EDUCATION

First-ever college convocation
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 22 — After the Partition, the Mayo School of Art, Lahore, was split into the National College of Art, Lahore, and the Government College of Art, Chandigarh (earlier in Simla).

For the first time in the history of this college, a convocation was held today. Fiftyeight students of four different streams — applied arts, painting, graphics, and sculpture — gathered to receive their bachelor’s degree from one of their seniors and an artist of international eminence, Satish Gujral.

Gujral had come to preside over the function and deliver the convocation address. He was accompanied by wife, Kiran Gujral.

In the welcome address, the college Principal, Mr Prem Singh, said that it was not only a simple convocation but an important event which was being held for the first time since the inception of the college in 1870 at Lahore. He highlighted Gujral’s contribution in setting this college. In his address, Satish Gujral said painting was a truthful representation of what an artist sees around him.

A total of 58 students — 19 from applied arts, 14 from painting, 16 from graphics and 9 from sculpture — were awarded degrees. Ms Dimpy Jaiswal, Ms Harmanjeet Kaur, Ms Upasana and Mr Jaswinder Singh were also awarded the role of honour.

Private colleges closed on March 29
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 21 — Agitating teachers, principals and members of the non-teaching staff from private colleges in Punjab plan a complete closure of their institutes on March 29.

The agitating staff includes members of Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), Punjabi University (Patiala) and the local Panjab University. Members on yesterday’s agitation which was one a day fast were from Ferozepur, Moga and Muktsar areas. Tomorrow’s agitators will be from Patiala, Sangrur and Bhatinda.

The teachers are demanding regular payment of salaries. Several colleges have not paid the staff for nearly six months, Prof Charanjit Chawla, a veteran leader of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union said.

Mr P.S.Sangha, principal of the local Guru Gobind Singh College, said some colleges had been able to manage payment of salaries from additional funds. However, the funds were limited. On the other hand, several colleges ‘ staff faced salary trouble even through the initial period.

Colleges await 95 per cent grant which was the basic resource to maintain them.

The week-long hunger strike, with agitators changing each day, is to be followed by district-level agitators in the state, Mr Jagwant Singh of PCCTU said. Amritsar and Ludhiana districts lead the agitation with programmes on March 24 and 25, respectively. All colleges in Jalandhar plan an agitation on July 28.

On March 29, a common meeting of the executive staff of various organisations is scheduled to chalk out the future plan of action.

The threat comes in the wake of the forthcoming annual examination. The university has prepared an examination schedule for the under-graduate and postgraduate examination.

A senior fellow of the PU said that it would be difficult for the university to announce a formal decision on the current situation.

Common code for visually impaired soon
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 22 — In a move to standardise the sign language, the National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped has been given a set time-frame to come up with a common code for sign language. A similar common code is being devised to remove the ambiguity from various versions of braille — the written language used by the visually handicapped.

These aspects, that will bring about a quantum change in the lifestyle of the hearing and visually handicapped in the country, were highlighted by Ms Anuradha Mohit, Deputy Commissioner, Disability, Government of India. She was speaking during the day-long National Conference on Design for Disabled and Elderly, organised at the Chandigarh College for Architecture here today.

At present there are several variants of the sign language and the same is true for braille. So now an Indian living in one part of the country is not conversant with sign language or braille being used in another part of the country. This creates problems, Ms Mohit said.

Unfortunately there is no international language or a code for the disabled to follow while trying to differentiate a road sign, or sign for a facility in one country from the other. She gave an example saying ‘’In Japan the edges of the railway platforms are in a certain brick-laying fashion that a visually handicapped person comes to know immediately that he is near the edge.” Such a facility does not exist anywhere else.

She also gave an example of the USA where buses that are not user-friendly for the handicapped are being gradually phased out. In our country usability, safety and affordability can solve a large number of problems faced by the handicapped.

75 PU toppers awarded
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 21 —Nearly 75 toppers in undergraduate and postgraduate courses of the Department of Correspondence Studies , Panjab University, were awarded prizes at the annual prize distribution ceremony here yesterday.

Prof Ashok Sahni, Dean University Instructions, complimented the toppers and spoke about the achievements of the department particularly increasing education opportunities in the regional context.

Earlier welcoming the guests, Prof (Mrs) Santosh K. Sharma, Chairperson, said from initially offering only undergraduate courses, the department had grown to have over 17,000 students on its rolls with postgraduate as well as professional courses.

The department had set up six new mailing sections to speed up the despatch of lessons. The students could also avail service of getting tape-recorded cassettes of their lessons from the media centre. The department also planned to start Hindi and Punjabi-medium lessons for postgraduate students in economics, political science and history.

Ms Sneh Mahajan, principal of the local MCM DAV College, was the chief guest on the occasion. Prof Ujjagar Sehgal proposed the vote of thanks.

Bhupinder Singh was a winner in the English essay writing contest. The winners in the Hindi language were Vikas Chander Pandey , Dharamvir Kaushik and Multan Singh. Hari Gure Mandir Jeet Bhagwant Paul Singh Darling , Hari Sukh Manjit Bhagwant Daljit Singh Dimple and Daljit Singh were the winners in the Punjabi language category.

The winners in the English language poetry category were Shalini Khatri, Kamini Kapoor, Surinder Kaur and Archana Sharma. Vikas Chander Pandey, Archana Sharma and Harsukh Manjit Bhagwant Paul Singh Dimple were the winners in the Punjabi language category of the contest.

