Can’t deny increment to teacher, rules HC 
Chandigarh, April 29
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that increment cannot to denied to a teacher on the ground that he has not achieved hundred per cent results in each subject.

Patiala/Jalandhar/Mohali, April 29
Working in all Excise and Taxation Department offices in the state suffered today as the employees observed complete strike to protest the non-fulfillment of their demands. While the traders had to face harassment as tax returns could not be deposited, exact losses due to the stir to the treasury may only be known by tomorrow or in another few days, though sources pegged them at about Rs 50-60 crore.

According to senior Excise officials, the working in the entire state, except on the inter-state barriers, remained suspended due to the mass leave taken by the department employees. "Excise barriers were allowed to work so that there is no mess on the roads. But, we are planning to close them during our next strike," they said.

Today, traders had to face inconvenience due to the fact that their receipts for cash payment of tax could not be collected in excise offices in Punjab and the entire process would now be done on April 30, the last date for the filing of returns. "Deposits worth over Rs 300 crore got delayed due to the strike."

The protesters alleged that the Vigilance Bureau officials were harassing them and the government was not doing enough to check their "interference". The suicide by ETO Ranjit Singh recently was fallout of the menace, they alleged.

Ranjit Singh posted with the department's mobile wing in Mohali had allegedly committed suicide by consuming celphos tablets at his residence in Mohali after he was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau for allegedly accepting bribe from a trader to release his goods on March 29. The Excise officials are demanding an independent probe and transfer of the officials concerned, besides Rs 1 crore as compensation to the victim's family.

Excise and Taxation Officers Association president Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal said that despite meeting the Chief Minister, nothing concrete had been done. Meanwhile, the employees union would chalk out their next course of action on May 1 — the day 'bhog' ceremony of Ranjit Singh would be held.

Dhaliwal said some new facts with regard to the arrest of the late Ranjit Singh had also come to light. He alleged that the Vigilance officials got Ranjit Singh slapped in full public view by the traders who were "involved" in tax evasion. He said that, in fact, Ranjit Singh had signed the release order and jawans of the RBI accompanying him were counting the cash, which had been paid by the trader as penalty to get seized goods released.

Chandigarh, April 28
Policy-makers in Punjab have failed the farmers with the government ignoring the need for amending the Punjab Security of Land Tenure Act-1953 so that the actual land lease is factored in while determining the maximum support price (MSP) for wheat and paddy.

Section 12 of the Act prescribes that the maximum rent payable by a tenant will not be more than one-third of the value of the total produce. Based on this clause, the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) had last year estimated the annual land lease in Punjab at Rs 13,000 per acre and fixed the MSP for both wheat and paddy based on this figure.

The actual land lease in the state is between Rs 28,000 to Rs 35,000 per acre. The MSP in Punjab is calculated following an elaborate procedure, which is conducted by the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana.

The university has appointed inspectors who assess the cost of each input used by selected farmers to raise their wheat and paddy crop. The inspectors also take into account the land lease cost, the labour put in by the farmer as well as other expenditure incurred.

This data is forwarded to the CACP and forms the basis for calculating the MSP of a crop.Experts say the government has been unusually lax in amending the Land Tenure Act, despite the fact that this has been brought to its notice. They say the Act needs to be changed to benefit Punjab farmers who are increasingly taking land on lease for cultivation. Official sources say 50 per cent land has been leased out in the state though economists put it at 15 to 20 per cent.

Financial Commissioner, Development, NS Kang, when contacted, said the Land Tenure Act was one of the reasons why farmers were getting a low MSP.

He said the cost of land rent was only one of the factors in determining land lease. Economist Dr Ranjit Singh Ghuman of Punjabi University, Patiala, however, said amending the Land Tenure Act would strengthen the case of the state for a better MSP in the future.

It would also help farmers who would then be able to get returns on the actual cost. 

Chandigarh, April 29
The Punjab Medical Council (PMC) has given thousands of allopathic medical practitioners, who had lost their right to practice, a second chance by allowing them to get registered with the council by May 31. The earlier deadline for re-registration under the Punjab Medical Registration (Amendment) Act, 2010, had expired on March 31.

