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Additional increments for judicial officers
Selection of Civil Judges
Criminal shot dead in court complex
Industrialist’s son kidnapped
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CEC for higher status to state commissioners
Haryana policy on land release faulty: HC
Farmers block traffic over CCI move
Atomic power plant cleared
Unregulated Development Act
Chander Mohan ‘kidnapped’, freed
Education board results ratified
Residents protest against demolition drive
High Court
Martyr’s statue unveiled
Two cops hurt in accidental firing
NRI brings bride in copter
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Additional increments for judicial officers Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 12 The Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice K. Kannan has also made it clear that it wants the state chief secretary to take a decision on the issue. The First National Judicial Pay Commission, also known as the Shetty Commission, had recommended the grant of additional increments to the judicial officers with LLM degrees after it was set up in 1996. As of now, Punjab is giving the benefit. In their petition, Dr Shiva Sharma and other judicial officers had contended the high court Registrar had forwarded communications to the government “to give effect to the report” for grant of increments. But the government failed to respond. The state, on the other hand, contended the petitioners were not competent to approach the high court. “If they have acquired any qualification, they ought to move approach only the Supreme Court”. Taking up the petition, the Bench observed: “The petitioners, who are members of higher judicial services in Haryana, have their own unenviable reasons to knock at the doors of the court, seeking justice for themselves… “We only observe it is unfortunate that the service conditions of even the judicial officers, and the grievance of judicial officers, such as the petitioners, must obtain the same treatment as though it is a run-of-the-mill adversarial litigation. “The government is not prepared to take a definite stand whether it would be willing to give effect to the report, but would quibble on technicalities that the remedies of the petitioners’ grievance lies only before the Supreme Court and not before this court. Indeed, the petitioners will have no reasons to go to the Supreme Court, if only the government adopts a definite stand.... Speaking for the Bench, Justice Kannan added: “We find ourselves in a bind by judicial pronouncements that the Court, in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, will not issue a mandamus directing the government to adopt a particular policy or make any specific rule improving the terms of employment of the judicial officers. “We will pass no orders in the manner that the petitioners want, but only hope that the government considers the issue of grant of additional increments in the manner suggested by the Shetty Commission and approved by the Supreme Court. “We direct that the copy of the judgment may be placed before the state chief secretary for a decision on the issue dealt with in this judgment”.
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SC notice to service commission
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, December 12 A Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam passed the order on a petition by two advocates challenging the preliminary examination for which there was no provision in the 1951 rules. The petition has also sought a stay on the November 10 verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, rejecting the objections to the examination pattern. The Bench said it would hear the pleadings on the stay on December 18. The petitioners, Satish Kumar of Sega village in Kaithal tehsil and Jagbir Malik of Panchkula, have primarily challenged the introduction of a preliminary examination, contending that this amounted to amending the rule itself which was beyond the powers of the commission. Further, under the rules the object of the examination was to test the practical ability of the candidates by giving the facts of a typical case and asking them to write a judgment. But the proposed preliminary examination was aimed at testing the general and basic knowledge of the candidates about current events of national and international importance. Under the new method, there was a chance that candidates having sufficient theoretical knowledge but no practical knowledge would qualify, the petition filed through advocate Dharmendra Kumar Sinha said.
