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Wednesday,
July 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Attacks aimed at disrupting peace process,
says Advani BJP dares Cong on Ayodhya again |
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Steps to keep watch on visitors from Pakistan
ILLEGAL TREE FELLING |
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Mob damages Bihar grid, cops open fire India sends letters rogatory to UK North India in Parliamant Hearing begins on private colleges’ issue Cong may bring privilege motion against Jaitley Steps being taken for passenger safety, says Nitish States told to expedite cases of senior citizens
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Attacks aimed at disrupting peace process, New Delhi, July 23 Mr Advani, while replying to an impromptu debate in the Lok Sabha on the militant strikes, asserted that “there will be no compromise in the fight against terrorism” and that there was no scope for any complacency. He also made it clear that there were no differences between the Centre and the state on matters of security and development in the past few years and added that both had been fully cooperating with each other on these fronts. Mr Advani described these attacks as continuing battle of proxy war and an attempt aimed at disrupting the return of normalcy in the state and the peace initiative taken by the government. “The state government is as determined as the Centre to fight terrorism and restore normalcy,” he said and referred to the successful visits to the state by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi and Chief Ministers and a number of parliamentary committees. Pointing out that last night’s attack on Vaishno Devi pilgrims was not the first, Mr Advani recalled that three attempts were made last year but no pilgrim was killed. However, in the third attempt, five terrorists were gunned down by the security forces, he said. Mr Advani said the two terrotrists who attacked a camp of the EME this morning at Akhnoor were gunned down by the security forces. In the militant attack on Vaishno Devi pilgrims near Katra last night, he said two Nepalese, three people from Punjab and one local woman were killed. The Lok Sabha deplored the “barbaric” terrorist attacks on an Army camp and Vaishno Devi pilgrims.”
The House strongly deplores this barbaric and inhuman act by the militants. These attacks are indicative of their desperation at the ongoing process to restore peace in the state,” the House said in a resolution adopted after a two-hour impromptu debate during question hour. During the debate, the Opposition charged the government with developing complacency in the wake of the peace initiative taken by India recently and not responding adequately to intelligence reports of possible terror attacks. The Opposition-sponsored adjournment motion on the issue was rejected by Speaker Manohar Joshi after he allowed leaders to express their views. |
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BJP dares Cong on Ayodhya again New Delhi, July 22 “We are ready for a discussion on the issue under Rule 193 in the Lok Sabha though it has been debated at least 20 times, even though this “dadagiri’ (bullying tactics) cannot be tolerated,” BJP spokesperson
V.K. Malhotra told newspersons after the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting here. BJP President Venkaiah Naidu told the meeting that there was no pressure on the CBI to withdraw cases even though the cases against Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti were “politically inspired”. Attacking the Congress, Mr Naidu said the stand of the Opposition parties on the CBI case against Mr Advani and others was preposterous. Stating that as the BJP was a party with a difference, it felt that these cases need not be cancelled, Mr Naidu recalled that in 1980 the Congress had withdrawn cases filed against Indira Gandhi on the basis of the Shah Commission report. Ruling out resignation of Mr Advani or Mr Joshi, the BJP President said, “The Opposition is getting exposed and any further disturbance on this issue will boomerang on them.” Earlier, in a brief address, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked members to take active part in Parliamentary Standing Committee meetings and pursue the reports. Law Minister Arun Jaitley said the Opposition was absolutely wrong in alleging that the CBI had dropped the names of Mr Advani, HRD Minister Joshi and former Union Minister Uma Bharti in the chargesheet filed in the Babri Masjid demolition case. |
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CPM seeks Vajpayee’s explanation New Delhi, July 22 “The Prime Minister should come out and explain how the charge was dropped in the new
chargesheet,” party leader Somnath Chatterjee told newspersons here while referring to Law Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Section 120(B) of the Criminal Procedure Code relating to criminal conspiracy was not present in the
FIRs. Terming the FIR “a preliminary document” on which further investigation was required, Mr Chatterjee said the original chargesheet filed by the CBI, and not the
FIRs, contained the charge of criminal conspiracy against the accused. The CBI had itself included the charge of criminal conspiracy against Mr Advani, Human Resource
Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP leader Uma Bharti and others even though it was not mentioned in the first FIR. |
