|
|
|
|
Khap head fined for issuing fatwa
Micro Spasms-II
|
|
|
|
Net banking racket unearthed, 5 held
Unions set to corner govt
Now, ‘apni mandis’ in all districts
Better bus services soon
HC: Courts can’t equate one qualification with another
Ranjit Murder Case
3 more test positive for swine flu
Freedom fighter cremated
Don’t privatise power distribution: CPM
|
|
Khap head fined for issuing fatwa
Hisar, December 12 The case was filed way back in 1998 by Banwari Lal, a resident of Umra village of the district, in the court of Judicial Magistrate at Hansi, a sub-divisional town, 25 km from here. The complainant, who is a retired teacher, had alleged that he had purchased land in Umra in 1998. The deal was opposed by two other residents of the village - Ram Bhagat and Wazir Singh - who filed a civil suit against the deal. Banwari Lal said in his complaint that these two persons contacted Baljit Singh Malik, head of Gathwala Khap, who convened a series of meetings of the panchayat to discuss the matter. The complainant said they had brought to the notice of the accused that the matter was sub judice and as such the panchayat could not take any decision. However, on October 11, 1998, a meeting of the panchayat was held at which Baljit Singh pronounced the decision to excommunicate Banwari Lal and others from the khap and called upon members of the Gathwala Khap not to maintain any social contact with them. Banwari Lal then filed a suit for defamation in the court of Judicial Magistrate at Hansi alleging that due to the result of the fatwa, he and his family members had been defamed. During the course of proceedings, the defence counsel denied that any fatwa had been issued. However, the court relied on the witnesses who were present at the meeting of the khap panchayat and held that the fatwa had indeed been issued. The court also ruled that despite publication of the news of the fatwa in leading newspapers, the accused did not take any step to contradict the reports and issue a clarification. Judicial Magistrate Vivek Nasir in his judgment delivered on December 5 held Baljit Singh guilty under Section 500 of the IPC and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on him holding that the fatwa resulted in defamation of the complainant. Of this, Rs 1,500 will be paid as compensation to the complainant. This is the first time that a court in Haryana has penalised a khap panchayat for issuing diktats in violation of the law. Several social organisations have lauded the judgment. |
|
Micro Spasms-II
Ambala, December 12 Tax anomalies and competition from scientific instrument manufacturers in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand notwithstanding, it is the sheer enterprise of manufacturers here that has helped the industry grow over the past century. Over the years, this industry has carved a niche for itself in the global arena, with scientific instruments manufactured here finding a market in Europe, the USA, Australia and West Asia. Even as the domestic sales here have hit a plateau because of declining growth in the number of engineering and medical colleges, growth in exports have managed to keep the cash registers ringing for these manufacturers. Though most of the 1,100-odd scientific instrument manufacturing units here are very small, employing a handful of labour, the total turnover of this industry is estimated to be around Rs 300 crore. Barring the top five players, who have an annual turnover of around Rs 5 crore, most of the units here have a turnover of less than Rs 1 crore. Says Gian Chand Aggarwal, president of Scientific Apparatus Manufacturing Association, “Export of most other products took a beating last year on account of the global recession. But this micro industry managed to grow in volumes as well as value”. However, he rues that there has been no incentive from the state government. Rather, the government has made things difficult for them because of huge anomalies in tax structure. “In Haryana, VAT is charged at the rate of 12.5 per cent, while all other neighbouring states charge just 4 per cent as VAT. This means that the products manufactured in these states are cheaper, and manufacturers outside Haryana get a price competitiveness. It is for this reason that several manufacturers here are now thinking of shifting large volumes of business to either Roorkee, Meerut, Hyderabad or Mumbai,” says Bal Krishan Thakur, propreitor of Rama Equipment Company. Manufacturers here also complain that with the Haryana government now introducing tax on entire stock at the end of each fiscal, it would become difficult for them to continue their business operations from here. “If the state government continues with such retrograde steps, most of the manufacturers will shift base to either the tax-exempt hill states, or neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, where the tax structure is much less,” says Aggarwal. |
|
Net banking racket unearthed, 5 held
Gurgaon, December 12 The police has got clinching evidence about the involvement of certain foreign nationals, most probably belonging to Nigeria or some other African country. The kingpins of the gang used to hack the net-banking accounts of some bank customers and get their money transferred to certain accounts “bought” by them. The kingpins remained hidden behind several layers and operated through “purchased” accounts so that they could not get caught even if the racket was unearthed. Confirming this to The Tribune here today, the Gurgaon Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Mittal said five persons had been arrested in connection with the racket. “These include a couple belonging to the lower socio-economic strata, a Sikh and two others,” he said, adding that most of those arrested were merely pawns in the cyber crime racket. Mittal said the kingpins of the racket asked their accomplices to “buy” bank accounts opened on the basis of forged documents. These accomplices would then lure some poor persons into opening bank accounts and “sell” these to them. They would “arrange” the documents required for the purpose and help them in getting their accounts opened. The sale of the bank accounts went like this: The account holders would first get cheque-books and ATM cards issued in their name. Then, they would sign all blank cheques and hand these over to the “buyers”, along with the ATM cards and pin numbers. After passing through some other hands, the signed cheque-books and ATM cards would ultimately reach the kingpins of the gang. These kingpins, who had already hacked the net-banking accounts of some bank customers, would transfer the money to these “purchased” accounts. “On getting a clue about the case, we laid a trap and succeeded in arresting five persons,” said Mittal, adding that they had got certain vital clues and would soon nab the chief perpetrators of this racket. |
|
Unions set to corner govt
Gurgaon, December 12 Three associations of state power workers and engineers, including the HSEB Workers Union (headquartered at Bhiwani), the All-Haryana Power Corporations Employees Union (headquartered at Hisar) and the Haryana Power Engineers Association (HPEA), have now joined hands to oppose the said move of the state government. At a meeting held here today, top office-bearers and other representatives of the three aforesaid unions formed a joint action committee to launch a united struggle against the privatisation of power distribution. Talking to The Tribune after the meeting, Daljeet Singh, vice-president of the HPEA, asserted that the main demand of the committee was to withdraw the decision. “Instead of privatising power distribution, the state government should recruit more personnel for power corporations, which have been facing an acute shortage of staff,” he maintained. Daljeet Singh pointed out that the government’s decision was all the more illogical as the Gurgaon and Panipat circles, which were the highest revenue-earning circles of the DHBVN and the UHBVN, respectively, had been chosen for it. While the Gurgaon circle earns a revenue of nearly Rs 130 crore per month, the Panipat circle earns Rs 30 crore per month, he said, adding that both the circles also had the minimum losses. He revealed that a state-level convention of the newly formed joint action committee would be held in Rohtak on December 27 to chalk out the further course of action. |
|
Now, ‘apni mandis’ in all districts
Chandigarh, December 12 A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the State Level Price Monitoring Committee presided over by Chief Secretary, Urvashi Gulati here. It was also decided that the price list of vegetables and fruits would be displayed in the ‘Apni Mandis’. Also, mobile vans would be pressed into service to supply fruit and vegetables to the consumers in the state. Urvashi Gulati directed the concerned officers to make the public distribution system more effective and pulses should also be distributed through this system. During this month, sugar has been allocated through the mills of Haryana. It was stressed that the quota of sugar should be lifted immediately and supplied to the consumers at a fair price. She also directed the concerned senior officers to take effective measures to check inflation. While reviewing the issue of stock declaration by Food and Supplies Department, Gulati said necessary action should be taken regarding the limits fixed for wheat, rice, pulses, edible oil and sugar. Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Food and Supplies Department, LSM Salins assured the Chief Secretary
of the prompt action and added that situation would be reviewed fortnightly. It was informed that during November 2009, as many as 2.85 lakh poor families were supplied
35 kg wheat per family at a rate of Rs 2.10 per kg through 9,303 fair price shops under Antyodaya Anna Yojana. In addition to it, 8.08 lakh families living below the poverty line were
supplied 33 kg wheat per family at a rate of Rs 4.84 per kg. |
|
Better bus services soon
Faridabad, December 12 The first phase would start from tomorrow. However, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, would launch it officially soon. The meeting in which the plan was revealed was attended by the public representatives and the top government officers. It also included the commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF), Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner of Police, Faridabad Police Commissionerate and the local general manager of Haryana Roadways. The city bus service project is being undertaken under the Central government’s Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. The Central government and the state government will share its finances. For the intra and inter-city bus services, a total number of 384 buses will be required. The Haryana government has already sanctioned 150 buses, which are in the category of AC(SLF), non-AC, Volvo and mini-buses. According to Sharan, the entire project would be fully put on ground in about four
months. The project also includes modern bus stands on the routes within the city. PANIPAT: The Haryana Roadways is all set to add 700 new buses to its existing fleet in order to provide better facilities to the traveller. This was disclosed here today by state Transport and Tourism Minister Om Prakash Jain who was in town to launch the new bus service to Shree Mahavir Ji pilgrim in Rajasthan. The minister said the government had already placed an order to fabricate 50 to 70 buses each day with a Gurgaon-based workshop. |
|
HC: Courts can’t equate one qualification with another
Chandigarh, December 12 Division Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Jaswant Singh has also dismissed a petition by Gauttam and other petitioners against the State of Haryana and other respondents after holding: “It can safely be concluded that the courts cannot undertake the exercise of equating the qualification of Diploma of Multipurpose Health Workers (Male) at par with the Tuberculosis Health Visitor Course”.The petitioners had earlier sought directions to treat the two at par on the basis of instructions dated December 29, 2005. Aspiring to be regular incumbent on the post of tuberculosis health visitor, the petitioners had contended that an advertisement dated January 10 was issued inviting applications for 18 posts. It was pointed out that the Haryana State TB Control Society had appointed them on the post of tuberculosis health visitor, despite their qualification of Diploma of Multipurpose Health Workers (Male). As such, the qualification has to be considered equivalent and the impugned order dated October 29, rejecting their applications by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, Panchkula, was liable to be quashed. After hearing both parties, the Bench asserted: “We find that the prescription of qualification is a function, which is exclusively within the domain of the rule making authorities. The courts cannot undertake the task of equating one qualification with another because the courts are not well equipped for undertaking any such exercise.” Quoting the Apex Court judgment, the Bench added: “The court being not an expert and armed with relevant data and un-aided by technical insights necessary for the purpose of determining equivalence, would not undertake such a task unless it emanates from mala fide, extraneous considerations or so irrational or perverse that a reasonable person would not accept the same”.
|
|
Ranjit Murder Case
Ambala, December 12 According to CBI counsel HPS Verma, the prosecution will produce another witness, Joginder Singh, father of deceased Ranjit Singh, during the next hearing. Ranjit Singh, a dera follower, was murdered in his native village, Khanpur Kulian, in Kurukshetra district on July 10, 2002. The defence counsel filed an application in the court today seeking the original documents related to LIC policies of deceased Ranjit Singh. |
|
3 more test positive for swine flu
Ambala, December 12 Two out of three positive cases are children while another is a woman who belongs to a nearby village of Ambala city. One of the children studies in a government-aided senior secondary school at Ambala Cantt while the other belongs to Ambala city and is only one-year-old. Meanwhile, a large number of children complaining fever and cough have been visiting private nursing homes and the Civil Hospital. The sales of masks have also increased in the district. Civil surgeon VK Sharma said most of the suspected swine flu cases belonged to urban areas. He said isolation wards had been set up in the Civil Hospital at Ambala city and Ambala
Cantt. |
|
Freedom fighter cremated
Chandigarh, December 12 Born in 1918, Lala Amar Nath had joined the Quit India Movement at the age of 24 on a call given by Mahatma Gandhi. During the freedom movement, he remained in jails in Ambala, Ferozepur and Multan.
— TNS |
|
Don’t privatise power distribution: CPM
Rohtak, December 12 In a press note issued here today, the party it was strange that the government had taken such a crucial step having far-reaching effects in a unilateral manner. State secretary of the party Inderjit Singh said the trifurcation of the electricity board had also proved counterproductive and almost a failure in the matter of improving the efficiency of the department. The party said transferring the distribution to private hands would virtually amount to “offer super profits to private parties at the cost of consumers”. |
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
