NEIGHBOURHOOD

Two killed on level crossing in Ambala
Tribune News Service

Ambala, February 24
Two persons died when Samar Kranti Express train hit a motorcycle at an unmanned level crossing near Dukheri railway station, 10 km from Ambala Cantonment.The deceased were identified as Nirmal Singh, a resident of Saha, and Vijay Singh, a resident of Laha village in Ambala district. Both were riding the motorcycle. Following the incident the movement of trains on the Ambala-Saharanpur route came to a halt for some time.

According to sources, the incident occurred at Dukheri on the Ambala-Saharanpur railway track around 7 pm when super fast train Samar Kranti hit the bike of the two youths who were crossing the level crossing. The two died on the spot.

The police has registered a case and the bodies were sent for the postmortem at the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt.

Chandigarh, February 24
Less than a fortnight after the Punjab & Haryana High Court set September 30, 2006, as the cutoff date for school admissions to upper KG and KG classes, four of the schools affected by the move filed at least two appeals against the fixing of “age criteria” on Thursday.

In the appeals filed before the division bench of chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and justice Augustine George Masih, Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, St John’s High School, Sector 26 and St Anne’s Convent School, Sector 32 asserted the single judge “has erred in laying down the age criteria for admission of children to UKG up to September 30, 2006”.

Counsels for the appellants Alka Sarin and Nitin Sarin added: “A totally arbitrary criteria has been fixed without any basis by the single judge”. Elaborating, they added: “The single judge ought to have dismissed the writ petition in as much as no action taken by the schools has been challenged by the petitioners…The judge has gone beyond pleadings of the parties and chosen an age criteria that was neither pleaded in the writ petition, nor was the case of the petitioners that the cutoff date be fixed as September 30, 2006 for UKG class and September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2007 for LKG class”.

The counsels averred the writ petition itself was not maintainable as the appellant schools were privately run unaided minority educational institutions. “These schools don’t fall within the definition of state under article 12 of the Indian constitution and hence a writ petition is not maintainable against it…There’s no pleading in the writ petition to the effect that the appellant schools are authority or state”, the counsels added.

After hearing the arguments and going through the contents of the two petitions, the bench issued notice of motion to the respondents, including 17 minors who had moved the high court through their parents.

The single judge had earlier asked the four city schools “to consider the cases of all the children who are born up to September 30, 2006 as a one-time measure”.

The victim said the accused had forcibly taken her from Maloya to Panipat, where she was raped for over a month by the accused. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 24
Former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) director Saji Mohan appeared in the district court here today where two witnesses testified against him in the drug pilferage case, registered against him by the NCB.

He was brought from Mumbai’s Arthur jail and has been sent to Burail jail as his case is due for hearing tomorrow.

He was arrested by ATS Mumbai in January 2009 in a drug racket case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge, Lalit Batra recorded evidence of MMS Bhandari, who is the investigating officer in the case. He said the contraband of 60kg heroin was sealed by former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Superintendent Balwinder Kumar on the direction of Saji Mohan.

Another witness RC Bodh, said accused Nasib Chand had confessed to him that Saji Mohan had once given him the contraband.

Saji Mohan was booked by the NCB under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on March 14, 2009, and was accused of pilfering narcotics from NCB Malkhana.

Saji Mohan also appeared before the Court of Additional District and Sessions judge, Gurbir Singh in connection with the corruption case registered against him by the Chandigarh Police. The court would hear arguments on Friday.

An FIR was registered on January 30, 2009, alleging that Saji Mohan and former NCB Superintendent Balwinder Kumar have misappropriated Rs 13.85 lakh.

The amount, which was part of a case property, was handed over by Kumar to Mohan in December 2008 for depositing the same in a bank. However, the money was not deposited by Mohan.

Zirakpur, February 24
An unidentified body of a migrant labourer, in his mid-30s, was found under mysterious circumstances at Peer Muchhalla here this afternoon.

The investigating officer said the body was apparently lying out in the open from the past few two-three days and injury marks were found on it.

