 |
| Sunday,
April 1, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
CBI raids premises of 48 officers Stock market crash: Cong for JPC probe Trinamool, Cong
pact 'soon' Compromise eludes
DMK, MDMK Patch-up, BJP chief urges
DMK, MDMK |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CBI books Home Ministry official HC notice
to Sheila Dikshit Assam poll: parties woo student unions Construction on Tehri suspended
CNG issue: rush outside SC Chautala backs demand for Kisan Pradesh CBI probe ordered into mass killings Report not implemented: CJI Dr Joshi lauds HP, Haryana steps on Sanskrit Sex ratio adverse
in Bihar Federation pulls out of bank stir
|
|
CBI raids premises of 48 officers New Delhi, March 31 “The CBI conducted extensive searches on 35 residential premises and 15 office premises in Delhi, six locations in Mumbai, three locations in Haryana, one in Kerala and one in Kolkata which include the office and residences of 48 Customs officers including some senior officers in the rank of Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and
Additional Commissioner,” the CBI Spokesman Mr S.M. Khan told newsmen here this evening. During these searches, large number of incriminating documents, cash, foreign currency, cell phones, computers and other property-related papers were seized and are being scrutinised, Mr Khan said. “The searches are continuing and are likely to be concluded late evening today,” he said. According to an FIR, filed in the designated court, the Customs officials allegedly helped an Uzbek national, Ms Olga Kazireva, arrested on August 28, 2000, in smuggling various goods, including Chinese silk goods to India through Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. Investigations have revealed that Kazireva had travelled to India for over 68 times since 1997 allegedly smuggling in textiles, meant for Indian markets, he said. A case under Sections 420 (cheating) of the IPC and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with 13(i)(d) of the Act has been registered. These Customs Officials used to allow the Uzbek woman to pass through green channel at the airport or sometimes levied a minimal penalty after passing through the red channel. Nearly 400 sleuths of CBI’s Special Investigating unit were involved in the country-wide raids, closely monitored by CBI’s Special Director P.C. Sharma. Meanwhile, CBI men have launched a massive manhunt to apprehend the two Afghan nationals, Del Agha and Mamoor Khan, believed to be main operatives in the smuggling racket. |
|
Stock market crash: Cong for JPC probe New Delhi, March 31 The Congress also demanded the immediate resignation of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman D.R. Mehta, alleging that the board had just been a silent spectator to the manipulations of the brokers. While pointing out that the recent stock market scam had assumed gigantic proportions, chief spokesperson of the Congress, Mr Jaipal Reddy said that crores had been lost and small investors had almost been wiped out. The party, he said, felt that all these aspects could only be dealt with and brought to light by a probe by the JPC. The Congress called upon the government to agree to the constitution of a JPC. “Nothing less than this would meet the needs of the situation,” Mr Reddy said. The Congress alleged that brokers involved in the stock market crashes had their own political connections and to unravel the web of broker-banker-politician nexus, we believe that a JPC is required. Mr Reddy said that the present scam was a clone of the 1992, both in style and scale. At that time we had bull operators like Harshad Mehta and bear operators like Hiten Dalal. In this case we have bull operators like Ketan Parekh and Anand Rathi. The common point in both was the broker-banker nexus, the Congress said, pointing out that all this while the SEBI had been a silent spectator. It alleged that the SEBI had the habit of remaining in deep slumber. It wakes up whenever a scam occurs and goes back into deep slumber once the decibel level goes down. The Congress which earlier had on March 3 also issued a statement warning the government about the possible crisis which the economy could face as a result of the stock market crash, today in another statement said that it was shocking that precious little had been done by the government to nip the problem in the bud despite the warning given by the party. The statement said, far from taking preventive measures, the government prodded Public Financial Institutions into purchasing crashing shares held by defaulting brokers. In the process, Public Financial Institutions have lost thousands of crores of rupees. The sad story of small investors, who have also lost crores, needs to be separately narrated. The government has treated the bear cartel with similar kid gloves. Anand Rathi, who has been caught indulging in insider trading in the form of taped evidence, has not been arrested so far. Other bear operators including the FIIs, who indulged in insider trading and took to hammering of shares, have also gone scot-free. For the present stock market scam, whose huge dimensions are yet to unfold fully, the government, the RBI and the SEBI are to bear the responsibility squarely, the statement said. |
