The Tribune...Chandigarh

C H A N D I G A R H

Monday, July 13, 1998

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today's calendar

Suspended DGP seeks Centre's help
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The seniormost IPS officer of Haryana, Mr Ramesh Sehgal, has sought the intervention of the Union Home Ministry to set aside his suspension by the state government...

Recognition eludes
GMCH
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The Chandigarh Administration's dream project, the ultra modern 500-bed Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 31, continues to face problems of permanent recognition while fresh appointments have been delayed...

Postal services stay paralysed

Petroleum dealers seek
uniform ST structure
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The Haryana Petroleum Dealers Association has urged the Union Finance Minister to intervene to bring a uniformity in the sales tax structure of the northern states...

Homage paid to astrologer Shrimali

CHANDIGARH CALLING

Recognition eludes GMCH
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The Chandigarh Administration's dream project, the ultra modern 500-bed Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 31, continues to face problems of permanent recognition while fresh appointments have been delayed.
Protests and representations by the GMCH authorities, present and past local MPs and the media highlighting the issue have made no inroads. The college continues to function on temporary recognition, thanks to a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and is short staffed as no new appointment have been made.
The issue of permanent recognition hangs fire from the day the college started. Appointments of 10 professors have been stalled following a directive by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Delhi. A welfare organisation of SC/STs moved the CAT. The appointments are now having a direct impact on the recognition of the college as these 10 professors to be selected by the UPSC are to replace the deputationists.
The issue of deputationists at the college gained importance as the Medical Council of India (MCI), that is supposed to recommend recognition, had objected to deputationists. The MCI obviously did not realise that Chandigarh has no separate cadre and deputationists from Punjab and Haryana are part of the employee structure. This was explained to the MCI through orders and notifications of Home Ministry and the 1966 act of Parliament that formulated the union territory.
Meanwhile, following the CAT directive the UPSC has stopped the results of interviews of the 10 professors. Now the GMCH, citing an April verdict of the constitution bench of the Supreme Court, has asked the Supreme Court to direct the UPSC to declare the results.
The Constitution Bench had decided that there could be no reservation for top posts of professors as they are usually single posts. The posts could not be clubbed together and a certain per cent be reserved as a professor from one speciality could not join in another speciality, the court had then observed.
Insiders opine that the "fight" for permanent recognition for the GMCH is now between the union health ministry and the MCI officials, who despite repeated visits and inspections have raised the issue of deputationists each time.
At a meeting between the ministry and MCI officials held last month, an additional secretary of the ministry categorically told the MCI that deputationists were very much part of the three forms of appointment permitted under the rules of the government, sources in Chandigarh said.
Both cases, one of permanent recognition and the other seeking the UPSC to declare the results, are listed to come up before the apex court next week. the smooth functioning of the hospital hinges on the speedy trial.
The Director-Principal of the college, Prof V.K. Kak, when contacted said the issue of recognition did not effect the academic excellence of the college, and at present the students were getting degrees from Panjab University, that are recognised.

