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Govt moves
Bill in LS to replace collegium system Juvenile justice Bill tabled in LS Four IIITs may soon get degree granting powers |
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AIADMK’s M Thambidurai set to be LS Deputy Speaker
Under fire, Rekha makes ‘rare appearance’ in RS
TDP, TMC spar over room
When a Sikh MP spoke in Bangla
Dhyan Chand’s name proposed for Bharat Ratna
Tata Camelot will ruin Sukhna, Shivalik range, Delhi HC told
Online system to help bring back remains of Indians killed abroad
Uttarakhand Guv Qureshi ‘told to quit’
SC order on Gujarat IAS officer’s plea today
DRDO to help Army fight thrombosis in Siachen
Cook held for murder at Selja's house
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Govt
moves Bill in LS to replace collegium system New Delhi, August 12 Introducing the Constitutional 121st Amendment Bill 2014, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government didn’t intend to interfere with the judicial independence but “parliamentary supremacy and separation of powers as envisaged in the Constitution are equally important”. The minister wondered why one didn’t have judges like VR Krishna Iyer and HR Khanna today. Recalling four failed previous attempts to bring constitutional amendment Bills to replace the collegium system, he said the practice had prevented accomplished judges of several high courts from making it to the apex court. The government rejected the accusations of rushing the Bill and said, "We are not rushing the Bill. There have been four attempts for constitutional amendments and seven recommendations by committees over the years emphasising that the collegium system should go. Our move is the culmination of the efforts of 20 years. We are about to create history." The Bill is likely to be passed tomorrow. The need for the Bill, the law minister said, was rooted in the 1993 judgment of the Supreme Court whereby the collegiums system was established. This judgment, he said, reversed the context of apex court’s role in judicial appointments as against what the constitution had provided. Article 124 of the Constitution says the President shall appoint a judge in consultation with the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the High Court Chief Justice in the case of high courts. But in 1993, a nine-judge SC bench headed by late Justice JS Verma established the primary of judiciary in judicial appointments, relegating the executive to the background. "The 1993 judgment said the Chief Justice will appoint the judges in consultation with the President. It reversed the constitutional message. The new message was that the executive will only have an informal arrangement to be communicated. It can seek reconsideration of proposals but if the collegium sticks by them, the executive must defer," said Prasad days after the government had a face off with the CJI over the former's rejection of Gopal Subramaniam's elevation as SC judge. All parties, except the MIM, backed the Bill with the Congress and the AIADMK seeking some amendments. The Congress wants the commission to have a woman member and the AIADMK wants the role of state governments in the appointment of HC judges guaranteed constitutionally. TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee asked how a 2001 batch judge of one high court is being appointed as a Supreme Court judge as against a 1996 batch judge of another HC. “You need good relations with superior judges to get appointed,” he said backing the Bill. The government justified the move quoting BR Ambedkar on the need to balance the roles of judiciary and executive in the matter. Law Minister also quoted Justice Verma, author of the controversial 1993 judgment, who once admitted: “My 1993 judgment was very much misunderstood and admitted. Its working is...raising questions which can’t be called unreasonable. …Some kind of re-think is required.” National Judicial Commission on anvil
Commission’s salient features
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Juvenile justice Bill tabled in LS
New Delhi, August 12 “The current provisions under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, are ill-equipped to tackle child offenders in the 16- to 18-year-age group. The National Crime Records Bureau data establishes that crimes by children aged 16 to 18 have increased specially in certain categories of heinous offences. Hence the new Bill,” stated Women and Child Development Minister Meneka Gandhi while introducing the Bill, which replaces the 14-year-old JJ Act. Importantly, the government has revised the draft cleared by the Cabinet to say in the Bill today that no child convicted for heinous offences (defined as IPC offences for which minimum punishment is seven years) would be sentenced to death under “any existing law”. It, however, allows convicts to be sentenced for life with the possibility of release (parole, bail, etc.,). There are safeguards for 16- to 18-year-old child offenders found committing offences like rapes, murders, kidnappings, etc. The Bill says the Juvenile Justice Board (which receives children in conflict with the law) will first conduct a preliminary enquiry “with regard to the mental and physical ability of the child to commit such an offence and his ability to understand its consequences, and then order (or not) if he should to be tried as an adult”. The JJ Board will then send its report to the Children’s Court for trial of the offender. Importantly, the Bill protects children charged with heinous offences from the vagaries of the adult courts by saying says only children’s courts will try them. How this will happen is unclear as children’s courts are sessions courts established under the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, to try adult accused of crimes against children. With the new Bill, they will try even children accused of heinous offences whose victims can be both children and adults. No child, hence, convicted (16- to 18-year- old) would be sent to jail until he attains age of 21. “Such a child convict must be kept in a place of safety and state governments must provide one such place in every state, the Bill says.
