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New Delhi April 17 The Supreme Court has upheld out-of-turn promotion of nearly 100 Haryana police officers recognising the courage displayed by them in fighting terrorism when it had paralysed neighbouring Punjab and had its widespread impact in the state as well.
Kalam to address nation today
Campaigning for 140 LS seats ends
today
Who is PM’s successor, ask Cong and
CPM
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Cong jugglery to escape 420 tag
PM should own moral responsibility for stampede:
Mayawati
Panun Kashmir blames EC for not protecting rights
BJP making inroads in tribal areas of Chhattisgarh
EC singling out state on poll staff:
CPM
China, Pak not fanning Maoist
insurgency
Plea rejected in Red Fort attack
case
Mr Justice Babu to have short
stint
Bachchan wants to act
in Shekhar’s ‘Mandela’
IMA cadet killed during training
Ghatkopar blast accused discharged
5-day seminar on UN peace operations
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SC upholds Haryana cops’ promotion
for bravery
New Delhi April 17 A Bench of Mr Justice S. Rajendera Babu, Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice B. P. Singh also upheld the promotions to those police officials who had excelled in the field of sports and directed the Haryana Government to regularise all such promotions. Allowing a bunch of appeals of these police officials, who were promoted to the ranks of head constable, Assistant Sub-Inspector, Sub-Inspector and Inspector and a few even to the rank of DSP and SP, the apex court said “those officials who are promoted within the 10 per cent limit of the Rule 13.8(2) could be given regular promotion.” “... those who are beyond the 10 per cent limit of the rule could be given ‘Own Rank and Pay (ORP)’ promotion which is designed to
encourage and reward good work of meritorious officers without excessively burdening the exchequer,” the court said. The court directed the Haryana Government to frame “appropriate” rules or policy to streamline the promotion to police officials in appreciation of their services to avoid such controversy in future. These officers had come to appeal in the Supreme Court against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order quashing promotion of those officials who did not fell within the 10 per cent limit fixed under the Rule 13.8(2) of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934 and allowed conditional promotion to those covered under the rule that they should not be superseding their seniors. The Haryana Government had issued a circular for awarding such promotions in September, 1993 and the state DGP consequently had framed guidelines in this regard. But their promotions were challenged in the high court by some of their colleagues on the ground that the DGP had no power to grant such promotion beyond the permitted limit under the rules. Recognising the services rendered to the nation by these brave officials, the Supreme Court said “out of turn or ad hoc promotion is to encourage the subordinate police officers and shall be given only to the enrolled police officers as under Rule 1.13 of the Punjab Police Rules up to the rank of Inspector. “As per Rule 13.3(1) the power to make promotions among gazetted officers and from non-gazetted to gazetted rank vests in the state government with the concurrence of the Governor,” the apex court clarified, while directing the Haryana Government to remove ambiguity in this regard. Most of the officials were appointed between 1976 and 1989 and they were rewarded with out-of-turn promotion for showing exemplary courage and bravery in fighting the menace of terrorism when it infested Punjab and its effects were carried to Haryana regularly. |
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Kalam to address nation today
New Delhi, April 17 The address in English and Hindi on the theme of “Voting is a Sacred Mission” will be broadcast on Doordarshan’s national channel on April 18 at 7.30 p.m. The broadcast will also be repeated at 8 p.m. on All-India Radio on the same day on Indraprastha channel, Rajdhani channel, and Yuv Vani channel and will be relayed by all primary channels stations of AIR. Rashtrapati Bhavan sources said it was for the first time that a President was addressing the nation on the eve of elections to remind the people of their duty of exercising their franchise. In his speech on the eve of Republic Day this year, the President had appealed to all eligible voters to exercise their franchise without fail, fear or favour in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. “The right to vote is the greatest power given by the democracy to you so that you can reinforce further democratic values,” he had said. The President had emphasised that a large voter turnout would be the first step towards reaching the goal of developed India-2020 and a step to become enlightened righteous citizens. |
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Campaigning for 140 LS seats ends
today
