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Friday,
February 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Jaitley for transparent in-house judicial mechanism BJP flays Digvijay’s
view on Bhojshala
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Oppn walks out over POTA ‘misuse’ NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT
Cong may oppose proxy voting for armed forces Absence valid ground for dismissal: SC Hindi, Urdu editions of Span launched Trinamool threatens stir
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Jaitley for transparent in-house judicial mechanism New Delhi, February 20 “The judiciary has not evolved transparency in its in-house mechanism to check the judicial officers. Pressure is building up to make the system transparent, the whole system is shrouded in mystery,” Mr Jaitley said while addressing a seminar on “The use of law as an instrument of harassment of media personnel” here. The setting of the National Judicial Commission, he said, would go a long way in providing a way out of the whole gamut of issues, which concerns the judiciary, media and other pillars of democracy. Addressing the national seminar, organised by the Editors Guild of India, he said an important question of disclosure of “source” to a news item needs to be carefully looked into as this aspect has come in for scrutiny. Stating that the laws relating to Contempt of Court need to be carefully looked into, the Union Minister said the issue of judicial officers’ right to represent, if they are maligned or the office of the judiciary is denigrated, must also be taken note of. Eminent jurist F S Nariman observed that several issues relating to the contempt and defamation laws were dealt with by the Mathew Commission in the 1980s. He said the commission had stated that the contempt cases should be heard by an independent court and not by the same court and the issue of contempt should be probed by Advocate-General or Attorney-General. “The truth must be the defence of any judge in contempt cases,” he said, adding that the Chief Justice should act if there is reasonable suspicion against any judicial officer. Pointing out the instances where the Chief Justice of India had acted by debarring brother judges by not assigning any work to them, Mr Nariman said “had the brother judges felt that they had been victimised, they would have certainly challenged the order of the Chief Justice.” The Chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice K. Jayachandra Reddy, said the judiciary and media are the pillars of a democratic society and they may correct each other. But, when they swerve from their norms and duties, they render themselves less useful and on occasions even harmful to society. “Such corrections should not be interpreted as encroachment on the rights and functions of each other,” he said. Justice Reddy said “while the judiciary is over sensitive to personal criticism of judges or their private affairs, the media transgresses the limits of decent and constructive criticism. If both keep themselves within bounds, a healthy system of accountability of the judiciary to the people may be reared.” President of the Editors Guild Hari Jaisingh observed that what exactly is meant by contempt of court still remains unaddressed despite the passage of three decades since the law was enacted. “The Contempt of Courts Act makes no attempt to define this concept while decided cases define it so widely as to offer no practical guidance to the layman or, I dare say, to even the lawyer,” he added. Editor of The Hindu N Ravi observed that a distinction needs to be drawn on the criticism of the judiciary and the judges. The seminar was attended by editors of different media organisations. They were of the view that opinion should be created for finding a via media so that media does not live under the fear of contempt of court and the judiciary is not denigrated. The people should not lose their faith in this important pillar of democracy. |
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BJP flays Digvijay’s
view on Bhojshala New Delhi, February 20 BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the statement coming from the Chief Minister was “most condemnable” and it was public knowledge that the Saraswati idol was part of the British Museum and the government should make efforts to bring it back to the country. He said the statements made by the Chief Minister went against “national interest” and the use of force on the pilgrims wanting to perform pooja was condemnable. Mr Malhotra said it was the Congress governments which allowed and stopped the pooja in 1997 and there was no conflict of interest as a masjid existed in the area. Nobody questioned its existence and pooja and namaz could go on side by side, he said. Union Minister for Culture Jagmohan had written to the Madhya Pradesh Government that he would be happy if the pooja was allowed to be performed on the premises declared as a protected area by the
Archaeological Survey of India. Prayers are allowed to be held in Nizamuddin, Jama Masjid and Safdarjung mosques though they belonged to the ASI, Mr Malhotra said. |
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2 killed in renewed violence in Dhar Dhar, February 20 District Collector Sanjay Dubey said, “At about 5.30 p.m. mobs tried to set fire to some houses and shops in the area and started pelting stones on the police. In retaliation, the police opened fire, in which two persons were killed and two others injured.’’ The situation in the area is tense but under control, he added. Meanwhile, Dhar and four other places in the district remained under curfew while several towns in the Malwa region observed bandh today. The call for the bandh was given by the Hindu Jagaran Manch in protest against the police action on manch activists agitating for unlocking Bhojshala at Dhar on yesterday. |
