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| Friday, September 22, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
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DPI backtracks on UGC scheme CHANDIGARH, Sept 21 — A circular of the office of the Director, Public Instructions, has left college teachers, particularly in private institutions of Punjab, high and dry with regard to the benefits of a recently announced scheme for further studies. A teacher from Kapurthala, for example, was called back by her Principal after nearly seven months of further study in Amritsar, leaving the work incomplete. The UGC had introduced the scheme on March 15. The Department of Higher Education had also cleared the proposal on the implementation of the scheme. Everything went on fine till a communication from the office of the DPI (Colleges) expressing its reservations on certain issues. The circular said that “to give study leave to the teacher concerned was in the hands of the college management. If the ‘benefiting’ teacher did not adhere to the UGC norm of teaching for 40 hours a week and taking at least 24 lectures, the DPI office would not pay the salary”. The college managements would have to pay the salaries in such cases because teachers would not fulfill the requirements for earning their salaries. Critics, however, pointed out that since a teacher holding temporary charge would be paid by the UGC, non-payment was “smart way to save money on account of salaries of the researchers”. Prof Charanjit Chawla, general secretary of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union, said the Punjab Government’s move had come as a surprise. When the UT Administration, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, for example, paid the salaries, why not Punjab? The DPI (Colleges) had ignored the directions of the Department of Higher Education with regard to the UGC guide lines on teachers fellowships for “professional development”. The All-India Federation of University and College Teachers Union had also made representations in this regard. Earlier, a fixed number of teachers was allowed the benefit of the scheme for special study. However, at present no number had been fixed. Special committees had been constituted with regard to selecting suitable candidates. In September, the DPI had asked the “140 colleges not to follow the UGC guidelines.” “If government college teachers are allowed to benefit under the scheme, why should private college teachers be discriminated against?” a teacher said. |
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Talent hunt contest results DERA BASSI,
Sept 21 — The two-day talent hunt competitions organised by the local Government Degree College concluded on Wednesday. Various contests, including poem recitation, debate, shabad gayan, ghazal Singing, skits, fancy dress, bhangra, cartoon and poster making and rangoli, were conducted during the competition. Ms Gurpreet Khaira, Principal of the college, inaugurated the competition on Tuesday. Mr Baldev Singh Mann, Administrative Member of the Punjab State Electricity Board, Patiala, who was the chief guest gave away prizes to the winners. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the college on behalf of Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, Finance and Planning Minister, Punjab. The results of the various contests are as follows: Poem recitation — Kulwant Kaur (1); Sukhwinder Singh (2); Debate — Kulwant Kaur; (1) and Amit Bawa (2); Histrionics — Jagminder Pal Kaur (1) and Sukhwinder (2); Shabad gayan — Renu Sharma (1) and Sukhwant Singh (2); Group shabad — Renu Sharma (1) and Anu (2); Geet and ghazal — Harjeet Singh (1) and Sukhwant Singh (2); Skit — Sukhwant and Kulwant (1) and Gurwinder and Sumit Saini (2); Fancy dress — Anil Saini (1) and Barjinder Singh (2); Folk song — Gurdeep Kaur (1) and Harjeet Singh (2); Bhangra — Team “A”; Cartoon and poster making — Parwinder (1) and Jaswinder Kaur (2); Clay model making — Parwinder;(1) Jaswainder (2) and Vinod (3); Collage — Parwinder (1) and Jagdeep (2); and Rangoli — Sonica Saini (1) and Sukhwant Singh (2). |
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NCC camp ends with campfire CHANDIGARH,
Sept 21 — A jovial campfire marked the conclusion of the 12-day combined annual training camp of No.1 Chandigarh NCC Air Squadron, organised at Air Force High Grounds here today. Earlier in the day, a quiz on aviation-related subjects was organised for the cadets by the local chapter of the Aeronautical Society of India. After preliminary rounds, in which 25 teams had participated, five teams of two each made it to the finals. The winners were Cadet Sandeep Kumar Rai and Cadet Manish Singh Sisodia, while the runners-up were Cadet Kaushal Kishore and Cadet Vikram. They will be given book prizes. A similar quiz on a larger scale will be organised at the Pre-Vayu Sainik Camp at Ludhiana early next month. Cadets from the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh NCC Directorates will participate. A total of 143 cadets from the senior as well as junior division were put through their paces during the camp, which is an annual training feature. Activities included firing practice, aero-modelling, theory classes in aviation-related subjects and lectures in first-aid and fire-fighting. Social service in and around the camp area, drill and PT also formed a part of the regimen. A motivational visit to No.12 Wing was also organised to give the cadets an insight into the functioning of and life at an airbase.
