Two booked for rape, confinement
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Nov 3 — The Sohana police has booked two persons, including the owner of a brick-kiln at Rurka village, for allegedly keeping a labourer, Rekha, in illegal confinement for over two months and repeatedly raping her.

A case has been registered by the police on the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after the husband of the victim moved the court. A case under Sections 344, 354 and 376 of the IPC was registered against the suspects on Tuesday. They are yet to be arrested.

According to the information available, the victim, along with her husband, hailing from Bihar, used to live in Rajpura before being employed at the brick-kiln at Rukra. While the women used to work as a part-time maid servant, her husband, Ramu, was a rickshaw-puller. On being approached by a person, one of the suspects, whose identity could not be ascertained, the couple came and started working at the brick-kiln.

After three months, when the couple asked for salary, they were threatened of dire consequences. The owner of the brick-kiln, Harish, and second person, allegedly kept Rekha in illegal confinement and raped her. After her husband moved the court, a warrant officer was appointed to recover the woman from the custody of the suspects.

CHANDIGARH

Woman duped: A resident of Sector 40 was reportedly duped of her gold ornaments by a couple claiming to have psychic powers in the sector market in the morning.

According to police sources, Ms Kailash was stopped by a well-dressed man in his 40s on the pretext of asking for directions. He enquired whether he was in Sector 27 but she pointed out that it was Sector 40. He struck up a conversation and was joined by a woman, who claimed that he had psychic powers and could double the jewellery she was wearing.

She handed over her gold bangles, ear-rings and a chain, wrapped in a handkerchief, to him. He asked her to walk a few paces and bring some mud for him. When she came back, he handed her the handkerchief with the directions that the packet should be opened at home.

She opened it after reaching home, only to find fake ornaments. A case under Sections 420 and 434 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Cyclist killed: A cyclist, Raj Kumar (12) was hit by a truck (HNA-6995) near the railway traffic lights late last night. He was rushed to the PGI, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The truck driver fled from the scene, leaving the vehicle behind. A case under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered at the Mani Majra police station.

Harassed: Ms Paramjit Kaur of Mani Majra reported that she was being harassed and ill-treated for bringing inadequate dowry by her husband, Charanjit Singh of Mohalla Govindpura in the township, and her in-laws, based at Sangrur, since her marriage in 1996. A case under Section 498-A of the IPC has been registered at the Mani Majra police station and further investigations are on.

Held with liquor: Indro of Daddu Majra was arrested for possessing 85 pouches of whisky. A case under Section 61\1\14 of the Excise Act has been registered at the Sector 39 police station.

Stolen: Mr Shiv Kumar of Kajheri reported that two gas cylinders had been stolen from his residence. A case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered at the Sector 36 police station.

One arrested: The police arrested Paramjit Kaur for stealing four suits from the shop of Surinder Kumar in the Sector 22 Shastri Market. A case has been registered.

Selection grade claim allowed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — A Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal consisting of the vice-chairman, Mr R.K. Nehru and the administrative member, Mr V. K. Majotra allowed the claim of Mr A. Sivalingam, Executive Engineer of the Engineering Department of the Chandigarh Administration for the grant of selection grade with effect from September 14,1982.

Under the instructions of the Chandigarh Administration, selection grade is admissible to an individual officer on the completion of 15 years’ service. The case of the applicant was that Mr Rajinder Singh was granted the selection grade effective from September, 1982. Therefore, he was also entitled to the higher grade from the said date.

The respondents refuted the applicant's claim on the plea that the petition was time-barred inasmuch as the claim was made from 1982, but the case was filed in 1996. The Administration also alleged that as the applicant had not completed 15 years’ service, and as such he was not entitled to the selection grade.

After considering the rival contentions, the Bench observed that the department itself had granted selection grade to the juniors of the applicant in 1994 and he had submitted a representation and it was after the expiry of the period of six months that he approached the tribunal. As such the petition was not time-barred.

Rejecting department's plea that the applicant had not completed 15 years of service, the Bench held that this was not the valid ground to deny the same grade if any junior had been granted the selection grade, the denial ofsuch a benefit to a senior would be discriminatory and no junior in the same grade could be given a higher pay scale than his senior unless the pay of the junior is personal to him.

Allowing the claim of the applicant, the Bench directed the respondents to grant the selection grade to the applicant from September, 1982, with all consequential benefits, including arrears of pay and allowance and asked them to comply with the directive within two months.

Tax on legal taxi stands mooted
Private agencies to maintain public toilets
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — In a bid to raise resources, the fund-starved Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) proposes to tax the legal taxi stands in the city.

A recommendation to this effect was made at the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting of the civic body here today. While recommending the levy in two slabs on the legal taxi stands, depending on the area occupied by them, the meeting decided to remove the illegal taxi stands from the encroached municipal lands.

According to sources, the taxi stands occupying an area of up to 2,000 square feet would be charged at the rate of Rs 5,000 per month. As many as 44 taxi stands reportedly fall in this category.

In case of the taxi stands having an area of more than 2,000 square feet, a monthly fee of Rs 7,500 is proposed to be levied. The 10 taxi stands in Sectors 1, 2, 8, 10, 11, 13, 19, 20, 25 and 46 reportedly fall in this category.

