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Suman Bhatnagar

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 13
The district police has arrested five drug peddlers and recovered 27 gm smack and 2,200 intoxicant tablets and bottles of smuggled whisky from their possession.

HS Mann, SSP, said during a checking the Sirhind police had arrested Devinder Singh, alias doctor, and Jagdeep Singh, both residents of Khanna, and recovered 17 gm smack from their possession, which they used to sell to drug addicts in the rural area.

In another incident, the police arrested Dharminder Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, and recovered 10 gm smack from his custody. Meanwhile, the Fatehgarh Sahib police arrested Gurwinder Singh, a resident of Brahman Majra and recovered 1,100 intoxicant tablets.

The Fatehgarh Sahib police also arrested Ranjit Singh,a resident of Brahman Majra, and recovered 1,100 intoxicant tablets.

The police also recovered 241 bottles of smuggled whisky.

All the accused were booked under the NDPS Act and were produced in the court and sent them to 14-day judicial custody.

Ambala, December 13
Additional Sessions Judge Poonam Suneja has sentenced 7-year imprisonment to an excise and taxation inspector on the charge of solemnising a second marriage after concealing his first marriage.

According to prosecution, the inspector had married a woman of Panchkula on May 23, 2005 without disclosing her that he was already married. He was posted at Karnal at that time. He had one son and one daughter from the first marriage.

When the second wife, who is presently residing at Panchkula, insisted him to take her to his home he tried to delay it on one or the other pretext. In the meantime, she gave a birth to a son. She waited for around two and half years. When she came to know about the reality she filed a complaint with the Panchkula police on November 28, 2008.

The Panchkula police had booked the inspector under various Sections of the IPC. The blood samples of the accused and his son were sent to a forensic laboratory for a DNA test, the report of which was found positive. The case was earlier tried at the Panchkula court and later, it was transferred to the district court of Ambala.

Banur, December 13
The Banur police held a man and seized 500 gm intoxicant powder during a checking at a police check post near Jlalpur village on Rajpur- Chandigarh road on Thursday. The accused has been identified as Prem Chand, a resident of Bassi Isekhan village.

The police said the accused was coming from Rajpura side on his motorcycle when he was stopped for a routine check. During the checking 500 gram intoxicant powder was seized from his possession.

The Police has registered a case under Section 22,61,85 of the NDPS Act. The accused would be presented in the court on Friday. 

Ropar, December 13
A 35-year-old man committed suicide by hanging himself at his house today.

The deceased has been identifed as Som Nath, a resident of Railan Road. He was working as a labourer with a private company.

According to the police, the victim's family had been living in the quarters of a private school and the deceased's was working as peon as peon.

She found him hanging in his room and informed the police. No suicide note has been recovered from the spot. The police has started proceedings under Section 174 of the Cr PC.

Chandigarh, December 13
Citing a Supreme Court order, the Chandigarh Administration has asked the Punjab government employees to vacate their official residences in four to six months once they are retired.

Punjab has several cases where many of its officers failed to vacate their accommodation within the stipulated time. PS Gill, a former DGP, had occupied his house for more than a year after his retirement in September last year.

Gill vacated his accommodation after being served an eviction order. DS Guru, a former principal secretary of the Punjab Chief Minister, had also vacated his accommodation after over a year. There are several similar cases in other departments at the lower level as well.

The development follows a formal communication from the Secretary, House Allotment Committee of UT Administration to Chief Secretary of Punjab. Punjab, in turn, has written to all the Financial Commissioners, Principal, Special and Chief Parliament Secretaries to convey the message in their offices.

The UT Secretary has quoted the judgement titled "Asha Sharma versus Chandigarh Administration" in August 2011 which reads, "We see no reason why a government servant should be permitted to retain the accommodation beyond four to six months."

The judgement also pointed out the fact that exceptional cases (worth extension) under Rule 13(5) were not indicated. No guidelines are provided and it is only for the authorities concerned to decide whether the case falls in the category or not.

The order said, "The court cannot lose sight of the fact that a large number of employees under different categories are awaiting their allotment and are being deprived of their benefit for long period because of excessive invocation of such discretionary powers. The provision is unguided and arbitrary and cannot stand the scrutiny of law."

