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AMU opposes UGC NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has opposed the controversial UGC order asking it to go in for a common....more Bihar
witnesses political PATNA, Dec 25: Bihar witnessed many political ups and downs during the year with the opposition coming under one umbrella to show its strength and ....more Compulerised
booking PHAGWARA, Dec 25: The northern railways will computerise reservation in all the .....more Murder
mysteries, NEW DELHI, Dec 25: The year of assembly polls was also the year for the CBI to get overworked as it flexed its muscles to ......more |
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Communal violence, AHMEDABAD, Dec 25: Sporadic communal violence, assasination of a top politician, a visa racket allegedly involving a renowned dancer, a plethora of ...more Vir
Bhadra’s return to HP SHIMLA, Dec 25: The return of Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh for his fifth term riding ......more Telgi
scam, Salman MUMBAI, Dec 25: Multiple developments in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam .....more Fake
stamp paper BANGALORE, Dec 25: Karnataka has suffered a revenue leakage of Rs 300-400 crore only......more |
NCP for setting aside contentious issues for tie-up with Cong ....... More fake stamp paper gangs operating in India: STAMPIT ....... |
AMU opposes UGC order for holding entrance tests NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has opposed the controversial UGC order asking it to go in for a common entrance test for professional courses saying the move was an "interference" in the functioning of an "institution of national importance". "The Academic Council of the University at its meeting held on December 1, has turned down the UGC circular for a common entrance test. The Academic Council has sent University’s rules and regulations to the HRD Ministry and UGC explaining the reason behind its decision", Washim Ahmed, a member of the Academic Council told PTI here today. Ahmed, a former member of the Rajya Sabha as also a member of the University Court, said that the council felt that it was "illogical" that an institution of AMU’s eminence and repute should require any outside agency to conduct its entrance examinations for various professional programmes. The council strongly felt that the judgement of an 11-member bench of the Supreme Court in the case of Tma Pai clearly states that common entrance test can be conducted by the Government or the University. He said the University was considering approaching Parliamentary Standing Committee of Human Resource Development against "interference" as also the "misleading" statement in Parliament by Minister of State for HRD Vallabh Bhai Kathiria. Expressing serious concern over the move, he said a delegation of the University under his leadership met leaders of various political parties including Sonia Gandhi, Somnath Chaterjee, Arun Jaitely, Ajit Singh, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ramvilas Paswan, Arjun Singh and many others to apprise them about the development. Ahmed said the UGC and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) were "general laws", whereas the AMU Act, can be termed as "special law". It was the considered opinion of the legal luminaries that special law takes precedence over the general law in case of any contradiction between them, he said. "Any imaginative extension of role of UGC and AICTE is bound to render functioning of other statutory and autonomous bodies, such as an autonomous University, irrelevant in the areas and spheres assigned to them. "The reliance placed by the UGC and the AICTE on the apex court judgement of October 31, 2002 and also that of August 14, 2003, in order to derive legitimacy for conducting common entrance test, is rather misplaced", he said. Referring to the admission policy of AMU, he said the Academic Council of the University formulates its admission policy for various professional courses from time to time which are notified through "guide to admission booklet" supplied with the admission forms.(PTI) |
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Bihar witnesses political ups and downs in 2003 PATNA, Dec 25: Bihar witnessed many political ups and downs during the year with the opposition coming under one umbrella to show its strength and the ruling coalition countering all their moves. The year 2003 which began with agitations launched by the opposition over killing of three youth in Ashiyananagar locality of the state capital ended with the defeat of the no confidence motion moved by the opposition against the Government in the assembly. The year was "good" for the ruling RJD and its alliance partner, the Congress, as the ruling coalition remained in upbeat mood crushing all agitations and finally registered its victory in the by-elections. Despite efforts by leaders of the NDA, including Union Ministers George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, and Lok Janshakti party leader Ram Vilas Paswan could not bring a cardinal change in the politics scenario and RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav continued to be at the top. One event was common in almost all major political parties as they went for change in their gurad including the RJD, the Congress and the BJP. The RJD handed over the reigns of the party to a Mr Abdul Bari Siddiqui who is minister in the Rabri cabinet. Political pundits considered this decision of Mr Yadav’s as a move to appease the minorities