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CM YK ND-ND DELHI, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014 Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubli, Mohali, Allahabad, Malappuram, Lucknow, Anantapur and Nellore • • Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 4 ● No. 204 ● CITY EDITION ● 20 Pages ● Rs. 8.00 ● www.thehindu.in MORE SECURITY FOR SHAH RUKH PAGE 12 NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said there would be zero tolerance of illegal constructions — from statues of public figures to religious structures — on en- croached government land. With this, the court gave fresh force to its 2013 ban on installations on public land. Addressing the hazard of encroachments on roads, street pavements and public land, which hampered the lives of the ordinary citizen, the court ban had empo- wered the civic agencies and municipal authorities, which were hitherto help- less before local political in- terests and religious sentiments. “We have made it clear. Il- legal constructions are ille- gal constructions. There is a large number of statues, temples, gurdwaras, mosques, churches con- structed illegally on govern- ment land,” Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya observed on Tuesday. While passing the ban or- der, the Supreme Court had last year said “public road is not anyone’s property”. “Each citizen had a right to use the road and that right cannot be interfered with or impeded by constructing a temple, mosque, church or gurdwara or by installing the statue of a public figure,” the court had said. SC frowns on encroachments Legal Correspondent SECOND ONE-DAYER TODAY PAGE 19 NEW DELHI: Carrying on with a generational shift of its lead- ership, the Bharatiya Janata Party dropped veteran lead- ers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi from its parliamentary Board, the party’s highest de- cision-making body, on Tuesday. The three veterans, lead- ing lights of the party for nearly four decades, were dropped from its central election committee too. As a token gesture, they find place in a new five-mem- ber Margadarshak Mandal (guidance panel), along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Min- ister Rajnath Singh. BJP media managers said the presence of the Prime Minis- ter and the Home Minister on the panel proved it was a “high-powered” body, but conceded it was powerless. More on Page 12 Parliamentary Board leaves out Vajpayee, Advani, Joshi Gargi Parsai BJP’s generational shift apace ment to resign. Mr. Kalyan Singh, a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, had given in- dications that the Centre had offered him a gubernatorial post. Mr. Vala was elected Speaker of the Gujarat As- sembly in 2013. He had held the Finance portfolio in the Gujarat Ministry. Mr. Rao, a lawyer, had served as Union Minister of State for Internal Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee gov- ernment. He was elected to the 12th and 13th Lok Sabhas from the Karimnagar constit- uency (now in Telangana) as a BJP candidate. He had been elected to the Andhra Pra- desh Assembly thrice. For- mer BJP Mahila Morcha president Mridula Sinha, a re- nowned writer, had been the Chairperson of the Central Board of Social Welfare. NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Kalyan Singh, Vajubhai Rudabhai Va- la, Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and Mridula Sinha Governors of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maha- rashtra and Goa, respectively, on Tuesday. The President accepted the resignation of K. Sankarana- rayanan, who quit as Maha- rashtra Governor on Sunday after being abruptly trans- ferred to Mizoram. Manipur Governor Vinod Kumar Dug- gal will continue to hold charge of Mizoram. Kerala Governor Sheila Dikshit, meanwhile, joined the list of Governors appoint- ed by the previous United Progressive Alliance govern- New Governors for 4 States Devesh K. Pandey Clockwise from left: Kalyan Singh, Vidyasagar Rao, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala and Mridula Sinha. — PHOTO: PTI NEW DELHI: Observing that “guns are sold like toys in the market,” the Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a full- fledged investigation cover- ing all nine Army Commands into the illegal sale of arms and ammunition by Army officials. A Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and S.A. Bobde was hearing a public interest liti- gation petition filed by Su- preme Court lawyer Arvind Kumar Sharma on the nexus between Army officials and arms dealers. The petition focusses on the illegal sale of non-stan- dard-pattern weapons and imported ammunition by high-ranking officers of the Southwestern Command in Ganganagar district of Rajas- than near the India-Pakistan border. A Court of Inquiry report of September 25, 2008, found 72 Army officials guilty of selling ammunition and imported arms in violation of the Army Orders and Arms Act, 1959. But the Bench on Tuesday called the 2008 Army pro- ceedings an “eyewash,” not- ing how most of the Army officials, even after pleading guilty, were punished with just reprimands, recordings of “severe displeasure” and fines of Rs. 500. Mr. Justice Dattu said it “shocks the conscience of the court” to find that the Army proceedings ended with the guilty men “getting away by paying a pittance.” “Army officials, trained with the taxpayers’ money and given weapons to save the country, sell them.” More on Page 12 Krishnadas Rajagopal Probe gunrunning by Army men: SC Investigation to cover all nine Army Commands Chabad House reopens PAINFUL MEMORY: A rabbi on Tuesday looks through a room at Nariman (Chabad) House that has been left in the same state as it was after