163 students debarred
CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — More than 275 students have been found guilty by Panjab University for indulging in unfair means during annual examinations conducted earlier this year.

163 students debarred
by Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 15 — More than 275 students have been found guilty by Panjab University for indulging in unfair means during annual examinations conducted earlier this year.

A total of 348 cases have been reported.

The committee for looking into complaints of unfair practices in examination has debarred 163 students from appearing in any university examination for a period of two years. They have been found guilty under Section 5 of the regulations governing malpractices.

There is an increase of 114 reported cases as compared to last year. A total of 234 cases were reported in 1997. As many as 220 students were found guilty of various unfair practices.

Giving the information, Mr Kehar Singh, a Fellow of the university and a member of the committee, said that as many as 73 students had been found guilty under Sections 5 and 8. These students would not be able to appear in any examination for two years.

The period of suspension under both sections is two years and will concurrently. The committee has allowed nine students to re-appear.

Six students who indulged in personation have been debarred for a period of five years. A total of 33 students have been found guilty under other provisions. These include giving or taking help from others, swallowing slips, copying in bathrooms, smuggling or replacing answerbooks and misconduct.

Mr Kehar Singh said that 39 students had been exonerated while 25 cases were pending. The exoneration had taken place well before the supplementary examinations of September, he added. BA-I topped the list of UMC with 176 cases. The maximum number of cases detected from one centre were at Samrala (26).

Cases detected at individual centres include Fazilka-12; Doraha-10; and Tanda and Jalalabad- six each.

Mr Kehar Singh said in a number of cases the charges framed by the centre superintendents were 'vague'. The type of unfair practice or the manner in which it was executed was not specified. A sizeable number of personation cases involved "influential people", Mr Kehar Singh added.

As many as 191 students were disqualified for two years during the same period last year; 22 were allowed to re-appear; and six were disqualified for a period of five years.

Chandigarh coop bank board dissolved
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The Board of Directors (BoD) of the Chandigarh State Cooperative Bank Limited was today removed by Mr RK Rao, the Registrar, Co-operative Societies, for alleged irregularities and misconduct. An Administrator, Mr SC Goel has been appointed for a period of six months or till the board is reconstituted.

The action has been taken after the reply to the show cause notice of the department was found to be totally irrelevant and unsatisfactory. Charges of persistent defaults and allegations in the day to day working of the bank besides out of turn promotions and recruitments had been made out against the bank.

According to Mr Rao's order, the bank's Managing Director, whose term had expired, appointed a clerk and 10 peons in April and thereafter 10 clerks and two peons in June on a regular basis in excess of the sanctioned strength and bypassing completely the laid procedure for such appointments.

This was done in violation of the directives of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The appointments were made without examining the eligibility of the candidates to hold the post. Similarly, employees were promoted by giving one to three promotions at a time in utter disregard of the sanctioned posts. By doing so the bank had been recurring a heavy financial loss by the ill-thought and violative actions of the MD\ BoD.

The board of directors did not take up the agenda item of consideration of amended by-laws already approved by the Registrar, although a memorandum of understanding had been signed between the bank, the Administration and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). This had been done for making the bank economically viable, organisationally vibrant and operationally strong.

The Chairman of the bank, Mr Gulab Singh, allowed all the items on the agenda to be discussed except this item and adjourned the meeting.

Another lapse pertained to the removal of Mr RK Goyal, General Manager of the bank, who was also acting as poll manager for holding elections. To carry out certain irregularities, the BoD through the then MD relieved the GM and repatriated him to his parent department on December 13, one day prior to the general body meeting. The allegations by the BoD against causing a loss to the bank were later found to be untrue.

Similarly, a resolution enhancing the travel allowance (TA) of the directors was carried out despite being rejected by the Registrar. Even members of various sub-committees were accorded the benefit. The violation was continuing, the order states.

Other irregularities include non-submission of documents to auditors for pre-auditing the accounts of the bank as per the provisions and levelling of bogus allegations against the Cooperative department.

