Chandigarh, April 24
For taking leave without getting it sanctioned, one more teacher had to face action by the Chandigarh education department.

Seema, a JBT teacher with Government Model High School, Sector 28, was terminated today after she extended her leave without taking prior permission from the Department.

The DPI (S), SK Setia said: “This sort of careless approach of the teachers will not be tolerated anymore, as our prime concern is the studies of the children. Her leave was sanctioned till April 14 but she extended it on her own. I just ordered to terminate her services.”

According to department officials, most of the time, teachers who go on ex-India leave, seldom come back on due date. These teachers ask for leave extension on false pretexts and come back after several years to join duty. Ultimately, the matters become complicated, when they move to the court asking for their seniority.”

Now, it would be mandatory for the teachers proceeding on ‘ex India leave’ to submit a photocopy of their return ticket to the department before leaving the country. Further, the teachers can take the foreign holiday leave only during students’ vacations. “Moreover, if they are granted extension on acute circumstances, say medical, even then they would have to submit an affidavit stating that they will not indulge in any sort of work in foreign land,” said Setia. 

Chandigarh, April 24
As many as eight schools have expressed their willingness to accommodate students who got displaced due to the closure of residential schools.

The education department had sent a circular to 47 schools seeking stopgap arrangement for accommodating students in the second shift.

DPI (S) S.K. Setia said: “Teachers would be made available by the department but the expenditure on light and water can be divided equally. We are working on the modalities to maintain the fee structure of Rs 20 per month and Rs 200 as annual fee.”

DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, Chandigarh, has given its consent to house 200 students for the second shift. Sharda Sarvhitkari Public School, Chandigarh has agreed to give 16 rooms for running a second shift.

Guru Nanak Khalsa High School, Sector 30 B has offered to accommodate 1,000 students for the morning shift.

As many as 50 students of KG class can study free of cost at Ashiana Public School.

SD Senior Secondary School, Sector 24, Chandigarh, has offered to adjust 400 students in the second shift.

Also, Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, Shishu Niketan School, Sector 22 and Guru Harikrishan School, Chandigarh, have sent their approval to the education department for the temporary utilisation of their school buildings.

Chandigarh, April 24
The number of candidates appearing for the common entrance test (CET) conducted by Panjab University this year is lesser than the number of candidates who appeared for the test last year.

The main reason for the reduction in the number of applicants is the clash of dates of the exam with the Delhi University’s pre-medical entrance test.

According to M.L. Sharma, coordinator in-charge of entrance tests of the university, the number of candidates who have applied this year is 7,683 while it was over 8,500 last year.

The main reason for the reduction in number of applicants is the clash of dates of the PU CET with the Delhi University’s pre-medical entrance test. As a result candidates from Delhi have not applied for the CET.

Sharma said representations regarding the clash had been received but the dates could not be changed. “PU was the first to announce the CET date and Delhi University announced its dates later. It is for them to change the date,” added Sharma.

The test is scheduled for May 20. Last year, it had to be cancelled due to delay in arrival of the question papers. “This time there will be no glitches,” assured Sharma adding that all measures had been taken to ensure that the test was conducted smoothly.

Candidates will take the test for admission to the MBBS course of Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, BDS course of the Dr H.S. Judge Institute of Dental Sciences, Panjab University and the BAMS and BHMS courses being offered in the city. The same test will also suffice for admission to the various honours courses offered by the university’s departments. Candidates seeking admission to the five-year BA LLB course offered by the University Institute of Legal Studies and its Ludhiana centre will also appear for the test.

While a common merit list will be prepared for the MBBS, BDS, BAMS and BHMS admissions. For admission to honours school and BA LLB, separate merit lists would be prepared.

The test would be conducted in Chandigarh alone at 32 different centres across the city. Eight of these centres would be within the university campus and the rest in various city colleges. 

Chandigarh, April 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered a stay on the execution of challans issued to educational institutions of the city for allegedly violating the Cigarette and other Tobacco Products Act-2003.

