Chandigarh, February 22
The Municipal Corporation (MC), Chandigarh, has started imposing 4 per cent luxury tax on the booking of community centre.

The Administration had, on August 4, 2011, notified the Punjab Tax on the Luxuries Act 2009, which said the proprietor of a hotel or a banquet hall had to pay 4 per cent luxury tax, but the MC had failed to register for the tax payment.

The UT Excise and Taxation Department had sent several notices to the MC for evasion of luxury tax applicable to community centres.

A city based advocate, Ajay Jagga, had also given several representations to the UT Administration on the evasion of luxury tax by the MC. Jagga in his representation had stated that the MC was causing huge loss to the UT exchequer by not paying the due luxury tax, despite several notices to the MC by the Excise and Taxation Department.

MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta confirming the development stated that the 4 per cent luxury tax was being charged for booking the community centres and those who were getting them booked also knew that they had to pay the luxury tax.

The MC has total 40 community centres in the city out of which four community centres are air-conditioned. While the rent for the non-AC community centre is Rs 5,618 per day, the rent for the AC community centre is Rs 11,236.

The Municipal Corporation (MC) is imposing the luxury tax from backdate i.e April 1, 2013, and the residents who booked the community centres after that date have been asked to pay the luxury tax.

Gopal Joshi, one of the residents, who had booked a community centre in 2013, stated that the Municipal Corporationshould have charged the luxury tax then only.

“It is surprising that the Municipal Corporation is asking the residents to pay the luxury tax, now.It was their mistake, so they should pay the tax themselves”, he stated.

Luxury tax being imposed from backdate The MC is imposing the luxury tax from backdate. The luxury tax is being imposed from April 1, 2013. So those who had booked the community centre after April 1, were being asked to deposit the 4 per cent luxury tax. Notices are being sent to the residents for the recovery of the tax.

Chandigarh, February 22
A joint team of CBI sleuths from Delhi and Chandigarh today raided offices of two Delhi-based leading companies in Chandigarh, Mohali and Ropar.

The development came following the registration of an FIR against PACL Ltd, a real estate company, and one PGF Ltd, a sister company. The CBI officials said on the direction of the apex court, the agency undertook an inquiry to look into the “allegations of collections of huge deposits from public at large” by the promoters and directors of the two companies “by running pyramidal schemes under the garb of allotment of agricultural land to depositors”.

“The said inquiry resulted into a criminal case against them and their associates for criminal conspiracy and cheating”, the officials added. Apart from Chandigarh, Mohali and Ropar, raids were also conducted in Jaipur and Delhi.

Sources stated that the search operation has led to seizure of huge records and data related to deposits from public and their misutilisation and diversion of funds.

Chandigarh, February 22
From the next session, Panjab University will not offer journalism courses in Hindi and Punjabi language. It has also decided to suspend M.phil course in geography. The decision to suspend the courses in both the language was taken at a Syndicate meeting today and a review committee was constituted to decide the future of these courses.

The decision was taken by the syndics on the basis of the reports of the last six sessions in which there was low enrollment of students in two diploma courses of the School of Communication Studies. As per the report tabled in the meeting, the ratio of enrollment to the two diploma courses in the last six years was very low. In fact, the attendance of the students in 2013-14 was just four to five days in a year.

As per the report of the Board of Control of the School of Communication Studies, there are 15 seats in the self-financed diploma courses which was started on a trial basis by the department. But the fact is that in the last six years, all seats were never filled. The department was spending substantial amount on the payment of the guest faculty of these courses. The Syndics opposed the suspension of the courses saying that there was no regular faculty, so the university had failed to attract students. It was decided that on the basis of the review committee, the decision would be taken by the Syndicate whether to continue with the courses or withdraw it.

Another course which the Syndicate decided to exclude from the Handbook of Information for the session 2014-15 is M.phil course in geography.

Chandigarh, February 22
A 22-year-old pharmaceutical student residing as a paying guest (PG) in Sector 44 committed suicide by hanging herself in her room, here today.

