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Close shave for BJP chief Gadkari in road mishap
Chandigarh, July 30 The incident occurred when the BJP leader, along with national secretary-cum-MP, Saroj Panday and the party’s UT president Sanjay Tandon, was on way to attend the regional conference of the party at the PGI. Tandon, Pandey and Gadkari’s personal assistant, Sudhir Kumar, who were in a Captiva SUV (CH 04 E 1170), had a miraculous escape when their vehicle was hit by heavy boiler, which got detached from a road-roller passing nearby. Seeing the accident, Gadkari’s driver applied the brakes and managed to stop it safely. But their vehicle was reportedly hit by their rear escort vehicle. Fortunately for them, all leaders escaped unhurt though Sudhir Kumar and Sri Chand, driver of Tandon’s vehicle, suffered minor injuries in the accident. The SUV belongs to
Tandon. While the police said it had no information about Gadkari’s vehicle being hit by his escort vehicle, Tandon said that he had been informed later by someone that Gadkari’s vehicle had been hit from the rear by a security vehicle. “Actually we all were in a hurry. So everyone just left the place in a jiffy to reach the conference. But today God has saved us. Else, anything could have happened,” said Tandon. The police said as the two vehicles (carrying Tandon and Gadkari) were maintaining a reasonable gap, Gadkari’s driver managed to apply the brakes in time. The police has registered a case under Section 336, IPC, against the driver of the road roller, who fled the scene. Meanwhile, the driver and the personal assistant were administered first-aid at the PGI.
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‘Arrested SOPU leader’s crimes went beyond student elections, politics’
Track record in Chandigarh n
Jumped bail in two cases, which involved assaulting a student in DAV College (registered February 2011) and an attempt to murder case (registered at the Sector 11 police station last year)
Chandigarh, July 30 The arrested SOPU leader, Bishnoi, a BA-II student of DAV College, Sector 10, has been actively involved in cases of car jacking and extortion in his home town Ferozepur. What’s more, the police is also probing his close association with dreaded gangsters, including the murderers of a UP-based gangster, Prabhjinder Singh, alias Dimpy, who was shot dead at Sukhna lake five years ago in September 2006.
Met Dimpy murder accused Rocky at Nik bakers
n
Police sources said the accused met Dimpy murder accused Rocky at Nik Bakers in Sector 9 two days ago. Rocky, accused of killing dreaded gangster, is out on bail and is residing in Sector
11.
Complainant’s plight
I have been harassed, threatened and attacked by Lawrence and his associates, including Amandeep Deora, repeatedly in Ferozpur after I refused to pay them extortion money. They first snatched my car at gunpoint, set it ablaze after it was recovered, and also fired at my son. They also threatened former Ferozepur SSP Katsav Sharma on phone and was on the run ever
since. — Ajit Sharma, Ferozepur-based financier While he was wanted in cases of student clashes in the city, the police said he was also known to Jaswinder Singh, alias Rocky, who is the prime accused in 2006 Dimpy murder case. Besides, the student leader is believed to be very close to Amandeep alias Happy Deora, a dreaded gangster wanted by the Punjab Police in a number of dacoity cases, sources said. Bishnoi was produced in court and remanded to two-day police custody. “Investigations have revealed that he is close to dreaded gangsters and his crime record is not just confined to Chandigarh. We will interrogate him further and need to find out how he
managed to procure sophisticated weapons for clashes in Chandigarh,” said Inspector Amanjot Singh, the Crime Branch in charge. Bishnoi was one of the four dacoity accused who allegedly snatched a Safari car (PB 05 S 0086) from a financier in Talwandi Bah village (Ferozepur district) on March 9 this year and later demanded Rs 6 lakh from him. Ajit Sharma, the complainant, was allegedly threatened by Lawrence and three of his associates after he had refused to pay them extortion money.
While the police recovered his Safari car earlier this month, Lawrence along with Happy Deoda, set the car afire at his residence in Ferozpur on July 19 this year. Moreover, the complainant’s son Kamaljeet was also allegedly shot at by the accused on July 14 and an attempt to murder case was also registered against the accused, including
Bishnoi.
