Chandigarh, December 9
Ambala MLA Venod Kumar Sharma’s functioning is under court scanner again. Less than a month after his name cropped up in a recruitment matter, another petition accusing him of misusing his power and position was taken up by the Punjab and Haryana High Court this morning.

The petition, filed by a nambardar, seeks the quashing of the entire process involving the transfer of 168 acres, two kanal and 17 marlas belonging to the Bhadson gram panchayat. Describing it as “illegal and arbitrary”, petitioner Gurdiyal Singh contended that the transfer of land was a result of misuse of power and position by Sharma.

Gurdiyal Singh said he was aggrieved by the illegal transaction of shamlat land to Sharma and a mill run by him.

The sale deed of the land was executed on August 23, 1994, on the condition that Piccadilly Agro Industries Limited shall be bound by certain terms and conditions.

But the mill was being run in less than half the land purchased at a throwaway price and the remaining area was being cultivated by Sharma “ flouting all terms and conditions” of the resolution. Besides, pollution norms were being flouted.

The petitioner said: “Sharma is a sitting MLA and nobody has the courage to raise his voice against him as he is very influential and a mighty politician in the State of Haryana”.

Taking up the petition filed in public interest, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice of motion. The case will come up for further hearing on March 3, 2011.

Less than a month back, Ambala Deputy Commissioner, in another matter, was asked to file a personal affidavit after the petitioner, Surinder Kumar Rana of Ambala cantonment, accused the officer of misusing his powers in a recruitment matter on the recommendations of MLA Venod Sharma.

Rana was seeking directions to the state and other respondents to quash the appointment of Ashwani Kumar as small savings officer. Taking up the petition, Justice Ranjit Singh had asserted:

“As per the petitioner, this appointment was unconstitutional, having been made without any advertisement and was actuated because of extraneous and political consideration.

“The appointment was also said to be against government instructions, which amounted to misuse of public money as such. The petitioner alleges this to be political corruption”.

Chandigarh, December 9
A hefty increase in the road tax in Haryana is on the cards. It is learnt that the state exchequer would earn about Rs 150 crore per annum from the hike in road tax.

Interestingly, this amount is more than double of what the government was getting from challaning overloaded commercial vehicles before Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked the Transport Department to firmly stop overloaded vehicles from plying on the state roads.

The increase in the road tax on vehicles costing less than Rs 5 lakh would be nominal.

But it would be quite hefty on luxury cars. The road tax in Haryana is much less than that in the Capital. A large number of Delhi residents, who have flats in Gurgaon, register their vehicles in Haryana.

But, the sources say, the tax would still be less than that in Delhi. 

Hisar, December 9
Members of the Pardhi tribe are increasingly targeting guests at marriage banquet halls and marriage palaces. They use minor members for the crime. There has been a spurt in thefts at marriage palaces during the past two months because of the marriage season. Haryana has hundreds of marriage palaces.

In Hisar alone, there are about 12 big and small banquet halls. There have been several cases of thefts at these places. Owners of banquet halls in the town today met the Superintendent of Police to seek a solution to the problem.

Vikas Aggarwal, a partner in the city’s swank Midtown Grand Banquet Hall, says Pardhi thieves arrive at the venue as a family, generally a man, a woman and two children.

All are well-dressed and easily mingle with the guests and hosts, making it almost impossible for the security guards to spot them.

While the adults survey the venue and select targets, the theft is committed by children because even if caught, being minors, they were usually let off by the banquet staff. Aggarwal says almost all upmarket halls have installed CCTV cameras, but by the time a theft is noticed, it is too late to act.

Often children are caught and handed over to the police and FIRs lodged. But the police is reluctant to detain them because of child protection laws.

The banquet hall owners, during their meeting with the SP, complained that many banquet owners had been receiving threat calls from members of the Pardhi tribe whose children were caught by security guards.

A decade ago, banquet halls and marriage palaces started hiring private security guards to check the entry of uninvited guests, who were generally students looking for a good meal. There were no thefts. But these youths started getting increasingly involved in drunken brawls, forcing the banquet owners to hire bouncers.

Now the owners have to deal with thefts.

The Pardhi tribe, found mostly in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, indulge in petty crime. In 1871 the British passed the Criminal Tribes Act to check crime by the Pardhi and other criminal tribals. 

Panipat, December 9
The district police today busted a gang allegedly involved in betting on international cricket matches and arrested five persons, who were running the racket.

The police seized 68 mobiles phones, a TV set, a computer, a DSL modem, a “betting book” and Rs 3.51 lakh.

District police chief Pankaj Nain said the police had received a tip-off on the basis of which it raided a house near Amar Bhawan Chowk. Five persons - Sandeep and Gulshan, sons of Sushil Kumar, a resident of Israna Bazaar, Mukesh Kumar, son of Ashok Kumar, a resident of the Quila locality, Gurmail Singh, son of Tirath Singh, a resident of Pacranga Bazar, and Ajay, son of Ramchand, a resident of Balmiki Mohalla, were arrested from there.

Nain said during interrogation, it was found that the gang was involved in betting on international cricket matches. He said Gulshan was the kingpin of the gang, who used to charges Rs 2,500 from small bookies spread across the region. These bookies used to collect money from those interested in betting on cricket matches and they also maintained the records of the monetary transactions that took place. They all stayed in touch with Gulshan through SMSes.

The police said the gang had been betting on the recent matches played between India and New Zealand during the latter’s tour of the country.

The gang was also involved in betting on matches being played outside the country, including the Australia-England series. However, largely the betting was on matches played within the country.

The police was going through the call details of the 68 mobiles that were seized to find out who all were involved in the racket, SHO, City, Naresh Ahlawat said, adding that the police was conducting raids at several places in the region to nab the bookies.

A case under Sections 3/13 (a) and 3/67 of the Public Gambling Act and Sections 420, 467 and 468 of the IPC had been registered against the five arrested at the City police station. The SHO said the five accused were in their late twenties and early thirties, and were involved in betting for a long time now. The kingpin of the gang, Gulshan, had been arrested last year also in connection with a similar crime and was still facing a case.

He said all accused were permanent residents of Panipat and were graduates in different disciplines.