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Criminal shot dead in court complex
Sonepat, December 12 The assailant was immediately placed under arrest by police personnel present on the spot. Butania had been brought here from the Rohtak jail to be produced before the court in connection with the murder case of Dalbir, a resident of Butana village, who was allegedly killed by Sanjay in 2003. As he was being taken inside the court, an armed youth who was carrying a double-barrel gun beneath a blanket, came near and fired at Butania. The bullets hit him in his lower back and pierced his abdomen. He died on the spot. The policemen present on the spot immediately swung into action and overpowered the person who had fired the shot. The accused has been identified as Jagbir of Kasandi village. A woman identified as Dhanpati of Rajlu Garhi village, who has been facing charges of dowry death and brought here from the Karnal jail to be produced before a judge, was also injured in the incident. The police said Butania and his gang of criminals had killed two brothers and the father of Jagbir. Following the killings, Jagbir and his family who were the natives of Butana village, had left the village and shifted to Kasandhi village. According to SSP Navdeep Singh Virk, the families of Jagbir and Sanjay Butania had a dispute over a piece of land several years ago. The police said in order to avenge the killings of his brothers and father, Jagbir today attacked Butania in the court complex. Butania had also been accused of having planned the murder of Rakesh, alias Lara, Balmiki youth from Gohana, in August 2007, who had been shot dead outside Khasa School in Gohana. The murder had led to a widespread agitation by Balmikis in the state. The SSP said as many as 19 cases of crime had been registered against Butania at different police stations of Sonepat, Rohtak, Jind and Delhi. A case was later registered against Jagbir Singh for killing Butania. |
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Industrialist’s son kidnapped
Panipat, December 12 The incident took place around 7.30 am when the boy, Tejas Gabba (8), accompanied by his mother Meena Gabba was waiting for his school bus at Paruthi Chowk. Sources said while waiting for the bus Tejas asked his mother to get him a packet of chips. As Meena got into a general store to buy chips, a person stepped out from a Honda Accord that was parked nearby and grabbed Tejas from his arm. When Meena raised the alarm, the person took out his revolver and fired a single shot on the ground, following which the person got into the car and sped away. The matter was immediately reported to the district police, following which senior police officials reached the spot to take stock of the situation. The police recovered a 9 mm shell from the spot that was fired by the accused. The police sounded the alarm across the state and sealed the borders along the district. It also sent wireless messages with details of the car that was used in the crime to various district headquarters in an attempt to trace the car. Sources close to the Gabba family told The Tribune that it was being believed that the boy had been kidnapped for ransom. However, no ransom call had been received by the Gabba family till the filing of the report, sources added. The police said investigations were on. Senior police officials, including IG V. Kamraj, Panipat SP M.S. Sheoran and Karnal SP A.S. Chawla, have been monitoring the progress of the investigations into the case. Sources said the police was working on various theories to recover the kidnapped boy.
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CEC for higher status to state commissioners
Chandigarh, December 12 Gopalaswami, who was speaking at the inaugural function of the 10th all-India
SECs’ conference hosted by the Haryana State Election Commission, said an SEC must enjoy the status of at least a high court judge. Their offices should also be strengthened. Also, the
SECs, after their retirement, should not hold any office. He said both the Election Commission of India and state election commissions had common problems. While pointing out that it was high time to have seamless electoral rolls with progression from wards to parliamentary constituencies, Gopalaswami said negotiations were on with the Census Commission that there should be a census block, which should not be changed from census to census.
Gopalaswami also expressed his concern over the menace of growing money and muscle power during the elections adding that such people had business propositions in mind to multiply their assets by winning elections. Haryana Governor
A.R. Kidwai appreciated the suggestion of having uniform voter lists for all elections and called upon the SECs to further strengthen the election system in the country. While complimenting the Election Commission on its mechanism of preparing lists of voters and the method of voting, Kidwai said the country was proud of its democratic system. Constitutional amendments had made panchayats the basic unit of democracy. He said this conference would prove a step forward in further strengthening the election system in the country. Chairman of the Standing Committee of State Election Commissioners Nand Lal said here today that electronic voting machines should be introduced for all types of elections in the country. Talking to newsmen, Nand Lal said Rs 1,500 crore had been demanded from the 13th Finance Commission for the purchase of
EVMs. For this Rs 500 crore was required immediately. He asserted that during the elections the mafia, machine, muscle and money power (4-Ms) always played a pivotal role which was not a healthy practice in a democracy. He said there were 70 crore voters in the country and Haryana and Kerala were the only states which had issued photo identity cards to all electorates. |
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Haryana policy on land release faulty: HC
