Shimla, December 10
The result of the written examination for the post of special judges in the rank of Additional District & Sessions Judge was declared today. Baljinder Singh Sra topped the examination by securing 265 marks out of 400 while Sandeep Gupta secured the second position with 264 marks. The examination was taken on November 30.

According to the result, 24 candidates, securing more than 220 marks, were declared successful. A total of 95 candidates appeared for the examination. The names of other successful candidates are Mahesh Kumar Yadav, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Baljinder Pal, Ajit Atri, Digvijay Singh, Shekhar Bhatnagar, Devi Dayal Singla, Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Paras Doger, Arun Thakur, Davender Kumar, Manoj Kumar Mishra, Surender Singh, Tulsi Singh Yadav, Lakhvinder Singh, Sanjay Kumar Chaubey, Umesh Kumar Sharma, Dhriti Jasleen Sharma, Seema Maniktala, Pawan Kumar Sharma, Bhupinder Kumar and Ramesh Kumar. Three retired judicial officers Gireesh Kumar Sharma, Ravinder Parkash Verma and Lekh Sharma, also cleared the exam.

Una, December 10
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Junior Engineers' and Additional Assistant Engineers' Association has demanded improvement in service conditions. They have also demanded promotions and filling up of vacant posts to streamline the working of the organisation.

The demands were presented to Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri by president of the association Vijay Agnihotri at a state executive meet of the body in Una today. The minister also launched the website of the association.

Vijay said junior engineers (JEs) retired on the same post after putting in more than three decades of service. He said there were 145 vacant posts of additional assistant engineer (AAE) in the HPSEB to which serving JEs could be promoted to give them one-time benefit without putting additional financial burden on the exchequer.

The association president said while most of the JEs and AAEs did not have a proper office, the HPSEB management allocated tenders to a private firm for installing computers in improperly furnished complaint offices in the name of JEs and AAEs. He said these computers were biting the dust. He said such unproductive expenditure by the management had resulted in more financial burden on the HPSEB.

He said in the Una electrical circle alone, there were 25 vacant posts of assistant linesmen, 174 of T-mates besides 132 vacancies in the clerical cadre. While essential services needed to be maintained, the vacancies put enormous pressure on JEs, he said, adding that their counterparts in Punjab were getting 30 litres of petrol per month as travel allowance, which was being denied to them.

In response, the minister said he would place their demands before the Chief Minister, Power Minister and Cabinet. He admitted that many posts at the lower levels were lying vacant. He said stagnation was an issue, which needed to be addressed. 

Shimla, December 10
The HP High Court transferred eight judicial officers today. According to the notification issued by the High Court, RK Tomar, Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM),Kangra, at Dharamsala has been transferred and posted as Additional District and Sessions Judge (II), Shimla. Jaswant Singh, Administrative Officer, HP State Legal Services Authority, Shimla, has been transferred and posted as Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kangra, at Dharamsala.

Anuja Sood, Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-ACJM, has already been posted as the Deputy Director, HP Judicial Academy, against the post of the Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-CJM.

The service of Naresh Kumar, Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum- CJM(I), Amb, on his placement as the CJM is placed at the disposal of the HP Legal Services Authority, Shimla, for being posted as Administrative Officer, HP State Legal Services Authority, Shimla. Kanta Verma, Civil Judge (Senior Div)-cum-ACJM (II), Amb, has been transferred and posted as such in court no.1, Amb.

Vivek Khanal, Civil Judge (Junior Div)-cum-JMIC, Rajgarh, has been transferred and posted as Civil Judge (Senior Div)-cum-ACJM(I), Mandi.

Anil Kumar, Civil Judge (Junior Div)-cum-JMIC(III), Shimla, has been transferred and posted as Civil Judge (Junior Div)-cum-JMIC, Rajgarh. Ramnik Sharma, Civil Judge (Junior Div)-cum-JMIC (I), Mandi, has been transferred and posted as such in court no. II, Mandi, against a vacant post.

Nurpur, December 10
The Himachal Pradesh Government Employees’ Confederation has hailed the High Court (HC) decision to shift officers of doubtful integrity from sensitive posts to non-sensitive posts in the state.

Vinod Kumar, state president of the confederation, in a statement here today, said it was a historic order, which would check corruption in the government machinery.

