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Detentions in Sankararaman case quashed
6 Tihar officials suspended after sting operation
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Parliament nod to Finance Bill
Finance Ministry tones down MoD demand
PM misleading nation on boycott issue: NDA
Parliament hails launch of satellites
Nanavati report not in this session
CPM opposes formation of Telengana
Centre refuses to repeal IMDT Act in Assam
Company as juristic person liable for punishment: SC
Pak sounds positive on oil and gas cooperation CBI seeks nod to prosecute bureaucrats
One child in every 4
is a labourer
States told to print books in Braille
Tension in Manipur over language issue
Mumbai cop in judicial custody
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Detentions in Sankararaman case quashed
Chennai, May 5 Allowing Habeas Corpus petitions, filed by the 11 accused, challenging their detentions under the Act, which is normally invoked to maintain public order and against habitual offenders, a Division Bench comprising Justice M. Karpagavinayagam and Justice C. Nagappan said the police had not justified their action detaining them under the Act. “The police had neither collected nor placed any material before the detaining authority to show that as a result of the murder of Sankararaman, a Kancheepuram temple official, public order and even the tempo of life had been greatly affected,” the judges observed. Holding that the incidents quoted in the detention order did not amount to disturbance to public order, they said the failure of the detaining authority to verify about the
applicability of the disturbance to public order in these cases would vitiate the detention orders and therefore “they are held to be not legal and accordingly quashed.” The accused were directed to be set at liberty forthwith unless required in connection with any other case.
— PTI |
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6 Tihar officials suspended after sting operation
New Delhi, May 5 He told a news conference that a high-level inquiry had also been ordered after Aaj Tak TV footages showed them accepting money from undercover reporters wanting information about inmates. The suspended officials included Deputy Superintendent Ashwini Kumari of Central Jail No 7, whom the TV channel showed purportedly selling out jail records of an inmate for
Rs 2,000. Deputy Superintendent R. D. Bohet of Central Jail No 2, Assistant Superintendent Raj Kumar, who allegedly passed on money to inmates for a price, Assistant Superintendent Vinod Kashyap, who allegedly allowed cash-for-parking inside the jail, and Warder Digamber Singh were also placed under suspension. Meanwhile, Mr R.P. Singh had a meeting with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to discuss jail security and other issues. An FIR under relevant provisions of the anti-corruption law has been registered.
— UNI |
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Parliament nod to Finance Bill
New Delhi, May 5 With this, the exercise of the Budget has been completed. The new tax provisions will come into effect from June this fiscal. Replying to the discussion, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram stood firm on provisions of cash withdrawal tax (CWT) and fringe benefit tax
(FBT). He said corporates were disguising salaries through fringe benefits which needed to be taxed. Though the Finance Bill, as amended in the Lok Sabha, had already simplified the administration of the
FBT, the Finance Minister said he was open to review it if some flaws were detected in its implementation. The Finance Minister said the purpose behind the CWT, whose limit had been raised, was “tax trail” to unearth black money. He said tax withdrawal transactions would be monitored and questions would be asked only in case of doubts. “It will be administered carefully,” he said. On service tax, he said as service sector accounted for 52 per cent of the GDP, it was only appropriate people got used to paying tax for services rendered just as they paid excise duty on goods. On indirect taxes, Mr Chidambaram said the Bill had attempted to correct the inverted pyramid duty structure in most cases. Responding to Jairam Ramesh’s queries on the FBT not being incorporated through the disallowance route, the Finance Minister said he had discontinued that route in his earlier term as Finance Minister in 1997 because there were a lot of discretionary powers with the Income Tax Assessment Officer. Describing the value added tax as the biggest tax reform by states in the country, Mr Chidambaram appealed to two BJP-ruled states, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, to come under VAT. |
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Finance Ministry tones down MoD demand
New Delhi, May 5 Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee in a statement issued here today said that the Finance Ministry had in principle agreed to allocate Rs 4,18,101 crore for the MoD in the Tenth Plan. However, he added that this was in line with the latest projections. In the statement on the status of implementation of recommendations of the first report of the Standing Committee on Defence, Mr Mukherjee said the Defence Ministry had “energetically” pursued the allocation of funds for defence in the Tenth Plan with the Finance Ministry. The Defence Minister’s statement comes days after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence had pointed to the big gap between the demand and allocations. The committee had said this gap was adversely
