Jalandhar, April 12
A complaint by a local NGO regarding a child labourer working at a tea stall fell flat today as the police claimed that the child was not a labourer but rag picker who was taking tea at the stall.

The team of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan had called the police helpline 100 to get the 'labourer' rescued, but when they made enquiries, the police said the child was not a labourer.

The tea stall located near a business complex on Ladowali Road is in the jurisdiction of the Bardari police station.

Activists of the NGO told The Tribune that they had been observing the child for the past many days and had also recorded a video clip of him working at the tea stall.

NGO activist Dinesh Kumar said: "We have a video clip of the child washing utensils at the tea stall. He had been working at the stall. In the video clip, another child is working at the stall with him. But the police, as always, is refusing to act."

When contacted, Sewa Singh, investigating officer of the Baradari police station, said: "The child is a rag pickers who were having tea at the stall."

When told the NGO activists have a video of the labourer washing utensils, he said, "They are just cooking up stories. It's not a genuine complaint."

The NGO had also made a similar complaint regarding a labourer working at the Madan Flour Mills Chowk on April 4. Despite the fact that they have a video clip regarding them, too, no action was taken.

Jalandhar, April 12
In a judgment that can benefit many students, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked Guru Nanak Dev University to refund fee of a student who had first taken admission to the MBA course in Gurdaspur but joined in Jalandhar in the subsequent round of counselling after paying the fee again.

Somesh Mahajan, a resident of Islam Ganj, had filed a complaint against the university Registrar and the varsity's Regional Campus, Gurdaspur, through its dean. He complained that the prospectus did not mention about the seats available in Jalandhar.

The complainant said he had appeared in an entrance test conducted by the varsity for session 2010-11 and obtained rank 206. Counselling for the course was to be conducted online in three rounds. The complainant said he deposited the counselling fee of Rs 2,500 at the State Bank of Patiala.

Mahajan said in the first round, he preferred the varsity's regional campus at Gurdaspur wherein 30 seats were available. He said after attending the first online counselling, he deposited Rs 51,220 with the Gurdaspur campus on August 6, 2010. He pleaded that the prospectus did not mention the availability seats in the varsity's regional campus in Jalandhar for admission to the course. The complainant said he had to appear in the second counselling to get the seat allotted in Jalandhar.

The plaintiff said he was directed to deposit the fee again and was specifically assured that the fee deposited at Gurdaspur would be refunded. Relying on the assurance and even the rules, he deposited fee of Rs 51,220 again in Jalandhar in cash on August 18, 2010, he added.

Just a day after depositing the fee, he moved an application for refund of the amount from the Gurdaspur campus and was assured that he would get it at the earliest, but to no avail.

The varsity authorities, however, contested that the fee was non-refundable except a security of Rs 1,000. "There is no provision of refund of the fee," they countered the claim.

While the student through his counsel contested that the university was deficient in its service by not mentioning the seats at Jalandhar in its prospectus and by not refunding the fee as per the guidelines of the UGC.

The University counsel, however, contradicted saying that the university was an autonomous body and had its own rules and regulations. The complainant further contested quoting the UGC guidelines through a public notice issued on April 23, 2007: "It has come to the notice of the UGC that the institutions and universities are admitting students to various programmes of studies long before the actual starting of academic sessions, collecting full fee from the admitted students and retaining their school/institution leaving certificates in original. The institution and universities are reportedly confiscating the fee paid if a student fails to join by such dates. This limits the opportunities for candidates from exercising other options of joining other institutions of their choice."

"The MHRD and the UGC have considered the issue and decided that in the public interest, the universities will maintain a waiting list of students in the event of a student withdrawing before the starting of the course. The waitlisted candidate should be given admission against the vacant seat. The entire fee collected from the student after deduction of the procession fee of not more than Rs 1,000 shall be refunded and returned by the university to the candidate withdrawing from the programme. Should a student leave after joining the course and if the seat falling vacant has been filled by another candidate by the last date of admission, the institution must return the fee collected with proportionate deduction of monthly fee and hostel rent where applicable," the notice read.

The petitioner also produced another case titled 'Registrar Andhra University vs Anjanam Jagedeesh' in which National Commission while deciding on July 6, 2010, had recognised the instructions issued by the UGC and had held that the guidelines would have overriding effect over the university's own guidelines.

Forum president Jaspal Singh Bhatia and members Darshan Singh and Jyotsna Thatai asked the university and its regional campus to refund Rs 51,220 after deducting Rs 1,000 as the processing fee within a month. The complainant was also awarded Rs 2,000 on account of litigation expenses and compensation.

The forum said if the amount is not paid in a month's time, the complainant would be entitled to interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of order till the payment.

Jalandhar, April 12
A team of the local Police DAV Public School has made it big in the intriguing and exclusive field of space settlement design.

