Chandigarh, December 20
Just about a fortnight after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed HUDA to provide complete details of plots allocated under the “discretionary quota” of the state government, AK Singh, Chief Administrator, HUDA, said 56 allottees had been identified by the security committee.

They had allegedly obtained more than one plot under the discretionary quota by prima facie submitting false, misleading and incomplete affidavits. Justice Daya Chaudhary was also informed that the scrutiny of remaining discretionary quota allotments was in progress and the final status report was likely to take a month.

In another affidavit, Narender Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gurgaon, stated that investigations were on in the matter.

Justice Chaudhary passed the orders during the resumed hearing of a petition on irregularities in allocation of plots.

Terming the allotment of more than one plot to applicants as a multi-crore scam, the High Court on the previous date of hearing had directed HUDA to file a status report. It was asked to specify how many plots, under which category, had been allotted.

Addressing AK Singh, Chief Administrator, HUDA , Justice Chaudhary had asked: “How did you fail to verify false affidavits submitted by persons along with their applications?. You verify many things when it comes to purchase of even a single shirt. Then how could such a mistake happen? You are representing HUDA and this is the matter of plots worth crores of rupees”.

Justice Chaudhary had added: “Take action against all illegal allottees, whether they are defence officers, other reserved categories, press people, judges or advocates”.

The Chief Administrator, on the other hand, told the court that they had initiated the process of taking legal action against the defaulters. “We have registered 325 FIRs. There are 188 defence persons out of 379 who have been issued more than one plot”, he had said.

Jind, December 20
The Congress-led UPA at the Centre has taken a big step to woo Jats with reservation, but the latter are not ready to take any chances.

In an emergency meeting held in Jat Dharmshala here, representatives of 50 khaps under the banner of Sarvjatt Khap Panchayat (SKP) announced that they would first check the notification and then decide their future course of action.

The khap representatives said they resume their agitation if the government failed to secure the recommendation of the National Backward Classes Commission.

“We have got the news only through media. Since it’s a positive step we have decided to delay our agitation. We would announce the withdrawal of our protest only after getting copies of the notification. The Congress must fulfil its promise by issuing a notification at the earliest” said Tek Ram Kandela, President of Kandela Khap after the meeting.

“We do not want more politics over the issue. The Central government should not leave the ball in the court of commission and get things done at the earliest," said Chaudhary Dalel Singh, president of the Khera Khap.

Hisar, December 20
The residents of Mayyar village in the district, which has been the epicentre of the jat agitation for the last three years, has welcomed the union cabinet’s decision seeking recommendations from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). The residents termed it a step forward towards realising their long-pending demand.

The jat-dominated village, located on NH 10, and the Delhi-Hisar rail section had proved to be a strategic location for the agitators, who exerted maximum pressure on the state government by resorting to rail and road blockade during the three rounds of stir since 2010.

“The villagers have been keeping a track of the moves of the state government and the Centre regarding this issue. Around 100 villagers gathered in the village chaupal soon after the news broke in the media yesterday evening and congratulated each other”, Mayyar village sarpanch Sandeep Singh, said. They had called a meeting in Guhla Cheeka town in Kaithal district on December 25 to discuss the further strategy, he added.

Jind, December 20
The inability of a poor family of Bhatnagar colony here, to fulfil the dowry demands of the in-laws of their daughter, has cost the girl dearly. She was allegedly forced into flesh trade, repeatedly raped and kept confined at various places. She managed to give a slip to her in-laws and lodged a complaint with the Jind police.

“My husband is a drug addict and has no job. With the help of his family members, he took me to various hotels, where I was repeatedly raped,” the victim alleged at the civil hospital here, where she was brought for medical examination.

She was allegedly taken to various hotels in Jind, Panipat and other cities. She has alleged that her husband accompanied her, along with two or three other unidentified girls, who kept supervision over her during her alleged rapes by various unidentified persons.

As per the information, 23-year-old Geeta (name changed) was married to Jitender of Panipat on May 29, 2013. Within days of her marriage, her in-laws started harassing her for more dowry.

