New Delhi, February 21
The Delhi High Court today directed the government to immediately remove Mohammed Hamidullah Bhat as director of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL).

A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi also sought Bhat's personal appearance to explain the reasons for non-compliance of the court order dated December 9 while restraining him from holding the office.

On December 9 last year, a division Bench of Acting Chief Justice A. K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw held that Bhat could not head the NCPUL because he was overage and faced a corruption case.

"The NCPUL should forthwith comply with the December 9, 2011 judgement and ensure that Bhat immediately seizes to be director of the council," the court said, while directing the NCPUL to comply the earlier order.

Justice Sanghi's order came on a contempt petition filed by Javed Rehmani saying that despite the high court's order, Bhat has not vacated the post.

The court also issued contempt notice to the human resource development ministry (HRD) and the NCPUL (which comes under the ministry). It also asked for a detailed affidavit, within a week, from the government indicating Bhat's removal from the post and also to complete the departmental enquiry against him.

The court also restrained Bhat from taking any decision as council head or representing himself for the council.

The matter is posted for February 29.

In the petition, Rehmani had sought the court's direction to the central government to sack Bhat because he was overage, and faced a probe for corruption. Bhat had even been arrested in 2005 in connection with the case, the petition stated.

The petition also stated that through a right to information application, it was found that as per service rules, the director's tenure is fixed for three years but Bhat has been continuing for past 13 years in the same post without obtaining an extension. - IANS

New Delhi, February 21
Frequent international passengers to and from the national Capital will now be able to check-in at the Airport Express Metro corridor.

The Reliance Infrastructure, concessionaire of the Delhi Airport Metro Express, has started the international passenger check-in service at the New Delhi and Shivaji Stadium Metro stations.

"Passengers have to check-in minimum two and half hours prior to their flight time. There is no international flight check-in facility at the Dhaula Kuan station as international check-in requires luggage check-in facility which is not available at the Dhaula Kuan station," said a spokesperson for the Reliance Infrastructure.

The Reliance Metro also provides its passengers the privilege of early check-in facility. Fliers can check-in and collect their boarding passes maximum eight hours prior to their flight time.

Air India will start facilitating their customers by the international service from February 23. Kingfisher and Jet Airways will also provide international check-in facility to its flyers.

All these three airlines have city check-in counters at the New Delhi and Shivaji Stadium Airport Metro stations.

"Talks are on with other airlines that have international services from the IGI airport, to come and set up their check-in counters at the Reliance Metro Airport Express stations," the spokesperson added.

The city check-in facility at the Airport Metro station will be highly beneficial for the international airline passengers, who earlier had to go through the hassles of standing in the long queues at the airport for luggage and passenger check-in formalities.

"The six-hour early check-in facility will give our commuters enough time to explore the retail outlets that the Reliance Metro is coming up with. Flyers can also take a city tour or engage themselves in shopping and dining at the Reliance Metro retail and food courts.

Passengers coming from UP, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan will be benefited by this international check-in facility.

These up-country commuters often reach Delhi by railways and then commute to IGI Airport to fly abroad. Now they can check-in their luggage at the Reliance Metro stations, collect their boarding passes and enjoy the convenience of city check-in facility for the international flyers.

Anil P. Gupta, president of the Reliance Infrastructure, said, "International flyers can collect their boarding passes at the Airport Express Metro station itself and go for security check at the airport, totally hassle-free."

The high-speed Reliance Metro Airport Express, connecting the New Delhi station to Dwarka Sector 21 via IGI T3 airport, now runs full-fledged service, with all its six stations commercially operational for the passengers.

Only passenger check-in facility is available at the Dhaula Kuan station.

New Delhi, February 21
The government will not hesitate in amending rules to achieve the goal of housing for the poor and other vulnerable sections of society, including jhuggi dwellers, said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at a function here.

She also released a report card stating the achievements of her government of 13 years.

In the report card, Dikshit has stated, "I can state on the basis of the feedback received from the people that Delhi is really and truly far ahead of all other states. We have all modern infrastructures, an open government and a responsive set-up. We have preventive health services, hub of education, a set-up of medical tourism, reliable transportation and communication."

Giving details of her achievements during 13 years of her rule, Dikshit said the trifurcation of the MCD is the historical decision which the government took last year. The decision will go a long way in bringing local administration close to people.

Delhi is the only city in the country to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in the municipal corporations. It will prove to be a far-reaching decision, resulting in better municipal administration up to the satisfaction of the residents.

The government is committed to making Delhi the cleanest city in the country by 2013.

She emphasized upon the need of proper maintenance and upkeep of the newly constructed assets during the Commonwealth Games. 

