EDUCATION

Surprise checks in hostels
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — The police will carry out surprise checks in the hostels of the city with the cooperation of the college and university authorities from next week.

The issue of increasing indiscipline, rowdyism and general lawlessness in hostels, was highlighted by The Tribune on January 12. The crime meeting of the department discussed the issue and those present were of the view that something had to be done.

It may be recalled that some days ago certain hostellers, who considered their hostel a “ safe house”, brought their girlfriends to one of the hostel rooms and were reportedly caught by the Principal and other teachers allegedly watching an adult movie at 9. 30 a.m.

Commenting on the issue, Mr Parag Jain, SSP, said he has instructed all the SDPOs and the SHOs to solicit the help of the college authorities in their area, besides the university authorities to assist them in carrying out surprise checks at periodic intervals. They would be carried out during day time and night

The aim was not to harass the boarders but to ensure that the hostellers did not indulge in lawlessness and do anything which might result in a law and order problem, he clarified.

Other points discussed at the meeting pertained to having arms registers in all the police stations, besides updating of surveillance dossiers of all the history-sheeters and bad characters of the city in their respective police stations.

Meanwhile, the inspections of the police stations have been completed, he added.

V-C lays stress on‘inner cohesion’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — Prof M.M. Puri, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab Univesity, inaugurated a seminar on ‘The making of a nation: culture, literature and politics”, organised by the Department of Evening Studies here today.

Professor Puri outlined the significance of an inner cohesion — spiritual and cultural. “One often wonders whether Pakistan was a nation. There were Baluchis, Sindhis and Sarikis who problematise the nation, irrespective of their religion”, he pointed out.

In another context, he highlighted the flaws in the making of the Indian Nation. The social and political restructuring of the nation could not be ignored, he added.

In the first academic session, chaired by Prof M.L.Raina, Prof Harish Narang, School of Languages at Jawahar Lal University, highlighted the saga of dalit oppression at all levels — social, political, economic and psychological.

Prof K.G. Iyer from PU analysed the role of the leftist movement in the national scenario.The Dalit question, he said, should be linked to land reforms.

In the second session Giriraj Kishore,an eminent Hindi novelist, spoke on how Gandhi addressed the Dalit question. “Perhaps, Gandhi made the orthodox Hindus realise the need to radically re-define their ‘dharmas”, he said.

Mr Govind Rakesh from PU spoke on language and the nation. Dr Sudhir Kumar, Department of Evening Studies, highlighted the process of nation making in India.The session was chaired by Prof Pushpendra Syal.

Step to make courses job-oriented
By Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — Entrepreneurial development has been added as a compulsory component of the three-year vocational course of the undergraduate courses of Panjab University.

The change has been attempted to make teaching of the special job-oriented courses more relevant to the employment scenario in the market. A UGC guidelines copy dated late December 1999 was received by Panjab University recently.

The recent communication of the University Grants Commission expects to provide to the students knowledge and skills for working as a self-employed person. In the absence of qualified faculty, institutions will make use of guest faculty drawn from small-scale industries, institutions for entrepreneurship and industrial and commercial concerns.

The institutions will have to have arrangements for supervised OJT (on-job-training) in an establishment concerned with the production of goods and services such as banks, insurance companies and industrial establishments, among others.

Colleges are also expected to maintain a record of activities of passouts to provide job availability level in the current set-up. Colleges are expected to prepare prospectuses informing students the nature and prospects of the course and other subjects.

The programme also envisages a mechanism for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the scheme. The UGC letter expects that recurring assistance will be available for five years only. An institution will first have to show its ability to sustain the course after five years.

The UGC expects institutions to raise additional resources for supporting the programme through levying developmental charges, obtaining donations and levying differential fees. Additional resources generated are lined up for expenditure in upgrading software, equipment and infrastructure.

Assistance from the UGC will be available at the rate of Rs 3 lakh for each subject in the humanities, social science and commerce groups and Rs 9 lakh from the science and engineering groups.

The scheme does not provide for appointment of teachers. It is expected that some of portions of the subject and the practicals will be dealt with by engaging guest faculty from neighbouring institutions. For each subject, a maximum of 30 students have been prescribed. Institutions are, however, expected to admit more students in the first year to have 30 students in the final year, besides the drop-outs.

Due to financial constraints, not more than one vocational subject will be given to a college.

COURTS

Jerath’s plea taken on record
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court today took on record an application moved by Mr K.K. Jerath, a former Chief Engineer of Chandigarh, praying that he be permitted to place certain documents before the court in the interest of justice.

Mr Justice N.C. Khichi, before whom the appeal filed by Mr Jerath contesting the judgement of the Special Judge permitting Mr Jagdish Mitter, to turn approver in the case, issued notice to the prosecution for February 3. The special Public Prosecutor of the Administration received the notice.

In his application, Mr Jerath stated that the documents he sought to place before the court were vital to facilitate a just decision of the case. These documents will demonstrate the role played by the accused-turned approver, Mr Jagdish Mitter, in the commission of the offence in FIR no 3 of 1998. These documents are approvals issued by Mr Mitter for enhancing the value of various agreements entered into by the Executive Engineers with contractors.

