Minority status to AMU soon: Arjun Singh

    New Delhi: The Union Government is examining all aspects including bringing an amendment Bill in Parliament to restore the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Human Resource and Development Minister (HRD) Arjun Singh said today.

  Addressing Sixth Editors' Conference on Social Sector Issues here, Singh said, to get the judgement on minority status of AMU we are examining the aspects of bringing an amendment bill in the parliament or would go in for an appeal. Singh said that his Government was committed to the near unanimous decision on amendment of the AMU Act taken by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the parliament. He went on to say that his ministry had just received a certified copy of the judgement of the Allahabad High Court which declared 50 per cent reservations for Muslims illegal and the status of the university as a minority institution was "ultra vires to the constitution". Replying to a question he said that the government was in the process of issuing an ordinance to empower the National Commission on Minorities to decide whether the provisions of the AMU Act were property being used. In the wake of Singh s assurance hat the Government is working to clear all doubts about granting minority status to the former Human Resource Development Minister and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi had accused the Manmohan Singh Government of compromising the education of the minorities by pursuing votebank politics. Joshi had said that the commission had become "a mere tool in the hand of minority-held education institutions". He said that the Government has done nothing for the welfare of the minorities.

   The Allahabad High Court recently withdrew the minority status of the university and said that the Act of Parliament on the issue was illegal. It also said that the faculty could not reserve seats for Muslims. The court also ruled as illegal a notification issued by the Government in February allowing the AMU to reserve 50 percent of its seats in post graduate studies for Muslims. It ruled that admissions for the session of 2006-2007 will be free to all. However, those students who have been given admission earlier under a quota system and are studying in the university will continue to be a part of the university. The bench struck down section I and section 5 (2)(c) of the Aligarh Muslim University Amendment Act, 1981, by which the status of a minority institution was accorded to AMU. It observed that the Supreme Court in the Ajeez Basha case in 1968 had already quashed minority status of the university saying the AMU had been established by an Act of Parliament and enactment of a law by Parliament could not overrule the judgement. The Supreme Court's decision was overruled in 1981 by the Indira Gandhi government, which amended the Act and gave AMU its minority status back. The order was passed by a bench comprising Chief Justice A N Ray and Justice Ashok Bhushan on petitions filed by the Central government. The judgement has caused a political debate across the country. The Aligarh Muslim University is one of the three Central Universities in India. It is located Uttar Pradesh. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, a great social reformer, started the Mohamaddan Anglo Oriental College (M.A.O. College), in 1875. In 1920, the college was converted into a full fledged University by an Act of Parliament. Today Aligarh Muslim University is one of the premier institutes of learning in India.

New headquarters to be built for CBI  (Go To Top)
by Chandrika Jain

    New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone of the new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters at Lodhi Road at 4 p.m. today. The CBI had been continuously pressing for a building of its own for nearly a decade and finally the proposal was cleared by the Urban Development Ministry last year. Currently the different branches of the headquarters of CBI are functioning from various locations in Delhi.

    The new building will facilitate moving of all the branches, anti-corruption, special crime, wild life, cyber crime, bank frauds and prosecution department under one roof. The new building, to be built over an area of 34,500 square meters, will be a twelve-storey structure with two basements. The total cost of the building is estimated at Rs. 137.2 crore and it will take three years to complete. The Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the Minister of State in the Department of Personnel and Training Suresh Pachauri will also attend the function. Among others include, distinguished guests from industry, the scientific community, academia and the bureaucracy. The CBI is functioning under Department of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension and Public Grievances, Government of India, is the premier investigating police agency in India. CBI as an organization is held in high esteem by the Supreme Court, the High Courts, the Parliament and the public. The CBI has to investigate major crimes in the country having inter-state and international ramifications. It is also involved in collection of criminal intelligence pertaining to three of its main areas of operation, viz., Anti-Corruption, Economic Crimes and Special Crimes. The Anti-Corruption Division of the CBI has handled cases against Chief Ministers, Ministers, Secretaries to Government, Officers of the All India Services, Chief Managing Directors of Banks, Financial Institutions, Public Sector Undertakings, etc.

   The Central Bureau of Investigation traces its origin to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) which was set up in 1941 by the Government of India. The functions of the SPE then were to investigate cases of bribery and corruption in transactions with the War & Supply Department of India. Then in 1946, the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act was brought into force which transferred the superintendence of the SPE to the Home Department and its functions were enlarged to cover all departments of the Government of India. The DSPE acquired its popular current name, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), through a Home Ministry resolution dated April 1, 1963. The founder Director of the CBI was D P Kohli who held office from April 1, 1963 to May 31, 1968.

Nicholas Burns confident of Indo-US nuke deal (Go To Top)

    Mumbai: US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns who arrived here on Wednesday expressed confidence in the deal granting India access to civilian nuclear technology. Burns said he would hold the fourth meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran on January 19 and 20 in New Delhi to discuss India's plan to separate its civilian and nuclear facilities. "We are confident that the agreements between the two government can be worked out. It is not easy, actually quite challenging and quite complex. It is an agreement, which is going to be in the interest of both our countries, and so I am looking forward furthering those discussions in days ahead," said Burns. "I will just conclude by saying based on my previous visit to India in 2005, and certainly based to what I heard today from many of the Indian with whom I met, there is a great deal of optimism and confidence," he said.

