NEW DELHI: A Bill to remove legal hurdles in the appointment of former TRAI chief Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was passed in the Lok Sabha on Monday, with the Congress, RJD, AAP and RSP opposing it and Trinamool Congress making a volte-face on the issue.

Replying to a discussion during which the government came under attack, Minister for Law and Telecom Ravi Shankar Prasad said the focus of the measure was to remove “a palpable anomaly” as the existing law provided that a former TRAI Chairman could take up private job two years after retirement but not a government job.

Other regulatory bodies like Competition Commission, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority and SEBI do not have such provision, he said, adding the government decided to amend the law to bring parity.

The Bill was later passed by a voice vote after walkout by the Congress, RJD, AAP, RSP and CPI(M).

The discussion saw those opposing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill to replace an ordinance walking out of the House but maintaining that they are not casting any doubt on the integrity and honesty of the person concerned, but were against the flouting of democratic norms and procedures.

The bill replaces an ordinance issued on May 28 to amend a clause in the TRAI Act by which Misra could not have been appointed to any government post after retirement.

Misra, a 1967-batch retired IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who retired in 2009, joined the PMO the same day the Ordinance was promulgated and the Bill was being brought to give his appointment the requisite legal backing.

TMC leader Sudip Bandopadhyay, whose party had opposed the Bill last week, supported the measure saying the Prime Minister had “the right to appoint any officer who he feels fit ... in the greater interests of better governance.”

His party colleague, Saugata Roy, had last week opposed the Bill saying it was being brought “merely to give a government job to a superannuated TRAI Chairman, thereby taking away the independence of TRAI.”

Roy was not present in the House today.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had apparently reached out to various Opposition parties for their support.

AIADMK leader M Thambidurai also supported the measure, prompting Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge to say “I don’t know what compulsions they had” for taking such a stand.

Reacting to this, Thambidurai immediately stood up to say that the Prime Minister had “made a choice and there is no need to oppose it.” — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today stayed till further orders the execution of death penalty of two of the four convicts in the December 16 gangrape and murder case. A bench of justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and N V Ramana said since the death sentence of other convicts have already been suspended by this court, the same order has to be passed.

It stayed the execution of Vinay Sharma (21) and Akshay Thakur (29), who were convicted along with other two-- Mukesh (27) and Pawan Gupta (20)-- whose death sentence has already been stayed.

Vinay and Akshay had moved the apex court seeking a stay on their execution and reversal of the Delhi High Court verdict upholding their conviction and the punishment.

The court proceedings also witnessed some confusion as the bench queried whether it could hear the plea in the light of observation made by Chief Justice R M Lodha that the cases of death convicts be heard by not less than three-judge bench.

The bench called for Supreme Court registrar who said no such notification has been issued so far in this regard. The bench then went ahead with the hearing and passed the stay order.

The Delhi High Court had on March 13 this year upheld their conviction and award of death penalty by terming the offence as "extremely fiendish" and "unparallelled in the history of criminal jurisprudence" and said the "exemplary punishment" was the need of the hour.

It had also said if this case was not "the rarest of rare cases" then "there is likely to be none".

Besides seeking setting aside of the High Court verdict, Vinay and Akshay, in their appeal, have sought a stay on their execution as an interim relief.

The petition has said the judgement be set aside as there was no "substance or material piece of evidence" and there were contradictions in the depositions of the victim and her friend, who had accompanied her in the bus, about the offence and the offenders. — PTI

NEW DELHI: A row erupted over yoga guru Ramdev's close aide Ved Pratap Vaidik's meeting with Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, with the Congress today seeking to corner the government inside and outside Parliament over whether it had given its approval.

The government on its part distanced itself from the meeting and declared it had nothing to do with the journalist "directly, indirectly or even remotely" and asserted there was no sanction from its side. "There is no Track-2 or Track-3 diplomacy involved," it added.

Vaidik had met the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), said to be the parent organisation of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), in Lahore on July 2 while touring Pakistan along with a group of journalists and politicians invited by a peace research institute.

As the Congress demanded his arrest, Vaidik defended his parleys with Saeed, saying he has been meeting all kinds of people and that it was a "simple thing" for him.

He also rejected suggestions by the Congress that he might have acted as government's envoy, saying he was "nobody's envoy but my own".

The meeting generated heat in Parliament with the Rajya Sabha witnessing two adjournments during Question Hour.

Congress members in both Houses sought a detailed statement from the government on the "purpose and motive behind the meeting with India's most wanted terrorist".

