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Tuesday,
August 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Net big, small fish alike:
PM
Bengal CM favours panel on rly
zones BJP raps Sonia for insulting
Gujaratis |
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Cong accuses BJP of hypocrisy on J&K Give details of allotments:
SC
Decision on judges’ pay
deferred Advani to attend party’s zonal meeting Sangma invited for international conference 2 more women raped,
killed SC dismisses
journalists’ plea Jagmeet Brar member of delimitation panel Sonia accepts Basu’s invitation
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Net big, small fish alike:
PM New Delhi, August 26 “Our government has given the greatest autonomy to investigating agencies, including the CBI. This is not an assurance. It is a fact. It is our track record. I would like the state governments also to give similar autonomy to their anti-corruption agencies,” Mr Vajpayee said while inaugurating a two-day conference of the CBI and State anti-corruption bureaux at Vigyan Bhavan here. “In short, what we need is a system that can catch big fish as well as small fish. I am, of course, conscious of the fact that it will not be possible for you to uncover every irregularity, but you can certainly create, based on a high rate of conviction, a deterrent impression that irregularities will indeed be uncovered — that no fish, big or small, can escape your net,” he said. Stating that the common aim of the law-enforcing agencies should be to ensure that it is not the criminal but the crime-busting system that will always have the upper hand, the Prime Minister wanted the two-day conference to come up with concrete proposals and initiatives towards a more effective fight against the menace of corruption. Expressing concern over the poor conviction rate, Mr Vajpayee blamed it on “shoddy investigation” and largely on “long delays” and “arcane procedures” in the criminal justice system. Stating that corruption is the area bounded by three sides of a triangle — one side is the “opportunities for corruption”, the second side is “freedom from risks” and the third side is “social acceptance of corruption”, Mr Vajpayee said “when all three sides shorten, the area of corruption will automatically shrink.” The Prime Minister said while opportunities for corruption would have to be reduced by appropriate policy reforms, laws and their proper enforcement, ‘freedom from risks had to be diminished by improved functioning of the police, investigating agencies, and the judiciary, and social acceptance of corruption had to be decreased through citizens’ own action. Praising the good record of convictions of the CBI, Mr Vajpayee said “although the CBI’s conviction rate is 70 per cent, the people are deeply dismayed, and so am I, that the rate of conviction in non-CBI cases does not go beyond 5 to 6 per cent. He also called for fresh legislative and administrative initiatives to curb the growth of economic offences and wanted that the anti-corruption agencies, especially the CBI, should continuously hone their skills to catch criminals who indulge in large-scale economic offences. Earlier, Minister of State for Personnel and Training Vasundara Raje said the novel proposal, of enabling the CBI to tap outside sources having specialised knowledge, was at an advanced stage of consideration. Stating that as many as 160 posts, at various levels, had already been filled in the CBI and another nearly 180 posts would be filled within the next two months, the minister said approval had been given for the creation of 47 posts, for augmenting the in-house expertise of the bureau. CBI Director P.C. Sharma, in his welcome address, pointed out that the CBI had thoroughly reviewed the shortcomings and was making huge efforts to minimise the time taken to complete investigations. Earlier, Mr Vajpayee gave away the President’s Police Medal for distinguished service to Mr Debasis Bagchi, IG(Enforcement), DVB, Mr Jai Swadesh, SP, CBI, Mr Janardan Prasad Verma, SP, CBI, Mr Ran Singh Dhankar, Additional SP, CBI, and Mr Brij Shyam Mishra, DSP, CBI. PM silent on rly bifurcation issue New Delhi, August 26 After the swearing-in ceremony reporters asked him about the details of the talks West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had with him earlier. “We discussed several issues,” the Prime Minister said and avoided any direct reply on the bifurcation issue.
