Chandigarh, October 16
Mr Justice Amar Dutt of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will hear the matter relating to the Chandigarh Club at 9 am tomorrow. The hearing will take place before the scheduled counting of votes that starts at 10 a.m.

This development has come about after a member of the Chandigarh Club, Mr Rajeev Kwatra, today moved an application in the court seeking a stay on the order of the Company Law Board, which had ordered the counting of votes for the elections held on April 3, should be held on October 17. The counting had been stayed since April.

Mr Kawatra today approached the court asking for the constitution of the special Division Bench to give a hearing on the application seeking stay on the Company Law Board order. Yesterday, the board had okayed the counting of votes, however, it had ruled that the results of candidates, who won with less than 10 per cent margin, would be withheld till a decision is taken on November 4 when the case would come up for the final hearing.

In his application, Mr Kwatra prayed that a stay should be granted on the interim order as it would render the main appeal before the Company Law Board as infructuous when it would come up for hearing on November 4.

Certain members of the club had petitioned the Company Law Board saying 461 members were not among the ceiling of 5,000 life or permanent members, who were eligible to vote as per the Article of Association of the Chandigarh Club. They had claimed these persons had been made members on old membership numbers to make them eligible. This, they had alleged, was illegal.

Wrong membership to 461 persons had been substantiated by a committee by the Company Law Board to look into the matter which submitted a report before the board on September 27.

The Chief Justice of the high court, Mr Justice B.K. Roy, acting on the petition of Mr Kwatra, authorised a single Judge Bench of Mr Justice Dutt to hear the matter as a special case in the interest of justice.

The Bench will only hear the matter with regards to stay and not touch upon any other aspect of the case.

Chandigarh, October 16
Panjab University will conduct a time-bound inquiry into the bungling of funds of the Sports Department. The inquiry, to be headed by a retired judge or bureaucrat, would be based on the preliminary enquiry report that has indicted former Director, Sports, Dr Ajmer Singh, Deputy Director Kewal Singh and Mr Gurpal Singh for alleged bungling.

At today's Syndicate meeting, it was decided that 2-3 months’ time would be allowed for the completion of the inquiry. The members also gave their nod to the suspension of Mr Kewal Singh and Mr Gurpal Singh.

The inquiry report, submitted by Mr H.L. Sharma, former Registrar, PU, costing the university nearly Rs 1.91 lakh, had pointed out that the financial bunglings were carried out by way of sanctioning funds for camps that were never held and the refreshment bills of the department ran into lakhs.

Chandigarh, October 16
A 25-year-old student of Shri Guru Gobind Singh College for Boys, Sector 26, died of heart attack this morning. He was found unconscious in his hostel room by his room-mate and was immediately rushed to General Hospital, Sector 16, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Maha Singh was a student of B.A. final year and was a resident of Baknor village in Ambala district. He was the only son of his parents.

When his room-mates were getting ready for their classes this morning, he was reading a newspaper on the bed. They left him in the room assuming that he did not want to attend the class. They left the room at 8.30 a.m. One of his room-mates came back to his room at around 9.30 a.m., to take a book. He saw Maha Singh lying unconscious on the bed. The hostel authorities took him to the hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead, the police said.

Maha Singh was not keeping well ever since he met with an accident in which he had received serious head injuries. He had remained in a coma for sometime after the accident. He had undergone treatment at Apollo Hospital in Delhi and at PGI, Chandigarh and at General Hospital, Sector 16.

Due to the injury, he used to have occasional fits and used to sit motionless for 15 to 20 minutes during the attacks. Today he had a severe attack which left him unconscious, his parents told the police.

His parents took away the body to their village this afternoon without a post-mortem examination. The police has initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC in Sector 26, police station.

According to his teachers he had quit studies two years ago due to the accident. He joined college this year to resume his studies. He was good in academic and sports activities.

Chandigarh, October 16
Cross cultural psychologist and therapist Dr Janet Levaltey is helping the world to be at peace with itself.

Long involved with the people from war-ravaged zones, including Ethiopia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, Dr Levaltey specialises in designing early childhood development programmes. Her best achievement, however, is the development of peace curriculum for women, teachers and children of strife-torn areas across the world.

Presently Chairperson, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the A merican National College, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Dr Levaltey is studying the "feeling of learnt helplessness" among people of war hit areas.

As an expert in peace and consciousness training she is most interested in the trauma of these people and in how it reshapes as hope in certain situations.

