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SC stays UT notification on tenants
In
a major relief to thousands of tenants in Chandigarh, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed a notification of the Union Territory (UT) Administration stating that premises with a monthly rent of more than Rs 1,500 would not be protected for increasing the rent under the Chandigarh Rent Control Act, 1974.
A Bench of Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice S.B. Sinha, while issuing notices to the Union Government and the UT Administration, stayed the notification issued on November 7, 2002. The vires of the notification was challenged in four appeals against a Punjab and Haryana High Court order of November 9, 2004, upholding its constitutional validity. Because of the notification, tenants who were paying a
monthly rent of more than Rs 1,500 were “subjected” to an exorbitant increase in the rent by landlords and as a result, courts in the UT, including the high court, were flooded with thousands of rent-related disputes, the petitioners in their SLPs said. The appeals, filed by advocate Alok Agrawal on behalf of the National Consumer Awareness group and by three tenants — Vasu Dev, Chander Bhushan and Arvind Pal Singh — contended that the notification, making a distinction between tenants on the basis of the rent paid by them, was discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. A battery of advocates, including Mr Soli J. Sorabjee, Mr Gopal Subramaniam, Mr A.M. Singhvi and Mr R.F. Nariman, appearing for the petitioners, said the classification of buildings on the basis of rate of rent was “arbitrary, unreasonable and irrational” and such a provision needed to be struck down. “It is not a class of building, which has been exempted, under Section 3 of the Act, but it is the class of tenants from whom the protection conferred by Parliament has been lifted,” the
petitioners’ counsel said adding that the legislature never conferred such power upon the authorities to exempt any building in this manner or make a classification on such basis. Contending that the view taken by the high court in upholding the vires of the notification was not “sustainable”, they said the UT Administration’s order had in fact taken away the “soul of the Act” by leaving virtually dead the provisions. The notification was issued by the UT Administration under Section 3 of the Act, which only contemplates a power on the government to direct that the provision of the legislation would not apply to a particular building or a class of building, but it never “purported to classify tenants paying a rent less or more than Rs 1,500 a month,” the petitioners said. The impugned notification had “totally disturbed” the policy defined in the Act and had resulted in the arbitrary eviction of hundreds of tenants in the city if they refused the hike in rent, they said. Citing various instances, the petitioners said that after the notification, the rent of commercial premises was doubled within a span of two years. Any change in the policy of a piece of legislation could only be made by a legislative order and not by any executive directive, they contended.
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Spring comes with visa to Lahore in hand
Chandigarh, February 4 The duo laughed together like young girls in the excitement of revisiting the city of their childhood and youth and happily posed for pictures in the Sector 18 home of Oshima Raikhy’s daughter, Zoya Sharma. Sanjhe Rang Punjab De, a group founded by Shumita Didi Sandhu and others, has arranged the visit. “We have been since January last year celebrating Eid, Holi, Baisakhi, Divali, Lohri and now Basant jointly with people of West Punjab in Lahore, Wazirabad, Anandpur Sahib, Delhi and Chandigarh. We are grateful that the Pakistan High Commission granted visas to this very special delegation to relive the glory of the Basant festival in Lahore,” says Shumita. Oshima had a long career as a woman activist and was the president of the Punjab Istri Sabha for years. She is now the president of the Aruna Asif Ali Trust and a well-known figure in the city. Rajinder, better known as Raji, worked a lifetime as in charge of the art gallery at Triveni Kala Sangam, Delhi. She is now leading a retired life. The third prominent member of the delegation is Ritu Raj Singh, grandson of famed litterateur Gurbax Singh Preetlarhi, who lives in Preetnagar, near Amritsar. He is the standing one-person reception committee for Punjabis invited to India from across the border by Sanjhe Rang Punjab De. For both it is the coming true of a cherished dream. Oshima, born as Victoria to Bahai Iranian parents, made Lahore her home as the adopted daughter of Sardar Pritam Singh and Vidyavati. Popularly known as Vicky in Lahore days, she grew up to be a fiery political activist and graduated from FC College in the capital town of united Punjab. Fresh from a facial in a beauty parlour on Friday evening, Oshima says: “How I have longed to go back. I was heartbroken when I was refused a visa on the grounds that I had visited Israel. I am so happy that this time I will roam there on The Mall during Basant.” Raji, who did her schooling in Kinnaird School in Lahore, says: “I was born in Gujranwala and besides Lahore I will visit my birthplace and see my grandparents’ home.” Raji’s father, Principal Rajinder Singh, was killed in the Partition riots. She says, “Partition left permanent scars on our psyche
and we had a tough time rehabilitating ourselves in Delhi. But fond memories of Lahore have always been in my heart.” Oshima’s father refused to leave Lahore at the time of Partition and remained in the home of a Muslim friend for several months. Eventually, he was coaxed into leaving as his friends felt they would not be able to protect him in those frenzied times. Anyway, Vicky and Raji feel that this is an opportunity that they have yearned for all their lives and, giggling like the teenyboppers they once were in their old city, they hum: Lo phir Basant aayi…And that, too, in the evening of their lives.
