Chandigarh, September 24
The Supreme Court’s directions on reforms are of immediate interest to the Haryana police, which is in for a change of leadership by the end of October. For this reason alone, the top echelons of the state police are more concerned about the apex court’s orders than their counterparts in other forces.

A three-Judge Bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice C.K. Thakker and Mr Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan, has directed the Centre the State Governments and the UTs to comply with its directions on the much-awaited police reforms “on or before” December 31 so that the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretaries can file affidavits of compliance by January 3, 2007.

One of the directions which is of immediate interest to the Haryana police is regarding the minimum tenure of two years of the Director-General of Police (DGP). The present incumbent, Mr Nirmal Singh, will retire on October 31.

A debate has started whether the court directions give Mr Nirmal Singh an automatic extension in service till the time he completes two years as the DGP. On October 31, he would complete about 16 months as the state police chief.

Normally, it is presumed that the benefits are bestowed only after a set of rules comes into force. Since the court directions are to be implemented “on or before” December 31, Mr Nirmal Singh cannot draw advantage of the orders on a minimum tenure of two years for the DGP. However, those who feel that an extension to Mr Nirmal Singh cannot be denied in view of the court orders, point out that the judgement written by the Chief Justice for the three-Judge Bench, specifically mentions that the “decision in the Vineet Narain case notes various decisions of this court where guidelines and directions to be observed were issued in absence of legislation and implemented till the legislatures passed appropriate legislation.”

The Supreme Court did not rest by merely referring to its decision in the Vineet Narain case. The Judges said categorically that “…we issue the following directions to the Central Government, the state governments and the Union Territories for compliance till framing of the appropriate legislation…”

Legal advisers of the Haryana Government will have many sleepless nights and several brainstorming sessions to understand what are the implications of the court’s directives in this regard.

The court said: “The DGP shall be selected by the State Government from amongst the three senior-most officers of the department who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the Union Public Service Commission….And, once he has been selected for the job, he should have a minimum tenure of at least two years, irrespective of his date of superannuation.”

Chandigarh, September 24
After the AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, yesterday cautioned her party Chief Ministers that the special economic zones (SEZ) should not be set up at the cost of fertile land, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today asserted that the SEZ policy of the state was in consonance with her ideology and was in the larger interest of the farming community and the nation.

According to information received here, Mr Hooda, who was talking to newsmen at Nainital, where the Congress Chief Ministers' conclave concluded today, said that the SEZ being developed in Haryana was coming up in an area which was not very fertile and the irrigation facilities were inadequate. He said Mrs Gandhi was of the view that fertile land should not be utilised for setting up of SEZs or industrialisation.

He said in case an SEZ was set up in a backward area, the state government would provide double incentives. He said the land in Ambala, Rewari and Jhajjar districts where the SEZs would be set up was not fertile and lacked irrigation facilities.

He made it clear that Haryana was the first state where the developers of the SEZ would have to purchase 75 per cent of the land themselves and a maximum of 25 per cent of the land for the project would be acquired by the state government in the National Capital Region. The farmers had the option to approach the court for seeking an enhancement in the compensation, which would be paid by the developers.

Mr Hooda pointed out that in case of those whose entire land would be acquired for setting up the SEZ, a member of the family would be provided employment. The developers would have to set up training institutes and develop facilities for villagers where more than 25 per cent of the total land would be acquired for SEZ.

Also, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) would have 10 per cent sweat equity in the SEZ being set up as a joint venture with Reliance Industries Limited. The state aimed at inviting investment of Rs 2 lakh crore and generate employment for 10 lakh persons as per its new industrial policy, he added.

Chandigarh, September 24
The manner in which a retired official of the PWD (B&R) has surreptitiously been selected for appointment as Chief Engineer of the Haryana Housing Board without seeking prior sanction of the state government has created a stir in official circles.

A team of experts comprising three former Haryana Engineers-in-Chief and the Chief Administrator, Haryana Housing Board, Mr Ashok Khemka, approved the name of Mr P.C. Gupta for appointment as Chief Engineer, Haryana Housing Board, after an interview conducted on Saturday. No prior approval for appointing a retired person was taken from the government for filling the post which is yet to fall vacant at the end of the month when the incumbent retires.

Questioning the legality of the selection, a member of the expert committee, Engineer-in-Chief, PWD (B&R) R.R. Sheoran was believed to have refused to attend the interview. Under pressure, apparently from a senior bureaucrat, Mr Khemka and three former Engineers-in-Chief of the PWD (B&R), Haryana, namely Mr S.P. Grover, Mr Nihal Singh and Mr S.K. Sharma went ahead and zeroed in on the name of Mr P.C. Gupta who retired as Chief Engineer from the PWD (B&R), Haryana, last month.

