Saturday, February 13, 1999
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Ex-Defence Secy apologises to HC NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — Former Defence Secretary Ajit Kumar and two other senior officers of the Ministry of Defence today tendered "unqualified" apology to the high court in a contempt case relating to their observation on some top promotions in Air Force. Winter uniform: HC raps MCD NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — The Delhi High Court yesterday criticised the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for the delay in the supply of warm clothes to nearly 90,000 students of its schools. Indian research hit by US sanctions NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — Scientists of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai have complained that their research work has been severely hit by sanctions imposed by Washington. |
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 Central team of ministers, including Mr George Fernandes, visits Narayanpur village in Jehanabad to assess the situation arising out of the killing of 11 villagers by Ranbir Sena on Thursday. — PTI 41 Ranbir Sena activists held
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5 of
family get burns from gas leak Three
SIs stabbed Plea
for qualified pharmacists |
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Ex-Defence Secy apologises to HC NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Former Defence Secretary Ajit Kumar and two other senior officers of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) today tendered "unqualified" apology to the high court in a contempt case relating to their observation on some top promotions in Air Force. Mr Kumar, former Director (Air) J K Dadoo and Under Secretary (Air) Shyam Kapoor in their affidavits said "there was a genuine misconception ... it was not deliberate and intentional and we beg unconditional apology". A Division Bench of Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh and Mr Justice A K Srivastava, while accepting the apology, discharged them of the contempt charges levelled by Air Marshal P K Ghosh, who in his plea contended that the three officers had presented wrong facts before the court in his promotion case. All three appeared in person in the court today after the bench yesterday rejected their plea for exemption from appearance. Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee appearing on behalf of Mr Kumar, who at present is Secretary (Industrial Policy and Promotion), Dadoo and Kapoor, said they admit that there was a mistake on their part in understanding the "oral observations" made by a single judge bench in its order in October 1997. The Ministry had ordered promotion of an Air Vice Marshal to the post of Air Marshal consequent to this observation which was challenged by Ghosh saying he had been superseded. Ghosh, who was promoted to the post of Air Marshal after he filed the contempt petition, had accused the three officers of presenting incorrect facts in the court on the issue of his promotion to Air Marshal before the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC). The Attorney-General said they might have "misunderstood" the oral observation of the court and took it as a direction to promote a particular officer to the post of Air Marshal. "But there was no deliberate attempt on the part of the officers either to conceal anything or obstruct justice to any other officer (affected by the promotion)," Mr Sorabjee said. However, the bench observed that on perusal of the record it was clear that the promotion was given after the direction of the high court. "In three affidavits they (the officers) insisted the promotion of a particular officer was done on the direction of high court, though there was no written order from the court in this regard," the bench said. "The officer never
brought this fact to the notice of the court during
subsequent hearing before another single bench and a
Division Bench," the court observed. |
Winter uniform: HC raps MCD NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (UNI) — The Delhi High Court yesterday criticised the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the delay in the supply of warm clothes to nearly 90,000 students of its schools even as the winter is approaching its end. A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and Mr Justice K.S. Gupta also rejected the “incomplete and vague” reply filed by MCD Director Shakuntala D. Gamlin and directed the MCD Commissioner to file a “complete and comprehensive” affidavit in the court within three weeks. The matter was then listed for further hearing on March 11. Hearing the public interest petition filed by the All-India Lawyers’ Union (AILU) through advocate Ashok Aggarwal seeking immediate provision of winter clothes to students, the judges observed, “first you (MCD) have allowed the winter to lapse and now you want to allow the Budget to pass”. The court found as “unsatisfactory” the information provided in the affidavit