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EC flooded with ‘profit’ petitions
EC moves SC for byelections to LS seats
Protest against night curfew
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NAC may be restructured
Nayak accused of owning dance bar
Kandhar hijack: SC notice to govt
Rajnath flays UPA govt for ‘poor’ internal security
UPDC chief’s post not office of profit, says Amar Singh
Ex-servicemen to train police in Naxal-hit areas
SC upholds life term for murder
AI flight makes emergency landing
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EC flooded with ‘profit’ petitions
New Delhi, April 1 The resignation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi from the
Lok Sabha and the disqualification of Jaya Bachchan from the Upper
House, has virtually opened the pandora’s box with petitions being
filed against MPs and MLAs, including Chief Ministers for holding office
of profit. Of the 100 petitions, 25 relate to MPs while the rest from
the states with BJP-ruled Jharkhand accounting for the largest such
complaints (19), followed by 14 from Uttaranchal having a Congress
government. While 13 complaints have come from BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh,
12 are from Himachal Pradesh having a Congress government and 11 from
Tripura. Three complaints have come from Rajasthan, two from Nagaland
and one from Uttar Pradesh. Of the 25 petitions regarding MPs, 18
belonged to the Lok Sabha and seven to the Rajya Sabha. The poll panel,
however, is unlikely to go into the complaint against Sonia Gandhi as
she has resigned and the issue has become infructuous. Trinamool
Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has petitioned the President against 10
CPM MPs, including Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Left leaders
have categorically stated that they would not resign. The Congress has
reportedly asked its members against whom complaints have been lodged
not to follow in footsteps of Sonia Gandhi. The poll panel is
considering only those complaints that have been forwarded by the
President or state Governors for its opinion. Meanwhile, Samajwadi
Party general secretary Amar Singh, to whom the EC had issued notice on
a complaint alleging that he was holding an office of profit, has
claimed in his reply that he was not holding any such office. In a
six-page reply to the Election Commission, the MP has also questioned
the EC’s wisdom in recommending the disqualification of his party MP,
Jaya Bachchan, without appreciating relevant laws “in their proper
perspective”. Seeking six more weeks for a detailed response, he has
argued, among other things, that the complaint against him itself was
not valid as it had not been made either by Parliament or by its Joint
Committee on Office of Profit as mandated under the Constitution. |
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EC moves SC for byelections to LS seats
New Delhi, April 1 The poll panel is also likely to hold the byelection to the prestigous Rae Barelli seat, from where Congress President Sonia Gandhi intends to get re-elected after her recent resignation on the “office of profit” issue, EC sources indicated. But all this depends upon the decision of the apex court on its application, seeking permission for byelections to the 10 seats, they said. The EC counsel S Muralidhar filed the application with the Supreme Court Registry today and the Commission intends to make a special mention before the Court for its early hearing on Monday. The apex court while admitting the petitions of 10 MPs, challenging their expulsion, though had declined to restrain the EC from initiating the process for byelections, it had told the Commission’s counsel to seek its prior permission before going ahead with the election process after counsel for the MPs had said the byelection could not be held before the matter was decided. The 10 seats fallen vacant, were represented by expelled MPs Raja Ram Pal, Narendra Kumar Kushwaha and Lal Chndra Kol (BSP), Annasaheb M K Patil, Y G Mahajan, Pradep Gandhi, Suresh Chandel, Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP), Ram Sevak Singh (Cong) and Manoj Kumar (RJD). While Raja Ram Pal had directly moved the Supreme Court to challenge the expulsion, the petitions of nine others were transferred to itself by the apex court from the Delhi High Court. |
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Protest against night curfew
