& V I C I N I T Y
Saturday, October 10, 1998
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C H A N D I G A R H & V I C I N I T Y |
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Saturday, October 10, 1998 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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5 officials indicted Notice
to Tohra, others in Sikh Council case Power
tariff hike draws flak |
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Essential goods skyrocket |
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Scholar’s
concern at secularism misuse Builders
want CHB chief shifted Report
not written in 'prescribed form' Cataract
removal goes hi-tech |
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5 officials indicted CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — Five officials, including a PCS officer, have been indicted in the Mani Majra land acquisition scandal. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has endorsed the report of the department of Vigilance of the Chandigarh Administration and recommended major penalty proceedings against all five officials found guilty in the enquiry committee report. Besides, the Administration has referred the case to CBI to look into the role of private parties in the "scandal" where prime pieces of land, planned to be acquired by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, had been purchased by certain "influential people" after the land acquisition notification had allegedly been "quashed". The inquiry conducted by the Vigilance department of the Administration held the then Land Acquisition Officer-cum-Assistant Commissioner of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Mr M.R. Aggarwal, "guilty". Others indicted in the report are V.P. Goel, a Senior Assistant and Sanjay Joshi, a clerk, both from the Land Acquisition wing of the Estate Office besides Mr Jai Krishan Sharma and Mr Mohinder Singh, clerks in the civic body. The Administration had issued the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land in pockets VII and VIII of Mani Majra for the civic body. The corporation had also made the initial deposit with the LAO to get the acquisition proceedings initiated. The land acquisition proceedings were challaned in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Though the high court dismissed the petition, it extended the period for payment of compensation. The LAO, who was also the Assistant Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, however, did not announce his award. When it was challenged in the court, he again did not file any statement in the court. On the other hand, he ordered the refund of the earnest money to the municipal corporation on the plea that he could not announce the award as the acquisition had been challenged. This is despite the fact that even the court had imposed costs on the authorities concerned. Subsequently, the land acquisition notification was quashed and certain "influential" private persons purchased the prime land in "benami transactions". Once the bungling came to the Administration's notice, the Administrator ordered a vigilance enquiry into the episode. The Administration
forwarded the findings to the CVC which not only ratified
its findings but also recommended major penalty
proceedings against the officials indicted in the report. |
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Businessman drugged, robbed CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — A city businessman was drugged and robbed while travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh in a Haryana Roadways bus. The businessman, Mr Adarsh Dhingra, of Sector 21, who had boarded the bus from Delhi, woke up in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh the next afternoon to find that his goods worth Rs 10,000 and a gold ring were missing. He was offered a packed soft drink that was probably laced with some drug. Mr Dhingra, who deals in audio visual equipment, had boarded the Dharmsala-bound bus from Delhi around 7.30 p.m. on Monday. He was allotted seat number 35 and on the adjacent seat a youth was his fellow passenger. The youth told him that he deals in ready made garments and was going to Ambala. After he had consumed the soft drink, Mr Dhingra got down at Pipli. The youth followed him and they purchased a packet of biscuits and youth paid for it. Mr Dhingra woke up in a drugged state at Kangra bus stand at 2.30 pm the next day with only Rs 7 in his pocket when he went to the police station to lodge complaint he was mistaken for a drunkard. A wiser Mr Dhinga returned
to Chandigarh yesterday afternoon. |
Power tariff hike draws flak CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The decision of the Chandigarh Administration to effect a 10 per cent to 20 per cent hike in power tariff from November 10 has evoked severe criticism from local units of various political parties, traders, industrialists and others. Mr Davinder Singh Babla, president of the local unit of the Samajwadi Janata Party, said that the Administration could not have offered a "better gift" to the Chandigarh residents, especially when the unprecedented hike in the prices of essential goods in the past six months has overburdened the consumers. He said that if the electricity department honestly recovered the arrears from consumers, including government and its corporations and effectively checked pilferage, no raise in power tariff would be required. "To cover up its inefficiencies, the Administration is burdening the common man," he added. Mr Shivi Jaiswal of Samajwadi Party blamed the local MP, Mr Satya Pal Jain, for the increase in power tariff, saying that he had failed to impress upon the Administration the need to check power pilferage and recover arrears from "influential consumers". Five Congress leaders — Mr Gurbachan Singh. Mr Ashok Sharma, Mr A.P. Singh, Mr Kewal Dhingra and Mr Surinder Gupta — also assailed the hike in power rates, saying it was "unjustified". They urged the Administration to withdraw this proposal. Mr Yash Mahajan, President, Federation of Small Scale Industries, criticised the proposal, saying that it would "kill the small scale industry". He demanded immediate withdrawal of this notification, suggesting that the local representatives and representatives from the industry and trade should be consulted before taking any such decision. Mr Mahajan threatened to
