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Govt in a bind over court order on SCs Mining
contractors block entry of new players
Security goes for a toss at ammo depot
Lawyers’ tussle with admin ends
Marriages mar rural education in Haryana
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Disciplinary action against headmaster likely
Income-generating schemes for 800 villages Kidnapped students rescued Prisoner escapes from hospital, 3 cops suspended
high court
Power board employee shot dead
Cops beat up autorickshaw
driver, no FIR registered
Watchman killed
Close contest expected for MC president post
Panches administered oath of office
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Govt in a bind over court order on SCs Chandigarh, May 3 In the order the court asked the state government to refrain from carrying out any recruitment on the basis of the existing system of classification of the Scheduled Castes population in the state in two categories. The court passed the interim order recently in the light of a Supreme Court directive earlier abolishing the classification of the Scheduled Castes population of Andhra Pradesh in four categories. The apex court observed that there should not be further classification of groups listed as the Scheduled Castes. The Haryana Government had taken note of the Supreme Court order in the Andhra case and initiated an exercise to examine its ramifications. It was decided that the government would take the opinion of the Legal Remembrancer (LR) on what should be its course of action regarding the classification of the Scheduled Castes in Haryana. But before the file could be put up before the LR, the high court passed the interim order staying recruitments on the basis of the existing classification of the Scheduled Castes of Haryana in Category A and Category B. The interim order was passed by the high court in a case filed by Gaje Singh Muwal challenging the system of classification of the Scheduled Castes population of Haryana in two categories. The next date of hearing of the case is May 13. The system of classification of the Scheduled Castes in two categories was introduced in 1994 by the Bhajan Lal-led Congress government. The decision was prompted by the government’s perception that if sub-classification among the Scheduled Castes was not introduced, the benefits meant for the reserved categories would be appropriated by certain “forward” sections among the SCs. Category A of Haryana contains 35 SC groups, including Balmiki, Dhanak and other castes. The number of castes included in Category B is relatively less. Chamars, believed to be the most forward among the SCs, figure in Category B. The system of classification suited the groups figuring in Category B and the representation of members of these castes in various services did show an increase from 1994 onwards. On the other hand, Chamars were never happy with the system of classification. Balmikis, Dhanaks and the other castes figuring in Category A constitute a huge number of voters and they may turn against the ruling party if the government fails to effectively intervene when the case again comes up for hearing. A delegation of the Balmiki Samaj had come to the Civil Secretariat today to meet key government officials in connection with the interim order of the court. Members of the delegation, including a retired member of the Indian Forest Service, told TNS that there would be serious ramifications for the Congress in the coming byelections in case the state government failed to put up a stout defence of the system of classification in the court on May 13.
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Mining contractors
block entry of new players Panchkula, May 3 A Sonepat based company, Ravi Pruthi and Company, had taken the permit
for mining operations in all 56 quarries for 16 days for Rs 1. 10 crore,
separating the expiry of the last permit to the date of fresh auction.
Since the mining contract for 44 quarries expired on March 31, the
quarries were being given on temporary permits. Eleven other quarries in
the district have also been leased on temporary permits since October last
year.
The royalty paid by the Sonepat contractors was much higher than the
earlier permits issued to local contractors by the Department of Mines and
Geology. The last permit issued to the local contractors was for Rs 39.04
lakh, which is almost two-and-half times less than what the new lessees
have paid. Fearing stiff competition from the new contractors, the local
mining contractors, who run the stone crushers in Panchkula and Mubarikpur
in Zirakpur, have now spear- headed a strike of all stone crushers.
As a result, Ravi Pruthi and Co. has nowhere to sell their RBM and are
incurring a loss of Rs 7 lakh daily. “The strike has been orchestrated
to ensure that we suffer heavy losses and there is no competition when the
final contract is awarded on May 10 for three years. If there is no
competition in the auction on May 10, the state government too will not be
able to make profit, and will have to lease the mines at the reserve
price,” say the partners of the company.
It may be mentioned that the mining contracts here are generally taken
over by the contractors owing allegiance to the political party in power.
After the Congress government took over in the state, the mining
operations here were also taken over from the INLD supported contractors,
by those owing allegiance to the Congress. The Congress supported mining
lessees managed the mining operations till March 31 and upon the expiry of
the contract, continued to work on temporary permits.
