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Lalu has apprehensions on Special Bench, moves SC
Probe use of IAF aircraft by Justice
Phukan: MPs
Phukan admits having used IAF copter
Mukherjee briefs Natwar on Nepal
Move to induct LCA Tejas: Pranab
Railway official suspended for misbehaving with MPs
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India to launch Italian satellite next year
Sale of 3 Bt cotton hybrids stopped
Notices to hospitals on patient’s death
No norms flouted during shooting of ‘Kaal’: Forest Dept
Bar girls demand alternative livelihood
Karnataka to move SC in Chief Secy case Customs duty on phone instruments hiked
HUDA owes Rs 30.87 cr
to EPFO
Fencing suspended due to BDR firing
Govt refutes Tarlochan’s allegation over Amritsar airport
Rajya Sabha pays homage to Gen Aurora
Shivraj Singh comes out
of coma
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Lalu has apprehensions on Special Bench, moves SC
New Delhi, May 3 Questioning the consent given by his counsel Ram Jethmalani in favour of the setting up of a three-Judge Special Bench by the High Court, Lalu Prasad in his application said that his senior counsel and his advocate on record, B B Singh, could not object “to this course in view of the fact that certain facts were not know to them.” “If his wishes and apprehension in the matter have any relevance, he is prepared to communicate them in confidence for consideration in chambers and not in open court,” Lalu Prasad in his application said. The apex court in its order of April 26, while seeking details from the President of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) about the speedy disposal of Lalu and Rabri’s Income Tax cases in June last year, had directed the Patna High Court Acting Chief Justice to constitute a Special Bench comprising Mr Justice Altab Alam, Mr Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad and one more judge whose name would be decided later, to hear the petitions of the husband-wife due on the issue of sanction, for their prosecution in the DA case and dispose it within a month. The apex court has sought the report of ITAT President by May 10, when it would take up the matter for further hearing. When counsel for JD (U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh “Lallan” and BJP MP Sushil Modi, two petitioners in the Supreme Court against Lalu Prasad, had sought expeditious disposal of the applications of the husband and wife on sanction issue by the High Court before the apex court Bench of Mr Justice S N Variava, Mr Justice A R Lakshmanan and Mr Justice S H Kapadia on April 26, Jethmalani had supported it, saying that he agreed with petitioner’s counsel Mukul Rohtagi in this regard and had no “objection” to it. Lallan and Modi, who were the main complainant in Rs 950 crore fodder scam case in which Lalu faced six separate cases, had accused the Railway Minister of “interfering” in judicial process and getting his Income Tax case disposed of within 10 days between June 21 and July 2, 2004 by a special ITAT Bench at Patna after sending two of its members - P Mohanrajan and M K Sarkar - from Delhi for a fortnight, specially for disposing of their cases. |
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Probe use of IAF aircraft by Justice
Phukan: MPs
New Delhi, May 3 Raising the issue with the special permission of the Chair, Mr Chittabrata Majumdar (CPM) referred to an article in a weekly which stated that Justice Phukan, Presiding officer of the Commission of Inquiry into the Tehelka scandal, his wife and some lawyers of the commission were flown from Delhi to Pune, Shirdi, Ahmednagar and Mumbai on a specially chartered IAF plane. Alleging that the Defence Ministry guidelines were violated by the ministry, he said it was a serious matter and demanded a statement on the issue from the Defence Minister. Mr V Narayanasamy, Mr Janardhana Poojary and Mr Raju Parmar (all Cong), Mr Ram Deo Bhandari (RJD) and Mr Nilotpal Basu and Mr Dipankar Mukherjee (both CPM) supported Mr Majumdar’s demand. As agitated members demanded that the government immediately respond to their query, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri said he would ascertain full facts from the Defence Minister and come back to the House in the matter. |
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Phukan admits having used IAF copter
New Delhi, May 3 “I never asked for any helicopter or air service. I said ‘the Secretary will decide’,” he told Aaj Tak news channel. He went on to add
that the Secretary took the decision and he went by Air Force helicopter to Pune, then to Ahmednagar and later to Mumbai. The retired Supreme Court judge even aired his grouse over the facilities inside the helicopters noting that these did not even have toilets. A news magazine last week claimed that Justice Phukan undertook a “week-long junket” courtesy the Defence Ministry while investigating alleged corruption in defence deals, six weeks before he submitted his report to the government in which he was believed to have given a clean chit to Fernandes. ‘Outlook’ magazine claimed that it has details that the
Judge, his wife and some lawyers of the Tehelka Commission were provided a specially chartered VVIP aircraft of the Indian Air Force to travel to Shirdi, Pune, Ahmednagar and Mumbai from Delhi in December 2003.
