An employee of the victim being taken to his office.Tribune photo: Vinay Malik

Chandigarh, November 25
Five unidentified persons shot a businessman at his office in Sector 20 here this evening and reportedly fled in a car parked at a busy market.

The police said the deceased had been identified as Harjinder Singh Dhillon (in his mid-30s), a resident of Phase VII, Mohali. He had been divorced and was living with his mother. His neighbour said he was also running a transport business, besides a telecom franchise in Sector 20.

The police suspected that a dispute over the finance of a car could be the reason behind the murder.

Harbans Singh, a shopkeeper, said pieces of glass fell from the first floor in front of his shop. He went to see what had happened and heard a woman crying for help at Dhillon’s office. He, along with others, rushed to his office and heard a gunshot. They saw Dhillon lying on the floor, muttering something. They took him to the GMCH in a car.

Eyewitnesses said they saw five youths, including one with turban, rushing down the staircase. They ran to the rear of the market through a vacant plot and fled.

Dhillon, who was reportedly shot in the chest, was declared brought dead at the hospital.

The police received information about the incident at around 7.30 pm.

Dhillon was sitting in his office with his employee, Simmi, when the youths arrived. They had a discussion over some issues, including a Ford Fiesta belonging to Dhillon. The arguments took an ugly turn and a youth manhandled him. His turban fell off and one of the youths fired a shot.

Simmi accompanied Dhillon to the hospital and was later brought to the spot and questioned. She reportedly told the police that she had seen the youths earlier also as they used to visit him. The police has dispatched teams to trace the accused. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 25
The local police today arrested five people, including a resident of Coimbatore, for fraudulently misusing credit cards of foreign tourists by imprinting their CVC numbers (card security codes) on forged cards. Officials investigating the matter said whenever a cardholder used his or her card at a store or a hotel the suspects, in connivance with shopkeepers and hotel staff, retrieved their CVC numbers and used them to make purchases on fake credit cards.

“After copying down the security code of a credit card they imprinted it onto another credit card that they then used for conducting fraudulent transactions”, said Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Kaustubh Sharma.

He added the gang’s main targets were tourists who would not be able to trace the culprits after returning their countries. The gang members used to steal the code from various stores and hotels with the help of shopowners and hotel staff.

Once they got the code they used to pass it over to an illegal credit card manufacturer in Kolkata, who supplied them fake credit cards with the original codes of cards stolen from foreigners.

Police officials investigating the case said the suspects have made purchases amounting to lakhs of rupees in Patiala, Khanna and Amritsar during the past six months. They have also prepared fake driving licences and other documents to produce before shopkeepers to make purchases of more than Rs 50,000. Fake identity cards and driving licences have also been recovered from their possession. The suspects admitted they had purchased fake credit cards in lieu of Rs 1.11 lakh from the Kolkata manufacturer.

The five suspects have been identified as Mohammad Javed of Coimbatore, Harmandeep Singh alias Sambha, Gaurav Kumar, Gurvinder Singh Bopi, all residents of Batala and Sandeep Singh of Verka in Amritsar. They all were traveling in a Honda City car near Mandi Gobindgarh and were arrested following a tipoff. Various MasterCards and VISA cards issued by ICICI Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank have been recovered from their possession.

The police said it had registered a case against the five men in this connection and they would be taken into police remand for further investigation. Police officials said more arrests are expected in the coming few days after the suspects are interrogated.

Chandigarh, November 25
The UT administration’s deputy district attorney (legal) has landed himself along with a police SHO in the dock in connection with the Deep Nursing Home case. Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain of the Punjab & Haryana High Court today summoned both to the court on the next date of hearing following the failure of the authorities concerned to make clear their stand on the submission of a ‘challan’ in the matter.

The Chandigarh police had registered a case against the nursing home’s owners, Dr Kanwarjit Kochhar and her husband, Dr Gurdeep Singh Kochhar, following allegations of medical negligence leading to the death of a patient and her child. Both had also been accused of fabricating false evidence in the judicial proceedings.

