Chandigarh, November 30
Can the Punjab Vigilance Bureau register cases without prior approval of an administrative committee? The vital question of law affecting the fate of criminal cases against Punjab’s former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, state’s ex-police chief S.S. Virk and other bigwigs will now be adjudicated by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As the issue came under the judicial scanner, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice R.C. Gupta today issued a notice regarding stay on four of these high-profile cases registered at Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala. The Bench also issued a notice of motion on the petition by ex-member of the state law commission Sukhdev Singh Dhillon and two others. The case now comes up for further arguments on January 18 next year.

The petitioners have contended the administrative committee’s approval is mandatory before even the registration of a first information report, in accordance with the guidelines issued under Article 166 of the Constitution. “The Vigilance has no powers to act on its own; and the committee has to decide the line of action to be taken in each case.”

If the court eventually comes to the conclusion that the guidelines are mandatory in nature, the Vigilance Bureau may find itself toothless and the trials continuing against Capt Amarinder Singh and others may be rendered “bad in law” in the absence of proper procedure.

The petitioners are, in fact, insisting there is no escape from the mandatory rules for the Vigilance Bureau as these are still in force. “The Punjab government never repealed these vigilance guidelines, not even after enacting the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act,” the petitioners have contended.

Referring to the guidelines, the petitioners have contended a procedure has been laid out for taking cognisance of the complaint, the conduct of inquiries and source reports. The procedure to be followed in cases of disproportionate assets has also been laid. But the Vigilance Bureau, say the petitioners, has on its own been lodging the FIRs after “receiving fabricated source reports and is proceeding with the investigations without following the legal procedure”.

Appearing before the Bench, the counsel said the instructions dated March 6, 2000, were not being complied with, even though a writ petition challenging these were dismissed. The High Court orders, endorsing and stamping the guidelines, were not even challenged. 

Bathinda, November 30
The issue pertaining to the unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), considered to be the backbone of this agrarian state, is threatening to snowball into a major controversy with various farmers and employees unions affiliated to different trade unions calling for a series of protest rallies in Patiala from December 7 to 10.

These unions, which include BKU (Sidhupur), PSEB Employees Federation (AITUC), BKU (Dakhonda) and PSEB Technical Services Union, have also planned a total strike at the PSEB headquarters on December 10.

The issue has generated much heat with various farmers’ unions, allegedly backed by PSEB trade unions, holding regular protest demonstrations across the state in an attempt to “make the government see reason and stop the unbundling of the board.”

Sources reveal that the state government has little option except to comply with the directions of the Central Electricity Act, 2003, which calls for all state governments to unbundle their power utilities into different units for transmission, generation and distribution purposes.

Protests have already been witnessed at all the five zonal headquarters at the border zone, Amritsar; central zone, Ludhiana; Jalandhar zone, south zone, Patiala; and west zone, Bathinda.

BKU (Sidhupur) activists will be staging a protest rally at the PSEB head office on December 7. This will be followed by rallies by PSEB Employees Federation (AITUC) and BKU (Dakhonda) on December 8 and 9, respectively.

The PSEB Engineers Association is also vehemently protesting the unbundling of the power entity by saying that “once the unbundled private players step in, power tariff will rise drastically”. The power board had to be unbundled in 2003 itself but the Punjab government, led by different political dispensations, managed to get repeated extensions from the Central government. The last extension, granted by the Union Power Ministry on September 4, expires on December 15.

Sources disclosed that fearing a backlash from farmers, who may not get free power once the board is unbundled, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was trying to do a balancing act between farmers’ unions and compliance with the Central Electricity Act, 2003. The issue has become so sensitive that citing ‘conduct violations’, no power board official is willing to express himself.

A spokesman of the PSEB Engineers’ Association said, “The government should not unbundle the PSEB as it would lead to disastrous consequences. The Electricity Act, 2003, is deliberately being misinterpreted by certain people for their own vested interests. Nowhere in the Act has it been written that it was mandatory for a state government to unbundle its power entity. As has been done in Kerala, Punjab too can keep the PSEB as an integrated structure.”

