Heated arguments were witnessed in the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Anshul Berry when the four kidnappers were being produced. The defence counsel pleaded that two of the arrested - Banwari and Surra - were minors and thus should be sent to the juvenile home. On the other hand, the police claimed all four kidnappers are above 18 years and sought five-day police custody.

While the court sent Amarpal and Suresh to police custody for three days, Surra and Banwari were remanded to judicial custody for two days so that the police could determine their actual age from their ossification test.

The police claimed that Prince’s father Dinesh had invested Rs 5 lakh as earnest money for buying a house recently. This made Amarpal believe Dinesh had huge money with him, which prompted him to kidnap the child.

Chandigarh, February 9
Ordering a stay on the draw of lots for admission to Sacred Heart, Carmel Convent, St John’s High, St Anne’s and Strawberry Fields schools in the city, the Punjab & Haryana High Court today reserved its verdict on the issue of eligibility of children aged three years and above. The case, which came before justice Mahesh Grover, also saw the UT administration virtually change its stance on the issue.

Miffed over the legal battle on the issue, Grover observed in the court: “It’s really unfortunate that the mad rush for admission to classes like prenursery and LKG has found an echo in the high court”.

The petitioners - 17 minors - had claimed the administration had on January 14 mentioned in its letter that the minimum eligibility age for admission to prenursery classes was three years and above. However, on January 18 the administration again revised the age criteria and said only children aged four years and above would be eligible.

As the case came up the administration came up with an affidavit saying: “Privately run schools in Chandigarh have been following their own age criteria for admissions and the UT administration has not issued any circular/direction in this regard.” The affidavit, submitted through UT senior standing counsel Sanjay Kaushal, stated further that the circular dated January 14 was “clarificatory” in nature and had underlined the age criteria would be three plus for prenursery and five plus for class one.

“It was necessitated to clarify, with the coming into operation of the Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the eligibility age for admission had not been increased. The UT administration is following a uniform policy for admission to government schools in Chandigarh, but no direction has been issued to private institutes for the current academic year”, the affidavit added.

Appearing on behalf of nothing less than four schools, senior advocate ML Sarin asserted the schools in question were “minority institutes” and not covered by the administration’s decision. “These institutes, in fact, can’t be given any direction as these are totally independent in the process of admitting students”, he added.

Sarin observed the administration’s own affidavit had said privately run schools in the city were following their own procedure and there was no uniformity. He argued that changing the criteria at the present juncture would “open a Pandora’s box” and would eventually delay the entire process.

Strawberry Fields School, on the other hand, took the stand it had “no objection if children born up to September 30, 2006 are also considered for admission to UKG or KG as a special case only for the current year, so as to give fair chance of competing with other children”.

The plea was filed by Enakshi Pant and 16 other minors through their parents. have filed the petition. The petitioners stated their prime grievance was that the UT district education officer was continuously changing the criteria for admission to prenursery, UKG, LKG and class I, arguing that in the process this was causing a “huge loss and grave injustice” to children.

The petitioners averred that earlier - on January 14 - the UT administration had mentioned in its letter the minimum eligibility age for prenursery classes was three years and above. “But, on January 18, the administration again changed the age criteria and said only 4-plus children would be eligible”, they said.

Chandigarh, February 9
Next time there are noisy scenes at the municipal corporation’s general house meetings the elected representatives may not be alone in staging a walkout. Senior officials of the civic body will join them, if a resolution passed by the Joint Forum of Officers today is any indication - a development which bodes ill for the city’s development in the run-up to the MC polls later this year.

Apparently irked by the alleged misbehaviour by councillors and even senior officials, including additional commissioner-I TPS Phoolka, additional commissioner-II and secretary Lalit Siwach, joint commissioner Kamlesh Kumar and chief engineer SS Bida, the officers threatened to go on a “pen down” strike if any councillor “misbehaved or used abusive language” against them during house proceedings.

The resolution is seen as the result of the reported misbehaviour by councillors with the officers at the last general house meeting on Jamuary 28. The resolution was later submitted to MC commissioner Roshan Sunkaria for appropriate action and forwarding it to the authorities concerned.

Not only that, the officials also decided to boycott meetings of the subcommittees if the councillors target them for their vested interests. In a resolution the officers complained it has become a regular practice with councillors to “humiliate” the former during house and various committee meetings. “This was one of the reasons why officers from neighboring states aren’t keen to join the UT administration or get their premature repatriation from here”, the officers averred.

Referring to the recently held finance & contract committee elections, they claimed councillors used “unparliamentary language” against Siwach. A majority of officers objected to such an “insult” by the councillors and said it had become a routine practice with them to “abuse or target “officers in the house.

While confirming the passage of the resolution, Siwach confirmed the officers had to “face humiliation” in the corporation even after “performing their duties sincerely”.

This was not the first instance when councillors allegedly misbehaved with the officers on the floor of the house. In 2007 Congress councillor and current mayor Ravinder Pal Singh allegedly manhandled an employee of the MC building branch.

