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| Saturday, July 22, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Kargil purchases
went on after war was over Mamata
dares Jyoti Basu
Monsoon
session may be stormy |
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July 26 to
be observed as ‘Vijay Divas’
‘Uttarakhand
bandh’ on July 24 Centre
justifies govt house for
Priyanka Monsoon
active in UP
|
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Kargil
purchases went on after war was over NEW DELHI, July 21 — Operation Vijay in Kargil finished only in March this year if the "emergency purchases" by the Indian armed forces are to be believed. According to reports although the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government had just given a three-month "grace" period to the armed forces to carry out emergency purchases without any scrutiny by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) or any formal talks for seeking of tenders for the Defence equipment or any formal price negotiations with the vendors, the "emergency purchases" in the name of Operation Vijay apparently continued till the end of February this year. The NDA government could well be in for a surprise when the final report on these purchases is brought out by the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG). Initial investigations have as yet pointed out that purchases in the name of Kargil, a war forced upon India by Pakistan, continued till seven months after the operation got over officially on July 26 last year. Incidentally the MoD has planned to observe the first anniversary of the victory in Kargil on July 26 with the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, Vice-President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Defence Minister George Fernandes along the three service chiefs paying homage to the Kargil heroes at the Amar Jawan Jyoti. The day would be observed as "Kargil Vijay Divas". According to reports the purchases made in the name of Operation Vijay run into hundreds of crore and there was no check either on the kickbacks or the "dealers involvement". It is said that there are over 100 deals which were made in the name of ‘Operation Vijay’ with no one to question. What is more appalling is that they continued for a much longer period than had actually been stipulated by the government. The armed forces,
particularly the Army had on several occasions pointed to the lack of
adequate equipment to fight a war in places like Kargil, which is not
only inhospitable but cost of maintaining forces there was also much
higher than that of even in Siachen. |
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Mamata dares Jyoti Basu CALCUTTA, July 21 (UNI) — Spurred by the success in the Calcutta municipality elections, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today virtually kicked off a high-pitch election campaign much ahead of the West Bengal Assembly poll next year giving a war cry against the ruling Left Front. "It is a day for us to take pledge to capture the state secretariat at the writers’ buildings and throw the Left Front out of power ending the 24-year-old Marxist misrule — don’t retreat’’, she said in a fiery speech on the occasion of the Martyr’s Day, organised by the party here today. Announcing that her party would finalise its election strategy in the second week of next month to successfully combat the Left Front, Ms Banerjee called upon the party workers to give a last fight to liberate the state out of the clutches of the Marxists. "Do not be afraid of the battle. If you want to capture the writers’’, she said. Though virtually devoid of much of political message, the fire brand leader succeeded in whipping up the people’s emotion and dared Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to arrest her. Referring to a recent remark by Deputy Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the current violence in Midnapore district, Ms Banerjee said "I challenge the Chief Minister to arrest me if he can for I am not afraid of prosecution for the people’s cause. If my arrest brings back peace in the state I myself would court arrest’’, she declared. Lambasting the government allegedly for an all-round degradation of the state, Ms Banerjee alleged that the state topped the list in political violence and murder indulged in by the CPI (M). At least 200 Trinamool Congress workers had been killed in the state in recent times, she said. Congress Legislator Ram Janam Majhi formally joined the Trinamool Congress at the rally, which was attended by West Bengal state Youth Congress President Paresh Pal, who has been one of the main advocates within the state Congress for striking a grand alliance with the Trinamool Congress. CMC Councillor Mamtaz Begum, who had won on Congress ticket and the Vice-President of state unit President of Chhatra Parishad also joined Ms Banerjee’s party. The Martyr’s Day was organised
commemorating the death of 13 Trinamool supporters in police firing in
1993. |
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Monsoon session may be stormy NEW DELHI, July 21 (UNI) — The monsoon session of Parliament commencing from Monday is expected to be stormy as the Opposition, including the Left parties, will try to grill the government for what they call its "wrong economic policies and deteriorating law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, the North-East and some other parts of the country." These issues are expected to be raised during the one month session with 25 sittings. The first day of the session is likely to be adjourned for the day after making obituary references to former Union Minister Rajesh Pilot who recently died in a road accident in Dausa, which he had represented in the Lok Sabha for several years. The Congress and other opposition parties are of the view that the government’s policy to privatise the public sector undertakings by disinvesting their equity is intended to benefit multinational companies. This policy must be reversed in the interest of national sovereignty. They have, therefore, decided to raise the issue in the session with the hope that some of the constituents of the NDA government, who have reservation about the disinvestment in the PSUs, will support them. Besides, the Opposition will seek a
