Tuesday, October 13, 1998
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CBI to question Laloo in assets case PATNA, Oct 12 — The CBI has summoned Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav for interrogation on October 21 in a disproportionate assets case relating to the multi-crore fodder scam. Include ‘Kashmiris’ |
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Amarinder is INTACH Chairman NEW DELHI, Oct 12 — The
president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr
Amarinder Singh, today took over as chairman of the
Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage.
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Shortage
of Bofors spares worries Army
Affidavit
row gets more murky Jaya
files plea to block proceedings
Lok
Dal to contest assembly poll Internet
threat to social health Samata
to contest 80 seats |
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CBI to question Laloo in assets case PATNA, Oct 12 (PTI) — The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav for interrogation on October 21 in a disproportionate assets case relating to the multi-crore fodder scam. CBI sources said today that Laloo Prasad would be interrogated at the agency’s state headquarters here. The summons followed the raids conducted by the agency on the official residence of Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi in connection with the case against her husband Laloo Prasad Yadav in August. The case (C 5A/98) relates to accumulation of wealth worth Rs 50 lakh by Yadav, allegedly disproportionate to his known sources of income. Of the four regular scam cases instituted by the CBI against Yadav, the agency had already charge-sheeted the former Bihar Chief Minister in two, while investigation was in progress in the remaining cases. The Supreme Court had asked Yadav to surrender before the designated CBI judge in regular case No RC 64-A/96 which deals with fraudulent withdrawals of around Rs 97 lakh from the Deoghar Treasury by state Animal Husbandry Department officials. This will be the second
time when Yadav would be interrogated in fodder scam
cases. The CBI had in March, 1997 grilled Yadav for over
six hours at a guest house in another case relating to
fraudulent withdrawals of over Rs 37 crore from the
Chaibasa Treasury. He is now on regular bail in this
case. |
Amarinder is INTACH Chairman NEW DELHI, Oct 12 — The president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Mr Amarinder Singh, today took over as chairman of the Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Besides, Mr Amarinder Singh, 24 other members were elected to the governing body. Mr Amarinder Singh secured 117 votes. He defeated the outgoing chairman and former Information and Broadcasting Secretary, Mr Bhaskar Ghosh, by 33 votes. After taking over, Mr Amarinder Singh said that his election was as per the procedures laid down in the INTACH constitution. Some of the INTACH members had alleged that Mr Amarinder Singh had brought several members of the Punjab chapter to Delhi to cast their votes in his favour. INTACH officials said Mr Amarinder Singh secured the votes of 58 members of the Punjab chapter, 22 of Haryana and Chandigarh and 77 of the Delhi chapter. A member of the governing body said “years of our efforts to make it a non-political organisation have come to a naught”. INTACH was founded by Rajiv Gandhi in 1984. Another member said this year’s election brought out how the politicians could bring democracy to the lowest common denomination. However, Mr Amarinder Singh stated that “my election was as per the rules laid down by the INTACH constitution”. He said several members associated with 150 chapters in different parts of the country had not been able to vote because of the peculiar clause in the constitution. The possibility of introducing the postal ballot would be discussed by the governing council and suitable amendments made in due course of time, he said. Meanwhile, Dr Satwant Singh Mohi, president of National Council of Arts, Cultural and Social Affairs, and a life member of INTACH, has stated that there was nothing wrong in the election of the chairman and the governing body members. Countering charges levelled by some members that persons having no interest in arts and culture had been enrolled, Dr Mohi stated that the outgoing chairman, Mr Bhaskar Ghosh, had accepted their membership. “Once a member is enrolled he is entitled to vote and participate in the activities of INTACH”, Dr Mohi who was an observer for Saturday’s election, said, adding that “non-Punjabis had not been ignored”. Mr Amarinder Singh, a
founder-member of INTACH, has been the convener of the
Punjab chapter since its inception. |
Include ‘Kashmiris’ in Indo-Pak talks NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (PTI) — Activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) today staged a demonstration outside the United Nations office here demanding inclusion of Kashmiris in the talk scheduled to be held between India and Pakistan this week. Led by party president Shabir Ahmed Shah they dismissed Pakistan’s claim that it was representing Kashmiris at the negotiations. The party’s chief spokesman, Mr Riaz Khewar, said the JKDFP was ready to act as a “bridge” between the two countries to narrow down their differences. “The vexed Kashmir issue will be solved by the people of Jammu and Kashmir themselves and nobody can speak on their behalf”, he said, referring to the recent statement of Pakistani Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed that Islamabad was negotiating on behalf of the Kashmiris. He said three accords between the two countries had “failed” as there was no proper representation of Kashmiris in the talks. However, welcoming the bilateral talks, Mr Khewar said, “Our party believes that a dialogue is the best way to resolve the differences”. Mr Shah later submitted a memorandum at the United Nations office. He claimed in the memorandum that the people of Jammu and Kashmir through their “true representatives” could work out a “formula” which would solve the issue once and for all. “We would like to step into next millennium with prosperity and peace”, Mr Shah said after submitting the memorandum. Meanwhile, another