the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008. The Jewish centre reopened nearly six years after militants stormed the building and killed six people. The House was one of several high-profile targets attacked by the gunmen. — PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA (MORE ON PAGE 13) BRIEFLY EMPOWER — On Pages 16 & 17 Shiv Sena mocks BJP over by-poll results MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena snubbed its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday over the results of the Assembly by-elections, saying elections could not be won on any “wave” alone. More on Page 12 Rape-accused DIG suspended MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday suspended Deputy Inspector-General of Police Sunil Paraskar from service. The government found him guilty of misconduct in a rape case filed by a city- based model against the officer. More on Page 13 PF interest rate fixed at 8.75 per cent NEW DELHI: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation on Tuesday announced a rate of interest of 8.75 per cent for 2014-15 on provident fund deposits of its over five crore subscribers in the country. The decision to retain the rate at 8.75 per cent was taken at a meeting of the organisation’s apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees, chaired by Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar here. — PTI GAZA: PERMANENT CEASEFIRE PAGE 14 NEW DELHI: The Delhi Bharati- ya Janata Party chief Satish Upadhyay has in a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor de- manded that “80 per cent of flats being allotted by the Del- hi Development Authority in the next scheme be reserved for the people of Delhi”. In the letter, Mr. Upadhyay said the city’s residents should get the benefit of the DDA housing schemes, espe- cially those who are living here for several years and do not have houses of their own. he said this scheme should continue but pointed out that many RWAs function in a neighbourhood so work should be assigned based on unanimity. Mr. Upadhyay also spoke to DDA Vice-Chairman Balvin- der Kumar in this regard. “It is necessary that cheap houses available here should be allotted to permanent resi- dents so that Delhi develops in a planned way,” he said. Referring to DDA’s deci- sion to allot maintenance work of old flats to the resi- dents’ welfare associations, BJP seeks 80 % quota for Delhiites in DDA scheme Staff Reporter SRINAGAR/R.S. PURA: The Jam- mu and Kashmir government told the Assembly on Tuesday that more than 5,000 families had been affected and about 15,000 people had fled their villages on the Indian side be- cause of firing from Pakistan. The statement came on a day India’s Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) lodged a protest with his Pakistani counter- part over the increased bor- der ceasefire violations. The DGMOs talked on the phone for about 10 minutes during which “all relevant is- sues” were discussed and they agreed to hold flag meet- ings to defuse the situation. While occasional firing is a feature of life in the border villages, the intense shelling over the past two weeks has completely disrupted life in the border areas of R.S. Pura and Arnia. A small garden at the Gov- ernment Girls’ School in Maulanian village of R.S. Pura is a temporary refuge for two villages, Khurdana Basti and Nai Basti. About 600 villagers came on August 23 morning after spending a night crouching on the ground. More on Page 12 15,000 have fled border villages, says J&K govt. Zahid Rafiq BHOPAL: The police have regis- tered FIRs against three stu- dents and two staff members of The Scindia School, Gwa- lior, in connection with the su- icide attempt by the son of Bihar Cooperative Minister Jai Kumar Singh for alleged ragging. According to PTI, all the five were apprehended on Tues- day and later released. The ac- cused students have also been expelled. Adarsh Singh was reported- ly found in a semi-unconscious state in his hostel room in the residential school on August 20. He was taken to a private hospital in Gwalior and then shifted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi where he is undergoing treatment. While the students, who were booked, have been charged with being actively in- volved, the staff members have been booked for negligence. Three Scindia School students held for ragging P. Sunderarajan quashed the earlier FIR. Thereaf- ter, the In- come Tax department considered the matter and accept- ed Ms. May- awati’s explanation and the order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal was upheld by the Delhi High Court. “There is no other material available with the CBI to warrant regis- tration of a fresh FIR,” the counter said. The CBI also pointed out that the petitioner- had filed a review petition against the quashing of the FIR and the apex court had rejected it. The petitioner had not pro- duced any material apart from the one which was already ex- amined by the apex court. After the Supreme Court quashed the earlier FIR as ille- gal, “the material collected thereof does not exist in the form of evidence anymore for filing fresh FIR.” The CBI sought dismissal of the petition. More on Page 12 NEW DELHI: In a relief to the for- mer Uttar Pradesh Chief Minis- ter, Mayawati, the CBI on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that there was no materi- al available for filing a fresh FIR in the disproportionate assets case. The CBI, in its counter-affi- davit to a writ petition filed by Kamlesh Verma seeking a di- rection for filing a fresh FIR in the disproportionate assets case, said the apex court, after examining all the records, had Breather for Mayawati in assets case J. Venkatesan Mayawati SEPIA IMAGES FROM THE PAST PAGE 2