The Act specifically requires all doctors to re-register with the council every five years and that too within two months of the expiry of their registration.

President of the PMC, Dr. Manmohan Singh has issued a notice extending the deadline for registration till the end of May. The Act applies to all doctors registered with the PMC and working outside the state and those registered with councils in other states and practising in Punjab.

This time, the doctors have to simply get themselves re-registered by filling a forms and paying the mandatory fee. But as per the provisions of the Punjab Medical Registration (Amendment) Act, 2010, they will also have to upgrade their knowledge every five years by getting at least 50 credit hours by attending Continuing Medical Education programmes to remain in practice.

The PMC has updated its register with renewals up to April 25, 2011. Also, it has issued a warning that all names with the PMC who do not re-register by May-end will be deleted. This would apply to doctors working both in government and private sectors. Once the name of the doctor has been deleted, it would amount to taking away his licence to practice and his practice would become illegal.

The Punjab Medical Registration (Amendment) Act, 2010, aims to ensure that only medical practitioners who have upgraded their skills get a licence to practice. Anyone found guilty of quackery or practising medicine without valid licence or state registration, if found guilty, could get a jail term of up to 3 years and a fine of up to Rs 10,000.

From 700 registered doctors in 1947, their number rose to 40,392 till the re-registration process started. So far, only 12,000 odd doctors have applied for re-registration. A large number of doctors who have gone overseas have not got their licences renewed so far. Many doctors in government service have not got themselves re-registered thinking that the Act is not applicable to them.

The PMC is a 21-member body with 10 members getting elected. The election for these 10 members is due in June. Only those doctors who get them re-registered will be allowed to vote.

Chandigarh, April 29
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that increment cannot to denied to a teacher on the ground that he has not achieved hundred per cent results in each subject.

A Division Bench has, in fact, held: “Denial of increments on the sole ground of non-achieving of hundred per cent results in each subject cannot be sustained on the touchstone of reasonableness.”

This ruling by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia came on a petition filed in 1993 by JBT teacher Usha Rani Sehgal against the managing committee of Khanna-based Hindi Putri Pathshala and other respondents. The Bench said: “To prescribe hundred per cent pass percentage in each subject is too onerous. If the unachievable standards are made to achieve, one is bound to falter…. Furthermore, no guidelines have been issued by the Education Department that a teacher should achieve hundred per cent results in each subject.

“Year after year, increments due to the petitioner were stopped, as she was not able to achieve hundred per cent results. Even if we assume the contention of the management that the petitioner had become deadwood, the best course which the management could have adopted was to dispense with the services of the petitioner.

“This would have necessitated a full-fledged departmental inquiry. Such a course was not undertaken by the management and instead it continued to stop increments year after year to frustrate the employee. We cannot appreciate this conduct of the management as a sound practice…. We accept the writ petition and set aside all the orders whereby the petitioner was denied benefit of increments with or without cumulative effect”.

Chandigarh, April 29
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal today said Punjab was likely to be in the grip of a major crisis by the arrival of the next paddy procurement season due to the inability of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to shift rice out of the State.

In a statement here, the Deputy CM accused the FCI of making wrong claims that it was moving rice out of the state and that it had provided for extra racks for this as well as wheat movement.

Sukhbir Badal said food grain movement out of the state was very poor and that the position would worsen at the time of paddy procurement in October. He said this was because paddy, unlike wheat, could not be stored in the open.

He also claimed that the Centre was not allowing the state to construct its own godowns, leave alone taking any steps of its own to increase covered storage in the state. He was apparently referring to a FCI scheme, which is aimed at increasing covered storage capacity by around 50 lakh million tonne but is being only partially implemented.

The Deputy CM said the state had written to the Centre a number of times to allow wheat export rather than let its quality deteriorate due to lack of timely movement to states where it is consumed. 

Chandigarh, April 29
The Punjab Government today established a one-member commission headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Kiran Anand Lall to ascertain the ratio of ‘Vimukat Jatis’ for reservation in government jobs.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal disclosed this at a meeting with a delegation of Vimukat Jatis Front led by its president Labh Singh Devinagar here on Friday.

