New Delhi, June 24
With Delhi University getting as many as thrice the number of students with above 90 per cent marks for the admissions in the first cut-off list, options have thinned for those in the lesser percentage bracket.

After the popular courses in the general category were already filled in the first list, most of the remaining seats are expected to fill by tomorrow under the second cut-off, leaving bleak chances for the third cut-off.

While most colleges might not have a third cut-off for most of its major courses, others may not have anything to offer.

Up until last year, DU colleges only reported 40 to 50 per cent admission in their popular courses after the first cut-off was declared. However, this year most colleges have not only completed admissions in their popular courses abut also overfilled beyond capacity.

Even the second cut-off list focused more on the admissions of the OBC and other reserved category.

However, there are still some colleges where students may have some options in the third list. A few colleges in south and east Delhi are likely to come up with a third cut-off.

"There will be a third list definitely and there might also be a fourth list," said Aslam Parvez, principal of Zakir Hussain College.

Kamla Nehru College will also be bringing out a third list in courses other than BCom (Hons), economics (Hons) and Hindi (Hons) that are packed already.

Sri Venkateswara College has had 286 admissions in the past two days, authorities said. The college has filled 957 seats out of a 1,090 so far.

"Most of our courses have already been taken. Our OBC admissions were slow, but after the second list, even that has come on track. The third cut-off might have marginal relief in science courses as several seats may get vacant after the AIEEE counseling tomorrow. There will be only a marginal decrease in percentage for the third cut-off. We are now focusing on reserved category admissions," said Miranda House principal Pratibha Jolly.

Lady Shri Ram College faculty members said by this evening, the number of the total admissions in the college touched 650, leaving only a handful of seats.

"Even if there is a third cut-off list, marks will go down only by 0.25 per cent in the political science (Hons) and math (Hons) courses," said Kasturi Kanthan, faculty member, LSR.

“I am still waiting for a third cut-off list. I am seeking admission to physics (hons) which has filled beyond capacity at most colleges. I am hoping that once the counseling for engineering and medical colleges ends, I will get a seat in one of my favorite colleges," — Purvi Bhargava from Lucknow with 83 per cent aggregate in Class XII.

“One has to be really patient in this scenario. We are hopeful that a couple of courses may open up in humanities once St Stephen's finishes its admissions. Also, the entrance exams based admissions will be done in courses like English and journalism by then. My first option was psychology, but now even sociology and history are filled," — Nancy Taneja, from Ludhiana with 80 per cent in humanities.

New Delhi, June 24
Close relatives of a person actively participating in key ceremonies of one's marriage for a second time during the existence of the first marriage are guilty of abetting bigamy, a Delhi court has ruled.

Additional sessions judge Kamini Lau has held this while summoning the close family members of a man and his second wife to face trial for abetting bigamy for actively participating in key rituals of the man's second marriage.

"In a case where the close relatives of the groom and his second wife, despite having knowledge about his first wife, participated in the essential ceremonies, they are certainly guilty of abetment of the offence of bigamy," said ASJ Lau.

"It is a settled law that mere participation in a man's second marriage would not ipso-facto makes the relatives or the participants liable for abetment to bigamy since abetment connotes an active suggestion or support to the commission of the crime. However, at the same time, those closely associated with the conduct of the essential ceremonies of the marriage and having actively supported the conduct of the second marriage cannot be let off since that would defeat the very purpose of the provision," ASJ Lau said.

"Bigamy is outlawed in India, except among the Muslim community, and is an offence punishable under the law. Courts in India look down upon bigamy which is more rampant among men. Multiple marriages socially and legally punish women more than men and it is the first wife who silently suffers the miseries caused by such a second marriage of the husband," the court said. -- PTI

Noida, June 24
Prolonged power cuts appear to have become the norm in Noida, a no-power cut zone.

According to CL Gogia, an 80-year-old retired officer of the Railways living in house No. 178 at Sector 28, though Noida is a no-power cut zone, frequent power cuts or loadshedding bother residents, especially during summer and the humid rainy season.

Many residents of Noida fail to understand why they cannot get electricity round the clock in a city that was officially declared a 'no-power cut' zone by Chief Minister Mayawati in 2008.

"Our sector faces power outages for hours, be it day or night," said Satish Verma, a resident of Sector 52. "Throughout last week, we had two-hour-long power cuts around midnight. We have inverters and diesel generators, but these are not permanent solutions," he lamented.

"Since last month, our sector has been facing scheduled hour-long power outages around 1 pm," said Namita Shukla, a resident of Sector 37.

"While scheduled power cuts are still manageable, temporary loadsheddings during peak summer cause great discomfort and also damage electronic gadgets.

However, power department officials refuse to accept the scenario presented by residents.

"The demand for power in Noida is about 650 MVA and the substation at Pali, which has a capacity of 945 MVA, provides around 700 MVA to the city. So there is no shortage," said AP Mishra, chief engineer of the Vidyut Nigam.

The Pali station also provides power to most of the rural areas in Gautam Budh Nagar.

"Noida has been facing some outages due to technical problems and our workers are constantly working to minimise them," said a senior UPPCL official.

Power Corporation officials maintain that till last week, the demand of 650 MVA in the city equaled the power provided by the Pali substation. The situation became better as a new substation in Sector 129 with a capacity of 220 KVA became operational this month.

