Hisar, August 6
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here today that the opposition parties in Haryana had lost political ground completely.

Addressing a rally organised by the Congress on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the late Om Parkash Jindal, he said the opposition parties did not have any issue against his government and their support base had shrunk.

It was evident from the fact that the INLD, which had the capacity to enforce a Bharat Bandh when the late Devi Lal was at the helm of affairs, had organised a Sirsa bandh during his visit to Sirsa sometime ago. Next time, it would be confined to Chautala village. Days were not far, he said, when the Chautalas would only shut the doors of their own houses in the name of a bandh.

With an eye on the impending byelection to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, he said, he had given Hisar a veterinary university, a power plant and had elevated Barwala tehsil to the subdivisional level. It was just a matter of time before the Hisar-Delhi rail line was sanctioned.

He said while Om Parkash Chautala had spent just Rs 1,000 crore on Hisar district during his six-year rule, he had sanctioned Rs 2,047 crore so far. Work was progressing on projects worth Rs 247 crore and sanction had been accorded to more projects worth Rs 303 crore.

In response to a charter of demands presented by local Congress legislator Savitri Jindal, the Chief Minister agreed to shift the bus stand to the northern bypass, lay astro-turf on a hockey ground and establish a multipurpose hospital here.

Haryana Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana criticised Chautala for raising the issue of allotment of land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He said Chautala should let the people know how much land he had given to trusts and other institutions named after his father, the late Devi Lal.

Others who were present at the rally included Naveen Jindal, MP, former minister Sampat Singh, Ram Kishan Fauji, CPS, and Ram Niwas Ghorela, Naresh Selwal, MLAs, and former ministers Hari Singh Saini and Chhattarpal Singh.

Earlier, Hooda laid the foundation stone of the southern bypass. The bypass will be built at a cost of Rs 33.5 crore. The project will be completed in two years. The bypass will relieve traffic congestion in the city.

The city already has a northern bypass which enables traffic coming from Delhi to bypass the city and proceed straight to Punjab and Chandigarh. The new bypass will enable traffic to and from Rajasthan to proceed to Punjab and Chandigarh without entering the city.

Hooda also laid the foundation stone of a waterworks in the Azad Nagar locality here. It will cost Rs 22 crore and will be completed in 18 months. It will provide drinking water facility to a population of about 26,000 households in the area.

The Chief Minister said since he came to power in 2005, he had initiated construction of 19 bypasses in the state. As many as 12 had been completed and work was in progress on seven more roads.

Later, addressing a function organised by the Freedom Fighters Sammaan Samiti he announced raising the pension of freedom fighters from Rs 11,000 to Rs 15,000.

Gurgaon, August 6
All pubs located in Sahara Mall here were shut after a massive protest dharna staged by the residents of nearby villages and local residents’ bodies in front of the mall here today.

This comes a week after some youths of Chakarpur and nearby areas were injured in a brawl with the bouncers at Ignite pub in Sahara Mall.

Though a few persons have been arrested in connection with the case, others are still at large. The protesters demanded immediate arrest of the remaining accused and cancellation of the licences of the pubs operating in the mall.

District police and administrative officials went to placate the irate protesters. All six pubs at the mall were locked in the presence of the protesting villagers. A committee has also been constituted to keep a vigil on the closed pubs.

The government officials maintained that the authorities concerned had been apprised of the matter.

Faridabad, August 6
The police has arrested three boys for allegedly raping a Class IX girl in a car on Wednesday. One of the accused, Sachin, who was a classmate of the victim, is absconding.

According to SHO Narender Singh, all the accused are juveniles. The arrested were produced in a juvenile court, which sent them to 14 days of judicial custody. The arrested have been identified as Arun, Kunal and Karan.

Arun, Kunal and Sachin hail from a nearby village, Ankhir, while Karan resides in Sector 21 D in the city.

According to the police, the three were arrested from Ankhir. While Arun is a school dropout and had recently taken his Class X exam as a private student, Kunal is a Class XI student of Aashirbad Public School. Karan is a student of Class X of TT Public School located in Sector 28 of the city. The car in which the crime was committed has also been traced.

The incident took place when the victim was on the way to attend her tuition class. The police had registered a case.

The girl told the police that Sachin had picked up a quarrel with her a few days ago and had threatened her of dire consequences.

Sirsa, August 6
Timely intervention by the police and the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer saved a minor girl from becoming “balika vadhu” at Gadrana village in the district yesterday.

Sadhna Mittal, the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer of the district, received a tip-off that Jagga Singh, a farmer from Gadrana village, had organised the marriage of his two daughters, Charanjit Kaur and Sarabjit Kaur, with two real brothers from Peepli village of the district on Friday.

When Mittal received this information in the afternoon, the marriage parties of two bridegroom brothers, Gurpreet Singh and Satbir Singh, had already arrived in Gadrana.

She brought the matter to the notice of Kalanwali police station and asked the police to stop the marriage.

The police intervened and demanded proof of the brides’ age.

