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Rules twisted to appoint AAI
Regulator for TV channels soon
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BJP alleges quid pro quo between RJD, Saptharishi
UPA asks Lalu to tone down criticism Cong: Nirupam controversy being resolved
SC orders compulsory registration of marriages
Lukewarm response to Cong bandh call
2 more cops held for molesting woman
Action against IPS trainees only after probe
UN conference on gender equality from today
Parliament pays tributes to World War II martyrs
SC seeks report on probe into teachers’ appointment scam
Saha envoy to Ukraine
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Rules twisted to appoint AAI member: officers
New Delhi, May 9 The Airports Authority Officers’ Association (India), in a letter dated April 26, made specific allegations that not only were the criteria for the post of Member (Personnel and Administration) changed a day before the last date for filing of applications but the application of the concerned officer was accepted directly at the ministry-level rather than routing it through the AAI. In the letter, a copy of which is in the possession of The Tribune, the association also alleged that the concerned officer was close to an officer in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Due to his connection with the PMO officer, his actions in the AAI were not being questioned even though he was “misinterpreting” the rules and regulations concerned with personnel and administration. The association alleged that the Public Services Selection Board (PSSB0 had advertised the vacancy for the post of Member (Personnel and Admn) and the qualification required for the post was that the applicant should possess a post- graduate degree in Personnel Management or an MBA with specialisation in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from a reputed university or institute of management. The applicant was also required to possess an adequate experience. The association said that the last date for the submission of applications was May 3, 2003, but on May 2, 2003, the PSSB brought out a corrigendum changing the requirements for the post, which actually softened the needed experience and qualifications. The association also objected that the same “corrigendum” was received in AAI on May 11, 2003, and was not widely circulated either in the two divisions of the AAI. This, the association said, denied a number of officers an opportunity to apply for the post in the changed circumstances and requirements. The association also alleged that as a result of the change in requirements for the post, only one officer got qualified. Naming the officer in the letter the association said that his application was not sent through the AAI for the fear of being screened. While pointing out that the appointment of the officer was not in consonance with the laid rules and reflected favouritism, the association said that the officer was now misinterpreting the rules of recruitment and promotion. The officers' body had requested the CVC to investigate the appointment in the interest of “justice”. It also asked the CVC to restrain the officer from functioning till the entire matter was examined.
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Regulator for TV channels soon
New Delhi, May 9 Information and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy told the Rajya Sabha today a core group had been set up in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to draft the Bill. He said the Bill would be introduced “as quickly as possible but not in this session.” He said autonomous authorities for regulating contents offered by TV channels existed in many countries, including the US. Answering a query by Mr V. Narayanaswamy who demanded that the proposed Bill for a separate regulatory authority for television channels should address the issue of private channels trying to malign politicians and others, Mr Reddy said politicians did not have special rights to be protected from defamation. He said politicians should acquire a reputation of their own to shield them against any attempt by private television channels to malign them. “I have been a parliamentarian in my own right. I don’t think politicians have any special rights for any kind of defamation,” he said. Answering another question, Mr Reddy said the ministry had finalised a package for extending 300 radio stations in the private sector and the bidding process would commence in the next few weeks. Answering another query, he said the Advertising Code stipulated that ads carried in the cable service would conform to the laws of the country and would not offend morality, decency and religious susceptibilities of the subscribers. To a query, he said the Press Council of India (PCI) had expressed concern over the increasing tendency of the media to conduct trials parallel to the courts and cautioned the media to exercise restraint while reporting on juvenile crimes.
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BJP alleges quid pro quo between RJD, Saptharishi
New Delhi, May 9 Demanding that the government should make public all communication by Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh relating to the CAPART chief between April 30 and May 6, BJP spokesperson and former Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley alleged the Minister was attempting to manage a three-year tenure for Mr Saptharishi for his allegations against the Election Commission. “It now transpires that this official (Mr Saptharishi) wrote against the two members of the Election Commission (Mr B.B. Tandon and Mr N. Gopalaswami) on May 6, 2005. Around the same time, the RJD minister in central government Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was endeavouring to manage that the Director-General of CAPART be given a three-year tenure, thus ensuring a quid pro quo for this officer who would get a term of two and half years after retirement”, Mr Jaitley told newspersons here. As for Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav demanding resignation of the two Election Commissioner, Mr Jaitley said “It is unusual that a minister, who refuses to resign after being chargesheeted, starts asking for resignation of constitutional authorities at the behest of a dubious claim of a civil servant, a claim which Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy himself has disputed”. “To add to the credibility of this dubious claim annual confidential reports (ACRs) of this officer was leaked out by the government to the media. Copies of this report were being made available from the office of the Union Railway Minister,” Mr Jaitley said. Mr Saptharishi had accused the two Election Commissioners of making casteist remarks against the Yadav community during a meeting to discuss the repoll in Chhapra constituency during the general election in May last year. Repeated effort to get in touch with Mr Saptharishi for his comments on the BJP’s allegations went in vain.
