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Women’s Reservation Bill
SC judge denounces caste-based quota
Gehlot govt has limited options
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Communal Violence Bill
North lags behind in education
Sibal attacks Maya for RTE comments
Biometric PAN cards put on hold
India in no mood to hand over Kasab to Pak
Terror camps in Pak intact: Govt
World’s smallest and lightest UAV developed
ISB inks pact with MIT Sloan
Rival gangs target criminal lawyers
Poor may get right to 35 kg foodgrain a month
Pirates release second Indian vessel
Will to choose an heir to email account
Keoladeo park to get water by June
HC allows Assam DGP to continue
Court for no leniency to corrupt officials
$1-bn WB loan for urban projects
Hooch kills 10 in UP
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Women’s Reservation Bill
Even as the ruling Congress said that it will try its best to forge a consensus on the legislation, the SP and the RJD were clear in their approach and reflected that the outcome of the meeting would not be any positive. SP spokesperson Mohan Singh said, “We are opposed to the Bill in its present form. We have given some suggestions to the government to modify the Bill and one of them should be accepted.” He said the government should reduce the women's quota to 20 per cent from 33 per cent and allow political parties to give reservation to women in the distribution of party tickets. Another possibility was to keep reservation for minorities, backward classes and Dalits in the 33 per cent quota for women. Though Janata Dal-United (JD-U) president Sharad Yadav has also opposed the Bill, the party is divided on the issue with the party's senior leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar supporting the Bill. Yadav is expected to represent the JD-U at tomorrow’s meeting. On the other hand, the Congress has said that it will try to evolve a consensus on the issue. “We will try our best to create a consensus. We will try to persuade (parties opposing the Bill) to realise that it was for the betterment of society and of women who comprise more than half of the country's population,” Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left, which support the Bill, have said they were willing to consider any other proposal if it is brought by the government. The Bill, which has already been passed by Rajya Sabha, is expected to be taken up for consideration in the lower house when it resumes budget session on April 15. The government is keen on pushing ahead with the Bill but is said to be averse to using force for the purpose because of the stature of the opponents. In the Rajya Sabha, marshals were used to remove obstructing members but the decision came in for severe attack later. Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said last week that the government is going ahead with the Bill in its present form in the Lok Sabha in the second phase of the budget session beginning April 15. He denied that there would be any changes in the Bill. The opponents of the Bill have made it clear that the Bill in its present form would be opposed tooth and nail and they may be open for discussion if the government comes with dilution of the percentage of reservation or leaving the quota for decision by parties.
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SC judge denounces caste-based quota
Guwahati, April 4 “Reservation should be only on the basis of economic criterion, if we aspire to have a “classless and caste-less” India where son of the soil will mean son of India,” Justice Bhandari said while speaking at the inauguration of one-day golden jubilee seminar on “One India, one Bar” of the Bar Association of India (BAI) held here in presence of a distinguished gathering of legal luminaries. He called upon the legal fraternity in the country to strive for attaining Constitution’s goal of “caste-less and classless” society at this crucial juncture when regionalism, terrorism, corruption, religious fundamentalism were posing danger to the country. Justice Bhandari also laid stress on improving the legal education system in the country and advocated the introduction of “All-India Bar Examination” as the eligibility test for new law graduates to join the Bar as it was not possible to monitor quality of education imparted in every law college in the country. He expressed concern over the sorry state of legal education system in the country with the exception of new generation national law schools that offer five-year LLB course. “These national law schools impart superior legal education and their graduates are in great demand. Unfortunately, very few graduates from these institutions join the Bar as prominent law firms remain on the prowl to recruit them. But for that we can’t blame these graduates as they are not provided with good stipend by seniors if they join the Bar. The Bar Association of India should take serious note of it,” Justice Bhandari said.
