Chandigarh, August 30
The third counselling for B.Ed admissions will now be held on September 9 and 10. The venue for the counselling would be Panjab University auditorium.

Disclosing this here today, Dr S. Dhillon, Coordinator, B.Ed admissions and Principal of the Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, Chandigarh, said the old schedule from September 1 to 4 had to be postponed owing to the meeting of the Senate on September 4 and the election of students on the campus as well as in the colleges on September 3.

Chandigarh, August 30
Sri Guru Gobind Singh College today hosted training programme-cum-workshop for the teachers of social sciences under the auspices of Dean, College Development Council, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Eminent professors and scholars from the Department of Social Sciences, Panjab University, spoke on various aspects of ‘Designing/Formulating A Research Project — A Research Methodology in the field of Social Sciences’.

In his inaugural address, Mr Sardara Singh Johal, Deputy Chairman, Punjab State Planning Board, who was the chief guest for the occasion, stressed on the importance of orientation in research methodology for college and university teachers.

The guest of honour at the inaugural session, Mr Jagdev Singh Bajwa from the USA, an alumnus of S. N. College, Qadian, was honoured by the SES for his contribution towards his alma mater.

Teachers of colleges affiliated to Panjab University from Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and the city attended the training programme.

The guest of honour at the valedictory session was Dr Harbhajan Singh Deol, former Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Government of India.

The Principal, Mr Kuldeep Singh, welcomed the scholars and participants. Members of the Sikh Educational Society, president Gurdev Singh and secretary Bharpur Singh also graced the occasion.

Chandigarh, August 30
The management of the Shri Dhanwantry Educational Society, which runs Shri Dhanwantry Ayurvedic College, Sector 46, Chandigarh, has in a communication to The Tribune in response to the news item headlined ‘Varsity probe upholds students’ complaint’ in these columns on August 21 said the inquiry report of Panjab University was biased.

Mr S.K. Aggarwal, advocate and member of the society, said the inquiry report of Prof R.K. Kohli was not based on truth. Moreover, the college management’s version was not taken.

The report was based on the versions of two students of the college who did not have a good record. They misbehaved in the class and had been suspended from the college several times. The inquiry officer too had admitted that the students were miscreants.

Many other facts were ignored in the report.

He said the college was one of the best in the country.

Chandigarh, August 30
To give a welcome to newcomers in the college, senior students of MCM DAV College, Sector 36-A, presented a function today. They presented an array of dances, giddha, which had the jam-packed auditorium clapping.

The highlight of the programme was the selection of Ms Fresher 2005. As many as 28 finalists competed for the coveted crown as they sashayed down the ramp in gorgeous sarees.

Mr Vinod Sharma, Excise and Taxation Minister, Haryana, was the chief guest. Mr Sharma and Mrs Puneet Bedi, Principal of the college, crowned the winners. Gift vouchers of Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 were given to Ms Fresher, 1st runner-up and IInd runner-up, respectively.

The college hostel also held Hostel Fresher’s Nite yesterday. A cultural programme comprising folk dances, songs and dances with popular tunes was presented. The hostel queen contest was the main attraction. Suveni was declared the hostel queen.

The crown of Ms Fresher went to Namrata Joshi, 1st runner-up to Suveni, IInd runner up to Vinita Singh, Ms beautiful hair to Mehnaaz, Ms beautiful smile to Harleen, Ms charming to Sharan, Ms personality to Parneet and best attire to Shivani.

Chandigarh, August 30
Exactly 10 years after former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh was assassinated, the trial in the case is moving at a snail’s pace forcing the undertrials to languish in jail.

With almost half of the witnesses yet to depose before the Court of Special CBI Judge, no justice seems to be in sight for the undertrials in the near future. The irregular holding of the court in the Burail Jail here has only delayed trial, which had been hogging the limelight since its beginning in January, 1996.

It may be recalled that holding of the trial by the Special CBI Judge, who is also the Additional Sessions Judge, is at the most a part-time job. Apart from his routine duties, the Judge has to hold the special court in the Burail Jail. The present Judge, Mr M.M. Sharma, is the fifth judicial officer to hear the case in the past nine years.

In fact, allegations and counter-allegations by the CBI and the defence counsel have taken its toll on the case. This coupled with the sensational escape of three main accused Jagtar Singh Hawara, Jagtar Singh and Paramjit Singh Bheora from the high-security Burail Jail on January 21 last year virtually stalled the trial for almost one-and-a-half years. Hawara was later arrested.

“With the CBI taking its own time in presenting witnesses before the court, the trial continues to linger on compounding the misery of the undertrials and their families,” alleged a defence counsel, Mr A.S. Chahal.

However, CBI sources claimed that due process of law must be followed in the case and every effort was being made to complete the trial at the earliest.

Mr Chahal alleged that even the directions of the Punjab and Haryana Court to hold a day-to-day trial and complete it preferably by October, 2005 had fallen on deaf ears.

Another defence counsel Arvind Thakur alleged that out of over 500 witnesses only about 275 witnesses had been examined so far.Since inadequate time is devoted to the trial, its completion may take several years, alleged Mr Thakur.

For instance, Navjot Singh was about 25 years-old when he was arrested for his alleged role in the conspiracy to assassinate the former Chief Minister. Now over nine years later, he is still waiting for the trial to conclude. To compound his agony, his 70-year-old father, Tarlok Singh, was arrested recently by the police for allegedly intimidating the CRPF personnel at the Burail Jail here.

Chandigarh, August 30
In a bid to expose the role of certain influential persons in land-grabbing cases in Kharar tehsil of Ropar district, the Lawyers for Human Rights International (LHRI) today constituted a fact-finding team.

According the LHRI president, Mr Amar Singh Chahal, the report of the six-member team will be submitted to the President of India for action. Mr Arvind Thakur, Mr Vipin Negi, Mr Y.S. Dhillon, Mr Gaurav Kathuria, Mr S.S. Bawa and Mr T.S. Sudan will comprise the team.

Welcoming the statement of the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, on holding an inquiry regarding land mafia in the area, Mr Chahal alleged that a number of innocent persons had been implicated in false cases at the behest of land mafia. The registration of a case against Indian Express reporter Gaurav Dheer had to be seen in this context, he added.

After investigation into the land mafia’s role, a PIL would be filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr Chahal said, urging the Punjab Government to provide security to the team members.

Chandigarh, August 30
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) today directed the Department of Central Excise and Customs not to terminate the services of two daily wage workers who had been serving in the department for the past many years.

The order to maintain status quo was passed by the tribunal comprising Mr L.M. Goyal, Member (Administrative), and Mr Jasbir S. Dhaliwal, Member (Judicial).

The applicants, Ranjit Singh and Sunil Kumar, stated that they had been working on a contractual basis for the past many years and they had been asked to resign and come on the rolls of a contractor. Citing different judgments, the applicants stated that their services could not be terminated as they were working against regular work.