New Delhi, January 3
The Supreme Court today questioned the Himachal Pradesh High Court order extending the metered taxi scheme to the towns not specified in the government notification, saying it amounted to “judicial legislation” that could not be accepted.

Apparently questioning the high court’s order on the ground of “judicial overreach” in the sphere of legislative and executive, the court said the scheme could not be extended to the areas not covered under it.

“It was restricted to Shimla and Dharamsala, they (taxi operators) are right in saying it is a judicial legislation,” a Bench of Mr Justices S.H. Kapadia and B. Sudershan Reddy said while hearing an appeal by the Him Aanchal Taxi Operators Union that operates taxis in Kullu and Manali regions.

The apex court had earlier issued notices to the Himachal Government in connection with appeals filed by various taxi unions.

Disapproving the practice of “judicial legislation”, the apex court said instead of hearing the taxi operators’ appeals on the merit, it would first like to examine the question of “judicial legislation”.

“We are saying it in principle of the law that it cannot be done. It will set a bad precedent,” the Bench observed. Pointing out that when the government in its notification had specified that the scheme was only for Shimla and Dharamsala, how it be could extended to Kullu, Manali or any other town, which were not mentioned in the notification, the court said.

When asked for the stand of the state government, additional advocate-general J.S. Attri agreed with the observations made by the Bench.

Since the government is conceding that the high court order was “wrong”, let the state file an affidavit in four weeks making its stand clear, the Bench said.

“I agree with the observation of the court,” Attri said. Apart from questioning the legality of the scheme on various counts, counsel of the Him Aanchal Taxi Union Mohit Chaudhary also challenged the constitutional validity of high court’s order expanding scheme’s ambit.

Besides highlighting practical difficulties in implementing the scheme in the hill state, Chaudhary said any rule for the taxis with all-India tourist permit could only be laid down by the Central Government and Parliament.

The state government had made operation of metered taxis mandatory in 40-km radius of Shimla and Dharamsala towns.

The operators challenged the scheme mainly on the ground that there were certain difficulties faced by long-route taxi operators when they go to other towns and had to park their taxis beyond 40-km limit. It also posed difficulty in parking of taxis when they had to go to the towns were metered taxis were mandatory. 

Shimla, January 3
The state would procure electricity from Chhattisgarh as a short-term open access for meeting its additional power requirement during the winter season.

Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal wrote a letter to his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh in this connection today. “Himachal is totally dependent on hydropower generation. There is no thermal power plant or alternative source of power. This has resulted in a shortfall due to reduced discharge in rivers during winter months,” he said.

He said though the state was in a position to meet the hiked demand of other states during summer months, but during winters it would require power from other sources. He requested the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister to get the required power supplied through the designated power transmission agency so that it could be added to the power grid to meet any deficiency during the winter months.

He said work on power projects with a total capacity of 10,000 MW was at various stages of completion and once that was complete, Himachal would not only become power-sufficient, but could also meet surplus requirement of other states. 

Shimla, January 3
Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal today said three was no pressure on him with regard to formation of the Cabinet and the only task before him was to fulfil the promises that had been made by the BJP.

He said the Cabinet formation would take place around January 9 and representation would be given to all sections and regions. “There will be no Shanta or Dhumal factions while forming the Cabinet as ours will be a performance-based government,” he said.

Amid reports that the aspirants were lobbying in Delhi to secure a ministerial berth, the Chief Minister said everyone was aware of the strength of the Cabinet and it would be done comfortably.

He said the BJP had been able to form the government on the basis of the anti-incumbency against the Congress regime and the good work that it had done during its last regime. “Seeing the achievements of the BJP-led coalition government in 1998, the voter felt that if the BJP formed the government on its own, it would definitely deliver,” he said.

He admitted that factors like price rise, unemployment and corruption further tilted the scales in favour of the BJP, which people already knew was coming to power. “The Congress had committed a fraud by failing to fulfil the promise made to the people that job would be given to at least one member of each family,” he said.

On the issue of ordering a probe into the CD issue against former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he said the matter was in the court and the government would follow the court directions in that regard. 

Shimla, January 3
Even as Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal remained busy in taking important decisions, newly elected MLAs are busy lobbying in Delhi to ensure ministerial berths in the Cabinet. The Cabinet is likely to be constituted on January 9.