Anurag Dhuria was a winner in the English language category of the story writing contest.Alpana Kumari and Harsukh Manjit Bhagwant Paul Singh Dimple were awarded in the Hindi language category while the winners in the Punjabi category were Ukardeep Singh, Daljit Singh and Harwinder Singh.

Rashmi Aggarwal and Sachin Sharma were awarded prizes in essay writing contest in the Sanskrit language category.

COURTS

Bomb hoax
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 22 — Proceedings in the Sector 17 District Courts came to a standstill for over two hours today as lawyers and litigants rushed out of the court complex following a hoax phone call.

The unidentified call, claiming the planting of a bomb in the court complex, was received by the police control room a few minutes before 10 a.m. The information, according to sources, was immediately conveyed to the UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Bedi.

The bomb disposal squad with a sniffer dog reached the court complex soon after followed by riot control vehicle of the Chandigarh Police and two fire tenders. The advocates patiently waited outside the iron gates as the search continued till about 12.15 p.m.

Lok Adalat inaugurated
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, March 22 — A permanent and continuous Lok Adalat was inaugurated by Justice V.K. Bali, Chairman of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority, at Judicial Complex in Sector 1, here today. A former Judge of the District and Sessions Court, Mr V.K. Kaushal, was appointed the Judge of the Lok Adalat.

Speaking at the inaugural function, Justice Bali said permanent and continuous Lok Adalats in all districts of the state were aimed at providing statutory forum to the people to resolve the disputes amicably, without having to move court and enable early disposal of cases. He also said these adalats could take cognizance not only of matters pending in the courts but also disputes at a pre-litigative state.

A Member Secretary of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority, Mr R.S. Virk, said cases where one party made an application to the court for referring the case to a lok adalat or where the court itself was satisfied that the matter was an appropriate one to be taken cognizance of by the lok adalat, were taken up. Also, the award of the lok adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final.

Later, the quarterly meeting of the District Legal Services Authority of Panchkula was also held under the chairmanship of the District and Sessions Judge of Ambala. It was attended by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police.

The CJM, Mr Ved Pal Gupta, said any citizen of the country whose annual income did not exceed Rs 18,000, should be entitled to legal services in the form of the payment of court fee, process fee, expenses of witnesses, preparation of paper book and lawyer's fee among others.

Relief for mechanic’s family
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 22 — Nearly four-and-a-half years after a mechanic was crushed to death under the vehicle he was repairing, UT Additional District and Sessions Judge S.K. Goel today awarded a compensation of Rs 3,05,000 to the widow and the children.

The victim — Naresh Kumar of Panchkula district — was declared dead at the Raipur Rani Civil Hospital on December 12, 1996. He had sustained injuries after the vehicle slipped from the jack and fell on him.

Seeking a compensation of Rs 8 lakh, the claimants had stated that the driver, without indication, had started the vehicle even though Naresh was working under it.

Accusing the driver of causing death due to negligence, the claimants had stated that the victim had “almost” repaired the gear box and the clutch after removing a tyre when the vehicle fell on Naresh Kumar.

Arguing before the Additional Sessions Judge, counsel for the claimants had added that the 29-year-old victim, before the accident, was earning Rs 4,000 per month.

Today, pronouncing the orders in the open court, the Judge observed: “The claim petition is partly allowed with costs. The claimants are awarded compensation to the tune of Rs 3,05,000 against the respondents jointly and severally”.

The Judge also observed: “The claimants are also awarded interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of filing the petition till the date of its realisation. The entire amount shall be paid by the insurance company”.

ADMINISTRATION

Additional charge for Vineeta
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 22 — Mrs Vineeta Rai, Adviser to the Administrator, and Mr M.P. Singh, Commissioner, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, have been entrusted the additional charges of the Chairperson, Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) and the Home Secretary, respectively, by the Administrator, Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob (retd). The Administrator has also granted 22 days earned leave to Mr N.K. Jain, Home Secretary, from March 21 to April 11, a press note of the Administration said today.

General Jacob also approved the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (sewerage connection and sewage cess) Byelaws-2000.

The draft bylaws will be taken into consideration after the expiry of 15 days from the date of publication of this notification in the Chandigarh

Administration’s gazette together with any objection or suggestion which may be received by the Secretary, Local Government, Chandigarh Administration.The owners of the buildings within the municipal limits of Chandigarh shall be liable to pay sewerage connection charges for the release of sewerage connection for the newly constructed or to be constructed buildings.

The owners of flats of the Chandigarh Housing Board having a covered area upto 500 sq ft will pay Rs 500 for new sewerage connection, while flats which have more than 500 sq ft and up to 1000 sq ft covered area will pay Rs 1000 as sewerage connection fee. The flats with more than 1000 sq ft covered area will pay a flat sewerage connection fee of Rs 2,000.

The owners of houses up to 10 marlas will pay Rs 1000 as sewerage connection fee while it will be Rs 2000 for upto 1 kanal houses and above 1 kanal houses, the fee chargeable will be Rs 3,000. For industrial connection upto one kanal plot size, it will be Rs 5,000 while bigger plots will have a sewerage connection fee of Rs 10,000.

Sewerage cess within the municipal limits shall be Rs 5 per WC for residential buildings, including SCF, and Rs 10 per WC for hotels and institutions.