15112023-CT-01.qxd 11/15/2023 12:29 AM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune MAN STABBED BY SIX IN PANCHKULA, ONE HELD PG MEDICS FROM SECTOR 32 UNDERGO TRAINING AT GMSH GUNTAS LEADS IN PUNJAB OPEN LADIES GOLF C’SHIP Jasbir was allegedly attacked by six persons at Tawa Chowk in Sector 10 on Monday night. P2 Postgraduate doctors from GMCH-32 are undergoing training under District Residency Programme. P3 Defending champion Guntas Sandhu cards a 4-under-par 68 to take the first-round lead. P3 » » AIR QUALITY INDEX CHANDIGARH 168 PANCHKULA 90 MOHALI 132 401-500 301-400 201-300 101-200 51-100 0-50 SEVERE VERY POOR POOR MODERATE SATISFACTORY GOOD INBRIEF FOUR BOOKED FOR ATTACKING SIBLINGS Chandigarh: Four persons have been booked for attacking a resident of Mauli Jagran and his brother with a sharp weapon. Rahul has alleged that Sonu and Rajiv, along with two others, attacked him and his brother, Amit, with a knife and sticks at the Vikas Nagar light point. Both suffered injuries and were admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32. The police have registered a case at the Mauli Jagran station and started investigation. TNS FARM LABOURER HACKED TO DEATH Mohali: A farm labourer, Muni Lal, died after he was hit with a spade on the head allegedly by his colleague, Shankar, at Khijrabad, Block Majri, on Tuesday. The police registered a case of murder and arrested the suspect. They are investigating the matter. Sources said an altercation ensued over an old enmity and the suspect hit Muni Lal in the fields. Both lived at a tubewell together and worked in the fields. TNS Lone case filed against unidentified person on Nov 13 Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 While the cracker ban went up in flames in the tricity, only one FIR has been registered by the UT police in the past two days. Surprisingly, Mohali and Panchkula saw no registration of cases at all. The UT police apparently failed to enforce the District Magistrate’s order as not even a single case was registered on Diwali. The lone case was registered against an unidentified person who exploded crackers at Sector 43 on November 13. While the bursting of crackers was allowed for two hours from 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali, residents continued to burst crackers before and after the two-hour window. An official of the UT police confirmed that no case was registered for defying the ban on Diwali. Interestingly, there were 75 calls received by the Police Control Room regarding nuisance due to bursting of crackers on Diwali. Police teams visited the spots in response to the calls, still no action was taken. Police sources said nobody POLICE CLAIM 75 CALLS ON DIWALI, STILL NO CASE The police said the unidentified person, who was booked in the lone case, ran away after bursting crackers at the Dasehra ground in Sector 43 on Monday. A case under Section 188 of the IPC has been registered. was found at many spots when the police teams visited there in response to the calls. Violations continued on the second day with just one FIR being registered at the Sector 36 police station. The police said the unidentified person, who was booked in the lone case, ran away after bursting crackers at the Dasehra ground in Sector 43 on November 13. A case Despite 75 calls regarding nuisance due to crackers received by the Chandigarh Police Control Room on Diwali, not even a single case was registered in the city. under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC has been registered. The city’s air quality deteriorated to the “very poor” and “severe” levels during the night of Diwali. The air quality got worsened after 6 pm and around 10 pm, it reached the “severe” level at the Sector 53 monitoring station, and the “very poor” level at the Sector 22, PEC (Sector 12) and IMTECH stations with the air quality index (AQI) reaching 453, 392, 301 and 360, respectively. Residents of Panchkula also defied the ban orders by bursting crackers beyond the prescribed limit for two days. The situation was no different in Mohali district where blatant disregard to the cracker ban was witnessed. Chandigarh, November 14 Two MC officials, who were suspended after they were arrested by the CBI in a case of corruption in August, have been reinstated. Questions are being raised over the development as serious allegations were levelled against both officials. The issue had also rocked the MC House meeting in which councillors also demanded a probe into the role of senior officials. The duo was arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh. The suspects, Health Supervisor Sandeep Dhankar and Chief Sanitary Inspector Chander Mohan, were suspended two days after their arrested in August. Sources said the suspects allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh from the complainant for getting him reinstated as sanitary officer on contract. — TNS Man found dead Chandigarh, November 14 A body was found on the railway tracks under mysterious circumstances. The Government Railway Police (GRP) are currently treating the case as a suspected suicide. The victim has been identified as Om Prakash, aged 39. The body was found by the police at about 3 am. — TNS Chandigarh, November 14 The UT police are yet to make any headway in the incident of stray bullet landing in the bedroom of a Punjab cadre IAS officer at Sector 24. The 2009 batch officer, Varinder Kumar Sharma, was present in the room when the bullet pierced through the window and landed there around 11.10 pm on Diwali. Sources said nothing concrete could be established after scrutinising the footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area. Meanwhile, the