— PTI |
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Mukherjee briefs Natwar on Nepal
New Delhi, May 3 After his preliminary meetings with MEA officials, he went to External Affairs Minister K .Natwar Singh's residence and briefed the minister about his assessment of the situation in Nepal. He is scheduled to meet Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran tomorrow morning. Mr Mukherjee is understood to have painted a grim picture of the political and law and order situation in Nepal and the dangerous fallout for India of increasing bloody battles between the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and Maoist insurgents. It is understood that Nepal's persistent demand for resumption of military supplies came under focus during Mr Mukherjee's meeting with Mr Natwar Singh. Mr Mukherjee is understood to have told the MEA that King Gyanendra was expected to take more steps which are in sync with the demand from the international community, including India. More political leaders are likely to be set free by the King. India has been pitching for freeing of all political detainees. The media censorship continues in Nepal, though the silver lining is that officers of the RNA are no longer sitting in the editorial offices of Nepalese media. The King is under pressure to lift curbs on media and he may do so in near future. Mr Mukherjee was summoned by the MEA after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mr Natwar Singh had separate meetings with King Gyanendra of Nepal in Jakarta last week. The Government of India has already frozen military supplies to Indications here are that New Delhi would not resume the military supplies till King Gyanendra initiates the political process and holds general elections. |
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Move to induct LCA Tejas: Pranab
New Delhi, May 3 The Defence Minister said intensive user trials of the LCA were underway and these tests were being undertaken to meet stringent quality requirements projected by the armed forces. He assured the committee members that the development of the indigenous fighter was on course and that the government would procure state-of-the-art weapons platforms and equipment from the global market “as per the security environment”. |
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Railway official suspended for misbehaving with MPs
New Delhi, May 3 "I have suspended an official and ordered an inquiry into the incident. I have also issued instructions that Railway officials should give due respect to MPs...Misbehaviour by them will not be tolerated," Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told the House after the issue was raised during the zero hour by RJD member D. P. Yadav. Mr Yadav said on April 29, a "drunk" official had misbehaved with MPs travelling by the Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express in the middle of the night in Kanpur and Allahabad stations and got damaging material including photographs of the members published in newspapers. In all, 18 MPs were travelling in the air-conditioned first class coaches. Mr Yadav did not name the official who had been suspended. Raghunath Jha and Alok Kumar Mehta, both from the RJD, were among others who had also a given notice of privilege against the official. Responding to queries from members, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the privilege issue was under his consideration. |
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India to launch Italian satellite next year
Hyderabad, May 3 The launch of “Agile”, an Italian scientific satellite developed for the European Space Agency (ESA), will demonstrate the country’s capabilities to put satellites into the orbit. “Agile” will be launched from SHAR before the middle of 2006, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Mr G. Madhavan Nair, said today. The satellite, designed to study the Gama rays phenomenon, will be launched from the newly developed second launch pad at Sriharikota Centre, Nair told a press conference at Tirupati after announcing the countdown for the May 5 launch of Cartosat-I, the country’s first remote sensing satellite for cartographic applications. The Italian mission is the latest in a series of launches ISRO has taken up after the Indian space programme commercialised its launch capabilities. The satellites of Germany, South Korea and Belgium have been launched from the Indian soil during the past three years. The Antrix Corporation, the commercial wing of ISRO, had earned a revenue of Rs 300 crore in the last financial year, mainly by selling imageries of its remote-sensing spacecraft, offering its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for other countries’ satellites, and selling spacecraft components to international organisations. Meanwhile, preparations were in full swing for Chandrayan-1, the country’s first scientific mission to the moon slated for 2007, Nair said. New Delhi: The President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will witness the launch of CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota on May 5. |
