New Delhi, November 16
The Supreme Court today declined to interfere in the dismissal order of a Haryana lower court judge for judicial “misconduct” in granting bail to an accused by over-stepping his territorial jurisdiction and for alleged “extraneous” consideration.

Judicial Magistrate Ram Dhari Jatain, posted in Gurgaon district, was dismissed in 2005 by the Punjab and Haryana High Court administration after an inquiry, which found that he had wrongly exercised his jurisdiction in granting bail to an accused due to some “extraneous” considerations.

“If you are not conferred with powers, how can you grant bail,” a Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran asked Jatain’s counsel, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran.

The court said the police station in which the case was registered against the accused was not attached to the dismissed judicial magistrate, but still he entertained the bail petition.

“When you are not entitled to exercise your jurisdiction and when you don’t have power, you have no business to touch the case… granting bail in this manner is a clear illegality,” the court observed, taking a tough stance.

Ramachandran claimed that the magistrate had acted as per the orders of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Gurgaon, who had said that when a judicial magistrate of a sub-division was on leave, the one posted in the neighbouring division, would hear urgent cases like bail and judicial remand.

The counsel further said that the magistrate had only acted as per the CJM’s order in a “bona fide” manner.

But the apex court was not impressed with the argument, saying that the High Court administration had conducted an inquiry into the matter and took the dismissal decision only after it.

“Since the High Court inquiry is against you, your contentions could not sustain,” the Bench said, explaining that the inquiry report had mainly concluded that he overstepped his jurisdictional powers and granted bail due to “extraneous” consideration.

The apex court was more concerned about the second aspect of the inquiry report relating to High Court attributing the grant of bail to “extraneous” reasons, which apparently brought the judiciary to disrepute.

Jatain had moved the apex court after the High Court in judicial side had upheld its administrative side order of dismissal when he challenged it in a writ petition.

Chandigarh, November 16
In a significant judgement, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the court is empowered to summon any person as a witness at any stage of the trial.

In a ruling on a petition filed by Dinesh and other petitioners against the State of Haryana and others, Justice S.S Saron of the High Court has held: It may be noticed that in exercise of powers under Section 311, CrPC, the court may at any stage of the trial summon any person as a witness or recall and re-examine any person already examined, if his evidence appears to the court to be essential to the just decision of the case.

Therefore, evidently the court has been empowered to summon any person as a witness at any stage of the trial. The court having exercised the jurisdiction in this regard would not warrant any interference in exercise of the inherent jurisdiction of this court.

However, it may be noticed that when the court has itself granted one opportunity to examine the witnesses, granting of further opportunity may not be fully justified keeping in view the long pendency of the case.

The judge observed that the petition under Section 482, CrPC, was filed for setting aside the order dated August 29, 2007 and order dated September 20, 2007, passed by the Trial Magistrate, Rewari.

The judge concluded: The Trial Magistrate, vide order dated October 18, has granted last opportunity and has observed that no further opportunity would be given.

Therefore, it is hoped that the said orders are adhered to and in case the witnesses do not appear on the date fixed then no further opportunity is granted to the respondents to examine them.

Panipat, November 16
Following an official complaint filed by the Delhi government about the presence of certain industrial pollutants in the Yamuna river, scores of industrial houses, particularly the dyeing units of this handloom township, have come under the scanner of the Central and state pollution authorities.

The two agencies have started raiding various industrial units in Panipat, Sonepat and other districts of the state to nab those, who are not using the mandatory effluent treatment plant (ETP) at their respective units.

Officials from the Central and state pollution control boards are jointly monitoring the Yamuna river in Haryana.

The teams are collecting samples of river water from different spots but sources revealed that nothing objectionable was found so far.

The team will ensure that no untreated industrial water is drained into Yamuna, the main source of water supply to New Delhi.

From its Himalayan glacial source in Uttarakhand, Yamuna reaches Delhi after passing through the populated areas of UP and Haryana.