Critics of the unbundling process also cite the recent judgement of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, the highest dispute redressal forum for electricity laws, which says that it is not mandatory for state governments to unbundle power boards into separate companies.

Chandigarh, November 30
The Union Minister for Youth and Sports Manohar Singh Gill wants all those farmers arrested for their failure to repay loan instalments in time to be released immediately.

Talking to The Tribune over telephone, Gill said failure of a farmer to repay his loan instalment was a civil matter and their arrest in such cases was improper. “Since we do not do it for industrial defaulters of the country then why arrest farmers only,” he said while demanding that farmers so released should be extended all help so that “they can stand on their feet again.”

He was reacting to a news report that appeared in The Tribune some days ago about arrests of a number of farmers for their failure to repay their loans.

“It is deplorable that farmers are being arrested for their failure to maintain the repayment schedule. It has surprised me so I want to draw the attention of the government to what Sir Chhotu Ram did against the then Unionist Government in the 1940s. Among various steps taken to protect farmers from exploitation by the then ‘shahukaars’, one of basic reforms proposed was setting up of the district and tehsil level debt conciliation boards.

“Shahukaars who had charged vast compound interest even in cases of small loans were summoned before committees of revenue officials and other public spirited people. All unreasonable interests were cancelled and farmers were given steady and small monthly instalments to repay. Further, neither the land nor the bullocks or any of their agricultural implements could be seized as the repaying capacity of farmers depended upon their future crops that they would grow,” recalls Gill.

Holding that banks should be prevented from making any arrests of farmers, especially the small farmers, for their failure to repay a loan instalment, Gill said: “Since I had been associated for long with agriculture and cooperatives in Punjab, I can say from my personal experience that it is big and rich farmers who default in repaying loans while small farmers invariably follow the repayment schedule. The reason is simple as small farmers have to take loans for every crop and they can do it only if their track record is good.”

“It is for the state government to ensure that farmers are not harassed for their failure to maintain the repayment schedule. Instead, the government should work out plans to assist small and marginal farmers to come out of the debt trap. Mounting debt traps is one of the main causes of suicides by farmers,” Gill said, hoping that all those arrested in recent months would be set free immediately and “no one would be sent behind bars for this reason alone.”

Jalandhar, November 30
Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has assured the Congress workers who are victims of Akalis’ vendetta politics that their government would set up a high-powered committee to look into such incidents.

Many civil servants are a law unto themselves but it seems that they are forgetting that no one is above the law, he pointed out.

He said those police officers who felt that such matters would blow over with the passage of time were living in a fool’s paradise.

Amarinder was in Jalandhar today to meet hundreds of people from the Bholath constituency who, the former Chief Minister claimed, have been at the receiving end of a reign of terror let loose by the state government. These people were mobilised by Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira.

Addressing the gathering, Amarinder said he had handed over the copies of more than 10,000 FIRs relating to such atrocities to the Election Commission of India before the last parliamentary polls.

The matter was even taken up at the level of the Prime Minister and Home Minister. Although such incidents have been brought to the notice of the incumbent Chief Minister, there is no respite on the ground level, he added.

The senior Congress leader said the angst amongst the public was brewing up against the Akalis. Reacting to a query that little was being done by other Congressmen across the state, he said everyone was doing his bit but little could be done when the government of the day was hostile.

Commenting on PIMS deal, he said they would move court and in case nothing happened, the Congress regime would terminate the contract when they would come to power.

He said he would begin his statewide tour from December 7 from Tarn Taran.

Chandigarh, November 30
Punjab has almost 18,000 persons suffering from HIV-AIDS with the highest number — over 6,200 — are from Amritsar alone.

These figures were released by the Punjab state AIDS control society here on the eve of the World AIDS Day. Patiala district has over 23,000 HIV positive persons while Jalandhar district has about 2,000.

Barnala is the least affected district where the number of HIV positive cases is 85. Bathinda has 344, Faridkot 571, Gurdaspur 778, Ludhiana1285, Patiala 2333 and Sangrur has 523 HIV positive cases. Already three Anti-Retro Viral Treatment centers have been set up at Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala. There is a proposal to set up more such centers in the state.