affecting the defence planning and “our preparedness”. The MoD had in 2001 projected a demand of Rs 4,97,000 crore for the tenth plan but the Finance Ministry in 2004 indicated a figure of Rs 4,18,000 crore. The figure was reached after repeated deliberations in the MoD where the Finance Ministry insisted on bringing down the figure from the initial projection. But again there was no firm commitment from the Finance Ministry. The committee also pointed out that the total allocation in the first four years of the Tenth Plan had just come to Rs 2,76,300 crore which was nowhere near the requirement. Confirming this the Defence Minister said a ‘’firm indication of annual outlays’’ for the remaining two years of the Tenth Plan had not yet been given by the Finance Ministry. The situation is quite different from the defence outlay in the Ninth Plan, where it was approved in the very first year in 1998 at Rs 2,20,000 crore. And as a result the outlay turned out to be more than the demand put forward by the MoD in every subsequent Budget. Referring to 28 recommendations of the Standing Committee, Mr Mukherjee said a revised draft Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan
(LTIPP) covering a 15-year period from 2002 to 2017 was expected to be finalised by the last quarter of this year while the Defence Procurement Procedure was presently under review to make it more ‘’streamlined, transparent and effective’’. The minister said his ministry had requested the Cabinet Secretariat for an Inter-Ministerial High Level Committee to identify and allot suitable land for the construction of a National War Memorial and National War Museum while a detailed project report on the proposed National Defence University was under preparation. The Defence Minister, however, said considering the complexities and sensitivities involved in the matter, no decision had so far been taken on establishment of the Chief of Defence Staff. “But an integrated Defence Staff had been set up under the Chief of Integrated Staff to the Chiefs of Staff Committee
CISC),’’ he added. Defence Minister said efforts were being made for the induction of the first production version of Light Combat Aircraft
(LCA) with Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) in March 2007. He added that high priority had been accorded to acquisition of Electronic Warfare and Electronic Counter-Counter Measures. The minister also said the government had constituted a Group of Ministers
(GoM) to go into various aspects of the issue of “one rank one pension”. |
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PM misleading nation on boycott issue: NDA
New Delhi, May 5 Talking to mediapersons, the BJP spokesperson, Ms Sushma Swaraj, said the Prime Minister had never made an honest effort to resolve the situation and his telephonic talk with the Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani, NDA chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh was ‘’merely a formality’’. ‘’The Prime Minister has never assured that the Opposition leaders be allowed to speak uninterrupted in both the Houses,’’ she added in an effort to score a point. The decision to take on the UPA head-on was taken by Mr Advani in consultation with NDA convener George Fernandes, sources said. Mr Advani, who was asked by the RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan to make way for the second generation leaders in the BJP, has been advised by his close followers that he has to tackle dissidence with an iron hand, sources said. Mr Advani has decided to take the battle outside Parliament in the public arena where a booklet is already being circulated which explains the reasons for the NDA’s boycott of the two Houses of Parliament. |
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Parliament hails launch of satellites
New Delhi, May 5 “The launching of the two satellites has once again demonstrated the strength of Indian science made possible by the ceaseless efforts of our dedicated scientists in yet another frontier area of space technology”, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said. |
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Nanavati report not in this session
New Delhi, May 5 “The Nanavati Commission report was presented to Home Minister Shivraj Patil two months back and the government, as per rules, has six months to table it,” sources said today. They said the nearly 200-page report would be tabled in Parliament during the monsoon session that begins in July. Replying to questions on making the report public, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the findings of the commission should not be held back by the government. “If it is a matter of public importance, it should not be held back. It should be shared with people. Suspicion is worse than reality,” he told reporters. — PTI
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CPM opposes formation of Telengana
