Kaithal, January 16
As many as 23 villagers were injured in firing and brick batting during a clash over possession of panchayat land in Bakal village of Kaithal district this morning.

All the injured were rushed to Kaithal Multi-Speciality Hospital here. Later, three seriously injured persons were reportedly shifted to PGI Chandigarh.

As tension mounted following the incident, heavy police force was rushed to the village. Deputy commissioner NK Solanki, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, SP, Narhari Singh Bangar, SDM, and other officials reached the village and talked to representatives of the two groups. A 12-member committee has been constituted to sort out the matter amicably and through dialogue.

The trouble started when members of one religion reportedly erected a boundary wall on the vacant land of a veterinary hospital, adjoining a gurdwara situated in the village. They claimed that they had been using the land earlier too for religious functions.

The villagers opposed their move and demolished the wall, which led to a clash among the two groups. The members of the former group allegedly fired shots in the air and then towards the crowd.

This was confirmed by Sandeep (32), who showed pellet wounds on his body.

Sandeep said the villagers had informed the police about the prevailing situation at about 6 am. However, the force arrived only at about 8 am. The clash took place in the presence of the policemen and before they could understand the situation and act, the groups clashed.

Those injured included Ramesh, Sandeep, Dalbir, Pawan, Mewa, Parveen, Naresh, Gurmeet, Balram, Suresh, Joginder, Ishwar, Sosan, Vidyanand, Gurmit, Harbhajan Singh, Agrej Singh, Sukhvinder, Balkar, Pargat, Baljinder, Gurbaksh and Malu Singh.

DSP Ravinder Tomar and DDPO Rajesh Khoth were camping in the village till the filing of this report.

Jhajjar, January 16
Hundreds of newly selected postgraduate teachers (PGTs) are facing an uncertain future as they have not received their appointment letters yet due to an objection raised by the Education Department over the validity of their degrees.

The authorities say the affiliation of four universities from where they have secured their master's degrees are being examined. The PGTs selected say several other degree holders of these universities have joined government service and even got promotions.

Several such candidates called on Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal here yesterday and demanded the issuance of their appointment letters at the earliest so that they could join service.

“The Education Department has not issued appointment letters to those who have secured master's degrees from Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University, Udaipur; IASE University, Sardarshahr, Rajasthan; Vinayaka Mission University, Salem, Tamil Nadu; and Bangalore University, Karnataka,” Dharmender Kumar, selected as a PGT, told mediapersons.

He added that the government had appointed several degree holders from these universities on posts of BRP under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan in 2013 while many others had got Central government jobs on the basis of these degrees, but the state government was raising an objection over their degrees now.

“How can the department raise an objection over our degrees at the time of issuing appointment letters if we have cleared the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test on the basis of these degrees. The authorities should have raised this objection during scrutiny,” said Piyush, selected as a PGT.

Rajesh Kumar, Vikas, Sanjay, Rajratan, Neeraj and Narender, other selected candidates, said hundreds of such selected PGTs across the state approached senior officials at the Directorate of Higher Education in Panchkula on December 19, but no action had been taken so far.

They added that the four universities were affiliated to the UGC for master's courses. The facts could be verified by visiting the UGC website and the universities had not been blacklisted, they added.

Bhukkal said the degrees were being examined to ascertain their authenticity. 

Chandigarh, January 16
Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Sharma today alleged that the state’s main opposition parties and a sitting Congress Member of Parliament were behind the conspiracy to malign him in the Naib Tehsildar’s abduction drama.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said he was named by the family members of the Naib Tehsildar as a part of a conspiracy hatched by his own party MP. “After the official went missing, my name surfaced out of nowhere. I don’t even know the official. After he returned home, the family confided in me that it was being misled by the party MP who belongs to my community and the members were being instigated to name me,” he alleged.

Stating that he had “forgiven” the family for unnecessarily dragging his name into the controversy, Sharma said he would settle scores with the MP “politically”. “I am dealing with this at a personal level. So, I am not going to make any complaint to the party. I will tackle it in my own way,” he said.

Refusing to name the MP, Sharma said the former was known for his “criminal record”. “I have nothing against him,” he said.