Almost one person dies every day of AIDS in the state. Last year, 322 AIDS patients died while the figure touched 211 (from April to October) this year.

Till October, about 17,820 HIV positive cases have been recorded in the state. However, Dr Raghbir Singh Bains, who has worked on AIDS in Uganda and Tanzania, said the number of HIV positive cases in the country was far higher than that of the official figure. “No efforts have ever been made to screen vulnerable sections of the population,” he said. The official number of the HIV positive and AIDS cases is near 25 lakh. Of it, 38 per cent are women and near 3 per cent children.

The infection prevalence in Punjab is 0.11 per cent against total prevalence in the country of 0.36 per cent. Reported HIV cases in the state are 17,820, AIDS cases on treatment are 7,567 and 786 deaths have been reported.

According to the state AIDS control society, the major problem emerging in Punjab is injectable drug users (IDU). The latest mapping study and surveillance data too has indicated that the increasing trend of HIV positivity is due to the IDUs.

HIV is highly transmissible through sharing of needles and other injecting equipment. The state AIDS control society is targeting injectable drug users through 15 targeted intervention (TI) projects. “But we have to strengthen our existing legal and regulating authorities, educating school children, youth and common community regarding this menace. It is important to address the problems of IDUs in the state in order to prevent the rapid spread of the infection and also to address the health and social consequences relating to injectable drug users,” society spokesperson said.

World AIDS Day would be observed tomorrow. A state-level function will be organised at Qadian, Gurdaspur and Health and Family Welfare Minister Luxmi Kanta Chawla would be the chief guest on the occasion. The theme of the programme would be “Universal access & human rights, stop aids, keep the promise” by UNAIDS - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS. This theme is to emphasise that access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is a critical part of human rights. 

Ropar, November 30
Punjab Chief Secretary has issued instructions to administrative secretaries and Deputy Commissioners for conducting official work in Punjabi language.

The officers and departments not complying with these instructions shall face music and would be punished as per the provisions given under the Punjab State Language Act, 1967, and the Punjab, Punjabi and Other Languages Act, 2008.

With Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal giving nod for a tribunal to govern proper implementation of the Act, erring officials would be tried for non-complying with the orders at the tribunal.

In a letter, Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal has stated that November was observed as Punjabi month but instead of carrying out official works in the language, many officers were seen passing instructions in English.

Aggarwal has observed that usually higher rank officials have failed to comply with the orders. The erring officials would be punished under the Government Employee Conduct Rules, 1966, Section 3 (1) (111) and the Punjab Civil Services (punishment and appeal) Rules, 1970, Section 5.

Under these provisions annual increment of an erring employee could be held back, he or she can be chargesheeted and on repetition of mistake can be suspended too. It has been also been directed that in order to promote Punjabi, various promotional events be held and instructions boards be put up in Punjabi at the offices of different departments, boards, corporations, educational institutes and lower courts.

Chandigarh, November 30
The Ludhiana Improvement Trust has been repeatedly defying orders of the Punjab state Information Commission orders for providing information regarding the public money collected by the trust for a real estate project floated 27 years ago.

The prescribed 30-day period for providing information has now actually stretched to over seven months for a Chandigarh-based RTI activist Rajinder K Singla.

Dr Singla had sought information about the money collected by the trust from some prospective buyers in 1982 for the allotment of plots through draw of lots. Many of the applicants have not been allotted the plots nor have they got the money refund though nearly three decades have lapsed.

The RTI activist said he had asked the public authority for the information on March 31. After the expiry of 30 days, he complained to the State Information Commission on May 26 about the failure of the trust for providing him information.

Following the compliant, the PIO of the Department of Local Government, Punjab, transferred his RTI application to the Improvement Trust, Ludhiana, on July 21. The PIO transferred the application after several months, after its receipt against 5 days’ period for the same prescribed by the Right to Information Act.

Singla did not get information, and the matter came up for hearing before the Information Commission on August 7 and September 22. None from two public authorities - the Department of Local Government, Punjab, and Ludhiana Improvement Trust - appeared before the commission.