In an official communiqué last week, the Delhi government had alleged that the water supply in the Capital was getting severely affected due to the presence of certain pollutants.

It was alleged that Yamuna water was being polluted due to the presence of industrial waste, which may have poured directly in the river in Haryana.

Meanwhile, official sources said due to the indifferent attitude of state pollution control authorities, scores of unregistered industries were not equipped with the ETP. But no action had been taken against such units due to the alleged collusion between industrialists and officials.

Panipat DC Mahender Kumar here today said the state had cautioned the entrepreneurs of this industrial township to stay away from draining out the untreated industrial water in the river.

“We are regularly holding meetings with local industrialists particularly owners of dyeing units to ensure that ETP are fully functional,” he said.

Chandigarh, November 16
The Haryana government has replaced three range IGs as part of a reshuffle in the state police. Besides transfer of 10 IPS officers, six HPS officers were also displaced.

Anil Dabra, IGP, modernisation and welfare, has been posted as IGP, Rohtak range, against a vacant post. Y.P. Singal, IGP, Hisar range goes as IGP, security, vice K.K. Mishra, who has been made IGP, railways and commandos against a vacant post.

S.S. Deswal, IGP, Ambala range and K.K. Sindhu, IGP, crime, will swap their places of posting. B.S. Sandhu, IGP, personnel, becomes IG, M&W. A.K. Dhull has been posted as IGP, Hisar range.

Manjit Singh Ahlawat, DIG/CID, has been posted as joint police commissioner, Gurgaon, against a vacant post. Alok Kumar Roy awaiting posting orders has been made DIG, training, against a vacant post. Charu Bali, SP/DGP’s flying squad becomes AIG/administration against a vacant post.

Kulwinder Singh, additional SP/CID, has been posted as additional SP/DGP’s flying squad. Arun Kumar, awating posting orders, will now be DSP, state crime branch, against a vacant post. Rajinder Singh, DSP/state crime branch, goes as DSP, detective, Yamunanagar against a vacant post.

Vinod Kaushik, DSP, 2nd IRB, Bhondsi, has been made DSP, AEC, Kaithal, against a vacancy. Sabha Chand, DSP, state crime branch goes as DSP, Kosli, vice Balwan Singh, who has proceeded on leave. Randhir Singh, DSP, 3rd IRB, Bhondsi, has been shifted as such to 4th IRB, Bhondsi.

The transfer orders of Hari Ram, DSP, Pehowa to Ist Bn, HAP, Ambala has been cancelled.

Chandigarh, November 16
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced the setting up of 11 state-level and 140 district-level annual cash awards totalling Rs 37 lakh for mediapersons for excellence in journalism. These awards will be in addition to the two state-level awards already instituted by the state government.

Hooda also announced that application forms for next year’s (2008) awards would be posted on the website of the state government. The applications would have to be sent before September 30, 2008, and the awards would be presented on November 16, the National Press Day.

Hooda was speaking after giving away the two already instituted state-level awards to journalists at a function at the Press Club here today. He also presented Veer Yagya Dutt Sharma Memorial Awards to five journalists on behalf of the Press Club.

Shri Satpal Saini Samriti Sreshtha Patarkarita Puruskar, instituted by the Haryana government, was presented by Hooda to Hemant Atri, a journalist working with Dainik Bhaskar, for his feature on female foeticide.

Hooda gave Shri Rajendra Hooda Samriti Navodit Sreshtha Patarkarita Puruskar to Geetanjali Gayatri, a staffer with The Tribune. Her piece “Admissions in government primary schools at an all-time low” and a follow-up story entitled “No birth certificate for Haryana school admission” fetched her the award.

Each of the two awards carried Rs 1 lakh in cash, a shawl, a book, a certificate and a memento.

Attri donated his award money to a social organisation devoted to creating awareness about female foeticide.