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IAF to simplify system
Release of phased-out aircraft Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 4 Air Force sources said that the Maintenance Command has already written to Air Headquarters asking it to simplify procedures and delegate the powers to release "life-expired aircraft" to lower establishments. In a shift in policy, the IAF had recently expressed its keenness to hand over life-expired aircraft to educational institutes and other civilian establishments where they are used for display purposes. No.3 Base Repair Depot here had last year, handed over a Mi-8 helicopter along with an engine to the Punjab Engineering College. Though the aircraft had exhausted its stipulated service life and could no longer be used for flying, it was in working condition and still incorporated major components which could be studied by students. Sources said that since then two engineering colleges in the region have approached the local Air Force authorities seeking life-expired aircraft to be placed in their premises. They added that Air Force establishments in other parts of the country could well be getting similar requests. "Each case for release of life-expired aircraft requires individual clearance from Air Headquarters. The process initiating from local stations through the chain of command and back is long and cumbersome," a senior IAF officer said. "It has been suggested that a blanket clearance for release be accorded and the decision to release such aircraft be delegated to lower establishments," he added. Older versions of MiG-21, Mi-8 helicopter and Canberra, which have exhausted their total technical life are available for civilian establishments who meet the stipulated criteria. Besides, other aircraft which get damaged in accidents and are no longer considered fit for flying are also released. Certain machinery and components are removed from aircraft before release. With the older generation of aircraft in the IAF's inventory is expected to be retired in the coming years, the IAF would have a large number of life-expired aircraft on its hands. "It is seen that life expired-aircraft, after cannibalisation, are often left rotting in the open for years and sold as scrap," an officer said. "Simplification of release procedures would ensure quick disposal and also preserve the airframe," he added.
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No takers for body of murder victim —
since October 2003
Chandigarh, February 4 The family of the murdered man, Avtar Singh alias Tara of Khuda Ali Sher village, refused to take parts of the body, saying how could they be sure that the body was that of their relative when all the parts of the body had not been recovered. The body, which is in fact only a few bones, including his skull, has been kept in a separate room and every day incences are lit in the police station to fight the stink, a policeman told The Tribune. Tara was allegedly murder by one of his childhood friends, Makhan Singh, his wife and his servant. Subsequently, the body was cut into pieces and disposed of at several places on September 25, as per the police version. The police recovered certain parts of the body in the middle of October 2003. Part of one arm, skull and one piece of leg were recovered from different places during a span of few days. The police says that wild animals might have eaten his flesh and taken away a few parts. The mother of the victim, Nasib Kaur, refused to allow post mortem of the body remains and kept on insisting to bring all the parts of the body as the suspects had been arrested. The police faced a tough time persuading Ms Kaur to allow it to take her blood for a DNA test. The parts of the body were sent for a DNA test to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) where it was confirmed that as per the test the body was of the son of Nasib Kaur. But the entire process took months. Except for certain small parts of the body almost all skeletal parts of the entire body have been recovered, DSP Subhash Sagar said. The police said initially nobody came forward to claim the body but now it cannot be given unless the court permits the same. The police has kept the body as it feels its skeletal remains would have to be shown before a court, if required. Ms Nasib Kaur, who lost her eyes because of the shock of her son's death, says the family was required to cremate her son for the peace of his soul but only if his entire body was cremated.