In 2008 BJP councillor Anil Kumar Dubey allegedly used abusive language against the chief engineer at a house meeting. The same year senior MC officials filed a complaint against Congress party councillor Devinder Singh Babla, accusing him of “misbehaving” with Sunkaria and “interfering” in the day-to-day administrative work of the corporation.

In 2009 Babla was again alleged to have “misbehaved” with Sunkaria during a meeting of the finance & contracts committee. In protest the latter lodged a complaint against the councilor with the UT administrator. Recently the home secretary had to intervene in a clash between Kamlesh and Babla after both had heated arguments in the house.

Chandigarh, February 9
The delay in notifying the enhanced road tax structure appears to have worked wonders for the city’s registering & licensing authority at Tuesday’s auction of “special” vehicle numbers in the new series CH01 AG, held at the RLA office in Sector 17. The authority decided to go in for an early auction as the earlier series (CH01 AF) were exhausted within two months.

While the announcement to increase road tax rates was made much earlier, the notification was issued only a week ago. Cashing in on discounts offered by various auto makers during the last few months of the year coupled with fears over a hike in road tax, city residents went on a car-buying spree. Today’s auction for 20 “VIP” vehicle registration numbers - the first in the city after road tax rates were revised - received a fairly good response, netting Rs 771,400. Despite the claims of RTA officials that the response was encouraging the proceeds were much lower as compared to the auction held last year.

Meanwhile, five applications were received for the number ending 0009 in the new series and it went under the hammer for Rs 1.6 lakh. Five people bid for the new series’ first number - CH01 AG001, which eventually went to Kunal Bhadoo, a city resident, who paid the highest amount of Rs 140,000 for it. CH01 AG0007 was allotted to Ashok Kumar, a resident of Sector 50, for Rs 80,000.

Other numbers that went under the hammer included CH01 AG0002 for Rs 16,000, CH01 AG0003 for Rs 15,200, CH01 AG0012 for Rs 10,500, CH01 AG0020 for Rs 10,500 and CH01 AG8888 for Rs 10,500.

Chandigarh, February 9
Social activists and economists today called for ensuring a fair minimum support price (MSP) to farmers, the need to involve farmers in the planning process besides encouraging farmer cooperatives and ending the monopoly of seed companies while calling for a new policy framework in this sector.

The activists and economists, who took part at a discussion on Kisan Swaraj held at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here, rued that the marginal farmer was becoming poorer by the day even as the country adopted a policy whereby food prices were kept low by giving unfair MSP to the farmers.

Lok Dal leader Ajay Chautala while supporting the contentions made by Umendra Dutt of the Kheti Virasat Mission, which organised the seminar, said it was surprising that though the country was dependent on agriculture production; its farmers were getting a raw deal.

He said ensuring that farming continued to be a viable alternative was in the interest of the food security of the country.

Kavitha Karuganti of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said marginal farmers constituted 62 per cent of the population of the country. She said these farmers had an average income of Rs 1,850 per month against an expenditure of Rs 2,500. She said the situation was no better in Punjab. She said the average per month income of farmers in the State was Rs 4,960 only. “This despite the fact that we are told that one kind of agriculture brings in prosperity”. She said farmers in Punjab were not able to earn more because the quantity of inputs as well as their costs kept on decreasing.

Speakers, including CRRID Director General Dr Suchha Singh Gill, Dr Ranjit Singh Ghuman from the Punjabi University and Dr Sukhpal Singh from the Punjab Agriculture University and social activist Hemant Goswami spoke on the need to develop and ensure the availability of home grown seeds to the farmers. Dr Ghuman called for improving the standards of health and education in the rural areas.

It was also noted that financial support systems like subsidies, credit and insurance were not reaching the ordinary farmers and were often usurped by big landlords. The conclave urged that direct subsidies should be given to farmers, especially in case of ecological farming, on a par with external inputs through subsidies directly delivered to farmers.

Chandigarh, February 9
While most Indian businessmen rarely follow the principle of Grahak devo bhava and end up treating customers shabbily, the city’s District Consumer Forum, with an enviable case disposal rate of 97.47 per cent, is surely helping customers get their dues from errant companies and business houses.

And what is heartening is that the case disposal rate of the forum is the second best in the country, the top slot being grabbed by Andhra Pradesh with a slender lead of .01 per cent at 97.48 per cent. Of the 39,736 complaints received by the forum since inception (1985), it disposed of 38,730 cases till December 2009.

The UT Consumer Forum is convincingly ahead of its counterparts in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, where the disposal rate is 95.80 per cent and 94.41 per cent, respectively.

According to Pankaj Chandgothia, president, Chandigarh Consumer Courts Bar Association, the main reason for the quick disposal of cases here is the availability of two forums in one UT. Chandgothia said the fact that all documentary evidence in the case is required to be submitted along with the complaint in UT forums, unlike in other states, has also contributed to the speedy disposal of cases.

