Chandigarh, December 14
In a development that may lend credence to the dictum ‘justice delayed is justice denied’, the city’s district courts are bursting at the seams with over 81,000 pending cases till November 2009.

In fact, an acute shortage of staff -both judicial and administrative - has taken its toll on the delivery of justice with a majority of cases remaining pending for several years. Of the total of 81,712 pending cases, 60,712 were criminal cases while 21,000 were civil cases, data obtained through an RTI application revealed.

The maximum number of pending cases - 6,825 - are in the court of civil judge (junior division) Mahesh Kumar, whose court incidentally also had the highest number (5,525) of pending criminal cases.

Civil judge (junior division) Amit Sharma's court has the second highest number of pending cases with 6,786 while his colleague Sumit Ghai had the third largest number (6,248) of such cases.

Civil judge (senior division) Anshul Berry has the distinction of having the lowest number of pending cases with 2,812 while chief judicial magistrate Jasbir Singh Sidhu also had a substantial number of pending cases at 4,240, including 3,344 criminal cases. Among the other civil judges having pendency in their courts are Balwant Singh (6,459), Manisha Jain (6,248), Paramjit Kaur (6,125), Palwinderjit Kaur (5,245), Sunil Kumar (6,482), Amandeep Kaur (4,243), Pritpal Singh (6,265) and Hem Raj Mittal (5,841).

Chandigarh, December 14
The failure on the part of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to curb the stray cattle menace in the city today claimed life of a scooterist.

According to the police, the deceased, identified as Nand Lal (55), a resident of Sector 40-A, was on his way to his grocery shop in Mohali at around 6 am when the mishap occurred.

Sources said the scooter Nand Lal was riding hit a buffalo on the road separating Sectors 39 and 40. The mishap occurred due to poor visibility as the streetlights were dysfunctional.

An eyewitness told the police that the animal came all of sudden in front of the scooter leaving no time for Nand Lal to manoeuvre his scooter.

The victim was rushed to the PGI, where he was declared brought dead. He is survived by his wife and a daughter. The family refused to lodge a formal complaint in this regard and requested that the body should be handed over to them without the post-mortem examination.

Reacting on the police action, legal experts said the police should have motivated the victim’s family to lodge a formal complaint enabling it to probe into the reasons leading to the death of a sole breadwinner of the family.

“Such attitude only goes in favour of the officials indulging in malpractices and committing gross irregularities. In earlier mishaps also, the police had initiate inquest proceedings rather than following procedure for tracing the person responsible for causing death,” said an advocate.

One can see a large number of stray animals grazing along the roads in southern sectors. The MC has a special staff equipped with trucks and other paraphernalia to catch stray animals. It is alleged that certain officials are allowing the illegal practice of grazing the animals during nights. 

Chandigarh, December 14
After a long protest, the UT contractual schoolteachers have a reason to smile as the administration has decided to raise their salaries almost by a double.

As per the formal instructions letter dispatched to the schools, the scales of the contractual teachers have been revised and will be paid with effect from August 2009.

As per the new scales, a postgraduate teacher (PGT), who was earlier being paid around Rs 9,000, will now get Rs 19,400. Similarly, the scale of trained graduate teachers (TGTs) has been raised to 17,600 from Rs 8,000, while for the junior basic training (JBT) category, the salary has been enhanced to Rs 14,000 from Rs 7,000.

“We have considered their demands. It’s not that we don’t recognise their work or needs, but everything has a set procedure to be followed and that takes time. Now, these scales have put the contractual employees at par with the regular ones,” said a senior official.

The move, however, has surprisingly failed to elate the contractual teachers, who claim it to be nothing but their long delayed due.

“They have not done anything special for us. The administration had raised the salaries of all its contractual employees earlier. We were, however, left out. Now, they are giving us what is our lawful due. We had never protested for pay scales, but for regularisation of job and are firm on it, said Shashi, president of the Contractual Teachers Union.

