Rohtak, April 10
It seems Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) registrar S.P. Vats has an X-ray vision or is blessed with some supernatural power. How else can one explain his counsel’s submission in the High Court that Vats was selected as a reader at the department of defence and strategic studies of the MDU much before the sealed cover containing the selection record was opened by the university authorities?

As per an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated February 27, 2008, a copy of which is in the possession of The Tribune, the counsel for petitioners (including Vats) had submitted that Vats was selected (for the aforesaid post), but not appointed in view of the ban on appointments. It was on the basis of this order that the MDU executive council later approved Vats’ appointment as a reader.

However, as a matter of fact, the selection record was in a sealed cover till March 17, 2008. The decision to open the seal was taken at the 193rd meeting of the MDU executive council held on March 17 in pursuance of the aforesaid order.

As per the official record of the council meeting, “In case the name of Vats figures in the proceedings of the selection committee preserved in a sealed cover, a post will be required to be transferred in the department of defence and strategic studies…” This clearly means that prior to this, even the university authorities did not know whether Vats had been selected.

Hence, before March 17, it was officially and technically not possible for the registrar to know that he had been selected as a reader. Still, he stated in the High Court through his counsel that he had been selected.

On being contacted, MDU vice-chancellor R.P. Hooda maintained that the registrar had committed a legal blunder by officially stating before a court of law something which he was not supposed to know.

Vats failed to give a satisfactory reply regarding the matter. On being reached on his mobile phone, he parried direct questions put to him in this regard by this correspondent.

The deft manoeuvring of the whole issue by the registrar to his benefit is further indicated by the fact that another co-petitioner in the case is still making rounds of the court and the university authorities for selection despite her case being exactly similar to that of Vats.

Moreover, since there was no vacant post of reader in the department of defence and strategic studies, one post of reader was transferred to the department from the department of physics to accommodate the registrar.

It seems that the MDU authorities have devised a sure-fire way of validating their decisions by citing court orders. The Tribune had recently carried a news report highlighting how the MDU authorities had decided to run a special MEd session in the name of High Court orders. Actually, there were no such orders directing the university administration to run a special academic session. Having got away with it, the university authorities used the tried and tested formula to approve Vats’ selection.

In its order dated February 27, 2008, the High Court asked the MDU authorities just to consider the case of Vats. Hence, approving his selection (made in 1998) was not binding on them.

In 2000, the MDU executive council had refused to consider the said selection(s) made in 1998 on the ground that these had become “quite old”. The council had held that need-based recruitment be carried out as per the revised workload. Still, the same selection has been approved as late as in 2008. That’s how the “system” works!

Chandigarh, April 10
Taking up a bunch of 138 petitions filed by JBT and other teachers in the state of Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today quashed an order withdrawing increments granted to the petitioners.

Pronouncing the orders in an open court, a high court Division Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice K.C. Puri also directed that recovery on the basis of a letter issued in this regard would not be made.

The Judges added if any amount was recovered from any of the petitioners on account of the re-fixing of pay on the basis of a communique, the same would be refunded within six months from today.

The petitioners, Om Parkash and others, including JBT and head teachers in the Haryana Education Department, had earlier challenged the order vide which their pay was reduced and the recovery was ordered.

It was contended that the petitioners were granted the benefit of an increment in the revised pay scale for every three increments with effect from January 1, 1996. Accordingly, their pay was fixed.

But on August 22, 2003, the Finance Department circulated a letter, in compliance of which the petitioners’ pay was fixed again by reducing one or two increments, with the condition that any excess payment would be recovered. Describing the orders as arbitrary and illegal, the petitioners had contended they were unjust and contrary to the Revised Pay Rules and the ACP Rules of 1998.

Panipat, April 10
It is official now. The much awaited flyover at Panipat will be operational only after June.

In another move that may cause much embarrassment to state agencies, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has objected to the “unfounded” public statements of the Haryana PWD minister and the commissioner of the PWD regarding opening of the flyover “soon”.

Rubbishing the claim of K.K. Jalan, commissioner and secretary, PWD, about its “early opening”, NHAI officials said substantial work was still pending on the project.

On Tuesday, Jalan had claimed that the flyover would be operational by the end of April or in the first week of May.

Capt Ajay Yadav, PWD minister, on December 10 last had stated that the flyover would be opened to the public in February.

