& V I C I N I T Y
Friday, October 16, 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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Friday, October 16, 1998 |
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Two jailed for not filing
IT returns in time HC
orders action |
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IAS
officers' cases ‘sent in haste’ to CBI Professor
Kak may get extension Divali
bonanza for police personnel Journalist
jailed |
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Two jailed for not filing IT returns
in time CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — A word of caution to income tax assessees. File your tax returns in time. Otherwise you will be jailed. This is exactly what has happened today to two defaulters who had failed to file their IT returns. The Income Tax Officer of Ward II, Chandigarh Circle, had filed a complaint in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sant Parkash, saying that Mr Surinder Kumar and Mr Kartar Chand, partners in Kartar Chand Dua and Sons of Sector 22-D, Chandigarh, had not filed their income tax returns. The complaint was moved under Section 276-CC of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessment year for the returns was 1981-82. The due date for filing the returns was July 31, 1982. They filed their returns on March 11, 1985. The Income Tax Officer served show-cause notices on them asking them why they should not be prosecuted for their failure to file the returns. The defaulters did not reply to the show-cause notices. Mr Sant Parkash convicted the defaulters under Section 276-CC of the Income Tax Act. While the firm Kartar Chand and Sons was ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1,000, Mr Kartar Chand and Mr Surinder Kumar were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for three months, apart from paying a fine of Rs 1,000 each. In default of payment of
the fine, they were ordered to undergo further
imprisonment of one month. |
Divali loses glitter CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — Though the importance of Divali as a festival of hope and togetherness still exists for all of us, it has certainly lost much of its glitter because of the spiralling prices and a general lack of enthusiasm among people all around. The reason? Recession, say the traders. The usual enthusiasm for fun and food is not much in evidence. There are no big orders for execution say the traders in Sector 17, the city’s biggest trade centre. Also, there are no bulk orders for sweets, say the sweets sellers. A shopkeeper who claims to have executed two big orders of 3500 boxes of 1 kg each and 2000 boxes of 1 kg each for industrial units last year is without big orders this year. As a result all those who were turned away by the shopkeepers for supply of small orders will be sought after this year. In spite of all this there is bound to be a brash display of wealth by some neo-rich. Surprisingly, there is a clear trend in favour of sweets made from pure ghee among people who wish to buy sweets for their children. These are being preferred in comparison to sweets made from khoya because of their short shelf life. The prices of sweets in various sectors differ by 10 per cent to 15 per cent. Although the raw material for burfi is the same, at leading shops it costs Rs 100 per kg in Sectors 19 and 22, Rs 110 in Sector 18 and Rs 120 to Rs 140 per kg in Sector 17. Similarly, the prices of kaju burfi are Rs 200 per kg in Sectors 19 and 22, Rs 210 in Sector 18 and Rs 230 per kg in Sector 17. Sohan halwa sells at Rs 60 per kg, petha Rs 70 to Rs 80, milk cake Rs 130, ladoos Rs 95, patisa Rs 120, chandrakala Rs 90 and pinnis Rs 120 per kg — all made from desi ghee — in Sector 17. In other sectors the prices are much lower than these — petha Rs 60 to Rs 65 per kg, milk cake Rs 100, ladoos Rs 60, patisa Rs 65, pinnis Rs 70 and chandrakala Rs 70 per kg. While the prices are up only by 10 per cent to 15 per cent generally, the prices of raw materials have risen considerably. Pure ghee which was sold at Rs 1600 per 15 kg tin now costs Rs 1900 as against Rs 2000 during the navaratras. Refined oil prices have risen to Rs 800 per tin as against Rs 600 last year. Among the dry fruits noticeable rise is in the case of kaju whose prices are gone up by more than 50 per cent. Kaju costs Rs 290 per kg (about 320 pieces per pound) and up to Rs 440 per kg (180 pieces per pound). Khoya prices have risen and varied between Rs 80 and Rs 100 per kg. Fortunately the quality of khoya from Mathura,Vrindavan and Hathras coming through Delhi and from Shamli and Bijnaur from Muzzafarnagar side has improved considerably. The poor quality khoya from Amritsar which once used to flood the Chandigarh market is no more in demand. Tin and plastic packings of sweets are again in fashion and so are beautiful boxes, particularly from Rajasthan. The packing costs vary between Rs 50 and Rs 100. Mr Neeraj Bajaj, President
of the Sweets Shopkeepers' Association numbering nearly
350, has appealed to the members to maintain hygienic
conditions. He has also asked them not to weigh boxes
with the material.
