New Delhi, June 30
After three years of probe in the alleged showing of illegal favours to a hotel, the CBI today chargesheeted five people including former Chairperson of New Delhi Municipal Corporation P M Singh and owner of the hotel.

Besides Singh, the CBI chargesheeted Kasturi Lal Bhatia, owner of the hotel, R Pal, Chief Medical Officer of NDMC, G S Thind, the then medical officer of NDMC and Raj Kumar Gupta, sanitary inspector of NDMC, a CBI spokesman said.

The CBI chargesheeted them under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy, 420 (cheating) and abusing of official position as public servants, he said, adding the chargesheet was submitted before the designated court.

According to the CBI chargesheet, the hotel, Centre Point, was being run at premises which was earmarked for residential use and it was constructed unauthorisedly for which the purported owner did not have any legal title as it belonged to the Estates Department of the Urban Development Ministry.

On March 2, 2000, the health licence issued to the hotel by NDMC for 16 room having 32 beds was cancelled but the hotel continued to operate from the locality, he said.

Apart from this, while the licences held prior to March 2, 2000 were for 16 rooms, the hotel owner actually operated the said hotel
with 60 rooms without any proper licence since as early as 1992.

Investigations further disclosed that consequent to a criminal conspiracy entered into between the accused officials of NDMC and the businessman, a licence was granted on January 17, 2003 which was issued on receipt of false and incorrect information.

The spokesman said the NDMC officials made use of the false information thus abusing their official position as public servants and thereby causing undue substantial gain to the hotel owner.

The spokesman said that after the completion of probe, sanctions were sought from the competent authority in respect of the NDMC officials in September 2005 and on receipt of the same, the chargesheet was filed today. 

New Delhi, June 30
With the Indian Meteorological Department predicting today that the national Capital could get its first South West monsoon rains over the next 48 hours, Delhi Urban Development and Public Works Department Minister Dr A K Walia today visited many sites prone to waterlogging along with senior engineers and officials from all agencies concerned.

Dr Walia was assured of all possible remedial measures to avoid recurrence of June 24-like water logging scenario on the streets of Delhi.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi had assured that drainage system would be put in order within a couple of days.

Dr Walia had directed PWD Engineer-in-Chief to issue instructions to all agencies undertaking road cutting to take all precautions and ensure that
lines of utilities were not affected.

He also announced that those agencies would not be given permission for road cutting in future which were found damaging utilities lines while road cutting.

Delhi Metro had been instructed to keep constant liaison with PWD and MCD in regard to roads under control at present.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Resident Welfare Association Joint Front has proposed joining hands with the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to improve infrastructure facilities in the city, in view of the recent unsavoury experience during pre-monsoon showers.

Calling for immediate steps to salvage the situation in view of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, Delhi RWA Joint Front secretary Pankaj Agarwal said a proper
system needs to be in
place to make Delhi a world class city.

“And for this, the city needs to be managed by officials with a sense of responsibility and a certain accountability mechanism be put in place, lest the haphazard planning makes us a laughing stock in front of the world against the hype of progress,” he said.

Calling for introspection and the need to take corrective steps for a modern city with world class, basics like roads and drainage system, Mr Agarwal said a volunteer force of citizens, without creating a dedicated volunteer force, could be a good alternative as was proved with the success of Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Despite a huge force and infrastructure, the city virtually collapsed with even mild rains this time and the Delhi administration or the MCD needed to prepare a long-term plan for this.

Citizens and Civil Society groups like RWAs, Rotary Club and the like were willing to extend a helping hand provided the Government or the MCD was serious, he added.

Gurgaon, June 30
Seven councillors of the Municipal Council here today alleged that the district administration, the executive officer of the civic body and its chairman tried to breach norms for the allotment of seven plots, including a hotel site to one private party.

The Executive Officer of the Municipal Council, Mr Y.S.Gupta, rebutted the charges and attributed the outburst of the councillors to internal politics for supremacy among the elected members of the civic body.