Bangalore, April 1 A hundred feet away is the family-oriented Ameoba. Here waiters keep reminding diners of 11 p.m. so that they can hurry up with their food. "Ours is a family place so the cops do not come inside but you must leave the premises by 11.30 is the polite but firm advise". It is only three months since the new laws on closing time are being strictly enforced all over the city and it already has pub, club and restaurant owners as well as party hoppers up in arms. An association has been formed which includes those whose business is being effected by the move as well as people who feel shackled by the new regulation. Bangalore Citizen's Hospitality and Entertainment Association has taken on the police for fixing the closure timing at 11.30 p.m. Its President Deep Biswas says according to the law the closing time continues to be 12 p.m. but a new notification has advanced it by half an hour. The Association has also come forward to explain terms in the hospitality trade which have taken on a nefarious character. It says the terms 'cabaret', 'discotheque' and 'live band' have taken on seedy connotations and that it is up to the police to distinguish between those who are providing entertainment and those running prostitution dens. The Association has taken up its case with Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh and is hoping for a favourable outcome. The Bangalore Police claims the rising incidence of crime has led to the move. It didn't help when a man was shot down by a politician's son in a pub two months ago. A recent hit-and-run case when an unidentified person on a Scorpio ran down a policeman trying to stop him has made the police even more determined to crack down on drunken driving. Pubs and bars in the city center are its prime target. However, citizens feel these cases are stray incidents as was the rape and murder of a call center employee and the shoot-out in the Indian Institute of Science which heightened security apprehensions in the city. They point out that the central business district attracts a sizable number of people from outside the state as well as the country and that the move is against the very nature of a "cosmopolitan" city as Bangalore has come to be known as. Shalini, a North Indian, puts the issue in a perspective by saying "Bangalore is still one of the safest cities in the country. I walk down Brigade road regularly at night and not once have I even been whistled at". S Ganesh, a techhie, says what is needed is an overall improvement in patrolling and systematic checks on drunken driving in the city rather than taking the safer option of putting a curfew. |
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NAC may be restructured
New Delhi, April 1 Ms Gandhi had resigned as NAC chairperson after the Opposition launched a campaign against the UPA government for sneaking in an ordinance to protect the Congress president who, they charged, was holding an office of profit. Although all political parties have since agreed that a Bill be brought to redefine an office of profit, Congress
strategists are still debating whether the NAC chairmanship should be included in the list of posts which are exempt from this clause. While Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and several other senior party leaders are insisting that advisory committees are already exempted under the present law, the government does not want to take any chances. There is a strong view in the party that if NAC is included in the fresh legislation or the amendments to the existing Act, it will provide an opportunity to the Opposition to gloat that their earlier stand has been vindicated. In order to completely blunt the Opposition attack, there is a suggestion that NAC be restructured to ensure that there is no ambuigity as far as the chairperson’s post is concerned. As of now, it is not clear if Ms Gandhi will return to head this body, although it is not necessary for her to be a Lok Sabha member to keep this post. “There is unlikely to be any change in the functioning of NAC but some technical changes could be made in the structure so that there is greater clarity about the chairperson’s position,” a senior Congress leader said here today. At present, NAC functions under the Prime Minister’s Office and has been entrusted with the task of monitoring the implementation of the common minimum programme. Headed by Ms Sonia Gandhi,who enjoys Cabinet status as its chief, its members include experts, activists and representatives of well-known NGOs. Congress leaders maintain that contrary to popular belief, the body was not set up to accommodate Ms Gandhi but to bring civil society groups on board which constitutes the “social face” of this government. It would not have enjoyed the stature and clout that it does today, if it was not headed by the Congress chief, they explained. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently stated categorically that it was not being wound up. He was, however, ambivalent when asked whether Ms Gandhi would again head the body. That decision, he said, would be taken by her. |
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Nayak accused of owning dance bar
