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Clashes in Patiala leave five injured
Rajoana calls for peace, amity
State fails to file petition in HC
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Nod to Panchayat Amendment Bill
AGENDA 2012-17: schools
Government neglecting Majha belt, says Sekhri
CAG: Shut down 22 non-functional PSUs
To mint money, pvt firms fix multiple bar codes on sheets
Red Cross Societies told to deposit state’s share
CRPF jawan’s cremation at native village today
Books on detection of fatal diseases presented to Patil
New judicial complex in Moga
Three judges promoted
HC directs Punjab to provide infrastructure in labour courts
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Clashes in Patiala leave five injured
Chandigarh, March 28
Tension gripped Patiala after five persons, including a police commando, were injured in a clash when some youths brandished swords and raised pro-Khalistan slogans. Sikh radicals had declared a Punjab bandh today to demand clemency for Balwant Singh Rajoana convicted in the Beant Singh assassination case. The clash occurred in Arya Samaj area at 11.30 am when some youths took out a procession and raised pro-Khalistan slogans. Area residents objected to such sloganeering and a clash ensued which soon turned bloody with a mob of over 100 youths thronging the locality, attacking policemen on duty and damaging two cars and a two-wheeler.
For some 10 minutes, area residents threw stones from inside their houses while some youths on the streets were thrashed by a mob. The policemen on duty, most of them young recruits, ran for cover instead of taming the mob. The youths brandishing swords and sticks challenged the cops. Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill, who reached the site, suffered minor injuries when pushed around by the mob. The police then resorted to a mild lathi charge. Additional force was summoned and the situation was brought under control. Commando (constable) Gurcharan Singh was injured and admitted to a private hospital. Patiala DC Vikas Garg, who reached Arya Samaj area, faced a barrage of complaints and he left within minutes. Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill and DIG LK Yadav also visited the spot. Later in the evening, Garg said that the administration would pay the medical bills of the injured. Patiala SSP Gill said they are trying to identify the culprits through video-recording and an FIR would be registered thereafter. Most business establishments in the city remained shut. Some trains were stopped. A group of radicals blocked the national highway near Rajpura for a few hours, causing inconvenience to commuters. A report from Sangrur said members of Sikh organisations clashed with shopkeepers in Lehra. Two persons received minor injuries. Trains held up In Jalandhar, the police resorted to a mild cane charge after activists of various Sikh outsfits assaulted head constable Harpreet Singh at a railway crossing. He received injuries on his hand. The armed activists also tried to damage the statue of Beant Singh at BMC Chowk. Brandishing swords, the activists smashed the windows of a bank at Bhagat Singh Chowk and forced Central Government offices to shut. More than 1,500 protesters gheraoed the Amritsar-bound Shan-e-Punjab train and the Jammu Tawi Express for almost 45 minutes. Holding saffron flags, the activists, including women, took to the roads in open jeeps, SUVs, motorcycles and tractors. They forced the lawyers to close their chambers. Some shops were ransacked in Attari Bazaar as also two banks at Phagwara Gate and the Mandi road. Phagwara tense Tension prevailed in this industrial town after a clash between Sikh radicals and activists of Hindu organisations near the old sabzi mandi on the Phagwara-Banga road this evening. Over 12 persons- three cops, two scribes, four Sikh youths and three Hindu activists- sustained injuries. A car was damaged by some unidentified persons even as its occupants fled to save their lives. The police resorted to a mild lathi charge to disburse the mob. The police also opened fire into the air. In Amritsar, the bandh crippled life with almost all commercial establishments, schools and colleges remaining shut. Activists of various outfits carrying sticks and swords ensured that the bandh was successful. The entire city wore a deserted look with government and private buses and auto-rickshaws off the road. The residents had a tough time getting LPG, petrol and diesel as all the filing stations and gas agencies remained shut. The police and paramilitary forces remained on their toes throughout the day. Government offices and hospitals also wore a deserted look. Dal Khalsa and Sikh Students Federation (Mehta) activists held separate marches in support of Rajoana. Roadblocks In Bathinda, the daylong bandh crippled life and disrupted public transport services in the district. Sikh leaders held a protest march in the city. A group led by Rajinder Sidhu, president of Khalsa Diwan Gurdwara Singh Sabha blocked GT Road outside Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Colony.Police commandos, riot vehicles and senior police functionaries were deployed there in strength. The protesters, however, made way for the ambulances and the ailing. They squatted on the road chanting “Satnam Waheguru. There was a similar blockade near the Goniana mandi. The protesters performed ardas at Gurdwara Qila Mubarak. In Gurdaspur, various Sikh organisations forced a complete bandh in the town. State-owned and private buses remained off road. Banks too remained closed. A group of Sikh radicals tried to block the Gurdaspur-Pathankot road. However, SSP Varinder Pal Singh intervened and the protesters agreed to lift the blockade after brief negotiations.