The councillors today approached the media regarding a case in which a private party, M/s D.T. Towers, was allotted seven commercial sites in Vyapaar Saddan of the Municipal Council in 1989 after it had won in public auction. The total size of the plots was 3,000 sq yds and the auction money in the highest bid was about Rs 1.89 crore. Some of the sites were directly allotted to the firm and some to its proxies, which had won in the auction.

As per the norms, the winning party in the auction was to deposit 10 per cent of the amount on the spot and 15 per cent of the amount within a month. The rest of the money was to be paid in nine instalments.

According to the councillors, as the private party did not pay after the initial 10 per cent, the allotments were cancelled after about two years.

They said that the party recently applied to the Municipal Council that it might be re-allotted the sites after charging it with interest on the bid money in 1989.

According to them, 13 out of total 31 elected councillors met under the leadership of the present Chairman of the Municipal

Council, Mr Ravinder Kataria, on December 21 last year, and considered the application making a case for favourable consideration to the plea of the party.

The councillors today charged that the Council had no moral or legal ground to even entertain the plea as the present market value of the land is several crores of rupees. In any case, the allotments had been cancelled by the then Deputy Commissioner.

They added said that the resolution of the Municipal Council was ratified by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.P. Bhardwaj, and sent to the government. But the case was referred back by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

While praising the Chief Minister, they said that he has asked for comments from the administration regarding the case.

However, Mr Gupta said that the facts given by the councillors to the media today were misleading as the Deputy Commissioner had vetoed the resolution. Hence, there was no question of the Chief Minister asking for comments.

He said that the Council through its resolution only considered the application of the party and left it to the government. Even if the Council had upheld the plea, it would have been only of academic interest.

Mr Gupta added that some councillors were against the Chairman of the Municipal Council and they had wanted to garner support from their colleagues to bring in a vote of no-confidence against him.

New Delhi, June 30
Ms Seema Luthra today filed her nomination as Congress candidate from West Delhi’s Subhash Nagar ward of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Elections to this ward will be held on July 23.

Ms Luthra, who was accompanied by many party leaders, filed her nomination papers this morning. Ms Meena Kanwaria had already filed her nomination as the BJP candidate.

Elections were being held to the ward after the Supreme Court cancelled the elections in December last year. It quashed the candidature of Congress nominee Sunita Bharti and said an upper caste woman could not avail quota benefit (on account of her husband’s caste) after marriage.

The judgement came on an appeal by defeated candidate Meera Kanwaria of the BJP. Ms Kanwaria had challenged the election on the ground that Ms Bharti was not entitled to reservation benefit as she was not born in an SC family.

New Delhi, June 30
Taking note of the remonstrations from the elected representatives in the national Capital, Union Urban Development Minister, Mr Jaipal Reddy today decided to cancel the move to auction Delhi Development Authority’s Middle and Higher Income Group flats in the city and revert to the lottery mode.

In a statement issued here today, Mr Reddy said Delhi Lieutenant Governor B L Joshi, who is also DDA Chairperson, has apprised him of the sentiments of the elected members of authority against the proposal to auction MIG and HIG DDA flats.

The Centre’s announcement to drop the auction plan comes in the wake of the allegations made by the BJP that the proposal was “anti-people”.

Mr Reddy said the DDA would be told to keep using the draw-of-lots method for flat allotments. The Minister met with two Congress members on the DDA committee, who insisted on the withdrawal of the Centre’s auction proposal over DDA allotments.

“At the request of the Lieutenant-Governor, I received two elected members of the DDA who pleaded against the auction mode. In view of the strong sentiments of the elected members of the DDA, it is appropriate to revert to the lottery mode,” Mr Reddy said in the statement.

Delhi Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit has also opposed the plan to carry out DDA allotments through auctions, which the Centre proposed to switch to for higher revenues.

Yesterday, Congress MLA and DDA committee member Mahabal Mishra, who met the Urban Development Minister here, echoed the Delhi BJP’s opinion about the plan as he called it an “anti-people” move.