New Delhi, April 17 The prominent persons involved in the first phase of polling include Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani (BJP) who is contesting from Gandhinagar (Gujarat), former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda (Janata Dal-Secular) from Kanakapura, Karnataka, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal-United) from Barh and Nalanda constituencies in Bihar, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha (BJP, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand), Jaipal Reddy (Congress, Miryalaguda, Andhra Pradesh), Shankarsinh Waghela (Congress, Kapadvanj, Gujarat) and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi from Mahasamund (Congress). Among those who have campaigned for the first phase of elections are Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Mr Advani, who took out a month-long “Bharat Uday Yatra” across the country for the BJP. The BJP and its allies relied on the “feel-good” factor and “India shining” campaign, focussing on good governance and development during their six-year regime. The Congress and other Opposition parties charged the government with non-performance and turned the heat on the BJP following the Supreme Court order for a retrial in the Gujarat riots case and the death of 21 women in a stampede at Lucknow, the constituency of Mr Vajpayee. The April 20 polling will cover all 11 seats from Chhattisgarh, 26 from Gujarat and two from Meghalaya, 21 of the 42 from Andhra Pradesh, six of the 14 from Assam, six of the 14 from Jharkhand, 15 of the 28 from Karnataka, 24 of the 48 from Maharashtra, 11 of the 21 from Orissa, 11 of the 40 from Bihar and two of the six from Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Mizoram (which have one member each in the Lok Sabha). Simultaneous Assembly elections are being held in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa in the constituencies falling under the Lok Sabha seats where voting will take place. The BJP is fighting the elections in alliance with seven state parties-the Shiv Sena, the Telegu Desam Party, the Janata Dal-United, the Biju Janata Dal, the AIADMK, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the All-India Trinamool Congress. The Congress has allies in the Nationalist Congress Party, the DMK, the MDMK, the PMK and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, besides the Left parties in some states. |
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Who is PM’s successor, ask Cong and
CPM
New Delhi, April 17 Commenting on Mr Vajpayee’s statement during an interview to a news channel yesterday, AICC spokesperson Anand Sharma said the PM must clarify whether his successor would come from the second line of the BJP leaders or if he or she would be anybody else. “The people of the country have the right to know whether the successor the Prime Minister is talking about will be someone like Mr Narendra Modi, hailing from the BJP’s second line of leaders,’’ Mr Sharma said. Mr Vajpayee had said in the interview that there was already a consensus within the party over his successor. Mr Sharma also asked when the Prime Minister was seeking a five-year mandate from the people for a government under his leadership, what made him to speak about his successor before the elections? The Congress had earlier expressed apprehension that the BJP was working on a plan to install Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani as Prime Minister, if the NDA came to power, after seeking the people’s votes in the name of Mr Vajpayee. Reacting to Mr Vajpayee’s statement that the BJP had decided on his “successor”, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters here that Mr Vajpayee “has a duty to inform the nation before elections whether or not he is actually functioning as a ‘mukhauta’ (mask) to pass on the mantle on someone else.” Asserting that he would have to “come out openly” as to who his successor would be, the CPM leader said if the Prime Minister did not do so, “then the people would assume he was actually acting as a mask and misleading them. The nation should know as to who will replace Vajpayee in government as also the leader of the NDA.” The NDA had placed the election campaign as Vajpayee vs whom. Now, Mr Vajpayee himself has come under question mark, the people had every right to know, who would succeed him, he added. |
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Cong jugglery to escape 420 tag