Greater Noida, February 21
The contestants in the present Assembly elections are pulling out all the stops to woo voters.

Ignoring the election commission instructions, candidates are serving liquor to voters. Some candidates have issued chits to them to collect their quota of liquor direct from the selected liquor shops. Some of them have gone a step further. They have made special arrangements for the voters to down their pegs in the safe havens in villages. Some candidates have also made arrangements in restaurants in the area where voters can have their meals with liquor.

Noida, February 21
A large number of voters having identity cards are finding their names missing from the voters' list due to the negligence of officials.

Geeta Sharma, a resident of Chhalera, said her voter's identity card was issued to her on March 28, 2007, but she does not find her name in the voters' list.

"I am not able to figure out as to how I will caste my vote," she said.

A Sector-26 resident, Durgesh Mishra, is also having the same problem. He was issued with a voter identity card, but he finds his name missing from the voters' list.

Pragti Bhatnagar of Sector-62 had applied for voters' identity card in January and she got her identity card in the same month.

"However, my name is not in voters' list," she said.

SDM Jaininder Prasad said those whose names are not there on the main voters' list can find them on the additional voters' list. Most of the people whose voter cards were issued in January should be able to find their names on the additional list.

Noida, February 21
Though fighting elections in India has lately become the privilege of "crorepatis" or criminals only, there are a number of not-so-rich candidates who are in the fray for the Noida, Javer and Dadri assembly seats in Gautam Budh Nagar.

Voting for other phases of polling for the UP assembly seats has been completed. Polling in western UP remains to be conducted. The last phase will be concluded on February 28 in GB Nagar.

A number of people have become dirt rich in the past three to four years. Apart from multi-millionaires and millionaires, a number of "lakhpatis" and even "hazarpatis" too have taken the plunge which have reportedly sent cold shiver down the spine of the rich contestants.

There is hardly any candidate who does not informally accept that money play an important factor in the current elections.

BJP nominee Dr. Mahesh Sharma, chairman of Kailash Hospital, tops the list of rich candidates with Rs 37.45 crore worth of property. Independent candidate Sher Singh Rana for the Javer seat follows him with Rs 29.93 crore and then Dr. V.S. Chaudhary of the Congress with worth Rs 17.80 crore as his property and Om Dutt Sharma of the BSP with worth Rs 4.12 crore and Bhopal Singh of the JDU with Rs 2.60 crore in his kitty.

On the other hand, the list of poor candidates is topped by Radhika Devi, the Lok Jan Shakti candidate from Noida, with only Rs 2,000 as her assets. She has reportedly raised her security deposit by taking loans from family members. Other candidates from Noida are Anup Khanna of the Lok Satta with worth Rs 63 lakh property, Amrish Srivastava of the PEES Party with Rs 15 lakh and Ravi Dutta Sharma of the Jan Sangh with Rs 10 lakh.

There are two independent candidates - Vijay Pal and Uday Paswal - who have mentioned property of worth Rs 10,000 each.

The "crorepatis" from Noida are Sher Singh Rana with Rs 29 crore heads the Javer seat followed by Ram Bhatti with Rs 3.8 crore and Dhirender Singh with Rs 3.7 crore.

Congress candidate Samir Bhatti with Rs 6 crore leads the Dadri constituency followed by Narender Singh Nagar of the BJP with Rs 3.24 crore and Pitambher Sharma, an independent, with Rs 1.60 crore.

New Delhi, February 21
The Delhi High Court today sought response from Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) on a plea seeking a direction to the university administration to conduct polls to the students' union which remains dissolved since 2006.

A division bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Rajiv Shakdher directed the university to file a detailed affidavit within four weeks to the plea of Hamidur Rehman, a final year BA student, for a direction to hold the elections.

Directing Atyab Siddiqui, the counsel for Jamia, to file the response, the bench fixed March 18 for further hearing of the petition.

The petition alleged JMI was not conducting the students' union election since 2006 on the ground that the atmosphere is not conducive despite several representations made in this regard before the administration.

Alleging that Jamia administration had dissolved the elected body in March 2006 without giving any reason, the petitioner said, "Jamia was not conducting and allowing the students' union election since 2006 onwards till date despite several representations and request made by students to various authorities including the vice chancellor." The request for conducting the election was made time and again but no action has been taken, said the PIL, filed through lawyer Sitab Ali Chaudhary.

"There is nobody in the campus to address the students' grievances and problems and that is why they are being harassed frequently," the lawyer submitted.

It also claimed the HRD Ministry and the UGC have also asked the university to hold polls.

