Chandigarh, November 27
Ashok Khemka, a senior IAS officer transferred three days after he ordered a probe into the Robert Vadra-DLF land dealings, is in the dock. Justice Ranjit Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has put him on notice for explaining why he referred to the court by name in electronic and print media.

“The officer had referred to this court by name while appearing on some electronic media or while the issue was covered in newspapers. Let notice be issued to the officer as to why and in what authority he had referred to this court by name while making reference to the order passed and whether it would lead to violation of any norms or would be of the nature of contempt”, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted while asking the Registry to serve the notice to the officer for December 19.

Going into the background of the controversy, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “In this case (surplus land matter), the Special Collector (Khemka) had appeared before the court on October 1 and had expressed difficulty in not deciding the matter despite a direction issued by this court.

“Finding the explanation to be reasonable, the respondent government was required to take a decision to give the charge of this appointment to an officer, who could competently exercise such powers of Special Collector. Subsequently, it revealed that on the basis of this order, the Special Collector has challenged some action of the government in directing his transfer from the appointment held by him. This would be an issue between the officer and the government. But the officer had referred to this court by name?.”

During a previous date of hearing, an affidavit was submitted to the High Court by the state government, apprising the Bench of the technical ‘difficulty’ faced by Khemka due to the handing over of special collector’s additional charge to him.

Justice Ranjit Singh had then asked the state government to either give the charge to ‘some officer’ or to ‘appoint somebody’ on the post on a permanent basis.

The directions came in a surplus land case filed by Jaibhagwan against the Haryana Financial Commissioner and other respondents. Initially, 110 kanals belonging to a big landlord was declared surplus. But the figure was reduced to 20 kanals after the landlord took advantage of two sale deeds.

The surplus land was then allotted to the petitioner but the allocation ran into a legal tangle. After several rounds of litigation, the matter was placed before the Special Collector, who happened to be Khemka’s predecessor. Khemka’s presence in the case was secured through bailable warrants after a compliance report was not submitted to the High Court.

Chandigarh, November 27
Haryana’s whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka has taken on the state government again over posting of senior HCS officer Vivek Atray to the cadre posts of Director and Joint Secretary of the Electronics and IT Departments, Managing Director of Hartron and Director of Supplies and Disposal.

In a letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Khemka apprehended “conflict of interest” between Atray’s earlier employment with PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) and KPMG and his posting as MD, Hartron, and Director and Joint Secretary of Electronics and IT Departments.

Atray worked in the private firms from October 2008 to October 2010 for two years duly sanctioned leave by the Haryana Government.

Before joining the private sector, Atray had been the director of the Information Technology in Chandigarh Administration and had been credited with several IT initiatives, including the e-sampark centres in the Union Territory.

The PwC was associated with Haryana in several IT projects like SWAN, SDC, smart card PDS, crime and criminal tracking system of the police. Similarly, KPMG was associated with the state portal, state service delivery gateway and e-form projects.

Sources said Atray’s background in the IT sector was instrumental in transferring him to his new assignments. Atray, along with four other senior HCS officers, has been promoted to the IAS cadre by the UPSC. However, a notification is yet to be issued by the Central Government following a concurrence from the Haryana Government.

Meanwhile, Khemka today called on Chief Secretary PK Chaudhery and is reported to discuss issues related to recent administrative reshuffle.

Talking to reporters, Khemka, while refusing to divulge what transpired between the two, said the letter to the Chief Minister was in his “personal capacity”.

He reiterated that the non-cadre post of the MD of the Haryana Seeds Development Corporation did not befit his seniority of 22 years.

Sirsa, November 27
Night curfew will continue in Sirsa even as no untoward incident has been reported in the district since Saturday, when the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and forces opposed to the dera clashed near Balmiki Chowk here.

Heavy police security marked the nagar kirtan organised on the eve of gurpurb today in Sirsa and Ellenabad.

Even in neighbouring Fatehabad district, nagar kirtan processions were carried out under heavy police security at Fatehabad, Ratia and Tohana.

