Haryana all for 6th Pay Commission recommendations : Monday, March 24, 2008 19:30 [IST]

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said that the State government would implement the report of the sixth Pay Commission "by and large" as per its recommendations, but made it clear that at the moment there was no proposal to raise the retirement age of the employees of the State government. Talking to reporters in the press lobby of the state assembly here this afternoon Hooda said that the state government has already provided Rs 1500 Crore in the budget of the State for the year 2008-09 for implementation of the report of the sixth Pay Commission. Hooda reiterated that the state was for having its own High Court here by bifurcating the existing Punjab and Haryana High Court between the two states on 60:40 basis as had been done in respect of other issues, including Secretariat and the state assembly after the reorganization of Punjab. On the reported statement of Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj that Haryana could get its High Court after getting its own capital, Hooda said that Chandigarh is the capital of the state. He would further pursue the issue of separate High Court for Haryana, Hooda said.
He supported the recent passage of a resolution unanimously by the Punjab Assembly urging the centre to rename the International Airport coming up here as the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport.
In reply to a question on the problem of drinking water in Gurgaon city following a recent breach in a canal, he said that the normal water supply would be restored in a couple of days as the task of plugging the breach was expected to be completed today. On by-election to Gohana and Indri assembly constituencies following the disqualification of two ruling party legislators Dharampal Singh Malik and Rakesh Kamboj under the anti-defection law after they joined a new political party formed by former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi, Hooda said the State has informed the Election Commission of India about the two vacancies and there was a possibility of these by-elections to be held alongwith those of Karnataka in May.