Advocate Kamal Kumar Pandey

LEGAL NEWS 30.01.2012

2012-01-30T23:12:00.003+05:30

http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/

Sadhvi writes to Prez, claimstorture by ATS

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Sadhvi-writes-to-Prez-claims-torture-by-ATS/Article1-803554.aspx

VikasPathak, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 29, 2012

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who is in Nashik central jailfor her alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts of 2008, has written toPresident Pratibha Patil from prison, seeking an inquiry into her “illtreatment and torture” by officials of the Maharashtra ATS.

In the letter

written on December 30, 2011, she requested the President toask the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take action in this regardand ensure that the officials concerned are brought to book.

Thakur has claimed that ATS officials whipped her severely with belts andsubjected her to verbal abuse in jail.
She has added that she often fell unconscious and suffered from stomach painand disorders because of the brutal treatment. Thakur has also accused thegovernment of trying to appease “a particular community” and deliberatelydemeaning the path of sanyas (renunciation) prescribed by dharmagurus ofSanatan Dharma (Hinduism).
She also alleged that the late ATS chief Hemant Karkare forced one of herdisciples to beat her up.

Child Rights' panel demands report on Dewas debacle

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Child-Rights-panel-demands-report-on-Dewas-debacle/articleshow/11670834.cms

TNN | Jan 29, 2012, 07.48AM IST

BHOPAL: Madhya PradeshState Commissionfor Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) has in a letter to the CollectorDewas district on Saturday sought details about reports of the incident where asmall boy was shown bathing under a cold water tap despite the winter chill atthe district Municipal Corporation's tableau during the RepublicDay parade on Thursday.

Commission member Vibhangshu Joshi said,"The commission has asked for an investigation report of the incident fromthe Dewas collector. Also a medical examination report of the boy has beensought."

Mukesh Chandra Gupta,collector of district Dewas, which is 150 kms from the state capital Bhopal, had attendedthe Republic Day parade where the tableau of the DewasMunicipal Corporation was shown. With a theme related to water, it depicteda person opening the tap of a water tank and an eight-year-old child takingbath under it.

A few photo-journalists present on the occasionnoticed the plight of the child, stripped to the waist and taking bath underthe tap and shivering in the winter chill. They asked the authorities to savehim from further trouble and to take him off from this live demonstration ofthe civic body's ample water supply.

Commission members said they were appalled atthe incident and that they also feared for the health of the boy. "Themedical examination report has been sought for the same reason as the boy couldpossibly contract pneumonia," said a member.

"Not just a medical report, the childshould be monitored for a month to check for other symptoms," saidanother.

"Increasingly, incidences of child abusewere coming to fore in the state," rued a member indicating to theChhindwara incident of the tribal boy tying shoelaces of a minister.

The Dewas collector has been asked to submit thereport within a week's time, informed the members.

Corporate bribe" in U.P. Assembly poll, EC acts tough

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2840090.ece

The Election Commission on Saturday directed seven districtelection officers of Uttar Pradesh to register criminal cases against 11 partycandidates, who had claimed that they taken money from corporate houses forfighting the poll as quid-pro-quo to serve their interests after gettingelected by organising groups of “vested interests” in the Assembly.

The Commission, besides alerting the Investigation wing of theIncome-Tax office in Lucknow about the claim, also called for an action takenreport from U.P. Chief Electoral Officer by Sunday.

The Commission, which took suo motu action, following a “stingoperation” conducted by a Hindi channel – India TV, which was telecast onJanuary 26, was shocked to hear from some of the prospective candidates thatthey spend between Rs. one to three crores, which includes expense in the nameof dummy candidates, liquor for the electors and other expenses, though themaximum expense allowed in a Assembly poll as per rule is only around Rs.16lakh.

Acting tough on the issue, the Commission directed the electionofficers in charge of the districts, where the 11 persons (supposed to becandidates) hail from, to file criminal cases against them. As the incidentamounted to taking bribe, the persons, if convicted by the court, might have tospend up to one year in jail or pay fine. Besides they might facedisqualification for continuing as the MLA, if elected, and also barred fromcontesting any poll in future, the EC warned.

The Commission, which went through the transcript of the sting -“Operation MLA”, also appealed to the political parties, to which the“candidates’ allegedly belonged to, inquire into the matter and advise alltheir functionaries to refrain from such activities.

“The Commission has reiterated its stand that such bribery underthe IPC should be made a cognizable offence. The Commission has once againapproached the government to pass an ordinance to make suitable changes in thelaw, as the matter is quite serious”, the EC said.

The Commission directed all the poll officials in U.P. to dealwith firmly any incident of “bribe” taken by the candidates or offered. Theentire liquor production, sale and distribution should be monitored everydayand any illicit liquor seized.

Movement of unaccounted cash should be monitored and seized. “Ifany person raises funds in cash as mentioned in the sting operation, the IncomeTax department has to be alerted to deal with such donors firmly andinvestigate about the source of such bribe money,” the Commission directed.

PIL against illegal fishing methods

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/PIL-against-illegal-fishing-methods/articleshow/11669821.cms

TNN | Jan 29, 2012, 05.40AM IST

MADURAI: Alleging that illegal methods offishing are used by big fishermen owning high-power boats, those who owncountry boats and small-sized mechanized boats have filed a petition in theMadurai Bench of the Madras high court seeking a direction against the use ofhigh-power boats and prohibited nets.

The TNFishermen Labour Union Federation, which consists of fishermen usingcountry boats and small size mechanised boats, has filed the petition. In it,they said Rameswaram and other nearby fishing areas lying in Palk Strait wererich in coral reefs, rare fish and other marine organisms.

Coral reefs being enriched with high vitaminsand minerals were places where fish multiply. Hence, the union government haddeclared the areas around Palk Strait as 'Mannar Bio Reserve Area' in order toprotect fish and other natural resources. But continuous violations of theprovisions of the Tamil Nadu Marine Fisheries Regulation Act 1983 by fishermenwho use high-power boats and pair trawlers and seine nets was leading to thedepletion of marine wealth in the Mannar Area.

The petitioners stated that the enactmentsregulating fishing methods and use of vehicles for conservation of fish andscientific fishing were in force, but they were being violated without anyremorse. They also claimed that rich fishermen were in cahoots with governmentofficials and were using mini ships for fishing. By the use of such vessels,already a large number of fish varieties had become endangered. The fishermenadded that the conventional method of fishing by single trawl nets would beenvironment-friendly and would not affect the reproduction of fish. But bigfishermen were least bothered about the welfare of the environment and wereusing every means available to earn quick money.

Fishing using purse-seine nets will catch evensmall fish, which do not attain maturity. Hence fish were being endangered.They further said, "As the authorities also do not take any action, it isultimately the small fishers who get affected."

