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Nursery: First list disappoints those low on ‘points’
DDA mails result at wrong address, to hold mini flat draw
Two central govt officers get HC contempt notices
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CBI team visits encounter site
Punjabi filmmakers want to tell realistic stories
Man gets Rs 5 lakh for courier firm’s negligence
‘Technology owes ecology an apology’
Iron rod falls off under-construction bridge, kills one
600 challaned for jaywalking
‘Hollow’ NDMC budget skips new project: BJP
PO arrested for attacking cop
Jamiat to provide legal help to HC
blast accused
Guard fires over parking, held
10-yr jail for man held with 32 kg ganja
Gang of snatchers smashed
Brothers shot in clash over land
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Nursery: First list disappoints those low on ‘points’
New Delhi, January 22 Top private schools in Delhi, including DPS, Modern, Vasant Valley, Gurukul and others had filled in most of their seats last year with candidates having either a sibling
and parent-alumni connection. "The first lists are a far-off shot for parents with lesser points due to a missing sibling or parent-alumni connection. Most private schools give more point percentage to this criterion, as much as 30 to 35 points. Anyone without this criterion, considerably loses out on a seat due to the huge gap in points against students who have this privilege," said Plavita Kaushik, a parent living in south Delhi. According to Kartik Bhumbla, another parent, "The admission process and more importantly the selection process is not transparent in most private schools. Even the government gives liberty to an individual school to conduct its admission process. Schools find loopholes in guidelines and manage to do what they feel like doing. Parents never complain fearing that their children may lose the seat and they may be blacklisted. The first list had a similar scenario last year. Most parents seeking admissions of newborns, or parents who had recently shifted to Delhi had to wait till the second list for some relief." "A child without getting points either in sibling or alumni category cannot get more than 50 points. And the results show the school has given preference only to the kids who fulfil one of the two criteria. If the trend continues, I am not hopeful that my child would get selected in future too," said another parent whose child has failed to make a cut in the first list till now. Parents are just disappointed as these lists have been announced just days after the submission of forms ended on January 16. However, the Department of Education has advised the parents to wait till the second list as well as EWS lists. "Parents should not get disheartened so soon. Many more lists are yet to come. The EWS lists will also ease a lot of tension. Parents should at least wait till the second list. Only then the picture will be clearer. Right now, many schools are yet to declare their first list on February 1. The competition may be tough, but parents have applied to a number of schools on
an average," said a senior official of the Department of Education. |
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DDA mails result at wrong address, to hold mini flat draw
New Delhi, January 22 Asking the DDA to hold a "mini draw" of lots within a period of three months, wherein the name of the petitioner (Sanmukh Singh) shall be included for allotment of a flat in the MIG category at the old costs, Justice Hima Kohli said, "The fault lies at the door of the DDA, who still proceeded to wrongly register Singh's address, and thereafter dispatched letters at the wrong address". The court order came on Singh's plea seeking direction to the civic agency to allot him MIG flat under the New Pattern Registration Scheme, 1979, in lieu of cancellation of allotment of a MIG flat made in his favour in the draw of lots held in 2002. Singh contended that as per the 1979 scheme, he had applied for the flat and got himself registered for an allotment of a MIG flat for which he got the registration number also. "At the time of registration, the residential address given by the petitioner was "House No 19-H, Arjun Nagar, Near Green Park, New Delhi-16". The same address also reflects from the 1979, deposit receipt, issued by the DDA," said Singh`s counsel, adding that accordingly Singh name figured in the DDA 2002 draw, for which he was allotted a flat at Dwarka Phase-I. The petitioner further said that a demand-cum-allotment letter in his favour was sent at the wrong address as a result of which he never received the same and remained unaware of the allotment made in his favour. "In the meantime, the DDA cancelled the allotment made in favour of the petitioner due to his non-response," said the counsel. "Only in 2010, Singh came to know that all the registrants under 1979 scheme had been allotted flats and the relevant information in that regard was available on DDA website. Upon accessing the website, Singh was surprised to note that his address was wrong. In October 2010, Singh made a representation to the DDA pointing out that the demand-cum-allotment letter was dispatched at wrong address, so the DDA should allot an alternative flat, which was declined by the civic agency. The court, meanwhile, has noted that as the letter was dispatched at the wrong address, Singh could not deposit the initial payment. Holding that the petitioner is entitled for an alternate allotment of a flat, Justice Kholi said, "Demand letters were sent to a wrong address and the allottee approaches the DDA within a period of four years from the date of allotment, he shall be allotted a flat at the old cost, prevalent at the time when the priority of the allottee matured and no interest would be charged". The court also noted that the deposit receipt, issued by the department reflected his correct address and the DAD should have ensured that all the correspondence which emanated from its office was forwarded at the said address.
