H A R Y A N A   E D I T I O N

VK Jain to be state HR panel chief
Chandigarh, September 15
Haryana, the land of khaps and honour killings where violations of human rights seem to be a way of life, is finally set have a human rights commission with a high-powered committee headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today clearing the names of Justice VK Jain, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the chairman and Justice HS Bhalla and retired bureaucrat JS Ahlawat as members.

Chautala flays FDI in retail
Chandigarh, September 15
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Om Prakash Chautala today said the Central Government’s decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector would destroy lakhs of small traders in the country.

CM’s birthday: Sycophants’ day out in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, September 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s birthday, which also coincided with him becoming the longest serving Chief Minister of the state today, turned out to be a sycophants’ day out in the city.

Cultural balancing: Students perform at a function in Gurgaon. Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed

Doctor in soup over ‘bribe’
Faridabad, September 15
The officiating Principal Medical Officer (PMO) of the Badshah Khan Civil Hospital, Dr OP Mehta, has landed in a controversy. He first authorised an NGO to administer vaccines to children after accepting a bribe and then returned the amount with some additional money to the NGO to keep the matter under wraps.

VK Jain to be state HR panel chief
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15
Haryana, the land of khaps and honour killings where violations of human rights seem to be a way of life, is finally set have a human rights commission with a high-powered committee headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today clearing the names of Justice VK Jain, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the chairman and Justice HS Bhalla and retired bureaucrat JS Ahlawat as members.

However, there was no unanimity on the names of the selected candidates, with Leader of the Opposition and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala, a member of the committee, putting his dissent on record and demanding re-convening of the committee’s meeting with a new set of names. “A careful examination of the biodata of the candidates, particularly those shortlisted as members, indicated that the facilitation committee appointed by the state government under retired high court judge Justice I P Vashist adopted an arbitrary and pick-and-choose method while shortlisting the members,” Chautala alleged.

Despite Chautala’s dissent, the committee, which also includes Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Kuldeep Sharma will forward the names to Governor Jagannath Pahadia for his nod before a notification is issued, official sources said.

How aam aadmi benefits

• An alternative grievance redressal system for aam aadmi
• The complaintant will not have to go to NHRC, New Delhi
• It will help curtail high-handedness of the authorities
• Thousands of cases in NHRC can hope for early redress

Chautala flays FDI in retail
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Om Prakash Chautala today said the Central Government’s decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector would destroy lakhs of small traders in the country.

Addressing a press conference here today, Chautala said if voted to power in the 2014 assembly elections, the INLD would push back the decision even if it was implemented by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government.

Demanding the resignation of the Hooda Government for its various acts of omission and commission, the INLD chief alleged that the land allotment policy of the state government had been criticised the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court.

He also demanded the removal of Nand Lal Poonia, currently working as Chairman of the Teachers Selection Board, who was indicted by the high court for his role in the recruitment of PTIs as the Chairman of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission.

… a revolutionary step: MP

Sirsa: All India Congress Committee secretary and Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar today termed the UPA Government’s decision to allow FDI in the multi-brand retail sector as a revolutionary step and said it would go a long way in benefiting all stakeholders, including farmers. He said the step was long awaited and it would improve India’s reputation world over.

CM’s birthday: Sycophants’ day out in Chandigarh
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s birthday, which also coincided with him becoming the longest serving Chief Minister of the state today, turned out to be a sycophants’ day out in the city.

While the beleaguered CM, fighting with his back to the wall on several fronts, preferred to keep the celebrations a low-affair and spend some time with 125 visually challenged persons from all over the state at his official residence, his well-wishers devised innovative ways to please the boss.

The main function to wish him many more years in public service was held at the Congress office here, where Hooda loyalist and HPCC chief Phool Chand Mullana released a VCD “Mahre Pradhan Ji” eulogising Hooda for contribution to the state. “Sycophancy is an accepted practice in democracy. The small function at the Congress office was the least we could do as part of Hooda’s birthday celebrations,” a senior leader sasid.

Fill SC quota vacant posts in 3 months, says HC
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set three months’ deadline for the State of Haryana to fill the vacant posts reserved for the Scheduled Caste category. Directions in this regard have been issued to the State Chief Secretary by the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain on a petition filed by Rajesh Kumar.

In his petition against the State of Haryana and another respondent, Kumar had earlier sought the issuance of directions to the authorities concerned to fill the vacancies in terms of the state’s reservation policy.

Appearing before the court, his counsel had argued that there was a huge backlog of vacancies for the Scheduled Caste category, yet the government was doing precious little to fill the posts.

Taking up the petition filed in public interest, the Bench asserted that in its opinion issuing directions to the State Chief Secretary would be appropriate. Directing him to consider the matter and take action, the Bench asserted, “This course adopted would certainly redress the grievance of the petitioner.”

The Bench directed the Chief Secretary to “treat the writ petition as a representation” by Kumar.

Asking the Chief Secretary to afford an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner, the Bench directed the officer to “issue the necessary directions to all departments to fill the vacancies belonging to the SC category, if lying vacant, after adopting the appropriate procedure.”

Doctor in soup over ‘bribe’
Returns money to NGO to hush up case
Ravi S. Singh
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 15
The officiating Principal Medical Officer (PMO) of the Badshah Khan Civil Hospital, Dr OP Mehta, has landed in a controversy. He first authorised an NGO to administer vaccines to children after accepting a bribe and then returned the amount with some additional money to the NGO to keep the matter under wraps.

Mehta allowed the NGO to administer vaccines against killer diseases such as typhoid and hepatitis-B.

In a letter to Haryana Health Services Director-the General Narbir Singh, Faridabad officiating Civil Surgeon, Dr MM Sharma, stated that a functionary of the NGO had accepted that Mehta took Rs 32,000 as bribe to authorise them to undertake vaccinations.

A copy of the letter had also been sent to the Director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Haryana, Rakesh Gupta.

Narbir Singh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Rakesh Gupta, however, said strict action would be taken against the officer if found guilty.

Sharma, who is also the district immunisation officer, said when the functionary of the NGO was brought face-to-face with Mehta in his office, Mehta denied the graft charge, but confessed to have issued the letter.

Sharma said when he directed the functionary to stop the vaccination programme, the latter threatened to report the matter to the police as they had invested money to procure vaccines. Subsequently, Mehta gave Rs 80,000 to mollify the functionary, he added.

Sharma said there was no provision of granting authorisation to any institute or individual to undertake vaccinations by the Health Department. He said only recognised hospitals, nursing homes and qualified paediatricians could provide vaccinations to children.

Mehta said, “The chapter is closed as the authorisation to the NGO has been withdrawn.”