Mumbai, April 1 Though the police officer had paid as much as Rs 35 lakh, he allowed the business to continue in the original owner's name in order to avoid income-tax hassles, officers of the ACB investigating Daya Nayak have said in a report. The report would be a part of the FIR against Nayak, according to sources. The ACB is probing allegations that Nayak and Shanta Naik fell outwith the bar's managers running it on lease. The police officer was probed three years ago for allegedly threatening the managers. Top police officers had given Nayak a clean chit over allegations that he had threatened to kill some of the managers in an encounter. The place has since been shut down after the Maharashtra Government banned dance bars in the state. |
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Kandhar hijack: SC notice to govt
New Delhi, April 1 Taking cognizance of the habeas corpus petition of Uqaiya, the sisters of Kathmandu-based traders Mushtaq Ahad Rah and Mohd Shafi Rah, a Bench of Mr Justice B.N. Agrawal and Mr Justice A.K. Mathur issued notices to the ministries of Home and External Affairs and the Delhi Police Commissioner, seeking their replies. Uqaiya's counsel Anil Karnwal told the Court that the two brothers of his client were among the 27 Kashmiris arrested by the Nepalese authorities, including her 75-year-old father from Kathmandu. Of the arrested persons, 27, including her brothers, were still languishing in various jails in the country without any reason, she claimed. |
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Rajnath flays UPA govt for ‘poor’ internal security
New Delhi, April 1 Set to launch the first leg of his party’s twin yatras on April 6, the BJP president also accused the Centre of inaction against terrorism. “The bulletproofing they offered for our vehicles during the yatras shows how poor the security situation in the country is,” he said in his party’s cooperative cell meeting here. His comments came in the wake of Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal’s remarks that the National Security Guards could be asked to make the yatra vehicles bulletproof in the light of what he cited as security risks to the event.
— TNS |
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UPDC chief’s post not office of profit, says Amar Singh
New Delhi, April 1 In reply to the commission which had sought his comments on a disqualification petition against him that had been forwarded by the President, Mr Amar Singh’s counsel quoted Uttar Pradesh Governor’s memoranda on the office of the Chairman of the UP Development Council, saying that the provisions of the memoranda had made it clear that the post was outside the purview of the provisions that attracted disqualification. He said the commission had “misinterpreted” the case of Ms Jaya Bachchan that had resulted in her disqualification from the Rajya Sabha membership on the ground that the chairpersonship of the UP Film Development Council was an office of profit. The EC had issued a notice to Mr Amar Singh on March 10 on a petition seeking his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha on the ground that he held an office of profit. Now, he had sought more time to file a detailed reply, sources said. |
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Ex-servicemen to train police in Naxal-hit areas
New Delhi, April 1 "The DG Resettlement, Ministry of Defence, who was present at the meeting, has given assurance to us that he would make available ex-servicemen from the Corps of Engineers, who are experts in defusing landmines. They could be either employed by the state police directly on contract or they could be appointed as trainers to train the local police on handling/ defusing landmines," Mr Duggal told newspersons after a day-long meeting of the Coordination Centre of Naxal-hit states here at Vigyan Bhavan. During the meeting represented by Chief Secretaries and DGPs of 13 Naxal-hit states, it was also decided to encourage civilian movements, like "Salva Judum" in Chhattisgarh, in areas dominated by security forces. |
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SC upholds life term for murder
New Delhi, April 1 The incident had taken place in Sakkanwali village of Muktsar district on
February 23, 1996, when Mohinder Singh, Beant Singh, Nasib Singh, Nirbai Singh, Sukdev Singh and Naginder Singh in broad daylight indiscriminately fired at the neighbours and attacked them with sharp-edged weapon. According to the prosecution, the cause of the crime was an attempt to control a common village land falling in the vicinity of the two families. |
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AI flight makes emergency landing
Mumbai, April 1 The flight AI 137 was asked to land at Mumbai after rubber pieces were found on the runway after it took off. The flight landed safely. All the 284 passengers and 20 crew members on board were safe, AAI officials said. The passengers were shifted to a hotel and the flight is scheduled to take off later tonight. |
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In video: Amar Singh replies EC on office of profit. (
