NEIGHBOURHOOD

MC chief’s poll takes dramatic turn 
Scribes denied entry; Sukhwant elected president
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 6
A resident of Mandi Gobindgarh was arrested for impersonating as the son of irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon and making a call to Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Kaustubh Sharma.

Satvir Singh Sekhon, alias Vicky Sekhon, from Mandi Gobindgarh, called up SSP Kaustubh Sharma claiming himself to be son of Janmeja Singh Sekhon.

"A complaint was received by DSP, Mandi Gobindgarh, few days back, wherein some people alleged Satvir of duping in a land-deal case. He called me on my mobile phone on November 3 and orderly said he was minister's son," said Kaustubh Sharma.

Satvir asked the SSP not to take any action in the concerned complaint against him and consider it as cancelled.

Few days ago too, Satvir had called SSP Kaustubh Sharma stating that he was irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon's relative and wanted guards for his security. At that time, the SSP told him to reach at his office to get security guards, but Satvir failed to reach SSP's office.

Kaustubh Sharma grew suspicious over the phone call and got the number traced, and it was found that the phone number was in the name of Satvir Singh himself. Through the phone number, the police reached Satvir Singh Sekhon.

He was arrested from Red Light Chowk in Mandi Gobindgarh in his Skoda car.

A case under Sections 168 and 419 of the IPC was registered against him and, he was produced before the magistrate who sent him into jail.

Satvir Singh Sekhon deals in land and purchase of property in the district. The police suspects that Satvir might have duped many other persons too, using the similar tactic of boasting of a political connection.

Patiala, November 6
Harkesh Singh Sidhu, new municipal commissioner, said today that strict action would be taken against those indulging in illegal constructions.

He said this after holding a series of discussions with municipal corporation’s officials and added that steps had already been taken in this direction.

Proposing stringent action against house tax defaulters, he said at present a few individuals owe Rs 1.32 crore to the corporation. In an attempt to cough up the money, the commissioner said the corporation was sending final notices to the defaulters under Sections 137 and 138 of the Municipal Corporation’s Act.

Sidhu warned the defaulters and added if they failed to pay the house tax dues the corporation would seal and auction their property.

Similarly, nearly 17 defaulters owe Rs 5.80 lakh as against the sewerage and water supply connections to the corporation. Final notices have already been sent to them. If they fail to pay the dues the connections would be cut.

The superintendent engineer of the corporation has been assigned the task of checking illegal encroachments. He has been asked to submit a daily report about action taken against encroachers to the commissioner.

Sidhu added that the authorities concerned had been directed to work as per the Chief Minister’s directive during a series of sangat darshan programmes organised in the town. A sum of Rs 3.88 crore had also been sanctioned for constructing and recarpeting 35 roads in the city.

The commissioner also said in an attempt to check the spread of dengue, fogging machines had been kept ready and officials assigned the task of overlooking the fogging operation all over the town.

Chandigarh, November 6
The CBI special court of Jagdeep Jain today granted bail to Ravinder Singh, accused in the cash-a- judge’s doorstep case. The court asked him to furnish bail bond of Rs 2 lakh.

Ravinder had surrendered before the court on September 19 after he was declared proclaimed offender by the court.

The defense counsel argued that Ravinder should be granted bail as the investigating agency will take a long time before filing the charge sheet.

He added that offence under the sections he has been arrested is not made out. Before surrendering, Ravinder had moved an application seeking an anticipatory bail before the CBI special court that was declined.

Chandigarh, November 6
In an unprecedented order, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Ashok Kumar, station superintendent, Chhan Arorian in Kathua district, for wilfully filing a frivolous application before the tribunal.

The CAT, headed by judicial member D.P. Sharma and Promilla Issar, observed: “The applicant has knowingly and wilfully made false proceedings and committed an offence against administration of justice. He had rendered himself liable to initiate not only criminal proceedings but also contempt proceedings.”

