 |
Thursday,
April 3, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
How Haryana could implement VAT Police to re-probe LIG allotments K.N.
Pathak, 6 others get Goyal Awards Dr Chawla named KU VC
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
IAS officers fight
for seniority 10 villages likely to be merged for Ambala corpn 12 BKU men detained
|
|
How Haryana could implement VAT Chandigarh, April 2 They said legislation prepared by the government for the imposition of VAT in Haryana was the key to the introduction of the new tax system in the state from April 1, the date arrived at by consensus among various states for implementing VAT. While West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat and
Maharashtra said VAT could not be implemented without the presidential approval, Kerala and Rajasthan said it could not be enforced because of “uncertainty” in neighbouring states. In the case of Haryana, sources in the Excise and Taxation Department said, the requisite Bill was prepared in such a way that the presidential assent was not required. The presidential nod would have been necessary if the Bill had imposed restriction on freedom of trade and commerce, thereby violating Article 304 of the constitution. The presidential assent would have been required in case the Bill was not in conformity with an existing central Act, the sources said, adding that since none of these provisions was applicable in the case of the Bill in question, the state government did not seek the President’s nod. The problem of non-implementation of the VAT regime in the neighbouring states though is being faced by Haryana as well since Delhi and Punjab, two states bordering Haryana, have not introduced the new tax system. This problem is sought to be tackled by the Haryana Government by retaining sales tax at the prevalent rate for a large number of items. The rate of tax on these items (‘general items’) in Delhi is 8 per cent. In Haryana, the existing rate of tax on such items is 10 per cent and this is being retained as such. However, under the VAT regime, these items are to be taxed at the rate of 12.5 per cent, which, according to Haryana Government sources, will be introduced in the state once Delhi also embraces the VAT regime. |
|
Police to re-probe LIG allotments Panchkula, April 2 Sources in the Housing Board informed TNS that the police had set aside the departmental inquiry report into the irregularities in the allotment of these houses, meant for Class III and Class IV employees of autonomous institutions and other government employees. Further punitive action against the allottees has thus not been taken as the police is now in the process of reinvestigation of the case — almost one year after the first information report was registered against 20 allottees. It may be mentioned that at least 40 allottees had been indicted for misrepresenting and suppression of facts while seeking allotment of these 716 LIG-II houses in Sector 55, Faridabad. The Housing Board had proposed a scheme for constructing 2,700 houses in Sector 55 of Faridabad in July 1998. While 1764 LIG-I houses were for general category, 200 LIG-I houses were for government employees, besides the above mentioned 716 LIG-II houses. At the time this scheme was announced, the premium for these houses was quite high—between Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. Applications for all categories of houses were invited in July 1998 and subsequently these houses were allotted. However, in December 2000, the Housing Board discovered that a large number of applicants for the 716
LIG-II houses had been impersonated and did not even know that a house had been allotted in their name. The departmental had revealed that certain unscrupulous property dealers, reported having close links with land mafia there, had fraudulently got allotment in the name of government employees — by submitting their applications along with their salary details and photographs. In other such allotments, the applicant did not exist in the department mentioned in the application form; i.e. it had been wrongly submitted that the applicant was a government employee. In a number of other cases, where the department of the applicant as mentioned in the form was found to be false, the applications/allotments had been cancelled. Other than scrutinising the forms of all 716 allottees, those of 28 applicants in the waiting list were also examined. It was thus that the Housing Board had cancelled the allotment of 20 allottees, forfeited their deposits (Rs 37,000) and then got an FIR registered against them in April last year. The remaining 20 allottees were issued show cause notices and their cases are now in appeal with the Housing Board authorities. |
|
|
K.N. Pathak, 6 others get Goyal
Awards Kurukshetra, April 2 The recipients of the prizes included, Dr K.K. Talwar, Professor of Cardiology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Dr Anil Kumar, Professor and Convener of Sophisticated Instruments’ Facility at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Dr