As many as 59 challans were issued by the UT police on April 16 to various educational institutions, hotels and restaurants across the city for allegedly flouting the norms of the Act.

Most of the schools challaned were located in Sectors 7, 26, 27 and 28 of the city. 

Chandigarh:First semester students of diploma in medical lab technology of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Pharmacy, Sector 26, have done their college proud by figuring in the merit list of the final examination conducted by the Punjab State Board of Technical Education in December, 2006. Vikram Singh Taragi stood first while Natasha Vig and Karamjeet Kaur were placed second and third, respectively. Moreover, 17 out of 20 merit positions were grabbed by students of the college.

Training: Chandigarh Institution of Civil Engineers (India) (ICE) has signed a MoU with Desh Bhagat Engineering College (DBEC), Mandi Gobindgarh, under which the ICE (I) will be provided with technical facilities and academic consultancy at the DBEC. Practising engineers seeking membership of ICE (I) will be given practical training at the DBEC laboratories. Faculty at DBEC will provide guidance to engineers in their project work. The institute has also joined hands with HCL Career Development Centre, Noida. According to Dr Zora Singh, chairman of the group, the HCL will provide pre-placement technical training to MCA students of the institute and help arrange for their industrial visits to enable them to serve IT companies more effectively.

PTU results: In the third semester PTU examination, three civil engineering students of Indo Global Engineering College have been found place in the PTU merit list. Kuldeep Patwal and Jaideep Saini stood sixth by scoring 82 per cent marks while Akhil Prashar stood tenth. In the seventh semester, Prabhjot Singh stood sixth in the PTU merit list and has already been selected by Kajstory India Pvt Ltd at a salary of Rs 22,500 per month. Chairman of Indo Global Colleges expressed happiness over the results and congratulated the successful students and the staff. He announced to give suitable rewards to the meritorious students. — TNS

Chandigarh: Saloni Singh of Class X bagged the first prize while Priyanka Kondal and Radhika Sharma, both of Class X, bagged the second and third prizes, respectively, in a poster making competition organised at St Stephen's School, Sector 45-B, here, today. Gurleen Babra, Ishita Ghosh and Arzoo Ahuja were given the consolation prizes.

The competition was organised by the contingent of Hindustan Scouts and Guides, Chandigarh, to mark Earth Day in which around 140 students participated. Chief guest Ernest Gomez from London gave away the prizes to the winners.-TNS

Competition: Ishaan Vijh, a Class III student of St John’s High School, Sector 26, bagged the first position in the national-level Abacus Mental and Arithmetic Competition conducted by Challengers Abacus Edu-Tech (I) Private limited. Over 1600 students between the age group of 5 to 15 years participated in this competition held at various centres all over India.

The second place was shared by Malvika from Gwalior and Saksham from Mumbai while the third place was shared by Abhinav Gupta, a Class II student of St John’s-26 and Chirag Dhawan of Bhawan Vidyalaya-26. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 24
Auckland University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand, has opened its doors for students wishing to study various career relevant programmes there. Addressing mediapersons at the Press Club, here, today, Pamela Miller, international marketing manager, said, “The AUT is providing career programmes in various fields apart from offering a wide range of postgraduate and undergraduate degrees, as well as diplomas and certificates.”

“The university welcomes students from all ages, countries and walks of life. No money is being charged from students on account of consultancy, registration, assistance with admission, ” informed Amar Manchanda, its director.

Bruce Jones, associate dean of admissions, Business School at AUT said, “As per the new policy of the New Zealand Government, the students during the study are also permitted to work 20 hours a week and after completion of their respective courses, they get open work permit to find a job. This is followed by two years work visa to get work experience. During this time they may apply for permanent residency too.

Chandigarh, April 24
The general house meeting of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association was held yesterday in which various issues related to the bar and lawyers’ welfare were discussed.

The agenda of the association was passed unanimously through the voice vote in which stress was laid on the modernisation, judicial ‘nepotism’ and transfer policy of the judges.

