Chandigarh, November 3
The Haryana Government today abolished the post of District Transport Officer (DTO), sending shivers down the spine of the Transport Department. The post, which has virtually become synonymous with corruption, was sought after the most among Haryana Civil Service officers.

The post has been abolished following a personal initiative of the Transport Minister, Mr Randeep Surjewala, who felt that the misdoings of a few individuals were badly affecting the image of the entire department. Realising that a section of the bureaucracy has a vested interest in the post of DTO, Mr Surjewala himself took the file of the proposal to abolish this post to the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who readily agreed with his colleague. The bureaucracy was taken by surprise when Mr Surjewala announced the government’s decision here.

All powers and duties of the DTOs will now vest in the SDMs, who will have the powers of the Regional Transport Authority for the subdivision concerned. The State Transport Controller will have the powers of the State Transport Authority.

This is not the only decision taken by the state government to root out corruption from the Transport Department. Mr Surjewala said the traffic wing, which comprised one Superintendent of Police along with two DSPs, 14 Inspectors, seven SIs, 22 ASIs, 62 Head Constables, 82 constables, 68 driver constables and 84 other employees, had also been disbanded. The policemen had been sent back to their parent department.

Earlier, the Transport Department had sent back nearly 600 employees of the Excise and Taxation Department who had been taken on deputation by it during the INLD regime to collect passenger tax.

Mr Surjewala said this was done because the Transport Department was not a tax-collection agency but a regulating one.

The post of DTO has a chequered history. When Haryana came into existence in 1966, there were two Regional Transport Authorities (RTA). On December 1, 1987, three RTAs were appointed at Ambala. Hisar and Faridabad. On January 16, 1991, three more RTAs were created at Rohtak, Karnal and Rewari. Five years later, the powers of the RTAs were transferred to all SDMs, an experiment which is being repeated now. But after three years, 10 posts of RTA were created. Two year later, the post was renamed as DTO and 20 officers were appointed as such, one for each district. But there was no particular cadre whose members were appointed DTOs. Even Assistant District Attorneys, District Revenue Officers and police inspectors were appointed DTOs by the Chautala government.

Interestingly, whenever the Lok Dal was in power, the post of DTO thrived.

Karnal, November 3
Tension prevailed in Civil Hospital here today after the family of a student, who had allegedly committed suicide, clashed with the doctors on duty in the trauma centre. The family charged the doctors of not attending to the patient carefully.

Showing strong resentment against the influential family residing in the posh Model Town locality of the town, doctors on duty gave a written complaint to the police and also met the Deputy Commissioner.

The doctors threatened to go on strike against the manhandling of their colleague and finally the district administration had to intervene to control the situation.

The deceased, Sunmit Bedi, was studying in first semester in the Department of Law, Kurukshetra University, and allegedly consumed a heavy dose of sleeping pills here last night.

The parents of the deceased alleged that the doctors on duty did not treat their son properly.

Denying the charge, the hospital management alleged that the father of the deceased manhandled the medico on duty, Dr Sanjiv Khurana.

Principal Medical Officer (PMO), Dr S.K. Katyal, informed this correspondent that the matter would be looked into if the aggrieved family made any complaint to them.

Though the shocked Mr Balwinder Singh Bedi, father of the deceased, was not in a position to speak, family members claimed that he did not slap the doctor.

Meanwhile, talking to The Tribune, the family members alleged that the medical staff did not attend to the patient despite his “critical condition.” They alleged that the process of washing the stomach through medicines was not undertaken, a charge that was refuted by the PMO.

Levelling serious charges, the family of the deceased alleged that the doctors kept them in the dark about his condition and referred Sunmit to some other hospital when his condition started deteriorating early in the morning.

The family members further alleged that the doctors assured them at night that he was out of danger and he was administered glucose.

The PMO, Dr Katyal, said the best possible treatment was provided to the patient and termed the incident of misbehaviour as highly unfortunate. He also ruled out that the post mortem was delayed intentionally. 

Sampla, November 3
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced a slew of development schemes for the small but important town of Hasangarh Assembly segment in Rohtak district while addressing a rally here.

