Jind, January 21
The Sarvajatiya Sarvakhap Mahapanchayat seems to be on a collision course with the state government announcing that the matter stood resolved, with the acceptance of the demand for a fresh CBI probe into the Mirchpur violence, and the convener of the core 12-member committee of the Mahapanchayat saying they were not satisfied with the action taken so far.

The authorities today asked the protesters to lift the dharna and clear the rail track immediately.The latter refused to budge.Traffic on the roads connecting Jind with Bhiwani, Hansi and Gohana remained disrupted with blockades at several points.

Speaking to mediapersons this evening, Public Health Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, accompanied by

former MP Jai Prakash, claimed that they had held talks with the core committee and handed over the documents regarding the action taken by the government on

initiating a CBI probe into the matter, following which the Mahapanchayat had agreed to end the stir.

He said a majority of the protesters had agreed to clear the tracks by tomorrow morning. Jai Prakash asked the people not to take the law into their hands and end the dharna.

But Suresh Koth, convener of the core 12-member committee spearheading the agitation, told The Tribune that the matter remained unresolved as they wanted the SIT (Special Investigation Team) to hold a probe and not the CBI.

He charged the authorities with trying to create confusion among the protesters. He said the trial of the accused in the Mirchpur case be held inside the state.

He said they would intensify their agitation by staging protests at 50 more places and claimed that 121 khaps in the state had extended their support to the protest. Residents of nearby villages blocked the road connecting Jind with Hansi and Gohana this morning in support of the protesters. The Jind-Bhiwani road has remained blocked since Thursday.

There could be a possible showdown between the authorities and the protesters in view of the developments today with leaders of the Mahapanchayat clearly divided on the issue.

Hisar, January 21
The district police has provided security to 25 Dalit residents of Mirchpur village in view of the ongoing agitation by the Jats seeking a fresh probe into the Mirchpur violence and opposing the transfer of the accused in the case to a Delhi jail.

Superintendent of Police Hanif Qureshi said the widow and four sons of Tara Chand, who was killed in the violence, had been provided three security guards each.

The widow, Kamala, and her three sons live in Hisar while another travels from Uklana to Hisar daily. Twenty more persons had also been provided guards.

He said 200 policemen and three DSPs had been posted in the village and no unlawful activity would be allowed in the village.

Tara Chand and his teenaged polio-stricken daughter were killed on April 21 last year when the houses of Dalit were set afire allegedly by members of the dominant Jat community. The violence that apparently occured over a frivolous issue has shattered the village harmony.

Chandigarh, January 21
The Haryana Government has decided to increase various allowances admissible to members of the state judiciary.

The decision has been approved by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and a notification in this regard would be issued soon.

The decision has been taken in compliance with the Supreme Court verdict in the All-India Judges Association case. The Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, and president of the Haryana Judicial Officers Association, Dr Neelima Shangla, had appeared as petitioner-in-person before the Supreme Court.

She had argued that the state government earned crores of rupees as revenue through court fee and fines imposed by the courts, but even 10 per cent of this revenue was not being spent on providing basic infrastructure to judicial courts.

The government has decided to give three increments to judicial officers who have attained the qualification of LLM. It is also actively considering giving six increments to those who get PhD.

A hefty increase in the sumptuary allowance, LTC, medical facilities, robe allowance, encashment of earned leave, attendant allowance, furnishing/furniture allowance, residential office maintenance allowance and certain other allowances is on the anvil.

The cashless medical facility is also likely to be introduced.

The car loan has been increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh and for house building loan 60 months’ salary would be given to the judicial officers.

Chandigarh, January 21
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a high-level probe into allegations of pick and choose adopted in allotment of residential plots in Sonepat district to Scheduled Castes and families living below the poverty line.

Directing the Sonepat DC to hold the inquiry, Justice Ranjit Singh has asserted: “If some ineligible persons have been allotted the plots, this cannot be allowed to escape scrutiny.” The directions came on a petition by Dharampal against the State of Haryana and other respondents. Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “The Government of India has framed a policy for allotment of residential plots of 100 square yards to persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and to families living below the poverty line.

“The instructions, in this regard, have already been issued by the government.”

A village-level committee had given a list of 129 eligible candidates. It is alleged that respondent Devendar, member of the panchayat, was appointed acting sarpanch, who in collusion with two other respondents, altered the list supplied to the committee, giving names of the persons of their choice on the basis of pick and choose.

“It is also alleged that more than two-three plots were allotted to members of a single family and some eligible persons were deprived of their legal right to take advantage of the policy formulated by the government. Aggrieved against this, the petitioner has filed this writ petition.

