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| CBI traces 4
bank accounts of former ED official NEW DELHI, July 8: In a breakthrough in the disproportionate assests case against former Deputy Director....more CAT restrains Delhi NEW DELHI, July 8: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has restrained.......more Yamuna Pushta, NEW DELHI, July 8: In a major effort to decongest and depollute the capital....more Privatise MSEB distn and MUMBAI, July 8: Even as Maharashtra grapples over its energy crisis with US energy major Enron, Godbole......more |
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Release of
Indian armymen from Pak jails demanded NEW DELHI, July 8: An organisation has demanded immediate release of 54 Indian Army personnel.....more Security for Musharraf NEW DELHI, July 8: With barely five days left for Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit here, ....more KPs want access to NEW DELHI, July 8: Kashmiri Pandits today urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to include in the....more Hurriyat euphoria dampens NEW DELHI, July 8: A letter from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf telling Hurriyat Conference that he.......more |
CBI traces 4 bank accounts of former ED official NEW DELHI, July 8: In a breakthrough in the disproportionate assests case against former Deputy Director of Enforcement Directorate Ashok Agarwal, the CBI has found four bank accounts allegedly opened by him in different names to deposit his ill-gotten wealth, agency sources alleged. The sources claimed that the CBI had obtained the bank account opening forms of all these four accounts, which had been opened in the name of Vandana Jain, Vinod Jain, Santosh Goel and Sudhir Goel. All the four accounts, which had been opened in Oriental Bank of Commerce’s Wazirpur Branch, had the address of Agarwal’s ancestrol house of B-block, Pashchim Vihar and the hand-writing experts have confirmed that the writing on the forms was that of the former ED Deputy Director, the sources claimed. The sleuths of the economic offence wing got this lead after it started examining the role of some Chartered Accountants who had allegedly helped Agarwal in "money laundering", they said. The sources said an amount of Rs 20.45 lakh had been deposited in these accounts. The CBI had arrested Agarwal in November last year along with his brother for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets. He is also facing charges for criminal conspiracy and forgery. The sources said the CBI had found Rs 3.15 lakh in the account of Vinod Jain, Rs 2.90 lakh in the account of Vandana Jain, Rs 7.90 lakh in the account of Santosh Goel and Rs 6.50 lakh in the account of Sudhir Goel. They were shown as share holders in the firms which only existed on paper, they said. The sources said the information was shared by a Chartered Accountant during his deposition before the agency sleuths. "Agarwal was the assessing officer for the Chartered Accountant during his tenure in the income tax," they added. They said the role of the Chartered Accountants had been established during the investigation into the alleged disproportionate assests case filed by the agency against Agarwal. The CBI has alleged that the capital of the fictitious companies increased manifold between 1991-92 and 1994-95 when Agarwal was private secretary to a Union Minister. The agency alleged that he had invested in properties in Ghaziabad, Bahadurgarh (Haryana) and world trade centre in the capital in the name of his wife and had created several trusts whose beneficiaries were his minor children. Agarwal, a 1985 batch IRS officer, is also facing charges of corruption and wrongful confinement for allegedly framing a Delhi-based jeweller Subhash Barjatiya in a 15,000 dollar FERA violation case on the basis of a fax message purportedly issued by a Swiss Bank. (PTI) |
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CAT restrains Delhi Govt from
dismissing NEW DELHI, July 8: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has restrained the Delhi Government from terminating the services of 98 ad hoc teachers working in various Government-run schools since 1998. A division bench comprising Chairman Justice Ashok Agarwal and S A T Rizvi (member) in a recent order also issued notices to the Secretary of Education in Delhi Government, Director of Education and Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board on their petition asking them to file replies to the petition by July 18, the next date of hearing. The petition filed by Archana Gupta and 97 others through their counsel Surat Singh challenged the Government order for termination of their services saying there were 2,600 vacancies for post graduate and trained graduate teachers and mere appointment of 352 teachers should not be a ground for termination of their services. The teachers also sought direction for parity in pay scales with that of regularly appointed teachers. They contended that they were being paid a consolidated amount, which was much less than the amount paid to regular teachers, though the functions performed by them were identical in nature. The bench said "appointment of 352 candidates should not be a ground to terminate services of all the post graduate teachers and trained graduate teachers till such time as regular regularly appointed teachers are available". (PTI) |
