IEP Chandigarh, December 16

A notification regarding merger of various departments will be issued within next 5 days. The Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal held a meeting with the Administrative Secretaries of various departments in this regard here today. He sought the rules related necessary information from the Administrative Secretaries, following which a draft of the notification will be prepared and sent to the Legal Adviser, the Chief Minister and the Governor for final approval.

It may be recalled that in the recently held cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal approved the merger of different departments having same nature of work and dissolution of 1 department to bring better coordination in the functioning and streamlining of work.

Sh. Kaushal clarified that as per the decision of the Cabinet, the Directorates, Utilities and Authorities will continue to function as before. Following the suggestions of the officers given in this meeting, the draft notification will be prepared by Friday evening. He directed the officers to precisely study the Haryana Business of Government (Allocation) Rules and made necessary amendments.

In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management and Consolidation, Sh. V. S Kundu, Additional Chief Secretary of Industries and Commerce, Sh. Anand Mohan Sharan, Additional Chief Secretary of Science and Technology, Sh. Ashok Khemka, Additional Chief Secretary, Forest and Wildlife, Sh. Vineet Garg, Principal Secretary of Higher Education, Sh. Vijayendra Kumar and other senior officers of the departments were present.

IEP Chandigarh, December 16

The Auto Appeal System (AAS) is playing a pivotal role in ensuring good governance. Currently, 640 services/schemes have been notified under the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014 which are ensuring benefits of the welfare schemes in a time-bound manner to the common public.

In this series, an appeal was automatically raised to the Commission on behalf of appellate Ms. Savita a resident of district Rohtak who had applied for Mukhya Mantri Kisan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor Jiwan Suraksha Yojna in December, 2021 but the benefit was not delivered to her stating the reason that some legal action is involved in the case.

The Commission taking immediate cognizance of the matter conducted a detailed inquiry and it was found that file was wrongly sent to Additional District Attorney by the Secretary, HSAMB, as no legal issue was involved in the case.

The said scheme was launched by the Haryana Chief Minister during the year 2013 with the aim to provide Financial Assistance to the Farmers/ Labourers who met with an accident during the Agricultural operations.

Under the scheme the extent of financial aid under different circumstances is in case of Death Rs. 5,00,000/-, Permanent disability due to breakage of back bone or otherwise Rs. 2,50,000/-, Amputation of two limbs/permanent serious injury Rs. 1,87,500/-, Permanent serious injury/amputation of one limb (amputation of four fingers shall be deemed as loss of Rs. 1,25,000/-, Amputation of full finger Rs. 75,000/-, Partial amputation of finger Rs. 37,500/-.

Auto Appeal System (AAS) files an automatic appeal to FGRA on behalf of the citizen when the RTS timeline of a notified service is breached. The appeal is subsequently forwarded to the SGRA when the same is not resolved within 30 working days.

Since no action was taken by the FGRA and SGRA on the appeal was raised to the Commission. The Commission conducted a detailed inquiry and it was found that the file was wrongly sent to Sh. Ashish Sharma, Additional District Attorney by the Secretary, HSAMB, as no legal issue was involved in the case. Sh. Gurdeep, clerk in the office of Secretary, HSAMB, Rohtak who kept the file pending with him for 2 and half months. A notice was issued to him and during the hearing he could not provide justifiable reasons for the delay caused by him. Thus exercising powers under Section 17 (1)(h) of the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014, the Commission imposed a penalty of Rs. 10,000 on Sh. Gurdeep Clerk.

IEP Chandigarh

Achieving the final and much awaited milestone of the ambitious 24×7 pan city water supply project, the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh on Friday signed the historic project agreement with the French Financial institution, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) with the support of the European Union at Punjab Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh. This agreement was signed by Anindita Mitra, Municipal Commissioner, Chandigarh and Bruno Bosle, Country Director for India of the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), in the presence of Banwarilal Purohit, Administrator Chandigarh and Governor, Punjab, HE Ugo Astuto, Ambassador of the European Union in India Sarbjit Kaur, Mayor, Chandigarh, and other dignitaries.

Adressing the gathering, the Governor said that though the 24×7 Water Supply System has been implemented in various cities in India, Chandigarh’s pan city project with Smart Water Metering for all the 1.77 lacs connections, is the first of its kind. Chandigarh’s deep rooted relationship with France is well known as the entire city was planned by the famous French architect, Le Corbusier. It was in 2016, that the then Ambassador of France and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Chandigarh and in the iconic rock garden of Chandigarh, it was decided that France shall support crucial infrastructure projects in Chandigarh.

Purohit appreciated the vision and commitment of the European partners for the project. AFD has accompanied the design of the programme and is funding the major part of the investment through a 412 crores soft loan. The European Union on the other hand is providing a 98 Crores grant through AFD to accompany the implementation of the investment.

He said that the project was the need of the hour as the entire water supply system of Chandigarh was an ageing one. Also, due to slow and steady rise in the population, criss-cross pipelines have come up across the city making it near impossible to isolate and detect leakages leading to low pressure on upper floors of the buildings. Typically, intermittent water supply results in higher per capita consumption of water due to storage. Not just that, it leads to contamination as well. The city witnesses much higher water consumption in the range of 227 lpcd as compared to the National norms of 150 lpcd majorly on account of Non Revenue Water in the range of 30-35 % leading to huge operation and maintenance cost.

