Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 26: The Government today issued orders of transfers and postings of seventy one (71) Deputy Superintendents of Police.
Mohd Yousuf Parray, DSP IR 18 Bn has been shifted and posted as DSP DAR Handwara, Atul Sharma DSP IR 17 Bn as SDPO Railways Vijaypur, Randhir Singh DSP Hq Ramban as DSP JKAP 14 Bn, Manzoor Ahmed Mir DSP DAR Handwara as DSP Hq Shopian, Liaqat Ali DSP SKPA Udhampur as SDPO Manjakote, Girdhari Lal SDPO Nowshera as DSP CID SB Batote, Amit Bhasin DSP SKPA Udhampur as SDPO Mendhar, Sukhdev Raj DSP IR 9th Bn as DSP Hq Udhampur, Shafqat Hussian DSP Crime Jammu as DSP IR 5th Bn, Paramvir Singh DSP PCR Jammu as SDPO Railways Jammu, Rajinder Kumar Katoch DSP JKAP 4 Bn as SDPO Katra, Khursheed Ahmed Mir DSP JKAP 14 Bn as DSP IR 20 Bn, Mohd Faisal Qureshi SDPO Nagrota as DSP Traffic NH Ramban, Vinay Kumar SDPO Mahore as DSP PCR Jammu, Mushtaq Ahmed Shah DSP IR 5th Bn as DSP DAR Sopore, Atta Mohd Naik SO to DIG DKR Range as DSP IR 5 Bn, Dushyant Sharma DSP CD Samba as DSP CD Jammu, K S Jasrotia DSP Hq Jammu as DSP CID SB Rajouri, Hamid Ullah DSP DAR Shopian as DSP CID CI Ganderbal, V K Jamwal as DSP SKPA Udhampur, Bashir Ahmed Dar DSP CID CI Kashmir as DSP DAR Pulwama while Sodagarmal Jangral DSP JKAP 5th Bn as SDPO Bari Brahmana.
M L Kaith SDPO Gandhinagar has been shifted and posted as DSP Hq Jammu, Ramneesh Gupta DSP SKPA Udhampur as SO to DIG DKR Range, Master Popsy DSP Hq Udhampur as DSP JKAP 14 Bn, Sajjad Ahmed Shah SDPO Pattan as DSP PC Sgr, Arif Amin Shah DSP IR 18 Bn as SDPO Pahalgam, Parbheet Singh SDPO Mendhar as DSP Hq Ramban, Tahir Ashraf Bhati DSP Hq Bandipora as DSP JKAP 5th Bn, Naresh Singh SDPO Bari Brahmana as DSP SKPA Udhampur, Ifroz Ahmed DSP CID CI Baramulla as SDPO Handwara, Mushim Ahmed DSP PCR Jammu as SDPO Mahore, Mukesh Kumar Kakkar SDPO Railways Jammu as SDPO Gandhinagar, Zahoor Ahmed Wani DSP PC Kupwara as DSP PC Lolab, Vivek Shekhar Sharma DSP JKAP 3rd Bn to STC Talwara, Aijaz Ahmed Malik DSP TC Budgam as DSP Hq Budgam, Zulfiqar Ahmed DSP PC Kulgam as DSP JKAP 7th Bn, Rahul Charak DSP PC Kishtwar as DSP IR Ist Bn, Zuhaib Tanvir DSP PC Pulwama as DSP PC Magam Handwara, Ashiq Hussain Tak as DSP PCR Srinagar, Noor-ul-Hassan DSP PC Lolab as DSP DAR Kupwara, Farooq Ahmed Zargar DSP IR 10 Bn as DSP CID SB Surveillance Kashmir, Pritam Singh DSP Railways Katra as DSP DSB Jammu while Karamveer Singh SDPO Basohli as DSP IR 17 Batalion.