Badal also directed the chief secretary to issue instructions to all deputy commissioners to include the word ‘Vimukat Jati’ along with Scheduled Castes in the certificate being issued by the authorities concerned at different levels in the state. 

Jalandhar, April 29
The Punjab Pradesh Congress today said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was misleading the people on the issue of empowering the Lokpal in the state. The PPCC general secretary, Parminder Singh, said the Centre had nothing to do with empowering the Lokpal.

“Since Badal is not interested in checking corruption that is rampant, he has been trying to skirt the issue, stating that the Punjab Lokpal would be modelled on the Lokpal instituted by the Centre,” Parminder Singh said.

He said the Karnataka Government had already empowered its Lokpal. — TNS

Rajpura, April 29
After rains played spoilsport in wheat procurement and the strike of procurement agency inspectors, it is now the wheat glut in the Rajpura grain market that is creating problems for the driving commission agents and truckers.

With vehicles remaining stranded for more than three days, truckers allege loses of thousands everyday.

The commission agents, on the other hand, complain of weight loss of wheat grains due to storage of bags in the open.

A section of truck drivers today raised slogans against the procurement agencies, which failed to unload wheat bags from trucks.

Wheat bags, loaded in trucks three days, ago are still to be unloaded due to space shortage.

An agent at the Rajpura grain market for the past 16 years, Narayan Dass, said 5,000 bags were lying outside his shop, which the Markfed was not lifting. This is despite the purchase of stock five days ago.

As many as 230 wheat bags of 50 kg each can be transported in a truck and every bag loses at least 200 to 300 gram weight.

“Wheat is drying every day, which will lead to weight loss. Agency officials purchased wheat stock a week ago but they haven’t lifted it. They ask us to compensate for the loss of weight while lifting the produce,” he said.

The owner of three trucks in Banur, Manga Singh, said his truck was loaded with wheat bags of Markfed from the grain markets of Manakpur and Gajjukhera villages, which is to be stored in godowns at Rajpura.

“The drivers are shuttling between Rajpura and Banur but the officials are not aware about storage,” he said.

Manga said truckers too were facing losses as they managed to make 
one round in three or four days, which led to losses worth thousands.

Meanwhile, market committee officials in Rajpura grain market said so
far, 7.20 lakh quintals wheat had been procured by various agencies as compared to last years 8.13 lakh quintals wheat procured in the corresponding period.

Officials said 1.40 lakh quintal wheat was still in the market, which was still to be lifted.

Markfed manager Ashwini Garg could not be contacted for comments.

A Markfed official, pleading anonymity, said there was acute space shortage to store wheat grain but now a sheller had been hired at Damanheri village for storage.

Patiala, April 29
Following slow start to wheat procurement and even slower lifting by agencies, the administration is now acting tough. This has suddenly improved the situation. While the procurement has picked up, the lifting is still something that worries the administration.

With farmers doubtful of getting enough space for storage of produce, mandis, across Patiala, are left with over 2 lakh MT wheat. With the Punjab Chief Minister scheduled to visit Patiala on Saturday, the administration is trying to ensure that wheat procurement is smooth.

Earlier, the arrival of grain to mandis had touched 8 lakh MT, the procurement agencies had failed lift the grain.

“However, now the lifting has reached almost 5.5 lakh MT and officials deputed in various mandis have been ordered to ensure timly lifting,” claimed Patiala DC Dipinder Singh.

Wheat has been procured by six state agencies and the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Government’s agency. While Pungrain has bought 78, 107 MT, Markfed has procured 1.88 lakh MT, Punsup bought 2.63 lakh MT, Warehouse 73,000 MT, Punjab Agro 1.13 lakh MT and the FCI has procured 76,000 MT in addition to private buying.

Though the first two weeks saw delayed arrival of wheat due to untimely rains, the total procurement has caught up with farmers as they are complaining at some of shortage of space for their produce. “The mandi is full there is no space for the produce. I have no option but to wait,” claimed Hardevinder Singh, a farmer from Samana.