The applicant, Ashok Kumar, had challenged the order of the tribunal pronounced on May 20, 2008, wherein the respondents proposed to recover Rs 2,11,640 by way of penal rent for a government accommodation.

Ashok stated in the application that he was appointed as a stationmaster at Jalandhar in 1991. While he was transferred as a station superintendent to Kapurthala in May 2004, he was allowed to retain a railway quarter for a period of two months on a normal rent. Thereafter, he was allowed to retain the same quarter on double the rent from May 22, 2004, to July 21, 2004.

He claimed that on March 31, 2005, he vacated the said accommodation and one Subash Chander Sharma occupied the same. Furthermore, the accommodation continued in the name of the station superintendent, Kapurthala, till February 28, 2008, when Subash Chander retired on his retirement.

Ashok asserted that he had estranged relations with his wife and a divorce case is pending in the courts. Subsequently, the applicant was served with a chargesheet under the provisions of the Railway Servant (discipline & appeals) Rules, 1968, for giving false vacation of the accommodation on March 31, 2005. The respondents further asked Ashok to pay the penal rent amounting to Rs 2,11,640 for a period from April 1, 2005.

Contesting the application, the respondents stated that the applicant did not handover the possession on or before March 31, 2005, and his family members have continued to stay in the said accommodation without any authorisation. The respondents stated that the applicant got married to one Geeta for the second time by converting to Islam.

Disclosing a statement made by the applicant, the respondents stated that Ashok had admitted that he could not vacate the accommodation due to some unavoidable circumstances and was mentally disturbed due to a family dispute.

Revealing a confessional letter written by the applicant, the CAT held: “In a letter addressed to the senior divisional operation manager, Northern Railways, Firozepur Cantt, dated April 4, 2008, the application admitted that he and his family had been residing in the railway accommodation in an unauthorised manner since March 31, 2005, but actually this quarter was not physically vacated by him and false vacation of quarter was also given by him.”

Commenting on the applicant’s act, the CAT stated: “While denouncing such an act on the part of the applicant in strongest possible terms, we are of the view that interest of justice would be adequately met by imposing exemplary cost on him.”

Chandigarh, November 6
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Canadian 4UR Immigration Services to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation for harassing a resident of Mohali.

The forum also directed the immigration firm to return an amount of Rs 60,000 to the complainant that was taken as processing his immigration.

The complainant, Ravinder Singh Dhaliwal, stated that he approached the company seeking his permanent immigration to Canada after going through an advertisement in 2005.

He submitted all certificates as demanded by the company and after entering into a service agreement he paid Rs 60,000 as processing the case.

He asserted that the company then informed him that due to long pendency of cases, his immigration process is taking a reasonably longer time.

Ravinder stated that he was shocked to receive a letter in April from Overseas Immigration from Canada wherein it was mentioned that his case was not processed as the immigration services at Chandigarh has not taken any action despite reminders.

The company argued that it had never promised to clear the process within six to eight months. The company stated that it had contract with Overseas Immigration from Canada but the said Overseas Immigration Company started correspondence directly with clients to mislead them. Subsequently, the immigration company withdrew all dealing with the said Overseas Immigration Company.

Chandigarh, November 6
The companies involved in share trade business are also being dragged to the consumer courts for purchasing shares without the consent of the customer.

President of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Justice K.C. Gupta confirmed that such cases have almost doubled. Recently, the Forum had issued notices to a Mumbai-based company that had sold the shares of the complainants without their consent.

Justice Gupta said, “These agents, hired by the consumer, start trading without their consent and deal on their behalf. Such cases have almost doubled over the past few years.”

On the compensation given by the Forum, he said, “If the agent sells stocks without consent, heavy compensation is granted to the consumer.”

Sukhdev Singh, resident of S.A.S. Nagar, had filed a similar complaint in which he sought a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh from the company. Singh stated that in September 2007, he had opened an offline share trading account with the company for trading in BSE Capital, NSE Capital and NSE Future and Options. He claimed that he had deposited Rs 2,08,000 for purchasing shares of the Reliance Industries Limited.