But due to poor financial conditions of her family, she could not fulfill their demands. Angered by the same, her husband started taking her to various hotels forcibly, where she was kept confined, repeatedly raped every time she tried to resist.

“We have received a complaint from her. She has accused her husband and other family members of pushing her into flesh trade. We have registered a case against her husband Jitender and other family members,” said Balwan Singh, in charge of Rohtak road police post.

Ambala, December 20
A team of Mohali Food and Drug Administration has unearthed a “deserted” factory on Ambala-Jarot road near here, which was perceivably being used to manufacture drugs illegally by Star Pharmaceuticals, the license of which had been withdrawn in 2008.

Sources in the Punjab Food and Drug Administration said they had recently got a tip off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) suggesting that manufacturing of drugs was still on at the unit located on the Ambala-Jarot road, near Ambala.

On the basis of this, the drug control team started the investigations, which led them to Tara Hospital in the Baldev Nagar area of Ambala, which was allegedly being used as a store for these drugs.

The joint team of the Ambala and Mohali Drug control teams recovered a huge cache of unlabeled injections from the hospital two days ago.

Further investigations led the team to the Ambala-Jarot road factory, which wore a deserted look from outside. However, inquiries revealed that the factory was being used during the wee hours for manufacturing purposes.

Following this, Mohali drug control officer Amit Lakhanpal asked Lalit Tara, the owner of Star Pharmaceuticals, to join the investigations and open the factory for inspection. Though Lalit confirmed that he would meet the drug control team at the factory gates, he failed to turn up.

Lakhanpal said they had brought the matter to the notice of senior authorities. Besides, the department had also asked the concerned SHO to trace down Lalit.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the authorities had put the factory under round-the-clock surveillance.

Ambala drug control authorities, who were also a part of this operation, have already taken into custody the huge quantity of injections recovered from Tara Hospital, owned by Dr D N Tara, brother of Lalit Tara.

The Ambala Drug control officials have, so far, not ruled out the possibility of these drugs being some kind of narcotics or banned substances. To ascertain the same, samples of the recovered drugs have been sent for chemical examination. 

Chandigarh December 20
With the gainful utilisation of facilities in technology parks, information technology or electronics hardware technology parks being set up in different focal points in the state, the state government envisages direct or indirect employment to nearly 13 lakh persons within five years in IT and IT-enabled services sectors.

A spokesman said these parks were located in Panchkula, Manesar, Kundli and Rai. The government had also granted licences to 45 proposals for establishment of IT or cyber parks at various places. Besides, 28 SEZs had also been recommended in this sector by the government.

He said IT labs had been set up in 64 colleges and more than 2,600 schools across the state. Apart from general IT education, the IT Department had been organising training programmes for government employees at the state and district headquarters on an ongoing basis through the Society for IT Initiative Fund. So far, more than 34,000 employees have been imparted training as a part of this drive.

He said that Haryana has also become the first state to implement the Statewide Area Network (SWAN) Project at an estimated cost of Rs 102.62 crore. Under this network, the state headquarters has been connected with all 21 district headquarters.

Fatehabad, December 20
The Bhakra dam oustees have received a firm promise on their demands from Union Minister of State for Power Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The oustees have been running from pillar to post for the fulfilment of assurances they were given during the acquisition of their lands for the Bhakra dam project more than five decades ago.

Bhawani Singh, executive president of the Bhakra Oustees Association, and some other members, who met the minister in his Delhi office yesterday with Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, said Scindia had promised to take up their case on priority.

Hundreds of families from 376 villages of Himachal Pradesh were uprooted and resettled in Haryana. They were given land areas in the old Hisar district and most of the villages where they are settled now fall in Fatehabad.

Even after more than 55 years, over 64 per cent of the Bhakra oustee families are yet to get proprietary rights of the land they were offered in the late fifties and early sixties.

“Out of the 2,836 plots offered to the oustees, registered deeds had been executed by the authorities for 937 plots only,” said Bhawani Singh.

Earlier, for the past 17 years, oustees have been facing the excuse that while their lands had fallen in Fatehabad district carved out of Hisar in 1997, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), which keeps their records, still had its office in Hisar.