Patiala DC Dipinder Singh said he had issued notices to the erring procurement agencies for delay. “We have given them a 24-hour notice to lift the procured stock or the market committees would levy a fine, as per the norms,” the DC said.

As per norms, the procured stocks have to be lifted within three days, but usually it get delayed in the peak season due to more arrival and slow clearing by agencies, who fail to lift the piles of wheat.

“Due to storage of space with the agencies, the lifting of the stocks is slow but efforts are being made to lift the maximum produce,” claimed an official of deputed at a local mandi.

Meanwhile, commission agents said the government was slow with lifting and though wheat was made to go through all norms before procurement, the lifting was very slow. Agents said though they were being blamed for the delay, the actual reason was shortage of space and the means to lift the wheat.

The Patiala DC has issued instructions repeatedly for the speedy lifting of the wheat, the officials in mandis told TNS that it was impossible to clear the stock immediately from mandis due to the slow lifting by contractual transportation and speedy arrival of the crop.

“Issuing instructions is one thing, but till the time the government does not take stict action against the erring contractors, delays in lifting will continue. The situation will deteriorate with the peak arrival from next week,” he added said. Meanwhile, he said he would personally monitor the situation again from Saturday and issue fines if the lifting was delayed by any agency. “I will recommend the government to take stern action against the defaulting agencies and officials,” he stated.

Nangal, April 29
Six persons fell ill today after inhaling toxic gases at the Golthai industrial area. All affected have been admitted to the BBMB Hospital, Nangal.

As per the information available, the incident took place when some factory employees were trying to cut a cylinder that had come in junk.

The affected include Nanak, Javed, Surinder, Sukhdev, Vivek and Shivcharan.

Two employees, Shivcharan and Vivek, were reportedly serious and were referred to the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

Ropar, April 29
As many as 13 women are contributing their might to the Ropar district administration.

Eight women are at key posts in the district administration in Ropar, including Judges, Excise and Taxation Officer, Senior Section Officers, while five are at lower positions.

Ropar district has two women officials in district courts, including Chief Judicial Magistrate Manjot Kaur and Additional Civil Judge (senior division) Mandeep Kaur Bedi. DSP Baldev Kaur is the only senior woman officer in the police force in the district.

Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC) Harjit Kaur is handling Ropar as well as Nawanshahr district. A native of Ludhiana, she joined government service in 1995.

Handling liquor vends and excise paraphernalia, Harjit feels that nothing is impossible for women. “No job is the exclusive right of a particular gender,” she said.

At the excise office, Anju is a senior section officer (accounts) and is responsible for the Excise Departments of Ropar and Mohali districts. She is also the auditor of three sales tax barriers at Balongi in Kharar, Lakhnaur barrier and Mullanpur.

“There are eight or 10 women in my cadre. When I joined in 1995, not many women were around in the accounts department. Now our number has risen,” she said.

District social security officer Amrit Bala juggles with the charge of three districts - Ropar, Mohali and Nawanshahr - dealing with old-age pension and widow pension.

“I have often handled two districts at the same time, but this is the first time when I am looking after three districts. It does grow hectic at times, but one has to work, no matter what happens,” she said.

District Food and Civil Supplies Officer Rupinder Kaur is entrusted with the job of ensuring smooth crop procurement in the entire district. She is taking care of five procuring agencies - Pungrain, Punjab Warehousing Corporation, Punsup, Punjab Agro and Food Corporation of India (FCI).

District Language Officer Manjit Kaur handles Ropar as well as Mohali district. While at Ropar, she has some supporting staff, at Mohali, she works all alone.

The Language Officer is supposed to propagate and ensure usage of Punjabi in government offices and hold events for its propagation.

Similarly, District Employment Officer Gurmeet Kaur looks after the employment and Child Development and Panchayat Officer Satinder Kaur monitors the atta-dal scheme. 

