The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Informative counselling during British Education Week
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — The opening of the British Education Week at the British Library today was marked by an informative counselling session on the studies in UK. The programme which will last five days till October 14, is supposed to feature a detailed counselling session on each of the related areas of British academic activity ranging from education in universities and scholarships to information technology and management courses available.

The week started today with a session titled Education @UK: Interactive session which was held by a senior expert who has been especially called over from Delhi for the purpose. Jugnu Roy, senior counsellor with the British Council Division, New Delhi, today held the interactive session wherein she raised many vital issues including what courses do the British Universities offer, how to go about applying them, what courses to choose from the vast area of availability, and a number of other related aspects.

Though the strength on the first day of the session was not very hearty, the officials felt that it would pick up. Today Ms Roy dealt extensively with the general structure of British academics. She informed the gathering about how to take their pick and how to choose a course as per their taste. She then went on to focus on the admission procedures in the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, also about what are the entry conditions, and how much funding any such course would require. The area of scholarships was also discussed at length.

From tomorrow onwards the experts will focus on specific areas like management and information technology. One topic will be taken up and all its related aspects will be discussed. The consequent programme will be as follows:

October 11— Management @UK; 4.30 pm
October 12— Information Technology@UK; 4.30 pm
October 13— Scholarships open house; 4.30 pm
October 14 — Law/Art and Design @UK; 4.30 pm

Teacher suspended for misbehaving with
girl student
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — A mathematics teacher of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 37 here was suspended today for allegedly misbehaving with a teenaged girl student of the school. J.S. Tiwana, the teacher, was suspended with immediate effect after the UT Education Department found him guilty following an inquiry into the matter.

The inquiry was conducted by two city teachers on behalf of the department following a written complaint by the student on September 30. According to the inquiry report the teacher had called the student in the staff room, where he allegedly misbehaved with her.

Scared of the incident, the girl left the room immediately. The report said the teacher had called her earlier also to get her examination fee deposited where he allegedly told her that he had already paid her fee. The teacher asked her to come to his residence and even gave her a slip bearing his residential address, says the report.

He also went to the examination hall where she was taking a paper and started disturbing her. According to the report the fellow students had confirmed the episode. The teacher threatened her of dire consequences if she talked to anybody about the episode.

The girl stopped coming to school, but later she gathered courage to speak to her aunt who made her file a complaint with the school principal. She finally wrote a letter of complaint to the principal on September 30. Later an inquiry was ordered by the DPI into the matter.

The report said that the teacher also interfered in the work of inquiry committee.

Officials in the department claimed that they had deputed a team of teachers to boost the morale of the students who were feeling low after the incident. They termed the incident as “most unfortunate” and said that nobody indulging in such activities would be spared.

COURTS

Teachers’ selection only for vacant posts
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — On an application filed by 263 Haryana school teachers, masters and lecturers seeking stay on the selection process of teachers, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today observed that appointments, out of a fresh selection, should be made only against vacant posts in the state.

Delivering the verdict, the Bench, comprising Mr Justice Amarbir Singh Gill and Mr Justice V.S. Aggarwal, also observed that prior notice shall be served if the petitioners were to be replaced by regular appointees. The Bench added that “the appointments shall be made after duly publishing the detailed results of selection as per the rules”.

During the proceedings, the Haryana Advocate-General, after appearing before the Bench, had stated that selections were currently being made “in respect of C and V teachers only”. He had added that appointments were not being made so far as school lecturers and masters were concerned.

In their petition, SS master Harpal Singh Randhawa had earlier sought directions to the respondents — the state of Haryana and Director of Secondary Education — to frame a policy for regularisation in view of the law laid down by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court of India.

The petitioners had also asked for stay on the process of selection and interview to be held in pursuance of an advertisement issued in the Dainik Tribune on November 11, 1999.

Sahota’s appointment as Director quashed

The High Court today quashed the orders promoting Mr Deep Singh Sahota as Punjab’s Director of Agriculture. The orders were passed by a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice N.K. Sodhi and Mr Justice R.C. Kathuria.

