Chandigarh, March 31
The job of an advocate is to be able to persuade and that of a judge is to be right, said Justice S.S. Sodhi, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, at the inauguration of the first UILS-Sarin National Moot Court Competition, organised by the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), at Panjab University here today.

Exhorting students to give their best to the profession, Justice Sodhi pointed out that like medical practitioners, lawyers too deal with human problems and miseries and should know their law well.

Recalling the days when he had finished his law degree and started practicing in the court, Justice Sodhi said he had assumed he knew everything about the law. “But I was in for a shock. In the court I began to learn my law,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of moot courts for law students, Justice Sodhi, who is the president of the Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation, said the foundation decided to encourage moot court competitions and gave Rs 1 lakh to the university in 1993 for moot courts. He congratulated vice-chancellor R.C. Sobti for organising the first such competition.

The competition has been organised in the memory of late Harbans Lal Sarin and late Ranjit Lal Sarin. “Harbans Lal Sarin was an encyclopaedia of law. He was a lawyer’s lawyer. If any lawyer had a problem in law he would go to Sarin for advise. Ranjit Lal Sarin was practicing in the Supreme Court and was snatched away from us when he was just 37. He took up causes which I wish others would emulate,” said Justice Sodhi.

Presiding over the function, prof Sobti commended the organisers for the initiative. He further applauded efforts of the director, faculty and the students of the UILS in making the institute one of the best law schools of the country. Prof R.S. Grewal, director, UILS, proposed a vote of thanks.

Mr justice H.S. Bedi who was to inaugurate the competition could not be present on the occasion due to unavoidable circumstances.

As many as 16 teams from across the country are participating in the competition. Eminent luminaries from the legal professional, including advocates from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, faculty members of the university and various institutions judged the teams during the preliminary rounds today.

Four teams out of 18 teams have been selected for the semi-finals to be conducted tomorrow. These include teams from Gujrat National Law University, Gandhinagar; National Law University, Jodhpur; Hadayatullah National Law University, Raipur; and National Law India University, Bhopal.

Mohali, March 31
The Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) opened a students’ chapter in Chandigarh Engineering College (CEC), Landran. It was inaugurated by D.S. Pathania, chairman, IETE, Chandigarh centre.

Pathania said those who join IETE stand a chance to participate in several local, national and international technical programmes.

They will also have an opportunity to review technical papers, write articles and participate in IETE committees.

As many as 26 students from the college registered themselves for membership of this forum on the spot.

Chandigarh, March 31
A conference of college principals was held at Panjab University, here, today under the chairmanship of the vice-chancellor, Prof R.C. Sobti, wherein they submitted two CDs each and hard copies of awards of the practical examinations held in March, 2007. About 92 college principals submitted the CDs which were found in order whereas CDs of six colleges did not work properly and hence the principals concerned were advised to submit the CDs again to Sudesh Kumar, system manager of the computer unit at Aruna Ranjit Chandra Hall, Panjab University, by April 3 till 5 pm.

Principals raised various queries with regard to the problems they faced while preparing the CDs and also regarding evaluation, declaration of results and guidelines for add-on courses.

The V-C announced that in future no application for extension of affiliation of the existing colleges and the new colleges would be accepted if not received by the due date as mentioned in the PU calendar. He further announced that he himself would make surprise visits to check the working of the evaluation centres. He said all those students who had satisfied the eligibility conditions after March 5, 2007, could be issued roll numbers today and principals could get the same from the DR (exams).

He asked the principals to satisfy the conditions of affiliation for the appointment of faculty latest by July 2, failing which no affiliation would be granted.

He said he would introduce a system in which the examination form would also be accepted on CDs. He also said the cases of all those teachers who refused to perform examination duties should be sent to the DPI (colleges) for further disciplinary action. He also announced that he would arrange meetings of principals in the rural areas in May and asked colleges in the rural areas to volunteer. The vice-chancellor approved the meetings to be held at Kottan village (distt Ludhiana), Mansowal (distt Hoshiarpur), Kandhala Jattan (distt Hoshiarpur), Malout, Killianwali (distt Muktsar) Muhar (distt Ferozepur) and Badal (distt Muktsar). For the colleges of Chandigarh, GGS College for Women, Sector 26, will arrange a meeting at Kishangarh.

Chandigarh, March 31
Admissions to four smart schools - Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS)-16, GMSSS-19, GMSSS-33 and GMSSS-46 - have begun.

According to sources, the scheme, to be enforced from the academic session 2007-08 onwards, would be applicable to these converted schools and would be operative for Classes IX and XI only.

Under the scheme for Class IX, 80 per cent of the total admissions will be from students of government schools of Chandigarh i.e. those who have passed middle standard examination through Chandigarh-based government schools while remaining 20 per cent seats will be reserved for students of private schools of Chandigarh and other states.

Each section will have maximum 40 students and the selection will be strictly based on merit.

For Class IX, April 7 is the last date for registration for Chandigarh-based government school students while for private school students and outsiders the last date will be April 9.

Admission to Class XI will be made on the basis of percentage of marks obtained in Class X examination conducted by the various recognised education boards, including CBSE.

However, Class IX students have to shell out Rs 300 each in addition to the normal fee and funds while for Class XI the students will have to pay Rs 450 extra. Meanwhile, the plans to extend the scheme to the Classes X and XII for the session 2008-09 are also in the pipeline.

Chandigarh, March 31
Prof Esmaeil Shafiee, head of the department of political science, University of Teheran, Iran, delivered a lecture on ‘Foreign Policy of Iran in Recent Decades’ at the department of political science, Panjab University, here, yesterday.

