Panchkula, August 6
Fifteen days before she was found dead at her Sector 48 house in Mohali, Fiza stayed for over 10 days in a Sector-20 flat in Panchkula. She used to come here with her advocate friend.

She used to share the flat in the Group Housing Society Number 4, Sector 20, Panchkula, with another girl, identified as Suman.

A security guard at the society said Fiza used to come around 11 pm and go around 10 am and never used to interact with anyone.

Suman said Fiza seemed to be emotionally upset over some issue and at times used to put the music at high volume in her car at nights.

The Mohali police also visited the flat as part of its investigations.

“The owner had given us the flat on rent. Some time ago, the owner said Fiza would be staying here. But she stayed here for just 10 days and never returned,” said Suman, who is working with a media organisation.

“Di (Fiza) used to come with some advocate friend in a black Honda CRV and sometimes in a Santro Xing car.

Sometimes at night, she used to ply the music system in her car on full volume and sit for hours together in the vehicle,” added Suman, who said Fiza used to have other visitors too.

“She used to come and lock the room from inside. Though she did not interact much, but sometimes used to come out and talk to me. She seemed very upset over some issue. I asked her about her past, but she said she has moved on and it’s useless to talk about it. Di said she would be floating a party and she wants our support,” added Suman.

Security outside Chander Mohan’s house Security was deployed outside Chander Mohan’s house in Sector 8, Panchkula, after Fiza’s death. His house wore a deserted look. Turbulent life Fiza Mohammed aka Anuradha Bali Anuradha Bali aka Fiza was a lawyer by profession at the Punjab and Haryana high court. She was an assistant advocate general with the Haryana government till 2008 Fiza shot into limelight in December 2008 after she married Chander Mohan, the then Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana and elder son of three-time Haryana chief minister and political strongman Bhajan Lal She had gone missing in November 2008. She and Chander Mohan reappeared in early December 2008 as a married couple after embracing Islam. They got secretly married at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. Both changed their names from Chander Mohan and Anuradha Bali to Chand Mohammed and Fiza The wedlock hardly lasted 40 days when Chander Mohan suddenly went missing in January 2009 before deserting her. Soon after Chander Mohan deserted her, Fiza alleged that his family was trying to eliminate her. She had even attempted suicide then Using technology over long distance, Chander Mohan called up Fiza in March 2009 on her mobile and divorced her by saying "talaq, talaq, talaq" three times In 2009, she filed a complaint against Chander Mohan, charging him with rape, cheating, intimidation and hurting religious sentiments Chander Mohan later did a volte-face in June 2009 and arrived at Fiza’s house. He even apologised to her and told the media that he had never divorced her However, within days, he deserted her again and later converted back to Hinduism at a ceremony in Hisar. Both had not been in touch since then In the 2009 Assembly elections in Haryana, Fiza had vigorously campaigned against the Bhajan Lal family which was contesting from their traditional seat Adampur in Hisar district Fiza had later appeared in a TV reality show shot in Malaysia. She also participated in a reality show — Iss jungle se mujhe bachao. She was later seen in the movie 'Desh Drohi -II' After being deserted, she expressed her desire to join politics. She was planning to join the BSP She often quarrelled with her neighbours and was even arrested Fiza’s neighbours said she was depressed, especially after her mother’s death. She was living alone in her Sector-48C house in Mohali

Chandigarh, August 6
After receiving directions from the High Court to enforce lane driving on the Jan Marg, the UT Traffic police swung into action and deputed additional personnel on the road.

Vijay Kumar, DSP (Traffic), said the traffic police would educate drivers on the lane system. Besides, large signboards have been put up all along Jan Marg right up to the High Court, he added.

“We challaned over 300 violators last year for not adhering to lane driving. The bus drivers need to be educated to follow lanes on this route and we will be holding special workshops for the same,” said the DSP.

The police will be creating awareness among the public on lane driving.

Chandigarh, August 6
Taking a lesson from the past of having flawed property tax survey outsourced to PEC, Chandigarh, the municipal corporation (MC) is planning to conduct a survey for house tax from their own staff, especially in villages.

