NEIGHBOURHOOD

Body found
Man had drowned in Ghaggar
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, September 25
The body of Ravi (34), who drowned in the Ghaggar River while immersing an idol of Ganesha on Sunday evening, was found in the morning here today. The police handed over the body to relatives of the deceased after conducting postmortem.

Ravi was a resident of Chandi Kusht Ashram in Sector 47, Chandigarh. He had come to Dera Bassi to immerse the idol as a part of a group of around 40 persons.

While immersing the idol, Ravi and his son-in-law Raghunath slipped. Although, Raghunath was saved, Ravi drowned in the river.

Divers from Ropar had made unsuccessful attempt to locate the body; however, the ashram residents continued to search for the body, working in shifts for the last two days. Finally, the body was found floating on the river today around 7am, following which they informed the police.

Anguished residents, who were present on the spot, said Ravi could have been saved, if the administration had made proper arrangements.

They also made an appeal to the authorities to provide financial help to his family.

Ambala September 25
Three youths of Ambala Cantonment were run over by a Himachal Roadways bus near the bus stand yesterday evening. The deceased were identified as Sajan (21), Minku (20) and Sagar (18).

The three youths were standing on the bus stand road along with another friend, Manish (21), when the incident took place. The driver of the bus fled after the incident.

Sajan and Minku died on the spot, and Manish and Sagar, who were seriously injured, were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. Sagar, however, died at the hospital, while Manish is in a critical condition.

After the postmortem, bodies were handed over to the relatives. The police has registered a case of negligent driving against the driver.

Ambala, September 25
Two motorcycle-borne youths snatched Rs 5 lakh from a railway contractor near the Ambala Cantonment railway station this morning.

Anjali Badhawan, in her complaint to the police, said she had withdrawn the money from a branch of the HDFC Bank today morning that was to be deposited with the railway department. Upon reaching the station, she parked her car on the premises and took out her bag containing the cash.

In the meantime, two motorcycle-borne youths appeared there and snatched the bag, she stated. Despite her attempt to nab one of the snatchers, they managed to flee. As the snatchers were wearing helmets, they could not be identified. — OC

Chandigarh, September 25
It's written on the wall - the Punjab and Haryana High Court is in no mood to tolerate hazardous billboard, neon signs and hoardings dotting the roads across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Enlarging the scope of a contempt petition filed by Bhupinder Singh against Haryana's financial commissioner-cum-Chandigarh's former home secretary Ram Niwas and others, Justice Mahesh Grover has called for detailed status from all the districts of the two States and Chandigarh.

In his petition filed through counsel Atul V Sood, Bhupinder Singh had earlier alleged violation of the High Court orders in Namit Kumar's case on the removal of hoardings. The High Court had ruled: "Following the mandate of the Apex Court, we direct all the signboards, hoardings, neon sign boards, advertisement boards facing the highways, main road and side road/lanes shall be removed…"

Referring to Gurgaon, Sood had contended that hoardings, display signs and neon boards were displayed in violation of the directions. "Considering the fact that these directions were applicable to the Union Territory, Chandigarh, and the States of Punjab and Haryana, I deem it appropriate to enlarge the scope of the contempt petition and direct both the States and the UT in the first instance to file a status report in regard to all the districts regarding compliance of the directions," Justice Grover asserted.

In his detailed order, Justice Grover added: "For the beginning, the Commissioners of all the municipal corporations existing in the States of Punjab and Haryana shall file their reports regarding the existing neon boards, hoardings, and signboards in violation of the directions given by the Court.

"In case such violations are noticed and compliance is made subsequent to this order, the extent of such violations and the date on which such have been removed shall also be mentioned in the affidavit".

Before parting with the case, Justice Grover also issued notice to Ram Niwas and other respondents. The case will now come up for further hearing in January next year. 

Spiralling prices leading to spurious litigation: HC
Says court not to pass order that will lead to ‘unjust enrichment of anyone’
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 25
The spiralling prices of commercial property in Chandigarh have given rise to spurious litigation. But, the courts will not out of sympathy pass orders for unjust enrichment of the litigants, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled.

The ruling came on two petitions by Chanchal Narang. In one of the two similar petitions placed before Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina, Narang had challenged an order passed by the Assistant Estate Officer on February 17, 1993. Exercising the powers of the UT Estate Officer, he had cancelled the allotment of booths in Sector 38 for default in payment of installments.

The Bench observed nothing less than 16 opportunities of hearing were given to the petitioner from September 25, 1990, to February 17, 1993. “There was failure to clear outstanding dues. The lease of the site in question was cancelled as a last resort,” the Bench observed.

She then moved the “revisional authority”, which noticed that the petitioner had not made payment since February 1990, but yet took a lenient view on February 8, 1996, and restored the site on the condition that outstanding amounts be paid within a month. “The petitioner did not still pay the amounts due and therefore, the original order of cancellation of lease became operative and continues to operate till date,” the Bench added.

After 16 years of the "revisional order", the present petition was filed. “When we look at the facts of both these cases together before us, we are somewhat surprised to note that when the petitioner participated and made a successful bid in the auction held on February 12, 1989, she made a bid for two contiguous booths…

“After paying 25 per cent of the premium, the auction was confirmed and both the booths were allotted to the petitioner…. Thereafter, the petitioner did not pay a single paisa. Today, when the prices have shot through the roof and safe property is hard to get in the Tricity, the petitioner wakes up to plead that she now has the resources to meet even the market price if she is permitted to pay for both the booths….”