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ITBP to launch expedition to Everest
Chandigarh, February 4 The success in the expedition will give the force confidence to take on China on the toughest and steepest battle grounds. This was disclosed here by the Director-General of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Mr K. J. Singh, after flagging-in the second pre-Everest expedition which was conducted in Leh-Ladakh during the peak time of winter. The flagging-in of the expedition team was done at the ITBP unit in Hallomajra. Fourtyseven members, consisting of 40 ITBP, two Intelligence Bureau, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and one each of Uttaranchal Police, National Security Guard and Punjab Police personnel were included in the expedition. The expedition was led by Harbhajan Singh. The team faced up to minus 40 degree Celsius temperature during the course of the expedition. The party moved from Leh on January 12 and could establish the base camp at a height of 14,500 feet on January 14. The temperature at the base camp was minus 27 degree Celsius. After acclimatisation at the base camp, the team moved to establish the summit camp and could establish camp at a height of 17,000 feet after fixing of ropes and step cutting at various places on frozen nullahs on January 17. On January 20, two teams of 14 members each were prepared and one party under the command of Prem Singh, second in command, was tasked to scale Stok Kangri (6121) metres and the second party with the same composition formed under Vishal Anand to climb a virgin and unnamed peak (5985 metre high). Both teams left for a final climb at 5 am and achieved their mission by 12.30 pm facing inhospitable conditions. A third team of 13, including three women, scaled the peak on January 23 at 1215 hours. After putting 38 members on the top of two formidable peaks, the team returned to Leh on January 25.
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Headless body found
Chandigarh, February 4 The police has not recovered anything, except for a weapon, to establish the identity of the man. The police suspect the murder might have taken place at some other place as there were no blood stains at the place where the body was found. The police had to abandon search for finding the missing head and even the forensic team could not conduct the search as it had become dark. During preliminary investigations, the police searched the area to find out if the body was dragged or the murder took place at some nearby spot but no trace of blood was found in the surrounding area. The murder was detected when five women on their evening stroll saw a headless body in a pit along the road. They approached the village sarpanch. The sarpanch informed the police. According to the police, the body had a shoe of 9/43 size of Richard Company brand. The body had an underwear of brown colour, blue jacket, two red and white T-shirts, pink shirt and blue socks. The body was taken to the General Hospital, Sector 16. The police has flashed messages to all the police stations of the city and surrounding areas to know if there was any missing person’s report in these police stations during the past few days.
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175 illegal structures demolished
Mani Majra, February 4 Though the drive was carried out amid tight security yet some irate owners objected to it alleging that the authorities were not pulling down the structures as per the masterplan of the road leading to the Chandigarh IT Park. Instead of widening the road on either sides, the officials of the estate office had been widening the road on one side only, residents of the area alleged. This was being done to benefit some retired bureaucrats who had constructed farmhouses in the locality, they alleged. Equipped with seven earthmovers, 10 trucks, two cranes and 135 employees, the enforcement team pulled down structures including 125 jhuggis, which had come up on 10 acres of forest land adjacent to the railway station traffic light point, some farmhouses, two godowns of LPG cylinders, dairy farms, nurseries, a liquor vend and some residential and commercial hutments along the road. Apart from this, two riot control vehicles and over 150 police personnel were also deployed to avoid any untoward incident during the demolition drive. Interestingly, officials also found eight LPG godowns being used by their owners for storing sanitary items instead of storing LPG cylinders. The owners were evading sales tax by not using them for the purpose they had permission from the authorities concerned. While talking to the Chandigarh Tribune, Mr S.K. Setia, Land Acquisition Officer (LAO), who headed the demolition drive, claimed that all the structures that had come up within a distance of 100-feet from either sides of the road would be pulled down. Notices of eviction were already served on the owners of the farm houses, godowns, hutments and other encroachments. Besides this, the management of Dera Baba Bharbag Singh was also asked to shift the religious belongings from the building constructed in violation of the Act, revealed Mr Setia. He added that the religious nishan sahib and other belongings were shifted to safer places before pulling down the building. Mr Suresh Kumar Sharma, Sub-Divisional Officer of the enforcement wing of the estate office, also added that demolition drive was carried out for the widening of the IT Park road. He said the 33 KV overhead electricity line would be shifted soon. Mr Setia, however, denied any favouritism during the demolition drive and claimed that some encroachers, who had stay orders from the court, would be rehabilitated at alternative places. Meanwhile, the residents claimed that the UT Administration had been harassing them from time to time. The administration had no right to uproot them after issuing electricity and water connections. The authorities have rendered them homeless despite that fact that they were having all legal documents relating to transfer of land to their names on revenue records, the claimed.
