Chandigarh, September 3
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has agreed to bring legislation in the coming session of the Vidhan Sabha for rehabilitating the Sikh and other Punjab farmers who were ousted in Kurukshetra and Kaithal after the expiry of the lease. The move comes as an apparent bid to scotch all attempts by various political factions to make the issue an election agenda.

The Bill has been prepared keeping in view the direction of the Supreme Court that prohibits illegal occupation of government land by anyone, except landless and needy. The legislation has been approved by the office of the Advocate General, Haryana, and the draft is being given a final shape by the legal remembrance, it is learnt.

Hooda has told the officer that he would like to get the Bill approved by the Cabinet before the next Vidhan Sabha session so that the Bill is passed when the House is in session after September 6.

Hooda had promised a quick and fair resolution of the dispute to a deputation of ousted farmers, headed by Harpal Singh under the banner of the Joint Action Committee. Hooda’s move comes before the general election in the state so that the issue does not crop up during elections again.

The matter has become politically important with some vested interests trying to create an impression that the Hooda gove4rnment was anti-farmer and anti-Punjabi. The settlement of the issue will go a long way in negating that impression.

About 3,500 Sikh and other Punjabi families had been given land on lease in 1953 by then Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon to cultivate barren land for 20 years. After the lease ended, the village panchayats wanted the land restored to them.

These farmers lost legal battle in the Supreme Court despite the fact that they were taken to Haryana (then part of Punjab) under the“grow more food” scheme.

In 2008 and 2010, the Hooda government brought legislation to settle the issue, but the legislation required the consent of the panchayats that owned the land. Due to rising prices and scarcity of land, the panchayats refused to consent the transfer of the land to the farmers as a result the scheme failed. During the Chautala's regime, farmers of two Kurukshetra villages were evicted from their land.

The legislation will aim at allotting a maximum of 10 acres to the original lease holders or their legal heirs at a nominal cost. The genuineness of the beneficiaries will be determined from the original lease or any other legal record showing that they have been in farming. Farmers will be allotted no more land than that held by them as part of the lease, subject to a limit of 10 acres.

Highly placed sources said the Chief Minister had been pressing hard for the completion of the draft. The entire Bill had been vetted by him.

Chandigarh, September 3
The government has enhanced the dearness allowance payable to government employees on un-revised scale of pay from 139 per cent to 151 per cent of the pay with effect from July 1, 2012, and from 151 per cent to 166 per cent of the pay with effect from January 1, 2013.

An official spokesman said here today that the additional DA would be paid in cash from September.

The DA arrears from July 1, 2012 to August, 2013, would be paid in October.

He said the government had also revised the dearness relief to the pensioners or family pensioners from 139 per cent to 151 per cent with effect from July 1, 2012, and from 151 per cent to 166 per cent with effect from January 1.

Chandigarh, September 3
The Vidhan Sabha session from September 6 is likely to last only three days if its previous record of sittings is any indication.

The session is all set for ‘fireworks’ between the Treasury and opposition Benches with the Congress government in the firing line on issues ranging from ‘controversial’ land deals to non-availability of textbooks in government schools, besides other issues.

The Opposition seems ready to take on the government on a number of fronts though the Robert Vadra controversy, the failure of the Reliance SEZ to take off and other land deals are likely to figure prominently during the proceedings.

Sources said the INLD had already given notices for calling-attention motions on the inordinate delay in availability of free textbooks in government schools, the ‘poor quality’ of mid-day meals ‘in government schools as also the failure of Reliance to establish the SEZ in Gurgaon.

Though the party will miss the sting INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala brings to the debates, sources said the party would turn the heat on the government by bringing an adjournment motion on the Robert Vadra land deals in Haryana. The BJP has already given a calling-attention motion on the matter.

The government, too, as a plan up its sleeve. Sources said the House committee comprising Congress MLAs BB Batra and Aftab Ahmed, constituted to go into land given to various trusts in the name of the Chautala clan, is likely to table its report. Speaker Kuldeep Sharma had asked the committee during the Budget session earlier this year to table its report in the next session.

Among other issues that are likely to figure in the session are the union government’s food security scheme, the benefits versus side-effects of iron tablets which left students hospitalised earlier this year, the damage caused by the Yamuna waters.

According to the schedule received from the government, the session will begin on September 6 in the afternoon with obituary references and will be followed up with the laying of papers.

Though the government has given legislative business for three sittings, the final decision on this will be taken during the Business Advisory Committee on September 6 before the start of the session.

Gurgaon/Mewat, September 3
In the wake of the recent violence over suspected cattle smuggling and killing of a Gurgaon youth, who was chasing a vehicle of cattle smugglers, the Meo-Muslim community has come out in support of the movement against smuggling and slaughter of cows.