Talking to this correspondent today, Sanjay Tripathi, project director of the NHAI, said nothing had been finalised on its opening yet.

He said chief general manager A.K. Bajaj had inspected the site yesterday, but no final decision had been taken.

Tripathi said construction work on the drain near Baburpur was yet to be completed for which certain parts were needed to be imported.

He also rubbished the reported statements by the Haryana PWD commissioner on the toll tax. “It is unfair to comment on the issue as the union government is yet to decide the final toll rates,” he added.

The Rs 325-crore state-of-the-art flyover is being executed by L&T Panipat Elevated Corridor Pvt Ltd on the built-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

The 10-km-long highway at Panipat, including a 3.4-km elevated stretch, has January 2009 as the deadline.

Gurgaon, April 10
The ruling Congress party suffered a major political setback as its top leader from dominating Meo community as well as the president of the district Congress unit of Mewat, Zakir Hussain, resigned from the party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the presence of the party supremo and UP Chief Minister, Mayawati, in Delhi today.

Since he was also declared as the official BSP candidate in the Lok Sabha elections due next year from Gurgaon constituency that covers Mewat district, the development is likely to wean away the sizeable chunk of minority votes comprising Meo community and Muslims.

Of the total around 12 lakh voters in the constituency, the Meo community accounts for about 4 lakh votes in the Mewat area. The community dominates Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Hathin, Punana, Ferozepur Zhirka and Nuh in Haryana.

Hussain told The Tribune that he decided to resign as minorities as well as Mewat area was being ignored under the Congress government in the state.

Sources, however, said Hussain was unsure of getting the party ticket in the Lok Sabha elections, as the sitting MP and union minister for state, Rao Inderjeet Singh, was publicly projecting himself as the prospective Congress candidate.

Hussain was the president of the district Congress unit till he resigned. He is son of the Congress stalwart and former minister in Haryana and Rajasthan governments Tayab Hussain. The latter is known to have swayed over more than 3 crore-strong Meo community in the country.

Coming as it does before the Lok Sabha elections next year, the development is being considered as bad omen for the Congress in the state.

Political observers see Hussain’s induction into the BSP as a political move by Mayawati that is bound to have electoral repercussions in the Haryana politics.

She had made her intentions known while addressing the recent party rally in Karnal. Sources said as a part of her game plan, several prominent Brahmin and Gujjar leaders in the state were likely to be roped in.

Faridabad, April 10
Employees of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) along with those already retrenched yesterday got reason to cheer after about a fortnight of their agitation relating to security of their services.

The employees met minister for local bodies A.C. Chaudhary, who assured them of sympathetic consideration regarding their demand.

The minister also told the employees that he had already directed the commissioner of the MCF to submit a report within three days on issues relating to the demand of the employees and how could it be met.

The employees, who had been staging dharnas and demonstrations outside the main gate of the MCF, held a demonstration outside the residence of the minister. They also submitted a memorandum to him relating to their demand.

Jobs of about 1,519 employees are on line as the issue is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High court and is awaiting disposal, which is expected soon.

The employees were retrenched in 2001. However, more than 400 were taken back and others could not be taken till the disposal of the case by the court. The main order of the government, which sought to do away with the services of the employees, has been challanged in the court. In case, the court upholds the order of the government, those who were taken back will also lose their jobs.

Sonepat, April 10
The police has busted an inter-state gang of dacoits by arresting its six members identified as Shahbudin, Ashraf, Deepak Tyagi, Imran, Nasim and Nanhu of Uttar Pradesh.

It has also seized two country-made pistols, a live cartridge, a jeep and a 10-tyre dumper from their possession.

SSP Navdeep Singh Virk said on Tuesday night a patrolling team of the Rai police station and Garh Mirakpur police post got information that some armed youths were standing near Palra village and were planning to loot trucks on the Bahalgarh-Baghpat road. The police raided the place and nabbed all six gangsters. One of the gangsters even fired a round at the police and made an unsuccessful attempt to escape.

During interrogation, they confessed to have looted two trucks from Panipat, two from Yamunanagar district and a truck from the Sonepat Truck Union about two months back.

About their modus operandi, the SSP said 8-10 more youths of Uttar Pradesh were members of this gang and they operated in the groups of four or six. After looting the vehicle, they used to hand it over to a person named as Yushuf Ali, who used to pay Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 to each one of them.

