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Judge, lawyers at loggerheads
Baldev Singh made Advocate-General
Girls bag top three positions in PSEB Class X examination
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Left leaders, workers rounded up for blocking rail traffic in
Police arrests leaders and workers of Left parties in Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Government caps rates for sand
Khalsa College staff meets PM
Sarabjit’s sister yet to meet him
Cuts expose PSPCL’s 24-hr supply claim
Same qualification, different salaries
Shell explosion toll 2
Commercial buildings outside municipal limits to pay tax
Amitabh Bachchan lauds Punjab bureaucrat’s book
Former MP Lehna Singh Tur dead
Residents of Urban Estate up in arms
SAD dharna against corruption
Ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi to be recruited as DSP
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Judge, lawyers at loggerheads
Faridkot, June 14 The members of the Bar have alleged that the sessions judge ordered the demolition of 29 chambers without allotting space for the construction of new ones. Constructed eight decades back in the colonial period, the court complex is under renovation these days. There is also a proposal to construct a shelter for the litigants and create space for parking of vehicles. District Bar Association president Anoopinder Singh Sekhon said he along with a delegation of lawyers met District and Sessions Judge Fatehdeep Singh today demanding allocation of space to the affected lawyers for the construction of chambers. But the Judge, Sekhon claimed, refused to talk to the lawyers. Sekhon said the Judge called him to his chamber yesterday evening and told him to get the chambers demolished. “But he did not give any assurance on alternate space for the construction of new chambers,” he said. Following this, the Bar called an emergency meeting today and passed a resolution to suspend the court work. The Bar has announced complete suspension of work tomorrow as well to protest, what they called, was a “one-sided decision by the Judge”. When contacted on landline phone at his office, the Judge refused to talk and said he may be approached in person at his office.
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Baldev Singh made Advocate-General
Chandigarh, June 14 He was the Badals’ counsel in the corruption case in which the family was acquitted recently. Baldev Singh had also defended the assassins of Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The development is significant as the office was practically functioning without a head ever since Advocate-General HS Mattewal suffered a heart attack and was hospitalised on May 13 last. Mattewal, whose resignation on health grounds was accepted by the Chief Minister, now stands appointed as Legal Adviser to the government in the Cabinet Minister's rank. A well-known criminal lawyer, Baldev Singh's appointment comes at a time when the state government is facing much flak over its “double standards” on the Bhullar issue. Available information suggests Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was not too happy with the way the AG’s office handled the Bhullar case at the Supreme Court. In the special leave petition filed before the apex court, Devinder Singh Bhullar, facing the gallows in a blast case, was branded a terrorist. Picking up the issue, Bhullar’s mother Upkar Kaur Bhullar, in an open letter to the Chief Minister, had recently accused him of “helping both sides”. She had alleged that while he was pleading with the Prime Minister and others for commutation of her son’s death sentence, his government was actively shielding police officers responsible for killing her husband and brother-in-law and her son had been “branded as a terrorist”. The appointment is also significant as the AG office had courted controversy over the appointment of the administrative In March, Justice LN Mittal had minced no words while ruling that great difficulty and inconvenience was being experienced in Punjab cases. “Either the law officer does not appear, or the law officer is not prepared with the case, or the law officer does not have the necessary documents, forcing unnecessary adjournments”. Justice Mittal had earlier asked the Principal Secretary, Home, to intervene after making it clear that bringing the problem to Additional Advocate-General Rupinder Khosla’s notice had proved to be en exercise in futility. Khosla was till now in charge of the AG office. Virtually passing strictures, Justice Mittal had said: “it appears the situation has not improved much, though there is some improvement”. Baldev Singh did his LLB from Panjab University Law College, Jalandhar, in 1957.He practised in Hisar for a long time.
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Girls bag top three positions in PSEB Class X examination
Mohali, June 14
PSEB Chairman Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon said the fail count stood at 15 per cent this time. He said 55 of the candidates on the top 359 positions were from Ludhiana, followed by 34 students from Hoshiarpur. However, only one student from Ludhiana had managed to make it to the top 10 list, he said. Amolpreet Kaur of Bhai Nand Lal Public Senior Secondary School, Anandpur Sahib, has topped in the state by securing 96.46 per cent, followed by Gaganjot Kaur (95.46 per cent) of Government Senior Secondary School, Ambala Jattan, Hoshiarpur. Ramandeep Kaur of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Public Senior Secondary School, Jindran (Moga) and Chiranji Joshi of Daya Nand Model High School, Smana (Patiala), share the third position with 95.31 per cent marks. Dr Suresh Tandon, PSEB Vice Chairman, said girls had outscored boys in the merit list. Of the total 3,52,948 students who appeared in the examination, only 2,27,009 could clear it. The overall pass percentage is 66.73 per cent for regular students and 50.44 per cent for private candidates. The overall pass percentage of regular and private students has dropped by 14.6 and 16.4 per cent, respectively. The result gazette would be available on the board’s website (www.pseb.ac.in) after 7 am tomorrow.
