Mohali, January 16
In the “preferred posting” scam of the Punjab Police, the six arrested officials of the establishment branch in the office of the Director-General of Police (DGP) were today remanded to three-day police custody.

When the accused were being produced in the local courts, they tried to escape from police custody to hide behind vehicles to escape being captured on camera by mediapersons. The arrested persons, including two Superintendent-rank officials, have been booked under the Corruption Act for facilitating the postings of Non-gazetted officers (NGOs), including Assistant Sub Inspectors (ASI) and Sub-Inspectors (SI), within their respective ranges.

It is learnt that some of them had been rewarded in the past for their “good work”. One of the arrested superintendents is due to retire in a few months.

Officials investigating the case believe that the total number of beneficiaries across the state could cross 400. The SSP, Mohali, GPS Bhullar, said investigations were on to go into the details of the case.

Sources said after registering the case and arresting the clerks and executive staff, Nek Ram Sharma, Gyan Chand, Prem Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Ankit and Sandeep, raids were conducted at their respective houses. No incriminating documents were found from their houses. Now, the police would be checking their bank accounts and lockers.

Explaining their modus operandi, sources said they used to manipulate records to facilitate the allocation of the station to the beneficiaries.

Sources said acting on source information, the accused, including a computer operator, used to contact the promoted police officials and lure them to get postings at their place of preference. After getting the list and contact numbers of the promotee from the establishment records, they used to meet them at selected places near Fortis Hospital and near the PCA. Some of the meetings were also held at the house of a senior assistant. A team of officials under the SP, City, SS Gill, had been assigned the job to arrest and investigate the case.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the accused said senior police officials were involved in the scam.

Chandigarh, January 16
The city residents can now register their complaints, pose queries and send suggestions directly to the Chandigarh administration on its official website (chandigarh.gov.in).

The department of information technology, after pruning mail in response to the notice in the “Public Interest” section, is forwarding the communication to the department concerned.

Although not a very popular mode of public expression, “Largely due to lack of public knowledge”, the site has started receiving complaints, queries and suggestions pertaining to various departments.

The IT department has forwarded the queries to the Finance Secretary, Chief Administrator, Registrar (birth and death), Estate Office, Municipal Corporation, DPI (Schools) and the SSP, besides certain others.

MS Brar, director, IT, said, “We take up various problems faced by people, verify their ground realities and forward them to the department concerned for the necessary action”.

Madhukar Malhotra, a resident of 21-C, has sought that “all roads parallel to the Madhya Marg should be called margs and those at 90 degrees to the Madhya Marg be called “paths” for easier identification.

Kapil Goyal, a resident of Sector 51, has asked the department to enrol more banks for the online payment of bills.

Each department of the Chandigarh administration should have a separate website, Ashutosh, a local resident, has sought.

“Most of the departments have dormant websites,” he added.

RK Verma, a resident of Panchkula, said, “Not being able to mention name of the person on birth certificates is quite embarrassing for a parent, later on. Required changes, including adding surnames, should be allowed, at a later stage.”

It has been sought that the e-sampark centres should be allowed to entertain income tax returns as well.

It has been sought in another communication that the MC officials should keep a check on unauthorised roadside vendors in Sector 17 plaza after 6.30 pm.

Puneet Singh, a resident of Panchkula, while drawing attention towards pathetic attitude of the police, said “I don’t find any place on the portal to lodge online protests. Cops smoke openly, don’t wear helmets themselves, but are eager to make quick money, if others flout rules.”

“He has also hinted at prevalence of bribery at certain places. The suggestion has been forwarded to the SSP.

Major Singh, a resident of sector 15, said, “The portal should also incorporate the facility of replies from the departments concerned within a stipulated time period to make the exercise more worthwhile.”

Panchkula, January 16
A day after recording the statements of Subhash Girhtora and Anand Prakash, the CBI team completed recording of statements of Ashu Girhtora, brother of Ruchika, here today.

A team of CBI started recording the statements of Ashu last evening. In addition, Madhu Prakash and Aradhana, both wife and daughter of Anand Prakash respectively also joined the investigation and recorded their statements at the CBI camp office in Sector 18.