“When administration chose to ignore us, we approached Rahul Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It was the pressure from the Centre following which our salaries have been enhanced,” she added.

The contractual teachers were on a warpath with the UT administration seeking regularisation of their service. While the initial protests were marked by novel ways of cleaning vehicles or polishing shoes, things took an ugly turn when over 75 of them, including women, were arrested and kept overnight in police stations for protesting at Matka Chowk.

Chandigarh, December 14
Doctors in the city have questioned the findings of the “research” of senior PGI cardiologist Prof Yashpaul Sharma that “speaking lies can cause cancer”.

Prof Sharma, who was earlier the head of the PGI’s cardiology department, had grabbed headlines in a section of the local press recently after he claimed that his research, “A new insight into the missing links of diseases”, had shown that people who lie and commit crimes are prone to cancer due to hormonal imbalance. “People who lie, commit crimes and corruption and indulge in plagiarism suffer from a guilt complex, which causes hormonal imbalance, and this can also have a
genetic impact,” he had stated while addressing a press conference.

Though the claims sound interesting and even scary, especially for those who do indulge in such activities, the city’s medical fraternity debunks the findings and finds it rather amusing. “There is no such research and it seems only a speculation,” says Dr Anil Grover, an ex-PGI cardiologist.

Disputing Dr Sharma’s claims of his findings being based on research, Dr Grover said, “where has the research been published”, adding that all such works need to be documented in medical publications, national or international.

A renowned cardiologist of the city, who requested anonymity, said, “I haven’t heard any such thing and never seen any case like this.” He said if there any such research, Dr Sharma should back it up with evidence.

Senior oncologist, Dr AK Pandey, GMCH-32, said, “It’s very difficult to prove that there is any relationship, direct or indirect, between guilt and cancer.” Expressing surprise at reporters’ queries, Dr Pandey said, “I have never been asked such absurd questions in my life. There is no research or scientific proof to back such claims.” Another cardiologist, Dr SK Bali of Fortis, questioned how a heart specialist could comment on cancer. “Such claims can get 20 seconds to fame, but are not good for the public,” he cautioned.

When confronted, Dr Sharma was virtually on the back foot. After giving various reasons to back his claims, he ultimately admitted that this was merely a theory. “It’s a molecular theory based on scientific literature and risk factors already known,” he said, admitting that his “research” had not been published in any medical journal. However, he claimed that he had applied for a patent on his findings and already had a copyright on it.

Chandigarh, December 14
Instead of having increased the number of parking lots in the city, the municipal corporation is now burdened with the task of optimum utilisation of the limited space in the existing lots to ease residents’ parking woes.

Since the introduction of paid parking in the city, various MC officials had put forth several proposals on reigning in defiant contractors who had been flouting norms. However, no detailed discussions have yet been held on resolving the growing parking problems in the city’s markets.

If one visits any of the major parking lots during peak hours a large number of vehicles can be seen parked on the roadside due to the simple reason that there is no space inside the parking areas. The vehicle owners due to no fault of their own are then issued ‘challans’ (fines) by the traffic police for wrong parking.

Commenting on situations, traffic management experts said, “If the authorities cannot increase the parking space they could at least work out plans to ensure the available parking space is utilized optimally”.

The experts suggested that rather than charging flat rates from vehicle owners for parking for any number of hours the authorities should follow the ‘sliding system’. “Under this system the authorities could fix parking charges according to hours, like Rs 5 for two hours, Rs 10 for five hours and Rs 20 for eight hours”, they added.

They stated if such a system could be enforced it would encouraging car pools among the public. They also suggested a separate parking area should be earmarked in every market for government vehicles and those of shopkeepers and employees, so that they do not occupy the parking space for the entire day.

The traffic management experts have also recommended that underground parking lots, wherever they exist in the city, should be handed over to contractors. They said these lots should especially be reserved for two wheelers in order to make more space available for four wheelers in the market parking lots.

