Theft in Industrial Area
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — A major theft was reported from the Phase II of the Industrial Area here last night.

According to sources, thieves broke into the premises of a leading compressor-making company and decamped with 51 compressors and Rs 50,000.

The thieves reportedly entered the premises after breaking open three locks of the company. The thieves probably came in a truck since such a large quantity of compressors must have been loaded before being taken away, sources added.

According to Mr RM Mishra, a representative of the company, the total cost of the compressors was to the tune of Rs 3.14 lakh.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Federation of Small Scale Industries, Mr Rajiv Gupta, in a representation to Dr Kiran Bedi, IGP, has sought intensive patrolling by the police in the area, particularly between 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.when a majority of the cases of theft were committed.

He alleged that small-scale entrepreneurs were unable to approach the police due to its “unhelpful” attitude.

Crushed to death: An unidentified man in his twenties was reportedly crushed to death by a train in Mani Majra on Thursday. It is not clear if it was an accident or a suicide.

Injured: A person travelling in a car (PB-13-F-0162), driven by Anil Singh of Sector 9, Panchkula, was injured when the car was hit by a CTU bus (CH-01-G-5577) driven by Charan Singh near the traffic lights on the Chandigarh-Panchkula road on Wednesday night.

The CTU bus driver was arrested and booked under sections 279 and 337 of the IPC registered.

Stolen: Household goods were stolen from the residence of Suresh Kumar Sood, a resident of Mani Majra. He alleged that a dozen silk sarees, 16 printed sarees, two woollen suits besides some cash had been stolen. A case under Section 454 and 380 of the IPC has been registered.

PANCHKULA

Remanded: Four persons — Karan Deep, Gurdhayan Singh, Tarsem and Bhupinder Singh, who had been arrested by the Chandigarh Police and handed over to the Panchkula police in connection with an incident of armed robbery at a petrol pump in Barwala on March 27 this year have been remanded to police custody by the duty magistrate till May 15.

Thief arrested: A Nepali man, Hem Raj, who was engaged as a watchman in the Sector 11 market here has been arrested by the police for being allegedly involved in two cases of theft in the market.

SAS NAGAR

Woman killed: A woman was killed when a truck hit the scooter she was driving in Phase XI here on Wednesday. Ms Harinder Kaur (40) died on the spot in the accident in front of a gurdwara on the main road. The truck driver, Sat Narain, was arrested and a case registered against him.

Bright colours her forte

CHANDIGARH: A neat delineation, use of bright colours and interesting canvases are Rosy Khosla’s forte.

A post-graduate in Fine Arts from A Pee Jay College in Jalandhar, Rosy is currently holding her second solo show at Alliance Francaise Art Gallery. She has chosen women as her theme and through them she has tried to depict the evils engulfing our society.

In one of her paintings Rosy is trying to convey the shortcomings of religion and this she has shown through a lady draped in a thin cloth. The other shows Adam and Eve and in the present social milieu the man is supposed to protect the woman. Protection has been symbolically portrayed by a white sheet.

In ‘search’ the female figure has a dream like quality on her face. Here Rosy says: “In this it is me who is trying to search her inner self”.

The artist has also used textured base on an experimental basis but it has proved quite effective.

Notice to UT Administration on cops' suspension
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — Three Chandigarh policemen — Inspector P.K. Dhawan, Sub Inspector Balhar Singh and Head Constable Yash Pal — today questioned their suspension in the controversial missing files case before the local Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal.

Mr J.S. Dhaliwal and Mr V.K. Majotra, before whom their joint application came up for hearing, issued notice to the Chandigarh Administration for May 18.

Counsel for these cops told the tribunal that Mr Dhawan had a service record of 27 years and he was recommended for the President's Police Medal for 1999. Similarly Sub Inspector Balhar Singh and Head Constable Yash Pal had put in 30 years and 19 years unblemished service respectively in the Chandigarh Police.

Counsel asserted that the Home Secretary did not have the power to order suspension of these police officials. In the case of Inspectors the appointing authority is the Inspector-General of Police, while the appointing authority of Sub Inspectors and Head Constables is the SSP. Therefore, the suspension could be ordered only by the Inspector-General in the case of Mr Dhawan and by the SSP in the case of the Sub Inspector and Head Constable. In support of his contention, counsel quoted rule 16,17 of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, as applicable to cops of the Chandigarh Administration.

Counsel further clarified that suspension was ordered under Rule 16,18. This rule does not specify who is competent to order the suspension. It only deals with how can a person be suspended. The rules further envisage that unnecessary suspension should be avoided.

The FIRs about the two missing files were registered way back in 1993 and 1994. These cases were untraced. In 1999 no one could have any motive to misplace the files or to reconstruct the files. The reason was that it would help none and damage none.

Counsel contended that the entire record was in the custody of the administration now. The purpose of suspension, as a matter of rule, is ordered to keep the persons away so that he could not tamper it. Since the files were already in the custody of the administration, there was not even a remote possibility of the record being tampered with. Therefore, the suspension of these cops was an exercise in futility. In fact their suspension was punitive in nature which could not be ordered without affording them an opportunity.

