INS Khukri plea dismissed

Chandigarh, March 14

Observing that the award of medals for gallantry to defence personnel does not come under the purview of judicial review, the Armed Forces Tribunal (PIL) today dismissed a petition filed for a former Naval sailor, seeking an investigation into and amendment in the official history of the sinking of INS Khukri during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The tribunal Bench, comprising Justice NP Gupta and Lt-Gen HS Panag, said the petition, filed by Ropar resident Chanchal Singh Gill, had the flavour, tone and tenor of a public interest litigation (PIL) and the tribunal did not have the mandate to take up PILs.

Giving Gill an opportunity to withdraw his case, the Bench granted him the liberty of filing a fresh petition relating strictly to his personal grievance, if any, without including any extraneous issues.

One of the survivors of INS Khukri, Gill had moved the tribunal in 2010, seeking an inquiry by a judicial commission, withdrawal of gallantry awards from those who had allegedly shown cowardice, including the Commanding Officer of INS Khukri’s sister ship, INS Kirpan, and fixing responsibility for the Navy’s “huge cover-up” after the loss of INS Khukri.

The ship, according to records, was reportedly hit by an enemy torpedo on December 9, 1971, off the coast of Gujarat. Over 18 officers and 176 sailors
were lost.

INS Khukri’s Commanding Officer, Capt MN Mulla, chose not to abandon ship and went down with it. He was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra.

Stating that the award of gallantry medals was not a “service issue”, as defined under the AFT Act, the Bench asked the petitioner’s counsel to produce or refer to any judgements on record on this issue, which he did not.

Gill’s counsel KS Bains had contended that the award of gallantry medals was an integral part of military functioning and hence, a service matter for all intents and purposes.

More on INS Khukri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Khukri_(1958) 

ਸਰਕੋਜੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਯੂਰਪੀ ਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਗ਼ੈਰ-ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਚਿਤਾਵਨੀ

ਰੋਮ (ਇਟਲੀ), 14 ਮਾਰਚ-ਫਰਾਂਸ ਦੇ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਨਿਕਲਿਸ ਸਰਕੋਜੀ ਨੇ ਸਮੁੱਚੇ ਯੂਰਪੀਅਨ ਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਧਮਕੀ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਜੇਕਰ ਗ਼ੈਰ-ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸ ਨਾ ਰੋਕਿਆ ਗਿਆ ਤਾਂ ਉਹ ਫਰਾਂਸ ਨੂੰ ਯੂਰਪੀਅਨ ਯੂਨੀਅਨ ਦੇ ਵੀਜ਼ਾ ਫਰੀ ਸ਼ੈਨੇਗਨ ਸਮਝੌਤੇ ਤੋਂ ਅਲੱਗ ਕਰ ਲੈਣਗੇ। ਸ਼ੈਨੇਗਨ ਸਮਝੌਤੇ ਦੇ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ ਬਹੁਤੇ ਯੂਰਪੀਅਨ ਅਤੇ ਸਵਿਟਜ਼ਰਲੈਂਡ, ਨਾਰਵੇ ਤੇ ਆਇਸਲੈਂਡ ਵਰਗੇ ਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਗਰਿਕਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਮਾਮੂਲੀ ਜਿਹੇ ਬਾਰਡਰ ਚੈਕਿੰਗ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਯਾਤਰਾ ਦੀ ਸੁਵਿਧਾ ਮਿਲ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਹੈ। ਯਾਦ ਰਹੇ ਜੇ ਇੰਜ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਫਿਰ ਫਰਾਂਸ ਵਿਚ ਜਾਣ ਲਈ ਵੀਜ਼ਾ ਲੈਣਾ ਪਿਆ ਕਰੇਗਾ। ਜਦ ਕਿ ਹੁਣ ਯੂਰਪੀ ਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਵਸਦੇ ਬਹੁਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਵੀਜ਼ੇ ਤੋਂ ਯੂਰਪੀ ਸੰਘ ਦੇ ਅਧੀਨ ਆਉਂਦੇ 27 ਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਰੋਕ-ਟੋਕ ਦੇ ਜਾਣ-ਆਉਣ ਦੀ ਆਜ਼ਾਦੀ ਹੈ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਉੱਤਰੀ ਪੈਰਿਸ ਵਿਖੇ ਇਕ ਵਿਸ਼ਾਲ ਰਾਜਨੀਤਕ ਰੈਲੀ ਨੂੰ ਸੰਬੋਧਨ ਕਰਦਿਆਂ ਉਪਰੋਕਤ ਬਿਆਨ ਵਿਚ ਇਹ ਗੱਲ ਕਹੀ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਇਕ ਨਵੇਂ ਬਾਰਡਰ ਕੰਟਰੋਲ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਦੀ ਲੋੜ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਜੇਕਰ ਆਉਂਦੇ ਵਰ੍ਹੇ ਇਸ ਸਬੰਧੀ ਗੱਲ ਨਾ ਹੋਈ ਤਾਂ ਉਹ ਇਸ ਸਮਝੌਤੇ ਨੂੰ ਤੋੜ ਕੇ ਫਰਾਂਸ ਨੂੰ ਇਸ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਹਰ ਕਰ ਲੈਣਗੇ। ਪਰਵਾਸ ਦਾ ਮੁੱਦਾ ਸਰਕੋਜੀ ਦੀ ਰਾਜਨੀਤਕ ਮੁਹਿੰਮ ਦਾ ਇਕ ਅਹਿਮ ਮਸਲਾ ਬਣਦਾ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ੀਆਂ ਕਾਰਨ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਏਕਤਾ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵਿਤ ਹੋ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਉਹ ਹੋਰ ਵਧੇਰੇ ਆਵਾਸ, ਨੌਕਰੀਆਂ ਤੇ ਸਿੱਖਿਆ ਮੁਹੱਈਆ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਵਾ ਸਕਦੇ। ਅਜਿਹਾ ਪਹਿਲੀ ਵਾਰੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਇਸ ਸਮਝੌਤੇ ਨੂੰ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਫਰਾਂਸ ਦੇ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਨੇ ਅਵਾਜ਼ ਉਠਾਈ ਹੈ। ਇਟਲੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ 5 ਅਪ੍ਰੈਲ 2011 ਤੋਂ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਇਥੇ ਆਏ ਹਜ਼ਾਰਾਂ ਉੱਤਰੀ ਅਫਰੀਕਨਾ ਨੂੰ ਕੱਚਾ ਅਵਾਸ ਪਰਮਿਟ ਦੇਣ ਤੋਂ ਵੀ ਫਰਾਂਸ ਖਫਾ ਹੈ ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਇਸ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਉਹ ਯੂਰਪੀ ਬਾਰਡਰ ਫਰੀ ਸ਼ੈਨੇਗਨ ਖੇਤਰ ਵਿਚ ਸਫਰ ਕਰ ਸਕਣਗੇ।

