PTU counselling delayed
Jalandhar, August 7
Punjab Technical University (PTU) failed to gather the vacant seat status from its affiliated colleges even today, delaying any announcement regarding fresh schedule for the last round of counselling.

Bathinda, August 7
With the arrest of three persons, the police today claimed to have solved the murder of Sandeep Singh, alias Bobby, the son of former Akali minister Teja Singh.

According to the police, the murder took place for 2.75 acres, which was allegedly under the illegal possession of Sandeep.

The police had booked Raj Kumar, alias Raju, and Sikander Singh, both of Chahila Wala village (Mansa), Pargat Singh of Kheeva village and Sandeep’s domestic servant Karan of Bihar, under Section 302 and 120-B of the IPC, on a complaint of deceased’s wife on August 2. Three of them have been arrested while Sikander is at large.

Sandeep had been found shot dead in his Tavera parked alongside the Sirhind canal, near the above mentioned 2.75 acres.

According to the statement of deceased’s wife, Jasleen Kaur, two persons from the Maur-Mansa area visited their house to get their 32 acres located along the river bank on lease by paying Rs 3.5 lakh per year. They had visited earlier too and Sandeep had asked them to bring the money and come along with elders of their family.

On that day, the accused, who are now identified as Raj Kumar and Pargat Singh, told Sandeep that the amount was with their elders, who were waiting for him in the fields. Sandeep took them in his vehicle and moved towards the fields where he was later found dead.

SSP Ashish Chaudhary said Raj Kumar was a follower-cum-kin of Saint Vivekanand of Dera Baba Bahal Dass, Jassi Pau Wali. The saint gave him a piece of 2.75 acre located adjacent to Sandeep’s land. Later, Raj Kumar came to know that the land was in the illegal possession of Sandeep.

Raj Kumar chalked out a plot to murder Sandeep with the help of two of his friends. In the plan, Pargat was their financial helper and was to provide logistic support and hire advocate, if traced.

He was to get 1.5 acre for his help in the murder. They then hired Karan, Sandeep’s servant, to give information about movements of his employer. He was assured of Rs 1.5-lakh payment for his job.

About the modus operandi of the culprits, the SSP said Sikander and Raju accompanied Sandeep in his vehicle. Upon reaching the spot, Raju, who was sitting on the rear seat, shot at his back, killing him on the spot. The police recovered the country made pistol used in the crime from the possession of Raj Kumar.

Chandigarh, August 7
The Punjab government has in principle adopted the semester system in classes IX and XI from the academic year 2009-10 in all government-aided, recognised and schools affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board. The examinations for first semester will be held during the second week of September 2009 and second semester from March 1, 2010.

Disclosing this here yesterday, a spokesman for the Punjab School Education Department said the study period of the first semester starts from April 1, 2009, to September 30, 2009, whereas the second semester would commence from October 1, 2009, to March 30, 2010. According to the notification issued in this regard, the results of these semesters will be declared at the end of September and March every year, he added.

He said to shift from annual examination to semester system in classes X and XII , the evaluation of the current semester system would be taken during the month of April 2010. The semester system for classes IX and XI had been implemented for one year, he said.

He said each paper in semesters would have 60 per cent marks out of total marks and in both semesters, internal assessment would be of 40 per cent each, including 20 per cent for monthly tests. Each student would have to clear the five compulsory subjects, including Punjabi, and to get at least 20 per cent marks in the 6th subject. To pass the examination, students would have to get 33 per cent marks, he said.

He said the first semester examination for classes IX and XI would start from September 14 till 25, whereas the second semester examination for both classes would be held from March 1 to 15.

Jalandhar, August 7
Punjab Technical University (PTU) failed to gather the vacant seat status from its affiliated colleges even today, delaying any announcement regarding fresh schedule for the last round of counselling.

Officiating Registrar Sarojini Gautam Sharda said only a few colleges had responded today, giving details of the students who had either deposited the fee or had opted for withdrawal. “Many colleges had furnished incomplete details or had messed it up completely, even adding up their management quota seats. We have asked them to clearly specify details of each seat with the student’s name, his details and category under which he had taken the seat by tomorrow,” she said, adding that any announcement for a new schedule would be made tomorrow.

Meanwhile, hundreds of candidates and their parents kept on thronging the PTU campus today to enquire about the status of seats and any possibility of their getting a seat in the college of their preference. Since none of them was allowed inside the campus this morning, they staged a dharna for a while on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala road, blocking the traffic there. 