They created uproar in the Rajya Sabha forcing two adjournments during Question Hour, as they and their colleagues in Lok Sabha, as well as those from their allies, sought to know whether the journalist had sought government's permission before meeting Saeed and who facilitated it.

They demanded a statement by either the External Affairs Minister or Home Minister saying this was "a serious matter concerning national security".

In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said for India, Saeed was a terrorist and indeed involved in terrorism against India.

The government has nothing to do with "directly, indirectly or even remotely" with any journalist meeting Saeed, he said, adding that "government has not sanctioned permission to anyone for meeting him (Saeed)." Congress members also demanded the arrest of the journalist, with their leader Digvijay Singh seeking to know from Jaitley if the meeting had government's sanction.

"I want to clarify that we don't approve any such activity (meeting with Saeed)," Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said, as he accused the Congress of being desperate.

"For the government, there is no change of stand as far Hafiz is concerned. For India, Hafiz is an accused in the terror attack. He is a terrorist who conspired to attack India," Javadekar told reporters outside Parliament.

The minister also said there is no "Track-2 or Track-3 diplomacy" involved.

"For the government, there is no change of stand as far Hafiz is concerned. For India, Hafiz is an accused in the terror attack. He is a terrorist who conspired to attack India," Javadekar said.

In a tweet, Congress leader Digvijay Singh raised questions as to whether Vaidik met Sayeed as an envoy of the NDA government or as a personal envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Journalists in Pakistan know me for decades. They made a gesture (about meeting Saeed) to me and I said alright I will meet him. It was no big deal for me. It was a simple thing.

"For me it was like a normal meeting. I have been meeting the Maoists of Nepal, Taliban of Afghanistan...," Vaidik told reporters.

"If they raise the issue in Parliament, it is good as they will publicise me against my will. But nothing will come out of it," he said.

Saeed while taking note of protests against Vaidik meeting him called it "narrow mindedness" of Indian politicians.

"Dr Vaidik asked if we would protest Modi's visit to Pakistan, on which I replied, 'We don't participate in such politics & protests'," he said on Twitter.

"We meet everyone with an open heart, whoever wants to meet; regardless of nation, belief or religion." — PTI

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Ram Naik was today appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh, while party's veteran Delhi leader O P Kohli was moved to Gujarat in the first appointment of five Governors by the Narendra Modi Government.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué, Naik will take over in Uttar Pradesh after B L Joshi, perceived to be a close confidante of Gandhi family, was asked to tender his resignation. Joshi was the first Governor who tendered his resignation after the Modi government came to power on June 17 this year.

A three-time Parliamentarian, 80-year-old Naik has the rare distinction of being the only minister who completed five years as Petroleum and Natural gas Minister in one government.

Hit by cancer, Naik was bedridden in 1994 but fought back resolutely and overcame the deadly disease. He had announced in 2013 that he would not be contesting the 2014 election.

Seventy-eight-year-old Kohli, who was a Rajya Sabha member from 1994 to 2000, takes over as Governor in Gujarat after 87-year-old Kamla Beniwal was shifted to Mizoram by the government for remainder of her term till November this year.

A former Chief of BJP's Delhi unit in 2009, Kohli has been associated with the BJP since his student days and was President of its student wing, ABVP, and later became chief of the Delhi University Teachers Association. 

According to the communiqué, Keshari Nath Tripathi, a former Uttar Pradesh Speaker will take over in West Bengal, a post which had fallen vacant after the resignation of M K Narayanan after he was nudged to resign.

A poet and author of books, Tripathi, who will turn 80 in November this year, was a five-time MLA and has written a few books like commentary on "The Representation of the People Act, 1951" and two poetic books in Hindi — 'Manonukriti', 'Aayu Pankh'.

In his student life, he went to jail in connection with the Kashmir Movement.

Balram Das Tandon, 87, founder member of Jan Sangh in 1951, was appointed Governor of Chhatisgarh after Shekhar Dutt tendered his resignation on June 18 after he too was sounded by the Union Home Ministry.

Tandon was the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab in 1969 and later served as Cabinet Minister in Parkash Singh Badal's government. A six-time MLA, Tandon was critical of Badal government's decision in 2012 of providing free electricity to state farmers.

Padmanabha Acharya, a member of working group on north-east region of the BJP and co-convener of the Overseas Friends of BJP, was appointed Governor of Nagaland after President Pranab Mukherjee accepted resignation of Tripura Governor Vakkom Purushothaman, who was also officiating as Nagaland Governor.

The President asked Acharaya to perform the duties of Tripura Governor until regular arrangements are made, the communiqué said. — PTI