New Delhi, July 9
Four unidentified assailants stabbed to death a businessman at his Rajouri Garden house in west Delhi last night when he refused to pay Rs 4 lakh.

The police has detained the victim Jagmohan Singh Kohli’s wife Sumit Kaur, as she allegedly did not share a cordial relationship with him.

The police said Kohli, who runs a rubber factory, was alone in the house with his wife when the incident took place.

Sumit told the police the assailants barged into their house around 12 last night and demanded Rs 4 lakh. When her husband refused to pay the amount, they tied her and stabbed him to death. She managed to untie herself when the assailants left. She then informed her family members who live in the same area. She later informed the police.

However, the police said Kohli’s family alleged he was having strained relationship with Sumit for quiet some time.

They were married nine years ago. But Sumit had been living at her parent’s place for the last four months. She had come to her husband’s house three days ago when her in-laws tried to work out the couple’s differences. But she returned to her parent’s place that day itself. She returned to her husband’s house last night – the night he was murdered.

DCP (west) Sharad Agarwal said, “We received a call from the victim’s wife that four men had barged into their house and demanded money. When her husband refused, they stabbed him several times and tied her hands and feet before fleeing.”

Agarwal confirmed there were multiple stab injuries on Kohli’s body and a cloth was tied around his neck.

“Kohli and his wife did not share a cordial relationship and had been staying separately for the past few months. She had returned just a day ago from her parent’s place. There are many loopholes in her statement,” Agarwal said.

However, the assailants have not been traced yet.

New Delhi, July 9
Lawyers of the district courts in Delhi today observed a day-long strike against union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s proposal to bring law firms under the ambit of service tax.

No advocate appeared for any hearing in Tis Hazari, Karkardoma, Patiala House, Rohini and Dwarka courts.

A lawyer at Tis Hazari, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We decided to obstruct the working of the courts to attract government’s attention towards the issue. Practicing law is no trade or business for which we need to pay service tax. The strike was a mark of protest.”

A group of lawyers at Tis Hazari court complex, while speaking to The Tribune, said that the legal profession could not be considered as trade or business by the government. It was exempted from service tax as it could not be equated with activities and services provided by people in other professions to make profit. “We provide service without the intention of making profit,” said one of them. All the cases listed for the day in the local courts were adjourned, confirmed a member of the Delhi Bar Association.

On July 6, Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting the Union Budget 2009-2010, had proposed imposition of service tax on advice, consultancy or technical assistance provided in the field of law.

Immediately, the next day on July 7, a meeting was held in the Capital to discuss the issue. At the meeting, the co-ordination committee of the All Bar Associations of Delhi had expressed anger, saying that the lawyers would not tolerate any attempt by the government to impose service tax on the legal fraternity and would adopt all peaceful means to oppose such uncalled for and unwarranted taxes on lawyers.”

New Delhi, July 9
Delhi University’s (DU) fourth cut-off list has left scope for very few new admissions, as almost all the colleges have closed admissions for the general category and have decreased the OBC cut-offs by maximum one per cent.

The cut-offs that were released today indicated that DU was finding it difficult to fill the OBC quota seats. More so, because the colleges are not allowed to fix the OBC cut-offs below 10 per cent of the general cut-offs.

All north campus colleges have closed admissions in the general category for maximum courses.

Hans Raj released general category cut-off for only Sanskrit (hons.) at 45 per cent. The OBC students were invited at 68 per cent for BA, 82.75 per cent for economics, 75.75 per cent for English, 70 per cent for history and 60 per cent for Hindi (hons.).

Shri Ram College of Commerce did not take out a fourth cut-off list for either of the two courses it offers— B.Com.(hons.) and economics (hons.).

Hindu college stayed as an exception, with general category admissions still open in some of the most sought-after courses. The college took out its fourth cut-offs for B.Com.(hons.) at 94 per cent and 86.5 per cent for general and OBC candidates, respectively. The general cut-offs were taken out for philosophy and sociology (hons.) as well at 75 and 86.5 per cent, respectively.

