Karnal, May 28
An anti-encroachment drive launched by the local authorities to remove hawkers from outside the local bus stand today sparked a protest here. 

The anti-encroachment drive had been ordered in the wake of traffic congestion on the road outside the bus stand. Many hawkers were illegally occupying government land that had reduced the width of the road. 

Traffic jams had become common here following which the authorities decided to take action.However, the hawkers who were removed from the site held a dharna in protest against the drive. They alleged that the authorities did not give them any warning and instead used force against them.

They accused the anti-encroachment staff of destroyed their fruits and vegetables. The hawkers were joined by rickshaw-pullers as they blocked traffic for some time. 

Sirsa, May 28
While students, both boys and girls, were attending their classes, some teachers of Government Senior Secondary School in Jodhkan village in this district were allegedly watching porno films on computers in the computer room of the school.

The police has arrested four teachers under Sections 292 and 294 of the IPC for obscenity, while cases have also been registered against three other teachers.

A shopkeeper, who allegedly supplied the pornographic compact disc to them, has also been booked. Parents of students studying in the village co-education school had been receiving complaints from their wards that some teachers of the school watched porno films on computers supplied by the government for students.

A large number of parents today raided the school in the morning and caught teachers when they were on their usual “computer game”.

Parents locked up the school building after asking the students to leave and announced that they would not allow the school to function until teachers found watching porno films were sacked and put behind the bars.

“The teachers have been indulging in watching porno films for the past many days and setting a poor example before children. They are not even worried over the fact that a large number of girls also study in the school,” alleged Devi Lal, a villager.

The police was informed, which took four teachers - Janak Raj, Gurmeet Singh, Sat Pal and Suresh - into custody and took them to the Ding police station.

Three other teachers, who were also watching the film, managed to escape.

The angry parents reached Ding Road and blocked vehicular traffic in front of the police station on the Delhi-Sirsa National Highway demanding immediate sack and arrest of the teachers.

The road blockade was lifted after the police registered criminal cases against seven teachers, including the above four, and the shopkeeper who supplied the CD to the teachers.

The police said the other teachers - Raj Kumar Khungar, Ravel and Mool Chand - and the shopkeeper, Satish, would be arrested soon. District Education Officer Asha Kiran Grover said she had asked the school Principal to send a detailed report in the matter immediately and assured that she would take stern action against the erring teachers.

New Delhi, May 28 
The Supreme Court today observed that entry tax levied by various states adversely affected industrial and economic growth.

The imposition of new taxes such as entry tax to mop up revenue and shore up the states' empty coffers was not a right step to deal with bankruptcy, a vacation Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and D Verma said while hearing a plea by Haryana.

Any barrier to the free flow of trade hurt the national interest, rather than helping the fund-starved states, the Bench told Haryana's counsel, Anoop Choudhri, who sought an early hearing on the state's petition challenging the Punjab and Haryana Court order.

The HC had, on October 1, 2008, invalidated the law meant for the collection of tax on goods entering Haryana. The state counsel contended that the Patna and Guwahati HCs had upheld entry tax laws of Bihar and Assam, respectively.

In fact, Haryana "is the only state" which has not been able to collect the tax and this had already resulted in a loss of Rs 700 crore. Because of the lack of revenue, infrastructure development in Haryana "has received a serious setback." 

"It is submitted that revenue needed for infrastructure development used for the free flow of trade and commerce in the state has not been coming for the last several months and that a revenue crunch is now being seriously felt during the times of acute recession," the state contended in its petition.

Earlier, a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan issued notice on May 1, 2009, on Haryana's petition. The Bench also tagged the petition with other similar matters. In view of the urgency, Haryana chose to make another plea for urgent hearing.

The vacation Bench, however, said the matter would be heard only after the summer holidays.

Chandigarh, May 28
The Punjab and Haryana High Court apparently wants Haryana to continue with the ad hoc arrangement of guest teachers for its schools, till regular selections are made. At the same time, the high court on the face of it does not want the state to change the nature of the guest teachers’ engagement. 

