Gt Noida/New Delhi, July 10
Once touted among the most attractive destinations for housing projects in the National Capital Region, uncertainty looms large over Greater Noida after 156 hectares of farmland for realty projects were ordered to be returned to villagers.

"Builder sentiments have been hit," said Manoj Gaur, managing director of Gaursons India and the president of the western region of the umbrella body for realty sector, Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai).

"Buyers, especially, are uncertain over the fate of their properties in the area," Gaur said, referring to the mood after the Supreme Court decision that upheld an earlier order asking the authorities to give back the acquired land at Shahberi village there.

According to him, it may prompt other farmers, who have sold their land, to knock on the doors of courts to seek similar recourse in a bid to get higher compensation than what they had earlier received-since such a framework has now been set in courts.

Gaur's views were corroborated by Neeraj Bansal, director of consultancy firm KPMG, who said the judgment had hit sentiments across the board --investor, builders, banks and most importantly first-time house buyers.

"Many buyers may have taken home loan for the property and now find that the initial collateral, which the house or a flat represents, is not there at all now," Bansal said.

He further added that sociopolitical upheavals in Noida and Greater Noida, constituting a major portion of the larger National Capital Region, will also have an adverse impact on the price in the similar category housing projects in other areas surrounding New Delhi.

"Builders, investors, buyers and banks, through those buyers, have invested in a lot of their money. Therefore, all these factors also have the ability to adversely impact on prices in housing projects in a similar price range and areas," Bansal said.

Short-term impact on investment in realty development in Greater Noida, in particular, may also occur, unless the government or any other regulatory authority takes stock of the situation," he said "Financing projects in the area would be a bit difficult now, as the collateral itself, which is the property, is in jeopardy. Commercial banks have slowed down the processing of loans for that region."

Industry officials and officials agree customers may be the biggest loser. Vinod Behl, editor of niche magazine Realty Plus, said that the compensation package was also headed towards a raw deal as developers were struggling under huge debts.

"Customers are going to be hit hard since some builders do not have an alternate project to shift them to. Due to the high debt they are under, it would also be difficulty for them to pay higher compensation," Behl added.

Experts also blamed the state-run Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) for choosing an inappropriate model to acquire land. Farmerland was bought at as low a price as Rs 800 per square feet and then sold for Rs 11,000 per square feet.

Meanwhile, the Amrapali Group, the largest of the six developers hit by the court order, said it was monitoring the situation and would even ask for a compensation form the state authorities from whom they purchased the land.

"We are closely studying the Supreme Court order. We will decide in a few days on the future course of action," said Mohit Gupta, director-marketing with the Amrapali Group.

"There can be various modes of compensation. Like cash-back or allotment of some another land," Gupta said, adding the fate of its Smart City project affected by the apex court order, will also be decided soon.

"As far as our valued customers are concerned, we have given them the option to shift to our luxury flat and villas project-Dreamvalley -- at no extra cost. -- IANS

New Delhi, July 10
The widow of a government employee has been able to secure pension after a 13-year-long legal battle when a Delhi court ordered the Central Public Works Department to release the relief to her.

"The family pension be released to the petitioner within one month without fail along with arrears and interest at the rate of 10 per cent since the date of the death of the deceased, January 27, 1998," senior civil judge Ajay Goel said.

Atro Devi, a resident of Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh, had moved the court seeking release of pension and other benefits that she was entitled to after the death of her husband Hari Chand.

Chand was a class IV employee in the office of the CPWD executive engineer here and had completed 25 years of service before his demise.

Soon after his death, Devi had submitted all necessary documents to the CPWD office and completed other formalities for release of her late husband's family pension, gratuity, provident fund, arrears of salary and other service benefits.

The department, however, orally refused to release the pension and other benefits, without citing any reason.

In May 2001, Devi served a legal notice on them to which the department replied that Chand had submitted an affidavit in 1995 authorising his grandsons to receive his pension and other service benefits.

They also claimed that insurance money, GPF amount and arrears have already been paid to them.

The court, however, noted that the Central Civil Services Rules, 1972 exclusively entitled the employee's wife to receive the family pension and other service benefits of the deceased husband.

The department also sought to deny that Devi was Hari Chand's wife. But the CPWD failed to buttress their claim.

"The defendant has submitted that wife falls in the category of family pension and still they have not released the family pension even after submissions of the documents by plaintiff for release of the family pension and thereafter by giving notice and filing the suit," the court said.

The judge noted that both the grandsons too had filed affidavits in the court that they do not seek any relief of pension and family pension and other benefits should be released in favour of Devi. -- PTI

New Delhi, July 10
A sessions court has wondered as to why the penal offence of sodomy, entailing sentence up to life imprisonment, could be heard by a magisterial court which can award a jail term of only up to three years.

Additional sessions judge Manoj Jain stumbled upon this interesting legal anomaly in criminal law relating to the penal offence of unnatural sexual offences under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, while reviewing a magisterial court's judgement in a case of sodomy.

