Edmonton city set to issue 100 new cab licences over objections of taxi commission

EDMONTON - A plan to issue 100 new taxi licences should speed ahead because it is essential to ensure cabs can drop and pick up customers at the international airport, city council’s executive committee says.

The committee, which includes Mayor Stephen Mandel, decided Wednesday to override objections from the city’s taxi commission.

The commission last week balked at the proposal, worried that the selection criteria for the new licences was being pushed through without enough public consultation.

Currently, cabs that take people from the city to the international airport, which is in Leduc County, are not allowed to pick up passengers heading to Edmonton. Similarly, cabs that bring people from the airport are not supposed to pick up passengers in the city. That situation, called dead heading in industry parlance, is a result of an exclusive 2006 contract with Leduc-based company Airport Taxis.

Coun. Amarjeet Sohi and city administrators said the airport agreed to sign its next contract with Edmonton taxis, but in return the city needs to issue 100 new plates. Officials said the meter is running on council’s time to proceed with that plan.

“I think it means improved taxi service, less deadheading and increased satisfaction,” said Sohi, who has been working to solve the problem for several years. “Hopefully, once the contract is finalized we will have enhanced taxi services.”

There are about 1,200 licensed taxis in Edmonton. The last time the city issued new licences was in 2007, when it released 35 plates specifically for vehicles to serve people with disabilities.

The council committee did tweak the criteria for the 100 licence lottery so that anyone who already owns a licence to operate a taxi anywhere in Alberta will be ineligible for one of the 100 new plates. Some drivers and cab company operators worried that the originally proposed rules prevented existing Edmonton licence holders from applying, but opened it up to licence holders from other cities. The rules also require anyone applying for a licence to have been working in the industry for the last 12 months and have a connection with an Edmonton broker.

Council still must give its final blessing to the plan at its next meeting Feb. 1.

Some drivers at Wednesday’s meeting said they still have reservations. Manjinder Punia, for example, said he was there to speak on behalf of people who already own a licence and want to be included in the lottery.

But Balraj Manhas, president of the United Cabbies Association of Edmonton, which represents about 960 members, said the committee made the right decision. “It means the airport stand will open up to Edmonton taxis,” Manhas said. “We have been bringing this issue up for the last five years. It’s not been rushed.”

Wednesday’s debate also raised questions about the future of Edmonton’s taxi commission. Manhas, for example, argued the commission should be disbanded in favour of a less powerful advisory committee.

Sohi said it was frustrating that the taxi commission refused to honour the wishes of council when it came to the 100 new licences.

“The commission in its current form is very ineffective and doesn’t represent the interests of the industry,” Sohi said, arguing it doesn’t make sense to have a group overseeing taxi that cannot have representatives from the industry.

Chris Leahey was the only member of the taxi commission to attend Wednesday’s meeting. Commission members are frustrated by council’s perceived rushing of the issue, he said.

Mandel said a report on the future of the taxi commission, as well as a range of issues related to vehicles for hire in Edmonton, will be coming before council in the next couple of months.

One held under IT Act

Mohali, January 25

The cyber crime wing of Punjab state crime branch, Mohali, has arrested a person for creating a fake e-mail ID and misusing it for ulterior purposes. The accused has been identified as Sourab Tondon (29), hailing from Solan and was working as an ayurvedic doctor.

A case was registered at the cyber crime police station under Sections 66A and 66D of the Information Technology Act (IT Act) and Sections 418, 419, 500 and 509 of the IPC on the complaint of Dr Sameer Kaushal of Amar Hospital, Sector 70, Mohali.

Earlier, the complainant alleged that someone has created a fake e-mail ID and deliberately sent a number of e-mails to various persons in which he had maligned the image of his hospital in the name of making illegal money by raising fake insurance policies. So much so, it was also wrongly mentioned that the doctor (complainant) did not possess valid medical degree.

