Chandigarh, July 1
Hundreds of students are being taken for a ride by the Kalpana Chawla Memorial Educational Society (KCMES) by admitting them admissions in their engineering college reportedly in an illegal manner.

Reason: The group has neither obtained approval of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Delhi, nor does it comply with the stipulated building norms to run the college.

The students alleged that the admission money between Rs 5,000 and 40,000 was collected from them, which was never refunded when asked for. “Even their office at Sector 15, here, has been shifted to some unknown place”, told the students.

Chairman of the society S.C. Gupta admitted that some “self-styled office-bearers” of the society are trying to manipulate things on the wrong side of law.

"I had written to the chairman of the AICTE numerous times not to issue letter of approval for the current session 2008-09 in the interest of the students as we were not prepared to fulfil the mandatory requirements. Why did they send a team to conduct the inspection is beyond my understanding,” admitted Gupta.

The situation arisen because of a dispute between the management of the KCMES, which was establishing its college, Kalpana Chawla Institute of Engineering and Technology, on 10-acre land at Shambhu Kalan village in Rajpura.

This correspondent talked to a person at their admission helpline no 9914834901. “Yes, inspection has been done and we will get the AICTE affiliation soon, was the reply. Little knowing that the last date for granting affiliation (June 30), as announced by the AICTE chairman, has already lapsed.

Equipments in the building and the land have been mortgaged by Punjab National Bank against a loan of Rs 17.51 crore and all accounts of the society and college has been seized. The society never got the site plan approved by any authority.

According to the Change of Land Use (CLU) norms as stipulated by the Punjab, the site plan has to be approved by the chief town planner, PUDA before starting any construction.

The Tribune team investigated that till date, no application has been moved by the society in this regard and the building stands unauthorised to run the educational institute. No electricity connection has been sanctioned by the PSEB and no provision for severage or drinking water has been made till date.

Said Gupta, “How come the inspection formalities can be held unless the society officials are not in the possession of land documents and especially, when the college does not have any electricity connection, sewerage connection or even drinking water facility? Secondly, when all accounts of the society are seized, then where is the fee being deposited is also questionable?

“We have got all approvals as far as building norms or facilities are concerned. Some scrupulous elements are trying to sabotage our approval process”, said Vipin Kaushal, treasurer of the society”. Kaushal also agreed to return the money to the students. “If we would be asked for”, said Vipin.

The seven-member society, formed on September 13, 2007, was being looked after by two families, the Guptas and the Kaushals. SC Gupta was nominated as chairman and Vipin Kaushal and Pawan Kaushal as general secretary and treasurer. Things went smoothly till May last when the dispute between the Guptas and the Kaushals came up over the governorship of the society.

Both have levelled allegations of financial irregularities against each other. Gupta claimed that the Kaushals were fleecing the students and parents by projecting themselves as chairman and vice-chairman of the society and are making admissions unauthorisedly. “I have even got published a public notice in newspapers about this fraud?"

Panchkula, July 1
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan was today admitted to Fortis Hospital, Mohali, after he fainted at his residence in the evening. He was reportedly suffering from mild fever for the last one week.

At around 5.30 pm today, his condition worsened and he started vomiting. However, as there were traces of blood in the vomit, he was immediately rushed to the General Hospital, Sector 6. After an initial examination by doctors at the hospital, he was discharged and advised rest. However, his family members decided to take him to Fortis, where he was admitted at around 7 pm. He was examined by senior doctors led by Dr Vikas Butani.

Later, the medical director of Fortis Dr Ashok Chordiya confirmed that Chander Mohan was suffering from fever and said his condition was stable. “A complete medical examination will be conducted to rule out any complication,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ravinder Rawal, president, Panchkula municipal council, who accompanied him to the hospital, said Chander Mohan was stable and that the blood in the vomiting was due to an injury on his lips.

Chandigarh, July 1
Residents already reeling under spiralling prices of food items are in for difficult times. With transporters across the country going on strike tomorrow, food and fuel supplies to the city are likely to be restricted.

With the city having almost no vegetable and fruit cultivation of its own, it depends on surrounding areas of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for its daily supply of items. Even cereals, pulses and oils are brought to the city from Delhi.

Wholesale traders of fruit and vegetables say the strike will lead to a yawning gap in demand and supply and the food prices hitting the roof. “Potatoes arrive in the mandi from Punjab and Himachal, while onions reach here from Nasik and also Punjab.The strike would mean that the supply chain will be cut,” said Jagdish, a vegetable seller in Sector 26.