An FIR was filed in the case about two months after the Chandigarh State Consumer Commission had slapped a fine of Rs 20 lakh on the owners.

The Chandigarh branch of the Indian Medical Association, which has already come out in support of the nursing home, has urged the inspector-general of police to withdraw the case on the ground that the medical board constituted by the UT administration had not found any negligence on part of the two doctors.

As the doctors’ petition for quashing the FIR came up for hearing before justice Jain, counsel for the administration stated on the next date of hearing the bench would be informed about the specific stand on whether the ‘challan’ was to be submitted.

Counsel for the petitioners, on the other hand, asserted a stand had not been taken even though over a year had lapsed. Responding to the assertion, the UT’s counsel added on instructions from a police official that legal opinion had to be given by the deputy district attorney (legal) and, thereafter, further action would be taken by the police.

Taking on record the assertion, Jain directed the police station house officer as well as the DDA to be present in the court, while fixing November 30 as the next date of hearing in the matter. The first information report in the case was registered on March 1, 2007 and the doctor couple have all along been claiming implication.

Chandigarh, November 25
Panjab University today sought an explanation from GGM Khalsa College, Ludhiana, pertaining to “forging identities” by students in the youth festival.

The information was communicated to The Tribune via the public relation department of the university by the department of youth welfare which is responsible for coordinating such festivals.

The VC, Prof RC Sobti, also expressed his disappointment on the issue during the UGC principals’ meeting today. “Students cannot seek admission at two places and it is against the rules. Migration certificate and other important documents are needed at the time of admission and it is the responsibility of the college to check these. If it is found that the PU authorities have been cheated, strict action would be taken against the guilty, be it the college or the students,” he said.

Khalsa College had earlier issued identity cards to eight students of the bhangra team, attesting that they were bona fide students of the college.

Later the students gave an affidavit to the PTU that they were students of the university and not the PU. This happened when a controversy cropped following a complaint by other participants to the PTU, saying that thesePU pulls up Ludhiana collegestudents had participated in both PU and PTU inter-zonal festivals and had won the first prize in both.

Chandigarh, November 25
Pre-2006 disability pensioners may have something to look forward to. During the 5th CPC regime, disability pension of the defence personnel was calculated on the basis of a slab-system, while civil disability pensioners got it on the percentage basis.

The defence personnel were granted disability element at the rate Rs 2,600 for officers, Rs 1,900 for JCOs and Rs 1,550 for other ranks for 100 per cent disability, while civilians were granted a disability element of 30 per cent of basic pay. The slab system was beneficial for some lower ranks of the forces but was not quite congenial to the overall scenario.

Recognising this anomaly, the 6th CPC recommended that even defence personnel should be placed on a percentage system of calculating disability element. However while accepting the new dispensation, the government made it applicable only to post-2006 pensioners, while retaining the old slab system for pre-2006 pensioners.

This resulted in a great disparity between pre and post-2006 disabled personnel. For example, a General, who may have retired on December 31, 2005 was entitled to a disability element of Rs 5,880 per month, while a General who retired a day later with the same disability on January 1, 2006 was entitled to Rs 27,000 as disability element.

But now there are indications that the new stipulation is going to be extended to pre-2006 disability pensioners in the near future. Personnel, who retired prior to January 1, 2006, would then also be placed on a percentage system for calculation of disability element. This would be subject to a minimum grant of Rs 3,100 as disability element for 100 per cent disability.

Chandigarh, November 25
Road signs in different parts of the city apparently convey different meanings, thanks to the non-compliance of guidelines laid down by the Indian Road Congress (IRC).

These road signs throw trusting motorists into confusion, misleading them to not only wrong directions, but also in the net of traffic police personnel, who then refuse to buy the logic and prefer to issue a ticket.

Interestingly, when an alert motorist, after being challaned by the traffic police for obeying a ‘wrong’ road sign at an intersection, pointed out the ‘mistake’, nobody from the authorities had come forward so far to take responsibility.

