New Delhi, March 20
Expressing apprehension that the functioning of the Supreme Court “will become impossible” due to the mounting number of frivolous special leave petitions (SLPs) being filed under Article 136 of the Constitution, an apex court Bench has suggested that a Constitution Bench of the court should interpret this provision.

Article 136(1) has vested in the apex court the power to entertain SLPs challenging judgments, decrees, sentences or orders passed by any court or tribunal in the country. Pointing out that the Article did not specify in what type of cases the SC should exercise this discretion, a Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and RM Lodha said the matter should be placed before Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan for setting up a Constitution Bench for laying down “some broad guidelines”.

The Bench passed the order yesterday on an SLP relating to a dispute over the genuineness of a will executed by an individual in Kerala. “We are prima facie of the opinion that such SLPs should not be entertained by this court,” the Bench said.

Observing that even trial court orders allowing amendment applications or condoning delays were challenged in the SC by invoking this provision. “Consequently, the arrears in this court are mounting and mounting and this court has been converted practically into an ordinary appellate court which, in our opinion, was never the intention of Article 136 of the Constitution. In our opinion, now the time has come when it should be decided by a Constitution Bench of this court as to in what kind of cases SLPs should be entertained” under this provision, it said.

Expressing the view that the provision “was never meant to be an ordinary forum of appeal like Section 96 or 100” of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), the Bench said if the SC entertained all cases, it “will not be able to deal with important questions relating to the Constitution or the law or where grave injustice has been done, for which it was really meant under the Constitutional scheme”.

Chennai, March 20
Tamil Nadu government headed by the DMK, a key UPA ally, has opposed Centre’s plans for formation of National Commission for Higher Education and demanded the move should be dropped.

"We have been consistently urging the Union government to refrain from the tendency of enacting laws that take away the powers of state governments in respect of subjects in the Concurrent List such as teachers training and higher education. Different states in our country are at different stages of development with varied needs and special circumstances”, State Finance Minister K Anbazhagan said, while presenting the State budget.

He also urged the Union government to take "more vigorous steps" in arriving at a speedy political solution for the Sri Lankan Tamils' issue and enable them to live comfortably with equal rights. He also appealed to the Centre to take "necessary action" for the return of Tamils still staying in military camps.

On the contentious Mullaiperiyar dam row with Kerala, the government reiterated its opposition to the Constitution of an expert committee by the Supreme Court to study dam safety. Recalling the apex court judgment on February 27, 2006, allowing Tamil Nadu to raise the storage level to 142 feet, Anbazhagan said verdict was delivered after considering relevant aspects.

Chandigarh, March 20
A lieutenant colonel was used by Army as a decoy to trap a suspect, but he himself landed in a soup when the authorities initiated general court martial (GCM) proceedings against him for allegedly trying to bribe a clerk.

Now, a decade after the GCM dismissed him for professional impropriety, the Armed Forces Tribunal has quashed the trial and ordered that the officer, Lt Col P Ahluwalia, shall be deemed to be in service from the date of his dismissal till he attains the age of superannuation.

The tribunal, in its order passed this week, has also ruled that the officer shall be entitled for all back wages for the interregnum period as well as be eligible for pensionary benefits.

The GCM, convened by Headquarters Western Command, Chandimandir, had tried Lt Col Ahluwalia on two charges under Section 45 of the Army Act for officering illegal gratification to an Army clerk in 1999 for destroying the proceedings of a medical board that had placed him in low medical category.

“The officer, who was a complainant in the case, was framed when he was used as a decoy for arranging the trap against the clerk and the GCM resorted to surmises and conjectures,” the petitioner’s counsel, Maj SS Pandey (retd), told The Tribune.

The tribunal observed that the evidence on record was not completing the essential link of the circumstantial evidence and the witnesses examined by the prosecution did not lend any support to the prosecution case.

“The trial of the accused otherwise vitiated because of misjoinder of charges as he was prosecuted for offering bribe when he himself was instrumental for arranging the trap. The finding of the guilt recorded by GCM is not sustainable,” the tribunal ruled. 

Mumbai, March 20
Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has begun yet another assault on public sector banks in the state, so far stronghold of the Shiv Sena.

Earlier this week, the MNS demanded that banks operating in Maharashtra use Marathi in their day-to-day functioning so that locals did not have to face any inconvenience. “Public sector banks use either English or Hindi for work. Somebody who knows only Marathi is unable to get any bank work done,” says MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande.

MNS activists led by Deshpande had barged into the Dadar branch of State Bank of India earlier this week and presented a mock cheque demanding that all transactions be carried out in Marathi.

“Letters sent to customers should be in Marathi as well so that everyone is able to understand the message,” Deshpande said.

