Kaithal :
Health Minister Anil Vij on Friday directed that an SDO in the Public Health Engineering Department be suspended, booked and arrested in connection with a complaint of corruption against him.

SDO Ved Pal, posted in Guhla in Kaithal district, repeatedly pleaded he be given a chance to explain, but the minister refused to give him a hearing.

If the complaint was proved false, the official could file a case, Vij said. He was presiding over a meeting of the monthly grievance redressal committee at the Mini-Secretariat here.

The complaint had been lodged by Digvijay Singh of Kakheri village, a contractor working with the department. The SDO claimed that the complaint was motivated.
The SDO, who was supported by Superintending Engineer AK Pahwa, wanted the complaint to be inquired into before registration of an FIR.

The official was reportedly pushed back by the security staff, but he stood up and tried to show some papers to the minister.

When he was told to sit down by the security staff, he likened Vij’s refusal to the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Following this, the minister reportedly told the security staff to show him the door.

Chandigarh :
Minister of State for Public Health Engineering (PHE) Banwari Lal has said that all citizen-related complaints received personally, through email, or telephonically will be registered on the portal of the Shikayat Nivaran Kendra (SNK). An SMS would also be sent to the complainant after successful registration of the complaint.

While stating this here, Banwari Lal said it had been decided that from now onwards, every citizen-related complaint received in the field offices would be registered on the SNK module.

He said the executive engineers concerned might set up complaint centres at strategic locations where citizens were generally visiting to register their service-related grievances. No manual complaint register would be maintained in future in offices, he added.

The minister said the SNK module was available on the website of the department.

Kurukshetra :
The Haryana College Teachers’ Association (HCTA) and the Haryana Government College Teachers’ Association (HGCTA) have announced to boycott evaluation of answer sheets of undergraduate classes.

They also protested earlier against the alleged unprecedented delay in declaration of results by the Kurukshetra University.

The university authorities claimed that the move would further impact declaration of results of various classes.

Narender Chahar, HGCTA president, charged the KU administration of promoting education mafia and adopting anti-teacher policies.

After a dharna at the KU campus, the teachers held a protest march on the campus.
Meanwhile, V-C Prof KC Sharma said the examination was part of the teachers’ duty and they could not refuse it.

He said the principals had assured him of time-bound checking of answer sheets.
“The KU administration is ready for a dialogue, but the associations are not cooperating in introducing and sustaining the education reforms. Early this year, digitisation enabled the KU in declaring results in time,” he said. He said as per the new policy, the teachers would undertake examination duty at their respective colleges to ensure optimum use of manpower.

Also, a centre supervisor would be appointed at each college for better monitoring of anti-copying mechanism, he said. He said the associations had on Friday submitted him a request to postpone the exams scheduled for May 22 as the college teachers’ associations had planned a protest in support of their demand of higher wages.

New Delhi : 
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking an independent probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sridevi in Dubai.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud dismissed the plea filed by one Sunil Singh who sought an independent investigation into the death of the actor.

The petitioner, Sunil Singh, told the top court that there were insurance policies in her name, which would be payable only if she died in the UAE.
Even senior counsel Vikas Singh raised questions on how could a 5.7 foot tall person drown in a 5.1 foot bathtub.

Vikas sought that all documents related to the 54-year-old actress' death -- medical and investigation -- carried out by the Dubai Police be brought to India. He requested that the matter be investigated by an independent agency.

Vikas told the court that the late actress had passed away under suspicious circumstances. 

Sunil Singh moved the apex court after the Delhi High Court had on March 9 refused to entertain his PIL to probe her death, saying authorities in India and Dubai had already looked into the incident. 

Sridevi, 54, died on February 24 in a Dubai hotel bathroom. The autopsy report called it an "accidental drowning" in the bathtub.

Kurukshetra :
A delegation of the case councils met Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki at the Raj Bhawan here on Thursday to seek the status of lok adalats for khaps.
Tekram Kandela, national convener of the Sarvjatiya Sarv Khap Panchayat, said a ban had also been sought on marriages within the same gotra.

Kandela said a delegation would soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act.
The delegation comprised Subhash Badsikiri of Dhull khap, master Chanderpal of Narwal khap and Vinod Shahpur of Kandela khap.

Any attempt by khap panchayats to end a marriage between consenting adults has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. However, Kandela said due to its wide social acceptance, khaps could play a vital role in resolving issues, including the division of property or land and petty disputes through a dialogue.

He said the Governor was apprised of various social initiatives, including women empowerment, drive against female foeticide and supporting inter-caste marriages, taken in the last decade.

“Marriages within the gotra of a sub-caste are considered inbreeding. We want an end to this practice. We have also sought a provision to prohibit marriages of young couple within the same and adjoining villages,” he added.

“Khap panchayats are a tradition in the rural areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, but these are misunderstood by various sections of society. Khaps neither issue diktats nor support harassment to anyone,” he said.