Meanwhile, Mr Bhupinder Singh Badheri, a director of the bank, has demanded an enquiry by a government agency into the role of Mr Gulab Singh and Mr Jagtar Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, for various acts of omission and commission.

Mickey Mouse in city
By U.K. Bhanot
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — There were more elders than children to say "hello" and shake hands with Mickey Mouse, the famed celebrity from Disneyland in Los Angeles, who specially flew to India from the USA to attend a function in the city today.

Contrary to what most people have imagined, Mickey Mouse is neither a child nor a young person. He is 70 but not called 70-year-old because the character which was created by Walt Disney in 1928 has entertained millions of children all over the world and is still close to the heart of the children and is familiar in animated programmes seen all over the world and on Doordarshan and Zee TV too.

Mickey Mouse, say the organisers who have brought him here in connection with the opening of an outlet of the Walt Disney Consumer Products, is ever young, universal a warm-hearted good guy and best friend of the children.

In spite of being close to children, he does not talk (except in the animated programmes). We only hear him talk to his pals — he being the leading character among the six in all — Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto being the other five.

Mickey, in normal appearances, not only remains silent but also does not uncover his face and keeps his mask on the face all the time. The reason? His mask, they say, has become face for children all over the world. His real face has become irrelevant for Mickey the celebrity. And so has name. No one tells his real name. When asked, they say Mickey Mouse is his real name now.

Justifying his character's actions, he inaugurated the outlet of children's toys, garments and other articles available at prices which guarantee a label costlier than the garment material.

Snag hits power supply in industrial area
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — Industrial activity in workshops in Industrial Area, Phase II, came to a virtual standstill today following a technical snag in one of the transformers in the area.

Power supply, which was disrupted around 6 a.m. following a technical snag in DC battery operation system — responsible for the power supply to other lines except the "faulty" line — was restored only around 5 p.m.

The system, industrialists alleged, had not been replaced by the electricity department for over six months despite repeated representations.

Had the system been replaced in time the line fault would not have have travelled to the transformer, and today's disruption could have been avoided, they added.

As the industry was already passing through recession, such carelessness on the part of the department with regard to proper maintenance only added to the problems, said an industrialist, who did not wish to be named. Besides causing a revenue loss to the industry, it also affected the income of the department, he added.

Mr PS Chawla, Superintending Engineer, when contacted, conceded that the technical snag was responsible for the disruption in power supply.

Charges framed against all accused
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr SSLamba, today framed charges against all suspects in the Burail jail blow-up conspiracy case.

The suspects are DSRajput, Jaspal Singh Dhillon, Baljit Singh, Jaswant Singh, Balvinder Singh, SPMishra, Jaswinder Singh, Jagtar Singh Tara and Jagtar Singh Hawara.

Mr Lamba ruled: "All you above said accused unlawfully and maliciously conspired to cause by an explosive substance a blast in jail of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injuries to the said property, thereby committing offence punishable under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act.

"All except Satnam Singh abetted. Satnam Singh for the supply of material procured money for purchasing RDX, detonators and wires to blow up the jail.

"All committed offences under Section 6 of the Explosive Substance Act."

The judge, however, charged Satnam Singh and Balvinder Singh with additional offences under sections 419, 468 and 471 (cheating and forgery).

PU staff call off stir
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH , Oct 16 — The eight-day agitation of the non-teaching staff of Panjab University was called off today following an agreement that evolved after a meeting of their representatives with the Vice- Chancellor, Prof M.M. Puri.

In the discussion it emerged that the disbursement to "A" class employees will be made in consonance with the earlier order issued on October 13, which means an amount of Rs 5000 each .

The "disbursement for categories B and C will also be made accordingly". The work for disbursement began today. Other categories which were not specified in the earlier order have been given different amounts. The amounts for different sections of workers include Class C-Rs 2500; clerk and senior clerks-Rs 3000; junior assistant-Rs 3500; senior assistant and ASO-Rs 4000; and Superintendents and above-Rs 5000 .

