New Delhi, June 22
The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Centre on a PIL seeking enhanced compensation for the families of lakhs of people in the country who either die or get maimed for life in road accidents every year.

A Division Bench of Justice M K Sharma and Reva Khetrapal asked the Union Ministry of Transport to file its reply within four weeks on the petition and posted the matter for further hearing to July 24.

The petition filed by NGO Social Jurists complained that though Section 163A of the Central Motor Vehicle Act stipulated payment of enhanced compensation to the victims or their kith and kin by taking into consideration the cost of living, no effort had been made by the Central Government to increase the amount for the past 12 years.

As a result, it was stated, the victims or their nominees are being presently paid compensation ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 8 lakh which were fixed way back in 1994.

The petition contended that since the price index had doubled during the past one decade, the rates fixed in 1994 were too meagre in terms of the present cost of living.

Section 163A which provided for payment of compensation on a structured formula basis was incorporated in the Central Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 with effect from November 14, 1994 wherein it was stipulated that, “The Central Government may, keeping in view the cost of living by notification in the official gazetted from time to time amend the Second Schedule”.

Quoting statistics, the PIL said that on an average about 70,00 people die and lakhs of others are maimed for life in the country every year, most of whom belong to economically weaker sections of the society.

Failure to implement the Act tantamounts to abdication of Constitutional duty by the government, the PIL complained.

Hence, it urged the court to issue a direction to the Centre to amend the Second Schedule of the Act keeping in view the present cost of living.

In another case, the HC ruled today that an existing occupier of a house cannot be compelled to pay the electricity arrears owed by the previous occupier, while ordering the power company to restore power supply to a consumer.

Vacation judge Justice Sikri has ordered BSES Rajdhani Power Limited to restore the power connection to a government employee who was denied power supply to his residence on the ground that the previous occupant of the house failed to clear the arrears.

The petitioner Ashok Kumar, working as Assistant Engineer (Electrical) in CPWD, was allotted Type-III in Lodhi Colony. Earlier, the premises was occupied by one J K Sharma who retired from CPWD.
However, the power company refused to grant a new electricity connection to the house on the ground that the arrears owed by Sharma should be cleared before the connection was restored.

As Kumar’s pleas with the power company that he cannot be penalised for the previous occupant’s fault fell on deaf ears, he moved the High Court.

Upholding Kumar’s contention, Justice Sikri maintained that in case the electricity dues are not paid and the employee is in government service, the employer can always recover the dues from his or her salaries.

Even if the employee has retired, the government can still recover the dues from such employee’s pension, Justice Sikri observed.

The court felt that since the electricity connection was in the name of the CPWD it was for the latter to make the payment to the power company.

“Therefore, it would be appropriate if the CPWD pays the arrears of electricity and take steps for recovery of the same from JK Sharma. As far as the petitioner is concerned, he should be given electricity connection immediately as he cannot be made to suffer because of the fault of the previous occupant,” the court observed.

Hence, the court ordered the power company to provide electricity connection to Kumar within 48 hours and the CPWD to clear the dues. 

Faridabad, June 22
The district is in the grip of acute power shortage once again. With no schedule announced, the number and duration of cuts has gone up sharply.

Though the state government had decided to resort to cuts in a scheduled manner, the move failed to bring relief for the industry.

The department officials claim that the cause of unannounced cuts had been due to the shortage from several sources, including a lower generation in the government-owned thermal power stations, especially at Panipat.

It is stated that the monsoon might bring some relief to the domestic and the agriculture sectors.

“There has been a cut for two hours from the source,” said an employee of the complaint centre of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam at Sector- 23 here when a resident of Sector-11 lodged complaint against the cut that lasted over two hours last night.

“It was not the only cut but had been a third such disruption since 10 pm last night and every time one asked the cause, the reply was the same, the resident claimed.

The situation which had worsened in the past one week, had been the same in all parts of the district and even other districts of the region and the state, claimed a DHBVN source.

It is stated that there have been ten cuts ranging from one to two hours at a stretch and the consumers are not spared even at night.

“The invertors have simply failed to get recharged due to frequent and prolonged power cuts, claimed another resident.

He said the residents were having a nightmarish experience, especially those having small children.

“The present state government is no better than its predecessor in matter of power and water supply and has been overlooking the welfare of the tax-paying people,” says Mr Krishan Pal Gurjar, a former minister and senior BJP leader.

He alleged that the Congress rule both at the Centre and the state had failed to address the real issues. The people had been promised round-the-clock water supply for the past several years, but the promise had not been fulfilled. The present government also appeared to be making lame excuses. 

New Delhi, June 22
Welcoming the Centre’s decision to ban export of pulses and to allow private players to import wheat and sugar, Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit today said this will check the surging prices of essential commodities.

