The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Home Ministry somersaults on homosexuality in SC
Supports Delhi HC verdict decriminalising gay sex; Its counsel had argued against judgment
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 4
The Union Home Ministry has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in the homosexuality case, virtually withdrawing three hours of arguments advanced by its counsel, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PP Malhotra, opposing the Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising sexual acts in privacy among consenting adults of the same gender.

In the affidavit filed by Home Secretary RK Singh, the ministry pointed out that a Group of Ministers (GoM) holding the portfolios of home, law and health had held a meeting on July 28, 2009 and decided that “there does not appear to be any legal error” in the July 2, 2009 HC verdict.

The GoM had also pointed out that the HC had not struck down the entire Section 377 of the IPC under which homosexual acts were a criminal offence. The HC had merely interpreted the law and “read down” the Section so that it “is consistent with Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution” pertaining to the fundamental right to personal liberty.

Further, the ministers had recommended against appealing against the HC verdict in the SC and that if other parties did so, the government would merely assist the SC in adjudicating the matter.

The GoM’s recommendations were accepted by the Union Cabinet at a meeting held on September 17, 2009. The Cabinet also decided to ask the Attorney General to assist the SC. This decision was conveyed to the AG on September 29, 2009.

The ministry has filed the affidavit following the refusal of the Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya to hear the arguments of another ASG, Mohan Jain, which were contrary to that of Malhotra.

The Bench had advised Jain not to argue for the Home Ministry as Malhotra had already done it, and rather restrict himself to making his submissions on behalf of the Health Ministry by dealing with the health ramifications of the case.

If it all the government wanted to clarify its stand, it should be done through an affidavit, not through oral arguments or handing over notes across the bar, the Bench had observed.

Beni for tie-up with BSP; Cong dismisses remark

New Delhi/Lucknow, March 4
With exit polls predicting a hung assembly in Uttar Pradesh, Union Minister and senior Congress leader from the state Beni Prasad Verma today caused a flutter in the party by favouring a tie-up with the BSP, a comment from which the party quickly distanced itself.

Prasad said he would personally prefer the BSP to the Samajwadi Party, which he dubbed as a “party of goons”.

“The key to form the state government is with the Congress and the Congress for sure will form the government. If we have to form an alliance, I would personally prefer the BSP. The SP is a party of goons...the BSP is a party of Dalits,” he said.

Getting into a damage-control mode, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said, “Whatever Verma said was his personal opinion. The party high command will take a decision after taking into account all the aspects only after results are out on March 6.”

Asked whether he was ruling out any tie-up between the Congress and the BSP, Alvi said, “I do not want to answer a hypothetical question. Wait for the results. The Congress will take a decision when the results are out and we are hopeful that these will be in our favour.”

In Lucknow, state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi also said Verma’s remarks were his personal view. “We will stake claim to form the government if we get majority, otherwise we will prefer to sit in the Opposition,” she said.

She said the results would be different from what have been shown in the exit polls, which placed the SP in the No.1 position followed by the BSP, the BJP and the Congress.

In Bhopal, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh trashed the results thrown up by exit polls, predicting “astonishing” gains for the party in UP. He also attacked the SP. “People of UP have not forgotten what they suffered in 2002-07 (during SP rule),” he said.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi did not want to hazard any guess on the poll outcome. “Elections have taught us endless number of times not to rely on exit or opinion polls...we are confident (about our performance) and it is not based on quicksand of exit polls,” he said.

Verma’s views have also been rejected as personal by UP Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari. — PTI

