Mode of transport Hike (in %)

Buses: 14.4

Minibuses: 13.49

Taxis/maxi cabs: 12.13

Auto-rickshaws: 8.81

Jammu, December 6
In a significant judgment, the State High Court upheld the decision of the University not to “regularise 292 illegal admissions” made by a private B.Ed college in violation of the University Statutes.

The verdict was given in response to a petition filed by Divya College of Education seeking regularisation of 292 illegal admissions made by it on its own which was opposed by the University of Jammu which pleaded that admissions to B.Ed course in private B.Ed. Colleges and allotment of students to the colleges was to be made in accordance with the University statutes and that too through process of ‘centralized counseling’ by Central Admission Committee of the University.

The University pleaded that private B.Ed colleges had no authority in terms of the University statutes to make admission on its own.

Justice Hasnain Masoodi of the State High Court while upholding the decision of the University also imposed heavy costs on the college for making illegal admissions and directed the college to consider the payment of a reasonable compensation of Rs. 50, 000 to each of 292 students admitted in violation of statutes.

The Court while compensating students observed that the educational institutions after admitting students in willful disregard of the University statutes more often make an effort to get the irregularities condoned in the name of academic interest of the students admitted in violation of the University statutes. 

Jammu, December 6
Political workers of the ruling National Conference and Congress celebrated after the coalition made a clean sweep in the election to four seats of Legislative Council, the results for which were declared today.

The party workers were seen dancing to drum beats and chanting. The winner of two seats from Jammu division- Sham Lal Bhagat from J-1 seat and Shenaz Ganai from J-2 seat- were garlanded by senior leaders and workers of the party.

“We have done it. We were confident that we will win all the four seats. It should be an eye opener for those who missed no opportunity to target Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on irrelevant issues. It has proved that the people have admired the leadership of Omar,” an elated NC supporter said.

Hundreds of supporters of both the parties assembled outside the counting centres and keenly noticed the round-wise results which were declared at around 12.30 pm. The counting of votes was held in six rounds at the Government Polytechnic College, Jammu.

The winner of J-1 seat, Sham Lal Bhagat congratulated the sarpanches and panches for voting in his favour. He said it had paved a way for empowerment of the panchayati raj system.

“Our members have voted for us and we assure them that we will leave no stone unturned to strengthen their voice in the upper house of state legislature,” Bhagat said.

An elated Shenaz Ganai gave the credit of her victory to panchayat members and her party leadership.

“The party gave ticket to a woman and the electorates (sarpanches and panches) reposed their faith in the coalition. The coalition is working hard to empower the panchayats and this victory will give a boost to the process,” she said.

Later, the winners along with senior leaders of their respective parties also met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at his official residence. Omar congratulated the NC-Congress party workers and leaders on behalf of National Conference president Farooq Abdullah. He said he (Farooq) had telephonically asked him to convey his message to party workers of both the Congress and National Conference for strengthening the coalition.

Jammu, December 6
J&K Akhil Bhartiya Gujjar Mahasabha president Eshfaq-Ur-Rehman Poswal today said people of tribal areas had made the elections of MLCs in panchayati quota successfull.

He said due to the threat from separatists, no one was ready to cast his vote but people of tribal areas came forward to cast their votes.

Poswal said the reason was that these people wanted to achieve their long-pending demands regarding the implementation of the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution of India and political reservation for people of their community in the Panchayati Raj system of the state. He said they wanted to elect to power those whom they had faith in.

Poswal appreciated the initiative of the Indian National Congress to give political reservation to tribal people in the block development council poll. He said panchayat members who had cast their wanted a three-tier Panchayati Raj system in the state.

He said the casting of votes in such a great number was an eye opener for the anti-nationalist agencies as it showed that people had faith in the democratic system of the nation. He asked the National Conference and the Congress in J&K to stand up for these sarpanches and panches, who had faith in them, and to announce the block development council elections at the earliest. 

Jammu, December 6
Exposing callousness of the Traffic Department in streamlining the traffic mess, over 50 hoardings installed at various roads in Jammu carry incorrectly spelt words.

Making matter worse, even the pictures on many of these hoardings have been downloaded from the internet without checking their background.

Picture in this hoarding (above) created controversy. A wrongly spelt hoarding (below) in Jammu. Tribune photo: Inderjeet Singh

One is amused after looking at these hoardings thinking as to who ordered their installation without even bothering to check them.

“Who is responsible for loss of lakhs of rupees which have been used in preparing these signboards? Will action be taken against them or it was an attempt to gobble up the public money?” asked Satnam Singh, local resident.

A few years back, plastic dividers were installed to encourage lane driving but they could not sustain even for a few months. Lakhs of rupees were used to purchase these high quality dividers.

Even the latest traffic signals have failed in absence of any long-term study to assess their durability on narrow roads.

Admitting the lapse, SSP (Traffic) Sujit Kumar Chouhan said the department had taken note of the goof up and the blunder was committed during getting them printed.

“We have seen these hoardings and I have ordered their removal. We are looking into the matter,” the SSP said. On the use of picture on the hoarding, Chouhan said, “The picture is only symbolic and it was only to convey message to people about the need to follow the traffic rules. We will see what can be done.”

Local residents say it clearly shows poor utilisation of public funds causing loss to the public exchequer. Many demanded that action should be taken against the officers involved in the e process. In recent years, offences such as not wearing helmets, negligent driving and drunken driving have increased significantly as the traffic police and other enforcement agencies do not bother to penalise the violators.

Though the police has installed a number of no-entry signboards, particularly in interior areas in city, these measures have hardly proved to be deterrent.

