Congress Core Group discusses Telangana issue

Congress Core Group met on Friday in the capital and discussed various issues including the demand for a seperate Telangana state while the meeting was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders.

Earlier Congress leader and in charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad submitted a report on Telangana issue to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

He had held a series of talks with leaders of the state in past few months both from pro -Telangana and anti -Telangana factions.

A 22 member team led by TRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao is also reaching New Delhi later this night to talk to the political leadership in the capital.

Meanwhile, normal life disrupted in Hyderabad due to the day long bandh called by Telangana political joint action committee for intensifying the 'Sakala Janula Samme' general strike for the cause of seperate Telangana state, which had entered the 18th day today.

Modi keeps away from BJP Nat Executive, Gadkari praises Advani

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and two other ousted Chief Ministers on Friday kept away from the BJP's two-day National Executive meeting in New Delhi raising questions over the leadership race but party president Nitin Gadkari hailed LK Advani's proposed yatra for good governance and clean politics.

 

The apparent differences among the top leaders came to the fore with Modi staying put in Ahmedabad citing Navratra fasts as the reason for not attending the conclave that aims to target the government on corruption and focus on coming state elections.

To add to party's discomfort, B S Yeddyurappa and Ramesh Pokhriyal, recently removed as Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Uttarakhand also did not attend the meeting as they are said to be sulking.

In the midst of perceived growing differences between Advani and Modi, Gadkari said in his Presidential speech that Advani is a leader with unblemished political career of 50 years and has "all the moral authority" to lead the party in the struggle for good governance and clean politics.

"Through our Jan Chetna Yatra we will try to focus on multi-sector reforms like administrative reforms, electoral reforms, judicial reforms and political reforms," Gadkari said.

He said through the nation-wide yatra of Advani commencing from Bihar on October 11, good governance and clean politics will now become the focus of public discourse.

Differences are believed to have cropped up between Advani and Modi over projection of Prime Ministerial candidate in the next elections. Modi fancies himself to be such a candidate while Advani is believed to have not given up his claim for being projected for the post.

BJP, however, downplayed the reported differences between the two senior leaders and said reports of Modi being unhappy with the yatra were wrong.

"It is not true that Modi is unhappy. He fasts during Navratra and so is not attending the National Executive," BJP Chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

However, he admitted that the party had requested Modi to attend, a point made by Gadkari on Thursday.

BJP leaders close to Modi spoke in his favour with one MP from Gujarat saying the development model in the state was worth emulating.

Party Rajya Sabha MP and Gujarat in-charge Balbir Punj said, "If he (Modi) gets a chance, he will be the best Prime Minister in the history of the country."

Asked if Modi or Advani would make a better Prime Minister, Punj said, "I do not know this. I will not make any comparisons. That the people of the nation will decide."

In his Address, Gadkari took on the UPA government over the issue of corruption and specially targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"The government today suffers from a crisis of credibility. Its domestic credibility stands tattered while its international credibility has suffered a serious dent. Corruption has broken all records," Gadkari said.

Attacking Singh, he said, "...If the Prime Minister is so much indifferent to the problems and crisis faced by the government, then why is he in office? He always has a hallmark reply that he did not know anything."

Ambani under scrutiny; Tata, Videocon clean in 2G scam

The CBI on Thursday virtually gave a clean chit to Tata and Videocon groups in the 2G spectrum scam but said the role of Anil Ambani was being probed as three jailed corporate honchos of his company RADAG have distanced themselves from any wrongdoing.

  

The agency said it was conducting further investigation to find out the real beneficiaries as the arrested executives of the RADAG group have "resiled" from the statements given by them during the probe of the scam.

CBI, which refuted the allegation of not probing the role of corporate czars, said the three RADAG executives--Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair--in their statements under section 161 of Code of Criminal Procedure had taken entire responsibility for the decision but in the Delhi High Court they retracted.

"They took responsibility in entirety for the decision but in the High Court (during bail plea) they said they were merely employees and did not receive any benefit," senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, submitted before a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly.

Giving detailed account of its probe into various allegations against Ambani, Tata Group, Videocon owned Datum and Attorney General G E Vahanvati in the 2G scam, the agency said that investigation was still on against Anil Ambani but it has not found evidence regarding the culpability of others in the scam.

