Consumer courts
City leads in disposing of cases
Ritika Jha Palial
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24
The city has topped the national chart in consumer redressal cases for the 10th consecutive year. Going by statistics uploaded by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission on its website, 57 persons per 1,000 filed new cases this year. Fifty persons out of every 1,000 residents have been filing consumer complaints over the past nine years.

"The high literacy rate and consumer awareness are contributing to the large number of people claiming their rights," said Pankaj Chandgothia, president of the Chandigarh Consumer Courts Bar Association.

The closest to Chandigarh is Delhi, with around 16 persons out of every 1,000 filing consumer cases. There has been an increase in the filing of consumer complaints in Chandigarh. As many as 3,485 cases came up before the district fora at Chandigarh in 2012 as against only 2,261 in 2011. Around 3,300 cases have already been filed in the first 10 months of the year, as per figures compiled by the local consumer courts.

The current disposal rate is 97.65 per cent, the highest in the country, with the total average rate being only 92.19 per cent. In the past 10 years, it has never gone below 95 per cent and remained the highest in the country. The disposal rate of the UT State Commission is still higher at 98.83 per cent against the national average being 85.31 per cent. The Consumer Protection Act was enacted on December 24, 1986, and is into its 27th year of working.

The Act mandated the creation of at least one Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in each district. While many states were slow in the creation of forums, the Union Territory of Chandigarh was one of the first districts to have a district forum of its own.

26-yr-old ends her life

Chandigarh, December 24
A 26-year-old woman, Bhawna Mehta, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her Sector 44 residence in Canara Bank Society, this evening. The victim is survived by her husband Shantanu, a probationary officer with Canara bank and one-and-a-half-year-old son. She got married in 2011. Sources said, the husband was at home when she allegedly took the extreme step in another room of the house. No suicide note was found from the spot and the police have initiated inquest proceedings in the matter.

The police said that they were waiting for the victim’s relatives to reach here from Patna. “Let them come first and get their statements recorded. Only then we will ascertain the next course of action”, said the police. — TNS

Man involved in 7 burglaries held

Panchkula, December 24
The local team of the CIA cell nabbed a person, who was involved in about seven burglaries in the area recently. The accused has been identified as Guddu (24), a resident of Moradabad, who had been residing currently at Baltana on a rented accommodation.

According to the police, Guddu had been found frequenting suspiciously in the area on his Apache motorcycle. “He had confessed to have executed around seven burglaries in Sectors 5, 12 and 14 here, along with his accomplices,” said the police.

They have been sent to four-day police remand and the search for his other accomplices is on. — TNS

Pavit wins chess championship
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24
Pavit Singh of Delhi bagged the championship with 8 points in the 1st All India Open (below 2000-rating) Fide Rating Chess Tournament, concluded at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School Sector 44, here today. Pradip Tiwari of DASCB (Defense Services) with 8 points finished second while Shubham Lakudkar from Punjab with 7.5 points finished at third spot. Rajesh Kumar of Himachal Pradesh finished fourth with scoring 7 points. The tournament was conducted by Chandigarh Chess Academy over a period of 4 days and a total of 243 players participated in this event.

Results: Pavit Singh, Delhi 8 53½ 42 30; Pradip Tiwari DASCB 8 53 42½ 30½ ; Shubham Lakudkar, Maharashtra, 7½ 52 41½ 30; Rajesh Kumar, Himachal Pradesh, 7 56½ 45½ 32½ ; Sandya M, Tamil Nadu, 7 55½ 44 31½ ; Sumit Grover, J&K, 7 54 42½ 31; Sudhir Kumar, Haryana, 7 53½ 41½ 30; Shashwat Chakraborty, Chattisgarh, 7 51 40 28½; Bhupendra Kumar, Himachal Pradesh, 7 51 39½ 28; Sahil Tickoo, Haryana, 7 50½ 40 29; Gaurav Kumar, Bihar, 7 50 41 29½; Ishaan Bansal, Pune, 7 50 39 28½; Uppal Anshul, Chattisgarh 6½ 56½ 44½ 32; Sushant Manuja, Punjab, 6½ 53 42 29½; Ashutosh Kumar, Bihar, 6½ 51½ 40 28½; DS Negi, Delhi, 6½ 51 42 30; Vikram Mukhija, Rajasthan, 6½ 49½ 39½ 28½; Akshay Anand, Punjab, 6½ 48 38 27½..

Cricket meet
St Soldier’s P’kula rout Khalsa School
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24
In the first match of SS Bava Memorial Inter-School Cricket Tournament for boys (U-16), the St Soldier School, Panchkula, defeated Khalsa School, Sector 26, here today. Batting first, the winning side scored 145-runs in 18 overs. Ravi Kant scored highest and contributed with an unbeaten knock of 56-runs. He was supported by Gurdeep, who scored 36-runs.

In reply, the Khalsa School bundled out on a mere total of 63-runs. Gurdeep claimed 4 wickets while Vaibhav managed to bag 2 wickets.

In the second match, DAV School, Sector 8, defeated Baptist School, by 9-wickets. After putting to bat first, the Baptist School could manage to score only 75-runs in the allotted 18 overs. Aayush (31- runs) remain the highest scorer for his team. For DAV Vijay hogged the limelight with claiming 3 wickets. Chasing the target DAV school achieved the total with losing one wicket. Sagar (29-runs), Shivam (24-runs) and Mandeep (20-runs) scripted their team’s win.