New Delhi, April 12
Coming down heavily on the states for engaging a large number of workers on daily wages by subverting recruitment rules and giving them employment through backdoor, the Supreme Court has ruled that such appointments not only hit at the basic structure of the Constitution but will not be covered under “equal pay for equal work” principle.

A detailed judgment of a five-judge Constitution Bench on the issue whether daily wage workers have right to claim regularisation, emphatically said adhering to the rule of “equality” in public employment was a basic feature of the Constitution and a court would be “disabled” from passing an order upholding any appointment made in violation of Article 14 (equality before law) to any government service.

In the unanimous verdict of far-reaching consequences by a Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, clearly laid down that unless the appointment for government jobs was made according to relevant recruitment rules after a proper competition among qualified persons, it would not confer any right on a person so appointed to get permanence in service notwithstanding the years of work put in.

“If it is a contractual appointment, it comes to an end at the end of the contract, if it were an engagement or appointment on daily wages or casual basis, the same would come to an end when it is discontinued.

"A temporary employee could not claim to be made permanent on the expiry of his term of appointment,” the Court said.

It added: “No right can be founded on an employment on daily wages to claim that such employee should be treated on a par with a regularly recruited candidate.”

Ruling out the applicability of the principle of “equal pay for equal work” to workers given job through back door, Mr Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan, writing the verdict for the Bench, said: “The concept of equal pay for equal work is different from conferring permanency on those who have been appointed on ad hoc or temporary basis, or without the process of selection as envisaged by the Rules.”

The apex court cautioned courts against getting “swayed” by the fact that a person had put in so many years of service, while ordering his regularisation even if his appointment was in violation of recruitment rules.

It emphasised that it would not be a valid ground “to jettison the Constitutional scheme of appointment and to take the view that a person who got employed temporarily or casually should be directed to be continued permanently.”

Permitting it would amount to “creating another mode of public appointment not permissible”.

Clarifying if the governments felt that a total embargo on daily wage appointments could not be put due to exigencies of administration, it would always mean that they had only been employed temporarily.

Rejecting the plea of employees that by not regularising them the State would be violating Article 21, protecting life and personal liberty, the Court said it had been laid down in Article 309 that public employment was given only in a fair and equitable manner.

New Delhi, April 12
Cyprus today came out strongly in support of India’s bid for a permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos, who was given a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning, said India was qualified to be a permanent member of the world body.

“We support India’s application to become a permanent member state of the United Nations Security Council. India’s presence and offer in the UN justifies and qualifies it to become a permanent member,” the visiting Head of the State said after the reception.

Mr Papadopoulos, who arrived here yesterday on a five-day visit at the invitation of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said this was a “visit of respect for the great country of India with which we always had traditionally very close relations.”

The visit is being viewed as significant because Cyprus is a member of the European Union and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and will, therefore, provide an opportunity to discuss the growing relationship between India and the EU and also support from the NSG to the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Energy agreement.

Bilateral trade between India and Cyprus is far below the potential. In 2004, Indian exports to Cyprus were worth $37.4 million while Indian imports were worth $5.2 million.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a set of two commemorative stamps marking the joint collaboration and friendship between India and Cyprus after the two countries held extensive talks on strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in a wide array of areas.

New Delhi, April 12
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to submit within two weeks a report on the fire that broke out in Victoria Park in Meerut on Monday.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC has asked the state government to provide details on the casualties, identification of bodies and the number of persons injured in the fire. The Commission has also asked for information on arrangements made for providing medical aid, relief disbursed to the next of kin of the deceased or injured persons and details on the case registered with the police.

The NHRC has further asked the state government whether any persons have been reported to be missing in the fire and what efforts the administration has made to trace them. The Commission has asked whether all necessary procedures were followed before granting licence/permission for organising the consumer exhibition.

The Commission has sought these clarifications as media reports on the casualties and the number of persons injured in the fire were different from the figures given by the administration. According to a news report, 50 persons were killed and 100 injured in the fire. The administration, however, put the death toll at 34 and claimed that 27 bodies had been identified.