	Digvijay: Cong will get 100 seats in UP New Delhi/Bhopal, March 4 Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today trashed the results thrown up by exit polls in five assembly states, terming such exercises as "frauds," and predicted "astonishing" gains for his party in UP. "Exit polls are frauds. How can you define the votes of 12 crores voters in such small sample sizes? Tell me which exit polls have been accurate in predicting results in the past," he said, when asked to comment on exit polls on the sidelines of an event here. He said as a person entrusted with the responsibility of AICC in the state of UP, he was ready for anything but added that according to his analysis "the elections will throw up astonishing results for the Congress". Asked how many seats he expected the Congress to win, Singh earlier told PTI, "At least one hundred." Asked what he thought of the exit polls' prediction that the SP could even get an absolute majority, he said, "Impossible." — PTI
	Re-election to Rajya Sabha Hema Malini encounters ‘villain’ in Yeddyurappa Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, March 4 When Hema Malini danced on the rocky terrain of Ramnagara on the outskirts of Bangalore to put off the killing of her boyfriend Viru by the dacoit Gabbar Singh in the box office phenomenon “Sholay”, little did she know that Karnataka would one day become a real-life battle zone for her. The Bollywood diva, who is having a one-year stint in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka after having won a byelection on a BJP ticket, is one of four RS members from Karnataka whose term expires on April 2. Ordinarily, she should not have any problem in getting re-elected from Karnataka and cement her bond with Ramnagara (where Sholay was shot) and beyond in Karnataka. BJP, the ruling party in Karnataka, has the strength to secure at least two of the four Karnataka seats falling vacant in the Rajya Sabha. But there is a villain around - former CM Yeddyurappa. Sulking at not being reinstated as the CM, he is playing spoilsport. It is now up to BJP general secretary and former Union minister Anantha Kumar to help “Basanti” against Yeddyurappa’s machinations. During the byelection last year, Yeddyurappa, who was then the Chief Minister, wanted Dhananjay Kumar, BJP spokesperson and former Mangalore MP, to contest as the BJP candidate. But Anantha Kumar, Yeddyurappa’s bete noire, had managed to secure the BJP ticket for Hema Malini, a Brahmin like Anantha Kumar himself is. Dhananjay Kumar is once again trying to get into the Rajya Sabha with the help of Yeddyurappa. This time around, the BJP also has the option of getting Hema Malini, one of the star campaigners of the party, elected from other states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat etc. A BJP functionary close to Yeddyurappa pointed out that after getting elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka last year, she had promised that she would work for the state in areas such as culture, women and child welfare and tourism. “But she had not even visited the state once after winning the byelection,” he said.
	26/11: Pak panel not to visit India soon New Delhi, March 4 Frustrated over the long delay in the 26/11 court proceedings in Pakistan, India is not hopeful that a judicial commission of that country will visit any time soon to record statements of key persons involved in the Mumbai attacks. Home Ministry officials are sceptical over the recent announcement of Pakistan Interior Minister that the Pakistani judicial commission will visit India on March 12, as it repeatedly failed to keep its dates in the past. "But despite conveying dates several times, they have failed to visit India citing one or the other reasons," an official said. — PTI
	Rs 2010-cr budget: Tirumala shrine laughs off recession Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, March 4 The “Lord of Seven Hills” appears to be immune to the recession. The economic downturn has not affected the flow of offerings to Lord Venkateswara. In fact, the country’s richest temple at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh has just got richer. The annual budget of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), an autonomous body managing the affairs of the hill shrine, has been pegged at Rs 2,010 crore, billed as the highest for any temple trust in the country. Unveiling the 2012-13 budget for the popular temple, the TTD authorities said the “Hundi” offerings topped the receipts table with a whopping estimated income of Rs 800 crore, followed by interests on investments at Rs. 475 crore. A meeting of the TTD Board of Trustees, presided over by the trust chairman K Bapiraju, approved an estimated budget of Rs 2,010.01 crore for the year 2012-13. The revised estimates for the financial year 2011-12 stood at Rs 1,949.26 crore. The temple authorities expect to net Rs 169 crore during the year through the sale of ‘darshan’ tickets, Rs 145 crore through the sale of human hair offered by the devotees, Rs 137.50 crore from the sale of “prasadam” like laddu and Rs 43 crore from “Arjita Sevas” (paid rituals). TTD executive officer LV Subramanyam said that the budget would focus on providing better amenities to pilgrims, improving the security of the temple and pilgrims, welfare of employees, “dharmic” activities and infrastructure. “More importantly, all these things will be carried out without hiking the prices of tickets or services,” the official said. Receipts, including loans and advances, recoveries from employees and security deposits are estimated at Rs.56.45 crore. Besides, there are sundry receipts of Rs 92.56 crore, which include lease rents of hotels, shops, toll gate and sale of publications. On the payments side, the corpus and other investments are estimated at Rs 533.07 crore, followed by Rs 336 crore towards salaries and wages. “This is the first time in the history of TTD that the budget revenue is expected at Rs.2,010 crore with hundi collections, sale receipts of human hair and increased rate of interest on investments as major source of funds,” the TTD chairman said. No increase was proposed with regard to the pilgrim facility areas like darshan and seva tickets, prasadams, toll gate and reception. The officials said there was a proposal to build a new golden chariot (Swarna Radham) during 2012-13 by utilising a gold reserve of around 70 kg. More number of gold and silver coins would be made available for purchase by way of reducing the administrative charges. Whopping sum A meeting of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Board of Trustees approved an estimated budget of Rs 2,010.01 crore TTD executive officer LV Subramanyam said the budget would focus on providing better amenities to pilgrims, and improving the security of the temple and pilgrims
