Enhanced compensation on HPCL stayed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 4 — A Division of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi and Mr Justice Iqbal Singh issued notice to the Government of Punjab on a writ petition filed by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited challenging the award of the Land Acquisition Collector, Jalandhar, granting compensation at the rate of Rs 27 lakh per acre in respect of aquired land at Suchipind village in Jalandhar district.

The petitioner contended that over 13 acres of land was acquired in 1996 by the state of Punjab to enable the corporation to put up a bulk petroleum oil depot for storage and distribution facilities for various petroleum products of Suchipind village. The depot which was now fully functional receives petroleum products from existing terminals of Indian Oil Corporation through the Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline.

It was urged that in February, 1997, the Land Acquisition Collector, Jalandhar, served a demand note on the corporation seeking payment for the acquired land at the rate of Rs 16 lakh per acre and 80 per cent of the demanded compensation was paid by the corporation in March, 1997, itself. However, in December, 1998, the Collector raised another demand for Rs 4,05,14,991.69 now seeking compensation for the acquired land at the rate of Rs 27 lakh per acre.

It was averred that the basis of the enhanced compensation was the award made by the collector on the exclusive strength of the rates of land determined by the District Land Price Fixation Committee which had been constituted by the government of Punjab to recommend compensation for acquired land as per prevailing market value rates.

It was submitted before the court that Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act read with para 12 of the Standing Order No. 28 of the Government of Punjab enjoined that the Collector in exercise of his statutory powers ought to have independently enquired, ascertained and worked out the compensation on the basis of information and data before him. However, the collector had failed to do so since the assessment of compensation had been done by the committee which was simply adopted by the collector in his award.

It was further urged the value of the acquired land has to be assessed on the date of publication of the acquisition notification after taking into account the average rate per acre determined from the sale transactions in the revenue estate concerned for a period of one year preceding the date of acquisition notification. This exercise having been earlier done by the collector in 1997, led him to assess the compensation at the rate of Rs 16 lakh per acre and therefore the award in 1999 ordering payment of compensation at the rate of Rs 27 lakh per acre was wholly unjustified.

It was also pointed out that repeated representations to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) and the Chief Secretary of Punjab, had been of no avail since the Land Acquisition collector, Jalandhar, had issued show-cause notice to the corporation for attachment of the Cororation Oil Depot at Suchipind. Accordingly, without prejudice to its rights the corporation under protest had deposited with the collector the entire compensation at the rate of 27 lakh per acre amounting to Rs 4,05,14,991.69 with a request that it be not released by the collector till the final decision of the government. However, the collector did not agree with the request of the corporation.

The court directed that the disbursement of the awarded compensation beyond Rs 16 lakh per acre will remain stayed. It was also ordered that the amount deposited by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited shall be put in a non-operative account with a nationalised bank so as to earn the maximum rate of interest so that the party found entitled to the amount could recover the same.

Stay on VC's order: Mr Justice N.K. Aggarwal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the operation of the order of the District Judge, Rohtak making operative the order of the Civil Judge Junior Division, Rohtak staying the operation of the order of Lt-Gen O.P. Kaushik, Vice-Chancellor, M.D. University, Rohtak. The Vice-Chancellor had stayed the admission in various educational institutions run by Baba Mast Nath Ayurvedic and Sanskrit Sansthan (Trust), Asthal Bohar, Rohtak.

According to the petitioner, the sansthan, which runs various colleges in Haryana for various courses BAMS, MBA, B.Pharma etc, has alleged that the Vice-Chancellor had demanded from the petitioner Rs 50 lakh and 10 seats in each course, which was refused by the president of the trust. Thus thwarted, he passed the orders dated July 16, 1999, restraining the petitioner trust from making admissions in its institutions, the petitioner alleged.

The petitioner had filed a civil suit before the Civil Judge, (JD), Rohtak, who stayed the order of the Vice-Chancellor.

Against the order of the Civil Judge, the respondents filed an appeal before the District Judge, Rohtak, who accepted the appeal and vacated the stay.

In the instant revision petition filed in the High Court by the trust, it was submitted that the order of the Vice-Chancellor was without jurisdiction and that career of students seeking admission in various courses run by the trust was at stake.