ਇਟਲੀ ਦੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਸਿਲਵੀਓ ਬੈਰਲਿਸਕੋਨੀ ਤੇ ਨਿਕਲੋਸ ਸਰਕੋਜੀ ਇਕ ਸਾਂਝੇ ਪੱਤਰ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਸ਼ੈਨੇਗਨ ਸਮਝੌਤੇ ਵਿਚ ਸੋਧਾਂ ਕਰਨ ਤੇ ਗ਼ੈਰ-ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸ ਦਾ ਵਹਾਅ ਰੋਕਣ ਨੂੰ ਲੈ ਕੇ ਯੂਰਪੀਅਨ ਯੂਨੀਅਨ ਸੰਘ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਨੂੰ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਕਰ ਚੁੱਕੇ ਹਨ। ਸ੍ਰੀ ਸਰਕੋਜੀ ਨੇ ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲੇ 5 ਸਾਲਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸ 18000 ਪ੍ਰਤੀ ਸਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਘਟਾ ਕੇ 10000 ਪ੍ਰਤੀ ਸਾਲ ਕਰਨ ਬਾਰੇ ਵੀ ਕਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਫਰਾਂਸ ਦੇ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ਸਰਕੋਜੀ ਦੇ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ੀ ਮੂਲ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸੀਆਂ ਪ੍ਰਤੀ ਆਏ ਅਜਿਹੇ ਬਿਆਨ ਦੇ ਮੱਦੇਨਜ਼ਰ ਵੱਖ-ਵੱਖ ਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਰੋਧ ਵਿਚ ਹੋਰ ਅਜਿਹੇ ਬਿਆਨ ਆਉਣੇ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਹੋ ਗਏ ਹਨ, ਜਿਸ ਦੇ ਮਾੜੇ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਵ ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਦਿਨਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਦੇਖੇ ਜਾਣਗੇ। ਅੱਜ ਇਟਾਲੀਅਨ ਮੀਡੀਆ ਵਿਚ ਇਸ ਵਿਸ਼ੇ 'ਤੇ ਚੱਲੇ ਵੱਖ-ਵੱਖ ਪ੍ਰੋਗਰਾਮਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਚਰਚਾ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਰਹੀ।

Vegreville lawyer named as Alberta farmers’ advocate

EDMONTON - The Alberta government has named Peter Dobbie, a Vegreville lawyer with rural experience, as its new farmers’ advocate.
Dobbie, who starts the job April 2, worked for more than 20 years as a lawyer advising farmers and agribusinesses on business and legal matters.
The Farmers’ Advocate Office assists rural residents with consumer protection, rural opportunities, fair process, managing land assets and interaction with the energy industry.
Dobbie replaces Jim Kiss, who left the post last year after being appointed in 2004.