Former chief engineer Puranjit Singh said he had proposed the ‘sliding system’ to the MC authorities but as they did not approve it he did not take up the matter again. “As the number of vehicles in the city is increasing by the day and there is not much scope to increase parking space, the authorities have no option but to adopt the ‘sliding system’ for parking soon”, he added.

A senior official, however, revealed the civic body plans to increase the number of parking lots in the city’s major sectors to reduce the growing congestion. 

Chandigarh, December 14
Over 50 structures were razed during a clean-up operation at Colony No. 5 here today. The demolition drive, which began at 10 in the morning, lasted till around 12 noon.

Enforcement wing officials said no untoward incident was reported during the operation. Officials said demolished jhuggis were raised two months ago, while colony residents claimed that they were residing there for the past two years.

About 20 labourers stormed into the site this morning. SDM Prerna Puri and JS Khaira, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), supervised the operation. A large posse of police was also deployed. Meanwhile, some jhuggi-dwellers resented the move. Four trucks and two JCBs were pressed into service. As many as 300 cops were deployed to prevent any untoward incident. The drive continued for about two hours.

Chandigarh, December 14
KS Dhillon, father of Harjinder Singh Dhillon, who was allegedly killed by Davinder Singh, alias Whiskey, on November 25 today appreciated the Chandigarh police for arresting Whiskey in a short span of time.

Dhillon, while praising the promptness of the Chandigarh police, said it had arrested a man within a couple of weeks who had been evading arrest for the past over 15 years in Punjab.

Dhillon met UT DGP SK Jain and offered to give Rs 10,000 to the team, appreciating their efforts and dedication.

Talking to TNS, the DGP said there was no such provision and the police could not take money from the victim even if he was paying it as a reward.

While discussing other unsolved murder cases, including that of Sham Mall owner Amarjit Singh, Santosh Kumari of Sector 42, who was electrocuted and of inspector Kashmira Singh, the DGP said the police had some vital clues in the case and would be able to crack it soon.

About the Santosh Kumari murder, the DGP said the probe would be shifted to the crime branch. “The police station concerned could not solve the case and they had other jobs. The case needs special attention, so I have decided to shift the probe to the crime branch”, said the DGP.

The Kashmira Singh murder case had been solved with the identification of the prime accused, who is at large. He would be arrested any time, the DGP informed.

Meanwhile, sources said Whiskey had used around 17 sim cards while on the run and had made only one phone call from each sim.

The police kept the persons called by him under surveillance and managed to zero in on him. The police has so far recovered 10 sim cards from him. The police has also recovered the weapon with which he shot Dhillon.

Mohali, December 14
“Back door censorship to control news content through the Cable Regulation Act by the Congress led UPA government will strongly be opposed by the Akali government. The act aims at curbing freedom of the press,” said Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Minister of Information and Public Relations and NRI affairs at a seminar on “Press, Police and Politics” organised by Mohali Press Club here today.

Talking about the Cable Regulation Act, the minister said the Centre was planning to add some new provisions under the 1995 Act for media regulation. Any move to curb the fundamental right of speech was against the democracy.

He said since the state government understood the importance of media, a policy was being notified to bring transparency in relations between media and the state government.

An accreditation committee would be formed to give greater autonomy to the press. He added that an advertisement policy would be framed in the interest of field reporters.

Shingara Singh Bbullar, a former editor of Punjabi Tribune, said journalists should not confine their activities to cities only, but they should bring to fore the problems faced by rural people.

He said that professionalism was being compromised to forward business interests of newspapers. Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said one should not fear the law, but should respect it.

Sukhdev Singh Patwari, president of the Mohali Press Club, said the political setup was responsible for the working of media and police. Satinder Bains, a senior journalist, Anil Bhardwaj, RS Walia and Jaswant Singh Bhullar were also present on the occasion.

Chandigarh, December 14
In a bid to revamp the schools ailing infrastructure, the administration has decided to spend Rs 4.65 crore on the construction of buildings of schools and colleges. The decision was one amongst many taken at a meeting, which was convened by UT Home Secretary Ram Niwas.