In Sirsa, deputy commissioner J Ganesan, senior superintendent of police Rajshree Singh and Border Security Force Commandant Madhu Bala accompanied the nagar kirtan with heavy police force throughout its route to ensure peaceful culmination of the procession.

In the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters, some 8 km away from Sirsa town, dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh inaugurated a health check-up and a blood donation camp to mark the birth anniversary of the dera founder Beparwah Mastanaji Maharaj.

A press note by the dera said 2,180 persons were examined in the camp and 250 donated blood. The road connecting Dera Sacha Sauda with the main town remained heavily barricaded.

The main congregation in the dera, termed as bhandara, is to be held tomorrow, when a large number of people from across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and some other states are expected to assemble in the dera headquarters.

With gurpurab coinciding with the bhandara, the authorities are leaving no chance.

Local residents, however, want curfew to be comletely lifted as they said they were facing a lot of hardships in this wedding season.

In wedding receptions being organised these days, the hosts are receiving hardly one third of the guests they had invited resulting in a lot of wastage in terms of food and snacks.

The Nagrik Parishad, Sirsa, an organisation of prominent persons of the town, has decided to hold a peace march in the town tomorrow. Terming Saturday’s incident as painful and unfortunate, the members blamed the police for the entire episode.

“It is shameful that the police, including its senior officers, stood mute spectators when vehicles were being torched and men beaten and they did not use any force to stop the violence,” said the members.

Chandigarh, November 27
The proposed rally of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) at Sirsa on December 2 to celebrate its foundation day, is being viewed with great interest in political circles of the state — both in terms of the turnout and which prominent leaders would join the party floated by Kuldeep Bishnoi, younger son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.

Bishnoi, who claims the Sirsa rally will be a turning point in Haryana politics, has set a target of one million, which by all imaginations seem to be too ambitious. However, his political opponents, including leaders of the INLD, which holds complete sway on Sirsa district, concede that Bishnoi would be able to put up an impressive show in terms of the turnout because the neighbouring areas, in Haryana as well as adjoining Rajasthan, have a strong presence of the Bishnoi community. Bhajan Lal was an undisputed leader of the community, which feels politically lost after his death. Kuldeep has emerged as their next hope.

Bishnoi, who is now being assisted by his elder brother Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohd, has been wooing old supporters of his father for the past several days to join his party on December 2.

Many of these leaders had earlier joined hands with Bishnoi, when he had not quit the Congress but later drifted away from him, complaining of his inaccessibility. Bishnoi says he has learnt from his mistakes and would not repeat them.

Among those who are likely to join the HJC at Sirsa are former MLA from Fatehabad Dura Ram and former Finance Minister Mange Ram Gupta. Dura Ram is a cousin of Kuldeep but the two had certain serious differences. Devi Lal, a brother of Dura Ram, had always been a close associate of Kuldeep. It is learnt that the estranged cousins have resolved their differences. Gupta has already quit the Congress but is yet to announce his future plans. It seems certain that he would join hands with the son of his friend Bhajan Lal.

Among others who are likely to join the HJC are two former ministers belonging to Faridabad and Gurgaon districts. Why Bishnoi is organising the rally at Sirsa, pocket borough of the INLD? Bishnoi says he wants to free the people of Sirsa from the “terror of the Chautalas”. By organising a big rally there, “I want to send a strong message to the people of Sirsa that now there is someone who will protect them from the Chautalas,” he adds.

Kuldeep says the INLD has been spreading rumours about the strong possibility of a break-up of the alliance between his party and the BJP. The presence of BJP leaders like Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj at the Sirsa rally will put a full stop to such rumours, he asserts.

Chandigarh, November 27
The Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) today suggested reduction in the cut-off marks in the merit list of the preliminary examination of Haryana Civil Service (Executive). This follows intervention by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

If accepted, candidates securing 132.06 marks in the general category in the preliminary examinations would also be allowed to take the main examination. Earlier, the cut-off marks were 134.

