Chandigarh, January 25
A day after Chandigarh Tribune highlighted how students of the GMSSS, Sector 38 (West), were made to dance barefoot on a damaged cemented floor during a rehearsal for the Republic Day function at the Sector 17 Parade Ground, the authorities today repaired the damaged floor ahead of the state-level function, scheduled for tomorrow.

All gaps were filled and pebbles and broken glass pieces were removed from the floor.

An official said all arrangements were complete and they were expecting an "exciting" Republic Day function tomorrow. UT Adviser KK Sharma will be the chief guest at the function

Chandigarh, January 25
Traffic hurdles and diversions are in store for commuters in the city tomorrow on the occasion of Republic Day. Traffic police officials said motorists were advised to make use of alternative routes from 7 am onwards.

The road stretch from the roundabout of Sectors 16,17, 22 and 23 till the small rotary near Gurdial Singh Petrol Pump, Sector 22-A, on Udyog Path, the stretch from the crossing of Sectors 16 and 17 till the roundabout of Sectors 16, 17, 22 and 23 on Jan Marg and the stretch from the light point near Lyon's Restaurant, Sector 17, till the Parade Ground will remain closed for vehicles of the general public from 7 am onwards till the function at the Parade Ground is over.

No parking will be allowed in the parking area in front of shops in the Sector 22-A market from 7 am onwards till the function is over.

VIPs and senior officers with authorised car parking stickers on their vehicles will be allowed entry from the roundabout of Sectors 16, 17, 22 and 23 on Udyog Path and they can park their vehicles in the parking area in front of the Sector 22-A market.

The general public can park vehicles in the parking area of Sector 22-B adjacent to Blood Disease Hospital, Sector 23-B, on the rear side of Neelam Cinema, Sector 17, in the parking lot of the Football Stadium and in Circus Ground, Sector 17.

All buses coming from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and other places to the ISBT, Sector 17, Chandigarh, will be diverted towards ISBT Chowk from Bajwara Chowk and Piccadilly Chowk via Himalya Marg and will enter the ISBT, Sector 17, from the small chowk (near Gurdial Singh Petrol Pump).

Chandigarh, January 25
“He deserved this honour when he was alive,” was the first reaction of Savita Bhatti, wife of the late Jaspal Bhatti, known as the king of satire and spoof, who was posthumously named for the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour, on the eve of the 64th Republic Day today. Jaspal Bhatti (57) died in October last year in a road accident near Jalandhar.

Speaking to Chandigarh Tribune, Savita Bhatti, who remained his reel as well as real life partner, said he was a comedian who provoked introspection with his wit and satire. “His work that he has left behind for all of us to follow should have been recognised much earlier,” she said.

“The award, however, is definitely an honour for the family and friends. I wish he had been here among us to share the moment,” she said.

Asked if this award would further boast his legacy, she said, “It is for others to answer. The family is committed to taking forward his legacy and to keep it alive among us.”

His son Jasraj Bhatti said they were proud that his work was recognised at last. “My father was not into any kind of competition with anybody. He worked for the cause of society in a very different way. I am proud to be his son,” he said.

Prof KK Garg, a close associate of the late Bhatti, said, “I am very happy that the government has finally recognised his contribution. He was not just a comedian, but a thinker. This will inspire people to listen to his thoughts once again.”

Kamal Tiwari, chairman of the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi, said it was a proud moment for the city. “Even though he is not among us, he continuous to inspire us with his legacy,:” he said.

Chandigarh, January 25
Moving a step ahead in judicial infrastructure development, the new District Courts complex in Sector 43 was inaugurated with much fanfare today.

The new premises has been constructed on nine acres consisting of the main building of the District Courts having provision for 31 courts with rooms for the supporting staff, a service block and a block housing lawyers' chambers. The courts will be operatinal from January 28.

Taking the burden off police stations, the court will have a separate facility for malkhanas where case properties will be stored. The new building will have the video-conferencing facility, a mediation centre, a separate court for permanent lok adalats.

At least four additional district and sessions judges and six judicial magistrates will be joining the District Courts, taking the number of operational courts to 30 from the present 20. With adequate space in the new complex, the new courts will have a separate malkhana to store case properties. Till now, all case properties are stored in malkhanas in 11 police stations of the city. The court will also have a separate court for hearing cases of crimes against children.

The building has been completed at a cost of Rs 44 crore of which the building portion has been constructed at a cost of Rs 34.52 crore. Electricity services have been provided at a cost of Rs 4 crore, including lifts, a substation, campus lighting and the fire alarm system. Public health services, including air-conditioning and fire fighting, have been provided at a cost of Rs 5.48 crore.

