COURTS

LIC asked to pay claim of Rs 1 lakh
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12
Upholding the order of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has asked the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to pay a claim of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of Vinod Kumar.

Dismissing the appeal filed by the LIC against the forum order, the commission ruled that the appeal lacked in merit. The LIC was asked to pay the amount insured under the policy — Rs 1 lakh — along with 6 per cent interest from January 3, 2004, the date of repudiation of the claim by the corporation.

Counsel for the LIC pleaded that when the deceased Vinod Kumar took the insurance policy with a maturity date of July 20, 2001, he had the problem of swelling on his feet and abdomen. Later, the deceased was admitted to the PGI here on October 2, 2001 for treatment and discharged on October 12.

He was again admitted to the PGI and died on March 23, 2002. The counsel had contended that the deceased had concealed his disease, the cirrhosis of liver, when he took policy. Later, the LIC had repudiated the claim of the next of the kin of the deceased on the above grounds.

The forum, awarding the claim to the relatives of Vinod Kumar, ruled that the repudiation of claim solely on the basis of the history recorded on the hospital record was “arbitrary and illegal” and amounted to deficiency in service.

Stay vacated on engineer’s appointment
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12
Vacating the stay on the appointment of an Assistant Environment Engineer in the Chandigarh Pollution Control Board, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) yesterday clarified that the Pollution Control Committee did not fall under its jurisdiction.

Earlier, the tribunal had stayed the appointment of the assistant engineer after an applicant, Nitin Gupta, working as Junior Research Fellow in the Pollution Control Committee, moved the tribunal challenging the appointment of Sandeep Madan, against the post Assistant Environment Engineer. Another applicant, Parampreet Kaur Aujla, had also challenged the appointment.

After hearing the plea 
of the applicant and respondents, the tribunal comprising of Mr L.M. Goyal, Vice Chairman, and Mr Jasbir S. Dhaliwal, Judicial Member, respectively, observed that since the pollution board did not come under its jurisdiction as it had not been notified under Section 14 (2) of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985.

The tribunal in its order said Section 14 ( 1) had three clauses (a) (b) and (c) which laid down that tribunal’s jurisdiction would extend over recruitment and matters concerned therewith, to All India Service and Central Civil Services as well as civil posts under Government of India, including posts in defence services or connected with the defence where such posts was filled by a civilian.

Lok adalat settles 420 cases
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, March 12
As many as 420 cases were settled and Rs 54,450 was awarded compensation in various cases that came up in the Lok Adalat organised at the District Court’s premises today. As many as 666 cases were put up in this Lok Adalat.

Civil cases, including bank disputes and service matters, cases under the Motor Vehicle Act, accident claims, and some cases of criminal revision were taken up. The Lok Adalats were held in four courts here — the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Gulab Singh, and the two courts of Judicial Magistrates- Mr Ajay Aggarwal and Mrs Shashi Bala Chauhan and Special Judicial Magistrate, Mr U.B. Khanduja.

Most of the cases related to accident claims and under the Motor Vehicles Act, 16 cases of criminal nature were also taken up.

The State Legal Services Authority, which organises the Lok Adalats, also provides free legal aid to persons whose annual income is below Rs 25,000 per annum; persons in custody/ jails/ psychiatric hospitals, besides industrial workmen, women and children and also those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

CULTURE

Western Film Review
Saga of an eccentric aviator
Rajiv Kaplish

Chandigarh, March 12
Hollywood has a strange way of acknowledging the works of its geniuses — by nominating them for Oscar awards, but not conferring these on them. Martin Scorsese, the 63-year-old giant filmmaker, is one such victim of the dream factory’s idiosyncrasies. Nominated on six previous occasions, but a non-recipient of the award, the director has again failed to make the grade for “The Aviator” (Fun Republic), the saga of an eccentric aviator and movie mogul, Howard Hughes.

But whereas Marty (as Scorsese is popularly called in Hollywood) has again missed his date with the “Golden Lady” (Oscar award), his latest offering might not be as unfortunate as its creator.

Tracing the life and times of the recluse billionaire, the Leonard DiCaprio-Cate Blanchett starrer is engrossing fare. From a frightened boy to a tycoon suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), DiCaprio slips into the skin of the character with ease. And there is a reason for it.

The actor reportedly spent a lot of time with an OCD sufferer while playing the role. Constantly washing his hands, he makes it sure that the audiences do not wash their hands of his enigmatic persona. Playing the roles of the biggest icons of their times, Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner, who fell for the maverick businessman, Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale, too, have not let down Scorsese and given riveting performances.

While Cate almost brings to life the personality of Hepburn by her natural acting, Beckinsale spreads the effervescence of the ever-charming Gardner.

Alce Baldwin seems to have fallen on bad days. His portrayal of the grumpy boss of Pan Am is a huge waste of talent of this handsome actor who has started playing villainous roles lately.

The extraordinary length of the venture (about three hours) should be another area of concern for its helmsman as for audiences hooked on short and slick flicks, “The Aviator” may appear to be a documentary on Howard Hughes.

Hans Raj Hans makes doctors dance
S.D. Sharma

The ongoing annual bonanza festivities, Springfest-2005, organised by the Association of Resident Doctors was at its zenith as the strains of soulful music wafted across the otherwise calm ambience of the PGI.

The atmosphere brimmed with exuberance as Hans Raj Hans administered an overdose of entertainment to the medical fraternity with sufiana qalaams and scintillating songs. The doctors reciprocated the gesture initially with gentle claps and later shaking a leg as the soiree warmed up.

Hans opened up with rendition from Mian Mohammed Bakhsh’s classic epic ‘Saifal Maook’ culminating into the mysticism of Baba Bulle Shah with the presentation of ‘Tere ishaq nachaya kar theyya’ bringing alive the pangs of a lost love, he outlined the sentimental gloss in ‘Silli Silli aundi ae hawa’. He also doled out hit numbers from albums like “Chham Chham ron akhiyan”, “Jhanran waali”, “Appan doven russ baithe”, and so on. A 15-member orchestra supported Hans.

Meanwhile, at Plaza the Sanyog Arts presented 20 items including dances, folk and film songs. The programme directed by lead singer Deep Raj Kochhar featured the top singers from the city including Neelam Chohan, and others. Earlier, Oasis artist sang two songs penned by Punjabi film actor Darshan Aulakh from his latest album and Teji Sandhu presented popular Punjabi mix numbers.Visitors from Pakistan joined them on the stage to perform bhangra.

‘Karam’ - hero can kill for love
Rama Sharma