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| Friday,
January 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
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Confiscation by auto finance cos banned Chandigarh, January 16 The circular, in pretext of these guidelines issued by Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP, UT police, has come in wake of the orders issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court pertaining to a case No. (7637) of the year 1997 (S. Dhar versus State of UT Chandigarh). According to this latest circular, the finance companies would have to send a loan recall notice or prepossession notice asking the customers to pay back the full loan amount. After this, the leasing company has to approach the SSP, Chandigarh, and the police station concerned informing them about their intention to repossess the vehicle and have to give at least seven-day notice to enable proper dissemination of information to all concerned. The method of repossession has to be entirely peaceful. Repossession of the vehicle has to be taken when it is stationary and not when the vehicle is in motion by stopping the same and by physically forcing the occupants to come out. “Any such action will definitely come in purview of assault and criminal force”, states the circular. And prior to repossession, the repossessing agents of the creditor should have to involve two independent respectable persons of the area and it should be witnessed by them. After repossession, it has also been made mandatory to provide information about it in writing to the SSP and the police station concerned. A complete inventory of the articles lying in the vehicle should have to be made in the presence of the witness and have to be handed over to the owner. The repossesion agent or their employees who carry out the task should be notified by each finance company when the intimation about the intention to repossess is given. The police will carry out a verification check of their antecedents and will keep their record in the police station. No person other than the designated repossession person can go for physical repossession of the vehicle. The vehicle is to be deposited in the company’s premises for safe keeping with in 24 hours of the repossession. The loaning agency after repossession shall have to inform the customers regarding the facts of repossession mentioning the complete details of the outstanding amount. Through this notice the customer should be informed that in case the balance amount is not paid in specified time the company shall be free to dispose of the vehicle as deemed fit including sale through auction or otherwise. The police has also barred the finance companies that repossession cannot be carried out late at night or in the wee-hours. Mr Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had on May 29, last year ruled out forcible repossession of hypothecated items by creditors, without the intervention of court and ordered that its violation could involve commission of an offence.
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Ex-MLA’s son held on assault charges SAS Nagar, January 16 Yuvraj Singh and a friend of his, Vikram Singh, both residents of the township, have also been charged with assault and causing material damage. According to sources, the incident happened late last evening when the two had gone to a showroom in Phase VII last night to get a heater repaired. The shop's owner, Mr Harwinder Singh, who deals in sale of mobile telephones, owns an electrical repair shop in the basement where his son works. The two, according to sources, waited for a while and when the repair work could not be carried out immediately, lost patience and started shouting at the owner’s son and slapped him. When Harwinder Singh tried to stop the two, they started beating him up too. After which Yuvraj and Vikram broke the shop's chairs etc and left in a huff. The shopkeeper then complained to the police last night who registered a case against the two and arrested them. |
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Ad hoc docs for evening OPDs Chandigarh, January 16 Though the number of doctors, who will be appointed for the evening OPDs has not been specified, the interviews are scheduled for January 24. “With the PGI authorities failing to convince resident doctors to join the evening OPD duty, pressure is being mounted by the faculty, who have been forced to run the show alone, to find a way out to ease out the pressure on them,” remarked a senior faculty member. As expected, the number of patients at the evening OPDs has been increasing day by day. According to PGI officials, while the number of patients yesterday was 35, today the figure stood at 48, the highest number since the facility was introduced at the PGI on December 2, 2002. Under such circumstances the PGI was left with no other option but to appoint doctors specifically for the evening OPDs, if the show had to be kept running. According to a circular issued by the PGI today, house Physicians and Surgeons will be appointed on an ad hoc basis for a period of six months till June 30, this year. Apart from working in the departments, the services of the doctors will be used for screening cancer cases for an early detection and help in the running of the evening OPDs. Interestingly, the doctors will be recruited in nine departments, while the evening OPD facility is available only in six of them. The nine departments for which doctors will be appointed includes ophthalmology, paediatrics, ENT, gynaecology, medicine, general surgery, pulmonary medicine, pathology and gastroenterology. Even though the Health Ministry has granted permission