Madhu and Aradhana reached the CBI office at 11.30 am and CBI officials recorded their statements till 5.30 pm.

While Madhu was the petitioner in the Ruchika molestation case against SPS Rathore, Aradhana was a key witness. Aradhana had witnessed the molestation of Ruchika on August 12, 1990.

Chandigarh, January 16
Flight operations at the Chandigarh airport, which were badly disrupted due to dense fog for the last 15 days, functioned normally today.

“All flights, except the Jet Airways, which had already cancelled its flights up to January 18, are operating as per schedule,” an airport official said.

The general visibility remained over 200 m, while the runway visibility was over 1,500 m at night, he added.

Later, the visibility increased to over 2,000 m.

Yesterday, too, the GoAir Airlines Mumbai-Chandigarh flight landed as per its scheduled time.

According to sources, all four airlines have suffered huge losses due to the cancellation of the Chandigarh-Delhi flight. The Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the city airport had been out of order for the last seven months, which led to the suspension of flights. Although most of the flights remained operational today, trains were delayed by more than nine hours and at some places by one hour.

The minimum temperature recorded today was 4.3 degrees Celsius, while the maximum rose to 20.5 degrees Celsius against yesterday’s maximum temperature of 18.5.

Sunny mornings, meanwhile, have brought respite to people of the city and the adjoining areas of Punjab and Haryana.

According to the Met department, weather is likely to remain dry and clear in the next 24 hours in the city, with maximum and minimum temperatures hovering between 21 and 6 degrees Celsius tomorrow.

But one should not keep their winter clothes aside, as there were possibilities of mist, fog and frost in some parts of the region, they added.

During the past two to three days, the maximum temperature in the region hovered between 16 and 19 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature remained between 5 to 6.4 degrees Celsius, with 97 to 44 per cent humidity.

Chandigarh, January 16
Claiming that the ambitious housing project of Parsvnath Developers Limited, Pride Asia, has run into “rough weather due to recession and other circumstances”, a real estate company associated with the builders has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions for the winding up of the company.

In its petition, Satya Estates Private Limited has asserted that it was engaged in real estate business, and entered into a contract with Parsvnath Developers on April 11, 2007. It was appointed marketing associate and authorised agent. Quoting the appointment letter issued by Parsvnath Developers, Satya Estates said commission was to be paid to them.

About 14 units were sold with the coming up of Pride Asia in Chandigarh. As such, a commission of Rs 61,75,830 was due to them.

Arguing on petitioner’s behalf, counsel Ravi Sodhi said Parsvnath Developers issued a tax deduction at source certificate for Rs 75,258. But, even after admitting their claim by deducting the TDS, Parsvnath Developers had not paid the commission due to the petitioner for this tax deposited.

“Apart from the resultant loss of the principal amount due to the petitioner, the default of Parsvnath Developers has further resulted in burdening them with an income tax liability,” Satya Estates said, adding that conduct of Parsvnath Developers in deducting TDS was a clear-cut admission that amount was due towards them for the business done.

Sodhi added: The petitioner has been pursuing and regularly requesting the respondent company to make the payment, but for reasons best known to the company, it did not bother to pay its dues. As such, the respondent company may be “ordered to be wound up by the high court under the provisions of Section 439 read with Sections 433 and 434 of the Companies Act, 1956”.

Directions have also been sought for the appointment of a provisional liquidator to look after the company’s affairs.

Taking up the petition, Justice Surya Kant has issued a notice to Parsvnath Developers. The petition will now come up for further hearing on March 12.

Chandigarh, January 16
Punjab Governor and UT Administrator SF Rodrigues who is set to demit office in the backdrop of the appointment of former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil as his successor leaves behind a trail of controversies in Chandigarh.

While his tenure as the Punjab Governor was by and large non-controversial, it was in his capacity as the UT Administrator that he courted one controversy after another, particularly regarding his pet mega projects, which later came under the scanner of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the CBI.

