Chandigarh, May 19
Even though the Haryana Government has banned the fresh recruitment of guest teachers since April 1, 2012, over 15,000 such teachers can remain in their present jobs till March 31 next year.

Against the backdrop of a recent Supreme Court judgement on guest teachers, the Director, Higher Education, Haryana, in a directive to all District Education Officers (DEOs) and the District Elementary Education Officers (DEEOs)has clarified that guest teachers’ “continuance in service will be as per the schedule/ scheme accepted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in its order dated March 20,2012.”

Official sources said with the constitution of the Haryana School Teachers Selection Board, the process to recruit new teachers in place of the guest teachers had already been initiated.

Even the Supreme Court in its judgement had made it clear that no fresh appointments of the guest teachers should be made from April 1, 2012.

However, since students also cannot be made to suffer on account of the delay in the appointment of regular teachers, the court directed that the exercise indicated in the scheme submitted to the high court, must be completed within the specified time and no further extension or deviation would be permitted.

A senior functionary of the Haryana Government claimed that the state government was committed to fulfil the undertakings given on teachers’ recruitment in the high court.

Recruited way back in 2005 to tide over the shortage of teachers in government schools, the issue of guest teachers has always been a hot potato to handle for the Hooda government. While nearly one lakh candidates, who have qualified the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET), have been demanding recruitment of regular teachers for several years, the guest lecturers had also been pressurising the state government to regularise their services.

Fatehabad, May 19
Despite a ban, farmers are burning wheat stubble on their fields with impunity.

After noticing wheat stubble being burnt on fields of Jhalnia and Majra during his visits to Legal Aid Clinics, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Harish Gupta, today summoned sarpanches of these villages and asked them to initiate legal action against the offenders after their identification.

“I noticed stretches of fields on fire on the Fatehabad-Chandigarh road between Majra and Jhalnia creating hurdles in free flow of traffic on the road due to dense smoke. The burning of wheat stubble is banned in view of the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” said the judge.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a civil writ petition CWP- 10138 of 2006, Captain Sarbjeet Singh versus State of Punjab and others, regarding non-burning of wheat stubble, paddy straw and dry fallen leaves, had directed the state government to take immediate remedial measures to stop burning of wheat/paddy stubble in the fields.

The Deputy Commissioner, ML Kaushik, had recently banned it by promulgating prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC.

The stubble burning not only attracts action under Section 188 of the IPC, but also under the provisions of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, that can attract imprisonment as well as heavy fine. 

Sirsa, May 19
Villagers in Kesupura of Sirsa are up in arms against sale of liquor, allegedly in connivance with the police, despite a panchayat resolution not to allow opening of a liquor vend in their village.

The sarpanch of Kesupura, Mohan Lal, and the president of the village Yuva Club, Vijay Kumar, alleged in their complaint to the authorities that after the death of two persons due to liquor in their village last year, the panchayat had passed a resolution against opening a vend in their village. “The state government and the Excise Department honoured their resolution and did not open vend in the village. Now, a liquor contractor from another village has been selling it illegally,” alleged Mohan Lal.

The sapanch alleged that the local police was hand-in-gloves with the contractor, who had been selling liquor with impunity despite opposition of the village elders. “Liquor has caused havoc in the village in the past. In September 2002, a young woman and two teenaged girls from the village were murdered after rape and their bodies thrown in the Ghaggar. The police has not been able to trace those murderers so far. Similarly, two persons died after consuming liquor last year. The villagers attribute all these crimes to illicit liquor coming to the village,” said Kartar Singh, a school cadre lecturer, who hails from Kesupura.

In a letter written to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kartar Singh said the local police should be held liable if another liquor related crime occurred in the village.

SP Devender Singh Yadav said the police had raided the contractor at Kesupura after the complaints and found only two bottles of liquor with him. “No action can be initiated if a person is found having two bottles of liquor,” the SP added. 

Sirsa, May 19
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Om Prakash Chautala today said that the incident of abduction and gang rape of a law student from the gates of BPS Women University was a slur on the Haryana Government.

