Chandigarh, March 4
Just over two months after three-time Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and two other MLAs - Dharam Pal Singh Malik and Rakesh Kamboj - were issued show-cause notices for disqualification, they moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court today for quashing the same.

The three claimed the proceedings subsequent to issuance of show-cause notice were being conducted in a completely biased manner. In the process, the basic principles of natural justice and other requirements of law were being ignored.

Elaborating on it, they asserted that Speaker Dr Raghubir Singh Kadian was himself a member of a political party. His decision was bound to be biased in favour of the party he owed allegiance to.

Counsel for the petitioners added the fundamental principle of judicial procedure required that the person entrusted with hearing of the case should be neutral; he should have no personal bias, including actual and implied bias. But, in the present case, the bias was apparent.

In an apparent attempt to support the contention, the petitioners gave details of how they were given just a week's time to file the reply as against four weeks time sought by them.

They have also prayed for directions to strike down part of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, especially Para 6, under which powers had been conferred on the Speaker to decide on matters concerning disqualification of members and all subsequent delegated powers.

The petitioners claimed it was illegal and contrary to basic principles of fair hearing, justice and the law laid down regarding bias.

As the case came up for hearing, the Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, expressed the opinion that the writ petition was premature as no decision had yet been taken in the matter.

However, counsel Nidhesh Gupta of Supreme Court Bar and senior advocate Satya Pal Jain contended that the Speaker was apparently all set to disqualify the petitioners and the same was evident from the proceedings carried out after the issuance of the show-cause notice. Even Bhajan Lal’s ill-health was not taken into consideration when plea to adjourn proceedings for some weeks was moved.

Fixing March 18 as the next date of hearing, the Bench asked the petitioners to place on record the copies of the notices.

Chandigarh, March 4
The budget session of the Haryana Assembly beginning this week is slated to be a long one in Haryana’s standards. Starting on March 7, the session will last for 18 days and come to end only after the Assembly meets here on March 25.

There are, however, seven holidays during the session. The house will, thus, actually meet on 11 days with March 14 being the only day when there will be two sittings of the House.

According to the tentative programme for the session prepared by the state government, there are going to be two non-official days during the session, March 13 and 20.

The first non-official day will be preceded by two days of discussion on the address by the Governor, which will be delivered in the House on March 7, the inaugural day. The Chief Minister, who is slated to go to Mauritius on March 10 and return on March 13, will give his reply to the debate on the Governor’s address on March 14.

While the opportunity provided by the present regime in the Assembly programme for non-official business is considered a welcome development, proceedings held on such occasions, earlier, had not been formally adopted by the government. As a result, the discussion by the MLAs on a non-official day had simply remained a verbal exercise.

The budget estimates will be presented in the house on March 14 during the post-lunch sitting. The next two days are holidays. Discussion on the budget proposals will be on the agenda for the three following days - March 17, 18 and 19.

The non-official day on March 20 is followed by three holidays and the finance minister will reply to the debate on the budget proposals only on March 24.

As is the practice in Haryana, all legislative business will be taken up on a single day, that too on the last day of the session on March 25. This will once again leave very little scope for proper discussion on the bills even though this is supposed to be the most important business of the lawmakers elected by people.

Chandigarh, March 4
With the Supreme Court giving a go-ahead signal to the CBI to file chargesheets against former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his MP son Ajay Singh Chautala, it has been established that the process to select over 3,000 JBT teachers was vitiated by the substitution of the genuine list by a bogus list in 2000.

The CBI, which was asked by the apex court to go into the matter, has made out its case that the candidates of the bogus list were appointed and those on the genuine selection list were denied the appointment.

Now, the persons named by the CBI as being responsible for the unprecedented substitution of the selection lists will face prosecution and, depending upon the evidence which the CBI will produce before the court to justify its conclusions, may also be punished.

But what happens to those who had been drawing their salaries from the public exchequer for the last eight years, though they were not entitled to do so and also to those who had been waiting for justice all these years?

It was only after the respondents had conceded before the apex court that the two selection lists existed, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to find out which list was genuine and which was bogus.

Ordering the CBI inquiry, the apex court had also answered the question about the fate of the “selected” and “unselected” candidates.

The court said their fate would depend upon the result of the inquiry. “It is only one set of persons, who will be found genuine and hence entitled to hold the posts of teacher and persons from the list (from which the candidates were given appointment), if found to be false, shall have to make room for others.”

On the face of it, the Supreme Court made it very clear that once the CBI completed its inquiry, the list held as genuine by the premier investigating agency would prevail and the candidates on it would get appointment.

The state government has so far not given any thought to these consequences of the CBI case against the Chautalas and several government officers who were associated with the selection process directly or indirectly.