His slugfest with Union Minister and Chandigarh MP Pawan Bansal and seniormost UT bureaucrat and Adviser to the Administrator Pradip Mehra dominated a substantial period of his tenure, derailing major development works in the union territory. This, coupled with his alleged "anti-democratic and autocratic" style of functioning, ruffled a lot of feathers, particularly those of the UT farmers, who have been opposing the "forcible acquisition" of their lands for the mega projects, including the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park.

Almost all mega projects, including Medicity, Film City and Theme-cum-Amusement Park, considered to be Rodrigues' brainchild, sparked off controversies. A CBI inquiry was ordered into the Film City and the Amusement Park following recommendation of the CVC. Ultimately, the Film City was scrapped, resulting in allegations and counter-allegations between the administration and the developers Parsvnath Developers Limited.

The lack of transparency and low land compensation to the farmers whose land has been acquired for the projects were stated to be causes behind the hue and cry about the mega projects, touted to change the face of Chandigarh and push it to the metro league. In fact, the mega projects were the personal initiatives of the administrator.

The mega projects led to the relations between Rodrigues and Mehra touching their nadir. In fact, the tenure also saw an all-out attack by Bansal against Rodrigues following an interview in section of the Press containing certain allegations against Bansal.

The special audit report of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) indicting the administration for paying less compensation to the farmers for the acquisition of land in the IT Park brought a lot of embarrassment to the UT top brass, including the administrator.

Besides, Rodrigues was accused of riding roughshod over the democratic aspirations of the people by giving "inadequate" representation to the politicians in the Administrator’s Advisory Council (AAC). In fact, the AAC proved to be sham, with only one meeting being held.

In the last phase of the tenure, Bansal accused the administrator of victimising the Congressmen, with the latest "victim" being Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla, who is cooling his heels in jail in the illegal shed allotment case in Sector 26 Grain Market.

Panchkula, January 16
The Panchkula administration has been asked to take strict action against property dealers and others involved in the real estate business, who have failed to register themselves despite the Act being passed by the state assembly, in 2008.

The government not finding even a single person involved in the real estate business in the district on record with the Registrar of Properties has asked the Deputy Commissioner to prepare a list of such persons and take appropriate action.

Any person, company or a society dealing in properties in Haryana will have to get a licence according to the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Rules, 2009.

The Act aims to streamline the business of real estate transactions and safeguard the interests of people using services of property dealers, consultants and real estate agents in the state.

An individual found indulging in property consultancy business without having a valid licence is liable to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 and in case of society, company or organisation the fine is Rs 1 lakh.

The property dealers or their representatives can not enter into transaction of sale, purchase, exchange, letting or taking on lease between the buyer and seller, lessor and lessee, landlord and tenant, including collection of rent in respect of immovable property, with anybody in any manner, till they do not obtain a licence from the state government.

The license will be valid for a period of 5 years and can be renewed.

The licence, however, shall stand automatically cancelled on bankruptcy, insolvency, lunacy or unsoundness of mind of the licence holder.

The property dealer is supposed to display the signboard bearing the registered licence number at his/her office.

According to Pankaj Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula, who is also designated as the Collector under the Act, has received merely 3 applications, including one from DLF in this regard.

He has already asked the revenue officials to identify these persons and serve notice to them, said Yadav. The Revenue Department has also been asked not to allow these persons to carry out property dealings, he added.

Chandigarh, January 16
As many as four city teachers today received the ‘Tara Chand Saboo Excellence Awards in School Teaching’ for their dedicated teaching and hard work.

The awards, which are presented to outstanding city teachers annually, were instituted by the Jan Seva Trust, run by the Saboo family, seven years ago, to give the teachers their due recognition.

Pritam Singh Serai of Satluj Public School, Panchkula won the lifetime achievement award, which carries a trophy, citation and a cash award of Rs 75, 000.

“The best award that a teacher gets is satisfaction by imparting the right education. Every time I see a student taught by me progressing in life, I feel the divine pleasure and contentment and this award gives those abstract feelings a visible shape,” said an elated Pritam.

Neerja Jain, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, was the recipient of the Excellence Award for School Teaching (secondary classes), while Paramjeet Kaur, a teacher at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33D, got the Excellence Award for School Teaching (primary classes).

The Excellence Award for Teaching Economically Underprivileged Children was given to Prem Lata of Government Middle School, Sector 46.