The confederation chief alleged that the way the state government was safeguarding officers of doubtful integrity would promote and justify corruption. “The government should adhere to the HC order and shift tainted officers from sensitive posts with immediate effect. Such elements should be punished. If the government does not do something in this regard, the morale of honest officers and work culture in government departments will be hit,” he asserted.

Criticising the pick-and-choose policy of the government in granting job extensions to certain officers after their retirement on political recommendations, Vinod said it was a dangerous trend for work culture and must be stopped. He claimed that service extensions were creating stagnation in the promotion of deserving employees and depriving unemployed youth of the state of job opportunities. 

Mandi, December 10
Activists of the Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS) continued their hunger strike for the second day today at the Seri Manch to highlight their demands.

District president of the BMS Ashok Prashar said they had been raising their demands for the past several months. The activists are demanding parking place and offices for taxi and auto-rickshaw operators and construction of a building for physically challenged persons. — TNS

Mandi, December 10
Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur inaugurated a blood donation camp organised by the Youth For Sustainable Development, an NGO, at the ESI Hospital, Ner Chowk, today. As many as 51 volunteers donated blood in the camp.

The minister also reviewed the ongoing work on the ESI Medical College project.

Addressing a gathering, Thakur said work on the medical college was about to complete and classes would start from the 2014-15 academic session.

He said 100 MBBS seats would be filled in the first session, out of which 40 seats would be reserved for the candidates from the state. He said, initially, the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, would be linked to the college. The minister said Rs 1,187 crore would be spent on various health services in the current financial year and the state had received Rs 140 crore under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

He said 1,200 posts of medical staff, including 200 posts of medical officer, were being filled by the state government and medical officers had been asked to prescribe cheap generic medicines.

Dean, ESI Medical College, Dr DS Dhiman, and CMO Hemant Kapoor were also present on the occasion. 

Palampur, December 10
Part of the Rajhoon High School building, 20 km from here, was destroyed in a devastating fire last night.

Reports reaching here said the school watchman noticed the fire at about 1.30 am. He informed the school headmaster and the panchayat pradhan, who immediately reached the spot and made efforts to control the fire with the help of local residents.

Fire engines were called in from Palampur. But by the time the Fire Brigade reached the spot, half of the school building was already in flames. However, firemen saved the rest of the complex by controlling the fire.

The school headmaster said most of the school records, books and furniture were destroyed in the fire.

The cause of the fire could not be ascertained. A short-circuit was suspected to be one of the reasons for the fire.

SDM, Palampur, Bhupinder Attari visited the spot this morning along with a team of revenue officials. He directed revenue staff to prepare an estimate of the loss caused to school property so that funds could be sanctioned by the state government for the reconstruction of the school complex.

Meanwhile, local MLA Jagjivan Pal assured local residents that he would make efforts to get the complex reconstructed at the earliest.

Shimla, December 10
Faced with threat of demotion, 32 Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, who were promoted to the rank of Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF) during the BJP regime, may finally be issued show-cause notices.

The IFS officers, who have been facing the threat of demotions, could be served show-cause notice on their promotions, with the Congress regime terming it as an undue benefit to the officers.

A decision on the issue had been pending for a long time with the Screening Committee headed by the Chief Secretary deliberating on it at length.

The Screening Committee at its meeting held on October 30 had asked the Principal Secretary, Forests, to take a final call on the issue. The opinion of the Law Department has already been sought and the notices could be issued shortly.

“One option was to order an inquiry while the other is to issue a show-cause notice and, moreover, since the issue also has financial implications, the matter has to be dealt with very carefully,” said an officer. With the promotions to 32 IFS officers being granted against only seven posts of APCCF in August last year, about 25 officers could face the threat of demotion.

In case the government decides to demote these officers, there will be a cascading effect which will go down to the level of Divisional Forest Officers (DFO). “The decision will certainly be challenged in court as it is for no fault of theirs that some officers could face demotion,” said an IFS officer.

The promoted IFS officers on the other hand contend that all of them had fulfilled the minimum 25 years criteria and a majority of their batch mates in other states were already holding the rank of APCCF.

It was in July-August last year that the BJP regime had promoted 25 officers in two batches within a span of one month. This had taken the total number of APCCF in the Forest Department to 32, an all time high for a small state like Himachal.