Adoptions made easier
The Bill fast tracks adoptions to four months by making it mandatory for orphaned and abandoned children to be declared legally free within two months of being received by child welfare committees (who deal with children in need of care) and mandating court orders within two months of case filing. A child, whom specialised adoption agency fails to place in adoption after declaration of legally free status, can be placed in inter-country adoption. Also, all NRIs will be treated as Indians for the purpose of adoptions. Earlier, they were treated as foreigners and had to go for inter country adoptions.
What the Bill says
Other salient features
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Four IIITs may soon get degree granting powers
New Delhi, August 12 The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill 2014, introduced in the Lok Sabha today by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, seeks to declare the following four IIITs as the institutes of national importance on lines of the IITs and NITs. These four IIITs are – the IIIT Allahabad, the IIIT Gwalior, the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur and the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram. Once the Bill is passed by both the Houses of Parliament, the institutes will get statutory powers being independent authorities and will have their own IIIT Council to take decisions on policy matters. The Bill has been brought to “develop manpower for different areas of knowledge economy, education, training in IT”. The statement explaining the Act says: The Bill seeks to provide the four existing IIITs funded by the central government independent statutory status with uniform governance structure and policy framework as also to declare these as institutions of national importance and enable them to grant degrees to their students in the academic courses provided by them.”
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AIADMK’s M Thambidurai set to be LS Deputy Speaker
New Delhi, August 12 The formal motion for election of the Deputy Speaker will be held at noon tomorrow. Five-term MP from Tamil Nadu, Thambidurai, 67, will hold the distinction of being elected to the post for the second time. He was the Deputy Speaker in the 8th Lok Sabha during 1985-89, when the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi held a massive 400-plus seat majority in the House. At that time too, the party was the second largest party in the Opposition after Telugu Desam, a position similar to one after Congress in the current House. A total of 12 sets of nominations were filed on his behalf with 11 parties — the BJP, Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam Party, Lok Jan Shakti Party, AIADMK, Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, Telengana Rastra Samiti and YSR Congress Party — supporting him. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu coordinated the exercise of filing nominations on behalf of Thambidurai. He spoke to leaders of various parties including and sought their support for unanimous election of Thambi Durai for the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha. MPs of the AIADMK met in the chamber of Naidu this morning where Thambidurai signed several sets of nomination papers. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Santosh Gangwar worked with other parties to complete the nomination papers including `proposers and seconders. On behalf of BJP, two sets of nominations were filed with Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj as proposers and Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi and LK Advani as seconders. Other leaders who proposed the candidature included Mallikarjuna Kharge, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Anant Geete, Tariq Anwar (NCP) K Srinivasa Rao (TDP), A P Jitender Reddy (TRS), B.Renuka (YSRCP), Sudip Bandopadhyay (TMC), and Bhartruhari Mehatab
(BJD).