The substation records transmission loss of only 7 per cent, the lowest among all substations in the country, claim the officials.

"Some power supply problems did occur after a high-tension cable snapped and fell near GIP Mall behind the Sector 18 gurdwara on Wednesday night. Two persons were injured in the incident," said power department officials.

They said the high-tension cable was an emergency line which provided power to Ghazipur. As a precaution measure, the power supply to sectors 38-A, 18, 20, 67A and GIP was interrupted for a couple of hours.

New Delhi, June 24
In view of the Residents Ward Committees (RWCs) scheme launched in March this year to empower the citizens to participate in the planning process for the development of their areas, Delhi mayor Rajni Abbi today said the unauthorised colonies, which are not included in the scheme, could not be kept outside the ambit of any scheme designed to improve civic engagement between the residents and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

She said the planning, development and upkeep of the unauthorised colonies were as importance to the MCD as the upkeep of the legal colonies.

"Only because the rules do not permit the MCD to spend funds on these colonies should not mean that the residents of these areas will not have any say in the decision-making of the civic agency and the manner in which it spends its money," she said.

People's Action, the advocacy group which initiated the residents ward committees (RWC) scheme, is assisting the MCD in implementing the scheme in the wards. The group has been advocating the inclusion of all colonies, irrespective of their legal status, in the ambit of the scheme.

"In many wards, there are only unauthorised colonies and the RWC schemes have no meaning if we leave out these colonies," said Abbi.

She said many councillors had raised the same demand.

The RWC scheme aims at bringing more transparency, besides increasing the efficiency and accountability in the working of the MCD. 

New Delhi, June 24
The Delhi High Court today issued notice to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here after taking note of a petition filed by a woman who alleged that the hospital denied her treatment as she could not bear the expense.

A vacation bench of Justice Manmohan Singh issued notice to AIIMS, seeking their response by June 27.

The court was hearing the petition filed by Manju Devi, 40, who is suffering from chronic liver disease.

Devi approached the court yesterday, seeking direction to the hospital that she should be provided immediate medical aid and assistance.

Her lawyer Rakesh Prabhakar, who filed the petition, said: "The hospital, instead of treating the petitioner, discharged her on the grounds that she is unable to bear the cost of liver transplant."

The woman, hailing from Bihar, was first admitted to hospital on May 31, 2010, and despite being below the poverty line she was told to bear all the medical expenses, the petition said.

Since 2010, she has been admitted to AIIMS and discharged a number of times. - IANS

New Delhi, June 24
The BJP demanded a CBI inquiry into the meter purchase case of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The party suspected a scam of crores of rupees as the DJB ordered to purchase lakhs of meters on inflated rates.

Chief of the Delhi unit of the BJP Vijender Gupta said though only 3.25 lakh consumers did not have meters, the DJB had planned to purchase a total number of 7.5 lakh new meters at double rates.

This indicated heavy corruption.

He said before placing any order for the meters, the DJB should invite tender and the order would be given to the company that had lowest rate.

The board should also discuss this issue with the opposition members in the DJB, he added.

He said when billing system of the DJB was privatised, the BJP opposed this, but the government ignored it saying that privatisation would improve the functioning.

Now, people were receiving inflated bill. This issue raised by

many people with the CEO of the DJB, but nothing has been done so far.

Hence, people are going to the lok adalat and consumer forum for complaining against the inflated bills, he added.

New Delhi, June 24
To ensure speedy retrieval of the belongings lost by Metro passengers at stations or in trains, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has started displaying the list of lost-and-found articles on its website, www.delhimetrorail.com.

The details of all lost-and-found items are being updated daily under the 'Lost and Found' section of the site. The list gives details of the item along with the date, time and name of the station where it was found.

Anyone who finds his lost item in the lost-and found-list can claim it at the respective station within 24 hours of the display of the item in the list. However, if the passenger fails to reclaim the item within this time, he will have to approach the centralised 'Lost and Found' office at Kashmere Gate Metro station.

The DMRC sends all abandoned items found at Metro stations to the Kashmere Gate office every 24 hours. The items are kept at the office till the bona fide claimants reclaim them.

Any person who finds any lost article anywhere on the premises of the Delhi Metro or trains can hand over these articles to the station manager/station controller concerned.

At present, the DMRC gets about seven-10 lost items daily. These include clothes, water bottles, tiffins, wrist bands/watches, umbrellas etc. Around 1,000 unclaimed items are lying at the Kashmere Gate office at present. 

New Delhi, June 24
The police today claimed to have busted a degree racket and arrested two persons.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a house at Mayur Vihar Phase-III on Wednesday and seized 34 forged degree certificates and markssheets of various universities and educational boards, Arun Kampani, DCP, special cell, said.

Computer, scanner, printers, pens and other articles were seized from the accused.

Parveen was arrested after the raid and later a Ghaziabad resident Rameshwar Singh was also apprehended.

The fake certificates were of MBA, BTech, BBA, BCA, BSc, BA, pharma and disaster management courses, while the marksheets were of classes X and XII, the official said.

The duo allegedly sold fake education certificates for Rs 10,000 to 15,000. The two were working together since last year. -- PTI