It was also contended that there is no provision of the MDU Act and statute and ordinance which empowers the Vice-Chancellor to pass an order to stop any admission.

Mr Justice Aggarwal, while staying the order of the District Judge dated September 18, 1999, issued notice of motion to the respondents for January 19, 2000.

Notice to Mann: Mr Justice V.S. Aggarwal today issued show cause notice for contempt of court against Mr R.S. Mann, Chief Secretary, Punjab, and Mr Pritpal Singh, Secretary, Punjab Public Service Commission, Patiala, on a petition filed by Mr Jasbir Singh.

The petitioner had earlier filed a writ petition for quashing the selection of one Mr Karnail Singh in the exserviceman category. The High Court had allegedly directed the representation of the petitioner and decided the same expeditiously but the respondent had neither intimated nor considered his representation.

St John’s School holds annual athletics meet
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 4 — St John's High School, Sector 26, organised its annual athletics meet with the Chairman of the school managing committee, Brother Mark da Costa, presiding over the ceremony. The school had been organising various events since November 9. Nearly 1,500 students of Class IV to X took part in the activities.

On the basis of overall performance in the events, following were declared the best athletes: Avinav Malhotra in the under-10 section, Guriqbal Singh in the under-12 section, Harneet Arora in the under-14 section and Sahil Bhatia in the under-16 section.

Earlier today, the students participated in a march past led by the school captain Jobin Singh. The drill display by students enthralled parents and guests present on the ocassion.

In the cross country and bicycle races, participants raced from one end of Sukhna Lake to the school. Aditya Malhotra and Mandeep Singh did well in the under-10 section of the cross country race. Varun, Dhruv and Parampreet stole the show in the under-10 section of the bicycle race, while Dhanush, Mann Singh and Rubal Soni did well in under-12 section of the event.

The final results are: 100 m (under-10) — Avinav Malhotra 1, Kabir Singh 2, Anant V. Puri 3; under-12 — Guriqbal Singh 1, Abhinav Singla 2, Mann Singh 3; under-14 — Harneet Arora 1, Varun Gupta 2, Tarun Bajaj 3.

under-16 — Dhruv Sharan 1, Uday Tikoo 2, Sahil Bhatia 3; 200 m groundsmen's race — Sat Pal 1, Shivraj 2, Harbans 3.

Under-10 — Avinav 1, Kabir 2, Siddharth Singhal 3; under-12 — Guriqbal Singh 1, Mann Singh 2, Abhinav 3; under-14 — Harneet Arora 1, Tarun 2, Brahmjit Singh 3; under-16 — Dhruv 1, Sahil 2, Puabudha Bansal 3.

Relay (4 x 100 m) — (Sahil, Vidur, Avinav and Udey Dhillon) 1; (Anant, Jaskaran, Ashutosh, Kabir) 2; (Jaikaran, Siddharth, Parshav and Gaurav) 3.

Under-12 — (Jashan Preet, Sanam K. Singh, Arjun and Abhinav) 1; (Kritarth, Mann Singh, Deepinder Cheema and Guriqbal) 2; (Aditya, Harpuneet, Avinit and Angad Osan) 3.

Under-14 — (Avneet, Mantaj, Inderpal and Harneet) 1, (Manudai P.S. Sohi, Rohan, Abhinav and Akshay) 2, (Gurpreet, Avneet, Sanjog and Aditya) 3.

Under-16 — (Kunal Sekhri, Kunal Soni,Varun and Uday Tikoo) 1; (Prabhudha Bansal, Rahul and Dhruv) 2; (Sahil, Adit Setia, Pranav and Harjot) 3.

400 m under-12 — Guriqbal Singh 1, Sanam Krishan Singh 2, Mann Singh 3; under-14 — Harneet S. Arora 1, Vivek Sharma 2, Tarun Bajaj 3.