In a statement issued here, the All-India Mewati Panchayat has condemned the murder of cattle-saviour Vikrant Yadav and demanded immediate arrest of his killers.

Describing cattle slaughter as a heinous crime, the panchayat has maintained that it hurt religious sentiments and threatened to disrupt the brotherhood between communities. It has demanded stringent laws to prevent the smuggling and slaughter of cows.

A mahapanchayat of 84 villages of Mewat district in the Tauru block held recently under the president-ship of Ch Haji Sahun also condemned cow slaughter.

The mahapanchayat decided to practise social boycott of the person(s) found involved in cattle slaughter and imposition of a fine of Rs 1.11 lakh. An 11-member committee was also constituted to keep tabs on incidents of cattle smuggling and slaughter in the area.

Meanwhile, Nuh Jama Masjid Imam Mufti Zahid Hussain has also asked the people of the area to refrain from cattle slaughter and warned them against supporting those indulging in such activities.

On the other hand, nearly 50 organisations, including 42 village panchayats and two municipal committees of Gurgaon district, have passed resolutions and have appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony in the region.

As many as 40 other village panchayats, including 17 from Pataudi and 23 from Farukhnagar block, also passed resolutions condemning the violent activities and appealed the people of the area to maintain peace and harmony in the region. 

Yamunanagar, September 3
Following complaints by Congress and BJP leaders after a brawl in the Yamunanagar Municipal Corporation yesterday, the police today registered two separate cases against three members of the BJP and the Congress.

Earlier, in the day the BJP corporators and other supporters held meetings with the Deputy Commissioner and the district police chief demanding the arrest of those who had attacked the BJP corporators in the Mayor’s office on Monday. Later, the BJP stated that if the accused were not placed under arrest, they would launch a statewide protest against police inaction.

On the other hand, the Congress termed the whole incident a premeditated conspiracy hatched by the BJP after it lost the mayoral poll.

Former state president of the BJP Rattan Lal Kataria termed the incident a conspiracy of the Congress. He said by beating up a woman corporator, the Congress corporators had lost all moral right to stay in the office.

District police chief Y Puran Kumar said the police had registered cross-cases on the basis of the complaints filed by the BJP and Congress corporators. He said investigations had been entrusted with DSP headquarters.

It was learnt that after the BJP corporators filed a complaint against the Congress men, Congress leader Bhupinder Rana also got admitted to a private hospital, alleging that he had also sustained serious injuries. On this basis, this complaint was filed against BJP corporators.

Senior Mayor Pawan Kumar Bittu said the Congress corporators had filed a police complaint to evade arrests, while Rana claimed the scuffle was provoked by Bittu and even accused him of calling in some hooligans in the Mayor’s office. 

New Delhi, September 3
Surat Singh has had 10 tough days since his 20-year-old daughter was allegedly gang-raped and killed in Jind on August 24. The victim had left her house in Baniyakheda village to take her D Ed exam at a centre 20 km away. She did not return, but a caller phoned Surat, a Dalit construction worker, to intimate him about his daughter’s “disappearance”.

The police did not respond to the family’s requests for help in tracing the girl, whose bruised body was recovered two days later from the fields in another village.

In Delhi today to seek a copy of the preliminary autopsy report which the AIIMS recently sent to the Haryana police, Surat told The Tribune that his daughter had paid the price of dreaming big in a land where Dalits were only supposed to languish.

“She was studying to be a teacher. She had insisted on continuing higher education though many other girls in the village had discontinued studies after Class X,” said the hapless father.

He is yet to get a copy of the inquest report (first inquiry the police holds in any case) or the AIIMS investigation on the body of his daughter, which has undergone three autopsies after allegations that the first autopsy at Jind was “doctored to suit the suicide with poison theory of the police” and the second at the Rohtak PGI was “manipulated”.

A fact-finding team set up by All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) to investigate the case today alleged that the Jind police was trying to make the rape and murder as suicide to protect those booked in the case. 

Gurgaon, September 3
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has called upon trainee civil servants and officers of central services to provide corruption-free administration.

Inaugurating the 88th special foundation course at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) here today, Hooda asked the trainee officers to develop sensitivity and compassion towards the weaker sections of society.

HIPA Director-General RS Dalal said it was for the first time that the institute had been asked to conduct the 15-week foundation course. The trainee officers would stay in villages for a week to study the socio-economic scenario there, he added.

Course coordinator Rajvir Singh Dhaka said 78 officers belonging to 10 services, including the IPS, IFS, IRAS and the IIS, were participating in this course.

These officers would be imparted knowledge in various important subjects like law, economics, history, political concepts, Constitution of India and public administration. Besides they would also be taught six languages —Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, English, French and Japanese.