Courts have come a long way

In 1966, the District Courts started functioning from a 10 marla house in Sector 8. The court then shifted to a school building and later to the Sector 17 complex. Over the years with increasing cases and number of litigants, the demand for courts increased and some of the small courtrooms in Sector 17 faced problems of congestion due to the burgeoning court cases. The new building in Sector 43 has rooms for 31 courtrooms and more courts will come up in the second phase.

Infrastructure

The main building of the new District Courts is a multi-storeyed block with a basement and five storeys. Each floor has been provided with lifts (two each for the public and two for judges), four staircases and a ramp with connecting passage between the court block and lawyers' chambers.

All courtrooms are centrally air-conditioned, with provision for a solar water heating system of 200 litres per day. For uninterrupted supply of electricity, a 250 kVA auto-start generator has been installed for the main building as well as the service block.

Speedy justice need of the hour: Patil

Speaking on the occasion, UT Administrator Shivraj Patil said besides infrastructure development, more was required to improve the efficacy of the judicial system.

“Inside the complex and courtrooms, many other things like CCTV cameras, cameras and tape recorders to record evidence and to record arguments may be needed. Such gadgets will reduce the time and effort needed to do deliver speedier justice,” said Patil.

Prominent among others who spoke on the occasion included Justice AK Sikri, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Rajiv Bhalla, chairman, Building Committee, Chandigarh, and Justice TPS Mann, Administrative Judge, Chandigarh Sessions Division.

Panchkula, January 25
Cocking a snook at the rules and regulations laid down by HUDA and Municipal Corporation (MC), a resident of Sector 7, Panchkula, blocked the complete road in front of his house for his personal function. For HUDA authorities, which have their office in front of the residence, have turned a blind eye.

When contacted the owner of the house, Rajender Kumar, he said, “We have a religious function at our house. This is just a link road and regarding the permissions to hold the function, everything has been sought by us from the administration.”

He further added, “We have not blocked any road and even the commuters are facing no problem.”

“One faces a lot of problem, when the road is blocked because to go on the main road, one has to take a turn from the backside,” said a neighbour in the locality requesting anonymity.

Another neighbour said, “It just shows attitude of the authorities concerned. If in this way, everyone starts encroaching upon the road there would be no system left.”

While for the authorities, they kept passing the buck.

While for the Estate Officer of HUDA, Ashwini, he said, “I will definitely check the matter personally. They are not allowed to do so. But, I believe it falls in the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation.”

OP Sihag, executive officer of the Municipal Corporation (MC), said, “No permission has been sought from us. Even otherwise, no permission is given to block the road for a personal function.”

Panchkula, January 25
Panchkula reported its first swine flu death today morning after a resident of Kalka, who was suspected of swine flu yesterday, died at PGI, Chandigarh.

The victim, Namit Rattan, was referred to PGI Chandigarh from the general hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula after his samples tested positive.

Rattan had got married three years back and is survived by his wife and a two-year-old daughter. Tragically, Rattan's elder brother had also died in a road accident, five years back.

It was yesterday when the victim's samples were taken and were sent to PGI, Chandigarh. In the morning he was referred to PGI after he tested positive.

The post mortem of the deceased was conducted and the body was handed over to the family members.

The deceased owned the Balaji Trimurti Dham temple in Kalka.

Three more cases of swine flu have been reported at PGI, Chandigarh. While one is from Punjab, one is from Chandigarh and the other is from Haryana.

Chandigarh, January 25
Pushed to wall for not deciding on the issue of insurance cover for the buses of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), the Chandigarh Administration while exercising provisions under the Motor Vehicle Act today gave one-month conditional exemption to run the buses.

Around 160 buses that were stranded for the past over one month in absence of insurance cover would be back in roads tomorrow. The Advisor has given the exemption to the UT Administrator, KK Sharma.

Explaining the process, UT officials said for the one-month period a special fund of Rs 1.75 crore to pay insurance in case of any accident involving CTU buses has been constituted. By the end of one-month period, the CTU would get the buses insured from insurance company.

Officials in the STA buses said the buses which had not crossed the eight-year life span were being passed.

It may be mentioned that the UT Admn has failed to get any insurance company for insuring a fleet of 517 buses. All buses whose permission has expired have been lying dumped in the four workshops of the CTU.

Incidentally, the matter is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Devi Dayal Sharma had recently filed a petition before the court.

The petitioner had sought directions to make the government either grant exemption to the CTU buses under Section 143 (6) of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, or get the buses insured.

