The New Delhi Municipal Council has a rat problem. The civic body that is responsible for keeping Lutyens’ Delhi clean has been unable to keep its offices at Palika Kendra rat-free.
Last week, a senior NDMC official was at his desk when a rather healthy rat decided to run up and down the air-conditioning vent overhead.
On being asked why he was so calm, the official said the rat had been running around the office all day as the hole in the wall, through which it entered the room, had been plastered and sealed.
The plaster was meant to serve a quick fix for the problem of visiting rodents, but instead it ended up trapping the rat.
The entire office staff then spent the day trying to get the rat out.
Tired by 4 p.m., they just left the doors and windows open hoping the rodent would see itself out.
According to the NDMC staff, the rat was a breeze as compared to the monkeys that sit on the windows of here to “demand” food.
The agency that is supposed to provide sanitation services and deal with stray dogs and monkeys seems to have lost control of its own offices.
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The mantle of international organisation Law Asia will fall on a Delhi lawyer next month when its 28th conference is held in the Australian city of Sydney.
Supreme Court lawyer and Bar Association of India general secretary, Prashant Kumar, will assume presidency of the prestigious lawyers’ body at the event.
Law Asia is an international organisation of lawyers’ associations, individual lawyers, judges, legal academics and others.
It has the interests and concerns of the legal profession in the Asia-Pacific region as its primary concerns.
The 28th Law Asia conference, being held on November 6 to 9, will be devoted to the theme “Cross-border law and practice in the Asia-Pacific region”.
Eminent lawyers Fali Nariman, Anil B. Divan and the late G.L. Sanghi have earlier served as Law Asia presidents.
Senior advocate K.N. Bhat will deliver the G.L. Sanghi memorial lecture on “Death sentence and human rights: Indian accord” at the conference.
Additional Solicitor-General Pinky Anand and lawyers Shyam Divan and A.S. Chandhiok will also represent India in the conference.
The subjects on which the Indian speakers will address the delegates include dispute resolution on environment and resources in Asia and the Pacific region, personal data and privacy issues in cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions and the privacy issue as a constitutional right.
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An uneasy gloom surrounds the office of the Bharatiya Janata party’s Delhi unit at Pandit Pant Marg.
The number of leaders and party workers visiting the office began thinning right after the party’s dismal performance in the Assembly elections.
Though the situation might have eased eventually, the air is certainly tense.
With the Bihar elections underway, leaders of the city unit are now seen discussing a possible reshuffle in the Delhi team.
Even as preparations are in full swing for the wedding of Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay’s daughter in November, speculation is rife with regard to the timing of the reshuffle. In all likelihood, the much talked about reshuffle may happen by the end of this year.
(Contributed by Damini Nath, Mohammed Iqbal and Sweta Goswami)
