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Y K Bahl, additional CEO of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, said Mayawati had met officials of JP Infratech -- the project builders -- and asked them to make sure that the stretch is ready for traffic by September 30.

The six-lane Taj expressway that according to officials will come be operational before the Commonwealth Games will benefit Greater Noida and other NCR residents who would get a fast link to Agra, Aligarh, Mathura and Hathras. However, as per the project contract, the 21.5km Greater Noida expressway will be handed over to JP Infratech and will become a toll road with the opening of the 165km Taj expressway.

The Taj expressway is being built from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to Agra. Said Bahl, ``Our objective is to reduce the time taken to reach Agra from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to two hours. But many of the facilities cannot be completed before the Games. So, the time taken could be closer to three hours, for the present. JP Infratech is bound to complete the road along with all facilities only by April 2013. Of course, the actual full completion may come much earlier.''

Bahl said the expressway will eventually have five 5 toll plazas, six interchanges (clover leaves) and seven stops for facilities like fuel pumps, shopping, motels and garages. But, all this can not be completed before the Games. So for the present, motorists will have to go off the expressway through temporary roads. A clover leaf being constructed at Pari Chowk is also likely to be completed a month or two after the games.

It is not yet clear how much toll will ultimately be charged for the use of the Taj expressway or the Noida-Greater Noida expressway.

lalit.kumar@timesgroup.com

This is the first time that the leave details are available on the website. Along with the details of the judgments and the cases listed in the court, now the details of judges' leave and dates are also available.

According to the information updated on the website, there are judges who are on leave since 2008. Before going to any of the five district courts (Patiala House, Tiz Hazari Court, Karkardooma Court, Dwarka Court, Rohini Court), the common man who is going for the hearing of his case can know whether the judge is coming to the court for the case on that date or not. Log on to http://delhicourts.nic.in to know about the leave of the judge before whom your case is being heard.

This transparent process has brought smiles on the faces of lawyers as well as litigants who come in the court for their cases. According to advocates, they can now take the dates for the next hearing as per their convenience. At the same time, according to the people, it will save their time and the whole day won't get wasted. The information available on the website for March shows that 12 judges are on leave and out of them three are male judges and the rest are female.

Source: The Pioneer By Shikha Verma Check online before hearings

The government had brought coastal villages under the reg- ister in the first phase of the plan launched last year after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The second phase will begin next month when enumerators list the houses where they will have to go during the 2011 Census. They will also carry a machine-readable form that they will have to fill, listing the names of people and their details across 16 other param- eters, right from their marital status, education and occupa- tion to their nationality, fin- gerprints, photograph and their present and permanent address.

The government is mandat- ed to create the register under the Citizenship Act, which will have a list of all Indian resi- dents irrespective of their cit- izenship. Like the Unique Identity num- ber, the NPR does not entail issuance of a card except in coastal areas. It is estimated that the population register would cost the exchequer near- ly Rs 3,539 crore.

According to the schedule approved by the home ministry, canvassing of information for the register will continue till September. In between, camps will also be put up to enable people who may have been missed out by enumerators to register themselves.

"The list would then be made public so that people can point out errors, intentional or oth- erwise," a ministry official said.

Buoyed by fresh arrivals, wholesale market rates for puls- es have shown a steady decline.

Keeping in tune with the trend, the Delhi government has decided to reduce rates of the pulses sold at Mother Dairy and Kendriya Bhandar outlets.

Delhi Food Supplies & Consumer Affairs Minister Haroon Yusuf said, "As per the commitment of the Delhi Government to provide maxi- mum relief to the common man, it has been decided to reduce price of pulses from March 8."

This is part of continued intervention by the Delhi gov- ernment, wherein more than 400 retail outlets of Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) across Delhi are sell- ing 10 important pulses since February 10. "We keep a watch on whole- sale rates on a daily basis," said Jayshree Raghuraman, secre- tary, Delhi's Food and Supplies Department.

