Saturday, July 18, 1998
|
N A T I O N |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
 |
 |
|
|
2 top BHEL men in CBI net NEW DELHI, July 17 — Five former and two present top officials of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited have been chargesheeted for allegedly defrauding the public sector of Rs 10.24 crore in an equipment import scam... HC revokes order on bail to Mayawati NEW DELHI, July 17 (UNI) — The Delhi High Court today revoked its earlier order granting anticipatory bail to former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in the Rs 3.66 crore fire-fighting floating pumps purchase case... |
 |
Dhumal discusses security NEW DELHI, July 17 —
The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal
today called on the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari
Vajpayee and apprised him of political and other
developments in the state... Pak-backed militancy in J&K: USA concerned
|
|
DSGMC delegation meets Khurana NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana today assured a delegation of Sikhs that he would work for early redressal of their grievances... 1,800 families shifted to relief camps AGARTALA, July 17 — The flood situation in the four Tripura districts continued to be grim for the fourth consecutive day today even as about 1,800 families have been shifted to relief camps... Pawar-baiter heads PCC NEW DELHI, July 17 — Former MP, Prataprao Bhonsale was today appointed president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee in place of Mr Ranjit Deshmukh who quit recently... BCI for removing curbs on advocates New Delhi, July 17 - The restriction on advocates to practise law throughout the country was opposed by the Bar Council of India (BCI)... Kesri’s trial stayed NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Supreme Court today stayed further trial in a defamation case against former Congress president Sitaram Kesri scheduled to begin tomorrow... ‘Solve’ pensioners’ problems NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Department of Personnel yesterday asked all departments of the Government of India to accept requests for revision of pension by the employees who retired before January 1, 1986...  |
|||||
| 2
top
BHEL men in CBI net NEW DELHI, July 17 (PTI) — Five former and two present top officials of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), a senior executive of a German firm and its Indian agent have been chargesheeted by the CBI for allegedly defrauding the public sector of Rs 10.24 crore in an equipment import scam. The charge sheet was filed in a special court here against former Chief Managing Director P.S. Gupta, Executive Director R.N. Mahendru, General Manager R.L. Verma, Deputy General Managers Harish Chandra and J.L. Jain and present General Manager Dhirendra Krishna and Senior Manager V.P. Kulshrestha. The others named as accused in the charge sheet are the proprietor of the German company, Walter Smachtin Machine Tools, Walter Smachtin and its Indian agent, J.M. Sharma, who is the vice-president of city-based Empire Machine Tools. The charge sheet alleged that the accused had conspired to cheat BHEL of the money while supplying “forge press” of 7500 to 9000 MT capacity by the German firm required for making thermo sets of 210 and 500 MW at its Hardwar plant during 1989-91. Despite adverse opinion regarding commercial viability of the second-hand “forge press” expressed by BHEL’s director of finance from time to time. CMD Gupta managed to get approval of the board, the charge sheet said. The total cost of the project was over Rs 19.5 crore and according to the feasibility report, “the second-hand forge press would result in cutting down the import by about Rs 18 crore,” the charge sheet said.However, the second hand equipment supplied by the German company was below specification and of inferior quality with a capacity of only 6000 MT. The German company refused to supply manipulator with the equipment without which the “forged press” remained totally idle till these were procured by BHEL from other sources at an exorbitant cost. The company also refused to undertake erection and commissioning of the equipment despite the money being withdrawn fraudulently by it for the purpose, the charge sheet said. This led to enhancing the total cost of the project to Rs 35.95 crore, resulting in huge losses to BHEL, it said. The accused have been charged under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) and the Indian Penal Code. The CBI said that it had obtained sanction for the prosecution of the two serving senior officials Krishna and Kulshrestha under the PCA, while no sanction was required for the former executives as they were no more public servants. |
| Pak-backed militancy in J&K: USA concerned NEW DELHI, July 17 (PTI) — The United States of America today shared India’s concern over Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir even as New Delhi voiced “extreme anxiety and distress” regarding the fate of four foreigners kidnapped by “Al-Faran” militants in 1995.Talking to reporters after a 30-minute meeting with US Ambassador Richard Celeste here, Home Minister L.K. Advani said “I raised the issue of state sponsored terrorism and militancy. The US envoy shared our concern”.Describing the meeting as “informal”, Mr Celeste told Mr Advani that New Delhi could raise the issue of terrorism with US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott during his two-day visit to India from July 20. Mr Talbott is scheduled to hold third round of talks with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh on the nuclear issue. The two had earlier met in Washington and Frankfurt.On the kidnapping of two Britons, one German and one US National by Al-Faran militants. Mr Advani said Washington had been making efforts in India and in Pakistan to find out the whereabouts of the hostages.