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Rajoana calls for peace, amity
Patiala, March 28 In the letter, Rajoana questioned the decision of honouring Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with the Fakhr-e-Quam title. In a fresh appeal to Punjabis, Rajoana, stressed on the need for peace and communal harmony. In a separate letter to the Additional Jail Superintendent Rajan Kapur, Rajoana appealed for peaceful protests in the state. Rajoana refused to accept mercy from Delhi and said that when innocent Sikhs were murdered in Delhi, the youths were left with no option but to resort to taking to the gun. “Later the youths were called terrorists and the ones who compromised with Delhi were titled Fakhr-e-Quam ”, he wrote in the letter. Maintaining that he needed no mercy, either from the President or the Prime Minister, Rajoana said: “I appeal to the youth not to take to armed rebellion after my death and to remain free from the clutches of politicians”. In a letter to the Patiala Central Jail authorities, Rajoana said:. “All organisations should ensure that no community or religion is hurt and all protests are held peacefully”.
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State fails to file petition in HC
Chandigarh, March 28 The State had made it clear yesterday that it would be moving the High Court against Chandigarh Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal’s orders. The urgency in the matter can be gauged from the fact that the state was contemplating getting the case fixed for hearing today after making a request for the same to the Judge concerned. Punjab law officers had, in fact, put their heads together for preparing the petition overnight. But the petition was not filed today. One of the reasons cited for the same was that the government did not get the certified copy of the order to be challenged on time.
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Vidhan Sabha passes vote-on-account
Chandigarh, March 28 Claiming that Punjab was on the path to achieving most fiscal parameters laid down by the 13th Finance Commission, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa announced an increase of over 12.8 per cent in its annual plan size (to The Finance Minister sought the vote-on-account so as to enable the government to meet the day-to-day expenditure of various departments. As the government assumed charge earlier this month, it has decided to present the annual budget in June after the annual plan for Punjab was finalised in consultation with the Planning Commission. While presenting the vote-on-account, Dhindsa said the state was meeting all targets set by the 13th Finance Commission. "The debt to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has now fallen to 29.91 per cent, against the target of 41.80 per cent fixed by the commission. The fiscal deficit is 3.39 per cent of GSDP, against the target of 3.5 per cent, while the revenue deficit is 1.30 per cent of the GSDP, against a target of 1.80 per cent, as fixed by the Finance Commission," he said. The Finance Minister assured the House that Punjab would be able to achieve revenue balance by 2014-15. The total tax revenue of the state has also seen a significant jump of Rs 3,580 crore in the current fiscal. The FM said the state's own tax revenue has increased from Rs 16,828 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 20,408 crore in the current financial year, thus showing a growth of 21.27 per cent. "The economic growth of the state during the past five years (2007-12) has been 6.87 per cent, against the target of 5.90 per cent, as fixed by the Planning Commission. Our growth is now inching closer to the national growth rate of 7.95 per cent," he said. Dhindsa said the implementation of the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, too, has impacted the state's finances. "This has put an additional financial burden of Rs 3,000 crore per annum because of enhanced salaries and Rs 7,200 crore on account of arrears. We started clearing these dues in 2010-11 and have already cleared 67 per cent arrears due to pensioners and 40 per cent arrears due to employees. The remaining dues will be cleared by 2013- 14. Besides, the grant of benefits by the state government over and above the Pay Commission recommendations has put an additional burden of Rs 1,500 crore per annum." He