|
Trinamool, Cong pact ‘soon’ Kolkata, March 31 Addressing mediapersons after Congress General Secretary Kamal Nath’s meeting with the senior party leaders here, Ms Banerjee said both parties had agreed to have an electoral alliance and the seat sharing would be finalised within 48 hours. She said: “The talks on seat adjustment between the two parties are on which will take its final shape by Monday next.” Mr Kamal Nath, who is leaving for Delhi this evening to apprise the party high command of the outcome of his meeting with the party leaders, said he would come back here tomorrow to finalise the discussions. Both Mr Nath and Ms Banerjee claimed they had satisfactory talks and expressed the hope that in a day or two everything would be settled. And soon both the parties would begin joint poll campaign to defeat the CPM and its partners in the elections on May 10, the date of which was announced today by the election commission. Mr Nath said he might be again coming to finalise poll agreement with the TMC. He said our main purpose was to defeat the CPM for that matter, some sacrifices on our part would have to be made. Mr Nath had flown to the city last night as an emissary of Mrs Sonia Gandhi to negotiate with Ms Banerjee to form an electoral alliance with the TMC against the CPM. Before leaving New Delhi, he had detailed discussions with AICC President in the presence of Mr Pranab Mukherjee WBPCC chief Mr Priya Das Munshi, MP and others. Mrs Gandhi also met Mr Somen Mitra former WBPCC(I) president and a sitting MLA from Sealdah, Mr Atish Sinha and others heard them. Mr Nath held three-hour long meeting with Ms Banerjee at the central Calcutta residence of Mr Sudip Bandopadhyya, MP, and discussed threadbare on the sharing of seats between the two parties. The talks were inconclusive and began again this morning. According to party sources the TMC has agreed to allow the Congress to contest in some 60 seats but Ms Banerjee was sticking to her decision on the refusal of tickets to 15 sitting Congress MLAs. |
|
Compromise eludes DMK, MDMK Chennai, March 31 The MDMK election team headed by Mr Vaiko, MP, started its crucial meeting in the light of DMK leader and NDA chief in Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi saying the MDMK was free to go alone in the coming Assembly election in the state. The meeting is considered significant as the party has to take a vital decision of going it alone or joining the third front or mollifying the DMK leadership by not pressing its case any further. MDMK General Secretary Vaiko told reporters at Madurai this morning that his party cadres suspected a “plot” behind jettisoning of his party from the DMK-led NDA while his party colleague and Union Minister S. Kannappan ruled out any possibility of rapprochement as the DMK had virtually slammed the doors on the party. BJP President Jana Krishnamurthy said in Madurai his party would not interfere in the rift between two NDA partners but asked them to find an amicable solution in a spirit of “give and take”.
PTI |
|
Patch-up, BJP chief urges
DMK, MDMK Madurai, March 31 “The bigger party should come forward to share seats on a mutually-agreed formula. I think there is still time left (for reconciliation),” he said, recalling that the BJP, which contested 400-odd seats for the 1996 Lok Sabha poll, subsequently reduced its number of candidates to accommodate more allies in the next two Parliament elections. The BJP chief hastened to add that his party did not have any differences with the
DMK-led alliance in the state. “We have held separate talks with them
(DMK),” he pointed out, talking to reporters here. UNI |
|
CBI books Home Ministry official New Delhi, March 31 Highly placed sources said here today that the investigative agency’s Special Crime Branch had filed an FIR against Neeraj Kumar in a designated court yesterday. This follows a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the CBI, asking the agency for investigations into the role of Kumar, who has already been suspended since last year. Immediately after the registration of the FIR, CBI sleuths searched Kumar’s residence. The sources said the details of the search operation were awaited. It was learnt that Kumar had a good rapport with Samuel Mathew, one of the Tehelka reporters responsible for the “armsgate” expose, the sources said. Kumar is alleged to have leaked documents pertaining to the functioning of an NGO in North-East to a web portal. The portal ran a story about the NGO’s role in North-East militancy, which was later withdrawn.