The Vice-Chancellor said: "It is clearly understood that the already intensive efforts for procuring the total due from the governments will be continued without relaxation. It is hoped that the efforts will bear fruit sooner than expected".

Dr RD Anand and Mr Kehar Singh, both fellows, in a press note said they were glad that the "heat of past few days had been converted into light on the Festival of Lights. The decision of the JCM to pay arrears by September 25 had caused embarrassment to the university".

Members of the non-teaching staff at a joint rally expressed gratitude to the university authorities.

Hoffland group CMD taken in custody
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Hoffland group — that has duped investors of nearly Rs 100 crore — has been taken in custody by the Economic Offences Wing of the Chandigarh Police.

The CMD, Brij Bhushan Sharma, was taken in custody from the Delhi Police and remanded in police custody in Chandigarh for 10 days.

According to police sources, the EO wing has made a list of the property of the company in Delhi, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh. His other property have already been attached by the Delhi Police.

Sharma, a dismissed employee of Syndicate Bank, had floated around 32 companies in a span of seven years since 1990 to attract investment, and the Hoffland group was his flagship. Sharma is said to have told investigating officials that his company had brought shares worth crores.

This was one of the reasons for the company's crash. The share market went on a downswing and the RBI had become very strict. This squeezed the cash flow while the company kept on accepting deposits which it could not manage to return at high interest rates, it was learnt through sources. The modus operandi of the company was to issue advertisements in leading newspapers, promising huge interest rates.

Investors had panicked when post-dated cheques issued by the company bounced late last year. The local police is also trying to get the custody of A.S. Subbarao and M.N. Badaan, both directors in the Hoffland group. They are in judicial custody in Delhi.

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Driver held: The driver of the bus that had killed a school boy in an accident in Sector 22 two days ago was arrested. Nachitter Singh, a driver with International Public School, Sector 41, was arrested by the police on Friday morning.

Ramesh, a class IX student of Shishu Niketan School in Sector 22, was killed in the accident.

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Car stolen: A car (JK-01-2006) owned by Mohammad Ashraf of Sector 20 has been stolen from the PGI parking. A sum of Rs 22,000 and some important documents were lying in the car.

Meanwhile, three bicycles have been stolen in separate incidents in the city.

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Three hurt in mishap: A cyclist, Teju Singh, of Raipur Khurd village, was hit by an unknown truck near Zirakpur. He was admitted to the PGI. In a separate accident, two women, Navneet and Ashu, were injured when their Kinetic Honda was hit by an unidentified vehicle on the road dividing Sectors 38 and 40.

Both have been admitted to the PGI.

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Caught: A Delhi-based woman, Asha, was caught red-handed while stealing sarees and two suits from a cloth shop in Sector 20.

A case has been registered.

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Two nabbed: Two persons have been nabbed for carrying varying quantities of unauthorised liquor.

A resident of Bapu Dham, Varinder Kumar, was nabbed by the police in Bapu Dham while carrying 12 bottles of whiskey. In another case Jhonny of Dadu Majra was held with 50 pouches of country-made liquor.

Separate cases under the Excise Act have been registered.

In a separate case, Sagar, of Bapu Dham was nabbed for eve-teasing. Two youths of Bapu Dham were nabbed for creating nuisance after drinking liquor.

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Theft case: A case of theft from a Sector 23 house has been reported. Mrs Sneha Lata reported that her house was burgled and a VCP, a tape deck and Rs 5000 in cash had been stolen.

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Identified: The woman who died in an accident on the road dividing Sectors 21 and 34 on Thursday night has been identified as Suman, a resident of Sector 23. She was travelling in the jeep when it collided with a truck.

Verdict reserved in IAS officers’ case
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 16 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today reserved judgement on the petition preferred by Mr VK Khanna, former Chief Secretary of Punjab, contesting the charge sheet served on him by the state government.

