New Delhi, November 26
Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today said the number of undertrial prisoners would be brought down from the present three lakh to one lakh in six months as part of a series of steps to improve justice delivery system and prevent the “volcano” from erupting.

Speaking at the Law Day function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on the lawns of the court, Moily said the government was ready to walk hand-in-hand with the judiciary in addressing the problems in the dispensation of quick justice.

The minister said the present situation had arisen from the mounting number of pending cases, which had crossed the 30 million-mark, unabated crime against women, children and weaker sections.

He said statistics showed that only 30 per cent of the undertrials were convicted after the trial, but all of them were kept behind the bars for several years, until judgments were delivered in their respective cases. This was a clear violation of the fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed under the Constitution.

Moily said he had discussed the issue with Chief Justices of various high courts and representatives of legal bodies and planned to introduce a scheme on January 1, 2010, to bring down the number of undertrials to one-third, subject to approval from the judiciary and the Bar Council.

His ministry was also going ahead with the proposal to fix a three-year deadline for disposal of cases.

In his address, Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan said Parliament was welcome to change the collegium system for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts. Until a new system was put in place, the judiciary had no option but to abide the SC ruling on the appointment of judges.

The CJI was responding to an observation made by SC Bar Association president MN Krishnamani that nowhere else in the world could one come across a system under which judges themselves were appointing judges.

Earlier, responding to reporters’ queries on the Central Information Commission asking the SC to provide details about the appointment of some judges to the SC, the CJI said a decision would be taken in consultation with his fellow judges.

New Delhi, November 26
The Congress, which for the past two days had been busy explaining to the world how former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao could not be held culpable for demolition of Babri Masjid in any way, on Thursday admitted that the veteran leader, who was heading the Congress government in the Centre when the incident happened, was denied ticket in the 1998 Lok Sabha poll to keep the public anger under control.

With mediapersons doggedly seeking a reply to queries on whether the party agreed with the clean chit given to Rao by the Liberhan Commission, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said there was perceptible anger against the then government. (The then Congress President Sitaram) Kesri publicly apologised for it (failure to protect Babri Masjid).

Kesri had publicly declared before the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 that the party had denied ticket to Rao for his failure to protect the Babri Masjid. While replying to a specific query why the ticket was denied to Rao in 1998, Ahmed said: “It is my personal opinion that he was denied the ticket just to keep public anger in control.”

At the same time, Shakeel also made it clear that the commission had neither directly nor indirectly named Rao in the demolition. “Liberhan has not accused Rao or found him responsible directly or indirectly for the demolition and Congress has no reason to disagree with the commission’s findings,” he said.

Explaining the party’s position, he said there was a perception of “belated action” on part of the Central government headed by Rao at that time. At the same time, he also hastened to add that what Rao did during his tenure as the PM was was for the people to judge.

Quoting the recently-tabled report, party spokespersons for the past two days have been insisting that Babri matter was being monitored by the Supreme Court and there were constitutional implications for Centre’s intervention. Agreeing with the clean chit to Rao, they also said any action on part of the then Central government was not possible without the Governor's report. 

New Delhi, November 26
On a day when the nation did whatever little it could to pay tributes to the victims of Mumbai terror attacks, Lok Sabha Secretariat’s special blood donation drive, organised to mark the day, remained a bit of a nonstarter, with the “young MPs”, who were expected to participate, abstaining almost entirely. Many of them, however, found time to participate in elections to House committees; some were out in view of the Bakr-Id.At the end of the camp, held at Parliament Annexe between 10 am and 4 pm today, only 17 MPs had turned up to donate blood as against the combined strength of 780 MPs in both Houses.

Leaving aside the older MPs and those with ailments, who can’t donate blood due to medical reasons, camp organisers would have been naturally expecting the younger, healthier lot among the MPs, to turn up, and make the special drive a super success.

The expectations were also rooted in the fact that the number of young MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha shot up drastically, touching 15 per cent as against 6.3 per cent in the 14th Lok Sabha. But the organisers - the Red Cross - had no such luck today though they were gracious enough to term the camp a success and say that 47 donors came.

