New Delhi, July 17
Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, facing prosecution in a disproportionate assets case, has been granted the "last opportunity" by a Delhi court to conclude the arguments on charges levelled against him.

Irked by Chautala's counsel seeking another date for summing up of the arguments, special CBI judge PS Teji posted the matter for July 26 with a clear-cut direction that the arguments have to be concluded on that day.

"Counsel for the accused (Chautala) has filed the written arguments on charges and submitted a date is required for the summing up of arguments on charges.

"At the accused counsel’s request , the matter is adjourned to July 26 for summing up arguments on charges, this being last opportunity," the court said.

During the previous occasion also, the court had to defer hearing of arguments in the case due to non-availability of Chautala's counsel.

The court had earlier dismissed a plea by 75-year-old Chautala for a direction to the CBI to hand him over some additional documents relating to a disproportionate assets case against him.

The judge had dismissed the plea, accepting the CBI contention that the same had been made to delay the trial of the case.

The CBI had on March 26 last year issued a chargesheet against Chautala, indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore, far exceeding his known sources of income between 1993 and 2006.

It is roughly 189 per cent of his income of Rs 3.22 crore during the period, the CBI said in its chargesheet.

Chautala had last held the post of Chief Minister of Haryana between July, 1999 and March, 2005.

The CBI had registered the case against Chautala in April, 2006, and had searched his 24 premises in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal , Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. It had seized Rs 13 lakh in cash, besides freezing five bank accounts having Rs 1.34 crore.

TheCBI had earlier filed chargesheets against Chautala's two sons, Ajay and Abhay, both Haryana MLAs, on grounds of possessing assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. — PTI 

Kurukshetra, July 17
Addressing the three-day orientation programme for working journalists, being organised by the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Technology (IMCMT), Kurukshetra University, here on the second day today, Vivek Sharma, a Germany-based radio journalist, working in Deutsche Welle Radio, said the ‘new media’ in the form of internet and its social networking sites and applications like Facebook, Twitter, etc is the future of journalism.

Giving an example from the revolutions witnessed recently in the Arab region, he said these were the direct outcome of the internet media. He showed a You Tube video in his presentation that was an example of how a person was empowered in the age of internet.

Nidheesh Tyagi, Chief News Editor of The Tribune, expressed his views candidly on the current status of journalism. He said journalists should have a questioning mind and sensitivity to issues while avoiding arm- twisting tactics. He also advised the trainees to read a lot to bring qualitative changes in the practice of journalism.

Offering some practical tips to the reporters, the Metro Editor of the Navbharat Times, Ashish Pandey, said a reporter should be sure of his facts while writing a story. mohallalive.com Editor and moderator Avinash Singh hoped for a bright future of the ‘new media’ while describing the launching of his website.

One of his colleagues present there said the ‘new media’ offered a ray of hope for the common people but there was also the danger of the public space becoming a “monopolised space”.

The IMCMT Director, Prof Rajbir Singh, thanked the various resource persons for sharing their views. The institute’s faculty, research scholars and local mediapersons were also present.

The participating reporters were shown Dharohar — a Cultural Heritage Museum of Haryana and an interactive programme was also held with the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Let-Gen (Dr) DDS Sandhu (retd), the Registrar and other senior faculty members of the university.

About 60 participating journalists in the programme learnt various techniques of reporting and the use of internet in reporting as a part of media training here on the second day of the orientation programme. 

Gurgaon, July 17
Corruption in registration of sale deeds and mutations is rampant across the state, and Gurgaon — the Millennium City — is no exception. The high land rates in and around the city, coupled with deep pockets of big builders, businessmen and corporate bosses have made the Revenue Department posts in the district quite lucrative.

Thanks to the massive real estate development in the Sohna and Manesar areas, the posts of key revenue officials (read tehsildars and naib tehsildars) have lately become the most sought-after ones.

A suvidha-shulk regime is firmly in place at the property nerve centres known as tehsil offices; and the game begins when an applicant approaches the office to get a sale deed or mutation registered.

The deed-writers are the first ones to be approached, many of whom act as facilitators (crudely referred to as touts or middlemen). Some of them also have a battery of street-smart assistants. These facilitators enlighten the trapped applicant about the “rates” fixed for smooth and prompt delivery of services.

The standard “rate” for getting a sale deed registered is 0.5 per cent of the selling price, which may go up to 1 per cent.

In order to save themselves from the hassles involved in the preparation, verification and registration of property-related documents, most of the applicants pay the requisite money to such middlemen.

The sub-registrars (tehsildars and naib-tehsildars) generally put some objection or the other in the registration of sale deeds of the persons who approach these officials directly (read without suvidha shulk).

