New Delhi, September 13
In a judgement, the Delhi High Court considered the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) a "public authority" that had come under the jurisdiction of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, dismissing the appeal of the gurdwara committee that the DSGMC was not a public authority as it did not receive funds from the government.

The judgement was given by a double bench of the High Court in an appeal case filed by the DSGMC against the judgement of the single bench of the High Court that had held the gurdwara committee to be a "public authority" with the meaning of Section 2 (h) of the RTI Act, 2005, on August 22, 2010.

In the appeal, advocate of the DSGMC K.T.S Tulsi said that in Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, the words "and includes any" occurring after Section 2(h) (d) have to be read conjunctively. Therefore, even if a body fell within the definition of a public authority under Section 2(h) (a) to (d), such a body would have to be substantially financed directly or indirectly by funds provided by the government.

In its order, the court said, "We, thus, do not find any merit in these appeals, which are accordingly dismissed." The order said, "Once we read the definition of 'public authority' in Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, obvious conclusion would be that the appellant is a 'public authority' as it is constituted by the Act of Parliament. Undeniably, the appellant is a statutory body under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1971. It is not a body made under any law, but a body made by the Act of Parliament. The learned single judge as rightly pointed out that there is a distinction between the use of the words 'by any law made by Parliament' and 'by or under the Constitution'. Parliament has consciously not used the words 'by or under' in sub-clause (b) of Section 2(h)."

The order further said, "We are in agreement with the aforesaid view. We, thus, hold that once it is found that an authority or body or institution of self-government is established in any manner prescribed in clause (a) to (d) of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, there is no further requirement of such a body to be either owned or controlled or substantially financed by any appropriate government."

In this case, the respondent was jathedar Kuldep Singh Bhogal, national organising secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).

New Delhi, September 13
After a week of campaigning, two major universities Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University will get their student unions for the academic year 2012-13 as students cast their votes tomorrow.

While at DU, the major competition is between the student wings of the Congress and BJP - NSUI and ABVP respectively; at JNU, it will be the Left parties locking horns with others.

A total of 38 candidates will be testing electoral waters at DU tomorrow, contesting for the posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary for the main Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) panel. At JNU, as many as 30 candidates are contesting for the main panel posts.

It will be interesting to see if the ABVP or the NSUI can manage a clean sweep this time in the main DUSU panel. Last time, while NSUI's Ajay Chikara bagged the presidential post, the rest three went to ABVP.

At JNU, the last two unions have been led by AISA. However, the SFI has managed the maximum number of wins in the JNUSU till date. After the internal split in the SFI at JNU and the discontent towards AISA's functioning over the last six months, it will be a wait to see who will win the panel this year.

Principals of all the DU colleges have been appointed as election officers. They will oversee the formalities such as the counting and safety of the ballot boxes.

Strict security arrangements have been made across Delhi University colleges. The chief election officer, Prof Usha Rao, and other election officials recently met the Delhi police to ensure the security arrangements.

"Indiscipline at any of the voting centres will not be tolerated. The DU security staff and the police have strict instructions. Security will be at its peak tomorrow," said the proctor's office.

New Delhi, September 13
All the ten candidates contesting for the post of president of Jawaharlal University Students' Union slugged it out last night at one of the most widely attended events on campus - the JNUSU presidential debate.

As supporters raised slogans to the beats of dholaks, chimtas and dhaplis last night, the presidential candidates spoke for 12 minutes each, putting forth their agendas for the JNUSU this year and also tried to convince the students not to support the rival outfits. Candidates later took questions from the audience, bringing an end to the seven-hour-long event at around 4 in the morning today.

While the AISA faced criticism from other candidates on lack of any major achievement in the last six months and their leftist politics on the issues like mourning on campus on the night India won the Cricket World Cup, SFI-JNU (the dissolved student wing CPI-M) faced attacks on the internal crisis it had been facing. While the ABVP faced criticism for its radical stand on the issues like beef and pork festival, the NSUI candidate faced the anger due to scams in the government.

However, the proceedings of the one-of-its-kind debate across Indian universities were disrupted after more than 100 students stalled the event within the first hour itself. Fuming over comments on the Musli community by Sandeep Singh, an Independent candidate in the fray, NSUI activists along with some students demanded an apology, breaking into the press enclosure and engaging in a scuffle with the security staff.

Singh had been warned by the Election Commission

chairperson Chandan many times to stick to the "parliamentary language" in his speech. After taking a dig at the ABVP and the AISA, Singh commented on the Muslim students and those supporting the pork and beef festival on campus. He called them names.

After almost a 20-minute hiatus, the debate resumed, only when Singh apologized repeatedly.

Overall, the debate witnessed unabashed mudslinging by the candidates who also promised amenities like hostels, increase in MCM scholarship for Ph.D. students, mediation of viva marks, formation of a placement cell, etc.

SFI-JNU candidate V Lenin Kumar asserted that the campus has seen enough talking in Hindi and English, but now a Language of Movement was the need of the hour.

ABVP's Rashmini Koparakar took a dig at the outgoing AISA-led JNU student union, calling it a failure.

"AISA has been against technology, infrastructural demands, placement cell or anything that is progressive on campus. They claim huge student support, but the truth is they just served their supporters when they were in power," she said.

On the other hand, AISA's candidate, Om Prasad called for ousting the ABVP and NSUI outfits, claiming that such ideologies had no place on campus.

New Delhi, September 13
The police has got the video footage of the domestic help whose involvement is suspected in the murder of a 68-year-old retired Income Tax official, Gurjeet Kaur Puri, who was found dead in her house yesterday.

The footage was managed from a shop where the suspected maid, Nandani, was employed a few weeks ago. The footage will be made public through TV news channels and print media to nab the suspect, the police said.

Kaur was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her house in Rohini yesterday. The victim had hired two domestic helps. Nandani was hired just two weeks ago. The murder was detected by another maid who came to do her job in the house. Kaur's hands and legs were tied and house was ransacked that suggested the motive behind the murder was robbery.

She lived alone as her husband had died a few years ago, the police added. She had three children. Her son lives in the USA while two daughters live in east Delhi.

Nandani, who was employed two weeks ago had gone missing since the incident was reported, said the police.

A security guard of the area said that Nandini was seen coming out of Kaur's house with two persons in the afternoon. But, when other maid came in the evening, she found Kaur dead. The body was on a chair, hands and legs tied with a rope and mouth closed with the help of tape. She informed a neighbour, who untied the rope and removed the tape but Kaur was dead by that time.

According to Kaur's daughter Inderpal Grover, Nandani was in talk with her mother for buying an old sofa from her. On September 12, Nandini called Kaur that she is coming with her husband for taking away the sofa. ''There is a very strong apprehension that Nandini has committed this heinous crime for the purpose of robbery. She was working at some other places also where she had disclosed her name as Sonia and Sonu,'' said MA Rizvi, Addl DCP (outer).