Tivoli Garden tax evasion
Pressure for leniency alleged
A minister allegedly pressurised officials against conducting raids on Tivoli
New Delhi, July 19
Raids by the sales tax department are often conducted quietly by the sleuths so as to avoid any kind of pressure from the influential people. In the case of Tivoli Garden banquet hall in south Delhi, a lot of pressure was used on the raiding team, said a deputy commissioner in the department of Trade and Taxes (T and T).

CWG: July 31 deadline impossible, fear Cong Elders
New Delhi, July 19
The House meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has witnessed bitter exchanges between Congress and the ruling BJP members. Opposition leader Jai Kishan Sharma said the BJP, instead of concentrating on expediting the Games-related work, is busy organising visits to the sites.

GGSIPU students upset by high pass percentage
50% marks required to clear exam
New Delhi, July 19
Students at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University are facing a lot of stress during semester examination as the pass percentage is "abnormally" high--students require 50% marks to clear their examination. They complain that the pressure is very high and many of them fail.

Ragging: DU takes steps to put freshers at ease
New Delhi, July 19
With the Delhi University's academic session beginning on July 21 and anxious freshers are getting ready for college, the DU authorities are doing their best to prevent any instance of ragging.

IGNOU opens admission to full-time BA, MA courses
New Delhi, July 19
Indira Gandhi National Open University has announced admissions for its full-time B.A. and M.A. programmes. The last date for submission of forms is July 25. The entrance test will be held on August 8 followed by a group discussion and interview.

Delhi gets some rain in evening
New Delhi, July 19
The city received some rain late this evening. However, the temperature ranged in the moderate zone and high level of humidity made life difficult for the people.

Check decline of water table, Gurgaon residents urge MCG
Gurgaon, July 19
Drawing the attention of the local municipal corporation towards the alarming depletion of water table in Gurgaon, a joint front of residents' organisations has urged the local municipal authorities to take some effective measures in this regard.

Anti-Sikh riot case: HC pulls up Delhi police
Asks commissioner to file report in 6 months
New Delhi, July 19
The Delhi High Court today termed "clandestine" the decision of the Delhi police to file an untraced report in riots cases involving Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and said it called for a high-level inquiry.

Boy lynched in Gzb
Was found semi-nude in girlfriend’s room
Ghaziabad, July 19
Residents of a Ghaziabad village beat a boy to death after he was found in a semi-nude condition with a girl in her room early on Monday, the police said. According to the police, Manoj, the boyfriend of the girl Manju, was found in her bedroom by her brother and sister-in-law around 4 am as they came down from the roof, where they were sleeping, when it started raining.

Five of family injured in accident New Delhi, July 19 Five members of a family, including three children, were injured in an accident in the national Capital today morning. The family, including the children aged between 12 and 17, was critically injured when a speeding car hit its car in the Tilak Marg area. The victim children (inset) and their car at the Tilak Marg police station in New Delhi on Monday. Tribune photo

Robbers snatch Rs 10 lakh
Ghaziabad, July 19
Four motorcycle-borne robbers looted Rs 10 lakh from two petrol pump employees who were on their way to deposit the cash at a bank in Garh Mukteswar in Ghaziabad district on Monday, the police said.

Five held for honour killing
Noida July 19
The Noida police has arrested five members of a girl's family here today for honour killing. The girl was killed by them on July 13 in Bulandshahr. A Dalit boy Ravinder Kumar had married an upper caste girl Sangeeta of Bulandshahr.

Suicide: Girl’s father quizzed
New Delhi, July 19
A day after a 17-year-old schoolboy committed suicide in the Pitampura area, the police today questioned the girl's father, who, according to the boy's family, provoked the boy to kill himself.

1 killed in mishap
New Delhi, July 19
A 45-year-old man was killed while five members of a family, including three children, were injured in two accidents here this morning. In the first accident, five members of a family, including three children aged between 12 and 17, were critically injured when a speeding car hit their car in the Tilak Nagar area.

2 suspended for sealing legal shop
New Delhi, July 19
The MCD today suspended a deputy commissioner and an executive engineer of the Karol Bagh zone for wrongly sealing a legal shop in the area. The suspensions took place at the House meeting today.

