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Fake degrees
Prominent among the universities and educational institutions whose certificates were forged by the accused include Panjab University, Punjab Technical University, Andhra Pradesh University, Punjab School Education Board, Haryana State Education Board, CBSE and the Delhi Board. In addition, the gang members are also adept in forging certificates of National Trade Certificates, fake passbooks of the State Bank of India, Fake ILETS certificates, voter cards, driving licences as well as income tax returns. A case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC has been registered. The police has not ruled out the involvement of employees of the universities in the scam and their role was being investigated. The police said it had deployed a decoy customer to unearth the gang and the exact number and profile of their clients who purchased the fake degrees from them was being investigated. Those arrested included Manjit Singh, Amandeep Gora, Sushil Kumar, Surinder Saini, Sandeep Kumar Kokhar, Puran Chand, Varinder Kumar, Raman Sharma and Sushant Saini. Out of the arrested, Raman and Varinder, Mohali residents are the prime accused. They used to give advertisements through a website and then meet their clients at different places. DSP Anil Joshi said the forged certificates were being provided at a cost ranging from Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 while the accused used to charge Rs 30,000 for other documents. The police said the clients were mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In addition, involvement of four companies in the scam had also come to light. These four include I.S. InfoTech, Sector 35, Chandigarh, Way to fly Company, Sector 34-A, Global Communication, Sector 70, Mataur, Sohana in Mohali and Bhogal Communication, also in village Sohana. The accused used to prepare documents while sitting in these cyber centres. In addition, the SIT has also recovered two laptops, two scanners-cum-printer, one coloured printer, sheets (used for certificates and documents), one cutter (used to cut the papers according to the size of required certificates/degrees) which was used to prepare the fake certificates. Bogus stamps belonging to superintendent, District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, examiner, Copying
Branch, District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, Registrar Birth and Death, Registration Unit, Municipal Committee, Hisar, Union Bank of India, Phase-1 Mohali, Krishana Auto Sales, Khajuria, Phagwara, Registrar Death and Birth, Kharar, Executive Magistrate, Karnal, Principal, Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic, Bidar, Inspector Food and Supply, Assandh, Karnal, State Bank of Patiala, Phase 10, Mohali Assistant. Food and Supplies officer, UT, Chandigarh, Punjab National Bank, Patiala Punjabi University and Kurukshetra University were also recovered.
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Fire spreads panic in P’kula Sec 11
Panchkula, March 20 It was only after a skylift fire tender and two water boosters and one fire tender were brought from Chandigarh that the fire was brought under control. It took more than two hours for 11 fire tenders from the town and Chandigarh to extinguish the fire. In the absence of any fire hydrant, it took about 30 minutes for the first fire tender to refill the water tank after it doused the fire for about 20 minutes at the Sector 5 fire station. The first fire tender reached the spot within 15 minutes and later six other fire tenders also reached the site. But as they failed to control the fire, they sent a request to their counterparts in Chandigarh to send the skylift fire tender so that water could be pointed towards the main points on the first and second floors of the building. As per preliminary investigations by the district administration, short-circuit was cited as the main reason behind the fire. The developers placed at the rear showroom of Sai Colour Lab caught fire at about 1.15 pm and later it spread to the front portion, damaging two photo printers and other material worth several lakhs. Later the fire spread to the neighbouring showroom Cofee Café Day and further spread to the upper three storeys of the building. Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar, SDM Sharandeep Kaur Brar, Executive Engineer Municipal Corporation OP Sihag reached the spot. The DC said an inquiry would he held to ascertain the cause of the fire. She said no loss of life had been reported in the incident and efforts were being made to access the loss. Earlier, the fire tenders could not reach the site, as these could not find
their way through the parking in front of the building in view of a large number of cars parked in front of the building. People and the police took the initiative to remove vehicles from the area to make way for the fire tenders. The police had a hectic time in controlling the traffic on the road dividing Sectors 10/11 as hundreds of people had gathered at the site to witness the incident. Meanwhile, four girls of a coaching centre in the building had a miraculous escape as they got stuck on the third floor. After hearing their shrieks, a fireman Sunil Dhull reached there and brought the girls to safety after breaking the grills of the room. Deepika, one of the instructors in the NIIT centre in the building, said after observing the fumes, she asked her students to move out of the building. She said there were about 60 to 70 students in different coaching centres in the building at the time of the incident. Speaking to media, BB Singal, former MC vice-president and Indian National Lok Dal leader Seema Chaudhary said had not the help come from the fire department in Chandigarh there would have more loss in the market. He said they had suggested for setting up fire hydrants in Sector 5, 19, and 20 a few years ago, but the matter was hanging fire in the Fire Safety Directorate of the Haryana Government. Ill-equipped
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3-yr RI for injuring policeman
Chandigarh, March 20 In the over four-year-old case, the court sentenced Jatinder Pal to three years’ RI after holding him guilty of voluntarily hurting a public servant on duty and rash and negligent driving. The incident dates back to September 14, 2007. The accused was identified as Jatinder Pal, a resident of Mohali, and he had hit a traffic head constable Karamvir Singh near the police barricade on the road dividing sectors 40 and 55. Jatinder and his friend Sukhwinder Singh were driving recklessly in an open gypsy. At a police checkpoint, they were signalled to stop for checking, but instead of applying brakes, Jatinder accelerated. He took a sharp turn and hit the head constable causing him serious injuries. Karamvir had sustained multiple injuries and a fracture on his left foot. The court has convicted Jatinder under sections 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 279 (rash driving) of the IPC.
