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SC disposes of Munda’s
petition
Paswan asks JD (U) to sever ties with BJP
Producers’ guild slaps ban on Shakti Kapoor
Centre planning Bill on regulating TV content
Modi planning to go on offensive
Bail out Punjab industry: SAD
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IAF women cadets’ charges being probed VIP security to be handed over to CISF
File report on Dubey case charge-sheet, SC tells CBI
Razi meets Patil
Bihar MLA moves SC
for release
of salary
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SC disposes of Munda’s
petition
New Delhi, March 14 The court will, however, examine various legal questions pertaining to Governors’ powers on a petition by former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of the BJP, challenging the dismissal of his ministry by state Governor S. C. Jamir. Dealing with Mr Munda and Mr Pariker’s petitions separately, two Benches—both headed by Chief Justice R. C. Lahoti—agreed with the contention of former Attorney- General Ashok Desai, appearing for Mr Razi, that the by taking into account the subsequent events (resignation of UPA leader Shibu Soren as CM and swearing in of Munda), the petition did not survive. “We feel that the subsequent events that that had taken place in Jharkhand, the issues raised in the petition had become infructous… and does not call for any adjudication,” said a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Lahoti, Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice D. M. Dharmadhikari, whose order on the Jharkhand matter had raised a political storm about the alleged “encroachment” of the legislature’s power by the judiciary. The Bench clarified that it had left open the legal questions raised in the petition about the Governor's power. Mr Desai sought to close the matter saying that “if the petition is kept pending, it will not be conducive for the political atmosphere.” Though Mr Munda’s counsel wanted to keep the petition pending at least till he had won the trust vote, he did not press it further. Taking this into account, another Bench comprising the Chief Justice and Mr Justice G. P. Mathur, dealing with the petition of sacked Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, said it would like to examine the issues raised in the writ petition as they had had not been rendered infructous due to the imposition of President’s rule in the state. The court directed Mr Parrikar’s counsel, Mr Soli J. Sorabjee, to place on record all relevant documents. The court will examine whether a Governor has power to dismiss a Chief Minister after he had won the trust vote; could the Governor disregard the Speaker’s report about the CM winning the confidence motion; whether he could administer oath to a new CM and give him a long time to prove his majority; and was not the action of the Governor to prorogue the Assembly after installing Mr Rane in office mala fide to prevent Mr Parrikar to bring a no-confidence motion against the new CM. |
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Paswan asks JD (U) to sever ties with BJP
New Delhi, March 14 “There is no use repeatedly pointing towards me...I have made it clear before and after poll that there is no question of the LJP having truck with the RJD or the communal BJP. So, the JD (U) instead of blaming me should initiate the process of government formation by severing ties with the BJP,” Mr Paswan told The Tribune here. “It will take me just a day to get the letter of support from 67 legislators, if the JD (U) is prepared to part with the BJP,” Mr Paswan said reacting to a question on JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar’s offer yesterday to barter 55 seats of the party to Mr Paswan if the LJP leader was able to come up with 67. “The CPI (3), CPM(1), NCP (3) and the CPI-ML(7) were already receptive to his formula of a third front, minus the RJD and the BJP...Let the JD (U) severe its ties with the BJP, I would ensure the numbers,” he said. Taking a dig at Mr Nitish Kumar for making such a statement, Mr Paswan said: “It is unfortunate that despite lacking numbers, the JD (U) leader is still aspiring to become the Chief Minister. Otherwise, why has the JD (U)’s Legislature Party has not yet elected its leader in the state?” Asserting that he would prefer President’s rule in the state rather than indulging in “self-inflicting” politics, Mr Paswan said he had made a four-point statement before the poll and he would see to it that those were realised.
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Producers’ guild slaps ban on Shakti Kapoor
Mumbai, March 14 A statement issued by the Guild’s Secretary-General Supran Sen asked Shakti Kapoor to publicly apologise for his “completely irresponsible, insulting and slanderous utterances” while advising its members against engaging the actor in any of their productions. He said the guild’s decision to ban Shakti was unanimous. The guild has further said that its members were eminent and respected producers who had never indulged in any act imputed to them in the said telecast. The statement said that its members representing the entertainment industry had always stood for the highest morals, ethical and professional values and had been the “fountainhead of growth” of this vibrant industry. Meanwhile, actress Preity Zinta told UNI from Australia that she was very upset with such a statement made in poor taste by a person who had no respect for anyone. Film director Subhash Ghai said “these kinds of insane people with such shameful acts do survive in every segment of society, including cinema. It is very sad that people like Shakti Kapoor project our industry and seniors in such a bad light.” Director Mahesh Bhatt said blaming the entire industry as indulging in casting couch was not correct. “I would be naive if I say there is no casting couch. However, the truth also is that the bulk of the industry does not indulge in it,” he said. — UNI, PTI
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Centre planning Bill on regulating TV content
New Delhi, March 14 Information and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy told the Rajya Sabha that the government was contemplating an autonomous regulatory authority and a legislation was expected in the next session of Parliament. Mr Reddy said there was no proposal to introduce censorship for television. However, a proposal for setting up an authority to regulate the content was under consideration. Mr Reddy said some action would be considered against channels exhibiting obscene scenes. He said several stakeholders, including owners of TV channels, media heads, cable operator federations, NGOs, educationists and women and consumer organisations, attended a workshop last month on the content issue on TV channels. While participants were of the view that self-regulation by the industry was ideal, they favoured establishment of an autonomous authority to regulate the content, he said. He said government has taken notice of the ‘porno stuff’ being shown in the garb of sting operations in some private television channels and was considering measures in this regard. Replying to another query, Mr Reddy said the government was considering demands to allow investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the print media within the 26 per cent ceiling allowed for foreign direct investment (FDI).
