The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Need to make kids computer literate: Jacob
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, November 22
The Punjab Governor, Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), has underlined the need of making children computer literate to enable them to face the challenges in the future. He was speaking at the annual function of Paragoan Senior Secondary School in Sector 71 here today.

General Jacob said in the new millennium the world was becoming a global village. The Internet had become the vehicle of progress and the schools should pay greater importance to computer education. The new generations had to be trained with the fast changing educational environment. ‘‘ If we consider the explosion of knowledge we find that thought patterns and priorities of yesterday have little relevance today’’, he added.

Lauding the role of schools in promoting sports, the Governor said that playing sports helped to built a character and inculcate team spirit. He opined that the students should have the spirit of adventure and the ability to take calculated risks. Earlier he laid the foundation stone of the second storey of the school.

Dr Gurdev Singh Sidhu, Vice-Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board, said there was little difference in the syllabi of the CBSE and the board. He said the Punjabi language was given a priority so that youth could remain attached with their culture. Mr Jasjeet Singh, a senior member of the management of the school, read out the annual report of the school.

IT festival ‘Vision 2002’ at Panjab University
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
An Information Technology festival ‘Vision 2002’ began on Panjab University campus here today.

There was a lukewarm response by the students in the earlier part of the day. However, a greater number of students turned up towards evening. The venue also witnessed a school-bus carrying students. Students took a round of the stalls which included stalls by various IT institutes, hardware outlets and certain other institutes. Besides general counselling, majority of the stalls gave information hand-outs to students.

A student from the local Government College for Men, said that ‘‘IT seemed to have become a compulsory educational qualification for all kinds of jobs these days. I came to ask for the exact meanings and scope of courses offered by institutes under ‘impressive’ names. I have made up mind about a short-time course’’. Another student said that ‘‘ The IT sector was not new now. Majority of the students were able to muster enough information about the course structures independently these days’’. A seminar on the IT-related issues is slated for tomorrow.

PUSU wants last date extended
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
Members of the Panjab University Students Union today staged a dharna outside the Registrar’s office demanding extension in the last date of the forthcoming annual examination.

Today being the last date of submission of forms, the fees counters witnessed a heavy rush and the queues meandered their way right to the road.

Malwinder Kang, president of PUSU, said that it was impossible for the officials to have finished the task of fee collection from all students in the queue by the evening. Students went through a lot of harassment waiting at the fee counters.

Kang said the university had the experience of long queues of students on the last days of fee deposit so adequate arrangements should have been made. Another student, however, said that students were also partly to be blamed for their harassment because of unnecessary delay in submission of their fee.

The university in an official press release said that “ as per Rule 2 of the University Calendar, three days of grace shall be allowed for receipt of fees without late fee. Accordingly, November 26 has been fixed as the last date of submission of examination forms.

Registration on for science olympiad
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
The registration for participation to the fourth national science olympiad has started, with the mind games due to be held on February 1, 2002. Registration to the event, which has been registering an increased participation over the past four years, will end on December 31.

Information in this regard was given here by national coordinator of the Science Olympiad Foundation, Mr G.S. Pillai. Students between classes VI and XII can participate in the event, whose first phase will be conducted at the level of respective schools. Mr Pillai informed that while there is no maximum limit for enrolment, the schools should enrol a minimum of 30 students. In the first phase of the contest, 75 objective questions will be posed to students. Time allowed will be one-and-a-half-hour.

Pillai added, “Top 500 students from each class will be selected for the second level test to be conducted in July 2002 at over 50 centres in the country. A total of 100 students from each class will be selected from the second level of awards. The first three students of each class will be awarded with medals, cash awards, scholarships and gifts. All toppers will be awarded certificates.

It is interesting to note that the foundation has been able to generate interest of children in this area. As informed by Mr Pillai, participation in the event increased from 28,000 in the first olympiad to 75,000 last year. “This year we expect a further spurt,” said Mr Pillai.

The objective of the foundation is to help unify the education system and help children of the remote areas to compete at the national level. “The idea here is to bridge the existing gulf. To achieve the same we are also holding seminars. Shortly we will also hold golden track programme which will provide useful career related advice to children,” said Mr Pillai.

Impressive show by Army School children
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
The students of the Army School in Chandi Mandir celebrated their 13th annual day at Manekshaw Auditorium in the military station today. The Major-General Artillery, Western Command, Maj-Gen A.K. Vasudev, who is the chairman of the school management committee, was the chief guest on the occasion.

The motto of the function, was “excellence through mass participation”. As many as 600 students, enthralled the audience with their performance on themes like love and happiness, concern for environment and the joys of spring season.

The attractions included qawwalis, conveying the message of rising above self and contributing to society, health capsule, which was a blend of yoga and aerobics, and a well-synchronised English choir expressing love for migratory birds.

An English play based on Arms and the Man, written by George Barnard Shaw, and a Hindi play titled Butt Bol Uthaas well as a dance sequence based on Venga Boys’ album were also presented. The grand finale of the show was a Bhojpuri dance depicting exuberance and joy during the harvesting season.

Children’s Science Congress from Dec 4
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 22
The Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Chandigarh, will organis 9th State-level Children’s Science Congress on December 4 and 5 at Indira Holiday Home in Sector 24 and Bal Bhavan, Sector 23.

The Science Congress would provide as platform to the children of 10 to 17 age group all the over the country to discover and recognise their scientific temper and innovative ideas. The theme of this year’s Science Congress will be “Indigenous scientific knowledge for a better tomorrow.”