Of these 47, only 17 were MPs, the rest were staff and officers of the secretariat. The blood of only 10 MPs could be accepted as they fulfilled the medical requirements for the blood donation.

Among the younger MPs who donated blood today were Sandeep Dikshit and Ninong Ering of the Congress. Other MPs whose blood samples were collected included Mahabal Mishra, Vinay Pandey, Balram Naik, Devji Patel, Dr Vivekenanda, Nathuji Thakore Anantha Venkatraman and Kaushlendra Kumar (of the JDU).

New Delhi: The Congress today urged the Centre and the Maharashtra Government to expedite the process of compensation to victims of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. “We request the Centre and the state government that the issue be addressed immediately,” party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.

Ahmed described the attack on Mumbai as an attack on the nation. 

Jaipur, November 26
Continuing its winning streak, the ruling Congress today swept the local body polls in Rajasthan by wresting Jaipur, Kota and Bikaner municipal corporations from the BJP and retaining the post in Jodhpur.

This is the third successive victory for the Congress under Ashok Gehlot after last year’s Assembly elections and May 2009 Lok Sabha polls. These elections were historic in the sense that for the first time in the state, separate votes were caste for mayors/chairpersons and councillors. Out of these four municipal corporations, the Congress also managed to secure majority in Jodhpur, Kota and Bikaner. The only saving grace for the Opposition BJP perhaps was the fact that it got a clear majority in Jaipur, winning 47 out of 77 wards with the Congress finishing second with 25 wards. However, Jyoti Khandelwal of the Congress won the mayoral polls in the Pink City by defeating BJP’s Suman Sharma by a margin of 13,500 votes.

The Congress also demolished another BJP bastion of Kota by winning 42 out of 60 wards relegating the BJP to a joint second, along with independents, with 8 wards each. The ruling party’s Ratna Jain defeated BJP’s Aruna Agarwal in the mayoral polls here. Similarly, in Bikaner, Congress’ Bhawani Shankar Sharma defeated BJP’s Gopal Gehlot and the ruling party won 37 out of 60 wards. The BJP managed to win 21 wards. In Jodhpur, Congress candidate Rameshwar Dadeech defeated BJP’s Prasan Chand and the ruling party won 37 out of 65 wards while BJP got 22.

Out of total 46, the Congress managed to win the post of mayor/chairperson in 29 civic bodies, followed by the BJP with 10, Independents with 6 and BSP with one. The results have come as a shock to the BJP which had dominated the last municipal elections winning 31 of the total 46 civic bodies. 

Hyderabad, November 26
The Andhra Pradesh Government’s move to crack the whip against a mining company owned by Karnataka Tourism Minister G Janardhan Reddy has virtually put paid to political ambitions of young MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy whose business links with the mining baron have come under the scanner.It is an open secret that the mining tycoon from the neighbouring state has close links with the family of late chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy. After YSR’s death in a helicopter crash in September, he had openly campaigned for anointing YSR’s son as the Chief Minister. In fact, Jagan’s alleged business dealings with the Bellary brothers was one of the factors that worked against him in his bid to claim his father’s political legacy.

After a political crisis in Karnataka - precipitated by mining barons - Opposition parties in Andhra stepped up their offensive against Janardhan Reddy and sought to highlight the “patronage” he had enjoyed during YSR’s regime.Obulapuram Mining Corporation (OMC) - owned by Reddy - became the target of a virulent Opposition attack for illegal mining in Anantapur district on the Andhra-Karnataka border, encroachment into non-leased areas and violation of forest, mining and environment laws. It was also alleged that Jagan was the beneficiary of OMC’s “ill-gotten” wealth.

Following mounting Opposition pressure and indictment by the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), the government ordered immediate halt of mining by OMC and five others. 

New Delhi, November 26
Weird it might sound but a worker in India must fall from a building not less than 12 feet in height if he/she wants government’s compensation under the just-amended Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1923. The original Act was weirder with its ceiling of “over 20 feet height” for a building where the accident must occur for any employee to even think of applying for compensation.