Alberta Court of Appeal sides with McCauley Community League in fight over apartment building

Alberta Provincial Court

EDMONTON - An Edmonton community league should have been given the right to appeal the construction of a 42-unit apartment intended to house people with chronic addictions, Alberta’s Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
The written decision seems to throw into question the future of Ambrose Place, which is nearly 75 per cent complete.
Court of Appeal Justice Frans Slatter rebuked the city for failing to notify the McCauley Community League and other neighbours of the property in the first place.
“It is worth noting how unhelpful it was for the development officer not to give notice of this development permit to the appellant and other interested parties” Slatter wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel.
“It was well known that this was a controversial development that was opposed by some people. The failure to give notice created great uncertainty on this file.”
The McCauley Community League filed the appeal against the city, the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board and Niginan Housing Ventures, which is building Ambrose Place at 96th Street and 106th Avenue. The sides presented their arguments Feb. 29.
Tuesday’s ruling showed the case is a tangle of complicated issues.
Because the development officer did not believe the complex to be a special use requiring rezoning — there was a proposed medical component for addiction treatment in the building — rules requiring the city to alert the community of the project and their right to object, were never triggered.
Another critical issue is whether the development permit for Ambrose Place, issued in May 2008, was valid. Typically, builders have one year to start construction on a project. If construction does not start, the permit expires and the developer has to apply for a new permit.
In Tuesday’s ruling, the court agreed that the development permit expired in May 2009, one year after it was issued.
Construction on Ambrose Place did not start, however, until the fall of 2010. The ruling indicates no new development permit was issued. Despite that, the project received a permit from the city in December 2010 to pour a foundation and construction continued through 2011.
The community league tried to plead its case to the Subdivision and Development Appeal board in January 2011, but that quasi-judicial board that helps govern land use matters in the city decided the league was too late to appeal.
On Tuesday, McCauley Community League president Rob Stack described the situation as a “big mess.” The community objected to the proposal in part because they do not believe it complies with the neighbourhood plan and also because they believe McCauley is targeted too often to be the site of social service programs.
Stack said was bizarre and frustrating that construction was allowed to proceed while its future was being considered in court.
“Part of me would like to see this thing ripped out, bulldozed and taken to the ground,” Stack said. “Obviously, it’s been built with millions of dollars in public money and it’s already there. I think we probably need to work with the funders and come up with something that the community will accept and create a viable use for this that will truly enhance the neighbourhood and all the real stakeholders in the area can be happy with.”
Jeremy Taitinger, a lawyer with the firm representing Niginan Housing Ventures, said Tuesday they are reviewing the decision and considering its impact. “We continue to be of the view that this is a good project, it’s good for the city and the community,” he said.
A spokesman for the city said the planning department would not comment on the ruling. Likewise, Gary Dyck, a spokesman with the city’s corporate communications branch, said the city’s Subdivision and Development Appeals Board could not comment on this particular case.
But Coun. Jane Batty, who represents the McCauley neighbourhood on council, said she was happy to learn the community league won its case.
“They have about 45 or 50 social agencies in place, and one of the challenges for them is they don’t want to add more social agencies into the community,” Batty said.
“Without a doubt, the city needs to have a facility like (Ambrose Place), but not in the community of McCauley.”

Pakistanis can apply for Indian visa through courier

ISLAMABAD: India has taken several steps to facilitate people from across Pakistan in applying for visas, including the submission of applications through a courier service, Indian high commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has said. 

These steps were intended to help people who previously had to travel to Islamabad to apply for a visa, Sabharwal said during an interaction with reporters after visiting the Bhutto family mausoleum at Garhi Khuda Bux in southern Sindh province yesterday. 

Asked by reporters about the reopening of the Indian consulate in Karachi, Sabharwal said this was one of the issues discussed by India and Pakistan after the resumption of their peace talks last year. 

Even as talks on the issue were continuing, Indian authorities had taken steps to address the problems of people from areas like Sindh who want to apply for visas, the envoy said. 

