Chandigarh, June 30
Construction work on the prestigious State Judicial Academy, Sector 43, started today with the “bhoomi pujan” ceremony performed by the director-general, State Judicial Academy, Justice J.S. Narang (retd).

Chief engineer V.K . Bhardwaj, Haryana chief engineer R.K. Gandhi, Krishanjit Singh and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.

The work is expected to be completed in 18 months at a cost of Rs 37.38 crore.

The construction work has been allotted to SAM (India) Built Well Pvt Ltd, New Delhi.

The State Judicial Academy is being set up with the objective of providing a training centre for judicial officers of Punjab, Haryana and the UT.

It aims at imparting the highest standards of judicial education to improve professional expertise.

The governments of Punjab and Haryana would fund the construction in equal ratio and the Chandigarh administration has provided land measuring 8.5 acres free of cost.

The academy is situated near the ISBT, Sector 43.

It will have a five-storeyed academy block and a four-storeyed hostel block with a total plinth area of 273,700 sq ft.

The academy block will have an auditorium, a library, a meeting room, a museum, lecture halls, a conference hall, a lounge and an administrative office.

The hostel block will have 10 suits for resource persons, 104 rooms for trainees, a gymnasium hall, a squash court, a cafeteria, a dining hall and halls for indoor games.

It will also have a basement for car parking and an air-conditioning plant.

Chandigarh, June 30
Manju Chauhan and Neeta Roy, both of DAV Model School, Sector 15 (DAV-15), shared the first position in the city by scoring 905/950 marks (95.26 per cent) in the nursery teachers training examination (IV semester). The result was declared today.

The fourth and fifth positions, too, were achieved by the students of DAV-15. Vandana Kumari stood fourth by securing 894/950 (94.10 per cent) marks while Suman Kumari stood fifth scoring 891/950 marks (93.78 per cent).

Rakesh Sachdeva, principal, DAV Model School, Sector-15A, congratulated the students on their commendable performance. 

Chandigarh, June 30
It was an exercise no less, albeit a pleasurable one. When The British Library, Sector 9, launched their reading programme for the summer, they aptly titled it ‘The Reading Mission’ referring to it as a ‘challenge that could last a lifetime’.

Targeting children between four and 12 years, the programme began on May 30 and concluded today with names of the winners being declared and every participating child getting a certificate.

The programme involved reading as many books as the participants could (from a set of 53 especially earmarked) as well as participating in book-related activities that were conducted through the month.

“We wanted the children to utilise their spare time in a constructive way by giving them a friend for the lifetime in books,” explained manager Bipin Kumar.

Not only did the ‘mission’ induce the children to read, but it also brought the fun back into reading, explained the parents. “We, at home, have always been trying to encourage children to read. However, when parents say something, the child often does not listen. So, when the library came up with the initiative, our children wanted to prove that they read well, too,” smiled Romila George, mother of Eden and Aaron George, who read as many as 24 and 23 books each in their respective categories.

While Rasha (8) from Strawberry Fields School devoured Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ for obvious reasons (everyone loves chocolates she declared confidently!), Avni Kapoor (10 ) from Sacred Heart Convent simply loved C.S. Lewis’s ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ reading as many as 11 books during the month-long programme. The youngest participant Raeka (3) also did well. While she may not have been able to read the books, she made her mother read out eight of them to her and maintained a list.

Results

4 to 8 years

Sunrose Billing (27 books)

Eden Ratnam George (24 books)

Raghuvanshz (19 books)

9 to 12 years:

Ishrat (35 books)

Chahat Sekhon (27 books)

Aaron Nicolas George (23 books)

Mohali, June 30
As many as 239 students from various engineering colleges of this region were selected by Satyam Computers during a joint placement meet held at Chandigarh Engineering College (CEC), Landran, today.

About 4,000 students from 53 engineering colleges of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh participated in this drive. The selected students will get a package of Rs 3.4 lakh per annum.

Satnam Singh Sandhu, chairman, and Rashpal Singh Dhaliwal, president of the CEC, said the management had been working hard for the placements of not only for its own students, but also for students of other colleges.

Dr G.D. Bansal, principal, CEC, said to meet their objective of ‘Placement for all’, at least 16 joint placement meets had been arranged so far by the CEC in which 20,782 students from various colleges of Punjab, Haryana, HP and Chandigarh were given an opportunity for placement. Out of this, a large number of students got jobs with various MNCs and leading companies of India.

He added that these efforts would continue in future also so that every student of the CEC got a job before getting the degree. 

Chandigarh, June 30
Strange are the ways of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana which dons the mantle of public authority for some causes and becomes a private body for others. This chameleon-like conduct of the council has raised some important questions which need to be addressed urgently.

The council had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in March seeking quashing of terms and conditions of the allotment letter, dated August 28, 2002, relating to the cost of land allotted and the ground rent (lease money) for Law Bhavan in Sector 37.