As the guest teachers’ case came up for resumed hearing, the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta made the observations verbally as an expression of opinion. The prima facie viewpoint, as of now, has not been translated into an order; and the matter is scheduled to come up for further hearing before the Bench on Friday. The matter can also be disposed of tomorrow itself, after the completion of hearing.

Taking up the matter, the Bench verbally observed the state allowed 20,000 odd vacancies to accumulate. So, it invited guest lectures. But was now giving the impression that the state was concerned about the students without teachers.

The Bench also observed having appointed them as guest lecturers, the state was giving them weightage or relaxation. No one would have a chance, if the weightage were given, the Bench verbally observed, adding the state should have gone ahead with regular appointments. Once you change the nature of engagement, the problem arises, the Bench said.

Appearing before the Bench, Haryana advocate-general Hawa Singh Hooda said filling up of vacancies was beyond their control. He asserted there were stay orders from the court.

The Bench then asked Hooda to consider “all these people” for regular appointments. Till then, do not make new arrangements, the Bench suggested. Asking the state to let old arrangement to continue, the Bench said the state could revise the payment made on per lecture basis.

Chandigarh, May 28
Haryana’s action of promulgating rules and law, allegedly “seeking to impose a ceiling on the commission receivable” by real estate dealers and consultants, has come under the Punjab and Haryana High Court scanner.

It seems the property dealers and the consultants are aggrieved by the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Act, 2008; and the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Rules, 2009. They are apparently of the view the pieces of legislation are violative of their fundamental rights, as these on the face of it also require the dealers to act as lawyers and require them to be based in the state.

Aggrieved, Gurgaon-based Jones Lang Lasalle Property Consultants (India) Private Limited and four others have moved the high court seeking directions to the state of Haryana and other respondents to declare the Act and the rules unconstitutional and void.

The petitioner company said it was functioning as property consultant and was aggrieved by the promulgation of the Act and the framing of the rules “as the provisions contained therein seek to impose a ceiling on the commission receivable by the petitioner for rendering its services, without considering the scope of services rendered, the quality of service, as well as the nature of services”.

The provisions, as such, were prima facie arbitrary, unfair and unreasonable, since these infringed the fundamental right to freely carry on with the profession under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.

The provisions also require the property dealers to provide for the title clearance. “This nature of legal service falls within the domain of practitioners in the legal field, who have necessary academic qualification for the same…”the petitioner asserted.

Counsel for the petitioner Atul Dua said “the rules require the applicant to furnish the proof of address of the premises of his business, which requirement prima facie reflects that the applicant must be based and practicing in Haryana itself. Such restriction would prevent property dealers and consultants in the neighboring states from practicing in Haryana, evidently in violation of Article 301.

After preliminary hearing, the Bench of Justice JS Khehar and Justice HS Bhalla today issued notice of motion for July 1 on all the five related petitions. Notice regarding stay has also been issued. 

Chandigarh, May 28
The Haryana government today issued posting and transfers orders of 42 IAS officers, including eight Deputy Commissioners and one HCS officer, with immediate effect.

The districts of Gurgaon, Karnal, Rewari, Jind, Fatehabad, Mahendragarh at Narnaul, Sirsa and Palwal will have new Deputy Commissioners.

G Prasanna Kumar has been posted as Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (FC and PS), Technical Education Department, while Raj Kumar has been posted as FC and PS, Labour and Employment Department. Naresh Gulati has been posted as FC and PS, Public Health Engineering Department.

Shakuntala Jakhu will be new FC and PS, Women and Child Development Department, while PK Gupta has been posted as FC and PS, Industrial Training Department. Dhanpat Singh has been posted as State Transport Controller, Haryana, and Special Secretary, Transport Department, while VS Kundu goes as Special Secretary, Home-II Department and Joint Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections, Haryana.

Jyoti Arora is back in the Power Department and has been posted as Managing Director, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, and Special Secretary, Power Department and Director, Power Reforms, Haryana. Avtar Singh has been posted as Director and Special Secretary, Food and Supplies Department, while Anil Malik becomes Director and Special Secretary, Agriculture Department, and JP Kaushik takes over as MD, Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills. RK Khullar has been posted as Special Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, and Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Gurgaon, and Rajeev Sharma has been posted as Special Secretary, Land Use Board and Commissioner, Rohtak Division, Rohtak. SP Gupta will take over as the Chief Administrator, Housing Board, Haryana. Balraj Singh will be the new administrator, HUDA, Panchkula, in place of Ashok Kumar Yadav. G Anupama has been posted as Additional Director, HIPA, Gurgaon, while MR Anandis as Additional Labour Commissioner, Gurgaon.

