The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

BJP sticks to its view
Tribune News service

New Delhi, August 22
Undeterred by the Supreme Court’s question regarding status of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the BJP today stood by its stand — the Congress’ bid for the post was unjustified.

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi termed the post a virtual appointment by the people of the country. “A party’s strength in the Lok Sabha is a reflection of the will of the people,” she argued, adding that this was not the first time that the House would be functioning without the Leader of Opposition.

“There have been seven instances in the past when there was no Leader of Opposition. This would be the eight time,” she said.

Responding to the apex court’s interpretation of the Leader of Opposition provision in relation to the appointment of the Lokpal (the Leader of Opposition is a selection committee member), Lekhi maintained that when such a requirement arises, someone from the Opposition could participate in the proceedings.

Though the Congress called the BJP’s attempts to stall its claim “an attempt by the government to undermine democratic institutions and the Supreme Court”, sources in the saffron party argue that the judiciary should not interfere in legislative issues where rules have been laid down and specified.

Uttarakhand Governor not told to quit, says Rajnath

Rajnath Singh On Board Special Plane, Aug 22
The government today denied claims made by Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi that he had been asked to quit and said an “appropriate response” will be filed before Supreme Court soon.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, “There was no move to remove him. He holds the Constitutional post with the pleasure of the President.”

The statement from the minister came a day after the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre on the Uttarakhand Governor’s plea challenging Narendra Modi government’s move to ease him out of office, bringing the controversy over removal of UPA-appointed Governors under judicial lens.

The apex court had also issued notice to Home Secretary Anil Goswami who had allegedly threatened Governor Qureshi to resign from the post or face removal by Centre. However, the Home Minister maintained that no pressure was exerted for Qureshi’s removal and said that a response will be filed before the apex court soon.

Qureshi is the first Governor to move Supreme Court against the Modi government. — PTI

There was no move to remove him. He holds the constitutional post with the pleasure of the President.
—Rajnath Singh, Home Minister

No tension on border, says IAF chief
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Bangalore, August 22
Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha today dismissed the recent border skirmishes between India and Pakistan as “nothing exceptional” and said things were
“normal” at the border.

“We are always prepared but there is no tension as such if you ask me. It is normal,” Raha told reporters on the sidelines of the annual conference of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine inaugurated by him.

“There is nothing exceptional. It has been happening. Our response has been appropriate. The Army is there and the BSF is there. The Air Force is not directly involved but things are not as bad as (they are made out to be),” the IAF chief said.

Asked about the IAF’s estimation about the indigenous projects such as Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Raha said a “lot of thrust was being given on indigenous production of military hardware. “This government is also very serious about pushing it further to take it to a higher level and obviously the Armed forces are looking forward to indigenous products,” he said.

“We do not want to buy weapon system and hardware from outside. We should be self-reliant and there has been lot of activities in this direction. LCA will come soon,” Raha said.

SC: Gifts can’t have conditions under Muslim Law
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, August 22
The Supreme Court has ruled that under the Mohammadan Law gifts cannot have conditions. In case of a conditional gift, the gift would be valid while the conditions would be void, it explained.

A Bench comprising Justices JS Khehar and RF Nariman gave the ruling to resolve a dispute over a house gifted by Sheikh Hussein to his wife Banu Bibi in 1952 in Andhra Pradesh. Banu Bibi sold the property in 1978 and the dispute arose following her death in 1989 with Hussein’s legal heirs challenging the validity of the sale, citing the conditions attached to the gift.

Citing a “Digest of Moohummudan Law” published in 1875, the apex court said “under Mohammadan Law, a gift has to be unconditional. Therefore, conditions expressed in a gift are to be treated as void. A conditional gift is valid, but the conditions are void.”

The trial court had upheld the sale in 1998, but the sessions court and the High Court had ruled otherwise. The SC restored the trial court order and set aside the subsequent verdicts of the sessions court in May 2004 and the HC in August 2004.