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Where 65 kilos is 69 kilos CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — Irate farmers at the Sector 48 grain market held up the auction of paddy till late in the evening alleging that certain commission agents were shortchanging them through overweighment of their crop. They were later joined by members of the Ropar unit of the Bhartiya Kisan Union. Efforts to defuse the situation by representatives of the commission agents and the market committee officials proved futile as the farmers insisted that the auctioned bags of two complainants, Mr Charan Singh and Mr Paramjit Singh of Chamkaur Sahib, be reweighed. Finally, the commission agents agreed to have the bags reweighed and it was found that 305 and 354 bags of both the farmers, respectively, weighed on an average 69 kgs, four kgs more than the prescribed limit of 65 kg. Talking to TNS, the aggrieved farmers and others at the market alleged that this fraudulent practice had been going on for a long time and it was only on their forcing the issue that the commission agents had agreed to do their bidding. Thousands of bags are weighed here each day and the loss to farmers can be gauged from this incident, they added. To both the farmers a loss of four kg per bag would have meant a collective loss of 1,977 kg or more than Rs 9000. Mr Shamsher Singh Gharuan, president of the BKU said following parleys it was agreed that the defaulting commission agent (Lot number 82) would pay the difference of four kg to all farmers whose bags were weighed after October 10. He was also fined Rs 5000 and given a warning not to repeat the same mistake in future. Besides this the farmers also insisted that they be given J forms in place of the slips handed out by the commission agents. They also questioned the rationale behind the varying quantity fixed in other mandis for filling. In some mandis it was 60 kg and 65 kg in others. Mr Labh Singh, mandi supervisor, said market committee officials carried out routine checks everyday till late in the evening, but some farmers who came late at night insisted on auctioning their produce and checks on weighing at late hours could not be carried out. Mr Jagdish, Mr Ajay Mittal, Mr Susheel Mittal, Mr Ishwar Aggarwal and Mr Chadha, members of a committee constituted by the commission agents to safeguard their interests in the mandi refused to comment on the matter and said that the problem was over and that a compromise had been worked out. Despite the agreement and
agreeing to let the auction in the evening, a
cross-section of farmers said that was to stop the repeat
of such episodes and that the authorities and market
committee should take a serious view of the matter and
initiate stringent action. |
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IAS officers' cases ‘sent in
haste’ to CBI CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — On the third consecutive day today a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court consisting of Mr Justice J.L. Gupta and Mr Justice N.C. Khichi heard arguments on a petition preferred by Mr V.K. Khanna, a former Chief Secretary of Punjab, for quashing the charge sheet served on him by the state government. Mr Rajinder Sachar, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, who has been engaged by the Akali Dal-BJP coalition government, charged Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former Chief Minister, with acting in undue haste in entrusting the cases of three IAS officers, Mr R.S. Mann, Mr Bikramjit Singh and Mr I.S. Bindra, to the CBI for investigation. Defending the state government's action in charge-sheeting Mr Khanna, Mr Sachar pleaded with the Bench that the officers against whom the inquiry was entrusted to the CBI were not given an opportunity to explain their side of the story. Mr Sachar told the court that the Punjab Cricket Association had raised a beautiful stadium at Mohali. He maintained that the state government was rightly within its powers to charge-sheet Mr Khanna. Moreover, the government had appointed a former High Court judge, Justice K.S. Tiwana, for conducting the inquiry against Mr Khanna. Mr Sachar maintained that
what the CBI found in its investigation was irrelevant to
the charge sheet issued to Mr Khanna. He admitted a close
relationship between Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief
Minister, and the Chief Secretary, Mr R.S. Mann. |
HC orders action against quacks CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — In a writ petition filed as public interest litigation by Dr Barinder Singh, president of Ludhiana Medical Welfare Association, for action against ‘self-styled’ doctors practising in Punjab, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the Punjab and Haryana governments and U.T. administration to take action against the so-called doctors who practise allopathy medicine without any degree or diploma in that field. The Division Bench comprising Mr Justice V.K. Bali and Mr Justice B. Rai further directed the three governments to give the compliance report to the court after six months. It also directed that the three governments should write to all S.H.Os of police stations to take action against quacks under Section 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act. The petitioner submitted that he wrote a registered letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary and the State’s Director of Health to take steps against the mushrooming of unqualified doctors who were affecting the health of the poor people because they did not have any knowledge of the human body and could not treat patients by just knowing about a few drugs. But no action has been taken by the government. Counsel for the Union of
