Panchkula, November 21
The Chandigarh chapter of the Association of British Scholars (ABS) organised a presentation competition in association with Satluj Public School, Sector 4, here yesterday. D.V. Bhatia, president of the Association of British Scholars, and Krit Serai, principal of Satluj Public School, were the chief guests. The participant schools were Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 27-B, Chandigarh; DAV Public School, Sector 8-C, Chandigarh; Ajit Karam Singh International Covent School, Sector 41-B, Chandigarh; St Soldier’s International Convent School, Phase VII, Mohali; Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, Chandigarh; Gyan Jyoti School, Mohali, and Hansraj Public School, Sector 6, Panchkula.

The topic of the presentation was ‘Educational Opportunities in the UK: New vistas and Challenges’. Students used LCD, handouts, laptops, pen drives and CDs to illustrate their points.

The highlight was a question/answer round. Ms Dhiman, executive of ABS from Warwickshire, UK, applauded the students for their efforts.

Results: 1 Ruchira Bahuguna and Arpit Malhotra of Bhawan Vidyalaya, 2 Radhika Panickar and Reekrit Serai of Satluj Public School, 3 Ashna Mittal and Dinaz Malik of Sacred Heart School, Sector 26.

Chandigarh, November 21
‘Haritima’, the environmental society of GGDSD College, Sector 32, organised a talk on environment today at the college. Dr Arundeep Ahluwalia from the geology department of Panjab University was the key speaker, who gave a presentation on environmental issues through a slide show. He encouraged the students to improve their lifestyle so as to protect the environment. He also explained the concerns of global warming. As many as 200 students and staff members participated in the talk. A documentary on environment was also shown followed by a question-answer session.

COUNSELLING FEST: The department of child development of Government Home Science College, Sector 10, organised a two-day career counselling fest for the students of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, which commenced today. According to Dr Sudha Katyal, head, department of child development, the motive behind the career fest is to reach out to the students of the senior secondary classes and give them an update on the various career options available after taking up the medical, non-medical, commerce and art streams. D.S. Parmar, assistant director, Haryana Employment Exchange, delivered the keynote address wherein he spoke about the need of educational and vocational guidance.

SEMINAR: The planning forum of the department of economics, DAV College, Sector 10, organised a seminar on ‘India’s glorious past, present struggle and where is the country going?’. P. Jauhar from the USA, in his talk, focused on the competitive advantages of India. He discussed the transition of India from being an exploited nation to an independent and outstanding economy. He also discussed the necessity of self-reliance and issues like punctuality, gender inequality, integrity and hard work, hygiene, poverty and foeticide that were being neglected over a period of time. The seminar was attended by more than 150 professors and students from different undergraduate and postgraduate classes. Earlier, Prof Umesh Vinayak, head, department of economics, welcomed the distinguished speaker.

COMPETITION: Shikha Pathak of Mount Carmel School-47 bagged the first prize while Navya of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School-26 clinched the second prize during the All-India Inter-state Inter-school Cultural Competition organised by the cultural society of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, here today. The third prize went to Ashish Gupta of St Kabir School-26. Anshika Kalra of DAV SSS-8 and Tanushree Batola of Hansraj Public School, Sector 6, Panchkula, got the consolation prizes. Ankita Naithani and Shikha Pathak of Mount Carmel School-47 bagged the team trophy.

Mohali, November 21
Students of Small Wonders School paid a visit to Sacha Dhan Gurdwara at Phase 3B1 on the eve of Guruparab today. Aimed at sensitising the little ones to the sensibilities of Sikhs and Sikhism, the special homage tour to the gurdwara was planned as part of a special exercise to promote co-curricular appreciation of things and events by the school. The nursery students appeared in the gurdwara dressed smartly in their school uniforms and their heads covered with colourful scarfs. Even as the little ones bowed and prayed in front of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the patient hearing given by them to the recitation of shabad kirtan was extraordinary. They even recited shabad kirtan. However, the most exciting moment of the visit was when the students had the langar. They enjoyed the holy common food and washed their utensils even as the sevadars of the gurdwara helped the little ones in the task.

WORKSHOP: Gian Jyoti Public School organised a workshop on “Tobacco Control in School” to make students aware about the ill-effects of tobacco. On behalf of WHO, Sandeep Sharma and Nirmala from the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) gave a presentation to the students.

Chandigarh, November 21
Taking up a petition alleging police inaction in an immigration matter, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today held that non-registration of a case by the police suggested that it had not acted in a bona fide manner.

In his petition, Anil Kumar of Sector 29 had sought directions for the registration of a case of fraud and breach of trust under Sections 420 and 406 of the IPC against Babrik, Satya Devi and Jagga.

He had alleged that the three had taken Rs 6 lakh from him on a promise of sending him abroad, but he was neither sent abroad, nor was his money returned.

After going through the records, Justice Surya Kant observed: “A compromise was arrived at between the parties on April 4, 2006. A perusal reveals that whereas these respondents had returned Rs 2 lakh to the petitioner, they further agreed to return the balance amount of Rs 4 lakh on or before June 30, 2006.

“In this background, the petitioner appears to have informed the police authorities not to take any action against these respondents for the time being. However, taking undue advantage of the communication, the police authorities have now refused to register a case even though the private respondents, as per their commitment and promise, have failed to return the agreed amount.”

The judge concluded that under these circumstances, non-registration of the case against these respondents, prima facie, suggested that the police authorities had not acted in the matter in a bona fide manner.

The case will come up for hearing on December 13. 

Chandigarh, November 21
A resident of Sector 15, Panchkula, Pradeep Mehta, had spent Rs 5,000 on controlling termites in his house, but there was no relief. The pest had damaged woodwork in his house.

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I has directed the pest control company to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the petitioner.

The company was also asked to pay Rs 2,100 as cost of litigation.

Pradeep said he had entered into an agreement with the company to give anti-termite treatment for Rs 5,000. He said the company had assured him that after the treatment, the woodwork would be safe for five years and if termites reappear, the company would repeat the treatment on the affected portion free of cost.

He said the termites appeared and even though several requests were made to the company, there was no response.

A notice was served on Frontier Pest Control Limited, but it did not appear for the hearing.

The forum observed: “The house was newly built and was unoccupied at the time when the opposite party (company) rendered service on the payment of Rs 5,000 and assured the complainant that after treatment, the woodwork would be safe for five years.

“Since the company had given treatment three to four times, it had no effect on the growing termite. Thus, the company has failed to provide satisfactory services to Pradeep.”

Chandigarh, November 21
The additional district and sessions judge, S.K. Aggarwal, today acquitted three persons accused in a theft case because the prosecution failed to prove its case.

Rajnish, Azim and Sandeep, including two others, were booked on the allegation of theft. While one of the accused had died during the pendency of the case, the case of another accused, a juvenile, was transferred to the juvenile justice board.

The police had booked the five on the complaint of a Sector 27 resident Suraj Sharma in 2001. The police had booked them for assaulting a person with an intent to commit theft. They were accused of stealing Rs 5,000, a gold chain and a purse of the complainant.

Suraj Sharma had said that he was going on his bike when he was attacked by some youths who robbed him after throwing chilly powder in his eyes.