Topper from Anandpur Sahib, aims to be a doc torTribune News Service
"I never expected such a good rank. At about 1 pm, one of my classmates called up and said my name was being flashed as PSEB topper on some news channels," said a jubilant Amolpreet. Already having joined medical stream, she says she is concerned over the rising number of cardiac patients and thus aims to be a top cardiologist and serve the society. She said her dream is to do her MBBS from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. Her grandfather, Manmohan Singh, a retired principal, has been greatest source of inspiration for her, she says. Her father Amandeep Singh and mother Manjatinder Kaur are bank employees. Earlier, she was the Class VIII topper in her district.
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Left leaders, workers rounded up for blocking rail traffic in Amritsar
Amritsar, June 14 They were lodged in various jails of the city. Out of these 48 prominent communist workers and leaders, including Member of the CPI’s national executive committee Dr Joginder Dyal, CPI district secretary Amarjit Singh Asal and CPM leader and CITU president Vijay Mishra were arrested, while others were released by the evening. The CPI and CPM workers were on a chain hunger strike for the past more than one-and-a-half month. They had given an ultimatum to the Centre threatening to block the rail traffic today if it failed to commence the train service by June 13. As soon as they tried to enter the railway station to stop flying-mail train, they were stopped and taken into custody by the police teams deputed there.
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Government caps rates for sand
Chandigarh, June 14 Addressing a press conference on the issue here, Local Bodies and Industries Minister Tikshan Sud said the government had fixed the rate for sale of sand at Rs 300 per 100 cubic ft. He said for the present, the government had decided to hold e-auctions for 246 “C” category mines that would be auctioned through e-tendering on June 27, 28 and 29. The government had fixed an auction price of Rs 14.70 crore and brought in a system whereby prices would go up by 10 per cent every year for a period of three years, the Secretary, Industries, SS Channy, said. He said the government had identified 180 sale points from where sand would be available at the notified rates. Sud said transparency had been introduced in the system with Rs 80 per loyalty per 100 cubic ft fixed for the government, Rs 80 for the panchayats or anyone whose land was being mined, Rs 40 to be paid to the contractor and Rs 100 to be charged as loading charges. Following the introduction of the new policy, the price for each trolley of sand had been brought down to Rs 600 from Rs 1,000. Sud said with mining being brought under the Essential Commodities Act, entry tax would be imposed on sand when brought in from states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir. He said the auction for 72 “A” and 133 “B” category mining sites would be held later as the matter was under litigation and permission has to be sought from the union environment ministry for the same.
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Khalsa College staff meets PM
Amritsar, June 14 Manmohan Singh, said Rangi, told them that direct intervention by the Centre was not viable as it was a state issue. “Still, he assured us of taking up the matter with the HRD Ministry.” — TNS
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Sarabjit’s sister yet to meet him
Amritsar, June 14 Dalbir Kaur had crossed over to Pakistan to meet her brother in jail on June 6. Swapandeep, Sarabjit’s daughter said on the phone that Dalbir Kaur had filed a petition against the Home Secretary and the Jail Superintendent in this connection. In the petition she had urged the High Court to direct the authorities concerned to give her a specific time to meet Sarabjit.
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Cuts expose PSPCL’s 24-hr supply claim
Patiala, June 14 Already, domestic consumers in various parts of the state are being subjected to cuts ranging from two to four hours a day, it has been learnt. The consumers are facing tough time, especially during night hours. According to information, the power scenario in Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Mohali is bad and at least three to four-hour cuts are being imposed in these areas, though not at a stretch. Says Ashim Gupta, a resident of Ludhiana: “Several areas of Ludhiana, including BRS Nagar, Model Town, Mahavir Nagar and Dugri have been facing power cuts. The cuts are being imposed during morning and late evening hours. On Sunday night, there was no power for almost 12 hours in several parts of the city.” Though small-duration cuts were being imposed earlier too, the no-supply hours have gone long after the paddy sowing season began, claims Rajinder Singh Grewal of Amritsar. “The cuts have come as a surprise as the PSPCL had assured consumers of having surplus power.” Industrial units operating in different parts of the state, particularly Ludhiana, meanwhile, are a happy lot this summer season as they have so far been spared from weekly power offs. Grievances of domestic consumers notwithstanding, PSPCL’s Director of Distribution Arun Verma claims the power utility has surplus power and that “no cuts are being imposed in the state”. “Power failures can be due to breakdown, repair and maintenance works. All the thermal units are operational and there is no shortage of power.”
