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Tuesday,
August 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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SC cracks
whip on drug firms SC notices
to Centre, states on AIDS
7
acquitted of charge to kill Advani Walkout
over demolition of temples BJP
decries walkouts by Congress Bill on
banning cow slaughter likely |
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North India in
Parliament Hurriyat team meets Kashmir Committee BJP
finds ally in Digvijay’s brother on fine issue 5 women
raise slogans in MP Assembly Punjab
police notice to Wimpy official stayed Bench
clarifies on Uphaar release Roshans
told to settle dispute out of court Cylinder explosion didn’t cause blast, says police
Tribunal on waters dispute to be set up
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SC cracks whip on drug firms New Delhi, August 4 Though the apex court Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice P.V. Reddi and Mr Justice Arun Kumar, which passed the order, has not specified the quantum of the amounts which has accrued on the drug companies since the DPCO came into force in January, 1995, industry circles say it runs into several hundred crores. The judgement came on the appeal by the Centre against the Bombay High Court order, holding that the seven scheduled drugs — salbutamol, theophylline, cyproflaxacin, norfloxacin, colxacllin, doxycycline and glipizide — should not have been brought under the DPCO. Setting aside the High Court order, the apex court Bench said, “We consider it just and proper to give liberty to the appellant (Union Government) and the statutory authorities concerned to recover 50 per cent of the ‘overcharged’ amounts pending fresh determination by the High Court.” The apex court judgement, pronounced on August 1 but made public today, made it clear that the benefit of recovering only 50 per cent overcharged amounts would be available to the drug companies only if they paid the 50 per cent of it to the government within four weeks. The court further said the High Court would only consider afresh the relevant aspects concerning the criteria laid down in the Centre’s 1994 drug policy in relation to each drug with regard to its observations made in the 11-point judgement. Taking exception to the High Court’s findings, the apex court said the plea of the drug companies ought to have been tested and subjected by it to scrutiny in the light of all relevant factors instead of merely considering whether the particulars furnished by them were effectively controverted or not. “Such an approach of the High Court is wholly
in permissible while deciding the validity of the legislation — plenary or delegated — from the standpoint of Article 14 of the Constitution,” the judgement said. It rejected the contention of the pharmaceutical companies that the government order was discriminatory in singling out the seven drugs for inclusion in the DPCO. “It is unfounded and should not have been accepted by the High Court,” the apex court observed. The export sale of the schedule drugs should not be taken into account while computing turnover of a company, as the turnover in the 1994 drug policy represented the sale value of bulk drugs sold in the form of formulations, it said. The court said the sum total of production and the imports of bulk drugs could not be equated to turnover, though they were not altogether irrelevant in this context. The High Court had given relief to pharmaceutical companies when they had challenged the notices issued to them by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority for depositing the overcharged amounts in relation to the seven scheduled drugs. The DPCO, which came into force on January 6, 1995, was promulgated by the Centre by exercising powers conferred on it by Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act. The government had repealed the 1987 DPCO, under which more than the seven listed drugs were subject to the price control, as the Centre was of the view that during the 1980s, the drug industry had grown significantly in terms of production of bulk drugs and formulation and the export performance had been commendable. |
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SC notices to Centre, states on AIDS New Delhi, August 4 A Bench comprising Chief Justice
V.N. Khare and Mr Justice S.B. Sinha also issued a notice to the National AIDS Control Organisation
(NACO), a Union Health Ministry agency responsible for framing the policy for controlling the disease. The NGO, Voluntary Health Association of Punjab
(VHAP), in its petition sought a direction to the Centre and state governments to provide necessary drugs, hospitalised treatment and other facilities to HIV/AIDS-infected people, especially the poor who could not afford to buy medicines and receive treatment in private hospitals. The PIL, filed through VHAP counsel Aparna Bhat, said according to an estimate there were about 5.5 million HIV-infected people in the country and a majority of them were poor and could hardly afford any treatment. Stating that under Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees right to life to every citizen of the country, the AIDS/HIV patients were entitled to get medical aid from the government. But the HIV-infected patients in the country were not getting any medical aid from the government hospitals, while even several developing countries had taken up the matter seriously and devised special policies for tackling the disease. The