— PTI |
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Two central govt officers get HC contempt notices
New Delhi, January 22 Allowing a contempt petition filed by Ashok Shah against the erring officers of the textile ministry, Justice Vipin Sanghi sought a response from SS Gupta, development commissioner (handicrafts) and Rita Menon, secretary, within four weeks. "Notice to show cause be issued to respondents one (Gupta) and two (Menon), requiring to explain as to why they should not be punished for contempt of court," the court said, asking them to be personally present on March 29 to explain the reasons for no compliance of its previous order. Slamming the officers' conduct, Justice Sanghi said, "By such a conduct, the officers have clearly undermined the authority of this court. Such conduct has to be punished in the gravest manner, since the deliberate and wilful disobedience of the courts decision in this case has been done by senior ranking officers, who should be taken to be well aware of their responsibility to implement". In July 2010, the high court had ordered the ministry to regularise the service of Shah, the then deputy director, and hold the departmental promotion committee (DPC) for his promotion to the post of regional director. Shah got retired without regularisation on May 31, 2011 as the department failed to implement the court order. The court took a serious note of the fact that when Shah had filed a contempt petition in high court, which sought the ministry's response, instead of implementing the order, the development commissioner (handicrafts) on May 9, 2011, issued a memorandum to him proposing to hold a departmental enquiry against him on the charge of his alleged misconduct in the year 1999. The court accepted Shah's argument that incident was preliminarily inquired into in the year 2007, and considered at the level of the then textile minister and the matter was closed. After examining the department's file, the court said "On perusal of the file, it is clear to me that the entire exercise has been again initiated on August 2010 with a view to scuttle the implementation of the courts July 2010 judgement directing the respondents to hold the review DPC for consideration of Shah's regularisation". "The same is indeed mischievous, malafide and calculated to defeat and delay the implementation of the judgement. Such attempts to deny the implementation of the decision of the courts have to be deplored and deprecated in the strongest terms". "This applies with even greater force to constitutional and statutory authorities. If they flout the orders of the court by resort to such stratagem, it would tantamount to subversion of the rule of law. The failure of the court to take notice of such conduct, and to take appropriate action against the guilty, would erode the trust of the litigating public in the institution of courts.
— PTI |
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Chilly day for Delhiites
New Delhi, January 22 A heavy snowfall in the Kashmir Valley and Himachal Pradesh is another reason of the chilly day in the Capital, he said. There was shallow fog in the morning, but it did not bother people as the visibility was over 800 metres. Train traffic was affected due to shallow fog. According to the spokesman of the Northern Railway, eight trains were rescheduled due to fog, 15 trains are running late by more than two hours and 40 trains were cancelled. The official predicted the tomorrow's minimum temperature to be 8 degree Celsius. There will be shallow fog in the morning, but the sky will be clear in the other parts of the day. The Capital had been witnessing dense fog over the past few days, but the last two days were devoid of dense fog. Last month saw the minimum temperature came down to 2.9 degree Celsius on Christmas morning, the lowest of the season so far. In the past 11 years, except for 2010, the month of January has recorded the lowest minimum temperature at below 5 degree Celsius. The lowest in the past 11 years was on January 8 of 2006 when the mercury had dipped to 0.2 deg C. |
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CBI team visits encounter site
Ghaziabad, January 22 The team led by CBI inspector Manoj Jaiswal visited the encounter site at Mohan Nagar and recorded the statements of police officials in Sahibabad as part of the probe following a directive of the Allahabad High Court. The team also collected all relevant documents from the Sahibabad police station. The Allahabad High Court in December last year had ordered a CBI inquiry into the death of Tyagi, a history-sheeter from Ghaziabad carrying a cash reward of Rs 50,000 on his head, who was killed in a police encounter in 2009. The order was passed on a writ petition filed by the deceased's wife Deepa, who had alleged that her husband was killed by policemen at the behest of the then agriculture, education and research minister Rajpal Tyagi. Deepa, who had defeated the minister's daughter-in-law in a Panchayat election in 2010, alleged that shortly before his death, her husband had filed a petition before the high court seeking police security as he had threat to his life from Rajpal. The wife said the plea was, however, turned down by the high court and Ravindra was gunned down by a special operations group of the local police in Ghaziabad's Mohan Nagar area on October 29, 2009. She alleged that the police had carried out a fake encounter at the behest of the minister. The CBI crime branch on January 19 registered a case against the police for fake encounter and started investigation. One police sub-inspector Anil Kapparwan and three police constables were also injured in the encounter. One of the injured constables, Manjeet Singh later died during treatment.
