Tuesday, January 19, 1999
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President’s suggestion unusual,
says BJP NEW DELHI, Jan 18 — BJP today described as "unusual" President K.R. Narayanan’s suggestion to the CJI that persons belonging to weaker sections of society should be given due consideration in the appointment of Supreme Court judges, though Chief Justice A.S. Anand has maintained that merit alone was the criterion. HC dismisses plea on Bhagwat's sack MUMBAI, Jan 18 — The Mumbai High Court today rejected a petition that sought a direction to the Centre to disclose in public interest the grounds on which former Navy chief Vishnu Bhagwat was sacked. |
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 A preview of the MI-35 assault helicopter being displayed for the first time in this year’s R-Day parade. — Photo by T.C. Malhotra
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HC
adjourns hearing till Jan 27 Sukhoi-30
to be part of fly-past 250
AIIMS, PGI doctors hold rally Doctor,
husband held for car thefts Varsity
clears 26 proposals Angelopoulos
films liven up fest Wildlife
staff, Ministry get SC notice |
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Appointment of SC judges NEW DELHI, Jan 18 (PTI) — BJP today described as "unusual" President K.R. Narayanan’s suggestion to the Chief Justice of India that persons belonging to weaker sections of society should be given due consideration in the appointment of Supreme Court judges though Chief Justice A.S. Anand has maintained that merit alone was the criterion for all such appointments. The suggestion on giving due consideration to members of weaker sections, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, was recorded in a file by Mr Narayanan in November last while giving his assent to the appointment of four judges to the apex court. Party spokesman J.P. Mathur, however, declined to comment any further saying the BJP did not want to politicise the issue and that the national agenda for governance had said the BJP-led coalition wanted the setting up of a judicial commission for the appointment of judges. Party general secretary Sanghapriya Gautam said judges to the apex court should be appointed on merit and there were three judges belonging to Scheduled Castes, who were currently attached to the Kerala, Assam and Gujarat High Courts. LUCKNOW (UNI): Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav today hailed President K.R. Narayanan for his reported statement supporting the reservation in judiciary. Talking to reporters here after addressing the state executive of his party, Mr Yadav said that as the reservation was mooted in other walks of life, the judiciary should also be included in it. The Samajwadi Party strongly supported the views of Mr Narayanan on the subject, he added. Mr Yadav said his party was well prepared for the agitation to be launched against the misrule of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre as well as in the state. The agitation is to be launched from Lucknow on February 5. The Samajwadi Party leader said that he would court arrest on February 6 in Lucknow. He claimed that the agitation would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of the BJP government. He refused to comment on the reported statement of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar ridiculing the proposal of third front in the country. "May be he has something in his mind but I have nothing against him", he added. Mr Yadav ridiculed the reported statement of Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh that the third front could not be formed without the Congress and the Lok Dal. "If it is so then what would be the meaning of third front", he pointed out. The former Defence Minister said the third front meant the anti-BJP and anti-Congress front. "If somebody says the third front should include the Congress, it means he is ridiculing himself," he argued. The Congress had been colluding with the BJP on every important issue the country was faced with, he alleged and claimed that only the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and the Left parties were really fighting the communal politics of the BJP. Mr Yadav denied that the RLM or his party was thinking in terms of bringing a no-confidence motion in the next session of Parliament or in Uttar Pradesh legislature. "We are seeking confidence from the people," he added. Regarding the statement of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee seeking debate on religious conversions, he said it was aimed at diverting the public attention from real issues. Why the Central government could not provide basic amenities to people over the years was the real issue immediately required to be addressed, he pointed out. Mr Yadav also criticised
the BJP government for making unhealthy atmosphere on the
eve of the Pakistan cricket team’s visit to India.