Even fuel supply to the city could be cut. Though most petrol stations have their own tankers, quite a few depend on private tankers for transportation.

The All-India Motor Transport Congress has given a strike call because of the “ wrong policies” of the government. They allege that they are overcharged for toll tax and service tax and face harassment at the hands of speed governors.

COMMUNITY

DC for probe against Ivory Towers promoters
Chitleen K Sethi
Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 1
The SAS Nagar deputy commissioner has recommended that an inquiry be conducted against Industrial Cables Limited, promoters of Ivory Towers building complex in Sector 70 here. Apartment owners in Ivory Towers are waiting for registration of their property even eight years after they bought their flats and are paying a commission to the promoters to allow them to sell their flats.

Members of the Ivory Towers Flat Owners’ Association had complained to deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari alleging that the promoters had, till date, not got conveyance deeds done in the name of the allottees and were also charging Rs 14,000 from the buyer as well as seller to permit the flat owner to sell the flat.

President of the association R.P. Shah added that the promoters were also selling the parking space at high rates. “A resident has bought parking space for five cars and he does not even have a scooter. He intends to construct a commercial outlet here,” said Shah.

In a letter to chief administrator, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), the DC has stated that GMADA should hold an inquiry to ascertain if the promoters were violating the conditions of allotment.

The DC had also marked an inquiry into the residents’ complaint to the ADC who reported that the promoters had sold 284 flats in 2001 but had not been able to get conveyance deeds done in favour of the flat owners.

The ADC added that PUDA (now GMADA) had allotted 5.135 acres of land to the promoters but they had not got the conveyance deed in their favour due to some pending issues with GMADA.

Giving their side of the story to the ADC, the promoters pointed out that some part of the land allotted to them was encroached upon by a gurdwara and they had demanded a rebate in the cost of the land.

The DC has asked GMADA chief Vivek Pratap Singh to ensure that the conveyance deed be done in favour of the promoters so that they could in turn transfer the flats to the owners.

Shah said the land which was encroached upon by the gurdwara, was the open space of the complex and they were ready to give up their claim. “But the rebate which GMADA gives should benefit the flat owners not the promoters,” he said.

Shah alleged that the promoters had also not handed over the charge of the building properly. “The company which was marinating the building vanished one evening and we had to take over the entire work the next morning,” said Shah adding that the lifts and generators were non-functional.

He added that the company had neither handed over the club of the association nor given them office space. “We are sitting in a small corner of the power room,” he said.

ICL manager at Ivory Towers Harjinder Singh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Panchkula, July 1
A day after a 15-year-old boy was washed away in Kaushalya river, the Panchkula deputy commissioner has marked an inquiry into the incident. XEN, irrigation, has been asked to conduct the inquiry and submit the report within a month. He has been asked to find out the technical reasons which led to the boy’s death so that such incidents do not occur in future.

Nayagaon, July 1
An enthusiastic 76.5 per cent voter turn out was registered in the first municipal elections held at Nayagaon. With no arrangement between the BJP and SAD here, the results declared last evening have led to an interesting situation.

While seven SAD candidates have won here, two BJP candidates and five Congress candidates have also won. Though the winning Independent candidate can tip the scales in favour of the SAD, there is also a possibility of the Congress and BJP joining hands against SAD and forming a majority in the 15-seat NAC with the help of the Independent candidate.

The winning candidates include Krishna Devi of SAD from ward number 1, Harbant Singh of SAD from ward number 2, Vinod Kumar of Congress from ward number 3, Sarabjit Kaur of BJP from ward number 4, Ravinder Singh of the Congress from ward number 5, Surjit Singh of SAD from ward number 6, Resham Kaur of Congress from ward number seven, Gurdhian Singh of SAD from ward number 8, Arjan Singh of SAD from ward number 9, Independent candidate Krishana from ward number 10, Sham Lal of BJP from ward number 11, Dalbir Singh of the Congress from ward number 12, Kuljinder Kaur of SAD from ward number 13, Nirmala Devi of SAD from ward number 14 and Surjeet Singh of Congress from ward number 15.

Sources add that while there is a tussle between Arjan Singh and Harbant Singh for the presidentship of the committee, SAD members will manage to rope in Independent candidate Krishana to form a majority of eight in the 15-seat committee.

The BJP is bitterly against the SAD here and will prefer to side with the Congress than the Akalis. Sham Lal, winning BJP candidate, is said to be close to winning Congress candidate Ravinder Singh. The BJP candidates have, however, never been able to see eye to eye with Arjan, Harbant and Gurdhian of the SAD.

Sources said the days to come are going to be crucial for the formation of the committee as parleys are already on about the combinations of power possible here.

