Chandigarh, December 14
In a major relief to those ad hoc, contractual, work charged, daily wagers or part-time workers, who have been awaiting regularisation of their services, the Haryana Cabinet today decided to increase the period of break in services of such employees up to 90 days from 30 days if the break in service was not caused by any fault of the employee.

The decision will benefit a large number of employees who were awaiting regularisation under the state’s policy announced on July 29, 2011.

However, if the break in service is attributable to the employee such as abandonment of employment, the government may not condone the same if the period of such break is more than 30 days in a year. Briefing newsmen about the decisions taken by the Cabinet, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said all those 10 toll points would be closed where the toll collection was less than Rs 50 lakh per annum.

While the toll on the Tohana-Dharsul-Ratia-Hanspur road (Toll point 31) (up to Punjab Border) and the Jakhal-Dharsul-Bhuna-Pabra road (Toll Point- 32) would be closed with immediate effect, toll point -7 on the Fatehabad-Bhattu Kalan- Bhadra road would be closed on July 1, 2012. Six other toll points on the Sirsa-Ellanabad road, the Shajahanpur-Rewari road, the Barwala-Agroha-Bhadra road, the Sirsa-Ludesar-Bhadra road, the Samalkha to Hathwala road and the GT road to Bega would be closed from April 1, 2012. Toll Point 35 on the Murthal-Nandanpur-Basodi-Palri road would be closed with effect from January 1, 2012. With the closure of these 10 points, the people would be benefited to tune of Rs 2.50 crore per annum.

This amount would be compensated by additional toll collection to the tune of Rs 29 crore being generated from recently started toll collection on five additional roads -- Deodhar-Nainawali road, Ferozepur Zhirka-Biwan road up to Rajasthan border, Neval Gheer- Garhi Birbal road, Hodal-Nuh-Pataudi-Patauda road and Rai Nahra-Bahadurgarh road.

However, toll would be imposed on the recently improved Punhana-Jurhera road up to Rajasthan border and the Pehowa-Ladwa-Saharanpur-Haridwar road (Section 3rd gate of Kurukshetra University to Pehowa).

The toll on the state roads is charged primarily from commercial vehicles.

The Cabinet approved the proposal to set up a new company, the Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation Limited. The proposal was first made by the then Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav in his budget speech of March 10, 2010. The authorised capital of the company would be Rs 100 crore. It would also have paid-up capital of Rs 10 crore. The equity participation of the State Government would be 51 per cent, that of HUDA 29 per cent and of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation 20 per cent.

The company would carry on the business of planning, designing, development, maintenance, operation of mass transit and other urban transport, last mile connectivity and people mover system of all types of description itself or in association with other undertakings or agencies through any turnkey contract, special purpose vehicle or otherwise by constructing, facilitating construction, taking over, leasing, either on its own or otherwise by building new transit routes of any mode or a combination of modes, with all infrastructural facilities.

The Cabinet also approved the extension of Delhi Metro from Badarpur to YMCA Chowk, Faridabad at the revised cost of Rs 2,494 crore. It also approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by the Union Government, Haryana and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for Metro Link from Delhi Metro’s Sikanderpur Station to National Highway Number 8 in Gurgaon.

New Delhi, December 14
The Supreme Court today asked the Haryana Government to respond by Friday to the demands of 350 victims of the anti-Dalit violence at Mirchpur for alternative accommodation and foodgrains for four months.

Senior counsel Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the victims, also sought a sustenance allowance of Rs 10,000 a month to each of the 150 families who were forced to stay in tents in a farm house in Hisar district.

Arguing before a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya, Gonsalves said the victims were not in a position to return to Mirchpur village in view of the hostile atmosphere prevailing against them, particularly after the conviction of 15 persons by the trial court.

Senior counsel PN Misra, appearing for Haryana, however contended that the state government had reconstructed or repaired the damaged houses depending upon the requirement and as such the victims were free to return to their homes at Mirchpur. The victims were staying at the Tanwar farm house as its owner was a Lok Dal leader who wanted to make political gains out of the situation, he said.

Gonsalves said the forward community had totally isolated the Dalits as even the shopkeepers were refusing to sell their merchandise to them. The victims’ children were scared of going to the village school.

One quintal of rice and paddy that was being provided to each of the affected families till October this year on the apex court order should be continued till February next year, pending their rehabilitation by the state government, he pleaded. He also sought blankets to the victims in view of the ongoing winter. The victims should be rehabilitated at a place other than Mirchpur by providing them land and other facilities, Gonsalves said.

The Bench also asked the state government to provide details regarding the number of special courts and special prosecutors in the state for prosecuting the offenders under the 1989 Act for the prevention of atrocities against the SC and ST. The state would also have to give information on the measures taken for the rehabilitation of Dalit victims under the Act.

The Bench tagged the Mirchpur case with another pending case involving several states on the issue of rehabilitation of such victims. This was necessary for issuing comprehensive guidelines for protecting the interests of Dalit victims under the 1989 Act, it clarified.

The court has already enlarged the scope of the Mirchpur case for issuing guidelines for the prevention of rail and road blockades being witnessed frequently in various parts of the country. The Jats had resorted to such agitation to protest against the SC order shifting the trial in the Mirchpur case from Hisar to Delhi.

Today, the Bench issued notice to the Centre and Manipur seeking their response to a PIL on the 68-day-long agitation by Nagas who blocked the National Highways in Manipur to protest against ceasefire with Naga rebels.

Meanwhile, the Central Government suggested a series of steps to prevent such agitations that paralysed road and rail traffic. Solicitor-General Rohinton Nariman stressed the need for taking proactive measures following receipt of intelligence reports on impending agitations. The court has sought suggestions from the petitioners as well for putting in place a comprehensive mechanism.