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Gehlot govt has limited options
Quota For Gujjars
Jaipur, April 4 There is every possibility that things will again be back to square one, as the state government has nothing much to offer to the Gujjars who are once again on the warpath over the reservation issue. According to sources, Bainsla on March 31 asked the government to make sure that the community gets its share of quota within a week i.e. by April 7. However, it seems the state government has nothing concrete to offer to the community and it is merely saying that it is looking for alternative solutions. The options before the state government are limited and those too are not easy to exercise. These include withdrawal of the Bill, promising the Gujjars quota under the Special Backward Class (SBC) category, which would mean withdrawing the Bill that has been challenged in the High Court. A new Bill can be brought wherein five per cent quota for the SBCs can be provided within 50 per cent ceiling set by the Supreme Court, but it would need a strong political will, as the state already has 49 per cent reservation. The current quota system has a share of 16 per cent for the SCs, 12 per cent for the STs and 21 per cent for the OBCs. The Gujjar leaders too are insisting that they be given the reservation under 50 per cent cap so that it cannot be challenged in any court. They opined that the government could achieve this by extending them reservation through a sub-category within the existing quota for either the STs or the OBCs. However, with the strong Meena community (ST), which is always at loggerheads with the Gujjars, making it amply clear that they would not share their reservation pie with anyone, the government is left with the only option of carving out a sub-category in the OBC quota. The government can take four per cent share out of the 21 per cent for the OBC and add another one per cent to it, to give five per cent quota to the SBCs within the upper limit of 50 per cent reservation, but the move may prove to be politically tricky to the Congress government. Though to pacify the agitating Gujjars as of now Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has assured them to hold back recruitment to five per cent of 80,000 government jobs, the move, like the reservation Bill, can again be challenged in the court of law. The CM has also reportedly assured to give relaxation to the Gujjar youth who are approaching the upper age limit.
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Communal Violence Bill
New Delhi, April 4 Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government was working to put the law in place by this year end. The assurance came in the wake of Bareilly and Hyderabad communal riots. The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on December 5, 2005, and referred thereafter to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. The Bill was later examined in the National Commission for Minorities, which suggested several changes to the committee. Under fresh directives issued recently by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, however, the Home Ministry would now have to seek fresh approval of the Cabinet before notices are given for moving the official amendments to the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005 and for consideration and passing of the same. The Bill is currently being examined at the Home Minister’s level and after that necessary steps would be taken to seek Cabinet’s approval for moving official amendments. Recently, the MHA is learnt to have informed the NCM that notice was given in the Rajya Sabha on December 9, 2009, but the Bill did not come up for consideration. Action to give fresh notice in the current session of Parliament was being taken, the MHA said. At the inaugural day of the annual conference of state minority commissions, Chidambaram said the country had recently witnessed a spate of communal violence on the slightest pretext and some of it was traced back to petty quarrels that caused trauma and insecurity among minorities. “It is therefore urgent to dispel misgivings on the part of minority community and assure them that the government is committed to preserve, protect and promote secular values and provide equality of opportunity to all religious minorities,” he said, promising the Bill’s passage by year end.
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North lags behind in education
The ranking on the Educational Development Index (EDI) for most of the North Indian states is low as compared to the other parts of the country. While Bihar with an EDI of 0.4 is at the bottom, Delhi (0.78), Chandigarh (0.76) and Punjab (0.73) rank eight, ninth and tenth while Pondicherry (0.80) and Kerela (0.79) top the list. The available demographic data suggests, the study said, that about 106 million people in the age group of 15-24 years would be in North India, which include Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh besides Punjab, Haryana, J&K and Himachal, by 2016. This implies that about 33.4 million students are likely to enter the higher and vocational education in North India. However, the current intake of students for higher education is poorer in northern states, with Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala topping the charts. Among northern states, Delhi and Chandigarh fare much better than Punjab which is combined with UP and Bihar at the bottom. Expressing concern, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said at the CII’s, northern region, Annual Regional Meeting that the north Indian states could not emulate the southern model in education as the south has an indigenous culture of learning. He said there was a need to move away from text learning and adopt a multidisciplinary approach. He proposed more emphasis on vocational training could contribute to development in the northern region. The report further suggests that northern region will require about $84 billion to meet demand-supply challenges in skill and education sector to be able to match southern and western states. To make its point, the study says the number of ITIs per 100 sq km is 1.7 in the northern region, compared to 4.7 in the southern region. North India also has fewer medical colleges whilst Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat account for 63 per cent of total medical colleges and 67 per cent of the number of seats. North India needs to upgrade its education system by making qualitative changes in teaching methods, according to the study.