to the PGI to appoint six assistant professors and 20 each of senior and junior residents, it can only be done during the next financial year. “Even though these appointments are not specifically for the evening OPDs, but it will definitely ease out the position,” said a senior doctor. It is probably for this reason that the house physicians and the surgeons are being appointed on an ad hoc basis for only six months duration, he added. As per the circular, the eligibility for being appointed is an MBBS degree, apart from one year’s internship. The doctors, have been offered a salary of Rs 13,451 and would be given hostel accommodation, depending on the availability. The number of doctors, who would be appointed, has, however, not been specified. Meanwhile, the Association of Resident Doctors, while being firm in their resolve of not joining the evening OPD duty, are planning to meet the Union Health Minister to apprise him of their problems. |
Fog blanket and deserted roads Chandigarh/Jagadhri, January 16 With large areas in the region being engulfed in fog for the past few days, vehicular movement has been severely affected. A drive along the Chandigarh-Ambala-Jagadhri-Naraingarh circuit in the wee hours of today revealed that there was hardly any traffic on the otherwise busy highways. Although the skies over Chandigarh were clear today, a light mist was encountered near Dappar, which turned into a thick blanket of fog near Lalru and prevailed till Ambala. Though visibility was near-zero, the only safety factor was that traffic was negligible. The few drivers, mostly cars and light vehicles, who were plying on that route, had to drive with the vehicle’s orange-coloured hazard-warning blinkers flashing. On the GT road which is known for the movement of heavy vehicles at night, just a couple of trucks or a long-route bus were encountered. “Truckers prefer to stopover at dhabas during the night to avoid driving in dangerous conditions,” Baljeet Singh, a truck driver said. “Only those who are in an emergency carry on,” he added. At one dhabha ahead of Lalru, this correspondent counted 18 trucks parked along the road. Narrow bridges on this route is another cause of concern, specially when cumbersome tractor-trolleys, with their load of fodder, grass or hay spilling out on either side, are coming from the opposite direction. “What makes driving at night in foggy conditions difficult is that at times, you are unable to make out even the edges of the road and you may end up driving diagonally across the lanes,” Tarsem Lal a taxi driver said. This way driving in morning even if it is foggy is a little better in the sense that at least you can keep to your lane,” he added. White lane markers painted on the roads at a few odd stretches proved extremely helpful while navigating in low visibility conditions in the dark. While it takes less than an hour to reach Ambala from Chandigarh during early morning when traffic is relatively lighter, during heavy fog it can take around two-and-a-half hours as drivers cannot speed up beyond 30 kmph. While the area around Ambala was less foggy and driving on from Baldev Nagar towards the city was easier because of a dual carriageway, it was once again driving through dense fog and near-zero visibility conditions. The traffic along this route too was very thin, with just a handful of sugarcane laden tractor-trolleys and trucks rumbling along. As far as heavy vehicle traffic is concerned, police officials said as per convention, truckers generally halt at about 10 pm for dinner and thereafter take a nap. “They now proceed only if the weather is clear,” a constable said. Even till 9 am, traffic on this route was sparse. Police officials enroute said because of low vehicular traffic, the accident rate at night has actually come down. With the exception of a broken down truck on the Dera Bassi overbridge and a trailer having veered off the road, the entire 200-odd kilometer circuit traversed by TNS was clear, with no sign of any accident. “Only two fog-related incidents were reported during the past week. Neither were serious,” Shamsher Singh, SHO of Chappar police Station near Jagadhri stated. Terming the Ambala-Jagadhri highway as a “mini GT Road” on account of the heavy traffic volume on this stretch, a police constable at a naka told TNS that traffic volume in the morning has come down to barely six to seven vehicles a minute. During the hours of darkness, vehicular movement is virtually nil, he added. Though the road from Jagadhri to Naraingarh was relatively fog-free and sunny, vehicular traffic was minimal, which perhaps indicated that there was dense fog elsewhere which was hampering traffic flow. The condition of the road leaves much to be desired. Along a kilometer-long stretch near Bilaspur village, piles of gravel, meant for road repair, were lined up along the road edge. Near Ambali village tracts along the roadside had been dug up as work to widen the road was underway. With no warning signs or markers, these proved a potential danger to drivers during low visibility conditions. |
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UT police loses jailbreak case
to ‘irregularities’
