New Delhi, April 6
The CBSE has told all its affiliated schools that class IX students would get only one attempt to improve their grades.

The decision, conveyed through a recent circular, comes as a surprise as class X students have been allotted five attempts to improve their scores under the continuous and comprehensive evaluation scheme.

The circular states that, “the students of class IX who have obtained grade E1 or E2 in one or more subjects may be allowed to improve their performance in the second summative assessment through subsequent one attempt”.

The circular stresses that students would not be allowed to take admission in class X if they fail to improve their grades. It also says that the question papers for the exam for would be set up internally by schools themselves. Besides, this chance of improvement of grades for class IX students has to be availed within a month from the date of declaration of results by the schools.

CBSE officials say, “Class IX students have been given only one attempt to improve their grades and this has been done for the convenience of schools. Schools will have to internally draw up the question papers.”

Rekha Krishnan, the principal of Vasant Valley School, comments, “Class IX students have been given only one attempt to improve their grades. This is a wise step. The exam will be held and handled internally. One exam is easy to manage, more than one would create administrative problems.

However, not everybody is in agreement with this view, Natasha Suri, parent of a student in class IX, says, “It is ridiculous. While the CBSE proposes five attempts for class X students to improve their grades, they give only one attempt to class IX students. There should have been at least two attempts.”

New Delhi, April 6
A 32-year-old woman died while two persons are battling for their life in two accidents in south Delhi last night. A woman died while her husband is recovering from injuries after a speeding truck hit their car in the Vasant Vihar area of south district last night. Police said that the incident was reported around 11.40 pm from the Katwaria Sarai area of Vasant Vihar.

“The deceased has been identified as Nandini Jain (32). The accident took place when a speeding truck hit their car from behind. They were rushed to All India Medical Institute’s trauma centre where Nandini was declared brought dead while her husband is recuperating,” said a police officer.

Nadini, a resident of Punjabi Bagh, was coming to Katwaria Sarai with her husband Sanjay Jain (40) in their car.

“The truck driver fled the spot. A case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against him and police investigation is on to nab the errant driver,” added the police officer.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a driver was seriously injured after he had lost control over his truck in the Kotla Mubarakpur area of south district last night.

The incident took place around 12 midnight in Kotla Mubarakpur. “The victim has been identified as the truck driver Brij Mohan Singh (45). He lost control over his truck and collided with the divider of the main road of South Extension,” said a police officer.

The steering wheel pierced his body with the impact of the collision. He was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Science’s trauma centre.

New Delhi, April 6
Targeting the Delhi government over the manner in which it has taken over the Delhi College of Engineering and converted it into a state university—Delhi Technological University (DTU), teachers of Delhi University (DU) today alleged that the non-payment of new pay scales to teachers was a deliberate move.

The college that has now come under the AITCE umbrella has been going through turmoil ever since the change in its status.

“It is unfortunate that the Delhi government has chosen not to implement the pay revision so far. It is not a minor lapse for a government that illegitimately took away the DCE to form a self-financing university,” said DU professor Shashwati Majumdar, president, Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF).

The teachers said the AITCE delayed the announcement of revised pay scales. The central government notified to states to implement the revised pay scales by March 31 and promised to share 80 per cent of expenditure on account of pay revision.

She said it was a calculated policy of denial. “Employees of Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, DTU, Delhi College of Art and various other technical institutes and polytechnics in Delhi have suffered in the process,” said Majumdar who took over as DTF president today.

The DU teachers alleged that the move to delay the pay scales was to help private players running engineering colleges and technical institutes so that they don’t have to pay the revised scales to their employees.

“The Delhi government has chosen to further starve the technical institutes of good faculty just to benefit the private businesses,” said Rajeev Kumar Kunwar, secretary, DTF.

New Delhi, April 6
Commenting on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) critical observations on procurement of buses in Delhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today asked the top auditor to have holistic view and desist from nitpicking on small issues.

“There is always a feeling of trust. Without trust nothing can be done. The systems have to become simpler and far more transparent. For becoming transparent it should become simpler first,” she said at a panel discussion of stakeholders of the audit here organised by the CAG.

She also said the critical observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General discourages the policymakers, especially bureaucrats in taking decisions as ‘they are always scared that the CAG will ask why this was done and why so much money was spent’.

Responding to CAG’s observation that the city government has procured low-floor buses at a higher cost, Dikshit said the buses plying on Delhi’s roads are much cheaper than those procured in Pune, Vijayawada and Uttar Pradesh.

“We changed the buses because we wanted Delhi to become a modern city and that is everyone’s dream too. But we get a report from the CAG that you have wasted public money and that you have got more expensive buses without really evaluating the kind of buses we have got,” she said.

The Chief Minister said instead of ‘nitpicking’ on smaller issue, more important issues such as wastage of water and grain stocked in godowns should be taken and audited. “There are more important issues like the wastage of water and how many tonnes of grain are stocked in Food Corporation of India’s godowns. The grain can be given to the people and this will reduce the price of commodities. Those issues can be looked into,” she said.

