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TOI : PUNE: A proposed agreement between two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto Limited and the workers’ union — Vishwakalyan Kamgar Sanghatana (VKS) — seeking to combine voluntary retirement for 1,100 workers, absorption of some in other plants and a wage increase for the rest, received a setback on Wednesday as many workers eligible for VRS insisted on a one-time payout of Rs 17.75 lakh each, against part-payment promised by the company.

After prolonged discussions between the union and the management representatives, a proposal was finalised to give VRS to 1,100 workers in exchange of a compensation of Rs 17.75 lakh each. A sum of Rs 5 lakh would be paid initially and rest will be paid in phases, the proposal said. A major faction of the workers agreeing to accept the VRS insisted on one-time payment of the compensation on Wednesday arguing that most of them are over 50 years old and wanted to get over the issue once and for all.

“As these workers were adamant on this demand the proposal could not be signed,” said Dilip Pawar, president of Vishwakalyan Kamgar Sanghatana, the recognised workers’ union in Bajaj Auto. Pawar said the union has asked the company management for more time to solve the issue.

When contacted, managing director Rajiv Bajaj refused to comment on the matter.

Apart from VRS, the proposal included increase in wages amounting to Rs 2,500 for the workers who would continue in the company’s employment with a clause that the company could absorb them in any of its facilities or locations. Dilip Pawar said, “The adamant stance of some workers has blocked the discussions. Due their selfish approach, the future of remaining 1,600 workers hangs in balance. Even after signing the agreement, it will take some time for the company to offer us work. It’s very impractical on part of these workers to think this way, but…More

TOI : PUNE: The current 120th course of the National Defence Academy (NDA) will be one of the largest batches ever in the academy. Till July 1, as many as 371 cadets have confirmed joining the course. The strength of the batch is expected to be little less than 400.

The previous batch, the 119th, with just 191 cadets is among the courses with the lowest intake.

Considering the recent hue and cry regarding the drop in the number of youth opting for a career in the armed forces, the strength of the 120th batch will certainly be a reason to heave a sigh of relief. It may be noted that even when the whole nation was deliberating on the plummeting numbers, NDA commandant Air Marshal T.S. Randhawa had maintained that the NDA “was not really critically hit”.

“Although predicting the final strength of the course is hard, we are expecting the number to be around a little less than 400,” said NDA public relations officer Major Pratap Singh. He said many cadets come from far flung areas of the country and hence sending the joining orders and confirming their joining is a time consuming process. “Cadets keep coming in till a few days into the commencement of the course,” he added.

The course for the 120th batch of the NDA has officially started on June 30 but cadets coming in in the next 10
days are expected to be accommodated.

“We get higher number of candidates during the autumn term compared to the Spring term. We feel it is because when many have just cleared their standard XII exams (May-June) and before joining any other course they have a chance of joining the NDA or the NAVAC,” Randhawa had told TOI in January when the admissions plummeted.

“Every year lakhs of students appear for the Combined Defence…More

TOI : PUNE: The police on Wednesday received a severe setback as a magistrate’s court granted bail to a gang of five burglary suspects because the chargesheets were not filed within the stipulated period of 60 days by the Deccan and Kothrud police stations.

Taking a serious note of laxity shown by the police, judicial magistrate first class A.N. Mare issued notices to the investigating officers seeking an explanation for not filing the chargesheets on time.

The gang is allegedly involved in 35 out of the 120 house-breaking cases in the city.

It’s perhaps the first instance where a court has granted bail to accused involved in so many cases, lawyers at the district and sessions court told TOI.

The suspects — Hajidali Mirza Baig, Yusuf Mumtaz Khan, Anjan Ananda Mohanti, Mansingh Dhondiram Sankpal and Sameer Mohammed Yusuf Khan, all from Mumbai, were granted bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 7,000 each with a surety of the like amount.

A team led by inspector Vijaysinh Gaikwad of the crime branch, Pune, had arrested the suspects on March 11 and recovered booty, including gold and silver ornaments, worth Rs 1.25 crore from them during the investigation.