Jalandhar, April 29
Turning down the prosecution’s plea for further police remand, the court of Judicial Magistrate Sanjiv Joshi today sent the four accused in the Gurkirat Singh Sekhon murder case to 14-day judicial custody.

Demanding more time for interrogation, the prosecution earlier contended that the police was yet to find out from where the accused used to purchase cartridges for their weapons with expired licences, which they had been using for years.

Also, the prosecution argued that police custody was required to identify the hideouts where the accused -- Ram Simran Singh Makkar, alias Prince Makkar, nephew of SAD legislature from Adampur seat Sarabjit Singh Makkar; Amardeep Singh Sachdeva, advocate and son of a senior leading advocate; Amanpreet Singh Narula, alias Prince Narula, son of the chairman of MGN Educational Trust and Jasdeep Singh, alias Jassu, son of the owner of hotel Regent Park -- remained after committing the crime.

Those who provided shelter to the suspects while they were absconding, the prosecution contended, too, needed to be probed, “a process which required more time”.

For his part, the defence counsel argued that the court had already given two-day time to the police to interrogate the accused but that the cops could not come out with anything new, “so no more police remand was justified”. 

Eluding mediapersons, supporters of Gurkirat Singh and other persons who used to assemble on the court premises and even inside the courtroom, the police produced all the accused only minutes before the lunch break and then hurriedly whisked them away. The four were later medically examined at the local Civil Hospital before being sent to the Central Jail, Jalandhar. 

Members of the Jalandhar Potato Growers Association, who earlier organised a candlelight vigil to condemn the killing, have given a cal lto the city residents and businessmen to close down their establishments from 12 pm to 2 pm on Sunday and join the ‘bhog’ ceremony of Gurkirat Singh at Lyalpur Khalsa College for Women, Jalandhar

Jalandhar, April 29
Three African students, in police remand in connection with the death of a Mizoram student at Lovely Professional University on April 26, were presented before Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate AK Aggarwal today. They were sent to judicial custody.

Two of the accused are from Sudan and one from Tanzania. Nine other students, eight from Sudan and one from Tanzania, who were arrested under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC, were granted bail by SDM Amarjit Paul.

They were taken to New Delhi by a representative of the Sudanese Embassy and a Supreme Court counsel.

They will be produced before the SDM again on May 10.

Meanwhile, a student, Anil Reddy from Andhra Pradesh, injured during a police lathi charge on the campus on April 27, is said to have been admitted to the DMC, Ludhiana, with a fractured arm.

Assistant director Aman Mittal, however, claimed that the student had been injured because of some other reason and not in the lathi charge.

It is learnt that several African boarders have temporarily shifted outside with their friends for safety reasons.

Many students have expressed their anger against the authorities on the Facebook.

With practical exams commencing from Monday, the university officials are trying hard to restore normalcy on the campus, which remains under tight security.

Mansa, April 29
A police official of the rank of head constable, who was posted as guard at the treasury of Guru Harsahai town of Ferozepur district, was today picked up by the Mansa police for questioning in connection with the fake arms racket scam busted a few days ago.

Kaustab Sharma, SSP, Ferozepur, while confirming the fact that a head constable had been picked up by the Mansa district police today, said that he was not aware of the fact whether any illegal or incriminating thing was recovered from him.

He said that he was informed by senior police officials about the fact that a head constable was being taken into custody and subsequently he would be taken to Mansa for questioning in connection with the fake arms racket.

The Mansa police, which managed to bust a gang running fake arms racket a few days ago, has so far collected more than 100 arms, which were manufactured in various illegal arms manufacturing units running in Bihar and UP, and were sold to customers in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and other parts of the country as genuine.

About four accused involved in the racket have been arrested by the police. A fake arm manufacturing factory was also unearthed by Mansa police in UP in the recent past.

Nirmal Singh Dhillon, IG, Bathinda zone, said that head constable from Guru Harsahai had been brought to Mansa for verification of certain things, which had come to light during the ongoing investigation of fake arms racket.

HS Mann, SSP, Mansa, said that nothing illegal or incriminating had been recovered from the head constable, who was being asked certain question related with investigation, being done in certain cases by the police.