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Demolitions: MCD told to perform or face dissolution
CBSE reverses order on free education to single girl child
CBSE class X answer sheets destroyed
District admn tries to reach out to public
Court dismisses CBI plea for 1984 murder case record
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Man gets 7 years in jail for raping minor
TB death rate lowest in Delhi: Minister
Admissions in dental college mired in controversy
Jamia Millia to hold seminar on Khusro
Robbers loot house in broad daylight
Two dreaded criminals from MP arrested
Six held for murder of ex-MLA of Aligarh
New man at helm of affairs at BSES
Engineers booked for graft
Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom day observed
Passengers block rail traffic
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Demolitions: MCD told to perform or face dissolution
New Delhi, March 23 Expressing anguish at repeated violations of its directions by the Corporation, a Division Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma hinted that if the MCD was unable to take action against its corrupt officers, the court would appoint an independent body to stem the rot. The Bench asked the Union Government to file a report on steps being taken to end the menace of unauthorised constructions in the Capital based on recommendations made by the Tejinder Khanna Committee. The court made the observations while dealing with a PIL on unauthorised constructions during which some counsels complained that even while the MCD was claiming to demolish illegal structures, the civic authorities were clandestinely permitting fresh unauthorised constructions in the city. Several newspaper clippings and photographs were produced in support of the charges following which the Bench expressed unhappiness at the functioning of the MCD. “If you cannot perform we will get the Corporation dissolved. Or let the Lieutenant Governor take control of the Corporation. If you continue to violate our orders, we know what to do under provisions of the MCD Act,” the Bench told senior counsel A S Chandiok appearing for the Corporation. Noting that the status report submitted by the MCD was done in the “most cavalier manner”, the Bench also appointed four advocates as ‘commissioners’ for as many municipal zones in the Capital to ensure strict enforcement of its directions for demolishing illegal structures in the Capital. Granting the four ‘advocate commissioners’ (Amicus Curaie) full powers to inspect all unauthorised structures in the city and receive public complaints on such constructions, the Bench also asked the MCD Commissioner and the city Police Commissioner to extend them all assistance in discharging their court-entrusted duties. The court directed the MCD to give wide publicity in the media about the ‘advocate commissioners’ with their complete contact and telephone numbers so that members of general public besides local resident welfare associations can approach them to register complaints on the mushrooming of illegal structures and related issues. The four ‘advocate commissioners’ for the respective zones are Ashok Arora (Central Zone), Siddharth Mridul (South Zone), Rakesh Khanna (Rohini) and R Sood (Karol Bagh). They have been asked to file their reports on the unauthorised constructions to the court directly and the matter was posted for further hearing to April 17. Meanwhile, as many as 10 policemen, including the SHO of Greater Kailash, and 15 slum dwellers, were seriously injured in a clash that took place this afternoon at Kailash Colony in South district. The clash between the police and slum dwellers took place after the MCD demolition squad and the police went to the area to remove the slum clusters. There were around 300 jhuggis in the area. All had been existing for the last three decades, said the police officials. SHO Ajit Singh along with other policemen was taken to a nearby hospital. They were discharged after at 8 pm. According to the police officials, the demolition squad reached the Kailash Colony area at around 11.30 am. The slum dwellers were reportedly asked to vacate their hutments as the squad had demolition orders issued by the Delhi High Court. The slum dwellers reacted sharply and started pelting the demolition squad with stones. The police retaliated with tear gas shells.
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CBSE reverses order on free education to
New Delhi, March 23 Instead of making it mandatory for schools to provide freeship, the Board has proposed that it will provide scholarships from its own resources to all single girl children who score 60 per cent and above in their class X examinations. Citing the reason for the change in the proposal that was seen as a significant move to buttress the education of the girl child, CBSE Chairman Mr Ashok Ganguly said, “We want to take it to a greater length for the benefit of the girl child…and for this we want willing partners.” In October 2005, the Board had directed all affiliated schools to provide fee waivers to girls who are the only child of their parents. This was done to check the ratio of dropouts for girls at different levels of education. The scheme ran into rough weather when the National Progressive Schools’ Conference sought the withdrawal of the directive. Claiming that it would put an additional burden on the schools, they filed a petition in the High Court. Making the required modifications, the Board has pointed out that it will extend the new scheme for granting scholarships to all affiliated schools where the tuition fee does not exceed Rs 1,000 per month for an academic session. It was mentioned that all Kendriya Vidyalayas would continue to provide freeship to the single girl child, from class VI to XII. The new scholarship scheme, which will be introduced from the academic session 2006-07 will entitle eligible girls to a sum of Rs 500 per month for studying in classes XI and XII in schools where the tuition fee will not exceed Rs 1,000 per month. For implementation of these schemes, including scholarships, the status of single girl child will be accepted on the basis of an affidavit filed by the parents, Mr Ganguly said. He added, “The scheme will be hassle-free, instead of the schools, the money will be directly deposited into the accounts of the girls and they will be issued debit cards for the same.” The awardees will, however, have to keep the Board informed about their performance and any change in the single status of girl child in the family. Clarifying that the scheme is still in its nascent stages, Mr Ganguly said it would be studied to ascertain the changes or additions that need to be incorporated for future use.