said the provision is being made in estimates of vote-on-account for payment of 30 per cent arrears of salary to state government employees in June. The FM said that the power subsidy bill of the government has been rising and is expected to touch Rs 6,000 crore in 2012-13, as against Rs 4,200 crore in the current financial year. "The social security pension bill too will rise as the scope of various pensions has been enhanced. He said the share of Punjab from devolution of central taxes has fallen from 2.450 per cent in 1970-75 to 1.389 per cent in 2010-15. Though the 13th Finance Commission identified Punjab as a debt-stressed state, with an outstanding debt of Rs 77,585 crore, the committee appointed to explore ways to assist Punjab along with Kerala and West Bengal is yet to submit its report," he said. The House also adopted supplementary demands for grants for 2011-12, covering 24 grants and involving additional expenditure of Rs 3,849.12 crore comprising Rs 2,669.12 crore on the revenue account and Rs 1,180 crore on the capital account. Who gets what
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
*Gross State Domestic Produce (GSDP)
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Nod to Panchayat Amendment Bill
The elections to gram panchayats next year would now be held under the amended provisions. By doing so, the state government has reverted to the old system where the villagers directly used to elect a sarpanch. The old system had been altered and the panches were given the power to elect a sarpanch from among themselves. As a result, at times even a person who did enjoy much support in a village used to become a sarpanch. Minister for Rural Development Surjit Singh Rakhra said the amendment had been necessitated as the previous system of indirect elections had been leading to factionalism in villages, which was hampering development. The Bill, the last item of the day's agenda before the House was adjourned sine die, was passed without much debate. Only Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa of the Congress rose to make a suggestion that reservation in panchayats should also be provided for categories other than women and Scheduled Caste. But, Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal overruled it saying such an amendment could not be brought at this stage. Earlier in the day, the House passed the vote-on-account approving Rs 14,245 crore as expenditure for three months from April 1 to June 30. Finance Minister Parminder Dhindsa presented the supplementary demands and the vote-on-account before the House. He assured the House that the promises made in the elections manifesto would be taken care of in the regular budget. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jhakhar pointed out that the SAD-BJP government had promised unemployment allowance of Rs 1,000, increase in old age pension to Rs 500 and an enhanced Shagun Scheme. But the vote-on-account did not have any provisions for this. He said provisions should be kept and an additional
Rs 120 core should be added for unemployment allowance, Rs 150 crore for increased pension and Rs 90 crore for Shagun Scheme as these people should not be made to wait for three months if the government was serious about implementing its promises. Congress legislator Ashwani Sekhri said the Punjab Government must also keep aside Rs 142 crore as 1 per cent matching grant contribution to get central funds under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) for 138 cities in Punjab that required repair of roads, sewerage, etc. But, Atwal said it was not possible to make any amendments at this time. House highlights
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AGENDA 2012-17: Schools
Punjab has 36,293 primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary schools, with student enrolment of 39.78 lakh, which includes 17.65 lakh girls. During the last tenure of the SAD-BJP government, 53,961 staff were hired for schools, of which 50,395 were teachers. Yet, there is an estimated deficiency of over 10,000 teachers in senior secondary schools alone. Another proposal for setting up 128 Adarsh Schools is also yet to take off in the right earnest. The government has also announced the setting up of 21 model schools in backward blocks, on which Rs 72 crore is to be spent during the current term of the government.