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UPA asks Lalu to tone down criticism New Delhi, May 9 At the same time, senior UPA leaders also persuaded Mr Yadav to tone down his criticism of the Election Commission on the plea it would prove counter-productive. They met with a measure of success when the Railway Minister declared, by the end of the day, that he would not approach either the Prime Minister or the Law Minister to press for the removal of the Election Commissioners though he stuck to his demand that they should step down on their own. Striking a conciliatory note, Mr Yadav said he also believed in upholding the dignity of the Election Commission and that it was not him but an IAS officer who had levelled allegations against the two Election Commissioners. Mr Yadav had a brief meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi this evening in connection with this snowballing controversy. The UPA government’s intention to steer clear from the attack on the Election Commission was evident when Law Minister H. R. Bharadwaj told mediapersons that he had not received any letter from senior bureaucrat L.V.Saptharishi alleging that the election in Chhapra was countermanded under pressure from the then Home Minister L.K.Advani. On the other hand, Mr Bharadwaj rapped the senior bureaucrat for overstepping his brief by criticising a constitutional authority. In fact, he went as far as to say that Mr Saptharishi could have violated the code of conduct and could be pulled up for this indiscretion. “It is not proper for a civil servant to criticise any constitutional authority. The senior civil servant who was on election duty in Bihar and is at present posted in the Rural Development Ministry headed by RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, has claimed he has written to the Law Minister explaining how his report on the Chhapra election was ignored by the Election Commission. He also accused the Election Commissioners of making castiest remarks. Although the RJD is a valuable coalition partner, the Congress is evidently wary of joining the attack on a constitutional authority. “The Election Commission is a constitutional body and should be kept out of any political controversy...the sanctity of the institution has to be maintained,” party spokesperson Anand Sharma said, adding that that if a senior bureaucrat has written a letter making any charges on the conduct of elections, these should be looked into by the minister concerned. |
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Cong: Nirupam controversy being resolved New Delhi, May 9 Party spokesman Anand Sharma parried
questions on whether Mr Dutt had violated discipline by his remarks at a rally yesterday. “I shall not get into the issue of violation of discipline. A process has started within the party to sort out the matter,” he said. Replying to questions on Mr Dutt’s outburst against the induction of the former Shiv Sena MP, Mr Sharma said the Minister may have his reservations but Mr Nirupam had also stated that he had given up
his association with
the Shiv Sena and had expressed faith in the Congress ideals. “It is an internal matter of
the party,” he
said. He said that induction process involved several rounds of consultation with the Pradesh Congress Committee and the central leadership. An agitated Mr Dutt had said yesterday that party chief Sonia Gandhi had been “misled” on the issue of Mr Sanjay Nirupam’s induction and all facts had not been placed before
her. However, Ms Margret Alva, who is in charge of Maharashtra, responded by saying that Mr Nirupam was admitted into the
Congress after deliberations with state leaders, including those belonging to minority communities and Mr Dutt. |
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SC orders compulsory registration of marriages
New Delhi, May 9 “We are of the view that until a suitable legislation is made, the government orders/executive instructions can be made enforceable in terms of the order of this court. These may be implemented where there is no statutory prescription for recording/registering the marriages, and may be done as an additional measure when there is any such prescription,” a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia directed in a recent order. The order, which was made available to the media today, said in the absence of the record about the registration of marriages, the court had been facing various problems of “far reaching consequences” with regard to adjudication of matrimonial disputes. The direction was issued by the court after considering the submission of Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati that for the compulsory registration of marriages, a suitable legislation in this regard was necessary as the government’s executive order might not “suffice”. The court found itself handicapped in dealing with a petition pertaining to various aspects of a matrimonial dispute in a case filed by one Seema against her husband Ashwani Kumar, which is currently pending before the Additional District Judge of Delhi. The court also asked the Centre and the state governments and union territories to place on record their views on the issue. “We request the Solicitor-General to consider whether the government orders by way of executive instructions can be issued, on the basis of direction of this court, to various states and union territories to authorise officials specifically to keep the records of marriages so that they can be placed as evidence in different proceedings if the necessity arises,” the Bench said. The court also appointed senior advocate Ranjit Kumar as amicus curiae in the case to assist it.