The police stated that Aarti, who hailed from Mandi Gobindgarh, was residing on the first floor of the house as a PG. She was rushed to a private hospital in Mohali where doctors declared her brought dead. The victim was a student of a private college.

Rajesh Shukla, SHO, Sector 34 police station, confirming the incident stated that the girl had committed suicide. The police have registered a case.

Chandigarh, February 22
The Syndicate chaired by the Vice- chancellor, Arun Kumar Grover, today approved the hike in tuition and examination fees along with the hostel fee for the 2014-15 session. For the final approval, it will be tabled in the Senate meeting scheduled to be held next month.

The tuition fee will be increased by 10 per cent for the self-financed courses and 20 per cent for the non self-financed courses with a cap of maximum hike of Rs 10,000. The members decided that the revised fees structure should be implemented for the first year students from the next session. Those students who have already taken admission in any course will continue to follow the old fee structure fixed by the university.

The Syndicate also approved the hike of about 10 per cent in hostel fee. As per the new hostel fee, the student seeking accommodation will be charged Rs 8,500 initially, which includes security, common room of hostel and other charges. The new monthly charges for the rooms will be Rs 310. For the common room, the charges will be Rs 70 and electricity charges per students will be Rs 250. The fresh hostel charges will be applicable to all the 17 hostels in the university.

As per the fresh fees structure, there will be hike of 20 per cent for the general courses from the next session, as last year there was no increase in the fees. For the self finance courses, 10 per cent hike was proposed by the university.

The committee has also increased the fees under all heads, including tuition fee, parking fee, library charges, house exam fee, placement fee and others.

Last year on June 29, the Syndicate approved the fee hike of 10 per cent for the first year students of the general courses and 20 per cent for the professional courses. All students’ unions had protested on the campus and forced the authorities to withdraw it.

Chandigarh, February 22
The 4th Delegates Conference of the Coordination Committee of Government and Municipal Corporation (MC) Employees and Workers held in Sector 18 here today turned into a political ground.

BJP leaders blamed local Congress MP Pawan Kumar Bansal for lack of development in the city while Bansal demanded more power for the MC.

A former Chandigarh MP and a senior BJP leader, Satya Pal Jain, said the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre and the local Congress MP, Pawan Kumar Bansal, lacked the political will to resolve the problems of employees of Chandigarh.

Jain claimed that Bansal was an MP for the last 15 years and also held important portfolios like Finance, Parliamentary Affairs and Railways. He should tell people how many promises he had fulfilled and explain why he could not fulfill other promises.

On the other hand, Bansal advocated for transfer of more powers and departments from the Chandigarh Administration to the Municipal Corporation. Bansal said the elected representatives were answerable to the public and therefore, the MC, an institution of elected representatives of people, should be strengthened and given more powers, particularly of executive nature, which presently rest with the Chandigarh Administration.

Bansal also stressed on the need to introduce the system of Mayor-in-council. He said a necessary amendment should be made to introduce this system. Bansal said he had seen the functioning of all the union territories in the country and found that elected representatives were more responsive as compared to the officials, who are posted in UT on temporary basis.

Chandigarh Tribune spoke to a cross-section of the people and asked how the administration can popularise the Rose Festival and attract more crowd. Residents feel more events should be introduced to attract more people.

I had been visiting Rose Festival for the past 3 years. This time my son participated in Rose Prince Competition. There should be subjectivity and transparency in the competitions. The festival should be held at a bigger level and given the look of a bigger urban fair and it should be expanded outside the walls of Rose Garden.
Gurpreet Singh

The event should be more organised. There is need to introduce more events like live photography, painting, task games to encourage students and children’s participation. Rock show and theme party should also be introduced to encourage youth participation. I look forward to more memorable Rose Festivals ahead.
Manpreet Bajwa

I still remember my parents used to take me along to Rose Festival when I was a child. The festival transports me to my childhood memories. The event should be organised in a more systematic way. There should be more competitions for school children. Organisers should also introduce some events for the elderly and senior citizens so as to make their youthful memories fresh.
Manpreet Kaur

Rose Festival is a get-together for the city people and promotes the beauty of city gardens. It draws a lot of people from far and near and caters to a mix of cultures. There is need to introduce some events which makes it better and draws more crowds. It should be given the look and status of a fair.
Sugandha Dhawan

Mohali, February 22
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today launched the State Portal and State Service Delivery Gateway here, and announced that by the end of the year, Punjab would be made ‘paperless’.