Two months on, they have failed to give a reply to a query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Harman Sidhu, president of the city-based road safety NGO ArriveSafe, who pointed out the anomaly, said he was travelling in his car on August 5 last when his driver was issued a ticket for taking a wrong U-turn at the traffic lights on the road separating Sector 31 and the Industrial Area.

The officer on duty continued booking motorists for the offence even as the road sign installed at the location was a ‘Compulsory keep left’ sign, with ‘No U-turn’ being carried beneath it.

As per the IRC manual, ‘U-turn prohibited’ is a prohibitory sign. It is a circular white board with a red border and a cross over it.

“The sign shall be erected at the start and at intervals along the section of the road on which the controlling authority has enforced the prohibition. The spacing between any two successive signs should not exceed 120 metres on each side of the road.”

The ‘Compulsory keep left’ sign is a blue disc with an arrow. “The sign is frequently used on bollards or islands and refuges in the middle of a carriageway and at beginning of central reserves of dual carriageway. It should not be used at breaks in an otherwise continuous central reserve.”However, at the particular location, both these road signs are joined into one and are installed at a ‘point of no-return’.

“What can a driver do in that situation? Either he brakes hard and reverses the vehicle, putting himself and others at risk, or takes a U-turn and pays the fine,” Sidhu asserted.

The matter did not end here and the authorities concerned kept on forwarding the query from one wing to another.

“I filed an RTI query with the municipal corporation on August 21, which said the section of the road was with the CP Division No II, Construction Circle. Subsequently, a letter was sent to the CP Division No II, which marked it to the CP Division No I, showing that the MC and the engineering department were not clear about who took care of which section of the road or about the road signs,” he said.

An RTI application was filed to the Executive Engineer-cum-CPIO, CP Division No I, on September 2, seeking information on whether the road sign was as per IRC norms, whether it had been installed at a proper place and who was liable to pay for the challan issued by the traffic police. Sidhu had been waiting for a reply from the authorities till date.

Chandigarh, November 25
The musical mega-nite during the two-day cultural extravaganza, the Chandigarh Carnival, will be organised on November 29.

Bollywood singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, will perform. The award-winning playback singer has given his voice in 19 films, including ‘Love Aaj Kal’, ‘New York’, ‘Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani’, ‘Tum Mile’, ‘All The Best’, ‘Do Knot Disturb’, ‘Raaz’ and ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’.

The first nite will bring doses of laughter, with Bharti Singh, known as Lalli, a participant of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, performing on stage.

Banwari Lal Johal and Bollywood actress Upasana Singh will also perform. Teams from Jordan, Hungary and France will showcase special features of their respective countries.

Sixteen troupes of folk dancers from these countries are expected to participate in the carnival to make the event more lively and global.

A film city will be set up by the ITFT Institute to promote Chandigarh as a destination of cinematic tourism. Another attraction will be the carnival parade.

It will go around the city, especially the Rock Garden, decked with funny floats and colourful tableaus of different cultures made by students of the Chandigarh College of Arts. The participants will sport carnival caps.

Chandigarh, November 25
The Chandigarh administration today decided to review the mental status of inmates of the Nari Niketan in Sector 26 here.

This was stated during a meeting of the review committee for various welfare institutions under the chairmanship of Home Secretary-cum-Secretary, Social Welfare.

Dr BS Chavan, professor and head of the department of psychiatry, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, would depute a team of doctors for the purpose.

Meanwhile, with a view to provide a balanced and nutritious diet to the inmates, the quantity of milk, curd and cereals was being increased.

Mohali, November 25
The State Information Commission, Punjab, has imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the public information officer (PIO) of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for causing delay in providing information. The penalty has been imposed under Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act.

The commission has ordered that the penalty amount be deducted from the salary of HS Sodhi, Superintending Engineer-cum-PIO, GMADA, and be deposited in the Treasury by December 10.

Coming down heavily on the lacklustre approach of GMADA, Lt Gen PK Grover (retired) , State Information Commissioner, stated that he had carefully gone through all the documents placed on record and it was seen that the response was provided in instalments over a period of 11 months. Even the initial response was provided after about eight months. He said “ Even though the PIO had to get information from various sections, I am of the view that his response has been totally insufficient. He did not submit an affidavit as had been ordered on September 29.”