He further demanded that public sector banks celebrate 'Marathi Day' instead of 'Hindi day' when all work is carried out in the national language. The decision by the MNS to take on public sector banks is aimed to embarrass the Shiv Sena, which through its subsidiary, the Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti (SLS), has a stranglehold in public sector banks in Mumbai and Maharashtra. Since the 1960s, the SLS successfully forced PSU banks to employ Marathi-speaking people and thus, increased its hold in these institutions.

The MNS is thus seen as attempting to woo sections of the SLS in a bid to make inroads into the white-collared unions of PSU banks. 

Ahmedabad, March 20
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to skip appearance tomorrow before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing a post-Godhra riots case, sources in the state government said today.

SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before it tomorrow in connection with the complaint of Jakia Jaffery, wife of slain former MP Eshan Jaffery, in the Gulburg society riot case. The SIT has not received any communication from the Chief Minister till this evening. “There is no response from Modi as yet,” SIT chief R K Raghavan told PTI. The Supreme Court had on April 27 last year asked the SIT to inquire into Zakia’s complaint where she alleged Modi and 62 others, including his cabinet colleagues, police officials and senior bureaucrats aided and abetted the riots which left over 1,000 people dead.

The former MP was killed along with 69 others by a mob at Gulburg society in February 2002. Zakia approached the apex court after the Gujarat High Court refused on November 3, 2007, to give any direction.

The wife of the slain Congress leader had alleged that between February and May 2002 there was a “deliberate and intentional failure” of the state government to protect the life and property of innocents.

Zakia today said from Surat that when everybody is waiting for the questioning of Modi, he should appear before the probe panel. Congress general secretary and state in charge P Sudhakar Reddy said, “Modi, when elected back to power in 2007, had said that he was not a chief minister but a common man. He should depose before SIT when a summons is issued in his name and prove that he is a common man”.

SIT had to face legal hurdles while probing Zakia’s complaint when in July last year former BJP MLA Kalu Malivad (one of the 63 people named in the complaint) approached the Gujarat High Court seeking a stay on investigations by SIT with regard to Zakia Jaffery. The HC had dismissed the petition saying as SIT is directly working under the supervision of the SC no relief can be granted in this matter. Malivad then approached the apex court. — PTI

New Delhi, March 20
In 11 days, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act will come into force in the country, barring Jammu and Kashmir.

The border state is still figuring out whether to ask the Centre for extension of the Act to its territory or not. This, despite being home to students with the worst learning outcomes in the country. Just 27 per cent of Class V graders in J&K can read Class II text; only 16 per cent of all schoolchildren (six to 14 years) can recognise numbers 1 to 9; 28 per cent can do subtractions and only 20.6 per cent can do divisions.

That apart, because the state enjoys special status under Article 370 of the Constitution, it needs to make a special reference to the government if it wants a central Act applied to it.

It now turns out that the state has yet not made any reference to the Ministry of Human Resource Development to seek the extension of the Act to its territory.

The law, passed by Parliament in August last year and notified for implementation from April 1 this year, binds states to offer free and compulsory education to children aged six to 14 years in neighbourhood schools. States will get three years from April 1 to put their acts together.

While every state government has begun evolving the definition of neighbourhood schools to cover every child, J&K is reluctant to bind itself to the law that has huge financial implications. It wants greater central assistance to implement the Act.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told The Tribune that the current ratio of cost sharing for RTE Act between the Centre and states would be 55:45, except for north-eastern states, where 90:10 formula could apply.

Jammu & Kashmir, citing its backward status, wants itself equated to the North-East insofar as finances for the Act go. When contacted, School Education Minister for the state Peerzada Sayeed admitted to TNS: “We don’t have the money to run the RTE Act or to train teachers. We can implement the Act only with greater central assistance, with 90:10 cost sharing between the Centre and us.” Peerzada excused the state, saying it was already offering free and compulsory education to students up to class XII. “We have framed these rules only today,” he said.Meanwhile, Additional Secretary, School Education, J&K Arifullah cited the experience of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) under which the central-state cost sharing ratio declined from 80:20 in 2001 to 60:40. 

Jaipur, March 20
With the Reservation Act, facilitating 5 per cent quota to the Gujjar community, caught in a legal tangle and the state government inclined to go ahead with its recruitment drive on the basis of old quota system, the possibility of another Gujjar agitation is looming large in the desert state.

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla has set the alarm bells ringing for the state government by announcing that he would hold a mahapanchayat of the community at Pushkar in Ajmer district on March 26 over the issue. “The government is playing with our sentiments. We are being denied our genuine rights. It should freeze the recruitment process till the issue is resolved,” said the Gujjar leader.

According to sources, Bainsla and his supporters are mobilising the community members in Central and southern belts of the state.