Former Isro chief G Madhavan Nair gives up IIT post; hopeful of gettingjustice through RTI

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-28/news/30673786_1_antrix-devas-devas-multimedia-antrix-corporation

Surojit Gupta, TNN Jan 28, 2012, 11.14AM IST

NEW DELHI: Former Isro chief G MadhavanNair, who has been barred from any government work for his alleged lapse inthe Antrix-Devas deal, on Friday voluntarily stepped down from the post ofchairman of the board of governors of the upcoming IndianInstitute of Technology, Patna.
The government decided to bar Nair and three other ex-Isro scientists fromany government work for their alleged lapses in the Antrix-Devas deal.

"I came here to say goodbye. I am voluntarily stepping down. Thiscollege is very close to my heart and it's my moral responsibility to give themthe message. I have nothing to do with the government. It has hurt me verybadly. I have not been told anything by the government so far," the topspace scientist told TOI on phone from Patna.
Sources said Nair refused to chair the meeting of the board but waspersuaded to stay on as he was associated with the planning for the college fora long time. Nair said he had filed an application under the RTI Act and hadsought the two inquiry committee reports.
"I am sure the government will not refuse it. After studying thereports , we will take appropriate action. It's a question of my prestige andit has to be restored ," he said. "We do not know what were the termsof the committees, what are their recommendations .
We do not know what processes they followed to secure such an unilateraldecision from the government," he added. In February 2011, the UPAgovernment scrapped the controversial contract between AntrixCorporation and Bangalore-based DevasMultimedia for the lease of space segment in S-band. The government hadsaid it could not grant S-band spectrum to anyone including Antrix due tostrategic reasons.
The controversy over the deal surfaced at a time when the government wasbattling corruption charges over the allocation of 2G spectrum. The government promptlyappointed two committees - one headed by former cabinet secretary B KChaturvedi and another by former central vigilance commissioner Pratyush Sinha- to probe lapses in the deal.
Nair said the Chaturvedi panel allowed them to present their case but theSinha panel only sent a questionnaire, suggesting that they were denied theright to be heard. "We answered all the questions and sent it to them butwe have not received any reply," the ex-Isro chief said, adding thatgovernment's decision to bar him from official work was against the process ofnatural justice.
Devas Multimedia has moved the InternationalCourt of Arbitration to settle the issue but Antrix has not respondedfavourably to the arbitration . The SC is expected to hear Antrix's petition onthe issue early in February.
The ICA has appointed a three-member panel to go ahead with the arbitrationproceedings. Former CJI A S Anand has been appointed as one of the members ofthe arbitration panel.

CBI gets 5 more days to submit report in Dara case

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/CBI-gets-5-more-days-to-submit-report-in-Dara-case/articleshow/11669409.cms

TNN | Jan 29, 2012, 04.50AM IST

JAIPUR: The CBI has got five more days to submitits report before the Supreme Courtin the DaraSingh encounter case. As the court had directed the CBI to complete probeagainst all the accused in the case, the deceased's family members are hopefulthat the agency will finally say something concrete about the role of formerminister Rajendra Singh Rathore, the only accused against whom the probe ispending for the past seven months.

SK Sinha, lawyer of Dara's wife Sushila Devi,said the CBI is yet to file the status report on the probe before the SupremeCourt on February 2.

"The Supreme Court in the previous hearingin the case had asked the CBI to complete probe against all accused by Januaryend. Former BJP minister Rajendra Singh Rathore is the only accused againstwhom investigation has been pending," said Sinha.

He added that it is to be seen whether the CBIsays something about Rathore's role in the report.

Dara's family members have raised doubts overthe credibility of agency saying when they are showering praises on theirofficers for extraordinary competency in solving nurse Bhanwari Devi case, theyare yet to complete probe into the encounter case, that too when it had alreadybeen cracked seven months ago.

Dara's wife Sushila Devi claims to have writtento Prime Minister Manmohan Singhand the Central Vigilance Commissioner demanding action against CBI officersincluding its director.

She added that CBI had completed its probeagainst two IPS officers and other police officers involved in the crime butkept the investigation pending against Rathore in its charge-sheet almost sevenmonths ago.

CBI had filed the chargesheet in a court inJaipur on June 3.

A team of state police's special operationsgroup (SOG) gunned down Dara Singh in an alleged fake encounter on theoutskirts of Jaipur on October 23, 2006. The CBI had named 15 police officersas accused in the chargesheet while investigation was kept pending againstRathore under Section 173(8) of CrPC.

Former minister in theCBI chargesheet

- Rajendra Rathore tried false implication ofDara and his associate in a murder case in the case of FIR 143/05 dated21.12.2005 P S Malsisar.

- During police remand Arshad Ali, ASP, SOG (anaccused in this case) made Vijendra talk to Rajendra Rathore from his mobilephone and then Vijendra apologised to Rajendra Rathore saying SOG put pressureon him to nab Dara Singh.

- Rajendra Rathore as per call details was intouch with ADGP A K Jain from Oct 04 to 19, 2006.

- As per prosecution witness Omprakash, DaraSingh had conveyed to him months before his death that Rajendra Rathore wouldget him killed.

- Rajendra Rathore on phone told one Debu thathe should part company with Dara Singh as his count down has begun.

- After a month of the killing of Dara Singh asper Debu, Rajendra Rathore came to his village and threatened that Dara hasbeen killed and one Tilliya would meet the same fate on release from jail.

Haryana Agri univ prof ordered to be appointed ICAR scientist

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/haryana-agri-univ-prof-ordered-to-be-appointed-icar-scientist/957417.html

PTI | 11:01AM,Jan 29,2012

New Delhi, Jan 29 (PTI) An associate professor of Haryana AgricultureUniversity has been ordered by the Delhi High Court to be appointed as aprincipal scientist in the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. A bench ofjustices B D Ahmed and V K Jain directed the Agriculture Scientists RecruitmentBoard (ASRB) to appoint Virender Singh Lather as a principal scientist in ICARwithin eight weeks. "Respondents (Ministry of Agriculture and ASRB) aredirected to appoint the petitioner (Lather) to the available post of PrincipalScientist (Genetics/Cytogenetics) in ICAR subject to his fulfilling all therequirements, post interview in which he was selected. The respondent shallcomply with this order within eight weeks," the bench said. The court gaveits order after the government informed it that there was no vacancy currentlyfor the petitioner in ASRB but a post of principal scientist was available inICAR and he could be accommodated there. Hissar-based Lather has moved theDelhi High Court against the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) orderdismissing his plea against the ASRB's decision not to appoint him on the postdespite the fact that he had qualified for the post in an interview held for itin 2002. The board had declined to issue appointment letter to the seniorprofessor for the post of Principal Scientist (Genetics/Cytogenetics) in ASRBon the ground that he did not fulfil the requisite criteria of having threeyears experience as senior scientist.

