EDUCATION

Red tape hinders school’s renovation
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, May 30
Red tape has proved to be a major hindrance for the authorities of Government High School, Chowni Mohalla. It has been a month since the roof-collapse incident occurred in the school, but renovation of the building is yet to be started. In spite of the District Education Department allocating a sum of Rs 3 lakh to the school, the cheque has not been released for the want of some documents to be submitted by the school authorities.

Members of the Parent-Teachers’ Association (PTA) said officers in the department had been “misguided” by some residents by saying that the land on which the school had been constructed belonged to the Wakf Board. Since the houses and shops in the vicinity of the school belonged to the Wakf Board, they had all the more reason to believe that the school too was a property of the board. But the members of association and school staff had been contending that it was a government land.

To dispel all such misconceptions, the department officers had asked the school authorities to submit at least two documents to substantiate their claim. The school authorities had agreed to providing two proofs to the department — a certificate from the Municipal Corporation and a written letter signed by members of Pendu Sikhya Vikas Committee (PSVC) — in support of their claim.

Mr Subhash Kharbanda, member of the PTA, said he approached Municipal Corporation officers and was successful in procuring a certificate claiming the school land to be a property of the President, Government of India. He said the corporation officers informed that the land was allocated to the Government of India at the time of partition and the residents of the area had unanimously decided to build a school on the land. He, however, said the document to be provided by the PSVC was yet to be submitted to avail of the grant.

Mr Swaran Singh, president of the PTA, said renovation work could not be started because of the unavailability of grant from the department. He said it had been planned that the renovation work would be completed within the summer break, but with 15 days of the break already over, the work was yet to begin.

The PTA president alleged that ever since the roof-collapse incident had occurred on April 21, the department had been asking for one document or the other. He said such documents needed to be procured from different offices and usually involved a lot of effort. He said after much persuasion when the department finally acceded to release the grant almost 20 days back, a new issue of providing proofs for the land being a property of the government was raised.

Mr C.H. Puri, District Education Officer (elementary), said the department had already decided to release a sum of Rs 3 lakh to the school from the funds allocated for the Sarb Sikhya Abhiyan Scheme. He, however, said the school authorities had been too slow in procuring the required documents, which was causing a delay in disbursement of the grant. He said he had received directions from his senior officers not to release the grant till all documents were made available with him.

The DEO said once the school authorities provided him with the second document, the cheque would immediately be released to them. Ms Harminder Kaur, Headmistress, was not available for her comments. 

Fee structure upsets aspiring doctors
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, May 30
Confusion prevails among the medical aspirants who are trying to seek clarifications on the fee structure proposed by various medical institutions in the state. While individual private colleges have come up with an exorbitant fee structure, the state government has asked them to form committees that will regulate the fee.

Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFU) that provides affiliation to all medical institutions in the state has issued a notice asking the colleges to adhere to a fee structure that is substantially lower than the one proposed by college like Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH)

The confusion has stemmed from conflicting directives issued by different bodies that have caused anguish among students and parents, while putting the institutions themselves in a piquant situation, rendering them administratively stranded.

The proposed steep hike in the fee structure by the DMCH has already been condemned by various quarters and has led to resentment among students who have scored high marks but are unable to seek admission as they can not afford to pay the requisite fee.

Dr L.S. Chawla, Former Vice-Chancellor of BFU said, “The merits will be sacrificed because a common man will not be able to afford such an exorbitant fee”. Dr Chawla, however, added that the fee structure proposed by the BFU too was unrealistic and would have to be amended taking into consideration the expenditure by the unaided institutions.

The DMCH prospectus released earlier this month mentions that initial fee of Rs 4 lakh per annum must be deposited at the time of admission for the general category candidates (32 seats) and subsequent payment of similar amounts be deposited before July 31.

As per the BFU fee structure for private medical colleges, an amount of Rs 1.10 lake (maximum) per student per annum (12 months) is to be paid as the fee. Out of this amount, a sum of Rs 20,000 per annum (fixed) in case of colleges which do not have their own hospital facilities and Rs 7000 per student, per annum in case of colleges having partial hospital facilities will be paid back to government medical colleges.

Mr Vikas Gupta, who has scored 90 per cent marks in the CBSE plus two examination said, “I would be opting for medicine but would prefer to go to Mumbai or south because at DMCH all seats are now paid and they have a huge fee attached”.

Ms Ridhima Gupta, yet another medical aspirant said the fee structure should have been cleared by now as the date of PMET was approaching. The aspiring students should have ample time and a clear fee structure before them, so that they can have all the options before them so they can prepare for the tests accordingly.

