New Delhi:

Anil Raj, a salesman at a mall, and Rohit, who is jobless, were arrested Thursday, while Anil’s brother Sunil Raj, who sells and buys scooters, and Prashant, a hairdresser, were arrested for attacking the judges Friday.

The accused have been charged, among others, with attempt to murder, Special Commissioner Dharmendra Kumar said.

A Delhi court sent Anil and Rohit to police custody till Monday.

“We condemn the attack on three judicial officers of Saket court complex,” said Kuldeep Sehrawat, chairman of the District Courts Bar Association Coordination Committee.

He told IANS that the Delhi High Court had assured the striking lawyers that proper action would be taken against the accused.

The laywers’ strike paralysed the work at Saket, Patiala House, Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Rohini and Dwarka district courts.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Garg suffered head injuries along with driver Chaman Lal while Additional District Judge M.K. Nagpal and Additional Sessions Judge Inderjeet Singh escaped unhurt in the attack which took place in Dakshinpuri.

In his police complaint, Lal, the driver, said a motorcycle hit the car Thursday. When he and the judges tried to help the riders, they abused them and threw bricks at the car, injuring him and the judge.

“The cabinet has decided to set up a residential school for the SC, ST, OBC and Muslim students in order to provide them adequate opportunities to excel in studies,” Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said here after a cabinet meeting.

An agreement to this effect will be signed by the Department of Welfare of SC/ST/OBC/Minorities and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.

KISS is running the biggest residential institute for tribal children in South Asia where 10,000 tribal children are provided residential facilities and education from kindergarten (KG) to post-graduate (PG) level.

“After visiting the institute, it was felt that the experiment could be replicated in Delhi in order to bring SC/ST/OBC/Muslim students at par with other students by providing holistic quality education,” Dikshit told reporters.

Experienced teachers from KISS would impart education in an innovative manner. The school will be managed by the KISS.

An existing school premises at Ishapur would be renovated by the Public Works Department (PWD) as per specification provided by KISS.

The government will provide infrastructure and financial assistance for running the school for five years and after that, the school is expected to be self-sustaining.

New Delhi:

The victim was sexually assaulted Sunday, celebrated internationally as Mother’s Day. She has accused Vijender, 45, resident of Inder Nagar neighbourhood, of raping her after calling her to his office on some pretext.

“We have filed a rape case but we are also investigating the possibility of the two having fallen out after a discord, as upon interrogation she accepted that she had been intimate with the accused during past four years,” an official told IANS.

“The accused is absconding,” the official added.

The woman lived in Aman Vihar with her three children. Her husband works in Gurgaon and came to meet them once or twice a month, the official said.

New Delhi:

According to the police officials, the girl’s parents, residents of Gokal Puri area, had reported her abduction on March 25. The girl returned home almost a month later on April 23.

According to the girl, she was abducted by her cousin, Shoaib, who took her to a friend, Rashid’s place, where the two raped her repeatedly, a police official said.

“Following the girl’s story, we nabbed Rashid on Friday,” he added.

The main accused, Shoaib, however, is absconding and a search is on, said police.

Through this application, the petitioner has prayed to restore the size of plot to MIG & LIG registrants of the scheme, which DDA reduced illegally on flimsy grounds in 1999.

At the time of launch of the scheme, an estimated 2497 hectares of land were to be made available for 117,000 applicants within a period of 5 years by draw of lots at a price ranging between 100/- to 200/- per sq. mtrs. MIG, LIG, EWS applicants were offered 90 & 60, 48 & 32, 26 sq. mtrs plot respectively. The Scheme was undersubscribed and only 82,384 individuals applied, thereby reducing the land requirement proportionately. Against the estimated 2497 hectares initially required for the Scheme, 2473 hectares were acquired for the scheme between 1981 to 1999.

Till 1999, DDA allotted the plots according to the option given in the application by the registrants of scheme and about 4,000 MIG registrants and about 6,000 LIG registrants were allotted applied size bigger plots of 90 & 48 sq. mtrs.

However, despite having sufficient land at their disposal and requiring only about 405 hectares of land for the 38,295 waiting scheme registrants in 1999, as well as, having already placed a further request of acquiring an additional 751 hectares of land with the land and building department, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, and evidently planning to acquire more land in future, DDA approached the Ministry in 1999 seeking permission to reduce the size of plots to the remaining MIG and LIG registrants on the ground that it did not have adequate land. DDA provided a further assurance that the reduction in plot size would enable them to expedite the allotment of plots.

Thereafter, fixing a target of a maximum of one year for providing plots to all the waiting registrants, the ministry directed on July 9, 1999 that “plot size may be restricted only to 32 sqm for LIG and 60 sqm for MIG since land availability is limited”.

However, without adhering to the directions of the Ministry and without setting a target to liquidate the scheme within a year, the DDA reduced the size of plots through a public notice dated November 11, 1999 and no suggestions/ objections were invited from the waiting scheme registrants.