Chandigarh, December 12 Finding faults with 2007 policy instructions issued by the government on de-notification of land from the process, a Division Bench has ruled: “It is impregnated with illegality in as much as it arms the government with the power to release the land from the acquisition within one year after the award”. A clause in the policy too has been declared illegal. With this, the residents, influential included, will not be able to seek release of their land by carrying out construction after the issuance of a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. Laying down the law to end controversies and allegations of pick and choose policy, the Bench headed by Justice M.M. Kumar also directed the undertaking of a survey before forwarding proposal to the government for issuance of notification under Section 4 of the Act. For the purpose, the Bench directed the state to issue comprehensive instructions to all land acquisition collectors, town and country planning department officials and other agencies like the HSIDC and HUDA. “The officers concerned are to ensure that clause two of the policy, dated October 26, 2007, for releasing the structures which have been built up prior to the issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Act, are not included in the proposal of acquisition”. The Bench was of the view that the instructions “would bring proximity between the law, life and justice, which look to be distant neighbours in the present scenario. “It would also discourage the construction activity after the issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Act or the tendency of some unscrupulous elements to claim that the building was constructed prior to the issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Act”. The directions follow allegations of pick and choose policy leveled by a Panchkula district resident. The petitioner had added she had learnt about the release of land belonging to influential persons. As such, the respondents were acting in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner. They were selectively releasing the land to people at their own whims |
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Farmers block traffic over CCI move
Sirsa/Fatehabad, December 12 Angry farmers blocked traffic on the local Sirsa road at Fatehabad today against the orders of the central agency, while heated words were exchanged between farmers and officials of the CCI at Sirsa. Farmers alleged that the government had been trying to find excuses for refusing to accept the produce of farmers on one pretext or the other. "There is a nexus between officials of the CCI and private ginners. The ginners are offering Rs 2600 per quintal for their produce against the MSP of Rs 2700 and the CCI officials are hand in glove with them to fleece the innocent farmers," alleged Sukhraj, a farmer from Panjuana village, at Sirsa grain market. Farmers blocked traffic on the Delhi-Sirsa national highway at Fatehabad against the recent move of the CCI authorities. "I do not own my own land and till some others' land on a lease basis. How can I bring the land documents in my name?" asked Satnam Singh, a farmer from Dariyapur in Fatehabad. "The orders of the CCI are autocratic and only to reject the large quantities of cotton coming to markets these days," alleged another farmer, Ram Mehar. The road block was lifted after the police reached there, while in Sirsa the CCI authorities purchased about 200 quintals of cotton on the warning that no cotton would be purchased without seeing the property documents from Monday. The CCI has maintained that the move was necessitated due to the deeds of some unscrupulous dealers, who purchased cotton from farmers at lower rates and then came to the CCI to sell it at the MSP.
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Atomic power plant cleared
Jharli (Jhajjar), December 12 This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing a gathering after the lifting of the boiler drum of the first unit of the super thermal power project here today. He promised a free dispensary for senior citizens residing in villages, opening of a new Industrial Training Institute and adoption of another ITI for imparting technical training to youth and an hourly bus service soon in Jharli, Goria, Mohanbari and Khanpur Khurd villages of the district. He said the water supply system would also be streamlined besides remodelling of a water course in the district with a view to redressing the grievances of the public. The first unit of 500 MW of the 1,500 MW Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project would commence generation by June 2010, three months before the scheduled date of commissioning, he added.He said the project would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 8,000 crore and Rs 1,352 crore had already been spent on the construction work. "The government has decided to supply power round the clock to the consumers within a radius of 10 km of the plant and about 40 villages will benefit by this decision," Hooda said, adding that the central government had also sanctioned Rs 4.2 crore for strengthening of the distribution network in these villages. |
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Amendment soon: CM
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 12 Stating this here today Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the state government would soon amend the Act. He said over the years a large number of national and state highways had been constructed to improve connectivity in the state. These highways had also become hubs of economic activity, which also attracted construction in the form of shops, highway amenities like dhabas and industrial units. Section 3 of the Act provides for a construction-free restricted belt up to a distance of 30 metres along the scheduled roads and 100 metres in the case of bypasses. Hooda said although these buildings had come up in violation of the provisions of the Act, in order to provide relief to the public the government was actively examining the matter to look into all possibilities to make suitable amendments. He said an amendment to the Act would meet the long-standing demand of people in the state. But at the same time the Chief Minister urged the people to cooperate with the administration by not violating the provisions of the Act. Media convener of the Haryana BJP Rajiv Jain had yesterday urged the Chief Minister to convene an all-party meeting and a special session of the state assembly to discuss the issue as well as to amend the Act. Sirsa: The Indian National Lok Dal on Friday demanded the repeal of the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963, and for the promulgation of an ordinance till the repeal of the Act to save thousands of people whose buildings had come under the scanner due to this law. Sampat Singh, secretary-general and spokesman of the INLD, said while talking to mediapersons here that it was strange that the state government failed to take notice of the plight of thousands of residents as it had enough time to repeal the law before the passing of the high court orders justifying the implementation of the Act. Sampat Singh maintained that the number of properties to be affected by the implementation of the Act was much more than the 10,000 identified by the state government.
