Jalandhar, October 15
Coming as a yet another jolt for the already troubled Jalandhar Improvement Trust, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked its Chairman and EO to pay up a compensation of Rs 5.4 lakh to a Nakodar-based complainant who had been allotted an HIG flat in the Hare Krishna Tower scheme in September 2006 but not handed over possession till date.

The complainant Surinder Kumar Modi said that he had applied for an HIG flat in the 17 kanal 1 marla scheme through a lucky draw held on September 15, 2006. He said he was allotted HIG flat number 102, ground floor, on November 9, 2006. As per the allotment letter, he was to pay Rs 24,69,600. He said that he was to be delivered the possession of the flat within two and half years as per the terms of the allotment letter, which should have been done by June 2009 at most.

The plaintiff said that he had purchased the flat for his own use and occupation and had paid the huge amount of Rs 24,69,600 but remained deprived of using the flat till date. He assessed his loss at Rs 10,000 per month, which he said should be treated as fair rental value of the property, i.e if the complainant had rented out the property then, he could easily have got Rs.10,000 per month from the property and the complainant had been paying the rent for his accommodation where he is currently residing at Rs 12,000 per month which too amounted to Rs 5.4 lakh.

Upon notice, the JIT counsel appeared and filed a written reply raising preliminary objections that the dispute could be decided by the civil court and that the construction of the flat was complete and ready for delivery of possession but the complainant never came to take possession etc. Any delay in delivery of possession could be because of the circumstances.

The forum has not placed on record any letter written by it to the complainant to take possession of the flat mentioning that the construction of the flat is complete. “The damages assessed by the complainant are reasonable. In fact, damages assessed by the complainant are on the lower side. Damages of Rs 10,000 per month or Rs 1.2 lakh per annum are less than the interest of 6 per cent per annum on the amount paid by the complainant towards the price of the flat. The Trust in its affidavit has mentioned that the contractor was penalised for delayed construction and any defects if found would be removed. So in a way, they admitted the delay in construction of the flat and further averments in the affidavit that if any defect was found, it would be removed clearly suggesting that the construction is not complete till date. The complaint is accepted and the opposite parties are directed to pay Rs 5.4 lakh as compensation The complainant is also awarded Rs 10,000 per month as compensation for the failure to deliver the possession of the complainant from the date of filing of the suit till the delivery of possession of the flat to him.

After completion of the flat in all respects, the Trust shall give notice to the complainant through registered post to take possession of the flat. The complainant is also awarded Rs 3,000 on account of litigation expenses. 

Jalandhar, October 15
The Excise and Taxation Department had seized three loaded trucks with bogus and incomplete billings. They were seized during a separate checking at a naka installed between Phillaur and Goraya.

Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Bhupinder Gupta said trucks were seized during a joint naka set up by the officials last night.

The AETC said the truck was carrying a consignment of dry fruits and the driver was showing the bills of garments, in a clear attempt to evade taxes. As per the documents, the consignment was coming from Mumbai but in reality, the consignment belonged to a Ludhiana-based trader and had initiated from Ludhiana only.

In the second seizure, the excise officials seized a truck loaded with iron material. As per the initial calculations, the truck was carrying around 21 tonnes of goods but the bills shown by the driver stated only 5 tonnes of iron goods. The truck was heading to Gobindgarh from Amritsar.

They also seized a truck loaded with copper. The AETC said the driver had shown all the bills and the same was being tallied to find out tax evasions if any. AETC Gupta said in the three seizures, the owner of the consignments were called by the excise department for clarification failing which penalty as per the law would be levied.

Jalandhar, October 15
The remaining accused involved in the murder of the BJP ward secretary Vinod Kumar aka Vicky, who surrendered on Tuesday, told the police that Vicky was murdered after he refused to gamble again, after winning Rs 15,000.

Earlier, there were rumours that Vicky had won Rs 4 lakh and was murdered after he refused to play further.

ACP (North) Amneet Kondal said the accused, who had remained at large for 15 days, took shelter at Jammu, Jagadri and Jaipur adding that yesterday, he had surrendered at the Police Commissionerate.

The accused told the police that after the altercation, Vicky fled from the spot but was chased by them at the Old Central Mill, where one of the accused Jaspal alias Raju slit his throat with a knife.

"The remand of the accused will be sought to inquire more into the incident," said the ACP.

The body of Vinod Kumar, alias Vicky, son of Ashok Kumar, a resident of Mahindru Mohalla, was recovered from the Old Central Mill on Railway Road on September 28, last month. The victim, a BJP secretary of Ward No. 27, was close to the Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari.

Jalandhar, October 15
An 85-year-old man was found dead today under mysterious conditions at his residence in Dhaliwal Kadia village in Lambra. The deceased has been identified as Hakam Singh. He had recently returned from the USA.

Police sources said the deceased had recently returned from abroad for some medical treatment here. "The incident came to the fore when his (deceased’s) helper arrived home this morning and nobody opened the door despite repeated knocks. The helper immediately informed the other villagers and the police. After the villagers entered the house by scaling a wall, they found him lying dead on the bed. Blood was flowing from the deceased's ears," said a police source.

Although the deceased's family members had suspected murder behind the death, the police has ruled out the possibility.

Lambra police officials said according to the circumstances and preliminary investigation, it didn't look like a murder but a natural death. Still the police would thoroughly investigate the case.

Jalandhar, October 15
The chairperson of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) has written a letter to the Chief Secretary, Punjab, following a complaint by BBA Punjab activists alleging that the Kapurthala SDM, Paramjit Singh, misbehaved with them.

