New Delhi, September 25
Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today challenged in the Supreme Court his expulsion from the state assembly for his alleged involvement in the Amritsar Improvement Trust land exemption scam.

An apex court Bench, comprising Justices C.K. Thakker and D.K. Jain, said the court would hear the Special Leave Petition (SLP) of Capt Amarinder tomorrow.

The Congress leader approached the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court refused to stay his expulsion for the remaining term of the Assembly.

The SLP was listed for mentioning today, but when the matter came up in the court, the Judges said it would be taken up tomorrow. Capt Amarinder’s counsel, Atul Nanda, said Justice Jain had recused himself from the case and the petition would be considered by another Bench tomorrow.

Two others indicted by the Assembly committee in the land exemption case -- former local bodies minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh and the then chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust Jugal Kishor Sharma -- have also knocked at the doors of the apex court.

Their writ petitions were also listed along with that of Capt Amarinder before the same Bench. These two will also now come up tomorrow.

Capt Amarinder had challenged his expulsion stating that the legislature had no power to punish a member for decisions taken in his executive capacity. The Assembly could come into the picture only in the case of breach of privilege by a member.

Further, the expulsion was a political vendetta by the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who had failed to have Capt Amarinder arrested in several corruption cases foisted against him, the SLP contended.

Earlier, a Division Bench of the high court expressed disinclination to stay the Vidhan Sabha resolution by which he had been expelled on September 10 for alleged corruption and irregularities in granting exemptions while transferring 32.1 acre of land to a private developer when he was the Chief Minister.

Handing down an interim order, the Bench comprising Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ajay Tewari, said staying his expulsion would “amount to grant of final relief without hearing the other side”.

The case will now come up for hearing in the high court on December 1.

The HC issued notice to the Punjab Assembly through its secretary to file a reply by October 31. Capt Amarinder will be allowed to submit a rejoinder by November 15. 

New Delhi, September 25
The government has agreed to restore 70 per cent “pensionary weightage” to jawans, even as defence chiefs today intensified efforts to get “anomalies” in the 6th Pay Commission notification removed.

“The government has given in principle approval to reverting to the 70 per cent pensionary weightage, as demanded by the services, overruling the 50 per cent recommended by the Central Pay Commission (CPC), providing much-needed relief just before this Diwali,” top defence ministry sources told PTI here.

Espousing their cause, the services chiefs today apprised Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar and officials in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the issues.

Earlier, jawans used to get 70 per cent of their last drawn pay as pension calculated on the basis of their 10-month average salary before retirement.

Under the CPC notification, the jawans, who form the backbone of the armed forces but retire at a relatively young age, are to be provided with the option of lateral entry into

the Central police forces and paramilitary and in return they will get reduced “pensionary weightage” of 50 per cent.

In order to resolve this issue, defence minister A.K. Antony had written a strong letter to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P. Chidambaram, particularly batting for the jawan’s pensionary benefits, reduced by the CPC. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 25
The cash-for-vote controversy today took a dramatic turn when a witness, summoned by the parliamentary panel probing the scam, ended up in police custody. Asmat Ali, a BSP worker, who was to depose before the V. Kishore Chandra Deo panel this afternoon, was picked up by the Delhi police from SP leader Amar Singh’s residence.

Singh charged Ali with blackmailing him and seeking Rs 5 crore bribe for deposing in his favour before the panel. “He landed up at my residence in the hope of money. This is a conspiracy of the BJP, the BSP and the Left to end my political career. I will soon present tapes to prove my point,” claimed the SP leader, adding he was very hurt at the attitude of home minister Shivraj Patil.

“Patil gave a dry response when I called him this morning for help in the matter of the BSP worker trying to blackmail me. He told me to report the matter to a local police station which I did,” said Singh, expressing his displeasure with the Congress. He said he would take up the issue of Patil’s behaviour at the SP-Congress coordination committee meeting shortly.

The SP leader, who had defended Patil when the latter was being criticised for changing his dress in the midst of Delhi bombings, said Patil refused to respond properly to his request. “We stood by the Congress at the time of the trust vote, but the Congress is not quite with us,” said Singh, indicating a rethink of the alliance.

He was, however, quick to point out that his experience with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul had been good. “But we are displeased at the way the Congress has been supporting people who are attacking us,” said Amar Singh, referring to Congress MP Rashid Alvi’s remarks against him. The displeasure actually has root in the not-so-happy discussions the SP has been having with the Congress over seat sharing in Uttar Pradesh.

Besides, the probe in the infamous case today ended, with Deo panel seeking the fifth and final extension to submit the report till October 20, three days after the Parliament session commences. Talking to The Tribune today, Deo said the depositions were over. “The panel has authorised me to prepare a draft report which we will discuss when we meet next on October 6,” he said.

Deo referred to Asmat Ali as the man his secretariat had identified as the driver of the Zen which took the alleged bribe money to Amar Singh’s house. “At the last meeting, some members thought it was important to call the driver as he might hold crucial information on the matter. I asked my secretariat to identify the driver and summon him for today. Asmat Ali did not however turn up,” Deo said.

