Friday, May 7, 1999
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N E W S Friday, May 7, 1999 |
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Jain may succeed Anuradha
Gupta CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The appointment of a Haryana-cadre IAS officer of the 1978 batch, Mr N.K. Jain, as Home Secretary of the Union Territory of Chandigarh is awaiting a nod from the Election Commission of India. Mr Jain’s name, which was forwarded by the Haryana Government to the Chandigarh Administration on April 2 last, has already been cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) after it found favour with the Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA), the Department of Personnel and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), despite strong reservations by senior bureaucrats. Since the UT Home Secretary is also the Chief Electoral Officer of Chandigarh, it is mandatory to obtain the approval of the Election Commission for transferring a CEO. Sources say the commission made it mandatory in 1991 that “under no circumstances should a CEO be transferred even on deputation or relieved for deputation or be permitted to relinquish his charge without the prior written approval of the Election Commission except in cases of serious illness. “Whenever it is proposed to transfer the Chief Electoral Officer, any such proposal should be preceded by obtaining approval of the Election Commission for his substitute. Such proposal shall be sent with complete details to the Election Commission generally in advance by a minimum of 30 days with a panel of at least three names for the commission’s consideration along with the ACRs and other service particulars. Under no circumstances can the transfer or relieving of a CEO be made without a successor having joined and being able to personally relieve a CEO. There will be no exceptions.” In view of the current special revision of electoral rolls in the country, the Election Commission reiterated its instructions on March 17 last that no official connected with the exercise should be disturbed from his place of posting without the prior concurrence of the commission. The commission declined to comment in Mr Jain’s case. The Central Government has moved fast in Mr Jain’s case. Normally it takes anything between six months to one year to process a panel of deputationists. The panel of officers for appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Chandigarh Housing Board has been under process since November last though the board is without even a regular Chairman. Similarly, the post of Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, has been lying vacant for a long time and the government is yet to process the panel. The post of Finance Secretary, UT, too has been lying vacant since mid-March and the process to fill it is yet to start. The joining of Mr Jain in the ding-dong battle for the prestigious post, which has been continuing for almost one year, was a surprise. The tenure of the present Home Secretary, Mrs Anuradha Gupta, was to expire in October, 1998. However, the UT Administration requested the Haryana Government, her parent state, to allow her to continue for one more year. After initially agreeing to the request, the Haryana Government changed its mind within three weeks and requested for immediate repatriation of Mrs Gupta. It also sent a panel of three IAS officers, Mr P.K. Chaudhery, Mr Sajjan Singh and Mr Sushil Kumar, to the UT for finding a successor to Mrs Gupta. The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and the UT Administration pointed out to the MHA that since in her capacity as the Chief Vigilance Officer of Chandigarh, Mrs Gupta was supervising the investigation of certain sensitive corruption cases, she must be retained in the UT for another year. Subsequently the Haryana Government did not press for the repatriation of Mrs Gupta after the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, wrote to the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, that the state government was fully within its rights to requisition the services of Mrs Gupta, her repatriation at this stage was likely to adversely affect the ongoing investigation into the sensitive cases. Mr Advani went on to write that since the state government had initially given its consent to the continued deputation of Mrs Gupta for another year, any reversal of this decision at this juncture “may send wrong signals that the government is not serious to maintain probity in public life.” Meanwhile, the UT Administration, while approved the name of Mr Chaudhery, sought more names in place of the other two officers. After keeping quiet for six months the Haryana Government sent a panel on April 2 last replacing Mr Chaudhery