Tivoli Garden tax evasion
Pressure for leniency alleged
A minister allegedly pressurised officials against conducting raids on Tivoli
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
Raids by the sales tax department are often conducted quietly by the sleuths so as to avoid any kind of pressure from the influential people. In the case of Tivoli Garden banquet hall in south Delhi, a lot of pressure was used on the raiding team, said a deputy commissioner in the department of Trade and Taxes (T and T).

It was alleged that a minister of the Delhi government had pressurised the team of the T and T department against conducting raids at Tivoli Garden banquet hall that reportedly evaded tax.

The commissioner of Trade and Taxes, Jalaj Srivastva, pointed this out in a letter written to finance minister A. K. Walia and finance secretary of the Delhi government.

The letter said a survey was conducted between February and March of some top banquet halls, including Gupta Tent House, Tivoli Garden, Seven Seas, etc.

The commissioner in the letter said, "I am constrained to point out that in the case of Tivoli Garden, while the survey was going on and the VAT team was on its premises, I received a phone call on my mobile from a certain minister in the Delhi government and I was asked to intervene."

Later, the commissioner received numerous calls in this connection from an MP and MCD councillors besides some senior officials in the government. The case has been sent to the special audit for detailed scrutiny.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Delhi BJP under the leadership of its president Vijender Gupta met Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna demanding action against public works minister Rajkumar Chauhan as he allegedly pressurized the sales tax department to desist the sleuths from conducting raid at Tivoli Garden banquet hall.

Gupta said the LG assured him of action against guilty.

In a release, Vijender alleged that Rajkumar Chauhan, some officials of the commerce department are depriving the government treasury of crores of rupess every year by conniving with the operators of big resorts, hotels and banquet halls.

CWG: July 31 deadline impossible, fear Cong Elders
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
The House meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has witnessed bitter exchanges between Congress and the ruling BJP members. Opposition leader Jai Kishan Sharma said the BJP, instead of concentrating on expediting the Games-related work, is busy organising visits to the sites.

"Despite the fact that the Delhi government gave Rs 939.6 crore for Games-related projects, most projects remain incomplete as on date. There is no way that the corporation can achieve the July 31 deadline," said Sharma in House.

The MCD had organised an inspection to CWG project sites last week with the senior leader and officers of the corporation along with the media. Sharma read out the list of incomplete projects when the BJP members objected and said the work is almost done.

"Almost 95 per cent of the work is complete. Roads surrounding stadiums are done; streetscaping projects are complete, only those venues or projects remain incomplete where MTNL or NDPL are supposed to lay lines," said a BJP councillor.

Meanwhile, a woman councillor, Preeti, staged an indefinite protest outside Town Hall, raising her demands of providing proper uniform and pension to women sanitation staff. She claimed that her protest would continue till the MCD meets her demands.

Earlier also, this councillor from Vivek Vihar had staged an agitation by climbing the terrace of the Town Hall building, raising the same demands.

"My earlier protest also went unheard but this time I am not going move unless my demands are addressed. The MCD has not distributed sarees to woman sanitation workers. Their pension has also not been released. This is shameful," she said.

GGSIPU students upset by high pass percentage
50% marks required to clear exam
Charu Singh
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
Students at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University are facing a lot of stress during semester examination as the pass percentage is "abnormally" high--students require 50% marks to clear their examination. They complain that the pressure is very high and many of them fail. The students are then fined as they sit for re-tests.

A student, Tushar Kanti Pal, who filed a Right to Information application last year, asserted that many students enrolled with the varsity have failed to clear their semester examination due to the high pass percentage.

He said, "It is unfair on the part of the university authorities to set such a high pass percentage. No other university has such a high percentage. Even at IIT, it is 40%; Jamia Millia Islamia, it is as low as 35%; Delhi Technological University, it is 40%. Many students fail to clear their semester exam and then have to sit for repeat test and for each test, they are fined Rs 300. Examinations have become a very stressful affair at GGSIPU."

Another student Mukesh Kumar said, "Many students are suffering and there are a number of failures. These students have to sit for re-exam which is an expensive affair."

A professor who did not want to be named gave the varsity's view, "We are an individual institution and have a right to set our own pass percentage. The faculty and the vice-chancellor go out of their way to instruct students here and we expect more from our students. That's why the pass percentage has been marked relatively higher. Moreover, the internal evaluation at the varsity is of 60 marks in total and students need a minimum of 40 marks. This is definitely not asking for too much."

