New Delhi, January 19
A traders’ forum in the Capital today moved an application before the Supreme Court, raising certain legal questions whether any direction could be issued for sealing of commercial ventures by it as it involved the right to life and livelihood that formed the part of basic structure.

Moving of such an application soon after the retirement of Justice Y K Sabharwal as the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is being seen as an interesting development as he had taken a very tough stand on the issue.

Justice Sabharwal had admitted on relinquishing the office that the tough stance of the court was aimed at cleansing the MCD of the property-related corruption, which had become a big money-generating industry in Delhi.

The petition, filed by Delhi Traders Forum came up before a bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Mr Justice D K Jain, which directed that it be listed for hearing along with the main case on sealing issue.

The main grievance of the petitioner was that in view of the legislation passed by Parliament in Janaury 2006, providing a year’s moratorium on sealing of commercial ventures in the Capital’s residential areas and provision of Article 21, which gives citizen right to create properties for personal use, the court could not issue a direction for closing the shops.

The petitioners said that the question of right to life and livelihood of thousands of citizens was involved in it and the court should take this aspect into consideration.

The main petitions by two residents welfare associations, challenging the January 2006 Act as well as a series of notifications issued by the Centre subsequently on mixed land use plan permitting commercial ventures on 2186 roads and streets, is coming up for hearing next month.

The new CJI is yet to constitute another three-judge Bench to hear the matter and it is to be seen whether he would like himself to head the Bench.

The court had given a deadline of January 31 for those traders who were not covered under the Government’s notifications to continue with their shops, to submit their affidavits about shifting to the areas where commercial activities were permitted.

New Delhi, January 19
While exerting last-minute pressure on the DDA Board Members for incorporating their suggestions in the Master Plan 2021, a traders’ delegation today handed over a memorandum to the Board members, Mr Mange Ram Garg, Mr Mahabal Mishra, Mr Virender Kasana, Mr Jile Singh Chouhan and Mr Ishwar Das.

The memorandum was presented before the beginning of the Board meeting at the Raj Niwas here. The delegation urged the Board members to present the traders’ issues in the strongest possible terms.

The delegation demanded that for planned development of the walled city area and its extension, a provision for formation of a Walled City Development Board be constituted. Also, colonies developed before 1962 should be declared rehabilitation colonies allowing commercial activities.

The delegation also emphasized the need for re-classification of Negative List and if at all any trade is likely to be displaced, then that trade should be given alternative space for relocation.

The trade leaders also said that to monitor the pace of development under the provision enshrined in trade and commerce chapter of MPD 2021, a traders’ group should be formed. The century-old distributive character of Delhi trade needs to be dealt with a dedicated approach.

The traders also demanded that commercial activities should be allowed on all the floors of pedestrian shopping streets. Scope of Professional Category should be enlarged to cover other categories like ‘any non-stocking business or professional activity not restricted under law’. Further, professions paying service tax should also be included in Professional category. Commercial shops and activities in DDA flats should be allowed to continue.

The memorandum also listed in detail other demands of the traders.

Faridabad, January 19
It is quite troublesome to travel on National Highway number two, commonly known as Mathura Road, due to the delay in the proposed project of widening it and activating the service lane lying unused or encroached upon by industrial and commercial units. The service lane has been meant for use by the local traffic, especially the slow-moving vehicles, including the autos and two-wheelers. There have been over one lakh such vehicles in the city.

The district authorities have now written to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to immediately take up the work of reviving the service lane along the Highway passing through the city in order to decongest the main road.

The NHAI has also reportedly prepared a plan about a couple of years ago to widen the highway to six lanes from the present four lanes from the Badarpur border to Ballabhgarh to provide more space to the vehicles.

It may be recalled that the total length of the highway passing from the district has been about 75 kms till the border in Hodal subdivision and thousands of vehicles, including those coming from Agra, Mathura and other prominent destinations from south and west India pass through the city in order to go to Delhi. These include a large number of tourists and daily passengers, who normally get stuck in the traffic jam that has become a routine affair at several places in the city.

“There have been around a dozen spots or crossings where the motorists have to halt due to heavy rush and are forced to waste at least five minutes on an average to clear these crossings. These bottlenecks account for at least an hour to clear the city limits, if one has to go towards Mathura side or otherwise,” claimed a businessmen here.

