The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

COURTS

Car licence can’t be linked to power dues
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, December 14
The Rohtak civil judge, Ms Madhu Khanna, has ruled that the refusal to renew a driving licence on the failure of the applicant to produce a ‘no-due certificate’ from the electricity department was unjust, arbitrary and against the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Mr Bhoop Singh, a resident of Basantpur village, had filed an application in the court of Ms Khanna, alleging that the Licensing Authority-cum-SDM, Rohtak, refused to renew his licence on the ground that a ‘no-due certificate’ from the electricity department was required.

The petitioner pointed out that he had no electricity connection in his name and, therefore, he was unable to furnish the document demanded by the Licensing Authority. He had requested the SDM to renew the licence but he refused, contending that the certificate was a must in view of the government instructions. As per the instructions, facilities like co-operative loans, ration cards, driving licences, registration of vehicles/properties and sale of fertilisers/seeds would be extended only to those consumers against whom no power dues were outstanding.

Ms Khanna, in her order, said that the renewal of a licence was covered by Section 15 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and it was never contended by the defendants that the plaintiff had not complied with the conditions prescribed in the act. The only objection was that the applicant had failed to produce a ‘no-due certificate’ issued by the Electricity Department. The government instructions, the judge pointed out, could not override the clear provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The renewal of licence can only be refused if conditions specified in the Section 15 of the Motor Vehicles Act are not met; and the payment of electricity dues is not one such condition, the order said.

SPORTS

Dushan Deo – A tennis man for all seasons
M.S.Unnikrishnan

New Delhi, December 14
When 17-year-old Amanjot Singh of Chandigarh, in a fit of on-court rage, questioned Dushan Deo, “Who are you?”, it was a moment of ‘awakening’ for the 59-year-old tennis official. “Who, indeed, am I”, wondered the veteran official, after spending a lifetime for the cause of tennis. Such is the irony of life.

For the uninitiated, Dushan Deo is the “Mr Tennis” of India. No tennis event in India is complete without the presence of chief referee Dushan Deo. And Dushan Deo was not a tennis official to begin with. Born in 1943 in the “ex-British state” of Kandujhar in Orissa, Dushan Deo began his sports career as an athlete and footballer. He represented the University and the State of Orissa in both the disciplines. But his playing career came to an abrupt end when he injured his right knee while playing in the Senior Division Football League at Cuttack.

The knee injury forced him to take to sports administration and supervision in 1962, and Dushan Deo has not looked back since then. In the meanwhile, he also started playing tennis as a hobby, and also took to football refereeing.

His career took a dramatic turn when Mr George Patnaik, elder brother of former Union Minister Biju Patnaik, asked Dushan Deo to assume the secretaryship of the Orissa Tennis Association (OTA), after being impressed with his organisational skills.

Mr George Patnaik was then the president of the OTA, and Dushan Deo continued as the OTA secretary till 2000. He was the headmaster of the Municipal High School at Kandujhar when he left it all to devote full time to sports. He was a starter for athletics in the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, and in 1983, he qualified as a tennis umpire from the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council (MIPTC) in Australia.

Only two Indians had passed out from that exam–Dushan himself, and Peter Malik, as both passed the theoretical and practical tests. The third Indian, Prof Narasimhan from Madras, could not pass muster. When Mr R. K. Khanna returned to the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) as its secretary, “Mr Khanna wanted to give me a monthly allowance of Rs 1500, which I refused. I requested him to give me work instead as I wanted to earn my livelihood, to which he agreed”. And Mr Khanna made him Chairman of the Umpires and Technical Committee.

When Dushan Deo took over his new assignment, there was no muster of umpires in the country. He compiled a list of qualified umpires, and started giving them tournament assignments to create a pool of knowledgeable officials in the country.

“Whatever little bit I know (about tennis umpiring) I want to pass it on to others”, he says modestly. He has helped many youngsters make a living as qualified umpires.

Dushan proudly states that he has supervised in two Wimbledon Championships, three French Opens and two Australian Opens. “I am the only Indian umpire to do three Grand Slams”, he boasts. But he has one regret that he could not supervise in the US Open “as I could not afford the air fare”. He has also officiated in a number of Davis Cup and Challenger matches and at present is an ITF White Badge official.

He had seen worst behaviour by players on tennis courts all over the world in his long career as a tennis umpire, but the young Indian colt’s angry outburst caused a scar somewhere in his heart, not that he was hurt personally, but because of the blind emulation by some misguided youngsters of the ways of the ‘Wild West’.

Dushan Deo said the coaches and managers should own up the responsibility of disciplining players when they behave rudely on court. “Our umpires are not fit to conduct umpiring in a professional manner, barring a few”, Dushan notes. “As a result, parents and players are complaining about the quality of umpiring”.

Dushan said the player misbehaviour stems from the umpires’ inability to act tough when the occasion demands.

Idea Factory team win ESPN Star quiz contest
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 14
The Idea Factory team comprising Chitranjan Aggarwal and Rahul Chadha emerged the winners in the first round of the Corporate Challenger Quiz conducted by ESPN Star Sports.

The Corporate Challenger Quiz, which was launched in Bangalore on December 5, began with a qualifying written test for all the 56 participating teams in the first round, and six teams were selected to participate in the finals.

