 |
| Thursday, August 31, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Karnataka to contest stay on Sept 1 Inclusion of ineligible voter in rolls NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — The Supreme Court has ruled in a significant judgment in an election case that the inclusion of person or persons in the electoral roll by an authority empowered in law to prepare the rolls, though they were not qualified to be so enrolled, cannot be a ground for setting aside an election of a returned candidate. Basu’s advice to NE states’ CMs India’s protest on envoys’ harassment |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Air-India announces
retirement scheme NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — Air-India today approved an attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme to lay off its almost 1000 employees as it made an operating profit of Rs 76 crore for the first time in five years. It contained its net loss to Rs 37 crore in the year 1999-2000, its lowest since 1994-95. Channels vie for their piece of cake IA cuts fare for stretcher cases Extensive police reforms suggested In-laws held for fettering woman 
|
|
Karnataka to contest stay on Sept 1 BANGALORE, Aug 30 (PTI, UNI) — The Karnataka Government will file its counter-affidavit on September 1 in response to the petition filed before the Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision to drop TADA charges against associates of forest brigand Veerappan to secure the release of kidnapped Kannada filmstar Rajkumar, the Karnataka Minister for Law, Mr D.B. Chandregowda, told newsmen here. The state would narrate before the apex court the ‘‘compelling situation’’ under which the government had to take a decision in the interest of maintaining law and order. The Supreme Court had yesterday granted a stay till further orders on release on bail of 30 suspected associates of Veerappan on a special leave petition. The Supreme Court had asked the Karnataka government to file its reply on September 1. Dropping of TADA charges against 51 detainees who were in Mysore jail was among the major demands set by the bandit for releasing Rajkumar and three others kidnapped by him on July 30. Mr Chandregowda said the government had only dropped five charges against suspected supporters of Veerappan under TADA. ‘‘The state still feels that dropping of charges under TADA, an Act which has been annulled already, is well within its powers,’’ he said. He said the government was yet to drop charges against the accused under IPC sections, but had made it clear that it would not press them before the court. CHENNAI: In another twist to the hostage crisis, the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tiruchirapalli district judge to depute a Magistrate to ascertain whether Manikandan, one of the five extremists whose release had been demanded by brigand Veerappan, was willing to go to the forest. Mr Justice K. Govindarajan, before whom the petition filed by P.S. Annamalai, father of Manikandan, seeking to restrain the Tamil Nadu Government from handing over his son to Veerappan in exchange of the hostages, came up for hearing directed that the Magistrate should submit the report on or before September 8. The petitioner, submitted that his son was unwilling to join the brigand and the state government was not empowered to take him to the forest against his wishes. Mr Annamalai said that in 1995, the police took Manikandan into custody for pasting a wall poster in praise of LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran and thereafter cases were foisted on him, though he was not involved in any illegal activity. |
|
SC ruling on elected
candidate NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — The Supreme Court has ruled in a significant judgment in an election case that the inclusion of person or persons in the electoral roll by an authority empowered in law to prepare the rolls, though they were not qualified to be so enrolled, cannot be a ground for setting aside an election of a returned candidate. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Mr Justice R. C. Lahoti and Mr Justice K. G. Balkrishnan ruled that the election of the returned candidate could not be set aside under Sub-clause (iii) or (iv) of Clause (d) of Sub-Section (I) of Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, for inclusion of ineligible persons in the electoral rolls. The judges in their 24-page unanimous judgment released on August 28 held, “A person enrolled in the electoral list by an authority empowered by law to prepare an electoral roll to include a name therein is entitled to cast a vote unless disqualified under Sub-section (2) to (5) of Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.” The judges further ruled that “a person enrolled in the electoral roll cannot be excluded from exercising his right to cast vote on the ground that he did not satisfy the eligibility requirement as laid down in Section 19 or 27 (5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.” Delivering the judgment for the Bench, Mr Justice Lahoti referred to a catena of decisions of the Supreme Court which upheld the finality of the officer preparing the electoral rolls. “The need to hear and decide claims for inclusion in or exclusion from electoral rolls promptly and objectively hardly need to be emphasised. However, we have already held that this could not have been a ground for avoiding the election.” Pointing out that Articles 326 and 327 of the Constitution contemplated qualifications and disqualifications, among other things, by the appropriate legislature with regard to registration of a voter of an election, Mr Justice Lahoti said that the two articles were the fountain source of the 1950 and 1951 Representation of the People Act. “To put it briefly, a disqualification under Section 16 of the 1950 Act has a relevance for and a bearing on the right to vote under Section 62 of the 1951 Act but being not qualified for enrolment in the electoral roll under Section 27 of the 1950 Act has no relevance for or bearing on the right to vote at an election under section 62 of the 1951 Act”, Mr Justice Lahoti observed. |