Chandigarh, January 16 Making strong observations about the way the UT police went about publicising its self-proclaimed success at thwarting the jailbreak attempt, the Judge had clearly mentioned in the judgment: “The police officers were much interested in getting wide publicity of the case in print media and not in the proper investigation of the case. The police officers, by opening the seals of the explosive substance recovered, before the press people or keeping the explosive substance without seal for long time have weakened the case of the prosecution.” The court further observed,”It appears that the investigating agency tried to make it a big mountain of a little hole. The police officers were so much interested in publicity of this case in print and electronic media within hours that after alleged recovery of the RDX they called a press conference in Chandigarh, opened the seals of the parcels containing the RDX to show the explosive material recovered to the correspondents.” Taking serious view the Judge observed, “I feel seals of the parcels containing case property should not have been kept open for such a long time to show the case property to the press people.” Such crisp observations raised doubts about the credibility of the police personnel investigating the sensitive matter. The court further observed that serious lapses were made in investigation done by the UT police in Model Burail jail conspiracy case and also tampering with the evidence. The Judge had made further observations about the missing amount of explosives from the case property recovered by the UT police from various places. Whereas it had claimed that on June 11, 1998, about 2 kg 800 gm RDX was recovered after the arrest of accused Satnam Singh. The prosecution had claimed that two samples of 100 gm each were taken from the explosive substance recovered from a place in front of the Burail jail gate. And two more samples of 100 gm each were taken from the explosive recovered from Satnam Singh’s house. The prosecution case, however, fell to pieces in view of the report submitted by the Director, CFSL, who reported that the two samples recovered from jail weighed 50 gm and 52 gm, respectively, (as against a total of 200 gm, as claimed by the prosecution) and the two samples recovered from Satnam’s house weighed 106 gm (as against the claimed 200 gm). When the samples were received in the office of the Director, CFSL, the police had no explanation regarding large reduction in the amount of the explosives. Another issue that went against the prosecution pertained to the date of arrest of Satnam Singh. Mr D.S Rajput, one of accused acquitted in the jailbreak case, had moved the High Court, requesting for an inquiry into the matter of date of Satnam’s arrest. He had stated that Satnam had actually been arrested on June 8, 1998 and not on June 11, as shown by the UT police. Interestingly, whereas UT SSP (Operations) Asad Farooqi had submitted his inquiry report to the court (which brought the very occurrence of the incident under cloud) in this matter, another departmental inquiry report prepared by Mr B.D. Bector (DSP) was not submitted in the court by the prosecution that had kept the report pending for recording of defence evidence for more than two years. The Judge had observed,”It clearly appears that the prosecution made all possible efforts to avoid production of the inquiry report before the court. It was found that the report of the inquiry conducted by Mr Bector was not available in the record or anywhere in the police department and the same cannot be produced in the defence.”  |
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Four youths rounded up, drugs seized Chandigarh, January 16 Mr K.K Sharma, a resident of the complex, claimed that he had caught a thief in the evening today and a mob had gathered at the spot. Meanwhile, three other youths also reached the spot. The police was also called. It is being said some “schedule- H”drugs were found from the car being driven by one of the above youths. No senior police official could be contacted for comments. A group led by Mr Girish Kumar
Gulati, Mr Y.P Sharma and Mr S.K Sharma,all residents of the complex, alleged that there had been numerous thefts in the area and there were being committed by drug addicts. ‘‘The four youths have been rounded up and drugs recovered from them. We demand that the police should investigate the matter’’, said Mr
Gulati. On the other hand Mr K.K Sharma claimed that the three youths have nothing to do with the thief who was caught by him. He alleged that the mob had assaulted a friend of his son in this connection. By the time of filing of this report, no case was registered. |
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Laughter Club opens Panchkula, January 16 Dr Madan Kataria, world-famous laughter doctor from Mumbai, and his wife, Madhuri, inaugurated the club and taught their members yoga-related exercises. The members were taught the different ways of laughing which would relieve them of tensions and worries reducing the incidence of diseases. The laughing exercises, which lasted over one hour, had each one in splits with sounds of laughter reverberating in the entire surroundings of Sector 12. Dr Kataria said that he had started the first laughter club in Mumbai in 1995 which had now spread across all continents and there were 1,300 clubs in India and 700 abroad. |
