Bhubaneswar: n a significant judgment, the Odisha High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to give Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the families of Lalit Dehury, who died in the Chamakhandi police custody last year.
The court also directed the government to deposit 75 per cent of total money as fixed deposit in a bank and the rest 25 per cent to be given as cash.
It may be noted that on February 28 last year, the officials of Chamakhandi police station of Ganjam district had allegedly arrested Lalit for keeping weapons illegally in his possession, but on the very next day, he was found dead inside the police station.
Protesting the police behaviour and alleging the hand of the police in the custodial death, the family members of Lalit had appealed in the High Court.
In a similar judgment on the death of UTP Rajkishore Parida of Injana village under Mancheswar police station here, who had allegedly died of negligence in jail on November 5, 2003, the High Court on directed the state government to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the kin of Parida.
Custodial death: HC directs govt to pay Rs 5 lakh to victim’s kin
March 16, 2012 — IMCDin in House over drought package
March 16, 2012 — IMCBhubaneswar: The State Assembly on Wednesday witnessed uproar by the Opposition Congress members who accused the state government of keeping the house in dark on the drought package.
The issue was raised during the Question Hour when revenue and disaster management minister Surya Narayan Patra was replying to a question on the government’s preparedness to tackle the heat wave conditions during the summer.
Accusing the state government of keeping the House in dark, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh of Congress said that the Special Relief Commission (SRC) office had issued a notice on drought package for the farmers on February 29.
The state government is not taking the House into confidence. They could have make the announcement in the assembly before SRC issuing the notice. We came to know about the package from the media on March 2, Singh said, adding that he and some other members had wanted to know about the package on the last day of the session’s first phase.
Later Congress MLAs went to the well of the house and shouted slogans by holding placards.
As the angry opposition members attempted to climb onto the Speaker’s podium, the House was adjourned for the first time till 11.50 am.
They had a tussle with the security staff who prevented the MLAs in rushing to the Speaker’s dais.
The scene was repeated when the house reassembled.
Patra’s attempt to pacify the Opposition by giving a reply failed to yield any result.
Deputy Speaker Sadan Marandi’s repeated appeal to the Opposition members to vacate the well of the house also could not bring normalcy in the House.
Protesting the government’s claim that it did not dishonour the House by issuing notification on drought package, Congress members staged a walkout.
In his statement, the minister said that the package had nothing new, but repetition of facts earlier announced by the government in December, 2011.
The government could not make announcement on the drought package due to model code of conduct for the panchayat polls, the minister said.
BJP legislature party leader K V Singhdeo and NCP leader Amar Prasad Satpathy asked the minister to place the copy of the state election commissioner’s order preventing the government to make any announcement on drought package in the House.
How can the SEC prevent the government to make announcement during natural calamities. As the House is supreme, the SEC cannot put any restriction on the government, particularly during natural calamities, Satpathy said.
The minister, on the other hand, said that he had a telephonic conversation with the SEC regarding the model code of conduct before replying questions on the drought package.
EC makes strong pitch for financial autonomy
March 16, 2012 — IMC
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The Election Commission on Thursday made a strong pitch for financial autonomy on the lines granted to constitutional bodies like the Supreme Court and the CAG, saying the dependence on the government could lead to conflict of interest.
“We want the budget of the Election Commission to be charged through the Consolidated Fund of India and not voted through Parliament,” Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said while speaking at a discussion on electoral reforms organised by the Aspen Institute.
He said, “Any dependence on the government for anything…and they may ask for a price and that is where the conflict (can) start because we will not pay any price because we value our independence and will guard it to the last drop of our blood.”
Quraishi’s remarks came in the backdrop of verbal skirmishes between ministers and the Commission in the run up to the UP assembly elections.
“We are going after politicians all the time and they will be then sitting in judgement and torpedo our proposals. It’s a happy thing that they have not damaged us so far”.
“The Supreme Court gets it directly from consolidated fund, the CAG’s funds come from consolidated fund, that of UPSC comes from consolidated fund. I don’t know why the Election Commission was kept out of this,” Quraishi said.
Apart from the funding, the CEC also sought an independent secretariat for the Commission.
Rehabilitation Package for Displaced Persons
March 16, 2012 — IMCThe land acquisition for National Highways is done under the provisions of the National Highways Act, 1956 which involves due consultation with the stake holders as per the provisions of the Act. Highways are linear projects that involve widening of existing roads and opening of new road for bypasses, and have a long and narrow corridor of impact. The linear acquisition of land results in minimal displacement of families and loss of livelihood. On the other hand, development of highways results in the socio-economic development of the area, ultimately benefiting the local population.
Relevant provisions of National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement, 2007 in relation to Land Acquisition of National Highways provides that in case of linear acquisitions, in projects relating to railway lines, highways, transmission lines, laying of pipelines and other such projects wherein only a narrow stretch of land is acquired for the purpose of the project is utilized for right of ways, each khatedar in the affected family shall be offered by the acquiring body an ex-gratia payment of such amount as the appropriate Government may decide but not less than twenty thousand rupees, in addition to the compensation or any other benefits due under the Act or programme or scheme under which the land, house or other property is acquired. Provided that, if as a result of such land acquisition, the land-holder becomes landless or is reduced to the status of a ‘small’ or ‘marginal’ farmer, other rehabilitation and resettlement benefits available under this policy shall also be extended to such affected family.
This information was given by the Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways Shri Jitin Prasada, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Baby Falak dies at AIIMS
March 16, 2012 — IMCTwo-year-old battered baby Falak, whose harrowing ordeal shocked the country, died at AIIMS last night following a cardiac arrest after fighting a grim 58-day battle for life.
The abandoned child, who was admitted to the AIIMS on 18th January with severe head injuries, broken arms, bite marks all over her body and cheeks branded with hot iron, breathed her last at 9.40 PM, doctors said.
“It was unexpected. She was fit to be discharged. All of a sudden, she had a cardiac arrest at nine and we tried to revive her. But then she gave up at around 9.40 PM,” said Deepak Agrawal, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the AIIMS Trauma Centre who has been attending on her from the day she was admitted there.
During her treatment earlier, she had contracted meningitis and underwent five surgeries and had also suffered two heart attacks.
“But she had survived all this and had recovered well,” Agrawal said. “She was doing well. We removed her from the ICU and shifted her to the ward after we found that she had recovered well.
The whole day she used to spend time playing with the nurses at the hospital.
“All of a sudden she had a cardiac arrest. Since she is a medico-legal case, we will conduct a post-mortem tomorrow,” Agrawal said.
The child was brought to the hospital by a teenaged girl, who had falsely claimed to be her mother.
Investigations revealed the shocking story of Falak, her two siblings and their mother who were all separated after falling victim to human traffickers.
Falak’s mother Munni was tricked into a second marriage by three women out of whom two — Laxmi and Kanta Choudhry — were arrested.
The trio had promised that her three children will be taken care of but they were left to different people.
Ten people were arrested in the case, including the man who had abandoned the child with his teenaged girlfriend.
Police traced Falak’s five-year-old brother from the house of a vendor in West Delhi’s Uttam Nagar locality while her sister Sanobar was traced by Delhi Police to Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
On 15th Februray, Falak was reunited with her 22-year-old mother Munni, who was married to a man in Rajasthan.
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