"The role of Ambani and other employees in relation to 9.9 per cent share in the Swan Telecom which was sold to Delphi is being probed," Venugopal said while giving details of the transaction that took place among Swan, Delphi and Etisalat DB.

"Reliance ADAG had 9.99 percent shares in Swan. Swan had sold its 107.90 lakh shares to Delphi at the rate of Rs 15 per share and Etisalat had bought the shares from Delphi at the rate of Rs 285 per share.”

"Shares given to Delphi was grossly undervalued and Reliance had received USD four million," he said while reading out reports received from Mauritius.

"The three employees of the RADAG have gone back on their earlier statements and have said in the Delhi High Court that they were just employees of the company.

"We are going to take our probe further to find out who are the real beneficiaries of the transaction," he said.

The senior advocate said though the CBI stand was that the three employees were the real beneficiaries but after they retracted from their statements now it has to be found how the share transaction was linked to Delphi Investment Ltd and in such a circumstance there was likelihood of making the trio "approvers" in the case.

"They may turn approver in which event we will get the whole impression about Delphi and transactions (from Swan to Delphi," he said.

Venugopal then read out the report on the Datacom and said that probe has revealed that no advantage was given to the company in the spectrum allocation during the tenure of A Raja.

"Unlike Swan and Unitec, Datacom was eligible to get licence. There is no evidence to show conspiracy on the part of public servants including Raja to (favour) Datacom," he said.

The agency also refuted the allegation that Videocon head Venugopal Dhoot's brother Raj Kumar Dhoot, who is a Rajya Sabha member, was present in Raja's office on the day of issuing of Letter of Intent to telecom companies.

The agency then read out the details of the probe against Tata group and said that instead of being beneficiary of the scam, they were losers because of the conspiracy on the part of Raja, which has been mentioned in the charge sheet filed by the CBI before the Special Judge.

"Tata Teleservices was put last in the list of companies (for allotment of spectrum in a circle) because of criminal conspiracy of the accused. It was a loser in it and it has also been said by the TDSAT," Venugopal said.

He also said that the allegation that Tatas had gifted land to DMK family for getting undue favour from Raja was baseless.

"Tata did not gift land to DMK family. It was not even owned by the Voltas(Tata's company). The land was on lease and it is still on lease. There is no change in the possession of the land," he said.

Lack of co-operation among anti-corruption agencies: FM

Admitting "slackness" in implementing laws and lack of coordination between various probe agencies, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday asked private players and civil society to shoulder some responsibility in achieving "zero tolerance" on corruption. 

 We are committed to making progress in our fight against corruption. It is also important that other stakeholders, including the private actors and the civil society, come forward in shouldering some responsibilities and contribute to the efforts of public agencies in this endeavor", he said.

"At the same time, we are one with the global community in sharing the responsibilities in our collective efforts to address this issue in its international dimension," Mukherjee said while addressing the concluding session of three-day conference of Seventh Regional Conference of the ADB-OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific Region.

He listed out various departments of the government which were engaged in controlling corruption but said, "this does not mean that we are free of corruption. Indeed, corruption is widespread and deep-rooted in our society".

"There are issues of slackness in implementation of existing laws, ineffectiveness of some laws, lack of coordination between different agencies that have overlapping mandates, policy gaps such as in the area of election funding and governance failure in several areas of public services delivery, that have contributed to the pervasiveness of this phenomenon.

Afzal clemency resolution in J-K Assembly stalled

A resolution seeking clemency for Afzal Guru, a death row convict in Parliament attack case, was stalled in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Wednesday after pandemonium broke out leading to adjournment of the House without any business being transacted.

The private member's resolution submitted by Independent MLA Shiekh Abdul Rashid now lapses and cannot come up in the current nine-day Assembly session which ends next Teusday.

As Congress and BJP members clashed on two separate issues and nearly came to blows, fans and tables were overturned while one member climbed onto the table of an official in the pandemonium which led to two adjournments before it was adjourned for the day. They also stormed the well of the House.

Expressing his displeasure over the conduct of the members, Assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone said the House has been converted into a "fish market".

"The scene created by you here is giving the impression that this august house has been converted into a fish market," Lone said.