Under-16 — Sahil Bhatia 1, Gurjeet S. Bhuee 2, Manbir S. Sandhu 3; 800 m (under-14) — Harneet Arora 1, Sanjog Kapur 2, Amit Joel 3; under-16 — Sahil Bhatia 1, Anup Anand 2, Rahul Narang 3; 1,500 m (under-14) — Tushar Liberhan 1, Sanjog Kapur 2, Raghav Narang 2, Pranav Chamoli 3.

Cycle race under-10 — Varun Gupta 1, Dhruva Kumar 2, Parampreet 3; under-12 — Dhanush Chaudhary 1, Mann Singh 2, Rubal Soni 3.

Under-14 — Sahil Arora 1, Karan Singh 2, Gursher Singh 3; under-16 — Sahil Bhatia 1, Arjun Gupta 2, Anup Anand 3.

Cross country (under-10) — Aditya Malhotra 1, Mandeep Singh 2; under-12 — Sanam Krishan 1, Harivansh Gill 2, Aseem Grover 3; under-14 — Tushar 1, Sanjay Kapur 2, Amit Joel 3; under-16 — Anup Anand 1, Sahil Bhatia 2, Satyan 3; shot put (under-14) — Harneet Arora 1, Maheep Singh 2, Saurabh Chopra 3; under-16 — Hardeep Guru 1, Anup Anand 2, Tejinder Kaleka 3.

High jump (under-10) — Avinav Malhotra 1, Gaurav Joshi 2, Mannit Sidhu 3; under-12 — Guriqbal Singh 1, Mann Singh 2, Angad Pal Singh 3; under-14 — Harneet Arora 1, Suraj P.S. Bajwa 2, Ujwal Tikoo 3; under-16 — Varun Bawa 1, Sahil Bhatia 2, Rahul and Anup 3.

Long jump (under-10) — Udey S. Dhillon 1, Dhruv Kumar 2, Archit Gupta 3; under-12 — Mann Singh 1, Guriqbal Singh 2, Abhinav Singla 3; under-14 — Varun Gupta 1, Vivek Sharma 2, Madhur Kaushik 3; under-16 — Varun Bawa 1, Gurjeet S. Bhuee 2, Sahil Bhatia 3.

Discus throw (under-14) — Harneet Arora 1, Tarun Bajaj 2, Atul Ahlawat 3; under-16 1 Tejinder Kaleka 1, Dhruv Sharan 2, Hardik Verma 3.

Meet begins: The 11th Senior, first Junior (men's) and third Women's Weightlifting Championships were inaugurated here today at Panjab University Gymnasium Hall by Nirmaljit Singh, an international powerlifter.

The team championship was won by Weightlifting Coaching Centre, Sector 30, with 33 points, followed by Public Sport Club, SAS Nagar, with 16 points and Panjab University Campus with 11 points.

In the men's section, new state records were created by Afjal Ali, Sanjeev Joshan, Vikas Duggal and John Sanjeev Pearson.

Results: Junior men's (56 kg) — Balwinder Singh 1, Kananbuan Kamai 2; 62 kg — Surinder Singh 1, Jagmohan Singh 2; 69 kg — Kamaldeep Singh 1, Arun Kumar 2; 77 kg — Satwinder Singh 1, Harish Tanwar 2, Surinder Singh 3; 85 kg — Varinder Singh 1, Sandeep Singh 2; 94 kg — Inderjit singh 1, Balwinder Singh 2; 105 kg — Vikas Duggal 1, Didar Singh 2.

Senior men's (69 kg) — Sukhwinder Singh 1, Ram Paul 2, Baljinder Singh 3; 77 kg — Sanjeev Joshan 1, Palwinder Singh 2; 85 kg — Kamaljit Singh 1, Varinder Singh 2; 94 kg — Jatinder Singh 1, Shalinder Singh 2, Shubh Karamjit Singh 3.

Shooting team: Daleep Singh Chandel will lead the seven-member Chandigarh shooting team which will take part in the 43rd National Shooting Championship (ISSF) to be held at Phillaur in Punjab from December 5 to 15, according to a press note of the Chandigarh Rifle Association. Sabeeha Dhillon and Aarti Mehta are the two women members of the team.

The men in the team are as follows: Daleep Chandel, Parminder Singh, Holinder Singh, Harvinder Singh and Harminder Singh.