NEW DELHI: Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani, his wife Tina and 11 others were on Friday summoned as prosecution witnesses in the 2G spectrum allocation case by a Delhi court.

“I find that examination of these witnesses is necessary for just decision of the case...,” Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini said, adding “the application is allowed in total and all 13 are summoned.”

The CBI in its plea had sought summoning of Anil Ambani as witness in the case to ascertain the alleged investment of over Rs 990 crore by Reliance ADA Group companies in Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, facing trial in the case along with its promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka.

The agency had contended that Anil Ambani, who is the chairman of Reliance ADA Group, will be able to “throw light” on the issues of alleged investment by his group companies.

Ambani is required to be examined regarding the decisions on incorporation of the alleged shell companies, special public prosecutor U.U. Lalit had said, adding that although he may not have been a part of the decisions taken on these issues, he would have been aware about these matters.

The CBI had said that Ambani and his wife had “unrestricted powers” so far as cheque issuing authority is concerned and Ms. Tina Ambani had presided over the relevant meetings.

The advocates appearing for the three top executives of Reliance ADAG who are facing trial in the case had opposed CBI’s plea saying that the delay on the agency’s part in moving this application shows that it is not genuine.

The defence counsel had argued that reasons for the delay could be explained but CBI has not given any explanation regarding this. — PTI

JAMMU: Protests rocked several areas of Jammu division today to protest the firing incident in Ramban, where curfew remained in force even as authorities stopped a fresh batch of Amarnath pilgrims from leaving for the shrine.

A shutdown was called by Muslim outfits in several areas like Bhaderwah, Banihal, Thathri, Kishtwar, Gool, Doda, Sangaldan to protest against the incident.

Additional forces were deployed in sensitive areas a day after four persons were killed and 44 others, including security personnel, injured in stone-pelting and resultant firing when a mob attacked a BSF camp in Ramban district over alleged high-handedness by a BSF team.

"The situation is under control — it is peaceful — but there have been protests in some areas", said Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jammu Zone, Rajesh Kumar.

Kumar said that adequate security has been deployed in the region to ensure peace and normalcy in the region.

As many as 42 injured people are getting treatment in GMC hospital, Ramban district hospital and Srinagar hospital.

Protests rocked Bhaderwah, Banihal, Thathri, Kishtwar, Gool, Doda, Sangaldan areas of Jammu region amid raising of anti-India slogans and burning of tyres, police said.

In Bhaderwah and Thathri, protestors took out a march and burnt tyres demanding arrest of the culprits and punishment to them.

There was a shutdown in various towns in Jammu regions against the incident.

"There were no reports of any untoward incident reported from anywhere in the areas", IG said.

In the wake of the incident, no fresh batch of Amarnath pilgrims was allowed today from Jammu for Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, police said.

Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed since midnight last night as a precautionary measure.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident while Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde directed a probe into the role of BSF which is stationed in the area to guard railway installations.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had condemned the killing of protestors and said such incidents had the potential to jeopardise the peaceful atmosphere in the state.

Inspector General of BSF Jammu Frontier Rajeev Krishna had said that its personnel opened fire in self-defence with "maximum restraint" to quell the violence by the mob which tried to storm their storehouse of arms and ammunition. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry has recommended hockey legend late Dhyan Chand over cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar for the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.

The ministry on Friday said the choice was logical because it had to name only one sportsperson for the Bharat Ratna to the Prime Minister’s Office. For them, three-time Olympic gold medallist Dhyan Chand, who passed away in 1979, was the right choice.

“We had to name just one sportsperson for the Bharat Ratna and it was Dhyan Chand. With all due respect to Tendulkar, Dhyan Chand is a legend in Indian sports. And it was logical to recommend Dhyan Chand for the Bharat Ratna since we have named every other trophy after him,” Pradip Deb, Secretary Sports, told IANS.

Hockey India (HI), which had recommended Dhyan Chand’s name earlier this year, was also elated.

“It is a proud moment for Indian hockey. We sincerely hope that he is given the award,” Narinder Batra, secretary general of Hockey India (HI), said.