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Parking rates may double
Chandigarh, March 20 The proposal, which is going to be tabled in the meeting, says that for two-wheeler the fee will be Rs 4, for four-wheeler Rs 10, for taxi Rs 300 and for heavy vehicle Rs 600. A senior official said the proposal had been pending for long. If the committee approves it, it will be further tabled in the House meeting for consent. The official said if the rates get revised, the corporation would get a better response for the auction of parking lots which have been lying vacant for long.
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Youth killed in collision of motorcycles
Chandigarh, March 20 Shubh Kishan received grievous head injuries and was lying in a pool of blood when the PCR rushed him to the PGI.
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Strong winds lash city
Chandigarh, March 20 The weather office has predicted mainly clear sky, but strong surface winds will continue to lash the region during the daytime. The maximum and minimum temperatures will decline by a few notches in view of the chilly winds blowing from the North-west direction. Dozens of trees and their branches fell in the region due to the strong winds blowing in the region throughout the day. Many cars and other vehicles were damaged as tree branches fell on them in various parts of the tricity region. The sky will be mainly clear. The maximum temperature on Wednesday will be around 30 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature on Thursday around 20 degrees Celsius three notches below the temperature recorded the previous night.
Widespread destruction
Dozens of trees and their branches fell in the region due to the strong winds blowing in the region throughout the day. Many cars and other vehicles were damaged as tree branches fell on them in various parts of the tricity region.
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Civic body forgets old sanitation projects
Chandigarh, March 20 The MC authorities are ready with the pilot project on placing bins in front of houses in Sector 22 and collecting garbage in designer rickshaws. It was also decided that all the big institutions, market committees, hotels and restaurants, which transport their waste directly to the dumping ground, should be directed to segregate it at source into ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ bags separately. The pilot project on door-to-door collection of garbage in Sector 22 was approved in the recent meeting of the Finance and Contract Committee and it was to be implemented till April 16. However, the authorities have taken no action to install bins at the vegetable and meat markets for the segregation of garbage, which was directed by the administration a long time ago. In fact, the system of daily collection of garbage from all over the city is yet to be strictly implemented by the authorities. Under the new project, the authorities will outsource the job to a private company the personnel of which will collect garbage in designer rickshaws from door to door on a daily basis. In 2001 also the administration had launched this project under which the contractor was to collect garbage in specially designed rickshaws having two different bins for the segregation of domestic waste. But it has not been implemented till date. In fact, in 2002 the administration had handed over the specially designed cycle-rickshaws and hand carts to the Residents Welfare Association of Sector 15 to collect garbage from house to house in two separate containers (bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste). According to the proposal, garbage was to be converted into compost at the vermin-culture compost centre situated in Sector 15. It is strange that the authorities are unaware about the present status of this project.
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Acquittal of four accused in double-murder case Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 20 “We are aggrieved to know that the accused have been acquitted. We were not aware of the acquittal and got to know of it only today. The police made no efforts to prove the case in court and totally failed to prove the charges,” deceased Sucha Singh’s wife Savita Rani said. Interestingly, the UT Administration had announced a compensation of Rs 50,000 each to both the families as their breadwinners had died while saving water pipes from being stolen. The UT police failed to prove this motive in court. Deceased Gurdial’s family of six, including his mother, are surviving on a meagre income to fulfil their needs. His one son suffers from a life-threatening ailment. “It was a clear-cut case for the police. My husband was brutally killed and the accused will be roaming free now. We have failed to get justice,” added a relative of Gurdial.
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No accelerated promotions to UT Inspectors, says CAT
Chandigarh, March 20 The order has been passed on a bunch of applications filed by 11 inspectors of the UT Police belonging to the general category who had sought for quashing of accelerated promotions granted to inspectors under the reserved category. The applicants stated in the application that they were all of the general category while the respondents were of the reserved category. The respondents were promoted to higher grades at an earlier point of
time. However, the applicants were senior in their earlier pre-promotion placement against the respondents. Pronouncing the order, Justice SD Anand and Kushiram observed: “We find ourselves in complete agreement with the plea raised on behalf of the applicants. A learned Coordinate Bench of this tribunal recorded the finding, consensual in character, to the extent that no survey in the context had been undertaken by the Chandigarh Administration.”