The Speaker also intends to send a legal notice to Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Abhey Chautala over his remarks at a political programme. “The INLD MLA said I had taken Rs 45 lakh for getting the Naib Tehsildar a job and was responsible for his disappearance. If his party comes to power, he will have a murder case registered against me and put me behind bars. Though this is a matter fit to be given to the Privileges Committee, I am sending him a legal notice on his baseless allegations since I am dealing with this as a personal case,” Sharma said.

The Speaker said he would contest the next Assembly election from Ghannaur. Asked why Sonepat MP Jatinder Malik had staked his claim for the Assembly seat, Sharma said, “I don’t know where he will contest from. I know that I will be contesting from that seat.”

On the arrival of the Aam Aadmi Party on the political scene in Haryana, Sharma said the party wanted to project itself as anti-corrupt. “The party claims that the bureaucracy is the most corrupt and it is taking former bureaucrats in its folds. I don’t want to say more,” he said.

Sirsa, January 16
The future of students pursuing three-year degree course in law from Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU) hangs in balance after the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana refused to enroll students, citing non-approval of the course by the Bar Council of India (BCI) as the reason.

In the absence of enrolment, students passing LLB course from this university would neither be able to practice law nor apply for jobs.

The university allegedly continued admitting students to its three-year LLB course despite specific directions from the BCI in 2009 to stop further admission, after an inspection team of the council detected several deficiencies and asked the law department of the CDLU to submit a show-cause notice after complying with the conditions.

JS Sandhu, joint secretary of the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council, confirmed that the council had been refusing enrolment of law graduates from the University, who had taken admission to the course in 2010-11 batch or afterwards.

The course was started at Sirsa in 2000, at the regional centre of Kurukshetra University, which was later converted into a full-fledged university, named CDLU, in 2003.

An inspection team of the BCI, that visited here in 2003, after the university applied for recognition, found several shortcomings in the department. The BCI norms said the department should have an independent block and library, besides having a legal aid clinic, a seminar hall and separate common rooms for boys and girls.

The university, however, managed to get provisional recognition after giving an undertaking that an adjoining block, under construction at that time, would be allotted to the Law Department.

However, when the BCI inspection team visited the university again in 2009, it did not find the shortcomings removed and asked it to stop admissions till the conditions were fulfilled.

JS Jakhar, chairperson of the Law Department, however, said the university had done everything that was required under the show-cause notice, but the BCI had been sitting over its replies.

“Even now, we have deposited the requisite fees after furnishing information about the measures taken by us in compliance with the show-cause notice to the BCI with a request to order an inspection,” Jakhar added.

Hisar, January 16
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has asked the Haryana government to go for a complete review of the power policy as a retrograde step of disbanding the Haryana State Electricity Board in 1996 in view of mismanagement in the power sector in the state.

The CPM state secretary, Inderjit, while addressing workers at Hansi town of the district today said replacing the electricity board by creating three companies-Haryana Power

Generation Corporation, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam- in 1996 has messed up the power sector.

While reacting to the Chief Minister’s announcement to withdraw the new power tariff slab and reduction in the fuel surcharge in the wake of agitations by the Left parties and several other organisations, he demanded a social audit of the entire production, transmission and distribution to detect corruption and other irregularities in the power sector.

The CPM leaders led a workers’ protest demonstration at the mini-secretariat demanding reduction in power rates, allotment of house sites, corruption in land scandals and recruitments, corruption in MGNREGA, restoration of 35-Kg food grain, violence against women, price rise among other things.

Chandigarh January 16
The state government has exempted auto-rickshaw owners from paying the penalty on road tax.

The auto-rickshaw owners could now pay the road tax arrears without any penalty by February 28. This decision has been taken as a one-time measure. A spokesman for the Transport Department today said the tax on transport vehicles had to be paid on a quarterly basis. At present Rs 75 per seat per year was being charged as road tax from auto-rickshaws. Thus, the annual tax comes to Rs 225.

He said the decision had been taken keeping in view that the auto-rickshaws were used for carrying passengers for intra-city operations and these auto-rickshaws were generally owned by poor people. — TNS

Chandigarh, January 16
HUDA has allotted about 58 acres to the Housing Board, Haryana, for the construction of 50,000 residential flats in various urban estates for defence personnel or ex-servicemen.

A HUDA spokesman said here today that the authority had offered 57.96 acres to the Housing Board in its various urban estates, including 10 acre each at Faridabad, Mahendragarh and Rewari, 4.5 acres at Palwal, 11 acres at Pinjore or Panchkula, 7 acres at Rohtak and 5.46 acres at Jhajjar.

