Bangalore, October 12
The threat of imposition of President’s Rule in Karnataka seems to be blowing over with Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa today accepting the Governor’s offer to hold a fresh trust vote in the Assembly on Thursday to prove his majority in the House.

The CM’s Principal Secretary, ISN Prasad, today wrote a letter to the Secretary to the Governor saying Yeddyurappa had agreed to the idea of facing a fresh trust vote in the House on October 14.

While Governor HR Bhardwaj’s offer -- announced by him at a press conference here today -- amounted to admission that he went overboard yesterday while recommending the imposition of President’s Rule in the state, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa grabbed it with both hands after it became clear that the 16 disqualified MLAs have failed to get any relief from the Karnataka High Court.

The High Court, where the 16 MLAs had challenged their disqualification by the Assembly Speaker on the eve of the crucial trust vote yesterday, today reserved the judgment with regard to the petitions filed by 11 rebel BJP MLAs.

The petitions filed by the five disqualified Independent MLAs were adjourned by the division bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice N Kumar for further hearing on October 18.

Briefing journalists here, defence counsel Satyapal Jain (former Chandigarh MP) said the counsel representing the Independent MLAs had sought more time from the court owing to some contradictions in his brief.

According to Jain, the petitioners had said they never joined the BJP while claimed at a later stage that they had never left the BJP! In view of this contradiction, the counsel had sought time to rewrite the petitions of the MLAs (who were associate members of BJP), Jain said.

With the 16 disqualified MLAs effectively barred from participation in the proceedings of the House on October 14, the ruling BJP, with a strength of 105, will sail through the trust motion having an edge of four members over the opposition.

While the Karnataka Assembly is 224-member strong, its effective strength has come down to 208 following the disqualification of 16 members. The Congress has 73 MLAs and the JD(S) 28.

Earlier today, the Governor asked Yeddyurappa to take the trust-vote afresh on October 14. “Monday’s voting was carried by voice vote and the proceedings were reduced to a farce,” Bhardwaj told reporters at a press conference at the Raj Bhavan here and added that a headcount of MLAs should have been carried out in the Assembly to determine the outcome of voting.

“In case you are willing (move the confidence motion again), I give you a fresh opportunity to do so by 11am on October 14,” the Governor said in a letter to the CM.

“A careful examination of the ad verbatim proceedings of the Assembly on Monday showed that you made no serious effort to prove your majority on the floor of the House. In the circumstances, it is incumbent upon you to demonstrate clearly and objectively in the Assembly that you have the majority of the House,” the letter said.

Lucknow, October 12
Sending a peace message, many Sufi leaders and Hindu mahants, along with the oldest surviving plaintiff in the Babri Masjid title suit Hashim Ansari, took a pledge on the banks of the Saryu in Ayodhya today to maintain communal harmony in the state.

Later, they took out a peace march from the Saryu ghat to the main road. This environment building exercise for dialogue comes a day after Ansari refused to talk to President of the Akhara Parishad Mahant Gyandas after the media arrived at the meeting venue in full force.

“I am not doing this for publicity. Such negotiations cannot be carried out in front of the media. We will talk some other day,” Ansari told the waiting media contingent yesterday.

The important executive meeting of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board to discuss the judgment and the boards’s reaction is scheduled in Lucknow on October 16.

This meeting is steering clear of Ansari, who is spearheading a process for out of court settlement by engaging in a dialogue with other plaintiffs in the dispute.

The other plaintiff from Faizabad Haji Mahmood, who is against out of court settlement, is likely to attend the meeting.

Initial reports had suggested that Ansari had been extended an invitation by AIMPLB’s Babri Masjid Committee convener Dr Qasim Rasool Ilyasi over the telephone.

However later retracting the invitation, Ilyasi maintained that he had no authority to invite Ansari. “Only the AIMPLB general secretary Maulana Syed Nizamuddin has the authority to do so,” he pointed out. 

New Delhi, October 12
There cannot be discrimination among employees holding the same posts and doing similar nature of work in terms of their pay scale unless one has higher qualifications, the Delhi High Court has said.

The court dismissed an appeal filed by the Centre against the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had held that there could not be discrimination among persons holding same posts vis-a-vis their pay scale while allowing a batch of petitions filed a group of Prasar Bharati employees.

“... where there is complete parity it will be highly discriminatory to treat employees differently merely on account of the two coming from two different sources,” a Division Bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Moolchand Garg said.

However, the court clarified that the pay scale could vary if an employee held higher qualification than others in the same cadre. “Of course, employees in the same cadre can certainly be placed in different pay scales but that would be if it is shown that one set of employees has higher technical or education qualifications or performs more onerous duties vis-a-vis the other or the like,” the Bench added.

Prasar Bharati was constituted in September 1997 under the Broadcasting Corporation of India Act. Alleging disparity in their pay scale, the employees had said they were casual employees with the I&B Ministry and were offered a pay scale of Rs 5,000-8,000 after they were regularised under the Prasar Bharti.

However, their other counterparts, who were erstwhile regular employees of the same ministry, were offered the pay scale of Rs 6,500-10,500 under the corporation.

The Tribunal had in 2007 rejected the arguments of the Centre and directed it to give equal pay scale to the Prasar Bharati employees holding the same posts and doing similar nature of job. The Centre had moved the High Court against the CAT order. — PTI

New Delhi, October 12
Jubilant over India winning a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna tonight indicated that the country would intensify its campaign for a permanent seat on the council.

Addressing a press conference here soon after it was announced that India had won a non-permanent Security Council seat for a two-year term from January 1, 2011, Krishna thanked the global community on New Delhi’s behalf for their support. He said India had secured 187 votes, the highest for any country contesting in the non-permanent category, representing 98 per cent of the total 191 votes.

“We were well ahead of the requisite 128 votes to become a non-permanent member?. This reflects the growing clout of India in the comity of nations.” The minister said the victory was indicative of India's major role on the world stage in areas like combating terrorism and climate change.

He said India's immediate priority as a Security Council member would be to establish “peace and stability” in the country's immediate and extended neighbourhood.

India will take a seat on the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member after a gap of nearly two decades, winning the Asian seat earlier today in the UN General Assembly poll.

With Kazakhstan withdrawing from the race in January, India became the sole candidate from the Asian region.

Jalandhar, October 12
To promote operational cooperation with foreign air forces, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will launch an India-UK Air Force exercise ‘Indradhanush’ at the Kalaikunda Air Force station in West Midnapur (West Bengal) from October 18.

This will be the first time that the Royal Air Force (RAF) will be seen in a joint operation in India. The exercise is aimed at enhancing mutual understanding between the two air forces and refining the procedures for such future exercises.

The IAF will be participating with its top-of-the-line aircraft like SU-30 MKI, Mirage 2000s, Mig 27s and Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS).

The RAF will be deploying its AWACS (E-3D) and Air-to-Air refuellers (VC-10). For the first time, the IAF AWACS aircraft will participate in the exercise. The IAF will also be exploring the logistics management required to move large forces during an-out-of-area contingency.