details of the police personnel posted in the locality are also being verified by the cops. The police had recovered a part of the bullet in the room that indicates it may be fired from a .32 or .38-bore weapon. PRADEEP TEWARI Sandeep Rana Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 Nearly six months after the Municipal Corporation House approved the proposal to set up a new waste processing plant at Dadu Majra, the civic body is still stuck with the ongoing request for proposal (RFP) process. It has failed to hire any agency for the job even as concerns continue to be raised over fresh garbage disposal. The RFP which was floated , on June 9 for hiring an agency, has faced repeated delays. The last date to send entries has once again been extended from November to December, apparently due a lack of interest from prospective agencies due to the terms and conditions of the project. After receiving the bids from companies in the RFP , the technical evaluation process will start. And lastly, the lowest financial bidder among the qualified agencies has to be awarded the work. CIVIC BODY STUCK WITH RFP The request for proposal (RFP), which was floated on June 9 for hiring an agency, has faced repeated delays. The last date to send entries has once again been extended from November to December, apparently due a lack of interest from prospective agencies due to the terms and conditions of the project. However, Mayor Anup Gupta said, “We had made some changes in the terms and had put up a corrigendum which took some time. Now, a final corrigendum, after taking into account the objections raised by the agencies con- cerned, has been posted online. We expect to hire an agency by December.” However, waste management experts said even if there were corrigendums, the sixmonth delay is too long. It continued on page 2 Chandigarh, November 14 The Chandigarh Right to Service Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the designated officer of the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) for not performing duties within the stipulated time limit. In a complaint, Poonam Jamwal stated that she had applied for transfer of ownership of her vehicle (number CH01BB2279) on August 3. She had submitted all documents required by uploading these on Parivahan Seva Portal. However, after August 14, it was showing online that documents verification has been pending since August 14. As per the list of public services notified by the UT Administration, (“Transfer of ownership of vehicle within state....”), this service is required to be provided to any applicant within a period of 10 working days from the date of submission of application, but the Branch In-charge (Registration)-cum-Designat- Nine months on, city unit of AAP headless Sandeep Rana PROFILING TO TAKE MONTH Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 The city Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been without organisational structure and president for over nine months. Though the central unit of the party announced a co-incharge and 12 coordinators for the city wing, it has failed to decide its entire organisational structure, including president, even after nine months when the body was dissolved here. The party, which dissolved its organisational structure in January, continues to be headless even as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are due next year. In the past few days, the Year on, Admn gives nod to axing of trees at railway station THE TRIBUNE IMPACT Radhika Pasrija Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 The UT Administration has granted its nod to the axing of trees for a parking facility that is to come up at the Chandigarh junction railway station as part of the upgrade project. The Tribune highlighted in its columns this month that the delay in the approval was hindering the external development work at the station. A railway official said, “Today, the permission for the felling of over 1,000 eucalyptus trees on the Panchkula side and around 100 such trees on the Chandigarh side came through. We are now even more hopeful to complete the project before the April 10 deadline.” The PMC (project management consultant) tender for the project was awarded on December 8 last year, and the 1,100 TREES TO BE FELLED A railway official said, “Today, the permission for the felling of over 1,000 eucalyptus trees on the Panchkula side and around 100 such trees on the Chandigarh side came through. We are now even more hopeful to complete the project before the April 10 deadline.” right to way handed over on December. Even before the appointed date of January 11, the railway authorities had sought the administration’s approval for the external development and parking facility. The parking area will include space for both private cars and hired vehicles, auto-rickshaws, two-wheelers, cycles and buses. Land measuring a total of 12,546 sq mt has been allotted for parking on the Chandigarh side and 11,964 square metre on the Panchkula side. MC goes slow on new waste Panel slaps ~10K fine on RLA official Authority failed to plant, yet to hire agency provide service within Tribune News Service Tribune News Service FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE MC officials facing graft case reinstated Dushyant Singh Pundir No headway in stray bullet case MAX 28°C | MIN 12°C YESTERDAY MAX 28.2°C | MIN 12.4°C SUNRISE THURSDAY 6.48 AM TWITTER/THETRIBUNECHD Cracker ban goes up in flames in tricity, only one FIR registered MAINLY CLEAR SKY SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.27 PM » WEDNESDAY | 15 NOVEMBER 2023 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST Profiling of party ❝bedoneforallmonth.leaders will a Their strengths will be identified, following which, the name of president will be announced and subsequently, those of office-bearers. Senior AAP leaders hold a meeting. FILE PHOTO names of new co-incharge SS Ahluwalia and 12 coordinators were announced. Till January, Prem Garg was the city party president while Pardeep Chhabra and Kulwant Singh were co-in-charge. Senior leaders Chander- mukhi, Vikram Pundhir and Vijaypal Singh were also part of the team. But, in the absence of a complete organisational structure, they have no specified role or position in the party. There have been reports of groupism and uncontrolled ❞ — Dr Ahluwalia, NEW CO-INCHARGE cadre in the party. The party, which had bagged a maximum number of seats in the past MC elections, suffered a jolt when its councillor, Taruna Mehta, joined the Congress. The party’s new co- c m y b incharge, Dr Ahluwalia, while talking to Chandigarh Tribune, said, “Profiling of all party leaders will be done for a month. Their strengths will be identified, following which, the name of president will be announced and subsequently, those of office-bearers.” He said all 12 coordinators had been directed to hold ward meetings. Eleven of them have been given three wards each and one has been allocated two wards. “All coordinators are from Punjab, so there will be no question of bias. Local profiling of all new and old all party leaders/workers is being done by them,” he added. In the December 2021 elections, continued on page 2 stipulated time ed Officer (under the Right to Service Act), office of the RLA, has failed to provide the service to the applicant within the stipulated time limit, alleged the applicant. Arun Kumar, Chief Commissioner, Chandigarh Right to Service Commission, by taking suo motu action under of the Punjab Right to Service Act 2011, called upon the Designated Officer to show cause as to why penal action should not be taken against him. He was also directed to appear in person before the commission on November 9 along with complete record of the case as well as reply to the notice. In his reply, the Designated Officer stated that initially, the applicant submitted application on July 27 for transfer of ownership of her vehicle. The process of verification of the application was done on October 23 and discrepancies in the documents were found and the objections were raised. The officer said the applicant had not uploaded the requisite documents till November 8 and it was still pending. The Chief Commissioner observed that it was apparent that initially, the Designated Officer had not paid any heed to the request of the applicant for 58 working days and this lapse on his part was viewed seriously by the panel. The applicant said the office was in the habit of putting objections in piecemeal and also sit over the files without any cogent reason. The Designated Officer failed to rebut the version of the applicant. After going through the documents and considering the verbal submissions made by both the parties, the Chief Commissioner came to the conclusion that there was an unjustified delay on the part of the Designated Officer in providing the service to the applicant within the stipulated time limit, i.e. within 10 working days from the submission of the application. The objections, if any, should have been raised during this period only. However, the Designated Officer has not acted on the application and responded after a lapse of 58 working days, i.e. on October 23, which is against the spirit of Right to Service Act and is unacceptable. The Chief Commissioner stated that “ends of the justice would be met, if a suitable penalty under the provisions of the Act ibid is imposed upon the Designated Officer for not performing duties within the stipulated time limit.” Accordingly, keeping in view the pendency on his part, the Chief Commissioner imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 on Jose George and directed the Deputy Commissioner to recover the amount of penalty from his next salary. High Court calls for report from trial court on grant of default bail Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed its Registrar (Vigilance) to call for complete record of a case, along with a report from the trial court concerned, after taking cognisance of the fact that an accused was granted default bail, despite the pendency of his regular bail plea before it. As the matter pertaining to Panchkula district came up for resumed hearing before Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul’s Bench, the counsel for the petitioner informed the court that he had been extended the concession of default bail by the trial court vide order dated November 10. The order came during the pendency of the instant petition. Taking up the matter, Justice Kaul asserted: “Registrar (Vigilance) is directed to call for the complete record of the instant case along with the report from the trial Court concerned forthwith.” The case will now come up for further hearing on Wednesday. An accused in a criminal case can seek “default bail” in case the challan or the final investigation report under Section 173 of the CrPC is not presented within the stipulated period. Failure to do so gives an accused the “indefeasible right” to get “default” bail. In the case in hand, the bail order came despite the fact that the High Court was seized of the matter. The case before the High Court has its genesis in an FIR registered on May 4 at the Pinjore police station for cheating and other offences under Sections 420,465 and 468 of the IPC, besides the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.