For the Veer Yagya Dutt Sharma Memorial Award, the winner in the best investigative reporting category was Manish Tewari, principal correspondent with Hindustan Times. The award carried Rs 15,000, a shawl, a book, a memento and a certificate.

The Best Photography Award was given to Vinay Malik, a photographer with The Tribune. The award carries Rs 10,000, a shawl, a book, a memento and a certificate.

In the category of Best TV News Reporter, the award went to Jagvinder Patyal of Star News. The award carries Rs 7,500, a shawl, a book, a memento and a certificate. The award for Best Headline was given to Vikaramdeep Johal, sub-editor, The Tribune. The award carries Rs 5,000, a shawl, a book, a memento and a certificate. Dainik Bhaskar Editor Babu Lal Sharma, Dainik Tribune Editor Naresh Kaushal and Amar Ujala Editor Udai Kumar Sinha joined Hooda in giving away the awards.

On the 11 new state-level awards, Hooda said each award would carry Rs 51,000, a certificate of appreciation, a shawl and a memento.

He said there would be seven district-level awards of Rs 21,000 each that would be given to mediapersons every year in each of the 20 districts of the state. Each recipient would also get a certificate of appreciation, a shawl and a memento.

Chandigarh, November 16
The Haryana government today appointed firebrand Congress MLA from Palwal Karan Singh Dalal chairman of the first state administrative reforms commission.

Two former chief secretaries, M.C. Gupta and Prem Prashant, have been nominated as members.

A few more members from the spheres of engineering, the judiciary and education are also likely to be nominated later.

Though the terms and conditions of the appointments are yet to be decided, Dalal is likely to get cabinet rank. Dalal was a cabinet minister in the Bansi Lal ministry.

Before appointing Dalal chairman, the post was taken out of the category of “office of profit” so that he might not invite disqualification as member of the Vidhan Sabha. No person can hold an office of profit till he is a member of the legislature.

The draft ordinance to take the post of chairman of the commission out of the category of “office of profit” was approved by cabinet members yesterday by circulation because no cabinet meeting was scheduled till November 29.

The commission will have its offices in Delhi and Chandigarh. It will recommend changes in various rules and government procedures keeping in line with the changing trends in administration and technology. 

Yamunanagar, November 16
A bride-to-be allegedly tried to end her life by hanging herself here last evening as the family of the groom-to-be refused to go ahead with the marriage. The marriage was scheduled for tomorrow.

The girl’s family alleged that the boy’s family was demanding a gold chain and a ring, a bike and Rs 50,000.

Jamshed of Amarpuri Colony here said he had fixed the marriage of his eldest daughter with Mehraj of Jawalapur. The engagement had taken place about four years ago.

The girl’s family had made all arrangements for the marriage. “Guests and relatives had already started reaching our house,” said Jamshed. According to him, the father and an uncle of Mehraj came to his house yesterday and demanded cash, gold jewellery and the bike. “We expressed our helplessness in meeting the demand and the boy’s family refused to go ahead with the marriage,” said Jamshed.

When the girl heard the news, she locked herself in a room and tried to hang herself from a ceiling. Family members got suspicious and broke the door of the room and saved the girl.

Jamshed today lodged a complaint with the superintendent of police and demanded action against the boy’s family.

Faridabad, November 16
The police today registered a case against a counicllor of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) for allegedly outraging the modesty of a female teacher and indulging in violence.

The councilor, Jagbir, represents ward number 2 in Ballabagarh Assembly constituency.

As per the complaint, he entered the house of a teacher with the Adult Literacy Campaign while her husband was not at home at Sanjay Colony in Faridabad.

He asked the teacher whether she had received the money for the duties that she had rendered for the campaign.

When she said no, he asked her to give him the documents so that he could do the needful in her favour. When the teacher told him that she would send the documents through her husband, he sought his mobile number. As she entered the house to get a pen, he followed her and allegedly misbehaved with her.

Neighbours, who had assembled outside the gate, saw the councillor running away.