The land had been allotted under the Affordable Housing Policy-2013. The construction and allotment of flats would be done by the Housing Board.

Sonepat, January 16
As many as 16 unauthorised constructions, including shops, institutes, farm houses and service garages, seven DPCs, and four boundary walls were demolished by the Town and Country Planning department at Sonepat-Rathdhana schedule road today.

District Town Planner Dilbag Singh said a special demolition programme was executed in compliance of the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court order in CWP No 4559 of 2007, against unauthorised constructions within 30 meter restricted belt along the Sonepat-Rathdhana schedule road. The requisite notices and restoration orders were issued under Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963 to the concerned persons, he added.

He said people objected to the demolition drive but due to the presence of police force and with the help of the district administration, the whole drive was carried out successfully. Fateh Singh, naib tehsildar (mall), Sonepat, was deputed as duty magistrate.

Jind, January 16
After a brief respite, fog is back to haunt thousands of rail passengers. “I am already late by 45 minutes. I do not know how my boss will react as I have not informed him in advance about it,” said Sumit, who works in a private company here.

On an average, the Jind railway station witnesses the arrival and departure of nearly 30 trains everyday.

The Ferozpur-Sarai Rohila Express reached the station late by one-and-half hours, Jammu-Jabalpur was late by an hour, Ferozpur-Mumbai was late by two hours while Sriganganagar-New Delhi Intercity was late by more than an hour.

“Despite having reservation in the intercity, I have to board this Jammu-Jabalpur Express as the intercity is running late by more than two hours. Had I waited for that train, I would have missed my train to Jaipur,” said Chaman, a passenger.

Jind Railway Superintendent Anil Yadav said the trains were running late only because of the fog.

“Trains usually run late during foggy weather conditions otherwise there is no problem,” he said.

Chandigarh, January 16
The Election Commission of India has asked the state government to ensure that those connected with the conduct of elections do not serve in their home districts or places where they have served for long.

Srikant Walgad, Chief Electoral Officer, said here today that no officer connected with elections, directly or indirectly, should be allowed to continue in the present district of posting if she or he has completed three years in that district during the last four years or would be completing three years on or before May 31.

These instructions covered not only officers appointed for specific election duties like District Election Officers, Deputy District Election Officer, returning officers and assistant returning officers but also other district officers like ADMs, Deputy Collectors, SDMs, Tehsildars, BDOs or any other officer proposed to be deployed for election work.

Ambala, January 16
After having lost two major elections in the past, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) Chief Phool Chand Mullana today hosted an impressive 
function to celebrate his grandson’s first birthday, in which Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was a special invitee.

According to political observers, the CM was invited to send out a strong message among his supporters that he still wields a clout within the Congress party. They said after having lost two elections, Mullana had lost his political ground to a great extent in his constituency, which was now represented by Indian National Lok Dal’s Rajbir Barara.

The observers said the celebrations were also planned to push his son Varun Mullana’s political career, who was aiming at getting a party ticket to contest the next assembly elections from Mullana, so that he could carry on with his father’s political legacy. The celebration, which was earlier planned as a small family gathering, turned out to be a major event in Mullana, during which the district police as well as the civil administration remained on toes.

Those close to Mullana said it was after some party workers suggested that the occasion be used for political gains that a huge celebration was planned in which the CM was invited so that it could have an impact on supporters. The celebration, held at a resort owned by a local Congress leader, attracted a large number of workers and supporters, during which holy rituals were performed on one side of the venue, while a group of dancers performed on hip-hop music on the other side.

Soon after the CM arrived the celebrations converted into a political gathering. The situation went out of control, after which security personnel escorted the CM to a room, from where he left without interacting with the local supporters. 

Chandigarh, January 16
She walks with a limp and drags her leg with great effort. All of 15, she dropped out of school over a year back, following an accident. However, it was not just any accident that changed her life forever.

Allegedly raped by a boy from her own community and village in Panipat, she was pushed down the terrace by the accused. Fate had something else in store for her. She lived to tell her tale, but that was not enough evidence to bring the guilty to book. At least that is what this rape victim has come to believe after numerous rounds of the police station have failed to yield any result.

