Chandigarh, January 17
The Administration today informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it would clear its stand by February 15 on the issue of illegal structures raised by security personnel in front of the houses of the VVIPs.

The assertions by the Administration came before the Bench headed by Justice MM Kumar almost three years after Justice Ranjit Singh took suo motu cognisance of the news report, “Who’ll bell the cat”, carried in these columns on violations by the bigwigs in the government accommodations.

Already, the High Court Judges have decided to remove the security tents pitched outside their official residences.

It has also been decided that the security personnel will be given service quarters inside the official residences of the Judges.

A decision to this effect was taken on the administrative side by the Building Committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Ranjit Singh has earlier asserted: “No one is above the law, however so high he or she may be placed. the Chandigarh Administration needs to be asked to perform its functions in accordance with the law”.

Justice Ranjit Singh had also directed for the issuance of notice to the Union Territory of Chandigarh through its Administrator “to show cause as to why these illegal encroachments etc. be not removed”.

In an apparent attempt to prevent the encroachers from getting away with the illegalities, Justice Ranjit Singh, in his detailed order, had also made it clear to the administration that it should make sure all the violating officers were brought under the ambit of the law.

“Various violations done by influential officials or officers in the government accommodations allotted to them have been highlighted in the news item, along with the photographs showing the illegal encroachments or constructions done by them.

“The Chandigarh Administration will also carry out checks and report, if any such illegal construction or encroachment has been done by any other official or officer in the government houses allotted to them in Chandigarh”.

Chandigarh, January 17
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to find fault with the procedure adopted by the Sector-32 Government Medical College and Hospital for the allocation of chemist shops.

Taking up a petition filed by Tarshem Kumar against the Chandigarh Administration and other respondents, the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal asserted: “We have heard the counsel for the petitioner at some length and are of the view that by no stretch of imagination it could be concluded that the procedure followed by the respondent Medical College suffers from any violation of Article 14 of the Constitution or any other law.

“In case of a tie between two or more than two persons, the draw of lots may be considered as a viable method in the facts and circumstances of a particular case.

“Here we find that the respondent Medical College has been making efforts to lease out shop number one in Block D and has failed earlier.

“The petitioner and another respondent have given the highest bid, which was a tie. In order to resolve the competing claim of both of them, draw of lots in the facts and circumstances of the case could have been preferred.

“There is no legal infirmity or violation of equality clause of Article 14 of the Constitution, nor the action could be regarded as arbitrary. The petition is wholly without merit and does not merit admission. Dismissed”.

In his petition, Tarshem Kumar had sought issuance of direction for either inter-se bidding, as there was a tie between the petitioner and another respondent; or to call the parties for negotiation, instead of resorting to the system of draw of lots.

The Medical College had issued an e-tender in the beginning of 2011 to license out chemist shop number one in Block D of the Medical College. But, no one came forward to take up the tender.

Again in October, 2011, e-tenders were floated, inviting application to license out the chemist shop. In all, six applications were submitted and three applicant were found eligible for the technical bid.

Mohali, January 17
The cyber wing of the state crime branch has arrested a resident of Patiala for creating a fake profile of a newly married girl on Facebook. The person identified as Israr Ali (30) hails from Saharanpur.

A case was registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under Sections 66A, 66D, 67,67A of the Information Technology Act and 500, 509 of the Indian Penal Code.

Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, DIG, crime branch, Punjab, said the motive behind the act was to take revenge from the husband of the girl with whom he developed an enmity on some petty issue. It was found during the investigation that the photographs of the girl were copied from the Facebook profile of the complainant’s husband.

Earlier, a complaint was lodged on the behalf of Savita (name changed) that someone had created a fake Facebook profile and uploaded her photographs. It was also alleged that some vulgar comments, including obscene pictures were also uploaded. The accused was produced in the court which sent him to a two-day police remand.

Chandigarh, January 17
An accident involving a car belonging to an IAS officer under training occurred at the Sector 2/3/10/11 roundabout here this evening.

The mishap occurred at 8.30 pm when a Honda car (CH 02 2137) in which under training IAS officer Sneh Lata was travelling, was hit by another car driven by a woma, who has been identified as Shagun. Both the vehicles were damaged. However, no one was injured.

A report has been lodged with the Sector 3 police station.

Chandigarh, January 17
The football team of Government Model School, Sector 36, (GMSSS 36) and trainees of the Chandigarh Football Academy (CFA) outplayed St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, in the final match of Tata Tea Jaago Re Inter-Milan Soccer Stars Tournament (Chandigarh zone). The tournament is being held at Football Stadium, Sector 17.

In the finals of the competition, the winning side registered a 7-0 win and qualified for the next round of the competition.

Earlier, in the match strikers of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 36, made their presence felt on ground from the very first minute and ensured the victory through Jatinder and Mohd Shaukat who contributed two goals each while Deepak, Vikram and Thaleel scored one goal each.

Earlier, in the semi-final matches St Stephen School defeated St Soldier International School, Sector 28, by a goal through Pankaj while in the second semi-final, the team of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 36, drubbed Vivek High School, Sector 38, by 7-1.

Shaukat scored five goals while Hitesh and Thaleel contributed one goal each. For Vivek High School, Mohit scored the consolation goal.

Gursimrat Singh, Bikram Singh and Nishu Kumar, of the winning team have been selected for training in Kolkata while Anmol Gupta of St Stephen’s School was adjudged the best goalkeeper.

Mohd Shaukat of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 36, emerged the highest scorer and Anirudh Thapa of St Stephen’s was declared the most valuable player of the tournament.

Sanjeev Stalin and Rishab Vashisht emerged champions in the skill test event.

Panchkula, January 17
Neeraj Ahuja of Haryana, Public Works (B and R) department will lead the Haryana State Badminton team in the All India Civil Services Badminton Tournament. The tourney will be held at Bhopal in Madhya Pradsh from January 28 to February 1 this year.

Other team members of the Haryana Public Works (B and R):

(Men): Anil Sangwan, Arvind Kumar, Shailender Gaur, Sat Pal, Sunil Kumar, Raj Pal; team (veteran): Vinay Kumar, Mahender Kumar, Rajesh Bhardwaj; Coach-Ravinder Kapoor, Manager-SK Jatrana.