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Security goes for a toss at ammo depot
Gurgaon, May 3 The district administration confirmed to TNS the local Air Force Station office had sent a letter to the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, Mr Sudhir Rajpal, about a fortnight back, drawing his attention to the illegal constructions. According to sources, the local authorities from the Defence have been periodically reminding the district administration over the years about the illegal constructions but to no avail. The Deputy Commissioner, who took over charge after the formation of the Congress government in the state, said he was getting the status of the illegal constructions ascertained. He said the District Town and Country Planning Department was responsible for putting a check on the illegal constructions. The chief of the local District Town and Planning Enforcement, Mr B. K. Saini, said these constructions had come up over the past several years and nothing could be done about them at this stage. Vital arms and explosives have been stored in the depot, which was set up in the 40s. However, with the land prices escalating in Gurgaon in the late 80s the mafia started flouting the embargo methodically and gradually. The intensity of the breach grew with the passage of time. It is clear that a breach on such a large scale could not have taken place without the connivance of the authorities concerned. About a year back, a fire had broken out in a jhuggi cluster in Rajiv Nagar, a part of which falls in the prohibited zone. According to defence personnel, there are many items in the depot that have to be preserved under a particular temperature. Air pollution also has a bearing on the status of the storage of the explosives. Inquiries reveal several officials who had been posted here and certain local politicians had also allied themselves with the land mafia. One can find restaurants, banquet halls and offices of realtors doing flourishing business here apart from large number of dwelling units. The Deputy Commissioner reportedly convened a meeting today of the authorities concerned on the issue. |
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Lawyers’ tussle with admin ends
Fatehabad, May 3 The issue was settled amicably with the intervention of the District and Sessions Judge, Hisar, Mr Arvind Kumar Goyal. The lawyers assured the judge they would shift to temporary sheds till permanent chambers were constructed for them. In fact, advocates had already begun taking away their furniture from the hall this afternoon. The lawyers and the administration appeared to be heading towards a deadlock yesterday when the former declared they would not forgo their claim to the litigants’ hall till their chambers were constructed. The local courts started functioning in the new judicial complex on Monday. The complex was inaugurated on Sunday by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice, Mr Justice D. K. Jain, in presence of the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. As the issue of lawyers’ chambers was still hanging fire due to non-availability of land they put up their chairs, tables and other belongings in the litigants’ hall of the complex immediately after the inauguration yesterday. The lawyers were informed by the administration yesterday that the Chief Justice was not happy with the ‘encroachment’ in the litigants’ hall. The lawyers were told to shift their belongings from the hall immediately. The administration move piqued the lawyers, who resolved to remain firm on their stand of not leaving the litigants’ hall till their chambers were constructed. |
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Marriages mar rural education in Haryana
Chandigarh, May 3 A visit to various schools in the districts of Panchkula, Ambala and Kurukshetra on different days revealed that it was party time for most teachers caught in the marriage frenzy. Most came in late to school and claimed it was "pointless" to come on time since they themselves, as also most children, were busy with work in the fields. In Panchkula, Government High School, Baldwala, proved to be a classic example where all three teachers had not turned up even after 9 am though the school begins at 8 am on account of a reported marriage in the village. The students sat as mute spectators outside their locked classrooms, waiting for their teachers to arrive. A teacher cycling down from this village to Bhood attributed his delay, also to a marriage in his village. At Thaththar, too, one teacher had the same marriage story to narrate. In Ambala, however, it was a altogether different story. At the primary school in Mohra, two teachers were busy with office work. There was no information about the third one even at 8:45 am. The absence of the third teacher was attributed to the fact that she travelled down from Kurukshetra and, probably, the bus had broken down. At 9 am in Dhanondi, the headmistress of the school was yet to show up. She came 10 minutes later and explained that she had some urgent work at home to attend to. In Mohri in Kurukshetra, two of the four teachers were present. On inquiring about the other two, the Headmistress, Ms kaushalya Devi, merely smiled and said, "They must be on their way. They are usually here before school begins." In a number of other schools, the teachers quoted this logic for absence of the rest of the staff or conveniently dispatched them on duty to outside places though the attendance register stated otherwise. In yet another school, the headmaster's wife, also a teacher, was standing in for her husband, maintaining he had to rush off for some audit