China to pose threat to security: experts
CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — China, with its emphasis on military and economic development, will pose a major threat to Indian security in the coming decades.

Court quashes SBI order
CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed the order of the State Bank of India denying retrospective promotions to Mr D.C. Aggarwal.

Dealer told to pay mattress price plus costs CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The UT Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum (II) has ordered a dealer in mattresses based in Sector 34 to pay Rs 2450 with 12 per cent interest for supplying a defective product to a local consumer.

Woman caught stealing sarees A clarification

Meet on Panchayati Raj concludes
CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — A tripartite interface colloquium on Panchayati Raj held at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development concluded here today.

Graft case against former minister
PANCHKULA, Oct 17 — The local police has registered a case of corruption against Mr Dharamvir Yadav, a former minister in the Bansi Lal cabinet, and two officials of the Public Works Department (B and R) for allegedly demanding bribe from a building contractor.

Two women convicted
CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sant Parkash, today convicted Surinder Kaur, alias Sundra, and Sukhvinder Kaur, alias Jatti, under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.

JD plea on mela dismissed

Notice to DPI (Schools)

Rain mars Divali spirit
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The rain in the past two days has dampened the Divali spirit and dashed the hopes of shopkeepers to the ground as customers are not turning up to make purchases.

Shopkeepers, who had invested lakhs in anticipation of the usually booming Divali sales, are twiddling their thumbs as the markets, which should have been with full of people, wore a deserted look.

In Chandigarh, traders, who had stocked huge quantities of goods in view of Divali, reported abysmal sales while crackers worth lakhs have been rendered useless due to moisture. The main markets in Sectors 17, 22 and 34 wore a desolate look. Shopkeepers and sweet makers, who usually lay out elaborate displays for the Festival of Lights, are a disappointed lot.

Divali melas in Sectors 34 and 22 are a wash-out as the grounds are full of slush. Some of those who had booked stalls did not turn up. Roadside mechanics and rehriwalas are the worst-hit. Rehri markets in Sectors 19 and 22 that are popular among the city's middle class witnessed very poor sales.

A Sector 22 shopkeeper said: "This was one of the worst Divali as far as sales are concerned. "Most cloth merchants, jewellers, sweet makers and dry fruit sellers stand to lose huge sums, he added. Besides hitting the Divali sales, rain also resulted in a sharp fall in temperature. People, especially kids and the elderly, could be seen moving around in light woollens.

In Chandigarh the daytime temperature today was 22°C, 9° below normal. The daytime temperature has dropped further in the region since yesterday. In the past three days daytime temperatures in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Delhi, Jammu, Ambala, Shimla and Dharamsala have dropped by 6 degrees to 8 degrees. In all cities the temperatures were several degrees below normal.

Reports of a fresh spell of snow have come in the Pangi valley, Lahaul Spiti, the Dhauladhar ranges and Kinnaur, in Himachal Pradesh.

The met office has predicted moderate to rather heavy rain or snow at many places in Himachal. Moderate to heavy rain will occur in Punjab and Haryana. The weather may be squally.

The weather office has predicted heavy rain in Himachal in the next two days and at isolated places in Haryana and Punjab.

China to pose threat to security: experts
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — China, with its emphasis on military and economic development, will pose a major threat to Indian security in the coming decades.

This was brought out at a seminar on "Perceptions of threat to national security", organised by the city-based Strategic Research Centre here today. The speakers included Maj-Gen Rajendra Nath (retd), Air Marshal RS Bedi (retd), Col PK Vasudeva (retd), Col JMS Hattar (retd), Col DS Cheema (retd), Lt Col Thakur Kuldip Singh Ludra (retd), a former DGP Baljit Rai and a former Panjab University don Dharmendra Goyal.

