Exam clue
Last week, 40-odd cars had their stereos stolen in the Mayur Vihar Phase I area. Incidentally, at that time police presence in the area was minimal, as the Head Constable Examination was scheduled for next morning. Instead of patrolling that night, beat constables were at home, busy preparing for the exam. Some officers believe the thieves were aware of this fact and planned the robbery on the night to ensure a smooth operation.

In neat order
A recent circular issued by a district and sessions judge of the trial courts aims at putting court staff in order, literally. The circular says that disordered seating arrangement for the staff in a courtroom is too much of a hassle for the judge as His Excellency has to look in more than one direction to direct the staff. To tidy up the system, the circular asks all staff members — readers, stenos, naibcourts and orderlies — to sit in an orderly manner so that the judge can conduct proceedings easily.

Pen (drive) pushers
When district courts in the Capital were ‘fully computerised’ in 2003, as part of a pilot project of the central government, the court staff was to be its main beneficiary. With manual typewriters out, documents were to be made available at a click of the mouse. However, six years later, the staff is still battling with the computers. Their biggest trouble: how to use pen drives. That the problem was “alarming” became evident when the District Judge addressed it in a circular recently. The circular stated that “special attendants” have been appointed to insert and pull out pen drives as and when required by the staff.

‘Taxi... err... PCR!’
Recently, Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal announced that he would issue instructions to all PCR vans to help women stranded on secluded roads. The “help”, interestingly, will entail doing odd jobs like changing punctured tyres, towing broken down vehicles to their destinations and dropping stranded women home. But some senior police officers believe the chief’s instructions are a tad off the mark. Besides being open to abuse, this “help”, they say, will turn the PCR service into a “taxi service”.

Eye on all but one
These days, senior officers of the Delhi Police are not interested in talking about one of their colleagues: Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Chandra Has, who has been ‘missing’ since the third week of February. Last month, the Anti-Corruption Branch registered a case against Has for underreporting a cache of around 124 kg of silver, found after a gang of burglars was busted. Such is the “unwillingness” to talk about the officer that even Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal ignored questions about his whereabouts: “I don’t keep track of all ACPs”. However, on more than one occasion the police chief has proclaimed with pride that nothing escapes his eye when it comes to the police force. Perhaps the ‘missing’ ACP is off the radar for the moment.

No easy job
The biggest challenge for Urban Development Minister and MP from New Delhi Ajay Maken these days is to keep competition at bay. On the one hand, Maken is trying to outdo Vijay Goel and Arti Mehra, BJP contenders for the seat, on the other he is holding regular get-togethers in areas like Rajinder Nagar and Patel Nagar to win support from within the Congress. These days, he is battling Congress MLA from Rajinder Nagar Ramakant Goswami. Lately, Goswami has been playing spoilsport by interrupting Maken’s meetings and singing praises of Sheila Diskhit, his arch rival. But it was never going to be easy to manage a rift with a three-time CM.