The winners would get the chance to participate at the national-level congress to be held at Pune from December 27 to 31 this year.

Patriotism marks cultural evening
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 22
A riot of colour and a sense of patriotism marked the cultural evening organised by the Government Polytechnic for Women on the occasion of annual prize giving function at the institution auditorium in Sector 10 here this evening.

The programme started with a Ganesha vandana and was followed by a colourful dance number based on A R Rehman’s popular song “Vande Mataram.” A Rajasthani dance item on the folk song “Gur le aaro” presented by a group of seven girls added colour to the evening.

Another major attraction of the function was “Kauri” — a skit based on the evils of the dowry system. A ballet “Moods of Life” captured the essence of the seasonal changes in an well choreographed dance sequences.

Mr G.K. Marwah, chairman of the Chandigarh Housing Board, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes to the meritorious students in academic as well as extra curricular activities.

COURTS

HIGH COURT
Nagi’s appointment as PGI Dean quashed
Legal Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 22
The appointment of Dr Onkar Nath Nagi, Professor and Head of Department of Orthopaedic Surgery to the post of Dean of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Chandigarh, was quashed today by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, while allowing the writ petition of Dr (Mrs) Sudha Suri, Professor in the Department of Radiology, in the same institute.

The order was headed down by a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Amarbir Singh Gill and Mr Justice Sawatantar Kumar, after finding a number of “apparent infirmities” as a result of which the court was unable to sustain the appointment of Dr Nagi as Dean of the PGI.

The Judges, while upholding the grounds raised by the petitioner against the appointment of Dr Nagi, observed that oral recommendation ex facie indicated lack of application of mind and fair consideration of other candidate, that no reasons had been stated and no record produced before the court to show why the recommendations of the Recommending Authority were not accepted by the Governing Body.

It was further pointed out that no criteria had been brought to the notice of the court, which were uniformally applied for considering all the eligible persons and that no record whatsoever was available which could even remotely suggest compliance with the provisions of seniority, suitability and taking into consideration other factors by the competent authority.

The Judges found "an element of arbitrariness” in the action of the recommending appointing authority. It was held that the appointment could be made by the institute itself and the Governing Body was not competent to do so.

Lok Adalat's orders set aside

A significant question of jurisdiction of the Lok Adalats came up today for consideration before the High Court in a writ petition filed by Mr Sham Lal Sharma, retired Deputy Labour Commissioner, Faridabad, in which case the Division Bench comprising Mr Justice G S Singhvi and Mr Justice M M Kumar allowed the writ petition and set aside the orders of the Lok Adalat regarding the payment of interest of pensionary benefits gratuity and the arrears of the salary to the petitioner. However, the Bench will give reasons for the judgement later.

The petitioner had retired in 1988 but his dues were paid in 1992 and 1993. He had claimed 18 per cent interest as per government instructions, which the Lok Adalat had partially granted but some types of relief was declined.

During the arguments, counsel for the petitioner submitted that deciding the cases on merits did not come in the ambit of jurisdiction of the Lok Adalat which was constituted under the Legal Services Authority Act.

Counsel argued that as per Sections 19 and 20 of the Act, the Lok Adalat could only help in arriving at a compromise and reaching a settlement, but had no jurisdiction to force the parties to litigation nor could it adjudicate on the merits of the case.

These adalats could not be equated with nor were they parallel to courts of law. Both Advocates-General of Punjab and Haryana also addressed the court on the point and generally agreed that the Lok Adalats had a limited role.

Counsel prayed for framing guidelines for the Lok Adalats for disposal of the cases by them.

Hearing adjourned in Beant case
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 22
Lack of information about the whereabouts of one of the witnesses in the Beant Singh assassination case led to the adjournment of the hearing in the special makeshift room in the Model Burail Jail here today.

Sources informed that the witness, Jodh Singh, who was expected to appear in the witness box in the court room, had already been released from Tihar Jail many days back. The Central Bureau of Investigation counsel informed the court that summons had been served on the witness, who was lodged in Tihar Jail through the Superintendent of the Jail. After hearing the counsel, the UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr H.S. Bhalla, adjourned the case till November 23.

Super Bazar staff petition allowed
Legal Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 22
A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising the Chief Justice, Mr A.B. Saharya, and Mr Justice V.K. Bali today allowed the Letters Patent Appeal filed by the Central Cooperative Consumer Store (Super Bazar) Chandigarh, at present in liquidation, and others against the judgement of a Single Judge in the writ petition filed by the Super Bazar Chandigarh Employees Union and others.

The Single Judge Bench while allowing the writ petition of the employees had directed the Super Bazar that the salary and increase in salary of the petitioners as envisaged in the Award of the Labour Court should be made over to the petitioners by the liquidator if the money is available right now, or if no money is available at present, same shall be paid as soon as it becomes available.

The Division Bench, however, directed that the petitioners would be paid their admitted dues in accordance with the priorities settled and mentioned in accordance with the law i.e. liquidation expenses, government dues, provident funds and security of employees and the salary and compensation to be paid to the employees, in that order.

The Bench further observed that in so far as the requisition dated May 15, 2001, sent by the liquidator to the employment exchange for recruiting six pharmacists was concerned, the employees were to be appointed on consolidated salary of Rs 3500 p.m. For carrying out the limited business in two medicine cutlets in the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32 and the PGI and for that purpose services of Mr O.C. Sharma and Mr Rajvinder Singh, both pharmacists, were terminated.

Mr D.C. Gupta and others were found to have got job in the Super Bazar on the basis of fake certificate, it was proved so by the CBI in the inquiry said the judges.