The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

	Committees to study MCD’s restructuring Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 26 The Centre today announced the setting up of two committees to study the issue of restructuring of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and on multiplicity of institutions in the Capital. Retired IAS officers have been selected to head both committees. The first committee, which will submit its report on the restructuring of the MCD within a period of two months, consists of the union home secretary or his representative, the union urban development secretary or his representative, secretary, municipal affairs of the government of West Bengal and Prof. V.N. Alok from the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). Mr O.P. Kelkar, principal secretary, urban development, will be the committee’s member secretary and it would be headed by former Delhi chief secretary Mr Omesh Saigal. The West Bengal official was selected to ensure that the experience of working of a number of municipal bodies in Kolkata was available to the Committee. The committee will study reports submitted by the Balakrishnan Committee and the Virendra Prakash Committee on the issue of restructuring of MCD in the context of the current situation. It will also examine the comparative advantages of having one municipal body for the whole of Delhi vis-à-vis a number of smaller bodies from the point of view of managing civic services efficiently; look at the financial and administrative viability of the smaller bodies and suggest changes that are required in the existing law for the purpose of restructuring. The second committee, which will be looking into the issue of multiplicity of institutions dealing with urban development in Delhi, is headed by Mr Ashok Pradhan, a former secretary to the union government. This committee consists of the union home secretary or his representative, union urban development secretary or his representative, chief secretary of Delhi and Dr Kanika Bhal, associate professor of management studies at IIT, Delhi. This committee has been entrusted with the task of identifying authorities or agencies which are discharging various functions in relation to urban development in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi; determine their respective roles, responsibilities, inter-relationships and existing arrangements for co-ordination; contribution made by these agencies in the development of the Capital; the level of effectiveness in addressing the issues of urban growth; the bottlenecks in dealing with urban development issues; the need for having different agencies in the context of Delhi being National Capital Territory, and finally to identify alternative mechanism that can deal with the problem of urban growth in Delhi more effectively. The committee has been asked to submit its report within one month.
	Two brothers shot in Gurgaon Ravi S.Singh Tribune News Service Gurgaon, April 26 Two brothers, Naresh and Pawan, were shot late yesterday evening here by unidentified persons. The duo had an agency of Idea cellular telephone service. The incident has sent shock waves in the city. More than 300 persons today took out a march in the city along with the bodies in the main markets of the old Gurgaon city area. The agitators raised slogans against the Haryana government, the local administration and the police in protest against the incident. The agitation started from the mortuary house where the bodies were handed over to the relatives after the post-mortem. The procession ended at the crematorium in Madanpuri area of the city. The traders and shopowners demanded immediate action against the killers. So far the police have not been able to make any arrest, but they say they are on the hunt of the culprits. About five persons travelling in a Maruti car stopped outside the shop of two brothers and opened fire on them. Both received two gunshots on the vital parts of their bodies. The bothers had an agency of cellular phone service and also sold mobile phone instruments. While Naresh died on way to hospital, Pawan succumbed to the injuries in local Kalyani Hospital. The miscreants escaped from the scene quite easily. Terror gripped the old Gurgaon city area as soon as the news of the incident spread. Pawan was married just two months back. The two were the only sons and breadwinners of the family as their father had expired a long time ago. Their inconsolable mother remained almost unconscious since the incident. Although the police say they are yet to verify the cause of the incident, they are looking at a revenge theory. The culprits did not take away anything from the shop. The circumstantial evidence is heavily loaded towards the enmity angle. Unofficial sources say that one of the two brothers was witness in the sensational Harish Tigan murder case which occurred here in 2003. Some of the accused in the case were hardened criminals of the area. The family was said to being pressurised to back out as witness in the case.