Jammu, December 6
Activists of the National Panthers Students Union (NPSU) held protest against the suspension of a student from the GGM Science College by its principal over his alleged role in recent demonstrations against the government.

Activists of the union alleged that the move had been taken on the behest of the Minister for Higher Education. They also burnt effigy of the minister and demanded revocation of the order.

Expressing concern over the suspension, student leader Virender Singh said the government was bent on harassing those who were fighting for a just cause.

He alleged that the Higher Education Minister had instructed the college administration and local police officials to take stringent action against any person who tried to unite students against “wrong policies of the government”.

Among those present were Lucky Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Rahul Sharma, Nitin, Usman Ganai and Jaideep Singh. 

Jammu, December 6
The state Cabinet which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah approved the appointment of Prof Mushtaq Ahmad Peer as the consultant for IT applications and computerisation for fast-track appointments.

He will conduct tests for non-gazetted and class IV posts to speed up the recruitment process.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet decided to do away with the cheque system of payments in departments like Public Works, PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Power Development and Forest and to switch over to the civil accounting system. The new accounting pattern would come in force from April 1, 2013.

Rajouri, December 6
The Baba Gulam Shah Badshah University, which is situated on the hills of border district Rajouri, will hold its first ever convocation on December 16.

Infosys Limited founder NR Narayana Murthy has been invited as the chief guest on the occasion. University sources say Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and vice-chancellors of all the universities of the state are expected on the occasion.

They said 38 meritorious students, who passed out from the university between 2005 and 2012, would get gold medals, certificates and degrees.

Faculty members say holding a convocation was like a milestone for the university, which was established in 2002. For the past two months, they have been busy making arrangements for a grand function on that day.

“The visit of Narayana Murthy would also open doors for employment opportunities for students who are facing placement problems in the university as it has a defunct placement cell,” says a student.

Jammu, December 6
A camp on self-employment opportunities was organised by Government MAM College in collaboration with the Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) here today.

College principal Prof Ramesh Chander said students got an opportunity to interact with successful entrepreneurs, representatives from banks and industries, which helped in upgrading their skills.

Jammu MSME director Virender Sharma said youth must consider entrepreneurship as job opportunities in the government sector were decreasing day by day. He said the MSME would provide all help to youth who wanted to be self employed.

BB Raina of Pelican Cables shared his experiences with students and apprised them about advantages of being an entrepreneur.

Punjab National Bank chief manager MD Bali provided awareness on assistance provided by financial institutions with reference to collateral-free loans. 

Jammu, December 6
Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Prasad today said the Home Guards and Civil Defence had assumed a lot of significance due to the work done by the personnel and volunteers during emergency situations.

Prasad, who is also the Commandant General of the Home Guards and Civil Defence, was speaking at the 50th Raising Day function of the organisation at its headquarters here today.

He said the organisation was wholeheartedly delivering service to people and that the volunteers of the organisation had been assisting the state police. He said they had delivered excellently during various occasions including Amar Nath yatras, departure and arrival of Haj pilgrims and festivals. — TNS

Jammu, December 6
The Red Cross unit of Government College for Women (GCW), Gandhi Nagar, organised an awareness programme here today.

Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma was the chief guest in the Red Cross fair and National Conference (NC) district president Taranjeet Singh Tony and Red Cross secretary AK Padha were the special guests.

In her welcome address, GCW principal Dr Kiran Bakshi said the event was aimed at inculcating social responsibility among students. She also thanked the representatives of different business units, students of different educational institutions, floriculture department, automobile industries and sponsors of various units, who had voluntarily come forward to put up stalls in the event.

Addressing the students, the Minister for Health stressed the need of value education and acknowledging girl child as an asset. He congratulated the principal for taking an initiative to organise a Red Cross fair for raising funds.

He urged youngsters to donate generously to the district Red Cross Society to enable it to serve humanity at the time of distress.

Tony praised students for their selfless efforts as volunteers and their contribution towards blood donation. 

Jammu, December 6
The All India Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Railway Employees Association, Jammu Tawi, paid tributes to Bharat Ratna awardee Dr BR Ambedkar at his death anniversary at Easy Railway Colony here.

RN Meena, Divisional Traffic Manager, Jammu Tawi, was the chief guest on the occasion and Sufi singer Dev Dildar was the special invitee. The function began with a welcome speech by DS Lati, a member of the Railway Union, Pathankot, who apprised the gathering about the contribution of Ambedkar.

Meena said Dr Ambedkar had devoted his life to serve the down trodden in the society. He talked about the work done by Dr Ambedkar for the welfare of those living below the poverty line.

Dildar enthralled the audience with his melodious voice.

Jammu, December 6
The Sainik Colony Club and the PDDC (A) registered wins today in the Christmas Soccer Tournament being organised by the Christian Sports Organization in collaboration with the J&K Police Department, Jammu, the Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) and the J&K Sports Council at GGM Science College here.

In the first match, the Sainik Colony Club beat the Young Hero team by 3-0 goals. Munish opened the account for the Sainik Colony Club in the 8th minute followed by another goal by Nitin in the 17th minute.

It secured another goal in the 33rd minute through Munish.

In another match, the PDDC (A) got the better of the Young Rovers by 4-0 goals.

Urfan of the PDDC (A) drew first blood in the 3rd minute while Mukesh struck in the 9th minute.

The other two goals were scored by Aji Demmu and Nitin in the 34th and 48th minute respectively.

The matches were officiated by Clint Mattoo, Rinku Gill, Moon Stephan, Saudhar Mattoo, Harmanjeet Singh, Elijah Sotra and Harbans Lal.

SSP VS Sambyal was the chief guest on the occasion.