start an agitation in case the Administration insisted on
implementing the planned hike. |
Kiran's wish to police UT PANCHKULA, Oct 9 —Kiran Bedi, a Magsaysay award winner, has a desire in life, and that is to police Chandigarh. She says it would be a home-coming for her as it would be a tribute to the city where she received most part of her education. The woman police officer, acclaimed for Tihar jail reforms, said this at a joint meeting of Rotary Clubs of Chandigarh, Chandigarh (Mid-town), Chandigarh Central, Chandigarh Shivalik, SAS Nagar and Panchkula at Red Bishop hotel here this evening. Borrowing a chapter from her experiences in jail, she said:" prevention of crime in the country has to begin with reforms in prisons". Dr Bedi gave an account of how she successfully initiated reforms in Tihar jail. She told how she motivated prisoners to give up smoking and had to fight red tapism at one time or the other time.Her reforms, she said also found favour with the judiciary. She said jails in other parts of the country still faced problems. While talking about her book "It is always possible", she said the respective state governments could take a lead from her book and initiate steps for improvement after inspecting jails under their control. Mr Justice J.L. Gupta of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr M.M. Puri, Vice-Chancellor Panjab University were also present. CHANDIGARH: Planning was central to the success story of jail reforms at Tihar jail, Kiran Bedi, acclaimed supercop, told TNS. She was in the city in connection with an interaction with the public to promote her book at Capital Book Depot here on Friday. "There were very few takers for the post of the IG (prisons) when I took over in 1993. My office was full of rats. A vulture culture was prevalent all over. There was no coordination between wings of the jail management. The administrators, wardens and jail superintendents and others worked in different directions. The biggest accomplishment was to give the functioning the form of a ship, she said. Talking about the early part of her tenure she said drug addicts were common. Doctors gave false medical certificates and often were a party to supplying drugs. Kiran was instrumental in introducing meditation camps for jail inmates. In her book she also talks about overcrowding. The book is a great
experience in human management, she claimed. |
Cataract removal goes hi-tech CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — Operations for removal of cataract in the eyes have a high success rate and have become so advanced and sophisticated that a patient can virtually "drive back" home within 30 minutes as no injections or stitches are required, opined experts who demonstrated the technique at the PGI today. The technique known as "Phacoemulsification" requires just a 3 mm wide incision in the eye and the lens that has been clouded due to cataract is removed and a new artificial one implanted in its place. Vision is restored instantly as it requires no bandages and causes no pain to the patient. The new lens is called "Foldable intra occular implant " lens. All this is done within eight to 10 minutes, pointed out Dr Harbansh Lal of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi. The lens is folded and inserted through the incision. Once inside the eye it unfolds automatically, explained Dr J.S. Thind of Jalandhar. Both doctors performed live surgery at the PGI and answered questions from doctors sitting in a separate place. In its original form when "phacoemulsification" technique had begun, an incision as wide as 8 mm used to be required to implant the lens. Stitches were required and this meant pain and discomfort for a patient, Dr Thind explained. In India, however, only a handful of doctors carry out the new technique while in the USA 97 per cent of eye surgeons are onto the new technique, informed Dr Jagat Ram of the PGI. The PGI is one of the places where the new technique was being followed, he added. At present the lens has to be imported at a cost anywhere between Rs 3500 and Rs 6000. Dr Thind and Dr Ram said
that in the USA tests were going on to have a liquid
injectable lens. This would reduce the incision to just 1
mm, they added. |