Recently, MC officials were asked by the house tax committee of the corporation to provide them the data of number of houses under the categories of 5, 7, 8, 10 and 14 marlas and 1, 2, 4 and 8 kanal and to table it at the next committee meeting to discuss and finalise the implementation of the house tax in the city.

When contacted, MC Commissioner VP Singh said he had not received any request from members of the committee about conducting the survey, but the corporation will decide on it only after finalisation of the slab of the taxes by the committee. He said there was no data available with the corporation about the number of houses in various categories, as till date, no such survey of the residential areas has been conducted in the past.

Sources said last time, the survey for the commercial property tax was outsourced to PEC, but due to the incomplete information, the authorities faced problem in utilising it. Referring to the commercial property tax survey, which was outsourced to PEC, the officials revealed that lakhs of rupees was spent by the department concerned for conducting it, but due to shortcomings in it, the department failed to utilise it.

Resultantly, controversy is going on between the corporation and PEC for clearing the bills for conducting the survey.

House tax committee chairman Sat Parkash Aggarwal said the meeting of the committee would be held on August 13, in which decision will be taken on the slabs of the house tax, which will be tabled at the next general House meeting.

Sources in the corporation said the issue of the revision of the commercial property tax would also be taken up at the meeting. As per the proposal, the revision of the commercial property tax has also been mooted in the agenda. The department proposes minimal increase in the commercial tax on the property. Records of the corporation revealed that in 2004, the corporation had imposed commercial tax in the city, which had to be revised in 2007. But till date, the authorities have not revised the tax, which will also be tabled in the House for discussion.

In 2009, for five consecutive months, the MC officials had sent house tax issue to former Mayor Kamlesh for her approval, so that it could be tabled in the House, but she rejected it without any reason. In fact, last year in May, the house tax assessment committee deferred the issue of the imposition of house tax.

Panchkula, August 6
In yet another big revelation, it has come to light that the third suspect involved in a car jacking in Panchkula, Inder Preet, alias Peri, is the son of a head constable of the Chandigarh police. Peri is a student of BA II at DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh. Two of the seven-member carjacking gang were arrested near Jalandhar a few days ago. Peri has absconded.

Another member of the gang, Arshaad, has also been arrested by the Jalandhar police.

It was on July 25 when a Panchkula couple was robbed of their Verna car at gunpoint near Sector 26. The youngsters, who have been identified as Bikramjeet, alias Vicky (22), and Tarsem Singh (22), were arrested a few days ago. They are reportedly the members of a seven-member carjacking gang, which had been carrying out strikes in Panchkula and parts of Punjab. The Panchkula police would be getting the accused on production warrants after their remand is over at Jalandhar.

“We are investigating from Peri’s father, Sukhwinder Singh, who is a head constable in the Chandigarh police (vigilance). Peri has absconded with the Swift car which the three carjackers had used to rob the old couple in Panchkula,” said Inspector Angrez Singh, in charge of the Jalandhar CIA.

Vicky and Tarsem had done their plus two from a Chandigarh school three years ago and were sharing a PG accommodation with some students of a Chandigarh college in Mohali. Vicky told the police that he was duped of Rs 10 lakh by a travel agent who had promised to send him abroad for further studies. The former had taken a loan to pay the agent. He entered the world of crime to repay his loan.

Chandigarh, August 6
Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil asked senior officials of the UT Administration to strengthen the public grievances mechanisms in their respective departments to improve the service delivery systems after the hearing session.

The public darbar session was held after a gap of one month and witnessed 16 complainants at the UT Secretariat, Sector 9.

Though 19 complainants were registered for today’s session, three complainants did not turn up for the hearing.

After the protest by riot-affected families outside the UT Secretariat building, security staff of Shivraj V Patil was put on alert and the remaining complainants were given a little time to air their grievances before being escorted back by the security staff.