who were frequently airing their grievances against the RJD chief attitude towards the community. To please a section of the forward castes Mr Yadav chose to make Mr D P Ojha as Bihar DGP. However, Mr Ojha had to face an unceromonial removal just three months ahead of his retirement following his action against RJD MP MD Shahabuddin. The controversial MP, who has scores of criminal cases against him, was put behind bars following which the minorities started drifting away from the RJD. The State Government and Chief Minister Rabri Devi were criticised for Mr Ojha’s dismissal. However Mr Yadav effectively managed the support of minorities which is essential for his party’s victory in the elections next year. As caste-based politics has become the back-bone of the modern days politics the Congress, the main ally of the ruling RJD preferred to hand over the party’s command to Ramjatan Sinha, a member of the forward caste. Soon after taking over, Mr Sinha drew plans to revive the party and began to implement them. Difference within the party over support to the RJD Government still continue. In a similar fashion the BJP also handed over its reign to Mr Gopal Prasad Singh, a forward caste. As Mr Siddiqui and Mr Sinha, Mr Singh was not at all popular but was getting full cooperation from party colleagues. (UNI) |
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Compulerised booking centres in J&K districts PHAGWARA, Dec 25: The northern railways will computerise reservation in all the eight district headquarters of Jammu and Kashmir by March next year. Ferozepur Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Hukam Chand Punia told UNI here today that the railways was working on top priority in Jammu and Kashmir to provide rail links in the Kashmir valley with other parts of the country by the year 2007. He said five such centres would be set up at Fazilka, Kotkapura, Nawanshahar, Mukerian and Chakki Bank (Pathankot) in Punjab by March next year. He said unreserved computerised ticketing centres would also opened at Pathankot, Jammu and Ferozepur during this period. Such centres were already working at Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. He said railway stations the Ferozepur division, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Pathankot, Jammu, Kathua, Ferozepur and Chakki Banks had been developed as model stations. Mr Punia said the 117 Km railway line between Jalandhar and Ferozepur section had been replaced with new rails. Another 120 Km railway line on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur section would soon be replaced with new rails. He said more than one dozen old railway bridges were being strengthened and work of doubling the railway line on the Jalandhar-Pathankot-Jammu section was in full swing for completion by March 2007. Mr Punia said the railways was considering to increase the speed of prestigious Shatabadi Express train running between Delhi and Amritsar from 110 Km to 120 Km per hour. He said almost all express trains’ maximum speed is 90-100 Km in this division, including that of all night trains. The DRM said the division had recorded 30-35 per cent increase in railway revenue as goods loading traffic had increased tremendously. (UNI) |
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Telgi scam, Salman case, blast dominate maharashtra legal scene MUMBAI, Dec 25: Multiple developments in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam probe and answer paper racket involving Maharashtra Public Service Commission, the first ever deportation of Dawood Ibrahim gangsters from Dubai into the serial bomb blast trial and Bollywood hero Salman Khan’s hit-and-run case dominated Maharashtra’s legal scene during the year. Cases against film financier Bharat Shah, actor Hritik Roshan, sportsmen Abhijit Kale, Saurav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan and Sachin Tendulkar, opposition leader Narayan Rane, social activist Anna Hazare, parents of actress Shilpa Shetty, Sunanda and Surendra Shetty and CISF jawan R Namdeo also hogged the limelight. In June, a bunch of PILs in the High Court challenged as lop-sided the probe into the fake stamp paper scam and raised questions about allegations and counter allegations levelled by top police officers against each other. They also referred to the Subodh Jaiswal Committee Report which indicted former Mumbai Police Commissioner R S Sharma and questioned the stand of DGP Subash Malhotra in giving him a clean chit. The Court strengthened Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the scam and appointed S S Puri as its chief. Armed with the Court order, SIT continued with the probe and in November arrested Joint Commissioner of Police Sridhar Vagal, former Police Commissioner R S Sharma and other cops. In the Special Court at Pune, 64 accused were remanded from time to time. On December 15, the Court ordered SIT to conduct scientific tests on nine accused including prime accused Abdul Karim Telgi. One of the accused challenged the order in Mumbai High Court this month end. The High Court on December 19 allowed SIT to conduct tests on eight accused including Telgi but restrained it from subjecting Ramachandra Rama Reddy, suspended India security press officer who had filed a petition challenging the tests. On the same day polygraphic test was conducted on Telgi in a forensic lab in Bangalore. Actor Salman Khan got a major reprieve on December 18 when Supreme Court directed a City Magistrate to try him for charges excluding "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" in