Chandigarh,July 29
The Haryana Government has cracked the whip on questionable technical degrees awarded by unrecognised institutes through distance education.

In a recent directive to the technical universities in the state, the Director-General, Technical Education Department has reiterated that the degrees, postgraduate degrees and diplomas which had not been recognised by the joint committee of the All-India Council for Technical Education, UGC and the Distance Education Council (AICTE-UGC-DEC), would not be valid for new selections and promotions in the state technical universities and government engineering colleges.

The directive follows complaints regarding selection and promotion of certain candidates in technical universities and colleges on the basis of degrees and diplomas obtained through distance mode by “deemed universities”. “With the technical institutes mushrooming across the country awarding questionable degrees, the new directive endeavours to check the misuse of degrees by candidates,” a senior official said.

Earlier, the state government had ordered that technical and engineering degrees awarded by the universities and “deemed universities” were valid qualifications for selection and promotion only if these were approved by the AICTE-UGC-DEC.

It was also ordered that recruiting agencies should consider constituting a committee comprising nominees of the General Administration Department, the Technical Education Department, subject experts and law experts to advise them on qualification-related issues.

It was desired that a committee of experts should also be constituted to advise the Chief Secretary’s Office while according approval to qualifications proposed by the departments.

Cracking the whip Questionable technical qualifications under the scanner Only AICTE-approved degrees to be considered for appointments, promotions Recent circular only relates to state technical universities, colleges

Chandigarh, July 29
Relatives of “uncle judges” influencing the course of justice have always been a matter of surmises and conjunctures. However, a significant order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court has brought out favourable inclination of a judicial officer towards a relative practising as an advocate.

The Bench also upheld order dated February 16, 2011, prematurely retiring the petitioner from service. Referring to his ACRs, the Bench asserted: “The service record shows that not only punishment has been awarded to the petitioner, but the allegations at different times show that the petitioner has outlived his utility to serve the institution. Many complaints have been moved against the petitioner, though some of them have been filed as well. The petitioner has chequered past…”.

Judicial records show Anil Kumar Bimal, posted as Sirsa Additional District and Sessions Judge, was served with a charge-sheet dated January 9, 2007, after preliminary inquiry into a complaint against him.

Charge number one was found to be proved. It stated that a civil appeal, Bali Singh versus Jaspal Singh, was entrusted to his court. On February 24, 1998, the appeal was adjourned to March 30, 1998, for arguments. The appellant engaged advocate PC Chaudhary, his “step grandfather”, after the transfer of the case to his court. This was done with the sole motive to get a “favourable” order.

The charge stated he did not get the case transferred from his court despite being fully aware of his relationship with Chaudhary. Rather, he opted to “pre-pone the case with an intention to extend undue benefit to appellant Bali Singh” and ultimately decided the appeal on March 30, 1998, in favour of the appellant.

It further added: “As such an act reflects your favourable inclination towards the said counsel, biased mind, judicial impropriety, whereas it is incumbent upon a judicial officer to work without any fear, favour, ill will or malice”.

The inquiry officer, on the basis of the evidence recorded during regular departmental inquiry, concluded that Chaudhary was a distant relative, but it was not in the officer’s knowledge while disposing of the appeal.

However, the disciplinary authority disagreed with the findings and concluded that the allegation of favouritism or extraneous consideration interfering with the decision could not be ruled out.

Subsequently, stoppage of two annual grade increments without cumulative effect was ordered. Refusing to interference, the High Court Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Fateh Deep Singh asserted: “It is not a matter of coincidence that PC Chaudhary, who filed an application for advancing the date of hearing, did not appear for Bali Singh in subsequent proceedings. Therefore, the petitioner has granted advantage to the appellant, Bali Singh, of his relationship by advancing the date of hearing.

“It appears to be a case of feigned ignorance, as the conduct of proceedings does not support lack of knowledge on the part of the petitioner in respect of relationship between the parties”.

Bhiwani, July 29
The Bhiwani police will conduct a polygraph test on the two teachers accused of raping a mentally challenged 14-year-old schoolgirl for several months at Dudhwa village of this district.

