UBC to observe Friday as protest day

Dehradun, January 16
Chairman, Uttarakhand Bar Council, Prithvi Raj Chauhan, decided to observe Friday as protest day to support the call given by Bar Council of India (BCI) against the move to bring proposed Higher Education and Research Bill in the Lok Sabha by the Government of India.
While speaking at a press conference convened at the office of the Bar Association, Dehradun, Chauhan said the Bill was against the provisions of the Advocate Act, 1961. “The state government was deliberately bringing in this Bill to wrest the powers from the State Bar Councils (SBC) and BCI. By giving licence to foreign law firms to fight legal cases in the country, it was severely affecting the interests of advocates
and applicants. With this Bill, the way to affordable and easy justice would be blocked. The foreign law firms will work in autocratic manner. The BCI and SBCs would exercise no control over them. Therefore, we will observe Friday as protest day and also the chairpersons of all the SBCs and BCI will prepare a strategy to deal with this challenge and put pressure on the Union government on this day in New Delhi,” added Chauhan.

Now, Ombudsman for higher education institutions in India

To be covered

n Central universities, the IITs, IIMs and NITsn All technical and management institutions recognised by the UGC, AICTE and the National Council for Teacher Educationn Deemed universities recognised by the Centren Non-degree granting institutions approved by academic regulators

New Delhi, January 16
Students attending higher education institutions run by the Centre and recognised by academic regulators will now have a platform to register their grievances and seek redress.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development today passed an executive order to mandate all central higher educational institutions like the central universities, the IITs, IIMs and NITs, among others, to appoint an ombudsman to redress grievances of students by the start of the next academic session.
The order will be equally applicable to all technical and management institutions recognised by regulators such as the UGC, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education. It will also apply to deemed universities recognised by the Centre and the non-degree granting institutions approved by the academic regulators.
The move comes in the wake of persistent resistance that the ministry’s ambitious Bill on establishment of educational tribunals met with in the Rajya Sabha where the Bill remains in a limbo.
“We can’t keep waiting. We have to move,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today said, adding that the ombudsman would be responsible for addressing students’ grievances related to denial of admission, non-observance of declared merit in admissions, non-observance of applicable regulations for reservation, withholding of documents and non-refund of fees in case of withdrawal of admission, discrimination and matters concerning students in pursuit of studies in the institution.
In matters concerning weaker sections such as SCs, STs, OBCs or minorities, the ombudsman can co-opt a person of eminence of the area from a weaker section to assist him.
The ombudsman will have to deliver his judgment in a month and though his order would not be binding on the institution, the institution can lose recognition from the regulator in case of repeated violations and non-compliance with the orders of the ombudsman.
“Non-compliance can lead to withdrawal of recognition,” Sibal explained.
The ombudsman will have to be a person with a judicial or legal background. The institute would have to appoint him from a panel suggested by the affiliating university in case of technical and management institutions and the Central Government in case of deemed universities.
The suggestion of instituting an ombudsman was made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD when it was looking at the Bill on Prevention of Unfair Practices in Technical and Management Institutions.
“The committee made this suggestion and we are going to implement it. Although the idea was to set up a grievance redress mechanism through the Educational Tribunals Bill, but if the Bill does not come, I am not going to wait,” Sibal said.
The proposed ombudsman would not cover grievances related to teachers.

foul content

Blocking websites not an option: Google India
New Delhi, January 16
Google India, which along with 20 websites is facing criminal cases for allegedly hosting objectionable materials, today told the Delhi High Court that blocking them was not an option as democratic India was not a "totalitarian" regime like China.
"The issue relates to a constitutional issue of freedom of speech and expression and suppressing it was not possible as the right to freedom of speech in democratic India separates us from a totalitarian regime like China," advocate N K Kaul, appearing for Google India, told Justice Suresh Kait.
During last hearing, Justice Kait had warned Google India and social networking site Facebook India that websites can be "blocked" like in China if they fail to devise a mechanism to check and remove objectionable material from their web pages.
Responding to the court's remark, Kaul referred to media reports on the issue saying "they (reports) suggest the existence of the right (freedom of speech)."
Initiating arguments, Kaul said internet is a global system which have billions of users that also included companies, private persons and the governments and their departments.

Judges can be denied promotion citing adverse ACRs: SC

New Delhi, January 15
The Supreme Court has ruled that judges can be denied promotion or extension in service on the basis of adverse remarks in the annual confidential reports (ACRs).

The remarks in ACRs “do enable” the authority to assess the comparative merit of judges while deciding promotions applying the merit-cum-seniority criteria, a Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and HL Gokhale clarified in a verdict last week.

