Central Administrative Tribunal likely to be abolished
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) may be abolished and replaced by "ombudsmen" for expeditiously redressing the grievances of Central government employees. The CAT, set up more than a decade ago under the Administrative Tribunals Act of 1985, is on its way out apparently because it has failed to provide speedy and inexpensive justice.
Former ministers' CBI cases stuck
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases against seven former ministers are hanging fire, either awaiting the President's sanction or being shuttled between the Law Ministry and the Home Ministry. The Union ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the Law Ministry to "reconsider" its advice that there was "no case for prosecution" against Madhav Sinh Solanki in the Bofors affair and B Shankaranand in the Oil India Development Board case.
Power dept continues to "miss" Harkat chief
The deputy supreme commander of the outlawed Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), Ghulam Nabi Baba alias Parvez Baba, continues to be a "missing employee" for the Power Development Department (PDD) even after his arrest by the security forces in the Kashmir Valley about a fortnight ago. This, despite the fact that the State Police had asked the Government to dismiss him from service.
Agni programme to continue, says Mulayam
The Union defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav yesterday announced that India's surface to air long range missile programme Agni will continue irrespective of pressures. The Defence minister averred that there was no question of abandoning the programme halfway.
Mid-East impasse: Albright diplomacy leads to nowhere
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright summed up the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, and America's own floundering Mid-East diplomacy, in just 10 words: 1997, she said, has ``not been a very good year for the peace process.'' Nor did December's Paris talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brighten this bleak landscape: Palestinian officials later said they doubted any progress had been made.
HK declares two areas as bird flu-hit
Authorities in Hong Kong declared a chicken farm and part of a poultry wholesale market as affected areas of bird flu virus today after discovering more chickens had contracted the h5n1 virus and died in mass. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries declared a chicken farm in the rural area of Yuen Long as an affected area shortly after midnight.
