Chandigarh, July 6
The incessant rain from the southwest monsoon today threw normal life out of gear in the Tricity, disrupting road, air and rail traffic. Heavy showers lashed the city for the second day in succession leading to snarl-ups and chaos on the streets, especially during the morning rush hours. Intermittent rain continued throughout the day with the skies remaining overcast since yesterday evening.

The weather office said the city recorded 86.8 mm of rain in the past 24 hours and warned that Wednesday could be another uncertain day with a mainly cloudy sky with possibility of rain or thunderstorm. The meteorological department said there might be isolated heavy to

very heavy rainfall in the city as well as in the neighbouring states during the next 24 hours.

However, the rains have brought in high humidity with the city experiencing 100 per cent humidity after the rains and the minimum 84 per cent.

In Haryana Ambala received the highest rainfall of 190 mm rain followed by Karnal at 63 mm.

Due to the rainfall at night the weather was pleasant since the morning. The city recorded a maximum temperature of 25.0 degrees Celsius, over four degrees less than that recorded yesterday. The minimum was recorded at 22 degrees compared to 22.6 on Monday.

The incessant rainfall over the last two days in fact came as a surprise for city residents, throwing life in the city out of gear. However, the met department said this was normal even at this time of the year.

Many vehicles broke down on waterlogged roads after rainwater entered their engines. “Many roads were under kneedeep water. Even hours after the rain stopped in the afternoon, roads were still under water because the drains were choked. The traffic lights are not working in many areas,” said a businessman while going to his routine work.

Roads caved in many parts of the city resulting in torture to motorists and bikers.

“The heavy and continuous rainfall is because of the interacting Westerly system and the monsoon system. This has caused rain showers over the entire northwest India,” said India Meteorological Department director Surender Paul.

The heavy rains led to traffic jams near the Sectors 35, 22, 23 and 36 roundabouts, all along the Madhya Marg, the intersection near the ISBT and many other areas.

Office goers had a harrowing time negotiating the traffic during the morning peak time with most of the streets waterlogged.

"The monsoon further advanced into all of Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, due to which the region received widespread rains," Paul said. Last year the monsoon had hit the region on June 30.

Chandigarh, July 6
A local mess contractor, Hari Om Mathur, 27, who was returning from the ‘yatra’ (pilgrimage) to Amarnath in Jammu & Kashmir, died on the way at the Shiv Khori shrine near Jammu on Monday. The police said he collapsed after suffering a heart attack while climbing the stairs leading up to the shrine.

Meanwhile a pall of gloom descended on Mathur’s home in Sector 32 here even as his family members withheld the news of his death from his wife and mother. He is survived by his wife, Sangeeta, and a 10-month-old son, Rishi.

Mathur’s father, Damodar Das, along with other relatives who had gone to the shrine to take the body were expected to arrive in the city late tonight.

Reasi police station SHO inspector Varinder Gupta told TNS in Jammu that Mathur’s body was today handed over to his

family members after conducting a postmortem. He said the death appeared to be caused by a heart attack. Mathur was admitted to a hospital after he complained of uneasiness while climbing the stairs to the shrine and collapsed at about 6 pm, he added. He later died at the hospital during treatment.

Talking to TNS, Mathur’s cousin Parveen said the deceased had gone on a pilgrimage accompanied by a group of seven friends on June 29. “He had no history of heart disease and didn’t face any problem during his journey to the Amarnath cave, which is considered a difficult terrain”, he added.

Parveen said Mathur’s friends informed his family members last night he was admitted to a hospital and his condition was serious. Later they called up to say he had died, he added.

Mathur had been running a canteen at the Government Senior Secondary School in Burail, Sector 45 on contract and was also engaged in a part time catering business.

New Delhi, July 6
St John’s School is one of the hundreds of Christian institutions across the country that will benefit from today’s historic judgment of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI).