organisation, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Front (JKDF),
also criticised Pakistan today for its statement that
Islamabad was representing Kashmiris at the talks with
India. |
Kashmir to figure at talks NEW DELHI, Oct 12 — The Indo- Pak Foreign Secretary-level dialogue, scheduled to begin from October 16 in Islamabad, will cover confidence building measures and the Kashmir issue. The Ministry of External Affairs, which is busy formulating and finetuning its strategy and approach for this week’s three-day talks, is tight-lipped over the talks as none of the officials is prepared to discuss any aspect of the proposed talks. The approach is going to be of "cautious constructive engagement", an official said refusing to say anything further. Sources said both India and Pakistan officials had agreed in New York to make an earnest attempt to initiate the dialogue in a positive spirit. The High Commissioners of India and Pakistan reached their respective capitals for the preparation of the talks. The Foreign Secretary, Mr K. Raghnath, will leave New Delhi on October 15 along with a team of officials from his ministry. On October 16, the two sides would take up confidence building measures and the next day Kashmir issue will be taken up. On October 18, the two teams would sum up the talks. On the first two days of talks, an agreed statement will be issued for the media. On the last day, a joint press conference will be addressed. Meanwhile, media
particularly the audio-visual, has evinced a keen
interest in the coverage of the talks. Many television
teams are trying to procure a visa for Islamabad. |
HC restrains Delhi Govt on slum dwellers NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today restrained the Delhi Government from granting “freehold” ownership rights to jhuggi (slum) dwellers who were allotted land under the relocation scheme in resettlement colonies here. A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice K.S. Gupta, expressing serious concern over the government’s failure to furnish required details in its affidavit regarding its plan for JJ clusters, directed the authorities not to allow any permanent construction in the resettlement colonies till further orders. The court order came on a number of writ petitions seeking the removal of the JJ clusters from several parts of the Capital. Outgoing Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma had recently announced a scheme for giving “freehold” ownership rights to those allottees who were given land under the relocation scheme in resettlement colonies. Describing the affidavit “utterly vague” the Bench asked the Chief Secretary to file a complete affidavit before January 28, the next date of hearing. “The court does not expect such a vague affidavit from the Chief Secretary, especially when an expert committee appointed by the government to examine the issue has already submitted its report,” the court said while asking the government to implement today’s order in “letter and in spirit”. The court said the
affidavit had not made it clear what was the hitch for
the government to initiate talks with the Centre and its
various departments on the recommendation of the
committee and what was its scheme regarding the JJ
clusters. |
China ‘wants good ties with neighbours’ NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (UNI) — China has once again endorsed the policy of promoting good neighbourly relations with its neighbours through confidence-building measures like troops reduction on the borders. Beijing’s reiteration of its policy on promoting confidence-building measures with its neighbours is contained in a “white paper on China’s national defence” and assumes additional significance in the Indian context as it comes after the Pokhran nuclear tests. “China places great stress on and actively promotes cooperation in confidence building measures considering the establishment of mutual trust between nations as an effective way to maintain security,” the white paper says. In November 1996, China and India signed the agreement on the measures in the military field along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the China-India border areas. The text of the white paper, released by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, has been reproduced by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in the latest issue of its publication “Strategic Digest.” The paper notes that in recent years, China has reached agreements with some neighbouring countries on confidence-building measures and reduction of military forces in border areas, which is an important step China has taken to develop relations with other countries and promote regional peace and stability. The paper says that these agreements, reflected a new kind of security concept vigorously advocated by China and embodied some principles and spirit of universal significance for Asian-Pacific Security dialogues and cooperation. Elaborating on the “new kind of security concepts” the white paper identified some of them as mutual and equal security, seeking security, by establishing mutual trust, dialogue and cooperation without interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and without aiming at a third party. The paper also identified preventing military forces from threatening or harming other countries’ security and stability, implementing and sticking to a national defence policy that is defensive in nature, adopting suitable confidence-building measures in the border and disputed areas on a bilateral basis and engaging in friendly contacts between military forces as the other “new kind of security concepts.” The paper also notes that the November 1996 agreement on these measures with India provided that each side should not engage in military activities that threatened the other side or undermine peace, tranquillity and stability in the border areas, that the two sides should strictly respect and observe the line of mutual control in the border areas and neither side should overstep the LAC in their activities pending ultimate resolution of the boundary question. According to the Chinese paper the agreement on the measures with India also provided for that the two sides should reduce or limit the size of field army, border defence forces, paramilitary forces and any other mutually agreed category of armed forces and armaments deployed in the mutually agreed geographical zones along the LAC to the mutually agreed ceilings, that each side shall refrain from staging military exercises directing against the other in the close proximity of the LAC in the border areas and restrict the scale of military exercises and provide prior notification to the other with regard to military exercises of certain scale in the close proximity of the LAC in the border areas. The paper also notes that the agreement on the confidence measures specifies that the two sides should prevent air intrusions by military aircraft across the LAC and dangerous military activities in the areas along the line, that both sides should strengthen exchanges and cooperation between their military personnel and establishments in the border areas. The white paper also takes
note of the agreements signed by China with Russia, the
USA and with some other Central Asian Republics. |
28 million cases ‘pending’ in courts NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (PTI) — As the country’s judicial system gets overburdened with more than a staggering 28 million pending cases, experts have called for greater use of the alternative dispute resolution system (ADRS) to deal with the problem. The ADRS are presently available through the acts of arbitration, conciliation, Lok Adalats and systems of local justice like “nyaya panchayats” for the quick disposal of cases. “What concerns me is the poor administration of justice and I feel subordinate courts need to be expanded with utilisation of retired judges and lawyers”, says social activist and director “common cause”, H.D. Shourie suggesting that three to ten-year-old cases should be decided on a priority basis. Retired Justice of Rajasthan High Court S.M Jain, while calling for increasing the number of subordinate courts, however, cautions that “a case is always decided, never disposed of”. A commission on review of administrative laws, which recently recommended the repeal of over 1,300 central laws of different categories and review of all pre-constitution laws, said a huge backlog of cases was giving “a poor impression about the functioning of the legal system” and there was an urgent need to address it. The commission comprising its Chairman P.C. Jain and members H.D. Shourie, S. Ramaiah (retired bureaucrats) and P.S.A Sundaram (Administrative Secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms) favoured “effective utilisation of arbitration and greater use of mediation procedure” for a speedy disposal of cases. At least one crore criminal cases are pending in various courts. The Supreme Court five years ago had given a ruling that old cases in which the accused had already undergone the sentence during the pendency of the cases should be disposed of. This ruling alone resulted in disposing of over six lakh case in Maharashtra, Mr Shourie says. “The courts are giving long adjournments in cases which should be heard on day-to-day basis as per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and it is mainly due to the heavy workload on them,” he maintains. It is precisely for this reason, Mr Shourie says, the commission has suggested that the government should expand the ADRS, entrust pending cases of subordinate courts to ‘Lok Adalats which should be set up in all districts and talukas. The commission has said that in the course of reforming the existing system of administration of justice in civil courts and the tribunals, the government should not underestimate the potential of the ADRS. The four member commission was formed in May to examine steps taken by various ministers and departments to review administrative laws, regulations and procedures administered by them and recommend follow-up action for repeal and amendment. The panel has suggested
regulatory frameworks in 13 sectors, including housing
and urban development, land acquisition, sick industrial
units, company law, non-banking financing companies,
foreign investment, essential commodities, health sector,
environment, industry, labour laws, taxation, consumer
protection, import-export and administration of justice. |
