Chandigarh, September 4
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed a Haryana Government circular to the extent it denied the benefit of three additional increments to judicial officers acquiring the higher qualification of LL.M after joining service.

Allowing a petition filed by Virender Parshad and other judicial officers, Justice Surya Kant and Justice R.P. Nagrath also directed: “The benefit of three additional increments shall be admissible to the petitioners, as well as other similarly placed judicial officers.”

Parshad and other officers were seeking the quashing of Haryana Government instructions dated May 19, 2011, restricting the benefit of three additional increments to judicial officers possessing an LL.M degree while joining the service, and not to those obtaining it subsequently.

Taking up the petition, the Bench observed in the case of All-India Judges’ Association versus the Union of India and others, the Supreme Court issued directions for improvement of service conditions, including a reasonable hike in the pay scales of judicial officers.

“The recommendations made by the First National Judicial Pay Commission, popularly known as the Shetty Commission in this regard, including for the grant of three advance increments to judicial officers having a post-graduate degree in law, were also accepted,” the Bench asserted.

It added: “The only permissible distinction shall be that the judicial officers, who acquire the LL.M. degree before joining the service shall be entitled to additional increments from the date of joining the service, while those who have acquired/ acquire the same after joining the service shall be entitled to these increments from the date of acquisition of the higher qualification of LL.M.”

The three increments would be treated as additional and would continue to be drawn on further promotion or placement in higher pay scale, as the case may be.

Before parting, the Bench observed: “We find no tangible distinction amongst the judicial officers possessing higher qualification of LL.M. whether obtained before or after joining the judicial services.

“If the Degree of Masters of Law brings efficiency and improves quality of discharging duties by judicial officers…, we fail to understand as to why such a qualitative advantage will not be achieved by an officer who does LL.M. after joining the service.”

Chandigarh, September 4
Less than a week after a single-judge Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court found faults with the preliminary examination for the HCS (Executive Branch) and gave the Haryana Public Service Commission three days for publishing the answer keys, a Division Bench today extended the deadline.

Issuing notice of motion for October 9 on an appeal filed against the single-judge Bench orders, the Division Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice RP Nagrath gave the commission 10 days for the purpose.

The single-judge Bench ruled on August 30 that the commission had created “much” confusion by not making public the answer key before deferring the main written examination for the HCS (Executive Branch) and other allied services.

The orders came on a bunch of 21 petitions filed by Jitender Kumar and others against the Haryana Public Service Commission. Allowing the petitions, the single-judge Bench had also directed the HPSC to constitute a committee of experts to consider 151 representations received by the commission regarding questions.

Directing the HPSC to publish the answer key of the preliminary examination within three days, the Judge had also asked the commission to call for representations from candidates within a reasonable time before referring these to the experts’ committee. 

Chandigarh, September 4
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal may have left no stone unturned to convert their home districts into “education hubs”, yet Rohtak and Jhajjar are placed at 17th and 19th spots in 21 districts of the state when it comes to students’ enrolment in the schools.

In fact, only educationally backward Mewat (41,971 students) and Panchkula (61,795 students) fared poorly than Bhukkal’s home district Jhajjar (83,214 students) on the student enrolment front from primary to secondary classes. Chief Minister’s home district Rohtak with 94,854 students fared slightly better than Mahendragarh (88,891 students), which was placed at the 18th spot in the state.

Surprisingly, the home district of Public Health Engineering Minister Kiran Chaudhary, who has crossed swords with Hooda on many occasions in the past, topped the state with 2,10,264 students enrolled up to the higher secondary level.

Hisar district, the pocket borough of late Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, and currently being represented in the Lok Sabha by his son and HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi and his wife Renuka Bishnoi in the Haryana Assembly, is placed at number two slot with 1,95,198 students. Sirsa, home district of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala, occupied the second spot with 1,74,487 students on the rolls in the schools.

Meanwhile, former Vice-Chancellor of the Kurukshetra University RS Chaudhary alleged despite the tall claims by the Hooda government about quality of education, the school education system had virtually collapsed in the state. “Till we strengthen the school education, we cannot hope to improve the quality of higher education,” he added.

