New Delhi, August 23
Unruly scenes witnessed in the House meeting of the MCD after BJP councillor Ms Arti Mehra raised the issue of corruption prevalent in the corporation. The Mayor Mr Farhad Suri had to adjourn the House for five minutes to control the ruling party councillors who reacted strongly against the allegations levelled by the opposition.

She raised the issues of Atma Ram murder case. Besides, she also raised the cases of Hiren Tokas, Parveen Messy, Khazan Singh and Ashok Jain, all Congress councillors, who were arrested by the CBI on various charges. But so far nothing had happened against them, Ms Arti said. She also raised embezzlement reported in allotment of plots in Ghogha Dairy colony.

When majority of the Congress councillors reacted against the allegation of the BJP and created a din in the House, the Mayor adjourned the proceedings for five minutes.

The Leader of Opposition, Mr. Subhash Arya and BJP councillor Mr. Vijender Gupta demanded CBI inquiry into the corruption cases. They alleged that whatever the Mayor had written in favour of Ashok Jain showed his intention to support the Congress representatives in the corporation. They also alleged that Mayor favoured Ashok Jain under pressure of senior politicians of the party.

On the issue of embezzlement in allotment of plots in Ghogha Dairy colony, they demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. It has been alleged that the plots were allotted to those who were not legally entitled.

A few Congress councillors like Ajeet Chaudhary and Sirish Tiwari also supported the allegation of the BJP of allotment of plots to undeserving candidates. They put documents in support of their allegation.

The Leader of House, Mr. Jitender Kochhar, denied all the allegations laid by the BJP and others. Plots in Ghogha Dairy are meant for dairies being run illegally in rural areas of the national capital. The plots were being allotted to these owners, he clarified.

The Mayor replied, “I went through the file of Ashok Jain tabled by the Municipal Commissioner. I have signed after going through the details. I stand by my words. You complained to Lt. Governor and the Union Home Ministry. I am ready to bear the punishments given by the competent authority. Let them take the decision. As far as plot allotment of Ghogha Dairy case is concerned, I will discuss with the Chief Law Officer of the MCD to take any decision”.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi today transferred its Deputy Commissioner for Rohini Zone G S Matharoo while relieving its assessor and collector Anil Bamba.

Mr Z U Siddiqui, deputy commissioner Narela, was given additional charge of Rohini zone while Mr Amiya Chandra, presently posted as additional deputy commissioner, advertisement and P R cell was assigned additional charge of assessor and collector till further orders, an MCD release said.

Transfer of Mr Matharoo comes after the Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Special Investigation team of the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct a probe into illegal properties that had come up during the tenure of Mr Matharoo, in Rohini Zone.

Meanwhile, the MCD today carried out large scale demolition action against ongoing residential and commercial properties in Najafgarh area. The action included complete demolition of a property where large scale construction of shops and offices was going on and part demolition of a residential property.

In Dakshin Puri, massive encroachment removal action was taken while in Lodhi road, unauthorised establishments in two shops at Mehar Chand market were brought down.

New Delhi, August 23
The CBI has arrested a woman Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) for accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 from a complainant to spare him in a dowry case. Pushpa Rattan, posted with the Crime Against Women (CAW) cell, was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe money from the complainant Ravi last evening.

According to CBI sources, “searches were also conducted at her residence following the trap. A case has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the ASI.”

According to the FIR, the accused ASI demanded a bribe of Rs 4,000 from one Ravi, a resident of Timarpur, failing which she threatened to implicate him in a dowry harassment case. The ASI had demanded the bribe in connection with the complainant’s engagement with a woman, which had broken down, following which a complaint was filed with the CAW cell.

This is the second arrest of a police official of the CAW cell of the Delhi Police in a fortnight by the CBI. Earlier, another ASI of the same police station was arrested by the CBI in another bribery case on August 11.

A sessions court took a stern view on CBI’s inaction to collect the voice samples of a woman police officer, who has been in judicial custody for over 10 days in a Rs 2,000 graft case, and soon complete the probe against her.

Additional Sessions Judge Veena Birbal told the agency to wrap up the probe and complete the voice samples test by August 29, failing which the accused would be “mandatorily” granted bail.

Anita Rai, posted at the Crime Against Women Cell in east Delhi, was arrested while she was allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from a person for accepting his bail bond and that of his family.