In this review meeting which was attended by the Chief Engineer, Director, Higher Education, and DPI (Schools) it was decided that out of these funds, Rs 1.1 crore would be earmarked for school buildings and Rs 1.9 crore for colleges. A sum of Rs 30.5 lakh would be set apart for the state merit scholarship. It has also been decided that sufficient funds will be provided for strengthening the vocational courses in schools.

It has also been decided that a sum of Rs 3.3 crore will be spent on the development of primary and secondary schools.

“With a view to coping with the rush of students, three new school buildings were being constructed in Sectors 50, 53, 54. Apart from the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan funds, a sum of Rs 80 lakh has been spent on the purchase of jerseys for students. Bags and socks will also be provided to them. The process of distribution of uniforms at alternative and innovative centres has already been started under the SSA scheme”, DPI (Schools) Sunil Bhatia said.

According to him, Rs 5 crore will be spent on providing mid-day meal and Rs 2 crore on the purchase of water bottles, bags and exercise notebooks for the needy students. The meeting also decided to grant Rs 1.4 crore as financial assistance to six non-government primary schools in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, December 14
Fiftyfive members of Ram Mohan Mission, Kolkata, were in the city today as a part of its all-India social awareness movement against social evils.

Speaking to the media here, Sankar Biswas, founder and president of the mission, said they took up the campaign on February 3 and volunteers would educate public to raise their voice against the social evils and prejudices.

Biswas further said, “People in our country are not aware of the social evils and its effects on our daily life. Since we are dealing with sensitive social issues, we have to keep in mind that it does not bear any ill effect on the mind of today’s youth. So we decided to start off with the 55-member team to spread awareness about the social evils like female foeticide, child marriage, dowry system, polygamy, child labour and promote women’s education.”

“Dowry is illegal but the system was widely practiced in our country. The anti-dowry drive would be successful if the public was made to realise the negativity surrounding the system,” he added.

Biswas further implored cooperation and assistance from all quarters and especially from the media for the success of this noble venture of the mission.

Chandigarh, December 14
The National Student Union of India (NSUI) has taken an initiative of introducing the democratic system in the organisational set-up of the party.

As proposed earlier, the NSUI has done away with the nomination system and has adopted electoral system to choose leader.

Speaking at a press conference in the Press Club today, Randeep S Khaira, newly elected president, NSUI, Chandigarh, said, “The NSUI has always been a student party which aims at working towards the bright future of contemporary India. Being the first elected president of the state, my priority would be to work for the upliftment of the educational scenario and make students understand that their participation could help India stride towards a better future.”

The party has already implemented the electoral system in Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal from where presidents were chosen amidst a sea of supporters.

NSUI leaders such as Gobind S Khatra (senior student leader), Pari Mittal (national delegate) and Simranjeet Kaur (national delegate) also attended the conference and addressed the media.

Chandigarh, December 14
The process for the acquisition of land for the new modernised transport nagar, coming up approximately on 75 acres in Daria village, has started.

This was disclosed in a meeting held today under the chairmanship of Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar. President of the Chandigarh Transport Association KK Abraul and general secretary BL Sharma were present during the meeting.

Keeping in mind the persistent demand of the Chandigarh Transport Association for expanding the Transport Nagar, which is spread in an area of around 15 acres, the decision of setting up the Transport Nagar was taken. The land earmarked for the project would be on route number 2 providing direct connectivity to the Chandigarh-Ambala road. Besides, the site is in proximity to the new railway freight terminal and would facilitate easy transportation of goods.

Unlike the existing transport area, which is within the city and has no possibility of expansion, the new transport nagar could be expanded as per the future requirements. The project will have various common facilities, including service stations, proper drainage facility, regularised parking, weigh bridge, petrol pump, hotel, public toilets etc. The project will relieve the city from traffic snarls caused due to movement of heavy vehicles, Sanjay Kumar said. 

Panchkula, December 14
Thousands of slumdwellers from Rajiv colony and Indira colony took out a protest march seeking plots under the rehabilitation scheme, here today.