Sources said Bainsla’s move has left the state government in a political fix as his choice of Pushkar for lodging the community’s protest would directly exert pressure on Congress MP from the community Sachin Pilot who emerged victorious from Ajmer with a huge margin in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

Another cause of concern for the government is the fact that unlike previous occasions Bainsla’s supporters are mobilising the community members in an extremely organised manner. The Gujjar leader has made a shrewd move by shifting base to Central Rajasthan as Rabi crop is yet to be harvested in the eastern districts of the state. “They want to ensure maximum support to their cause and that’s why they opted for Central Rajasthan for holding mahapanchayat as harvest cycle is almost complete in these areas,” said a police official.

On the other hand, the government has already started its “firefighting” exercise with Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal holding a meeting with the top officials to discuss the ground situation. 

Hyderabad, March 20
Andhra Pradesh, which accounts for over 20 per cent of Indian students going abroad for higher education, is set to be among the first to reap the benefit of the foreign universities bill.

Georgia Tech University, a leading American technology institute based in Atlanta, will set up its campus in Hyderabad to offer high-end engineering and research programmes. With the Union Cabinet clearing the policy to allow foreign education providers to set up their campuses in the country, the process received a boost and the state government is hopeful that the campus would start operations later this year.

“We are in talks with Georgia Tech authorities and the project is on track. They are in the process of firming up agreements with industrial partners for their Research and Development projects,” the Chairman of the AP State Council for Higher Education KC Reddy told The Tribune.

Though the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Georgia Tech for establishing the campus way back in June 2007, the project could not take off because of the absence of policy and regulatory framework. Besides, global recession had forced the US University to put its plans on hold though the government had already earmarked 20 acres of land for the purpose.

“To begin with, they will offer four engineering courses at research level and will expand to other streams later,” Reddy said.

“Our current plans for India focus on establishing a collaborative research programme with Indian industry and universities in the near-term through establishment of non-profit research centers in the areas of energy and information technology at Hyderabad. We are making significant progress on that track, and hope to initiate this activity later this year,” said Vijay Madisetti,Executive Director of Georgia Tech India Initiative, in an e-mail response.

Georgia Tech had also signed a MoU with IIT, Hyderabad, in November last year to initiate collaboration in research and teaching programmes, he said.

“In the next few months, based on a careful review of the legislative and fiscal landscape, we will explore various alternatives available to us for establishing a small but high-quality educational campus at Hyderabad that would grant post-graduate degrees (MS/PhD) that are equivalent in all aspects to our US offerings,” Madisetti said.

Once the project takes off, it will become the first foreign university to set up its full-fledged campus and offer foreign degrees in India. 

New Delhi, March 20
Caught on the wrong foot by a truant monsoon last kharif season, this time the Centre is not taking any chances and has asked the states to be prepared for worst case scenario. The good news though is that so far there are no indications of a repeat to the last year’s situation that had the country in a tizzy.

In all probability it will be a normal monsoon, Agriculture secretary PK Basu said yesterday after the National Agriculture Conference for kharif campaign. Basu said even though early indications pointed toward a normal monsoon season in 2010, states had been told to be prepared with detailed contingency plans for every type of rainfall situation ranging from normal to worst.

“Our planning is anticipating a situation that may arise if 2010 turns out to be an erratic monsoon year. We told the states to be prepared for a drought like situation, as this time we do not want to be caught unaware. We want to be fully prepared and rest assured we are fully prepared,” he added.

The Meteorological Department so far has not given any prediction and the first monsoon bulletin would be out only in April.

Guwahati, March 20
The ruling Congress’ bid to regain foothold in the Bodo tribe-inhabited areas of Assam before the 2011 Assembly election seems to have suffered a setback as its ally, the Bodo People’s Front (BPF), went back on its commitment to forge an alliance with it to fight the forthcoming elections to the 40-member Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

Former leader of the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) and incumbent chief of the BTC Hagrama Mohilary has made it clear that in view of opposition from party workers, the BPF has decided not to go for a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress in the BTC polls scheduled for April 9. The BPF had earlier agreed to leave out some seats to the Congress for contesting the BTC polls in response to the ruling party’s gesture of accommodating three BPF MLAs as cabinet ministers in Congress-led Assam government.

The BTC was formed as a result of the Bodo Accord signed between the now disbanded BLT and the Government of India on February 11, 2003. The BLT leaders floated Bodo People’s Front (BPF) and came to power in the BTC following the first election to the council in 2005. The Congress did not contest that round of BTC poll to facilitate former militants’ rehabilitation in the BTC.

However, the ruling party, which struck an alliance with the BPF after 2006 Assembly election in Assam, wanted to regain foothold in the Bodo tribe areas by contesting the forthcoming the BTC polls as an ally of the BPF. The support of 11 BPF MLAs is vital for survival of the Gogoi government in Assam as the ruling party has only 57 MLAs of its own in the 126-member Assam Assembly.

However, the BPF party workers who do not consider the Congress as an ally because of the latter’s opposition to the BPF’s demand for a separate Bodoland state, put their foot down and forced the BPF leadership to shed their plan to have alliance with Congress in BTC poll.