Under construction buildings being scrutinized for violation of norms

Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 1: Following the directions of the Division Bench of State High Court, Reasi district administration is going to seal over 90 commercial and residential structures in the holy town of Katra, which have come up during the past two years in blatant violation of Master Plan, Municipal Laws and Agrarian Reforms Act. Moreover, the administration will also identify the structures coming up in violation of these laws in the town and demolish them.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that most of the commercial structures, which come under the purview of the landmark judgment of the High Court, are owned by high profile businessmen. “These businessmen by making use of the political patronage and in collusion with the authorities of the Municipal Committee Katra, Katra Development Authority and Revenue Department officers obtained the permissions to raise the buildings in blatant violation of the laws”, sources added.
“The concerned authorities of the Municipal Committee, Development Authority and the Revenue Department, while extending undue favours to these businessmen, never thought that their illegal activity is ultimately leading to defacement of the holy town”, sources regretted. “The directions of the High Court assume much importance especially when the Katra town is virtually becoming jungle of concrete at the cost of its environment and serenity”, they added.
What to talk of Master Plan and Municipal Laws violations, several commercial structures even came up on the agriculture land in blatant violation of Agrarian Reforms Act thereby indicating that for monetary and other considerations the concerned authorities were encouraging the high-profile businessmen for raising illegal structures, sources said.
According to the sources, the district administration will divide Katra town in different zones and each zone headed by Executive Magistrate will ensure implementation of directions of the High Court vis-à-vis sealing of illegal commercial and residential structures, whose number has been worked out at 91 by the concerned agencies. “This is being done in order to ensure 100% compliance of the High Court directions within stipulated period of one month”, sources added.
They further informed that the owners of all these 91 structures will be served notice within next one or two day with the directions to voluntarily vacate the structures within next five days following which the administration would make use of police force to implement the directions of High Court. It is pertinent to mention here that High Court has already issued directions to the Director General of Police to make available all the assistance for implementing the directions.
Among the 91 commercial and residential structures, which will be sealed by the administration, 28 have come up in violation of Master Plan of Katra Development Authority, 27 in contravention of Municipal Laws and 36 in violation of Agrarian Reforms Act.
The owners of structures, which have come up in violation of Master Plan, include Jitender Bakshi, Karan (owner of hotel), Vijay Kumar (residential complex), Vinod Singh Wazir (owner of guest house), Bodh Raj (owner of shopping complex), Vijay Lakshmi (owner of commercial complex) and Rakesh Chander (owner of shops).
Those who have raised structures in violation of Agrarian Reforms Act are Naseem Akhter, Avatar Krishan, Sanjeev Kumar, Kanta Devi, Surinder Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Sham Lal, Baldev, Hans Raj, Karim Bakhsh, Baldev, Tara Chand, Bodh Raj, Om Prakash, Kamal Kishore, Naresh Kumar, Kuldeep Kumar, Ram Singh, Ankush Gupta, Puneet Kumar, Ashwani Kumar, Sushma Kumari, Abdul Karim Wani, Raj Paul Singh, Sunil Jain, Kuldeep Kumar Kohli, Chander Jain, Vinod Kumar Jain and Bodh Raj.
The violators of Municipal Laws are Tourism Department, Prem Nath (owner of guest house and shops), Sat Pal (owner of Guest House), Kaku Ram (owner of residential building), Vikas Sharma (owner of residential building), P P Sharma (owner of shops), Lucky (owner of residential building), Anil Sharma (owner of shops), Madan Padha (owner of Guest House), Subash Bhushan (owner of shop), Tilak Raj (owner of Guest House), Pankaj Sharma (owner of Guest House), Som Raj (owner of residential building), Shrine Board buildings near Viveka Nand Stadium and Niharika Complex, Deepak Kumar (owner of commercial and residential building), Ashok Vaid (owner of commercial and residential building), Vimal Kumar Dubey (owner of commercial and residential building), Narinder Singh (owner of commercial building), Rano Devi (owner of residential building), Rattan Singh and Rohit Kumar (owners of commercial buildings), Sham Sunder Kesar (owner of Guest House and Shops), Om Parkash (owner of commercial building), Sunita Devi and Roshan Lal (owners of commercial buildings) and Mela Ram (owner of residential building).

Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 1: As the Government of India’s ‘Udaan’ initiative for J&K youth is facing a peculiar hitch of drop out cases by the selected candidates for training and placement, the implementing  agency National Skill Development Council (NSDC) is mulling to strict participation of successful applicants in more than one selection drive under the Programme.
To diminish the number of candidates who either do not join the training programme or drop out during the training, the NSDC is considering to restrict participation of the candidates who have been selected by one corporate, informed Dilip Chenoy, CEO and Managing Director of NSDC during an interaction with the Excelsior.
The drop-out candidates not only block the selection of other participants but also give a wrong impression among the Corporate Houses, which have entered into an MoU with the NSDC for imparting skills and consequent employment of J&K youth under Udaan, he explained.
“The NSDC discussed this issue during its recent review meeting at New Delhi and actively considered the proposal for making participation in Udaan on lines of campus placement under which a candidates having already got selected by one company, is not allowed to participate in the drive by other companies,” Mr Chenoy said.
Pertinent to mention that Udaan is a J&K specific initiative of Government of India to skill and employ 59 thousand youth of the State in key high growth private sectors over five years. NSDC is the implementing agency of Udaan, which targets Graduates, Post-Graduates and 3-year Diploma Engineers of J&K to provide them exposure to the best   of corporate India.
However, this unique initiative is facing a challenge as some selected youth are either not joining the job training or quitting the training midway for different reasons.
A general tendency of feeling home sick among the J&K youth who are least interested to go outside the State for placement,  is believed to be the major reason behind  the situation.
There are instances when the selected candidates did not join the training programme despite hundred percent guarantee of handsome job with attractive salary packages.
In the case of Canara Bank, which distributed Training-cum-Placement letters among the selected youth through Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during a function here yesterday, 50 out of 300 selected candidates are learnt to have refused to join the training for the reasons best known to them notwithstanding Rs 5.79 lakh salary package per annum  after only three month training.
These 50 candidates not only refused an attractive job but also deprived 50 other unemployed youth from getting placed, said Mr Chenoy.
Similarly 48 out of 314 selected candidates by IISD, did not join the training while in the case of Iyogi, 44 out of 147 selected candidates, dropped-out.  Among the total 2685 candidates, selected by 31 private corporates and PSUs, 215 dropped out while 70 opted out of placement despite completing the training. Total 778 selected candidates have so far completed training and 1692 are still under training.
According to Mr Chenoy, selection of bright candidates by more than one corporate is also a major reason behind increasing number of drop-outs as they keep shifting to more attractive offers. However, this practices ultimately results  into loss of jobs created for J&K youth under Udaan as the Corporate Houses do not conduct fresh drive for filling up the quota reserved for J&K youth, he explained.
Even Chief Minister Omar Abdullah yesterday expressed his concern over the instances of drop-out under Udaan and asked such candidates not to participate in the process so that prospects of other unemployed youth may not harm.
To check this practice, the proposal  to restrict participation of short listed  candidates in selection by  other Corporates under Udaan  is under active consideration of the NSDC and the same is likely to be implemented before a major drive by more than 40 Corporate Houses in J&K very soon, Mr Chenoy said adding in a lighter vein that there was no pill for home sick feeling.
He further informed  that the NSDC was  also going to provide monetary rewards for successful completion of approved training programme to encourage skill development for youth.

NEW DELHI, Jan 1: The much-awaited Lokpal Bill today got the assent from President Pranab Mukherjee, providing for creation of an anti-graft watchdog which will bring under its purview even the Prime Minister with certain safeguards.
The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 17 and by the Lok Sabha the next day.
The Lok Sabha secretariat had yesterday sent to the Law Ministry a copy of the Bill which has been signed by Speaker Meira Kumar. The Bill was then forwarded to the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the President’s assent, official sources said.
The President has signed the Lokpal Bill, the sources said.
The Bill takes the shape of the Act after the signing by the President and following certain procedures.
After the assent by the President, Secretary Legislative Department in the Law Ministry will sign it and send it for publication in the official gazettee.
The Bill aims to set up institution of Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in States by law enacted by respective legislatures within one year of coming into force of the Act.
The Bill was first passed by the Lok Sabha at the fag end of the winter session of 2011, but not by the Rajya Sabha, where it was debated but the house was adjourned before voting on it.
