Kurukshetra, November 29
Additional District and Sessions Judge MM Dhonchak today sentenced Sunil Kumar alias Fauji, a resident of Isherheri, to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5.2 lakh for murdering a minor boy.

A police spokesperson said Jagtar Singh, a resident of Isherheri, had lodged a complaint with the Babain police station on March 20, 2012, stating that someone had kidnapped his 11-year-old son Abhinav.

During investigation, the police found the body of Abhinav at Kirmach Syphon on March 24, 2012. The police then arrested Sunil Kumar, Harminder Pal, a resident of Ballana in Ambala district, and a minor.

Sunil Kumar was found guilty while Harminder Pal was acquitted and the case of minor was under consideration in a juvenile court.

Panipat, November 29
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dr M Veerappa Moily today said the government had formulated plans to reduce the import of crude oil and natural gases to zero per cent by 2030 against 75 per cent import of these products nowadays.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Indian Oil Corporation’s first state-of-the-art Styrene Butadiene Rubber Plant of Indian Synthetic Rubber Ltd (ISRL) on the premises of the Panipat refinery. The plan had been prepared on the basis of the encouraging results from the oil blocks found in Gujarat, Rajasthan and other areas, he added.

He stressed the need for economic freedom and energy independence to save the foreign exchange as well as to accelerate the tempo of development.

India had the fourth largest reservoir of coal and the need was to increase the domestic production of oil and natural gases to meet the energy related and other demands, he said.

“In order to give a boost to job-oriented economic and industrial activities, we will open petro-chemical hub around all refineries in the country,” he said.

The process would begin from the Panipat refinery, he said. He termed Haryana as a progressive state and suggested that the state government and the district administration prepare plans for having skilled workers and entrepreneurs for business activities, which could be started in petro-chemical hubs for direct and indirect employment of the local residents. The IOC would provide necessary training to the youths, he assured.

He said the plant had been completed at an estimated cost of Rs 958 crore, within a period of around two-and-a-half-year. The IOC, M/S TSRC Corporation, Taiwan and M/S Marubeni Corporation of Japan were the joint partner in the project. Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Textile Pranabakka Lakshmi, Karnal MP Dr Arvind Sharma, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rao Dann Singh, Chairman of IOC RS Butola, and Chairman ISRL Raj Kumar Ghosh also spoke on the occasion.

Sirsa, November 29
By installing solar streetlights in all 333 villages, Sirsa had become the first district in the country to have taken a big leap in the direction of using renewable energy for providing streetlights to villagers.

However, two years down the line, most of these streetlights are out of order, resulting in the waste of expenditure of over Rs 12 crore.

Under the Backward Region Grant Funds, the authorities in Sirsa had set up solar streetlights in all villages of the district to conserve electricity.

A sum of Rs 12.65 lakh was spent on the project, which was completed by the end of 2011.

The authorities installed 20 solar photo voltaic (SPV) streetlights each in the 333 odd villages of the district under the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission.

The actual cost of each solar light was Rs 19,000, but there was a subsidy of Rs 5,700 per unit from the government.

Hardly any solar light is functioning now, thereby resulting in a waste of Rs 12.65 crore.

The Sirsa zila parishad has been taking up the matter with the authorities for several months.

Zila parishad chairperson Dr Sita Ram, a former MLA from Dabwali, said the elected body had taken up the issue at its meeting and sought report from the Chief Executive Officer of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) through letters dated August 29, 2012, November 23, 2012, April 17, 2013 and July 31, 2013.

In October, the zila parishad received an interim report from the DRDA, giving information about the repair of street lights in the Chopta and Ellenabad blocks of the district. However, the situation on the ground continues to be grim.

Dr Sita Ram said while the life of the solar lights, as claimed by their manufacturers, was 20 years, the company supplying the lights had a contract to look after the maintenance only for a period of three years, which was to be extended to five years.

However, the company had already stopped the maintenance process of these lights, the zila parishad chairperson alleged. Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan said the lights were installed by the authorities, but it was up to village panchayats to maintain these.

“The panel on the solar lights has to be cleaned periodically, so that sunlight is absorbed properly. This can be done at the panchayat levels only. However, many panchayats have not been maintaining the lights regularly,” he said.

Chandigarh, November 29
Hitting out at the Agriculture Department over its claim that the Haryana Seeds Development Corporation (HSDC) had incurred loss under him, whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka today said it was an attempt to “belittle” his efforts to remove corruption and bring “professionalism and transparency” in the interests of the farmers of the state.