New Delhi, April 17 Congress leaders then did some instant jugglery to see that the figure remains below or crosses the 420-mark. As of today, no party leader can give an accurate figure of the number of seats it is contesting. Some say 417, others maintain it could be 421 or 422 and perhaps, even go up to 425. Congress sources admitted that when the party realised it had fielded a total of 420 candidates in the electoral fray, senior leaders were asked to either increase the number or reduce it. As of now, the Congress has announced the names of 412 Lok Sabha candidates. About 120-odd seats have been left for allies. In the seat-sharing arrangement worked out with various partners, the Congress has left 22 seats in Maharashtra for the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) while the DMK-PMK-MDMK alliance is contesting 29 seats in Tamil Nadu. In addition, the Congress is not fielding candidates in as many as 36 seats in Bihar, five in Jharkhand, eight in Andhra Pradesh, seven in Uttar Pradesh and a total of 10 in West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab. The Congress has also left three seats for its allies in Jammu and Kashmir and a few more in the North East region, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The seats which the Congress is still struggling to finalise include Karnal and Faridabad in Haryana and Meerut, Kairana and Bulandshar in Uttar Pradesh. Confronted with an eroded support base in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is finding it tough to identify suitable candidates for the three remaining seats. In the case of Haryana, the party leadership has run into problems over the Faridabad seat for which it had almost decided on Avtar Singh Badhana, who represented Meerut in the dissolved Lok Sabha. This news was met with huge protests from Meo leaders Tayyab Hussein and Khurhseed Ahmed, who sank their differences, to demand that a Muslim be nominated from this constituency in view of their large population here. Similarly, the party was faced with a virtual revolt when it finalised the candidature of Arvind Sharma, ex MP from Sonepat, for the Karnal seat. It was forced to withold the official
declaration as senior Congress MP Chiranji Lal Sharma protested that his son’s claim had been overlooked. |
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PM should own moral responsibility
Lucknow, April 17 Ms Mayawati, at a press conference here, said that a majority of those killed in the stampede were Dalits. “Prime Minister may not be directly involved in organising the function, but he should take moral responsibility for the tragedy because his area in charge was involved in distributing largesse to the poor woman,” she said. Ms Mayawati said that senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon, during whose birthday celebration the women were killed, should be arrested immediately and sent to jail. “An FIR should be lodged against senior BJP leaders who were present during the function and Mr Tandon should be arrested under Section 302.” She said that instead of taking action against Mr Tandon, Mr Vajpayee and Chief Minister Yadav were busy in “shielding” Mr Tandon. “Vajpayee should have sacked Tandon from the BJP so that faith of people on his government could be restored,” she said. “The decision of the Election Commission to take action against Tandon has strengthened the roots of democracy,” she said. |
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Panun Kashmir blames EC for not protecting rights
New Delhi, April 17 Alleging that the EC “has failed to protect the electoral rights of displaced Kashmiri Pandits”, Panun Kashmir officials pointed out that there are only three voting centres, one each in Delhi, Jammu and Udhampur. “What about the Kashmiri Pandits living in Mumbai, Bangalore, and NOIDA, which has a population of more than a 1,000 such families?” questioned Yuvraj Raina, Panun Kashmir, coordinator. He added that “these people cannot go to Delhi or Jammu to cast the vote. We had sought a meeting with the EC to discuss the issue but we are yet to hear from them”. In a letter written to the EC the Panun Kashmir has stated, “The commission has denied the displaced community its fundamental right to vote. It has not taken any measures to ensure that the entire community will get a chance to caste their ballot”. It was also pointed out that the electoral lists have not been updated. “The commission has not even evolved a mechanism to include the new eligible voters in the list. It has failed to recognise their democratic rights, said Raina. |
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BJP making inroads in tribal areas of Chhattisgarh
Raipur, April 17 While the state Congress has been trying hard to find campaigners, BJP leaders have campaigned extensively with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani spending two days in the state during his Bharat Uday Yatra. Mr Vajpayee, BJP chief Venkiah Naidu, party leaders Rajnath Singh, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini, Poonam Dhillon and Varun Gandhi have visited different areas of Chhattisgarh. The few Congress leaders to visit the state including, Digvijay Singh, Suresh Pachouri and Sheila Dikshit, have campaigned mostly in Mahasamund. The Congress has not been able to build its campaign around the rise in prices which seemed an issue of concern to people. It has been mostly responding to the issues raised by the BJP, including that of foreign origin of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Chief Minister Raman Singh has been quick to respond to Congress charges about inability of his government to start fulfilling promises in BJP’s poll manifesto. Congress woes in