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Saturday,
July 13, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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HC judgement on Hindujas stayed EVM
facility for J&K migrants Sinha assures Lanka of fair poll in J&K |
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Bifurcation issue: meeting by Sunday Khurana heads Delhi BJP Civil Aviation Act soon |
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Delhi-Bathinda Shatabdi after August 15 Bitta flays Congress for criticising Gill Thakur calms angry supporters Justice
Kuldip heads panel Katara’s mother seeks safety of witnesses Afzal helped ultra buy car 25 more buses for Afghanistan
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HC judgement on Hindujas stayed New Delhi, July 12 “We are staying the operation of the Delhi High Court judgement and all proceedings before the trial court should go on,” ordered a three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice B. N. Kirpal, Mr Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat just when the Solicitor-General, Mr Harish Salve, stood up to argue the CBI appeal against the high court order. Counsel for the Hinduja brothers, senior advocate Mr Kapil Sibal, pleaded repeatedly that the case could be fixed for early hearing and in the meantime the trial proceedings should be stayed as its continuance would cause prejudice to the accused. The Bench would have none of his arguments and observed “We are convinced that this (high court) judgement is completely unsustainable. Forget about this case, if such judgements are not stayed, no prosecution will succeed.” High Court Judge, Justice R. S. Sodhi had on June 10 quashed the chargesheet filed against the Europe-based Hinduja brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash Chand — saying the CBI had not the mandatory clearance from Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) prior to filing of the chargesheet as mandated by the Supreme Court in Vineet Narain judgement. “The Vineet Narain judgement is not meant for this,” the Bench observed while fixing hearing of the appeal for July 29. The court asked the Hinduja brothers to file their replies to the CBI special leave petition before July 29. Mr Sibal then said if the proceedings before the trial court were allowed to go on, the charges against the accused would be framed. The Bench said “let the charges be framed. The proceedings have to go on.” Challenging the quashing of the chargesheet against three Hinduja brothers in Bofors payoff case, CBI in its appeal said that in the matter of filing chargesheet neither the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) nor any “person or authority has the right to interfere”. “The high court overlooked the basic scheme of the law in force whereunder once an investigation has begun it is incumbent upon the investigating agency to file a report in the court. In filing this report, no person or authority has the right to interfere in the working of the agency,” the CBI said in its special leave petition (SLP). The high court erred in misconstruing the observations made by the Supreme Court, which had emphasised the need for independence of the CBI and in an individual case no person or authority had the right to curtail its power of investigation which must culminate in the filing of a report before the appropriate court, it said. The agency said the high court failed to note that the apex court’s directions in the Vineet Narain case were merely that “the CBI would report to the CVC and no power was conferred upon the CVC in derogation to the duty casted upon the investigating agency under the Criminal Procedure Code to file a report...”.
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EVM
facility for J&K migrants New Delhi, July 12 To avoid inconvenience to voters the commission has also decided to do away with the system of clubbing of the polling stations adopted during the 1996 poll. The polling stations shall be dispersed and located as far as practicable, which will result in setting up of 900 additional polling booths in the state. Announcing this at a press conference here, Deputy Election Commissioner Sayan Chatterjee said “these measures would go a substantial way in ensuring smooth elections in the state”. Stating that political parties had represented to the commission that “clubbing” of the polling stations had put the electorates to inconvenience, he said the setting up of additional 900 polling stations would ensure that voters were not required to travel more than 2 km to reach the polling stations and not more than three polling stations were located in one building. Mr Chatterjee said though the Kashmiri Pandits, who migrated to various parts of the country, had the facility to vote by post, the commission had received complaints that there was considerable delay in the transmission of these postal ballot to the returning officers. “To obviate these difficulties and to make the voting right of these Kashmiri migrants more effective, the commission has decided to extend the voting facility through EVMs in their camps at Jammu and Delhi”, he said. Mr Chatterjee said Kashmiri Pandits would also have the option to vote by post. Further with a view to ensuring free and fair elections, the electoral rolls of all 87 Assembly constituencies in the state have been computerised in Urdu and copies of the same were being distributed free of cost to all recognised political parties in the state, he added. Mr Chatterjee said as a special case and as a one time measure the commission had decided that all registered unrecognised political parties in the state, which have legislative presence, would be supplied with one copy each of the electoral rolls free of cost. This would mean that the People’s Democratic Party, J and K Awami League and J and K National Panther’s Party would get the benefit. Mr Chatterjee said there were complaints from political parties that leaders of the National Conference were provided with heavy security which enabled them to move around and undertake electoral campaigns and leaders of opposition parties were not enjoying any such privilege.  |
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Sinha assures Lanka of fair poll in J&K New Delhi, July 12 A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs told reporters today Mr Sinha told Mr Fernando that India would make sure that Jammu and Kashmir elections were conducted in a free and fair manner. Mr Sinha also told Mr Fernando that the outstanding issues between New Delhi and Islamabad needed to be resolved bilaterally and firmly ruled out” any third party mediation. He also underlined the need on part of Pakistan to take “visible, permanent” measures to ensure complete stoppage of cross-border infiltration of terrorists into India and dismantling of terrorism infrastructure in Pakistan. |
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No ‘Azad Kashmir’, India tells World Bank New Delhi, July 12 “The Government of India does not recognise the existence of any such region by the name Azad Kashmir”. This had been communicated by the Executive Director of India on the World Bank board to the multilateral financial institution. The Indian representative wrote the letter after the World Bank finalised an aid package for PoK in December last year. According to an External Affairs ministry spokesperson, the executive director had pointed out to the World Bank that the so-called “Azad Kashmir” had no legal status. Thereafter, the World Bank clarified to the Executive Director that in using this phrase, it was not passing any judgement on the legal status of that area.
