PUDA appeal against Mohali allottees allowed

chandigarh: the punjab state consumer redressal commission headed by justice hs brar has allowed a bunch of 20 appeals by the punjab urban planning and development authority (puda) challenging the decision of the ropar district consumer disputes redressal forum whereby puda had been directed to refund the interest recovered on payment of instalments towards the sale price of plots allotted in sas nagar on account of delay in handing over possession of the respective plots to the allottees.the allottees had complained that on account of non-delivery of possession of plots, puda was not entitled to charge interest payable with the instalments. it was also urged that the construction time being three years from the date of allotment order. the allottees were prevented from raising the construction within the stipulated period hence no interest was payable even on the future instalments till the actual physical possession of the plots was granted. responding to this, puda counsel anil malhotra that the delay in handing over possession was due to late development of sector 69, mohali, where plots were to be allotted. land acquisition proceedings in the sector were challenged by land owners in the punjab and haryana high court. all the allottees had now been given possession with three years building time. the allottees were being charged rs 1,400 per square yard against the current reserve price of rs 3,600 per square yards charged from fresh applicants for the same sector. the ropar district forum had allowed complaints against puda and ordered refund of interest charged and no further interest too till possession of the plot was granted. while setting aside the district forum order which relied on a case of a different nature altogether of the apex court, the state commission has remanded the case back to the district forum for fresh decision in accordance with law, after providing adequate opportunity to the parties concerned. upsc told not to select lecturers the times of india news service chandigarh: the punjab and haryana high court on wednesday directed the union public service commission (upsc) against making any selections for the posts of lecturers of government colleges in chandigarh though it could proceed with the interviews as scheduled. the division bench comprised justices rs mongia and kc gupta. this direction came on a petition filed by some of the lecturers who had been serving in the government colleges for some years now following their recruitment on ad-hoc basis some years ago. the lecturers are guneeta chadha, satyavir singh, anju sharma, aks mankotia, sadana verma, lakhbir singh, seema gupta, achia trehan, renu trikha, meenu verma, sonia sikand, latika dutt, gurinder kaur, surinder kaur, paramjit kaur, vandana r.singh, sk rai and harcharan kaur, some of whom have already quit. the petition had prayed for quashing the reversion decision of the central administrative tribunal (cat), chandigarh, of april 2, 1998, whereby it had upheld that in view of the rules that came into force on february 21, 1991, the posts could be filled only through selection by the upsc. chandigarh administration counsel reiterated that the services of these petitioners could not be regularised under the rules. all of them had been recruited almost eight to nine years back. cbi probe ordered justice bakhshish kaur entrusted the inquiry into alleged abduction and disappearance of a youth, sohan singh, resident of jalal, moga district, an fir about whom was registered at police station baghapurana, moga tehsil, to the central bureau of investigations (cbi) with the direction to complete the task within six months and submit a report. a petition in this regard had been filed by his uncle darshan singh of vairoke village, with whom he had come to stay at the time of alleged abduction. the abductors, the petitioner said, had demanded a ransom of rs 2.5 lakh for the safe return of the youth, who was his sister's son. he expressed apprehension of liquidation of sohan singh and submitted that the police knew everything, but did not do anything to trace his nephew. he alleged the hand of one amrik singh of the same village in the abduction. order on distillery a division bench comprising justices ks kumaran and nirmal singh directed the prohibition and excise & taxation commissioner, haryana, to decide within a fortnight, the representations made to him by the associated distillery, hisar, about the ban imposed by the state government on their bottling of the bagpiper brand of liquor on july 28 this year. it was alleged by the petitioner that the excise and taxation officer (eto) posted in the distillery by the haryana government had conveyed to them verbally to discontinue bottling of the brand under reference and had quoted instructions from the higher authorities for the same. this being a popular brand, the unit was made to incur losses since no action had been taken by the eto or the state government on the half a dozen representations submitted by them. the unit is owned by anoop bishnoi, son in-law of former chief minister bhajan lal.