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CBSE class X answer sheets destroyed in fire
New Delhi, March 23 The CBSE has sent a team of experts to assess the extent of damage caused by the fire that broke out in the early hours in Ludlow Castle Number 1. The fire was reportedly caused by a short circuit. “The fire was detected by the alert security guards, who quickly averted it. Our assessing team is already on the job and they will report the exact number of answer scripts that have been damaged,” the CBSE, PRO, Ms Rama Sharma said. She added, “The ultimate aim of CBSE is to provide benefit to students. We will work out the best possible solution through various permutations and combinations”. It was pointed out that the CBSE has an in-built mechanism to deal with such untoward incidents. An official of the Board said that the affected students could be given marks in Science and Technology by taking into account their performance in the rest of the four subjects.
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District admn tries to reach out to public
Gurgaon, March 23 The Deputy Commissioner, Mr R. P. Bhardwaj, will listen to the complaints of the general masses via telephone for one hour tomorrow (March 24). The programme has been orgainsed by a local Hindi media house. Any one can dial particular numbers and Mr Bhardwaj would attend the calls and listen to the public grievances. The Administrator, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Mr S. P. Gupta, along with his team of officials will visit Sector 7 on March 24 and meet residents of Sectors 4 and 7 to have first-hand knowledge of their complaints. Such meetings will be organised fortnightly in different sectors. Besides the office-bearers of the resident welfare associations (RWAs), leading personalities of respective sectors had also been invited for the meeting to take advantage of their experiences, informed an officer attached with the programme. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Hanif Qureshi, recently organised a meeting with various RWAs of the Sohna road for better management of law and order in their areas. The role of industrialists in maintaining law and order in industrial estates was also being discussed with them regularly, said Mr Qureshi. On the pattern of the district administration, which would be holding a monthly meeting of all heads of departments with the complainants to resolve their problems on the spot, HUDA has also constituted a committee for redressal of public grievances. Its first meeting would be held on March 29, informed an officer. The Superintending Engineers, the Estate Officer and the Executive Engineers, HUDA, the Senior Town Planner, the Land Acquisition Officer and other senior officers have been directed to hold an open ‘darbar’ every Wednesday in their respective department to solve the problems of the public. These officers have also been directed to remain available in their office from 11 am to 12 noon daily to hear public grievances. Mr Pankaj Kumra, Superintending Engineer, HUDA, said the department had directed the contractors of scavenging works to take no-objection certificate from the RWA concerned to get their payment from HUDA. In this manner, RWA office-bearers were able to keep a watch on the sweepers’ working and hence ensure better cleaning in their sectors. Appreciating the public participation programme, Mr R. S. Rathee, president of the DLF Qutab Enclave Resident Welfare Association, suggested that the officers must also ensure that their directions were implemented down the line. A lot of time, it had been noticed, junior officials kept misguiding senior officials for their vested interests and the problems remained unresolved. Col Raj Singla, general secretary, Chamber of Industries of Udyog Vihar, observed that the public kept waiting for a response from the administration. It would be nice on the administration’s part if they could develop a system to inform the aggrieved about the latest position of his complaint.
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Court dismisses CBI plea for 1984 murder case record
New Delhi, March 23 The case pertains to the murder of Iqbal Singh Chadda, who left his home on November 1, 1984 and never returned. On the next day, it was learnt that he was killed by a mob and his body left on the roadside before it was subsequently burnt. The Delhi Police had registered a case which was closed later saying none of those in the mob could be traced. The CBI re-registered the case on November 17 last year and since then has been moving from one authority to another for the original records pertaining to the case. The CBI filed an application recently in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Garg seeking transfer of the original records of the case, which had been registered in Mongolpuri Police Station on November 15, 1984. Though Delhi Police has informed the court that the papers pertaining to the case had been sent to the CBI Director on October 24 and 26 last year, the agency filed an application only last month seeking court’s permission for records. The court had even summoned the Investigating Officer in the case on March 20 in an effort to trace the case documents, but to no avail. The CBI was asked to re-investigate 10 cases pertaining to the ‘84 anti-Sikh riots in the wake of recommendations made by the Nanavati panel, probing the riots following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Ministry of Home Affairs had referred 10 cases registered by the Delhi Police to the CBI for examination out of which the agency firmed up investigations in two cases registered at Mangolpuri and Sultanpuri police stations. All these cases had been closed by the police saying the accused were “untraced”. Both the cases were registered under various sections of Indian Penal Code pertaining to rioting, dacoity, arson and murder.