"When we found these rates have reduced, we too decided to bring down the rates of pulses sold under our scheme," she added.

Source: Hindustan Times From March 8, Prices Of Pulses Set To Reduce

This is not the description of a heart disease in a medical journal but definition of the now common heart attack in the pol- icy of a prominent life insur- ance company.

When St Stephen's Hospital handed A.K. Jain a bill of Rs 1.91 lakh after heart surgery, he remained cool.

He expected full reimburse- ment from his mediclaim policy with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

He had suffered a heart attack on November 11, 2007.A stent was placed in the veins to regularize blood flow.

To his shock, the company declined to pay, saying "his dis- ease did not correspond to the symptoms laid down in the insurance cover". It was point- ed out "no muscle of heart became dead" and "no eleva- tion of enzymes was noted ", and "no changes were found in the ECG".

Not ready to take the injus- tice lying down, Jain moved the consumer court.

harish.nair@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Harish V. Nair Mediclaim Cos Cannot Fool Clients By Playing  With Words: Court

If the bereaved families of call centre employee Abhinav Puri and school student Sunny decide to press for compensation against alleged negligence by civic agencies, they have a good chance of succeeding in court.

Usually, factors ranging from ``loss of dependency'' to ``future prospects'' to ``pain and suffering for family'' and even ``funeral expenses'' are taken into account by courts while awarding compensation in such cases. According to initial reports, there is a strong suspicion of negligence on behalf of Delhi's civic agencies that led to the death of Puri on Sunday and Sunny on Monday.

In such cases, courts generally adopt a twin-pronged strategy. While on the one hand they try to pin liability on the agency whose negligence resulted in the deaths and hold it liable, on the other they quantify each of the above listed factors to arrive at an overall sum that can be awarded as compensation to the survivors. A principle often relied upon in cases like these is that of ``contributory negligence'' where the courts try to find out who was responsible for the negligence that led to the tragedy.

For instance, in a recent judgement in February this year, a division bench of Delhi High Court ordered the MCD to pay Rs 15 lakh to the families of two boys who fell and drowned in a seven-foot pit dug by the agency in Shakarpur. Taking suo moto cognizance of the incident, HC had roped in the Crime Branch of Delhi Police to investigate the matter, asking it to fix responsibility. On its part, the MCD suspended five of its staff though this failed to satisfy the judges. The Station House Officer of Shakarpur had also been asked to prepare a report on the circumstances that led to the deaths.

Source: Times Of India By Abhinav Garg Law Can Make Civic Bodies Pay , Courts Identify Culprit To Fix Liability And Calculate Relief

Forget the big numbers in the 2010-11 Budget. Tucked somewhere in the middle of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's speech are proposals that matter most to the common man: promises to improve public service delivery.

Ask any citizen in a queue in front of a government office what it takes to get work done. He will have a simple answer: infinite patience. Try getting a driving licence, a tax refund, a pension or any number of services, without bribing some official. You will discover that's impossible. One way out of this bleak situation is to eliminate officials from the interface with the public. Technology offers this possibility, and this has not been lost on Mukherjee.

In his speech, Mukherjee has proposed setting up a technology advisory group for unique projects (Tagup) to be led by Nandan Nilekani. Tagup will look at the technology issues related to projects such as the tax information network, the new pension scheme, the national treasury management agency, the expenditure information network and the goods and services tax. This is a welcome step.

Was Pranab's latest Budget magical enough? Find out on Livemint.com's Budget 2010 microsite. Click here

Source: Live Mint Painless public service delivery

This was stated by the Haryana Chief Secretary, Urvashi Gulati, here today. She was in Gurgaon to preside over the 30th Annual General Meeting of the Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

Lauding the role of industrialists in the progress of the state, the Chief Secretary said apart from contributing to the economic progress, they also generated employment avenues. She also released a telephone directory of the GCCI.

