Vox Populi

A K SHARMA

Chandigarh

ATM cloning: Is money in your bank safe?

I was shocked to read news report,“ATM thief targets Panchkula” that appeared in the Chandigarh Newsline on November 17. How a thief wearing a helmet managed to rob the public money from the State Bank of India’s ATM at Sector 4 in Panchkula is a mystery. It is sad to learn that within two days as many as 13 customers of the State Bank of India and the State Bank of Patiala were cheated of Rs 2 lakh by the thief through “cloned” ATM cards. The robber has looted people’s hard earned money and the bankers have no regrets. What steps has the SBI taken so far despite the fact that its ATM at Sector 30 of Chandigarh had also witnessed the same action a few months ago,where also lakhs of rupees belonging to the innocent customers were looted?

It’s really astonishing that the same method has been repeated without any fear of the law! It is really strange that such a bank of repute had not deployed security guards at the ATM cabins. Surely,the main fault lies with the SBI. Moreover,people are not allowed to operate the ATMs with helmets on their heads,as they block the CCTV cameras from taking clear pictures of the person’s face. Above all,it is a wonder from where the thieves get the “PIN code numbers” of the ATM card holders? Surely,there is something wrong; some loophole does exist here. This point needs to be investigated thoroughly. There seems to be a strong nexus between the ATM thieves and the PIN services of these banks. The culprits must be identified and brought to justice. The concerned banks are responsible for the loss of money of its esteemed customers and should pay them. After all,it’s the people’s hard earned money that is being looted with impunity. Strong action is required in this case,otherwise people will have no faith in these banks.

R K KAPOOR

Chandigarh

Remove traffic obstructions

The vehicular movement usually gets hampered in front of shops on the bridge road in Sector 17-C owing to parking of four-wheelers and two-wheelers. At times,it is difficult to pass through this widely used road due to haphazard parking of vehicles. It may be mentioned that though there are underground parking arrangements nearby but owners prefer to park them right in front of shops or bank branches which obstructs free movement of traffic.

It is also pertinent to mention that some of the two-wheeler owners (particularly motor cyclists) have a tendency to cross over to other side of this road by illegally crossing over the low-levelled road dividers near the bridge in a bid to save time unmindful of the fact that their such acts can hit the vehicles coming from the other side and thereby cause some major accidents.

It goes without saying that there is an imminent need to check both these wrong doings at the earliest. One hopes that the concerned authorities would take necessary remedial steps in this regard for the benefit of the law abiding citizens of the City Beautiful.

S K Gupta

Chandigarh

Reduce lock-up period of co-op societies to check corruption

The Supreme Court of India has rightly noted that “the object of a cooperative society is not to earn but to enable the members to improve their economic conditions by helping them in their pursuits.” A Bench of Justices Mukundakam Sharma and A R Dave,in their significant judgment,has clearly stated that “the object of a cooperative society is not to earn but to enable the members to improve their economic conditions by helping them in their pursuits”.

In the light of this judgment,the Chandigarh Administration’s idea of reducing the lock-up period of 15 years to five to allow calculated profit making to the cooperative housing society members in the city smells a rat. It would be befitting to disallow this practice at the earliest and also needs a thorough probe into all the profit making sales,reportedly made by dubious members in collision with the Administration,that have resulted due to this highly malicious decision.

Balvinder

Chandigarh

No litigation incentive is bad for democracy

The latest Relief and Rehabilitation Policy in respect of the acquisition of land announced with much fanfare by the chief minister on eve of Diwali introduces a novel concept namely “No Litigation Incentive” for those landowners whose land is acquired. Under this,they would be eligible for an additional amount equal to 20 per cent of the basic rate of land determined by the Land Acquisition Collector in case they undertake not to challenge the compensation amount as awarded to them. The landowner opting to avail of this incentive will have to submit an undertaking to the effect that he accepts the compensation amount as awarded and after that he would not be entitled to approach court against inadequacy of the amount.

Though the intention of the state government behind this concept is to curb unnecessary and avoidable litigations arising out of compensations relating to Land Acquisitions,the point is any incentive of such kind,howsoever high,which prohibits an affected person from invoking jurisdiction of court in respect of his legal rights is bad in law. Pertinent that Section 28 of the Indian Contract Act,1872,the legislation which governs all kinds of agreements,provides that every agreement by which a party thereto is restricted absolutely from enforcing his rights by the usual legal proceedings is void. Of course,the exercise of acceptance of no-litigation incentive is purely optional and one is not bound to accept it merely because it is offered by state but considering the fact that a vast majority of those persons whose land is acquired are poor peasants who are not so educationally qualified much less than understanding the legal consequences of this initiative,it would not be unfair to comment that this scheme keeps the state government in a dominant position vis- a- vis the owner whose land is acquired. It is very probable that those who approach the court instead of accepting the introduced incentive might succeed in getting more amount of compensation after judicial determination.

HEMANT KUMAR

Ambala