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Under fire, Rekha makes ‘rare appearance’ in RS
New Delhi, August 12 The 59-year-old actor was the cynosure of all eyes as she entered the Parliament complex wearing a golden silk sari. She acknowledged the greetings of media personnel and Parliament staff with folded hands before making her way into the Upper House. Rekha was seen talking to social worker and another Nominated member Anu Agha in the House. Both left the House together soon after it was adjourned for lunch. Rekha and Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar came in for sharp criticism in the House last week with members complaining that they had no respect for Parliament. However, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien informed the members that Sachin had attended the House on three occasions and Rekha on seven occasions ever since the two were nominated in April 2012. As per the Constitution, action against a member could only be taken if he/she remains absent for a total of 60 days. Tendulkar moved an application in the House yesterday, seeking its permission to remain absent during the ongoing session because of personal and professional commitments as also certain family exigencies.
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TDP, TMC spar over room
New Delhi, August 12 The TDP has been given a room on the third floor of Parliament House. However, the party, which has been using the room "for the past 30 years" was in no mood to vacate it. Yesterday, after finding that the nameplates of their leaders had been removed from outside the room, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in this regard. Today, TMC members Sudip Bandopadhyay, Kalyan Banerjee and Sultan Ahmed visited the room and put their nameplates outside. They also held a brief meeting inside the room at around 2.30 pm. But half-an-hour later, TDP MPs arrived there in whose presence the nameplates of their party leaders YS Chowdhary, Thota Narsimhan and CM Ramesh were re-installed there. — PTI
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When a Sikh MP spoke in Bangla
New Delhi, August 12 As Ahluwalia spoke in chaste
Bangla, MPs in the House rushed to give him a sobriquet: “The Sikh who speaks
Bangla”. The occasion was Zero Hour and Ahluwalia seized it to demand the inclusion of “Kamtapuri” in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution which provides official recognition to 22 Indian languages. As a representative of Bengali speaking people in Darjeeling, Ahluwalia recalled the majesty of Kamtapuri language which is spoken by the local Rajvanshi tribe of north Bengal. He also mentioned in his speech that Baishila Roy, a courageous leader who fought for the dignity of the Rajvanshis should be made part of the school syllabi in Bengal. Comparing Roy with martyr Bhagat Singh, Ahluwalia said, “Only when Kamtapuri is given official status will books accommodate the legends of the Rajvanshis and DD and AIR will produce programmes to promote the language further.”
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Dhyan Chand’s name proposed for Bharat Ratna
New Delhi, August 12 The Home Ministry which received several recommendations to bestow the honour on the late hockey wizard has forwarded these to the Prime Minister's Office. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju informed this in a written reply to a question by Bhairon Prasad Mishra. Over the past few days, there were speculative reports of the government planning to announce the Bharat Ratna ahead of Independence Day. The speculation had been fuelled by the Home Ministry placing an order of five Bharat Ratna medallions. The Sports Ministry had, last year, recommended Dhyan Chand's name for the Bharat Ratna but the PMO conferred the honour on cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who became the youngest recipient, despite the former hockey captain being one of the overwhelming favourites to win the award. Born in 1905, Dhyan Chand is considered the greatest field hockey player of all time. He won three Olympic gold medals for India between 1928 and 1936. Dhyan Chand was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1956. He passed away in New Delhi in 1979 at the age of 79. Legendary athlete Milkha Singh said: “Dhyan Chand was one of the finest sportsmen from India... I always believed that he should perhaps have been the first to receive the Bharat Ratna.”
