Ludhiana, December 8
Two tricksters posing as employees with the district courts have scripted a unique fraud. They recruited a number of unemployed youths as “pyadaas” (process server in courts), making them travel as they served summons on fake persons.

Cooling their heels in police custody, Balbir Singh and Malkit Singh took thousands of rupees as bribe for the fake posts and issued recruitment letters and identity cards in the name of a fake judge.

The youths, a majority of whom had not even passed class V examinations, were unmindful of the fraud. The accused knew the summons would never be served since the addresses were fake and they would “fire” the youths for non-performance.

The fraud which has left the police and the judiciary bewildered, was exposed by a team led by DSP Ravcharan Singh Brar and the SHO Model Town, Mr Rajesh Kumar.

The DSP told mediapersons that the victims were poor and had arranged Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 each as bribe to get the jobs. They had also taken loans from friends to arrange for the money, hoping to repay the debt once they got the job.

So far, eight victims had come up with complaints to the police regarding the fraud. It was likely that many more youths would come up. The DSP said the accused had revealed that they were in the process of recruiting more youths to take the place of the victims once they were fired.

The accused used to call the “pyadas” daily in the morning and evening at the district courts or sometimes at Chattar Singh Park for attendance. They were asked to report about the day’s work.

The victims first suspected there was something amiss when none of them was able to serve even a single summon. The accused then committed a mistake of recruiting Vakeel Singh who had passed his BA II examinations.

He said the ID-cards issued to them bore the signatures of a Hindu judge while the accused had told him that he was a Sikh. He then verified it from the gunman of a judge and informed the police. The police investigated the matter and caught the accused in Chattar Singh Park.

Vakeel Singh said his parents were poor and he had no money to pay Rs 9,000 to the accused. He arranged the money from his friends and took loan.

Balbir Singh was earlier arrested on the charges of smuggling poppy husk while Malkiat Singh who posed as senior Reader with a district judge was matriculate. His antecedents were being verified.

The DSP said there was no involvement of any employee of the district court in the fraud.

Ludhiana, December 8
In a blatant violation of land use norms and building bylaws, residential complex comprising HIG flats on the Maharani Jhansi Road near the Ghumar Mandi area in the city, has virtually turned into a thriving commercial centre as the Improvement Trust officials appear to have closed their eyes to the unlawful activity.

The location of flats, almost on the entry point of commercial centre of Ghumar Mandi, being of prime commercial importance, owners of the flats either themselves or through their tenants, have converted the residential portion of the rear side of these flats into shops selling all kinds of merchandise and services.

As per the original site plan, the main entry of these multi-storey deluxe flats was through several bylanes from Maharani Jhansi Road, Mall Road and Ferozepore Road while small service entry to each block of flats was also available from the Maharani Jhansi Road side. The Trust, which had developed the complex, had made it clear to buyers that in no case, the residential complex would be put to commercial use.

However, in scant disregard to the provisions made in the sale agreement and the building bylaws, almost each flat on the ground floor has a shop carved out of portions, which were meant to be bedrooms or drawing rooms.

According to Mr Vinod Thapar, a resident, the commercial exploitation of the residential flats has virtually become a nuisance for other residents by way of indiscriminate parking of vehicles in front of the flats and people visiting the area for shopping purpose. At times, it becomes difficult for other residents to enter their own flats since the entry gates were barred by vehicles.

An official of the Improvement Trust, while confirming that the commercial exploitation of flats was against the rules pertaining to land use and provisions of the sale agreement, said a proposal of the trust for authorising partial or full commercial use of the flats on payment of change of land use charges at the rate of Rs 1,000 per square yard, was turned down by the state government.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 8
Two families of Sihar village have sought the intervention of Sikh organisations as they are being “isolated” by residents of the village.

The villagers had not only boycotted the marriage ceremonies of their wards but also humiliated them by destroying the invitation cards of their marriage publicly and stopping the granthi of the village gurdwara from performing Anand Karaj at the marriage.

The development of the present state of affairs was told to be due to the ongoing factionalism among supporters of two factions of Sri Nanaksar Thath led by Baba Mann Singh and Baba Harnek Singh and partially due to political factionalism. Fearing their own social boycott as threatened by leaders, majority of the villagers abstained from the functions organised by these two families. Meanwhile the village panchayat admitted that a part of the village population had boycotted the functions of the families but panchayat had played no role in the episode.

