NEIGHBOURHOOD

Students demand action against principal
Tribune News Service

Ambala, November 3
Deputy commissioner Mohammad Shayin, Ambala, today flagged off a rally undertaken by schoolchildren from Panchayat Bhawan, Ambala City, to mark the start of a cleanliness week in Ambala.

The cleanliness week will be observed in Ambala till November 9, where residents will be educated about cleanliness and various programmes will be undertaken. The rally taken out by the schoolchildren went through various markets. They were carrying play cards which carried the message of clean and green environment.

The additional deputy commissioner also flagged off the rally of the schoolchildren from War Heroes Memorial Stadium in Ambala Cantonment. 19 schools participated in the rally which took rounds of the local markets to spread the word about cleanliness. In Brara, SDM Ashwini Mangi, also flagged off the rally from Senior Secondary School. In Naraingarh, the rallies were taken out in various villages by the schoolchildren. In Mullana, a painting competition was held at Senior Secondary School where 13 schools participated in the competition.

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 3
The Fatehgarh Sahib police today arrested two murder accused after a gap of around five years. The accused have murdered one of their colleagues over a petty dispute on November 11, 2002.

The accused have been identified as Chindey alias Gurcharan, son of a pehalwan, a resident of Mukandpur Kolahi village in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh and Ram Rattan, son of Payare Lal, a resident of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh.

According to police officials, the duo had murdered a 30-year-old Rahim Mohammad, a resident of Uttar Pradesh. Rahim was doing menial jobs in Mandi Gobindgarh and was residing in a rented room at Nasrali village.

The accused were also living in the same house but in a separate room. They all were doing menial jobs in Mandi Gobindgarh and its adjoining areas for the past few years. They entered in a scuffle over the petty issue and Chindey and Ram Rattan decided to eliminate Rahim. They murdered him a few days after the scuffle using sharp edged weapons. The police officials said the accused had planned the murder and fatally hit the victim while he was sleeping in one of the rooms. A case against the duo was registered under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC on the complaint of Swaran Singh, owner of the house where the accused and the victim were residing.

Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Dr Kaustubh Sharma said both the accused were arrested by head constables Harbhajan Singh, Gobinder Singh and constable Sulakhan Singh. Somebody gave a tip off to the police and they were arrested from Anjali Focal Point near Mandi Gobindgarh, he said. They would be produced in the court tomorrow, he added.

Kharar, November 3
Two accused were arrested yesterday in the case of death of an inmate at Balongi de-addiction centre on August 22.

Surinderpal Singh Vohra and Sunil Jindal were arrested from their houses. Additional SHO Gurbaksh Ram, Balongi police post, said the duo were arrested from their houses. While Vohra is a resident of Sector 35, Chandigarh, Jindal is from Sector 9, Panchkula. The police will present them in court tomorrow for remand.

Earlier, the police arrested Ramanjot Singh alias Goldy, the owner of the Sankalp Nasha Mukti Kendra, Balongi, on September 20 in this case. All these accused were booked on August 23 on the complaint of Daljit Kaur, mother of an inmate of the centre Surinder Singh, who allegedly died after being tortured at the de-addiction centre.

The deceased 20-year-old Surinder, a resident of phase 3 B I, Mohali, was found dead under mysterious circumstances outside his house in the wee hours on August 23. Surinder Singh was a drug addict and his family had admitted him to this drug de-addiction centre at Balongi.

A few days ago, Kharar SDM Rajiv Kumar Gupta had submitted his report to deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari wherein all five de-addiction centres operating in Kharar were found inadequate and ill-equipped to work for drug addicts.

Chandigarh, November 3
The Chandigarh Housing Board’s move to appoint an officer on deputation as the chief engineer has come under the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s scanner.

In a petition, superintending engineer G. S Rosha has claimed he was holding the chief engineer’s charge with effect from September 25 last year. But in September it was handed over to Krishanjit Singh, who was five years junior to him as superintending engineer. Now, the charge has been handed over to a superintending engineer of the electrical wing of the UT Administration. He added charge had been handed over to a person who had no right to hold the charge.

Rosha also sought directions to the Chandigarh Housing Board and other respondents to declare illegal their action of declaring him unsuitable for the chief engineer’s post. Directions for posting him as the chief engineer have also been sought.

He has also challenged the orders vide which he was awarded punishment of withholding one increment without cumulative effect.

Going into the background of the matter, Rosha in the petition stated he was promoted as superintending engineer on regular basis in May 2000. After about three years, he was charge-sheeted in a matter. But he was, subsequently, exonerated of the charges by an independent inquiry officer. Later on in September last year, he was handed over the current duty charge of the chief engineer’s post. However, the punishing authority, keeping in view the advice of the

central vigilance commission imposed upon him a minor penalty, which has also been challenged.

Arguing before the Bench of Justice S.K. Mittal and Justice Jaswant Singh, his counsel said the departmental promotion committee ignored the claim of the petitioner, through the incident related to year 2000.