Conditions to a gift would be valid only if it was specified that the transfer was meant for conferring only user/enjoyment rights, the apex court clarified.

“We are of the considered view that in a gift which contemplates the transfer of the corpus, there is no question of such transfer being conditional. The transfer is absolute. Conditions imposed on a gift of the corpus are void,” it said.

“In other words, the gift of the corpus has to be unconditional. Conditions are however permissible if the gift is merely of a usufruct. Therefore, the gift of a usufruct can validly impose a limit, in point of time (as interest, restricted to the life of the done)” the SC explained.

The SC concluded that the transfer had conferred ownership rights on Banu Bibi and as such she had every right to sell it. The Bench delivered the verdict on the appeal by Sreeramachandra Avadhani, who purchased the property.

The case

A Bench comprising Justices JS Khehar and RF Nariman gave the ruling to resolve a dispute over a house gifted by Sheikh Hussein to his wife Banu Bibi in 1952 in Andhra Pradesh

Banu Bibi sold the property in 1978 and the dispute arose following her death in 1989 with Hussein’s legal heirs challenging the validity of the sale, citing the
conditions attached to the gift

SC notice to Centre, EC on Congress plea
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, August 22
The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and the Election Commission to respond within eight weeks to a petition by the Congress challenging the Delhi High Court ruling that the party had received donations during 2007-10 in violation of the ban under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha said the court would have to interpret the FCRA’s implications for political parties. The HC had given the ruling on March 28, 2014, on a PIL, contending that the Congress and the BJP had received illegal foreign funds. The HC had asked the government to have a relook at the issue and re-appraise the receipts of the political parties to identify foreign contributions and take suitable action within six months.

Appearing for the PIL petitioner, counsel Prashant Bhushan pleaded with the SC Bench not to entertain the appeal, contending that there was no provision in the FCRA or the Representation of People Act that allowed political parties to receive funds from any company or entity incorporated overseas even if its shares were held by Indian citizens.

Arguing for the Congress, senior counsel Kapil Sibal sought interim protection against coercion by the government or the EC on the issue, but the Bench said the party could approach the court in that event.

In the appeal, the Congress said it had not concealed or suppressed the contributions received from two companies —- Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa Ltd —- and had duly declared them in the returns submitted to the EC as required under the RP Act, 1950. There was also no suspicion that the amount was utilised for unlawful activities.

Curfew relaxed in Assam town
Joint action committee lifts economic blockade against Nagaland
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service

Guwahati, August 22
Curfew was relaxed for 12 hours today in Golaghat town of eastern Assam with the situation limping back to normalcy. However, Army personnel are still patrolling the town where the curfew had to be imposed after three persons were killed in the police firing on Wednesday last.

The joint action committee of the seven organisations today withdrew the economic blockade against Nagaland after it had been invited for a round of talks by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. The committee had been protesting against the state government’s failure to protect people living close to the disputed Assam-Nagaland boundary in Golaghat district.

The Chief Minister announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia each to the next of kin of those killed in police firing in Golaghat and Rs 50,000 to those who sustained serious injuries. Gogoi also announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of Ajit Tanti, who died after being run over by a speeding truck while fleeing police lathicharge. Two persons died on the spot in the firing while another succumbed to injuries later. Fifteen persons were injured in the police firing at Arengapara and Golaghat on August 20.

One has been discharged from the hospital and the rest are undergoing treatment at KK Civil Hospital, Golaghat, Jorhat Medical College Hospital, Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh and Gauhati Medical College & Hospital.

The Chief Minister has already announced Rs 8 lakh ex-gratia each to the next of kin of the nine persons who died in violent incidents along the inter-state border on August 12-13 last.

Gogoi assured an adequate compensation to people hit by violence along the Assam-Nagaland border. He said the state government would take care of the affected and rehabilitate them at the earliest.

He claimed that the government had taken steps to augment security to instill confidence among the affected and requests had been made to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister for additional companies of CRPF for rapid deployment in the disputed area belt along with new security pickets in the affected villages.