The commission, which came about in 2005 to look into complaints of violation of rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, today junked fixed percentage formula governing admissions of minority students to minority institutions as a criterion for determining the minority status of such an institution.

The judgment, that grants major relief to minorities, weakens the case of the UT Administration against St John’s, which is fighting to secure its right to administer the school.

The Administration had on June 9 challenged the minority status of the school before the NCMEI. One of the grounds cited included that the school had just 5 per cent Christians and hence does not admit a “reasonable number of minority students” for it to enjoy a minority status.

The move came as part of the ongoing case involving St John’s and the Administration, wherein the former had approached the NCMEI alleging that the UT was interfering with its right to set up and administer the institution of its choice -- a right it enjoyed under Article 30 (1) of the Constitution.

At the heart of the tussle between the two was the UT’s inquiry indicting a schoolteacher, Michael Angelo, accused of indulging in obscenity at school. St John’s, while petitioning the NCMEI, said the UT was interfering with its autonomy and was harassing the principal, besides refusing to rely on an internal inquiry conducted into the allegations against the teacher.

The Administration challenged the right of St John’s to approach the commission, saying last month that the school was not fulfilling the requirement of a minority institution as it was catering to a meagre 5 per cent minority.

The NCMEI clarified that the percentage of minority student intake could not determine the minority status of any institution though the institution would have to prove it was serving the interests of the minority for which it was set up. This it could do by setting up and administering the school or college in question for the welfare of minorities. The commission added that minority intake in a minority institution could not be beyond the commensurable minority population in the area where the school was located.

It also said the state governments had the duty to fix the percentage of minorities and non-minorities to be admitted to such institutions in a certain locality and such number would vary depending on whether the school was primary, secondary or if the institution in question was a college, where it was located and how many minority numbers resided in the said locality.

“A minority community can’t lose its constitutional right to set up and administer institutions just because it can’t admit up to 50 per cent minority students in a certain area. This fixed percentage is impractical and the 50 per cent ceiling was mentioned by the Supreme Court in a different perspective,” the commission chairperson, Justice MSA Siddiqui, told The Tribune. He said a minority institution could lose its status if it admitted a non-minority student over a minority student.

St John’s case is listed for hearing before the NCMEI on September 9.

Chandigarh, July 6
The one-day visit by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee took its toll on the city’s administrative machinery with routine work coming to a standstill, causing a great deal of inconvenience to the public.

With top administrative and police brass including the UT administrator, his adviser, home and finance secretaries, inspector general of police and SPs busying themselves on “official” duty for the chief ministers’ conference addressed by Mukherjee, city residents visiting government offices were left high and dry.

And, the absence of senior officials left the junior staff in offices virtually in a "holiday” mood resulting in the administration’s public dealing and grievance redressal services going for a toss.

“If no IAS, PCS and HCS officials were to be available during Mukherjee’s visit, the administration should have declared a holiday. Alternatively such conferences should scheduled on a holiday to minimise harassment to the public,” said an angry BK Sharma who had come to meet the finance secretary.

A senior official said since three chief ministers, besides ministers and senior bureaucrats, were attending the meet it was “natural for official work to suffer”. Protocol demanded that senior administrative and police officials should be present at the venue to supervise the arrangements, officials added.

Even shopkeepers in the Sector 10 were affected as the stretch of in front of the market opposite the conference venue’s main entry gate was cordoned off early in the morning till the evening. Residents around Hotel Mountview were also at the receiving end of security forces and traffic chaos as the police allowed scores of vehicles to be parked in front of their houses.

Chandigarh, July 6
Following an assurance by the PGI Director, Dr KK Talwar, that all its pending demands will be met by the first week of August, the PGI’s Faculty Association has withdrawn its boycott call of the Founders Day celebrations here tomorrow.

While the faculty members will attend the function as of now, they have threatened to resume their agitation if the PGI authorities fail to keep their promise and meet the August deadline.