India submitted that the Punjab government was competent
to take action against erring persons under the Indian
Medical Council Act. He placed on record a letter written
by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on
October 6, 1997, to the Health Ministers of states to
invoke provisions of the Indian Medical Council Act,
1956. |
Insurance firm told to pay Rs 8,200
in damages CHANDIGARH , Oct 15 —The UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (I) has ordered Oriental Insurance Company to pay Rs 8,200 as claim for damages to insured property of a consumer which was denied. Dr H.C. Modi, president, and Dr R.K. Behl and Ms Shashi Kanta, both members, gave the order on a written complaint filed by Mrs Amarjeet Kaur Sawhney, a resident of SAS Nagar. Mrs Sawhney in her complaint alleged that her television and VCR were covered under a scheme of the insurance company. Both of them were damaged beyond repairs during shifting of the house. The company appointed a surveyor who assessed the loss at Rs 8,200. Subsequently the company denied the payment on basis of report of a second investigator. The forum noticed that "repudiation of claim of Mrs Grewal on the basis of another report of an investigator who was appointed without cogent reasons, amounted to arbitrary behaviour on part of the insurance company". The company has been
ordered to pay Rs 8,200 with 12 per cent interest from
November, 1993, till the date of actual payment. The
order has to be complied with within 30 days of the
receipt of the copy. |
Divali bonanza for police personnel CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — The Chandigarh Police is planning to give a Divali bonanza to more than 50 of its employees by way of promotion. According to senior functionaries in the police department, two Inspectors, four Sub-Inspectors, 12 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 12 Head Constables and 24 constables are being promoted to their next respective positions. The names of two seniormost Inspectors, Mr Mohan Lal Verma and Mr P K Dhawan have been sent for promotion as DSPs while Mr SS Randhawa, already working as DSP since 1992, has been regularised in his post. The names of SIs Mr Dhanraj, Mr Tirath Singh and Mr Ajmer Singh have been sent for promotion as Inspectors while the fourth name, that may be of a distinguished sportsperson, is likely to be finalised tomorrow, a source said. In case of promotions from ASI to SI, the first nine names on the seniority list are of those who have completed their promotional training. Another three ASIs are likely to be promoted on an ad hoc basis subject to the mandatory training that is required before each promotion. After this batch of promotions there will be no ASIs — who have completed their training and minimum period of service — left to be promoted as SI. Promotions from Head
Constables to ASIs will be carried out as per seniority.
In case of constables, the seniority rule will apply and
a C II list that is like a promotion for illiterate
constables will be formed. Constables with 15 years'
service and under-matric are to be put onto the list. |
Professor Kak may get extension CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — Prof V.K. Kak, Director-Principal of the Sector 32 Government Medical College Hospital, is likely to get an extension in service for one year. Professor Kak, who is also the ex-officio Secretary to the Chandigarh Administration for Medical Education and Research, is due to retire later this year on attaining superannuation. The Chandigarh Administration, according to sources, has strongly recommended the case of Professor Kak for an extension in service. The plea taken by the Administration is that no able substitute is available to take up this assignment immediately. Only yesterday, the Executive Committee of the Medical Council of India (MCI) reportedly agreed to approve permanent recognition to the college. Investigations reveal that the Administration did not approve of any of the names it received from the PGI to select a successor to Professor Kak. The PGI authorities, according to sources, had forwarded the names of three seniormost doctors, including Prof R.J. Dash, Prof O.N. Nagi and Prof S.M. Bose. The Administration reportedly suggested that in view of the ongoing programmes and the decision of the union government to complete this prestigious project by 1999, continuity was required. This project was, otherwise, scheduled to be completed by 2002. Professor Kak had replaced Prof J.S. Chopra, Founder-Principal-Director of the medical college hospital, on his superannuation. Meanwhile, the Administration has selected two PCS officers and conveyed its decision to the Punjab Government. The officers are Mr Avtar Chand Sharma of the 1994 batch, and Mr Jagdish Chander Sabharwal of the 1995 batch. Whom will they replace and what postings they will get on joining the Administration is still not known. The Punjab Government is yet to issue their posting orders placing their services at the disposal of the Administration. In case of the Joint Secretary (Finance), the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chandigarh Housing Board and the Deputy Commissioner of Chandigarh, no final decision has been taken. Some of these cases are pending before the union government after the Administration recommended the names of Mr Anugreb Prasad Kumar Sinha for the post of Joint Secretary, Finance, and Mr Ramasekhar for the post of Deputy Commissioner of Chandigarh. Similarly, the name of Mr
Kirpa Shankar Saroj was recommended for the post of