Panel upholds sacking of IFS officer for bigamy

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_panel-upholds-sacking-of-ifs-officer-for-bigamy_1643325

Published: Sunday, Jan 29,2012, 11:29 IST
Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI

An Indian Foreign Service officer had to paydearly for marrying the second time during existence of his first marriage andgetting her treated abroad at the state's expense with the CentralAdministrative Tribunal (CAT) upholding his dismissal by the government.
"The article of charge is not only asregards the second marriage while the first marriage was still subsisting butalso taking his second wife to his place of posting (in Columbia) and claimingreimbursement for her medical treatment as well," the panel headed by itsChairman V K Bali said, while upholding the dismissal of Bharat Singh Rawat.
The CAT order came on Rawat's plea,challenging his ouster contending that his sacking was inflicted upon himwithout an inquiry and the punishment was unjust and unfair.
The question of recording evidence in orderto prove his guilt never arose as he never denied the charges, it said.
"Present is thus not a case where thepunishment inflicted upon the applicant may be shockingly disproportionate tohis proved guilt," the panel said.
Rawat had been charged with marrying for asecond time during the subsistence of his first marriage in violation of Rule21 of Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules.
He had also been indicted for taking hissecond wife to his place of posting and claiming reimbursement of over Rs 1.4lakh for her medical treatment.
Pleading for a sympathetic approach, Rawatsaid he had also moved court for divorce from his first wife in July 2009.

The Tribunal, however,refused to give him any relief as the records showed that he had a second wifesince 2006 for whom he had even obtained a valid passport.

Electricity tribunal for independent person as ombudsman

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2840379.ece

He should not hold any other position in the Commission

The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has directed all StatePower Regulatory Commissions and the Secretary to the Forum of Regulators toensure that an independent person was appointed in time as ombudsman to dealwith consumer interests.

The tribunal, comprising chairperson M. Karpaga Vinayagam andtechnical member Rakesh Nath, gave this direction on Friday acting on apetition filed by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking a reviewof its earlier order.

It said: “The Ombudsman is a separate body. He has to decide theissues independently and he should act independent of the State Commission.Ombudsman plays an independent role of a judge to decide the issues of theconsumers and others and so he should not hold any other position in theCommission.”

The tribunal noted that in response to its earlier directions,“Ombudsmen are functioning in almost all States. We have received therespective reports from all the State/Joint Commissions which have shown thatthey have acted in compliance with our directions by putting in place theinstitutional mechanism by filling in any void and as also by submittingperiodical status reports.”

Further, it said: “State Electricity Regulatory Commissions areestablished in all States. Supply codes and standards of performance oflicensees are in place and easily available in the public domain. Needless tosay, this is a necessary step in the consumers knowing their rights andremedies for their grievances. ”

However, it said since there were a number of posts lying vacant“we feel that there is an urgency to give suitable directions even during thependency of this review petition in order to ensure that the State/JointCommissions are not allowed to be inundated with deluge of consumer grievanceswhich will hamper their vital regulatory and specialised role as a Regulator tothe power sector in each State.”

Apart from the appointment of an Ombudsman, the Secretary ofForum of Regulators should continue with the dissemination of best practices inconsumer interest through annual conferences, the tribunal said.

Aspiring MLAs breaking law with impunity

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/india/30675341_1_ramanjit-singh-sikki-pan-card-details-candidates

Himanshi Dhawan, TNN Jan 29, 2012, 04.51AM IST

NEW DELHI: Potential lawmakers have no qualms in breaking the law. Acrossthe three states - Uttarakhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh - that are going topolls next week, over 30% of the candidates have never filed their income taxreturns. To make matters worse, about 13% have not given their PAN carddetails.
According to data analyzed by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) - athink-tank working for electoral reforms - some of the most prominent candidateshave not filed their I-T returns.
In UP, a total of 96 candidates (34%) out of the 284 candidates, who arecontesting in the first phase of election, have declared that they have neverfiled I-T returns. About 40(14%) candidates have not declared their PAN detailsof which 10 are from SP, BJP (9), JD (U) (7), Peace Party (6), INC (4) and BSP(3).
Among the candidates with maximum assets but who have never filed I-Treturns are SP's Farid Mahfuz Kidwai contesting from Kursi with total assets ofRs 3.52 crore, followed by Congress's Gauri Sankar from Mahadewa (Rs 2.88crore) and BJP's Ram Sajivan from Ram Nagar (Rs 2.57 crore).
In Punjab, 23% or about 92 candidates out of 408 have declared that theyhave never filed I-T returns. These include Congress's Karan Kaur contestingfrom Muktsar with total assets of Rs 128 crore, followed by his colleagueRamanjit Singh Sikki from Khadoor Sahib (Rs 20.12 crore) and SAD's GurpartapSingh Wadala contesting from Nakodar (Rs 13.71 crore). About 12% or 47candidates do not have a PAN number of which five each are from Congress andSAD, PPP (7) and BSP (18).
A similar pattern is evident in Uttarakhand, where ADR found that 99 or 36%of the 278 candidates have admitted that they have not filed their I-T returns.Among them Shahjad of BSP has the highest assets of about Rs 6.52 crore,followed by Kaleem of BJP (Rs 3.15 crore) and Congress's Sarwaryar Khan fromUdham Singh Nagar (Rs 1 crore). About 15% or 42 candidates have not declaredtheir PAN card details.

Govt dithers over law to protect journalists

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/mumbai/30675704_1_media-houses-journalists-vandalism

Prafulla Marapakwar, TNN Jan 29, 2012, 05.20AM IST

The attack on the Times of India Building is not an isolated act ofvandalism. Acts of violence against reporters and media houses have been risingacross Maharashtra, even as the Congress-NCP government dithers on introducinga comprehensive legislation that will protect journalists. Maharashtra has hadfive chief ministers since the proposal was first taken up by the media morethan 10 years ago. Between August 2009 and December 31, 2011, there have been209 attacks on journalists and 35 acts of vandalism on media houses in thestate.
More than a decade ago, when a newspaper office was vandalized, media houseshad knocked on the doors of the then CM VilasraoDeshmukh asking for a law to prevent attack on scribes. At the time,Deshmukh was non-committal and his successor SushilkumarShinde, too, showed little interest in the matter. The proposal gainedmomentum when AshokChavan took over as CM in December 2008. He set up a committee headed byprincipal secretary Anand Kulkarni to draft a legislation to prevent attack onjournalists.
Kulkarni drafted a legislation along the same lines of a legislation toprevent attacks on doctors. "It proposed that any attack on a scribe ormedia house should be a nonbailable offence, and that compensation to theaffected party should be double the cost of damage," said a seniorofficial.
But after a group of journalists in Nagpur were attacked by the police forcovering a BJP-called bandh, Chavan, when confronted by the media, expressedhis inability to introduce the bill in the legislature claiming that leaders ofpolitical parties were against it.
After Chavan's unceremonious exit in the wake of the Adarsh scam, PrithvirajChavan took over as CM in November 2010. He set up a committee headed byindustries minister Narayan Raneto study the proposal for a special law to prevent attack on journalists.Though he maintains that he is in favour of a law, he has yet to measures tointroduce it.
While NCP president Sharad Pawar,deputy CM Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena leadershave opposed the proposed legislation on the grounds that it can be misusedagainst politicians, home minister R R Patil and leader of opposition EknathKhadse have extended their support. "The fact that the law can be misusedshouldn't be a reason to prevent it from being enacted. If the government isserious about protecting journalists, a special law must be brought inimmediately," Khadse said.

