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DEVELOPMENT OF FARIDABAD SECTOR
HC cannot declare MLAs unattached: Speaker to SC
Jat agitation enters fourth day
Jat activists hold a dharna at Mayyar village in Hisar on Wednesday. Photo: Manoj Dhaka |
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Residents collect water from a tanker in Faridabad. Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
CPM appeals to Jats to end rail blockade
Rule 134-A
97 industrial cases cleared
7,469 ‘fake’ BPL card holders in Faridabad
LOSS OF CROP
Minimum daily wages
hiked
A farmer with his Murrah buffalo walks the ramp in Jind on Wednesday. Photo: Manoj Dhaka
Train derails, driver sustains injuries
The ill-fated train which derailed near Nilokheri on Tuesday night. A Tribune photograph
Casting vote better than cursing politicians: CEC
Power Bill Arrears
918 students get degrees
201 more test positive for hepatitis C
Change in power schedule
Two SPs transferred
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DEVELOPMENT OF FARIDABAD SECTOR Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 22 The high court also ruled that land acquisition cases where opportunity of hearing has not been granted despite the filing of objections is same as not filing objections due to want of effective notice. “We are also of the considered view that a case in which objections have not been filed due to want of effective notice and cases where objections have been filed and no hearing granted should fall in the same category,” the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina ruled. The ruling came on a 17-year-old petition by Gulshan Malik and other petitioners. The significance of the judgment can be gauged from the fact that the high court has decided as many as 15 cases with a single order. The petitioners had challenged the notifications dated November 23, 1992, issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, and the declaration dated November 19, 1993, under Section 6 of the Act. The public purpose for the acquisition was the development and utilisation of land as residential and commercial Sector 2, Faridabad, under the HUDA Act, 1977. The acquired land fell in Sihi and Unchagaon villages situated near Ballabhgarh town. The Bench, on the conclusion of arguments, asserted, “The counsel appearing for the State of Haryana has not been able to show us any reliable evidence to show that hearing under Section 5-A of the Act was in fact given and due consideration accorded…. “The hearing of objections under Section 5-A of the Act cannot be reduced to mere formality. Under the Act, hearing under Section 5-A of the Act is one of the fundamental stages where a landowner can persuade the Collector for release of his land from acquisition. The right to property may no longer be a fundamental right but it remains a constitutional right under Article 300-A….. “If the State, in the present case, states that some objections were filed under Section 5-A, it would be of no help since no hearing was granted at the fixed date and venue…. The chain of events confirms our view that the impugned notifications under Sections 4 and 6 deserve to be quashed for violation of mandatory provisions of Section 5-A of the Act. We hold accordingly.”
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HC cannot declare MLAs unattached: Speaker to SC
New Delhi, February 22 “The original jurisdiction for such an action lies with the Speaker and the Speaker alone,” Solicitor-General Rohinton Nariman, appearing for Sharma, argued before a Bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and J Chelameswar. On January 4, the SC had stayed the HC verdict on petitions filed by the Speaker and three of the five affected MLAs and posted the detailed arguments for a later date. The stay order facilitated the continuance of two MLAs - Rao Narendra Singh and Satpal Sangwan - as Cabinet ministers. The other three MLAs are Vinod Bhayana, Zile Ram Sharma and Dharam Singh. Commencing the arguments in the case, Nariman said the judiciary had power only to hear appeals challenging the Speaker’s orders suspending or disqualifying MLAs and not cases where the presiding officer of the Assembly approved the merger of a legislature party with another as in the present case. Further, Section 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution relating to defections had a clear provision for allowing the merger of any legislature party with another provided the decision on change of identity was taken by at least two-third members of the merging party. In this case, as many as five of the six MLAs of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) had decided to merge the legislature party of the HJC with that of the Congress, Nariman pointed out. The Division Bench of the HC also had no power to direct the Speaker to take a decision within a time-frame on the disqualification petitions moved by HJC chief Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi, the SG contended, particularly in view of the ruling by a single judge that there was no mala fide intention, could be attributed to the time being taken by the Speaker to hear the case. The SG also pointed out how the HC had suddenly delivered the verdict on December 20 despite the fact that the case had been posted for further hearing. The arguments will continue tomorrow. The merger of the five MLAs had lent stability to the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government which had only 40 MLAs then in the 90-member House.
