Faridabad, July 2
The Faridabad Commissioner of Police, the Joint Commissioner and the DCPs will hold separate meetings with the public, apart from those by the ACPs, to strengthen the system of community policing in the district.

The police authorities had launched an exercise more than a month ago in which all ACPs had been told to hold meetings with the public in their areas of jurisdiction once a week.

This was in the wake of a number of complaints from various quarters against police personnel as well as resentment among people regarding follow up of criminal cases.

Faridabad Commissioner of Police PK Aggarwal says a decision has been taken now to expand the scope of the exercise following its success so far.

According to him, the aim of the exercise is three-fold: to allow the public an opportunity to air their grievances against police personnel, to facilitate friendly relations between the public and the ACPs, which will help beef up the intelligence network of the police and to strengthen the beat system being followed by the Faridabad police.

According to Aggarwal, the focus is to improve the overall effectiveness of the police with regard to community policing. The DCPs and the Joint Commissioner will also hold meetings with the public.

In a review of the exercise a few days ago, the Commissioner decided that meetings with the public must strictly be organised at places which are not under the control of the police or associated with it.

According to Aggarwal, this decision had been taken to convince the public that it was the police, which was trying to reach out to it.

Sonepat, July 2
“The BJP has launched a countrywide campaign against corruption and the details of all scams and corrupt practices are being collected to place them before the public,” said K Somaiya, national secretary of the party and MP.

He said it was for the first time in the country when 12 union ministers were allegedly involved in scams. “So far, only one minister has been lodged in jail, but soon others will also be sent behind the bars,” he added and alleged that P Chidambaram, Union Home Minister, was also involved in the 2G scam and soon it would be exposed.

While reacting to the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he was not a weak PM, Somaiya said it was unfortunate that a PM had to give a statement to deny such allegations. The UPA government would not give permission for Anna Hazare’s fast in Delhi because it was in the grip of scams, he added.

Expressing concern over the loss of foodgrains for want of proper godown facilities, he said over 400 lakh tonnes of foodgrains out of the total stock of one lakh crore tonnes, was lying unsafe in the open. He estimated that foodgrains worth Rs 5,000 crore were being destroyed every year in rain and floods.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, July 2
School lecturers have resented the recent move of the School Education Department to shift a large number of their colleagues to far-off stations.

In orders issued on June 30, the Director, School Education, Haryana, has deputed 295 school lecturers working in nine districts in the state to the newly set up Aarohi Model Senior Secondary Schools in their respective districts.

The government had recently converted schools situated in 36 educationally backward blocks of Panipat, Palwal, Mewat, Fatehabad, Mahendragarh, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Bhiwani and Sirsa districts in the state.

Sirsa had a share of six AMSS schools at Jhiri, Kaluana, Khari Surera, Nathusari Kalan, Jalalana and Mohammad Puria, while Fatehabad got five AMSS schools at Sarvarpur, Dulet, Bangaon, Jallopur and Kanheri.

Instead of appointing new teachers in these schools, the government has sent 295 school lecturers working in government senior secondary schools and District Institutes of Education and Training in these districts to the AMSS schools in their respective districts.

The affected lecturers allege that on the one hand their department had invited online requests for transfers, while on the other hand they have been shifted to far-off stations without any requests or even consent from their side.

For instance, Dr Raj Bahadur Yadav, a lecturer in English in DIET, Ding (Sirsa), has been sent on deputation to the AMSSS, Nathusari Kalan, which is more than 40 km from his present place of posting.

Sarjan Singh (Hindi), Parshotam Singh (history), Mohan Lal (physics) and Darshana (economics) have also been sent on deputation to the AMSSS, Nathusari Kalan, from different schools in the district.

Similarly, Jaggu Ram, a lecturer in mathematics in DIET, Ding, has been deputed at the AMSSS, Kaluana, which is very far from his present place of posting.

In Fatehabad too, school lecturers Vijay Kumar, Subhash Chander, Roshan Lal, Naresh Kumar and Anju Chaudhary have been shifted from Fatehbad to Bangaon, while some others have been deputed at Kanheri village from Tohana.

Though the orders mention that these adjustments of staff from schools to the AMSS schools are temporary, the lecturers affected by the orders rue that the government had compromised on the education in their existing schools besides shifting them to far-off places without their consent.

In DIET, Ding (Sirsa), for instance, only seven lecturers were posted against the sanctioned strength of 29. Of these, three have been shifted. The affected lecturers in both the districts allege that in most of the schools from where they have been shifted, students will be left without any teachers in these subjects.

Various teachers’ associations have also decried the shifting and have demanded immediate withdrawal of the orders of deputation.

Fatehabad, July 2
Investigations into the fraudulent online requests for transfers made on behalf of some teachers have led the police to a school lecturer working in a senior secondary school in this district, who allegedly made these “requests” using a computer and an Internet connection at his residence in Fatehabad town.