Interestingly, the Joint Secretary (DL), Ministry of Urban Development, through his letter dated August 22, 2000 addressed to the Commissioner (Land), remarked that “The Delhi Development Authority have informed that they have decided as a matter of policy that all the registrants of MIG category will be allotted plots of the size of 60 sqm and registrants of LIG category will be allotted plots of 32 sqm irrespective of their option for allotment of bigger size plot”. The letter goes on to state that “UDPAM while approving the reply to the Question (nos. 143 and 154 fixed for answer on 24.07.2000 in Rajya Sabha) has observed that the DDA cannot reduce the size of the plot unilaterally. They are merely performing an agency function.” Clearly, the Ministry through its Joint Secretary (DL) raised its objection of reducing the size of plot and required knowing “whether they had taken the prior approval of the Government for reducing the size of the plot”.

Thereafter an additional 2160 hectares of land, out of which the acquisition request for about 751 hectare land was already pending before reducing the size, were acquired for the Scheme between 2002 and 2007, bringing the total land acquired, and handed over to the DDA for the Scheme, to 4,688 hectares for 82,384 registrants as opposed to the initial estimated 2497 hectares to 117,000 applicants.

Even after 31 years and having acquired more than double the land required for the scheme the DDA wants to allot illegally reduced size plot to waiting scheme registrants .

Rahul Gupta                         Date: 09.05.2012
[158 – Munirka Vihar, New Delhi – 110067 (Mobile No. 9811071782)]
Public Interest litigant W.P.(C): 8765/ 2009, pending at Delhi High Court.

New Delhi:

In the first interaction with the media, commissioners of the newly created North, South and East Delhi municipal corporations laid out their ideas for the road ahead.

“The focus will be on increasing the revenue. One of the plans is to increase the parking charges. It will also help promote the use of public transport,” said Manish Gupta, commissioner of the south Delhi municipal corporation.

“The MCD executive wing will come out with a proposal to increase the parking charges,” Gupta said.

Gupta said before trifurcation MCD had suggested to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) that it should provide parking areas whenever it allows conversion of residential areas into commercial ones.

Meanwhile, S.S Yadav, commissioner of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), said people can expect positive changes in the area.

“With trifurcation, east Delhi will get more focus. I will be giving more importance to revenue collection through collection of property tax, trade and health licensing and parking,” S.S. Yadav, Commissioner, told IANS.

P.K. Gupta, commissioner for north Delhi, said the major challenges would be sanitation and management of congested areas.

“Besides sanitation, the other challenge would be managing congested areas such as Karol Bagh, Chawri Bazar and Paharganj,” Gupta said.

The three new civic agencies would take over the responsibility of MCD and provide services to a population of 11,007,835, or 98 percent of the people in the Indian capital.

New Delhi:

“The complaint is dismissed as withdrawn. The accused (Dikshit) is acquitted,” said Metropolitan Magistrate Vijeta Singh.

The court was hearing a complaint by Samajwadi Party candidate Om Prakash alleging that Dikshit violated the election code by using loudspeakers without permission during the poll campaign in November 2008.

On Feb 6, police moved an application for withdrawing the case and said that no loudspeakers or accessories were seized during investigations.

The court April 19 had rejected an intervening application filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Jolly. Jolly had opposed the withdrawal of the case against Dikshit.

New Delhi:

“The DMRC has detected two cases of fraud related to tenders of the Delhi Metro’s construction work for its Phase 3 corridors. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police are currently investigating. A police case has also been registered,” said a DMRC statement.

“In both these cases detected in March and April, fake letters of acceptance have been issued to two contractors who did not even bid for these contracts. Some individuals are fraudulently luring contractors with the intent of cheating them,” it added.

According to DMRC, several fraud cases related to recruitment came to light earlier and were referred to police.

The DMRC also warned people to beware of middlemen as it does not involve any agency or middlemen in its tendering or recruitment related activities.

“Complete transparency is maintained by DMRC in its tendering procedures and all relevant details are uploaded on the official website for reference,” said the statement.

“If anyone is approached by such frauds, they should immediately cross check with the DMRC website and contact us,” it added.

Gurgaon:

A 16-year-old girl was abducted from her house in village Sikanderpur (Badha), near sector 84 here Tuesday midnight. She was on a visit to her elder sister’s in-laws house.

Rupesh, 26, a resident of Sikanderpur was known to the victim’s brother-in-law who also resides in the same village. The accused and a relative of victim Pappu were partners in a cab transport business.

The victim told police that the accused came at midnight Tuesday and told her that her relative was injured in a road accident and they had to visit the hospital. She was then taken to an isolated house and gang raped by six youths.

When Pappu returned in the early hours Wednesday, he realised something was amiss and with the help of family members they rescued the girl from the spot. They also vandalized the Maruti Alto car in which she was allegedly abducted.

“We have registered a case of rape and abduction against Rupesh. The victim has registered her statement, we are investigating the case. Victim has accused some other persons also. No one has been arrested,” said a police officer.

London:

The latest achievement claimed for pomegranates, which are already acclaimed as a superfood, will be welcome among those who would prefer a natural aphrodisiac.

The study, by researchers from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, involved 58 volunteers aged between 21 and 64. By the end of the fortnight both sexes had seen “significantly increased” testosterone levels.

For men this affects traits such as facial hair, a deep voice and greater sexual urges. It is also produced in female adrenal glands and ovaries, raising a woman’s sex drive and strengthening bones and muscles.

As a side effect, increased testosterone can help raise mood and memory and even relieve stress such as “pre-match nerves” or stage fright, said the study.