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Modi planning to go on offensive
New Delhi, March 14 The move is not only to counter the party MLAs who under the leadership of former state Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel have been asking the party high command to put pressure on Mr Modi to change his style of functioning but also to revive his image of “Hindu Hirday Samrat" (Hindu heartthrob) among the masses. Sources said Mr Modi had asked his close confidants to collect relevant material on uniform civil code with a view to launching a campaign on the issue. “Mr Modi is planning a big public meeting where will announce that either the Centre enact the uniform civil code or Gujarat will explore the possibility of enacting such a law on its own, sources said.” Though BJP president L.K. Advani has categorically told the party dissidents that Mr Modi could not be changed as the state was being administered efficiently by him, the Chief Minister knows that the dissidence was only lying low and could raise its head any time, sources added. Mr Advani has also conveyed to the dissident leaders that he will meet them in Gandhinagar and they should neither come to Delhi nor air their grievances in the media.
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Bail out Punjab industry: SAD
New Delhi, March 14 The grant of special incentives to Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir has affected the industrial growth in Punjab, said SAD member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in the Lok Sabha today. Raising the issue under Rule 377 (Special Mention) in the Lower House, he said the incentives to these states is inducing the units in Punjab to shift to neighbouring states. “The industry in Punjab is already reeling under pressure of global competition and disincentives for Punjab would further lead to much wider ramification like large-scale unemployment and rendering existing industry totally uncompetitive,” he said. Mr Dhindsa said there were already about 30 lakh unemployed youth in the state and the population of Punjab was growing at 2 per cent every year. |
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IAF women cadets’ charges being probed New Delhi, March 14 “Allegations have been made and we are looking into the matter,” a senior IAF official said here. The three cadets, Preeti Behl, Sarabjit Jas and Anshu Singh, were from the accounts branch in the faculty of ground duties. They had been suspended and asked to pack up from the Academy in Dindigul. They were scheduled to be commissioned later this month. Sources in the IAF, however, said the cadets failed to pass three tests and had been suspended for poor academic record. They had not complained of sexual
harassment before a Training
Review Board headed by the Deputy Commandant and three Independent officers. This was the first time that sexual harassment charges had come to the fore ever since the Indian Air Force had started recruiting women and had taken the first batch of pilots ten years ago. The cadets did send three complaints to Delhi but there was no mention of the sexual favour charge in any of their representations, said the Wing Commander.
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VIP security to be handed over to CISF
New Delhi, March 14 Very soon, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) - which is already taking care of all airports across India - will start providing security to 374 VIPs in the high-risk category. Personnel from the National Security Guard (NSG), Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the state police who had been drafted for VIP security will now concentrate on the tasks their agencies were created for. “We want to create a single force for VIP security, just like the Special Protection Group (SPG) that protects the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their immediate kin,” said a Home Ministry official. The capital itself poses a special problem with many VIPs provided security cover by various agencies including Delhi Police and ITBP and NSG commandos, all of them hard-pressed for manpower.
— IANS
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File report on Dubey case charge-sheet, SC tells CBI
New Delhi, March 14 A Bench comprising Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice C.K. Thakker sought the report during a resumed hearing on a PIL filed by Parivartan, after the NGO alleged that there were discrepancies in the charge-sheet filed by the CBI, which had investigated the case relating to the murder on November 27, 2003. The Bench also asked the NHAI to file a progress report on the work done on the
particular stretch of the highway with regard to which Dubey had alleged corruption.
— UNI |
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Razi meets Patil
New Delhi, March 14 During his 30-minute meeting, he is understood to have apprised the Home Minister about the political developments in the state. Mr Razi, who was in the centre of a controversy over government formation in the state recently, denied there was any talk about his resignation. “Neither from my side nor from the other side there was any talk about my resignation,” Mr Razi told a television channel after the meeting.
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Bihar MLA moves SC
for release
of salary
New Delhi, March 14 Newly elected MLA Rameshwar Prasad filed a petition in the apex court, challenging constitutional validity of Bihar Legislature (Members) Salaries, Allowances and Pension Act, 1960, prohibiting payment of salary to the MLAs till they take oath. The newly elected MLAs in the state could not take oath as the President’s rule was imposed in the state before convening of the Assembly session. |
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Dr Swaminath award for Nobel laureate
New Delhi, March 14 The award instituted by the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences is given to those who have made outstanding contribution to
agriculture resulting in significant increase in productivity and agricultural growth in the developing world. The award is being given to Dr Borlaug, who is considered to be the father of Green Revolution. |
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LoC bus: divided families to get priority, says Mufti
New Delhi, March 14 “It is advisable that the divided families, that have not met one another for the past 57 years, be given priority,” he told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said even the Prime Minister, who would flag off the bus from Srinagar on April 7, wanted that the divided families should be given priority.
— PTI
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Naxals for male sterilisation Photo exhibition in Jaipur |
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