Varsities in state lax on SC quota’

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/varsities-in-state-lax-on-sc-quota/905145/0

Expressnews service : Ahmedabad, Sun Jan 29 2012, 03:22 hrs

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC),currently on a visit to the state, is not satisfied with the implementation ofthe reservation policies for scheduled castes in government institutes,including universities, in Gujarat.

Speaking to reporters after having parleys with the authorities of theGujarat University (GU) on Saturday, NCSC member Raju Parmar said thatexcepting nationalised banks and some public sector units, he did not find anyother institution effectively implementing the reservation policy of thecentral government pertaining to the scheduled castes.
Parmar, who visited as many as seven universities during the last 10 days ofhis tour in the state, said he did not find any university, including the GU,which had properly implemented the reservation policy.
Claiming there were a large number of vacancies meant for SC candidates inthese universities, he said none of the universities had made provisions ofreservation for SC candidates in various bodies like senate, syndicate,admission committee and recruitment committees.
Parmar said thousands of posts meant for SC candidates in Class III andClass IV categories were lying vacant in these universities.
He said he had asked the authorities of these universities to start fillingup these posts.
A former Rajya Sabha member hailing from Gujarat, Parmar said representationof SC members in governing bodies of the educational institutions was a must toempower the community.
Parmar said he had asked the vice-chancellors and other authorities of theuniversities to ensure that SC candidates got suitable representation.
GU V-C Parimal Trivedi, when contacted, said the statutes of theuniversities needed to be amended to provide reservation to SC candidates invarious bodies of different universities. He said he would write to the stategovernment to take appropriate steps in this direction.
Group petitions against GU dean’s suspension
Representatives of the Gujarat Rajya Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes/OtherBackward Castes College and University Teachers Association on Saturdaysubmitted a memorandum to the NCSC, saying while the teaching posts for SCcandidates were not being filled up in the Gujarat University and itsaffiliated colleges since 2005, several posts meant for SC members on theadministrative side had been filled up with candidates from the generalcategory. The association also took up the issue of suspension of GU ArtsFaculty dean Pradeep Prajapati, saying he, being an OBC member, was victimisedsince he was a witness in the atrocity case against vice-chancellor ParimalTrivedi.

Punjab Poll 2012: Court stays arrestof Congress candidate from Kapurthala

http://www.dayandnightnews.com/2012/01/punjab-poll-2012-court-stays-arrest-of-congress-candidate-from-kapurthala/

A local court today stayed the arrest of Congress candidate from Kapurthalaseat, Rana Gurjit Singh, his son and some other party leaderswho had allegedly defied prohibitory orders ahead of January 30 Assembly polls.District and Sessions Judge Sunita Sharma stayed the arrest of Rana Gurjit Singh, his sonVir Partap Singh and a few other local Congress leaders till January 31.
Rana, Vir Partap Singh and some other local Congress leaders were booked forstaging a dharna outside the District Court complex on Friday allegedly defyingprohibitory orders clamped in the district. The Judge also stayed the arrest ofsome other local Congress leaders including Councilor Sham Sunder Aggarwal,Jarnail Singh Meripur, Rajesh Verma, Narinder Singh and Baba Jiwan Singh tillJanuary 31. All these leaders were booked by Kapurthala police for damaging thefour cars of SAD candidate Sarabjit Singh Makkar on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Rana Gurjit Singh, at a press conference here today, alleged thedistrict administration and police were supporting Makkar in the distributionof liquor to woo voters. He further alleged Makkar supporters were openlycarrying lethal weapons and threatening the voters.

Case against Raj Thackeray in UP

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/case-against-raj-thackeray-in-up/225132-37-64.html

Meerut: A case has been registered in a local court in Meerut againstMaharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly saying thatterror activities are on the rise due to influx of north Indians.
Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena leader Amit Jani filed the case in the court ofAdditional Sessions Judge AK Mishra.
The next hearing for the case is scheduled on February 3. Thackeray hadattacked north Indians after two men from Bihar were arrested in the 13/7serial blasts case.
"I have been saying that due to influx of north Indians, terroractivities are on the rise. The arrest of terrorists hailing from Bihar, in the13/7 serial blasts case, has confirmed my claim," Raj had said.
Speaking to reporters after filing the case, Jani said, "Before makingderogatory comments about north Indians, he should tell where have ChhotaRajan, Dawood Ibrahim and Vadhrajan come from."
Thackerey is doing this for cheap publicity, he said.

In a first, lower court awards death to one in narcotics case

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-a-first-lower-court-awards-death-to-one-in-narcotics-case/905062/

Expressnews service : Chandigarh, Sun Jan 29 2012, 00:53 hrs

In a first, a local court of Chandigarh, on Friday, awarded the deathpenalty in a case of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS). TheCourt of Shalini Nagpal, Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ), awardeddeath sentence to 56-year-old, Paramjeet Singh, holding him guilty ofpossessing
10 kilos of heroin.
Prosecution lawyer Kailash Chander said, “The NDPS Act stipulates that aperson caught with possession commercial drugs more than once can be awardeddeath penalty.”
Till now, no local Court of Chandigarh has awarded death sentence in a caseof narcotics. A resident of Amritsar, Paramjeet Singh, was first convicted by alower Court of Delhi for a period of ten years in June 2005. He was released onparole in 2007. Paramjeet was again caught red-handed in 2007 with 10 kilos ofcontraband in Sector 39, Chandigarh.
The Court also awarded 15 years of rigorous imprisonment to Paramjeet’sco-accused, Festus Benson, a 35-year-old. The duo were arrested on November 30,2007 by the officials of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). According to theprosecution, acting on secret information, the NCB sleuths had laid a trap andarrested the two red-handed with the contraband.
Taking a strict view against Paramjeet, who already stands convicted forpossessing narcotics, the lower Court awarded him death sentence.

Ex-Minister files bail plea

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2840765.ece

DMK functionary and former minister M.P. Saminathan and anotherparty member Kanagaraj moved bail plea before the district sessions court hereon Saturday.

The former minister and Mr. Kanagaraj were arrested in Tiruppurdistrict in connection with a land grabbing case a few days ago. Both wereproduced before a court in Dharapuram, which remanded them to 15 days ofjudicial custody.

