Excelsior... Nation

LUCKNOW, Apr 28: An IAS officer was suspended from service for purchasing book worth over Rs 41 lakhs...more

PONDICHERRY, Apr 28: A cat’s mew helped it to be rescued after being trapped....more

Chief Justice of India A S Anand

People lose faith in judiciary due to delay in justice: CJI

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: Owing to delay in resolution of civil disputes and disposal...more

CAT issues interim
order on appointment
of Director, CBI

BANGALORE, Apr 28: In a significant order, the Karnataka bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) .......more

25 tiger, leopard skins
seized in UP; 5 arrested

LUCKNOW, Apr 28: In two major raids, Uttar Pradesh police today seized 25 skins of tiger and leopard and arrested five people including two Nepali citizens from Kanpur and Lucknow......more

DMC flays experimental
use of gene therapy
on heart patients

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: The Delhi Medical Council has criticised the experimental use of gene therapy on some heart patients in a private hospital in Noida and said that the regulations regarding drug usages should be strictly followed.........more

Health Ministry to revamp facilities in Uttranchal

DEHRADUN, Apr 28: Government hospitals in Dehra Dun will soon get a new look as Uttaranchal Health Minister Ajay Bhatt has ordered their renovation. .....more

Govt to increase social sector investments

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: The Government proposes to substantially step up investment in the social sector to remove severe malnutrition and high rates ......more

IAS officer suspended

LUCKNOW, Apr 28: An IAS officer was suspended from service for purchasing book worth over Rs 41 lakhs illegally under the total literacy programme as District Magistrate Lakhimpur Kheri in the year 2000.

According to an official release here yesterday, the Government, through the Director Informal Education, Mr L P Pandey conducted an enquiry into the matter in which different charges were proved true in prima facie. The Education Department took the matter as a financial irregularity and referred it to the Government for necessary action.

Action is also being initiated against other officers involved in the racket, the release said.

Mr V K Varshneya is a 1990 batch IAS officer and presently posted as the Special Secretary Ambedkar Gramya Vikas Department. (UNI)

People lose faith in judiciary due to delay in justice: CJI

NEW DELHI, Apr 28: Owing to delay in resolution of civil disputes and disposal of criminal matters in most of the countries, people have lost faith and confidence in the legal institutions, Chief Justice of India A S Anand said today.

"Justice delivery institutions, in most of the developing countries and in some of the developed countries, are confronted with a serious crisis mainly on account of delay in resolution of civil disputes and disposal of criminal matters."

"We must admit that this situation erodes public trust and confidence in the legal institutions and obstructs growth of social justice and economic development. This crisis, therefore, calls for urgent solutions," said Mr Justice Anand while delivering the inaugural address here on "International Commercial Arbitration and Recognition and Enforcement of interim orders in International Litigation."

He said India today was in the process of economic liberalisation. Integration with global economy was going on simultaneously. Business had overtaken politics in international relations.

Many developed economies were keen to have business in India. Lengthy and cumbersome court trial was acting as a deterrent for many business houses to come forward for large investments in the country.

"It is now recognised all over the world that commercial transactions should normally have an arbitration clause and commercial disputes are resolved quickly through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms," Mr Justice Anand said.

Considering the present day needs Parliament enacted the Arbitration and Conciliation Act in 1996 to minimise the role of courts giving maximum freedom to the parties to resolve the disputes, he said. "However, ingenuity of the legal profession, takes many matters to the courts even though they are not required," he regretted.

Senior advocate S K Dholakia argued that India should follow the English pattern which provides that the parties would first attempt to resolve the dispute themselves before approaching the arbitrator for resolution.

Former Additional Solicitor General of India A M Singhvi said though the role of courts in the arbitral processes was intended to be minimum, yet it must be permissible in unavoidable circumstances. "In case of power to grant interim relief, the intervention of the court generally is unavoidable," he added.

Mr Justice S P Bharucha, Mr Justice B N Kirpal of the Supreme Court and Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh of Delhi High Court and many senior advocates participated in the discussion.(UNI)

CAT issues interim order on appointment of Director, CBI

BANGALORE, Apr 28: In a significant order, the Karnataka bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has ruled that the appointment of the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is subject to the outcome of the petition pending before it.

The interim order was passed on April 25 by the Bangalore bench of CAT comprising Justices Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and Srikantan on an application filed by Sirector General of Police for Fire Forces and Home Guards R Viswanathan.

In the brief order, the CAT said: "Considering the circumstances of this case, we are of the view that it is just and proper to pass an interim order that the appointment of the CBI Director shall be subject to the final outcome of the original application pending further orders."

Former Karnataka Director General of Police C Dinakar, who had contested the appointment of Mr R K Raghavan, is arguing the case of Dr Viswanathan. The Bangalore bench had quashed the appointment of Mr Raghavan on February 8. However, the same had been stayed by Karnataka High Court.