to nearby Barara. Though the school in Hasanpur had the entire staff present in school, one teacher sat in the shade of the tree reading a newspaper, another her book on Osho while two teachers decided to take a nap in the staffroom which had a bed as well. The children here too were on their own. In Teora, one teacher had gone to deliver files at the DEO office and the rest of them were stated to be "somewhere around". With teachers busy with their own engagements, a bright student had come to the rescue of the entire class and was teaching them English when The Tribune team visited the school. The Director, Primary Education, Mr Anand Sharma, admitted that absenteeism was a problem in rural schools. "We are well-aware that at some places, teachers attend school on a rotational basis and are not present on all days. We are getting our act together and trying to strengthen the random inspection system to bring the truants to book," he stated. |
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Disciplinary action against headmaster likely
Chandigarh, May 3 A report published in these columns last week, had highlighted that only one admission had been made in the school following a tussle between men and women staff members. The headmaster, Mr Ram Chander Sharma, had proceeded on leave from April 8, a week after admission had begun. Consequently, all office work including admissions has come to a virtual standstill. The women teachers had alleged that the headmaster would misbehave with them for which reason they were unwilling to take any responsibility. In reply, the headmaster had maintained that the women teachers were conspiring against him and had formed a union of their own. Based on this report the department had sought a detailed report in the matter from the District Education Officer. While recommending disciplinary action against the two, the department is also contemplating their suspension in this matter shortly. |
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Income-generating schemes for 800 villages Panchkula, May 3 Forest Department officials say that Village Forest Committees
(VFCs) would be constituted in each village and all programmes in the villages would be implemented through these committees. Three self-help groups would be constituted in each village. A micro plan, following the process of participatory rural appraisal, has been prepared for each village. The micro plan has also identified the requirement of villages in various fields and it also aimed at indicating details of activities to be implemented in the villages under the project. So far, the income generating activities included mushroom cultivation, manufacture of hand made paper, growing of vegetable seeds and medicinal plants. Forest officials say that this project will help in increasing income of rural people and improve their living standard. Such activities will also help in conservation of fast depleting forests and other renewable natural resources. Each VFC would be provided with Rs 1 lakh to carry out such entry point activities and the community will contribute the remaining amount, falling short of total funds available.
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Kidnapped
students rescued Yamunanagar, May 2 Abhishek Jha of Bihar and Varun Garg of Jind, Haryana, had gone missing after they had taken a lift in a Maruti car from outside the institute for their hostel at
Damla. The kidnappers had demanded Rs 20 lakh as ransom from the families of the students and threatened to kill them if the police was informed, said the police. The
IGP, Ambala Range, Mr S. S. Deshwal, said here today that the police had zeroed in on the kidnappers by tracking the mobile phone calls of the one of the students. The kidnappers had been using the mobile phone to communicate with the parents of the students. Despite repeated requests of
mediapersons, the police did not let them speak to the students. The IGP said the students were in a state of shock and hence could not talk. The police did not present the arrested kidnappers in front of the
mediapersons. Dr Suman Manjri, SP, Yamunanagar, said the police had first tracked the calls to somewhere in Nahan and Sirmaur districts of Himachal
Pardesh. Later, the kidnappers had shifted to Saharanpur in Uttar
Pardesh. The kidnappers had finally been arrested from near Lakhnor in Saharanpur district. The SP said the kidnappers had made the students ring their parents up and convey their demand for ransom. The arrested kidnappers are — Rajesh, alias
Kalu, and Shiv Kumar, both residents of Khezrabad here. Aseem and Sahjad, also from
Khezrabad, escaped. A country-made revolver, other weapons and the car used in the crime have been seized.
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Prisoner
escapes from hospital, 3 cops suspended Kurukshetra, May 3 Mr
S.P. Ranga, SP, said three policemen on duty, including a head constable, had been arrested and placed under suspension for negligence in duty. The prisoner, Rajesh Kumar, had complained of ear problem on Monday and was taken to the hospital under tight security. Doctors admitted him to conduct tests. The police had launched a hunt for the prisoner and raids were being conducted. The arrested policemen were produced before Mr Amarjit Singh,
JMIC, who granted them bail. Rajesh Kumar was brought to Kurukshetra jail on December 25, 2004. He was convicted of robbery, abduction and attempt to murder. Preliminary investigations revealed that there might be a possibility of few jail employees and medical officials being involved in helping the prisoner flee because there was no urgency to admit him, police sources said.