On Wednesday, angry members of the DDA committee also staged a walkout from the board meeting in protest against the Central plan which they insisted would push the authority’s housing scheme out of the reach of ordinary customers.

Greater Noida, June 30
Some people are booking flats and plots here even before the official opening of schemes by Noida and Greater Noida authorities.

These fraudulent deals are allegedly being done at behest of two builders.

The GNIDA had launched a scheme last month for nine plots under the builders’ scheme. The technical bid
of this scheme is yet to
be opened.

However, a number of agents have already become active claiming that the builders for whom they are making the bookings have already struck a deal with the authorities.

The agents are thus misleading the public saying that those who book with them are sure to be allotted a plot or flat.

The realtors have collected lakhs of rupees from the prospective buyers.

The Greater Noida Authority had announced a builders’ scheme on April 9 on 340-acre land for nine big and small plots in Omi Karan, Myu and Zeta Sectors. On 100 acres, plots of 250 and 400 sq m will
be allotted.

The technical bid is scheduled for July 12 in to which 63 leading organizations have expressed interest. Technical bids are being examined now after which the price bids will be opened which is likely to take one to two months.

But the property dealers seem to be running a parallel authority. They are collecting cheques from people for bookings and giving them a photocopy of the cheques mentioning that “plot or flat of so and so number has been allotted
to you”.

Plot are being booked at the rate of Rs 28,500 per sq mt. The dealers and agents are claiming that their parent company is sure to get 100-acre land in Myu sector. They are claiming that this land will become doubly costly after sometime so that those desirous should hurry up and book one.

Dy. CEO GNIDA, Harish Kumar Varma, however, says that without opening of tender, such ‘bookings’ were illegal and action will
be taken against the dealer and others who are pulling the wool over the eyes
of people.

Noida, June 30
The District Magistrate, Mr Ajay Chauhan, has approved a hike of 135 per cent in the circle rates with minor changes. The increased rates will come into force from July 1. With these rates coming into force, the registry department officials seem to be pleased as the revenue target of their department has been increased from Rs 200 crore.

They were keenly waiting for the increased circle rates. With the rates having been hiked to 135 per cent, people coming in for the registry of property will have to shell out quite a fortune by way of stamp duty.

The rates of industrial sectors have been raised by one and a half times while the rates of residential property have risen by two times.

Rates of commercial Sector like 18 and Ganga Shipping Centre are hiked by two times.

The circle rates of industrial sectors 1 to 12 have been raised from Rs 7,200 to Rs 10,000 per sqm. For Sectors 14, 14-A, 15 and 15-A, circle rates are Rs 23,500, Rs 28,000, Rs 19,000, and Rs 28,500 per sqm respectively. Circle rates of Sectors 16, 16-A, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 25A, 26 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39 and 40 have been hiked by one and a half times. In Sector 38, the hike will be from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 per sqm.

According to the Assistant Commissioner, Registry Department, rates of Sectors 46 to 55 and 92, 93, 93-A have been retained at 80 per cent which were fixed in 2005. These circle rates have been fixed after the survey by Noida’s assistant registrars and circle rates increased on the basis of market value of the land.

The department had been pressing for hiking the circle rates from January 6.

New Delhi, June 30
Following the demand from parents and resident welfare associations, Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has announced extending the last date for admissions to schools run by the government by another 10 days.

Mr Lovely said the admission process in all government schools had been extended up to July 10. This, he said, was being done to help a large number of students who were seeking admission to government schools. The admission process in the Delhi Government schools was to be completed by June 30.

By extending the date for admissions, it was pointed out the government was aiming to help students choose the school and subjects of their choice. An official notice to this effect has been issued to all schools, urging them to make all necessary arrangements to continue the admission process up to July 10.

The minister pointed out that during the last academic session by making the admission process online in government schools the intake of students in class VI rose from 1.40 lakh to 2.10 lakh.

He said what was more commendable was that 35000 of these additional 70,000 students were girls. 