The complainant had been granted anticipatory bail by a local court in a case of criminal breach of trust and demand for dowry lodged by his sister-in-law.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police today chargesheeted a constable posted at a city court for taking Rs 500 bribe for allowing a person to verify the bail documents of his brother, an accused in an assault case.

Inder Singh, a Delhi Police constable of the Sarita Vihar police station and stationed at a court in the Patiala House complex, was chargesheeted under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Special Judge Mr Sunil Gaur, before whom the police report was filed, has posted the case for September 7 for hearing.

The police had arrested Singh on September 1 last year on the basis of a complaint lodged by Rakesh, a resident of Ring Road here, alleging that the accused had demanded Rs 2,000 from him as payment for allowing him to check the documents regarding the bail plea of his brother, Santosh, an accused in an assault case.

They claimed that Singh was caught red-handed taking Rs 500 from the complainant at the court complex.

In yet another graft case, Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi Police today filed a chargesheet against Inder Singh, Nayab Court of Sarita Vihar police station in Patiala House courts, in connection with a September 2005 bribery case.

He was charged under Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for demanding Rs 2,000 from one Rakesh Kumar for putting up the bail application in a pending case against him.

He had been caught accepting Rs 500 on September 1, last year.

Meanwhile, the ACB also filed chargesheet against Sanjay Kumar Patwari, posted at the Rampura SDM office, in April 2005 case when he was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 for issuing a caste certificate for the complainant’s son.

New Delhi, August 23
Incidents of rape in the national capital had shown a decline in the first seven months of this year as compared to the same period last year, the government said today.

However, crime against women, including murder, had marginally increased during the same period, the Minister of State for Home, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The capital has witnessed 372 incidents of rape in the first seven months of this year. Incidents of rape have been increasing in the capital in the recent past with 658 cases reported last year as against 551 in 2004 and 490 the year before.

Delhi Police have initiated several measures to check the menace, including setting up of crime against women cells, rape crises intervention centres and deployment of policemen in plain clothes at vulnerable places. It has also started dedicated telephone help lines, constituted women mobile teams to attend to distress calls round-the-clock, besides organising self-defence training programmes for women.

In another reply in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Home, Mr. S Regupathy said 88 Bangladeshi nationals had been arrested in the capital till July this year. Last year, Delhi Police had arrested 273 Bangladeshi nationals, as compared to 203 in 2004 and 185 the year before that.

Mr. S Regupathy also told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that Delhi Chief Minister has written to the Centre asking for devolution of more administrative powers.

Mrs Dikshit, through her letter dated February 13, 2006, represented for devolution of more administrative powers for Delhi Government, he said.

The Chief Minister had specifically asked for withdrawal of two circulars issued by the Union Government dated July 25, 2002 and August 29, 2002, concerning Transaction of Business Rules on the ground that these had eroded the autonomy of Delhi Government and created confusion, he said. The demands made by Dikshit were under consideration of the Centre, Mr. Regupathy added.

New Delhi, August 23
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in a meeting of the reconstituted Planning Board held here today reiterated her commitment to develop Delhi as a world-class city. The meeting was convened to discuss draft Approach Paper for 11th Five Year Plan of Delhi. She chaired the Board meeting.

The Chief Minister described Delhi a prime object of development to showcase India. She added that the year 2010 was an immediate and important milestone for Delhi. She appreciated various suggestions relating to implementation of NCR concept in true spirit, transfer of land subject to Delhi Government and parting of a share of the DDA’s earned income on account of auction of commercial plots to Delhi Government for development of adjoining localities.

She stressed on the need of developing common facilities for disposal of waste management, including hazardous waste management, landfill sites including underground landfill sites, power generation, transport facilities etc. She exhorted all NCR states to render reciprocal cooperation to the Delhi Government in the development of entire NCR.

She added that there would be a big change in quality and quantity of Public Transport System in next two-three years in Delhi. Ms Dikshit stressed on the need of constructing new buildings amalgamating the concept of green buildings. She further said that there was only 1900 MW maximum peak time power demand in Delhi in 1999, which had gone up to 3900 MW today and was expected to grow further in time to come.

She disclosed that around 400 MW addition in the power supply of Delhi would be ensured in next 3-4 years for which tie-ups with various governments, including Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) were being made.

She called upon all Planning Board members to give constructive and valuable suggestions to enable the government to finalize the most suitable, pragmatic and progressive Approach Paper.