Sources said a lower court in Dharapuram turned down the bailplea moved by Mr. Saminathan earlier. As a result, the former minister moved abail application in the district sessions court here.

The bail application was expected to come up for hearing in thenext week, sources said.

Court turns messiah forrunaway couple, orders police protection

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Haryana/Court-turns-messiah-for-runaway-couple-orders-police-protection/Article1-803570.aspx

DeevakarAnand, Hindustan Times
Gurgaon, January 29, 2012

It seems the city is becoming a safe haven for runawaycouples. In the fourth such incident this month, an engineer couple, whomarried against the wishes of their family last month, approached the Gurgaondistrict and sessions court seeking protection from the girl’s family. The court directed Gurgaon police commissioner and SHO (City) forensuring the couple’s safety, who has been sent to a shelter home till February3 along with a security personnel.

Manoj Sharma (26) from Mathura and Ekta Verma (19)from Agra met each other a year ago while working together as engineers with acompany in IMT Manesar.
They got married at an Arya Samaj Mandir in Delhi onDecember 1 last year. The couple then went into hiding only to re-surface twomonths later.
Though the boy’s family earlier objected to therelationship due to a caste difference, they have now accepted the couple.
Manoj and Ekta told HT that they would never partways and were ready to face all challenges.
However, the couple’s lawyer Durgesh Bokan allegedthat the girl’s family was threatening to eliminate Manoj.
Earlier, three runaway couples had approached courtsin Gurgaon, while seeking police protection.
The couples were subsequently sent to shelter homes.

BJP Councillor among seven held

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bjp-councillor-among-seven-held/225015-60-123.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vattiyoorkavu police have arrested seven peopleincluding BJP’s corporation councillor Rajeev in connection with organising aprotest march to a place of worship the other day.

The act was reported a couple of days before and had led toeruption of tension in the area. The protest march was said to be in responseto an incident of cow slaughter which occurred in central Kerala.

With the arrest of councillor and six others, the total tally ofthose apprehended haverisen to 18. The arrested have been charged under half a dozen sections ofIndian Penal Code, including that of unlawful assembly and promoting enmitybetween different groups on the basis of religion.

Cheating case against groom for calling off marriage

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/hyderabad/30675353_1_cheating-case-groom-family-members

TNN Jan29, 2012, 04.02AM IST

HYDERABAD: In a bizarre incident, a cheating case was booked against a30-year-old grocery store owner after he refused to marry his fiancee citingill-treatment by her family members.
According to LB Nagar sub-insector (SI) M Mallikarjun, family members of theman from Malkajgiri and the 25-yer-old girl from Mansoorabad agreed for theirmarriage on December 12, 2011,.
Subsequently, on January 25, the couple got engaged in a ceremony held atthe girl's house and the wedding date was fixed as February 29. "However,two days after the engagement, suddenly the groom told the bride's family thathe is not interested in the marriage and it should be called off," the SIsaid.
When grilled by the family members of the girl for the sudden change ofdecision, the groom informed them through his family that he did not like theway he was treated by the bride's family and hence decided against marrying thegirl.
Enraged with the tantrums of the bridegroom, the girl's family members, whohad already spent a lot of money for the engagement ceremony and bookingmarriage hall, lodged a complaint against him at the LB Nagar police station.
Based on the complaint lodged by the girl's father, police have booked acheating case against the bridegroom under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).

Liquor parties most likely cause of hit & run cases

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_liquor-parties-most-likely-cause-of-hit-and-run-cases_1642951

Published: Saturday, Jan 28,2012, 12:39 IST
By Prashant Thakor | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

People in the city are not only ignorantabout the technical aspects of the vehicles they drive, they also do nothesitate to violate traffic rules and norms. This has increased the number ofhit and run cases in Ahmedabad. According to lawyers, police officials and roadsafety experts, all accused in hit and run cases must be punished severely forkilling innocent citizens because of sheer negligence and ignorance.
IH Syed, a senior lawyer, said majority ofthe fatal accidents involve people belonging to rich and influential families.Since such families have influence over the system, they somehow manage to savetheir acquaintances from going behind bars. "As per Section 279 of IndianPenal Code, the court can give punishment up to 6 years of imprisonment. But itcan be only done if a proper charge sheet has been filed by the police, whichdoesn't happen in most of the cases," said Syed. He believes that policedon't conduct proper investigation after the accidents. Judgment of the courtdepends upon the report submitted by police. “I believe that police usually tryto cover up the case rather than giving an unbiased report to the court,"said Syed.
According to him, liquor parties happening inthe vicinity of the city are the main cause behind the accidents. Youth driverecklessly under the influence of liquor and hit innocent people with theirspeeding cars.
"Police have failed at all the fronts.If cops are able to put an end to the liquor parties, such accidents will cometo an end automatically. The city traffic cops also fail to keep a check on theroads and cite 'staff crises' as the reason behind the same," said Syed.
Similarly road safety experts also believethat there are many loopholes in the law enforcement in India as compared toother countries. According to Samir Pathak, a road safety expert, the finecollected for violation of rules is very less in India.

"In western countries, onehas to pay a hefty fine for minor traffic violations. In some cases, evenlicences are suspended. However, law breakers in India easily get away bypaying a petty fine of either Rs50 or Rs 100," said Pathak. In 2008, RTOsuspended licences of 388 persons who were involved in fatal accidents. “InJanuary we have suspended 21 licences till date. We can only suspend thelicence for 6 months. However, after this the person has to fight his case forfatal accident," said JM Bhatt, head of Ahmedabad RTO.

Naroda Patia accused want more people to testify

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_naroda-patia-accused-want-more-people-to-testify_1642954

Published: Saturday, Jan 28,2012, 12:46 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

The accused in Naroda Patiya case, on Friday,objected to the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) decision to not allow morewitnesses to testify in the case. The SIT had, on Friday, sought to stopfurther deposition by witnesses in the Naroda Patiya massacre in 2002.
The accused submitted before the specialcourt that many important witnesses were yet to testify and the court shouldnot allow the SIT to close the procedure of deposition of the witnesses. Thecourt will issue the verdict on the plea on January 31.
The Supreme Court-appointed SIT has showed650 witnesses in the charge-sheet. Out of these, 327 have already been examinedby both, defence counsels and prosecutors. On Friday, the SIT’s counsel moved aplea before the special court judge, Jyotsna Yagnik, to close testimonies.
Defence lawyer Rajesh Kikani said, “Witnesseswho can unfold significant facts of the case of the prosecution and who areeye-witnesses as per the charge-sheet, have been dropped and have not beenexamined before the court. No proper and cogent reason in the matter has beengiven. Such a situation works against the accused and does not help the causeof justice.”
In the plea, Kikani submitted that importantwitnesses, who, as per the statements of the accused during the investigation,prepared telephone call details, verified the correctness of the dialogues duringthe sting operation and who prepared the map of the place of offence in 2002have not been examined yet.
Naroda Gam counsels put in papers
The Supreme Court-appointed SpecialInvestigation Team’s (SIT) special public prosecutor Ajay Choksi and assistantpublic prosecutor Vaibhav Vyas have resigned from their assignments of riotcases in Gujarat HCin the cases of Naroda Gam and Prantij British nationals’murder.
Choksi has reportedly resigned from theservice as he wants to be with his wife during her treatment. Vyas resigned ashe was assisting Choksi in important assignments of the riot cases.
Confirming the development, Vyas said, “AjayChoksi has resigned as special prosecutor of the riot cases and I resigned as Iwas assisting him.”
Choksi was involved in three high-profileimportant assignments. He was special counsel for all riot cases before HCexcept the Godhra train carnage case. He was also special counsel in Naroda Gamand British nationals’ murder cases. He was appointed as counsel a year and ahalf back. Choksi is the second special prosecutor to resign in the Naroda Gamcase after Nigam Shukla and his assistant Kalpen Goswami.

