NEIGHBOURHOOD

bjp rally
Traffic goes haywire in Kalka
Hemant Kumar

Kalka, October 4
A number of Congress leaders, including a personal assistant of Kumari Selja, today shifted their loyalty towards the BJP and joined the party in presence of Sushma Swaraj, Union External Affairs Minister, during a public rally taken out here today.

Apart from the Congress, certain leaders of the INLD also joined the BJP. Krishan (Congress), Satyanvan (Congress), Avtar Singh from Naraingarh (Congress), Jasmer and Raman from the INLC, Arsh, Neetu Rana, Harsh , Fateh and Gurnam Singh joined the BJP. The leaders had come to the rally along with their supporters. — TNS

Chandigarh, October 4
The Chandigarh Administration has received a rap on its knuckles by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for “abusing the process of law” in a case hovering around the allotment of an alternative site to a jhuggi dweller.

The reprimand by Justice K Kannan came on a petition filed by the UT Estate Officer against Rudhal Shah and another respondent. At the very onset, Justice Kannan asserted that the writ petition was “not tenable and an abuse of process of law by the public authority”.

The case has its genesis in an order passed by the Permanent Lok Adalat. Acting on Rudhal’s plea, the Lok Adalat had directed the UT to allot him an alternative site. The direction came after Rudhal made attempts to establish his eligibility to get an alternative site by the virtue of his being a jhuggi dweller.

He told the adalat that his name had been entered in the biometric card. He also produced before the court a proof to show that his name had been entered in the voters’ list of 2005 and 2009.

Justice Kannan asserted: “He conforms to all the requirements for allotment of an alternate site. A representative of the Estate Officer, who had been present before the Lok Adalat, had confirmed that the applicant was a bonafide claimant and this ought to have settled the matter and made possible for the adalat to pass the order in the manner it has been done”.

Justice Kannan said the administration indulged in a “needless luxury” by filing a petition by contending that the procedure was not followed. A representative made a statement before the Lok Adalat that the petitioner was a bonafide claimant and it “must be understood as an admission of allotment in the manner that the scheme envisages,” Justice Kannan said.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Kannan concluded: “There is no ground at all to file the writ petition on a vague plea that the procedure under the Legal Services Authority Act has not been duly followed by the Permanent Lok Adalat”.

Chandigarh, October 4
HCL Infosystem Limited (Blackberry Express Care Centre) and Blackberry India have been directed to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to a Mohali resident who suffered inconvenience due to defect in a handset.

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has also directed the two companies to return the mobile handset of the complainant after repairing it and making it fully functional for free, with an extended warranty of six months. They also have to pay Rs 4,000 towards litigation expenses.

Agambir Singh, complainant, stated that he purchased a Blackberry 9790 Black mobile handset having 16 months of warranty for around Rs 27,000. The mobile started overheating while communicating within a few days, he said. Although the handset was replaced three times by the retail store, the problem persisted.

The complainant then approached HCL and got the handset replaced twice but no to avail. The defective handset was still lying at the service centre.

While none on behalf of HCL appeared, Blackberry stated that the handset was replaced only once at the instance of the complainant as a special case and was delivered to the complainant.

“Thereafter, the complainant approached the authorised service centre with certain complaints; necessary support was provided to him; he refused to collect the handset, which is in perfect working condition,” stated the reply.

However, finding deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties, the forum penalised them.

Mohali, October 4
The Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services), Rupnagar, has, on an application of Daljit Singh of Morinda, quashed a bill of Rs 26,292 issued by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for sundry charges and directed it to pay Rs 5,000 as litigation cost to the petitioner.

Daljit Singh had alleged that the PSPCL issued him a bill of Rs 40,539, which included sundry charges of Rs 26,292, that the bill was not according to the actual power consumption and that he was not liable to pay the said amount. He also prayed for Rs 20,000 as compensation for harassment.

The PSPCL said the meter reader reported that the applicant was running a shop and using domestic power supply for the purpose in contravention of the rules. Therefore, he was liable to pay double the charges for one year on the actual consumption. The audit department had worked out the amount to Rs 26,292, which was added in the bill and demanded from the applicant.

