NEIGHBOURHOOD

Panchayat faces teacher’s wrath
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 20
Experts blamed lackadaisical approach of judicial officers, inefficiency of investigating agencies and misuse of constitutional system of governance for impeding the smooth functioning of the Indian judicial system on concluding day of a two-day seminar on “Facets of Justice Delivery System”, organised by Punjabi University’s department of law, here.

In his address, additional advocate general of Punjab Piyus Jain said real talent was needed to expedite the delivery of justice.

Police officers appointed as investigators of crime should be made to get complete understanding of law for early dispensation of justice to victims and punishment to guilty, he said. Judges should also be equipped with academic excellence and pragmatic wisdom to guarantee fair justice to all parties concerned, he added.

In his presidential remarks, Vice-Chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh advocated the broadening of frontiers and scope of justice, in addition to making it affordable to every citizen of the country irrespective of the inequalities.

He deplored the prevailing system facilitating influential people going scot free even after committing heinous crimes while those having committed small and inadvertent mistakes being severely punished due to their lack of resources.

Registrar and Professor of law Dr SS Khehra observed media trials based on hypothetical observations as unfair, unethical and violative of constitutional law.

While advocating accountability for wrong prosecutions, he lamented the lack of sanctioned strength of judges as a cause for delayed justice.

Dr Khehra also criticised the genre of “encounter specialists” being honoured for killing innocents on wrong pretexts.

He labelled honour killings as amounting to murder by khap panchayats and a conspiracy under law.

Dr Paramajit Singh, head of department of law, and Dr Charanjit Singh, dean (faculty of law), also spoke.

Chandigarh, March 20
The high court has swerved away from its transfer policy for sessions and additional sessions judges. Nearly 15 judges have been posted in the same “zone”; a move being criticised by the “left out” judges as an attempt to ensure comfortable stay for the “favourites”.

Just over two years ago, the court had divided the area under its jurisdiction into three zones. The intention was to ensure all judicial officers serve at the best possible stations.

A judicial officer posted in zone comprising “best cities” was transferred to a different zone consisting of “average cities”. The aim was to prevent “favourite” judicial officers from continuously enjoying the comforts of the “best cities”.

Available information suggests zone one consists of “A” category i.e. cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ropar, Chandigarh, Patiala, Karnal, Faridabad and Gurgaon. The other two zones include not so comfortable towns. From zone “one”, an officer was transferred to zone “three”, then to “two”, before making it to zone “one” again.

The decision to carve out the zones was taken after judicial officers expressed resentment to then Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur.

But in complete departure from the set norms, the high court has now permitted a “substantial number” of judicial officers to remain in the same zone. A perusal of the transfer orders issued on March 17 reveals eight judicial officers from Haryana and seven from Punjab have been allowed to remain in zone “one”. Consequently, judicial officers in zone “three” have been compelled to stay in the same zone, resulting in resentment of sorts among them.

This is not all. Judicial officer Navita Singh has been posted from Narnaul to Chandigarh as Haryana district and sessions judge-cum-registrar (vigilance).

The judicial officer was promoted as district and sessions judge some two months ago; and her posting as Haryana’s vigilance judge involves holding inquiries against judges senior to her - an action considered against the settled norms of justice.

It is also believed another sessions judge has been brought to a station near Delhi without the court’s approval, even though it is mandatory under the rules. In all, 42 Haryana judicial officers and 39 Punjab officers have been shifted. The transfer and postings come into force from April 1.

Chandigarh, March 20
The court of civil judge Sunil Kumar yesterday convicted an advocate’s clerk and sentenced him to two years in jail under Sections 380 (for theft) and 411 (for retaining stolen property) of the Indian Penal Code.

He had been caught for stealing the record of a case from the high court. An inquiry was ordered to look into the stolen record.

Gurdev was caught when he was placing back the files. He claimed that he took the record as the counsel’s fee was not received in the case.

Chandigarh, March 20
Additional District and Sessions Judge Gian Chand Garg today dismissed the bail application of Baba Pritpal Singh, head of the Gursagar Sahib Gurdwara Committee, in a land fraud case.

The special crime investigation cell of the Chandigarh Police had nabbed Baba Pritpal at Macchiwara in Ludhiana earlier this year. He was booked under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471and 120-B of the IPC after he allegedly sold a piece of land belonging to an NRI woman, Kanwaljit Kaur, by making a fake general power of attorney.

However, the buyer somehow contacted Kanwaljit Kaur and apprised her of the matter and both the parties registered a complaint against Baba.

“It is clear that the accused is highly influential and well connected. In case the bail is granted, there is a likelihood of his misusing his liberty for threatening and intimidating the witness or winning them over and tampering with the evidence. This bail application being without any merit is hereby dismissed,” the order said.

Chandigarh, March 20
The police claimed to busted a gang of thieves with the arrest of four of its members from Sector 52 last night.

The gang members have been identified as Deepak, alias Johny, Raju, alias Ashok, Dinesh and Deepak Gupta, alias Hasrat. Apart from Hasrat, who hails from Kanpur, the rest belong to the city.

Police sources said the accused were arrested while roaming on two “rehris” suspiciously during night. “When inquired, it came to light that they had burgled two shops at Kajheri village on March 16, 17 and 18 from where they had stolen readymade garments and some cash,” said the police.

At their instance, the police recovered seven empty gas cylinders, two bicycles, two rehris and readymade garments. — TNS

Chandigarh, March 20
In a major upset, local ace rallyist Sunny Sidhu and desert storm champion Abhishek Mishra are out of the SJOBA Thunderbolt Sub-Himalayan Rally-2010 here today.The reason behind ousting of Sunny and Mishra is snag in the vehicles. While the engine of Sunny’s gypsy failed, Mishra’s gypsy also developed some mechanical problems.