S.K. Brahmachari, Director, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi; and Dr
K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh. The four eminent scientists were given a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each besides a gold medal and a citation. Dr
S.P. Singh, Professor Emeritus of Kurukshetra University, received the award on behalf of Dr Anil Kumar, who could not make to the occasion due to official obligations. The other three young scientists who were honoured on the occasion, included Dr Ramesh Chandra, Vice-Chancellor of Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, Dr Yogender Singh of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi and Dr T.V. Aravindakshan of Kerala Agriculture University. They were given a cash award of Rs 50,000, a silver medal and a citation each. These awards were instituted in 1992 by Mr Ram S. Goyal, an NRI settled in USA. So far 40 distinguished scientists of the country have been honoured with these prizes in addition to the newly established Rajib Goyal Prizes which have been awarded to 11 young scientists. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister appreciated the efforts of the donor, Mr Ram S. Goyal, for promoting the Indian science through these prizes. He said Haryana Government had always taken initiative to honour those who had done excellent work for the country. Recalling the achievements of Karnal-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died recently in the crash of space shuttle, Columbia, he said her sacrifice would inspire the future generations. The state government had instituted an award and scholarships in the memory of this talented daughter of Haryana. The Kalpana Chawla Memorial Gold Medal would be awarded to the girl student
securing the maximum marks in the Class X examination of the Haryana School Education Board and would comprise a cash award of Rs 25,000. Monthly scholarships worth Rs 2,000 each would be awarded to five meritorious girl students of the state engineering colleges. The state government also plans to set up a planetarium at Kurukshetra in Kalpana’s memory and Ambala Polytechnic had been named after her. Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated the building of Ch Devi Lal Boys Hostel constructed at a cost of Rs 2 crore. The triple-storeyed hostel has 120 rooms to accommodate 250 students, a recreational room and a dinning hall. The hostel building has been completed with in a record period of one year. The Chief Minister also inaugurated the three-storeyed building of the teaching block of the Department of Distance Education. This block is equipped with computer laboratory, tutorial rooms, common room, committee room, open-air theatre and all modern facilities for the convenience of the students. The block has been constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore. Others present on the occasion, included the Transport Minister, Haryana, Mr Ashok Kumar; the Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu; the MLA of
Radaur, Mr Banta Ram; the state president of the INLD, Mr Sher Singh
Badshami; and the Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Mr R.S.
Chaudhry. |
|
|
Dr Chawla named KU VC Karnal, April 2 Official sources told The Tribune today that the Haryana Cabinet had already recommended the name of Dr Chawla for Vice-Chancellor’s post to Governor Babu Parma Nand who is also Chancellor of Kurukshetra University. According to the University statute it is incumbent on the Chancellor to accept the recommendation of the state government on the appointment of Vice-Chancellor. Official sources also pointed that the orders would be issued on April 4 itself per practice. Mr P.K. Dass, Commissioner of Hisar Division, will be the first officiating Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhry Devi Lal University to be inaugurated on April 6 by Union Human Resources Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. |
|
IAS officers fight
for seniority Chandigarh, April 2 While the first round of the battle has been won by the direct recruits by dint of an order by the Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT) on March 10, the affected promotees have vowed to go to the higher court to retain their seniority. “We will even go up to the Supreme Court to challenge the CAT order”, said an enraged promotee. The CAT, following an application by Mr Ashok Khemka, a direct recruit of 1991 batch, asked the Union Ministry of Personnel and Training to do a fresh exercise regarding fixing seniority of the promotee officers with reference to the date of meeting of the selection committee held for this purpose. Earlier, these officers were allotted the IAS cadre with reference to the years when vacancies had occurred in the promotion quota. Though the CAT order is yet to be implemented