PTI |
|
HC notice
to Sheila Dikshit New Delhi, March 31 Mr Justice K.S. Gupta said the reply must be filed by May 30. His direction came after Mr Verma moved an application accusing Ms Dikshit of abusing the process of law. “The complaint by Ms Dikshit has been filed with political motive,” Mr Verma said in the application. “A claim of Re1 has been made which is well below the pecuniary jurisdiction of the high court and thus it is liable to be dismissed under Order 1 Rule 11(B) of the Civil Procedure Code.” Only a suit where a claim of over Rs 5 lakh is made can be entertained by the high court. “Since she is claiming one rupee as compensation, the suit should be filed in lower court,” Mr Verma said. Ms Dikshit has sought damages and permanent injunction on making allegations of corruption or wrong doing against her. In her suit, Ms Dikshit said Mr Verma had been making false and malicious statements, besides, levelling baseless allegations of corruption against her in public forum. He had been making these imputations to expose Ms Dikshit to hatred, contempt, ridicule, dislike and to lower her position in the estimation of public, the suit said. These defamatory imputations had been widely publicised in the press, resulting in irreparable damage to the Chief Minister’s reputation and professional standing, it added. The suit said Mr Verma made the allegations in an irresponsible and reckless manner and in complete disregard of all norms of fairness, reasonableness and honesty. By involving the Lokayukta in his false and malicious propaganda, Mr Verma was also guilty of abusing the process of law, Ms Dikshit said.
UNI |
|
Assam poll: parties woo student unions Guwahati, March 31 The ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BJP have sought the support of the All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU) for the coming poll. However, till date AASU has not committed anything to both parties. AASU president Prabin Boro told this correspondent that the state unit leaders of the BJP held three rounds of meetings with AASU to get the support of the students’ organisation. “We have not committed our support to the BJP. We have told the BJP leaders that the party should take effective steps for the solution of the burning problems of the state, including the problem of infiltration of foreigners and then the people of Assam would automatically support the party,” he added. He also pointed out that the BJP-led government at the Centre had failed to solve the problems of Assam. Mr Boro said a delegation of AASU met the Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who is also president of the AGP, on March 16, to submit a memorandum for the solution of the problems facing the families of the martyrs of the Assam movement. During the course of the meeting Mr Mahanta sought the support of AASU for the ensuing poll. “ We have told the Chief Minister that there is no question of extending active support to the AGP as the AGP-led government had failed to implement the Assam accord,” he said. AASU president said the students’ organisation had decided to maintain equal distance from all political parties and it would rather expose the weaknesses of the political parties and their leaders before the public. It has also decided to hold dialogues with the students’ unions of the ethnic groups, including the Tribal Students’ Federation, and the All-Bodo Students’ Union, and to prepare a charter of demands. He said AASU would call upon the political parties to make their stand clear on the charter of demands. The union had also called upon the political parties to make their stand clear on the problem of infiltration of foreigners and on the issue of insurgency before the poll. AGP has started negotiations with the organisations representing the ethnic groups to get their support with the promise of solving their problems if voted to power again. Both AGP and the BJP are also trying their best to win over the support of ABSU. As the support of the minorities is very important to win the poll in several districts of Assam, the Congress is trying to win over the support of the Assam state committee of the Jamiat-Ulema. |
|
Construction on Tehri suspended Tehri (Uttaranchal), March 31 Meanwhile, the VHP supremo has called off his proposed indefinite fast, which was scheduled from today to save the Ganga from the onslaught of the 42.5 km dam. Late last night when Mr Singhal decided to go ahead with the agitation along with Sadhus from Hardwar, the dam authorities received a communication from the Central Government to immediately stop the ongoing work on the dam. Earlier, the dam authorities were supposed to shut down tunnels 3 and 4 and start filling the water in the dam from today. The decision has come in the wake of the VHP leader’s meeting with the Union Power Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu, yesterday in New Delhi, who had earlier announced to constitute a high-level committee of experts, including the religious leaders, to draw a common consensus on the scientific management of the flow of the Ganga. On the other hand, Mr Sohan Lal, Director, Rehabilitation, said all oustees, who had not yet responded positively, had been asked to get their compensation exchange of property within two weeks. Otherwise, the compensation would deemed to be cancelled. For this Rs 12.49 crore has been sanctioned by the government. Technical experts say that the delay in filling of water in the dam will delay the commissioning of the project by another year. The production of power may start by 2002-end. It requires at least 250 m water level to start producing electricity. The total height of the dam is 260.5 m. A senior technical officer of the THDC told the correspondent that it needs two monsoons and regular water supply from the Ganga to fill the dam to the required level. |
