 |
Thursday,
March 27, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
HIMACHAL ASSEMBLY BJP MLAs stage walkout Vote-on-account passed Probe charges against Dhumal govt: Thakur |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
HIGH COURT BJP to analyse Himachal defeat HPU approves
revised estimates
|
|
HIMACHAL ASSEMBLY Shimla, March 26 Moving the resolution, Mr Virbhadra Singh said the state government was not in a position to implement the order by March 31,2003, as directed by the apex court. It not only had serious financial implications for the fund-starved government, but also involved issues like constitutional powers of the state to make the rules regulating the appointment and conditions of service of the judicial officers. Giving details, he said the apex court had also desired that the number of judges should be raised to 50 per 10 lakh of population from the present 15 per 10 lakh besides filling of existing vacancies. At present there were 98 judges and as per the court order, the number would have to be raised to 210. The compliance with the order would entail an additional burden of Rs 95 crore. The issue was discussed at a meeting of the Finance Ministers of states and the Chief Ministers’ conference and the general consensus was that implementation of the judgment would put a huge financial burden on the states which they not in a position to bear. Moreover, the state government had to maintain some parity in the pay scales of various services. One particular service or cadre of officers could not be given a package of salaries and perquisites which was quite disproportionate to what was being offered to others. It would be difficult for the state government to ignore their demands. More importantly, the appointment and service conditions of judicial officers were governed by articles 233 and 234 along with article 301 of the Constitution which empowered the state to frame these. Thus, the directions of the apex court were an encroachment on the constitutional powers of the state. Mr P.K. Dhumal, leader of the BJP leadership, said it was not an issue to be decided by the Vidhan Sabha and there was a danger that the step could lead to a confrontation between the judiciary and the legislature. Instead, of bringing a resolution in the House, the government should make efforts at the political level and pursue the issue with the Centre as only Parliament was empowered to bring a legislation to remedy the situation. |
|
BJP MLAs stage walkout Shimla, March 26 The trouble arose while Mr Virbhadra Singh was replying to a question of Mr Ravinder Ravi concerning the outstanding loans of the government. He said the total debt liability increased from Rs 4,966 crore as on March 31, 1998, when the BJP-HVC came to power, to Rs 12,366 crore on March 1, 2003. However, the actual liability after including the guarantees given by the government to various boards and corporations came to Rs 15,425 crore. This infuriated Mr P.K. Dhumal, leader of the BJP group, who said it was obligatory on the part of the government to stand guarantee to enable certain boards and corporations to raise loans, and these could not be included in the debt liability. It was a cover up as the Congress had charged the BJP government with raising loans to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore. In any case, the government should reveal the position after including the guarantees in the figures for March 1998, too. Mr Virbhadra Singh, however, maintained that most of the corporations had not been repaying loans which ultimately the government had to pay. Moreover, some corporations were set up by the BJP-HVC government specifically for raising loans to meet its day-to-day expenditure. Mr Dhumal wanted the Chief Minister to come out with instances where a corporation had not paid loan which led to heated exchanges between the Treasury Benches and BJP members. As the Chief Minister stuck to his position, the BJP group led by Mr Dhumal walked out raising slogans against the government. Later talking to mediapersons, Mr Dhumal said by refusing to given the exact position as on March 31,1998, including the government guarantees, the opposition members had been denied their right to information. It was shocking that the Congress which misled the people on the issue during the election campaign had not hesitated even in quoting wrong figures of debt liability in the Governor’s Address. He said a gigantic “lie” of the Congress had been nailed in the first session of the Vidhan Sabha itself. Now that the exact figure of Rs 12,366 crore in regard to outstanding loans had been revealed, the people would know to what extent they had been misled by the Congress. He said the Virbhadra government had during 1994-98 raised loans to tune of Rs 913 crore in violation of Article 293 of the Constitution without the mandatory approval of the Centre. Not only that the rate of interest was exorbitantly high, the commission was paid to middlemen. In contrast his government maintained complete transparency and also paid very little arrangers’ fee. |
|
Vote-on-account passed Shimla, March 26 The House also passed the supplementary demand totalling Rs 491 crore for this financial year. Earlier, replying to the call attention motion of Mr I.D. Dhiman and Ms Anita