He said the harassment could be more at peak hours and due to a large number of cuts on the Highway, there is every chance of an accident if the speed is over 40 kms per hour.

He said while there has been an unusual delay in the construction of the flyover at Badarpur border, the NHAI and the district authorities are not serious about the traffic problems on the Highway and there is no move to construct flyovers over the main crossings.

According to a local resident, who moves daily in connection with his job, travelling on this route is a kind of punishment in view of more vehicles and decreasing space.

He said the government ought to get Mathura Road six-laned and ensure the shifting of the slow-moving vehicles on the service lane, to provide relief to thousands of people.

The police department believes that the main cause of the accidents that claim over 300 lives each year has been a rush of traffic and violations of the rules.

The scheme of revival of the service lane has been delayed for past many years and the district authorities and the NHAI appear to be blaming each other for the delay. While the authorities believe that it was the work of the NHAI, the latter seem to be helpless due to rampant encroachments on this lane.

New Delhi, January 19
The BJP Delhi Pradesh president, Dr Harsh Vardhan, said those house owners who had not got their tenants verified should be let off with a warning at the first instance. It was wrong to insult citizens by arresting them for this.

Taking cognizance of a large number of complaints received by his office that the police were harassing house owners on the pretext of verification of tenants, Dr Harsh Vardhan said with computers and the Internet today it was not right to insult house owners by calling them to the police station.

For this purpose, the arrangements should be such that the owner of the house may send a simplified verification form with the photo of the tenants to the police station by registered post, which may also contain telephone nos. The police should then visit the house for physical verification.

The BJP Pradesh president has advised the Delhi Police they should inform the house owner and the tenant 48 hours in advance before going for the verification. If they are not available at that time due to any reason, then the verification should be done on another date. It would be sheer waste of time and money to call every house owner and tenant to the police station. If it is not a crime to be a house owner or a tenant, then the people should not be insulted if they have failed to get the verification done.

Dr Vardhan also suggested the RWAs’ help should be taken for the verification of tenants. 

New Delhi, January 19
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the Chairman of Academics for Action and Development (AAD), Dr S. S. Rathi, has urged him to invite opinion and suggestions from the university community of the country in general and the student community in particular on the controversial recommendations on higher education submitted by the National Knowledge Commission (NKC). For this, the recommendations of the NKC on higher education should be circulated to all universities, which should be asked to provide feedback.

Meanwhile, AAD has expressed its disagreement with the NKC suggestion for enactment of an Act by Parliament to create an “Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE)” authorised “to accord degree granting power to higher education institutes” and “for monitoring standards and settling disputes.” AAD has opposed the suggestion of the NKC that these major powers and functions of the UGC, the AICTE, the MCI and other similar bodies be transferred to IRAHE. In this age of well-demarcated specialisations and super-specialisations in higher education, it will not be possible for a single agency to monitor and regulate the whole spectrum of higher education. The need, on the other hand, is to streamline and strengthen the functioning of the existing specialised bodies meant to regulate institutes of higher education in their respective fields of specialisation.

AAD also disagrees with the NKC proposal to establish a “Central Board of Undergraduate Education” and “State Boards of Undergraduate Education” which would set the curricula and conduct examinations for those undergraduate colleges which choose to be affiliated with them. Already, there are statutory bodies doing the task of revising curricula and devising model curricula. It feels the need is to ensure their proper implementation and provide resources for the same.

AAD opposes the recommendation of the NKC that “fees should meet at least 20 per cent of the total expenditure in universities.” On the one hand, the NKC rightly advocates that gross enrolment ratio (of the eligible age group of 17-23 years) in higher education should be raised to 15 per cent by 2015 from the present 7 per cent. On the other hand, raising of 20 per cent or more expenditure of universities from fees may reduce this 7 per cent figure.

New Delhi, January 19
The Delhi High Court today admitted the appeal of convicts Sharda Jain and her brother Raj Kumar in the Congress councillor Atma Ram Gupta murder case.

A Division bench of Mr Justice Manmohan Sarin and Mr Justice S. L. Bhayana, while dismissing an application for suspension of the sentence, directed the trial court to submit the records related to the case.

On December 22, 2006, a Delhi court had sentenced former Keshavpuram councillor Sharda Jain, her brother and four others to life imprisonment in the murder case.