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Bifurcation issue: meeting by Sunday Mathura, July 12 “All aspects will be considered”, Mr Advani said after launching the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Swavlamban Yojana here. He said Defence Minister and NDA convener George Fernandes, now in Bihar, was expected to return to the capital either by tomorrow or on Sunday. Mr Advani yesterday said the Centre would not like any decision to affect the relations between West Bengal and Bihar. “It is not a question of individuals. It is a question of the government as a whole. We will not like any decision to affect relations between the two states,” Mr Advani said.
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Khurana heads Delhi BJP New Delhi, July 12 Mr Khurana, MP from Sadar Lok Sabha constituency, was the party’s national Vice-President, in charge of Delhi affairs, in K. Jana Krishnamurthi’s team. He had been made in charge of the party’s Delhi affairs about a month ago. Announcing the appointment, party President M. Venkaiah Naidu said he had accepted the resignation of Mr Mange Ram Garg. Mr Khurana would formally take over the Delhi party chief’s post on July 15. Mr Naidu said the decision to appoint Mr Khurana had been taken only after consulting all office-bearers of the present Delhi unit. The office-bearers had assured him that they were ready to work under any leadership. On the revamping of other state units, Mr Naidu dismissed reports that a decision had been taken about Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. “The news reports in this regard are mere speculations,” he added. |
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Civil Aviation Act soon New Delhi, July 12 Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said today that the draft of the new Civil Aviation Policy will go to the cabinet next month with amendments relating to security aspects incorporated in it. The new policy is being brought in the wake of the new challenges posed to civil aviation following the September 11 terrorist strikes. Hussain and Civil Aviation Secretary K Roy Paul at a seminar on safety, security and facilitation stated that India’s security measures at airports, though found exacting by locals, had now won worldwide approval including that from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). “We are at the moment on the
threshold of major changes in safety, security and facilitation in civil aviation,” the secretary said while the minister promised `startling’ changes through the new Civil Aviation Policy. Mr Roy Paul said with the new security concerns and other issues such as greenfield airports and states going for their own airports, a need has been felt to dismantle the Civil Aviation Act of the 1930s. “We are also drafting a separate aviation security Bill to take care of a number of issues which were not adequately addressed. There is a multiplicity of laws so we have to update and integrate them,” he said adding that it would be sent to the cabinet for approval. Mr Paul said “Equipment at airports is being updated with new innovative technologies. There are reservations about the X-ray and scan machines impinging on privacy. People are not very comfortable with the breach of privacy.”