Chandigarh, February 24
The police arrested six persons, including five women for allegedly trying to cheat a goldsmith after selling him artificial silver ornaments at Mani Majra last night.All the six belong to the same family and hail from Gujarat. The accused include Kamla, Neeru, Meena, Rita, Manju and Ashok Kumar.

They were produced in a court and were sent to judicial custody.

The police said around 3 kg of artificial ornaments were also recovered from them. The police added that the accused approached a goldsmith Gaurav Luthra claiming that they were in dire need of money and were willing to sell their ornaments. The police also said there was a possibility that the accused also cheated some more goldsmiths in the city and they will investigate further. A case has been registered against them. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 24
Audit General (AG) Punjab will face AG Tamil Nadu (TN) in the final clash of the All-India Inter-Zonal Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) Cricket Tournament being held at GMSS (TM), Sector 26, here today.

In the first semifinal match of the day, AG Punjab defeated AG-II Maharashtra by eight wickets.

Elected to field first, the winners restricted the visitors on 149 runs for nine in allotted 35 overs. Ruchit Bhalla from AG Tamil Nadu topped the score chart with 46 runs, whereas Amit Despawde contributed 28 runs in the team’s total.

Rajiv Bhatia got four for 24, including a hat-trick in the last over of the innings.

In reply, AG Punjab achieved the target with five overs left for the game. After a shaky start, in-form batsman Navdeep Singh scored a brilliant unbeaten 70 runs studded with six four. Arun Tuli also remained unbeaten on 67 runs, including four boundaries.

In the second semifinal, AG Tamil Nadu defeated local outfits AG Haryana by six runs.

Bowling first, the local team restricted the winners on 187 all out in allotted 37 overs. Vijay Bharatran (69) and R Chandrashekaran (58) were the main scorers for the team.

In reply, AG Haryana achieved the target in 37 overs with one wicket in hand. G Gambir made 96 runs. Vipual Sharma (33) and Parveen Sharma (21) were other contributors to the team’s total.

Brief score (Match I):

AG-II Maharashtra: 149 for 9 in 35 overs (Ruchit Bhalla 46, Amit Despawde 28; Rajiv Bhatia 4 for 24, Arun Tuli 2 for 43, Yogesh Sharma 2 for 38).

AG Punjab: 151 for 2 in 30.2 overs (Navdeep Singh 70 not out, Arun Tuli 67 
not out).

Chandigarh, February 24
Kewal Krishan Bhanot, a veteran athlete from Nakodar district of Punjab, alleged that the Masters’ Athletics’ Association has not permitted him to participate in the 32nd Masters Athletics Championship being held at the Sports Complex, Sector 46, here today.

Eighty-five-year-old Bhanot, who was a freedom fighter, a teacher and now an athlete, was refused to participate in the athletics meet just before the start of his event.

Bhanot started his veteran sports career at the age of 65 and won the first gold medal in 1992 when he finished first in the state veteran athletics meet, organised by the Punjab Association of Veteran Athlete. The same year, he bagged a silver medal in the all-India veteran athletics meet.

In 1993, Bhanot met with an accident and was suggested not to run, but keeping his spirits high, he came back in 2003 when he bagged a gold medal in the 10-km walk race in the All-India National Games of Veterans held at Imphal.

Sharing his past, Bhanot said, “After the accident, my left leg got short by 3 centimetres and I was suggested to walk with the help of sticks, but I was not ready to accept it and fought hard.”

Bhanot, who won a gold medal in the 800m race and two silver medals in the walk race during the state games at Mastwera, Sangrur district, Punjab, in 2010, said, “I was told earlier that I will participate in the athletics events of the tournament and even after qualifying for the all-India nationals, I was refused by the authorities just before a few minutes of the event and shown the door with disrespect,” stated disheartened KK Bhanot.

When contacted, secretary Masters’ Athletics Games of Punjab, Bhupinder Singh Punia said, “I told him not to come for the event, as there are a few people to participate in the category, but after a request from organisers, we called him for the event and we will try to organise the event tomorrow,” stated Punia.