“I deem it appropriate to direct the DC, Sonepat, to hold an inquiry in this case and examine if the plots have been allotted to those not eligible and whether any policy of pick and choose was adopted.”

Chandigarh, January 21
The Single Judge order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Speaker of the Haryana Assembly to decide the petitions seeking the disqualification of five MLAs elected on the Haryana Janhit Congress ticket, who had “merged” their party with the Congress in November 2009, within four months, has been challenged.

President of the HJC Kuldeep Bishnoi had filed a petition before the Speaker seeking the disqualification of the five HJC MLAs - Rao Narinder Singh, Satpal Sangwan, Venod Bhayana, Zile Ram Sharma and Dharam Singh Chhokar - on the gounds of defection. Later, Bishnoi moved the High Court, where a Single Judge issued the direction to the Speaker.

The INLD has also filed a similar petition before the Speaker. Zile Ram Sharma, MLA from Assandh, today filed a letter patent appeal (LPA) against the judgment of the Single Judge.

He has attacked the impugned judgment on the grounds that the High Court cannot take cognisance of a matter under the anti-defection law at a preliminary stage in view of a decision of the Supreme Court.

Sharma contended that fixing of a time limit for adjudication of 14 separate petitions pending before the Speaker would abridge his right to “lead evidence”. He said a lot of oral evidence had “to be led to prove the merger of the two parties”. This needed sufficient time.

The time constraint would also abridge and restrict his right to defence. He also moved another application urging the court to stay the operation of the impugned order.

Tohana (Fatehabad), January 21
A joint team of the police, excise and taxation, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and health authorities today raided a factory at Gobindpura in Tohana on a tipoff that the owners were manufacturing spurious ghee.

The SDM, Ashwani Maingi, the DSP, Suresh Kaushik, the SDO, DHBVN, PD Kaushik, Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer Mala Ram and Senior Medical Officer of the Tohana General Hospital Joginder Singh raided the factory in the morning.

The team confiscated large containers of ghee, raw material and machinery used in the manufacturing process. Maingi, who led the raiding party, said 4,154 kg of spurious ghee was recovered from the factory. The tins with the ghee carried labels of four brands- “Mansarovar”, “Shri Hari”, “Avsar” and “Jaika”.

The raiding team also recovered huge quantities of refined oil, plastic and metal containers, wrappers, a wrapping machine, a sealing machine, LPG cylinders and LPG stoves.

Manigi said the owners had set up two firms to manufacture the ghee made from refined oil and did not have any licence for their units. Samples of the ghee recovered from the unit had been sent for testing, he said.

The factory owners, Mukesh and Munish, fled before the raid. Only a Nepalese cook was present at the time of the raid.

The owners had been stealing power by a direct connection from the power lines of the DHBVN.

The power nigam SDO has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the factory. The SP, Vivek Sharma, said a criminal case was being registered against the factory owners.

Sirsa, January 21
The police has arrested a security guard for allegedly siphoning off 523 bags of wheat from a storehouse of Hafed at Kalanwali.

A spokesperson for the district police said today that Shankar Lal, son of Munshi Ram, a resident of Chhogi village in Churu district of Rajasthan, had been arrested in connection with the case.

The spokesperson said the accused worked with the Hauk Security System, the security agency providing guards to Hafed in the district.

The Hafed had since rescinded its contract with the security agency, said Sandeep Punia, district manager of the agency at Fatehabad, who also holds the additional charge of Sirsa district.

The police had registered a case under Sections 420, 409 and 120-B of the IPC on January 3 after it impounded a truck carrying 523 bags of wheat on a tip-off that foodgrains siphoned off from the storehouse of Hafed were being transported for sale.

Faridabad, January 21
A large number of advocates of the district court today took out a procession, held demonstrations and burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under the banner of the legal cell of the BJP in protest against the alleged “failure” of the Centre to control price rise.

The agitation, led by vice-president of the state unit of the legal cell of the BJP Shivdut Bashist, culminated with the burning of the Prime Minister’s effigy.

Protesters later submitted a memorandum to President Pratibha Singh Patil vide the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad, urging her intervention in the matter.

Lawyers took out the procession from HUDA’s main gate to the mini-secretariat.

Rewari, January 21
Naresh Kumar Sharma, branch manager of the Hansaka branch of the Gurgaon Gramin Bank, sustained grave injuries when the motor cycle he was riding was reportedly hit by a Tata-407 vehicle on the Rewari-Dharuhera road, 6 km from here, today. He was admitted to a private hospital in Gurgaon.

The driver of the Tata-407 absconded, abandoning the vehicle. — OC