NEW DELHI, Apr 12:
In an unusual move, the Press Council of India today decided to challenge in the Supreme Court the Allahabad High Court order prohibiting media reports related to troop movements.
“The Press Council of India will be challenging the order of the Allahabad High Court in the Supreme Court of India very shortly,” Press Council chairman Justice Markandey Katju chief said in a statement here.
The High Court had directed Secretaries in the Home Affairs and I & B ministries along with Principal Secretary (Home) of the UP Government to ensure that there is no reporting or release of any news item by the print as well as the electronic media related to movement of troops.
Katju said the High Court order, which was passed on a writ petition relating to a report published in the Indian Express regarding movement of army troops, was not correct.
The media has a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution to make such publication, as it did not endanger national security, he said.
The Indian Army is not a colonial army, but the army of the Indian people who pay the taxes for the entire defence budget. Hence, the people of India have a right to know about Army affairs, except where they compromise national security, he said.
Katju noted that the media has done an excellent job in exposing the Adarsh and Sukna scams in which senior army officers were involved and they were well within their fundamental right of freedom of the media under Article 19(1)(A) to do so.
He said that reporting troop movement near the Indian border or during war time should be prohibited as that may aid the enemy and cause harm to the armed forces by compromising national security. “However, in my opinion there can be no general prohibition of reporting of all troop movements,” he said.
Referring to Indian Express of April 4, he said,”I am of the opinion that without going into the question whether the news reporting was factually correct or not, there could not have been a valid prohibition of such reporting, because the troop movement was not at the Indian border or during war time,” he said. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 12: Army and Special Operations Group (SOG) today recovered a consignment of explosive material from village Rangawali in Sabjian area of Poonch district.
Official sources said troops of 40 Rashtriya Rifles and SOG carried out a joint search operation at Rangawali and destroyed a hideout of the militants.
Recoveries made from the hideout included six Chinese grenades, six shells of Rocket Projectile Gun (RPG), 12 Pika rounds, 50 AK rounds, four detonators with wire, one medical kit, two bags and two Pakistan made cigarette packets.
Army and police have launched a search operation in the area in anticipation of movement of the militants following recovery of cigarette packets from the hideout of the militants.
Few days back, Army and police had busted a hideout of the militants in Rajouri district.

NEW DELHI, Apr 12:
Aiming to bring in transparency and deal with the issue of corruption in state purchases, the Government today approved a Bill that seeks to regulate public procurement of above Rs 50 lakh and provide fair treatment to bidders.
“The Bill is exceptionally important as it is part of our commitment to deal with the issue of corruption. Part of our commitment is to ensure that in Government functioning, there is both accountability and transparency,” HRD and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said after a Cabinet meeting.
The Public Procurement Bill, 2012, seeks to codify fundamental principles in the Government procurement and maximise competition, he told reporters.
The Bill, likely to be introduced in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, would not apply to purchases “below Rs 50 lakh”.
“This will result in improving efficiency and quality… hopefully, the Bill will be introduced in this session,” the minister said.
The Bill seeks to regulate Government procurement, including that of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), with the objectives of “ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in the procurement process”.
According to an official release, the Bill also seeks to ensure fair and equitable treatment for bidders, promoting competition, enhancing efficiency and economy, safeguarding integrity in the procurement process and “enhancing public confidence in public procurement”.
Currently, there is no overarching legislation governing public procurement by the Central Government and CPSEs. The General Financial Rules, 2005, govern procurements made by the Centre.
The Procurement Bill, which will be sent to a standing committee after introduction in Parliament, also provides a “strong framework” for transparency and accountability through a public procurement portal and a grievance redressal system.
An independent mechanism, under the chairmanship of a retired High Court Judge, would review grievances, the statement said.
Elaborating on the transparency mechanism in the Bill, Sibal said: “The Central Government will set up and maintain a central public procurement portal accessible to the public for posting matters relating to public procurement.”
Currently, the Government procurement is done in many ways like open\limited competitive bidding, two stage bidding, single source procurement, electronic reverse auction and spot purchases.
“You can imagine the range of procurement processes that are going to be covered by this act and lot of these will be electronically done,” Sibal said.
The Bill provides for adequate flexibility to take into account kinds of procurement needs, types of procuring entities and methods of procurement, the statement said.
The Bill is based on recommendations of a Committee on Public Procurement headed by former bureaucrat Vinod Dhall which were accepted by a Group of Ministers (GoM), to tackle corruption, on February 22.
The GoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had sent the bill for approval to the Union Cabinet.
Sources said the Bill proposes a jail term ranging from six months to five years for public servants found guilty of demanding and accepting bribes from bidders of Government contracts. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Apr 12:
India and Pakistan are expected to formally announce by next month finalisation of a new visa regime to facilitate movement of businessmen from both the countries, visiting Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood said today.
“In principle, the visa things are finalised. But it needs to be formally announced and approved. This would be done by by the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the Home Ministry of India,” Mahmood said.
He was speaking to reporters after the inaugural function of the four-day ‘Lifestyle Pakistan’ exhibition here.
Mahmood said there are possibilities, under the new agreement, that a businessman from either country would get visa for more than one year and that too for more number of cities.
“We expect that the meeting (between the Interior Ministry of Pakistan and the Home Ministry of India) would take place in April or May and this would be formally announced,” he added.
India and Pakistan are working towards revising the existing bilateral visa agreement that was signed in 1974 to facilitate travel by bonafide businessmen from both the countries.