— PTI |
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Punjabi filmmakers want to tell realistic stories
New Delhi, January 22 In the last five-seven years, the Rs 50-crore ($1 million) industry has edged its way to success, though not going beyond love stories and potboilers. People from Punjabi cinema are, however, hungry now for quality content. Film writer Amrik Gill, who has written scripts for both Hindi and Punjabi movies, told IANS: "Iranian cinema is known for its meaningful and quality content and we want our Punjabi cinema to be on a par with Iran by providing good stories." "It is high time Punjabi filmmakers realised that we need movies which are closer to real life, depict the life of the common man and project the rich culture of Punjab. However, for the past five to seven years, we have seen some very good Punjabi films." The industry has come a long way - from one or two films a year, it churns out 40-45 films a year today. In 2011, at least 47 Punjabi films were released, according to Rawail Singh, secretary Punjabi Academy, Department of Art, Culture and Language, Government of India. "If we see the history of Punjabi cinema, it was very good in the beginning but in the 1990s, the cinema was in bad shape as there were no good movies at all," Rawail said. "But now it has come of age with directors like Manmohan Singh, Mandeep Benipal and Amrinder Singh producing good films. In earlier days, there were one or two films in a year. Today we have at least 20-25 films on the floors. In 2011, as many as 47 Punjabi films released, which is indeed a good sign. We don't need superficial cinema, which we increasingly see in Bollywood. We want to have meaningful cinema, similar to that of Iran," he added. Director Manmohan Singh, also a well-known cinematographer in Bollywood, has been a pioneer of change in the industry, with movies like "Jee Aayan Nu", "Asa Nu Maan Watna Da", and "Yaaran Naal Baharaan". Bollywood movies have been an unofficial brand ambassador of Punjab as many filmmakers extensively use Punjabi music, dialogues and culture in their films, but when it comes to actual Punjabi cinema, it has had limited viewership. Singer-actor Jasbir Jassi is happy to see the growth of the regional cinema, but stresses that Punjabi films need to improve the quality of content. "Punjabi cinema is witnessing good growth, creating a market for itself. If the quality of films improves more, it would help grow at an international level," Jassi told IANS. "We require good filmmakers. I have seen that many Bollywood filmmakers are ready to take the plunge into Punjabi cinema. We need such people who are technically sound and understand Punjabi cinema," he added. Most top rated stars of Punjabi films are singers such as Gurdaas Mann, Harbhajan Mann, Babbu Maan and Jasbir Jassi. Mika Singh will also be making his debut soon. However, according to actor-comedian Gurpreet Ghuggi, the Punjabi film industry lacks good actors. "The Punjabi industry lacks a lot in terms of good production houses and actors. Actors who are talented try to take a jump and start their career from Bollywood. But when they don't get enough recognition, they come back to other options," he said. However, actor Jimmy Shergill, who has made it big in both Punjabi and Hindi films, says people have started having faith in Punjabi films. "It has been almost eight years since I have been doing Punjabi films and there is a lot of progress. It is high time more Punjabi films started becoming big hits because the audiences across the world have got faith in it," said Jimmy, whose recent release "Dharti" won accolades at the box-office. "They know Punjabi films have a standard. They have started making some interesting stories, good music and entertaining stuff. I think now is the time it should do well," he added.
