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New Delhi, April 22 Modifying its guidelines on the appointment of the CBI Director, the Supreme Court has said all IPS officers of the four senior-most batches will be considered for selecting the chief of the premier investigating agency.
2 Best Bakery case accused arrested
Will the Modi magic work?
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Increase in Railways’
passenger traffic
Implement mid-day meal scheme by Sept,
SC tells states
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Kalam to welcome ‘Tarangini’
SC okays NCERT syllabus on environment studies
Curfew relaxed in Hardwar
Dharmendra’s ‘nikahnama’ presented in court
22 die of mysterious fever
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Guidelines on CBI chief’s appointment modified
New Delhi, April 22 “All the IPS officers of the senior-most four batches in the service on the date of the retirement of the CBI Director, irrespective of their empanelment, shall be eligible for consideration for appointment to the post,” a Bench of Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Mr Justice S.B. Sinha and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia in a judgement said. Though seniority was a criteria for appointing the CBI chief, “the merit indisputably would play a decisive role which is required to be determined with other relevant considerations, namely integrity and experience in the investigation of corruption cases,” the court said. The judgement came on an appeal by the Centre against the Karnataka High Court’s October 11, 2001 order affirming the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) verdict quashing the then CBI Director R.K. Raghavan’s appointment after it was challenged by senior IPS officer C. Dinakar. The CAT and the high court had held that while appointing Mr Raghavan as the CBI Director, the Union Government had ignored the Supreme Court guidelines regarding the appointment as laid down in the Jain-Hawala case. Modifying its guidelines to avoid any confusion in future, the court said a committee under the chairmanship of the Central Vigilance Commissioner, which is responsible for selecting the CBI Director, would not need to scrutinise a large number of IPS officers and “shall” consider only the officers of the four senior-most batches. The court said the fresh direction was in the nature of an explanation of Section 4A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPEA), applicable to the CBI and Attorney-General had given his consent to it. Under the term of Section 4A of the DSPEA, all eligible IPS officers were required to be considered and it might give rise to practical difficulties in selecting the Director of the CBI, which was considered to be a superior post, the court said. “It is a tenure post and on the expiry of the period specified therefore, the officer so appointed may be transferred to any other post or reverted to his own post,” the court clarified. The court said the views of the outgoing CBI Director regarding preparing the panel of IPS officers for selecting the agency chief would also be taken into consideration by the selection committee. Regarding the Union Government’s appeal against quashing of Mr Raghavan’s appointment, the court said it had been rendered of only of academic interest as both he and Mr Dinakar had since retired, and therefore no direction in this regard was required. |
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2 Best Bakery case accused arrested
Vadodara, April 22 The police, which obtained the arrest warrants last evening from the fast-track court of Mr Justice H.U. Mahida, who earlier acquitted all the 21 accused for want of evidence, arrested two of them from the Hanuman Tekri area this morning where the bakery was located. The Police Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sinha, told UNI that teams were sent to the houses of 20 of the 21 accused against whom warrants were issued. While two accused were arrested, the others seemed to have fled from their houses after the April 12 verdict of the apex court. “We are trying to trace them”, the police chief said. The two arrested, identified as Dinesh Phulchand Rajbhar and Tulsibhai Bhikhabhai Tadvi, will be produced before a local court for remand, Mr Sinha said.
— UNI |
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Will the Modi magic work?
Gandhinagar, April 22 Whether at Ahmedabad’s tea-stalls, restaurants or paan shops, or in the state capital’s office, a raging debate veers around Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s political efficacy and utility. Mr Modi himself has claimed from the rooftop that the BJP would sweep all seats and his assertion has made his followers believe that “he is impregnable”. The electoral battle in the state has been Modi vs the rest and the final outcome may surprise many. But the ground reality tells a very different story. Not only the heat on the polling day, but a divided BJP, the Chief Minister’s style of functioning and the anti-incumbency factor are some of the factors which will affect the final tally of the Lok Sabha from the western state. Mr Modi, it appears, has treaded on so several toes, including that of RSS and VHP leaders. A middle-rank RSS leader in Ahmedabad said; “Modi must be taught a lesson and the BJP should get at least one less than the 21 seats that it had in the 13th Lok Sabha”. While the heat kept the voters indoors, resulting in one of the lowest voter turnouts, Mr Modi’s — the “Hindu Hirday Samrat” — efforts to arouse sentiments to take the political battle on the emotive pitch has apparently not worked. It is correct that the Congress is a house divided, but a majority of its candidates waged a determined battle for their political survival if not for the party. Farmers have been a unhappy lot as their cotton and groundnut crops were badly affected and crop insurance money came late. Not only this, a sharp power tariff hike hit the farmers hard. They resorted to an agitation. All efforts to pacify them and even an offer of a minor reduction in power tariff failed to placate them. Their resentment with the establishment continued. State employees is another section which is not particularly enamoured with the ruling party. There has been an intriguing silence among the common voters, including the minorities in Ahmedabad and Godhra. The common assessment of experts is that the contest has been close and the BJP can be sure of its victory in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bharuch, Junagadh, Dhaod, Surendranagar, Godhra, Patan and Kheda. In Kapadvanj, Amreli, Anand and Jamnagar, the Congress appears to be in the lead, but in the rest of the 12 constituencies, the battle, according to reports reaching here, has been very close and the result can go either way. |
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Increase in Railways’
passenger traffic
New Delhi, April 22 Accordingly, the total passengers carried were 4673.01 millions compared to 4545.51 millions during the corresponding period of the last year. Of the total passenger traffic during the period, 2742.81 millions were suburban and 1930.20 millions non-suburban, an official Press note said today. The punctuality of trains on the broad guage went up to 90.2 per cent against the target of 90 per cent. The punctuality of trains on the metre guage increased to 96.8 per cent from the target of 95 per cent. As for the financial performance, it said the Railways effected a saving of Rs 546.69 crores in working expenses compared to the budgetary target of Rs 28129.81 crore. The actual working expenses incurred were Rs 27583.12 crore. The gross earnings, however, dipped by Rs 133.10 crore from the budgetary target of Rs 38463.82 crore. The
actual gross earnings were Rs 38330.72 crore, it added.