Finally, recognition
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Tata Camelot will ruin Sukhna, Shivalik range, Delhi HC told New Delhi, August 12 “The project in Naya Gaon in Mohali district is completely against everything that Chandigarh stands for,” senior advocate PS Patwalia contended before a Bench comprising Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw. He was arguing for advocate-petitioner Alok Jagga and the Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation. Patwalia said the area was in the no-construction, no-development zone and the project was in conflict with the regional plan, accepted by Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, besides the Centre. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had raised doubts as to whether the Punjab Government, while giving clearance to the project, had taken into account the “extreme pressure” the construction of huge concrete towers would put on water and electricity supply, road traffic, wildlife, besides the air and noise pollution it would cause in the ecologically fragile area, the senior advocate said. Contending that the project area fell in the catchment area of the lake, he said the Punjab and Haryana HC had accepted the authenticity of a map, prepared by the Survey of India and submitted by the Centre, confirming this fact. The Supreme Court, while transferring the PILs to the Delhi HC on April 22 this year, had asked the HC to primarily decide, by the end of this month, as to whether the project was in the catchment area. The SC had clarified that the project would be in jeopardy if it was found to be in the catchment area. The Chandigarh Administration had also complained that the Punjab Government had unilaterally notified the building bylaws in July 2010, two years after approving the master plan for the area, Patwalia pleaded. Allowing the Tata project, involving construction of 19 towers with 7-28 stories and 1,794 residential flats, would trigger a rat race for putting up similar projects in the area and this would prevent the flow of water into the Sukhna lake, which was vital for recharging the groundwater, the only source of water supply for Chandigarh, he said. Appearing for the company, senior advocate Gopal Subramanian disputed the veracity of the map as according to this even the HC in Chandigarh was located in the catchment area. Patwalia, however, said the HC was constructed prior to the demarcation done in 2004. Patwalia also questioned the Centre’s silence on the issue. The standing committee of the National Wildlife Board had clarified that the project would require wildlife clearance in addition to environmental go-ahead as it was close to the sanctuary, he noted. So far, the controversial project had received approvals only from Punjab government as the 26-acre land had originally been allotted to MLAs who would now get one flat each worth about Rs 4 crore, besides about Rs 85-95 lakh from the company, he said. The arguments will
continue tomorrow.
What happened in the court
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Online system to help bring back remains of Indians killed abroad
New Delhi, August 12 Launching the portal, External Affairs Minister and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said it was “an important step” to help the Indian diaspora, especially the seven million Indians in the ECR countries. The portal has been launched for the 17 ECR countries — Malaysia, Jordan, the UAE, Yemen, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Thailand. The facility would soon be extended to the other Indian missions abroad. Swaraj said she had been approached by numerous Indian families with queries about how to get repatriated the bodies of their kin who have died in a foreign land. The MOIA held meetings with MPs of the different states to learn about the problems faced while repatriating bodies, and later called the heads of Indian missions of ECR countries. Later, Swaraj gave directions to the MOIA to launch a portal that would help families track the remains of their kin. She clarified that it would not matter if the Indian who died had travelled to the foreign illegally. “It is the responsibility of the government to bring back the bodies safely,” she said.
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Uttarakhand Guv Qureshi ‘told to quit’
Dehradun, August 12 Dr Aziz Qureshi, a Congress leader of Madhya Pradesh, was appointed Governor of Uttarakhand in 2012. Interestingly, it was Qureshi himself who had said he had been asked by the Union Home Secretary to put in his papers. He told mediapersons in New Delhi that he was asked to resign by the Centre last month. Qureshi, who was appointed as caretaker Governor of Uttar Pradesh after Governor BL Joshi resigned, was mired in controversies during his fortnight-long stay in Lucknow Raj Bhawan. As caretaker Governor, Qureshi started holding ‘janta darbars’ much to the embarrassment of the Samajwadi Party state government. He also annoyed the state BJP leaders by giving permission for Maulana Jauhar Ali University of UP minister Azam khan at Rampur. He also found himself in controversy over the increasing rape cases in UP. He reportedly said that even the God can not prevent rapes in Uttar Pradesh.
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SC order on Gujarat IAS officer’s plea today
New Delhi, August 12 A Bench comprising Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice NV Ramana reserved its verdict after hearing arguments by Sharma’s counsel Sunil Fernandes. The Bench did not allow the advocate to raise any personal allegations against Modi, including the alleged phone tapping which had come to be known as “snoopgate,” as the petitioner had given an undertaking to the court earlier that he would refrain from doing so. The Bench clarified that it was only ensuring that the petitioner stood by his commitment and was not guided by anybody’s personality or the stability of the government at the Centre. Advocate Fernandes contended that his client was being targeted by the state government as Sharma’s brother who was a Gujarat cadre IPS officer had refused to toe the official line in many cases. Rejecting his allegations, the state government said Sharma was under surveillance for illegal financial transactions, including a land scam in the earthquake-hit area.
