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MDU set
to okay ex-VC’s actions Haryana
minister contests Punjab resolution on SYL canal South
Haryana tops Rao Inderjit’s priority list The Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh said here on Friday that the United Progressive Alliance government would honour and implement the apex court verdict on the SYL Canal. Chautala
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Arora
is Haryana INLD president The Indian National Lok Dal yesterday made an attempt to make inroads into the Punjabi community by having chosen Mr Ashok Kumar Arora as the party's Haryana unit president. Judicial
remand for five in poisoning case The Duty Magistrate, Mr Parveen Aggarwal, today remanded five persons, including a woman, to judicial custody for 14 days in a case of causing death of three persons, including two children, by allegedly mixing poison in their tea. Sir
Chhotu Ram’s life sketch in Class V syllabus Arrest
of lawyer’s attackers demanded Protest
against custodial death
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MDU set to okay ex-VC’s actions Rohtak, June 13 The most interesting item in the agenda pertains to relaxing the minimum qualifying marks in the entrance test for admission to M.Com by up to 40 per cent. The benchmark was 30 marks and five of the aspirants failed to reach it. Nevertheless, the university did not disappoint them. The then VC lowered the benchmark and these students were admitted on July 18, 2001. The five beneficiaries were Rajesh Kumar (Roll No. 1201), Simran Kaur (Roll No 1009), Minakshi Tanwar (Roll No 1068), Yujbir (Roll No 1027) and Harish Kumar (Roll No 1167). They had scored 26.25, 22.75, 21, 18.50 and 17.75 marks in the entrance examination against a minimum of 30 marks needed to qualify for admission. The agenda item gives no reason for the VC’s action. Mercifully, these admissions were made within the admission schedule. Otherwise the same agenda item seeks approval of admission of several candidates to M.Phil and M.Com long after the last date of admissions. Again no reasons for condoning the delay have been recorded. From the agenda it appears the university leaves no stone unturned to accommodate its favourites. During admissions for the academic session 2001-2002, the VC created five additional seats in M. A. (Physical Education) for “candidates who were in the waiting list”. The only explanation for this unusual action is that the case was recommended by the Head of the Department concerned. The same year Jai Parkash was allowed admission to the five-year LL.B course at MDU National Law College at Gurgaon against a payment/NRI seat by relaxing the “minimum qualifying marks up to 45 per cent”. No reason has been given for relaxing the qualifying marks. That is not the end of the story. Five students were allowed admission without the even taking the entrance test. They were accommodated against payment seats, which were vacant. The 52-page agenda makes an interesting reading for several reasons. It seeks to regularise the actions of the then VC taken from 2000 to 2003. A majority of the items pertain to creation of additional seats at will, condoning delay in admissions and lowering the minimum requirements. Interestingly, the panel has met several times during all these years but these items were not brought up for its consideration. The last such meeting took place as recently as March 10, 2004. Senior university teachers say the VC can take decisions in anticipation of the approval of the admission panel only in rare circumstances. Besides, a VC cannot create additional seats simply by issuing an order. Such wholesale manipulation of the rules makes a mockery of the various academic committees, they added. One such teacher painted a very different scenario. He asked what the fate of these students would be just in case the panel refused to approve the VC’s action. In that case would the university withdraw the degrees it has already awarded to the beneficiaries? he asked. No university official is prepared to go on record about the fancy agenda. One senior functionary said on condition of anonymity that the university was only trying to provide a legal cover to the former VC’s actions just in case the new dispensation raised the old dust. |
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Follow criteria, Chancellor’s nominee tells MDU panel Rohtak, June 13 In a communication to the Haryana Education Secretary, he has said that the meeting could be held any time after June 20, and also pointed out that there was no point in holding the meeting without inviting applications for the post on an all-India basis. It stated that the government should write to all important universities in the country seeking names of suitable persons. The government should also seek the recommendation of the University Grants Commission. Thereafter, the meeting should be called after the proper scrutiny of the applications. Dr Ramesh Chandra who is a nominee of the Haryana Governor and MDU Chancellor Babu Parmamand has reminded the government that this was the usual practice followed by universities of good standing in the country. He hoped that the Haryana Government too would follow the some criteria keeping in view the interests of the premier educational institution. The tiff between the Chancellor and the government on the issue is more than a month-old now. The government had managed to get two members of the search panel nominated by the Executive Council at its last meeting held under the aegis of the then Vice-Chancellor Maj Gen (retd) Bhim Singh Suhag. The council, however, annulled the decision at its May 31 meeting and decided to send new names later. |
