Dharamsala, May 25
The Dalai Lama has rejected the offer to be the ceremonial head of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Addressing delegates who participated at the Tibetan general meeting yesterday, he said: “I cannot accept the role of ceremonial head of the state.”

The delegates went today to present their report to the Dalai Lama urging him to retain some powers over the Tibetan government-in-exile. The Dalai Lama, however, assured the delegates that he would go through the report presented by them.

The delegates had requested the Dalai Lama to continue as ceremonial head of the Tibetan government-in-exile as the Queen of England in Britain.

Earlier also, the Dalai Lama had rejected the proposal of Tibetan parliamentarians to continue as their head following which they were forced to draft proposals to devolve his political and administrative powers to the elected leadership.

Sources here said most of political and administrative powers would be vested in the Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile. The amendments would be effected in a special session of Tibetan parliament that begins tomorrow.

The new Tibetan Prime Minister, Lobsang Sangay, will now be the most powerful elected leader of the Tibetans. However, he faces the challenge of gaining acceptability for the Tibetan government. Till date no country, including India, recognises the Tibetan government.

Every government, including China, used to communicate with the office of the Dalai Lama or his representatives. Now they will have to communicate with the Tibetan Prime Minister which would mean granting recognition to the Tibetan government. This may create problems for some international supporters of the Tibetans as any step towards recognition of the Tibetan government will evoke strong reaction from China.

Shimla, May 25
The two persons who were arrested in the alleged preparation of a fake court judgment, executive engineer Kuldeep Rao and lawyer Haresh Sood, have been remanded to police custody till May 28 and some other people involved with the case are also being questioned by the police.

It was yesterday that the district police arrested Rao, younger brother of former Congress minister Rangila Ram Rao, and Sood for allegedly preparing a fake high court judgment. The judgment was then used by Rao to get the service benefit of the period he remained suspended while being named in the combined pre-medical test (CPMT) paper leak case in 2006.

“Both Rao and Sood have been remanded to police custody till May 28, while we are still trying to ascertain the role of three others who too had engaged the lawyer to get the FIR in the CPMT case against them quashed,” said Anand Dhiman, Additional SP, who investigated the case and confirmed from the high court that no such judgment existed.

In fact the judicial officer had to go to the Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) where Rao was admitted following a complaint of chest pain yesterday as he could not be presented in the court.

Four persons, including Rao who were accused in the CPMT case in 2006, had approached the lawyer in November last year to get the FIR quashed. It was learnt that Sood handed over the judgment to Rao last in December which was then used by him to get service benefit which was still under process.

The alleged fake judgment had been submitted by Rao to the Principal Secretary (PWD) so that he could avail benefit of the service period while he remained suspended for his involvement in the CPMT case. The police got a tip-off and investigated the matter to find out that there was no such judgment on the court website or record.

Shimla, May 25
The Excise and Taxation Department will finally switch over to e-tax administration next month, one year behind the original deadline.

The e-governance project was delayed because of the initial reluctance on part of dealers to furnish all information sought by the department for assigning the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). As a result, TIN could not be allotted to a large number of dealers by June 2010, the deadline for completion of the project.

The department was forced to extend the deadline up to March 2011. However, still quite a few dealers have not been allotted TIN.

There are about 60,000 dealers in the state out of which about 10,000 dealers, mostly contractors who got registered, have not been pursuing trading. Commissioner of Excise and Taxation JC Sharma said all active dealers had been allotted TIN and the department was set to introduce e-returns and e-declarations from the next month.

The biggest beneficiary will be the dealers as they would not have to visit various offices for depositing tax and filing returns. An e-payment portal has already been made available for remitting taxes.

Further, procurement of goods, particularly from outside the state, will be much easier as details can be traced with TIN through the web portal TINXSYS created by the Centre.

The department will be in a position to curb malpractices by unscrupulous dealers and prevent leakage of revenue by keeping a track on the transactions.

The 11-digit TIN is similar to PAN (Permanent Account Number) of the Income Tax Department and it will facilitate smooth switchover to the new GST regime proposed for implementation from the next year.

