New Delhi, September 3
The Election Commission today rejected the report sent by the Haryana Chief Secretary and the Chief Electoral Officer on the alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct in the Rohtak parliamentary constituency, where the by-elections are scheduled for September 28.

Stating that they were “not satisfied” with the report, the three-member poll panel today decided to send a two-member fact-finding team to Haryana. The team comprised the Commission’s Chief Legal Advisor K.J. Rao and the Deputy EC S. Majumdar, sources said.

The fact-finding team would submit its report on Sunday and the Commission was expected to take a decision of the alleged violation of Code the same day.

Haryana Pradesh BJP chief Ganesh Lal had submitted a memorandum to the Commission, highlighting the violation of the Model Code of Conduct by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda by making several announcements and giving political colour to the Gohana incident. Chief Election Commissioner B.B. Tandon had asked the state Chief Secretary to file a factual report on the alleged violation by Saturday morning. The CEC also asked the Chief Electoral Officer to file an independent report on the alleged violation.

Earlier, the Haryana government had approached the poll panel in view of the by-election for the Rohtak Parliamentary constituency scheduled for September 28 and the Model Code of Conduct being in force.

The Election Commission had allowed the state government to announce compensation package to victims of the Gohana caste violence with the condition that the compensation should be awarded only to the affected families and, secondly, such compensation should be given by officials and not by politicians, so that they could not take political mileage out of the incident.

New Delhi, September 3
Left parties today expressed their unhappiness with the staggered poll in Bihar and claimed that the dates clashed with the observance of Ramzan and Dasehra in October.

“Two of the dates (announced by the Election Commission) are in October when the Muslims will be observing Ramzan and Hindus will have Dasehra and Navratra religious functions,” the party Central Secretariat said in a statement, adding that they would approach the poll panel requesting changes in the poll dates.

Chief Election Commissioner B.B. Tandon said today that polling for the 243-member Bihar Assembly would be held on October 18, 26, November 13 and 19. Counting of votes will be taken up on November 22 and date before which election process shall be completed will be November 23.

Maintaining that it would be difficult for the people to participate in the election campaign and in the poll process in October, the CPI said elections should be held throughout the state on two days in November.

The CPM, in its initial reaction, said the poll schedule was unnecessarily too long.

Party Politburo member Brinda Karat said the Assembly poll, which were too long, were not necessary.

While the CPI has reached an electoral understanding with the CPI(M-L) and is in talks with the Lok Janshakti Party of Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, the Communist party has not closed its option of talking to other secular parties like the Samajwadi Party.

However, the CPM has rallied behind Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and has asked other secular forces to support the RJD, which is the largest secular force in Bihar, to defeat the BJP-led NDA in the state.

New Delhi, September 3
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over next month’s AICC plenary session as its dates are clashing with the Bihar Assembly poll schedule announced by the Election Commission today.

A postponement is a near-certainty though a final decision is yet to be taken by the Congress top brass, which is hoping the commission could be persuaded to review its decision as some political parties feel the present schedule is too drawn-out and comes in the midst of a festive season.

After much debate and discussion, the Congress had only recently decided to hold its plenary session in Hyderabad from October 20 to 22. This is two days after the first phase of polling in Bihar.

Similarly, doubts have also arisen over the conclave of Congress chief ministers, slated for the third week of September. Although this is a small affair and can still be held as scheduled, it might become difficult as the party will then be in election mode.

Like the CPI, the Congress also expressed its reservations over the month-long four-phase election to be held in the middle of the festive season but is still to decide whether it will formally approach the commission for a review of the dates.

AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni has informed Congress President Sonia Gandhi about today’s developments and its ramifications on the forthcoming plenary.

A final decision is to be taken after Mrs Gandhi returns from her two-day visit to Rae Bareli on September 6. Mrs Soni, who is supervising the organisation of the session, is, however, going ahead with her scheduled visit to Hyderabad next week to discuss the arrangements with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Endorsing the CPI’s views on the schedule, Mrs Soni said the Congress had taken a similar position last time as it believed that a month-long election was not just expensive for the candidates and political parties but also difficult to sustain. Besides, the state administration remains paralysed and all development work remains suspended for close to three months, she added.

This time, there is the additional factor of the various festivals. While Ramzan is being observed during October, a number of festivals, including Diwali, Id, Chhat and Gurpurab, are coming up in early November which will be in the midst of a hectic election campaign.

