Haryana CM Khattar keeps Sports portfolio held by Minister Sandeep Singh
Chandigarh (PTI): The Sports portfolio which was given up by Haryana Minister Sandeep Singh following allegations of sexual harassment against him by a woman coach, will now be held by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Saturday allocated the portfolio of Sports and Youth Affairs to Khattar in addition to his existing portfolios with immediate effect, according to an official notification.
It added that Singh will cease to hold the portfolio of Sports and Youth Affairs.
"The Governor of Haryana, on the advice of the Chief Minister...is pleased to allocate, with immediate effect, the portfolio of Sports and Youth Affairs to Shri Manohar Lal, Chief Minister, Haryana, in addition to his existing portfolios," the notification said.
Singh gave up the Sports portfolio on Sunday, saying he has taken the step on moral grounds. He claimed that the charges levelled against him by the woman coach were baseless. However, he had not resigned as a minister of the BJP government.
A few days ago, Khattar had said with Singh being the Sports minister, an issue might be raised that an impartial inquiry is not taking place.
Therefore, Singh will not remain a Sports minister and he has been removed so that a proper and fair inquiry takes place, he had said. However, the notification was issued on Saturday.
Singh, a first-time MLA, was booked under sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 B (compelling her to be naked), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint of the woman coach.
The Chandigarh Police has set up a Special Investigation Team to conduct a probe in the case.
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NASA's stuck astronauts welcome newly arrived replacements to space station
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Cape Canaveral (AP): Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA's two stuck astronauts.
The four newcomers — representing the US, Japan and Russia — will spend the next few days learning the station's ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Indian-American Sunita Williams.
Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June.
Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week when they launched on Boeing's first astronaut flight. They hit the nine-month mark earlier this month.
The Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many problems that NASA insisted it come back empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift.
Their ride arrived in late September with a downsized crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the leg back. But more delays resulted when their replacements' brand new capsule needed extensive battery repairs. An older capsule took its place, pushing up their return by a couple weeks to mid-March.
Weather permitting, the SpaceX capsule carrying Wilmore, Williams and two other astronauts will undock from the space station no earlier than Wednesday and splash down off Florida's coast.