Shimla, May 25
Alleging that the BJP government was using eco-tourism as a pretext to give away the state’s precious forests to private companies, Congress General Secretary Kuldeep Rathore today demanded a probe into the allotment of eco-tourism projects by an independent agency like the CBI.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the manner in which projects had been allotted along the national highway for a song clearly indicated that the government was promoting company-based tourism in the place of community-based tourism as laid down in the state policy. The purpose of eco-tourism had been defeated as projects had been awarded in violation of the Forest Conservation Act.

Instead of putting up tents the promoters had created five-star facilities in the forests and even opened bars for which exceptionally high tariff was being charged, making a mockery of the entire concept of eco-tourism. The local people and ordinary customers were not even allowed by the security personnel to enter the eco-tourism sites. He said he was himself stopped at the entry of the eco-tourism resort near Shoghi.

He alleged that the BJP was vehemently pursuing its “sell Himachal” agenda and all the precious natural resources like land, rivers, steams and forests were being doled out.

Referring to reports that the government was using vigilance agency to harass the family of Mayor Madhu Sood who spoke against the clearance granted to a private builder to construct cottages, he said the Dhumal government acted with vengeance against anyone, including BJP leaders, who spoke against the rampant corruption. He cited the example of BJP MP Rajan Sushant who had been removed from the state executive.

Kangra, May 25
Dr Gaurav Sharma, who passed his medical graduation from Dr RP Government Medical College at Tanda in 2008, has topped the MD/MS entrance examination for PGIMER, Chandigarh, and secured 98 percentile.

Disclosing this here today, Principal Dr Anil Chauhan said it was a matter of pride for his college and the state to see that Gaurav, who served at Kinnuar as a medical officer, topped the test.

He said Gaurav Sharma belonged to Thara village of Amb tehsil of Una district.

Chauhan said his achievement had set an example for all doctors who avoid going to rural areas for the sake of their preparations of higher exams.

Dr Chauhan said two other students, who also passed their MBBS from the TMC, Reshipal Thakur and Monika Thakur, secured more than 90 percentile.

Hamirpur, May 25
Three students of the local Him Academy Public School have qualified the IIT entrance test. While siblings Harish Ranaut (rank 1126) and Ashish Ranaut (rank 990) from a village near Hamirpur have qualified this test, a boy from Kangra studying here, Vikas Sharma (rank 8826), has also qualified the IIT entrance test.

All the three students have qualified this test while pursuing their Class XII studies in the local school.

While talking to The Tribune these students gave credit for this achievement to their parents and teachers.

Harish said, “We used to revise the lessons learnt in the classroom and made special preparation for the IIT entrance test through study material supplied in the school and our teachers also contributed a lot in our preparation for the entrance test.”

Principal of the school CP Lakhanpal said, “We have been providing coaching materials to students in the school, besides helping them in preparing for the entrance test and it is a matter of pride for us that three of our Class XII students have qualified the IIT entrance test.”

Kullu, May 25
Deputy Commissioner BM Nanta said here yesterday that the road between Manali and Keylong was through as the Border Road Organisation (BRO) had cleared 50-60 ft snowfall on the 13,050-ft-high Rohtang Pass. However, traffic had to be regulated as only single-lane road was available before throwing the road open for vehicular traffic.

He said the administration, along with the Superintendent of Police, had discussions with the BRO authorities and chalked out a comprehensive plan to regulate traffic on the 129-km stretch of the world’s second highest motorable road.

He said more than 36 police and Himachal Home Guards personnel would be deployed and a barrier would be put near Kothi from where heavy vehicles would not be permitted to pass through the Rohtang Pass during day time.

He further said the parking area at Marhi would be widened to accommodate more vehicles and parking be regulated by the police.

The DC said a patch between Gulaba Mod and Marhi was sinking and not safe for heavy vehicular traffic and a diversion would be constructed by the BRO on a war footing. With the construction of diversion road the distance between Manali and Marhi would be reduced by 7 km, he added.

Chamba, May 25
The problems of people have increased even more due to the power failure in the town and other areas as they were already facing problem of frequent power tripping even after a spell of rain and mild storm for the past some days.

A number of areas in the region today received erratic power supply due to the thunderstorm followed by rain.

Frequent power cuts in various localities of Chamba have forced the residents to depend on the alternative mode of power like generators and invertors.

However, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) senior Executive Engineer of Chamba Pankaj Singh maintained that it was due to the local faults. There was no power crisis in Chamba, barring a few routine repair and maintenance works at some areas of Chamba and its adjoining areas during the pre-summer season, he said.