Chandigarh, December 10
After the startling results of the Panjab University syndicate elections held yesterday, it was yet another day of surprises at the university.

In the elections to the posts of dean and secretary of various faculties, Deepak Manmohan, who had been retaining the office of dean in the faculty of languages for the past 10 years, was defeated by two votes by Shelly Walia of the department of English.

The education faculty, which was dominated by the Deepak Manmohan group for many terms, also received a major setback when Jagdish Kaur, principal of Dev Samaj College of Education, Ferozepur, was defeated by three votes polled in favour of P.S. Sangha, former principal of SGGS College, Chandigarh, of the G.K. Chatrath group. Sangha has been elected dean while Dr R.S. Brar has been elected secretary in the education faculty.

In the arts faculty, Prof B.S. Ghuman was elected dean unopposed. From the business management and commerce faculty, Prof S.C. Vaidya was elected as dean while Dr Jagwant Singh was elected secretary.

In the science faculty, Prof K.K. Bhasin was voted as dean. Dr Rajinder Bhandari has been elected dean while Dr Gurpreet Kaur has been elected the secretary of the design and fine arts faculty.

Similarly, from the pharmaceutical sciences faculty, Prof Vivek Ranjan Sinha and Dr Manoj Kumar were elected dean and secretary, respectively.

From the engineering and technology faculty, Prof B.S. Sohi was elected dean while Prof Renu Vig was elected secretary. The results of both elections have changed the configuration of Panjab University’s political scene and its aftereffects would be seen in the senate elections to be held in September next year, say sources.

Chandigarh, December 10
GGDSD College, Sector 32, organised a seminar on ‘Career Opportunities in the Banking and Insurance Sectors’ for students of MBE, MCom, PGDMM and PGDPM on the college premises today.

Sachin Vinayak, vice-president and branch head, HSBC, Chandigarh, Prof S.K. Chadha, senior faculty member at UBS, and Tisha Lehl from HDFC were among the panelists who spoke. They also updated the students about the existing career opportunities in the banking and insurance sectors besides offering them tips to handle the challenges of the corporate field and become successful corporate managers and leaders. Sachin Vinayak inspired the students to strengthen their skills and identify areas of development in order to enhance their employability.

Dr Chadha motivated the students to improve their overall personality. In the interactive sessions, the students were briefed about the skills required to face interviews. Mock interviews were also conducted with a view to expose them to the employers’ expectations.

Chandigarh, December 10
The dancing squad of Delhi Public School, Sector 40-C, Chandigarh, has been selected as one of the eight contestants for the finals of ‘My School Rocks’, an all-India dance competition hosted by Disney Channel.

Over 60 schools participated in this mega event for which elimination rounds were held in eight cities. Choreographer Shiamak Davar was the judge during the elimination rounds . The final winners will be selected on the basis of the viewers’ votes.

The votes can be sent through email: www.disney.in/hsm2 (Select Team 1) or sms at 58888MSR space <1> or telephone 1255-555 or 505-555 (Select Team 1).

Principal of the school Sunit Talwar said, “I solicit support from the residents of City Beautiful. Any or all options, as mentioned, may be used to vote and each of them will be counted as a separate vote.”

Panchkula, December 10
“Say no to plastic disposable pens”, a project prepared by a team of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Panchkula, comprising four students — Anchit Sood, Dakshi Agnihotri, Akshay Sood — and team leader Hanisha Sharma has been selected for the national-level Children Science Congress.

The five-day congress is scheduled to start on December 27 at Pune.

The project was selected at the state-level Children Science Congress held on December 8 and 9 at Narnaul.

Children along with their guides from 101 teams exhibited their projects during the congress.

Annual function

Patiala: Bhupindra International Public School (BIPS), Patiala has got the permission to start 10+2 classes in medical, non-medical and commerce streams from the coming session.

According to information received today, a function was organised to mark its annual function. Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh was the chief guest and deputy commissioner D.S. Grewal was the guest of honour.

Principal Indu Sharma highlighted the achievements of the school in academic, sports and extra-curricular activities.

