4 injured in accidents
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Four persons, including a woman, were injured in separate road accidents in the city in the past 24 hours. Gurdeep Kaur of Phase X , S.A.S. Nagar was hit by a Maruti car ( CH—01—Q—2159) driven by Bhupinder Singh of Sector 47 on the road dividing Sectors 45 and 46.

An unidentified scooterist was injured when an unknown vehicle hit him on the road dividing Sectors 43 and 44. A cyclist, Chatrayal Prasad, was found lying in an unconscious state in Sector 24. He was probably hit by an unidentified vehicle. A resident of Sector 45, Tejinder Singh, was hit by an unknown vehicle on the road dividing Sectors 31 and 47.

Booked: Two persons — Shamim Mohammad and Monu — have been booked under Sections 147, 148, 149, 323 and 506 of the IPC for allegedly assaulting Vijay Kumar and his neighbour Rajinder of Khuda Lahora village. In a separate incident, Karamjeet Singh of Sector 37 reported that he was allegedly assaulted by Harpreet Singh alias Kala of Sector 8. A case has been registered.

Car stolen: A Maruti car ( CH—01—E—0313) owned by Mr Sandeep Singh Thind of Sector 28 was stolen from the Sector 17 parking .

Arrested: A pickpocket, Narottam Bhatia, of Sector 7 was caught red handed while he picked the pocket of Mr Sat Prakash of Rohtak near the roundabout at sectors 9, 10 , 16 and 17. A case under Sections 379 and 411 of IPC has been registered.

Held: A resident of Burail village, Kapil, was caught red handed while stealing aluminium rods from a house in his neighbourhood. A case under Sections 454, 380 and 411 of the IPC was registered.

PU hostel gets new block
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The extension block of Kasturba Hall (hostel number 10) was inaugurated by Prof Armaity S. Desai, Chairperson of the University Grants Commission, at Panjab University, here today.

The new block has 24 rooms which can accommodate 48 students. The hostel will have an three more floors of 12 rooms each, as soon as funds are available.

Professor Desai visited the main hostel and interacted with students and the warden, Ms Saroj Ghosh. She expressed satisfaction over the facilities available to the students.

Condoled: The Department of History, Panjab University, expressed grief over the death of Prof R.C. Jauhari, on April 8. He was a scholar of both American and medieval Indian history. He had also received Fulbright Scholarship for higher studies in the USA, three times.

His last major contribution was the ICHR-sponsored Barauni's Tarekh-I-Firoz Shahi's translation. He headed the department from 1980 to 1983. He was the Director of the UGC Project on Bhagat Singh and the Director of the UGC Seminar on Peasant in Indian History. He had also been the General President of the Punjab History Congress at Patiala.

Teachers unhappy: In a press note issued by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU), Chandigarh Council, today, the teachers expressed bitterness over not being issued the notification adopting the UGC grades with effect from January 1, 1996.

Dr Rabindra Nath Sharma, President of the PCCTU, Chandigarh Council, urged the UT Administration to issue the notification without further delay. The college teachers are the only category of employees which are still drawing pre-revised grades.

Price of defective suit refunded
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 16 — A well-known garment shop in Sector 17 here has refunded the price of a defective ready-made suit to a lady complainant, after the intervention of the local consumer court.

Mrs Rajinder Kaur Brar of Sector 38 had alleged in her complaint that she had purchased one ready-made suit for Rs 3,595 and two suit pieces worth Rs 1700 from M/s Kohinoor Trendz of Sector 17. She had further alleged that she had purchased the fancy suit specially for wearing at a wedding but she could not wear it on the occasion as its colour started fading within two to three days of purchase.

She had also alleged that despite repeated visits to the shop, the shopkeeper expressed his inability to change the suit.

After issue of notice by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II comprising its President, Mr R.P. Bajaj, and members, Mr. H.S. Walia and Mrs Kamlesh Gupta, the shopkeeper appeared before the Forum and paid Rs 4,000 to the complainant towards the price of the suit and costs.

Penalised: The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, UT has penalised the Punjab State Board of Technical Education for wrongly spelling the name of a candidate’s father in the detailed marks certificate.