Cop sent to Police Lines for ‘assaulting’ lawyer Chandigarh, January 16 The action was taken after the Deputy Superintendent of Police, (Central), Mr S. S. Randhawa, submitted his report about the incident to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Gaurav Yadav. While the lawyer had accused the investigating officer in the Burail Jail break case, SI Chandel, of thrashing him, the latter had charged the lawyer of obstructing him in his official duty. Staff on the PCR vehicle and the Sector 24 police post reportedly confirmed in the enquiry that the advocate had been thrashed. The alleged incident occurred when Mr Walia stopped his scooter on the road after he saw a crowd and cops around a Ford Ikon. The driver of the car, a girl, was said to be weeping and the SI was issuing a challan. An altercation took place between the two, followed by the alleged assault. ‘‘Being a lawyer and activist of a human rights body, I offered help to the girl, but the SI objected to it,” Mr Walia told Chandigarh Tribune. According to him, the SI slapped him and bundled him into a police gypsy and took him to the police post of Sector 24. ‘‘The SI also assaulted me at the police post,” alleged Mr Walia. On the other hand, SI Chandel accused Mr Walia of obstructing him in carrying out his official duty. The investigations revealed that the police control room (PCR) had got a call that some objectionable activity was going in a black coloured Ford Ikon, near a Sector 28 convent school. When a PCR motor cycle reached the spot, the driver of the car fled in the vehicle. After a hot chase, when the car was not intercepted, the PCR staff informed the PCR. The Ford Ikon was finally intercepted at the Batra roundabout and the Sector 39 police station was informed about it. The duty officer at the Sector 39 police station reached the spot on a call given by the PCR. The SI was looking into the matter when Mr Walia happened to stop at the spot on his way home, and the alleged incidents occurred. Meanwhile, lawyers in local courts abstained from work in protest against the incident of assault on Mr Walia. A delegation of the District Bar Association, led by its president, Mr N.K. Kapil, met the SSP. The SSP assured them of strict action against the
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Admn unable to implement
biotech policy, Chandigarh, January 16 Senior officials claimed that since funds worth crores of rupees were required for the required facilities, the Administration was dependent upon the allocation of funds from the Central Government, likely to be announced in the next Budget. Mr Vivek Atray, Director, Science and Technology, and one of the architects of the policy admitted that the Administration had not kept any funds in the current Budget to build the facilities. “However, we have been assured by the Ministry of Biotechnology that the required funds would be allocated in the next Budget. We are hopeful to set up biotechnology incubator facility at the pre-allocated land, in the coming months, with the financial assistance from the Centre and the industry,” he said. He said after signing an agreement with the Infosys for setting up an IT park at Kishangarh, the Administration was making efforts to attract leading biotech companies to set up their units in the city. A beginning had been made by announcing the policy document, prepared in collaboration with the industry and academic institutions. The Ministry of Biotechnology had also approved the policy and would soon allocate funds, he said. Dr R.P. Bajpai, Director, Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, said, the Administration had make great efforts to prepare the policy document, but investors would invest on a large scale only if they were provided with ready-to-work infrastructure. “Apart from skilled manpower and other facility, the industry also wants integrated approach to tap the potential,” he said. He agreed there was a great scope for the city to emerge as a major biotech centre in the country. The CSIO was also involved in various biotech projects in collaboration with the industry, especially in the area of bioinformatics and other branches. However, there was a need to develop the sector in collaboration with the industry. The industry insiders, however, claimed that though Ranbaxy, Indo-Swift and Morepan groups had been consulted in the preparation of the blue print, the Administration would have to initially invest a large amount itself to build up infrastructure, marketing the city as a major biotech investment destination. They said that apart from depending upon the limited scope of the Central assistance, it should explore the scope of joint ventures, through bonds and by taking loans from some financial institution, if it was serious about the implementation of the project. Till now, disclosed a senior official, the Administration had not even prepared a data-base of the much talked about skilled manpower, on which it was banking to attract the industry. |
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Campaigning reaches crescendo
Panchkula, January 16 The day saw a number of election meetings and rallies being organised by candidates as last minute preparations for seeking the support of the electorate in their favour. A car rally was taken out by supporters of Ms Jagdamba Gupta, BJP candidate from Ward 5. A cavalcade of 50 cars went about in Sector 8, asking the people to vote in her favour. Similarly, in Ward 9, a meeting was held in favour of the INLD supported candidate, Mr Mahesh Chawla, today. The meeting was addressed by Mr Subhash Goyal, Minister of State for Urban Development. Car rallies were also organised in favour of Mr B.B. Kochchar in Ward 3 and Mr J.S. Shangari in Ward 25 today. In Ward 26, a meeting was held in the favour of the BJP candidate, Mr Surinder Kaushik. This meeting was addressed by Members of Parliament, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria and Mr K.S. Sangwan, besides others. He has promised better civic amenities, development of green belts and finding a solution to the Congress grass menace. In Ward 18, Ms Saroj Kumari, said she had completed her door-to-door canvassing. She said she would ensure better streetlights, parks and would solve the stray cattle menace. She has also promised better civic amenities in Bundi and Fatehpur villages. In the same ward, Ms Neelam Soni, BJP candidate, said she was getting a positive response from the people. She, too, has promised better civic