Lucknow, June 24
The plea of the wife of deceased Deputy Chief Medical Officer Y S Sachan for a CBI inquiry into his mysterious death received a setback of sorts when the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court today fixed July 18 to hear the petition.

The vacation bench comprising Justice Shabibul Hasnain and Justice Vedpal, after admitting the petition, decided to hear the plea on July 18 in the regular court.

The court, however, directed the state government to hand over a copy of the findings of the postmortem report to the deceased doctor’s family. Following the court order, a police team reached the Jankipuram residence of the Deputy CMO late in the afternoon and handed over a copy of the postmortem report.

It was only after receiving the postmortem report that the family started preparations for the cremation of the body which had been kept on ice in the basement of the palatial mansion since yesterday. The police had also brought an ambulance to the residence to take the body to Bhainsakund cremation grounds for his last rites.

He was finally cremated in the evening on the banks of the Gomti river amidst grieving relatives and friends. Sachan, a key accused in the murder of two CMOs, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the toilet of the Lucknow district jail hospital on June 22. Sachan’s family has rejected the suicide theory and has been demanding a CBI probe into what they call a cold-blooded murder.

His wife, Dr Malti Sachan, had filed the petition in the high court and had written a letter to Chief Minister Mayawati after the postmortem revealed that there were nine injuries on his body.

Nearly 11 months after a cloudburst wreaked havoc in Ladakh, killing hundreds of people and causing massive destruction to property, this region in Jammu and Kashmir needs more aid from the government to rebuild its damaged infrastructure and also the lives of the survivors.

On August 5 last year, the cloudburst and the resultant floods killed 257 persons, totally damaged 665 houses and left another 783 partially damaged. The Prime Minister relief package of Rs 2 lakh for a fully damaged house and Rs 1 lakh for a partially damaged house has provided some kind of a permanent shelter to the survivors. “The money was given in instalments lest it was misused,” explains Leh Deputy Commissioner Tersing Angchok.

Some houses in the badly damaged Choglamsar area, 6 km south of Leh, are being rebuilt even now. During the harsh winter, temperature plummets to -20°C and labourers are not available in the snowbound area. Money from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund was sent through cheques to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries while the local administration provided cement and subsidy on timber.

Now Ladakh needs Rs 133 crore for further restoration work. In April this year, the Ladakh Affairs Department of Jammu and Kashmir submitted the demand for the package to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Most of the funds are required for laying roads to connect remote hamlets and for constructing bridges that have been washed away. The temporary bridges on the Leh-Srinagar national highway also need to be upgraded to permanent bridges.

A sum of Rs 16.50 crore has already been spent on clearing the mud and debris that the floods deposited on the agricultural lands in 54 villages. Since the area has only one agriculture season in summer, the work was done on a war footing by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, says its chairman Regzin Spalbar.

“We have no money to clear this debt and are looking at the Central package,” he adds. The LAHDC, an elected body of 29 members, and the district administration have made it clear that no reconstruction would be allowed in the flood-prone areas. The shops in Choglamsar that were under 15 feet of mud on the day of the flood would be relocated.

Angchok remembers how the ITBP along with the Army were the first to help on the day of the tragedy. He thanked the Punjab Government for sending tonnes of fodder for cattle and expressed gratitude to Himachal Pradesh for pitching in with potato seeds.

Guwahati, June 24
The Assam Police on Friday arrested Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) leader and RTI activist Akhil Gogoi in connection with the June 22 Guwahati clash in which three persons were killed.

The police swooped down on Gogoi when he was about to address a media conference at Guwahati Press Club. He was whisked away to Panbazar police station and later produced before a court, which remanded him in three-day police custody.

The KMSS leader has been charged with 10 cases of rioting, arsoning, damaging public property and instigating violence amid reports that the state government is also considering slapping National Security Act (NSA) against him.

The arrest was looking imminent after the government yesterday ruled out holding any talks with a man (Akhil Gogoi) who 'was out to engineer Libya-like agitation in Assam'.

The KMSS has been agitating against the government against 'rampant corruption' and policy to deprive poor people of land rights. Three persons were killed and several others injured in clash between the police and KMSS activists in Dispur on Wednesday.

