New Delhi, May 14
The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh faced acute embarrassment in the Supreme Court today as a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan directed the state to revoke the detention order against BJP leader Varun Gandhi under the dreaded National Security Act (NSA).

In fact, the Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and Deepak Verma, had almost passed an order “quashing” the order against Varun, but changed it into a directive upon the request of state’s Advocate-General (AG) Jyotinder Mishra.

The AG virtually gave an undertaking, assuring the court that the state would revoke the detention order under the NSA.

Earlier, arguing for Varun, senior counsel Harish Salve had described as “illegal” the state government’s move of challenging the “opinion” of the state Advisory Board (Detentions), comprising an Allahabad High Court Judge and two retired judges. The Board had found that there was no ground for the state to slap NSA provisions on Varun.

Under the law, the Board’s view was binding on the state government, and as such challenging it in the SC, instead of implementing it, amounted to denial of fundamental rights to his client, Salve contended.

This was the second time the state government had flouted the provisions of the law on fundamental rights, the first time being Varun’s detention under the NSA on March 29, the counsel said.

Further, the state government had challenged the Board’s view through an “intervention application” (IA) in the writ petition filed by Varun, seeking quashing of his detention order. This was also not done, he said.

The police had taken Varun into custody upon his surrender in a case filed against him for allegedly making hate speeches during campaigning in the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency. The SC had directed his release on parole till today. Pilibhit had gone to the poll in the fifth and final phase of polling.

Lucknow, May 14
Other criminal cases against Varun Gandhi are being “speedily pursued” by the state government, claimed a press release issued by the UP government here today. This followed UP revoking NSA against the BJP candidate from Pilibhit. The press release makes much of the apex court rejecting Varun Gandhi’s petition demanding Rs 10 lakh as compensation.

State government sources admitted that a poorly carried out investigation and shabbily prepared chargesheet helped Varun Gandhi getting acquitted of charges under the stringent provisions of the National Security Act.

The 13-page report of the High Court’s advisory board noted that the detenu had been admitted to Jail at 1430 hrs on March 28 while the alleged incident of violence took place at the jail gates at 1445 hrs as recorded in the FIR. Nor did the FIR allege any role of the detenu.

The board also frowned on the DM obtaining a CD of an alleged speech privately but which was neither produced before the detaining authority nor furnished to the detenu.

New Delhi, May 14
Welcoming the Supreme Court's order asking the UP government to revoke the NSA against Varun Gandhi, the BJP said today that the invocation of this provision was an act of vendetta on the part of the BSP and the Congress.

“We welcome the decision which only underlines the fact that the invocation of the NSA was an act of vendetta by the UP government,” BJP spokesperson Balbir Punj said.

He said since the Union government had endorsed this decision, it implied that the “dirty tricks departments of the BSP and the Congress were working together”.

The apex court today directed the UP government to withdraw forthwith charges under the NSA against the BJP leader, which were imposed for his alleged hate speech.— PTI

Guwahati, May 14
Even as the BJP is making an all out efforts to woo as many parties as possible to strengthen the NDA, its ‘seat-sharing partner’ in Assam, the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is dithering to take the final decision whether to join the NDA-fold right away or not.

Though AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary was present at the NDA’s show-of-strength rally at Ludhiana on last Sunday, the regional party has preferred to defer its final decision about joining the NDA till the election results are declared. The AGP actually is keeping the option open to join the Third Front in case the opportunity arises after the poll results are out.

The extended central executive committee meeting of the AGP, however, acknowledged party chief Patowary attending the NDA’s rally at Ludhiana and authorised him to take the final decision to join the NDA or not on the basis of the prevailing post-poll situation.

Patowary, meanwhile, has called for an emergent meeting of the party’s decision-taking steering committee on May 17 here to take a final decision in this regard.

AGP spokesman Apurba Kumar Bhattacharrya informed that the steering committee meeting on May 17 would take a decision on the future course of action in respect of party’s stand vis-à-vis national scenario. He said the executive committee of the party had already taken note of Patowary’s presence at the NDA’s Ludhiana rally as the ‘need of the hour’.

The AGP which fought the just held Lok Sabha polls in Assam jointly with the BJP on a ‘seat-sharing’ agreement, has been maintaining that its association with the BJP so far is limited to only seat sharing in the election to put up a joint fight against common ‘enemy’ Congress.

“Seat sharing with the BJP in polls doesn’t necessarily imply that the AGP is already part of the NDA. The party has to take a formal decision in this respect. The Third Front has also extended invitation to the party to join its fold. All depends on the situation after the poll results are out,” the AGP leader said.

Mumbai, May 14
Azharuddin Mohammad Ismail Shaikh, the 10-year-old child star of Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire”, was among several people rendered homeless after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation demolished several illegal huts in different parts of the city today.

