IAF makes place for Masand

New Delhi: A supernumerary post would be created in the Indian Air Force to accommodate Harish Masand as Air Marshal, reports our legal correspondent

The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the Prime Minister had approved the creation of the additional post to bring back the retired air vice-marshal.

Masand and another Air Vice-Marshal, T.S. Chhatwal, had challenged in Delhi High Court the decision of the IAF board not to promote them. The high court had quashed the board?s order directing the IAF to reconsider the promotions on the basis of its 2004 policy.

Chhatwal, however, has not been granted the promotion. The bench said ?it is not possible to direct the promotion of Air Vice-Marshal Chhatwal to the post of Air Marshal at this stage?.

This is perhaps the first time in the IAF that a supernumerary post has been created to accommodate a person to the rank of Air Marshal.

Solicitor-general G.E. Vahanvati told the bench of Justices Y.K. Sabharwal and P.P. Naolekar that ?creation of an additional post for two years from February 1, 2004, to January 31, 2006?, the day Masand retires from the IAF ?has been approved by the government?. Four officers have already been promoted as air marshals.

The IAF had said that Masand could be taken back as Air Marshal but without ?work and uniform?. The bench, however, said ?keeping in mind? that Masand had got top grades in his career assessment, the decision needed ?reconsideration?.

Rebel emissaries out of talks

Hyderabad: Human rights activists and Maoist representatives pulled out of the stalled peace process in Andhra Pradesh on Monday, charging the government with ?fake encounters and harassment? of Naxalites, reports our special correspondent.

?It is very clear that the Congress government has slammed doors on the talks process and started implementing fascist policies. Its talk of continuing the negotiations is a farce,? Maoist emissaries Varavara Rao, Gaddar and Kalyana Rao said in a statement here.

At a joint news conference also attended by Chandranna and C. Srinivas Rao of the Jana Shakti, which initiated the peace process, the activists said they will not shoulder any responsibility for peace talks.

They said they have sent their resignations to the government-sponsored coordination and monitoring committees set up to augment the talks.

Women body expels chief

Lucknow (PTI): The president of the newly-formed All India Muslim Women?s Personal Law Board, Shaista Amber, has been dismissed from her post and expelled from the body.

The panel?s general secretary Praveen Abdi said ?a pro-Pakistan stance and aligning with reactionary and sectarian-minded elements?, would harm the organisation. Differences had cropped up over the model nikahnaama with Amber advocating guidance from a Pakistani scholar which was objected to by other office bearers.

Army canteens

New Delhi (PTI): Army canteens all over the country will remain closed for the next few days to switch over to a new billing system, according to value-added tax provisions, defence sources said. The sources, however, did not specify the number of days the canteens will remain closed.

Killer train

Sonepat (PTI): A three-year-old girl was run over by a passenger train near Sonepat Cooperative Sugar Mills. The Government Railway Police have sent Sangam?s body for post-mortem. On Sunday, Pawan, who had alighted from a jeep, was killed when he was hit by a tractor near Pipli village. In another incident, at least six members of a family were injured when the car in which they were travelling was hit by a tractor on Grand Trunk Road.

Dandi stamps

New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will release a set of four special stamps on Tuesday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Dandi March. The Rs 5 stamps will be released in the presence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran, an official release said.

Cow laboratory

Jalgaon, Maharashtra (PTI): Jeweller Ratanlal Bafna, who has more than 1,300 cows in his goshala, has set up an ahimsa tirth equipped with a research laboratory for the scientific study and production of medicines from cow urine and cow dung.

More than 10,000 students from Tamil Nadu?s tsunami-affected districts sat for their Class XII board examinations on Monday. The exams, though over for others, were postponed for them.