The Speaker said the conduct of the agitating members was "unfortunate".

"Very unfortunate. This is not proper, not fair. You are violating the sanctity of this house," he said.

BJP members supported by Panthers Party MLAs were demanding that the resolution be dropped from the listed business. Congress MLAs were demanding expulsion of BJP MLAs who were suspended from the party for cross-voting in the Legislative Council elections earlier this year.

Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said it was unfortunate that House proceedings were disrupted.

"We would have liked the business of the day is taken up as per norms," he said.

When asked about his party's stand if the resolution had been taken up, he said, "We were told by the party president (Farooq Abdullah) to vote according to our conscience as it was a private member's resolution."

Opposition PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said the "drama" in the Assembly was allegedly directed by National Conference while Congress and BJP were its "actors".

Congress MLA Vikar Rasool climbed onto the table of Secretary of the Legislative Assembly while shouting slogans against BJP members.

Irked by the disruptions, Rashid also stormed into the well of the House and kicked fans and tables.

Lone at one stage told BJP MLAs there was no harm if the resolution was discussed in the House.

"There is no question of dropping it as it has been already admitted," he added.

Secretary (Legislative Assembly) Mohammad Ramzan said that according to Assembly rules if a private member resolution is not taken up on the day it is listed it lapses and cannot be taken up again during the session.

Shouting slogans against the resolution, the BJP and Panthers members said it was "anti-national" to discuss it as Guru's death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court in the Parliament attack case.

Congress legislators, including ministers, also rose from their seats, demanding expulsion of the BJP MLAs who were allegedly involved in cross-voting during the Legislative Council elections earlier this year.

PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh said the clemency issue was raised first by the Chief Minister through his tweet about Tamil Nadu Assembly passing a resolution for convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

"After igniting the debate, he should have taken a stand," he said.

Rashid told reporters political parties in the state Assembly were sabotaging the resolution seeking clemency for Guru at the behest of the Central government.

"They are sabotaging my resolution on Afzal Guru. They are doing it at the behest of New Delhi... All of them are involved including PDP whose members remained silent," Rashid alleged.

The resolution was submitted to the Speaker by Rashid on September 2.

High Court upholds validity of Singur land act

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday upheld as constitutional and valid the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 by which the West Bengal government vested the land leased to Tata Motors Ltd (TML). 

Justice I P Mukerji, while upholding the validity of the Act, directed that compensation be paid to TML if it makes an application for it while noting that the district judge of Hooghly should determine the amount of compensation to be paid.

 

It held that if TML, which had shifted its Nano car plant from Singur to Sanand in Gujarat alleging political unrest, makes the application for compensation, the district judge would have to dispose it within six months.

Justice Mukerji stayed the application of the order till 2^nd November to give the parties a fair chance to appeal before a higher court, if aggrieved with the order.

The court also appointed the district magistrate and SP of Hooghly district, within which Singur falls, as special officers to ensure smooth transfer of land from TML to the state in two months.

The court also upheld the vesting of the land given to vendors, who had also challenged the Act in a separate application.

Justice Mukerji disposed both the applications, by TML and the vendors, challenging the Singur Act which was notified on 21^st June.

The government took possession of the Singur land totalling 997 acres on the evening of 21^st June itself.

TML had challenged the Act before the High Court on June 22, claiming that it was unconstitutional and as such vesting of the 600 acres of land leased to it was invalid.
Around 300 acres had been earmarked for the vendors.

The West Bengal government had acquired 997 acres of land at Singur besides Durgapur Expressway, about 50 km from here, in 2006 for the Tata Nano factory.

The Singur acquisition by the erstwhile Left Front government had led to a huge political unrest in the state over acquisition of fertile land, ripple effects of which were witnessed in other parts of the country as well.

Political analysts say that the Singur acquisition was the first stumbling block faced by the then CPI(M)-led Left Front government that led to its debacle in the elections ranging from Panchayat to the Assembly.

The Trinamool Congress, which had led the movement against acquisition of fertile land, won the Assembly elections by a landslide margin in May this year and the first legislation by it was the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 by which it vested the land leased to TML as also to the vendors.