"Section 377 of the IPC (unnatural offences) is triable by the court of magistrate and any magistrate has the power to award sentence only up to three years. Sec 377 of the IPC provides sentence up to life. Why to make such offence tried by a magistrate when sentence is so severe?," ASJ Jain wondered while deciding a case of attempted sodomy on a minor.

The sessions court's observations came in its judgement over the appeal of a 28-year-old man who had been sentenced to three years and six months in jail by a court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate for attempting to sodomise his minor neighbour.

Quoting the penal provision, the judge said, "Section 377 of the IPC, dealing with unnatural offences, provides that whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine."

He added that as per Section 57 of the IPC, the sentence of life imprisonment, in turn, means 20 years in jail.

"Section 377 provides sentence up to life. Life sentence means maximum sentence of 20 years as per Section 57 of the IPC. Thus the maximum sentence for attempt would be 10 years as per Section 511 of the IPC. Why to make such an offence heard by a magistrate when sentence is so severe?" the court wondered.

"Moreover, if any court of magistrate wants to give maximum dosage to a convict for attempted sodomy under sections 377/511 of the IPC, the sentence would be three years and interestingly and surprisingly, it could give same sentence for actual sodomy," the court said.

"Thus same maximum sentence can be given for 'actual act' and its 'attempt' as well. This could never have been the intention of the legislature," the ASJ observed. -- PTI

The bold and beautiful army daughters--Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Celina Jaitly, Gul Panag, Nikita Anand and Neha Dhupia--have all been former Miss Indias.

Also the three winners of this year's Pantaloons Femina Miss India pageant, Kanishtha Dhankar, Ankita Shorey and Hasleen Kaur are from the defence background. What is the quality of these girls that takes them to the top?

An officer's daughter does not only have to deal with the prospect of her father possibly going off into war zones, but also constant changes in her postal address. As an army kid, their upbringing is unparallel because they have to migrate all the time. It gives them the ability to adapt to any situation. They adapt equally well to the high pressure environment of the pageant. Easy adaptation is the biggest edge that army girls possess. This helps them in pageants and other fields. Not being confined to one place, they absorb the cultures of different places. This helps them grow as a person. Each military station has its unique cultural activities, including regular parties. Army has enough social evenings with the right etiquette. They are trained to be sophisticated at a very young age. No wonder, military girls in every field are usually ahead of their competitors. They have been taught to be punctual during the Miss India grooming sessions. Every morning, they have to report at a particular time, and many have to share a loo, so the only way they could manage is by being disciplined.

New Delhi, July 10
Three men, accused of abducting and raping an 18-year-old girl after a tiff with her over a minor issue, have been acquitted by a Delhi court as the victim turned hostile.

Pronouncing the verdict, additional sessions judge Manoj Jain said, "To the utter dismay of the prosecution, the victim has turned hostile and not supported the case. All the accused are acquitted of all charges."

The court acquitted Sultanpuri residents Rama, Chander Pal and Manish of the charges of abduction, gangrape and other crimes under the IPC.

The alleged incident took place last December.

According to the prosecution, when the girl had gone to fetch water along with her neighbour Ravi during night, a rashly driven car nearly hit the latter on the main road of the Sultanpuri area in Outer Delhi district. Later, it stopped near them.

Infuriated, the girl threw a bunch of keys on the car's window panes, following which four men came out of the vehicle and pushed her into it. They took her to the Mangolpuri Industrial area where one of the accused Rama allegedly demanded money for the broken window pane.

The prosecution submitted that when the girl expressed her inability to pay, the accused allegedly raped her.

It said Ravi called a PCR van and informed about the incident. After a short while, the police traced the car and apprehended the accused.

The fourth accused, who was a minor at the time of the incident, was tried separately by the Juvenile Justice Board and also acquitted.

While acquitting the trio, the court said there was hardly any material on record which may connect any of the accused with any of the offences and with the prosecution's case.

"Only the victim and Ravi were in a position to prove the case of the prosecution, but they have diluted the incident to a huge extent. Moreover, according to them, the accused were not those persons," the court said.

The girl had admitted before the court that she was slapped by three men but failed to recognise the accused as the same.

"Despite her exhaustive grilling, she failed to whisper even a single word against the accused. So much so that she claimed that she was not sexually assaulted by anyone. Her deposition is confined to the fact of slapping," the court said.

The court termed it "surprising" and "baffling" that how the girl had made such "serious and alarming assertion" of rape before the police when her statement was recorded.

The court also said that if it accepted the version of the police that two of the accused were apprehended from the car itself and the girl was also there, still "their mere presence in the car along with the girl does not make them guilty of any offence more so when she was admittedly found to be a major." -- PTI

New Delhi, July 10
A 30-year-old British citizen was critically injured when he tried to commit suicde by jumping from the fourth floor of a building in the Malviya Nagar area of south Delhi this morning.

According to the police, the victim has been identified as Mark Raymond Home. Home jumped from the building in which he resides, Sarvodaya Apartments, around 6.30 am.

