Varanasi, May 19
Launching a frontal attack on the Mayawati government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the incidents of “atrocities on farmers” in Bhatta-Parsaul have left the nation embarrassed.

Addressing a a public meeting at Benia Bagh after the conclusion of the 2-day UPCC convention, the AICC chief said chaos and anarchy was prevailing in state. “Yeh andher nagari ho gayi hai. Har taraf anyaya aur bhrashtachar ka bol bala hai,” she declared.

“There is a sustained campaign by the state government to take over the farmers’ land. We empathise with the plight of the people in UP and we assure you that the Congress will always stand by you,” said Sonia.

Describing the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh, she said: “Narrow-mindedness and caste politics has taken over the state in the past two decades. Opportunistic alliances have been forged and the hunger for power had led to formation of six-monthly governments. Defections have set a new record in UP.”

But now the people of this state are realising the gravity of the situation and are looking towards the Congress, she claimed.

Staunchly defending the UPA government, the Congress president said those who were accusing the government of corruption should first introspect. “We have taken stern action in every case related to corruption and it is because of this that we got maximum support in recent polls in five states. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others,” she remarked.

The Congress chief said that she was well aware of the backwardness in Purvanchal and added that the Congress would do everything possible to improve the condition of the people of the region.

Kolkata, May 19
The Congress-Trinamool government in West Bengal will be sworn in at Raj Bhavan tomorrow under the chief ministership of Mamata Banerjee. The function will be attended, among others, by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will not be present on the occasion because of their prior engagements.

After today’s meeting of the WBPCC at Bidhan Bhavan in the presence of Defence Minister AK Antony as observer, CM-designate Mamata Banerjee was officially informed about the Congress’ participation in the new government. A list of the Congress candidates for induction into the ministry was also sent to her. TMC deputy leader Partha Chattopadhyya told mediapersons that they had received the Congress candidate list and the same was sent to the Governor. He said they had earlier sent the TMC candidate list and accordingly the preparations were being made for the oath taking of the new council of ministers. He refused to divulge the details of the candidate list.

According to party sources, the ministry from the TMC will include Mamata Banerjee and Partha Chattopadhyya apart from Subrata Mukherjee, Dr Amit Mitra, Manish Gupta, Dr Rudranarayan Bhattacharyya, Javed Khan, Prof Rabiranjan Chatterjee, Dr Sashi Panja, Siuli Saha, Farida Bibi, Hyder Ali Safi, Upen Biswas, Bratya Basu and Dr Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar. The Congress list included Abu Hena, Manash Bhuiya, Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury and Abhijit Mukherjee.Meanwhile, Partha Chattopadhyya today visited former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhttacharjee at his Palm Avenue residence to inviting him for the oath-taking ceremony.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose and all the former Left Front ministers and other leaders have also been invited at the function. 

New Delhi, May 19
In a major relief to litigants involved in tenancy cases in Punjab and Haryana, the Supreme Court has ruled they need not appeal against every adverse interim order of the Rent Controller passed under the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949.

The affected parties could challenge the Rent Controllers’ interim orders, including fixation of provisional rent, before the appellate authority while filing the appeal against the final order on eviction, a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha has held.

Since Section 15(1)(b) of the Act dealing with the appeal provision did not specifically talk about any “interlocutory order” of the Rent Controller, there was no bar on challenging it while appealing against the final order, the Bench clarified in a recent verdict.

The ruling would be applicable to tenancy cases in Haryana as well as the state’s relevant law is on the lines of the1949 East Punjab Act, according to advocate Rishi Malhotra who won the case of an affected tenant that resulted in the apex court clarification.

If the Act had intended to prevent challenging the interim orders along with the final order, it could have been stated specifically as in the case of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 where in the Section 97 did not leave any room for doubt. The Section 97 of the CPC reads: “Where any party aggrieved by a preliminary decree passed after the commencement of this code does not appeal from such decree, he shall be precluded from disputing its correctness in any appeal which may be preferred from the final decree.”

On the other hand, the 1949 Rent Restriction Act merely said “any person aggrieved by an order passed by the controller may, within 15 days from the date of such order, … may prefer an appeal in writing to the appellate authority,” the SC pointed out.

Citing a 150-year-old observation made by the Privy Council, the Bench said forcing litigants to challenge every interim order would result in “calamities,” arising from “endless expense and delay.”

The apex court made the ruling while setting aside a September 23, 2010 verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The HC had dismissed the tenant’s appeal challenging the eviction order. 

New Delhi, May 19
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), tasked with analysing the events and policy changes that led to the 2G Spectrum scam, today said it could examine former telecom ministers, including the now-jailed A Raja, other ministers who played a role in shaping subsequent telecom policies and former telecom secretaries.

