THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD

MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017 TIMES NATION 7

India indulging
in unprovoked
ceasefire
China entitled to Nitish will have to
decide whether
to keep Tejashwi
violations: Pak
Continued from P1 enter J&K: Expert in cabinet or not
Continued from P1

M T
eanwhile,
summoned
Pakistan
Indias
deputy high commis-
sioner in Islamabad for the
second consecutive day over
alleged ceasefire violations
along the LoC, claiming that
more civilians were killed in
firing by Indian troops. JP
Singh was summoned to con-
demn and lodge protest over
more civilian casualties at the
LoC due to unprovoked cease-
fire violations by India, Pa-
kistans foreign office said in a
statement.
A Pakistani spokesperson
alleged three more civilians
were killed in Chirikot and
Satwal sectors on Saturday by
Indian troops, increasing the
total civilian toll to five.
Director-general (South
Asia and Saarc) of Pakistans
foreign office Mohammad
Faisal, who summoned Singh,
condemned further unpro-
voked ceasefire violations by
Indian forces. He said the de-
liberate targeting of civilians
is indeed deplorable and con-
trary to human dignity and in-
ternational human rights and
humanitarian laws.
Retailers relying
on pilferage might
have left system
Continued from P1
Beijing Can
Send Forces
If Pak Wants
Saibal Dasgupta TNN
Beijing: A Chinese expert
has argued that his count-
rys troops would be entitled
to enter the Indian side of
Kashmir by extending the
logic that has permitted In-
dian troops to enter an area
disputed by China and Bhu-
tan. This is one of the seve-
ral arguments made by the
scholar in an attempt to bla-
me India for sending its tro-
ops to the disputed Doklam
area. India has responded to
efforts by China to build a ro-
ad in the Doklam area,
which falls next to the tri-
junction connecting Sikkim
with Tibet and Bhutan and
puts Indian territory at risk.
Even if India were requ-
ested to defend Bhutans ter-
ritory, this could only be li-
mited to its established ter-
ritory, not the disputed
area, Long Xingchun, di-
rector of the Centre for Indi-
an Studies at China West
Normal University, said in
an article. Otherwise, un-
Inside courtroom, experience was
IN THE LINE OF FIRE: A jawan uses a sling to throw glass marbles
at Kashmiri protesters during a protest in Srinagar on Saturday
der Indias logic, if the Pa-
kistani government requ-
ests, a third countrys army
can enter the area disputed
by India and Pakistan, inclu-
ding India-controlled Kash-
mir.
China is not just interfe-
ring, it is building roads and
other infrastructure pro-
jects right inside Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir, claimed
by both India and Pakistan.
This is one of the facts that
the article did not mention.
Writing in the Beijing-
based Global Times, the
scholar suggested that Be-
ijing can internationalise
the Doklam controversy wit-
hout worrying about Wes-
tern countries supporting
India because the West has a
AP
lot of business to do with
China. China can show the
region and the international
community or even the UN
Security Council its eviden-
ce to illustrate Chinas posi-
tion, Long said. At the same
time, he complained that
Western governments and
media kept silent, ignoring
Indias hegemony over the
small countries of South
Asia when India imposed a
blockade on the flow of go-
ods to Nepal in 2015.
US President Donald
Trumps recent actions,
which include selling arms
to Taiwan and pressuring
China on the North Korean
issue, show the West is not
cowering before Chinas bu-
siness capabilities.
he slew of corruption al-
legations against Lalu
and the CBI and ED
raids on the RJD leaders fam-
ily have created a strong rift
in the ruling JD(U)-RJD-Con-
gress coalition. While his ab-
sence at the opposition meet-
ing will be noted, Nitish could
still depute a senior MP to at-
tend.
The possibility of Lalus
son and deputy CM Tejashwi
Yadav being named in a
chargesheet in one of the
cases has raised the possibili-
ty of Nitish having to decide
whether he should remain in
the cabinet. The develop-
ments have created a buzz
about Nitish realigning with
BJP with which he had parted
ways in protest over Naren-
dra Modis candidature for
prime ministership.
Nitish is now clearly main-
taining his distance with Con-
gress chief Sonia Gandhi and
is understood to be unhappy
over suggestions that he went
back on efforts to put up an op-
position nominee for Presi-
dent. Sources close to him said
he had met Sonia in response
to her outreach to him.
The CM had skipped the
17-party meeting on the oppo-
sitions choice for presiden-
tial poll last month though he
was in Delhi the following day
and met the PM. In fact, he
had announced his partys
support for Kovind a day be-
fore the meeting in Delhi

T one of dignity and respect: Joyita

hese measures have also
helped reduce diversion
of fertiliser for non-
agriculture purposes.
It said 31 retailers in Pali
where Meira Kumars name
was finalised.
Nitish has in the past sup-
Continued from P1 Joyita has been concerning the transgender ported the Modi govern-
community. ments decision on demoneti-