Mrs Soni said she was unaware of the commission’s compulsions in drawing up such a schedule, adding that the Home Ministry had assured the commission that it would provide the required security forces to ensure a free and fair poll. 

New Delhi, September 3
Minutes after the Election Commission announced the dates for Bihar Assembly elections, the NDA today demanded immediate recall of state Governor Buta Singh to ensure free and fair poll.

Addressing separate press conferences, BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley and Janata Dal (United) general secretary Shambhu Srivastava said going by the past conduct of the Governor, there was every possibility that Mr Singh was likely to intervene in the poll process and hence the President should recall him immediately.

Stating that the elections this time would be a direct fight between the NDA and the Lalu Prasad-led RJD, the Congress and the CPM alliance, Mr Jaitley expressed confidence that the NDA would be a clear choice of the people of Bihar.

Releasing copies of reports of the Governor’s recommendations, which had been submitted to the Supreme Court by the Centre, Mr Jaitley said these documents confirmed the apprehensions of the NDA that the Governor did not have an iota of evidence of any “horsetrading”.

The BJP general secretary said the whole incidence of the submission of the report by the Governor on May 21 in Delhi and the meeting of the Cabinet on the night of May 21 and May 22 where a decision was taken to dissolve legislature showed a nexus between the Governor and the Central Government to prevent the NDA from forming the government.

Mr Jaitley challenged the Governor to reveal the names of the “contacts” he had referred to in the BJP or the Janata Dal (United) who had reportedly told him that 16 or 17 elected MLAs had been won over.

If he failed to do so, this would amount to a new “Buta-gate” on the lines of another Watergate scandal, Mr Jaitley said.

However, he asserted that “the direct fight will ensure that the conspiracies of the Centre and the Governor will not work.”

Bangalore, September 3
The Magnetic Levitation Train system (MAG rail) rail project for Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula is expected to get approval in another three months, according to the Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator, Lt-Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd).

The UT Administrator, who was here on a visit to the Infosys headquarters, said during an interview with TNS that the regulatory body — RITES — was doing the final analysis of the project. He said according to indications, the project was likely to get the nod in another three months.

Lt-Gen Rodrigues said the MAG rail project would cover 40 km across Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. He said he did not see any difficulty in setting up of the project as it was proposed to allot it on the build, own and transfer (BOT) basis. The consortium of companies, that have bid for the MAG rail, would invest in the project which was likely to cost around Rs 80 crore per kilometre and would take around two years to be completed.

Besides the MAG rail which is likely to smoothen the flow of traffic in the city and the neighbouring areas, the administration has also decided to introduce electric trolleys for short distance hauls on the lateral roads. Lt-Gen Rodrigues said by this month-end, there would be a bus every five minutes on main roads. The administration was in the process of making this possible by buying another 102 buses.

The Administrator said these measures were being taken to ensure everything was in place before the establishment of major projects like the Technological Habitat which would eventually cover 375 acres and have housing, commercial and community facilities, besides offices and work places for IT companies.

He said talks were on for establishment of a new university which would have engineering, medical and arts streams. He said a film city, along with studios, multimedia facilities and animation training, was also in the offing.

Besides this, a fruit and vegetable park was also being created which would have cold centres and export facilities. He said an MoU was also in the process with a private company for the establishment of a state-of-the-art milk plant in Maloya village.

He said all cattle in the UT would be transferred to Maloya under plan. He said these measures, along with the creation of two more lakes, would revolutionalise education and working opportunities in the city.

To create the ideal atmosphere for those investing in the city, the Administration has also decided to ensure 24-hour uninterrupted power supply in the city within the next three years. Breakdowns, if any, would be tackled within six minutes according to the blue print for the power sector.

New Delhi, September 3
Pakistan has politely said “no” to the Indian suggestion of certain changes in the Composite Dialogue Process (CDP) and has favoured its continuation in the present format — a point of view which New Delhi has accepted without any rancour.

Moreover, the bonhomie between the two neighbours is going to get a fillip next month when two important agreements will be signed during External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh’s visit to Pakistan (October 3-5): (i) an agreement on pre-notification of flight test of ballistic missiles and (ii) a memorandum of understanding on establishing communication links between the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and the Indian Coast Guard.

Top government sources told The Tribune this evening that Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, during formal talks with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan on September 1 in Islamabad, had put on the table some suggestions for making the CDP more effective.

One specific suggestion Mr Saran mooted pertained to the Indo-Pak Joint Commission which has been lying moribund for over a decade and which the two countries’ top political leadership decided to revive when Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf visited India in April this year.