Dhyan Chand, who won three gold medals at the Olympics — in 1928, 1932 and 1936 — is widely considered as the greatest hockey player the world has ever seen. — IANS

NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the hype created by the BJP about Narendra Modi, its ally Shiv Sena on Friday did not appear to be enthused about projecting him as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha polls.

"The country needs a reliable face. Can you find one face who fits? Can you see one? Since we cannot see a clear face, let us elect a strong government," Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said at a programme organised by Assocham.

Later, when asked by reporters who would be the face of NDA in the elections, Thackeray said, "We have a lot of credible people. Have some patience. We will definitely show you the face."

The Sena chief's apparent disinclination to back Modi assumes significance considering that BJP has virtually decided to project him as its prime ministerial nominee for the Lok Sabha elections slated for next year.

He later had an hour-long meeting with senior BJP leader L. K. Advani, who had last month revolted against Modi's nomination as BJP's election campaign committee chief.

The Shiv Sena has been having reservations to the projection of Modi as PM candidate, apparently because of his proximity to Uddhav's estranged cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.

In his address at the function, Thackeray said, "First bring in a strong government if you want a manifesto for development."

Targeting the UPA, he said it is difficult to make out who is running the country - the government or the media or NGOs or some other entity.

He said he does not want to single out Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the sorry state of affairs in the government which he described as "corrupt". — PTI

Azamgarh (UP): Former MLA and BSP leader Sarvesh Singh Seepu and another person were today shot dead by unidentified assailants, leading to violence in the district with protestors clashing with police and a man being killed allegedly in police firing. Six others were injured in the violence.

The tension erupted after 35-year-old Seepu and Narad Rai (40), who came to him for some work, were shot dead by unidentified men in front of his house, police said.

As soon as the news of the murder spread, hundreds of Seepu's supporters attacked Jiyanpur police station and snatched rifles from policemen, indulged in brick-batting and tried to set police station afire, IG law and order, R. K. Vishwakarma said in Lucknow.

The angry mob also torched two 'Vajra' vehicles and six motorcycles, he said, adding that police had to open fire to control the unruly mob and attempts are being made to control the situation.

Vishwakarma said besides former MLA, two persons were killed and added that it was not confirmed whether one death took place in police firing.

The incident appeared to be fall out of an old enmity, he said, adding that a search operation has been launched in neighbouring Mau, Jaunpur, Ambekdanaragar districts to nab the assailants.

Seepu was a Samajwadi Party MLA from Sagari seat till 2012. He then joined BSP and had contested the last Assembly elections on BSP ticket from Sadar seat here.

Seepu's father Rampyare Singh was a Cabinet Minister in previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

Meanwhile, condemning the killing of Sarvesh Singh, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly and senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya in Lucknow demanded that immediate steps be taken to check the "goonda raj" in the state.

"When people's representatives are not safe, what can be said about the common man," Maurya said, adding that Sarvesh Singh, who had joined the BSP in 2012, was provided security but it was withdrawn by the SP government.

"This shows government's apathetic attitude," Maurya said.

Alleging that the SP government was not serious on the issue of law and order, he said that murder of people's representative amounted to murder of democracy.

On police firing on Singh's supporters, Maurya said it showed the apathy and laxity on part of government and administration.

Maurya demanded an inquiry into the police firing and strict action against those guilty.

BJP and Congress have also condemned the murder of Sarvesh Singh and expressed apprehension that it could be a fallout of political conspiracy.

"It is most unfortunate that a former Samajwadi Party MLA was shot dead under the SP government," state unit president of the BJP, Laxmikant Bajpai said.

"I have my doubts that it could be a part of political conspiracy. Sarvesh Singh had left SP and joined the BSP and perhaps because of this his security threats were not taken seriously by the police," Bajpai said, adding that police acted in an irresponsible manner by opening fire on his (Sarvesh's) supporters and the government would have to reply for it.