Des Raj, SHO, Dadri Sadar police station, maintained that the two teachers have denied the charges and offered to undergo any test to prove their innocence.

The police, he said, had decided to conduct their lie detector test.

Based on the interrogation of ANM and ASHA worker, the police seized the record of a private hospital, where the schoolgirl was allegedly aborted.

The police had booked the two teachers as well as the two women in the case.

Hisar, July 29
The condition of Geeta Rani (13), a Class VIII student who was given an iron and folic acid tablet on July 22, deteriorated as she complained of losing eyesight while undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital here today.

She was given the tablet along with other students last Monday in Government Middle School at Sulochani village. The girl along with many other students was taken to the Narnaund Community Health Centre after complaining of nausea and pain in the stomach.

However, Civil Surgeon Ashok Kumar ruled out the loss of vision due the reaction of the iron and folic acid tablet. "I have instructed the eye surgeon to examine the girl," he said.

Girl’s father, Radhe Shayam, said she was referred to the Hansi Civil Hospital after two days. She was further referred to a hospital in Hisar, he added.

“After treating her for three days, the doctors discharged her on Saturday. But she started complaining of losing the sight in her right eye and weakness in the vision in the left on reaching home. I took her back on Sunday to the hospital but the doctors kept on ignoring us”, he alleged. 

Hisar, July 29
Even as the government is providing incentives to power consumers by providing 24-hour supply to non-defaulting villages, the urban local bodies in seven districts getting supply from the DHBVN have power arrears of around Rs 30 crore as electricity bills for streetlights.

According to information from the DHBVN compiled at the end of financial year 2002-03, the local bodies in seven cities of the Hisar circle, Rewari, Gurgaon, Hisar, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Narnaul and Sirsa, have an outstanding amount of Rs 29.38 crore. The huge arrears have adversely affected the financial condition of the nigam, which is already in the doldrums.

As per details, Rewari district topped the list as two MCs of the district, Rewari Municipal Council and Bawal Municipal Committee, has defaulted in payment of Rs 23.35 crore. The Gurgaon Municipal Corporation and the local bodies of Ferozpur Jhirka, Heli Mandi, Nuh, Pataudi, Sohna and Tawaro have pending bills amounting to Rs 2.84 crore.

Similarly, Hisar district local bodies have arrears of Rs 1.67 crore, Bhiwnai, Rs 81 lakh, Faridabad, Rs 34.5 lakh, Narnaul, Rs 32.6 lakh and Sirsa, Rs 2.5 lakh.

However, Dharampal Dhull, spokesperson, DHBVN, played down the issue and said it was normal for the urban local bodies to default in payment. “Since they are also the government wings, the nigam has no fear of non-payment of bills. They will have to pay the bills sooner or later. The power utilities also served notices on them in an attempt to build pressure on them,” he said. 

Gurgaon, July 29
Gurgaon Zila Parishad (ZP) chairperson Kavita Yadav was removed from her post today after a no-confidence motion was passed against her.

The no-confidence motion was moved in the presence of Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi. All seven councillors had given a written complaint against Yadav on June 26, alleging that she had misused funds, including Rs10 lakh each issued by the Chief Minister for the development of their wards.

"She was busy in property dealing rather than focusing on development work," they alleged. 

Rohtak, July 29
One of the fastest developing cities in the National Capital Region, Rohtak is faced with acute shortage of traffic policemen. The problem of traffic jams escalates during the rains or even during the convergence of people in any public event. On Sunday, the same problem was witnessed.

A majority of traffic policemen were deployed on the VIP movement in connection with the visit of the Union Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who were here to lay the foundation stone of a rail bypass here.

The traffic chaos was seen at some important intersections as no policeman was present to handle the traffic. Trucks, commercial vehicles and commuters passing through the town to go towards Delhi, Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind and Panipat got stranded at various points.