Earlier, Gulbarg Society casepublic prosecutor RK Shah and his assistant Nayna Bhatt had resigned from theirassignments.

Govt apathy forces blind children out of home

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/blind-children-forced-to-live-out-in-the-open/225077-3.html

New Delhi: At a time when the Supreme Court has asked the stategovernments to provide shelter to the homeless, a group of visually challengedstudents in Delhi have been forced to live out in the open, after their shelterin the Virender Nagar area near Janakpuri in west Delhi was sealed withoutnotice by the authorities.
Till 2010, the nearly 30 visually-challenged students of the Louis WelfareBlind Association (LWBA) had a roof above their heads. However, two years back,their shelter was sealed without any prior notification. Two years on, hopeseems to be ebbing for them.
Ashwin, the group's caretaker, said, "There were nearly 35 of thesechildren then. Now only 12-13 are there, as they don’t know how to cope withthe situation. All their certificates are also inside the shelter."
Despite a High Court order allowing the children to enter what was oncetheir home, the students are being forced to live out in the open, battling thesun, the rain and the winter chill.
What is worse is that none of the concerned authorities seems to beinterested in taking responsibility.
The HC order, dated May 2011, clearly indicates that the Delhi Urban ShelterImprovement Board (DUSIB) allowed the students of the LWBA to enter thebuilding. However, the building is yet to be de-sealed.
Kamlesh, one of the students, said, "Nobody is telling us what to do.We have been to many authorities, from the MCD to the DDA to the police. Butfor the past one and a half years, we are just being made to run from pillar topost."
When contacted, Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit said, "You aretelling me this is near Janakpuri area...? I will ask DUSIB why haven't theydone anything so far."
The students, meanwhile, hope that this promise will possibly turn intoaction.

HC annuls exemption to FACT

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hc-annuls-exemption-to-fact/225001-60-122.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

KOCHI: The High Court has stayed the government order to exempt the vehiclesused by Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT) to transport ammoniaduring day time by road from its Udyogamandal division. A Division Benchcomprising Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P R RamachandraMenon passed the interim order that no transportation should be made between 11am and 3.30 pm.

The interim order was passed while considering a petition filed byformer Thiruvamkulam grama panchayat member Vijayan Therampillil and M SajeevKumar of Vaduthala. Theysubmitted that the order clearly violated the court’searlier order directing that no transport of ammonia be made between 7 am and 8pm.

The petitioners also pointed out that the court had also directedthe company to take immediate steps for arranging transport through insulatedvessels by water. The govt issued the order on January 9, 2012, on the requestof FACT to exempt its good vehicles from rule 336A of the Kerala Motor VehiclesRules which banned transportation of hazardous goods during day time by road.

The court had said that the company should ensure compliance withthe terms of transport, which meant that no load should be released fromUdyogamandal division after 7 am and before 8 pm. While asking the FACT to takesteps for transporting ammonia by river, the court had observed that the loadspassed through thickly populated areas and therefore there was risk in theevent of accidents even during night.

The impact of an accident and possible leak probably might be lessduring night. However, it was not as if such an eventuality would not affectpublic safety. Though the company’s counsel had submitted that obstruction wascaused by fishermen when it was being transported through waterways, the courtasked the company to approach the government.

50% entrance exam marks enough for admission: HC

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/50-entrance-exam-marks-enough-for-admission-hc/225149-60-120.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

CHENNAI: Doctors who have secured 50 pc marks in the entrance tests foradmission to super-speciality courses against the 90 marks are eligible foradmission in the open category, the HC has observed.

The 10 marks awarded for doctors in service, at the rate of onemark per year, could be added only for arriving at the rank of candidates andit could not be treated as eligibility for admission, Justice N PaulVasanthakumar said while disposing of a writ petition from Dr Jayanth V Kumar,on Jan 27, last.

Kumar applied for super-speciality course (M Ch) and appeared forthe entrance exam conducted by the DME in May, 2011, and secured 48.75 marks.But he was not selected on the ground that he had not obtained 50 pc out of100.

He contended that the eligibility criteria fixed by the MCI wasonly 50 pc . The government could not add 10 marks for experience and fixminimum eligibility as 50 marks out of 100. Since he had secured 48.75 out of90 marks, he was entitled for admission, he added.

In the light of the stand taken by the MCI that 50 marks were tobe secured by a candidate in the competitive test and the experience gainedcould not be part of competitive test, the judge said that he was of the viewthat the petitioner could not be treated as ineligible for admission as he hadsecured 48.75 marks in the entrance exam out of 90 marks.

Since the cut off date for admission for 2011-12 was over on Sept30, last year, petitioner could be accommodated for 2012-13 if no other generalcandidate was available with marks higher than his, the judge said.

HC rejects plea to halt Metro Rail project

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hc-rejects-plea-to-halt-metro-rail-project/224862-62-130.html

Express NewsService, TheNew Indian Express

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has rejected a writ plea from the George TownBuilding Owners Welfare Association seeking to restrain the government and theChennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) from constructing the underground metro railline from Washermenpet to Mannadi via Seven Wells, GT and Prakasam Road inCorridor-I.
The consequential prayer of the petitioner, which was also rejected, was todirect the authorities to construct the rail line via Old Jail Road andPrakasam Road, as per the original alignment. The petitioner contended that ifthe construction work was allowed as per the changed alignment, their buildingssituated in congested areas, which were already dilapidated, would collapse.Further, the closure of the borewells would deprive them of their right tolife.
In contrast, the Old Jail Road route would entail much less damage as the areawas poorly populated and was mainly open lands, the petitioner said. Further,no opportunity of hearing was provided.
Dismissing the writ petition, Justice Vinod K Sharma observed thatapprehensions of the petitioner that the construction was likely to pose gravedanger to their life and building were misconceived. The CMRL had categoricallystated that the construction was being raised in a safe manner by protectingthe life and liberty of the persons concerned.
The interest of the people had been safeguarded by affording alternativeborewells or compensation. The petitioner, therefore, could not have anygrievance. Necessary opportunity of hearing and notices had also been issued tothe people, the judge pointed out.

