Ludhiana, August 20
Educationists in the city have expressed dissatisfaction over the assurances given by the VC, Panjab University, Chandigarh, to the MBA students of the Regional Centre here, who had complained of non-availability of qualified teachers and coordinator to the authorities.

The experts feel that it was not viable to send teachers from Chandigarh on daily basis to teach the MBA students or take students to Chandigarh for attending seminars.

The authorities, instead of giving assurances, must find a suitable way so that students do not suffer, stressed the educationists.

Col H.S. Singha, Director, GNIMT, said the university would face a lot of difficulties while implementing the promises. He said several universities had been running MBA courses prior to 1987. The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was established in 1987 under the AICTE Act 1987.

As per this Act, engineering, architecture, management, pharmacy, hotel management and computer applications subjects were to be dealt by AICTE and approval for BE/B.Tech, ME/M.Tech, B.Arch./M.Arch. B.Pharm./M.Pharm, MBA, MCA and BHMCT/MHMCT degrees was also to be taken by AICTE. This was also true for PhD in these subjects. No university or institute was allowed to run the above courses without the prior approval of AICTE.

The universities that were running these courses prior to the establishment of AICTE were also subjected to the approval of the AICTE. It was found
by the AICTE inspection teams that in most of the cases, these universities' Business Schools did not conform to the AICTE norms.

When the AICTE tried to enforce the norms on the universities, the latter took the plea that they were also autonomous bodies established under the state or central Acts, hence they could not be subjected to inspections by some other autonomous body, which was established much later than them.

As such, most of these Business Schools were not subjected to inspection/approval by the AICTE and in most of the cases they did not conform to the AICTE norms.

“If any organisation wants to start MBA/MCA courses, they have to create the infrastructure and get permission from the Department of Technical Education of the state and then approach AICTE for approval. Once approved by AICTE, these Institutions can either run independently and award PGDBM or get affiliation to the technical universities established in each state for award of MBA/MCA degrees", said Col Singha.

The students and parents fall a prey to the excellent name and achievements of these universities in the spheres of humanities, social and basic sciences in which a post-graduate degree from universities like Panjab University was considered of higher value for them.

According to sources, some universities were bypassing the law by declaring some of their affiliated colleges as their Regional Centres established at different places without creating the infrastructure and obtaining the approval of the AICTE.

Ludhiana, August 20
Taking strict note of the negligent attitude of the officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board in a case of restoration of a connection, despite the consumer having paid all pending dues, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered the board to pay Rs 20,000 to the aggrieved party.

A.S. Narula, president of the forum, and a member, Puja Dewan, pronounced the order while deciding the complaint filed by Mohanbir Singh of Bharat Nagar here.

‘Facts prove the over-zealousness of the officials of the board in dealing with the case. The complainant had to vacate the shop on account of this reason,’ remarked the president of the forum in its order.

The consumer had submitted that the connection was installed in his rented shop forming part of property no: 96, Bharat Nagar Chowk. He was running his business under the name of M/s Car Point. He received an bill of Rs 1,990 regarding some dues. He made the payment on June 10, 2004.

In spite of his depositing the amount, the connection was disconnected illegally without prior notice. Thereafter, he made a payment of Rs 670 for re-connection on July 8. But his connection was not restored.

In Decemebr 2005, he received another bill of minimum charges for Rs 1,804. He also made payment of this bill. Thereafter, the connection was restored. In the process, he suffered immense harassment and had to vacate the shop.

Officials of the PSEB submitted that after payment of dues by the complainant, an order for restoring the connection was passed on August 10, 2004. When the matter of reconnection was under process, the women in the house filed an affidavit objecting to the restoration of the connection without consent and the same was withheld.

Later on in December 2005, a compromise was effected between the parties and the connection restored, pleaded the board counsel.

The forum found the reasons given by the board officials “ baseless.” The forum observed that the order for restoration of the connection was passed on August 10, 2004, whereas the affidavit was filed by the woman on July 5, 2004.

The forum held it was a case of deficiency of service and negligence on the part of board. No rule was shown for withholding the restoration of connection, even after the restoration order was passed.

Ludhiana, August 20
48-year-old Mohhamed Sayeed from Lucknow was an unhappy man some 10 years ago. Selling the 'durries' he would weave was a tough task. The traders he would go to would find faults in the stuff he provided and several times he wished he could change his work.

Luckily for him, things changed. Not only is he getting buyers, he also has people working with him. The production, as a result is up by five times.

In his nearly 10 years of association with the Awadh Kathkargha, Hastshilp and Gramudyog Samiti, he is happy that there is demand for what he creates and he is able to get a reasonable price for it too.

"I did not know how to sell my product. But now, there are people in this organisation that I have associated with, who are marketing my stuff, I am visiting exhibitions and doing much better than before," he said.

The samiti, which is holding an exhibition of handicrafts in the city, is working towards promoting artisans from Uttar Pradesh.

Said Javed Alam, secretary, "Since past many years, nearly 400-500 artisans have got associated with us. We work towards promoting their work and it serves a dual purpose, they get work and a good price and the art of handicraft from this region gets promoted."

Elaborating on the problems artisans normally face, he said, "Despite the fact that hand created work takes much longer to complete, artisans suffer as they are exploited by traders. These people do not know the art of marketing and even if they do, they do not have resources enough for that. Besides, there are problems like credit availability etc."

As many as 18 artisans are showcasing their work in the city presently. The work exhibited includes chikankari fabric and garments, hand block printed, katha work, mirror work, sequins work and hand embroidered, block printed fabric and bedcovers etc.