Teacher imbalance
Besides the massive shortfall of teachers, particularly in primary and upper primary schools, the teacher-student ratio also varies significantly. The Right to Education Act requires one teacher per 30 students, but there are schools in Punjab that have four or five teachers for over 200 students, while others — such as Government Middle School, Leel Kalan in Gurdaspur — have six teachers for 40 students. The government has to ensure optimal deployment of staff. There is a particular shortage of trained subject teachers for mathematics, science, social science and English. In border districts, some teachers have even sub-contracted their jobs to unemployed youth for a part of their salaries. Such practices will have to be stopped. A report titled “Status of School Education in Punjab”, based on a study conducted by the Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh, noted the standard of education could not improve without ensuring the norm of at least five teachers per primary school and eight per upper primary school. Only integrated elementary schools — primary and upper primary combined (Class 1 to 8) — with 8-10 teachers each can address this issue. There is also a serious problem of high dropout rate among urban boys. This has to be checked to ensure uniform economic development. Participation of students from economically weaker sections, especially the SCs, is also significantly low in Punjab, compared to the national figures. Unless this is addressed, there could be a serious challenge to the goal of universal secondary education.
Quality education
Punjab has been able to increase the school infrastructure significantly over the past five years. But that has failed to improve the quality of education in government schools. This is one of the reasons for parents preferring private schools over government in both urban and rural areas. This, despite the fact that most low-cost private schools also have very poor infrastructure. The state officially has only two classifications for schools — elementary (Class 1-8) and secondary (Class 9-12) — which is a precondition of the Centre to give funds. However, on ground, the previous four categories of schools continue — primary, middle, high and senior secondary. The government will now have to genuinely implement the two-tier system of education. It will also solve the problem of shortage of teachers at the primary level, as the surplus teachers from middle schools would then be available for classes 1 to 8.
Service conditions
The government has to somehow remove the huge disparity between allowances for teachers in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. Those in villages and small towns are at a loss of Rs 2,000-2,500 per month. As a result, there is an unending demand for transfer from villages to cities, leaving rural schools understaffed. Recruitment and promotion policies need a relook too. There are more than 400 senior secondary schools without principals, while teachers recruited as lecturer over 20 years ago have not been promoted. The government has also withdrawn the district education officers’ and principals’ power to appoint ad hoc teachers, because of which positions remain vacant for years. At different times, there have been different recruitment policies. For example, computer teachers were recruited for Rs 3,500 per month. During the pre-election year, the salary was raised to Rs 10,000, and then they were given the lecturer grade. This affects the quality of induction — as those who joined at Rs 3,500 on contract may not be the same level as those who would apply for a “permanent government job” with a good salary. The government also needs to appoint eminent educationists to the posts of chairman and secretary of the Punjab School Education Board, which thus far has been political. Recently, the board passed an order saying people on “flying squad” duty would not get any travel or dearness allowance. This resulted in the squads remaining confined to cities, allowing rampant cheating in exams in rural areas.
Semester system
In the new semester system for board classes (10 and 12) in schools, the students are charged a fee of Rs 400-Rs 500 twice each year. The government may consider conducting the first semester exam in the school itself to save the students the financial burden, and thereby also check the dropout rate. Supervision of schools in the state has not been able to keep up with the increase in the number of schools over the years. For this, the government may create a new position of tehsil education officers, which would help manage the schools better.
SAD MANFESTO PROMISES
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Government neglecting Majha belt, says Sekhri
Chandigarh, March 28 The issue was today raised by Congress legislator from Batala Ashwani Sekhri. He listed all projects that came up in the Malwa, Doaba and Majha regions in the last 30 years to prove that “there is serious discrimination against the region”. Sekhri said the Majha region had 25 legislators and many of them had been ministers in the past and present. But, out of Rs 2 lakh crore investments in Punjab in the last three decades, only Amritsar got a university and a thermal plant was now coming up at Goindwal Sahib, he said. He informed the House that 39 projects of national significance came up in the Malwa region, 11 in Doaba and only two in Majha. The MLA said since all prominent politicians came from Malwa, the first preference for setting up any project was Malwa and Majha being a border area was ignored.