A large number of MLAs are camping in Delhi. These include both Shanta and Dhumal loyalists. These MLAs, some of whom had made news when they did not attend the first BJP legislature party meeting where Dhumal was elected as the leader on December 29, have been meeting senior leaders, including national BJP chief Rajnath Singh, L.K. Advani and others, to plead their case for a ministerial berth.

It has become quite a difficult task for the Chief Minister to pick 11 ministers in view of the constitutional amendment limiting the size of the ministry to 12. He has a difficult task at hand as regional and caste consideration will have to be kept in mind.

There is also a pressure on the Chief Minister to accommodate Shanta loyalists in the Cabinet. A number of MLAs aspiring for the Cabinet berth have remained ministers in the past also. 

Nurpur, January 3
Representatives of the Himachal Pradesh Gujjars’ Samaj Kalyan Sabha today convened its state-level meeting here and demanded a representation in the newly formed state government led by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. 

Addressing a press conference here after presiding over the meeting, state president of the sabha M. Kalu Deen said the Gujjars, who had supported the BJP in the assembly election, deserved at least one post of the chairman in the state forest corporation or the pollution control board.

He said a delegation of the Gujjar Samaj Kalyan Sabha and the state minorities council would soon meet Dhumal and plead 16-point demands charter prepared by the sabha before the assembly election alongwith representation in the government.

“Prominent demands include constitutional status for the Gujjar kalyan board, land to landless Gujjars, stoppage of representation of non-Himachalis in the state waqf board, state Haj committee and the minorities finance and development corporation and rendering ownership rights of at least five bighas of land in the grasslands in the state,” he added.

He alleged that the successive Congress governments had exploited the minority communities in the state for their political ends only. “It was only during previous Dhumal government in 1998, when with the concerted efforts of the then union minister Shanta Kumar, the Gujjars and Gaddis had got the tribal status in the merged area of the state,” he asserted.  

Dharamsala, January 3
With the change in government, the race for the prestigious post of the chief secretary in the state had begun with two women contenders in line.

Although, the present chief secretary Ravi Dhingra was known in the bureaucratic circles as a neutral person having no political clout but new Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had indicated for bringing in a change as soon as possible.

Sources close to Dhumal revealed that he was interested in bringing back Asha Swaroop, a 1973 batch officer, who was presently on a central deputation and appoint her as the new chief secretary.

It was learnt that Dhumal had even sent a letter to the union government demanding to relieve her immediately from deputation, but it was not yet known whether she was interested in coming back to the parent state cadre as the chief secretary or not.

There were as many as three IAS officers senior to her in the state cadre. But, they were likely to retire from the service during the current year. The 1971 batch officers, A.K. Mahapatra, currently posted as secretary in the Union Ministry of Shipping and S.K. Sood holding the post of secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes were retiring from the service in a couple of months.

The former is retiring this month and the latter two months later. There were reports that Dhumal was not averse to appoint the1972 batch officer, P.I. Suvrathan, secretary in the Union Ministry of Food Processing as the chief secretary but he was said to be not interested in coming back to the parent state cadre.

Next to Swaroop were two 1974 batch officers C. Balakrishnan, presently on deputation with the union government and Parminder Mathur, additional chief secretary of the state. Since, Balkrishnan was recently promoted to the rank of secretary in the union government the possibility of his return to the state seems to be bleak.

With all senior officers either due for superannuation or not keen on returning to the state from central deputation, the choice may fall on Swaroop or Mathur. Mathur was already holding the number two position in the state government and was known as a dynamic administrator in the bureaucratic circles. 

Nurpur, January 3
The construction of the new Chakki Bridge on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway (NH-20) is likely to start from the next month. Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had laid the foundation of the bridge around 10 months ago. 

The Union Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways reportedly gave its nod to the revised estimate cost (REC) on December 30.

After shortlisting the bid of Madhav High-Tech, a Hyderabad-based construction company that offered the lowest bid of Rs 29 crore, the state NH authorities had submitted the case to the ministry for approval of the REC in September last year. A sum of Rs 20 crore was earmarked by the ministry around two years ago for the purpose.

According to P.C. Katoch, executive engineer of the NH division, Sundernagar, the construction work of the proposed double-lane inter-state bridge would be awarded to the company as soon as the division office got a communiqué from the office of the chief engineer (NH), Shimla.

The 118-year-old bridge was washed away in the flash floods in the Chakki rivulet on August 9 last year.

Meanwhile, a diversion on the Chakki rivulet was thrown open for light vehicles last evening. The exercise aimed at providing alternative route to Kangra valley. 

