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Wednesday,
May 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Haryana IAS officer’s deputation curtailed HIGH COURT FATEHABAD BYELECTIONS Brave cashier foils armed robbery bid
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Stories from Haryana towns falling in the National Capital Region are put in NCR Tribune.
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DEMOLITION OF PLATFORM Kids’ kidnapping creates panic Record-keeper’s statement recorded in Ruchika case Judicial remand in paper leak case Judicial custody
for scribe Meeting on freedom
fighters’ cases on May 22 Cheaper loans for Haryana staff Patients examined Improve jail conditions Youth shot dead
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Haryana IAS officer’s deputation curtailed Chandigarh, May 13 Mr Sharan had left Haryana for a central deputation in April, 2000, for five years. He was posted as Joint Secretary, Banking and Insurance, in the Union Government. However, a letter from the Union Ministry of Personnel and Training, received by Mr Sharan’s office yesterday, asked him to report to his original cadre state for further posting. Mr G.C. Chatruvedi, an IAS officer from UP, had been assigned the office held by Mr Sharan, the letter stated. While no reason was cited in the Union Ministry’s letter, the abrupt termination of Mr Sharan’s deputation about two years before scheduled was a pointer that it was not a routine decision. Mr Sharan’s name had figured prominently in a scam involving Rs 97 crore in the Haryana Financial Corporation (HFC) which was investigated by the State Vigilance Bureau (SVB), Haryana, last year. Cases under various sections of the IPC (406/420/467/468/ 471/120-B) and the Prevention of Corruption Act were registered against six HFC personnel by the bureau in connection with the scam while it recommended departmental action under rule 8 of the All India Services (Disciplines and Appeals) Rules, 1969, against Mr Sharan, who was the HFC Managing Director, when the irregularities took place. In fact, the anomalies in the HFC’s working capital loan scheme were first detected by the committee of public undertakings (COPU) of the state assembly, which recommended a vigilance probe into the
disappearance of a file from the Chief Secretary’s office. According to COPU, the file contained the HFC Board of Directors’ recommendation about initiating action against Mr Sharan for the irregularities. When the bureau swung into action last year in connection with the case, Mr Sharan was abroad on an official trip. On his return to Delhi also, he apparently faced no trouble on account of the case. An official said here it was possible that the central government suddenly woke up to the charge against Mr Sharan and decided to terminate his deputation following the arrest of his brother, Mr Anand Mohan Sharan (also a Haryana-cadre IAS officer ) by the CBI in Delhi recently in connection with the DDA scam. |
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Three Haryana
IAS officers shifted Chandigarh, May 13 Mr Sanjeev Kaushal, Director, Urban Development, has been transferred as Director and Special Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment and Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, vice Mr T.K. Sharma, who goes as Director, Urban Development. Mr Sant Kumar, Director and Joint Secretary, Food and Supplies Department, has been given additional charge of Haryana State Federation of Consumers’ Cooperative Wholesale Stores Limited during the leave period of Mr Ramendra
Jakhu. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, May 13 Issuing directions, a Division Bench of the high court, comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice N.K. Sud, ruled: “It is expected that the team would make its assessment and submit the report to the court through the investigating agency within two months”. The Judges also “called upon Haryana's Director General of Police and the Secretary of Mines and Geology Department to file affidavits regarding the efforts made by the authorities to take action against persons responsible for illegal mining operations in Anangpur village”. In their detailed order, the Judges observed: “In compliance with the earlier orders, the agency has submitted an investigation report. It was opened in the presence of counsel for the parties and the report has been perused. We have also heard the submissions of counsel for the agency Rajan Gupta and Investigating Officer Ajit Singh. The Officer states that he had contacted the Institute authorities for the evaluation of the loss caused on account of illegal mining in the village between 1989 and 2001, but due to some reason the authorities have not been able to make the assessment”. The Judges added: “In our opinion, an urgent action is required to be taken in the matter keeping in view the fact that the state exchequer has been put to loss of hundreds of crores due to illegal mining operation. Therefore, we deem it proper to request the Director to get in touch with the Dhanbad Institute head....” It may be recalled that the petitioner, journalist Subhash Sharma, had earlier sought directions for stopping illegal extraction of minerals by the respondents and also to take action against them. The case will now come up for further hearing on July 22. |
