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Saturday,
August 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Delay in
Bofors trial worries SC Police vehicles stoned in Daman
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Chandigarh girl among successful forest officers
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EC asks Delhi Govt to suspend 3 electoral officers Cabinet reshuffle likely on Ex-CJI’s age case: arrest warrant against Chennai lawyer Opposition against Israeli PM’s visit Restore Hardwar to UP, demand
SP, Tikait Bomb hoax in Bombay High Court
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Delay
in Bofors trial worries SC New Delhi, August 29 As Hindujas’
counsel Ram Jethmalani rose up before a Bench comprising Mr Justice
M.B. Shah and Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar pleading for extension of the
court’s earlier order granting the brothers — Gopichand, Srichand
and Prakaschand — to stay abroad, the court expressed its
displeasure over the stoppage of trial proceedings before the special
court. When Mr Jethmalani tried to clarify that the proceedings were stopped not because of any stay order by the high court but due to summoning of the records by it from the trial court, Mr Justice Shah observed it amounted to a sort of stay. “You
are not permitting the trial court to proceed further (by moving the
high court). It amounts to indirect stay on the trial,” the Bench
observed. Mr Jethmalani said the accused persons had a right to seek legal remedy against the lower court order and the Hindujas had also exercised their right. In
the first petition before the high court, the three brothers had
sought the quashing of the CBI charge sheet on the ground of “delayed”
probe and trial in the case against them and in the second one, they
had challenged the framing of the charges by the special court in
November last year. The CBI had accused the Hindujas of receiving about Rs 14 crore out of the Rs 64 crore as commission in the Rs 1437-crore Bofors gun deal with Swedish company AB Bofors in 1986, signed by the then Rajiv Gandhi government. The brothers, however, claimed that the money received by from AB Bofors was not in any manner connected with the gun deal and was in fact paid to them for some other services rendered to the arms manufacturer. The trial proceedings before the special court have been rendered standstill in the case due to the sending of the case files to the high court. Both
the CBI and Hindujas have been accusing each other for delay in the
trial proceedings since the charge sheet was filed by the agency
against them in October, 2000. |
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Police vehicles stoned in Daman Daman, August 29 At least five vehicles, including four police vans and an electricity board car, were damaged in stone pelting at Nani Daman. “Citizens were piqued after the Union Minister of State for Home, Mr Harin Pathak, did not visit Nani Daman, which incidentally had more number of casualties in yesterday’s mishap,” eyewitnesses said. In order to quell the rampaging mob, the police resorted to a lathicharge. In Moti Daman, the police resorted to mild lathicharge when the demonstrators attempted to gherao the visiting minister. The incident
occurred on the banks of the Damanganga which bifurcates Nani Daman and Moti Daman and the situation was tense in the area. Earlier, the day-long protest began with markets and business establishments remaining closed. Those who demonstrated in front of the Daman police station sought action against those responsible for the mishap. Demonstrators were carrying banners and shouting slogans against the administration while demanding the removal of the collector. To disperse the crowd in Moti Daman, the police even used teargas. —
PTI |
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ASI report fraudulent, say Left historians New Delhi, August 29 Given the findings of the
ASI, which has found ‘surkhi’ and lime-mortar bonded floor, “we can say that it is obviously the floor of an earlier mosque,” noted scholar Irfan Habib told reporters here. “One decisive piece of evidence, which entirely negates the possibility of a temple, is that of animal bones,” he said. “Bone fragments with cut marks are a sure sign of animals being eaten at the site, and therefore, rule out a temple existing at the site at that time,” Mr Habib said. Claiming that the ASI had only collected evidence keeping in mind the “temple theory”, he alleged “the bias, partisanship and saffronised outlook of the ASI’s report takes one’s breath away.” He alleged that the aim of the report “is to ignore and twist the evidence as to make it suit its conclusions tailored to support the fictions of the Sangh Parivar about the previous existence of a temple.” —
PTI |
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Chandigarh girl among successful forest officers Dehra Dun, August 29 Addressing the 32nd convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy here today, Mr Balu said during the past four years, an additional area of nearly 30,000 sq km had been brought under the forest cover throughout the country. Highlighting the need for maintaining a balance between development and ecological balance, Mr Balu said the country was passing through a critical period due to the scarcity of natural resources and ever increasing demands of the growing population. As far as the forest or tree cover was concerned, against the world average of 0.64 hectare per person, India averaged 0.08 hectare per person. The National Forest Policy, enunciated in 1988, had set a target of bringing 33 per cent of the entire landmass of the country under the forest cover. But at present it