Shimla, December 9
Though the High Court has upheld the stand of the Himachal Pradesh Government that a Chief Parliamentary Secretary is not a minister, it has raised several pertinent issues which will lead to severe curtailment of functions and powers that parliamentary secretaries have been enjoying at present.

The verdict not only makes it amply clear that as per the constitutional provisions a Chief Parliamentary Secretary cannot be assigned work but also underlines the fact that his functions cannot be identical, similar or akin to that of a minister. It also holds that a Parliamentary Secretary cannot approve the action proposed by a Secretary or any other subordinate officer and is not entitled to function as a minister in any capacity or manner.

It goes on to say that if a Parliamentary Secretary indeed functions as a minister it would tantamount to perpetrating a fraud on the Constitution.

Initially appointed to assist Chief Minister in managing parliamentary affairs, parliamentary secretaries over the years donned the mantle of ministers. They have been functioning as full-fledged ministers and more often than not given independent charge of departments.

They have been holding meetings to review the functioning of the department assigned to them and holding press conferences to announce policy decisions. As parliamentary secretaries function as ministers for all intent and purposes, the practice of appointing them as ministers started.

The moot question is will parliamentary secretaries be able to function in such a manner after this verdict. More so, because the court has underscored the point that the chief parliamentary secretary cannot assume to himself “the trappings of the office of a minister”.

The court has also sounded a note of warning that in case it is brought to its notice that this is happening it would not remain a mute spectator to the violation of the constitutional provisions.

While the verdict has made it essential to clearly define the functions and powers of parliamentary secretaries, the curtailment of power will render the hitherto coveted office unattractive for legislators.

The post of parliamentary secretary had been used by political bosses to adjust legislators who could not be given berths in the ministry. With no power and functions the legislators may find the vice-chairmanship of a board or corporation a more lucrative proposition.

The judgement has come as a shock to the aspirants who had been eagerly awaiting expansion of the ministry. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, had said during the downsizing of the ministry said he would induct parliamentary secretaries to restore regional and caste balance in the Cabinet. Such an exercise may not help now. — TNS

Shimla, December 9
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Regulatory Commission today stayed the operation of the notification vide which the State Electricity Board had effected a 10-fold increase in the infrastructure development charges.

Taking suo motu notice of the new item published in The Tribune yesterday in this regard the commission served notice under Section 142 of the Electricity Act 2003 on the board as to why penal action should not be initiated against it for revising the charges in contravention of the provisions of the Act. By increasing the charges without the approval of the commission it had violated Sections 45, 46 and 47 of the Act.

While staying the operation of the notification the commission gave four weeks to the board to file its reply. Under Section 142 the board could be fined up to Rs 1 lakh for contravention of the Act.

The charges, which are recovered from the promoters industrial units at the time of granting the power availability certificate, were increased from the existing Rs 200 per kw to Rs 1,925 per kw. Out which Rs 1,155 per kw were non-refundable and Rs 770 per kw refundable after the unit came into production in six-monthly instalments. 

Solan, December 9
A ticklish situation has arisen in the local Municipal Committee where three of the eight councillors, who have initiated a no-confidence move against the chairperson, Ms Poonam Grover, facing cancellation of their membership. While two of them, Ms Vimla Garg of the BJP and Ms Shammi Sahni of the Congress, are already facing charges of having misused their official position for having encroached upon government land, another councillor, Mr Himesh Jaggi, may also lose his membership for having three children which is in violation of the Panchayati Raj Act and urban bodies norms.

Ms Grover, who had submitted a complaint to the Director, Urban Development, against Ms Vimla Garg and Ms Sammi Sahni in September, was now being pressured to vacate the top post. With as many as three councillors facing the axe, the probability of the council being dissolved was also gaining ground.

The fact that the Director had issued a letter on November 16 to the district administration seeking a report on the status of the cases of these two encroachment, the move to dislodge her had become intense. A report has already been sent by the Deputy Commissioner to the Director, Urban Development, for further action. While the letter clearly states that if the complaint was found to be true, the membership of the two councillors would be cancelled, the committee was now awaiting further action from the Director.