The protesters later demonstrated in front of mini secretariat complex in Sector-1 before submitting a memorandum to Panchkula ADC Ashok Kumar Sangwan.

In case the administration failed to meet their demand the protest would be started on a large scale from January 1, they said.

HUDA had constructed 2,070 flats for the residents of Azad colony, Kharak Monagoli, and Madrasi colony and more than 7,000 two-room houses for slumsdwellers of Panchkula, Pinjore and Kalka, under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme.

At present, Panchkula has one dozen slum areas with a population of more than 43,000. These include Azad Colony, Matu Ram Colony, Ramesh Kumar Colony, Babu Ram Colony, Madrasi Colony, Makhan Singh Colony, Ambedkar Colony, Kharag Mangoli, Sham Lal Colony, Rajiv Colony and Indira Colony.

The Rajiv and Indira Colony Sangarsh Samiti, however, demanded that instead of flats they should be allotted one marla plots claiming that government assured of the plots in 1994 to them. President of Samiti Krishan Pal Jain said that in 1994 the government had assured them plots and even application money was charged from them, he said adding that now they were even being deprived of their right.

Later Panchkula MLA Devender Kumar Bansal also met the HUDA chief administrator and discussed the matter with him. In case the money was accepted against plots then HUDA must fulfil its obligation, he said.

Chandigarh, December 14
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) MM Dhonchak has been appointed Registrar (Grouping) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

He had been functioning as the ADSJ on ad hoc basis. Now, he has also been promoted by the Haryana Governor as the ADSJ on regular basis in pursuance to the Punjab and Haryana High Court recommendations; and is entitled to seniority from backdate.

His name was initially recommended for the Legal Remembrancer’s post by the full court headed by the then Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur. But, the name of Haryana judicial officer Sant Prakash was cleared for the post subsequently. 

Chandigarh, December 14
The Sarang Research and Cultural Centre, Mohali, has planned to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of its founder Gyani Mohinder Singh Rattan, a renowned Sikh scholar.

Starting on December 17, the centre will have three-day birth centenary events activities at Mohali. These activities include Gurbani singing by college students and music academies; poetry recital and understanding Gurbani Keertan by Bhai Baldeep Singh and Dr Jagir Singh; lectures by scholars such as Dr Jaswant Singh Neki, Dr Rattan Singh Jaggi, and Dr Gurbhagat Singh on the significance of Gurbani Teeka and on the 19th evening, a specially prepared play “Baba Nanak’s Paair", by Gursharan Bha-ji. On each evening during the event, the children from Sarang will present various cultural programmes.

“Gyaniji’s whole life was dedicated to the great tradition of Gurbani. The Sikh community had endowed him with the title of “lasani sodhak” (incomparable editor) and the holy books published under his supervision were deemed authentic. Some of his work done in order to make Gurbani accessible to the lay public has historical significance. For example, setting up 1,430 page-format as the standard size of Adi Sri Guru Granth Sahibji, and bringing out its word-separated version are two of the most important works of Gyaniji. For this and other such contributions, Gyaniji was awarded a national award by the Vice-President of India in 1992,” said Dr Rama Rattan, director, Saranglok.

Before his death in 1996, Gyaniji revived and completed the Gurbani-interpretation initiated by famous Sikh scholar and poet Bhai Vir Singh.

“This great work is now being published by the Sarang as the book series “Gurbani Sabad Surat”, whose five volumes have already been published, and together with the remaining six volumes to come out in the future, will be a grand work of global significance,” added NS rattan, patron-in-chief, Sarang.

“The centenary celebrations, thus, have a social, human and intellectual dimension, transcending the mere emotional homage to a great sage and scholar of Sikhism,” pointed out Mata Shib Bani.

Chandigarh, December 14
The city-based British School becomes the first ever north Indian educational institution to introduce “Monkeynastix”.

The pioneer movement hailing from South Africa is meant for the children between the age group of 2.5 year to 8 year and aims at improving physical, motor, cognitive and intellectual skills of the children.

