Delhi underground

Ghost or ghost-buster?
When the case of Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) ‘ghost employees’ case came up before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday,the Division Bench started the hearing on a lighter note. As the MCD counsel Ravi Shankar Prasad stood up to address the court,Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked him,“Are you the ghost?” Even before the laughter had died down,Justice Madan B Lokur said,“No,he is not the ghost,but he is the ghost killer.” Justice Lokur was evidently referring to the Corporation’s stand during the last few hearings that there were no ‘ghost’ employees in the organisation.

Out of control
There is no end to campaigns against drink driving,but this 35-year-old woman might have never expected that just trying to start her car after a few drinks would lead to paying damages to owners of multiple cars. The woman had just left a party in Kingsway Camp only to realise that her Honda Civic car would not start. She asked some workers to push the car. As the labourers pushed,the car suddenly sputtered to life. The woman,however,could not control it and the car crashed into about six other cars parked by the side of the road. Not only was the woman injured in the mishap,but she also had to pay compensation to the owners of cars she damaged.

Know your work
On Wednesday,the first PIL day for the Delhi High Court’s new Chief Justice Dipak Misra,he made it clear that the court was not going to allow any plea for adjournments unless required for urgent and genuine reasons. During a hearing,a lawyer requested for adjournment on the ground that his senior was still on his way to the court. Justice Misra then asked the young lawyer to tell the court what the case was about,but the lawyer expressed ignorance. “Your senior might have asked you not to argue but I am sure he would not have restrained you from reading the file. Once you appear in a case,whether you argue or not,you must know what the case is about. We can’t grant adjournments just like that,” he said.

Not all agree
Even as the two unions comprising almost the entire workforce of the erstwhile Indian Airlines went on strike last week,it seems not all employees wanted to be party to the strike. But those who tried to report at work despite the call for shutdown,suffered at the hands of their protesting partners. A flight purser was beaten up not being part of the strike and he suffered bruises in the chest and back. The purser lodged a complaint with the Palam police,naming Air Corporation Employees Union general secretary Anand Prakash and another regional union leader Surender Kumar in it. The disconnect was also visible at,the site of the strike — Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal 1A — where many crew members waited to return to work. The cabin crew sat outside the terminal,all dressed up and ready to fly but wary of a backlash by the union leaders.

Fighting for power
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) may have told the government to stay off the tariff order issue,but that has not stopped the government from interfering. Last week,the Chief Minister’s principal secretary spoke about the DERC’s divided house. Sources said the government has had extensive communication with a DERC member to ensure that the tariff order,in its present form,is not passed.