Jacob stresses on self-discipline
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, October 16
Lieut Gen JFR Jacob (retd), Governor of Punjab, today exhorted students to have courage of conviction, self-discipline and spirit of righteousness. He said it was the character that shaped the destination of an individual.

General Jacob who was speaking at a medal investiture ceremony in the Punjab School Education Board, said: “You, not the stars, shape your destiny. You are the masters of your fate, you are the captains of your souls. How far you go in life will depend on your character, grit, determination and dedication”. Medals, mementos and prizes were given to at least 63 students who secured the first three positions in the middle, matric and senior secondary examinations of the Board held in year 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively.

After the investiture ceremony, the General observed that girls had outshone boys in securing top positions in the examinations. He exhorted the boys to work harder.

Mr Tota Singh, Punjab Education Minister, also spoke on the occasion. Dr Kehar Singh, Chairman of the Board, said the Board had devised certain innovative ways to check cases of unfair means during the examinations. He said the Board was running Adarsh schools in rural areas of the state. The State Education Minister directed the officials to decentralise the functioning of the Board. With this aim two regional centres had been opened in Jalandhar and Moga.

Earlier, the Governor gave away prizes to the following students: Luvsampran Jot Kaur (Kanya Senior Secondary School, Kapurthala),

Chitsimran Singh Bali (Holy Heart Convent School, Mangpal, Sangrur) and Ekta Kalia (Arya Model School, Bathinda) got gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively for securing first, second and third positions in middle examination in 1999. In Savita Mal (Guru Nanak Mission Public School, Nawanshahr), Madhu Verma (Durga Bal Vidya Mandir, Rajpura) and Avneet Kaur ( Model High School, Amritsar) got gold, silver and bronze, respectively for scoring first, second and third positions in matric exams in 1999.

In the humanities group class 12, Neeru (Ferozepor), Rekha Rani(Ferozepor) and Harpreet Kaur(Ludhiana) got gold, silver and bronze medal for scoring first, second and third positions in 1999, whereas in commerce group of same class, Amit Kumar, Tejinder Kaur Gandhi and Guruvinder Kaur got gold, silver and bronze, respectively. Similarly, in the science group, Rohini Prinja, Sunni Mali and Baljinder Kaur got gold, silver and bronze medals.

For the February 2000, middle exams, Jaspreet Singh, Shipa Garg and Shinu Arora got the first and second and third prizes whereas in matric exams Jyoti Bala, Maninder Kaur and Manpreet got first, second and third prizes.

In the class 12 science group for the examination held in 2000, Jatinder Kumar, Shifali and Amanpreet Singh got first, second and third prizes whereas in commerce group, Gitika Gupta, Susheel Garg and Devinder Kaur got first, second and third prizes. Sonia Sharma , Gagandeep Kalsi and Kanu Priya got 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize in the same exam in humanities group.

For the examination held in the year 2001, in the middle exam Mohit Garg, Sanchit Ankur Garg were bracketed first whereas Tenshi Jindal and Rajni Garg got second and third prizes. In matric examination, Sonam Gupta, Esha Gawri and Manisha Gupta got first and second and third prizes. In 12th Science Group, Ajay Pal Singh, Kabira Khullar, Renuka Dewan and Rohini Singla got first, second and third prizes.

In humanities Group Aarti Puri, Anu got first and second prizes, whereas Jagmohan Kaur and Savati Singh were bracketed third. In commerce group Deepak Chhabra, Reetu Bansal, Manju Garg got first, second and third prizes. Sandeep Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Ankit Sharma, Gurveer Kaur, Harminder Singh, Gourav Goel, Neha Goel, Himjeet Singh Bains and Harpreet Kaur got Kartar Singh Ranno Award presented to wards of Board employees.

Jaspreet Kaur, Ravneet Singh, Gurvidner Singh, Jyoti Bala and Divya Aggarwal got Parshotam Singh Batra Award for excelling in Punjabi language exams. Savita Mal, Jyoti Bala and Sonam Gupta were awarded Dr. Anuwant Kaur Award for bagging gold medal in matric exams in 1999 , 2000 and 2001.

Big effort by little ones
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 16
Be it a message on environment protection or glorification of the Almighty, the tiny-tots of Saupin School , Sector 70, SAS Nagar, conveyed them all with grace in the backdrop of a colourful set organised on the occasion of the annual function of the Group of Saupin Schools in Chandigarh and SAS Nagar at Tagore Theatre here today.

The function started with “Saraswati vandana” by five girls of UKG classes. It was so well co-ordinated that it was hard to believe the participants were not professional dancers. The next item was the play “Bear Hunt”. It ended with a funny note as the hunters became the hunted. Every item had beautifully done sets and two items were interspersed with funny poems or songs.

