NEIGHBOURHOOD

Two arrested with intoxicant tablets
Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 14
The district police has arrested two drug peddlers and recovered 73,000 intoxicant tablets from their posession. SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said the Sirhind police during a checking of vehicles recovered 65,000 intoxicant tablets from a scooter and during the investigation, the owner was identified as Mohit Sharma, a resident of Sirhind Mandi.

The Mandi Gobindgarh police, during a naka, recovered 8,000 intoxicant tablets from the possession of a drug peddler, identified as Ajay Kumar, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 14
Banks will organise special loan camps on May 24 at the Bachat Bhawan to sanction loans to unemployed youths under self-employment schemes of the government. This was stated by MS Jaggi, Additional Deputy Commissioner, while presiding over the meeting of the consultative committee of various banks organised by the State Bank of Patiala today.

The meeting was called to review the progress of various government-sponsored schemes in the agricultural and industrial sectors for the weaker sections of society. He said to fulfil the economic needs of the underprivileged and below poverty line section of society and to make them self-sufficient, bank managers and department officials should work in coordination so that they do not face any difficulty in getting loans. He directed the bank officials to ensure that every account was operated with Aadhaar number. He directed them to install CCTV cameras. He also directed the bank officials to implement the DRI scheme and to make self-employment credit cards. He asked them to organise camps to distribute loans of Rs15, 000 at the rate of 4 per cent interest under the DRI scheme to those whose income was less than Rs 18,000 in rural areas and Rs 24,000 in urban areas. — OC

Ambala, May 14
Vimlesh Tanwar, Special Judge of the Fast Track Court, Ambala, has sentenced three persons to life imprisonment in a robbery and murder case. The three accused, Santosh, Mangal and Ashok, were the members of the Babaria gang.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each on the accused.

According to prosecution, Balram, a resident of Surya Colony, Ambala, had filed a complaint with the police that on March 27, 2009, while he was sleeping at his residence along with the other family members, some robbers entered his house and attacked them with sharp weapons and took away jewellery and cash.

According to the police, Balram, his son Rinku and a few other relatives, including Rajneesh, Satpal, Surjeet and Manish, were seriously injured in the attack. Rinku and Rajneesh were referred to the PGI.

Rinku succumbed to his injuries at the PGI on March 30, 2009. Later, the police registered a case under Sections 395, 396, 397 and 302 of the IPC and arrested Santosh, Rajesh, Ghanshyam, Ashok, Mangal, Lakshman, Kalia, Jeevan, Chaman and Lakhan. all of them were reportedly members of the Babaria gang.

Seven of the accused, Rajesh, Ghanshyam, Lakshman, Kalia, Jeevan, Chaman and Lakhan, managed to flee from the custody of the Kurukshetra police. They were later declared proclaimed offenders by the court. 

Chandigarh, May 14
Local students and PMT trainers are agitated over the latest interim judgement of the Supreme Court on NEET that allowed private colleges to announce their results both for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

A city based medical aspirant, Arnav, who recently appeared in the entrance exam, said this order has made us extremely perplexed over the validity of NEET in future. “By allowing the private colleges to conduct their own entrance exam and then announce their results, the whole purpose of taking one common medical entrance exam for the all medical colleges in the country has been forfeited,” he said.

“We don’t know whether NEET will survive as court will make a final call in July,” said another student Arpita Singla, who feels that the whole purpose of this common exam was to save students from the burden of multiplicity of medical entrance exams and then most importantly to stop the corrupt practices in private medical colleges. “With this judgement the private medical colleges have managed to divert the issue to their favour and decision makers too have failed to address the issue from common man’s perspective,” she said.

Local PMT trainer and biology expert Dr Arvind Goyal said, “After the Supreme Court’s interim judgement, students are apprehending that several states who had earlier planned to go with NEET can announce their own entrance exam. If that happens, these students will further be burdened, both financially and mentally to again sit for series of medical entrance exams.” “Medical education in India is fully in mess at present and surprisingly nobody is bothered of the precious career of the students, who are at the receiving end in the whole drama,” he said.

Students strongly advocated that if all the major entrance exams in the country, including management, engineering and IAS, can have common entrance then why it is not possible for the medical stream.

“What India needs is the cheap medical facilities but how can it be possible if students get their degrees after paying the amount in lakhs and crores,” said another student

Vivek Gulati, a city based physics trainer, said, “Even as the recent verdict has cleared the admission hurdles, we are back to the square one. It is really a mockery of the students’ preparations. Whatever pattern has to be followed for undergraduate admission must be fixed two years prior to the examinations,” he said.

A student Deepali said frequent change in the policy either by government or due to the intervention of courts has definitely taken toll on students. It has not only increased their stress but has also put their future in jeopardy. 

Chandigarh, May 14
Counsellors in the UT Education Department, asked to quit two years ago, have failed to get relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A Division Bench has dismissed their petition for continuation.

