Ensure veracity of result: HC
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 24 —"Evolve some method through which you can satisfy each student about the correctness of his result. Ponder over it tonight."

With this direction to counsel for the Punjab Technical University, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today adjourned to tomorrow a bunch of writ petitions filed by certain students who were aggrieved by incredible lapses committed by the university in the compilation of the combined entrance test (CET) result for admission to various engineering and architecture colleges in the state.

Before rising for lunch-break, the Chief Justice, Mr Arun B. Saharya, and Mr Justice Swatantar Kumar, who had been hearing arguments on the petitions, also directed the university to prepare a preamble to the revised results before the court allowed it to be released for publication. "We would like to give it wide publicity", the judges observed in the open courtroom.

During the course of arguments the judges expressed their concern over the delay in the admission of students. The judges were also equally concerned about ensuring the correctness of the result of each student so that no student was denied admission to engineering or architecture courses for no fault of his.

The courtroom was packed to capacity with students and their parents. Hailing from far-flung areas in Punjab, anxiety was writ large on their faces. And, perhaps, rightly so. They had slogged for years, took the test in the hope of getting admission to engineering or architecture courses but the university played havoc with their career by preparing the result in a slipshod manner.

When the judges took up the case for hearing at 11.45 a.m., there was anxiety on the faces of students and their parents alike.

The students heard with rapt attention the explanation that the university counsel trotted out before the court for the lapses in preparing the result. He told the Bench that the wrong command given to the computer led to mistakes in tabulating the result.

Counsel brought to the judges, notice that 57 students who had qualified the examination in the pre-revised result had been pushed out of the list of students now eligible for admission in the revised result.

"Out of nine Scheduled Castes candidates," counsel told the court, "five had been called for counselling and given admission."

Out of the more than 14,000 students who had taken the test, the marks of 4,365 had been increased, while the marks of 3013 had been cut.

The result of those students whose examination centres were at Sangrur, Gurdaspur and Kurukshetra, however, remained unchanged. Their number is about 1,000. In their case the right command was given to the computer.

The credit for bringing to the public gaze the wholesale lapses in the CET result goes to Mr Vivek Jain, also an aspirant for admission to engineering course. It was he who had bludgeoned the university into giving him the marks scored in each paper. In the original result Mr Jain was awarded 119 marks but later was told that his marks had been revised to 151. And his rank, too, had improved. Despite not being satisfied with the marks, he did not go for counselling. Instead, he preferred a writ petition in the high court contesting the university result.

Government admits error in Jain ATR
Karunanidhi let off the hook

CHENNAI, Aug 24 (UNI) — The BJP-led government at the Centre has virtually rejected AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha’s demand for charge sheeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case by admitting that the mention of Mr Karunanidhi’s name in its action-taken report (ATR) on the Jain Commission’s findings was an "inadvertent error’’.

The acknowledgement of the error is contained in a letter written by Home Minister L.K.Advani to DMK Parliamentary Party leader and former Union Minister Murasoli Maran.

"Soon after the Jain Commission’s final report and the ATR were tabled in Parliament, Ms Jayalalitha had demanded that Mr Karunanidhi be charge-sheeted and an FIR filed against him in connection with the assassination. She had also demanded his resignation.

Mr Karunanidhi had dubbed the inclusion of his name in the ATR, along with the suspects in the assassination, as a fraud.

In the commission’s final report, Mr Karunanidhi’s name appears in the chapter "stand of the SIT on the theories beyond the LTTE’’.

The Centre had directed the constitution of a multi-disciplinary monitoring agency (MDMA) to pursue the probe further and the MDMA had been asked to decide on the mechanism to proceed in relation to Mr Karunanidhi.

Mr Advani’s letter to Mr Maran was in response to the latter’s letter asking the Home Minister to delete Mr Karunanidhi’s name, included under the title — role of suspects in the assassination, "if it was not intentional or political’’.

The Congress (I), which had initially maintained a stoic silence over the inclusion of Mr Karunanidhi’s name in the ATR, had, a few days ago, urged the Centre to initiate action against the Chief Minister.

With the relationship between the BJP and the AIADMK souring on various issues, the Centre’s decision to correct the "inadvertent error’’ is potent enough to ruffle Ms Jayalalitha’s feathers and change the political equations in the state.

Mr Advani’s letter, along with a copy of the ministry’s letter to both Houses, were released by Mr Maran at a press conference here today.

The DMK had earlier accused the BJP-led government of perpetrating a deliberate fraud by including Mr Karunanidhi’s name under the chapter "Role of suspects" in the ATR whereas the Jain panel’s report mentioned his name only under the chapter "SIT’s stand on theories beyond the LTTE".

Mr Maran said Mr Advani had replied to his letter of August 7, seeking a clarification on the inclusion of Mr Karunanidhi’s name in the ATR.

Mr Maran, in his letter to Mr Advani, had said it was "outrageous" and a "grave injustice" to have included Mr Karunanidhi’s name or anybody’s name under "Role of suspects in the assassination" when "the facts were totally different".

"It needs to be corrected immediately if it is political or not intentional," Mr Maran’s letter said.

Pressed for a comment on whether the development indicated a new equation with the BJP, Mr Maran declined to comment.

CHENNAI: AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha tonight reacted in a cool manner to the government’s decision to make changes in the action taken report on the Jain Commission findings accusing the DMK of trying to capitalise on an ‘insignificant change’ proposed to be made in the ATR.