regarding provision of jerseys to students in the winter. It said except talking about the procedure for the purchase of the acrylic jerseys, the affidavit does not give any further details about steps taken to make the uniform available to the students. Ms Gamlin had, in her affidavit, stated that after the decision of the high-powered standing committee of 1996-97, it was decided that in lieu of the cloth for uniform the children would be provided acrylic jerseys during winter to protect them from cold. The Education Department of the MCD undertook the purchase procedure as per the general financial rules of the central government and a proposal was put up to the corporation for purchase of the jerseys for its nearly 1900 schools, the MCD Director said adding that, however, no decision could be taken on the proposal and it was decided to go for retendering after reviewing the terms and conditions of the tender. She said the delay in providing jerseys to the children was due to the change of policy and not, in any manner, intentional as alleged. The MCD denied that it was its obligatory function to provide uniform to children. The aim of the Education Department was to bring all children between six and 11 years age to the schools and for fulfilment of this aim, the civic body opened new primary schools every year after a house-to-house survey. It said the students were given free text-books, free mid-day meal, merit scholarships, medical facilities, including free hearing aids and spectacles. Only uniform was not being given, the corporation said and claimed that the non-provision of uniform had not adversely affected the attendance of children. The facility of uniform was an incidental incentive which cannot be extended to all children, Ms Gamlin said adding that there was, however, no discrimination or arbitration in its distribution and the number of children, who were provided uniform, depended on the availability of the funds. She said an incentive of uniform was provided to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and children belonging to economically weaker sections. Mr Aggarwal contended that
the provision for providing complete uniform (both winter
and summer) to every primary school children was implicit
in right to education for children up to the age of 14
years or eighth standard, whichever was earlier,
irrespective of the section of the society they belong.
Hence the facility of free school uniform should be
extended to every student of the primary school, he
demanded. |
Totalling errors in CBSE test NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court was today informed that during last year’s final examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at least 1.5 lakh answer sheets for X and XII standard students had totalling errors in various subjects. The Parents Forum for Meaningful Education (PFME) in reply to the CBSE affidavit filed before a Division Bench of Mr Justice Devinder Gupta and Mr Justice K.S. Gupta quoting from the CBSE’s affidavit said the board had yet to ascertain the other errors pertaining to evaluation of the answer sheets. Petitioner’s counsel P.S. Sharda said it was amply clear from the CBSE affidavit that percentage of errors in totalling varied from 4.88 to 7.17 in X and from 4.15 to 4.35 in XII standard examinations during rechecking of answer sheets last year. Mr Sharda said the CBSE was unable to count its own computer generated data correctly with the marks secured by students. Quoting the Sushil Kumar Committee report, which was appointed in 1992 to look into the possible errors in one lakh answer books, he said “many glaring instances of malfunctioning of the CBSE are not known because the report is not made public.” The CBSE also had not been able to disclose what follow up action had been taken on the report, he said. The forum which had sought complete transparency in the whole system of examination suggested that the answer books should be returned to the students after the results were out. It had also sought to rationalise the syllabus according the available teaching days in a year. At present only 125 teaching days were available to the students from 210 in the entire session while the syllabus was quite heavy and the students were not able to cope with it, the petition said. Mr Sharda claimed the CBSE did not have qualified Hindi teachers for checking answer sheets in the subject and as a result the job was being done by those who have very little knowledge of the language. This has resulted in sharp fall of the pass percentage in the national language during past few years, he claimed. He said the court should
issue direction to the CBSE that the answer sheets should
not be destroyed. |
