Chandigarh, September 19
The annual report of the Haryana Lokayukta for the period April 1, 2006, to March 31, 2007, is replete with misgivings about the lack of cooperation from the government side with regard to complaints received by the Lokayukta from the public.

The report, tabled in the assembly here today, said the Lokayukta received 133 complaints during this period. Out of these, 60 had been disposed of, while the remaining complaints were at different stages of investigation. The report added that in three cases action had been recommended by the Lokayukta against the erring officials to the competent authority (Chief Minister). “However, the response from the competent authority is still awaited”, the report said.

According to the report, the “biggest road block” is the absence of rules “which have not been notified up to the date of writing this report”. The Lokayukta recalled that he had pointed out this problem in his last report also and the government gave an assurance that the rules would be notified at the earliest.

“However, I am constrained to observe that despite various reminders and assurances, the rules are yet to be notified”, the Lokayukta said.

Recording his experience in the office, the Lokayukta wrote that most of the grievances and complaints brought before him related to inaction on the part of various officials in dealing with representations made by members of the public.

“Even the letters written by this office to various officials fail to evoke any response and reminders have to be issued. When such reminders also remain unacknowledged, the only course left open is to summon the official”, the Lokayukta stated. He added that despite instructions issued by the chief secretary, “many of the letters of this office are not only not responded to, but also remain unacknowledged”.

The Lokayukta also observed that departmental inquiries initiated against various public servants remained pending for a long time. “Further, even in cases where inquiry reports are submitted, action against the persons found guilty remains pending for a long time”, the Lokayukta wrote. He added that the delay resulted in the erring officials remaining unpunished and gave the message that someone in the administration was protecting the erring officials.

The report also noted that in many cases departmental inquiries against public servants were conducted by officers junior in rank to the erring officers. “The general public does not expect a fair inquiry in such cases”, rued the Lokayukta

Chandigarh, September 19
Turning the heat on disgruntled Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, an 11-member house committee was today constituted by Speaker of the assembly Raghubir Singh Kadian to probe Haryana’s participation in a 1994 agreement that allegedly compromised the state’s interest regarding the sharing of the Yamuna waters.

Bhajan Lal, with whom Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is having a running feud for supremacy, was the Chief Minister in 1994 and the purpose of setting up the committee is, evidently, to nail him. The former Chief Minister, who is a Congress MLA, too, has been included in the committee as a member even though it is unlikely that he will take part in any work assigned to the committee.

The committee, according to a statement read out by the Speaker in the house, will “analyse the circumstances which led to the signing by the then Haryana Chief Minister of the 1994 memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the sharing of the Yamuna waters and the discrepancy between cabinet decisions and the signed document”.

The committee will also review the document signed by the then Chief Minister in 1994 for the Renuka and Kishau dams. It will suggest terms for the construction and maintenance of these dams by a central agency on the pattern of the BBMB and also suggest the terms for the proposed Lakhwar Vyas dam.

The all-party committee with 11 members will be headed by Speaker Kadian himself, while irrigation minister Ajay Singh Yadav will be its member-secretary. Other members of the committee are Bhajan Lal, S. S. Surjewala, Birender Singh and Phool Chand Mullana of the Congress, Rekha Rana of the INLD, Ram Kumar Gautam of the BJP, Sukhbir Singh of the NCP, Arjun Singh of the BSP and Radhe Shyam Sharma, Independent MLA.

The issue of the 1994 MoU and its alleged adverse fallout on Haryana came up today during question hour as a result of a question asked by Congress MLA Uday Bhan. Udhay Bhan’s question, which was the first one to be asked during question hour, was about the present position of the Kishau, Renuka and Lakhwar Vyas dams to be constructed on theYamuna .

In reply Ajay Singh Yadav, who also has the portfolio of the public works department , said the state government was actively pursuing the subject with the central government. The Chief Minister also stood up and said he was consistently following up the issue of the construction of the dams with the centre.

Radhe Shyam Sharma, Independent MLA, who has offered support to the government, then raised the issue of the 1994 MoU, which allegedly would reduce Haryana’s share in the Yamuna waters. He said the house should censure the then Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal for signing the MoU. Shadilal Batra, Congress MLA from Rohtak and staunch Hooda loyalist, suggested action against the then Chief Minister under criminal law for signing the MoU.

Parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala then requested the Speaker to constitute a committee to probe the signing by the Haryana Chief Minister of the MoU in 1994. The committee constituted by the Speaker following Surjewala’s request, however, was not given any timeframe for the submission of its report.