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Bar
commends CJ’s action Ambala,
May 13 At
an emergent meeting of the District Bar Association, it was
unanimously resolved to commend the action of the Chief Justice. “The
Bar Association further desires that the Chief Justice should weed out
corruption in a sustained manner,” a release said. |
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FATEHABAD BYELECTIONS Fatehabad, May 13 The ruling Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) takes the cake. Its star campaigner, Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, the MLA son of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, campaigns in a cream-coloured Toyota Lexus, equipped with a booster to increase the range of his mobile phone. His elder brother, Ajay Singh, the president of the youth wing of the INLD and MP from Bhiwani, who has visited the constituency for a day so far, also travelled in a Toyata Lexus. The President of the Haryana Congress and former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, uses a Mercedes. Another former Chief Minister and President of the Haryana Vikas Party(HVP), Mr Bansi Lal, prefers to travel in a Mistubishi Lancer, while his son, Mr Surender Singh, who is the Secretary-General of his party, uses a Toyota Qualis. The CPM leaders are not so fortunate. Its candidate, Mr Krishan Swaroop, has the engine of a Mahendra jeep and the body of a Tata Sumo. The Secretary of the CPM, Mr Inderjit Singh, uses an old Fiat, borrowed from a friend. With a large number of activists of various parties descending on Fatehabad, the town is facing an acute shortage of accommodation. There is only one small hotel, two marriage palaces and four
Dharamsala in the town. The room rent has gone up in all these places. The marriage palaces, which normally rent out their accommodation for marriages or other functions, too have started renting out the rooms to the campaigners. While the INLD has occupied Shobhraj Batra
dharamshala, the other three, Aggarwal Dharamshala, Aror Vansh Dharamshala and Shri Ram Sewa Samiti
Dharamshala, are reluctant to accommodate politicians. Moreover, those who stay in the marriage palaces and
dharamshalas, remain on their tenterhooks because they are told to vacate the premises by the managements whenever they have prior commitments for some marriage. The situation is more tough for the opposition leaders. Mr Abhey Singh is staying with a landlord friend. Mr Bhajan Lal and his security staff have got two rooms in the local PWD rest house, while the other two rooms have been kept reserved for the election observers. Mr Surender Singh wanted to hire a house here till the elections, but could not get one. He hired a house in Ratia, about 20 km from here. His father, Mr Bansi Lal, who has jumped into the campaigning from May 11, could not get any accommodation suited to his taste. He comes and goes back to his native town of Bhiwani every day. The problem is likely to become acute when a large number of Congressmen come to the town on May 15 to organise a rally to be addressed, among others, by Mr Nawal Kishore Sharma, AICC General-Secretary and in charge of the party affairs in Haryana. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, also plans to visit the place. He will be accompanied, among others, by 10 MLAs, including Mr Shadi Lal Batra, Mr Jai Prakash Barwala, Mr Dharamvir, Dr Raghbir Singh Kadian, Mr Sher Singh and Mr Jatinder Malik. |