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Fire at dist courts
Chandigarh, March 20 High drama as witnessed when the court staff and the people noticed the smoke billowed out of the ceiling. Fire tenders were pressed in service and the fire was soon controlled. District and Sessions Judge SK Goel and the other officials rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
— TNS
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Unloading of coal racks near Mauli Jagran
Chandigarh, March 20 According to the information, the residents sat on the tracks. However there was no affect on the rail movement as they were forced to leave the track. Later, a meeting was also held by the rail authorities in the afternoon to discuss their demands. Notably, the resident had also protested on March 18 when Union Minister Pawan Bansal flagged off the train to Bandra. Even the senior officials of the Railway Division, Ambala, had also assured them that action would be taken soon to remove their grievances. However, the authorities have done nothing so far. When the residents threatened to block the tracks at the local railway station the railway officials, accompanied by police officials, assuring them that their grievances would be addressed. The row over the unloading of coal near their colony has been going on for quite some time, as the residents have alleged that the coal dust enter their houses and was affecting their health. Praveen Kumar, Station Superintendent, said the situation was under control and train movement had not been affected. He said they were trying to look into the matter.
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33 structures razed at Maloya
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 20 The officials, who were supervising the demolition drive, said according to the Periphery Act, no structure could come up on the agricultural land. The owners of the illegal structures had been issued notices prior to the demolition drive.
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Traders hail HC order on booth allotment cancellation
Chandigarh, March 20 Drawing the attention of the UT officials towards the spirit behind the order, the traders hope that the UT officials should sympathetically review the issue of change of trade by shopkeepers, except the seven restricted trades. “We are thankful of the High Court, It is traders’ voice as hundreds of traders across the city were facing cases for change of trade. The UT estate office viewed it as a violation and imposed a fine at a rate of Rs 500 per sq ft,” said Jagdish Arora, Chairman of the Chandigarh Business Council. Hundreds of such cases are pending at different levels in the estate office. “When a site has been allotted for commercial purpose, the trader should be allowed to do any commercial activity other than the restricted trades. Any commercial activity should not be treated as violation,” said JPS Kalra, the owner of a mobile shop. “Under the garb of misuse of booths, the traders are often harassed by the estate office. The High Court order is welcome,” said Ravi Ahuja, another trader. Rajinder Manocha, a sector 17-based businessman, said many shopkeepers would now cite the High Court court to get relief in such cases. The traders quote Estate Rules that read: “Such modifications now permit the use of commercial sites except industrial sites for any trade mentioned in ‘(A) New General Trade’ and ‘(B) New Special Trade’ of Schedule-II without applying for the conversion of trade and without paying conversion fee. “The restriction is only in respect of migration to seven trades as mentioned in New Special Trade Category of Schedule-II. The seven trades alone require prior permission of the Chief Administrator. “In the light of the notification dated March 31, 2006, all allottees of commercial sites/premises are permitted to use the sites allotted for any purpose mentioned in Schedule-II except in respect of seven trades.”
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Minister’s security staff manhandle driver
Chandigarh, March 20 Security officials were compelling the driver, Baldev Singh, to handover the keys of the car to them. Irritated over the incident, the members of the Ministerial Car Civil Driver Union today staged a dharna outside the Vidhan Sabha. Despite his name being entered in the official register of the Transport Department as the driver of the Minister's official Toyota Camry car, he was not allowed to drive the car, said the union members, adding that on March 14, supporters of newly elected Minister Anil Joshi had allegedly beat up the latter's official driver Rana Singh. Similarly, Kulwinder Singh, official driver of Gulzar Singh Ranike's car, had also alleged that Ranike's son forcibly took away the car keys from him in the evening in Chandigarh. The union members said the practise of allowing security personnel to drive the minister's car was a wrong precedent.
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Centennial Celebration of Gadar Movement Prabhjot Singh/TNS
Chandigarh, March 20 The GOPIO has decided to collaborate with various organisations of Non-Resident Indians, People of Indian Origin, Government of India, various international agencies, individuals and families of the heroes of the movement in the celebrations by organising commemorative events in different parts of the world. Interestingly, some of the agencies in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States have already finalised their programmes to revisit the movement that had started from the shores of the United States. The Indian Government has not planned anything special so far. Former Union Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill had even written to the Prime Minister for holding a series of events to remember those who came back all the way from the United States to fight for India's independence. Among the Gadarites was Kartar Singh Sarabha, a young scholar, who gave up his studies at a top American university to jump into the freedom struggle. The Gadar Movement, a nationalistic movement to liberate India from British colocolonists, started as the Hindustan Association of the Pacific Coast. It later came to be known as Gadar Movement in 1913 with headquarters in San Francisco. The association began publishing a magazine named "Gadar" that was an instant hit with the expatriates. The GOPIO is seeking participation and support from the Prime Minister of India, various ministries, including Overseas Indian Affairs, External Affairs and Culture, besides UNESCO, state of California, city of San Francisco, as well as Indian civic organisations, institutions, groups and individuals. The GOPIO plans include a petition to declare 2013 as the year of centennial commemoration of the Gadar Movement; issuance of a commemorative postage stamp, a special book containing bio-data of all the 48 martyrs and 69 Gadarites who got life imprisonment, establishing chairs in memory of the heroes. Plans also include a finale on November 1 next year in San Francisco with a fitting memorial as a lasting tribute to the Gadar heroes.