New Delhi, May 5 “Instead of tackling the root cause of regional imbalance, backwardness and underdevelopment, the demand for setting up of new states will be a diversion and open up a host of intra-state problems, which can heighten differences and weaken the unity of the people,” CPM General-Secretary Prakash Karat said. The CPM submitted its note on the subject to the UPA Coordination Committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee to consider the demand for the formation of a Telengana state. The formation of linguistic states provided the bedrock for the federal system in our country. Dividing these states into smaller states would weaken the federal principle. Smaller states emerging out of the division of the linguistically homogenous states would be more dependent on the Centre and this would militate against the federal principle, Mr Karat said, adding the CPM was in favour of a strong Centre and strong states to strengthen national unity. Admitting that the Telengana region was underdeveloped and backward even after the formation of states on linguistic principles, Mr Karat said the socio-economic problem should be tackled by comprehensive land distribution, improve educational facilities and special funds should be earmarked for the development of backward areas in the Budget and a separate mechanism to be created to oversee the implementation of the special plans for the backward areas. |
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Centre refuses to repeal IMDT Act in Assam New Delhi, May 5 At a high-power tripartite meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended among others by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and five-member AASU delegation, the Centre also agreed to seal the Indo-Bangla border along Assam to check illegal migration, doubling the detection and deportation tribunal for speedy deportation of illegal migrants and Centre’s assistance to revive sick units in Assam. “While majority of the demands of the AASU for the speedy implementation of the Assam Accord, signed in 1985, were agreed to, there was difference of opinion on the demand of repeal of the IMDT Act... The Centre made it clear that it is not in favour of its repeal not to protect foreigners but to protect genuine Indian citizens,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said after the meeting. The AASU Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya told newspersons that his organisation was “determined to ensure that the IMDT Act is repealed.” Prime Minister’s Press Advisor Sanjay Baru said “The Prime Minister who sat through the meeting, while describing Assam as his ‘second home’ assured the people of the state and the region that his government was committed to long-term economic and social development, not just for Assam but the entire North-East.”
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Company as juristic person liable for punishment: SC
New Delhi, May 5 The five-judge Bench in a three-to-two majority judgement, held that a company as juristic person was not “immune” from prosecution for offences of mismanagement, cheating and financial
irregularities under the Indian Penal Code as well as for Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Mr Justice D M Dharmadhikari and Mr Justice Arun Kumar in their majority verdict, said though a company as juristic person could not be punished with imprisonment on being found guilty it could be fined for it. But Mr Justice N Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice B N Srikrishna did not agree with the majority view and held that a company could not be held liable for any criminal offence committed by its functionaries as it could not be awarded the punishment of imprisonment. The ruling is seen by corporate sector lawyers as a major deterrent to the companies with respect of offences like food adulteration, irregularities in manufacturing, fraud and cheating by financial institutions and banks and manufacturing and sale of spurious drugs. It will have particular impact on financial institutions (FI’s) and banks as hitherto only the officials were held liable for creating of Non Performing Assets (NPA), as had been witnessed during past two decades with banks and Fis having NPA worth Rs 1 lakh crore due to faulty landing activities, the corporate lawyers said. Similarly in the cheque bouncing cases only the officials of the company were held guilty but now the company could attract punishment in the form of imposition of heavy fine on this account, they explained. The judgement came on a bunch of appeals by Grindlays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, National Fertilizers Ltd, Iridium India Telecom Ltd , Motorola and others, raising the question of law that a company cannot be held liable for any criminal offence as it could not be imprisoned as a juristic person. The companies in their appeals had questioned their liability on three accounts whether it could
be prosecuted, convicted and punished. Their main contention was that in punishment clauses of various laws dealing with such offences, there were provisions of imprisonment and fine and the first part (imprisonment) could not be awarded to a juristic person like company. |
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Pak sounds positive on oil and gas cooperation New Delhi, May 5 Economic relations, the envoy observed, could be the driving force behind the desire among peoples of both nations for forging better bilateral ties and that cooperation in oil and gas would not only give a fillip to trade ties but also offer energy security. “A bright future beckons us,” Mr Khan said at a seminar on Indo-Pak relations here this evening. Appreciating the gains from the composite dialogue process, he said: “We have an opportunity to make history, let us not be found wanting.” Dwelling on the state of Pakistan’s economy, the Pakistan High Commissioner said that GDP was expected to grow at 7.5 per cent this fiscal.
