Delhi Underground

Much ado for nothing
Delhi University’s new Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh took his time to select his team of Deans,and gave hope to a number of senior professors in the process. It was expected most professors would not risk putting themselves on the line after Singh’s predecessor Deepak Pental’s team drew flak for the former V-C’s actions on the undergraduate semester system. For some teachers,however,that was no deterrent,so they went ahead and let their colleagues know of their admiration for the new V-C. Praises of Singh peaked when a meeting of the DU Executive Council (EC) was called. The new team was announced at the EC,but the hopefuls did not make it. Long faces and silence followed.

Not history yet
At the recently concluded Central Board of Seconday Education conference,news abound that the CBSE is planning to scrap Class XII Boards by 2013. The Class X Boards were scrapped last year after HRD minister Kapil Sibal called for the same. When asked about doing away with the Class XII Boards,CBSE chairperson Vineet Joshi countered,“That is not going to happen. We have always said that the Class XII Boards will remain.”

Not their cup of tea
Twenty-two newly recruited judges under the Indian Judicial Services were called for a two-day training programme in medico-legal cases at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. As has been the tradition,doctors prepared the forensic examination room for a whole week to host an elaborate live display of a postmortem examination. But as fate would have it,on D-day all 22 judges developed cold feet. Most found the idea unpalatable as the display was scheduled post-lunch. Much to the dismay of the hospital staff,they were then told to arrange for a video display instead. When the preparations finally got over and doctors readied themselves for the postmortem,the judges reportedly felt that even a live video display would be too much to take. The training was thus finally conducted through file pictures available at the hospital.

No perfunctory action
A petitioner in the Delhi High Court raised a strange plea through her counsel when she requested the court to ignore a previous petition filed by her in 2007. Her lawyer offered the reason that litigants did not generally read the petitions drafted by their lawyers and blindly signed the affidavits. The intriguing argument,however,failed to cut ice with Justice Pradeep Nandarajog. The judge refused to entertain her plea,saying carelessness could not be an excuse. Litigants were expected to read and understand the petitions,especially when they deposed through affidavits that the petition had been read by them and drafted by their counsel on their instructions.

Canine threat
Stray dogs on the streets of the Capital seem to be giving MCD councillors a hard time. Recently,several councillors complained to the MCD Commissioner about the increase in the number of street dogs and the unruly sight they make for. The MCD commissioner K S Mehra then came up with an idea — control ‘awara’ dogs by setting up a new vet clinic where they can be sterilised. He,however,added that the clinic will take at least a year to build.

Coloured politics
The new fleet of buses under Delhi’s corporatisation scheme is garnering attention due to the chosen colour scheme — orange and purple. BJP workers and leaders have mocked the orange buses,calling them “Congress ka Bhagwa (saffron)” while the purple ones,which to many seem to be closer to blue,have been labelled as the new ‘Blueline’.

Retirement blues
Life is not easy post-retirement. A retired police officer of a western Uttar Pradesh district learnt this the hard way when,following a mobile phone theft,he had to request an officer much junior in rank to put the phone on surveillance and catch the thief. After being made to wait for a long time,he reportedly called the same officer and told him to hurry up,saying his wife had started making sarcastic comments about losing his powers to get things done,along with retirement.