New Delhi, June 30
A Delhi Court has asked a US-based engineer to pay up Rs 25 lakh towards “full and final settlement” in a dowry harassment case to his wife after she agreed to settle the dispute amicably.

Considering the settlement arrived between the estranged spouse, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) S C Malik quashed the FIR, alleging harassment over dowry, lodged by Surbhi Anand at Mayur Vihar police station against her husband Ashtosh Garg, who is working in California with the IT major Google.

ASJ Malik held that the amount, to be paid by Garg, will also take care of future maintenance of the complainant which may arise out of some other litigation like divorce and maintenance petitions between the parties.

Counsel for Garg hailed the verdict and said, “In such cases, usually NRIs feel harassed as their passports are seized and they are not allowed to leave the country till the trials conclude, but in this case Garg was allowed to go back to his work”.

As per the FIR, filed on February 14, 2005, Anand was humiliated and harassed by Garg and his parents as her family could not give a flat in dowry.

Anand, after her marriage in 2004 had gone to live with Garg in US, was forced to return to India with her brother, the FIR states.

Based on this, a case under various sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act including section 498A (subjecting woman to cruelty) of the IPC was lodged against Garg and his parents.

Anand had claimed Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the harassment meted out to her by Garg and his parents based in Shipra Sun City, Ghaziabad.

The court, after taking cognizance of the case, had issued summons to accused who appeared and paid the mutually agreed amount to the complainant.

Gurgaon, June 30
Undertrials in Bhondshi Jail owing allegiance to two gangsters today clashed as a result of which five of them were injured, two seriously.

The two dreaded gangsters of the area, Mahesh and Sandip—presently in the jail—had been competing with each other for supremacy.

According to sources, Mahesh and two of his supporters, entered one of the cells in which two other undertrials were sleeping. They started abusing in the cell. The two were supporters of Sandip.

Things came to a boil and it was a free-for-all soon with the undertrials using spoons and whatever they could lay their hands on.

The two who have received serious injuries are said to be loyal to Sandip and have been referred to Safdarjung Hospital.

Although the police keep silent, sources say that a couple of personnel who tried to intervene and stop the fight have also received injuries.

Noida, June 30
Some posh colonies of Noida, which is virtually an extension of Delhi, have become a safe haven for Pakistani nationals who overstay in India or who cross over the border illegally.

Living in posh colonies, these Pakistani nationals feel protected from the gaze of Indian secret agencies as the sleuths dare not bother the senior government officials who stay here.

These foreign nationals not only overstay in India, but are also able to get ration cards, voters identity cards, driving licences and even firearm licences.

On an average, 100 Pakistanis and 50 Bangladeshi nationals reportedly make Noida colonies their base every year. One of their aim is to help the terrorist element.

Two Pakistani nationals Abdul Quadir and Abdul Karim, living in the area since 1990 who were arrested by Javer police on Wednesday, are a proof of how these people dodge the intelligence agencies and police surveillance campaigns which are often launched. According to police, some suspicious documents have been seized from the duo.

When some ISI agents were nabbed recently, it came to light that some of their accomplices had overstayed in Noida.

It had also come to light that about a dozen such nationals were living in posh sectors as fugitives. All of them have got ration cards and voters identity cards.

In 2002, Shahid, a Pakistani national, was arrested for aiding the extremists. He was deported to Pakistan. But after sometime, he crossed over to India and was again arrested in Noida.

Javer is known to be a haven of such Pakistani nationals who seem to have developed a considerable clout there. Most of them keep visiting Pakistan and crossing back to India with impunity. According to police, they have many relatives in this area who provide a buffer cover to them.

A number of untraced Pakistanis nationals are reportedly living in Noida’s post Sectors-36, 40, 41 and 37. They usually make long-duration and long-distance calls to Dubai and Pakistan.

SSP, G.B. Nagar, R.K.S. Rathore says he is collecting data about Pakistani and Bangladeshi agents. Secret service and intelligence agencies have also been asked to dig up inputs about such elements.