Shamsher Singh SDPO R S Pura has been posted as SDPO East Jammu, Ghulam Haider Khan DSP SDRF Ist Bn as DSP Traffic Budgam, Rajinder Singh Rahi DSP JKAP 9th Bn as DSP PC Kupwara, Jagbir Singh DSP CID PHQ as DSP Crime Jammu, Jagdev Singh DSP CID CI Doda/ Kishtwar as DSP Hq Reasi, Diwakar Singh as SDPO R S Pura, Nissar Hussain DSP JKAP 9th Bn as DSP PTI Vijaypur, Parshotam Kumar DSP DSB Jammu as DSP Railways Katra, Ram Singh DSP Traffic NH Ramban as DSP IR 17 Bn, Mashqoor Ahmed DSP PC Magam Handwara as DSP PC Pulwama, Pardeep Singh DSP PC Surankore as SDPO Nowshera, Iftikhar Talib DSP PC Sgr as DSP Chakan-da-Bagh Poonch, Mohd Aslam as DSP IR 10 Bn, Ajay Kumar DSP IR 8th Bn as DSP SDRF 2nd Bn Jammu, Mohd Ibrahim DSP IR 3rd Bn as DSP Crime Jammu, Dalip Singh as DSP CID SB Udhampur, Abdul Rashid Rather DSP JKAP 7th Bn as DSP CID CI Budgam, Rashid Ahmed DSP DAR Kupwara as DSP Hq Bandipora, Bihari Lal DSP CID SB Udhampur as DSP IR 10th Bn, V K Khajuria DSP CD Jammu as SO to DIG Home Guards Jammu, P N Tikoo SDPO Katra as DSP CIV PHQ, Prem Raj Shan DSP JKAP 13 Bn as DSP JKAP 14 Bn, Mohd Afzal DSP CID CI Ganderbal as DSP DAR Shopian, Joginder Singh as DSP PCR Jammu, Fayaz Ahmed SDPO Handwara as SDPO Pattan, Khalid Hussain SDPO Railways Vijaypur as SDPO Nagrota while Mohd Rafiq Manhas DSP SDRF 2nd Bn is posted as SDPO, Basohli.

Process to appoint 6 new Judges of High Court started: Sagar

Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Apr 25: While legal luminaries of the country in general and this border State in particular have been emphatically repeating the adage: “Justice delayed is justice denied”, the long list of cases pending in the High Court and the Subordinate Courts for the past decade or even more tell a different story!
Astonishingly, nearly 24,000 cases in the Subordinate Courts and about 200 cases in the State High Court have been pending for the past 10-15 years. These facts have been revealed in the data collected by the monitoring cell of Department of Justice, Union Ministry of Law and Justice in its report.
According to the latest figures, nearly 2.5 lakh cases are still pending in various Courts including both the wings of State High Court. About 17,000 cases pending with the Subordinate Courts for the past 5-10 years, whilst as nearly 9500 cases are lying with the High Court for disposal.
Further, nearly 12,500 cases in Subordinate Courts and about 7700 cases in High Court were also awaiting their disposal since the past 3-5 years. There were also 35,000 cases in High Court and 38,000 cases in lower Courts pending for the past 1-3 years.
Other parts of the country, where the cases pending for the past 10-15 years included Allahabad (749627), Andhra Pradesh (13,930), Bombay (145078), Calcutta (249676), Delhi (36086), Gujarat (324293), Himachal Pradesh (863), Karnataka (13541), Kerala (10915), Madras (35412), Madhya Pradesh (1078509), Orissa (47460), Patna (1204930), Punjab & Haryana (899545), Rajasthan (1455264), Sikkim (676), Uttarakhand (206233), Chattisgarh (338337), Jharkhand (304423) and several other North Eastern States (385326).
Peeved over the long pendency of cases, the Union Law Ministry in various communications had also suggested a road map for improving justice delivery and legal reforms and steps to reduce the pendency in Courts. The Ministry had suggested launching of campaign to reduce the percentage of pending cases.
