Chandigarh: In a new trend,many cases are being settledout of consumer court. Theyare all against retailers andtraders, most of whom are inthe dock for charging VAT onMRP after discount.

Since the beginning of theyear, the two district forumshave received around 80 comp-laints of the same nature. Ofthese, more than 61 were sett-led before the court passed itsjudgment. Till last year, whenthere was a sudden increase inthe number of such cases, due,in part, to greater public awa-reness, the consumer forum is-sued orders asking retailers tocompensate and refund the ex-tra amount charged as VAT, be-

sides paying compensationand litigation cost.

These days, more cases arebeing dismissed post financialsettlement and compromise.In January, judgment was pas-sed in only around 20 such ca-ses while settlement was rea-ched in more than 60 cases.

The judgment in all 20 ca-ses in the two forums was pas-sed in favour of consumers.The state consumer forum al-so upheld orders of the district

forums. The National Consu-mer Disputes Redressal Fo-rum also upheld all such or-ders, making it clear that VATcannot be charged on MRP,which is inclusive of all taxes,even after discount.

Data available in Chandi-garh District Consumer Fo-rums I and II (DF-I and DF-II)for January and February sho-wed DF-I received more than28 complaints and in DF-II,there were around 33 cases of

settlement and compromise.Final judgments in all 60

cases read as complaint with-drawn following “compromi-se” or “on account of settle-ment”. In some cases, the amo-unt offered by the retailer wasmentioned in the final judg-ment and in many, only com-promise was mentioned. Alt-hough the compromise was al-so reached after financial sett-lement, it was done out ofcourt and they did not wish tobring it to the court’s notice.

“Increasing number of ca-ses of settlement of compla-ints outside the Consumer Fo-rum is a good sign of media-tion. Consumer courts are ve-ry strict against unfair tradepractice and do full justice bygranting hefty compensation.To avoid this, they prefer outsi-de settlements. Case is sortedout in time and negative publi-city is avoided. Flip side is thatbusinesses that continue withunfair trade practices are notexposed,” said Ajay Jagga, ci-ty-based advocate.

Most relate toVAT on MRP

after discount

Cases against retailersbeing settled out of court

Kamini.Mehta@timesgroup.com

PAYMENT FOR SETTLEMENT January 10 | A settlement

was made after the retailer offered to pay Rs 9,500

January 11 | A retailer offered to pay Rs 3,500 after a case was filed and the complainant accepted it

January 13 | Retailer offered the complainant Rs 6,000 and settled the case

January 30 | Retailer of-fered three of his complain-ants, who filed three different

complaints, Rs 4,000 each (total

of Rs 12,000)

February 1 | Retailer paid Rs 5,000 to settle the case

February 15 | Retailer paid Rs 3,000 each to two complainants

HUMOUR FEST

SEMINAR

SYMPOSIUM

BLOOD DONATION

The three-day Jaspal Bhatti Humor Festival will commence on March

3. The first day will see performance by Deepak Raja, Satti Sembi, Santa Banta, Ssumeir Pasricha and Rana RanbirWhen | 6.30pmWhere | Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh

Centre for advanced studies, department of Sociology, Panjab University (PU), is

organizing a two-day SAP-sponsored national Seminar on the theme “Trends and Issues in Social Development” from March 2 to 3.When | 9amWhere | ICSSR Complex, PU

The department of philosophy, Panjab University (PU), is

organizing two-day international symposium on relativism, absolutism and the concept of Atman from March 2 to 3.When | 11am onwardsWhere | Seminar Hall, department of sociology, Panjab University

NSS unit of the DAV College is organizing a blood donation camp

When | 9.30am onwardsWhere | Main auditorium, DAV College

MARK YOUR

DIARY

CRIME FILEMan steals purse from scooterA person was caught red-handed on Thursday at the time he was trying to steal a purse from a scooter parked outside Fragrance Garden, Sector-36. The accused was identified as Pankaj Thakur, a resident of Sector-20C. Cops registered a case against Thakur under sections 379 (punishment for theft) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the IPC in Sector-36 police station.

Motorcycle stolenA motorcycle was stolen from Milk Colony, Dhanas, which was parked in front of the complainant’s house on Wednesday night. A case under Section 379 (punishment for theft) of the IPC has been registered in PS-Sarangpur. Investigation of the case is in progress.

