No Tripping Work
Chief Justice of India does not believe judges should be on official foreign visits when the Court is on. leading by example, CJI P Sathasivam last month declined requests by his counterparts in Singapore and Commonwealth countries to attend their Regional Summits. In line with his rule that judicial time is not to be wasted on trips and official visits, the CJI office turned down the invitations. It was only after much persuasion by the Singapore Chief Justice, who convinced Justice Sathasivam that Indian judiciary was looked up in the Asian region, that the CJI went on a three-day visit to Singapore.
Security chief’s insecurity
A BJP leader from Bihar had provided private security for Narendra Modi’s October 27 Patna Rally that was hit by a terror attack. As authorities got busy in blamegame, the BJP leader, who owns a security agency and had deployed about 1800 personnel, is spending busy days to explain to his party seniors that his men were not at fault. Grapevine has it that the BJP leader is a claimant to a Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar that will fall vacant early next year and was counting on Modi’s support.
Don quits, finally
Former IIT Kharagpur Director Prof Damodar Acharya finally ‘quit’ the institute last week after 43 years. Acharya’s service of over four decades in education sector was mired with several controversies and scams including the infamous Coalnet bringing much disrepute to the IIT and regulator AICTE. But thanks to the clout Acharya enjoyed at the Centre, his several cases and that too, at the level of CBI and CVC will remain unchallenged and unexplained.
Raja’s fingers crossed
Will a judgement in the 2G scam be delivered before the 2014 lok Sabha electionsIJ The possibility isn’t being ruled out as the two-year-long trial from the CBI’s side is drawing to a close with Chief Investigator having started his deposition. After a few days, the trial of defence witnesses and final arguments will start leading ultimately to the judgment. As former Telecom Minister Raja wishes to contest the lok Sabha elections, people close to him say, he is hoping a judgment only after the polls.
DCI bares fangs
Under attack from the Comptroller Auditor General of India, the Dental Council of India (DCI) has decided to crack the whip on dental colleges failing to submit biometric attendance report of their teaching faculty. The DCI has warned the dental colleges of denying permission/renewal/recognition to them in case they fail to fall in line to install the machine either on their own or provided by the dental regulators.
RPN’s feet in mouth
MoS Home RPN Singh is a media savvy person. He is available to TV channels for bytes on any subject under the sun, just like his former senior in the Ministry Sriprakash Jaiswal. But he would not have ever imagined that his faux pas on the NDA Government being responsible for the termination of Rajiv Gandhi’s security cover would not be edited and aired verbatim. Would he, henceforth, be a case of once bitten twice shyIJ
Tewari’s tryst with Google
Google is not always correct, I&B Minister Manish Tewari must have learned by now. To corner lK Advani on his blog on veteran bureaucrat MKK Nair’s role in liberation of Hyderabad, Tewari relied on Google. Among the first search result that Google throws up on MKK Nair is a website on eminent persons from the Nair community. That website wrongly said Nair was born in 1930. And this was relied upon by Tewari to counter Advani.
MP’s new lesson
Madhya Pradesh Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya was at the BJP headquarters recently to take part in the ticket distribution exercise. A mass leader that he is, Vijayvargiya was surrounded by party workers. But this was when he found that someone has stolen his purse. His men soon traced the culprit and beat him black and blue before some people intervened. Vijayvargiya quipped he learnt a new lesson: People surrounding him may not always be his supporters.
No time for big cats
For long, environmentalists have been citing countless reasons as to why Pilibhit Forests in Uttar Pradesh need to be declared a tiger reserve at the earliest. The forest department is also coming out with probable dates of the D-day, when UP would be having this second tiger reserve after Dudhwa. But unfortunately, it simply misses the mark each time. The State Government does not appear to be in any mood to accord importance to the 30 tigers believed to be living there.
Oscar’s way or the Highway
Road Minister Oscar Fernandes’ sanction to the US junket of Alkesh Sharma, Joint Secretary (tolls), on Public Private Partnership training workshop has created rumblings among babus in the road ministry. Grapevine has it that all PPP projects are handled by Rohit Singh, JS-Highways, but this time round he was kept out of the knowhow of the trip. He is apparently miffed after being overlooked by the Minister.
Future Tense
CBI officials were at a loss of words and in a state of shock following the Guwahati High Court judgement terming the creation the agency as illegal. Facing questions from journos about their fate, the officials sought to defend their existence by citing the famous Vineet Narayan case through which the Supreme Court had streamlined the functioning of the agency. They also sought to take refuge in the fact that the SC has been monitoring a number of cases being investigated by the agency. But it was not just the officials, even beat reporters discussed if they would be required by their respective organisations if the CBI is wound up.