Speaking on the nuclear and missile threat to India, Air Marshal Bedi said economic and military security compulsions in the next century would see new regional alignments and power structures. He said China perceived India as an impediment to its strategic thinking and was not willing to concede India as a major power. Pakistan desires to play a dominant role in the Asian affairs. Due to this incapability, it is trying to neutralise the Indian influence in all forums by raising the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Col Vasudeva said India's sustained growth rate was causing concern to the Chinese and the Americans. Col Vasudeva said India should take up the instances of the Chinese repeatedly violating the NTP, CTBT and the MTCR at the international level.

Elaborating on the threat from Pakistan, Col DS Cheema said the country was being run in the name of three As — Allah, Army and America. The democratic leadership in that country was turning into a religious dictatorship, which had very dangerous portents for the region. Referring to Indian policies as having "more bark and less bite", he hoped that the policies should be, for the sake of the nation's security, in tune with ground realities and changing power equations in the region.

Commenting on "the threat from within", Mr Rai stressed that India was facing a large scale demographic invasion, which if allowed to go unchecked, would have serious implications for the country. Commenting on the rise in the population of a particular community, he added that the role of certain national parties in this matter was suspect. He cited passages from various books by eminent authors to support his claims.

Col Hattar said there was a long list of blunders of the Ministry of External Affairs and there seemed to be a lackadaisical attitude towards shaping foreign policy. In short, we lacked the stomach for a fight, he added.

Maj-Gen Rajindra Nath said two aspects of Indo-China animosity were the Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh territories and economic rivalry. He added that it was in USA's commercial interest to prop Pakistan, as this would ensure flow of oil and gas from Central Asia through Afghanistan.

Court quashes SBI order
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed the order of the State Bank of India denying retrospective promotions to Mr D.C. Aggarwal to the post of General Manager, Chief General Manager and Deputy Managing Director with effect from August 1, 1984, on due dates.

Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi, who delivered this order, however, ruled that such consideration "shall be made with reference to the record of the petitioner available as on the relevant dates and his performance in the formal/structural interview and keeping in view the guidelines issued by the bank under the relevant policy instructions.

The Judge ordered that this exercise "shall be completed by the respondent within three months of the submission of the certified copy of this order by the petitioner.

The bank has been directed to pay salary and allowances to the petitioner for the period between the date he was relieved from Chandigarh in pursuance of the order and the date of his rejoining duty at Chandigarh on June 16, 1993.

The payment shall be made to the petitioner within one month of the submission of certified copy of this order failing which he shall get interest at the rate of 12 per cent with effect from August 17, 1993 — the date on which the apex court had decided the SLP of 1993.

Dealer told to pay mattress price plus costs
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The UT Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum (II) has ordered a dealer in mattresses based in Sector 34 to pay Rs 2450 with 12 per cent interest for supplying a defective product to a local consumer.

Mr RP Bajaj, president, and Mr HS Walia and Mrs Kamlesh Gupta, both members, gave the order on a written complaint filed by Mr Amar Nath Deep, a resident of Sector 27.

Mr Deep in his complaint said that he purchased a pair of mattresses from the dealer at a cost of Rs 2450. The product carried a warranty for one year. However, within a few days of the purchase, the mattress developed cracks and depressions.

When the complainant brought this to the notice of the dealer, he did not respond. The dealer also did not appear before the forum subsequently the verdict was given ex parte.

The forum after going through details allowed the refund of the costs of the mattresses along with 12 per cent interest from December, 1997, till the date of actual payment.

The dealer will also pay Rs 550 as costs of the proceedings within a month of the receipt of the copy of the order.

Meet on Panchayati Raj concludes
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — A tripartite interface colloquium on Panchayati Raj held at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) concluded here today.

Five legislators from Jammu and Kashmir and a number of officials and elected representatives of panchayats attended the three-day meet. They included officials and elected representatives from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Only one MLA from Punjab attended while the Haryana and Himachal Pradesh assemblies remained unrepresented.

