Chandigarh, October 29
In a significant order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has described as “extralegal” the process of referring land acquisition cases to a high-powered committee in Haryana. A Division Bench has also referred the matter to the Chief Justice for the constitution of a larger Bench for looking into the issue. “We further order that till such time the larger Bench decides the issue, all the decisions of the high-powered committee constituted in terms of the orders passed by this court or on the basis of the concession given by the state shall remain subject to the final decision of the larger Bench,” the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina ruled.

The development is significant as just about a year ago, as many as 70 petitions were filed, challenging land acquisition for development of nine sectors in Gurgaon. Most of these were withdrawn after Haryana came out with the offer of reconsidering the matter by setting up a high-powered committee. The petitions included case filed by internationally renowned artist and Padmashree awardee Anjolie Ela Menon.

The latest ruling came on a petition filed by Ram Murti Sarin and other petitioners after an order was passed by a Division Bench in July 2005.

The Bench had disposed of the petition after the issue of release, return, restitution or roll back of the land acquired was referred to a high-powered committee “on a concession of the Advocate-General”.

“Prima facie, we find from the scheme of acquisition contained in Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the constitution of the high-powered committee is not only de hors the statute, but is in contravention of the provisions thereof….“The scheme of the Act does not provide consideration by any other authority, except the Land Acquisition Collector, firstly under Section 5-A of the Act and subsequently for determination of compensation under Section 11 of the Act. If a statute provides consideration in a particular manner, the consideration in any other way is excluded.

“We find that in a large number of cases, the state government has conceded to the constitution of the high-powered committee and that this court has also passed orders thereon to direct the committee to consider cases for release of land from time to time.

“We have our reservations about such hybrid procedure being adopted, which appears to us extralegal. The question as to whether the state can lawfully concede to the constitution of a committee to determine as to whether any land or part of the land acquired requires to be released is prima facie apparently contrary to the scheme of the Act". 

Rohtak, October 29
The Khap panchayats, which have already received flak over their moral policing-blended diktats, have asked the state government to ban marriage functions at night as it would lessen cases of drunken driving.

A resolution to this effect was passed during an assembly of over 200 representatives from around 50 Khaps here, which found wedding ceremonies in the night as the main cause of increasing road mishaps.

Om Prakash Dhankar, a participant in the meeting, said their delegation would soon meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to demand a ban on night marriages.

"Khap representatives will visit villages in their areas to convince people not to organise marriages of their wards at night so that road accidents could be brought down after restraining youths from consuming liquor," he said.

The Khaps also sought an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to make way for a ban on marriages within the same 'gotra' (clan).

Another participant, Hardeep Singh, said Khaps would educate people about the "negative fallouts" of such marriages.- PTI 

Rewari, October 29
Stimulated by an initially gratifying outcome of a campaign launched recently by SSP Bharti Arora to seek purposeful public cooperation in nabbing criminals as well as curbing the incidence of crime in the district, a Samman Samaroh was held to honour such gutsy activists here recently.

Furnishing details in this regard at the samaroh, the district police chief Arora showered accolades on Harpali Devi who had assisted the Dharuhera police in apprehending a criminal who raped an eight-year old girl at Dhani Mehaniawas village on October 25. Arora complimented those residents of Nangal Pathani and other surrounding villages who displayed exceptional grit which enabled the police to apprehend the four criminals who were on the run after committing burglaries in a dozen shops at Kosli on the night of October 25.

Simultaneously, the SSP spoke well of the assiduous efforts of the police officials of the Kosli and the Jatusana police stations. These officials joined hands with the villagers to nab the four burglars while Arora was all praise for the Dharuhera police officials manning PCR-II, whose effectual intervention led to the apprehension of a miscreant who, along with two accomplices, had stolen tyres and a battery of a stationary car on NH No.8 at Kharkhara village, near Dharuhera, on the night of October 24.

Besides, she further appreciated the staff of the police post of Sector 6 at Dharuhera who, with their dauntless endeavours, got 30 cows, huddled in a truck, liberated from the clutches of cow smugglers who managed to flee after abandoning the truck there last week and who (the police officials) later arrested the truck owner as well.

Thus while the SSP Bharti Arora honoured Harpali Devi and the villagers by presenting citations to them, she gave cash awards and citations to the police officials as well.

Simultaneously, she again urged the citizens to lend pro-active cooperation to the police in speedy apprehension of criminals while reiterating that the police would continue to work in tandem with the citizenry.