The court clarified that though it was reluctant to issue guidelines on such matters -- be it victims’ rehabilitation, prevention of agitations or recovery of compensation for the damage arising from such stirs -- it was left with no option as the executive was not doing much.

Chandigarh, December 14
In a huge sigh of relief for disgraced former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, who was convicted for molesting a 14-year-old tennis player, the Chandigarh bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) allowed his petition for resumption of his pension.

It was withheld by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after his conviction and later Rathore had challenged the orders in CAT.

The order passed by the Bench comprising Justice SD Anand and Member Khushi Ram reads, “In the light of the foregoing discussion, we are of the considered view that the competent authority could not have validly directed the withholding of pension on permanent basis.

“On the view obtained, we have no hesitation in allowing the petition and directing the invalidation of the impugned order. The applicant shall be entitled to whatever consequential relief may be available to him with the invalidation of the impugned order.”

Rathore in his petition had stated that a departmental inquiry against him was dropped in 1994 after investigations.

He had pleaded for the pension saying whatever allegations of misconduct were there, they were as president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Haryana, not as an IPS officer. He was demanding pension as an IPS.

Rathore had stated in the petition that the pension withholding order, which was passed on June 23, 2010, was in violation of the principles of natural justice as well because opportunity of personal hearing was not provided to the applicant.

Chandigarh, December 14
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chandigarh bench, directed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the UPSC to decide the representation made by dismissed IPS officer Ravi Kant Sharma, recently acquitted in the journalist Shivani Bhatnagar’s murder case, for re-induction in the IPS. The Bench comprising Justice SD Anand and Member Khushi Ram passed these directions on the petition filed by Ravi Kant Sharma, requesting that his service benefits be restored.

Sharma in his petition had stated that he was dismissed solely on the basis of the conviction orders of the lower court. But now as the high court had acquitted him, he should be re-inducted into the IPS. He had further mentioned in his petition that he had made representations before the authorities concerned on October 16 and November 11 this year wherein he had made a request for re-induction.

The Delhi High Court on October 12 had acquitted RK Sharma and two others giving them “benefit of doubt”.

Chandigarh, December 14
As Haryana is facing a shortage of nearly 15 lakh dwelling units, the government is set to rope in private players in a big way by offering major concessions like exemption on the stamp duty, external development charges (EDC), infrastructure augmentation charges and licence fee.

Besides, other incentives such as double floor area ratio (FAR) and transferable development rights to undertake housing projects for economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income group(LIG) form part of the proposed new housing policy of the state aimed at providing housing to the lower strata of society.

The policy states that according to the Census 2011, the urban housing shortage has been estimated at 5.56 lakh units while the rural housing shortage is estimated at 8.99 lakh units. Out of these, about 99 per cent belonged to the poor section of the society, who were unable to afford houses on account of high cost. Most of these people live in unauthorised colonies around urban centres or slums in the cities creating law and order problems. In fact, at a recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, it was highlighted that for optimum density use of urban land, policies would have to be oriented towards vertical growth.

However, it was made clear that the state government would continue to act as a facilitator in the acquisition of land by private agencies and builders provided a certain minimum percentage of area was reserved for the low-income group housing.

A senior official informed that skyrocketing land prices, specially in the National Capital Region(NCR) region, made it virtually impossible for poor sections of the society to own a dwelling unit. The mere land cost alone comes between Rs 2,200 and Rs 4,445 per sq ft in hyper, Rs 2,000 to 4,400 per sq ft in high, Rs 900 to 1,800 per sq ft in medium and Rs 700 to 1,400 per sq ft in low-potential areas.

Similarly, land in the “lal dora” is also getting costlier necessitating affordable housing for the poorer sections of society, he added. Stressing on the need for creating a land bank, the policy said rebates and incentives were the need of the hour to create housing for the poor.

Chandigarh, December 14
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today refuted the allegations levelled by the INLD about implementation of EDUSAT programme in the state and said that the reason for the non-functioning of the programme was due to the satellite shift by ISRO, which led to the disconnection of EDUSAT. Other states had also faced this problem.

Taking a dig at the demand of the INLD for a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the EDUSAT programme, he asked INLD leaders to first clear whether they had faith in the CBI or not. The INLD had always questioned the credibility of the CBI due to the charge sheet filed by the agency against them.

Hooda said that the INLD had raised these issues only after losing the byelections. He said after the loss of the Ratia seat, their frustration was understandable. He said only those should comment on education who understood the value of education and not those who had acquired “bogus” degrees.

The temporary setbacks in the EDUSAT programme were being set right and it would soon be made fully functional. On the INLD allegation that he was anti-farmer, Hooda said the entire nation was conversant who was farmers’ well-wisher and what had happened at Kandela (where several farmers had died in the police firing during the INLD regime).

Jhajjar, December 14
A labourer and her son were buried alive under sand when they were sleeping at a make-shift jhuggi near a construction site at the Modern Industrial Estate (MIE) in Bahadurgarh on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

Her husband, Mohan, and another son, Raj Kumar, managed to escape unhurt.

The deceased have been identified as Beena (40) and Lalu (17) of Bihar. The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 CrPC.

The incident took place around 2 am when a dumper loaded with sand suddenly stuck in a caved-in portion of the construction site. As a result, the dumper got unloaded at the jhuggi which was erected at the lower portion of the construction site.

Beena and Lalu died on the spot when the sand fell on them while Mohan and Rajkumar managed to get out from the jhuggi.

The MIE police rushed to the spot and sent the bodies to the civil hospital for post-mortem examination.