However, this practice has lately been discouraged as these officials have been told to put the objection in writing. Also, the registered sale deed now bears the pictures of the property owner as well as the sub-registrar concerned, which minimises the chances of foul play in the registration.

Apart from this, three counters have now been opened in Gurgaon for the registration of sale deeds, which gives the applicants a wider choice as regards to the officer to be approached.

“We have also started organising special mutation camps where applicants can freely come to sub-registrars in the presence of senior officials, including the SDMs concerned…In case any objection is made on any sale deed, the applicant can approach senior officials present then and there, who would seek explanation from the sub-registrars,” says Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena, who has initiated these camps.

However, despite all these steps, the corrupt practices and elements continue to thrive, thanks to traps laid by touts the fact that most big-city people prefer to grease the palms of the officials and/or middlemen to avoid hassles and harassment. 

Sirsa, July 17
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the ongoing interviews for the post of guest lecturers in Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa.

Listing a civil miscellaneous (CM) application filed by some guest lecturers to July 28, the high court has ordered, “Meanwhile, interviews in pursuant to the advertisement dated July 6, 2011, shall remain stayed.”

Raghuvinder, Sangita Rani, Poonam, Amandeep Singh and Surinder Saini, who worked as guest lecturers in the Computer Science and Applications Department of the university last year, had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court through a civil writ petition (10618 of 2011) against their relieving orders at the end of the last academic session.

The case, Raghuvinder and others versus State of Haryana and others, was pending before the court and was listed for August 18, 2011.

In the meantime, the university issued an advertisement on July 6 for conducting interviews for the posts of guest lecturers in various departments.

The process of interviews had already begun on July 13.

But before the university could hold interviews for the Computer Science and Applications according to the schedule, the petitioners came armed with the court orders. 

Fatehabad, July 17
Eighteen followers of Dera Sacha Sauda were injured when the school bus by which they were returning to their homes at Ratia, overturned on the outskirts of the town this evening.

The injured dera followers were taken to the local General Hospital from where two seriously injured persons have been shifted to PGIMS, Rohtak. The injured persons included 10 women and some children.

According to police sources, the dera followers had gone to attend a weekly congregation of the dera chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

While they were returning home in the evening, the school bus in which they were travelling overturned after one of its tyres deflated.

The bus driver lost control over the vehicle and the bus fell in a roadside ditch after taking three somersaults.

Dera followers from Fatehabad and policemen rushed to the site of accident and shifted victims to hospital.

Sonepat, July 17
Farmers of Juan village adopted a novel way to protest against the “erratic” power supply during this peak paddy plantation season. They staged a dharna last night in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s residence to seek redress of their grievances.

Around 25 farmers of the village along with the sarpanch, Dharambir, reached the Deputy Commissioner’s residence around midnight to lodge a complaint against the Bijli Nigam authorities for not attending to their complaints for the past 10 days.

The officials on night duty at the DC’s residence sounded the officers concerned of the nigam who met the villagers this morning and after getting an assurance from the nigam officers, the villagers left the venue around 10 am today.

Sarpanch Dharambir said the farmers were not getting power according to the supply schedule of 11 pm to 6 am and that the disruptions in supply were being caused due to line tripping and overloading. The farmers had no other option except to wait for the whole night for the resumption of power supply.

Panipat, July 17
Setting yet another record within 10 days, the Haryana power utilities supplied 1,337.94 lakh units of electricity on July 14, the highest-ever power supplied in a single day.

The utilities had earlier made a record by supplying 1,327.90 lakh units of power on July 6. Arun Kumar, Managing Director, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, said the utilities had made arrangements to meet power demand from 6,000 MW to 6,500 MW during this paddy season.

He said on an average, 1,223 lakh units of electricity daily had been supplied to the consumers from July 1 to 14 as compared to 946 lakh units daily during the corresponding period of last year.

Kumar stated that the most-significant feature was that the state had made the advance arrangements of meeting peak shortages and had successfully managed to bridge the gap of demand and supply during peak hours. Not only this, the state had also not purchased electricity on a short-term basis at comparatively higher rates.

He said additional power of 6,125.04 MW daily for July, 6,025.96 MW for August, 5,645.75 MW for September 1 to 15 and 5,495.75 MW daily for September 16 to 30 had been arranged by the Haryana Power Purchase Centre.

Kumar added that the judicious banking arrangements would help the state save about Rs 6,00 crore. The banking and return banking arrangements would also enable the utilities not to impose any fuel surcharge adjustments on the consumers in future. 

Sirsa, July 17
A youth, who had executed a plan to implicate his beloved’s uncle in a criminal case, eventually landed himself in jail here last evening.

Ashwani, alias Ashu, loved a girl, a teacher in a private school here, who lived with her uncle’s family in the local MC Colony.