Law, Parliament and Justice Affairs Minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar while reacting to the long list of pendency stated that the State Government in consultation with the judiciary had initiated several measures to reduce the cases pending in different Courts for the past several years. “After several years, the Government has also initiated the process of filling up the post of Judges and six Judges of the High Court are likely to be appointed soon. This step would go a long way to reduce the work burden over the existing Judges in the High Courts and would also help decrease the pendency levels”, he said.
To further reduce the pending list of cases, the Government has been organising regular campaigns in the form of Lok Adalats and other means like Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR). Besides, an impetus is being given to improve the existing infrastructure in various Courts of the State.
As per the Vision Document prepared by the Union Law Ministry, the State Government has also initiated the process of appointment of Court Managers in some Courts of the State.
The Union Ministry has also launched the project of E-Courts to facilitate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) implementation in all Courts and pave way for better management in Courts. For greater ease of functioning, funds for technical manpower hiring and data entry have been placed at the disposal of High Courts. The software deliverables have been developed in consultation with the High Courts and sufficient funds for training are provided.
However, the project of E-Courts is also facing several hiccups at different levels in the State. “In several cases there are procedural delays while there are other cases where the vendors aren’t cooperating with the implementing agencies”.
Commenting on the state of affairs, official sources said that the Jammu district Court is under City Civil project before E-court and all the hardware is obsolete as per the CIS software concerned. The existing hardware infrastructure, which has been provided to the High Court is quite old and is of no use.
“All the district Courts are facing the problems of UPS system and the vendors have also failed to resolve the problem. This has happened despite the fact that the authorities had emailed the vendors directing them for instant resolution of the complaints”, sources said.
At Leh / Kargil district the entire hardware it yet to be delivered and installed and the agencies aren’t getting any cooperation from the vendors. Several sites in the Kashmir Division are also facing have hardware problems. The agencies have also approached the State Government requesting for funds to replace the hardware, which had been damaged due to fire in the building.

PDD blames public resistance, climatic conditions for failure
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 26: Coming to the rescue of the Power Development Department (PDD) in avoiding impending crisis, State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) has extended the period for supply of electricity to 4.5 lakh un-metered consumers beyond April 28 and metering of all these connections up to June 30, 2013.
Authoritative sources told EXCELSIOR that as 4.5 lakh un-metered connections were not liable to get electricity supply beyond April 28 as per the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Electricity Act, 2010, the Power Development Department yesterday moved an application before the State Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking extension of period for installation of 100 per cent correct meters at all levels and to supply electricity to all un-metered consumers in the State.
“As 4.5 lakh un-metered consumers were all set to land in severe crisis, the SERC sympathetically considered the request of the Power Development Department and in exercise of the powers vested in it under the second proviso to Section 49(1) of the Act, the Commission today extended the period for supply of electricity beyond the expiry of two years from the commencement of J&K Electricity Act, 2010 for installation of correct meters up to June 30, 2013”, the sources said.
While extending date, the SERC stressed that Power Development Department should stick to the new deadline for metering of all sorts of connections as the un-metered supply has been one of the factors responsible for high loss levels in the State, sources said while disclosing that Commission will shortly issue fresh set of guidelines to the Power Development Department for meeting the target of 100 per cent metering by June 2013.
While giving reasons behind failure to meet the earlier deadlines vis-à-vis 100 per cent metering, the Power Development Department told the Commission that metering of all the connections got delayed mainly because of huge public resistance. Though the Department resorted to even disconnection of power supply to the non-metered consumers yet the same could not yield tangible results, the PDD further told the Commission.
It was also conveyed to the Commission that due to adverse climatic conditions for several months when several parts of the State remain inaccessible the metering process could not be started. It was also stated by the PDD that it was practically impossible to arrange such a huge number of meters in the limited time-frame.
While submitting comprehensive metering plan along with application seeking extension in the deadline for metering of all left over un-metered connections, the Power Development Department said that all HT connections will be metered by June 30, 2012 and all the Government connections in Kashmir valley as well as in Jammu region would be metered by July 31, 2012.
Similarly, all the LT connections in R-APDRP areas would be metered by August 31, 2012 and in non R-APDRP areas, the metering exercise would be completed by April 30, 2013.