TML had moved its Nano plant from the state to Gujarat after it decided to shift the factory alleging political unrest and expressing apprehension for the safety of its workers and officials in October 2008.

Though TML shifted all the machinery from Singur, it maintained the leasehold of the land.

In reply to a letter by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) in September 2010, TML had expressed its willingness to hand over the land to it provided it was suitably compensated.

Later, in a statement, Tata Motors said it will study the judgement and will take a decision accordingly.

"Tata Motors has learnt of the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court's ruling on The Singur Land Rehabilitation & Development Act 2011. The company will study the judgement and decide its next course of action," it added.

Singur verdit 'historic': Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has described as a "historic verdict" the Calcutta High Court's order upholding validity of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 by which West Bengal government vested the land leased to Tata Motors Limited.

"Today's verdict is historic verdict. Agitation of the farmers in Singur has not only shown the path to other parts of India, but also to the whole world," Banerjee said after the High Court verdict.

"I am grateful to the court, I have the highest respect for the judiciary," she said.

Banerjee said after the stay given by the court on operation of the order till 2^nd November, "We will decide on the modalities of giving back the land to the farmers."

A large factory would be set up on 600 acres of land at Singur, while the rest 400 acres will be returned to the unwilling farmers who had not accepted compensation for the acquisition made by the erstwhile Left Front government in 2006, the Chief Minister said.

In an apparent dig at the CPI(M) for slamming the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 passed in the Assembly, she said, "A lot had been said alleging we were in great hurry to push through the Bill and were committing mistakes."

TRAI clears confusion over SMS limit, exempts certain services

Regulator TRAI has exempted various service providers, including the dealers of telecom operators, e-ticketing agencies and social networking sites, from the new limit of one hundred SMSes per day per SIM, which was imposed to block pesky calls and messages.

On 5^th September, after much delay, Trai had come out with recommendations to stop pesky calls and text messages from 27^th September, ordering that no access provider (operators) shall permit the transmission of more than 100 SMSes per day per SIM.

"Hereby directs all access providers to exclude the following persons from the limit of one hundred SMS per day per SIM -- dealers of the telecom service providers and DTH operators for sending request for electronic recharge on mobile numbers," Trai said in a statement on Tuesday.

The directive from the regulator had come in the wake of concerns raised by telecom lobby COAI on limiting the SMS entitlement per SIM to 100 per day.

It will also exempt e-ticketing agencies for responding to e-ticketing request made by its customers, SMSes from social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn and GooglePlus to their members in connection to activities relating to their accounts, based on verifiable options; and agencies providing directory services, such as Justdial, Zatse, Callezee, Getit and Askme, Trai added.

Earlier, COAI had asked Trai to reconsider its recommendation to limit the number of SMSes per sim to 100 per day, saying that such a regulation may pose a potential challenge to the "fundamental rights" of an ordinary users.

There are several instances where SMSes are an important mode of communication.

There could be a situation where a customer has exhausted the limit and suddenly some emergency occurs, COAI had said.

Further, this limit will not also be applicable on "blackout days" (festive occasions), when the customer is free to send as many messages he wants.

In the case of post-paid telephone numbers, the access provider shall not permit more than 3,000 SMSes per SIM per month, the Trai recommendations had said.

However, Trai said, "The access provider shall, before excluding the persons, obtain an undertaking from such person that he shall not use the said facility in any manner for sending commercial communications."

Subscribers have the option of choosing to be under the 'Fully Blocked' category, which is akin to the 'Do Not Call Registry'.

If a user selects the 'Partially Blocked' category, he/she will receive SMSes in categories chosen.

For registering under the fully blocked list, a customer has to SMS 'START 0' to 1909.

Cash-for-vote scam: Advani's former aide Kulkarni arrested

Sudheendra Kulkarni, a former aide of BJP leader L K Advani, was arrested in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam and remanded in judicial custody in Tihar Jail after a Delhi court rejected his interim bail plea on Tuesday, the sixth person to be taken into custody in the case. 

Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal turned down the interim bail application of Kulkarni, 54, saying it was devoid of merits and fixed hearing on his plea for regular bail on October one.

Till then he will be in judicial custody in Tihar Jail.