Verma, the Revenue Minister, Mr Brij Bihari Lal Butail, informed the House that 62 ‘jhuggis’ of Bihari labourers were burnt at Bari village in Hamirpur district on March 23. He said three persons had been arrested. He said the police and the SDM concerned reached the scene and provided relief of Rs 5,000 to victims. He said a case had been registered under Sections 431 and 34 of the IPC. Moving the motion, Mr Dhiman alleged that the administration did not act promptly and the relief given was too meagre. Ms Verma said villagers were opposed to mining in the ‘khad’ and they had also lodged complaints with the administration. The ‘jhuggis’ had already been vacated when the fire took place. The police had registered a case against those who were against mining, which was not the right approach. The session had been extended by a day. Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, Speaker, announced in the House that the decision to extend the session had been taken for the election of Deputy Speaker. Mr Dharam Pal of the Congress is the only candidate who filed nomination paper. His election as Deputy Speaker tomorrow will be a formality. The House will be adjourned sine die after the reply of the Chief Minister to the debate on motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address. |
Dharam Pal set
to be Deputy Speaker Shimla, march 26 The election of the Deputy Speaker will be held tomorrow and Dharam Pal is the only candidate in the fray. He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha in 1993 from the Arki constituency for the first time.
PTI |
|
|
Probe charges against Dhumal govt: Thakur Shimla, March 26 Intervening in the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address, he said Mr Dhumal did not conduct any inquiry into the charge sheet submitted by the Congress against his government but now after coming to power the party should probe the charges. He said the Rs 2.17 crore health scam provided a clear indication of how the previous government functioned. The department was sanctioned Rs 2.17 crore for purchase of medicines but the letter in this regard was allegedly tempered. The Chief Minister instead of taking the matter to logical conclusion regularised the purchases made on the basis of the tampered letter and only initiated action against officials who were charged with tempering the records. In fact three directors of the department were made scapegoats to shield the real beneficiaries of the scam. Even the recruitment of teachers in the university had also marred by favouritism and nepotism. Unqualified candidates were appointed because they had a ‘saffron background’. Not only that the wife of a BJP leader who was living in the government house allotted to her husband had been fraudulently claiming house rent from the university. Participating in the debate, Mr H.N. Saini said that the Governor’s Address did not give even a broad outline of the new government's policies and programmes. He said the Congress should fulfil its promise to scrap the entry tax. |
|
HIGH COURT Chandigarh, March 26 Mr Dhumal, in his petition, had earlier alleged that the complainant had neither the locus standi, nor the cause of action, to file the case against him. Even as per the complainant’s own submissions, the allegations had been levelled against Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and another, not against him. Giving details, senior advocate appearing on Mr Dhumal’s behalf asserted that only an aggrieved person had the right to file a case for criminal defamation under Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He added that not only was the criminal complaint liable to be quashed, but also the summoning orders passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate on February 14. Seeking directions for quashing the entire proceedings arising out of the criminal defamation complaint against Mr Dhumal as it was non-maintainable in law, counsel added that the intention behind the filing of the same was more political in nature than legal. |
|
BJP to analyse Himachal defeat Chamba, March 26 Speaking to mediapersons here today, Mr Kishori Lal, former Industries Minister, criticised the Congress for exploiting casteism in these elections. He also accused the Congress of using “money power and hooliganism” during the Assembly elections. Mr Kishori Lal said the present Congress government in the state could collapse any time in view of a war of contradictory statements between the state Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and his Cabinet colleagues. While expressing his gratitude to the BJP workers for the dedication and hard work they had shown in the Assembly elections, the former minister called upon the BJP rank and file to be prepared for elections any time. He alleged that the Congress had won the elections by making out false accusations of a debt of Rs 15,000 crore on the state exchequer. |
|
HPU approves
revised estimates Shimla, March 26 The council approved revised estimates of budget to the tune of Rs 5329.81 lakh for this financial year. It approved the recommendations of the finance committee to the extent that the university would restrict its expenditure during the first four months by not exceeding 30 per cent of the proposed estimates. It also approved to create a new faculty of inter-disciplinary studies. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