In its report for the year ending March 2009, the CAG pointed out about the procurement order for 1,500 non-AC and 1,000 AC low-floor buses in September 2008 and said the vehicles were purchased at ‘rates over and above the justified rate’ prescribed by a technical committee.

“The idea of procuring these buses was not only to make Delhi a modern city but to keep people off from car as much as possible. Whatever we have spent is visible for everyone to see and CAG should also have taken a much more holistic view,” she said.

New Delhi, April 6
Police dereliction in taking an alleged injured criminal to hospital which resulted in his death has led to the suspension of area SHO in north Delhi.

According to information, Inderjeet Singh, SHO, Gulabi Bagh police station, was suspended today in this regard and an enquiry ordered.

According to SP Hooda, DCP (north), “A judicial enquiry has been ordered in the incident and SHO Inderjeet Singh has been placed under suspension with immediate effect.”

According to police, Vinod Sharma was injured as his bike slipped. He was fleeing after trying to rob a person at gunpoint last night in the Gulabi Bagh area. At the same time, Vinod’s relative held that Vinod was beaten by the police after he was caught in the act which led to his death.

However, police denied the allegation and claimed that the deceased was beaten up by locals who caught him and his accomplice Shyam Murti while the duo were on their way to commit a crime near Gulabi Bagh government quarters.

“Vinod and Murti, residents of Ghaziabad, were planning to rob a man at gunpoint near the government quarters in Gulabi Bagh and as they fell down from their motorcycle, locals happened to see a revolver. Suspecting them to be criminals, they beat them up,” said a police official adding that the duo were taken to hospital, but Vinod succumbed to his injuries.

Meanwhile, Vinod Sharma’s family alleged that he was taken to the police station and beaten up after which he died.

Meanwhile, standing by their officer, Delhi police officials maintained that Vinod was not beaten by the police, but by the irate public.

“The deceased was not beaten at the police station, but by the irate public. In fact, police, saved their life at the spot, else both would have been killed. However, the SHO did not take the injured to the hospital first and this was negligence on his part. 

The accused would not have died if he was taken to the hospital,” said a senior police officer from the district. 

Some local residents who claimed they witnessed the incident alleged that they did not beat the criminals and Sharma and Murti were taken to the police station directly.

A senior police officer said the body has been sent for the postmortem and further action would be initiated based on the report.

New Delhi, April 6
In a murder case, a Delhi court today pulled up the deputy commissioner of police (North), the two investigating officers (IO) and issued a notice against the DCP for failure to serve bailable warrants on prosecution witnesses and sent the order copy to the commissioner of police with directions to take appropriate action.

On January 2, a copy of the order was sent to the DCP for taking appropriate action against the IO which has not yet been complied with, the court observed while serving a notice to the DCP.

The court also elaborated that it had not yet received any report regarding the bailable warrants issued on prosecution witnesses Raja Ram and Virender Singh through the DCP for April 5.

Taking a strong view against the investigating officers for their non-presence in the court, additional sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma said, “Even when several opportunities have been granted to serve summons on PW’s, on each date the IO inspector Vimal Kishore has not cared to appear in the court and rendered no worthwhile assistance to serve the summons on witnesses.”

Observing that the IO was not performing its duties properly, the court said, “It is really annoying that in a murder trial, enough care was not taken to have all the details of the witnesses, their addresses and their native places…even the second IO inspector Hari Kishan has not cared to appear yesterday and even today.”

Earlier, the court had issued summons through DCP on another prosecution witnesses—Heena and Neha. On this, the IO reported that the witnesses were residing as tenants and are now untraceable as they had shifted to another place.

Meanwhile, the court has asked the DCP to furnish a report on the action taken against the IO by May 17 and 18.

A murder had taken place on January 6, 2009 in the area of PS burari. The accused Javed is facing trial and the deceased was Mahender.

New Delhi, April 6
Eleven Delhi police officials, including two inspectors, have been rewarded with Rs 10,000 each for nabbing criminals involved in serious crimes across the Capital.

Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal awarded Asadharan Karya Puraskar to two inspectors, two sub-inspectors, four head constables and three constables.

Inspector Brahm Pal Singh, SIs Arun Tyagi and Ajay Kumar Singh, HC Ashok Kumar and constable Shiv Kumar were rewarded for apprehending four men involved in the kidnapping of a child in the Kalkaji area.

Inspector Swadesh Parkash and HCs Mangal Ram and Ashok Kumar were awarded for their role in nabbing an inter-state gang of robbers.

HC Ashok Kumar and constable Virender were rewarded for arresting Ravi Kapoor, who had fled from police custody on October 19 last year. Kapoor was arrested in the sensational murder cases of Soumaya Vishvanathan and Jigisha Ghosh. 

Constable Naresh Chand was rewarded for arresting a robber.