New Delhi, September 15
The number of prosecutions under violation of Legal Metrology Act 2009 and Packaged Commodities Rules 2011 has gone up by 125 per cent in the first five months of this financial year in comparison to the corresponding period of last year.

The Commissioner of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs, SS Yadav, said 1,740 traders have been prosecuted so far for various offences and malpractices. "A number of complaints were received about violation of the Packaged Commodity Rules 2011, therefore the department has taken up a special drive to prevent cheating of consumers," Yadav said.

The compounding fee collected from the violators has also gone up from Rs 33.7 lakh last year to Rs 59.33 lakh in the first five months of the current financial year. An offence under the Legal Metrology Act 2009 is punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 and for the second or subsequent offences, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year.

Yadav said that the rules make it mandatory to provide opportunity to the consumers to file complaints. To facilitate this, every package shall bear name, address telephone number, e-mail address of the person who can be contacted in case of complaints.

It has also been noticed that some traders fix a sticker containing the revised MRP on the package or simply strike off the original MRP and write revised MRP.

"This is not permitted. It is only when the maximum retail price (MRP) is to be reduced, sticker with the lower MRP may be fixed and the same shall not cover MRP declaration made by manufacturer or the packer on the label of the package," he said.

As per the Legal Metrology Act 2009, every pre-packaged commodity must have certain declarations so that the consumers are informed of the commodity inside the package and are not cheated by the manufacturers, importers and retailers.

Each package must have a declaration containing the name and address of the manufacturers and packers, common or generic name of the commodity, net quantity, month and year of manufacture and retail sale price of the package. For imported packaged commodity, the package must contain the name and address of the importer.

New Delhi, September 15
A 14-year-old boy allegedly killed his father by stabbing him at their home in Rohini late last night.

The incident took place after the juvenile allegedly saw his mother being roughed up by his father, Babu Singh (40), who worked as an auto-rickshaw driver. Singh lived with his wife and three children at Sardar Colony. The accused is a Class IX student.

Singh's family said he had got into the habit of drinking and would often return home in an inebriated state. "The juvenile said his father would often come home late and beat his mother right in front of him and siblings," said a police officer.

Yesterday at about 10 pm, Singh returned home allegedly in an inebriated condition and began fighting with his wife. She informed the police and the couple was taken to the KN Katju Marg police station. At about 11 pm, after giving a warning to Singh, the police allowed the couple to go home.

"While the woman went home, Singh went somewhere and again consumed alcohol. He returned home and began beating her," added the officer.

According to the police, the accused had retired to his room. He heard his mother crying. When he came out of his room, he saw his father allegedly beating his mother.

"The boy went to his parents' room and took out a kirpan (dagger). He stabbed his father in the stomach," said the officer.

The boy's mother was shocked to see what had happened and raised the alarm. "Neighbours gathered at their house," said the officer.

The boy ran and hid himself at a nearby gurdwara.

One of the neighbours called the police. The police took Singh to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital where he died during treatment.

The boy was apprehended later from the gurdwara. He was presented before the Juvenile Justice Board from where he was sent to a juvenile correction home for boys. "The boy said if he had not killed his father, the latter would have strangled his mother," said the officer.

New Delhi, September 15
The Delhi government has decided to give a last chance to around 2579 operators of contract and mini buses for renewing their cancelled permits.

The permits of these operators were cancelled last month after their addresses were found to be incorrect by Delhi Police.

According to state transport authority (STA) official, after the cancellation of permits, some operators approached with verification certificates issued by Delhi Police in respect of their new address and requested revocation of their permits.

"We have decided to give last opportunity to permit holders of contract carriage buses/mini buses who have got their new address verified from police and now want to get their new addresses endorsed in the registration certificate and permit," said a senior official of transport department.

Official also said that these operators are also advised to furnish the police verification report of their new addresses to STA and apply to registering authority with the requisite documents and fee.

There are close to 8,000 such buses plying in the national Capital.

"Transport department has asked operators of contract and mini buses to get their new verified address endorsed in the registration certificate till October 11," he added.

On August 19 this year, transport department had cancelled permits of 2579 those buses and mini buses, whose addresses were not found correct by the Delhi Police during verification drive. Permits of these vehicles had also been locked so that no transaction can take place.

The address verification drive had been initiated after the December 16 gangrape incident when it was found that the owner of the vehicle, Dinesh Yadav, had submitted false address proof.

Thereafter, the Ministry of Home Affairs had asked for verification of all permit holders be carried out. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 15
Three juveniles have been apprehended for allegedly murdering a shopkeeper who would often order them to fetch cigarettes and tea for him.

The incident took place at south-east Delhi's Jaitpur locality on Sunday evening.

The victim has been identified as Shivam (20), who ran a mobile recharge coupon shop in Jaitpur. The accused are aged below 15. After their arrest, they allegedly told the police that Shivam would allegedly force them to bring cigarettes and tea for him from the local market. They were not employed at his shop.