A number of useful suggestions were made by the participants. Some of the vital suggestions included promotion of knowledge industry in Delhi, suitable changes immediately required in the present system of governance to make Delhi a global city, JNNURM funds for utilisation of slum improvement and relocation of JJ squatters, complete rejuvenation of river Yamuna, development of Yamuna river front, more community centres and marriage parks in Delhi and suitable space for hawkers.

The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Delhi Government, other members of the Planning Board which includes Members of Parliament, MLAs, Leader of Opposition, Chief Secretary, Director General NCAER, former UD Secretary of GOI, Member Secretary, NCR Planning Board, VC (DDA) and Principal Secretaries and Secretaries and Heads of Department.

The Chief Minister said that multiplicity of authorities in Delhi was a critical impediment to the speedy implementation of developmental projects. Apart from this, a habit of shifting of responsibilities had also developed which also create bottleneck. She expressed confidence that valuable suggestions of the members today would help in developing a cohesive approach to minimize the effects of multiplicity of authorities.

Deputy Chairman of Planning Board and Finance Minister, Dr. A.K. Walia, while welcoming the members, presented a highlight of the major features and issues linked to the development of Delhi. He added that Delhi was all set to host major events like Commonwealth Games 2010 and Cricket World Cup Final 2011.

All these major events to be organised in Delhi during 11th Five Year Plan period put additional responsibilities on the Delhi Government and its agencies for gearing up their machineries to create necessary infrastructure of the expected quality level for the successful organisation of these events.

New Delhi, August 23
The Delhi High Court today refused to stay the demolition of illegal electronic shops near Diwan Hall at historic Chandni Chowk in central Delhi.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma dismissed the petition of the association of the shop owners saying that the unauthorised shops must be demolished.

When the demolition squad of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) reached the market complex with 259 shops, the association knocked the doors of the Court saying that the buildings were constructed prior to January 1, 2006 and were protected under the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act.

While adjourning the matter till September 4, the Court issued notice to the MCD asking it to file its reply within two weeks.

The shops were selling electronic and electrical goods.

New Delhi, August 23
Taking a serious view of instances like cattle relaxing in classrooms and children using the corners as urinals, the Delhi High Court today pulled up the MCD for failing to ensure even basic infrastructural facilities at the schools run by it.

The Bench suggested that the MCD should not open any new school until it was able to provide proper infrastructural facilities in the existing schools.

“Why are you running the schools when you cannot provide even the minimum amenities?” the Bench asked the MCD’s Director of Education who was present in the court.

The Bench passed the observations while dealing with a PIL filed by Social Jurists which submitted to the court several photographs and documents to expose shocking conditions prevailing at the MCD run schools.

According to the reports submitted by advocate Ashok Agarwal while the Class IV staff openly smoked outside the classrooms, some of the students were found preparing tea for the teachers.

A few others were used by the school staff to sweep the classrooms.

In some of the schools the children including girls were found easing themselves in the corners of their classrooms as the schools lacked basic toilet facilities.

Agarwal complained that such conditions in the MCD-run schools were not only inhuman, but also pushed the children into child labour as many parents have stopped sending their children to the schools.

The schools where such pathetic conditions were witnessed were in areas like Ashok Nagar, Madanpur, Kariri, Nikhari, P Remnagar and Rajiv Nagar, the Social Jurist claimed.

New Delhi, August 23
The Delhi High Court today granted a week’s time to the public schools in the Capital to formulate a transparent policy on admitting students in nursery class without subjecting them to rigours of interviews.

A division bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma said last chance was given to the schools to evolve a method to admit in nursery class without forcing them to hardship of interviews.

When a counsel appearing for a public school said interview was required to judge a student, whether he was deaf and dumb or physically challenged, the Court said, ‘’Make a separate column in the admission form for such specification.’’ The court took strong objection to the fact that the Sriram School filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking direction to quash the direction of the High Court for such guideline. However, the Apex Court dismissed the petition.

The order of the court was pending execution for past two years and the schools did not put forward any concrete proposal in this regard.

A public study group on the Central Advisory Board of Education committees had suggested that schools could follow the neighbourhood policy regarding admission to nursery and pre-primary classes and decide admissions through a transparent draw of lots.