In the public darbar, a majority of the complaints were related to making jobs or accommodation available either on compassionate grounds or on the basis of physically challenged quota and widow quota. It was informed that the matter will be looked into and the best possible solution will be sought.

In the first complaint, SS Makhan, president Chandigarh Government Electrical Contractors’ Association, asked that renewal of the enlistment and licences be taken up. To this, it was directed that the endorsement for their licences may be done at the earliest and the licences may be returned at the earliest.

Another complainant, Kewal Krishnan, brought up the issue of illegal occupancy of a house in Sector 15 by an advocate, practicing in the district court in Chandigarh. The estate officer intimated that as per the records, similar complaint was earlier made by him to the Adviser to the Administrator-cum-CVO, which was forwarded to his office for necessary action. The action taken on the complaint has already been conveyed to the complainant.

Inder Singh, a resident of Mauli Complex, raised the issue of lack of basic amenities in Mauli Jagran and also demanded land for Shiv Temple. In another complaint, Dr Gurcharan Singh, a resident of Sector 32, requested that the investigation related to the forgery case may be speeded up. To this, it was assured that the investigation would be expedited.

Mohali, August 6
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today laid the foundation stone of a Rs 80-crore project to four-lane the Morinda-Kurali-Siswan road up to Punjab border at Majri village.

The Deputy Chief Minister said with the setting up of new Chandigarh city, a cricket stadium, Medicity and an education hub, the development scenario in the Mullanpur region would undergo a change. He said the state government would develop the Mullanpur area on par with Chandigarh with special focus on creating jobs for the youth.

He said with the completion of this road project, the traffic flow from Morinda to Baddi would be smoother. The four laning of the Siswan T-road to PGI was going on in full swing and would be completed within a year. The 150-acre Medicity would have a super-speciality cancer hospital and the education hub would be developed on 1,500 acres and would have world-class facilities.

He said the government had drawn up a plan worth Rs 8,600 crore to provide potable water and sewer connectivity to each household within the next three years. To check water pollution, the government had started Rs 1,000-crore project for setting up adequate number of sewage treatment plants.

Chandigarh, August 6
The Panjab University authorities are mulling over the idea of announcing the schedule for the upcoming student council elections well in advance to control incidents of violence during the campaigning.

Dean Student Welfare AS Ahluwalia said activities of the student parties went unchecked ahead of the code of conduct enforcement, which comes into force once the schedule is announced. The university would, therefore, widen its duration to at least 10 days, he said.

Until last year the university authorities announced the schedule for the student council elections just four to five days in advance. While the endeavour was to curb violence ahead of the polls by disallowing campaigning, rallies or pasting of posters, the short duration defeated the very purpose of the code of conduct.

"The idea behind leaving a very small gap between the date of announcement of the schedule and the actual polling was to provide lesser opportunities to the students to indulge in violence. It had been observed that students turned more aggressive once the polling schedule was announced," said Ahluwalia.

However, given the fact that their activities went unchecked ahead of the enforcement of the code of conduct, the PU authorities have decided to widen its duration to at least 10 days, he said.

In "clear violation" of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, the student parties had started campaigning as early as in June this year when they put up help desks during admissions. The students put up huge banners at the help desks, ensuring the visibility of their party stickers. Student parties, including Panjab University Student Union, National Students’ Union of India, Indian National Student Organisation, Student Federation of India and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, were also seen providing admission forms to the prospective students with a pamphlet attached to it. In the absence of any code of conduct, such activities went unchecked.

The Student parties are now busy wooing support by taking students to outstation trips, dance parties, and offering them free lunch coupons at the student centre. The parties are also reaching out to the students and promoting their candidates through SMSes and social networking sites.

Chandigarh, August 6
In a move to keep a tab on the expenses made by candidates during the forthcoming student council elections, Panjab University has decided to appoint finance observers for each contesting party this year.

Admitting that the student leaders managed to cross the expense limit by procuring "false bills" last year, the university authorities said the auditors would maintain shadow registers to record the expenses ahead of the polls, scheduled in September this year.