“This is a positive step taken by the government. This will check the rising prices of essential commodities and people will get relief,” Ms Dikshit told reporters here.

She said her government was taking adequate steps to check hoarding and was monitoring the markets to ensure no stockpiling was being done.

On the soaring prices of vegetables and fruits, she said these are seasonal variations, but expressed apprehension that some people are trying to get mileage by making this a big issue.

New Delhi, June 22
The Public Grievances Commission has asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to simplify the procedure for booking community halls run by the civic body, also taking it to task for its casual approach in replying to a query in the matter under Right to Information Act.

The PGC’s recommendation comes in the light of a response given by the competent authority in MCD to an applicant who sought information on the systems and procedures for booking community halls run by the corporation, the Commission said in a release here today.

The response given by the civic body provided information only in general terms and was late by 32 days.

The Commission directed that a detailed reply be given in 21 days and systems be put in place to provide a check list of facilities being provided at the community centres at the time of handing over.

As part of systemic reforms, the PGC also recommended that the process of making advance payment and security deposit needs to be simplified.

It said the MCD should accept demand drafts instead of insisting on payment by cash, which is cumbersome and risky. 

New Delhi, June 22
Targeted by opposition parties on a range of issues, including the MCD’s demolition drive, power privatisation and water shortage, Delhi’s ruling Congressmen chanted the unity mantra ahead of the approaching municipal polls at a day-long convention of party workers today.

The mood for the convention — called for a “free and frank interaction between grassroot level workers and senior leaders” — was set in the morning itself when party general secretary in charge of Delhi Ashok Gehlot told those present to be mindful of the “Lakshman Rekha” while discussing issues in depth.

The Congress would be “unbeatable” in elections if its party and government worked harmoniously, even while managing differences of opinion in a healthy manner, he opined while praising party workers for ensuring two successive assembly poll victories. However, despite stress on the need for a united show by the party and government wings, state ministers were conspicuous by their absence at the inaugural function.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit dwelt on much the same theme later in the evening, exhorting her colleagues in the DPCC not to air their differences in public and use the party fora instead.

“The people should not get the message that the party and the government are at loggerheads,” she said, asking party men to keep “personal differences” aside for the party’s cause.

While pointing out that no individual was “above the party”, she asked the workers to act as a bridge between the common man and the government.

Speaking on the MCD’s court-ordered demolition drive, she said the organisation should give serious thought as to how the one-year moratorium on the drive could be extended on a permanent basis.

New Delhi, June 22
Actor Roshan Seth today joined the citizens’ groups in demanding the dismissal of electricity supplier BYPL for poor service following an incident yesterday where police force was used on “honest” consumers allegedly under directions of the private power provider in the capital.

The actor, on behalf of People’s Action and others representing Malviya Nagar and south Delhi RWAs and United Residents Joint Action (URJA), had an unscheduled meeting with DERC chairman Birjendra Singh apprising him of the alleged malpractices by the company, also warning that another power price hike would not be tolerated.

Besides providing poor service to consumers, BYPL’s CEO has also been named as party to theft of power in east Delhi, according to Sanjay Kaul, president of people’s Action. The RWAs contend that this makes the company liable to be dismissed by DERC.

“Residents have demanded a censure of BYPL by the DERC failing which URJA will take the issue on to the streets,” said Ashok Prabhakar, Gen secretary of SAHYOG.

The RWAs also complained that consumers had to pay exorbitant power rates due to connivance of BSES staff in organised power theft and asked the chairman of DERC to intervene. Mr Singh promised to look into the matter. 

Noida, June 22
Women employees are being deprived of their maternity rights by the proprietors of a number of industrial units in Noida and Gautam Budh Nagar district.

If a woman employee demands the benefits under maternity rules, they are shown the door. They are paid wages for the period they have served and are told “not to come from tomorrow”.

SITU officials have also complained that labour laws are more observed in breach in the factories here.

Some factories and units prefer to employ women till they are unmarried. The day they get married, they are removed from service.

A woman worker of a garment factory in Noida Phase-II said her company does not give any other holiday except the weekly off. Any woman worker demanding leave is just refused or given leave without wages.

A woman worker Neha of a garment factory said those workers who have ESI cards are given all facilities under the scheme, but the factory does not grant them any additional facility on its own. No company grants 12-week maternity leave to a pregnant employee in this industrial belt.

Those who insist on it are given leave without wages and in certain cases, such women have been shunted out of employment and another woman given their job.

Mr Gangeshwer Dutt Sharma, District General Secretary of CITU said all labour rules are violated in this district. A number of complaints have been sent to the labour officer, but no action is ever taken by them. No factory management has been ever penalized in this connection.

New Delhi, June 22
The Supreme Court today extended by four weeks a Delhi High Court order staying the eviction of dwellers of a slum cluster near Pragati Maidan here.