	In Army, suicides bigger killer than enemy bullets New Delhi, March 4 Suicides proved to be the Army's biggest adversary than enemy's bullets with around 100 troops losing their lives in acts of self-annihilation against 65 in counter-insurgency and security operations last year. "Suicides claimed 99 lives in Army last year. Of these, 23 cases were registered in field areas and 76 in peace areas," said Army officials. Though the number of lives lost due to suicides was a cause for concern, the number of such cases had come down in the past few years, they said. In 2010 and 2009, the number of deaths due to suicides was 115 and 110, respectively. The figure stood at 142 in 2007 and 150 in 2008. In a few cases, the families of soldiers had alleged murder after which court of inquiries were conducted, the officials said. In 2011, the number of lives lost in security operations was 65, they said. "In 2011, 11 officers, 8 JCOs and 46 men achieved martyrdom in operations to uphold the security of our nation," Army Chief Gen VK Singh said recently. — PTI
	Assam tea workers’ wages raised to stop exodus Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, March 4 Alarmed over growing trend of low-paid tea workers preferring to work under the MNREGS in Assam to get better daily wages, five tea planters’ associations and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (affiliated to the INTUC) have revised the tea wages for workers of the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam for the next three years even before expiry of the existing wage agreement. Deviating from the tradition, the planters’ associations have agreed to terminate the present agreement for the period of January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2013 and replace it with a new wage agreement with effect from January 1, 2012. According to the new bipartite wage agreement, the workers of the tea estates would receive daily wages at the rate of Rs 84 between January 1 and December 31, 2012. From January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013, each of the workers would receive Rs 89 per day, while for the period between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014, the workers would receive Rs 94 as daily wage. Besides the cash component of the wage, the tea workers also get subsidised rice, wheat, fuel etc from the garden management. The new wage agreement has made tea workers’ wages competitive in respect of the daily wage rate under the MNREGS. Secretary general of the Tea Association of India Dipanjal Deka said for the first time in the history of the country's tea industry, the planters’ associations and the ACMS agreed to introduce an incentive to curb absenteeism among the tea workers. Accordingly, an attendance allowance of Rs 1 will be paid to those workers per day who would attend duty for five or more days in a week. The agreement between the tea planters' associations and the ACMS also states that authorised leave, festival holidays with pay and authorised sick leave will be deemed as days worked. This allowance would be subject to review after expiry of one year. The attendance allowance will be introduced from the week beginning on or after March 12 and computed on a week to week basis. The arrear wages from January 1 to February 29, 2012 will be paid by June 30. As per the earlier wage agreement of 2010, the rates of wages for tea workers in the Brahmaputra Valley was Rs 66.50 daily from January 1 to March 31, 2011; Rs 71.50 from April 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012; and Rs 76.50 for the period between July 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013.
	Hyderabad set to be hub of copter industry Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, March 4 Hyderabad is set to emerge as a major hub for the manufacture of helicopters by the end of next year. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), a Tata Group company, and American firm Sikorsky have drawn up plans to manufacture S-92 Superhawk helicopters at the Hyderabad facility of TASL. The two companies have approached the government for a defence licence after which they plan to produce 80 per cent of the components of the S-92 and its military variant H-92 at the Hyderabad facility. India’s first indigenously developed helicopter cabin was rolled out of the aerospace Special Economic Zone (SEZ) here in November 2010. It was then shipped to Pennsylvania in the US for final integration into a final product. The joint venture between the TASL and Sikorsky was formed in 2009 and the Indian company has 74 per cent shares in it. Currently, the facility at Adibhatla near Hyderabad international airport, spread over 250 acres, produces smaller number of cabins but the capacity is being increased to produce three cabins a month. “The Sikorsky-TASL Joint Venture has plans of developing our facility in Hyderabad as hub of our S-92 helicopter production and once we get the defence license, we will start producing 80 per cent of the content of the chopper there,” Sikorsky India head Air Vice Marshal AJS Walia (retd) said. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan is the major supplier of these cabins and components to the American helicopter manufacturer. Walia said that TASL would soon achieve a major milestone as the first cabin produced by it has been integrated into a full-fledged chopper in the US and is ready for delivery to a global customer in the next few weeks. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp is one of the world’s largest helicopter manufacturers and a subsidiary of US-based United Technologies Corp.