Indian research hit by US sanctions NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (PTI) — Scientists of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, India’s premier institution for studies in physics and mathematics, have complained that their research work has been severely hit by sanctions imposed by Washington after India’s nuclear tests in May, 1998. Nearly 45 of the institute’s senior scientists, who held an extraordinary meeting on January 28, described the situation as “serious” and decided that they “should try to find ways of tackling it.” They fear that some projects may “either have to be abandoned or toned down” if the sanctions are not lifted soon. The TIFR Director, Mr Sudanshu S. Jha, who kept out of the meeting, was not available for comment. The TIFR, funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, is one of the 250 “entities” the us government said were helping India’s nuclear and missile programmes. US Government agencies were asked not to collaborate with these and us firms were forbidden to trade with them. As recently as last month, the us Government stopped seven scientists of Fermi National Lab from attending an international conference on high energy physics at the TIFR. Prof G. Krishnamurti in the Department of Chemical Sciences who organised the meeting said that science in the TIFR was suffering mostly due to denial of equipment and services by us firms. “The real effect of sanctions have started being realised only after the publication of the ‘entities’ list by the us bureau of Export Administration in the middle of November,” he said adding, “In the past two months we have received a large number of denials from companies because they apparently want to play it safe (with the us government).” For instance an ultra fast laser the institute bought from Spectra-physics (USA) at a cost of $0.25 million in March 1998 “for studies on dynamics of bio molecules” has been lying idle for months because the company is refusing to service this despite the one-year service warranty, TIFR scientists say. “They have also not shipped some attachments for the laser on the plea that the export licence has not come through,” says Professor Krishnamurti. Similarly a $100,000
computer it bought from Silicon Graphics (USA) “for
solving complex problems in theoretical physics” is
lying unused as the company has refused to replace its
defective processors, while work stations and servers
bought from Digital (USA) are also not being serviced,
scientists complain. |
16-year boy sacrificed? JAIPUR, Feb 12 — A boy of 16 was sacrificed in Rajasthan on Wednesday. The ghastly incident took place in Madda village near Nimbahera town in Chittorgarh district. Dinesh Rao Maratha, a student of Class-X, eldest son of a state electricity board employee Madho Rao Maratha had been missing since Tuesday. His body on Thursday was found at the local cremation grounds. It appears that before the boy was throttled to death by the assailants, they disrobed him and performed puja. All his clothes were lying near his body, which have been seized by the police. The police also recovered a bottle of scent, a silver ring, kumkum, kajal, vermilion, incense sticks etc. lying by the side of the dead boy. The body was found in standing posture beside a “samadhi on the cremation ground and blood stains were clearly visible around the mouth. Blood appears to have oozed out of the mouth as a result of strangulation. The feet of the dead had marks of injury implying that the boy struggled hard to get out of the clutches of the assailants. Ironically the boy was sacrificed near a ‘samadhi’ which has two statues of a man and a woman who were also sacrificed there more than 100 years ago. The inscription on the lime and mortar samadhi says “Yahan Samvat 1945 mein narbali di gayi thi” (human sacrifice was made here in the samvat 1945). It is said that the boy himself used to take interest in ‘tantrik’ activities and had only recently obtained a book on “tantra mantra” through VPP from Delhi. Foot prints on and around the sport lead one to conjecture that the heinous crime was committed by more than one assailant. IG (crimes) Namo Narain
Meena while confirming the murder of the boy said that it
was not yet clear whether the case was of a human
sacrifice. He said that human sacrifice is generally
performed in a temple, where blood or flesh is offered to
the deity. In the instant case the body was found from
cremation ground. He, however, admitted that material
used in puja was recovered from near the body. |
5 of family get burns from
gas leak NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — A five- member family was badly burned in Prasad Nagar early this morning when a leaking gas cylinder set their one-room house aflame. The gas caught fire when head of the family Dal Chand, who runs a tea shop near his house, lit a bidi around 1.45 a.m., the police said. The gas cylinder placed in the kitchen was in tact leading the police to believe that gas had spread in the room. Fortunately, the cylinder did not explode. Dal Chand’s wife Kanta, their children Ashu, Vandana and Nitin received 40 per cent burns while he is reported to have burns extending to 65 per cent. Police control room
received a call informing them of the flames leading out
of Dal Chand’s residence in Bapa Nagar near Prasad
Nagar area around 2 a.m. Fire engines and PCR vans rushed
to the spot. |