Defence lawyers Prashant Jadhav and Rahul Lonankar submitted the bail applications in 49 cases after the police failed to file chargesheets against them within 60 days under section 167 (2) of the CrrPc last week.

The lawyers cited a ruling of the Gujarat high court in the case of Rajubhai alias Jacob Mathew Pinto and others that the clients had a right to seek bail due to non-filing of chargesheets.

Assistant public prosecutor A.U. Ausekar urged the court to pass necessary orders. The court’s assistant superintendent also gave a report that the police had not filed the chargesheets. The court granted bail to the suspects. It did not…More

TOI : PUNE: The number of seats in engineering colleges in Pune district, including those for the MBA course, has increased by 1,236 — from 16,610 last year to 17,846.

On Tuesday night, the All-India Council for Technical Education, which regulates technical education in the country, released the list of revised allotment of seats in engineering institutes.

In Maharashtra, 176 engineering colleges now have over 70,000 seats against last year’s figure of 56,000-odd seats.

There are 36 engineering colleges in and around the city, while another two are located in Baramati and two in Lonavla, including the Naval College of Engineering at INS Shivaji. There was no addition to the existing number of engineering colleges in the district.

The majority of the seat hike was in the MBA, electronics and telecommunication (E&TC), mechanical and information technology (IT) engineering courses.

Of the 1,236 new seats, five colleges viz. Parvatibai Genba Moze College of Engineering (CoE) at Wagholi, Pimpri Chinchwad CoE at Nigdi, Sinhgad CoE at Wadgaon Budruk, Kashibai Navale CoE and Indira CoE got 60 additional seats each for their MBA course. Collectively, they accounted for 300 additional MBA seats.

Another 270 seats in the E&TC branch were allotted to six institutions, namely, Siddhanta CoE, Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s CoE and Bharati Vidyapeeth CoE (all three of which got 60 more seats each) and JSPM CoE at Hadapsar, Imperial CoE at Wagholi and PES’ Modern CoE (30 more seats each).

New IT branches, with an intake of 60 students each, have been cleared for All-India Shri Shivaji Memorial Society’s (AISSMS) Institute of Information Technology and Siddhanta CoE at Sudumbre in Maval.

Similarly, MCA courses with an intake of 60 each have been allowed at G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering and Management and Sinhagad Institute of Technology.

Of the 150 new seats in the mechanical…More

TOI : PUNE: The district and sessions court here on Wednesday deputed a woman judge to the Shirur home for mentally disabled women to probe allegations of hysterectomies being performed on several of its women inmates between 1993 and 1994. The surgeries, which involved removal of the uterus and sometimes even the ovaries, were performed as the women were unable to maintain menstrual hygiene.

District court registrar Ekanth Hadap told TOI that the judge, Sameerjhan Ansari, was deputed to Shirur as per a recent directive of the Bombay high court (HC).

Hadap said that the judge has obtained permission from the principal district and sessions judge AIS Cheema to leave Pune to conduct the inquiry. The judge will submit a confidential report to the HC in the coming week, he added.

Ansari, along with a woman stenographer, left for Shirur in an official vehicle on Wednesday morning. The judge recently had the alleged victims examined in her presence by medical experts from a government hospital.

Between 1993 and 1994, hysterectomies were allegedly performed on 17 mentally challenged women inmates of the Shirur home. Earlier this year, the HC began hearing a petition filed by health activist Anand Phadke and others challenging the alleged surgeries. During the hearings, Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice J. P. Devadhar had expressed shock at the state government’s act. The judges asked the government to provide statistics of the mentally challenged women in the state and the medical opinion sought prior to conducting the hysterectomies.

“We need to see the magnitude of the problem. This could have far-reaching implications,” the Chief Justice had said.

Justifying its actions, the state government had declared that the operations had been performed with the consent of the inmates’ parents and guardians, as the women were unable to maintain menstrual hygiene and also to avoid unwanted pregnancies if they…More