|
Laloo’s cover drive Patna, March 31 As the “VIP fugitive” of Siwan came to the CM’s house on Friday night at the reception party of the Energy Minister’s marriage with the daughter of Shahrukh Khan’s security agent, Laloo Yadav extended welcome arms and the Director General of Police, Mr R.R. Prasad made a hasty retreat, swallowing the ice cream that he was enjoying at ease. That speaks of Laloo Yadav’s “political management” skills, conveying the message amply clear to the dissidents that he still is the ‘unchallenged king’ of the land. Laloo Yadav’s carrot and stick policy has paid him the dividends. Even the mighty Siwan MP admitted to the media-persons that the chain of events that happened in the past few days with had him cowed down and he was still feeling jittery. He knows only Laloo could have made this day possible for him when he could move free and alive. The ‘political management’ is still continuing. The state government has withdrawn the personal security provided to the independent MP from Purnia, Mr Pappu Yadav after his arrest. Pappu Yadav is crying hoarse that Laloo Yadav wants him to get killed. Another Laloo-basher, Mr Dinesh Chowdhary, an RJD MLA and rebel leader who has openly said that Laloo had threatened to kill him, has faced the music. His two police guards have been withdrawn. Mr. Chowdhary has alleged that the RJD workers are terrorising him even in his own constituency as he has been in the forefront of dissident politics. The “Brutus”, what Laloo Yadav called his old friend turned dissident leader and foe, Ranjan Yadav, made a low-key exit from the state capital to Delhi on Friday, refusing to say anything. The same man had come to a warm welcome from the dissidents and had told the media-persons at Patna airport that the end of his five-day sojourn at the state capital, something new and concrete would be there for the media to write about, left the place with no dissident leader to see him off. The media
ofcourse has a lot now to write about but not what the dissidents and Laloo-bashers had thought it to be. |
|
CNG
issue: rush outside SC New Delhi, March 31 The transporters were seen waiting for turns in a
serpentine queue from this morning. Today was the last day to submit the affidavits for getting the CNG and changing of the diesel vehicles to CNG modes as the Supreme Court directed that no diesel vehicle would be allowed in the Capital after March 31. The diesel vehicles will be allowed to be plied on the Capital’s roads till September after submitting the affidavit. There was a long queue of transporters on the second day today outside the Supreme Court to submit affidavits. The queue was from the apex court to Appu Ghar. The transporters said the government should have made a proper arrangement in all districts of the Capital to submit affidavits as there was huge rush of transporters in the Supreme Court. Anil Yadav, an auto-rickshaw driver said “I came in the morning to submit the affidavit. Now it is afternoon and I am still waiting for my turn. |
|
Chautala backs demand for Kisan Pradesh Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), March 31 “Smaller states bring economic prosperity and Haryana is an example for everyone to see”, Mr Chautala said in a well attended rally here. Mr Chautala, who also indicated the launch of the party’s unit in the region, said all possible help would be extended for the formation of a separate state. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, in the NDA rally recently had also favoured smaller states. Mr Vajpayee had stated that the three new states — Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh — could make substantial progress if they emulate the success story of Haryana. Taking a dig on Mr Ajit Singh, the Indian National Lok Dal leader said Chaudhary Charan Singh provided a leadership to farmers throughout the country. But his son has failed to live up to the expectations of the people. Political observers said the move to form a unit of the INLD in the region is an indication of the party’s move to expand its political base outside Haryana. They said western Uttar Pradesh, a Jat dominant region, has traditionally been anti-Congress and anti-BJP. The community is presently leaderless and is divided devoid of any national leader who could unite them to take up their cause. Mr Chautala said the movement for a separate state should be above political ideology and urged the Bharat Kisan Union leader, Mr Mahendra Singh Tikait, to join the movement. The Kisan Pradesh as demanded by the leaders would comprise 22 districts of the present Uttar Pradesh where about six crore persons reside. The predominantly agrarian region is a major sugarcane growing area and contributes about 55 per cent of state’s agricultural income. |
|
CBI probe ordered into mass killings Kolkata, March 31 The probe was ordered by the Division Bench of Calcutta High Court, comprising Chief Justice Asoke Kumar Mathur and Mr Justice Girish Gupta, yesterday following a public interest case filed on January 10 by the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights. In its judgement, the Division Bench directed the CBI to inquire into the killing incident by a senior police officer in the rank of Superintendent of Police and submit report to the court within three months from now. The judges justified the probe order by stating that the CID had failed to unearth the mystery of the killings even after three months of the murder, which made it necessary to hand over the investigation to the CBI. The judges criticised that the CID had not only failed to resolve the killing mystery, but also the police could not recover any of the victims’ bodies and arrest not more than one person recorded in the FIR. Both Mr Justice Mathur and Mr Justice Gupta hoped that the CBI inquiry would soon identify the criminals involved in the incident and resolve the mystery behind the massacre. Reacting to Calcutta High Court’s order, Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, declared that party would go to the Supreme Court against the judgement. He felt that “it was a direct intervention into the affairs of the state government by the court.” Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, who was busy in negotiation with Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s emissary, Mr Kamal Nath, AICC general secretary, in the city in finalising the seat sharing agreement with the Congress to defeat CPM in the Assembly elections, remarked that after the high court’s judgement, the Front government should not have any moral right to remain in power. She said the people would now decide if such “criminal party” (meaning CPM) could be again voted back to power. Soon after Chota Angaria incident on January 4, Ms Banerjee (then Railway Minister) had demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident as well as application of Article 356, which were rejected. Yesterday at the court, the state Advocate General, Mr Narayana Goopta, prayed to the Division Bench for refraining from issuing order of CBI probe and instead allow the CID to make further inquiry. But his prayer was rejected. |
|
Report not implemented: CJI Bangalore, March 31 Inaugurating the tenth conference of the state-level judicial officers of Karnataka and the silver jubilee celebrations of the Judicial Officers Association here, he said it was unfortunate that no scientific had been done in the country about the needs of the judicial system. “The Justice Malimath Committee had submitted its recommendations more than a decade ago, but the authorities are yet to consider them,” he regretted. Dr Justice Anand said there were over 13,000 vacancies to be filled from the lower courts to the apex court level. “We have less than 12 judges for a million population. This is the lowest in the world compared to 125 judges for a million in the USA. Even our neighbouring countries have 25 judges for a million,” he added. He said delay in filling up of vacancies was consuming more time in disposing of a heavy backlog of cases, with 680 posts falling vacant in various high courts of the country. It was high time that the judiciary and the executive put their heads together and filled up the vacancies, he
added. UNI |
|
Dr Joshi lauds HP, Haryana steps on Sanskrit New Delhi, March 31 Talking to newspersons about the agenda of the International Sanskrit Conference to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on April 5, Dr Joshi said that about 100 delegates from all over the world were expected to participate in the meet. Asked what steps the government was taking to promote the use of Sanskrit, he said that the ministry was holding consultations with the CBSE and NCERT to include Sanskrit as a discipline in class XI and XII as per the Supreme Court guidelines. Professor Vachaspati Upadhyaya, Vice-Chancellor of the Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha and Secretary-General of the conference said that the Sanskrit Pathshala in Bhiwani and other centres in Ambala and Kurukshetra were excellent centres for gaining proficiency in the language. He said that the Central Sanskrit Vidyapeetha in Garli in Himachal was also doing commendable work to promote the language. |
|
Sex ratio adverse in Bihar Patna, March 31 According to the provisional report of census 2001, the sex ratio is adverse in Bihar where it has been recorded at 921 and is still lower compared to the national sex ratio, which is 933. Similarly, Kerala has the highest sex ratio, where it is 1058. The report says it has been observed during various censuses that the number of males and females is rarely at parity and the male generally outnumber females. In case of Bihar, it was favourable to females till 1961 except in the year 1931 when it came down to 995. After 1961 the sex ratio always remained unfavourable to females and the general trend during this period over the decades was that of decreasing sex ratio with exceptions of an increase in 1961 and the present census. There has been an increase of 14 points in the sex ratio of Bihar at the 2001 census when at the national level it stood at 921 while the figure stood at 907 during the last census of 1991. The report revealed that the sex ratio in Bihar since 1901 had always remained higher than that of the country as a whole till the 1981 census. However, the sex ratio this time is much below the national sex ratio. Even Jharkhand showed a higher sex ratio figure of 941. A perusal of the report revealed that
Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran and Nawada are the four districts where the sex ratio had always remained favourable to the females right from 1901 to 1981. Siwan has the privilege of having a favourable sex ratio even in the present census.
UNI |
|
Federation pulls out of bank stir Chennai, March 31 The matters ironed out included restructuring of industrial relations machinery, compensation for working on Sundays and holidays and a thorough scrutiny of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme being introduced by the bank, association general secretary Shanta Raju said here holding talks with the bank Chairman at Mumbai yesterday. “The management has also agreed to review the disciplinary proceedings area and hold a Central Negotiating Committee meeting in May to resolve further issues,’’ he told mediapersons.
UNI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