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MC clears encroachments in Sector 35 market
Chandigarh, February 4 Held under the supervision of the Additional
Commissioner, Mr O.P. Popli, the encroachment removed by the staff
primarily consisted of extended verandahs which were uprooted by two
JCBs pressed into service. Carried out peacefully amidst heavy police
deployment, the drive which began in the morning, continued the entire
day. As many as 1000 labourers worked on breaking of illegally
constructed water tanks behind the showrooms. Much to the amazement of
the MC officials, it was found that the sewerage pipes were passing
through these water tanks partially dug inside the earth. While the
staff did not touch the grill enclosures where the hotels had stored
their gas cylinders since it is mandatory that these be placed outside
under the provisions of the Explosives Act, the iron frames for the air
conditioners were removed. The owners were asked to prop these up along
the walls of the restaurants. The drive will continue along the
Himalayan Marg in Sector 22. The MC had announced early last week that
the shopkeepers should remove all encroachments in the corridors on
their own, failing which a drive would be initiated against the
violators in the Sectors 22 and 35.
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Do you consider your art forms to be different from others? No, not at all. I am just one of the people in this huge population and I think what a normal person will think. But what I feel is that I can project myself clearly. Projection is very important. I feel like a musician while painting. The forms and the elements knit the fabric of my paintings. Once I start, painting keeps on driving me. The pulse can’t be seen so it is better to feel it. What themes do you follow? Recently in an exhibition held in the Fine Arts Museum, Panjab University, the theme I choose was on ‘‘Heritage’’. My themes keep changing like a course of a river. They range from the culture of my native village to the urbanised city. I change my themes every year so that my work does not get stagnant. Do you think art and culture is loosing its value? Not at all. Art can never loose its value, only some people can stop taking interest in it. It is evergreen. If I put a beautiful picture in front of you, you will definitely appreciate its beauty and vibrancy. How was the response from the City Beautiful? It was very good. Chandigarh people are very understanding and they showed a keen interest in my work. I had students visiting from various areas in and around Chandigarh and they responded to my work well. I wish them luck and may these budding artists excel in their lives. — Alka Lakanpal
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Badheri accuses DC of ‘breach of trust’
Chandigarh, February 4 In his reply, Mr Badheri, a Congressman said
it was a preposterous allegation of the DC that the official vehicle
(CH-01-G-0023) of the Market Committee had been taken to Delhi without
permission. Actually, Mr Badheri said he had gone to Azadpur Mandi in
Delhi to study the conditions. A written request for the same was
given to the DC. “ It was only after that I went to Delhi and I found
it difficult to believe that a senior officer can act in this way,” he
said. On the matter of collection of money from commission agents, Mr
Badheri has requested for a CBI inquiry to be conducted, saying the
collection of funds relates to period when he was not even the Chairman
of the committee. On the log book having cuttings, Mr Badheri said it
was not handled by him and he claimed, “I do sign it when it is
presented to me.” On the charge that the vehicle exceeded its limit of
150 litres of petrol, Mr Badheri said he was never supplied any
guidelines on the use of the official car. “Had there been excess
consumption and it was pointed out by the office, I would have re-imbursed
the balance from my pocket,” he said. Mr Badheri also pointed out
that the work of the Chairman of the committee is not just to come from
his house to office and go back. For proper functioning of the committee
the Chairman is expected to visit godowns, apni mandis and field areas
to get a grip on the market and see if any evasion of market fee is
taking place. He said thus it is incorrect to allege that the official
vehicle was being used beyond office hours. In his reply, Mr Badheri
has raised the matter about the behaviour of Mr D.S. Balouria,
secretary, Market Committee, who took away the keys of the official
vehicle without informing him.
