Thursday, October 28, 1999

Ex-parte dismissal bad in law: SC
NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — The Supreme Court has held that ex-parte dismissal of an appeal, challenging sentence imposed by a lower court, is bad in law and amounts to “miscarriage of justice”.

Privilege notice in RS
NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Samajwadi Party (SP) member in the Rajya Sabha Ram Gopal Yadav today moved a notice of privilege in the House against some officials who disconnected the power supply to his residence in the Capital yesterday.

Priyanka makes it to Asiaweek list
NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu have been named among 20 young political leaders for the new millennium by the Hong Kong-based weekly magazine, Asiaweek.

City of David exhibition from today
NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Exquisite artefacts discovered during excavations at the holy “City of David” in Jerusalem, will come alive in the Capital during a month-long exhibition beginning on Thursday.

Ramoowalia raises Sikh issue
NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Former Union Minister, Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia today questioned the government’s assurance on minorities on the ground that the Union Council of Ministers did not have a Sikh or a Muslim in the Cabinet.

Poor girls launch CRY range
NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Child Relief and You (CRY) a voluntary organisation working for the welfare of children had a rather unusual launch of its products here on Tuesday.

Sayeed re-elected Deputy Speaker
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Mr P. M. Sayeed, one of the seniormost members of the Lok Sabha was today unanimously re-elected Deputy Speaker of the House following a consensus reached on leaving the post for the main Opposition party.

Mr Sayeed, 58, who is representing Lakshadweep for the tenth consecutive term, was elected after the motion moved by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and seconded by the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Sonia Gandhi was carried by a voice vote.

Mr Vajpayee and Mrs Sonia Gandhi escorted Mr Sayeed to his chair adjacent to the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Sayeed, was the Deputy Speaker during the 12th Lok Sabha.

The Prime Minister said although Mr Sayeed had been elected to the post for the second time in succession, today’s election was sweeter. He assured full cooperation to the new Deputy Speaker.

The Leader of the Opposition said the House was fortunate to have Mr Sayeed as Deputy Speaker who has the distinction of representing his constituency for over three decades.

The Speaker, Mr G M C Balayogi felicitated Mr Sayeed and said he had become a role model for Parliamentarians and that new members would benefit from his varied experience.

In his speech, Mr Sayeed said that political trend in the country was one of inclusiveness and that he saw his election from Lakshadweep as being a beneficiary of this phenomena.

Ex-parte dismissal bad in law: SC

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 (PTI) — The Supreme Court has held that ex-parte dismissal of an appeal, challenging sentence imposed by a lower court, is bad in law and amounts to “miscarriage of justice”.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice K.T. Thomas and Mr Justice S.S.M. Quadri in a recent judgement said in case of failure of the appellant’s lawyer to turn up before the higher court, “it is advisable to seek the assistance of a legal talent”at state’s expense.

The court was hearing a special leave petition jointly filed by 12 persons, accused in a dacoity case registered 19 years ago, against a Patna High Court judgement wherein their appeal against a sessions court order was rejected merely because their lawyer failed to turn up at the hearing.

The court said: “as a matter of legal position the court is not precluded from perusing the records and come to its own conclusion unaided by any legal practitioner to project the points favourable to the accused, when the counsel engaged by them does not turn up to argue”.

It said: “there can be appeal which can be disposed of unassisted by counsel to put forth favourable feature for the accused. But if the sentence imposed by the judgement impugned in the appeal is of a substantial range, it is advisable to seek assistance of a legal talent”.

The court while remitting the case to the Patna High Court for disposal of the appeal in accordance with law said: “if no counsel for the accused turns up, we request the high court, on the peculiar facts of this case, to appoint an advocate at the state’s cost to argue for the accused.”

“The present case seems to be a glaring example of failure of justice due to absence of such legal assistance,” the court said, adding that “if a counsel was appointed to argue for the accused, learned single judge could have, most probably, averted such a legal folly.”

The court said: “no doubt the stakes involved in the appeal for the large number of convicted persons is obviously very high, particularly, in view of the sentence of rigorous imprisonment for 10 years imposed on each of them. Hence any supercilious dealing of their case will be at the risk of serious miscarriage of justice.”

The court, however, said: “it is for the court to determine, on a consideration of the conspectus of the case, whether it does or does not require such legal assistance.”

Of teachers and pay packets

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 (PTI) — Should a higher degree automatically bring a bigger pay packet for the teachers or should promotions be linked to performance?

A Supreme Court judgement rejecting the teachers’ demand for automatic promotions has stirred a debate as higher pay packets eat into education budgets.

“Everyone wants to improve his career prospects provided he tries and that opportunity should be given to teachers in the form of incentives”, says Chanchal Bhatia, a public school teacher who advocates immediate increment for a teacher who attains higher degrees.

But Sudesh Mukhopadhyay, Director, State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) says, “whatever higher qualification a teacher acquires during his job for his personal and professional growth may be used at an appropriate time. But a promotion should not come automatically.

“It all boils down to who is going to pay. The government does not have the money”, says Shushank Vira, Head, Research and Development, Central Board of School Education.