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Hussainiwala memorial victim of unkept promises
Hussainiwala, March 28 The Hussainiwala Martyrs Memorial built in memory of Shahid-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who had lit the eternal flame of freedom and smilingly embraced the gallows, today depicts a tale of unkept promises. The foundation stone of the memorial was laid in 1965 by the then Union Defence Minister YB Chavan. However, the work could not be initiated due to the Indo-Pak war that year. Later, the memorial was dedicated to the nation only in 1968 by the then Punjab Chief Minister Lachman Singh Gill who got it completed within a short span of 37 days at cost of Rs 1.84 lakh. A “shahidi mela” is held here every year on March 23 to mark the martyrdom day. Political leaders who come here during the fair make tall promises to develop this memorial, but over the years nothing much has changed except landscaping of its lawns. Earlier, whatever work was done on it before 1971 got damaged during the Indo-Pak war when the invading Pakistani troops took control of this place. After the accord, the withdrawing troops ransacked the entire memorial and even took away busts of the three martyrs which were later retrieved through diplomatic channels. Ironically, these busts remained dumped in the one of the stores of the DC office till 2000 when they were “discovered” from an old trunk and later placed in the conference hall by the then Deputy Commissioner KS Sidhu. The memorial was rebuilt in 1973 following efforts by the then Chief Minister Giani Zail Singh. Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during his visit here in 1985 promised to revamp the memorial, but to no avail. Bhagat Singh’s mother Vidyawati, who was awarded the title of “Punjab Mata”, and his comrade Batukeshwar Butt were also cremated here as per their last wish. A board installed near the memorial shows that PUDA was entrusted the job to develop the memorial at a cost of Rs 350 lakh. Though the area has pathways, road berms, space frame over the old rail track and an open air theatre, several projects like building a museum, craft village and light and sound arrangement are hanging fire. Additional Deputy Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said they had again submitted a proposal to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for sanctioning Rs 1 crore for beautification of this memorial. Hundreds of people who come here from far off places to pay respects to the martyrs feel a deep sense of anguish that the place has not been developed in tune with the legacy of the martyrs.
Time frame
A leaf from history
The area where the martyrs were cremated had gone to Pakistan after the Partition. It was later exchanged in lieu of 12 villages near Sulemanki headworks in Fazilka on January 17, 1961 Official apathy
The original busts of the martyrs which were retrieved from Pakistani authorities after the 1971 war kept lying dumped in a store in the DC’s office till 2000.
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CAG: Shut down 22 non-functional PSUs
Chandigarh, March 28 While maintaining that no purpose could be served by keeping the 22 non-working PSUs in existence, the CAG in its report filed in the Vidhan Sabha also noted that three PSUs incurred heavy losses. These included PSPCL with Rs 1,301 crore loss, Pungrain with 137 crore and Warehousing Corporation with a loss of Rs 84 crore. About
Pungrain, the CAG noted its losses were increasing year after year due to high incidence of interest payment, failure to get reimbursement of all elements of the cost and delay in claiming incidental charges from the
FCI. The report noted that Pungrain was not able to meet its procurement targets. It could not ensure wheat storage on covered plinths which led to damage to 18,272 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat costing Rs 18.41 crore. It said shortages of 3,480 MT of wheat costing Rs 3.74 crore were also noted. Despite this, the report said the Pungrain management failed to take departmental action against the officers concerned. Regarding
PSPCL, the report noted that the average realisation per unit was between Rs 3.12 and Rs 3.77 against an average cost per unit of Rs 3.70 to Rs 4.18. It said the company had failed to meet the requirement of power too.