Essential goods skyrocket CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The poor consumer has been left high and dry as prices of a number of essential commodities have touched an all-time high this year as compared to last year. Vegetable prices, especially that of onions, have been high enough to shatter the budget of the common man. He is having no respite as far as the prices of certain other kitchen essentials such as pulses. They too have registered a mind-boggling hike to the tune of 25 per cent to 30 per cent and in some cases even more than this. Though it is onions, which have virtually gone out of reach of the common man, a kilo of these are priced at Rs 50, he would not be able to add some flavour to his food by garnishing it with green coriander (dhania),as a kilo of it cannot be purchased at a price less than 150. "With the soaring of prices of these culinary items. I cannot even think of adding these to my daily regimen", lamented Ms Usha Kapur, who had come to the Sector 26 vegetable market for making her weekly purchase. Enquiries revealed that only a day before yesterday coriander was available for Rs 100, but its poor arrival from Shimla and its surrounding areas has made the price go up. Similarly, cauliflower and potatoes are available at Rs 30 and Rs 15, a kilo respectively. Ginger and garlic could be purchased by shelling out Rs 20 and Rs 40. However, "bhein" is only vegetable, the price of which has come down from Rs 50 to Rs 20 to Rs 30 in the past week. While "ghia" and tomatoes were available at Rs 15 and Rs 10 a kg respectively, peas were priced at Rs 30 to Rs 35, a kg. Besides vegetables, what is giving headache to housewives is the spiralling prices of other " a must of every kitchen" commodities like edible oils and pulses. A kilo of refined vegetable oil priced around Rs 50 last year, is now available at Rs 60. It seems that the dropsy factor has failed to deter the consumer from buying it. If a kilo of mustard oil was available at Rs 55, last year, the same is available at Rs 70 now. The hike is attributed to a rise in demand due to the ongoing festive season. But what has affected the common man most is the prices of pulses. Rajmah, which were sold between Rs 28 and Rs 30 last year, is now available at Rs 40. Similarly, dal arhar has risen from Rs 25 a kilo to Rs 38 a kilo and white grams from Rs 24 to Rs 36 a kilo. According to Mr Rajesh, a wholesaler, the increase in the price of rajmah was due to a large-scale damage to the crop in the southern parts of the country. However, other pulses like dal moong has not witnessed any noticeable change as far as its price is concerned. It is available at Rs 27 to Rs 28 a kg. On the other hand gram flour (besan), which last year was available at Rs 17 to Rs 18 has risen to Rs 20 this year. Thankfully, wheat flour has registered a fall with its price coming down from Rs 9.50 a kg to Rs 8.50 a kg. Another thing which is bound to affect the festive spirit of the people is the high price of dry fruit as compared to last year. Kaju is ahead of all of dry fruit, as is has witnessed a jump of Rs 80 to Rs 100. A kg of "kaju" which could be purchased at Rs 240 last year could be purchased now at a price less than Rs 320. Good quality "kaju" have been priced between Rs 400 and Rs 425 a kg. There is no noticeable fluctuation in almond prices as a kilo of good quality California almonds can be had between Rs 340 and Rs 350 a kg. Good quality roasted "Irani pishta" is available between Rs 280 and Rs 320 a kilo. Last year the same was available at Rs 300 to Rs 340. However, "chilgozas" are not available in the market yet as it has not arrived in so far. Giving the reason for the
rise of the price of "kaju", a wholesaler said
this was due to the damage to the crop and closure of
certain processing units in the south. |
Scholar’s concern at
secularism misuse CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — Prof G.C. Pande, an eminent scholar and Chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla has expressed concern at the misuse of secularism by politicians for advancing their political ambitions. Prof Pande, who was talking to TNS after delivering the Prof Prem Nath Memorial Lecture on "Secularism, Religion and Culture," at Gandhi Bhavan on the PU campus here today, said the danger before them today was that some vested interests were out to harm the country by arousing religious passions. "Their gameplan is just to seek maximum votes by creating insecurity and fear among a section of society." However, he expressed his faith in the people by saying that such cheap gimmicks were not going to pay any dividends to selfish politicians in the long run. "The people are wise enough not to be taken in by such elements, who may be able to achieve success to some extent by misguiding them for a short while only, "added Prof Pande. He asserted that in due course, politicians with such ulterior motives would realise that their petty gimmicks were not going to pay them anything, except frustration. Asked as to what could prevent people from falling into the trap of the communal forces, he said, "Educating the people in the right way is the only way out to counter the threat, which was a momentary one." Defining religion, secularism and the role of a secular state, Prof Pande said religion and secularism were complimentary to each other if taken in the right sense. Religion was a free pursuit for the higher good, which could not be replaced by any kind of calculation or utilitarian reason. Secularism was practically, the assurance by the state that there was no attempt by a group of people belonging to one religion to compel others to follow their religion, he defined. "Dharma in itself is the practice of moral values and it should not be described as a particular sect," said Prof Pande, who has authored about 20 books on different topics such as philosophy religion and "vedanta". Earlier, he said the state
had the power to compel the people, but a welfare and
secular state like India should not do anything to compel
people to follow any particular religion directly or
indirectly. "The moot question of human goodness
cannot be addressed independent of religious quest,"
he added.