DIG (crime) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh informed that the case was investigated and it was found that this act has been done by the accused, which was authenticated by IP details and other Internet particulars. The motive behind this act was to take revenge from the complainant as his friend, Sneha Gupta, was expelled from the hospital’s job. By this act of accused, the complainant was suffering from mental agony, besides financial losses.

The accused was produced before a Mohali court and was remanded in two-day police custody.

Defence says quadruple murder case 'makes no sense'

Hamed Shafia, one of three defendants in a multiple murder case, is escorted by police officers from a holding cell at the Frontenac County Courthouse in Kingston, Ont., on Wednesday.

KINGSTON, Ont. — The prosecution theory that three members of a Montreal family murdered four others in an honour killing is “preposterous” and built on “weak” circumstantial evidence that “makes no sense,” jurors at the Shafia trial were told by defence lawyer Patrick McCann.

In a critical, 2 1/2-hour address to jurors Wednesday, McCann said the only reasonable conclusion is that the victims died in an accident and the accused, Mohammad Shafia, 58, his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, are not guilty.

“Hamed is guilty of being stupid, morally blameworthy . . . but other than that he was not responsible for the girls’ death, nor were his parents and (it’s) time to put an end to this Kafka-esque 2 1/2 years they’ve been going through,” said McCann, who represents Hamed. He was the last of the three defence lawyers to address jurors.

The accused each pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder. Sisters Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, who was Shafia’s first wife in the polygamous family, were found dead on June 30, 2009. They had drowned. Investigators could not determine where and how the victims died.

The bodies were recovered from a Nissan Sentra submerged in a shallow canal at Kingston Mills, a lock station on the Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario. Prosecutors allege the scene was staged to look like a joyride that ended in tragedy. The family has said Zainab took the car without permission and crashed it into the canal.

Prosecutors allege that the killers had to improvise, using the family’s other vehicle, a Lexus SUV, to push the Nissan over a stone ledge into the water when it became stuck. Pieces of broken Lexus headlight plastic were found at the canal and the damage on the two vehicles was matched.

Hamed, who did not testify at the trial, told a man hired by his father to investigate, after the trio was arrested, that he was at the canal when the car went into the water.

McCann said this account by Hamed is the only one that makes sense.

Hamed told the investigator that he was driving the Lexus and followed his joyriding sister to Kingston Mills some time after 2 a.m. on June 30. Hamed said he collided with the smaller car when it stopped suddenly.

Hamed told the man that while he was picking up broken pieces of headlight, he heard a splash, ran to the edge of the canal and realized that the Nissan had gone into the water. Hamed, then 18, said he dangled a rope in the water, but he did not call 911 or tell his parents, who were at a nearby motel, what had happened. Instead, he drove to Montreal and staged a fake accident to conceal the damage to the Lexus.

“He made a terrible, terrible decision, thinking, ‘No one knows I came here, I could be somehow responsible,’ ” McCann said, while insisting that “there is not a single piece of evidence that says what he says happened could not have happened.”

In many conversations Hamed had with police officers after the deaths, he never revealed the crash story.

McCann said there is a critical piece of cellphone evidence that undercuts the prosecution theory. He said cell data shows that Sahar’s cellphone was in a sector near the Kingston motel where the family stopped on June 30 at 1:36 a.m.

“This, ladies and gentlemen, is perhaps one of the most important pieces of evidence in the trial, that almost disproves the Crown theory,” he said. McCann suggested the record indicates that the Nissan was not at the canal at a time when the prosecution maintains that it was there.

Prosecutor Laurie Lacelle, who addressed jurors after McCann, described Hamed’s account as something he “cooked up” to conceal the murders, a “complete and total fabrication.”

She pointed to several small bits of evidence that, taken together, she said reveal that it was not an accident.

She noted the Nissan’s headlights were off when it was found underwater. The engine was off, none of the four people was seat-belted in and the front seats were reclined at a steep angle. These factors suggest no one was driving the car when it went into the water, she said.