A decision to this effect was taken during a general body meeting of the association late yesterday. In a press note issued today, the association said the PGI Director constituted a committee for finalising recruitment rules after receipt of its memorandum.

“We have been assured that the committee will finalise the implementation dates and set work standards for the faculty, which will be circulated soon. The Director has promised us that promotions will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2006. He has assured us that allowances will be finalised by the governing body during a meeting, to be held in the third week of July, 2010,” the press note added.

According to association president A Rajwanshi, the Director agreed on fresh recruitment being held simultaneously with promotions and seeking an appointment with the Health Minister for the association to apprise him of pending issues. Hoping that all demands would be met by August, Professor Rajwanshi said though the faculty had withdrawn its boycott call, it would not hesitate to agitate if promises were not kept.

He said the faculty was unhappy with the non-implementation of the report of the Sixth Pay Commission and felt that the institute’s administration had turned a deaf year to its requests.

Chandigarh, July 6
Exactly two years after a false ceiling collapsed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court while Justice Mahesh Grover was holding court, at least four advocates today had a narrow escape.

They were holding consultations in advocates’ room number 11, which was of Ranjan Lakhanpal, when a portion of the false ceiling came crumbling down with a thud due to the rain.

Panic reigned as more blocks of the false ceiling threatened to give way. The incident, which took place around noon, underscored the failure of the authorities concerned to make the high court secure, even after the issuance of a notice to them precisely 24 months ago.

On July 7, 2008, Justice Grover, the lawyers and their clients, present in the courtroom, had a narrow escape as a portion of the false ceiling came crashing down right on the dais. In all, over 50 persons were present in the courtroom when the incident occurred.

Shocked at the collapse of the false ceiling, Justice Grover had directed the issuance of notice to the UT Chief Engineer, along with the Superintending Engineer and the Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department.

A notice was also directed to be issued to the Superintending Engineer and the Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department. They were asked to show cause as to why the proceedings for contempt of court and registration of a case of criminal negligence be not initiated against them.

The judge had categorically stated in his written order that the incident showed sheer negligence of the officers/officials of the Engineering Department, who were called, but had no plausible explanation. The judge had also observed that substandard material was used.

The order read: An examination of façade of the ceiling shows substandard work. The grooves in which the slab rests is extremely weak and small. As a result, the entire court work was stalled, resulting in wastage of the time of the court and obstruction in the dispensation of justice.

Elaborating, the judge added: The proceedings were disrupted and I had to discontinue my work for the fear that continuance of work was not safe and falling slabs could possibly injure someone.

Even then, the incident had left the Bar and litigants present in the high court premises shocked and apprehensive about safety as all courtrooms had similar false ceilings.

Panchkula, July 6
The polling for the elections of the gram panchayat and panchayat samitis passed off peacefully in Panchkula district today.

According to election officials, polling started at 7 am and picked up momentum only around 9 am as the region witnessed heavy rain this morning. Around 79 per cent turnout was recorded in Pinjore, Raipur Rani, and Barwala blocks while 63 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the Morni block.

Polling was being held for 121 gram panchayats, 40 panchayat samitis and 10 zila parishads. About 288 polling booths were set up at various villages in the four blocks and as many as 1,350 employees, 23 supervisors and 16 duty magistrates were engaged for the smooth conduct of the elections.

The administration had deployed the police in strength at the super sensitive polling booths at various villages including Khukhra, Nawa Nagar, Maranwala, Rampur Jangi, Nanakpura, Karanpur Charwa, Kherawla, Burjkotian, Thane Ki Sair and Baathgodaam.

There are 371 candidates contesting for the 121 posts of sarpanch and there are 54 candidates for the 10 seats of the zila parishad. It was the first time that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were used for voting for the election of sarpanches and members of zila parishad. The counting of votes would be held on July 12.

Panchkula, July 6
About 15 students had a providential escape as a minibus of a private school of the town submerged into deep water under Railway Under Bridge (RUB) on the Madhumati Marg in the Chandimandir area this morning.

