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Wednesday,
May 7, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Gurdwara
repair will have to wait SC
reserves judgement in Bofors case Mysore sex
scandal: PIL seeks CBI probe Decision
on airport upgradation soon 7.51 pc Central Govt
employees are women |
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MPs ask
WB Govt to ban VHP activities Candidates pull out of CPP race Congress
seeks clarification from Sathe ‘Rail
Neer’ launched NORTH INDIA IN
PARLIAMENT Vij on
5-day visit to Bhutan, N. Bengal
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Gurdwara repair will have to wait New Delhi, May 6 Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, who was in the Capital, said today that he had recently received a communication from the US Ambassador to India, Mr Robert D
Blackwill, on his proposal for the repair and reconstruction of the Iraq
gurdwara, saying that a proper administrative network had not taken shape in Iraq and the department to coordinate the whole exercise was not yet in place. “We will certainly go for kar
seva. We will organise it,” he said, describing the American response as “positive.” Capt Amarinder Singh said though a number of Congress workers had expressed the desire to go for kar
seva, “anyone was welcome.” He said after an administrative set-up came up in Iraq, a team led by Mr
R.S. Kalha, former Indian Ambassador to Iraq, who was also the president of the gurdwara in Baghdad, will first visit the place to make an assessment about the repair and reconstruction of the
gurdwara, which was damaged in the just-concluded American military action. The team will also have INTACH members. The Chief Minister indicated that the expenses of the team’s visit would be borne by the Punjab Government. About the National Commission for Minorities chief Tarlochan Singh writing to the External Affairs Ministry to send an official of the Indian Embassy in Iraq to assess the damage suffered by the
gurdwara, the Chief Minister said: “The embassy cannot do repairs.” “Gurdwara repairs have always been done through kar
seva.” An Indian Embassy official, who visited the gurdwara to assess the damage, had informed the External Affairs Ministry that the gurdwara had suffered minor damage in the US-led bombing. On the position taken by the Centre on the construction of SYL canal, the Chief Minister hoped a solution would be reached. He reiterated that Punjab was not in a position to spare water for Haryana as it would lead to scarcity of water in at least five districts of Punjab. |
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SC reserves judgement in Bofors case New Delhi, May 6 A Bench comprising Mr Justice S Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur reserved the verdit after long arguments by Solicitor-General Kirit Raval on behalf of the CBI and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for the Hindujas. The Delhi High Court had quashed the CBI chargesheet against the Hindujas on the ground that the agency had not sought the prior approval of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for filing the chargesheet, which was a mandatory requirement as per the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the Vineet Narain case relating to the Jain-Hawala matter. Mr Jethmalani said the Government had not appointed the CVC with the approval of Parliament as per the apex court guidelines but through an executive resolution, such a body was not competent to supervise the functioning of the CBI. The permission of the CVC for prosecuting the Hindujas was not sought, he alleged. But this was refuted by the Solicitor-General, who said when the first chargesheet was filed in the Bofors case in October 1999 against some bureaucrats and others, the CVC’s sanction was obtained. At that time it was made clear to the CVC that the role of Hinduja brothers - Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand - in the case was being investigated. “The High Court had made erroneous interpretation of the Vineet Narain judgment,” Raval argued. However, Mr Jethmalani said he was not talking about the CVC, which was appointed by the government through an executive order but referring to a CVC, which ought to have been appointed by an Act of Parliament. Due to the matter reaching the apex court, the trial in the politically sensitive case has been stayed in a Special Court here. |
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Mysore sex scandal: PIL seeks CBI probe New Delhi, May 6 A Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur, while hearing the petition, filed by a senior woman advocate, reserved its order on the question whether such a writ was maintainable or not. The Bench said it would pass a detailed order on the maintainability of the petition. A secret inquiry into the alleged involvement of the High Court judges in sex scandal at a Mysore resort on November 3 last year, was ordered by the then Chief Justice of India, Mr G.B. Pattanaik. The committee comprising Bombay and Kerala High Courts’ Chief Justices Mr C.K. Thakkar and Mr G.L. Gupta and Orissa High Court Judge, Mr A.K. Patnaik, had submitted the report to the Supreme Court Registrar General. Advocate Ms Indira Jaisingh, in her public interest litigation (PIL) submitted that it was inspired by the national concern for “judicial accountability, credibility and transparency”. Senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, arguing on behalf of the petitioner said “in the interest of credibility of judicial system, the report should be made public.” However, the Bench observed that it was a “discrete internal” inquiry ordered by the Chief Justice of India to ascertain the facts about the matter and if it was made public how would it remain discrete. The petitioner said that under Article 19 of the constitution every one had a right to information. She had written a letter on February 3 to the Chief Justice of India requesting him to make a copy of the report available to her, but no reply to the letter had come so far, Ms Jaisingh said. Since the committee of judges, which inquired into the matter, did not have the assistance of any expert or professional investigating agency, a CBI inquiry into the incident would impartially and thoroughly reaffirm the confidence and trust of public in the judicial system, the PIL said. “The mechanism set up by the court constituting a committee of three judges to investigate into the incident has not been adequate to meet the ends of justice or to ascertain the truth of the allegations,” Ms Jaisingh contended. |