|
Basu’s advice to NE states’ CMs CALCUTTA, Aug 30 (UNI) — West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu today advocated the need for evolving a common action plan by the state governments in the eastern region and jointly taking up with the Centre the issues of common interest. Speaking at the conclave of the Chief Ministers of eastern region, Mr Basu said wrong planning, coupled with discriminatory implementation of policies, had victimised the region for long which should be looked into by the state governments and apprise the Centre of taking suitable actions. The Chief Minister observed that on the issues related to maintenance and upgrade of critical infrastructure like national highways, railways, airports, riverine and sea ports and telecommunication, which were under the exclusive control of the union government, the eastern region had been deprived of its due share. He said the continuance of the freight equalisation policy in respect of iron, steel and coal robbed the region of its natural advantages and hence other parts of the country had developed substantially making investments in those regions more economically viable. Mr Basu alleged that all these years, the Centre also used the industrial licensing policy as a ‘‘weapon’’ to encourage potential investors to set up units elsewhere in the country. ‘‘In the wake of the so-called liberalisation, the union government has passed on the entire burden of economic development to the states without strengthening their revenue base,’’ Mr Basu called upon his counterparts of the region to raise voice against all such irregularities. The Assam government would start international trade and commerce with the neighbouring countries by opening the border trade routes, state Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said here today. Speaking at the conclave of the Chief Ministers of the eastern region, Mr Mahanta said that initially, bilateral discussions were on particularly with Bangladesh regarding opening up of trade relations and encouraging response had been received from that country. He said that with the establishment of such trade relations, Assam and the entire north-east would soon turn into a hub of international commercial activities and added that an international meet in this regard would be organised at Guwahati in November next. The Chief Minister said that for bringing the state on a par with the other states in trade and commerce and overall economic development, a comprehensive plan for rapid development of Assam in a phased manner has been prepared up to the year 2025. In the plan we have
envisaged a greater role of the private sector in the state’s developmental process,’’ he said. |
|
India’s protest on envoys’ harassment NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (PTI) — India today lodged a strong protest over the harassment and brazen intimidation by Pakistani intelligence agents of two Indian diplomats in Islamabad. Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner Jaleel Abbas Gilani was this evening summoned to the External Affairs Ministry which ‘’lodged a strong protest deploring the blatant and gross violation of the privacy and sanctity of the residential premises of the Indian diplomats,’’ an External Affairs Ministry statement said. The ministry demanded that measures be taken to ensure that there were no repetitions of such incidents in future and sought adequate security for all personnel of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and their residential premises. The statement said the residential premises of Vipin Handa, Counsellor and Group Captain S.K. Jayaswal, Air Adviser, were intruded upon by the operatives of the Pakistan intelligence agencies today. In the first incident, five intelligence operatives, claiming to be employees of the Capital Development Authority, entered the house of Handa at 3.40 p.m. while his wife, teenaged daughter and young son were at home. “They went all over the house, rummaged through their personal belongings and made threatening statements before leaving,” it said. “They refused to show their identity cards when asked to do so,” the MEA statement said. In the second incident, six intelligence agents forced their entry into the residence of the Air Adviser at 3.45 p.m. after threatening his servant’s family with a gun. “The entire drama was replayed at the Air Adviser’s residence as well,’’ the statement said. |
|
Air-India announces