Singh added that he had instructed the company’s employee to buy the shares of Reliance Industries Limited.

The complainant was informed that the shares had been purchased and transferred in the Demat account of the complainant in India Bulls Securities Limited. However, in April 2008, the complainant inquired about the status of the shares from the company’s officials and become suspicious as he was not giving satisfactorily replies. The complainant, after verifying his Demat account in India Bulls Securities Limited, came to know that the shares were not transferred by the company.

In the first week of May 2008, after the persistent visits to the company’s office in Chandigarh, the details of stocks/shares lying in complainant’s account was provided.

The complainant was shocked to see that no shares were transferred in the account and the amount of Rs 2,08,000 was reduced to Rs 60,246. The complainant asked for the reason for this from company officials who assured him that the shares of the Reliance Industries Limited would be put in the Demat account of the complainant in 10-12 days.

The complainant asserted that he was left with no option and withdrew Rs 60,246 on May 9, 2008. 

Chandigarh, November 6
Mobile phone proved to a curse for Bhuvan Chander Pandey, who had been committing thefts in a number of houses in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, for the past two years.

The thief, who was smart enough to win over the trust of his employers, who felt no harm leaving their valuables in his custody, was not aware of the fact that the repeated use of the stolen mobile phone could land him behind bars.

The police has, so far, claimed to solved five cases of thefts in the city and two each in Mohali and Panchkula after his sustained interrogation. It has also recovered five laptops, four mobile phones, a digital camera and a LCD from him. He had deserted his wife and was living with his friends in Naya Gaon. He used to spend the stolen money on liquor and women.

Giving details of the sequence of events that led to the arrest of 22-year-old Bhuvan, the SHO of the Sector-36 police station said he had committed a theft in Chitranjan Aggarwal’s house in Sector 16 on October 28. Bhuvan had stolen Aggarwal’s laptop and a mobile phone after getting employed as a cook at his residence.

Unaware of the fact that the use of the stolen mobile would help in tracking him down, he kept on using the same. An employee of a private telecom operator and the police tapped his phone calls, the SHO added. Due to this police was able to keep a tab on his activities and succeeded in arresting him on November 3.

Sources said Bhuvan in Ajay Gupta’s house in Sector 18-C committed another theft. A was registered against him on September 24. He had stolen a laptop and other articles from R.S. Gulati’s house in Sector 42 a few days ago.

Similarly, he stole a laptop and $ 2, 500 (USA) from the Sector 11 house of advocate Narinder Hooda. He even admitted having stolen Rs 80,000 from a house in Phase X, Mohali, in 2006 and Rs 3.50 lakh from Sanjeev Garg’s house in Sector 4, Panchkula on February 25, 2007.

Besides this, he had also confessed to having struck in a few more houses in Panchkula. The Panchkula police has been informed about it, the SHO added. A local court has extended his remand till November 8.

Moreover the police has not come across any incident, in which he had administered intoxicants to his employers in order to commit robbery. When pointed out a police officer said, Bhuvan was not “cruel” and did not believe in causing physical harm to his targets. He was more inclined towards stealing electronic gadgets, which are generally easy to trace. 

Chandigarh, November 6
Following serial blasts that rocked Assam on October 30, the Chandigarh Police, in coordination with the Punjab Police commandoes, today conducted a joint search operation in Mauli Jagran and rounded up 32 suspected persons.

Police said a special search operation was launched which lasted for over four hours. A joint team constituting 66 personnel of the Punjab Police commandoes and Chandigarh Police, under the supervision of the DSP (Operations Cell) and the DSP (East), conducted the operation.

The police cordoned off the entire area and 10 parties searched every house in the locality. The suspected persons were later released after verifying their antecedents.

The police said those rounded up were found to be migrant labourers who had settled recently in the area. Their antecedents were confirmed from the native places.

