SC
stays trial of main witness in Nitish
Katara case
NEW DELHI, Apr 21: The Supreme Court
today stayed the trial of Ajay Katara,
main witness in the Nitish Katara murder
case, in a harassment complaint filed
against him by his estranged wife.
A bench
headed by Justice Ashok Bhan issued
notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government on
Katara’s plea for transfer of the
case outside the state.
Katara,
the main witness in the sensational
murder of Nitish Katara is facing trial
in a Ghaziabad court on a complaint filed
under Section 498A of the IPC by his
estranged wife alleging that he had
subjected her to constant harassment.
In a
petition filed before the apex court,
Katara said that he apprehended threat to
his life from the family of Vikas Yadav,
who allegedly carried out the murder of
Nitish Katara.
He
submitted that D P Yadav, father of Vikas
Yadav, was out to eliminate him since he
dared to depose against the accused in
Nitish Katara murder.
He sought
to infer that the harassment case was
being used against him by the accused for
settling scores against him.
Katara
claimed to have seen Vikas and his cousin
Vishal taking away Nitish in a car from a
marriage party in Ghaziabad on February
16-17, 2002.
Nitish, a
business executive and son of an IAS
officer, was allegedly killed by them as
they did not approve their sister
Bharti’s friendship with the victim.
The body
of Nitish was later recovered from Khurja
in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh.
(PTI)
Bihar
Govt mulls new law to curb land grab
PATNA, Apr 21: The Bihar
Government is actively considering a
proposal to enact a new legislation to
check the sale of prime Government lands
allotted on lease in perpetuity or for a
fixed period as per the recommendations
of the B Bandopadhyay Commission on Land
Reforms.
"A
proposal to bring a new bill in the
monsoon session of the state legislature
is under active consideration. We want to
prohibit sale of Khas Mahal land,"
state Land Reforms and Revenue department
sources said.
An expert
panel, headed by the department's
principal secretary, would prepare the
draft for the proposed legislation for
approval of the state cabinet, sources
said.
Growing
urbanisation of Patna and other townships
had sparked off a "systematic"
transfer and re-transfer of Khas Mahal
land by the original lessees without even
the knowledge of the Government.
This has
set off a profiteering trend which is in
violation of the Khas Mahal agreements
with the state. In Patna it is a common
practice to sell off vast tracts of these
lands at huge market prices, whereas the
Government gets a pittance in rent from
the new buyer, they said.
Giving
legal safeguards to 'bataidars', toning
up revenue administration, identification
and taking over of ceiling surplus land
possessed illegally by landed class and
estates, besides addressing the
discrepancies in contract farming were
among other prescriptions suggested by
the B Bandopadhyay Commission to the
Bihar Government.
The
commission has already submitted its
report to the State Government.
Better
management of Khas Mahal land, making the
mutation process simple and mandatory,
updating land records and filling up of
vacancies in the land reform department
were the other recommendations of the
commission, official sources said.
The report
has blamed lack of bataidari rights,
absence of proper land revenue
administration mechanisms and
accumulation of land by estates in
various districts on the failure to
effect land reforms in Bihar, the sources
reveal.
"These
have also been cited as reasons for
unrest and growth of Naxalite movement in
the state," they said.
Soon after
becoming the Chief Minister in November,
2005, Nitish Kumar had constituted the
panel and sought its recommendations in a
bid to give a momentum to the process of
land reforms in Bihar which has remained
a key issue following the abolition of
zamindari in 1950.
The
125-page report submitted to the CM's
secretariat consists of nine chapters
dealing with various issues relating to
agrarian situation and its inherent
contradictions in the state.
The
Bandopadhyay panel recommended legal
safeguards for bataidars and insisted
upon the need for improving the relation
between land-owners and share-croppers so
that existing animosity between the two
classes would be minimised, the sources
said.
An
emphasis has also been laid in the report
on ceiling- surplus land and contract
farming. A huge ceiling-surplus land is
in possession of the landed gentry,
especially estates in East Champaran,
West Champaran, Gopalganj and Purnia, the
commission said recommending that the
state identify and takes over such land.