Deepti Umashankar will take over as the Administrator, HUDA, Gurgaon, and SK Goyal has been posted as Special Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department. Subhash Chandra has been posted as MD, Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation.

While RK Kataria goes as Deputy Commissioner (DC), Gurgaon, and Chief Administrator, Shri Mata Sheetla Devi Shrine Board, Gurgaon, A Sreenivas will be DC, Mahendragarh at Narnaul, Mohammad Shayin is Jind DC and TL Satyaprakash becomes Rewari DC. CG Rajnikanthan goes as Fatehabad DC while JS Ahalwat will be Karnal DC along with YS Khaliya, who will take over as DC, Sirsa. MK Mahajan has been posted as DC, Palwal.

Yamunanagar, May 28
The dispute between the irrigation departments of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the construction of a check dam in the Chhachhroli area to prevent Yamuna waters from entering villages of this district during the rains was resolved today.

It was mutually decided by the Chief Engineer Irrigation, Panchkula, and the Chief Engineer, Meerut, that Haryana can built a 1,500-foot-long concrete wall for the check dam across the Yamuna to check flooding.

There was tension between villagers and officials of the district and those of Saharanpur (UP) for the past three weeks due to the dispute.

The Chief Engineer, Meerut has stated that in order to built a 4,000-foot concrete wall, the Haryana Irrigation Department will require the permission of the Central Water Commission.

The problem had surfaced on May 4 when work on the check dam was started and a large number of villagers from Uttar Pradesh on the other side of the Yamuna came here and protested stating that the check dam would divert the waters of the Yamuna to UP villages.

Following the protest, District Magistrate, Saharanpur, Alok Kumar had taken up the matter with Deputy Commissioner, Yamunanagar, Amit Kumar Aggarwal.

Sources said the Irrigation Department had proposed to built a 4,000-foot concrete wall in the wake of the flooding of many villages last year due to the Yamuna waters. Over 50 villages in the district were hit by the floods.

XEN AK Sharma confirmed that Uttar Pradesh had agreed to allow them to built a 1,500-foot concrete wall. “Now, work is in progress and we will soon complete the check dam,” he said.

Ambala, May 28
One person was killed and 20 were injured when the roof of a building collapsed at Nagoli village in Naraingarh here today. The deceased has been identified as Malseer Mohammad (22), a labourer from Bihar.

Two labourers, who were seriously injured, have been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, while the rest have been admitted to the Civil Hospital, Naraingarh.

The incident took place when the labourers were trying to raise the roof of a building using jacks and obsolete methods. The roof, which was approximately 30X70 feet, gave away, crushing the labourers underneath.

Naraingarh SDM Devinder Kaushik said the building was earlier a pig farm and the owner, Ram Chander, was keen to convert it into a residential complex. The building was about 10 years old.

He had hired a contractor from Ludhiana, who had undertaken the task of doing so with the help of around 60 labourers. While around 20 labourers were crushed under the roof, others escaped.

The civil administration undertook the rescue operations. The debris was still being cleared till the filing of the report to ensure that no more casualties were there.

Meanwhile, DC Sameer Pal Srow has ordered an inquiry into the matter. He said, on visiting the site, he found that some of the injured labourers were minors.

Rewari, May 28
A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped by two youths near Dhanonda village, 45 km from here, yesterday. The girl, who was reportedly picked up from her dwelling near the bus stand at Kanina, was abandoned by the youths at the above place later.

Following a complaint filed by the girl’s father, the Kanina police registered a case of abduction of a minor girl as well as gang rape against Balwan of Santokhpura village of Bhiwani district and Dilbagh of Khedi Talwana village of Mahendragarh district. The police has arrested Balwan and Dilbagh. They were today produced in the court and remanded in police custody for one day.