Education is not business, says HC
‘High fees will force a student to adopt commercial approach’
Chandigarh, April 3
Education, after all, is not business; and higher fees will only force a student to adopt a commercial approach. The crucial observation on the country’s academic system by the Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court came, as it disposed of a bunch of 29 writ petitions.

Amritsar, April 3
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today declared that a decision on the issue of the proposed conversion of Khalsa College into a university has been deferred for the “time being”. He also directed Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu to intervene in the ongoing tussle between teachers and the college management.

Hailing this announcement, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU), which held its protest on the Lawrence road today, also decided to defer the proposed move to boycott university examinations that were underway in the state.

Earlier, a teachers’ delegation met Badal, who was in the town to launch the state-level sewa ambulance project. He clarified that the decision on the issue had been delayed for holding deliberations in the Cabinet. “We will hold discussions with Sikh scholars and all stakeholders before taking any step in this direction. No haphazard decision will be taken over this sensitive issue. For the time being, the decision has been postponed,” he said.

About the registration of cases and slapping of house vacation notices on some of the agitating teachers by the management, Badal said the Amritsar DC had been asked to solve the matter amicably. “Interests of the teachers will be protected and no teacher will be forced to leave official houses allotted to them,” he said.

Pannu said he would inquire into the alleged complaints submitted by the Principals of Khalsa Society-run educational institutions and the grounds under which the teachers had been served house vacation notices. “ I will talk to representatives from both teachers as well as the management side before submitting my report to the government,” he said.

On the other hand, Dr Daljit Singh, Principal, Khalsa College, while showing the pictures of his forcible confinement by teachers, decried the undesirable and offensive words used by them.

The teachers, who have been booked in the case, have applied for an anticipatory bail and the district court has fixed April 8 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

Meanwhile, the PCCTU, at its meeting, resolved to launch ‘Save Khalsa College’ campaign by mobilising all the segments of society and stakeholders, including scholars, teachers, students, alumni, social workers, landowners and even political leaders.

Later, its PCCTU activists met Rural Development Minister Ranjit S Brahmpura and Education Minister SS Sekhwan.

Khadoor Sahib, April 3
Former Punjab Finance Minister and People's Party of Punjab (PPP) supremo Manpreet Badal today held his first public meeting in the Majha region, after forming his new political outfit at Khatkar Kalan on March 27.

Addressing a rally of his supporters, Manpreet said the PPP would contest all 117 Assembly seats in Punjab, while expressing his resolve to rid the state of all ills affecting it. He said they had set a target of 50 lakh in their membership drive which would last for two months. He said the party would have its office-bearers in place within a month of the completion of the membership drive. "Eleven months from now, there will be rule of law in Punjab and not that of any individual," he said.

The rebel SAD leader lamented that the successive state governments had failed to deal with the burning issues of Punjab like the rising debt, increasing unemployment and drug addiction among its youth. "It is our firm resolve to bring back the days of prosperity in Punjab and ensure that it doesn't feature in the list of debt-ridden states." Outlining his future strategy, he said their entire focus would now be on strengthening the party in Punjab ahead of the crucial Assembly elections next year. 

Chandigarh, April 3
Education, after all, is not business; and higher fees will only force a student to adopt a commercial approach. The crucial observation on the country’s academic system by the Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court came, as it disposed of a bunch of 29 writ petitions.

In a significant judgment on petitions by Navdeep Kaur Gill and others petitioners, the Bench asserted: “There is no absolute right to establish institutions involving higher cost and limiting the same only to the students, who can pay a higher fee”.

The Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Mehinder Singh Sullar asserted: “Primarily, education is service to society, where earning is secondary or incidental. High fee will be inconsistent with such an aim and will force a student to adopt a commercial approach.”

Upholding the provisions of the Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission, fixation of fee and making of reservation) Act, 2006, the Bench added: “We are of the view that the provision limiting the fee to the minimum infrastructure requirements cannot be held to be violative of fundamental right under Article 19(1) (g) of the Constitution.

“The restriction does not, in any manner, interfere with the right of educational institutions to establish and administer the same. Their cost in providing minimum infrastructure is taken care of. They are not debarred from providing better infrastructure if they could afford to…. As observed in PA Inamdar, a student paying high fee is likely to aim at earning more rather than serving which can be a bane to society….