Karnal, October 29
Social organisations in Karnal would approach the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and National Women Commission and file a public interest litigation in the high court, if the need arose, to get justice to the a one-year-old girl who was allegedly subjected to unnatural sex and refused medical treatment by private and civil hospitals.

The decision was taken after the National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists (NIFAA) chairman, Preetpal Singh Punnu, who exposed the sordid incident, telecast the sting video of the family in front of members of social organisations of the region.

The members were moved by the plight of the victim’s family reeling under threat from some quarters.

Expressing their solidarity with NIFAA, the activists of social organisations, including Citizens Grievance Committee, Haryana Chamber Of Commerce, Karnal Vyopar Mandal, Fight For Justice Club Of India, Sector 7 Welfare Association, Jagriti Manch Karnal, Jat Sikh Association, Haryana Sikh Sangat, Bharat Vikas Parishad, Abhivavak Ekta Sangh and Pravasi Suruksha Vahini decided to meet the superintendent of police, Karnal, on Wednesday and demand the registration of a case and action against the accused.

After the case was dropped by the police, Pannu had demanded a fresh medical examination of the girl by a doctors from the PGI as he did not have faith in the Civil Hospital which had denied treatment to the girl. He had also sought a high-level enquiry into the matter by the high court as there was little hope and confidence in the “capacity, capability and will” of the law enforcing agencies to bring the guilty to book.

Unnatural sex Case factfile The incident dates back to July this year. The victim’s family, which hails from Bihar and lives in a makeshift house in Sector 7 here, alleged that a 15-year-old boy, Dheeraj, had indulged in unnatural sex with their one-year-old daughter. The accused was caught red-handed by the victim’s mother and thrashed, but he managed to escape. The mother ran from pillar to post to get medical aid for her unconscious girl, but was denied treatment by Mahavir Dal Hospital and the Civil Hospital on the pretext that it was a police case. The next day, before the victim’s family could approach the police, a male member of the family was called to the police station on the complaint of accused Dheeraj’s mother, who alleged that her son had been beaten up. Some influential person of the area allegedly put pressure on the victim’s family to reach a compromise. However, the police stated that the medical examination of the girl had ruled out any such act. Superintendent of police Shashank Anand said the victim’s mother’s written statement that she had registered the complaint against Dheeraj with mala fide intentions was with the police. Interestingly, the day Punnu apprised Anand of the incident, saying that the family was scared and required counselling and a conducive atmosphere to record their statements, deputy superintendent of police, Karnal, along with the tehsildar as executive magistrate reached the victim’s place and recorded her mother’s statement in which she said that no such incident happened and she did not want to make any complaint.

Chandigarh, October 29
At the receiving end of the criticism for its failure to check crime against women, particularly the recent spurt in rape cases, the Haryana Police today launched a 24-hour helpline for women (1091).

To be functional round-the-clock at all district Police Control Rooms (PCRs) in the state, the helpline was formally inaugurated by Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) RS Dalal at a function held at the district Police Lines, Moginand (Panchkula), near here. “The four-digit helpline has been started to integrate various measures for ensuring the safety and security of women facing threat of crime or any other danger,” Dalal, who demits office on October 31, said.

In a bid to salvage the image of the government, which has been mired in controversies over alleged shady land deals involving AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra, besides the spurt in crime, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had announced a slew of measures, including the setting up of women’s helpline, at a meeting of senior officials, including the IGPs and Police Commissioners, to review the crime situation in the state here on October 12.

As a part of the multi-pronged strategy to rein in criminals, who seems to be having a field day in Haryana, Hooda had appointed Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) K Selvaraj as ADGP (Crime Against Women) to exclusively monitor cases related to crime against women.

 

Women cops to man helpline Women police officials, who have been deputed at each PCR to handle the complaints round-the-clock, will attend calls from women in distress. The special women staff would inform the nearest police station or police post or a PCR van to immediately respond to the caller. The police personnel concerned would take follow-up action as per the provisions of law on a priority basis. The calls and the follow-up action would, in turn, be monitored by K Selvaraj, ADGP (Crime Against Women), on a weekly basis. The ADGP would report directly to the DGP, who will forward a weekly report to the Additional Chief Secretary (Home). The Punjab and Haryana High Court had already directed various courts to put cases against women on fast track.

