Shimla, June 26
With the government deciding to promulgate an ordinance to replace the Punjab Police Act and implement its own Police Act, the draft was approved yesterday by the Cabinet and the new law will come into force by next week.

Principal secretary, Home, S.Vijay Kumar said the government had the option to wait for the monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha which would take place sometime in August to pass the bill. However, keeping in view the fact that is was a matter of great public importance, the Cabinet decided to promulgate it as an ordinance.

He said the state did not have its own Police Act as the Punjab Police Act, 1861, had been in force. The government decided to have its own act with the objective of re-organising the police and making it a more efficient instrument for the prevention and detection of crime, besides taking care of some of the directions issued by the Apex court in recent years, he added.

He said the report of the National Police Commission included a Model Police Act, which was extensively examined and finally a Model Police Act was circulated by Government of India in October last year to all states to enact a suitable law.

He said the new Act laid down procedures for appointment of the DGP and other senior officers and provided for a modern police structure with specialised wings and services and would take care of intelligence and investigation work and technical services.

It provides for improvement in policing in rural areas by designation of beat officers and makes special provisions for urban areas, including 24 hours control rooms and aims at specialisation of investigating staff in the police, by separating the investigating staff from the routine policing staff stationed at police stations, he added.

He said it would ensure greater accountability of police officers with the provision of a state-level police complaint authority under the Lokayukta to go into complaints of criminal misconduct by police officers. There would be district level police complaint authority for easy access by the public, he added.

The secretary said training had been given special emphasis and the Act provided for a state-level police academy for gazetted officers, police training college for non-gazetted officers and training schools for constabulary.

He said it envisaged separation of armed police from the civil police to ensure training and specialization and setting up of a state police board headed by the Chief Minister and would include the leader of opposition for laying down policing policy. It would comprise the chief secretary, secretaries of Home, Finance and Social Justice, director of Prosecution and director of Forensics and non-official members with the DGP as the member secretary.

He said the government would initiate the process for formulation of detailed rules which would replace the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, presently in operation in the state.

Solan, June 26
Officials of the Himachal Pradesh Police Service (HPS) are facing stagnation with the state Home Department failing to promote DSPs as additional SPs even after nearly 11 years. Though the department promoted five DSPs in April, the rest have been put on hold.

This was despite the fact that five vacancies, including four cadre and one ex-cadre, existed in the department. Some DSPs who have been promoted belong to the same batch as a few others who have been ignored. This has created more resentment. Officials lamented that the department should frame parameters for promotions within the cadre. They lamented that HPS officials had to face the brunt of stagnation while their counterparts from the IPS enjoyed the privilege of getting time-bound promotions. An IPS official was promoted as a DIG after putting in 14 years of service.

The problem chiefly exists due to the non-existence of specified parameters for promoting these officials. A DSP could be promoted as an additional SP after six to eight years or even more, depending on the availability of vacancies. Their promotions were mainly subject to the whims and fancies of the government as at times promotions were denied even when vacancies existed. At least five vacancies existed in various branches at present but the department had preferred to keep these posts vacant, allegedly to adjust favourites.

Shimla, June 26
As many as 120 taxis were challaned here under the Motor Vehicles Act for non-installation of meters as per the government ruling.

With taxi operators virtually on a warpath on the issue of installation of meters, the authorities concerned have started challaning those flouting government directions. A sum of Rs 500 each is being charged from taxi owners who have failed to install a meter.

As the last date for installing the meters expired on June 24, 50 taxis were challaned yesterday and 120 today. In case the defaulters fail to install a meter even after one week, they will be fined Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 thereafter. Following this, their permits would be cancelled.

Local MLA Harbhajan Singh Bhajjir met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today and requested him to find a wayout to arrive at a mutually acceptable settlement.

It is on the directions of the High Court that the government has introduced metered taxi service within 40 km of the tourist destinations of Shimla, Dharamsala, Kullu and Manali from June 24.

The government had notified the metered taxi service scheme on December 8, 2006, and renotified it on May 7 this year. While the taxi operators in Dharamsala have decided to defy government orders and not install meters, the operators in Shimla and Kullu are also considering adopting a defiant attitude.

They have decided that if the government continues challaning the vehicles without meters, they would keep their vehicles off the road.

Shimla, June 26
Those unable to engage a lawyer or keen to seek legal advice before proceeding with their case can avail themselves of these facilities free of cost as the first legal-aid clinic of the state will soon start functioning in the state capital.

Although free legal counsels were being provided to all women litigants and others belonging to weaker section of society by the court, the setting up of a proper legal-aid clinic will make it much more easier and organised. Acting Chief Justice Deepak Gupta will inaugurate the clinic on June 29, as he is also the chairman of the HP State Legal Services Authority.

