Chandigarh, January 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the UT Administration to file an affidavit on the number of houses earmarked for officials coming on deputation to Chandigarh from other states, but retaining official accommodation even after the end of their deputation. Justice Surya Kant issued the directions during the resumed hearing of a petition by a retired IAS officer, Asha Sharma. She is presently posted as Haryana State Information Commissioner.

She had moved the High Court for stay on the UT Administration orders of January 2008, vide which she was asked to vacate her accommodation. Sharma retired as an IAS officer from Haryana government in 2007, but was appointed the Haryana State Information Commissioner. After her retirement, she continued to stay in the same accommodation. Issuing notice of motion, the Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice K Kannan had earlier stayed the dispossession of Haryana State Information Commissioner Asha Sharma from the house in Sector 5 here.

In her petition against the UT Administration, the house allotment committee and the estate officer, the former IAS officer had sought directions to the respondents to regularise the allotment of house number 55.

Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner said the committee on September 6, 1996, had decided to regularise the allotment of the house in her name. At that time, she was functioning as commissioner and secretary. After her retirement on February 2007, a request was forwarded to the committee to allow her to retain the accommodation, which was allowed. In the meantime, she was appointed the information commissioner. But, vide a letter, the committee informed the petitioner that the house allocation stood cancelled after her retirement.

Chandigarh, January 12
The Deputy Commissioner (DC) today deferred the hearing on the election petition challenging of the Mayoral election filed by independent candidate Jagjit Singh Kang to January 20. A fresh notice has been issued to Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh. The notice earlier sent to him had returned with the report that he was not residing at that address.

Satya Pal Jain, the council for Kang, informed the court that the address given in the petition (House Number 3010, Sector 46-C) had been taken from the official website of the Municipal Corporation. The address was wrong.

It may be mentioned that Kang had challenged the election of Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh on the ground that the Congress councillors were asked by Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Kumar Bansal to take the photograph of their ballot paper after casting their vote in favour of the Congress candidate.

Jain showed the address in the website to the court on his mobile. Jain demanded that let fresh notice be issued to him at his Sector 27-D address as well as to his office in the MC. This was agreed to by the court. Jain said it was surprising that the MC website had the wrong address of the Mayor. BJP councillor Rajesh Gupta, one of the respondents in the election petition, appeared in person and the court granted him time to file the reply by January 20.

Kang had alleged after the election that when the presiding officer, Brig Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri, asked the councillors not to take their mobile phones inside the polling booths, it was violated by Bansal by saying that “nobody can stop him from taking his mobile phone inside the polling booth. I will take my mobile with me. You do whatever you want to do.” Kang had alleged that the secrecy of the ballot was breached by Bansal with ulterior motives.

Chandigarh, January 12
Top seed Warit Sornbutnark of Thailand in boys’ section and Donna Vekic of Croatia in girls’ category entered the quarterfinals (singles) of the Mehru-ITF World Ranking Junior Circuit Grade-3 Tennis Tournament, being played at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association courts, here today.

Warit, playing against Abduvonous Saitmukhamedov of Uzbekistan, lost the first set 3-6 but came back strongly in the second set 6-2. In the decisive set, Warit held his nerve to outclass Abduvonous 6-4.

For Indian boys, the day was a disappointing one as many of them got knocked out barring Rakshay Thakkar, who sailed into the quarterfinal after beating Kal Wen Lai of Taipei 7-6(5), 6-2.

In the girls’ section, Donna Vekic of Croatia put up a good show to turn the tables on top seed Anna Tyulpa of Russia 7-5, 6-4.

Contrary to their counterparts, the Indian girls displayed a good show as Ratnika Batra got the better of Nadya Syarifah of Indonesia in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.

The quarterfinals in the girls’ section will witness two girls each from Russia and India, while the rest four are from Croatia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

The quarterfinal round matches will start at 10.30 am tomorrow at CLTA Complex.

Pre-quarterfinal results: Boys singles: Warit Sornbutnark (THA) b Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (UZB) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Joshua Ward Hibbert (GBR) b Wen Chun Liang (TPE) 6-3, 6-4; Temur Ismailov (UZB) b Shao Chin Yang (TPE) 6-1, 6-1; Chi Shan Jao (TPE) b Or Ram Harel (ISR) 2-0 (retired hurt); Qin Tu (CHN) b Chih-Jen Ho (TPE) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0; Enzo Couacaud (FRA) bt Rishabhdev Raman (IND) 7-5, 6-3; Maciej Romanowicz (POL) b Nattan Benjasupawan (THA) 6-1, 6-1; Rakshay Thakkar (IND) b Kal-Wen Lai (TPE) 7-6(5), 6-2.

