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THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

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H I M A C H A L    P R A D E S H    E D I T I O N

RTI Query
No record of judges’ education

Shimla, September 30
Incredible it may sound, but it is true. No record of educational qualification of judges is being maintained by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the Supreme Court or various high courts. The Department of Justice doesn’t even get the certificates verified from the educational institutions concerned.

Rain damage
Loss in Shimla may go up to Rs 2,000 cr
Shimla, September 30
Horticulture minister Narender Bragta today said the initial reports indicated that Shimla district had suffered a loss of around Rs 510 crore due to recent heavy rain and the figure was likely to go much higher.

State gets Rs 61-cr dividend from SJVN
Shimla, September 30
The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) has paid a dividend of Rs 61 crore to the state government for 2007-08. The state has 25 per cent equity share in the joint venture while the remaining stake is held by the Centre.

Navratra fair begins at Naina Devi
Bilaspur, September 30
The Ashwin Navratra fair started at the Naina Devi temple, about 75 km from here, today. Thousands of devotees turned up to pay obeisance at the temple on the first day.

Angling contest ends
Kullu, September 30
The two-day All-India Trout Angling Competition-2008, which started in the Tithan stream of Banjar subdivision of the district on Sunday, concluded here today.



YOUR TOWN
Kullu
Shimla


EARLIER STORIES



Vehicles are dangerously passing by a damaged road on the National Highway No 21 in Mandi town, however the authorities conveniently look the other way. Waiting for something to happen ?
Vehicles are dangerously passing by a damaged road on the National Highway No 21 in Mandi town, however the authorities conveniently look the other way. Waiting for something to happen ? Photo: Mahesh Chander Sharma

Honour for two Himachali scholars
Shimla, September 30
Eminent scholars and writers Om Prakash Awasthy (Dharmasala) and Chaman Lal Gupta (Shimla) are among the five litterateurs to be honoured with the Vishishtha Hindi Sewa Samman by the Rashtriya Hindi Academy.

PTA appointees to move court
Dalhousie, September 30
The Himachal Pradesh PTA Teachers’ Association will move the court against the negative attitude of the state government towards its rights. It has threatened to stop the process of new recruitments in place of PTA teachers by adopting a legal course.

Central team visits Hamirpur
Hamirpur, September 30
A Central Government team touring the state to make on-the-spot assessment of losses due to heavy rain visited Hamirpur district today. A team comprising Nalini Pathak from the ministry of finance, G.K. Chaudhary from the ministry of agriculture and Dinesh Chander, deputy adviser for drinking water in the Central Government, made assessment of the losses.

Freedom fighter dead
Shimla, September 30
Veteran freedom fighter Pandit Sita Ram (93), who remained associated with the Dhami Praja Mandal during the freedom struggle, died at Dharath village in the Dhami area of Shimla district here today.

25 booked for blocking highway
Nahan, September 30
Taking a hard stand on the incident of blockade on the national highway, the Paonta police yesterday registered a case under Sections 147, 149, 143 and 341 of the IPC against 25 residents of Paonta, including 12 tractor-owners. A local leader’s name is also mentioned in list of the accused.

Murder alleged
Kangra, September 30
The police has registered a case in connection with the death of a 27-year-old married woman of Rasu Ranital village, 17 km from here. The father of the deceased had lodged a complaint with the police in that regard.

Govt clarification on LPG row
Hamirpur, September 30
The state government has clarified that it has asked LPG dealers not to insist on stamping the ration cards at the time of delivery of refills. Director of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs R.S. Gupta said, “It has been clarified that LPG dealers should not insist on stamping the ration cards of consumers and the consumers should not worry about any disconnection on that basis.”





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RTI Query
No record of judges’ education
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 30
Incredible it may sound, but it is true. No record of educational qualification of judges is being maintained by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the Supreme Court or various high courts. The Department of Justice doesn’t even get the certificates verified from the educational institutions concerned.

This information has been procured under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Dev Ahshish Bhattacharya, who filed an applications with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs seeking information about the percentage of marks obtained by sitting judges from matriculation onwards, name of the college and university. He had also raised a query whether or not their certificates were got verified from the boards and universities concerned by the Department of Justice.

The ministry informed him that the entire process of initiation of proposal for appointment of a judge of the Supreme Court lay with the Chief Justice of India and in case of high court judges, with the Chief Justice concerned. As such, the records would be available with these courts and accordingly the application was transferred to the registrar of Supreme Court and the registrar of the Delhi High Court.

Responding to the application, the registrar of the apex court said the appointment of judges were made by the President of India as per the procedure prescribed by law and the issues relating thereto were not dealt with and handled by the registrar. The information sought was neither maintained, nor available in the registry.