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Sibal attacks Maya for RTE comments
New Delhi, April 4 “Uttar Pradesh (government) has loads of money that they are spending on memorials. If that very money was to be diverted to empower the children of Uttar Pradesh and of course the children of India, perhaps that would be money better spent,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said, reacting to Mayawati’s remark in Lucknow yesterday. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Pradesh too hit out at the Chief Minister, saying, “Mayawati has money only for the statues... that’s the real problem”. Mayawati had yesterday criticised the UPA government for enacting and implementing the RTE without provisioning funds for the programme and asked the Central government to provide the money for imparting compulsory education to children of the state. Sibal said no other Chief Minister had raised an issue of this nature with regard to the RTE and that the law should not be politicised. “I do not think that other Chief Ministers have raised issues of this nature and I do not think we have to inject politics on an issue that deals with the empowerment of children,” he added. Prasad, on his part said, Mayawati had also spoken of unavailability of funds to compensate the victims of a recent stampede at an ashram in Uttar Pradesh. “She has funds for statues, security guards for those statues and such things,” he added. — PTI
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Biometric PAN cards put on hold
New Delhi, April 4 The biometric Permanent Account Number (PAN) card was proposed by the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2006 to counter the problem of duplicate PAN cards which were uncovered during I-T searches and raids by the police and other enforcement agencies. The proposed biometric PAN cards would have carried the I-T assessees' fingerprints (two from each hand) and the face. Such a card, it was hoped, would be difficult to duplicate or manipulate. But after the UIDAI was set up last year, the Authority decided to create a database of similar biometric information for all residents of the country. To avoid duplication of effort, a senior Finance Ministry official said, "The biometric PAN card project of the department has been kept in abeyance till the UID is rolled out. In the meantime, the suspension will allow the I-T Department to understand and analyse whether after a biometric UID, a PAN with similar features would be necessary or not." The UID number, expected to roll out by the middle of next year, will capture the fingerprints of all 10 fingers, the face and iris of an individual. The UID Authority is preparing to roll out biometric numbers and it would not be appropriate for the I-T Department to run a similar project in the parallel, the official said. The entire effort to have biometric PAN cards was to avoid duplication and stop fraudulent practices by tax evaders and anti-nationals. The UID would achieve the same purpose, the official added. Once the UID numbers start rolling out, a decision would be taken on whether the database could help the I-T Department in stopping the misuse of PAN or still the biometric PAN cards would be necessary to be made, the official added. The I-T Department, in a number of cases, has uncovered several individuals possessing multiple PAN cards or forging the details. While PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the I-T Department to taxpayers, biometrics is a biological method to identify physical features of an
individual. — PTI
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India in no mood to hand over Kasab to Pak
New Delhi, April 4 “We are trying Kasab and others here in India following the Mumbai terrorist attacks,” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said when asked to comment on Pakistan approaching Interpol for arresting Kasab and Ansari for trial in that country. “The case against Kasab has proceeded over the last few months. Verdict is expected by May 3 in all likelihood,” she said, adding “justice is taking its course in India on this subject.” Pakistan’s Special Public Prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Moon, during trial in the 26/11 case in Rawalpindi yesterday, said Interpol had been approached to issue Red Corner Notice for arrest of Kasab and Ansari. Kasab was one of the 10 Pakistani terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008. While nine terrorists were killed during 60-hour gun-battles, Kasab was arrested. Ansari is accused of having conducted recce for the Mumbai attacks and prepared maps for the same. Pakistan has arrested seven terrorists, including LeT operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in connection with the Mumbai attacks. They are being tried at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. The Lahore High Court has said the trial of the seven terrorists arrested in Pakistan could not be separated from that of Kasab and Ansari and they should be declared as proclaimed offenders or fugitives. At this point, the defence lawyers said Kasab and Ansari were not fugitives as they were under custody of Indian authorities. To a question on reports that the land of a temple in Karachi had been grabbed, Rao said the government has sought details from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
