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PM leaves for Brazil, Cuba
PM nominated CPA vice-patron
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State govts can appoint professionals on contract
Jharkhand Speaker sees Congress conspiracy to impose
Uphold Mahatma’s
legacy, Sonia urges Cong men
NCM seeks reply on denial of promotion
ABVP activists storm Loreto Convent
Top ex-Reliance men booked for auto-routing of calls
18 lakh children given polio drops
Polio drops ‘forced’ on judge’s kin
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PM leaves for Brazil, Cuba
New Delhi, September 10 Dr Manmohan Singh, while talking to reporters at the airport before leaving, said mutual support and solidarity among 116 members of the NAM was of prime importance to deal with the menace of terrorism. He referred to the NAM as a “great movement” and said as a founding member, India would play its part in helping the NAM to revitalise itself so as to pursue the shared interests of its member states in a transformed world. On the Brazilian leg of his tour, the Prime Minister expressed hope that his trip to the Latin American country would consolidate an extremely positive trend in bilateral relations. With regard to the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa), he said the trilateral forum had already emerged as a shining example of South-South cooperation. The discussions of the first IBSA summit, to be attended by South African President Thambo Mbeki besides Dr Singh and Mr Lula da Silva, are expected to focus on issues of global concern, including energy security, international terrorism and challenges of sustainable and equitable development. The Prime Minister will reach Brasilia tomorrow after an overnight stay in Frankfurt. He is scheduled to have bilateral meetings with Brazilian President and other leaders on September 12, during which the two sides are expected to sign eight agreements. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma have already left for Brasilia. The first IBSA summit will be held on September 13 at the end of which the three-year-old grouping of the largest democracies in Asia, Africa and Latin America will sign five trilateral documents in the areas of agriculture, bio-fuels, information technology and trade. The 14th NAM Summit in scheduled to take place at Havana on September 15-16 and will be attended by 116 member states.
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PM nominated CPA vice-patron
New Delhi, September 10 India is slated to host the 53rd CPA conference in Delhi in September next year. Mr Chatterjee, who is leading an Indian parliamentary delegation to the 52nd CPA being held in Abuja, participated in the General Assembly and invited the delegates to attend the next conference in India. The General Assembly also elected Ms C.S. Sujatha, MP, to succeed Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rehman Khan as regional representative from the India region on the Executive Committee of the CPA. Addressing the General Assembly on behalf of the British delegation, Lord Swaraj Paul expressed deep sympathy to the Indian delegation over the loss of lives in bomb blasts in Malegaon and mine accident in Jharkhand. An official spokesman said as part of the preparations for the 53rd CPA, India has set up a stall at the conference venue in Abuja showcasing its rich cultural heritage and vibrant democratic institutions.
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State govts can appoint professionals on contract New Delhi, September 10 A Bench of Mr Justice A R Lakshmanan and Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee said if a state had laid down specific rules for making such appointments, required to handle the highly-skilled jobs, “The government has power to take its own decision for deciding on a suitable candidate for appointment as long as the eligibility criteria is satisfied.” The appointment in such cases was not the recruitment in a routine manner as part of the government’s recruitment policy “but a different species of appointment for rendering services. It is more in the nature of a contract for service.” In the case of such appointments, the Apex Court ruled that there was little scope for the courts to quash the service of the professional engaged to perform specialised jobs on the ground that the appointment was not made as per the normal procedures by following the normal service rules by issuing a warrant of appointment by the appointing authority, as in the case of a states the power is vested in the Governor. The ruling is seen as a trend setter and opening the corridors of government service to the high-tech professionals by engaging them on contract for a specialised service, which the state governments were hesitant to do in the face of legal challenge and fear of confrontation with the government employees’ associations. The issue came before the apex court in a case pertaining to the appointment of S Ramamurthy as Managing Director of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board in 1995, which was struck down by the state high court on the ground that it violated government’s recruitment policy. Prior to his appointment as Managing Director, Mr Ramamurthy was the Chief Engineer of the Board and the state government had amended the rules in 1985, making chief engineers of the body also eligible for appointment as MD, considering the fact that the work of laying of the water supply and drainage system in urban areas was a high-tech job requiring to engage a person who has sufficient knowledge and expertise to handle it. Setting aside the high court order quashing the appointment of Ramamurthy, the apex court said that the functions of the board were essentially technical in nature as was evident from the provisions of the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board Act itself. The high court had erred in probing the mind of the government and acted contrary to its own finding on the role of appointing authority in such proceedings on the misconception that Ramamurthy had been re-appointed to the said office, whereas it was a fresh appointment and fell more in the category of a contract.
