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House panel to probe Antrix-Devas deal
Lok Sabha session
Orissa is now Odisha
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PM: I wish India win the World
Cup
2G scam probe: It’s turf war between PAC, JPC
PMO receives third report on Shunglu Committee
Kolkata businessman
held for Hasan links
AICTE for submission of applications after CAT, MAT results
Kin of missing forces’ men to get pension after six months
3 more ‘fake’ pilots identified
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House panel to probe Antrix-Devas deal
New Delhi, March 24 While the government had last month annulled the controversial deal between the Antrix Corporation and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia for lease of space segment in S-band, the House panel has decided to go into the various aspects of the deal. Under the deal, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of the scarce S-band space segment to Devas for its digital multimedia services. This was to be done by leasing 90 per cent of the transponders in satellites GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A that are proposed to be launched by the ISRO for which Devas was to pay Antrix a total of $300 million over 12 years. The agreement was signed on January 28, 2005. Consequently, the Department of Space got the Cabinet approval for the building of GSAT-6 at a cost of Rs 269 crore and GSAT-6A at a cost of Rs 147 crore under the commission's delegated powers. The controversial aspect of the deal came to light earlier this year when a newspaper published the details of the way the deal was entered into and the way it was being operationalised. It was found that the Department of Space got the approvals for building the satellites without making any reference to the fact that they were to be utilised primarily for Devas' benefit. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had ordered a review of the deal by a committee comprising BK Chaturvedi, member, Planning Commission and aerospace scientist Roddam Narsimha. The committee had submitted its report to the Prime Minister on March 12. The Prime Minister had asked Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekar to examine the report and make recommendations on the follow-up action within 15 days.
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Lok Sabha session
New Delhi, March 24 It began when the government was just preparing to introduce the controversial Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011, in the Lok Sabha to replace the National Pension System with a statutory pension regulatory mechanism. Just when Minister of State for Finance Namo Narayan Meena got up to introduce the Bill, CPM leader in the House Basudeb Acharia rose to oppose its introduction without citing any grounds for the move. The heated exchange that ensued between Acharia and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal led to the Speaker ruling that any member opposing the Bill must first cite a reason for doing so and also give a notice for such an opposition. This allowed the introduction of the Bill through a division of votes, which the government won with 115 ayes, against 43 nays. With quorum not full on the treasury benches, it was the BJP that pitched in at the last moment to help the government introduce the Bill seeking to establish a pension regulator to undertake all promotional, development and regulatory functions in respect of pension funds; levy fees for the services it renders and even impose penalties for any violations of the provisions of the legislation.
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Orissa is now Odisha
New Delhi, March 24 The Rajya Sabha passed the Orissa (the Alteration of Name) Bill and adopted the Constitution (113th) Amendment Bill following a brief debate with all parties hailing the move as “historic” for people of the state. The Constitution Amendment Bill was adopted by all the 169 members present and voting. The amendment required six divisions and support of at least two-third of members of Rajya Sabha present and voting. For such amendments the majority of the strength of the House (242) should be present for voting. The Lok Sabha has already adopted these measures after the Centre received the
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PM: I wish India win the World Cup New Delhi, March 24 Having successfully tackled the Opposition’s challenge on the WikiLeaks issue on the floor of Parliament, the PM appeared relaxed at the Padma awards function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil gave away away a total of 62 Padma awards today — four Padma Vibhushan, 15 Padma Bhushan and 43 Padma Shri — at a function at the Ashok Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prominent among the awardees were former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra (Padma Vibhushan), noted film actress of yesteryears Waheeda Rehman (Padma Bhushan) cricketer VVS Laxman and film actor Tabu (both Padma Shri). Sixtysix other Padma awardees will be honoured on April 1. On being asked by reporters what his wishes for the Indian cricket team were, the Prime Minister smilingly said: “I hope we win the World Cup.”
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2G scam probe: It’s turf war between PAC, JPC
New Delhi, March 24
On the other side was Congress’ PC Chacko, head of the just-appointed Joint Parliamentary Committee, who insisted that the two committees were headed for an overlap and the Lok Sabha Speaker would have to ensure clarity of roles for the two. “We will write to the Speaker to see how overlaps can be avoided. We will request her to call the PAC chairman to discuss the matter,” Chacko said today after Joshi had refused to acknowledge that overlaps would cause any trouble. The move apparently comes in the wake of the JPC also wanting to probe the financial aspect of the deal, particularly in the backdrop of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report of loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer as a result of the faulty allocation policy adopted during 2008. The JPC had its first meeting today. Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Chacko said the members were of the view that all matters of conflict be referred to the Speaker. These include involvement of some members in policy making in the past and the ambit of the PAC probe, especially after Joshi had also started inquiring into the aspects of policy deviation and its misuse. Chacko, while pointing out that PAC would have been justified in investigating the policy deviation and misuse had the JPC not been constituted, did not clearly specify that the latter wanted to inquire into the financial aspect of the issue. While saying that the JPC was not trying to tell the PAC what to do, Chacko was of the view that policy implementation and deviation were the terms and references of the JPC. “It’s the question of Parliamentary propriety. The rules say that two House committees could not inquire into the same issue,” he said. Joshi, for his part, claimed that the PAC was a superior body. “The JPC has been formed for a limited time with a defined purpose whereas the PAC is a permanent panel,” said the BJP leader. Mentioning the JPC’s terms of reference which involved the examination of telecom policy from 1998 to 2009, Joshi said his job was to ensure financial discipline and wisdom. “We started investigating the 2G matter even before the CAG report came. We will continue to examine it whether or not the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and the Supreme Court look into it,” he said. “I am doing my duty and no one can stop me from doing that,” he said, adding that the PAC was yet to take a view on whether to question the Prime Minister or not. The PAC is yet to examine the mediapersons named in the Niira Radia tapes, with the committee reportedly divided on whether to call them. Asked why the PAC was suddenly going slow with investigations (it had summoned two media persons two weeks ago), Joshi said he had no rooms available to call the witnesses. It appears most Parliament House rooms are engaged due to the meetings of the Standing Committees.
