Hry Cabinet okays waiving surcharge on outstanding power bills of govt depts

The Haryana Cabinet today approved the power department's proposal to waive surcharge of over Rs 455 crore on outstanding electricity bills of government departments, urban local bodies and panchayats to help facilitate settling of these outstanding bills.
According to an official release, this is in keeping with the framework of the tripartite MoU signed by the state government with Haryana DISCOMs and the Government of India under UDAY Scheme.
The state cabinet met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
In the meeting, it was decided that surcharge amount on outstanding electricity dues of all government departments as on December 31, 2017 would be freezed after reconciliation provided these departments clear their outstanding principal amount by April 30.

This will be done after notification of the policy by the power department. The current electricity bill, along with surcharge, for the period January-2018 onwards will also be cleared, the release said.
The frozen surcharge would be waived on March 31, 2019 subject to regular payment of electricity bills, including surcharge if any, by the government departments, failing which this amount would be revived, the release said.

In another decision, the Cabinet approved the proposal of the Home Department to amend Rule 12.16 of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934 to introduce additional qualification (10 per cent weightage) and miscellaneous (10 per cent weightage) in case of direct recruitment of Constable and Sub Inspector and abolish interviews.

As per the amendment, all vacancies in the rank of Constable and 50 per cent of the total posts (both temporary and permanent) in the rank of Sub Inspector shall be filled up by direct recruitment through Haryana Staff Selection Commission.
With a view to further strengthen the process of checking of vehicles and curb the practice of carrying weight more than the permissible limits by goods vehicles, the Haryana Cabinet gave ex-post facto approval to increase the number of challaning officers.
The Cabinet also approved the policy for grant of licence for plotted commercial colony in commercial and residential zone in all development plans of the state except Gurugram Manesar Urban Complex.