The rally named Hasangarh Vikas Rally was organised by the Haryana Congress. Mr Hooda said the town would soon have a municipal committee of its own to look after the basic needs of residents.

The Hasangarh constituency is represented by a BJP legislator but it falls in the Rohtak Lok Sabha segment represented by Mr Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda.

The Chief Minister said the government planned to spend Rs 16 crore for improving and providing power and sewerage facilities in Sampla.

The government had earmarked Rs 27 crore for augmenting irrigation facilities in the rural areas of the constituency.

Keeping in view the close proximity of the town to Delhi, Mr Hooda announced that a polytechnic would be established here at a cost of Rs 15 crore. He announced that the primary health centre would now function round the clock.

Mr Hooda also announced a grant of Rs 5 crore for the development of the Sir Chhotu Ram Memorial, which was set up here in a hurry towards the fag end of the Om Parkash Chautala regime.

The memorial has a single room museum housing some personal belongings of the Jat leader which were brought from Pakistan. Sir Chhotu Ram hailed from Garhi Sampla village near here.

Mr Hooda also announced that the new building blocks for the Government College for Women would be built in the next financial year.

The Chief Minister said the government had decided that it would waive off connection charges of Rs 500 for drinking water connections in the villages for one year. During this period, Dalit families seeking a connection would also be given a 200-litre plastic tank and a tap free of cost.

Jhajjar: Mr Hooda on Friday announced that the four-laning of National Highway No. 10 connecting Delhi to Hisar would start by the end of this year. The bids had been invited for this project, he added.

Chandigarh, November 3
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today clarified that the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and various civic bodies would not initiate any action against owners of commercial buildings, even if the buildings are located in residential areas, for allowing commercial activity from their premises.

Observing that its orders of September 15 and October 11, which had directed the HUDA and other authorities to take strict action, including cutting the power and water supply and sewerage to residential buildings where commercial activity was taking place, had been misconstrued by the officials, the court clarified that buildings which had received sanction as commercial buildings and where commercial activity was taking place did not come under the purview of its orders. Such properties would include those residential properties where conversion had been sanctioned.

However, the Bench headed by Mr Justice Viney Mittal reiterated that the government authorities, including HUDA, should continue to treat strictly all violations in the various bylaws relating to misuse of residential buildings.

Today's order would give a respite to thousands of owners of commercial buildings who had been told to stop all commercial activity from their buildings despite holding sanctions. The Bench also said conversion of residential buildings to commercial, wherever allowed under law, would be allowed after following the due procedure.

"However, before any such conversion is allowed, none of the residential premises can be used for commercial purposes, merely because an application for regularisation or conversion has been filed," the Bench ordered.

The Bench also said that all applications for conversion from residential to commercial must be decided expeditiously, preferably within three months.

Today, resuming the hearing in the matter, the Bench also came down heavily on the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and various civic bodies for not taking adequate steps to check the menace of commercial activity from residential premises. To this, the Advocate-General (AG), Haryana, Mr H.S. Hooda, and senior advocate Balram Gupta, who are members of the monitoring committee appointed by the High Court to oversee strict compliance of the bylaws, assured the court that the court orders would be implemented strictly.

Chandigarh, November 3
The Haryana Government has warned its senior officers against the indiscriminate use of Rule 7 to punish erring employees.

Number 7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1987, attracts major penalties such as removal from service, lowering of rank, stoppage of increments with cumulative effect, etc. The harsh punishments apparently prompt officers, when annoyed with a delinquent employee, to initiate proceedings against the employee under Rule 7 irrespective of the nature of the misconduct.

In a communication issued last week, the Chief Secretary told the senior officers that it had been noticed that delinquent officials were charge-sheeted under Rule 7 even for minor acts of omission and commission. Charge-sheeting an employee under Rule 7 entails completing an inquiry into the charges against the person by following the detailed procedure laid down for this purpose.

According to the Chief Secretary, for minor acts of omission and commission, charge-sheeting an employee under Rule 7 causes “unnecessary delay”.

The Chief Secretary wrote the tendency of officers to resort to the use of Rule 7 without examining the nature of the delinquency had been “viewed seriously” by the government.