It further said, "No case of retention of government accommodation beyond the period specified (table 13(2) of the Allotment Rules) shall be entertained by any authority."

The administration has written to the Punjab government that the retention of houses belonging to Chandigarh Administration may not be allowed in view of the cited direction of the Supreme Court. The retention of houses accorded after the order maybe withdrawn to avoid the contempt of court.

Chandigarh, December 13
Less than a year after the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority’s (PUDA) “arbitrary” scheme for the allotment of residential plots to its own staff at reserve prices, the Supreme Court has upheld the verdict.

The Apex Court has, in fact, dismissed the Special Leave Petition filed by respondent-PUDA. Information to this effect was provided to the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the hearing of another matter.

In his petition against PUDA placed before the Division Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice RP Nagrath, Raja Abrol had challenged the decision to declare him ineligible under the housing scheme for PUDA staff. As the case came up, PUDA chief administrator filed a short affidavit, enclosing the copy of the order dated January 25, passed by a Division Bench, whereby the scheme was quashed and held to be unconstitutional.

Taking up the matter, the Division Bench observed the decision has been upheld by the Supreme Court by dismissing the Special Leave Petition filed by respondent-PUDA. “Since the very scheme under which the petitioner wanted to seek allotment has been set aside, the instant petition has been rendered infructuous and disposed of accordingly,” the Bench ruled.

The significant judgment in January this year came on the challenge thrown by advocate HC Arora to an office order dated September 24, 2010, which prescribed the allotment of identified residential plots exclusively to the PUDA employees at reserve prices.

Arora had alleged “the allotment of residential plots to its own employees by PUDA was to enable them to sell these at three to four times higher price; and thus to get financial gains at the cost of taxpaying public”.

Arora had alleged PUDA was taking steps to allot residential plots from five to 14 marlas at reserve prices to its employees, depending upon their status, from Class-IV to Class-I. Even officers or employees with own residential plots or houses were eligible for allotment, if they have completed five years’ of regular service with PUDA.

Allowing the petition, the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina asserted: “We are of the view that the scheme is arbitrary, which is amply highlighted by the fact that it does not distinguish an officer/official, who or his/her spouse owns a house in an urban estate”.

“In fact, Clause 4 of the scheme expressly postulates that the officer/official who had purchased a plot/house/building through open sale in the market or auction is also eligible to submit application under the scheme”.

Mohali, December 13
The Mohali police today arrested six persons on a charge of assault on Punjabi singer Babbu Chandigarhia on Monday night during a marriage ceremony at the PCA Club, Phase IX, here.

The arrested accused have been identified as Ameek Singh, Amritpal Singh, Amanpreet Singh, Sandeep Singh, Gurmit Singh and Gurpreet Singh, all residents of Mohali.

Earlier, the victim had raised doubts that he was beaten up by supporters of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar categorically denied any political angle in the case.

“No political angle was found there in the case,” said SSP Bhullar, adding that none of the arrested persons belonged to any influential family.

“Amanpreet is cousin of the bridegroom, while the rest, most of whom are in the real estate business, are his (the bridegroom) friends,” said the SSP.

The culprits are said to have confessed that they had beaten up the singer following a tussle between them over the issue of singing a song during the party.

Earlier, the victim, along with the ‘dhol’ (drum beater), identified two of the culprits - Ammek Singh and Amritpal Singh - from the footage of the marriage ceremony. The rest of the culprits were at the behest of the duo.

Notably, Babbu Chandigarhia was beaten up at the marriage function when he refused to sing a song there. He had sustained injuries on his right eye, forehead and legs.

A case under Sections 307, 323, 506, 148, 149 of the IPC was registered in this regard at Phase 8 Police Station, here.

The culprits are said to have confessed that they had beaten up the singer following a tussle between them over the issue of singing a song during the party.

The police has registered a case under Sections 406, 420 of the IPC and Section 24 of the Immigration Act against the duo, who are at large. 

Chandigarh, December 13
Riding on a solid partnership for the fifth wicket, Punjab went on to score 243 in 110.4 overs before being bowled out. Chasing the score, Delhi finished the day with 142 for 6 in 51.1 overs and Punjab managed to get a lead of 101 runs.