Human Rights programme launched

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/pune/30675358_1_human-rights-education-programme-online-programme

TNN Jan29, 2012, 01.46AM IST

PUNE: Justice Sambhaji Shinde, of the Aurangabad High Court bench launchedthe Human Rights and duties Education Programme at the University of Pune onSaturday. He inaugurated the online programme on the university website.
In the keynote address, Shinde highlighted the role of the Indian judiciaryand international instruments along with specialised agencies of the United Nationsin promoting and protecting human rights.
Sanjay Chahande, vice-chancellor in his presidential address elaborated uponthe global significance of human rights programme in the contemporaryeducational system. He also focused on the relevance of human rights and dutieseducation in the backdrop of recent incidents of gross human rights violation.

Hazare case: Singhvi movescourt to annul summons

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Singhvi-moves-court-to-annul-summons-to-depose-against-Hazare/Article1-803618.aspx

Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, January 29, 2012

Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi has moved a Delhicourt seeking withdrawal of its summons to him to depose as a witness in acomplaint against social activist Anna Hazare and his team.

Singhvi had moved the court of Kamla Market metropolitan magistrate, who hadissued

summons to him on complaint by aperson alleging that Team Anna instigated the public against the governmentduring his anti-graft campaign in August.

"The applicant seeks direction for withdrawalof the summons issued to him since he has no connection with the complainant orthe present complaint case," he said in an application filed on hisbehalf.
The complaint by a Haryana resident, Satbir, hadnamed Singhvi as a witness without his consent.
While dismissing Satbir's plea for registration ofcriminal case against Hazare and his team members for allegedly instigating thepublic against the government during his anti-graft campaign, the court hadallowed him to lead evidence in support of his allegations.
"The applicant upon receiving the summons madeenquiries as to the nature of the complaint and on getting the record inspectedwishes to state that he does not know the complainant nor is he in any wayconnected with the institution of the present complaint," Singhvi said.
"Even in the status report filed by the policethere is no reference to him," he added in his application for withdrawalof summons, issued by the court of erstwhile Kamla Market metropolitan magistrateTyagita Singh, who has since been transferred to another court.
Singhvi also said the summons were issued to himdespite his name and address being wrongly mentioned by the complainant in hislist of witnesses.
While filing the application through his counsel,Singhvi also sought exemption from personal appearance saying, "He is asenior advocate practising at the Supreme Court and is a Member of Parliament.The applicant is ready and willing to abide by the directions of the court butdue to exigencies of prior unavoidable professional/official work he cannotappear in person and is moving this application through his duly appointedcounsel."

Judge sets aside warrant against Jayalalithaa

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2840076.ece

Principal District and Sessions Judge (Cuddalore) K. Uthirapathyon Saturday ordered the setting aside of the Non-Bailable Warrant issued by theParangipettai Judicial Magistrate against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a caserelating to the filing of nominations for the 2001 Assembly elections.

The Judge also instructed the JM Court that if it had alreadyissued any NBW in this regard it should take steps to take it back.

The Judge has scrapped the NBW based on two aspects: first, theissuance of an NBW to a person to whom no notice or summons has been sent isagainst all canons of law; and secondly, the Supreme Court on July 10, 2007 hadordered status quo on the main petition (regarding the filing of nominations).

The Judge observed that “unless otherwise the Supreme Courtvaries the said order, the trial court shall cease to have any power to makeany headway in the trial proceedings and issuing of an NBW to secure thepresence of the revision petitioner (Ms. Jayalalithaa) is wholly contrary andin gross violation of the SC order. Therefore, the error that has happened inthe proceedings of the trial court has to be rectified.”

The Judge also noted that “there are other matters which requireaction from this court on the administrative side. This shall be taken upseparately in the administrative side.”

Separate enquiry

The Judge also pointed out that Chief Minister's counsel A.Sankaran of Tindivanam had “thrown a needle of suspicion about the genuinenessof the endorsements made by the Judicial Magistrate in a concur sheet.Therefore, the court shall make a separate enquiry about the said endorsementsin separate departmental proceedings.”

The case relates to the Returning Officer of the BhuvanagiriAssembly Constituency A.G. Selvamani filing a case before the Parangipettai JMCourt in 2007, alleging that by filing four nominations for the Assemblyconstituencies of Bhuvanagiri, Krishnagiri, Andipatti and Pudukottai in 2001Ms. Jayalalithaa violated the provisions of the Representation of People Act,1951.

Parangipettai Judicial Magistrate Gomathi Sakthi Sorupam, who hassince been placed under suspension on the order of the Madras High Court on thecharges of corruption and tampering with records in a case relating to aprivate concern at Salem, had on June 27, 2011 ordered issue of an NBW andposted the case on February 16, 2012, requiring the presence of Ms Jayalalithaaat the JM Court.

The revision petitioner came to know of the JM order on January4, 2012 and immediately moved the District Sessions Court through counselSankaran. Accordingly the court stayed the NBW till Saturday and passed theorders setting aside the NBW.

No other orders

The Judge clearly stated that his order was restricted to theissuing of the NBW only. Since the Supreme Court had already ordered status quoin the matter this court was not embarking on any misadventure of passing anyorders in any other aspects.

Counsel commended

The Judge commended the role of counsel Mr. Sankaran for hiscooperation and handling the case without sensationalising it.

Demand for Speaker’s resignation quashed

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/mangalore/30675380_1_sc-judgment-speaker-k-g-bopaiah-legislature-session

TNN Jan29, 2012, 07.14AM IST

MANGALORE: Ahead of the legislature session, set to begin on Monday, chiefminister D V Sadananda Gowda and home minister R Ashoka have sprung to thedefence of the Speaker K G Bopaiah. Dismissing demands of opposition leaderSiddaramaiah seeking Bopaiah's resignation in the wake of the Supreme Courtruling setting aside the Speaker's order disqualifying five independent MLAs,they said the Speaker has acted legally.
Noting that Siddaramaiah's criticism of the Speaker was not a correct step,Ashoka told reporters here on Saturday that SC judgment of not recognizing thedisqualification has been honoured and already implemented. "There are twotypes of judgments in this case. While the single and double bench of the highcourt has upheld the Speaker's action, the SC has quashed the same,"Ashoka observed.