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Lukewarm response to Cong bandh call
Bhopal, May 9 AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, in charge of party affairs in Madhya Pradesh, was himself present in Sagar district along with PCC president Subhash Yadav to oversee the bandh. Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kentilal Bhuria was present at Jhabua and state Youth Congress president Meenakshi Natarajan in Jabalpur district. Conspicuous was the absence of former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. |
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2 more cops held for molesting woman
Mumbai, May 9 The police said the two constables, Subash More (30) and Sunil Dhanaji Sawant (42), who were attached to the Marol police training school in Mumbai, were roaming about the railway station after consuming liquor when they came across the woman who was travelling with her husband and daughter. After the family objected, the policemen attacked them and thrashed the woman’s husband and young daughter. Angry commuters, however, converged on the scene and beat up the two policemen. The family was returning home at around 10.30 in the night when the incident occurred. The family, meanwhile, rushed to the railway police station and complained about the incident. The police said nearly 400 angry commuters surrounded the Thane Railway police station where the two constables were locked up and demanded that the duo be handed over to the crowd. Late, in the night, the crowd broke into the police station and thrashed the two cops. The two policemen were produced before the Kalyan court today, where they were remanded to custody. Last fortnight, a constable was arrested after he raped a teenager inside a police chowki at the Marine Drive promenade.
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Action against IPS trainees only after probe
Hyderabad, May 9 “I am still in the process of reconstructing the incident and will take a few more days to submit the report,” Mr Gupta, who has been asked to inquire into the episode, told The Tribune. A kiosk owner was seriously injured when some trainee IPS officers got into a scuffle over the price of a cigarette pack after a night out in a bar last week at Rajendranagar, where the academy is located. Vendor Siddappa’s condition continues to be unstable, doctors attending on him at the Apollo Hospital said. The Deputy Director, while admitting that the Home Ministry had asked for details about the incident, however, clarified that the visit of the Special Secretary (Home) yesterday to the academy was not in connection with the incident. The two cadets, Mr Kewal Khurana and Mr Anand Prakash Tiwari, involved in the fracas, are back at the academy after being discharged from the hospital. |
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UN conference on gender equality from today
New Delhi, May 9 The conference
beginning here from tomorrow is being organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNIFEM and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. Experts from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are attending the conference. Heyzer said 45 countries had legislation to end violence against women. She said the cost of gender inequalities was far too high. “It impedes development. We will not be able to achieve our goals unless we deal with gender inequalities. If we want to cut and break the cycle of poverty, we will have to address the issue of feminist poverty.” She said UNIFEM started a project over two years ago in Vijaywada with the Ministry of Railways to spread the message of AIDS. |
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Parliament pays tributes to World War II martyrs
New Delhi, May 9 Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the victory over fascism inspired the struggle of millions of people all over the world, including India, for justice, freedom and equality which ultimately resulted in the liberation of many countries from the clutches of colonial rulers. “Our Prime Minister along with several world leaders is paying tributes in Moscow to those brave soldiers who fought on behalf of the allied forces against the Nazi Germany,” he said. He said a large number of Indian soldiers fought in the war and made the supreme sacrifice of their lives. Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said the realisation of the futility of war and the intense suffering it could cause led to the founding of the United Nations so that humankind did not have to suffer the agony of war. Both Houses observed a minute’s silence in memory of the martyrs. |
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SC seeks report on probe into teachers’ appointment scam
New Delhi, May 9 Since the case had three-point dimension - investigation into the alleged attempt by former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala to replace the original selection list with a fake list, probe into three cases of corruption against suspended Haryana Primary Education Director Sanjiv Kumar by the CBI and probe in three departmental inquiries against him by the CVC - the court directed Additional Solicitor-General P P Malhotra to submit the status report in a “sealed cover” tomorrow about all the matters. A Bench of Chief Justice, R.C. Lahoti, Mr Justice D M Dharmadhikari and Mr Justice G P Mathur, which posted the hearing in the matter tomorrow, also directed the CBI to furnish with the report a press statement of its Information Officer regarding the raids conducted on Chautala’s as well as Sanjiv Kumar’s premises last month. The press statement was sought after senior advocate Anil Diwan, who appeared for Sanjiv Kumar free of cost along with a battery of lawyers to assist him for the entire state machinery being allegedly used against him to harass him, contended that “wrong averments were made by the CBI’s Information Officer about the case after the raids on April 7 and 8.” Diwan said it was strange that the CBI had only chosen to register the case against Chautala’s the then Principal Secretary and Political Secretary but not the former Chief Minister. “How can the secretaries of a Chief Minister act in such a case without his instructions,” he asked. Diwan also alleged that a CBI officer, who was supervising the investigation, had demanded Rs 55 lakh from Sanjiv Kumar to get him out of the cases. Sanjiv Kumar had himelf offered for a CBI probe by filing a petition before the apex court at then why should he be afraid of it, Diwan contended. However, Malhotra told the court that the officer against whom Sanjiv Kumar had levelled charges of demanding money, had been removed from the investigating team.
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Saha envoy to Ukraine
New Delhi, May 9 |
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