Bhiwani :
A Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate’s (SDJM) court in Tosham town of the district awarded jail terms of three years and two years to the two accused — an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police and a woman — in a case of honey trapping a trader.

The convicts — ASI Shamsher, a resident of Siwani Bolan village in Hisar, and Krishna Devi, a resident of Siwani village in Bhiwani district — will serve three years imprisonment under Section 388 (extortion) and two-year jail under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC. They will have to serve both the terms as one sentence will commence after the end of the other, the court stated.

Complainant Dharambir Jain had approached the police on May 15, 2015 that he was being subjected to extortion by a woman and an ASI on the threat of implicating him in a case of harassment by the woman.

He stated that the woman had contacted him in December 2013 and lured him to accompany her to a room. The ASI, who was present in the room, demanded Rs 2 lakh, threatening to implicate him in the case.

The policeman and the woman continued to threaten him and took away about Rs 10.5 lakh on various occasions.

Convicting the policeman, SDJM Saurabh Gupta commented in the verdict that he misused his uniform to extort money from the complainant. “It’s a perfect case where who has been given the responsibility of maintaining law and order and to protect citizens has committed a crime by misusing the power vested in him. He has shaken the confidence of the citizens in the Police Department,” the court stated.

The court also rapped the woman stating that she had taken advantage of her womanhood and had trapped the complainant.

“Rather than seeking protection of law meant for women, she has tried to exploit the law in order to extort money from the complainant for one-and-a-half years. She deserves no leniency,” the court added.

Other cases 

The SHO of all-women police station Saroj Bala and her accomplices were booked under Sections 217, 218 (incorrect record or writing with intent to save a person from punishment), 389 (intimidation to commit extortion), 195 (fabricating evidence to procure conviction of offence punishable with imprisonment) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act on May 15 by the Hisar Vigilance Bureau.
Police inspector Paramjit Singh, posted as SHO in Ding police station of Sirsa district, was booked on charges of extortion of Rs 3 lakh by using a honey trap from an official of the Agriculture Department on July 6.

Woman sub-inspector Santosh Devi, posted at Hisar Sadar police station, was booked on corruption charges after a video went viral on social media which showed her demanding a bribe of Rs 1,200 from a shopkeeper to let him off in a case of rape in Hisar in May.
A woman had lodged a complaint against a person and then demanded Rs 9 lakh, promising to withdraw the case. While he was handing over the money to the honeytrap gang members, the police raided the spot and nabbed three persons of the gang from Rohtak on July 3.

New Delhi :
Putting all speculation to rest, Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala has said Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will be the party’s face for the 2019 Assembly elections, which he said would be held on schedule.

“Khattar’s clean image will be an invaluable asset for the BJP in the elections,” he told.

“No other Haryana Chief Minister in the past has earned as much respect as has Khattar. There has been no allegation of corruption against him. He has been honest and transparent in his working,” Barala added.

On the possibility of advancing the Assembly elections, due in October next year, to time it with the Lok Sabha elections in April-May next year, Barala said the elections would be held on time. He attributed the speculations in this regard to canards spread by BJP’s opponents.

“The Haryana BJP has completed 90 per cent of its organisational preparations ranging from the state to the booth level with regard to the Lok Sabha elections. Each of the party’s core group has been assigned at least one district to oversee the preparations,” the BJP leader said.

“A team consisting of at least five party workers has been formed with regard to about 17,000 polling booths in the state. Moreover, a social media team has been deployed at each booth,” Barala said.

On the achievements of the state government, Barala said the Khattar government’s thrust was on digitisation, e-governance, transparency and industrialisation. “The state had improved on the international parameter of ease of doing business. Major projects have almost been completed. One of them being KMP expressway.”

Taking a dig at opposition parties, he claimed that they were “leaderless”.

Chandigarh :
A woman sarpanch from Kanganpur village of Sirsa faces removal from her post as the preliminary inquiry into her middle class pass certificate has found it to be bogus. Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh has suspended her.

The district authorities will now order a regular inquiry and if the degree is actually proved bogus, she will lose her job as education qualification is part of the eligibility criteria for elected members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

Preetpal Singh, District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO), said that after complaints that the middle class certificate of Sukhjinder Kaur, woman sarpanch of Kanganpur village, was bogus, the DC had ordered inquiry by the then SDM Rahul Hooda.

The DC had called Kaur for providing her a personal hearing.
The DDPO said that during personal hearing, the woman sarpanch could not produce any evidence or documents that could prove that she had actually passed the middle-class examination.