Chandigarh, August 7
President of the SAD Sukhbir Badal today sent out mixed signals on his future after being sworn in as member of the state legislative assembly. While he was clear that his father Parkash Singh Badal was “very young” when asked about his chances of taking on the mantle of Chief Minister, in reply to another query about the demand from the youth for the same he said, “as party president I will ensure their sentiments are implemented”.

Earlier, Sukhbir was sworn in as member of the legislative assembly along with Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Jasjit Singh Bunny. Sukhbir and Sekhwan arrived together for the ceremony held at the Vidhan Sabha while Bunny arrived separately. After the ceremony, Sukhbir sat with Sekhwan and Bunny went up to him twice to shake hands for the benefit of the cameramen.

Party leaders thronged the Vidhan Sabha to congratulate Sukhbir. BJP leaders, including Balramji Das Tandon, BJP state president Rajinder Bhandari and senior minister Manoranjan Kalia also attended the function.

Later, talking to The Tribune, Sukhbir, when questioned on the chief ministership issue, said his father was “very young” and was taking the party forward in a proper manner. “He has the capacity to work like a 16 year old.” However, when questioned that there was a demand from the youth that he took over as Chief Minister, he said: “As party president I will ensure their sentiments are implemented”.

Sukhbir’s swearing in as Deputy Chief Minister may, however, be a quiet affair. Party sources said it would not take place at the PCA stadium.

The SAD chief made it clear that the party would resort to all “constitutional means” to thwart the establishment of a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana. He claimed that six of the 12 SGPC members from Haryana did not support the demand. “Twelve out of the 18 prominent Sikh institutions in Haryana also do not support a separate committee for Haryana”, he said. Sukhbir also claimed that a referendum on the issue as proposed by the Haryana government would not work, as it was difficult to ensure the genuineness of any such exercise.

Chandigarh, August 7
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is not keen to elevate a BJP man to the post of Deputy Chief Minister along with his son Sukhbir Badal who is likely to be given the same post again in a few days.

According to sources, both BJP state in charge Balbir Punj and senior leader Balramji Das Tandon met Badal yesterday and asked him about his next course of action following the election of Sukhbir to the Vidhan Sabha. Badal reportedly told them that the party was still to take any decision on the issue and that the party stand would be conveyed to them at an appropriate time.

The sources said the Chief Minister was of the view that the issue of the post of Deputy Chief Minister had already been settled once when the SAD took clearance from the central BJP high command before appointing Sukhbir to the post earlier.

However, now the state leadership wants to open the issue again and is putting pressure on the SAD to accede to its demand. According to sources, once the SAD makes it clear that Sukhbir is being reinducted in the assembly as Deputy Chief Minister, the BJP will again put up its demand to appoint one of its men 
to the post.

There is also speculation that the state BJP leadership has asked its central leadership to allow it to extend support to the SAD from outside in case the latter is adamant on not giving it the post to it. However, the Centre is said to have cautioned the state leadership not to do anything to rock the boat as of now. BJP state leaders are unlikely to state their differences on the issue this time before getting the go-ahead from the central leadership. 

Ludhiana, August 7
Deputy Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, Satpal Gosain today gave a clean chit to accused in the tehsildar assault case Simarjit Singh Bains and Kamaljit Singh Karwal, stating that an investigation by a private agency hired by him proved them ‘‘innocent.’’

Gosain, who is a senior BJP leader, said here that he had engaged a private investigating agency to look into the FIR. It found out that Bains and Karwal were not present on the spot when Tehsildar GS Benipal was stripped and assaulted.

He said both were falsely framed and Major Benipal had ‘‘misled’’ the police. ‘‘The duo became victims of political vendetta within the SAD. There is nothing more to the case than this political background, ’’ said Gosain.

The Deputy Speaker said the tehsildar was beaten up as he had refused to do public works while sitting in the office. He had paid up for pent up public anger. The two youth leaders had no hand in the entire episode.

‘‘The supplementary statement given by tehsildars into the case was false. It was motivated,’’ he said, while refusing to say anything about Jails Minister Hira Singh Gabria, whom Bains’ supporters have been claiming to be behind the FIR.

Having a dig at Major Benipal’s stand of not tying a turban till the one he lost during the assault was recovered, Gosain said he neither had long hair nor a beard. ‘‘What is a Sikh with shorn hair and beard? He has no right to give such statements about his turban, ’’ he said.

The Deputy Speaker refused to say anything whether he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister or not. ‘‘The court of law would bring out the truth. It is just a matter of time,’’ he said.

Patiala, August 7
The cash-strapped Punjabi University, Patiala, it seems, has become a member of the group of a few “recession-proof” institutes of the world as it is exhibiting its “strong determination” to go ahead with its proposed programme to recruit more teachers in one of its departments that has failed to attract even a single student for all its three postgraduate courses this year.