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Villagers go
on relay fast CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — Members of the Action Committee for the Development of Villages today began 18-day relay fast near the bridge market in Sector 17 to protest against the indifferent attitude of the Administration towards the demands of villagers. Mr Harbhajan Singh and Mr Chaman Lal, president and general secretary of the committee, addressing rally said despite assurances by the Administration and the then Prime Minister in 1996, nothing had been done. The then Deputy Commissioner had also conceded that their demands were genuine and should be considered favourably. The main demands of the committee are regularisation of the abadi beyond the lal dora, withdrawal of notifications for acquiring land of the Deep Complex, Hallomajra constitution of the zila parishad and panchayat samities, higher compensation for farmers whose land is acquired and provision of giving them plots. Their struggle would
continue until the demands were not met, they affirmed. |
DC calls for list of ‘problem
schools’ PANCHKULA, Oct 9 — The Deputy Commissioner, Ms Saroj Siwach, said today that the problem of shortage of staff in schools of the Morni block would be tackled on a priority basis. Speaking at a "Janata darbar" organised in Morni block, she urged the panchayats of the area to provide a list of the schools that faced a shortage of teachers. Inadequate staff in the
schools of the area, low voltage and irregular bus
services were some of the problems highlighted by the
villagers at the Open darbar.
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Builders want CHB chief shifted CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The Chandigarh Housing Board Builders’ Association today demanded the shifting of the chairperson of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), Ms Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, for her "indifferent attitude" towards new construction activities. Mr Mehar Singh and Mr S. K. Sachdeva, president and general secretary, respectively, of the association, in a statement here alleged that in the past two years no new housing or new proposal had been sanctioned by the board. The chairperson had been distancing herself from the public and her attitude towards the builders was also of no less concern, they alleged. They said as part of the golden jubilee celebrations in August last year, the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber (retd), had announced a housing scheme for weaker sections in Sector 52 and assigned the project to the board with the directive that the project should be completed within a year. Not to talk of the completion of the project in a year, the board had not even called for tenders for the project yet, they said, alleging that the board was no longer interested in the welfare schemes for the masses. They also alleged that the contractors were facing a lot of problems due to non-release of their payments against the work done for months. If the present state of affairs continued, time was not far off when the CHB would come to the verge of closure. They urged the Chandigarh
Administration to order a probe into the working of the
board, and save it from "closure" by shifting
the chairperson immediately. |
Report not written in 'prescribed
form' CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sant Parkash, today heard argument on the closure report of the CBI on the death (or murder?) of Inderjit Singh. Counsel for Mr Allah Singh, father of the deceased, contended before the CJM that there were certain flaws in the closure report. He told the court that the CBI had failed to refute certain points raised by the former CJM, Mr Shekhar Dhawan. He pointed out that the investigating officials did not take into account the fact that blood was found under the feet of the deceased. He also pointed out that the report was not written in the prescribed form. Again, the turban was not around the neck but was around the head of the deceased. The counsel told the court
that the closure report did not deal with certain points
raised by the DIG, Mr K.C. Kanungo. It was also silent
over the allegations levelled against certain officials
of the CBI. |
World
Standards Day on October 14 CHANDIGARH , Oct 9 — Illegal sale of electrical products which require mandatory certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) continues in the open market. The BIS, the premier agency on standards, on its part can do little to check illegal sale of goods because of its limited powers. It has to depend largely on the state governments and the process is long drawn. Since February 1993, it has become mandatory for electric immersion rods, heat converters, electric stoves and other items to have ISI mark. Cables and insulating material need to be of specified standards. There are over 20,000 standards for various products. Of these more than 2,000 are directly related to daily needs of a common consumer. A spokesperson of the BIS said one of the major reasons for availability of spurious products was that dealers generally got more commission on such products as compared to standard products. Despite standards being available on a majority of the industrial products, the number of industrial units that come forward for the certification remained relatively low. He said consumers were often misled by wrong standard marks on products such as 'as per ISI' and 'conforming to ISI' did not mean products had certification from the BIS. Myths about the standard products and other related issues will be discussed at the seminar on Standards in daily life being organised by the BIS here on the occasion of World Standards Day on October 14. The aim is to raise