The professor added, "Most students get between 30-35 marks and they need 20 more marks to clear their examination. I am sure they can manage to get this without trouble."

However, students are upset. One of them questioned, "How can you set 50% as the bare minimum? This is unreasonable and not everyone qualifies. Most students work diligently at the university. We have no ragging and no students' union. Most of us are peaceful in our dealings with faculty. We do deserve a better deal."

Ragging: DU takes steps to put freshers at ease
Jyoti Rai
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
With the Delhi University's academic session beginning on July 21 and anxious freshers are getting ready for college, the DU authorities are doing their best to prevent any instance of ragging.

DU officials claim that on Wednesday, 'fuchchas' will walk into a more secure campus as the university has made provisions for police patrolling on north and south campuses in addition to the arrangements made every year.

The university called for a meeting seeking coordination between different college principals, wardens of hostels, Delhi police and the DU proctor over the weekend and decided on special measures that would be taken this year.

Women colleges, including IP, LSR, Kamla Nehru and Gargi, will have special women police officers in large numbers deployed around their campuses. Colleges will have PCR vans stationed outside apart from patrolling by policemen in plain clothes. CCTV cameras have been placed across the campus, which will be keeping an eye on the university.

"There will be patrolling on both north and south campuses. Also, colleges have been asked to keep complaint boxes and assign someone to look into the complaints regularly. We have tried our best to publicise the 'no-ragging' logo amongst the freshers," said DU proctor Gurmeet Singh.

"Policemen in plain clothes will also travel in buses plying on the north campus to ensure that none of the freshers, especially girls, are harassed on the first day," he added.

If the above measures do not help, the new rule of extracting an undertaking from all the students--in line with the UGC norms--would surely act as a strong deterrent, the authorities feel.

Many colleges on their own are hoping to tackle ragging through counselling sessions and publicizing contact numbers of the anti-ragging committee and squad members. Miranda House and Ramjas College have prepared an anti- ragging booklet that will be handed to the first year students.

"The booklet will inform students of the rules against ragging and what they should do if they think they're being ragged. Our college also has an anti-ragging committee," said Pratibha Jolly, principal of Miranda House.

"I think enough measures are being taken this year. We can't wait enough for the ice-breaking sessions. We do not want the freshers to miss out on fun and will try to put them at ease," said Shweta, B Com (Hons) student, Gargi College.

IGNOU opens admission to full-time BA, MA courses
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
Indira Gandhi National Open University has announced admissions for its full-time B.A. and M.A. programmes. The last date for submission of forms is July 25. The entrance test will be held on August 8 followed by a group discussion and interview.

The university has also announced entrance for some special courses for which no entrance test will be conducted. These programmes are B.A. in applied sign language studies, preparatory programme for deaf students, M.A. in Gandhi and peace studies, extension and development studies, translation studies, labour and development, social and anthropology historical perspective, gender and development studies, women and gender studies.

The programmes for which the university will hold entrance test include M.A. in social work , journalism and mass communication, electronic media production and management and M.Sc in chemistry and life sciences.

Delhi gets some rain in evening
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
The city received some rain late this evening. However, the temperature ranged in the moderate zone and high level of humidity made life difficult for the people.

Met department said the maximum temperature today was 34.1 degree C, one degree cooler than normal, while the minimum temperature was 29.4, two degrees more than normal.

However, it was the high humidity content that spoiled the day. The maximum humidity today was 79 per cent and the minimum 66, meaning that it remained very high throughout the day.

The sky was largely cloudy and it did seem around afternoon that rains would come as clouds gathered and the day darkened, but there was no precipitation, though there were reports of some drizzle at a few places.

The forecast for the next 24 hours is that it would remain cloudy and might rain at a few places.

Check decline of water table, Gurgaon residents urge MCG
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, July 19
Drawing the attention of the local municipal corporation towards the alarming depletion of water table in Gurgaon, a joint front of residents' organisations has urged the local municipal authorities to take some effective measures in this regard.

"The water table has gone down up to 200 feet, which is a big issue. If the present trend of falling watertable is not arrested, Gurgaon will soon become a desert belt," states the joint front's letter addressed to the local municipal commissioner.