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Bengal CM favours panel on rly zones New Delhi, August 26 In separate meetings with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani here, Mr Bhattacharya said the reorganisation of the Railways was never supported by the Planning Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), former Chairmen of the Railway Board or any other expert. Creation of new zonal railways would neither be in the national interest nor for the benefit of the Railways. It would be a financial burden on the national exchequer. What was needed was to provide better services to the rail users and ensure their safety, he said. He also urged the Prime Minister to consider the reorganisation of the Railways from a national perspective by rising above politics. The Chief Minister also drew the attention of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister to the secessionist activities of the Kamtapuri Liberation Organsiation (KLO) in North Bengal. The KLO had joined hands with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and was operating from Bhutan. The government had conceded to his request to seek cooperation of the Bhutanese authorities in dismantling their camps there, Mr Bhattacharya
said. UNI |
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BJP raps Sonia for insulting
Gujaratis New Delhi, August 26 Briefing newspersons, party spokespersons, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accused the Congress and its President of rubbing salt on the wounds of the people of Gujarat by indulging in this kind of disinformation campaign. This, he said, was not only maligning the image of the people of Gujarat but also that of the entire country throughout the world. He also rapped the Congress for misleading the people of the country on the issue of electoral reforms by saying that the electoral reforms’ legislation was not based on consensus among political parties. He said the Congress was the first party which had taken the stand in the Supreme Court that electoral reforms was not an issue to be decided by the court but by the legislature. Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and H.R. Bharadwaj had participated in all meetings on the issue and were party to the ‘consensus’ decision over the legislation, he added. He said the Congress had reservations on two clauses on disqualification and these had been accepted. |
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Cong accuses BJP of hypocrisy on J&K New Delhi, August 26 Congress chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said the RSS-sponsored Jammu State Morcha, with which the BJP was tying up, was pleading for the trifurcation of the state. He said the Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had publicly said that the trifurcation demand was against the interest of the nation. Mr Reddy said the Congress recognised the regional problem in Jammu and Kashmir and the need for maximum devolution of powers among various regions. He said the party did not believe that the problem of regional discrimination could be solved by redrawing the boundaries of the state. “The BJP is trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hound,” he said. |
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Give details of allotments: SC New Delhi, August 26
Asking the government to furnish the details today itself, a Bench comprising Chief Justice B.N. Kirpal, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, and Justice Arijit Pasayat fixed Wednesday for further hearing on the petitions filed by the Union Government seeking transfer of the cases filed across India to the Apex Court or to any one of the high courts. |
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Decision on judges’ pay
deferred New Delhi, August 26 “Seeing all complexities of the issue, the Cabinet has asked the Finance Minister to call a conference of all state Finance Ministers to find out if the states are in a position to bear the additional burden,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj told newsmen here. She said the meeting was likley to be held in the second week of September and the Solicitor General had been asked to inform the Supreme Court of this decision. The first National Judicial Pay Commission had recommended the salary hike and increase in the number of judges. As per a decision of the apex court, all vacancies of state courts should be filled by March 2003 and then the total strength of judges in the country should be increased five fold to 38,000. This would entail a financial burden of Rs 14,000 crore in the first year and Rs 6,000 annually thereafter. The commission, set up in 1996, submitted its report in November 1999, Ms Swaraj said. But since judicial service was not an all-India service, recommendations had to be implemented by state governments and the Centre could take a decision only in the case of Union Territories. She said on August 16 last year, the Cabinet had accepted some recommendations of the commission including a raise in the pay scales as well as provision of some allowances. However, the matter was taken to the Supreme Court by those who demanded implementation of the recommendations in toto. On March 21 this year, the apex court directed that the judicial officers’ pay scales should be hiked and they be given medical and conveyance allowances and free residential accommodation etc. Today’s Cabinet meeting was held to take a decision on the SC order. Mrs Swaraj said the Cabinet assessed the financial burden of the court order.
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Advani to attend party’s zonal meeting New Delhi, August 26 The two-day meeting, slated as per the “Delhi Sankalp” adopted in the party’s national conclave earlier this month, is aimed at revitalising the party’s cadre at the grassroots level to strengthen the party and preparing it for the coming Assembly elections in some states. Union Minister Pramod Mahajan and delegates from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu will be attending the zonal meeting at Bangalore. |
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Sangma invited for international conference New Delhi, August 26 The four-day conference scheduled to begin tomorrow is being organised by the Federal Council and the Conference of Cantonal Governments of Switzerland. It will be inaugurated by the President of the Swiss Federation. Over 500 delegates from 50 federal countries or those with federal features are expected to attend the conference. The conference is titled ‘Federalism and Foreign Relations-learning from each other.’ Mr Sangma will make a case statement on India on the issue of tax competition versus tax coordination. |
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2 more women raped, killed Dehra Dun, August 26 In a triple murder case, two middle-aged women and a man were hacked to death in Sail area, 2 km from Rudraprayag district headquarters, the police said today. The victims were found in a pool of blood at a godown of the state Irrigation Department, the police said, adding the women might have been raped before they were killed by a sharp-edged
weapon. PTI |
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SC dismisses journalists’ plea
New Delhi, August 26 Dismissing the appeals of Malayalam Manorama Chief Editor K M Mathew, Indian Express Managing Editor Vivek Goenka and Hindustan Resident Editor Hari Narain Nigam, the apex court directed that proceedings against them be continued in accordance with law. Petitions filed by the appellants, under Section 482 of the CrPc, for quashing the proceedings on the ground that they were not liable to be prosecuted for the offence of defamation for the alleged libellous publications as they were not editors of such publications, had already been rejected by the respective high courts. The Court said any or every irregularity or infraction of a procedural provision could not constitute a ground for interference by a superior court unless such irregularity had caused irreparable prejudice to the party and required to be corrected at the stage of taking cognizance.
UNI |
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Jagmeet Brar member of delimitation panel New Delhi, August 26 The members from Himachal Pradesh include Mr Suresh Chandel, Col Dhani Ram Shandil (retired), Mr Shanta Kumar and Mr Maheshwar Singh. From Haryana the members are Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, Dr Sushil Kumar Indora, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, Mr Kishen Singh Sangwan and Ms Sudha Yadav. From Delhi, the members include Mr M. L. Khurana, Mr V. K. Malhotra, Mr Lal Behari Tewari and Mr Sahib Singh Verma while from Rajasthan the members include Mr Jaswant Singh Bishnoi, Col Sona Ram (retired), Mr Rasa Singh Rawat and Dr Girja
Vyas. |
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Sonia accepts Basu’s invitation New Delhi, August 26 Mr Chatterjee, leader of the CPM Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha said here today that the RJD would also be present
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FIVE OF FAMILY FOUND
DEAD 3 RANVIR SENA MEN SHOT DEAD FIRE IN FORMER JUDGE'S HOUSE |
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