The news report also mentioned allegations of laxity on the part of the administration in ensuring that the fair organisers obtained proper fire safety clearance.

The report said that relatives of those killed alleged that adequate fire-fighting equipment was not in place despite the fact that highly combustible material was used as canopy for the pandals and even the floor of the premises was made of wood.

It further said the organisers had installed 24 air-conditioning ducts in the three pandals as part of an impressive arrangement. The organisers had kept a single entry and a single exit to ensure that the air-conditioning was effective. Besides, there was an eating joint in the pandals that had LPG cylinders.

New Delhi, April 12
NDTV's Barkha Dutt today bagged the 'Journalist of the Year, Broadcast' award while Varghese K George (Indian Express) and Praveen Swami (Frontline) shared the 'Journalist of the Year, Print' honour at the first Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, touted as the Indian equivalent of the American Pulitzer Prize.

NDTV and freelance journalists won as many as eight of the 15 awards, which were given away by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said the national media have an important role to play in consensus building as the country is firmly set on course for a long innings of coalition politics.

Dutt received the top Rs 2,50,000 — 'Journalist of the Year' prize for her reports from the tsunami-hit Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu while the jury that included Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and film-maker Shyam Benegal praised George for exposing the flood relief scam in Bihar and Swami for his in-depth reports on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at the function, Prime Minister said freedom of Press was more than just the freedom of publishers and editors and expressed hope that debate on trends would help strengthen the hands of journalists.

Referring to his recent speech at Chandigarh Press Club, Prime Minister said, "I was heartened, however, by the reaction of many media professionals to my observations. I was happy to see many turn their torch inward and introspect The Editors Guild of India responded in a most professional manner.”

The award for Environmental Reporting, Print went to freelance journalist Ramesh Menon for his detailed report on the overuse of pesticides in turning Punjab into a poison field. Two more freelancers — C Vanaja and Ratna Bharali Talukdar — were among the winners.

Vanaja, who received the 'Uncovering India Invisible, Print' award was cited for her painstaking journey into the deep forests of the Dhandakaranya in Andhra Pradesh to report on the parallel government run by the Naxalites while Talukdar received the award for 'Regional Award North-East, Print' for her in-depth reports chronicling the lives and struggles of coal mine workers in upper Assam.

Sopan Pandharipande (Lokmat) received the 'Regional Award, Regional, Print' for his series of investigative stories that exposed the Mahila Nagari Sahakari Bank scam in Nagpur.

NDTV journalists won the awards in the broadcast categories of 'Regional Award Jammu and Kashmir' (Vikram Choudhary), 'Regional Award North-East' (Sutapa Deb), 'Environmental Reporting' (Swati Thyagarajan) and 'Uncovering India Invisible' (Shikha Trivedy).

Choudhary was cited for his report on how women have been forced to take up the gun to protect themselves in the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir while Deb won for her report on the unrest in Manipur and the story of its victims. Thyagarajan received the award for her report on a Karnataka village that is trying to keep alive a tradition.

Aaj Tak picked up the 'Regional Award Hindi Broadcast' award, which went to its reporter Punya Prasun Bajpai for his investigative report on the tribals in Vidarbha who were falsely booked under TADA for alleged Naxalite links.

'Business and Economic Journalism, Print' prize went to Vikas Dhoot of 'Business World' for a series of stories on how the Employees Provident Fund Organisation reforms were scuttled.

CNBC TV 18's Menaka Doshi won the 'Business and Economic Journalism, Broadcast' award for reporting the rift in the Ambani family.

The 'Foreign Correspondent Covering India, Print' award was bagged by Somini Sengupta (The New York Times).

Instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Foundation, the awards carry a cash prize ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 250,000, a trophy and a citation each.

A host of politicians and editors, including Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Steel and Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ramvilas Paswan and former Indian Express editor Arun Shourie attended the awards ceremony. 

New Delhi, April 12
Himachal Pradesh today demanded from the Centre to increase its water share in the Yamuna to meet the growing drinking water demands of Shimla and Solan towns.