The revised cut-off in the SC category would be 116.33 against 120 earlier and would be 130.08 in the BC category against 133 earlier. In the ESM category, the suggested cut-off is 109.48 compared to 113 earlier while in the physically handicapped category, it has been suggested to revise the cut-off as 121.44 instead of 125 marks earlier.

The case will now come up on Thursday for further hearing.

The matter had reached the High Court after some petitioners challenged the HPSC action in granting marks to the candidates with regard to wrong questions in the preliminary examination of HCS-2011 examination held on March 25 this year.

Bhiwani, November 27
With the police failing to nail down the murderers even after 13 days of the murder of two farmers at Bond Kalan village in the district, residents of the region have started a move to revive the agitation which they had agreed to suspend following an assurance by the authorities concerned.

The residents had served an ultimatum of 48 hours to the police to arrest the culprit or face a stir on November 15 when they had blocked the road and torched the police station in the village.

The police has so far arrested three persons who are the brothers of the main accused in connection with the incident.

“Though the villagers had agreed to suspend the agitation in response to the assurance provided by senior district and police officials, who had launched a heavy combing operation in the region, the resentment among the residents of Bond Kalan and some nearby villages has been simmering as there has been no breakthrough in the case so far,” claimed a spokesperson of the Panwar Chaurasi khap.

He said the panchayat, which was proposed to be held today, would be held on Wednesday as the number of villages invited had been raised to six instead of three earlier.

Another resident of Bond Kalan, on the condition of anonymity, however, claimed that the stir had been shelved because the police had booked a case against more than 150 persons in connection with the arson and the villagers feared arrest.

The police station had been set ablaze and several vehicles damaged in the violence that took place soon after the murder of Rajender and Kuldeep on the night of November 14.

Chandigarh, November 27
Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal today said that efforts would be made to expand the scope of inter-district transfer policy of JBT or C and V teachers by bringing the teachers of the Mewat cadre under its ambit.

Bhukkal was talking to media persons after her meeting with representatives of the Haryana Vidyalya Adhyapak Sangh, who called on her here today in connection with their demands. The minister assured them that she would take up their issues with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and their demands would be considered sympathically.

She said the government would deal with the issue of promotion of teachers on priority. Despite the shortage of staff at the directorate level, the process of promotion was being carried out regularly. The deputy commissioners have been asked to ensure that teachers are not deployed on non-teaching work during teaching hours.

In reply to a query, Bhukkal said rationalisation was being carried out in the department for improving the education system. 

Chandigarh, November 27
Acting on a petition alleging the state of Haryana was not serious about implementing the Right to Education Act in its true spirit, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion for December 3.

The notice to the state, the Director-General of School Education and the Director of Elementary Education came on a petition filed by Bijender Singh of Pillu Khera Mandi in Jind district.

In his petition Bijender Singh contended that the instead of “increasing the availability of teachers” to implement the Right to Education Act, the same was being reduced.

Moreover, the state was deploying “thousands of teachers in various non-teaching works, which was against the spirit of the Right to Education Act”.

Quoting an example, the petitioner said recently thousands of teachers were recently deployed as booth-level officers for preparing new voter lists.

The petitioner added the state was violating the fundamental rights of lakhs of students by not paying heed to the provisions of the Act. A brief representation too was submitted to the department. “But no heed was given to the genuine demand of the petitioner.” He added the respondents should be directed to “carry out the rationalisation of teachers in accordance with the provisions of the Act”. — TNS

Ambala, November 27
Fog safety devices to be installed in trains operating in the northern and eastern areas of the country are unlikely to become a reality this season as the devices have failed trial tests.

Sources in the railways said the department would conduct more trials of the fog-safety devices before these were given the final go-ahead. The global positioning system-based devices alert the driver about the approaching signal and also calculate the distance, enabling the driver to reduce speed of the train.

The Railway Board had last year decided to install fog-safety devices in all trains running on chosen sections of the Northern and Eastern Railway.