	‘ACP gave orders to fire at car’ Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 26 Two accused in the infamous 1997 Connaught Place shootout, in which two businessmen were killed, have told a court that they fired on orders from ACP S S Rathi. Their statements come a few days after a similar statement was made by another accused in the case. “Upon the lawful order of my superior officer ACP S S Rathi given by him being present on the spot, we fired in self-defence upon the car to protect ourselves and to immobilise and deter the occupants from firing further,” head constable Shiv Kumar and constable Sunil Kumar told additional sessions judge in near-identical statements. On March 31, 1997, the accused were part of the police team chasing a car suspected to be carrying UP criminal Mohd Yaseen. Shiv Kumar accompanied inspector Anil Kumar, trailing the suspicious car from the start, while Sunil Kumar followed Rathi’s vehicle, which led the reinforcement in the chase. According to Shiv Kumar, he, inspector Anil Kumar and constable Sumer Singh were keeping a watch on a milk booth in Patparganj when they spotted two youths, one of them bearded, eating ice-cream. The inspector compared the profile of the bearded man with that of a photograph he carried, and told the other two that “he (the bearded man) was identical with the photo of gangster Mohd Yaseen,” Shiv Kumar said. The two youths then got into their blue sedan, driven by a third person, and drove off, after which the chase began, with the reinforcement joining them near Connaught Place. According to the sequence of events narrated by the accused, when the suspect car stopped at a traffic light on Barakhamba Road, the inspector knocked on the driver’s door and asked the passengers to come out. “Suddenly, there was firing from inside the car aimed at the police party... The bullets were fired by the driver of the car,” Shiv Kumar and Sunil Kumar told the court separately. They claimed that two members of the constabulary force, Sunil Kumar himself and constable Subhash Chand were injured in the alleged crossfire. Two car occupants, Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh, were killed, and the third, Tarun Singh, was injured. Like head constable Tejpal, whose statement under section 313 of the CRPC was recorded last week, the two accused claimed that the team discovered the real identity of the car occupants only later. They also said that soon after the incident, the car was inspected and an Italian-made 7.65 mm loaded pistol was found between the driver’s seat and the door of the car. Two cases were registered in the shootout. One was by the police against the car occupants for assault, obstructing a public servant in discharge of duty, and under the Arms Act. The case being heard at present was registered by Goyal’s father-in-law against the policemen involved for murder, attempt to murder and destruction of evidence. The ten accused in the murder case — ACP S S Rathi, inspector Anil Kumar, SI Ashok Rana, head constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh and Mahavir Singh, and constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar - were chargesheeted by the CBI on April two, 1997. According to the CBI, the police team opened indiscriminate firing at the occupants of the car without any provocation, thinking they were Yaseen and his accomplices.
	Consumer court fines cold drink manufacturer Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 26 Soft drink manufacturer Pepsi has been ordered to pay more than Rs 1 lakh compensation by a city consumer court after a man found a condom inside a sealed bottle of the drink. “This case is an eye-opener for others who are engaged in manufacturing soft drinks and are required to maintain the prescribed standards of purity in public interest during the course of their business activities,” Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (North) comprising president K. K. Chopra and members R. K. Prabhakar and Neeru Mittal said. Terming the case as “rare” with a serious bearing on the public health, the court directed Pepsico India Holdings Ltd to pay Rs 1 lakh towards the Consumer Legal Aid Fund and Rs 20,000 as damages to the complainant. Complainant Sudesh Sharma, a resident of Ujhani village here, had purchased two bottles of Pepsi from a retail shop near Kashmere Gate in the Capital in 2003. He started suffering from severe dyspepsia and headache, followed by insomnia, after drinking from one of the bottles. His condition worsened over a period of time and he had to seek medical treatment. Meanwhile, Sharma, on inspecting the bottle from which he had drunk, found dirt and other contaminants inside it. Even worse, Sharma was shocked to find a condom inside the other Pepsi bottle, which was still sealed. Staunchly denying any negligence on its part, Pepsi maintained in court that the bottles may have contained spurious products illegally marketed under its brand name. To this, the court held that the soft drink major had failed in its “bounden duty” towards its customers by not taking any deterrent action against such unscrupulous persons who passed off spurious products. Further, the court rejected as a “lame excuse” Pepsi’s objection that it could not be held liable in the case as it did not have any authorised dealers in the vicinity of Kashmere Gate. “This is at best only a lame excuse and does not carry any weight as they have got various dealers everywhere despite the fact that the manufacturing process might have taken place at some particular place,” the court observed. Dismissing Pepsi’s argument that Sharma had not submitted any proof of purchase of the bottles, the court observed that it was not a practice in the open market among shopkeepers to issue receipt or cash memo whenever a person purchased one or two bottles of a cold drink. The forum also directed the company to pay Rs 3,000 as litigation costs to the complainant.