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CPM concerned over SC observations New Delhi, July 22 The denial of this right would lead to dangerous consequences. The TN ordinance was a grave attack on the basic right of employees to security in employment and an attack on the fundamental rights of the citizens. |
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Omar joins Opposition camp New Delhi, July 22 CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee, who invited all opposition leaders here for evolving a better floor coordination in the Lok Sabha against the BJP-led NDA government, said the meeting was a great success as more and more NDA allies had started realising their position in the government. Very soon other partners would also discard the alliance, he added. The meeting was attended among others by NC President Omar Abdullah, Lok Janshakti Party President Ram Vilas Paswan, Congress Chief Whip Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and leaders from the CPI, the RSP and the Forward Bloc. The meeting discussed the killings of Vaishno Devi pilgrims at Katra and the misuse of the CBI by the government in the Babri Masjid demolition case, Mr Chatterjee said. |
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Steps to keep watch on visitors from Pakistan New Delhi, July 22 Replying to a written question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand said visa to Pakistani nationals was given for specific places and the number of places that a Pakistani national could visit had been reduced from existing 12 to three from May 20, 2003. A temporary permit is issued to the Pakistani visitor to India if his stay is more than 14 days and copies of this are sent to district superintendents of police of the places to be visited by the visa holder, the minister said. The visa holder is also required to report to the DSP of the place of his first visit and subsequent places of visit within 24 hours. He is given a regular residential permit specifying the permitted period of his stay. |
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ILLEGAL TREE FELLING New Delhi, July 22 A Special Court at Shimla had convicted the officials and some local residents after they were found guilty under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Forest Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act about 13 years ago for their involvement in a criminal conspiracy with the forest mafia in Chopal area of Shimla district. The prosecution had alleged that the forest contractor, Daulat Ram, and other persons had felled a large number of deodar and kail trees on government land by forging the records to show that these were grown on private land owned by farmers. Officials of the revenue and forest departments had demarcated the private land, the prosecution had alleged. The notices were issued by two separate benches of the Supreme Court to the accused on appeals filed by the state government challenging their acquittal by the High Court. Issuing notices to them, the apex court sought their replies within four weeks and ordered that both appeals would he heard together. Moving the appeals, Himachal Pradesh Additional Advocate General J.S. Attri sought the setting aside of the High Court’s orders exonerating the accused, contending that the impugned judgements passed last year were “unreasonable and against the true appreciation of the evidence placed on record.” The state government in its special leave petitions, said the order of the Special Judge was “correct, legal and deserves to be upheld... particularly considering the gravity of the offence of cutting of forests in large numbers.” In the first case, the Special Court had convicted Assistant Conser-vator of Forests Chattar Singh, Divisional Forest Officer C.R. Premi, Deputy Forest Range Officer Nathu Ram, Forest Guard Pratap Singh, Revenue Department’s Kanungo Giaru Ram and Patwari Bhagat Ram for allegedly entering into a criminal
conspiracy with forest contractor Daulat Ram, who allegedly felled the trees. The trial court had also found the forest officials guilty of issuing three export permits to the contractor for taking the timber out of the state for sale in the market in 1981. In the second case, the trial court had convicted Assistant Conser-vator of Forests Kamlesh Oberoi, two Revenue Department officials, Puran Singh, and Hari Singh, and five local residents for felling 269 deodar and kail trees. They were acquitted by the High Court last year on the ground that there was no sufficient evidence against them. The High Court judgement had come after the matter was referred back to it by the Supreme Court for having a fresh look at it, the AAG said. |
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Mob damages Bihar grid, cops open fire Biharsharif, July 22 Violence flared up during the ‘Biharsharif bandh’ called by trade and other organisations under the banner of the Nagrik Vikas
Manch. Several thousand people stormed the super grid of the Power Grid Corporation of India and damaged equipment leading to disruption of electricity supply to Patna and some other towns of Bihar for three hours, the sources said. When the police intervened, it was attacked by a stone-throwing crowd leading to minor injuries to at least 12 policemen, including SP Amit Lodha and Block Development Officer of Biharsharif Mohammad
Faiyaz, the sources said. — PTI |