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Same qualification, different salaries
Jalandhar, June 14 Acting on the proposal of the Health Department, the state government recently hiked the salary of the house surgeons working in the civil hospitals to Rs 15,000 from July. However, the “discriminate” salary hike has sent a wave of disappointment among those MBBS graduates who aspire to do house jobs in super-specialty departments of medical colleges. For instance, in an advertisement by the Government Medical College, Amritsar, on June 1, Rs 4,800 was the monthly remuneration offered to the house surgeons to be deputed in cardiology, nephrology, neurology, plastic surgery, cardiothoracic surgery and urology departments. “The salary difference is irrational as the doctors working in medical colleges are equally qualified and have to perform equally cumbersome job in super-specialty wings. The increase is discriminate,” said a fresh MBBS graduate requesting anonymity. “When only a handful of doctors are interested to work at Rs 15,000 per month in hospitals, who would like to work in medical colleges at a meager salary of Rs 4,800,” he questioned. The reason for the unilateral salary hike, meanwhile, is that civil hospitals and medical colleges were run by different directorates. The administration of medical colleges was under the control of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research. On the other hand, the hospitals are managed by the Health Department. Sources revealed that contrary to the Health Department, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research never took up the issue seriously with the state government and the Department of Finance. Arunesh Shaker, Medical Education and Research Minister, was not available for comment even as Dr Jai Kishen, Director of the department, said they would soon forward the proposal in this regard to the state government. “However, I am not sure whether or not the department had earlier ever sent any such recommendation to the state government,” he added.
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Shell explosion toll 2
Nakodar, June 14 Mehatpur SHO Bimal Kant said the boy had sustained injuries on his head and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Two more persons, including Avtar Singh’s son Anmol and brother Balwinder Singh, were injured in the blast and were admitted to the same hospital. The condition of Balwinder Singh is stated to be critical. The SHO said the body of the victim was handed over to family members after a post-mortem examination.
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Admn orders removal of sludge by July 15
Jalandhar, June 14 Officials concerned revealed that the state government had allocated Rs 1.7 crore to clean the drain, of which an amount of Rs 85 lakh has already been released to the Drainage Department. The remaining Rs 25 lakh would be released in the next couple of days, they added. At a meeting, attended by the representatives of various departments concerned, industrialists and Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, held here today, Jalandhar Commissioner SR Jalandhar has directed the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation to identify a chunk of 100-acre land which would be used to establish a temporary treatment plant.
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Commercial buildings outside municipal limits to pay tax
Patiala, June 14 As per the Act, all the commercial establishments, including hotels, restaurants, showrooms, colleges, clubs and water parks, that have come up over 500 square feet area outside the municipal limits will have to pay a tax not exceeding Rs 10 per square feet of the covered area. All the existing buildings and the buildings that will come up in future will be covered under the Act. “At present, the institutions and buildings falling under the municipal limits are taxed for house tax/commercial tax under the municipal laws, whereas no tax is being levied on the institutions and buildings outside the municipal limits. Hence, the Punjab (Institutions and Other Buildings) Tax Act-2011 is brought up for collection of the tax from certain institutions and buildings outside the municipal limits in Punjab, which will eliminate the disparity and generate revenue,” reads the Punjab Government notification, a copy of which is with The Tribune. Further, as per the information given by the authorities of the Excise and Taxation Department headquarters in Patiala, the schools up to Class XII, residential buildings, government godowns, poultry farms and cattle farms would be kept out of the purview of the Act. Officials also stated that the Excise and Taxation Department has already initiated the proceedings to effectively implement the Act. The department has issued notices to the buildings that come under the Act, asking their owners to get themselves registered with the department from July 1 and deposit their tax by August 31. The registration for the buildings will start from July 1 and the tax that has to be paid will be calculated from February 2011 onwards. Once the tax assessment is complete, all the buildings coming under the purview of the Act will have to deposit the tax annually.
