Patna, April 26
Union Fertiliser Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today demanded the convening of a joint session of Parliament to discuss and solve the present imbroglio on OBC reservation in higher academic institutions.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Paswan said two judges of Supreme Court could never reverse the decision favouring reservation for OBCs in education and services as delivered by nine judges of the same Supreme Court in the past.

Ram Vilas supported Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo Karunanidhi’s stand on this issue.

He said the recent stay by two judges of Supreme Court to implement the said decision in the current academic session would only complicate the process of social justice. He also favoured the formation of the Indian judicial service on the lines of IAS and IPS as guaranteed by Article 315 of the Constitution.

Ram Vilas, however, criticised RJD chief Lalu Yadav for supporting the Emergency imposed by the then Congress government headed by late India Gandhi at a recent meeting in Uttar Pradesh.

New Delhi, April 26
Parliament today condemned terror attacks in Algiers and Casablanca recently and said there was need for tackling the scourge with firm determination wherever it existed.

In identical statements, Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee expressed shock and grief over the attacks.

“The House strongly condemns these terrorist attacks on innocent civilians and expresses its empathy with bereaved families,” Shekhawat said as soon as the Rajya Sabha met for the second part of the budget session.

A similar statement was read out by the speaker in the Lok Sabha.

Both Shekhawat and Chatterjee said the people of India stood in solidarity with their brethren in Algeria and Morocco.

On April 11, terrorists struck at the Prime Minister's office in Algiers killing 30 persons and injuring more than 160.

A terror attack also took place in Casablanca this month.

New Delhi, April 26
Opposition members in the Lok Sabha today demanded the arrest of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for leading an anti-nation rally in Srinagar where anti-India slogans were raised.

BJP deputy leader V.K. Malhotra, who raised the issue during zero hour, said Pakistan flags were flown at the rally where masked men carried banners of militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. He demanded to know from the government why no action was taken against Geelani.

Leader of the house Pranab Mukherjee’s assured that the government would make a statement in the House on the issue “at an appropriate time”.

Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) described Geelani’s conduct “dangerously outrageous” for the country. Prabhunath Singh, JD(U), said it was a serious matter and goaded the government to respond to statements by Pakistani leadership that a resolution to the Kashmir issue was near.

Lucknow, April 26
The contour of a post-poll scenario is finally taking shape. What has been in the air for several months now has finally been articulated. SP may join hands with NDA, in other words BJP, to form the next government in the state.

Coming from a career diplomat turned politician former External affairs minister Natwar Singh it can be safely assumed that this is not a mere slip of the tongue or an off the cuff remark.

Singh, who was suspended from the Congress, remains a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament and for all practical purposes has joined hands with Samajwadi Party and is campaigning for its candidates.

Speaking to the media in Lucknow he did not rule out the “difficult decision” of SP joining hands with the NDA that in Uttar Pradesh’s context means the BJP.

Repeating a cliché that “everything was possible in UP politics” Singh said that if was a difficult choice because of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s secular credential.

Considering that SP depends heavily on the Yadav-Muslim vote bank the statement coming as it does in the middle of the seven-phase assembly election has far reaching implications. The fate of 169 seats in the 403 Vidhan Sabha is undecided and can ensure a clearer polarisation of votes.

Singh’s statement is a clear indication of the SP’s long-term strategy for which he has recently assembled a string of NDA alliance partners in two so-called election meetings held at Barielly and Allahabad in recent days.

Singh admitted that after the election, Yadav has scheduled a meeting at Tirupati with AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha, TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, INLD’s Om Prakash Chautala, AGP leader Brindavan Goswami and SP’s S Bangarappa to chalk out the future course of action.

While, for record, the Third Front as defined by Yadav is a non-Congress non-BJP broad alliance in which even the CPM has shown interest. However, Singh has now confirmed what the Congress and Jan Morcha have been charging for a long time now.

Responding to this statement, Jan Morcha convener Raj Babbar said the statement of Singh did not come as a surprise as SP had realised that it was not going to form the next government in UP. 

New Delhi, April 26
Minister of state for industry Ashwani Kumar assured a business delegation from Pakistan here today that India was committed to strengthening trade and economic ties with that country and would take all steps to facilitate the same, including liberalising the visa regime.

He told the visiting delegation headed by Muhammad Nasir Khan, president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that great complementaries existed between the two countries and greater trade and cooperation in industry would make both economies competitive.

Ashwani Kumar welcomed such visits, which would promote people-to-people contacts and consolidate the desire and aspirations of the people of India and Pakistan to strengthen mutual goodwill and harmony between the two neighbours.

The two way trade between India and Pakistan has touched a record figure of $ 977.03 million during April-October 2006.

Meanwhile, one of the country’s business lobbies is pushing for importing wheat and cement from Pakistan. This is particularly so because of the need to import wheat and the rising prices of cement.

Chairman of the Indo-Pak business desk in the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ravi Wig said at a seminar the two governments should seriously consider opening up the trade route through the Wagah border, which would benefit both countries as well as the business communities. 

New Delhi, April 26
In yet another inter-state water dispute case, the Supreme Court today rejected Andhra Pradesh’s plea for stopping the construction of the Bhabli barrage on the Godavari by Maharashtra and permitted it to go ahead with the project under certain conditions.