retirement scheme NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — Air-India today approved an attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme to lay off its almost 1000 employees as it made an operating profit of Rs 76 crore for the first time in five years. It contained its net loss to Rs 37 crore in the year 1999-2000, its lowest since 1994-95. The Air India Board which met here today approved the VRS scheme which will be sent to the Department of Public Enterprises for approval. The scheme comes close on the heels of Indian Airlines announcing a similar scheme for its employees. Addressing newspersons after the meeting, the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Sharad Yadav, said that for an airline which is in the process of disinvestment, this was reasonable achievement. The airline had an operating loss of Rs 413 crore in 1996-97. It showed a turnaround to the tune of Rs 489 crore, he added. By registering a net loss of Rs 37 crore, the airline which had losses of Rs 297 crore in 1996-97 has made a turnaround of Rs 260 crore in three years. In fact if the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) had not shot up in 1999-2000, Air India may have made a net profit of Rs 180 crore, Mr Yadav said. The Minister said he would take up with the Cabinet again the issue of treating Air India on a par with international airlines and exempting it from paying sales tax on ATF. The additional burden of sales tax is projected to be about Rs 80 crore in 2000-2001. In 1999-2000,because of the massive escalation in fuel prices from the start of the financial year, an additional outlay of Rs 225 crore had to be made. A series of measures including complete ban on recruitment, abolition of vacant posts and rolling back of retirement age from 60 to 58 years has resulted in laying off 1500 employees. The introduction of VRS will further reduce the number of staff which will make company further financially viable, he said. Virtually placing the blame of Air India’s poor financials on the high fuel prices, Mr Yadav said the massive escalation in fuel prices from 1999-2000 had resulted in an additional outlay of Rs 225 crore. This included increase in international fuel prices, increase in domestic fuel prices and sales tax, he said adding had the fuel prices not increased, Air India would have registered a much larger operating profit as also a handsome net profit. ‘‘Had Air India been treated on a par with other foreign airlines as far as sales tax on fuel is concerned, it would have made a much higher operating and net profit’’, Mr Yadav said adding he had already taken up the issue in the Cabinet. |
|
Channels vie for their piece of cake NEW DELHI, Aug 30- The war is on. The private satellite television channels are all out to get back their piece of cake which has so conveniently been snatched away by the Star TV network through its superstar Amitabh Bachchan-hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) show. Apparently unable to digest the phenomenal success which the KBC has achieved, the other satellite TV channels, especially the Zee TV and the Sony Entertainment Television (SET), are also planning similar TV Game Shows, with greater prize money. The idea is to get back the primetime viewership which has so easily shifted to the Star TV after the starting of the KBC. As it happens always in a price war, this time again it will be the viewers who would be the winners. Not only are the other channels planning to make the game shows, as they claim, “simpler”, but would be offering whopping amounts running into multi-crore, per show. Announcement to this regard came from one of the aggrieved TV channels — Zee TV — today. Come October, it would be starting another game shows, although as the Zee TV CEO, Mr R.K. Singh, claimed it would not be based on the KBC concept. The concept would be Indian, with Indian ideas and with culture in mind. It would have the potential of allowing a participant to win as much as Rs 10 crore in prize money in each of the show. And would be on air for three to five days a week. This is not all, the Zee TV has also planned to win back the primetime viewership through another of its popular programme — Antakshri. Mr R.K. Singh announced that from October the prize money on stake for the participants of Antakshri would be increased to Rs 1 crore per episode, that is a crore per week. At a media meet here today, Mr Singh although tried to put up a brave front and said that they were not starting the game show after feeling the pinch from the Star TV, but admitted that the success achieved by the KBC was “beyond expectations”. He pointed out that the aspiration of the viewers had increased, but it was time for even the Zee TV to play the game. He refused the divulge the details of the new game show, but said that it would be much simpler. Besides the process for enrolment for the game would also be much more simpler than what is for the KBC. Mr Singh said new game show would be interactive not only for those in the studio but also for those at home. The programme would not be personality based. He conceded that as a result of the popularity of the KBC, Zee TV had been forced to change the timings of some of its popular serials. Reports also say that even the SET is planning to air a game show in a bid to win back the primetime viewership. The prize money in it is also expected to be higher than what was on the KBC. Besides, it is likely to have an added attraction. That being Rekha as the host. Reports say that the channel was negotiating with the ‘sultry siren’ of the Bollywood to host their game show, which would definitely get back the “Silsila” memories. Sony has plans to win back what it has lost. According to reports, the heart-throb Hrithik Roshan and members of the Deol family -Sunny, Esha, Dharmendra and Hema Malini - have been roped in to anchor separate shows to be exclusively aired on Sony. The Zee TV, meanwhile, would also continue with its “Malamaal” show, which offers prize money of to Rs 21 lakh per week. The show had been announced last month by the Zee TV as a panic reaction to the popularity of the
