Fatehabad, July 13
Some Sikhs led by Sukhwinder Singh, president of the Sri Guru Granth Satkaar Sabha today decided to assemble at the Ajeetsar Gurdwara, Ratia, tomorrow to plan their future course of action in the wake of registration of criminal cases against them.

The police had booked 250 Sikhs, including Sukhwinder Singh, under Sections 148, 149, 153-A, 186, 295, 341 and 188 of the IPC for rioting, unlawful assembly, promoting enmity between two groups, obstructing public servant from discharge of duty, defiling place of worship, wrongful restrain and disobedience of prohibitory orders promulgated by the authorities respectively late last evening.

Besides Sukhwinder Singh, the police had booked Swaran Singh, Director of the Guru Nanak Academy, Ratia, Ghuma Singh Bhunderwas, Kulwant Singh, Baljit Singh Johal, Paramjit Singh Aherwan, Jagir Singh Ratia and 243 unidentified Sikhs, when they allegedly marched towards the 'nam charcha ghar' of the Dera Sacha Sauda yesterday, breaking two barricades erected by the police.

The Sikhs were allegedly armed with swords and stones in their vehicles.

They were, however, stopped by the authorities from reaching the dera building.

Talking to mediapersons today here Sukhwinder Singh said the Sikhs would meet the Deputy Commissioner tomorrow and present him a memorandum addressed to the state Governor drawing his attention to what he called 'registration of false cases against the Sikhs'.

Accusing the authorities of adopting a partisan attitude towards the Sikhs, he alleged that the dera followers were allowed to perform their 'nam charcha' despite ban by the Haryana Government while cases had been registered against the Sikhs.

He asked the authorities to stop the dera followers from performing their proposed August 5 'nam charcha' at Ratia to avoid any confrontation in future.

Meanwhile, the police has started the process of identification of the Sikhs, who were involved in yesterday's incident.

SP Saurabh Singh said the police had videographed the whole incident and it was completing the formality of naming the unnamed persons involved in the incident.

He added that the accused would be arrested soon.

Sirsa, July 13
Finally after 15 days dera followers ended their indefinite fast staged in front of the deputy commissioner’s office against the Punjab Government, following persuasion by senior officials, which included the Commissioner of Hisar Range, P.C Bidhan, this evening. They lifted their dharna after the commissioner accompanied by the deputy commissioner, V.Umashankar, offered juice to them to break their fast.

The commissioner told the dera followers here that the Constitution was the same for all Indians and the state government was here to protect the rights of every individual. If they faces any problems it should be brought to their notice.

It is learnt that the matter was resolved after the commissioner and the deputy commissioner held talks with the dera management. However, when the meeting was held, the dera chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had already left for Budarwali in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan to hold a religious discourse on July 15.

Besides it, the state government worked out the ways to sort out the issue yesterday in Chandigharh. Even the deputy commissioner was in Chandigarh to discuss the issue with the senior officials.

Twentyfive dera followers had started fast unto death on June 28 protesting against the Punjab Government’s decision to give sanction to the Punjab police to arrest the dera chief.

The convener of the dera action committee Ram Pal said after assurance from the commissioner that the state government would extend all possible help to them and protect their rights they lifted their dharna.

Meanwhile the peace committee constituted by the administration also launched a signature campaign and got signatures of more than one lakh persons to maintain peace. Yesterday they met the dera chief in this regard also.

Chandigarh, July 13
Nearly two months after being booked by the Punjab Police, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today filed a petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking the quashing of the first information report registered against him. The quashing of subsequent proceedings was also sought.

Describing the FIR as an abuse of the process of law, the Dera chief stated in the petition that he has never worn a blue dress and his attire did not resemble that of Guru Gobind Singh. He added that the FIR was based on a newspaper photograph. But even the snap did not give the impression of Guru Gobind Singh's "pictorial presentation".

The petition, filed through S.K. Garg Narwana, further stated that the Dera Chief had never spoken anything against the Sikh Guru or any religion. He himself was a follower of the principles laid down by the Guru.

Chandigarh, July 13
The Haryana Police is probing the role of jail staff posted at the Sonepat prison after it was alerted by a mobile phone company about systematic tampering of jammers installed by the company on the jail premises.

“Three warders have been suspended already in connection with the incident. We are suspecting involvement of senior members of the staff also in the racket”, said an officer posted at the Haryana police headquarters.

Sonepat, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal are among the Haryana jails in which jammers were introduced to block mobile phone signals after an inmate of Karnal jail was found involved in plotting a murder with the help of a mobile.

Five jammers installed at Sonepat jail were found tampered during a check carried out by its suppliers after it received a direction from the Sonepat SP to disconnect mobile services to numbers recently used by jail inmates.

The SP, Sonepat, sent an e-mail to three mobile companies asking for suspension of services to mobile numbers used by “criminals lodged in the jail”. Dated July 4, the e-mail said data analyses showed the calls were made during May and June.

Following the receipt of the e-mail one of the companies sent its technical team to the jail to inspect the jammers. It was found that out of eight jammers installed, only three were working.

Battery of one jammer was found missing while connector of another jammer was found broken. The power supply of the three other damaged jammers were found tampered with.

On July 9 the company informed the Director- General, Jail, that necessary repair work was complete. “Currently all jammers are working”, the company wrote.

However, the very next day one jammer was found damaged once again.

In a letter to the SP, Sonepat, the mobile company wrote that during a check the following day (July 10) it was found that antenna wire was removed from a jammer. It was “clearly a deliberate attempt by some elements on the premises”, said the letter while it demanded appropriate action against the culprits.