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MDU should hold competitive tests, says MLA Rohtak, June 13 He questioned the government decision to change the test-conducting authority at the last moment. However, a new set of question papers had been procured by the PGIMS director. This had raised doubts in the minds of the candidates about the motives for changing the authority. He demanded that the change in the domicile clause in the prospectus, which had left the test open to those who had not passed the
classes X and XII from Haryana should be changed and eligibility conditions made the same as last year. |
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Haryana minister contests Punjab
resolution Chandigarh, June 13 The resolution had said that Punjab, a riparian state, was being unjustly deprived of its right to use the Ravi-Beas waters by their transfer to the Yamuna basin areas of Haryana, which was non-riparian and a non-basin state. In a statement issued here, Mr Sandhu also termed the suggestion of Punjab that the allocation of the river waters in the past had been affected by ad hoc decisions and agreements dictated by prevalent circumstances rather than the internationally recognised principles of the riparian or basin states “as misleading and contrary to the facts”. He said the river waters to Haryana were first allocated by an order of the Union Government on March 24, 1976, which was made pursuant to Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. Clearly, the water was allocated by a statutory order to a successor state. He said the surplus river water was, in fact, allocated to the basin states much earlier on January 29, 1955, in anticipation of the Indus Water Treaty, signed on September 19, 1960. A major portion of the water was allocated to Rajasthan. Mr Sandhu said the erstwhile state of Punjab had prepared a master plan for integrated use of waters of the eastern rivers, the Sutlej, the Ravi and the Beas. A dam on the Sutlej was already in progress. A project report for constructing unit I and unit II of the Beas project was finalised. A dam on the Ravi was under contemplation. The Ravi was already linked to the Beas through the Madhopur Beas link. The Beas project was to link the Beas with the Sutlej. Work on this project had started much before the reorganisation of Punjab. He said the Reorganisation Act accordingly provided sharing of the Bhakra Nangal and Beas Project between the successor states. The Union Government allocated the surplus Ravi Beas waters between the two states by the order of 1976, which was later amended by the tripartite agreement of December 31, 1981. He said the issue of Haryana and Rajasthan, being non riparian states, was seriously canvassed by Punjab before the Ravi-Beas Tribunal. The tribunal rejected the contention of Punjab and it was held that Punjab and Rajasthan fell within the Indu basin. In fact, it was held by the tribunal that even if Haryana had been a separate state before the allocation of the surplus Ravi-Beas waters decided on January 29, 1955, Haryana could have got a share in these waters, being a basin state. The various orders or agreements for allocating the surplus Ravi-Beas waters among the basin states cannot by any stretch of imagination be termed as adhoc decisions and agreements dictated by prevalent circumstances. In fact, all decisions and agreements were arrived at a competent level as per the statute and internationally recognised principles for allocation of waters among the basin states. |
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Ajay ridicules Kumedan’s
statement Chandigarh, June 13 Reacting to the media reports about the assertion of Mr Preetam Singh Kumedan, Mr Chautala said such ridiculous statements merely showed that Mr Kumedan did not care to read the latest judgment of the Supreme Court. He said the apex court had noted that in paragraph 18 of the written statement by the Punjab in OS No 6/96, there was an express challenge to Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act for want of legislative competence. This had been ably opposed by the lawyers of the Haryana Government and the Supreme Court had decided the issue against the state of Punjab on the principle of res judicata, Mr Chautala said. He said the statement of Mr Kumedan was a malicious attempt to vitiate the judicial process. The Supreme Court had already rapped the Punjab Chief Minister for acting as a super judicial body over the Supreme Court.