NACO, in its revised policy, had said that at the end of 2001, the national adult HIV prevalence rate in the country was under 1 per cent, with an estimated 3.97 million people being infected by the disease but as per the unofficial estimate the number was about 5.5 million. According to United Nations and World Bank statistics, India has the second highest number of HIV-infected patients in the world after South Africa. If no concrete steps are taken to tackle the menace, India has been projected to become the “HIV/AIDS capital” of the world by 2015, when the number of infected people could swell to 35 million, the NGO said. “It is crystal clear that with the attendant poverty, increasing unemployment and illiteracy, the country is standing on the
threshold of an epidemic,” it contended. |
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SC clears telecast of ‘Karishma’
New Delhi, August 4 A Bench comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice B.P. Singh passed the order while saying that it would not interfere with the judgement of the high court dismissing her plea to restrain the telecast of the serial. Bradford had alleged that the serial was an unauthorised copy of her famous novel “A Woman of Substance”. However, the Bench felt that as the high court had passed the order at an interim stage it should not have awarded costs and damages against Bradford, who could still take the matter for trial. It was only after weighing the evidence on plagiarism alleged by the New York-based novelist that a final order on her claim could be passed.
— PTI |
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7 acquitted of charge to kill Advani Mumbai, August 4 Judge M.V. Marathe, acquitting the accused, observed that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges of conspiracy and waging a war against the nation. The court pulled up the police for its lapses and discarded evidence given by the prosecution. The Judge observed that the FIR appeared to be “concocted” and it did not mention that the accused had planned to kill Mr Advani. The accused are Akbar Hussain Shafi Hussain, Zakir Hussain Shaikh, Mohammed Hanif, Javed Khan, Srinivas Naidu, alias Tohil, Mohammed Saddiq Ansari and Mohammed Sadiq Shaikh.
— PTI |
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Walkout
over demolition of temples New Delhi, August 4 Raising the issue, Mr Ramchandra Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party) said the Ravidas temple was targeted for demolition though there were 35 temples at
R.K. Puram in South Delhi. Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress) said the temple near the PGI in Chandigarh was demolished without giving any notice. Lok Janshakti leader Ram Vilas Paswan warned of an explosive situation if the government failed to take any remedial action. Congress leader Priyaranjan Dasmunshi and Samajwadi Party member Ramji Lal Suman also protested against the action. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj assured the Opposition members that she would bring the matter to the notice of the Home Minister and personally look into the demolition at Chandigarh. Not satisfied with Ms Swaraj’s assurance, the agitated members walked out. |
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BJP decries walkouts by Congress
New Delhi, August 4 Taking exception to the Congress walkout from the Lok Sabha today after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a clarification in regard to his August 1 statement on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said it was unbecoming for a party which had ruled the country for about 45 years to resort to walkouts so frequently. The spokesman said this was the fourth time that the Congress had staged a walkout on the Ayodhya issue. Even after the Prime Minister made the position very clear, they do not appear to be satisfied and indulge in this kind of protest, which is very wrong, he said. Mr Malhotra said earlier the Congress had walked out over a ruling by the Speaker, which was against parliamentary norms. He blamed the Opposition parties for raising the Ayodhya issue and then alleging that it was the BJP which was doing so. |
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Bill on banning cow slaughter likely New Delhi, August 4 “The government wants to bring a legislation for the protection of cows. It is possible that such a Bill may be brought in this session itself,” he said during question hour. The minister further said the National Commission on Cattle had presented a memorandum proposing a ban on cow slaughter and the prevention of inter-state smuggling of cows. He said the Agriculture Ministry is discussing the recommendations of the commission with the Union Law Ministry. He said though it was the state government’s responsibility to prevent smuggling of cows, the Centre also wants to end the menace. |
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North India in Parliament New Delhi, August 4 Food Processing: The Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Mr N.T. Shanmugam, informed the Lok Sabha that Himachal Pradesh falls under the category of difficult area and is entitled to higher scale of assistance compared to the rest of the country for the promotion of food processing industries. The production of fruits in Himachal in 2000-01 was 4.38 lakh