Car liftedA car was stolen from outside the house of a resident of Sector 38-A which was parked in front of his house on Wednesday night. A case under Section 379 (punishment for theft) of the IPC has been registered in PS-39. Investigation of the case is in progress, said cops.

Two on bike hit by autoTwo persons on motorcycle received injuries after they allegedly got hit by an autorickshaw in Sector-20 on Thursday. Both the motorcyclists received were admitted to GMCH-32. Cops registered a case under sections 279 (rash driving on public way) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC in the Industrial Area police station against the auto driver. The accused was arrested and later bailed out.

MY CITY MY VOICE

Send us your letters at: toichdconnect@gmail.com

A mess at PU mess

At a time when we are talking about Swachh

Bharat Abhiyaan and working towards making Chandigarh one of the cleanliest cities in India, the education sector is facing a neglect. I am a Panjab University student and reside in one of its hostels. The hygiene in hostel number 6 mess is woeful. We eat breakfast in a mess where dogs litter and sleep. Students, who don’t have any other option but to eat at the hostel mess halls, bear such sights every day. Though PU is one of the leading educational institutions in the country, it fails to provide hygienic conditions to its students.

A Panjab University student (TOI has the name of the student. It has, however, chosen to protect his identity)

Chandigarh: About 100 pro-testing guest lecturers whowere demanding hike in sala-ries were stopped by Chandi-garh police by using a watercannon when they were ontheir way to gherao the Vid-han Sabha on Thursday nearHousing Board Chowk. Ac-cording to guest lecturersunion members, they saidthat they were on protest forthe past few days and that the-ir demand is that their salari-

es be raised and that they sho-uld get benefits as well.

Union state president Ish-war Singh said that they wereprotesting peacefully againstthe state government and mo-ving towards the Vidhan Sab-ha when UT police used watercannons to disperse them,which caused minor injuriesto come protesters. Singh sa-id, “We will continue our pro-test till the government hearsour demands.” TNN

Police use watercannons on protesters

Cops use water cannons to disperse protesters on Thursday

Chandigarh: A fresh bailapplication has been filed be-fore the special court of Cen-tral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) court by Nigerian natio-nal Stanley Enwemeka, whowas booked for cheating andforgery. Two accused resi-dents of England -- Stanleyand Sofia Singh -- were boo-ked under sections 420 (chea-ting and dishonestly inducingdelivery of property), and120-B (punishment of crimi-nal conspiracy) of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) and 66-D (pu-nishment for cheating by im-personation by using compu-ter resource) of the IT Act. So-fia’s earlier bail was dismis-sed on January 24.

In the bail application,Stanley stated he had been fal-sely implicated, as he had co-me to India for medical treat-ment in August last year, wasresiding in Delhi, and remai-ned in custody since 30 De-cember. The defence counselsubmitted that Stanley was

made a “scapegoat in the enti-re matter, since the investiga-ting agency couldn’t arrestthe culprit.”

The complainant in the ca-se, Kuldeep Singh Walia, sta-ted that he received a text mes-sage from Sofia after whichtheir conversation started.Sofia had allegedly informedSingh she was coming to Indiaon 19 September last year tomeet him. On the same day,

Kuldeep got a call from Sofia,asking him to depositRs38,000 as custom fee for her,after which he had depositedthe amount in an SBI accountin Sualkkuchi (Assam) fromhis Punjab National Bank(PNB) savings account in Bat-hinda.

On the same day, Kuldeepreceived a call allegedly froman RBI officer, asking him tofill a form in the link of the RBIsite sent on his e-mail id. TNN

Fresh bail plea forNigerian filed

TIMES OF CHANDIGARH FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2017 3THE TRICITY

Chandigarh: A three-member delegation of Sar-va Shiksha Abhiyan Tea-chers Welfare Association(SSATWA), Chandigarh,met UT adviser Parimal Raiand apprised him aboutthree months pending sala-ry of 1000 Trained Gradua-te and Junior Basic govern-ment school teachers. Theteachers are aggrieved atthe act of Ministry of Hu-man Resource and Develop-ment, department of scho-ol education and literacy, ofnot transferring second in-stalment of Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan of Rs 33 crore toUT, Chandigarh, citing rea-son of non-transfer of thesaid budget by the ministryof finance.

