Dharamsala, December 8
With the Una police filing a charge sheet against the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee under Section 120-B of the IPC yesterday, he will have to seek bail from the court.

All other accused in the case have already been granted bail by the court.

Sources here said since Karmapa has been named as the conspirator in the case, legally he would have to face charges under all the sections of the IPC imposed against other accused in the case. He would also face charges under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 489-C of the IPC. Since almost all the sections are non-bailable offences under the IPC, Karmapa would have to seek bail in the case.

Besides, he would have to be present on each hearing of the case in the Una court unless granted exemption from personal hearing by the court, they said.

The sources further said Karmapa had another legal option of filing a writ petition in the high court seeking quashing of the case filed against him by the police.

The police has made Karmapa a party in the case on a plea that he had the knowledge of developments in the case.

Karma Chungyapla, spokesperson of Karmapa, said they have not received the copy of the charge sheet yet.

He said Karmapa has fully cooperated with the police during the investigations in the case. Though he was officially the head of the Karma Garchen Trust, Karmapa was not directly linked with the financial transactions.

“We are taken aback by the decision of the police to make Karmapa a party in the case,” he said.

He, however, said: ‘We have full faith in the judiciary and feel that the truth will prevail.”

Tibetans in exiles, especially Buddhists from tribal areas of the state and Sikkim, who consider Karmapa as a “reincarnated God”, have given angry reaction to his involvement in the case.

Many of them maintained that action against Karmapa was serving the interests of China. They said the Chinese websites have overplayed the news regarding the involvement of Karmapa in the currency case, which illustrates that the action of Indian agencies was serving their interests.

The police had also sought permission from the Union Ministry for Home Affairs to file a case under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) against Karmapa and his officials.

The Union Minister for Home has, however, not given the permission to the police.

Under the FCRA, nobody is allowed to receive foreign contribution in India without the prior permission of the Central Government. However, officials of the Karmapa trust have been maintaining that the foreign contributions received by them were the offerings made by foreigners visiting Karmapa in India.

Still, Karmapa trust officials are being blamed for not declaring the foreign contributions received by them. Since the case came to light, the Karmapa administration has been handing over the contributions being made by foreigners to the Enforcement Directorate of the Income Tax Department.

The sources added that the Income Tax Department has also started an independent investigation into the case.

Shimla, December 8
The troubles of the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, seem to be further getting compounded day by day as the Himachal police has decided to seek fresh permission from the Union Home Ministry for registering a case against the Tibetan spiritual guru under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA).

Having named Karmapa as one of the conspirators in the illegal foreign currency confiscated from a vehicle in Una on January 26 earlier this year, the Himachal police has made up its mind to obtain permission to register a case against him under the FCRA.

Interestingly, Himachal police has decided to move a request for getting permission from the Centre despite the fact that the Home Ministry did not respond to its earlier plea made almost at the same time when the money was seized in Januray. “We will soon move a request to the Centre to allow us to register a case against the Karmapa under the FCRA as a huge amount of foreign currency is involved,” said SR Mardi, Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order.

The source of this foreign currency, from almost 26 nations, has still not been traced. Police sources said the money, almost Rs 7 crore, had been handed over to the Enforcement Directorate. “In case we fail to get a satisfactory reply with regard to the source of the money, there is a possibility that those named in the charge sheet could be booked under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), as the issue concerns a huge amount of unaccounted foreign currency,” said a senior official.

Shimla, December 8
The government has decided to put on hold the move to restructure the Education Department due to lack of unanimity and apprehensions of an adverse political fallout in the election year.

The exercise to finalise the model for the reorganisation of the largest government department with over one lakh employees into two or three departments has been going on for the past almost two years. The government had also set up a three-member committee under the chairmanship of the Director of Education to suggest a model for restructuring the rather unwieldy existing set-up under which different cadres in schools are controlled by different directorates, leading to confusion.

The objective was to have an independent directorate to take care of higher education, which needs focus in view of the opening of a large number of professional colleges, private universities and other institutions in the private sector. Further, the entire school education was to be brought under one director-general of education, school, with two directors (one looking after classes VI to XII and the other after primary education).

