New Delhi, December 9
Within minutes of Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal announcing a committee headed by a retired high court judge to probe the allegations of scam in allocation of 2G spectrum by his predecessor A Raja, Opposition BJP rejected the committee outright and insisted on only a JPC.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley reacted sharply and promptly to the government announcement, saying, “Some of the issues (involving the 2G scam) are wholly political which are not judicially determinable,” and accused the government to “Expect that Parliament abdicate its function.” He said, “We want a JPC because from giving a portfolio to a particular political party to only a particular person in that party to the loss to the exchequer, to allegations of corruption, all these need to be thoroughly probed.”

But even as the BJP reacted so quickly to the Government attempt to appease the Opposition, it was clearly embarrassed over noted industrialist Ratan Tata’s allegations that the distortions in the telecom policy started creeping from 2001 when the BJP-led NDA was heading the Government.

Three prominent BJP leaders, Jaitely, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and earlier S.S. Ahluwalia tried to deflect the issue by describing Tata’s allegations as mere business war between two corporate houses. In an open letter, Tata accused another corporate honcho Rajeev Chandrasekhar of benefitting from the previous government’s policies. Chandrasekhar had earlier written an open letter accusing Tata of defending this Government for being a beneficiary of the former minister’s telecom policies.

Mumbai, December 9
BJP president Nitin Gadkari today filed a criminal defamation complaint against Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari for accusing him of owning a "benami" flat in the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society here. Terming Tewari's statement as "false, reckless and malicious," Gadkari filed a complaint under Section 500 of IPC for defamation in a metropolitan magistrate court here, which directed the Congress leader to file his reply by January 24.

After the Adarsh scam came to light, Tewari, in a press conference on November 10, had alleged that Gadkari too owned a flat in the plush society in the name of his driver.

"Tewari, in order to harm my clean and impeccable reputation and party's image, intentionally indulged in defaming me," Gadkari has said in the complaint. "These are unfounded assertions of a beleaguered spokesperson of the ruling party discredited by corrupt practices," he stated.

In his reaction, Tewari said the BJP chief should "look within". "It is an irony that a person who calls Afzal Guru the son-in-law of Congress, the person who uses unparliamentary language for Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Yadav, and criticised the Congress in words which can't be repeated, he goes and files defamation cases against us." — PTI

New Delhi, December 9
Two days after he invited sharp reactions from within his party and the NDA for exhibiting unnecessary activism in probing the vexed 2G Spectrum allocation issue in Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), its chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi defended himself saying there was no hurry at all.

“Where’s the hurry? I am just doing my job. All the meetings are being called as per suggestions of committee members and its schedule. It’s wrong to say I am rushing through. The PAC has also been meeting regularly to examine CAG reports on other things like the National Rural Health Mission, the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Scheme, the funds for northeast and the investments in PPP mode. But no one is talking about those meetings,” PAC chief Joshi yesterday told The Tribune in an exclusive interview.

The veteran parliamentarian rejected accusations that his so-called overdrive in the Spectrum matter was harming the BJP-led Opposition’s campaign on the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the case -- something NDA convener Sharad Yadav yesterday claimed as the reason behind CBI raids on former telecom minister A Raja and his relatives’ properties.

Placing himself on the party’s side in the matter, Joshi said there was no question of disunity in the BJP or the NDA on the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe and he did not understand why the Congress-led UPA was dithering on the issue. “I am astonished at the government’s resistance to a JPC,” the two-time PAC chairman said after he landed into controversy when in a meeting of the PAC yesterday he summoned former TRAI chairman Pradeep Baijlal and former telecom secretary Sidhartha Behura as witnesses.

Other opposition members in the PAC, including his party colleague Yashwant Sinha and Samajwadi Party’s Reoti Raman Singh, expressed concerns about an active probe undermining the Opposition’s unity on the JPC probe. While Reoti Raman is learnt to have warned against holding such frequent meetings until December 13, the last day of the benighted winter session, Sinha was of the opinion that witnesses should not have been summoned when the PAC was yet to be briefed by the CAG, who is abroad these days.

Never mind the fact that all PAC members have had access to the CAG report and additional documents in the matter from Day 1. Though Joshi yesterday admitted that the next date of the PAC meeting would be fixed only as per the CAG’s convenience, he added that if CAG did not give a nearer date, the PAC could meet again. Joshi subtly gave away his intention of submitting the report within his term, which ends next year. “We have done much of the work because we have been examining the Spectrum matter for long,” the BJP leader said. His intentions though would remain intentions unless other PAC members cooperate — a prospect that seems unlikely.

