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Gotra Row
Arrangements in place for solar eclipse fair
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File documents by Aug 7: SC
No review of ties with Chautala: BJP
Deputy Commissioner’s Appointment
1,800 BSNL phones go dead
Panel fixes provisional fee for institutes
Misuse of powers for promotion alleged
‘Bungling’ in Admissions
Chemists protest against ‘illegal’ construction
Protest over blocked sewers
Classes boycotted
Israel to set up 2 centres of excellence
1 killed in group clash
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Gotra Row
Jhajjar, July 21 However, it is yet to be cleared that whether the Gehlout family had left the village permanently. The Kadyan Barah khap panchayat has been giving contradictory statements on the development claiming that the family had left the village after succumbing to the verdict of the panchayat. The Gehlout family had appeared before the khap panchayat at a village school in the evening to inform them about their decision of leaving the village honouring the verdict of the panchayat, said Raj Singh, acting pradhan of the Kadyan Barha khap panchayat while talking to The Tribune, adding that the Gehlout family took a right decision keeping in view the social customs of the village and significance of the panchayat’s verdict. With this development, members and supporters of the khap panchayat also lifted the indefinite dharna that they had staged to press for their verdict after Sunday’s clash, in which 18 police personnel were injured. Risal Singh along with his wife and three sons - Rohtash Gehlout, Ved Prakash and Nasib Singh - boarded a Tata Sumo in the evening and left for their relative’s house in Dujana village here without
luggage. Meanwhile, Narender Singh, cousin of Ravinder Gehlout, said: “Neither we have left the village bowing to the dictum of the khap panchayat nor we will accept this at any cost. We have decided to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday against the khap’s judgment.” He also claimed that the Gehlout family had left for another village to meet their relatives. Acting Deputy Commissioner Saaket Kumar said the Gehlout family had left for Dujana village with adequate security cover to meet their relatives in the evening. “I have no information from the family side that they have left the village permanently,” he said, adding that the family would continue to have security cover till the deadlock came to an end and nobody would be allowed to take law into the hand. SSP Jhajjar Saurabh Singh said police personnel had still been deployed at the village to keep tabs on the situation. The Kadyan Barha khap panchayat had delivered the verdict directing the family to leave the village for marrying Shilpa Kadyan in “violation of social norms” after the divorce proposal of the khap was turned down by the bride’s parents on Thursday. |
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Arrangements in place for solar eclipse fair
Kurukshetra, July 21 About 15 lakh pilgrims, scientists and tourists are expected to watch the pre-dawn solar eclipse which will occur from 5.30 am to 7.30 am tomorrow. The sultry heat and high humidity have not dampened the spirits of the devotees, who remained cuddled in overcrowded places. The administration has made adequate arrangements of safe drinking water, sanitation and medical aid. About 10 lakh pilgrims have been provided with an insurance cover within a 7 km radius of Kurukshetra. To avoid any stampede at the sarovars, arrangements have been made for the smooth and regular flow of pilgrims for taking a dip in the sarovars and parking lots had been earmarked near the ghats. The meal area has been divided into 10 sectors under the charge of a senior officer who would act as the duty magistrate to maintain law and order and facilitate the visitors. Reception centres have been opened at all entry points to provide necessary information to the visitors and special communication network has been established to ensure the safety of children. Adequate security arrangements have been made. Rajesh Purohit, curator of the city’s Krishna Museum, said, “The solar eclipse is synonymous with Kurukshetra, the only venue where salvation can be attained if one takes a dip in the sarovars during a solar eclipse.” Even Mughal emperor Akbar, accompanied by his court historian Abul Fazal, had visited Kurukshetra during a solar eclipse in 1567, Purohit claimed. Meanwhile, the civic body has put in place over 1,100 temporary toilets, and has carried out a sanitation drive to give the city a new look. The railway authorities will run 10 special trains on the occasion and in order to clear the extra rush of passengers. |
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File documents by Aug 7: SC
New Delhi, July 21 A three-member Bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, also directed cross-examination of witnesses for three days from August 17 before the court Registrar. Senior counsel Shanti Bhushan, who appeared for Saini, took exception to the inordinate delay by the state in submitting the list of witnesses. Only six of the 30 witnesses had filed their affidavits so far. The Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, passed the order after hearing arguments by senior counsel Harish Salve, who appeared for the state, and Indira Jaisingh, who represented the Centre. On April 22 this year, the apex court accepted the state government’s draft charges against the accused. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil had, on July 31, 2008, referred the charges to the apex court “for inquiry and report” whether they could be removed from the office. The presidential reference had listed three charges - lack of qualification for occupying their respective position and serious irregularities, non-cooperation in the investigation and misbehaviour. Under the state’s draft charges, Saini faces nine allegations, followed by Dungar Ram, Chattar Singh and Om Prakash Bishnoi (six each). The remaining five members face five charges each. They are Yudhvir Singh, Sarbir Singh, Ranbir Singh Hooda, Santosh Singh and Ram Kumar Kashyap. |
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No review of ties with Chautala: BJP
New Delhi, July 21 BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said here today that there was no move to review the alliance with the INLD. Swaraj, also in charge of Haryana, said, “There is no move at the moment to review the ties with the INLD. As and when there is any move it will be conveyed.” Swaraj’s statement came in the wake of unconfirmed reports in the BJP office that sensing the waning influence of Chautala, the party could review its ties with the INLD. Ever since the INLD-BJP combine was routed in Haryana in the recently concluded general elections, a section of the BJP men have been pressing upon the high command to break its ties with Chatuala and instead align with Bhajan Lal-led Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). A powerful section of the BJP has been opposing this alliance since it was struck last year and this section included former Haryana BJP president Atma Prakash Manchanda.