It is pertinent to mention here that 30 towns of the State which have more than 10,000 population are covered under R-APDRP scheme of the Government of India.
Stating that 60 per cent metering of un-metered connections would be completed by April 2013 and 100 per cent by June 2013, the Power Development Department told the Commission that metering of distribution transformers in R-APDRP areas would be completed by July 31, 2012 and 11 KV/33 KV feeders would be metered by November 30, 2012.
About the public resistance to the metering exercise, the Commission, according to the sources, stressed that Department should initiate required steps to motivate the people and generate awareness among them about the benefits of metering.

Both houses of Parliament disrupted
NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
Armed with fresh details in the 25-year-old Bofors scandal, an aggressive Opposition today disrupted Parliament, alleging “cover up” and demanding a new probe by a judicial commission.
Opposition members, particularly those from BJP and Left, raked up the issue in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, saying the Bofors chapter was not closed yet, leading to clashes with ruling members and affecting pre-lunch sittings severely.
In the Lok Sabha, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh raised the issue, saying it was “a saga of continuing corruption” and a “thorn” which needed to be removed.
He demanded setting up of a judicial commission to probe the issue even as he admitted to failure of the NDA Government, in which he was External Affairs Minister, to get accused Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi extradited to India.
Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, who had faced the allegations of pay-offs in the 155 MM gun deal in 1986, Singh said the Congress would be “feeling the absence” of the late Prime Minister and a “promising” individual in the polity was lost.
As UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi watched, Singh said the party should get into the causes of the mistake because of which it paid a heavy political price.
CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia also demanded reopening of the case, institution of an independent inquiry and extradition of Quattrocchi.
In the Rajya Sabha, which saw three adjournments, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley alleged that “there were repeated efforts to cover up” the scandal but refrained from naming any party or individual.
“There were repeated efforts to cover up. The pace of investigation varied with the colour of the political Government in power…We gave a whole burial to the case,” Jaitley said.
“….The fact is clear. Somebody got the contract and somebody got the kickback….This man (Quattrocchi) is so powerful. Entire Indian state appeared so helpless….This is a textbook illustration of fraud,” Jaitley said.
Congress members countered the allegations in both the Houses leading to clashes.
“The correct weapon was acquired, it was acquired in a wrong manner …. You (Congress) have paid, we have paid. The nation continues to pay,” said Jaswant Singh.
“Till you don’t remove this thorn, poison will continue to spread. … Whatever is happening in the defence sector today is because of this episode. It is a saga of continuing corruption. In matters of corruption, there is no closure,” he said.
Admitting that the NDA had failed to get Quattrocchi extradited after his arrest in Malaysia, Singh said, “Many will say why did you not do it. You have failed, we have failed. But don’t consider our failure as your success.”
Observing that it gave him “no delight” to raise this issue, he said, “25 years have passed but the storm of Bofors refuses to subside and the guns continue to blaze.”
Reminding Congress about the political cost, he said, the reason behind Congress being reduced from its “historic” victory of 404 seats in Lok Sabha in 1984 to 114 in the next elections was Bofors pay-offs deal.
Singh posed a series of questions on the matter and asked why the Indian investigating teams, which went to Sweden did not meet their Swedish counterparts probing the matter.
He claimed that Quattrocchi was “permitted through Government connivance to escape from Delhi”.
He sought to know why “political” donations were paid to the account of AE Services, a company owned by the Italian businessman. “How can it (donations) be political in nature when it went to a businessman. We all know he worked for Snam Progetti and what happened in it. We must know what his political purpose was,” he said.
Jaitley did not name Rajiv Gandhi saying he did not intend to blame any political party or leaders.
He, however, said the fate of the case in which nobody could be nailed even after 25 years is a “serious reflection on the health of our investigating process” and stressed that there is a need to strengthen the capacity of institutions.
As Mani Shankar Aiyar (Cong) rose to counter Jaitley, Opposition members shouted him into silence asking why he is being allowed to speak when only leaders of parties in the House have been permitted to raise the matter.