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PMO receives third report on Shunglu Committee
New Delhi, March 24 A PMO statement today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed the MoUD to conduct a detailed examination of the second report of the Shunglu Committee on the Games Village and submit a report within 15 days. “A considered decision on further action will be taken after these comments are received,” it said, adding that the third report on the “city infrastructure” had also been received recently and was being examined. The Committee was appointed by the Prime Minister to probe into charges of corruption in various projects related to the 2010 sporting extravaganza.
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Kolkata businessman
held for Hasan links
Mumbai, March 24 Tapuriah (74), who was being questioned by ED sleuths here for the past three days, was formally arrested on the charges of money laundering, sources said. He was remanded in the ED’s custody till March 30. Tapuriah was produced before Principal Judge of the Sessions Court SS Joshi, who gave his remand to the ED for custodial interrogation. Belonging to a prominent business family, Tapuriah owns a number of companies in Kolkata and allegedly used 14 of them to transfer Hasan Ali's funds to overseas bank accounts, including those in Switzerland. Investigators say they need to probe foreign bank accounts held by Tapuriah and his wife Chandrika. While the former is accused of evading taxes to the tune of Rs 591 crore, Chandrika is under investigation for evading Rs 20,540 crore, investigators say. The authorities zeroed in on the Tapuriahs after a number of documents linking them to Hasan Ali Khan were found at the latter's premises in Pune. Tapuriah, who is the chairman of RM Investment and Trading Company is the brother of the late Priyamvada Birla. The Enforcement Directorate yesterday raided the residence of AICC member and Congress spokesman Amlendu Pandey in connection with the investigations, according to an official of the agency. Meanwhile, the police raided the Bihar Regional Passport Office and seized some documents relating to issuance of fake passport to Hasan. In Patna, City Superintendent of Police Shivdip Lande, said: “Police raided the office of the Regional Passport Officer here and seized some documents relating to the passport issued to Ali." The police also questioned the Regional Passport Officer Anand Kumar, he said. Lande said the police would continue to probe how Khan got a passport from Patna on a fake address. (With PTI inputs) |
AICTE for submission of applications after CAT, MAT results
Chandigarh, March 24 The assertion came on a petition filed in public interest on submission of forms for admission to different management institutes. Taking up the petition filed by Abhineet Taneja against the Union of India and others, the Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih observed: “According to the petitioner, the date is fixed by the institutes well before the declaration of results of CAT/MAT. Consequently, many of the candidates who do not qualify are not refunded the fee submitted with the application forms, resulting in unjust enrichment of the institutes”. The Bench added: “The facts and figures have been laid before the court to show that some of such institutes have earned huge amounts of money in this manner. That apart, it is the contention of the petitioner that submission of the application form before the declaration of result often creates difficulties for the candidates, who are required to apply to a large number of institutes in anticipation of their actual performance in the entrance examination.” The Bench directed: “At this stage, we are of the view that when the draft regulations framed by the UGC are under consideration of the HRD Ministry, an appropriate amendment to the draft regulation providing last date for submission of the application to be a date after the declaration of the result of the common entrance examination should also be suggested to the ministry.” “The UGC will do so forthwith and the court would expect response from the HRD Ministry within two months”. The next date of hearing has been fixed for July 5.
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Kin of missing forces’ men to get pension after six months
Chandigarh, March 24 Last year, the Centre had notified that the family pension/retirement or death gratuity to eligible family members of a government servant pensioner reported missing, or whose whereabouts were not known, might be sanctioned after six months from the date of registration of an FIR. A circular issued by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in the Defence Ministry a few days go states that the provisions of that notification have now been extended mutates mutandis to the armed forces personnel also. Till now, eligible family members of armed forces personnel or pensioners, who “suddenly disappeared” and whose whereabouts were not known, had to wait for one year from the date of lodging an FIR or expiry of authorised leave for grant of benefits. Some veterans have pointed out that there have been instances where missing armed forces personnel have been termed as deserters even when there was no proof to substantiate wilful absence from duty by an individual, as warranted.
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3 more ‘fake’ pilots identified
New Delhi, March 24 The fake pilot licence issue assumed a worrying proportion after four pilots - Parminder Kaur Gulati of IndiGo, JK Verma of Air India, Meenakshi Sehgal of IndiGo and Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR - were found to have obtained their ALTP on the basis of forged documents. Meanwhile, 24-year-old Garima Passi, who was grounded by the budget air carrier for acquiring pilot licence using fake documents, resigned from her job today, a SpiceJet statement said. Passi was suspended from her job from March 16 this year after she came under DGCA scanner in the wake of an evaluation report that she had trouble during flight training in the US. SpiceJet early this week sacked two pilots - Captain Anuj Kumar and First Officer Amit Mundra - for overlogging their flying to get the initial commercial pilot licence.
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Chennai
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On the one hand was the flamboyant chief of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Murali Manohar Joshi, who again declared that his panel was all-powerful under the Constitution to look into various aspects, including the financial discrepancies in the case.