In fact, some of the officers from the 1984 and 85 batch got two promotions within a span of less than one month. Even though all these officers had completed the mandatory 25 years service, since there were not so many posts of the APCCF, the move was termed as unjustified.

Manali, December 10
Dry weather in the Kullu valley has brought cheer to tourists as they are able to see the Rohtang pass even in the second week of December. The movement of vehicles usually comes to a halt at this time of season.

The Rohtang pass received heavy snowfall in November this year, but the road was thrown open soon. Tourists are making a beeline to the Rohtang pass and hundreds of them are arriving here every day to witness the snow.

Mostly newly-married couples are visiting Manali these days and the view of Rohtang, which is under snow, is bringing smile to their faces. Tourists are enjoying skiing and horse riding. Couples are capturing the wonderful moments of their life in their cameras with snow-clad Pir Panjal and CB ranges in the backdrop. Rohtang is the only snow point in the country where tourists can find snow for the most part of the year.

Most probably, the next spell of snowfall will block the road leading to Rohtang and tourists will be able to reach here only next summer.

Meanwhile, hundreds of local residents who rent out skis, snow dresses and snow shoes to tourists are having good time with the opening of the pass. Hundreds of taxi operators are able earn a bit more this time.

The weather god has also obliged residents of the Lahaul valley, who are still connected with other parts of the state through the Rohtang pass.

Mandi, December 10
While the Centre and state governments are laying emphasis on encouraging women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to secure loans from banks and have directed banks to give loans to such groups, the Manager of the Rohanda branch of Gramin Bank has not only ignored the request of a local SHG, but has also shown his ignorance about the Central government scheme.

To supplement income of rural people, especially village women, the Central government has started the District Water Development Project (DWDP) to put in place irrigation facilities and start small scale activities for which the SHGs are being formed, to supplement their income and provide sustainable livelihood.

These SHGs are being encouraged to seek loans from the banks for creating a working capital up to 2 lakh, for which a matching grant of Rs one lakh is given under the DWDP.

To draw benefit from this project, local women of Rohanda had formed an SHG named Jalpa and had applied for a loan of Rs 1 lakh from the Gramin Bank branch at Rohanda on May 5.

But to the utter surprise of the members of the SHG, the manager has not taken any action on their loan application and shows his ignorance about the Central government scheme.

Mamta, an activist of the SHG Jalpa, said, "No action has been taken on our loan application for the past six months and whenever we visit the bank branch, the manager says he has no time and showed ignorance about the scheme, depriving us a grant of Rs 1 lakh from the project."

Dr Kishori Lal Sharma, Deputy Director, DWDP, said, "The DC Mandi has issued specific directions to all banks to give loan to SHGs and we are also giving 50 per cent matching grants to the SHGs."

Bank Manager CR Chaudhary said, "No such loan under such a scheme is pending in the bank."

Shimla, December 10
Accompanied by legislators and senior officials, Gujarat Minister for Higher Education Prof Vasuben Trivedi gave details about the Statue of Unity, the dream project of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, here today.

Trivedi said the Rs 2,500-crore project would be the pride of the nation. "It is not a political project of the BJP, but a true tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the man who played an instrumental role for the creation of a unified India," she said.

She said the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rahstriya Exta Trust had been set up to accomplish the mission. "The iron used by farmers as equipment will be collected from every nook and corner of the country, along with the soil of various holy shrines, for the creation of a world-class memorial," she said. She said the Statue of Unity would be the tallest statue in the world with a height of 182 m.

Speaking on the occasion, former minister and BJP MLA Jai Ram Thakur said the iron from all the 20,018 revenue villages would be sent to Gujarat.

Shimla, December 10
The state CID has decided to decentralise the Motor Vehicle Verification Counter Data and open counters in all districts to provide more responsive and people-friendly systems.

A government spokesperson said counters would be set up at all district police headquarters. Any citizen making the purchase of pre-owned vehicle mandatorily needed a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the police as part of the requirements of the transport authority under law. For that, one NOC counter had been functional in the CID, State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) since 2003.

Analysis of data showed that 100-150 people from all parts of the state were visiting Shimla every day to get NOC. Not only did it involve a rush at this single SCRB counter, but also caused discomfort and travel inconvenience to the general public.

