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High Court judges declare assets
Chinese woman arrested in Mcleodganj
Anti-Terrorism Day observed
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CIC raps water ministry on dam oustee’s plea
Youth murdered
Relief to Nalagarh industry,
power cuts only once a week
Sangla festival begins
Contractor booked
Tanda College
Pillion rider killed in mishap
Coalition anti-democratic: Justice Mallimath
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High Court judges declare assets
Shimla, May 21 So far, only judges of the high courts of Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Punjab and Haryana have declared their assets, besides the Supreme Court. Details of assets, bank deposits and financial investments, vehicles and valuables of all judges and their family members have been put on the website of the high court. The initiative was taken by Chief Justice Kurian Joseph, who took over only January this year. In fact, the first thing he had inquired after landing in Shimla after being appointed the Chief Justice was whether or not the judges had declared their assets. He had come from the Kerala High Court, first in the country to make public the details of assets of judges last September. Justice Kurian said that making assets of judges’ public was essential to ensure transparency and accountability. It would be and annual exercise and the details of assets would be updated every financial year. The monetary value of properties has not been posted on the website and only details of liquidity in bank accounts, properties, jewellery in gold and diamond along with weight, shares in companies and other valuables has been provided. With this, Justice Kurian has within a short period of five months implemented the agenda he had set for himself at the time of taking oath. He has already set up a Green Bench to deal with environment-related cases, taken several measures to speed up disposal of cases to bring down pendency, provided free access to media to facilitate wide publicity to its verdicts and encourage constructive criticism. Incidentally, Justice Kurian also inaugurated a media centre in the high court complex for the convenience of scribes. |
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Chinese woman arrested in Mcleodganj
Dharamsala, May 21 Kangra Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi said that besides the Chinese woman, a Polish woman, who seemed mentally-challenged, was also detained. Though the papers of the Polish national were found to be in order, the Chinese woman did not have a visa or passport. She was detained for questioning. The police was now trying to extract information from the Chinese national but were facing a language barrier as she understands only Chinese. The police officials have hired a translator to converse with the accused. She is learnt to have told the interpreter that her name was Chi Shai Hung and she was a Buddhist and had come to Mcleodganj to be a disciple. She is believed to have crossed into India from the Nepal border and reached Mcleodganj a few days back. Hung is likely to be booked under the Foreigner Act. In December 2008, the police had arrested suspected Chinese spy Li Suan from a hotel in Mcleodganj. He was booked under the Foreigners Act and interrogated by various security agencies. |
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Anti-Terrorism Day observed
Hamirpur, May 21 A function was organised at the DC office here where assistant commissioner to DC Madhu Chaudhary administered an oath to all employees against terrorism. Speaking on the occasion, she urged them to work for the unity and integrity of the country and fight unitedly against terrorism. The Congress and its frontal organisations also held several programmes in the district to observe the death anniversary of their leader. While a blood donation camp was organised at Hamirpur by the Youth Congress, several other programmes were also held at many places. —
TNS |
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CIC raps water ministry on dam oustee’s plea
Dharamsala, May 21 Awasthi, general secretary of the Pong Dam Visthapit Sangarsh Committee, told The Tribune that he had been seeking information under the RTI Act from the Ministry of Water Resources regarding action taken on the Supreme Court’s 1996 order — the apex court had ordered the Ministry to get 1,100 hectare land in Ganganagar district transferred in the name of Pong Dam oustees. However, till date the land has not been allotted to the oustees. “To evade the query, Ministry officials used to transfer my application to either the Rajasthan Government or the Relief and Rehabilitation Department of the Himachal Government. After wasting over a year for a reply from the Ministry, I moved the Central Information Commission,” said Awasthi. As per the copy of the order provided to The Tribune, the Central Information Commission has ordered officials of the Ministry of Water Resources to provide information of Awasthi within three weeks. It has also ordered that a copy of the information be sent to the complainant along with an explanation as to why the information was not supplied within stipulated time. Besides Awasthi, another Pong Dam oustee, Ashwani Kumar has also got justice from the Himachal High Court. Ashwani Kumar could not even claim land from the Rajasthan Government in lieu of his 272 kanals that was acquired about 50 years ago for construction of Pong Dam. The Relief and Rehabilitation Department of Himachal Government had not given him the eligibility certificate on the basis of which he could have sought land from Rajasthan Government. He was recently issued the eligibility certificate after the High Court order. The court also ordered the Rajasthan Government to allot land to Ashwani Kumar. |
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Youth murdered