was only 23.03 per cent. Even the existing forests were greatly damaged and over exploited without commensurate with regeneration. As a consequence, the country was becoming poorer not only in natural resources but also in germ plasm bank, Mr Balu added. Expressing his happiness over more and more women taking to forestry as a career in general and Indian Forest Service in particular, Mr Balu said this not only corrected gender distortion but would also help in introducing modern outlook on issues that linked women and forestry in the country. As an interesting coincidence, it was Ms Sonali Ghosh, an IFS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, who walked away with nine of 16 awards presented to the passing out officers. She was adjudged overall best. Of 23 officers who have been declared successful, five are women. Chandigarh’s Mr Preet Pal Singh and Ms Roop Avtar Kaur, now allocated Jammu and Kashmir cadre, were among the successful officers. Mr Preet Pal Singh has been the winner of Sanjay Singh medal for securing highest marks in the subjects of forest management, advance forest management and environment conservation. Mr Charchil Kumar (Punjab) was another successful officer from the region. Young officers from the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir won most of the awards in the 32nd course. Earlier, Mr Bav Prabhat, Minister for Forests and Urban Development of Uttaranchal, emphasised the critical role forests play in the life of people of hill States. Earlier, during an interaction with the media, the Uttaranchal Chief Minister, Mr N.D. Tiwari, demanded setting up of an Himalayan authority for maintaining the ecological balance of the Himalayan range. Mr N.K. Joshi, Director-General of Forests of Government of India, and Mr Vinod Rishi, Additional Director-General, Government of India, and Director, Indira Gandhi national Forest Academy, also spoke. The academy was accorded the status of a deemed university and awarded degrees equivalent to M.Sc. Earlier, in an interaction with the media, Mr Balu also talked about clean Ganga and a national programme of preserving lakes. In Uttaranchal, he said, a sum of Rs 2 crore was being released for the upkeep and maintenance of four lakes in Uttaranchal. “The Thames of England was just 250-km long while the Ganga was over 2500-km long. When the British authorities undertook a project to clean Thames, it took them 39 years. “The problem with the Ganga is that it has on its banks towns, villages and cities which had been discharging their sullage and sewage in the river. The cleaning operations needed cooperation at all levels, from a village to major cities besides the industries. The number of industries polluting the rivers in the country has come down to five from over 1900 some years ago,” Mr
Balu. |
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EC asks Delhi Govt to suspend 3 electoral officers New Delhi, August 29 In an order sent to the Delhi Government, the Election Commission found that the Food and Supply Officer of Circle No 27 and the Superintendent of Government Boys Senior Secondary School who were the Assistant Electoral Registration Officers of the Hastasal Assembly constituency in Delhi, had not performed their duties according to the commission’s guidelines. EC sources told UNI that similarly in the Mandawali Assembly constituency, it was reported that the election officers were allegedly taking bribes for issuing photo-identity cards, but the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer of the constituency did not take any action. The commission in its order asked the Delhi Government to take appropriate disciplinary action against the erring officers and to replace them with officers of proven integrity and efficiency, the sources said. In another order issued in the evening, the Election Commission ordered the appointment of 18 senior IAS officers as observers to supervise preparation of voters’ identity cards and verification of voters’ lists in Delhi. The observers were asked to contact various Residents Welfare Associations and other bodies to ascertain the names and details of the people listed in the voters’ lists and establish if there were any bogus voters in the capital. —
UNI |
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Cabinet reshuffle likely on Sept 5 New Delhi, August 29 Sources said today that as of now only three or four new ministers were likely to be inducted by the Prime Minister. Mr G.G. Ramachandran of the MDMK, who had to resign from the post of Minister of State for Finance a few months ago after his PA was arrested on bribery charges, is also tipped to be Cabinet minister. It is understood that the CBI has cleared Mr Ramachandran in the case. Mr Ajit Panja, is also likely to join the Council of Ministers. Mr Vajpayee was earlier to effect Cabinet expansion towards the end of this month. However, the issue had continued to hang fire for days because Ms Bannerji wanted the Cabinet portfolio of her choice. It is understood that now that Ms Bannerji has reconciled to the fact that she is not going to get the Railways Ministry, she has asked for the Civil Aviation or Rural Development portfolio. However, the message she got from the PMO was that she should ask for any ministry except the Ministries of Home, Defence, External Affairs, Railways, Human Resource Development, Rural Development or Civil Aviation. Now it is understood that the issue has been amicably settled between the government and Ms
Bannerji. |