In their petition against Central Administrative Tribunal and other respondents, Parminder Kaur and other petitioners had challenged the order dated March 14. In the orders, the CAT had dismissed their original application for continuation as counsellors in the Education Department The petitioners told the Division Bench of Justice, Surya Kant, and Justice Naresh Kumar Sanghi that they were engaged as counsellors in UT schools on contract basis after applications were invited through public notices issued in July 2009 and May 2010. They continued to work till March 31, 2011, but later they were asked not to report to duty.

The aggrieved petitioners challenged their oral termination from service before the CAT, and sought directions for their continuation as counsellors. The Chandigarh Administration contested the petitioners' claim by filing a written statement. It asserted that their appointment was not regular as there were no regular sanctioned posts of counsellors in the Chandigarh Education Department.

\The CAT declined to interfere and consequently dismissed the application after observing that directions would not be issued to retain the petitioners till such posts were filled on a regular basis, since posts of counsellors were not sanctioned. Taking up the petition against the order, the Bench added: “In other words, the Tribunal has held and rightly so that in the absence of sanctioned posts, no mandamus for appointment or continuation of appointees can be issued”. Mandamus means a judicial writ issued as a command, ordering a person to perform a public or statutory duty. Dismissing the petition, the Bench said: “The counsel for the petitioners, however, submits that after relieving the petitioners, the Administration is likely to engage fresh counsellors in their place. If that is so, it would give a fresh cause of action to the petitioners for which they may approach the Tribunal as and when occasion arises.” 

Chandigarh, May 14
A 20-year-old youth, who was in the news last month for fleeing from police custody, was today acquitted by a court in a rape case registered against him. The accused, Deepak, will continue to face the trial a separate case of escape from police custody registered against him. At present, he is out on bail.

The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge SS Sahni today acquitted the 20-year-old youth after the prosecution failed to prove the charges.

Deepak was arrested by the police in July 2012, after a 16-year-old girl accused him of raping her. The police had registered a case on July 5, 2012, at the Sector 39 police station.

The victim, a student of class X, government school in Sector 40, in her statement to the police on July 13, had accused Deepak of raping her in a hotel in Sector 45. According to the prosecution case, the victim told the police that she was friendly with Ravi, with whom she had planned to elope on July 1, after her parents came to know about their relationship. She had left home with clothes and Rs 300. When she reached the Sector 43 bus stand, Ravi refused to go with her.

She then boarded a bus to Shimla in the evening alone and after spending some time there she returned to Chandigarh. She claimed after spotting her roaming in the area late at night, the police put her into a lodge in Sector 43 where she for the first time met Deepak, who was a receptionist there.

She claimed she then went to Jalandhar the next day along with another girl and called up Deepak from the girl's phone. She had met the girl at the lodge. She said she returned to Chandigarh and Deepak picked her up from the bus stand and then they spent some time in a park at Sector 11, Chandigarh, before Deepak took her to a hotel in Sector 45, where he raped her. He then dropped her at a paying guest accommodation.

The defence counsel pleaded that there were discrepancies in the girl's statements, following which the accused was acquitted.

Chandigarh, May 14
A 14-year-old boy offered Rs 5 to an eight-year-old girl and asked her to have physical relations with him. The girl informed her mother who called the police. The juvenile boy was arrested in a case of eve-teasing. The case has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

This case has been registered on a statement of the girl's mother, who is a resident of Maloya Colony. She reported to the police that she had three children, two sons and one daughter aged eight years, who studied in Class II at a private school.

Her daughter went to the school at 8 am and at about 9.30 am she returned home. She told her mother that a boy had teased her and offered her Rs 5 for making physical relations with her. He caught her arm and took her towards an auto-rickshaw. The mother, along with her daughter, went to the area where the boy had met her daughter.

The minor girl then identified the boy, who was sitting in an auto-rickshaw. The mother caught the boy and called up the police. He is a student of the Government School.

The mother believed that nothing wrong had happened to her daughter and refused for her medical examination. The accused was produced in court that sent him to a juvenile home. 

Chandigarh, May 14
In the ongoing Dhruv Pandove Trophy for Boys (U-19), the local cricket team scored 278 runs for 6, on the first day of the play against Patiala, today.

After starting their innings, S Bhambri and B Singh scored 52 runs for the first wicket in 18.5 overs before B Singh was run out by GS Sethi for 25 off 61 balls inclusive of 5 boundaries. Bhambri was joined by Arjit Pannu and the duo put on 65 runs for the second wicket before Arjit was bowled by S Sharma for 13 runs. Later, Bhambri scored 91 off 143 balls inclusive of 12 boundaries before being caught by A Malhotra off A Kumar. Arpit scored 29 runs before being caught by A Malhotra. At the close of day’s play, Vineet Dhakka was playing unbeaten on 69 off 131 balls inclusive of 10 boundaries. He will be joined by a new batsman tomorrow. For Patiala, S Sharma claimed and K Kumar claimed two wickets each during the Dhruv Pandove Trophy for Boys.