Ms Amarjit Kaur, a resident of Lodhi Patti, had to face the humiliation, tension and physical harassment when she disposed of her land to a supporter of Baba Harnek Singh, chief of the Nanaksar Ashram Thath.

Narrating the events, Ms Amarjit Kaur alleged that supporters of Baba Mann Singh had not only instigated the innocent villagers to boycott the marriage of her daughter but also stopped the granthi of the village gurdwara from performing Anand Karaj.

She had invited all residents of Lodhi Patti and almost all residents of the village, including sarpanch and panchayat members, to the marriage of her daughter.

She expected support from her native village. Contrary to her expectations, the villagers proved non-cooperative at the time of her daughter’s marriage.

“Instead of sharing my responsibility, the leaders of the village instigated the innocent villagers to boycott my family and threatened me of dire consequences in case the marriage was solemnised at the village. The granthi of the village gurdwara told us that he would not perform the ceremony as he had been stopped by the management of the religious place. They were not allowed to use the premises of the village gurdwara,” stated Ms Amarjit Kaur.

Not only the villagers boycotted the celebrations but also they destroyed the invitation cards publicly at the village bus stand, added Ms Amarjit Kaur.

Apprehending danger to their life and property and those of baratis, the family had to make the arrangements of the marriage near Karamsar village.

She accused one of her neighbours of abetting the people the move as she had refused to sell a piece of land to him. “I had kept this piece of land for the purpose of marriage of my daughter, and I was free to sell to someone who could give me more prices,” argued the widow. She had disposed of this land to an industrialist of Ludhiana who happened to be a supporter of Baba Harnek Singh. This decision was not liked by supporters of Baba Mann Singh who later impressed on the villagers to observe a boycott of the family.

Mr Darshan Singh Fauzi of Mayeea Patti was another victim of boycott move launched by villagers against supporters of Baba Harnek Singh. The villagers were asked to boycott a “path” performed at his house on the eve of marriage of his son, Paramjit Singh. As one of his sons used to perform seva at the Thath the preachers having alliance to opponents of Baba Mann Singh were engaged to perform the path. This infuriated the opponents of Baba Harnek Singh who asked the villagers to boycott this family too.

Terming the move to be politically engineered, Mr Fauzi accused a local leader, whom he had opposed during panchayat elections, of intimidating the residents to boycott his family.

“We had to pay a heavy price for the support we extended to the group which had won in panchayat elections. But instead of coming to our rescue the panchayat supported the move and abstained from religious function organised at our home,” said Mr Fauzi.

Having failed in winning the support of the social and religious organisations of the area the two families have sought intervention of Bibi Jagir Kaur President, SGPC, and Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti in the matter. The families threatened to undergo a self imposed “exile” if they were not heard and their honour was not restored.

Ludhiana, December 8
District Magistrate, Ludhiana, Anurag Verma today ordered a magisterial inquiry into the alleged illegal detention and custodial harassment of a city hotelier by the Kotwali Police .

Exercising powers under Section 16-38(1) of the Punjab Police Rules, the DM has directed SDM M S Jaggi to conduct a probe against SHO Kotwali Harjinder Singh for the alleged harassment of hotelier Mukesh Nayyar, who had developed a heart problem after being kept in illegal detention for 13 hours in the police station.

The rules state that the DM can order an inquiry against a police official if there was harassment of people. It is however quite rare for the District Magistrate to exercise his powers.

SSP Ludhiana Narinderpal Singh has welcomed the order saying the police was convinced that the complaint was false. He said the orders would only help the Police Department as the magisterial inquiry would definitely find that there was no harassment.

The police has so far not taken any action against the Kotwali police officials. The hotelier Mukesh Nayyar was hospitalised yesterday after being picked up and illegally detained by the Kotwali police on December 4.

The police had claimed that he was brought for questioning in relation to a complaint filed by Mr B S Bajaj a and Mr Rohit Bajaj. They had alleged that Mr Nayyar had borrowed over Rs 4 lakh from them 10 years ago and was not returning the money.

Mr Nayyar however claimed that he had returned the money with interest.

Ludhiana, December 8
Tension gripped Bulara village as some Muslims tried to prevent some people led by Akali leader and SGPC member, Balwinder Singh Bains from erecting a boundary wall on about four acres. While the Muslims maintained that the land was meant for the property of a graveyard, Mr Bains claimed that he had a lease order from the Punjab Waqf Board.