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Jharkhand Speaker sees Congress conspiracy to impose Centre rule
Ranchi, September 10 The Congress and its other UPA partners, including the JMM and RJD, today gheraoed the official residence of Mr Namdhari in protest against the disqualification notices served on three MLAs by him for alleged violation of 10th schedule of the Constitution The three MLAs already had filed writ petition before the Supreme Court on Friday challenging the disqualification notices served on them urging the apex court to restrain the Speaker from proceeding to truncate the Assembly strength to help Chief Minister Arjun Munda during trial of strength on September 14. Over hundreds UPA activists marched towards the Speaker’s residence at Kanke Road when they were stopped by the police a little away from the entrance to the bungalow. The Speaker later alleged to the media that the Congress was using the RJD and JMM from behind to facilitate constitutional crisis in the state conducive to imposing President’s rule. The Speaker had served the disqualification notices on three MLAs soon after four ministers, all Independent MLAs, had withdrawn support from the Arjun Munda led NDA government on last Tuesday following which it was reduced to a minority. The four MLAs who had withdrawn support were Madhu Koda, Enos Ekka, Kamalesh Singh and Harinarayan Rai. On his part, Mr Namdhari, following petitions submitted by five BJP MLAs, had served disqualification notices against two of the four MLAs after they had withdrawn support from the NDA.They were Enos Ekka and Kamalesh Singh. Besides, the Speaker also had served the same disqualification notice to the Independent MLA Stephen Marandi. Despite winning 2005 Assembly polls as an Independent candidate, Mr Marandi subsequently had formed Jharkhand Vikash Morcha with the dissident BJP leader Babulal Marandi in June last. The state RJD president Gautam Sagar Rana and his counterpart in the Congress P.K. Balmachu charged the Speaker with working as “NDA agent” by doing injustice to the chair to save the Arjun Munda government. The Congress and the RJD also accused Mr Namdhari of adopting “with-hunting tactic” by digging up cases of alleged violation of constitutional norms against the three MLAs only in the wake of the recent resignation by four Ministers, even though the NDA was sleeping on the same issue for the past 18 months.
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Uphold Mahatma’s
legacy, Sonia urges Cong men
New Delhi, September 10 Speaking at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to commemorate centenary of birth of ‘Satyagraha’, Mrs Gandhi laid stress on Congressmen living up to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, who first launched the ‘Satyagraha’ in South Africa on September 11, 1906. The CWC passed a resolution “renewing the Congress commitment to uphold precious Gandhian legacy in every way.” The party decided to constitute a committee in a week that will chalk out programmes to observe the centenary of launch of Satyagraha. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and 27 members, including some permanent invitees, attended the CWC meeting. The meeting was held a day ahead of commemorative date of September 11 keeping in view schedule of Prime Minister’s visit abroad. Describing Mahatma Gandhi as one of the greatest men of all times, the resolution said ‘Satyagraha’ movement shook the world to its roots. Recalling that the movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi when he was only 37, the resolution said he first used the word “passive resistance,” then considered use of word ‘Sadagraha’ and finally amended it to “Satyagraha.” Calling upon all Indians to be true to the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, the CWC said that Father of Nation was able to persuade hundreds of thousands of those who followed him to remain steadfastly loyal to the demands he placed on them. “Combining truth with ahimsa, Mahatma Gandhi, first in South Africa and a decade later in India, fashioned the instrument that would reveal to the world’s mightiest imperial power, the error of its ways. Before the mid-century was reached, the British Empire in India had become history,” it said. The resolution said the Satyagrahis did not fire a single shot and no suffering was inflicted on the oppressor. “Instead by the force of moral example and restraint in the face of vicious provocation, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers were able to effect a change of heart in their oppressors, fostering in them the realisation that it is they who were in the wrong and that truth would ultimately triumph. Soul force prevailed over brute force,” it said.