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Sale of 3 Bt cotton hybrids stopped
New Delhi, May 3 At the March 3 GEAC meeting, a presentation was made by NGOs before the committee, saying that there was no justification for renewal as Bt cotton had failed wherever it had been sown and farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in particular had suffered heavy losses. The GEAC today took a second look at the fate of Bt cotton in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and reviewed its performance in the backdrop of the issue becoming controversial after several NGOs represented against the renewal of permission for commercialisation in these states Ministry of Environment and Forests officials said that in the case of Andhra Pradesh the committee found claims of output not adequate and contrary to the claims made by the company after going through representations and decided not to renew permission for commercialisation of three Bt cotton hybrids — Mech-12, Mech-162 and Mech-184 — in the state. The committee, however, granted permission to the three varieties for renewal of commercialisation in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra and to Mech-162 and Mech-184 in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The genetically modified crop completed three years of commercial farming in these states and the issue was also taken up in the last GEAC meeting on April 13. The Maharastra Hybrid Seeds Co (MAHYCO) was allowed to sell the cotton hybrid after years of trials in 2002 in southern and Central states. However, as per NGOs like the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology, the three varieties of Bt cotton sown in all the five states performed very badly and failed miserably. Following this, the government asked a report from Andhra Pradesh and other stake holders concerned. According to the NGO, reports have not been good and in Warangal and Krishna Nagar, farmers have filed criminal cases and asked for compensation. Not only was Bt cotton found to be harmful for environment, plants and living organisms, it attracts 300 per cent more pest attacks and farmers have to use expensive pesticides thereby increasing the production cost several times, something which even the Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister stated in the state Assembly, the NGO claimed. Despite strong protests from environmentalists, in March the Centre allowed farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to sow six new varieties of the transgenic Bt cotton. Monsanto Mahyco has been countering these allegations saying that there has not been a single documented case of harm to any individual or his health in the past 10 years due to this technology. |
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Notices to hospitals on patient’s death
New Delhi, May 3 The NHRC has sought comments from the Union Health Secretary, the Delhi Chief Secretary and the Health Secretary and medical superintendents of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and the trauma centre on the death of Jaswant Singh last month after he was reportedly denied timely medical attention. "If true, it was a sad commentary on the state of emergency medical care for trauma victims," stated the commission According to the NHRC, it had made short-term and long-term recommendations to the health authorities on strengthening emergency medical care for trauma victims. "In this case, it seems that despite the recommendations made by the commission, no steps in furtherance of improvement of emergency medical care to the trauma victims have been taken by the authorities," the NHRC said. The victim met with an accident at Moti Nagar in West Delhi in the night of April 25 and was first taken to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital where a CT scan of his head revealed a blood clot. According to the reports, in the absence of a neurosurgeon at the hospital, he was referred to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where he was kept waiting on a stretcher outside the operation theatre the entire night. Though the victim was readied for operation, the reports say it never took place as the only operation theatre was occupied. |
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No norms flouted during shooting of ‘Kaal’: Forest Dept