“Hundreds of candidates who had come to the city to appear in the Central Teachers’ Eligibility Test also got stranded in the jams that continued for over an hour,” claimed Suresh, a kin of one of the candidate. He said several aspirants reached late at the examination centres, while some even missed the exam. However, a district police spokesperson claimed that there was no complaint or report of any incident of disruption of traffic in the city on Sunday.

The city requires around 100 traffic policemen, but it has just 34 policemen on any given day, even when the present total strength is around 56.

The majority of 14 traffic lights at important crossings have been out of order for the past two months. The traffic lights at the important intersection of the Shiela Bypass Chowk, which handles over 25,000 vehicles, hasn’t been functioning for the past four months. The city has around 20 sensitive and traffic congestion points where five to six policemen each needed to be put on duty on a daily basis, said Yoginder Singh Dahiya, a social activist.

On rough road City requires around 100 traffic policemen; the present strength is around 56 Majority of 14 traffic lights at important crossings out of order Traffic chaos at important intersections as no policeman present to handle the traffic Problem of traffic jams escalates during rains or any public event

Chandigarh, July 29
The Principal Accountant-General (A and E), Haryana, has advised the retiring employees to get their cases sent six months prior to their retirement for timely disposal.

An official spokesman said here recently that the office of the Principal Accountant-General tried to issue authorisation of retiral benefits within 30 days of receipt of the cases.

He said that GPF and loan accounts statements for 2012-13 had been prepared ahead of schedule and disbursed among drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) from June 26 to June 28 whereas the remaining ones had been sent by registered post. Anyone who had not received the statement or noticed any discrepancy or had any query could write to the office of the Principal Accountant-General, Haryana, by giving complete details like mobile number, e-mail address etc.

The spokesman said a new online grievance redress application had been developed under which the grievance could be submitted online by clicking the heading ‘submit complaint’ which gives an SMS alert or e-mail response to the complainant immediately on the submission of an online complaint and also on its redress by the office. The status of the complaint could be viewed by clicking the heading ‘check status’.

Gurgaon, July 29
The HCMS Association has expressed its resentment over the recent incident of manhandling doctors and health staff at the CHC Narnaund, Hisar.

"All doctors of the state are feeling insecure after the incident. The doctors and other health officials are administering IFA tablets, and side effects of the tablets were explained by the health and education departments in advance," the association said in a statement issued recently.

The HCMSA president, Dr Kuldeep Singh, maintained that the health staff were doing routine work at the CHC, Narnaund, when a mob of miscreants thrashed the health officials and doctors, destroyed government vehicles and damaged government property. "Even after the incident, no action has been taken against the attackers. If the persons behind the attack are not arrested, various public healthcare programmes launched by the government may be impeded," he warned, adding that the association would boycott the programme and launch a stir if no action was taken.

Ambala, July 29
Finance Minister HS Chattha, who headed a special committee constituted by the Chief Minister on August 22, 2005, to look into the demand of the state Sikhs for formation of a separate Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, today chose to distance himself from the committee report stating that it was an “old matter now”.

Speaking to The Tribune, on the sidelines of a function organised by his supporters in Ambala, Chattha said: “I had submitted the report with the state government and the matter is now pending with it. I have nothing to do with the report anymore.”

It was about four years ago that the Chattha Committee had submitted a report with the state government favouring the formation of a separate body in the state to manage the affairs of the Sikhs shrines. Prior to the last Assembly elections, Congress MLA Nirmal Singh had moved a resolution in the Assembly which was followed by a three-hour discussion on the issue.

However, after the Hooda government announced that a notification to this regard was being issued shortly, the SGPC supporters from Punjab converged on Haryana and threatened to launch a protest following which the matter was deferred.

Meanwhile, the two fractions of the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) led by Jagdish Singh Jhinda and Didar Singh Nalvi, continued to struggle to get a separate SGPC for Haryana to run their own religious places.

The issue of a separate body for gurdwaras in the state has been hanging fire for long. The state government had twice in its election manifesto promised to pass a legislation that would have facilitated the formation of a separate body.

