Chandigarh, April 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today set a week’s deadline for the Punjab Financial Commissioner (taxation) to pass a speaking order on the issue of renewing wholesale licence for Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) of a Ropar-based contractor. The directions by the Division Bench of Justice AK Mittal and Justice Jaspal Singh came after petitioner M/s KD Sharma and Company alleged discrimination.

Appearing on the petitioner’s behalf, Haryana Additional Advocate-General Vikram Jain argued that the petitioner was entitled to seek renewal of licence on merits, but was being discriminated. Citing the instances of renewal of other licences, he said the department was yet to decide on his application. This was despite the deposition of licence fee, and a legal representation on the issue. Jain said the petitioner had been holding a wholesale licence for carrying out the business of liquor since 1977. It was being renewed on a year-to-year basis. Moreover, in terms of the Excise Policy for 2014-2015, the wholesale licence was to be renewed in case the applicant was not found violating the excise law or licence conditions in the last three years. Accordingly, his entitlement was made out.

Jain pointed out that the department was exercising “pick and choose” policy while renewing wholesale licences in Punjab. The excise policy provided that all the cases of renewal would be treated as fresh cases, but the provision was being used in a discriminatory manner.

Jain further asserted that the petitioner’s claim was well founded on merits as he had been granted retail business worth the excise revenue of Rs.24.83 crore during the current year. Besides, there was no violation of any nature during the past licensing period.

The writ petition was disposed of with the directions to the Financial Commissioner (taxation) to decide the representation within a week by passing a speaking order after hearing the petitioner.

Chandigarh, April 24
Two persons accused of murdering a history-sheeter were acquitted by the district court today.

The two, Sonu and Rajesh, alias Raja, were accused of stabbing the victim, Shammi, following a scuffle at Sector 25 on February 7, 2012.

Shammi, reportedly, died of his injuries a few metres from his Sector 24 house after cycling up to there from the crime spot.

The prosecution had stated that on the day of murder, Shammi asked Sonu to supply him drug injections in return of some money the latter owed to him. When Sonu, son of a notorious drug peddler, refused, a scuffle ensued, during which Raja, an alleged pickpocket, caught hold of Shammi and Sonu stabbed him with a sharp-edged knife in his stomach and legs repeatedly, according to the prosecution.

A milkman saw the body lying in a pool of blood in the morning and informed the police. The police said Shammi died due to excessive bleeding.

There were 23 cases registered against the victim, including 16 of gambling.

DNA profiling not done

While the police had based the case on strong circumstantial evidence, the charges could not be proved in court. In the absence of the DNA profiling of blood samples, there was no concrete evidence to prove that the blood found on the accused’s clothes was that of the victim.

Chandigarh, April 24
Future General India Insurance Company Limited has been penalised for rejecting claim on a damaged tractor. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the company to pay Rs 10,000 compensation for mental agony along with insurance claim of Rs 17,000 to the complainant.

Tara Chand, a resident of Ambala district, got his tractor insured with the opposite party from December 31, 2012, to December 30, 2013. He alleged that on February 2, 2013, the tractor-trailer met with an accident and got damaged. On an intimation given to the company, a surveyor inspected the vehicle and assessed the loss. However, the opposite party repudiated the claim on the ground of “concealment of fact that the complainant had received an amount of claim with respect to the previous policy and even then obtained “no claim bonus”.

“The plea raised by the insurance company that the complainant-consumer was guilty of concealment of facts regarding the "no claim bonus" does not stand to reason, because it was the duty fastened upon the Insurance Company to verify about the entitlement of the “no claim bonus” to the complainant at the time of issuance of the policy,” the forum ruled. — TNS

Mohali, April 24
Amid growing tension between two groups of lawyers, the Mohali District Bar Council elections were postponed here today.

In the wake of allegations and counter-allegations by the two groups of lawyers, the election Observer, Deepak Sharma, postponed the polling.

The members of the ruling Toor group alleged that as the Observer, Deepak Sharma, was a close relative of an advocate belonging to the rival group, he was favouring them (rival party).

On the other hand, the members of the Longia group alleged that the ruling party had brought ‘outsiders’ to cast votes. “When we protested, several members of the ruling group tried to assault us,” alleged Amarjit Singh Longia, former president of the council.

The presidential candidate of the ruling group, Hardip Singh Diwana, and the sitting president, PS Toor, alleged, “The Observer is related to an advocate of our rival group. He was helping them by not allowing our supporters to cast their votes.”

“He (Observer) kept many of our supporters waiting in the queue for a long time. When we protested, the members of the rival group created ruckus”, alleged Toor, adding that, “Three separate complaints in this regard had been made to the authorities.”

Several members of the Longia group sat on dharna in front of the polling booth to lodge their protest.

The Toor group has fielded Hardip Singh Dewana as their presidential candidate whereas Manjit Singh Chauhan is the presidential candidate of the Longia group.

Meanwhile, the elections are likely to be held in the first week of May.