Earlier, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice JL Gupta and Mr Justice NC Khichi heard arguments. Picking up the thread from where he had left yesterday, Mr Rajinder Sachhar, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court engaged by the Punjab Government to defend it, reiterated that Mr Khanna acted in undue haste.

He told the cout that it was a political conspiracy by Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, the then Chief Minister, to entrust the inquiry against Mr RS Mann, Mr Bikramjit Singh and Mr IS Bindra to the CBI. The inquiry ordered against Mr Khanna was aimed at ascertaining his interest in the conspiracy.

Mr Sachhar told the court that Mr Khanna had kept all relevant files with him until he sought the permission of the Union Home Ministry to entrust the inquiry to the CBI. He ought to have handed over the files to Mr Parkash Singh Badal on being inducted as Chief Minister.

Mr Sachhar listed the property that Mr Khanna owned. He told the court that even if Mr Bikramjit Singh was convicted on the charge of possessing assets beyond his known sources of income, it would have no bearing on the inquiry ordered against Mr Khanna. He also apprised the court of the fact that the inquiry against Mr Bikramjit Singh was dropped by Mr Beant Singh on December 13,1994.

Mr Khanna’s counsel, however, pulverised Mr Sachhar’s arguments by telling the court that Mr Khanna had declared all his property when he had joined the service in 1963. Even if the allegations were presumed to be correct, why did the present regime not proceed against him.

He asserted that the action that Mr Khanna took was borne out by the CBI interim report, which said that he possessed assets beyond his known sources of income.

He said Mr Khanna had entrusted the inquiry to the CBI on the specific directions of Mrs Bhattal.

Mr Khanna’s counsel added that Mr Khanna had told the present Chief Minister about inquiries against Mr Bikramjit Singh and Mr RS Mann when Mr Badal had asked him to issue their appointment orders as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary, respectively. That he did not take cognizance of that fact was a different matter.

While Mr Mann had changed the land use at his own level, Mr IS Bindra had transferred the land to the Punjab Cricket Association at his level as Secretary of the Sports Department.

Reversion stayed

The high court stayed the reversion of Dr Rajwant Singh, an IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, from Punjab to his parent state. He is posted as DIG Punjab, Home Guards.

A Division Bench consisting of Mr Justice JL Gupta and Mr Justice NC Khichi also issued notice to the respondents for December 17 after hearing Mr Rajwant Singh in person.

His services were placed at the disposal of the Punjab Government by the central government for two years in 1990. The deputation was regularly extended from 1992 to 1997 when the Union Government refused to further extend the deputation.

Out-of-turn house allotment contested

Our Legal Correspondent adds: A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice GS Singhvi and Mr Justice Iqbal Singh issued notice of motion to allottees for out-of-turn houses by the House Allotment Committee, Chandigarh, on a representation which has been treated as a writ petition by the court.

A representation was made to the court Registrar by 11 high court drivers that their juniors had been allotted residential accommodation ignoring their claim. The petitioners had longer length of service as they had put into to 18 years of service while those who had been allotted houses had just four to five years' service. According to them the out-of-turn allotment to them was without any justification.

It was further stated that their conditions of service were the same as that of the allottees. The petitioners stated that they were paying Rs 800-1000 as rent for single-room houses, whereas their juniors had been allotted three-room houses on a nominal rent.

On June 28,1996, 12 high court employees including drivers and seven employees of the sessions court had been allotted houses.

Stay on GMCH work allocated

The High Court has vacated the stay on the allotment of work for the construction of "C" and "D" blocks of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh.

A Division Bench consisting of Mr Justice RSMongia and Mr Justice SSSudhalkar, who gave this ruling, had earlier restrained the Chandigarh Administration from allotting tenders for the construction and completion of these two blocks of the medical college.

Counsel for the administration, however, produced a copy of the order earlier passed by a Division Bench consisting of Mr Justice GSSinghvi and Mr Justice Iqbal Singh. The Bench, after hearing the matter at length, had vacated the stay and had permitted the administration to go ahead with the allotment of tenders. Therefore, the matter was res integra.