New Delhi, July 24 : The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for the creation of 31 posts for the Armed Forces Tribunal.

The 31 posts include one post of chairperson and 29 posts of members for the Principal Bench at New Delhi and eight Regional Benches.

The Tribunal would have one post of Principal Registrar at Principal Bench.

Further, the Tribunal would be exempted from consultations with the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in all matters concerning Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ posts in the Tribunal.

New Delhi, July 24 : Both the Janata Dal (United) and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) today expelled two of their MP’s for violating the party whip in the vote of confidence on July 22.

The UPA Government won the trust vote by 275 to 256.

In the July 22 trust vote won by the UPA Government by a margin of 19 votes, as many as 21 MPs belonging to different political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress cross-voted. Ten members remained absent or abstained from voting.

New Delhi, July 24: Bharatiya Janata Party activists today attacked the residence of expelled party MP Chandrabhan Singh who voted in favour of the Government.

About 100 people stormed into the North Avenue residence of the Lok Sabha member from Damoh (Madhya Pradesh) around 11 am when Singh was present in his house.

Shouting slogans praising BJP Chief Rajnath Singh and Senior Leader L K Advani, the activists broke window panes and flower pots, besides barging into the drawing room of the MP''s official residence.

New Delhi, July 24: The Union Cabinet today gave its approval to converting the National Plant Protection Training Institute (NPPTI) in Hyderabad into an autonomous agency, namely the National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPM), by registering it under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860.

It also approved the funding of the full recurring and non-recurring costs of the Institute for ten years, by which time the institute will be self-sufficient and provide plan assistance to the tune of Rs. 29.40 crore during the 11th Five Year Plan.

The registration of the NIPM as a Society will enable its autonomous functioning and effective capacity building in the sector.

New Delhi, July 24: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the signing of an agreement on the establishment of the South Asia Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) during the forthcoming 15th SAARC Summit to be held in Colombo on August 2-3.

This agreement is expected to enhance the level of our economic engagements with the SAARC countries by envisaging regional cooperation on standards, quality control and legal metrology amongst SAARC countries.

New Delhi, July 24 : The Union Cabinet today approved the development of the Kuttanad Wetland E