A demolition squad of the BMC descended on the Garib Nagar slum of Bandra East this morning and began pulling down the shanties. A police team accompanying the squad began pushing out people from their flimsy homes so that bulldozers could clear off all huts.

Azharuddin was also among several others who were pushed out by cops. “I was fast asleep when a policeman came and pushed me out of my house,” a tearful Azharuddin told reporters.

The family with its meager belongings, scattered on the road, was mobbed by Indian and foreign mediapersons and television crews.

Residents said more than 30 huts were pulled down. However, the belongings of the slum dwellers were not taken away though many people lost their belongings in the rubble.

“Everything we have is lying in that rubble. The police didn’t allow us to take our belongings. They beat us up,” Shameem, mother of Azharuddin, said.

Later, the police claimed they did not cane anyone though policemen, equipped with lathis, threatened to hit possible troublemakers.

The Shaikhs and others living at the Garib Nagar said they had been living here for the past 15 years and were eligible for alternative accommodation under the Slum Redevelopment Programme of the Maharashtra government.

However, civic officials say residents do not have any proof to show that they were residing here prior to the year 2003.

Assistant Municipal Commissioner UD Mistry, who was in charge of the demolition drive, said the huts were built on the main sewage line and posed a threat of flooding when the rains begin in June.

He said the order to clear the slums was given by the municipal headquarters.

The Demolition of slums in the monsoons is banned.

Meanwhile a proposal by the Maharashtra government to provide houses to Azhar and his co-star Rubina Ali is yet to be cleared. The state government said flats would be provided after the elections since the model code of conduct is in force.

New Delhi, May 14
The Supreme Court today awarded an unprecedented compensation of Rs 1 crore to a software engineer of computer major Infosys, who suffered permanent disability due to medical negligence caused at Andhra Pradesh’s Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

This is the first time such a huge compensation has been awarded by the Supreme Court in a medical negligence by way of enhancing the Rs 15.5 lakh awarded by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. The victim, Prashant Dhanaka, had argued his own case brilliantly in the Supreme Court, which recorded appreciation for the same.

The victim, who went to the hospital for removal of a tumour on September 19, 1990, in chest cavity, was negligently operated upon by doctors resulting in the medical condition known as “paraplegia” which rendered him paralytic for entire life.

The disability, which struck Dhanaka when he was just 20 years old, made him incapable of even performing his personal chores necessitating a constant attendant, besides making him invalid for a married life. A three-judge Bench of Justices BN Aggrawal, GS Singhvi and HS Bedi, after perusual of the records, came to the conclusion that Dhanaka had suffered the disability mainly on account of negligence.

“We have no other option but to conclude that the attending doctors were seriously remiss in the conduct of the operation and it was on account of this neglect the paraplegia had set in,” the apex court observed. — PTI

Hyderabad, May 14
YS Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, has become the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to complete a five-year term in office.

On this day in May 2004, he took over the reins of the state after steering Congress to a landslide victory.

Unlike several of his predecessors who had to battle infighting and groupism, the 60-year-old Rayalaseema strongman emerged as an undisputed leader in the state Congress, enjoying full confidence of the party high command.

“YSR is the first chief minister to complete five years in office. No chief minister since the state’s formation in 1956 has completed a full term,” Finance Minister K Rosaiah said.

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu was the longest-serving chief minister in the state’s history, occupying the post for nearly nine years, but he did so in two spells.

He went in for early elections in May 2004.

YSR led his party to power on the crest of a massive anti-incumbency wave against the Chandrababu Naidu government in 2004 due to the agrarian crisis and large-scale suicides by hundreds of debt-ridden farmers.

Unlike the pro-urban and IT-savvy image of his predecessor, YSR positioned himself as pro-farmer politician, focussing on rural development.

Storming to power on a populist wave, he launched several populist schemes, including free power for farmers, waiver of farm loans, subsidised rice for Rs 2 per kg, Rajiv Arogya Sri community health insurance schemes and weaker section housing programme.

The ambitious “Jala Yagnam” (Irrigation Mission) has been the flagship programme of the Congress, aimed at providing irrigation facility to an additional one crore acres over a period of five years.

YSR is also credited with having initiated the first-ever direct talks with the Maoists. However, the dialogue process collapsed in January 2005 with Naxalites pulling out of negotiations, accusing the government of continuing with fake police encounters.

On the flip side, his term saw the Opposition parties making serious allegations of corruption and nepotism against him, especially in awarding contracts for irrigation and infrastructure projects.

The business dealings of his son YS Jaganmohan Reddy had come in for sharp attack from the Opposition.

