Servant decamps with money
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 19 — A domestic servant in a Sector 10 house has allegedly decamped with a sum of Rs 2,000, a clock and some clothes. The police has booked Puran Singh and his mother Jeeva Devi on a complaint lodged by Jarnail Singh of Sector 10.

Moped stolen : A moped (PIL-9150), owned by Ms Anuradha Sharma of Sector 45-A, has been stolen from a parking lot in Sector 17. A case has been registered. Meanwhile, in another incident Kuldeep Kumar of Colony Number 5 has been nabbed while carrying 11 bottles of unauthorised liquor. A case under the Excise Act has been registered.

PANCHKULA

Woman hurt : A woman of Khautla village was seriously injured when she was hit by a speeding car near Nagal bus stand on the Ambala-Shimla National Highway here on Friday.

The Chandimandir police has registered a case under sections 279 and 337 of the IPC against the erring car driver on the basis of a statement given by Mr Phool Chand.

In another case, some persons travelling in a car had a miraculous escape when their car was hit from behind by a truck on the Surajpur — Dosadka bridge near here. The car was badly damaged in the mishap.

The driver of the truck, Babu Ram, has been arrested by the police and the truck has been impounded by the police. A case has been registered against the truck driver under sections 279, 336 and 427 of the IPC.

Gambling : Four persons have been arrested by the Pinjore police for allegedly gambling at a public place near Surajpur. According to information available, Babu, Sunder, Lakshmi and Ramesh have been booked under the Gambling Act and Rs 390 have been recovered from them.

Burn injuries : Sat Parkash, a resident of Indira Colony, received burn injuries on his hands and other parts of body when he came in contact with a live electricity wire at Gymkhana Club in Sector 6 here on Saturday evening. He has been admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh.

Clarification on films
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, June 19 — Apropos of the news item, "PU students for refund of film fee", which appeared in these columns on June 16, Mr Sanjiv Tewari, Director, Public Relations, has said that the Vice-Chancellor, in response to the demand of students, had constituted a committee which made recommendations to the satisfaction of the student community. He added that there were facilities for screening of films in different auditoriums and provisions for auditoriums were kept in the new buildings.

Mr Tewari said that the student representatives had been given names and addresses of suppliers and were asked to assist the Dean Student Welfare in the procurement of the requisite equipment.

Refund for faulty weigh bridge ordered
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 19 — The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Weigh Masters, Industrial Area, Phase-II, to refund Rs 5.05 lakh with 18 per cent interest to a consumer for selling him a defective weight bridge. A cost of Rs 5,000 has also been imposed.

Sona Paper Boards had in its complaint filed before the commission alleged that the weight bridge was purchased in March, 1996, for Rs 5.05 lakh, but it was installed and made operational in August, 1996. However, within one month of its installation, it started giving trouble and the respondent company promised to provide service under warranty. They further alleged that though the engineer of the company inspected the machine and made a few adjustments on three occasions, the instrument failed to give satisfactory results. The complainant approached the respondents several times for effecting the repairs, but to no avail. As a result, the complainant was compelled to avail itself of the weighing facility from outside and spend on labour and staff, which not only resulted in extra expenditure but also decrease in efficiency.

Counsel for the complainant contended that the supplier indulged in unfair trade and practice as it did not get the weight bridge stamped and verified before supplying it, which was the statutory requirement as per the law governing weights and measures.

In its reply before the forum, the manufacturer contended that it was the duty of the complainant to get the weight bridge stamped from the relevant authority and the manufacturer was not liable for doing so.

It was further submitted that repairs and replacements were made from time to time to the satisfaction of the complainant during the warranty period.

The commission Bench comprising its President, Justice J.B Garg and members, Col P.K Vasudeva and Mrs Devinderjit Dhatt, in their order observed that the weight bridge did not give satisfactory results right from the time of its purchase.

After going through the records, they found that as per Section 22 of the Standards of Weights and Measures ( Enforcement) Act, 1985, it was the duty of the manufacturer to sell the weight bridge only after proper stamping and verification by the statutory authority.

The commission also rejected the pleas raised by counsel for the manufacturer regarding the maintainabilitity of the complaint. The plea regarding the expiry of the warranty period and limitation was also rejected on the ground that the warranty would become operational only after the installation of the machine which was done in August, 1996, and there has been constant complaints from the complainant's side thereafter.

The manufacturer has been directed to pay the amounts within two months of the receipt of the order, whereafter the complainant is required to hand back the weigh-bridge.

BPL dealer to pay

The UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II has directed a local BPL dealer, Electroage, to pay Rs 359 to the complainant along with costs of Rs 550 for its failure to rectify the fault in the washing machine during the warranty period.

In his complaint, Mohinder Dawar has stated that he had purchased the BPL washing machine from the dealer on January 24, 1996, with three years' warranty. He further alleged that when the machine developed a fault on November 13, 1998, the dealer refused to get the fault rectified. The complainant who had to get the washing machine repaired at his own expense pointed out that the relief was sought well within the warranty period, but the company did not reimburse that amount to him.

The respondent dealer in its reply stated that the warranty was for a period of two years and that the fault developed after the expiry of that period.