Ranjit Singh, general secy of the CTU Workers Union, said the decision could have been taken earlier. It could have saved the CTU from loss suffered due to non-working of the buses. — TNS

In December last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs had, in an hard-hitting order on transfer of UT SSP (operations) RS Ghuman to Arunachal Pradesh, stated that Ghuman should join within 15 days to avoid any disciplinary proceedings against him.

Chandigarh, January 25
Chandigarh Dance Sport Association is organising first Chandigarh Open Dance Sport Championship to be held at the Skating Rink in Sector 10, Chandigarh, on January 27.

More than 100 couples from all over the country will enliven the evening with their dancing skills in the Latin American and standard ballroom dance forms in the Chandigarh Open Dance Sport Competition.

The main judge of the show will be Priti Gupta of Mumbai, who has participated in several international dance sport events along with Shanon Benjamin.

Shanon Benjamin holds the world record for dancing non-stop for the longest time.

Other celebrity judges will be winners of the Jhalak Dikhla Ja TV show Tanushree and Arpita Ranadev.

The enthusiasm among the dance enthusiasts of the Latin American and standard dance forms has gone up following the inclusion of Dance Sport as a medal sport in the Beijing Asian Games.

Chandigarh, January 25
The education department today celebrated Republic Day at Tagore Theater. A colourful cultural programme was presented by students of various schools. The programme started with a "Ganesh Vandana" by the students of Gurukul Global School, Manimajra. The bhangra performance by the students of GSSS, Khuda Lahora, was the highlight of the evening.

Other cultural performances included patriotic song by the students of Navodya Vidalaya Samiti- 25; giddha by the students of GMSSS, Karsan; a skit by the students of GMSSS-MHC; Haryanvi dance by the students of GMSSS-46; and a group song by the students of GMSSS-16.

KK Sharma, adviser to administrator, Chandigarh, was the chief guest on the occasion.

KK Sharma, while addressing the audience, said it was on this historic day that the Constitution of India was officially enforced.

He said the education today has gone beyond classroom learning. To answer the needs of this inspired learner, we need to make our role more dynamic, supported with progressive policies, agendas and curriculum.

Home secretary Anil Kumar, Finance-cum-Education Secretary VK Singh, Deputy Commissioner Mohd Shayin, Gurpreet Kaur Sapra, Director, Higher Education, DPI (s) Upkar Singh and other dignitaries were present on the ocassion.

Chandigarh, January 25
A year after issuing advertisements for filling the vacant posts, the university has failed to complete the recruitment process and over 800 posts are lying vacant in various teaching departments.

PU is now planning to extend the validity date of advertisement by one more year to finish the process. The university after failing to meet the last date for completing the recruitment process has proposed to extend the validity date till January 30, 2014.

The issue will come up for discussion in the Syndicate meeting to be held on Sunday.

As per the rules, validity of the advertisements for various posts in the university is one year from the last date prescribed for receipt of applications.

PU had advertised 221 vacancies for various posts, including those for professors and associate professors on January 14, 2012, and the candidates were supposed to submit their applications by January 31.

The agenda item for the meeting states that the interviews for some of the posts had already been held and for some post interviews are to be held.

The agenda also states that in some of the cases the screening process of the applications is yet to be completed while in some other cases synopses of all eligible candidates who are recommended by the screening committee to be called for interview have been sent to the Vice-Chancellor office for fixing the meeting of selection committee.

Dinesh Talwar, a syndicate member, said: “The recruitment of teachers, which should be the first priority of university, is ignored following which the fresh appointments and recruitments remain pending.” 

Chandigarh, January 25
The forthcoming Syndicate meeting is going to have a discussion on the proposal to give re-employment to teachers of 188 PU affiliated colleges after they get retired at par with PU teachers.

The issue was also raised in the Senate meeting held in December last year following which a resolution was moved in syndicate for deliberation.

Dinesh Talwar, a Syndicate member, has moved the resolution demanding the benefit of the re-employment to be extended to the college teachers.

The issue for the provision of re-employment of college teachers was raised in the Senate by Talwar. The house decided to enhance the re-employment age of PU teachers by two-years. Earlier, the PU teachers were reemployed till the age of 63 years.

“The teachers of PU and its affiliated colleges should be at par when it comes to the re-employment. While PU teachers after the retirement age of 60 years can get a five year re-employment, the college teachers cannot avail the same benefit,” said Talwar.

The house decided that initially the teachers will be given a three-year extension and further on the assessment of the work done by the teacher in recent years and those three-year, the extension of two-years will be given.