Akhilesh Singh of Congress said that the incident was an example of the high morales of criminal elements in the state where there is no law and order.

Akhilesh Singh said that only someone who enjoyed the patronage of the government could dare to open fire at a former MLA and his security guard. "No one is safe in the state", he added. — PTI

More FDI reforms, bank licences on anvil: PM

NEW DELHI: Seeking to boost investor sentiments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured the industry that the government will further relax FDI norms and the Reserve Bank will soon start granting bank licences.

He expressed the hope that the impact of the reforms will boost economic growth rate in the second half of this year.

“Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been liberalised in single brand retail, multi-brand retail, civil aviation and power exchanges. More FDI reforms are on the anvil,” he said in New Delhi at a function.

In big-ticket reforms push, the government on July 16 decided to hike FDI in a sectors like telecom, insurance and defence, to boost the sagging economy.

He also said a new bank licensing policy has been announced and new licences are soon to be awarded.

Citing reform measures undertaken over last one year, the Prime Minister said, sugar has been fully decontrolled and at the same time investment policy for urea has been approved.

He also said the Railways have corrected their fares for the first time in a decade.

Speaking about GAAR, which has been a subject matter of considerable concern to industry, he said, it has been postponed by two years and there is greater clarity on the rules.

Besides, taxation issues of the IT sector and of development centres have been resolved based on the Rangachary Committee report, he added.

Gas pricing has been corrected to reflect market realities better, he said, adding, procedural improvements have been made in the road sector to improve the economic viability of projects.

“We will persevere with these initiatives and I hope that their impact will be felt in the second half of this year,” he said.

Emphasising that public sector investment has been fast- tracked, Dr Singh said, “I have estimated that over Rs 1,20,000 crore has been invested by major PSUs last year.”

On the supply side, he said “we need to push our exports. The depreciation in the rupee will help. There is a time lag before this benefit will be felt in terms of export volumes, but orders being booked from now on would certainly benefit.”

The government is also trying to remove the constraints in the export of iron and other ores which saw a considerable decline during the last one year.

Falling for consecutive two month, exports declined to 4.56 per cent in June.

He also expressed the commitment to bring down the current account deficit by addressing both the demand side and the supply side of the problem.

On the demand side, he said, “We need to reduce the demand for gold and the demand for petroleum products — the two biggest components of our trade deficit.”

The government has taken measures to control the demand for gold and they have had some effect.

“Gold imports declined sharply in June, and I hope they will stay at normal levels from now on,” he said.

On petroleum products, the Prime Minister said “we began a process of correcting the prices of petroleum products last year. The gradual correction that was taking place in diesel prices had reduced the gap in under-recoveries from almost Rs 13 per litre to less than Rs 2 per litre.”

Unfortunately, some of this has been undone by the depreciation of the rupee, he said, adding: “we too experienced a significant depreciation in the exchange value of the rupee. In our case, it was perhaps exacerbated by the fact that our CAD in the balance of payment had increased to 4.7 percent of GDP in 2012-13.”

However, he said, the policy of adjusting prices to progressively eliminate under-recoveries remains in place. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Justice P. Sathasivam was today sworn in as the 40th Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President Pranab Mukherjee.

He took over the charge from Justice Altamas Kabir, who served as the CJI for over nine months.

Justice Sathasivam, 64, took oath in the name of God at a brief ceremony at Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley, NDA working chairperson L. K. Advani, CPI leader D. Raja, several Union Ministers were present at the ceremony.

Justice Sathasivam was elevated to the Supreme Court in August, 2007, and would demit office on April 26, 2014.

Like his predecessor, Justice Sathasivam is opposed to scrapping of the present collegium system for the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges.

But at the same time, he has admitted that there are drawbacks in the collegium system and efforts can be made to overcome the shortcomings to ensure transparency.

"There are drawbacks, I accept. But these drawbacks can be settled," he had said yesterday.

Born on April 27, 1949, he enrolled as an advocate in July 1973 at Madras and was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Madras High Court in January, 1996.

Later, he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in April, 2007. — PTI