Clean chit to Modi in poll code breach case
Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, Aug 22
Bringing the case to an end, Metropolitan Magistrate M S Patel ruled that there was no case against Modi under the RPA as the alleged display of the BJP symbol within 100 m radius of the polling booth was neither deliberate nor pre-planned.

The crime branch police, who examined 56 witnesses including some media personnel, submitted a 1,500-odd page closure report stating that it had not found any evidence against Modi to implicate him in the case.

The “selfie” displaying the BJP symbol taken by him while coming out of the polling booth was for his personal use and not meant for public display. But the media photographers clicked his photograph while taking the self-portrait on his mobile which later went viral.

The police report also pointed out that neither Modi nor the BJP had invitated the media for the press conference. Besides, his address was impromptu. It also claimed that the venue of Modi’s talk to the media was outside the 100 m radius of the polling booth.

The complaint was filed by a worker of the Aam Aadmi Party claiming that Modi, the then CM of Gujarat, had addressed a press conference within 100 m radius of the polling booth and while talking to the media he publicly displayed “lotus,” the BJP election symbol. He, thereby, violated the RPA as the polling was still on when Modi projected the party symbol on the television.

On the basis of the complaint, the Election Commission had asked the state Director General of Police and the state election commission to inquire the matter.

The complainant, who was present in the court, said he accepted the metropolitan court’s verdict on the issue and would not pursue the case further.

Help nation reduce reliance on imports, Prez, PM tell IITs
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 22
President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi today did some straight talk with the heads of Indian Institutes of Technology, urging them to help reduce India’s dependence on imports in defence and security.

In the first meeting of the Chairmen of Boards of Governors and Directors of IITs called by the President today, the challenge thrown at IITs was: “Can we produce solutions for day-to-day problems of people and locally produce sensitive security-related equipment such as currency and tear gas?”

“We are critically dependent on imports, ranging from defence equipment to health to sensitive and security-related items such as currency ink and tear gas. I refuse to believe that India does not have the talent to make these things…the IITs should take up this challenge,” Modi said.

He especially invited the institutes to help achieve “Housing for All” by developing technology to enable rapid construction of economical and eco-friendly houses. His second challenge for IITs was: “Develop eco-friendly innovations for Indian Railways.”

The President asked the IITs to help realise the PM’s vision of “Make in India” and “Made in India”. He was interested in knowing how the IITs would in future become better institutions.

The IITs were asked to develop a roadmap for the same though the task won’t be easy given 10 to 52 per cent vacancy in the 16 IITs, the average vacancy being 37 per cent, a concern the President flagged today, adding that the institutes should continue to attach importance to rankings.

In the 2013 global rankings, none of the Indian institutes made it to the top 200. Ever since then, the government has been working on developing national rankings to judge central institutions better. The PM today again asked the IITs to come up with national ranking formula. It is learnt that the IITs shared with the gathering a blueprint of the national ranking system which is expected to be rolled out in 2015.

Another issue flagged by them was how IITs could use science, technology and innovationfor growth. The President, while referring to the need to skill 500 million people by 2022, said the ICT programmes must be converged with the skilling programme to reap the demographic dividend.

Resolve Lankan Tamils’ problem politically: India

New Delhi, August 22
India today called for a political resolution of the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka, addressing substantially the aspirations of the Tamil community based on equality, dignity, justice and self-respect within the framework of united island nation.

This was conveyed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to a delegation of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which rules Jaffna Province of Sri Lanka, that called on her. The delegation said India could play a major role in resolving the ethnic Tamil problem in the island nation.

According to MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, the delegation would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow. After meeting the Indian minister, TNA leader R Sampanthan said, “India’s involvement in the resolution of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue is vital.”