The incident occurred around 7 am when the 22-seater bus (CH-04D-0138) of St Xavier’s High School, Sector 20, was on its way to pick a student from the MES Chandimandir area.

The driver of the bus, Harbans Lal, failed to judge the depth of the water and thought that he would be able to cross the water collected there, but the bus tyres got stuck there. The level of water was continuously increasing due to the heavy downpour. The bus was in five-foot deep water and the students, in the age group of 8 to 15 years, screamed for help.

Army personnel of the First Ladakh Unit Scouts rescued the students, a teacher, a conductor and the driver. After getting information about the incident the administration had pressed two fire brigades into service to get the bus out from the water. The water level had gone up to 10 feet and the fire department officials pushed out the bus.

Army officials said a jeep and a truck of the Army also got stuck there yesterday, which was pushed out by the Army staff.

The principal of St Xavier’s School, George Shear, said all students and staff were safe and were sent to their homes on another bus. “The bus was running on this route for the past two years and such kind of incident never happened before,” he added.

Meanwhile, life was thrown out of gear as torrential rains that lashed the city since last evening and continued till this evening caused waterlogging in various sectors.

According to official sources, Panchkula and Kalka had received 85 mm and 68 mm rains, respectively, as compared to 2 mm recorded during the corresponding period last year.

Waterlogging was witnessed in low-lying areas such as Rajiv Colony, Ambedkar Colony, Madrasi Colony and Sector 19. The water had entered many jhuggies and the people could be draining out the water. The people were also seen moving their household items on the rooftops. The situation was worse in sectors across the Ghaggar as most of the roads have been damaged due to heavy rains.

The schoolchildren and the office goers had to face problems as they could not move out of their houses due to heavy rains. Vehicles broke down in the middle of the waterlogged roads around the roundabouts of Sectors 10-15, 16-17 and 17-18 and traffic moved at a snail’s pace causing traffic jams on the main roads.

The water had entered in the basement of one of the houses in Sector 10, which was under construction. Fire brigade was summoned for rescue operation by the residents as the water level started rising steeply.

The power supply in some areas of Sectors 8 and 17 was disrupted as the people had to remain without power supply for more than five hours.

Chandigarh, July 6
Residents of Sector 36 C are in a bind for a plot measuring around one acre has turned into an eyesore in a sector that boasts of Dahlia and Fragrance gardens. While the plot is full of debris and wild growth, both the Chandigarh administration as well as the municipal corporation have disowned it.

And due to bureaucratic apathy at both ends, inhabitants of the sector, majority of whom are retired defence personnel and senior citizens, are finding them helpless.

While UT Chief Engineer Surinder Pal said it was the duty of the corporation to maintain the plot, corporation officials put the ball in the administration’s court, saying they could not touch the property without their consent.

In June last year, the Residents’ Welfare Association of the Sector brought to the notice of the administration that the area near the Society for Rehabilitation of Mentally challenged (SOREM) building had been lying desolate with wild growth and debris all around.

The plot was being used to dump “malba”, creating nuisance in the area.

During rainy season, it became difficult for resident to breath due to filthy conditions and foul smell from the accumulated water.

Following the request of the association, the Chief Architect visited the area and wrote to the engineering department of the corporation on June 30 last year, asking the area to be fenced temporarily till development of the pocket was undertaken.

The area was suggested to be developed as a green belt on temporary basis so that it did not become an eyesore.

“The then corporation XEN Zorawar Singh told me that the corporation could not touch the land as it belonged to the administration and the matter should be taken up with the Chief Engineer, Chandigarh,” said HL Sharma, general secretary, RWA.

Sharma wrote to the UT Chief Engineer to intervene but was yet to receive any reply.

New Delhi, July 6
A Chandigarh-based IAF pilot, Wing Cdr BS Reddy, who was part of the IAF’s team exercise at France a couple of weeks ago, added another feather to his cap by completing France’s Alsace Marathon during the exercise.

