Chandigarh, July 22
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Arun Kumar Singal today sentenced a youth to three years rigorous imprisonment in a robbery case.

The court sentenced Rajinder Singh, a resident of Khuda Lahora, to three years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 on him. The convict had attacked a Punjab policeman at his Sector 20 police colony residence in March this year.The complainant, Punjab policeman Parminder Singh, was alone at his residence when he was attacked in March this year.

As per the prosecution case, the incident occurred on March 6 this year when Rajinder Singh broke into Parminder’s house and gave a fist blow to the policeman. He then fled with his purse and mobile. 

Chandigarh, July 22
The Chandigarh Administration has informed a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that Sumit Kaur cannot be granted extension as UT Chief Architect beyond October 31. Information in this regard was furnished to the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Ajay Tewari on a petition filed by Rajbir Singh Attri. He had challenged the extensions granted to Sumit Kaur as the UT Chief Architect on the ground that the “rights of other people were affected”. He had also argued that reasons had also not been recorded for granting further extension to her as the Chief Architect.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, the Bench was told that Sumit Kaur’s tenure as the Chief Architect expired in 2013, but she was granted extension. Senior counsel appearing for Chandigarh Administration said her services were retained “on account of the Master Plan, the recommendations for which have already been made”.

He also told the Court on the Administration’s behalf that extension in service granted to her was till further orders, but she could not continue beyond October 31, when she attained the age of superannuation. He also assured that “there was, thus, no possibility or legal permissibility of granting her extension beyond October 31”.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted: “We take the statement on record and leave it to the respondents to examine what should be her remaining tenure, subject to, of course, the ceiling of October 31, where after, in any case, there will be no case for her to continue as she would be superannuating.

In his petition, Rajbir Singh Attri had earlier sought directions to the Administration and other respondents to carry out fresh appointment to the post of Chief Architect, Chandigarh, through a high-level selection committee.

Chandigarh, July 22
Less than two months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued directions that could alter the face of the city’s margins, including fresh identification of forest land on the basis of revenue record, Punjab Financial Commissioner (Revenue) has undertaken to appoint a team of officers.

Appearing before Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Ajay Tewari, Financial Commissioner (Revenue) said the team would comprise Land Records Director APS Virk and Ludhiana District Revenue Officer Mukesh Kumar.

Taking a note of the developments, the Bench asserted: “We make it clear that the committee will proceed in terms of the ambit of the judgment passed by the Supreme Court and shall be supervised by the Financial Commissioner (Revenue). As proposed by the Additional Advocate-General, on instructions, the committee will conclude its work not later than October 31.”

The Bench had, on a previous date of hearing, asserted: “It is for the state government to proceed to identify the forest land in terms of the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal Nos. 4682-4683 of 2005 titled as BS Sandhu versus the Government of India and others, decided on May 21, based on the revenue record and the test laid therein.”

The developments took place during the hearing of the petition filed by the gram panchayat of Bari Karoran. The directions earlier issued by the court also included the undertaking of appropriate development works in Bari Karoran ‘as per the final master plan and Notified Area Committee of Nayagaon’, if the land was not forest.

The high court on March 4 had asserted that it would be appropriate to await the Supreme Court’s final view in the case of ‘BS Sandhu versus the Government of India and others’, popularly known as the Forest Hill case.

The Bench subsequently observed that the matter was decided on May 21, and the perusal of the judgment showed that the Supreme Court did not agree with the High Court’s conclusion that land notified under Section 3 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, and regulated by prohibitory directions notified under Sections 4 and 5 thereof, was forest land.

The Bench observed: “In a nutshell, the ratio of the judgment of Supreme Court is that whether a land is a forest land or not would depend on the land records. Merely because the land is notified under Section 3 of the PLPA would not ipso facto make it forest land.”

The Bench added that the complete ground reality had changed in view of the order and the State Additional Advocate-General could not dispute the proposition that ‘an exercise would have to be carried out by the state government now to identify such land as forest land as per the revenue record’. 

Panchkula, July 22
A 45-year-old man was found dead at his residence in Sector 11 this morning. The victim, identified as Vikas Bali, was working as an LIC agent.

The room in which the victim’s wife and children were sleeping was locked from outside when they woke up in the morning. The family said they found Bali hanging from a ceiling fan in his room and lowered his body. Bali is survived by his wife, a son, who studies in Class XII, and a daughter. Though prima facie it appears to be a case of suicide, the police are working on several theories. No suicide note was found from the spot.

Bali’s wife Seema and their two children were sleeping in one room, while Vikas was sleeping in a separate room. “In the morning, when Seema tried to open the door of her room, it was locked from outside. She called her father-in-law to open the door of the room,” said a police official, quoting the family.

“According to the family members, when Seema went to Vikas’ room, she found his body hanging with a dupatta from a ceiling fan,” the official said. Bali was taken to the General Hospital, Sector 6, where he was declared brought dead.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, relatives of the victim said everything appeared normal last night and Bali was not depressed. “Uncle had dinner with the family as usual. I don’t know how it happened,” said a friend of the victim’s son. The police interrogated from colleagues of the victim, who said Bali had a good reputation in the market.

The postmortem examination of the body was conducted, which indicated death due to hanging. The viscera has been sent for a chemical examination and the exact cause of the death will be known after the report is received.

Chandigarh July 22
The UT police today registered an FIR against personal assistant of DC (UT) Mohammed Shayin, Poonam Malik, and another official of Red Cross Society, Ashish Ahuja, under the SC/ST Act. The FIR was registered at the Sector 11 police station.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of a former Red Cross Society employee, Sushil Kumar Taank, who filed a complaint before a local court in this regard. In his application before the court, applicant, Taank, alleged Malik and Ahuja started harassing him in June, 2013, and passed caste-based remarks in their interactions whenever he went to their office. The applicant also claimed that the behaviour of the two caused him mental harassment. The petitioner, Sushil Kumar Taank, had been working with the Red Cross Society for a long time. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 22
The crime branch of the Chandigarh police has arrested a computer engineer, Vijay Pandey, hailing from Gorakhpur, for sending threatening messages to a realtor and posing as a wanted murderer.

A builder had complained that he was receiving threat letters via email last week.

Shiv Kumar Baagolia, a builder and owner of Sand Wood Infratech Pvt Limited, had complained that he was receiving threatening emails on his official email ID. Through the letter, the person was demanding $50,000 and threatening the builder of dire consequences. The builder also received an SMS from mobile No. 8737085901, asking him not to inform the police and hand over the demanded money. The builder was also threatened that if he informed the police, he would meet the same fate as that of the owner of Sham Mall in Sector 34.

On his complaint, the police registered a case under Section 66-A of the IT Act and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at the Sector 34 police station on July 8. The investigation was entrusted to the crime branch. A team was constituted to apprehend the culprit under the supervision of the DSP (Crime). The mobile number used by the culprit was found to be that of Eastern UP Circle of Uninor Company. The address was not known. The police laid a trap near Madan Mohan Malviya University, Gorakhpur, and apprehended the accused, Vijay Pandey.

Pandey runs a business of creating websites to send free SMSes for illegal activities. Besides other electronic gadgets, eight SIM cards of various cellular companies were recovered from him.