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Appointment of five judges quashed
Ponds get ‘stolen’ in Mewat
Canvassing for civic elections comes to an end |
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State Women’s Commission
chairperson Sushila Sharma (left) and her deputy Chandra Prabha at
Chaudhary Devi Lal University in Sirsa on Tuesday. Photo: Amit Soni
Kanda’s prestige on stake
Demand for Haj house in Gurgaon
Congress’ flip-flop in Faridabad
Villagers booked for attacking police
Ray of hope for 46 villages
Mass marriage programme on May 21
Kurukshetra University VC DDS Sandhu at an exhibition at Dharohar Museum in Kurukshetra on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph
Substation locked over erratic power supply
Police helps resolve gotra row
Mirchpur killings: Dalit body approaches HC
CM assures action in triple murder case
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Appointment of five judges quashed
Chandigarh, May 18 The Bench of Justice Permod Kohli and Justice K Kannan
asserted: “All respondents are salaried, full-time government
employees…. In our considered view, they were ineligible at the time
of their appointment as the Additional District and Sessions
Judges.... “They were in regular government service with the Union or
the states…. All of them were in graded pay scale and subjected to all
rigors of service conditions of a government servant.” Shekhar and
Chalia were Assistant District Attorneys in Haryana, while Aggarwal was
on the same post with Himachal Pradesh. Mittal was in the Punjab
advocate-general’s office, while Malhotra was with the CBI before
elevation. The ruling came on a bunch of 12 petitions by Keshav Kaushik
and others against the state of Haryana and others. The petitioners had
contended a “law officer in whole-time employment of central or state
government ceases to remain a lawyer by the virtue of such appointment
and, thus, ineligible for appointment to the post of judicial
officer. The advertisement for filling up 22 posts was issued on May
18, 2007. Out of the total, 14 were in the general category, five in the
Scheduled Castes and three in the Backward Class category. The written
examination was conducted between February 22, 2008, and August 24,
2008. In its 88-page judgment, the Bench added: “The direction shall,
however, remain in abeyance for a period of two months to enable the
High Court to make alternative arrangement. As a consequence of the
quashing of the selection and appointment, the resultant five vacancies
shall be filled up with the candidates next in the order of merit of the
panel prepared by the selection committee. The Bench also took note of
the fact that the candidate should have practised for at least seven
years. “But the five judicial officers were having less than five
years of practice at Bar before their engagement as assistant district
attorneys or public prosecutors.” Chandigarh: Less than two years the state of Haryana turned down the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s request for de-reserving six vacancies of Additional District and Sessions Judges, a Division Bench today quashed the orders. The state has been asked to reconsider the matter. As a corollary, six posts of Additional District and Sessions Judges will be filled up from among the general category candidates, if the state eventually decides to de-reserve the posts. The Bench asserted: “The matter is remitted back to the government to reconsider the request of the High Court for de-reservation in relaxation of rules by the competent authority empowered under government instructions…. “The process of re-consideration shall be completed within six weeks and the decision be communicated to the High Court. If on such reconsideration, the state decides to de-reserve the vacancies, the candidates recommended by the High Court vide letter dated April 25, 2008, shall be appointed.