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Oppn walks out over POTA ‘misuse’ New Delhi, February 20 Raising the issue during zero hour, Samajwadi Party MP Ramji Lal Suman said detention of Uttar Pradesh MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiyya, and his father under POTA had nothing to do with curbing terrorist activities but was an attempt by the Mayawati government to “terrorise” political opponents. Similarly, Mr Vaiko, an MP, was arrested under POTA by the Tamil Nadu Government six months ago and the Central government had been a mute spectator to that, said CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee. Referring to a newspaper report on the detention of 10 children, an 81-year-old man and 24 farm labourers under POTA by the Jharkhand government, Mr Chatterjee asked: “Had the government enacted POTA to arrest these ordinary people?... had Indian Penal code become
irrelevant and other civil laws ceased to exist?” Expressing surprise over the detention of these people by the police in Jharkhand for having copies of the “Communist Manifesto or Red Book of Mao”, Mr Chatterjee said, “I have all these books. Arrest me under POTA if it is a crime to keep them.” The
Opposition members belonging to the Congress, SP, RJD and Left parties walked out of the House irked over the statement of Minister of State for Home Harin Pathak who stood up to say, “The government is writing to the states for details on the detention of people under POTA.” CPM member Basudev Acharya and Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy said the Opposition’s apprehensions expressed during the discussion on the POTA Bill in Parliament had come true that POTA would be misused. “We did articulate over apprehensions that POTA being enacted in the name of protecting India’s security, sovereignty and peace was open to monstrous misuse,” Mr Reddy said Irate opposition members sought to remind Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani who had assured the joint session of both Houses that POTA would not be misused at all, of their apprehensions and asked the government to make a statement. On behalf of the Treasury Benches, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra too admitted that POTA was being misused and said the government should listen to suggestions of the members and amend the Act accordingly. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, February 20 During the Tenth Plan period, the KVIC proposes to generate two million additional employment opportunities under the REGP throughout the country, the Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries, Mr Sangh Priya Gautam, informed the Upper House in a written reply. Railways The average percentage utilisation of A C chair car is 81 per cent in the 2057 Jan Shatabdi Express running from New Delhi to Chandigarh. The percentage utilisation in second class sitting is 39 per cent, the minister told the House in reply to a separate question. In the 2058 Chandigarh-New Delhi Jan Shatabdi Express the average percentage utilisation in AC Chair Car from the date is 87 per cent, while that of second class sitting was 11 per cent, the House was told. Telephone exchanges A total of 53 new eletronic telephone exchanges are planned in the Himachal Pradesh telecom circle in 2002-03, the Minister of Communications, Information Technology and Disinvestment Mr Arun Shourie, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today. |
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Cong may oppose proxy voting for armed forces New Delhi, February 20 The ruling BJP is in a minority in the Upper House and the support of the Congress and the Left parties is crucial for the passage of any Bill. Speaking to newspersons, party spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy declined to commit whether the party would extend support to the Bill, saying that a decision would be taken in consultation with other Opposition parties. Mr Reddy said the Congress was opposed to the measure since it infringed on the cardinal principle of secret ballot. Moreover, it should not be difficult for the government in this modern age to provide ballots to the armed forces in time and facilitate their exercise of right to franchise.
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Absence valid ground for dismissal: SC New Delhi, February 20 The ruling was handed down by a three-judge bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur while dismissing an appeal by a constable of the Delhi police. The appeal by Maan Singh was directed against the judgement of the Delhi High Court upholding his dismissal by the disciplinary authority vide an order dated March 13, 1992. Maan Singh absent himself from duty for two years without sanction from his department and did not respond to the letters addressed to him by the department, while his failure to appear for an inquiry forced the deparment to conclude it ex parte. Earlier, too, he had taken unauthorised leave which totalled up to 21 times since his appointment on July 10, 1978. Despite several punishments for the lapses on his part, he did not correct himself. Pointing out these facts, the disciplinary authority terminated his services. UNI |
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Hindi, Urdu editions of Span launched New Delhi, February 20 The launch of Hindi Span and Urdu Span is inspired by the survival of Span in India for more than four decades and transformation in Indo-US relations. In his message, Mr Blackwill said the launch of the two bi-monthly editions of Span marked a historic occasion in the efforts of the peoples of the two countries to exchange ideas and understand each other better. Minister, Counsellor for Public Affairs Michael H. Anderson told mediapersons here that the timing of the launch of the magazines had nothing to do with the impending US war against Iraq. Lea Terhune, Editor of Span, said the Hindi and Urdu magazines would have an initial print order of 22,000 and 15,000 copies, respectively. |
Trinamool threatens stir Kolkata, February 20 The Trinamool Congress has already threatened to observe a 72-hour Bangla bandh against hike in electricity charges. The dates will be finalised in a day or two, said the TMC leader, Mr Subrata Bakshi, MLA and a close associate of Ms Mamata Banerjee. The matter will be raised at the Budget session of the Assembly beginning from March 5, where the TMC will also bring a no-confidence motion against the Left Front government, which other parties, including the Congress and the BJP may support. |
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