Chandigarh, January 28
During a special checking conducted at the Rohtak jail today, 526 bags of wheat were found short. The checking was conducted on the orders of director-general (prisons) John V. George.

When contacted George confirmed that the checking team found shortage in wheat stock of the jail. He said the jail staff had been asked to make up for this shortage immediately and that disciplinary action would be taken against the guilty.

In the past few days, special checking was also conducted in Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak and Gurgaon jails to find out if there were any irregularities in the purchase of medicines for prisoners.

These jails were selected for special checking because each jail houses about 1,200 prisoners and about four doctors are posted in each of them. Informed sources say the checking parties found certain irregularities in the procedure adopted for purchasing medicines in some of these jails, particularly in Ambala and Hisar.

The Hisar jail, which houses about 1,200 prisoners, has a budget of Rs 20 lakh for medicines. But the authorities of that jail have already spent an additional amount of Rs 4 lakh on purchasing medicines this year so far.

Against it, the Rohtak jail, where prisoners from other stations also go for treatment, spent about Rs 15 lakh on medicines.

The sources say medicines of worth of more than Rs 1,000 cannot be purchased at one time without inviting quotations. To bypass this rule, the orders for medicines were split into more than one. Bills were obtained in a serial order from same medicines but at different dates.

The Jail Department is likely to order a detailed inquiry into the purchase of medicines.

Chandigarh, January 28
Acting on a petition for directing state of Haryana and others to ensure against the passing of arbitrary orders like “fatwa” by khaps and other similar panchayats in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion.

The court also directed the provision of sufficient protection to petitioner Anshulo of Sonepat district and her family in wake of the alleged “gotra” controversy.

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, also fixed March 17 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

In her petition against the State of Haryana, Sonepat DC, DSP, gram panchayat of Bohla village and others, petitioner Anshulo had sought directions to restrain sarpanch and other panchayat members from passing any decision as ‘fatwa’.

She asserted that khap panchayat had set up a machinery which was trying to operate as a parallel system, equivalent to the judicial system.

Quoting her example, the petitioner said on November 10 last year, her marriage was solemnised with one Rakesh Rathee of Dhanana village by avoiding the family ‘gotra’ of both the parties.

Some locals objected to it and on December 2, 2007, panchayat was called in Bohla village by some villagers.

Later an ‘ultimatum’ was issued to petitioner’s father asking him to break the marriage or be prepared to face the consequences.

A fatwa was passed by the Panchayat and all the rights of petitioner’s father were suspended.

They were also debarred from using the facilities in the village, the petitioner added.

On December 10, a legal notice was sent to Sonepat SP to restrain panchayat members from taking such a decision and protect life and liberty of petitioners.

Subsequently, news reports were also carried in the print and electronic media.

The petition also prayed that exemplary cost be imposed on the respondents, which should be awarded to the petitioner.

Sonepat, January 28
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the state government was planning to set up three universities, a central university, medical university at Rohtak and a defence university in the state, to provide quality and professional education.

He was addressing the silver jubilee function of Hindu Girls College here.

Realising the importance of technical education, the state government had opened Mahila University at Khanpur Kalan and Science and Technology University at Murthal, he said, adding that Rajiv Gandhi education city was being set up to provide world standard education to the students of the state.

He disclosed that 25 per cent of the seats would be reserved for the students of Haryana and out of these 5 per cent would be on full fee concession and 10 per cent each on 50 and 25 per cent fee concession, respectively.

Referring to the demands of the management committee of the Hindu Education Society, the CM announced a grant of Rs 11 lakh for air conditioning of the college auditorium and assured to provide accommodation in the education city for opening a technical wing by the society.

The CM also distributed prizes among meritorious students of the college.

Later, the CM participated as the chief guest in the two-day ragni sammelan organised by the Haryana Kala Parishad in the memory of Surya Kavi Pandit Lakhmi Chand at Ethnic India Tourism Complex in Rai. He paid rich tributes to Pandit Lakhmi Chand and said the government would set up a centre in his name at Aurangabad village in the district.