	Kids hurt in gunfire during marriage Our Correspondent Ghaziabad, April 26 The incidents of gun-wielding revellers in the marriage parties continue unabated, killing and wounding the guests. In the latest incident in Kela Bhatta area, Ghaziabad, three children were wounded when a gun is said to have gone off accidentally. The condition of one of them is stated to be very serious. The man who fired the shots is absconding. About half a dozen incidents of firing at the time when a groom mounts the horse have taken place in the past six months in which some people have lost their lives while others have been injured. On Tuesday, the marriage party of the son of Mohd Saleem Chaudhary had just started from Kela Bhatta for wedding with the daughter of Munna Chaudhary. Chaudhary Haroon fired gunshots from his licensed gun as the marriage party was passing through the market. The fire had hit three children nearby who had come to watch the party, Mohd Ali, 13, Aadil, 12, and Qurban, 14. Mohd Ali was hit in the head and his condition is said to be critical. He is under treatment in Yashoda Hospital. SO Kotwali, Ajit Pratap Singh Chauhan and CO Atul Srivastava said the shots were fired by Haroon Chaudhary of Kela Bhatta, who has absconded after firing the shots from his licensed double-barrel gun. The District Administration and the police, people said, have not taken strict action in such cases as a result of which many people have lost their lives during such marriage functions. The trend for celebrating weddings by firing shots has been increasing in the district.
	Power cuts make life miserable in Faridabad Bijendra Ahlawat Tribune News Service Faridabad, April 26 There has been a cut in the power supply almost every hour in the city for the past several days. This has adversely affected every section of society, including the industrial hub. Though the state government has claimed to have taken measures to contain the crisis, the department concerned seems to be helpless. The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) officials claim that there has been a shortfall in the supply from the sources due to shutdown in some of the thermal generating units in the state, including three at Panipat and two at Faridabad. The average supply has been reduced to just about 12 to 14 hours per day in the urban residential areas, while the situation in the industrial areas is no better. The supply in the rural areas has been even poor, resulting in short supply of drinking water in both urban and rural areas, said a source in the department. Aman, a resident here, said that huge power cuts had even affected the performance of the invertors and battery-run implements. Sometimes there had been no other option than to sit and wait for the resumption of supply. All commercial activity had been affected by the cuts, he said. The president of the Faridabad Small Industries Association (FSIA), Mr Rajiv Chawla said there had been cuts ranging from 6 to 8 hours daily and this had undoubtedly led to increased use of generator sets by the units and the demand of diesel had also gone up.
	Resolve EDC issue in two months: HC Abhay Jain Gurgaon, April 26 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Department of Industries, Haryana, to resolve the long-pending issue of External Development Charges (EDC) within two months and do not charge EDC from the industries till the final settlement. The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation Limited (HSIDC) had imposed the EDC on around 1700 units at the rate of Rs 402 per square metre in 2001. Various industrial associations and the entrepreneurs approached the court against the imposition. The issue of EDC remained pending till 2005 when HSIDC again imposed the EDC at the rate of Rs 348 per square metre. Udyog Vihar Industries Association led by its founder general secretary A P Jain again approached the court and sought the relief against the imposition. The High Court directed the Secretary, Department of Industries, Haryana to “take a final decision within a period of two months”. Before passing the order, the HSIDC shall also give a personal hearing to a representative of the Udyog Vihar Industries Association, said the order. The order further stated that “it is also made clear that till a final decision is taken, no recovery of external development charges shall be made from the members of the petitioner association”. It may be recalled that the HSIDC had planned to collect more than Rs 70 crore from around 1700 affected industrial units. A sum of Rs 15 crore has already been collected, informed a senior official of the department. Mr A P Jain said that the issue of EDC has been pending for the last five years and the bureaucrats were harassing the entrepreneurs on one pretext or another. The HSIDC should not charge EDC from them, demanded Mr Jain. Col Raj Singla, general secretary of Chamber of Industries of Udyog Vihar opined that the government officers appointed to look into the EDC case now would have a positive mindset and resolve the matter in a judicious manner.