Sharp reactions were reported from all over the state as soon as the police arrested Gogoi. A large number of KMSS members gathered near the police station demanding release of their leader even as administration clamped Section 144 of the IPC to prevent people from gathering in the area. Gogoi's supporters also blocked the NH-37. Anticipating trouble, the government has ordered a heavy deployment of police and paramilitary personnel at these two spots.

Opposition parties, including the AGP, the BJP, the All- India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), and various organisations like the All-Assam Students Union (AASU) have condemned Gogoi's arrest.

Kanpur, June 24
Bihar’s ‘Super 30’ Institute, which has helped poor students to get admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology by providing free training, is all set for expansion this year.

The Institute has decided to admit 60 students from this year, almost doubling its intake, Institute’s founder and noted mathematician Anand Kumar told reporters here today.

“Apart from Bihar, we will admit meritorious students from states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also,” Kumar said. “We are going to organise admission tests in major cities of both the states on July 2. The tests will be conducted at Varanasi, Kanpur and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh,” he added.

Notably, this is the first major expansion of Kumar’s Institute outside Bihar. Earlier, it had admitted six students from Uttar Pradesh out of which three had finally made it to the IITs. All the three students were also present on the occasion.

Speaking about his future plans, Kumar said that he was planning to open a ‘model school’ in his native state of Bihar to train poor students for national and international competitions right from the grass root level. — PTI

Kolkata, June 24
The West Bengal Government will hold talks with Tata Motors for settling the Singur impasse.

The proposal for negotiations came from Tata Motors’ senior counsel Samaraditya Pal during the case hearing in the Calcutta High court today to which state Advocate-General Anindya Mitra also agreed. The meeting may take place either tomorrow or on Sunday.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was happy that such a proposal had come from Tata Motors. But she made it clear that the decision of returning land to the unwilling farmers would not change. The government would, however, consider Tata Motor’s demand for compensation with due importance, she added.

The process of returning 400 acres of land to the unwilling farmers has already started and a committee has been formed to finalise the list of claimants and the procedure for returning the land.

During his arguments at the high court, Tata Motors’ lawyer suggested that a meeting be held between the government and the company management if some settlement could be reached outside the court. There were charges and counter-charges between the lawyers of the two parties during the hearing of the case today.

Pal said Tata Motors had been forced to leave Singur following strong resistance and prolonged agitations by the Trinamool Congress, now in power in the state. The company incurred a huge financial loss at Singur for no fault of it, he claimed.

But the Advocate-General argued that it was due to a movement of the farmers and their supporters against the Left Front government’s forcible acquisition of farmland at Singur for Tata Motors. He alleged though Tata Motors had abandoned its project at Singur, the company continued to occupy 997.17 acres of land for over four years with the intent of getting huge compensation from the government.

New Delhi, June 24
The government today appointed Raj Kumar Singh, a 1975-batch Bihar cadre officer as Union Home Secretary to replace GK Pillai on June 30.

RK Singh is presently Secretary, Department of Defence Production, in the Ministry of Defence. His new appointment is for two years.

Today, RK Singh, joined duties as Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the rank and pay of Secretary. He has earlier served in his cadre and at the Centre in various capacities, including Home Secretary of Bihar and Joint Secretary in MHA. Earlier, Punjab Chief Secretary Subodh Aggarwal had opted out after he was interviewed by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

New Delhi, June 24
India’s finest minority college -- St Stephen’s of Delhi -- has been put in the dock for discriminating between students of the minority community while giving admissions.

The case relates to Nikhil Neil Das, who applied for admission to economics (hons) course in the college meant for Christians. He was denied admission on account of not meeting the prescribed cut-off.

While the college announced 81.5 per cent cut-off for students belonging to the Church of North India (CNI) category, it had 89 per cent cut-off for students belonging to other Christian churches.

Taking cognisance of this discrimination, the Delhi High Court today put the college authorities under notice for June 27. Speaking to The Tribune, Wg Cdr Sankar Das, father of the applicant who was rejected by Stephen’s, said: “I was surprised when the cut-offs were announced to see that amongst the Christian community, different cut-offs were being applied. Because my son is a not a member of the CNI, which runs the affairs of St Stephen’s, he automatically fell into the other Christian category for which the cut-off was higher. It is disheartening that merit within the community is not being used as the yardstick for admission to an institution as fine as Stephen’s.”