Jamia has been charging Rs 50 annually from each student as union fee since 2006 but the authorities have "no intention to hold the election," the petition said. According to the petition, "The administration has violated the legal and fundamental rights and other rights to form students' union as the decision is against the Lyngdoh Committeee recommendations to hold elections in colleges and universities in the country.

"Universities and colleges across the country must ordinarily conduct elections for the appointment of students to student representative bodies. These elections may be conducted in the manner prescribed herein, or in a manner that conforms to the standards prescribed herein," as per the Lyngdoh committee recommendations, it said.

The petition also said that the university authorities had dissolved the elected union in 2006 without giving any reason.

"The administration of Jamia is less concerned about the election for students union as the administration can take any decision without any opposition in the absence of a students' union," it said. - PTI

New Delhi, February 21
After a gap of four years, Jawaharlal Nehru University finally kicked off the election process for the student union today. After years of struggle for the restoration of elections, students will now poll for their new union on March 1.

JNUSU candidates for different political wings finally filed their nominations today. The stage is set, and after the final candidate list is displayed tomorrow evening, the contenders will begin an extensive campaign from February 23.

The major political players will capitalize on the work done during the struggle to restore JNUSU election after four years. Other issues on the agenda will be the delays in the disbursal of scholarship money, the need to strengthen the Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) and infrastructural and staff shortage in as many as seven departments.

The political heavyweights– the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI)—are the two parties that have a wide following among students. After four years, all eyes are set as to who will claim the union this year.
The last JNUSU election held in 2007 was won by the extreme Left, All India Students Association (AISA), with a clean sweep. After the elections were stayed in 2008, the AISA union got an extended mandate until finally it was dissolved in early 2010.

While Zico Dasgupta from SFI will be contesting as the presidential candidate for this election, AISA general secretary Sucheta De is the likely presidential candidate.

The display of the final list will be done tomorrow evening after verifications and withdrawals. General Body Meetings of different schools will then begin on February 23 and 24.

The university GBM will take place on February 27 and the final face-off between the candidates at the presidential debate will take place on February 28.

The polling will be conducted on March 1 and the results are likely to be declared after a couple of days of vote counting.

New Delhi, February 21
Catering to the increasing power needs of the areas located in Vikaspuri, west Delhi, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) has proposed to set up a Rs 45 crore, 75 MVA grid sub-station at Hastsal.

The foundation stone of the proposed sub-station, which is sixth in the area and 78 in its licensed area spanning 750 sq km, was laid today by the minister of state for power, Haroon Yusuf.

The grid will help in fulfiling the demands of the residents and commercial establishments located in the area. "The 66/11 KV grid station with a capacity of 75 MVA will be constructed within a period of 12 months keeping in mind the present and future needs of the area. To begin with, the sub-station will have two transformers of 25 MVA each and the third transformer of 25 MVA will be added over a period of time, taking the total capacity of the grid sub-station to 75 MVA," said Gopal Saxena, CEO, BRPL.

He said that even if the primary transformer failed because of some reasons, the backup transformer would immediately take over and ensure continuance of uninterrupted power supply.

Presently, Hastsal and adjoining areas have a peak electricity load of 30 MVA and are being fed through five separate grid sub-stations located at a considerable distance.

This grid sub-station being constructed within the area itself, will vastly improve the power supply situation for over two lakh consumers residing in areas like Hastasal, Uttam Nagar, Kiran Garden, Mohan Garden, Milap Nagar, Om Vihar (phase 1 to 5), Vijay Vihar, Vikaspuri, Vipin Garden, Bhagwati Garden and the surroundings, added Saxena.

New Delhi, February 21
Students from DU’s University Hostel for Women, approached the vice-chancellor's office today to apprise the VC, registrar and dean of colleges of the concerns of women students.

In their memorandum to the vice-chancellor, the students highlighted how individual residents of the hostel have been victimised for signing petitions against the imposition of a hostel union constitution by the authorities and for attending students' meetings in which the issue of existing hostel rules was discussed.

These women residents have been protesting against the hostel authorities since January, alleging that certain "unconstitutional and undemocratic" changes have been made in the constitution of the students' union. Students also allege that the hostel authorities had phoned the parents of those residents who participated in a signature campaign.

Students allege that the union constitution has never been discussed and ratified in a general body meeting by the students who are the actual constituents of the union.

Maya John, PhD scholar and resident of the hostel, said, "These students have been told that if they support any campaign that raises issues pertaining to the functioning of the hostel union, its constitution or the hostel rules, they should leave the hostel. They were told that their departments or parents would be contacted and they would not be given readmission/extension. The most disturbing moment came when even after the proctor office gave the assurance that individual victimisation would stop, the hostel authorities called up the parents of several students on February 18."

