Hyderabad, December 1
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, a former cricketer, had his team in place today with the induction of 39 members into the state Cabinet in an exercise that saw loyalists of rebel leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy being eased out.

As former Ranji cricketer padded up for a new innings as captain of the state, his team, a mix of old and new faces, bore a clear stamp of the Congress high command and reflected its intention to take on Jagan, who quit the party after failed attempts to claim political legacy of his father and former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy.

The notable inclusion in the Cabinet was Jagan’s uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy, who yesterday broke ranks with his nephew and pledged loyalty to the party, leading to a split in the YSR family. By inducting Vivekananda, the only member of the Legislative Council to be given Cabinet berth, the party has signaled its determination to checkmate the restive rebel leader who is all set to launch a new party.

Jagan’s vociferous loyalists-P Subhashchandra Bose and B Srinivas Reddy— who were part of the outgoing Cabinet of K Rosaiah, have been dropped along with three others. The new Chief Minister retained 28 ministers of the outgoing Cabinet and brought in 11 new faces, including some ardent critics of YSR family like Dr DL Ravindra Reddy and P Shankar Rao.

Governor ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at Raj Bhavan. Telangana region, which is witnessing a movement for separate state, was given a larger share in the Cabinet accounting for 16 members, followed by coastal Andhra (15) and Rayalaseema (8). Several senior leaders K Jana Reddy, DL Ravindra Reddy, K Venkata Krishna Reddy and P Shankar Rao made a comeback into the Cabinet while another senior G Venkata Reddy was dropped.

Of the state’s 23 districts, Adilabad in Telangana region was the only district, which saw no representation in the Cabinet. Prominent ministers who were retained include Dharmana Prasad Rao, Botsa Satyanarayana, N Raghuveera Reddy, P. Lakshmaiah, G Aruna Kumari, S. Vijayrama Raju and J Geetha Reddy. After a long gap, the state will have a Deputy Chief Minister from Telangana, a move aimed at addressing the statehood sentiments.

A Dalit leader from Medak district D Rajanarasimha is tipped favourite for the post. 

New Delhi, December 1
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has ruled out any prejudice in issuance of the show-cause notice to Lavasa Corporation Limited, developers of Lavasa Hill City coming up near Pune. Lavasa had on Monday charged the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests of acting under pressure from activists in issuing the “malafide” show-cause notice for its 25,000 hectare project and yesterday moved the Bombay High Court challenging the notice.

Ramesh maintained that the construction firm’s “personal attack” against him was “unfair and unfortunate”. Contending that he had “no personal position” on the issue, he said: “I am not the issue. Law is the issue. If they have followed rules, they have nothing to fear.” Ramesh also insisted that there was no witch-hunt and that his conscience was clear.

Last week, the ministry had sought an explanation from Lavasa’s developers as to why structures on the 25,000-acre complex in Pune should not be demolished for violation of the Environment Protection Act. The ministry also ordered to stop all construction on site till the Centre takes a decision.

Replying to the show-cause notice, Lavasa on Monday alleged that the ministry had acted under pressure from social activists with an “oblique motive of causing huge irreparable financial loss” to the company. It said the notice was "vitiated by malafides and arbitrariness and breach of principles of natural justice". It also alleged that the ministry suppressed material facts and chose to act at the instance and behest of Medha Patkar and others in “haste and a high-handed arbitrary manner”.

The Lavasa project has the potential to strain relations between the Congress and its UPA ally, the NCP. Upset, Agriculture Minister and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar is believed to have said that his ministry’s opinion should have been sought before the notice was issued. But in a subdued response to the media, he said there was nothing wrong with the MoEF seeking clarification on the hill city coming up in his home district. “They (the Ministry) have the authority to do so and people concerned with the project should comply with it,” agency reports quoted Pawar as saying, also hoping that a decision would be taken “on merit”.

The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra has been openly targeting Pawar for his alleged links with Lavasa, which the NCP has denied. 

Mumbai, December 1
The Maharashtra government is planning a major revamp of rehabilitation norms in order to push through land acquisition for the Jaitapur nuclear power project coming up near Ratnagiri.