The interim order was passed by a Vacation Bench of Justice A R Lakshmanan and Justice Altmas Kabir on a petition filed by one Ram Niwas Gupta and others of Nangla Machi slum cluster, who challenged their removal in view of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 which provides for moratorium on demolitions in the Capital for a year.

Earlier, the High Court had given them protection from ouster for 10 days which was due to expire today.

The Bench directed that the petition be tagged along with the petition challenging the said Act and be placed before the Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal. Interestingly, the apex court had already dismissed a petition to restrain the civic authorities from evicting the dwellers of Nangla Machi here on May 9.

The new petition has been filed in view of the latest amendment to the law. 

New Delhi, June 22
The Delhi unit of BJP today demanded suspension of some DDA officials and initiation of contempt proceedings against those who, despite the Delhi Laws (Special Provision) (DLSP) Act, 2006, were allegedly imposing penalties on flat owners for running commercial activities.

Coming down heavily on DDA, state BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “At the time of implementing the DLSP Act, it was made clear that status quo shall be maintained in all cases of illegal constructions and misuse of land till next year”.—TNS

New Delhi, June 22
Close on the heels of incidents of protest by students over the criteria for entrance tests in some colleges, Delhi University today sought a reply from the respective institutions on the issue.

“We have asked the concerned colleges, where students have protested the criteria for entrance test, to furnish details on the matter. We will study their prospectus and if there is any deviation from the procedures mentioned in them, they will be restricted to do so,” Deputy Dean of Students Welfare S K Verma today said.

There were protests by students in Bharati college and Vivekananda college recently, as the institutes decided to make a cut-off mark to make students eligible to sit for entrance test.

“If there have mentioned about this cut-off provision to allow students sit for entrance, they will be free to do so. If this procedure is not mentioned, they will be restricted to do so,” he said. 

New Delhi, June 22
The Capital’s prestigious St Columba’s School, where Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan did his schooling, has been derecognised by Delhi’s Directorate of Education.

The step followed the transfer of Rs 1.83 crore of funds by the school to its parent society, the Congregation of Christian Brothers of India, state Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said.

The withdrawal of recognition would take effect from April 2007 when the next academic session starts. School authorities can present their case to the Directorate before that date to get the order revoked.

Mr Lovely said the government was concerned that the school had increased fees even while it had “so much funds” with it. The fee hike in such a case was not justified, he said.

Directorate sources said an audit was carried out in nearly 150 schools of the Capital as per the routine drill. So far, only St Columba’s had been derecognised.

Sources said the Directorate was also likely to propose amendment to the Delhi School Education Act, 1978, which allows schools to use its funds to set up another school.

New Delhi, June 22
In a big blow to the Delhi Police’s image, a sub-inspector with the Crime Branch was arrested for allegedly raping a 23-year-old in the Rohini area of North-West Delhi early this morning.

Sub-Inspector K. B. Jha, associated with the Anti-Homicide Cell at Prashant Vihar, was arrested at 3.30 a.m. after the victim called the PCR.

He was drunk and still at the victim’s place when caught by a ‘friend’ of the victim, with whom she had a live-in relationship for the past nearly three months.

The victim alleged that Jha would often threaten her and try to extort money.

A native of Kolkata, the victim had come to Delhi from Mumbai, where she reportedly worked as a bar dancer.

Her friend Rajkumar, who is married and lives in Jehangirpuri, is a small-time transporter.

A case was registered at Prashant Vihar police station against Jha, the police added. In another incident, a young man was arrested on charges of raping a teenager in the lavatory of Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, the police said today.

Adhil, a resident of Hauz Khaz locality near Jama Masjid, was arrested for allegedly raping the 16-year-old victim on Tuesday, the police said.

The victim, who also lives in the same area, had known Adhil for some time and went with him to the hospital cafeteria before he took her to the lavatory and raped her. A case has been registered at IP Estate police station.

In yet another case, a four-year-old was allegedly raped and abandoned near the railway tracks in the Krishna Nagar area of East Delhi today.

The child has been admitted to Swami Dayanand Hospital and is in a critical condition, according to sources. She was found in an unconscious state by a person who had gone to relieve himself early this morning near the tracks at the Geeta Colony-Old Seelampur rail intersection under the Krishna Nagar police station. The police have recovered a pair of trousers, a mobile dummy and slippers from the site where the child was allegedly raped and abandoned.

The child had been missing since 9 pm yesterday and her father, a TSR driver, had lodged a missing person report with the police.

Gurgaon, June 22
A general manager of a private firm, Trump Services Centre, located in Behrampur near here, and three other employees have been booked for robbing and murdering their colleague.

The body of the purchase manager of the firm, Mr Praveen Walia, was found in a water tank located on the office premises, late last night.

On a complaint of the father of the deceased, the police today registered a case against general manager Satish Gupta and others.