The clinic will be set up at the evening college of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) on the Mall for the convenience of the public. The clinic will be manned by experienced and competent senior advocates of the high court, members of the Bar and law students from the university. These experts will be available at the clinic on every Monday and Friday from 4 to 5 pm.

“Those manning the clinic will provide legal assistance and educate the poor and the downtrodden in need of legal help,” said R.K. Mittal, member secretary, HP State Legal Services Authority. Though legal advice and help has been extended to 6,200 persons in the past, the opening of the clinic would make it much more easier and convenient for the people to seek legal advice.

Another benefit of having the clinic would be that people would be advised to sort out the cases out of court, if a possibility was there. This would save people from a lot of inconvenience. As such, the focus will also be on proper counselling as majority of the people from rural areas do not know how to proceed with their cases and which court to approach.

Another section that would greatly benefit with the opening of the legal-aid clinic would be the law students as they would get a platform to acquire practical knowledge and have first-hand experience of dealing with litigants.

Shimla, June 26
Southwest monsoon finally entered the hill state bringing moderate rain at various places during the past 24 hours. Dharamsala received the maximum rainfall (68.2 mm), followed by Nahan (25.8 mm) and Palampur (24.2 mm). Shimla recorded 7.1 mm of rainfall and Una 6.8 mm. Solan, Sundernagar, and Bhuntar also had moderate rain.

Weather remained clear in Kinnaur and Kalpa recorded a maximum temperature of 23.4°C, whereas it was partially cloudy in Lahaul and Spiti. — TNS

Mandi, June 26
Former Union telecom minister and Mandi Sadar Congress MLA Sukh Ram has kept his political options open and cautioned the Congress to be prepared to face losses in the next Assembly poll with the BSP planning to introduce its “social engineering” experiment in Himachal and Gujarat.

Talking to reporters at his residence here today, Sukh Ram said the Congress could retain power provided it adopted a comprehensive strategy to outsmart the BJP and minimise the damage likely to result from the BSP’s “social engineering” experiment. Whether Mayawati has approached him for effecting social engineering in the state Sukh Ram chose to remain silent.

About Mankotia’s tirade against CM Virbhadra Singh, Sukh Ram said “certain leaders were out to launch “character-assassination campaigns” in their bid to grab power.

He advised the Congress and the BJP to focus on two major problems afflicting the state- unemployment and a huge debt crisis. 

Dharamsala, June 26
Misappropriation of funds in the cooperative mess of the Police Lines here has come to light. The caretaker of the mess has been suspended from the service and a departmental inquiry initiated against him.

Raj Kumar, a regular employee of the Police Department, who was the caretaker of the mess, had purchased grocery items from local shops for running the mess but he had not paid them for the purchases so made for the past many months.

Some shopkeepers recently met the SP and complained against him. An inquiry was marked by the SP following which prima facie charges of misappropriation of funds came to light.

ASP Santosh Patial said Raj Kumar had been suspended from the service and a departmental inquiry was in progress against him.

He said the caretaker of the mess collected the money from the employees in lieu of providing them daily diet, but he kept this money in his pockets and kept on purchasing grocery items on credit.

After the matter came to light, the caretaker ran away and remained absent from duty for many days. Patial said stock checking of the mess was in progress and the purchase slips were being scrutinised to assess the exact misappropriation of funds.

However, he clarified that no FIR was being registered against the caretaker as a departmental action would be taken against him as per the findings of the inquiry.

Hamirpur, June 26
State BJP spokesman Rajinder Rana has condemned the government for failing to secure any package for the state even when the Congress is ruling both at the Centre and in the state.

He said the state government could not even pursue the allocation of Rs 4,100 crore promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the state during his recent visit.

He said despite the release of CD by Congress MLA Vijay Singh Mankotia levelling allegations of corruption against the CM and his wife, the state government had failed to order an inquiry.

Nurpur, June 26
The Himachal Pradesh Unemployed Trained Graduate Teachers Association has taken exception to the Cabinet decision to fill vacant posts of primary teachers by recruiting 2,400 Primary Assistant Teachers (PATs) against JBTs.

President of the association Sushil Kaushal said here that JBT was a district cadre and the government was appointing PATs with plus two qualifications on the basis of recommendations from local gram panchayats or panchayat wards. The government had been granting permission to open private B.Ed colleges, thus adding to the already unending queue of unemployed TGT passouts every year. Unemployed TGTs were ready to work as PATs for whom the government had fixed a monthly remuneration of Rs 3,112.

He lamented though the Cabinet had already created 939 and 300 posts of lecturer in the upgraded schools in January and May, respectively, the Education Department was yet to start recruitment for the purpose.