OBC cut-offs at Hindu for English, history and Hindi (hons.) were 76.28, 80 and 67 per cent, respectively.

Kirori Mal College lowered its general category cut-offs for B.Com. from 91.75 to 91.25 per cent. The OBC cut-offs for B.A., B.Com (hons.), Hindi and geography (hons.) were fixed at 73, 83.75, 56 and 74 per cent, respectively.

Miranda House closed general category admissions in all courses.

However, OBC cut-offs were released in most of the courses. The OBC cut-offs for English, history, philosophy, political science and sociology (hons.) were 76, 70, 68.5, 73 and 75.75 per cent, respectively.

Ramjas College had to reopen admissions for B.A. due to the movement of students to other colleges. The general category cut-off for the course was put up at 76.5, while the OBC cut-off for the same was fixed at 73.5 per cent. The college still had general admissions open in English and B.Com. at 82.5 and 91 per cent, respectively.

The OBC cut-offs for B.Com.(hons.), economics, history, Hindi and political science (hons.) were 83.25, 79, 68 and 62 per cent, respectively.

SGTB Khalsa College closed admissions for all courses, but B.A. and Hindi (hons.). The cut-offs for the two were 75 and 62.5 per cent, respectively.

Among off-campus colleges, OBC admissions remained open for all courses in the fourth cut-off list. However, the cut-offs were not substantially lowered.

Premiere girls college Lady Shri Ram had OBC seats vacant for all the courses. The OBC cut-offs for B.Com.(hons.) was 90, economics was 88.5, English was 82, history was 77 and political science was 80.5 per cent, respectively.

Shri Venkateshwara College had general category admissions open in B.A. at 76 per cent. The OBC cut-offs were taken out in economics, English, history, Hindi, political science and Sanskrit at 82, 76, 70, 56, 74 and 45 per cent, respectively.

The scenario was similar for science courses.

Hans Raj took out general cut-offs for B.Sc.(life sciences) at 70 per cent. OBC cut-offs for computer science and mathematics were 83.67 and 81 per cent, respectively.

Hindu College fixed botany (hons.) cut off at 78 per cent for general and 74 per cent for OBC category. Lady Shri Ram fixed mathematics and statistics cut-offs at 86 per cent for both.

Miranda House and Khalsa closed all science admissions.

Kirori Mal College lowered its general category cut-off for mathematics (hons.) from 80 per cent to 79.5 per cent. The OBC cut-off for botany (hons.) was fixed at 60 per cent.

New Delhi, July 9
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) will ask Haryana to release water as the level of Wazirabad pond has depleted to 673.1 feet against a normal requirement of 674.5 feet.

Following the depletion, the Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants are working at 25 per cent less capacity, which has affected the supply of water in various parts of the capital. The DJB in a statement said the water supply might need to be regulated after the production of two water treatment plants got affected by 20 to 25 per cent due to lesser availability of raw water.

“The areas affected would be the NDMC areas and some areas of Central, West and North Delhi. Some areas of South Delhi from the command of the Palam reservoir could also be affected,” said the DJB in the statement.

The NDMC also stated that following 25 per cent cut in supply of water from the Chandrawal and Wazirabad waterworks, there will be short supply of water from the Jhandewalan, Talkatora and Hasanpur reservoirs.

People in some parts of Delhi have also complained of contaminated water. Residents of Rajouri Garden, Jama Masjid, Ballimaran and Inderpuri, have complained that they are getting sewage or slush from their taps.

New Delhi, July 9
At an interface with a mix of known and fresh faces of Parliament, around 55 children living with HIV today submitted their request on passing the AIDS Bill. They said that unless this is done, life for them would remain stigmatised.

With India having the highest population infected with HIV and AIDS, it becomes more important that the Bill should be passed, and in its undiluted form, said Anushree Kini of Lawyers’ Collective, a body which has been pushing for the presentation of the bill in the Parliament.