Talwar in his resolution said, “The selection and appointment process of the teachers from PU and the PU affiliated college are same and service condition of affiliated college teachers are being regulated by rules and regulations of PU and even the selections are approved by PU.”

“To uphold the principals of uniformity, equity, parity and natural justice the teachers of PU and colleges should be treated at par,” said Talwar. 

Chandigarh, January 25
Weighting down the option of commencing the Chandigarh education tribunal with a permanent presiding officer, the UT administration has decided to begin the functioning of the tribunal by giving the additional charge to a judicial officer to the rank of Additional District and Sessions Judge, posted here in UT.

While this move was agreed in principle by the education department about a month-and-half back, officials informed that it got the approval from the Advisor to the UT Administrator earlier this week on Monday following which the final process has begun.

For the purpose of the appointment of the judicial officer, the education department has sent the official correspondence to the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for recommending to the department any serving judicial officer of the same rank for the purpose of the tribunal.

At the same time, the file has also been sent to the UT finance department to get the approval of 10 per cent honorarium to be paid to the concerned judicial officer.

Sources in the education department said as suggested by law department, it would also make the arrangement of a reader, a steno and other helping staff. "The department is thinking of recruiting the required staff on ad-hoc basis for which the necessary official formalities are soon to begin," said a senior official.

The officials said, "The administration is not keen for appointing the permanent presiding officer with dedicated staff and office for the tribunal since it wants to first check the functioning of the tribunal as to how much work load it gets."

But on the other hand, the administration is under legal pressure to expedite the tribunal as early as possible.

Hearing the matter earlier this week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave the last opportunity to the Chandigarh administration to file a written reply before February 4 for clearing its stand on the constitution of the education tribunal.

Chandigarh, January 25
The delay in medical test is jeopardising the early joining of over 500 newly recruited contractual Junior Basic Teachers (JBTs), who were given the appointment letters by the UT education department about a week ago.

The selected candidates were given 10 days time to join the department from the date of their appointment letter, but it was subjected to clearance of the medical test, which is currently undergoing at the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16.

So far, only few teachers could manage to get their medical test cleared and joined the department.

Candidates say the government hospital in Sector 16 does not take more than six candidates per day for the required medical check up. There are hundreds of candidates are waiting in queue.

A candidate said that the delay in their medical test would result in a lot of financial losses, besides constant fear of job insecurity.

“The education department must intervene and request the higher authorities to expedite the medical test of the selected candidates, so that their joining can be done at the earliest,” said Arvind Rana, president, SSA, Teachers Welfare Association.

Arvind Rana said, “The government schools in Chandigarh are already facing the faculty crunch. The delay in their joining will forfeit the whole process of these fresh recruitments.”

Department officials said, “We have already sent the representation of Secretary, Health, to expedite the medical test of the selected candidates and outcome is expected very soon.”

“The department is also trying to rope in Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32,” said a senior official.

Officials of the GMSH, Sector 16, said: “The hospital is already under pressure for this job. Even as it has been vested with the responsibility of the medical test, it is not capable for conducting the medical test of not more than 40 candidates per day. Currently newly joining recruits of several departments are coming for the medical tests here.”

“We understand anxiety of newly joined candidates but their intake can’t be increased because the same doctors are looking after thousands of patients in OPDs. More over the process of medical test is time consuming as well as a sensitive job,” said a doctor at the hospital. 

Chandigarh, January 25
Impressed by the concept of a building being constructed within 48 hours, the Panjab University is mulling over to hire the Mohali-based infrastructure company to construct a reading hall near the girls’ hostel on campus.

A committee constituted by the university visited Mohali to have a look of the building.

Official said that initiative to have a building that can get ready in few days has been floated by the Vice-Chancellor Arun Grover who asked the officials to visit the building to study the concept.

Dean Student Welfare (DSW) AS Ahluwalia said, “On the directions of the Vice-Chancellor Arun Grover, he along with other officials went to meet Harpal Singh, the man behind the building that has set a record.”

“The idea is feasible as for constructing a reading hall or hostel takes over two years of time. With this concept we can get a building in couple of weeks which will save the construction time,” said DSW.

DSW said university’s engineering wing would study the entire concept and if found feasible then university would certainly come up with such building. “Initially we are planning to construct a reading hall for girls near Hostel no 4 and later on the university can also plan to have another hostel constructed in a similar way,” said DSW.

Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) general secretary Kuldeep Sheoran, who along with the PU officials went to the see the building, said: “It is a strong energy efficient building. I feel it’s a new concept that will provide us with a strong building in no time. Hostels on the same pattern can also be constructed at PU.”