According to the Powercom, the meter was in the name of his father, who has died, and Daljit Singh had no locus standi to file this application.

The Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS), headed by Jagroop Singh Mahal, observed that the PSPCL has failed to prove the charge as neither it produced the meter reader who reported that the applicant used using domestic supply at the shop nor was the report allegedly made by him produced.

No other person was produced by the PSPCL who saw the applicant running a shop. It filed an affidavit of the Additional SE but he had never visited the premises. His affidavit and the audit report were based on hearsay evidence and could not be accepted.

On the other hand, the applicant submitted an affidavit stating that he was using the electricity for domestic purposes.

Further, according to the Regulation 93.1, the PSPCL was bound to issue a separate bill for sundry charges and to mention details as to how the bill amount had been calculated. In this case, the regulation was not complied with and the Permanent Lok Adalat (PUS), therefore, held that the demand of Rs 26,292 was unjustified and quashed it.

The applicant was held entitled to Rs 5,000 as costs of litigation.

Chandigarh, October 4
The Chandigarh Police arrested two youths for allegedly misbehaving with a traffic cop on duty in Sector 46 here on Friday evening.

The police said head constable (HC) Sudhir Singh complained that he, along with, constable Vikas Ali were on duty in Sector 46 and flagged down two youths riding a motorcycle without helmet. The cop alleged that on stopping, the youths, identified as Amrit Singh of Sector 49 and Pardeep Singh of Burail, who were drunk, started misbehaving with him.

The police said after the HC issued a challan for violation of traffic rules, Pardeep tore it and even snatched the challan book. The PCR was informed and the youths were arrested. A case under Sections 186 (obstructing public servants in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) under the IPC has been registered at the Sector 34 police station.

Chandigarh, October 4
The Punjab Police lifted the trophy of the 44th SN Vohra’s All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament. The tournament concluded at the newly-built hockey stadium in Mohali today.

In the final, the Punjab Police defeated CRPF 5-3. The latter scored the first goal in the fourth minute with G Toppo putting them ahead with a solo effort. The police side, however, maintained the flow and returned to level the game through Mandeep in the eighth minute.

Police’s Ajay doubled the joy in the 24th minute while, in the next minute the CRPF pulled back the score to 2-2 through G Toppo. Former international Rajpal Singh again put the team ahead, 3-2, in the 39th minute. Toppo, however, again rescued the team in the 48th minute. His brilliant comeback efforts were wasted when Rajpal (53rd minute) and Jagmeet (54th minute) scored a goal each to seal the team’s win. The winning team was awarded Rs 1 lakh and runners-up tgot Rs 60,000.

The SGGS Club, which played for the first time, was adjudged the best-behaved team and it was presented with Dr BL Gupta Memorial Trophy.

Best goal keeper-Harjeet Singh, Punjab Police

Best full back-Lovedeep Jr, IAF

Best half back-Jagdish Eka, CRPF

Best forward-Ranjit Singh, SGGS Club.

Chandigarh, October 4
Chandigrah’s tennis star Sanam Singh, who won silver in the recently concluded Asian Games (Incheon), was in the city for a book signing ceremony of ‘Dubey Ji bounces back’ by Vivek Atray. Sanam said he will concentrate on improving his rankings for the upcoming Champions Tennis League (CTL).

While confirming about his participation, he said he will represent Delhi in the CTL. The tennis league will start from November 17 to 26. The Delhi team will comprise Juan Carlos Ferrero, Kevin Anderson, Jelena Jankovic and Sanam.

“I will be representing Delhi in the CTL. The tournament is expected to remain a high-pitch affair. It will be a good platform to gain experience while sharing the same dais with the international tennis players. In the upcoming months, I will work hard to improve my individual ranking and I will focus on playing major grand slams,” said Sanam.

On his recent feat, during 2014 Asian Games, where he won a silver medal in the doubles’ category along with his partner Saketh Mynenin, Sanam said, “It was a tough fight between the host nation and us. Nevertheless, we will get another chance to strike gold in the next games. We missed out on gold but still managed to prove our mettle in the match” said Sanam. Earlier, Sanam had bagged gold in the 2010 Asian Games along with Somdev Devvarman.