KBC. |
|
IA cuts fare for stretcher cases NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (UNI) — The Indian Airlines today announced huge cut in the fare for passengers availing the stretcher facility from/to Port Blair, Leh and Agatti and reduced the upper age limit for concessions to senior citizen women. Passengers travelling as a stretcher case from/to Port Blair, Leh and Agatti in Lakshadweep would pay the normal fare for a passenger instead of the present four-times charges with immediate effect. The charge of normal full adult fare would be applicable to all irrespective of eligibility for other concessions. The stretcher fare for passengers on other sectors will, however, continue to be four times the full adult sector fare, on other sectors operated by Dornier aircraft, the stretcher case fare would be three times the full adult sector fare. The Indian Airlines also decided to bring down, with immediate effect, the upper age limit of women passengers from 65 to 63 years for availing the senior citizen’s discount. The age requirement for male passengers to avail the senior citizen’s discount would, however, continue to be 65 years. The airline introduced the scheme in the year 1994. |
|
Extensive police reforms suggested NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — The Padmanabhaiah Committee report on police reforms has, among other thing, recommended an upper age limit of 19 years for a constable and 21 years for Sub-Inspector for recruitment into the police force. The 270-page and 21-chapter report, which was submitted to Home Minister L.K. Advani by committee Chairman K. Padmanabhaiah here today stresses on training, recruitment and accountability in the police forces. After submitting the report Mr Padmanabhaiah, a former Union Home Secretary, said the main thrust of the report was on proper recruitment, change of mindset, across-the-board reforms, people-oriented and humane approach to problems. “The emphasis is on catching them young,” he said adding that the recruits could then be properly trained into adapting to the fast changing law and order scenario. The Home Minister told the committee members, who were with him (Mr Advani) for about one hour, that it seemed to be a good report and he would be able to comment only after going through it, according to Mr Padmanabhaiah. The five-member committee was constituted in January for an initial period of three months. It was later first given a three-month extension and finally asked to submit its report by August 15. The members of the committee besides Mr Padmanabhaiah, were Mr B.B. Nanda, Director-General CISF (member secretary), Rajasthan DGP Amitabh Gupta, and Raja Vijay Karan and Mr M.B. Sharma (retired IPS officers.) The last major exercise of police reforms at the national level was conducted in 1970 when the Dharam Vira Committee was constituted. That committee had taken three-and a-half years to submit its report. |
|
In-laws held for
fettering woman JAIPUR, Aug 30 (UNI) — The Rajasthan Women Commission has directed the Jodhpur Divisional Commissioner to submit a report into the alleged torture of a married woman by her husband and mother-in-law by putting fetters in her legs at Matoda village in Jodhpur district. Meanwhile, the husband, Ram Singh Chouhan, and his mother have been arrested by the police on the charge of torturing 20-year-old Geegoo, an official spokesman said here yesterday. The police removed the fetters from her legs and also seized the dowry goods, he said. The victim, finding an opportunity, fled from her in-laws’ house at Matoda and reached Jodhpur yesterday where she narrated her “tale of woes’’ to the police who registered a case in this regard and started investigation therein. Women commission Chairperson Kanta Kathuria said yesterday that she has sought a report from the Jodhpur Divisional Commissioner into the incident. |
|
3 CPI(ML)
men killed ARA (Bihar), Aug 30 (PTI) — Three CPI-ML (Liberation) activists were today killed and seven injured when the police opened fire on rampaging partymen who tried to force entry into the Bhojpur District Collectorate while protesting against the killing of a party activist. DGP K.A. Jacob said the police fired seven rounds to disperse CPI(ML) demonstrators in which two party activists were killed on-the-spot and one sustained fatal injuries. |
|
George’s plane
diverted KOHIMA, Aug 30 (PTI) — Defence Minister Mr George Fernandes could not land at Dimapur airport yesterday due to non-clearance of the runway as an Alliance Air passenger plane was there at the same time, army sources said. When the Dimapur
ATC did not give the landing clearance signal to the IAF plane with Mr Fernandes on board he was taken to Jorhat altering his earlier schedule, the sources told
PTI today. There is only one runway at Dimapur. |
|
Plea against ‘Kaun
Banega Crorepati’ dismissed NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court has refused to entertain a petition seeking to ban mega TV programme “Kaun Banega Crorepati” on the ground that it amounts to gambling. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice D.K. Jain dismissed the writ as the petitioner withdrew it after discussion. The court recently declined to intervene in the matter after Central Government standing counsel N.K. Kaul submitted that there was nothing illegal about the programme. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