The police said in view of the serial blasts, such operations would be conducted in other parts of the city in the coming days. 

Chandigarh, November 6
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has taken suo moto cognisance of newspaper reports about the gang rape of a minor girl on Diwali night in Kharar. The accused had allegedly assaulted and gagged the 15-yr-old before raping her at her home, stated the police.

The Commission has called for the report of the state government through SSP, SAS Nagar, by the next date of hearing, which has been fixed for January 2, 2009.

According to the police on Diwali night in village Bhagomajra Bairampur, near Kharar, as many as 12 youths assaulted a 15-year-old girl, gagged her and took turns to rape her for two hours, when her parents were not at home.

The victim’s elder sisters and an aunt were held hostage in the adjoining room. All the 12 youths, who are in their early 20s, have been booked by the police. An inquiry has been conducted by DSP, Kharar, under orders of the SSP before whom the victim had appeared. 

Chandigarh, November 6
Harmeet Kahlon and A.S. Lehal of Chandigarh set the Eagleton greens on fire as they carded course record scores of eight under par 64 to climb up the leader board to be tied second and ninth, respectively, at the midway stage of the Rs 20 lakh Toyoto Atlis Open PGTI event near Bangalore today.

C. Muniyappa of Bangalore shot a six under 66 to climb to the top of the leader board in round two. Muniyappa, who fired 67 in the first round now enjoys a two-stroke lead as his total stands at 11 under 133. Harmeet Kahlon was tied second at nine under 135 along with Anirban Lahiri and Mukesh Kumar.

The cut was declared at four over 148. As many as 53 professionals and one amateur made the cut.

Harmeet birdied the first, second, fourth, eighth, 13th, 15th, 17th and 18 holes as he played a flawless 64. Earlier in the day another Chandigarh golfer fired an eagle on the 10th, besides sinking six birdies for a bogey-free record 64.

“I hit the ball close to the pin on a number of holes today. Therefore I did not have to contend with too many long putts. Most of my shots landed within 4 to 5 feet short of the pin. I also chipped in on the second and eighth from 20 and 25 feet, respectively,” said Harmeet.

Rahul Ganapathy (68, 68) and Kunal Bhasin (71, 65) are both tied fifth at eight under 136.

Sanjay Kumar (73, 64) was another stroke behind at seventh place while Himmat Singh Rai (72, 66) was eighth at six under 138.

Bangalore's S. Chikkaran-gappa (71, 68), the only amateur to make the cut, was tied ninth at five under 139 along with Chandigarh's A. S. Lehal (75, 64), Manav Jaini, Gurki Shergill and Vivek Bhandari.

20-year-old Chandigarh boy Ajeetesh Sandhu was tied 14th at four under par 140 (68-72). Two strokes behind at three under par 141 (70-71) was another city golfer Ranjit Singh.

Chandigarh's Harendra Gupta (69, 73) and Uttam Singh Mundy (71-71) were tied 18th at two under 142. Kapurthala's Gaganjeet Bhullar (72, 73) totalled one over 145 to be tied 30th. Digvijay Singh (77, 69) finished round two in tied 43rd with a total of two over 146.

Other city golfers in the fray, Sujjan Singh was tied 22nd at 143 (73-70) and Gurbaaz Mann and Randhir Singh Ghotra were tied 35th at one over par 145. 

Chandigarh, November 6
Jeev Milkha Singh began his quest for the HSBC Champions Asian Golf Tour event with a two under par 70 to be tied 24th on the opening day of the US $ 50 lakh prize money tournament on the par 72 greens of Sheshan International Golf Club at Shanghai in China today.

The Chandigarh golf icon bogeyed the first hole and made amends with a birdie on the second to play a par 36 front nine. He sank birdies on the 13th and 14th, but lost a stroke on the 16th. He finished with a birdie on the last hole for a two under par 34 back nine and a card of 70.