However, the three-member committee, which was asked to come up with a concrete model for restructuring, suggested the trifurcation of the department with separate set-ups for school education, higher education (college and universities) and research and training. It was in favour of having the entire school education under one director and having joint and additional directors to take care of elementary and senior secondary sections. Besides, all district institues of education and training, state council for education and training and other such training institutes were to be brought under one section to focus on training and a separate directorate for higher education.

The committee was not in favour of having a director-general of education as purposed by the bureaucracy. The neighbouring Punjab has restructured its Education Department on this pattern but the committee maintained that it was not the best model.

Implementing any such proposal involving employees of various cadres with conflicting interests would have led to problems which the government could ill-afford in the election year. It has decided to put the proposal on the back burner.

Shimla, December 8
Employees of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation today observed a two-hour strike here in protest against the beating up of a driver by some persons in Rohru, who died while being taken to the PGI, Chandigarh, last night.

All buses of the HRTC came to a standstill at the old bus stand as the staff, including drivers and conductors, observed a strike in the afternoon. The staff and drivers of the Rohru HRTC depot observed a complete strike throughout the day as no buses operated from there.

The HRTC Contractual Employees Union has given an ultimatum to the government to arrest the culprits by December 10 or else the state transport services would be paralysed all over the state. They have demanded that the persons involved in the beating up of the driver, Suresh Kumar (36), and conductor Sunil Tanta be arrested immediately.

On December 4, the driver and the conductor, both contractual employees, were beaten up mercilessly by four persons near Kansa Koti in Rohru after they overtook another bus. The driver, after being hit in the stomach, had gone slipped into a coma and had been admitted to Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here. He died while being rushed to the PGI last night near Kandaghat as his condition had deteriorated.

The police has arrested two youths involved in the incident while two are still at large. The union has demanded that the family of Suresh Kumar be given a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and his wife be given a job in the HRTC.

Dharamsala, December 8
The Kangra police is trying to seek the custody of a con woman from Delhi, Archana Singha, who, along with her accomplices, has allegedly duped more than 100 youths from the Jwalamukhi and Dehra areas in the district of Rs 2 crore on the pretext of getting them jobs in the Assam Rifles.

The SP, Kangra, Diljeet Thakur, while talking to The Tribune, said the con woman was operating her network in 11 states across the country. She was now in the custody of the Delhi police and had been lodged in the Tihar Jail. The Delhi police had already recovered about Rs 10 crore from her.

“We are also seeking her custody to recover about Rs 2 crore that she and her accomplices had collected from the youths in Himachal,” the SP said.

Sources said the con woman was operating in Himachal through Sanjeev Aery, a resident of Charatgarh village in Una district. He was now in the custody of the Kangra police.

Sanjeev Aery further appointed five local persons who spread the word in the Jwalamukhi and Dehra areas that youths could get government jobs in the Assam Rifles after paying a certain amount.

They collected money from about 100 youths and got forms for recruitment filled from them. Some of the youths were even taken to Guwahati and their medical examination was conducted. This exercise created trust among local youths regarding the recruitment process and many more youths fell in the trap of the accused.

The youths who made full payment to the accused were issued fake appointment letters by members of the gang. The others were told by the accused that they would be issued appointment letters once the full payment was made. The accused allegedly charged amounts ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh from the youth.

Once the people came to know that the entire process of recruitment was fake and they had been duped, they starting lodging complaints in their respective police stations.

In Kangra district, the police has till date registered three FIRs and has arrested five accused. Those arrested in the case are Sanjeev Aery, Ramesh Chand, Joginder Pal, Kuldeep and Ranjit Singh. Anita Sandal, a BJP leader and wife of Kuldeep, who is an accused in the case, has been granted anticipatory bail by the court.

Shimla, December 8
Expressing serious concern over the recent accident that took place near the Lift, Shimla, resulting in the death of a woman, who was crushed by two private buses due to their overloading and rash and negligent driving, the state high court today directed the Director, Transport, and Managing Director, HRTC, and a leader of the minibus operators to file reply within a month.

