New Delhi, January 12
Faced with the prospect of having to surrender funds, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has pulled up the top Army brass for reported under-utilisation of allocated budgetary grants and tardy clearance of weapons acquisition projects.

The minister came down on the Army brass at a meeting this week as the defence financial indicators indicated that the Army, unlike its two sister services the Navy and the Air Force, had only been able to utilise 43 per cent of the budgetary allocation on capital outlay till December. The figure last year was 63 per cent.

Under the new Finance Ministry directive, no ministry can spend more than 33 per cent of total funds allocation for the year in a quarter to prevent bunching of expenditure.

Peeved over the tardy clearance of modernisation programme, the minister, sources said, told the Army brass to sort out differences across the table in a definite timeframe to avoid delay in weapons induction and other major modernisation programmes.

Mr Mukherjee, the sources said, also voiced his anger at the delay in replying to queries raised by the Members of Parliament on major defence issues. According to the sources, the Army’s reveune expenditure has also been tardy.

After a gap of five years, the UPA government was able to fully utilise its budgetary allocation on capital outlay.

So far the Defence Ministry had cleared only two major defence deals for purchase under technology transfer French Scorpene submarines and to purchase three VVIP aircraft from the USA company Boeing. — PTI

Meerut, January 12
Seeking to end the controversy over the custody of Mateen, son of Gudiya, who died recently after being embroiled in the dispute between her two husbands, a village panchayat today handed over the one-year-old child to his maternal grandparents.

However, the four-member panchayat at Gudiya’s native village Kalaunda ruled that if Taufeeq, Mateen’s biological father, made a fixed deposit in the child’s name, then his claim for the child’s custody would be considered.

During the panchayat hearing, Arif, the first husband of Gudiya, withdrew his claim on Mateen, saying that the child should be given to the maternal grandparents, Immamuddin and Sanjida Begum. If Taufeeq made a fixed deposit of Rs 30,000 in Mateen’s name, then his claim should be considered and the grandfather be made a nominee for the deposit, he added.

The panchayat also gave the grandparents the right to decide about the future of the child, including handing him over to Taufeeq.

Taufeeq refused comment on the panchayat decision.

Earlier, both Arif and Taufeeq had staked claim for the custody of Mateen, after Gudiya’s death on January 5.

Media reports had claimed that a section of clerics in Deoband last week had issued a ‘fatwa’ (edict) ordering Mateen be handed over to Taufeeq.

However, sources at Deoband have refused to confirm the edict, saying, “the issue is serious and we do not want to create another controversy akin to the one in case of Imrana.’’

The first husband of Gudiya, Arif, who looked after Mateen when his wife was admitted to the Army hospital in New Delhi had approached the community panchayat to secure the custody of the child.

Meanwhile, Taufeeq’s family was also keen on getting the custody of the child and they had an advantage, as according to the Shariat, Taufeeq is Mateen’s biological father.

The controversy started just after Gudiya’s burial in Arif’s native Mundali village, near Meerut, when Arif said that Gudiya had come to him with the child. “Mateen is mine now and I will not let Taufeeq take him,’’ he said. — UNI

New Delhi, January 12
A wrong order by the Border Security Force (BSF) about entitlement of its jawans for pensionary benefits on resigning before completing 20 years of service not only has deprived the force of the valuable services of 700 personnel but cost it a few crore rupees as pension paid to them due to the mistake.

The Supreme Court came to the rescue of the most of the personnel affected due to the “mistaken order” of December 27, 1995, issued by the BSF with approval of the Union Home Ministry, saying the principle of equity was in their favour.

The “mistaken circular” issued by the BSF stated that “a member of the force is entitled to get pensionary benefits on resignation… provided he has put in the requisite number of years of service and fulfil all other eligibility conditions.” As a result, 2,209 personnel had opted to resign up to January 15, 1998, when the mistake was detected by the Home Ministry and the BSF and its Director-General issued a clarification that the December 27, 1995, order was wrong and those who had not completed 20 years of service when they submitted the resignation would not be entitled to the pensionary benefits.

To cover up the mistake, the BSF Director-General further ordered that those who had resigned would have to rejoin the force, which they could do under the condition that they had to refund the amount of pension drawn till that date and the GPF paid to them.

