Greater Noida, April 2
An FIR will be lodged against four technical colleges in Noida and Greater Noida which are functioning without the approval of All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

According to the Additional DM (Adm), allegations levelled against them have been found to be correct in a probe ordered by district administration. Additional DM (Admn) has ordered FIRs to be lodged against all the accused colleges.

These colleges are Sri Ram Institute of Management and Technology, Greater Noida, Indian Business Academy, Greater Noida, Institute of Hospitality, Greater Noida and International School of Business and Media, Noida.

The All-India Council for Technical Education had asked the UP Government to conduct a probe against these colleges and lodge FIR against them for functioning without the approval of the AICTE. Special secretary Ram Ganesh for professional and technical education, UP had written to the district magistrate of GB Nagar to make enquiries against these institutes.

The allegations have been found to be correct in the enquiry conducted against all these educational institutes. 

Gurgaon, April 2
The district education officer (DEO) has seized the answer sheets and records of the students of Shri S.N. Sideshwar Senior Secondary Public School who were controversially declared ‘pass’ in an examination held in March this year.

The action by DEO Jyoti Chaudhary came after protests by parents of some of the students who were declared ‘fail’. A large number of parents had gathered at the school today with their complaints and refused to leave till action was taken in the matter.

Interestingly, the school principal has also admitted to fault in results. Now, the school has declared that altogether 21 students of Class VI, VII, VIII, IX and XI, who were earlier declared ‘pass’, had actually failed or had got compartment.

“We have sealed all records and will get them checked from our teachers. If anyone is found guilty in the mater, we will take strict action against him/her,” Chaudhary told The Tribune.

Parents of some children had complained in written to the deputy commissioner that the teachers had failed their children, who are otherwise very intelligent, because they refused to fulfill their demands. They alleged that the teachers used to take money from students to pass them and whosoever denied, had to face the consequences. Parents also claimed that they were forced to send their children for tuitions to school teachers only.

It is to be mentioned that more than 90 children of Shri S.N. Sideshwar Senior Secondary Public School failed in their examinations.

Dinesh Aggarwal’s son, who failed in Class XI, was the first one to come forward to make a complaint. “My son has failed for the first time in his life. When he was studying in Amity Institute he had topped in the city and had ranked 23rd in the NCR. How can he fail now?” he asked. He alleged that one of the school teachers had asked his son to pay her Rs 5,000 if he wanted to pass the exam. Aggarwal said, “My son was not well at the time of the examinations, as he had fallen and had sprained his back. We requested the principal to take his exams later, but he refused. Thinking that he might fail, his school-cum-tuition teacher asked him to pay Rs 5,000 to help him pass, which my son, without informing us, did. However, after the exams, the teacher called him to say that he had failed in mathematics and physics, and if he wanted to pass in the two subjects, he should pay Rs 15,000 more to her. It was then that my son told me about it.”

Aggarwal claimed that the teacher had taken money from all the dull students to pass them. He even claimed that children who paid money were given the question papers in advance.

Aggarwal affirmed that he, along with some more parents whose children have also failed, visited the principal, who asked them to come on Friday. But they somehow got to know that the school authorities were trying to change the records.

“When I came to know that school administration is trying to change all records, I called the DC and told her everything. The DC immediately asked DEO Jyoti Chaudhary to intervene in the matter, and she raided the school premises,” said Aggarwal.

The principal initially denied the accusations, but by evening, the school issued a new mark-sheet that mentioned that 21 students, who were earlier declared pass, had actually failed.

Geeta Aggarwal, another parent, said, “One of the school teachers asked my child to pay Rs 10,000 to her if he wanted to pass, but when we denied, she marked him fail.”

Vashisht Goel, president of the Millennium Parents Association said that a racket like this in the field of education was shameful. “If this was going on in one school, it is quiet possible that it is happening in some other schools also,” he said and added that they will soon expose other schools too.

According to sources, some high profile people associated with the school don’t want the incident to come in the limelight and were putting pressure on the officials concerned to close the case as soon as possible.

Faridabad, April 2
The Congress will come up with the list of nominees for all 10 parliamentary constituencies in Haryana by the first week of this month.

According to party sources, the nominees are to be finalised by Saturday. But the announcement of the same might be held up for a day or two due to some political reasons.

Meanwhile, with other parties having already announced their candidates and started their campaigns, the Congress is not in jitters.

Senior leader of Haryana Congress Sandhya Bajaj claimed the campaign of the party nominees would be much easier than those of other political parties, as the candidates would talk about the achievements of the UPA government and the development carried out in the state under Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Expressing confidence, Bajaj said women and youths would support the party because of the pro-active measures taken by the Congress government in Haryana.

Meanwhile, president of Haryana Congress Kuldip Sharma said there is nothing to worry even if the party announced its candidates late.

According to sources, the delay is being caused as the party has not yet decided the candidates from Gurgaon, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Karnal.

However, union minister and MP Rao Inderjit Singh is seeking ticket from Gurgaon. But is learnt the party is considering a Muslim candidate from Gurgaon, as the demographic profile of the area has changed after delimitation.