Furthermore, the council had pleaded for the quashing of the letter, dated January 25, whereby the estate officer, Chandigarh Administration, had declined to waive off the lease money.

In the petition, scheduled for another hearing in July, the Bar Council had unambiguously admitted that “it was a statutory body constituted under the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961”. Not stopping at this, it was also averred that the status of the council was that of a court which also discharged some specified statutory functions on the administrative side.

Earlier, the council had requested the estate officer vide letter dated December 19, 2006, to waive off or grant concession towards lease money (ground rent) being charged for the land allotted for Law Bhavan.

The request was turned down by the estate officer through a letter, dated January 25. After the UT’s no, the council moved the High Court in March.

A rather confounding picture emerges if we juxtapose this stand of the bar council with the stand it had taken before the Punjab State Information Commission.

The unique reply of Harsh Rai Dhanda, ex-Punjab and Haryana Bar Council chairman, given under the RTI Act, that “the council is a body constituted under the law and hence not a public authority” is indeed in stark contradiction to the stand taken later before the High Court. In fact, a resolution was passed under Dhanda’s chairmanship that the council was not a public authority.

The crux of the matter is that while the council claims itself to be a statutory body akin to a court of justice for the purpose of getting financial relief from the administration, it refuses to act like one when approached under the provisions of the RTI.

In fact, the council office-bearers have gone on record saying that the body was not covered under the Right to Information Act. They have also questioned the jurisdiction of the Punjab State Information Commission to take up matters relating to the council.

Chandigarh, June 30
The defence counsel in the general court martial (GCM) trying a Major at Tibri for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman officer, withdrew from the court after the GCM refused to take on record a submission furnished by him in support of his contentions.

The judge advocate in the trial, Major A. K. Panwar, termed the move as an offence under Section 228 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with contempt of court, and said the defence counsel should be arrested by the civil police for his act.

According to information reaching Headquarters, Western Command, one of the court members, Major Monica Sharma was sent to the police station for the purpose. What happened thereafter is not known, but the police did not get involved and no arrest was made.

The defence counsel, Col P. N. Chaturvedi (retd) had objected to the Army authorities handing over a copy of the court of inquiry to the complainant woman officer, contending that it was detrimental to the interests of the defence and also violated provisions of Army Rule 184, which concerns right of certain persons to copies of statements and documents.

When the matter was raised during proceedings, the court was of the opinion that the COI was given to the complainant officer by the commander, 96 Brigade, and the court would not question the decision of higher authorities in this matter.

When Colonel Chaturvedi sought to give a submission to the court in this regard, the court declined to take it on record. The counsel said that since he is being prevented to safeguard the interests of the defendant, he would withdraw from the court.

The court also directed the prosecution to ensure that the accused’s defending officer, Lt Col Mukul Dev attends court. During earlier proceedings, he had contended that there were certain illegalities in the court proceedings, which were prejudicial to the defence. The authorities concerned are yet to respond to several letters written to the convening authority in this regard. The GCM will now reassemble on July 3 for further hearings.

Chandigarh, June 30
A local court today remanded all 13 accused in a clash that took place in the Sector 39 Gurdwara Nanak Sagar on Thursday morning in judicial custody.

Sources in the Sector 39 police station said two followers, including a minor boy, of Baba Ajit Singh Phoola, who were admitted to the PGI, were taken into custody after they were discharged from the hospital. Another victim, Karnail Singh, was still nursing his wounds in the PGI.

The police said search was on to arrest the remaining accused involved in the clash. 

Chandigarh, June 30
‘Poetry in the Park’ is seeking poets and poetry lovers to enjoy and celebrate the beauty of nature and poems amidst the plethora of green spaces in the city. A novel attempt to bring people from different walks of life together, ‘Poetry in the Park’, conceptualised by Shumita Didi Sandhu, is a means of reconnecting poetry to the outdoors, “where is it performed best”.

The theme poet for this gathering is Shiv Batalvi and everyone is welcome to recite and participate or simply come and listen.

The first such evening of this gathering of poetry lovers took place on May 27 at Bougainvillea Garden in remembrance of Rabindranath Tagore whose birthday falls in May.

The inspiration for this gathering is a poignant memory of poetic moments that have passed earlier. Poonam Singh, editor, Preetlari, who is also Shumita’s sister and co-collaborator in this effort, explains it. “We grew up to poetry with our father who is a poet. He is not keeping well and that makes us want to hold onto him and to poetry. In these changing times, to come out and sit and hear is not only a release from the forces that are denigrating it but also our way of keeping it together,” she says.

The second of this series will be held tomorrow i.e. July 1 at Leisure Valley 1 (covered round thatched platform, opposite Attorney General Mattewal’s house) from 5.30 pm onwards.