In the city along with two other rape victims from Haryana, all three supported by KD Singh Foundation, the victim says, “The accused’s sister-in-law called me to her place and served me tea in the boy’s presence. I began feeling dizzy. The accused took me to a room and raped me while his sister-in-law kept vigil. They dragged me upstairs and pushed me from the terrace. I do not recall anything after I fell down. My parents found me lying in the house.”

Accompanying her, her father recalls that they found her in an unconscious state on returning from the fields. “Nobody knew what had happened to her and she was losing and regaining consciousness. I took her to many hospitals and got her admitted for surgery in Rohtak, but brought her back after somebody advised me against it, saying she could die since she had become very weak,” he said.

Three months after the incident, the girl managed to confide in her parents, who approached the police, after which an FIR was registered. “The accused’s family called a panchayat, offered money in a compromise and tried to kill my daughter. The police gave the accused a clean chit in their inquiry, maintaining the accused and his family were not at home at the time of the incident. The Foundation paid for surgery and she began to stand up and move around,” the father said.

The development head of the foundation, Mousumi Kundu, maintained that after pressure, the police agreed on a reinvestigation, Panipat ASP BS Rana said the FIR had been cancelled after allegations by the family proved false. Kundu claimed that the police were not cooperating.

Jhajjar, January 16
Eighteen computer monitors were stolen from the Government Senior Secondary School at Chhuchhakvaas village in the district last night.

The incident came to the light in the morning when Pankesh, a teacher, found the lock the computer laboratory broken. She immediately informed school head Sunita Devi who called the police.

School staff found 18 computer monitors and 11 CFL bulbs missing from the laboratory. Though a watchman was present on the school campus, he failed to check the theft.

The police have registered a case of theft in this regard.

“Statement of the watchman is being recorded,” said the police.

Kaithal, January 16
The Guhla police have arrested a former sarpanch of Theh Newal village for illegally taking possession of 67 acres of the panchayat land.

Accused Om Singh’s three accomplices identified as Mohinder Singh, Sulakhan Singh and Satbir had already been arrested in the case. He was today produced in a court, which remanded him in police custody for a day.

A police spokesperson said on October 31 last year, Guhla Block Development and Panchayat Officer Suraj Bhan had lodged a complaint with the police that some residents of the village had allegedly taken possession of the panchayat land by forging documents. They had been cultivating the land after taking it on lease since long but they were denied lease of the land in 2001.

The then sarpanch, panch and others allegedly forged a decree and produced the same before the civil and revenue authorities and other officials and took possession of the land. Om Singh had remained the sarpanch during 1992-94, 2000-2005 and 2005 to 2010.

Sirsa, January 16
Five masked miscreants looted gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 4 lakh from a jeweller’s shop in Bhadra Bazar of Sirsa after injuring two workers last evening.

The injured workers Ganesh and Vishnu are under treatment at the local General Hospital here. The owner of the shop has claimed that the miscreants have taken away 150 gm of gold and 400 gm of silver.

Yamunanagar, January 16
A pregnant woman was killed and her husband injured when their motorcycle was hit by a truck on the National Highway 73-A near Buria Chungi in Jagadhri today.

Rinku of Bhilpura village said he and his wife Meena were on their way to Yamunanagar when their motorcycle was hit by a truck. They fell down and his wife was crushed under it.

Meena was rushed to the civil hospital here where she was declared brought dead.

The body was handed over to her kin after conducting a post-mortem. SHO Narinder Rana said a case had been registered against the driver of the truck.

Gurgaon, January 16
An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the police was today arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a 19-year-old girl at a guest house here today.

The victim, a nursing student, was staying in the guest house along with a 23-year-old boy. As the guest house was being renovated, they were given the only room available near the reception.

The police said ASI Sanjeev Kumar, who was posted in the Palam Vihar police station, went to the guest house in Sector-5 and started questioning them.

He asked the girl to have sexual relationship with him failing which he would take the couple to the police station. When the couple refused, he took them to the police station to instilx fear but sent them back after sometime. And soon he reached the guest house room and locked the boy in the bathroom and forced himself 
on the girl who raised the alarm. Staff of the guest house immediately informed the police.

The police found that couple had booked the room and even submitted proper identification proofs.

“We have lodged an FIR against ASI Sanjeev Kumar under Section 323, 354B, 376, 511 and 506 of IPC and under the SC/ST Act. We have suspended him with immediate effect and also marked a departmental inquiry,” said Vikas Dhankhar, DCP (West).