The UT’s State Commission, on the other hand, has a disposal rate of 91.66 per cent and occupies the fifth position in the country. The top slot is with the Delhi State Commission, with a disposal rate of 96.23 per cent.

Insiders attribute this comparatively low figure to the fact that the UT State Commission’s backlog had increased due to the transfer of a large number of cases from commissions of neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

According to experts, besides timely disposal of cases, the UT’s consumer courts have ensured a speedy implementation of their orders by exercising their powers under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Under this Section, a seller can be imprisoned for a maximum of three years for the non-implementation of its orders.

The forum has already pronounced over a dozen imprisonments, besides issuing several non-bailable warrants.

Panchkula, February 9
An anti-encroachment drive by the enforcement wing of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) here today triggered a protest from residents of the Azad Colony, a slum, in Sector 3.

Accompanied by a team of policemen, the enforcement wing of HUDA, led by Sub-Divisional Engineer Vimal Jit, started removing the kiosks and rehris located near Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Sector 3 at 2 pm. The kiosks were set up by some residents to sell meat and other items to the residents in the area.

Surprised over the sudden move of the HUDA team, the residents gathered at the site and started raising slogans against the district administration after the team completed the drive and left the place.

They also blocked the road separating Sectors 3 and 21 for about 3 hours, resulting in hundreds of vehicles getting stuck in the jam. The protesters also indulged in stone pelting and threatened to damage the cars of the commuters when the latter tried to cross through the area.

SHO of the Sector 5 police station Om Parkash, along with a police team, reached the site immediately and diverted the traffic from the road leading to the national highways 22 and 73.

Senior officers of the administration, including SDM KK Kalson, reached the spot and asked the residents to contact the Estate Officer, HUDA, to resolve the issue.

Abdul, one of the protesters, said the residents were not against the drive, but the authorities should also remove the country liquor vend in the area which had vitiated the atmosphere in the area.

Chandigarh, February 9
The UT excise and taxation department, in continuation of its drive to check the evasion of revenue under VAT and CST Acts, conducted a special check for 24 hours in the city. The drive, which continued overnight, started around 9 am yesterday and continued till 9 am today.

All officers of the department were allotted different areas of the city.

During the drive, the department impounded 15 vehicles carrying retail goods. Some vehicles belonged to transport companies engaged in the evasion of tax.

Certain vehicle drivers could not furnish the requisite documents mandatory under the local tax laws for transportation of taxable goods, according to a press note issued here today.

The department has levied penalties to the tune of Rs 82 lakh for the period starting April 1, 2010 under Section 51 of the Punjab VAT Act (as applicable to Chandigarh).

The department, apart from creating an analysis report on the evasion of taxes, has also initiated a preliminary inquiry to unearth the nexus between the unscrupulous transporters and local dealers, it added.

Chandigarh, February 9
MC Commissioner Roshan Sunkaria today directed the administrative heads of seven civil dispensaries to get the necessary renovation of the existing infrastructure done at the earliest. He inspected the dispensaries at Sectors 8, 19, 20, 35, 38, 40 and 42 and interacted with patients there.

He directed the functional heads to take up the maintenance of civil, public health, electrical and horticulture works.

During the inspection, doctors complained about the shortage of medicines in their respective dispensaries. The commissioner directed them to compile a detail of the actual requirement for future procurement. He further asked the officials to ensure the presence of doctors in all healthcare facilities along with the availability of essential medicines to ensure proper utiliation of the healthcare facilities.

As many as 61 publishers participated in the first book fair in the city, in which more than 2,000 students from 250 schools in the district visited stalls put up by the publishers. The fair would also enable primary, middle and senior secondary schools to purchase books for their library with the help of grant provided by the state government under the new education policy. The primary schools were being given a grant of Rs 3,000, while middle and senior secondary schools could purchase books worth Rs 10,000 each. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 9
Panjab University dental students, who were earlier demanding the ouster of Dr HSJ Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital director-principal, Dr Krishan Gauba, are now anxious about the affiliation status of their institute.

Though studies resumed today at the university dental institute after almost a week, students, particularly interns, when questioned expressed their apprehension on the issue of affiliation of the institution.

A statement issued by senior university officials that they have no clue on the status of affiliation of the institute two days ago, created more panic among the students.

“I am feeling somewhat guilty that the affiliation issue of the college was almost sorted out and our director, who was working hard on it, had to go. The untimely exit of our director could affect the affiliation issue,” said an intern on the condition of anonymity.

“I came to the college after almost five days today. Till the time students were protesting, many of us did not even come out of our hostel. Since Dr Gauba was the director of the college at the time of inspection and throughout the process of recognition of the college, in official terms his exit could mean further problems in terms of objections raised by the Dental Council of India (DCI),” said another final-year student.

Nonetheless, the outgoing dental college director, Dr Gauba told the Chandigarh Tribune correspondent, “There is no need for the students to panic about the affiliation issue.” Gauba, who is a Senate member of PU, is also a member of the Dental Council of India.