Family members of the brides initially reacted to the police action with hostility, but later fell in line and showed the school certificates of the two girls.

The records revealed that while Charanjit Kaur was 19 years of age, Sarabjit Kaur was 17, a minor.

The police directed the family to stop Sarabjit’s marriage, brought the two sisters’ father, Jagga Singh, to Mittal’s office, where he gave an undertaking to the authorities that he would not marry off Sarabjit Kaur till she attained the marriageable age of 18.

Mittal said the sarpanch of the village also gave a similar undertaking 
before her.

Yamunanagar, August 6
The police today arrested Roshan Lal Arya, former MLA and president of the Vanchit Varg Sangathan Samiti, and booked him in a case of fraud.

A police party from here picked up Roshan Lal Arya from Ropar where he had gone on a personal visit. His son, Jitender Arya, was also booked in the same case and arrested along with him.

The police said the case was registered on a complaint filed by Ramesh Verma, owner of Jyoti Hotel, on Friday. The complainant had alleged that Arya had solemnised the wedding of his son at his hotel in 2008 but not paid his dues. When he demanded money, Arya threatened him, saying he would use his political connections and harass him. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 6
In a major embarrassment to the BJP leadership in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has virtually passed strictures on its former local bodies minister Dr Mangal Sain in a land allocation issue.

Justice Ranjit Singh has also found fault with the Karnal Municipal Committee. Justice Ranjit Singh has directed that the plot, in wrongful possession of one Jai Dayal, be vacated, even if it means demolishing the construction against the court orders.

He said the case revealed that how “largesse is being distributed on account of political patronage”. “The accusing finger is towards the then local bodies minister, Dr Mangal Sain of the BJP, and Lachhman Dass Bajaj of the same party. They have been impleaded as respondents by name to answer the allegations of mala fide alleged against them,” he added.

Justice Ranjit Singh observed that petitioner Sunder Singh challenged the sale of a prime plot on the old GT Road to Jai Dayal, alleging “this was done to distribute largesse in his favour by the then minister”.

Relying on the government instructions, Sunder Singh had claimed his right to purchase 25 feet between his house and the old GT Road. His neighbour Bhim Singh was “mentioned as authorised one to purchase the open space”. But his name was substituted with Jai Dayal’s name.

The Deputy Commissioner accorded the approval for sale in Jai Dayal’s favour, though he did not own any house or plot near the open space. However, the Commissioner and Secretary, Local Self Government, in March 1989 directed the open space be kept as a green belt or be sold through an open auction. “This detailed fair order was arbitrarily and without justification interfered with by the then minister, Dr Mangal Sain,” Justice Ranjit Singh asserted.

The minister directed the withdrawal of the order and ordered the execution of the registry in Jai Dayal’s favour - an order stayed by the high court.

“Once this court passed an interim order directing stay of the order passed by the minister and for sale of the land till further orders, Dayal has been able to carry out construction after getting the building plan sanctioned from the Municipal Committee. It can, thus, be noticed that political patronage has led to relegating the interest of the Municipal Committee to the background and each one is over-reaching the other to show favour to their favoured ones…

“I am, thus, inclined to believe that Jai Dayal was able to do all this only on account of some patronage from some high ups may be the minister in charge and the Municipal Committee and its employees perhaps had allowed this to happen only due to this pressure,” he said.

Justice Ranjit Singh directed appropriate action against MC employees, who passed the building plans and allowed the constructions to come up and did not take any corrective action. Late Jai Dayal’s legal representatives were also asked to pay Rs 50,000 for wrongful use of the premises.

Chandigarh, August 6
District and Sessions Judge Dr Shiva Sharma has been shown the door.

Available information suggests the decision not to grant him further extension in service was taken during the Full Court meeting of the Punjab and Haryana High Court held Friday afternoon. Indications are he is not the only Judge refused extension in service. Several other judicial officers from both Punjab and Haryana are also in the line of fire.

It is believed that the decision against granting extension to Dr Sharma was taken on the ground of his integrity being allegedly doubtful. Dr Sharma has more than 30 years’ service as a judicial officer; and the decision not to grant him further extension was taken not without counter arguments. Information trickling in indicates that some of the Judges were reportedly of the view that except for one odd report, his service record was clean.

The meeting also saw postings and policy matters being discussed. Another Full meeting is now scheduled to be held on August 11, where, too, policy matters are likely to come up for discussion.

The meeting may be the last one to be attended by the Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel. Indications are that his name has been cleared for posting to the Gauhati High Court, where he will join as the first pusine. He is eventually expected to take over as the Chief Justice.

As of now, Justice Madan Bhimarao Lokur is the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court. He may eventually be shifted to Hyderabad as the Chief Justice, paving way for Justice Goel to take over as the Gauhati High Court Chief Justice.

After Justice Goel shifts out of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice MM Kumar is expected to take over as the Acting Chief Justice. Currently, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi is on long medical leave.

In another development, Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar is also in the line for elevation to the Supreme Court. A Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge, he is currently the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.