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Jat agitation enters fourth day
Hisar, February 22 The protesters did not block the railway track today also but continued to squat on both sides of it. The number of protesters swelled today after talks between their leaders and the government failed last night. Those who sat on fast today were Baje Singh, Kitab Singh, Hari Ram, Chanda Singh, Jai Singh and Prem Singh. Senior khap leader Sube Singh said the leaders spearheading the agitation today decided to set up two committees. The first panel would have 11 members. This panel had been empowered to hold talks with the Chief Minister or any other government representative. He said the panel would not approach the government for talks but would respond positively to any move in this direction by the government. The Jat leader said the second panel would include youth also as it was entrusted with the task to control the activities at the dharna. Meanwhile, railway traffic remained suspended for the fourth day today as the railways authorities were not prepared to take any chances. However, road traffic plied normally today also. Sube Singh said all the protesters had been directed not to block the railway track and to ensure safe passage for any train plying on it. On the other hand, leader of the breakaway faction Hawa Singh Sangwan said today he had been disappointed by the decision of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission to engage an agency to conduct a survey about economic status of the Jats. He said if that were so, then the survey should cover all communities who were presently enjoying the benefits of reservation. Sangwan said he would accept reservation for Jats only after both the Haryana and Central panel recommended it. Bhanu P Lohumi adds from Kurukshetra: The agitation, triggered from Hisar, is set to spill to other districts of Haryana with Jat leaders of Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Ambala and Yamunanagar assembling here to finalise the strategy to strengthen the agitation. The leaders met at Jat Dharamsala here and decided to send ‘jathas’ to Hisar on different days to express their solidarity and support.
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Mafia exploits meagre water supply networks in Faridabad
Faridabad, February 22 A section in the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) is allegedly in cahoots with the mafia that enjoys patronage of bigwig politicians, cutting across party lines. An insufficient number of tube wells and meagre water supply networks of the municipal body in the city are exploited by vested interests. They also take advantage of an insufficient number of water tanks available with it to supply water to a large number of pockets lacking in water supply networks. The MC hires the carriers of the same mafia which operates tubewells illegally. There have been instances in the past when the mafia stopped renting their tankers to the MC. Come summer and there is a lucrative business in water. The cartel of the illegal trade sells water in black market and misbehaves with the objecting public. They also supply this water to industrial units in Delhi. Ram Singh of Sanjay Colony said the mafia and their goons charge more than Rs 5 per litre during summer. A spokesman of the Faridabad Industries Association (FIA) said the mafia charges exorbitant rates, sometimes ranging from Rs 600-800 per tanker having a capacity of 5,000 litres. On the contrary, the MCF sells it at Rs 50 only. The issue of illegal trade in water has come to centre stage afresh on account of recent protests against it from several quarters. The industrial lobby, which is in the vanguard of the protest, also raised the issue in its meeting with Faridabad’s Deputy Commisioner, Rakesh Gupta, a few days ago. Representatives of several departments, including the MCF, also took part in the meeting. At the meeting, the DC directed closure of illegal tube wells, but the order has not been implemented. NK Kattara, MCF’s Chief Engineer, said yesterday that the municipal body installed three tube wells recently, one on the bypass and two in Budhera village. He lamented that although the tube wells had become operational and water was supplied at a cheaper rate, there were not many buyers. Unless the illegal tube wells are closed, vested interests will not do business with the ones set up by the MCF, he added. Many of the tankers roped in by the MCF are owned by the mafia that operates its own tubewells illegally. Hence, the municipal body is at the mercy of the mafia. |
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CPM appeals to Jats to end rail blockade
Rohtak, February 22 Blaming the Chief Minister for keeping the leaders demanding reservation in darkness all along about the actual legal and constitutional position on the issue of reservations, the state secretary of the party, Inderjit Singh, said the Supreme Court had put a cap on providing reservations beyond 50 per cent. “Therefore, it requires a constitutional amendment to give any further reservation to economically weaker sections of general caste or community.’’ He said the party was of the view that the onslaught of neo-liberal policies was the cause of agrarian crisis and growing joblessness. So, even the existing reservations were bound to be inconsequential unless these ‘‘ruinous’’ policies were rolled back. The party has also asked the Chief Minister to make public as to how many jobs have been generated during the past seven years since the Congress had promised to create 10 lakh jobs. Similarly, it said that there were only the rich families who had de facto reservations for their wards in admissions. The party has also demanded from the government to resolve the dispute through dialogue with those resorting to railway blockade and causing inconvenience to a large number of commuters daily.
