EDUCATION

Prof Mittal elected PUTA chief
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh August 13
In a neck and neck race, Prof P.K. Mittal of the Department of Zoology has been elected president of Panjab University Teachers Association, Panjab University, by a margin of a single vote. While Professor Mittal got 277 votes, his rival, Dr Ronki Ram of the Department of Political Science secured 276 votes.

Mr Dhanraj Sharma of the Sanskrit Department was elected Vice-President after getting 294 votes as compared to his competitor, Ms Ranjana Vohra, who got 264 votes. Mr Navdeep Goyal of the Physics Department became the PUTA secretary winning with 292 votes while his rival, Mr Sudhir Kumar, got 250 votes.

Mr Fateh Singh Nandel became joint secretary getting 317 votes and Ms Meena Dutta, his competitor got 216 votes. Mr Ashwani Sharma of the Regional Resource Centre, was voted treasurer getting 288 votes and his competitor, Mr G.S. Brar, got 254 votes.

‘‘Presidents will come and presidents will go but the issues will remain the same. And it is for the new team to realise this and work hard for the welfare of the community.’’said Ms Devi Sirohi, outgoing President of PUTA, addressing the PUTA general body meeting later to welcome the new team and hand over charge to them. Ms Sirohi also resigned from her seat in the PU Senate which will now be occupied by Mr Mittal.

Among the executive members elected to the Group I representing the Arts and Languages Departments, Dr Anu Celly of the English Department, Mr Ashwani Aggarwal of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Mr J.K.Sharma of the Department of German and Mr S.L. Kaushik of the Public administration Department have been declared elected.

Dr Promila Pathak of the Botany Department along with Mr Naval Kishore of Department of Geology, Ms Pushpinder Kaur of Department of Zoology and Dr V.K. Grover of the Department of Mathematics have been elected as executive members of Group II representing the Science and Mathematics Departments.

Dr Nandita of the Department of Education along with Mr J.K. Chauhan of the Department of Laws and Mr V.K. Rattan of the Department of Chemical Engineering have been elected as executive members of group III representing professional course departments.

Ms Jaspal Kaur Kang and Mr Mohammad Khalid had already been elected unanimously as executive members representing the Evening Studies Department and Correspondence Studies Department.

The PUTA elections results are being seen as the virtual wipeout of the university’s Leftist candidates’ representation in the PUTA. After seven years of the Leftist group leading the campus teachers, the community has voted for a change. Last year too, majority of the PUTA team belonged to the non-Leftist group but the president and some other office bearers remained from this group.

Voting started at the University's Law Auditorium early in the morning and continued till 1.30 in the afternoon. Out of the total of 638 listed voters from among the 750 strong university faculty members 571 came to cast their vote today.

During counting for the president's post which was done thrice, it was found that eight teachers had left their votes blank while seven of them voted for Mr Rajeshwar Sharma, another presidential candidate, who had withdrawn his candidature a few days before the elections. Three of these votes were invalid. The general body also chose Dr S.C. Vaidya as the PUTA auditor for this year.

COURTS

HIGH COURT
“Gadar” case: orders reserved
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 13
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today reserved orders on a petition seeking directions to Zee Telefilms Private Limited and other respondents against screening “Gadar” as the movie contained “scenes against Sikh tenets”. The orders were reserved by a Division Bench, comprising Mr Justice Jawahar Lal Gupta and Mr Justice Ashutosh Mohunta.

In his petition against the Union of India and other respondents, Sant Eshar Singh of Sangrur district had earlier stated that he, along with other Sikhs, were of the opinion that Nishan Sahib’s symbol had been misused. He had added that the symbol in the movie had been used for looting and other “ignoble purposes”.

The petitioner had added that in another scene Amritdhari Sikhs, along with Nihangs, were seen going along with a mob to abduct a Muslim girl. Quoting The Tribune, the petitioner had asserted that as per a report, the movie was spreading hatred among the masses.

Association’s plea

On a petition filed by the Panipat District Bar Association, seeking directions to the state of Haryana for the construction of a judicial complex at Panipat, Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar and Mr Justice M.M. Kumar of the High Court on Monday issued notice of motion to the respondent. The case will now come up for further hearing along with other related petitions.

In their petition, the association had earlier stated that construction work had not commenced even though the High Court, while taking up another petition, had directed the state on March 27, 1996, to provide suitable complexes at Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Rewari, Kaithal and Panchkula. They had added that the District and Sessions Judge too had written a letter stating that the complex at Panipat, housed in an the old building, was causing inconvenience to the judicial officers, the lawyers and the litigants.

Bail plea dismissed

Dismissing the anticipatory bail plea filed by Moga’s President of the District Congress Committee, Mr Ranvinder Singh in an attempt to murder case, Mr Justice M.L. Singhal of the High Court on Monday directed that a co-accused in the case, Harbans Singh shall be called upon to furnish necessary bail bonds in the event of his arrest.

The two were earlier booked by the Punjab police for attempt to murder and other offences under Sections 307, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution, Ranvinder Singh had fired from his .12 bore gun, injuring an accused.

Issuing the directions, Mr Justice Singhal observed: “So far as the case of Harbans Singh is concerned, the offence attributed to him is that he fired and the shot hit a khokha. If that is so, it is doubtful if the offence under Section 307 of the IPC is made out against him. So it is ordered that in the event of his arrest, the investigating officer shall call upon him to furnish bail bonds”.

Order to produce transcript

Directing counsel for three accused in the Kandahar hijacking case to produce before the Court the transcript of tape conversation, Mr Justice K.S. Garewal of the High Court on Monday fixed August 17 as the next date of hearing in the case.

In their petition, Abdul Latif of Mumbai, Bhupai Man Damai of Nepal and Dalip Kumar Bhujel of West Bengal, had earlier sought directions for staying the proceedings before the trial court during the pendency of their revision petition. Their counsel had stated that the court had declined to direct the prosecution to supply legible copies of the documents.