The other Indian in the fray, S.S.P. Chowrasia was tied 65th after the first round with a four over par 76 score.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson set fired an opening seven under par 65 to take the first round lead. A 32-year-old Swede nailed six birdies and one eagle against a lone bogey to take a slender one shot lead over the tournament marquee names that include defending champion Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim from the US, Australia's Adam Scott and current world number three, Sergio Garcia from Spain.

They are all bunched together in tied-second after posting matching 66s under wet and cold weather conditions. 

Panchkula, November 6
Defending champions New Public School (NPS), Sector 18, Chandigarh, stormed into boys as well as girls finals of the fifth Emily Gosain Memorial Basketball Tournament being organised by St Xavier's School, Sector 21, on its premises here today.

Showing their overall superiority, NPS boys proved too good for St Xavier's School of Mohali whom they beat by 38-14 in the semi-final match. Deepak (8), Gurpinder (6), Navjot (4) and Sartaj (6) formed a good combination. The foursome repeatedly ripped through the Xavier's defence to sink basket from all angles. NPS won the first quarter by 13-5, second by 12-4 and third by 8-0. The fourth and final quarter ended in a five-all draw.

In the second semi-final encounter, St Kabir ousted hosts St Xavier's School by 35-24. Aishwaria (11), Rupandeep (7), Kriti (7) and Janvi (6) were the principal scorers for the winners. Payal (14) and Shweta (8) reduced the margin for St Xavier's.

Other results:

Boys (semifinals): St Xavier's-44, Chandigarh, (Vishwadeep 6, Sanchit 2, Anmol 2, Stanzin 7, Gurjot 15) bt St Xavier's, Panchkula, (Sahil 2, Ambar 13, Shubham Joshi 6, Gaurav 6) by 36-28.Quarterfinals: St Xavier's, Mohali, (Simran 10, Davinder 2, Amanpreet 8) bt Shishu Niketan, Pkl, (Anas 8, Rishab 4, Nishant 6) by 33-21. St Xavier's, Chandigarh, (Stanzin 6, Manjot 6, Mohabbat 6) bt Tender Heart (Harman 5, Ishan 2) by 31-7. St Xavier's, Panchkula, (Jagraj 5, Ambar 6, Gaurav 4) bt Holy Child, Panchkula, (Akhil Yadav 3, Dipu Kapoor 5, Partu Sharma 4) by 21-13.

Girls (semifinals): St Kabir-26 (Aishwaria 11, Rupandeep 7, Kriti 7, Janvi 6, Janvi Jr 2) bt St Xavier's, Panchkula, (Payal 14, Shweta 8, Mandeep 2) by 35-24. New Public School-18, Chandigarh, (Neha 21, Amiti 6) bt Baptish School, Chandigarh, (Gyatri 3, Mehak 4, Nimish 4, Shilpa 5) by 27-16. 

Panchkula, November 6
Reacting to the recent controversy over former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist’s remarks in his autobiography about Murlitharan’s bowling action, the Delhi Giants’ skipper Marvan Atapattu said, “Gilly’s comments don’t matter to us as it comes from an individual and not from some authority.”

“Murli is a legend and these kind of comments don’t hold much relevance and don’t affect us,” he added. He was interacting with mediapersons after his team’s win over the Chandigarh Lions last night at Tau Devi Lal Cricket 
Stadium.

He also urged the topmost players to speak on the ICL. “The big three of the Indian cricket team - Sachin, Saurbah and Dravid - shouldn’t keep mum and should speak regardless of good or bad on the ICL,” Atapattu added.

“Most of the players in the ICL idolize these key members of the India team. If something good comes from them, it will be motivating factor the ICL players,” he added. “I know they are not selfish, but they should come forward and speak on the matter,” he quipped.

Atapattu, who rested in yesterdays match, believes that the standard of cricket has gone up. “The guys are putting in efforts and the ICL has developed over a period of time,” he quipped.

On his team’s performance, Atapattu said: “As a captain, I am trying to get all the players together to play as a team,” he said.