After the scrutiny of the list of 2,209 personnel who had resigned, it was found that 1,762 were not entitled to the pensionary benefits and were recalled to join the service.

Despite the recall order, 697 personnel did not prefer to rejoin and instead moved the court, challenging the order of the Director-General for the recovery of the pension and the GPF.

Taking into consideration the complexity of the case due to affected personnel falling in different categories, a Bench of Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna and Mr Justice C.K. Thakker gave them relief according to the status of their cases.

The court directed the BSF to still take back those jawans who were eligible to continue in the service despite expiry of such a long period and if they join the force, “they shall have to refund the GPF and pension amount drawn by them till the date of their actual re-induction. The BSF authorities shall indicate the deadline by which such persons shall offer themselves for re-induction.”

Coming to the rescue of those who were not eligible for the duty of the force now due to the bar of age or physical condition, the court said though they would not be entitled to any further pension but the pension drawn by them till date would not be recovered from them.

The court said whatever might be the position of law, the principle of equity demanded that “in the cases of such persons there shall be no recovery of pension amount paid to them.”

But for a category of personnel who resigned prior to December 27, 1995, circular and were covered under the apex court’s a earlier judgement in the BSF personnel Rakesh Kumar case, the Bench said they “shall not be stopped from drawing the pension, nor shall they be required to refund it.”

The court pointed out that even prior to the so-called mistaken order of December 27, 1995, pension had been sanctioned by the BSF in “special cases” to the personnel even though they had not completed 20 years of service. But here the entire controversy was a result of a mistake of the authorities and not due to any action of the personnel, it said.

Kozhikode, January 12
A local court today acquitted all 16 accused in the Kozhikode ice cream parlour sex scandal case, stating that there was no prima facie evidence against them.

“The prosecution has failed to establish any prima facie evidence against their involvement in the racket,’’ Assistant Principal Sessions Judge L.R. Sathyan announced at a packed courtroom.

The case was initially filed by an NGO, Anweshi, accusing top political leaders, lawyers and businesmen of allegedly exploiting minor girls in a prostitution racket that hit the headlines in August 1997.

Charges were framed against C Sreedevi, P P Abdulla, Edakkattu Khaderkutty, P A Abdulrahiman, M K Abdul Khader, Kalarikkal Basheer, James Joseph alias Joemon, K T Joseph alias Ouseppachan, Baby Joseph alias Queens Baby, Cheriyaarampath Muhammedkutty, T.P. Dasan, O. Rajagopal, A Aravindakshan, Baijunath Karippaly, P.K. Rafi and N.Vijayan by Second Additional and Sub-Court Assistant Judge K.P. Sudheer.

The in-camera trial in the case began on December 16, 2005, on the orders of the Kerala High Court. In all 51 witnesees were examined, including Sub-Judges C G Anil Kumar and K. Madhavan.

All five girls involved in the case told the judge they neither accompanied the key suspects in the racket to any place nor did they have sex with any of the accused.

The case was first taken up by the police on August 4, 1997, after Ajitha complained that the icecream parlour, located on the beach road here, was serving as a `haven for prostitution’.

Two former Mayors, Mr T.P. Dasan and Mr O. Rajagopal,were among 16 accused listed in the chargesheet after one of the victims, Rejina, reported to be a minor then, informed the First Class Magistrate Court here in 1997 that she was sexually abused by many persons, including former minister, Mr Kunhalikutty.

While the police maintained that it had no evidence to include Mr Kunhalikutty’s name among the accused, Ajitha moved the high court in vain to arraign the minister, also the IUML state general secretary, as an accused.

The Supreme Court also refused to accept her petition on file, stating that it had no jurisdiction to do so as the case was still pending before the courts here.

Meanwhile, some of the accused obtained a stay from the high court, bringing to a grinding halt the proceedings in the case, until Rejina herself came to the media more than once last year revealing that she was forced by the icecream parlour owner to indulge in illegal sex. — PTI, UNI

New Delhi , January 12
Two Greenpeace activists today intercepted and boarded decommissioned French aircraft-carrier Clemenceau, off the Egyptian coast, in an attempt to stop its journey to India.

Protesting that the asbestos and other hazardous waste on board the ship presented an immediate danger to the Indian environment and workers at the Alang ship-breaking yard in Gujarat, the campaigners used a motorised dinghy to approach the ship, which is travelling towards the Suez Canal in international waters off the Egyptian coast.