In an affidavit filed in the High Court through counsel Ashok Agrawal, group secretary Radhika Menon said the schools should not ask ‘’non-essential’’ questions about parents_ jobs, salaries, car brands and ‘’what can you do for schools?’’ in the registration forms. Such a step would reduce the bias in the principals or the selectors mind.

Agrawal, the study groups counsel, has sought a ban on interviewing children on the ground that it was ‘’arbitrary and violative’’ of their human rights.

The practice was violative of their fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 (right to equality), Article 21 (right to life & liberty) and Article 21-A (right to education for children below 14) of the Constitution and provisions of Delhi School Education Act, 1973, he contended.

Agrawal said by subjecting the children to interviews, public schools are also violating recommendations of the Kothari Commission (1964-66) and the Yashpal Committee (1993) and urged the court to direct the schools to give admission in pre-primary classes by draw of lots only.

New Delhi, August 23
The Delhi High Court has come to the rescue of 70 girls who were denied the right to attend classes by a school in the city. The court has ordered their school to allow them to resume classes starting from today.

Justice Anil Kumar of the Delhi High Court directed the Beni Prasad Jaipuria Girls Sr. Sec. School run by a Trust to allow all the girls who were admitted in the current academic session to attend their classes.

The High Court has allowed the application of the parents whereby the parents highlighted the facts that the school authorities after admitting their children in the school did not allow them to attend class from July 1, 2006 without any justification.

The girls had alleged that once the school reopened after the summer vacations, the authorities did not allow them to attend classes and on seeking an explanation, failed to provide them any.

Counsel for the parents, Mr Ashok Agarwal of the Social Jurist said that the school authorities’ decision was not legal and therefore not justified. He said the action of the school authorities was arbitrary, illegal and discriminatory and in violation of the right to education of these children.

In July, parents of these girl students moved the Delhi High Court seeking justice for their children who have been abruptly thrown out of the government-aided Seth Beni Pershad Jaipuria Girls Sr. Sec. School by its management.

It was alleged by the counsel that the management abruptly threw out the children as it was seeking to convert the school into an unaided institution.

The parents pleaded in the petition that the action of the school management would deprive the girls of their academic year as it would not be possible for them to get admission into other schools since the present academic year had already commenced.

Faridabad, August 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the district authorities to assess the working of the local cable operators and take a strict action in case a consumer complain of ‘harassment’.

The court has asked the administration to issue a public notice and give an opportunity to the residents to submit their complaints.

This order was delivered by the court recently in response to a contempt petition filed by a local resident, who had charged the officials of not implementing the earlier order of the court in this connection.

The petitioner, Mr K.L. Gera, in his contempt petition had stated that despite the judgement of the court in response to the PIL on the issue, in which the authorities concerned had been directed to carry out a periodical reassessment of the functioning of the cable operators in the town, the orders were not implemented by the administration.

He had sought an action against the respondents, which included the then Deputy Commissioner, the SDM and the SP, who had been made party in the petition.

Mr Gera had filed the original CWP no. 6036 in 2002 seeking action against the cable operators, who had been violating all norms.

In the aforesaid petition, the Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad, had been directed by the court to submit a fact-finding report. It is stated that the report dated December 11, 2003 submitted in the court, found the majority of the allegations levelled by the petitioner against the cable operators as largely correct and asked the authorities to take an appropriate action as per law.

The Division Bench had disposed of the petition with the direction that the authorized officers should periodically carry out reassessment of the work of cable operators under the relevant statutes which govern the matter and take remedial measures as may be considered appropriate.

However, according to the petitioner, even after the lapse of several months and enough time given to the authorities on the issue, the problem persisted, forcing him to file the contempt petition.

Though affidavits were filed in response to the show cause notices issued by the court, the latter observed that the compliance was far from satisfactory and the respondents had carried out neither the periodical reassessment nor taken remedial measures.

The first order had been passed by the court on March 16, 2004. It is now observed that another opportunity was being given to the officials concerned to ensure effective implementation of the earlier order. It has directed that besides regular reassessment, a stern action will be taken against the operator in case of any complaint.

Ghaziabad, August 23
Undeterred by the opposition by former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh, and Jan Morcha President, Raj Babbar, to Reliance project, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has given a go ahead to have the work on the mega power project started. The foundation stone of the Dadri Power Project is expected to be laid tomorrow in Dehra village.

State’s Principal Secretary (Energy) Alok Sinha would personally look after the arrangements for the foundation stone laying ceremony at the site. According to official sources, the police and security agencies have also been ordered to make arrangements to ensure that farmers don’t create any disturbance.