The commission has four sub-commissions, two of them relating to trade and economic cooperation and cultural and people-to-people contacts. Mr Saran suggested to the Pakistani side that these two sub-commissions be included in the joint commission for its better and more effective functioning.

However, Islamabad’s contention was that the current framework of the CDP was good enough and there was no need to tinker with it.

India accepted the Pakistani point of view and the suggestion was dumped then and there.

As the two Foreign Secretaries reviewed the progress of the second round of the composite dialogue comprising peace and security, including CBMs, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project, Sir Creek, terrorism and drug trafficking and economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields, the two sides agreed that the dialogue process was well on course.

It may be recalled that General Musharraf had recently gone on record saying that borders between the two countries should become irrelevant one day.

The Foreign Secretaries reviewed the work of their experts who discussed Nuclear and Conventional CBMs and have contributed to a better understanding of each other’s concerns. They welcomed the continuation of the ceasefire and commended the finalisation of the Agreement on Pre-Notification of Ballistic Missile Tests.

According to a joint statement released yesterday after the Foreign Secretaries’ talks, India and Pakistan took the following eight decisions:

(i) To hold a technical-level meeting “as soon as possible” on “the early operationalisation” of Poonch-Rawalkot Bus Service and a truck service for trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route.

(ii) To hold further discussions on meeting points across LoC for divided families to ensure their early implementation.

(iii) To hold technical meetings later this month to review the bilateral air services agreement and the shipping protocol.

(iv) Technical experts to finalise the modalities for operationlisation of the Lahore-Amritsar and Nankana Sahib-Amritsar bus services later this month.

(v) To revise the 1988 Cultural Exchange Programme Agreement.

(vi) To update the 1974 Visa Agreement.

(vii) To revise the 1982 protocol on consular access related to prisoners, fishermen and persons who had crossed the borders of either side inadvertently and improve, on humanitarian grounds, the existing mechanism for expeditious disposal of consular issues in this regard.

(viii) To hold a meeting of the to-be-revived Indo-Pak Joint Commission in Pakistan when External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh visits Islamabad on October 3-5.

New Delhi, September 3
The CBI today conducted raids at the residential premises of certain officials of the State Bank of India (SBI) who had allegedly replaced bundles of soiled currency notes, meant for destruction, with brown papers of the same size.

The raids were conducted at the residential premises of SBI officials in Dhanbad, Singhbhum, Balia in Bihar and Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, the CBI said here.

The officials had allegedly misappropriated Rs 1.25 crore by replacing currency notes with brown papers of the same size in the bundles of soiled currency notes of different denominations meant for destruction by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it said.

The searches followed after the CBI registered a case against the accused persons in this connection.

The Patna branch of the RBI had detected the irregularities and returned the bundles for segregating them properly.

Subsequent scrutiny of the notes under the supervision of senior SBI officials revealed the fraud. The amount of loss may go up as the process of segregation of lower denomination notes was still on.

During the search of the premises of the bank officials, which include two officials who were joint custodians of the currency chest, the CBI claimed to have recovered several incriminating documents.

Bhopal, September 3
The Chief Justice of India, Mr R.C. Lahoti, has suggested complete overhaul of the judicial system which continues, with minor changes, to be the same as was devised by the British. He said this at a workshop here today.

He said numerous commissions and committees had been set up in the past five decades on various issues but no commission or even a high-powered committee had been set up to review the judicial system and recommend changes suited to the Indian conditions.

His other concern had been the police administration that was closely allied to the judicial system for the dispensation of justice to the people. Several police reform commissions, headed by distinguished police administrators, had been set up but their reports had been dumped in the cold storage and the police administration continued almost the same as evolved by the British.

The Chief Justice said that the Preamble to the Constitution promised socio-economic upliftment of the people of the country. He felt shame in pointing out that it had not been achieved even 56 years after the promulgation of the Constitution. He said he did not blame any particular wing or section for this, as it was the responsibility of all.

The Constitution, he said, had defined the duties and responsibilities of the three wings, the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive. He likened the Legislature to the head of man, the Executive to the limbs and the Judiciary to the heart which kept all parts of the body healthy by constant supply of blood.

Justice Lahoti said the government was the litigant in over 50 per cent of the civil and 80 to 90 per cent of the criminal cases. He felt that most of these cases could be disposed of at the government level only if there was right initiative and this would considerably lessen the burden on the courts.