Shortage of Bofors spares worries Army NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (PTI) — The Army is concerned about the shortage of spare parts for the 155 mm long-range Bofors gun being used in countering Pakistani shelling in the Siachen Glacier and has begun indigenisation of "certain" components to meet immediate needs, senior Defence Ministry officials said today. If the requirement of the spares was not adequately met in the next few years, the gun system could become obsolete, they said. India had entered into the controversial gun deal with the AB Bofors of Sweden in the late 1980s and had contracted for the supply of the spares and their production under licence. With the Centre snapping all ties with the manufacturer, the spares have become difficult to get and the army has been looking for gun components from the international market. India has reportedly bought 410 155 mm Howitzers from Sweden. Even though some of the guns have been cannibalised to meet component requirements, these weapon systems were in perfect working condition, Director-General of the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Lt-Gen M.R. Kochar, told newspersons on the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Corps which falls on October 15. Replying to questions whether the Army had systems to function in conditions of a fallout of a nuclear weapon blast, General Kochhar said the Army was fully prepared, in this regard with state-of-the-art equipment to counter nuclear, biological and chemical weapons being mounted in tanks and other armoured vehicles. He, however, made it clear that armoured vehicles could function only after a post-blast scenario. Without providing much details, he said the Army had proper clothing for its personnel and other equipment to meet any such eventuality. The EME is responsible for providing engineering support to military hardware ranging from small arms to all types of vehicles, tanks, guns, missiles, radars, computers, helicopters (Chetaks and Cheetahs), night- vision devices, simulators and latest communication and weapons systems whether during peacetime or war. General Kochhar said the EME had also indigenously developed driving training simulators, small arms training simulators and anti-tank guided missile simulators and that they were currently in operation with the Army. These had been
manufactured in the country at one-fourth of the cost of
the imported equipment, he said, adding a small arms
simulator was being manufactured indigenously at cost of
Rs 6.5 lakh. |
Affidavit row gets more murky BHUBANESWAR, Oct 12 (PTI) — The controversy surrounding the affidavit purported to have been sworn by Congress leader, Jayadev Panda against Chief Minister J. B. Patnaik took a curious turn with the notary, before whom the document was allegedly made, submitting its photocopy to a court here today. The notary, Mr Madhu Madhab Jena, who is facing a criminal charge after Panda filed an FIR against him denying that he had made any affidavit before him, also submitted before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), A. K. Mishra photocopies of several other documents annexed to the affidavit which has caused a storm in the state’s political circles. Jena surrendered before the court which released him on conditional bail of Rs. 5,000 with two sureties of the like amount. After contents of the alleged affidavit linking the Chief Minister with Panda’s wife were published in a section of the local press, the Congress leader vehemently denied that he had sworn such an affidavit before the notary. On the basis of his FIR, the police had searched Jena’s residence and seized several documents on October 8 last. The notary filed a copy of the seizure list before the court. On a plea by Jena seeking protection for himself and his family members, the SDJM directed the Superintendent of Police, Khurda, to provide him security till October 14 next when the petition would come up for hearing. The notary also filed a contempt petition against the police as his house had been searched even when a prayer by the investigating officer for issue of a search warrant was pending before the court. The investigating officer and the inspector-in-charge of Khandagiri police station here were directed to appear before the court and file affidavits on Jena’s prayer for initiating contempt proceedings against them. In his order, the SDJM noted that the investigating officer had filed his petition seeking a search warrant directly before the court and not through the government counsel as per the settled principle of law. The court also observed that the investigating officer was not present in the court today although his petition was listed for the day. Talking to newsmen later,
the notary denied that he had made any statement before
the police on the genuineness of the affidavit. |
Jaya files plea to block proceedings CHENNAI, Oct 12 (PTI) — Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha today filed a petition in a special court seeking postponement of proceedings against her in the ‘TANSI land deal’ case, till the Supreme Court gave its verdict on the powers of the Governor to sanction her prosecution. The Judge, P. Anbazhagan, trying cases of corruption during AIADMK rule, ordered issue of notice to the CB-CID, the investigating agency, returnable on October 16. The case relates to sale of prime land and buildings of the state-owned Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) here, allegedly at far below the then prevailing market rates to ‘Jaya Publications’ and ‘Sasi Enterprises’ in which Jayalalitha and her friend Sasikala Natarajan were partners. Jayalalitha’s 1995 petition challenging the then Governor Channa Reddy’s order sanctioning her prosecution in the TANSI deal and another case is pending before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. In her petition, Jayalalitha pointed out that the Supreme Court, while referring her special leave petition (SLP) to a Constitution Bench had stayed the sanction accorded to the Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy to prosecute her in the case. She had filed the SLP after the Madras High Court had dismissed her petition challenging the sanction. Jayalalitha pointed out