In a fresh missive to Chief Secretary PK Chaudhery, Khemka said the "insinuations against me in the government press note on November 22 was totally unwarranted" and went out in detail to "put the record straight".

He said he was "abruptly" transferred out within a day of "motivated complaint" from a senior IAS officer "who prima facie has a lot to hide".

The HSDC had issued a press note on November 22 saying that HSDC had incurred a net loss during his tenure as its Managing Director (MD). Khemka was the MD of the HSDC from October 15, 2012 to April 4, 2013.

Seeking a statement of profit and loss of the HSDC during the period, he said it would help him submit a "true and correct" self-appraisal for the performance appraisal report.

The press note had said "profit got reduced to Rs 175.96 lakh during the tenure of Ashok Khemka". The HSDC suffered a net loss of Rs 56 lakh on account of interest for only three months (January to March 2013) on huge unsold quantity of 87,000 quintals of certified wheat seed worth Rs 22 crore.

Khemka, on November 22, had contested the state's claim, saying he had "consciously stopped cheating" other agencies.

Chandigarh, November 29
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that an educational tribunal lacks jurisdiction to decide the issue of gratuity payment; and educational panel set up by the Haryana Government has the jurisdiction to hear all service disputes arising out of orders passed by the managements and appealable before the tribunal.

The ruling came on a petition filed by the management of SD Model Senior Secondary School and another petitioner through counsel Deepak Singh and Ajay Bhardwaj. The petition, along with other similar petitions, was placed before the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Fateh Deep Singh on a reference made by a Single Bench.

Initially, the Supreme Court in its judgment in the case of TMA Pai Foundation and others versus the State of Karnataka and others had directed the constitution of educational tribunals. In the case in hand, the tribunal, constituted in pursuance to such directions, directed the petitioners to pay gratuity to the teachers.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted: “It appears that directions in the TMA Pai Foundation’s case are in context of disciplinary action against a teacher or other employees though clarifying that approval of any government authority before taking any disciplinary action by the management of a private unaided educational institution is not required.”

“The direction of the Supreme Court was to provide a judicial forum against the decision of the management relating to the termination of services. Therefore, strictly speaking, the direction of the Supreme Court was to constitute Educational Tribunal for determining the issues arising of disciplinary action initiated against the teacher”.

The Bench concluded an educational tribunal constituted in terms of the Supreme Court direction will not have the jurisdiction to decide issue of payment of gratuity, as it is payable to teaching and non-teaching staff in terms of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

“Since the controversy regarding the forum for adjudication of disputes relating to payment of gratuity has been settled now, it shall be open to the aggrieved persons to seek redressal under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 in accordance with law, if the same is availed within two months from today. The payment deposited by the petitioners shall be subject to the decision of the authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act”.

Hisar, November 29
An executive engineer (XEN) belonging to the Dalit community has levelled allegations of caste bias and harassment against the Hisar Municipal Commissioner-cum-Deputy Commissioner, who has reportedly withdrawn his official vehicle and drawing and disbursing (DD) power. The XEN also alleged that the commissioner had directed him to report to a class III officer from the upper caste. He has filed a complaint in this regard with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).

Raj Kumar Chhanena, Director, NCSC, Chandigarh, has issued a notice to the principal secretary, Urban Local Bodies, Haryana Government, asking him to investigate the matter and file a status report within 15 days. Further action would be taken after government’s reply, he informed The Tribune.

Executive engineer Rai Singh, a class I officer with the Public Works (Buildings and Roads) Department, was on deputation at the Municipal Corporation, Hisar. He wrote to the NCSC on November 6 that DC ML Kaushik had reportedly issued controversial orders against him, restraining him from performing his duty.

He maintained that he was stripped of the facility of a government jeep, DD power, and denied a clerk/computer operator. “The DC forced me to work under a class III employee of the MC,” he mentioned in his letter, while terming the orders of the DC as illegal, unauthorised and “just to torture” a Dalit community officer.

The engineer had also sent copies of the letter to the Hisar SSP, Vigilance Bureau, Hisar Range IGP and Haryana DGP, stating that he suspected that the DC might falsely implicate him in any case. He urged the police authorities to take action after clarifying the matter.

DC Kaushik denied the charges being levelled against him. He said the XEN was harassing other officials after which he was repatriated to the parent department.

