New Delhi, February 2
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice to the Haryana government on a public interest litigation filed on the basis of The Tribune report highlighting the state’s apathy to adult female literacy.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi and Justice AG Masih, while hearing the petition filed by Anshul Joy, issued a notice of motion to the state government for May 2. The PIL, which draws its content from The Tribune’s January 16 report detailing Haryana’s inability to spend a meagre amount of Rs 1.20 crore for imparting literacy to 1.25 lakh non-literates in Karnal, beseeches the court to direct Haryana to implement the Sakshar Bharat Mission for adult female literacy, reconstitute its State Literacy Mission at the earliest and nominate non-official members to the same.

The Tribune had reported how Haryana had failed to launch the mission even in one district allotted to it in the first phase of the project that was then to be expanded to other districts.

Though Haryana’s total budget for the programme, which ends in March 2012, is Rs 11 crore, it has not received additional amounts for the current year due to its inability to exhaust old funds. The Principal Secretary, Education, Sureena Rajan, had told The Tribune that Haryana was yet to reconstitute its State Literacy Mission and was undecided on the issue of nomination of non-official members. She had said the state would request the Centre to allow it to constitute an “altered mission” which would not have the obligation of coopting non-official members. The HRD Ministry, however, clarified to The Tribune that no alteration or dilution in the structure of State Literacy Missions was possibe.“Non-official members are the soul of this mission. They will ensure transparency. They are critical to the programme’s success,” a ministry official said.

The petition further seeks a court direction to the government to conduct a new survey of non-literates and submit a report to the court, set up adult education centres at the panchayat level and institute a Chief Secretary-level probe into why the state had failed to reconstitute its Literacy Mission, in time.

Chandigarh, February 2
The State of Haryana will decide within a month whether the benefit of full pension on completion of 28 years of service will be available to a retired employee from the date of notification in 2009 or from the date the rules have been made effective in 2006.

The timeframe was fixed by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on a petition filed in public interest by Brij Bhushan and other petitioners. The Bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih observed: “The grievance raised in the writ petition is that the benefit of full pension on completion of 33 years of service has been amended to be available on completion of 28 years.

“This was done by the Haryana Civil Services (Revised Pension) Part-II, Rules, 2009, effective from January 1, 2006. However, while the Rules itself have been made effective from January 1, 2006, the benefit has been allowed only to those who have retired on and after the date of the notification i.e. April 17, 2009”.

The Bench added: “In the writ petition, an issue has been struck that in a similar matter the Union Government had subsequently made corrections and such benefit has been afforded to persons retiring on or after January 1, 2006”.

Disposing of the petition, the Bench said: “The petitioners have already served a legal notice on the authority concerned... In the circumstances, we are of the view that it would be appropriate and expedient for the petitioners to await a decision on the legal notice submitted by them on September 18, 2010.

“The authority concerned will now be required to take a decision on the issues raised in the legal notice within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.”

Sirsa, February 2
The gram panchayat of Kaluana, a village falling under the Dabwali block of the district, has won the award for the best performing villages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for 2009-10. It is the only panchayat of the state and among the top 12 of the country to have been awarded.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi gave away the awards to the 12 gram panchayats drawn from seven states of the country at a function to mark the fifth anniversary of the launching of the MNREGA in Delhi today.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj had selected Kaluana after assessing its all-round performance and the panchayat’s ability in delivering the results as per the demand, said DC CG Rajini Kaanthan. The parameter of selection of villages for the award was based on their contribution in implementing the MNREGA, he added.

During 2009-10, the village panchayat provided employment to 474 families and completed works like construction of check dams, leveling of land, construction of water channels and providing irrigation facilities to farmers by constructing tubewells near Indira Gandhi Canal.

Other villages include Khairwahi and Machandur (Chhattisgarh), Nedumkandam and Kottukal (Kerala), Pandurna (Maharashtra), Pampura and Badwas Choti (Rajasthan), Chuba Phong (Sikkim) and Dhamna (Uttar Pradesh).

Meanwhile, a meeting of the district-level task force committee set up for the implementation of the MNREGA was held here last evening.

Rohtak, February 2
A youth with a licensed revolver was nabbed during the Chief Minister’s interaction with local residents at the Canal Rest House here this afternoon. The youth, identified as Amarjeet (25) from Nindana village, was let off after questioning.

He had reportedly come to give a job application to the Chief Minister. The police nabbed the youth after some one noticed him carrying a revolver.

The SSP, Satish Balan, said the youth did not know that carrying weapons to such a place was not allowed. But the police had no satisfactory response as to how the armed youth could make his way into the rest house despite the heavy security. in the resthouse. Several arms licences issued under political pressure have lately been under the scanner.

Hisar, February 2
A meeting scheduled to be held here today to bring together the two Dalit factions of Mirchpur village did not materialise because of sharp differences between the groups.

While one group has been on a dharna at the mini secretariat here since last week, the other has taken shelter in a farmhouse owned by Ved Pal Tanwar who heads a non-Jat organisation.

At a press conference, Dalit leaders said they had been putting up at the farmhouse of their own accord and the case registered against Tanwar accusing him of forcibly detaining them should be withdrawn. The faction agitating at the mini secretariat blamed the other faction for the divide in the community.

The family of Tara Chand, who was killed alongwith his daughter in the Mirchpur violence on April 21 last year, also stands divided. While two of his sons and his widow support those camping in the farmhouse, his elder son is with the faction agitating at the mini secretariat.

Chandigarh, February 2
Miffed over the failure of the state to file a reply despite repeated opportunities, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the state.

The order came on a petition pertaining to the land acquisition in Jatauli village in Gurgaon district. The petitioner had alleged that the government, after acquisition, released the land belonging to Haryana’s former MLA Rambir Singh, but not to other landholders. The Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg also asked the state to file its reply by the next date of hearing positively.

The petitioner, Ashok Kumar, had earlier sought quashing of the impugned notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act on December 15, 2004, and under Section 6 on January 9, 2006, vide which his land in Jatauli village was sought to be acquired. — TNS

Fatehabad, February 2
At least 360 bags of rice were damaged in a fire at the storehouse of the Haryana Warehousing Corporation in Tohana early this morning.

The fire was reportedly caused by short-circuiting. It took the fire tenders more than an hour to douse the flames. Bansi Ram, district manager of the corporation, said the total loss was fire yet to be ascertained.

He said damaged rice belonged to a private miller and not the agency. The DM maintained that the miller had dumped 360 bags of rice in the storehouse for the central pool but the the agency was yet to check the stock for moisture content. Rice millers and their workers assembled outside the storehouse and raised slogans blaming the officials for the loss incurred by the miller.

Karnal, February 2
Taking a serious note of the alleged rape of a hapless speech and hearing impaired girl at the government-run Mata Prakash Kaur Vani Viklang Kendra, the administration today swung into action and terminated the services of the Principal, two attendants - Usha and Asha - and the chowkidar, Ajay, the main accused in the case.

Sources said the chairman of the Haryana Welfare Society for Hearing and Speech Impaired, Mahinder Kumar, issued the orders. The girl, 17, was allegedly raped by the chowkidar of the centre. Later, he forced her to abort her 25-week foetus. — TNS