A workshop was held at CID (SCRB) training centre in mid-November this year in which training to 24 participants was imparted to operate NOC counters in the district headquarters.

The District Superintendents of Police were directed to start the counters at their respective headquarters from December 2013. The facility is expected to speed up the process of the police giving the public the NOCs and is supposed to go a long way in saving time and money of the general public.

Shimla, December 10
Various academicians and human rights activists underscored the need for making society aware of its rights as well as duties towards others at a seminar on human rights organised at HP University here today.

Speaking at a seminar on “Human Rights, Values and Education: Challenges and Strategies”, former judge of the HP High Court Surinder Thakur, who was the guest of honour, said, “We should take an oath to practise, advocate and exercise our duties while protecting human rights as these must go hand in hand.

Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai said people should behave well with others and only then expect the same from them. The academicians had a debate on human rights violations by the police. The debate was coordinated by Prof Mamta Mokta from the Department of Public Administration, coordinator of the seminar.

Srinivas Joshi from the Voluntary Health Association said society must protect the rights of patients.

Nandani Mittal from Doordarshan, Trisha Sharma, Director, Legal Cell, APG University and Ramesh Chand talked about youth and values. The seminar was organised jointly by the Centre for Women’s Studies and Development, Department of Laws, Department of Education and Anti-Ragging Cell of HPU.

Solan, December 10
With the Board of Management (BoM) of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, failing to initiate any action in various cases of irregularities in appointments and fund misappropriation, a question mark has been put over its working.

The university, which was battling severe cash-crunch, had been directed by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to take action against those found guilty of various irregularities after a detailed complaint was made to the bureau earlier this year.

A perusal of the agenda and minutes of the BoM meeting revealed that the issue had not been discussed in the meeting though the university officials had earlier stated that the BoM would take a decision on it.

However, as a face saving exercise the Vice-Chancellor has now constituted an internal committee to frame guidelines for selection committees so that irregularities can be checked.

Apart from the Registrar, Director, Research, at least two more statutory officers had been included as its members and the committee would submit its report in 10 days, said Registrar Rupali Thakur. She said since some cases figuring in the complaint were sub judice, they could not take any action and this committee would frame guidelines to ensure that appointments made in the future were selected through a transparent procedure.

It was, however, surprising that even cases where financial irregularities had been detected had remained unaddressed and glaring irregularities in appointments in cases where judgements had been announced had also failed to be addressed. No action had been initiated by the management against those who were part of such selection committees.

The most glaring irregularity where the university’s interview board had granted marks of presentation and interview to an absentee candidate also did not qualify for any action.

The case pertains to conduct of interviews for two posts of assistant professor for the Department of Post Harvest Technology, which were held on July 31, 2009. Out of the 10 candidates, who had appeared for the interview, as was apparent by the attendance sheet, Anju Bhat, who was marked absent had been given three marks out of five for presentation and 11 marks out of 20 for interview and her total score was shown as 68.16.

Even cases of diverting funds received from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and other projects under the Niche Area Projects worth Rs 16 lakh each had failed to find any mention in the BoM meeting, thus speaking volumes about the university’s functioning. 

Kangra, December 10
The state government today reimbursed Rs 5.35 lakh to the family of the 7-year-old girl on whom the first ever cochlear implant in the region was conducted on July 8 this year during a two-day free ENT camp.

A cheque for Rs 5.35 lakh was handed over to Anjna, mother of 7-year-old Srishti, by Dr Raman Puri, officiating SMO, Zonal Hospital, Dharamsala, in the presence of PR Agnihotri, convener of the Vivekananda Kendra that organised the camp. Srishti, a resident of Boda village near Bhawarna, was having congenital hearing impairment and was living the life of a deaf and dumb.

Her parents had requested the state government to fund them under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, but it failed to provide the required amount .Sandeep, father of Srishti and a worker in a hotel, said he had collected Rs 5.38 lakh from his friends and relatives for the cochlear machine while the super-specialised surgery was conducted free of cost during the camp organised by the Vivekananda Kendra. Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Joint Director (Health Services), said the government had decided to make full payment of the cochlear machine to the Shrishti’s family under the Rashtriya Baal Swasthya Karyakram( RBSK). 