Sonepat, November 29
A passing out parade and attestation ceremony of 310 recruits of the non-GD cadres was held today at the Saboli camp of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). The parade was reviwed by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), ITBP.

Constable Raj Kumar was adjudged the all round best in various disciplines. Head Constable Ram Kumar was adjudged the best instructor. Constable Yogesh Kumar as the best outdoor and Constable Harender Singh was adjudged as the best firer.

All the newly-trained soldiers were administered the oath of office by Course Director Uma Kant. The DIG said the trained soldiers should be confident to take on the expected challenges while discharging their duties.

Gurgaon, November 29
The death of a youth after he mysteriously fell from the ninth floor of a building in Manesar yesterday has got mired in controversy.

The deceased, Ankit of Aurangabad village in Sonepat, fell down in the wee hours yesterday and succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital.

The police have registered a case of murder on the basis of a complaint by the victim’s father, Rajpal. A youth of Aurangabad, Rahul, and other unidentified people have been accused in the complaint.

According to the complainant, his son was to go to Ballabgarh in Faridabad district to clear his account with his employer yesterday. He was employed with the fire department through a contractor and had quit after two months of his appointment.

Rahul, who was in Aurangabad, allegedly told the victim that he would be coming to Gurgaon. They left the village together and went to Manesar where their two school-time friends, who had completed ITI courses, were residing.

Rajpal has alleged that his and Rahul’s family had had a dispute in the village a few months back. It was resolved by the village panchayat. But the family of the accused nursed ill-will against his family. Hence, the murder of his son was planned, he alleged.

Although the police have registered a murder case, the complainant has allegedly not given a satisfactory reply when asked why the victim accompanied a person inimical to his family.

The police sources said the victim and Rahul had a late night party when the former fell off the building and suffered multiple injuries. Liquor was also being consumed by them.

Jai Bhagwan, the Investigating Officer in the case, said although a murder case had been registered, it was being investigated from various angles, including the possibility of the victim accidentally falling down.

Meanwhile, the victim’s body was handed over to his family yesterday evening after autopsy. The viscera report would throw much light, especially on the consumption of liquor by the victim.

No arrest has been made in the case so far.

Kurukshetra, November 29
The police have registered a case against four persons, including three women and a press photographer, for allegedly blackmailing DK Gupta, a resident of HUDA Sector 13 and a retired employee of Kurukshetra University.

A police spokesman said the victim, in a complaint to the police, had alleged that he got a telephonic call on November 15 and a woman told him that she intended to talk to him regarding her daughter’s education.

After half-an-hour, a woman accompanied by a girl reached his house. After a moment, the girl started taking off her clothes on the pretext that an insect had entered her clothes.

When the complainant asked her to go to the other room the photographer, along with another woman, reached there They alleged that the complainant was running a sex racket and if he wanted to save himself, he had to pay them Rs 5 lakh. The deal was struck at Rs 2 lakh. They were given a Rs. 1.5 lakh cheque and Rs. 20,000 in cash while Rs 30,000 were to be paid later. They did not turn up to get the remaining amount but withdrew Rs. 1.5 lakh from his account. —OC

Hisar, November 29
The Hisar SSP has suspended a policeman and also initiated departmental inquiry against two other cops after they were found asleep on duty during a surprise check at the police control room here.

According to information, SSP B Satish Balan reached the control room last night where Inspector Shushil Kumar was found absent while two other cops were asleep .— TNS

Faridabad, November 29
Three persons, including two minor children, sustained burn injuries in a freak fire incident at a house in Subhash Colony of Ballabgarh town here today. The injured have been shifted to civil hospital for treatment.

The police sources said the incident took place around noon when a local resident, Vikram, was trying to open the lid of a plastic barrel container with a knife at his residence. It is reported that the barrel exploded and caught fire. The fire engulfed Vikram (21) and two children playing around. The children have been identified as Priyanshi (3) and 10-month-old Priyanshu, daughter and son, respectively, of his sister, with whom Vikram was staying for the past about a year. It is revealed that Vikram had bought the drum from a scrap dealer this morning, in order to store water in the house and was preparing it for use. But according to reports, the drum had some chemical substance inside it which reacted sharply when the victim tried to cut it with a knife, which was heated to make it sharp. Shalu, Vikram's sister, escaped the blast and the flames narrowly as she was inside another room at that time. The condition of all the injured is reported to be critical.