When his attention was drawn towards the public criticism
of the Shiv Sena by the Prime Minister himself for
digging the pitch at Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi, the
Samajwadi Party president said "the BJP and the Shiv
Sena are one and the former is showing dual character on
this issue." |
HC dismisses plea on Bhagwat's sack MUMBAI, Jan 18 (PTI) — The Mumbai High Court today rejected a petition that sought a direction to the Centre to disclose in public interest the grounds on which former Navy chief Vishnu Bhagwat was sacked. Acting Chief Justice, Justice A.C. Agarwal and Mr Justice Ajit Shah ruled that the petitioner Lt-Gen (retd) Prem Nath Hoon had no locus standi to seek the material on the basis of which Admiral Bhagwat was dismissed. Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee argued that Admiral Bhagwat himself had not challenged his dismissal. Besides, the petitioner was not questioning the dismissal of former Navy chief or alleging that it was mala fide. All that he was asking for was the material on the basis of which Admiral Bhagwat was sacked. Citing Supreme Court judgement in the case of S.P. Gupta vs Union of India, he argued that the petitioner was not an affected party and hence he had no right to seek information on the government’s decision to sack the former Navy Chief. Petitioner’s counsel, Iswari Prasad Bagadia, contended that being a citizen, his client had a right to know reasons for Bhagwat’s dismissal. Right to information was enshrined in the Constitution, he said, adding that in matters involving national security, citizens should not be passive spectators. He also urged the court to exercise its power of judicial review by calling for the records of the case and going into the legality and propriety of the decision taken to dismiss Admiral Bhagwat. The petitioner submitted that the Government was trying to hide behind a veil of secrecy making "national security" as an excuse. "People need to judge whether the government action was based on rational assessment for which transparency was absolutely necessary," the petitioner said. After the petition was
rejected, Lt-Gen (retd) Prem Nath Hoon told reporters
that he would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court
because he felt that citizens had a right to information
in matters involving national security. |
George keeps his promise NEW DELHI, Jan 18 — Facilities and equipment for troops deployed on the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen, have been significantly upgraded. This was conveyed to the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, by Army officials when he visited the Siachen Glacier yesterday to see the condition of troops in the harsh winter conditions. The Defence Minister was told that for the first time, troops deployed in Siachen had adequate number of snow-mobiles and the winter stockings also this year were comfortable. The snow-mobiles' squad had been replenished, with 30 new arrivals and they were providing invaluable logistical support at the icy outposts. This was the Defence Minister’s fourth visit to the glacier since he assumed charge of the portfolio 10 months ago. His visit to the glacier yesterday was to redeem his pledge to visit the troops there when winter was at its harshest. A Defence Ministry spokesman said today that the minister was also told that as many as 6254 pairs of improved quality gloves had been made available to the troops. The feasibility study for constructing a road from the base camp to the outpost in the glacier had also been completed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). Once the road was ready, it would be of immense help to the troops deployed on the glacier. The Defence Minister met the troops at Rewari outpost located at a height of 18,000-feet with daytime temperature of above -20° C and addressed them at Chalunka post. He also visited Turtuk army post and went up to zero point on the line of control (LoC). Mr Fernandes is the first Defence Minister to visit zero point. He was accompanied by Lt-Gen H.M. Khanna, Commander, Northern Command, Maj-Gen V.S. Badhwar, GOC, 3 Division, Brig P.C. Katoch, Commander, Siachen brigade and Brig K.S. Jamwal and Brig R. Sehgal from Northern Command. Mr Fernandes was informed that the snow-mobiles were providing invaluable logistic support at the icy outposts. The Army officers thanked the Defence Minister for the initiatives in ensuring better conditions for the troops at the glacier and told him that winter stockings this year were comfortable. The heating system in the Siachen hospital at Partapur, which had not been functioning for the past four years, had also been reactivated since the minister’s last visit to the glacier in August last. The minister was also told that the kerosene pipeline was being expanded and a laundry system had been established at the base camp. Besides, bio-gesters had also been set up at Kumar post and at the base camp for disposal of human waste. Addressing the troops, Mr Fernandes said in his 10 months in office as Defence Minister he had often been asked why he had been visiting Siachen again and again. "To this my reply is that everytime I visit the area to meet the troops, I learn something new." "Besides, as Defence
Minister I should be visiting my troops wherever they
are: whether in snow, desert or jungles to understand
their problems and difficulties," the Defence
Minister is said to have remarked. |
