New Delhi, October 17
Cricket fans who failed to purchase tickets for the second ODI of India versus England at Feroz Shah Kotla could still watch it live when they bought tickets on black from the people standing outside the stadium today.

Some people who were standing near the entrance of the stadium were selling tickets to the fans who failed to purchase it on time. The tickets are originally priced Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 2,500, Rs 4,000. The VIP ticket is for Rs 5,000.

Sources said that the tickets were being sold online a few days ago. However, the service was shut and the tickets could be purchased at the Bank of Maharashtra in Asaf Ali Road today.

"I have a ticket for Rs 4,000, which I will sell for Rs 4,500. I had got 10 tickets for the match from an insider. If the policemen catch me selling a ticket, they will seize it and sell it themselves," said a person, who didn't want to be named.

People were seen selling tickets for Rs 500 at a cost of Rs 1,000.

"I have 10 tickets priced Rs 500 and I am selling each one for Rs 1,000. I can arrange for tickets for the next match as well," said Rahul (name changed). He, however, did not mention how he managed to collect tickets in bulk.

"I have bought two tickets for Rs 2,000 from a person here. They are originally priced Rs 500 each," said Ajay, who had arrived at the stadium without tickets.

When security officials saw people bargaining a deal for tickets, they would merely disperse them.

"Idhar sab chalta hai. Yahan sabhi black mein ticket kharidate hain. Aap bhi kharid sakte ho. (It is quite common to buy tickets in black here. It's all right. Even you can buy one if you want)," said a security official, patrolling the area outside the entrance.

Vivek Kishore, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central District, however, denied tickets being sold in black.

"There is nobody selling tickets in black. We have not received any such complaint. It is not possible to sell tickets in black as the whole stadium is almost empty," said the DCP. 

New Delhi, October 17
The police has been slammed by a Delhi court for a "lopsided" probe into the recovery of headless bodies near Tihar Jail four years ago. The remark came after the accused, an alleged serial killer, sought his discharge in one of the cases, saying the victim was not one of those for whose murders he is being tried.

Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau rebuked the police after it failed to respond to alleged killer Chandrakant Jha's plea for his discharge from Amit's murder case, saying the DNA profile of the deceased did not match with that of his parents and this implied he was being tried for the murder of some other Amit.

"No doubt, the DNA report has exposed the lopsided probe conducted by the police. This court cannot ignore that a body has been recovered and a human life was lost," said ASJ Lau as the Hari Nagar police station in charge failed to explain Jha's plea.

"It is necessary to find out who was the victim and also whether the accused was in any manner connected with the offence," the judge added.

In the report, the police said Jha's associate Anil Mandal, alias Amit, was found missing since the recovery of a body which had a tattoo mark 'Amit' on its right arm.

The report said Jha's handwriting tallied with a note recovered from the body while a telephone booth owner identified Jha as the person who had made a call to the Hari Nagar police station after dumping the body.

A native of Madhepura in Bihar, Jha was arrested on May 20, 2007.

The police identified the body as that of Amit, but when the DNA of the deceased was compared with those of the parents of Jha's associate, it did not match. --PTI

New Delhi, October 17
On the lines of Delhi police, the Delhi Transport Corporation will deploy its officials at bus stops to keep a tab on the behaviour of the crew and the safety of the passengers from tomorrow.

The DTC will deploy its officials at 200 bus stops after identifying the rush of passengers, said chairman-cum-managing director Vijay Kumar Dev.

This announcement has been made after the Delhi police announced yesterday that the local police would be deployed at 200 stops and traffic police at 100 stops.

When asked if it is being done after getting any specific information on the security threat, the CMD said that the threat has always been there at busy places. He said that he had a meeting with the senior officials of the Delhi police on the deployment of security guards at the bus stops.

He said that the DTC has also launched a special drive to discipline the bus crew during the festive season. Fifteen hundred work force, including 150 officials of the DTC, will be on duty during the drive. They will be in civil dress to keep a check on the drivers and conductors whether they stop the bus at the right place or whether conductors do their duty properly. Besides, cases of eve teasing will be checked.

