New Delhi :

President Ram Nath Kovind appointed BJP leaders Ganeshi Lal and Kummanam Rajasekharan, both long associated with the RSS, as Governors of Odisha and Mizoram, respectively, as per an official statement.

Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik was having additional charge of Odisha since March 21 after Governor S.C. Jamir completed his tenure.

Lal, a BJP leader from Sirsa, Haryana, is currently Chairman of BJP’s Disciplinary Committee.

He was a minister in the HVP-BJP government under Chief Minister Bansi Lal from 1996-99. 

Rajasekharan would replace Lt. General Nirbhay Sharma (retd) as Governor of Mizoram after the latter completes his tenure on May 28, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in the statement.

Both Lal and BJP Kerala president Rajasekharan have been RSS activists.

While Odisha would be holding its next Assembly elections in early 2019, Mizoram would hold its elections later this December.

Ambala :
In view of parents submitting fake income certificates to secure admission of their wards in private schools under Rule 134-A (EWS quota), the tehsildar has issued a letter to all patwaris and kanungos of Ambala City to verify all income certificates.
The letter states: “The matter has come to the notice of the SDM that fake income certificates of maximum people are being prepared on the reports of patwaris. FIRs have also been registered in this connection. It has been observed that instead of verifying income sources of the applicant and his family, the patwaris verified on the basis of affidavit or report prepared by the MC or sarpanch.”

The patwaris have been directed to check whether the applicant owns a house or lives on rent. If he lives on rent, then how much amount he pays and in case of own house, how much rent amount does he get paid. Besides this, the patwaris have been asked to check the annual income of a family, telephone and electricity bills with their receipts, income certificate from the employer of the applicant, bank passbook, school fees receipts and copy of Income Tax return or Form J in case the applicant is a farmer.

The patwaris have been asked to verify the family income on their own and not on the basis of the report of the MC or sarpanch and send details to tehsildar’s office and adhere to the directions in the future.

Meanwhile, Kulbhushan Sharma, president of the Haryana Federation of Private Schools’ Association, said: “The SDM has directed the patwaris to be careful in future, but what about those who have prepared fake certificates this year. They should get their certificates checked. The federation has decided to approach the HC and seek action against the people and officials who have prepared wrong certificates.”

SDM Ambala City Satinder Siwatch told, “There were complaints that the patwaris were not cross-checking the claims and were relying on the reports of MCs and sarpanches, hence they have been directed to check the claims. In case the schools have some complaints they can approach the committee constituted to deal with such cases.”
Recently, several schools in Ambala claimed to have detected fake income certificates.
Have to check if applicant owns house 

The patwaris have been directed to check whether the applicant owns a house or lives on rent 

If he lives on rent, then how much amount he pays and in case of own house, how much rent amount does he get paid

The patwaris have been asked to check the annual income of a family, telephone and electricity bills with their receipts, income certificate from the employer of the applicant, bank passbook, school fees receipts and copy of Income Tax return or Form J in case the applicant is a farmer

Rohtak :
The appointment of the director of IIM-Rohtak has come under a cloud with reports indicating irregularities in his selection.

As per the reports, information received by an RTI activist associated with the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) has indicated that the person selected as the director may not have fulfilled the eligibility criteria.

Two Members of Parliament have written to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development to get the matter probed and take appropriate action.

On the other hand, IIM-Rohtak Director Prof Dheeraj Sharma maintained that he fulfilled the eligibility criteria for the post and had been appointed after following the due procedure.
He refused to comment any further.

Karnal :
Scores of disabled persons held a state-level protest march here, demanding pension on a par with DC’s rate, concessional bus and train passes for a person with 40 per cent disability, and BPL ration cards.

Their other demands are five per cent reservation in outsourced jobs, 100-sq-yard houses, and ramp and lift facilities at public places.

They were adamant on blocking National Highway 44, but the police stopped them near the Mini-Secretariat. They blocked a road there and raised slogans against the state government.

Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Narinder Malik and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rajiv Kumar tried to pacify the protesters, but they remained adamant. After the SDM assured them of a meeting with the OSD to the CM in Chandigarh on May 31, they lifted the blockade.

Charan Singh, state president, Viklang Kalyan Adhikar Samiti, said disabled persons had been staging a dharna in Karnal, the CM’s constituency, for 54 days, but no officer took note of it.

“Members of the samiti had met CM Manohar Lal Khattar on August 21 last year. He had assured the members of fulfilling some of the demands in 10 days and some in three months. To date, the demands have not been met,” he added.

Kurukshetra :
The police have booked seven persons for allegedly submitting false income certificates to secure admission for their wards under the EWS quota in a leading private school here.
Prateek Kumar, SHO, City police station, said the accused have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 181 (false statement on oath) and 200 (using as true such declaration knowing it to be false) of the IPC.

Kumar said the case was registered on Tuesday on the basis of a detailed preliminary investigation and a legal opinion from the Assistant District Attorney (ADA) of the Police Department.

It was allegedly found that the parents secured admission illegally for the seats reserved for underprivileged children, said the SHO.

According to Rule 134-A, parents with the income of less than Rs2 lakh per annum are eligible to get their wards admitted to private schools.

“The school management provided documentary evidence to buttress its claim. The Income Tax returns of the parents did not match with the income certificates submitted with the admission forms. We will soon arrest the accused,” said the SHO.
Statements of the accused would be obtained to examine who others were involved in obtaining and attesting the false documents, he added.

On May 1, city-based Wisdom World School had lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister, Education Minister and district authorities, claiming that at least seven cases of fake income certificates were detected. In all cases, it was found annual family income of applicants was more than Rs2 lakh.

The fraud came to light after the school administration started scrutinising the details of the I-T returns reportedly submitted by parents at the time of admission.
The income certificates were approved by the municipal authorities and acknowledged by the Education Department.

Meanwhile, District Education Officer (DEO) Namita Kaushik said a district grievances redressal panel would soon meet to decide the fate of admissions of “ineligible” students. However, manager of Wisdom World School Vinod Rawal said three out of seven students, whose admissions had been objected, had quit the school.

“We want a fair probe in the case and the guilty should be punished,” he said.