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PM must quit, says Nitish
Lalu ‘wants’ Buta Singh
to continue
Students’ query embarrasses Buta
Punjab pleads for early hearing of Badal’s SLP
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SC moved for relaxing admission norms
HC moved for CBI probe against Gaur
Directive on Guru’s
artefacts
Jaguar crashes, pilot ejects
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PM must quit, says Nitish
Patna, October 7 The BJP national general secretary Pramod Mahajan wanted the Governor to be recalled for his "unconstitutional
recommendation" paving the way for President's rule in Bihar dissolving the Assembly. The Supreme Court has today declared the dissolution of Bihar legislature as unconstitutional, but it said elections in the state scheduled for October 18 would be held. The ruling by a Constitutional Bench headed by Justice Y.K. Sabharwal also clarified that the dissolved Assembly would not be revived. The Governor, Mr Buta Singh refused to comment on the Supreme Court judgement. According to Mr Nitish Kumar, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had lost his moral authority to continue in office. Mr Pramod Mahajan alleged that the Supreme Court judgement only proved that the RJD and its prime ally, the Congress, had scanty regards for democratic values. Mr Mahajan wondered as to way the CPM was mute against the proclamation of President's rulehere. Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav upheld the decision of the court to hold the polls as per schedule as victory for the RJD and its allies. It may be mentioned that the dissolution of the House was challenged by three legislators from the National Democratic Alliance and an independent member. On May 21, Mr Buta Singh wrote to the Central Government recommending the dissolution. The next day in a dramatic move, the Cabinet met in the middle of the night and sent the recommendation to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The dissolution was ordered on May 23. |
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Lalu ‘wants’ Buta Singh
to continue
Patna, October 7 Sources in the RJD disclosed that Mr Lalu Prasad was trying to persuade the Centre to retain Buta Singh as the Governor of Bihar till the formation of the next government after the four phase Assembly elections that begin on October 18. Mr Lalu Prasad has reportedly spoken to senior Congress leaders camping in Chandigarh now on this issue after the court judgement and conveyed his desire to the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. It was reliably learnt that the apprehension of a hung Assembly this
time, where the BJP-JD(U) coalition is expected to be ahead of others in the number game, prompted Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav to stand by Mr Buta Singh in this hour of crisis. Sources in the state Congress disclosed that it was Mr Lalu Prasad who forced the Prime Minister to promptly act on the report sent by Mr Buta Singh suggesting the dissolution of the Assembly as he feared “horse trading” by the BJP-JD(U). Sources claimed that Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav even threatened to withdraw support from the UPA if the Centre did not act on the Governor’s report. According to sources, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav’s basic concern was to derail the effort by the BJP and the JD(U) to form the next government as Nitish Kumar was close to become the Chief Minister. It may be noted that the Union Cabinet met late in the night on May 22 to recommend the proclamation of President’s rule to the President, who was then in Moscow, following which President’s rule was imposed here on May 23. It was also learnt from Congress sources that the Prime Minister personally did not approve such a hurried move to recommend the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly. On his part, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav is now happy of the fact that despite the slap on the UPA by the Supreme Court by describing the dissolution “unconstituional”, the court has given a go-ahead for the poll. This is the reason why Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav welcomed the court’s verdict as he apprehended that the revival of the Assembly could help Nitish Kumar to form the next government and in the process he could miss his chance to regain his lost ground as he was expecting in the coming poll. There are clearly three villains in the entire episode leading to such indictment by the Supreme Court, the President, the Centre and the Governor, it now only remains to be seen how far Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav’s reported effort could succeed to save Mr Buta Singh under the changed situation. Even sources in Raj Bhavan also admitted that pressure was mounting on Mr Buta Singh to step down on his own. Mr Buta Singh’s only official remarks on the court judgement was that “everyone should honour the apex court’s verdict”, and he refused to elaborate further till the filing of this report as the
embarrassment was apparent on his face. However, sources admitted that the fate of Mr Buta Singh finally depends on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who is presently in Chandigarh to preside over the Congress chief ministers’ conclave. After all, the fortunes of the RJD and the Congress are interlinked both at the Centre and in Bihar now. |
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Students’ query embarrasses Buta
Patna, October 7 The students, after the revelation of suspected involvement of a BJP MLA from eastern UP in the abduction of Golu, feel that if this situation continues, they will have to drop their studies. Even as the Governor assured the students, who met him at Raj Bhavan last week, of stern action against the culprits and also reviewed progress in the Golu case with senior officials, the students here are dismayed at the growing nexus between “politicians and criminals”. A delegation of the Bihar Public School and Welfare Association has left for Delhi to meet the President, seeking his intervention in the Golu case. |
