Tuesday, April 2, 2013

DECCAN HERALD 9

KFA employees meet labour dept officials, discuss salary

BANGALORE, DHNS: Pilots and employees of Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) met top officials from the labour department here on Monday to discuss the issue of non-payment of salaries. Sources said KFA employees in Bangalore will hold a protest on Thursday and similar protests are being planned by employees in other centres. Despite assurances in the past that it would clear all the salary dues, KFA management has been unable to pay the employees so far. Sources claimed that even the Airlines top officials met with the labour department in which they were reported to have assured payment of six months salary in instalments. However, there has not been any official confirmation from the airline. The labour department is said to have directed the company to reveal the exact dates of such payments and that it has warned the firm of action if the assurance is not fulfilled. KFA Chairman Vijay Mallya had assured injection of fresh capital from his own personal fortune to enable resumption of operations in a phased manner, but the plans are yet to materialise.

Nation Govt orders dope tests on Vijender Singh

Sports Ministry expresses concern over issue
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Monday asked the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to conduct an out-of-competition test on Olympic bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh, who is accused of consuming heroin by the Punjab Police.

India-China relations: Strategic realism. P.10

Busy at work

The ministry in a statement said reports of Vijender consuming heroin 12 times were disturbing and could have debilitating influence on other sportspersons. It has, therefore, been considered necessary that NADA gets a test carried out on Vijender Singh for his reported use of heroin even out-of-competition. The communication has asked NADA to carry out the test immediately under intimation to the Ministry, a ministry release stated. The move, however, has raised a string of questions on the procedure the ministry has adopted to get a test conducted by an independent agency. The very decision to ask NADA to

Vijender Singh

conduct the test is questionable. NADA and National Dope-Testing Laboratory (NDTL) are independent in their functioning as per the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code. Sports Secretary P K Deb cleared the air when he said they have only requested NADA to conduct the tests. He,

however, said if found positive, Vijender would be barred from camps conducted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). We have requested NADA to carry out the tests. We dont expect it to come out with an answer whether it is willing to conduct the tests or not, until and unless the samples are positive. Our only intention is to cut the uncertainty that has been around, Deb told Deccan Herald. We are not going to judge Vijender on the basis of press reports. But if his sample turns out to be positive, he will not get into SAI camp. However, such a step would trigger a breach of a series of WADA rules. Heroin or Diamorphine comes under the class S7 (narcotics), which is prohibited in-competition. Meaning, if and when the NADA tests Vijender, no test would be conducted by the NDTL for heroin consumption since the sample collected will be tested only for substances that are banned out-of-competition. Also, an out-of-competi-

tion test is a no-advance-notice test. In this case, after such wide-spread publicity, the whole purpose of not giving an advance notice to an athlete becomes redundant. Importantly, it flouts the WADA ruling of keeping the identity of an athlete a secret. The identity of the athlete should not be revealed when his sample comes for testing at the laboratory. However, NADA DirectorGeneral Mukul Chatterjee insisted they were an independent and autonomous body and would adhere to protocols. The standard protocol of NADA or WADA does not allow an out-of-competition test for heroin since it is prohibited only in-competition, Chatterjee said. We will test Vijender. But when the sample goes to the National Dope-Testing Laboratory the sample will be marked as collected out-ofcompetition, so the NDTL officials will not test the sample for heroin.
DH News Service

Fishermen in country boat cast their net at Kochi Lake on Monday. PTI

EC moves court over West Bengal panchayat poll

KOLKATA: The battle between

Assembly polls: Cong nominees list expected any time

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CBI to drop SC for ending menace of beating additional charges helpless women by police against Abu Salem
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on Monday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to drop additional charges filed under TADA and other acts against alleged gangster Abu Salem, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, in view of the Constitutional Court of Portugal upholding the termination of an order for his extradition. Attorney General G E Vahanvati urged a bench of justices P Sathasivam and M Y Iqbal to reconsider, modify or clarify the apex court order passed on September 10, 2010, after dismissing a plea made by Salem. The accused had contented that the additional charges framed by the special court in Mumbai pertaining to Sections 5 and 6 of the TADA, Section 4 (b) of the Explosive Substances Act and Section 9B of the Explosives Act were in violation of the extradition order. The Union government had made an assurance to Portugal, where Salem was arrested along with his girlfriend Monica Bedi in 2002, that if extradited, he would not be given death penalty nor would he be subjected to imprisonment for a term beyond 25 years. The alleged gangster was handed over to the Indian authorities on November 10, 2005. After his arrival, the designated court in 2006 framed charges for different offences and for his alleged role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, including additional charges. Salem challenged the designated courts order before the apex court, which dismissed his petition and held that no bar has been placed by the Por-

