A matter of 'swabhimaan' for Haryana

Sanjeev Kochhar / TNN / Dec 16, 2005, 03:00 IST

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Haryana is looking to demand restoration of its 'swabhimaan' by seeking to come out of the shadow of big brother Punjab.

CHANDIGARH: Having officially been declared the richest state in the country in terms of per capita income, Haryana is now looking to aggressively demand restoration of its 'swabhimaan' (self respect) by seeking to come out of the shadow of big brother Punjab, from which it was carved out in 1966.
The demand echoed in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Thursday as it unanimously passed a resolution seeking a separate high court based at Chandigarh amidst thumping of desks by members both in the treasury and opposition benches.
Members, led by veteran Congress leader and former minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala and finance minister Birender Singh, made a pitch for a separate state capital as well.
Birender was emphatic in his assertion, saying "do staton ke ek rajdhani nahi ho sakti, nahi ho sakti, nahi ho sakti."

Haryana has been sharing the state capital, high court and the Vidhan Sabha building with Punjab. It shares various categories of posts in the high court, including on the bench, and in the UT Chandigarh administration in the adverse ratio of 40:60.
Currently the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has a sanctioned bench strength of 53 has 29 judges, with 21 from Punjab and only eight from Haryana.
The state's grouse is that its share even in the established 40:60 ratio on the bench has never been fulfilled because of which legal eagles from the state aspiring to be judges of the high court and supreme court are frustrated.

Though the resolution is not new, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda pledged that his government will make earnest efforts to see that the resolution does not just remain in the files but is also implemented.
"Bhupinder Singh Hooda jab vaida karta hai to kar ke bhi dikhata hai," he thundered while concluding his reply to the discussion to the resolution, which was later unanimously passed.
A similar resolution was passed by the state assembly in 2002 as well during the tenure of the previous Om Prakash Chautala led INLD regime, but it was shot down by then Union law and justice minister Arun Jaitley.
But with a new Lok Sabha and a new state Vidhan Sabha in place and the Congress being in power both at the Centre and the state, the Hooda government appears to be hopeful of convincing the Central government to give in to its demand for a separate high court.

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