FAKE LICENCE SCAM

Zamidara Driving School owner arrested 
Chandigarh, October 13
The vigilance cell of the UT police today arrested the sixth accused in the fake driving licences scam that broke earlier this month. The police arrested Jaswinder Singh, alias Jassi, owner of Zamidara driving school in the city in connection with the scam.
Inspector Dulip Rattan said the accused used to provide licences by faking the signature of DSP (Traffic) Vijay Kumar. The accused had earlier been arrested in a similar fraud in 2001, he said.
The police had arrested five persons and recovered 28 files based on fake papers that were prepared by the gang from the office of the Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA). Investigation revealed that the accused had documented more than 200 licences by using fake stamps and signatures.
The scrutiny of the files had revealed that the beneficiaries had not appeared for the driving test in the Chandigarh Traffic Park in Sector 23. Their files had valid serial numbers. The police had earlier arrested agent-typist Ramesh, agent Manvinder, two peons and one other. The kingpin, Manish Dhar, who used to forge signatures, is yet to be arrested and warrants against him had been obtained, the police said.

Amargarh on the edge after 40 cancer deaths

Amargarh (Sangrur), October 13
Fear stalks Amargarh residents with more and more residents succumbing to cancer. Most suspect that the water in the area is to blame for the calamity and have installed reverse osmosis pumps in their homes.
Lakhveer Singh, who lost his father Harmail Singh in 2002 and two years later his mother Gurcharan Kaur to intestinal cancer, said it was time the government should step in to address the problem.
“I spent more than Rs 15 lakh on my parent’s treatment. But what about the poor afflicted by this disease ? The government must do something about the polluted water in our area”.
He said he lived in constant fear of losing his daughter and son.
There are at least 40 families in this non-descript village to have lost their dear ones to cancer.
Varinder Mohan, a sweet shop owner, who lost his father to lymph node cancer about 45 days ago, said: “I cannot bring my father back, but I would want you to highlight our plight so that we do not see more dying of cancer.”
Dr Harjeet Kumar who runs a clinic in Amargarh’s main market, said: “There have been 40 deaths in Amargarh town alone during the recent years.
And at least 40 are suffering from intestinal, uterus, lymph node, oesophagus or breast cancer.The patients belong to all age groups.”
Dr Sunil Prakash, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Amargarh, said not many cancer cases were reported at the local Community Health Centre with most residents preferring to take the patients to super speciality hospitals in cities.
He said there was no problem with the water in Amargarh as was evident from the water samples tested regularly for mineral components.
Contesting the SMO’s claim, a local employee of the water supply and sanitation department said water samples tested for pollution about six months ago had been found carrying high concentration of heavy minerals.

Conflicting claims

There is no problem with the water in Amargarh as is evident from the water samples tested regularly
— Dr Sunil Prakash, SMO
Water samples tested for pollution six months ago were found carrying high concentration of heavy minerals
— Sanitation dept employee

Immigration consultants booked for fraud

Patiala, October 13
The police has registered a case pertaining to cheating against an immigration firm, Auscan Consultant India Limited, Chandigarh, following a probe by the Rajpura police that indicated large scale fund transactions from some fraudulent accounts.
A case has been registered under Sections 420, 406, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC against Muneet Bindra, Sunil Jaggi and Prabhjot Singh. However, no arrests have been made so far.
Addressing mediapersons, Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill said Bansi Lal, a Karnal resident, had approached Sunil Jaggi, director, Auscan Consultant India Limited, to send his son Paras Gera to England for education. When Lal failed to produce sufficient funds in his account, Jaggi allegedly promised to arrange Rs 7.42 lakh in his account and took a guarantee in the form of his property documents.
Gill added that after Lal’s account was allegedly opened in Axis Bank, Rajpura, Jaggi took away cheque book from Lal and later made numerous “benami” transactions from his account in connivance with the bank officials after sending Paras abroad.
“We are also trying to get to the bank employees who helped the consultant open the bank account in Rajpura,” the SSP said.

SC lists tighter norms for property transfer

New Delhi, October 13
In a decisive move to check the generation of black money and tame the land mafia, the Supreme Court has ruled that property transfers through sale agreement (SA), general power of attorney (GPA) and will would be invalid with immediate effect, except in ‘genuine’ cases involving transactions among relatives or with builders.
“Immovable property can be legally and lawfully transferred/conveyed only by a registered deed of conveyance,” a Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran, AK Patnaik and HL Gokhale held.
Directing the courts below not to treat transactions through SA/GPA/will as “completed or concluded transfers”, the Bench also asked the civic bodies such as the municipal corporation and development and revenue authorities not to effect mutation in such cases.
However, if SA/GPA/ will documents had been accepted by such authorities for the purpose of mutation before “this day” (October 11, 2011), “these need not be disturbed merely on account of this decision,” the SC clarified.
Besides effectively dealing with the problems of black money and land mafia, the invalidation of such sales would also result in better revenue generation for the government through stamp duty, minimise legal wrangles over property transactions and prevent criminalisation of civil disputes, the Bench reasoned.
The SC has clamped the conditions after assessing the views of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi which had been asked to file their affidavits on the issue.
“The four states have responded and confirmed that SA/GPA/will transfers require to be discouraged as they lead to a loss of revenue (stamp duty) and increase in litigations due to defective title,” the Bench pointed out.
The court noted that amendments made to the Registration Act and stamp laws by some states had plugged the loss of revenue by way of stamp duty only “to some extent. Further, such transactions which were only prevalent in Delhi and the surrounding areas have started spreading to other states also. The amendments to stamp and registration laws do not address the larger issue of generation of black money operation of the land mafia.”
The Bench acknowledged that Haryana had taken a “positive step” by reducing stamp duty on deeds of conveyance from 12.5 per cent to 5 per cent. “A high rate of stamp duty acts as a damper for execution of deeds of conveyance for full value and encourages SA/GPA/will transfers,” it pointed out.
Reducing the stamp duty on conveyance to realistic levels would encourage the public to disclose the maximum sale value and have the sale deeds registered, it said.
“We make it clear that our observations are not intended, in any way, to affect the validity of sale agreements and powers of attorney executed in genuine transactions. For example, a person may give a power of attorney to his spouse, son, daughter, brother, sister or a relative to manage his affairs or to execute a deed of conveyance.” Further, “a person may enter into a development agreement with a land developer or builder for developing the land either by forming plots or by constructing apartment buildings and, in that behalf, execute an agreement of sale and grant power of attorney empowering the developer to execute agreements of sale or conveyances in regard to individual plots of land or undivided shares in the land relating to apartments in favour of prospective purchasers. Our observations regarding SA/GPA/will transactions are not intended to apply to such bona fide/genuine transactions,” the SC clarified further.

The Royal Wedding

Newly crowned Queen of Bhutan Jetsun Pema and King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck acknowledge the crowds after their wedding at the Dzong monastery on Thursday. Bhutan’s 31-year-old king married Pema, who is 10 years his junior, in a colourful ceremony showcasing the rich Buddhist culture.