Noting that Jaitley has bemoaned the fact that unsuccessful efforts were being made to unearth the truth, Aiyar said, “The reason why we could not unearth the truth is because the pursuit of truth began with a series of untruths.”
Through a point of order, Najma Heptulla (BJP) demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is Leader of the Rajya Sabha, should be present if the House wanted a discussion.
Naresh Agrawal (SP) also protested against allowing Aiyar to speak on the issue saying this amounted to partiality and demanded everybody should be given opportunity to speak.
He said there was a need to introspect “where we had gone wrong” and “what is the capacity of Indian state and all agencies of our in pursuit of truth to find out where we have gone wrong.
Jaitley said “our neigbouring country in the western border” faced earthshaking consequences for a similar situation because the Government there did not take steps.
He emphasised that the middlemen must be eliminated and probity ensured in public life.
Joining the issue, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the issue of Bofors has “plagued” the country for more than two decades.
“It has deeply impacted the country…The issue is of probity…Even today there is a big question mark on defence deals. The whistleblower has formally said something. Government must investigate it properly,” he said.
Earlier, when the Rajya Sabha met for the day, BJP and AIADMK members displayed copies of a newspaper interview given by former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom where he said Rajiv Gandhi did nothing to prevent the cover-up to protect Quattrocchi, who is alleged to have received pay-offs in the deal.
“Quattrocchi ko kis ney bachaya (Who saved Quattrocchi),” the Opposition members chanted.
Every time BJP members shouted “Who saved Quattrocchi”, ruling Congress members joined the chorus shouting “BJP ney bachaya (BJP saved him)”.
Aiyar said Jaitely was the Additional Solicitor General who had done paper work in the Bofors investigation case.
Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) said very serious questions have been raised by the former Swiss police chief while his party members continued shouting slogans.
The uproar led to two adjournments in Question Hour. (PTI)

SRIHARIKOTA, AP, Apr 26: Achieving yet another milestone in its space programme, India today successfully launched its first indigenous all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1 that will boost its remote sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management.
The perfect launch of the satellite catapulted India into a select band of countries having indigenous radar imaging technology.
“Only the US, Canada, Japan and the European consortium have the technology so far,” P S Veeraraghavan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram said.
Hailing the launch, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was an important milestone in India’s space programme and congratulated the ISRO scientists for displaying mastery of the complex launch vehicle technology.
In a textbook launch, the 1,858 kg spacecraft, the country’s first microwave remote sensing satellite, was injected into precise orbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV C-19 about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off at 5.47 AM at the end of the 71-hour countdown from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, around 90 km from Chennai.
PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle of Indian Space Research Organisation, achieved its 20th consecutive successful flight when it launched RISAT-1, the heaviest satellite ever lifted by it, in a mission described as a “grand success” by the space agency chief K Radhakrishanan.
RISAT-1, culmination of nearly 10 years of effort by SRO, has the capability to take images of Earth during day and night, as well as in cloudy conditions.
Till now, India depended on images from a Canadian satellite as existing domestic remote sensing spacecraft cannot take pictures of Earth during cloud cover.
“The satellite can give valuable data like soil moisture, glacier positions and other details,” the ISRO chairman said.
The satellite has been successfully deployed at an altitude of 480 km, Radhakrishnan said, adding it would be raised to its desired altitude of 536 km of Polar Sunsynchronous Orbit in the next three days.
The four stages of heavy-duty PSLV-XL variant, used for the third time, performed without any glitch and scientists at the mission control centre broke into cheers when the rocket injected the satellite into orbit, marking the first launch this year a success for ISRO.
Asked whether the satellite would serve any defence purposes, Radhakrishnan said, “The primary objective of the satellite is for agricultural purposes during the kharif season.”
Soon after the successful launch of RISAT-1, the ISRO chief had said this is PSLV’s 20th successive successful flight which injected India’s first radar imaging satellite precisely into the desired orbit.
