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Goa’s Heartbeat: TV challenging, in no rush for films – Urmila Pg 4 IN BRIEF American kills two in Lahore An employee of the United States consulate in this eastern Pakistani city shot and killed two men in a busy commercial area while another man died in a road accident involving a speeding car driven by the American’s associate today, police said. – (PTI)
Disaster averted A possible air disaster was averted as 98 boxes containing hydrochloric acid, declared globally as ‘dangerous goods’, were off-loaded from a passenger plane here before take-off after one of them fell on the tarmac while being loaded, generating strong fumes, officials said today. -- (PTI)
‘CVC should quit on his own’ PTI NEW DELHI, JAN 27
Embarrassed by developments in the CVC case in the Supreme Court today, the government appears to be veering round to the view that controversial P J Thomas should voluntarily resign from the post of CVC. Law Minister M Veerappa Moily met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today hours after the Supreme Court was told by Attorney General G E Vahanvati that the committee which selected Thomas was not aware of charges against him in the two-decade-old palmolein oil import case. Later Vahanvati clarified that, “It was never stated by me that this matter pertaining to palmolein oil case was not discussed by the members of the committee (headed by the prime minister).” Officials said the meeting between Moily and the prime minister did not relate to the issue
of CVC. Highly placed sources in the government said that given the turn of events and controversies surrounding Thomas, it would be better if he voluntarily stepped down from his office, to which he was appointed on September 7 last year, to avoid a situation in which the apex court might pass strictures or even strike down his appointment. The other course, the sources said, would be to initiate the process of his removal through presidential reference. The government came under sharp attack from the opposition after the AG’s statement before the Supreme Court. It had earlier appeared to have tied itself in knots in the Supreme Court on the appointment of P J Thomas as CVC when it said a corruption case against him was not placed before the three-member panel headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a claim contested by BJP which termed it as “untruth”. “It was not before the committee. The material pertaining to the sanction for prosecution under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code was not before the committee. The bio-data did not reflect this aspect before the committee,” Attorney General G E Vahanvati said.
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Business: PetroMin rules out Sports: Djokovic strips Fedex diesel price decontrol Pg 13 of last Slam title Pg 16
Pranab calls for all-party meet on Feb 8 PTI NEW DELHI, JAN 27
Finance Minister and leader of the House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee has convened a meeting of leaders of political parties on February 8 in an apparent bid to break the deadlock in parliament. The meeting has been convened over lunch for “mutual consultations” over the budget session of parliament, sources said. With the winter session of Parliament washed out over the opposition demand for a JPC probe into the 2G scam, the government apparently wants to sort out issues to ensure smooth functioning of the parliament.
Govt terminates deal with Shimit HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JAN 27
In a significant decision, the State government has finally terminated the controversial contract signed with M/s Shimnit Utsch Private Limited for installation of high security registration plates (HSRP) in Goa. The termination notice served to the company on January 25 comes after intense scrutiny by the advocate general over the show cause notice reply filed by the company. The government on November 2, 2010 had issued a show cause notice to the company asking ‘why the concession agreement signed on February 29, 2008 should not be cancelled’. Accordingly, the reply
was filed within a fortnight, which was later forwarded to the advocate general for scrutiny. Director of Transport Arun Desai said that the contract with Shimnit Utsch has been terminated taking into account all irregularities pointed out by the government-appointed Srivastava Committee. “Several issues were sighted by the committee. The company had failed to provide a necessary reply to the show cause notice,” he said. The termination notice mentions that the company has carried out some changes in its board of directors (BoDs) without intimating the State government. “As per Union
Find sources of black money, SC tells govt PTI NEW DELHI, JAN 27
Expressing concern that the black money stashed in banks abroad might have originated from arms deals, drug trafficking and smuggling, the Supreme Court today asked the government as to what action it had taken against individuals and firms having foreign accounts. A bench headed by Justice B Sudarshan Reddy directed the government to file its response by Thursday next. The court also sought replies from the government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) on a petition seeking direction
NCP must still wait and watch HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JAN 27
It still’s a game of wait and watch for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Goa and it will able to make its next move only after return of their national General Secretary Praful Patel from London by this weekend. NCP State Chief Surendra Sirsat speaking to Herald on Thursday evening , said he has kept abreast Party President Sharad Pawar of happenings in the State. The future course of action will depend on the outcome of meeting between NCP general secretary and All India Congress Committee (AICC) Political Secretary, Ahmed Patel. The NCP official was in dialogue with the Congress secretary about their demand to induct Benaulim legislator Mickky Pacheco into cabinet and the talks will resume after Praful’s return. he said. The talks were temporarily suspended on request of the Congress party which wanted some time to resolve conflict in its State unit. Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao supported by nine Congress legislators had threatened to withdraw support from the government, if f o r m e r To u r i s m M i n i s t e r Pacheco was inducted into the cabinet. Sirsat, however, said their main demand , to induct Pacheco into the cabinet by dropping Jose Philip D’Souza who is a revenue minister in Kamat-led government, still stands.
Carry on with your 'Flag Yatra' sir! Due to the security reasons, you will have to do it on a treadmill.
to the government to ratify the United Nations convention on corruption which would facilitate it in bringing back black money from foreign banks. Asking the government not to restrict its probe only to the tax evasion aspect, the bench told the government to go after the sources of black money. “We want to know what steps you have taken against the people who have accumulated so much money in foreign banks. What are the sources of the money,” the bench asked. “These are people in the country who are amenable to the law. What action have you taken against them when you came to know that they have
stashed money in foreign banks? “What are the sources of the money? Where has the money come from? It might be because of arms deals, smuggling, narcotics, drug trafficking or something else. These are more serious issues, when you know the name, what action you have taken?,” the bench asked. Senior Advocate Anil Divan, appearing for petitioner and former Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani, accused the government of not being serious on the issue, saying that Punebased businessman Hasan Ali, facing a probe for stashing money to the tune of Rs 36,000 crore in UBS Bank in Swiss bank, has fled the country.
Transport Ministry rules, any changes in the agreement should be intimated to the government,” the notice read. The director said that on September 26, 2005 when bids were supplied by the company, neither Nitin Shah nor Rushank Shah were directors of the company. However, it was noticed that the joint venture was signed between a German partner and Nitin Shah. “As a joint venture does not exist, a joint venture agreement in this case is broken,” he said. “Our contention is that the company did not even qualify for bidding,” the notice reads. The government in its notice has also stated that the company in its financial bidding had fig-
ured that a premium of 48 per cent would be charged on plates. “The company had altered few entries in the agreement using a pencil. The committee had said that these changes were made after the agreement was signed,” the notice mentions. It also says that Supreme Court in May, 2010, had given judgment in a case against Shimnit Utsch wherein the apex court had said that the rates quoted by the company could be scaled down using Indian technology to Rs 469. The notice also cites public interest as one of the reasons to issue the show cause. (Continued on page 10)