“But there has been no evidence about them for the past three years and nothing has been heard about them since 1995,” the Home Minister said.Observing that the USA has been receiving full cooperation from New Delhi and the Jammu and Kashmir government in the efforts to trace the hostages. Mr Advani said “it is not a very happy situation but we will continue to pursue our efforts”.Asked about New Delhi’s perception on the fate of the hostages, he said “it is a distressing situation. It is causing extreme anxiety as there has been no report about them for nearly three years now. We have no information”.The Home Minister said he had earlier met British and German envoys on the hostage crisis. Mr Advani replied in the negative when asked if the issue of denial of visa to Atomic Energy Commission Chairman R. Chidambaram by the USA figured during the discussions. |
| Pawar-baiter
heads PCC Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 17 — Former MP, Prataprao Bhonsale was today appointed president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee in place of Mr Ranjit Deshmukh who quit recently owning responsibility for the cross-voting episode in the recent Rajya Sabha and legislative council elections in the State. The appointment of a Maratha who is known to be a staunch opponent of Mr Sharad Pawar indicated the mood of the party’s central leadership which had not taken kindly to the happenings during the elections last month with some suspecting the role of Mr Pawar in the reversals. In a related development, the party decided to let off 10 party members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly with a warning to be careful in future. They were served with show-cause notices by the high command for having signed the proposal form of a Congressman-turned-Independent, Mr Arun Mehta, who won the elections to the legislative council. The MLAs pleaded not guilty on the ground that they had signed on a blank proposal form which was used by Mr Mehta during the elections. The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, had taken a serious view of both developments in Maharashtra where cross-voting resulted in the defeat of the party’s nominee, Mr Ram Pradhan as also the election of Mr Mehta. The issue took a serious turn when the Congress president sent a three-member fact-finding team to Maharashtra and based on their report slapped show-cause notices on Mr Praful Patel, MP, who is close on Mr Pawar, and later to 10 MLAs. The party spokesman, Mr Ajit Jogi, said today no decision had yet been taken on Mr Patel, who had been directed to appear before the fact-finding team to present his case. The AICC general secretary, Mr Madhavrao Scindia, in his letter to the MLAs said the party had accepted their version of having signed blank nomination forms in good faith as a normal practice. Mr Scindia, however, pointed out it was unfortunate that without any clearance and authorisation from the AICC the form was used to support the nomination of Mr Mehta during the recent elections. "However, the AICC is accepting your explanation regarding your bona fides. At the same time you will have to be more careful in future otherwise it can lead to a lot of confusion and misunderstanding with serious consequences. I am sure you will be more cautious and not allow your signatures to be used in any unauthorised fashion as happened in this case,’’ Mr Scindia said in the letter. The 10 MLAs are Mr Sahibrao Barotkar, Mr Sanjay Deokale, Mr R.R. Patil, Mr Marotra Owasy, Mr Dilip Patil, Mr Babasahib Kumblekar, Mr Ashok Khatkar, Mr Krishanrao Jadhav, Mr Shankarrao Jagtap and Dr Keshav Bopche. Meanwhile, Mr Pawar has welcomed the appointment of Mr Bhonsale and said it was time for all party members to work together and cooperate with the new set-up. To a question on his relations with Mr Bhonsale, he said they were good with all party members. Mr Pawar who was the first to rise in the defence of the MLAs said the party should go deep into what happened in the Rajya Sabha elections and cross-voting. The fact that Mrs Gandhi brought in an anti-Pawar man to head the PCC and let off 10 MLAs indicated she attempted to do the balancing act since hardliners wanted to use this opportunity to marginalise Mr Pawar, party observers said. |
| Dhumal discusses security Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal today called on the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and apprised him of political and other developments in the state. Mr Dhumal urged the Prime Minister to strengthen security measures across Himachal Pradesh borders along with those of Jammu and Kashmir stating that the infiltrators moved over to the state whenever security was tightened in Jammu and Kashmir. He also met the Union Forests and Environment Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu. The Chief Minister urged the Centre not to exclude hydel power project from the purview of water (Preservation and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977. The Chief Minister informed Mr Prabhu that the move to exclude hydroelectric projects from the list of specific industries which utilised water covered under the Act would have an adverse effect on the efforts of the state to combat overall ecological deterioration being caused by hydel projects, a state government release said. Mr Dhumal said the decision to bring hydel power plants under the purview of the Act was taken in 1993 after carefully considering their adverse impact on environment. He requested the Union Minister to reconsider the matter keeping in view the fact that the affected states had not been provided an opportunity to put forward their views. Mr Prabhu assured the Chief Minister the state’s demand would be viewed sympathetically before taking a final decision. He said the ministry would call a meeting of Chief Ministers of the affected states in the first week of August and the proposed amendment to the Bill shall be considered only thereafter. During his visit to the Capital, Mr Dhumal also called on the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, and requested him to convert Rs.100 crore given to the state as ways and means advance into a grant or a long-term loan. Mr Sinha assured the Chief Minister the state’s genuine demands would be considered sympathetically. |
