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July 26, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Govt ready to give special powers to J&K Advani: Dawood’s extradition taken up with Pak SC ruling on church, mosque buildings NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT UTI scam: CBI arrests
Johari Minister cautions about CNG
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Rallies, protests in Manipur continue Thousands of supporters of
the All-Assam Students Union of Kamrup district taking out a torchlight procession in
Guwahati on Tuesday evening to protest against the decision of the
Centre to extend the ceasefire. Poll for 2
legislative council seats on Aug 24
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Govt ready to give special powers to J&K New Delhi, July 25 Home Minister L.K. Advani told the Rajya Sabha that the government was moving towards the devolution of more powers to states and “in this process if Jammu and Kashmir needs special powers. We are willing to give it.” Replying to supplementaries during question hour the Home Minister asserted that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and there would be no compromise on it. In what was his first reaction on Jammu and Kashmir after the Agra summit, the Home Minister said there was no question of accepting the Kashmir autonomy resolution and pointed out that the Government had already made it clear that the pre-1953 position suggested in it was not acceptable. “If we are to accept it, it will mean the President, the Prime Minister and others will have no authority on Kashmir,” he said while adding that the question didn’t arise of accepting this resolution. Mr Advani said after the Kargil war, the government had decided not to talk to Pakistan under any circumstances till it gave up its policy of cross-border terrorism. It was only after President Pervez Musharraf expressed his willingness to talk that he was invited to New Delhi, he said. The Home Minister also gave an explanation as to why the the non-initiation of combat operations (NICO) was withdrawn. He said the initiative announced during the Ramzan last year had resulted in large number of deaths of civilians and army personnel. To a query from former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani on whether the Tashkent agreement was still valid and had not been overlooked in the wake of the Simla agreement and the Lahore declaration, Mr Advani said the government was committed to it. Replying to a question from C.M. Ibrahim (JD-S), the Home Minister said the government would not be talking just to the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and would consider speaking to other organisations as well. The Home Minister also clearly pointed out that there was no freedom struggle underway in Jammu and Kashmir but it were the foreign mercenaries who were indulging in terrorism in the state. Mr Advani said most of those killed or arrested were mercenaries mainly from Pakistan, the PoK or Afghanistan and there was no question of this being a “freedom struggle” though General Musharraf maintained there was no cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. The Home Minister said during the peace initiative period killings of civilians had increased in the state though the number of casualties on the international border decreased since there was no shelling and because of the restraint exercised by the security forces. He said by now the exercise of posting security personnel in the valley was over and they were in place to deal with the situation. To a volley of supplementaries whether the situation in the state was reviewed before the ceasefire was extended every time, he said it was done not merely by the Cabinet Committee on Security but views of the security forces were also considered before taking the decision. The Home Minister said just because no joint declaration was signed at Agra, it would not be proper to say that the decision to invite General Musharraf was wrong. He said Hurriyat leaders’ meeting with the Pakistan President did not cause any harm to the Indian government. |
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Advani: Dawood’s extradition taken up with Pak New Delhi, July 25 Answering to a question raised by Mr Ravishankar Prasad during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Advani said during his meeting with General Musharraf he informed the Pakistani President that he had just returned from Turkey after signing an extradition treaty. But more than Turkey India needed to have an extradition treaty with Pakistan. “ Why can’t we have it” he quoted General Musharraf as having reacted. However, when he raised the issue of Dawood Ibrahim being in Pakistan and his extradition to India, the General changed his tone and said Dawood was not in Pakistan, the Home Minister said. The Pakistani leader said: “Dawood does not live in Karachi.’’ |
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SC ruling on church, mosque buildings New Delhi, July 25 A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice Shivraj V. Patil delivered the ruling while setting aside a Kerala High Court judgement which struck down certain notifications of the state government exempting in public interest the buildings of all churches and mosques belonging to minority religions from provisions of the Kerala Building ( Lease and Rent Control ) Act, 1965. Upholding the relevant notifications of the state government, the judges ruled, “When the exemption granted to such bodies or institutions falling in a distinct class by themselves will serve a public purpose, namely, to carry out the objects of the trust or the endowment or religious activity in a broad sense, we do not think that the fine distinction sought to be made by the high court in this regard is justified.” “Therefore, we think that the decision of the high court has to be set aside and the notifications issued impugned in the two writ petitions are held to be valid”, the judges added while allowing the appeal of Christ, The King
Cathedral. Delivering the judgement, Mr Justice Babu postulated, “The law had been stated by this court to the effect that public, religious or charitable endowments or trusts constitute a well recognised group which serves not only public purposes, but disbursement of their income is governed by the objects with which they are created and building to such endowments or trusts clearly fall into a class distinct from the buildings owned by private landlords.” The judges further stated, “ A regulation will be made under the Act, with respect to regulation of lease of buildings (residential or non-residential) and control of eviction of tenants from such buildings. The Kerala high Court had held that the buildings of churches or mosques were commercially used, and therefore, granting of exemption under section 25 was not right. The high court also proceeded to consider the scope of secular nature of the Constitution in the case which the Supreme Court declared as irrelevant. |
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NORTH INDIA IN PARLIAMENT New Delhi, July 25 The Union Minister for Power, Mr Suresh P. Prabhu, informed the Rajya Sabha that four officers were working on the formal or informal deputation at the Northern Regional Electricity Board for more than 15 years. Two officers were from the Punjab State Electricity Board, one each from the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and the Haryana Vidyut Vitran Nigam. The minister said the Central Electricity Authority was being directed to discontinue this arrangement with immediate effect. The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Vidyasagar Rao, informed the Rajya Sabha that the people of Ladakh had been reiterating the demand for UT status. However, no such proposal was received from the state government or considered by the Centre. Following the adoption of a resolution by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seeking restoration of pre-1953 status, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council had passed a resolution demanding separation of Ladakh from the parent state in the form of a Union Territory. The minister in reply to another question said none of the terrorist outfits had come forward for a dialogue even though the government had kept the doors open for the Kashmiri organisations currently engaged in militancy in the state but desirous of peace. Mr Rao said there was no change in the policy of the government with regard to Jammu and Kashmir. All efforts of the government were directed at restoring peace and normalcy in the trouble-torn state. |
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UTI scam: CBI arrests Johari Mumbai, July 25 Mr Johari was brought from Lucknow late last night by a CBI team. He was interrogated thoroughly by CBI sleuths before a case was registered against him.
UNI |
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Minister cautions about CNG
crisis New Delhi, July 25 “ Dependency on a single fuel mode of CNG for the public transport system in Delhi is not desirable and sustainable due to the higher initial and the subsequent maintenance cost of CNG vehicles”, Mr Naik said in a statement in the Lok Sabha today. The minister pointed out that no major city in the world had switched over its public transport system on CNG alone. |
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Rallies, protests in Manipur continue Imphal, July 25 The blaze set off by the petrol bomb last night was controlled by the fire brigade, the sources said. People in the area panicked and ran for safety as the CRPF at the outpost opened fire.
PTI, UNI |
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Poll for 2
legislative council seats on Aug 24 New Delhi, July 25 The vacancy in the Maharashtra Legislative Council is being caused by the expiry of the term of sitting member Patil Anil Trimbakadas on August 29 from
Aurangabad-cum-Jatina local authorities constituency. |
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