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Private schools remain shut
Tribune News Service
Fatehabad, February 22 The agitators went in a procession to the mini-secretariat, where they submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to Additional Deputy Commissioner Ashok Meena. The school owners are demanding scrapping of Rule 134-A that asks them to admit 25 per cent students belonging to poor families in their school without charging any fee from them. The rule asks the school owners to recover the fee waived for poor students from the remaining 75 per cent students. Vehicular traffic on the national highway remained paralysed for over an hour due to the procession of the agitators. Subhash Sheoran, president, Bharat Bhushan Midha, vice-president, Vijay Nirmohi, patron, and Shailen Bhaskar, general secretary of the Haryana Sanyukt Vidyalaya Sangh, were among those who addressed the agitating school owners. The sangh leaders alleged that if they followed the guidelines of the government, they would put extra burden on the parents of their students, which they would not allow at any cost. Hisar: Most of the private schools in the city remained closed on Wednesday to register their protest against implementation of Rule 134-A wherein private schools had been asked to allot 25 per cent free seats to poor students. Representatives of school managements submitted a memorandum to the district administration expressing their inability to allot that many seats for the purpose, as it would bring a financial doom to their institutions.
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97 industrial cases cleared
Faridabad, February 22 A government spokesman said six of the cases related to granting of the No Objection Certificates to new units that wanted to go in operation and 91 in connection with “consent” to the existing units by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board. In all 406 cases, including 395 relating to consent, were presented to it for consideration. The Act empowers the committee to decide in cases of investments up to Rs 5 crore. Representatives of several organisations related to industry also took part in the meeting. The industry, however, is unhappy over the non-cooperative attitude of the departments relating to the industrial safety and health, the town and country planning, and electricity. An industrialist said the three departments generally did not associate themselves with the clearance committee, even though the Act makes them its integral part. Anil Chowdhary, Faridabad’s Joint Director, District Industrial Centre, who is a member-secretary of the committee, said the functioning of the body had been streamlined by Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Gupta. Its monthly meetings were now held regularly as per the Act, he added.
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7,469 ‘fake’ BPL card holders in Faridabad
Faridabad, February 22 The development lends credence to wide-ranging allegations in the past of dubious persons having procured the BPL cards while the deserving ones were ignored. Local politicians and potentates allegedly patronised their cronies to bend rules, make false representations, and get the cards. The general view is that “collusive” role of government machinery involved in verification of the applicants for the cards cannot be ruled out. Sources say the break-up of the case in the urban pockets and rural areas are 5,950 and 1,519 cards, respectively. He further said the investigation will be undertaken in other parts of the states also. According to the statistics, presently there are 77,062 BPL card holders in Faridabad. Out of them, 65,650 pertain to urban pockets. The figure includes the cases which are under a cloud. The card holders who are under the scanner have to re-establish their identities by March 10 before the probe panels constituted by the Deputy Commissioner in order to continue with the entitlement. While Faridabad’s SDM has been asked to investigate the cases relating to the rural areas, the Joint Commissioners concerned of the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad, will look into the cases relating to the city. They have been asked to submit the report to the Deputy Commissioner on March 12.
