CHANDIGARH: The winter session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha will be held here from December 14, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told media persons here on Wednesday after presiding over a meeting of the State Cabinet.

Mr. Hooda said the tenure of the session would depend on the agenda. However, the legislators would get ample time to air their views, he added.

The Cabinet decided to move a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha urging the Central Government to amend Part-IV of the Punjab Re-Organisation Act, 1966, to pave way for the creation of a separate High Court for Haryana. Mr.Hooda reiterated that the interests of Haryana had suffered manifold due to a common High Court.

The State had never been able to get its proportionate representation on the Bench even as per the ratio of 60:40 between Punjab and Haryana. At present, there were only eight Judges from Haryana out of 29 Judges in position against the total sanctioned strength of 53 in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Similar was the case with the ineffective representation of Haryana in the Bar, he added.

It may be recalled that Haryana came into being on November 1, 1966 under section 3 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act,1966. Apparently, on account of certain unresolved territorial disputes between Punjab and Haryana, the Parliament enacted section 29 in Part-IV of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 whereby it established a common High Court for the States of Punjab, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh. Even after 39 years there continued to be a common High Court.

On the other hand States like Himachal, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Uttranchal had their own separate High Courts from their very inception, he asserted.

The Government decided to introduce a bill to repeal the amendment made in the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act,1994 by which the office of Gram Vikas Sahayak was created and they were to be paid honorarium of Rs. 3,000 per month. As the Government had decided to abolish the posts of Gram Vikas Sahayak, it had become necessary to repeal the amendment, Mr.Hooda said. The Cabinet also approved a draft policy for setting up of power projects based on Renewable Energy Sources to generate 500 MW of additional power. Mr.Hooda said the new policy aimed at creating conditions conducive for the involvement of private sector in power projects based on renewable energy sources such as biomass, co-generation power projects, small hydro power projects, wind and solar energy based power projects and energy power projects based on Urban, Municipal and Industrial wastes.

On the possibility of setting up of a nuclear power plant in Haryana, Mr.Hooda said he had written to the Prime Minister in this regard. A piece of land for setting up such a plant had been identified in Hisar district. When pointed out that the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, was "averse'' to have such a plant in his State, Mr. Hooda said that this could be Mr.Singh's opinion but he was in favour of generation of power through any possible source.

The Cabinet also approved the rules framed for implementation of Haryana Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005. Mr. Hooda announced that the third State Finance Commission would be constituted before December 15.

The Cabinet also approved devolution of funds worth Rs. 100 crores to Rural and Urban Local Bodies. It also approved the draft of the Haryana Special Economic Zone Bill, 2005, which has been formulated in accordance with the Central Government Act on Special Economic Zone, 2005. It was further decided to constitute a committee of officers to work out the details of its implementation.

Mr.Hooda said that the Union Government had, in principle, approved four SEZs in the State which included Haryana Technology Park, Faridabad, DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon, MGF Developers, Gurgaon and M/s Orient Crafts, Gurgaon.

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