The State Portal and State Service Delivery Gateway project has been formulated under the National e-Governance Plan to provide easy and convenient services to citizens through remote access from home or Gram Suvidha Kendras.

After launching the delivery system, Badal said 32 services would be provided online and by the end of the year, 147 services would be made available to people on their doorstep, said Badal.

He said Punjab would be the only state in the country, where people will be able to avail themselves of all the 147 services sitting at home.

The Deputy Chief Minister further said Suvidha Centres would be opened at village-level so that people in the rural areas could also get the services online.

C Roul, principal secretary, Governance Reforms, said, “The mother portal is www.punjab.gov.in. Individual seeking any information will have to enter the service gateway first.”

The Punjab state portal will provide single point access to government information and services. The project is being implemented in all districts of the state.

Chandigarh, February 22
Volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) carried out a cycle rally in the city on Saturday. The rally started from the petrol pump in Sector 28 and passed through sectors 28, 27, 19, 18 and 17 to culminate at the Sector 17 Plaza.

On the way, AAP volunteers also distributed pamphlets to people spreading their party's message. An AAP volunteer said they were trying to connect with the maximum number of people. "The response was enthusiastic. This time, city residents want a clean and people-oriented political system," he said.

Mohali, February 22
To make its presence felt in the area, the AAP activists took out a ‘Jhadu Yatra’ at Sector 70 here and in certain parts of Zirakpur today.

Ajit Singh, the in-charge of AAP's Mohali unit, said more than 50 activists cleaned streets and surroundings near the Ivory Tower and Mataur village and in some parts of the Zirakpur area.

“Our objective was to make people aware and prepare for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in which they have to remove corrupt politicians just like garbage," the AAP leader said. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 22
The UT Estate Office today sealed a house in Sector 37 for not clearing dues.

Following the orders of Sub-Dvisional Magistrate, a team led by Inspector Anil Sharma sealed Kothi No. 363, Sector 37 A, owned by DS Sidhu.

Sharma said the owner had got the plot in 2004 through auction but had not cleared the dues till date. Earlier, the UT Administration won the case in different courts. Today, they first got the house vacated and later sealed it,” he said. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 22
Eighty complainants today visited various police stations in the city to know the status of their cases under the ‘Know Your Case’, a scheme launched by the Chandigarh Police to ensure accountability.

UT SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill visited the Sector 11 police station, interacted with the visitors and asked suggestions on improving the functioning of the scheme and the police.

The SSP said to ensure transparency in the system, police stations had been asked to send the list of the complainants visiting to know the status of their cases. “I have asked all the SHOs to send me a list of the visitors who are satisfied and those who are not satisfied with the functioning of the police. We will call up the satisfied complainants on random basis to verify the list,” the SSP stated. — TNS

Panchkula, February 22
The Panchkula Police Commissioner, Ajay Singhal, has chalked out a special plan to combat the traffic problem in the region.

The ‘special hour’ plan will help regulating the traffic at certain places during school timings and office duty hours. “We have chalked out a plan to help tackle the problem. As many as 10 points have been identified outside schools, which see heavy congestion. Our men will be deployed from 7.30 am to 8.30 am and from 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm to regulate the traffic,” said Singhal.

During office hours, the force would be deployed from 8.30 am to 10 am and from 4.30 pm to 6 pm. Simultaneously, from 10 am to 2 pm and from 5 pm to 9 pm, foot patrolling would take place at 13 places in the city, said Singhal. Violators of traffic rules will be challaned from from 10 am to 10 pm. Permanent nakas have already been set up at seven points in the district. Singhal said, “To deal with the highway traffic, special force has been deployed at five points in the area. Besides PCR vehicles, motorcycle riders would also patrol in the district.”