Earlier, GCCI president Mohit Malik and founder president PK Jain briefed the meeting about the activities of the GCCI and pointed out that exports from Haryana had crossed Rs 30,000 crore during 2008-09. They demanded that the system of e-governance be effectively implemented in the state.

Source: The Tribune New Industrial Policy In April

The government last month set up a screening commit- tee under Cabinet Secretary K.M.
Chandrasekhar to examine all charges levelled at secretaries to the central government to decide if allegations against them should be chucked into the dustbin or investigated.

But many other proposals to tighten the law against corrup- tion are still in the cold storage.

The Lok Pal Bill has been in the freezer for decades and there is no sign that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- who as an MP had signed a rep- resentation to enact the law -- would push it within the gov- ernment, and Parliament.

Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan recently refused to outline a deadline to move the Bill in Parliament, say- ing there was "no consensus" within the government on set- ting up the Lok Pal. He did not respond to queries if a mecha- nism had been created to evolve the elusive consensus. There was, similarly, no con- sensus within the government on simplifying the law on for- feiture of property of corrupt officials who used slush funds to defend themselves in court.

Source: Hindustan Times By Aloke Tikku Panel To Shield Babus From `Pointless' Charges

The National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), which allows bank customers to transfer funds electronically, has been a highly successful service ever since it was launched in late 2005.

In a circular to the chiefs of all member-banks providing the NEFT service, the RBI has asked the banks to take necessary measures to "strengthen the NEFT system in terms of availability, convenience, efficiency and speed" from March 1

Additional sessions judge Pratibha Rani in an order passed last week said: "Since the appellant is in possession of the premises as tenant and has every right to have water supply even if the landlord prefers not to issue NOC, the tenant can obtain an independent water connection without NOC from the landlord for the premises in his tenancy."

The court was hearing the case of Mandeep Singh Baweja, a resident of Tagore Garden in west Delhi, who alleged that his landlord does not allow him to fill water in the tank on the terrace and his life had became miserable.

The landlord is residing on the first floor and the tenant on the second floor. "For the tenant, life has become hell as even the basic requirements of life cannot be fulfilled without water, and in order to evict the tenant, all kind of means have been adopted by the landlord. So much so that the tenant has to approach the high court and an injunction order has been issued against the landlord not to dispossess the tenant without due process of law. A lock had been put on the terrace so that the overhead water tank could not be filled," the counsel for the petitioner states.

Source: The Tribune Tenant can have separate water connection: Court

You've probably often cribbed to him about the exorbitant prices and he has in apparent sympathy told you, ``kya karen memsahib (or sahib), peechhe se hi mahenga aa raha hai''. Well, that sob story isn't true in fact, going by the prevailing wholesale rates, it is a pack of lies.

The wholesale prices have, in most cases, dropped to a fraction of what they were at the beginning of December or January, but there has been only a marginal slide in retail prices. In fact, you're paying up to five times the mandi price at your doorstep. Cabbage, for instance, is Rs 4 per kg at the mandi while parts of Delhi are paying Rs 20 per kg to get the leafy vegetable.

Wholesale rates are now among the lowest in the past few months, having seen a continuous downward trend since December 2009 and there is reportedly no shortage of any vegetable. The government is aware of the situation, but says it is helpless.

When contacted, chief minister Sheila Dikshit told TOI: ``It is very difficult since the retailers number in thousands. I have asked the weights and measures department to get active and crack the whip, but simultaneously we have to educate the consumer. Each week we try and get the wholesale rates published so that consumers are aware of the market situation. At least, we have clamped down on the rising trend for the time being.''

That's small consolation when steep declines bring little comfort to you. Here are more examples of profiteering. Beans, for example, were available for Rs 33 per kg in the mandi on December 1 but can now be bought for just Rs 9. Still, you're paying Rs 35-40 per kg.

Source: Times Of India By Neha Lalchandani Retail loot: Mandi prices a fraction of what you pay

"All this has been forced on you," the Special Forest Bench, or the `green bench', of three judges led by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan told the miners, who expressed willingness to contribute to the Aravalli Rehabilitation Fund.