With the court threatening to issue arrest warrant against him after he had failed to appear on last two hearings on account of his visit to the USA, Kulkarni presented himself before the judge and sought relief claiming he was "a whistle blower" who intended to expose corruption.

"There is no reason to deny interim bail to a person whose regular bail is pending (in the court) and who was not arrested during investigation," the counsel for Kulkarni said.

During the arguments, the judge pulled up the prosecution for arresting only some of the accused named in the charge sheet.

"They (prosecution) have no justification for arresting 2-3 accused and leaving others. They cannot pick and choose," the judge said.

Delhi Police, in its charge sheet, has alleged that Kulkarni turned towards Samajwadi Party leaders in a bid to influence the 2008 trust vote of UPA-I government after he failed to make inroads in the Congress camp.

To achieve his design, Kulkarni allegedly "masterminded" the conspiracy to bribe MPs and "directed" co-accused Suhail Hindustani to divert his efforts towards Samajwadi Party leaders who met the BJP MPs ahead of the voting on confidence motion in Lok Sabha, it said.

Cash-for-vote: Amar Singh's interim bail extended by a day

Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh's interim bail in 2008 cash-for-vote scam was extended till Wednesday by a Delhi court on Tuesday.

Special judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal extended Singh's interim bail for a day while reserving for Wednesday her order on his regular bail.

Arguing for Singh's bail, his counsel Hariharan said that as per the medical report received from AIIMS, his client is still not well and his vital parameters are above normal limit.

"I (Amar Singh) have amply demonstrated before the court that I am a sick and infirm person and the court could grant me bail on this ground alone," he said.

He also said the prosecution has no evidence against his client to show his involvement in the alleged conspiracy of bribing BJP MPs to win their votes in the July 2008 confidence motion of the Congress-led UPA-I government after withdrawal of the critical outside support of Left parties to the government.

"The prosecution is relying on the disclosure statement of other co-accused, which cannot be relied upon. The prosecution is unable to lay the foundation of the conspiracy charge against Amar Singh. All I am trying to say is that basic ingredients of a conspiracy are not satisfied at all," he said.

Singh counsel has been demanding bail for him on the ground that his medical reports are showing further deterioration in his condition despite treatment at AIIMS.

"May be I (Amar Singh) am in a better position to get a better treatment at a better place in Delhi itself. He cannot be at AIIMS at this point in time," he had said.

Singh was arrested on September 6 after he appeared before the court in response to the court summons to him for his alleged involvement in 2008 cash-for-vote scam.

He, however, had to be rushed to AIIMS from Tihar jail after a bout of vomitting and diarrhoea on September 12 evening and the court granted him interim bail on September 15.

Rahul called upon J&K youth to join political mainstream

Launching the Youth Congress membership drive in the Kargil region, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi called upon youth of Jammu and Kashmir to join the political mainstream, stressing that this was necessary for bringing development to the region.

Addressing a public rally in Kargil, he referred to the problem of connectivity in Kargil and other adjoining regions.

Rahul added that the government has taken several steps to improve road, air as well as mobile phone connectivity in the area.

He further said that a focussed development plan is needed for Kargil and other parts of the State.

Rahul Gandhi is on a two day long visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

Pranab, Chidambaram meet Sonia Gandhi over 2G row

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday had separate meetings with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram, stepping in to defuse the row over the Finance Ministry note on 2G spectrum allocation. 

Before meeting Sonia shortly after his return from the US, Mukherjee told reporters that Chidambaram is a "valuable colleague" and a "pillar of strength."

Chidambaram drove past waiting reporters after meeting Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence without saying a word.

This was Chidambaram's first meeting with Gandhi, who is also UPA Chairperson, after controversy broke out last week over the note to the Prime Minister's Office(PMO) on the stand taken by him when he was the Finance Minister.

Gandhi met Mukherjee soon after her discussions with Chidambaram.

Mukherjee said on arrival that he will speak on the controversial 2G spectrum note only after discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other colleagues.

He told reporters at the airport that a full-fledged press conference will be held after the Prime Minister returns from his visit to New York on Tuesday.

He later told reporters after reaching his North Block office, "If it is needed I will say whatever (I have) to say after Prime Minister comes back and after we have discussions among ourselves."