The letter, signed by Dharma Sagar and R.S.Rathee on behalf of the Federation of Residents Welfare Associations (FORWA) and Gurgaon Citizens Council (GCC), respectively, asserts that the need of the day was to reverse the decline in level of underground water.

"One way to prevent the water table from falling further is to stop - or, at least, minimise - extracting water from earth through tubewells…the next step would be to restore water table to a reasonable level of 50 feet by optimal harvesting of rainwater and ensuring zero-level discharge from the city into the drainage system," the letter notes.

The RWAs maintains that water-harvesting is the need of the day and comprises simple steps like digging of ponds and pits to recharge groundwater and installation of rainwater-harvesting mechanism, but still, it is not being done.

The residents' bodies have also prepared a detailed plan regarding the adoption and implementation of water-harvesting system and attached it with the letter to the municipal commissioner.

They point out that if the municipal authorities get water-harvesting mechanism implemented effectively and efficiently, the run-off rainwater, which damages inundates agricultural fields, destroys crops and damages roads and other things, can be channelised to recharge groundwater, the level of which is going down alarmingly.

Anti-Sikh riot case: HC pulls up Delhi police
Asks commissioner to file report in 6 months
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
The Delhi High Court today termed "clandestine" the decision of the Delhi police to file an untraced report in riots cases involving Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and said it called for a high-level inquiry.

Dismissing Sajjan Kumar's plea that he be discharged from the case in which a trial court had already framed charges against him and others, Justice Vipin Sanghi asked the police commissioner to examine the justifiability of the action of the Delhi police to take appropriate disciplinary action against the officials responsible for "" filing the report in an unauthorised manner and produce action taken report before him within six months.

Justice Sanghi expressed his surprise over the filing of the untraced report, which amounted to giving a clean chit to the accused, by the police in December 2005 when the case was already transferred to the CBI, rendering the Delhi police without any jurisdiction in the case.

"The inquiry should be made into the issue as to whether there was justification for the police officers concerned to file the untraced report even after the investigation stood transferred to the CBI, and if no satisfactory explanation is found, to enquire into the conduct of the concerned officer of the Delhi police, who proceeded to file the untraced report, despite having no authority to do so," his judgment said.

After the report of the Justice Nanavati Commission, which had said there was actionable evidence against some accused, including Sajjan Kumar, the central government had transferred the probe to the CBI in October 2005 and all records related with the case were given to the agency on November 8, 2005.

However, throwing all rules to the wind, the Delhi police proceeded to file the untraced report in the next month. But the metropolitan magistrate, well aware that the probe stood transferred to the CBI, did not accept the Delhi police' report and mere consigned the case file to records and granted liberty to the state to move appropriate motion in respect of the untraced report as and when required.

Boy lynched in Gzb
Was found semi-nude in girlfriend’s room

Ghaziabad, July 19
Residents of a Ghaziabad village beat a boy to death after he was found in a semi-nude condition with a girl in her room early on Monday, the police said. According to the police, Manoj, the boyfriend of the girl Manju, was found in her bedroom by her brother and sister-in-law around 4 am as they came down from the roof, where they were sleeping, when it started raining. When they found Manoj and Manju semi-nude, Manju's brother started beating Manoj.

Hearing the shouts, other residents rushed to the house under Pilkhuwa police station and beat Manoj for almost half an hour, till they discovered he had died.

In the meantime, the police got an anonymous call informing them of the incident. A team reached the spot and took Manoj to the government hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. He had suffered vast internal bleeding and multiple organ damage.

Manoj's brother Sudhir lodged a complaint with the police accusing six people - Manju's father Hetram, her brothers Yogendra, Praveen, and Padam, sister-in-law Sarita and cousin Surender-- in addition to several other unidentified people.

"We have arrested four people and are investigating the case," Pilkhuwa station officer S.C. Belwal said. — IANS

Five of family injured in accident
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
Five members of a family, including three children, were injured in an accident in the national Capital today morning. The family, including the children aged between 12 and 17, was critically injured when a speeding car hit its car in the Tilak Marg area.

According to the police, the incident was reported around 8 am from Rajpath crossing near the India Gate.

"The injured have been identified as Rajender (42), his wife Romi (36) and their three children, Yamini (17), Kanika (15) and Pratik (12). They were all rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where they are recuperating," said a police officer, adding that the vehicle that hit the car of the victims fled the spot.