As the old law came in for another amendment in the Lok Sabha today (the amendment bill was later passed), the only MP to raise the curious matter of a building’s height passing off as criteria for grant of workers’ compensation was BJP’s Arjun Meghwal from Bikaner.

A lawyer once, Meghwal had failed to secure compensation for a worker who fell from a 20-feet high building. “The original law required that the accident must occur at a height of over 20 feet. Since my client’s fell from a building that was just 20-ft high, he lost his case,” Meghwal told The Tribune, listing the gravest lacuna in a law that claims to further workers’ welfare.

As it is, most houses in India, especially rural and semi-urban, have heights ranging from seven to 12 ft. “Why should there be any connection between a building’s height and workers’ compensation?” Meghwal questioned during the debate that saw the Left and the Trinamool Congress demand greater compensation for workers in case of death and permanent disability.

Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge in his reply promised to decrease the building height ceiling from 20 to 12 ft but did not talk about deleting the clause altogether. The amended law for its part offers 50 per cent more (than the original law) as compensation to workers in case of death, permanent disability, and for funeral expenses (up from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000).

In case of workers’ death, the employee’s family will get Rs 1, 20,000 instead of Rs 80,000; permanent disability will fetch a worker Rs 1, 40,000 instead of Rs 90,000 as per the old law. Though the new law empowers the centre to enhance these minimum rates, the House today described the compensation enhancement as meager in recessionary times.

Even medical reimbursement - promised to increase by just Rs 500 (from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000) was called insufficient by most members, including CPM’s Basudeb Acharia and TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee.

The good thing the new law does is it now covers establishments with even 20 workers and applies to risky occupations like shipping. What it misses out though is penal provisions in case disposal of compensation cases does not happen in the stipulated three months period.

The amended Act simply advises that a commissioner must dispose of matters in three months - a clause that had the UPA and the Trinamool Congress arguing for a mandatory penal provision if the government wants to ensure that employers and insurance companies do not drag such cases for years to the level of the Supreme Court. Compensation claims must be settled at the commissioner’s level, the TMC said.

Hyderabad, November 26
After much dithering, the Congress high command has convened a meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature Party here tomorrow to formally elect K Rosaiah as the leader, bringing down the curtains on the leadership drama.

The CLP was to have met soon after the death of YS Rajasekhar Reddy in a chopper crash on September 2 to elect a new leader, but the central leadership had then asked the senior most leader - Rosaiah - to take over reins of the state.

Fearing trouble from loyalists of YSR’s son and CM-aspirant YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the ruling party had been reluctant to convene the customary meeting. This led to heartburn among Jagan’s supporters and exposed the leadership to criticism that it was not in a position to facilitate a meeting to condole the death of a serving Chief Minister.

Only after getting Jagan to agree to its plan to continue Rosaiah as Chief Minister for now, the high command has convened the CLP meeting where the election of the septuagenarian leader will only be a formality.

Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Veerappa Moily will attend the meeting as AICC observers.

Meanwhile, party president Sonia Gandhi has decided to field YSR’s widow YS Vijayalakshmi for the by-election to Pulivendula Assembly seat in Kadapa district on December 19. A communication to this effect has reached APCC president D Srinivas. Party sources said Vijayalakshmi was reluctant to enter politics but Sonia is understood to have asked Jagan to convince his mother to contest.

If YSR’s wife declines the offer, the party leadership may give the ticket to Jagan’s sister Sharmila or his cousin YS Bhaskar Reddy.

New Delhi, November 26
The Rajya Sabha saw a brief adjournment on the issue of backwardness in the Bundelkhand region, as Opposition parties that govern the area trooped into the well of the House objecting to the remarks of a Congress member.

As the question on what the Centre was doing for development of the four BIMARU states - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh - was being answered during Question Hour, the statement from Satyavrata Chaturvedi of the Congress escalated into a full-fledged row. The Opposition got agitated as Chaturvedi got up to say that the Bundelkhand region - which straddles Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh - was being ignored by both states.