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Deputy Commissioner’s Appointment
Chandigarh, July 21 These officers say, on condition of anonymity, that the UT’s request clearly castes a stigma on the officers promoted to the IAS from the HCS. They say on the one hand the UT had been seeking extension for the present incumbent RK Rao, himself a promoted officer, for the past five years, on the other, it has virtually put a ban on entry of promoted IAS officers in the UT. They say in the past many promoted
IAS officers served the UT without any blemish, whereas certain direct IAS officers had been involved in unsavoury controversies. The UT’s request, they say, is also a violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution as it creates unreasonable classification among the equals. The Union Government, which is the controlling authority of the IAS officers, does not make any distinction between direct recruits and promoted officers. In the cadre, both stand at equal footing. The promoted officers say so far there is complete harmony in the IAS cadre of the state (at least on the surface). But the UT’s request would divide the cadre vertically. They say the Chief Secretary, who is the president of the Haryana IAS officers Association, should put his foot down in the interest of the cadre unity. They also say that if the Chief Secretary fails to protect their interests, they may be forced to charter their own path. The promoted officers feel that in case justice is not done to them, they have a very strong legal case. They would approach not only the Union Government but would also knock at the doors of the courts to safeguard their image. When contacted, Chief Secretary Dharam Vir said the state government did not make any distinction between the direct recruits and promoted officers. He said he was not in a position to say more than this before the panel was finalised in a day or two. |
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1,800 BSNL phones go dead
Sirsa, July 21 Workers of the agency that has been constructing the ROB have cut the cables passing underneath the road rendering the telephones installed in the Hisar road area, Gobind Nagar, Ram Colony, Court Colony, Bansal Colony, MC Colony, Khanna Colony and several other areas of the town dead, causing a lot of hardship to residents. “ The telephone line to the District Library and the E-Library has been lying dead for the past 8-10 days. The broadband service too is not functioning rendering the E-Library non-functional,” said Rachna Dewan, Librarian. She said the telephone connections of the area have not been functioning properly ever since work on the ROB began. Dr Gulab Singh said his telephone had been lying dead for the past three days. “Earlier, there was a problem of noise and malfunctioning of the internet services. Under the National Health Insurance Scheme, we have to admit and discharge patients by filling their forms online, which has all stopped now,” he said. Residents allege that the problem of phones going dead has been witnessed at least six or seven times in the past six or seven months, ever since the work on the ROB project began. Earlier, it was due to the negligence of the public health authorities.Now, it is due to negligence of the workers of the contractor agency. “Four cables of the department have been cut by workers of the contractor rendering 1,800 telephone connections dead. We are in the process of repairing the cables and restoring the telephone service. But this means repairing 9,600 pairs, which is taking time,” said Pardeep Bana, Divisional Engineer (Telecom), Sirsa. |
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Panel fixes provisional fee for institutes
Sirsa, July 21 Engineering institutes providing BTech courses have been allowed to charge a fee of Rs 50,000, which includes a tuition fee of Rs 40,000 and development funds of Rs 10,000. Institutes providing MBA, MCA and BPharmacy degrees will be charging a fee of Rs 38,000 that includes Rs 32,000 as tuition fee and Rs 6,000 as development funds. Institutes providing training in the BHM&CT course can charge a fee of Rs 30,000, which includes a tuition fee of Rs 24,000 and development funds of Rs 6,000. Besides the fee of Rs 30,000, the institutes providing the BHM&CT course can also charge Rs 7,000 as fee for food and other laboratories and Rs 5,000 as operational fee. Institutes providing diploma courses can charge a fee of Rs 21,000 per student, which includes Rs 17,000 as tuition fee and Rs 4,000 as development funds. Besides the fee, the institutes have been allowed to charge Rs 1,500 per student as student fund for degree courses and Rs 1,200 for students of diploma courses, Rs 2,000 per student as caution fee (college) and Rs 2,000 per students as caution money (hostel) in case of boarders only. However, the institutes are not authorised to charge fee for the entire year at the time of admission and can charge it semester-wise only. The rules and regulations of the SFC provide that the institutes shall employ faculty as per the AICTE norms and pay scales. The SFC has clarified that the fee announced by it is provisional for newly established institutes and these institutes have been asked to send their detailed fee proposal with balance sheets and faculty position for the final fixation of fee. |