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16-yr RI for 3 in drug-pedalling case
Previous convictions of foreign nationals in drug-peddling cases
March 31, 2011: Nigerian national John Kennedy was awarded 12-yr jail along with two Ludhiana residents, a father-son duo, for possessing 8 kg heroin January 19, 2010: Three persons, including a Nigerian named Ozirazaq, were awarded 10-yr jail along with a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh each for smuggling contraband May 30, 2009: Two Nigerian nationals Many Isioma and Victory were awarded 10-yr RI along with Rs 1 lakh as fine for possessing 4.15 kg heroin
Chandigarh, July 30 In addition, the court slapped a fine of Rs 4 lakh on each of them. The case dates back over six years to February 10, 2005, when the trio was caught with the contraband on plot number 653 in Industrial Area, Phase I, by a team of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The NCB claims that the trio was planning to smuggle the drugs in furniture. This is probably the first time in recent years that drug peddlers have been awarded such a long imprisonment. Verdicts have usually comprised up to a maximum 10 to 12 years. Considering that the
trio has already spent six years and five months in jail, the three would be required to serve about nine years and seven months in jail. All three accused - Israeli national Lior Avi Ben Moyal, his Czech accomplice Andreevi Jiri, and Kulu resident Narender Kumar - were present in the court when Additional District and Sessions Judge Lalit Batra pronounced the verdict. Demanding lesser punishment, the defence counsels pleaded before the court that the accused bore the responsibility of looking after their small children and elderly parents. On the other hand, the prosecution lawyer demanded harsher punishment for the accused, pointing out that they had been caught with a large quantity of charas. Soon after the sentence was pronounced, Lior said he would challenge the verdict in High Court. A few days after his arrest, Moyal had fled from NCB’s custody. Rajneesh Sharma, a lawyer, nabbed him the same month with the help of some bystanders near Sector 25. Though the NCB had claimed to having arrested Lior from the Industrial Area, his fiancée, Lada Svobodova, had lodged an FIR at a police station in Panipat in 2007, two years after his arrest, that her boyfriend had been ‘kidnapped’ from Panipat in 2005. The FIR in Panipat had stated that Ravikant Pawar, the NCB’s investigating officer, had kidnapped Moyal on February 9, 2005 from Panipat. However, the Panipat police had submitted an ‘untraced’ report.
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Mohali cops ‘slow’ to act against DSP
Mohali, July 30 The property fraud case pertains to facilitating the sale of a property based on forged ownership documents of a three-kanal plot belonging to a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) woman in Kansal village. Three separate complaints in the case have been filed with the Mohali police over the last 12 months - two by Dr Nirmala Brar, the NRI woman, and the third by Kansal-based councillor Arjun, who was sold the property on the basis of bogus documents. Mohali SSP GPS Bhullar said the matter was under investigation. “We have registered an FIR against four persons and if and when more names figure during
investigations, we will proceed accordingly and take strict action against the fraudsters.” In their three complaints, both Brar and Arjun have questioned the role of KK Malhotra who, in turn, is the complainant in the Raka Ghirra case, the DSP in question, and a former Majri Tehsildar in facilitating the fraud. The property owned by Brar, who incidentally was a medical doctor in the rank of Superintendent of Police with the Border Security Force (BSF) before migrating to Canada in the early nineties, was sold off in 2009 by producing a bogus landowner in her place before the Tehsildar (Majri). Instead of signatures, the bogus landowners had placed their thumb impressions on the documents which, in turn, were accepted by the tehsildar. Arvinder Singh, a Kurali-based resident who is pursuing the case on Brar’s behalf, said the complaint had been lodged with the police in July 2010. But the case of cheating was registered a year later at the Kurali police station on May 14, 2011, and the police simply named four persons Harpal, Manjit, Veerpal and Jaghdish Ram. Even as the case was being looked into by the Kurali police, the case was all of a sudden transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the district police for reasons best known to senior police officials. Still no effort was made to arrest the four persons and trace the woman who was presented as Dr Nirmala Brar. Not satisfied with the police probe which made no headway, Brar filed another complaint with the President of India which, in turn, was marked for investigation to the Mohali police. “It was in connection with this complaint that DSP Raka Ghirra also called me but nothing happened. She kept on telling me to arrive at a compromise with the persons who had committed the fraud,” said Arvinder Singh. In the third complaint filed with the office of the SSP Mohali on February 26, 2011, Arjun Singh has provided vivid details about the role of the DSP in brokering the deal of selling the plot on the basis of bogus documents. In the last five months, the police is still investigating the matter. “Had the officers concerned acted swiftly and probed the matter thoroughly, the cheating could have been prevented,” he said.