In the representationassociation mentioned thaton November 11 2016, a let-ter was issued by Surbhi Ja-in, director, School Educa-tion and Literacy, MHRD, tothe finance secretary. TNN

Members ofSSA meetUT adviser

Chandigarh: A burglary to-ok place in a shop in Sector47D on Thursday night andthe accused escaped with Rs80,000 old currency notes.According to the complaintgiven by Vivek Gupta, a resi-dent of Phase X, Mohali, hehad closed his general storearound 9pm on Wednesdaynight and he found the shopransacked the next mor-ning. He allegedly foundwindowpane of the shopbroken and upon searching,he also discovered the Rs80,000 cash in old currencynotes which were lying thethe shop’s safe stolen.

Gupta informed copsabout the incident afterwhich, a team of cops alongwith forensic experts visitedthe shop and forensic teammembers stated that the ac-cused had used a ladder toclimb into the shop by brea-king the windowpane. It wasstated that there could bemore than one accused in-volved in the crime. Cops sa-id that there were no CCTVcameras installed inside oranywhere near the shop, butthey are trying to comeacross clues. TNN

Sec 47 storeburgled

Chandigarh: Encouraged bythe success of student enga-gement programme ‘Be TheChange, Be An Organ Donor”in other institutions, Regio-nal Organ & Tissue Trans-plant Organization (ROTTO)PGIMER covered Post Gradu-ate Government College forGirls, Sector 11 (PGGCG-11)under the project by organi-zing an awareness camp onorgan donation on collegepremises on Thursday. A blo-od donation camp was also or-ganized in collaboration withdepartment of transfusionmedicine, PGIMER, and NGOShri Shiv Kanwar Maha-sangh Charitable Trust.

Formally inaugurated byProfessor Anita Kaushal,principal PGGCG-11, thecamp witnessed an enthusi-astic response with 133 dona-ting blood and 51 pledging fororgan donation thereby,showcasing their voluntaryspirit. TNN

Awarenesscamp on organ

donation

Chandigarh: A local co-urt of civil judge HarleenPal Singh on Thursdayconvicted five accusedpersons for attacking aconstable in Manimajrain 2015. The quantum ofsentence will be announ-ced on March 6. The con-victed accused were iden-tified as Rajesh Kumar,Rama Kant (residents ofBapu Dham Colony), Har-vinder Singh, Vikas Shar-ma (residents of Mani-majra), and Kishor Shar-ma (resident of Sector-4,Panchkula).

The incident of thras-hing a man in khaki wasreported on 11 November2015, when UT constableParveen Kumar was onPCR duty with anotherconstable Surinder nearNAC Manimajra, wherethey found the five accu-sed youngsters quarrel-ling in front of a wineshop. TNN

Courtconvicts 5 ofattacking cop

A committee constitu-ted by the administra-tion to find a solution

has recommended changeof nomenclature of statehighways to major districtroads. The recommenda-tion will be put up before UTadministrator VP SinghBadnore on Friday for ap-proval.

Talking to TOI, UT homesecretary-cum-finance sec-retary Anurag Agarwal saidthe process of denotifica-tion will be completed bynext week. When contacted,assistant excise and taxa-tion commissioner (AETC)Ravinder Kaushik acceptedthat they were left with littletime, but expressed help-lessness in framing the poli-cy before the notification is-sued by engineering depart-ment in 2006 is denotifed.“At the moment, we are notclear where vends can be

opened,” said Kaushik.At present, there are a to-

tal of 99 vends in the 48groups in different parts ofthe city. Last year, the excisepolicy was announced onFebruary 26, and vends wereauctioned on March 15.Lashing out at the adminis-tration, Wine Merchants As-sociation president SatyaPal said there was no coordi-nation between different de-partments of the adminis-tration, which has led to thedelay. “SC had passed the or-der on December 15. By thistime, the administrationshould have resolved the is-sue and framed the new poli-cy,” said Satya Pal. As perpractice, after announce-ment of excise policy, a no-tice period of 15 days is givenbefore starting the processof auction. If the policy isnot framed in time, the ad-ministration will be forcedto extend the current policy,leading to heavy losses.