About the rude behaviour of the crew, the CMD said, "I myself have travelled in the buses, but have never noticed the crew misbehaving with the passengers. But it will also be checked during the drive," he said.

He said there is a complaint that the drivers do not close the doors though doors of all the low-floor buses should be closed before driving. If any driver is found driving a bus with open doors, he will be punished, the CMD said.

New Delhi, October 17
A new meeting hall at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre, the headquarters of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, was inaugurated today.

Delhi Mayor Rajni Abbi said that the meeting hall is an amalgam of architectural marvel and excellent engineering.

Terming the hall a marvel, Commissioner KS Mehra said that the world-class acoustic treatment, imported from the US, has been fitted with the walls to make the quality of sound the best. Besides, the acoustic treatment has been fitted with the roof for better sound. The floor has been constructed from a special wood. A sophisticated conferencing system has also been put up in the hall.

"The voting in MCD hall has been done manually so far. With the setting up of electronic facility, the voting result will come very fast," said Mehra.

There is a language section in this hall which has a facility of translation. A wi-fi system has been installed to make the functioning paperless.

The hall has a separate gallery for media and it has been connected with the Press and Information Directorate for better coordination.

"The interior furniture in the hall has been economically designed. There is a system of audio and visual recording of the House activity. Close-circuit system has been fitted with the conferencing system. The lighting system with LED is quite soothing," said the Commissioner.

A project on e-governance was presented on the occasion, highlighting the steps taken by the MCD to make the administrative system transparent.

New Delhi, October 17
Three new judges took oath of office in the Delhi High Court today even as the executive committee of the Bar Association opposed the appointment of one of them.

Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri administered the oath to Justice R.V. Easwar, Justice Pratibha Rani and Justice Sat Paul Garg.

Opposing Justice Easwar's appointment, Bar Association secretary D.K. Sharma said: "We opposed his elevation earlier also. Therefore, today we boycotted the oath function."

He added that the bar association's plea on the issue was pending before the Supreme Court.

In April, a division bench of the high court had dismissed the bar association's plea that Easwar, who was earlier with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, was not eligible to be a high court judge.

"The members of ITAT are not an integral part of the judicial service as defined by the constitution and they have been appointed as per the Income Tax Act," said Sharma.

Justice Easwar was posted in Mumbai before joining the high court. Justice Patibha Rani and Justice Garg are from Delhi district courts.

With the appointment of three new judges, the strength of the high court judges has gone up to 36 against a sanctioned strength of 48.

Additional Judge Rajiv Shakdher, appointed to the high court in April 2008, has been confirmed a permanent judge. - IANS

New Delhi, October 17
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev today contended in the Supreme Court that the Delhi police, which had cracked down on him and his followers on June 4 this year, did not have the authority even to enter the Ramlila Maidan, where they were on a fast to highlight the need for rooting out corruption from the country.

Ramdev had taken the 'maidan' on rent/lease from May 13 to June 30 by making an advance payment of Rs 2 lakh per day to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which owned the ground, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani argued before a Special Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar.

As a result, Ramdev had been the tenant at the maidan for that period and the midnight swoop by the police amounted to trespass which itself was a criminal offence, Jethmalani contended.

Even the MCD authorities could not have entered the place at midnight in that manner or have the maidan vacated without giving a proper notice to Ramdev and the organizers of the hunger agitation, he argued.

Further, the police had placed three conditions while granting permission for the fast and the yoga classes. These were permission by the MCD, no obstruction to traffic and sufficient number of volunteers at the venue. The organizers had complied with all the conditions and there was no violation which warranted the police trespass, lathicharge and the use of water cannons, Jethmalani said.

He said the police had clearly acted at the behest of the Central government.

Greater Noida, October 17
A big leap in the values of the properties in Gautam Budh Nagar is expected soon. The district administration is reportedly all set to hike the circle rates, it has been learnt. A final meeting in this regard is expected to take place in a few days.

The new circle rates are likely to by higher than the allotment rates by 20 to 25 per cent.

The additional district magistrate (finance), Sarvjit Ram, said circle rates for Noida, Greater Noida, Dadri and Javer were being revised. The increase was expected to be hefty, he said.