Justice Mukul Mudgal, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court who was the chief guest appreciated the trust’s efforts.

RK Saboo, trustee chairman of the trust, considered the awards as a small effort to laud the unsung and unnoticed shapers of our country’s future.

Awards director Anuradha Saboo said no member of the executive committee or the trust participates in the deliberation and decision of the jury, so as to ensure a fair and unbiased selection. Moreover, the panel is changed every year to include two members from the city and two from outside.

Chandigarh, January 16
Advocate HC Arora has resigned as the convener of the RTI Users’ Association. The association represents RTI users of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

In a resignation letter addressed to RTI activists Hitender Jain and Hemant Goswami, Arora has stated that he is resigning because he had been unable to convince them about the need to hold elections for choosing office-bearers of the association.

“I am unable to persuade you to hold the first conference of the RTI Users’ Association, including the elections of office-bearers, in a democratic way through elected delegates, even though I categorically declared that I shall not accept any post now onwards, and that endeavor shall be made to select the office-bearers through consensus. You are, however, definitely entitled to hold your views. I, therefore, submit my resignation as Founder-Convener of the RTI Users’ Association, with immediate effect, and dissociate myself from the ensuing conference,” stated Arora in the letter.

He added that he had been pressing for the conduct of free and fair elections among the members for the posts of the various office-bearers and the district heads of the association as well. “However, for reasons known to some of the members, this move was objected to. Since I am not sure what these members have in mind and where they intend to take the association, I am disassociating from it,” he said. The association was formed in June last and has over 400 members from across the three states. While Hemant Goswami and Hitender Jain said they had not received the resignation letter yet.

Chandigarh, January 16
The city art lovers were treated to an enchanting spell of Odissi classical dance by internationally renowned Odissi guru Madhvi Mudgal and her foremost disciple and virtuoso danseuse Arushi Mudgal in a dance recital organised by HIFA at Randhawa Auditorium.

Madhvi commenced the recital with an invocatory, “Abood dekhin mayur”, seeking blessings of Natraja before versatile Arushi took the centrestage to define and display pure nritta through a tarana.

Depicting a glimpse of pranks of Lord Krishna and pangs of divine consort Radha after a Sakhi intervenes, Madhvi was a picture of confidence and grace in delineating an Ashatpadi “Madhve makuri…”. She brought alive the essence of all sentiments (nav rasa) with consummate ease and perfection in the entire abhinya portion, a challenging element in any classical dance form.

Arushi again appeared to lend meaning to a Kalidas romantic poem. The programme attained inevitable climax as both Madhvi and Arushi teamed up to present concluding Bhairavi Pallavi. Nimble footwork, graceful gestures with movements floating across the stage, the dancing duo enraptured the scant but receptive audience. Musical renditions of pedant and poetry were the lifeline of the absorbing recital.

The audience did not relish screening of documentary films resulting in inordinate delay of the dance recital. Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal, IAS Ram Niwas and IPS Rajbir Deswal graced the function.

Mohali, January 16
Springing a surprise, Parminder Singh Toor, was yesterday elected president of the Mohali District Bar Association in the elections to the bar held here. He defeated his rival, Manjeet Singh Chauhan, by a margin of 32 votes.

Of the total 392 votes, 223 votes were polled. Of the total polled votes, 17 votes were cancelled.

Interestingly, two of the candidates, Amrit Lal Bansal, and Harjinder Singh Baidwan, whose candidature had been rejected for the post of the president, came in support of Manjeet Singh Chauhan.

For the post of vice-president, Harpinder Singh scored 111 votes, defeating his nearest rival DS Rathore by a margin of 53 votes. Two other candidates in the fray for the post of vice-president, Harbhajan and Surjit Singh Sodhi, scored 32 and 11 votes, respectively.

Candidates for other posts, Puneet Chauhan (general secretary), Ravinder Pal Kaur (joint secretary) and PR Mann (cashier) were elected unanimously.

Mohali, January 16
The Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight-2010 was declared open by DS Jaspal, principal secretary, department of transport, Punjab, at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research here today.