TNS |
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Ponds get ‘stolen’ in Mewat
Nuh (Mewat), May 18 An investigation conducted by The Tribune into the matter revealed that a substantial portion of these funds, meant for the betterment of the farmers, were actually siphoned off by corrupt government officials and contractors. Thanks to the rampant corruption in the government machinery, most of the projects have failed to serve the desired purpose or benefit the farmers. Huge funds have been sanctioned for Mewat under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) and through the Mewat Development Authority (MDA) in the recent past. These included schemes of 100 per cent subsidy for digging of ponds and installation of drip irrigation network to promote horticulture. The horticulture scheme had provisions for a subsidy of Rs 10 lakh for a pond of 1 acre, Rs 5 lakh for half an acre and so on. Requesting anonymity, farmers in different villages maintained that the said officials, including a former district horticulture officer, used to sanction the scheme only after getting a 10 per cent cut in the subsidy amount. Not stopping at that, the farmer was told to engage a particular contractor, who, he was told, would get the pond dug at a “reasonable rate”. Some farmers were also promised a due share in the “profit”. The contractor, in turn, would “save” money by compromising on the quality of construction. The water pump and drip-irrigation network were not installed most of the times. And, that’s not all. Signed blank cheques were taken from the farmer in advance so that he could not back out on his “commitment” at a later stage. While most farmers preferred not to be named, some were more forthright. “I and my father gave eight blank cheques for getting the government subsidy for digging two ponds in our fields,” says Mohammed Qasim, son of Haji Abdul Gaffur of Akeda village in the district. He asserts that they also gave 10 per cent of the subsidy amount as bribe to the official concerned. Qasim maintained that nearly Rs 15 lakh were withdrawn from his and his father’s accounts at the Nuh branch of Syndicate Bank through seven blank cheques. According to Qasim, his account number at the bank is 22060934. He says when the officer started taking undue advantage of their trust, he went to Nuh with panchayat members and forcibly took back one of the blank cheques from him. Still, the pond is not serving the desired purpose as the pump-set and drip-irrigation network has not been installed by the contractor. A survey of Mandi Khera, Mewli and other villages of the district by The Tribune team revealed that several ponds dug under the government schemes were lying dry and non-functional, defeating their very purpose. A BPL family of Mohammedwas village in the district maintained that the Horticulture Department officers routinely used to sanction schemes of mushroom cultivation and establishing vermin-compost units after “deducting” 33 to 50 per cent of the total amount. “In return, they do not compel us to actually take up such activities…as far as the unit is concerned, we set up a makeshift unit at one place in a given season and take the money. In the next season, we remove the unit and set up another one at a different location…” maintains a family member wishing not to be named as “if you name us, we will not get the money anymore”.
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Canvassing for civic elections comes to an end Yoginder Gupta Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 18 The municipal elections, otherwise contested on local issues, have assumed importance this time because the main parties, though not contesting on the party symbol, have sponsored their candidates. The INLD was able to finalise its candidates for almost all 737 wards of various municipal committees and councils as well as the lone municipal corporation in Faridabad wellon time. The Congress, on the contrary, witnessed intense infighting over the party’s support to the candidates at various places. The infighting in these elections was no different from what the party usually sees during the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. No wonder that at several places local committees formed by the state leadership to decide the candidates failed to reach a consensus. And these committees decided to leave the issue open.
At certain places like Sirsa, the poll has become a prestige issue for local Congress and INLD leaders. The BJP, which has contested the municipal elections on its symbol in the past, is doing so this time too. However, it is not contesting at all places. Its leaders say that many cities where the party has a stronghold are not going to the polls with the local bodies there having been converted into corporations shortly before the elections. No elections are being held in these places because of the need for fresh delimitation of wards and revision of voter lists. The BSP is contesting in a number of towns on the party symbol, but it did not see many takers for the ticket. So, the fight is mainly between the Congress and the INLD, though by proxy. According to Haryana State Election Commissioner Dharam Vir, about 21 lakh voters will decide the fate of 4,101 candidates in one municipal corporation, 10 municipal councils and 28 municipal committees spread over 19 of the 21 districts. Out of 737 wards, 414 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Castes women, Backward Classes and women in the general category. In all, 259 wards are reserved for women candidates. Already, representatives from 17 wards have been elected unopposed. There are many firsts in these elections. The electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used for the first time in the municipal elections in the state. The entire voter list is available on the internet. In view of the heat wave, the district administration has been asked to ensure that drinking water is available at all 1,955 polling stations. Dharamvir has issued directions to all DCs to form polling parties. He has directed that a district database of eligible poll personnel be maintained in an electronic form, which can facilitate computerised randomisation. Particulars like name, sex, municipality of residence, home municipalities, office and department/institution should be entered.