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Jaspal opens factory of jokes
Mohali, February 4 Started by none other than Jaspal Bhatti, the icon of that minority community of India that manages to laugh at itself, The Joke Factory in Phase VIII, Industrial Area, here is a unique production studio spread over five kanals of land that would in the next few months, start churning out humour in every form that it can take. "I have always maintained that humour is serious business. And now it is an industry too!" said Jaspal Bhatti, supervising the constriction of the colourful studio building that has come up at the site. "Here we will produce comedy programmes for TV and films. Starting with the one minute Ulta- Pulta fillers, short skits to full-fledged comedy serials and even comedy movies," he said showing the various facets of the studio. "But it is not going to be merely a film shooting studio. We would be creating a data bank of original jokes and provide these to mobile companies for pumping into mobile phones. Weekly magazine cartoon strips and daily political cartoons and even funny features for newspapers and magazines would be made available," he said. Pointing out that a part of the studio would be used as an animation studio, Jaspal Bhatti added that he had always wanted to create an Indian cartoon character for children. "We should have our own Indian cartoons for TV. And our own animation films. It is my dream and I intend to work on it here," he said. Other than the nooks and corners of the building that are being designed to look like an office, a bedroom, a drawing room, canteen, shopping area, the studio also has a large open lawn and a designer stage. "The stage is to be used for stand-up comedians. Stand-up comedy is a big hit and we intend to conduct live shows here. The backdrop of the stage is a uniquely crated chip work that is the handiwork of a budding local artist," said Bhatti, adding that the facade of the building would be given a funny look too.
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ESPL employees rue impending closure
Mohali, February 4 Stating that the Punjab Government was bent upon closing a profit-earning unit, union leader Kultar Singh Bedi alleged that the company had been ruined due to malpractices of the management and officials. Addressing a press conference, the union leaders pointed out that the company was working well and had work orders worth crores from the Punjab Election Department and some thermal plants in the state. “But the Punjab Government is insisting that the company be closed down for no reason at all,” said Mr T.P. Singh, general secretary of the union. Asserting that the Punjab Government’s Election Department had suggested that ESPL be given extension till May 31 as the state-level agency (SLA), the employees said, however, the committee had decided to wind up the company after March 31. The employees said it seemed that their peaceful agitation was not bearing any results and they would have to intensify their stir against the move.
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4-yr-old allegedly sodomised
Chandigarh, February 4 The child was reportedly playing with few others outside the cycle shop of the suspect when the latter lured him into his room. The child started crying when he was being allegedly sexually abused thus attracting his mother’s attention. The mother approached the police with a complaint but she was asked to bring her husband. No case has yet been registered as the police viewed the statement of the woman with suspicion for the two neighbours had been engaged in a tiff for a long time.
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Accident victim succumbs to injuries
Panchkula, February 4 Suman was admitted to the hospital after she was hit by a car on the Kalka-Ambala highway near Sector 20 on January 26. The police had registered a case of negligent and rash driving against the car driver in this regard but no arrest has been made so far. Dera Bassi Body found:
A mutilated body of an unidentified youth was found on the Kalka-Ambala railway line at the level crossing No 121 near Sanauli village, this morning. According to the Railway Police, some passersby after noticing the body informed the Lalru railway police post. The youth was runover by the 4232 down Express, late last night.
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Two booked for cheating!
Mohali, February 4 According to the police, the two persons are Baljit Singh and Afzal Hussain. They had set up a business venture by the name of Nihal Enterprises in Phase VII. It is alleged that the two had collected lakhs of rupees from persons on the pretext of sending them abroad. Between Rs 75,000 and Rs 80,000 was allegedly taken from each person and were assured of a permanent visa and a job abroad. The police said that the persons were sent from Mumbai to Kuwait but all of them had to come back soon after as they had been granted only a tourist visa which got expired. The case has been registered under Section 406 and 420 of the IPC on a complaint made by Mr Pargat Singh, a resident of Asmanpur village under Ropar district and 15 others.
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Man killed in accident
Mohali, February 4 Janakpuri, a resident of Palsora village falling under Chandigarh, died on the spot when he was run over by the truck. His bicycle also got crushed under the wheels of the truck. The driver of the truck fled from the accident site leaving the vehicle behind which was later impounded by the police. The body of the deceased was sent to the Civil Hospital for a postmortem examination.
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Theft in doctor’s room, security guard stabbed
Chandigarh, February 4 The security guard Pradeep got three stitches in the head and was stated to be out of danger. Dr Prem Pradeep told the police that he had returned from an emergency duty and was taking a bath when a well-dressed man entered his room. The room had not been bolted from inside. The doctor said before going to bath he had kept his mobile phone, ATM card and wallet on the bed. The doctor said as soon as he heard some noise, he raised an alarm. The security guard immediately reacted and tried to catch the thief. TNS
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Biz-Clips
Chandigarh INAUGURATED: Welspun Group, the country’s largest exporter of home linen,
launched India’s
first factory outlet for home textiles in Sector 35, here. The outlet will showcase the latest in global textiles fashion, printed towels with designer motifs, bed and table linen among others.
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