In his complaint, BBA activist Dinesh Kumar alleged that they had met Kapurthala SDM Paramjit Singh following complaints made to them regarding the prevalence of child labour in the district. But in reply, the SDM said child labour was not prevalent in Kapurthala district.

Kumar alleged, “On Monday, we met the SDM demanding that some areas with prevalence of child labour, be raided. When we approached the SDM yesterday, he misbehaved and said this was a “business” of ours and refused to accompany us. It was a complaint related to bonded labour. It was necessary that the SDM should have accompanied us. We submitted a complaint at the DC office on the same day.”

Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner DS Mangat said, “I personally did not receive any complaint but I asked the ADC to record the statements of the activists this morning. Regarding the raids, the BBA activists changed their previous stand saying they did not have any information regarding them. So, at present no raid is being conducted.”

ADC (General) Kapurthala, Kuldeep Singh Chandi, said, “Since a complaint had been made by the BBA, the matter had to be looked into. We have taken their statement but the SDM’s statement is yet to be taken. The activists told us that people who had information on the issue had left the town, so raids could not be done today.”

Dinesh Kumar said, “I did not want a raid to be conducted today since it requires an elaborate task force and the parents of the reported victims had left the town.”

The BBA has forwarded the complaint to its head office in Delhi and also marked copies to the National Legal Services Authority and SCPCR.

BBA chairperson RS Chaurasia said, “We have received the complaint and shall forward the matter to the Chief Secretary, Punjab, this evening. We also previously received complaints from Punjab and taken up the matter. While some officials seem to be delaying action on child labour, our utmost stress will be to get child/bonded labour completely eradicated.”

SDM Paramjit Singh could not be available for comments despite repeated attempts.

Jalandhar, October 15
A district-level protest was held by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) outside DAV College here today.

Teachers from Jalandhar and Kapurthala were present on the occasion in huge numbers. Teachers demanded release of grants pending for the past 18 months to colleges and condemned the education policies of the state government.

Union secretary Professor VK Sareen headed the dharna. He said while all the members – under the flag of the union – were fighting for their rights, education was certainly not on the agenda of the state government.

District president Professor Tejinder Virli said due to the anti-education policies of the state government, many students were giving up studies. They said the state government’s move to snatch security of service from unaided teachers was also a proof of its complete disregard of the education system.

Other issues raised on the occasion were the anomalies in services of staff and the losses to them every month and the lack of grants to state colleges for the past 18 months owing to which many teachers had not got salaries for a long time.

Jalandhar, October 15
At a time when most farmers are wrongfully burning the straw in their harvested paddy fields, the Department of Agriculture has started dissuading them from doing so by holding demonstrations of the new rotavator-cum-chopper-cum-shredder and introducing a 50 per cent subsidy scheme for the same.

Manmohan Kalia, agriculture engineer, said camps were being organised to apprise the farmers of the fact that instead of burning the straw, which leads to pollution as well as loss of important organic chemicals, farmer-friendly bacteria and worms in the soil, they should instead use the machine, get the straw chopped and again mixed with soil. He said that the effort could help the farmers improve the yield of the next potato crop up to 10 quintal per acre.

Agriculture Field Officer Naresh Gulati said the machine could help the farmers restore 1 lakh ton of nitrogen, 0.5 lakh ton of phosphorus and 2.5 lakh ton of potash back to the field in an acre of stretch which was present in the 24 lakh tonnes of residual paddy straw being burnt and wasted otherwise. He said a demonstration for the same was held at Gol village in Adampur.

Chief Agricultural Officer Dr Sutantar Aeri said the state government was also shortly likely to come up with a legislation which could lead to prosecution of the farmers burning the straw. 

Jalandhar, October 15
The Punjab Technical University(PTU) will hold a three-day international conference on ‘Advancement and Futuristic Trends in Mechanical and Materials Engineering’ from tomorrow on its campus in Kapurthala. Dr Sudhir Jain, Vice-Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu, will be the chief guest. Prof Christopher C Berndt from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, will be the keynote speaker.

For the valedictory ceremony, Dr Charles M Kay, vice-president, ASB Industries, the US, will be the chief guest and Dr Jeganathan Karthikeyan from ASB Industries will grace the occasion as a guest of honour. Vice- Chancellor, PTU, Dr Rajneesh Arora will preside over the functions. — TNS

Jalandhar, October 15
The GNA University organised an inter-college Biz Quiz competition- “Kshitiz” here on Wednesday. The quiz was open for all under-graduate and post-graduate students. The questions were based on Indian and international business, general awareness, current affairs, media and entertainment.

It was a tough fight amongst the participating teams, who came to attend the event from different parts of the state. The team of HMV College, Jalandhar, comprising of Nitika, Navjot and Anubha won the first prize and were awarded a cash prize of Rs 21,000. The trophy was given by Gurdeep Singh Seehra, Pro-Chancellor, GNA University. DAVIET, Jalandhar, won the second prize and got a cash prize of Rs 11,000 along with the first runners-up trophy.

The third prize was secured by the team of Kamla Nehru College for Women.The team was given a cash prize of Rs 5,100 and the second runners-up trophy. All the participants were given certificates.

Dr Tejwant Singh, Registrar GNA University, Dr S K Singla, Director, GNA-IMT, Sunil Sarad GM,corporate affairs, and Bhupinder Singh, Head, HR, also graced the occasion.