NEIGHBOURHOOD

Minor arrested for theft
Our Correspondent

Bassi Pathana, June 28
A resident of Jameetgarh village was caught red handed committing a theft, along with his accomplice, at a house in Hindupur village.

While his accomplice managed to escape, he was handed over to the police.

According to the police, Jasbir Singh, a resident of Hindupur village, had gone to attend the marriage of his relative along with his family members.

The accused broke into Jasbir’s house last evening and started searching the almirahs and beds.

They collected the expensive goods from the house. When they were about to leave the family members returned. As Jasbir opened the lock he found two teenagers in the room.

While one of them ran away, the other was arrested and handed over to the police.

He was produced in the court and was sent to minor observation home, Ludhiana. According to the police his accomplice had been identified and would be arrested soon.

Chandigarh, June 28
Six months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that the process of allotment of government houses was apparently “arbitrary” and had stayed the allotment of certain categories of houses, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today clarified the stay orders were not applicable to judges. Earlier, Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia of the high court had ordered stay on the allocation of old Type III, IV, V, VI, VII houses, along with new Type VI houses.

The orders were passed after a list of officers allotted Type six houses with effect from January 2006 was placed on record. List of other earmarked houses too was placed on record.

After going through the list, Justice Ahluwalia asserted: “The Counsel for the Chandigarh Administration is not able to state as to how the list of earmarked houses has expanded in Chandigarh in violation of the Chandigarh Administration (general pool) Allotment Rules, 1996.The Counsel for the respondent has failed to explain as to how, without taking into consideration the pay-scale/seniority, the houses of the higher types have been marked for the officers of the Chandigarh Administration. The lists supplied have more to hide than to disclose.”

“No effort has been made to explain to this court what is the criteria regarding determination of the type of house for allotment. It is stated that the houses having plots of less dimension and covered area have been assigned as higher type, whereas plots having more size and covered area have been assigned as lower type. The process of allotment seems to be arbitrary. Therefore, there is need for the respondents to justify the same”.

The petitioner had earlier contended that the house allotment committee (upper) has been allotting government houses arbitrarily.

Taking up the issue, the high court had earlier directed the Secretary, House Allotment Committee (upper), to file an affidavit on the criteria as to“how the type of houses available in Chandigarh was determined”.

Zirakpur, June 28
A couple got killed in a head-on collision between a scooter and a Haryana roadways bus near Nabha Sahib gurdwara on the Zirakpur-Patiala highway here this morning. The deceased have been identified as Mohammad Zamil (42) and his wife Zamella Begum of Mani Majra, Chandigarh.

The investigating officer stated that the incident took place around 8.30 am when they were on their way towards Banur to meet their relatives when a Haryana roadways bus coming from Banur side hit their scooter head-on killing both of them on the spot. The police took them to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

However, the bus driver managed to flee from the spot leaving the vehicle behind. The bodies of victims have been handed over to the family after conducting the autopsy.

The investigating officer stated that the police team impounded the bus and a case has been registered against bus driver Gurcharan Singh.

Zirakpur, June 28
After a daily wager was crushed to death in a road mishap late last night, his fellow workers residing in Dyalpura village blocked the Zirakpur-Patiala national highway for more an hour in protest.

Tension prevailed in the area and the police team reached the spot for restoration of traffic flow. The protest was triggered as a labourer, identified as Sham Narayan (31), was killed after a speeding SUV hit him near Chhat village while he was crossing the road.

The district administration deployed heavy security force, including riot control vehicles, in the village in order to avoid any untoward incident. However, the situation remained tense in the village till this afternoon.

Sources revealed that after the news of their colleague’s accident spread, hundreds of daily wagers moved to the spot to block the national highway last night. A motorist, who had stopped to render help to the victim by calling the police, was assaulted after being mistaken for the negligent driving.

Information about the attack on the motorist, who was said to be a resident of a nearby village, spread like fire at his village and the villagers gathered at the highway to take revenge from the protestors who had blocked the highway.

Meanwhile, the highway patrolling team took injured Narayan to the GMCH-32 last night where he was declared dead on arrival.

To avoid any untoward incident, SHO Yogi Raj, along with the police force, reached the spot and assured them to take action against the accused.

On getting information, SDM, Dera Bassi, Puneet Goyal, DSP (traffic) DS Mann, SP (city) Varinderpal Singh, along with more police force, also reached the spot and handled the situation.

Talking to The Tribune about the incident, the SDM said the situation was under control and a police force had been deployed to maintain law and order in the village. The contractor of the labourers has been asked to maintain discipline, he added.

DSP, Dera Bassi, JS Khaira stated that the body of the deceased was handed over to the family after conducting the autopsy. The registration number of the SUV has been identified. “We have registered a case of rash and negligent driving against the driver and a search is on to arrest him,” said Khaira.

Mohali, June 28
A 22-year-old woman died under mysterious circumstances last night at Mauli Baidwan village near here. The police has arrested the husband and father-in-law of the woman.

While the family members of the deceased alleged that Rajni was murdered by her in-laws, her husband had claimed that she had committed suicide.

The police has registered a case under Sections 304 and 34 of the IPC and arrested the two persons mentioned in the FIR.

According to information, the body of Rajni was found hanging from the ceiling fan by her husband Kuldeep Singh. He had told the police that he was not at home when his wife took the extreme step and saw her body only when he came 
back home.

Lakhvir Singh, brother of Rajni, and other relatives alleged that she was murdered. They said she was allegedly harassed by her in-laws for not bringing adequate dowry. She had got married about a year and a half ago.

The body of Rajni was taken away after the autopsy by her family members.

Chandigarh, June 28
The police arrested three persons on charges of assaulting a Sector 22 resident here. Mohit Thakur, a resident of Sector 22-D, alleged that Jaspreet Singh, Kulbir Singh and Upinder Kumar, residents of Sector 22-C, assaulted him in their locality yesterday.

Chandigarh, June 28
A four-member Chandigarh Golf Club team is back after a three-day Asia Golf Industry Show that concluded in Delhi on Sunday.

The mega golf exhibition provided a platform to 95 leading names of the global golf industry to showcase their products.

The show featured every aspect of golf from equipment to green keeping to development and management of courses.

The four-member CGC team interacted with each exhibitor in an effort to use their expertise with a view to implement new ideas and strategy to improve the golfing infrastructure of the club.

The team leader Capt GS Ghuman, chairman of the tournament said: "We have learnt a lot during our visit. The knowledge gained will be shared with the entire committee of the club and we are looking forward to a positive outcome.” Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah was the chief guest.