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Brave cashier foils armed robbery bid Ambala, May 13 The robbers had struck at the Ghas Mandi cash counter at 1.05 pm. While one of the robbers had stood guard at the gate, the other stepped inside. A police official said that the robber demanded the day’s cash. There were three employees present in the cash counter at that moment. Two more employees, who man the complaint centre, were standing outside. When the robber demanded the money, cashier Ranjit Singh resisted the robber and he grappled with one of them. In the meantime, the other robber who was standing at the gate, fired at Ranjit Singh. The bullet hit Ranjit Singh in his stomach. At the time of filing the report, it was not known whether more than one shot had been fired since some persons claimed to have heard two shots. However, the second bullet mark was yet to be detected. On seeing their colleague being hit by a bullet, a hue and cry was raised by the employees. The robbers then sped away in a Maruti car. Investigations by the police has revealed that the robbers had tried to commit the armed robbery by coming in a stolen car. The car had been stolen last night from Sector 7, Urban Estate, Ambala city. Due to the challenge given by Ranjit Singh, the robbers failed to take away the cash. Ranjit Singh was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital. However, electricity employees were not happy with the attention paid to their colleague and he was then taken to a private hospital in Ambala city. He was operated upon at the private hospital. Senior police officials, including Superintendent of Police, Mr Hardeep Singh
Doon, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. The police was on high alert after the incident. Investigations are on to track down the culprits. The electricity employees are unhappy with the security provided to them. They said that it is unsafe for them, specially since they have to deal with large sums of money everyday. Mr Balbir Singh, senior vice president, Ambala unit of the UHVPN Union, said that they are going to help Ranjit Singh who showed exemplary courage. “Without caring for his own safety, Ranjit Singh took on the armed robbers and he foiled their attempt. We demand that the culprits must be caught at the earliest,” he said. In the Ambala city area the UHVPN cash counters are Panjokhra Sahib,
Balana, Baldev camp, Ghas Mandi and Chor Mastpur. |
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DEMOLITION OF PLATFORM Rewari, May 13 The immediate provocation is the demolition of a structure at the local Model Town chowk where a statue of the party’s former MLA, the late Rao Abhey Singh, was to be installed. The decision of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) was announced by its chief, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at a “panchayat” organised by supporters of Capt Ajay Singh here. The ‘panchayat’ was held to draw up an agitational programme against the government. Besides Mr Hooda and Capt Ajay Singh, those who attended the assembly included Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadyan, Mr Shadi Lal Batra and Mr Jai Prakash, all Congress MLAs, and Mr Jagjit Singh Sangwan, a National Congress Party MLA, from the state. As part of the programme, supporters of Capt Ajay Singh had earlier decided to submit a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Rewari. But the idea was dropped on the suggestions of Congress leaders, including Mr Hooda. The Congress leaders were against the idea of submitting the memorandum to the administration as it was the accused in the case. As per the amended strategy, the CLP would try to enlist the support of the MLAs of all the Opposition parties and meet the Governor, Babu Parmanand. Addressing the ‘panchayat’, Mr Hooda said it did not behove the INLD government to deny installation of a statue of Rao Abhey Singh. He said the state government was discriminating against South Haryana areas, especially on water issue. All the MLAs present on the occasion spoke in similar vein. The areas, including Rewari, Mahendergarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Jhajhar, are facing acute shortage of water. Later, in response to a question from mediapersons pertaining to the registration of a criminal case against the President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Bhajan Lal, Mr Hooda criticised the style of functioning of the state government. |
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Kids’ kidnapping creates panic Kurukshetra, May 13 Abhishek, 18-month-old son of Husan Lal, who disappeared on May 10, has yet to be traced. The village residents feared that like Amit (6), kidnapped for ransom on April 26 but found murdered four days later when Rs 3 lakh could not be delivered for want of communication, Abhishek could also have been kidnapped for ransom. Abhishek went missing from home when his father was away to Gurgaon but womenfolk were at home. No ransom call has, however, been
received by the family so far. Angry residents of Ajrana Kalan threatened blockade of the highway if the child was not found and restored to the family in two days. The Pehowa police said it had detained two women and a man for questioning and a police team had been sent to a Punjab city to trace the missing child.