It is learnt that the Haryana Urban Development and Housing Minister and the Commissioner, Housing, were kept in the dark with regard to advertising and filling of the post. It is learnt that earlier too, a lobby in the Haryana bureaucracy clandestinely tried to get Mr Gupta appointed as Engineer-in-Chief in the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), but certain reports about Mr Gupta’s questionable role in the allotment of tenders to Gawar Construction Company and Bharat Nirman Scheme aborted the move.

The normal procedure of filling any post within a government department is to promote an existing staff member and, if unavailable, seek an officer on deputation from another department. But appointing a retired person on the sly and bypassing these two established norms is considered to be highly irregular, especially when it is done without seeking the prior approval of the government.

Several vacant posts of Chief Engineer are waiting to be filled in the state. Institutions like Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED), Panchayati Raj and the HSIDC have been requesting the Haryana Government to fill vacant posts of engineer. Though the government is dragging its feet on filling these positions, it has hastily approved the appointment of Mr Gupta to a post that is yet to fall vacant.

Interestingly, prior to Mr Gupta’s retirement last month, the Haryana Engineer-in-Chief, Mr R.R. Sheoran, had reportedly withdrawn work of inviting and passing tenders from him. He even refused to put up Mr Gupta’s case for promotion as Engineer-in-Chief owing to certain controversies with regard to inviting and approving tenders in which Mr Gupta’s name figured.

Insiders accuse senior officials of devising methods to benefit Mr Gupta as the post was advertised without a sanction, inviting only retired Chief Engineers and consultants to fill the position. Out of the 26 applications that were received, nine candidates were called for the interview.

Sources said since the appointment of Mr Gupta would be technically illegal, any decision taken by him as Chief Engineer of the Haryana Housing Board would also be illegal.

Yamunanagar, September 24
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has sent power bills running into several thousand to residents living in Chhachhrouli block. A shopkeeper has been given a bill of Rs 3.98 lakh and a resident has been handed over a bill of Rs 2.10 lakh.

The Chhachhrouli office of the UHBVN is now flooded with complaints of wrong bills and the employees are busy correcting the same, say sources in the UHBVN.

Sources said hundreds of residents had been issued wrong bills. During the last billing cycle also a large number of villagers were given wrong bills.

A shopkeeper of Chhachhrouli (meter no. JH - 18 - 2583) Dalmira got the shock of his life when he received a bill of more than Rs 3.98 lakh. The bill showed that he used 91,186 units of power in two months. Before this his average bill used to between Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,500. If he does not deposit the bill within the due period (October 5) he would have to pay fine of Rs 19,455.

Mr Suresh Kumar (meter no. JH-17-0021) is also wondering how the UHBVN could send him a bill of Rs 2,10,302. He is sure he never used 48,008 units of power in the past two months. Till now he had been depositing Rs 400 to Rs 500 as electricity bills.

Similarly, Ram Kumar has been handed over a bill of Rs 52,001 for using 12,515 units.

The UHBVN has issued a bill of Rs 29,248 to Mr Dhani Ram of Chhanchhrouli. As per the bill (meter no. JH-18-3365) 6,837 units were consumed in his house.

Mr Dharam Pal of Haroli village who had deposited Rs 833 as his last bill, has got a bill of Rs 13,732 for using 2,519 units. Mr Narinder Singh whose bimonthly bill never crossed Rs 600 has been handed a bill of Rs 22,405.

Residents allege that complaints of wrong bills started after the department delegated the job of meter reading to private contractors. It is being alleged that in a large number of cases, employees of contractors never went for meter reading. However, one contractor, requesting anonymity said the mistakes in bills were due to computers.

Mr O.K. Sharma, Executive Engineer, when contacted said the problem could be because of computers and all the bills would be corrected on Monday. He, however, refuted charges that employees of contractors were skipping meter reading.

Panipat, September 24
Two Army personnel were arrested for allegedly manhandling passengers and forcing them to leave a general compartment of a train here today. There was a chaos at the station on a rumour that they had thrown two children out of the train.

Delhi-bound Kalka Express was halted here for one and a half hour as Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel were searching the children in every coach.

According to Mr Naredner Kumar Dubey, Inspector, RPF, Panipat, there was a rush in a general compartment of Kalka Express which arrived at the station at 4.05 in the morning. Many Army personnel boarded the coach and other Armymen, who boarded the train at Ambala, forced other passengers to leave the compartment, informed Mr Dubey.

In the chaos, two children, Rachna (11), and Divya (8), who were returning to Kanpur with their teammates after taking part in karate championship held at Shimla, shifted to other compartment without telling anybody in the team.

When Madan Lal Misra, and Nazar Mohammed, coaches accompanying the team from Kanpur, did not find the two children, someone expressed the doubts that the Army personnel might have thrown the children from the train.

The Army personnel, Ashish Kumar Pal and Gopal Das Adhikari, were produced before the Duty Magistrate, who sent them in judicial custody for one day, said Mr Dubey.