Ludhiana, January 5
Prof Prithipal Singh Kapoor, former Pro Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, and president, People’s Awareness Forum, today called upon the management of the Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of Kulwant Kaur, librarian of the college, who died as a result of a head injury caused by falling of bricks on the college premises.

Expressing grief and sympathy with the bereaved family, Professor Kapoor regretted that the management of the college had taken the matter lightly and rather tried to hush up the issue. He said Kulwant Kaur was a regular employee of the college and died due to the negligence of the college management. It was the moral duty of the college management to provide compensation to the bereaved family.

Kulwant Kaur, a widow and daughter-in-law of Mr Surjan Singh, a veteran Akali leader, was injured critically when two bricks fell on her on the college premises. She was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to injuries there.

Professor Kapoor urged the Vice-Chancellor of the Panjab University to ensure that a compensation of Rs 5 lakh was paid to the family of the victim.

He expressed concern over the apathy shown by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union in not raising the issue at their platform and fighting for the cause of the woman.

Ludhiana, January 5
Students and staff of Spring Dale Senior Secondary School, Sherpur, celebrated the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh with full fervour and zeal here today. The function started with shabad recital.

Ludhiana, January 5
Thousands of students of Class V will not be able to take the board examinations this year as they did not submit their examination forms on time. The reason being cited is that they did not know about the last date of submission of the forms. They were not aware that the last date had been advanced.

This year, the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), the body that conducts the examinations, had advanced the date for submitting the forms, resulting in the loss of a year for thousands of students wanting to take the examinations.

The SCERT had fixed September 20, 2005, as the last day for submission of forms without late fee. The students could submit the forms with a late fee of Rs 20 till October 31 and a late fee of Rs 50 till November 30. Till last year, the examination forms could be submitted till the first week of January without late fee.

The students who could not submit their forms on time were required to pay Rs 10 per day as late fee and could submit their forms 15 days prior to the examinations.

Ms Harbhajan Kaur Brar, Director of the SCERT, says many students will be deprived of taking the examinations.

She said around 25 students had contacted her in this regard, but since the last day of submission of examinations form was over, she was helpless. She said a notification had been issued and all education officers had been informed of the date of submission of forms.

Ludhiana January 5
The newly elected Chairman of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, Mr Harish Rai Dhanda, said that he will strive for setting up of a High Court bench at Ludhiana for the convenience of litigants.

In an exclusive chat with Ludhiana Tribune here today, he said that the huge number of pendency in High Court was due to its own working style. In 80 to 90 per cent cases the bail applications rejected by the sessions courts were allowed by the High Court.

There is need of more co-ordination between the Sessions Judges and the High Court. The High Court should issue guidelines to sessions courts regarding the grant or rejection of bail applications.

“Law should be like a free flowing river and not as a turbulent cyclone. Very soon a workshop involving senior lawyers and eminent jurists would be arranged after taking into confidence the Chief Justice of the High Court to start joint efforts for making the judicial system more accountable,” added Mr Dhanda.

Black sheep bringing a bad name to the legal fraternity would not be spared at any cost. More than 350 complaints are pending before the Bar Council against lawyers on different charges and they will be disposed off within three months positively, claimed the chairman.

“Corrpution in the judicial system needs to be checked at every level.

I have no hesitation to say that we (lawyers) are not playing the expected role.” He stressed the need to raise the moral standards of advocacy. “I would ask senior lawyers to provide less expensive services to the poor sections of society,” he added

Earlier, he was given a warm welcome by the lawyers led by District Bar Association president, Mr Naval Kishore Chibber. They received him at the entrance of the mini secretariat.

He was garlanded, lifted on shoulders and taken out in a procession by a large number of lawyers.