According to the Champions Tennis League promoter, Vijay Amritraj, the Chandigarh franchisee will star Greg Rusedski, David Ferrer, Garbine Muguruza and Somdev Devvarman.

Chandigarh, October 4
ONGC got better of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) by seven wickets in their last league encounter during the 21st All India JP Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament at Cricket Stadium in Sector 16. The team garnered four points and secured the quarterfinals’ berth.

Batting first, the UPCA was reduced to 91 runs for five in 25 overs. An 80-run stand between Perminder Singh and Amit Mishra raised the UPCA score to 232 for seven in 50 overs. Perminder Singh scored 83 off 95 balls, inclusive of seven boundaries and one six, before being caught by Vikranjit Malik off right leg spinner Rahul Tewatia.

For the ONGC, Rahul Tewatia claimed three for 53 runs. In reply, ONGC’s Sandeep Sharma (78 off 90 balls with eight boundaries and two sixes) and Samrath Singh (79 off 109 balls with 11 boundaries) scripted their team’s win. Sandeep of ONGC was named the man of the match.

Brief score

UPCA-232 runs for seven in 50 overs (Digvijay Singh Rawat 29 runs, Prashant Gupta 20 runs, Perminder Singh 83 runs, Ali Murtaza 31 runs, Amit Mishra 24 *, Rahul Tewatia three for 53 runs and Vikramjit Malik two for 38 runs)

ONGC-234 for three in 46.5 overs (Samrath Singh 79 runs, Sandeep Sharma 78 runs, Prashant Bhandari 38 not out, Radhey Shyam Gupta 22*, Amit Mishra one for 64 runs, Mohd Isser Khan one for 39 runs, Arish Alam one for eight runs).

In the second match, Baroda edge past the Indian Oil Corporation and steered into the quarterfinals. The Indian Oil Corporation was restricted to 267 runs for six in the allotted 50 overs. Aditya Tare scored 76 runs off 71 balls, inclusive of seven boundaries, while Wasim Jaffer 39 off 54 balls with four boundaries, Shrayas Iyer 39 off 54 balls with one boundary and Paresh Patel 41 off 24 balls with three boundaries and three sixes remained the other noticeable scorers.

In reply, Baroda side while riding high on Sorabh Wakskar’s unbeaten century, 146 runs off 139 balls studded with 14 boundaries and five sixes, claimed the match. He was adjudged man of the match.

Brief score

Indian Oil Corporation-267 runs for six in 50 overs (Wasim Jaffer 39 runs, Shreyas Iyer 39 runs, Aditya Tare 76 not out, Paresh Patel 41, S Bhaja two for 44 runs, Krunal Pandeya three for 36 runs)

Baroda-268 runs for four in 48.1 overs (Sorabh Wakskar 146 not out, Aditya Waghmode 28 runs, Kedar Devdar 30 runs, Karambekar Abhijeet 38 not out, Vikrant Yelgah one for 56 runs, Abbas Ali one for 13 runs, S Iyer one for five runs).

In the third match, Reliance-I defeated the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association by eight wickets.

Brief score

HPCA-198 all out in 49.2 overs (Munish Chandel 34 runs, Vikrant Kumar 47 runs, Ankit Kalsi 51 runs, Ankit Kaushik 38 runs, Pawan Suyal four for 49 runs, Baltej Singh three for 28 runs)

Reliance-I-204 runs for two in 35.1 overs.

Chandigarh, October 4
The Chandigarh Basketball Association, under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India, will host 31st Youth National Basketball Championship for boys and girls (U-16), in Chandigarh.

The championship will be held from October 7 to 14.

The basketball meet will be conducted at three different venues, i.e. indoor basketball stadium of the Sports Complex, Sector 42, Government Girls College, Sector 42, and Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36.

A total of 49 teams will participate in the championship, including 25 teams in boys’ category and 24 teams in girls’ category. The championship will be hosted in collaboration with the UT Sports Department.