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Man gets 7 years in jail for raping minor
New Delhi, March 23 He was also fined Rs 2,000. Sonu, who was on familiar terms with the victim and her mother, forced her to accompany him on the evening of August 20, 2003 when she had gone to visit a temple in the locality. When the girl did not return home, her mother who resided in Bhajanpura in East Delhi, informed the police. Later, the police recovered the girl from a house in Shamli, also in East Delhi. The accused was also nabbed and booked for the offence. In another case, a 30 year-old man was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for raping a woman in R K Puram in South Delhi two years ago. Patiala House Court Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S P Garg held Kamal Sadai guilty of raping the woman and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment. On June 4, 2004, Kamal came to the house of the victim, who was staying in a ‘jhuggi’ near sector-1, R K Puram, when her husband was not present. He gagged her and raped her, according to the prosecution. Kamal was convicted under section 376 (Rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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TB death rate lowest in Delhi: Minister
New Delhi, March 23 He attributed the decrease in the number of TB-related deaths in the Capital to the effective implementation of DOTS programme being carried out in the city for the last eight years. It was further pointed out that the Central Government and the WHO have rated the performance of Delhi as the best amongst all other states and Union Territories. Around 9,015 deaths annually have been averted due to the successful implementation of DOTS programme for the last eight years in the Capital, Dr Shastri told mediapersons on the eve of World TB Day. Citing the reasons for the successful implementation of the DOTS programme, Dr Shastri said Delhi was the first state to implement the strategy on cent percent basis for its entire population in 1999. As per the strategy, Diagnostic and Treatment Centers have been established for every 1 lakh of the population and patients are provided with free diagnosis and treatment. The minister said the success rate of treatment of new infectious TB patients has also increased from 25 per cent in 1997 to 87 per cent in 2005. The number of non-compliant patients, who are threatened to become incurable has reduced from 45 per cent to just five per cent in Delhi, he said. He said the government has increased the DOT Centers from 108 in 1999 to 432 in 2005 with a 50-fold increase in NGO participation from a mere three centers to 144 centers. The Health Minister said that the percentage of people suffering from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Delhi is higher because of overcrowding and slums. While 1.8 million new cases occur in the country each year, in Delhi 33,600 new cases occur every year out of which 15,200 are infectious. Dr Shastri said as per estimate, there are around 33,600 old TB patients in Delhi taking the total number of TB patients at the rate of 420 patients per lakh of population with 67,200 patients. TB is the most common opportunistic disease that affects people infected with HIV. In Delhi, less than 1 per cent of population has HIV. Therefore, it is estimated that around 40,000-64,000 people should be co-infected with TB and HIV, added Dr Shastri.
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Admissions in dental college mired in controversy
Gurgaon, March 23 The managing trustee of the Dashmesh Educational Charitable Trust, Mr Manmohan Chawla, confirmed that the Dental Council of India has sought clarifications from the college in this regard. However, he refuted all allegations regarding illegal admissions, and said it was borne out of personal enmity towards the college. The institute has been following practices of other private institutions, he added. It was alleged in the complaint that the institute violated the norms of merit as it admitted 33 students to BDS course, who had obtained less than 50 per cent marks and did not qualify in CET conducted by the Haryana Government. According to the complaint, the institute had filled up the 15 per cent foreign students/sponsored quota for 2005-2006 with local candidates. However, the college has clarified to the Dental Council of India that the admissions against the ‘Management Quota’ have been made as per the norms set by the Haryana State Admission Committee. It has further clarified that the stipulation of 50 per cent marks in the entrance test is necessary only for admissions under ‘State Quota’ seats and not applicable for the management and NRI quota.
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Jamia Millia to hold seminar on Khusro
New Delhi, March 23 This is expected to draw over 100 delegates from Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Germany, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Classical singer, Anita Singhvi, will lend her voice to some of Khusro’s Persian ghazals (March 27). The deliberations will focus on different aspects of Khusro’s works like ‘Khusro: The Bard of India and her people’, ‘Khusro and Indian culture and civilization’ and ‘Khusro, the harbinger of composite culture’. The seminar also focuses on Khusro’s links with Central Asia, both culturally and linguistically, as well as his influence on some of India’s famous Bhakti saints and poets like Guru Nanak, Waris Shah and Kabir. Khusro was a devout follower of the great Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. His remains are buried near the saint’s grave. Khusro lived in tumultuous times through the reigns of seven Delhi sultans, including Balban, Alauddin Khilji and Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq. Khusro’s verses are still alive sung by Sufi singers and he is remembered for his limericks and deeply spiritual poetry steeped in Sufi mysticism.