— IANS |
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Man gets Rs 5 lakh for courier firm’s negligence
New Delhi, January 22 Amicus curiae (commission appointed lawyer) Santosh Paul told IANS that it was a unique case and he was happy that the consumer commission noted that the effort that scientist Venkata Roa was trying to do was for the benefit of society. The apex consumer panel set aside the Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission while granting relief to Roa. Roa, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, said in his complaint to the state consumer panel that his 17-year-old son, suffering from neurological disorder, died on May 10, 2000. His son was under treatment of various medical institutions. The medical problem of his son could not be diagnosed, so Roa decided to donate his deceased son's brain and lungs for carrying out a comprehensive research for the benefit of humanity. Roa was directed by US-based researcher Bruce H. Cohen to send the body's part of his son through the international courier Federal Express Corp (Fedex). The appellant contacted Babu Jacob, executive sales, Bluedart Express of Federal Express call centre at Trivandrum for it. Initially, Federal Express accepted the consignment, containing the body organs, but later refused to send it to the US, saying that dispatch of human organs was in contravention of the Fedex policy. After going through mental agony harassment, besides loss of the precious organs, Roa filed a complaint seeking compensation of Rs 9.75 lakh under different heads before the state commission, which dismissed it on August 26, 2004. Roa then moved to the national commission. "Having regard to the mental state in which the complainant would have been at the relevant time just after the death of his son and the noble cause of research for the humanity at large, the episode must have been a life-time setback to the complainant," said NCDRC presiding member Justice R.C. Jain, in an order delivered on January 16.
— IANS |
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‘Technology owes ecology an apology’
New Delhi, January 22 The two-day seminar was organised by the University School of Law and Legal Studies (USLLS) of GGSIPU at its Dwarka campus on January 20. While delivering the valedictory address at the seminar on "Environment, Development and Human Rights", Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rajya Sabha member and national spokesperson of the Congress, stressed the ancient Indian concept of "Vasudhev Kutumbakam", as it reflects a holistic and integrated approach towards protecting the environment. Calling for an "eco-centric" approach, Dr Singhvi said that environmental security should be treated equal to national security. "Modern technology owes ecology an apology," he said, while stressing the need to follow the path of sustainable development. GGSIP University vice-chancellor, Prof. D. K. Bandyopadhyay, in his presidential address, said that such seminars would prove useful in education, and in highlighting the global concern about environment. In his inaugural address, Prof. M. P. Singh, chairperson, State Judicial Academy, Karkardooma, Delhi, pointed out that every citizen has the right to clean environment. He said that the judiciary's approach and the government's awareness have led to implementation of human rights as well as of laws for the protection of environment. |
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Iron rod falls off under-construction bridge, kills one
New Delhi, January 22 The injured who could not be identified were admitted to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital while the body has been sent to the hospital for postmortem, the police said. According to the police, the iron rod was being lifted by a crane on the overbridge. It was tied to a rope. However, the rope broke at a height and the iron rod fell down. Feroz died on the spot while the other two labourers sustained serious injuries. A case of negligence causing death has been registered by the Adarsh Nagar police station. The overbridge is being constructed by the PWD of the Delhi government. PWD Minister Rajkumar Chauhan was not available for the comment. The PWD had sanctioned Rs 9.84 crore for the construction of the overbridge, sources said. According to an eyewitness, the iron rods were lifted by the crane after tying them tightly, but the rod that fell down was not fixed properly. The rope broke, resulting in the fall of the rod. |
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600 challaned for jaywalking
New Delhi, January 22 A total of 233 jaywalkers were prosecuted on Thursday while 195 were challaned on Friday. Yesterday, the figure was 154. "We have selected places where good foot-over bridges exist for crossing the roads. Those who did not use these and crossed the road while traffic was on were prosecuted," a senior police official said. Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic) said he "resisted" prosecuting jaywalkers endangering their
own lives for nearly two years. "I was convinced that if pedestrians are unsafe because we have not provided enough facilities for them. Footpaths are either not there or are encroached upon for car parking or by hawkers. Foot-over bridges are either non-existent or not usable. "Underpasses are unsafe or badly lit. What is sad that even where there are reasonably good facilities people are not using them. The other day we started a scheme to motivate people to use FOBs by giving them lucky coupons with cash awards. Now, we have started prosecuting jaywalkers," he said.