Lucknow, December 9
Three crude bombs were found in a garbage bin in Bahadurganj area of Allahabad today even as the Uttar Pradesh police said it was yet to find any clues in the varanasi blast case, 48 hours after the terror strike that had left a child dead and 39 injured.

"We are exactly where we were yesterday," said ADG (Law and Order) Brij Lal here today. The investigation was transferred to the anti-terror squad of the state police yesterday. Today, officers of National Investigating Agency and other central agencies are camping in Varanasi and are assisting in the investigation, said Brij Lal.

A Belgian tourist present at Shitla Ghat at the time of the blast had captured the scene immediately after the incident on his camera, which was now loaded on his laptop. He was also present at the site today helping the investigating agencies.

The report from the Agra-based forensic team that had collected samples of material used in the blast yesterday was still awaited. "The FSL report is expected to come out by tomorrow," said the ADG.

Meanwhile, three crude bombs were found in a heap of garbage barely a hundred metres away from Kotwali police station in the congested old city area, Assistant Superintendent of Police (City) Subhas Singh Baghel told reporters.

Mumbai, December 9
Have the terrorists involved in the bomb blast that hit Varanasi on Tuesday taken shelter in Maharashtra? The police thinks it is possible.

For the past two days, police officials have been cracking down on suspected hideouts belonging to former activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India. A number of places across Maharashtra have been raided and a number of suspects were taken into custody for questioning, the police said.

However, the names of those detained have not been revealed so far. Among the suspects the police is on the lookout for are Riyaz Bhatkal and his brother Iqbal Bhatkal, suspected to be out of the country. The police said it was not unknown for absconders to sneak back into the country through various routes.

Another person the police was looking for is Mohsin Choudhary, who along with the Bhatkal brothers were believed to be masterminding the terror attacks in India.

Mumbai police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal told reporters here that the attacks were masterminded from Pakistan and carried out by IM operatives in India. “Sleeper cells have been set up in different parts of the country, including Maharashtra,” Dayal told reporters today.

Dehradun, December 9
It was the first scandal that had rocked the newly created state of Uttarakhand involving financial irregularities by senior bureaucrats in preparing Dehradun as the temporary capital of the state in October-November, 2000. Interestingly, even after a decade and after many more alleged scandals down the line, the inquiry report of the first-ever scandal of Uttarakhand prepared by a committee of the state Assembly has not seen the light of the day. Both the Congress as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in the state had failed to complete the report and submit it to the House despite claims to the contrary.

NN Balooni, a retired Indian Audit and Accounts service officer, one of the technical experts of the all-party Assembly committee who was involved in the inquiry as a financial expert, has been fighting to make the report public. For the past three years, he has written several letters and rejoinders to the Speaker of the state Assembly, but to no avail. Mahesh Chander, Principal Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, said: "The all-party House committee did not submit its report and has died its natural death after the expiry of the term of the first Assembly in 2007. There was no demand in the current Assembly for the revival of the said committee".

Four of the members of the previous committee, including Congress state President Yashpal Arya, are still members of the state Assembly.

It was after the formation of the state on November 9, 2000, that allegations were flying thick and fast against the bureaucrats for alleged financial irregularities in various works carried out to prepare Dehradun as the temporary capital of the newly formed state. With the BJP interim government at the helm of affairs, Opposition Congress was in the forefront of demanding a probe in the matter. It was a major issue against the interim BJP government in the first-ever Assembly elections held in February, 2002. Later, a fire also broke out in the state Assembly and there was a hue and cry about below standard use of material. The Congress state government, led by Chief Minister ND Tiwari, constituted a nine-member all-party House committee headed by then Speaker Yashpal Arya to look into all aspects of spendings on works for a temporary capital and fire in the state Assembly. The original time given to the committee to submit the report was 60 days, but during the term of the Assembly from 2002 to 2007, eight extensions were given to the committee.

Besides Arya, other members of the committee were Kashi Singh Airy (UKD), Narayan Pal (BSP), Dinesh Aggarwal (Congress), Balbir Singh Negi (Congress), Matbar Singh Kandari (BJP), Ajay Bhatt (BJP), Sunder Lal Mandharwal (Congress) and Indira Hriyadesh (Congress).