The court had also sentenced three Uttar Pradesh policemen for three years’ imprisonment on the charges of destroying the evidence in the case. 

Sohna (Gurgaon), January 19
The Sohna police were today forced to register a criminal case in connection with an alleged gangrape which occurred on January 2.

The woman (27) is a widow. She was raped by two persons in the woods near Sohna at gunpoint allegedly by Tapuzul and Rahim Baksh.

The allegation of the victim is that the Sohna police did not register a case even after her complaint. She moved the court in Gurgaon which directed the police for registration of the case.

However, no arrest has been made.

The woman, a resident of village Rosca, had to go to Gurgaon. She was waiting for a bus at Mehluka bus stand when Tapuzul travelling in Scorpio halted near her. She had known him. His accomplice was also in the vehicle. They offered to give her a lift. When she accepted the offer, they allegedly made a detour towards the woods and raped her.

New Delhi, January 19
Rajiv Uppal, a transporter of Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, was injured when certain unidentified persons on a motorcycle intercepted his car near Sector 24 Rohini last night in a bid to rob him and shot at him with a countrymade gun when he resisted.

The victim has been admitted to Jaipur Golden Hospital where his condition is described as serious. Efforts are being made to trace the suspects.

The incident occurred when the transporter was on his way to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital where his mother is admitted.

The suspects reportedly overtook his vehicle and after forcing him to stop tried to rob him of his cash and mobile phone. Rajiv, however, put up stiff resistance and the suspects fled after shooting him.

The police said a case had been registered and further investigations were on. 

Noida, January 19
Armed criminals looted a tractor-trolley, cell phone and cash from a driver after overpowering him and making him captive under Kakode police station area. The miscreants also snatched Rs 11,000 from him.

After the robbers fled, the victim was able to reach the Kakode police post and reported the robbery. Police had undertaken combing operations, but failed to nab the robbers.

According to police, Naresh was coming from Javer to Badarpur with a trolley laden with ‘rodi’ (broken stones). Four armed criminals on two bikes overtook him near Kalpura and climbed over his tractor-trolley.

They put a gun on Naresh’s earpit and snatched Rs 11,000 and a cell phone from him. One of the robbers climbed behind the tractor steering wheel and threw Naresh on the roadside after binding his hands and feet.

The robbers fled on the bike and also took Naresh’s trolley.

Somehow after freeing himself Naresh informed the police post, but by then the criminals had covered a lot of distance. In a spite of its efforts police could not nab the robbers. The cops are trying to get some clues against the robbers and the trolley.

New Delhi, January 19
The Special Branch of the Delhi Police today claimed to have shot dead a notorious criminal, Furkhan, a member of an inter-state gang, in an early morning encounter near Khajoori. No policeman was injured in the encounter.

The police said a loaded revolver and a motorcycle were seized.

According to the police, a team of officials was deputed after another member of the gang, Farookh, arrested earlier from the Mustafabad area, revealed Furkhan would be coming to meet him at Khajoori in East Delhi. The police said the suspect arrived there on a motor cycle at about 5.45 am. Instead of stopping when asked to do so, he started firing. The police returned the fire and he was killed in the firing. 

New Delhi, January 19
The national Capital woke up to a mist-wrapped chilly morning today with the minimum temperature once again dipping below the normal level at 6.3 degree Celsius.

Even thought the visibility was low because of shallow fog and mist in the early morning hours, it did not affect road, rail and air traffic.

The minimum temperature, down from yesterday’s 7.7 degree Celsius, was a notch below the normal for this time of the season, the Met Department said. The maximum temperature yesterday was 22 degree Celsius.

Gurgaon, January 19
Indians must take inspirations from the Bharat Ratan awardee Guljarilal Nanda who always followed the life of sacrifice in his life, said Haryana Governor Dr A R Kidwai.

Nanda became acting Prime Minister of the country two times following the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bhadur Sastri but he shunned the politics of opportunity, added Dr Kidwai.

While giving national-level awards, constituted in the memory of Guljarilal Nanda at Om Shanti Retreat Centre, village Bhorakalan, the Governor said that the awards reminded us of the great works done by him. He appealed to the general masses and particularly the awardees to follow the footsteps of Nanda in their lives.

Samaj Gaurav Samman was given to 16 leading personalities of the country.