N A T I O N

Pak chided for scholarships to Kashmiri students
New Delhi, March 7
“Sheeshe ke gharon mein rahne waale, doosron par pathar nahin phenkte (Those who live in glass houses don’t throw stones at others,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said today when asked for his reaction to Pakistan’s reported offer of scholarships to 67 Kashmiri students who were suspended from a university in Meerut for celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in an Asia Cup cricket match in Bangladesh on Sunday.

SC notice to Centre over Telangana
New Delhi, March 7
The Supreme Court today sought the Centre’s response to about 20 PILs filed by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Reddy and others challenging the creation of Telangana.

Delhi House dissolution: SC notice to Cong, BJP 
New Delhi, March 7 
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the BJP and the Congress seeking their response to Aam Aadmi Party’s plea for dissolution of the Delhi Assembly instead of keeping the House in suspended animation only to encourage defections.

214 counsels appointed to clear backlog
Chandigarh, March 7
In a bid to bring down on the pendency of cases, the Central Government has appointed more than 215 lawyers as counsel for contesting its cases. As many as 189 counsel have been appointed for the courts and tribunals in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, including the high court, CAT and the Armed Forces Tribunal along with the district and subordinate courts.

Kejri: I’m not a terrorist, Modi should have met me 
Jaipur, March 7
Rebuffed by Narendra Modi, AAP leader today said he was not a terrorist and deserved to be called by him for a meeting out of courtesy.






AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal speaks to the media on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Friday. — AFP

Muzaffarnagar residents were ‘acting as couriers’
Amritsar, March 7
Preliminary investigations into the arms seizure by customs authorities at the Attari railway station yesterday revealed that Muzaffarnagar residents were acting as couriers. They were to hand over the consignment to one Rashid in Delhi. Rashid is also a resident of Muzaffarnagar area in UP).


Four of the six accused in police custody in Amritsar on Friday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Pak chided for scholarships to Kashmiri students
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 7
“Sheeshe ke gharon mein rahne waale, doosron par pathar nahin phenkte (Those who live in glass houses don’t throw stones at others,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said today when asked for his reaction to Pakistan’s reported offer of scholarships to 67 Kashmiri students who were suspended from a university in Meerut for celebrating Pakistan’s victory over India in an Asia Cup cricket match in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam had yesterday stated that Islamabad had seen media reports that there were all-night celebrations and 67 Kashmiri students were expelled. "If these Kashmiri students want to come and pursue their studies in Pakistan, our hearts and academic institutions are open to them," she said.

SC notice to Centre over Telangana
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 7
The Supreme Court today sought the Centre’s response to about 20 PILs filed by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Reddy and others challenging the creation of Telangana.

A Bench comprising HL Dattu and SA Bobde issued notice to the Centre, but refused to stay the move to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. This could be considered only by a Constitution Bench comprising five or more judges, the apex court said, clarifying that the petitions were being referred to a larger Bench.

Earlier, the SC had rejected dozens of PILs on the issue on various occasions, observing that the SC had no jurisdiction to prevent either the Union Cabinet or Parliament from considering and approving the Bill on Telangana. Now that the legislative process was over following Parliamentary approval on February 20, the SC would go into the constitutional validity of the bifurcation.

According to the Union Home Ministry, June 2 would be the foundation day of Telangana and the new state would come into being that day. 

Delhi House dissolution: SC notice to Cong, BJP 
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 7 
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the BJP and the Congress seeking their response to Aam Aadmi Party’s plea for dissolution of the Delhi Assembly instead of keeping the House in suspended animation only to encourage defections.

During the hearing, a Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and NV Ramana remarked that anything was possible in politics as the Congress and the BJP were on the same side in the House for preventing the erstwhile Arvind Kejriwal government from introducing the Jan Lokpal Bill but letting the passage of the vote on account. 

The SC issued notice as Attorney General GE Vahanvati contended that the Lieutenant Governor did not accept outgoing AAP government’s recommendation for dissolution as the political situation was fluid and the possibility of the BJP staking its claim could not be ruled out. He cited a statement made by BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu in Parliament to this effect.

214 counsels appointed to clear backlog
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 7
In a bid to bring down on the pendency of cases, the Central Government has appointed more than 215 lawyers as counsel for contesting its cases. As many as 189 counsel have been appointed for the courts and tribunals in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, including the high court, CAT and the Armed Forces Tribunal along with the district and subordinate courts.

Another 24 counsel have been appointed for Jammu and Kashmir, while five have been appointed for Himachal Pradesh. The appointments were made after a “selection committee” headed by Additional Solicitor-General of India Mohan Jain met last month to appoint new advocates and review the existing panel for the high court, CAT, the AFT and the subordinate courts. The recommendations were approved by the Union Law Ministry on February 19.

Available information suggests that the appointments have been made for streamlining justice delivery system and also better implementation of the national litigation policy. 

Kejri: I’m not a terrorist, Modi should have met me 

Jaipur, March 7
Rebuffed by Narendra Modi, AAP leader today said he was not a terrorist and deserved to be called by him for a meeting out of courtesy.

"Now I wanted to meet him, but we were stopped five km away from his residence. I am not a terrorist. Being an ex-CM, I deserve a courtesy call from Modi, instead we were stopped. This is not democracy," he told reporters. Trashing claims of development and good governance in Gujarat, Kejriwal said the state "has nothing but rampant corruption" and the voice of farmers was being suppressed.

Kejriwal, who toured Gujarat for the last two days, said a picture totally different from reality was presented about Gujarat during the last one year by Modi and a section of media under a "big conspiracy".

"What I saw in the last three days was totally different from what is being presented by Gujarat. Our teams visited villages and exposed the truth. When locals came to know about the AAP visits, they called us and told us the reality," Kejriwal said at a seminar -- 'Pillars of Democracy- Shaking Us, Waking Us?' -- here.

"Corruption is rampant in Gujarat. I was told that rates for transfers and appointments are fixed. For the job of state registrar, the rate is 33 lakh and for transfer of a DSP, Rs 2.75 crore. Without bribe, you cannot have a license or a BPL card and cannot run an industry." — PTI 

Muzaffarnagar residents were ‘acting as couriers’
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 7
Preliminary investigations into the arms seizure by customs authorities at the Attari railway station yesterday revealed that Muzaffarnagar residents were acting as couriers. They were to hand over the consignment to one Rashid in Delhi. Rashid is also a resident of Muzaffarnagar area in UP).

Earlier, Custom authorities handed them over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Attari in the morning while top intelligence agencies were interrogating the six accused, including two women.

The probe conducted by custom and GRP police so far revealed that the accused brought the consignment from one Hamida Begum, a resident of Lahore, and these were to be handed over to Rashid in Delhi.

"The juicer and meat mincing machines were handed over to them by Hamida Begum from Lahore. She had asked them to hand over the machines to Rashid," said Rashpal Singh Ghuman, SP, GRP.

He said it appeared from preliminary investigations that they did not know about the presence of pistols in the machines. However, he added that further investigations were under progress in this connection.

"The foreign and Pakistan-made weapons seized from them are very sophisticated in nature, said Ghuman. The officials also did not rule out the possibility of these arms to be used in the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar area in order to disrupt the peace during the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, all six Muzaffarnagar residents today remanded them in three-day police custody. They were produced before the duty magistrate in the evening. They would be presented in the court on March 10.