Himachal Pradesh Irrigations and Public Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, while speaking in the third upper Yamuna review committee meeting here, said at present the state was drawing 0.2427 billion cubic metre water against the allocations of 0.378 billion cubic metre water from Yamuna basins.

He urged the Centre that the growing needs of Himachal Pradesh should be kept in mind and the state’s share should be increased keeping in view of the future demand.

Kaul Singh Thakur asked the Central assistance for construction of sewerage treatment plants for Solan and Paonta Sahib for maintaining the sustainability of the flow in the Yamuna and also asked for the Central funding for constructions of check dams at appropriate places for checking the flow of silt in the river.

He said the state agreed to share the construction cost of power components for the Lakhwarvyasi and Kishau dams and demanded that the state should be provided powers from these hydel projects during lean season.

He said the state government had filed an application before the Central Empowered Committee regarding the submergence of 49 hectare in the protected sanctuary due to construction of the proposed Renuka dam.

The minister said the national board for wildlife had cleared the project after imposing some tough conditions and added that matter had been discussed with the appropriate authorities and review application had been filed after making certain amendments.

He said the state government would start work on the Renuka dam after getting necessary clearances from the agencies concerned and meeting the conditions laid down by such agencies.

Thakur said the Delhi Government would provide financial assistance to the state government for construction of the Renuka dam.

New Delhi, April 12
To prevent witnesses from turning hostile, like in the Jessica Lal murder case, the Centre said today that a Bill in this regard would be sent soon to the Cabinet for clearance.

“The bill is being drafted and will soon be sent for Cabinet clearance. It will be introduced in Parliament in the second half of the Budget session or in the Monsoon session to make it a law,” Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal told newspersons here after a day-long meeting of the Chief Secretaries and DGPs. It was chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

He was replying to a question on whether the Centre was contemplating a law to ensure that witnesses did not turn hostile in courts.

Earlier, inaugurating the conference, the Home Minister, in an obvious reference to the Jessica Lal murder case in which all the accused have been acquitted, said: “The subject of criminal justice administration has recently come into sharper focus. One of the issues raised is that steps need to be taken to ensure protection for witnesses and prevent them from turning hostile.”

Observing that protection of witnesses is the cornerstone of any criminal justice system, he said the Centre would try to bring in a legislative framework, which included providing basic minimum facilities in police stations and courts, avoiding adjournments to minimise inconvenience and extending due care and courtesy to enhance confidence of witnesses in the justice system.

Maintaining that general perception and public image of the police was far from that of a disciplined, professional and service-oriented force, Mr Patil said “common citizens continue to fear the police and avoid taking its help.

“All this results in poor interface between the police and people and, as a result, the level of public confidence in cooperating with it remains low”, the Home Minister said.

The police, he said, should function as an organic unit to provide security and service to the people and at the same time act as a deterrent to all those wanting to break the laws. 

Mumbai, April 12
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly today sentenced Bar Owners’ Association president Manjit Singh to 90-days’ imprisonment for ‘’breach of special privileges of the Lower House.’’ Mr Singh was found guilty of breaching the privileges of the members of Legislative Assembly by threatening to oppose the decision of the State Government to ban dance bars last year.

The notice of breach of privilege by BJP member Sudhir Mungantiwar was admitted last year and sent to the Privileges Committee.

Mr Chandrakant Chhajed (Congress), who heads the committee, recommended 90 days’ jail term for Mr Singh. He said Mr Singh, while opposing the announcement of banning dance bars by Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil made in the Legislative Assembly on March 30 last year, had threatened that bar girls would take to the streets and not allow wives of the ministers to move about freely.

Later, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh moved the resolution that the Lower House accepted the recommendation of the committee and that Mr Singh will be sent to jail.

He would remain in prison while the Legislature is in session and set free after the Legislature is prorogued. Mr Singh would be arrested again when the next session begins, to complete his sentence of 90 days. The resolution was adopted by a voice vote. — UNI