He wrote that while deciding the issue of charge-sheeting a delinquent person, the competent authority should apply his mind and refrain from issuing a charge sheet under Rule 7 if he was of the view that the charges against the erring official were not serious enough to warrant action under this rule.

In such a case, the erring official could be issued a show-cause notice under Rule 8. “This would not only save time but government money also,” the missive sent by the Chief Secretary said. Action under Rule 8 primarily comprises the stoppage of increments without a cumulative effect. An inquiry need not be completed for initiating action under the rule.

Chandigarh, November 3
The Haryana Government has blacklisted Carrier Aircon and ordered officials to refrain from doing any business with the air-conditioner manufacturing major.

In an order issued last week, the Industries Department said the state government had decided to debar Carrier Aircon Ltd of Gurgaon from doing business with the Haryana Government for five years.

According to the official version, the company wanted to back out from its promise of supplying 97 air-conditioners to various establishments affiliated to the state government. The orders were placed in December, 2004, and February and March, 2005. The company was supposed to supply the ACs within 30 days from the date of issue of the supply orders.

Out of the 97 air-conditioners, 53 were ordered for the Haryana Tourism Corporation, 29 for the PGIMS, Rohtak, two for the PWD (B&R) and 13 for Industrial Training Institutes. In addition, it was also slated to give a two-tonne split AC for the office of the Director, Supplies and Disposals, free of cost as per the terms and conditions of the rate contract with the company.

However, the supply of the ACs was not completed by the company. To resolve the issue, representatives of the indenting departments and a representative of the company held a meeting here in June under the chairmanship of the Director, Supplies and Disposals. The firm sought time till July 17 to complete the supplies.

But later the firm raised other issues regarding pending payments of ACs already supplied by it to various government offices. It, however, failed to submit proper details of the orders against which the supplies had been made.

To give another opportunity to Carrier Aircon, a personal hearing was arranged for the supplier in the office of the Principal Secretary, Industries, on August 7. But no representative from the company turned up for the hearing.

From this, one could conclude that the firm had “nothing to say in this regard and is not serious about the issues”, the order issued by the Industries Department said.

In another order issued last week, the Industries Department withdrew the order debarring Bansal Asbestos Cement Product Private Ltd of Indore from doing business with the Haryana Government. The company was blacklisted for three years in July, 2004.

Ambala, November 3
Dreaded gangster Nishan Singh, who was wanted by the police for his involvement in several heinous crimes, has been arrested today.

The Inspector-General of Police, Ambala Range, Mr S.S. Deswal, said Nishan Singh was nabbed by the Ambala police from Patiala district in Punjab today. “There was a reward of Rs 1 lakh on Nishan Singh,” he said.

Mr Deswal said a special police team under the leadership of the Superintendent of Police, Ambala, Mr Amitabh Dhillon, had been formed to track down the gangster. The team succeeded in nabbing him. He had earlier served in the Army.

The police personnel had been on a lookout for Nishan Singh for quite sometime and modern surveillance gadgets were being used to track him down. A few months back, Nishan Singh alongwith his accomplice Harjinder Singh, alias Fauji, had managed to escape from Roorkee.

Mr Deswal said the police teams had carried out raids in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand, Punjab, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. “We succeeded in arresting from Patiala today,” he said.

Nishan Singh’s gang has been active in Ambala Cantt and Ambala City. A few days back, Nishan Singh had demanded a sum of Rs 10 lakh from a businessman and he had threatened him with dire consequences. A case was registered at the Mahesh Nagar police station on October 20, 2006. On August 10, 2005, he alongwith his gang members had shot dead Raj Kumar of Sarsehri village. While the police had managed to nab his gang members Sanju, Raju, Happy, Jassi and Amrik Singh, he had managed to escape then.

In March 2002, his gang had abducted advocate Akhil Kumar Gupta and Barjinder Singh. Nishan Singh had demanded a ransom for their release. On June 03, 2002, he and his gang members had looted tax-collection centre in Dhulkot at gun point. A case was registered at the Baldev Nagar police station in this regard.

Cases have also been registered against him in Jagadhari, Shahbad, Mahesh Nagar and Sohna in Punjab.