PAU don elected vice-president
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 17
Dr Kuldip Singh Sandhu, Senior Plant Pathologist, PAU, has been elected vice-president of the Indian Society of Plant Pathologists for the year 2002.

Besides Dr Sandhu, three other PAU scientists have also been elected office-bearers of the society. They are: Dr J.S. Bedi, Plant Pathologist (joint secretary), Dr S.S. Kang, Associate Professor (joint treasurer), Dr S. S. Kang, Associate Professor (joint treasurer) and Dr Bipan Kumar, Plant Pathologist (councillor).

Dr N. Rishi, Professor, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, has been elected president of the society, while Dr S.K. Gupta, scientist, YSPUHF, Solan, Dr Samh Naqvi, senior Scientist, NRCC, Nagpur, and Dr M. Anandraj, senior scientists, IISR, Calicut, have been elected councillors from North, West and South zones, respectively.

The previous secretary, Dr Pushpinder P. Singh and Dr J.R. Sharma, treasurer, will continue in their positions for the current term too.

Fancy dress competition
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 17
The Gayatri Ladies Club organised a fancy dress competition for children here today. The children were dressed as brides, beggars, spiderman, and vegetable sellers.

Ms Bindu Aggarwal, secretary of the club, said the club was planning to organise a programme for the children.

“We thought that this is the most suitable time as they have been enjoying their holidays”, she said.

The function was judged by Ms Nivedita, and Ms Ruby Fernandes, both principals of local school.

Nearly 41 children participated in the competition which was divided in three categories. First category was for children below three years, second was for children between 3 and 6 years and the third category was above six years.

Dept of Posts penalised
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 17
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Department of Posts to pay Rs 700 as compensation on account of deficiency in services to Ms Jaswinder Pal Kaur, a resident of Kartar Nagar, Model Gram.

According to the complaint, the complainant was having a saving bank account (no.1704481) at the New Model Gram post office. The representative of the consumer, Mr S.S. Sarna stated before the forum that the respondent had not allowed the payment of any interest during the past three years.

Mr Sarna disclosed that the consumer had deposited her passbook on November 15, 2000, for making entries of interest, but it was returned by the respondent on January 22, 2001, without making any entry of the interest. He further said the complainant was told that the process was going on at the head post office.

It was alleged that there was deficiency in services on the part of the respondent for not making the entries of the interest in the passbook and the consumer had bear a lot of inconvenience due to the conduct of the department. The consumer demanded that the respondent should be directed to make all entries of interest in the passbook and to pay her a compensation of Rs 2,000 for deficient services.

The department pleaded that due to some fault in the computer system, the interest could not be calculated. The respondent clarified that after the fault was removed, the interest was calculated and the interest sheets were extracted.

The respondent maintained that the complainant had not submitted the passbook after one occasion and if the passbook was submitted to the Ludhiana head post office, the entries of interest would have been made. However, it was admitted that when the complainant gave the passbook, the interest list was not ready.

The forum observed that after keeping the passbook for two months, it was returned back to complainant without making entries of the interest on it. The forum further observed that there was no evidence to prove that the computer system of the respondent was actually defective.

The forum stated that during the pendency of this complaint with the forum, the respondent made the entries of interest in the passbook. The forum held that, however, the entries of interest had been made, but there was deficiency in services on the part of respondent.