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HC irked by govt inaction in Lutyens’ Zone case
Leprosy home taken over by garbage dealer
Threat to life, but police refuses to file FIR
Campaign to check power theft gains momentum
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Hospital ordered to pay Rs 1 lakh for negligence
Officers asked to maintain contact with villagers
20-point programme: Ownership rights to be given
Jamia polls: Shams Perwaiz elected president
Amity Business School holds seminar
Junk dealers’ kin cry out for capital punishment
Two robbers nabbed after encounter
Drug lord chargesheeted by police
Three get 7-yr jail in dowry case
Four held for encroaching on govt land
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HC irked by govt inaction in Lutyens’ Zone case
New Delhi, December 16 As the Centre’s counsel sought to take shelter under the plea of the matter being pending before the Supreme Court, a Division Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma took exception to the submission and insisted on getting a reply to its query made on November 30. The Bench sought to know if the Supreme Court was seized of the issue of PMO’s authority to frame guidelines on construction in Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone (LBZ). “We have given you (Centre) directive asking you to file a reply as to what is the PMO’s authority in framing the guidelines. There is already a law made for it by Parliament. Is this what the Supreme Court has asked you?” it asked. The Bench said it wanted to go to the root of the matter and was determined to get Government’s reply on the PMO’s authority on the issue. Centre’s counsel Anil Nag tendered an apology and sought four weeks to file the reply. While fixing February 8, 2006 for further hearing, the court said “next time don’t come with an excuse that the matter is pending in the Supreme Court”. Amicus curiae Rekha Palli complained that almost 50 per cent of the bungalows in the Lutyens’ Zone were constructed without any sanctioned plan. Earlier, the Bench had questioned PMO’s authority to frame guidelines on alteration to official bungalows allotted to politicians and bureaucrats in Lutyens’ zone. “Any power to make such alterations or constructions should emanate from a statue or legislation in force. We wonder, how the PMO can frame any guidelines in this regard,” the Bench had observed on the last date of hearing. The court had taken exception to Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P P Malhotra’s submission that the matter pertaining to issuance of fresh guidelines vis-a-vis the constructions in the LBZ was being examined by the PMO. Earlier, the court had asked the Centre to remove all illegal constructions from Lutyens’ zone. The court, which took suo moto cognizance of newsreports, had on October 19 rejected a status report filed by the Centre which indirectly sought to justify the alterations to the bungalows on the ground of paucity of space as Ministers, MPs were visited by a large number of people and as such needed additional accommodation for their security and visitors. “Whatever guidelines are being framed are illegal and the PMO has got no right to do it. If guidelines are to be framed they have to be done through proper legislation and by a competent authority empowered by law,” the Bench had said.
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Leprosy home taken over by garbage dealer
New Delhi, December 16 This shelter home had been incepted one and half decade back by the MCD on the recommendation of the Delhi Social Welfare Department. It is the first such shelter home for the rehabilitation of leprosy patients in the National Capital Region (NCR) area. According to local sources, not only rooms but even other portions of this shelter home are being commercially utilised by some unauthorised occupants. “Despite the fact that some of original allottees of these rooms died years ago, these rooms are still in their names and are being used by others by paying rent to their relatives. One such room is being used by a local wholesale garbage dealer. It seems the MCD has nothing to do with these illegal activities,” said a local resident. According to a well-known social activist of this area and the president of the Rastriya Jan Jagriti Manch, Mr Purshottam Bhardwaj, “We have raised this issue with the concerned officials and the representatives of this area many times in past. Most of the illegal occupants of this shelter home are garbage dealers or engaged in other similar activities. They have even encroached upon other parts of this shelter home to run their business. They are using electricity and water supply free of cost. Due to their business activities, a serious health hazard has erupted in the adjoining area,” he said.