The rules made it clear that the service record of past five years has to be taken into consideration and Rosha’s reports during the period have been outstanding.

As the matter came up for hearing this afternoon, the Bench verbally observed in the open court that the inquiry had exonerated him. If the conclusion in the report had not been accepted by the authorities concerned, a show-cause notice should have been issued to him. The case will now come up on November 5.

Chandigarh, November 3
Relieved by the Panjab University (PU) immediately after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a bunch of 70 petitions for enhancement of retirement age from 60 to 62, the affected varsity teachers want the operation of the judgment to be stayed.

The relief, if granted by the high court, will enable the teachers to approach the Supreme Court without being affected by the orders passed against them by a Division Bench.

For the purpose, at least two applications have been filed in the high court. In one such petition filed three days after the judgment was pronounced, A.C. Julka and others have asked the court to stay the operation of the judgment for the time being.

The petitioners have contended they have been continuing in the varsity since long by virtue of an interim order passed by the high court. They have added that the operation of the judgment should be stayed for two weeks from the date the certified copy of the judgment was supplied to them, for enabling them to approach the Apex Court.

The applications are expected to come up for hearing before a Division Bench on Tuesday. As of now, all directly affected varsity teachers, continuing in service post 60, have been relieved by the PU. The relieving orders were passed the day the verdict was out.

The court, on October 31, had pronounced a one-line dismissal order as the deadline fixed by the Apex Court had left the Bench with little time to deliver a detailed judgment in the matter. As of now, the verdict in detail was in the process of being prepared.

The verdict by the Bench, comprising Justice Ashutosh Mohunta and Justice Rajan Gupta, came after hearing detailed arguments in the case on almost day-to-day basis.

The issue of enhancement of retirement age has been pending before the high court since 2000. The significance of the judgment can be gauged from the fact that almost 70 petitions were filed by the varsity staff for benefiting from the move to enhance the retirement age.

Chandigarh, November 3
Ishan had knocked down two motorcyclists, Jasleen Singh and Vikram, near Sector 8 gurdwara on Saturday night. Though, he escaped unhurt, Jasleen and Vikram were injured in the accident. Jasleen Singh, who suffered serious internal head injuries, is still under treatment at the PGI while Vikram was discharged on Sunday. Both Jasleen and Vikram perform kirtan at Sector 8 gurdwara.

The SHO of the Sector 3 police station said a case under Sections 279 and 337 had been registered against Ishan on a complaint lodged by Vikram, who was riding pillion when the accident took place.

According to the police, Ishan was driving rashly when the accident took place while Ishan maintained he was not over speeding and the accident took place when the two youths on a motorcycle took a sudden right turn before him. In an attempt to support his claim, he held there was no point of over-speeding when one was approaching a turn and, that too, on a busy internal road.

Chandigarh, November 3
Third seed Digvijay Singh Naruka, fourth seed Nischay Rawal, qualifier Kamal Kishore Maderana and wild card Bhavtaran Singh, all of Chandigarh, won their first-round matches in the boys’ singles with ease, while fifth Kuwar Singh Tater and eighth seed Sean Yip Quan of Malaysia were upset during the Asian Juniors Tennis Circuit held at the Sector-10 Tennis Stadium here.

M. M. Aamirsohra stunned eighth seed Sean Yip Quan of Malaysia in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in boys’ singles first-round match. Lucky loser Dheer Anus Bhatti shocked fifth seed Kuwar Singh Tater by 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in another first-round boys’ singles encounter.

Results: Boys (Ist round): Vishal Passi bt Aayush Mintri 7-5, 6-3; Jatinder Singh bt Sachin Kumar 6-3, 6-1; Atul Sri Patel bt Garvit Batra 6-1, 6-3; A. K. Paradh Saradhi bt Madurjay Dutta 6-3, 6-4; Nischay Rawal bt Ajay Singh Thakur 6-0, 6-2; Dhruv Goel bt Tanjun Sing (Singapore) 6-4, 6-2; Kamal Kishore Maderana bt Nikhil Passi 6-1, 6-2; S. K. Mukund bt Pranav Suri 6-1, 6-1; M. M. Aamirsohra bt Sean Yip Quan (Malaysia) 6-3, 7-5; Himanshu Sagar bt Nikhil Kannan 6-4, 6-1; Ketan Tayal bt Dhruv Yadav 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; Digvijay Singh Naruka bt Rishab Aggarwal 6-3, 6-1; Dheer Anush Bhatti bt Kuwar Singh Tater 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Bhavtaran Preet Singh bt Sohil Singh Bedi 6-1, 7-5; Manish Kumar bt Fatehdeep Singh 6-0, 6-1; Nguyen Hoang Thien (Vietnam) bt Ogihara Kenta (Japan) 6-0, 6-0.