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5-yr jail for abetting fiancee’s suicide
Panchkula, July 30 Besides awarding the punishment, Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanchan Mahi also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on the guilty. Sandeepa committed suicide on July 20, 2010 at her Sector 7 residence. A native of Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh), Sandeepa had been living with her fiancé Milan, a resident of Rajpura, at a house in Sector 7 here for the past many months. The police said Sandeepa wanted to marry Milan and was committed to the relationship. However, Milan declined to marry her, following which she committed suicide by cutting her veins on her left wrist, the police added. Sandeepa’s mother Kanta Devi in her statement before the court, had stated that a day before her daughter had committed suicide, her daughter had telephonically informed her that Milan had beaten her on a number of occasions and always said that he would not marry her. Kanta Devi had informed the court that her daughter was very upset. The following day when she (the mother) reached Panchkula to check her daughter’s well-being, Milan informed her about Sandeepa’s suicide. Thereafter on the complaint by Sandeepa’s parents, the Panchkula police registered an FIR under Section 306 of the IPC for abetment to suicide in the Sector 5 police station against Milan. A few days after the registration of the case, the police arrested Milan. In his statement to the police, Sandeepa’s father Pritam, a retired police official from Himachal Pradesh, had stated that his daughter was engaged to Milan and they had been residing together in Sector 7. Sandeepa had completed a degree in engineering and was scheduled to join a company near Jabli in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh.
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Ticketing machines on CTU buses soon
Chandigarh, July 30 The machines will also have the facility to scan bus passes bearing radio frequency identification (RFI) numbers to know their validity. If required, a passenger can even get their passes recharged by paying the amount to the bus conductor. Once the system is in place, bus pass holders will no longer have to visit e-Sampark centres to get their bus pass renewed. AK Prashar, centre head, Society for Promotion of Information and Technology (SPIC), Chandigarh (under the UT administration), says the ticketing devices handed over to the conductors will be connected to a common server, which will get automatically updated with the number of tickets sold on each bus. This will help keep track of the occupancy of buses. Officials say the ticketing device equipped with the GPRS system will update the server of each bus. They add that the passengers applying for the bus pass will be issued plastic cards with RFI numbers that will be recharged after the amount in the card gets exhausted. They will no longer have to visit e-Sampark centres to get these recharged. Passengers currently have to get their passes renewed from these centres. The move is expected to benefit thousands of passengers who travel by CTU buses everyday. “Passengers who travel on bus passes will benefit as they will get the facility of recharging their passes from the conductor,” adds Prashar. The system will also help the transport department in calculating its daily revenue and analysing the data stored in the server.
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Online system yet to be introduced in fire stations
Chandigarh, July 30 Records show that last year the department had spent around Rs 3 lakh to install computers in all fire stations of the city. During a visit to two fire stations in Sector 17 and Sector 32, it was found that computers were being used for administrative works. Firemen of both the stations said the day-to-day records pertaining to fire incidents were prepared manually, as the department was yet to introduce the online system. MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach said he had no idea about the project. Sources in the department said the project could not take off, as the fire department had failed to get the software developed in time. Last year, it was proposed that the authorities should ask the NIC to develop the software and impart training to firemen, but till date nothing has been done. In the 2010-11 budget, the department tabled a report that there was an urgent need to install computers in three fire stations in Sectors 11, 17 and 38 so that any fire related information could be sent to all stations following which it was decided that all seven fire stations would be made online.