"Despite repeated appeals made to the hostel authorities to give us a written assurance, they refused to do so. The unwillingness of the members of the proctorial committee to press the hostel warden and provost to give such a written assurance has not gone down well either with the residents. We will now wait and see if the promised managing committee meeting will be called between March 8 and 15. Any delay in calling this meeting will convince the hostel residents to go ahead with their protest. For such a protest, they will call for the support of other postgraduate women's hostels which are functioning under the same stringent rules," she added.

New Delhi, February 21
Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna today challenged the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) to prove the allegations levelled against him.

He said that he had not sold the Guru Harkishan Hospital adjacent to Bala Sahib Gurdwara located on Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan.

The police registered an FIR against him on the direction of the district court Saket (southeast Delhi) under section 420 (cheating), 468 (forged documents) and 471 IPC (using forged documents as genuine).

SAD (Badal) member Kuldeep Singh Bhogal had filed the case against Sarna.

Addressing a conference, Sarna said, "First the Badal members had got the DSGMC election stayed. Now, they have got a complaint registered against me. They do not have any agenda for the community."

He said that the land has been given to a private company on lease. There is nothing illegal about the land being given on lease to a professional company in order to run the hospital.

He will submit the evidence concerning the Hari Kishan Hospital to the court. If the allegations against him are proved correct, Sarna said that he and his brother Harvinder Singh Sarna would leave politics and if they are not proved, he would get a criminal case lodged against Bhogal and the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Sarna said that Bhogal filed the case against him on the instigation of Parkash Singh Badal.

New Delhi, February 21
Trafficking in women for prostitution or selling them as brides in the regions having a skewed sex ratio has been occurring for decades, mainly because of poverty, a longing for a better life and most importantly, there is a 'demand' for them. And in order to curb the racket, the government plans to set up a number of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) across the country.

Rishi Kant, media coordinator of Shakti Vahini, an organization fighting human trafficking, recalled that there are many cases of women like Munni Khatoon who are victims of their own circumstances. She is the mother of the two-year-old baby who is presently struggling to survive at the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Munni was living in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. She has three children. She started living alone after her husband, who is involved in criminal activities, fled to evade the police arrest. An abandoned Munni sought a better life for herself and her children. She was lured by a man, Shankar at Muzaffarpur railway station, when she was taking her five-year-old son to hospital.

After speaking to her on the phone several times, he persuaded Munni to come to Delhi, where she would get employment and remarried. After arriving in the national Capital, she was tricked into marrying a man from Rajasthan, who could not find a bride otherwise. He bought her for Rs 3 lakh.

Kant said that the modus operandi of all those involved in human trafficking is that they would "lure their victim into starting a better life".

"There is always a person who would meet the victim at the railway station. Then there would be another person who would take the victim to a major city. After reaching the destination, she is sold to agents who would thereafter send her to the areas where women like her are in demand. They are forced to work as sex workers in the red-light areas," he said.

"There was a class 10 student from Assam who was lured by an agent into a marriage proposition and then sold into prostitution in Delhi. When she resisted, she was gang-raped. In another case, some sex racketeers were trying to force a 22-year-old woman from West Bengal into prostitution. They threatened to keep her son if she did not become a sex worker. Somehow she escaped from her confinement and approached the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banarjee. A police operation was launched and the woman's child was rescued from Gajraula in Uttar Pradesh during the last week of January this year," said Kant.

According to PM Nair, Additional Director General, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), trafficking in women occurs mainly because there is a demand for them.

"Trafficking in women is a major business in India. Moderately rich girls are also vulnerable besides the women from poor backgrounds. Poverty is the main reason that fuels trafficking. Girls who have working parents and usually spend their time alone at home are deceived by traffickers, who lure them with the idea of gaining employment in the big cities," he said.

Nair pointed out that there are Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) for strict law enforcement and rehabilitation of victims.

"There are police officials, prosecutors, NGOs and government bodies working within an AHTU.

They are given training in dealing with the cases of human trafficking and provided with a sum of Rs 1 lakh per year to care for victims who require clothes, food and accommodation. Training imparted to police officials is of utmost importance. Earlier, only 6.6 per cent of the police force was aware of human trafficking," he added.

New Delhi, February 21
The body of a 45-year-old businessman who had been missing since Sunday was found near the DDA Park at Maidan Gadhi, South Delhi.

The deceased is identified as Vijender Singh, a resident of Lado Sarai. Before he went missing, he was seen at his photo studio.

The police said that a passer-by informed it of the body about 2 pm today. It has been sent for a post-mortem and the report is awaited.

A case of murder has been registered.