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Monday, Feb 14, 2005

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Haryana refers appointments to EC

By Rajesh Ahuja

CHANDIGARH, FEB.13. The "spat'' between the Haryana Chief Secretary, Sunil Ahuja, and

the interim Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, over the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct till the election process gets completed by March 5, took a curious turn after the State

Cabinet decided to serve a 48-hour ultimatum on the Election Commission of India to clarify whether the State Government could go ahead with making appointments.

Interestingly, a delegation of the Congress, headed by the Working President, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and outgoing MLA, Karan Singh Dalal, called on the State Governor, A.R. Kidwai, at the Raj Bhawan here this morning and urged him to "stay'' any "decisions'' taken by

the Cabinet to violate the Model Code of Conduct and to impose President's Rule in the State which went to the polls on February 3 to elect a new 90-member Assembly.

Even though the State Government did not issue the customary press note about the Cabinet meeting, the Finance Minister and senior Indian National Lok Dal leader, Sampat Singh, informally told newsmen afterwards that the persons selected by the State Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Commission had not been "appointed'' to their respective posts. While asserting that the State Government was fully empowered to make the appointments, he said that some persons had already joined the Government and it would not be possible to keep the remaining candidates from joining the service.

The State Government has asked the Election Commission to give its opinion within 48 hours, he added.

The Chief Secretary, who was virtually admonished by Mr. Chautala at the last Cabinet meeting held on Friday for "obeying'' the directions of the Election Commission of India regarding the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, was present at today's meeting. The INLD

supremo had also made it clear that the bureaucrats should issue the appointment letters at the earliest and he had directed his Principal Secretary, B.D. Dhalia, to initiate action against those officers who were not carrying out the writ of the powers that be. Mr. Ahuja had called on Dr. Kidwai yesterday and briefed him about the entire episode.

In a statement, the former Chief Minister and president of the Haryana unit of the Congress, Bhajan Lal, warned the Chautala Government that in case it went ahead with making appointments, the Congress on coming to power next month, would not only "scrap'' these but also review the entire gamut of appoinments made by it.

He also exhorted the officers to respect the Model Code of Conduct and abide by the "diktat'' of the Election Commission of India and not succumb to any political or other pressure.

Mr. Surjewala and Mr. Dalal alleged that the naked intimidation of the bureaucracy, surreptitious policy decisions including move to give 30 licenses to colonisers and violations of the Model Code of Code clearly indicated that there was a constitutional breakdown in the State.

They further charged that the INLD supremo was making a "mockery of the entire constitutional scheme" as he was aware that he and his party had lost complete mandate to rule in the polls.

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Haryana refers appointments to EC