Rohtak, January 28
The indefinite fast by representatives of the Dalit-A Mahapanchayat, Haryana, finally came to an end late last evening. Eleven members of the mahapanchayat, including a woman, had been sitting on fast in front of the mini-secretariat since December 25.

They were demanding the restoration of the A-B block classification among the Dalits. The district administration found itself in a spot as the condition of some protesters deteriorated while the fast was in progress.

Rohtak being the hometown of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the protest was especially under sharp focus.

Apart from the surfacing of differences among the mahapanchayat leaders, the local administration’s efforts also played a key role in ending the long-drawn agitation.

Administrative officials continued to persuade the protesters to end their agitation for several days. In the process, the district authorities also used a section of the local media to their advantage.

The authorities, who allowed the Dalit body to hold a rally despite adverse intelligence reports and later mishandled the situation by not taking prompt decisions and action, are obviously elated over the final turn of events.

However, widespread resentment prevails among the local residents over the manner in which such a large number of rallyists carrying logs, hockey sticks and even sharp-edged weapons were allowed to march through the town unchecked.

The persons whose vehicles or other property was damaged in the demonstration have been making the rounds of different offices to get their damage claims settled. The so-called “conditional permission” granted to the rally organisers by the district administration has also raised many an eyebrow.

“How can the district authorities shy away from their responsibility of maintaining law and order in the town and pass on the same to a bunch of protesters?” questions a local trader.

For that matter, the state authorities’ silent indifference to the month-long fast by 11 Dalit members in the Chief Minister’s hometown can also be questioned, but the moot point is: Do the authorities concerned have any answers?

Kaithal, January 28
The government should institute an inquiry to bring to surface the alleged irregularities committed in the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission and various other official selection committees during the Chautala regime and all those found guilty should be prosecuted.

Senior Congress leader, local MLA and president of the All-India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress S.S. Surjewala stated this while addressing a press conference here today.

He said revelations made recently in the HCS exam scam regarding selections point towards grave “irregularities” in the selection procedure adopted by the HPSC.

Selections were not made on the basis of merits and attempts were made to subvert the rule of law, which laid down the procedure for selections only on merit.

He said the government should form an inquiry committee, which should be asked to submit its report in the shortest possible time.

Surjewala said it was strange that the previous government at the fag-end of its tenure asked the chairman of the HPSC and all other members whose term was nearing completion to resign and appointed fresh chairman and members to ensure that they enjoyed a fresh term of six years. This proved that the then government led by Chautala wanted to have its hold on the HPSC. Surjewala said in view of the revelations made recently in the HCS selection “scam”, the HPSC chairman and all members should submit their resignations or they should be removed by the government to ensure complete transparency in the functioning of a constitutional institution like HPSC.

Jind, January 28
Residents resorted to blocking vehicular movement at two places in the district in order to get their grievances highlighted and resolved. Though the blockades were lifted after some time it resulted in inconvenience to the commuters on the two main roads in the district.

The first blockade was reported this morning at the busy Patiala chowk in the town as dozens of shopkeepers came out on the road to protest the alleged indifferent attitude of the local police towards a theft that took place in the morning today. Around half a dozen persons who came in two vehicles decamped with electrical items worth about Rs five lakh, after breaking open the shutter of a shop located near the chowk. The incident is reported to have taken place around 5.30 am this morning.

The agitating shopkeepers claimed that the theft took place despite the presence of a police patrol party within a distance of just 100 metres and the policemen did not take any action to stop this activity or catch the fleeing thieves.

The DSP intervened to get the blockade lifted and assured the locals to get the thieves arrested within 10 days.

The second blockade took place near Anoopgarh village located on the NH-71 connecting Jind with Rohtak, about 14 km from here, where the residents of the village staged a ‘dharna’ on the main road to seek adequate supply of power and water.

The villagers claimed that the power supply in the village was very poor and this had made their lives miserable. However, they agreed to lift the blockade after an official of the power department assured to get more supply to the village from next day onwards. 