Andhra Pradesh had sought stopping of the construction, claiming that if completed the barrage would deprive the state of even the permitted supply of water under the 1998 award by the Godavari Tribunal.

Its immediate impact would be on the Pochampad dam in the state during the lean season as it will not be fully filled up and will affect the people of the Telangana region.

The AP government had said that the proposed barrage would block 65 TMC feet water flow to the Pochampad dam in the lean season.

However, a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and D.K. Jain, after examining the relevant documents, permitted the Maharashtra government to go ahead with the construction but restrained it from installing the 13 crest gates in the barrage till further orders.

It also said Maharashtra would not claim an equity in the share of water merely on the basis of construction of the barrage till a final decision in a suit filed by Andhra Pradesh. 

New Delhi, April 26
The Delhi High Court on Thursday found merit in the anonymous letter sent to Justice RS Sodhi which alleged that there were two more cases similar to Jessica Lall murder case in which investigations were not properly carried on.

A Division Bench headed by Justice Sodhi directed the city police to further investigate in these two matters along with other similar matters, where investigation had not been properly carried out.

“From the letter both cases appear to be correctly informed by the informer. Status report filed by Delhi Police indicate that in both cases fire arms were used. In one of the cases revolver was recovered soon after the incident,” the court said.

The Delhi Police, in its status report, said that in one of the cases which took place in 1991, CFSL report said the revolver used in the incident was different from what was recovered.

In another case of 1990, forensic reports said there can not be a definite opinion on the revolver used. The Bench also comprising Justice HR Malhotra directed the city police to further investigate these two matters.

“We see further investigations are necessary to bring out any possible wider network to destroy the criminal justice delivery system by other supporting organs. The state is directed to investigate and all the agencies will cooperate with it,” the Bench said.

The court further said “I have full faith in your organisation (Delhi Police) but if proper investigation is not done there is one more organisation above you,” the Court observed. — PTI

New Delhi, April 26
In an effort to bring the prime accused in the Purulia armsdrop case to justice, the union cabinet today approved extradition of Niels Holck Nielson, a Danish citizen, to India under solemn sovereign assurance to the Denmark government about remitting the sentence of death penalty, if any, to that of life imprisonment.

A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, parliamentary affairs minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told newspersons here tonight.

India’s extradition request has been pending with the Danish government since 1996 when the CBI had sent a letter rogatory followed by issuance of a red corner notice by the Interpol against the accused.

The government’s move comes in the wake of indications from the Danish government that it could consider extraditing Nielson, provided India assured it of certain conditions, including remitting capital punishment like it had agreed to in the extradition case of Mumbai blast accused Abu Salem while negotiating the latter’s extradition from Portugal.

Kim Davy was allegedly the mastermind in dropping arms and ammunition over Purulia in West Bengal on the night of December 17, 1995, from an AN-26 aircraft. 

New Delhi, April 26
Vice Admiral Anup Singh today took over as the Indian Navy’s new deputy chief relieving Vice-Admiral R.P. Suthan, who is proceeding to Visakhapatnam as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command.

Hailing from Chandigarh, Vice Admiral Anup Singh was commissioned in the Indian Navy in July 1973 and is a specialist in navigation and direction. He has held a mix of operational and staff appointments.

He recently came to Delhi on promotion, after relinquishing his appointment as the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Fleet. 

New Delhi, April 26
Ending the suspense, political parties today gave the go-ahead to the government to allow IIMs, IITs and other Central educational institutions to proceed with admissions for general, SC and ST categories for the coming academic session without the OBC quota for the moment.

A meeting of ruling UPA constituents and Left allies backed HRD Ministry’s proposal to fill the seats as per last year’s norms and leave out the enhanced seats to accommodate the 27 per cent OBC quota till the Supreme Court decides the matter.

Under the Centre’s formula, 1,24,377 general and SC and ST candidates would be offered admission while 12,216 seats under the expansion programme to accommodate the quota would be filled after the apex court’s decision.

HRD Minister Arjun Singh briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after his meeting with leaders of UPA and Left allies to evolve a consensus on the issue.

While giving their nod, political parties, particularly the Left, asked the government to ensure that there was a “fallback” option in case the stay on the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in elite educational institutions was not vacated by the apex court.

Emerging from the meeting, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters that though the government was confident of getting the court to vacate the stay, his party suggested that the government keep a fallback option. — PTI

Kanpur, April 26
A third-year student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), here, allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a train early this morning.

Jay Bharadwaj went to the railway tracks near the hostel building where he was residing and allegedly committed suicide, institute’s registrar Jeev Kashalkar said.

He said Bharadwaj’s exams were in progress and he seemed to be satisfied with his performance. He showed no signs of any discomfort till last night and talked to his friends.

Bharadwaj’s parents were informed about the incident and the body would be sent to his hometown in Medak district.

His body would be flown to Hyderabad today evening.

This is the second such incident over the last six months.

A meeting of IIT professors has been called to discuss the matter. — PTI

Muzaffarnagar, April 26
In an amusing incident, six mischievous monkeys got on a tractor and started driving it at a police station near here today.

The incident happened at Khatori village after the primates switched on the tractor’s engine, the police said.

The police later turned off the engine and the monkeys dispersed from the area after the incident. — PTI