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Chander Mohan ‘kidnapped’, freed
Chandigarh, December 12 Chand was reportedly forcibly taken away in a Mercedes from near Haryana MLAs flats this afternoon. According to an eyewitness, Chand came in a silver Scorpio to the Sectors 3-4-9-10 roundabout a little after 2 pm. The Scorpio was being driven by a friend of Chand. The eyewitness told The Tribune that as the Scorpio slowed down near the roundabout, the Mercedes and a few more vehicles surrounded it. Seeing the occupants of the vehicles, Chand tried to get down from his vehicle, but his friend restrained him from doing so. Meanwhile, the occupants of the other vehicles, who, the eyewitness maintains, were in black clothes, overpowered Chand and took him inside the Mercedes, which immediately sped away. However, Chand was spotted near Aroma Hotel in the Scorpio after about two hours going towards Sector 35. It seems, the occupant(s) of the Mercedes let of Chand after having a talk with him. Chand and Fiza could not be contacted as their mobile phones were switched off. |
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Education board results ratified
Chandigarh, December 12 Presiding over a meeting here, he said a misunderstanding had arisen among people about the low percentage of results of pass
students. Their parents were not satisfied with the results. He clarified that a technical mistake was found after announcing the results of these classes as the marks of internal assessment were not added in the results. Now this had been ratified after adding the internal assessment marks. The Education Minister said that now the final results of the students would be on the basis of the marks obtained in the first semester, plus the marks of internal assessment and the final results of the second semester. He said that now no student would have to re-appear in these classes. No student was required to deposit re-appear fees and those who had deposited the examination fees with the application form, the fees were being returned. Referring to the delay in declaring results of the 12th class, he said that these had been delayed as the secret code had not been used properly by many examiners. He said that now the board authorities had been directed that results of the 12th class should be declared before December 22. He made it clear that this decision would not apply to the senior secondary vocational examinations.
— PTI |
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Residents protest against demolition drive
Yamunanagar, December 12 The traders closed their shops and decided to continue with their agitation till they get any positive response in this regard from the government. They also decided to meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in this regard tomorrow in Narayangarh. They also submitted a memorandum to SDM Sujjan Singh Yadav to provide them with an alternate place before carrying out the demolition drive in their areas. They demanded that the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction Of Unregulated Development Act, 1963, should be amended same as the act amended by the Punjab and Himachal governments. Following the directions of the high court, the National Highway Authority of India and the PWD department had issued a notice of demolition to owner of 1,600 houses and shopping complexes situated along two state highways and two national highways passing through the district. FARIDABAD: Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on Friday started another demolition drive in Sector 48 here amidst mild protests from the aggrieved public and a threat of immolation by a person. The demolition squad of HUDA swooped on Sector 48 along with 40 police personnel as protection cover to meet any untoward incident. The squad demolished about six houses. Besides, boundary walls and other structures of about a score of other complexes were demolished. The son of a councillor of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF), whose residential building was being targeted, tried to immolate himself in protest against the operation. The police team, however, prevented him from committing the crime. The personnel left the building after demolishing it marginally to prove his claim that the building was authorised. He has to furnish the relevant documents to prevent the demolition squad further visiting the building.
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Notice to Haryana on Bahadurgarh MC poll
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 12 In his petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Rathi contended the elections to the municipal council, Bahadurgarh, were to be held along with the municipal councils of Pinjore and Mandi Dabwali. The state government held the elections at Pinjore and Mandi Dabwali on December 4, but Bahadurgarh was left out of the poll process. The petitioner alleged the delaying tactics on the part of the present government were mainly due to the pressure of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Depinder Singh Hooda. After preliminary hearing, Justice K.S. Garewal and Justice Jitendra Chauhan issued notice of motion for January 8, 2009, to Haryana, along with its local bodies and urban development secretary.
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Martyr’s statue unveiled
Jhajjar, December 12 Dharambir Singh said the country’s brave soldiers had shown exemplary patriotism and always made sacrifices while giving a befitting reply to the enemy whenever a challenge came from across the border. Stressing upon the need to give proper respect to the families of the martyrs, he said the nation that remembered its martyrs had always made exemplary achievements in the world.
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Two cops hurt in accidental firing
Karnal, December 12 The incident took place when Rajinder, a resident of Manjura, and Naresh of Bichaloi village were checking the new 32 mm revolver issued to sub-inspector Vipin Kumar, who has been posted as PO at Kurukshetra. There was one live cartridge in the revolver, which went off when Rajinder pressed the trigger. The bullet grazed through the left arm of Rajinder and pierced into Naresh’s stomach. Rajinder was discharged after treatment from Balbir Virk Hospital and Naresh was being operated at Miglani Nursing Home. |
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Gurpartap Singh Bhangal, an NRI from Dhani Masitan Wali village near
here, today brought his bride in a helicopter. The groom’s father,
Kashmir Singh Bhangal, who has landholdings in the village, had left for
the US some years ago. He has his own departmental stores in the
US.Gurpartap married Sukhdip Kaur, daughter of Avtar Singh Chahal of
Tohana town, today and covered a distance of 60 km from Tohana to Dhani
Masitan Wali village to bring his wife in a helicopter.