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LOSS OF CROP
Chandigarh, February 22 This was decided at a meeting of the committee chaired by Chief Secretary, Urvashi Gulati, here today. It was stated that land in an area of 13,180 acres in Bhiwani district and 446 acres in Yamunangar district had been rendered beyond cultivation due to floods. A sum of Rs 3,500 per acre had been sanctioned to compensate the farmers for their loss of crop. Over Rs 4.61 crore had been sanctioned for providing compensation to the farmers of Bhiwani district and Rs 15.61 lakh for providing compensation to the farmers of Yamunanagar district. It was stated that the work plan and tentative perspective plans for 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 had been approved by the committee. These had been sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. An amount of Rs 1.55 lakh had been sanctioned to the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) for documentation of Samajauta Express accident relief work. Over Rs 7.27 crore had been sanctioned to the Irrigation Department from the state disaster funds during the current financial year. A sum of Rs 10.7 crore had been allotted to the Public Works (B and R) Department for procurement of equipment for collapsed structure, research and rescue operations during disasters.
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Minimum daily wages
hiked
Chandigarh, February 22 He said the decision to increase the minimum wages would benefit about 7.5 lakh labourers working in about 11,500 small and big factories. Similarly, there were four lakh workers working in the shops, dhabas and small undertakings. The government being aware of providing social and economic security to these workers, a provision has been made in the Minimum Wages Act under which, on the basis of consumer price index, the minimum wages of the workers working in more than 48 declared scheduled employments, industries and shops would be fixed. Under this provision, the consumer price index is reviewed at six months interval in January and July. The minimum wages are fixed on the basis of increase or decrease in the price index so that the labourers might make their both ends meet in view of the increase in prices. The minimum wages have been linked to the consumer price index in Haryana. He said at the close of the half year in June 2011, the price index was 1,603, which in December 2011 at the close of the half year increased to 1,691. Therefore, there was an increase of 88 points in price index. On the basis of a fixed neutral rate of Rs 2.31 per point, the minimum monthly wages have increased by Rs 203.28 and daily wages by Rs 7.81. These rates would be effective from January 1, 2012, in the state for all categories of labourers. Giving details, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shiv Charan Lal Sharma said the unskilled labourers in the state would now get a minimum wage of Rs 4847.17 per month or Rs 186.42 per day, semi-skilled (A) Rs 4977.17 per month and Rs 191.42 per day, semi-skilled (B) Rs 5,107.17 per month and Rs 196.42 per day. Similarly, skilled labourers (A) would now get a minimum wage of Rs 5237.17 per month and Rs 201.42 per day and skilled (B) would get Rs 5,367.17 per month and Rs 206.42 per day. The highly skilled worker would now get minimum wages of Rs 5,497.17 per month and Rs 211.42 per day. The minister said the minimum wage of the labourers working in the brick-kilns had also been increased. Now, the workers engaged for “pathera” would get Rs 276.19 and for tiles he would be paid Rs 310.71 daily. ”Bharai wala” (a) and (b) would get Rs 124.28 and Rs 102.19 per day, respectively. “Keri wala” and “nikasi wala” would get Rs 22.09 and Rs 91.14 per thousand, respectively. “Chunaiwala” and “mistri” would get Rs 5237.17 per month.
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Rising input costs: Pawar for better MSP
Jind, February 22 Pawar admitted that agriculture produce prices in the country required a correction and farmers needed better prices for their produce. Addressing the gathering before the ramp show, Pawar said the farming community was faced with several hardships and the problem of not getting good and remunerative prices for the crops had aggravated due to rising costs of inputs. He said almost 80 per cent farmers of the country had become marginal as they owned a two hectares of land only.’’ Hooda said the state had been able to maintain its top position in both agriculture and milk production due to its pro-farmer policies and programmes. He, however, tried to appeal to Pawar on the MSP issue and asked the government to ensure that the crop prices were at least 50 per cent more than the input costs of a farmer. The first of kind pageant of Murrah buffaloes, also described as 'black gold' had several high milk-yielding buffaloes brought from various parts of the state. The proud owners of the shining buffaloes walked along with their cattle and posed for photographs amid flashing lights of the cameras. “It was like a dream come true when I and my Murrah hogged the limelight and a large number of persons, including VIPs, tried to have a glance,’’ said Hoshiyar Singh of Singhua village of Hisar district, who possess ‘Dhanno Rani’ worth several lakhs of rupees. All the buffaloes had a yield of 20 or more litres of milk daily. The Animal Husbandry Department provided an incentive of over Rs 8.21 crore to about 11,429 Murrah breeders on the occasion.