with Mr Jain and retaining the two other officers in whose place the UT had sought replacement. The sources say the UT Administration received a message from the MHA on April 7 to recommend the name of Mr Jain the same day itself. It must be a record of sorts that the UT did not evaluate the new panel as per the practice. It is believed that the then Adviser, Mr Jagdish Sagar, sent the CR dossiers of the panellists to the MHA on April 7, while pointing out that the UT Administration had not yet been able to process the Haryana Government’s letter of April 2. Following a telephonic conversation with Mr Sagar, the Additional Secretary of the Central Vigilance Commission, Mr Hardayal Singh, too wrote to the MHA on April 7 that Mrs Gupta should not be repatriated at this stage because the investigations into certain corruption cases would be prejudiced. The CVC, Mr N. Vithal, told TNS on the phone that the commission had informed the MHA that it wanted Mrs Gupta to continue be the CVO of Chandigarh for some more time. He said the “commission had also received certain complaints against her likely successor which were also conveyed to the MHA. But a reply is still awaited.” The sources say the Establishment Officer and Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel, Mr K. Rajendran Nair, and the Cabinet Secretary, Mr Prabhat Kumar, who is also the Member-Secretary of the Appointments Committee of Cabinet, too had certain reservations about Mr Jain. But these were overruled by the political leadership. Even the new Adviser,
Mrs Vaneeta Rai, is believed to have expressed certain
reservations about the likely new Home Secretary. |
Killed woman was pregnant CHANDIGARH, May 6 — Avtar Singh, who had allegedly killed his wife in a brutal fashion yesterday, may also have killed the child his wife was carrying. The deceased woman, Avtar Kaur, was three months pregnant with the couple’s sixth child, according to sources. Four of the couple’s children are alive while one daughter had died last year. Avtar Kaur reportedly used to object to her husband’s alleged illicit relationship with his niece. The two, according to the police, used to often beat her up. Yesterday morning, a similar thing happened and Avtar Kaur bled to death following alleged injuries to her sensitive parts at her house in Khuda Ali Sher village, located north of Punjab Engineering College. According to sources, the mother of Avtar Kaur came here from Delhi and handed over a letter written by her daughter on April 24 in which she had mentioned her husband’s illicit relationship with his niece. Avtar Kaur had also mentioned how she was being beaten and tortured by the duo, sources said while disclosing the contents of the letter. Avtar Singh and his niece Narinder Kaur, were produced in court today. A post-mortem on the body of the woman was conducted today. Meanwhile, the Ilaqa Magistrate, Ms Jatinder Walia, today remanded Avtar Singh and his niece, Narinder Kaur, who were charged with murdering the wife of the former, Avtar Kaur, in Khuda Ali Sher village yesterday, in police custody until May 8. The police remand was granted by the magistrate on a request made by the Sector 11 police station. The Public Prosecutor, who represented the police, told the court that the remand was needed to recover the weapon used in committing the crime. The allegations against the suspects were that they hit sensitive parts and the stomach of Avtar Kaur that led to internal bleeding and subsequent death. The stand of the prosecution was that Avtar Kaur had been objecting to the illicit relations of Avtar Singh with his niece for some time. The accused also were
charged with trying to hush up the case by passing it off
as an accident. They washed the blood stains and
requisitioned an ambulance. The blood-stained clothes of
the deceased were packed in a polythene bag and thrown
away. The bag was later recovered by the police. |
Missing murder files case CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The Chandigarh Administration today ordered the suspension of two deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), an inspector, a sub-inspector and a constable of the Chandigarh police for their alleged involvement in the case of the missing murder cases’ files from the Sector 26 police station. In an order passed today, the Administration suspended DSPs, Mr Subhash Sagar and Mr Devinder Singh Thakur, sources said. While Mr Sagar is presently posted in the security wing, Mr Thakur is posted in the traffic wing of the Chandigarh police. The Inspector, Mr P.K. Dhawan, (Economic Offences Wing), the SI, Mr Balihar Singh (Crime Branch Operations Cell), and Mr Yashpal, Malkhana Munshi of the Sector 26 police station, were also suspended. Files pertaining to the murders