A day after the Congress-dominated committee turned the heat on the NDA for a faulty National Telecom Policy of 1999, which caused losses to the exchequer, Finance Minister of that time Yashwant Sinha, who is a member of the current JPC, volunteered to depose before it.

Sinha headed the Group of Ministers (GOM), which the NDA had set up in 1999 to look into the merits of allowing access to service operators to migrate from fixed licence fee regime to a revenue-sharing regime. The GOM had ruled in favour of the shift, which as per a CAG report of 2000 caused huge losses.

Committee chairperson PC Chacko today admitted that Sinha had offered to depose and said the JPC would take a view later. It is further learnt that today’s deliberations saw heated exchanges between members on the matter of telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar obliterating references to the latest CAG report on the 2G Spectrum scam in his presentation to the committee yesterday.

He spoke of CAG 2000 report, which questioned the NDA’s migration package to cellular operators. Chacko directed the secretary, who continued his presentation today, to include the executive summary of CAG’s 2010 report in his presentation submitted to the panel. TRAI chairman JS Sarma also deposed before the panel today.

In another important development, some committee members questioned the process that led to the introduction of the Unified Access Service Licensing (UASL) regime in 2003 to provide wire line, fixed and limited mobile wireless; full mobile wireless and cellular mobile telephone services. Under conditions of the UAS licence, initial Spectrum of 8.8 MHz was to be allotted to the GSM-based systems and a maximum of 5 MHz to the CDMA-based systems subject to the availability of Spectrum.

Bangalore, May 19
The stand-off between Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj and Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on convening of the Assembly session from June 2 took another turn today with the BJP government threatening a state-wide stir if approval for holding it was not given by this evening.

“By this evening, news should reach me (from Raj Bhavan) that approval has been given for the (legislature) session,” a visibly upset Chief Minister said. Otherwise, he said, he would embark on a state-wide tour in an open-jeep addressing road-side rallies to build public opinion from tomorrow.

Yeddyurappa’s ultimatum comes a day after both he and Bhardwaj displayed brief bonhomie in the midst of a raging political war over the Governor’s recommendation for imposing President’s rule in the state.

Law Minister S Suresh Kumar, flanked by several ministers, said a massive protest rally, led by the Chief Minister, would be staged tomorrow if the Governor did not give his approval for holding the session.

Key office-bearers and ministers would decide on the future agitational course after tomorrow's rally, which would be attended by legislators, partymen and members of the public. — PTI

New Delhi: The Centre appears to have given short-shrift to the controversial recommendation of Governor HR Bhardwaj for imposition of President's rule in the state. A meeting of the Union Cabinet did not discuss the “special report” send by Bhardwaj to the Centre on Sunday for dismissal of the BJP government and keeping the Assembly in suspended animation. Asked by reporters after the Cabinet meeting whether the Governor's report came up for discussion, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni's cryptic response was “no”.

Mumbai, May 19
Journalists from various media houses held protests in Mumbai and presented a memorandum to Home Minister R R Patil protesting the arrest of a senior journalist under the Official Secrets Act.

Mid-Day reporter Tarakant Dwivedi, who writes under the alias Akela, was arrested under the Official Secrets Act over a report last year in another publication where he worked earlier. The story on hi-tech arms belonging to the Railway Police procured after the terror attacks of 26/11 being left exposed to the elements during the monsoon resulted in an inquiry by railway authorities.

Earlier this week, Akela was summoned by the police for recording his statement after a cop filed a complaint of trespass against him.

Late on Tuesday night, he was formally charged under the Official Secrets Act and produced before the court the following day. Akela has been remanded in police custody till May 21 after the public prosecutor argued before the court that the news report would provide details of GRP's arms and ammunition to the enemy.

According to Mid-Day, senior police officials delayed procedural matters in order to ensure that Akela was remanded in police custody. The newspaper also named a senior police official not attached to the Government Railway Police who allegedly visited Akela in the lock-up and threatened him.

Later in the day, representatives of the journalists' associations who met at the Press Club said the Home Minister had assured them of an inquiry into the incident.

New Delhi, May 19
Troubles mounted for the sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi with the Enforcement Directorate registering a money-laundering case against him in connection with financial dealings during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The Directorate, which had earlier charged Kalmadi for alleged violation of foreign exchange rules, has now moved a court to seek the custody of Congress MP from Pune and record his statement.

Kalmadi, arrested by the CBI last month on charges of cheating, conspiracy and corruption in the timing, scoring result system (TSR) purchase, is currently in judicial custody.