Solan, May 21 According to the police Jatin who ran a barber shop got into an altercation with Rakesh, Rajesh and Sunny last evening outside his house over some issue. The three boys were working for a cable network. They called two more of their accomplices and attacked Jatin late in the evening. The other boys staying with him were also beaten up by the group and Jatin was dragged out and mercilessly beaten up and left there in a semi-conscious state. He was later taken to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries midway. The doctors declared him brought dead at the hospital. The police is investigating the matter after registering a case under Section 302 of the IPC. None has been held in this connection. |
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Relief to Nalagarh industry,
power cuts only once a week
Solan, May 21 This step was taken after investors under the banner of Nalagarh Industries Association (NIA) threatened to proceed on hunger strike if disparity in power cuts was not removed. The association had said that industrial areas of Baddi, Barotiwala and Parwanoo suffered power cuts once a week while Nalagarh faced a cut every third day. Association president Prem Sharma said they had received a message from the power regulator that load reduction had been reduced to 9 MW from 20 and hence, a cut would be imposed only once a week. The new schedule would come into effect from Monday. Investors heaved a sign of relief as the power board has also promised relief from abrupt power trippings that lead to huge wastage and add to production costs. Officials said trippings caused by poor maintenance would be sorted out. |
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Sangla festival begins
Shimla, May 21 The festival turned out to be financially rewarding for the locals as foreigners relished Pahari and Kinnauri delicacies. They were awestruck with the panorama of rich tribal culture unfolded in the far-flung but most picturesque valley. Formally inaugurating the festival, Governor Urmila Singh said the event would provide much-needed opportunities for self-employment to the locals. She expressed happiness that about 50 houses in the small valley had been registered under the government’s Home Stay Scheme. She said that this would not only attract tourists seeking home-like comforts away from home but would also uplift the socio-economic condition of the people. The festival was jointly organised by the Sangla Valley Sustainable Development Society, Himalaya Research Group and CSK Krishi
Vishavidyalaya. |
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Contractor booked
Mandi, May 21 The police has booked a case under Section 3 of the Prevention of Public Property Damage (PPPD) Act after the assistant engineer registered the complaint. As a result, residents of the area remained without electricity for hours till the line was restored. According to the police, Sandeep Kumar has been booked under PPPD Act at the Jogindernagar police station. The SDO complained that the contractor damaged the transmission line through his JCB machine. The police said further investigation into the case was on. |
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Tanda College
Kangra, May 21 Principal of the college Dr Anil Chouhan said two more seats would be filled by the Government of India (GOI) from the all-India quota and if no student was sent by the GOI then these seats too would be filled by local students. He said two out of three students who opted for Tanda college were its own product and one was from IGMC, Shimla. Meanwhile, the state government failed to get 16 postgraduate seats cleared this year for which the MCI had held inspections in March and raised objections regarding staff, equipment and infrastructure. Director Medical Education Dr Jaishri said it was a great achievement to bring Tanda college on the map of PG institutes and efforts on part of the government were on to get stumbling blocks cleared for 16 more PG seats in the college. |
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Pillion rider killed in mishap
Hamirpur, May 21 The police said Jagdish Kumar and his accomplice Baseri Ram, both employed at the BSNL, Hamirpur, and residents of Ropari village, were coming from Ukhali side to Hamirpur on a scooter, when a tempo hit them near Bhota around 9.15 am. Jagdish Kumar (45) died on the spot while Baseri Ram was admitted to the regional hospital here. The police later intercepted the tempo and arrested the driver at Gumarwin, who had absconded from
the spot. |
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Coalition anti-democratic: Justice Mallimath
Shimla, May 21 “In a coalition, no good decision can be taken without displeasing one partner or the other and the smaller parties invariably called the shots. It is not surprising that functioning of the government is plagued with hiccups in such a set-up,” Justice Mallimath observed while delivering a lecture on “How democratic is our democracy” organised in connection with the Ruby Jubilee celebrations of the state high court, here today. Compulsions of coalition governments encouraged corruption, defections, nepotism, favouritism and inefficiency and failed democracy as elected representatives became a saleable commodity. The failure of two-party system paved way for coalition regimes for which all sorts of compromises had to be made. With many not enrolled as voters and those enrolled not exercising their right, often candidates securing a meagre 16 per cent votes get elected, making a mockery of the democracy. However, no one was willing to give a thought to improve the system and the best Indian brains were being utilised by the USA for its development. Brilliant Indians were playing second fiddle to Americans who were making new innovations and building up their nation, while Indians only “servicing” them, he regretted. |
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Hamirpur, May 21