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South Haryana tops Rao Inderjit’s priority list Rewari, June 13 He said this at a meeting with the District Bar Association here. This was his first official visit to Rewari after his elevation to the External Affairs Ministry. Making a specific mention of the stepmotherly treatment being meted out to south Haryana by successive state governments with regard to equitable distribution of canal water in the state Mr Rao said he would continue efforts till south Haryana got its rightful share of the canal water. Referring to certain other items to eliminate regional imbalances, the minister stated that he would make efforts to get a PGIMS -level hospital okayed for south Haryana. A broad-guage link between Rewari and Kandla was his another priority. Later, the minister was given a reception by members of the Dalit Samaj at a function held on the premises of the Ravi Dass Hostel-cum-temple complex here. He announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the development of the complex. He was also welcomed by activists of the Youth Congress and others at another function on the premises of Makhan Lal Dharamshala here. The officiating chief of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party Capt Ajay Singh Yadav also spoke on the occasion. |
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Arora is Haryana INLD president Chandigarh, June 13 Mr Arora's predecessor, Mr Sher Singh
Badshami, had earlier resigned following the INLD's rout in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state. Following the INLD's electoral debacle, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana and president of the INLD, was quoted to have said that Punjabis and Baniyas did not vote for the INLD in the elections. The remark was found “casteist” by Mr Chautala's political opponents who issued press statements against Mr Chautala on the issue. However, nomination of Mr Arora, Transport Minister of Haryana, by Mr Chautala as president of the party's state unit was an unmistakable sign that the INLD would not like to alienate the Punjabi community. Mr Chautala also nominated Mr Umed Singh Lohan as the state convener of the youth wing of the INLD. Earlier, Mr Ajay Chautala, elder son of Mr Om Prakash Chautala, was the president of the youth wing of the INLD. Like Mr Badshami, Mr Ajay Chautala too quit his post after the Lok Sabha elections. Mr Umed Singh Lohan, who comes from the Jat community, has come in place of Mr Ajay Chautala, though he is being called the state convener instead of president of the youth wing. Mr Arora and Mr Umed Singh would consult the national president and constitute the state executive committee of the party and appoint district and constituency presidents. |
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Judicial remand for five in poisoning case Fatehabad, June 13 The special police staff of the IG, Hisar range had yesterday arrested Prabhu Dayal, Manpreet, Shiv Dayal, Attar Singh and Sardaro Bai from Hinjrawan Kalan village in this district in this regard. The police had also exhumed bodies of two children, Jaswant and Suresh, and sent these to the PGIMS Rohtak for post-mortem examination. The incident dates back to March 28 this year. Sukhdev Singh, one of the victims, was residing in a dhani in his fields in the village. According to information, Manpreet, a nephew of Sukhdev Singh, reportedly mixed some poisonous substance in the tea prepared for the family. Sukhdev Singh, his wife Mukhtiaro Bai, two grandchildren Jaswant and Suresh, Kanta and Tek Chand consumed the poisonous tea and fell seriously ill. Manpreet prepared separate tea for him and his family members after washing the utensils so that they also consumed tea and nobody doubted them. The affected persons were rushed to the General Hospital here, where Jaswant died after some time. Suresh died two days later on March 30, while Sukhdev died on April 17 while he was undergoing treatment at Agroha Medical Hospital. The others were saved Initially, everyone took the incident as an accident and thought that the family might have consumed poisonous substance accidentally or it could be a case of food poisoning. But villagers got suspicious after Manpreet and his father Attar Chand avoided post-mortem of the two dead children. The bodies were later buried near the village. Attar Chand was having an old dispute with Sukhdev Singh over property. Jagga Ram, a son of the deceased Sukhdev Singh, lodged a complaint with the police that he suspected foul play in the death of his kin. The villagers also supported him and they made several representations to the police in this regard. Though the police registered a case under Sections 302, 328, 201 and 120B of the IPC on April 30, no arrest was made. The villagers met the IG, Hisar, in this regard, who entrusted the matter to his special staff. The special staff police party yesterday had come to the village and met villagers to collect evidence in the case. The police yesterday swooped on the residence of Attar Chand and arrested five persons named in the FIR. Mehar Chand, another accused, managed to escape. The police party took an accused Prabhu Dayal with it to the cremation ground to exhume the bodies of the two children. An Executive Magistrate Ashok Malik and two doctors from the local General Hospital were also present at the time when the bodies were being exhumed. |