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gardener’s murder Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 30 Around 50 persons, including the victim’s family members, relatives and some residents of Milkh village, gathered at the hospital and staged a protest against the Chandigarh Police, alleging inaction on their part. “My father had gone missing on July 9 while my uncle was attacked with swords on July 7. Despite our repeated requests, the police did not do anything. Now, they have murdered my father but the police is still not making any attempt to arrest the culprits,” alleged Balram Singh, the victim’s elder son, adding that the family had given the names of those whom they suspected of being involved in the crime. Balram Singh also alleged that the family was being offered Rs 1 crore by the suspects to reach a compromise. “We told the police everything, but they are not taking action. We will not receive the body till the police arrests the culprits,” said Balram Singh and Balkar Singh, his younger brother. Police station-3 SHO Poonam Dilawari said investigations were on in the case. “We are awaiting the reports of the post-mortem examination,” said Dilawari. However, Assistant Superintendent of Police Desraj Singh later pacified the protesters, assuring them that the culprits would be arrested in a day or two. The family and relatives relented and left the scene. The highly decomposed body of 40-year-old Harnek Singh, a gardener employed at Leisure Valley, was recovered from a water tank in the park yesterday morning. He had been missing for the past 20 days. After filing a missing person’s report on July 11, the police had registered a kidnapping case on July 19. The family had pointed the finger of suspicion on four residents of the same village, including village sarpanch Lakhmir Singh, Mewa Singh and Bhajan Singh. On July 7, Harnek reportedly had a violent scuffle with the four suspects at Mullanpur over the laying of soil on a disputed land belonging to a temple.
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‘Tax loopholes behind scourge of black money’
Chandigarh, July 30 Chairman, Centre for Economics Studies and Planning, JNU, Arun Kumar said no meaningful analysis of the Indian economy was possible without taking the black economy into account, even if the data on this sector of the economy is not as reliable as the data on white economy. RBI’s Regional Director Jasbir Singh spoke about the guidelines issued by the apex regulatory bank to control black money through creation of ‘know your customer norms’, reporting of suspicious transactions to financial intelligence units and about international transactions. — TNS
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P’kula police proposes traffic lights, overbridges on highways
Motorists drive at a very high speed on these highways. There are many villages, slum areas and colonies on both sides of these highways and those residing in these areas frequently cross the road. In this process a number of accidents have taken place in the past in which many people have lost their lives. To avert any major accident in future and to save lives of people, the Panchkula police has written to these departments. Panchkula SP Maneesh Chaudhary said after the four laning of the NH-22 and the construction of number of flyovers on this highway, people find it very difficult to cross the road. “For the convenience of those people we have proposed for the construction of foot over bridges on the NH 22,” said Chaudhary. Regarding the NH 73 and the NH 21-A, he added that there were a number of accident-prone areas. “To minimise accidents on these two highways we have requested the department concerned to install traffic lights on these points,” he added.
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Haryana introduces videography of police recruitment test
Panchkula, July 30 While the practice has been initiated during the recruitment being conducted at the Panchkula police lines, Haryana Director General of Police Ranjiv Dalal has asked all police chiefs of districts to make the recording compulsory during the recruitment in their areas. There had been several instances in the past that after the completion of recruitment process the applicants used to seek the information regarding the process of recruitment using the RTI Act and rush to the courts claiming that they were discriminated against during the physical measurement test and physical efficiency test. Under such circumstances the authorities used to find it very difficult to contest their claims in many of the cases. Hence, it was decided to videograph every such activity so that the authorities could have an evidence against such complainants, said the state police spokesman SAH Zaidi. The practice has started bearing fruits already. An unsuccessful candidate had lodged a complaint with the range Inspector General yesterday alleging that he was declared failed in the long jump even as he cleared the test. Today a board, including the Panchkula Superintendent of Police and two Deputy Superintend of Police, inspected the footage of the recording of the said candidate and set aside his claim telling that the footage clearly showed the complainant could not meet the required conditions of physical efficiency test.
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Stormy session ahead likely
Panchkula, July 30 Sources in the council said over two dozen tenders floated during the past six months were not allotted due to the lackadaisical attitude of officials in the council, which led to a standstill in development works in the town. On the other hand, civic body president Ravinder Rawal, who took over in February, refuted the charge. He said he had cancelled the tender regarding kerb channels as the work could be initiated in the rainy season. The emergency work of repairing patches on roads had already been allotted, he said. While all other pending tenders had been cancelled, a decision on tenders floated during the past two months would be taken soon, he added. Issues like handling the stray cattle menace, a building for the office of the council and problems concerning Sectors 20 and 21 were to be taken during the meeting, likely to be held on August 5. A plot for a stay cattle pond was earmarked at Pinjore, with a fund of Rs 1.5 crore for the construction of the cattle pond, but nothing was done in this regard. The municipal council was being run from a community centre building since its inception. The council had been seeking a plot for its own building at Sector 5. The issue of taking over Sectors 20 and 21, being managed by HUDA, was expected to rock the House. As all works in these sectors were being managed by HUDA, councillors from the area had been finding it difficult to fulfil the obligations of the electorate from the area.