Bhattacharya field an appeal to the appellate authority for transfer of application to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, as the reply to his application indicated that the records might be available there. The response of the appellate authority was that central public information officer (CPIO) had not informed that the records were available at Rashtrapati Bhawan and so the question of transferring the application did not arise. He said he had no reason to disagree with the stand taken by the CPIO that information sought by him was neither maintained, nor available with him.

Bhattacharya said if all information regarding IAS, IPS and other officers could be made available on the website of the ministries concerned, there was no reason for not doing so in case of judges. He said the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Supreme Court and various high courts should put the complete profile of the sitting judges on their respective websites.

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Rain damage
Loss in Shimla may go up to Rs 2,000 cr
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 30
Horticulture minister Narender Bragta today said the initial reports indicated that Shimla district had suffered a loss of around Rs 510 crore due to recent heavy rain and the figure was likely to go much higher.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said the government had been very quick in providing relief and restoring the damaged roads. “The figure of total loss in Shimla district is likely to touch Rs 2,000-crore mark,” he said.

He said two Central teams were visiting areas in Theog, Khara Patthar, Jubbal, Hatkoti, Narkanda and Rohru to assess the damage due to rain. “We are very optimistic that the Centre will come to the rescue of Himachal and provided maximum possible relief to it,” he said.

Forty-three deaths had been reported from Shimla so far, while 481 cattle were also killed. “Out of a total population of 7 lakh, 3.25 lakh persons had been affected due to heavy rain,” he said.

Barring a few roads where a portion had been washed off and the repair would require erecting retaining walls; all other roads had been made operational. The priority of the government was to ensure that the roads were through so that there was no problem in sending apple produce to the markets.

Till yesterday, 1.8 crore apple boxes had been sent out of the state. “We are likely to touch the estimated target of 2.25 crore boxes as the season in the higher areas had just begun,” he said.

He lashed out at the Congress for politicising the issue of relief and rehabilitation instead of urging the Centre to provide maximum possible relief to Himachal. “It is unfortunate that the Congress leaders are trying to get political mileage out of the suffering of the people,” he said.

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State gets Rs 61-cr dividend from SJVN
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 30
The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) has paid a dividend of Rs 61 crore to the state government for 2007-08. The state has 25 per cent equity share in the joint venture while the remaining stake is held by the Centre.

Chairman-cum-manging director of the nigam H.K. Sharma presented a cheque for Rs 27 crore to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal here today. The nigam paid an interim dividend of Rs 34 crore in March.

Sharma informed the Chief Minister that during 2007-08, the company had achieved the highest net profit of Rs 764.51 crore. The country’s largest 1,500-MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydroelectric power station is being operated by the nigam generated 6,449 million units of electricity during the year as against 6,014 million units in the previous year.

He said the company had declared the highest-ever dividend of Rs 244 crore and the Government of India had been paid a dividend of Rs 183 crore.

He told Dhumal that the nigam intended to sign MoUs for the execution of 775-MW Luhri hydroelectric project and the 40-MW Dhaulasidh hydroelectric project with the state. Principal secretary (power) Ajay Mittal told the Chief Minister that the MoU for the Dhaulasidh project was awaiting approval from the Centre. Both MoUs would be signed shortly.

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Navratra fair begins at Naina Devi
Our correspondent

Bilaspur, September 30
The Ashwin Navratra fair started at the Naina Devi temple, about 75 km from here, today. Thousands of devotees turned up to pay obeisance at the temple on the first day.

DC Devesh Kumar, who is also the commissioner of the Naina Devi Temple Trust, said all arrangements had been made by the administration to ensure safety of the devotees. The area had been divided into nine sectors. The interior sectors were being supervised by police inspectors, while the external sectors were under the charge of sub-inspectors.

He said the flow of pilgrims would be streamlined to avoiding overcrowding. Five hundred police and home guard jawans had been put on 24-hour duty and the pilgrims instructed not to touch anything lying unclaimed and abandoned. Metal detector had been installed at entry points to the shrine.

He said large vehicles were not allowed beyond Toba, where a check post had been set up by the police. Round-the-clock medical help had been made available and langars were not allowed at congested places.

The DC said no loudspeakers and beating of drums would be allowed and all announcements would be made from the control room. Section 144 of the CrPC had been enforced in the Kot Kehloor police station area and carrying and keeping of all types of arms and explosives had been banned till October 9, he added. Offering of “halva prasad” and coconuts was also not allowed, he added.

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Angling contest ends
Our Correspondent

Kullu, September 30
The two-day All-India Trout Angling Competition-2008, which started in the Tithan stream of Banjar subdivision of the district on Sunday, concluded here today.

It was organised jointly by the Departments of Fisheries, Tourism and the Angling Association of Himachal Pradesh.

Deputy Director, Fisheries, R.P. Dogra, said the angling competitions were held to promote tourism and bring awareness among local population, regarding conservation of fisheries wealth.