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To mint money, pvt firms fix multiple bar codes on sheets
Mohali, March 28 The PSEB pays Rs 3.15 per bar code to firm and every year, it is paying around Rs 3 crore for the bar coding. The extra money paid to firms for the wrong bar coding could run into lakhs of rupees. The case came to light at a time when the PSEB was passing through financial crisis due to pending of around Rs 100 crore with the Punjab Government. Board chairman Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon said wherever such an anomaly was found the firm had been penalised heavily. Dhillon said the clause of penalty was part of the agreement signed with
the firms. "The union is opposing the bar code due their vested interest," the board chairman said adding that the bar coding system was very successful and there were always chances of improving it further. The count of such candidates runs into hundreds. It's not only the case of multiple bar codes, a number of candidates have been assigned the same set of bar codes. Apart from the delay in declaration of the results, the board authorities in order to solve the problem had to give average numbers to the candidates on the basis of their performance in other subjects. The work of assigning the bar codes has been assigned to two Delhi-based firms. Documents in possession of The Tribune revealed that in certain cases, firms had assigned bar codes on blank answer sheets. "The bar code may have maintained secrecy in the conduct of the exams, but it is paying havoc with the future of candidates. The firms should be held accountable for every single penny paid by the board," said an affected candidate. Two roll numbers (2112401253 and 2112143961) had been assigned the same bar code (3645002) in the Class XII exams held in September 2011. Similarly, the roll number (104005) had been assigned multiple bar codes (04406914 and 04406436). There are many such examples. The issue was also recently highlighted by the PSEB Employees' Union, who demanded scrapping of the bar code. Union president Parminder Singh Khangura had demanded a CBI probe into the payment made by the PSEB to private firms for bar coding. On the other hand, the board authorities maintained that the union had been opposing the bar coding as it hampers their freedom of knowing results in advance.
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Red Cross Societies told to deposit state’s share
Ludhiana, March 28 A senior officer at the state headquarters of the Indian Red Cross Society in Chandigarh said a letter for sending the share had been written by MP Singh, principal secretary to the Governor. He said certain districts had not sent their share for a quite long time. Ludhiana district has the maximum pending arrears to the tune of Rs 59,65,365 since 1988. In 2011, the district paid Rs 9,600 only. Bathinda district comes at second place with outstanding dues of Rs 27,93,949 since 1992. In 2011, Bathinda also paid Rs 2 lakh. "Similarly, Amritsar, Barnala, Ferozepur, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Patiala etc have not paid their dues. However, Jalandhar, Muktsar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar have no pending dues," he said. Rules stipulate that the District Red Cross branches will retain 70 per cent of all the membership subscriptions received by them and forward 30 per cent to the state branch which will retain 15 per cent for its own administrative expenses and forward the remaining 15 per cent to the Indian Red Cross Society, New Delhi.
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CRPF jawan’s cremation at native village today
Hoshiarpur, March 28 Jatinder, son of Jaswant Singh, was killed with 14 other CRPF personnel in the blast triggered by suspected Naxalites in Gadchiroli district. Hoshiarpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Balkar Singh Sidhu said that constable Jatinder Kumar would be cremated with full military honour tomorrow. In a separate incident in the district, Gurdip Singh (35), son of Malook Singh of Khunde village, was allegedly murdered by Ranjit Singh, alias Billu, son of Hans Raj and Bhajan Singh, son of Hazara Singh, both residents of Kulian village last night. Police sources said Gurdip Singh, Ranjit Singh and Bhajan Singh were all in the firewood business. Hariana police has booked the accused under Section 302 of the IPC and further investigation were on.
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Books on detection of fatal diseases presented to Patil
Patiala, March 28 The books - 'Speaking of How to Prevent Common Diseases, Bird flu: Countering the Terror' and 'All You Wanted To Know About Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome' -- have been acclaimed worldwide so as to emphasise on the urgent need of Dr Puri's global awareness campaign against the fast spreading common but fatal diseases. Dr Puri said, "The campaign is more important for sportspersons and defence personnel because once declared fit, there is no guarantee that they will always remain fit, although sports or exercises help in prevention of diseases." "Therefore periodic check-ups and tests are absolutely essential. Grass root awareness a must these days, particularly for the budding sportsperson of the rural India. Sportsperson need to remain disease free and same is true for defence personnel," he added. He further said that major silent risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, high blood sugar, high blood cholesterol, high blood uric acid and Thyroid disorders must be known to all to prevent the fatal, heart, kidney and lung diseases. "I am therefore taking up this mission ahead so that human beings should move towards health living," he said. "Medical tests should be carried out under normal circumstances, at least every 10 years during adult age and once in a childhood. Positive family history, use of alcohol or tobacco and overweight add to the problems, he added.