The Bench made the observation while dismissing the appeal of NC Das, who was a member of the Tripura Judicial Service (Grade II) holding the post of Civil Judge (Senior Division), North Tripura.

Das, who retired on December 31, 2006 at the age of 58, had pleaded for quashing a Gauhati High Court memo issued on June 7, 2005 denying him promotion under the Assured Career Progress.

Das had contended that he was wrongly denied the promotion in July 2003 although his juniors were accorded promotion. His case for promotion ought to have been considered under recruitment and service rules relating to Grade I and II of the Tripura Judicial Service Rules 1974, he argued.

Besides being superseded, he was also denied service extension till the age of 60 despite the fact that the superannuation age stood enhanced to 60 years.

Rejecting this plea, the SC pointed out that giving extension in service was the discretion of the Guahati HC. Citing a communication between the HC Registrar and the Tripura Law Department, the SC said the HC had in fact considered the issue of extension and found that he “did not deserve” to be recommended for service till the age of 60.

The apex court noted that ACR of Das for the year 2000 clearly mentioned that “he was not yet fit for promotion. Similar remarks have been recorded in 2001 and 2002 ACRs. Thus, in last three years immediately preceding the date of consideration of the petitioner’s case for promotion, his ACRs show that he was not found fit for promotion.”

Based on the remarks in the ACRs for 2000, 2001 and 2002, if he had been “denied promotion in July 2003, such action can hardly be faulted,” the Bench reasoned.

Confusion over nationality

HC raps Centre, state for not releasing foreigner
afer jail sentence is over
Chandigarh, January 14
Sayad Rasool is behind bars even after the completion of his jail sentence. The foreign national continues to be in Amritsar Jail because neither the Centre nor the State of Punjab really knows whether he is from Pakistan or Afghanistan.
The failure of the powers to establish his nationality has now invited the Punjab and Haryana High Court's ire. The Punjab Home Secretary is virtually in the dock over the issue.
Rapping both the Centre and the State of Punjab on its knuckles, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: "I am unable to understand how this simple issue is pending resolution by the State. How can the identity of a person be unknown to the jail or the state authorities once he has faced trial and is convicted…."
"In my view, whether the detainee belongs to Pakistan or Afghanistan would hardly make a difference. Once he has undergone the sentence imposed on him, action has to be taken to deport him."
"For that, it may have to be seen whether he has to be deported to Pakistan or Afghanistan. But, this aspect was required to be ascertained by all the authorities concerned, once he was about to complete the sentence imposed on him…."
"Requisite efforts have neither been made by the Union of India, nor the State of Punjab, to see to an end the agony of this person, which is revealing a serious violation of human rights," the court said.
"A simple approach by either the Union of India, or the State of Punjab to contact the embassies of Afghanistan and Pakistan would have led to some solution. It appears that both the governments are palming of their respective responsibilities to each other and have not taken appropriate action in the matter".
Before parting with the order, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: "Let the Home Secretary of the State of Punjab and a representative of the Government of India remain present before this Court on the next date of hearing".
The petition seeking Rasool's release has been filed by the World Human Rights Council through its chairman Ranjan Lakhanpal. Rasool was arrested at Gherinda under Amritsar police district and a FIR under the provisions of the Foreigners' Act and the Indian Passport Act was registered against him on April 26, 2009.

100 acres for Punjabi varsity in Pakistan

Arif Choudhary, president of the Pak-India Friendship Society, informed that his NRI friend from New York Abdul Rehman had donated 100 acres of land in Nankana Sahib in Pakistan to establish Punjabi University there. He said they had already started working out the details. "It will be a private university that will provide a common platform to all Punjabis for learning Punjabi language and culture. The reason for choosing this particular place is because this land belonged to Guru Nanak Dev Ji and what could be better than this place to establish Punjabi University," he added.

NRI wants to record statement against Tytler

Amritsar, January 14
Resham Singh, an NRI based in the US, has approached a Delhi court requesting that his testimony about senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots should be recorded before the court gives its final verdict on the closure report filed by the CBI.
As per a release issued here by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), Resham Singh, in his affidavit to Delhi court, described the details of efforts made by him from 2008 till December 2011 to have the CBI record his testimony regarding Tytler's involvement in attack on Gurdwara Pul Bangash.
Resham Singh, who used to drive taxi in Delhi, claims that on November 1, 1984 he saw Tytler leading a mob outside the Gurdwara Pul Bangash in which three Sikhs were burnt alive.