"He was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre with fractured limbs. His condition is said to be critical. In the intensive care unit, Home is not in a position to give any statement," said a police official.

He added that the preliminary investigation into the matter points towards a failed relationship as the likely reason of Home's action.

According to the police, Home lived in Australia and had come to India on June 20 to meet his father David Home who owns a marketing company and stays mostly in Egypt.

"We tried to contact the victim's father, who is in Egypt, on the phone, but did not succeed. We have sent him an e-mail about the incident," the official said. 

New Delhi, July 10
With the arrest of four robbers in their mid twenties, the southeast district police has claimed to have solved a sensational case of abduction and murder of an IAS aspirant, Amit Kumar. Kumar was found dead on the road next to Hindon Canal in the New Ashok Nagar police station area on July 3.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Satpal (21), Harish (23), Munesh (22) and Lalit Kumar (24). The police has seized the vehicle used in the commission of the crime.

Hailing from Aligarh, Amit lived in the Jiya Sarai area of south Delhi. On the day of his murder, he boarded a Metro train from Badarpur to go to a friend's place. He got down at the Nehru Place station around 8.30 pm, after which his mobile was switched off.

According to Ajay Chaudhary, additional commissioner of police (southeast), the investigation team got a tip-off that the criminals involved in Kumar's murder would come to Sarai Kale Khan. "On a tip-off, the four accused were apprehended while they were going to Sarai Kale Khan to commit some crime in the area near Millenium Park," said Chaudhary.

He added that the accused where in a white Santro car, but when asked to produce the documents of the vehicle, they failed. Later, it was learnt that the car had been robbed from Dhaula Kuan.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that on July 3, they abducted a young boy around 8.30 pm on the pretext of dropping him to his destination. Later they tried to rob him. However, when he resisted, they stabbed and threw him near Hindon Canal. They took his cell phone and bag.

According to Chaudhary, the gang used to drive around in Delhi and Noida during night in their car and target persons walking alone.

"They offered lift to their victims and then robbed them. They would take their ATM card and force them to tell the PIN number. After robbing, they would throw the victims in a dark and lonely place," said Chaudhary.

Amit Kumar had a postgraduate degree in physics from Aligarh. He had passed the national eligibility test (NET) and was preparing for civil services.

Harish is the leader of the gang and has been earlier arrested in four cases of attempt to murder, dacoity and carjacking. 

New Delhi, July 10
Women can kill not only with their looks but literally too, as convicts belonging to the fair gender outdo their male counterparts when it comes to murders.

According to an annual survey report of 2011, of the 2,751 convicts lodged inside the Tihar jail last year for various crimes, 46.15 per cent of female inmates have been convicted for murder charges alone as against the male count of 33.47 per cent.

Along with this, 6.73 per cent of women have been convicted in attempt to commit murder cases as against 5.93 per cent of their male counterparts.

Female inmates also top the chart in kidnapping and abduction cases, dowry death cases and drugs and psychotropic substances cases.

Surprisingly, the review also showed that 7.69 per cent of females were convicted in rape cases too.

"The ratio of convict population rose from 20 per cent in the year 2009 to 25 per cent in the year 2010 because of better disposal of criminal cases and this has brought down the percentage of undertrials from 80 of the previous year to 75," DG, Tihar Prisons, Neeraj Kumar said.

One central jail (Jail No 6) is dedicated to women prisoners. This jail has 401 undertrials and 104 convicts which also includes foreigners.

"After our annual analysis of convicts lodged with us, we found that female convicts have topped the chart in murder cases, kidnapping, abduction, NDPS cases and dowry cases in comparison to their male counterparts for the year 2010 and 2009," Tihar jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said.

While 10.58 per cent of the female convicts are lodged inside Tihar Prisons for kidnapping and abduction, only 3.66 per cent of male inmates are convicted for the same.

In dowry death cases, the percentage of female convicts is 8.66 as against the male count of 2.64.

The female convict population convicted under Local and Special Act cases for NDPS cases constituted 13.46 per cent as against male convicts (6.99 per cent) convicted for the same.

"Majority of the female convicts (57.69 per cent) belong to the age group of 30 to 50. In 2009, there were 779 convicts," Gupta said. -- PTI

New Delhi, July 10
Power demand in Delhi will almost double in the next five years from an average requirement of 4,500 MW to 8,700 MW, according to an estimate by the Central Electricity Authority.

The Delhi government, following the projection by the CEA, is contemplating setting up more gas-based power plants with an aim to raise its own generation beyond 4,000 MW from the current 1,000 MW by 2017.

In a report submitted to the Planning Commission identifying priority areas, the city government has also proposed to set up a separate entity to promote solar energy generation in a big way.

At present, Delhi's power demand ranges from 4,100 to 4,900 MW. The city gets 2,400 MW under the central quota, while nearly 1,000 MW is produced by Delhi's own electricity generating stations.

The three power distribution firms have to procure 1000 MW-1,2000 MW of power from the open market.

Delhi's generation of power is expected to swell by another 750 MW when the gas-based Bawana plant starts functioning. — PTI