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NCM seeks reply on denial of promotion
New Delhi, September 10 A Deputy Director in the council, Dr Tasneem Ahmed, had complained to the NCM alleging that the council withheld the NOC and on “baseless grounds”. “I have been a victim of needless harassment; the council did not give me the NOC required to renew my passport despite a letter from the Union Human Resource Development Minister directing them to do so. I wanted to renew my passport because I wanted to perform the Haj. The council claims it has done so because they are investigating a charge of plagiarism against me,” Dr Ahmed said. He added, “The charge has been proved baseless, first by an inquiry committee appointed in 1995 which was headed by Prof Satish Chandra and later was given a clean chit by a court in 1997”. The council has submitted that it is investigating the charge of plagiarism levelled against Dr Ahmed for his work “Taarikh-I-Akbari”, which has been edited by him. “I have edited the English version of the book, which has a foreword by eminent historian Irfan Habib. The charge was levelled against me by Arun Shourie in his book ‘Eminent Historians, Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud’. There was an inquiry committee set up which gave me a clean chit. The file containing the report of that committee has been misplaced by the council and now they claim that an inquiry is being conducted all over again” he said. Dr Ahmed has also filed an application under the RTI Act to seek details of the complaint against him. “I have filed the application on May 3, 2006, following which the council refused to give the details citing incorrect clauses. My lawyer has since brought it to their notice; now I am going to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner”. Member Secretary of the Council P.K. Shukla said an inquiry committee was looking into the matter. Declining to give more information, he said the committee probing the charge was an internal committee. The NCM has in the meantime asked the council to furnish the details of why Dr Ahmed has not been given the ACP. “If the inquiry is still pending then why have they denied him the benefits? We did not find the response of the council satisfactory and it appears to be a case of victimisation,” said an NCM official.
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ABVP activists storm Loreto Convent
Lucknow, September 10 District Magistrate Ramendra Tripathi has ordered a probe into the incident of the school holding an occult session after receiving complaints from parents. “I have directed officials of the Education Department to ascertain the facts and submit their report within three days. If needed, appropriate action will be taken after the report is submitted,” said the District Magistrate. The probe team will talk to students, teachers, the Principal, Sister Monica, and parents of students who attended the assembly. The protesters were reacting to a report published in a local daily describing the incident. According to the report, the school had organised a special assembly on September 6 in which around 250 girls of classes VIII to XII and a sizeable number of teachers had participated. Nobo Kumar, a member of the “Chandra cult” based in Krishnanagar of West Bengal, carried the demonstration in which he served as a medium to bring “Ishu” to heal and bless the audience. The experience left most of the students petrified and shocked. Some girls reportedly fainted after the assembly. Students claimed that Nobo Kumar went around grunting and growling while inducing Jesus to enter his body. Nobo Kumar held the right hand of children and rubbed a Cross on it when some of them stepped forward to seek the Lord’s blessing. The agitated ABVP activists forced their way into the school, broke open doors, smashed windowpanes and smashed potted plants. They burnt an effigy of the school Principal and shouted slogans against the authorities. The Association of Catholic Educational Institutions has decided to keep all its schools closed on Monday as a mark of protest against the attack, the association secretary, Father Paul Rodrigues, told mediapersons.
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Top ex-Reliance men booked for auto-routing of calls
New Delhi, September 10 The CBI named Manoj Modi, the then Director of Reliance Infocomm, Akhil Gupta, the then CEO, A Shankar, the then Head of the company's Corporate Affairs, Pankaj Panwar, the then Head Regulator of the company and other unnamed officials of Reliance and BSNL in its case, the CBI sources said. During the probe, the CBI would also ascertain the ramifications of the auto-routing of international calls vis-a-vis threat to the national security as pointed out by the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), while imposing a penalty of Rs 150 crore on Reliance Infocomm for allegedly breaching the licence conditions. According to the CBI, any call generated from foreign country used to land at three gateways in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai from where collected calls were "masked" with the help of the software and sent as local ones to the Public System Telephone Network (PSTN). The alleged re-routing of calls were done with a view to avoid payment of Access Deficit Charge (ADC), which private telecom operators were supposed to pay to BSNL to offset their unremunerative services in the rural areas.
— PTI
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18 lakh children given polio drops
New Delhi, September 10 Around 30,000 workers and employees of
the Health Department administered the polio drops to children in 7,500
booths in various parts of Delhi. The stalls were stationed at railway
stations, the ISBTs, public places, including Appu Ghar, major temples,
metro stations, Millennium Park, Zoo and outlets of McDonalds. State
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit launched the 64th round of the pulse polio
campaign in Delhi yesterday when she administered anti-polio drops to
children at a function at her residence. A door-to-door weeklong survey
would also be conducted under search and immunization phase of the
campaign. Around 17,000 workers in 8600 teams would visit different
colonies, including Slum and JJ Clusters, to search for leftover cases
and administer polio drops to those children. — UNI |
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Polio drops ‘forced’ on judge’s kin Muzaffarpur/Patna, September 10 Strongly condemning the incident, Kumar ordered Health Secretary Deepak Prasad and Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Vinay Kumar to inquire into the incident and punish the culprits. "After coming to know about the incident, I myself rang up Justice Alam and apologised for the unsavoury incident," Kumar told reporters. "Polio drops should be administered voluntarily by spreading awareness among people and shall not be forced upon on anybody," he said. An FIR has been registered against a volunteer S Sharma and further probe is on, Muzaffarpur DM said. — PTI |
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