Mahmood said now the movement of people is restrictive wherein “a (Pakistani) businessman coming to Delhi cannot even go to Gurgaon (in Haryana)” .
He also said that there is need to improve the infrastructure at borders to boost the movement of goods like cement.
When asked about prospects of investments from Pakistan, Mahmood said Indian businessmen are always welcome to do investment in Pakistan, but “for us there are restrictions in India”.
Meanwhile, inaugurating the exhibition, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said he would discuss all the issues, including allowing trade of power and petroleum products, tomorrow with his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
“We are talking about trade in petroleum products. We are also working towards opening up of bank branches of both the countries. The central banks of both the countries are in dialogue to finalise the modalities. We will be discussing all these issues,” Sharma said.
The minister also said that the informal trade between the countries exceed the official trade and there is a need to address the issue.
Bilateral trade between the two countries at present is around USD 2.8 billion, although the informal trade, mainly via countries like Dubai and Singapore, is estimated to be USD 10 billion. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Apr 12:
President Pratibha Patil was at the centre of yet another controversy over her post-retirement home in Pune.
An organisation of ex-servicemen in Pune has alleged that over five acres of land had been alloted for purpose of her residence after she demits office later in July this year when her five-year term ends.
Suresh Patil, a retired Lt Col of the Pune-based ‘Justice for Jawan’, part of NGO ‘Green Thumb’ group, who has accessed details about the Government’s measures for providing her housing in Pune, claims that a large extent of land measuring over 2.60 lakh square feet has been alloted to her in Khadki cantonment in Pune.
He claims that a house with a plinth area of 4,500 square feet is being built for her by bringing down two British-era county bungalows.
The former Army official questioned why such a large extent of land was being fenced to protect this house for Pratibha Patil, who recently made news when an RTI application brought out the fact that over Rs 205 crore were spent on her foreign travels.
However, Rashtrapati Bhavan maintains that there has been no wrong doing or violation of rules. All rules were being strictly adhered to for a post-retirement house for the President.
Under rules, a former President is entitled to a furnished bungalow anywhere in India of his or her choice. In places where Government accommodation is available, it should be comparable to the highest type of residence available to the Union Ministers.
Where it is not available, the size of residence should not exceed 4,500 square feet with a living area not exceeding 2,000 square feet. The privilege is extended to the spouse after the death of the President or a former President.
Col Patil said that he had sent several RTI applications to the Army’s Southern Command seeking reasons for fencing the entire five acre land with a wall but failed to get any response.
Reacting to the allegations, Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson Archana Datta said “the land in question is a defence land. The question of transfer of land to any individual does not arise.”
She said the house will remain with the President till her life time and go back to the defence.
Asked about the new construction being undertaken at the site, she said “It was not a vacant land and there is no new construction taking place. Its only a renovation.”
To a question about the allegation that around five acres of land had been fenced for the President’s house, the spokesperson said that Ministry of Defence would be an appropriate authority to reply on this. “I maintain that no rules have been violated.” (PTI)

Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Apr 12: The Services Selection Board (SSB) has selected 28 X-ray Assistants for the Health Department in Kashmir division in which several of them figuring at the top in the list have produced tampered certificates to the SSB.
According to the notification issued by the SSB in March this year, 28 candidates were selected as X-ray assistants in response to Notification No. 08 of 2010 dated 24-12-2010. Fifteen of them were selected in open merit, 5 in RBA, 7 in SC and one in ST category.
Among 9 selected candidates who are on top of the selection list in Open merit category, 5 have produced tampered certificates for the selection in the Health Department as X-ray technicians.
Figuring on the top of the list at No. 1 is Mudaseer Ahmad Bhat son of Mohammad Ramzan Bhat of Shopian. He has produced diploma certificate in the SSB that showed he has got 2047 marks out of 2400.
Last year, Bhat had also applied for the post of X-ray technician in Government Medical College and Associated Hospital. He has produced diploma certificate of Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, Mahipalpur, New Delhi where he has secured 1751 marks out of 2400. In first year, he has secured 872 marks out of 1200 as per the marks sheet issued on May 31, 2007 and in second year, he has secured 879 marks out of 1200 as per the marks sheet issued on August 9, 2008.
At Number 2 in the SSB list is Lafief Ahmad Dar son of Abdul Gani Dar of Srinagar. He has produced diploma certificate to the SSB that showed he got 2051 marks out of 2400. While the certificate he has produced in Bone and Joint hospital last year showed him securing 1751 marks out of 2400.
In response to a verification letter (BJSH/Est-II/970 dated 15-06-2011) of the Medical Superintendent Government Hospital for Bone and Joint and Joint Surgery, Barzulla of six candidates, the Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, Mahipalpur, New Delhi has said that Dar was a regular student of the Institute in 2003-2005 batch and has passed the examination in first division by securing 1751 marks.
Another selected candidate at Serial No. 7, Manzoor Ahmad Mir son of Ghulam Hussain Mir of Budgam has produced diploma certificate with the SSB where he has got 851 marks out of 1000. While the diploma certificate he has produced in Government Medical College and Associated Hospitals, Srinagar last year, showed that he has secured 751 marks out of 1000.
Mir was at serial no. 29 in the combined merit list of candidates for the post of X-ray Assistant of Government Medical College and Associated Hospitals, Srinagar that they have issued last year and have provided to one Ashiq Hussain and others under no AH/RTI/2012/20 datead 06-04-2012 in response to an RTI application.
Meanwhile, around 32 candidates who had produced the tampered certificates didn’t appear in the interview fearing detection of the fraud by the SSB.