In Chandigarh to attend a writers' meet beginning tomorrow, Dr Levaltey talked to The Tribune about her peace curriculum and also the psychological concept of "learnt helplessness", which she is now studying, her location being Vanni, Vavvnia and the LTTE controlled Killinochichi.

For the past two years, she has been holding peace curriculum training workshops for children of these areas. And her main research base constitutes the illustrations which she gets whenever she asks children and women of these zones to paint memories of their past.

"I have come across the most brutal images.

There was one in which a child was struggling to rescue his mother hanging from a tree; another in which a child voices his helplessness by showing a burning home. These past experiences form a vital part of our "learnt helplessness". It means stories with which we run our lives. If they are brutal, we treat the world as unsafe.

Her peace curriculum is being lapped up as it helps intellectual development by impacting all four important stages of cognitive development, as explained by Jean Piaget. Her model helps people to organise their thoughts and experiences through sense as movement; through imagination; through logic of what they see and touch and through abstract logic.

Dr Levaltey bases her model extensively on the Tibetan Buddhist perspective of child development which considers development as a spiral and not a circle.

NO wonder Dr Levaltey uses the Buddhist method of instructing people the most.

"When I instruct, I don't tell people that I am full and they are empty. I tell them we are all full and let us realise what we already know.

That war is a result of pushing things into shadows and unless we face our shadows we can't fight war," says the therapist, who has also authored "The Naga's Child", a famous book on Shamanism.

About peace, she says it can never be legislated.

Chandigarh, October 16
The General Court Martial (GCM) trying Col Anil Sahgal for professional impropriety in the Tehelka case today failed to make any headway as the prime prosecution witness, Mathew Samuel, sought time to refresh his memory about facts of the case before answering questions.

The GCM was repeatedly adjourned as the prosecution pleaded that the witness required some time to brush up his memory about certain specifics of the case as about four years had lapsed since the incident took place.

The court observed that the witness was required to go through voluminous records and several video tapes, besides collecting some evidence from the Phukan Commission of Inquiry and fixed October 25 as the next date of hearing.

Samuel is a significant witness as he had physically executed the sting operation, video taping politicians, bureaucrats and army officers through hidden cameras demanding and accepting bribes.

Earlier, on being asked by prosecution counsel Arvind Moudgil about the sequence of events leading up to the expose, Samuel said that he had known a low-level Defence Ministry staffer, P. Shashi. Shashi arranged their meetings with his boss, Colonel Sahgal. Samuel said that he met Colonel Sahgal at his residence and gave him a token bribe of Rs 20,000.

Samuel also said that Colonel Sahgal had asked him to arrange women and had come to Hotel Park along with Shashi, where he had consumed liquor and chosen one of the girls to take to another room where a briefcase camera had been placed.

The court also saw heated arguments between the defence and the prosecution after the defence counsel, Maj K. Ramesh, raised objections over the witness’s statement that Colonel Sahgal had “chosen one of the girls for sexual intercourse”.

The defence’s contention was that though Samuel was correct in saying that Sahgal had chosen one of the girls, he could not attribute a motive for it as it was hearsay.

Chandigarh, October 16
Two persons were caught red-handed while stealing, according to a press note released here today.

Jagmail Singh, a peon working at Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, reported to the police that he caught Asha and Baby, both residents of Sector 25, while stealing iron grills from the bhavan yesterday.

A case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 17 police station.

Chandigarh, October 16
Writers and social activists from different parts of the world arrived in the city today to take part in the World Writers' Festival beginning tomorrow. Being held to discuss the relevance of literature to world peace, the festival will begin with a session on the "Indian tradition of "vasudhaiv kutumbkam."

Enthused to be in India, writers from Nigeria, Lithuania and Sri Lanka said literature could have a great bearing on world peace provided the world was prepared to heed. Jurga Jvanausleaite from Lithuania, who has authored three books on the Tibetan settlements in the world, said the world spirit had been scarred due to wars. "Words are great healers. We, as writers, must voice the concern for peace so that the glory of the world is restored. I don't call myself a writer anyway. I am a spiritual worker in the world of God, and writing is my obligation," said the writer who is also an illustrator for children's books in addition to a screenplay writer for films.

Speaking about his concern as a member of the West African fraternity, Olalere Oladitan, a professor of French at the University of Nigeria said "I have been studying the projections of violence in world literature. I have also done a research on writers who were killed in peace locations. After studying the entire issue, I have been advocating the need of using words that can fight peace. I wonder why politician are least concerned about bringing an end to war, and also why peace is always ignored in the name of peace." Also present was Dr Janet Levaltey from Sri Lanka who has been working with the children of war-affected areas in Sri Lanka which she says is "allegedly at peace because there is no overt violence."