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Threat to life, but police refuses to file FIR
Faridabad, December 16 The family of a Dalit employee of the Department of Posts here has been facing a threats to his and his kids’ life since the past about two months, but the police have failed to even register an FIR. The accused, who has been reportedly identified, has not been arrested so far despite several requests and reminders by the complainant to the police officials. The terrified victim has even sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Chief Minister of Haryana in this regard. The complainant, Mr Risal Singh Rathee, working as Assistant Post Master here, had met the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) of the Gurgaon range recently but even after about a week the police has allegedly been dithering. Mr Rathee said he had been called to the police station several times in the past one month but said the police had not arrested the accused though he had been identified. Suspecting that the accused may have managed to influence police action through political and other contacts, he said it was amazing that the police, despite being supplied detailed information about the accused, had not arrested him or booked an FIR even though two months had passed after he lodged a complaint. In the letter sent to the NHRC, the victim has claimed that some persons holding high posts in the office could have been behind this episode as he had dared to oppose the corrupt practices in the department and was even assaulted on three different occasions in 2000. He said no FIR had been registered by the police at that time also. He was forced to file a private criminal complaint in the local court and two cases were pending in the court here. He said the calls had been made from three different mobile phone numbers. Besides, one call was made on the landline number of his office in which a threat was made to kidnap his children and kill him. Two complaints had been lodged with the police on October 29 and November 11 last, but the police had been sitting idle despite the matter having been brought to the notice of senior officials. The IGP, at a press conference held here last month, had claimed that steps were being taken to improve the functioning of the police department in the region. He had held police officials were bound to register FIRs on the complaints lodged with it and had announced taking action against policemen who failed to perform their duty well.
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Campaign to check power theft gains momentum
New Delhi, December 16 Based on a tip-off, NDPL’s enforcement team raided the area and booked these illegal industries engaged in the business of polishing of steel utensils. No meters were found at any of the sites and the units were found operating with 28 buffing/polishing machines which are used in polishing of steel utensils. A penalty of Rs 60 lakh is likely to be slapped on the owners of the units. A police complaint has been lodged by NDPL at PS Sultanpuri against the owners of these units – Afsar Ali Rahis (35 KW), Nizam/Gulfam/Kalam (61 KW) and Khem Singh/Jayaram/Virender Bora/Sher Singh (62 KW). The entire operation lasted for a full day involving 20 officials from the NDPL Enforcement Department and 11 police officials from PS Sultanpuri. The company has urged its consumers to support its enforcement initiatives and pro-actively report power theft by calling at 27468030. Since starting operations, NDPL has reduced power theft effectively through enforcement and technological interventions such as HVDS and Insulated Cables. This has resulted in better power supply in its areas. Meanwhile, BSES has also intensified its enforcement drive against power theft. In the last three days, BSES enforcement teams, in two separate operations, detected power theft worth a whooping 1780 kilowatts which in revenue terms is worth Rs 2.78 crore. An FIR was subsequently lodged with Tilak Nagar police station. On December 15, a BRPL enforcement team raided industrial units housed in two buildings – RZ 225 and 231 Ravi Nagar Extension, Vishu Garden – and caught the owners red handed while indulging in power theft of 280 KW. The owners, Amarjeet Singh and Ashok, of these buildings were running many industrial units including an enamel plant, a welding unit, a steel fabrication unit, a jean washing unit, a PVC extruder plant for making plastic pellets and a ‘saunf’ sugar coating factory in the premises. All the units were stealing electricity by tapping directly from the nearby BRPL LV mains. The total load required to operate the installed machinery was assessed at 280 KW, which in revenue terms amounts to Rs. 1.10 crores. In the second case, a BYPL Enforcement Team launched a massive and successful drive in East Delhi by removing over 2000 illegal connections. The drive was carried out in power theft prone areas like Ajeet Nagar JJ Cluster, Ahata Karamchand (Commercial), Seelampur Gali No. 1 (Industrial) and some areas of Old Seelampur. These illegal connections were drawing 1500 KW (1.5 MW) of electricity from the main Low-tension (LT) line, a BSES spokesperson said, while adding that “by removing these illegal tapping, BSES has saved about 4,95,000 units per month of electricity for the people of Delhi”. Besides, it results in checking theft worth Rs. 1.78 crores on an annual basis. Forty illegal and unauthorized factories were tapping power through