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India sends letters rogatory to UK New Delhi, July 22 Letters rogatory was issued by Special Judge Prem Kumar on the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The court had asked the CBI to route the request through the Interpol. India has also requested the British authorities to probe how the said money had reached the account in a London bank. The British Government had asked the CBI to submit a letters rogatory by July 22 to enable it to take steps on the agency’s earlier request for freezing an account of Bofors payoff case main accused Ottavio Quattrochhi, having a deposit of Rs 21 crore. In its letter, the British authorities had said the account in a London bank of Mr Quattrochhi had been frozen till July 22, by which time they expected to receive the letters rogatory. The CBI had earlier requested the British Government to freeze Quattrochhi’s account after getting information from the Interpol that they had traced a bank account. |
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North India in Parliamant New Delhi, July 22 Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Harin Pathak told the Lok Sabha that since the Punjab Government had not paid “bonus” to its employees since 1997-98, their counterparts in the Chandigarh Administration had also not been extended the benefit since then. Replying to a question, the minister said the terms and conditions of service included, inter alia, the scale of pay and allowances attached with the post, the age of retirement of the incumbent and pensionary benefits etc. To a question regarding the exploitation of Indian brides belonging to the northern states by NRI grooms, the minister said information was being collected by the government. CGHS facilities: Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare A. Raja told the Rajya Sabha that CGHS facilities were not available in Himachal Pradesh. The minister said since Himachal Pradesh was not covered under the
CGHS, no private hospital had been recognised under the CGHS in the state. However, Central Government employees in Himachal Pradesh were eligible for medical facilities under the Central Services (Medical Attendance) Rules, 1944, the minister said. VLPT: No request for changing the location of very low power TV transmitter at Chirgaon in Shimla had been received from the local people, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad told the Rajya Sabha. He said the transmitter, which had been commissioned on May 1 this year, was reported to be functioning normally and provided coverage within a range of 8 km. However, ceratin pockets in the coverage zone of the transmitter were not covered due to hilly terrain, he added. |
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Hearing begins on private colleges’ issue New Delhi, July 22 Opening up the arguments, senior advocate Fali Nariman, appearing for a minority institution from Karnataka told the Bench, headed by Chief Justice Mr V.N. Khare that as per the order of 11-Judge Constitutional Bench on the right of unaided minority institutions, the government had no right to interfere in the matter of fee structure and admission process so far the institutions were abiding the rules of the university to which they were affiliated. The Bench having Mr Justices S.N. Variava, K.G. Balakrishnan, Arijit Pasayat and S.B. Sinha; as other judges told the counsel appearing for nearly 20 institutions, that the case before it would only confine to the interpretation of the 11-Judge Constitutional Bench judgement and not go beyond it. Regarding high fee being charged by the private colleges, Mr Nariman said cost of running a professional institution was very high. The government colleges were highly subsidised but the private institutions had to spend huge amount of money on infrastructural facilities. The issue had come before the apex court in a bunch of petitions arising out of disputes in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which had a large number of minority and private engineering and medical colleges. Fate of thousands of students was hanging fire after Maharashtra had freezed admission this year pending the decision by the apex court on the Centre’s petition challenging its decision to do away with 15 per cent Central quota in medical colleges in the state. |
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Cong may bring privilege motion against Jaitley New Delhi, July 22 He said Mr Jaitley knew that there were two charge sheets in the Babri Masjid demolition case against Union Ministers L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and others. “Mr Jaitley is mentioning the first one filed in 1993 and did not mention the second one filed in 1996 after a thorough investigation by the CBI,” the spokesman alleged. |
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Steps being taken for passenger safety, says Nitish New Delhi, July 22 Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha today, he said “vital decisions have been taken”, based on the deliberations of a workshop. “Follow-up action has since been initiated, besides further intensifying safety drives. Although the number of accidents have come down as compared to previous years, all-out efforts are being made to prevent accidents at all costs”, Mr Kumar said. He said the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Circle, was conducting a statutory inquiry into the Golden Temple Mail fire at Ludhiana.. —
TNS |
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States told to expedite cases of senior citizens New Delhi, July 22 The states and the high courts had been requested to make administrative arrangements to ensure that the cases of victimisation of senior citizens and women were heard on priority by the courts and decided as early as possible. |
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