Kaithal, November 29
Two rice millers of Kaithal and Siwan have been booked for misappropriating rice worth Rs 5. 26 crore of the Haryana Warehousing Corporation. The millers were allotted paddy for milling by the corporation during the 2012-13 season, but they neither returned the milled rice nor paid the price of it to the corporation.

According to information, Yash Pal, district manager of corporation had complained to the police that following an agreement, the warehousing corporation had delivered 8,037 MT paddy for milling to Gupta Rice Mill in Kaithal in October 2012. The rice miller was to hand over the 67 per cent rice to the corporation by June 30 , 2013. However, the miller failed to deliver the rice on time.

The date of delivery was extended up to September 30, 2013, but again the miller delivered only some quantity of the rice following which the corporation lodged a complaint with the police. The corporation alleged that the miller had misappropriated rice worth Rs 2. 63 crore . In the second case, the paddy for milling was given to Ganpati Rice Mill in October 2012. This firm neither delivered the rice nor made the payment, causing a loss of Rs 2. 63 crore to the corporation. Two partners of this firm have also been booked.

Chandigarh, November 29
In case of dishonour of multiple cheques presented together where a consolidated single notice has been issued, a single complaint is maintainable, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled.

The ruling came on a petition filed by Charashni Kumar Talwani against Malhotra Poultries. Talwani was seeking the quashing of criminal complaint filed by the respondent in a cheque dishonour case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act pending before Panchkula Judicial Magistrate (First Class).

The petitioner before the trial court submitted that the present complaint was for dishonour of 10 cheques. It constituted separate offences and, therefore, he could not be tried together.

Referring to the Code of Criminal Procedure, he argued that as per Section 219 of the CrPC, only three offences of the same kind within a year shall be charged with and tried at one trial. But an accused of 10 distinct charges, each cheque disclosing a separate offence, could not be charged in a single complaint. His plea was, however, rejected by the court below, and the accused was served with the notice of accusation.

At the juncture, the petitioner moved the High Court for the quashing of the complaint. A Single Bench of this court then referred the matter to be decided by a Larger Bench.

Taking up the matter, the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Fateh Deep Singh asserted: “Where series of acts are so connected together forming same transaction, accused can be tried in one case by the court. In the present situation, all the 10 cheques have been simultaneously presented to the banker on the same day. The dishonour so effected on the same very day for all the cheques, regarding which a consolidated notice has been issued calling upon the drawer to make good the payment of these cheques, does not suffer from the vice of joinder of many offences in one trial.”

“Though these cheques may be of different dates and amounts, the mere act of giving these cheques together have merged to form the same transaction especially when all the 10 cheques have been presented together on a particular day…. Dishonour of multiple cheques presented together, for which a consolidated single notice has been issued, tantamount to commission of a single offence under Section 138 of the Act”.

Faridabad, November 29
The local police have launched a new mobile phone application for the local residents to seek immediate police help in case of an emergency.

“Named ‘Im safe’, the application can be downloaded from the internet and can be used by any mobile smartphone user’’, said A S Chawla, Police Commissioner, Faridabad.

The application, launched recently, was user friendly and open for all residents, including women. Chawla said the application had been prepared by an NGO ‘Hamari Suraksha’ and would be helpful in ensuring safety of women residents in the district and the city.

Giving details of the facility, a spokesperson for the department said the user was required to download the free software from ‘imsafe.com’ site and register there as a user. The site would create a profile of the applicant who will have to feed the helpline number- 1091 and five other contact numbers into the application. The user has to only press a button on the phone and the help message would reach the Police immediately as soon as the button was pushed, and the cops would be able to trace the location of the caller. The message would also be sent to the other five numbers registered.

While it was claimed that the user could also cancel the call or message within 10 seconds if dialled wrongly, help could also be sought from the mobile phones which were not smartphones. Such a user could send a message on 8527738007, which would flash the message to Police Control Room. But the facility would be available only after the user got registered on the site of ‘www.imsafe.com’, the spokesperson added.

The facility

• The user has to download the free software from ‘imsafe.com’ site for registration.
• The site will create a profile of the applicant who will have to feed the helpline number- 1091 and five other contact numbers into the application.
• The user has to press a button on the phone and the help message would reach the police and it will be able to trace the location of the caller

Rohtak, November 29
Doctors and other staff members of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the PGIMS are a relieved lot.