The petitioner, Cane Commissioner Mewa Singh Sonar had earlier submitted that he, being the senior-most Joint Director in the Agriculture Department, was given the current duty charge of the post of Director.

Mr Sonar had added that he was placed under suspension after the fertilizer scam came to light. An inquiry into the matter had, however, exonerated him, his counsel stated on his behalf.

He had added that a departmental promotion committee was constituted for regular appointment but its meeting on June 8 was deferred. On July 18 also, no proceedings took place. It was further alleged that the appointment of Mr Sahota was made in a mysterious manner, in violation of all norms, rules and regulations.

Show-cause notice to scam accused

FOC adds: The High Court has issued notice to Mrs Vimla Monga, allegedly involved in a Rs 30 lakh lottery scem along with her husband, for October 20, to show cause why anticipatory bail granted to her on September 22 should not be cancelled.

Mr Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar while handing down this order observed: “There is a clear allegation to the effect that Prem Monga and Vimla Monga of Rampura Phul, Bathinda, have indulged in a conspiracy to cheat the general public of a huge amount of money”. The matter is at the investigation stage.

Court dismisses Jerath’s bail applications
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — Finding no change in circumstances, Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed four bail applications filed by UT’s former Chief Engineer K.K. Jerath in cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Pronouncing the orders, Mr Justice Nijjar observed that the court could not be oblivious to fact that the offences were allegedly committed by the head of a department entrusted with large sums of money. The judge added that the grant of bail to the co-accused in the case was no ground for releasing the petitioner also.

Holding the alleged offences to be of “serious nature”, he also observed that the petitioner was a “very high ranking officer enjoying connections in very influential places”.

The Judge added, “I am not impressed by the submission that the petitioner has surrendered his passport”. He concluded that arrangements for going abroad could be made from anywhere in the country.

Seeking the grant of bail, the petitioner had earlier stated that the bail applications were being filed as per the permission granted by the Supreme Court on December 15, 1999.

Counsel for the petitioner had contended on his behalf that he was in jail for over one and a half year now. He had stated that keeping the petitioner in custody would not serve any purpose as no recovery was to be effected.

He had also stated that except for the petitioner all the accused in the other cases had been granted bail. He had further added that “many of them had even been spared formal arrest”.

He had claimed that the trial would obviously take a long time to conclude, since the case before the trial court was still at the stage of scrutiny of documents.

DC produces record in court
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — The Ambala Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Niwas, today produced record in the court of Mr Justice V.M. Jain, regarding the Supardari of six vehicles, which the district administration had handed over to five applicants in July and to one in January last. The vehicles were in the police custody under Section 26 of the Police Act and were handed over to some individuals after following proper procedure, the state said in its reply.

Mr Justice V.M. Jain ordered to keep the record in the case file and directed the Deputy Commissioner to file a detailed reply on or before October 19, after making sarcastic observations like “vehicles have been given on Supardari to the officials of the Deputy Commissioner who cannot even afford a scooter”. Can an office clerk afford to keep a car, Mr Justice Jain asked the AAG ( Assistant Advocate General, Haryana) who was present in the court.

It may be recalled that the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, and his steno Ramesh Chander Verma, had allegedly taken the custody of a Mitsubishi car in the name of one Lovkesh Kumar, a resident of Ambala city . The controversial car, the petitioner said, had been in the possession of the DC, Mr Ram Niwas, who had put the same to personal use.

The petitioner alleged that the car (DL-1C-G-8523) was lying in the police station at Ambala Cantt and was allegedly handed over to Lovkesh Kumar without verifying his antecedents.

Case to be put before panel
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — The case of the alleged beating up of a Sector 20 woman, Ms Paramjit Kaur, by a gunman of a Punjab Cabinet minister, will be taken to the Punjab Human Rights Commission by the All India Human Watch (AIHRW). This was stated here by Col N.S Pandher, president of the AIHRW.