of political activist Inder Pal Gupta and a city resident, Ganpat Rai, had been found to be missing from the Sector 26 police station. An inquiry was constituted after The Tribune carried two stories on February 5 and 15 on how the files had gone missing and no records were available in the police station. The cases had never been presented in court. Both murders had taken place in 1983. The police found out about the missing files during a search, three months ago. The matter was reported to the senior authorities. An inquiry was conducted by the Legal Remembrancer, Mr Sanjeev Kumar. The LR, in his report, indicted the DSPs and the other three officers for forgery and mala fide intention. Sudden appearance of the files after an inquiry had been conducted, was called an act of deliberate intention in the report of the LR. When the murders took place, Mr P.K. Dhawan was the Investigating Officer (IO) and Mr Thakur was the Station House Officer (SHO). After that, Mr Sagar was SHO of the Sector 26 police station and later, he was the DSP of the East subdivision. Mr Thakur had also been a DSP in the same subdivision. The SI, Mr Balihar Singh, remained involved in investigations of the case for several years. The keys to the record room where the files should have been kept, were with the Malkhana Munshi, Mr Yashpal. With the suspension of
Mr Sagar and Mr Thakur, the number of suspended DSPs in
the city has risen to 3 out of 11. Mr Asa Nand, who was
working in the Vigilance Department, was suspended a few
weeks ago for allegedly helping the dismissed Chief
Engineer, Mr K.K. Jerath, in pending vigilance cases
against him. |
Malik joins as WC Chief of
Staff Chandigarh, May 6 — Lieut-Gen B. S. Malik took over as Chief of Staff of Western Command, Chandimandir, today. An alumnus of National Defence Academy, he was commissioned in 3/5 Gorkha Rifles on June 10, 1962. He commanded a rifle company during the 1971 Indo-Pak operations in the Chicken Neck Area of the Western Theatre.He was awarded the the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Commendation Card for Counter-Insurgency Operations in Manipur. He commanded 3/5 Gorkha Rifles at Jhangar in Jammu and Kashmir. He was Brigade Major, Director, Military Operations and Instructor in Senior and Higher Command Wings of the College of Combat, Mhow. He commanded 77 Mountain Brigade located at a high altitude area in the wake of the Wangdung incident and was awarded the Ati Vishisht Sea Medal (AVSM). General Malik did a course at the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies in the United Kingdom in 1990 and later served as the Military Adviser in the UK in 1991, where he was instrumental in sending the first ever defence industry delegations to India to buy indigenous products. He commanded 39 Mountain Division in July 1994 and apart from preparing the division for the new operational role through a series of exercises, prevented a spillover of insurgency and migration of population into Himachal Pradesh. Selected for the inter-services appointment of Joint Secretary (Military), he was also Secretary of the Chief of Staff Committee in the Ministry of Defence in 1996. Prior to his present assignment, he was Director-General of the National Cadet Corps since 1997 and had introduced the Independence Day Camp, among other things, to revitalise this premier youth organisation which reached a strength of 1. 2 million during his tenure. He succeeds Lieut-Gen H.
R. S. Mann, who has been appointed as the Chief of Staff,
Central Command, Lucknow. |
Encroachments removed in Sec 27 Chandigarh, May 6 — Anti-encroachment staff of the municipal corporation demolished temporary boundary walls and uprooted hedges and grills installed by more than 200 residents of government houses in Sector 27 - C here this morning. The operation was necessitated following complaints from the Building and Roads Division that they were unable to carpet the V 6 roads in front of the houses, a majority of which were Type 13 houses. According to sources, the operation began at 10 a.m. and continued till noon during which there were some heated arguments with the residents. A JCB was also pressed into service. The operation was suspended for a couple of minutes when a resident who had constructed a staircase to the first floor from public land resisted the move. A large posse of policemen were present to prevent any untoward incident. The President of the Mohalla Sudhar Committee, Mr Mast Ram, said the demolitions were carried out without serving any notices and at a time when only women were at home. The staff also did not
allow the residents to remove their belongings before
demolishing the boundary walls, resulting in damage to
the things kept outside by the residents, he alleged. |
