Redefine News

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday upheld its single bench order that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) comes within the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and details of judges assets should be revealed under that.

A bench comprising Chief Justice AP Shah and Justices S Muralidhar and Vikramjeet Sen said, "Higher the judiciary, higher is the accountability towards the public at large".

Emphasising the importance of RTI, the bench said, "RTI has over-reaching impact. Citizens who require such information should not misuse the information, thus saving the independence of (the) judiciary."

Following a deep depression in the South East and adjoining Central Arabian Sea, a cyclonic storm named ‘Phyan’ is going to hit South Gujarat and Maharashtra by late Wednesday. Warning has been given to fisherman to not to venture in the sea.

On Wednesday morning, the depression developed on Tuesday intensified into a cyclone. The cyclone is likely to move Northeastwards and cross South Gujarat and North Maharashtra coast between Alibag (Maharashtra) and Valsad (Gujarat) by late this evening or night, according to the weather office.

The sea will be very rough along and off Maharashtra and South Gujarat Coast and fishermen have been warned against venturing along the Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat coasts, it said.

Cyclonic storm over East Central Arabian Sea moved Northwards and lay centred at 0530 hours today over same area near latitude 16.0 degree North and longitude 71.5 degree East about 250 kilometers West northwest of Goa and 350 kms South southwest of Mumbai and 620 kms South southwest of Surat in Gujarat.

Squally winds reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph are likely along and off Maharashtra and South Gujarat coast during, Met Office said.

Thane: 11 of the coaches of Gandhidham-Bengaluru Express derailed near Dombivili on early Wednesday in which 12 passengers sustained minor injuries, a railway official said.

"The incident occurred around 2 am near Dombivli on the single-line Vasai-Diva section which links the Western Railway and Central Railway," said an official of the railway control room.

Of the 11 coaches that derailed, at least two overturned and got badly damaged in the incident.

There was a miraculous escape for all the passengers who were asleep when the accident occurred.

Relief and rescue teams were rushed to the scene of the accident and work on restoration of the railway traffic has started.

Arrangements are being made by the Central Railway to put the stranded passengers on a special train to their destinations.

Railways help line numbers are also set at Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Vasai, Gandhidham, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodra and Bengaluru to provide information to people about their near and dear ones.

"Twelve coaches of Gandhidham express were derailed when the train was approaching Bhiwandi in Thane district." Said Central Railways PRO A K Jain.

Another train was sent to the incident site and the passengers of Gandhidham Express were shifted into it, he said.

The train has left for Bangalore, Jain said, adding that relief works are on.

This incident will, however, not affect the local train services in Central and Harbour railway lines, he added.

Deoband/Lucknow: Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind on Tuesday said that some of the lines of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ were against the religious principles of Islam and hence they support the decree against the song. On the other hand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), termed the move 'anti-national'.

The resolution asking Muslims not to sing the national song was passed at the national convention of the Jamiat, one of the largest groups of Muslim clerics in India, held at Darul Uloom Deoband, one the largest Muslim seminaries in South Asia, about 150 km from the national capital.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram was present at the convention, which was also attended by some Hindu priests.

BJP said Islamic organisations should desist from issuing such fatwas that are against the nation's interest.

According to BJP’s General Secretary Kalraj Mishra “We oppose the fatwa and will not tolerate such religious decrees at any cost. They are against our national values”.

'Participation of Congress ministers like Home Minister P. Chidambaram is unfortunate. It clearly reflects approach of the Congress party that it doesn't mind compromising with anti-national organisations just to appease the minority community,' said the BJP's state unit president Ramapati Ram Tripathi.

‘Congress Leaders are singing the national song since 1896, but now it's truly shocking and surprising as they themselves are supporting anti-national organisations that are against Vande Matram,' he added.
However, Muslim clerics were firm on their stand

Maulana Salman, who teaches at the Deoband seminary, said: 'We are true Muslims and true Indians. There is no doubt about that. But we no longer remain Muslims when we offer our prayers to anybody else than the Allah. Patriotism is not only about singing songs. We are and will remain Indians without singing Vande Mataram.'