The commission directed in its order that the Additional Secretary to Department of Local Government would personally appear on behalf of PIO to explain the reasons as to. The commission further directed that the PIO of office of the trust would appear in person, along with the information, to be supplied. He would also explain as to why action be not taken under the RTI Act because in spite of clear instructions given to him, no information had been supplied to the complainant nor anyone made himself present in the court.

The commission has now served a show-cause notice to the PIO, Local Bodies, for explaining why a penalty of Rs 250 per day not be imposed on him for not supplying the information to the complainant. The PIO has been further directed to show cause why suitable compensation not awarded to the complainant under Section 19(8)(b) of the RTI Act, for the detriment and loss suffered by him on account of delay in the supply of information.

The complainant has not received the information so far. The matter would come up for next hearing on December 1.

Amritsar, November 30
Giving a new dimension to the raging controversy surrounding his much talked about Rochester (USA) gurdwara discourse, former Akal Takht Jathedar Darshan Singh has alleged that doctored audio and video CDs were submitted to the Akal Takht Jathedar by his detractors in a bid to malign him.

Holding a right-wing Hindu organisation responsible for the controvery over “Dasm Granth”, Prof Darshan Singh has also asserted that as as per the directions of Akal Takht he would be appearing before the Takht on December 5 in the presence of the Sikh Sangat and would give his clarification. He has also made it clear that he would not be appearing “in front of any individual” on that day along with the “unedited CDs” of his discourse in support of his innocence.

Meanwhile, the Dal Khalsa has expressed apprehension that those supporting the Dasm Granth and the ones who were opposing it might clash with each other before or after appearance of Darshan Singh at Akal Takht.

“I want to make it clear before the Sikh Sangat and others that the original CD was not provided to the Akal Takht Jathedar by the complainants. Only the edited versions were sent to Akal Takht by someone along with the complaint regarding my discourse. The Akal Takht Jathedar and the Sikh Sangat should listen to the original CDs and I am going to present these at Akal Takht along with statements of as many as eight witnesses,” said Darshan Singh while talking to The Tribune over phone.

Denying that he had denigrated the life and personality of Guru Gobind Singh in his Rochester gurdwara discourse as his critics alleged, Darshan Singh said: “In fact, in my discourse I had told the Sangat that the story regarding the Guru’s visit to a woman’s house was baseless and was cooked up in an attempt to show the Guru in poor light. Presenting the story as an example, I have been informing people as to how efforts were being made to belittle the Guru. It, however, was presented the other way, thanks to the editing skills of some people. I have been of the view all through my life that Guru Granth Sahib was the Guru of the Sikhs. There can be no parallel to Guru Granth Sahib. It was however a different matter that I have been advising people to study the Dasm Granth carefully,” said Darshan Singh.

Ludhiana, November 30
Strange are the ways of the police working in Punjab. A new special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to reinvestigate the case involving the attack on Major 
G S Benipal (retired), tehsildar and sub-registrar, Ludhiana, in June. The first SIT has already submitted the report and challan against eight persons arrested in this case has also been filed in the court.

The police has arrested eight persons, including Simarjit Singh Bains, president of the district Youth Akali Dal and a councillor, and Kanwaljit Singh Karwal, another Akali councillor. In all, 33 persons are wanted in this case.

The new SIT is headed by Harjinder Singh, SP City-III, Ludhiana, and includes DSP Narinderpal Singh and Inspector Navreet Singh, SHO, Police Station Sadar.

Harjinder Singh told

The Tribune today that the new SIT was formed after securing special permission from the DGP and on the recommendation of the ADGP (crime) who had pointed out some anomalies in the investigations.

Harjinder disclosed that they had almost completed the investigations and recorded the statements of more than 20 witnesses. The investigations were based on the video footage and the photographs of the incident.

Major Benipal was attacked on June 12 in his office by a mob. He was dragged out of his office and beaten up in full public view. He was admitted to the DMC Hospital with multiple injuries. The incident had raised a hue and cry among revenue officials of the state and tehsildars had gone on strike to protest against the assault.

The first SIT, which was headed by P S Parmar, S P (Detective), Jalandhar, had completed the investigations within one month and submitted it report to the IG (Zonal).