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New judicial complex in Moga
Moga, March 28 A few weeks ago, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the district administration to compensate the farmers by assessing the present market rates. Local advocate Harinder Singh had filed a petition in the High Court demanding compensation for the farmers on the basis of new market rates. The Punjab Government had issued a notification to acquire the 12-acre land of Ghal Kalan village under the provisions of Section-6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 on September 21, 2011. After this, the Public Works Department had also deposited a sum of Rs 6.05crore with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate-cum-Land Acquisition Collector of Moga on January 31, 2012 to disburse the compensation among the farmers whose land was being acquired, said Balwinder Singh, executive engineer, PWD. A senior officer of the district administration said that the administration would soon file a revision petition in the High Court because the notification for acquiring this land was issued in September 2011 and the rates assessed for compensation were as per the prevailing market rates. It was learnt that a counsel for the state government had failed to explain to the High Court that the notification for acquiring the land was issued just a few months ago and the money could not be disbursed due to implementation of the model code of conduct for the Assembly elections. Revenue officials were of the view that the market rated had not changed during the past six months
and there was no question for fresh assessment of the rates. Presently, the judicial complex is in the heart of the town. Due to increase in number of courts and advocates the land is falling short to meet the requirements. About a decade ago, the judicial courts were shifted from the Main Chowk of the town to the present location after formation of the district.
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Three judges promoted Ludhiana, March 28 Those promoted include JS Kang, BK Mehta and JS Khusdil. Their posting orders have not yet been issued. GS Matharoo, presently working as Legal Remembrancer, Punjab, has been posted as Sessions Judge in Ludhiana. The post was lying vacant since the retirement of Sessions Judge SP Bangarh on Feburary 29. Ropar's Sessions Judge GK Dhir has been transferred to Hoshiarpur, where Sessions Judge AK Singla is going to retire on March 31. Kapurthala's Sessions Judge MS Virdi has been transferred to Ropar. Whereas, GR Banyal has been posted at Kapurthala. He was working as chairman of the State Appellate Transport Tribunal in Chandigarh. All the officers have been directed to relinquish their charge on March 31 and join their respective new stations.
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HC directs Punjab to provide infrastructure in labour courts
Chandigarh, March 28 Taking up a petition for adequate facilities for the presiding officers, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover asserted the petition filed in the matter has depicted a "picture of gross inadequacy of the existing infrastructure, including manpower" and has come in way of "smooth handling of cases by the presiding officers". The Bench also took note of a counter affidavit filed on the State's behalf indicating that the number of cases before the tribunals in Punjab was indeed "sizeable". In its detailed order, the Bench asserted: "There appears to be no exercise carried out by Punjab with regard to what should be the minimum infrastructure necessary to be provided to the presiding officers of the labour courts-cum-tribunals. "The State would like to explain the situation by saying that such a picture has not been clearly laid before it by the presiding officers themselves," the Bench added. "Be that as it may, we now direct the Registrar-General of this court to call a meeting of the presiding officers of labour courts-cum-industrial tribunals and ascertain from them what are the requirements in terms of infrastructure, manpower and other facilities for each of the labour courts-cum-tribunals." "Thereafter, the Registrar-General of this court will communicate the requirement to the Secretary, Labour Department, Government of Punjab, who will ensure that the needful is done by making available the required infrastructure, manpower and other facilities forthwith and without any delay." Fixing May 28 as the next date of hearing, the Bench added: "We would expect the process to be completed within a period of eight weeks.”
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Chandigarh, March 28
“Padho Punjab, Wadho Punjab” is the catchy slogan the Punjab Government has adopted to promote education. The SAD-BJP alliance has in the right earnest also promised free and compulsory education to all children between 6 and 14 under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). It has promised free laptops with data cards for Class 12 students. The gap between ambition and the situation as it prevails, however, is huge.
Chandigarh, March 28
“Padho Punjab, Wadho Punjab” is the catchy slogan the Punjab Government has adopted to promote education. The SAD-BJP alliance has in the right earnest also promised free and compulsory education to all children between 6 and 14 under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). It has promised free laptops with data cards for Class 12 students. The gap between ambition and the situation as it prevails, however, is huge.