The complainant has charged the officials of the firm with robbing his son of Rs 85,000 before doing him to death.

The incident has sent ripples among the employees in the private sector. The police have sent the body for postmortem and are investigating the case.

New Delhi, June 22
The police today claimed to have busted a gang, which kidnapped children and forced them to commit crimes, with the arrest of two persons from North-East Delhi. Iqbal (44) and Nawab (25) were arrested yesterday from Shahdara, the police said.

The police said they used to kidnap children and force them to commit crimes like pick-pocketing.

They were operating in North-East Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh since the past four years.

Further investigations are in progress. — TNS

Ghazipur, June 22
A police constable was today suspended and sent to jail for dereliction of duty that resulted in his service rifle and ammunition getting stolen.

Azad Yadav was put on night duty at the Sevrai police outpost on June 20.

However, the constable went to sleep and found his rifle and five cartridges missing when he woke up.

New Delhi, June 22
The police have arrested a person and seized 20 cartons of illicit liquor from South Delhi.

Lekhraj, alias Sonu, was arrested from a godown in Molerband Extension in Badarpur yesterday, the police said.

The accused and his accomplice, owner of the godown, who is absconding, used to supply the liquor to slum colonies.

The police also seized two cars, which were used to transport the liquor. Further investigations are in progress.

New Delhi, June 22
A city special court today convicted a youth for possessing commercial quantity of smack and awarded three-and-half years rigorous imprisonment to him.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S C Malik, who is empowered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances (NDPS) Act to hear such cases, held Jaswant alias Kale, a resident of Nand Nagari in north-east Delhi, guilty of possessing 15 gram of smack which falls under the commercial category meant for sale.

The ASJ, considering the undertaking given by the convict that he will not commit such offence in future, awarded the three-and-half year jail term, already undergone during the trial, to Jaswant. — TNS

Ghaziabad, June 22
A 100-acre residential colony is being set up in Modi Nagar by the GDA. The secretary of the Ghaziabad Development Authority, Mr R. C. Mishra, during a visit to Modi Nagar said a grand plan envisioning development, Modi Nagar 2021, would shortly be prepared.

Residential plots would be shortly allotted over 100 acres to solve the scarcity of houses in Modi Nagar. The construction work of those who do not follow procedures and rules could be stopped midway.

During his tour, Mr Mishra had learnt that there was no sewer line in Modi Nagar town. The GDA would henceforth pay attention to the development of Modi Nagar like Ghaziabad. Residential plots would be developed on 100 acres, which would be acquired by the GDA.

Chief Engineer S. P. S. Raghav and Chief Town Planner S. K. Janan said the development of a residential scheme over 50 acres of land was being brought out shortly in Inder Prasth. A proposal for getting 50-acre land from the Avas Vikas Parishad had been sent to the government.

Noida, June 22
The state government has at last cleared the way for allotment of residential plots to the farmers whose agricultural land is acquired by Noida Authority for development. The farmers whose land was acquired had not been allotted residential plots by the authority despite promises all these years.

Some 2,500 farmers stand to benefit by this decision of government whose land had been acquired before 1977. They all will now be given back 10 per cent of their total land acquired by the authority.

A proposal to this effect had been pending with the government for the past seven years and its approval will clear the way for resolving 2500 cases filed by the farmers against the authority.

Dy CEO Noida authority C P Singh said action on this government decision will be taken as soon as the order is received. — OC

New Delhi, June 22
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today handed over Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) to a society at a function held at Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I. This has been done under Bhagidari Scheme.

Expressing confidence
in societies, the Chief
Minister said that the treatment plant would help in curbing pollution in the Yamuna. The plant has been constructed at a total cost of Rs 20 crore with the financial participation of the CETP society, Delhi Government, and the central government as a joint venture of the government and private enterprises as a part of Bhagidari Scheme.

After completion of the construction, a joint trial run was carried out by the societies – NEERI, DPCC, CPCB and DSIDC under the supervision and authority of the EPCA as per the direction of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court directed the government to construct 15 treatment plants in different industrial areas for which NEERI was appointed as consultant by the DPCC.

The funds for this scheme were to be shared in different ratio between the state government, the central government and CETP societies. Out of 15 treatment plants, 10 have already been completed and are in operation, two are under construction and three have been kept in abeyance on the directions of EPCA, an authority appointed by the Supreme Court.

New Delhi, June 22
The prices of tomato and other vegetables are likely to go up more as their supply has come down today. Yesterday, the supply of tomato was 190 tonnes against the daily demand of 450 tonnes. Today, the supply came down to 184 tonnes, an official of the Food Supply Department said.

He said there was no shortage of vegetables in the neighbouring states but it was being controlled by certain quarters in Delhi. He said tomato was the only vegetable which was costly in comparison to last year. The rates of other vegetables are marginally high.