An action song “Kaat Kaat Kar Peron Ko” spread the message on environment protection. The students also performed Haryanvi dance, fusion dance and a play called “The Shoe Maker and the Elves.”

Earlier in the morning nursery and LKG students of Saupin School, Phase 7, SAS Nagar, Mohali, enthralled the audience with bhangra , giddha and a few western songs, including a dance item based on Vengaboys’ hit “song “Sha la la la”.

Counting of Senate ballots on Oct 22
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 16
Panjab University has decided to go ahead with the counting of the ballots of the graduates’ constituency in the Senate elections which had remained sealed in ballot boxes due to a litigation against the candidature of one of the contestants.

The counting will commence on October 22 at 11a.m., sources confirmed here today.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the orders passed by the Vice-Chancellor rejecting nomination papers of Dr Ajaib Singh for the university senate. The court directed the university to declare the results forthwith.

However, a difference of opinion exists on the campus on the issue of whether the university would approach the Supreme Court against the high court direction or not.

A candidate in the graduates’ constituency in the Senate elections said” Going to the Supreme Court was only wasting time. This also kept a lot of fellows outside the House where important decisions were taken.’

However, another group thinks, “The ‘calendar of the university demanded that the issue should be taken to the apex court for a final word on the issue.”

COURTS

HIGH COURT
DTO, SP (Traffic) told to appear in court
Tribune News Service

In their petition, the union and others had earlier contended that as many as 20,000 auto-rickshaws were plying without authorisation instead of 2,000 registered. Counsel had added that the unauthorised vehicles neither had fare meters, nor were they complying with the emission levels prescribed under the rules.

Petition dismissed

A petition seeking directions to the Union of India and other respondents to fix the date for holding elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee was on Tuesday dismissed in default by Mr Justice A.K. Goel of the High Court.

The Judge observed: “Counsel for the state has submitted that election programme has already been fixed. No one has appeared on behalf of the petitioner. Dismissed in default”. In his petition, SGPC member Hardeep Singh had earlier stated that the elections were last held on October 13, 1996 and the term was to expire after five years.

Bail for editor

Mr Justice K.C. Gupta of the High Court has granted bail to Faridabad-based editor of a local daily Satish Kumar, allegedly implicated in a cheating case after he had filed a complaint against Faridabad’s Senior Superintendent of Police.

Satish Kumar was earlier booked by the Haryana Police under Sections 384, 420, 190, 191, 192 and 199 of the IPC on a complaint filed by HUDA Estate Officer. He had alleged that certain newspapers had exercised undue pressure on the HUDA officials and had submitted false declaration for securing DAVP sanction which permitted them to receive government advertisements.

Order to Moga DTO

Mr Justice Jawahar Lal Gupta and Mr Justice Ashutosh Mohunta of the High Court on Tuesday directed Moga’s District Transport Officer P.S. Grewal to be present in the Court on a petition seeking directions to the state of Punjab and others to restrain certain respondents from plying passenger tempos on unauthorised routes. The case will now come up on October 29.

The Judges observed: “A reply has been filed on behalf of the state of Punjab and others by Moga’s District Transport Officer. It has been inter alia averred that the private respondents were plying their passenger tempos as per the contract carriage permits upto their destination from Moga. During traffic checks, no such vehicle was found plying outside the route. When was the checking done? Who were present? Who conducted the checking? There is no answer. We direct Moga DTO to be present in the Court along with the record”.

Notice issued

On a petition seeking probe by the Central Bureau of investigation into the murder of Haryana’s former MLA Relu Ram Punia and seven others, Mr Justice V.M. Jain of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued notice of motion to Haryana’s Advocate-General for October 23.

Claiming that the murder could not have been committed by Relu Ram’s 19-year-old daughter Sonia, petitioner Partap Singh, whose daughter was married to Relu Ram’s son, had earlier contended that “it was not possible for a girl to murder as many as eight persons at one time and that also with the help of an iron rod”.

His counsel S.K. Garg had asserted on the petitioner’s behalf that at least eight weapons were used in committing the brutal murders. He had added that Sonia’s confessional statement and the post mortem report made it clear that she was trying to save the culprits. The police, he had further submitted, was not taking any action against the real culprits and was allowing the killers to destroy the evidence in order to weaken the case. The police had been bribed, he had contended. The MLA and others were allegedly murdered due to dispute among the children regarding the partition of property. A case was, subsequently, was registered on August 24 under Sections 302, 309 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.