The March 25 note of the Finance Ministry suggested that the 2G scam could have been averted had Chidambaram when he held the Finance portfolio insisted that the 2G spectrum be auctioned. The note to the Prime Minister's Office(PMO) was submitted to the Supreme Court yesterday.

Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid downplayed the row over the Finance ministry note, saying there is no scope for any worry in the document and that inferences drawn out of it were "not correct".

Khurshid also said the note was not worth keeping the media "preoccupied" the for a long time.

At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi did an apparent balancing act saying neither Chidambaram nor Mukherjee has done anything wrong.

Missing nurse case: Add Minister's name in FIR, says court

A local court on Friday directed the police to include Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna's name in the FIR in the nurse Bhanwari Devi missing case.

The direction was given by additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bilara Sandeep Sharma while hearing a complaint filed by Amarchand, husband of 36-year-old Bhanwari Devi.

Amarchand had lodged the FIR after his wife, who was posted as auxiliary nurse midwife at a sub-centre in Jaliwada village in the district, went missing on September 1.

The complaint filed in the court on Tuesday accused Maderna of blackmailing his wife and charged him with kidnap, rape and murder.

In his order, Sharma directed the police to club Maderna's name in the previously lodged FIR by Amarchand and clamp charges of rape, murder and criminal conspiracy against him.

The Rajasthan High Court had on Thursday expressed displeasure over the "directionless" probe in the case and pulled up the investigation officer.

The court, while hearing the habeas corpus filed by Amarchand, had ordered the Inspector General of Police (Jodhpur Range) to appear before it on September 26 with the progress report on the probe.

Blackmoney Case: SC bench differs on Centre's plea on SIT

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday gave a split verdict on the maintainability of government's application seeking recall of the apex court order on constitution of an SIT to probe blackmoney cases.

The order was passed by a bench comprising justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar on the Centre's plea for recall of the court's 4th July decision.

While justice Kabir pronounced his verdict in favour of the government, saying the Centre's plea was maintainable, Justice Nijjar refused to hear the application, saying it is not maintainable.

In view of the split verdict, the bench referred the matter to the Chief Justice for constitution of a larger bench to decide the maintainability of the Centre's plea.

The apex court had on 4th July recast the high-level committee, formed by the Centre earlier to track blackmoney stashed away abroad, by setting up a Special Investigation Team and making ex-apex court judges B P Jeevan Reddy and M B Shah as its chairman and vice-chairman respectively.

The others in the 13-member SIT are directors of CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Chairman of CBDT, Director General of Revenue Intelligence, Director General of Narcotics Control, Director of Foreign Intelligence Office (FIO) and Joint Secretary of Foreign Trade, besides the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Director.

The apex court had recast the Centre's high-level committee expressing dissatisfaction over the pace of its functioning and saying the money stashed away reveal a degree of "softness of the State".

The Centre subsequently moved the apex court, seeking recall of its order.

But the apex court, before going into the merits of the Centre's application, had agreed to adjudicate whether it is maintainable as senior advocate Ram Jethmalani and others questioned its maintainability.

The Centre had in its recall application contended that the SIT was formed without being prayed for.

It has also questioned the Court's remarks that probe into the issue of black money stashed abroad was moving at a "laggardly pace".

During an earlier hearing, the Centre had also told the bench that the SIT set up by the apex court to probe and unearth black money needs to be scrapped as the investigating agency cannot function like a "super power."

PM to arrive in New York

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will arrive in New York tonight to participate in the high-level segment of the United Nations General Assembly. 

On Saturday, he will address the Assembly during which he will focus on UN Security Council reforms, particularly expansion of the world body's top organ.

In a statement before his departure, Dr. Singh had said, "The United Nations must be seen as an impartial, credible and effective body. I will stress the need for early reform of this unique organisation, particularly an expansion of its Security Council".

He had said that efforts by India to promote international peace and security after it became a non-permanent member of the Security Council has enriched the policy making body's effectiveness.

During his visit to New York, Dr. Singh will be holding bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; South Sudan Salva Kiir; and Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa; and Prime Ministers of Japan Yoshihiko Noda; and Nepal Baburam Bhattarai.

India is seeking a permanent berth in the Security Council.

It became a non-permanent member of this body in January this year after a gap of 19 years.