— PTI |
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‘Hollow’ NDMC budget skips new project: BJP
New Delhi, January 22 The member of the council and MP, Karan Singh Tanwar, said that the council has been incurring losses for the last many years. He said that the chairperson in the budget for 2012-13 has presented false figures of income and expenditure to mislead the people. The budget was presented by the new NDMC chairperson Archana Arora last week. Tanwar said that in the budget, the figures of income for Rs 1,954.45 crore and expenditure of Rs 1,681.44 crore with a net profit of Rs 273 crore are misleading as the losses of NDMC have been increasing for the last many years. While the budget has declared the setting up of new old age home and working women's hostel, the land has not been earmarked for the purpose. "In the name of developmental projects, the NDMC is incurring losses and corruption is rampant in most of its departments," said Tanwar. He said that the budget did not present any new project for the welfare of people. "While presenting the budget last year, the then chairman, NDMC, had declared that the council would open one Navyug School in each locality of its area, set up night shelters, beautify Talkatora Garden and Shivaji Stadium, but all these works have not been completed till now. The committee constituted by the Prime Minister to examine these works found gross irregularities in their execution and the CBI had to register FIRs in these cases," Tanwar said. |
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PO arrested for attacking cop
New Delhi, January 22 Back in July 2011, the police received information that Sunny was present in his jhuggi in Rohini. A raid was conducted and he was apprehended. But when constable Praveen was conducting the search, Sunny injured his left hand with a blade and managed to escape. Soon after the incident, he left Shahbad Dairy and went underground. On January 20, he was apprehended from Sector-25, Rohini. One loaded country-made pistol and a live cartridge were recovered from his possession, said police officials. During the interrogation, Sunny said that he along with his accomplices Raju, Rakesh, Ajay, Gulfam, Santosh and Sunil Kumar had committed dacoity in Sector-6, Rohini, at gunpoint about one and a half years ago and looted about Rs 4 lakh. All his accomplices were arrested in the case except Raju and him. Sunny admitted that he was the one who attacked the constable with a blade about six months ago. Sunny has studied up to 4th class. His father has expired and his mother is a housewife. He was unemployed having four brothers and two sisters. |
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Jamiat to provide legal help to HC
blast accused
New Delhi, January 22 Jamiat chief Maulana Arshad Madni said family members of the men accused of involvement in the blast outside the high court and Chinnaswami Stadium in Bangalore had approached the organistion following which the decision was taken. "It is for the courts to decide whether a person is guilty. Before that, it is not right to term anyone terrorist," he said. The organisation had extended similar help to some of the accused in the Malegaon blast case. They were granted bail a few months ago.
— PTI |
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Guard fires over parking, held
New Delhi, January 22 "Rajbir Sharma, personal security guard of a builder and a former Delhi Home Guard, fired at watchman Naresh Saturday at East Punjabi Bagh. Naresh was hit by the bullet in his leg," a police officer said. The police said the Rajbir and Naresh had a heated argument over a parking issue, which had remained unresolved for a long time. "Sharma possessed a licensed revolver," the police said. The police lodged a complainant against Rajbir Sharma, who was arrested for attempt to murder.
— IANS |
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10-yr jail for man held with 32 kg ganja
New Delhi, January 22 "The offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act is serious in nature. The convict was carrying more than 32 kg of ganja for sale," Special Judge Narinder Kumar said. "Having regard to the commercial quantity of the ganja, this court deems it a fit case to sentence the convict to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh," the court said. Raj Kumar, who hails from Patna, was arrested on April 3, 2010 at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. The police had said his co-accused Manoranjan Kumar had fled the spot.
— PTI |
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Gang of snatchers smashed
New Delhi, January 22 The matter came to light on the complaint of Ravinder Sharma, a resident of K-17 Phase II Vijay Vihar, who reported that three boys snatched his phone while he was walking with his friend in a park in sector-3,
Rohini. |
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Brothers shot in clash over land
Ghaziabad, January 22 CISF personnel staged a flag march in the area while Lal and SDM Modinagar Vidya Bhushan visited the area. A company of the CISF has been deployed for patrolling. Houses are being searched for firearms, he said, adding over one dozen persons have been taken into custody.
— PTI |
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