Chandigarh, July 13
The joint AIEEE counselling for admissions to Punjab Engineering College, department of chemical engineering, Panjab University, UIET, CCET, and SSG College of Engineering, Panjab University Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur, for the reserved categories (sports, freedom fighter, Kashmiri migrants etc) was held today at Panjab University.

All seats in sports quota for civil, IT, production, aeronautical, metallurgy, electrical, electronics engineering at PEC were filed today. Similarly, all seats in the civil, electronics and electrical, computer science branches at CCET were also filled up in the sports category. In all four engineering branches at UIET, there were three seats in each of the branch.

All of them were also filled up today itself. In the department of chemical engineering, three seats were filled while in food technology there was only one seat, which was filled in the sports category. At SSG College, Hoshiarpur all seats in electronics, computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering in the same category were filled up.

In the defence personnel quota, all seats in both UT and open category in PEC were filled today. In the freedom fighter category, five seats in the open category and four in the UT category were filled at PEC. At CCET, three seats in the UT category, five seats at UIET and four at SSG College, Hoshiarpur, were filled.

In the physically disabled category, at PEC in the open category two seats are lying vacant in the civil engineering and one in metallurgy is vacant rest all five seats have been filled. In the UT category, one seat each is lying vacant in the electrical, production, civil and metallurgy branches while all seats in the electronics and mechanical branches were filled.

At CCET, in the physically disabled category, all seats were filled in computer engineering in the open category while in the UT pool two seats in electrical and one in computer science are left. Similarly, in UIET in the open category, only one seat was filled in computer science branch and the remaining eight seats in all other branches are lying vacant.

Even in biotechnology, both seats in the reserved category are still vacant. In the department of chemical engineering, two seats are left in BE (chemical) while one seat is remaining in food technology.

At SSG College, Hoshiarpur all seats in the same category are lying vacant.

In the Kashmiri migrant category, one seat was filled in the open category at PEC in electronic engineering while at CCET one seat was filled in the computer engineering. Similarly, at UIET and SSG College, Hoshiarpur five and four seats were filled, respectively, in the category.

In the riot victims’ category, in UIET, one seat each is left vacant in electrical and mechanical engineering. At SSG College, all four seats are unfilled and one seat is remaining in biotechnology.

Chandigarh, July 13
The Panjab University senate is set to meet tomorrow to approve some of the items on the agenda that vice-chancellor Prof R.C. Sobti had sent out for approval to the senate by post in May this year.

The senators then had been asked to send their approval to certain issues by May 25, following which, in case a reply was not sent, these were to be presumed approved.

The unprecedented move had prompted some of the senators to voice their disapproval at what they had termed an “undemocratic” manoeuvre. But this week, when the agenda was sent out before the meeting of the senate, these issues were included.

The reason for doing this, said the vice-chancellor, “is that if anyone has objections let things be in the open. This is not my personal agenda and let it come before the senate”.

While Professor Sobti had then claimed that it had been an attempt to save money since each senate cost around Rs 6 lakh and the approval could have been received by post, some senators did not see it this way.

Prof Tarsem Bahia said some of them had objected to the idea then because there was a need for debate and discussion before those issues could be passed. “These are serious items and their implications are administrative, academic and financial. We are happy that ultimately wisdom has prevailed and the matter will be discussed by the members of the senate.”

Calling the senate meeting “not just a meeting of persons but a meeting of ideas”, Professor Bahia said the current system ensured transparency and democracy since it was the final authority for decisions and he was happy that the vice-chancellor had been “kind enough to concede to our point of view and put those items in the agenda for discussion tomorrow.”

Chandigarh, July 13
By putting all records on its website, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 32, Chandigarh, is all set to become the first government school in the country to be fully online.

“Ours is the first government school in India which would be able to execute all administrative work online,” claimed Anil Sharma, principal of the school.

With this, the official work at the school will become completely paperless. Not only this, the students would be able to receive and submit the assignments online. The admissions, counselling and fee deposit would also be through net only. Mohali-based company XTech Plus has been assigned the work to introduce Xtech Wims, a web-based institute management system, which would be fully operational by the next week.

Under this system, modules like admissions, fee, inventory, purchase, exam, human resource, finance management, timetable, library, hostel, transport and mess would be put on the web. The system would run on internet as well as intranet. Modules like admissions, fee and exams would be useful for the students while other modules would be useful for the school administration.

The students would be issued a smart card through which they would be able to search the books of their choice in the school library and could register a request for the issuance of the same, said the principal.

A student would be able to know about his room number, seat number and other details one day in advance during the examination days, informed the principal. Even parents would be able to keep a tab on the status of their wards as all data related to students would be available online, added the principal. Parents would be able to put their queries on the net.

All required information would be available to the students on their mobile phones also through the SMS as many of the students did not have computers at their homes, said the principal.

Chandigarh, July 13
Healthcare Management International (HCMI), a Singapore-based institute, announced launch of an MBBS programme for Indian students in Philippines during a press meet organised here today.

The same has already been launched across the eastern region of the country.

Giving details about the programme, Baljit Singh, managing director, HCMI, Singapore, said the programme had three phases i.e pre clinical, para clinical and clinical phase. A one-year internship programme at state-of-the-art hospitals of the state follows the four-and-a-half-year MBBS programme.