Sukhna shramdan begins today CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The next phase of “shramdan” will get under way at Sukhna Lake tomorrow morning. The Adviser to the Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, will inaugurate the programme at 7 a.m. Introduced in 1988 to save Sukhna Lake from continuous silting, “shramdan” has witnessed different phases where people from all walks of life, including school children, participated in manual desiltation of the dry bed of this lake. Like the previous two years, this year “shramdan” will be totally on voluntary basis and no government employee or school student will be forced to join the programme. The administration, however, hopes that people, who feel for the city and the lake, will regularly participate in this programme to keep it alive. Manual desiltation and
wet dredging of the lake is also expected to start soon. |
Water supply augmentation scheme CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) has sought technical advice from the Punjab Engineering College (PEC) on the scheme regarding augmentation of water supply by bringing water from Gangowal to the city by gravity. According to sources, a decision to this effect was taken at a recent meeting of the Water Supply and Sewerage Disposal Committee of the civic body. The sources said the computer department of the PEC had been urged to do the simulation and computer investigation of the 3D model of the pipelines from Gangowal to Chandigarh in respect of pressure and velocity at various points. The PEC was likely to submit its report in a month. While technically clearing Phase IV of the Kajauli Water Works, the CPHEEO, a Central Government undertaking, had desired to carry out the feasibility study of bringing water by gravity by tapping the Bhakra mainline or any other water source at a higher elevation than the Kajauli Water Works. This was being done in view of the high cost of production of water. In view of the decision of the CPHEEO, a preliminary study was carried out by the Public Health Wing of the MCC under the supervision of Mr Manmohanjit Singh, Superintending Engineer, regarding the tapping of the Satluj near Gangowal, about 70 km from Chandigarh. The study was done by consulting the Survey of India maps and the data available from the survey conducted by the Punjab Urban Development Authority for the SAS Nagar Water Supply Scheme. At present, 60 million gallons per day (MGD) of water was being pumped to the city against gravity from the Bhakra Main Canal, 27.5 km from Sector 39. This involved an expenditure of Rs 10 crore per year. On the other hand, the operational cost of bringing 60 MGD of water by gravity would only be about Rs 2 crore per year. Since the population of Chandigarh was increasing at a fast rate, the scheme had found favour with the MCC to meet the rising demand of water. The water supply would also not be affected in case of power failure. Since the construction
of a dam at the Ghaggar had been hanging fire for the
past over three decades, the scheme seemed to be the only
alternative, it was pointed out. Besides, the cost of the
dam was reported to be exorbitant. |
Judge grilled in Beant case CHANDIGARH, May 6 — The Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Bedi, who held court at Burail Jail, today concluded the cross-examination of Mr Balbir Singh, who was the Judicial Magistrate at Patiala in 1995, in the Beant Singh assassination case. He told the judge that Mr R.S. Dhankar, DSP of the C.B.I. had moved an application in his court for getting recorded the confessional statement of Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the suspects in the case. He also told the court that a separate application was moved by Tara, saying that he wanted to get his statement recorded. When asked whether he had enquired from Tara that he was making the confessional statement without any inducement, Mr Balbir Singh said he did not do so. In reply to a question by the defence whether the magistrate knew Mr Rajan Malhotra, C.B.I. counsel, Mr Balbir Singh answered in the affirmative. When asked how he knew Mr Malhotra, he replied that Mr Malhotra had appeared in his court in a C.B.I. case. When asked whether Mr Malhotra was present in the courtroom when the statement of Tara was recorded, Mr Balbir Singh answered in the negative. In reply to a question he said he did not give any assistance of a lawyer to Tara. He said he did not ask Tara whether he wanted to meet any of his relatives. The magistrate could not
reply to the question as to when the case was to be tried
at Chandigarh, why did he recorded the confessional
statement of Tara at Chandigarh. |