Dismissing the petitions, the Bench held: “We are unable to accept the prayer made by the counsel for the petitioner in this mercy petition for cancellation of resumption orders of both sites and for restoration of the property after 16 years of non-compliance of unrequited indulgence shown by statutory authorities….

“The spiralling prices of commercial property in Chandigarh as elsewhere have given rise to spurious litigation in the misplaced hope that the court might fall in the trap of sympathy. This court will not pass an order which will lead to unjust enrichment of anyone”.

Chandigarh, September 25
The cricket team of Reliance India bagged the 19th edition of the All-India JP Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament for the Pearls Trophy at the PCA stadium today evening. In the final of the tournament, which was a day-night match, Reliance-I outplayed MPCA.

The skipper of the winning team, Parthiv Patel, won the toss and opted to field. The Madhya Pradesh team posted a total of 227 in 49.2 overs. The team lost three wickets in 6 overs for a mere 31 runs on the board. The innings were steadied by Anand Singh (34) and skipper Udit Birla (51) who made 51 runs for the fourth wicket before Anand was caught by Naik off Pawan Negi.

Udit was then joined by Varunesh Sharma who took the team's total to 84 after building a fruitful partnership of 52 runs before he was caught by Shikhar Dhawan off Baltez Singh. Varunesh added 56 runs for the sixth wicket with Salman Beg before Salman was cleaned up by Pawan Suyal for 23 off 24 balls. Varunesh was later caught and bowled by Rahul Shukla for 73 off 56. he hit five boundaries and two sixes.

For the bowling side, Pawan Suyal and Rahul Shukla took four wickets each.

In reply, the opening pair of Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan went on to stitch an opening partnership of 147 runs before Parthiv was caught by Pandey off Rameez Khan. He scored 89 off 82 balls, hitting 12 boundaries.

After his dismissal, Aditya filled in the breach, and, along with Shikhar, took the score to 214 in 31.2 overs. He hit a brilliant 80 off 97 balls with 8 boundaries and a six before being caught by Amritpal off Beg. For the bowling side, D Chaurasiya claimed 2 wickets for 26 runs.

Parthiv Patel was named man of the mach. The winning side bagged the winners trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. The MPCA team received the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

Awards:

Best bowler- Kiran Adhav of BPCL for 12 wickets for 105 runs

Best batsman- Gurkirat Walia of PCA Colts (203 runs, average 94.50)

Man of the series- Parthiv Patel of Reliance (268 runs, average 53.60) 

Chandigarh, September 25
The Directorate of Sports, Panjab University faced a lot of flack after the cagers of DAV College-Sector 10 raised objections over the marking of the playing area on the inaugural day of the inter-college basketball tournament held on the PU campus ground today.

According to the officials accompanying the basketball team of DAV College-Sector 10, the court was marked according to rules which are outdated. After raising the objection, the organisers marked the courts again. As per the new rules, the restricted areas must be painted in one colour and should not be in rhombus-shape.

“The International Basketball Federation, under which the Basketball Federation of India functions, had amended the rules a year back. After our team management raised objections, the officials agreed to re-paint the arena. And now that officials have re-painted, the arena has multicolour lines, which is against the norms. The authorities should keep themselves updated,” said an official of the DAV College.

However, Director Sports (Additional Charge), Panjab University, said that the matter was not serious and it was only because of the objections raised that the court was repainted. “According to the rules, the lines were visible. The colour had faded due to the usual wear and tear. After the team raised objection, we have re-painted the court as per rules to avoid any problem,” said Gurmeet Singh, Director Sports (Additional Charge). Denying that the markings were outdated, he added, “The problem arose due to the inlay of stone chips in the court. Rest everything was fine. The matter came to our notice and we have provided the teams with the best facilities,” he added.

SGGS-26 outplay DAV-10

The basketball team of SGGS College, Sector 26, defeated DAV College-10, during the inter-college Basketball for Men (A-Division) Championship on the PU Campus today. The SGGS College team registered a 75-61 victory over their rivals. In the second match, the team of CCET, Sector 26 crushed GGS DAV College, Jalalabad, by 38-8.

In a another match, PG Government College-11, overcame SGGS Khalsa College, Jalallabad, by 49-44. Earlier, in the league stage of the tourney, the PU Campus registered a comprehensive 51-12 margin win over CCET- 26.

Chandigarh, September 25
Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra announced the launch of ISB Super League (ISL)-2012 season on the Indian School of Business (ISB) campus at Mohali, last evening. The ISL is based on the lines of the Indian Premier League and will be held across both Hyderabad and Mohali campuses of the ISB.

The ISB-Mohali campus has three franchisees - Punjab Hukums, Mohali Mavericks and Sultans - while the Hyderabad campus has four franchisees - Raging Bulls, Hurricanes, Titans and Hyderabad Nizams. All the franchisees are owned, managed and staffed by the students of the ISB community. The teams will fight it out in seven sports - cricket, badminton, table tennis, pool, football, squash and volleyball.

Addressing the student at the ISB, Bindra said. “It’s important to have an aim in life and working towards achieving it. We must learn from our failures and keep moving on.”