means of hooking from the HT line causing trouble to the nearby residential areas. The officials seized 419 kilograms of wires from the site. Commenting on the success of the raids, Mr Lalit Jalan, Director and Member Executive Committee, BSES, said “Our success has been largely due to the active support of the Delhi Police and the honest consumers of these areas. I say this because our enforcement team often gets abused and manhandled by power thieves”. He further said that both BRPL and BYPL have constituted special squads, which are conducting massive raids all over its licensed area, to check power theft. “BSES is committed to all its honest consumers and is determined to achieve optimum efficiency so that power theft is eradicated and honest consumers do not end up paying for the sins of others,” he added. Meanwhile, Delhi Government announced today that the CISF will provide the force for cracking down on the rampant power theft in the Capital, with the enforcement teams getting assistance from local police in registering cases. “CISF will be giving the force to assist the discoms in taking action against power theft, and the local police will also help them,” Power Minister Haroon Yusuf told reporters. He revealed this after a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit to work out a plan for curbing power theft, which, apart from Yusuf, was attended by top Delhi government officials well as Police Commissioner K K Paul. He said while Delhi Police could not provide a dedicated force to help the discoms in the anti-theft operations, they had assured the government of giving full cooperation to the enforcement teams cracking down on power theft. “The local SHO will assist the enforcement teams, such as in registering cases,” Yusuf said. He said it was imperative to stop power theft so as to bring down the tariff. Delhi Government had earlier announced that it was working on an anti-theft legislation and that police will have to be involved in cracking down on power theft.
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Hospital ordered to pay Rs 1 lakh for negligence
New Delhi, December 16 “The condition of the patient started deteriorating day by day and the hospital could not even provide proper medicine for her. This is negligence on its part,” Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum (North) headed by K. K. Chopra observed. The complainant, Masood Zafar, had admitted his mother Hazara Zafar Begum at the hospital in North Delhi on January 15, 2000 after she had complained of severe headache and vomiting. At the hospital, she developed acute stomach pain and the hospital authorities suspecting a stone in her gall bladder, conducted a laser test to remove the growth, in case it was present. A few days later, the patient started complaining of acute stomach pain and breathing problems. After repeated requests from distraught relatives, the doctors at the hospital finally admitted that excess use of laser in the test had injured stomach ducts, causing the formation of puss in large quantity and leading to severe pancreatitis. Hazara Begum died on March 18, 2000, about two months after she was admitted in the hospital.
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Officers asked to maintain contact with villagers
Noida, December 16 The NCR Commissioner, Ms Radha Chauhan, spent the Tuesday night at Chona village in Dadri block to meet the people and hear their grievances such as power failure, bad roads, electric poles at long distances, power thefts and water discharge from Pepsi plant which damages their crops. After listening to their problems, Ms Radha Chauhan went around the village on Wednesday morning and inquired about education and health care for the girls. She also inspected the ration shop and the material used on roads from the MLA’s funds. She asked all government officials, including Addl. DM Rajesh Tiwari, to solve their problems quickly. “It is a good beginning and we have high expectations from such visits by the senior officers,” said the villagers in Chona, summing up their reaction to the official’s visit.
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20-point programme: Ownership rights to be given
New Delhi, December 16 At a Cabinet meeting held here today, Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit said the proposal for increasing the superannuation age for teachers of technical institutions and poly-techniques from 60 to 62 has also been approved. Ms Dikshit said that as many as 19,000 house sites were distributed among the people of the weaker sections of society under the 20-point programme sometime in 1980s. She added that out of these house sites, in cases of 9,811 plots, which are being used by the original allottees for housing purposes, no additional charges would be levied, while giving the ownership rights. However, in case of 7,856 plots where some persons other than original allottees are in occupation, surcharge at Rs 50 per square yard will be levied, while those having commercial use of the plots will have to pay surcharge at the rate of Rs 150 per square yard for obtaining ownership rights. In case of 1,419 plots, where information pertaining to allotment is not available, the occupants will be required to apply afresh. Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said that the weaker sections of the society would benefit from the decision taken by the Cabinet for providing ownership rights for the house sites.