| BJP concerned over
religion-based quota Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Bharatiya Janata Party MPs today expressed “serious concern” over the demand for separate reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for Muslim women. Raising the issue during the parliamentary party meeting this morning, most members felt that any reservation on the basis of religion would pave the way for further division of the country. The meeting ,which was chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, took up the Women’s Reservation Bill and the Finance Bill. The Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, could not attend the meeting as was to reply to MPs questions in the Lok Sabha. Expressing their apprehensions,the majority of members asked the government that the BJP should not become a party to yet another division of the country on religious lines by accepting the demand for reservation for women belonging to the minority. What the British had done should not be repeated after five decades of Independence, they said. The government should be cautious in dealing with any amendment for giving reservation to Muslim women was moved after the Bill was introduced, an MP said. The BJP might be isolated on this issue as most of the political parties including some of the allies might vote for the amendment, a BJP leader said adding that “this is our main problem and that is why we are moving with utmost caution”. Another meeting of the parliamentary party would be held on Tuesday to discuss the issue exclusively. |
| HC revokes order on bail to Mayawati NEW DELHI, July 17 (UNI) — The Delhi High Court today revoked its earlier order granting anticipatory bail to former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in the Rs 3.66 crore fire-fighting floating pumps purchase case, but gave her 10 days to obtain relief from an appropriate court. The court also rejected her demand for quashing of an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the case where she has been alleged to have caused huge financial irregularities in the purchase of 143 fire fighting floating pumps. In a 42-paged order, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Devinder Gupta and Mr Justice N.G. Nandi, imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary. The judges said: “We do not find any ground having been made out (in the petition) to quash the FIR. The petition, accordingly, is dismissed with the cost quantified at Rs 10,000. The interim order stands vacated”. The court had on April 1 granted her anticipatory bail while issuing a show-cause notice to the CBI on her criminal writ petition seeking quashing of the March 18 FIR, implicating her in a huge financial bungling in the contract granted to the party president of Tamil Nadu. The CBI had alleged an amount of Rs 2.49 lakh was paid for each pump when its actual price was Rs 57,000. |
| DSGMC delegation meets Khurana Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana today assured a delegation of Sikhs that he would work for early redressal of their grievances like non-inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar in the proposed Uttaranchal state and rehabilitation of those affected by the 1984 riots. The minister gave this assurance when members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, led by Jathedar Kuldip Singh Bhogal, met Mr Khurana to present him a siropa and a kirpan on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Harkishan. President of other Sikh sabhas and prominent leaders of the community were part of the delegation. |
| 1,800 families shifted to relief
camps AGARTALA, July 17 (PTI) — The flood situation in the four Tripura districts continued to be grim for the fourth consecutive day today even as about 1,800 families have been shifted to relief camps. Belonia subdivision in South District was the worst affected as a large number of families were forced to shift to temporary camps, Revenue Minister Keshab Majumder told newsmen today, adding several areas of the district had been cut off as wooden bridges were washed away. The district administration was carrying out relief and rescue operations on a war footing to evacuate the affected people from the marooned areas, he said. The official sources said that incessant rain for the past six days had inundated several areas as all the major rivers of the state were flowing above the danger level. A villager was washed away in the Gumti in the Sinamura area in West District yesterday, they said. |
| BCI for removing curbs on