   The landmark US-India accord agreed in principle last July but still to be negotiated in detail, would grant New Delhi access to nuclear technology it has been denied for three decades provided it separates its civilian and military facilities. But critics within the US Congress and elsewhere say the plan undermines global non-proliferation goals, and should be tightened up. For more than three decades, the United States led the global fight to deny India access to nuclear technology because it rejected the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and developed nuclear weapons, testing them in 1974 and again in May 1998. But US President George W Bush, aiming to improve ties with the world's largest democracy, turned this approach on its head with last July's agreement. He wants changes in US law and in international regulations, which would have to be approved not only by the US Congress but also by the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, to allow India access to restricted items, including nuclear fuel. Critics say this would allow India to divert more fissile material to its weapons programme, fuelling the arms race in South Asia and undermining global non-proliferation efforts. Burns said his visit would also try and promote bilateral economic relations between the two countries. "We are also, of course interested in trying and promoting bilateral economic relations. That is why I am in Mumbai, because this city is the centre of India's commercial and financial sectors. It is no secret that we are interested in developing trade relations, US investment in India, investment of India in the United States. We have seen tremendous growth in this area in recent years, satisfactory for both our countries," he said. India's economic reform program, its huge market, a booming IT industry, military might and potential as a counterweight to China have all combined to bring New Delhi and Washington closer to each other.

    The civilian nuclear co-operation deal was signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George W Bush on July 18,2005 in Washington. The agreement requires India to separate its civilian and military facilities in a 'phased' manner and file a declaration about its civilian facilities with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The third round of the high-level talks on the nuclear issue between India and the United States is aimed at implementing the deal ahead of President George W Bush's visit to India in March. The discussions in New Delhi are being seen as a follow-up to the talks that Saran had during his visit to Washington in December. The Indian side had then laid open its plan on separating its civilian and military nuclear establishments. A response from Washington is now expected to this plan during the current round of talks. As per the 'outline', New Delhi would not place fast-breeding reactors in the civilian list. Besides, India had specified the installations it would categorize as civilian and the ones that it would classify as military, official sources said.

  The plan would be presented before the U.S. Congress, which would then ratify the Bush Administration's decision to share high technology with India. With several American Congressmen voicing support for the civilian nuclear deal, a positive mood in the American Congress is evident. Earlier, during his second visit to New Delhi in October 2005, Burns had described India as a "great power in the world" and said the US was seeking a partnership where the two countries could work together for peace and stability of the world and "face challenges" that are likely to emerge over the next 40 to 50 years. Burns was given a list of things India has already complied with like; unilateral declaration of non-proliferation, bringing about of legislation on Weapons of Mass Destruction and a commitment to work with US on new global standards on reprocessing and enrichment technology being exported to third countries. Both sides had sought "certain clarifications" and further discussions on these will be held in the next JWG meeting to take the process forward.

Delhi HC: Demolish illegal houses (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today slammed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for its 'pick and choose' policy adopted in demolishing illegal structures in Delhi, and asked it to tak e action against all the violators, including what it described as the 'big fishes'. The Court also came down heavily on MCD's maligned intention of submitting a report, stating that "nearly 80 per cent (about 30 lakhs) of the structures in Delhi were illegal". "This submission was made just to create a fear psychosis in the minds of the people and to somehow get the demolition drive stopped, and protect the real culprits," the High Court said. The two member division bench comprising Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma while listening to the numerous PIL filed, rejected the MCD's contention that 80 percent of the buildings in Delhi were illegal and ordered the body to take swift action against the "errant officials who had turned a blind eye to such illegal constructions." It also set up a two-month time-period for taking action against them. Ordering the MCD to demolish all illegal structures which had come after December 31, 2000, even if it included big hotels and shopping malls, it issued directives to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), BSES Rajdhani and NDPL to cut-off the water and electricity supply to all the households identified as illegal.

   Taking serious note of 'interferences' from 'higher authorities' the High Court told MCD authorities to report back any instances of influencing and interfering with the demolition drive. It also issued directives to the MCD to enlist the names of the illegal structures along with the names of the owners in its official website. Following widespread complaints from people regarding the absence of any formal notice of demolition, the High Court directed the MCD to send the list of illegal structures to the registrar of assurance, so that people dealing with such properties were intimated about them and had correct information about their status. Ordering the MCD to take appropriate measures in implementing the order within four weeks, the High Court said that in case of non- implementation of the order, MCD Commissioner, Additional Commissioner Kutty, Chief Vigilance Officer Pradeep Srivastava, and Chief Law Officer A K Sharma would held responsible. The matter will come up for further hearing on February 16. Meanwhile, the State Government is contemplating promulgating an ordinance by which the illegal structures will be rendered legal.

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