Gurgaon, September 4
To ensure compliance with RTE norms and standards relating to infrastructure, pupil-teacher ratio, and teacher salaries, among other things, the District Elementary Education Department has asked all schools to seek fresh recognition by September 30.

In an order issued today, the department has declared that as mandated by the RTE Act, schools, even though already recognised, will have to apply for fresh recognition (by filing self-declaration forms) within the stipulated period of one month or face de-recognition and subsequent closure. The form will contain details about the nature and area of the school, number of students, divisions etc.

Gurgaon, September 4
Leader of the Opposition Om Prakash Chautala has accused the Hooda regime of having gagged the Opposition in the Assembly.

Talking to The Tribune at Pathredi village, near here, today, Chautala maintained that not even a single adjournment or calling-attention motion moved by them had been acceded to during the entire tenure of the Hooda government.

The former Chief Minister, who had come to address an INLD rally at Sohna town in the district, asserted that Haryana was under a massive debt burden to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore.

“The situation has come to such a pass that there was not even a single penny in the state coffers as on August 17 and the state government, which has no money even to disburse salary and pension, is borrowing heavily even to repay the interest on loans ,” he stated.

The INLD chief alleged the Congress government had evolved a mechanism to expel Opposition members from the Assembly and then surreptitiously pass Bills to favour big corporate houses and builders and exploit common people.

The former Chief Minister further stated that the Opposition members were expelled from the House during the recent session and the Bill to impose property tax was passed under which property ownerswould have to pay tax even on vacant plots.

Chautala asserted that in view of the Hooda regime’s undemocratic practices and financial irregularities, it should be dismissed and President’s rule imposed.

“The current situation calls for a mid-term poll and we are ready for it,” he said.

Chautala said Gopal Kanda was not its only member having a number of criminal cases as at least nine MLAs owing allegiance to the present government were involved in such cases. Earlier, addressing a “parivartan rally” at Sohna, Chautala maintained that the Hooda government had broken all previous records of corruption and bureaucracy was ruling the state while ruling party leaders were busy minting money. 

Ambala, September 4
The General Category Welfare Federation has strongly criticised the government’s decision, which today cleared a proposal to provide reservation in promotions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.

VK Gupta, a spokesperson, said the federation had flayed the UPA government for conspiring to turn down an order passed by the Supreme Court against consequential seniority and quota in promotions because of Dalit vote politics.

The federation said the proposed Bill was discriminatory and violate the spirit of the Constitution, set one section of people against the other and threaten peaceful co-existence was dangerous politics. The federation said the backwardness, adequacy (or inadequacy) of representation and maintenance of administrative efficiency as prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Nagraj case were being ignored in the proposed Bill.

The Supreme Court in April, had upheld the Allahabad High Court’s decision to scrap the policy of reservation in promotions introduced by the Mayawati government. The Supreme Court order had stated that in the ultimate analysis held that Section 3 (7) of the 1994 Act and Rule 8 A of 2007 Rules were ultra-virus as they ran counter to the dictum in M Nagaraj. Now the government was bent upon to nullify the apex court judgment under pressure from a section of MPs, the federation said.

Shailendra Dubey, president of the Sarvjan Hitay Sanrakshan Samiti (SHSS), said employees would stop work and hold protest rallies at all district headquarters against the proposed Bill cleared by the government. Dubey said the views of general categories, which comprise 80 per cent of the total employees must be heard. The general category employees throughout the country would protest against political parties, which had been supporting the Bill.

Chandigarh, September 4
As many as 25 teams carried out inspections for checking misuse of water for raising buildings before stopping construction at 161 sites, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was informed today.

The assertion by the state of Haryana before a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain came this morning as some developers and builders claimed misinterpretation of the high court orders.

Appearing before the Bench, the builders said the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner had stayed construction at all sites. It was added that builders such as DLF had their own arrangements and had even set up sewage treatment plants. Still, the operations were closed down.

Taking note of the assertion, the Bench said its orders were clear that construction on sites illegally using groundwater were to be immediately stopped. The Bench added that the directions were unambiguous to the effect that construction could go on wherever the water source was registered.