Representing India in the festival will be many writers including the Roma scholar Mr Janardan Pathania from Jammu, who stressed the need to preserve Romani language which is the only "prakrat" (natural) language left in the world. Also present was a famous Oriya writer Gayatri Saraf who has written various novels, besides collections of poems and short stories.

She has also got one of her anthologies translated in English to share her concerns with the visiting writers.

Celebrated English poet and writer Dr K. Balachandran, professor of English at Annamalai University, will also recite his poetry during the festival. His poetry anthology "For a Future and Heart's Chair" is much regarded in literary circles. About it, Sri K.R. Srinivasa had written, "It reveals lively sensibility and fair command over the so called alien language". Dr Balachandran also has to his credit translations of works in world literature.

Also present as delegates to the festival are foreign students who are currently studying Hindi at Kendriya Hindi Sansthan in Delhi. The students hail from Kazakhastan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Romania and Sri Lanka. The festival which is being organized jointly by India Inter-Continental Cultural Association and the Writers Club will begin at Musafir auditorium in Sector 24 at 11 am tomorrow. The MP, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, will inaugurate it.

Mohali, October 16
Eighteen couples, belonging to the economically weaker section, tied nuptial knots at a mass marriage ceremony organised by the Punjabi Cultural and Welfare Society here today.

While the marriage ceremony of 15 couples was performed according to Sikh rites at Shri Guru Ravidass Bhavan in Phase VII, marriage of three couples was performed at Sanatan Dharam Mandir according to Hindu ceremony.

The newly married couples were given gift items worth about Rs 30,000 each which included items like folding beds, fans, sewing machines, utensils, clothes.

Most of the girls who were married off today belonged to Ropar, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana districts. Three girls belonged to Haryana, while one was from Himachal Pradesh.

Ms Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha, OSD to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr M.L. Sharma, SDM, and Mr Kulwant Singh, president of the local municipal council, blessed the newly weds.

Chandigarh, October 16
The motor cycle-cum-mountaineering expedition launched by the Third Battalion of the Fifth Gorkha Rifles concluded here today, with the team handing over the expedition flag to General Officer Commanding Chetak Corps, Lieut-Gen O.P. Nandrajog.

The battalion had started the expedition on September 29 as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Battle Honour Tiddim, conferred on it during the Second World War.

The motor cycle leg of the expedition passed through Pandoh and reached Palchan in Himachal Pradesh on September 30.

Chandigarh, October 16
British Army’s Chief of General Staff, Gen Sir Mike Jackson, will visit Headquarters Western Command, Chandimandir, on October 20.

He will be accompanied by his wife, Sarah and British military attache to India.

General Jackson will be briefed by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Lieut-Gen J.J. Singh, on various security and military issues. 

Chandigarh, October 16
Ex-servicemen today flayed the Central Government for ignoring their genuine demands.

These include removal of the requirement of 33 years service to get full pension, "one rank, one pension", the removal of anomalies in disability pension and the alteral induction of early retirees in other government departments.

President of the Chandigarh Chapter of the Indian Ex-Services League (IESL), Brig Sant Singh (Retd), said though these demands had been discussed threadbare by many committees, yet another committee of bureaucrats had been appointed which was nothing but a delaying tactic.

Meanwhile, in the triennial elections held during the annual general body meeting of the IESL, Brig Sant Singh was elected president. Col Malkiat Singh (retd) and Sub Maj Ram Kumar (retd) were elected senior vice-president and vice-president and Havildar Dilbara Singh was elected treasurer. Major Prem Singh (retd), Lieut-Col Birbal Sharma (retd) and Lieut-Col Gurdial Singh (retd) were elected secretary, secretary (publicity) and joint secretary, respectively.

Chandigarh, October 16
Mr K.M. Prashant and Mr Manish Jain of NTPC team picked up the Chandigarh Corporate Challenge Trophy at XQUIZIT — 2004 held at Rock Garden this evening.

The NTPC team scored 650 points to win the challenge, with the first runners up team from the Oriental Bank of Commerce scoring 305, Net Solutions team with 300 points was the second runners up while the Master Insurance Brokers team came fourth with 250 points.

The Oriental Bank team with Mr Manish Sinha and Mr Vivek had scored 80 points in the semi-finals while the NTPC had entered the finals after scoring 95 points.

Ishita Chaudhry and Maninder Bains of Net Solutions gave a tough fight and were defeated by just five points in the finals.