Conservative
estimates of the ceiling-excess land with
the estates and big land-owners have been
assessed at over three lakh acres, the
sources said.
Naxalism
in Bihar gets sustenance from age-old
exploitation of agricultural labourers
and the anger and resentment among them
at the general apathy of the authorities.
Left
parties and other major political parties
in the state believe that land reforms is
the key to check extremism in Bihar.
(PTI)
Munde
says he will not visit Delhi
to meet central leadership
MUMBAI, Apr 21: In a clear
disregard to summons from the BJP central
leadership, Gopinath Munde, who has
resigned from all party posts, today said
he will not be visiting Delhi and will
instead be represented by two senior
state BJP leaders.
In an
apparent damage control exercise, the BJP
leadership called Munde as also his
detractor Nitin Gadkari to Delhi to
sought out the differences in the state
unit.
When asked
if he is going to New Delhi to meet the
party central leadership, Munde said he
had conveyed his sentiments to party
leaders in the state assembly, Eknath
Khadse, and in the council, Pandurang
Phundkar.
"I
have full faith in their leadership and
they will go on my behalf," he said,
adding that he planned to attend the
ongoing session in the Maharashtra
legislative assembly.
Munde, who
tendered his resignation yesterday, also
said he was in touch with senior party
leaders including party president Rajnath
Singh since yesterday.
Denying
that he was being isolated in the party,
Munde said his grievances were about the
party’s style of functioning and not
over the appointment of any particular
person as the head of BJP’s Mumbai
unit.
"You
are wrong if you interpret that I am
being isolated. I have lakhs of followers
and party workers behind me," Munde
said.
"My
anger is against the manner in which the
party was functioning and not against the
appointment of Madhu Chavan (as
BJP’s Mumbai chapter chief),"
he said.
He denied
that he was trying to build pressure on
the party by tendering his resignation.
"I
have taken this decision after much
thought," he said.
When
contacted, Gadkari said he was scheduled
to meet with party leaders in Delhi this
evening.
"All
I know is that Munde has also been called
for the talks," Gadkari said.
When asked
if his supporters had tendered their
resignations as well, Munde said he was
an ordinary party worker and had not
asked anyone to resign.
He said he
has told his supporters to go back to
their constituencies.
"I am
not leaving the BJP. I was and will
always remain a loyal party worker,"
he said.
He also
told them he would undertake a rally to
meet them and hear their problems.
MLAs-Gopal
Shetty, Girish Mahajan and Sardar Tara
Singh-and MLC Asha Patel were prominent
among those who called on Munde today.
Shetty
said he met Munde as he was the leader.
However,
senior party leaders rejected
Munde’s charge that the party was
not functioning in a democratic manner.
"The
name of Madhu Chavan was finalised by
three veteran party leaders in
consultation with about 70 to 80 office
bearers and workers from Mumbai," a
senior leader said.
The party
leaders also said that Munde, by his
resignation, was only trying to assert
himself in the party. (PTI)
NKC
criticises giving non-teaching duties to
teachers
NEW DELHI, Apr 21: The National
Knowledge Commission (NKC) has criticised
imposition of non-teaching duties such as
manning poll booths and collecting data
for surveys on teachers, saying it cuts
into the teaching time.
"The
imposition of a wide range of
non-teaching duties, such as that of
manning poll booths and collecting data
for surveys etc. Cuts into the available
teaching time and also undermines the
professional status of teachers,"
the NKC said in its proposal submitted to
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February
this year.
Minister
of State for HRD D Purandeswari quoted
from the report in a written reply in
Rajya Sabha today.
She said
the Commission is of the view that these
activities should be shared out among a
wider range of public employees or even
those hired specifically for the purpose
and the burden of such work on teachers
must be reduced.
"Specifically,
unemployed local youth and recently
retired people must be considered for
such activities as far as possible,"
Purandeswari said.
She added
that education being a concurrent
subject, most schools come under the
purview of State Governments and it is
for them to take appropriate action in
the matter. (PTI)
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