The crowd then went to the Sanjay Colony police post, after which a case was registered under Section 354, 323 and 452 of the IPC against the councillor. No arrest has been made so far. 

Bhiwani, November 16
Following the registration of cases against eight persons by name and hundreds others for beating up two Christian missionaries and destroying religious literature two days ago, activists of the BJP and the VHP took out a procession here today. Later, they courted arrest.

Two students of a mission school in Ambala were allegedly distributing booklets related to Christianity at the local Naya Bazar two days ago when an activist of a Hindu organisation caught hold of them and called other activists. The duo was beaten up and taken in a procession.

The organising secretary of the VHP condemned the police action and said they would fight to check attempts at conversion.

Meanwhile, the incident of beating up of the Christian missionaries has been criticised by the CPM. Its district committee secretary Sher Singh, in a statement, demanded action against those involved in the incident.

KARNAL: The Bharatiya Masih Shakti Sanghathan (BMSS) has condemned the beating up of two Christian youths by workers of the RSS in Bhiwani.

BMSS president Pastor Krishan Kumar said it was a premeditated attack and no religion condoned such an act. He added that the burning of literature relating to Christianity by the RSS activists was shameful.

Kumar also denied reports that the two youths, Matthew and Jaybir, were converting people to Christianity by offering them Rs 5,000 per person.

“These two boys were making a living out of selling Christian literature rather than converting people to Christianity,” he said.

Gurgaon, November 16
As against the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 9.5 per cent, Haryana GDP has touched 15 per cent, not only in industry or service sector but also in the agriculture sector.

Haryana governor A.R. Kidwai stated this while inaugurating the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) centre at Pushpanjali Hospital, Gurgaon, today.

Kidwai said there was a dire need for latest medical facilities in the cities likes Gurgaon and Faridabad as many multinational companies were converging to these areas and the population of these cities was also increasing speedily.

While explaining about the new machine being installed at the hospital, Dr Suman Yadav, gynaecologist-cum-director of the hospital, said IVF was a technique in which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the woman’s womb, in vitro.

IVF was a major treatment in infertility, when other methods of assisted reproductive technology fail. She disclosed that for the first time, IVF had been equipped with triple gas incubators in accordance with international standards.

She revealed that stress, strain and modern lifestyle had attributed significantly to increase infertility cases. She said approximately 10 to 20 per cent of all couples, who were unable to conceive naturally, need assistance to conceive by IVF or test-tube baby, as it is commonly called internationally.

Ambala, November 16
A function was held at Panchayat Bhavan to mark World Press Day today. Mohammad Shayin, deputy commissioner, Ambala, was the chief guest.

Shayin said there should be absolute coordination between the press and officials so that common people get to know about the development works being undertaken by the government.

He suggested that the press must desist from yellow journalism and report the truth. He said grievances of the media persons would be looked into.

The Haryana Journalists’ Union state general secretary Rajesh Gupta spoke about the challenges being faced by the media persons in discharging their duties.

Ambala, November 16
“Science Express”, a train showcasing important challenges in science, has turned out to be a major draw among schoolchildren.

A large number of schoolchildren from various schools in the town have visited
the exhibition.

The special train has been developed by Max Planck Society of Germany with support from the German government. It is a symbol of friendship between India
and Germany.

The train will halt at 57 places on its journey throughout the country. Each halt will last three days, during which a number of activities will be carried out to generate awareness about science. A special coach has been designed to project opportunities available for research in science and engineering in Germany.

Achievements in science and technology by Indian scientists have been depicted in the coach. Two TV monitors play video clips of modern developments.

The Rashtriya Vigyan Evam Prodyogiki Sanchar Parishad, department of science and technology, has been mandated to communicate science and technology to the common man.

Over 10 advanced areas of research in science and technology have been showcased in the train.

These are designed to nurture curiosity in the viewer and create interest in pursuing scientific research as a career.