‘Process of denotification willbe completed by next week’

�Continued from P 1

Another major objec-tion raised was delayin purchase of eight

ventilators in ICU of the ad-vanced paediatric centre.As per the terms and condi-tions of the company thathad to install these, it wasgiven a deadline of 84 days.However, the company in-stalled only five ventilatorsafter 237 days. When thePGIMER had decided to in-stall these ventilators,these were urgently re-quired for critically-ill chil-dren. The report said the in-stitute did not cancel thecontract and waited for thecompany for installation.

Spokesperson of the in-stitute Manju Wadwalkarsaid, “These objections arereplied to annually and ex-plained well. We will giveyou details of the reply onFriday.”

Delay inpurchase ofventilators

�Continued from P 1

In a memorandum to the ad-ministrator, he said drunk-en driving was a known

cause of avoidable road crash-es.

He said it was highly dis-turbing that his city has takena lead in circumventing theSC order by forming a com-mittee to de-notify the statehighways.

“Officials of 29 states andsix union territories are ea-gerly watching the steps beingtaken by Chandigarh on thisissue. They would follow usand de-notify highways,” hesaid.

The move would adverselyaffect the vision of the PrimeMinister to reduce deaths andinjuries on Indian roads by50%, he added.

‘Move will hitPM vision’

�Continued from P 1

Panchkula: OzobuiwcEze Okoro (37), a Nigeriannational -- who was arres-ted by cops two days agowith 11gm cocaine inPanchkula -- revealed toCIA (Crime InvestigationAgency) officials duringpolice remand his contactsfrom whom he would bringcocaine here in the city.Okoro, a resident of Lagos(Nigeria), was arrested onthe basis of a tip-off fromSector 20, when he was onhis way to supply 11gm ofcocaine to a customer. Theaccused used to sell cocai-ne at a price of Rs9,000 pergram, after purchasing itfrom Delhi at Rs5,000 pergram.

CIA officials informedthat during the two-day po-lice remand, the accusedhad given a few names ofhis dealers, and also infor-med the place where theywere mostly found at night.

Nigerianreveals his

drug contacts

TOI

CHEATING CASE

Chandigarh: Third PGI-AI-IMS National Course onPublic Health Approaches toNon Communicable Disea-ses (NCDs) started at NINEauditorium on Thursday atPGIMER, Chandigarh. Abo-ut 51 participants (policymakers, programme mana-gers, faculty and postgradu-ate students) from 18 statesof India, including north-eastern and southern stateshave registered for the cour-se. The dignitaries includedDr H S Bali, director healthservices, Punjab, Dr FikruTullu, team leader, NCD,WHO Country Office for In-dia, World, Dr Rana J Singh,deputy regional director, IU-ATLD) Dr J S Thakur, profes-sor, School of Public Health,PGIMER, Dr J P Tripathi, IU-ATLD, and Dr Anand Krish-nan, professor, Centre forCommunity Medicine, AI-IMS, New Delhi.

First sessions on epide-miology and burden due toNCDs was chaired by Dr J SThakur and Dr. Fikru Tullu.Dr Anand Krishnan from AI-IMS spoke about burden of

NCDs and its determinants.Dr J P Tripathy from TheUnion further elaboratedchronic diseases epidemio-logy. Then Dr Shankar Prin-za told about economic im-plication including catast-rophic expenditure due toNCD in his lecture on macroand microeconomic impactof NCDs and measuring itscost-effectiveness. Secondsession on NCD preventionand control was chaired byDr Amarjit Singh, professorfrom SPH, PGIMER, Chan-digarh, and Dr Anand Krish-nan. Dr Fikru Tullu talkedabout nvarious global,regio-nal and national initiativesin NCDs.

Dr Bhavneet Bharti tal-ked about life course appro-ach in NCD. She emphasizedthat childhood plays an im-portant role in shaping beha-viour of adults and healthpromotion. Then Dr. Amar-jit Singh communicated hismessage of importance ofhealthy diet and physical ac-tivity in prevention of NCDsthrough an interesting shortmovie. TNN

Nat’l course onNCDs starts at PGI