Commissioner, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. |
Journalist jailed CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kurukshetra, Mr MC Mehra, has sentenced a Kurukshetra-based journalist, Mr Som Nath Kapoor, and a former Social Education and Panchayat Officer of Pehowa, Mr Phool Chand, to six months’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 each, for defaming an HCS officer. Mr Kapoor, publisher and editor of "Sthanu Times", a Hindi fortnightly, published certain reports against Mr Pradeep Kasni, the then District Development and Panchayat Officer, Kurukshetra, based on an affidavit signed by Mr Phool Chand in his paper. The reports were considered defamatory by Mr Kasni who filed a criminal complaint against the accused. Holding the
accused to be guilty the Judge also sentenced Mr Kapoor
to another six months’ rigorous imprisonment and a
fine of Rs 1,000 for an offence punishable under Section
502 of the IPC. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — The finance and contract committee of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC), at its meeting here today, approved 22 estimates amounting to about Rs 2.19 crore for the recarpeting of roads in the city. The roads to be repaired include those in the categories of V-3, V-4, V-5 and V-6 and the remaining roads in the southern and northern sectors. The tenders have been called and work is likely to be complete by December. Divali mela: Over 170 stalls are likely to be put up in Sector 17 for the three-day Divali mela to be organised by the civic body from October 17. Sources said adequate security measures had been taken and no firecracker stall would be allowed in the Plaza. Urged: The House Owners' Association, Sector 20, and the area councillor, Ms Shanta Abhilashi, have urged the Chandigarh Administration to attach the vacant plot adjacent to the park being developed in the Sector with the park. In a representation to the Adviser to the Administrator, Mr Jagdish Sagar, they said the area of the park being developed was too small keeping in view the population of the densely populated sector. The representation claimed that the plot was part of the green belt as per the city master plan, and it should not be allotted for any other purpose. It also urged the Administration to get the community centre, which had been "illegally" occupied by Kashmiri migrants, vacated. Union's threat: The
Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Road Workers' Union on
Thursday threatened to observe "black Divali"
if the civic body did not pay arrears at the revised pay
scales to the work-charged employees, and arrears to the
daily wagers. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice R.S. Mongia and Mr Justice S.S. Sudhalkar, today, stayed the operation of Punjab Government order of September 11, absorbing Miss Amrit Brar, Deputy Commandant, Central Reserve Police Force, into the Punjab Police as Deputy Superintendent of Police on compassionate grounds after the killing of her only brother, Arvinder Singh, by terrorists. The above order was challenged by Mr Mohinder Singh Chahal, Superintendent of Police Fatehgarh Sahib and 82 other DSPs and other ranks of Punjab Police. According to the petitioners Miss Amrit Brar and some other persons were brought on deputation on various dates to the Punjab Police for three years, to control terrorism in Punjab. It was submitted that earlier in 1992-93, a move to induct Miss Amrit Kaur into the state police service was rejected by the Central government. It was contended that the police officers brought into the state police occupied cadre posts and had blocked the petitioners’ promotion. It was further urged that since their deputation was for three years, they were bound to be reverted to their parent departments as they were occupying cadre posts for more than eight years. It was apprehended that the impugned order would open the floodgates for other deputationists while the petitioners were eligible for appointment against cadre posts. The Bench also admitted the writ petition. Notice to Centre on polio vaccine TNS adds: The High Court issued notice for October 28 to the Union Government on a public interest litigation filed by Mr Atul Mehra, a polio victim, seeking directions to the central government to adhere to its own safety norms while buying the oral polio vaccine. Mr Justice R.S. Mongia and Mr Justice S.S. Sudhalkar constituted the Bench. In his petition Mr Mehra stated that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had placed an order for the supply of 430 lakh doses of the old stock. These vaccines had violated the government's norms on at least three important counts. Firstly, these vaccines were too old. In addition, these violated the norm of one-sixth of the shelf life and might well have crossed the expiry date by the time these were administered. These did not have a vaccine vial monitor and the concentrate used to manufacture these vaccines were not from a WHO-approved source. Bail for lawyer in jail-break case Mr Justice M.L. Singhal granted bail to D.S. Rajput, a local lawyer, in FIR No 31 dated June 13, 1998, registered at Sohana police station in Ropar district in the jail-break case. The allegation in the said FIR related to Rajput contacting Jagtar Singh Hawara, a terrorist, on a mobile phone and arranging a phone for Hawara. The judge adjourned the
petition for Rajput’s bail in another FIR registered