Suspended DGP seeks Centre's help
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The seniormost IPS officer of Haryana, Mr Ramesh Sehgal, has sought the intervention of the Union Home Ministry to set aside his suspension by the state government.
In a letter written to the Union Home Secretary, Mr Sehgal, who was placed under suspension in 1996 following his alleged involvement in a corruption case, has alleged that the state government has registered two false cases against him because of the personal vendetta of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, against him.
Talking to newsmen here today, Mr Sehgal said he seemed to have incurred the wrath of the Chief Minister for deposing before the Cooper Commission of Inquiry which enquired into the infamous Riwasa incident as the then SSP of Bhiwani, the home district of Mr Bansi Lal, in 1977.
He paid ever since the HVP-BJP government came into power, the powers that be had been ordering inquiries against him on one pretext or the other. First the government asked the former Director-General of the Haryana Police, Mr K.K. Zutshi, to look into the police recruitment of 1995, though the Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed it on the grounds of faulty police rules. Moreover, the case is still pending in the Supreme Court. When Mr Zutshi could not find anything against him (Mr Sehgal), another inquiry was ordered against him for employing a person on daily wages. Mr Sehgal said the person was employed by a committee of officers headed by him. However, the inquiry was dropped at the intervention of the court.
Mr Sehgal said he was framed in an alleged corruption case with the help of two persons whose bone fides were highly questionable. One of them was a convict and undergoing sentence for murdering his wife. Another person, Mr S.P. Singh, who, he said, had many aliases, was a bail jumper and had been declared a proclaimed offender by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gurgaon, in a criminal case registered against him in 1989.
Interestingly, after Mr S.P. Singh helped the powers that be in framing him in a false case, Mr Sehgal said the state provided police security to him. He said it was ironical that the state police had been providing security to a person whom it was supposed to arrest.
Mr Sehgal said the Union Home Ministry specifically asked the Haryana Government in December, 1997, whether Mr S.P. Singh was a proclaimed offender and had a large number of court cases pending against him. However, the state government, even while having detailed information about the unlawful activities of him, deliberately chose to remain evasive on the subject "as vested political interests wanted to protect him because of their close proximity to him".
He said now Mr S.P. Singh was wanted by the CBI in a Rs 85-lakh bank fraud case registered under Sections 120 B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and under Sections 13(2) and 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
He said after the Union Home Ministry conveyed its refusal to grant sanction to prosecute him in the alleged corruption case, the state Chief Secretary again wrote a demi-official letter to the ministry after the political change at the Centre this year. However, the ministry again rejected the state government's plea to grant sanction to prosecute him. Subsequently, he was discharged from the case by the Special Judge, Ambala. Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ordered the state government to take the final decision on his suspension within four months.
However, to defeat the CAT order, Mr Sehgal said the state government was reportedly preparing another charge sheet against him in a parole case when he was heading the Prisons Department. The purpose to chargesheet him in another case, he said, was obvious — to keep him under suspension.
Mr Sehgal said he had exercised his discretion (provided in the parole rules) to extend the parole already given to Dheeraj Pahwa, a murder convict, because his mother was critically ill. He said later incidents fully justified the grounds on which he had extended his parole. Dheeraj's mother later died. The fact that he was acquitted of the murder charge by the High Court proved that he was not a hardened criminal whose stay outside jail posed any danger to society.
He also showed photo copies of several applications of convicts seeking parole on which the Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr Karan Singh Dalal, had made written recommendations to him (Mr Sehgal) as the then Director-General, Prisons.
Mr Sehgal wrote to the ministry that "now that the sinister design of the state authorities stands fully exposed and the court of Special Judge has also exonerated me, the Ministry of Home, as the cadre controlling authority, should kindly intervene for the sake of justice and order my reinstatement as one of the highly decorated officers of the coveted all-India service is being persecuted for upholding the Constitution of India and refusing to bend before illegal political pressures".

Petroleum dealers seek
uniform ST structure
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The Haryana Petroleum Dealers Association has urged the Union Finance Minister to intervene to bring a uniformity in the sales tax structure of the northern states.
The secretary of the association, Mr S.R Singla, in a letter to the Union Finance Minister reminded him that his predecessors, Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr P Chidambaram, had convened meetings of Finance Ministers of the northern states to discuss a uniform sales tax structure. It was decided that uniform sales tax rates on a number of commodities, including petroleum products, should be enforced in these states. The decision was to be implemented after the presentation of the Union Budget for 1998-99.
Mr Singla, who released copies of the letter to the press here today, said traders in general and petroleum dealers in particular in the surrounding states of the Union Territory of Chandigarh had been badly affected by a low rate of sales tax in the union territory.
He said while Chandigarh had only 4 per cent sales tax on petroleum products, it was as high as 10 to 12 per cent in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Similarly, on certain other items also Chandigarh had lowered the tax to hit the traders in Punjab and Haryana.
Mr Singla said the only effective remedy against such practices was the introduction of uniform sales tax rates and rationalising the tax structure in the northern states.

Homage paid to Dr Shrimali
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The Chandigarh branch of the All-India Sidhaashram Sadhak Parivaar today organised a condolence meeting to pay homage its founder, Dr Narayan Dutt Shrimali, a renowned astrologer and academician.
Dr Shrimali, who wrote over 300 books on religion, spiritualism, culture, naturecure, meditation, hypnotism and certain other topics, died on July 3 in Mumbai.
He installed a "Paard Shivalingam" weighing 21 kg at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1995 when the then President, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, released his two books, "Meditation" and "Kundalini Tantrum".
His followers will assemble at Jodhpur on July 15, to pay homage to Dr Shrimali.

