Chandigarh, July 24
The family of Gurgaon CJM Ravneet Garg’s wife Geetanjali today approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice for placing the judicial officer under suspension. He is currently on long leave.

The family is apprehending the judicial officer’s hand in Geetanjali’s murder. He has already been booked for his wife’s murder and questioned by a special investigation team.

Geetanjali’s brother, Pardeep Aggarwal, submitted a representation in the office of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul this morning, stating that the Gurgaon police was mishandling the case.

The representation further stated that the police did not record Ravneet Garg’s statement immediately after Geetanjali was found dead. The police also did not take the possession of the mobile phone or conduct a search at his residence, giving sufficient time to destroy the evidence.

The representation added Garg was working as a pressure on the police and was causing hindrance in the proper and fair investigation of the case. The situation would remain the same even if investigation was carried out by any other agency.

Aggarwal requested that Garg’s services may immediately be placed under suspension so that the victim’s family could get fair justice. Aggarwal also met Justice Hemant Gupta, Inspecting Judge of Gurgaon sessions division.

Geetanjali (24) was found dead in a park with three bullet wounds. The postmortem report has suggested that one bullet hit her stomach while another hit the chin and pierced through her head. The third bullet injured her neck minutely.

Gurgaon, July 24
A panel of forensic experts has been constituted to look into the mysterious death of Geetanjali, Gurgaon Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Ravneet Garg’s wife, last week

On the request of DCP (Gurgaon-West), Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi, has formed a panel of forensic experts to provide expert opinion to the SIT.

The panel comprises Dr TD Dogra, former Director, AIIMS, Dr SK Dhattarwal, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the PGIMS, Rohtak, and Dr Sanjay Narula, who headed the team which carried out Geetanjali’s post-mortem examination.

The panel has been authorised to take advice from any agency regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, the policeinterrogated CJM Ravneet Garg’s personal staff, including his peon and driver, who reportedly revealed that Garg had strained relations with Geetanjali.

Denying their involvement in the matter, the driver and the peon reportedly maintained that the CJM and Geetanjali often had heated altercations over certain matters.

While the peon reportedly maintained that Geetanjali and the CJM’s cousin had even come to blows at a point of time, the driver reportedly stated that on several occasions, the CJM used to stay away from his house even at night.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, July 24
A day after over 800 schoolchildren were taken ill due to intake of iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets across the state, nearly 100 children fell ill in Sirsa and an equal number of children were taken ill in Fatehabad today.

In the wake of children falling ill after consuming iron tablets, the health authorities in the state have decided to give a reduced dose of the drug to those who are finding it hard to tolerate it.

Anil Saddi, a spokesperson of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Haryana, clarified that the reduced dose of iron (60 mg instead of the regular 100 mg dose) will be given only to children with history of illness due to the pills for a period of four to six weeks and once they get used to the tablets, normal dose will be given 
to them.

At Kagdana village in Sirsa, 50 children started complaining of nausea and vomiting. They were shifted to Community Health Centre (CHC), Chopta. Some of them were referred to General Hospital, Sirsa.

At Balasar village in Sirsa, some children complained of vomiting and pain in abdomen. In Bahiya village, schoolchildren were taken ill due to the ill-effects of IFA tablets. Dr Surender Nain, Civil Surgeon, Sirsa, confirmed illness of 35 children in 
the district.

Chandigarh, July 24
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Haryana, has appealed to people in the state not to panic over the mild side-effects of the iron and folic acid tablets, as the campaign, which has been approved by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund, has been re-launched only after extended discussion of panels of experts, including doctors of PGI, Chandigarh.

NRHM, Haryana, Director, Dr Rakesh Gupta today said students found suffering from mild side-effects of these tablets would be administered a dose of 60 mg for four weeks to accommodate the absorption of iron. He cautioned all those engaged in the Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) campaign to not to administer these tablets to children who are on fast or Rozas, he added

He said these tablets should be given only after 15 to 20 minutes of the meal with full glass of water and it should not be chewed as the protective coating gets damaged which would otherwise have adverse effect on the body. These tablets should never be taken with milk or any other dairy product. He said the WIFS blue tablets cure the iron deficiency among children of adolescent age.

He said it had also been noted that the children were complaining of these side effects due to “sympathetic effect” as well. It was found at a school in Hisar that 49 other girls started complaining of abdomen pain following the example of a girl, he added.

He said about 16 lakh children were being administered iron folic acid supplementation across 21 districts. He said only 1,000 were complaining of side effects. Of the affected children, 900 showed mild side-effects such as stomach ache and mild nausea. And only 100 students complained of severe diarrhoea and vomiting.

Chandigarh, July 24
The National Rural Health Mission, Haryana, will set up a helpline to guide those needing help in case of any side-effects following the consumption of the iron and folic acid tablets during the ongoing campaign in the state. The helpline number will be made functional from next week.

This was decided at a meeting presided over by Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal.

She said a midday meal helpline number 0172-6531244 had also been functional where anyone can inform about quality of food being served to students during office hours under the scheme. Apart from this, any problem concerning the scheme could also be sent on email mdmhry@gmail.com.

