Chandigarh, July 11
Over a decade after 71-year-old teacher Jai Gopal Verma retired from a school in Manimajra, the battle between the Chandigarh Administration and Haryana over the payment of pension to him has come to an end.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has not only made it clear that the Chandigarh Administration has to pay the pension, but has also rapped it for making the retired teacher run from one department to another for the same.

Verma retired from service in 2003, but the issue of paying pension to him remained a matter of legal battle. It was brought to the high court’s notice after the UT filed a petition against Haryana. The issue before the court was whether Verma was an employee of the Chandigarh Administration or Haryana for the purposes of pension.

During the hearing of the petition, both Administration and the Haryana Government relied on an order dated November 12, 1968, passed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The order said Education Department employees serving in connection with the affairs of Punjab state in the territories specified in the relevant Act, but required provisionally to serve in connection with the affairs of Chandigarh in order dated October 24, 1966, would be deemed to have been finally allotted Chandigarh with effect from November 1, 1966.

Verma approached the Central Administrative Tribunal seeking pension from the UT Administration on the ground that he becomes UT employee in view of the office order. The plea was supported by Haryana, but was disputed by the UT.

The tribunal was of the view that Government Co-Educational High School, Manimajra, became a part of Chandigarh and Verma was deployed in the school. As such, in terms of the office order, his services in the composite state of Punjab were placed with the UT. Even promotion order was passed by the Administration. It concluded that if Verma was not a part of the UT Cadre, there was no occasion for passing his promotion order.

Dismissing the appeal filed by the UT, the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Ajay Tewari asserted: “We are in agreement with the view taken by the Tribunal. Firstly, the notification makes it clear as to who is to be allocated where. The engagement of Verma at the Manimajra School, which became part of Union Territory, thus does not leave this in doubt.” This is not a sole factor as even promotion offer was made to him and promotion was also made thereafter. In this behalf no communications were marked to Haryana, though one of the communications referred to him as deputationist….”

“The petitioner was the employer. He could have easily produced the relevant documents to substantiate their stand or otherwise by producing the list of the persons who were absorbed in the UT cadre,” it said.

“This they have failed to do. We may also note that he is a 71-year-old pensioner and at this stage he should not be made to run from one government to another on account of inter se conflict among the governments as to who would pay the pension. The factum of his service with the petitioner for a period of 38 years is in any case not in doubt”, it added.

Panchkula, July 11
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum today held the Alchemist Hospital in Sector 21 and a Sector 8-based doctor, who is a consulting doctor with the hospital, responsible for the negligence caused in the death of a newborn in 2006.

The hospital and Dr Kamla Thukral have been directed to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation besides litigation expenses to the victim, Dharmendra Thakur, a resident of Zirakpur.

Earlier, the complaint was decided on November 21, 2008, by the district forum. However, the hospital and the doctor filed appeals before the state commission, which remanded the case with a direction that it should be decided afresh in accordance with the law.

The complainant stated that she was pregnant and got regular check-ups done from Dr Thukral at her residence-cum-clinic in Sector 8, Panchkula, where everything was said to be normal. Thukral was also a consultant at the Alchemist Hospital.

Meanwhile, a doctor at the hospital gave June 11 as the expected date of delivery to Thakur. On June 10, she felt labour pain but Thukral said it was a false pain due to the anxiety of the baby.

At about 4 pm, the complainant, who was in pain, was got admitted to the Alchemist after she contacted Thukral. On June 12 morning, the complainant felt no movement of her child and asked the doctor present on duty to check her. Later, Thukral also examined the complainant and told that by 11 am the next morning, nothing would happen and that she would visit at 9 am, the complainant had alleged.

The complainant stated that at about 2.45 pm, she delivered a dead baby.

In the death certificate, the cause of death was mentioned as distress due to the cord around neck.

The Alchemist Hospital, through its general manager, appeared before the forum and asserted that the complainant was examined in the Alchemist Hospital by Dr Kamla Thukral, who is an independent visiting doctor and not employed or on the payroll of the hospital. The hospital stated that the child died due to cord abnormalities and whatever was required to be done by a prudent institution, was done.

Dr Kamla Thukral, in her written reply, also denied the allegation.

However, the forum, in its order, stated that there was a negligence on the part of doctors, who treated the complainant, as they did not take any step to get the cord around the baby’s neck released.

Apart from a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and litigation expenses, the opposite parties have been directed to pay the bill of Rs 6,005, paid by the complainant to the hospital.

Chandigarh, July 11
In a matter of shame for Panjab University (PU), the Head of Department (HoD) of Gandhian and Peace Studies was today manhandled by a PhD student from the same department over allotment of hostel seat here today.

The situation arrived after a spate of arguments between the duo at around 1pm when the student, Suresh Kumar Jaglan, requested the HoD, Manish Sharma, to accept his application for hostel but Dr Sharma informed him that a probe was going on against him (Suresh) and permission was to be sought from the PU academic branch before allotment.

The arguments were followed by an assault, alleged Dr Sharma.

It was only after police officials and the PU chief security officer reached the department that the situation could be brought under control at about 2.15pm.

“The student has an inquiry pending against him. The inquiry was initiated after Prof ML Sharma complained against him.