Panchkula, February 22
Several members of the District Grievance Committee aired their grievances to the Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia today.

An unfair process of selection of anganwadi workers in the Women and Child Welfare Department was exposed today when a resident of Saketri, BB Bansal, stated that a woman scoring 31 per cent in Class X was selected for the post whereas those scoring 59 per cent were not selected by the Administration.

Bansal furnished RTI documents to substantiate his claim during the district grievance meeting.

Officials have assured him of initiating necessary action in this regard.

Bansal said, “There were vacancies for two posts and 16 candidates had applied. However, the one scoring the least percentage among them was selected.”

In another case, Ranjeeta Mehta, a resident of Sector 16, Panchkula, showed several photographs of the Sector 16 market alleging that no development work was being carried out.

Phulia has ordered the officials concerned to come up with a report in this regard at the earliest.

Chandigarh, February 22
Panjab University will soon draft a policy for the rotation of headship for all departments at a special Syndicate meeting.

This was decided in the Syndicate meeting held today under the chairmanship of PU Vice-Chancellor Arun K Grover. The decision was taken after the discussion about the rotation of headship of the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS).

Pointing out that after the hunger strike by the Senators on the issue of rotation, faculty of some more departments took up the issue with the Vice-Chancellor. Considering their demand, it was decided that a policy would be framed which would be implemented in all departments of the university.

In another decision, the Syndics approved that the university faculty would be allowed to go on deputation for five years in any government or government-aided institute on the higher or same post, which they are holding at present.

The Syndics also approved template for direct recruitment of associate professors and professors in the university teaching departments and regional centres. It was decided that after 300 points, 10 per cent marks should be given to the faculty member.

The Syndicate also approved conferring of the Udyog Rattan on Dr Sukhdev and Dr FC Kohli for 2013 and 2014, respectively. The Vigyan Rattan award will be conferred on Dr Nitya Anand and Dr Girish Sahni for 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Syndic Professor Karamjeet Singh proposed that the social science and literature eminent personalities should also be considered for this award. The Vice-Chancellor agreed and decided to consider it for the next year.

Other important decisions at the Syndicate meeting Confirmation of Controller of Examination (CoE) Dr Parvinder Singh at Panjab University. He was on probation from the Punjab Government. Now, all financial liabilities of the CoE will be borne by the university. The Syndicate decided to give one last chance to the PU employees for submitting options for availing pension scheme of 4, 9 and 14 years as some of the employees had not submitted their options so far. The issue of the payment of installments of the dearness allowance to the university employees will be allowed based upon the notification issued by the Central Government from time to time. To start LLM one-year course from the 2014-15 session in the Department of Law. It will replace the existing two-year course. No CET exam will be conducted for admission to ME and MPhil courses running at the UIET for the 2014-15 session.

Chandigarh, February 22
Shri Dhanwantry Ayurvedic College is considering seeking affiliation from Guru Ravidas Ayurved University, Hoshiarpur, in case Panjab University does not allow it to admit students for the coming academic session. College management finance secretary SK Aggarwal today met PU Dean College Development Council Naval Kishore to resolve the issue at the earliest.

Aggarwal said the preference of the management was to get PU's affiliation. In case there was any problem, the management would think other options for the next session.

The students of the 2009 batch of the college today held again a protest rally demanding that the Syndicate resolves the issue of conducting examinations of this session.

The students alleged that though the university declared provisional results last month on the directions of the high-powered committee, they were yet to get detailed mark sheets from the university.

The students told Naval Kishore that the college had issued admit cards to the students of the 2013-14 batch whose forms and fees were returned by the university last year.

They also told the Dean College Development Council that the admit cards, which were issued to them, mentioned that the college was affiliated to Panjab University.

Naval assured the students that a special committee, which was constituted for the purpose, would hold its meeting on February 25 and resolve the issues.

The students decided that if the university and the college management did not resolve the issue in the committee meeting, they would again hold a protest rally.

The next meeting of the Syndicate will be held on March 15.