in the state, Mr Khemka, who is currently Director of the Information Technology Department, is already facing the ire of the promotees affected by the order. Thirteen other direct recruits will also benefit from the CAT decision. They are Vineet Garg, Anil Malik, Sandeep Garg, G Anupama, Srikant Walgad, Abhilash Likhi and A.K. Singh from the 1991 batch, Arun Kumar Gupta from the 1992 batch, V. Umashankar, Deepti Umashankar, Neerja and Sukriti Likhi from the 1993 batch and Anurag Aggarwal from the 1994 batch. “Though some of us will lose if the CAT order is implemented, the direct recruits will not gain anything out of it. It may only serve to the extent of satisfying their egos”, argued a promotee officer who is threatened with loosing his seniority. He said that the direct recruits would have been promoted in the due course and the seniority allotted to the promotee officers would not have hampered their careers in any way. “Moreover, most of those affected by the CAT order would be retiring before they would get the next promotion”, he said. A direct recruit officer of the 1991 batch, however, said the direct recruits felt that the threat to their promotion was real which led to the filing of the application before the CAT. Elevation in terms of pay scale as well as rank could get stalled due to presence of seniors promoted to the IAS from the HCS, he said. Though it is Mr Ashok Khemka who has moved the application before the CAT, but he has the backing of the 13 remaining direct recruits slated to benefit from the CAT order. All 14 officers are in touch with each other and preparing for the next phase of the battle anticipating that the promotees will challenge the CAT order in the high court. On the other hand, Ms Satwanti Ahlawat, Deputy Commissioner of Panchkula and Mr Balraj Singh, Joint Secretary, Power Department, are spearheading the campaign on the part of the promotee officers. Even those who will be retiring shortly and will not gain if the CAT order is quashed are ready to contribute for making a common kitty to pay for the cost of the next phase of the battle in the high court. They had all contributed earlier when the case was fought in the tribunal. “Was it not a question of ego for them as well?”, asked this question a promotee officer said they were fighting only to retain their senior status. A total of 26 promotee officers will be affected by the CAT order, it is learnt. |
|
|
10 villages likely to be merged for Ambala corpn Ambala, April 2 According to information, the department has been planning to merge more than 10 villages surrounding the Ambala Sadar and Ambala City municipal councils in the proposed municipal corporation to meet the mandatory requirement of the population of 3 lakh prescribed in clause (iii) of Section of 2-A of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973. According to sources, the villages which are likely to come under the jurisdiction of the local corporation include Babyal, Nanhera, Ugara, Matheri Jattan, Kanwala-Kanwali, Saunda, Nasirpur, Jandli, Singhawala, Barnala, Dhankaur, Dhulkot, Sekh-Didhla, Machhonda-Machhondi, Meeranpur-Begampur, Devinagar and the revenue estates of Patti Sekhan, Patti Achroan, Chak Mandi, Saria Mahmood, Patti Mehar, Patti Rangran, Patti Jattana, Khurampur Majri and Khatik Majri. At present the above villages are being governed by their panchayats. The sources said after the formation of the corporation, all assets and liabilities of municipal councils of Ambala Sadar and Ambala City and gram panchayats included in the municipal corporation would be vested in the loal municipal corporation. A few villages, however, are not in the favour of being included in the corporation periphery as they fear that the vacant common land of these villages, being used for grazing the cattle, will be converted into residential colonies and affect the natural environment of the villages. Most of the councillors of Ambala City and Ambala Sadar municipal councils have also been opposing the move as they will have to loose membership of the council before the expiry of their tenure. |
|
|
12 BKU men detained Jind, April 2 Mr Mange Ram Numberdar and Mr Nafe Singh Igrah alleged that the administration was forcing them to end the fast and a police party came to the village early morning today to pick them up. As they wee not available the police rounded up 12 BKU workers present at the venue of the fast. The police detained these workers in the Sadar Police Station, Jind. The police denied the allegations. According to a police officer a case had been registered against the BKU activists on fast. As the news of BKU worker’s rounding up spread the administration stopped plying Haryana Roadways buses from Jind to Kaithal and Karnal via Shahpur village to prevent any untoward incident. The buses were diverted. The relay fast by BKU activists at Jind city entered 12th day today. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