Karnal, July 29
BJP workers, led by state secretary Chander Prakash Kathuria, organised on daylong fast at Committee Chowk here in protest against the delay in completion of the 291-km Panipat-Jalandhar National Highway six-laning project and press the demand for compensation of Rs 10 lakh to next of kin of those killed in accidents during execution of the project.

BJP leaders, who had also started a weeklong signature campaign to attract government’s attention on public issues, said 50,000 signatures would be submitted to the President of India along with the details of burning issues causing resentment among local people.

Kathuriya threatened to go for the indefinite strike if the grievances were not redressed and said many social and business organisations had also extended their support to the issues raised by him.

The six-laning project was already running 22 months behind schedule, causing accidents and inconvenience to the residents of Karnal and a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) would be filed on July 30, seeking compensation for the families’ accident victims and scrapping of toll tax till the project is completed, he reiterated.

Taking a strong exception to the collection of tax on toll plaza at various places even before the project has been declared completed officially, he said the collection of toll tax was unjustified and should be stopped as it was like “rubbing salt on wounds of people”, who were facing traffic hazards and the purpose of widening the highways for smooth and hassle free traffic has been defeated.

Stating that a maximum of Rs 98 for single journey is charged as toll near Samana Bhau between Karnal and Kurukshetra, he demanded a white paper on the income earned by the toll tax authorities and expenditure .

Karnal Nagar Beopar Mandal president Krishan Lal Taneja said the Kalpana Chawla Medical College was only on paper and also objected Rs 15 parking fees in the Sabji Mandi. He said the improvement trust should either create adequate parking space or stop charging parking fees. 

Chandigarh, July 29
A meeting was held between the management of Haryana Power Distribution Corporations and BKU representatives here recently for effective implementation of the “one time settlement along with regular supply of electricity” scheme.

The scheme is meant for those villages that opt and get erected the pillar box system on their feeder as a whole. The BKU was represented by its state vice-president Bijender Singh and general secretary Ramphal Kandela.

Devender Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, DHBVN and UHBVN, said under the scheme, the rural domestic consumers had been given an attractive offer to get their defaulting amount settled and get power supply in their villages on a feeder for 20 to 24 hours a day.

If all defaulter consumers came forward to take benefit of this scheme, it could prove to be a defaulting amount waiver scheme larger than the previous Rs 1,600 crore ‘Bill Waiver Scheme’ as the consumers could now take benefit of waiver of defaulting amount of Rs 2,144 crore.

The huge arrears of Rs 2,844 crore had become due from rural domestic consumers during the past several years of which a larger part was on account of surcharge levied for non-payment of bills. In case all defaulting rural domestic consumers availed the scheme, they would have to pay only about Rs 700 crore and the rest of the arrears would be waived. The total number of such consumers up to December 31, 2012, was 10,41,804.

The CMD said all rural domestic consumers who had paid their bills regularly for the past one year, a rebate @ 10 per cent on the last six bimonthly bills would be given at the end of the year. 

Sonepat, July 29
In protest against the statements of Congress leaders over availability of one-time meal for Rs 5 and 12, activists of the BJP and the HJC led by MLA Kavita Jain recently moved from one dhaba to another and one vegetable shop to another in the town, demanding one-time meal or vegetable for the said amount.

Former MP Dharam Pal Singh Malik, Sudha Malik and Dharambir Khatri of the HJC and Rajiv Jain, Lalit Batra, Pradeep Sangwan, Ramesh Kaushik, Om Prakash Atre, Azad Singh Nehra of the BJP were carrying Rs 5 notes during the protest. The protesters assembled at the Sector-14 market and marched through Baba Tarana road, local bus stand, Ganj Bazar, Murthal Road, Subzi Mandi, Dayal Chowk, Purkhas Road and Sarang Road.

Addressing the protesters, Kavita Jain, Sudha Malik, Rajiv Jain and Ramesh Kaushik chided the Congress leaders and the Planning Commission for making such statements, saying that the Planning Commission was not ready to accept a person as poor who earned only Rs 33 daily in a town and Rs 27 in a village.