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HC pulls up Law Ministry
25 years on, miles to go
People pledge support to Baba Ramdev
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Three charred to death in factory fire
Dairy science academy plans to tackle anaemia
Staff don’t get uniform allowance: HPGC
Trees not to face axe, courtesy traders’ stir
UP runaway couple gets protection
Pay hike for consumer forum members
DC to look into misuse of Red Cross funds
INLD launches public awareness drive
2 bodies found in Jhajjar
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HC pulls up Law Ministry
The High Court, on May 20, had asked the Secretary, Union Ministry of Law and Justice, to file an affidavit on whether any opinion was formulated on the issue of sanction to prosecute Justice Yadav. The affidavit was not furnished in the court today. The development is significant as her counsel KTS Tulsi is insisting that once rejected, the decision on sanction to prosecute cannot be reviewed. The High Court, on the other hand, is asking the counsel to place before it any document to show the Chief Justice of India had earlier also formed an opinion on the issue. As the case came up for hearing this morning, Additional Solicitor-General of India Anmol Rattan Sidhu placed on record a copy of a communication dated May 27 from the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, seeking 15 days’ time to file a reply in the matter “as information desired by the court was being gathered”. Taking note of the communication, Justice Permod Kohli asserted: “It seems that the ministry has taken the direction of this court as a routine direction and is seeking time for filing a reply. As a matter of fact, this court had simply directed the ministry to file an affidavit disclosing certain information sought by this court and no detailed reply was asked for. “This direction does not seem to have been complied with sincerely. However, in the interest of justice, the Secretary to Ministry of Law and Justice is allowed four weeks’ time to file the required affidavit”. The case also saw Justice Yadav move an application for summoning “relevant file from the CBI/Secretary (Personnel), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension”. Justice Yadav said according to her information, the CBI had sent a detailed report to the government on the facts and circumstances of the case and the material collected during the course of the investigation. If the relevant file is summoned from the Law Ministry, it will establish that a formal request for sanction was forwarded by the CBI. “Thus, the opinion of the Attorney-General and the discussion of the Law Minister with the Chief Justice of India was about the action to be taken on the formal request for prosecution of the petitioner.” Justice Yadav added that the case for her transfer was “obviously approved” by the Supreme Court collegium only because the Chief Justice of India had already decided the request for the prosecution of the petitioner”. Justice Yadav also sought the summoning of the files from the Registrar of the Supreme Court “vide which the proposal for her transfer from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Uttarakhand High Court was mooted after its approval by the collegium between November 2009 and January 2010. The case will now come up for further hearing on July 14. |
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25 years on, miles to go
The consumers, who felt cheated by the manufacturers and traders, were left at their mercy. The alternative was not only costly but also time consuming. An aggrieved consumer could only file a civil suit for relief. The Consumer Protection Act was enacted in 1986, under which special forums and commissions were set up at the district, state and national levels to deal only with the consumer-related cases. As the Act celebrates its silver jubilee, the objective of speedy redressal seems to have been defeated. Almost all the platforms set up under the Act have a large number of cases pending for adjudication. Haryana is no exception in this regard. About 7,800 cases are pending before it. This number had touched 12,000 in 2007. However, the picture started getting rosy after former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge, Justice RS Madan took over as the chairman of the Haryana Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in 2008. Alarmed by the large number of cases pending before the commission, Justice Madan made it a point to reduce the pendency of the cases. Over 4,000 old cases have been disposed of by the commission in the past three years. Not only this, the rate of disposal has also gone up. Till 2007, the disposal rate was about 53 per cent of the new cases being filed before the commission. Now, it is about 80 per cent. The disposal rate, according to Pankaj Chandgothia, president of the Consumer Courts Bar Association, is the highest in the country. Justice Madan, who will complete his three years as chairman of the commission tomorrow, has broken his own previous record of deciding 670 cases in a single month of September 2009, when he disposed 793 cases in May 2011. Chandgothia says since May had just 21 working days, it comes to more than 37 cases per day. The personal efforts of Justice Madan has also resulted in an unprecedented increase in the honorarium of members of the commission and district forums, which has now been more than doubled. “The matter was being pursued since July 2008 and the increase was notified on May 30, 2011,” said Justice Madan. A selected judicial member of the Haryana Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had refused to join in September 2010 citing low remuneration. |
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People pledge support to Baba Ramdev
Rohtak, June 1 The protesters claimed that thousands of supporters and activists of the Patanjali Yog Samiti and the Bharat Swabhiman Manch would join the fast at the Ramlila Grounds. Addressing the protesters, local leaders and representatives of the samiti said hundreds of persons, including women and youth, had started making preparations for reaching Delhi to join the agitation to be launched by Baba Ramdev against corruption and black money. Raising slogans against the government, they alleged that the government was trying to undermine the campaign through various means, but said the drive would be taken to its logical end. According to Sher Singh, district president of the Bhiwani unit of the Bharat Swabhiman Manch, corruption was the main issue and the government could not escape its responsibility by just issuing statements. |