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Mohali to get two more Suvidha facilities
Mohali, July 30 Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said the two sub-centres would be set up in the Phase IIIB2 market and the Municipal Bhawan in Sector 68. Both the sub-centres would have three to four counters. He said it had now been decided that forms required for various types of work would be made available at these centres for the convenience of residents. They would then not have to go to private agents to get the required forms and that too at exorbitant prices. Forms purchased from outside agents would not be accepted at these centres. A queue management system had also been introduced at these centres to avoid harassment. A token would be given when a person arrived for his work so that he did not have to stand in long queues and also did not face queue-jumping by others.
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Mohali resident goes missing
Mohali, July 30 The Alto car (PB 65 H 2150) in which he was travelling was also missing and his mobile phone was switched off. Yesterday, JN Sachdeva, a former chief engineer with the Punjab State Electricity Board, complained to the police about his missing son Amit. SHO of the Matour police station Tarlochan Singh said his mobile call details revealed that he went to Sector 34, Chandigarh, before reaching the Industrial Area. The Mohali Police has sought help of the Chandigarh and Panchkula police in tracking down the boy. Sources in the police said that Amit’s debt ran in over Rs 30 lakh and the companies which had paid him the money were pressurising him for the refund. The SHO said all angles were being probed.
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Foreigners bowled over by Indian delicacies
Chandigarh, July 30 They came dressed in their country’s traditional attire. They danced to various numbers. AIESEC members ensured that the foreigners got the taste of Indian culture and food.
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consumer courts Sanjay Bumbroo Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 30 Commission president Justice Sham Sunder, and members Jagroop Singh Mahal and Neena Sandhu observed that the reply filed by the Noida-based company in the district forum spoke volumes about the hollowness of their stand. If the vehicle had no such defect, as alleged by the complainant, the respondents would have no fear of such a demonstration and rather would have themselves requested the district forum to send the vehicle for a test drive, whereafter the complaint would have been automatically dismissed. The order of the district forum was, therefore, liable to be set aside. The commission also directed the opposite party to pay Rs 20,000 as the costs of litigation. The complainant, Maj-Gen MJS Virk, a resident of Sector 34, had submitted that he had purchased a Honda car from M/s Lally Motors Ltd., Industrial Area, against defence quota in April, 2006. He argued that the district forum did not properly appreciate the real dispute between the parties and misread evidence by considering that it was the car of the complainant that was driven by the representative of the respondents on the hilly road in Barog town on the Kalka-Shimla highway whereas all other vehicles like Ford and Maruti 800 were climbing comfortably. The counsel for the respondents denied any manufacturing defect in the car and the allegation of the complainant that the vehicle failed to climb or could not be driven on the subject stretch road up to his house was absolutely false and that the vehicle was comfortably driven to the destination during the test drive. The defendants had contended that the vehicle had been driven for 40,000 km and had no problem except on the uphill stretch. If there was a problem, it would have been faced by the vehicle on other roads too. Therefore, it should be presumed that there was no manufacturing defect in the vehicle. Earlier, the car had met with an accident and therefore, the defect in the car might have occurred due to the accident.
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Insurance firm fined
Panchkula, July 30 Satbir Kumar, a resident of Sector 15, had lodged a complaint with the forum alleging that the insurance company had refused the claim of Rs 38,146 sought against damages suffered by his Maruti Alto car in an accident. In his complaint, Satbir stated that he purchased a new car in July, 2010 and got his vehicle insured from IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company. On September 7, a truck driver, while reversing his vehicle, hit the car parked in front of his house and sped away. Due to darkness, he could not note down the registration number of the truck, the complainant added. The insurance company, however, denied the claim of Rs 38,146 borne on the repair of the car, alleged Satbir. The company contended that as per the surveyor’s report, the damage to the car was such that it could not have happened to a parked car. Also, as Satbir’s driving licence had expired on the date of the accident, he was denied the claim, stated the company in its reply. Finding that the insurance company had wrongly rejected the claim of the complainant on flimsy grounds, the forum asked it to settle the claim on non-standard basis. It further directed the company to pay the compensation along with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing of the complaint.