Besides, the party’s central election committee had suggested shifting of Inderjit Singh to Mahendergah or Bhiwani, which he has reportedly declined. The party is considering Shruti Chaudhary, daughter of senior Congress leader late Surender Singh and Haryana minister Kiran Chaudhary, from Bhiwani.

It must be mentioned that Congress MP from Karnal Arvind Sharma’s image got tarnished when the Prime Minister moved the vote of confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on nuclear deal. Earlier, the party had strong reservations on fielding him. But is learnt the party has mellowed down in the past two days and he can possibly be asked to contest from Sonepat.

However, many including Haryana finance minister Birender Singh are seeking ticket from the constituency. According to sources, Singh could be asked to contest from Hissar, which is a strong hold of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. While the thing ailing the party is that firebrand leader Jai Prakash is an MP from Hissar.

New Delhi, April 2
Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal today confirmed receiving intelligence tip-off regarding terrorist threat in the national Capital during the ongoing general elections.

However, Dadwal assured that the Delhi police was making all arrangements for the peaceful conduct of elections in light of threat to the lives of senior politicians as well as possible attempts to derail the election process.

“We are fully prepared to thwart any such nefarious intentions of the terrorist organisations and will make sure that the elections are conducted in the city without any mishap,” said Dadwal. He, however, refused to elaborate on the measures taken by the police in this regard. “I am of the firm view that the measures taken by us for the security of our leaders and to thwart any terrorist attack should not be made public because it will beware the terrorists. Let them only know that we are prepared to deal with them,” maintained Dadwal.

He revealed that the Delhi police today had a meeting with the police chiefs of neighbouring districts— Noida, Haryana, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon— to take stock of the security situation in the wake of the upcoming elections.

New Delhi, April 2
A city court today framed charges against former union ministers Sheila Kaul and P.K. Thungan in three separate cases, paving the way for their trial for alleged out-of-turn allotment of shops in the capital in 1990.

Special CBI Judge S.P. Garg ordered the prosecution of Kaul, who had held the urban development portfolio as a cabinet minister, and others for various offences under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to criminal conspiracy, misappropriation of funds and abuse of official position.

The court would start recording evidence in the cases from June 1.

It also charged Thungan, former union minister of state for urban development, in two cases along with Kaul for similar offences.

In one case, Kaul and her deputy Thungan had sanctioned 42 shops through her order of June 7, 1995, allegedly in contravention of the procedure of the Directorate of Estate regarding licences in respect of markets in the posh locality of Lodhi Road and other places, said CBI counsel Naveen Kumar Matta.

Besides the former ministers, 37 other accused include Vivek Kaul, maternal grandson of Kaul, who was charged with forgery, and then senior officials N.L. Sharma and Shruti Lal Yadav. — IANS

Gurgaon, April 2
People of the millennium city seem to be excited about the dream car Nano, which reached showrooms on Wednesday.

The car has turned out to be the most awaited car, as a large number of people turned up at the only showroom where the small wonder was on display. “They were very excited and wanted to see, touch and inquire about the world’s cheapest car,” said Sharad, a sales executive at Dhigra Motors Private Limited, a car showroom, where Nano has been put on display.

The excitement can be assessed by the fact that on the very first day of the booking, Dhigra Motors Private Limited sold more than 150 forms. The forms, costing Rs 300, will be on sale till April 9. 

New Delhi, April 2
Responding to the complaint filed by Rekha, the mother of a month-old-infant, who is suffering from a severe heart ailment, the Delhi High Court slammed the AIIMS hospital administration for neglecting its responsibilities in taking care of patients due to internal fighting.

It directed A K Bisoi, the senior cardio-thoracic surgeon, who was suspended by the administration on March 9, to take charge of the patients of his department.

The directive was announced by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, which said that the patients are suffering due to the callous attitude of doctors driven by ego clashes.

The court’s direction came after it took cognisance of the letter of Rekha, who accused the AIIMS authorities of neglecting her child, who was supposed to undergo an arterial switch surgery under the supervision of Dr AK Bisoi.

Meanwhile, in response to the Delhi High Court’s directive of granting permit to the suspended surgeon Dr. Bisoi, to operate upon the baby during his suspension, AIIMS director R C Deka has said in an affidavit, “If Dr A K Bisoi is allowed to perform surgery during his suspension, it may not be an appropriate decision in as much as the same may create administrative problems.”

New Delhi, April 2
A 20-year-old girl from Somalia staying in the Nizamuddin area of the city has alleged that an auto-rickshaw driver and another person raped her in the wee hours of March 26.

However, the police maintains the victim’s medical examination do not establish rape.

In her complaint, the victim who has been staying as a refugee in the area for the past two years said she had hired an auto-rickshaw for Malviya Nagar on the night of March 26. After some distance, the auto-rickshaw driver allegedly made another person sit in the vehicle and took her to a secluded place and raped her.

She reported the incident after four days at Nizamuddin police station.

“She said the auto-rickshaw driver took her to a secluded place where the driver and the other person sitting in the auto raped her. She neither recognises the place, nor knows the registration number of the auto-rickshaw. The driver after raping her reportedly dropped her outside her house,” said a police officer.

The police took the victim to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a medical examination. “No injury was found on her body and rape could not be established. But we have registered a case,” the official said.