the state have increased after the Bahujan Samaj Party put up its candidates on all 11 seats. Samajwadi Party is also in the fray on 11 seats while the Gondwana Gantantar Party has put up five candidates. Observers here say that the BSP candidates would affect Congress prospects in Raipur, Durg, Sarangarh and Bilaspur. Faced with a difficult election, the Congress gave ticket for the Lok Sabha poll to six MLAs. Dr Raman Singh’s contesting the assembly byelection from Dongergaon, a part of Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat, is likely to work to the benefit of BJP candidate Pradip Gandhi. In Sarguja BJP cadres are aggressively working for state party chief Nand Kumar Sai, who had lost to Mr Jogi in the assembly elections. BJP insiders say that the party faces an uphill task in Sarangargh, where the party replaced the controversial P.R. Khunte. Congress prospects in Bilaspur Lok Sabha seat, where it has seven of the eight MLAs, have been affected by its choice of a relatively unknown candidate. The BJP enjoys an advantage in tribal seats of Bastar and Kanker where it won most of the Assembly seats in last year’s assembly poll. |
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EC singling out state on poll staff:
CPM
New Delhi, April 17 “In no other state is such a measure being taken. Why is West Bengal being singled out? Does it mean that in the rest of India everything is normal and West Bengal is the exception? If polling staff from outside a state is being deployed in all states, there can be no objection to the move,” the CPM said in a statement here. The party said, “The EC might be aware that in Gujarat, the RSS has thoroughly infiltrated all sections of the State goverment machinery with the full blessings of the Narendra Modi government. Why is this measure not applicable to Gujarat then?” “The CPM Politburo urges the EC to make the induction of staff from outside an all-India norm, or to withdraw the step taken in West Bengal,’’ the statement added. The Commission had taken this ‘’unilateral step’’ without even asking the state government for its views, the statement said adding that in all previous elections, the Commission had gone on record appreciating the manner in which the elections were conducted in West Bengal. Stating that there were reports that under the EC instructions, polling staff from outside West Bengal would be deployed in the state, the CPM said for the purpose a few thousand staff from neighbouring states were being assigned for polling duties in the state. |
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Dharmendra wants to be dictator
New Delhi, April 17 “I pray to God that I become dictator for five years... I will clean all the rubbish,” an agitated Dharmendra said from Jharkhand attacking the opposition for making his marital status a poll issue. Dharmendra had filed his papers on Thursday, but had left the column relating to the name of his wife blank. The filmstar had first married Parkash Kaur and then actress Hema Malini. He said democracy did not permit anyone to tarnish other persons’ image or abuse them. Let them come and call me names on my face, I will see them...,” he thundered. Dharmendra said he was feeling uneasy about joining politics and might have missed some things when reading the nomination form. “I saw columns for my name, my wife’s name and property. “Maine soocha ki Hindu
Marriage Act hai to maine Parkash ka nam bhara hai (I thought I had filled Parkash’s name as per the Hindu Marriage Act). I could fill only one name,” he said. The filmstar said some opposition leaders were behind this controversy. “I didn’t know they would indulge in mud-slinging.” —
PTI |
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China, Pak not fanning Maoist
insurgency
New Delhi, April 17 “The Chinese have a low-key role in Nepal. They certainly have nothing to do with the Maoists. In fact, they are embarrassed by the fact that these people have chosen to call themselves Maoists,” sources said. Beijing is concerned about the fallout of an insurgency situation, particularly in Nepal which is geographically very close, on Tibet. “For this reason also they are very sensitive about Nepal. There is nothing to suggest that the Chinese are not helping (to peace in the Hindu kingdom),” sources added. Significantly, there appears to be no involvement of Pakistan so far in the Maoist bloodbath despite the fact that its ISI has been using Nepalese territory for launching anti-Indian operations. “There is nothing to suggest that China or Pakistan are fishing in troubled waters in Nepal. There is no evidence on the ground to suggest that,” sources said categorically. Meanwhile, New Delhi is well aware of the fact that the unprecedented attack on Indian interests in Nepal recently had dangerous portents. New Delhi’s assessment is that it has reasons to believe that if such outrageous acts were to be repeated in future it would harm the interests of the people of Nepal only. The Government of India is understood to have sent a powerful message to the Maoists that if such attacks on Indian interests were to continue their Nepal’s lifelines will be crippled. |
