Chandigarh, October 25
The Central Administrative Tribunal today directed the Union Government to promote a Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officer, Mr Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) against a vacant post of 2001.

In 2001, the officer was placed in the selection list for promotion from the HCS to the IAS against the state quota, subject to clearance of a departmental inquiry proceedings pending against him.

But by the time the meeting of the selection committee of the UPSC was held in December, 2004, the government did remove the condition though nothing substantial was found in the charges against him.

The next meeting of the selection committee is scheduled to be held at Delhi on October 27.

Directing the UPSC to fill the post against the vacancy of 2001, a Division Bench of the tribunal comprising Mr Jasbir, S. Dhaliwal and Mr L.M. Mehta, Member (Judicial) and Member (Administrative), respectively, fixed the next date of hearing for November 8.

In his plea, Mr Khyalia, presently posted as Registrar, Kurukshetra University, stated that the UPSC had carried forward the vacancy of 2001 to 2002, against the regulations which state that a separate selection list of each year has to be made and vacancies of different years cannot be clubbed.

The applicant stated that in April, 2005, the Haryana Government exonerated him of charges as nothing substantial was found against him. Thereafter in April, 2005, the disciplinary proceedings were dropped against the HCS officer as nothing was found against him. After exonerating him, the state government issued an integrity certificate to the officer.

As per the October 6, 1996, the eligible candidate has to be promoted against the vacancy of the respective year and given seniority as given to the next junior candidate.

Panchkula, October 25
The Haryana Government is all set to launch the School AIDS Education Programme in 4400 high schools and senior secondary schools across the state.

Hundreds of students from Class IX to XII, in all government as well as private schools in Haryana, will be educated on adolescence and AIDS awareness, by their school teachers, appointed as school nodal officers. In the first phase, the programme will be undertaken in over 2700 government schools of Haryana, from December this year.

This School AIDS Awareness Programme is being launched in the state on the directions of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

“The idea,” says Dr Omesh Lamba, Additional Project Director, Haryana AIDS Control Society, “is to ensure that adolescents know about HIV/AIDS virus, which is spreading fast; bodily changes as they approach adolescence; and about other Sexually Transmitted Diseases and their prevention.

Though Haryana is considered a low prevalence state with regards to HIV/AIDS, we have decided to launch the school AIDS programme in order to contain the spread of dieses in future generations”.

Resource persons from NACO have recently imparted training to 60 persons (school principals, science teachers and DIET personnel), who will now impart training to 3000 teachers appointed as school nodal officers. While a male teacher is being trained in boys schools, a female teacher is being trained in girls schools and a male and female teacher in co-educational schools.

Recently, a meeting of the officials of the Health Department and the Higher Education Department was held, to finalise the training schedule for the school nodal officers.

All these 3000 teachers will complete training in November and the programme will be launched for Class IX and Class XI students of government schools from December onwards.

The school nodal officers will impart education on adolescence (changes in body, development of reproductive organs), besides STD diseases, sexual misconceptions, safe sex, birth control, on topics dealing with HIV- AIDS, diet and nutrition and personality development. This course curriculum has been designed by NACO, but has been modified by education and health departments in collaboration with the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), Gurgaon.

The students will be educated through group discussions and by enacting role plays.

Question boxes will be put up in all schools where the students can drop in their queries from the school nodal officers which will be discussed later in the class room.

Kaimri (Hisar), October 25
The Government Primary Health Centre, Kaimri, was inaugurated in 1976. However, it lacked even the basic facilities till a few years ago. The centre did not have a water tank, causing inconvenience to the patients as well as the staff.

Finally, the village residents decided to revive the centre and initiated efforts in this direction. While some of them donated money for the construction of an OPD block, the others pooled funds and carried out repair and renovation.

With the help of the village panchayat, a new labour room-cum-operation theatre is being constructed. Besides, a water tank has been built and all rooms now have water connections. Seeing their initiative, the authorities concerned also extended full support and granted financial aid.

Though the revival of the hospital is a result of collective efforts put in by the villagers, the guiding light behind the noble campaign is Dr Ratna Bharti, who is serving at the centre as a medical officer.

Thanks to the efforts of vilagers and Dr Bharti, there has been a marked increase in the number of patients visiting the centre. The centre, at which delivery and other emergency cases are handled round the clock, caters not only to the residents of nearby villages, but also those from the adjoining areas of Hisar.