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Rotten veggies destroyed
Chandigarh, July 30 The drive was carried out by the inspectorate staff to check the sanitary conditions. Sanitation exercises were conducted and colony residents were educated about hygiene.
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Tricity Scan
A blood donation camp was held at Government Model High School, Sector 41. KK Sansi, general manager, and Ashwani Channana, deputy general manager of the Oriental Bank of Commerce, inaugurated the camp. As many 60 units of blood were collected. Park inaugurated
Municipal corporation councillor Gurcharan Dass Kalaa today inaugurated a Central Park in Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra. The park has come up at a cost of Rs 18 lakh and is spread over 1.5 acres with ornamental trees, shrubs, benches, huts and footpath enhancing its beauty. Various multi-play equipment have also been kept in the park. Among others present included MC executive engineer (horticulture wing) Arun Kumar Kansal and other officials of the civic body.
Play staged
The North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) in collaboration with Chandigarh Theatre Arts presented a Hindi play “Lottery”based on a story by Munshi Prem Chand at Kalagram. The play was directed by actor Yogesh Arora. It depicted the era when lottery draws were just introduced in India. Veteran Romesh Bhardwaj, Sachin Sharma, Tejbhan Gandhi, Yogesh Arora, Y Tungal, Priyanka and Kirti were highly convincing in their roles, while Gaurav Sharma handled light and chiaroscuro effects. Chief guest BK Sood honoured artistes.
150 saplings planted
Municipal corporation Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh and area councillor Anu Chatrath today started a plantation drive by planting saplings of ornamental plants in a park at Sector 15 here. Around 150 saplings were planted. Area residents and senior citizens also participated in the drive.
mohali SCAN Students of Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology have been selected by companies like Impact Technologies, Cross Barries Technologies, Tech Shapers, Syntel, Engineers Auto, Allengers, HCL, Genpact, Applied Electro and Astar Netsoluitions. Placement letters were given to 55 selected candidates.
Immigration programme
In a short span of 18 days, 700 applications were filed under Canada’s Federal Immigrant Investor programme. On July 1, 2011, new immigration
requirements, including capping limits were announced by Citizenship and Immigration, Canada, under federal skilled worker category and Federal Immigrant Investor Programme. Lt Col BS Sandhu (retd), CMD, WorldWide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS), said Canada had always maintained the edge as an attractive immigration & business investment destination and this status had been re-affirmed yet again with Canada’s Federal Immigrant Investor programme receiving an overwhelming response.
Manav Mangal shines in quiz
Manav Mangal Smart School won the final of Limca Book of Records Quiz-2011 held on the school premises in Mohali. Students of the school will now compete with students of 80 schools in the semifinal. Hansraj Public School, Panchkula, finished as the runner-up. Around 572 students from 98 schools participated in the quiz, out of which six schools could make it to the city final. The schools to make it to the final included Manav Mangal Smart School, Mohali, Hansraj Public School, Panchkula, Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, Yadavindra Public School, St Stephen’s and Bhavan Vidyalaya , Sector 27, Chandigarh. The winning team was felicitated by Ashish Sethi, chief executive officer, Kandhari Beverages Pvt Ltd (Franchise Bottling Partner of Coca-Cola India). Narinder Pal Singh, Limca Book of Records holder, was also present.
Parent’s Day
at school
Small Wonders School, Phase VII , Mohali, celebrated Parent’s Day on Saturday to promote responsible parenting and recognise positive parental role models. Students celebrated the day in a special way. They dedicated songs to their parents.