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Sir Chhotu Ram’s life
sketch in Class V syllabus Chandigarh, June 13 Mr Chautala said it would be below one’s dignity to indulge in politics in the name of great personalities and he had always been opposing such tendencies. He said he was deeply pained when certain persons did not take in the right perspective the decision of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in including the life sketch of Sir Chhotu Ram in the textbook of class VI instead of class V on the basis of suggestions made by certain educationists. Mr Chautala said he had personally directed the Education Department to include the life sketch of Sir Chhotu Ram in the syllabus of class V to avoid an unnecessary controversy. A supplementary textbook for class V would be made available free of cost shortly to the students. |
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Arrest of lawyer’s attackers demanded Sirsa, June 13 The convention was organised to demand justice for advocate Gurratan Pal Singh Kingra, who was attacked by unidentified persons about three weeks ago. The attackers are still at large. The participants demanded immediate arrest of two attackers. The front was constituted immediately after the assault on the advocate. The injured advocate has alleged that this was an attack on the freedom of expression. He alleged the police was not taking action because of the involvement of “influential people of the state” in the issue. Congress leader Jagdish Nehra criticised the failure of the administration to arrest the culprits. He also attacked on the state government, saying it was releasing criminals from jails for vested interests. Mr Prahalad Singh
Gilakhera, district president of the HVP, demanded a CBI inquiry in this matter. |
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Protest against custodial death Fatehabad, June 13 Sheo Chand (35), a resident of Dulet village, died today after he had an altercation with a shopkeeper in their village last evening. Pawan and Satish, the shopkeeper brothers, allegedly tied Sheo Chand in their shop and beat him up with sticks and iron rods. The altercation started over an outstanding payment of the shopkeeper against the villager. The shopkeeper allegedly called the police after beating him up and handed over the injured villager to the police. The police took the injured man to the Primary Health Centre at Bhuna, where he succumbed to his injuries. The villagers alleged that Sheo Chand died of police beating while the police has been refuting their allegation. |
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Five killed in accident Fatehabad, June 13 The jeep was coming from Hisar. When the vehicle reached near Tohana, it collided with the tractor-trailer near a canal bridge. After colliding with the trailer, the jeep overturned. Maina Devi (36), her daughter Karamjit (11), Sanju (8) and an unknown person died on the spot. Nine persons were admitted to the General Hospital. Jagminder, the driver of the jeep, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. The injured have been identified as Satbir, Karma, Chand Ram, Shakir and Mahabir. The DSP, Mr Pala Ram, reached the hospital and supervised the rescue operation. |
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20 hurt as truck overturns Sonepat, June 13 In another incident, two tractor-trailers were overturned on the Sonepat-Rohtak road near Jharot and Bayannpur village yesterday. However, no one was hurt in these accidents. |
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15 leopard skins
confiscated Chandigarh, June 13 The release said a case was registered by the wildlife staff under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and the culprits were produced before the Special Environment Court, Kurukshetra. |
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Man murders son Panipat, June 13 The incident took place when Vinod, who was recently separated from his father, Manglu Ram, met him to settle family dispute. But even after hours of heated arguments, they did not reach any compromise. Then Manglu Ram, who was reportedly “drunk”, called his son inside the room and beat him for about two hours. Later, Manglu allegedly pour acid on him. The police took Vinod to the local Civil Hospital, where he was declared dead. |
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Shepherds robbed of valuables Sonepat, June 13 Two of the shepherds were injured in the attack. They were identified as Ashu and Motiram. The assailants managed to escape after snatching cash and other valuables. |
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Body
identified Ambala , June 13 The deceased was identified as Paramjit Singh of Ludhiana. He was travelling along with his driver in the car when the incident occurred. The car driver had murdered him. |
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