New Delhi, May 13
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has stopped sealing of cell towers following a stay order issued by the Delhi High Court today. The sealing was started yesterday in central and south zones where a total of 24 towers were sealed.

The court issued notice to the MCD asking it to explain on May 19 the reasons behind bringing in a new policy on the issue of regulating mobile towers.

The MCD had begun sealing towers after a deadline set for the telecom operators to pay the hiked licence fee and get the illegal towers regularised expired last week.

Spokesman of the MCD said that the corporation would appear before the court on May 19 and everything depended on the courts judgment as far as the fate of sealing drive was concerned.

The MCD had increased the licence fee for installing a tower from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh after the civic body revised its guidelines unveiled on February 9.

Directing the MCD and the Cellular Operators Association (COA) to resolve their differences, the court said: "It is a pubic interest matter and should be resolved immediately."

The COA moved the court alleging that the sealing drive launched by the MCD was illegal.

The civic agency had no power to act against the operators as the Indian Telegraph Act vested the power to do so with the central government, the COA said.

Appearing for COA, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Sighvi, who is also a senior Congress leader, said, "Hiking licence fee from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh is arbitrary. The MCD did not have any power to seal the towers and it is an illegal move."

Sighvi said, "The MCD can only collect tax and building and land charges (from operators). It is only the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that has the power to seal the towers and not the MCD."

The Civic body’s counsel Maninder Acharya said that the MCD started the drive keeping in mind health aspects. He said radiation from the illegal towers was bad for public health.

New Delhi, May 13
The Delhi Transport Corporation has planned to install hoardings on its buildings and open spaces to cover the losses incurred in the corporation for the last many years. At present, it is being run under an annual loss of Rs 40 crore.

The sources said that the DTC has 40 bus depots, 22 terminals, 3,000 bus queue shelters. It has other properties from where the corporation can earn crores of rupees by displaying advertisements. It will display advertisement on both the sides of the buses.

The maximum size of the hoardings is likely to be 20 feet in height and its rate may be Rs 10 lakh per month.

However, the DTC faced difficulty in deciding the rate of the advertisements due to bickering between information and publicity department (DIP) and the corporation. The rate of DIP is less than the market rate. Finally the DTC board had taken decision to have its own rate. It will be costly for the advertisers, the sources said.

A senior officer said that it was necessary for the DTC to develop more source of revenue as its expenditure is increasing. It will have 17,900 drivers, including 11,400 new drivers to be recruited within a few months. Of them, 5,000 would be recruited on regular basis by the Delhi Subordinate Selection Board, 3,200 by DTC itself on contract basis.

Among the 3,200 drivers, 3,000 will have licence from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and they will be allotted badges by the state transport authority. 

New Delhi, May 13
Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College will call students for interviews to various courses from June 16. The college would start its undergraduate admissions before the university schedule and release the prospectus with admission forms on May 25.

The college has its own admission procedure for which it formulates a separate schedule.

“The sale of forms would start on May 25. Aspiring candidates can come to the college to apply for the courses of their choice,” said Nandita Narayan, spokesperson, St.Stepehn’s.

Admission forms can also be downloaded from the college website and sent to Stephen’s along with a demand draft.

Sources from the college told The Tribune that college has to accommodate interviews because of which the admission process had to be scheduled before the centralised DU admission process.

The college would sell the forms on its campus till June 11 after which the first cut-off with the names of the candidates who qualified for the interviews would be taken out on either June 12 or 13. Generally the college takes out only two lists of selected candidates. Students with more than 85 per cent in best three subjects normally make it to the college list.

Stephen’s holds interviews with its principal for all candidates, who make it to the cut-off lists of the college. Being a minority institute, Stephen’s has a right to hold independent admissions, which do not necessarily have to conform to other DU affiliated colleges.

New Delhi, May 13
Delhi University’s (DU) negligence in letting its radioactive gamma irradiator reach scarp dealers in Mayapuri took over the original agenda of its Academic Council which met today, supposedly to discuss and pass the revised syllabus of science courses that is likely to roll out the semester system from this academic year.

The meeting was high on drama as members raised the issue while DU Teachers’ Association (DUTA) protested outside the venue against the semester system.

The main agenda of the meeting was not even presented before the members till late evening as vice chancellor Deepak Pental was held responsible by many for the irresponsible disposal of the Cobalt 60 that caused the death of one person and injured seven.

“The members are agitated over the issue and want the administration to take responsibility in the matter,” said sources in the AC adding that questions regarding the negligence were asked from the administration.

With today’s exchange of heated words between members and the administration, there are indications that the vice chancellor might decide not to put the agenda for vote today and call another meeting.

Meanwhile, the DU Teachers’ Association (DUTA) organised a demonstration outside the meeting venue against the implementation of semester of semester system.