— PTI
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Terror camps in Pak intact: Govt
New Delhi, April 4 “The available information reveals that the infiltration that consistently decreased since 2005 has reversed in 2009 and increased substantially when compared to 2008,” the report said. There were 485 attempts of infiltration last year in comparison to 342 in 2008. Giving an overview of the internal security scenario, the Home Ministry report said the situation in the country remains largely under control, though violence has increased in terms of number of incidents and casualties of civilians and security personnel, as compared to the corresponding period of 2008. “In the recent years, the concentration of left wing extremist (LWE) violence has been mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra,” the report said. Left wing extremists operate in the vacuum created by functional inadequacies of field level governance structures, espouse local demands and take advantage of prevalent dissatisfaction and feelings of perceived neglect and injustice among the under-privileged segments of population. “CPI (Maoist) philosophy of armed struggle to overthrow the Indian state is not acceptable in our Parliamentary democracy and will have to be curbed at any cost. Government has given a call to the Maoist to abjure violence and come for talks. This has not been accepted by them so far,” it said. While the overall counter action by the affected states in terms of LWEs killed, arrested and surrendered has shown much better results in 2009, there is an urgent need to strengthen police response, particularly by Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh by improving actionable intelligence collection and sharing mechanisms and strengthening their police force, the report said. — PTI
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World’s smallest and lightest UAV developed
Kolkata, April 4 It flies using four high-speed propellers (quadrotor) that allow vertical take-off and landing and built-in intelligence in the controller system makes the UAV to return to the starting point on its own. "The quadrotor is a highly complex system compared to fixed wing, and it is one of the best in the world," says Hemendra Arya, Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay. "The device has been manufactured using carbon fiber composites, and hence the name. Carbon's intuitive point and click graphical user interface requires minimal user assistance," said 26-year-old Ashish Bhat, one of the founders of Mumbai-based ideaForge Technology, which developed it. The Carbon weighs just 1.5 kg and has a range of 1 km. With externally swappable Li- Pc batteries, it can fly up to 30 minutes per battery charge. On-board stabilisation is achieved by a smart intelligent auto-pilot controller receiving inputs from a GPS, gyro, magnetometers, accelerometers and altitude sensors, he said. Bhat's UAV has won a prize for the Best Autonomous Hovering Vehicle from among 16 international teams in the first US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro Aerial and Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology.
— PTI
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ISB inks pact with MIT Sloan
Hyderabad, April 4 The proposed institutes are the BML Munjal Institute for Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation and The Punj Lloyd Institute for Physical Infrastructure Management, ISB Dean Ajit Rangnekar said. The MoU was signed by Rangnekar and David Schmittlein, John C Head III Dean, MIT Sloan School of Management. As per the agreement, MIT Sloan will support ISB in providing a faculty support and curriculum design in the areas of manufacturing, operations and management of large infrastructure, assisting faculty recruitment for the ISB, providing teaching opportunity for MIT faculty at both Hyderabad and Mohali campuses, joint executive education programmes and facilitating a joint action learning projects for the students. “We are delighted to welcome MIT Sloan as an Associate School and to have the benefit of their legendary expertise, especially in the areas of manufacturing and infrastructure management. We are confident of a mutually enriching relationship in the years ahead,” Rangnekar said. Expressing his happiness, Dean David Schmittlein said: “This is part of our distinct international strategy of developing regionally dispersed, mutually beneficial institutional partnerships, and allows MIT Sloan to contribute to world-class management education in India, and creates opportunities for MIT Sloan faculty and students to work with local faculty and students here in India.”