After the Indian consulate in Karachi was closed in 1994, people from far-flung areas had complained about the problems they faced in travelling to Islamabad to personally apply for visas. 

At the Bhutto family mausoleum, Sabharwal visited the graves of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, her father and former president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his wife Nusrat Bhutto and laid wreaths. 

He observed silence for a few minutes as a mark of respect. 

Land dispute between Punjab and Chandigarh lingers on

Nayagaon, March 12
Even as the Chandigarh Administration has not been able to solve its inter-state border dispute regarding several chunks of land with Punjab and Haryana, yet another case of Punjab’s land sharks eating into UT’s land has come to light.
As a result, the effective width of the road passing (maintained by the UT engineering department) from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) to Nayagaon has been reduced.
A wide patch of land that had been acquired by the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) in early seventies for widening of the road has now been encroached upon. A row of houses and shops raised on the land now form part of Nayagaon that falls in Punjab. The UT had then acquired the land to widen the road from PEC to Khuda Alisher village.
President of the Nayagaon Nagar Panchayat HS Bajwa said efforts were made to remove the encroachments, but those never fructified.
Land acquisition proceedings acquired by a resident of Khuda Ali Sher, Gurdyal Singh, reveals that the UT had acquired 15 ft wide patches of land on both the sides of the road. But with the passage of time, Nayagoan residents raised houses and shops with the UT never objecting to it.
Gurdyal has been consistently raising the issue with the UT Land Acquisition Collector. The UT officials have been maintaining the road, but they have never been able to remove encroachments.
It is not the only case. About two acres of UT land in Sector 63 had been encroached upon by Punjab in Mohali. The inter-state dispute resulted in inordinate delay in constructing multi-storeyed flats and the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) had to repeatedly change the alignment of its flats.
Similar disputes exist on the UT boundary with Haryana. The UT’s Land Acquisition Collector, Tilak Raj, was not available for comments. Sources in the UT said the issue was in the knowledge of senior officials but no sincere effort had been made to get the land vacated. 

Long periods of sitting is unhealthy

Taking a break to walk every 20 minutes instead of staying seated for hours helps reduce the body’s levels of glucose and insulin after eating, according to a study — the latest to highlight the hazards of long periods of inactivity.

Though the results, published in the journal Diabetes Care, don’t show whether these reductions have any lasting health benefits, experiencing large glucose and insulin spikes after a meal is tied to a greater risk of heart disease and diabetes.

“When we sit our muscles are in a state of disuse and they’re not contracting and helping our body to regulate many of the body’s metabolic processes,” said David Dunstan, a professor at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

Dunstan and his colleagues have reported previously that people who watch more than four hours of TV a day are likely to have an earlier death. With this study, they experimented with how prolonged sitting could affect responses to food.

After a meal, glucose levels in the blood go up, followed by a rise in insulin, which helps cells use blood sugar for energy or store it. Then, levels in the bloodstream start to go down. In people with type 2 diabetes, this process falls out of whack usually because the body no longer responds to insulin properly. After a meal, blood sugar and insulin levels spike and remain high.

Dunstan’s group looked at 19 overweight adults who didn’t exercise much, asking them to come into a laboratory and sit for seven hours while having their blood sugar and insulin levels sampled hourly.

After the first two hours, they drank a 763-calorie drink high in sugar and fat, then sat for another five hours.

Each person went through three days of experiments, with each day separated by a week or two.

On one day, they sat the entire time, only taking breaks to use the bathroom. On another, they broke up the sitting session and took a two-minute break to walk around every 20 minutes following the drink — and on another day, they took similar breaks, but with more vigorous activity.

The days when people sat without interruption resulted in a spike in blood sugar within an hour of the drink from about 90 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) to about 144 mg/dl.

On days when they got up every 20 minutes, blood sugar rose from 90 mg/dl to only about 125 mg/dl.

Overall, getting up and engaging in light activity reduced the total rise in glucose by an average of 24 per cent, compared to the group that kept sitting. That difference was almost 30 per cent with moderate-intensity activity.

The results were similar for insulin. Levels peaked about two hours after the drink, but they rose higher when the people continued sitting compared with moving about.

“What’s shocking to me in these studies is not how good breaks are but how bad sitting is,” said Barry Braun, a professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, who was not involved in the study.

He said a good rule of thumb is to try and get up about every 15 minutes, even if it’s just to walk around the room.

What’s not clear is whether the 30 per cent reduction in glucose and insulin levels will translate into health benefits.

“This was only studied over one day. The next question is, can that reduction be (achieved regularly) and translate to reductions in atherosclerosis?” said Dunstan, whose group is now working on a longer experiment.