Excelsior... Nation

N Vittal

CVC for Amendment
of Banking Secrecy Act

NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal today asked Government to amend the Banking Secrecy Act so as to make the .....more

Parkash Singh Badal

Badal to convene
meeting on SGPC
presidentship today

CHANDIGARH, Nov 28: A meeting of the ruling Akali Dal members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) has been convened .......more

Uttaranchal to get
special status

DEHRADUN, Nov 28: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has agreed to give special category status to Uttaranchal state, Chief Minister Nityanand Swami has ...more

Committee to consider measures for revamping criminal justice system

NEW DELHI, Nov 28:The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up a committee to consider measures for revamping the criminal justice system in the country. ......more

Jayalalitha

Jaya seeks DMK Govt dismissal on Veerappan issue

CHENNAI, Nov 28: Continuing her campaign against the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu on the Veerappan issue, ......more

Ravi selected for
National Role Model Award

COIMBATORE, Nov 28: Editor of ‘The Hindu’ N Ravi and editor of ‘Economic and Political Weekly’ Krishna Raj have been .....more

Bal Thackeray

Govt should reconsider ceasefire decision, says Thackeray

MUMBAI, Nov 28: After softening a little bit last week, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray again raked up the Ramzan ceasefire issue saying the Centre........more

SP to go it alone in UP Assembly polls

NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Buoyed by its performance in the recent municipal corporation elections in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party today said it would go it alone in the coming Assembly. ....more

CVC for Amendment of Banking Secrecy Act

NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal today asked Government to amend the Banking Secrecy Act so as to make the information available to public about the defaulters responsible for increasing the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of the banks. On the Money Laundering Bill (MLB), Vittal said that it would not serve the purpose unless customs, excise and income sectors were included and added that much of the money laundering had been through evasion of these taxes.

He said corruption was like the deadly disease of aids in the society with a difference that it was because of uncontrolled financial lust that resulted in financial rape and adultery for which the solution was empowering the people. (PTI)

Badal to convene meeting on SGPC presidentship today

CHANDIGARH, Nov 28: A meeting of the ruling Akali Dal members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) has been convened tomorrow in Amritsar which may decide a successor to Bibi Jagir Kaur, charged with the murder of her daughter, even as rival Sarv Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) today made it clear it would not oppose former president Jagdev Singh Talwandi for the post.

Akali Dal president and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal kept the name of Kaur’s successor a closely guarded secret, but discussions with his party leaders tomorrow may throw some light on the issue, party sources said.

The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting of the Akali Dal held on November 21 had authorised Badal to nominate the party’s candidate for the SGPC presidentship. Jagir Kaur has announced that she would abide by the party decision.

Meanwhile, SHSAD president and former SGPC chief Gurcharhan Singh Tohra, who held the post for 25 years, said that he would not contest again.

He said SGPC members owing allegiance to his party would not oppose if Badal fielded Talwandi.

Tohra has convened a meeting of his party at Ludhiana tomorrow to discuss the SGPC election.

The strength of the SGPC general house is 185, with five co-opted members, who are scheduled to elect the new chief on November 30. (PTI)

Uttaranchal to get special status

DEHRADUN, Nov 28: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has agreed to give special category status to Uttaranchal state, Chief Minister Nityanand Swami has said.

"Uttaranchal meets all the five criteria required to get the special category status. The Prime Minister agreed with this in principle," Swami told newsmen here last night. Swami also met Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission K C Pant.

He said Uttaranchal has also demanded that ‘UP Niwas’ in Delhi be handed over to it, as Uttar Pradesh was in the possession of three buildings in the national capital.

The demand for a helicopter and a small plane for uttaranchal keeping in view its topographical feature was also put forward, he said. Swami also sought conversion of jolly grant airport into a full-fledged airport.

The Chief Minister met Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj who, he said, had assured him that a full-fledged Doordarshan station would be set up in Raiwala near here. (PTI)

Committee to consider measures for revamping criminal justice system

NEW DELHI, Nov 28:The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up a committee to consider measures for revamping the criminal justice system in the country.

An official release said the committee will examine the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence, including the constitutional provisions relating thereto, and see if any modification or amendments are required particularly whether there is a need to re-write the code of criminal procedure, the Indian Penal Code and the Indian evidence act to bring those in tune with the demand of the times land to bring them in harmony with the aspirations of the people of India. The committee is expected to make specific recommendations on simplifying judicial procedures and practices to make the delivery of justice to the common people closer, faster, uncomplicated and inexpensive.

The committee will also suggest ways and means of developing such synergy among the judiciary, the prosecution and the police so as to restore the confidence of the common people in the criminal justice system by protecting the innocent and the victim and punishing unsparingly the guilty and the criminal.

One of the important terms of reference of the committee is to suggest sound system of managing on professional lines. The pendency of cases at investigation and trial stages and making the police, the prosecution and the judiciary accountable for delays in their respective domains. The committee will also examine the feasibility of introducing the concept of "federal crime" which can be put on list in the seventh schedule to the constitution, the release said.