tonnes. Encephalitis: The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ms Sushma Swaraj, informed the Rajya Sabha that a number of deaths have been reported from different parts of the country due to the outbreak of viral encephalitis. During the past three years 105 deaths were reported from Haryana and two from Punjab. During the period 2000 to 2002 the country witnessed 1,396 deaths due to viral encephalitis, of which 585 deaths were reported from Uttar Pradesh, she
added. AIDS: The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ms Sushma Swaraj, informed the Rajya Sabha that the reported number of AIDS cases during the first six months of the year is 4,720. Of this 2,015 cases have been detected from Tamil Nadu, followed by Andhra Pradesh. While Chandigarh reported 83 cases, Punjab reported 21 and Himachal Pradesh seven. |
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Hurriyat team meets Kashmir Committee New Delhi, August 4 A four-member delegation led by its chairman Maulana Abbas Ansari today met the Ram Jethmalani-led Kashmir Committee and took stock of the “changes shaping the subcontinent.” The meeting lasted about 70 minutes. “We have agreed to help consolidate the process to settle problems and issues facing the region in a peaceful manner,” former All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Abdul Gani Bhat told reporters after the meeting. The APHC and Kashmir Committee reiterated that in any dialogue that addresses the Kashmir problem, all sides must abandon their “extremist stands and rise above their traditional positions.” The former APHC chief said the Hurriyat Conference would articulate these ideas to the Kashmir Committee at a meeting which would be held once its three-member team returned from the visit to Pakistan. The Kashmir Committee team, led by Jethmalani and including Mr Dileep Padgaonkar and Mr M.J. Akbar, is scheduled to leave for Islamabad on August 9. During the five-day visit, the team is expected to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Mir Zaffarullah Khan Jamali and Foreign Minister Khursheed Mohammed Kasuri. |
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BJP finds ally in Digvijay’s brother on fine issue Bhopal, August 4 The BJP National General Secretary, Mr Pramod Mahajan, today welcomed Mr Laxman Singh’s statement on the issue and said that the system of imposing collective fine was part of the British legacy. Mr Laxman Singh, the Chief Minister’s younger brother and Lok Sabha member from Rajgarh, had told a press conference last evening that the state government’s decision to impose collective fine on non-Dalit families would only increase the caste conflicts. The fine, amounting to over Rs 25 lakh, has been imposed on the non-SC, non-ST families for damaging, in August last year, crops standing on land allotted to the SC families as part of the Chief Minister’s Dalit agenda. One Dalit was killed in the clashes. The land allotted was obtained by reducing the charnoi land (common village land) from 5 per cent to 2 per cent. Mr Mahajan, who was here to attend the state BJP’s election management committee meeting, announced that the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Mr Babulal Gaur, would undertake padyatra of the five villages where collective fine had been imposed. He invited Mr Laxman Singh to join Mr Gaur. |
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5 women raise slogans in MP Assembly Bhopal, August 4 Women marshals had tough time in controlling the visitors. Later, Speaker Shreenivas Tiwari ordered that they be detained on the Assembly premises till the day’s sitting was over. The women belonged to the Samajwadi Janavadi Morcha. Their grouse was that the land, already in the possession of the tribal families, was being allotted to the Scheduled Castes at several places under the Dalit agenda. The tribal women were lathi-charged by the police when they tried to bring this to the notice of the Chief Minister in Rewa a few months ago. |
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Punjab police notice to Wimpy official stayed New Delhi, August 4 A Division Bench comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog stayed the operation of the notice issued to Wimpy International Vice-President R.K. Gosain under Section-160 of the CrPC after the petitioner submitted that he apprehended third degree torture by the Punjab police. Mr Gosain’s counsel Rajiv Nayar and Siddharth Luthra told the court that in case Punjab police wanted to question him they could come here and do so at the police station nearest to his residence in the Capital. The argument was opposed by the Punjab Government counsel D.K. Sharma, who said the police only wanted to question him. Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing on the Wimpy petition against the “illegal” arrest and detention of its employees to August 21. The court clarified that the undertaking given by Punjab Vigilance Bureau counsel A.M. Singhvi that the five Wimpy men would neither be interrogated nor would their statements be recorded by the police or a magistrate would continue. Earlier, the court had issued notices to Capt Amarinder Singh, Additional DGP A.P. Pandey, SP Surinder Singh, DIGs Siddharth Chattopadyaya, K.K. Uppal and K.J.S. Pannu (all vigilance officials), Delhi Government DCP (south) and ACP, Greater Kailash, seeking explanation as to how the Wimpy men were taken to Punjab from the jurisdiction of the court. In his reply, Capt Amarinder Singh had submitted that anti-corruption campaign was part of his poll manifesto and that was why he was acting against the “corrupt” public servants.