Charges under TADA and other acts to be removed against the 1993 blast accused
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tuguese courts for the trial of lesser offences in accordance with the provisions under Section 21(b) of the Extradition Act. The petitioner had contended that since he had been extradited under the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, he could be tried only for the offences which come under the convention. Salem, thereafter, approached the Court of Appeals in Lisbon and alleged that Rule of Speciality was violated in his case. The Lisbon court, in a judgment on September 14, 2011, decided that authorisation granted for his extradition should be terminated. A subsequent appeal by the Indian government to the Supreme Court of Portugal was not admitted. The Constitutional Court of Portugal on July 5, last year, decided not to entertain an appeal filed by the Union government. However, it said: The issue whether the person extradited has to be returned to the requested state or not is something which may be decided by both countries diplomatically. Now, in a bid to wriggle out of legal troubles, the probe agency requested the Supreme Court to modify its order which permitted the CBI to slap additional charges. The court posted the application for hearing for July 9.

NEW DELHI, DHNS: The Supreme Court on Monday said the menace of beating helpless women by police was unacceptable and must be stopped immediately. The court observed this while directing different state governments to file their response on implementation of its 2006 verdict on police reforms. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Kurian Joseph also lamented, the worst thing is whenever such incidents happened, a senior police officer would come on television to justify the atrocity.

The court was hearing suo motu the matter relating to thrashing of a woman by policemen in Tarn Taran district in Punjab and beating up of school teachers in Patna in early last month. The bench gave those states, which did not file their response on implementation of police reforms as directed by the apex court in 2006, time till Tuesday evening and fixed the matter for further hearing for Wednesday. During the hearing, Attorney General G E Vahanvati and senior advocate Harish Salve,

appearing as amicus curiae in the matter, pointed out that the affidavit filed by Director General of Bihar police is conspicuously silent over assault on the women teachers who were sitting inside a tent. It is just merciless. One can understand the use of force if there is unlawful assembly. But here teachers have been beaten up mercilessly when they were sitting inside a tent, the court observed. Punjab government, in an affidavit, submitted that it had already taken action against the policemen by suspending them.

Mid-air collision averted over Guwahati

MUMBAI, PTI: A possible mid-

Tests at Kkulam N-plant termed harmless

CHENNAI, DHNS: Authorities

Strong stand

air collision involving an IndiGo aircraft bound for Guwahati from Dibrugarh with 179 passengers onboard was averted due to an alert by the air traffic control (ATC) that there was an intruder aircraft at 30,000 feet. IndiGo said the flight had an advisory triggered by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). IndiGo flight 6E - 206 with 179 passengers onboard from Dibrugarh to Kolkata had a Resolution Advisory (RA) triggered by TCAS. RA was triggered while descending at 15:07 hrs, the airline said in a statement. TCAS is an on-board equipment that advises pilots about the traffic in the proximity of the aircraft and also tells pilots the avoidance action (Resolution Advisory) to maintain desired separation between the aircraft.The incident was reported to Tezpur radar and thereafter normal flight was resumed, it said. However, ATC sources said the advisory was issued to the Indigo flight due to an defence exercise underway. Some defence exercise involving fighter jets was going on due to which the advisory was issued, ATC sources said.

