Chandigarh, February 2
Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma today gave a last opportunity to seven Independent MLAs to file their reply to the petition filed by Deputy Leader of the INLD Legislature Party Sher Singh Badshami, seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Badshami’s plea is that by joining the Hooda government, the Independent MLAs had incurred disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The Independent MLAs had moved an application before the Speaker challenging the maintainability of Badshami’s petition on the ground that the annexures to the petition had been self-testified by the petitioner.

Today their counsel, Sanjeev Bansal, SK Garg and Vinod Sharma, pleaded that the Speaker should first decide their application only then they would file their reply.

Sharma was not happy with the stand of the Independent MLAs. He told them if they did not file their reply on or before February 14, they would forfeit their right to reply. He took an undertaking from them that they would file their reply before the next date of hearing.

The petitioner was represented by Satya Pal Jain.

The Congress had fallen short of majority by five MLAs in the last Assembly elections. However, it was able to enlist the support of the seven Independent MLAs — Om Prakash Jain, Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, Gopal Kanda, Sukhbeer Kataria, Jaleb Khan, Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and Sultan Singh Jadaula.

All of them found berths in the Hooda ministry either as Cabinet Ministers, or Minister of State or Chief Parliamentary Secretary.

Chandigarh, February 2
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the Faridabad Municipal Corporation to issue notices, according to law, to those carrying out fresh construction in the prohibited zone around the Air Force Station.

The notices are to be issued on the basis of communications by the Air Force authorities to the administration and other authorities, giving details of persons carrying out the constructions.

The details of some such constructions were provided to the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover by Central Government counsel Onkar Singh Batalvi. The case will now come up for hearing on May 2.

A status report was also submitted to the court asserting that the Air Force had written to the Municipal Corporation and the state government on fresh illegal constructions. But concrete steps to deal with the problem had not been initiated till date.

In compliance with the earlier high court directions on action against illegal structures in the prohibited zone around the Air Force Station, the Municipal Corporation had identified 252 illegal structures in the prohibited 100-metre radius of the IAF Station. Notices were served to the owners for demolition. But nine of the affected parties moved the Supreme Court.

In his petition, Suersh Goyal of Faridabad has sought the removal of constructions from a 100-metre area around Air Force Station, Dabua (Faridabad), which is a protected zone under provisions of the Work of Defence Act.

During the hearing of the case, the Bench was informed that illegal construction was continuing for the past 15-20 years. An officer said despite every possible action of making correspondence even to the highest authorities of the state, holding of meetings with civil authorities on the issue and registering of FIRs, no positive response was received.

Panipat, February 2
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has served notices on the Haryana Financial Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, and Commissioner, Panipat Municipal Corporation (MC), following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the People Struggle Committee against encroachments on land belonging to the historical Pandove Quila.

The PIL was filed by the committee after it secured information from the Panipat MC, in which it was admitted that 253 persons had encroached upon 44,652 square yards, out of total 53,840 square yards of the land which once formed a part of the Pandove Quila. The remaining land has a district library and a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, who had come here twice during the freedom struggle to hold public meetings.

The land was handed over to the Panipat MC by the Punjab Government in 1937 for management and arrangements. The RTI stated that it was a nazul land, which could not be transferred by way of sale deed, lease out or rent out, but could be used only for development of a park or as a public place.

NC Jain, patron of the committee, said it is believed that the quila was constructed by the Pandavas. He said though the exact structure of the quila has ceased to exist, but its historical importance cannot be undermined.

Joginder Swami, president of the committee, said after the MC gave in writing that 253 persons had encroached upon the land, they decided to file a PIL in the high court. After admitting the PIL on January 25, the HC ordered issuance of notices to the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to the Haryana Government urban local bodies, Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, and Commissioner, Panipat MC, on January 27.

VP Aggarwal, the lawyer representing the committee, said the court had fixed February 17 as the next date of hearing during which the government would put their point of view before the Bench of Justices MM Kumar and Ajay Kumar Mittal. 

