was against law and facts, was illegal, void abinitio and against the principles of natural justice. Giving details, the state had submitted that an anomalous situation had arisen because of the fact that the Commission had completed its proceedings and had already submitted its final report to the state government prior to the pronouncement of the judgement. Thus, the Commission had become “functus-officio”. The Single Judge was apprised of the situation. Now, the question of law was whether the quashing of the notification regarding the appointment of the Commission was sustainable in law as it had become “functus-officio” after the submission of its final report. It was further submitted that the Judge had erred in holding that material was not placed before the Council of Ministers for forming an opinion regarding the appointment of the Commission. No such material was required to be placed formally before the Council. Moreover, the Judge had failed to appreciate the fact the policy of prohibition was withdrawn by Bansi Lal himself . The Judge had also failed to take a judicial notice of the fact that directly or indirectly, the petitioner had admitted the failure of his government’s policy when he decided to withdraw the same. The Judge, it was added, had also erred “while giving much importance to the so-called fact that the Commission was appointed at the behest of the Chief Minister who always nurtured animus towards the petitioner due to mala fide intentions as he wanted to settle some political score with the writ petitioner. Haryana’s Advocate-General Surya Kant Sharma appeared on the state’s behalf. It may be recalled that the former Chief Minister, in his petition, had also sought the quashing of a show cause notice issued to him on May 2 last year. He had claimed that the Commission, under political pressure exerted by the Chief Minister and son, Ajay, had manipulated affidavits and statements of rival party activists from Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and Gurgaon. His counsel had claimed that in most of the cases the deponents were not even aware of the purpose behind procuring the affidavits and had simply penned down their signatures or thump impressions on blank paper.
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Undertrial freed by stabbing cop
Hisar, March 3 An undertrial, Ramdhan, alias Leela of Farmana village, was being taken to Hisar from Rohtak in a Haryana Roadways but for producing him in the court here in some case. When the bus reached near a canal of Kharkhara village, some unidentified motor cycle-borne youths stopped the bus and some of their accomplice who were already travelling in the bus freed Ramdhan from police custody after stabbing havildar Dalbir and throwing red chillies in the eyes of constables Suresh and Om Prakash. The miscreants are also said to have fired from country-made pistol before freeing the suspect. PTI
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‘Extend
deadline for accepting HCS exam forms’ Fatehabad, March 3 Mr Rajesh Bharat, state president of the manch, said unemployed youths had been running from pillar to post to get the application forms, that were available only in the office of the Haryana Public Service Commission in Chandigarh. He said that it was not possible for everyone to go to Chandigarh to get the forms. He said even youths who had sought the forms by post has not received these in time. Mr Bharat also said the application forms should be made available in all employment exchanges in the state. |
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Employees
hold procession Kaithal, March 3 Earlier, the employees held a meeting at the park where their leaders including Mr Bharat Singh Behniwal, general secretary of the Joint Action Committee, and Mr Dharam Pal, district president, said the government which had not fulfilled any promises made to employees and the common man and closed down many departments rendering thousands jobless. |
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Civil Judges assn dissolved Kaithal March 3
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1 lakh take holy dip Kurukshetra, March 3 Community kitchens were organised by various social and religious organisations for the pilgrims, who had come from all over Haryana, Punjab and the neighbouring states.
PTI
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Students
go on strike Yamunanagar, March 3 The students said two weeks ago they had informed the Director of the management regarding the problems being faced by them but they had not received any positive response. The students said the agitation would continue until their demands were
fulfilled. OC
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