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Yamuna Pushta, chemicals
wholesale NEW DELHI, July 8: In a major effort to decongest and depollute the capital, the Delhi Government has embarked on a project to relocate Yamuna Pushta, the city’s largest slum cluster besides shifting the wholesale markets from the historic walled city area. "We are working on the relocation of slum clusters from Yamuna Pushta, which is located on the Yamuna river bed, and Gaur Marg near Sriniwaspuri in South Delhi. The project involves resettlement of over 26,000 families to Bhalaswa and other areas," Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor said in an interview to PTI. Besides decongesting the river bed, the plan is also part of the administration’s efforts to clean up river Yamuna, he said, adding the relocation is likely to be completed within a year and the process of land acquisition and infrastructure building was on. The authorities have identified 15 per cent of the inhabitants of the clusters as illegal Bangladeshi migrants and they will not be provided alternative sites, Kapoor said. "We will also be forwarding a list of the identified bangladeshis to the Chief Electoral Officer and the Food and Civil Supplies Department to get their names deleted from the electoral rolls and their ration cards cancelled," he said. As part of its efforts to decongest the walled city, Kapoor said the wholesale trade is proposed to be shifted. "To begin with, land is being developed in Holambi Kalan to relocate the chemicals trade," he said. The Lt Governor said the presence of a large number of Bangladeshis was a matter of concern to the authorities. "The drive to identify and deport them last year did not yield much result. Only 600 people could be identified as the process is very tedious," Kapoor said. On the law and order situation in the capital, he said there had been a considerable drop in offences of all kinds except for kidnapping for ransom and motor vehicle thefts. "There has been a reduction in IPC cases and an increase in local and special laws. This is a healthy sign and shows increase in police activities," he said. Kapoor, however, said there was no room for complacency and the city police has formalised an inter-state arrangement with its counterparts in UP, Rajasthan and Haryana for "exchange of information and undertaking joint operations." He said criminals from neighbouring states were able to escape and find sanctuary after commiting crimes in Delhi as the level of policing there was lower than in the capital. "We are trying to impress on the states to try and upgrade their level of policing," Kapoor said. The Lt Governor called for an attitudinal change as the image of police had to be perceived as friendly to the citizen. "The level of courtesy is the litmus test. We are trying to upgrade it through training and retraining," he said. (PTI) |
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KPs want access to ancestral temple in PoK NEW DELHI, July 8: Kashmiri Pandits today urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to include in the summit talks the issue of their annual pilgrimage to their ancestral Sharda Temple in Muzaffarabad. In a statement issued here the Joint Working Council of Panun Kashmir (PK) and Panun Kashmir Movement (PKM) said Kashmiri Pandits should be allowed to perform annual pilgrimage to their ancestral shrine of Devi Sharda, dedicated to goddess Saraswati (the goddess of learning) on the lines of the annual pilgrimage to Nankana Sahib and Mansarovar. The PK and the PKM, representing about 350,000 Kashmiri Pandits who migrated from the Valley after militancy began in 1990, said the Sharda Temple, a historic and religious site of Kashmiri Pandits, continued to remain in illegal occupation of Pakistan since 1947 and the Pandits had been denied access to it ever since. "We have been denied access to our ancient shrine of learning and fountainhead of Kashmiri civilisational ethos," the statement issued by PK convenor Dr Agnishekhar and PKM president Ashwini Chrangoo said. They demanded that the matter be taken up for discussion by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during their upcoming summit. The Sharda Temple is located in Kishanganga Valley just across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in a small village called Shardi at the confluence of River Kishanganga and River Jhelum which flows from Kashmir. In 1948, during raids by Pakistani tribal raiders, the village fell into Pakistani hands. A famous learning centre of Kashmiris, it is identified by noted historians and chroniclers including Al Beruni (1130 ad) and M A Stein, who visited the temple in 1892, (in Rajtarangini) as one of the most important temples of the Hindus equivalent to the