The complainant, Mr Sudhakshar Kumar stated that the certificate issued for a third year professional course contained the name of his father mis-spelt as ` Gitakshar Kumar’ instead of ‘ Geeta Akshar Kumar’. This resulted in expenditure for getting it corrected and harassment in visiting the head office of the board several times.

The board took the plea that the student herself had wrongly filled in the form, which resulted in the mistake.

However, the board could not prove this allegation as it failed to produce the original form submitted by the student. The commission also noted that the detailed marks certificate of the first year contained the name correctly.

Holding the board guilty of deficiency in service, the commission comprising its President, Mr J.B. Garg, and members, Col P.K Vasudeva and Mrs Devinderjit Dhatt, directed the refund of Rs 600 paid by the student. It further ordered the board to pay Rs 2000 as compensation for physical and mental harassment and Rs 400 as costs. With this, the Commission set aside the order of the District Forum-II, which had earlier dismissed the complaint.

Refund: In an ex-parte order, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II comprising its President, Mr R.P. Bajaj and members, Mr H.S Walia and Mrs Kamlesh Gupta, has directed M/s Liberty Shoes Limited to pay Rs ,1000 as refund of a defective pair of shoes and Rs 500 as costs to a complainant.

Mr. B.K Kaushal of Sector 6, Panchkula, stated that he had purchased a pair of gents shoes from the local Liberty Shoppee in Sector 9, for Rs 1000 in May 1997. After a few days of wearing, the shoes started tearing out from the front side. The shopkeeper kept on putting off the matter of replacement of shoes and even the service of a legal notice did not bring any response.

The forum issued notice of the complainant to the shopkeeper but since no one appeared on their behalf, it was proceeded ex-parte.

On the basis of the documents and evidence produced by the complainant, the Forum held the shop guilty of grave deficiency in service.

Tomato price decreases
Tribune New Service

CHANDIGARH, April 16—The prices of some of the commonly used vegetables have witnessed a downward trend in the local market during the past 24 hours.

During a survey of the market today it was found that if a kg of tomato was selling for Rs 16 yesterday, it was priced between Rs 10 and Rs 12 today. The wholesale price of the commodity has also come down from Rs 90 to Rs 50 to Rs 60 per 5 kg. According to traders, the price of the vegetable has crashed following enhanced arrivals of the local crop as also the crop from Rajasthan in the market after the Baisakhi holidays. "Actually, the price had soared as the market received very little supplies of the vegetable during the past four days," said a trader.

Similarly, there was a decline in the prices of other vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, peas and radish during this period. A kg of the 'pahari' variety of peas, which was selling yesterday between Rs 20 and 24 yesterday, was available today at a price between Rs 18 and Rs 20 in different city markets. The same was the case with cabbage and cauliflower as their price has come down from Rs 5 to Rs 2.50 a kg and from Rs 5 to Rs 4 a kg, respectively. The price of gourd, too, has witnessed a decline as if it was selling for Rs 10 a kg yesterday, it was priced at Rs 8 a kg today.

In addition to this, the decline was also visible as far as the prices of other vegetables such as lady's finger, bitter-gourd and beans were concerned. If a kg of lady's finger was priced at Rs 32 yesterday, it was selling today between Rs 28 and Rs 30. Similarly, a kg of bittergourd wa10s priced for Rs 32 today, in place of its earlier price of Rs 30. Beans were also cheaper today, as their price declined from Rs 16 to Rs 12 a kg during this period. The biggest fall was witnessed in the price of cucumber as if it was selling between Rs 20 and Rs 24 a kg yesterday, it was available today between Rs 5 and Rs 12 a kg, depending upon the local and 'pahari' variety, respectively.

The prices of other vegetables and fruits are as follows:—squashgourd Rs 10 a kg, radish Rs 5, carrot Rs 12, capsicum Rs 30, onion Rs 8, potato Rs 3, lemon Rs 40, ginger Rs 40, garlic Rs 25, mango Rs 35 (safeda), Rs 25 (totapari), banana Rs 20-25 (per dozen), papaya Rs 18-20, apple Rs 50-40, melon Rs 20, watermelon Rs7, orange Rs 60 a dozen, pomegranate Rs 35, strawberry Rs 80, and mausambi Rs 60 a dozen.