Professor Shafiee underlined the significance of the geo-strategic location of Iran. He referred to the institutional ensemble involved in the making of the foreign policy of Iran along with its determinants in the post-Islamic revolution period. He emphasised that the state of Iran was exploring nuclear option for the peaceful purposes and was committed to peace. The changed geo-political and strategic implications had compelled Iran to rethink its foreign policy in the recent times, especially after the US had erroneously declared the state of Iran as a ‘rouge state’ that had been a part of the ‘axis of evil’ along with North Korea and Syria. With the increasing influence of the US in the West Asia, Iran had been responding by pursuing a policy of ‘active neutrality’ that included a peaceful atomic energy programme as well as the political and economic initiatives with other countries to safeguard its sovereignty. 

Chandigarh, March 31
Amaan of nursery was given the prize for being a good player while her classmate Ritika got a prize for being the most obedient student at the annual prize distribution function held at Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, here, today.

Harshit and Payal, both of K.G, were awarded for being a good listener and good learner, whereas Sahil Arora was adjudged ‘smart boy’ on the occasion. Daman of nursery was given the prize for being an active child.

Mayor Harjinder Kaur, who was the chief guest on the occasion, gave away the prizes to those who excelled in academics.

Chairman of the school Ranjan Sethi informed that with the affiliation with Edexcel, the London School of Examination, children would definitely broaden their vision.

Results

Sanjana, Saloni, Bhuvtej, Shahveer Nikhil, Ashok, Anubhav, Meenakshi 1; Khushi, Sahil, Rahul, Dheeraj, Nikhil Girish, Meenu 2; Pawandeep, Sonali, Pawan, Abhinav

Karamjit, Deeksha, Navdeep, Manish. 3.

Chandigarh, March 31
Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijender Kumar Jain has stressed the need for training of expert witnesses as well as creation of adequate infrastructure for the purpose.

Speaking at the inaugural session of a seminar on expert witnesses and their training here today, Chief Justice Jain said with the changing times, the country was facing acute shortage of expert witnesses.

The two-day seminar is being organised jointly by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association and the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana.

Chief Justice Jain also pointed out that the criminal side of law was witnessing many changes and the legal fraternity should also gear up for the same. He also talked of instances where expert witnesses had given divergent views on the same topic. The Chief Justice also said the integrity and character of expert witnesses should be beyond any doubt.

In his address, Supreme Court judge justice B.P. Singh said the big question was how to train expert witnesses who are already well trained and knowledgeable due to their education and experience.

Punjab and Haryana High Court judge justice M.M. Kumar, who recently visited the Expert Witness Institute, London, said the opinion of experts in judicial system was increasingly assuming greater significance, probably on account of radical advancements made in various fields of science.

He also said there was a need to ensure that expert witnesses give a fair and unbiased report in the court.

Panchkula, March 31
Additional sessions judge J.R. Chauhan yesterday ordered 10-year imprisonment to Prabha Devi, a resident of Rajiv Colony, here. She was accused of immolating her neighbour Suman following a quarrel.

Police sources said Prabha Devi had poured kerosene on Suman and set her on fire after the two fought over space to lay out their beds in June 2004.

Chandigarh, March 31
The Chandigarh administration in association with the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi will organise a Hasya Kavi Sammelan at Government Museum and Art Gallery Auditorium tomorrow at 4 pm. Famous hasya kavis Sufi Jagjit, Hari Singh Dilbar, Manjit Singh, Sunil Jogi, Dr Rajesh Khushdil and Suman Dubey will participate.

Chandigarh, March 31
For weekend crowd at plaza, the evening was a different experience. Many of them, finding no orchestral presence of humming guitars and sounding drums, thought the show had been cancelled till the doyen of Urdu literature Dr Kashmiri Lal took the centre stage to introduce poets. The event organised by the Centre for Carnival, Chandigarh Tourism, and the BSNL with the Tribune Group of Newspapers turned out to be a big draw after a mundane start.

Hailed as the pride of Haryana, young educationist Manjit Singh from Faridabad presented a well-knit humour of wit, intrigue and satire through a team of well-acclaimed poets before commenting on the political hypocrisy in his couplet ‘Baad mein chanta maarenge ye pehle chhuyenge charan, mufat milegi saari pehle baad mein hoga cheer haran’.

The lone woman poetess from Lucknow was too romantic in her couplet ‘Labon pe merre mehkata gulab likhta hai, muhje ghazal ki muqmakal kitab likhta hai, Vo sochta hai ke aurat hai ek badan ka naam magr zamana mujhe inqlab likhta hai..” Besides Sufi Jagjit Singh and Dr Rajesh Khushdil read out their verses.

Earlier, the carnival president Maniki Deep honoured the poets.

Chandigarh, March 31
The city art lovers, especially those interested in India’s traditional arts, will get a glimpse of the fascinating world of Indian puppetry through a week-long festival and an exhibition ‘Putul Yatra’ between April 2-15. The mega event, organised by the National Sangeet Natak Akademi in association with the Punjab Arts Council, will feature performances and lectures by art celebrities at a specially-erected stage at the Punjab Kala Bhavan here.

Project coordinator Shubha Saxena said that the exhibition ‘Putul Yatra’ will be on view from April 3 to 15 while puppet shows will be held from April 2 to 8. Legends like Dadi Pudumjee, Suresh Dutta, Ramdas Padhya, K. Keswamy, Abhinya Sahoo and Rajkumar Bhatt, will stage their shows.