in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) have assured people living in the plants vicinity that there is no cause for panic, as key precommissioning tests are under way at the rst unit of the project. The rst 1000 mw VVER type Russian-assisted reactor is in a very advanced stage of commissioning, but the nal clearance for its rst approach to criticality (FAC) has not yet been given, a top ofcial of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) told Deccan Herald when he was asked about local peoples fears over the tests. The regulatory authority in Mumbai is expected to give its nal nod for the FAC process by April-end. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had indicated the likely date while in Durban, South Africa, during a visit there, an AERB ofcial noted. The rst units commercial operation is now expected in May 2013.A signicant new development on the KNPP premises is that the AERB has now given the clearance for the resumption of the construction activities at KNPPs second 1000 Mw unit, which had been

stopped for quite some time. The construction work has resumed in Unit II, the AERB ofcial said. Nearly 94 per cent of the civil works had been completed in the second Vver (light water) reactor till February this year. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has rescheduled the commercial operation of KNPP Unit II to December 2013.The AERB ofcial said over the phone that some tests related to the KNPP unit Is instrumentation systems, including hydraulic and pressure tests, were on at the KNPP site, which were being continuously monitored by an AERB team in Kudankulam. The observers were sending their reports to us and only after a review of them will the nal clearance be given, the AERB ofcial made it clear. Urging people not to panic, KNPP site director R S Sundar said in a statement from Kudankulam that as part of the pre-commissioning tests in the rst unit of KNPP, the steam relief valves on the steam lines are being tested. These tests were conducted only during day time. Only steam (water vapour) was released as part of the tests, Sundar said.

the West Bengal government and the state election watchdog took a serious turn on Monday as the Election Commision moved the High Court seeking rejection of the Panchayat poll dates notified by the government. Justice Biswanath Samaddar of the Kolkata High Court directed council for the EC L C Bihani to get the petition listed before it could be taken up. In its appeal the commission also said that it wanted to conduct the panchayat poll as soon as possible because the tenure of the present Panchayat would end in June this year. Earlier, defying the election commission's suggestion for a three-stage poll in the presence of central security forces, the West Bengal government on March 22 announced that a two-phase election would be held on April 26 and 30 under the supervision of the state police. Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, South Dinajpur, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Purulia, Howrah, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan and Hooghly districts will go to the polls on the first phase scheduled for April 26. North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad districts will have elections on April 30. Despite the commissions request to deploy 800 companies of CRPF personnel, the government has indicated that it will only rope in police forces from the neighbouring states DH News Service.

tainty continues in respect of some 20 Karnataka Assembly seats which have become contentious, the Congress may announce its first list of candidates for the May 5 elections any time. Party sources said at least 150 seats for which names have been cleared, may be announced by the party. The rest may have to wait for the return of party president Sonia Gandhi, who is said to have gone abroad. She is scheduled to return on April 6. The contentious seats include those sought by union ministers Mallikarjun Kharges son Priyank (Chittapur in Gulbarga district) and K H Muniyappa daughter Roopkala (KGF in Kolar district), or Bellary (where K C Kondaiah and Anil Lad are contenders). The candidates for these seats would be decided on Sonias return. On the heels of the demonstration held by women aspirants on Sunday, demanding more tickets for the fairer sex, the same spot was taken over by a group of protesters from

The contentious seats include those sought by union ministers Mallikarjun Kharges son Priyank and K H Muniyappa daughter Roopkala
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Bangalore South constituency on Monday. They were protesting against the supposed decision of the party to field former MP Tejaswini from the constituency. She is not a local and her name was not in the initial list recommended. There were eight other aspirants who belong to the constituency and one of them should be fielded for the party to win the seat, one of the protesters said.
DH News Service

NIA takes over Italian marine case

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which specialises in handling terror cases, was tasked with probing high-profile Italian marines allegedly killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast last year. The Union Home Ministry decided to hand over the marines case to the NIA, since as per the agencys act, sleuths can investigate schedule offences committed under Separation of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation And Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act

Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal at an indefinite fast against hike in power tariffs, at Sundar Nagar in New Delhi on Monday. PTI

of 2002, following a Supreme Court order on January 18 that the Kerala government had no jurisdiction to try out the Italians Massimiliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone. The apex court had told the Centre to conduct trial in a special court in the national capital. The NIA will take over the probe from the Kerala Police and file a charge sheet in the controversial case that had sparked off a diplomatic row when the Italians had refused to come back to the country after the court allowed them to

visit home for voting in their national polls. Owing to pressure from the Supreme Court, which had stopped the Italian ambassador from venturing out of the country as on his affidavit marines were allowed to go back home, and diplomatic hard work, the foreign government decided to send the commandoes to face trial here. The ministry is expected to convey to the Supreme Court its decision of giving the case to the NIA and that a special court could be entrusted with the marines trial.
DH News Service