Chandigarh, July 1
Mooting value-based politics, nominated councillor Amrit Bolaria today said the city councillors should rise above their party lines on issues pertaining to upliftment of the weaker sections of society.

Talking to The Tribune Bolaria, a trustee of an NGO, Developing Indigenous Resources, said a survey conducted by the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, brought out a startling fact that 8 per cent of slum children were drug-addicts. Expressing concern over the ever growing menace of drug-addiction, she said, "The numbers are alarming, but the situation has become all the more serious with the authorities and civic body having no plans to curtail the menace."

Acknowledging the proposal for constructing a world-class stadium in the city placed before the house by nominated councillor Brigadier (retd) Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri, Bolaria said in addition to this, playing grounds should be provided in each sector so that children could better utilise their energies. The authorities should make efforts to conduct inter-sector competitions to inculcate healthy habits and sportsmanship spirit among children as this would help in keeping them away from drugs.

On the issue of reduction in fine for hawkers, who were caught violating the rules, and encroachment, she held that she was opposed to such a move as it would only encourage violators.

She said the corporation should formulate a policy to regulate the hawkers by providing them licences and specifying their area of operation.

Chandigarh, July 1
Locked in a tug-of-war over bringing the office of the UT Administrator under the RTI purview, the Burning Brain Society, an NGO, and the Chandigarh Administration are gearing up for another confrontation.

Even as the Chandigarh Administration today claimed to have published the requisite information specified in Annexure I to XVI contained in Section 4(1)(b) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 regarding the Administrator in www.chandigarh.gov.in and at some notice boards in the UT Secretariat, social activist and society chairman Hemant Goswami is not amused.

Goswami, who had forced the administration to appoint a central public information officer(CPIO) by petitioning the Central Information Commissioner(CIC), today criticised the continued secrecy in the functioning of the office of the Administrator. “The Administrator has not provided even an iota of useful information in the proactive disclosure. It’s a mockery of the law. If such incomplete and incorrect information comes from the office of the highest authority of the state, it is indeed shameful.” Goswami said.

“We shall be again complaining to the CIC and the ministry of home affairs about this farce of publishing the requisite information,” Goswami warned.

On a complaint by Goswami, the CIC had on May 13 this year directed the office of the Administrator to publish all information as prescribed under Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act, which the Administrator’s office was to otherwise publish by October 12, 2005.

Talking about the deficiencies, Goswami said in most of the columns where information was to be provided the Administrator mentioned that since there was no staff so no information was being provided.

The Administrator did not even reveal the name and address of the advisory council formed by him. While everyone knew that he used his discretionary powers many times and even granted remission of sentence to prisoners, but still the Administrator had avoided mentioning the list of all such beneficiaries in the list of concessions given to people. Most other columns has a “nil” entry in the columns, he claimed.

Mohali, July 1
Mohinder Kaur, mother of cricketer Manpreet Goni, alleged today that her son, at the instigation of his wife and in-laws, had threatened to eliminate her.

She said the incident occurred when Goni, his wife and her relatives came to their house to pick up some things. "Before leaving for Asia Cup, Goni and a few of his wife’s relatives came to my house in Mohali and threatened to eliminate me. His wife also tried to assault me," she alleged.

Asked why she had not lodged a police complaint, she said: “This will spoil my son’s career. She blamed his wife and mother-in-law for the trouble and threatened to lodge a complaint against them.” Mahinder Kaur is a social worker and BJP activist.

Chandigarh, July 1
A Mohali-based couple had a miraculous escape when their Tata Safari caught fire in Sector 21 here this evening.

According to information, the vehicle (HP 17-A-4040) belonging to Surinder Singh and Surjit Kaur, residents of Phase VII, Mohali, caught fire due to short circuit.

While the couple got down in time, the vehicle was badly damaged.

Chandigarh, July 1
The centralised admission to Class XI for the session 2008-09 will start tomorrow at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, here.

The officials of Chandigarh Education Department would conduct the counseling procedure from 8.30 am to 2 pm.

It is mandatory for the students to bring along their certificates and mark-sheets in original. They would gain entry to the counselling hall only after showing the acknowledgement slip and the counterfoil. Around 11,500 admission forms are expected for about 11,000 seats 
this session.

The department has made arrangements for an aptitude test in collaboration with the firms for the students who have to go in for vocational streams at the cost of Rs 50.

The admission would be made strictly on merit basis. The officials told that merit would be calculated before hand according to the marks obtained in English, mathematics, science, social science and one language.