Shimla, January 3
With environment protection being high on the agenda of the Dhumal regime, the government will make environment impact assessment (EIA) report mandatory for all projects along with the formation of a committee of experts and specialists.

Stating this here today, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said there should be no development at the cost of environment. “We will constitute a committee of experts that will examine all projects coming up in the state to ensure that the fragile ecology of the Himalayas is not damaged,” he said.

Dhumal said the State Pollution Control Board would be strengthened and the EIA report examined minutely by experts before sanctioning approval to any project coming up in the state.

He also clarified that not an inch of fertile land would be given for setting up of special economic zones (SEZs) in the state. “Only barren land would be given for the setting up of industries or other projects,” he said. He said investment was important as it was only then that employment opportunities could be created. 

Shimla, January 3
The government would undertake massive laser sterilisation of monkeys besides exploring the possibility of developing concentration camps that would act as natural habitat to tackle the simian menace.

Chairing a high-level meeting here today Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal said steps would be initiated on war footing to tackle monkey menace and check the damage caused by wild animals that was forcing farmers to abandon their farming land.

He directed the forest and wildlife officials to prepare a plan to create concentration camps for monkeys to function as natural habitats. “Massive plantation of natural feed trees must be undertaken as it will not just increase the forest cover but also provided food to monkeys who will remain confined to these places,” he said.

He said the unemployed youth would be involved in the setting up of these concentration camps. “Our efforts will be to have at least one such place in every district,” he said.

“The affected districts will be identified and local youth involved by training them in catching and sterilising monkeys by experts to assist in the effective execution of the project,” he remarked. He said all these trained youth would be made contractors and would be eligible for remunerations.

He said efforts would also be made to expand the capacity of the existing zoos in the state. This, he added, would help in keeping a check on the animal population in the natural habitat by shifting them to zoos.

He said funds would never be a constraint and the Centre would be approached for providing liberal financial assistance. “The programme must be implemented properly and quarterly reports be sent to the government by the executing agencies,” he said. He said intermittent reports could be sent for selected cases, if needed.

He directed the officials to enumerate stray animals and start tagging them to ascertain their identity. “The government will try and associate unemployed youth and involve NGOs for the setting up ‘gausadans’ at places that have high concentration of stray animals,” he said. 

Dharamsala, January 3
Little relaxed over increase in the sex ratio of females from 815 in the year 2006 to 846 in the year 2007 (per 1000 males) in Kangra district, the health authorities claiming to have put a check on sex determination tests and illegal abortions, has further decided to go tough on the illegally operating ultrasound machines in the area.

CMO Dr Jaswant Singh Chandel has prepared a criminal case with the assistance of district attorney against an ayurvedic practitioner for operating an unregistered ultrasound machine that would be filed in the local court tomorrow.

Talking to The Tribune, the CMO said during the raids two ultrasound machines were found in the clinic of Dr. Ashwani Kumar, an ayurvedic practitioner at Pachrukhi near Palampur. One machine was registered, while the other one was unregistered, he said.

Both machines were sealed and an inquiry was initiated against him. In the inquiry, he was found guilty of violating the Section 23 read with Section 25 of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act-1994, the CMO said.  

Bilaspur, January 3
Deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar has urged people to come forward to help social organisations working for the welfare of mentally retarded and physically challenged children.

He was speaking after inaugurating a three-day state-level floor hockey training camp for special children here today. The camp is being organised by the Himachal Pradesh Special Olympic and social organisation Chetna. The DC praised the efforts of Chetna and said its volunteers had done a commendable job over the past six years.

Himachal Pradesh Special Olympic president Mallika Nadda said Chetna was functioning in 10 out of 12 districts of state where it had trained special children in athletics, badminton, basketball, cycling, handball, football, volleyball, table tennis, roller skating and even cricket.

In the Special Olympics held at Shanghai (China) recently, special children from Himachal Pradesh namely Vikram Chauhan (volleyball), Pranav Sharma (badminton), Bharti (bocce), Dipak Sharma (cricket) and Noni (athletics) had won medals and brought laurels to the country and the state.

She said 90 special children had participated in the national games and seven in international games under the Special Himachal Olympic unit so far.

Nadda said the state team selected in the camp would participate in the national-level floor hockey championship for special children to be held at Shimla from January 27. She said 100 special children from eight districts of the state were participating in the camp.