Through another important decision, the meeting recommended that the 98 public toilets, which had been in a very poor state, should be handed over to private agencies. Tenders for handing over the toilets to private parties would be invited when the 29-member House okayed this decision. The overall supervision of the toilets would, however, remain with the corporation as the contractors would have agreed to specific conditions imposed by the civic body, the sources added.

The meeting, however, could not take up the important issue of the passing of a property tax. Memebers felt that a special meeting of the committee should be held on Wednesday next to discuss the bylaws which had already been approved by the House Tax Assessment Committee. The civic body proposes to levy 10 per property tax on the rateable value of the commercial property in the city and and a resolution to this effect was passed by the House on September 18, 1997.

Rally: Members of the Coordination Committee of Government and MC Employees and Workers will organise a torch light procession-cum-rally tomorrow evening in protest against the indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned towards their demands.

3-time hike in cucumber price
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — The cucumber price has witnessed about three-fold hike in the local market during the past four days.

During a survey of the Sector 20 market, it was found that if a kg of cucumber was available at between Rs 10 and Rs 12, the same was priced at Rs 28 today in the retail market. The wholesale price has jumped from Rs 40-50 to Rs 120 per 5 kg. According to sources in the trade, the price has increased as the local as well as Himachal Pradesh crop was almost over affecting arrivals in the market adversely. The vegetable was coming from Aligarh and its surrounding areas resulting in an increase in prices, the sources said.

Cauliflower price has also increased during this period. If a kg of the vegetable could be had at Rs 8-10 last week, it was priced at Rs 12. The wholesale price of the same has increased from Rs 40 to Rs 50 per 5 kg as arrivals were reported to be comparatively less in the market during this period.

Brinjal has also become costly as its price has increased from Rs 6-8 a kg to Rs 12 a kg in retail and from Rs 25 to Rs 50 per 5 kg in the wholesale market. The same was the case with tomato as its price increased from Rs 10-12 to Rs 14 a kg. The wholesale price of the same has increased from Rs 50 to Rs 60 per 5 kg.

There was no change in the price of lady's finger as it could be had at Rs 20 in retail and Rs 80 per 5 kg in the wholesale market.

Gourd as usual could be had at Rs 10 a kg in retail and Rs 40 per 5 kg in the wholesale market.

Ginger was a bit costlier today as its price increased from Rs 28 to Rs 32 a kg during this period.

Beans could be had at Rs 20 a kg in retail and Rs 80 per 5 kg in the wholesale market. Garlic price increased from Rs 50 to Rs 60 a kg during this period.

There was, however, no change in the price of radish as it could be had at Rs 4 a kg retail and Rs 15 per 5 kg in the wholesale market.

DAV cagers net title
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Despite trailing in the early part of the game and the scores being level at the half time, DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, cagers won the title in the third Rao Jai Singh Memorial Basketball Tournament which concluded here today at New Public School, Sector 18. They defeated Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, 71-40.

The halftime score was 29-29. The third place went to New Public School, Sector 18.

GMSSS-33 cagers were dominant in the first twenty minutes of the game. They got an early lead with the scores being 13-11 and then increased it to 17-11. After this, DAV boys played well to narrow the lead, 25-26.

Sargam Singh of GMSSS-33 netted a basket to increased the lead to 29-27. Here DAV's Harjot and Aniresh helped bring the score to 29-29 before the end of the first half.

In the second half, GMSSS-33 cagers were slow on the court and could not counter the attack of DAV boys. GMSSS-33 boys could gather only 11 more points in the second half, while DAV cagers collected 42 points. DAVSSS-8 won the match, 71-40.

Soccer tourney: Government Model School, Sector 40, scored an impressive 5-0 win over Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 27, in the UT Inter-School Football Tournament being played here at GMSSS, Sector 22.

In this match, Raj Kumar scored a hat trick, while Ajit and Jaswinder scored one goal each.

In the second match, GMSSS-22 beat GMSSS-20, 3-0, with Sandeep Negi scoring two goals and Inderpreet one goal for the winners.

In another match, GSSS-20-B defeated GMSSS-23, 3-0. In this match, Sandeep, Kamal and Surjeet scored one goal each for the winners.

Lions Trophy: St Stephen's High School, Sector 45, and Manav Mangal School, Panchkula, scored wins over Government Model School, Sector 32, and Christ High School, Sector 9, by four wickets and 33 runs, respectively, in the first Lions Trophy Cricket Tournament for under-16 school boys here today at Government Model School, Sector 32. Sachin did well with both bat and ball for St Stephen's, while for Manav Mangal, it was Saurav who gave a superb performance.

Brief scores: MMS, Panchkula — 150 for seven (Saurabh 36 n.o., Vivek 29, Ranjeet 3 for 20); CHS-9 — 117 for eight (Prithpal 57, N. Mehra 3 for 24, Saurav 2 for 24).

GMS-32 — 113 all out (Danyal 20, Vinay 17, Sachin 4 for five); St Stephen's-45 — 114 for six in 16 overs (Sachin 37 not out, S. Joseph 21, Danyal 3 for 18, Chetan 2 for 22).

Gursagar cricket: The fourth Gursagar Cash Prize Cricket Tournament will be organised by the Shiromani Sant Khalsa International Foundation from November 14 to dedicate the it to the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa. It will be held at Gursagar Grounds and winners will be given Rs 11,000 and the runners-up Rs 5,000. Entries close on November 9 at Gursagar office.