Ironically, while all existing seven teachers of the department were going without work and were finding it hard to justify their heavy salary bill of about Rs 2.5 lakh, the university authorities are learnt to have made up their mind to appoint one more professor, a reader and three lecturers. “The interview for the selection of the reader is scheduled to be held on August 10,” sources said.

It is for the first time that all three masters’ courses (MA) in religious studies, Sikh studies, Buddhist studies and a certificate course in Pali language and literature are going without any students this year. Only two applicants had applied for these courses this year, but even they were not found eligible for admission.

In such a situation, all seven teachers, four lecturers and three professors, were going without work and were said to have been busy justifying their salaries by seeking research-based projects. “We have no work to do as we don’t have any student,” admitted one of the teachers.

This piquant situation, however, has apparently failed to deter the university authorities, already facing financial problems, from going ahead with the proposed recruitment process. The posts were advertised around one year ago.

While Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh was not available for comments despite repeated attempts, sources said the proposed recruitment was being done with a motive to elevate one of the junior lecturers to the post of a reader under “political pressure”.

Patiala, August 7
The Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has issued strict instructions to transporters not to indulge in evasion of value added tax (VAT), otherwise they would have to face stringent action.

Sources in the department said instructions had been received from the Excise and Taxation Commissioner pointing out that Section 51(4) of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005, required every person in charge of goods vehicle entering or leaving Punjab to stop at the nearest information collection centre (ICC) or checkpost. They would also be required to furnish all documents relevant to the goods being transported and a declaration in triplicate giving details of such goods.

The missive says it had come to the notice of the department that some transporters did not stop at the ICC and that was causing loss of revenue to the State. The law provided for stringent penalties and criminal persecution for the lapse.

The department has now issued directions that the transporters must ensure that they reported at the nearest ICC while exiting or entering Punjab. Even if the business premises is located before the ICC in the state, transporters and dealers must furnish the information at the nearest available ICC before unloading goods or further transshipment of the same goods.

The department has advised transporters not to jump the ICC without giving required information and not to deliberately adopt the escape routes. It has warned that any contravention of this advisory would make the transporters and owners of the goods liable to penalty under Section 51(7) of Punjab VAT Act, 2005. The violators would also face prosecution under the relevant provisions of the CrPC and the IPC.

The department has also notified that persons giving information about transporters operating illegally would be suitably rewarded. Information about violators of these instructions could be provided to Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner and Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner in-charge of the district or division or Director (Investigation ) of the department and also on mobile Nos. 9872910004 or 9872910006.

Chandigarh, August 7
There is a need to create more awareness about various health schemes being implemented in Punjab.

The total financial assistance disbursed by the state in 2008 amounted to just Rs 2.75 lakh, though a corpus of Rs 1.5 crore was created to provide monetary aid to the poor. In all, only four persons availed themselves of the benefit.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court believes the situation is no different in other sates; and wants the state governments to put display boards in government hospitals, “wherein broad features of the scheme, benefits envisaged and entitlement of the persons shall be mentioned”.

Taking up a petition filed by the World Human Rights Protection Council, the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia observed: “Ranjan Lakhanpal, counsel appearing for the petitioner, has provided us a copy of a press release issued by the Health Minister in press conference on December 30, 2008, wherein achievements for 2008 and road map for 2009 of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Punjab, have been mentioned.”

“The government’s achievements regarding the Punjab Nirogi Yojna, read: The state has established a corpus of Rs 1.5 crore to provide financial assistance up to Rs 1.5 lakh to the poor (BPL families) for treatment of life-threatening diseases.… “The assistance can be provided up to Rs 3 lakh. So far, financial assistance amounting to only Rs 2.75 lakh has been provided to four beneficiaries in the state.”

The Bench also directed: “The anganwari workers, in their orientation programme, shall be made aware about the scheme of providing financial aid to the sick and ailing.”

Chandigarh, August 7
Justice Permod Kohli of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today restrained the state of Punjab and Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner from convening a meeting of the local municipal council for electing its office-bearers till further orders. A notice of motion was also issued to the respondents for August 24.

The directions follow a petition filed by Ashwani Grover and 12 other members of the municipal council, through senior advocate Satya Pal Jain. The petitioners were claiming that the state government, under undue political influence, was not notifying the names of elected office-bearers. Instead, it was planning to call another meeting of the municipal council for holding the election again.

The petitioners had also sought a direction to the state to notify the names of Ashwani Grover, Prem Nath and Kanta Rani as the president, the senior vice-president and the vice-president, respectively.