“However, we managed to get the BBMB office shifted to Fatehabad by taking up the issue at political level, but still not a single registered deed for transferring proprietary rights for their lands has been executed in favour of the oustees in the past one year,” he added.

Chandigarh, December 20
MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary, who is behind bars in a murder case, has alleged that he was being implicated in the matter at the behest of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

In his petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for regular bail, Chaudhary alleged that he "was the biggest threat" to the Chief Minister during the elections. He alleged that the Chief Minister had "devised a novel method whereby not only could he conveniently become the Chief Minister, but could also tarnish the political career of the petitioner". The bail petition is expected to come up for hearing during the winter vacation.

Chaudhary further alleged since the Congress was in power in Haryana, the Chief Minister "managed" to implicate him by using his influence with the Haryana police. The MLA further claimed that he was prosecuted by the Panchkula police "without any reliable evidence".

Jyoti, a 24-year-old resident of Bhunga village in Hoshiarpur district, was found dead on a road in Sector 21, Panchkula, on November 22 last year. The post-mortem report suggested that she had died of head injury and had undergone an abortion.

Her father, Buti Ram, has already filed a petition for an independent probe, alleging that the Panchkula police was not conducting the investigations in a fair and impartial manner, as it has colluded with, MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary, the prime accused.

Palwal, December 20
Are schoolchildren studying in primary and middle schools expected to know about the influence of liquor intoxication and the means to get rid it? Perhaps yes, if the quiz competition held by the state police department on road safety is to believe. The controversial question appeared in the final round of the district-level programme got concluded here on Thursday.

“We got stumped by the question that asked the students to tell how the influence of liquor intoxication could be reduced,” claimed a kin of one of the students who appeared in the test. He said this type of question was not expected as there was no way children studying in primary classes would know anything about it. “The authorities ought to check the question content. Asking absurd questions does not raise the awareness level of young minds,” he said.

Reports said the officials who had prepared the question paper had selected around 200 questions (multiple choice questions) from a question bank containing around 900 questions for the test that was conducted here. A total of six students from three categories (classes III to V , VI to VIII and from IX to XII) were selected from the district in the final round.

Sonepat, December 20
Confusion prevailed among the post graduate teachers who had recently joined their duties at district headquarters, over a change in the directions in appointment orders and the advertisement of the posts.

In the advertisement no-1/2012 dated June 7, 2012, Note no-4 carried the direction that "A person who had passed HTET/STET without the qualification of B Ed before the date i.e. 11.04. 2012 of the notification of the service rules concerned shall be considered eligible for the post." There was no mention that they had to qualify B.Ed examination.

However, in the appointment letters dated 14-12-2013, the terms and condition at number 16 states, "In case he is not passed STET/HTET and B.Ed, as yet, he shall have to qualify HTET and B.Ed by not later than April 1, 2015, otherwise the appointment shall stand terminated automatically without giving any further notice".

A number of teachers, after joining their duties here in DEO's office, told The Tribune that it was illogical and illegal to include such condition in the appointment letters without mentioning it in the advertisement. They urged the higher authorities in the department to remove this condition from the appointment orders.

Karnal, December 20
After the Rewari and Sonepat rallies,the BJP has its eyes set on Karnal where former national president Nitin Gadkari and Uma Bharti would interact with the national executive body of the BJP women’s cell on Saturday.

With a view to take the party symbol to every block and booth, a two-day national convention of the BJP women’s cell began here today. "The cell has also started a campaign of putting the party symbol in ‘mehndi’ on their hands to show their support to the party," said Saroj Pandey, national president of the BJP women’s cell, on the inaugural session here today.

She said the women’s cell members should go door-to-door and spread the party symbol throughout the country. She said rangoli would be made at every booth to popularise the party on the occasion of Atal Bihari Vajpai's birthday. She said they would take put a rally in Delhi in February, which would be attended by Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh.

The programme is being held in Karnal as it is the central part of the state and the BJP has had a history of large vote bank in the district.

Hisar, December 20
The district administration has decided to crackdown on the illicit liquor outlets operating in Mirchpur village and urged the village panchayat to adopt a resolution to shift the approved liquor shop from near the bus stand to elsewhere.