“The committee of courses are being bypassed in the process of getting this reviewed syllabi passed. The administration has not left any scope for debate on the matter in key committees of the university,” said Aditya Narayan Misra, president, DUTA.

The teachers added that the newly admitted students would face difficulty in appearing for the examinations if the semester system was implemented.

New Delhi, May 13
The CBI has busted a fueladulteration racket in the city and unearthed a scam in which fake perfume products were manufactured and supplied under well-known brand names. Hinting at the collusion of government officials, who were supposed to check such illegal practices, a CBI spokesperson said these crimes were organised economic scandals which were not possible without the involvement of these officials.

The units are in several places, including Vishnu Garden in Khyala, Bagh Kare Khan in Kishanganj, and Narsingh Garden in Khyala.

The total worth of seizure by the CBI runs into Rs 2 crore and the turnover of the business of the accused is about Rs 5 crore per year.

Inderjit Singh is the main accused. He supplied products to business firms at Har Shri Nath Market and Swadeshi Market in Sadar Bazar, a hub of cheap cosmetic products which attracted gullible buyers.

The CBI has registered a case on charges of criminal conspiracy and various sections of the Copyright Act, Drugs & Cosmetics Act and Trade Mark Act.

Singh's son has also been booked, but the agency has not made any arrest so far.

The unit at Vishnu Garden was the main manufacturing unit. It produced and supplied about 50 liters of perfume daily. The CBI sleuths during their raid found 15 labourers working there and recovered more than 600 corrugated/cardboard boxes containing perfume bottles in various sizes, shapes and colours (plain as well as printed with brand names), 44 plastic bags and a plastic drum.

In another case, the CBI registered four cases against Pravin Kumar, Babulal Gupta and Binod Garg, and their unidentified accomplices for adulterating fuel which was later sold to consumers at petrol pumps.

The CBI said it received information that petroleum products were being illegally stored for the purpose of adulteration at various locations in Delhi. The CBI conducted raids at Geeta Colony, Tikri Kalan village in Nangaloi and Viswakarma Colony in Mehrauli Road.

Petroleum products in large quantity has been seized.

New Delhi, May 13
A city court today directed DCP (west) to transfer the investigation of a case in which a woman has accused her husband of kidnapping her minor daughter to a high rank officer of specialised wing not below the rank of assistant commissioner of police (ACP). Earlier, the case was being probed by the police wing.

“The investigation should be conducted by an officer not below the rank of ACP,” said metropolitan magistrate Vandana Jain.

The directions came after the court noted the failure of Nihal Vihar police station SHO in tracing three-and-half-year-old Jasbani Kaur.

DCP (west) was summoned to the court today but did not appear seeking absence on grounds of maintaining law and order.

The court had issued a search warrant in this regard. It had issued a notice to the DCP on the failure of the police in tracing the child.

Earlier, the ACP and the SHO had told the court that they had registered an FIR invoking provisions of kidnapping under the IPC against Ravinder Singh, husband of the complainant Avneet Kaur.

Kaur’s counsel Deepak Kumar Sharma had alleged that the police was hand in glove with the accused and had failed to trace Jasbani despite a direction issued by the court on March 19. He alleged that the police lodged an FIR two weeks after the court’s direction.

Avneet Kaur, alias Sweety, was married to Ravinder Singh on October 17, 2004. She was being harassed for bringing less dowry. Later, she was thrown out of her in-law’s house. She gave birth to Jasbani, out of the wedlock, in October 2006.

On March 6 this year, when Jasbani was playing outside her house, Ravinder allegedly took her away without permission or prior intimation. Kaur has not seen her daughter since then.

Earlier, Kaur had told the court that even after repeated complaints were made to the SHO and the ACP of Nihal Vihar police station, no action was taken against her husband.

She also told the court that the SHO had not even bothered to take the child’s photograph who is in the illegal detention of her husband. 

New Delhi, May 13
A city court today dismissed a man's plea to reverse a judicial order and directed him to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to his estranged wife for causing mental torture to her.

Saying that the compensation amount allowed by the metropolitan magistrate was not "unreasonable and excessive", additional sessions judge J.R. Aryan dismissed the appeal of the man working on adhoc basis with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

In August last year, a trial court had passed an order directing the man to pay Rs 2,000 as maintenance to his wife and child, apart from the compensation. He had appealed in the higher court against it.

In his appeal, he claimed that the compensation amount was disproportionate to his earnings. He worked as a temporary employee with the MCD and earned only Rs 3,200 per month. He also mentioned that his wife was a beautician and earned Rs 6,000 per month.

The man claimed that problem in his matrimony arose when his wife started returning late to home. He pleaded that his mother should not be prosecuted under the Domestic Violence Act.

The court, however, did not find any substance in his plea saying that the woman had filed detailed information with regard to specific incidents of domestic violence committed by him.