at Chandigarh for November 23. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — A group that included an official of Markfed, vandalised a restaurant-cum-pub in Sector 35-C this afternoon and injured three persons in the process. The two partners of the pub, Mr H. S. Dureja and Mr Aneet Goyal, were injured and admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32. While the Sector 36 police managed to arrest five of the alleged attackers, the others managed to escape. The pub was attacked around 1 this afternoon by almost 20 persons armed with lathis and iron rods. The attackers included the landlord of the building, Amarjeet Singh Randhawa and Varinder Singh, a top official of Markfed. The landlord was possessing court orders for the vacation of the building, according to police sources. A verbal duel ensued in which the party accompanying the landlord allegedly ransacked the pub and threw stones. Apart from the two partners, Mr Ashish Bansal was also injured. Several workers of the pub also received minor injuries, according to sources. The police arrived on the scene and arrested five persons, including the landlord and the Markfed official. The others who were arrested are Rajinder Singh, Bir Devinder Singh, and Gurdev Singh. The police has registered a case of rioting and booked them under sections 347, 348, 308, 379 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 379 of the IPC that relates to theft has been used. One of the injured persons had alleged that he had lost a gold chain in the melee. Driver identified: The bus driver who allegedly killed a teenaged student of Shishu Niketan School, Sector 22, on Wednesday has been identified as Nachitter Singh, a resident of Kurali township in Ropar district. The bus involved in the accident belongs to International Public School, Sector 41. Nachitter had allegedly hit the student, Ramesh, and sped off. The injured boy was admitted to the PGI where he succumbed to his injuries around 8 p.m. A police party raided his house in Kurali but he was missing. The police has contacted the school authorities. Solved: The police claims to have solved the stabbing of a rickshaw puller on the night intervening October 6 and 7. Raju Singh alias Raju of
Dadu Majra colony, was arrested by the police. Raju was
travelling in a rickshaw when a verbal duel ensued
between him and rickshaw puller. Raju, who was in a
drunken state, allegedly stabbed the rickshaw-puller and
absconded. |
CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — Panjab University today threatened to take disciplinary action against non-teaching employees in case they continued with the agitation for payment of arrears. A notice signed by the Registrar said: "In case the employees continued to hold rallies, dharnas, processions during working hours and incite or coerce others to abstain from work the university shall be constrained to invoke the principle of no-work no-pay and also appropriate disciplinary action". Meanwhile, employees went ahead with their one-day mass casual leave programme as no compromise could be struck with the authorities. A meeting of employee representatives is understood to have taken yesterday evening with senior functionaries, but to no avail. A massive rally was held on the lawns in front of the administrative block in which a majority of the staff members participated. Apart from non-teaching employee leaders, the rally was also addressed by student leaders of the Haryana Student Association. Sunder Pal, Surinder Singh Deshwal, Chand Singh and Sanjay Singh while condemning the university authorities and supporting the employees urged them to be more efficient while dealing with student related activities. The Panjab University Students’ Union at its general body meeting under Binder Singh, president, also extended its support to the employees’ demands. A delegation of Syndics led by Mr Kehar Singh met the Vice-Chancellor in this regard during the day. The Vice-Chancellor expressed his inability in accepting their demands due to paucity of funds. Talking to the TNS, Prof MM Puri said funds were not available to accept all their demands. In spite of constraints, the university had sanctioned different amounts for various categories of employees. Meanwhile, the Registrar’s notice has made a reference to a meeting of the Syndicate which some months ago expressed deep concern at "the growing indiscipline, frequent and illegal absenteeism by the employees, holding of rallies dharnas and taking out processions during office hours, leading to colossal loss of man hours besides sullying the image of the university". The university on revision of the grades for non-teaching employees paid them more than 50 per cent of the arrears before March 31 when no other university had done so, the notice says. Instead of accepting the goodwill gesture of the VC, the employees have "wantonly indulged in vilification, falsehood, intimidation and sabotage and intensified their unlawful activities". The non-teaching employees on their part said when the no-work, no-pay formula was not implemented for the teachers who were on strike, there was no justification in applying the formula for the non-teaching employees. Inaugurated: Mr Jagdish Sagar, Adviser to the Administrator, inaugurated a new building of the Regional Resource Centre for Adult and Continuing Education at Panjab University. The building has been constructed at a cost of Rs 10 lakh with scope for further expansion. He lamented that "our history courses do not educate our students the vital role played by literacy in Europe and other societies". It was a national scheme that literacy had not spread to the desired level in the country. Prof M.M. Puri, VC, said
as a first step all residents on the campus who were
denied access to education would be educated by the
resource centre. |
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