It was argued before the CAT that Dr Viswanathan had fulfilled the criteria of seniority, integrity and experience in investigation as laid down by the Supreme Court in the Vineet Narain case.

Meanwhile, official sources said the names of officers such as Andhra Pradesh DGP H J Dora, Gujarat DGP Chakraverty, ITBP DG S C Chaube and CBI Special Director P C Sharma were making the rounds. However, Mr Chaube and Mr Sharma were junior to Dr Viswanathan, who was placed fifth in the seniority list in the 1966 batch order of merit. Mr Chaube was 16th in the seniority list, while Mr Sharma was placed 54th.

The sources said Dr Viswanathan, who is to retire on October 31, 2001, fulfilled the criterion laid by the Supreme Court for the selection of the post. He had experience in investigation as he had served as the Superintendent of Police in the CBI from 1976 to 1980 and one year in the state Vigilance Commission. Besides, he has a doctorate degree from Sorbonne University in Paris for his thesis on "The Ethics of Civil Servants". The fire services DGP, who is proficient in French, was attached to interpol for a brief period during his stay in Paris.

Dr Viswanathan, who has been awarded Meritorious Service Medal and President’s Medal for distinguished service, had also served as Inspector General of the Central Industrial Security Force. He was Police Adviser to the Government of Seychelles for two years from February 1993.(UNI)

25 tiger, leopard skins seized in UP; 5 arrested

LUCKNOW, Apr 28: In two major raids, Uttar Pradesh police today seized 25 skins of tiger and leopard and arrested five people including two Nepali citizens from Kanpur and Lucknow.

The Special Task Force team of the police arrested four persons including two Nepali citizens from Kooli Bazar area of Kanpur in the wee hours and seized 19 leopard and one tiger skins besides Rs five lakh in cash, Director General of UP police Mahesh Chanrda Dwivedi told reporters here.

He said a passport, a driving licence, a pistol and some live cartridges were also seized.

In the second haul, another STF team seized five leopard skins and ten leopard nails from a person in Lucknow, he said.

Diwedi said two of the skins were packed in stamped packets, which were allegedly sent through courier from Bilaspur and Chattisgarh adding the person was carrying out the illicit trade in rare animal skins from a rented house in Allahabad.

He said the CBI has been informed of the arrests and asked to find out their connection with international gangs trading in rare animal skins.

A preliminary interrogation of those arrested showed they were trading in animal skins after purchasing them from poachers, he said.

Cases against the accused have been registered in Kanpur and Ghazipur, he said adding the STF teams responsible for the arrests would be suitably rewarded.

Dwivedi said those arrested today are believed to be involved in trading of animal skins in international market via Nepal after acquiring them from poachers in different towns of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan.

He said today’s recovery was the biggest in the state since the January 2000 seizure of rare animal skins and nails worth crores of rupees in Fatehpur district.

"Besides, this year the STF has seized animal skins in Kheri and Palia towns and also arrested some poachers," the DGP said.

He, however, admitted that there has been a spurt in incidents of elephant and tiger deaths in Haridwar and Dudhwa National Park area under Lakhimpur Kheri district and efforts were on to check poaching activity in the state with the cooperation of police and Forest Department officials.(PTI)

DMC flays experimental use of gene
therapy on heart patients

DMC president Ranjit Roy Choudhary told UNI that such experiments should be avoided. "We can’t make Indians guinea pigs for some drugs which have been released in the US or Germany. Unregulated use of such drugs should be avoided. We are a sovereign country with our own regulatory body the Drugs Comptroller of India. Every drug should be properly tested before use."

He said if such things were allowed then any doctor reading some article about experimental use of a drug in any scientific journal or internet would start experimenting them on his patients here. In the absence of much clinical trial and testing, overdose of such drugs might lead to harmful effect and even death of the patient.

Regarding commercialisation of health care system, Prof Choudhary said that it was not possible for the DMC to control the fees charged by various doctors as no such regulations were there in any other profession. But doctors should not keep patients in the dark and should display their fees structure. (UNI)

Health Ministry to revamp facilities in Uttranchal

DEHRADUN, Apr 28: Government hospitals in Dehra Dun will soon get a new look as Uttaranchal Health Minister Ajay Bhatt has ordered their renovation.

Speaking informally to UNI here this morning after inaugurating an All India Dentists’ Meet in the Doon Valley, the minister said that an amount of Rs 80 lakh had been sanctioned by the uttaranchal Government for the renovation of the Doon hospital in Dehra Dun. Later, the cornation hospital and other Government hospitals in the valley would also be given a "much better look", Mr Bhatt said.

He said that his ministry was extremely concerned about the inadequate number of surgeons in Uttaranchal, even in Dehra Dun. "We are seriously considering appointing retired doctors from defence services in the remote areas of Garhwal and Kumaon," the minister said. (UNI)