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DRDO to help Army fight thrombosis in Siachen
Leh, August 12 Stated to be the first study of its kind in the world, it involves closely screening soldiers in three infantry battalions during their move from sea level to deployment in the Siachen sector. Thrombosis is the development of a blood clot inside the brain or veins and can be life threatening or result in serious medical disorders. The higher incidence of thrombosis at extreme altitudes, resulting from low oxygen levels and restricted mobility, is a major concern for the Army. In the first phase, scientists screened personnel in an infantry battalion that was moving from Rajasthan to Siachen, first at their halt in Jammu, then three weeks later in Tangste at 14,000 ft. Three months later after the soldiers had undergone training at the Siachen Battle School, they were rescreened just before they went up to the Siachen Glacier at heights of 18,000-21,000 ft. The troops were again screened after deinduction from the Glacier “We screened troops for about 40 medical and physiological parameters and had eliminated about four per cent who had shown sympotoms of any disorder like hypertension or diabetes,” Dr MA Zahid, Group Head, Genomics Division at the Defence Institute of Physiological Research, who is conducting the study, said. “Of those who were fit, 15 persons developed thrombosis while deployed on the glacier. While the probability of developing thrombosis in a place like Delhi is one in 20,000, in places like Siachen it is 40 times more,” he added. The 15 persons were subjected to exhaustive screening, but no anatomical abnormity was detected in them. Scientists are now studying their genetic profile to determine whether susceptibility to thrombosis is genetically linked. Troops in two more infantry battalions scheduled for deployment in Siachen would be screened. “Our studies have found an increased activity of a key regulatory enzyme, Calpain, and further experiments revealed a critical role of this protein in high-altitude-induced thrombosis. Soldiers posted at extreme altitudes also revealed an increased activity of Calpain,” Dr Zahid said. “Calpain has been identified as a bio-marker for early diagnosis and our findings could lead to the development of therapeutics aimed at specifically preventing or treating thrombosis,” he added.
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Cook held for murder at Selja's house
New Delhi, August 12 The accused, identified as Anil (28), a resident of Madhubani, Bihar, who worked as a cook and also performed some office-related jobs, has been arrested by the police. The deceased, identified as Sanjay, was the husband of Manju who worked as domestic help at Selja's residence. Sanjay was employed at the Sena Bhavan. — PTI
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A day after the Chief Justice of India defended the collegium system of appointments to the higher judiciary, the government introduced in the Lok Sabha an ambitious constitutional amendment Bill which provides for the establishment of a National Judicial Commission for appointments of Supreme Court and High Courts Judges.
All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Munisamy Thambidurai is all set to be unanimously elected Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha tomorrow. He was the lone candidate to file nominations for the post when nominations closed at noon today.
The formal motion for election of the Deputy Speaker will be held at noon tomorrow.
Bollywood actor and nominated member of the Rajya Sabha Rekha today made a rare appearance in the Rajya
Sabha, days after she came under fire from members for remaining absent in the House.
The 59-year-old actor was the cynosure of all eyes as she entered the Parliament complex wearing a golden silk sari. She acknowledged the greetings of media personnel and Parliament staff with folded hands before making her way into the Upper House.
New Delhi, August 12
Any construction on the north of Chandigarh would prove to be disastrous for the city, the Sukhna Lake, the Shivalik range, the wildlife sanctuary and the ecology of the entire region, PIL petitioners opposing the Tata Camelot high-rise township project told the Delhi High Court today.
New Delhi, August 12
Hockey legend Dhyan Chand's name has been
recommended for the Bharat Ratna, Parliament was informed today.