Girls singles: Donna Vekic (CRO) b Anna Tyulpa (RUS) 7-5, 6-4; Ratnik Batra (IND) b Nadya Syarifah (INA) 6-3, 6-1; Anastasiya Prenko (TKM) b Anushka Bhargava (IND) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Prarthana G Thombare (IND) b Fang Chi Tsao (TPE) 6-3, 6-3; Basak Eraydin (TUR) b Sharmda Balu (IND) 6-1, 6-3; Evgeniya Svintsva (RUS) b Kanika Vaidya (IND) 6-3, 6-4; Oleksandra Korashvili (UKR) b Natasha Palha (IND) 7-5, 6-1; Elizaveta Kulichkova (RUS) b Napatsaakoran Sankaew (THA) 6-3, 6-2.

Boys doubles: 1 Arjun Khade (IND) & Rakshay Thakkar (IND) b Maciej Romanowicz (POL) & Joshua Ward Hibbert (GBR) 6-4, 6-1; Vinod Gowde (IND) & Kai-Wen Lai (TPE) b Rohit Bisht (IND) & Saurabh Singh (IND) 6-4, 7-6(0); Yash Deshpande (IND) & Rishabhdev Raman (IND) W/O Or Ram Harel (ISR) & Qin Tu (CHN). Enzo Couacaud (FRA) & Shukhrat Gizatulin (UZB) b Nattan Benjasupawan (THA) & Warit Sornbutnark (THA) 7-5, 6-1.

Chandigarh, January 12
A six-wicket haul by Gurinder Singh (6 for 35) and brilliant unbeaten ton by Mandeep Singh (106 n.o) helped Punjab team put Jharkhand on the mat in the Cooch Behar Trophy (u-19) match played at Holkar stadium, Indore. The win enabled Punjab to secure a berth in the final of the tourney.

Today, Jharkhand resumed from their overnight first innings total of 119 for 5 in 44 overs but were bowled out on 185 in 67.3 overs.

Left-arm spinner Gurinder Singh, who had caused all the damage yesterday, continued to have his stranglehold on the Jharkhand batsmen, as he returned with the figures of 25-13-35-6. Medium-pacer Kamal Passi took the remainder of the four wickets for 85. Jaskaran Singh scored a defiant knock of 40 off 51.

Punjab openers Manan Vohra and Ankit Pursharthy stitched a 71-run stand. Vohra chipped in with 41 runs. Punjab lost their second wicket at 95 when Pargat Singh was caught by RM Raj off VB Singh for 16.

At this stage, skipper Mandeep Singh joined Ankit Pursharthy and the two took the total to 156. Ankit Pursharthy was out at 48.

Mandeep Singh, who was joined by Anil Sihag, completed his unbeaten knock of 106 in 113 balls. Anil Sihag slammed an unbeaten half-century (54 off 73).

Punjab made 276 for three in the second innings with an overall lead of 552 runs.

Brief scores: Punjab (Ist innings): 461 all out in 133.2 overs (Manan Vohra 80, Love Kumar 80, Mohit Handa 99; PN Seet 4 for 115).

Jharkhand (1st innings): 119 for 5 in 44 overs (AP Yadav 34, Jaskaran Singh 40; Gurinder Singh 6 for 35 and Kamal Passi 4 for 85).

Punjab (2nd innings): 276 for 3 in 66 overs (Mandeep Singh 106 n.o, Anil Sihag 54 n.o, Ankit Pursharthy 48; AP Yadav 1 for 24,).

Chandigarh, January 12
Putting up a spectacular show, Chandigarh’s under-14 boys’ soccer team emerged champions for the second time in a row in the national school games here today. The team drubbed strong contenders Manipur 3-0 in the title clash.

With his two goals, ace forward Samual, who was later declared ‘best player of the tournament’, played vital role in today’s win.

The opening goal was scored by the team’s goalkeeper Timoi through a penalty kick. Timoi also bagged the ‘best goalkeeper of the tournament’ title. The ‘best defender of the tournament’ award went to Nishu of the same team.

The team had put up an impressive performance throughout the tournament. In their seven matches, they did not concede even a single goal while compiling a cumulative score of 43 goals.

“I am elated at the team’s showing,” said Harjinder Singh, the team’s coach. “It is the result of their dedication, hard work and the long hours of rigorous training put in by them,” he added.

Team skipper Harcharan Singh gave credit to the team members for this feat. “It is difficult to single out any individual as each player had his own important role to play in each game,” he said.