The state government is understood to have given all clearances and go ahead to the power project company to start the work, although farmers and officials have been at loggerheads on the question of land compensation.

Officials of the district administration and the police inspected the site yesterday. The SDM, however, said the date of August 24 for foundation laying ceremony could be changed for starting the work. The administration will in no case allow any interference in the work, and very elaborate security arrangements are being made.

The land has been surveyed by a team comprising DM and SSP. Police and PAC etc have been deployed in the area on a large scale so that no hindrance comes in the work.

In view of the tension in the area, former Prime Minister V.P. Singh has advised farmers not to adopt a course of collision with the administration, as a legal battle will be fought for them.

The leaders of all the political parties involved in the farmers struggle have said their opposition was not to the setting up of power project as such, but they are voicing for the rights of the farmers who are being cheated on the pretext of acquiring their land. The work on the construction of power project will not therefore be opposed, they said.

Ghaziabad, August 23
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has offered 154 MLAs of the state a plot each in Indirapuram, which had virtually got Ghaziabad ranking among 10 hot cities of the world.

Another 26 MLAs are still on the waiting list.

Though the GDA has granted their wish to all the MLAs with this largesse, it is still grappling with the impossible demand of all the MLAs for a corner plot.

To find a problem to this ticklish issue, GDA has sent a letter to the Speaker of Legislative Assembly in Lucknow requesting him to constitute a committee of MLAs to resolve this problem. In spite of shortage of land, the GDA has allotted 154 plots of 200 sq mt in Naye Khund of Indirapuram to each MLA. Interestingly, Indirapuram was the only choice of the people’s representatives. But even those who have been allotted a plot each by the GDA are unhappy on another count – because they had demanded a plot of 400 or 300 sq mt each.

Even after having done their best in the matter, officials appear concerned because all the MLAs will not settle for anything but a corner plot. The last meeting of the GDA had approved allotment of a plot each to all MLAs, but 26 still are on the waiting list. Right now the GDA is “short of corners” as an official quipped jokingly in the case of MLAs’ demand for corner plots.

New Delhi, August 23
People congregated at different centres of the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission worldwide and paid tributes to Sant Kirpal Singh on the occasion of his 32nd Barsi Bhandara on Monday.

At Kirpal Bagh, an audio-visual was screened on his life recalling his contributions to humanity. People from all walks of life paid rich tributes to him. In his message on the occasion, Sant Rajinder Singh said that Sant Kirpal Singh showed to the world that all humans are members of the same family of the one creator, whether or not they have faith in God. God resides within us, in the temple of the human body made by him in the womb of the mother and not in temples made by the hand of humans.

Food was served to people in different parts of India and in 36 locations in Delhi in the memory of Sant Kirpal Singh. Medicines, fruits and eatables were also distributed to cancer patients at Shanti Avedna Sadan here.

New Delhi, August 23
With the arrest of three persons Vijay Pal Sharma, Radha Krishan Yadav and Munna Kumar, the West Delhi Police today claimed to have solved a “false” case of robbery worth Rs 1.5 crore. All three of them were employees of the firm Pearl Agro Corporation Limited (PACL), Paschim Vihar. The entire amount has been recovered from the house of the relatives of one of the accused within eight hours of the incident.

According to the Police, “a group of employees from PACL came to the Paschim Vihar Police Station yesterday in the evening and one of them namely Vijay Pal lodged a complaint that four unidentified youth had robbed Rs 1.5 crore of the company from their possession when they were going to deposit it in Corporation Bank, Paschim Vihar.” Vejay Pal claimed “they pounced up on us from all sides and after snatching the money ran away towards Rohtak Road.”

They had reported the matter to the police station three hours after the incident, said a senior officer.

“We initially conducted preliminary inquiry from all three employees. They were also taken to the place of incident and their individual versions regarding the incident were cross checked. Local inquiry was also conducted for tracing any eye witness in the case, but all went futile,” the officer said.

Thereafter, a special team was set up under the ACP of Punjabi Bagh Mr. Jagjeet Singh Deshwal. The investigating team separately examined all three employees. The team also went to their office to reconstruct sequence of events. “Delay in lodging complaint, no PCR call or raising any alarm at the place of incident created doubts in the minds of the investigating team,” said the officer.