The villagers complained to Deputy Commissioner ML Maushik about the illicit liquor vends in the village during the open darbar in the village today. Acting on the complaint, the DC directed the area SHO to launch a drive against the illicit liquor vends.

He announced a grant of Rs 1 crore for the development activities and also prepared an estimate of Rs 3 crore for laying a road on the firni around the village. The DC said brotherhood had been restored fully in the village and people from all the communities were living peacefully. The villagers raised around 150 complaints, which were redressed by the district authorities.

Chandigarh, December 20
A two-member delegation of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia met Justice HS Bhalla, a member of the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC), here today.

The Malaysian delegation included Hasmah Abdul Manaf and Ameer Izyanif Hamzah, Education and Promotion officers at the commission. The delegation was led by AK Parashar, Joint Registrar, NHRC .

Hamzah said the Malaysian commission had no powers to direct the police and order compensation. The focus was more on awareness. 

Chandigarh December 20
As many as 10 new integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTCs) and 32 facility integrated counselling and testing centres (FICTCs) were opened in Haryana during 2013 for providing free testing and counselling facilities to HIV and AIDS patients. Also, three new blood banks were opened to ensure quality service and safe blood.

A spokesman said here today that targeted intervention projects had been started for truckers for the first time at two sites in Gurgaon and Panipat districts. Due to increased targeted intervention projects for high risk groups like women sex workers, injectable drug users, men having sex with men, new infections from these groups had substantially been reduced. It had also helped in reducing the risk and vulnerability associated with HIV and AIDS.

Besides the anti-retroviral treatment (ART) centre at the PGIMS, Rohtak, one more such centre would be started at Agroha (Hisar) medical college to treat HIV or AIDS patients.

Sonepat, December 20
Different organisations of the town have decided to launch an agitation against the steep hike in the power bills by the Haryana Bijli Nigam. They will hand over a memorandum of their demands, addressed to the Chief Minister, to the Deputy Commissioner on December 23.

The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting here last evening. It was presided over by BJP state vice-president Rajiv Jain. The representatives of various trade and social organisations were present at the meeting. If the hike was not taken back, they would make the people aware of the unjustified hikes and would organise Sonepat bandh, they resolved.

Jain alleged that hikes in sundry charges, fuel surcharge and changes in the slab system had increased the power bills. Paying of such hefty power bills had gone beyond the capacity of common man. —TNS

Fatehabad, December 20
The father-son duo, Jai Singh and Sunil Kumar, who were arrested in the case of rape of a minor girl yesterday, have been sent in judicial custody for 14 days while Nanhe, who is alleged to have facilitated the procurement of the victim, has been remanded in police custody for four days.

The three were produced before a local court today by the Fatehabad police.

The police sought Nanhe's custody to arrest a woman, who is alleged to have sold the victim to the father-son duo for Rs 45,000.

The victim was spotted running in distressed condition on the Bighar road of Fatehabad on Thursday night.

Some local people rescued her and reported the matter to the police of the area and the accused were arrested.

Sirsa, December 20
A 25-year-old youth, who was arrested by the police in the murder case of a villager, died in police custody during interrogation in Sirsa today.

The youth, Balwan, along with two others, was arrested by the police at Baragura police station of Sirsa last night in connection with the murder of a villager, Kaklu Ram, at Biruwalagura village.

Saurabh Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) said Balwan was being taken to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) police station in the evening for interrogation, when he suffered severe pain in his chest and collapsed.

He was rushed to a hospital here where he was declared brought dead.

The victim’s body had been sent to the General Hospital for postmortem and his kin had been informed.

The Senior Superintendent of Police said the exact cause of death would be known only after a judicial inquiry, which was mandatory in cases of custodial deaths.

He said ASP Rajinder Meena had been asked to conduct an inquiry into the death.

Kaklu Ram had objected to playing of loud music by his neighbour Balbir Singh, when he was attacked with sharp-edged weapons yesterday night.

The police had booked five persons, including Balwan for Kaklu Ram’s murder.

Balwan and two others were later arrested by the police.