Anjana rape case CUTTACK, Jan 18 (UNI) — The Orissa High Court today adjourned till January 27 the hearing in the Anjana Mishra rape case. A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice P.K. Mishra, who heard the counsel for both Ms Mishra and the state government, sought the case diary and other records pertaining to the investigation of the gangrape to be presented before the court on January 27. The counsel for Ms Mishra strongly opposed a crime branch inquiry into the case and demanded instead a CBI investigation. On the other hand, appearing on behalf of the state government, Advocate-General Gobind Das submitted that it had no objection to whatever the court decided in the interest of the public. The Division Bench also sought to know from Ms Mishra and the government their reaction if the court decided to monitor and supervise investigations into the case. Affidavit to this end is also to be submitted by January 25. The CBI had already, in its response to the court’s query submitted that it had no objection in conducting investigation into the case. NEW DELHI, (PTI): Activists from several women’s organisations, democratic rights groups and student organisations today staged a day-long ‘dharna’ in front of Orissa Bhavan here demanding resignation of state Chief Minister J.B. Patnaik on the alleged Anjana Mishra rape case. Slogan-shouting women led by Brinda Karat of the All-India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) demanded immediate arrest and punishment of those responsible for the incident. They demanded Mr Patnaik’s resignation on "moral grounds" for his inability to provide basic security to women. They demanded adequate security arrangements for Ms Mishra and drastic steps by the state government to ensure general safety and security of women in Orissa. Members from Saheli,
Parivartan, the Progressive Students Union and the
People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) also
participated. |
Sukhoi-30 to be part of fly-past NEW DELHI, Jan 1 8— Spectators at the Republic Day parade along Rajpath will be treated to a breathtaking display of low-level aerobatics from the country’s latest acquisition —Sukhoi-30 aircraft, — which will form part of the fly-past planned by the Indian Air Force on January 26 this year. In all, 31 aircraft will participate in the fly-past, which, for the first time, will also see three Kamov helicopters of the Indian Navy flying in the ‘vic’ formation and three TU-142 doing echelon/vic formation. Four MI-17 helicopters will fly in the National and Service Flags and drop petals. They would be followed at a distance of 3 kms by the Kamovs. In the big boy ‘formation will come one IL-76, two AN-32s and two Dorniers with the three TU-142s, two minutes behind, chasing them. A batch of six Jaguars and six MiG-29s will hurtle past in the ‘shockwave’ formation and on their trail will be three of the IAF’s most modern SU-30s, which will come in straight and level past in a ‘vic’ formation. A vertical Charlie by either a SU-30 or a MiG-29 in front of the dais will be a thrilling highlight of the fly-past. Newly appointed Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal T.M. Asthana, told newspersons that the IAF’s marching contingent will comprise 144 airmen and four officers led by Sqn Ldr Ravuri Sheetal. The vehicular column will have on display "Lakshya", the indigenously designed, developed, manufactured and cost-effective pilot target aircraft (PTA) which has been offered to the IAF by the DRDO after extensive trials. The highly mobile surface
to air guided weapon system, OSA-AK-M, the MI-35 assault
helicopters, being showed the first time, MiG-27 fighter
bomber and Jaguar will also be rolled in on vehicles. |
250 AIIMS, PGI doctors hold
rally NEW DELHI, January 18 — Nearly 250 senior doctors of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, including five from the PGI, Chandigarh, held a rally here on Monday to press for quick implementation of the Baxi Committee recommendations on pay-scales. The doctors began the march from AIIMS at 12.45 pm and resumed hospital duty by 2.30 pm. Although they were stopped by the police near Safdarjung Tomb, a five-member delegation of doctors was allowed to submit a copy of the memorandum to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Baxi Committee chaired by the Union Health Secretary, Mr K.K. Baxi was set up to improve the pay scales suggested by the Fifth Pay Commission. In its recommendations made on July 18, 1998, the Baxi Committee recommended a scale of Rs 12,750 - Rs 16,500 for the Assistant Professor, Rs 15,100 to Rs 18,300 for the Associate Professor, Rs 16,400 to Rs 20,900 for the Additional Professor and Rs 22,400 to Rs 24,500 for the Professors. Dr S. Bal, Secretary of the Faculty Association of AIIMS told The Tribune “All the four categories of Professor, Additional Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor were reasonably represented in the rally. We want implementation of the Baxi Committee recommendations with modifications made later. The execution has been pending for the past eight months. The Fifth Pay Commission recommendations came about three years back. It has been over 17 months since these recommendations were implemented for the rest of the country. These should be implemented for the medical fraternity also.” He said that the Additional Professor’s scale of Rs 16,400 -450- 20,900 recommended by the Baxi committee was erroneous. The Director of AIIMS,
Professor P.K. Dave said, “I feel that their demands
are justified. I think that both doctors in AIIMS and the
PGI deserve a better deal. They are very committed and
put in a lot of hard work but I don’t approve of