Chandigarh, November 16
A sharp increase of Rs 1,200 per tonne of bitumen today created panic among contractors engaged in road construction activity.

According to sources, oil companies, which have to incur heavy losses on diesel and petrol, have increased the prices of bitumen and other petroleum products like furnace oil, which a common man does not normally use.

The price of bitumen of commonly used 80-100 grade went up from about Rs 20,000 per tonne about six months ago to Rs 26,300 per tonne today. The price of furnace oil went up from Rs 22 per litre about six months ago to Rs 28 per litre today.

The contractors say the price of bitumen is being increased every fortnight and it has increasingly become difficult for them to complete their contracts.

Though the Haryana government has allowed the escalation clause on account of bitumen prices in new contracts following several representations by the contractors, no such provision exists in the old contracts.

President of the Hot-Mix Plant Contractors Association K.C. Mittal said here that even under centrally sponsored schemes no provision for cost escalation had been provided. He said since the price of bitumen was government controlled, it would be fair if the contractors were given allowance for the increased cost. He said even in old contracts this provision should be made. 

Jind, November 16
“The state government will provide a loan of Rs 1 lakh to those opting to start their own dairy business under the newly launched White Card Scheme,” said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while speaking at the 42nd state-level cooperative day function here today. He was the chief guest on the occasion. Urging women and the youth to take advantage of every available opportunity for self-employment, he said this would help solve the the problem of unemployment.

He said women could emulate the successful models of the cooperative sector and make use of new schemes launched by the state government.

He said cooperative banks in Haryana would be able to release an amount of Rs 7,850 crore to people during the current financial year. Besides, an amount of Rs 704 crore would be available from the union government to provide financial support to agriculture credit societies in the state. The Chief Minister gave away prizes to several cooperative societies and banks on the occasion.

Chandigarh, November 16
The objective of Indian federalism was to strengthen “the totality of the nation state” for meeting its objectives, rather than merely ensuring administrative convenience - at least this is what Haryana’s assistant advocate- general Deepak Jindal has to say.

Back in the city after attending the fourth international conference on federalism at New Delhi, the law officer says: Indian fiscal federalism is marked by high degree of vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalance. Most of the times, a major part of the stated total expenditure is financed from central “transfer and borrowed funds”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the three-day conference with theme “Unity in Diversity - Learning from each other” on November 5 and President Pratibha Patil addressed the valedictory function. In all, there were 24 parallel work-sessions for two days. Jindal participated in work session titled “To what extent do central governments erode state jurisdiction using fiscal arrangements”.

It was chaired by Lord Meghnad Desai - professor Emeritus, Centre for the study of Global Governance, London School of Economics.

Presenting a paper during the session, Jindal said: “The system of intergovernmental fiscal arrangements in India has served it well for over 50 years. Most broad-based and progressive tax powers are assigned to the Centre. But the states have a few tax bases assigned to them.

The constitution of India itself recognises that the states’ tax powers are inadequate to meet expenditure needs and, therefore, provides for the sharing of central tax revenues.

A notable feature of transfers in India is the existence of multiple channels for the transfer of funds. One such channel, the Planning Commission, provides assistance by way of grants and loans to the states to meet their plan requirements. But the transfer system in the country is beset with several problems.

Elaborating, he asserted that multiple transfer channels sometimes work at cross-purposes, creating serious problems of focussing the transfers on fiscally disadvantaged states.

The methodology, as commonly perceived, of filling gaps between projected revenues and expenditure has not only created serious disincentives, but has also results in inequity.

With economic liberalisation and the opening up of the economy, significant changes in fiscal federalism have become imperative.

Accordingly, for a federal country to perform well in terms of growth and for raising the standards of living, the sub-national government should have primary authority over the economy within its jurisdiction and the government’s attention should be focused on public and merit goods.

Hard-budget constraint should also be there on Centre and states through fiscal-responsibility legislations. The national government must also have authority to police the common market. Besides this, the revenue and fiscal deficits should be controlled.