Moved by the heart-rending spectacle of children delineating their fear and sorrow, first-time elected member of Lok Sabha and minister of state for rural development Agatha Sangma, said she would, along with her colleagues, pursue for the passage of the AIDS Bill.

Another young MP, Alka Lamba, also encouraged the children infected and affected by HIV and AIDS to take up the matter themselves so that the issue gets its due attention.

Both of them stressed on the right to a dignified life that the Indian Constitution guarantees.

Sangma said it was important to mobilise people to overcome discriminatory practices that would eventually facilitate a secured life to all young and old people living with the fatal epidemic.

Adding that it is especially significant to apprise people about the facts related to the disease, Sangma outlined, “Awareness and rights go hand-in-hand.”

New Delhi, July 9
The 85 Coca-Cola trucks in the city that deliver soft drink bottles to your neighbourhood store will not belch black smoke any more. Their engines have been changed to use CNG, with the first three trucks of the new “green fleet” flagged off by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here last evening.

Dikshit called upon all residents of the capital to use eco-friendly alternatives wherever and whenever they could in their daily lives, and lauded Coca-Cola for having changed its fleet to the eco-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel.

“This takes forward the Delhi government’s efforts to encourage a transport system that is clean, effective and benefits the environment,” she said.

President and CEO of Coca-Cola India Atul Singh said businesses, the government and civil society had to come together at all levels to solve environmental problems and move towards a cleaner future.

“At Coca-Cola India, we have joined hands with the government, NGOs and local community to work on the issues of fresh water and climate protection. A lot of the good work on water and the environment has been done under the ‘Bhagidari’ (partnership) platform of the Delhi government.”

Ahmet Bozer, president of the Eurasia and Africa group of Coca-Cola, who was present at the flagging-off ceremony, lauded the Delhi government for taking a number of green initiatives, including the recent ban on plastic bags.

A company spokesperson said Coca-Cola India is also working on the goal of achieving a “net zero” balance with respect to groundwater usage by the end of the year. “By being a ‘net zero’ user of groundwater, the Coca-Cola system in India will create a rainwater harvesting potential equivalent to the groundwater used for its operations in India.”

The company has already installed over 400 rainwater harvesting structures in the country and has constructed and revived several ponds, check dams and wells around India in partnership with NGOs, government agencies and local communities. — IANS

Gurgaon, July 9
In order to check corrupt practices in government offices, especially those offices where public dealing is more, the Gurgaon range authorities of the state vigilance bureau have asked all heads of the government departments to designate their own departmental vigilance officers.

In a recent letter to the office and department heads, the superintendent of police of the state vigilance bureau (Gurgaon range), Yogender Nehra, has asked them to designate chief vigilance officer or departmental vigilance officer in their office.

As per the instructions, the names of these officers, along with their contact numbers, address and email IDs should be displayed on boards put up at prominent or vulnerable places near the main entrance of the offices.

The idea behind the exercise is that any victim of corrupt practices at the hand of any official can bring the same to notice.

In addition to this, the services supposed to be provided by these officers for prompt redress of the grievances of the general public should also be written in brief on this board.

Nehra said the display board would also contain the names of the officers of the state vigilance bureau along with their telephones numbers.

“Anybody from whom a bribe is demanded at any government office can inform the director-general of the state vigilance bureau on 0172-2571980. The complaint can also be made to inspector-general of police, state vigilance bureau Manjeet Singh Ahlawat on 0124-2321428 or 09999981852 and to the SP, state vigilance bureau on 0124-2223443 or 09999884494. The office of IGP and SP of the state vigilance bureau is in Sector-15,” the letter states, adding that the vigilance officers were available round-the-clock for conducting raids.

The names of department vigilance officers along with their designation, address and contact numbers have to be sent to the office of the state vigilance bureau (Gurgaon range) office at the earliest.

New Delhi, July 9
Aiming to clear the backlog of pending criminal cases, the Delhi High Court has constituted two benches that will only hear the appeals in these cases.

According to the court’s annual report, released earlier this year, 2,324 criminal appeals are pending till March 31, 2008. Among these, 34 cases were more than 15 years old and three of them are languishing since the last 20 years. More then half of the appeals were over five years old.

