Chandigarh, April 1 : Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said that Chandigarh is and will remain the capital of Haryana and Punjab and both States have several other issues to talk about apart from Chandigarh. The Chief Minister said that while considering the demand and interest of the employees working in Chandigarh, the Central Government has taken the decision to implement Central Service Rules. The Punjab government is misleading the public on this issue, he added. He said that the employees of Chandigarh would be greatly benefited from this decision. Earlier, the employees of Chandigarh had to depend on the Punjab government for every single government order. Previously, the orders regarding allowances or other benefits issued by Central Government were implemented in Chandigarh only after when Punjab used to issue notification for the same but now after this decision, all these orders would be directly applicable to the UT employees, he added. Khattar said that Punjab has not yet given the benefit of the 7th Pay Commission to the employees whereas Haryana had implemented it in the year 2016 itself. He said that the employees of Chandigarh were also deprived of these benefits till now, but now after the implementation of the new rules, they will get all these benefits. He informed that Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh came into existence through the Punjab Reorganization Act passed in the year 1966. There is a provision in this Act that 60 percent of employees of Chandigarh will be from Punjab and 40 percent will be from Haryana. Since that time Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and Punjab, he said. Khattar also said that not only Punjab and Haryana but the people of Himachal Pradesh also claim their shares in Chandigarh. In one case, the Supreme Court in one of its judgments had also stated that under the Punjab Reorganization Act Himachal Pradesh too has the right to 7.19 per cent of Chandigarh’s land. It is a different matter that Himachal Pradesh has declared Shimla as its Capital. DB SHK1934
