Y.S. RANA CHANDIGARH, SEPT 5— The vexed issue of 7.19 per cent share of Himachal Pradesh in the assets of the Union Territory of Chandigarh has cropped up again. The issue has been included in the agenda for the next meeting of the Northern Zonal Council tentatively scheduled to be convened by the Union Home Minister later this month. The Council comprises the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh.
Confirming this, Mr Harish Negi, Deputy Secretary (GAD), HP Government, told this reporter from Shimla on Thursday that the state government had forwarded its case along with relevant documents to the Union Home Ministry. It figures in the agenda of the Council to be taken up at the next meeting. “The state government will put its claim before the Council strongly,” he said.
When contacted, an official of the UT Administration said that no such communique had been received from the Home Ministry. It may be recalled that Daily Post had raised the issue on November 7, 2012 which attracted the attention of the HP Government making it swing into action.
Even former chief minister Prof P.K. Dhumal had stated in the state Assembly that the state was being denied its due share under the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966. T.L. Sharma, Secretary, All India Himachal Social Bodies (Regd), New Delhi, who is pursuing the matter vigorously with the state government, said that he had received a letter from the deputy secretary (GAD), Shimla, last June to send him copies of the relevant letters dated 16.11.1967; October 5, 1978 and August 18, 1993 to strengthen the case. These were sent in July, he added.
He said that the UT Administration had issued a communique in August, 1993 to all Administrative Secretaries, heads of department, offices of the UT Administration vide which the word ‘Himachal’ had been replaced by ‘any other government.’ “The letter is mala fide and inspired by vested interests,” he said. G.C. Dhadwal, President, Himachal Yuvak Parishad, Chandigarh, said that the Administration had no powers to amend the Act. Only the Ministry of Home Affairs could do so by taking the three states into confidence.
It is also stated that at the time of reorganization of Punjab in 1966, the employees working in Chandigarh before 1.11.1966 were allocated to Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh after seeking their option. Employees of four departments—government press; earth and soil lab; capitol project and the engineering college—were kept in the category of “others” because there was no such department in any of the three states. It was decided that whomsoever Chandigarh would be transferred, this staff would be allocated to that state. But these employees claim themselves to be ‘UT employees.’