New Delhi, September 25
Rejecting the Nanavati Commission’s report on the Godhra train burning, the Congress today described it as a “fraud” and questioned the commission’s decision to give Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi clean chit.

The party said it was “not at all surprised” by today’s findings as the clean chit to Modi was given by a commission that submitted its findings to the same government which had constituted it.

Science and technology minister Kapil Sibal, who spoke on behalf of the Congress, dared Justice G.T. Nanavati to appear as a witness and be cross-examined in connection with the Godhra carnage.“If Justice Nanavati is prepared to be a witness and says yes, I will consider resigning my job and cross-examine him,” Sibal said.

Hitting out at Justice Nanavati, Sibal said he should not have been named to head a commission probing sensitive issues like the Godhra train burning incident, adding, “I deeply disapprove that commissions of inquiry have started given clean-chit certificates to chief ministers. I cannot accept this clean chit… If Modi wants to get a clean chit he should first resign as Chief Minister and submit himself to the process of law.”

Sibal said a commission of inquiry could not hold anybody guilty or innocent as it was not an investigating agency. Its job was to probe the circumstances of the incident, the minister said, pointing out that Nanavati was not a police officer mandated to investigate a crime.

Speaking in the same vein, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said he was not at all surprised by the results. “It is a commission created virtually by principal accused Narendra Modi to investigate into the system of the state on which it presides. You cannot expect an impartial report from a commission that had to submit its report to the same government that constituted it,” he said. 

New Delhi, September 25
BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra is returning to Delhi politics. The 12-member national parliamentary board of the BJP meeting here on Friday is likely to clear his name as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

According to party sources, there are four candidates under consideration at the moment. These include Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan, leader of the BJP legislature party in Delhi Assembly Jagdish Mukhi, the former union minister of the state and BJP’s national general secretary Vijay Goel.

The parliamentary board will be “discussing a host of issues, including who should be projected as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate,” said a party leader.

Malhotra was the chief executive councillor, the equivalent of present-day Chief Minister in Delhi for five years from 1967 to 1972. In 1972, the Jana Sangh lost to the Congress. However, Malhotra continued to remain a member of the Metropolitan Council (the equivalent of Delhi Assembly) and leader of his party.

In 1977 after the Emergency, Malhotra contested and won the Lok Sabha elections and shifted to national politics. Madan Lal Khurana then replaced Malhotra as the face of Delhi. After 1980, Khurana continued to lead the party in Delhi Metropolitan Council, which was later transformed into Delhi Assembly.

Khurana became the first BJP Chief Minister of Delhi in 1993 elections. But soon after, in 1995 he had to resign in the wake of the Jain diary controversy. He was replaced by Sahib Singh Verma. But by the time the 1998 elections came, because of the internal tussle between Khurana and Verma, the BJP dumped both and projected Sushma Swaraj as its leader and appointed her the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, Khurana and Verma too moved to national politics. Verma died later in a road accident and Khurana fell out of favour with the party and even left the party.

In the interregnum, Harsh Vardhan was appointed Delhi BJP chief and Jagdish Mukhi, the party leader in the state assembly.

Moreover, Vijay Goel is the second-generation Delhi BJP leader. Therefore a section of the party is inclined to study his claim to lead the party to the next Assembly elections. There is also a perception that Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani does not favour Malhotra’s candidature.

New Delhi, September 25
The government-appointed Indian Institute of Management (IIM) review committee today submitted its final report to the human resource development ministry. Interestingly, the committee has held that it is not in favour of curtailing the powers of the IIMs or any reduction in their autonomy. The finding is in contrast to the view of the government that had appointed the panel in the first place with a purpose of regulating the IIMs. The government is wanting to frame a legislation for the regulation of the institutes. It is learnt to have recommended measures for the expansion of B-schools and ways of strengthening their administration for excellence by way of changes in their organisational and administrative structure.

The committee’s take on fee structure will be the most significant to watch out for considering most IIMs have hiked their fee phenomenally for this session. The steepest hike of 175 per cent had been announced by IIM (Ahmedabad) - a move that drew sharp criticism from one of the review committee members.

The committee is said to have made important observations on the per student cost on various courses being offered by the institutes and laid down guidelines for proportionate recovery of this cost from student fees, government grants and corpus fund.

These recommendations assume significance because the committee had in its interim report asked the Centre to tell all the IIMs to defer any increase in fee and keep it at the level of December 2007, till the committee’s final report is submitted.

Interestingly, committee chairperson R.C. Bhargava, CEO, Maruti Udyog, had later indicated that the committee was unlikely to suggest changes in the fee structure. “We are of the view that fees should be finalised by the IIM boards concerned. What use are the boards if we have to decide on fee structure?” he had said.

