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Political Notes |
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Ordinance underway on minority status
The Union Cabinet has decided on the promulgation of an ordinance to give the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions the power to decide all questions of minority status and cancel such recognition if the situation so warrants. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the ordinance would facilitate the implementation of the Constitution 93rd Amendment Bill to reserve seats for socially and educationally backward classes, besides the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in private unaided institutions other than those run by the minorities.
In another development during the week, a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court upheld a single-judge verdict terming as unconstitutional the granting of minority status to the Aligarh Muslim University and 50 per cent reservation for Muslims. The judges said that admission to the University for the 2006-07 session should be on a free basis as was being done earlier.
The Andhra Pradesh Government suffered a setback last week with the Supreme Court refusing to stay the operation of the judgement of the full bench of the High Court which struck down the legislation providing a five per cent quota for Muslims in public appointments and admissions to educational institutions. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, however, granted limited relief, ordering that admissions already made or public appointments, if any, made by the Government be not disturbed.
French ship should not enter India : Supreme Court committee
The Supreme Court monitoring committee on hazardous waste management has decided that the French warship, Clemenceau, should not enter India. At its meeting in Mumbai on Friday, Jan. 6, the Committee concluded that it is not desirable for the ship to enter India’s sovereign territory. The ship was to be brought to India for dismantling and breaking. The ship is reported to have a vast amount of cabling containing asbestos which causes cancer. The panel said that it will make a final recommendation to the Supreme Court after two weeks during which it has invited all parties to present their case. The members of the Committee decided that in case the ship in future is allowed into India, it would be based on bank guarantee of Rs. 80 crore.
CRPF raises special squad to check Naxalites
The Central Reserve Police Force has raised a special force to carry out sustained operations against the Naxalites in all states affected by Left extremism. The specialized unit has been trained both by the Army and by the Counter Insurgency Training School in Silchar. The special operations group is 11 companies strong. A company each will be deployed in the Naxalite affected states. They will not be deployed for normal security duties, but would exclusively carry out anti-Naxal operations.
Meanwhile, the Orissa Government has decided to recruit 3000 tribal people to tackle the challenge posed by Naxalites. The tribals would be employed as special police at a monthly remuneration of Rs. 1500/- each.
DMK chief Karunanidhi faces fresh graft case
Tamil Nadu police have registered a fresh corruption case against former Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi and a few others in connection with alleged irregularities in the construction of a bridge that suffered damage in the recent floods in the state. The move is likely to boost the political temperature in Tamil Nadu coming as it does a few months ahead of Assembly elections.
The bridge over the Amaravathi river was built during the previous DMK regime (1996-2001) on build-operate-transfer basis by East Coast Consultants and Infrastructure, Chennai. It became a source of political controversy last month when it suffered damage during the floods and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who inspected the damage, told newspersons that it was because of irregularities in its construction.
EC to send 19 observers to West Bengal
In a bid to hold free and fair Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Election Commission has decided to send 19 observers to the state today, Jan. 9. The team will include K.J. Rao, who was the Election Commission’s main observer for the Bihar polls last year and was instrumental in ensuring free and fair elections. Observers say that the idea is to “cleanse” the electoral rolls in West Bengal of fake and duplicate voters, and Rao has been given the responsibility of cross-checking the rolls in the sensitive border district of Nadia. The other 18 observers have been given charge of one district each.
Two more Shiv Sena MLAs quit party
Two more Shiv Sena MLAs in Maharashtra have quit their Assembly seats and the party, and shifted to the Congress. With this, the number of supporters of Revenue Minister Narain Rane to quit the Shiv Sena and join the Congress has gone upto six. Depletion in the number of its seats in the State Assembly is worrying the Shiv Sena which now fears that its ally, the BJP, may claim the post of the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. The BJP is likely to review its alliance with the Shiv Sena after the Jan. 21 by-elections in the state.
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