He was seconded by Justice Aftab Alam on the Bench, who said: "You (leaseholders) are responsible for bringing it down to this situation. If you had followed the rules, we would never have been in this situation. Now you are desperate."

Later, acceding to the miners' request, the court gave them liberty to "contribute" to the fund, but only in consultation with the government. "After all, it boils down to money. These funds generated can be used for rehabilitation," Justice Alam remarked.

Justice S H Kapadia, also on the Bench, made it clear that "there is no lifting of the ban (on mining) until there is rehabilitation".

Source: The Indian Express By Krishnadas Rajagopal SC: Can donate for battered hills but no mining

In a press note released here, he told that it is an irony that even after 44 years of being in existence Haryana does not have a web portal for any of its government recruitment agencies. There is no central place where job seekers can get detailed information on current job openings, the criteria for selection and timelines exactly in a manner how Union Public Service Commission and Central Staff selection commissions have. Today, none of the HPSC and HSSC has their web portals open to candidates.

He further added that there are many loopholes in the current job selection procedure. For example, in the absence of having an online portal for jobs, unemployed youths have to keep looking for all the newspapers. Most of the time, the advertisements published in these newspapers are incomplete and need corrigendum thus creating more confusion for the job applicants. Also, forms are not available easily which otherwise can be downloaded from such a portal. Then comes the chaos related to selection criteria which is also made ad-hoc for every job vacancy and never available upfront to candidates. "If criteria for selection is clearly mentioned with cut off marks, there will be thousands of applicants who will decide whether to apply or not, thus saving at least Rs. 500 each", Rathee adds.

Rathee told that it is really funny to learn that cut-off marks for selection are decided after several months of initial advertisement. Further, problem comes related to rumors related to interview dates wherein in the absence of an updated online portal, applicants travel as much as 300 kilometers from far flung areas to Panchkula just to find that interviews are either cancelled or postponed. This, apart from wasting the time put additional financial burden on unemployed person. Generally, rumors are created every now and then that results list of a particular post is out or being made.

He told that today's generation is computer savvy and government should accept their demand of having more transparency in the job selection by laying down clear procedures and putting every small information on the state job portal. "We are very clear on our demand and will take every step to ensure that youth of the state gets a fair selection mechanism for government jobs",  Vikas Rathee concludes.

The new clause, introduced for the first time, states that sub-contractors, engaged by a concessionaire, must have the experience of completing at least a single highway project of 20 per cent value of the estimated project cost in the preceding five years from the date of execution of the current work.

So, a concessionaire can award projects worth Rs 1,000 crore to a sub contractor, if only the sub-contractor has done a project worth Rs 200 crore in the last five years. Most of the work in laying roads is done by thousands odd sub-contractors under the supervision of a concessionaire.

"We have done this to maintain the quality of roads being built," said a senior NHAI official on condition of anonymity. The new clause, the official said, would be helpful to concessionaires as they will have to spend less on the maintenance of roads.

Source: Business Standard By Mihir Mishra NHAI ups eligibility norms for road sub-contractors

This was disclosed at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati to review the performance of the schemes/projects of various departments.

The decision to disburse pension through banks has been taken to check irregularities and complaints and to ensure that pension and financial assistance under all schemes are provided to genuine persons.

Initially, memoranda of understanding (MoUs ) have been signed with five banks Punjab National Bank, the State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Corporation Bank to implement the decisions on a pilot basis in five districts Panchkula (Morni block), Karnal (Assandh block), Kurukshetra (Babain), Rohtak (Lakhan Majra) and Hisar ((Hisar-I block).

It was stated at the meeting that the department had also taken steps to ensure timely sanction of pension in each case andbeneficiaries/claimants were duly intimated about the sanction of their cases. A proper system for ensuring timely audit of the accounts would also be evolved to bring transparency in the functioning of the department and to curb the tendency of committing irregularities or embezzlement/fraud by officials.

