Chandigarh, April 12
As many as 5,305 cases were disposed of during a Lok Adalat at the District Courts Complex here today. Of these, 236 were settled under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instrument Act.

A compensation of Rs 29.25 lakh was awarded against the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) cases. Under execution petitions, an amount of more than Rs 2.17 crore was disbursed to the petitioners and claimants.

Panchkula, April 12
Two couples were reunited after a settlement during the Mega Lok Adalat at the Panchkula district court here today. As many as 2,035 cases of the total 3,100 cases were settled today.

A bench, presided over by Judge Anudeep Kaur Bhatti, settled two cases in which the husband and wife were living separately besides cases of domestic violence pending in court. Both the couples, who are Panchkula residents, decided to bury the hatchet and live together.

Another matrimonial dispute pending in the court of additional sessions judge was settled by Judge Roopam Singh. The wife had lodged an FIR against the husband in 2005. After the husband was acquitted by trial court, the wife filed an appeal. The Lok Adalat brought an end to the protracted litigation of nine years, with the husband agreeing to pay for the maintenance of their daughter. Both agreed to file a petition for a mutual divorce and the pending appeal was withdrawn by the wife.

A suit for damages pending for past seven years was settled by a bench presided over by Judge Bhawna Jain. A rent petition pending for past five years was also settled.

“The Mega Lok Adalat evoked an enthusiastic response from the litigants,” said Hem Raj Mittal, Chief Judicial Magistrate–cum–Secretary of District Legal Services Authority, Panchkula.

Chandigarh, April 12
In the infamous cash-at-judge’s-door scam, the defence counsel today cross-examined the complainant. The complainant—Amrik Singh, who was then working as a peon at Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s camp office at her Sector 11 residence— stood by his earlier statement during the cross-examination, said CBI special public prosecutor Anupam Gupta.

Earlier, Amrik Singh had told the court that Prakash Ram, the then munshi of co-accused Sanjeev Bansal, had delivered a bag at Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s camp office on August 13, 2008.

Singh had told the court that Prakash Ram, on his visit to the camp office, told him that he was there to deliver some important documents sent for the judge from Delhi.

Singh said when he took the bag inside to Justice Nirmaljit Kaur and opened it, they found money inside it.

Justice Nirmaljeet asked him to catch hold of Prakash and called the police control room, he had told the court.

The court framed charges against former Justice Nirmal Yadav, also a Punjab and Haryana High Court to whom the bag was intended to be delivered, under Section 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act on January 18 this year.

Charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy were framed against four others in the case. The other accused are Sanjiv Bansal, former Additional Advocate General, Haryana; Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh Bhasin and city-based businessman Rajiv Gupta.

Panchkula, April 12
The police have nabbed a 15-year-old boy and his two accomplices for allegedly stealing a Zen car from Sector 16. The juvenile and his accomplices, Pradeep and Anil (both 22 years’ old), are residents of Mauli Jagran.

A team led by Sub-Inspector Surjit Singh cracked the case and recovered the car. On probing, the police found the trio had also stolen five Maruti cars from Mani Majra area.

The police also recovered electronic items, domestic gas cylinders and other items from the possession of the two youths. They suspect the accused might be involved in many other cases of theft across Panchkula.

The Himachal Pradesh Police, Punjab Police and Chandigarh Police are also in contact with the local police, expecting to solve many cases of vehicle theft in their areas.

The police said the juvenile’s attraction to cars led to the thefts. He allegedly sought help from his neighbours Pradeep and Anil.

“After stealing cars, they would park them at isolated places. The Maruti cars were kept at different parts of Chandigarh: Daria, Vikasnagar and near the railway station,” said a police official.

The trio used to steal cars during the day, and used to travel on an auto-rickshaw, hired by Anil, to execute the crime, said the police.

The juvenile also boasted to his friends that he had many cars kept in a special garage in Chandigarh, said the police official.

Chandigarh, April 12
Yadavindra Public School, Mohali, lifted the title of the First Amanjit Memorial Six-a-Side Cricket Tournament concluded at the school's cricket ground here today.

In the finals of the championship, the YPS defeated Mayoor School, Ajmer, by 41 runs. After invited to bat first, the hosts posted 68 runs in the allotted five overs. The YPS team suffered a jot in the first over as it lost the wicket of Gurinder Singh. However, Jaskaran Singh and Arunam Prasad held the ground and contributed 25 runs and 28 runs, respectively, to the team's total.

Chasing the target, Mayoor School was bundled out for 27 runs in 4.4 overs.

A total of 12 teams from across the country as well as a team from Aitchison College, Lahore (Pakistan), participated in the competition.

The honours
Best batsman: Abhishek of Modern School, Delhi

Best bowler: Arunam of YPS, Mohali

Player of the tournament: Jaskaran Singh of YPS, Mohali

Maximum sixes: Madhav of Modern School, Delhi

Best fielder: Swapnil of Mayoor School, Ajmer

Chandigarh, April 12
Chandigarh Health and Wellness Association (CHAWA) held 'Beat the pro', a charity event, at the CGA Golf Range here this evening.

Over 50 junior golfers participated in 'bull's eye chipping' and ‘mid-ranger putting' competitions held to beat world renowned golfer Jeev Milkha Singh, who also gave tips on chipping and putting to the participants.

In the above-13 years category, Karanveer and Aanant won the title while in the under-13 category, Jai and Vasundra were declared winners. Earlier, Jagdeep Singh Cheema welcomed the participants. He said the tournament was held to raise funds for increasing awareness on rheumatology disorders and also to help in diagnosis and treatment of poor and needy patients at the PGIMER. Jeev said he was happy to a part of the event.

Chandigarh, April 12
New Public School (NPS), Sector 18, defeated Abhyajeet Football Club by 3-2 in the opening league match of 11-a-side football championship for men (seniors) which kicked off at the football stadium in Sector 17 here today.

Tamang struck it first for the NPS in the 16th minute of the game. Striker Chitvan followed Tamang and extended the team's lead to 2-0 in the 34th minute of the match. After the lemon break, Abhyajeet team scored a goal in the 48th minute of the game. The team struck again in the 56th minute with Raj making no mistake in hitting the ball to the net levelling the scores.

However, Uday of the NPS sealed the team's win by scoring the final goal in the 88th minute.

In other league matches, Minerva Sharks defeated Minerva Academy 2-0; SGGS Club defeated RBI 3-0; Rama Football Club trounced Molonlabe 1-0; NPS bt RBI 1-0; Minerva Academy defeated Rama Football Club 1-0; and SGGS Club beat Abhayjeet Football Club 2-0.

Panchkula, April 12
Aryan Thakur overcame Rupinder Kaur 6-1 while Aryan Mann beat Agrima Tiwari 6-5(2) in the second round matches of boys and girls (U-12) during the ongoing Ideal Tennis Academy's combined junior (U-12/14) tennis championship at Manav Mangal School here today.

Other results: (U-12): Arjun Kapoor bt Harsh Gupta 6-0; Divyan Goel bt Yuvraj Singla 6-3; Nishank Thakur bt Prachi Batra 6-0; and Arhaan Pahwa bt Shreya Jain 6-1.

(U-14): Dhruv Sharma bt Gurmehak 6-0; Samarth Suri bt Agrima Tiwari 6-0; Saurav Yadav bt Divyan Goel 6-1; Pritam Raghunath bt Sanya Chaddha 6-3; Parveen Kumar bt Yajur Bansal 6-2; and Sahil Garg bt Shourya Banerjee 6-0.