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Jamia polls: Shams Perwaiz elected president
New Delhi, December 16 When the results were announced early on Friday morning, Shams Perwaiz, a student of MA (Previous) was elected to the post of president with 1,661 votes, while Ashraf Kamal finished second with 1,330 votes. Mohd. Faheen Haider Khan was elected to the post of vice president with 1,506 votes. He was closely followed by Sajid Ali, who polled 1,232 votes. While Farhat Ali was elected by 1,005 votes to the post of secretary, Zille Subhani was elected joint secretary, polling 1,667 votes. In the poll held on Thursday, maximum polling took place in the Polytechnic Department, which recorded 80 per cent voting. The president-elect, Shams Perwaiz, fought the election on the platform of providing an effective bridge between the administration and the student community. Two woman cabinet members, Anisha Khan and Atiya Parveen, were elected from the Social Sciences Department. The newly constituted students’ union is expected to take office in 15 days, which will be located in the Jamia campus near the central canteen. Dr Haseen Hashiya of the Geography Department has been selected advisor for the JMISU by the university faculty.
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Amity Business School holds seminar
New Delhi, December 16 In order to address some of these issues pertaining to the volatility of the global business environment, Centre of International Strategic Management & Business Re-Engineering, Amity International Business School, today organized a daylong seminar on ‘Re-Engineering of Indian Business System through Interface of Strategic Minds’. The seminar was formally flagged off by the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest and Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh & President RBEF Mr Atul Chauhan. Mr Chauhan in his inaugural address stressed on the pressing need to focus on strategic issues and re-engineering of our Indian Business Systems in order to become successful international players in various domains of industrial activities. Dr Gurinder Singh, Pro Vice Chancellor AUUP, Head & Dy. Director General, Amity International Business School defined the objectives and role of the ‘Centre of International Strategic Management & Business Re-Engineering’. Apart from this, he also stated that to implement successful business strategies to face challenges, an organization must have the right strategy in place to ensure perfection in order to meet the expectations of this borderless world. Centre of International Strategic Management & Business Re-Engineering also launched its Journal on ‘International Strategic Management and Business Re-Engineering’ with a lot of fervour on this occasion. The seminar was divided into two technical sessions, wherein the occasion was flanked by a gamut of professionals from the Industry. Mr. U.C. Misra Director-Personnel, Power Grid Corporation chaired the first session of the seminar. Some of the distinguished speakers in this session were Dr R.K. Khandal, Director, Shriram Institute for Industrial Research; Dr A.P. Dash, Sr. Faculty, PMI, NTPC, and Dr Somenath Ghosh, Chairman & MD, NRDC. The second technical session was chaired by Director, HR, GAIL, Mr. M.R. Hingnikar. The distinguished speakers for this session were Ms Ritu Verma, Director, Projects, Perot Systems; Mr G. Sharan, Member, Technical, NHAI; Mr V. Kumaraswamy, VP, Finance, JK Papers Ltd.; Mr S. Sridhar, Profit Centre Head (India), Polyplex Corpn. Ltd; Prof. S.P. Agarwal, Head, CIIT, IIFT; Mr Naresh Mathur, Director, State Trading Corporation Ltd.; Mr Nitin Gupta, VP, Finance, Ernst & Young and Mr S.C. Hatwal, Chief, City Gas Marketing, GAIL.