amenities for the two villages, abolition of fire tax and rationalisation of other taxes. In Ward 19, Mr S.C. Chaddha, BJP candidate, said he would get a community centre and a dispensary built in the ward, improve the condition of internal roads and strive for better sanitation, water supply and beautification of the nullah. In Ward 27, Mr H.L. Ratta, an ex-serviceman and social worker, visited door-to-door in Sector 2 and the old Gurukul area. He has promised to work for the uplift of the ward. He has promised better civic amenities, streetlights, water supply, sanitation and development of green belt in the area. In Ward 28, Ms Anita Devi has promised better water and power supply, sanitation, regular removal of garbage in Kharag Mangoli village and Old Gurukul. She has also promised to reduce taxes imposed by the Municipal Council. In Ward 6, Mr Kuljit Singh, an independent candidate has said he was getting a good response from the voters and promised to get the nullah passing through the ward covered, getting a dispensary and community centre for the ward and improving the condition of internal roads in Sectors 17 and 18. The state election commission has issued orders regarding changing the location of two polling booths in Ward No. 4 from Sector 6 Government Senior Secondary School to Sector 6 Government Senior Secondary School. The orders have been issued following a representation to the authorities by the candidates in this ward , pleading that the booths for voters of Sector 6 were located at a considerable distance and would affect the voter turnout. |
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Miraculous escape for cyclist Chandigarh, January 16 The Maruti Esteem car (Hr-260-C-1400) was being driven by Vivek Kumar, a student of BSc (computer technology) here. An eyewitness said two occupants of the car, including a girl, had a tiff as a result of which the driver lost control over the vehicle and it rammed into the stationary bicycle before hitting a parked Toyota Qualis (PB-12-E-6407) in front of the office of a magazine, Spokesman. The impact of the collision was such that the front portion of Esteem car was badly damaged and the Qualis also suffered damaged. The driver of the car, who reportedly suffered minor injuries, fled from the spot and girl occupant left on a rickshaw. The police, however, took in possession the driving licence of Vivek Kumar. The licence was registered in Ellanabad in Haryana. The bicycle had been parked along the road by a cop of the Punjab police, Sucha Singh, who had borrowed it from his colleague. Till the filing of this report, no case had been registered as the owner of the Qualis was yet to file a complaint. TNS |
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Defence brotherhood to have ‘think tank’ Chandigarh, January 16 The “think tank” would comprise of senior retired persons and intellectuals of repute to “generate ideas, and provide inspiration and guidance”. It will be followed by two parallel committees. A coordination committee would then synthesise. This committee will further have several cells to deal with ex-servicemen’s problems. So far, Lieut-Gen H.R.S. Mann, Air Marshal P K Jain and Air Marshal B S Basra have agreed to be included in the “think tank”. Formation of various other committees is under progress. |
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ULTA
PULTA HAPPY
birthday Mayawatiji! Please accept my belated heartiest congratulations on your birthday. I am late by a day or so in wishing you because my “Ulta Pulta” column appears on Fridays. If I can misuse this Tribune column for sending you my personal greetings, how can you be blamed by celebrating it on a lavish scale! You are a Chief Minister. In fact, you are the only Chief Minister who has realised and utilised your proper powers so far. Once a beggar stopped me in the street and started asking, “Baba bhooka hai! Baba ko dus rupiya do...!” “Generally beggars request for 50 paisa or one rupee. You are shamelessly asking for ten rupees. Is anything wrong with you?” He told me with a smile, “Today’s my birthday, sir. Bhooka baba cake khayega!” If a beggar with no resources can have a ambition of celebrating his birthday why not a chief minister of a state with no funds. A beggar cannot force you for his birthday funds but a CM can. Because a CM has strong police and bureaucratic support. In fact, a Chief Minister should be entitled to celebrate his or her birthday thrice in a year. The first birthday should be celebrated for collecting personal gifts, the second for raising party funds and the third birthday for contribution to the state exchequer for day-to-day ‘chaipani’. Mayawati is so honest, that she clearly indicated on her 47th birthday that she preferred cash. In spite of that people came with big boxes wrapped in colourful paper. All those who came with cheap gifts of less than one lakh worth should be put under scrutiny and should be made to realise that they have no right to offer cake to our beloved Chief Minister. |
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BJP’s manifesto Panchkula, January 16 This was stated by the state leaders led by Mr Atam Prakash Manchanda, senior vice-president of the state unit of the BJP, while releasing the poll manifesto in the party office this morning. |
One held on charge of robbery SAS Nagar, January 16 According to the police, Arvind Kumar had on January 13, robbed the said amount from a grocery shop in Sohana and a case was registered on complaint of the shop owner. Challan issued Singer challaned 5 held CHANDIGARH Mishap victim dead Held Injured Eve-teaser arrested Stolen |
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