Since the students who have done matriculation from the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) have to undergo two language examinations, their merit would be calculated considering the language test in which they have obtained maximum marks.

If any candidate has failed in one subject, but the Board has declared his overall result as pass, the marks of the failed subject for such candidates too would be considered while making merit at the time of admission.

The counselling for the sports quota admissions would also be done tomorrow.

The official told that new certification course in X-ray and General Health Care has been introduced at GMSSS-10. New vocational courses like beauty culture at GMSSS-47 and GSSS-37 and IT course at GMSSS-40 are being introduced from this session.

For any query or clarification regarding admission to Class XI, the parents and candidates can contact at the following phone numbers:

Rajinder Kaur 9815980388
Preeti 9815623550
Monika 9814323870
Renu 9872993046
Bimal 9815079183
Sunil Kumar 9872323249
Devinder 9876111151
Ajit Kaur 9814632321
Bhiwani Dass 9417579962
Alka 9216222321
Panna Lal 9888676845
Amrita 9855405913
Push Karwan 9872019884
Manita 9417049395

Mohali, July 1
One-day workshop on teaching methodology and techniques organised at Ashmah International School here turned out to be a great introspective and analytical session for the teachers of the school.

They discussed the core issues and aspects of teaching the little ones amongst themselves. The workshop, which mainly constituted the discussion, went for hours with virtually all the teachers chipping in with their own experiences and ideas.

Chandigarh, July 1
The working hours of the university administrative offices, including the construction office, directorate of sports, and also of the teaching/non-teaching departments with effect from July 7 will be as under:

Monday to Friday: 9 am to 5 pm with lunch break from 1.30 pm to 2.00 pm. All Saturdays and Sundays will be holidays. The chairpersons of the teaching departments can, however, make some minor adjustments in the above mentioned office timings.

INSO PROTEST: The Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) protested against the fee hike for NRI students of PU. It has also demanded framing of policy for not increasing fee for general and sponsored/NRI students after they take admission in first year.

Led by INSO chairman Sukhdev Kundu, students demanded the rollback of fee hike and said that fees of students should remain the same throughout the course. INSO delegation also met the DSW Naval Kishore in this regard.

RESULTS: Results of the following examinations have been declared according to the joint controller of examinations, PU:

1. B.Sc.-III (Bio-Technology) Honours, April 2008; 2. B.Sc.-III (Bio-Informatics) Honours, April 2008; 3. B.Sc.-III (Microbial & Food Technology), April 2008; 4. B.Sc.-III (Home Science), April 2008; 5. B.Sc.-I (Compartment), April 2008.

ENTRANCE EXAM: The University Institute of Applied Management Sciences has dispatched roll numbers to all the eligible candidates for its off-campus MBA entrance test to be held on July 6 (Sunday) at the Lajpat Rai Bhawan, Sector 15-B, Chandigarh, in the afternoon session from 2 pm to 4 pm. If any candidate does not receive his/her role number by July 5, he/she can collect the same at 11.00 am at the venue of the examination centre on the same day and date. Candidates are advised to bring the photocopy of application form with two latest passport size photographs.

Chandigarh, July 1
Coming down heavily on the Union Government for inordinate delay in according administrative approval for setting up a court complex, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the union ministry of law and justice to furnish its consent within a week.

The High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Jaswant Singh also directed that the responsibility for the delay should be fixed.

As the matter came up for resumed hearing; the Bench observed though the funds had been allocated, these could not be utilised for the construction of judicial complex on account of intra ministry administrative approval.

The Bench made it clear that “it would like the union ministry of law and justice to fix the responsibility for non-grant of administrative approval. The judges observed that even though the foundation stone was laid one year and seven months back, so far work had not commenced at the site.

The Bench added that the delay in granting of administrative approval for such a project not only hindered the timely construction activities, but also resulted in the escalation of the costs of the project. "Who will pay the escalated costs?" the Bench questioned. The matter will come up for resumed hearing on July 9.

The observations were made as standing counsel for UT Anupam Gupta submitted that the administration was pursuing the matter with the Union Government.

Gupta stated before the Bench that on June 18, the UT home secretary had written a letter to the union ministry of law and justice.

He had stated the union ministry of urban development had conveyed that the subject matter came under the domain of the union ministry of law and justice, which was providing funds for the project; and that the administrative approval for this proposal had to be provided by the union ministry of law and justice.

Gupta added it was difficult for the UT administration to commence the construction work because it did not have the financial power to spend beyond Rs 10 crore while the project was of Rs 18 crore. He assured the court that the work would commence within 24 hours of receiving the administrative approval.