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Decision
on airport upgradation soon New Delhi, May 6 The decision which was mooted last year has been pending as the Finance Ministry is still to decide on whether or not to allow the participation of the private sector in the upgradation of the airports. The Finance Minister during the presentation of the Union Budget earlier this year proposed the setting up of two separate companies with initial equal equity participation from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for taking up the upgradation of the airports. He had also suggested that the AAI could take joint venture partners for the project. Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said today that the Finance Ministry would decide within a week whether the task would be carried out solely by the AAI or with the participation of the private sector. The Union Cabinet last month cleared a proposal for amending the AAI Act to pave the way for development of greenfield airports with private participation. The AAI (Amendment) Bill, 2000, incorporating these changes is to be tabled in Parliament this week itself. |
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7.51 pc Central Govt employees are women New Delhi, May 6 While no consolidated information was maintained regarding the number of women in civil services, the Fifth Pay Commission estimated that the number of women in the Central Government employment was 283 lakh or 7.51 per cent of the total, Minister of State for Personnel Harin Pathak said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. In reply to a related question, HRD Minister M.M. Joshi said the government did not propose to amend the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, to make it mandatory for all states to constitute a women’s commission. All states, barring Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Uttaranchal, had set up state-level women’s commissions, he said, adding that the remaining states would be “persuaded” to follow suit and it was “not considered necessary” to amend the law for the purpose. |
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MPs ask WB Govt to ban VHP activities New Delhi, May 6 In a letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the members sought a ban on ‘trishul’ distribution and launching of prosecution against “hate speeches and hate writings undertaken by (VHP leader) Praveen Togadia and other members of the VHP and associated outfits”. Stating that the ceremony had “no scriptural or customary sanction”, they said the nation had seen the “horrifying end result” of such mobilisation in Gujarat and now such hate campaigns were being attempted in other parts of the country, including West Bengal and Assam. The MPs said the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the VHP had held arms training camps in West Bengal and were threatening to arm their supporters with ‘trishuls’. Signatories to the letter included Shabana Azmi, Gen Shankar Roychowdhury, Fali S Nariman, Raja Ramanna, Kuldip Nayar, P. Sylvie Das, Kartar Singh Duggal and C. Narayana Reddy. |
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Candidates pull out of CPP race New Delhi, May 6 Though Mr Mirdha said he had not received any withdrawals, sources said the candidates had withdrawn their nominations. Some candidates are AICC office-bearers. The leadership is reportedly keen on enforcing the principle of one man, one post. |
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Congress
seeks clarification from Sathe New Delhi, May 6 Meanwhile, the Congress today said that it had sought a clarification from senior leader Vasant Sathe over his reported remarks at a function to release five volumes of works of Veer Savarkar about declaring India as Hindustan and replacing a word in the song ‘Sare Jahan Se Acha.’ The function was held at Panchwati auditorium at Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s residence. |
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‘Rail
Neer’ launched New Delhi, May 6 Available under the brand name “Rail Neer”, the water is being produced at a water purification and bottling plant, built on railway land at Nangloi in North West Delhi. “Rail Neer” will be available within a week in 20 Rajdhani and 16 Shatabdi Express trains, besides 16 Jan Shatabdi trains. It will also be available in all trains originating and terminating at the New Delhi railway station. At present, 46,000 bottles are consumed every day on all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains starting from the New Delhi railway station. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, May 6 As per a survey conducted in 2002 by the Chandigarh Administration, there were 158 schools consisting of 32,200 students and 1,433 teachers functioning from residential premises in Chandigarh. These schools cater to the needs of all sections of society, the minister told the House. He said that in pursuance of the orders passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Chandigarh Administration had so far allotted 20 alternative sites. In addition, action had been taken to enhance the capacity of the government-run schools. The Centre had received 321 proposals for the installation of hand pumps under the Swajaldhara from the Himachal Pradesh Government and the same had been cleared. These include 259 proposals pertaining to Kangra district, Minister of State for Rural Development, Mr Annasaheb
M.K. Patil, told the Lok Sabha. |
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Vij on 5-day visit
to Bhutan, N. Bengal New Delhi, May 6 Prior to his visit to Bhutan, the Army Chief would visit army formations in North Bengal and Sikkim to take stock of operations against militant hideouts on the Indian side of the border. This would be General Vij’s first visit to the area since assumption of office.
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