He said with a view to proving collusion of the approver with the authorities, the documents attested and supplied by him also needed to be brought on record. These documents were attached with the supplementary challan presented in the court of the Special Judge on January 14, 1999.

Anticipatory bail for seven
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — Granting interim anticipatory bail to seven Ropar district residents accused of subjecting a married woman to cruelty, the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr G.S. Sandhu, today asked them to join the investigation as and when required and not to leave the country without prior permission.

Pronouncing the orders on the bail application filed by Jaspal Singh and others, the judge observed: "It is stated in the compromise deed that the complainant has no objection for granting anticipatory bail to the accused. On this understanding having been arrived at between the parties, accused-applicants are granted interim anticipatory bail in the sum of Rs 20,000 each with a surety of the like amount....".

The accused were earlier booked by the Chandigarh Police for criminal breach of trust and for subjecting a married women to cruelty under Section 406 and 498-A of the Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution, the wife was compelled to leave the house as the accused, dissatisfied with the dowry, started harassing her.

HUDA told to refund money to plot allottee
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Jan 14 — The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered the Haryana Urban Development Authority to refund Rs 79,725 deposited by Mr JP Suri, a resident of Chandigarh, as amount for a plot allotted to him in Faridabad along with interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum. As an alternative, the forum has suggested that the amount so calculated could be adjusted in the future instalments of the complainant.

In his complaint, Mr Suri stated that he was allotted a plot in 1994 following which he deposited a part of the sum but the possession of the plot was not offered to him. However, in 1997, he was intimated that a sum of Rs 79,725 was due to be paid by him but no details were given.

Thereafter, he visited the office of HUDA where he was handed over the possession of the plot but the date mentioned in the letter stated that the same had been carried out in 1994. It further added that the notice of the complainant for additional amount was on account of 18 per cent rate of interest charged for not taking possession of the plot.

In a written statement, HUDA said that the complainant had already filed an appeal before the Administrator, HUDA, Faridabad, and that the matter was decided in 1997. It was ordered that the interest of instalments be charged from 1995 onwards and not from 1994. It was also contended that the issue regarding charging of interest had been waived off by the administrator in 1997 and no other special point had been set forth. The complainant, however, reiterated and reaffirmed his stand.

The Bench observed that the dispute was mainly regarding the date of offer of possession of the plot to the complainant. It added that since HUDA had not brought any material to support its claim that the possession was offered prior to 1997, it was not entitled to charge any interest from the complainant prior to 1997.

CULTURE

ISKCON organises 'Food for life'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — As part of the Makar-Sankranti festival celebration, the local unit of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) organised a programme "Food for life" at Kumhar Colony, Sector 25, here today.

The programme began at 4.30 p.m. with Hare Naam Sankirtan by ISKCON devotees, followed by pravachan and distribution of prasadam among those present. Narottam Dasa Prabhu, Vice-President of the unit said such spiritual programmes would be held every month in various slum areas. The poor would be made aware of the evils of meat eating, gambling, and intoxication and persuaded to adopt the path of spiritualism which is the real source of happiness, peace, prosperity and contentment.

This scheme was introduced by Bhakti Vedanta Swami Sri Prabhupada, founder of the ISKCON and social reformer and scholar.

Guru Gobind Singh's birthday celebrated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — The calendar controversy notwithstanding, the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety in the city today.

Almost all gurdwaras organised special congregations at the bhog of Sri Akhand Path. Discourses on the life and teachings of the 10th Sikh guru were also organised at various gurdwaras.

Though there was some confusion over the declaration of a public holiday under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the attendance at gurdwaras was large. Rain and inclement weather, too, were no deterrent.

The celebrations started early in the morning with taking out of parbhat pheris in some sectors. The special kirtan darbars featuring eminent ragis, school children, istri sabhas, satsang sabhas and others continued until late in the afternoon.

Special community kitchens or langars were also organised at most gurdwaras. Only the two gurdwaras of Sectors 35 and 44 had celebrated the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh on January 5.

In the evening, all gurdwaras were tastefully illuminated. The second round of special congregations was held in the evening. Many Sikhs also illuminated their houses, business premises and shops at night to mark the festivities.

Main functions were held at the Gurdwaras in Sectors 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 47, besides other places.

At the Sector 34 Gurdwara Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Gurdwara, a special exhibition of religious books was organised. Almost 20,000 devotees visited the gurdwara, and stood in long queues to pay obeisance to the great Guru.

The management of the gurdwara also honoured the volunteer services of 28 teachers from various colleges of Chandigarh and Punjab University who took a keen interest in coaching students of classes 10, 10+1, 10+2 free of cost.

Major N.S. Rangi, President, thanked the U.T. Administration, and Punjab and Haryana Governments for accepting the request to declare a holiday on January 14, 2000, to facilitate the celebrations.

Meanwhile, to celebrate the gurpurb, work at the Sector 17 District Courts was today suspended by members of the UT District Bar Association.

According to the association President, Mr N.K. Nanda, the advocates, however, appeared before the court for urgent legal matters, including regular and anticipatory bail pleas, besides the applications.