City to have its own law college
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 5
From July 2003, students desirous of obtaining a law degree will be enrolled for a three-year law degree course in Extension Library. They will no more have to travel to Chandigarh or any other place to study law. The Regional Centre of Panjab University will organise law classes in the auditorium of Extension University. All this has been made possible due to the efforts of Mr K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, and Lala Lajpat Rai, MP. Lalaji has given Rs 1 crore for the construction of the building from his discretionary fund.

The law faculty will come up on the premises of the library. Its entrance will be from the Electricity Board office. Already tenders for construction have been floated and by May after finalising contracts, the foundation stone of the faculty building will be laid and construction will commence.

It is expected that within 10 months, the building will be ready. It will have the provision for a girls’ hostel. Till then the girl students will put up in the existing hostels of the local girls colleges. While the classes will be held in the auditorium of Extension University, the administrative wing, will be housed in the Seminar Room of the Extension Library.

Posts of teachers have also been advertised. The administrative staff will be sent from Chandigarh. The forms for admission to the law college are available at the State Bank of India and the students will have to appear for an entrance test. There will be a special quota for Non-Resident Indians.

The library has already purchased law books from a grant of Rs 33,000 that it has received.

Reunion of old students held
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 5
A reunion of old students of Guru Nanak Girls College was organised on the college campus in Model Town today. It was organised by the Guru Nanak Girls College Alumni Association. Mr Gurbir Singh, president, Guru Nanak Girls College, presided over the function. The Principal, Ms Charanjit Mahal, welcomed the gathering of more than 800 students. She said such meetings helped bring old students together especially when most of them were busy with their work.

A cultural programme was also held. Twenty two old students of the college were honoured at the function. They were: Ms Harjit Kaur; Ms Kulwant Kaur; Ms Jatinder Kaur; Ms Sarabjit Kaur; Ms Neel Kamal; Ms Inderjit Kaur; Ms Inderpal Kaur; Ms Navritu; Ms Neelu; Ms Rachna; Ms Parminder Kaur; Ms Amarpreet Kaur; Ms Sukhjit Kaur; Ms Harpreet Kaur; Ms Mohinder Kaur; Ms Gurwinder Kaur; Ms Amandeep Kaur; Ms Upma Munshi; Ms Gurdeep Kaur; Dr Monica Kaushal; Mrs Ravinder Kaur; and Ms Neelam. 

Arya Samaj shobha yatra held
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 5
Hundreds of students and other people participated in today’s shobha yatra taken out by the Arya Samaj, Model Town here. Students of various schools, including BCM School, RS Model School and Arya Kanya Gurukul participated in the yatra.

The yatra is an annual feature organised at the beginning of a seven-day programme on Vedic teachings. This is followed by admissions in Arya Kanya Gurukul, which is imparting Vedic teachings among girl students.

The gurukul was started by Mahatma Satyanand Munjal in 1999 exclusively for girls for imparting Vedic teachings to them. So far 72 students have received Vedic education. This year, 40 fresh students will be admitted to the gurukul.

The students are provided free education, besides free boarding and lodging. The students are not only imparted Vedic education but are also taught the mainstream syllabus according to the NCERT guidelines. Most of the students are said to be doing extraordinarily well in studies also. 

COURTS

Special Lok Adalat held
Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 5
A special state-level Lok Adalat for clearing the backlog of thousands of traffic challans, was organised in the old Courts Complex, here today. As many as 15,267 traffic challans were disposed of and confiscated documents of the vehicles were returned to the owners on the spot. Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Executive Chairman, Punjab Legal Services Authority, presided over the special Lok Adalat. A sum of Rs 3,72,000 was realised from the offenders.

The main feature of the Lok Adalat was that traffic violators paid the minimum possible penalty for getting back their documents. A large number of people thronged the courts and could be seen standing in long queues awaiting their turn. Eight Judicial Officers were specially called from other districts for smooth conduct of the Lok Adalats. Nine enquiry centres, too, had been set up for the convenience of the people.

To create awareness among the masses regarding traffic rules, a special stall was set up by the police on this occasion, where literature was also distributed. A community langar was also organised on the occasion.

Mr Justice Bedi said that the Legal Service Authority was also providing free legal services to the people belonging to weaker sections, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women, children and people in custody for pleading their cases in the courts. Under this program, he informed that till January 31, 33,699 people were provided with the free legal service facility through reputed lawyers.

Mr HPS Mahal, Member, Secretary, Punjab Legal Services Authority, said that the specific Lok Adalats, exclusively for particular cases, were also being organised, which was giving exceptional results for clearing a large number of cases on a single day. He said that to clear a large number of pending bank loan dispute cases, 49 Lok Adalats were held, in which 28,511 pending cases were settled clearing Rs 74 crore of the disputed loans. He said the Legal Services Authority was making efforts to organise maximum numbers of Lok Adalats to provide early, cheaper and permanent justice the litigants and to minimise their unnecessary harassment in the courts.

Eight Judicial Magistrates who were specially called from other districts included Mr J.S. Bhinder (Phillaur), Mr H.S.Gill, Ms Rajwinder Kaur (Jalandhar), Mr Rajiv Kalra (Nawanshahr), Mr Rakesh Kumar, Mr H.J.S. Tiwana(Malerkotla), Mr S.S. Saini, Mr R.K. Khullar (Fatehgarh Sahib), apart from the local Judicial Magistrates-Mr R.K. Sharma, Mr Balwinder Kumar, Mr Ashok Kapoor, Mr D.P. Singla, Mr Sanjay Agnihotri, Mr H.S. Grewal, Mr Munish Arora, Mr Ravinder Condal, Ms Asha Condal and Ms Anshul Berry.

Sahir’s logic was his magic

WISDOM is relevant, bombs are not. Artists beautify. Poets delight. Poets in the making, discover poetry. The wise know that outer is knowledge, inner is awareness. Abdul Hayee closed his eyes to feel the import of poetic imagery. The silence of the written word created subtle music. Sahir was reborn as spell-binder, jadoogar. Sahir’s spell did last in his personal life spanning three decades . That too despite pangs and pains, besides, intrigues and invectives. Faced many horrors and humiliations. Sahir’s spell lasts, it lasts on in many ways. He withstood adversity.

M. S. Cheema

Hakim Sufi’s album released
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 5
“Beat and rhythm are the hallmark of Punjabi folk music,” said Hakim Sufi, while releasing his latest audio album “Dil Tadpe” by T-Series at Punjabi Bhavan here today. The album comprises folk songs and six out of the eight songs have been written by the singer himself.

Talking to mediapersons, Hakim said he bore a Sufi name as his guru Fakir Muhammad Fakir belonged to the family of Khawja Mohmmad Chisti and he himself was an ardent follower of chaste Sufi music. He said he had great liking for Sufiana kalams of Wadali Brothers and added that he was “wedded” to music.

Hakim is a drawing teacher in Government Higher Secondary School, Jangirana, in Bathinda. Although his students have seen him sing on television, he has kept his singing talent confined to performances outside his town and in foreign countries.

Answering a question that his singing style was reminiscent of Gurdas Maan, Hakim said: “Since Gurdas Maan and I belong to the same town, we had done ‘riaz’ together in the beginning of our careers. Maybe for that reason our styles have become similar.”