A team of 11 students of the school has been invited by the National Space Society (NSS) to attend the 2012 International Space Development Conference (ISDC) to be held at Washington DC in the May-end.

The team of students from Classes IX to XII bagged the first and third prizes for their projects Columbiat and AEON, respectively, in the space settlement design competition organised and co-sponsored by NASA Ames and the NSS, some months ago.

The NSS is an independent space advocacy group headquartered in Washington DC.

As many as 474 teams and 1,276 students from across the world had participated in this competition. The objective of the projects was to highlight human factors on a settlement in outer space that acted as a business and a banking hub.

Team members, including Himani, Simran Saini, Sukhdeep Kaur, Navjot Singh, Navjot Parmar, Nikshant Grover, Necher Purewal, Tarandep Singh, Chetan Bhatia, Megha Gupta, Prerna Sidhu along with their guides Navdeep Sharma and Karminder Singh, will be leaving for Washington DC on May 23, 2012, to participate in the International Space Development Conference.

This year's ISDC will be held at Grand Hyatt, Washington, from May 24 to May 28. The ISDC will see students receiving certificates and awards for their models and making presentations based on posters that they have made about their models.

Talking to The Tribune, team guide Navdeep Sharma, who is a physics teacher at the school, said, "There have been times when we stayed on at the school till late in the night to work on the projects. Since there is too little information in the field of space settlements, we had to work and rework on theories ransacking through the little material available on the subject and devising our own models on their basis."

Jalandhar, April 12
The city is all set to get a new destination for a complete entertainment, leisure and shopping with MBD Neopolis mall opening near BMC Chowk in a few days.

With a slew of international brands and high-end stores, the mall will provide more options to city shoppers. The mall will also bring delights for movie goers with its four-screen PVR Cinemas.

While Big Bazaar and Shoppers Stop are going to be anchor brands, high-end brands like Kazo, FCUK, Jack and Jones, will open exclusive outlets for city shoppers for the first time.

The mall will also see exclusive Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Tommy Travel Gear outlets.

Other stores to come up at the mall include Levis, Nike and Woodland. Popular food chain Giga Byte will make an appearance for the first time in the city. And with it, the mall will also bring the essential lounging experience, hitherto unavailable for the city crowds.

Armed with luxuries and amenities on par with five star hotels, the mall will have escalators and elevators for the perfect shopping experience.

Rakesh Rawat, general manager, development, says, "The lower ground floor and the ground floor of the mall will house Big Bazaar and Shoppers Stop on the first second and third floors and the rest of the (first second and third) floors will house other outlets. Gigabyte lounge and bar will be on the third floor and the fourth and fifth floors will be occupied by PVR Cinemas with four screens."

Talking about the food to be made available at the mall, he said: "The lounge will have a buffet with four to five kinds of salads, two soups, five starters, and 24 main course dishes in Indian, Chinese and Continental cuisines."

"At the PVR, all seats will be gold class. And there will be a special recliner seating arrangement not available at any other mall in the city so far," he added.

The mall, in all, is going to have 30 outlets. Neopolis will be launched by the end of April or the first week of May, said Rawat.

Jalandhar, April 12
Civil Surgeon Dr Avtar Singh Jarewal today flagged off a rickshaw rally held to spread awareness regarding the National Pulse Polio round from April 15 to 17.

Speaking on the occasion, the Civil Surgeon said polio drops will be administered to children from 8 am to 2 pm at the booths set up by the health department on April 15. On April 16 and 17, the health teams will go door-to-door to administer drops to the left out children.

District Immunisation Officer Dr Rita Jairath said: "For urban and rural areas, a target 2,78,673 children has been set for which 1,125 booths will be set up. As many as 73 mobile teams and 68 transit teams will also be set up."

Special booths will be set up at the bus stand, railway station, brick kilns and slums.

District health officer Dr RL Bassan, family welfare officer Dr Aruna and assistant health officer Dr Maninder Minhas, were also present. 

Jalandhar, April 12
The trials for the Harbhajan Singh Institute of Cricket started a little late today due to overnight rain. However, it failed to dampen the spirit of the upcoming cricketers as they kept waiting till 10 am for their golden chance in Harbhajan's dream project.

Such was the craze and passion for the game that besides Jalandhar, boys came to the academy from far-off places like Batala, Barnala, Pathankot, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur.

The trials were held in the age group of 14, 16, 19, 22 and the senior category. The second phase of trials in the same age group would be held tomorrow and the joint result of the selected boys would be announced after two days.

Chief operating officer of the academy Vikram Sidhu said: "As many as 225 boys appeared for the trials today. We are expecting a similar turnout tomorrow."

The trials were conducted by a team of five selectors, including Davinder Arora, Ravneet Nicky, SP Kumar, Ankur Sondhi and Samrat Sharma and the list of the selected candidates would be out soon.