A couple of meetings have been held to fix the revised circle rates. A formal meeting, to be presided over by Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Hardesh Kumar, will be held this week. The new circle rates are expected to come into effect from November 1, 2011.

The district administration has not revised the circle rates for the past two years.

AIG (stamps) SP Singh said the allotment rates in Noida and Greater Noida had been made the basis for the revision of the circle rates. The circle rates would be 20 to 25 per cent higher than the allotment rates, he added.

On September 2, Noida and Greater Noida authorities hiked the allotment rates by 20 to 40 per cent. The hike in circle rates will thus be a second jolt to the property business in Noida and Greater Noida in two months.

Before September 2, the allotment rate of residential plots in Greater Noida was Rs 13,000 per sq metre. It has now jumped to Rs 16,900. Greater Noida had hiked the allotment rate of residential plots by 30 per cent.

After an increase of 25 per cent in the circle rates, the rate of residential plots is likely to become Rs 21,125 per sq mt in Greater Noida. Thus, the total increase in the rates will be 62.5 per cent.

New Delhi, October 17
The revenue department of the Delhi government has prepared a proposal for hike in circle rates in all the districts of the national Capital. The proposal may be tabled before the cabinet meeting to be held next week.

If it is approved by the cabinet, land in Delhi will be costlier from 50 per cent to 200 per cent and it will not be possible for a common man to have a house in the Capital, said a senior official of the department.

The official said that the hike may be around 200 per cent in posh colonies like Defence Colony, Golf Links and Gulmohar Park.

In the last revision, Rs 86,000 per square meter has been fixed for the category A colonies like Defence Colony, Greater Kailash, Gulmohar Park, Panchsheel Enclave, Anandlok, Green Park, Hauz Khas and Nehru Place. The circle rate in these colonies prior to the revision was Rs 43,000 per sq mt.

He said that proposal has mentioned that Rs 68,200 per sq m has been fixed for colonies like Andrews Ganj, Kalkaji, Munirka Vihar and Nehru Enclave.

Similarly for category C colonies, the rate has been fixed at Rs 54,600 per sq mt while for category D colonies, it was fixed at Rs 43,600 sq mt.

He said that government wants to hike the circle rates to stop flow of black money in property transactions so that the government does not lose revenue from registration fee and stamp duty.

Last time, the circle rate was revised in February, giving a hike of over 100 per cent.

New Delhi, October 17
The Delhi Cabinet has decided to hike the monthly pension of those citizens who are 70 or above. The pension has been increased by Rs 500 per month. The hiked pension will be released from October 1.

While talking to the media persons after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stated that her government is concerned about the hardships being faced by persons in the age group of 70 years and above. The government has been providing a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 per month to the citizens in the age group of 60 years and above, who have been residing in Delhi for five years and have an annual family income less than Rs 60,000.

Delhi has a distinction of disbursing the highest monthly income to the aged persons in the country. The pension is being sanctioned under the Old Age Financial Assistance Scheme of the Department of Social Welfare.

Dikshit added that the benefit of the hiked pension will reach to more than 1.60 citizens in the age group of 70 years and above. The city government will be releasing an additional budget allocation of Rs 34 crore to meet the enhanced liability. Presently, 3,61,987 beneficiaries are listed under the scheme.

New Delhi, October 17
The power distribution companies (discoms) today said the power situation in the city was expected to improve and the duration of the loadsheddings was likely to be less in the coming days.

Officials of the discoms said loadsheddings would take place in different parts of the city on a rotational basis to maintain grid security and discipline.

Some of the areas of south and west Delhi covered by BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) may tomorrow witness loadsheddings for short intervals.

These areas include Vasant Kunj, Saket, Hauz Khas, Lajpat Nagar, RK Puram, Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash, South Extension, Alaknanda, Nehru Place, Nizamuddin, Defence Colony, Sarita Vihar, Najafgarh, Jaffarpur, Mundka, Punjabi Bagh, Nangloi, Janakpuri, Tagore Garden, Vikaspuri, Palam and Dwarka.

"Though the power situation has improved over the last couple of days, many parts of the country are still facing shortage on account of reduced power generation in many thermal and hydro plants," said a discom official.