The best outgoing cadets of the squadron were also given prizes. These are Cadet Rakun Dutt from DAV College, Sector 10, and Cadet Kapil Dev Sharma from Government College, Sector 11. |
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Smooth start to
school board exams SAS NAGAR,
Sept 21 — No untoward incident was reported on the first day of the supplementary examinations for the Classes X and XII conducted by the Punjab School Education Board at over 160 centres in the state. In a press statement, the board authorities revealed that besides flying squads and observers various teachers had been put on invigilation duty for conducting the examinations peacefully. |
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18 colleges taking
part in Crochet CHANDIGARH,
Sept 21— Crochet, a three-day music competition, began at Punjab Engineering College here today. Contestants from more than 18 colleges of the city and adjoining areas are participating invarious music contests This contest basically concentrates on vocal music. Various competitive song items were punctuated by special skits and dances performed by students. Party music was an added attraction. |
Judge directed to probe ‘kidnapping’ CHANDIGARH, Sept 21: Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, today directed the District and Sessions Judge, Karnal, to get the allegations probed by a Judicial Magistrate made in a habeas corpus petition filed by Mr Mahabir Sharma and three others of Karnal district and the allegations made by police officials. The case involved the alleged kidnapping of some ex-employees of Ravinder Paper Mills, Karnal. The Judge directed the report to be submitted within two months. In habeas corpus petition filed by Mr Mahabir Sharma of Gari Sadhan village in Karnal district and others it was alleged that Ramesh and five others working at the paper mill were picked up by the police on August 28, and were allegedly pressured to resign their job. The High Court appointed a Warrant Officer, who raided the Civil Lines police station, Karnal on September 2, and recovered and set free five detainees. However, no FIR was registered against them, no entry in the roznamcha was made concerning them. On the receipt of the Warrant Officer’s report, the Judge summoned the police officers. The police officers in their reply alleged that a former minister, Rajinder Singh Mann and his son Ravinder, had engineered the petition as they were inimical to the police because many criminal cases were pending against them including a bank fraud of Rs 10 lakh.
Order to reserve
BAMS seat A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi and Mr Justice R.C. Kathuria, ordered reservation of a seat in the BAMS course of the Gaur Brahmin Ayurvedic College for Miss Anubhuti Pasrija, a candidate for the course, and issued notice of motion to Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, and the state of Haryana. The petitioner stated that after she cleared the entrance examination for the course, she was invited for counselling but she was unable to arrange the amount for payment, she sought time, which was allowed. In the meanwhile she approached the Punjab National Bank, Rohtak, for an educational loan, but it refused to consider the request without a demand note from the university. The counselling board, however, insisted that the amount of Rs 65,400 would have to be deposited on the spot. The petitioner, who appeared in person, contended that the university could not deny admission without affording sufficient time to a candidate for arranging the money and without disclosing the required amount beforehand. It was further urged that the government should frame a policy for financial help to needy students and students with merit should not be denied admission because of non-availability of finances. |
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Bail in forged document case CHANDIGARH, Sept 21 — Ashok Kumar of Haryana was granted anticipatory bail today by the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr R.C. Godara in a forged document case. The complainant, Roshan Lal, Superintendent of the Rehabilitation Centre Haryana, complained that the accused had wrongly identified Kapur Singh on the power of attorney given in favour of P.D. Sakir, an advocate. It was alleged that in 1994, the document was forged for getting the land allotted in the name of Kapur Singh, who had died in 1951. The case against the accused was registered under Sections 419, 420, 468, 471, and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. The counsel for the accused argued that the accused deserved bail under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code because he had been granted anticipatory bail in a similar case. The Judge observed that there was no such evidence that the accused had forged the document and he had participated in the interrogation. Therefore, custodial interrogation was not necessary. The Judge granted him anticipatory bail of Rs 20,000 and surety of same amount. Two granted bail Surinder Kaur was granted bail by the Judge yesterday. The Judge granted bail to Balbir Singh and Kulwinder Singh on furnishing a bond of Rs 10,000 each and surety of same amount. Summoned to court The complainant, Iqbal Singh, alleged that the accused Devinder Pal Singh had to appear before the court, but he had produced a false certificate issued by Dr S.C. Garg, of Ludhiana to get his personal presence exempted. The counsel for the complainant produced proof that Devinder Pal Singh was not ill. He attended the annual sport function on October 23 and 24, 1999. |
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