Chandigarh, April 24
The District Courts, Sector 43, was abuzz with activity today as the polling process to elect the office-bearers of the District Bar Association (DBA) went on in full swing. The results were declared late in the evening.

Advocate Ashok Chauhan was elected president of the DBA. He won by a margin of 304 votes.

Advocate Jagdish Sharma won the post of Vice President, while advocate Sunil Hans was elected Secretary of the DBA.

Advocate Vivek Mohan Sharma won the post of Treasurer, while advocate Vijayta Sharma was elected as the Joint Secretary of the District Bar Association.

Zirakpur, April 24
One person died in a road accident, while another allegedly committed suicide here last late night.

Twenty four-year-old Kamaljit Singh, a resident of village Lohgarh village, was killed when his motorcycle was hit by a Swift DZire car near Kohinoor Dhaba under the Zirakpur flyover on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway last night.

Kamaljit, who was seriously injured, was taken to Civil Hospital at Dera Bassi, where doctors declared him brought dead.

The driver of the car managed to flee from the spot, leaving his vehicle behind.The police impounded the vehicle and registered a case against the unidentified driver.

In the second incident, a local resident, Prabhudyal (32), allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his room.

The police said the victim had locked the room from inside before taking the extreme step. “No suicide note was found from the spot”, said the police.

The victim was working in a Baddi-based private company and was suffering from depression, said a family member.

Prabhudyal is survived by his wife and two sons.

The body of the victim was handed over to the kin after conducting a post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi. 

Chandigarh, April 24
A 60-member contingent of soccer players left the city this evening with 28 confirmed railway tickets from Delhi to Pune in hand. The group is expected to get 21 more reserved seats under the ministry quota.

The contingent includes players representing the city in the boys (U-19) and girls (U-19) and (U-17) categories in the national football championship to be held under the aegis of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) at Pune from April 26.

The contingent left the city with 28 confirmed tickets purchased on Thursday morning under the Tatkal scheme. For the remaining tickets, the authorities are relying on the ministry quota that would be announced a few hours before the Pune-bound train leaves Hazrat Nizamuddin station on Friday morning.

“We approached parents, senior UT officials and the local MP to get tickets. At present, we have 28 confirmed tickets and for the remaining seats, we are relying on the ministry quota. The things will become clear after the final reservation chart is out. Chart is released a few hours before the departure of a train. We are hopeful of getting 21 more confirmed tickets,” said an official.

Head coach Jagpal Singh said, “We have got as many tickets as we could lay our hands on in the eleventh hour. Now, the situation would become clear tomorrow morning. We are leaving for Delhi from where we will be boarding a Pune-bound train at 8.50 am. In any case, we are ready to travel and play with as many tickets we will have.”

Chandigarh, April 24
The Panchkula Cricket Association defeated Chandigarh’s Playing XI of the cricket stadium, Sector 16 here, by six wickets during a match of the 1st State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur Cricket Cup held here today.

Invited to bat first, the local team fumbled out on a mere total of 98 runs in 33.2 overs. Vickey with 29 runs off 57 balls, Lovepreet (15 off 37) and Unhad (16 off 38) remained the main scorers for the team. For the bowling side, Aakash Yadav was claimed three wickets while conceding four runs. Kshitij took two wickets for seven runs.

In reply, the Panchkula side attained the target in 24.3 overs with Aman Kumar and Surya Kanojia hitting 30 runs and 26 runs, respectively. For Chandigarh side, Heam took all the four wickets. 

Chandigarh, April 24
The Chandigarh Cricket Association has announced probables (boys U-25), who would undergo a training camp at the cricket stadium in Sector 16 here from April 28 onwards.

The final team selected from among these players will participate in the inter-district tournament to be organised by the Punjab Cricket Association from May 8 onwards.

Among the probables selected are Bhagminder, Akshey Kaushik, Gaurav Puri, Veer Karan Goel, Anshul Tripathy, Simranpreet, Gaurav, Sagar Babbar, Jaskaran Singh Sohi, Gurinder Singh, Naveen Dhiman, Sumit Hooda, Mandeep Singh, Sachin, Rakesh Rawat, Jaskaran Singh, Amanpreet Singh, Aman Bharti, Hemang, Anil, Rahul and Shivam.

Chandigarh, April 24
A total of 10 players maintained the lead at the end of the second round of the 25th Chandigarh Chess Championship, which began at St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, here today.

A total of 59 players are participating in the championship and the top four players will represent Chandigarh in the National Challengers Championship to be held at Dharamshala from May 9 to 19. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 24
The Chandigarh Carrom Association has announced its annual events’ calendar for the upcoming session.

The association will host the first tournament of the upcoming season from May 24. Besides, the association has also decided to select Chandigarh’s teams in the men and women categories for the forthcoming national and zonal carrom championships organised by the All India Carrom Federation.

The Association will hold its summer coaching camp in June.

Schedule

May 24-26: 17th St. Stephen’s Carrom Ranking Tournament.

July 27-29: 24th State Chandigarh State Carrom Championship.

September 13-15: 16th Raj Kumar Babuta Memorial Prize Money Carrom championship.