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Junk dealers’ kin cry out for capital punishment
Greater Noida, December 16 “Unless the guilty policemen are sentenced to be hanged for their shameful and inhuman crime, the departed souls of the deceased will not rest in peace,” said the members of their families. They would not sit quiet until the criminal cops were sentenced to death, said their families. They regretted that the compensation of Rs 5 lakh announced by the UP government for the victims’ families was not sufficient. Meanwhile, the administration has announced the dismissal of another cop Ravinder Tyagi, taking the number of cops dismissed for the crime to eight, which include the then SO Alok Sharma. Four other policemen of 11 accused – Kanwarpal, Netrapal, Safdar and Jaiveer – have become prosecution witnesses.
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Two robbers nabbed after encounter
Noida, December 16 The police have recovered Rs 28,000 from these two robbers. The robbers have been identified as Dharminder of Hardwar and Joginder of Bagpat. On December 3, Dharminder and Joginder along with their four accomplices had robbed B.M Garg, owner of Garg Industries in Sector 4, Noida, of Rs 80,000 at gunpoint. They had sped away in a Santro car after the robbery. The police had nabbed four robbers in the same car after a few days. The arrested criminals told the police that Dharminder and Joginder had actually done the planning and execution of the loot. The SO, Mr R. N. Singh Yadav, of the Sector 20 police station had nabbed masterminds Dharminder and Joginder from Yamuna Pushta in Sector 16, Noida, last night after an encounter. A country made pistol and Rs 28,000 were recovered by the police team from the criminals. The duo had reportedly left for Mumbai and Goa after the robbery for a holiday and had just returned to Noida, the police said.
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Drug lord chargesheeted by police
New Delhi, December 16 The chargesheet filed in the court of Additional Sessions Judge A K Garg also named his associates Mohammed Salim, Sheikh Hannan and his wife Najma Sheikh as accused. Sharafat’s counsel R D Rana has moved a bail application which will come up for hearing on December 19. The accused have been charged under various provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, Arms Act, Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). Sharafat was arrested on July 7 this year, with one of his associates, after Crime Branch of the Delhi Police intercepted their car near Nizamuddin in central Delhi.
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Three get 7-yr jail in dowry case
New Delhi, December 16 Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Lal Singh held Pratap Singh, Usha and the victim’s husband Anil Kumar guilty of beating and harassing Sita Devi for dowry and sentenced them to seven years’ imprisonment. The victim’s mother Daya Devi told the court that Kumar, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar, was married to her daughter Sita Devi on January 29, 2003. Anil, along with his mother Usha and father Pratap Singh, used to harass her daughter over very trivial matters. Inderjit, father of the deceased, deposed that the convicted persons used to taunt Sita about dowry and demanded a motor cycle and
cash. — TNS
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Four held for encroaching on govt land
Noida, December 16 Some people from Javer and Bulandshahr had reportedly occupied this precious 15-hectare land. The mafia had illegally got this land registered in their name between 1996 and 2001 through fraudulent means. Besides, part of the land was transferred to some non-existent societies. Dy District Magistrate, Dadri, Ghanshyam Singh said, “The said land was under the Bhoodan Samiti in 1978. Only the District Magistrate has the authority to allot it to any individual or society.” The fraud came to light when the education department officials went there for the construction of a primary school on the plot. The officials were threatened and shooed away by the land mafia. Subsequently, Dy DM, Tehsildar Kanhai Singh and Basic Education Officer BK Chaudhri had gone to the village to survey the plot for school building. The team of policemen with the Dy DM had arrested four encroachers from the spot. Two tractors of the mafia were also seized.
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Old man deprived of Rs 75,000
Noida, December 16 According to information, Sanjay of Nai Basti was an employee at Sunil’s brick kiln. Contractors Harpal and Nainu had given Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively, to Sanjay as money in advance for the supply of bricks. Sanjay had given this amount to his father Briha Singh to take it to Dadri.
— OC
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Mob attacks police
Noida, December 16 Some reporters of national Hindi dailies too suffered minor
injuries. — TNS
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