During his argument the counsel stated that the Supreme Court and the High Court repeatedly ruled that suspension should not be resorted to lightly. It should be sparingly resorted to because it caused irreparable damage to one's reputation.

SEs challenge dismissal

The local Bench of the tribunal issued notice to the Chandigarh Administration for May 17 on two applications moved by Mr A.K. Gupta and Mr Surjit Singh, Superintending Engineer (Current duty charge) and Sub-Divisional Engineer, respectively, contesting their dismissal from service on May 10.

Mr J.S. Dhaliwal and Mr V.K. Majotra, before whom the applications came up for hearing, also issued notice to the administration on applications moved by Mr Gupta and Mr Surjit Singh, seeking a stay of the dismissal order.

In their applications they stated that the dismissal orders issued by the administration were illegal and unjust. The orders were violative of the Article 320(3) (C) of the Constitution read with Rule 13 of the Punjab Civil Service (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, as applicable to employees of the Chandigarh Administration. Rule 13 requires that before imposing any major penalty on a class I officer, the administration has to seek the permission of the Union Public Service Commission. Since no categorical permission from the UPSC was obtained, the dismissal orders were void ab initio.

The applicants also questioned the circular dated March 16, 1999, issued by the administration saying that "no reference is required to be made to the commission, as in terms of the Union Public Service Commission (Exemption from consultation) Regulation read with Article 320(c)(C) of the Constitution, consultation with the commission is necessary only where the President of India has to pass an order in original in a disciplinary case". This is only an executive order which cannot override the rules, the applicants argued.

Builders told to refund 2.7 lakh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — The UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I has directed Skipper Builders Private Limited to refund Rs 2,97,000 deposited by the complainant with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum since the date of deposits till its repayment. A sum of Rs 5,000 has also been imposed as costs.

The complainant, Ms Shivani Kakar, has contended that she had deposited Rs 2,97,000 jointly on behalf of all complainants following an advertisement given by Skipper Builders Pvt Ltd for allotment of residential accommodation. She further averred that despite several letters, the possession was not given to them even after a number of years lapsed after its allotment. But since the complex was not completed as per the revised schedule nor was it likely to be completed so the complainant claimed a refund of the deposited amount.

The notices were issued to the Managing Director of the company but since no one appeared, the company was proceeded against ex parte.

After going through the records, the forum Bench comprising Dr H.C. Modi, Dr R.K. Behl and Ms Shashi Kanta observed that ''the facts of the case bear testimony to the fact that since the complainants were eager to have the apartment from the builders, they had been making payment of the instalments, but their hopes for getting the flat stood dashed when the physical possession of the flat was not given to them. Faced with this dismal scenario, complainants had to enter into legal arena by moving this complaint for seeking redressal.'' They further held that there was deficiency in services on the part of the builders since they neither gave the possession of the flat nor refunded the amount deposited with them.

Sharp fall in lemon price
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 13 — The prices most vegetables, including lemon, have fallen in the local market in the past two days.

After a survey of the local market today, it was found that almost all local varieties of vegetables such as lemon, cauliflower, cabbage, carrot and bittergourd had become cheaper in this period.

A kg of lemon, priced at Rs 48 just three days back, was available at between Rs 25 and Rs 30 in city markets. Its wholesale price has come down from Rs 180 to Rs 100 per five kg in this period. According to traders, the price has crashed after a dip in the demand due to change of weather and enhanced supplies from Chennai and other parts of South India, from where a major part of the supplies is coming these days.

The price of bittergourd also witnessed a big fall in the past two days. A kg of it, priced at Rs 24 earlier, was available at Rs 15 to Rs 16 today. Its wholesale price has come down from Rs 100 to Rs 60 per five kg in this period. According to traders, the price has come down because the local variety of the vegetable has started flooding the market these days.

The case of cauliflower and cabbage was also not different as their prices too, witnessed a decrease in this period. A kg of cauliflower, priced at Rs 16 two days back, could be purchased today by paying Rs 12. One could relish cabbage after shelling out Rs 6, in place of its earlier price, Rs 8. If the wholesale price of cauliflower has decreased from Rs 70 to Rs 50 per five kg, that of cabbage dipped from Rs 30 to Rs 20 per five kg. The traders attributed the fall to enhanced supplies from Himachal Pradesh, which is the main source of the two vegetables these days.

Squashgourd has become cheaper in this period. A kg of it, priced at Rs 24 two days back, was available at Rs 16 today. its wholesale price has come down from Rs 100 to Rs 60 per five kg. According to traders, the vegetable became cheaper as the arrivals of local crop were increasing with each day.

Cucumber, which was priced at between Rs 5 and Rs 6 a kg earlier, was available in the Sector 20 market today at Rs 4 a kg. Beans, which were available at Rs 20 a kg a few days back, were priced at Rs 12 a kg today. The wholesale price of the vegetable has come down from Rs 80 to Rs 50 per five kg. Same was the case with garlic as its price has also decreased from Rs 30 to Rs 20 a kg in retail market.

There was no change in the prices of other vegetables which were as follows: Peas — Rs 40 a kg, gourd — Rs 10, lady's finger — Rs 20, carrot — Rs 12, tomato — Rs 6, brinjal — Rs 10, potato — Rs 4 and onion — Rs 8.