Una, December 10
The municipal councillors, owing allegiance to the Congress, held a protest at the MC office against the ‘improper’ functioning of the civic body here today. While the post of the president of the MC has been held by BJP sympathiser Mamta Kashyap, vice-president Amarjot Bedi owes allegiance to the Congress.

At a meeting of the MC today, Bedi and his supporters complained that contracts of civil works were being given to the son of a BJP councillor. Moreover, they said the proceedings register was under the control of Kashyap which should be in possession of the executive officer of the MC. They further stated that MC meetings were not being held as per schedule.It may be mentioned that these issues were raised before the government by the councillors and in February the government had asked the MC to submit a report regarding this. Meanwhile, Kashyap said the MC was functioning as per the norms.— OC 

Bilaspur, December 10
Now there is no doubt that the “Narendra Modi wave” is sweeping the entire country and no Congress or other party conglomerate can check this wave from sweeping even the Parliamentary elections.

This was claimed by Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) state president Sunil Thakur while addressing a state executive meeting of the morcha here today. Sunil said the Central government had “failed” to solve people’s problems.He said millions of unemployed youth, who had been waiting for an employment scheme, were now waiting for the next elections to give a befitting reply to the government. 

Shimla, December 10
Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), in association with the Ambedkar Youth Edifying Association, organised a seminar on Bharat Ratan Dr BR Ambedkar recently. Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai presided over the seminar.

The Vice-Chancellor said the contribution made by Dr Ambedkar for the uplift of humanity in general and Dalits in particular would always be remembered by the nation.“Dr Ambedkar fought for the marginalised community in a society divided in the name of caste and religion,” he said. He said India would have become world leader in education long time ago if the disruptive forces had not played a negative role to divide society. 

Nahan, December 10
The condition of an elderly couple, that was attacked, along with their four family members, at Singhpura village in Paonta Sahib sub-division, by unidentified miscreants on the intervening night of December 5-6, deteriorated with woman Kallo Devi slipping into coma and her husband Bagga Ram succumbing to his injuries today at a private clinic in Yamunanagar where they had been admitted.

With the police having earlier registered a case under minor sections of the IPC, including Sections 452 and 323 (house trespass and voluntarily causing hurt) despite a clear case of looting and assault having taken place, the seriousness of the police in bringing the guilty to book had become questionable.

The family belonged to the poor Bangala tribe which was residing in a jhuggi in Singhpura. After receiving preliminary treatment at the local Civil Hospital, the couple had gone to Yamunanagar for further treatment.

Unidentified masked miscreants had snatched Rs 8,050 and a few ornaments from the family members and brutally beaten them with a rod and cudgels on the fateful night.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Paonta Sahib, Yogesh Rolta said relevant sections would be added to the first information report FIR after verifying this information from Yamunanagar.

Bilaspur, December 10
The police at Shah Talai arrested jeep (HP-1H-1028) driver Krishan Kumar for hitting a motorcyclist (HP-20A-6089) on the Shah Talai-Badsar link road, near Farnol Maruda, yesterday.

Earlier, the police had impounded both the vehicles involved in the accident. Reports said motorcyclist Sukh Dev Dhiman (40) of Badyaah village was coming from the opposite direction when he was hit by the jeep. He was injured seriously in the accident and rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he died later.

The police have registered a case and are investigating.

Bilaspur, December 10
National sports championships play a vital role not only in inspiring budding sportspersons at the national and international levels, but also to spread the message of national integration.

This was stated by local MLA and state Handball Association president Bambar Thakur while inaugurating the 42nd National Handball Championship for Men at the Luhnu Sports Complex here today. He said many national and international players would showcase their skills during the six-day tournament and people of the state would have an unique opportunity to witness their skills.

Bambar said the players who had come from other states of India would have a glimpse of the culture and heritage of Himachal Pradesh during their visit. Bambar said 648 players of 27 teams are participating in the championship. Atul Mazumdar, chairman of technical committee, Handball Federation of India (FDI), office secretary Dev Raj and joint secretary Shyam Lal were also present.

Bilaspur, December 10
Kaushalya (91), wife of prominent freedom fighter, MLA and social activist late Sant Ram “Sant”, died at Bhandwaad village in the Chandpur area, near here, early this morning.

She played a vital role in mobilising women for agitations for the Ali Khud bridge in the state's “all-women satyagraha” here. —OC