Later, a select committee of the Rajya Sabha had suggested changes in the Bill, most of which which were incorporated and approved by the Union Cabinet. Following the amendments, the Rajya Sabha had passed the Bill.
The Lokpal had become a bone of contention among ruling Congress, Opposition BJP and civil societies with each one of them wanting to make changes in it to make it more effective. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 1: The price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG), which customers buy after consuming their quota of subsidised cylinders, was hiked by a steep Rs 220 per bottle today on firming international rates.
The 14.2-kg cooking gas cylinder that consumers buy beyond their entitled nine bottles at subsidised rates, will now cost Rs 1,241, up from Rs 1,021 in Delhi, State-owned fuel retailers said.
This is the third increase in non-subsidised LPG rates in the past month. The price was hiked by Rs 63 a cylinder to Rs 1,017.50 on December 1. It was increased by a further Rs 3.50 to Rs 1,021 on December 11, when the Government raised the commission for LPG dealers and distributors.
The Government had in September 2012 capped the supply of subsidised domestic LPG cylinders to six per household in a year. The quota was raised to nine bottles per household in a year in January 2013.
Any requirement above this limit has to be purchased at market rates. There is no restriction on the number of non-subsidised cylinders that a consumer can buy.
State-owned oil companies revise rates of non-subsidised LPG on the 1st of every month, based on the average imported cost and rupee-US dollar rate during the previous month.
A subsidised, 14.2-kg cylinder of LPG costs Rs 414 in Delhi. Officials said State-owned oil firms currently lose Rs 762.70 per cylinder on the sale of subsidised LPG.
Non-subsidised LPG rates in Mumbai have been increased to Rs 1,264.50 per cylinder from Rs 1,038.
International LPG rates have firmed up due to increased winter heating demand, they said. (PTI)

LEH/NEW DELHI, Jan 1:  Chinese troops, who detained three Indian nationals and later released them in Chumar sector of South Ladakh, had taken from them Rs 300 as ‘feeding charges’ for each of the three horses they were on.
The incident occured in the first week of last month when the three men went near the Line of Actual Control(LAC) after 43 horses they were tending had strayed into the Chinese territory. Only five horses had returned on their own.
The three — Tundup Durjay, Paldan Dorjay and Mawang Hamgyal — were apprehended by China’s People’s Liberation Army(PLA) on December four and taken to their camp. They were handed over to the Indian Army after the flag meeting on December 12.
The three, at present in custody of Jammu and Kashmir Police, said they were looking for the 38 horses which had been captured by the PLA.
They told the police that Chinese PLA had charged them Rs 300 per horse as ‘feeding charges’ for the three horses on which they had gone in the hunt for other animals, official sources said today.
The three were kept in custody as a precautionary measure and would be released after completion of legal formalities and complete debriefing. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Jan 1: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will face a crucial vote of confidence tomorrow in the Delhi Assembly which he may sail through with the backing of the Congress MLAs, notwithstanding reports of uncertainty surrounding the minority Government.
The Delhi Assembly today completed the formality of oath taking by the members including the Chief Minister and other Ministers with senior Congress member Matin Ahmed functioning as pro-tem Speaker.
Ahead of tomorrow’s vote, the Congress made it clear that it will continue its support to the AAP Government and there was no question of reviewing the decision.
“We had decided to support the AAP Government from outside and we are not reviewing it. We stand by our decision. There is no threat to the Government from our side,” Delhi Pradesh Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said.
He termed as “misplaced” Kejriwal’s apprehension yesterday that his Government has only 48 hours to deliver on the promises. “We only have 48 hours to deliver,” the Chief Minister had said.
AAP has 28 MLAs and needs at least eight MLAs to achieve the required majority of 36 in a House of 70.
While the Congress has eight MLAs, the BJP and its ally SAD have a total of 32 MLAs. The JD(U) which has offered support of its lone MLA to the Government and an Independent account for the remaining two members.
The oath taking was not without controversy with members from Congress and BJP objecting to Kejriwal leaving the House shortly after taking the oath.
In keeping with his unconventional style and not observing the political niceties of sitting through the proceedings when other members were taking oath, the Chief Minister took the oath first, went to the Speaker’s podium and came back to his seat after greeting BJP leader Harsh Vardhan.
