Posts Tagged ‘Chandigarh’
Written by admin on 09 May 2012
Chandigarh, May 9 (IANS) Punjab Agriculture Minister Tota Singh’s resignation was accepted by Governor Shivraj Patil Wednesday, four days after he was convicted and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment by a court in Mohali.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had Wednesday accepted and forwarded to the governor for immediate acceptance the resignation of the minister, who was convicted for misusing an official car and forging the log book.
Tota Singh was Saturday found guilty by a vigilance court in Mohali town, 10 km from here, in a case of misuse of official machinery. The court sentenced him to one year’s imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs.30,000. He was allowed bail by the same court immediately.
The minister was charged with misusing the official car of the Punjab School Education Board and forging the log book of the vehicle.
The chief minister had said Tuesday that Tota Singh had offered to resign Saturday after the court verdict but he had told him to wait.
An official release from the state government said Wednesday that Tota Singh had “stepped down as cabinet minister on moral grounds following his conviction by the Mohali court”.
The agriculture department will now be looked after by the chief minister himself till further orders.
The minister is likely to move the Punjab and Haryana high court against his conviction.
Tota Singh, who was education minister (1997-2002) in the Punjab government, was inducted as a cabinet minister in the Parkash Singh Badal government in March this year.
He had been booked and arrested by the Punjab vigilance department in June 2002 on charges of forgery and having disproportionate assets.
His name had figured in a scam regarding the recruitment of clerks in the education department.
He was booked and arrested in 2002 when the Congress government led by chief minister Amarinder Singh came to power in the state.
The conviction and sentencing of Tota Singh is the second embarrassment for the Badal government in the last five weeks.
Then cabinet minister Jagir Kaur was convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Patiala town March 30. Kaur was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment on counts of forcible extortion, wrongful confinement, abduction and criminal conspiracy in the mysterious death of her daughter, Harpreet Kaur, in April 2000.
However, she was absolved of the charges of murder of her daughter. Three others were also convicted by the court in the case.
She was forced to resign as Punjab’s minister for rural water supply and sanitation and defence services after her conviction and arrest.
Tags: Chandigarh, Punjab
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Written by admin on 09 May 2012
Chandigarh, May 9 (IANS) Directing its field staff to wear “decent” clothes to work, the women and child department (WCD) department in Haryana has asked them to desist from wearing jeans and T-shirts to work.
The controversial order has virtually termed jeans and T-shirts as ‘indecent’ clothing. Its subject line read: “To wear decent clothes in office.”
The circular, issued April 18, has been sent by the WCD director’s office to all its field offices which run the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS).
Advising the field staff, the directive describes “decent” clothing as “sari/salwar-kameez with dupatta” for women and “pant-shirt” for men.
The circular states: “It has been observed that some officers/officials come to office in jeans/T-shirts/Western dresses which sometimes not only look odd but are also in contravention of government rules.”
The staff, most of whom happen to be women, has been directed to comply with the fresh orders and any violation would be “viewed seriously”.
Social Welfare Minister Geeta Bhukkal defended the decision saying: “Maybe the problem is due to the usage of the word decent dress. Otherwise, there is a dress code for various professions. Judges, lawyers, doctors etc, everyone has to adhere to the prescribed dress code.”
“What the (WCD) order says is that the dress code is as per ICDS and ICPS norms since the staff have to go for field work. Even anganwadi workers have a dress code. Dress codes exist in government offices and even in private sector. If anyone is hurt by the order, we can review its wording.”
Bhukkal said: “Wearing jeans is not indecent. I can understand that the usage of words in the order was not proper.”
Incidentally, the social welfare minister, under whom the WCD functions, the secretary of the department and the WCD director are all women.
A woman ICDS employee in Ambala district said, “We do not understand the logic of this strange order. Most women and staff anyway wear Indian dresses to work. We don’t even know if we can protest against this order as most staff members are on contractual jobs.”
Tags: Chandigarh
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Written by admin on 09 May 2012
Chandigarh, May 9 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Wednesday accepted the resignation of state Agriculture Minister Tota Singh, who was convicted for misusing an official car and forging the log book.
Tota Singh was Saturday found guilty by a vigilance court in Mohali town, 10 km from here, in a case of misuse of official machinery. The court had sentenced him to one year’s imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs.30,000.
The minister was charged with misusing the official car of the Punjab School Education Board and forging the log book of the vehicle.
Badal has forwarded the resignation to Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil for immediate acceptance.
The chief minister had said Tuesday that Tota Singh had offered to resign Saturday after the court verdict but he had told him to wait.
The minister applied for bail in the vigilance court immediately after the verdict. He is likely to move the Punjab and Haryana high court against his conviction.
Tota Singh, who was education minister (1997-2002) in the Punjab government, was inducted as a cabinet minister in the Parkash Singh Badal government in March this year.
He had been booked and arrested by the Punjab vigilance department in June 2002 on charges of forgery and having disproportionate assets.
His name had figured in a scam regarding the recruitment of clerks in the education department.