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 10
The Dolphin (PG) College of Life Sciences, Chunni Kalan, will organise a workshop on “Career counselling and avenues worldwide” on the college campus on December 22.

College principal today said the workshop had been designed to update the teaching community with opportunities in the field of science, including medical, engineering, biomedical and life sciences with an objective to “mentoring the mentors”.

He said the workshop was being held in association with the Career Aid, Chandigarh.

He said the workshop was meant to train teachers teaching class XII in science subjects, thus enabling them to help students to identify lucrative career avenues and a life-time advisory earning opportunity for them.

The principal said experts in the field, including Dr S. Biswas, Mayank, Dr Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Suri, would deliver lectures on “Technology facilitating Sciences”, “Width of biology”, “Stress busting tips” and “Mentoring the mentors”, respectively.

Chandigarh, December 10
The Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I has directed the Life Insurance Corporation of India to refund the principal amount deposited by policyholder Pritam Singh.

The complaint was filed by two minor sons of the policyholder through their guardian Gurmail Singh.

The deceased, Pritam Singh, father of Devinder Singh and Vishwajit Singh, had got two insurance policies for sum of Rs 25,000 in 2000. The nominee for the policies were his two sons.

Pritam died a natural death on November 10, 2001, but he had paid three yearly half instalments for both policies. Later, his wife also died.

The maternal grandfather of the complainants filed a petition for his appointment as guardian of the children in the district courts, Ropar. The guardianship was granted to him.

The insurance company repudiated their claim on medical ground for which they filed the present complaint.

The company stated that the policyholder was suffering from some internal disease and they were not taken into confidence by the policyholder.

The company contended that the doctor had no means to find out an internal disease unless he was told by the policyholder.

The company further averred that the complaint was barred by time. It was contended that the insurance claim was repudiated through a letter in December 21, 2002, and was sent to their mother. They stated that the complaint should have been filed by December 21, 2004, but it was filed in July 2005.

The forum stated: “Since there is no evidence produced by the insurance company if the letter dated December 21, 2002, was ever dispatched or received by the complainant’s mother. Therefore, we cannot say the complaint was barred by time.”

Chandigarh, December 10
Taking up a petition filed in public interest on the alleged unauthorised occupation of common land in Kansal village, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the Punjab Government to produce complete details.

The Bench, headed by Chief Justice Vijender Jain, also directed the state government to apprise it of the action taken against the person giving incorrect or improper name and other particulars for the purpose of registration or sale deed.

The case will come up for hearing on February 4.

Japanese artiste Elena Tomioka plays on arpa at Punjab Kalal Bhavan, Chandigarh, on Monday. —A Tribune photograph

Chandigarh, December 10
The newly constituted Chandigarh chapter of the National Integrated Forum of Artists and Activists (NIFAA), in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan, organised a musical programme at the Randhawa auditorium of Punjab Kala Bhavan here today. The event marked the celebration of Indo-Japan Friendship Year-2007 with a noted Japanese musician Elena Tomioka presenting an 'arpa' recital besides young Vibhas Arora doling out ghazals and songs.

Vibhas opened up with a ghazal ‘Khuda ka zikr Karen ya tumahari baat Karen’ besides three more numbers, including 'Ranjha jogda ban aya'.

Young Elena, performing first time in City Beautiful, attempted to capture the folk flavour of Japan, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, Mexico, Spain and also South America where it is popular. Commencing with a love song, she presented popular numbers like 'Fly Condo', 'Neighbour on Sunday', 'Coffee garden Brazil', ‘Sayonara’ and other items.

Earlier, talking to The Tribune Elena Tomioka said though the existence of 'arpa', the 37-nylon stringed musical instrument spanning over five octaves, was traced back to the 16th century in

Spain, but it had caught the fancy of the music lovers during the past 40 years. “I love to play in India because it amply exudes the melody of your sarod and sitar. Over 30,000 students are learning arpa in Tokyo and Nagano alone,” she added. The instrument, costing over Rs 2 lakh, is mostly played with finger nails and is an ideal choice for playing folk and western light classical numbers, claims Elena.

Raj K. Mishra, regional director, Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia Centre, was the chief guest while Sudhir Mohan, IPS, was the guest of honour.