Fatehabad, July 24
The Rajkiye Prarthmik Shikshak Sangh has criticised the government decision to suspend three head teachers for not providing mid-day meals to children.

Devender Dahiya and Dalip Bishnoi, organising secretary and spokesman, respectively, of the sangh, alleged that it was due to the negligence of the department that the schools did not received any mid-day meals till the third week of July though the teachers had sent their demands in May itself.

“The suspension orders are uncalled for and the government should reinstate the teachers immediately or else we will have to start an agitation,” the sangh leaders threatened.

The Haryana government had suspended three head teachers and served a show-cause notice on another for not providing mid-day meals to children.

Recently, 12 teams of the Education Department had inspected various schools in Fatehabad district and found that these headmasters were not providing mid-day meals in their schools.

It was found that no mid-day meals were cooked in the primary schools at Chandokalan, Dhani Dhand and Tamaspura villages and the team took action against the defaulters.

Karnal, July 24
A 21-year-old youth was found hanging from a tree at Government School in Dadupur village here under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday morning.

Suspecting it to be a murder, the parents of the deceased, Firoz Khan, alias Monu, demanded a high-level enquiry into the circumstances under which Monu disappeared from their house on Tuesday night and was found dead today.

Sultan, father of Monu, said his son came home around 9.30pm last night and went to sleep after having dinner. “In the morning, we received the shocking news that his body was found hanging from a tree in the school. We have no idea how all this happened,” he added.

Panic gripped the village as the news spread and people gathered at the house of Sultan. Police also reached the spot after receiving the information and the body was sent for the postmortem examination. A team of forensic experts also visited the spot and inspected the site.

Muslim Samaj president Mehboob said it was a serious matter and an independent enquiry should be held into the incident to find the truth.

Chandigarh, July 24
With the clamour among Congressmen for filling various posts getting louder in Haryana, the government has finalised the appointment of four members to the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC). Among those likely to get a berth in the commission are Savita Tayal, Congress leaders Surinder Sharma and Dr Harinder Pal Singh. Union minister Selja’s cousin, Jagan Nath, a Congress leader from Sirsa, is also likely to be accommodated.

The officiating Chairman of the commission, Manbir Singh Badhana, is likely to be made the full-fledged chief at the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow. These appointments will now leave only one vacancy in the HPSC. The Haryana Cabinet had recently reduced the HPSC strength from 10 members to seven, including the Chairman. At present, the HPSC was functioning with only two members, including the officiating Chairman.

Savita Tayal, an academician who recently retired as the principal of Government College in Panchkula, is the wife of former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister ML Tayal. While Sharma is the vice-president of the Sonepat district Congress committee, Dr Harinder pal Singh is the Palwal district Congress chief . Both are close to the Chief Minister. Selja’s cousin, Jagan Nath, contested the 2005 assembly elections from Dabwali but lost to INLD candidate Sita Ram. Sources said his inclusion was being seen as an attempt to appease the dissident camp within the Congress led by Selja.

With these appointments, the HPSC will be a “healthy mix” of a Scheduled Caste, a Brahmin, a Gujjar, a Jat and a Rajput, among others.

Chandigarh, July 24
Rajputs of Haryana have welcomed the reported move of the state government to give representation to the community in the Haryana Public Service Commission. In a statement issued here today, HS Rana, vice-chairman of the All-India Kashatriya Federation, said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had won the hearts of the Rajput community by proposing to induct Dr Harinder Pal Singh of Palwal as a member of the commission. He said the community was being given representation in the constitutional body almost after two decades.

He said by giving representation to four communities in the Haryana Public Service Commission, Hooda had proved that he carried all communities with him.

Chandigarh, July 24
The Haryana Chief Secretary has instructed various departments to strictly adhere to the recommendations of the Haryana Lokayukta regarding recording of the annual confidential reports (ACRs) of officials.

Quoting the Lokayukta’s recommendations as contained in its 2012-13 report, a recent official letter by the Chief Secretary to the departments said: “In certain cases, it has come to the notice of the Lokayukta that the power to record the ACRs of their subordinates is misused by some public servants as a tool of harassment.”

“In many cases the ACRs are not recorded in time which not only leads to uncertainty among such employees but also sometimes results in the denial of promotion or higher grade to them,” it stated.

Threatening strict action against erring officials, the letter said the officials delaying the ACRs should be held accountable. In fact, the General Administration Department has been asked to issue fresh guidelines to prescribe penalty against the officers who did not write ACRs within the stipulated time.

Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary has asked various department to strictly adhere to schedule regarding action-taken reports(ATRs) of the Lokayukta. Section 17(2) of the Haryana Lokayukta Act,2002, envisaged that the competent authority was required to examine the reports and intimate the Lokayukta within three months about the action taken on the reports.

In its report, the Lokayukta had rued that in a majority of the complaints, the action-taken reports(ATRs) were not being sent by the departments concerned within the stipulated time.

Karnal, July 24
Sainik School, Kunjpura, which won the “Rakshamantri Trophy” seven times, celebrated its 53rd Founder’s Day today.