After coming to power in October 2014, the BJP government had passed the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2015, to make educational qualification and toilet at homes mandatory for the contestants.

The amendment provided that a general category candidate has to be at least class X pass and a Scheduled Caste candidate has to be at least class VIII pass to contest panchayat elections in Haryana.

However, in the case of a woman candidate belonging to the SC category contesting election for the post of panch, the minimum qualification was class V pass.
Further, the Bill made it mandatory for all candidates to have functional toilets at their residence which is an extension of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

VCs blame it on central admission system, online forms

Kurukshetra :
At least 32 per cent seats in postgraduate non-science courses in Haryana’s seven universities are lying vacant. The Vice Chancellors blame it on the central admission system (CAS) and intend to oppose it in the next session. 

Of the total 4,692 seats in courses other than the science stream, 1,503 have not been filled, say sources.

Although most educationists pin the blame on the rise in the number of universities in Haryana and adjoining states, Kurukshetra University claims students from villages, who are only semi-literate in information technology, were unable to fill online forms correctly. 
“The prospectus carries all details about the forms. No scanned document is needed. Yet the students erred at various steps,” said an official. Prof KC Sharma, VC, KU, stressed that policymakers must not confuse the use of cellphones with IT literacy. “Most students relied on cyber café operators to fill forms, who were not much of a help.” 

The VC of Jind’s Ch Ranbir Singh University, Prof RB Solanki, said many students had erred while picking a university of choice. Whatever the reasons may be, the picture is dismal. At Ch Devi Lal University, 73 of the 100 MBA seats in the general category are vacant. MDU has 24 MBA seats vacant. In KU’s “business economics” course with 60 seats, 25 are vacant. The Institute of Mass Communication is short of 23 students. At Bhagat Phool Singh Women University, Sonepat, 29 of the 60 MCom seats are vacant. At Bhiwani university, 34 of the 55 seats in MA (Hindi) are vacant. 

UNIVERSITY    VACANT SEATS
Ch Devi Lal University, Sirsa    404 
Indira Gandhi University, Meerpur    287 
Ch Bansi Lal University, Bhiwani    258 
Bhagat Phool Singh Women University, Sonepat    179 
Ch Ranbir Singh University, Jind    157 
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak    114 
Kurukshetra University (KU)    104

Will also reduce litigation, govt told

Chandigarh :
In a judgment that can change the way selections are carried out, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed that the criteria should be made a part of advertisements for filling government vacancies.

Justice Sudhir Mittal asserted that the move would enable prospective candidates to be fully aware of the requirements and expectations from them.

“If this wholesome practice is adopted, the allegations that criteria have been tailor-made to select preferred candidates will be obviated. Again, the confidence of the public in the selection process will increase, resulting in greater public satisfaction,” Justice Mittal stated.

The ruling came 14 years after the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) issued advertisement for filling 142 posts of laboratory technician (general).

Deprecating the practice of delaying selections, Justice Mittal added that the case in hand showed that application forms of candidates got misplaced because the process was delayed for years together, resulting in heart-burn.

Referring to the case record, Justice Mittal noted that it indicated that criteria for selection were formulated by the HSSC on June 5, 2007, whereas the advertisement was first issued on August 30, 2004.

Justice Mittal stated that issues such as submission of incomplete application forms could have been easily avoided had the selection process been completed within a reasonable time.

“If selection process is completed expeditiously, it will instil great confidence in the public regarding the functioning of selection agencies,” Justice Mittal stated.

Advising the government to complete selections within a reasonable time frame, Justice Mittal added that it would also reduce litigation and, consequently, the burden on courts.
Dismissing the petitions filed by Akhil Sharma and other petitioners, Justice Mittal observed that the selection process was not completed for reasons best known to the HSSC and posts were re-advertised.

The number of posts to be filled was also increased to 152. The petitioners who had not applied earlier submitted their applications. The process was, however, kept pending for another year.

In September 2008, a corrigendum to the advertisement was issued, according to which essential qualifications for the post of laboratory technician (general) were amended.
The interviews were held in May 2009 and the result was declared in September 2010. The petitioners did not find their names in the list of successful candidates, resulting in the filing of petitions.

A committee was subsequently set up by the High Court to go into the allegations of the petitioners and the findings were in their favour. Dealing with the report in detail, Justice Mittal did not agree with the findings.