awareness regarding importance of global standardisation
in order to meet growing demands of business, industry
etc off. |
Notice to Tohra, others in Sikh
Council case CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh, today issued dasti notice for October 12 to Mr G.S. Tohra, President, SGPC, Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh and Justice Kuldip Singh, a former Judge of the Supreme Court, apart from eight others on a suit filed by Talib Singh Sandhu and Mr Baldev Singh Brar, challenging the appointment of Justice Kuldip Singh as President of the World Sikh Council (WSC). Mr Sandhu and Mr Brar are executive members of the WSC. They urged the court that the report on the amendment of the memorandum of association, rules and regulations of the Council should be declared as ineffective, illegal and against the registered memorandum of association of the Council. They also sought directives for declaring Justice Kuldip Singh's appointment as illegal, arbitrary and without jurisdiction. They added that the appointment of Justice Kuldip Singh was illegal because Bhai Ranjit Singh being the patron did not have the powers to appoint Justice Kuldip Singh as Chairman-cum-President of the Council. He could only enrol persons or call a meeting. The magistrate adjourned
the case to October 12.
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Homage to
JCT worker SAS NAGAR, Oct 9 — The JCT Electronics Employees Union and the JCT Electronics Workers Union organised a function in front of the factory premises here today to pay homage to Shiv Dutt Gautam, a worker of the factory, who died during an agitation seven years ago. The function was attended
by industrial workers of various units from the town and
from Chandigarh. Mr A.D. Nagpal, national secretary, Hind
Mazdoor Sabha, urged workers to maintain unity to fight
"anti-labour" policies of employers.
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Contest suspension in CAT, Rathore
told CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed Mr S.P.S. Rathore, Additional Director-General of Haryana Police, to move his application before the Central Administrative Tribunal for contesting his suspension and institution of disciplinary proceedings against him by the state government. Mr Justice J.L. Gupta and Mr Justice N.C. Khichi delivered this order in view of the Supreme Court judgement in L. Chander Kumar Vs Union of India case, in which it had ruled that IAS and IPS officers should first avail of the remedy available to them before the tribunal instead of filing petitions before the high courts under Article 226 of the Constitution. During the course of proceedings, the Judges observed that Mr Rathore's case was good on merit. However, the Bench could not entertain it for want of jurisdiction. The Haryana Advocate-General had taken the preliminary objection to Mr Rathore's petition on grounds of jurisdiction. The Bench had asked the Advocate-General that on one hand the government had held him guilty in its reply and on the other it had instituted inquiries against him. Mr Rathore had prayed in his petition that all inquiries instituted by the state government and investigations ordered against him may be entrusted to any agency that was not under the control of Chief Minister, Bansi Lal, and Financial Commissioner (Home) K.G. Verma. He told the Bench that he had levelled allegations of mala fides against them. Mr Rathore was placed under suspension on the basis of a high court order on an application moved by Mrs Jagdish Kaur, mother of Mr Tejinder Pal, who was murdered by Dheeraj Pahwa. In her application she had stated that Dheeraj Pahwa had been convicted on the charge of murder. He was moving about freely by manipulating his parole again and again. The high court had entrusted the enquiry to the Sessions Judge of Karnal, who had held in his report that Pahwa had been granted parole in violation of rules. In his petition Mr Rathore had stated that the Sessions Judge had not given him an opportunity to explain the case. Therefore, he was condemned without being heard. This was against the principles of natural justice and fair play. Mr Rathore had also
claimed that he granted the parole to Pahwa according to
rules and on the basis of records placed before him. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — The Panjab University Teachers Association has expressed its concern over delay in notification of amendments in the pay scales announced for teachers in July earlier this year. Certain changes had been made in the pay scales following a meeting between the Human Resources Development Ministry and representatives of teachers. At the meeting of the pay revision committee of the PUTA it was pointed out that more than four weeks had elapsed from the date of an agreement between Prof Murli Manohar Joshi, the Human Resources Development Minister and representatives of teachers. The delay was causing anxiety and apprehensions in minds of teachers. Dr Satya P. Gautam, president of the PUTA, said "perhaps university and college teachers were the only sections of society who were still awaiting implementation of the revised