HC will conduct the preliminary hearing today on the first constitutional case. During a preliminary hearing, the court will pronounce that the parties to the case (in this case, the government and the opposition leader) appear in person, that the case has been registered, the power of the court to adjudicate, order the parties to make their submissions, among other things.

Meanwhile, a monetary case, involving two Thimphu based women could be the first Supreme Court case, if the highest appellate court decides to accept the case, which was appealed after a high court verdict.

The case involving Nu 140,200 and jewelry mortgaged, Supreme Court officials confirmed, has reached the court. A court official said that the case was not registered as of yesterday. “We’ll see the merit of the case. It could be dismissed also,” said an official.

The two women, Tshering Dema and Sonam Choden, had been fighting the case in different courts since May 2008. Tshering Dema borrowed Nu 140,200 from Sonam Choden, mortgaging her jewelry, including a 10-tola gold bangle, one pair of corals and a gold ring. According to statements submitted to the court, when Tshering Dema went to get back her ornaments with the money, the borrower, Sonam Choden, pretended not to know Tshering Dema, and refused to give back her ornaments. Tshering Dema then filed a case in the Thimphu district court.

There was no written agreement or witnesses when the deal was made, according to high court officials. However, dzongkhag court officials on investigation found out enough “circumstantial evidence’ to rule the judgment in Tshering Dema’s favour, and Sonam Choden was asked to hand over the ornaments and Tshering Dema the money. Sonam Choden appealed to the high court. The Bench I of the high court issued a similar verdict, after cross-examining five people, who gave statements, stating that they have either seen or heard the two women make the deal or Tshering Dema asking for her ornaments back.

Sonam Choden then appealed to the full bench or larger bench of the high court, but the full bench also, in its verdict, asked Sonam Choden to hand over the ornaments, while Tshering Dema was asked to pay back the money.

Stating that she had not taken any ornaments and that HC had based the verdict on what witnesses said, Sonam Choden has appealed to the Supreme Court.

A SC official said that the judicial processes have to be completed before registering the case.

By Ugyen Penjore

The incident occurred when Wangmo, the hospital’s longest staying patient of 26 years, was getting off the lift on the third floor on the morning of August 23.

Eye witnesses said that Wangmo, whose legs are amputated, had placed her walker outside and was about to step out when the elevator car moved and took her up along with it. “She was caught in between,” said an eye witness, a patient attendant. “She was hanging in midair.”

Wangmo had used the lift, while returning from the hospital canteen, where she had gone to have breakfast.

Around six people, including doctors, G4S security personnel and nurses helped pull the lift down, after maintenance people rushed to the elevators’ control room on the fourth floor, said hospital staff.

They used the same lift to rush her to the emergency room, where the unconscious Wangmo was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a lifesaving procedure performed when breathing or heartbeat has stopped.

She was then admitted at the ICU and put on the ventilator. “She is serious,” a doctor said.

What went wrong with the elevator is not known. Hospital administration said that every time the elevators break down, which is at least once every month, they inform the government of India (GoI) project office, which informs the local contractor, who then calls the servicemen from Kolkata, India.

“It has been giving problems,” medical superintendent Dr Pandup Tshering said.

While Wangmo might be the first to be injured by the elevator, there have been incidents, said officials, where people, including the hospital staff, have got trapped inside.

Some health officials said that the “lift man” doesn’t know how to operate the elevators, but Dr Pandup Tshering said that there is no lift man at all.

Although involved in the project from inception to handing over and the installation of the 12 elevators, the project’s electrical engineer, Sonam Tshering, said that he did know what “mechanical problem” caused the elevator car to crash up.

“We have no experts here who can fix or service the elevators,” he said. “Hospital maintenance people have attended to problems, especially when people got trapped inside.”

In its ten months of operation, the 350-bed hospital’s elevators hardly saw any maintenance, said officials. “We have a very special problem with the lifts,” a health official said. That “special problem,” allege officials, could be the payment, which the contractor still owes to the dealer of the German manufactured lift, Thyssenkrupp Co in Kolkata, India.