In the petition before the High Court, Nikhil Das stated that he secured 89 per cent marks but was ineligible to attend the interview for eco (hons) whereas the applicants belonging to the CNI who secured 81.5 per cent got admission easily.

“I know that Christians are one community and if the college offers reservation to Christians on account of it being a Christian minority institution, then only inter se merit should be the criteria. I have no problems of ST underprivileged Christians being given special consideration by way of lower cut-offs and financial assistance, but discrimination on account of Church membership is against the basic concept of a level playing field for the entire community,” Das stated.

Chandigarh, June 24
The general court martial (GCM) of former Lt-Gen Avadesh Prakash, embroiled in the Sukna land transfer matter, will commence at Guwahati on June 24.

Responsible for the management of the Army’s officer cadre as principal staff officer to Chief of the Army Staff, Lt-Gen Prakash, former Military Secretary at Army Headquarters, is the senior-most officer and the third lieutenant-general in the Army’s history to be tried by a court martial for alleged professional impropriety.

Sources said that Lt-Gen Prakash is being tried on seven charges under sections 52, 57 and 63 of the Army Act for alleged offences related to property and intent to defraud, making inaccurate or fraudulent statements in official documents, and violation of good order and military discipline.

The seven-member GCM will be presided over by Lt-Gen Philip Campose, General Officer Commanding of the Jodhpur-based 12 Corps. The other six members are major- generals. The trial was earlier scheduled to commence on June 15 at Leimakhong in Manipur. On June 10, the Armed Forces Tribunal directed the Army to shift the venue to Guwahati and fix a new date for commencement of the trial.

Lt-Gen Prakash’s counsel, Col SK Aggarwal (retd) has contended that the charges against him are baseless and that his name was unnecessarily dragged into the controversy that had erupted due to crossfire between other senior officers engaged in pursuing vested interests.

The Army has already tried and convicted two other lieutenant-generals, who were junior in status to Lt-Gen Prakash, for professional and personal impropriety recently. This includes Lt-Gen PK Rath, former GOC 33 Corps, who was also embroiled in the same case as Prakash. In January, a GCM had held him guilty of three out of seven charges and had awarded him a severe reprimand and two year’s loss of seniority and 15 years’ loss of service for the purpose of pension.

Later, a GCM held at Jalandhar had sentenced former Director General Supplies and Transport at Army Headquarters to cashiering and three years rigorous imprisonment for irregularities in procurement of dry rations.

New Delhi, June 24
A study by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has indicated the possibility of high levels of ozone in the Indo-Gangetic plains stretching across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal in the next 10 to 20 years, impacting human health and agricultural productivity. The study also indicated dangerously high levels of fine dust particles (bigger than 10 microns or PM-10) occupy almost the entire country.

TERI researcher Sumit Sharma says the study clearly indicates while particulate pollution is the most widespread among Indian cities, pollutants like NOx and ozone are the emerging threats and proactive policies will be required to control these.

The results have given the researchers a fair idea about the intensity of ozone pollution in different regions. Sumit says the 150-km-wide corridor on the southern side of the Himalayas had moderately high levels in 2005, which can run the risk of turning into dangerous level of 120 microgram per cubic metre by 2030 if no action is taken.

Incidentally, while ozone layer at the stratosphere level protects us from UV rays, ozone produced by anthropogenic sources at the ground level is harmful for human health, impacting respiratory system. The three-atom compound can be linked with premature death, asthma, bronchitis, heart attack besides affecting agriculture with yield of wheat, cotton and paddy crops going down due to its increased levels.

Meanwhile, the report also warned that the fine dust might occupy the entire country, with the exception of the southern tip of Tamil Nadu and the western districts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The level of dust will go up from around 100 microgram per cubic metre of air to 200 or more in the next 20 years, in the business as usual scenario, it said.

Chennai, June 24
The Madras High Court today ruled that in order to detain a person under 'Goondas Act,' it is not necessary that the person has to be booked in more than one case under the Act that has the propensity of disturbing the maintenance of public order.

A Division Bench consisting of Justices K N Basha, T Sudanthiram and S Nagamuthu gave the ruling while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Arumugam of Madurai, who had challenged the order of detention passed against his brother. — PTI