The police had moved an application in the court seeking permission for reinvestigation into the case in October. But this application was withdrawn by the police at the next hearing of the case.

When Harjnder Singh’s attention was drawn towards the withdrawl of application from the court, he said the court had been informed by the SHO Sadar police station and he also gave his statement recorded in the court regarding the formation of the new SIT and reinvestigation into the case.

Harjinder confirmed that no other culprit wanted in this case had been declared a proclaimed offender so far. Simarjit Singh Bains and Kanwaljit Singh Karwal have been lodged in the local jail for the past five months.Simarjit Singh Bains had vigorously campaigned for the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat in favour of Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

The police is yet to recover the licensed weapon of Major Benipal and other belongings, including his purse. The SSP, Ludhiana, was not available for comments. He did not pick up his mobile phone. Major G S Benipal also was not available. His mobile phone was switched off. 

Chandigarh, November 30
Ambassador of Republic of Tajikistan in India Saidbeg Saidov today called on Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, here in his office. He was accompanied by Inder Iqbal Singh, former MLA of Kumkalan.

Satpal Gosain, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, was also present on the occasion.

Kahlon apprised Saidov about the agriculture prospects of the state. Saidav was highly impressed and evinced keen interest in the agriculture and agro-based economy of the state. Kahlon honoured the visiting envoy with a shawl and a memento. — TNS

Kharar, November 30
Mega job fest ‘Parvaaz-2009’ began at the Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Gharuan, today. The college spokesperson claimed that around 7,000 students from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi thronged the campus and applied for around 4,000 jobs from various sectors.

As many as 35 MNCs, including Nokia-Siemens, Swaraj Mazda, Kaytex Industries, SNA Power Engineering and Jackson Engineering, had students from electronics, electrical and mechanical streams making a beeline. Students applied for jobs with IT companies like KMG Infotech, Intex Technologies, Bebo Technologies, Binary Softzone, V-Angels, Tech-Mahindra, Wipro, Convergys and IBM-Daksh.

In the biotechnology and pharmacy sector Aple Pharma, Hash Biotech and Healthyway recruited students, while Hotel Sheraton, Hotel ITC-Maratha, Café Coffee Day and TGIF provided job opportunities for hotel management students.

15 MNCs, including Aditya Birla Group, Kisan Group, India Mart, Red Alkemi, Karvy, Bajaj Capital, Winning Edge and Ventura Securities, recruited students of MBA and the PGDM.

Earlier, while inaugurating the job fest Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Badal said the state was committed to developing areas around Mohali as an educational hub. The results of placement processes being conducted during the fest would be available on the official website of the institute as soon as made available by the companies, the spokesperson added.

Chandigarh, November 30
Two days before the departmental promotion committee (DPC) was to meet for the promotion of executive engineers as superintending engineers in the Punjab Irrigation Department, Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the same.

Justice Garg also asked state Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar and Under Secretary in the Irrigation Department Sucha Singh to be present in the court on the next date of hearing, while taking up the petition filed by Executive Engineer Surinder Pal Singh.

Rajpura, November 30
A bus operator and some auto drivers today entered into a bloody clash over the issue of picking up passengers by the auto drivers from villages. While an auto driver received bullet injuries, another one was beaten up by the bus driver, Gurlal Singh, and conductor Karan Singh.

Jaspal Singh was allegedly beaten up by Gurlal Singh and Karan Singh. The bus belonged to Karan Bus Service in Takhtu Majra village. Gurlal Singh said the auto driver ferried their passengers from Pabri village bus stand, which affected their business.

Jaspal Singh was waylaid today morning and beaten up by Gurlal Singh and Karan near Damanheri village. Members of the Rajpur Auto Union came to his rescue and took him to a hospital. The union members also went to meet the owner of bus, however, meeting turn ugly. Both parties started quarrelling and the owner of bus, Satnam Singh, took out his licensed pistol and fired gun shots. One of the bullets hit a union member, Gurvinder Singh. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital and is undergoing treatment. Satnam Singh, Gurlal Singh and conductor Karan Singh have been booked.