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Record-keeper’s statement recorded in Ambala, May 13 Mr Sharma, in his statement said he was not in a position to tell about the documents which were sealed by the court without opening these. However, on verbal request from Rathore’s counsel Ajay Jain, the court ordered removal of the seal. Mr Sharma, after opening the seal, verified the document. On being asked about a typed document in English, Mr Sharma told the court that the same was attached with the challan with two lines written in hand. Earlier, Rathore had produced a certified copy of the document during inquiry wherein there were no additional hand written lines. Rathore had filed an application under Section 340 of the Cr PC, alleging that the complainant Mrs Madhu Prakash Anand in the Ruchika case and others had hatched a conspiracy against him and had added a few lines in documents attached with the challan. On Rathore’s demand, the court had started preliminary inquiry. He had also alleged that the complainant wanted to implicate him in a case of compelling Ruchika to commit suicide.
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Judicial remand in paper leak case Kurukshetra, May 13 After their arrest from Panipat, the accused were sent to the police custody for a day and on its expiry today, they were sent to jail. Sunil Lathwal and Mahesh, alias Malha, both students of IB College, Panipat, and Surender and Bijender, both watchmen of the college, were arrested for stealing question papers from the university’s examination centre located in the college. The police said that the accused sold the papers, which were found in circulation a day before the examination, not only in Kurukshetra and Panipat but also in far-off places like Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa. The accused were booked under Sections 420, 426 and 120-B of the IPC and the university authorities had cancelled five question papers of various subjects, which were
found leaked. Rajesh Malik, president of the student wing of the Haryana Vikas Party, alleged to be prime accused in the scandal, is still at large, the police said.
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Judicial custody
for scribe Kaithal, May 13 He was also booked in another case under Sections 420/384 and 506, for cheating, threatening and extortion on the basis of an affidavit filed by Nirmal of Sherda village who was present residing here. The complainant had alleged that Parma Nand had taken Rs 2 lakh from him in September 2000, promising to get him selected for the post of a constable in the Haryana Police. But he was neither selected nor the money was returned to him despite repeated requests. The police request today for a remand to recover the amount was accepted and he was granted police remand till May 16. Mr Goel, while being produced in the court, told mediapersons that he was apprehending danger to his life while in police custody. He said that he had been falsely implicated in both the cases. |
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Meeting on freedom
fighters’ cases on May 22 Sirsa, May 13 Mr Verma told that these cases had been pending due to Samman Samiti’s inaction in past few months but not these cases would be settled on priority. He informed that after resuming charge he had visited freedom fighters and their dependents in different parts of the state and found that the dearness allowance increased by the central government in August 2002, had not been received by these persons due to the apathy of the banks. Expressing anguish he
appealed to the bank managers and officers to release the same to these senior citizens who fought for country’s independence and now were on the evening of their life. |
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Cheaper loans for Haryana staff Chandigarh, May 13 Finance Minister Sampat Singh said here today that the rate of interest on house-building advances and vehicle, marriage and computer loans had been reduced to 8 per cent. The interest rate on cycle loans had been brought down to 7 per cent. An additional 1 per cent would be charged if a loan was obtained for the second time. |
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Patients examined Sirsa, May 13 Besides leading doctors from the city Dr Parveen Kumar Arora, Dr Seema Punia, Dr Vinod Sharma from Fatehabad, Dr Gulshan Mehta from Agroha Medical College and Dr Anju Bajaj rendered their services at the camp.
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Improve jail conditions Kaithal, May 13 A deputation of lawyers called on the visiting judge and apprised him of their problems — lack of proper place to sit forcing them to sit in verandahs and in the open. Construction of chambers for lawyers, work on which was stopped last year due to lack of approval was also discussed. Advocates also requested the judge for space for the District Consumer Forum in the judicial complex or the mini secretariat building. Mr Justice Datt directed Deputy Commissioner Anurag Agarwal to take immediate steps to resolve these matters. |
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Youth shot dead Yamunanagar, May 13 As he reached the rest house road around 6.30 a.m. three motorcylists overpowered him. They snatched his bag, containing money and shot at him. Passersby took him to a hospital. He succumbed to his injuries on the way. The police registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC.
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