Three SIs stabbed NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — Three sub-inspectors were stabbed and injured by unidentified persons in a restaurant in Dilshad Garden, in East Delhi, last night. Two persons have been arrested and the police is looking for three more in the case. The arrested have been identified as Yogender and Vaibhav, the police said. The SIs were apparently beaten up with rods and later stabbed. They were removed to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital and are stated to be in stable condition. The three SIs were in civil dress and had come to Konark restaurant for dinner. The incident occurred at about 11.30 p.m. SIs Rajinder Singh and Sunil Kumar were posted in the PCR and stationed at Krishna Nagar. An acquaintance Neeraj posted with the security had come to meet them. According to reports, certain apparently drunk persons in a Tata Sumo came to the restaurant. However, an altercation started between them over food. According to the district
DCP Muktesh Chander, an inquiry into the case has been
ordered. |
Plea for qualified pharmacists NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — The Indian Pharmacy Graduate Association has urged the government to make graduation a mandatory qualification for pharmacists instead of allowing diploma holders and other science graduates to be in the business of manufacturing and selling drugs. The association which is celebrating its silver jubilee this year, has said that underqualified pharmacists were in no position to detect wrong prescriptions or for that matter give clarification to patients. Urging the Union
Government to evolve standards on a par with
international practice, the Association President, Mr
S.L. Nasa, told newspersons here yesterday that graduate
pharmacist could advise patients on drug-drug
interaction, drug-food interaction, contraindications,
dose regimen and course of treatment. |
Indo-US pact on crime mooted NEW DELHI, Feb 12 -India and the USA may enter into a treaty for mutual assistance on criminal matters. A draft of the proposed
treaty has been handed over to the USA by the Union Home
Secretary, Mr Balmiki Prasad Singh who visited that
country earlier this month. |
Kashmiri Samiti plea to NHRC NEW DELHI, Feb 12 — The Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi has requested the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to appoint a sub-committee of the commission to look into day-to-day problems of the migrants. The Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi, also condemned "the government’s move to force displaced doctors and teachers to return to the strife-torn valley on an experimental basis in the near future". The move in principle and practically, is unacceptable to the community as a whole, the Kashmiri Samiti stated in a release here today. The release stated that the whole exercise would affect interests of the community and put the community in deep despair. "The Kashmiri Pandit community is longing to return to their homes and hearths in the valley provided the conditions at political, social and law and order levels permits us," the release pointed out. The Samiti has urged the
Union Home Minister to arrange for the disbursement of
the monthly cash assistance to displaced persons at the
earliest. |
41 Ranbir Sena activists held PATNA, Feb 12 (UNI) — The police has launched a crackdown against the outlawed Ranbir Sena, arresting 41 of its activists overnight in the extremist-affected Jehanabad, Bhojpur and Gaya district of Bihar. The police said 20 were rounded up in Bhojpur district and 21 in Jehanabad district., Two of them were arrested in connection with Wednesday night's massacre at Narayanpur village in which 12 Dalits were gunned down. In all, 19 were named in the first information report with Sukurabad police station. The police raided the private army's den in Gaya district and seized two regular arms, six countrymade arms and 97 live cartridges. The raids would continue
in the extremist-dominated areas. Armed pickets have been
posted in vulnerable areas. |
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| Brain’s memory storage
mapped NEW DELHI: A part of the human brain which stores short-term memory, has been discovered by a US scientist. Monkeys’ brains have for years served as the model for understanding the finer aspects of human brain performance and scientists, until recently, argued that storage depots for short-term memory in humans were located in the top half of frontal brain — the same place as in monkeys. But using a new brain-mapping technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), Susan Courtney of John Hopkins University has discovered that the human brain has a dedicated place for short-term or working memory, located further back inside the brain. — PTI Rural banks strike from
March 31 Mitra sworn in as
CJ 2 die after
consuming ‘brandy’ HC notice to Delhi
on teachers Two gangsters shot
dead CBI raids on coal
unit Convert returns
scholarship amount |
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