With over 98,000 schools across the country and 50,000 teachers in Delhi alone, such indiscriminate raise in salaries is just not possible, officials say.

While the question of salaries and promotions is irking the teaching community, educationists say a review and monitoring mechanism on the whole working conditions of teachers is the need of the hour.

The government has structured teachers under teachers graduate training (TGT) and postgraduate training (pgt). While the minimum qualification for a TGT (primary to class 10) is graduation and B.Ed, a postgraduate teacher (PGT) must be a postgraduate and a B.Ed.

The basic scale for a TGT starts from Rs 4,500 onwards and for a PGT it starts from Rs 6,500. The scales differ from state to state and from school to school but the variations are not much. Even private schools have adopted the government scales, says Rajni Yadav, teacher at Saraswati Bal Mandir.

“Promotions come after about every 12 years and the 5th Pay Commission recently announced the Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACP) which has definitely been an improvement on promotions, though these may not be sufficient”, says Dr Rajput, Chairman, National Council of Teachers Training.

“Most schools have promotional appraisals but we need to look at teachers’ remunerations more professionally”, says Vira.

While there is the demand from a section of teachers to make promotions time bound, though there is no law at that, we need to have a more professional outlook than we have, says Vira.

But Dr Rajput says that promotions should not be time bound. “Any promotion should have in-built provisions for professional efficiency and high level of performance.

As per the UGC scale, salary is given according to qualifications. Provisions for promotions after few years is also there, says Dr Jyoti.

“In higher education if one has entered the field as an M.Phil and later completes his Ph.D, one is entitled to two increments later. This is a well defined process. Here the system did not ask for that qualification”, explains Mukhopadhyay.

“For instance, a TGT teacher wants to get upgraded to a PGT teacher, a postgraduation is a must but the question of seniority will also definitely be taken into account. It has to be either through vacancy or direct selection”, says Santosh Arora, former principal of a government school.

The recent Supreme Court judgement rejecting the plea by some Haryana Government teachers seeking automatic upgradation on higher degrees only reiterated there was no such rule.

The teachers had claimed that as they acquired the postgraduate degree while in service, the government should pay them the salary payable to the lecturers who have the same educational qualification.

Extradition pact ‘retroactive’
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today said the three treaties, including one on extradition, signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday this week, embodied the desire of the two countries to strengthen bilateral cooperation and take concrete steps to combat terrorism and other crimes.

In a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha on the visit of UAE Minister for Justice and Islamic Affairs, Mr Mohammed bin Nakhira al Dhaheri, Mr Singh said an extradition treaty, an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and another on juridical and judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters were signed during the visit.

The extradition treaty would provide a legal framework for seeking the extradition of fugitive criminals, including those involved in terrorism and economic offences from either country, the Minister said.

Under the treaty, extradition would be possible irrespective of whether the crime was committed before or after the entry into force of this treaty, Mr Singh said.

The Minister said the agreement on juridical and judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters was aimed at facilitating the widest measure of legal assistance in pursuing cases in these fields.

Mr Singh said the agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the completion of investigation and prosecution in all crimes, including those related to terrorism.

Privilege notice in RS
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Samajwadi Party (SP) member in the Rajya Sabha Ram Gopal Yadav today moved a notice of privilege in the House against some officials who disconnected the power supply to his residence in the Capital yesterday.

Mr Yadav made his submission during zero hour and said the officials had acted in such a manner as they might have felt offended at his painting out certain irregularities in electricity bills in the past.

He said most of the time he did not live in Delhi and especially in the past few months, with he being busy in the elections, the electricity bill could not have run into the amount for which he had received the bill.

Amidst shouts of “shame, shame”, the member narrated the difficulties he faced without the power supply and informed Chairman Krishan Kant that his wife, a heart patient, had to pass a sleepless night.

Asserting that he had never been a defaulter in the payment of electricity bills, Mr Yadav said adequate steps should be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

At this, Leader of the Opposition Manmohan Singh said it was a fit case for privilege notice. “All members of Parliament are highly agitated about such incidents”.

Priyanka makes it to Asiaweek list

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 (UNI) — Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu have been named among 20 young political leaders for the new millennium by the Hong Kong-based weekly magazine, Asiaweek.

‘‘Priyanka has emerged a luminiscent political star in her own right. With her powerful personal charisma — and the right opportunity — it is not inconceivable that one day she could be the elected leader of over one billion people’’, Asiaweek has written in its latest issue. The issue profiled political leaders born after Second World War who will be the people to watch in the coming decade.

Asiaweek notes that 27-year-old Priyanka’s active interest in social work and supporting charities is suitable for honing her powerful gift of political magic and suggests that the force of her family legacy may be too powerful to ignore.

The magazine’s 20 political leaders for the millennium include: Chandrababu Naidu (47), India; Shii Kazuo (45) Secretary Japanese Communist Party, Watanabe Yoshimi (47) Liberal Democratic Party Lawmaker and Noda Seiko (39) LDP lawmaker, Japan.

