Four theft cases reported in city
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — As many as four cases of theft have been reported from various parts of the city.

According to police sources, Mr A. K. Jain, a resident of Sector 21-D, reported that his car (HP-33-9487-T) was stolen from his residence last night.

Mr Parminder Singh, a resident of Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana, reported that his car (PB-10-AH-6420) was stolen from near a hotel in Sector 22.

Cases under Section 379, IPC, have been registered.

Mr Pawan Sharma, a resident of Sector 43, reported that someone has stolen two gold bangles from his residence. A case under Sections 380 and 457, IPC, has been registered.

The police has arrested Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Labour Colony, Sector 31, for allegedly stealing soap, toothpaste and domestic items, besides Rs 110, from a shop owned by Mrs Sumitra Devi. A case under Sections 380 and 411, IPC, has been registered.

Whisky seized: The police has arrested Paramjit Singh, a resident of Jatauli, Rajpura, from Sector 20, and seized 24 bottles of whisky from his possession. A case under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act has been registered.

PANCHKULA

Injured: Ashok Kumar, a resident of Sector 19, was hit while driving his scooter (HR-03-6681) by a speeding car (HR-03-B-6681) near the roundabout of Sector 11 and 15 yesterday.

A case under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC has been registered.

Sarabjit Singh, who was on his scooter (HP-09-A-3184), was injured when a car (HP-15-3951) hit him at a bridge yesterday.

The Kalka police has registered a case under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the IPC.

SAS NAGAR

Car recovered: The police today claimed to have recovered a stolen car with registration number of Delhi. According to information available, a police party headed by SI Ramesh Kumar, intercepted a white Maruti Zen car near Phase 7 last evening after getting a tip-off.

While the driver of the car, Harjit Singh, a resident of Amritsar, was arrested, his accomplice, Sarabjit, a resident of Ambala, escaped. The car (DL-8C-F-0026) had been stolen from Yamunagar on December 3. Both the suspects, in the age group of 20 to 25 years, were mechanics by profession. A case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against them.

Trucks stolen: Two trucks were stolen from Bhabat, near Zirakpur, on December 23 night. A case under Sections 381 and 34 of the IPC has been registered on a complaint lodged by the owner of the trucks, Randeep Singh, a resident of Sector 35, Chandigarh.

Tension: Tension prevails in Shahimajra village here as some unscrupulous elements armed with swords and lathis barged into the village and caused damage to the premises of a gurdwara on Saturday night.

Villagers claimed that Amar Singh, a resident of the village, who lived near the gurdwara, wanted to encroach upon the land which was a common village land. They claimed that the armed persons also caused damage to the property of the gurdwara. Two persons, who had been taken in custody by the police under preventive arrests, have been released on bail. Amar Singh, one of the suspect, however, contradicted the statement of the villagers. He claimed that the land was owned by his family. The police authorities have referred the matter to the Revenue department.

MC achievements 'not highlighted'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — The issue of non-implementation of resolutions passed by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) came in at a meeting of the councillors here today.

At the meeting, which was called by the Mayor, Ms Shanta Abhilashi, to thank the councillors for electing her as the Mayor and seek suggestions for the improvement in the working of the civic body, the members regretted that the officers were not taking the elected representatives into confidence while taking major decisions.

According to sources, the ruling BJP-SAD alliance councillors were not satisfied with the publicity that the corporation had got in the past three years. Though numerous developmental works had been undertaken by the civic body, yet the achievements of the civic had not been reflected in the press, the members complained.

Certain councillors wanted that the beat system for redress of the grievances of the residents should be introduced. Under the system, the SDOs and JEs should be made accountable for redress of the complaints in their respective areas.

Each of the councillors gave suggestions for the improvement of the working of the civic body. A strong plea to sink differences and working for the overall improvement of the city was made at the meeting.

Though the meeting was attended by a majority of the councillors, the Congress councillors, with the exception of Ms Satinder Dhawan, abstained themselves from the meeting.

Xen dead: Chattar Singh, an Xen working with the civic body, died at the PGI here on Saturday.

He was a diabetic and reportedly suffered a heart attack.

Award for MC officer
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — Mr M.K. Kapoor, working as Sectional Officer in the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, has been chosen for the "Best Citizens of India Award" by India Publishing House, New Delhi.

The award, in the form of a wooden base, has been given to the city resident for being professional brilliance in civil engineering.

Mr Kapoor is also the President of the UTMC Sectional Officers Association.

Haryana panel members' pleas dismissed
By Our Legal Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the writ petition filed by Mr Man Mohan Singh Chaudhary, former Chairman of the Haryana Staff Selection (HSSC), and eight other members of the commission. The Bench comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, upheld the notification dated August 9, 1999, issued by the state of Haryana terminating their appointment to the above-mentioned posts.