Mr Pandher said, ‘‘We will demand compensation for the woman and immediate arrest of the culprits’’.

The incident took place on the night of October 5 at Sector 20. The victim alleged that she was beaten up by the gunman, Prithpal Singh, and his accomplices. She had to be hospitalised at the General Hospital, Sector 16. An FIR was lodged against Prithpal Singh, his wife Gurpreet Kaur, Angrez Singh and some others.

CULTURE

Galaxy of Punjabi folk singers descends on TTTI
By Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 10 — There was breath of celebration in the air this morning at the Television centre of Technical Teachers Training Institute which was the venue for the shooting of two major music based serials to be telecast within a month on Zee Alpha and ETC. The two serials, titled Sur Sangeet (for Alpha) and Sada virsa sade log (for ETC) are both being brought out under the common banner of Sai Sapru Creations, with Preeti Sapru, her mother Hemawati Sapru and brothers Tej Sapru and Gopi Sapru, being closely associated with the production of projects.

In presence on the occasion of the mahurat shot today were some of the great folk artists of Punjab including Sardool Sikander, wife Amar Noori, Parminder Sandhu and Dolly Guleria, all of whom will feature in the serials one by one. Though the mahurat was delayed a little, it came with a bang when it did — with Preeti Sapru, the lovable lass of Punjabi cinema, offering the coconut to Saraswati, the Goddess of Art.

While the mahurat shot taken today featured the host of Sur Sangeet Sardool Sikander bringing out the singer in Manmohan Waris, the coming four days are going to be further laced with exciting activity when episodes of the serials will be shot with singers like Jaspinder Narula, Jasbir Jassi and Malkit Singh. The first episode of Sur Sangeet will, however, focus Preeti Sapru introducing host Sardool who also recorded the title song for Sur Sangeet here yesterday.

Giving away some details of the programme to The Tribune today, Preeti Sapru said that October 11 would feature a face to face with Jaspinder Narula, Bhuppi Chawla, Manpreet Akhtar and Amar Noori. “On October 12, Sardool will shoot with Malkit Singh who is coming from London, Bindrakhiya, Jasbir Jassi and Babbu Mann. Hans Raj Hans would also be featured in case he comes back from America,” said Preeti, adding that the nature of both the serials will differ from that of the routine interview shows. “We want to bring novelty. So there will be a lot of music, wit and fun. Sardool was chosen as a host primarily because he has a very witty bent of mind,” she said.

Another important bit of information is that while Sur Sangeet is being directed by Roopa Mehta and Hemawati Sapru, Sada virsa sade log is being directed by Parminder Sandhu, a noted singer herself. Further, the on-line editing for both the serials is being done by Gopi Sapru of the fame of Shot Gun Show. He has about 400 on-line editing projects to his credit.

Inching towards small screen

After experimenting with her talent in a load of Hindi and then Punjabi films, Preeti Sapru is gradually inching towards the small screen which, she feels, offers tremendous scope for growth. Preeti, who is already hosting two serials titled Sangeet and Dil diyan gallan for Tara Punjabi channel, is now all set to go in for a heroine-oriented serial. “I was offered a role by Cinevista, but I am still thinking. Also, I plan to make some serials for B4U which is now adding fiction to its content.”

News, however, is that Preeti has been cast opposite Gurdas Mann in a Yash Chopra serial which is ready to be aired. “The serial captures the Punjabi culture and shows me in the role of a masala kutne wali who supplies masala to Gurdas ji’s dhaba.”

All the show business apart, Preeti is these days more serious about her role as the senior vice president of the Indian Motion Pictures Association (IMPA). “I am concerned about the little attention being paid by the government to regional cinema. They can at least start the state film awards to offer some kind of encouragement to the local cinema. As the office bearer of IMPA, my first priority is to gather financial support for regional cinema so as to bring its standards somewhere near those of Maharashtra. Although it is difficult to match the two states, I can at least try,” she said.