Postal services stay paralysed
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 12 — The nationwide strike by postal employees entered its fourth day today.
Although it was a holiday on account of Sunday, work in the Railway Mail Service and MMS offices throughout Punjab and Chandigarh remained paralysed.
A spokesman of the All-India RMS and MMS Employees Union, Class-III, Punjab Circle, averred that the strike had been complete in the circle to refute the claims of the postal authorities as "hollow" that some postal services were being maintained in spite of the strike.

CHANDIGARH CALLING

THE engineering department of the Chandigarh Administration and the engineering wing of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation are facing an acute shortage of supervisory and senior members of staff.
After suspension of Mr K.K. Jerath in kickbacks case in November last year, the engineering department reverted a couple of other engineers involved in other cases of irregularities to their parent states of Punjab and Haryana. Besides, a number of other engineers are facing charges in the kickbacks case.
In the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, a Superintending Engineer (Roads and Horticulture), an executive engineer and a subdivisional engineer are also facing charges in the kickbacks case. As a result, the Superintending Engineer (Public Health) is holding additional charge of SE (PWD). Similarly, in the engineering department, Mr R.K. Jain, the senior most SE, continues to hold the charge of Chief Engineer. After Mr P.S. Chawla, SE (Electricity operations) went on leave, the senior most Executive Engineer, Mr V.P. Dhingra, is holding the additional charge as SE.
Even in Public Health Circle, Mr V.P. Arora is holding the current duty charge as SE.

Forgotten award
Was the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, serious when he announced the institution of Maharaja Ranjit Singh award at a function held at Amritsar soon after taking over as Chief Minister in February last year ?
Mr Badal had announced that an award of Rs 50,000 would be given to an official who would volunteer information regarding "misconduct and malpractices done by senior officers of any department." The State Government has so far not taken any decision to follow up the Chief Minister's announcement, it appears. The officials who want to volunteer information for the Government are at a loss about the procedure to be followed in this connection as disclosures about activities/involvement of senior officers in frauds/shady deals can have serious repercussions on the set-up.

One such official — an employee of the State Agriculture Directorate — had approached the Director on August 4,1997, to seek guidelines in this regard. As the official not get any guidelines for a week, he followed up his request with details of disclosures about his department to the Director. Since then he has given two reminders to the Director (On November 28 last year and January 8 this year) but he has so far received no reply.
Most of the disclosures made by the employee related to the sale of spurious fertiliser and bogus subsidy scandals indulged in by certain companies in connivance with some officials. Timely action on these disclosures could have saved crores of rupees.
Does no action by the departmental head also mean that the Punjab Government has lost its seriousness for checking corruption and has thus diluted its own declarations made before the elections which voted the SAD-BJP combine to power.

Scholarships
Guru Harkrishan Educational Society is well known for awarding scholarships to financially poor but bright students who seek admissions to vocational, managerial, technical, medical and educational institutions.
Mr A.S. Rawel, honorary secretary, says the society proposes to award scholarships worth Rs 4 lakh to over 300 students during the financial year 1998-99. Last year, the society disbursed scholarships worth Rs 3.80 lakh among 298 students. Students will be paid the total tuition fees during the year and in addition a minimum of 25 per cent of the tuition fees per month during the full course.
Students who have secured at least 60 per cent marks in the last examination and whose parental income does not exceed Rs 6000 per month are eligible for the scholarship.

"Dr Internet"
Internet — the worldwide computer network — has recently helped a local resident who was suffering from a rare disease. The patient reported at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, with a problem that creates abscess in the spinal cord due to TB — a very rare medical condition.
The GMCH doctors, led by a world famous neurosurgeon who works there, started searching the Internet. Though the surgical technique was known to the surgeon, who is in his late fifties, the post-operative medical care was unknown even to him.
Upon scanning the Internet, doctors found 12 cases of the disease throughout the world. The operation, the first of its kind in the GMCH, was done on Monday and was successful.
Through the Internet the doctors got to know how much of dosage was required of what drug and the quantity of chemotherapy. Had the Internet not been there doctors may have never found out about the finer points of the disease needed to save the patient.