Several teachers had complained regarding the misuse of “online transfer application submission system” introduced by the School Education Department this year and the affected teachers had alleged that someone else had submitted transfer requests on their behalf without their knowledge.

After The Tribune carried two stories,”Online transfer requests trigger chaos” and “Fraudulent online requests for teachers’ transfers to be probed”, on June 13 and June 17, respectively, the department had put the entire list of such requests online and had invited objections from the aggrieved teachers.

Meanwhile, the cyber crime wing of the district police, which was investigating complaints lodged by some teachers, has zeroed in on a lecturer working in a school in this district.

The police, citing the ongoing investigations, is not disclosing the name of the lecturer.

SP Vivek Sharma said the accused would be brought to book soon.

Chandigarh, July 2
Four years after a young couple, Manoj and Babli, was sacrificed on the altar of honour, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has awarded a compensation of Rs 6 lakh to the groom’s mother, Chanderpati.

In her judgment released during the High Court vacations, Justice Ritu Bahri allowed Chanderpati’s petition filed through her counsel HC Arora and directed that “Rs 3 lakh each on account of the death of Manoj and Babli be paid to the petitioner as compensation” following death due to unauthorised withdrawal of security.

In her detailed order, Justice Bahri has observed: “On June 12, 2007, Manoj and Babli had been granted security. While granting anticipatory bail to Manoj, the Sessions Judge, Kaithal, had directed the Superintendent of Police, Kaithal, to provide security for the safety of the lives of Manoj and Babli.

“It was advised that a senior officer be deputed to investigate the case. Manoj and Babli were directed to get their statements recorded under Section 164, CrPC. After making their statements under Section 164, CrPC, on June 15, 2007, they left Kaithal.

“In the judgment dated March 25, 2010, whereby all the accused have been convicted, it has been held that accused Gangaraj conspired with the other accused and was responsible for kidnapping and ultimately killing Manoj and Babli.

“It has been observed by the Additional Sessions Judge that police personnel had left them unattended and never informed their superiors. It is a matter of record that the Superintendent of Police, Kaithal, in an order dated April 29, 2008, had come to the conclusion that head constable Jeyinder was constantly in touch with the accused and was responsible for leaking information regarding Manoj and Babli. He has since been removed from service.”

The couple was killed on June 15, 2007, after the police party accompanying them left them at Pipli. On June 23, 2007, their bodies were recovered from the Barwala link canal.

Justice Bahri rejected the argument of the Haryana state counsel that the petitioner’s case shall be considered by the state government as per the scheme being framed for creation of funds for the victim compensation scheme.

Manoj (23) of Karoran village in Kaithal district had married Babli (19) against the wishes of her family on April 7, 2007.

The entire village had turned against Manoj’s family, as his marriage with Babli from the same gotra did not find favour with the khap panchayat.

The couple shifted to Karnal, but was killed after the khap allegedly ordered their execution. The panchayat had also announced a fine of Rs 25,000 on those found keeping ties with them.

Chandigarh, July 2
The unanimous selection of Pradeep Kumar as the next Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) of India has not come as a surprise to his colleagues and admirers. It must be a rare occasion, at least in the recent past, when the Opposition and the government has agreed on a common name for the post, which has become crucial these days when the common man is up in arms against corruption.

If Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj did not raise any objection to the name of Pradeep Kumar, it was not because she also belongs to Haryana, which happens to be his parent state. As a former minister of Haryana, Sushma must be aware that his integrity is impeccable.

An IAS officer of the Haryana cadre of the 1972 batch, Pradeep Kumar held several sensitive and “lucrative” posts in his long career, but never ever was a finger raised on his integrity. Even after holding the post of secretary, town and country planning in Haryana for about five years, Pradeep Kumar was not involved in any controversy.

A man of a few words, Pradeep Kumar can be described as an introvert, who avoids personal publicity. Like an ideal bureaucrat, he likes to work behind the curtain, coming to limelight only when his job demands.

He would not deviate from the rules, however, unpleasant his attitude might be to his political bosses.

After SY Qureshi, Chief Election Commissioner of India, Pradeep Kumar will be the second officer of the Haryana cadre to hold a statutory post at the Centre. His first posting as the Deputy Commissioner was at Karnal. The Haryana Armed Police, which has its headquarters at Madhuban in Karnal district, witnessed an uprising in 1982. As District Magistrate, Pradeep Kumar was to supervise the sacking of a large number of policemen.

This reporter, whose first posting was also at Karnal, went to his residence late in the night to confirm the report of the impending action against HAP personnel.

He was in his camp office, reading the Punjab Police Act and other laws. He wanted to be sure that everything must go next day as per the law.