NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the extradition of Niels Holck Nielseen, an accused in the Purulia arms drops case and also to give a solemn assurance to the Government of Denmark about remitting the sentence of death, if any, to that of life imprisonment.

Announcing this, Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said Denmark was keen to ensure that the extradition did not violate any of its commitments to its national laws and commitment to other regional and international agreements and treaties. India has agreed to it.

Noting that the success in extradition of Mr. Nielsen would enhance the prestige of India in the comity of nations, he pointed out that it would also send an unmistakable message to other wanted terrorists that the long arm of the law in India would eventually catch up with them wherever they might be.

The CBI had investigated and charge-sheeted 13 persons including Mr. Nielsen for their complicity in the clandestine smuggling and air-dropping of a huge cache of arms and ammunition including 300 AK-47 assault rifles, 30,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 anti-tank grenades, and several rocket launchers over some villages in Purulia district in West Bengal on the night of December 17/18, 1995.

The trial court had convicted six persons in the case, but could not pass any judgment on the rest, including Mr. Nielsen, as they were absconding and the law required their presence at the time of the verdict and sentencing.

Space science institute

The Cabinet also approved the setting up of an Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology within the premises of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The Institute would be similar to the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and have an intake of 150 to 200 students per annum.

It would be set up with an initial investment of Rs. 270 crores and annual recurring cost of Rs. 40 crores. It would take about two years to get the campus ready. Pending the development of the regular campus, the courses would commence from the academic year 2007-2008 itself from an alternate campus nearby.

The entire expense of the course will be borne by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) in the form of scholarships and assistantships and all the top performing students coming out of it would be absorbed into the ISRO stream.

Noting that the institution was being set up in the wake of the ISRO experiencing a severe shortage of highly talented graduates and post-graduate scientists and engineers during the last few years, Mr. Dasmunsi said it would offer under-graduate and post-graduate courses, as also integrated masters courses and research programmes in space science and technology.

Autonomy for PSEs

In another decision, the Cabinet cleared a set of proposals that would devolve greater managerial and commercial autonomy to profit making public sector enterprises operating in a competitive environment.

The package includes empowering the holding companies to transfer assets, float fresh equity and disinvest shareholding in subsidiaries. It would, however, be subject to the condition that the delegation of the power would be in respect of subsidiaries set up by the holding company under the powers delegated to `navaratna' and `mini-ratna' CPSEs and further to the proviso that the public sector character of the CPSEs would not be changed without prior approval of the Government.

The package also provides for budgetary support to implement Government-sponsored projects of national interest and provides that Government-sponsored research and development projects should not disqualify the CPSEs from retaining navaratna/mini-ratna status. However, for such projects, the Government would take the investment decisions and not the CPSEs.

Under the package, chief executives of the CPSEs would also be allowed to be members of the search committees for selecting independent Directors for the CPSEs' Board of Directors.

Joint venture

The Cabinet cleared a proposal to allow India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to form a joint venture company with Aldeasa of Spain and subscribe to 50 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of the JV. The formation of the JV would enable ITDC to compete effectively in the duty-free retail industry in India and expand its business operations outside the country. Aldeasa would bring on board a strong international brand name, state-of-the-art technology platforms, cutting edge retailing practices as well as global sourcing and supply chain linkages, Mr. Dasmunsi said.

Further, the Cabinet approved the introduction of a Bill to regulate private detective agencies through a system of mandatory licensing and to replace the Collection of Statistics Act of 1953 with a new legislation to facilitate better management of statistical data collection for more effective planning and policy formulation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail