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Case Against Badals
Kewal Dhillon is Cong whip
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Ludhiana City Centre Case SC notice to state, improvement trust New Delhi, April 5 The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Punjab Government and the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) on a petition challenging the August 10, 2009, verdict of the Punjab and Haryana governments.
Students demand grace marks from board
Rise in wheat husk price, labour shortage delay arrival
Wheat procurement yet to pick up
180 gm heroin seized from Lahore-Delhi bus
Farmers divided over citrus council’s role
Sahni firm on decision to quit
CCTV cameras to be installed in Golden Temple complex
Patiala ayurvedic college may be derecognised
Dismissed teachers seek justice
PSEB staffers to govt: Release pending subsidy
Punjab ready for talks with unions
Class X computer exam out of syllabus
Vigilance team raids MC office
HC Diary
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Case Against Badals Naveen S Garewal Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 5 The main complainant in this case, Balwant Singh, who holds a general power of attorney of Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, former media adviser to Captain Amarinder Singh, has already gone back on his complaint. Besides the father-son duo, the other accused in the case are Badal’s wife Surinder Kaur Badal; Narotam Singh Dhillon; Harbans Lal; Nirabjit Singh; Pavitar Pal Singh; Darshan Singh; Sukhminder Singh and Jagnandan Singh. Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and four other Congress MLAs had sought the transfer of the case then pending in the court of the Special Judge, Ropar, to any other suitable court. But their plea was dismissed by the Supreme Court vide its judgment and order dated May 14, 2009. The apex court had also taken a note of the statement of 59 witnesses of which 35 were declared hostile by the public prosecutor and held that it was for the presiding officer/Special Judge to evaluate those witnesses and arrive at a conclusion one way or the other. The court had said, “We are satisfied that the presiding officer of the special court is conscious of his power and how to conduct a fair trial at the same place. We are also of the opinion that the public prosecutor cannot act on the dictates of the state government. He has to act objectively as he is also an officer of the court. The special court is free to assess whether the prosecution has established its case”. The FIR against the Badals was registered on the instance of the former Congress Chief Minister, after which the Congress had alleged that the Badaals had made properties to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore, which was disproportionate to their known source of income. The Supreme Court has in the case filed by Capt Amarinder Singh and others said, “We are of the opinion that in a secular, democratic government governed by the rule of law, Punjab is responsible for ensuring free, fair and impartial trial to the accused, notwithstanding the nature of the accusations made against them. In the case on hand, the apprehension entertained by the petitioners cannot be constructed as reasonable one and the case cannot be transferred on a mere allegation that there is apprehension that justice will not be done”.
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Kewal Dhillon is Cong whip
Chandigarh, April 5 It said, moreover, the legislator had raised key concerns in the Vidhan Sabha on the issue of agriculture, industry, finance and public distribution system. It also cited the development work undertaken by Dhillon in his constituency as well as effort taken in ensuring district status for Barnala.
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Ludhiana City Centre Case
New Delhi, April 5 The HC had declared as void the May 24, 2005, agreement entered by the LIT Chairman with a contractor in defiance of
the state government directions. A Bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph gave six weeks’ time to Punjab and LIT to file their response to the petition filed by Today Homes and Infrastructure Private Limited, which had won the contract for the development of Ludhiana City Centre when Capt Amarinder Singh was the Chief Minister. Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel Harish Salve sought a stay of the judgment as it had a direct impact on the
criminal cases filed against his clients. Also, the company had already spent about Rs 125 crore
on the project, estimated at Rs 371 crore. The court issued notice also on another plea for the return of Rs 16 crore invested by a company in Today Homes and Infrastructure Private Limited. Mapple Tree Private Limited had sought to take away its investment of Rs 16 in Today Homes. Mapple Tree wants to withdraw its investment, contending that it stands to lose its investment, as the project, proposed far back in 1999, was yet to take off due to protracted litigation. On August 10, the HC had also ruled that signing of the contract by the Chairman without prior approval of the Trust “is void.” The HC was disposing of the case, which had been remitted back to it by the apex court. On October 14, 2008, the SC had set aside the appointment of an arbitrator by the HC Chief Justice to resolve the dispute between LIT and Today Homes.
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Students demand grace marks from board
Ludhiana, April 5 They have demanded grace marks from the board for errors in the question papers of exams of Physics and Accountancy of Class XII; English, Hindi and home science of Class X; and computer science of Class VIII. Rajinder Sharma, president, Association of the PSEB Affiliated Schools, said, “The students have lost marks on account of printing and technical mistakes in the question papers. Moreover, there were a number of out-of- syllabus questions also in these papers.” “The board must compensate the loss by giving grace marks as it is the question of academic future of thousands of students,” remarked Sharma. Kamal Sharma, a computer science teacher of a local PSEB-affiliated school added, “Many students might fail to clear their exams due to the loss of vital marks because of the problematic questions. They should be aptly compensated.” Shashi, another teacher, added such questions created panic among students during the exams and resulted in a loss of crucial exam time. Sharma stated that the association had held a meeting in Ludhiana to discuss the issue. “After deliberations among the representatives of various districts from across the state, we have decided to press the board for grace marks to students in the papers that had discrepancies.” Meanwhile, PSEB vice-chairman Dr Suresh Tandon confirmed that they had received numerous complaints regarding the issue. “But we cannot take a decision simply following complaints from the students,” he remarked. Dr Tandon, however, said, “As per the general policy of the board, a committee of subject experts would be constituted to decide whether grace marks should be given or not.”
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Rise in wheat husk price, labour shortage delay arrival
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 5 While mechanised harvesting through combines does not yield wheat husk, manual harvesting requires more labour and is time consuming. “The motive is to earn maximum and little extra efforts do no harm. When harvested with combine, the crop has to be put in harvester to get wheat husk. So, most of the farmers are doing it manually,” pointed out Mokham, a resident of Maanupur village near Fatehgarh Sahib. “This is one of the reasons of delay in the arrival of wheat in grain markets,” said arhtiyas (commission agents). Since wheat husk is mainly used as a feed for farm animals in Punjab, its demand is more in the areas where villagers are into dairy farming. The entire farming community in Mirpur village in Sirhind block has opted for manual farming this season as the village has a maximum number of cattle. “We had purchased the husk between Rs 250 and 300 per quintal last year. However, this time it would cross Rs 500 or 600 per quintal,” said Amrik Singh of Mirpur village. He said buyers purchase wheat husk directly from the fields and sell it in market.
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Wheat procurement yet to pick up
Chandigarh, April 5 Interestingly, out of 20 districts in Punjab, procurement has only started in Patiala district, while statistics show that there has been “zero” procurement in other 19 districts. Officially, the procurement started on April 1. Traditionally, it is the border areas of Ferozepur, Amritsar and Gurdaspur that record the first arrival of wheat in mandis. On Sunday, the fourth official day of procurement, out of 1,040 tonnes of wheat procured, 993 tonnes was picked up by the central agencies, mainly the Food Corporation of India (FCI), and the remaining 55 tonnes by private traders. While the FCI has paid as per the MSP of Rs 1,100 per quintal, private traders were willing to pay more and even bought up to Rs 1,131 per quintal. Sources said during the current rabi season, so far, only 1,733 tonnes of wheat had been procured. Out of this, 1,570 tonnes has been procured by the FCI and the remaining by private traders. In comparison, last year 5,034 tonnes of wheat had been procured in the first four days, out of which 4,557 tonnes were bought by the central agencies and remaining 477 tonnes by private traders. According to figures available from across Punjab, state’s procurement agencies like Markfed, Punsup, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Punjab Agro Industries Corporation are yet to start procurement for the state government, but they have purchased some wheat for the central pool. For the central pool, Markfed has purchased 320 tonnes, Punsup 545 tonnes, PSWC 130 tonnes and PAIC 100 tonnes only. Officials said so far, all mandis put together had recorded a total arrival of 3,086 tonnes of wheat, out of which 1,733 tonnes had been lifted till yesterday. Farm scientists believe that a delayed winter has hampered the maturing of wheat crop. The arrival of wheat is expected to pick up around Baisakhi. The government is going slow on procurement as the state has a shortage of space for storing the same. At the same time, procurement agencies are also facing a shortage of gunny bags to be used for transportation of the same.
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180 gm heroin seized from Lahore-Delhi bus
Amritsar, April 5 Talking to TNS, Additional Commissioner (Customs) Sayed Mahmood Akhtar said no arrest had been made so far. “The driver, conductor and passengers were quizzed, but all of them claimed ignorance, hence no arrest was made. An elderly passenger was sitting at the said seat,” said Akhtar. The New Delhi-bound bus, according to DC (Customs) VK Mahajan, had entered the Indian territory between 7.30 am and 9 am and was stopped for a routine checking. However, during checking, an abnormal-looking cavity hit the eyes of customs officials, who detected a small polythene packet containing the contraband. This was for the first time that a bid was made to smuggle the contraband in such a “cleverly” carved out cavity, said Mahajan. Sources said the consignment could have been placed by some unscrupulous element during a halt of bus between Lahore and Attari. The bus service is run by the Governments of Pakistan and India for six days a week, except for Sundays, on alternate days.
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Farmers divided over citrus council’s role
Chandigarh, April 5 A large number of farmers, who have entered into lease agreements with the citrus council, gathered here today and claimed that the council was neither paying lease money in time nor looking after their plantations. The farmers, who have formed a welfare association, also demanded that the government should immediately step in and appoint a receiver to look after the affairs of the Council and also recover public money squandered by officials in foreign junkets. The state government has already ordered an inquiry into the working of the Council. Bhupinderpal Singh Dhillon, who represented the farmers who want action against the Council, claimed that farmers were due to be paid lease instalment in November, 2009, but were still awaiting the same. He said the next lease instalment would become due in May. The farmers, including Sandeep Godara of Abohar, claimed that the orchards were not being monitored. They also claimed that most of the varieties released by the council had flopped and that there was no hope that growers would get the promised yield. Col HS Sarao said in such a situation farmers should be compensated for the losses sustained by them. Meanwhile, four office-bearers of the Association of Landowners of Citrus Orchards of Punjab held a press conference in the evening to “applaud” programmes initiated by the Council. The body claimed that the citrus varieties provided by the Council were adaptable and had borne good results. It admitted that it had only 27 of the 250-odd citrus farmers as its members. Its vice-president, Dr Reet Mohinder Singh, claimed that it was up to the farmers to look after their fields and that the citrus council had allowed farmers to hire labour for field work and was compensating them for the same. This statement created uproar at the press club, where farmers who had attended the morning meeting against the Council, had come on their own. Bhup Singh, who lives in Delhi, said it was the the Council’s duty to take care of land leased out by it.
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Sahni firm on decision to quit
Chandigarh, April 5 The resignation letter of Sahni, which is in possession of TNS and is addressed to party president Nitin Gadkari, reads: “Most respectfully, I beg to say that due to my health condition it is very difficult to work as Chief Parliamentary Secretary and I request in your favour (sic) to please allow me to quit this post. I would be very thankful”. The state BJP president, when questioned on the issue, said Sahni had come to meet him at Pathankot today and that he had given him a patient hearing. The BJP president said he expected Sahni to come around. When asked about the reason behind the resignation, he said Sahni had told him that it was purely on health grounds. However, this explanation does not cut ice with anyone. Sahni, when contacted, said as far as he was concerned there was no ambiguity in the resignation letter. “I have asked to be relieved and that amounts to a resignation”, he said adding that he would not take it back. He, however, insisted it was on health grounds. The BJP sources, however, claimed that Sahni’s brazen attitude towards party colleagues, some of whom he has even pulled up in the Vidhan Sabha, has earned him enemies. They claimed the party was keen to give the impression that it was not under any pressure and that the casual manner in which the resignation was being treated was a point in itself. A section of the party has also put forward the view that the resignation exercise is a pressure tactic only and that the party should scrutinise Sahni’s track record in the last parliamentary election. The party’s Gurdaspur candidate lost heavily from Sahni’s assembly segment. Sahni, however, says he tries to correct colleagues only if he feels there is scope for the same. “I am a public figure and have to reflect the grievances of the people”, he said adding that he had recently called for putting Batala under the urban development scheme as it fit all the criteria but had been left out. “What is wrong in this?” he asked adding that his only failure was that he refused to act like an opportunist despite being one of the senior most leaders in the state unit.
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CCTV cameras to be installed in Golden Temple complex
Amritsar, April 5 Meanwhile, the devotees’ visit to the complex has become a convenient affair after the installation of 10 large LCD screens at vantage points in the “parikarma” and within “serais” in the complex. With the help of these screens, the devotees awaiting their turn to have “darshan” can have full inside view of the sanctum sanctorum. In other words, they could see a live telecast of “kirtan” and other activities going on inside the sanctum sanctorum while standing or sitting in different parts of the “parikarma” or from the inns. Besides, some of these screens were also doubling as interactive touch-screen panels. With just one click on these panels, the visitors can not only apprise themselves of wide-ranging information pertaining to the Golden Temple, the SGPC and the SGPC-controlled historic gurdwaras, but they can also book train tickets and keep themselves abreast with train and bus timings. These interactive panels have been installed in the inns of the complex. Though there was no apparent threat to the complex, thronged by more than 1.5 lakh devotees daily from across the globe, the SGPC’s decision to install CCTV cameras has been taken as a precautionary measure. Moreover, the CCTV surveillance could be used to effectively monitor the flow of devotees. These cameras would be useful on weekends or on holidays when the number of devotees visiting the complex crosses the two-lakh mark a day.“We have already made a provision for purchase and installation of these cameras and related equipment. The process has started after the project got a nod in the recent budget meeting of the SGPC,” said SGPC chief Avtar Singh. The SGPC, according to its secretary Dalmegh Singh, has already formed a four-member committee of computer experts to oversee the purchase and installation of the surveillance equipment, including the CCTV cameras. “We are going to install about 80 CCTV cameras within six months,” said Dalmegh Singh. While the LCD panels have been installed near the “darshani deodhi”, “joda ghar” and “dukhbhanjani beri” apart from inns, the CCTV cameras would be installed at all important points such as the clock tower-side entry, “langar hall” and in front of the “darshani deodhi”. Apparently, going tech-savvy, the SGPC has already launched its ambitious “online donation” programme under an arrangement with a leading private bank. Now, the devotees from across the world can donate money for the shrine sitting at their homes.
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Patiala ayurvedic college may be derecognised
Patiala, April 5 Notably, the Patiala ayurvedic college is the only government ayurvedic college in the state. It has been almost three years since the college is trying to save itself from being getting de-recognised by assuring the CCIM that all requisite norms would be complied with. As per the guidelines, the college is supposed to recruit 35 teachers - 20 professors and readers, and 15 lecturers. But presently there are only 11 teachers in the college. Though there are 13 other teachers but since six of them are on contract basis and seven do not possess the mandatory MD qualification for the subject being taught by them, they do not fulfill the CCIM norms. Inquiry reveals that in wake of lucrative pay packages being offered by privately managed ayurvedic colleges, the teachers are not interested in joining this college. The college authorities had advertised the posts for teaching staff many times, but got extremely poor response. “The college offers package of Rs 20,000, Rs 22,000 and Rs 25,000 per month to lecturer, reader and professor, respectively, but private colleges give far better salaries. Also, the college has a poor track record of paying the salaries to its teaching staff on time,” said sources in the college. Now, with the CCIM team visiting the college for the inspection next week, the college may lose its recognition on account of not fulfilling the conditions of the CCIM.
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Dismissed teachers seek justice
Ropar, April 5 At the time of inviting applications, state Education Department had sought experience certificates duly attested by respective district education officers (DEOs) verifying the antecedents of applicants. Based on these documents, as well as the qualification of candidates, the department appointed these teachers in October. “After the appointments, DPI (schools) formed cluster teams that ‘physically’ checked the experience certificates of teachers by visiting the schools whose certificates were attached. In a way, the government overruled the verification of its own DEOs and instead appointed lower rank officials to investigate the matter,” said a candidate from Ropar who was posted at Nawanshahr. A candidate from Bathinda said many teachers who were selected had claimed to be working with private schools for the past 15 years. When verified, some of these schools were found to have been shut down and others did not have such old records such as attendance registers to substantiate particulars mentioned in experience certificates. Thereafter, by September 2009, the department issued a gazette notification in newspapers disqualifying and terminating 563 of these candidates. However, later this number dropped down to 414 and revoked termination orders of the rest of candidates. Sources in the department say the department mentioned “clerical mistake” as the prime reason and later these teachers were adjusted after being de-merited i.e. department reduced their marks of experience that lowered the merit. Now, the remaining 414 candidates, who are otherwise merit holders, too, have been demanding that same de-merit formula be applied on them. Most of these teachers are currently out of job for past more than six months and their removal has also cost dear to the future of students whom they were teaching. Meanwhile, secretary of Education Department, who is also acting DPI (secondary), Mandeep S Sandhu said a committee had been formed to look into the proofs provided by the candidates concerned. “The committee has submitted its interim report. Due to the Vidhan Sabha session, the final report got delayed. We will not let the innocent suffer,” he asserted.
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PSEB staffers to govt: Release pending subsidy
Patiala, April 5 In a statement issued here today, council president Swaran Lal said the state was imposing financial bankruptcy upon the board by not releasing the pending subsidy payment. “It is really unfortunate that in complete defiance of the directions of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), the state government has yet not cleared the ending subsidy payment,” alleged council leaders. They expressed resentment over the board management’s attitude of not conceding to their pending demands. “The issue of the grade pay to junior engineers’ is still pending with the Wage Formulation Committee (WFC) for the past three months. Besides, even after a lapse of an year, the undue delay in issuance of the appointment letters to the newly selected JEs, assistant engineers and sub-station attendants is uncalled for,” stated council general secretary Davinder Singh. While calling for the immediate intervention of board chairman HS Brar, they threatened that in case their issues were not redressed immediately, they would be compelled to adopt the path of agitation.
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Punjab ready for talks with unions
Patiala, April 5 Though he did not specify the issues that would be taken up during the talks, he has assured that all genuine matters of the associations concerned will be looked into. —
TNS
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Class X computer exam out of syllabus
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 5 Ravinder Joshi, principal of Ashoka Senior Secondary School, Sirhind, said the students got panicked after going through the paper and they raised hue and cry over it. “It was the last examination of Class X and contrary to the syllabus, the paper had questions on Computer Applications instead of Computer Science,” he said. Many students got afraid and some even fainted with others leaving their answer sheets blank. The school authorities admitted that first aid was given to some students and parents of some girls were also called in for help. The teachers said 40 per cent of the questions were out of syllabus and most of them were from the syllabus of Class VIII. However, the students even failed to answers of Class VIII, as computer as a subject has been recently introduced in their syllabus and they could only answer those questions that they had prepared. Karanveer, a student, said while many students managed to leave the centre after answering a few questions, most of them failed to comprehend and got confused to even answer the rest of the questions that were not out of syllabus. The teachers deputed at various centres asked panicked students to relax in waiting rooms. The subject was made compulsory this year by the Punjab School Education Board in Class X.
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Vigilance team raids MC office Sangrur, April 5 “A team of five members led by senior vigilance officer Ajay Kanwar probed the president and councillors. Afterwards, they documented the statements of employees,” said an employee of the council. It is believed that vigilance team raided the council following a complaint made by some councillors to Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia that the president was misusing his authority According to sources, in a letter to Kalia, 13 councillors had alleged that the president had violated his powers under Section 35 of the Municipal Act by taking back the work of sewerage maintenance and disposal from the Sewerage Board and giving it to his favourites. They had also alleged that president used his official car for party activities during the Haryana elections. Besides, there were other serious allegations made against him of allowing his relatives encroach upon the land belonging to the government.
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HC Diary Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 5 Justice Saron made it clear the order would remain in force for four months. The petitioner could approach the court again if the situation so warranted. Bikram had moved the court for blanket anticipatory bail or 14 days prior notice in any case likely to be registered by any wing of the Punjab Police. He had also asserted that he had left the country after his father was arrested on June 10, 2007, and has been out of the country for almost two years now, but wanted to return for a job. Ex-CAT commando Pinky denied bail
Former CAT commando Gurmeet Singh Pinky’s attempts to get out on bail in a murder case on health grounds have failed to find favour with the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Arvind Kumar dismissed the plea after going through the medical reports; and after holding that the main appeal was fixed for hearing on May 19. The medical examination had earlier revealed he was not suffering from any serious ailment; but was obese and suffered knee ache because of it. He also suffers from hypertension. It was earlier contended on Pinky’s behalf that he was suffering from orthopaedic ailment. On the other hand, the state and the complainant’s counsel had told Justice Gill’s Bench that Pinky was in the habit of furnishing bail pleas. Complainant’s counsel Rajvinder Singh Bains asserted Pinky was out on parole for eight months, but did not get himself examined medically. Pinky was sentenced to life in October 2006 for shooting Avtar Singh on January 7, 2001. He is currently lodged at Patiala central jail. Pinky’s previous attempts to “hoodwink” the court to “remain out of jail for a long time” had earned him the wrath of the court. Taking exception, another Bench of the high court had asserted that: “Pinky failed to get bail from this court, but secured parole and then came back to seek extension of the parole on the very ground on which he had sought suspension of sentence.”
Just over a month after the High Court put Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon on notice on a public interest litigation challenging state government’s order against sanction to prosecute him, he has sought time to file a reply. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the case of alleged “high scale corruption in recruitment of 909 panchayat secretaries during his tenure as minister”, too has sought time. Accepting the requests, Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh fixed August 2 as the next date of hearing. In his petition, advocate Joginder Sharma asserted sanction from Punjab government was not required at all for prosecution of Kahlon in the case, in accordance with the law laid down by the Supreme Court in cases, such as Parkash Singh Badal and another versus State of Punjab and others. He added the order passed by the government was “wholly wrong, illegal, without jurisdiction, null and void, arbitrary, unjustified, biased and malafide and not having been passed by the competent authority….”
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Chandigarh, April 5