On the political front, the Congress has failed to keep its 2004 allies-Left parties and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)-- intact. They have parted ways and joined hands with the TDP.

Jamshedpur, May 14
Advocating the dissolution of the Jharkhand Assembly, the Congress today demanded fresh elections in the state to pave the way for the instillation of a stable government.

“There is hardly any scope left for the formation of a new government in Jharkhand. Neither the UPA nor the NDA came forward to stake claim for it. So the Assembly should be dissolved,” Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) secretary SRA Rizvi Chabban said.

"The only option left is to have fresh elections in the state to provide a stable government," he added.

The state Assembly has been kept under suspended animation after Chief Minister Shibu Soren lost the Tamar Assembly by-elections four months ago.

Criticising the previous UPA government in Jharkhand for its "miserable performance", Chabban claimed that the government had completely failed to check rampant corruption.

"Bureaucrats were ruling the roost as the law and order situation turned from bad to worse during the UPA regime. No development work took place in Jharkhand," he alleged, while demanding enquiry against previous chief ministers and ministers allegedly for accumulating a huge money while being in power.

Asked about the party's poll prospect in Jharkhand, the Congress leader expressed apprehension that the pre-poll disintegration of the UPA might be costly for both Congress and its allies in Jharkhand and Bihar.

The Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Ram Vilas Paswan-headed Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) had fought the general election unitedly under a seat-sharing arrangement. "In fact, the UPA do not exist in the two states after the LJP and the RJD joined hands and contested the elections together," he said. — PTI

Bhubaneswar, May 14
With the completion of five-year tenure of the 13th Assembly in Orissa, the state council of ministers today recommended dissolution of the House.

“The council of ministers recommended to the Governor to dissolve the 13th Assembly,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty said after the meeting.

The notification for constitution of the 13th Assembly was issued on May 15, 2004, and the first sitting of the House was convened on June 30, 2004, he said.

The 13th Assembly was eventful in many ways as it witnessed uproar over a number of issues, ranging from Kalinga Nagar police firing to resignation of speaker Maheswar Mohanty over sexual harassment charges levelled by a lady marshal.

BJP minister Manmohan Samal also quit the ministry after his alleged involvement in a sex scandal.

Besides, over a dozen ministers were dropped from the ministry on some issue or the other. Leader of the Opposition and Congress stalwart JB Patnaik quit the post in January, 2009.

Though there was no dispute over chief ministership of Naveen Patnaik, the government was reduced to a minority as the BJP withdrew its support on March 7, 2009, following the collapse of alliance. The BJD government, however, survived as the JMM, NCP, CPI, CPM and Independents backed it. The BJD, which had 61 MLAs in the 147- member Assembly, required support of 13 more members to survive the trial of strength on the floor of the House. — PTI

Mumbai, May 14
The Lifeline Express, hospital on wheels, which has cured many disabled as it chugged to various locations in India, will now travel across the world riding on the corner of envelopes with the launch of a national postage stamp in its honour.

The train, run by NGO Impact India, started with just three discarded wooden coaches but has now evolved into a state-of-the-art facility with two air-conditioned operation theatres.

The national stamp, which depicts the train steaming off into a rainbow, was released by Maharashtra Governor SC Jamir along with AH Tobaccowala, the head of Impact India.

The train has seen over 80,000 surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and volunteers work on it over the last 18 years to treat more than five lakh patients.

“The train has been to almost all corners of the country without any incident. We have been to varied places, including Naxal-hit areas where we have always been welcomed,” Randhir Vishwen, Chief Executive of the train, said.

The NGO drew on doctors from across the country to perform around ten “projects” by setting up camps on location, he said.

The surgeons, mostly volunteers from medical colleges, treat patients suffering from disabilities like polio, eye disorders and cleft lips, for free.

“We travel with about 12 doctors, including anesthetists, and usually attract people from villages, some as far away as 300 km from the place where the train is parked,” Vishwen said. The train, which has also been the subject of a BBC film by filmmaker Gerry Troyna, is presently in Jabalpur where a medical camp is being run.

Speaking at the release of the stamp last evening, Impact India’s Tobaccowala was all praise for the volunteers who had worked on the train despite being provided with modest accommodation on sites.

“I can never express my pride and appreciation that so many of our country’s professionals were willing to do so much for so many of our countrymen without any fee,” he said. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Rly question papers to be disclosed
NEW DELHI: The CIC has directed the Railway Recruitment Board to disclose question papers and answer keys of previous years to an RTI applicant, dismissing the argument of the board that it was exempted from disclosure. While hearing the plea of N Swaminathan who sought question papers and answer keys from Railway Recruitment Board, Chennai, under the RTI Act, the Information Commissioner said the board did not give any explanation on how the exemption applies to the information. — PTI