Major fire at Bir Dandrala DERA BASSI, May 6 — In a major fire at Bir Dandrala forest which broke out at about 10 a.m. on Thursday, destroyed vegetation worth thousands of rupees. After struggling for more than five hours, firefighters from Dera Bassi, Ambala, SAS Nagar, Rajpura, Chandigarh and Panchkula brought the blazes under control. The fire was spotted by Mrs Satwant Kaur Juneja, Principal of the local Government Degree College, as it approached the college. She then alerted local and other fire stations and the Forest Department authorities. According to an eyewitness, the fire has claimed Kher trees along with some other plantations in this part of the forest. Employees of the Forest Department and Fire Brigade had a tough time controlling the flames. The blazes also burnt plants along the college boundary wall. The fire was brought under control by 3 pm. Mr Sher Singh Sidhu, SDM, along with Mr Jagir Singh, Ranger and Gagandeep Singh, Deputy Ranger of this forest range, visited the spot as the news spread in the town. The exact cause of fire and the amount of loss could not be ascertained. According to forest
officers, fire has claimed 2,000 Kher saplings which were
planted two years ago. The forest had also witnessed a
similar incident last year which claimed a number of
trees and plants. This is the fourth major fire incident
of this summer in Dera Bassi subdivision. |
Ayurvedic doctor couple booked PANCHKULA, May 6 — An ayurvedic doctor couple has been booked by the police for allegedly damaging sensitive organs of a woman of Abheypur village, near here, during a surgery to terminate her pregnancy. The victim in her complaint alleged that she had gone to the clinic of the couple in Abheypur in Industrial Area, Phase-I, here in January this year. The BAMS doctor, Dr Vinod Gupta and his wife, Shivani Gupta, the woman alleged, damaged her uterus in the surgery. The victim was later shifted in a serious condition to the local General Hospital in Sector 6 here where she remained for over a month. As the condition of the woman did not improve, she was referred to the Sector 32 Government Medical Hospital. According to officials of the Health Department, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act says that a qualified doctor was authorised to conduct a surgery for the abortion of pregnancy. Moreover, the surgery has to be done at an authorised place. The police has
registered a case under Section 338 of the IPC and
Section 15(3) of the Indian Medical Council Act.
Meanwhile the lady doctor was granted bail by the
Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Mr Y.S. Rathore,
before whom she was produced at the local courts today.
The husband of the woman is yet to be arrested by the
police. |
Fire station move hangs fire CHANDIGARH, May 6 — In a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing, the foundation stone of the fire station at the Sector 26 Timber Market could not be laid last month as the area could not be cleared for it. According to sources, all preparations, including the printing of the invitation cards, had been completed by the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) for the function. At the eleventh hour, it dawned on the civic body authorities that a store of the Public Health Wing existed on the piece of land earmarked for the fire station. The sources informed that a provision for the fire station existed in the master plan of the city and there was apparently no provision for a store. Eventually, the store had to be shifted out of the area and the Fire Wing and the Public Health Wing had "failed" to reach an amicable settlement. It may be recalled the the civic body proposed to complete three fire stations by the end of last year. While a portion of the the fire station in Industrial Area, Phase II, was completed, the foundation stone of the fire station at the Capitol Complex was laid last month. The proposal has been
hanging fire for a long time. The area comprising Timber
Market, Grain Market and Bapu Dham Colony is highly
fire-prone. |
Water crisis in Sec 12 PANCHKULA, May 6 — Residents of Sector 12-A complained that there had been an acute shortage of water in a pocket of the sector for the past one month. They said nothing had been done despite repeated requests to the officials concerned. The residents, in a joint memorandum, said they had been told by the officials that the problem was due to a snag in a part of the sector. They said it had not been rectified so far. Unannounced power shutdowns have also been brought to the notice of the authorities by the residents. The problem of unscheduled power cuts has cropped up in the entire township. Residents complain that they have to spend sleepless nights due to the power cuts. The problem is affecting the commercial and industrial activity in the township. The residents said that the claim made by the Chief Minister, to supply round-the-clock power supply, held little ground in the present situation. Officials of the HVPN