(Rajasthan), 51 in Hoshanga-
bad (Madhya Pradesh), one in
Rangareddy (Telangana), 131
in Krishna and 50 in West Go-
davari (Andhra Pradesh) and
35 in Una (Himachal Pradesh)
did not connect to the MFMS
system after the new systems
were put in place.
This data and anecdotal
evidence suggests that retail-
ers relying on pilferage might
have left the system because of
increased accountability and
transparency, the report
said. The government an-
nounced pilots for AeFDS in
March last year in 16 districts
and another three districts
were included in January.
AeFDS is a modified subsi-
dy payment system under the
direct benefit transfer scheme
where fertiliser companies
are paid subsidy only after re-
tailers have sold fertiliser to
farmers.
J
oyitas appointment order
by the office of the sub-di-
visional legal services
committee of Islampur, Ut-
tar Dinajpur, for the July 8
Lok Adalat described her as
a social worker and put her
in the category of learned
judges. The decision, as per
norms, was conveyed to the
State Legal Services Author-
ity in Kolkata by the chair-
man of the sub-divisional
committee. Members to Lok
Adalat are appointed afresh
every time such a special
court is notified.
Joyita has been working
on a range of issues related
to the transgender commu-
nity since 2011. At the Lok
Adalat, she needed to look at
bank loan-related cases.
Her presence was a sur-
prise as he arrived at the
court room in an official ve-
hicle with a security escort.
working on range of
issues related to
transgender
community since 2011
I noticed people outside
were staring at me. Some of
them were even whispering
on the side. I could sense
their thoughts and their sar-
casm. Inside the courtroom,
the experience was one of
dignity and respect. It gave
me confidence, Joyita said.
Joyita was born and
brought up in Kolkata as
Jayanta Mondal. As Jayanta
yearned to embrace the
identity of Joyita, he finally
chose to shift to Siliguri and
then to Dinajpur to work for
the rights of transgender
persons. She gradually
formed a group and began
community work. Eventual-
ly, work with the legal ser-
vices authority involved her
more closely with issues
Formal education ended
for Jayanta in the second
year of college when he left
Kolkata to live as Joyita.
Life as Joyita Mondal has
meant juggling between so-
cial work and trying to sup-
port her parents who were
once unsettled and unhappy
with her identity.
Last year, a time came
when some of my projects
closed abruptly and there
was no source of livelihood.
It is difficult to find a job.
That is when I had no choice
but to join transgender com-
munity members who earn
by begging or singing bad-
hai at weddings and other
ceremonies, Joyita said.
The National Lok Adalat
experience has given Man-
dol confidence to pursue her
education dream once again
and step up her pursuit for
justice and an equal society.
sation and surgical strikes on
terror camps in PoK, much to
the ire of his allies, RJD and
Congress, in the Bihar gov-
ernment.
JD(U) chief spokesman
Sanjay Singh played down the
issue and said that Tuesdays
party meeting was planned to
discuss various issues related
to the organisation. The
meeting will be held at the
CMs house from 11.30 am and
Nitishji being the party presi-
dent will chair it, Singh said.
When asked whether Nit-
ish will participate in the
meeting of opposition parties
in Delhi on Tuesday, he said,
I am not the right person to
give an answer to
this question.

Court asks CAG to

monitor auditing
Continued from P1 counsel DK Dubey promptly
supported Choudhary.

T
aking suo motu cogni-
sance of the letter and
converting it into a writ
petition, the bench of Justices
Mohanty and Gupta on June 7
ordered, Having regard to the
nature of allegations and for
ensuring transparency in ad-
ministration and in the inter-
est of justice, it is deemed
proper that the accounts of the
aforesaid institutions be audi-
ted by the principal account-
ant general, Jharkhand. The
bench also asked the comp-
troller and auditor general of
India to monitor the auditing.
Days after Justice Mohan-
tys retirement, applications
were filed by these institu-
tions for recall of the June 7 or-
der. A bench of Justices Chan-
drashekhar and Gupta found
merit in the applications and
quoted a 1863 English court
judgment to say, Even God
himself did not pass sentence
upon Adam before he was
called upon to make his de-
fence.
The applicants, through
counsel A R Choudhary, said
the high court could not have
taken suo motu cognisance of
an anonymous letter, making
sweeping allegations against
the chief justice of the HC and
the institutions, of which the
chief justice is the patron-in-
chief or chancellor. State
In a classic case of shoot-
ing the messenger, the bench
headed by Justice Chandrash-
ekhar said, "We have carefully
seen the contents of the May 5
letter by one Animesh Kumar,
who has neither disclosed his
identity nor parentage nor
mentioned his address. Any
harm to the applicant institu-
tions would definitely erode
public confidence in these in-
stitutions and it would not be
in public interest. After all,
one lives by his reputation.
The bench recalled the
HCs June 7 order directing au-
dit and also ordered closure of
the proceedings.
The questions that arise
are: Was Justice Mohanty, as
chief justice, unaware of the
impact his auditing order
would have on the reputation
of the institutions which he
headed in his ex-officio capaci-
ty? And, even if the chief jus-
tice-headed benchs order was
passed without issuing notice,
why would another bench
completely recall it and close it
instead of issuing notice and
seeking the response of the in-
stitutions? Would the reputa-
tion of the institutions, where
alleged mismanagement and
misutilisation of funds have
taken place, not suffer if an or-
der for auditing by the chief
justice is withdrawn?

EC: Small size of paper slips

makes counting cumbersome
Continued from P1 hurdles, an EC source re-
vealed that the small size of

E
ven as counting of paper
trail will be compulsori-
ly done in a fixed percent-
age of polling stations, rules
still allow candidates to seek
matching of VVPAT count
with EVM results in other
polling stations.
In the event of a large
number of such requests, the
results may be further de-
layed, said a Commission of-
ficial.
Revealing other practical
paper slips tends to make
counting cumbersome.
Counting ballot paper is
easier as it is bigger and fold-
ed in a prescribed way.
VVPAT slips, on the other
hand, are small, thin pieces of
paper which may be prone to
sticking together. It would
take extra care and effort on
part of the counting staff to
handle these paper slips and
avoid counting two or more as
one, said an officer.