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Notice issued on Dashmesh Academy issue
High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, May 3 The academy recently attracted media attention following the war of words between Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is chairman of the trust which manages the academy. The petitioner, advocate Harbinder Singh Baidwan, who is an old student of the Academy, has prayed that Sri Dashmesh Academy Trust and Mr Badal be restrained from entering into any kind of contract with the India Trust for handing over management of the academy to the latter. The respondents named in the petition include the State of Punjab, the Sri Dashmesh Academy Trust, Mr Badal and India Trust, which recently signed an agreement with the Dashmesh Trust to manage the school. He has also prayed that any agreement, if already signed, be quashed as being illegal, arbitrary, mala fide and against the principles of natural justice. The petitioner has also questioned the arrangement reached between the Sri Dashmesh Trust and India Trust, saying that the bonafides of the latter have not even been made public. Mr Baidwan has also stated that following the agreement, over 120 permanent employees of the academy are on the verge of losing their jobs. After hearing Mr Baidwan, the Bench of Chief Justice Mr Justice D.K. Jain and Mr Justice Hemant Gupta issued notice for July 20. Records sought: The high court on Tuesday directed the Union of India to furnish all relevant record pertaining to processing of extension of deputation period of Punjab DGP S.S. Virk to the court by the next date of hearing.During resumed hearing on the PIL filed by Akali leader Simranjit Singh Mann, seeking quashing of Mr Virk’s appointment on the grounds that same was “illegal and unconstitutional”, the Bench noted that all the record directed to be produced in the court had not been produced. It included the officer’s request for change of cadre to Punjab and the status of the case. The Bench of Chief Justice Mr Justice D.K. Jain and Mr Justice Hemant Gupta also noted that some correspondence might have occurred between the Punjab Government and Mr Virk’s parent cadre of Maharashtra. The case will now come up on May 5.
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Power board employee shot dead
Sonepat, May 3 However, on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Balister, the police has registered a case against three persons, Sapattar, Mangu and Sri Om of Jainpur Tikols village. It has been alleged in the complaint that Rekha, a relative of Satpal and resident of Garhi Keshri, was married to a son of Sapattak last year, but she died under mysterious circumstances nine days after the marriage. A case of dowry death was registered against her husband Sandeep and his father Sapattar and the mother. They were arrested by the police but recently Sapattar and his wife were released on bail and Sandeep is still in judicial custody. It has also been alleged in the complaint that as Satpal was a witness to the dowry death case, Sapattar along with some other persons came to Satpal a few days back and threatened him with dire consequences if he continued to remain as witness in the case. The police has launched a hunt to nab the accused. |
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Cops beat up autorickshaw
driver, no FIR registered
Panipat, May 3 The president of Railway Station Autorickshaw Stand, Mr Susheel Kumar, told The Tribune that five policemen along with two jail inmates had alighted from a train around 11.30 a.m. yesterday and came to the stand and asked him to provide an autorickshaw to take them to the city courts without charging the fare ‘wagar’. Susheel said he asked Ajay to take them to the courts as he had come late and according to the practice followed by the stand the late arriving autorickshaw driver had to entertain `wagar’. The president of the stand said Ajay was having tea and the policemen had to wait for some time. They started abusing him for causing delay but they were asked not to use such language, he added. Ajay said he took tea within a few minutes and the cops boarded his autorickshaw but they kept on using abusive language as he told them not to use the abusive language, two of them started beating him up, he alleged. Ajay alleged that one of the policeman hit him on the head with the butt of his rifle. He told the cops that he would get himself medically examined at Bhim Sen Sachar Hospital and would lodge an FIR against them. At this, the cops fled from the spot. |
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Watchman killed
Jhajjar, May 3
He was posted there by Satya Prakash, a resident of Trinagar in Delhi, who was fighting a legal battle with Shrikishan Mittal, to take care of the land. They had been living there for about two and a half months. Five persons reportedly arrived in a car last night and shot dead the watchman with a country-made pistol. The attackers also tried to shot his wife, Sakila, alias Rukhsana, but when the pistol did not work, they stabbed her. |
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Close contest expected for MC president post
Ambala, May 3 While Ambala Cantt MLA Devender Bansal is confident that the Congress will win the post, non-Congress parties are working hard to forge a post-poll alliance to keep the Congress at bay. The Congress is the single largest party with 13 municipal
councillors. The Sangharsh Vahini, the Vikas Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party are keen to ensure that a non-Congress councillor becomes the president. There is a possibility that Mr Hira Lal
Yadav, president of Sangharsh Vahini, is considered as a consensus candidate among the non-Congress parties for the post. Mr Hira Lal Yadav was earlier the leader of the Congress in the Municipal Council, Ambala
Sadar. However, after he was denied the party ticket to contest the Assembly election, he had fought the Assembly election from Ambala Cantt seat as a rebel candidate. |
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Panches administered oath of office
Ambala, May
3 The Block Samiti members, panch and sarpanch of Ambala block (2) took oath at ITI boys, Ambala City. This function too was presided over by
SDM. Mr Ahuja said that the newly elected Panchayati Raj representatives must forget the bitterness of election and work towards development of the villages. He said that they should strive for harmony and work without any bias. |
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Curbs on sale of lottery tickets
Chandigarh, May 3 |
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50 judicial officers shifted by HC
Chandigarh, May 3 |
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Govt not to shift planetarium Chandigarh, May 3
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Rain hits power generation Yamunanagar, May 3
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