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Misuse of powers for promotion alleged
Chandigarh, July 21 In the petition filed through counsel Puneet Gupta, Krishan Chand from Faridabad contended despite Srivastav’s petition being dismissed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, and the high court, “the official respondents misused their powers and in collusion with him illegally changed his date of birth and have promoted him because of his influence”. Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia issued notice of motion for August 10 on the petition to the Union Labour and Employment Ministry, and others. Notices to institutes stayed
The high court today stayed notices issued to educational institutions for not implementing the provisions of the employees state insurance (ESI) enforced by the Haryana government in January this year. Taking up the matter, Justice K. Kannan also issued notice of motion for September 16. The writ petition has been filed by Faridabad-based Ideal Private Schools Association through its president RK Sharma for quashing the Haryana government notification of January 30, vide which the provisions of ESI Act, 1948, were extended to the educational institutions. Counsel for the petitioner argued the ESI could not be extended to educational institutions as the teachers could not be equated with the workmen or the labourers working in factories or industrial establishment.
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‘Bungling’ in Admissions
Rewari, July 21 Alleging that they had been denied admission unjustifiably while a number of other students, with lower marks, had been accommodated arbitrarily, they demanded a high-level inquiry into the alleged irregularities in admissions. Simultaneously, rebutting the allegations, college principal Dharam Singh Yadav said they had already sent a communication to the director of higher education seeking provision of 120 additional seats in BA (I) and as soon as the approval was accorded, such students would be given admissions. While the agitating students lifted the blockade after about three hours at the persuasion of senior officials of the Nahar police post, the lock of the main gate of the college was opened only after 5pm at the persuasive intervention of District Education Officer Virender Singh and Naib Tehsildar of Kosli Rajender Singh. |
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Chemists protest against ‘illegal’ construction
Bhiwani, July 21 District vice-president of the INLA Beopar Cell Paras Ram Sharma and district president (urban) Venod Chawla, while addressing the agitating chemists at the local Ghantaghar Chowk today, alleged that the construction was being done in connivance with the district administration. They said the constructors had no valid record nor any proof and the land had been left vacated for parking purpose. Sharma said chemists were on strike since yesterday and it would continue till the construction was demolished. He further said a chemist had availed stay from the court against the construction but it too had been ineffective. He threatened that the chemists would meet the local Beopar Mandal and ask to observe strike if the administration failed to stop the illegal construction. |
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Protest over blocked sewers
Sonepat, July 21 SDM Arvind Malhan urged the residents to lift the blockade assuring that necessary steps would be immediately taken to redress their grievances. The residents alleged that the sewer water had not only been flowing in the streets, but had also entered a number of houses. |
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Classes boycotted
Bhiwani, July 21 They raised anti-college administration slogans. The agitating students said hundreds of students had failed to get admission. The students threatened to launch an indefinite strike if no step was taken to increase the seats. Earlier, the students had staged a demonstration under the banner of the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti a few days ago in support of their demand. They had also submitted a memorandum to the Governor. |
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Israel to set up 2 centres of excellence
Chandigarh, July 21 Sofer said the centre of excellence for fruits would be set up at Mangiana in Sirsa district at a cost of Rs 9.70 crore and the centre of excellence for vegetables would come up at Gharounda in Karnal district at a cost of Rs 6 crore.
— TNS |
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1 killed in group clash
Sirsa, July 21 Police sources said the deceased identified as Gurchet (19) and the injured - Krishan, Kashmir and Gurtej - were standing near Gurchet’s residence in the village when Rinku, who had an altercation with the victim over some issue yesterday, came with eight to 10 persons and allegedly attacked them. Gurchet, who received bullet injuries, died on the spot.
— TNS |
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