The spirit behind the JBT teachers case in the apex court, Congress MLA from Palwal Karan Singh Dalal, today demanded that the state government should immediately terminate the services of the “tainted” JBT teachers and issue appointment letters to those who were denied their justified due by the INLD government eight years ago.

Dalal also demanded the resignation of the Chautalas from the Assembly and the Rajya Sabha.

He said the salary paid to the “tainted” teachers should be recovered from the Chautalas, who not only sinned against those who were denied their due but also against schoolchildren who were forced to learn from “incompetent” teachers.

Fatehabad, March 4
Purchase of laboratory chemicals and sports goods for the first Sanskriti Model School at Indachhui village in the district has come under scanner.

Additional deputy commissioner C.G. Rajnikanthan, who is also the chairman of the purchase committee of the school, had sought explanation from district education officer (DEO) Vidya Wanti Kamboj as to why the money was spent on purchases without his approval.

The district authorities today recommended the recovery of money and initiation of departmental and criminal proceedings against the DEO, who had issued payments of Rs 5 lakh from the funds of the school, despite specific orders of the government to the contrary.

The authorities have also started the process of transferring the balance funds of Rs 32 lakh to the joint account of the ADC and the DEO to avoid misappropriation.

In its endeavour to improve school education in government-run schools, the state government approved the elevation of one school in each district of Haryana as Sanskriti Model School (SMS) last year.

This was a pilot project and the government had already announced to open 10 Sanskriti Model Schools in each district this year.

It had selected Government Senior Secondary School, Indachhui, from this district for its pilot project last year and a sum of Rs 50 lakh was sent to the DEO.

When Rajnikanthan joined as the ADC here last year, a sum of Rs 5 lakh had already been spent by the DEO office under the construction head.

In January, the DEO approached the ADC for the release of an additional sum Rs 8 lakh for construction purposes. While releasing the amount on January 14, the ADC told her that no further money should be spent without seeking his prior permission on construction purposes.

He also told her that no money should be spent for purchases at any cost as the director-general of the school education had specifically banned all purchases while addressing officers at a videoconference.

The director-general had told the officers that the government was in the process of formulating the purchase policy and hence no purchases should be made till then.

But, the DEO issued a cheque for Rs 4,95,760 the very next day i.e. January 15 towards the purchase of laboratory material without informing him, Rajnikanthan said.

The ADC said the manner in which the money was released by the officer spoke of undue hurry on her part. While the DEO signed the cheque on January 15, the sanction for the same was recorded on January 16. Normally, the cheques were issued after the sanction had been made.

He said deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran had himself looked into the matter. Kamboj claimed that the purchases were made in November last year and only the payments were released on January 15. 

Meham, March 4
Former union minister and in charge of BJP affairs in Haryana Vijay Goel has categorically ruled out the possibility of any pre-poll alliance in the next Lok Sabha or assembly elections in the state.

“INLD commander Om Prakash Chautala and Haryana Janhit Congress chief Bhajan Lal should not hope for an alliance with the BJP,” Goel said while addressing a gathering on the concluding ceremony of the “vijay sankalp yatra”, led by Capt Abhimanyu, at the historic Chaubisi Chabutara here today.

The former minister urged the people to attend the “vijay sankalp rally” to be held at Jind on March 16. Claiming that the rally would mark the rise of the BJP as a major political force in the state, Goel said the party would not require any outside support thereafter.

Earlier, the state BJP general secretary, Capt Abhimnayu, who led the yatra from Manjhawali Gurukul in Faridabad district, thanked party activists and sympathisers for their wholehearted support and cooperation.

Addressing the gathering, Capt Abhimanyu asserted that they would wipe out “dynastic rule” from state politics. He pointed out that ever since the formation of Haryana, some 40 families of the state were enjoying the power alternately.

He also castigated the Congress regime for acute shortage of power, water and LPG and promised to double the old-age pension on coming to power in the state. The BJP leader accused the Hooda regime of indulging in property dealing and all sorts of immoral acts.

Senior BJP leader Satyanarayan Jatiya, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president Amit Thakkar, sitting MLA Naresh Malik, Vir Kumar Yadav and Ram Chander Jangra also spoke.

The speakers lambasted the UPA government at the centre for not hanging Afzal Guru and maintained that there would be no compromise with national security after the BJP came to power.

Chandigarh, March 4
Refusing to accept the three rebel Congress MLAs’ pleas for a long adjournment of the hearing on their disqualification from the assembly, Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadiyan today fixed tomorrow as the next date for the case.

In the case against Bhajan Lal, who was represented by his counsel Nidhesh Gupta, the Speaker said the respondent had failed to produce his evidence despite adequate opportunity and time. He said today was the last opportunity for the respondent to have given his evidence. The Speaker said he was giving one more opportunity to Bhajan Lal to present evidence by tomorrow.