Chandigarh, July 13
In a significant judgement, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that affiliation granted to an institute and admissions are two distinct things. Even if affiliation or recognition has been granted, it does not necessarily mean admissions are bound to be made for that session.

Pronouncing the orders on a bunch of four writ petitions filed by seven educational institutes in Haryana; Mr Justice Hemant Gupta of the High Court ruled: “Affiliation of an institute and admissions are admittedly two separate and distinct things. Therefore, even if the petitioner institutes have been affiliated or recognised by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), that does not necessarily command that the admissions are bound to be made for the academic session itself."

The petitioners had earlier sought directions to the State of Haryana and other respondents to conduct counselling for admission to the B.Ed course in their colleges for 2006-07 session. Or, in alternative direct them to conduct counselling and admit the students.

During the course of hearing, the petitioners had stated that the university had granted them three-month time to appoint staff, but they had carried out the exercise soon after, and were entitled to admit the students for the session.

In their reply to the petition, the state, on the other hand, had averred that affiliation granted to the petitioners was wholly illegal and they could not claim any benefit. The state had added that the petitioners were not fully equipped to make admissions for the academic session 2006-07.

After hearing both parties in the matter, Mr Justice Gupta held: “In view thereof, I am of the opinion that the admission of students admitted by the petitioner institutes is illegal and in contravention of NCTE (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2005.”

The Judge added: "Such students cannot complete the requirement of the regulation to attend minimum number of teaching days. Therefore, the respondent university cannot be forced to permit the students admitted by the petitioner institutes for final examinations. I do not find any merits in the writ petitions and the same are dismissed".

Rohtak, July 13
The Maharishi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) has opposed the purported move to send nearly 50 university-appointed teachers to Pt Neki Ram Sharma Government College (previously University College) here on compulsory deputation.

In a letter written to the Haryana Governor-cum-MDU Chancellor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, the association has urged him to direct the authorities concerned to do the needful and put an end to the uncertainty prevailing over the fate of the teachers.

The teachers, appointed by MDU, had been serving at the erstwhile University College located on the MDU campus till recently. However, in 2006, the Haryana Government decided to take over the reins of the college and subsequently directed the university authorities to accommodate these teachers.

While some teachers were temporarily adjusted in the university teaching departments, the MDU executive council proposed to set up a University College of Professional and Basic Studies to accommodate the rest.
However, the proposal to set up this college did not get clearance from the state authorities. As of now, there is uncertainty over the fate of nearly 50 such teachers. “There are reports of sending some 50 university-appointed teachers of nearly 80 such teachers back to Pt Neki Ram Sharma Government College, Rohtak, on compulsory deputation or under some other such arrangement,” MDUTA president Dr Rajinder Chaudhary maintains in the letter.

The association has pointed out that while some teachers of the college have been adjusted in MDU teaching departments against vacant posts, other vacancies have been filled through open recruitment and several other vacancies still exist in the university. Hence, some of the teachers can immediately be adjusted, but this is not being done.

The association president has requested the chancellor to direct the authorities concerned to ensure that an objective and transparent policy is followed regarding the matter.

The association has demanded that all teachers of the erstwhile University College have the same terms and conditions of service, which are not lower than what they have enjoyed in the University College.

Rohtak, July 13
Management education has grown manifold in the country. There is a great mushrooming of business and management schools.

However, there is an acute shortage of quality faculty in these institutions.

The need of the hour is to organise faculty development programmes for the faculty.

This was stated by vice-chancellor, Maharishi Dayanand University, Prof R.S. Dhankar while inaugurating a three-day faculty development programme on ‘Pedagogy in Management’ organised by the Institute of Management Studies and Research (IMSAR) of the university.

Nearly 35 management teachers from management departments of different universities in Haryana and other management institutions are participating in this three-day programme.

Yamunanagar, July 13
If the ministry of surface transport approves a proposal of the Haryana Government, motorists would be made to observe speed limits or face challan. The government has approached the ministry for procurement of speed checking radars.

An official said the ministry was expected to give its nod soon and radars would be positioned on roads by August.

They would be given to the Red Cross Society, which in turn would lend them to the police.

There is a proposal to arm traffic cops with special dresses and other equipment. The state police has already acquired interceptor gypsies equipped with modern equipments.

Director-general of police Ranjiv Dalal during his visit here recently had said that traffic control was on their priority list and efforts were on to enforce the motor vehicle act in the state.

Police sources admit that motorists were not obeying traffic laws. and traffic violations are rampart on roads. Police of several districts have speed checking guns but their use was not common, said sources.

It has been observed that all maxi cab drivers are rash on roads. In Ambala 11 persons were killed and an equal numbers injured in an accident involving a maxi cab.

The district Red Cross Society secretary D.R Sharma said that Red Cross was already providing cranes and ambulances to the police for accidents on national highways.

Chandigarh, July 13
The Haryana government today lifted ban on transfers and made ministers competent to effect transfers in their respective departments up to Class-II level.

While stating this here today, an official spokesman said these transfers would be made against vacant posts and on mutual basis and of officials having stay of more than three years. These orders would be operative up to August 7.

Meanwhile, Ram Kumar, deputy director, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs at Faridabad, has been promoted and posted as joint director (Press) at Chandigarh headquarters.

While stating this here today, a spokesperson of the Health Department said four officers of the department have been designated as state public information officers and four others have been designated as first appellate authority for various councils of the department.