One of the major components of this project, funded by the EU contribution is the technical assistance to the Municipal Corporation, which shall assist and provide operational tools to help switch from intermittent water supply to a continuous 24×7 water supply system, and provide dedicated information, education, and change-management support to end-users. The EU grant shall also support the Municipal Corporation with operational tools, and pro-poor investments related to the rehabilitation of stand-posts in the slum areas by converting them to multi-tap stand posts, connection of the used water with the Sewerage System, thereby, creating hygienic conditions and reducing the time for women to collect water.

           He congratulated the Mayor and councillors, the Commissioner and her team of officers for taking up these people centric steps in public interest and wished them all success in future endeavors. The Governor asked the concerned officers of Chandigarh Administration and Municipal Corporation Chandigarh to ensure that the project is implemented in the stipulated time frame.

           The Ambassador of European Union, H.E. Ugo Astuto, said that “The programme being launched today is a good example of the team Europe approach underpinning the EU Global Gateway strategy.  The European Union and Agence Française de Developpement are pooling their resources for an investment in urban infrastructure with the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh with the objective of improving sustainability and bringing positive change in the life of the citizens of Chandigarh”.

Bruno Bosle, the Country Director of AFD India while addressing the audience, said that, “the Chandigarh Pan-City 24X7 Water Supply Project is emblematic of the Indo-French Cooperation in India and is a flagship project for the AFD. The project is directly addressing the priorities of the Indian Govt. which aims to move towards universal coverage, 24X7 water supply, and Drink from tap initiative while being operationally efficient, and reduction of carbon footprints of the water utility. He also thanked European Union who agreed to partner with AFD, and provided one of the largest grant of 11.38MEUR in addition to the AFD contribution of 48MEUR towards this project. The contribution of EU grant is a key to the success of the project through the technical assistance, change management, operational tools, and rehabilitation work in low-income settlements.

IEP New Delhi, December 16,

2022 The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India has taken suo motu cognizance of the media reports that two masked men threw acid on a 17-year-old girl on her way to school in West Delhi on 14th December, 2022.  Reportedly, the victim was admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital ICU. The Commission has observed that the reported incident raises serious issues of human rights violations of the victim.  It is really very disturbing that despite several amendments in the criminal laws and the various measures taken by the authorities to ban the sale of acid or corrosive substances, other than the commercial or scientific purposes, it appears nothing much has changed on the ground as the attackers are easily procuring acids – be it through off-line or on-line.  This clearly demonstrates that there is a lack of a monitoring system within the administration for the sale of acid(s) of various natures.  Therefore, prima facie, it appears that there is culpable negligence on the part of the public servant for failing to regulate the sale of acid(s) within whose territorial jurisdiction the incident took place.  Accordingly, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Commissioner of Police, and the Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authorities calling for detailed specific reports within four weeks.   The Chief Secretary is expected to inform regarding the rehabilitation, counseling, compensation, free-of-cost treatment, including plastic surgery of the victim if any, and the other measures, which are necessary to be taken, as per direction of the Apex Court in Laxmi vs. Union of India [WP (Crl.) No. 129 of 2006 dated 11.02.2011].  The report must also contain the details of the sale of acid, in the instant case, through e-wallet, and the persons responsible for the sale of such banned substance in contravention of the law of the land.  The report should also specifically mention the compensation amount paid or to be paid as per the guidelines of the Victim Compensation Scheme. The Commissioner of Police has been asked to submit the details of the FIR in the matter.  It should mention the penal offenses invoked, the progress of the investigation, the larger conspiracy in the instant case, and the details of the accused persons arrested.  The report must also mention the preventive actions, initiated by Delhi Police, to inhibit such reoccurrence of acid attacks in Delhi.  The Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, Delhi, should mention the steps taken regarding the Victim Compensation Scheme and its publicity so that acid attack victim(s) in the National Capital may seek benefits under it.  The report must also contain the actual compensation paid in the instant case under the scheme of SLSA, Delhi in the case of an acid attack. The Commission has noted that the Apex Court in the matter of Parivartan Kendra vs. Union of India (WP.(C) No. 867of 2013 on 7th December, 2015),  specifically mandated that the States / Union Territories, where the rules to regulate the sale of acids and the other explosive substances are not operational until such rules are framed or made operational, the Chief Secretaries of the concerned States / Administrators of the Union Territories shall ensure, inter-alia, that the sale of acid is completely banned unless the seller maintains a log/register recording the sale of acid, which will contain the details of the person to whom acid(s)  is/are sold.  The specific reason and purpose of procuring acid are also to be specified; all stocks of acid must be declared by the seller to the concerned Sub Divisional Magistrate within 15 days; seller shall sell acid only when the buyer has shown photo identity issued by the Government, which contains the address of the person.   

IEP Chandigarh

The Administrator, U.T.  Chandigarh has approved the auction of planned SCO’s on freehold basis at the Second Grain, Fruit & Vegetable Market in Sector 39, Chandigarh under the Chandigarh Estate Rules.

The issue of shifting of present Grain, Fruit & Vegetable Market to Sector 39 has been pending since long. A land measuring 75 acres was earmarked for Second Grain, Fruit & Vegetable Market in Sector 39, Chandigarh.

With this approval, presently  92 SCO sites  for Fruits and Vegetable Market will be put to open auction as per terms and conditions of Chandigarh Estate Rules, 2007. Chandigarh by the Chandigarh State Agricultural Marketing Board.  FIrst preference would be given to the existing licensees of Sector-26 Mandi.

After allotment of shops in the new  Grain, Fruit & Vegetable Market, Sector 39, Chandigarh, the  de-notification of Sector 26 Mandi will be done in a phased manner.