In a statement here, she said the correction was only minor in nature. All that was going to be done was that a new chapter title was to be inserted before the paragraph dealing with Mr Karunanidhi in the ATR.

"The contents dealing with Mr Karunanidhi will continue to remain in the report. Neither his name nor a single word has been deleted from the ATR," she said.

She charged DMK MP Murasoli Maran, who released copies of Home Minister L.K. Advani’s letter to the press this morning, with attempting to ‘capitalise on an insignificant change’ and ‘to perpetrate a Himalayan fraud on the people of the country by claiming that Karunanidhi’s name has been deleted.’ she condemned "the attempt to hoodwink" the people.

Mr Maran had said Mr Advani had admitted that Mr Karunanidhi’s name had been inadvertently included under the chapter ‘role of suspects’ instead of ‘stand of SIT on theories beyond the LTTE’, and that this was being corrected in the records of the ATR in both Houses of Parliament.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday opposed any "dilution’’ of the findings of the Jain Commission enquiry report.

Reacting to the government’s decision to make corrections in the ATR relating to entry of Mr Karunanidhi’s name, party spokesman Ajit Jogi said the ATR had already become a political document and the Congress would not like any dilution of either the interim or the final report of the commission.

Jaya chides Karunanidhi
Threatens stir on Cauvery accord

CHENNAI, Aug 24 (PTI) — Indicating a tacit cease-fire with the BJP, AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalitha today trained her guns on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, threatening his regime with a "massive agitation" on the Cauvery issue, if he continued to ‘conceal the fraud he had played on the farmers of Tamil Nadu’.

In a hard-hitting statement here, Ms Jayalalitha demanded an open apology from Mr Karunanidhi for enabling final disposal of Tamil Nadu’s suit in the Supreme Court seeking directions to Karnataka to implement the Cauvery Tribunal’s interim award.

"He should openly apologise to the Tamil people for enabling disposal of the case and spoiling a conducive situation for proper legal adjudication of the dispute."

Ms Jayalalitha, whose statement avoided any adverse reference to the BJP, focused on what she called the ‘fraud’ and ‘betrayal’ of the DMK regime on the Cauvery issue, and reiterated her demand that an earlier draft scheme (prepared by the Gujral regime) be notified in the central gazette and a special parliamentary session be convened to approve it.

Taking exception to Mr Karunanidhi describing the Cauvery accord as a ‘boon’ to farmers at a function organised by delta farmers at Thanjavur last night, she said if he continued to go to such meetings to gloat over his ‘achievements’, the AIADMK would hold a massive stir to 'unmask him'.

Ms Jayalalitha, who believes that the Cauvery River Authority envisaged in the scheme notified by the BJP-led government recently was a ‘powerless body’, drew heavily on Karnataka Chief Minister J.H. Patel’s remarks in his Independence Day address in Bangalore to bolster her argument.

She said Mr Patel himself had said "the authority wields no powers to direct Karnataka to release water against the interests of the state". Further, she quoted Mr Patel as saying "The authority cannot function unilaterally, if an opposition is expressed that the interests of Karnataka are affected".

She also cited Karnataka Major Irrigation Minister K.N. Nage Gowda as claiming that the meeting of four chief ministers convened by the Prime Minister had decided not to give effect to the stipulation that Karnataka should not extend its ‘ayacut (irrigated area)’ beyond 11.20 lakh acres.

"After all this, was it not a fraud on the part of Mr Karunanidhi to describe the agreement as an achievement," she asked. He ought to have explained to the farmers how the authority would protect their interests.

"By maintaining silence over such remarks Mr Karunanidhi has only admitted his own treachery," she said.

Ms Jayalalitha alleged Karnataka had decided to extend its Cauvery irrigation area and schemes to 22 lakh acres following the agreement reached at the meeting of the four chief ministers.

Ms Jayalalitha charged Mr Karunanidhi with "vulgarising" her demand for notification of the original draft scheme and for a special parliamentary session.

"Can Mr Karunanidhi and his cohorts carry on with their ‘victory’ campaign among the Cauvery delta farmers even after the Karnataka Chief Minister has categorically stated that ‘I am one among the four chief ministers who had signed the agreement on the Cauvery River Authority and water can be released to Tamil Nadu only on my consent," she asked.

The AIADMK leader said Mr Karunanidhi, who had permitted Karnataka to construct new reservoirs like Sivasamudram and Meghadathu, was ‘staging a drama’ to give an impression that a settlement had been reached on the Cauvery issue.

BANGALORE: Karnataka unit BJP leader H.N. Nanje Gowda today defended the consent given by the state for the setting up of the Cauvery River Authority, which he termed the best solution under the prevailing circumstances.

Talking to reporters here he said it had become inevitable for the state to accept it in the wake of Supreme Court’s August 12 deadline to the Centre to come out with a scheme or else, it would decide on Tamil Nadu’s petition praying for direction to formulate a scheme to implement the interim order.

Mr Nanje Gowda, who came down heavily on Congress leaders for "making an issue" after agreeing for the authority at the all-party meeting held at New Delhi, appealed to them to desist from deriving mileage for "political reasons" and remain united to protect the interests of the state.

He said Karnataka had never been in a comfortable position ever since the dispute began between the state and Tamil Nadu and even the court verdict went against it.

Mr Nanje Gowda said the "political forum" now available under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, would help find a settlement to the dispute.

He said Karnataka should urge the Centre to expedite formulation of guidelines for the national water policy, which would serve the basis for the tribunal to pronounce the final verdict.