advocates Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 17 - The restriction on advocates to practise law throughout the country was opposed by the Bar Council of India (BCI). Addressing a press conference here today, the chairman of BCI, Mr Arun Mishra, said the advocates have been restrained from practising throughout the country as the Union Government had not notified Section 30 of the Advocates Act, 1961. Advocates at present have to register with a specific Bar to practise, he said, adding that the Act envisages advocates registered with the BCI can practise throughout the country. Even though the Act gives unrestricted freedom for the advocates to practise anywhere in India, yet this proviso of the Act has not been notified so far, he said. On the question of opening up the legal service sector, the BCI urged that the government that the globalisation of legal practice should be based on the principle of total reciprocity. Mr Mishra said “an advocate duly qualified to practise in India be permitted to practise law in another country. Only then legal practitioner qualified in that country should be permitted to practise in India and not other wise. ”The World Trade Organisation is expected to discuss the legal service sector in the next round of discussions. As per the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which India signed in April 1994, the legal sector would have to be opened by the year 2005. |
| Kesri’s trial stayed NEW DELHI, July 17 (UNI) — The Supreme Court today stayed further trial in a defamation case against former Congress president Sitaram Kesri scheduled to begin tomorrow before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Prem Kumar. The court also stayed trial in similar cases filed by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) at Pratapgargh in Chittorgarh in Rajasthan and before the Civil Judge, Purulia, in West Bengal. The trials in all these cases were stayed by a three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice M.M. Punchhi, Mr Justice K.T. Thomas and Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu on a petition by Mr Kesri. Besides seeking stay of trial in these complainant cases, Mr Kesri also sought transfer of these cases to Delhi for disposal together by a competent court. The court has earlier issued notices to the complainants asking them why these cases should not be transferred to a competent court in Delhi. |
| ‘Solve’ pensioners’
problems Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 17 — The Department of Personnel yesterday asked all departments of the Government of India to accept requests for revision of pension by the employees who retired before January 1, 1986 instead of sending them to the Pay and Accounts Office. In a letter to all secretaries to the Government of India, the Personnel Secretary, has said that this follows complaints from large number of pensioners that whenever these applications were sent to the Pension Sanctioning Authority (the department concerned), they were returned stating it should be sent to the Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) or the accounts office concerned which had issued the Pension Payment Order. He said as sanction of pension was the responsibility of the department, concerned it was for them to coordinate with the PAO or the accounts office concerned and settle the claim. It was incorrect on the part of the department or office, where the pensioner has served, to return the papers to the pensioner. Similarly, the PAO and the accounts office should extend full cooperation and help the pensioners to sort out the issue. He said several pensioners had expressed apprehension that in this dispute between the two organisations of the government, their pension may not get revised in time for them to avail of the benefit. |
| In
brief Suspected human bomb detained COIMBATORE: One of the suspected human bombs, arrested on charges of involvement in the February 14 serial blasts here, was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) on Thursday night, the police said. Amjad Ali, (19), reportedly assigned the job of a human bomb, was moving around the venue of BJP leader Mr L.K. Advani’s election meeting on the fateful day. The Police Commissioner, Mr K. Radhakrishnan, had ordered the detention of the accused, a native of Melapalayam in Tirunelveli district, under the NSA for one year. — PTI Court discharges Shah Rukh Khan AJMER: Cine star Shah Rukh Khan has been discharged by a local court here in a case filed against him by a group of lawyers for using derogatory words for lawyers in a film. Defence argued that Shah Rukh, being an actor, speaks and acts according to the script written for him and he should not be held responsible for words spoken while acting. It was further said that acting in the film — “Ram Jaane” — was not to defame any section or community. This film had been permitted for release by the Film Censor Board. — PTI 25 hurt in bus mishap NEW DELHI: Twentyfive persons were injured, two of them seriously, in a bus accident in Chankyapuri area of the Capital on Friday. The victims were taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and 23 were discharged after first aid. The accident occurred when the brakes of the bus failed. — FOC Writer wins copyright case KOCHI: After a four-year long legal battle, a Kerala court has awarded a Rs 1 lakh compensation to renowned Malayalam short story writer T. Padmanabhan against the Mumbai-based “Debonair” magazine for alleged violation of copyright for publishing without permission his story “Gowri”. The defendants — Maurya Publications Limited, Mumbai, Vanit Jain, printer and publisher and Randhir Khare, Editor “Debonair,” who had published the story in the September, 1994, issue had not taken Padmanabhan’s consent for doing so nor did they offer compensation or royalties in any form. The Editor, did not respond to the lawyers’ notice sent by Padmanabhan, following which the suit was filed. — PTI  |
 |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Stocks | Sports | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | Email | |