For, police personnel and the family members of Sukhvir, the man who had died in custody of the Gurgaon police on November 17, have finally taken away his body from their possession.

The body, which was lying at the PGIMS for the past days, was taken away last night, after The Tribune published a report exposing the matter yesterday.

Sukhvir's body had been brought to the PGIMS for a second post-mortem examination on November 19, and was lying here since then.

The first autopsy of Sukhvir's body conducted at the Government Hospital, Sohna, did not find any injuries.

The second post-mortem examination conducted at the PGIMS here found at least a dozen internal as well external injuries, some of them grave.

The injuries indicated that Sukhvir was tortured before his death, putting the Gurgaon police in the dock.

A judicial probe is under way in this regard. The State Crime Branch of the Haryana Police has also constituted a special Investigation Team under an SP-rank officer to investigate the matter.

However, the police authorities are tight-lipped over the allegations of a Gurgaon ACP threatening Sukhvir's family members with dire consequences and also offering them Rs 30 lakh to hush up the matter.

While the Crime Branch authorities maintained that looking into the allegations against the ACP was up to the local police administration, top officials of the Gurgaon police stated that the matter was under judicial probe.

The ACP in question is the same policeman who had recently been named in an FIR registered against Haryana Sports Minister Sukhbir Kataria on the court's orders.

Sources said strong political backing of the said police officer had prevented any action against him.

Chandigarh, November 29
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) and the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) have planned to do away with the manual meter reading in a phased manner. Reading of meters would now be done using the common meter reading instrument (CMRI).

This was stated by Anurag Agarwal, Managing Director, DHBVN, at a meeting of senior officers of the nigam to review services provided to the consumers here today.

Agarwal said manual meter reading and billing were major sources of revenue leakage.

Measures would be taken to eliminate manual intervention in meter reading, he said. For all consumers above 10 KW of the connected load, automatic meter reading (AMR) had been initiated. Currently, all HT industrial connections were being read through the AMR.

For other consumers below the 10KW load, meters with an optical port, facilitating reading through CMRI, are being procured, so as to eliminate manual meter reading and plug the revenue leakages.

The Managing Director said the energy meters of the consumers were being relocated outside the premises in urban and rural areas. Over 40 per cent meters in the urban areas and 10 per cent in the rural area were already out of their premises.

All the meters in towns would be relocated from houses to outside on poles or pillar boxes. In villages, meters will be shifted to pillar boxes.

He directed the officials to start the campaign to replace defective meters in a strategic manner.

Chandigarh, November 29
The Town and Country Planning Organisation, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, the Haryana Town and Country Planning Department and the Haryana chapter of the Institute of Town Planners, organised the first regional workshop on revision of Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) guidelines for northern states at Panchkula, near here, today.

T C Gupta, Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning and Urban Estates, Haryana, stressed the need for comprehensive revision of the UDPFI Guidelines. He said it was for the state, town and country planning departments, urban development authorities and the municipal corporations to make the best use of these guidelines and make the planning process more efficient and user friendly.

While welcoming the delegates, J B Kshirsagar, Chief Town Planner, Town and Country Planning Organisation, made a background presentation highlighting the need for revising the UDPFI guidelines and how they could be helpful in streamlining the process of Master Plan preparation.

It was informed that the task of revising the UDPFI guidelines had been awarded to M/s Mott Mac Donald, a leading urban sector consultant. It was expected that the guidelines would be finalised by May, 2014.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, November 29
There seems to be no respite in sight for the residents of Sirsa and Fatehabad from the incidents of dengue, despite the advent of cold weather.

The number of positive cases of dengue has reached 110 in Sirsa, according to a spokesperson for the Health Department, while in Fatehabad, 21 cases have come to the fore.

What is more worrisome is the fact that almost all the 110 cases reported in Sirsa have come up in the past one month, with 42 people testing positive in the past ten days alone.

However, the spokesperson said dengue was under control now.

But reports from private hospitals of Sirsa reveal a different story all together. The number of patients suffering from suspected dengue and the demand of platelets, a blood component needed in dengue, is rising by the day.

In Fatehabad, Civil Surgeon Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj said there were 21 confirmed cases of dengue.

Two more cases of suspected dengue were admitted to the General Hospital, Fatehabad, and their blood samples had been sent for testing, Kamboj added.

Meanwhile, reports from some private hospitals revealed that cases of suspected dengue were reported with them too.