that in the writ petition filed by her in the High Court
during her chief ministership, the government had then
taken a stand that the state government was the authority
to accord sanction to prosecute a Chief Minister and not
the Governor. |
Lok Dal to contest assembly poll NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (PTI) — The newly floated Lok Dal today announced its decision to contest the coming assembly elections in four states and asked the Congress to take the lead in fighting the BJP. "We will put up candidates to oppose the BJP in the next month’s assembly poll by forging an alliance with the secular parties," Lok Dal president Ajit Singh told reporters here. Several people from the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party had joined the Lok Dal, he claimed. He said discussions were on with some of the secular parties for a possible electoral tie-up in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The party would contest 25 "identified" assembly seats in Rajasthan, he said. Since the main contest was between the Congress and the BJP in the four states, the former should take the lead in mobilising all secular parties to defeat the BJP, the former union minister said. Referring to the change of the Chief Minister in Delhi, he said it was one way of accepting the fact that the BJP had failed to run the government in the Capital. Concerted efforts were on to remove Mr Sahib Singh Verma from the post, he said and blamed the RSS for it. Describing the BJP as a "neo-elite" party, he said the party was anti-poor and anti-farmer. Taking serious exception to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s remarks that mafia raj was still prevailing in Bihar, he said Mr Vajpayee should not have said it. He (Vajpayee) should look
into the happenings in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Ajit Singh said. |
Internet threat to social health NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (PTI) — The first study on how Internet affects people’s social lives has found that participants were more depressed and their social interactions dwindled. Despite the net’s use as a means of communication, spending time online appeared to reduce participants’ face-to-face interactions, the Science journal reported, quoting a study by a team headed by Robert Kraut from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The team installed computers with free Internet connections for 169 persons in 73 households that previously did not have net connections. The group used software to track each person’s hours online. Over the next two years, the researchers interviewed participants about their interactions with family and friends and measured their feelings of depression and loneliness using standard psychological tests. They found that as
subjects logged more hours on the Internet, they talked
less with their families, saw fewer friends and scored
higher on depression tests — even when they were
online as little as one to four hours a week. |
Samata to contest 80 seats JAIPUR, Oct 12 (UNI) — The Samata Party in Rajasthan will field its candidates for 80 to 100 assembly seats for the November 25 elections if it failed to enter into any poll alliance with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. This was decided at the party state executive committee meeting here yesterday. Participants at the meeting were of the view that the party should ally with the BJP for the assembly elections, but if it did not work out then the party should contest the poll seriously on its own. A nine-member state
election committee under the chairmanship of party
national general secretary Gopal Pacherwal was also
constituted at the meeting. The meeting was chaired by
state president Pandit Ramkrishan. |
Morocco honours Balayogi NEW DELHI, Oct 12 — The Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi, who is on a visit to Morocco, was today honoured with a high decoration by the country’s King, Mr Hassan II. The Lok Sabha Speaker is the first Indian dignitary to be received by the King after the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, visited that country in 1993, as Vice-President. Earlier in the day, the
Speaker and members of his delegation visited Casablanca
to see the grand mosque and the office of the Cherifien
des Phosphatic, the country's phosphate monopoly company. |
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| Rao’s book in running
for award MUMBAI: “The Insider”, a book by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, is among the 21 entries received for the Rs 2 lakh Crossword award. The award, to be presented here on November 15, was conceived for the best work of fiction by an Indian writer in English to “encourage the highly endangered habit of reading”, a release from Crossword said on Monday. — PTI ‘Godavari Gaurav’ awards
presented First Java virus
reported MSEB staff call
off strike ‘Shram
Bhushan’ for BHEL worker Permanent lok
adalat for Goa |
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