The Muslims of the area alleged that Mr Bains along with Mr Paramjit Singh and Mr Simranjit Singh Bains, who is a councillor, were trying to “grab” the Waqf board land worth crores. They said the land was meant for the graveyard and many bodies had already been buried there. They have filed a Civil Writ Petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking status quo.

However, Mr Bains said, since he had written orders of having got the lease of the land, they had no right to prevent him from taking the possession. He said he was already in the possession of the land and wanted to erect a boundary wall for “establishing the possession of the land”.

Yesterday, the DSP (Focal) Point, Mr R.K. Bakshi, had summoned both groups. An agreement was reached between the two that the legal aspects of the case would be examined. Mr Bakshi said he was seeking legal opinion and asked both groups to ensure status quo. The case is listed for hearing in the high court on January 3. Mr Bains said, he had a three-year lease of the land and had already deposited the rent.

Disputing the claims of Mr Bains, Mohd Shakoor Thind, president of the Muslim Welfare Front, Punjab and convener of the minority cell of the Pradesh Congress Committee, said the land was being used as a graveyard, he said.

Ludhiana, December 8
Expressing serious concern over allegations of corruption levelled by Mr Ashok Singh Garcha, Chairman of Ludhiana Improvement Trust against several of his own party leaders including City Mayor Mr Nahar Singh Gill and one of the trustees, the Bhartiya Janata Party has said that the trading of charges in public had brought the real face of the ruling party before the people.

The district president of the BJP, Dr Subhash Verma, remarked that Mr Garcha, in his letter addressed to the Punjab Chief Minister, had corroborated what the opposition parties had been maintaining all along about rampant corruption at all levels in the Congress government. He said irrespective of the fact whether the allegations levelled by Mr Garcha and Mr Gill against each other were true or not, it had been established for quite some time that both the Congress functionaries were busy in securing their posts as the development work in the city had been pushed to the back burner.

Dr Verma further observed that when similar allegations were levelled by opposition parties, the ruling party brushed them aside terming these as political stunt. He dared the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to order a probe into the charges levelled by Mr Garcha against other Congress functionaries if he really stood by the promise of clean governance. The BJP chief was of the opinion that the clamour among the Congress leaders for the post of the chairman of the Improvement Trust had amply exposed the lust for power among the ruling party functionaries.

Ludhiana, December 8
If the fresh proposals of carving out the new constituencies and declaring some as reserve in Ludhiana are accepted, a political storm is likely to brew in the district.

Three important constituencies of Payal, Raikot and Jagraon are likely to be reserved. This will obviously force two leading political families that of late Beant Singh, a former Chief Minister, (from Payal) and Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, a senior Akali leader and former SGPC President (from Raikote) to look for alternate options.

The district may have two more assembly segments taking the total number to 14 from the existing 12. Of these four would be reserved against the two earlier.

Some of the earlier ones constituencies have been realigned and their names changed.

The constituencies likely to be declared reserve include Payal, Jagraon, Raikot and the newly carvedout segment Gill. The proposals are understood to have already been given the final shape and might be notified anytime.

The new constituencies carved out include Sahnewal, Jamalpur, Dugri Lohara, Atam Nagar, Ludhiana, Fatehpur, Budah, Mohi and Gill. Samrala, Khanna, Payal, Raikot and Jagraon have been retained as it is with some minor alterations.

Ludhiana Rural, which is the largest assembly constituency in the state as on now, has been fragmented into a few constituencies like Jamalpur, Sahnewal. Some of its parts have been aligned with other Assembly segments.

The nomenclature of all four Ludhiana city seats, including the East, West and North, has been changed with some changes in the area also.

The Jamalpur Assembly segment is likely to be entirely carved out of Ludhiana Rural. Dugri Lohara from Ludhiana Rural and Dakha.

The Mohi segment is likely to constitute of the parts of the Kila Raipur and Dakha. The Gill segment may be carved out of parts of Kila Raipur and Dakha. The Atam Nagar segment is likely to include the parts of Ludhiana West and some parts of Ludhiana Rural. The Fatehpur segment is likely to constitute parts of Ludhiana West, Ludhiana Rural and Dakha.

The Sahnewal segment may constitute parts of Ludhiana Rural and Koom Kalan.