Sirsa, February 2
In Sirsa, what has come as a shock to the health authorities is the fact that some leading schools of Sirsa town have been creating hurdles in the success of the Measles Catch-Up Campaign, currently under way in the district.

As many as 14 schools of Sirsa town, including three run by the government have failed to cooperate with the health authorities in their endeavour to immunise all children between the age group of 9 months and 10 years for measles, on the plea that either the parents or the children were not ready for immunisation.

The schools include one managed by the oldest education society of the town, another managed by a society that has several enlightened citizens, including lawyers on its management, another managed by a reputed educational society that has schools and colleges throughout the country and yet another one is managed by a top political family.

A government school situated in Chhatargarh Patti, a slum area of Sirsa town is also among the schools, where the measles immunisation drive has failed to succeed, as merely 155 out of the 400-odd children turned out for vaccination.

“Over 30 per cent children from these schools have failed to turn up when our teams visited them and set-up booths for the purpose despite the fact we sent them invites from the Deputy Commissioner and the civil surgeon, seeking their cooperation,” said Viresh Bhushan, deputy civil surgeon, Sirsa, who is in-charge of the drive in the district. The drive will end on February 8.

Chandigarh, February 2
Though there may not be “zero tolerance” for corruption in Haryana, yet the state government is prompt in granting sanction for prosecution of officials booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) within the stipulated four months.

With hardly any high-profile cases under its investigation, the State Vigilance Bureau does not face much difficulty in getting sanction for prosecution as it got a record 118 such sanctions in 2011. While the bureau registered 107 cases against corrupt officials last year, the department got 118 sanctions -- some of which had been pending since 2010, sources said here today.

Sriniwas Vashisht, Director of the Vigilance Bureau, claimed that sanction for prosecution from state government departments and respective DCs and SPs for field officials was received well in time in a majority of the cases.

Officials highlighted that attaching the operating paragraph of the 1998 Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Narain vs the Union of India with the forwarding letter seeking sanction for prosecution seems to have the desired effect on the authorities sanctioning prosecution of those booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act .Sources said another reason for timely sanctioning of prosecution can be that the bureau did not handle many high-profile cases involving politicians and senior bureaucrats. Since the high-profile cases are being handled by the CBI, there is not much delay in processing the requests regarding junior officials from the bureau. Regular follow-up from the Vigilance Department seems to have resulted in a large number of sanctions of prosecution last year.

Fatehabad, February 2
The Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti has served an ultimatum to the Haryana Government to accept its demand of reservation for Jats by February 19 or else remain prepared for an agitation.

Yash Pal Malik, national president of the samiti, who addressed a meeting of the Jats in Dhani Sanchla village of the district today, alleged that the state government had betrayed their trust by not acting upon any of the assurances given to them.

The meeting was organised to mobilise Jats for the proposed rally at Mayyar and a large number of Jats, including women, participated in the meeting.

Raj Bala, mother of a youth, Sunil Kumar, who died in police firing at Mayyar in Hisar on December 13, 2010, presided over the meeting that turned into a rally.

Malik alleged that no action had so far been taken against the officer, who shot Sunil Kumar, while cases registered against the Jat agitators had not been withdrawn so far despite assurances.

He said the samiti would hold a huge rally at Mayyar on February 19 and the next course of action would be announced in that rally.

BS Ahlawat, Sube Singh Dhaka, Mool Chand Dahiya, Dharam Pal Dhariwal, Mahinder Singh Punia, Dariya Singh, Balwant Singh Samain, Om Parkash Mehuwala and several others Jat leaders addressed the meeting. 

Faridabad, February 2
The local police has raised a crack team to deal exclusively with major crimes, including anti-terrorist operations.

Such a unit is the first of its kind at the district level in Haryana that will deal with major crimes and other contingencies.