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Three charred to death in factory fire
Jhajjar, June 1 The deceased have been identified as Tulsi Dass of Jatwara Mohalla in Bahadurgarh and Manoj Tewari of Lakhimpur and Rakesh Kumar of Pratap Garh in Uttar Pradesh. The police has registered a case against the factory owner and started investigation. The incident took place following a blast in a LPG cylinder that was being used for manufacturing works in the Sunlight Heavy Soul factory. The fire engulfed the whole factory in a few minutes. The fire also spread to the adjoining Aeroflore India factory where velvet powder was being manufactured. Later, some more LPG cylinders started exploding. Manoj Tewari and Tulsi Dass, who were busy working, were brunt alive in the fire. Besides, Rakesh Kumar, who was on the way outside the factory, died when a cylinder hit him on the head, said the police. Fire tenders were pressed into service. It took over two hours to bring the fire under control. Bahadurgarh DSP Rajbir Deswal, along with the police force, rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. Factory owner Zile Singh of Mundka village in Delhi has been booked under Section 304 of the IPC and a police team has been dispatched to Mundka to arrest him, said Deswal. He said the police was also investigating that whether the owner had taken permission from the authorities concerned to use explosive items in the factory as explosive materials cannot be used without obtaining a licence. |
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Finally, leopard walks into trap
Karnal, June 1 The leopard was first spotted on April 28 and again on May 4 after remaining in hiding for six days. However, it did not strayed into the village thereafter. However, the leopard fell in the trap today when he came for the catch (a goat). Hundreds of villagers gathered near the cage to see the leopard as soon as the news of leopard being caught spread. Divisional Forest Officer Navdeep Hooda said the leopard had been medically examined and given the first aid. “A doctor of Chhatbir Zoo has also certified that the animal is fit for release and the leopard will be set free today itself in the Kalesar National park,” he added. The fear of leopard attack haunted the farmers of half a dozen villages near Badagaon area after a leopard on prowl had a close encounter with a villager, who was working in the fields adjoining the forest on April 28. The reserved forest adjoining Badagaon spread over 210 acres is surrounded by Mugal Majari, Nanmati, Badagaon, Kunjpura and Gher villages, 12 km from
Karnal. |
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Dairy science academy plans to tackle anaemia
Karnal, June 1 Director and Vice-Chancellor, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Dr AK Srivastav said this while presiding over the first convocation of National Academy of Dairy Sciences and national symposium on “Probiotic dairy foods and human health” organised to mark the 11th World Milk Day. He said more than 80 per cent of women of reproductive age in India were iron deficient, resulting in anaemic. Stressing that intrauterine malnutrition leads to low birth weight of the newly born child, he said providing fortified milk (rich in content) had become imperative as 57 per cent of the women and kids in the country were deficient in Vitamin A. Acknowledging the fact that India is being termed as the “global capital” of diseases with one-third of the total diabetic population living in India, one-fourth of the country’s population suffering from hypertension and 16.9 million deaths taking place due to cardiovascular diseases, he said 33 per cent of kids were underweight and 6,000 children die annually due to malnutrition. Briefing the objectives of the newly formed National Academy of Dairy Science, he said the mandate of the academy was to provide guidelines to the policy makers so that issues like nutritional malnutrition and dairy food biotechnology for extension of shelf life of dairy products could be taken care of. As many as 21 founder fellows were also honoured for their distinguished contribution. |
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Staff don’t get uniform allowance: HPGC
Chandigarh, June 1 The report had said that the Haryana Bureau of Public Enterprises (HBPE) had objected to the payment of uniform allowance to employees by the state power utilities and had asked the utilities to recover over Rs 20 crore from the employees. A spokesman for the HPGC said instead of paying money to its employees to purchase uniforms, the corporation supplied uniforms to its employees. He said this was “a very different methodology from that adopted by the two power distribution companies”. Hence, there was no question of the HBPE objecting to the payment of uniform allowance by the corporation without its prior approval. “Since no such uniform allowance has been paid by the HPGC, there does not seem to be any requirement of prior approval of the HBPE,” he added. The spokesman said the HPGC was the country’s first power generation company among the state power utilities to have ISO:9001, ISO:14001 and OHSAS:18001 and every employee right up to the level of Managing Director of the company wore uniform on all working days, except Friday. |
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Air Marshal visits Air Force Station
Sirsa, June 1 Group Captain Anil Sabharwal, Station Commander of the Air Force Station, Sirsa, and his wife Ashima Sabharwal, president of the AFWWA, Local, received the Kumarias on the tarmac. The Air Marshal was given a guard of honour on his arrival in the station. Air Marshal Kumaria later addressed personnel of the station and interacted with officers. He inspected various operational and technical installations as well as the administrative set-up and facilities of the station. A spokesperson for the Air Force Station said it was a routine visit of the Air Marshal after he took over his position at the Western Air Command in January this year. He said the Air Marshal lauded the efforts of the local station and exhorted the station personnel to keep up their good work. Later, Ashima Sabharwal apprised Vaneeta Kumaria about the activities of the AFWWA (Local). A function was organised by the AFWWA in the Government Girls Middle School at Meerpur village. The AFWWA has adopted this village for creating literacy among women. |
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Trees not to face axe, courtesy traders’ stir