“Aap logon ne Bundelkhand ka satyanas kar diya hai (you have ruined Bundelkhand),” he said, referring to the non-Congress governments of the two states. The use of the word “satyanas” led to a MP of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that rules Uttar Pradesh take umbrage and question the basis of Chaturvedi’s statement.

Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh was also on his feet, gesticulating and complaining that the Congress MP had used an unparliamentary word. SP was in power in Uttar Pradesh before the BSP.

Soon, there was pandemonium with Opposition MPs - including those of the Bharatiya Janata Party that rules Madhya Pradesh - trooping into the well of the House and gathering near chairperson Hamid Ansari’s podium. His repeated pleas to maintain decorum had no effect on the protesting MPs, forcing Ansari to adjourn the house for 10 minutes.

The issue briefly came up when the House reassembled at noon with Amar Singh demanding that the word be expunged but Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist saw little merit in this.

The Union Cabinet had last week approved a Rs 7,266 crore package for drought relief and agricultural development of the Bundelkhand region, which has suffered a sustained drought for the past four years.

Meanwhile, the government said that it was concerned about development of backward districts and of BIMARU states and has allocated Rs 4,670 crore for underdeveloped districts for the 11th Plan period.

Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs, V Narayanasamy, while replying to supplementaries, said that apart from giving Rs 4,670 crore for development of backward districts, the Centre was going through a task group’s report on development of such regions. Narayanasamy informed the House that there are 256 backward districts in the country.

Kolkata, November 26
The Union Home Ministry is sending an official team to West Bengal for studying the state’s law and order situations, which has deteriorated in the wake of Maoists activities and political clashes.

According to information, the team might be arriving in the city sometime in the first week of December, the exact date and timing would be communicated within the next two-three days.

The decision of sending the central team was followed by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P Chidambaram in the morning when she demanded immediate sending of the team for studying the law and order situation in the state.

Kolkata, November 26
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has slammed the BJP for being a “sleeping party” and expressed happiness that it was losing ground.

In an interview to 24 Ghanta - CPM’s TV channel - last night, the Politburo member said that the BJP was not protesting against price rise and UPA’s other anti-people policies. “Protests and agitations against price rise and other issues are being spearheaded by CPM and other Left parties. The BJP is nowhere in sight and I am happy that it is losing ground,” Bhattacharjee said.

The Chief Minister admitted the party’s popularity in the state had been eroded to some extent and it was reflected in the results of the last Lok Sabha poll and recent Assembly bypoll. “But it is not the mandate of the entire state; we still have one-and-a-half year left to serve the people. At this stage, we don’t need to resign and hold early Assembly elections,” Bhattacharjee argued.

In the 90-minute interview, the Chief Minister spoke at length about the performances of Left governments - in power for over three decades at a stretch. He also reiterated his resolve to handle Maoists problems and countering the Trinamool Congress, Congress and other political parties “active in bringing down his elected government by creating law and order problems”.

Bhattacharjee said despite overall good performances in several fields, CPM had lost the people’s confidence in certain areas and he now realised that some mistakes had antagonised the people. There were also lapses in the panchayats’ works and some drawbacks in handling problems of minorities, which the TMC cashed in on, he said. 

Chennai, November 26
Describing the leak of Liberhan Commission report, as “strategic and deliberately engineered”, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today alleged that Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was “fully and solely responsible for it” and demanded his resignation.

“The only beneficiary of the leak is the Union Government, which has moved from the mode of an apprehensive and embarrassed defender to that of a vocal aggressor”, she said.

The dust raised in Parliament by the Liberhan Report leak had sidelined crucial issues like the sugarcane price ordinance, the spectrum scam, the proposed coastal regulation law (The Marine Fisheries (Regulation and Management) Bill, 2009) that discriminates against fishermen, the Mullai Periyar dam and several other contentious issues, claimed the AIADMK leader.

“In today’s context, the findings of the commission are only of academic interest. Though the report talks about the problems arising out of the politicisation of religion, it does not offer any solutions,” she added.