Chandigarh, January 11
Virtually passing strictures on the Haryana Staff Selection Commission for destroying the record of written examination held for recruiting mandi supervisors, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a fresh examination. The Bench also imposed costs of Rs 10,000 against the commission.

The Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain asserted the records could be destroyed only three months after the declaration of the selection result, and not the written examination result.

“The argument of bona fide gets a further beating when we find that the board destroyed these answersheets even when the writ petition had already been filed; notice thereof issued to the board," it said.

"Notwithstanding the same, the board went ahead in destroying the records. All this militates against the bogey of bona fides. We are constrained to observed that even when the courts are repeatedly passing orders in this behalf, still the board keeps on destroying the records. From such action of the board, the courts get the impression that all is not well insofar as selection conducted by the board is concerned and there is an imminent need for the board to set its house in order,” it added.

The directions came on an appeal filed by Raju Sharma and Bhupinder Kumar ,challenging the order of a Single Judge passed on March 13 last year. Passing strictures against the HSSC, the Single Judge had observed that "the conduct of the HSSC in destroying answersheets before the expiry of three months from the date of declaration of final result, puts the public institutions, like the HSSC in a very poor light. "

The Single Judge had also awarded cost of Rs 10,000 in favour of each of the petitioners and against the HSSC. During the hearing of the appeal, the counsel for the appellants HC Arora prayed fresh written test and interview be conducted.

Allowing the appeal, the Bench directed the respondents to hold a fresh written test and interview for considering the candidature of the appellants and other unsuccessful candidates.

Karnal, January 11
In a swift operation, the Karnal police rescued a 30-month-old child allegedly kidnapped for ransom from Kohand village in Karnal district from Madhya Pradesh and also arrested the kidnapper.

The child who was playing with his brother and sister in front of his maternal grandparents' house at Kohand village went missing on January 8 last. Their mother Munni Devi had brought them here for the winter vacation.

The police said the family received a call from unknown caller around 7 am on January 9, demanding a ransom of Rs 3 lakh for freeing the child. The caller said, “I have kidnapped your child, give me Rs. 3 lakh and take your child from Mandhana, district Kota, Rajasthan. Do it fast, otherwise I will kill your child.”

Following Karnal SP Shashank Anand's directions, a nine-member special team of CIA-1 headed by sub-inspector Virender Singh left for Kota by train along with the child's parents the same day. But the kidnapper again called the parents at 1 pm, asking them to come to Suhasara railway station in Mandsor district, Madhya Pradesh.

The team boarded another train and reached Suhasara at about 7.30 am on January 10 when the kidnapper told the parents to take a bus from Suhasra to Sitamau and call him through the bus conductor.

The special team followed the bus which dropped them at Barera, but the kidnapper did not come. The police managed to get his address and raided his house at 12 noon with the help of the local police and rescued the boy. The kidnapper was nabbed and handed over to the police.

The kidnapper, identified as Hiralal, a resident of Mamath Khera, Sitamau, MP, was produced in the court of Liladhar Solanki, ACJM, Sitamau, and remanded to two days' police custody.

The special team reached Karnal today. Shashank Anand said the team members would be rewarded.

Chandigarh, January 11
Whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who embarrassed the country’s first political family by cancelling the mutation of the Rs 58-crore deal involving AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and realty giant DLF in Manesar in Gurgaon district, has now trained his guns on the Department of Town and Country.

In yet another letter to the Chief Secretary, Khemka urged the state government to direct the department to provide him certain documents immediately to give appropriate assistance to the government which unfortunately was not sought by the three-member inquiry committee appointed by the government.

The documents demanded by Khemka included the policy of the department for issuing licence and names of the Director General and Principal Secretary of the department at the time of the renewal of the licence on January 18, 2011.

Besides, the officer wanted applications of M/s Skylight Hospitality Limited, a company of Vadra and relevant file notings at the time of the issue of the letter of intent (LoI) on March 28, 2008, Licence No. LC 1868-A on December 15, 2008, renewal of licence on January 18, 2011, and permission to sell the licence on April 3, 2012.

The letter also sought the documents supplied by Skylight Hospitality Limited to the department informing the department about entering into an agreement to sell with the DLF on or before June 3, 2008, and receiving the sale consideration from the DLF. Vadra’s company is reported to have received Rs 5 crore (cheque No. 441242) on June 3, 2008, Rs 10 crore (cheque No. 350411) on March 27, 2009, and Rs 35 crore (cheque No. 457201) on October 7, 2009.

Khemka also demanded the list of cases where the department had granted or renewed licence after the applicant had entered into an agreement to sell and received some amount as part sale consideration before the grant or renewal of the licence.

Further, the letter raised certain other questions: a) when was the consideration amount of Rs 7.5 crore actually paid by M/s Skylight Hospitality to the vendor as claimed in the registered sale deed No. 4928 dated 12.2.2008?

b) Was the cheque No. 607251 dated 9.2.2008 of the Corporation Bank by the vendee a dummy cheque?

c) Was any action taken against vendee under Section 82 of the Registration Act, 1908, in case of incorrect statement before the sub-registrar that payment was made by cheque No. 607251 dated 9.2.2008 of the Corporation Bank issued by the vendee?

He reiterated that he was neither aware of the terms of reference of the inquiry committee nor about its composition.