“They were most certainly incapacitated and most likely dead before the car went into the water,” Lacelle said.

The prosecutor said jurors have heard ample evidence that Shafia adhered to a strict cultural code that required obedience from his female family members, over whom he sought to maintain control. Lacelle said that when Zainab ran away from home in April 2009 to a shelter, it was the final insult among a string of problems with the girls.

“That’s when the plan to kill her began,” Lacelle said.

She said that Sahar began secretly dating, Geeti was defiant and Rona supported the three girls and may also have sought a divorce.

“Rona, Zainab, Sahar and Geeti shared a bond of love for one another and they also shared another bond, the desperate desire to escape the Shafia household,” Lacelle said.

She reminded the jurors that the three accused were the last people to see the victims alive and they are the only people with a motive to kill them.

Lacelle will continue her closing address on Thursday.

Leno sued over ‘racist’ Golden Temple remark

US talk show host Jay Leno

New York, January 25
US talk show host Jay Leno has been sued by an Indian-American in California for his “racist” comments on the Golden Temple and ridiculing the entire Sikh community by portraying the holy shrine as a vacation home.
According to court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Randeep Dhillon claims that Leno “hurt the sentiments of all Sikh people in addition to those of the plaintiff” with his joke that the Golden Temple could be a possible summer home of Mitt Romney, a leading Republican presidential hopeful.
The celebrity website TMZ said Dhillon has filed a libel suit and is seeking unspecified damages.
The suit adds that Leno’s joke “clearly exposes plaintiff, other Sikhs and their religion to hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy because it falsely portrays the holiest place in the Sikh religion as a vacation resort owned by a non-Sikh.” It said this is not the first time that Leno has ridiculed the Sikh community.
“Previously, in 2007 he called Sikhs ‘diaper heads.’ Clearly, Jay Leno’s racist comments need to be stopped right here,” the suit added.
In more trouble for the TV host, a Sikh rights group here has lodged a complaint with a federal agency demanding action be taken against Leno and NBC channel for airing the “racist and derogatory” depiction of the Golden Temple.
Sikhs for Justice has filed its complaint with regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against Leno and NBC.

The FCC is tasked with regulating the broadcast of television programmes, analysing complaints and conducting investigations. 

SAD (Delhi) seeks action against Leno

New Delhi: The Delhi unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal has shot off a protest letter to US President Barack Obama, about a controversial television show which degraded the Golden Temple. “We are quite displeased and hurt with the remarks on the Golden Temple by a television show hosted by Jay Leno,” SAD’s Delhi unit President Manjit Singh GK said.

India, Norway reach agreement; kids to be handed over to uncle

New Delhi, January 25
The prolonged agony of an Indian couple in Norway whose kids were taken away by the Norwegian Childcare Services on grounds of "emotional disconnect", may end soon when the children are handed over to their uncle following the finalisation of an agreement between India and the Scandinavian country today.

According to official sources, Arunabhash, the uncle, has agreed to the parents’ wish and will be the children's primary caretaker. He will spend sometime with the two kids in Norway before bringing them to India and submit a list of doctors in India whom the Norwegian authorities could contact to know about the welfare of the children. An Indian agency will also monitor whether the children were being properly looked after.

The accord between India through its mission in Norway, Municipality of Norway, Norwegian Childcare Services, the parents (Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya) and their lawyer named Anurup's brother as the primary caretaker of the two children.

Barnevarne (Norwegian Child Welfare Services) has approved and agreed to give children to the uncle.

Arunabhash, who lives in Kolkata, will soon leave for Norway and all the expenses of his travel will be borne by the government, the sources said. However, under the agreement, the parents still have parental and visitation rights.

The children Abhigyan (3) and Aishwarya (1) were taken under protective care by Barnevarne, which claimed emotional disconnect with the parents, and placed them in foster parental care according to the local Norwegian court's directive.