Pre-arrest bail

Mr Justice M.L. Singhal of the High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition for the grant of anticipatory bail filed by printing press owner Baljinder Singh, accused of being connected with the publication of controversial Bhav Sagar Samundran Amrit Bani Granth Sahib reportedly authored by Piara Singh.

The Judge observed: “According to the prosecution, this granth was published in the printing press owned by Baljinder Singh. He printed 100 copies of this granth and charged Rs 5 lakh. If he had refused to print this granth in the printing press, evil would have been nipped in the bud.... It is not a case where the concession of anticipatory bail can be given to the petitioner”.

Arrest warrant for Col Sandhu issued
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, October 16
A local court today issued arrest warrants for Col B.S Sandhu, owner of a local immigration consultancy firm, and his relation, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, in a theft case.

Meanwhile, another accused in the case, Rajiv Bajaj, has been granted bail on the furnishing bail bond of Rs 30,000.

He was arrested on September 24 after an FIR was registered against him along with others under Sections 380, 427 of the IPC.

BAIL GRANTED
A local court on Tuesday granted bail to four persons, including three employees of the State Transport Authorities, who were arrested by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The four accused — Sukhdev Singh, Surat Singh, Arvinder Kumar and Suraj Bhan— were granted bail by the UT Additional and Sessions Judge, Mr Lakhbir Singh.

The CBI has arrested them, on charges of extorting money from local transporters.

ABDUCTION CASE
A case of abduction registered against the president of the Panjab University Student Council, Santokwinder Singh Nabha, and five others has been committed in the court of the UT Additional and Sessions Judge on Tuesday.

Earlier, the police has filed a challan in the court of UT Judicial Magistrate (First Class) against all accused, S.S Nabha, DPS Randhawa, Harpreet Singh, Gurpartap Singh, Ajay Pal Singh, Bhupinder Singh Beniwal, and Baljinder Singh. The case against them was registered under Sections 147, 149, 323, 364, 382 and 506 on the IPC.

RAPE CASE
Another accused in the rape case was sent to police remand by a local court on Monday. The accused, Chander Parkash, surrendered in the court on Monday.

The accused earlier appeared in the court on October 13 but as his name was mentioned as Shekar instead of Chander Shekhar in an FIR. The Magistrate has issued a notice to the Investigating Officer in the case and asked the accused to appear in the court on October 15.

The case against the accused was registered along with four others on October 9. The police arrested the four accused — Sweety Bajaj, Amardeep Dahia, Avtar Taari and Sageeta Gupta on October 9 and the court sent them to 14-day judicial remand on October 13.

The incident came to light after a victim made a statement before the UT Magistrate.

KHARAR

POLICE REMAND
Ms Preeti Sahni, Judicial Magistrate, Kharar today remanded Jaswinder Singh a resident of Kalhedi village, in police custody till Wednesday. He was arrested by the Kharar police in connection with an incident of sacrilege of ‘Bir’ at Gurdwara Maliksar in Gharuan village on October 4.

Mr Baljeet Singh Sahota, Assistant Public Prosecutor, appeared in the court on behalf of the state today and pleaded for police remand of the accused.

HC notice to school Principal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 16
Taking up a petition alleging “utter disregard” of the court orders directing the provisional admission of a student to class V, Ms Justice Bakshish Kaur of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice to the Principal of Sector 26 St John’s High School asking her to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act should be not initiated against her.

In his petition, Jai Sikander of Sector 46 had earlier contended that the Principal, “in utter disregard of the judgement pronounced by the High Court, and showing scant respect for judiciary, had disobeyed the directions by not admitting him to Class V of the school”.

The counsel for the petitioner added that “by failing to comply with the specific directions contained in the judgement dated October 10, the respondent had committed civil contempt and had made herself liable to be punished under Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act”.

CULTURE

Koser couple to be awarded
Tribune News Service

Dance is as close to Shobha Koser’s heart as it is to M.L. Koser’s. Trained in Jaipur kathak, Shobha has mastery over the various aspects of kathak like taals, gats, toras, tukras, parans, chakradar paran, etc. She gives the credit of her achievements to her guru Kanhaiya Lal, a worthy disciple of Nritacharya guru Narayan Prasad. She learnt the kathak intricacies from guru Kundan Lal. She excels in both the important facets of kathak — nritta and abhinav bhav. She has also received the titles of Nritya Surbhi, Nritya Urvashi, the Amala Shankar Award, the CCI Award, the Kala Shiromani Award of the Madras Sangeet Natak Akademi, and also the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. She was also the head of Dance Department at the local Government College for Girls, Sector 11.