It was estimated that it will take 466 years to dispose all the criminal appeals.

“Since the assumption of a constant number of filings is patently unrealistic, the time taken to clear pendency would be even more that 466 years, if ever,” says the report.

Of the two benches constituted by chief justice Ajit Prakash Shah, the first bench of justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and justice Ajit Bharioke will be hearing appeals dating from 1994 to 2000, while the second bench of justice Pradeep Nandrajog and justice Indermeet Kaur Kochhar are dealing with cases from 2001 onwards.

“The parties concerned and their lawyers including legal aid lawyers should make efforts to attend their cases and should contact Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to know about the status of their case,” said project officer Sanjay Sharma.

He also added that non-representation of lawyers in the cases will result in the appeal being dismissed. — IANS

Greater Noida, July 9
The district consumer redressal forum has found the Greater Noida Authority guilty of not handing over lease deed and physical possession of a plot to an allottee.

The consumer court also found the Greater Noida Authority guilty of demanding illegal money from the wife of the allottee for completing the formalities.

The consumer court ordered the Greater Noida Authority to hand over the physical possession of the allotted plot to allottee’s wife within 60 days. GNIDA’s demand of Rs 14.48 lakh for handing over the land was also dismissed by the court.

The husband of the woman was allotted the plot, but after depositing few initial instalments, he died. The plot was duly registered in wife’s name, but the GNIDA had demanded a fat sum as the balance amount for transferring the land to her.

Anil Gupta, husband of Kamla Gupta of Vishwas Nagar in Delhi, was allotted a 450-sq mt plot in Greater Noida on June 10, 2001 for Rs 4.75 lakh. Anil had to pay the balance amount in ten instalments. But he died before paying the full amount. After his death, Kamla requested the authority to transfer the plot to her name.

The GNIDA, on November 25, 2008, transferred the plot to Kamla’s name, but demanded Rs 14.48 lakh as the balance payment. Kamla had offered to make the payment on April 7, 2003, but the GNIDA rejected her plea.

Kamla then approached the consumer forum. The consumer forum has now ruled that the Greater Noida Authority should hand over the possession of the plot to her within 60 days after accepting the payment as mentioned in GNIDA’s notice dated April 7, 2003.

Ghaziabad, July 9
A Dalit was, reportedly, beaten to death by some policemen in Chhapar police station near Meerut.

The police team which took the victim to the district hospital had to face the villagers’ wrath. They did not allow the policemen to take the victim’s body for postmortem.

They even jammed the Delhi-Dehradun highway and beat up police cricle officer (DSP) Alok Priyadarshi.

The SHO of Chhapar police station and two other police officials have been suspended.

Following the SSP’s order, a case of murder has been registered against seven persons, including the three policemen.

Rajbal (55) and his brother Maya Ram of Chhapar village were having a land dispute with Raje of the same village. This often caused clashes.

According to Maya Ram, on Wednesday some policemen took him and Rajbal to Chhapar police station. There they allegedly beat them up.

Rajbal was taken to the district hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Meanwhile, some villagers reached the hospital and clashed with the policemen.

They ransacked Chhapar police station and protested outside the mortuary.

They demanded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for Rajbal’s family and jail for the guilty policemen.

As villagers beat up the police circle officer, the police personnel lathicharged to scare them away. Some patients and their relatives were also injured in the incident.

New Delhi, July 9
A city court today pulled up the Delhi police for its poor handling of the case and acquitted a suspected Dawood Ibrahim aide, a 67-year-old man who was arrested four years ago for allegedly possessing fake currency notes.

The additional sessions judge asked the police to learn the difference between levelling allegations and proving the same in the court.

Kamal Kishore Chaddha, suspected of working for Dawood gang was detained in Mumbai. He was brought to Delhi in 2005. The police had claimed to have seized fake notes worth Rs 2 lakh from Chaddha’sresidence in March 2005. He had allegedly he visited Dawood in Pakistan many times. — IANS