The school sent 19 cadets to the NDA during 2012-13 and Kunjeans Sudeep Kumar School (No. 4908) and Vikram Mann School (No. 5189) bagged the “sword of Honour” and “Gold Medal” in the IMA, Dehradun, passing-out parade in December, 2012.

Lok Sabha member from Karnal, Dr Arvind Sharma, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said Sainik schools which were conceived to provide quality education at an affordable cost had rendered yeoman service to the nation. Sharma said the school had excellent infrastructure and other facilities and exhorted the students to achieve their goals.

Presenting the annual report, Principal Group Capt LN Sharma said the school had got a facelift and additional facilities like e-class rooms, NDA cell, mini house libraries in each house, neurobic lab, Science Park, among others.

Cadets Vaibhav Sagar Saini and Afzal Khan were appointed as school captain and school vice-captain, respectively The best cadet trophy , also called the “Chief of Army Staff Trophy”, was bagged by Hemant.

The NDA trophy was lifted by Thaneshwar House. The academic trophy was bagged by Thaneshwar house (senior section), Kurukshetra house (junior section) and Shakargarh house(sub- junior section).

Earlier, Sharma paid homage to the martyrs by laying a wreath at the War Heroes Memorial. Karnal Mayor Renu Bala Gupta was also present.

Chandigarh, July 24
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced to institute a new award Jagannath Pahadia Nau Aamouj Urdu Sahitya Award to encourage Urdu learning. The award carrying a prize of Rs 21,000 would be conferred upon Urdu learners who would earn recognition through their creativity in three years.

This was announced at the sahityakar samman samaroh organised by the Urdu Akademy here today.

Earlier, Governor Jagannath Pahadia honoured 19 litterateurs for their outstanding contribution to Urdu language and literature in the state.

Fakhre Haryana Award carrying Rs1.5 lakh was conferred upon Naresh and Kashmiri Lal Zakir whereas Hali Award with a prize of Rs 1.21 lakh was given to Shakeel-ur-Rehman. Kanwar Mohinder Singh Bedi Socio- Culture Achievement Award for Rs 25,000 was given to Kumar Panipati.

Sabir Dutt Award for social uplift of women carrying prize of Rs 25,000 was conferred upon Ronaq Zaidi,Sayed Muzaffar Husain Burney Award for Urdu Poetry and Khawaja Ahmed Abbas Award for Urdu Prose carrying a cash prize of Rs 25,000 each was given to KK Rishi and Qamar-ud-Din Zakir, respectively.

Munshi Gumani Lal Award for Urdu Fiction and Surinder Pandit Soz Award for promotion of Urdu in Ambala or its surrounding areas, carrying a prize of Rs 21,000 each were conferred upon Nazima Jabeen and Mr Maikash Ambalvi.

Urdu Journalism Awards carrying a prize of Rs 21,000 each was given to Narain Das Khusdil and Sultan Anjum whereas, Urdu Translation Award carrying a prize of Rs 21,000 was given to Rajwanit Maan. Jafat Zattali Award, the award for the Contribution In Persian Literature and Ghazal Singing Award carrying prize of Rs 21,000 each was conferred upon TN Raz, Chander Shekhar and Vinod Sehgal respectively.

The Theatre Award, the Award For Outside Writers and Award For The Promotion Of Scientific Temper in Urdu Literature carrying prize of Rs 21,000 each was given to Parveen Sethi, SR Kidwai and Anis-ul-Hasan Siddiqui.

Special award for contribution to Urdu literature carrying a prize of Rs 51,000 was conferred upon Amar Sahni.

Fatehabad, July 24
District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) across the state will now monitor cases of missing children in the police stations falling under their respective jurisdiction. The authorities will also make endeavours to trace such children and reintegrate them with their families.

Following direction issued by the Supreme Court in the cases of missing and untraced children, Justice SK Mittal, a judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Executive Chairman of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA), has directed all DLSAs in the state to depute their empanelled advocates and paralegal volunteers in the police stations for this purpose.

SC Goyal, District and Sessions Judge, Fatehabad, who is also chairman of the DLSA at Fatehabad, said paralegal volunteers of the autrhorities would visit police station falling under their area to collect information relating to missing and untraced children.

The information collected from the police stations would be compiled and sent to the HSLSA every month.

Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Secretary of the DLSA, said he had already deputed PLVs for all districts falling under Sirsa and Fatehabad.

Besides, advocated empanelled with the HSLSA have also been deputed in all police stations coming under the two districts.

Jhajjar, July 24
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) today launched its consumer indexing project here to provide reliable service to consumers. Under the project, the data will be uploaded in the central application servers and all business activities of each sub-division would be available at the website.

The UHBVN spokesman said after completion of the project, it would be easy to have full details of consumers as well as load on the distribution system. In the event of interruption in power supply, the complaints would be attended promptly, he added.

“Consumer indexing will soon be done in 19 other towns as well under the command area of the nigam,” said the spokesman, adding that all electrical network would be surveyed for digitisation. He said consumers could lodge all types of complaints on toll-free number 18001801615 round the clock.