“If the Act intends to encourage social values, where a service-oriented approach can be adopted and access to higher education can be provided to poorer sections, such an aim will be consistent with the directive principles.

In one of the petitions, the students had challenged the demand of fee higher than approved for academic sessions 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 by the fee- fixation committee constituted by the state of Punjab in accordance with the Supreme Court directions.

The petitioners had contended that revision of fee to Rs 3 lakh for MBBS students, Rs 2.30 lakh for BDS and Rs 1.10 lakh for BAMS/BHMS degrees was arbitrary; and higher fee for management quota was not permissible.

The Bench added: “There is no doubt that colleges have a fundamental right to run their administration which includes fixation of fee subject only to checking of profiteering. There is no material to show that the FFC has fixed an unreasonably low fee structure without taking into account the cost of the colleges and data furnished by them….

“We are of the view that the writ petitions filed by the colleges are liable to be dismissed and writ petitions filed by the students deserve to be allowed to the extent that the colleges are not entitled to charge fee in excess of the fee approved by the FFC”.

Amritsar, April 3
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal launched a free ambulance service ,108, by flagging off state-of-the-art ambulances here today. “Now, the road accident victims will not die for delay in receiving medical aid due to their late arrival in hospitals,” Badal pointed out before launching the ambitious Sewa project along with Punjab Health Minister, Laxmi Kanta Chawla.

Under the project, as many as 240 ambulances will be provided by the Ziqitsza Health Care limited under the public-private partnership programme in three phases.

He said the state government was concerned over improving the health services by upgrading infrastructure and recruiting new doctors and staff. He said the government had already issued Rs 360 crore sought by the Health Department in order to provide infrastructure.

The Health Minister said in the initial phase, 90 ambulances would be provided in Amritsar (14), Gurdaspur (11), Tarn Taran (7), Ferozepur (11), Muktsar (5), Faridkot (5), Bathinda (8), Mansa (6), Sangrur (10), Barnala (4), Nawanshahar (3) and Kapurthala (5).

The second phase will cover Jalandhar (11), Hoshiarpur (10), Ropar (5), SAS Nagar Mohali (6), Fatehgarh Sahib (4), Ludhiana (16), Moga (5) and Patiala (8) while in the last phase, remaining ambulances would be given to all districts depending on the requirement and population. She said special emphasis would be given on border, rural and Kandi areas.

“The ambulance will take the victim to the nearest hospital or the hospital desired by the victim. Free treatment will be provided (to the victim) till his family members arrive,” she said.

Chandigarh, April 3
In a major administrative reshuffle, the Punjab Government today affected the transfer of 12 Deputy Commissioners in the state.

An official release here said Hussan Lal, Secretary (Tourism) has been given additional charge of the Director-cum-Secretary, Cultural Affairs, Museums, Archives and Archaeology and in addition the Director, Tourism, and in addition the Managing Director, Punjab Tourism Development Corporation, and in addition the State Transport Commissioner and the Secretary (Transport).

Harbhupinder Singh, Special Secretary (Transport) has been posted as the Special Secretary, Higher Education and Languages. Mansa DC Kumar Rahul has been posted as the Sangrur DC.

Roopnagar DC Arunjit Singh Miglani has been posted as the Chief Administrator, PUDA, SAS Nagar, and in addition the Chief Administrator, Amritsar Development Authority, Amritsar, and the Chief Administrator, Patiala Development Authority, Patiala, and the Ex-Officio Director, Town and Country Planning.

SAS Nagar DC Parveen Kumar has been posted as the Director (Lotteries), Punjab, and in addition the Special Secretary (Finance) and in addition the Director (Small Savings).

Gopal Krishan Singh, Director (Colonisation), Punjab, has been posted as the Roopnagar DC, Sangrur DC Harkesh Singh Sidhu has been posted as the Director (Colonisation), Punjab, in addition the Director, Land Records Settlement and Consolidation and Land Acquisition, Jalandhar. Sidhu was an appointee of former MP and senior SAD leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

Barnala DC Arshdeep Singh Thind has been posted as the Muktsar DC. Muktsar DC Varun Roojam goes as the SAS Nagar DC and in addition the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, SAS Nagar.

Kavita Mohan Singh Chouhan, Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, has been placed at the disposal of the Department of Industries and Commerce for appointment as the Managing Director, Punjab Industrial Development Corporation, Chandigarh.