The committee held 59 meetings and summoned 66 officers/employees and even engaged three technical and financial experts at a cost of Rs 1.75 lakh. The members of the committee were also paid travelling and daily allowances of Rs 1.90 lakh. However, till the completion of the term of the first Assembly, the report was not submitted on the table of the House. In the second Assembly that came into being in March 2007, the House committee was not revived.

Interestingly, the entire episode showed the vice-like grip of the bureaucracy over the political leadership of the state belonging to every political party. It has been found in the inquiry that officials at the time of the formation of the state spent more money on their official residences and offices than those furnished for ministers. For instance, the committee found that an executive table for the state Finance Minister was purchased at a cost of Rs 14,670, another better table having a side rake was purchased for Mini Secretariat at a cost of Rs 18,585. Most interestingly, against a sanctioned amount of Rs 19.83 lakh for refurnishing of residence of the Chief Secretary at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), a total amount of Rs 30.96 was spent on the residence.

The committee found that while wall partition work of teak wood at a rate of Rs 4,497 per metre was done at the residence of the Chief Secretary, in comparison, at the Raj Bhawan and the residence of the Assembly Speaker, the work was done in ordinary wood and steel at a rate of Rs 1,230 and Rs 2,367 per metre, respectively. In many cases, the financial norms of inviting tenders were openly flouted. A sum of Rs 28.30 crore was sanctioned by the Uttar Pradesh Government for infrastructure of the temporary capital in Dehradun to house the new government.

However, neither has report of the first financial scandal of Uttarakhand been made public nor the guilty officials punished. Later, after the BJP government came to power in the second Assembly elections, 56 alleged scandals of the previous Congress government were referred to a judicial commission. But, in the past nearly four years of its existence, the commission has seen three judges but the report is still to come while more and more scandals are tumbling out.

New Delhi, December 9
The much-awaited Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill 2010 approved by the Cabinet last month was on Tuesday introduced in the Lok Sabha in the ongoing din in the House over the Opposition’s continued demand to constitute a JPC on the 2G Spectrum scam.

The Bill seeks to protect every woman - from organised or unorganised sector-from any form of sexual harassment, irrespective of whether she is employed or not. Domestic workers have been left out of the law’s ambit.

The statement of objects of the Bill introduced on Tuesday by the Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath says the law will ensure a safe, secure and enabling environment to every woman, irrespective of her age and employment status and fix responsibility on the employer, district magistrate, additional district magistrate or the collector or deputy collector of every district.

Since women now have legal protection, the law might help them report sexual harassment. So far women were protected only by the Supreme Court guidelines in the Vishakha vs State of Rajasthan case where the court mandated the safety of women at workplaces as a Constitutional right and directed companies to set up committees where such cases can be reported.

But with legal safeguards missing, women have hitherto been underreporting sexual abuse at workplaces despite evidence of harassment. Sanhita, a Kolkata-based group, says 95 per cent women respondents agreed to the probability of facing sexual harassment at workplace being “very real”. In the private sector, 68 per cent cases of sexual harassment were found to be committed by the boss who enjoys more controls than employers in public sector.

Data with The Tribune from state women’s commissions across India shows how women are not willing to come forward as yet. The new Bill is in conformity with the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) to which India is a party. The treaty requires states to take all measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment. The Bill was drafted way back in 2007 by the National Commission for Women. It went through various consultations before being finally introduced on Tuesday.

The law guarantees protection to complainants and their transfer from the location of harassment if they so desire. It also provides for punishment in cases of vexatious complaints.

New Delhi, December 9
Days after the French Government turned down a fresh plea to allow Sikh children to wear turbans to schools in France, a fresh bid will be made by Sikhs to the French authorities using a different approach.

Sikh leaders SS Dhindsa and Tarlochan Singh are working on a plan to involve some French-speaking Indian intellectuals to explain the religious needs and ideology of Sikhs to French Parliamentarians. “The intellectuals will be able to explain to French Parliamentarians how Sikhs are different from Muslims and the headgear is part of the religious attire,” said Tarlochan Singh. “The time has come to explain to French MPs that they have erred in passing a legislation and make them see the Sikh point of view. Informal meetings can be arranged with MPs to make them see our point of view,” he said.

Tarlochan Singh hoped that they would be able to find credible French-speaking Indians soon and added that their visit could be funded either by the government or the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. France banned religious symbols, including a turban, in schools there. Consequently, several Sikh families pulled out their children from schools even though private schooling is very expensive in the country.