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Commission meets complainants
Sirsa, May 18 They called a student of the Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) Department, who had lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against assistant professors Sewa Singh Bajwa and Amit Sangwan. The university’s executive council on May 15 had charge-sheeted and suspended both. The council had also charge-sheeted department chairperson Virender Singh Chauhan for delay in forwarding the complaint to the authorities. The commission also summoned a woman assistant professor who had levelled charges of harassment against the chairman of her department. Sushila Sharma and Chandra Prabha sought details of the incidents of harassment from the two complainants. Sources said the commission office-bearers listened to the grievances of the complainants sympathetically and assured them that they would get justice. Chairperson Virender Singh Chauhan also met the commission as did some students and faculty members. Commissioner Balbir Singh Malik, who is also VC of the university arrived in the afternoon. “We have met the victims, listened to their them and made our observations. “We have also received copies of inquiry reports by the university’s women committee and the protection officer under the Domestic Violence Act,” said Sushila Sharma. She said she could not say at the moment as to what steps the panel would initiate, but assured that the victims would get justice and the guilty taken to task.
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Kanda’s prestige on stake
Sirsa, May 18 Kanda, who has the support of District Congress president Hoshiyari Lal Sharma and block Congress president Bhupesh Mehta, remained camped in the town for most part of the campaigning. He visited several wards today and soght votes for his candidate. The minister’s camp has fielded its candidates in all 31 wards. These candidates are contesting on a common symbol, which is “car”. “We are getting a good response from the local people as people want a dispensation that can ensure development of the town,” said Gopal Kanda. However, Kanda’s candidates face a stiff challenge from candidates supported by the INLD contesting under the symbol of “umbrella” and those fielded by LD Arora’s son-in-law Rahul Setia under the symbol of “aeroplane”. INLD legislator from Ellenabad Abhey Singh Chautala has made this election a matter of prestige. “Our candidate will win in all
wards,” he claimed. Setia, whose father-in-law and former minister LD Arora has remained the uncrowned king of Sirsa for the past three decades, too has left no stone unturned to ensure the victory of his candidates. He has the backing of a large faction within the Congress. |
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Demand for Haj house in Gurgaon
Chandigarh, May 18 The committee chairman, MLA Aftab Ahmed, said the committee had decided to spare them the uncertainity of participating in a draw of lots for the fourth year running. “Of our quota of 1,250 pilgrims, we have decided to fill one-third of our seats with applicants who have not been able to go to the pilgrimage in the past three years. For the other applicants, we will hold a draw on May 27 at Nuh in Mewat,” he said. The committee has received 4,400 applications for the pilgrimage, making a draw mandatory to avoid allegations of favouritism. For the first time, a woman member, Mohammadi, a social worker from Mewat, has been nominated by the government to the 14-member committee. At the meeting attended by Deputy Speaker Akram Khan, members also pointed out the difficulties faced by the pilgrims such as housing and ticketing. Most of those going for the Haj are senior citizens. The members demanded a Haj house in Gurgaon. “The members pointed out that once the pilgrims leave home for the trip and reach Delhi, they have no place to go if their flight is rescheduled. “Gurgaon was the obvious choice for a Haj house because of its proximity to Delhi and because of the fact that a majority of the Muslim population is concentrated in Mewat,” Ahmed said. Members also complained that they had to run from pillar to post for the mandatory immunisation. “The members suggested that the immunisation exercise be carried out collectively at one place for all pilgrims. “Another suggestion was that special buses be plied in districts to take Haj pilgrims to the airport,” the chairman said. |
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Congress’ flip-flop in Faridabad
Faridabad, May 18 The principal Opposition party, the INLD, is canvassing on the plank of “failure” of the government on all fronts. Organising secretary of the Haryana Congress and former president of the district unit Gulsan Bagga claimed that it was the image of the Chief Minister coupled with the development works done by his government which will enable the Congress to win the civic polls. With regard to Faridabad, he said Faridabad was way behind other cities in terms of development on account of its “deliberate” neglect by non-Congress governments. With regard to complaints of short supply of water and electricity, he said these problems were not new but the Congress government was taking effective steps to deal with these. The BJP’s district Faridabad president, Gopal Sharma, and the district head of the INLD, Anita Goswami, ridiculed the claims of the the Congress. They said the civic amenities were poor and the officialdom had no fear of the authorities. The Opposition also criticised the Congress government for “betraying” the voters by re-imposing the house tax it had abolished during its previopus tenure. |