That apart, the committee did have reservations on the IIMs going ahead with fee hikes without waiting for its final report that has recommended changes in view of the demands of the growing economy. The committee is said to have made recommendations on how to attract funds from abroad apart from looking into the issue of shortage of teachers in the wake of the establishment of six more IIMs from this year.

The committee has also reviewed IIM expansion plans during the next decade, particularly the XIth Plan, with a view to optimal utilisation of the existing capacities. It has further dwelt on the position of corpus fund in each institute and suggested broad guidelines for better utilisation of this fund.

Chandigarh, September 25
The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) helicopter fleet will get a shot in the arm with a deal to acquire 80 medium lift helicopters (MLH) expected to be signed with Russia in the next three to four months. The added fleet strength will boost the IAF’s tactical operational capability in the mountainous border areas.

Dehra Dun, September 25
There is no proposal yet from Tata motors to shift its' Nano car factory from Singur in West Bengal to Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pandey today said after a meeting with Tata motors officials here today. Pandey, alongwith A.S. Puri, General Manager, Tata Motors addressed the mediapersons after their meeting held here today.

Pandey said that the discussions were held on the peding issues of the campany regarding its' already existing plant manufacturing ACE trucks at Pantnagar in Udham Singh Nagar district.

Tatas' have a 1000-acre plant at Pantnagar and wanted some more land for its' own housing colony. “The request of the company for more land has been looked into and the state government has identified 50 acres of land that would be transferred to them," Pandey said.

He said that other pending issues were concessions sought by the company in power charges, speedy disposal of building plans and no objection certificate for the gas storage facility of the Pantnagar plant.

Asked about any plan or proposal regarding shifting of Nano car plant to Uttarakhand, Pandey said that they also posed the same question to Tata officials. “They told us that no decision has been taken about shifting of Nano,” Pandey said. A.S. Puri, General Manager, Tata Motors endorsed that no decision has yet been taken by the company on Nano.

Roorkee, September 25
With traditional architecture and construction technologies gradually fading away amidst the advent of novel technologies, the Central Research Building Research Institute (CBRI) here has initiated a project to preserve the traditional knowledge of building materials, construction technologies and architecture.

In their bid to protect the traditional architect related data, the CBRI scientists have been collecting information from across the globe, classifying it into traditional, contemporary and modern patents.

“Based on the study of 1500 such patents, a format for the classification of data has been prepared. The information is being collected as stored in two different parts including the traditional knowledge resources classification (TKRC) and geographic classification and building materials (GC-BM),” says senior CBRI official, Dr. A.K.Agarwal.

"While information regarding the construction technologies and architectural characteristics are included in the TKRC section, the data pertaining to predominant building materials used in various parts of country is categorised in GC-BM section,” he adds.

"The project aims at collecting information related to traditional architecture and technologies from the identified sources for different parts of the country. The database collected would help in updating the knowledge in the field of traditional building materials and construction know-how apart from architectural features of housing in India," asserts Agarwal. 

Guwahati, September 25
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani will make a two-day visit to Assam and Meghalaya from September 28 as part of his countrywide ‘Vijay Sankalpa Samavesh’ notwithstanding an e-mailed threat from a jehadi group to ‘eliminate him during his public rally in Shillong’ scheduled for September 29 next.

Meghalaya State BJP unit general secretary, P M Passa, informed that Advani’s day-long visit to Shilling had remained unchanged despite the ‘threat from the so called jehadi group’. “We are ignoring it. Mr Advani will visit as scheduled,” he said. Advani has several programmes in Shillong besides addressing a public rally.

A persons identifying himself as Ali Hussain Badr, Indian Mujahedeen’s field commander of Northeast, sent an e-mail from ‘alihussainbadr@rediffmail.com’ to at least two Shillong-based local Dailies late last night threatening to use suicide bomber to ‘eliminate’ Advani if he visited Shillong on September 29 and address the public rally. The two-page e-mailed threat accused the BJP president of trying to portray Muslims and Christians as enemies of Hindus.

A party source informed that Meghalaya Police had started investigation into the threat issued against the BJP president Advani and traced the e-mail to a cybercafé in Shillong.

A spokesman of Assam State BJP unit, Dilip Saikia informed that there was no change in the programme as far as Advani’s visit to Assam was concerned. The BJP president will address a public rally in Guwahati on September 28 besides holding meeting with party workers and leaders. He will also talk to some leading citizens in the state besides meeting representatives of various youth and social organizations.

The BJP is part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in Meghalaya while the party was evincing interests to have an election alliance with the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam to form a formidable anti-Congress force before the next round general election.

A team of senior leaders of the BJP are already in Assam and Meghalaya to do the spadework before the visit of the party president.

BRIEFLY

NEW DELHI
New runway at IGI operational: After a month of its inauguration, the newly constructed third runway of the Indira Gandhi International Airport become commercially operational, with the landing of a British Airways plane on early Thursday morning. “The runway, all of 4,430 m long, became operational with the landing of a British Airways plane from Heathrow at 6.20 a.m,” a Delhi International Airport Limited spokesperson said. — PTI