The house concurred with the Law Commission’s recommendation stating that the one-third of the judges in a high court be taken from outside states. Also, the minimum age of advocates should be 50 for elevation.

The house further agreed that an affidavit should be sought from the advocates by the Chief Justice in which they would declare their assets.

Recognising the need to go hi-tech, the house said the high court judgments should be available on Internet on the pattern of the apex court.

There was a stormy debate on the judicial nepotism and concern was expressed over the fact that clients tend to flock the lawyers having some relation or connections with the judges.

The house lauded the transfer policy of the judges, as laid down in the order made on September 25, 2004, of the high court as a landmark.

The said order had made it difficult for judges to ‘help’ their or their fellow judges’ kin and such orders should be passed by the Supreme Court as well as other high courts, the house added.

It was also demanded that a new list of advocates, who assisted the Liquidation Bench, be prepared. Also, a list of arbitrators from amongst the lawyers of all strata having practice of more than 10 years should be prepared by the Chief Justice.

Association’s president Anmol Rattan Sidhu too called for a need to raise the standard of legal practice and promised to ensure better facilities for budding lawyers.

He said soon seminars of national and international importance would be organised to educate the lawyers on legal issues in which eminent jurists and legal eagles would be invited.

Chandigarh, April 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the Union of India to produce the draft amendment Bill, related to immoral trafficking, before it following a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking quashing of certain provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.

Referring to the National Commission for Women’s recommendations and apex court’s observations, petitioner H.C. Arora pleaded that the woman involved in the flesh trade should not be treated as offenders but as victims.

He averred that most of the prostitutes were not willing partners but had been coerced into the trade. In fact, the purchaser of sex was the main culprit and thus only he should bear the brunt of the law.

Daya Chaudhary, assistant solicitor-general of India, apprised the court that the impugned provisions of the Act were being amended and a new Section 5-C was being incorporated in the Act which entailed punishment for clients of prostitutes also.

She said the amended Bill had been introduced in Parliament and after its study by the Parliamentary standing committee, the Bill was presented in the Rajya Sabha on October 23, 2006.

Presently, the recommendations and observations made by the standing committee were being examined by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice.

At this, the petitioner stressed that even the proposed provisions relating to new Section 5-c were not before the court and requested the court to seek a copy of the draft Bill from the Union of India.

Chandigarh, April 24
The days of three-hour-long matinee show are gone. For, this is the era of short films and features packed with all necessary ingredients of excitement, thrill, storyline, fiction.

Continuing with its cinematic endeavours, Alliance Française, Chandigarh, in association with French Embassy, has organised a festival of short French films “Voyages en courts/Journeys in short feature films” from April 23 and April 30 at the institute.

Promising to be a refreshing change from the usual grind of long films, the programme, divided into five sections, will showcase 40 films of all genres, including fiction, sci-fi and animated films.

Interestingly, the films have been carefully selected from Agence du Court Métrage, the Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival and UniFrance in order to offer a wide selection of short films made in 2004 and 2005.

The richness and diversity of production in terms of both form and subject, revelatory as it is of the vitality of cinematographic creativity in France, made the selection extremely difficult.

Hence, the programme is broadly classified into four categories, said the spokesperson for the institute.

The films are screened under playground shorts programme for the young audience in the age group of 7 onwards.

Strange shorts programme (weird and fantastic) caters to teenage audience. For women audience, there is Elles and the films selected exclusively from the 2006 Clermont Ferrand Festival are categorised under the same name.

Besides the four categories, a fifth one focuses on the promotion of films from other parts of the world under world shorts programme.

A collection of the sorts, the festival will showcase films made by some well-known directors with concepts ranging from sensitive issues like a physical handicap to the
first kiss.

Some of the films to be screened include a three-minute animation film, “The Pencils”, an animation film by Didier Barcelo, “The Kiss”, a four-minute fiction film by Stéfan Le Lay, “Le manie-tout”, by Georges Le Piouffle, etc.