He (Suresh) was trying to harass Prof ML Sharma by alleging that he had submitted forged documents in the PU. Rather, it was Suresh who was expelled from a job from Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College, Mahilpur, as he had given fake documents.”

Suresh, on the other hand, said he was being “unnecessarily harassed”.

He said he was surprised to know about the inquiry going on against him.

When I asked them more about the inquiry, they refused to speak to him and provoked me to protest,” Suresh said.

Chandigarh, July 11
The UT vigilance wing on Thursday arrested a former president of the Victoria Enclave, Sector 50, on the charges of cheating, forgery and causing loss of crores to the Chandigarh Administration.

The accused, Kulwant Singh Gill (66), had earlier been arrested by the CBI in connection with fraud and causing a loss to the state exchequer. He was taken on one-day police remand from a local court.

The police said Gill had been allotted a flat by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), but he sold it to someone else and later obtained a flat in Victoria Enclave allegedly with the connivance of some officials of the Department of Co-operative Societies.

The Vigilance officials have identified two officials of the department and a retired official against whom action will be taken. Gill had been elected president of the society by forging several documents. 

Chandigarh, July 11
A woman, a resident of Sector 33, has accused a retired Punjab IAS officer of raping her. She has lodged a complaint at the public window of the police headquarters in the case and a special investigating team (SIT) has been formed to probe the complaint.

The Punjab cadre IAS officer, whom she has accused of rape, retired in 2011, and is currently posted with a commission in Punjab.

In her complaint, the woman alleged that the former IAS officer raped her several times over the years. The woman said she was forced to complain now as the officer was now, wanting to exploit her daughter. The woman has also claimed that she may be killed by the former officer. The woman has also attached their pictures with the complaint along with bank details, depicting how she was used for arranging money for the former officer. UT SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said they hadformed an SIT to probe the matter. The SIT comprises DSP (crime against women) Kamla Meena, Inspector Poonam Dilawari and Inspector Rajesh Shukla, SHO of the Sector 34 police station.

The woman in her complaint has alleged that the former IAS officer was her husband’s friend. The woman claimed that her husband, a drunkard, also used to arrange money for the IAS officer. She also gave details of bank transactions showing transfer of lakhs of rupees from her account to the former IAS officer’s account. The woman claimed that she was exploited with the consent of her husband.

Chandigarh, July 11
The Crime Branch of the Chandigarh Police arrested two persons for stealing a Yamaha motorcycle.

The accused were riding the stolen motorcycle, when they were nabbed near the PGI. They were identified as Sanjay, alias Suraj, a resident of Fatehpur in UP, and Avtar Singh, alias Raja, a resident of Patiala, Punjab.

The police have claimed that three cases of theft/burglary were already registered against the accused. They have also recovered jewellery worth Rs 3 lakhs from their possession.

Prior to this, they were arrested by the Crime Branch and 60 cases of snatching, burglary and theft registered at different police stations of the city were solved.

Sanjay was even sent to jail for criminal activities and he jumped bail in some cases.

Both the accused were produced in a court. Avtar Singh was awarded judicial custody for 14 days while Sanjay was sent to police custody. 

Chandigarh, July 11
Second seeded Elwin Antony lifted the title of the CLTA-AITA Men’s Singles 1 Lakh Tennis Tournament, here today. In the women’s category, Anjali Thakur logged win.

In the final clash, Elwin Antony proved too good for erratic Brahmjot Singh as he won the final by conceding only one game in each set.

Left-handed Elwin broke Brahmjot’s serve in the second game of the match. The game was broken after 12 deuces. Both the players used powerful serve and ground strokes. Elwin was more consistent and dominated the match with his good shot selection. Brahmjot, on the other hand failed to give a tough competition to his opponent.

In the women’s singles, Anjali Thakur of Madhya Pradesh defeated Baani Singh of Punjab. The match lasted for 2 hours 15 minutes. Both the players played some good rallies.

Anjali used her experience to win the first set 6-2. But Baani bounced back to take a 5-0 lead in the second set. After that she conceded only one game in the set.

In the final set, Baani again broke Anjali’s serve in the first game but she could not maintain consistency and made unforced errors at important points. She lost the final set 2-6.

Meanwhile, in men’s doubles final which was played on Thursday, top seeded Bhavesh Gaur and Aditya Tiwari of Madhya Pradesh defeated duo from Gujarat, Vidit Vaghela and Kunal Vazirani. The match was fully stretched when top seeds lost first set 6-7(4) and came back to win second set 7-6(5).

In the final set, super tie break, they were down a match point 8-9 and won next three points to win the super tie breaker 11-9.

Chandigarh, July 11
City golfer Saaniya Sharma finished sixth with Kolkata’s Neha Tripathi and Pune’s Shweta Galande. The trio scored identical totals of 226 after 54 holes in the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at Bengaluru’s flagship KGA Golf Course.

Saaniya carded three birdies on third, ninth and 11th holes and an equal number of bogeys on the seventh, ninth and 14th holes.

The tour would now move to Eagleton Golf Resort in Bengaluru for Leg 9. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 11
In the open table tennis tournament, Deevanshi, girls’ category, and Ishan Kapoor, boys’ category, lifted the title here at Sector 23, today.

The tournament was held under the aegis of the Chandigarh Table Tennis Association. It was organised and sponsored by Chandigarh Table Tennis Club.