According to information, Rajender and his wife was coming from the Gole Market area to drop his children to their school.

Robbers snatch Rs 10 lakh

Ghaziabad, July 19
Four motorcycle-borne robbers looted Rs 10 lakh from two petrol pump employees who were on their way to deposit the cash at a bank in Garh Mukteswar in Ghaziabad district on Monday, the police said.

Angry traders later blocked the Lucknow-Delhi highway to protest rising crime in the area.

According to the police, the cashier of Musaddi Lal Petrol Pump and his assistant were on their way to Syndicate Bank when the four robbers intercepted them and tried to snatch the bag containing the cash. When the two employees resisted, the robbers hit them with pistol butts and succeeded in fleeing with the cash towards Meerut.

The local traders blocked the vehicular movement on National Highway 24 to protest the rising crime in the area. The agitation, which led to a long queue of stranded vehicles in both directions, was only called off when superintendent of police (rural) M.M. Baig assured the traders to solve the case at the earliest. The petrol pumps also closed their business in the city after the incident.

The petrol pump owners association asked the police to provide security to their staff, noting Monday is the day their personnel are targeted by robbers as they are carrying huge amounts of cash on account of banks being closed on Sunday. "Most of the incidents occur on Monday," association member Rakesh Bansal said. — IANS

Five held for honour killing
Our Correspondent

Noida July 19
The Noida police has arrested five members of a girl's family here today for honour killing. The girl was killed by them on July 13 in Bulandshahr. A Dalit boy Ravinder Kumar had married an upper caste girl Sangeeta of Bulandshahr. Both married in Arya Samaj temple at Yamuna Vihar in Delhi on February 15 and later also registered their marriage in court.

They gave their address in Kondli. However, the girl's family took her home after a while and killed her.

On Ravinder's complaint, the Noida police today arrested five accused: Ramvati, Jagwati, Manoj, Daya Ram and Sukhbir Singh. They confessed to have killed the girl and burnt her body in Bulandshahr fields, said SSP A.K.Singh.

"The girl's family members had promised to marry her formally. They said this would save them from humiliation. When the boy contacted them on July 18, they threatened to kill him also," added Singh.

Suicide: Girl’s father quizzed
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
A day after a 17-year-old schoolboy committed suicide in the Pitampura area, the police today questioned the girl's father, who, according to the boy's family, provoked the boy to kill himself.

The teenager, Samarath Gupta, apparently took the extreme step after the father of a girl he was friends with reprimanded him over their friendship.

"We have questioned the girl's father today. He appeared to be in a state of shock and told us that he only reprimanded the boy like he did his own daughter. We are also recording the statements of the boy's friends," said a police official from the Rani Bagh police station. The official said that no case had been registered so far.

Samarth, a student of Maharaja Agrasen School, Pitampura, met the girl at a neighbourhood dance school two months ago. The two became good friends, but the girl's father did not approve of their relationship.

As per Samarth's friend Surya Kant, the girl's father had slapped Samarth.

The boy's family has demanded action against the girl's father for harassing their son.

1 killed in mishap
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
A 45-year-old man was killed while five members of a family, including three children, were injured in two accidents here this morning. In the first accident, five members of a family, including three children aged between 12 and 17, were critically injured when a speeding car hit their car in the Tilak Nagar area.

According to the police, the incident was reported around 8 am from Rajpath crossing near the India Gate.

"The injured have been identified as Rajender (42), his wife Romi (36) and their three children, Yamini (17), Kanika (15) and Pratik (12). They were all rushed to the AIIMS Trauma Centre where they are recuperating," said a police officer, adding that the vehicle that hit the car of the victims fled the spot.

Rajender and his wife was coming from the Gole Market area to drop his children to their school. 

2 suspended for sealing legal shop
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19
The MCD today suspended a deputy commissioner and an executive engineer of the Karol Bagh zone for wrongly sealing a legal shop in the area. The suspensions took place at the House meeting today.

Deputy commissioner Dharamveer Verma and executive engineer S.K. Chauhan were suspended on the orders of municipal commissioner K.S. Mehra.

The suspended officers had in March sealed a shop in Inderpuri which was not in the negative list of properties. They also lodged an FIR against the area councillor who had come to the rescue of the traders. However, the shop was later de-sealed by the authorities.