Paramjit Singh, ADC (Amritsar) has been posted as the Barnala DC, Harjeet Singh, ADC (Barnala) as the Kapurthala DC and Dr Adapa Karthik, IAS, SDM, Rampura Phul, has been posted as the SDM Roopnagar. Ravinder Singh (PCS), Secretary, RTA (Jalandhar) has been posted as the Mansa Deputy Commissioner.

Bathinda, April 3
The “apathy” of the state government towards the District Library here is evident from the fact that it is functioning without a librarian for the past eight years and there is no restorer for the past nine months. At present, an attendant and a sweeper-cum-chowkidar have been performing duties in the library.

According to sources, the library had been set up here in 1974. It has more than 40,000 books in its stock. Four magazines and seven daily newspapers are being provided to readers in its reading room. However, only 10 readers visit the library to read the newspapers and magazines daily while some members (out of more than 700) visit to get the books issued. In the absence of the librarian and the restorer, the attendant is doing this work.

It is also learnt that new books have not been purchased during the past several years. During the last financial year (2010-11), the government had provided funds worth Rs 1.50 lakh for purchasing books and making payments of newspapers and magazines, but due to the absence of the librarian, new books could not be purchased despite the availability of the funds.

Interestingly, there is no electricity in the library for the past three months. Besides, a large number of books have been stored in jute bags lying on the floor in the library. The library, at present, is being run in a rented building of the Zila Parishad at its complex here.

Chandigarh, April 3
Senior Congress leader Jagmohan Singh Kang today urged the Punjab Government to take up the construction of the proposed theme park dedicated to commemorating the 300th year of the martyrdom of Sahibzadas Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh at Chamkaur Sahib in Ropar district immediately.

In a statement here, Kang said work on the project had not taken off despite the fact that he had written many times to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. He urged that the project be taken up for completion in a time-bound manner, keeping in view the sentiments of the Sikh sangat.

The former minister said the theme park project had been finalised during the previous Congress government regime. He said besides it was also decided to construct a memorial to mark the sacrifices of the younger Sahibzadas, Fateh Singh and Zorawar Singh, and Mata Gujri. The latter memorial was to come up at Saheri village near Morinda.

Kang said a committee comprising eminent historians, architects and other prominent persons, conceived both projects after a thorough discussion. He said Rs 10 crore was spent on the construction of these memorials and the first phase was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, in 2006. He said, however, after the SAD-BJP government came into being in 2007, the construction of these projects came to a halt.

The Congress leader said it was unfortunate that the Akalis, who often demanded votes in the name of religion, were ignoring such projects. He said in direct contrast, earlier Congress government of Giani Zail Singh was responsible for constructing Guru Gobind Singh Marg. He said Amarinder Singh was behind the construction of the Mukt-E-Minar at Muktsar, four memorial gates at Fatehgarh Sahib and granting subdivision status to Chamkaur Sahib, establishment of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana (GADVASU). 

Chandigarh, April 3
A Punjab-cadre officer belonging to the 1992 batch of the IAS has been asked to submit no-objection certificate from the Punjab Government before his nomination papers for the post of the President of the Chandigarh Golf Club are accepted.

The officer, Harjit Inder Singh Grewal, who filed his nomination papers on March 17, much ahead of the start of nominations on April 4, has questioned the authority of the Returning Officer of the club, Lieut-Col BS Mangat, for demanding NOC from him saying that any bona fide member of the club can contest the elections irrespective of his or her employment.

In a legal notice served on the Returning Officer, Grewal has asked him to quote the relevant portions of the statue or constitution of the club wherein those members of the club, belonging to the Civil Service, are required to furnish an NOC from the government at the time of filing of their nomination papers.

Grewal says that several senior civil servants, belonging to Indian Civil Service (ICS) and Indian Administrative Service (IAS), had been associated with the Chandigarh Golf Society and the Chandigarh Golf Club, ever since their inception. Never before any civil servant was asked to furnish an NOC from his/her appointing authority.

“On the other hand, I, on my own, had applied for an NOC from the government before filing my nomination papers,” says Grewal, maintaining that his request for permission has been forwarded by the Department of Personnel of the Punjab Government to the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions for formal approval.

The club had in the past had as its President several civil servants belonging to the IAS. They include Paramjit Singh, YS Ratra, RS Mann, GS Sandhu besides some others.