Ms Grover, who had initiated a move to expose the encroachers in the town, had faced the onslaught of opposing the builders’ lobby who wield sizeable influence in the town. The campaign launched by the committee to instill discipline among builders had not gone well with a section of the councillors; two of whom have themselves misused their official position to effect encroachments on the committee land. While these cases had been conveniently hushed up despite a lot of hue and cry, the final move of the committee chairperson to report the matter to the Chief Minister as well as the Urban Development Director appears to have formed the immediate cause for moving the no-confidence motion by the eight councillors.

Shimla, December 9
Mr David Hamilton, Group Chairman and Managing Director of Waste2Energy , a leading British company, which plans to transform the “garbage state” into a “garden state” by setting up a state-of -the-art waste management plant at Bagota near Nalagarh.

Mr Hamilton, who along with Mr Barry Relph, Director of Technology is in the town, to finalise the proposal for the Rs 1,850 crore plant to be set up in joint venture with the state government, said the project would not only revolutionise the very concept of the waste disposal in the country but even change the mind set of the local people. The plant would use the latest pyrolysis technology by which waste could be processed into combustible gas and char without actually burning. It would have a capacity to process 1,000 tonnes of waste daily which was enough to take care of the municipal and industrial waste generated in the state.

The state would have 24 per cent equity in the project and MoU was likely to be signed with the government next week.

Mr Ralph said the waste would be shredded, dried and fed into pyrolysis train where they would be heated at 600 and 800 degree centigrade in the absence of air under a self-sustaining process. The waste thus gets decomposed producing fuel rich gas and a slid carbonaceous char which was further fed into gasifire to obtain fuel rich gas and a final inert solid waste suitable for landfill. On an average 85 per cent of the waste was converted into useful energy while the inert waste finally produced came to just 15 per cent.

The gas would be utilised for a variety of purposes.

The multi-stage water distillation plant would be set up with a capacity to purify six million litres of water per day , about 30 per cent of grey water produced in the process would be purified further and used for hydroponics and industries. The project when fully commissioned would help in producing 6,000 tonnes of exotic vegetables mainly for exports.

Mr Hamilton said his company was initially interested in setting up a facility in New Delhi, however, a chance meeting with Mr Virbhadra Singh, brought him to Himachal Pradesh. 

Shimla, December 9
The HP Power Minister, Mrs Vidya Stokes, today said that women can play a very important role in preserving the environment as had been seen in the CHIPCO movement.

Speaking at a function organised by All India Centre for Urban and Rural Development (AICURD) at Craigneno here today, she said Himachal had been endowed with valuable forest and herbal wealth and all efforts must be made to preserve this.

“It was women who spearheaded the movement to save trees during the famous CHIPCO movement and I see no reason why the women folk of this hill state cannot do it,” she said.

Mrs Stokes also stressed the need to sensitise children about vital environment issues so that a mass movement can be launched to protect the fragile ecology.

“The state has given utmost priority to harnessing the vast hydro-electric potential in the state so that Himachal can become self reliant and more jobs can be created for the educated unemployed youth of the state,” she said.

She however expressed concern over the melting of glaciers which were disintegrating at a rate of 10 per cent annually, which she said was a very disturbing development.

“This can be a cause of major concern, especially for our hydro-electric projects as this could lead to a shortage of water in their reservoirs,” she said.

Shimla, December 9
Horticulture Minister Singhi Ram today came down heavily on former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for terming the present Congress government as anti-employee. He said various anti-employee decisions were taken from 1998 to 2002 by the BJP regime headed by him.

He said it was the Dhumal government which withdrew the LTC facility and imposed a ban on recruitment. Mr Virbhadra Singh had always safeguarded the interests of employees and successive Congress governments had maintained cordial relations with them.

The minister said the present government had restored the LTC facility besides filling functional posts in various departments. Around 21,000 posts had been filled during the past 20 months and some of the steps being taken by the government were in consonance with an MoU signed by the BJP government in 1999 under the Fiscal Reforms adopted throughout the country, he added.

He said the present government had succeeded in making modifications in some of the harsh conditions agreed in the agreement by the BJP government in the larger interests of the people.