— PTI |
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Bench clarifies on Uphaar release
New Delhi, August 4 The clarification came from the Bench of Justice S. K. Mahajan and Justice Mukul Mudgal after senior counsel K. T. S. Tulsi, appearing for the Association of the Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), alleged that the proceedings of the Bench were being misconstrued in the criminal Bench which was hearing Ansals’ plea for release of the cinema hall. “We are only concerned with the extension of time to Uphaar owners — Ansal brothers — to pay their share of compensation”, the Bench observed. The court adjourned the hearing on the Ansals’ plea for permission to sell off Uphaar till August at the request of Ansals’ counsel Rajiv Dhawan. The Ansals, who were ordered to shell out 55 per cent of over Rs 17- crore compensation awarded to the victims, are yet to deposit their share.
— PTI |
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Roshans told to settle dispute out of court
Mumbai, August 4 Mr Justice V.M. Kanade simultaneously granted further stay on the arrest of the Roshans till the next date of hearing on August 8. Hearing four petitions filed by the Roshans praying that the court quash a criminal complaint of cheating registered against them by Gada of Popular Entertainment Network Limited (PENL), Mr Justice Kanade observed that it would be better if both parties involved in the business resolved their dispute outside court. The Roshans had filed a petition on July 28 and three more petitions yesterday and the court clubbed them together for hearing. The court had earlier restrained the police from arresting the Roshans till tomorrow. According to the complaint against the father and the son before the Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate, Rakesh Roshan and Hrithik had entered into a contract with PENL for merchandising the rights of their home products, including Hrithik’s debut film “Kaho Na Payar Hai”. The complainant alleged that his company spent crores on creating market for Hrithik, but they (Roshans) backed out from the contract and began dealing with other companies. Thereafter, a complaint was lodged against the Roshans before a local court which ordered the Mumbai police to investigate into the matter. Subsequently, the Khar police registered an offence of cheating. Earlier, advocate Dipesh Mehta, who filed the petitions on behalf of the Roshans, told the court that his clients were innocent and that they had not committed any criminal offence as alleged in the complaint. He also submitted before the court that they were well-known Bollywood personalities and a matter which was essentially of civil nature was given a cloak of a criminal offence. The petitioners also submitted that the Metropolitan Magistrate had failed to appreciate that PENL had the right for merchandise only for a period of two years, which ended on April 24 last year. The Roshans alleged that the complaint had been filed against them to force a settlement. The Roshans also alleged that they had terminated the agreement with the company for alleged breach of contract and failure to make payment for TV telecast rights.
— UNI |
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Cylinder explosion didn’t cause blast, says police Surat, August 4 “Senior officials of the Indian Oil Corporation who investigated the incident spot said the blast had not occurred due to LPG cylinders as they were intact”, Additional Commissioner of Police Mohan Jha said.
— PTI |
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Tribunal on waters dispute to be set up
New Delhi, August 4 This would be the second tribunal on the sharing of the Krishna waters, with the earlier one set up in 1969.
— PTI |
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Bhandari
is rly board Secy New Delhi, August 4 |
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