Talking to The Tribune, Greenpeace activist Rampati Kumar said the representatives of the organisation also called on Egypt to refuse the carrier permission to enter the Suez Canal and stop its journey enroute to its final destination to the Indian ship-breaking yard. “The activists are currently on the ship’s mast with banners, saying, “Asbestos carrier; stay out of India. It is currently traveling very slowly”, he said.

He said there was more than sufficient evidence to establish the French government had failed to decontaminate the ship. “Egypt, being a signatory to the Basel Convention, would in all probability ask the French authorities to provide all papers regarding the ship, including the inventory of the cancerous hazardous waste on board,” he said.

The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) on Hazardous Waste, which met in Mumbai on January 6, restrained the French warship from entering within the 200-km exclusive economic zone of India till January 20, after all parties concerned presented their case. It clearly said the arrival of the ship in India would violate the Basel Convention, the international treaty preventing trade in hazardous materials.

The panel came to this conclusion after hearing the testimony of Technopure, the company assigned the task of decontaminating and scrapping Clemenceau, deposed before it saying the ship contained more than 500 tones of cancerous asbestos on board.

The SCMC will take the final decision at a meeting in New Delhi on January 20.

But environmentalist feel the SCMC doesn’t have much power to stop Cleamenceau’s entry into India. “Technopure officials informed the SCMC the warship contained more than 500 tonnes of asbestos, confirming the French government had not come out clean on the exact quantity of asbestos on board the aircraft carrier. What more evidence does the SCMC want. The panel could have immediately taken a decision on January 6 rather than postponing the matter to another meeting,” says Rampati Kumar.

Ahmedabad, January 12
The Gujarat High Court today accepted the CBI plea that skeletal remains of some post-Godhra riot victims of 2002, found buried near a river in the Panchmahals district last month, be sent to the Central Forensic Laboratory at Hyderabad for DNA examination, and directed the agency to submit its report by February 10.

Justice C.K. Buch gave the order on an affidavit submitted by CBI Deputy Inspector-General A.K. Vishwanathan on January 4 in which the latter had urged the court to review its earlier directive to have the DNA tests done at the privately-owned Red Hill laboratory in Hyderabad.

The CBI maintained that the CFL was a state-of-the-art laboratory where DNA fingerprinting and other tests could be conducted.

The state government, too, had supported the CBI plea in this regard in its affidavit filed last week. It said the skeletal remains were state property, being of those riot victims whose bodies could not be identified.

In all 21 persons were reported killed in the riots at Pandarwada village on March 2, 2002. The civic authorities had handed over bodies of those identified to their relatives and buried the rest near Panam river near Lunawada town in the same district.

According to the state government, it was the remains of these bodies that were allegedly exhumed by miscreants on December 27 last year. Following this, the authorities had filed an FIR against some persons, including Raees Khan Pathan, a local activist of a Mumbai-based NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP). A fast-track court at Godhra had granted conditional anticipatory bails to these persons on January 10.

After the sensational disclosure, Amina Bibi, a relative of one of the deceased, and Ms Teesta Setalwad of CJP had approached the High Court seeking a CBI and DNA probe. — UNI

New Delhi, January 12
An order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, directing the Union Government to release a fund of Rs 1.20 crore to the state government to implement the monkey sterilisation programme to control their population in the state and save Shimla from the menace, has been stayed by the Supreme Court.

The interim order on stay till January 20 has been issued by a Bench of Ms Justice Usha Mehra, Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari on an appeal of Union Government, challenging the High Court’s December 12 order directing the Centre to release the money within four weeks to establish Monkey Sterilisation Centre (MSC) at Shimla.

The court issued notice to the petitioner Kanwar Rattanjit Singh, on whose public interest litigation (PIL) on monkey menace in Shimla, the direction was issued by the High Court.

Since the next hearing of the Centre’s special leave petition (SLP) was fixed for January 20, the apex court granted interim stay till that date.

The main ground raised by the Centre was that it had no role to play in the matter as it was purely a state subject and that too a problem to be handled by the civic authorities like the Municipal Corporation of Shimla.