Shiva Lingam of Somnath, Vishnu of Thaneshwar and Surya of Multan. Abul Fazl in Ain-i-Akbari (16th century) says that on every eighth day of the month at the time of full moon, the temple "shakes and produces the most extraordinary effect." He however does not explain the "extraordinary effect." The temple is so vital to Kashmiris that Kashmiri language has the script of Sharda, which is little similar to Devanagari. Kalhana in Rajatarangini has said, devotees of Durga and Shiva from all over the country would flock to the temple of Sharda which can be approached from Bandipur in North Kashmir, about 80 km from Srinagar. Through centuries the temple had remained the object of worship and devotion of lakhs of pilgrims from all over the country. Though in ruins now, the entire temple complex inspires grandeur and awe. The temple had a massive library attached to it which had priceless works on art, science, literature, architecture, music, humanities, medicine, astrology, astronomy, philosophy, law and jurisprudence and sanskrit etc. The library was used by scholars from even neighbouring countries. Kashmir was also called "Shardapeeth" (the base of Sharda), the name being derived from the temple. (UNI) |
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Hurriyat euphoria dampens over Musharraf’s letter NEW DELHI, July 8: A letter from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf telling Hurriyat Conference that he would like to meet its leaders has failed to enthuse both fundamentalists and moderates among its constituents despite initial euphoria over it. Hurriyat sources said with the indications from Pakistan that Musharraf would like to meet mainly hardliners and pro-Pakistan supporters like Syed Ali Shah Geelani of Jamaat-e-Islami and Sheikh Aziz of People’s League, the moderates felt they had little to cheer about. Even the fundamentalists in the 23-party conglomerate feel there was no call for happiness over the letter as it did not amount to an invitation, the sources said. The Hurriyat leaders were still to receive a formal invitation from the Pakistan High Commission to the reception for Musharraf though the invitations for it to others have already been issued. The fundamentalist groups have a feeling that if Musharraf had to invite Hurriyat Conference leaders for tea, he should have mentioned it in the letter, they said. Important leaders of the main fundamentalist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, chose to stay away from the crucial Hurriyat Conference Executive meet on July five after Musharraf’s letter was received though Geelani was very much in town. Geelani, who has been distancing himself from the day-to-day activities of the amalgam, has also reportedly belittled the idea of such a token meeting with Gen Musharraf. Geelani, according to the sources, has made a sarcastic comment on the development and said hurriyat leaders will "have a high tea with Musharraf and will later dine with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee." Meanwhile, moderate leader Abdul Gani Lone, who has been facing threats from militant organisations like Lashker-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, has been maintaining a studied silence over the issue. While Lone has been camping in the capital for medical reasons, another moderate leader and former Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq chose to be away from the scene of action and is presently in Europe. He had gone to attend the summit of Organisation of Islamic Conference at Mali and has not so far made his return plans clear to the Hurriyat headquarters. Pro-independence leader Yaseen Malik, who has been to the United States and is at present in London, has also decided to remain away from the scene of action and will only be returning on July 20, the sources said. Elements outside Hurriyat Conference like Ayub Thakur of London-based World Kashmiri Freedom Movement, who had specially flown from London to attend the meeting of Musharraf with Kashmiri leaders, have also stressed upon the Pakistan Government the need to give credence to leaders supporting Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. This has also led to confusion over what stand the amalgam should take as the summit level talks between India and Pakistan are round the corner. The sources said the Hurriyat Conference, the main secessionist umbrella body, was to meet again at the weekend. However, in view of some ugly scenes at the previous executive meet, the conference decided not to hold the meeting. While the hardliners within the Hurriyat Conference continued with their tirade against India, the moderates wanted to take a "soft stand" on the Centre’s decision to hold talks with Pakistan as they felt it was an "opportunity" failing which the conglomerate would suffer "internationally". The Hurriyat Executive meet on July five failed to arrive at any consensus and insiders said hardliners prevailed upon the moderate leadership not to soften their stand against New Delhi. (PTI) |
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