said that the power situation was likely to improve from
May 15 after supply from the Kunihar Hydroelectric
Project in Himachal Pradesh was restored. |
Bajpai is CSIO Acting Director CHANDIGARH, May 6 — Dr RP Bajpai has taken over as the Acting Director of the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Sector 30, here.Born on September 21, 1944, Dr Bajpai is a Ph D in solid state physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and DSc from Hokkaido University, Japan.Dr Bajpai, who joined the CSIO in 1978 on the invitation of the Director-General of the CSIR to establish infrastructure and expertise in surface science and microelectronics instrumentation, was instrumental in developing a number of state-of-the-art equipment. Dr Bajpai, besides
supervising a number of Ph D and M Tech theses, has
published over 100 research papers in national and
international journals. He is also a senior member of
several professional societies, including the Optical
Society of India, the Institution of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineers and the International Union
for Vacuum Science Techniques and Applications. |
City boy for football camp CHANDIGARH, May 6 — A local boy Manwinder is among the probables selected for a selection-cum-coaching camp to pick up the Indian team for the 16th Lion City Cup Football (under-16), Championship. The championship will be held from June 12 to 19 at Singapore. Manwinder is a student of class XII in Shivalik Public School. In all 47 boys have been selected for the camp, the dates for which will be decided in a few days. The following is the list of players selected for the camp. Goalkeepers: Syed Bin Mehsan (A.P.), Richard Choudhury (Assam), Bikash Das (Bengal), Manash Barua (Bihar), Sanjiv Kumar (Delhi) and VP Satish Kumar (Tamil Nadu). Defenders: Rahim Baiya (A.P.) Amzad Ali Khan (Bengal), Bimal Sarker (Bengal), Arindam Hazra (Bengal), Palash Karmakar (Bengal), Sajid Ansari (Bihar), Bhaskar Anurag (Bihar), Sanjoy Dhyani (Delhi), S. Satish Kumar (Tamil Nadu), N. Abdul Kapoor (Tamil Nadu), Wajid Ali (U.P.) and Sushil Khan (U.P.). Midfielders: Golydung Rongmel (Assam), Amit Sharma (Delhi), G. Ninza Kabui (Delhi), Lal Taupuia (Mizoram), Kuldeep Singh (Punjab) and Vijay Singh Mall (U.P.). Forwards: Mario Louis
(A.P.) L. Akbar Singh (Assam), Ujjal Nath (Assam),
Sanjeeva Rongpi (Assam), Supratik Ain (Bengal), Syed
Rahim Nabi (Bengal), Sona Biswas (Bengal). Swapan Das
(Bengal), Asim Biswas (Bihar), Malsawamtulunga (Bihar),
Krishna Tudu (Bihar), Manwinder (Chandigarh), Sumit Thapa
(Delhi), L.R. Ruata (Delhi), H.T. Sauga (Mizoram),
Zoduhlina (Mizoram), L.V. Luaia (Mizoram), S. Nagalingam
(Tamil Nadu), N. Manikananda (Tamil Nadu), J. Auxiauo
(Tamil Nadu), Bhuwan Choudhary Joshi (U.P.), Hem Chand
Joshi (U.P.) and Nirmal Khatri (U.P.). |
Training course for prison
officers opens CHANDIGARH, May 6—The third training course for prison officers on ``Human rights and prison management’’ was inaugurated by Mr H.S. Mattewal, Advocate General, at the Institute of Correctional Administration, Sector 26, here today. In his inaugural address at the course, Mr Mattewal highlighted the various practical aspects of prison administration and emphasised the need for better food quality, vocational training and wondered how the income of prisons in the state of Punjab had decreased. He also spoke on the availability of a complaint box in prisons and a redressal of grievances and how the provisions of the Punjab model jail manual should be implemented.``Training of prison officers is an important aspect of prison administration”, he said and expressed appreciation for the institute for organising such a training programme. Referring to the 300 years of the formation of Khalsa, he said the `panj pyaras’ were symbolic for compassion, tolerance and other human values and that to be a human being one must possess all these virtues. ``A prisoner has a human being and is to be treated humanely. This is the main theme of universal applicability of human rights availability,’’ he said. The course is one of the 16 courses being organised all over the country to train 320 prison officers under the Indo-British project, undertaken by the British Council Division in collaboration with the Bureau of Police Research and Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, National Human Rights Commission and Penal Reforms and Justice Association. The resource persons for
the course include Mr R. Rehman, Dr B.V. Trivedi, Mr
Jayadev Sarangi and Dr Upneet Lalli. They will impart
training to prison officers of supervisory level using
participative techniques while discussing the various