The PIO also did not avail the opportunity given to him to explain his stance. Grover observed that the total approach of Sodhi had been lackadaisical and the case was stretched to seven hearings.

The Coordination Committee Against Paying Guests through its chairman PSVirdi sought the information on October 13, 2008, on eight points regarding shifting of paying guest business from residential areas of Mohali since commercial activity of any nature was prohibited in residential areas.

The information was not provided within the stipulated time under the RTI Act but was given after 11 months and that, too, when the coordination committee preferred a second appeal through its advocate Ranjivan Singh .

The information provided to the committee revealed that though GMADA had framed a policy in August , 2007, making it mandatory to get registration of PG accommodation running from residential premises, only two PGs had been registered so far. One was in Sector 70 and the other in Sector 68. The PG accommodations were mushrooming in the town but GMADA was not taking any action against violators. 

Mohali, November 25
Mohali has witnessed its first death due to swine flu when about 50-year-old woman died at the GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh. Another student has tested positive for the H1N1 infection. The swine flu death toll has now reached 17.

Dr Deepak Bhatia, Punjab Nodal Officer, said here today that Prem Lata, who lived in Sector 68, here, was first admitted in Indus Hospital and later shifted to GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, when her condition deteriorated. She had been tested positive for the H1N1 fever. Dr S.P.Surila, District Health Officer, said that the ICU of the Indus Hospital was sealed for three days and would be made functional only after proper sterilisation was done.

Patients had been shifted from the hospital. A list of 32 persons, who had come in contact with Prem Lata, both at home and at the Indus Hospital were being given the required medicine.

He said that Gaurav (9), a resident of Phase III A and student of Vivek School, was tested positive for swine flu today. 

Mohali, November 25
The Punjab National Bank, Lead Bank Office, Mohali, falling under circle office, Ludhiana, organised a MSME meet here. Presentation on various schemes for entrepreneurs was shown on slides.

The function was presided over by GS Chauhan, DGM, circle head, Punjab National Bank, circle office, Ludhiana. In his inaugural address, Chauhan said that the PNB had strived to reach each entrepreneur for his financial needs with wide range of schemes. The bank had made schemes for both manufacturing and service sector enterprises on attractive rate of interests and simplified the procedure for processing the loan proposals through specialised SME branches. The SME meets were being held in every district to create awareness among the prospective entrepreneurs. — OC

Chandigarh, November 25
Over three months after official permission, not a single industrialist has applied to change his current production house into an information technology venture.

Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar confirmed that the administration had allowed industrialists to change their existing trade into IT ventures. It had, however, been clarified that those going in for the change would only be allowed software and hardware projects and . would not be allowed to carry out business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures which were also categorised as information technology enabled service or ITES.

Anyone wishing to opt for the change was only required to inform the estate office. The decision was taken following a meeting with the industrialists in the presence of the UT administrator.

Estate officer Hargunjit Kaur confirmed that till date they had not received a single application. The Finance Secretary said the industrial area did not have sufficient space to allow BPO ventures because any change would impact the water and power demands, besides infrastructure. Also, it would not be able to cater to the BPO rush.

HS Mamik, an industrialist, said: “Not allowing BPOs is only a mockery of introducing change. The administration has been fiddling with schemes to suit the whim of officials. First, they allowed conversion for plots in more than four acres, then an acre and later even lesser. They did not allow IT ventures here keeping in mind the IT park and now the change is allowed, but it holds little meaning if the BPOs are not allowed.” The administration on the other hand feels that those wanting to pursue ITES or BPOs could shift to the IT park.

Chandigarh, November 25
Principals of various colleges affiliated to Panjab University were today advised by Vice-Chancellor Prof RC Sobti to apply for an autonomous status. The VC urged them to start new courses in their colleges and design improved teaching techniques.

The UGC-sponsored principals’ meet was organised by Academic Staff College at the ICSSR Complex today.