Mohali, February 22
The three-day CU Fest-2014 concluded at Chandigarh University, Gharuan, today amid a display of extraordinary talent by students.

With this, the curtains were also drawn on the 16th state-level Inter-Polytechnic College Youth Festival, which was hosted by Chandigarh Polytechnic College, Gharuan.

Over 40,000 students from various institutions took part in more than 50 categories of technical, non-technical and cultural events. Teams from engineering colleges from various parts of the country took part in technical events like ROBO Soccer, Auto Mania, Aqua Race and Coder Decoder.

Displaying their mettle in the technical arena, team UIET, Chandigarh, won the Robo Soccer event, while UCOE, Punjabi University, won the Dirt Race competition. Team LCET, Ludhiana, won the Circuitix event, while Indo-Global won the first position in Log-a-logo event.

Host Chandigarh University won the Angry Machines event, while CGC, Landran, bagged the top position in the Auto Mania competition.

Yaman Gupta, LPU, won the Western Dance Solo event, while Rayat and Bahra won the Best Western Group event. Team LPU won the Best Modelling event and the Best Stand-Up Comedy award went to SD College, Chandigarh.

St Soldier Polytechnic, Jalandhar, bagged the winner trophy in the Inter-Polytechnic Youth Festival, while Government Polytechnic College, Batala, was adjudged the runner-up in the festival.

The CU Fest concluded with an enthralling performance by Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh on the university campus.

Chandigarh, February 22
To make Chandigarh a ‘Model Solar City’, the UT Administration today inaugurated its first 15 KWp Solar Cycle Stand at Government Middle School, Sector 46, here. Local MP Pawan Kumar Bansal was the chief guest on the occasion.

The 1050 Sq. feet cycle stand will allow parking of almost 100 cycles and will generate more than 20,000 units of electricity per annum. The annual power consumption of the school is approximately 18,000 units while the rest of the units will be consumed by the local electricity grid.

Santosh Kumar, Director of Science and Technology Department, said the solar energy generated from the solar cycle stand will be used for the school building during the day and the surplus power will be consumed by the local electricity grid.

"The panel will benefit both the school and the local power supply. In the panel, a bi-directional meter capable of measuring import and export readings has been installed from where annual import of power from the Electricity Department and the solar power exported to the Electricity Department can be measured. The Solar Cycle Stand will meet the total electric consumption of the school and a state-of-the-art technology inverter has been installed in the SPV power plant. With the help of the technology, anyone can see the power generation and other operational parameters online anywhere in the world", said

Santosh Kumar. He further said that the department was looking forward to install such panels in around 32 government schools.

Earlier, the Rs 18.70 lakh project was inaugurated by Bansal. The project was initiated through the MPLAD funds. Bansal appreciated the efforts taken by the Science and Technology Department in developing Chandigarh as the “Model Solar City” and promoting renewable energy options.

Country’s largest rooftop SPV power to be installed at PEC
The department has also planned to install the country’s largest rooftop SPV power plant at the PEC University of Technology in Sector 12. A 1000 KWp SPV power plant will be set up here.

Mohali, February 22
Students from more than 25 schools participated in an inter-state spelling bee mega final test organised by Rayat-Bahra, Mohali campus.

Spelling, vocabulary, command of English, general knowledge and mathematics of Class XII students were tested. The preliminary test was conducted in various schools in which around 3,500 students took part. Around 560 students were shortlisted for the final test on the basis of 20 students from each school.

In the final contest, Manpreet Kaur from GGSS School, Gharuan, secured the first position and won a prize of Rs 5,100, along with a scholarship letter. Navneet Kaur from GGSS School, Gharuan, won the second prize of Rs 4,100, along with a scholarship letter.

The third prize went to Lovepreet Singh from St Ezra International School, Kharar. The prize was Rs 3,100, along with a scholarship letter. Ramandeep Singh from St Ezra International School, Kharar, won the fourth prize of Rs 2,100, along with a scholarship letter, while Navneet Kaur from GGSS School, Ghauran, won the fifth prize of Rs 1,100, along with a scholarship letter. — OC