When the doctor was recently transferred to some other place, a delegation of the village residents, including panchayat members, went to Chandigarh and persuaded the officials concerned to get her transfer order repealed.

However, on being contacted, Dr Bharti modestly maintained that she was “only doing her duty.” She gave all credit to the health centre staff and the village residents. “It’s all teamwork…it would not have been possible without the cooperation of the staff members and my superiors, including the SMO, Mangali, and CMO, Hisar,” she states.

Dedicated social activist Gugan Ram Godara, who is a resident of Kaimri, also played a key role in collection of funds and motivating the villagers to contribute for a noble cause.

Chandigarh, October 25
Doing a fine balancing act so as not to antagonise its supporters, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government has finally decided to allow two law officers, who had been appointed against the same post, to continue.

The Tribune had reported on August 9 how four months after it appointed him Senior Deputy Advocate-General in the office of the Advocate- General (AG), Haryana, The Haryana Government had informed advocate Rajiv Kwatra that his appointment was the result of a typographical error.

The government had claimed that it had actually meant to appoint advocate Rajiv Kataria and that Mr Kwatra's appointment was never meant to be. Eyebrows had been raised over the manner in which the government had suddenly woken up to the "error", that too after Mr Kwatra had been regularly representing the government before various Benches of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Sources say that following the revelation, Mr Kwatra was asked to stop working, which he refused to do, while the other lawyer sent his "joining report" by fax. Both had not been allocated any court work for the past few months.

Now, in a bid to keep both lawyers happy, the Home Department is learnt to have informed the AG’s office that both should be allowed to continue.

Incidentally, one of the major issues that had cropped up after the clarification by the government that Mr Kwatra had not been appointed a law officer was what would happen to cases where Mr Kwatra had been regularly representing the government before various Benches of the high court. In many cases, the high court had even dismissed the petitions or passed orders.

Ambala, October 25
The Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Venod Sharma, yesterday initiated the process for the construction of two drains at a cost of Rs 74 lakh.

While one drain will be constructed from Banuri naka to Ambala drain, another drain will be from Baldev Nagar camp to the Harmeet Nagar area. After the drains are complete, the areas of Chowki No. 4, Do Khamba Chowk and Balmiki Basti will not face the problem of rain water accumulation.

Mr Venod Sharma said in the coming years, Ambala City would be one of the most developed areas in the state. He said he had got a sum of Rs 1.93 crore sanction from the state government for different development projects to be executed in Ambala City.

Hisar, October 25
The district administration has registered cases against 90 government employees who had refused to carry out the survey of voter lists of the 71-Narnaund Assembly segment in spite of being directed to do so.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Kumar Gupta, said here today that these employees had refused to perform the duty assigned to them, which was a punishable offence under Article 32 of the People’s Representation Act, 1950.

A case had been registered against these employees and show-cause notices issued to them to explain their conduct. He said strict disciplinary action would be taken against these employees if they did not report for duty within 24 hours.

The Deputy Commissioner asserted that under Article 13 C of the People’s Representation Act, all government officials assigned the job of electoral survey were considered to be on deputation under the Central Election Commission.

Rohtak, October 25
Eminent journalist Kuldip Nayar yesterday asked the younger generation to help promote the spirit of tolerance and culture of plurality in the country.

Addressing the United Nations Day function at Maharshi Dayanand University here, he said pluralism was the essence of India and it was necessary to not only carry it forward, but strengthen its roots too. This was the only way to make the nation strong.

Mr Nayar distributed prizes among the winners of a quiz organised on the occasion. Bhagwan Mahabir Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sonepat, won the first prize with 44 points. The second and third places went to Vaish College, Bhiwani (39 points) and the Institute of Law and Management Studies, Gurgaon (30 points), respectively.

Mr Nayar also released a book, “History of India,” written by Dr Anju Khanna.

Bhiwani, October 25
Additional District Judge Venod Kumar Jain sentenced eight persons to life imprisonment in a triple murder case and also imposed a fine of Rs 38,000 on each of them. Two of the accused were acquitted.

According to the prosecution, Kamal Singh and his family members fired shots at their opponents over a petty dispute. Maya Ram, Chhatar Singh and Phool Kumar died on the spot, whereas Indira, Rajender and Phulwati sustained injuries.