these methods of protest.’’ |
Doctor, husband held for car
thefts NEW DELHI, Jan 18 - A 30-year-old lady doctor, her husband and a property dealer were arrested on Saturday by the police for allegedly stealing cars from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. Five stolen cars were recovered from their possession and 14 cases of forgery worked out with their arrest, the police said. The suspects were identified as Dr Jyoti alias Anita, her husband, Ram Kishan, a hotelier and their accomplice Lovesh Sen, a property dealer. The lady doctor is a dental surgeon and trained nurse. Her husband is allegedly a bad character of Vasant Vihar police station in South West Delhi. They married in 1990, the police said. The police caught Dr Jyoti and Lovesh with a car they had stolen from Safdarjang and were proceeding towards the residence of the lady doctor in RK Puram . Ram Kishan owned a hotel ‘Snow View’ in Manali. Dr Jyoti was nurse before marriage. After marriage her husband asked her to do BDS course which she completed from Patna in Bihar. Later she joined her husband’s business in Manali. During interrogation they disclosed that they incurred losses in hotel business. To recover this they started stealing vehicles from posh areas. Earlier they were arrested in 1998 in Patna on same charges. Dr Jyoti and Lovesh Sen
used to go to the areas of South West district to steal
vehicles and bring it to Dr Jyoti’s residence in RK
Puram. Ram Kishan reportedly used to forge papers of the
stolen vehicles on his computer which were similar to the
original ones. |
Varsity clears 26 proposals NEW DELHI, Jan 18 — Indraprastha Vishwavidyalaya recently set up by the Delhi Government has given a no- objection certificate to as many as 26 proposals for setting up engineering, management, pharmacy and other professional colleges, the Education Minister, Dr Narendra Nath, said here today. If the institutes meet the standards set by the All-India Council for Technical Education these would be granted affiliation by Vishwavidyalaya from the academic year 1999-2000 itself, he said. The Minister said these institutes would go a long way in fulfilling the demand for professional courses, which forces students from Delhi to join professional institutions outside the Capital. While some of these institutes were already being run by private organisations and trusts, others were yet to be set up. The proposals are to set up six engineering, three architecture, one pharmaceutical, one hotel management and catering, seven MBA, one energy management and seven MCA colleges. Up to 85 per cent of the seats would be reserved for students of Delhi, Dr Nath said. As per the Supreme Court ruling, 50 per cent of the seats would be for nominal-fee paying students, the other half would charged normal fee. A common entrance test would be held by the vishwavidyalaya. Stating that the university had been keen on involving the corporate sector at every step, including framing the syllabus, curriculum and placement of student. For this the Minister said
a meeting was organised today with leading industrial
houses to find out their needs and requirements. |
Angelopoulos films liven up fest HYDERABAD, Jan 18 — Greek director Theo Angelopoulos is nearly a cult figure with the film buffs here. Three of his later products, namely “The Suspended Step of the Stork” (1991), “Landscape in the Mist” (1998) and “Eternity and a Day” (1998), form the package of his films in the Foreign Retrospective section, an attractive feature of the IFFI’99. Angelopoulos’ creative and original design distinguishes him as a director. A thinking director, with style of his own, his penetrating insight into the diverse forms of political failure that has caused immeasurable suffering to humanity in general invariably forms the thematic basis of his films. He studiously writes his own screenplays which provides him enough scope for improvisation to meet the needs of his moral vision. The theme of “The Suspended Step of the Stork” centers round the idea of contemporary man as an exile, a new form of enforced homelessness, owing to the malaise of political repression as well as economic deprivation. The film begins with bodies of economic political refugees floating near a Greek coast. They have been denied permission to enter Greece. (Remember our own men from Punjab, around 275 of them, got drowned near this area two years ago as they did not have proper papers!) A young television reporter, working on an investigating story, reaches a border town inhabited by all types of refugees. They are the people for whom “home is elsewhere” or perhaps “home is nowhere”. All of them have crossed the borders of their countries secretly; they are the broken links from their past, and the agony of passing through uncertain present, with no hope for the future, is a stinging metaphor that deciphers contemporary human reality. Angelopoulos’ masterly command of images lead the viewer to meditate on the human condition and exposes the utter inhumanity of the boundary lines drawn between the countries. His sweep is Brechtian where “aesthetic emotion is counterbalanced by a reflexive approach that questions the surface of reality.” In the film the television reporter emerges both as a quiet commentator on the ongoing action and a persona responsible for the inner movement of the film. “Landscape in the Mist” is a film with an epic sweep where the diffused action forces a creative response from the viewer. Two children, Alexander and Voula, leave their home for a train journey to Germany. Interestingly, they have