Fixing October 3 as the next date of hearing, the Bench turned down the plea for allowing the digging of borewells for the construction staff; and made it clear that water tankers could be called in for the purpose.

The Haryana Government, on the previous date of hearing, had undertaken to initiate effective steps against the violators. An alternative plan to provide water for construction purposes in Gurgaon was also placed before the Bench.

Expressing hope that the government would comply with its undertaking, the Bench had asked the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner to carry on with his drive. The Bench had also made it clear that the Deputy Commissioner would be held responsible if groundwater was found to be utilised by builders for any kind of construction.

Sirsa, September 4
In a case of ragging, three students of Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya (JNV) have been shown the door, while four others have been suspended from classes.

Acting on a complaint by five students of Class IX, the JNV at Odhan in Sirsa has expelled three students and suspended four others for 15 days. In their complaint, Class IX students alleged that Class XI students asked them to wash their clothes, bring food from the mess and wash their used dishes. The students also alleged that they were thrashed, kicked and slapped by the seniors.

In their complaint to principal GK Sharma, the students, Raj Kumar, Rohtash, Subhash and two others demanded action against their seniors. Acting on their complaint, the school authorities have expelled Sonu, Sohan Lal and Sushil Kumar after a meeting of the disciplinary committee.

Jhajjar, September 4
A Haryana Agriculture Department team raided various seed stores located on the Jhajjar road in Bahadurgarh town here today and collected samples of fertilisers, seeds and pesticides.

The samples would be sent to a laboratory and strict action would be taken against those whose samples would fail the test.

The team also checked record of the stored items and asked shopkeepers not to sell inferior items to farmers. — OC

Jhajjar, September 4
At least four persons were killed in two road mishaps in the district during the past 24 hours.

The first mishap took place near Yakubpur village on the Gurgaon-Jhajjar road when two trucks collided. The mishap was so horrible that both vehicles turned into a mass of scrap.

Both truck drivers- Harish of Uttarakhand and Manish of Punjab- and truck cleaner Dhan Singh reportedly died on the spot while another truck cleaner, Kulbeer Singh, sustained serious injuries.

The police rushed to the spot and sent the bodies to the civil hospital for a postmortem examination after extricating them from ill-fated vehicles while Kulbeer was admitted to hospital.

Another mishap occurred near Surkhpur village on the Sampla road here. Naresh Kumar, a driver, was hit by a dumper when he was going to his workplace on a motorbike. Naresh died on the spot while the dumper driver escaped after the accident.

Sirsa, September 4
In a drunken brawl, a man allegedly stabbed his brother to death at Ghukanwali village near Odhan in Sirsa last night.

Accused Buta Singh and victim Jaswant Singh lived together in the village and both were hard drinkers.

According to sources, the two had an altercation over some issue while drinking last night after which Buta Singh allegedly stabbed Jaswant Singh several times on his belly and on the back.

While fleeing, the accused called up his brother-in-law Balkor Singh, who lives in Dabwali and told him that he had stabbed Jaswant and that he was serious.

Balkor Singh rushed his son Gagandeep and two others to Ghukanwali, who rushed the victim to General Hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The police has registered a case of murder. 

Sonepat, September 4
The police has arrested Sat Pal of Ismaila village in Rohtak district who had allegedly cheated many persons by impersonating as Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of the Haryana Police.

The police has also seized a revolver and bullets from his possession. He was produced in a court today, which remanded him in police custody.

A police spokesman said dairy owner Raj Singh of the Housing Board Colony lodged a complaint at the local civil lines police station stating that a person impersonating as ASI at Gannaur police station came in his contact. He told him that the police has recovered an unclaimed Swift car and a Safari and assured that he could arrange the Swift car for him through an open auction. For completing all formalities, he took Raj Singh’s two photographs, ration card’s photo copy and Rs 3 lakh for transferring the car in his name.

However, after receiving the money, the impersonating ASI left the rented accommodation and went missing. During preliminary interrogation, Sat Pal confessed to have cheated many people in his village and of other villages also. He had also eloped with a woman of the same village in the past.