	Interim bail for accused in Shivani case Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 26 A Delhi court today granted interim bail to one of the accused in the journalist Shivani Bhatnagar murder case to let him participate in the marriage of his daughter. An additional sessions judge granted bail to Ved Prakash for a month on the condition of furnishing personal bond and a surety of Rs 25,000. Another accused in the case, suspended IPS officer R K Sharma, was also granted interim bail for one month for the same purpose this year. The public prosecutor today filed a list of eight witnesses in addition to the 202 whose recording of evidence is complete but for the last one. Earlier this year, the case involving Sharma and five other accused, was transferred to a Fast Track Court for speedy disposal exactly seven years after Bhatnagar’s murder in her east Delhi flat. The police has charged Sharma and five others under various sections including 302 (murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The journalist was found murdered at her East Delhi apartment on January 23, 1999.
	Man gunned down Our Correspondent Noida, April 26 Two persons on a motor cycle shot an unidentified man near the village of Garhi Neher at Khurja and fled towards a village in Aligarh after leaving the body by the canal. Javer police have sent the body for autopsy. There was a dispute about the jurisdiction between Javer and Jahangirabad police stations. On CO Dev Karan Ken’s orders, Javer police had ultimately registered a murder case. The victim was about 24-25 years old who had a gunshot wound in his chest. The deceased had a whitish complexion, longish face, and was wearing black jeans, blue shirt and red vest. Some young boys had heard the gunshot at 9 pm and when they went closer, they found that an unidentified man had died due to gunshot wound in his chest, the villagers told the police. Police believe the deceased had also come along with the assailants on their bikes, but was shot and dumped there. Javer police are investigating.
	Translation of Jessica Lall case papers underway, HC told Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 26 The police informed the Delhi High Court today that translation work into English pertaining to trial proceedings in the Jessica Lall murder case would be completed before May 15. All relevant records, including material upon which the prosecution seeks to rely for appeal, would be compiled before the said date, the state counsel appearing for the police informed a Division Bench. The counsel said that the government had sanctioned the services of two translators to assist the court staff in translating all material pertaining to the case into English. The trial proceedings, in which all the nine persons including prime accused Manu Sharma were acquitted, were conducted in Hindi. These were being translated for the appeal hearing which would be conducted in English. The counsel appearing for the accused submitted before the court that all their clients had furnished personal bonds and sureties before the Registrar as directed by the court. However, the state counsel complained that Vikas Yadav, son of UP politician D P Yadav, who is now lodged in Tihar Jail, was yet to furnish his surety papers, though he had submitted his personal bond before the jail superintendent. Following this, the Bench directed counsel for Vikas Yadav to furnish the surety for Rs 60,000 within a week. The matter has been posted for further hearing to May 15.
	Get ready for load-shedding New Delhi, April 26 With the government conceding that there would be a shortfall of power in the Capital this summer as well, its residents will have to bear load-shedding for at least 2 hours every day. According to concerned officials, efforts were being made to try bridge the gap between demand (nearly 3,900 MW) and supply by procuring power from other states like Himachal Pradesh and Orissa, but the city is likely to face power cuts. Officials in power transmission companies blame power theft by illegal industries as a major hurdle in bridging the gap, saying that in the absence of more stringent laws and penalty, defaulters have been getting away for too long. Most of these illegal industries are reported to be functioning in areas such as Shahdara, Mongolpuri and Pitampura. However, the practice is being checked through increased vigilance by private discoms. It is claimed that post-privatisation, power theft has been brought down from 38 per cent to 28 per cent in areas under NDPL, from 63 per cent to 40 per cent in areas under BYPL, and from 50 per cent to 40 per cent in areas under BRPL.– TNS