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Robbers loot house in broad daylight
Ghaziabad, March 23 The robbers helped themselves to Rs 40,000 in cash besides jewellery and other artefacts worth Rs 6 lakh. This included electronic gadgets. The police are raiding different hideouts, but have so far failed to nab the culprits. Dr Amit Tyagi is a resident of house no 1530 in Sector V of Vasundhra under Indirapuram police station. He stays there along with his wife, Dr Nidhi Tyagi, and parents. The two doctors are both working at Santosh Medical College here. At 12.20 pm, three armed youths barged into the house and terrorised Mrs Omwatti Tyagi and maid Jaswanti with gun and daggers. They tied the hands and feet of the two women and locked them in a room. The robbers bolted the door from outside while fleeing. At 3 pm, Dr Tyagi’s younger brother Sumeet came back from college. Within 10 minutes, his sister in-law also reached home and informed the police. The robbers are said to be between 28 and 30 years of age.
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Two dreaded criminals from MP arrested
Greater Noida, March 23 Both the criminals are brothers and had escaped from the police lockup four years ago. They were wanted for heinous crimes like murder and looting in various police stations. They had been hiding in the Greater Noida area for the past one week and were planning a big crime, the CO, Greater Noida, Mr Sarvanand Yadav, said. The police had received information that certain criminals were hanging around the Swarn Nagari crossing with an intention to commit a crime. When the police team reached there, the two tried to flee on seeing the police vehicle but were nabbed. A pistol, cartridges and knives were seized from them. They identified themselves as Brij Gopal and Arjun Singh, sons of Ram Sahay, resident of Chhatarpur, MP. They had escaped from police custody. The Chhatarpur police had announced Rs 1,000 each reward for getting the two caught. Incidentally, they had escaped to Delhi from MP and later shifted to Greater Noida when police pressure increased on them.
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Six held for murder of ex-MLA of Aligarh
New Delhi, March 23 The local police in Khajuri Khas in Northeast district arrested the six accused while they were hiding in the area, waiting for some conveyance to escape. The accused allegedly killed Malkhan Singh, the former MLA of Aligarh on March 20. Malkhan Singh was general secretary of Rashtriya Lok Dal in UP, said the DCP, Northeast district Davesh Srivastva. Police said that all the six accused were members of the gang formed by two brothers Sonu Gautam and Honey Gautam of Aligarh. On March 20 evening, Sonu, Pramod and Sharif fired several gunshots in which Malkhan Singh and his two gunners were killed, said the police. Police added that they killed him at the behest of one Tejvir Singh, alias
Guddu, ex-Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh of Aligarh who lost the recently held elections and had political rivalry with the deceased. As of now, they have so far received a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh for the commission of the crime by Tejvir Singh.
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New man at helm of affairs at BSES
New Delhi, March 23 Mr Jalan, who is also executive director of Reliance Energy Ltd, had spearheaded the transformation from erstwhile BSES to Reliance Energy Ltd in Mumbai. His able leadership, strategic visioning and planning played a major role in cushioning Reliance’s foray into the energy business, particularly in successfully turning around Reliance’s electricity distribution business in the country’s financial capital Mumbai. Though Mr Jalan’s experience was often availed for BSES’s operations, his hands-on leadership henceforth is certain to strengthen the company’s resolve to emerge as a world-class utility. “I look forward to serving Delhi and meeting the aspirations of all our consumers,” Mr Jalan said in his first statement.
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Engineers booked for graft
New Delhi, March 23 Patiala House Court Special Judge I K Kochchar remanded Junior Engineer Pradeep Verma and Assistant Engineer Rafat Jamal in fourteen days judicial custody for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 3,500 from the complainant, Ashok Yadav. Both of them were posted at the electrical division of Hauz Khas. They had demanded a bribe of Rs 3,500 (10 per cent of the value of the executed work) for awarding future contracts to Gupta. A trap was laid and both of them were caught red-handed in the presence of independent witness by the agency, the CBI said. Both of them were arrested under sections seven, 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom day observed
New Delhi, March 23 They accused the UPA government and Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh of inviting “Bush Raj” to India. They said India’s foreign policy, agriculture and all its resources are being “dictated by the US imperialists”. Among those who addressed the convention were Hindi poet Dinesh Shukla and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan.—TNS
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Passengers block rail traffic
Noida, March 23 The passengers complained that holding up of the shuttle trains regularly “delayed them unnecessarily”. The traffic on the main line was blocked for over three hours by the agitated passengers.
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