They would also be involved in various extra-curricular activities like sports, cultural programmes and social service.

Prof RK Gulati of the HIPA proposed the vote of thanks. 

Sirsa, September 3
A few teachers working in colleges affiliated to Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU) will lose their jobs while several students who had got admission to various classes on the basis of qualifying degrees obtained from CMJ University, Meghalaya, will be shown the door now.

The CDLU has decided to cancel all admissions, recruitments and promotions made on the basis of degrees obtained from CMJ University.

A notification issued by the university on August 30 said, “The Vice-Chancellor, in anticipation of the approval of the Academic Council, under section 11 (6) of the Chaudhary Devi Lal University Act, has decided that admissions, recruitments and promotions etc made by the university on the basis of degrees and certificates awarded by CMJ University, Meghalaya, as a qualifying degree are hereby cancelled with immediate effect and no recruitment should be made in the future till any direction related to the CMJ University is received from the state government.”

“After directions from Vice-Chancellor RS Sharma, we have been denying admissions to students holding degrees from the University to BEd programme, the admission process for which is in progress now,” said SK Gahlawat, Dean of Colleges in Chaudhary Devi Lal University.

Earlier, the university had given admissions to students possessing qualifying degrees of the CMJ University, despite the controversy surrounding it after registration of FIRs in Meghalaya.

The University had, however, taken undertakings from the students that their admissions would be subject to a final decision of the university in this regard.

Similarly, some teachers had managed to get jobs based on PhD degrees obtained from the CMJ University, which had come under the scanner after Meghalya Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, who was also the university’s visitor, exposed various irregularities in its functioning and his secretariat lodged an FIR against it in May this year.

Established in 2009, the university, according to reports, had created a record of sorts by awarding PhD degrees to 434 candidates in 2012-13.

Later, information uploaded on the website of the University Grants Commission (UGC) said, “the principal secretary to the Governor of Meghalaya has informed that the Governor has recommended to the state government of Meghalaya for dissolution of CMJ University in terms of Section 48 of the CMJ University Act, 2009.” 

New Delhi, September 3
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved four-laning of the Kaithal-Rajasthan border section of the National Highway-152/65 in Haryana under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase IV on the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) (Toll) mode of delivery.

The cost is estimated to be Rs.2029.49 crore, including Rs. 636.49 crore towards the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 166 km, a press note said. This road stretch connects Ambala with important towns such as Kaithal, Barwala, Hisar up to the Rajasthan border.

The project road is part of NH-65 from Kaithal-Rajasthan border. It also provides connectivity to NH-10. 

Sonepat, September 3
Five cases of death, including three of alleged murder, have been reported from Gohana in Sonepat district today.

Jitender (30) of Rukhi village was found murdered in his house in the morning. There were marks from a sharp-edged weapon on his throat and head. As he did not have any family, a case of murder against unidentified persons has been registered on the complaint of his uncle Ram Kumar.

Kitabo Devi (65) of Kohla village died when she fell down after being pushed during a quarrel over a street drain in the village. Her viscera have been sent to the Madhuban laboratory to ascertain the cause of death. However, on the complaint of her son Devender, a case of murder has been registered against her neighbours Ajit, Satish, Suman, Babli and Promila.

The police recovered an unidentified body of a man from the Baroda distributory near village Gangana this morning.

Beera (52) of Gangana village was run over by a passenger train at Gohana while he was crossing the track this morning. He was reportedly mentally disturbed.

Vijay (30) of Bhawar village was found dead this morning in the house of his friend Ashok Kumar in the same village. He had slept at Ashok’s house after celebrating the birth of the latter’s son. His viscera have been sent to the Madhuban laboratory for examination.

Hisar, September 3
The Bhiwani police cracked the murder case of a taxi driver and arrested three persons yesterday who were sent in the judicial custody.

The police had recovered the body of taxi driver Virender Singh, 27, of New Model Town from Ghasola village of Bhiwani district last Wednesday. He was shot dead on August 27. The accused took away his Innova car and dumped his body along the road.

Charki Dadri SHO Mauji Ram said today that three accused, Jagdish and Anil Kumar from Hansi and Vinod of Bawani Khera had confessed to their crime. They had been sent to the judicial custody after the recovery of Innova and the pistol used in the crime, he said.

The SHO said Anil and Vinod hired a taxi of Virender Singh from a Hisar taxi stand for Dadri in Bhiwani district on August 27. Third accused Jagdish joined them at Hansi.

As they reached a secluded spot on the Dadri road near Ghasola village around 10 pm, they asked the driver to halt the car on the pretext of answering the nature’s call. As they came out, the accused shot the driver twice and decamped with the car. He said the police had traced a call of an accused who had called the victim on his phone for hiring the taxi which provided a vital clue to crack the case. — TNS