Officials alleged that, because of the “unpaid payment,” service men, who come for routine maintenance, visit only the Druk Taj hotel, which also has elevators bought from the same dealer.

Ramesh of Druk Thuendel Lerig (DTL) the contractor for the hospital’s construction, said the allegations were not true. “The two years service contract is not over and we can’t hand over the surety money before two years,” he said. The amount was not disclosed.

Ramesh said that three service engineers from Kolkata will reach Thimphu today. “How soon the elevators will function depends on the problem, but routine maintenance usually takes about five days,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wangmo’s first cousin, a corporate employee, has filed a complaint with the police to investigate the accident. “The hospital’s management was not very supportive, and they were just throwing the ball to someone,” Tshultrim Dorji said.

A similar incident of the lift moving before the doors closed was reported in 2006 in Tokyo. A 16-year old high school student died, when the elevator he was coming out of suddenly rose with the doors still open. Investigations revealed brake malfunction as one of the causes for the accident.

After the incident, the Nu 17.28M worth elevators, hospital staff said, are dreaded by everyone coming to the hospital.

By Sonam Pelden

BBC reported that officials in Zhouqu county said the landslides, in a mainly Tibetan area of Gansu province, buried houses and caused a stream to become blocked and flood the area. It has also been reported that a hydro-electric power station was destroyed.

The landslides took place late on Saturday, after heavy rains in the area. A senior county official said that the water of the Bailong River flowed into the county seat, trapping many people, reported BBC. Sludge which is too thick to walk or drive through is

Police want to question Ayub Khan, 27, in connection with the murder of Amarjit Singh, 52, and his nephew Rajinder Singh, 35.

They were shot dead near the hotel they owned in Forest Gate, east London.

Mr Khan was detained as he was on his way to an airport in the capital Dhaka, Bangladeshi police said.

The Met had offered a reward of £10,000 for information leading to Mr Khan’s arrest and conviction.

In 2004 he was placed on Scotland Yard’s Most Wanted list. He has been removed since his detention in Bangladesh.

A senior Bangladeshi police official told the BBC that Mr Khan, originally from Chigwell in Essex, arrived in Bangladesh last week to visit a friend in the city of Sylhet.

He said after their preliminary investigation, Mr Khan will be flown to Britain.

A Metropolitan police spokesman confirmed a man believed to be Ayub Khan was arrested in Dhaka and they will seek his formal extradition to the UK.

At the time of the killings, the police said the men may have been shot dead following a row about parking.

Some of the trainees recalled that their classrooms were flooded with water, sand and gravels. “It was a nightmare and took us by surprise,” Sonam Tshering, a trainee, recollects.

Another trainee, Tenzin Phuntsho, said they have to worry a lot whenever there is heavy downpour. “Last year we had to spend our night at Khuruthang Middle Secondary School.”

Knowing the severity of the problem the school authority with support from the Department of Disaster Management is planning to construct a retention wall.

“We have put up a proposal to the government to build a protection wall. It was approved last year itself. We have awarded the contract for designing the protection wall but we could not begin work because we have to follow the design,” said the Principal, adding that they plan to start the work by September this year.

But should there be a GLOF, the Principal said it may not be able to protect the Institute. The Department of Disaster Management has plans to set up an early flood warning system above khuruthang town.

Meanwhile the department has trained the trainees on safety measures in case of a disaster.

A prayer or Thukmen offering was also made after it was consecrated by His Holiness the Je Khenpo. The approximate 170 feet high Buddha statue once completed will house eight statues of Boddhisattavas, each 18 feet, in the first floor of the Buddha statue.

It will also house over 1,00,000 seven inch statues and another 25,000, 13 inch statues made of bronze and gilded in gold.

Although initial works started as far as 2004 in Nanjing fabrication work in China, actual work began in Bhutan only by mid 2005.

The organisers say that the main exterior construction will be completed in three months or so. But they say that it will take another four to five years to complete the interior of the statue.

Once complete the statue is expected to be a major pilgrimage site and a focal point for all the Buddhist around the world to converge, meditate and retreat.

His Royal Highness Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck was also present during the consecration ceremony.