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Delhi-Bathinda Shatabdi after August 15 New Delhi, July 12 Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, told TNS that the Railway Minister promised him the introduction of the aforesaid train after August 15 during a meeting on Thursday. Mr Mann said the train would pass through Ambala, Rajpura, Patiala, Dhuri and Barnala (about 30 km from Sangrur) before terminating at Bathinda. Mr Mann said the halt at Dhuri would serve the interests of passengers of Malerkotla, Sangrur and Sherpur. He expressed the hope that the introduction of the Shatabdi would open up the Malwa region of Punjab to trade and commerce. “This is a very important train and nobody has tried for it. We have failed a little in our mission. We wanted the train to go right up to Ferozepore, 150 km ahead of Bathinda. The minister said they would extend it to Ferozepore later,” he added. Mr Mann said he had handed over the representation to the Railway Minister during the Budget session of Parliament. The letter drew the attention of the Railway Minister to the fact that five Lok Sabha constituencies of Sangrur, Patiala, Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepore had been doing without the Shatabdi and on the Ambala-Patiala, Dhuri, Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepore rail line, no Shatabdi train was available. The representation bears signatures of MPs belonging to the BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal, the CPI and the Congress. The signatories include Ms Parneet Kaur (Congress) from Patiala, Mr Bhan Singh Bohra (CPI) from Bathinda, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar (Congress) from Faridkot, Mr Zora Singh Mann (Shiromani Akali Dal) from Ferozepore, Mr Gurcaharn Singh Galib (Congress) from Ludhiana, Mr Shamsher Singh Dhullo (Congress) from Ropar, Mr Santosh Chowdhary (Congress) from Phillaur, Mr Balbir Singh (Congress) from Jalandhar, Mr R.L. Bhatia (Congress) from Amritsar, Mr Tarlochan Singh Tor (Shiromani Akali Dal) from Tarn Taran, Mr Vinod Khanna (BJP) from Gurdaspur, Mr S.S. Mann from Sangrur and Mr Charanjit Singh Channi (Congress) from Hoshiarpur. |
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Bitta flays Congress for criticising Gill New Delhi, July 12 The Congress had termed as “irresponsible” and “uncalled for,” Mr Gill’s suggestion of holding early elections in Gujarat. Reacting to the Congress criticism, Mr
Bitta, who was a Youth Congress chief, said the credibility of Mr Gill was unquestionable and he would have made the suggestion about early elections after a careful assessment of the
situation. Mr Bitta said it was on the advice of Mr Gill that elections were held peacefully in Assam in 1983 and later in Punjab in 1992 when both states were facing terrorism. “On both occasions, the elections were conducted under the Congress rule,” Mr Bitta said. Terming Mr Gill’s criticism as baseless, Mr Bitta said his presence in Gujarat had made a huge difference to the situation. |
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Thakur calms angry supporters Patna, July 12 Thousands of supporters from the Bramharshi Samaj gathered at the airport here and fired gunshots as Dr Thakur arrived here on Wednesday for the first time after his exclusion. Addressing his supporters, he said he had never stated that he had been duped by the BJP, but termed this as a mistake by the BJP. |
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Justice
Kuldip heads panel New Delhi, July 12 Simultaneously, it appointed Justice Kuldip Singh, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, as Chairman of the commission for a period of two years or until further orders. The other members on the commission are Election Commissioner B. B. Tandon and Election Commissioners of states and union territories concerned. The Delimitation Act, 2002 provides for readjustment of the territorial constituencies for the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies on the basis of the 1991 census without affecting the total number of seats allocated to each state in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies allocated on the basis of the 1971 population census. The
commission will refix seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of States on the
basis of the 1991 census. |
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Katara’s mother seeks safety of witnesses New Delhi, July 12 A Division Bench, comprising Justices R.S. Sodhi and Dalveer Bhandari, issued the notice, returnable on July 17, to the prosecution on the application, stating five grounds for witness protection. On May 13, the High Court had asked Neelam Katara to specify her request for protection of witnesses in the case. A Division Bench had noted that action had been taken on all prayers mentioned in Ms Katara’s petition, except the one broadly seeking protection of witnesses.
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Afzal helped ultra buy car New Delhi, July 12 When Afzal’s counsel during the cross-examination of a witness before Designated Judge S.N. Dhingra put a question that his client had not accompanied the terrorist to his shop to purchase the car, he disagreed with him. Afzal admitted to going to the shop of the witness, Mr Harpal Singh, proprietor of Lucky Motors in Karol Bagh, and said he did not want the witness to be questioned on this. “He is truthful,” he said. Meanwhile, identifying Afzal in the court, Mr Harpal Singh said he had come with a person named Aashiq Ahmed Khan to purchase the car and had signed as witness. During investigation it was revealed that one Mohammed, alias Leader, had purchased the car in the fake name of Aashiq Ahmed Khan.
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25 more buses for Afghanistan New Delhi, July 12 A spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs told reporters today that Mr Sinha would hand over the buses’ keys to Afghanistan’s President of Transport Arrangements Mohammad Akhtar. In April last, India had handed over 25 buses to Afghanistan. India was also helping to set up a computer training centre in Kabul and a three-member team of the TCIL would reach Kabul on July 15. India would gift 40 computers for the purpose and 30 more computers to the Afghan Foreign Ministry. |
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