It was also stated at the meeting that the department had initiated the Jawahar Social Infrastructure Mission with an estimated investment of Rs 150 crore in the next three years for imparting education, vocational training and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities in a systematic and professional manner so that they got an opportunity to develop themselves without discrimination.

Experts are of the view that for sustained infrastructure development which is essential for accelerated economic growth, it is important that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is expected to provide decisive steps to cut down fiscal deficit, would also give top priority to policy decisions and initiatives in the infrastructure development.

According to government estimates, around $500-billion of investments is required in infrastructure development over the next few years.

The country clearly lacks adequate sources of long-term funds that can flow to the infrastructure sector. The chief executives of top banks have already told the Reserve Bank of India that they would have issues in providing long term funding for infrastructure development as they do not have access to resources of matching periods.

The industry is of the view that the government should make investments in long-term bonds issued by banks free of tax. Similarly, the RBI should exempt such funds from the requirements of having to set aside 5.5 per cent as cash reserves and invest another 25 per cent of the funds in government bonds. Banks are expected to lend about Rs.1, 00, 000 crore every year to infrastructure projects over the next few years for the country to be able to meet its infrastructure investment needs.

* Housing and real estate

Source: The Hindu By Sujay Mehdudia Budget must give thrust to infrastructure development

पिछली सुनवाई के दौरान हाई कोर्ट ने इस इलाके में हुए अवैध निर्माण संबंधी मामले में केंद्र सरकार से अपना स्टैंड साफ करने के लिए कहा था। सोमवार को सुनवाई के दौरान सरकार ने कहा कि उन्हें इस मामले में फैसला लेने के लिए कुछ और वक्त चाहिए। हाई कोर्ट ने केंद्रीय शहरी विकास मंत्रालय के सेक्रेटरी से कहा था कि वह हलफनामा दायर कर बताए कि सरकार इस कॉलोनी को रेग्युलराइज्ड करने के बारे में क्या फैसला ले रही है। अगली तारीख तक यह भी बताएं कि फैसला लेने में कितना समय लगेगा।

हाई कोर्ट ने याचिका का निपटारा कर दिया। इसमें कहा गया था कि इस इलाके के लोग हाई कोर्ट के आदेश का उल्लंघन कर रहे हैं। संबंधित अथॉरिटी इन लोगों के खिलाफ कोई एक्शन नहीं ले रही। उनका तर्क है कि कॉलोनी रेग्युलराइज्ड नहीं है ऐसे में उनका कोई ज्यूरिडिक्शन नहीं है। सुनवाई के दौरान यह भी कहा गया है कि केंद्र जानबूझकर मामले को लटका रही है।

The Regional Passport Office, Delhi has launched an inter-active Voice Response System (IVRS) based tele-enquiry to provide application status for callers.

Applicants can also get procedure for applying for passport and miscellaneous services, procedure for tatkal services and other information by calling 125535 (for MTNL users) and 55352 (for Airtel GSM and other CDMA users). They can also know the status of their passport application by just sending an SMS to 55352 with the file number. All mobile and land phone owners, who have SMS facility, can avail the service effective from February 9, the Regional Passport Office said in a release here.

“This is the only law that can turn India into a participatory democracy from an elective one. If amendments are introduced at this stage, it will create a huge problem in the understanding of the law and undermine it completely,” Gandhi told Outlook. “By including such exemptions, we can say that public information officers will find any application that threatens to unveil corruption as vexatious or frivolous.”

Gandhi is also worried at the government’s efforts to change the definition of information and says that keeping file notings out (as is the case usually) would be disastrous. “I agree that this government gave the freedom to information. But to now take it back is disturbing.” According to him, despite several requests for the minutes of the meeting with the DOPT, the government had kept silent for five months. Finally, Gandhi released them unilaterally.

Source: www.outlookindia.com By Saikat Datta Governance: RTI, Mum’s The Word, The Centre Plans To Manacle The RTI Act