He left the House within a couple of minutes which the members later criticised for not showing “courtesies”. Earlier, he had come a little late to the House after the proceedings started.
After the confidence vote tomorrow, the ruling AAP will find a tougher task when the House would elect a new speaker and deputy speaker.
While the AAP has chosen M S Dhir as its candidate for the speaker’s post, the BJP appears all set to field its candidate. The party had already refused the pro-tem speaker’s post when Lt Governor had appointed its nominee Jagdish Mukhi.
Lot of enthusiasm was witnessed among the AAP MLAs, all of them first-timers. However, there was no bonhomie among AAP and MLAs from other parties.
Some of the Congress MLAs said the AAP legislators violated the decorum of the House by wearing their trademark Gandhi caps proclaiming “I am an aam aadmi”.
“Wearing caps is not allowed inside the House. They do not have any regard for decorum of the house. One AAP member was even talking on phone when the proceedings were on,” said a Congress MLA.
Almost all the AAP MLAs including a number of Ministers had come to the House wearing Gandhi caps.
Majority of AAP MLAs came to the Assembly riding on Metro along with their supporters while one legislator arrived in a battery-operated rickshaw.
Rajesh Garg, AAP MLA from Rohini constituency, said he travelled 16 km on the rickshaw to reach the Assembly. The rickshaw was covered with AAP poster and fitted with brooms – the party’s election symbol.
Garg, who was in Congress until recently, said his supporters in Rohini had gifted him the vehicle and he has been using for the last couple of months.
“People of my constituency have given me the rickshaw. I do not have even a scooter,” said Garg.
Today, 67 MLAs took oath. The pro-tem speaker need not have to take oath while one MLA each from Congress and AAP was absent.
Kirari MLA Anil Jha took oath in Maithali while BJP legislators Nand Kishore Garg and Naresh Gaud took oath in Sanskrit.
Congress’ Harun Yusuf, Asif Mohammad Khan and Hassan Ahmed took oath in Urdu while Lovely took oath in English. First time BJP MLA R P Singh took the oath in Punjabi.
When Kejriwal was taking oath, some AAP MLAs were seen clapping which was opposed by a senior BJP MLA. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 1: High Court today directed the Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) to allot free seat in the Government Dental College Jammu in the BDS course to Sunandani Sharma in place of Eshmeet Sudan during the current academic session.
After hearing Advocate Abhinav Sharma appearing for the petitioner, Justice Thakur observed, ” the petitioner is also entitled to receive compensation of Rs 2,00,000 on account of the fact that she was denied an opportunity to undergo the BDS course and obtain a degree in time, which got delayed by at least a period of two years”, adding “the petitioner is also entitled to Rs 10,000 on account of litigation expenses.  This compensation would also take care of her mental agony and harassment suffered at the hands of BOPEE because of whom the course of destiny of the petitioner was sought to be changed”.
“The petitioner was not at fault and the fault had been admitted by the selection authority, the BOPEE, leading to the issuance of the corrigendum dated 5th of October, 2012 and keeping in view the fact that immediately after noticing the fact that she had been ignored and Eshmeet Sudan has been granted the benefit of free seat, the petitioner made representations and subsequently filed the petition before this court to seek legal remedies”, High Court said.
Stating that the case of the petitioner falls within the parameters set out by the Apex Court in moulding the relief in favour of the petitioner Sunandani Sharma notwithstanding the expiry of the cut-off date of 30th of September 2012, Justice Thakur held her entitled to admission in the free seat in the Government Dental College, Jammu in the BDS course in place of Eshmeet Sudan in the current academic session.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 1: The Government today reiterated the instructions issued to all Deputy Commissioner and District Superintendents of Police (SPs) not to leave their headquarters without prior permission of the designated authority.
The Government had to issue the fresh advisory to the DCs and the SSPs within four and a half months, which indicated that the district officials were not following its previous order.
An official order issued today by the General Administration Department (GAD) vide Circular No. 1-GAD of 2014 also directed the Divisional Commissioners and the Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) of respective divisions/zones not to leave their Headquarters without permission of the Chief Secretary.
The Circular reiterated its directive to DCs and SSPs of the districts not to leave the Headquarters without prior permission of the designated authority. The previous such Circular No. 17-GAD of 2013 was issued on August 20, 2013.