Nearly 60 principals from across the state attended the meeting.

Chief guest Prof Sobti said colleges should impart education as per the local conditions by becoming autonomous.

In a crucial dialogue with principals, he said colleges should come forward and conduct their examination without any fear.

“Opening new colleges is a welcome move, but the need to strengthen the system is equally important. This can happen if institutes are autonomous,” he said.

He added that presently there was no coordination between different stages of education. “With more than 480 universities, 23,000 colleges and lakhs of schools, we have still not reached the level where we can compete with the developed countries,” added the VC.

Prof MM Puri, former Vice-Chancellor, PU, said, “There is a difference between education and literacy and the two should not be confused.”

Other speakers included Prof Shelley Walia, director, Academic Staff College, Dr Kavita A Sharma, director, India International Centre, New Delhi, Prof VK Tewari, principal, DAV College, Jalandhar and Prof Dinesh Gupta, chairperson, University Business School.

Adding that colleges should work towards generating better students and teachers, the VC said it was hard to find good teachers in the fields of science and technology.

Some principals also brought to the notice of the VC that three colleges affiliated to PU had applied for an autonomous status, but the government of Punjab has asked for an undertaking that they should not ask for grant in that case. To this, the VC replied that the colleges should generate funds on its own.

Chandigarh, November 25
In a serious security lapse on the Panjab University campus today, SOPU leader Brinder Dhillon and Amit Bhatia, president, student council, forcibly locked the university departments. The leaders were protesting against the refusal of department’s clerks to deposit fee.

Amid high drama, breach of security by council members was stretched to nearly 
an hour.

Earlier, on the issue of depositing fee in various departments, bank officials had claimed that in case of self-financing courses and several other courses, where the fee was more, a huge sum of money was collected and kept in the departments, but due to shortage of staff in the bank, they were not in a position to collect fee.

Despite simplifying the process of depositing fee by making it online, students still prefer the conventional way of standing in long queues at the bank counter each time.

Though the student council president later deposited keys of the locks to Prof Naval Kishore, Dean, student welfare, a meeting has been called by Vice-Chancellor Prof RC Sobti with the council members tomorrow.

The DSW was not available for his comments, while council president Amit Bhatia and student leader Barider Dhillon had earlier told the Tribune that they would not give any statement to the paper, since the paper had highlighted the differences between the council members and lapses on part of the council.

Mohali, November 25
A four-day annual cultural fiesta “Noor 09” began with great vigour at Manav Mangal Smart School, Mohali, here today .

Chandigarh, November 25
Eminent mathematicians of national and international repute gathered at the department of mathematics, Panjab University, to participate in a prestigious colloquium on “Recent Trends in Algebra and Algebraic Number Theory” here today.

Sponsored by the department of science and technology, the three-day event aims at providing a platform for young researchers to interact with nearly 80 eminent mathematicians from across the country and abroad.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof RC Sobti inaugurated the colloquium and shared the stage with leading algebraist Prof IBS Passi, eminent mathematician and former Vice-Chancellor of PU Prof RP Bambah and Prof R Sridharan.

Prof Bambah presided over the function and Prof Sridharan delivered the first lecture of the session.

Appreciating the contributions and efforts of Prof Passi in the field of mathematics on his 70th birthday, Prof Bambah said, “He is a mathematician, who cannot only see various aspects of the subject, but can also relate each other remarkably.”

VC Prof RC Sobti thanked Prof Bambah for contributing immensely to his life and encouraging him to start the biotechnology department at PU.

Mathematicians from international institutes like University of Hawaiii the USA, Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow, Sobolov Institute of Mathematics, Novosibirsk (Russia), TIFR Mumbai, CMI Chennai, IIT Bombay, HRI Allahabad attended the conference.

Lectures were delivered by Prof R Sridharan, Prof Ron Brown from University of Hawaii, Prof R Sujatha and Prof Roman Mikhailov from Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow.

Young researchers, including Dr Manoj Yadav from HRI Allahabad, Anuj Bishnoi and Harpreet Kaur of the department gave presentations.