The Centre further said two instalments of Rs 11.35 lakh and Rs 10 lakh had already been released to the Himachal Pradesh Government on January 5, 2004 and December 27, 2005 under an action plan, proposed by a committee appointed by the Union Urban Development Ministry.

Himachal Pradesh Forest Department had prepared a pilot project of 1.32 crore for controlling the monkey population with 100 per cent funding by the Centre and sought the release of the same. It was also the stand of the state government before the High Court.

Krishnagar (WB), January 12
Election Commission observer K.J. Rao today struck off duplicate names and those of Bangladeshi origin from the voters list during his visit to Karimpur and Tehatta areas in West Bengal’s Nadia district, bordering Bangladesh.

Mr Rao, who is on a six-day visit to the district since Monday last to supervise the revision of electoral rolls and the election machinery, went from door to door in these areas and talked to the voters.

The EC observer, of the Bihar election fame, met leaders of political parties in Krishnagar and scanned the list for voters of Bangladeshi origin and struck off their names. He also deleted the names of married women who no longer resided in the area.

Mr Rao yesterday visited various parts of Nabadwip, Shantipur, Phulia and Ranaghat areas and deleted the names of several voters, either dead or non-resident.

He also met district officials at the Block Development Office (BDO) at Phulia in the bordering district.

Mr Rao is one of the 19 observers, the Election Commission has despatched to the state, where there have been allegations by political parties of widespread irregularities in the voters’ list.

The Trinamool Congress and the Congress alleged there were over one lakh fake voters in the district.

The CPM demanded that tea garden workers who were not provided ration cards be allowed to vote. They also demanded mobile voting in remote forest areas of the district. — PTI

Rameswaram (TN), January 12
For the first time after hostilities broke out between the Sri Lankan army and suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on January 7 off Trincomalee, a batch of 24 refugees from the island nation arrived at Dhanushkodi coast here today, a top police official said.

The refugees include eight men, seven women and nine children. Elaborate arrangements had already been made to accommodate them at the Mandapam Camp, Superintendent of Police J Rajendran said. Fifteen Sri Lankan sailors were killed on January 7 when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up a naval gunboat near Trincomalee in a pre-dawn attack.

Mallika and Regina, two women refugees, alleged that the Sri Lankan army was bombing residential areas and they had no option but to flee their homes. Five of their relatives were injured in the bombings yesterday, they said.

The two said they had to stay in jungle for a long time before fleeing the island nation and that they had paid Rs 5,000 per head for being ferried to India.

They also accused Sri Lankan army of torturing those they had taken into custody.

Rajendran said the refugees had been allowed in, though they did not have passports, “as they are facing an emergency situation in that island”.

He said the police would be cautious in allowing in those who had left refugee camps illegally without informing the officials. They would be mostly arrested if they returned, he said. Meanwhile, officials said that only genuine refugees were being admitted into the camps after verification by the police and Special Branch CID.

According to information reaching IB officials, a lot of people are waiting to flee Sri Lanka. They would land along the coast anytime if they manage to get boats.

Rajendran also ordered registration of cases against 15 fishermen who had crossed the International Border line today, for putting out to sea at a time when the atmosphere in the Palk strait is tense. — PTI

Hyderabad, January 12
Two USA based Indian doctors were instrumental in wiping out infant mortality rate in Sambhalpur in Orissa state, leading to the feet being recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Dr Cherukuri Subba Rao of Andhra Pradesh and Dr Amit Chakrabarty of West Bengal said the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPIO) informed them that their organisation was running 14 free clinics all over the country and the one at Sambhalpur had achieved zero per cent infant mortality rate.

The doctors, both Urologists of repute from Hunteville said the World Health Organisation (WHO) sent a team to study the stupendous task of zeroing the infant mortality rate achieved by them befoer recommending for the Guninness book entry.

They said, while the AAPIO provided funds, the locals themselves had menaged the clinic at Sambhalpur, creating a record.

They said the AAPIO had also created history of sorts when Dr Malati Kohli, wife of the president of the Charitable Trust of the AAPIO, Dr Kohli, offered psychiatric treatment to the orphaned children of tsunami in Magapattinam in Tamil Nadu.

While medicines and physicians poured into various places affected by the tsunami, only the AAPIO thought about the services required of a psychiatrist by the orphaned children. — UNI