The six finalists from Delhi were: India Today, Reliance Infocom Ltd., Deutsche Bank, Army Hospital (Base) and ICRA Ltd. The finalists faced 11 rounds of grilling by cricket commentator Charu Sharma on sports and related questions covering popular international sports.

The winning team of Idea Factory got the top prize of two return tickets to Vienna (Austria), and a trophy. The first runners-up, Army Hospital (Base) (O’Neil Sagen and S Bhattacharya) won a HP 630 printer each, while second runners-up, India Today (Sharda Urga and Ashok Malik) won a pair of Reebok shoes each.

ESPN managing director, Manu Sawhney said the “ESS Corporate Challenger Quiz is an extension of our commitment to rewarding sporting excellence, not only physical but also intellectual, i.e. sports knowledge. We are overwhelmed by the spontaneous response we have received in the quiz edition of Delhi.”

BSF, CRPF corner titles in Police Games
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 14
Sports persons from Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) excelled in the 50th All-India Police Games, cornering most of the medals at stake, at the Chhawla Campus here on Friday. BSF annexed the team titles in judo, free style wrestling, gymnastics and boxing. CRPF claimed the team titles in weightlifting (both men and women) while Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) lifted the team championship in Greco-Roman wrestling. BSF won the judo championship collecting 19 points, while Punjab(13) and CRPF (5) took the second and third position.

In free style wrestling, BSF gathered 64 points, followed by CISF (54 points) and CRPF (52 points). In Greco-Roman, CISF logged 77 points, followed BSF (65) and CRPF (64). CRPF collected 209 points in weightlifting (men), followed by BSF (187) and Punjab Police (175). The CRPF women cornered 190 points while CISF (175) and Karnataka Police (46) took the second and third place. BSF won the gymnastic title with 298 points, followed by CRPF (283) and CISF (254). Vikas Pandey of CRPF and Pradeep Kumar of BSF were adjudged the best gymnasts. BSF won the boxing title, with 49 points, followed by CISF (3) and Assam Rifles (23).

Rajesh of BSF lifted the 76kg Greco-Roman gold, with Pawan Kumar (CISF) and Kalu Ram (CRPF) taking the second and third place. In the 97kg section, Satish of CISF won the gold, while Bansi Lal of BSF and Mukhtiar Singh of CISF claimed the silver and bronze.

In judo open event, Ashok Kumar of BSF won the gold while the silver and bronze were claimed by Virender Singh of ITBP and Samunder Tokas of BSF. In 100kg, Satish Badsar of BSF bagged the gold, Ashwini Kumar of Punjab took the silver and Ravindr Kumar of BSF annexed the bronze.

ADMINISTRATION

Licences of 26 brick kilns cancelled
R.D. Sapra

Sonepat, December 14
The Food and Supplies Department has cancelled the licences of at least 26 brick kilns and suspended the licences of eight others in Sonepat district during the current financial year following the detection of irregularities in their working.

According to an official press release, the department has also confiscated the security amount totalling Rs 7,800 of the licence holders in the district during the period under review.

Moreover, the department has cancelled the licence of a depot-holder for serious irregularities detected by the officials of the department.

Official press release also revealed that there were 270 brick kilns in this district and the department has fixed the rates of bricks for development works as well as the general public. These rates range between Rs 1,350 and Rs 1,650 per thousand bricks.

The number of LPG dealers has now risen to 13 in the district. Similarly, the number of consumers is 1,20,430.

As many as 88,452 consumers had DB connection whereas the remaining 31,978 consumers had single connections. The department had checked nine petrol pumps so far in the district.

There are 375 fair price shops functioning in the district and these include 265 in the rural area. The remaining 110 fair price shops are in the urban areas. The number of ration card-holders has gone up to 2,55,366 in the district and these include 1,82,715 in the rural area. Similarly, the number of APL cards is 22,411, BPL cards, 29,916 and pink colour 5,059.

The total number of ration cards consists of 12,96,395 units and these include 9,85,365 units of rural area. The APL ration cards consist of 11,20,433 units, BPL, 1,51,882 units and pink colour 24,078 units.

According to knowledgeable sources, nearly half the total amount of subsidised rationed commodities, particularly food grains, levy sugar and kerosene oil supplied to the fair price shops finds its way into the black market instead of reaching the card-holders.

The diversion of this essential supply has mostly effected the poor and the middle class populace, for which it is meant.

Officials of the department are aware of the large-scale diversion of supplies from ration shops to open market.

However, officials have turned a blind eye to it. The dealer-official nexus ensure that no action is taken on complaints from the aggrieved card-holders.

Two JEs suspended for hiking estimates
Our Correspondent

Jhajjar, December 14
Two junior engineers of the Irrigation Department here have been suspended on the charges of making expenditure estimates for desilting three minor canals in the district disproportionate to the actual workload.

According to highly placed sources in the department, Mr Radhe Shyam and Mr Ranbir Singh Balhara, posted at the Bahadurgarh and Sampla water sub-divisions, respectively, have been suspended on the basis of a report prepared by Mr Balbir Singh, Superintendent Engineer, Rohtak.

The report said that it had been detected that the estimates prepared by the duo for desilting minor canals at Bahadurgarh, Chhara and Dabodha were much beyond the actual workload.