PANCHKULA SCAN Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula, held its open day-cum-parent teacher meeting today. The highlight of the day was a subject-wise exhibition held by various departments showcasing various features of the school. Science working models, mathematics lab, smart classes, IT labs and languages attracted students. Photographs were put on display by Bazm Verma of Class XI. Tribune Reporters
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UT teachers’ recruitment under scanner
Chandigarh, July 30 The assertion, in an affidavit placed before Acting Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice AK Mittal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, came after the CBI brought to the fore faults in the selections. The affidavit makes it clear that candidates lower on the merit were called for the interview, ignoring those with higher merit. In some cases, as many as 91 candidates were ignored. According to the affidavit, the UT administration had changed the selection criteria and the changes were not communicated to students. Virtually giving the administration a clean chit on the issue, the affidavit stated: “It cannot be inferred that the changes were made to benefit any particular candidate or a group of candidates.” CBI Superintendent of Police Amitabh Dhillon in the affidavit stated that the verification had revealed faulty methodology adopted by the UT administration in conducting the teachers’ recruitment. Elaborating, he said the advertisement was published on August 5, 2007, with incomplete information. Besides, modifications were carried even as the recruitment process was on. Moreover, the compilation of the merit list was wrongly done. Dhillon also recommended that the “criteria for recruitment should be finalised and frozen prior to the starting of the recruitment process” and no modification should be carried out once the process was underway. The verification also found at fault the department of electronics and accreditation of computer courses (DOEACC). Appropriate action was also recommended to be taken against those responsible for the lapses, including the DOEACC, for performing the task assigned to it in a faulty manner. Giving details, the affidavit says the “verification has revealed that in several instances in various streams of subjects, meritorious candidates, who scored higher marks out of the total 90, were not called for the interview. Quoting examples, it says Nisha Bansal with 35.34 marks was called for the interview for a science teacher’s post. As many as 38 other candidates scoring more than her were left out. Neelam Rani was called for the Hindi teacher’s post with 43.49 marks, though 41 candidates had scored more than her. Monica Dhiman with 38.64 was called for the interview for a post lying vacant in the department of physical education, though 91 candidates had secured more than her. There were 32 candidates who had secured higher marks than Manisha Rani. She had secured 27.41 marks and was called for the interview for a post of fine arts teacher. In Satwinder Kaur’s case, she was called for interview with 34.01 marks for a nursery teacher’s post, while 13 candidates securing more than her were not called.
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syndicate
meeting Say got to know of key issues on the day of meeting Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 30 Many members, who claim it to be against the democratic and transparent spirit of the house, are planning to question the Vice-Chancellor about the reason behind filling main agenda with appointments and felicitations rather than important grants, committees’ reports or controversial issues. “Justice Sekhon’s report, which held DAV principal BC Josan guilty of awarding unrecognised BPED degrees to students, should have been a part of the main agenda so that every member could go through it and see the prime lapses. But the report was included in the supplementary agenda, which has not reached many members so far. Why? Was it an emergency item? We will ask the VC to explain the reason,” said Dr SS Randhawa. Various other members are also planning to raise the issue and demand that all important items be included in the main agenda and be provided seven days before the meeting. They said the supplementary agenda should carry items which crop up after the publication of the main agenda.
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Josan breaks silence, says report defies logic
Chandigarh, July 30 Claiming that the report defied logic, Josan said conclusion was not in line with the findings and evidence mentioned in report. “They have held me guilty of withholding important material information while applying for release of degrees but they have probably not taken the statement of the then Joint Controller examination, AK Bhandari, into account who was the competent authority. “It has been clearly mentioned that he frankly conceded that he was in full knowledge of syndicate decision,” said Josan. He has also questioned the committee’s act of not taking the fact into account that the course was on since 2005 and he joined in 2007 and got NCTE inspection done within three months. The affiliated colleges’ principal association has decided to question this report in syndicate as president SS Randhawa said: “Why is he being punished for the act which didn’t happen in his tenure? The report is biased and the committee has overlooked all facts. It is question of dignity of an innocent principal and we will stand by him.”
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Panchkula, July 30
Senate and Syndicate thrive on transparent discussions, but when a majority of members get to know of the key items only on the day of the meeting, what contribution do we
expect?
The agenda needs to be reviewed thoroughly. Supplementary agenda was introduced with an objective to table maximum issues in the house. It, however, has become an anti-democratic tool, which apparently aims at barring involvement of maximum members, as they don’t get to know of the key issues till the last minute. If we wish to have healthy discussions in the Syndicate then we should give members ample time to do their
homework..
I got my main agenda on July 29. It talks about appointments and felicitations, but important things like Justice Sekhon’s report have been kept in the supplementary agenda, which has not come as yet. What will I say on it when I get to read it only hours before the
meeting?
Time and again we have objected to the university’s act of ‘hiding’ key issues in the supplementary agenda. Justice Sekhon’s report should have been on the main
agenda.
The Syndicate aims at involving maximum members in decision making, but obviously without a thorough study of issues and agenda, we cannot expect any positive contribution from the members. The main agenda should include maximum topics. It should be provided 10 days prior to the
meeting.