He was booked and arrested in 2002 when the Congress government led by chief minister Amarinder Singh came to power in the state.
The conviction and sentencing of Tota Singh is the second embarrassment for the Badal government in the last five weeks.
Then cabinet minister Jagir Kaur was convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Patiala town March 30. Kaur was sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment on counts of forcible abortion, wrongful confinement, abduction and criminal conspiracy in the mysterious death of her daughter, Harpreet Kaur, in April 2000.
However, she was absolved of the charges of murder of her daughter. Three others were also convicted by the court in the case.
She was forced to resign as Punjab’s minister for rural water supply and sanitation and defence services after her conviction and arrest.
Tags: Chandigarh, Punjab
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Written by admin on 08 May 2012
Chandigarh, May 8 (IANS) Reeling under a mounting debt which has crossed Rs.77,585 crore, the Punjab government has sought a complete waiver of the outstanding small savings loan of Rs.22,202 crore, a state government spokesman said here Tuesday.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has sought the personal intervention of union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, wanting that either the outstanding small savings loan, as on March 31, 2012, be waived or a moratorium of repayment of principal and interest on the loan be granted for five years from the current fiscal.
Badal met Mukherjee in New Delhi Monday evening along with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
“They apprised the union finance minister that Punjab was a revenue surplus state till 1986-87. State finances were adversely affected during the long period of militancy and President’s rule. On the one hand, the state had to incur heavy expenditure on security and on the other, little effort was made to mobilize additional resources. Even the industry didn’t find the border state with a hostile neighbour an attractive destination for investment,” Badal pointed out to the central government in his representation.
“Besides the tax concessions to neighbouring states in 2000-01 rendered the manufacturing sector totally uncompetitive. Above all, the state had ruined its soil and water resources and was incurring having expenditure on power in order to ensure national food security,” he pointed out.
Badal said that the 13th Finance Commission had identified three states — West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala — which had revenue deficit in the financial year 2007-08 as “debt stressed”.
With a debt of Rs.77,585 crore as on March 31, 2012, the annual interest liability of Punjab was about Rs.6,500 crore.
Badal also sought the release of pending grants and financial claims made by Punjab.
Mukherjee assured that he would convene a meeting of the senior officers of the finance ministry soon to settle all the pending issues on the priority.
Tags: Chandigarh, Punjab
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Written by admin on 08 May 2012
Chandigarh, May 8 (IANS) The Punjab government Tuesday ordered suspension of a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and five revenue department officials in connection with a controversial land deal in Patiala town last year.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered the immediate suspension of IAS officer Vikas Garg and others “for committing grave irregularities in registering two sale deeds that were registered by joint sub-registrar, Patiala on Oct 14, 2011″, a spokesman of the chief minister’s office said here.
Garg, who is currently posted in Chandigarh, was the deputy commissioner of Patiala at that time.
The other suspended officials include the then district revenue officer, Rajbir Singh, Tehsildar A.S. Thind, Naib Tehsildar G.S. Walia, Kanungo Pritpal Singh and Patwari Suresh Kumar — all land revenue officials.
The controversy is related to two sale deeds of nearly 6,000 square yards of prime land in Patiala town, 80 km from here. Though the land was occupied by the office of civil surgeon and the education department, the revenue officials showed the land in the sale deeds in the name of a private individual.
The action came following the reports of the Patiala divisional commissioner and the revenue minister. The enquiry by the divisional commissioner had found that the deputy commissioner, exceeding his authority, had allowed registration of the land. The sale deed was registered by the naib tehsildar the same day.
“The chief minister also marked an inquiry of this matter to the vigilance department to be conducted by director general of police (vigilance) under his personal supervision,” the spokesman said.
The government has ordered departmental action against all the “delinquent” officials.
Tags: Chandigarh
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Written by admin on 07 May 2012
Chandigarh, May 7 (IANS) The Punjab government Monday ordered a probe against a jail official in Bathinda town after he was caught red-handed while selling drugs to inmates in the prison there.
Jails Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur Monday ordered an enquiry into the incident where jail warden Nachattar Singh of Bathinda Central Jail was caught selling drugs to the prisoners in connivance with a jail inmate.
The Punjab police have also registered a case under the Drugs (NDPS) Act against those involved in the illegal trade to supply drugs to jail inmates.
In a statement issued here Monday, the minister said that the state government was fully geared up to tackle the unfortunate situation of drug smuggling in the jails and was keeping a hawk’s eye on the activities of the jail authorities and inmates.
“Their activities would be constantly monitored,” Phillaur said.
He also said that officers from within the department found guilty of breaking norms would be dealt with firmly and strict administrative action would be initiated against them.
“The nexus between the drug peddlers and jail authorities would be broken on priority,” he added.
The jail warden was caught by the jail authorities Saturday after laying a trap. He and an inmate, Jarnail Singh, were found in possession of hundreds of habit-forming drug tablets which they were going to supply to inmates inside Bathinda jail.
The jail warden was arrested by the police.
Tags: Chandigarh
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