not seen their father nor do they know his address; as it comes out they are the children born out of wedlock and the mother in order to pacify their curiosity, tells them that their father is somewhere in Germany. This turns out to be a journey into the dark, in the vast wilderness with no knowledge of what is going to happen next. But their quest goes on. Their wanderings and encounters with people is a not only their introduction to the world but also it offers an expose of the good and the bad world. The narrative, diffused and disjointed as life is, becomes a mode of scratching the surface where man, in his myriad faces, is clothed in his lies, truth, love deceit and silence. That’s a visionary’s idea of film making. This apart, another film that deserves a mention is “Such a Long Journey” based on Rohinton Mistry’s eponymous novel. AUK, Canada production, directed by Toronto-based Sturla Gunnarsson, the film centres round the micro-world of a Parsi bank clerk in Bombay, Gustaf Noble, who finds his moral world shaken with events over which he is gradually losing control. His son defies him that gives him a lot of pain. He feels betrayed by his friend Jimmy Billimoria in whom he had reposed faith. He also finds the surrounding losing its bearing. And the political situation, in the wake of the 1971 war with Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh as a nation, is no longer the same with which he has all along identified himself. The film is an unassuming
study of the collapse of a moral order of an ordinary
man. The seamy side of the ordinary folk is meticulously
projected leaving enough scope for the discerning viewer
to identify with the humanity of the protagonist. |
Wildlife staff, Ministry get SC
notice NEW DELHI, Jan 18 (PTI) — The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Union Environment Ministry and top Wildlife officials on a petition seeking a CBI probe into alleged serving of meat of wild animals at a dinner in Andhra Pradesh which was attended, among others, by Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi. A Division Bench, comprising Mr Justice Sujata V. Manohar and Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti, also issued notices returnable by four weeks to the Wildlife Director and the Inspector-General of Forests in the Ministry on the allegation that the killing of wild animals like spotted deer, peacocks, wild boar and hare for the dinner violated the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Dr P. Pullarao said political activist K. Venkata Satyanarayan hosted a dinner in honour of State Major Irrigation Minister T. Nageshwar Rao in October in the vicinity of Papikonda Sanctuary, the only Indian wild buffalo and bison sanctuary in the eastern ghats, at Marlakunta village. The petitioner alleged the 500-odd invitees included Mr Balayogi, State Revenue Minister T. Devender Goud, Excise Minister M. Venkateswar Rao, Panchayati Raj Minister K. Siva Prasad Rao and Roads and Buildings Minister B. Gopalakrishna Reddy. The petitioner had alleged on October 10 and 12 last year that a hunting party was sent by Satyanarayana for the feast to nearby forests which were part of the Papikonda Sanctuary and “some 100 animals were hunted and killed.” “The animals served for food are all listed in the schedules to the Wildlife (Protection) Act as being protected animals,” he said and alleged “Some of the staff of the Forest Department at the field level has cooperated with the hunters.” The petitioner said media reported that sustained efforts were made to destroy evidence like disposing of the bones, antlers and skins of the animals which were killed for the dinner and the witnesses were threatened not to give statements before the authorities. While seeking a CBI probe
into the matter, he said there were apprehensions that
the probe ordered by the State Government could not be
conducted fairly as those involved in the dinner were
State ministers and top officials. |
One killed during pulse polio
drive NEW DELHI, Jan 18 — One person was killed and three others injured during the pulse polio drive in the Capital even as 22 lakh children were administered the drops in the second phase of the national campaign. The police said one person was killed and three others were injured as the armed security guard stationed outside Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, Raghubir Nagar, opened fire following an altercation with those who had come with their children for the drops. The incident occurred last
afternoon when Kanti Bhai (35) had sneaked in his six
children inside the hospital premises through a broken
wall. When he himself tried to enter the premises through
the same passage, the hospital security guards objected. |
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| Sonia presents tricycles to
disabled NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday presented tricycles to 16 handicapped persons at her residence. The Inner Wheel Club and Rotary Club of Delhi Midtown extended assistance in providing tricycles to 40 handicapped persons of which 16 were presented by Mrs Gandhi, Coordinator at the Congress President’s Office Margaret Alva said. The two clubs were also extending Rs 400 to each handicapped person for the maintenance of the tricycles, she said. — PTI 4
sleeping ragpickers run over Chamling, Bhandari
selected for awards Padyatra to press
probe planned Arabian Sea and
global warming Use of CNG in
vehicles sought Arms factory
unearthed in Kannauj Two mowed down by
tanker |
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