The 40-year-old IAF pilot, who flies transport plane IL-76, was in France for the India-France exercise when he travelled to Molshiem, Strasbourgh, on the French- German border to take part in the full marathon (42.2 km).

He was awarded a special recognition medal — the Finisher’s Medal. The marathon, which is recognised by the World Marathon Association, takes place on a circuitous route through the vineyards of North Western France. He had participated in Delhi Half-Marathon in 2008 and two full marathons at Gurgaon.

Despite hectic flying schedule of his squadron — they maintain supplies to the entire Kashmir and Ladakh region — he trains regularly for around 10-15 km daily and does other cross-training calisthenics.

Wing Cdr Reddy says: “My mind is focussed on beating my own best time. It is sheer bliss sweating it out like this.”

Professionally, the Wing Commander has been a fighter pilot and has flown MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27.

He is an ‘A’ category flying instructor and has served in Botswana, Tambaram and Air Force Academy on instructional duties.

Chandigarh, July 6
Confusion continues to haunt the ongoing Government School Class XI admissions, as hundreds of students today approached the UT Education department to clarify on the discrepancy in the merit list.

A large number of students who approached the officials in GMSSS, Sector 10 were baffled over the recent alterations in the merit list.

It may be noted that several boys had been allotted seats in only girls’ schools by the UT Education Department. Waking up to the folly, the department rectified its mistake and ended up changing the merit of over 90 students. Though the updated merit list was put up the same day but many students unaware of the fact went to the pre-allotted schools and found their names missing in the merit list.

“Maximum parents who have approached us came with a complaint of not having the name of their wards in the merit list of the allotted schools. They had failed to check the new lists and thus were panicking”, said a UT Education department official.

“It is not the fault of the department. Due to some technical mistake we did allot some seats of boys in the girls’ schools but on discovering the error, we immediately updated the lists. The parents had not checked the new lists,” added District Education Officer Chanchal Singh.

Other than these, many candidates had come to complain being put in wrong categories. Many SC candidates were put into general category, while the defense category ones were allotted freedom Fighter seats.

Meanwhile, students and their parents deposited fee for Class XI admission at GMSSS Sector 35.

Chandigarh, July 6
The five-year integrated course offered by the Panjab University’s Economics Department is among the rare courses in humanities that have gained immense popularity over the past few years.

Statistics reveal that as compared to the 107 applicants for 29 seats in 2009, this year the number has increased to 170 for the same number of seats. Not only this, the cut-off for this integrated BA, MA (honours) course has touched 90 per cent this year. The course is a favourite among economics students who have managed a high score in class XII, say the Economics Department officials.

Having received six times more applications this year, as against the number of seats, the department is now gearing up to consolidate the placement situation for these students in the corporate sector. The students of the first batch, who enrolled for this course in 2006-2007, will enter their final year in the current academic session.

“As compared to last year’s response, this year, the numbers of applicants are more. The course is indeed gaining popularity. Even for the other MA course, the number of applicants is more this year,” said Gurmail Singh, chairperson of the Department of Economics.

“We have a placement cell in the department and since the first batch will now enter the final year, we will make efforts to get them the best placements,” he added.

Meanwhile, experts believe that an increase in the popularity of the course is directly proportional to the market needs. The corporate sector is on a hunt for economists to add value to their understanding of markets, they say.

“The ultimate business depends on how the economy is flourishing and the knowledge of economics is sought after even in the corporate sector. Every company wants that they must recruit people who can make them understand the economy’s impact on their business,” said Sanjay Kaushik, placement coordinator, University Business School (UBS).

Chandigarh, July 6
Rain marred the second day of BCom centralised counselling at Panjab University today, as several outstation students and parents could not reach the counselling venue on time.

As many as 315 seats in UT colleges under the “other than UT’ category were quickly grabbed by students with higher ranks and nearly 3,000 candidates, who had lesser ranks and were invited for the counselling, returned disappointed today.