Mind your head
Ever since the Punjab and Haryana High Court made helmets compulsory, the number of city women wearing helmets has suddenly gone up. A majority of them are, surprisingly, young girls.
Though the ruling of the court is yet to be enforced enquiries about the lightweight helmets — probably for use by women — have been coming in, said a shopkeeper in Sector 21.
A majority of the city girls who drive a moped or a ungeared scooter may not be able to wear the heavy full-face helmets that men wear. Hence the search for lightweight headgear.
Boys have an apprehension. The helmets will hide many pretty faces.

Vacant look
A PCS officer on deputation to the Municipal Corporation in the Union Territory of Chandigarh appears to have kept a government house in the new Indira Colony vacant for the past six months simply because he wanted a safe opportunity to allot the same out of town to a sweeper who worked at his house. The house was meant for allotment to a class IV employee. To create confusion in the allotment of the house to genuine person, the officer ordered an enquiry into a pending request for exchange of the house as the person already living in one of the houses had claimed that his house was leaking and he wanted the vacant house allotted to him in exchange. The surveyer who conducted the enquiry happened to report that the house of the person asking for exchange was really leaking. As the report was not liked by the officer, he again kept the house vacant so that it could be allotted to one of his favourities at an opportune time.

Tree plantation
The Children's Alliance for Protection of the Environment (CAPE), an outfit of the ESI whose six conservation programmes, including temple forestry in Chandigarh, were selected and filmed this year by the International Conservation Foundation, has now spread its wings in Mohali (SAS Nagar), Panchkula and Parwanoo. It has planted about 75 saplings such as Harshingar, Bel, Red flowered site Ashoka, Kadamba, Tulsi (three species), Bodh, Peepul and Neem to create awareness on ancient Indian practice of temple plantations and make the environment full of fragrance and enchanting.
Temple, gurdwara, church and mosque managements interested in planting any of these saplings in and around their premises may contact the ESI office, Karuna Sadan, Sector 11-B, Chandigarh 160011 (Phone 546832) during office hours.

Welcome "valvale"
Justice Surinder Singh, a retired Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has come up with "C hand Aur Valvale", his second book of Urdu poetry. The first one, "Khamosh Valvale", was freely distributed to the public, priced as "Aap Ki dua-e- Khair" (your good wishes). It appears that the author received the "price" asked for because the present one, which is again both in the Persian and Devanagari scripts, is also priced as "Aap Ki Nazar-e-Inayat".
"Chand Aur Valvale" has a unique feature: glimpses of good Urdu poetry of well-known poets of the region are included. It is a capsule evocation of life in its varied shades and emotional grandeur.
Justice Surinder Singh has earlier authored half a dozen books of short stories and poetry in English. Apart from short stories in English, he has to his credit numerous write-ups in the regular columns of The Tribune, one of these being "Citizen and the Law", which featured continuously in the Sunday Tribune for over six years.
The book was released by Dr Laxmi Narain Sharma of Panjab University, a well-known scholar of divinity in the presence of distinguished literary men.
The book is available to those who enjoy Urdu poetry from the residence of the former Judge, 68, Sector 9-A, Chandigarh, at reasonable timings.

Traffic blues
The Chandigarh Aministration and the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation have undertaken a number of projects to widen roads in view of the increased volume of vehicular traffic. At places even road dividers have been introduced to reduce the chances of road accidents.
Some of these road dividers are a source of inconvenience to those who frequent showrooms and offices on busy roads, including Madhya Marg and the road dividing Sectors 21 and 22 and 34 and 35.
Since vehicle owners avoid making long detours to reach showrooms and offices across the road, they try to park their vehicles on one side of the road and then walk across leaving their vehicles at unauthorised parking places.
For example, if one visits the Sector 35-B or C commercial area along the Sectors 34 and 35 dividing road, one finds hundreds of scooters, motor cycles and even cars parked along the road (see photo on top of the page by Manoj Mahajan). Only recently, the Municipal Corporation had undertaken widening of this road because of increased volume of traffic. But the additional or expanded portion of the road is eaten up by unauthorised parking of vehicles. At times, these unauthorised vehicles parked along the road become a cause of serious accidents besides being traffic hazards.
It would be ideal that if the administration or the Corporation provides adequate parking areas along all major and important roads in the city.