The first-ever and only woman participant in the two-wheeler category, Madhurima Awasthi is also out, as she met with an accident near Naini Tikkar here today.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh, Chandigarh, flagged off the second leg of the rally at St John’s High School, Sector 26.

The participants in the endurance trial (based on time, speed and distance format), in which 30 teams were competing, including Gul Panang’s team, were the first ones to roll out at 6.30 am, while the gypsies in the challenge rally were flagged off at 7 am.

In the cars’ category, 12 cars were flagged off, while in the motorcycles’ category, 29 participants were flagged off.

The participants traversed through Trilokpur, Morni, Mallah, Naintakar, Dilman, Kangar, Marhighat, Narag, Ashinikhad, Jhaja, Chail Palace, Chalada, Tehra, Koti Village and Koti Resorts. The participant will stay overnight at Koti Resorts.

The participants will be flagged off from Koti Resorts at 7 am tomorrow in leg three and will go to Guma, Baldevan, Mehli, Anandpur and Dumher to reach Sanawar. From there, they will proceed to Parwanoo, Bhojnagar and Chakki Da Mor to finally reach the finish line at St John’s.

The final results and prize distribution ceremony will be held on March 22 at 4 pm at St John’s High School.

Chandigarh, March 20
She is down but not out. The first-ever woman participant in the two-wheeler category of St John’s Old Boys’ Association motor rally, Madhurima Awasthi today met with an accident and broke her right arm, while participating in the rally.

Though the accident forced the brave girl out of action for the moment, Madhurima is taking it in stride and termed it “a part of the game”.

“I am unlucky that I had an accident on the first day, but trust me this is not going to stop me for such adventures in future,” asserted Madhurima.

She lost her balance on the way between Mallah and Naini Tikkar during the second competition section today afternoon. Before the accident, Madhurima had successfully completed two stages of transport section, one competition section and super special stage.

The accident left her with a fracture in the right wrist and some injuries on the right leg. She was helped by a co-participant and was taken to GMCH, Sector 16, for the treatment.

“I am a bit lucky that I have plaster on my right hand,” said Madhurima with a smile, revealing that she is lefty so she can take her sixth semester examinations next month. Madhurima is a BTech (third year) student.

After recovery, I will continue to participate in the motorbike rallies, said Madhurima.

Chandigarh, March 20
Akash Wagh and Kamala Kannan defeated Chandril Sood and Gurinder Singh in the first-round qualifying match in the $10,000 India F2 Futures ITF Men’s Circuit, being held at the CLTA Tennis Complex, Sector 10, here today.

Akash defeated Chandril 7-6 (2), 6-7 (5), 6-4 in a hard-fought three-set match. Both the players were evenly matched in their serve, volley and ground strokes and Akash just managed to win the first set in a tie-breaker at 7-6 (2). Keeping his nerves under control, Chandril hit back and won the next game 7-6 (5). Tied one-all, Akash wrapped up the match by winning the third set 6-4.

In another three-set well-contested first round match, Kamala Khannan, down by one set, rallied to oust Gurinder Singh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash defeated Muddappa Appanervanda 7-5, 6-4 to keep his hopes alive for a berth in the main draw, which begins on Monday.

Lakshit Sood, Chandril’s brother, moved into the second round at the expense of local competitor Shiva Sangwan 6-4, 5-7, 6-0. Another local lad Gary Singh Amor made his exit as he was defeated by Viju George Junior of United States who won in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

Results:

Gourav bt Prashant Sawant 6-3, 6-3, Shahbaaz Khan bt Arvind Singh 6-2, 6-1, Manuel Vezucha bt Markus Kanellous 6-1, 6-1, Akash Wagh bt Chandril Sood 7-6 (2), 6-7 (5), 6-4, Saurav Sukul bt Riha Philip 6-1, 3-1, Lakshit Sood bt Shiva Sangwan 6-4, 5-7, 6-0, Chris Kwon bt Rutger Cramer 6-1, 6-0, Kamala Khannan bt Gurinder Singh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash bt Muddappa Appanervanda 7-5, 6-4, Nishank Mishra bt Yogesh Phogat 6-0, 6-3, Viju George Jr bt Gary Singh Amor 6-2, 6-1, Sidharth Rawat bt B Parthasarathy 6-2, 6-0, Kunal Anand bt Pulok Bhattacharya 6-1, 6-4, Igor Karpov bt Krishik Divakar 6-1, 6-1, Naveen Saai bt Pulkit Mishra 7-5, 6-3.

Mohali, March 20
An unbeaten knock of 63 runs by Simranpreet steered DAV Cricket Academy to register nine-wicket win over YPS Cricket Academy in the first match of St Stephen’s Cricket Trophy being organised by the DP Azad Cricket Academy held at YPS grounds here today.

After winning the toss, YPS decided to bat first. The decision backfired, as the team was all out on meagre 93 in 29.1 overs. The highest scorer was Subeer Hayer, who chipped in 22 runs. He was well supported by Aman, who made 19 runs.

In reply, the DAV team overhauled the target in just 17 overs.

Brief scores:

YPS Cricket Academy: 93 all out in 29.1 overs (Subeer Hayer 22, Aman 19, Abhimanyu 14, Kulbeer Singh 2 for 17, Pardeep Kumar 3 for 16).

DAV-8: 94 for 1 in 17 overs (Simranpreet 63 not out, Bhagwinder 15, Arun 1 for 21).