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Ex-CJI’s age case: arrest warrant against New Delhi, August 29 Earlier, a non-bailable warrant issued by the CMM was returned intimating that Mr Karuppan was given respite by the Chennai High Court till August 23 on the condition that he would appear before a Magistrate court at Chennai. The CMM then fixed the matter for August 28 after being informed that the Chennai High Court had ordered that Mr Karuppan — the then president of the Madras High Court Advocates Association — should not be arrested till August 23. The high court, in its order, said that in the event of arrest, the accused may be granted bail. Mr Pal had summoned the Station House Officer of Lahori Gate in the Walled City area and asked him to personally verify if Mr Karuppan was and would be summoned in Chennai. The CMM had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mr Karuppan for allegedly making false statements in his writ petition before the Supreme Court regarding the determination of age of former Chief Justice of India A S Anand. The CMM had issued the non-bailable warrant to be executed by August 5 against Mr Karuppan after the prosecution sought time to execute it. Mr Karuppan’s allegations that Justice Anand, now NHRC Chairman, had falsified his age raised a storm with the Supreme Court directing the Registrar-General to file a complaint under Section 193 of the IPC (false evidence) against him before a Magistrate of competent jurisdiction. “With the object of eradicating the evil of perjury, we empower the Registrar-General of the Supreme Court to file a complaint under Section 193 of IPC against Karuppan,” the apex court had ruled. Following this order, former CMM Sangita Dhingra Sehgal had ordered a non-bailable warrant to be issued
against Mr Karuppan on October 19, 2002. After Ms Sehgal was transferred to the Press Council of India, the matter came up before the newly appointed CMM K S Pal. The apex court had on November 7, 2000, convicted another Chennai-based
lawyer S K Sundaram holding him guilty of contempt for sending a telegraphic
communication to the then CJI Justice Anand alleging that he had falsified his age. Mr Karuppan had represented Mr Sundaram in that particular case. The apex court noted that despite knowing that Justice Anand’s age was determined by the President of India on May 16, 1991, Mr Sundaram and Mr Karuppan moved the court. —
PTI |
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Opposition against Israeli PM’s visit New Delhi, August 29 In a joint statement here, these leaders said Mr Sharon represented the most extreme section in Israeli politics which justified the occupation of Palestine and Arab territories. They described the Vajpayee government’s invitation to him as “most unfortunate”. The leaders — former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, CPI (M) general secretary H.S. Surjeet, RJD Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas, RSP general secretary K. Pankajakshan and CPI(M-L) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya — called for a protest during Mr Sharon’s visit. This is the first time ever when an Israeli Prime Minister is coming to India on an official visit. The statement comes on a day when Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha’ath arrived here on a three-day visit and had talks with the Indian leadership, including the President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The signatories to the statement alleged that Mr Sharon had “earned notoriety for his brutal repression of the Palestinian people”. They said as Defence Minister of Israel in 1982, Mr Sharon had been directly responsible for the
massacre of over 3,000 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon. “He (Mr Sharon) was forced to resign as Defence Minister after this massacre. Efforts are still on to bring him to justice for this crime... To have such a person as a honoured guest is an insult to India’s long-standing tradition of unequivocal support to the struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation,” they said. |
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Restore Hardwar to UP, demand
SP, Tikait Hardwar, August 29 Addressing a large gathering of farmers on the occasion, Chaudhary Mahendra Singh Tikait said the Central Government had arbitrarily included the district in Uttaranchal. The national general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and a leading light of the Save Hardwar Movement, Mr Ambrish Kumar, said the events subsequent to the creation of Uttaranchal had proved that the decision to include Hardwar in the new state was wrong. Sources say that buoyed up with the new dispensation in UP, the BKU, the Samajwadi Party and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal may queer the pitch on the issue. |
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Bomb hoax in Bombay High Court Mumbai, August 29 “The control room, received an anonymous call at 9.45 am about possible blasts at about 3 pm at the Bombay High Court, Sessions Court, Tilak Bridge at Dadar in north central Mumbai and Sandhurst Road Bridge in south Mumbai,” Senior Inspector at the Azad Maidan police station, Mr N.S. Talwadikar, said. The Mumbai police, which is still groping in the dark over the twin blasts August 25, swung into action with Mr Talwadikar reaching the high court with his team and a bomb detection and Disposal Squad. Two sniffer dogs were pressed into service for detecting explosives in any of the three buildings of the court. The Chief Justice continued with the hearing, while the police was scanning the high court. All judicial work remained unaffected during the search that lasted more than three-hours. The police had beefed up security at the high court and the adjoining Sessions Court and every entrant was frisked. However, no bomb was found. —UNI |
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