Two writ petitions were filed in the High Court, one by Mr Chaudhary, former Chairman, and the second by Mr Partap Singh and other members of the commission. The petitioners had alleged mala fides against the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala. It was pleaded that Mr Chaudhary was appointed as Chairman by Mr Bansi lal during his tenure.

It was his case that he was holding a post equivalent to that of the Chairman of the Haryana Public Service Commission, Advocate-General and Financial Commissioners and his services could not be terminated by a notification without following procedure similar to the removal of the HPSC Chairman.

It was also alleged by the petitioners that their services were terminated after the present government took over under the Chief Ministership of Mr Chautala. Mr Chautala was obsessed with undoing all the acts done by the earlier Chief Minister. It was also alleged that Mr Chautala was having a personal bias against Mr Chaudhary on account of an incident relating to 1988, when Mr Chaudhary was Additional Chief Electoral Officer.

All the allegations of mala fides were specifically denied in a reply filed by Mr Chautala.

Mr Mohan Jain, former Advocate-General, along with Mr Rakesh Aggarwal, argued that the services of the Chairman and other members were terminated in accordance with the notification dated January 28, 1970, as amended from time to time, which regulated the terms and conditions of the service of the Chairman and the members of the commission.

It was further stated that the government had reduced the maximum age for the Chairman or a member to 68 years and as per the said amendment, Mr Chaudhary was not entitled to hold the post as he had crossed the upper-age limit.

Relying on a decision of the Supreme Court, Mr Jain pleaded that persons appointed arbitrarily would not challenge termination of their services on the ground of the procedure being arbitrary. Their induction itself being a product of the spoils system, no public interest was involved in maintaining their appointments even though the appointments were to a public office by government or public body.

The Supreme Court had held that in the absence of guidelines, the appointments should be made purely on personal or political considerations arbitrarily. This being so those who were appointed by such procedures would hardly complain if the termination of their appointment was arbitrary, the former Advocate-General pointed out.

Carving a niche in tennis
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — Twins Urska and Masa Vesenjak from Slovenia, a country having a population of two million, play tennis with the sole aim of reaching the zenith of glory.

They are here to take part in the ITF Women's Tennis Tournament, which began at CLTA courts, Sector 10, here today.

They are accompanied by their mother Ms Petra. They are being coached by Nikipilic.

Urska won the ITF singles title at Lucknow last Saturday, while Urska and Masa were runners-up in doubles.

Urska reached the semi-finals of the ITF Tennis Tournament, held in Turkey in August this year, while Urska and Masa reached the doubles semi-finals.

According to these 17-year-old girls, studying in the USA, Slovenia has many football players, while women outnumber men as tennis players.

Masa made it to the last eight in the Turkey and Greece ITF tournaments this year. She also reached the quarter-finals at the tournaments in Canada and Luxembourg.

The twins complimented the organisers for the courts at this tournament. They were satisfied with the European food available at the local hotel where they were staying.

Among Indian players, they praised Manisha Malhotra, Sai Jayalakshami, Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Rushmi Chakarvorthy. When asked about the chances of performing at the present tournament, they said they would try their best.

Sabeeha, Viraj lead in shooting
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27 — Sabeeha Dhillon of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, was leading with 386 points out of 400 in the Air Rifle (ISSF) event at the 24th Northern India Shooting Championship, being held at Patiala Rao Ranges, Sector 25, here today.

The five-day meet is being organised by the City Shooters Club under the aegis of the National Rifle Association of India.

In the individual section, Viraj Singh of ITBP was leading in centre fire pistol event with a score of 138 out of 150. The ITBP shooters were leading in team events with a score of 395 out of 400.

Results — individual: Viraj Singh of ITBP (138/150), Manjit Singh of ITBP (131/150), Palwinder Singh of Punjab (128/150); team event: ITBP 1 (395/400), Punjab 2 (359/400), Uttar Pradesh 3 (319/400); standard pistol (NR) 25 m junior men: Syed Zakir Ali of Delhi (134/150) leading.

Senior men open: Viraj Singh of ITBP (147/150- meet record) leading; sports pistol (NR) 25 m senior women: Bindu Goswami of CISF (129/150) leading; junior women: Neha Sharma of Uttar Pradesh (129/150) leading; .22 OS rifle prone NR 50 m: Pardeep Singh of ITBP (267/300) leading.

Naveen wins title: Naveen Jain of DAV College, Sector 10, won the 11th Chandigarh Chess Championship, which concluded at Sports Complex, Sector 42.

Sanjeev Biswas came second, A.N. Dey stood third and Ashwani Kumar finished fourth. Dr Anil Raina gave away the prizes.