Brief scores:

Chandigarh (1st innings)-278 for 6 in 95 overs (B Singh 25, A Malhotra 91 Vineet Dhakka 47, Arpit 29, S Sharma 2 for 66, K Kumar 2 for 55).

In other match, the team of Jalandhar was bundled out for 112 runs against Mohali. Rajat Sharma (22 runs), Anurag Parkash (30 runs) and Sahil Lal (35 runs) were the main contributors for the team. Skipper Rajat Sharma and along with Anurag Parkash stitched a 49-run partnership for the second wicket before Rajat was cleaned up by Khushpreet for 22 off 41 balls inclusive of four boundaries. Thereafter, wickets fell at regular intervals and the Jalandhar outfit was shot out for 112 off 47.1 overs.

In reply, the Mohali team with Karan and Harsrup putting on 126 for the first wicket in 35.5 overs started soundly against the rivals. Harsrup was caught by Sahibjot of Rishin for 62 off 103 balls inclusive of 9 boundaries. Karan and Kinderpreet Singh will open the team’s innings for the second day. Karan will bat on 60 off 136 balls inclusive of 9 boundaries and Kinderpreet will open with 10 off 38 balls with a boundary. For Jalandhar, Rishin Sharma claimed 1 for 34.

Brief scores:

Jalandhar (1st innings)-112 all out in 47.1 overs (Rajat Sharma 22, Anurag Parkash 30, Sahil Lal 35, Khushpreet Singh 3 for 42, Rishab Sharma 2 for 15, Akshay Kansal 2 for 22, Harpreet Singh 3 for 20).

Mohali (1st innings)-148 for 1 in 46 overs (Karan 60 not out, Kinderpreet 10 not out, Harsarup 62, Rishin Sharma 1 for 34).

In the third match played at Gandhi Ground, Amritsar, between Amritsar and Ludhiana, the latter side posted 318 runs in 95 overs. Nikhil Choudhary was the main scripture of team’s stand with his unbeaten knock of 113 runs.

Brief scores:

Ludhiana (1st innings)-318 for 3 in 95 overs (Nimit Malhan 69, Gurkaran Singh 30, Parul Mehndiratta 86, Nikhil Choudhary 113 not out and Chirag Maria 0 not out, Rohit Kumar 2 for 72).

Chandigarh, May 14
The Nine Club XI defeated GMCH N8G club by 102 runs during the ongoing local T-20 cricket league, being held at the Cricket Stadium, Sector 16, and Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 26, here today.

Batting first, the wining side posted a total of 206 runs in 20 overs. Francis (34 runs), Harwinder (41 runs) and Dharamjit (39 runs) helped the team to achieve the total. For the bowling side, Dinesh and Sanchit claimed 2 wickets each.

In reply, the losing side was bundled out on a mere total of 104 runs. Sayed (20 runs) top the team’s score chart while Sanjeev (3 runs), Ankuj(2 runs) and Chander(2 runs) were the other main scorer.

In the second match, the team of Chandigarh Police defeated ABMS Cricket Club. While batting first, the police side scored 168 runs with Ashish Kapoor (39 runs) and Ramandeep (41 runs) scoring lion’s share.

In reply, the ABMS club could manage to score only 141 runs. Manoj was the only noticeable batsman with his 40 runs contribution whereas; bowlers Ramandeep, Jaswinder, Balwinder and Gurpreet claimed 2 wickets each.

In another match, the A-top club drubbed Saurav Club by 5 runs. The Saurav club restricted the rivals on 140 runs. Harpreet contributed 40 runs while Sunny Sharma (37 ruuns) and Davinder (36 runs) were the other main scorer for the team. Naveen claimed 3 wickets. On other end, the Saurav club batsman failed to achieve the total and could score only 135 runs. Bowler Asim Gupta claimed 3 wickets while batsmen Chetan (43 runs) and Naveen (31 runs) were the main scorers for the batting side.

In the last match, the cricket team of LIC club registered 78 runs win over the Parnami club.

Chandigarh, May 14
Academy of Golf, (Chandigarh Golf Club), Sector 6, will organise a month-long junior golf camp for children ages between 6 to 18 years for members and non-members from May 24 onwards.

The camp will be conducted by Manjit Kochar, overseas director, Junior Golf Development Programme, ICGA, Canada. During the training period, all the participants will be taught basic fundamentals of the game including putting, chipping, long-short irons, golf etiquette and basic rules of the game. The interested players can enroll themselves with Manjit Kochar (9815554788). — TNS

Chandigarh, May 14
Dr CK Jerath, president of the Chandigarh Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) has been nominated by the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) as technical director of the 14th National Senior Women Boxing Championship to be held at Khatima, Uttarakhand from May 18 to 23.

He will look after the overall technical conduct of the national championship. — TNS