Chandigarh: On Tuesday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tight security led to the lost of the life of a family’s sole breadwinner.

The Prime was about to visit Chandigarh as a chief guest for the 30th convocation of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

Kidney patient Sumit Prakash Verma, 32, reached PGIMER in a critical condition but was denied entry and shuttled from one gate to another for an hour, his family said. This even as the PM professed “service to the poorest” inside the Bhargava auditorium.

According to one of the Victim’s relative ‘Neeraj Verma’ “The security men didn’t allow us to enter and asked us to go to Gate 2, from Gate 2 they asked us to go to Gate 1. There we were not allowed in again.”

Verma was declared brought dead when they finally reached Emergency.

“At no point of time was any hospital facility closed.” This was the reply given by PGIMER spokesperson Manju Wadwalkar.

Meanwhile PM’s Office said “It is saddened at the death of a patient during the visit of the Prime Minister “

Today two more bodies were spotted at the burning IOC fuel depot, pushing the toll to 10.

The unidentified charred bodies were sighted in the wee hours near one of the blazing tanks, but it was not possible to reach there because of the heat, Inspector General of Police BL Soni said.

“The fire spread to the roof of the building of a private electronic and instrument company ‘Genus Overseas Ltd’, 200 meters from the IOC complex wall at about 0700 hours”, said Chief Fire Officer, Ishwar Lal Jat

There were no casualties in the building as no one was present in the building when the fire was on.

Out of the 11 storage tanks the fire died out in 6 of the tanks till Saturday. While it continued to blaze in five tanks which included that of petrol and kerosene.

Twelve trains passing through Jaipur-Swaimadhopur rail section were diverted to other routes, a NW Railway spokesman said. Similarly, 95 routes of buses were diverted on the Jaipur-Kota highway.
So far, nearly five lakh residents in the radius of five-kilometer area around the fire spot have been moved to safer locations after it was declared “danger zone”.

Among those who where evacuated were all the patients, doctors and staff and engineering and medical students of 10 hostels.

Total loss of 300 crores has been estimated according to the source of IOC.

It would take 15 to 20 days to rebuild the facility in Jaipur, according to IOC.

The Rajasthan High Court has now issued notices to the Central and state governments demanding an explanation for the failure to douse the blaze.

Some of the rare letters, postcards and articles signed and autographed by Mahatma Gandhi, will be formally presented to President Pratibha Patil when she arrives in London next week on a three-day state visit.

Leading NRI entrepreneurs Sir Gulam K Noon and Professor Nat Puri, who had bought these articles in an auction here in July will hand over them to Patil at a function in India House here next Wednesday.

The rare articles comprise three letters written by Gandhi to Maulana Abdul Bari, an islamic scholar and a leading figure in the Khilafat movement. The letters are written in Urdu.

The letters referred to the Hindu-Muslim relations, including communal tension in Lucknow, and to the personal friendship of the Mahatma and the Maulana.

In one of the letters written from prison, Gandhi thanked Bari for the gift of cotton for spinning. Bari (1878-1926) worked closely with Gandhi from 1918 onwards.

President Patil, who arrives here on Monday, will be accorded a ceremonial red carpet welcome at the Windsor Castle on Tuesday morning when her three-day state visit commences.

This is the first time an Indian President is visiting UK in nearly two decades. She will be guest of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

The same day, the leader of the opposition David Cameron and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, will call on the President.

In the evening, the President will attend a reception hosted by Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall and discuss work of the British Asian Trust.

In the night, she will attend a Banquet at Guildhall given by the Lord Mayor and City of London Corporation.

President Patil will be present in the Buckingham Palace on Thursday when the Queen will formally launch the XIX Commonwealth Games Baton Relay.

During the day, she will attend the UK India Business Council Summit at Lancaster House and address the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for India at the Palace of Westminster