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Rival gangs target criminal lawyers
Mumbai, April 4 Advocate Shahid Azmi, who was defending 26/11 terror attack accused Faheem Ansari, was gunned down at his suburban Kurla office in
January this year. The Crime Branch later arrested three persons, who were allegedly paid a supari of Rs one lakh by gangsters Bharat Nepali and Bala Shetty to kill Azmi. According to police, the gangsters wanted to eliminate Azmi as he was defending members of
rival gangs. Another lawyer Ashok Sarogi, who was defending extradited gangster Abu Salem, received a threatening letter from an alleged member of gangster Ravi Pujari on Friday, directing him to withdraw from a case failing which he would be shot dead. While the Maharashtra government has assured security to lawyers involved in high-profile sensitive cases, the City Civil and Sessions Court Bar Association had last week passed a resolution directing its members who have received threats to procure arms license to protect themselves. “Several lawyers who have received threats from the underworld had approached the police seeking protection but nothing was done. If no one is ready to protect our fraternity then we have to do it ourselves,” Bar Association general secretary Rohini Salian told PTI. However, few criminal lawyers feel mere possession of a gun or any other firearm is not going to make much difference. “If a lawyer uses his gun to shoot someone in retaliation, he would have to prove before the court and police that it was indeed a move made out of self-defence,” criminal lawyer Wahab Khan said. He added when police gun down someone in an encounter, no one asks if it was in retaliation. However, if a civilian or a lawyer shoots someone, he would be arrested and has to prove that it was an act of self-defence. Last week, the theft of documents pertaining to the details of witnesses in the 7/11 serial train blasts case and the 2006 Malegaon blasts case from the special public prosecutor's office raised concerns. “While the stolen papers were only photocopies of the chargesheets, which include the list of witnesses and their addresses, they could seriously compromise the safety of the witnesses in these high profile cases,” a crime branch official said. The Crime Branch had last year arrested three persons, who were allegedly planning to attack three criminal lawyers, including Ganesh Sovani, appearing for Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
— PTI
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Poor may get right to 35 kg foodgrain a month
New Delhi, April 4 The EGoM also includes Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Rural Development Minister CP Joshi. Reports said the EGoM was taking a re-look at the Bill amid speculation that the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi wanted the scheme to provide a better deal for the below poverty line (BPL) families which are estimated at 6.5 crore and also include women, children and other sections of society who don’t figure in the official BPL list. There have been demands that foodgrain entitlement under the proposed law be raised by 10 kg per month per BPL family since its quota at ration shops is already fixed at 35 kg. The EGoM is also likely to make some changes in the complaint redressal mechanism provided in the draft Bill. Any person can file complaint if he or she does not receive foodgrain under the National Food Security Bill as it guarantees under the law.
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Pirates release second Indian vessel
Ahmedabad, April 4 The vessel Al-Kadri, which was hijacked by Somalian pirates on March 28, was near Oman coast and on way to Dubai after being released, president of Kutch Vahanvati Association (KVA) Kasam Ali Bholim said. The pirates had released another vessel ‘Krishna Jyot’ yesterday with 15 sailors on board. “We came to know about the release of the vessel after captain of Al-Kadri contacted his family members in Mandvi (Kutch),” Bholim told PTI. “All 11 sailors are from Mandvi taluka in Kutch, while the boat owner is from Mundra taluka,” he added. Bholim said the pirates looted all navigation equipment of the vessel and other valuables before releasing it early today. There is still no word about the remaining six dhows hijacked by the pirates in the last week of March.
— PTI
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Will to choose an heir to email account
New Delhi, April 4 This 'Digital Will', allows his successor to access his private mails in his inbox, other digital archives, including personal photos, albums, documents, correspondence and video clips, after he is no more. “Digital Will is one where a person selects which email account information will be distributed to which person after he is no more. This email account will hold sensitive, secretive and very useful information related to the account holder,” said Pavan Duggal, Supreme Court advocate and cyber law expert. Das, a prominent businessman who paints, has different email accounts and he has bequeathed each email account in his Will to those he has nominated. While one account has all his artistic works, another has his collection of audio recordings and another his autobiography. Duggal said, “There is an account of his deepest secrets which is in his inbox.” He does not want his secrets to die with him so he did not delete them at all. He has nominated one of his sons to this account who he believes will not misuse the information.