The Lyngdoh Committee, which laid down the rules for the student council elections, had capped the per-candidate expenditure at Rs 5,000, said an official. The expenses, however, run into thousands of rupees every year, the official said.

"A huge amount of money gets wasted in student elections, every year. Although, we made it mandatory for students to provide bills ahead of the polls last year, we observed that the expenses enlisted by students were much lesser than the actual expenses. In the absence of auditors during the last elections, we could not verify the original expenses effectively," said Dean Student Welfare, AS Ahluwalia.

The university was yet to select the observers; however, most likely, hostel wardens would be assigned the job, he said.

Some of the senior PU officials, meanwhile, suggested that the upper limit of per-candidate expenditure should be raised from this year. Chief Security Officer PK Dhawan said: "It is certain that students waste a lot of money during the elections. However, I believe the limit should be raised to at least Rs 10,000, given the fact the cost of living has increased over the last couple of years."

This might help in controlling the unaccounted expenses of the students, he said.

Chandigarh, August 6
As "Curiosity", the largest and most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet, landed on Mars today morning, many space enthusiasts in the city tracked the development with curiosity, having their eyes glued to their television sets.

Nandini Sharma, a Class IX student of Dikshant International School who attended the 31st Annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC) organised by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Washington recently, said it felt great to hear about the Mars rover landing on the "red planet".

"When we were working on our project on the planet Mars, which we later submitted at the ISDC conference, we gathered interesting facts about the planet. We also realised how important it was for NASA to explore the planet, and how hard the organisation was trying to reach it," she said.

Mannya Sharma, who also attended the conference, said when they attended a session on Mars exploration at the conference, many people called this exploration a wasteful expenditure. "However, watching 'Curiosity' successfully land on Mars was truly inspiring," he said, adding, "I look forward to spectacular pictures of the planet in the coming days."

Shorya, a student of St John's High School, said many "sci-fi" movies about Mars raised his curiosity to know more about the planet. "Seeing the landing of the rover has made me more determined to keep a track on the developments on the planet," he said.

Man Mohan Gupta, professor at the physics department in Panjab University, said the success of the mission was a significant development.

"We can expect a lot of information about the structure of the planet and its formation. It will further enhance our knowledge about the planet," he said.

Chandigarh, August 6
After the Central Board of Secondary Education issued a show-cause notice to about 1,000 of its affiliated schools in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana for not providing information regarding implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, as necessitated after an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, schools have started sending in the details.

The board officials hope to receive all the replies before the deadline, i.e. August 13.

"Many of them are sending their details, and we hope to have all their replies before the deadline is reached," said CBSE officials.

On May 1, the court had asked the CBSE and other education boards in the region to seek information from their affiliated schools regarding the status of RTE implementation, their annual profit and loss accounts and other details. The court, in its order, specifically asked the concerned boards to track whether the schools affiliated to them followed the mandatory requirements of the RTE Act, including reservation of 25 per cent of seats for students from economically weaker families.

The court also asked whether the schools had submitted annual profit and loss account to the boards during the last five years; and whether the salaries paid to the teachers and other employees were in accordance with the framed rules and guidelines.

The High Court also demanded information on what steps had been taken by the boards for directing the schools to prescribe books published by National Council of Educational Research and Training, instead of private publishers.

The CBSE issued detailed circular to all of them on July 6 which asked them to comply with the court's order and submit to the board all the relevant records within 10 days.

Not many affiliated schools, however, responded to the board’s directive. Following this, the CBSE had issued them a show-cause notice on July 22, asking them to reply to the board by August 12-13.

In this show-cause notice, the CBSE had asked the schools why the deemed action under the affiliation rules not be taken against them.

Advocate Pankaj Chand Gothia, an RTE activist, said the delay in reply showed the dubious intentions of the schools, as most of them were not following the affiliation rules and education code of the states and concerned education boards. "The schools will have to furnish details now after the CBSE has issued them a show-cause notice, but I feel that the board must physically verify all the information through a special investigation team before submitting it to the high court," he said.