Christened “SWAT team” (Special Weapons and Tactics), the unit comprises more than a dozen well-trained personnel. Police Commissioner SS Kapur said the members had been given commando training, adding that they would also undergo more advanced training.

The members have been stationed at the grounds of the ongoing crafts mela at Surajkund to beef up security arrangements.

The unit has personnel who claim to have a specialisation in dealing with any kind of bomb. The attire of the members resembles that of black-cat commandos. It has been created as a pilot project, and its strength is expected to increase in future. 

Chandigarh, February 2
The government has notified that the respective days of voting, February 4 , February 8 , February 11, February 15, February 19, February 23 or February 28, shall be observed as paid holidays or special casual leave (paid) for its employees in the national capital region falling in Haryana who are registered voters for theelections to the UP Legislative Assembly for casting their votes .

Employees of various factories, shops and private establishments located
in the NCR falling in Haryana should be allowed to take leave (paid) for casting their votes in the UP elections for the day when polling is going to be held in the constituency where they are registered as electors. 

Sonepat, February 2
The Sonepat police claims to have arrested one of the eight jail breakers, identified as Pramod of Badmalik from the adjoining Jakholi village late last night while he was going to meet his friend.

A police spokesman said Pramod was an alleged accused in the murder of Rajnish of Badmalik village on August 17 last year. He was arrested by the police on August 27 and since then he was in the judicial custody in local district jail.

During interrogation, Pramod said Jitender, head warden in the jail who had absconded after the jailbreak incident, had supplied sleeping pills to other jail breakers, Sonu, Atender and Bholu.

They mixed the pills in tea and it was supplied to the other inmates in the barracks where the jail breakers were lodged. All other jail inmates in these barracks went into deep sleep and the alleged accused managed to escape after breaking the widow grills and scaling over the boundary wall.

During interrogation, Pramod had given some vital information about the other seven jail breakers and they would also be arrested soon, the police spokesman said. 

Jhajjar, February 2
A farmer was allegedly hacked to death by unidentified persons at the fields of Barahi village under Bahadurgarh sub-division here last evening.

The deceased has been identified as Ramesh. The Bahadurgarh Line Paar Police has started investigation after registering a case of murder against seven members of a family in this regard. Reason behind the murder is yet to be ascertained. No arrest was made till the filing of this news.

According to reports, Ramesh had gone to his fields in the afternoon for some work, but did not return till late evening. When his wife Shakuntla went to the fields looking for him, she found his body lying in a pool of blood. On hearing her scream, some farmers rushed to the spot and informed the police.

Bahadurgarh DSP Rajeev Deswal reached the spot and sent the body to civil hospital for postmortem. A team of forensic experts also visited the spot and collected blood samples.

“Seven members of a family, including Rajveer Singh alias Bangali, his wife Nirmala, their three sons — Bholu, Pawan and Manoj — and two daughters — Pooja and Preeti — have been booked on the complaint of the deceased’s wife Shakuntla,” said the DSP, adding that the cause behind the murder would be ascertained after completion of the inquiry.

Rewari, February 2
Additional District and Sessions Judge JR Chauhan has sentenced Chhote Lal (50) to five years of rigorous imprisonment, holding him guilty of making a bid on the life of Sunil Kumar, second husband of his daughter-in-law, Subhash Devi, at Raipur village near Bawal, on July 18, 2011. The judge has also imposed a fine of Rs 7,000 on Lal.

The verdict was pronounced by the court here on Monday.

According to the prosecution, when Subhash’s first husband, Vijay, son of Chhote Lal, died on March 8, 2011, she got married to Sunil, son of the elder brother of the accused.

Lal, however, had made his evil designs clear to his daughter-in-law. Thereafter, he inflicted grievous injuries on the head of Sunil with an axe to eliminate him.

Consequently, Subhash filed a complaint following which the police registered a case of attempt to murder and arrested Lal. The case was then put up in the court for trial. — OC