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CBI seeks nod to prosecute bureaucrats
New Delhi, May 5 The other bureaucrats and bankers against whom the central investigative agency has sought permission for prosecution include former PSB Executive Director and now CMD of Oriental Bank of Commerce, B.D. Narang, S.P. Singh, Commissioner of Central Excise, former Delhi Chief Secretary R.K. Takkar, Head of Department of AIIMS, N.K. Mehra and former DDA Vice-Chairman Subhash Sharma. This information was given by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri in the Rajya Sabha today.
— UNI
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One child in every 4
is a labourer
New Delhi, May 5 As per figures quoted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment today, the number of children sweating it out in the heat of stone quarries or firecracker factories, those working in fields or as domestic servants stands at 1,25,91,667(about 12.6 million), but NGOs like the Child Relief and You(CRY) peg the figure at close to 100 million. In the ministry’s response to a query on state-wise and district-wise distribution of child labourers, based on the latest Census, in the Rajya Sabha today, of these 12.6 million children, 1,77,268 child labourers are in Punjab, 1,75,630 in Jammu and Kashmir, 2,53,491 in Haryana and 1,07,774 in Himachal Pradesh. In Chandigarh, 3,779 children are working at the cost of their childhood. The highest number of working children are 19,27,997 in Uttar Pradesh, 10,65,25 in Madhya Pradesh, 13,63,339 in Andhra Pradesh, 12,62,570 in Rajasthan and 11,17,500
in Bihar. However, even though the ministry admits that child labour is a socio-economic problem in the country and the government has made several efforts to eliminate it, facts state otherwise. As it is, there is some confusion and ambiguity even in the figures. According to the GM, Policy and Research, CRY, Ms Vijyalakshmi Balakrishnan, the government’s report on the convention on the Rights of the Child Committee had stated that there were 17 million children working in India while according to NGOs, there were more than 100 million child labourers in India. “The status of 74 million children who do not attend school is not known. We believe they are all working,” she says. The Child Labour (Prohibitions and Regulations) Act, 1986, provides that any person who employs any child in contravention of the provisions of the Act is liable to punishment with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one year or with fine which shall not be less than Rs 10,000 but which may extend to Rs 20,000, or both. Children in India continue to perform a variety of jobs, some work in factories others in farms and some at home. Besides, the government has also formulated the National Child Labour Project under which working children are withdrawn from work and put into special schools. |
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States told to print books in Braille
New Delhi, May 5 In a letter, the NHRC Chairperson, Justice A.S. Anand recommended the state education boards to print books in Braille and work on proper distribution systems so that these could be made available in the beginning of each academic session and students did not have to suffer any hardship on this account. Justice Anand said the states and UTs should ensure that books in Braille were printed simultaneously with regular books and for this high-speed computerised Braille presses could be used. This would ensure education in an appropriate environment for visually impaired students. |
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Tension in Manipur over language issue
Imphal, May 5 The Cabinet which met here yesterday could not work out an acceptable formula which could defuse the tension. The opposition from the Adivasis, Naga students and Bengalis residing in Manipur to replace Bengali with Meitei has made the job difficult for the Okram
government. After the Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister asked the Education Department to work out a solution to the problem in consultation with language experts in the shortest possible time. Meanwhile, the KCP has threatened the ministers and MLAs with dire consequences as they failed to resolve the issue by May 1. |
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Mumbai cop in judicial custody
Mumbai, May 5 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D.B. Nikam sent More to judicial custody till May 19. |
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