While addressing a gathering, Jaspal said, “The availability of petroleum products is limited and as such these should be used carefully. India has to depend on other nations for petroleum products and this adversely affects the economy of our country. By using these carefully, we will not only be able to control our resources, but also check pollution.”

He said the government had started air-conditioned buses in the state in order to make public transport more popular, which in turn would help reduce the pollution, as people made more use of such a transport facility instead of their own cars. Efforts were also being made to phase out auto-rickshaws running on diesel to check pollution.

Oil conservation assumed greater importance in view of the crude oil prices going up drastically in the international market in December last year, which not only crippled the Indian economy but also the world economy, he added.

The principal secretary also flagged off a mobile van, which will go to various parts of Punjab during the fortnight in order to spread awareness about oil and gas conservation.

Schoolchildren from Kurali presented a cultural programme conveying the message of conservation of fuels. A pledge for conservation of petroleum products was also taken by the gathering.

Chandigarh, January 16
After the prestigious IIMs, it is the turn of private MBA institutions to favour girls and rural youth in the admission process.

Representatives of the B-schools participating in the ongoing MBA admissions at GGDSD College, Sector 32, today revealed this in an interaction with the Chandigarh Tribune.

In an effort to reduce whopping fee of the forms of various MBA institutes, GGDSD College in collaboration with Educorp has organised the admission process at the college campus itself, where students from across the region can come and get themselves enrolled in the B-schools.

These institutes, which primarily accept MAT score, conducted their group discussions and personal interviews in the campus today and shortlisted more than 100 students.

“We have a preference for girl students and even rural youth, as they have been found to be more sincere in their job and the commitment level is much higher in them. We also believe that the students cannot be rated only on one criteria, which is their percentile in an exam. The overall personality of a child and the zeal to work is more important,” said Dr Sunil Rai, CEO, Mumbai Business School, and former director, SP Jain College, Mumbai.

Educorp head Amit Hans said the fest was a unique initiative and the students from across the region had been invited to come and participate in it so that they had safe options to choose from.

“Although each year, our college students get calls from IIMs and other prestigious institutes, but this effort has been made so that all students get a fair chance,” informed Dr AC Vaid, principal, GGDSD College, Sector 32.

The first day of “MBA Admissions 2010” saw over 360 students being evaluated by eight MBA colleges- Mumbai Business School (10 students), ISBF (20 students), NIE (18 students), United World School (8 students), IIPM (19 students), IIBM (32 students) and NSHM (38 students).

While IILM Institute would announce the names of shortlisted candidates soon. The students were divided into 24 groups of 15 each and went through group discussions and personal interview rounds.

“It is for the first time that I have seen an event like this and the students have the opportunity to explore the institutes. Also the quality of the students who came is awesome and the selection rate is as high as 90 per cent,” said Preeti, a representative of ISBF, Delhi.

Chandigarh, January 16
A two-day national conference “Saarthi-2010” on “Ethics in healthcare” began at Panjab University here today.

The conference is organised by University Institute of Applied Management Sciences (UIAMS), Panjab University, in collaboration with the Senior Citizens’ Council for Human Resource Development.

Prof SP Kaushik, director, Senior Citizens’ Council for Human Resource Development, Chandigarh, stressed on ethics of healthcare. He emphasised that major factors contributing to the medical malpractice was poor quality of medical graduates and postgraduates being produced within the country.

Prof RC Sobti, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, emphasised the need for re-orientation of teaching-learning processes so as to incorporate ethical orientation in the curriculum.

The societal concerns regarding stem cell transplantation and tissue re-engineering were to be dealt by recognising the present and future buds of mankind. He suggested inculcating a sense of self-compliance and self-regulation as requisites for maintaining dignity of medical profession.

Duties and obligations of health service professionals require more ethical orientation in their practice.

Prof Sudha Suri, director, Alchemist, outlined medical malpractices like MTP, connivance of medical practitioners with laboratory and drug manufacturers and urged health providers to be considerate of patients.

Prof K Gauba, director, HS Judge Institute of Dental Sciences, Panjab University, highlighted ills of privatisation of higher medical education where capitation/donations fee was making it difficult for students with humble background to join the profession.