Sonepat, January 28
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today claimed that the present state government had taken a number of steps for the welfare of every section of society, including farmers, traders and industrial workers, during the past three years.

“Because of the speedy implementation of government initiatives, the opposition is left with no issue to criticise the government,” he said, adding that the power supply would be improved by the next year. The CM said this while addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of NCR water supply canal project at Delhi branch of Western Yamuna Canal near Kakroi village in the district.

The 75.5 km-long canal with carrying capacity of 800 cubic feet per second will be completed at a cost of Rs 226 crore and it will meet the water supply requirements of the domestic as well as industrial and commercial consumers of National Capital Region areas up to 2021.

Reiterating his commitment to overcome the shortage of power supply by 2010, the CM blamed the previous governments for not taking interest in setting up new power generating units despite the continuous increase in demand.

Referring to the demands of the villagers, the CM announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh from Haryana Rural Development Fund for metalling of village streets, Rs 11 lakh for the construction of boundary wall of the village cremation ground and construction of three link roads.

Later, the CM laid the foundation stone of Indira Gandhi Convenient Shopping Complex-cum- Housing Board Colony in Sector 23 here.

Chandigarh, January 28
In a judgement on a petition filed by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Justice L.N. Mital of the Punjab and Haryana High Court  has ruled that the petitioner is not entitled to copies of statements of persons the prosecution does not propose to examine as witnesses.

Pronouncing the directions in an open court, Justice Mittal has observed:

In the instant case, the petitioner is seeking copies of statements of persons who have not been cited as prosecution witnesses.

The petitioner is not entitled to copies of the statements under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Judge added: Therefore, the petitioner’s requirement for the supply of copies of the statement of  said persons has been rightly declined  by the trial  court.

There appears to be no illegality or infirmity in the impugned order of the trial court on this aspect so as to warrant interference by  this court in exercise  of revisional  jurisdiction.

Before parting with the orders the Judge added: Finding no merit in the instant revision petition, the same is hereby dismissed.

Sirsa, January 28
Urging that there was the need to think beyond whatever is taught in class and mentioned in books to ensure innovation and development, the vice-chancellor of the Thapar Institute of Technology, Patiala, Abhijeet Mukherjee, said besides academic knowledge, students of engineering and science needed to go beyond and contribute with inventions and new discoveries. 

Mukherjee while chairing the national conference on “Futuristic Trends in Engineering and Technology”, which begun at JCD Vidyapeeth today, further said development in science and technology should be used for the betterment of human kind.

While delivering a lecture here he said people of different streams of engineering and sciences should be working together to improve technology. There was a need for people with different specialisations to work together.

While addressing the gathering Prof Kuldip Singh Dhindsa, director general of the Vidyapeeth, said, “Science and technology form an integral part of all social and economic processes. For India to achieve its rightful place, it is imperative to operate on the frontier of scientific and technological knowledge and I consider the organisation of this conference as a humble step in this direction” he added.

“I am sure that the recommendations emerging from this conference will provide a pathway to ensure that right technology is evolved for improving the quality of life for mankind. More than 100 scientists and engineers from different parts of the country were presenting their papers in the two-day conference here, he added.

Jind, January 28
The secretary of the Jind Rural Cooperative Bank, popularly called as Mini Bank, was placed under suspension by the District Grievances and Redressal Committee. At the monthly meeting held at DRDA building here today, the agriculture minister of Haryana, who is president of the committee, ordered the suspension of the official.

It is reported that an enquiry conducted by the authorities concerned found the accused official allegedly responsible for a wrong entry regarding a farmer of Alewa village. The complainant identified as Dharam Singh had reported that a credit of Rs 7,100 had been made in his account against purchase of fertilizer, while he had not taken any loan from the bank in this regard. A total of nine complaints were disposed off at the meeting today.

“The total numbers of complaints taken up and redressed at the meeting were very small considering the actual expenses and exercise done by the district administration,” claimed a local resident. He said there should a rule regarding the minimum number of complaints taken up at such a meeting.