— PTI
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Keoladeo park to get water by June
Jaipur, April 4 Rajasthan Water Resources Minister Mahipal Maderna made this commitment in the state Assembly while replying to a legislator’s query regarding the government measures for saving the world famous site. “The government is seriously concerned about the water crisis at the park. In view of the
sanctuary’s importance in terms of bio-diversity and tourism the state
plans to bring water from the Chambal basin, which would reach it by June. We will not allow it to lose its world heritage site status,” he said. Apart from it, the state government has also prepared a Goverdhan Dam Project for permanently resolving the water crisis in the park. Under the project, the park will be provided 350 million cubic feet water annually through underground pipelines. The government has also sanctioned an amount of Rs 56.22 crore for the project. However, the project is caught in legal hurdles right now. Minister of State for Forests Ram Lal Jat told the Assembly that the Irrigation Department was told to prepare a detailed project report and tenders were also mooted. Though a provision was made in the tender to use the PVC pipes, the PHED’s technical advisory committee recommended use of the GRP pipes and a revised tender was mooted accordingly. However, after the earlier bidders challenged the proposed change, the process of issuing tenders for laying the GRP pipelines for supply of water to the park has been stayed by the
High Court. Replying to a query by former minister and BJP MLA Digambar Singh, Jat admitted that UNESCO had indeed written to the Centre in 2009 that the bird sanctuary could be included in the list of world heritage sites under threat. The Keoladeo National Park is one of the finest water-bird sanctuaries in the world. The 28.73 sq km lake and wetland was artificially created by the Maharaja of Bharatpur in the 19th century. Home to about 300 species of migratory birds, the sanctuary is famous for white Siberian cranes and a major winter area for large number of aquatic birds from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and China. It also serves as a breeding ground for rare bird species during the monsoon season.
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HC allows Assam DGP to continue
Guwahati, April 4 A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice IA Ansari and Justice AC Upadhyay after hearing a writ petition filed by the state of Assam recently issued a notice returnable on April 5 and in the interim stayed CAT, Gauhati Bench judgement of March 5 wherein the tribunal besides setting aside the appointment of Barua as the DGP, further directed the Assam government to constitute a panel afresh for selection of the DGP within one month. The Tribunal had allowed Barua to continue in office for the said one-month period. The Assam government by a notification dated July 28, 2009 appointed Sankar Barua as the DGP with effect from August 1, 2009 in the event of retirement of GM Srivastava. Subsequently, Sharda Prasad, DGP (Vigilance and Anti-Corruption), Assam had challenged the government notification appointing Barua as the DGP before the CAT, Gauhati Bench. In the writ petition filed before the High Court, the Assam government challenged the legality and validity of the CAT order (OA No.144/09) quashing Barau’s appointment. The writ petition, however, contended that the state government would implement the CAT direction for constitution of a panel and hold fresh selection to the post of DGP in the apex scale.
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Court for no leniency to corrupt officials
New Delhi, April 4 Rejecting a petition challenging the Labour Court's order which upheld the dismissal of a DTC bus conductor from the service in 2000, Justice Kailash Gambhir said, "No leniency or sympathy can be shown to a person who indulges himself in corruption even at a small level and by all means, corruption has to be checked and nipped in the bud". "...The Conductor on duty can only indulge in corruption at a small level and one can not expect him to mis-appropriate amount of thousands and lakhs of rupees as his job is to issue tickets and non-issuance of the same can only result into pocketing small amounts on daily basis," Justice Gambhir said. "By that process alone, his daily and monthly earnings sometimes may be more than his official income...," he added. The order came on a petition filed by Shanti Devi on behalf of her husband, who died during the pendency of the case in 2005, challenging the Labour Court's order upholding his dismissal order in 2007. "The petitioner is bound to suffer because of the corrupt deeds of her husband. The past clean record of the deceased would also be of no help to her as the solitary act of corruption will be sufficient enough to award punishment of dismissal from service," the court said.
— PTI
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$1-bn WB loan for urban projects
New Delhi, April 4 The loan amount is expected to be delivered early next year. "Negotiations are in the final stage and we are hopeful of getting the loan in 2011," the official said, adding, "The government may go for more loan from the World Bank later depending upon the implementation of projects." At present, 523 projects related to the urban infrastructure development are being implemented in 65 cities across the country. Admitting fund crunch, the official said, "The government has already committed about Rs 58,000 crore for as many projects in 65 mission cities under the JNNURM and there is a shortage of funds."
— PTI
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Bhadoi (UP), April 4 “While five persons died this morning after consuming spurious liquor in Chauri area of Bhadoi district, three more were killed at Shivdaspur village in Kapsethi area of Varansi district last night,” they said. The victims include two women, they said.Bhadoi District Magistrate Surendra Singh said that 13 persons, including eight women, were being treated at the district hospital. Following the hooch tragedy, police carried out raids at Shivdaspur village in Kapsethi and arrested three persons manufacturing spurious liquor from methyl alcohol, sources said, adding pouches of country-made liquor were also recovered. — PTI
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New Delhi, April 4
New Delhi, April 4