General secretary of the association K.B. Ralhan while congratulating Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal for receiving the first prize on environment preservation, urged him not to sanction any hydroelectricity project on the Beas, Tirthan and their tributaries. He sought “heritage status” for Tirthan.

Director, fisheries, B.D. Sharma, gave away prizes and mementos to winners and participants.

Ajay Negi, a resident of Manali, emerged as the first winner while Naushad was declared second and Vir Singh Negi, father of Ajay Negi, was placed third.

As many as 31 persons, including a German couple, participated in the competition.

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Honour for two Himachali scholars
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 30
Eminent scholars and writers Om Prakash Awasthy (Dharmasala) and Chaman Lal Gupta (Shimla) are among the five litterateurs to be honoured with the Vishishtha Hindi Sewa Samman by the Rashtriya Hindi Academy.

Literary critic Vijay Bahadur Singh of Bhopal, B. Ramsanjivaiya of Bangalore and Hari Singh Pal of Delhi are the other writers to be honoured by the academy during the 21st Akhil Bharatiya Hindi Sammelan being held here from October 2 to 4.

Ten institutions and five literary magazines will also be awarded for popularising and promoting Hindi. The Rashtriya Rajbhasha Shield Samman will be conferred on the Lok Sabha, the Union Textile Ministry, the Union Water Resources Ministry, the National Thermal Power Corporation, Hindustan Latex Limited, Bokaro Steel Plant, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, ECGCIE-Mumbai, and the Import Export Bank.

The magazines selected for the Rajbhasha Patrika Shield Samman are “Vipasha”, “Bhilai Bhasha Bharati”, “Taana Baana”, “Pryadarshani” and “Aarohan”.

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PTA appointees to move court
Our Correspondent

Dalhousie, September 30
The Himachal Pradesh PTA Teachers’ Association will move the court against the negative attitude of the state government towards its rights.

It has threatened to stop the process of new recruitments in place of PTA teachers by adopting a legal course.

Addressing a rally of teachers at Banikhet today, association state president Vivek Mehta and vice-president Pankaj Kumar said a number of posts in various categories of teachers had been lying vacant in different parts of the state but the state government had initiated a move to fill these vacancies through the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Board.

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Central team visits Hamirpur
Tribune News Service

Hamirpur, September 30
A Central Government team touring the state to make on-the-spot assessment of losses due to heavy rain visited Hamirpur district today.

A team comprising Nalini Pathak from the ministry of finance, G.K. Chaudhary from the ministry of agriculture and Dinesh Chander, deputy adviser for drinking water in the Central Government, made assessment of the losses.

The team visited Tibbi village, ward No. 9, Chowki village and the Police Lines to assess the damage.

The team also visited Jahu to see damage to the Jahu Bridge, lift irrigation scheme and damage caused due to soil erosion in Seer Khad.

DC Abhishek Jain said the administration had submitted a report to the team as regards the loss caused due to rain in the district.

The officers of district administration besides DC, officers of PWD, agriculture, horticulture and irrigation department accompanied the central team.

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Freedom fighter dead
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 30
Veteran freedom fighter Pandit Sita Ram (93), who remained associated with the Dhami Praja Mandal during the freedom struggle, died at Dharath village in the Dhami area of Shimla district here today.

He is survived by his wife, four daughters and a son. He was cremated with state honours at his native village. The cremation was attended by a large number of people from all walks of life.

He was the pradhan of the mandal in 1939 and would be remembered for his contribution in the famous ‘Dhami goli kaand’.

Governor Prabha Rao, Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have mourned the death of Pandit Sita Ram.

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25 booked for blocking highway
Our Correspondent

Nahan, September 30
Taking a hard stand on the incident of blockade on the national highway, the Paonta police yesterday registered a case under Sections 147, 149, 143 and 341 of the IPC against 25 residents of Paonta, including 12 tractor-owners. A local leader’s name is also mentioned in list of the accused.

DSP V.S.Thakur said it was very unfortunate that after instigating by a person some residents blocked traffic on the highway . The police had started a process of arresting the accused. The tractors, which were parked on the road, were being taken into the custody, he added.

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Murder alleged
Our Correspondent

Kangra, September 30
The police has registered a case in connection with the death of a 27-year-old married woman of Rasu Ranital village, 17 km from here. The father of the deceased had lodged a complaint with the police in that regard.

SDPO, Kangra, O.P. Jamwal said Reena Kumari, mother of a one-year-old boy, had gone out to answer the call of nature around 7 pm on September 26, but she did not come back home. Reena’s husband Jagroop and some villagers found her lying in bushes around 55 feet down the hillock with injuries on the head and throat. She was rushed to hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

The body was sent for a post-mortem examination. The preliminary report indicated “death due to fall”.

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