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Plea rejected in Red Fort attack case
New Delhi, April 17 Rejecting the claim of the accused that they will not get justice from the court of the Special Judge on account of the alleged proximity of the investigating officer in the case, Surinder K. Sand, to the Judge, the District Judge said, “Every judicial officer is under oath and legal obligation to impart justice and to decide the matter on the basis of the material available on record”. “In my view if the matter is transferred from one court to another it will cause unnecessary delay and the direction of the high court to expedite the trial will stand violated,” the District Judge said. —
PTI |
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Mr Justice Babu to have short
stint
New Delhi, April 17 However, he will have the working period of one week as the Chief Justice of India because the Supreme Court will be closing for two months summer vacation on May 8. The President, Mr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, issued orders for his appointment as the Chief Justice of India on Thursday. Mr Justice Babu, the seniormost judge of the apex court, started his career as a lawyer in Bangalore in 1965. He was appointed a judge of the Karnataka High Court in 1988 and elevated to the Supreme Court on September 25, 1997. During his six-year tenure as the judge of apex court, he has dealt with various important cases, including the Ayodhya matter, disinvestment of the oil sector, corporate and taxation cases and TANSI land scam involving Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. One of the important verdicts pronounced by him recently was on laying down clear definitions of certain controversial sections of POTA, as a result of which many detenues under the anti-terrorist law got relief for their being arrested with ulterior motives. Another important judgement by him related to Anand Marg sect, in which the court had rejected the right of its followers to hold “Tandav Naritya” in public places. Mr Justice Babu, who retires on June 1 when the apex court will be still closed on the account of summer vacation, is likely to be succeeded by Mr Justice R. C. Lahoti, the second in the seniority list. As per the convention, only the seniormost judge of the apex court is appointed the Chief Justice of India. Lahoti will have more than a year’s tenure, as he will be retiring on November 1, 2005. |
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Bachchan wants to act
in Shekhar’s ‘Mandela’
New Delhi, April 17 “I have met Mandela twice and he showed lot of affection towards me. I was highly impressed by his ideology and I even visted the island where the African leader was imprisoned. I will feel lucky even if I am able to get a very small role in the movie,” Bachchan told Zee News in an interview. Bachchan said he had met the producer of the film, Anand Singh, though nothing had been finalised yet. Amitabh is also working with Rituparno Ghosh in a film based on the life of Satyajit Ray. Hitting out at his critics, Bachchan said he had no plans to retire as “there is no retirement age for actors and performers unless the audience decides otherwise”. “It is only the audience which can make actors retire when they stop getting roles or their work is not appreciated”, he said. Moreover, the film industry was not like government service, with a set retirement age of 60 years, he said in the interv iew. —
PTI |
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IMA cadet killed during training
Dehradun, April 17 The cadet Sushil Vilas Salve, hailing from the Kaniwali area of West Mumbai, suffered the bullet injury while practising at the firing ranges, an Academy release said. According to preliminary investigations, the incident took place accidentally. However, an inquiry has been ordered to investigate the entire episode. Salve had joined the IMA in January this year, the release added. —
PTI |
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Ghatkopar blast accused discharged
Mumbai, April 17 The designated judge A.P. Bhangale discharged the accused on an application moved by the prosecution in line with the recommendations of the central POTA review committee. The review committee had earlier this week recommended that charges may be dropped against Zaheer as prima facie there was no material to implicate him in the crime. It asked the state to direct the prosecution to seek appropriate orders from the court. The court yesterday released him on bail on a sum of Rs 1 lakh. However, prosecutor Rohini Salian today urged the court to discharge him. —
PTI |
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5-day seminar on UN peace operations
New Delhi, April 17 About 65 foreign delegates from 29 countries have been invited for the event, with major participation expected from UN Member States in the Asia-Pacific Region. |
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Lucknow, April 17