Hisar, June 1 The trust had recently decided to develop Phase I of the auto market to facilitate expansion. There are 240 trees in the area of the new phase of the market. Most of these are old trees. After a survey, the trust decided to cut down 110 trees. However, the shopkeepers vociferously opposed the plan. While one of them went on an indefinite fast, many others joined him in protest. The district administration after consultations with the Forest Department has now asked the trust to transplant these trees in the Phase I of the market. It has been decided to seek the expertise of Guru Jambheshwar University here for the purpose. The GJU authorities had last year uprooted massive trees from the area where it had to construct buildings. These trees were transplanted within the campus itself to improve the landscape. The shopkeepers ended their stir after it was decided to relocate the trees. |
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Afghan team holds talks with HAU officials
Hisar, June 1 Gafuri, who was on a day’s visit to Haryana Agricultural University today, said three decades of war had rendered his organisation ineffective as no statistics had been collected all these years. He said it was virtually impossible to frame national policies and conceive development projects in the absence of relevant data. He had talks with India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on this issue and it had offered all help to bring the Afghan statistical organisation back on the rails. Incidentally, Gafuri is an alumnus of HAU. He did his Master’s from this university in 1977. He said he was proud to be back “to the garden that nurtured me”. The Afghan delegation had talks with a team of university officials headed by Vice-Chancellor KS Khokhar. The delegation also visited the College of Agriculture, library and bio-technology laboratory. |
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UP runaway couple gets protection
Panipat, June 1 The district police has offered shelter to a runaway couple from Dulhlapur village in Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh, who had married against the wishes of the girl’s family. The couple, Poonam and Idrees Ahmad, belonged to the same village and left their native place a year ago and tied the nuptial knot. Poonam then changed her name to Asma Khatun and both started living together. However, this did not go down well with the family members of the girl and other villagers, who issued threats to the two to annul their marriage or face elimination. Unable to live under a persistent threat, the couple approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for protection. The High Court asked the district police to provide protection to the couple. Idress said after he married Poonam, her family members got a false case registered against his father, maternal uncle and brother-in-law. Following this, his family members left their native village. District police chief Pankaj Nain said as per the rules, the two had been provided shelter for 10 days. He said in case the couple wanted to stay in the protection home for a longer duration of time, a special committee would be constituted to examine their case. |
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Pay hike for consumer forum members
Chandigarh, June 1 In response to a PIL filed by advocate HC Arora for enhancement of salaries of consumer fora members, the Haryana Government today handed over its reply to the petitioner along with two latest notifications issued on the subject. The notification of May 30 issued by the financial commissioner and principal secretary to the Food and Supplies Department declares that all members of Haryana state consumer commission shall be entitled to increased honorarium at the rate of Rs 40,000 per month instead of the existing honorarium of Rs 15,000. They will also be entitled to the facility of government accommodation, if available, or house rent as per the rules. They will further be entitled to telephone facility and Rs1,000 as conveyance allowance and medical reimbursement with immediate effect. The second notification of May 31 declares that all members of the district consumer forum in Haryana shall now get honorarium at the rate of Rs 20,000, instead of the existing Rs 15,000 per month. The state of Punjab and Chandigarh administration have so far not declared their stand officially before the high court. The PIL will now come up for hearing on August 2. |
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DC to look into misuse of Red Cross funds
Karnal, June 1 She said she joined her duties at Karnal late last year and was not fully aware of the expenditure incurred prior to her joining. She said she had made a suggestion that a small fraction of 1 to 2 per cent of the funds arranged at the initiative of the Deputy Commissioner could be set apart and kept at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioner for sundry expenses. Meanwhile, RP Malhotra, convener, Haryana BJP Human Rights Cell, has sent a complaint to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, seeking an inquiry into the matter. |
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INLD launches public awareness drive
Kurukshetra, June 1 He said corruption prevailing in the Congress had surfaced following the occurrence of various scams, the 2G scam, Adarsh, Commonwealth Games and land acquisition in various states. He alleged that corruption had become rampant. Items used by farmers have become costlier, while their produce was bought at cheaper rates. The cost of petrol had increased by Rs 24 per litre during the past two years, while the rates of kitchen gas and diesel were likely to be increased in the near future, he added. He also addressed party meetings at Balahi, Raogarh, Indbadi, Mundakhera, Samaspur, Dera Bazigar, Bagthala, Dabhkeri, Jogna Khera, Narkatari, Barwa, Kainthla, Mirzapur and Bahri villages and exhorted workers to spread awareness on these issues. INLD state discipline committee chairman Asha Singh said the INLD was the only party which could safeguard the interests of the people. |
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2 bodies found in Jhajjar
Jhajjar, June 1 According to the police, the body of Paramjeet was found lying in his truck by another driver near the court campus in Bahadurgarh town. Bahadurgarh DSP Rajbir Deswal said the body had been sent to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem. In the second incident, the body of a three-year-old baby girl was recovered from a pump house in Akheri Madanpur village here today. |
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Chandigarh, June 1
Chandigarh, June 1