full fledged debate on more administrative and financial powers to the
states with particular reference to the autonomy resolution. |
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July 26 to be observed as ‘Vijay Divas’ NEW DELHI, July 21 (ADNI) — The Government of India will observe the end of the Kargil war on July 26 as "Vijay Divas" and has exhorted the people to light a candle in memory of those who laid down their lives to clear the Pakistani intruders from the Indian soil in Jammu and Kashmir. At a special commemorative ceremony at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate, the President, the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet and other dignitaries will lay wreaths in memory of the Kargil dead. Earlier, schoolchildren will conduct "prabhat pheries" in various parts of the city shouting national slogans and will converge on the India Gate before the Head of State and the head of government arrive. An exhibition of Indian weaponry and of arms captured from the Pakistani intruders in Kargil will be held for four days on the lawns of the India Gate. The Kargil saga began with the first reports of the detection of the intrusion on May 6. On being discovered the intruders began shelling the Srinagar-Leh highway and Kargil town. The Government of India officially asked Pakistan to stop the intrusion and simultaneously set about making preparations to drive the intruders out as Pakistan tried to make out that they were "mujahids" and not in its control. On May 26 India launched its first air strikes giving clear indication of its total commitment to drive the intruders out. Soon international pressure grew on Pakistan to withdraw its forces back across the Line of Control. Mr Nawaz Sharif went to Beijing with a long list of military hardware but he was rebuffed. Meanwhile, the Indian intelligence tapped the conversation of the Pakistan army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf and his chief of staff and that left no doubts about the Pakistani gameplan. Mr Sharif met Mr Bill Clinton in Washington and he was given an ultimatum to respect the Line of Control which was enshrined in a joint statement. On July 9 the Pakistan Cabinet endorsed the joint statement and the stage was set for a Pakistani withdrawal. Still maintaining the façade that it has no control over the intruders Pakistan sought time to effect the withdrawal. The deadline was shifted to July 16 but even till July 21 the Pakistanis held on to three heights in Mushkoh, Dras and Batalik. The Indian troops kept up the
pressure and soon cleared these areas but as they advanced towards the
Line of Control they were confronted with minefields laid by the
retreating Pakistani soldiers. Several Indian soldiers lost their
lives on account of this. |
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SC
ruling on special leave plea NEW DELHI, July 21 — The Supreme Court in a rare judgement over its jurisdiction under Article 136 of Constitution for special leave to appeal has ruled that the jurisdiction is divisible into two stages. First stage is up to the disposal of prayer for special leave to appeal. The second stage commences if and when the leave to appeal is granted and special leave petition is converted into an appeal". A three-Judge Bench of the court comprising Mr Justice K.T. Thomas, Mr Justice D.P. Mohapatra and Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti held in their 38-page unanimous judgement that under Article 136 the Supreme Court may reverse, modify or affirm the judgement-decree or under appealed against while exercising its discretionary jurisdiction disposing of petition for special leave to appeal. The judges categorically ruled that the doctrine of merger would apply only at the appellate stage of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction and not though discretionary special leave to appeal jurisdiction. Delivering the judgement for the court, Mr Justice Lahoti said, "An order refusing special leave to appeal may be a non-speaking order or a speaking one. In either case, it does not attract the merger doctrine. An order refusing special leave to appeal does not stand in place of the order under challenge. All that it means is that the court is not inclined to exercise its discretion so as to allow the appeal being filed." Dwelling upon the stage of the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the judges ruled, "Once leave to appeal has been granted and the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court has been involved, the order passed in the appeal would attract the doctrine of merger; the order may be of reversal, modification or merely affirmation". Handing down a string of rulings, the judges further held, "On an appeal having been preferred or a petition seeking leave to appeal having being converted into an appeal before the Supreme Court, the jurisdiction of high court to entertain a review petition is lost thereafter as provided by sub-rule (1) of Rule (1) of Order 47 of the Civil Procedure Code". In another important ruling, the judges said mere rejection of a special leave to appeal petition did not take away the jurisdiction of the high court, tribunal or other forums, whose orders formed the subject matter of petition for special leave to review its own order if grounds for exercise of review jurisdiction existed. The apex court delivered this
judgement in the case of Kunhayammed & Ors. Vs State of Kerala and
Anr. |