The committee is chaired by Mr Justice V S Malimath, former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts. Other members of the committee are Mr S Vardhachari, former Adviser, Planning Commission, and Mr Amitabh Gupta, former Director General of Police, Rajasthan, Mr Durgadas Gupta, Joint Secretary, Department of Justice, will act as the Secretary to the committee. The committee will submit its report within six months from the date of its first sitting, the release said. (UNI)

Jaya seeks DMK Govt dismissal on Veerappan issue

CHENNAI, Nov 28: Continuing her campaign against the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu on the Veerappan issue, AIADMK leader Jayalalitha today demanded its dismissal and a joint probe by central agencies into the Rajkumar kidnap crisis.

In a statement here, the former Chief Minister said the Karunanidhi regime’s dismissal was necessary to ensure an impartial probe by the CBI, Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing, as "murkier and murkier" details were coming out about the kidnap crisis and the "LTTE angle" to it.

Jayalalitha alleged that the Kannada thespian had been released as early as November 11 itself, but it was kept under wraps for four days to enable the forest brigand to escape.

Alleging that Veerappan and the negotiators headed by P Nedumaran had stayed at Boothapadi village in Erode district till November 15, she said during those four days, Rajkumar had spoken over telephone with Chief Ministers M Karunanidhi and S M Krishna and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Rajkumar ‘had spoken to karunanidhi three times, to Krishna 13 times and to Fernandes once for 30 minutes over telephone during the period,’ she claimed.

As Karnataka and Tamil Nadu announced resumption of operations to apprehend Veerappan only five or six days after Rajkumar’s release, the fugitive and his extremist associates had been given 11 full days to retreat deep into the forests or even flee the country, she alleged. (PTI)

Ravi selected for National Role Model Award

COIMBATORE, Nov 28: Editor of ‘The Hindu’ N Ravi and editor of ‘Economic and Political Weekly’ Krishna Raj have been selected for the best Editor Role Model Award instituted by Basic Research and Development Organisation (BREAD), Delhi for the year 2000.

Ravi shares with Krishna Raj the award on ‘traditions and practice worth emulation by journalists’, a bread release said here today. The award, which carries Rs one lakh and a scroll, would be presented by President K R Narayanan at a special function in Vigyan Bhavan at New Delhi on December 15, it said. (PTI)

Govt should reconsider ceasefire decision,
says Thackeray

MUMBAI, Nov 28: After softening a little bit last week, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray again raked up the Ramzan ceasefire issue saying the Centre should reconsider it.

‘The militants have gunned down 21 persons ever since the truce offer was made. Instead of saluting the hard-core ultras, had the Government cared for the feelings of local people it would have received their blessings’, the Sena chief said in the editorial of the party’s mouth-piece ‘Saamna’.

India will be hailed globally for its policy of non-violence but scores of Hindus will lose their lives in the valley after the ceasefire and ‘generations to come will never pardon us’, Thackeray said.

‘The BJP whose soul is RSS is pro-Hindutva. We have faith in it (BJP). Unless we are completely disillusioned we will side by the Government’s decision’, the Sena chief said.

Thackeray recounted how Atal Behari Vajpayee at a public meeting at Shivaji Park in Mumbai had avowed that Hindus will no more be at the receiving end. ‘We sincerely hope that reality will dawn upon him and Hindus will get a new direction’, he said.

‘The political leaders who were older than the independent India itself have made a mess’, the Sena supremo said adding that the country is currently being ‘helplessly’ pushed to the brink of a Himalayan ceasefire.

‘Vajpayee has taken a calculated risk and we hope the country will benefit from it’, Thackeray said. (PTI)

SP to go it alone in UP Assembly polls

NEW DELHI, Nov 28: Buoyed by its performance in the recent municipal corporation elections in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party today said it would go it alone in the coming Assembly elections in the state.

"There is no question of forging alliance with any party," Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh told reporters here.

Singh said his party had fared "exceedingly well" in the recent Municipal Corporation elections in Uttar Pradesh gaining control over 58 municipalities and 106 Nagar (town area) panchayats, leaving rivals BJP, BSP and Congress far behind.

He said in the Nagar Nikaya (Municipal Corporation) elections, BJP finished second winning 45 municipalities followed by 22 by BSP and 15 by Congress.

"Our performance has been far better than any of these parties though our victory has not been rightly projected," he said.

In the Nagar panchayats, he said, sp with 106 town area chairmen left BJP trailing far behind with 61, followed by BSP at 49 and Congress at only 15. He also said that while SP won a total of 253 corporators, BJP came second with 232.

Singh said that after its "spectacular success" in the recent civic elections for rural areas, his party scored major gains in the urban areas mostly at the cost of BJP and Congress.

He said SP had done particularly well in the politically significant eastern UP and opened its account in Bundelkhand, a region where it hardly had a presence. (PTI)