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DC wants traffic flow to be eased
Mohali, March 20 As most traffic lights had become non-functional, he ordered that those be repaired. A warning was issued to schoolbus operators who loaded their vehicles beyond capacity. He said there was a need to make students aware of traffic rules. He issued instructions to challan traffic offenders. — TNS
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Office-bearers elected
Panchkula, March 20
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UT Admn, pvt schools
cross swords
Chandigarh, March 20 “The schools had already been informed about the entire city being considered as neighbourhood; so there is no hassle. The advertisement has been issued on the basis of information provided by private schools,” said District Education Officer Ram Kumar. According to the department, any bona fide resident of Chandigarh who has an annual income below 1,50,000 is eligible to apply for these seats. The move, however, has intensified the ongoing trouble with schools which claim that there admission season is over and they will not make any more admissions. “They are violating the RTE Act. Neighbourhood is a key criterion, which was even implemented in their own nursery admissions. It is being overlooked in our case. They have still not talked about reimbursement and expect us to make admissions. They can go ahead with advertising whatever they want, but for us admissions have closed and we will not entertain any further applications. The department is not authorised to impose any thing on us, only the MHRD can,” said HS Mamik, president
of Independent School Association. Sensing trouble, the department has asked applicants to contact the DEO Office at 0172-5021694 in case of any complaint or problem.
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Next Syndicate meeting likely to be stormy
Chandigarh, March 20 Many senators, who have accused PU authorities of being hand in glove with a particular group, have dubbed the move, which is bound to have huge impact on the forthcoming Senate elections, against all propriety. Senators, including GK Chatrath, Rabindernath Sharma, HS Ghosal, Jarnail Singh, and PS Gill, in a written representation, have questioned the VC’s authority in allowing the change of faculties. “The Calendar says that faculties can be shifted after every two years, but what is the logic of doing so now when the senate elections have been declared. It is against propriety and is being done with the sole motive of helping a particular group. Getting members shifted from faculties has only one motive and that is to strengthen the ‘weak’ faculties in the forthcoming election to help a few chosen fellows. PU authorities should abstain from indulging in such political tactics,” said HS Ghosal, a senior PU Senator. Rabindernath Sharma, another senior Senator, said,” Fellows have spent four years in their respective faculties, selecting Deans and even Syndicate members. Now they want change. Senate elections have been anounced and the move is politically motivated. The outgoing VC is being a being a party to the political move.” When contacted, Vice-Chancellor RC Sobti said it was not him, but the Registrar who had sent the letter. As usual, all attempts to contact Registrar AK Bhandari proved futile. An official, however, claimed, “ Some fellows came to us and asked for being allowed to change their faculty. We asked them to give requests which will be put forth in Syndicate. So it is the house which will decide, and not us. Moreover, it is not happening for the first time. The same thing happened in 2004 and 2008 as well.” Decision questionedSenators have accused PU authorities of being hand in glove with a particular group. The decision to allow change of faculties has allegedly been taken to influence the forthcoming Senate elections. Senators, including GK Chatrath, Rabindernath Sharma, HS Ghosal, Jarnail Singh, and PS Gill, in a written representation, have questioned the VC’s authority in allowing the change of faculties.
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314 students awarded degrees at convocation
Chandigarh, March 20 KK Sharma, IAS, Advisor to Administrator Chandigarh was the chief guest of the event. Charanjeet Kaur Sohi welcomed the guests and presented the annual report of the college, highlighting the achievements and activities of the college faculty and students. Overall, 18 students received degrees in MSc (IT), 36 in MCom, 122 in BCom, 87 in BA, 24 in BPEd and 37 in BCA. Sharma, in his convocation address, praised the degree holders and wished them success in all their future endeavours. He motivated the students and teachers to update their knowledge with the changing times and highlighted the significance of technology in the globalisation of education. He also stressed on the need of knowledge and culture-based education. Col JS Bala, secretary, Sikh Educational Society, extended the vote of thanks.
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Nine-member gang operated from Tricity
Chandigarh, March 20
The maximum temperature on Tuesday was recorded at 31.1 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature was recorded at 23.3 degrees Celsius.