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Punjab pleads for early hearing of Badal’s SLP
New Delhi, October 7 Badal’s Special Leave Petition (SLP), which had been admitted by the apex court earlier is pending for about two years. In the SLP, he and his son Sukhbir Badal, MP, chargesheeted by the state police, had challenged the dismissal of their revision petition by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Solicitor General G. E. Vahanvati, appearing for Punjab Government along with state’s Additional Advocate General Atul Nanda, told a Bench of Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice C. K. Thakker that though the matter was earlier listed for regular hearing, yet it had not been taken up. Acceding to the request of the state government, the court said it would be taken up for argument in the first week of January. “The matters like this has to be decided one way or the other as early as possible”, the court said but cited its tight schedule of cases as a reason for the delay. Badal’s counsel K. K. Venugopal said these are all “politically motivated” cases. The former Chief Minister and his son had challenged their chargesheeting in the corruption case on the ground that there was no “proper prior sanction” obtained from the competent authorities by the state government to prosecute them, which is a mandatory provision under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The government had claimed that the sanction to prosecute them had been obtained as per the laid down procedure. Their application to this effect was rejected by the trial judge, following which they moved the High Court. |
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SC moved for relaxing admission norms
New Delhi, October 7 The All India Medical and Engineering College Association, representing 1,540 private colleges in the country, moved the petition yesterday, which the court listed for hearing on October 21. The association president, Mr T.D. Naidu, in his petition sought the permission of the court for filling the seats on the basis of marks obtained by students in board examinations as after exhausting of the CET list over 1,000 seats of nursing and pharmaceutical courses had still remained vacant with private colleges in almost all states. According to a chart enclosed with the petition, a maximum of 247 seats were available in Tamil Nadu, 181 in Andhra Pradesh, 113 in Karnataka, 96 in Madhya Pradesh, 81 in Maharashtra, 66 each in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, 48 in Gujarat, 38 in Rajasthan, 30 in Orissa, 25 each in Delhi, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh, 20 each in Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal, 15 and 10 in Bihar and Haryana, respectively. The court had earlier permitted the private engineering colleges to fill remaining seats on merit based on board marks after ensuring that all CET listed candidate were first given admission. The concession for filling seats outside the CET was granted by the court only for the academic year 2005-06 in the engineering colleges last month in the interest of students, making it clear that the order would not be a precedent for future. The association said if the seats were not fully filled, the colleges would suffer huge financial losses and would not be able to improve the facilities. To sustain financial viability of a private college, it was necessary that at least 50 per cent of seats of a course were filled. |
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HC moved for CBI probe against Gaur
Bhopal, October 7 She has also sought a directive to restrain Mr Gaur and others from any attempt to circumvent the Jagatpati Committee Report to save the guilty. Mr Gaur is accused of committing the offences of criminal breach of trust and cheating and thus causing a huge monetary loss to the government when he was the Minister of Local Self-Government in the BJP government of Mr Sunderlal Patwa (1990-92). The committee, headed by former Chief Secretary Jagatpati, was constituted by Mr Digvijay Singh soon after the Congress formed the government in state in 1993. Mr Jagatpati had submitted the voluminous report on the alleged misdeeds of Mr Babulal Gaur and others during the first tenure of Mr Digvijay Singh, but he somehow did not take any action on the report though he had five years to do so. Mr Gaur retrieved the report from the cold storage and appointed a secretaries’ committee to examine it and submit the Action Taken Report (ATR). Ms Jamuna Devi sees it as an attempt to “close any action required in law to be taken” against him and the public servants indicted in the report of the Jagatpati Committee. She has prayed to the high court to restrain him from doing so. |
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Directive on Guru’s
artefacts
New Delhi, October 7 These previous historical pieces were given to Pir Budha Shah of Sadhaura by the Guru himself. There is also a daggar and a lash “(korra)” of Guru Hargobind along with a sword, which were presented by the Guru to Baba Tilok Singh in 1763 by the Guru himself. These artefacts were earlier on display in the gurdwara in the palace of the family but were taken to Delhi when the palace was sold to a private person. The family, which is now settled in Delhi, has not yet displayed these anywhere else. NCM chairperson Tarlochan Singh asked the Punjab Government to request the family for this purpose. He complimented the family for providing Rs 1 crore for the restoration of the historical buildings in the city. |
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