Sources said the devices were found to be of great use in alerting the drivers, but failed to calculate the exact distance between the train and the signal due to which the project had been put on hold for a time being. Besides, snags were also noticed in the signalling system of the device.

At a distance of 2 km from each signal, the device gives a written warning to the driver and as soon as the train reaches 500 metres away from the signal, it announces the approaching signal on a speaker.

Sources said it only informs the driver about the approaching signal and not its colour. The driver cannot depend on the device to know if the signal is red or green.

A senior official in the railways said, “Certain modifications are being made in the system by technical experts and after which these will be again tested and if everything goes right, the devices will be installed in trains.”

The railways face a huge challenge in operating trains on the Delhi-Ambala-Amritsar section where dense fog during winter reduces visibility to a few metres. Many trains get delayed and cancelled because of this.

Hisar, November 27
Students of Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology today staged a demonstration to highlight lack of security on the campus after yesterday's brutal murder of a girl student.

University Registrar RS Jaglan assured the agitating students that security on the campus would be beefed up immediately. The administration would also install CCTV cameras at strategic places inside the university.

Meanwhile, Pradeep Nain, a final-year student of B Tech who had axed Gitika, a hosteller, near the GJU Shopping Centre to death last evening, was produced in a local court which remanded him in police custody for two days.

Meanwhile, the GJU Teachers’ Association held a meeting today to express grief and shock over the murder. GJUTA president Rajesh Lohchab urged the authorities to increase security on the campus. The university administration has suspended teaching work on the campus till December 2 in view of the tension.

Faridabad, November 27
An employee of a private hospital here was stabbed to death by his former colleague in the wee hours today.

The victim, Pankaj, was working as an assistant with Manchanda Hospital. He was stabbed several times by his former colleague Deepak and his two accomplices.

Pankaj died on the spot. After committing the crime, the accused escaped from the spot.

The victim and the accused are stated to be natives of Bihar.

Station House Officer Narender Singh said Deepak was a drug addict and he was sacked from the job by the hospital management about two months ago.

Deepak suspected that the deceased had conspired against him in getting his job terminated.

He used to visit the hospital and pick up quarrels with Pankaj even after he lost his job.

He visited the hospital at about 2 am along with his accomplices and attacked Pankaj who was asleep in the X-room.

The police has registered a case in this regard and further investigations are on in the case.

Faridabad, November 27
An undertrial lodged in Neemka Jail in this district died last evening due to cardiac arrest. He reportedly died on way to Badshah Khan Civil Hospital.

The deceased, identified as Ram Kishan (48), was facing trial under Section 307, IPC, according to the station house officer concerned, RK Vashisth.

He was lodged in the jail about five months back.

Anil Kumar, superintendent of Neemka Jail, said he had been recently shifted from the jail’s barrack to its hospital due to his ailment.

The death was being investigated by a judicial magistrate. Ram Kishan, resident of Deegh Pahladpur village in this district, was booked for allegedly indulging in a bloody feud in his village over a land dispute.

Jhajjar, November 27
With the arrest of four youths, the Jhajjar police claims to have busted an inter-state gang of ATM card fraudsters involved in several cases of cheating of consumers in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, UP and Haryana.

The police also seized 50 ATM cards of various nationalised and private banks from them.

Jhajjar police chief Anil Dhawan said here today that the arrested youths had been identified as Sonu of Narnaund (Hisar) and Baljeet, Praveen and Pradeep, all residents of Indira Colony in Rohtak city.

The four had confessed to their involvement in 47 cases of ATM fraud wherein they had withdrawn money in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and UP, said the police chief.

The four had also been found involved in ATM card fraud in Jhajjar, Rohtak, Panipat, Bhiwani, Rewari, Sonepat and Narnaul districts.

“We received tip-off that three youths in a Swift Dezire car and a motorcyclist were moving under suspicious circumstances near an ATM cabin of Axis Bank adjacent the local bus stand,” said Dhawan. A police team raided the place and rounded up all four.

During interrogation it was revealed that they were a part of a gang involved in several incidents of ATM frauds in the region, said the police chief.