pay scales since January 1996. The delay of almost three years is extremely unfair and unjust". Members of the pay revision committee "expressed their anger and indignation" over the fact that university and college teachers were denied the payment of instalments of additional dearness allowance since July 1997. In comparison to the Central Government employees, the university teachers are losing 22 per cent of their salary on account of ADA every month". Seats vacant: A total of 31 seats are vacant in the first year of B.Sc. (honours school) of Panjab University, a press release said here on Friday. The departments which have vacant seats include geology (14) anthropology (10) biophysics (six) and Microbiology (one) Dr H.M. Dani, convener of the joint admission cell, said those who had applied for the couse earlier could report for counselling on October 13 in the Department of Biochemistry even if they did not appear for the first interview earlier. Appeal: Panjab University on Friday appealed to the non-teaching staff to discard the path of rallies and dharnas which is causing inconvenience and harassment to students, teachers and the general public. A press release signed by the Registrar, Dr Paramjit Singh, said the university was not indifferent to the demands of the staff. Despite efforts of the Vice-Chancellor, the FDO and the Registrar, the government had not released the grant for arrears. The proposition that the arrears could be paid by overdrafting was untenable and could not be justified. The limit for overdraft is Rs 3 crores and carried a heavy interest, the release said. Meanwhile, dharna of the employees continued on for the third day on Friday. Seminar: World trade has increased more than 70 times during the past 50 years and new trading blocks had emerged, said Col P.K.Vasudeva at a seminar on "Globalisation of Indian economy" at DAV College, Sector 10, here on Friday . Mr R.C. Jeewan, principal
of the college presided over the function. Others who
spoke on the occasion included Prof Y.R. Bhardwaj and
Prof Umesh Vinayak. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — Two cyclists have been killed while a scooterist has been injured in separate road accidents in the city and its surrounding areas in the past 24 hours. Subhash Kumar of Janata colony was hit by an unidentified scooter on the road dividing Sectors 24 and 25 last night. He died a few moments later. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC. Des Raj of Behlana village was hit by an unidentified Haryana Roadways bus near Zirakpur. He died on the spot. Meanwhile, Gurmeet Singh of Ropar who was moving on a scooter was injured as a car driven by Surinder Singh Dhillon hit him in the Industrial Area, Phase II. A case has been registered against the car driver. Gurmeet Singh has been admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital. Motorcycle stolen: A motor cycle (HR-25-0124) owned by Kuldeep Singh was stolen from the Panjab University campus. In a separate incident, Rajeev alias Pappu, has been arrested for allegedly stealing a motor cycle. Hospitalised: A woman, Babita, of Rajeev Colony, Panchkula has been admitted to the PGI after she consumed a poisonous substance. PANCHKULA Complaint: Mr Brij Nirwani, a resident of Sector 8, has lodged a complaint of his son missing with the local police. Mr Nirwani said his son, Saurav Garg (15), a student of local Manav Mangal School, left home for his school in the morning but never reached the school. The police is
investigating. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 9 — In a writ petition challenging the termination of services of 57 constables recruited by the Punjab Police in 1994, a Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice Iqbal Singh today directed counsel for the petitioners to implead the persons likely to be affected, in case their petition succeeds. In the writ petition filed by Mr Jagtar Singh and other terminated constables, it was stated that they were recruited after advertisement and inviting applications, holding the written test and interviews and the petitioners were appointed after being duly selected. They underwent one-year training at the Police Training School. In 1995, the government took a decision to promote select Special Police Officers (SPOs) against 2500 posts of constables. On a writ petition filed by Mr Kulwant Singh and others, the high court directed the state government to publish the list of selected constables keeping in view the reservation made by the state government and make appointment according to merit. The government appointed candidates up to No. 3070, on merit and terminated the services of other constables including the petitioners. It was contended by the petitioners that the government was bound to prepare the list of all the selected candidates and make appointments irrespective of the category, in order of merit and those candidates who came in the merit had to be treated as general category candidates and the reserved category candidates had to be appointed as per the reservation, criteria. As regards appointment of
SPOs as constables, it was contended that Punjab Police
Rules provide for recruitment of constables only by
direct recruitment under Article 14 and 16 (1) of the
Constitution. The state had confined 2500 posts in favour
of SPOs and did not allow similarly situated persons like
the petitioners to compete with them. |
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