Kadiyan turned down the counsel’s request that Bhajan Lal was ill and would find it difficult to appear for the case. Kadiyan said Bhajan Lal had addressed a press conference in Chang village in Bhiwani district on March 1. If Bhajan Lal could go to a village to address a press conference, he could very well appear for the case as well, Kadiyan said.

Dharampal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, rebel MLAs facing disqualification, were represented before Kadiyan by their counsel Satyapal Jain.

In separate orders, the Speaker said the MLAs were given adequate time to cross-examine the petitioners. Jitender Malik had moved the petition against Dharampal Malik while Ramesh Gupta is the petitioner against Rakesh Kamboj. The Speaker said one more opportunity was being given to the respondents to cross-examine the petitioners tomorrow.

In each of the three orders passed today the Speaker noted that the respondents were adopting delaying tactics to prolong the proceedings.

The rebel MLAs had also filed a writ in the high court here yesterday but failed to get immediate succour. The court simply listed the case for hearing on March 18. Arguments by the respondents’ counsel that the case before the Speaker might be adjourned in view of the writ in the court, was turned down by the Speaker saying that the court had given no such direction.

Chandigarh, March 4
The functioning of the Yamunanagar police has come under the judicial scanner. In a petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the state of Haryana and others, a Yamunanagar district resident has sought the transfer of a murder case investigation to the CBI after withdrawing it from the police on the allegations of it colluding with the accused.

Taking up the matter, Justice Harbans Lal of the High Court has asked Yamunanager superintendent of police to be present in the court on March 10, when the case comes up for further hearing.

The petitioner, Naresh Kumar of Baghwali village, under Jathlana police station, had earlier contended that the police did not register a case until the residents of three villages placed the body of victim Dilla Ram on the road and blocked the traffic.

Elaborating, they added the incident took place at 10.30 am on June 12, 2007, but the first information report (FIR) under Sections 148, 149, 302, 323 and 120-B of the IPC was lodged at about 6.40 pm after the media arrived at the spot.

Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner claimed that 23 persons named in the FIR, along with some other unidentified persons, came to the land cultivated by him, his family and several others.

Their intention was to dispossess them from the land. In the attack, Dilla Ram was murdered, while 11 others sustained serious injuries. He added that the occurrence took place at the instance of the administration, including the deputy commissioner. Rather, the police and the administration were in “complete collusion” with the accused and instead of rightly investigating the matter, they were harassing the complainant party.

As the matter of transferring the case to the CBI or the crime branch came up for hearing before the High Court, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) said the SP was out of station and could not appear in court. After taking on record his statement, Justice Harbans Lal directed the DSP and the SP to be present in the court.

Faridabad, March 4
The Haryana government today called for making the state free of industrial accidents, starting from this industrialised city. Minister for Labour A.C. Chaudhary, who was the chief guest at a state-level function here to celebrate the 37th National Safety Day, said Haryana was at the top of the perch in all-round qualitative performance and there was need for making it an accident-free zone.

Haryana’s labour commissioner and chief inspector of factories N.C. Wadhwa spoke about the industrial accident figure in the state. The function was organised by the Haryana Safety Council.

He said industrial units must ensure the safety of their workers and must come good on the other parameters followed at the international level. The minister directed that graphics, including the do’s and don’ts relating to the finer points of safety measures, be displayed on the premises of the units.

He warned that the government would be constrained to take stern measures against units found guilty.

Yamunanagar, March 4
Ratna Sharma of Guru Nanakpura here chased two motorcycle-borne youths, who had snatched her sister’s purse, last evening.

She could not catch the snatchers, but the latter were forced to leave the motorcycle behind and flee. According to information, Ratna and her sister Geeta Sharma were returning home from a market here when the two youths snatched Geeta’s purse. Ratna chased the bike.

The motorcyclists in an effort to dodge her entered into a street, which led to a dead end. The two fled after leaving behind the bike. The purse contained Rs 19,000 and some gold jewellery. The police has impounded the bike.

In another incident, some unidentified persons reportedly stole jewellery and Rs 10,000 from a house of an engineer in Adarshnagar Colony here. The thieves allegedly threatened his wife, Pushpa Rani, to hand over the valuables.

In another incident, some persons looted 160 brass utensils from a shop, Green Contractor Delhi Private Limited near Matka Chowk here.

New Delhi, March 4
Sanik School, Kunjpura, Haryana, which has luminaries like Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Deepak Kapoor, as its alumni has achieved yet another feat this year.

Twentyone of its students have been selected to join the 120th course of the National Defence Academy, Khadagwasla, scheduled to commence in June this year. Four students of the previous batch have also qualified for joining the NDA thus taking the total number of achievers to 25.