issues related to the element of human rights in prison
management . Officers from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and
Himachal Pradesh are participating in the course. |
'Bring ads or forego exams' CHANDIGARH, May 6 — Some students of Dev Samaj Polytechnic for Women, Sector 21, have alleged that they are not being allowed to sit for the examination of fashion designing because they were unable to procure advertisements for the souvenir of the institute. "We were given forms to procure advertisements a few days before the commencement of the examination and deposit them with the office to be eligible to sit for the examination,'' Inderjeet Kaur alleges. Poonam adds, "On the day the examination began, while all other students were allowed in the hall at about 2.20pm we were given our roll numbers at 3.15pm on the condition that we would get the advertisement before the second paper slated for May 1 or pay Rs 450 to the institute. We did neither and are being made to suffer.'' Inderjit Kaur further alleges that they were not allowed to enter the hall for the second paper and the Principal asked them not to come to the institute for the third paper. "I have been one of the best students of the institute and the Principal has no business to spoil my career,'' she says. The Principal, Mrs Sashi Aggarwal, while refuting the charges, says that all students were asked to contribute to the making of the souvenir in whatever way they could — be it advertisements, articles or jokes. Moreover, she says that
the students were issued roll numbers and on the May 1
they were seen on the premises of the institute. On
inquiring why they were not taking the paper, they
admitted that they had not prepared for the paper, she
alleges. "They were four of them and there is
absolutely no cause of bad blood between the institute
and those students,'' she adds. |
SNIPPETS Economic Offences Wing to stay A week ago it was decided that the EOW would be merged. However, due to various functional difficulties have forced the withdrawal of the old order. Two inspectors will also be posted in the EOW to strengthen the present force. Anti-epidemic raids in city According to sources, several vendors selling exposed food items, sugarcane and lemon juice, ice-cream and other articles were challaned. The raids were likely to continue till September, the sources added. Pak ex-minister visits city
today Mr Zaman is also a well-known Punjabi writer and poet and would be meeting the people of the city at the Punjab Arts Council, Sector 16, in its ru-ba-ru session. Career fair opens on May 8 The non-availability of a career guidance cell having information on the lesser-known courses and the better-known ones and inability of such cells, wherever they exist, to help the youth identify what they are best suited for, has given birth to this pioneering attempt, managed by the Greater Punjab Trust for Education. "We are an autonomous body with the well-being of students at heart. We are backed by an active trust without any hierarchy which brings with it red tape and is the bane of most government guidance cells with redundant aptitude test systems,'' says one of the organisers. The trust will strive to make a better society by providing students with a platform which will educate and guide the general public in the field of education, training and employment, the organisers claim. There will be display and counselling stalls related to armed forces, hotel industry, merchant navy, engineering, management, computers, fashion and many more. On a suggestion, the organisers have decided to hold a concurrent fair, "Fun`n' Frolic Fair '99", to make it a crowd-puller. The organisers have indicated that the fair will become an annual feature in the city and offshoot fairs will be organised in major district headquarters of the area from time to time. Gradually, the trust aims to start a bi-monthly magazine "Education, Training and Employment Review" by June and a "School for Personality, Etiquette and Education Development" (SPEED) soon. MFC students hold protest The students assembled at the Department of Correspondence Studies at about 10 a.m. and met Chairperson of the department, Mrs Santosh Sharma, who expressed her helplessness in the matter. The students then went to the office of the Vice-Chancellor, where they were assured by the Secretary to Vice-Chancellor that all modalities regarding the case had been cleared from their office and that they should get in touch with the office of the Controller of Examination (COE). Two elected unopposed According to Mr Harneik
Singh, Manager of the bank, nine candidates are in the
field for the elections of four more members of the
committee. |
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