Chandigarh October 29
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam(DHBVN) and the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam(UHBVN) have urged their consumers to get their unauthorised extension of power load regularised under the voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS) and also get the benefit of the bill waiver scheme (BWS) by the last date of October 31.

A spokesman of the power utilities said after expiry of the VDS, a massive campaign would be launched to detect unauthorised extension of load and a heavy penalty imposed on the erring consumers.

The extension of load shall be deemed to be regularised from the date the applicant submits his form in the office of the SDO concerned.

The industrial consumers may declare their unauthorised load along with revised test reports and consumption security. He said the bill waiver scheme would also expire on October 31.

Rohtak, October 29
Demanding to frame a policy of inter-district transfer of primary teachers from Mewat to other districts in the state, ‘padyatra’ of the Government Primary Teachers Association (Rajkiya Prathmik Sikshak Sangh) reached here today.

Hundreds of primary teachers from Mewat today gathered at the Jhajjar Chungi and squatted on the National Highway-10 and blocked traffic after they were prevented from holding demonstration outside the local residence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here. They raised slogans against the government leading to traffic snarl for over half-an-hour. Senior police and administrative officals rushed to the spot and persuaded the protesting teachers to clear the national highway.

Vinod Thakran, president of the sangh, said the primary teachers posted in Mewat district had been ignored by the state government completely, as not even a single teacher had been given the benefit of the inter-district transfer policy in the past eight years. “While the government primary teachers posted in other districts of the state were enjoying the benefits of the transfer policy but Mewat district has been excluded from it since 2004.

He said as a mark of protest, the RPSS had kicked off a ‘padyatra’ from Nuh town on October 26 and had covered Gurgaon and Jhajjar in the past three days and would be culminating on November 4 at Chandigarh.

Some of JBT teachers said, “Neither we are getting any accommodation there, nor we are given any transportation facility to reach school.” They said most of the teachers posted in Mewat were forced to stay on school premises at night.

Sonepat, October 29
Dharampal Singh Malik, senior HJC leader and chairman of the HJC-BJP Coordination Committee, today ridiculed the baseless statements being issued by the INLD and Congress leaders regarding the possibility of an alliance between the INLD and the BJP in Haryana and claimed that the HJC-BJP alliance was solid like a rock.

The top BJP leadership, including BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, will participate in the HJC rally at Sirsa on December 2, he said while addressing party workers here.

Meanwhile, former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan said the Sirsa rally would mark the fifth foundation day of the HJC and would set a new record of participation by the people. 

Kaithal, October 29
People should make efforts to eradicate social evils, said Kaithal deputy commissioner Chander Shekhar while addressing residents of Khanpur village on Saturday morning after a night camp in the village on Friday.

He said it was a matter of satisfaction that the residents of this village were awakened about imparting education to their children, specially girls.

Cautioning the youth against driving without helmets, he said road accidents were a major cause of worry and could be avoided if traffic rules were followed.

The villagers were administered oath to work against foeticide.

Earlier, a skit on the evil of foeticide was played at the initiative of the district child protection officer.

The villagers were happy to find the administrative machinery in their midst. The officials had brought their own beddings and tiffins, giving a new shape to the night camp.

Additional deputy commissioner Dinesh Singh Yadav said the time had come for parents to change their attitude towards the girls and ensure better education for them.

Subdivisional magistrate Hawa Singh urged the villagers to do some thing novel so that their village could get recognition at the state or national level.

The camp concluded with a cleanliness campaign in the village.

Dipanshu (8), deputy commissioner’s son, was also among those who participated in the programme.

Conceding demands of villagers, the deputy commissioner issued directions for the brick-lining of streets, the inclusion of PBL families in the list and an improvement in the bus service and power supply. He assured them that he would forward the case for the upgradation of school to a high level.

Chandigarh, October 29
The Haryana Government has decided to appoint members of the Juvenile Justice Board for Ambala, Fatehabad and Rohtak districts under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

Applications for the same have been invited from eligible persons, only women candidates can apply for Ambala and Rohtak, Sumita Misra, Director General, Women and Child Development Department, said.

Eligible persons could submit their applications, bio-data along with their certificates of educational qualifications and experience to the Programme Officer, Integrated Child Development Service Cell of the district concerned of the department, by November 15, she said.

Referring to the eligibility criteria, Misra said the applicant should be a domicile of Haryana. Social worker to be appointed as member of the board should not be of less than 35 years of age. The candidate should have a post-graduate degree in social work, health, education, psychology, child development or any other social science discipline.—PTI