Speaking to mediapersons today, Chautala, who is on a four-day tour of the Rania Assembly segment of Sirsa, said that every Haryana resident’s head should hang in shame due to this incident.

The INLD chief alleged that it was not the first case of rape in Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s own area.

ROHTAK: The state unit of the CPM has expressed concern over the alleged abduction and gang rape of the student. Supporting the protest staged by girl students, the party has demanded that the security of the girl students be upgraded besides initiating strict action against the perpetrators of the crime. and university officials for their failure to ensure the safety.

Rohtak, May 19
The probe into the alleged child abuse at a shelter home run by an NGO is likely to get more complicated and prolonged due to factors that could pose a challenge in getting the culprits nailed. While the police custody of two of the main accused has been extended, the police officials concerned appear to be in a spot over the recovery of the missing children and presenting a detailed record of the inmates who have been a victim of abuse.

While the district police chief, Vivek Sharma, who has been closely following the episode of the raid by a team of the NCPCR and has been looking after the ongoing probe so far, proceeded on leave for a fortnight today. The charge of his office was given to Additional SP Vikas Dhankar, who was transferred to Gurgaon some weeks back.

“The police team, which has been probing the matter is, however, facing the challenge of recovery of the missing children, during the past few years, from the shelter home here,” claimed sources in the department. They added that recovery and rehabilitation of the children, who had been handed over to families just after their birth, would not be an easy task as bringing them back would render them orphans again.

The police had claimed recently that at least six of the 10 missing children had been traced at various places, but it appears to be in a fix over the process to recover such children and bring them back as it could face opposition from the parents and the families.

“The police was free to investigate into the allegations of sale of these kids, but it should avoid interfering if it was proved that the children had been handed over to the outsiders after their birth,” observed Rishi Kant, a spokesperson of Shakti Vahini, an NGO working in the field of protection of the rights of children and women in the state.

He said the main issue was child abuse and the officials concerned ought to concentrate on that and try to nail the culprits. Though the demand for a high- level probe had been raised by several organisations, the probe was headed by a DSP-level officer.

Karnal, May 19 
The district police has stepped up investigation into the assault case in which a Sri Lankan national, Narayani Mudraigrejbiji Narayan Kumar (42), was attacked by two motorcycle-borne snatchers and had sustained a serious head injury after she was pulled down from a rickshaw on the local Mall Road.

District police chief Sushank Anand, who visited the victim at the local private hospital this afternoon, said the department officials had been asked to conduct elaborate investigations into the incident. He said the police questioned a number of suspects to get to the bottom of the assault case.

Fatehabad, May 19
Irked over erratic supply of power, farmers from Matana village and the Swami Nagar area of Fatehabad town today held a demonstration outside the 132-KV powerhouse here and blocked the Fatehabad-Bhattu road.

“The power situation is so bad that we have not received any power since last night,” said Yashpal Atwal of Swami Nagar. He alleged that the department had been claiming that they had been providing power for 20 to 22 hours in a day, but the situation on the ground was quite dismal, as power plays truant almost after every hour of supply.

Farmers from Matana alleged that they had received power for merely 5 hours during the past 120 hours. Rajender and Ram Parkash, two brothers from Dhingsara village, were hurt when agitators threw stones on their tractor when they were trying to cross the blocked road.

BK Ranjan, Executive Engineer of Fatehabad Division of the DHBVN, said the problem had surfaced due to snags in some units of thermal plants. “The situation is likely to improve in the coming two days,” Ranjan said.

Chandigarh, May 19
The Excise and Taxation Department, Haryana, has recorded a 12.15 per cent increase in tax collection by collecting more than Rs 18,056.12 crore up to March 2012 as compared to Rs 16,099.57 crore collected in the corresponding period of the financial year 2010-11.

Kiran Choudhry, Excise and Taxation Minister, said the collection of VAT up to March 2012 was more than Rs 12,381.81 crore, which was 19.20 per cent more as compared to that of the corresponding period of the previous year.