There are about seven colleges and universities under the HCMI across Philippines. Also present were Dr Deepak Shishoo, senior technical consultant, and Maj Karnail Singh, operational head for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir.

The authorities claimed that the programme was recognised by WHO, ECFMG, USA.

Chandigarh
WORLD POPULATION DAY: Various activities by students marked World Population Day at KV High Grounds, Chandigarh, here on Thursday. In the morning assembly, Himanka Ghosh of Class VII-A and Nidhi Khampa of IX-A delivered talks on problems of rapidly increasing population.

Mohali
OUTING: It was nature's bounty and beauty at its best that captivated the most innocent imaginations of scores of students from Small Wonders School as the tiny tots had a field day at Rose Garden here on Thursday.

The students were told about the relevance and importance of Van Mahotsav.

Panchkula
WORKSHOP: Workshops of the Association of International Educational and Cultural Students Exchange (AIESEC) under its project “World View” began at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, here yesterday. The main objective of these workshops is to exchange cultural views, organise quiz competitions, show CDs and slides.

Principal of the school Krit Serai said, “Our school promotes internationalism and the AIESEC workshops are a wonderful opportunity for students to interact and learn about other cultures and countries. The aim is to produce global citizens.”

These workshops are in progress under 9 interns, who have come from different countries like Canada , China , Japan , Malaysia and Singapore. Banur

RESULT: The Swami Vivekanand College of Pharmacy has bagged the first three positions in the PTU merit list. Monika Jain, a student of BPharmacy semester I, secured the second position in the university examination by scoring 745 out of 900 marks.

The other two students are Shikha Malik of BPharmacy semester I of SVCP, who stood first by scoring 761 marks, and Preeti Jain, who scored 743 marks, stood third.

Dr Sanjay Bajaj congratulated the toppers and announced that these students would get extra books from the college and assured that the college would extend all possible help to these students to maintain their positions. — TNS 

Chandigarh, July 13
ICFAI National College, Chandigarh, organised a closing ceremony of the summer internship programme for its students at Lajpat Rai Bhavan today.

P.K. Verma, regional director, PHDCCI, Chandigarh, was the chief guest while Ramesh Krishnan, associate dean, north zone of the INC, was the special guest. The function was marked by a presentation on the summer internship programme.

The event was organised to bid a farewell to the 299 students who undertook the internship programme from 11 ICFAI colleges located at Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and J&K. On the occasion, students also put up a cultural programme. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 13
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today restrained the Panjab University Senate from approving the appointment of Dr Mohsin U. Khan as the Rajiv Gandhi Chair professor and issued notices to the PU, UGC and Dr Khan for August 6.

The orders were passed by a bench, comprising Justice K.S. Grewal and Justice S.N. Aggarwal, on a writ petition filed by Dr Rajesh Kochhar, who sought annulment of the selection proceedings on the grounds that it was based on violation of the UGC norms laid down for the purpose.

Dr Khan’s appointment was ratified by the PU syndicate in its meeting that was held on July 7 and was to come up for the approval of the PU senate, scheduled to meet tomorrow.

As per the procedures of the UGC, which funds the chair professorship entirely, the selection is required to be made by a three-member committee, comprising two members nominated by the university vice-chancellor and one nominated by the UGC.

The petition, however, states that the committee, which selected Dr M.U. Khan, comprised as many as 25 members and not one of them a UGC nominee - despite the PU being a signatory to the UGC norms governing the chair.

The petition also brings light to the prehistory of the chair professorship, sanctioned in October 2005. The PU advertised the post for the chair professor for the first time in November 2005, in response to which 14 applications/nominations were received. The screening committee short listed the name of Dr Rajesh Kochhar out of these. An interview was fixed on February 14, 2006, but was postponed, no reasons cited and no fresh dates given.

The petition adds that although the PU, in a press statement issued on February 2006, stated that the interview had been postponed due to non- availability of experts, it went ahead with issuing a supplementary advertisement inviting more applications for the same post on March 2006. The process thus started was aborted again as another fresh advertisement was issued in January, 2007 without any reference to the advertisements issued earlier.

The petition further raises the issue of Dr M.U. Khan’s designation, as officially described by the PU. It states, “The PU officially described Dr Khan as deputy director of the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, (NISTADS) New Delhi. However, as per the website of the institute, no such post exists.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the petitioner had lodged formal protests with the PU V-C and the UGC over the violation of selection procedures, much before the results of the proceedings became known on July 7.

Chandigarh, July 13
The Durga Das Foundation, Citi Bank and The Tribune bring to the city the emotions of “Kanyadaan” (the gift of a daughter), an award-winning play in English, which happens to be Viday Tendulkar’s most powerful and riveting human drama.

The story of a daughter’s transformation into a wife and mother, it is peppered with social and moral dilemmas which evoke response and urge the audience and society to seek answers to.

The play, which is laced with gentle humour, is a serious tale that depicts violence, anger and uncertainty.

The play is directed by well-known film and theatre personality Lillete Dubey, who herself has a lead role in the play.

Rajendra Gupta, also a seasoned television and film personality, along with Joy Sengputa, Radhika Apte and Raaghav Chanana, brings alive a taut script with their lively performances.

The two-hour play will be performed at Tagore Theatre on July 20. Entry is by invitation only.