Following the plea by the family, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna spoke to the Norwegian authorities and requested them to find an "amicable and urgent" settlement.

India expressed its concerns to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the children were being deprived of the undoubted benefits of being brought up in their own ethnic, religious cultural and linguistic milieu.

In Kolkata, the grandparents of the two kids expressed happiness that they would be handed over to their uncle. ''This is undoubtedly a matter of great relief that Abhigyan and Aishwarya will now be returned to their parents and we are eager to see them back here'', they said.

Lawyer moves CBI against Badals

Chandigarh, January 25

A city-based lawyer has lodged a complaint with the CBI against Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia for allegedly exercising power illegally.

Advocate Himmat Singh Shergill had earlier filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, the HC on December 15 had asked him to approach an investigating agency and thereafter, approach the court if the problem remains unsolved.

In his complaint, Shergill alleged that Badal and his son exercised their executive powers in an illegal and manipulative manner to provide monetary benefits to the companies owned by the Badal family. Most irregularities happened after they came into power in March 2007.

Calling it a well-planned and institutionalised corruption, Shergill demanded a thorough probe by the CBI.

Shergill had submitted the annual returns, director's reports and balance sheets of various companies that "established ownership of Parkash Singh Badal and his family". "They are running family businesses out of the state's exchequer", he alleged in the complaint.

ALLOTMENT OF RESIDENTIAL PLOTS TO DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES

High Court quashes PUDA’s scheme

Chandigarh, January 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today quashed the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority's "arbitrary" scheme for allotment of residential plots to its own staff at reserve prices.

The significant judgment came on challenge thrown by advocate HC Arora to an office order dated September 24, 2010, "which prescribed allotment of identified residential plots exclusively to the PUDA employees at reserve price".

The development is significant as Arora had alleged "the allotment of residential plots to its own employees by the PUDA was to enable them to sell these at three to four times higher price; and thus to get financial gains at the cost of tax paying public".

Arora had alleged PUDA was taking steps to allot at reserve prices residential plots from five to 14 marlas to its employees, depending upon their status, from Class-IV to Class-I. Even officers or employees with own residential plots or houses were eligible for allotment, if they have completed five years of regular service with the PUDA.

Allowing the petition, the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina asserted: "We are of the view that the scheme is arbitrary, which is amply highlighted by the fact that it does not distinguish an officer/official, who or his/her spouse owns a house in an urban estate."

"In fact, clause four of the scheme expressly postulates that officer/official who had purchased a plot/house/building through open sale in the market or auction is also eligible to submit application under the scheme".

In its detailed order, the Bench added: "Even otherwise, it is well settled, as rightly pointed out by advocate HC Arora, that there cannot be any reservation of plots in favour of the employees or their wards because it has no rational basis….

"The scheme appears to have been finalised only by the Chief Administrator, PUDA, and not by the State Government, which smacks of arbitrariness".

Before parting with the order, the Bench asserted: "The writ petition is allowed. The scheme/office order dated October 24, 2010, or any other similar scheme is hereby quashed".

Lawyer moves CBI against Badals

Chandigarh, January 25

A city-based lawyer has lodged a complaint with the CBI against Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia for allegedly exercising power illegally.

Advocate Himmat Singh Shergill had earlier filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, the HC on December 15 had asked him to approach an investigating agency and thereafter, approach the court if the problem remains unsolved.

In his complaint, Shergill alleged that Badal and his son exercised their executive powers in an illegal and manipulative manner to provide monetary benefits to the companies owned by the Badal family. Most irregularities happened after they came into power in March 2007.

Calling it a well-planned and institutionalised corruption, Shergill demanded a thorough probe by the CBI.

Shergill had submitted the annual returns, director's reports and balance sheets of various companies that "established ownership of Parkash Singh Badal and his family". "They are running family businesses out of the state's exchequer", he alleged in the complaint.