New Delhi, March 7
At a time when the unions of the Delhi University (DU) teachers and karmacharis are struggling against the vacant posts (ad hoc) of teaching and non-teaching staff in the university, a case of sale of fictitious forms for the position of lab attendants at the university has come to light.

A shop (No. 12), named "Shreya Magazine Book and Stationary" shop situated at Vijay Nagar, has been found selling the fictitious forms worth Rs 20, for the job of a DU lab attendant. The culprit was nabbed with the help of DU security officials.

Sources in the university said that every semester, the university is a bit short on the non-teaching staff, including the lab assistants who are very important due to increased number of science practical in a year, however, no positions were declared open by the university in the recent past and no notifications or forms have been brought out.

Ideally, the qualification for the job of lab attendant is to be Class V. There are interviews held. And the salary for the post is fixed around Rs 1, 20,000 per annum.

The sources said that when the applications for the post started reaching the administration they suspected foul play in the matter. "DU has not made any recruitment for such type. These recruitments are made according to statutory norms. No fee is charged for the application form of this job ideally," said a senior official at DU.

The bookseller was sailing the forms for the lab attendant worth Rs 20. "DU security officials were given the information about the same and they ran a cover up in which one of their members went along with the four and five police officials to Vijay Nagar, disguised as a job seeker. When he asked for one form, the bookseller gave him. When the security guard asked for multiple numbers of forms, the bookseller denied and said that the supply is very less. He said that he was getting just 200 copies per day from the supplier, which was finished for the day," the official added.

The university then intimated the staff at the Mukherjee Nagar police station and the police later nabbed the bookseller. The shopkeeper has not yet revealed details about the supplier who had been supplying him forms in a bulk. The police took him into the custody two days ago and now further investigating the matter. On an average, he had been selling 200-300 forms daily for the past few weeks, a police official said.

"By now, thousands of forms may have been sold. And this supplier may be supplying forms to other shops in the area for more posts in DU. We are currently working towards tracing the supplier," a senior official from the university security force said.

New Delhi, March 7
As the Congress-led Centre braces itself for its ambitious National Food Security Bill whose revised version is slated to be placed during this Parliament session between March 19 and 21, activists of the Right to Food Campaign have announced a fresh round of demonstrations to push for universal comprehensive food security with entitlements of food grains, oils and pulses.

Rejecting the latest draft, which according to the Union Food Minister, K.V. Thomas, has been prepared after more than 252-odd amendments, they described it as "piecemeal, diluted and minimalistic" and one that will lead to a lot of poor slipping from the gaps.

In no way does the bill meet the legal guarantees pronounced by the Supreme Court in the "right to food" case ending up diluting the scheme, they said during a five-day protest by the unorganised sector at Jantar Mantar here.

While the ongoing protest is a prelude, activists in the next phases have planned to burn bill copies and even present packets of 160 gm of food grains (daily average based on PDS entitlement of 5kg) to the Food Minister, the Deputy Chairperson of Planning Commission, UPA chairperson, Rahul Gandhi among others.

"The bill doesn't have a fair distribution and has left many crucial areas unaddressed. The government should have followed the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act, 2012, that is much more comprehensive than the National Food Security Bill," remarked Kavita Srivastva, national coordinator of the Right to Food Campaign.

New Delhi, March 7
A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her landlord in Faridabad on Sunday. The police is searching for the accused, Ravinder. The victim stays with her parents at Vishkarma colony in Pul Prahladpur.

According to the police, on Sunday Ravinder on the pretext of giving a lift to the girl home instead drove her to Faridabad, where he confined her in a house. He allegedly raped her there the entire night.

The next day, Ravinder threatened her with dire consequences and drove her back to her house. She narrated the incident to her mother, who is a maid. When the girl's father returned home after work, he, along with his daughter, informed the police.aThe medical examination confirmed that she was raped. A case has been registered.

New Delhi, March 7
A married couple allegedly committed suicide at east Delhi yesterday. The couple, Manoj Kumar (25) and Hema (23), jumped into the Kondli canal at 9 pm.

A passerby saw the couple jumping into the canal and informed the police. "After one and a half hours, the bodies of the couple were found," said a police official.

The couple's two-year-old son had neural problems since his birth and was unable to be cured. Neighbours and relatives said that it was suffering from depression.