The last seat in the UT colleges was filled up at rank 607, according to last reports. Admissions were also done under the SC/ST category today. As per the inputs received from the counselling centre, three seats under this category were yet to be filled up.

The coordinator of the centralised admissions, Dr Karamjeet Singh, confirmed that parents from all across the region were making frantic calls, informing about the delay due to heavy rains.

Seats in all UT colleges under the general category and other than the UT pool were filled up today, said Karamjeet.

Even in the reserved categories, GGDSD College was the favourite among students and the cut off for the SC category in this college was 82 per cent. Postgraduate government colleges, Sector 11, postgraduate government colleges for girls, Sector 11 and 42 also remained popular among students of the reserved categories.

Chandigarh, July 6
The physical efficiency test for admission to BP Ed (Bachelor of Physical Education) and M P Ed (Master of Physical Education) courses will be held on July 13, 2010 at 7am on the Panjab University grounds. Counselling/ interview for admission to B.P. Ed. and M.P. Ed. courses will be held on July 13, 2010 at 2 pm in the Department of Physical Education, PU.

Entrance test for public health course: The entrance test for the Master in Public Health course (Institute for Emerging Areas in Science and Technology) will be held on July 13, 2010 at 9.30 am at the centre for Public Health c/o Academic Staff College, First Floor, RRC Building, (adjacent to Boy’s Hostel No. 7), Panjab University. The test will comprise 100 multiple choice questions to be attempted in 90 minutes. VL Sharma, coordinator, Centre for Public Health said the questions would be from in sciences, social sciences, medicine and biological sciences.

Interviews for environment and vocational studies: According to AS Ahluwalia, chairperson, Department of Environment and Vocational Studies, the interviews for admission to M.Sc. (Environment Science) 1st Year for the candidates who have qualified the OCET 2010 conducted by the university and have submitted admission forms in the Department of Environment and Vocational Studies, PU for the session 2010-11 will be held on Thursday, July 8 2010 at 10am in the department situated in the Botany department building, PU.

Department of Law: The interviews for admission to LLB 1st year (Session 2010-11) for all categories (general and reserve) will be held on July 9 2010 from 9am to 5pm and interviews of reserve categories only will be held on July 10 2010 from 9am to 1pm in the Department of Laws, PU. The department chairperson informed that the provisional merit list of all categories and reserve categories will be displayed on the notice board of the department on July 8 and July 9 2010 respectively at 6pm. The candidates are advised to bring their original documents. The selected candidates will have to deposit the fee on July 12 (general category) and July 13 (reserve category), 2010.

Department of Computer Science and Applications: According to the chairperson of the Department of Computer Science and Applications the interviews for admission to M. Sc. (honours, school) Computer Science- 1st year for the candidates who have qualified the OCET 2010 conducted by the university and have submitted their admission forms in the Department of Computer Science and Applications, PU, for the session 2010-11 will be held on July 13, 2010 at 10am on the department premises.

Department of Education: The interviews for admission to MA Education (semester 1), will be held on July 12 2010 at 9am on the department premises (Arts Block No. II), PU.

Department of Urdu: The interviews for admission to M.A. Part-I (Urdu) for the session 2010-11 will be held on July 8 2010 at 10.30 am in the Department of Urdu. The department has advised the candidates to bring their original DMCs and other documents related to admission with them.

Department of English and Cultural Studies: Interviews of all the eligible candidates who have qualified the entrance test and have deposited the admission forms in the Department of English and Cultural Studies, PU, for regular admission to MA I (Semester System) for the session 2010-11 will be held on th July 12 2010 from 10am onwards in the department.

Department of political science: The interviews for admission to MA 1 st Semester (Political Science) will be held on July 9 2010 at 9.30 am. The candidates are advised to submit detailed marks cards of BA part-III by 5 pm on Wednesday, the July 7 2010.