a hit and run case which attracts ten years in jail. The Apex Court held that the Sessions Court order framing this charge and High Court order quashing it were not tenable in law as this question could be decided at the stage of the trial and not before. However, in the trial Court at Mumbai, the prosecution objected to Magistrate conducting the trial and urged for transfer of case to another Court. On October 6, a Magistrate framed ten charges against Salman. The actor pleaded not guilty to all the charges framed against him under provisions of IPC, Motor Vehicles Act and Bombay Prohibition Act. The maximum punishment prescribed for these charges is two years. Earlier, the High Court had quashed the charge of culpable homicide framed by the Sessions Court and referred the case to Magistrate for trial. However, Maharashtra Government filed an appeal in Supreme Court against the High Court order. Salman was arrested on September 28 last year after he ran over his vehicle on people sleeping outside a Bakery in Suburban Bandra. One person was killed and four others injured. He was later released on bail. (PTI) |
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Fake stamp paper racket: K’taka suffers Rs 400 cr leakage BANGALORE, Dec 25: Karnataka has suffered a revenue leakage of Rs 300-400 crore only on account of the circulation of fake non-judicial stamp papers since 1997, when the stamp paper racket was detected here. "More than Rs 300-400 crore is the estimate of the revenue lost by Karnataka on non-judicial stamp papers alone," Mr R Sri Kumar, the head of the investigating team (STAMPIT) probing the racket told UNI. "I am still not able to come to a precise figure. Definitely it is in the several hundreds of crores. Not only non-judicial stamp papers, even non-registrable documents such as affidavits and lease deeds are involved. Judicial stamps are also faked," he said. Even the Karnataka Government’s move to stop the use of stamp papers seems not to have had the effect of fully curbing fakes. "The State Government decided some time back to introduce franking and embossing to pay directly to the treasury. The embossing itself was faked we have seized fake embossing seals," Mr Sri Kumar said. Karnataka Revenue Minister H C Srikantaiah has claimed the Government had made "only profits and no loss." inflows had improved since the introduction of a new system for stamp duty collection. When asked if action would be taken against anyone in the ministry for allowing the racket to go undetected, Mr Srikantaiah said there was no need as the system had been changed. Mr Sri Kumar said STAMPIT had held discussions on the ramifications of the racket at ‘’the highest levels of the Government. "If there is criminality involved we will take action. It will be too much to expect us to keep on doing everybody’s dirty work and we don’t have the means for that. "The least I would expect is that if I tell the department that this is what is happening they have to come and ask if I have further details and what else we can do. Even that some people can’t do," he added. Politicians, Government officers and policemen were also being questioned in connection with the stamp racket, Mr Sri Kumar said, adding "we are at the stage of evaluation of evidence." Asked about the role played by Abdul Karim Telgi, alleged brain behind the racket, Mr Sri Kumar said "he is a very important member of the gang. He could have had some advisers. In a conspiracy of this kind only the final evidence will reveal the truth. It is matter where there are so many linkages, so many more ramifications coming." (UNI) NCP for setting aside contentious issues for tie-up with Cong MUMBAI, Dec 25: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar today said "contentious issues" could be set aside for a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra. Addressing a press conference at the NCP office on the concluding day of the two-day state-level party meeting here, Mr Pawar said he had held preliminary round of talks with Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde last night and discussed the proposed pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha as well as assembly elections in the state. Asked about NCP’s reservations about the leadership of Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr Pawar said controversial issues could be set aside just like the Ramjanmabhoomi issue was set aside in the agenda of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). "We understood each other’s minds and it looks like a positive sign. There is unanimity on the necessity of a pre-poll alliance. We have decided to meet again after discussing details of our deliberations within our respective parties. NCP party Spokesman Prafful Patel will lead the discussions for the alliance," Mr Pawar said. The former State Chief Minister said even though no concrete proposal has been discussed as yet, the understanding would be for 288 assembly seats and 48 Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra. When asked whether the alliance would extend outside the state, Mr Pawar said the possibility could be discussed. Asserting that the priority was to win the elections, Mr Pawar said even though the talks for pre-poll alliance are yet to come to a discussion stage, both parties could go to the people with an "agreed programme". Mr Pawar said his "deadline" to the Congress to respond to his proposal for a pre-poll alliance by December 31 was a practical demand and not an "ultimatum". "We are a small party with limited infrastructure. It would be unwise to delay a decision in this regard any further as we would have to prepare to contest elections on our own, if the alliance did not materialise, he said. Mr Pawar did not have the new NCP legislative party leader in place of Chhagan Bhujbal, who resigned as the Deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday owning moral responsibility for an attack by some of his supporters on the Zee group’s Alpha Marathi channel. "It is a question of the prerogative of the Chief Minister, as the NCP legislative party leader will be the next Deputy Chief Minister. The Chief Minister will forward the name to the Governor after we formally communicate the name to him," he said. He said the new NCP legislative party leader is from the present legislative set-up of the party. Mr Pawar also declined to disclose whether the post of Deputy Chief Ministership and Home Minister would be segregated. Mr Pawar, however, said a decision on Mr Bhujbal’s successor has already been taken last night. "The name has already been finalised after taking into view opinions of all legislators and it would be communicated to the Chief Minister," he said and added that it would be done today or tomorrow. Strongly defending Mr Bhujbal, he said the whole state knows Mr Bhujbal is a fighter. "Result-oriented people and workers are always targeted. Even I have gone through such situations and the opposition has even charged me of having links with Dawood Ibrahim," he said and maintained that he had not asked Mr Bhujbal to quit, but he (Bhujbal) had stepped down on moral grounds as his supporters had vandalised the Alpha Marathi channel office. Regarding, Mr Bhujbal being summoned by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) Mr Pawar said. "SIT could call a person for seeking details regarding the case, but that does not mean the person is an accused. Besides, one could also go to the SIT office to part with some information available with him," he said. Replying to a question whether he anticipated early Lok Sabha elections, Mr Pawar said the elections which are about seven months away could be held after four months. Mr Pawar informed that the two-day deliberation was restricted to discussing the Maharashtra political scene and ways to evolve a comprehensive strategy to face the coming elections. He said internal party reports on the overall assessment of the party’s strengths and weaknessness in all the 288 assembly constituencies and the details of important local issues in each of the constituencies have been received. (UNI) More fake stamp paper gangs operating in India: STAMPIT BANGALORE, Dec 24: The Karnataka fake Stamp Paper Investigation Team (STAMPIT), investigating the multi-crore scam, has come with a startling revelation that more gangs are operating in the country. "From the study of the modus operandi, the circulation of stamp papers and investigation leads, we are aware that more than one gang is operating. Whether they are bigger than Karim Lala Telgi’s (the alleged kingpin behind the multi-state racket) or smaller needs to be investigated. Certain matters have not come to light at all, there are dark zones," STAMPIT head R Sri Kumar told UNI. The impact of their involvement must be investigated, he added. In this context, he mentioned that a police team from Tamil Nadu was here meeting STAMPIT officials and the Delhi Government too was pursuing the matter. He felt that the stamp papers printed by the India Security Press (ISP) at Nasik might have been substituted by fakes in transit. "There is another theory coming in that some of the genuine stamp papers could have been replaced by fakes in transit. He (Telgi) got the same source of paper and printed similar stamps and put them across," he pointed out. Until now it was believed that fake stamp papers carrying the same serial number as the originals were floated in the market in addition to the originals printed by the ISP. Asked about the paper used by the Telgi gang to print the stamp papers, Mr Sri Kumar said "we have been analysing whether there is any comparison between the two and have not been able to reach any conclusion. It is a matter of investigation." Questioning the co-operation by the ISP in the course of the investigations, he observed that the high-security Government press gave inaccurate information, making the job of estimating the leakage of revenue very difficult. "We have tried to get information from the ISP. Sometimes the officials gave us some details and later said the information was not correct only when it was pointed out to them by the investigators. Data in respect of indent and supply of stamp papers did not tally, so how can I estimate the revenue leakage?" He said "about Rs 3,500 crore worth fake stamp papers had been all over India while the value of assets confiscated from Telgi totalled only a few crores." "What we have located is very small compared to what could have gone out of the system. We are still talking in terms of crores. That is a matter of concern." So far, over 100 bank accounts linked to Telgi had been located and some of these had been used for conversion of assets, he revealed. "Money was got from the sale of stamp papers and deposited in an account. From there it was tranferred to another account where the assets were secured. We have been on the money trail for quite some time and this is the most difficult thing to follow up in an investigation." (UNI) |
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