Sources said today the ED had registered the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Kalmadi as he had a role in every financial dealing of the OC, by virtue of being its Chairman. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 19
After the goof-up in India’s “50 most-wanted list” given to Pakistan, the government faced another embarrassment when a CBI team landed in Copenhagen to seek extradition of the main accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, Kim Davy, with an expired warrant.

The two-member CBI team, which reached Copenhagen on May 16, was left red-faced after Davy’s counsel pointed out during the court proceedings there that the arrest warrant issued by a special CBI court in Kolkata against his client had expired in January this year.

The team, which was in the Danish capital to assist local authorities, immediately sought a fresh warrant against Davy from the special CBI court. The Kolkata Special Crime Branch officials of the agency scrambled to get a fresh warrant. The warrant was issued by the special CBI court and its scanned copy sent to the team in Copenhagen. The original warrant was also sent to the team later on.

“All documents are in order with the CBI team,” CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said today. A CBI official was earlier quoted as saying that an oversight had led the CBI team going to Denmark with an invalid warrant.

The BJP wasted little time in seizing on the second embarrassment in the space of two days to come down heavily on the government. Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj called it a “big embarrassment” and “another blunder”.

“Here is another blunder. The CBI team reached Copenhagen with an expired warrant for Kim Davy. Big embarrassment for the country. Is anybody accountable in this government,” Swaraj said in a twitter posting.

Referring to government’s response on the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner as well as on the goof-up in the “most-wanted” list, Swaraj said “oversight” had become an “all-time excuse” for the UPA dispensation.

“They say expired warrant is an ‘oversight’. Oversight in the CVC papers. Oversight in India’s most-wanted list. It is an all-time excuse,” she said. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said the government must quickly remedy the situation in the interest of the country. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 19
Indian companies are finding it increasingly difficult to find right talent, with 67 per cent of employers struggling to meet critical-level hiring targets, a survey claimed today. About a year ago, only about 16 per cent companies were facing difficulties in getting the right talent for critical positions, the survey by staffing services firm Manpower said.

According to Manpower’s sixth annual Talent Shortage Survey, results are well above the global average of 34 per cent and second only to Japan, where 80 per cent of employers are struggling to fill critical positions. Talent scarcity in India has worsened, as just a year ago, India was ranked 29th among 36 countries surveyed, when 16 per cent of employers faced difficulty to fill jobs. Manpower India Head, Sales and Marketing, Namr Kishore said: “For the last many quarters demand for talent is increasing in India, but the supply is limited as individuals are lacking mission critical skills, resulting in such talent scarcity. We have a demographic advantage, yet on the other hand due to low employability, many of our talent is not employable. It is quite ironic,” Kishore added.

In India, the job employers have most difficulty filling vacancies for research and development, sales manager and IT staff, the survey said.

Trailing behind Japan and India in the global list is Brazil, where 57 per cent of employers are having difficulty in finding the right people for the right job. This is followed by Australia (54%), Taiwan (54 per cent), Romania (53%), USA (52%), Argentina (51%), Turkey (48%)and Switzerland (46%).

Some other factors behind the talent crunch is that during the recession time many organisations chose to let many of the talent go. As the demand for talent is now increasing, many organisations are now finding it difficult to fill the mission critical positions, Kishore said.

Besides, as organisations are adopting a global way of functioning and becoming more competitive, the skills for the same jobs have changed overtime. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Rajnikant is fine: wife
CHENNAI: In the wake of wild rumours and speculative reports about Rajnikant’s health, his family and the hospital treating him said on Thursday he was “fine, doing well” and there was nothing to worry. Latha Rajnikant, wife of the 61-year-old actor, said he was comfortable and recovering well after being treated for problems relating to stomach and respiratory infection. Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi has sent a bouquet of flowers to Rajnikant, wishing him speedy recovery. — PTI

Dalit girl raped, killed in Bihar
BIHARSHARIF: A dalit girl was allegedly raped and murdered by two persons in Mahila village in Bihar’s Nalanda district. Finding the girl alone at her home, the duo entered the house and raped her before slitting her throat with a sharp object on Wednesday night, SP Jitendra Rana said on Thursday. — PTI

Naxals kill 4 cops in Maharashtra
NAGPUR: Four policemen, including a commander of an elite anti-Naxal force and two special police officers, were killed and two injured in separate Naxal attacks in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district on Thursday. — PTI

Sandalwood worth 2.96 lakh seized
SURAT: Two men were arrested for allegedly smuggling 133 kg sandalwood approximately worth Rs 2.96 lakh from here on Thursday. The arrested are identified as Kamlesh Jain and his associate Kirit Shah. — PTI