The Budah Assembly segment in the city may include the parts of Ludhiana North, Dakha and Ludhiana Rural. The Ludhiana segment may mostly include the parts of Ludhiana East. 

Ludhiana, December 8
Residents of E-Block in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on the Pakhowal Road are sore over the insanitary conditions prevailing in the locality as a result of indifference and apathy on the part of officials of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT).

In a memorandum submitted to the LIT authorities, the functionaries of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar Action Committee lamented that their lives had already been made miserable by jhuggi dwellers, who had encroached on all green belts and other vacant sites around the colony. Disruption in regular sweeping and removal of garbage due to shifting of safai workers had made the matters worse and insanitary conditions in the area were posing a grave health hazard to the 
residents.

Mr Pran Nath Bhatia, chairman and Mr Arvind Sharma, press secretary of the action committee pointed out that accumulated domestic waste and garbage all around was flying inside the houses and the pathetic sanitation level could lead to break-out of diseases at any time.

The residents urged the LIT officials to attend to the problem of the residents on priority basis and deploy safai workers in the colony without delay failing which the residents would be left with no other alternative than to resort to agitation to seek justice.

Ludhiana, December 8
City police today released the sketches of three of the five suspected thieves who took away a black Scorpio jeep from the house of an exporter in Block-K of Sarabha Nagar two days ago.

The sketches, made on the basis of the statement of servants of the house, have been pasted in all police stations in the city, besides circulating to the media. The police said as per the sketches, the youth seem to be from good families.

DSP Ravcharan Singh Brar said the police has got some clue in the case and hoped that it would be solved soon.

Ludhiana, December 8
The issue of service tax appears to be getting murkier with the industry planning to go for litigation or protest against it.

Industrialists had urged the government to extend the date for registration under service tax till the issue pertaining to inclusion of manufacturing processes under the purview of service tax was cleared.

“However, we have learnt the Finance Minister has flatly refused to extend the date and the matter seems to be getting little headway,” said Mr P.D. Sharma, president, the Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said the industrialists had approached a member of the Central Board of Excise and Customs who had assured them that the matter would be resolved soon.

“But now we have learnt that he is away to the USA and joint secretary of the board, Mr Srivastava, in a telephonic conversation, told us that the matter was now with the Tax Research Unit (TRU),” he said.

Unhappy with the turn of events the industry was not planning to go for litigation or an agitation over the issue.

Industry representatives contended that under the “auxiliary business services” clause, service tax was not to be levied on manufacturing. “Manufacturing is not the result of a single process. It involves a chain of processes. Hence it does not fall under the purview of service tax,” they told TRU Tax research unit.

The representatives had met Chief Commissioner, Central Excise, Chandigarh, on November 30, who had asked for a detailed note on the issue. “While November 30 was the last date for registration, the matter did not get resolved and nothing was communicated to us on the issue,” said Mr Sharma.

Now that the last date for registration for service tax was over and the department had already started conducting door-to-door surveys the issue would get an unpleasant turn as a section of industrialists, who were demanding that manufacturing be excluded from the purview of service tax, were still unregistered.

“The department is imposing a fine of Rs 100 per day in case of those who fall under their erroneous definition but are not yet registered,” Mr Sharma said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 8
The leaders of various organisations led by Mr Jagpal Singh Khangura, in charge of the Congress Committee, Kilaraipur, and Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, former MP, felicitated the newly appointed Chairman of the Market Committee, Kilaraipur Mr Manmohan Singh Mohni, at a function organised in the village today. Mr Mohni took the charge of his office in the presence of hundreds of Congress activists.

Addressing a gathering, Mr Khangura and Mr Galib appreciated the policies of the state government, regarding the rural development.

Thanking the people for the confidence posed in him and his team of members, the newly elected Chairman assured that his office would make all efforts to redress the grievances of farmers and commission agents associated with the committee.

Mr Ashok Garcha, Chairman, Improvement Trust, Ludhiana, Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran, Director, Mandi Board, Mr O.P. Jain, secretary, Market Committee, Ahmedgarh, Mr Sinder Singh, Chairman Market Committee, Ahmedgarh, 
Mr Amarjit Singh Khaira, SHO, Dehlon, Mr Ravinder Singh Romi, Mr Bhag Singh Dardi, Mr Avtar Singh Latala, and Mr Parminder Singh Latala, president, Block Samiti, also spoke.