Despite seats, engg aspirant denied admission

Chandigarh, October 9
Young Ramandeep is hunting for logic. The Sector 21 resident was denied admission to the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET), Sector 26, even though seats were available for the course he had passed an entrance test for.

Ramandeep is a diploma holder in computer science from the Thapar institute in Patiala and had applied for admission to the college in BE through lateral entry. He appeared in the lateral engineering entrance test conducted by PU on July 30.

The CCET had five vacant seats for Chandigarh students for lateral entry and only one for outsiders. Ramandeep was denied entry to the five Chandigarh-student seats on the basis that he did his diploma from Patiala and as a result was an outsider. The single outsider seat went to some other student who had a better merit position than Ramandeep.

The story does not end here. The fact that little thought goes into the making of rules becomes clear as not a single student from Chandigarh applied for admission to these seats, which went vacant. The reason: there is no institute that offered a diploma in computer science in Chandigarh three years ago. There were as a result no students who were eligible to apply for these seats this year.

Ramandeep claims that the division of seats between outsiders and Chandigarh students is generally done on the basis of the school-leaving certificate and not the place from where the diploma is done. In any case, the test prospectus does not even make clear which criteria would be followed in this case. Also since five seats were vacant, it was just a matter of decision on the part of the admission committee instituted by PU to convert these seats and admit a deserving student.

The CCET Principal, Dr Baljeet Kapoor, was not available for comments. — TNS

Mehndi-application contests in schools
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
Laxmi of class X won the first position while Suman (class XII) and Neha (Class VII) won the second and third position respectively in a mehndi-application organised at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 15, here today. The event was organised on the eve of Karva Chauth. Several school students applied ‘mehndi’ on the hands of other students, teachers and outsiders.

Government High School-26: Nikki won first prize in Group A (IX-X) while Jyoti won consolation prize in Group B (VI-VII), Sandhya bagged first prize whereas Aarti won the consolation prize in a mehndi-application contest organised on Monday.

Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 45: On the eve of Karva Chauth, a mehndi application competition was organised on the school premises in which girls adorned the hands of their teachers with mehndi designs.

SD school team moves ahead in basketball meet
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
SD Public School, Sector 32, outclassed New Public School, Sector 18, 89-39, in the boys’ category, while the team of IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 21, could not prevail over New Public School and lost the final 52-54 in the CBSE Cluster XIII Basketball Tournament held on its premises here today.

The main scorers in the boys’ category from SD school team were Vinay (21), Bhupinder (18) and Gurvinder (8), while Amanjot (12) and Raman (10) were main contributors from the losers’ side.

In the girls’ match, Harmandeep scored 12 while Pinky and Savneet scored 14 and 16 goals for the winners’ side. On the other hand, Manpreet (17) and Rimpy (18) were main contributors for ID Dev Samaj.

PU steps to keep campus clean
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
Panjab University has banned the dumping of cut vegetables and fruits and other waste outside food stalls at the Students Centre and other eating joints in the university here.

According to a press note issued by the Dean, Students Welfare, Mr Naval Kishore, this has been done keeping in mind the threat of the dengue epidemic that is looming large over the city.

He said most areas of the university had been fogged and kerosene spilled on various water bodies of the university. The fountains near AC Joshi Library, Vice-Chancellor’s office and gymnasium hall be kept dry till further orders, he added.

St Kabir students bag scholarships
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 9
Three students from class IX and three from class X (ICSE batch 2006) of St Kabir School, Sector 26, won the A* Star National Junior College Singapore-Indian Scholarships on the October 7.

Ramandeep Kaur Mann, Rajan Dhir and Divij Sood (class IX) won a scholarship for a fully paid four-year integrated programme, while Rohan Jain, Manas Gupta and Radhika Goyal (class X) won a two-year junior college scholarship.

57 students get diplomas

Mohali, October 9
Diplomas have been given to 57 students of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Handicrafts Institute at a function organised at Guru Nanak Charitable Ashram, Jhanjeri village.

Mrs Harbhajan Kaur, social worker, was the chief guest. The function was presided over by Mr Mohanbir Singh Shergill, municipal councillor.

Bhangra and gidha teams from Paragon Senior Secondary School, Sector 69, enthralled the gathering. — OC

Bail applications of 13 accused rejected
Tribune News Service

One of the accused Raman Matto, a former minister in the J and K Government, coming out of the Chandigarh District Courts here on Monday. — A Tribune photo

Chandigarh, October 9
In a setback to the accused in the infamous J and K sex scandal, the District and Sessions Judge (DSJ), Chandigarh, Mr B.S. Mehndiratta, today rejected the bail applications of all 13 accused.

The accused, who are currently lodged in the Burail Jail, would now have to move either the Jammu and Kashmir High Court or the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the orders of the trial court.

The court observed since statements of the witnesses and the victim had not been recorded, it would not be advisable to release the accused on bail as it could result in influencing the witnesses.

The arguments by the defence counsel regarding the contradictions over the age of the main witness has also been mentioned in the orders.

In another development, the court for the first time also heard the arguments on the charges against two of the accused, DSP Mohammed Mir and another accused who was represented by Mr Maulvi Aijaz. The defence counsel of all other accused preferred to argue the case on the next date of hearing — October 12. Continuing with the arguments, Mr Aijaz questioned the action of the CBI to book the accused under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1956, as the same law was not applicable to the Jammu and Kashmir state. “The CBI was relying on a notification of 1964, whereas the political situation in 1965 had changed and any law cannot be applied with retrospective affect. The state had been declared a special state by Parliament and the various clauses of the Constitution allow it special privileges”, said Mr Aijaz.

The defence counsel also raised serious questions about the contradictions about the age of the accused. It was also pointed since the witness No. 1 was already married. “If she is a minor and is married, she had violated the Infant Marriage Act as applicable to the J and K State”, said Mr Aijaz.

During the break in the proceedings, the accused were lodged in the make-shift jail within the jail premises. The Senior Public Prosecutor of the CBI, Mr R.K. Saini, said the CBI would put up its arguments on the next date of hearing.

Mr Saini quoted an order of a J and K court regarding coding of the witnesses in the chargesheet. He said it was mandatory to save the witnesses and the victims from being influenced. He was replying to the plea of the defence for being supplied a decoded list of the witnesses in the challan.

The Supreme Court on September 4 had transferred the case of the accused in the sex racket from Srinagar to Chandigarh, following the CBI filing its chargesheet.