As the girl’s uncle came to know of the affair, he started monitoring her movements, making it difficult for the two lovers to meet.

Ashwani thought of a plan to remove the girl’s uncle from the scene.

He placed an illicit pistol in a room built on the terrace of her uncle’s house. He had planned that he would inform the police and the pistol’s recovery would lead to the arrest of the girl’s uncle.

However, the girl’s uncle noticed the weapon in the terrace room and informed the police before Ashwani could do. The police reached up to Ashwani based on the statements of neighbours. Ashwani later confessed to his crime. 

Sonepat, July 17
Shiv Kumar, a judo-karate trainer, of Deepalpur village, was allegedly kidnapped by a few youths in a van outside a Sports Authority of India centre on the GT road near Bahalgarh late last evening.

Shiv used to come to the centre daily. Around 8 pm yesterday when he came out, the youths forcibly dragged him into the van and sped away. They also snatched his mobile, damaged it and threw it on the road.

A case has been registered in this connection.

Rewari, July 17
Two proclaimed offenders, Anil and Leelu, of Tatarpur village have been booked for accidentally shooting a property dealer, Yogesh, of Shakti Nagar Colony here, on Friday night.

While the miscreants fled on a motorcycle, Yogesh, who was hit by a gunshot in the arm, was admitted to a private hospital in Gurgaon.

According to police sources, in 2005, when Anil and Leelu were in Bhondsi jail along with a city youth, Sunder Gujjar, they had an altercation with Gujjar following which the duo had started nursing a grudge against Sunder. Later, Sunder was let off and the duo came out on parole in 2009. However, when they jumped the parole, they were declared proclaimed offenders.

The sources added that on Friday night, Anil and Leelu came to the colony to kill Gujjar. Thus when they opened fire, the gunshot accidentally hit Yogesh, who was chatting with Gujjar. Soon after the firing, the duo fled. A senior police official said, “The duo is at large, but we have launched a manhunt to trace them.”

Rewari, July 17
A teenaged girl (15) of Qutubpur Colony here, who worked as a domestic help at a guesthouse in the local New Grain Market, was abducted on July 8 allegedly by a paying guest Arjun, a resident of South City Colony here.

She was taken to Amritsar where she was repeatedly raped by her alleged abductor.

After she was abandoned at Amritsar by the accused, the girl informed her parents here who facilitated her return to Rewari on July 15.

The Rampura police has registered a case of abduction, rape and criminal conspiracy against Arjun and guesthouse proprietor Jooly.

Sources said after Arjun developed intimacy with the girl, he eloped with her on July 8 with Jooly’s collaboration.

Sirsa, July 17
A villager was gunned down by three men after a minor dispute over giving side to the tractor-trolley of the victim’s son at Jogiwala village of the district today.

The victim, Dayaram, died on the spot and a case of murder has been registered against three persons.

According to the statement given to the police by the victim’s nephew, Om Parkash, Dayaram’s son, Vikram, had taken a contract of lifting earth from a site.

He said when Vikram was going to his village after dumping earth in the fields, he had a dispute with another villager, Risal Singh, over giving side to Vikram’s tractor- trolley.

The two had a heated exchange of words after which a panchayat was held to sort out the issue at Risal Singh’s house this morning.

Soon after the meeting, Risal Singh and his accomplices, Krishan Singh and Bhal Singh, went to the fields with arms where Dayaram and Om Parkash had gone to lift earth.

The three allegedly fired several shots at the victim and Om Parkash.

Dayaram sustained bullet injuries on his neck and face and died on the spot while Om Parkash had a close shave as a bullet brushed past his shoulder. 

Sirsa, July 17
Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU) has clarified that students of all colleges from Sirsa and Fatehabad districts recently affiliated to it would participate in the extra-curricular activities of the university irrespective of their classes.

Dr KC Bhardwaj, Vice-Chancellor, said “The first-year students of graduate or post-graduate courses, who have sought admission to various colleges of the two districts, will remain affiliated to the CDLU for all purposes.”

However, those who have taken admission to these courses in previous years would be attached to Kurukshetra University only for taking exams. For all other purposes, including sports and cultural activities, these students would be considered part of the CDLU.

The principals of 42 colleges affiliated to the CDLU had recently expressed apprehensions about the “dual” university status of old students of their institutions.

Chandigarh, July 17
The state government has granted one-year extension to private schools for fulfilling the norms for permanent recognition.

It has also been decided to allow provisional affiliation with the Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani, to all such schools, a spokesman of the Secondary Education Department said.

Provisional affiliation would also be allowed to schools whose applications had been received on or before April 10, 2007, for grant of permanent recognition. — TNS