The Prime Minister is attending the UNGA after a gap of two years.

Chidambaram visits quake-hit Sikkim

Chidambaram visited the quake hit Sikkim and announced central assistance of Rs 50 crore immediately as grant for relief and rehabilitation work in quake-ravaged Sikkim where nine villages are still cut off in the North district.

 

After assessment of the situation, medium and long term rehabilitation programme would be drawn up in the state, he said, adding the Centre would work shoulder to shoulder with the state to restore normalcy.

"The Centre will immediately release Rs 50 crore as grant for the relief and rehabilitation work in Sikkim though the state has enough funds", Chidambaram told reporters after meeting state Chief Minister Pawan Chamling in Gangtok.

He said the Prime Minister would visit Sikkim after his return to the country from abroad.

Chidambaram said relief work has started in most of the affected places but "nine villages in the North district are still cut off but the army assured me that they will be able to reach there soon".

Around 6,000 people are sheltered in the relief camps and the immediate work was to send relief to them, he said, adding that food dropping was done in most of the affected areas.

Efforts were on to restore electricity and communication and soon the work would be completed, he said.

Earlier, Chidambaram who arrived at the Libing helipad in Gangtok at 9.15 AM interacted with the quake victims at the STNM hospital in Gangtok.

Rahul visits quake-hit Sikkim : Rescue operations continue

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made an aerial survey of quake-hit North Sikkim, besides visiting an affected village and a hospital in Gangtok.

Accompanied by Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, the Congress General Secretary made the aerial survey of the north district which had suffered the maximum number of casualties - 37, officials said.

After reaching Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri two hours behind schedule due to inclement weather, Gandhi took a chopper and landed at the army helipad in Libing.

The Congress leader then visited Lumsey, a residential pocket near Gangtok, which was also visited by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Gandhi also visited the Central Referral Hospital, Manipal, here and interacted with the injured. After the aerial survey, he left for Meghalaya.

Meanwhile, Seven more bodies were found in the quake rubble, taking the death toll in the calamity in Sikkim to 97 as rescuers struggled to reach the devastated areas where "heavy casualties" were feared.

Official sources said six bodies were found in East Sikkim and one in North Sikkim, where the 6.8 magnitude temblor was epicentred.

Fresh landslides triggered by heavy rains were reported in the worst-affected areas of Mangan, Lachung, Lachen and Sighthan areas of North Sikkim Tuesday night.

The landslides and landslips along the 60 km stretch between Gangtok and Mangan along NH31A, the lifeline of the mountain state, was affecting rescue operations in the higher reaches in the mountains, army sources said.

Army sources said a 8-10 km stretch at Tung, which is 16 km off Mangan, had caved in impeding rescue operators from reaching worst-hit Chungthang.

Sikkim Director General of Police Jasbir Singh said Border Road Organisation personnel were deployed to clear the highway.

District collectors have been asked to reach Mangan, Lachen, Lachung and Chungthan, rendered inaccessible by the landslides, immediately by air as more bodies are feared to be trapped in under quake debris.

"Heavy casualties are feared in these areas," he said.

Indian Air Force continued recces in North Sikkim, where relief material was airdropped on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the bus missing with 24 passengers and crew was rescued from Tung on Tuesday night.

Army, NDRF and disaster management personnel walked to Tung, between quake epi-centre Mangan and Chungthang and rescued the people in the bus last night.

However, one person in the bus had died, official sources said.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has, meanwhile, reached Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal on way to Gangtok, the Sikkim DGP said.

Inclement weather delayed his arrival by about two hours.

Gandhi is scheduled to visit worst-hit Chungthang during the day, he added.

PM speaks to Sikkim CM again to promise help

As the extent of damage caused by Sunday's earthquake in Sikkim unfolded gradually, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling again today to assure him that the Centre would do everything needed to deal with the situation.

Singh also called a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs to take stock of the situation and discuss ways to help the state, PMO sources said.

The Prime Minister's telephonic talk with Chamling was the second since the powerful quake had struck Sikkim on Sunday evening.

The Centre swung into action soon after the quake, rushing relief and medical teams to the state.

Singh has also announced ex-gratia relief of Rs two lakh for the kin of those killed in the quake and Rs one lakh for those injured.