The participants frankly discussed the bottlenecks in the transfer of functions, funds and autonomy to panchayats. Valuable suggestions emerged after the discussions to make the Panchayati Raj system effective and a success in the four states.

A well-thoughtout training programme, including women panches and sarpanches, whose number is 30 to 35, should be conducted on a priority basis.

The meet was inaugurated by Mr B Bandopadhyaya, convener, task force, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Mr Rashpal Malhotra, Director, CRRID, addressed the concluding session.

A clarification
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The news item headlined "Professor Kak may get extension" carried by The Tribune on October 16 gives an incorrect impression about three senior doctors of the PGI.

The Tribune holds the entire faculty of this premier institution in high esteem and had no intention whatsoever to lower the prestige of either the institute or any of its faculty members.

The impression so given is regretted.

Graft case against former minister
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Oct 17 — The local police has registered a case of corruption against Mr Dharamvir Yadav, a former minister in the Bansi Lal cabinet, and two officials of the Public Works Department (B and R) for allegedly demanding bribe from a building contractor.

Mr Yadav had been dismissed from the Cabinet on alleged corruption charges last month.

The two PWD officials who have also been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act are Mr N.K.Garg, SDO and Mr S.S.Punia, JE.

The contractor had reportedly complained that Mr Yadav in connivance with the two officials allegedly stopped the construction of certain works allotted to him in Panchkula because of his refusal to bribe them.

Two women convicted
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sant Parkash, today convicted Surinder Kaur, alias Sundra, and Sukhvinder Kaur, alias Jatti, under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.

The CJM sentenced Surinder Kaur to rigorous imprisonment for three years, apart from slapping a fine of Rs 1500. Sukhvinder Kaur was sentenced to imprisonment for three months.

According to the prosecution, the Chandigarh Police had arrested both women on January 17, 1997, after a raid at their residences following information that they were indulging in immoral activities.

JD plea on mela dismissed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jagnahar Singh, today dismissed an application moved by the president of the local unit of the Janata Dal, Mr Ajay Jagga, praying for restraining the municipal corporation from organising a Divali mela in Sector 17.

The magistrate, however, directed the Chandigarh Administration to make necessary security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident at the mela venue.

Notice to DPI (Schools)
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — The Judicial Magistrate, Mr Jasbir Singh, today issued notice to the Director of Public Instruction, Schools, Chandigarh Administration, for October 21 on a complaint filed by Mr Viraj Kumar and Mr Vicky Sharma, basketball players, questioning the trials of students for selection to represent Chandigarh in the national school games.

The plaintiffs said the Administration had conducted the trial on October 15 and as many as 35 players had turned up. They were asked to play five games without any referee. All these five games were over within an hour.

The plaintiff alleged that the trial of the students at these games was a force.

Woman caught stealing sarees
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 17 — 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.

In a separate incident, a minor girl was kidnapped from Ram Darbar. The girl's father alleged that Shiva Ashre of Hallo Majra village had kidnapped his daughter.

A case has been registered.

Two nabbed: Two persons have been nabbed for carrying varying quantities of unauthorised liquor. A resident of Bapu Dham, Surinder Pal, was nabbed by the police in Bapu Dham while carrying 12 bottles of whisky. In another case Jhonny of Dadu Majra was caught with 50 pouches of country-made liquor.

Separate cases under the Excise Act have been registered.

In another incident, Satwinder Pal Singh, Devinder Rai and Sandeep Roy, all residents of Panchkula, have been nabbed by the police from the Panjab University campus while drinking in public.

A case under the Excise Act has been registered.

Two youths of Bapu Dham — Peecha Pillai and Prem Mall — were caught while creating nuisance after drinking liquor.

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

A correction: In this column of The Tribune dated October 17 it was inadvertently mentioned that Suman, a woman resident of Sector 23, was killed in an accident on the road dividing sectors 21 and 34. The accident had involved a truck and jeep. Suman is very much alive and admitted to GMCH. The error is regretted.