For Punjab, Vineet Dhakka and Rajat Sharma put on 65 runs for the 5th wicket before the former was cleaned up by Sumit Mathur for 40 off 72 balls, inclusive of six boundaries, with the team's total reading 217 for 5.

Rajat Sharma was the next one to go. He got trapped in front of the wicket by Nitin Tanwar for 25 off 110 balls. Punjab then lost the plot as they lost the last 5 wickets for addition of 26 runs only. For Delhi, Sumit Mathur 3 for 41, Rahul Chaudhary 3 for 40 and Manish Sharawat 2 for 12 were the main wicket-takers.

Delhi made a disastrous start when their opener Shubham Dahiya did not trouble the scorer. He was caught of the 2nd ball of the innings bowled by Kuljit Kuhar.

Delhi lost three quick wickets and were reduced to 16 for 3 in 3.4 overs. Then, Gaurav Sharma and Nitin Tanwar added 43 runs for the 4th wicket before Nitin Tanwar was caught by wicket-keeper Pardeep Yadav off Sanvir Singh for 16 off 29 balls.

Gaurav Sharma, who was batting sensibly added 36 runs to the team's total, got run out jointly by Mansab Gill and Pardeep Yadav. Delhi were in dire straits having lost 5 wickets for 88 in 31.5 overs. Thereafter, Rahul Chaudhary and Vasu Sharma started the repair work and added 54 runs for the 6th wicket before Vasu Sharma was caught by Sanvir Singh of Resham Sharma on the first ball of the last over before the close of the day's play. Delhi, with just 4 wickets in hand, still require 101 runs to level the score.

Friday is the last day of the match.

Brief Scores:

Punjab: 243 all out in 110.4 overs (Mansab Gill 52, Ekjot Singh Thind 52, Vineet Dhaka 40, Rajat Sharma 25 Rahul Chaudhary 3 for 30. Sumit Mathur 3 for 41, Manish Shahrawat 2 for 12)

Delhi: 142 for 6 in 51.1 overs (Gaurav Sharma 36, Vasu Sharma 20, Rahul Chaudhary 41 not out. Kuljit Kuhar 2 for 43, Ikjot Singh Thind 1 for 9, Sanvir Singh 1 for 15 and Resham Sharma 1 for 22)

Chandigarh, December 13
New Public School emerged the winner of the St Kabir Basketball Trophy here today. In the decider match between New Public School and St Kabir, St Kabir scored 35-32 against New Public School as Garv from St Kabir single-handedly took the team across the line with 30 points.

However, New Public School, St Joseph and St Kabir all tied at six points. In a count-back on the number of points conceded, the New Public school was a clear leader and St Kabir got the second spot.

In the girls' category, St Joseph’s was the clear winner as they had won all their matches. Sacred Heart routed St Kabir to clinch the runners up spot.

St Kabir Public School director JP Singh gave away the prizes and mementoes to the winners and runners-up teams. He highlighted the importance of participation in true game-spirit. 

Chandigarh, December 13
Riding high on a fine bating performance by Vaibhav Kaushik, St. John's High School defeated Mount Carmel School to win the Blessed Edmund Rice Cricket Tournament.

Vaibhav scored 95 runs in 60 balls with the help of nine 4s and four 6s. It helped his team to reach at 183 at the loss of 7 wickets. St. John's won the toss and elected to bat first. They lost 5 wickets for just 20 runs. With the help of a good partnership between Vaibhav Kaushik and Surya Pratap, they

Chandigarh, December 13
Young cricketers of Shishu Niketan bagged the second runners-up trophy in a challenging the Indo-Nepal Cricket Series (under-19) organised by the regional cricket development committee in Kathmandu and Pokhra recently.

As many as 16 teams from different countries participated in the tournament. Three teams had represented India in the tournament.

In the semi-final match, Shishu Niketan boys were defeated by Bangladesh. The young cricketers then beat Sri Lanka to become 2nd runners-up of the tournament. The tournament was won by Bangladesh while a Nepalese team from Pokhra secured second position.