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, June 14 Amitabh Bachchan, who posts a blog everyday, not only appreciated a new-look nation capital in his this morning’s blog, but also made laudatory references to “Tryst with Trees”, a coffee table book by Damanbir Singh Jaspal, a 1976-batch Punjab cadre IAS. Amitabh Bachchan wrote: “And then on the plane went about reading some of the magazines that were put forward and came across some very interesting facts on Sikh gurdwaras, their place of worship. A book recently released by an eminent author DS Jaspal mentions that each prominent gurdwara was built around the importance of a tree within its premise.” “The name, too, of the gurdwara at times bearing mention of the tree that was housed within it. The Amb gurdwara has a mango tree within, the Imli gurdwara and so on... the tree being the place where the guru’s rested on their tours or during the various battles they fought or when they held their prayer meetings.” “The tree then became sacred and when the place of worship was constructed, that particular tree remained an integral part of the design! Fascinating!! Not just the religiosity of the moment, but I wonder if it was a symbolic gesture on part of those who built these gurdwaras and conducted prayers much after the passing away of the gurus. It was an indication on the environment and how deeply maybe they thought of this factor then!! I wonder!!” wrote Amitabh Bachchan. Telephone calls from his friends all over the country this morning informed Damanbir Singh Jaspal about the blog by Big B. A latest issue of an English weekly from Delhi carried a story about “Tryst with Trees” yesterday. Incidentally, this book was highlighted by The Tribune some months back when it was formally launched by Union Minister of State for External Affairs Perneet Kaur in New York. Damabir also organised an exhibition in New York of pictures of some of the historic trees that he has mentioned in his voluminous Coffee Table book. Damanbir, who along with his batch mate and current Secretary in the Union Ministry of Overseas Indians A Didar Singh, will be superannuating by the end of year. While A Didar Singh completes the age of 60 in October, Damanbir Singh Jaspal superannuates in December. Also superannuating this October will be 1975-batch Punjab IAS Mukul Joshi who is currently Union Secretary for Pharmaceuticals.
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Former MP Lehna Singh Tur dead
Patiala, June 14 Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal have expressed grief over the demise of Tur. Tur was cremated at the Badungar crematorium and his son lit the pyre. Those who attended the cremation include SAD General Secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra, ADC APS Virk, SP City Narinder Kaushal and Inder Mohan Singh Bajaj. Badal described Tur as a “disciplined soldier of the party and a seasoned politician” whose contributions towards the upliftment of oppressed sections of the society besides ensuring overall development in the state would be ever remembered by all.
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Residents of Urban Estate up in arms
Patiala, June 14 The residents have formed an association, Urban Estate Associations Coordination Committee (UECC), which represents all associations of the phase 1, 2 and 3 and are planning to take a legal course to get their problems solved. Another association, the Residents Welfare Association members told The Tribune that the villagers residing in the nearby Therhi village have been creating nuisance for the urban estate residents and the officials of the PUDA are also doing nothing in this regard. “There is no boundary wall to stop the entry of the villagers into the Urban Estate area, despite clear cut rules in this regard and was promised to us when we bought plots in this area,” they said. “Parks are dirty and water supply is irregular,” they added. President of the welfare association Jagroop Singh has demanded setting up of a dispensary and fixing of all the streetlights in the area. “Vacant plots have wild growth of grass, but the authorities are not bothered about the issue,” he said. Another resident said it was impossible for the women to walk in the area as youth in inebriated condition often take to snatching and if anyone objects, they start abusing. “The situation is pathetic and stray dogs and bulls add to our woes,” she said. The residents have threatened to hold a dharna, if the PUDA officials fail to solve their problem. “We will be left with no option and we have to go to the court to get justice,” claimed members of the residents’ association, who had gathered for a meeting in the Urban Estate. Meanwhile, all efforts to contact PUDA Chief Administrator went futile.
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SAD dharna against corruption
Patiala, June 14 Addressing a press conference, Chandumajra said, "To protest against the large-scale corruption by the Congress-led UPA Government and rising inflation in the country, the Akali Dal activists will stage a dharna in Patiala on June 16 and will also handover a memorandum to Patiala Deputy Commissioner Dipinder Singh.”
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Ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi to be recruited as DSP
Ferozepur, June 14 The decision has created a wave of joy in this border district, which has produced a number of Olympians in different streams. Though belonging to a well-to-do family, Ronjan had been jobless so far, despite the fact that he won the gold and team bronze in the Asian Games-2010, two silvers in the Commonwealth Games-2010 and the gold at the World Cup. In 2009, Ronjan had won a silver medal in the World Cup and a gold in Asian Shooting. Besides, the double-trap shooter became the first Indian to qualify for the London Olympics after he won a silver in shot gun double trap in the World Cup in Beijing on April 24, 2011. Placed at world ranking number two, Ronjan has a masters degree in business administration. He has been honoured with the Arjuna Award by the Centre and Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by the state government. Malwinder Singh Sodhi, Ronjan’s father, said: “Ronjan has repeatedly brought laurels to the country. By deciding to recruit him as DSP, the Chief Minister has done a great service to sportspersons.” Coach Sunil Kumar, who trained Ronjan in his initial years, also hailed the government decision.
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A tough decision by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) to make it mandatory for the students to pass in five of the total six subjects had its bearing on the Class X results for the academic session 2010-11, which were declared here today.
Ferozepur, June 14
Compared with last year’s pass percentage of 77.94, the score this time has gone down to 64.32 per cent, a decline of 13.62 per cent. And this, despite the board giving additional 16 marks under the moderation formula to hundreds of students who fared poor. 
Anandpur Sahib, June 14