Dehra Dun, May 3 Even as the department has yet to receive the notice, the forest officials called a news conference to state that no norms were flouted during the shooting of the film. The department had videographed the entire shooting which they would produce before the court if required, Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said. The animals shown in the film had nothing to do with the Corbett National Park, the forest officials added. Some of the points raised by the Supreme Court are: Permitting to shoot of a film in a national park is against the Wildlife Conservation Act 1972. The Chief Wildlife Warden of the state does not have the right to grant such permission. And the film has subjected various animals to cruelty and the Indian Wildlife Protection Board has objected to the use of animals in the film. There were not only provisions to allow shooting of a film in a national park but also the state government has set tariffs of Rs 20,000 per day in 2002, forest officials said. Mr Chandola said the Chief Wildlife Warden of a state had the right to allow the shooting of a film under Sections 28 and 35 of the Wildlife Conservation Act 1972. He said all norms were followed during the shooting and no reflectors or sound amplifiers were used. The crew shot in the buffer zone for 27 days and inside the park for two days against revenue of over Rs 6 lakh, the forest officials said. The crew was not allowed to employ security personnel from outside and the shoot was closely watched by the Forest Department, said the then Field Director of the park D.V.S. Khati. Mr Khati said before the release of the film, he had requested the Censor Board to arrange for a preview of the film for the forest officials to ensure that the film did not harm the reputation of the park in any manner or present the facts in a negative light. |
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Bar girls demand alternative livelihood
Mumbai, May 3 "The government should provide alternative employment if it is keen on banning dance bars", president of the Bar Girls Union Varsha Kale said during the demonstration at the Azad Maidan in South Mumbai.
— PTI |
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Karnataka
to move SC in Chief Secy case
Bangalore, May 3 A Cabinet meeting held here in the evening, soon after a Division Bench of the high court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the BMIC levelling corruption charges and seeking a CBI inquiry, also decided to provide all legal assistance to Mr Misra in the appeal.
— UNI
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Customs duty on phone instruments hiked
New Delhi, May 3 However, the basic customs duty on both these equipment remain zero. Cellular phones and radio trunking terminals are fully exempt from excise duty. Other telephone sets including fixed line telephones attract excise duty at the Cenvat rate of 16 per cent, Minister of State for Finance, S.S. Palanimanickam told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. — UNI
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HUDA owes Rs 30.87 cr
to EPFO
New Delhi, May 3 “Notice for depositing the amount has already been issued by the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Karnal, to the HUDA,” the Union Labour Minister, Mr K. Chandrashekhar Rao, informed the Lok Sabha. He said 4.09 crore workers were covered under the EPFO scheme and the outstanding amount as on March 31 was Rs 2,105.37 crore. |
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Fencing suspended due to BDR firing
New Delhi, May 3 Minister of State for Home S Regupathy in a written reply said Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) resorted to firing on 10 occasions during 2005 objecting to the erection of border fencing within 150 yards of the international border (IB). Mr Regupathy said fencing construction in areas falling within 150 yards of
the IB had been “temporarily suspended” though fence work was continuing in other areas. |
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Govt refutes Tarlochan’s allegation over Amritsar airport
New Delhi, May 3 They demanded that the Union Government should ensure that the Amritsar airport was soon converted into an international airport. Raising the issue during the Question Hour in the Upper House, Mr Tarlochan Singh said the work at the Amritsar airport had been stopped under the directions of the Civil Aviation Ministry as the proposed
international terminal building had a dome-like shape. He urged the Union Government to ensure speedy construction of the Amritsar airport's international terminus. Replying to their questions, Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel insisted that the work at the international terminus of the Amritsar airport had not been stopped. He said his ministry
had called for redesigning of the terminal building to ensure that it was more spacious and could meet future requirements. |
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Rajya Sabha pays homage to Gen Aurora
New Delhi, May 3 In an obituary reference, Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said in the death of Mr Jagjit Singh Aurora, the country had lost a renowned General and a veteran military strategist. Lt-Gen Aurora represented Punjab in the House from July, 1986, to July, 1992. |
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Shivraj Singh comes out
of coma
Mumbai, May 3 His father Maharaj Gaj Singh rushed the prince to Mumbai by a private jet on advice of neurosurgeons. Yuvraj Shivraj Singh is unlikely to return to polo since this was his second such accident. |
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