India had in April 2009 launched a Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) with all weather capability but it was bought from Israel for USD 110 million largely for surveillance purposes. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
Sachin Tendulkar, who turned 39 yesterday, will now become a Parliamentarian with the Government nominating him to the House of Elders, Rajya Sabha, along with actress of yesteryear Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga.
The nomination of the three eminent personalities was tonight approved by President Pratibha Patil under Article 80 of the Constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the 250-member Upper House.
The names of Tendulkar, who has brought many a laurel to the country through his exploits in the game, Rekha, known for her brilliant and emotional portrayals in Hindi cinema in the 80s, and industrialist and social worker Aga were sent by the Prime Minister to the Home Ministry yesterday for approval by the President.
70-year-old Aga, former chairperson of Thermax Industries and a member of the Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council, is a social worker who had figured among the richest Indians in the list by Forbes.
Article 80 of the Constitution provides for nomination of persons having special knowledge or practical experience in matters such as literature, science, art and social service.
57-year-old Rekha was one of the top heroines of the 80s in Hindi films and had won several national awards in her acting career.
Tendulkar’s nomination to Rajya Sabha has come as a surprise against the backdrop of a long-standing demand for conferring of Bharat Ratna on him for his contribution to the game. He completed the historic achievement of scoring 100 international centuries in March this year.
Earlier in the day, Tendulkar, accompanied by his wife Anjali, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence.
Tendulkar would be the first active sportsman and a cricketer to be nominated to Rajya Sabha.
The House already has a member from the film world in Javed Akhtar.
Tendulkar is the first sports personality to be nominated to Rajya Sabha while there have been several film personalities who have been nominated in the past.
Film personalities who were nominated in the past include Hema Malini, Vyjayantimala, Nargis Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar and Sivaji Ganesan.
Under the anti-defection law, a nominated member has the option to give a declaration within six months if he wants to associate himself with a political party in the House. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
Interest rate on employees’ provident fund will be increased to 8.6 per cent for the current fiscal, a move which will benefit around five crore subscribers.
“The rates were brought down due to lower income (on investment in Special Deposit Schemes)…There is no question of minimum or maximum interest rates. We distribute it as per our revenue. Next time, it will be 8.6 per cent,” Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said in the Rajya Sabha replying to a debate on working of Labour Ministry.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had brought down the rate of interest to 8.25 per cent for 2011-12 from 9.5 per cent provided in 2010-11.
The retirement fund body EPFO has parked in excess of Rs 55,000 crore in the Special Deposit Schemes (SDS) aimed at providing better returns to non-Government provident funds and other such funds.
Kharge said the rate of interest on funds depend on the revenues. Since the money belongs to workers, the Government does not intend to reap any benefit out of the fund and returns every penny for the welfare of the subscribers.
“Even if the interest rate is less, the money is kept in safe custody,” Kharge said.
The interest rate was lowered last fiscal on the finance ministry’s recommendation that with the kind of returns, it was not possible to continue with the 9.5 per cent given in the year-ago period.
Stating that his ministry is taking pro-active steps to address issues related to labour, Kharge said, the Government has enacted laws to protect workers and provide them additional benefits like assured job, food and medicines.
On pending bills, he said, “Sometimes, we are not able to enact good laws because of differences. Without cooperation, no decision can be taken.” (PTI)

ISLAMABAD, Apr 26:
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was today convicted by the Supreme Court for contempt for refusing to pursue graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and was given a only token sentence but still questions remained over his membership of Parliament.
Soon after a 7-member bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk gave the judgement and sentenced him till the rising of the court, which was all over in 30 seconds, 56-year-old Gilani faced calls for resignation from the post of Prime Minister.
Gilani’s detractors including PMN-L chief Nawaz Sharif and PTI chief Imran Khan have said he has lost his moral authority to continue in the post.
However, the Pakistan cabinet decided to appeal against Gilani’s conviction and that there was no need for him to resign.