Chander Mohan, Deputy Chief Minister and elder of the two sons of Bhajan Lal, who had briefly come to the house, watched helplessly as his party colleagues engaged themselves in launching an offensive against his father on the issue of the 1994 MoU.

Karnal, September 19
The drive of the state electricity board to replace old electricity meters with new digital meters suffered a setback today when shopkeepers of the Sarafa Bazar here resisted the board’s attempt to change meters at their shops today.

A team of the electricity department led by B.P. Rana had to return without replacing the meters after the shopkeepers closed their shops for nearly an hour. Rana tried to reason with the shopkeepers that the new meters were more accurate and there would be no overcharging.

But the shopkeepers stuck to their stand arguing that they would have to shell out more once the digital meters are installed and if they break down they will have to face lot of hassles.

The shopkeepers also warned of dire consequences if force was used in installing the meters. The shopkeepers also vowed that they would untidily resist any attempts of the electricity department to install the meters in future also. 

Yamunanagar, September 19
A local court today sentenced three sons of a temple priest and another person to life for the murder of Jagadhri resident Rajeev Goel. The wife of the priest was given a three-year jail term, but was released on bail.

The body of Rajeev Goel (34) was found in a gutter near the Kali temple on the old Chhachhrouli road on September 18, 2005. He was killed by Lakshman Giri, Brahm Giri, Narayan Giri (sons of the temple priest Om Giri) and Pradeep Sharma, a relative of the priest, a day earlier and the body was dumped in the gutter. Naresh Giri, wife of Om Giri, was also an accused in the case. The victim was a relative of Rajeev Gupta, the then state president of the BSP.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Darshan Singh announced the punishment. Lakshman, Brahm, Narayan and Pradeep were found guilt under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC and given life imprisonment. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on each of them. Naresh Giri was found guilty under Section 201 of the IPC and was given a three-year imprisonment.

However, she was later given bail by the court. Another accused in the case, Narinder, had died in jail.

The cause behind the murder was a piece of land measuring 8 bighas.

Rohtak, September 19
The district police claims to have unearthed a flesh trade racket with the arrest of several girls and an “event manager”. Superintendent of police Hanif Qureshi told newspersons here yesterday that a team comprising police personnel of the Urban Estate police station was checking vehicles near the Sector 4 turn here.

They spotted a man and a woman coming on a motorcycle and signalled them to stop. They man was identified as Sandeep of Bhadana village in Rohtak while the woman was from Sujanpur, Delhi. On being interrogated by the police, the woman confessed that she was a prostitute.

On the basis of information received from them, the police party raided a house in Shivaji Colony, where they found four women and Balwant, alias Ballu, a resident of Sector 4 Housing Board Colony, who was the “event manager” in this regard. The arrested persons were produced in a local court, which sent them in judicial custody for 14 days.

Meanwhile, the district police has also busted an interstate gang of vehicle thieves with the arrest of four of its members. A police party conducted a raid on a tip-off and arrested Satish, Manoj, Surender and Neeraj after a brief encounter. While Satish and Manoj are residents of Rohtak district, Surender is from Uttaranchal and Dheeraj is from Uttar Pradesh. Another accomplice of the group managed to escape.

A Tata Safari car, two Indica cars, one pistol and two knives have been seized from their possession. In police interrogation, the arrested persons confessed their hand in 27 cases of vehicle theft and highway looting. They were produced in a local court, which remanded them in police custody. The SP has appreciated the efforts of the special staff in busting the gang.

In yet another move, the police has arrested 21 persons on a charge of gambling at public places. A sum of Rs 19,940 has been recovered from their possession.

Chandigarh, September 19
Justice L.N. Mittal today adjourned the hearing on the pre-arrest bail plea of Dera Sacha Sauda head Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to October 17. Importanly, the interim relief against granted to the Dera head will continue till the said date.

The Dera head had moved the plea for pre-arrest bail in a case registered against him by the Bathinda police. The case was registered against the Dera head for his alleged copying of Guru Gobind Singh by wearing clothes resembling those of the Guru and also offering Jam-e-Insan to his followers at a ceremony.

The petitioner had averred, during previous hearings, that he had no intention to imitate the tenth Sikh Guru whom he held in great esteem and thus had done nothing to hurt the feelings of Sikh community. It was also averred that that the FIR was registered against him due to the vendetta politics pursued by the present government in Punjab.

The dera head had also submitted that owing to some media reports that the Dera had given the call to its followers to support the Congress during the last Assembly poll, the present Akali-BJP regime was baying for his blood.