KCW students bring laurels to college
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 30
The results of BCA second year are out. Students of Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, Ludhiana have grabbed the top positions in the varsity and Ludhiana District. Ms Sheetal Goel of Khalsa College for Women obtained the 2nd position in Panjab University and Ist position in Ludhiana District in BCA II year examination Panjab. The other students from KCW who got positions are Ms Meenu Gupta. She got 9th position in Panjab University and 5th position in Ludhiana District whereas Ms Isha Jain got 7th position in the Distt . Ms Nagma Jain got 8th position in the Ludhiana District and Ms Anjali Aggarwal got 9th position in Ludhiana District.

The college has achieved 100 per cent result where as the university pass percentage is 63.3. The students maintained the tradition of glorious results. Out of the total 40 students the appeared from the college 32 students were placed in got Ist division. Dr (Mrs) Varinder Kaur Thind expressed great pleasure and happiness on the results.

Ms Palki of Master Tara Singh Memorial College has stood second in the district. while Sunny Jain and Pooja Mittal, both from Arya College have stood third and fourth, respectively, in the district. A student from Ramgarhia Girls College has bagged the sixth position.

Bharatiya Vidya Mandir students suspend dharna
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 30
Students and teachers of Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Udham Singh Nagar, who had been demanding re-instatement of Mr Ashok Setia as the school director today decided to suspend their dharna till the school re-opens on July 3.

The students said since the summer break was on in the school, their dharna had a very feeble impact. The teachers said that many parents were finding it difficult to send their wards to school in hot summer afternoons. They said that they would re-start their dharna and boycott all classes when the school re-opens.

The students said that they had met the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, yesterday and submitted him a memorandum demanding his intervention for re-instatement of Mr Setia. They said that the Deputy Commissioner had assured them that he would depute the District Education Officer (secondary) to probe into the matter.

Mr Bachitar Singh, DEO, however, said that he had received no such directions from the Deputy Commissioner. He added that the department had no power to interfere in the internal matters of any private, affiliated school.

He said had it been a government or an aided school, he would have definitely solved the matter.

COURTS

Help fight corruption, Sodhi tells lawyers
Rajneesh Lakhanpal

Ludhiana, May 30
Justice N.K.Sodhi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today urged lawyers to help in eradicating corruption from the judiciary that had become widely prevalent and was eroding the fabric of justice.

Addressing the lawyers at the local bar, Justice Sodhi, who was on a inspection tour of the courts, said that the problem of corruption had taken deep roots and an all-out effort was required to root out this evil.

If the bar is honest, the judiciary can’t be corrupt. If you (lawyers) want to root out corruption, you will have to refuse to co-operate with the corrupt officer. Then you will see how corruption gets eradicated, said Justice Sodhi.

He said the bar and bench are two wheels of ‘chariot of justice’. If there is defect in one wheel, the chariot can’t move properly to the expectation of the masses. Being the integral part of the judicial sytem, it is the duty of the bar to assist, Co-operate and ensure the smooth running of the system.

“I have come here not only to make a routine annual inspection of the courts but especially to interact with the bar and to see, how the justice is being administered at the grassroot level. Reacting to a lawyer’s comment regarding delay in disposal of cases, he said paucity of appropriate number of judicial officers is resulting in the delay of justice. Sacking of about 60 judicial officers in the PPSC scam and vacant posts of 30 judicial officers are adversely affecting the system, but we are making all-out efforts to fill the vacant posts at the earliest, so that the litigants may get justice soon, he added.

Mr Harish Rai Dhanda, president, Mr B.P. Singh Gill,vice president, the T.P.S. Dhaliwal, secretary, Bar Association, Mr Hari Mitter Sharma and Mr G.B.S. Naggar apprised the problems being faced by the lawyer community at large. They also gave suggestions in order to improve the functioning of the judiciary and make it more effective.

Mr Sandeep Kapoor, joint secretary of the bar and convener of an organisation of Young Lawyers, highlighted the problems being faced by the young lawyers. He said young lawyers should be encouraged.

Some lawyers also complained regarding the alleged rude behaviour of certain judicial officers. They said a number of times even the injunction is not granted in fit cases and bail applications are declined without any genuine reason, which is resulting into heavy pendency of bail applications in the High Court.

Justice Sodhi assured the lawyers to resolve their genuine problems. He asked to sum up the grouses and suggestions in a memorandum, so that effective steps be taken at the High Court level. Mr K.R. Sikri, H.L. Sethi, Ashok Mittal, Harjasdeep Singh Rana, Chairman, OYL, also gave suggestions on this occasion.