The accused are the residents of JJ colony, Madanpur Khadar in Jaitpur area. They would play near Shivam's shop in the evenings. "Shivam would often would call them to his shop and direct them to bring cigarettes and tea. When they refused to do so, he would abuse them," said a police officer.

On late Sunday evening, when the three accused were playing near Shivam's shop, he again directed them to fetch cigarettes and tea. This time the three boys went towards his shop and allegedly started beating him. They left Shivam in a pool of blood.

A local shopkeeper, who had witnessed the incident, placed a call to the police who reached the site and rushed Shivam to a nearby hospital, where the doctors declared him dead.

On the basis of the identities revealed by the eyewitness, the police launched a search to apprehend the accused. On Monday morning, they were apprehended and sent to a juvenile home. 

New Delhi, September 15
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has launched a centralized 24x7 computerised centre for speedy redressal of public grievances.

"Complaints pertaining to daily life such as water supply, contamination, request for tankers, etc., will be urgently disposed of on a priority basis and junior engineers are directed to attend to the complaints personally. All the complaints are being monitored by senior officials and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DJB," said an official of the DJB.

"Consumers can call any time at the call centre over the toll free number - 1916 - and lodge their complaints with the call executives.

Consumers will have the option of registering their complaints both in English as well as in Hindi according to their convenience," the official said.

The registered complaints will automatically be forwarded to CCR system of the DJB for necessary action.

The official said customers will be provided with a unique reference number which will be mandatory for future references. The complainant will also receive an acknowledgement through SMS, email and phone call.

The DJB will maintain the record of all phone calls for future references, the official added.

The call centre was set up with the help of Intelligent Communications System India Limited, an undertaking of the Delhi government.

The new public grievance system is based on Customer Relationship Management Software and uses the latest technology for handling of huge database.

The new system improves the efficiency and service delivery of the DJB several folds by providing time bound and systematic redressal of all complaints.

New Delhi, September 15
The joint secretary of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and BJP MLA from Kalkaji, Harmit Kalka, today collected relief material for the Jammu and Kashmir flood victims.

Harmit, along with a group of people, had a walk from A-Block, Kalkaji, to Meera Bai Mandir in Govindpuri this morning appealing to people to donate whatever material they had for the victims.

He collected four trucks of relief material, including biscuits, blankets, medicines, woollen clothes. The material has been handed over to the Delhi BJP members from where it will be dispatched to Jammu and Kashmir.

He said people had shown enthusiasm to help the victims. Within a few hours, material worth lakhs of rupees has been collected.

The BJP also planned to deploy about 200 doctors and 400 paramedical staff in Jammu Kashmir. Tomorrow the counselling of a team of 55 doctors will be held by IMA president Dr S.S. Aggarwal, general secretary Dr K.K. Aggarwal and BJP doctor's cell convenor Dr Virendra Rohilla at Delhi BJP office.

Rajya Sabha MP and former BJP Delhi president Vijay Goel announced that he would donate his one month salary to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

"All of us must help in the relief and rehabilitation efforts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made an appeal in this connection. All of us should contribute as much as we can to the relief of our brothers and sisters affected by this natural calamity," Goel said.

New Delhi, September 15
It was a sunny Monday in the national Capital with the maximum temperature recorded at 34.9° C, a notch above the season's average. The Met department has forecast a partly cloudy Tuesday.

"Tuesday is likely to be partly cloudy. Thundershowers are expected in some areas," said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 35° and 23° C, respectively.

Today, the minimum temperature was recorded three notches below the season's average at 22.5° C.

Yesterday, the maximum and minimum temperatures settled a degree above the season's average at 34.8° C and 25.6° C, respectively. — IANS

New Delhi, September 15
A man, who had allegedly crashed a pickup van into a police vehicle and fired at the police personnel in south-east Delhi, has been arrested.

The man, who was apprehended on September 10 by the Delhi Police Special Cell, is identified as Dilshad. On June 13, the Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi had declared a reward of Rs 50,000 on Dilshad's arrest. The accused belongs to Mewat in Haryana.

The Special Cell was tipped off that Dilshad would be coming to Mathura Railway Station to meet a contact in the evening of September 10. The police laid a trap there and apprehended Dilshad. He was brought to Delhi.

In the intervening night of April 23 and 24, Dilshad along with his six associates had entered Delhi in a Mahindra pickup van without a number plate. A Police Control Room (PCR) vehicle, patrolling Mathura Road towards Ashram side, noticed this van and found it suspicious. The cops tried to stop the van by using sirens, but it sped away and took a sudden U-turn and moved towards Badarpur.

The van driver took another turn towards the Surya hotel and again took a U-turn for Mathura Road, but seeing another PCR van there, he took a wrong U-turn in the same carriageway.

"The PCR vehicle chasing the van tried to stop it but the van driver crashed into it. In the meantime, constable Ugarsain tried hanging on the front windscreen of the van, but the driver again reversed his van and fled towards Jamia Nagar, Delhi," said Sanjeev Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell).

Ugarsain was injured in this incident. The police arrested four persons. A case in regard to this incident was registered at the New Friends Colony police station.