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Villagers booked for attacking police
Fatehabad, May 18 “A case under Sections 148, 149 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant), 353 (assault and criminal force to deter public servant) and 186 (obstructing public servant from performing duty) of the IPC and Section 3-B of the Damage to Public Property Act has been registered in the Bhuna police station against eight identified and 200-250 unidentified villagers,” said the police today. The villagers who have been identified to have attacked the police party are Balvinder Singh, Dalbir Singh, Siya Ram, Narender Singh, Kaka, Prithvi Singh, Chhaved and Pardeep Kaur. Besides, the police has also booked the six buffalo thieves, five of whom hail from Uttar Pradesh. The police identified the thieves as Kayub Khan, Dilshad Khan, Umardin, Bhakshi Mohammad, Salman Khan from Kirana in UP and Varinder, alias Binder, of Karamgarh in Jind district. The villagers had nabbed and beaten up the six thieves when they were informed that the accused were trying to load buffaloes tied near a village pond in their canter. The villagers alleged that the accused even tried to run over them under their vehicle when they approached near the pond. The villagers had also attacked the police party that reached within minutes of the incident. They had alleged connivance between the police and the thieves and asked how else the police party could reach the village so early without any intimation from the villagers. |
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Ray of hope for 46 villages
Yamunanagar, May 18 The administration’s decision came today after an official survey revealed that these villages did not have even basic facilities like drinking water, electricity, streets, schools, anganwaris and toilets. These villages fall in three subdivisions - 14 in Chhachhrauli subdivision, 24 in Bilaspur and seven in Sadhaura. These villages, comprising small farmers, BPL and Scheduled Castes families, are situated far from the district headquarters. Residents of these villages have to cover a distance of several kilometers to fetch water from the river as it lacks tubewell and hand pump facilities. Besides, the literacy rate of these villages was very low due to the absence of proper education facilities. The link roads are not concrete and are in pitiable conditions. The reason for the neglect of these villages on the development front as cited by the officials was that these villages have less population therefore many schemes could not be implemented in these villages. The officials require stipulated population as per the scheme to install tubewells, hand pumps, transformers and to start anganwaris and schools in villages. As these villages have less population, these are deprived of many facilities that are provided to village having larger population. DC Ashok Sangwan said all officials had been directed to complete the development work of these 46 villages on priority basis. “In the district annual budget of the district development plan for 2010-2011, we have decided to provide these much neglected villages proper drinking water and schools. |
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Mass marriage programme on May 21
Chandigarh, May 18 What makes the effort special is that an NGO as is usually the case, is not behind this social cause. Instead, this time, there’s a politician behind the entire exercise. Keeping her commitment to organising one big public welfare function every year in the memory of her husband, Surender Singh, Tosham MLA and former minister of state for tourism Kiran Choudhry decided that it had to be mass marriages this time. “It was a year-long exercise in which all my workers chipped in. We have a registration of as many as 400 couples and they come from all castes and cultures. My workers first identified families who needed assistance to organise marriage ceremonies, took affidavits from the parents to ensure that the families were willing and finalised the list,” she said. Besides organising the ceremony, she said they would provide the newly-weds with gifts, including trinkets, bed and bedding, a sewing machine and bicycles, after the ceremony. “We are fully prepared for the big day. While havan kunds are being set up at the parade ground, the venue for the programme, we have called a maulvi for the nikah of a few Muslim couples, who are a part of the list,” she said. On her husband’s first death anniversary, Choudhry organised a massive blood donation camp, collecting 22,000 units of blood. She followed this up with a three-day health camp and an eye donation campaign in the third year. In the forth year, a statue of Surender Singh was unveiled in Bhiwani. “We decided to organise the mass marriage programme in the memory of Surender Singh on Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary because he was a champion of women empowerment,” she said.
