Delhi Underground; Hear us before going to SC: Lawyers to CJ

Four ACs to keep Mayawati cool

When UP Chief Minister Mayawati arrived at Hapur in her chopper to announce that the town had been made the headquarters of the new district of Panchshilnagar,she spoke from a specially made pavilion in a local school for just four minutes. For that brief period,four brand new LG air-conditioners were set up facing Mayawati’s seat. However,since one of them didn’t seem to work,another brand new AC was brought to replace the malfunctioning one.

DU’s online portal for e-lessons soon

Delhi University’s ambitious plans at launching a ‘Virtual Learning Environment’ — an online portal to host e-lessons and a host of other learning material for its students,seems to have hit a road block again. The portal,said to be the VC’s pet project,was initially expected to be launched late August this year by the University’s Institute of Life-long Learning( ILLL). Officials at ILLL had then said it would be delayed and be launched mid-September. But as September passed,the update from officials was that it will take at least another month to be launched. The portal,which was present online in its unfinished version till recently,has been taken off now,and in its place is a notice announcing that it is under ‘major re-construction’

St Stephen’s alumni body changes name

The St Stephen’s College Alumni Association,founded a few months ago by high profile alumni,including Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit,had to rename itself as Association of Stephanians following a Delhi HC order on Wednesday that restrained it from using the college name. The association had to take its website,its prime means of reaching out to alumni,offline to abide by the the court’s ruling. But it seems the members were prepared for such setbacks. “We had thought ahead and bought another domain name,www.stephanians.com,too when we set up the website. The content will be uploaded there soon,” said Ashish Joshi,one of the founder members.

AIIMS doc pulled up for questioning court

A senior doctor from AIIMS learnt a lesson on courtroom procedures the hard way when he was pulled up by a judge for arguing instead of simply answering queries. The nephrologist had come to the special court last week to explain the AIIMS report on Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh’s medical conditions. When Special judge Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal asked the doctor how long Singh would need to be admitted in the hospital,the latter replied: “It’s very hard to say. It is a medical case for me and a legal case for you. Could you tell me how long you will take to pass the order in this case?” Sehgal did not take kindly to this and firmly put the doctor in his place. “Don’t argue with me. I can ask you questions,but you are not allowed to ask me anything. You just answer my questions,” she said. While the doctor was taken aback by the response,Singh’s lawyer hurriedly intervened. He asked the doctor not to argue with the judge and apologised to the court since the doctor was unfamiliar with courtroom procedure.

MCD councillor take a swipe at IAS official

Elected members of MCD don’t leave a single occasion pick at IAS officials. This emerged at a recent meeting of the MCD Standing Committee. Councillors made references to the tough civil service exams that the top bureaucrats cleared to be in the civic body. Some asked a bureaucrat in the agency how he could not understand people’s problems when he is supposed to be the most educated amongst them.