The project received clearances from the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests last week and a formal agreement is expected

to be signed by French nuclear equipment supplier Areva and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCL) when French President Nicholas Sarkozy visits the country later this month.

However, land acquisition for the project has run into rough weather with only 75 of the 2,033 families, who own 938 hectares in four villages earmarked for the cluster of plants, agreeing to give up their land.

The Maharashtra government had decided on a compensation package of between Rs 58,000 and Rs 6,36,000 per hectare depending on the quality of land in addition to jobs for every member of a family whose land would be acquired for the project.

New Delhi, December 1
The ruling UPA coalition may be adamant in denying any move to adjourn the Parliament before its scheduled conclusion on December 13, but strong indications today surfaced on the possibility of winter session being adjourned sine die. Officially, the government maintained it wanted the session to run its scheduled life.

However, for the first time since the session commenced on November 9, the government made a major move to transact critical financial business today and passed the first piece of pending financial legislation -- the Supplementary Demands for Grants (General), which will enable it to withdraw from the Consolidated Fund of India the additional money required to be spent on schemes in the running financial year.

The Bill, being listed in the Lok Sabha business since Monday last, was finally passed by a voice vote without any discussion today even as Opposition members disrupted proceedings, raising the anti-government pitch over their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam. By the evening, the government had even referred this financial business for final passage to the Rajya Sabha, which is likely to ratify it tomorrow.

Also, the ruling Congress is learnt to have issued a whip to its members to be present in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and Thursday when it plans to pass the financial legislations. Lok Sabha business for tomorrow has on the schedule the Supplementary Demand for Grants (Railways), which it is likely to pass and refer to the Upper House for final clearance by Friday.

Once these Bills are done, the government would be free to adjourn the Parliament sine die though it has so far not made any official moves to that effect. Today, there was speculation that the government might want to run the session until December 13, which marks the anniversary of the Parliament attack considering last year hardly any MPs were left behind in the Capital to mark that day.

Also, politically, the government might want to let the rocky session linger to shift the blame of wrecking the Parliament on the Opposition, which has decided to live with its JPC demand, never mind the costs.

New Delhi, December 1
In a major castigation of the conduct of Sacred Heart High School, Sector 26 Chandigarh, which had expelled teenager Ruchika Girhotra following her molestation by Haryana’s top cop SPS Rathore, the CBSE today held the-then principal (who also happens to be the incumbent principal) and staff guilty of violating rules.

The CBSE directed the school management to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the principal —Sister Sebastina — and the staff which were serving when Ruchika was shunted out of the school on flimsy grounds way back on September 20, 1990, barely two weeks after an inquiry indicted Rathore. Ruchika had been studying in that school since class I.

Top CBSE sources today told The Tribune that the school’s reason for Ruchika’s expulsion was baseless.

The school has maintained that the child was expelled for non-payment of fee. But the CBSE, in its order which holds the school principal guilty, says, “Non payment of fee was never intimated to parents of the child. Under the CBSE affiliation byelaws, schools must report abnormal behaviour, events or activities to the parents in the interest of the child. Non payment of fee, even if accepted as a ground for expulsion, was not normal on the part of the child. But the school principal never cared to intimate the same to her parents and violated CBSE affiliation byelaws under which she must be charged now.”

These affiliation byelaws are akin to the service rules that govern the conduct of government officials. Though the CBSE can’t suggest the nature of action to be taken against the principal of a private school, its affiliation bylaws bind the schools that seek its umbrella and provide for suspension, even termination of service of heads in extreme cases of violation. The action to be taken is for the school management to decide, CBSE officials said.

The CBSE had initiated its inquiry into the Ruchika Girhotra expulsion after a magisterial probe in Chandigarh found the school management guilty in the case. It found there were 135 similar cases of non-payment of fees at Sacred Heart at that time but Ruchika was singled out for expulsion. Of the 17 cases of late fees in 1990, at least eight students paid their fees later than Ruchika did but no action was taken against them. Ironically, defaulters included Rathore’s daughter Priyanjali.

The CBSE during its inquiry was looking at the issue of its affiliated school breaking the rules. “We gave the principal and the school manager ample chance to reply. They even appeared in person. But their replies were just not satisfactory,” CBSE sources told The Tribune.