	Army help sought to rescue foresters Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, March 4 Thickly-forested Sinhasan Pahar (hills) near Diphu in Assam’s Karbi Anglong Hill district is a bastion of tribal insurgents belonging to the Karbi and Kuki tribes. The area is a biodiversity hot spot known for producing quality ginger. Notwithstanding looming insecurity, Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) of Karbi Anglong East forest division Abhijit Rabha, a dedicated and efficient official of the department, has gone to Sinhasan hills on several occasions in the past to carry out survey of forest resources of the area hardly visited by any senior forest officials because of presence of insurgents. He was not spared on his last visit on Saturday by insurgents who abducted Rabha and an accompanying forest range officer Ranjan Baruah while they were returning from Sinhasan hills after carrying out survey that started on February 27. Rabha, a 1984 batch Indian Forest Service officer, had led a 60-member survey team that included two Japanese scientists. Thirty members of the team, including the two Japanese scientists, returned to Diphu on February 29. DB Shetty, SP, Karbi Anglong, said the two forest officers were kidnapped from near Borlag under Manja police station. Police suspects involvement of a newly-formed militant outfit called Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger (KPLT) in the abduction. Another militant group called Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) is also active in Sinhasan hills. “They were returning from Sinhasan hills when their vehicle was stopped by militants. The other forest personnel in the vehicle were allowed to go while Rabha and Baruah were detained by the ultras,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Suresh Chand said. Militants later called up forest officials demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore for release of the two officers. Meanwhile, the police has sought assistance from the Army to rescue the two forest officials. Police claimed CCF Rabha and his team had gone to insurgent-infested Sinhasan hills without proper police security though he could have availed of security cover on request. Sources said Rabha, who had gone to the area on several occasions in the past, had set up a good rapport with local tribal village heads and, hence, chose to bank on the goodwill of people rather than seeking heavy police escort.
	Kingfisher scotches shutdown fears Mumbai, March 4 Trying to scotch speculation of a shut down, cash-strapped Kingfisher today said it was in talks with tax authorities to get the accounts of the airlines un-frozen and asked its pilots, skipping flying duties, to fall in line. But pilots protesting delay in payment of salaries claimed that Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal had warned them during a meeting on Thursday that the extreme step could be resorted to, indicating the airlines' closure, if they don't resume duties. "Sanjay Aggarwal met with a group of pilots to appeal to them not to stay away from flying duties which would potentially affect the operating schedule. At no time was there any suggestion that Kingfisher Airlines would shut down," a statement by Prakash Mirpuri, vice president, corporate communications of the airlines, said. "We are trying our very best to cooperate with the tax authorities and get our accounts un-frozen at the earliest so that normalcy could be restored, employee salaries paid and further aircraft recoveries started," he said. A different version of the meeting was given by the pilots. "If you want to fly, you fly and if you dont want to fly, you are free to do so. Otherwise, we will have to think of the extreme option (of completely closing)," the pilots quoted Aggarwal as having told them. Aggarwal also told the delegation he cannot commit anything before March 10, a pilot, who was part of the delegation, said. The development comes on the heels of the service tax department freezing as many as 40 bank accounts of Kingfisher Airlines for non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs 40 crore. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has indicated that flight license could be temporarily suspended, instead of being cancelled, to give the airline a chance to resume operations once it sorts out its problems. Aviation regulater DGCA has already warned Kingfisher that its financial problems should not impinge on safety. — PTI
	Shehla Masood case CBI conducts searches at BJP MLA's premises Bhopal, March 4 The premises of BJP MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh were today searched by the CBI in connection with the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood. The CBI team, which carried out the searches at the MLA's office at "45 Bungalow" this evening, refused to talk to the media. The MLA, who reached the office as soon as the CBI team entered his bungalow, also left the place soon. CBI officials had last night interrogated Singh for nearly six hours. Later, he had told the media that, "The CBI had called me for questioning and I have told them whatever information I had on the issue. Whenever the agency would call me again, I will go there." The BJP leader is alleged to have had close relations with Masood as well as arrested mastermind Zahida Parvez that resulted in latter's resentment towards the activist. The agency had recovered a personal diary of Parvez in which the investigators claimed to have found several entries showing her obsession with the legislator. Parvez allegedly came in contact with the MLA in 2007 and developed an intimate relationship with him. — PTI
	Italy expects a ‘fair’ trial for marines Kollam (Kerala), March 4 Italy’s Deputy Foreign Minister Steffan de Mistura, now in Kerala in connection with the case of shooting of two fishermen, today said Italy expects the trial of the Italian marines to be fair as the judiciary was independent in India. "What I could learn from here is that judiciary is independent, fair and transparent in India. So, we expect the trial in the case to be fair with judges hearing both sides," Mistura told reporters here. On the intervention of Italian government in the case, he said, "We are only doing what Indians would have done in a similar situation." Mistura said. — PTI