Organised by the Society for the Promotion of Information Technology in Chandigarh (SPIC), 31 teams entered the XQUIZIT — 2004 which also included: Quark Media, Infosys, Ranbaxy, Kamla Dials, IDS Infotech, Larsen & Toubro, BEBO, HDFC Bank, Gates India, Panjab National Bank, Top Careers & You, Net Solutions, Delta Infomatics, Meenakshi Computers, etc.

After a preliminary written round, eight teams qualified for the semi-finals which included two teams from Quark Media, Net Solutions, Oriental Bank of Commerce, BEBO Technoklogies, Master Insurance Brokers, Panjab National Bank, and NTPC.

Mr Karan A. Singh, Finance Secretary, UT Administration, was the chief guest. He gave away the prizes to the winners, while Mr Vivek Atray, CEO of SPIC, thanked the participants as well as audience for their enthusiastic.

Chitranjan Agarwal, the winner of ESPN Corporate Challenge and a finalist on Master Mind India show, conducted the quiz using his special quiz software with an interesting as well as entertaining rounds punctuated with audio clips and visuals.

The winners received gift hampers, including air-tickets, holiday packages, watches. The audience participated enthusiastically and won CDs and chocolates from the quiz master.

The Tribune was the media sponsor of the quiz.

Cop found guilty of misconduct
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 16
A Head Constable of Sector 26 police station, Prithi Singh, has been found guilty of using excessive force against a physically challenged person, who had come to the police station to inspect a car.

A preliminary inquiry conducted by the Deputy Superintendent of Police (East), Mr Vijay Pal Singh found the cop guilty. The incident had occurred on October 6 when, Mr Sadharath Singh, who is a Manager with Punjab and Sind Bank, came to check the car put up for auction.

Taking action on the inquiry report submitted by the DSP (East), Mr Vijaypal Singh, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Mr Gaurav Yadav, today issued orders to transfer the Head Constable to the police lines and restrain him from any kind of public dealing for a year. The SSP also ordered a regular departmental inquiry against the guilty policeman.

The inquiry was ordered following the reports which appeared in the media highlighting the incident. A resident of Sector 18, Mr Sadharath Singh, went to see an unclaimed Mercedes car at the police station along with his mechanic.

Mr Sadharath Singh alleged that when he was inspecting the vehicle, Pirthi Singh came and dragged him away. He said the cop also beat him up along with his associates and termed him a thief. He was not even allowed to show his identity card. He, along with his mechanic, was lodged in the police lock-up. They were released only after getting a written apology from them.

Chandigarh, October 16
It was a day of introspection for the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) top brass. Long-used to criticism from subscribers and the media for poor services, top BSNL officials were virtually at the receiving end as the nigam staff narrated operational difficulties in the face of stiff competition from the private telecom operators, here today.

The staff did not mince words as they picked holes in the working of various departments, which put them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis other telecom players. Despite having the best infrastructure in the country, the BSNL lagged behind in its customer care services and marketing, the staff concerned complained.

Mr Rajiv Budhiraja, SDO (Mobile), rued the fact that the communication among various wings of the nigam was ‘very poor’ and it took days for the decisions to reach the field-level officials. The customer care centres should have the Internet facility so that various tariff changes and policy decisions could be communicated to the staff immediately, he said.

Another employee of the Mohali exchange alleged that the revenue-generating pre-paid 123 recharge service developed technical snags at regular intervals and the field staff was kept in the dark about it. This resulted in the field staff facing the ire of mobile subscribers, he added.

Informing that the commissioning of new software — Dotsoft — has improved several customer services, Mr Rahul Johri, said the process to interlink the Chandigarh through the Intranet had been set in motion.

Mr Rajiv Singhal, Commercial Officer, Value-Added Services, regretted that the marketing continued to be a weak point of the BSNL.

On his part, Mr Sanjay Aggarwal, Deputy General Manager, conceded that the BSNL needed to work on its customer care services.

Mr G.S. Bhatia, Chief General Manager of the Punjab circle, was the chief guest. He assured the staff that their operational difficulties would be taken care of before the next meeting, which would be held every second Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mr Anil Kumar, Junior Telecom Officer, Mr R.K. Tuli, Account Officer, Mr T.R. Kotha, Divisional Engineer (Phones), were awarded the “Sanchar Sewa Padak” by Mr Bhatia for meritorious services.

Mr Pritam Chand, Phone Mechanic, Ms Rekha Rani, Telephone Supervisor (Operative), and Ms Usha Saini, PA Grade-I, were given the “Sanchar Sarthi” awards. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 11,000, a memento and a certificate of merit.