This NOC demand has stirred a hornet’s nest besides giving rise to a controversy in the bureaucracy. The Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions had been isssuing from time to time guidelines to civil servants for seeking prior permission of the government before accepting or contesting any election in a state sports association or the national sports federation.

There are several senior civil servants holding key positions in the sports bodies.The Punjab Cricket Association, for example, has several civil servants on its executive board. The Punjab Hockey Association, too, is no different.Other sports bodies, too, have a fair sprinkling of civil servants at key positions.

Chandigarh, April 3
Work on the construction of a high-level bridge over the Sutlej between Ferozepur and Tarn Taran will start soon. Once completed, it will reduce the distance between the two border cities of Ferozepur and Patti by about 50 km.

Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, MLA from Patti and Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, who initiated the project, said today that the Union Government had given the administrative approval for the bridge that would boost the economy of the border areas in a big way.

The 780-metre-long bridge would start from Kot Budha village in the Patti sub-division of Tarn Taran and merge with the Makhu-Ferozepur road.

He said with the completion of the bridge, traffic congestion on the Tarn Taran-Ferozepur road via Harike would ease and vehicles going towards Ferozepur, Kandla (Gujarat and Rajasthan) would be diverted through shorter route. Similarly, return traffic from Gujarat and Rajasthan going to Amritsar and Jammu would also use this new shorter route.

Kairon further said the bridge would cost Rs 97.38 crore. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has sanctioned Rs 61.58 crore under the Central Road Fund. The state government would bear the remaining cost. The PWD (B and R) was expected to issue tenders within a few days and the construction will start by May-end. The process of land acquisition had already been started, he added.

Ropar, April 3
Sessions division Ropar’s administrative judge, Justice KC Puri, Punjab and Haryana High Court, inspected the Ropar jail today.

He partook the meals served to the jail inmates in the jail kitchen. He talked to the jail inmates and cooks and discussed the problems they faced in the jail. Puri also talked to the women inmates and issued

instructions to solve their problems on the spot. The jail doctor was told to provide women with adequate health facilities.

Puri expressed satisfaction over the conditions in which the inmates were

living in the jail. He called upon the jail inmates to shun drugs and substance abuse and come back to the folds of the main society.

Jail superintendent Daljit Singh Bhatti said that there were 522 inmates in the jail, including 493 men and 29 women. One of the male inmates was a foreigner. He added that jail gave facilities for entertainment and physical work to its inmates. 

Rajpura/Sirhind, April 3
Inclement weather during this wheat harvesting season, which officially started from April 1, has increased input costs of farmers, who have to shell out more to harvest their almost riped crop.

Following rain and hailstorm, crop fell flat with weight of grains and this has led to difficulty in harvesting besides affecting per acre yield. Though officials of the Agriculture Department termed the loss as insignificant, farmers have reported 20 to 25 per cent loss in villages of Fatehgarh Sahib and adjoining Rajpura.

Earlier, farmers had battled against the attack of yellow rust, which affected the yield. The state government claimed to have made farmers aware of the disease and had provided medicines to stop yellow rust on 50 per cent subsidy. Farmers said the functioning of the department had got affected as there were only five agriculture development officers in the district against the sanctioned posts of 33. Also the post of the chief agriculture officer was vacant for many months.

Paramjit Singh, a farmer of Jalvehri village, who has grown the wheat crop on 7 acres, said labourers had agreed to harvest wheat at the rate of Rs 2,000 per acres two months ago. However with prevailing weather conditions, they had now increased the amount to Rs 2,700 per acre.

Harvesting becomes difficult with wet fields and flattened crop due to rains and hence labourers charge more. Moreover, there is an acute shortage of labour in Punjab due to the introduction of the NREGA, wherein labourers get employment at their respective places reducing the influx of migrants from states like Bihar and UP.

“Nobody dares to be rude with labourers these days besides paying them Rs 2,700 to harvest per acre. Farmers like me have no choice as we have to harvest wheat manually to save fodder for our cattle,” Paramjit said. He added that an increase in the moisture level would also delay harvesting and the sale of crop.

Gurpreet Singh, owner of a harvester combine machine in Fatehgarh Sahib, said the cost of using the machine to harvest the wheat crop on an acre was Rs 700 to Rs 800 last year and was the same now. Since the number of machines had increased manifold, prices failed to swell despite an increase in diesel prices. 