City of David exhibition from today
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Exquisite artefacts discovered during excavations at the holy “City of David” in Jerusalem, will come alive in the Capital during a month-long exhibition beginning on Thursday.

An Indo-Israel cultural initiative, the exhibition organised by Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Embassy and National Museum, comprises about 240 exhibits including a model of the 8th century BC city of Jerusalem, sixth century BC coins and a rich collection of seventh century pottery.

Although pilgrims who visit Jerusalem regard the present old city as the site of Biblical Jerusalem, archaeological research showed that the “City of David” is the historical core of ancient Jerusalem.

Pointing to a collection of age-old terracotta objects Israeli archaeologist Ms Cohen said, “The influence of the east emerged only in the fourth century BC when the spice trade evolved”.

Ramoowalia raises Sikh issue
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Former Union Minister, Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia today questioned the government’s assurance on minorities on the ground that the Union Council of Ministers did not have a Sikh or a Muslim in the Cabinet.

Participating in the debate on motion of thanks on the President’s address in Parliament in the Rajya Sabha today, Mr Ramoowalia said that it was for the first time that the Union Cabinet did not have a Muslim.

He said while India did not have a Sikh minister at the Centre, Mr Harbans Singh Dhaliwal was a serving as a Minister in Canada.

Poor girls launch CRY range
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — Child Relief and You (CRY) a voluntary organisation working for the welfare of children had a rather unusual launch of its products here on Tuesday.

Instead of getting celebrities to launch its range of products, the organisers got five children being supported by various CRY projects across the country to do it. The products include greeting cards, telephone and address books, diaries and calendars.

Sources in CRY said the NGO invites the President to launch the range of products every year. But since CRY is running a girl child campaign it chose to invite five girls to launch the products.

Taximen call off strike
MUMBAI: Mumbai Taximen’s Union (MTU) on Wednesday called off its statewide taxi-strike following the Maharashtra Government’s decision to keep “in abeyance” the controversial orders issued by Transport Commissioner V. Lal on the mandatory pollution test for over 15-year-old vehicles. According to A.L. Quadros, General Secretary, MTU, the decision to call off the strike was taken after a meeting between the representatives of the MTU and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Over 55,000 taxis had gone off the roads since Tuesday in protest against the government’s decision to introduce a mandatory fitness test for over 15-year-old vehicles and to ban the 137-D Padmini version vehicles as taxis. — PTI

Fodder scam accused held
JAMSHEDPUR: A CBI team (Ranchi branch) arrested a named accused in the multi-crore fodder scam in a raid at the Jugsalai area here on Tuesday. Official sources said the accused, Devendra Kumar Rai, proprietor of a drug agency, was produced before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, who ordered a transit remand for him. The CBI team then took him to Patna. Rai was earlier arrested for siphoning off lakhs of rupees by issuing fake bills to government officials. But he later got bail. Special Judge of CBI court S.K. Lal issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Rai, as he failed to appear before the court. — UNI

Iqbal samman for Joginder Paul
NEW DELHI: Urdu novelist and short story writer Joginder Paul, whose works have been translated in several languages, is to receive this year’s Iqbal Samman of the Madhya Pradesh Government. The author, who turned 75 last month, will receive the award at a function in Bhopal on November at a function in the Capital recently to felicitate the author on his birthday, a book ‘Joginder Paul: Zikr, Fikr aur Fun’ edited by Professor Irteza Karim, was released. The function was organised by the Authors’ Guild of India and the Ghalib Academy. — UNI

25 lakh looted at gunpoint
NEW DELHI: Three employees of an agent of Bharat Petroleum were robbed of Rs 25.05 lakh and a Maruti car in broad day light by four car borne youths in Punjabi Bagh area of West Delhi on Wednesday. The employees, Mahender Verma, Ravinder Srivastav and Ashok were going to deposit the amount in the State Bank of Mysore when the incident occurred. — FOC

Tension following NLFT killings
AGARTALA: Bandh and tension following killings by the NLFT on Wednesday affected normal life in Tripura’s south and north districts respectively, the police said here. In south district’s Amarpur subdivision town, shops and business establishments remained closed and vehicles kept off the roads, the police said. The dawn-to-dusk bandh has been called separately by the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in protest against the killing of a non-Tribal shepherd youth by the NLFT in the Balangkti area on Tuesday. The protests come close on the heels of the release of 12 government officials by NLFT allegedly after the payment of Rs 10 lakh ransom. — PTI

Agarwal takes over as CAT chief
NEW DELHI: Mr Justice Ashok Agarwal, a retired Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, today took charge of the office of the Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). Justice Agarwal became an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in 1986, a Permanent Judge of the same high court the next year. — UNI

Pleasant Stay Hotel case
CHENNAI: A special court on Wednesday directed former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary, Ms J. Jayalalitha, former minister T.M. Selvaganapathy, MP, and three others to appear before the court on November 9 for questioning in the Pleasant Stay Hotel case. Special Judge II V. Radhakrishnan gave the directive following the completion of examination on 34 witnesses in the case relating to the construction of the seven-storeyed Pleasant Stay Hotel at Kodaikanal. — UNI