He said, “They (people who live in Sri Lanka) have their roots in India. Their culture is Indian and everything is Indian. So, I think India is one country that can play a major role.” The delegation complained about the alleged attempts by the Sri Lankan Government to change the democratic composition of the northern province. — TNS

Bihar minister's son hospitalised after being ragged

New Delhi, August 22
Bihar cooperatives minister's son was admitted to a hospital in a critical condition after he was “ragged” in a school. “My son's condition is critical... From whatever I have got to know from the local guardian in Gwalior, it seems that my son has become a victim of ragging,” Minister Jai Kumar Singh said.

Adarsh Kumar (14), a Class-X student, was on Thursday admitted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi in a very critical condition. — IANS

Visually impaired to get extra time for UPSC exam

New Delhi, August 22
Visually impaired candidates appearing for civil services preliminary examination will get 40 minutes extra time per paper, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said today.

“All the visually impaired category candidates appearing in the civil services preliminary examination 2014 to be conducted by the UPSC on August 24 will be allowed an extra time of 20 minutes per hour for both Paper-I and Paper-II of the examination,” the Commission said in a public notice.

Thus, the visually impaired category candidates will be allowed an extra time of 40 minutes for Paper I and also an extra time of 40 minutes for Paper II of the civil services preliminary examination, it said. There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the civil services preliminary examination. Candidates are given two-hour time per paper. The announcement comes following a directive by Delhi High Court in this regard on August 19, the notice said.

In another public notice, the UPSC advised candidates not to attempt questions on English language comprehension skills asked in Paper II of the preliminary exam.

“The questions on English language comprehension skills (of Class X level) contained in each set of test booklets of Paper II are not to be attempted as these questions shall not be evaluated for gradation or merit,” it said. — PTI

Deemed varsities
UGC to submit report by Sept 30

New Delhi, August 22
The Supreme Court today extended till September 30 the deadline for the University Grants Commission (UGC) to submit its report on the educational standards of 44 deemed universities facing de-recognition threat.

Pleading that it was unable to complete its inspections and prepare its report by July 31, the UGC sought two more months for the purpose.

Granting further time, the SC Bench said no more extension would be given to the UGC. — TNS

Meet to replace plan panel on August 26
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 22
A crucial meeting on the future roadmap for the planning process and the structure of a new body that will replace the Planning Commission is slated for August 26.

The agenda for the meeting is still being finalised and the PMO has to decide if the PM, who is the chairman of the Planning Commission, will attend it or not. The government’s deadline for inviting entries from the public for the new name, logo and tagline ends on August 25. The PM will recognise the winning entry on social media forums.

With the government approving the revamp of the Planning Commission, the stage is set for a new body to replace it.

Will continue to explore oil in South China Sea: India
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 22
In what may upset China, India has decided to extend by one year its agreement for oil exploration in blocks allocated to it by Vietnam in the disputed South China Sea.

“We approach oil blocks within the framework of techno-commercial interests of our oil companies. The oil blocks were allotted for a period of two years in 2012. Our oil companies felt, based on techno-commercial reasons, that we will explore oil blocks for a further period of one year,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media while announcing that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would visit Vietnam from August 24-26.

The move reaffirms India’s position as a continuing commercial stakeholder in a region where territorial disputes between China and its Southeast nations have flared up recently. It comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in mid-September.

Swaraj’s visit to Vietnam will be keenly observed in China, given the nature of relations between Beijing and Hanoi. Her visit would pave the way for President Pranab Mukherjee’s trip to Vietnam.

Irom Sharmila re-arrested
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service

Guwahati, August 22
The freedom granted by a court to the ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sanu Sharmila lasted hardly 48 hours, as women cops whisked her away to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Science and Hospital for continuing her fast against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

She was rearrested on fresh charge of attempt to commit suicide from a makeshift shelter where she was continuing her fast. She was taken to the same hospital ward which had served as her makeshift prison for many years.

“The police rearrested Irom Sharmila this morning. She is being produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on the charge of attempt to commit suicide (Section 309 of the IPC),” Manipur Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Santosh Macherla said. She was re-arrested as her health condition deteriorated after she refused food and medical aid.