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Minister admits to poor upkeep of planes PATNA, July 21 (UNI) — Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav today admitted certain failures in the maintenance of the Alliance Airlines’ fleet. Mr Yadav, who arrived here to re-inspect the spot where the Boeing 737 of the Alliance Airlines had crashed on Monday, admitted that he was not fully satisfied with the upkeep of the Alliance Airlines’ planes and emphasised the need for better maintenance of the fleet. He said the ministry had ordered all airports in the country to check their crisis management system every month. The fire brigade at the airports had been asked to be ready round-the-clock to deal with any eventuality. Though the fire brigade had rushed to the crash site here, the fire operating system had malfunctioned. The minister announced that the
government would implement the recommendations made by the inquiry
committees which had probed the various crashes in the country. |
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‘Uttarakhand bandh’ on July 24 DEHRA DUN, July 21 (UNI) — Support is being garnered by the Uttarakhand Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti (USSS) for the July 24 bandh, it has proposed in the Uttarakhand region. The USSS has given the bandh call to
pressurise the BJP government to table the Uttarakhand Bill in the
monsoon session of Parliament. All schools, government offices, banks
and business establishments in the region will be closed on Monday,
said Mr Kishore Upadhyaya, a senior USSS leader, at a meeting held in
Rishikesh Yesterday. |
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Centre justifies govt house for Priyanka NEW DELHI, July 21 (PTI) — The Centre in its submission before the Delhi High Court has justified allotment of a government house to Priyanka Gandhi after her marriage saying she was entitled for it as she has been provided Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover. While placing before the court newly approved guidelines on the allotment of accommodations to VIPs, political parties and others, the government in a recent submission told a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and the Justice D K Jain that Priyanka Gandhi was entitled to government house as she had been provided ‘z’ plus category security cover. Allotment of an official house to
Priyanka Gandhi was challenged in the court by an NGO through a public
interest writ. |
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Monsoon
active in UP NEW DELHI, July 21— Monsoon has been vigorous in east Rajasthan and active in east Uttar Pradesh. Rainfall: Rain or thundershowers have occurred at most places in east Rajasthan, at many places in east Uttar Pradesh, at a few places in Himachal Pradesh, west Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh, and at isolated places in the rest of the region. the chief amounts of rainfall in cm. Haryana: Rohtak 1, Himachal Pradesh: Baijnath 9, Jogindernagar, Nadaun, Pandoh and Shimla 2 each and Amb, Ghamroor and Kasauli 1 each. Punjab: Batala 3. Rajasthan: Bijolia 39, Asnawer 31, Aklera and Manohar Thana 26 each, Chanda Ka Talab 25, Jahajpur 24, Bundi, Chawli, Jhalarapatan, Khanpur and Raipur 23 each, Bhimsagar and Kekri 22 each, Abhaypura, Bakani, Jhalawar and Kishansagar 21 each, Dug and Kota 20 each, Bhawani Mandi and Chapi Bandh 19 each, Arwar and Varda 18 each, Gudadam 17, Pindwara and Sawar 15 each, Mandalgarh and Maher Sagar 14 each, Nainwa 13, Gangadhar 12, Chittorgarh 11, Gogunda 10, Nagaur 9, Salumber 8, Bhilwara, Gegal, Kotari and Matri Kndia 7 each, Sarwar 6, Ajmer, Indergarh, Pushkar and Sawai Madhopur 5 each, Bali, Vijay Nagar and Vallabh Nagar 4 each Banswara, Beawar, Kishangarh and Nasirabad 3 each, Bangolia, Erinpura Road, Kothari and Mount Abu 2 each and Bharatpur, Jaipur and Jodhpur 1 each and Uttar Pradesh: Bansi 13, Chandradeepghat 11, Gorakhpur 8, Ayodhya, Mukhlishpur, Egoli and Turtipar 5 each, Ghazipur 4, Basti, Balia and Elginbridge 3 each, Bhatpurwaghat, Jaunpur and Kakrahi 2 each and Ankinghat, Birdghat, Balrampur, Bareilly, Banbasa, Dabri, Sultanpur and Varanasi A.P. 1 each. Forecast valid until the morning of 23rd: Rain or thundershowers will occur at most places in south Rajasthan, at many places in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, north Rajsthan and Uttar Pradesh and at a few places in the rest of the region. Heavy rainfall warning: Heavy rain is likely at a few places with isolated very heavy falls in east Rajasthan during the next 48 hours. Isolated heavy rain is also likely in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, west Rajasthan, east Uttar Pradesh and the hills of west Uttar Pradesh during the same period. Forecast for Delhi and neighbourhood valid until the morning of 23rd: Generally cloudy sky with a few showers/thundershowers, heavy in some areas. Farmers weather bulletin for Delhi: Forecast valid until the morning of 23rd: Moderate to rather heavy rain will occur at many places. Outlook for the subsequent two days:
Decrease in rainfall. |
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Jaswant-Tang
talks NEW DELHI, July 21—
India will raise the issue of transfer of missile technology to
Pakistan with China during the official level talks between Chinese
Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and External Affairs Minister Jaswant
Singh slated to be held tomorrow morning. |
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CEC
writes to Sorabjee NEW DELHI, July 21
— With the Centre stating that only the Supreme Court will settle
the long-pending issue relating to disciplinary control of the
Election Commission over the officials conducting elections, the Chief
Election Commissioner, Dr M.S. Gill, has written to the
Attorney-General of India asking him to urge the apex court for an
early hearing of the case. |
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