Karnal, January 11
The state government today invited leaders of agitating sugarcane farmers for talks in New Delhi on January 13.

Stopping supply of sugarcane to mills, the farmers have been agitating for a higher support price for sugarcane for the past eight days.The 21-member action committee of sugarcane growers has received the invitation through Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, Rattan Mann, vice-president of the BKU, which is spearheading the agitation, said.

The farmers are seeking a price on a par with their counterparts in UP and Uttarakhand till the Swaminathan Committee recommendations for fixing the MSP on the basis of the actual cost of production and 50 per cent profit are accepted.

While the farmers are demanding Rs 354 as the MSP on the basis of the Swaminathan Committee report, the state government had fixed the MSP at Rs 240 per quintal, lower than the MSP of Rs 290 and Rs 295 in Uttarakhand and UP, respectively.

Karnal, January 11
The ambitious plans of the Karnal Improvement Trust to construct the second phase of the mega market complex on the Mughal canal on the forest land has run into rough weather as the state Forest Department has scuttled the move by returning the twin proposals for environmental clearance.

The Principal Chief Conservator has asked the Improvement Trust to send a single comprehensive proposal for the environment clearance of 12.8375 hectares of land and also provide an equal area of non-forest land for afforestation as required under the Act.

The trust had sent two separate proposals for the diversion of 4.5049 hectares and 8.322 hectares of forest land for the construction of RCC drain for the disposal of storm water of Karnal and the utilisation of retrieved space for the construction of shops/booths, roads, footpaths and public utility services. The trust had claimed that the Haryana Government had already accorded sanction to the projects on March 18, 1993.

For the diversion of the protected forest land, a permission of the Union Forest and Environment Ministry was mandatory under the Forest (Conservation) Act but the trust had constructed the first phase without getting the clearance from the Centre.

When the issue was raised by RTI activist Rajesh Sharma, who sought information about the status of the land and environment clearance for the project from the Centre, the trust made two separate proposals for the forest clearance for the first and the second phase but then Principal Chief Conservator Forest (PCCF) asked the trust to bring a single proposal and also asked the trust to provide equivalent land for afforestation.

The Divisional Forest Officer has already conveyed the instructions of the PCCF to the Sub-Divisional Officer and an exercise is on to wriggle out of the situation by sending the revised proposal. However, the main hurdle in getting the environment clearance is handing over of the equivalent non-forest land to the Forest Department as no such land is available in the area.

As per the revenue records, the land, on which the second phase has been planned, falls under the forest area and no construction can be allowed without the permission of the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment.

Taking cognisance of the proposed plan prepared by the Town and Country Planning to construct the phase on the Mughal canal, the Adhikar society, an NGO, has urged the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Forests) to develop the canal by planting trees on both sides instead of constructing showrooms without clearance from the Forest Department.

"The motive of the Improvement Trust is to auction the sites, develop the market and earn profits and the project will serve no public purpose", general secretary of the society Rajesh Sharma said.

Wildlife officer, Karnal, Navdeep Hooda also said, "The trust is planning to construct the second phase on the Mughal canal and we have written a letter to the department informing it that prior permission by the Forest Department is mandatory before the work commences".

Sonepat, January 11
A Class 10 student of Kharkhoda town in the district belonging to Scheduled Caste, attempted suicide today at her home, five days after she was allegedly raped by her young neighbour.

The 16-year-old girl sprinkled kerosene and set herself ablaze when she was alone at her house. The girl is admitted to the PGIMS in Rohtak in a critical condition.

The district police has, meanwhile, arrested the accused identified as Rakesh, also belonging to the SC, within hours of the registration of case on the complaint of victim’s mother.

The girl revealed the incident to her mother on being asked for her disappearance on Sunday. She alleged that Rakesh who is a taxi driver, abducted her and raped her before dropping her back the same day.

The mother decided to file a complaint about the incident against the youth.

When she went out of the house for some work in the afternoon, the girl set herself afire. The Sonepat DSP who accompanied the victim to the PGIMS at Rohtak said her condition was critical as she had suffered about 90 per cent burn injuries. 

Bhiwani, January 11
The 6-year-old rape victim continues to be in a state of shock even as the Bhiwani police has not so far been able to identify the man who took the girl to the fields on his bicycle and dumped her near a roadside dhaba after raping her in broad daylight yesterday.

The police has rounded up half a dozen village youths based on suspicion, but there is no clue to the man who committed the loathing act.

The victim, a class II student, was playing with two other children near the village bus stand at 11 am yesterday, when a man scame on a cycle and took her away on the pretext of getting her some eatable.

He is alleged to have raped the girl in the fields near an eatery on the road linking the village to Bhiwani town and then dumped her there.

“The girl is still in a state of shock,” said SP Simardeep Singh today evening.

He said the police was in the process of recording statement of the victim’s mother.

Sirsa, January 11
Additional District and Sessions Judge RP Goyal has sentenced a man to imprisonment for 10 years for the rape of a minor girl at Nathusari village in the district.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on convict Bhup Singh, who had raped the minor girl living next door to him on April 29, 2012. The 13-year-old victim was watching TV in her house when the accused allegedly barged into her house and raped her. The accused allegedly tied the girl with her duppatta and escaped after bolting the door from outside. When the victim’s mother and brother returned home after their work in the evening, they found the house bolted from outside. The victim narrated the incident to her mother, who informed the police. — TNS