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Exhibition marks International Museum Day
Kurukshetra, May 18 The museum, depicting the epic war of Mahabharata, Krishna and Kurukshetra (land of Kauravs) took up the theme of social harmony as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) dedicated Year 2010 to the theme called “Museums for Social Harmony”. Keeping in view of the prescribed theme, the museum invited schoolchildren to participate in a unique poster-making competition on the theme of Museums for Social Harmony. The children were explained that social harmony could be achieved through dialogue, tolerance, co-existence, development based on pluralism, difference, competition and creativity and asked to make posters on these multiple themes. India’s “unity in diversity” was in full display as the children understood the theme and made posters depicting sociocultural, religious and geographical diversity, ethnicity and different creeds, constituting one Indian nation. The curator of the museum, deputy director, Rajesh Purohit said diversified India represent a kaleidoscopic vision manifested in its art, culture, ritual, festivals, dress, customs, cuisines, singing, dancing, architecture, sculpture, painting so on and so forth. The rainbow of Indian culture represents almost a miniature world and as such museum has a greater responsibility to educate and enlighten visitors by promoting social harmony through exhibition, dialogues, lectures etc, especially in the present scenario riddled with terrorism, fundamentalism, caste and class conflicts, intolerance and ethnic clashes, he added. A special documentary entitled “Odyssey” on the theme of Razmnama, Persian adaptation of epic Mahabharata was also screened on the occasion. In the documentary, directed by Rajesh Purohit, a researcher explores the land of Mahabharata (Kurukshetra) where a medieval Sanskrit-Persian scholar, Hazi Sultan who was responsible for editing and translating Mahabharata into Persian, lived. Mughal emperor Akbar had entrusted the job to Naquib Khan who took the help of Hazi Sultan in producing the Persian text “Razmnama” which was a unique example of social harmony. |
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Substation locked over erratic power supply
Jind, May 18 The station remained locked for over five hours before the protest was lifted after the intervention of the officials concerned who assured that action would be taken on their demands. About 200 persons assembled outside the substation at 10 am and went on to lock the substation in protest of the non-redressal of their grievances over the poor power supply and wrong bills sent by the department. The villagers alleged that while majority of the consumers in the village had been given highly inflated bills by the department, the latter had failed to provide adequate power to the village. The issue of wrong bills had been taken up with the officials recently and despite complaints being lodged by them the department had been giving inflated bills, claimed a protester. He said while the total duration of supply in a day was not more than five hours, the department had been trying to overcharge them in an illegal manner. |
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Police helps resolve gotra row
Rohtak, May 18 Kulwant, a Dalit from Saiman, tied the knot with Sushila of Dadhola village in Panipat last Sunday, brushing aside objections by some
members of the marriage party to the gotra of the girl’s mother being the same as that of the majority of families in
Saiman. The groom returned to the village along with his wife yesterday, but the matter was again raised by some villagers who attended the marriage ceremony. A panchayat of the community was held which described the marriage as “unacceptable” and served an ultimatum on the groom’s family to either annul the marriage or leave the village
within 10 days. However, a meeting attended by the SHO of Meham, the village sarpanch and members of the community this
morning was able to resolve the matter. |
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Mirchpur killings: Dalit body approaches HC
Chandigarh, May 18 The petitioner also asked constitution of a special investigation team, the arrest of the accused, and social security for the victims. In the petition against the deputy commissioner and other respondents, it was added the accused should also be booked under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act. The petitioner claimed several houses were set afire. Besides this, a physically challenged girl and her father were burnt alive. Taking up the matter, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh fixed August 3 as the next date of hearing.
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CM assures action in triple murder case
Jind, May 18 He assured them of an immediate action in order to arrest the culprits involved in the heinous crime. The police is yet to arrest any the accused. The murderers had killed three women, including two girls while the victims were sleeping. The CM not only pulled up the officials but assured the victims family and the residents of the village that none of the culprit would be spared. The CM’s visit assumes importance in wake of criticism gaining momentum and more people joining the list who had condemned the incident and had sought an intervention of the CM on the matter.
— TNS |
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Commission meets complainants