It is a holistic combination of creativity, music, story telling with training in flexibility, balance, strength, agility, coordination and body awareness. “We have started it in the school just to ensure the overall development of the children. It’s a unique way of using sports to chisel a child’s general skills,” said principal Mona Sethi.

Chandigarh, December 14
Questioning the opinion given by the legal council of university on the PhD exemption case, the All-India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) today held a press conference at the student centre, defending the enrolment of Vijay Dhanda.

Vice-president of the federation, Dr Jagwant Singh, also demanded approval of appointment of Vijay Dhanda and re-instatement of Malvinder Kaur, lecturer in Sociology, MCM DAV College for Women.

He stated that legal advice of any counsel is his opinion based upon the case and facts presented before him. “Dhanda’s Ph.D enrolment is not only in a accordance with the university rules but also an academically sound decision, and in no way it will lower the “Ph.D. degree benchmark,” said Singh.

He said that since she is an approved teacher, her enrolment is perfectly covered under rules of the PU. He added that the words “approved/regular” have only one meaning “approved and regular”.

“According to the rules of Delhi University and Jawahal Lal Nehru University, she is eligible to get admitted to Ph.D directly and without entrance test,” he said addressing mediapersons.

“In Malvinder Kaur’s case, PU should grant her approval as it is clear from conditions of eligibility of the latest advertisement for NET examination, in the context of masters degree programme of 1991. She appeared in MA examination of PU in July 1991 and her result was declared on September 24, 1991,” added Singh.

Chandigarh, December 14
The monthly expenditure borne by a student staying in rented accommodations, which have a thick student population, is nearly five times more than the expense of a hosteller in Panjab University.

In the wake of soaring tuition fee in private academies and high cost of living especially in the sectors adjoining the university and colleges, which is now taking a toll on the students pocket, need of the hour is to build a few economical hostels in the city for the students.

With minimal annual rental charges, the hostels have long been a preferred destination for the students and continue to remain so even today.

While the waiting list of the students seeking rooms inside the university dilutes at this time of the year and the number of students in queue is hardly 30, two new hostels are near completion in the campus.

But it is unforeseen that a city like Chandigarh, which has a list of mega projects lined up for development, has no scheme for cheap accommodation for the students.

Though there are hostels for working people like YMCA Hostel, YWCA Hostel and Working Women Hostel in Sector 24, there are hardly any for the students outside the university and college campuses.

“In Sector 15 itself, I pay Rs 4,500 for my room and Rs 3,000 more on food. Adding minor conveyance charges and other expenses related to studies, per month expenditure of a student easily amounts to Rs 9,000-Rs 10,000. This excludes the tuition fee one pays for coaching,” said Anupama, who has just completed her MPhil from PU.

In sharp contrast, a rent of roughly Rs 500 and Rs 1,800 for food is what a student of PU pays for staying inside the university campus.

“There is a huge difference in the cost of living inside any college campus or even in the PU campus. My friends who are preparing for MBA entrance exam along with their graduation are paying six times more than what I am paying here,” said Vibhor, a student of BTech, final year in PU.

Chandigarh, December 14
The department of music, Panjab University, in collaboration with SPICMACY, witnessed a lecture-cum-demonstration by Dr Prateek Chaudhri, son and disciple of world renowned sitarist Padmabhushan Pt Debui Chaudhri.

He is the ninth generation representative of the Senia Gharana. Presently, a reader in faculty of music and fine arts, University of Delhi, Prateek gave a scintillating performance in raga Lalit.

He presented a number of compositions in eight-and-a-half beat, nine beats, 10 beats and in teen tala.

Ustad Rashid Zafar Khan accompanied him on tabla. The event was a part of the ongoing refresher course in the performing and visual arts.

The day’s other highlight was a lecture-cum-slide show by city’s noted sculptor Shiv Singh. The coordinator of the course, Prof Pankaj Mala Sharma, thanked the artistes for their valuable presentations.