A complaint had been filed against the Dera head in May 2007 by a member of the Sikh religious organisation, located in Bathinda district, wherein it was alleged that he had hurt the feelings of Sikhs by imitating the acts and clothes of the tenth Sikh Guru. 

Chandigarh, September 19
In a significant order, a Division Bench, comprising Justice M.M. Kumar and Justice A.K. Mittal, has asked the HUDA and other official respondents to disclose if any favours had been granted to the petitioner, Sigma Corporation Limited, a New Delhi-based firm, which resulted in the company filing an application for withdrawal of the petition.

The Bench, in an order dated September 18, also directed the HUDA to file an affidavit supported with the record relating to the case.

Incidentally, the petitioner-company sought the quashing of allotment of free-hold institutional plots in favour of private respondents (numbering 22).

The petitioner-company also sought the quashing of the order, dated September 19, 2006, through which the petitioner’s earnest money had been refunded. It was also prayed that directions be issued to HUDA to consider allotment of half-an-acre plot in Gurgaon to the petitioner-company in accordance with the advertisement issued by it.

Jind, September 19
Three persons, including a woman, have been arrested in connection with yesterday’s murder of a convict at Safidon, a subdivisional town in the district. While one of the accused has been charged with assaulting and killing the victim, the others have been booked for being involved in the conspiracy.

According to police officials, the arrests were made this morning. The accused belong to Bitani village. The main accused, Sohan, alias Sonu, had attacked the victim, identified as Randhir Singh of this village, with a sharp-edged weapon outside the judicial complex at Safidon yesterday, which resulted in his death. Randhir Singh had been convicted in a case of murder of a kin of the accused earlier and was serving a life term. After being released on parole, he had come to the court to collect some papers. He had been living with his sister in Dhakal village.

The other persons who have been arrested have been identified as Bimla Devi and Jaibhagwan. Their involvement has been claimed to be a fallout of an old enmity over a land dispute between two groups. 

Hisar, September 19
Former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said today if the Indian National Lok Dal was voted to power in the next assembly poll, it would enact a law to prevent governments from acquiring farmers’ land for industrialists.

Addressing a series of public meetings in the district as part of his ongoing campaign, he said it was unfortunate that the peasantry was suffering because the Congress was at the helm of affairs both at the Centre and in Haryana. These governments were working for the benefit of capitalists at the cost of farmers.

He asked people to ponder over why high rate of inflation, sale of products on the black market and paucity of water and power were the hallmark of any Congress government.

He went on to say that it was because the Congress did not want to benefit the poor. It merely acted as an agent of industrialists.

Chautala accused the Congress of imposing land ceiling in the name of land reforms to benefit big industrial houses.

Chautala exhorted people to attend the Ambala rally in large numbers as it would show how rapidly his party was regaining its strength.

Panipat, September 19
Panipat is under the grip of conjunctivitis as more than 50 cases on an average are being reported everyday from different parts of the district.

Sources said at the OPD of the Civil Hospital, on an average 15 patients were registered everyday. Similarly, a large number of patients were approaching private nursing homes with the complaint of acute irritation in the eyes.

Newborns are among the worst hit due to their exposure to the infection.

The sources said the number of infected persons had increased manifold in government and private hospitals during the past four days.

Confirming this to The Tribune here today, the CMO, Dr Neh Lata Singh, said the district health authorities had been put on alert.

The following is an edited version of a letter we have received from Mr V.P.S. Rao, Editor, R.S.R.U. Oriental Education Publications, Panchkula:

Apropos of the report headlined “Don’t meddle with names” in these columns on September 18, Jind was not made the capital of Jind State in 1746, as mentioned in the report. The Jind State came into existence only after the fall of Sarhind in 1763 AD. How could the town of Jind be made its capital in 1746?

Again, the picture, with five portraits, that appeared, depicts the rulers of Nabha, including Rajas Jaswant Singh, Bharpur Singh, Bhagwan Singh, etc. The picture does not depict the rulers of Jind and is, therefore, not relevant to the ongoing discussion on Jind.

The error seems to have originated from its erroneous description in Sharda Dwivedi’s “Maharaja & the Princely States of India” (Ed. 1999, Page - 118; Roli Books, Lustre Press Pvt. Ltd.), from where this picture appears to have been taken.

I have seen the original individual miniature portraits of the rulers of Nabha. The one of Raja Bharpur Singh was even given by my father Sri Rao Uttamsinghji, previously Tutor to the Maharaja of Jind and, later on, Hon. Advisor to the State Museum in Joint Punjab, before its division into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Portraits of Chaudhri Hamir Singh, the founder of Nabha State and Raja Bhagwan Singh, a latter ruler, are also extant.