Hyderabad, December 1
Andhra Pradesh High Court has put brakes on an ambitious project to gold plate the sanctum sanctorum of the popular Tirumala shrine, on the lines of Golden temple of Amritsar, and said it would amount to interfering with religious faith.

Holding the project as illegal and unconstitutional, the court said fixing gold-plated sheets on the walls of the sanctum sanctorum would damage the inscriptions which are of heritage value.

“This idea of gold plating is nothing but meddling with ancient inscriptions on the walls of sanctum sanctorum and this will amount to interdicting the religious aspects of the institution, which cannot form part of a secular activity and is in violation of Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution,” the division bench, comprising acting Chief Justice B Prakash Rao and Justice R Kantha Rao, said. The court was dealing with a batch of writ petitions challenging the desirability of the multi-crore project taken up by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the autonomous body managing the affairs of the country’s richest temple.

It found fault with the TTD for taking up the project in a whimsical manner, unmindful of the religious sentiments involved.

The court has agreed with the report submitted by a team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) who had 
said gold plating would severely damage the inscriptions on the temple walls and stone fabrics.

Concurring with the ASI views, the judges said gold plating would mar the authenticity of the temple while the inscriptions would not be visible to devotees and research scholars.

“There would be physical damage to the stones due to use of a large number of nails by drilling holes for fixing the gold-plated sheets. Accumulation of dust and dirt, seepage of rainwater through wooden base would encourage the growth of moss and micro-vegetation, which would lead to formation of acids and deteriorate not only the priceless inscriptions but also stone fabrics of the temple,” the court said quoting the ASI report.

It directed the TTD to stop the project as it did not have the sanction of the Agama pundits.

However, the TTD authorities had claimed that the gold-plating works would not obliterate the inscriptions on walls inside and outside the temple as they were already digitised with the help of archaeological experts.

New Delhi, December 1
The deadlock in Parliament had its sunshine moments today when actor Aamir Khan came to visit Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar. For a lady who has been urging the MPs for the past fortnight to let the House run, Aamir’s compliment came as a soother. He said, “I have seen you conduct the House with great dignity”.

The Speaker was quick to return the praises heaping them on Aamir whose films like “3 Idiots” and “Peepli Live”, have caught the public imagination like never before. “We love your films too,” said Meira, describing the star visitor as a “hero in the real sense”.

But all that praise could not make a disciplined Aamir Khan break his diet regimen. So when the Speaker asked him to savour some delicacies from the Parliament canteen, the actor excused himself. When he was urged to have atleast a “rasagulla”, Aamir replied, “I am sorry but I am on a diet for the film I am shooting.”

The actor was, in fact, even dressed for a shoot and looked like he had landed straight from the sets. This was Aamir Khan’s first visit to the Parliament, where he is associated with a group of young MPs who are working to fight child malnutrition. Among these MPs are Punjab’s Harsimrat Badal, DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanhi Mozhi, Minister of State Sachin Pilot, BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain and Congress’ Priya Dutt.

Chennai, December 1
Tamil Nadu Congress leaders who were vociferous in their criticism of the DMK and demand for a separate front, has fallen silent after the Bihar Assembly elections, despite the aggressive posture of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who had warned that the Congress would end up as the loser, if it snapped ties with the regional outfit.

The DMK leader's first warning came, just a few hours after the Bihar election results. He openly asked the Congress to convey their opinion on the alliance with the DMK and threatened that he was ready to consider walking out of the UPA, if the Congress leaders felt that the alliance was harmful.

The second warning came during his visit to the northern district of Vellore on Sunday, in which he openly accused that a section of "mischievous Congress leaders" were trying to break the alliance. He also asserted that they would end up as the losers, if they snapped ties with the DMK. He warned that "communal forces (the BJP) will be strengthened, if the Congress cuts its relationship with the DMK, which is fighting against communalism. He also said it was the responsibility of the Congress high command to check the anti-DMK voices in their party.

Youth Congress leader M Yuvaraja, who trained his guns on the DMK leadership, during his 53-day padayatra, which ended on November 24, has fallen silent, after Karunanidhi's warning.