AIIMS Bill gets RS nod

AMIDST noisy protests by the Opposition, the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed a controversial Bill fixing the retirement age of director of AIIMS in a move apparently aimed at easing out incumbent Dr P Venugopal who is locked in a turf war with Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. The AIIMS Amendment Bill, 2007 which also fixes the age-limit for the head of another premier institute PGI, Chandigarh, was passed amidst din as several members of BJP and AIADMK rushed to the well of the House to protest it. The passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha put Parliament8217;s seal of approval to the legislation after the Lok Sabha had passed it on November 22. Reacting to the passage of the Bill, BJP leader S S Ahluwalia said it was not in the list of business and the Government circulated the supplementary list of business with the AIIMS Bill only in the afternoon. 8220;We had planned that our leaders Sushma Swaraj and M M Joshi will move amendments and speak on it as and when it came up for discussion. Both were away today since it was not expected. We told the Government that they could move it on Thursday, but under pressure from the Health Minister who is out to settle a personal score with the AIIMS director, they went ahead in the most undemocratic manner,8221; he said.

11 defence deals under CBI lens

Other than the officials8217; passport scam handed over to the CBI for a probe last week, the agency is investigating as many as 11 cases of alleged corruption in the purchase of defence equipment. Defence Minister AK Antony said in the Parliament on Wednesday that investigations into five out of these cases are still in the preliminary stage. 8220;The Ministry looks into all allegations of corruption in defence deals seriously. Whenever considered necessary, the cases are referred to CBI.8221; However, Antony did not disclose details or name the cases under investigation. He told the House that complaints of irregularities in procurement of computers by DRDO, DGQA and other defence establishments have been received. 8220;However, probe revealed no irregularities,8221; he said.

Lessons on internet usage

The Government on Wednesday said young army officials are being sensitised on use of internet networking sites like Orkut to avoid breach of security. Replying to written questions in Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister A K Antony said. He clarified no report pertaining to sharing of classified defence information on social networking sites involving defence personnel has come to the notice of the Government.