Girls (Ist round): Tarrannum Handa bt Priya Selvakumar 6-0, 6-0; Rajbir Kaur bt Kavita Mishra 6-1, 4-6, 6-0; Anushka Rajkumar bt Nikita Deshmukh 6-4, 6-3; Rimpledeep Kaur bt Vibhuti Khullar 6-1, 6-1; Bhavika Wadhawan bt Charvi Saxena 6-2, 6-0; Kavya Bharat bt Bharti Bylapudi 6-2, 6-1; Tahira Bhatti bt Diksha Aggarwal 6-3, 6-2; Parminder Kaur bt Neesha Menon (Malaysia) 6-0, 6-0; Swetha Sree Hari bt Ruchita Ugalmugle 6-1, 6-1; Sonali Bansal bt Bhavya Wadhawan 6-3, 7-6 (5); Vasundara Raju bt Sumeera Kamil 6-2, 6-4; Mrinalini Alla bt Harkirat Kaur 6-1, 6-3; Nikita bt Harman Kaur 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; C. Sai Samhitha bt Prabhuti Singhania 6-2, 6-3; Madhu Shani Rajendra bt Simran Wadhwa 6-7 (5) 6-4, 6-4; Tamhita Nguyen (Phil) bt Roma Chandiran 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Panchkula, November 3
If you want to enjoy your evening by watching a cricket match in a fantabulous environment with glitzy dance performance of cheergirls, that too free of cost, then Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium, Sector 3, is the right place for you.

Considering the less number of crowds coming to the stadium, ICL organisers have found a new way to fill the stadium by giving free entry to people. Though the practice has been going on from the day one, but today it was all freely available.

Salman, who has been coming to witness the matches daily, said, “Almost our whole village (Maheshpur) come to enjoy the match as the entry is free.”

“For the first two days, they were quite strict but today they are not even bothered to ask whether one has a ticket or not?” his friend Saurabh added.

Surprisingly, one lad was seen distributing free tickets to people worth Rs 100, when this correspondent asked him of for one, he said, “Why one take two. I was given this bundle by my brother free of cost,” he added on asking where did he get it from and refused to comment further.

After noticing the practice asked the gatekeeper that we were three people without tickets, could we enter? He said, “chai pani kara dena aur kya” and demanded for Rs 50.

Moreover, the securitymen are lenient about the security too, as they are not keeping a check on the spectators at all.

Chandigarh, November 3
The racing prodigy, Navjoban Kaur, a student of GTB College, Dasuya, once again bagged first positions in women’s 5000m and 1500m races on the penultimate day of the Panjab University Inter-College Annual Athletics Meet held on PU grounds, here today.

While in men’s 2000m walk, Jagsher of SG Khalsa College-26 got first position. Mukesh Singh of GC DAV, Dasuya, won 400m hurdle, and Gurpreet of Govind National College, Ludhiana, emerged winner in hammer throw.

Later, in women’s hammer throw, Randeep Kaur stood first, and in high jump event, Diksha of MCM DAV-36 bagged first position.

Chandigarh, November 3
The sports department of the Chandigarh administration will conduct selection trials to finalise the Chandigarh women’s team for participation in the XXXIV National Sports Festival for Women (Group-I) at Bhubaneswar (Orissa) from January 18 to 21 in the basketball, handball, swimming and table tennis.

Trials will be conducted according to the following schedule:

Nov 7: Basketball at Sports Complex-7 at 4 p.m.

Nov 10: Handball at Sports Complex-42 at 4 p.m.

Nov 7: Swimming at Pool-23 (Yoga) at 4 p.m.

Nov 10: Table Tennis at TT Hall in Sector 23 at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, the sports department of the Chandigarh administration is also conducting the selection trials to choose the Chandigarh women’s team for the participation in the XXXIV National Sports Festival for Women 2008-09 Group-III at Hamirpur (HP) from December 26 to 29 in tennis, hockey, athletics and badminton.

Trials programme

Nov 7: Tennis at Sports Complex-42 at 4 p.m.

Nov 17: Hockey at Sector 18, Hockey Stadium at 4 p.m.

Nov 7: Athletics at Sports Complex, Sector-7 at 4 p.m.

Nov 7: Badminton at Sector 42, Badminton Hall at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, the department will also organise the Chandigarh Inter-College Cricket Tournament for the Administrator's Cup at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium from November 12. Entries close with Harish Sharma, junior cricket coach, and Naib Singh, senior manager at Cricket Stadium, Sector-16, up to November 10 at 5 p.m. The tournaments will be played under the ICC rules and regulations.

Chandigarh, November 3
The Chandigarh Handball Association is conducting selection trials to choose the state team on November 5 at 3 pm at DAV Senior Secondary School ground in Sector 8 here.

The selected candidates will represent the state in the 37th Senior Women National Handball Championship to be held at Chennai (Tamil Nadu) from November 10 to 15. Bona fide players of Chandigarh should report at the handball ground of DAVSS School on the mentioned date and time.