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Private sector bribery could become criminal offence: PM

New Delhi: With the alleged involvement of big corporates in a spate of scams apparently weighing on his mind, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said government is considering changes in law to make private sector bribery a criminal offence.

Speaking at the Biennial Conference of CBI and state anti-corruption bureaux, the Prime Minister said India has ratified UN Conventions against corruption and to meet its requirements a slew of measures which include amendments in laws pertaining to anti-graft measures.

"To meet the requirements of the convention, we have introduced a Bill in Parliament to make bribery of foreign public officials an offence. We are considering changes in our laws to criminalize private sector bribery," he said.

But the Prime Minister did not provide any details of how private sector bribery will be dealt with.

He said government is working on ways and means to minimize discretionary powers of public authorities and the issue of a public procurement law to minimize irregularities in the award of government contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees every year.

The Prime Minister however said, "Whatever we might do to minimise the opportunities for corruption, the sad reality is that we cannot build a totally fool-proof system. There will always be some instances of corrupt practices in the work of public authorities."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave an assurance that the CBI will continue to play a very important role in ensuring probity in public life, whatever be the structure of the anti-corruption ombudsman.
"We hope to see the establishment of a strong and effective Lokpal in the coming months. Whatever be the structure and functions of the Lokpal when it is established, the CBI as our premier investigating agency will continue to play a very important role in our efforts for ensuring probity in our public life," the Prime Minister said.

SC allows F1 race but wants 25% of its sale proceeds reserved

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the decks for the Formula 1 race in Greater Noida, stipulating that the organisers would deposit 25 per cent of sale proceeds from tickets in a separate account which would not be operated without its permission.

A Bench of justices D K Jain and A R Dave in an interim order directed that the amount would be subject to the final outcome of a plea challenging tax exemptions accorded to the organisers of the Formula 1 race.

The apex court rejected the arguments of the organisers that the direction would act as a dampener and cause adverse publicity since it was an international event.

"How can it be a dampener or cause adverse publicity we do not understand?," the bench remarked while passing the order.

AFSPA, DAA to be revoked from parts of J&K: Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR: The Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act will be revoked from some areas of Jammu and Kashmir within the next few days, chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Friday.

While assuring the people that revocation of these laws will not have any adverse affects, he said the measure will, however, put an added responsibility on the shoulders of state police and paramilitary forces.

"Time has come for revocation of laws (AFSPA and DAA), which were invoked in the state after militancy, from some areas of the state within the next few days," Omar said addressing the Police Commemoration Day at Zewan near here.

He, however, did not name the areas from where these laws will be revoked. "I am not in a position to name those areas at the moment."

Omar said revocation of AFSPA and DAA will put an added responsibility on the shoulders of state police and paramilitary forces. " But I want to assure that revocation of these laws will not have any adverse effects," he said.

Omar said as the situation improves in other parts of the state and the influence of militancy in these areas ends, these laws will be revoked from all parts of the state.
He said the declining number of police and other security forces'' martyrs last year shows the situation has improved.

Pak can't keep 'snakes' in backyard to attack neighbours: US 

Islamabad: In a blunt message to Pakistan, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday demanded greater cooperation from the country to "squeeze" the Haqqani network responsible for attacks in Afghanistan, saying Islamabad could not keep "snakes" in its backyard to strike its neighbours. "It's like that old story - you can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours. Eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard," Clinton said during a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. 

"We asked very specifically for greater cooperation from the Pakistani side to squeeze the Haqqani network and other terrorists because we know that trying to eliminate terrorists and safe havens on one side of the border is not going to work," she said. Clinton, who arrived here on Thursday with a high-level delegation that included CIA director David Petraeus and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen Martin Dempsey, had earlier said the US intended to "push the Pakistanis very hard" to remove militant safe havens and tackle groups like the Haqqani network that are responsible for cross-border strikes.

She told the news conference: "We should be able to agree that for too long extremists have been able to operate here in Pakistan and from Pakistani soil. No one who targets innocent civilians, whether they be Pakistanis, Afghans, Americans or anyone else should be tolerated or protected."

HC sets aside acquisition of land in three UP villages

Allahabad: In a setback to the Mayawati government and thousands of apartment buyers, the Allahabad High Court today set aside acquisition of land in three villages of Noida, Greater Noida and Noida Extension areas while ordering enhanced compensation to farmers of some other villages in Gautam Budh Nagar district.

The order was passed by a specially-constituted three-judge bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan, S U Khan and V K Shukla on the writ petition of 491 farmers from more than a dozen villages in the district who have challenged the acquisition of more than 3000 hectares of land by the state government.

Owners of residential flats in the three affected villages - Deola, Chak Shahberi and Asadullahpur - will be hit by the ruling.

The court has ruled that affected farmers of these villages were "entitled to restoration of their land subject to the return of any compensation they have already received".

The court also ordered that "no further construction shall take place in the area unless approval for the same is given by the National Capital Region Planning Board".

12 Puri pilgrims killed in mishap 

Strike at Maruti Suzuki ends; 64 workers to be taken back 

SC notice to CBI on bail plea of Satyam's Raju

New Delhi: Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and his brother B Rama Raju, arrested in connection with the multi-crore accounting fraud involving the IT firm, will have to remain in jail during Diwali as the Supreme Court on Friday refused to give them interim relief saying they have delayed in approaching it.

The apex court, however, agreed to give an early hearing to their pleas and issued notice to CBI for November 3, after the Diwali break.

"Why you delayed in filing the petition," the Bench asked when senior advocate Ashok Desai, appearing for the brothers, pleaded for interim relief saying five other accused in the case have recently been granted bail by the apex court.

Apart from the two brothers, former Chief Financial Officer Vadlamani Srinivas also moved court seeking bail.

The apex court had on October 12 granted bail to five other accused in the case. The former Satyam employees, who were granted bail, are its former Internal Chief Auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta besides executives G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam.

The fifth accused, who got the bail, is the former auditor of PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Subramani Gopalakrishnan.

The five had approached the apex court challenging the August 30 order of Andhra Pradesh High Court which had rejected their bail pleas.