— PTI |
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Implement mid-day meal scheme by Sept,
SC tells states
New Delhi, April 22 Expressing anguish over the failure of the states and union territories to implement the scheme effectively in every school, a Bench of Mr Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice B.N. Agrawal said if the deadline was not met, the Chief Secretaries of each state would be held responsible. The court, meanwhile,
directed the Union Government to double the allocation of foodgrains to the states under the “Sampooran Gramin Yojna”. The state governments were further directed to continue with the scheme in schools in drought-affected areas, even during the summer vacations, and give preference to people from weaker sections in employment for effective implementation of the programme. The direction was issued during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) after reviewing the progress made by the states in implementing the scheme. The PUCL had filed the petition initially highlighting the apathy of the previous Rajasthan Government in implementing the mid-day meal scheme when the state was under drought two years ago, but its scope was extended by the court to cover all states. |
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Kalam to welcome ‘Tarangini’
New Delhi, April 22 Dr Kalam, who is also the Supreme Commander of country’s armed forces, will board the ship half an hour before it berths at the harbour and travel back on the vessel along with its officers, crew and trainee cadets. The ship, which set sail from Kochi on January 23 last year, will be accorded a traditional Kerala-style welcome with caparisoned elephants and ‘panchavadyam’, Navy officials said here. Dr Kalam will also release a first-day postal cover and stamp to mark the occasion. He will interact with schoolchildren at the naval base and then visit the base hospital. During its voyage, Tarangini, visited 18 countries, including Egypt, Spain, Italy, Canada, the US, Panama, Fiji, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, and touched 36 ports. The ship celebrated this year’s Republic Day on January 26 in Fiji, providing its sailors a grand opportunity to interact with the South Pacific island’s large Indian diaspora, which constitute 44 per cent of the country’s 8 lakh population. It also won the Tall-ship Race in Canada’s Great Lake during a visit to that country. A team of chefs from Tarangini presented traditional dishes, including dahi wada, pav bhaji and gaajar ka halwa, at New York City’s annual Fleet Week cooking contest in May last year. It was Navy Chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh’s idea to send the vessel on circumnavigation. |
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SC okays NCERT syllabus on environment studies
New Delhi, April 22 A Bench of Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice B. P. Singh put the seal of approval on the NCERT syllabus, which provided that study of environment would be a part of General Science up to class VII and independent additional subject for IX to XII classes. The court directed that the NCERT would be a nodal agency to monitor the implementation of the environment study programme across the country. While placing the syllabus for approval before the court, the NCERT said it had been prepared after consulting more than 500 institutions, the state governments, Central Board of Secondary Education, NGOs, Central Pollution Control Board and individual experts. Though no state had raised any objection to the NCERT syllabus, the court still sought suggestions from them to improve it further as education was a state subject. The court had initially issued the direction to make environment study as compulsory subject in 1991 following a petition by environment activist lawyer M. C. Mehta. |
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Curfew relaxed in Hardwar Hardwar, April 22 Deputy Inspector-General of police Ashok Kumar said the situation in the city was under control and no untoward incident was reported. The curfew was relaxed for an hour beginning 4 p.m. at Bhimgoda and from 5 p.m. in Kotwali area. Heavy police deployment continued in sensitive areas. Pilgrims visited parts of the city which were not under curfew. The district administration held talks with members of the trading community to help peace return to the city, he said. — PTI |
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Dharmendra’s ‘nikahnama’ presented in court
Indore, April 22 The First Class Judicial Magistrate fixed the next date for hearing on April 24. State Congress minority department vice-president Akhtar Baig and Congress leader K.K. Mishra had alleged that Dharmendra had not disclosed his religion while filing nominations from Bikaner as a BJP candidate. They also charged Hema Malini with concealing her religion while taking oath as a Rajya Sabha member.
— UNI |
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Burdwan, April 22 A medical team led by Burdwan Chief Medical Officer of Health Santosh Sarengi and Burdwan Medical College Superintendent Bijoy Mukherjee visited the village yesterday and collected blood samples of some of the patients. Among the affected, Kalazar virus had been found in about 20 of them and they had been admitted to the Bhatar hospital, sources in the team said. Mr Saringi said Kalazar had also been reported in the past in Barar Par and Jaji Gram.
— UNI |
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Meghalaya minister
hospitalised Shillong, April 22 Mukhim was admitted to a private nursing home on Tuesday, the day Meghalaya went to the polls, after complaining of chest pain and uneasiness, family sources said today.
— PTI |
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Uma taken ill Mumbai, April 22 Ms Uma Bharati was flying to the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini located at Bhayander in Thane district from Aurangabad when she was taken ill, Superintendent of Police Ramrao Pawar said. On the Chief Minister’s directions, the chopper landed at Akole village in Ahmednagar district, where she was examined by a doctor.
— PTI |
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