The forum Bench comprising its President, Mr R.P. Bajaj, and member H.S Walia after perusing the warranty certificate produced by the complainant held that the fault occurred well within the warranty period. Holding him guilty of deficiency in service, they directed him to pay Rs 359 as the expenses incurred by the consumer along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent, besides a sum of Rs 550 as costs for its failure to carry out the commitment.

Vegetable prices fluctuate
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 19 —The prices of a number of commonly used vegetables have witnessed fluctuation in the local market during the past two days.

During a survey of the local market it was found that the biggest jump in prices was registered by peas and cucumber during this period. A kg of peas, priced at Rs 40 just two days back, could be purchased today by shelling out a minimum of Rs 48. The wholesale price of the vegetable has increased from Rs 170 to Rs 200 per five kg during this period. According to traders, the hike was an outcome of lesser arrivals from parts of Himachal Pradesh during the past two days.

Similarly, a kg of cucumber, which was priced between Rs 5 and Rs 7 a kg two days back, was available today between Rs 10 and Rs 12 a kg. The wholesale price of the vegetable, too, has increased from Rs 30 to Rs 40 per five kg during this period. Just like peas, the price of the vegetable has increased owing to lesser arrivals from Punjab. The arrivals of the 'pahari variety ' from Himachal Pradesh are yet to pick up.

On the other hand, capsicum has become cheaper during this period. A kg of the vegetable, priced at Rs 24 two days back, was available today between Rs 16 and Rs 20, depending upon its size and quality. The wholesale price of the vegetable has come down from Rs 100 to Rs 70 per five kg. According to traders, the fall was due to the onset of arrival of the local variety of the vegetable in the market.

Similarly, the price of lemon has come down during this period. A kg of lemon, priced between Rs 24 and Rs 28 two days back, was available today for Rs 20 in different city markets. The wholesale price of the vegetable has come down from Rs 100 to Rs 80 per five kg during this period. The traders attributed the fall to a sudden dip in demand of the vegetable due to rain.

The price of beans has also witnessed a downward trend during this period. A kg of beans, priced at Rs 24 in the retail and for Rs 100 per five kg in wholesale market two days ago, was available today for Rs 20 a kg in retail and for Rs 80 per five kg in the wholesale market. The same was the case with tomato, as its price, too, has come down from Rs 12 to Rs 10 a kg in the retail market and from Rs 40 to Rs 30 per five kg in the wholesale market.

There was no fluctuation in the prices of other vegetables such as gourd, cauliflower, cabbage etc. A kg of gourd was priced between Rs 8 and Rs 10, while cauliflower and cabbage was priced at Rs 15 and Rs 8 a kg, respectively. Similarly, a kg of brinjal, lady's finger , potato and onion was priced at Rs 10, Rs 8, Rs 5 and Rs 8, respectively.

CBA to choose new members today
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, June 19 — The annual general meeting of the Chandigarh Badminton Association will be held tomorrow at Hotel Jasmine, Sector 35. The meeting assumes importance as the association's team for next four years will also be chosen and it may see a few new faces as office-bearers. According to informed sources, one or two of senior office-bearers might be given higher positions.

The calender of this year's badminton activities will also be finalised along with an auditing of previous year's reports.

The association got affiliated, about 11 years ago, to the Badminton Association of India, giving more exposure to its players.

At present, the CBA is headed by Mr M.C. Sethi as its President, Mr D.K. Mukerjee, Secretary, Mr Subhash Nagpal, Senior Vice-President, and four vice-presidents, one joint and one deputy secretary, a treasurer along with executive members.

Triangular series: The Panchkula Coaching Centre defeated the Delhi National Stadium XI by 35 runs in a match of the first triangular cricket series for under-14 boys played at Panchkula here yesterday evening. Batting first, the PCC scored 198 runs in 38 overs. Nitin and Vidit Kataria were the top scorers after scoring 23 and 27 runs, respectively. Nakul, Jatin, Nikhil and Naveen, each claimed two wickets of the PCC team.

In reply, the Delhi team was all out in 35th over at the score of 141. Rattan scored 30 runs while Varun made 28 runs for the losers. Ridam Chopra was the most sucessful bowler for the PCC team as he took three wickets for just 5 runs.

180 attend trials: Nearly 180 players today attended the trials for the summer cricket coaching camp to be held from June 21 at Panchkula. The trials were organised by the Panchkula District Cricket Association.

According to Mr Sandeep Moudgil, Secratary of the association, the following players have been selected for the ten-day camp.

The players are: Saurabh Sharma, Gaurav Chaudhary, Sharang Sharma, Ashish Dogra, Ankit Gujral, Vishal Goyal, Nitin Gandhi, Tarun Bajaj, Yash Chandra, Sachin, Kamaljeet, Saurav Batra, Gaganpreet Sandhu, Shahbaz Thind, Munish Sharma, Amanpreet Gill, Karan Malik, Karan Sharma, Navneet Mehra, Karan Sandhu, Navdeep, Rohit Moudgil, Sahil Gupta, Piyush, Gaurav Gupta and Hitesh Datta.