The court convicted Gilani of contempt for failing to act on repeated orders to reopen cases of alleged money laundering against Zardari in Switzerland. Gilani and the Government had refused to act against Zardari, saying the President enjoyed complete immunity in Pakistan and abroad.
During the brief proceedings, the court, which spared the Prime Minister from a jail term, noted that its verdict under article 63 would have “serious consequences” for him and did not invoke it.
Instead, it held him guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him “till the rising of the court” or till the completion of the hearing.
The judges left the court immediately after announcing the verdict, effectively ending Gilani’s sentence.
“For reasons to be recorded later, the Prime Minister is found guilty of contempt for wilfully flouting the direction of the Supreme Court,” Justice Mulk said.
“We note that our findings and the conviction for the contempt of court recorded are likely to entail some serious consequences in terms of Article 63(1g) of the Constitution,” the bench said in a short order.
Experts said this left the door open for the initiation of the process for the disqualification of Gilani, Pakistan’s longest serving Prime Minister.
However, the Speaker of the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament will have 30 days to decide on such a move and the Election Commission a further 90 days – effectively meaning that the premier can remain in office for four more months.
The entire proceedings in the courtroom number 4 lasted less than 10 minutes. The judges left the court immediately after announcing the verdict, effectively ending Gilani’s sentence.
Emerging from the heavily guarded court, Gilani told the media: “We had sought justice. The decision was not appropriate”.
A visibly dejected Prime Minister, accompanied by his sons, shook hands with his team and members of the federal cabinet after hearing the verdict.
Attorney General Irfan Qadir described the verdict as “unconstitutional and unlawful”.
The Pakistan cabinet which met hours after the judgement decided to appeal against Gilani’s conviction, with the premier’s lawyer saying the Supreme Court’s verdict was “beyond the scope” of the charges framed against him.
Gilani’s lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, said: “The Prime Minister, the cabinet and (the Pakistan People’s Party’s) allies have decided to appeal this order and I’ve been authorised to prepare the appeal”.
The Government has 30 days to file the appeal, Ahsan told a news conference at which Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira too was present.
Once the appeal is filed, the apex court will have to hear the matter afresh and any grounds for the possible disqualification of the premier “cannot survive”, Ahsan said.
“What I’m saying is not about fairness or unfairness – the verdict…Is beyond the scope of the indictment or charge. The Prime Minister was never indicted for allegedly scandalising or defaming the court,” Ahsan said.
“The verdict is beyond the scope of the charge and hence beyond the scope of the trial. To that extent, the verdict will be deemed as observations of court,” he added.
Kaira said the cabinet, the PPP and its allies believe that Gilani is “not convicted on a charge of disqualification and there is no blot on our conscience”. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
A total of 102 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir have taken place since 2010, the Government has said.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha yesterday, Defence Minister A K Antony said 44 cases of ceasefire violations along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir were registered in 2010. While there were 51 cases in 2011, seven such instances have come to notice this year.
Two army personnel and one BSF soldier died in these violations in 2010, he said.
“All activities across LoC are continuously monitored. Measures like strengthening of defences, deployment/ redeployment of troops, infrastructure development and military modernisation are factored into our plans,” he said.
Informing the House on the recent avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir which killed several troops and officers, Antony said, “An avalanche struck the army camp at Sonamarg and Dawar in the Kashmir valley on February 22.”
“One officer, one junior commissioned officer (JCO) and six other ranks (OR) were buried by the avalanche at Sonamarg besides causing massive destruction including disruption of communication network. At Dawar Garrison in Gurez Sector, four JCOs and 25 OR were trapped,” he said.
Replying to a query on awarding contempt powers to Armed Forces Tribunal, the Minister said, “The Defence Ministry has agreed ‘in principle’ to amend Section 19 of the Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, for implementation of AFT Orders/Judgements more effectively.”
“Army Headquarters has reported that some retired and serving officers are suspected of trying to create a mistrust between the Army and the Defence Ministry,” Antony said, responding to a query on breach of discipline in Army. (PTI)