Chandigarh, April 10
The prisons department of the Haryana police has recommended that the recently detected medicine scam in Hisar Central Jail be handed over to the vigilance department 
for investigation.

The department, in its recommendation to the Haryana government, has also suggested that medicine purchases from 2000 be thoroughly examined. The DG (prisons), Dr John V George, said the department had recommended handing over of the scam investigations to the vigilance department since analysing the data was a painstaking exercise. “The district police that is looking into the matter is not equipped to handle this kind of investigation which will require a complete study of all purchase records since it requires a lot of time,” he said. Adding that the scam to the tune of Rs 11 lakh detected at the jail was important because the medicines had been taken in the names of prisoners, who had not benefited from the purchases at all.

“The amount per se is not important but the fact that they claimed to have spent nearly Rs 50 lakh against Rs 14 lakh expenditure by other jails with nearly the same prisoner strength without passing on the benefit to the prisoners is reason for concern,” he said. Though the district police has registered a case based on the scam detected for the current year, the prisons department has further recommended that the purchases, which took place from the time the pharmacist and the doctor took over, need to be examined.

“Purchases to the tune of Rs 2 crore have been made since the duo got posted there. Though we will not be able to cross-check with the prisoners if they were given the medicines mentioned in the register, there may be other bogus bills which may get detected from the records,” he added.

According to sources in the state prisons department, mere partial checking of faulty purchase procedure revealed a bungling of over Rs 11 lakh by way of cooked up data, no account of issuing of medicines, bogus bills and inflated prices of medicines. Prisons sleuths had raided the jail campus in February and seized records pertaining to medicine purchases worth Rs 46.46 lakh from January 1 to December 31, 2007.

After completing investigations, the department lodged an FIR against officials, including a medical officer, pharmacist, jail superintendent, deputy jailer and three chemists of Hisar district at Civil Lines police station. The prisons department has written to the Hisar police to give a detailed report on why the medical officer, arrested in the case, taken on police remand and thereafter sent to judicial custody, was admitted to the general hospital without taking him inside the central jail, Hisar.

The department has clearly held that according to the jail manual, the jail superintendent was as responsible for the fraud as the doctor or the pharmacist or the deputy superintendent jails. However, while the pharmacist is yet to be arrested though his anticipatory bail has been rejected, the department has received no report of action against the jail superintendent, who continues to hold her position despite registration of an FIR against her.

Chandigarh, April 10
The Board of School Education, Haryana, will declare the results of the middle and secondary examinations, conducted in February, 2008, on April 17.

While stating this, an official spokesman said the results would be displayed in the respective schools at 3 p.m. on the same day. Besides, these would also be made available in various newspapers.

He said the candidates could also log on to the board's website <http://hbse.nic.in/> and other websites—www.indiaresults.com, www.rediff.com, www. sify.com and www.dialnetindia.com — for the results.

He said the results could also be obtained by calling BSNL-12555, Airtel-56666, 543212, Vodafone-56789, Idea-55456, 53030, Tata-12900 from mobile phones.

To avail themselves of the SMS facility the candidates could type 8th HB08 for the middle results and 10th HB10 for the secondary results and send messages on mobile numbers 5676750, 52424, 57333 and 54545.

Ambala, April 10
The Shiromani Akali Dal, Haryana, has expressed concern over the statement of Haryana Chief Minister in which he backed the formation of a separate SGPC for Haryana while raising the issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

A meeting of senior Akali leaders was organised at Gurdwara Manji Sahib in Ambala City today. The meeting was presided over by Gurdeep Singh Bhanokheri, a member of the SGPC.

Senior leaders of the party Sant Singh Kandhari, Ajit Singh Sonda, Harpal Singh Rimpi, Narender Pal Singh Makkar, Makhan Singh Labana, Atar Singh, and Surender Singh Gorsian were also present at the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Bhanokheri said the Congress had been interfering in the religious matters of the Sikh community, which was objectionable.

He said none of the Sikhs was in favour of a separate SGPC for Haryana.

He said it was a political conspiracy to divide the Sikhs.

Sant Singh Kandhari, a spokesman for the party, said the Haryana Akali Dal would oppose the Congress move and would not hesitate to take to the streets to protest against it.