Patiala, April 3
Even as the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, has given an assurance that he will take up the matter of providing storage facility for the foodgrains, the employees of the five procurement agencies of Punjab, Pungrain (Punjab Grains Procurement Corporation Limited), Punsup (Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited), Markfed, Punjab Agro and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, have announced that they will continue with the boycott of wheat procurement.

Senior representatives of the Joint Coordination Committee of the Punjab Foodgrain Agencies have announced that they will stage a massive protest demonstration in Jalandhar and Faridkot on April 4 and 6 respectively. Confirming this to The Tribune, he president of the Joint Coordination Committee of Punjab Foodgrain Agencies, Bhupinder Singh, said on account of the tussle between the state government and the Union Government, the employees of the purchase agencies were suffering.

“Purchase agencies are facing the problem of staff scarcity. Besides, the problem of the storage space is not being taken care of. Under these circumstances, there was no other option left than to boycott the procurement,” stated Bhupinder. He further said that since January 2011, they had drawn the attention of the state government towards the crucial issue, but to no avail.

Expressing his views on the matter, committee chairman Swaran Singh said that on account of lack of proper storage space and natural calamities, the foodgrains had suffered damage in the past, while adding, “Because of this, almost 90 per cent retired employees of the different purchase agencies of Punjab were deprived of their retirement benefits. When the foodgrains suffer damage, the field staff is held responsible and later after their retirement, the government has withheld the retirement benefits, which is injustice with the employees.” 

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 3
ArriveSAFE, a Chandigarh-based NGO participated in the second global meeting of NGOs advocating for road safety and road victims held at Pan American Health Organisation headquarters in Washington, USA, last month.

About 100 participants, representing NGOs from 48 countries, attended the meeting. Plans for the decade of action for road safety 2011-2020 were discussed during the occasion.

President of ArriveSAFE, Harman Singh Sidhu, said a global alliance of NGOs advocating for road safety and road victims would bring the NGOs under one umbrella and strengthen them to work together.

He said thousands of Canadians of Indian origin visited Punjab every year mostly for vacation, to attend functions or to meet their relatives and friends. Since they are in vacation mode, many of them frequently indulge in drunken driving or travel in vehicles being driven by drivers under alcohol’s influence. Many of these visiting Canadians get involved in road crashes and get injured and also die on Indian roads.

Ferozepur, April 3
Two separate cases were registered in police stations of Guru Harsahai and Makhu towns of the district against Iqbal Singh, proprietor, Prem Kumar and Company, Malout, for his alleged involvement in siphoning of of wheat, worth about Rs 7 crore, belonging to Markfed, Punjab.

The Markfed teams found that wheat bags worth Rs 5.19 crore were found missing from the Guru Harsahai storage complex and wheat bags worth Rs 83 lakhs were found missing from the Makhu storage complex during physical verification.

Ajaib Singh Sandhu, district manager, Markfed, Ferozepur, on whose complaints, two separate cases under Sections 406 and 409 of IPC were registered late last night, said the third case against Iqbal Singh would be registered in Fazilka police station soon as Iqbal Singh had allegedly misappropriated wheat bags worth about Rs 79 lakh from that storage complex also.

He said that Iqbal Singh, who was the sole proprietor of Prem Kumar and Company, was entrusted with the task of securing the wheat stock by deploying guards besides preservation and maintenance of the wheat stock.

Iqbal Singh was also bound to deliver the wheat to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on the direction of Markfed authorities for contribution it into the central pool.

Sandhu pointed out that apart from embezzlement of wheat stock done by Iqbal Singh, it was also found during physical verification that some of the wheat stock was in a damaged condition.

Meanwhile, Iqbal Singh said that Markfed authorities had targeted him on flimsy grounds.

He said when he took over the management of storage complexes of Markfed in his hands, the wheat stock in the godowns was less than the wheat stocks, which was shown in official records.

He claimed that he had got documentary proofs to establish the fact that Markfed authorities had targeted him to save the skin of its officials, who were actually involved in misappropriation.

However, Sandhu, while rejecting the claims made by Iqbal Singh, said that he never lodged a complaint with Markfed authorities that the wheat stock in storage complexes, which were entrusted to him, was less than the wheat stock shown in the official record.