CN Heard; Planning for the future

Have mercy

Having received an earful for sheer inaction in making Sector 17 a vehicle-free zone,counsel for Chandigarh Administration was in for another dressing down. For,the public interest litigation (PIL),pertaining reduction of rates of food served at Night Food Street,was next in line. Counsel appearing for Chandigarh Administration knew that he will again be reprimanded as he was to seek an adjournment. He immediately,after seeking a quick adjournment,requested the amicus curiae not to oppose the adjournment. Having been a spectator to the reprimand,the amicus curiae showed mercy and smiled at the counsel for Administration refusing to oppose the demand of adjournment.

Proximity pays

It has become a trend of sorts,that whichever officer is serving as Chandigarh Police’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) is generally posted as a Station House Officer (SHO) of a police station in the city. In the recent past,two police PROs have been made SHOs. Recently,after the previous PRO was made a head of a police station,people have been asking the new PRO when will he be heading a police station as a police station head is due to retire in the coming days.

Frank remarks

Debating over the proposal for introducing semester system in under graduate courses in PU-affiliated colleges,some of senators went on to express their deepest concerns over “after-effects” of the system,last week. While the senators representing PU faculty members emphasised that the semester system must be coupled with internal evaluation system,the Panjab college representatives opposed the recommendation saying that it will rather add to the undue delay in the evaluation,since their “indolent” teachers will take months to evaluate the answer sheets.

No lesson learnt

Looks like police have got into the habit of taking an advice in the wrong sense. Few months ago,police were made the butt of jokes after showing many dust laden bikes and scooters as recovery from thieves. Such was the scene at the press conference then,that one of their own officers had commented afterwards that the vehicles should have been washed before the press conference because they looked to have been taken from their own impound and shown as recovery. The advice was probably taken in the wrong sense as recently police personnel were seen washing the stolen vehicles just minutes before the media conference and many even managed to get pictures of them while doing so. Looks like the police were wary of actually being caught.

Wake up call

When it comes to wasting public money,the Municipal Corporation,Chandigarh takes the cake. The biggest example of their extravagance is the numerous underground parking lots across the city. While MC had years ago constructed these parking lots yet till date these have not been put to use and instead are either in a bad shape or are being used as storehouses for various departments. At a time when the city is gasping for breath going by the high density of vehicles and about 200 being added everyday on an average,it is high time that authorities instead of looking for parking woes solutions elsewhere,should utilise these worth lakhs of rupees from public money.

Marked dogs

Municipal Corporation is struggling to cope with the menace of stray dogs. During a discussion in the MC House recently officers apprised that a mark is put on the ear of the dogs that are sterilised and immunised. One of the councillors quipped that since it would be difficult to catch hold of a stray dog and check the mark on the ear,an earring could be put in the ear. This would help in easy recognition.

VIP toll

The newly constructed toll plaza at Chandimandir witnessed a peculiar problem. The “VIPs” who crossed the toll refused to pay the requisite amount,threatening even to take action if forced to pay. Some traveling in their personal vehicles also did not hesitate to flaunt their status to save a few bucks.

Mysterious

The opening line in a judgement recently delivered by Chandigarh Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II raised eyebrows. The judgement opened this way: “The present case was initially assigned to the Honourable Lady Member for writing the judgement. On her refusal and reassignment; it is being disposed of in following terms.” The staff of the consumer courts do not recall any judgement opening this way. This particular judgement was dictated by member Jaswinder Singh Sidhu,and the ‘Lady Member’ he has referred to is Madhu Mutneja. When asked in this regard,Sidhu said: “It is only a fact and has been stated. It was not a figment of imagination.” Sidhu further added: “If a work is assigned,it should be done.” Mutneja said she did not know anything in this regard. She has not recorded any disagreement with the judgement,and said she has no discord with Sidhu. President of Forum-II Lakshman Sharma maintained that there was nothing unusual about these opening lines. The mystery remains.

In demand

Early this week,as some of the local golf players ended their round during a event by an international car company at Panchkula Golf Club,many of them wanted to meet the Company’s Financial Director and some of the top corporate bosses of the company. Some of them told the German boss about Milkha Singh owning the same brand of the car,and on listening about Singh’s feat,the director made sure that he was there when Milkha Singh ended his round of golf. After the Flying Sikh came,the director and other bosses sat with Singh and talked about golf as well as athletics. Later when the other golfers came,they too sat with Mikha Singh and told the German about Milkha Singh and Jeev Milkha Singh’s feat.

Wordplay

Words can be tricky,one omission or addition can change the entire course of sentence,and eventually thought. The first to be amused was a certain filmmaker of repute who,at an ongoing film festival in Haryana,was posed with a question – “Woh kidhar nikal gayee,bhai?” It troubled him till he stumbled upon the festival brochure,which had dropped one crucial word from his film’s title: it was Woh Subah Kidhar Nikal Gayee. Similarly,viewing photographs can be many things,but when a city-based French institute invited people to view a photo exhibition as a tribute to people from different walks of life,the invitation introduced the display as ‘truly an excruciating photography exhibition’. Painful! If that was not enough,an award winning doctor’s (gynaecologist) lifetime award recognised his services to the Indian Medical Association of Punjab and ‘suffering’ humanity for last 42 years. Didn’t you mean serving?