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Train derails, driver sustains injuries
Karnal, February 22 The train, on its way from Ambala to Panipat, had halted on the loop line at Nilokheri railway station to give way to the Puja Express plying from Jammu to Pune. But due to some confusion, the driver of the ESR passenger train jumped the red signal
and the train derailed, sources said. Train driver Ramesh sustained injuries as two bogies derailed while the third one tilted on the track itself. However, as the train was on the loop line, there was no major disruption of rail services. But two trains - Shaan-e-Punjab and Himalayan Queen - were delayed by an hour. ADRM, Railways, Sudhir Kumar, who rushed to the spot, said medical checkup of the driver would be conducted to see if he was under some intoxication. “It was around 1.30 am when I was returning home after attending a wedding when I heard the cries. I saw that the passenger train had derailed and the driver was crying for help,” said an eyewitness Fateh
Chand.
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Casting vote better than cursing politicians: CEC
Gurgaon, February 22 “It is impractical to support democracy but hate politicians,” he said in an informal chat with reporters here yesterday. Dr Quraishi maintained that we had good politicians because of whose policies India was marching towards becoming a super power. The CEC, who was in Gurgaon to inaugurate the third state-level philatelic exhibition, pointed out that India had more voters than all other Commonwealth countries put together. Dr Quraishi said though the Election Commission made all-out efforts to ensure free and fair elections and people as well as politicians had faith in the commission, it was unfortunate that a large number of voters living in big cities did not come out to cast their vote. |
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Power Bill Arrears
Chandigarh, February 22 He directed the officers of power utilities to take stern action against those consumers who do not make the payment of electricity bills on time. The minister said a decision had been taken by the government to initiate legal proceedings against those whose arrears of electricity bills would be more
than Rs 50,000. The minister also redressed the grievances of the people as 59 complaints concerning power utilities were put up in the meeting. He also urged the officers to popularise the schemes of the power utilities and asked them to hold at least 100 Bijli Darbars in each power circle to redress the grievances of the people. All the remaining iron poles would be replaced by June 30 next, he added.
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918 students get degrees
Sirsa, February 22 Dr KC Bhardwaj, Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, who was the chief guest conferred the upon degrees to young graduates. Dr Bhardwaj said: “While getting degrees donning black robes is a dream for every student, it also bring with it new challenges for them.” He exhorted the students to become strong enough to take future challenges. He said the university had been striving hard for improving quality of education in the area ever since colleges from Sirsa and Fatehabad had been affiliated to Chaudhary Devi Lal University |
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201 more test positive for hepatitis C
Ratia, February 22 Bharti Sharma, epidemiologist, Fatehabad, said the survey teams took 809 samples today of which 201 had been tested positive for hepatitis C. Surprisingly, 68 new cases have been reported from Ratia town, where the teams had already completed their survey. “We sent 19 teams to 11 villages of the area and stationed three teams in a camp set up at the community health centre, Ratia, for the urban people,” she said. The teams took 255 samples of urban people in the camp. With this, the total number of people infected with the virus has reached
1,265. — TNS |
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Change in power schedule
Chandigarh, February 22 A spokesman said all rural domestic consumers in the area of the DHBVN would now get morning supply for three hours, from 4 am to 7 am, instead of earlier two hours. The total hours of supply would remain at 12 hours a day. During evening and night, electricity will be supplied from 6 pm to 2
am. — TNS |
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Two SPs transferred
Chandigarh February 22 According to a press note issued here, Anil Dhawan, SP of Palwal, has been posted as the Hisar
SP. Jagat Singh, ASP, Panipat, will be new the SP of Palwal. |
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Seeks quashing of high court verdict
Members of the Jat community who are agitating for reservation in government jobs continued their dharna at Ramayan village, near here, for the fourth day today.
A major tragedy was averted at Nilokheri, 16 km from here, late last night when an ESR passenger train derailed but there was no casualty as no passenger was on board.
The train, on its way from Ambala to Panipat, had halted on the loop line at Nilokheri railway station to give way to the Puja Express plying from Jammu to
Pune.