Taking a suo motu note on a letter written by the president of the Sant Shree Ravi Dass Dharam Sabha to the Chief Justice alleging that maximum buses being plied by private bus operators and the HRTC are being driven on route in violation of the law and commit the offences of overloading beyond the sitting capacity of the bus and by driving the buses by inexpert drivers.

He further alleged that the main reasons of the accident was rash and negligent driving by drivers. He also cited the example of the recent accident that took place near the Lift, Shimla. He further alleged that the state functionaries were sleeping over the matter.

While taking up this letter as a Public Interest Litigation, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma further directed the state authorities to clarify in their affidavit the permitted load, the periodicity of checking of the conditions of vehicles involved in accidents and the fitness of vehicles.

The court further directed to explain that whether drivers are duly qualified at the time of accident and whether they were driving the vehicle under the addiction of any drugs and using mobile phones while driving. The court listed the matter for further hearing on 10, January, 2012.

Bilaspur, December 8
The Central Government has sanctioned Rs 2.31 crore for development of silk and cocoon production in the Ghumarwin area under the name of the “Ghumarwin Cluster Development Project (mulberry sericulture)” and the project would be launched soon.

This was said by Central Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, who is also the in charge of the Textiles Ministry, when a deputation of some prominent Congress leaders of Ghumarwin led by local MLA Rajesh Dharmani met him with this request at Delhi recently.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Dharmani said he has got the sanction letter from the ministry concerned in this regard only yesterday, saying that under this project 250 families of farmers would be given financial aid and another 110 farmers would be given advanced training in this profession so that they could help streamline the cocoon and silk production here in the district and the state.

Dharmani said three reeling units would also be set up at Ghumarwin under the project which would give a big boost to better quality silk production and better income to farmers.

Dharmani said he had also given another detailed representation to the Central Minister urging him to open a “Research and Extension Centre (IEC)” in silk production here in the district for enhancement in silk production activities and advanced research and training.

The minister has assured him that this IEC would be opened in next Five-Year Plan when sufficient funds could be available for this ambitious centre.

Shimla, December 8
Awaiting NOCs from the Municipal Corporation (MC) and the Public Works Department (PWD) to pave the way for the installation of a new lift, connecting the Cart Road with the Mall, the proposal of the Tourism Development Corporation has been hanging fire even as it prepares to welcome tourists during Christmas and New Year.

The proposal of the corporation for installing a new modern lift with the latest technology adjacent to the old lift is likely to be placed before a board, which is scheduled to meet this month itself. The corporation has already moved the papers for seeking NOCs from the MC and the PWD so that once the board grants approval, the project can be pushed ahead at the earliest as it provides best connectivity to the main town from the Cart Road.

“We are keen to provide better and enhanced facility to locals as well as tourists; so we have sought NOCs from the MC and the PWD for installing a new lift adjacent to the old one,” said Vineet Kumar, Managing Director, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. He added that the project was likely to be approved by the board at its meeting, to be held later this month.

It was following a snag resulting in people remaining trapped inside the old lift for over two hours earlier this year that a proposal was mooted to install a new lift. “Estimates indicate that a complete overhauling of the old lift will cost about Rs 60 lakh while getting a new one would cost about Rs 1 crore; so we are keen to go in for the second option as this will enhance the capacity with the old one also operating,” said Vineet Kumar.

Despite the lift being a gainful venture where it earned Rs 65 lakh during 2010-11 and Rs 44 lakh so far this year, efforts were not made to install a new lift anywhere in the town in the past few years. During the peak tourist season in the summers and around Christmas and New Year, there are long queues of people, waiting at either ends of the lift.

The HPTDC authorities feel that having the lift at the old site would be the best option as in that case little land would be required and the existing pathways could be used. Though surveys had been done to find new sites, including near the Lakkar Bazar bus stand, with the entire area being a sliding zone, the site was found unsuitable.