The apex court's decision, Ashoka said, is not a loss of face for Bopaiah asthe opposition is striving to project it. Ashoka said: "Bopaiah has takenall decisions within the purview of the powers given to the Speaker."Noting that Congress does not have any issue to confront the government with,the CM told reporters at the helipad said: "This is a two-month-oldjudgment, full text of which since has been received."
Describing the SC judgment on disqualification and its fallout a closedchapter, the CM said, with RSS leadership effectively intervening to put a lidon leadership issue in the BJP, the Congress, which was making noises aboutparty issues, does not have any other issue. "The Speaker is capable ofholding his own on any matter," the CM said, adding that Congress istrying to keep it alive and making an issue out of a non-issue.

Court dismisses kin’s petition to exhume body

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/mumbai/30675773_1_irwin-suman-petition

Rosy Sequeira, TNN Jan 29, 2012, 05.31AM IST

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by a manalleging that his brother's widow and her two children conspired to murder hisbrother to usurp property. Instead, the court concluded that the petitioner wasthe villain.
The property, which includes a bungalow, Harbour, on Mount Carmel Road, isvalued at over Rs 10 crore. A division bench of Justice A M Khanwilkar andJustice R G Ketkar, in their verdict, said, "We are of the opinion thatthe writ petition is not a bona fide petition but is completely motivated. Inall probability, the petitioner is acting under instructions of persons whowish to redevelop the valued property, Harbour."

Bertram Dsilva (52), a resident of Jharkhand, filed a habeascorpus petition in January 2011 for the production of his brother, Irwin (60),claiming that Irwin may have been murdered and if so, his body must be exhumed.He said Irwin was "induced" in 1996 into remarrying Suman (now 65),who has two children, Simmi and Faruk, from a previous marriage.

In December 2010, he lodged complaints with the Bandra police, stating thathis brother was being wrongfully confined by Suman. In January 2011, he movedthe HC, alleging that the police was conniving with Suman. The police told thecourt that Irwin was admitted to Nair Hospital for a kidney ailment and died onDecember 22, 2010 in Sion hospital. He was cremated the same day. Bertramalleged that his brother was cremated instead of being buried to destroyevidence.
Suman said she and her children were living with Irwin since 1996 after theygot married. Irwin was in good health until he suffered chronic renal failurein 2009, she said. He died and was cremated in accordance with his wishes, sheadded. She alleged that Bertram and his friends, Robert Sequiera and DirkAllams, were hell-bent on misappropriating the property.
The judges relied on the notarized declaration written by Irwin on December16, 2010, saying it "speaks volumes and belies the entire case" ofBertram. Irwin stated that Bertram and his friends threatened him when he wasin Nair Hospital on December 14. The judges said the 'incident' indicates thatthe attempt was to get rid of Suman and her children by implicating them infalse cases. They noted that Bertram visited Mumbai for the first time onDecember 11, 2010. "There is no justification as to why the petitioner hasbecome conscious and emotional about the well-being of his brother," saidthe judges.

High Court clears 3 govt doctors for PGCET

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/bangalore/30675665_1_rguhs-online-registration-hall-tickets

TNN Jan29, 2012, 02.56AM IST

BANGALORE: It was 11th hour relief for three government doctors who wantedto do higher studies in medicine and dentistry.
A special bench of the Karnataka high court on Saturday permitted the trioto appear for the Post-Graduate Entrance Test - 2012 today by issuing thenecessary hall tickets.

Justice B S Patil directed the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences(RGUHS) to permit Dr H T Prathima, working as a dentist at the GovernmentHospital, Koratagere in Tumkur district, Dr Afzal Ur Rahman, general dutymedical officer, Primary Health Centre in Sira taluk and Dr K G Jagadish,general duty medical officer at Community Health Centre, Pavagada taluk toappear for the exam.
He also directed issuance of emergent notices to secretaries of departmentof health & family welfare, medical education and the registrar ofRGUHS while adjourning the hearing to February 8.
The court said it needed to check whether the petitioners were diligentenough with regard to filing their application. The court also said they cannotclaim any equity based on the interim order.
The petitioners complained that though they applied for PGET-2012 in timethrough the competent authority (district health officer), RGUHS did not uploadtheir hall tickets till January 24 saying that though online applications werereceived, the applications sent through the department were not yet received.
They claimed the authorities did not heed their request to consider theircase as they did not suffer from any sort of disqualification and due to theirage, they may not get another opportunity in future.
The RGUHS issued the notification for applications on November 21, 2011. Thepetitioners registered online between December 12 and 14. After completing theonline registration, they submitted their applications with all necessarytestimonials through the district health officer,Tumkur for him to forward tothe RGUHS.
The DHO forwarded the applications on December 19 and 20.

CWC says child was found begging on Marina

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2840589.ece

Denies charges of asking the couple for English translation of proof

Responding to the reports ‘Now, a Norway in Chennai' and ‘Theyrun from pillar to post to get back their children' that appeared in TheHindu dated January 28, 2012, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has saidthat the police had taken custody of the child, Lakshmi, when she was foundbegging on Marina beach.

The CWC has said its enquiry revealed that the family came toChennai and was living here for more than two years, but the child had neverbeen to school. “There are several children denied of their rights andneglected, especially the children of migrant labourers,” the CWC said in itsresponse.

But, Santoshi, who was waiting on the CWC premises on Friday,told The Hindu that the family had come to Chennai only one-and-a-halfmonths ago, and were taking up construction work around Poonamallee High Road.Santoshi said she was standing right beside her daughter who was buying sweetsat a stall near the Marina on Pongal Day, when three police officials came andtook Lakshmi away.

Denying that it had asked Santoshi and Gabbar, the couple fromChhattisgarh, to get their ration card in Hindi translated to English as proof,the CWC has said in its response that it is taking the help of volunteers andits resource centre in translation. However, Gabbar had told The Hinduthat the CWC wanted the ration card in English, and that he tried asking inseveral shops, “even big ones,” if they could translate it, but didn't succeed.

Lakshmi was sent with her parents on Friday evening, the CWC hassaid.

Giving unwanted babies a home, better life

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_giving-unwanted-babies-a-home-better-life_1642914

Published: Saturday, Jan 28,2012, 10:51 IST
By Merlin Francis | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Unwanted children of poor parents, who cannotlook after them, need not be abandoned. The Missing Children’s Bureau (MCB) ofthe department of women and child development will be setting up cradles tocurb the number of children being abandoned at railway stations and dustbins.
According to an official with the MCB,“Parents who are unable to look after their newly born infants now do not haveto dump them in dustbins or kill them. The aim of this project is that everychild is looked after and does not have to grow up on the streets or be killedbecause his/her parents do not want them.”
The bureau plans to put up cradles in parks,railway stations, bus stations, hospitals and major junctions, where parentscan leave their unwanted children, said the official.
“Such cradles will be set up in majordistricts and cities in the state, where children tend to be ‘dumped’,” headded. Apart from Bangalore Urban and Rural districts, cradles will be set upin 18 districts such as Bagalkot, Hassan, Tumkur, Kolar, Mysore, Mandya,Ramanagar, Yadgir, Chitradurga, Raichur, Bidar, Bellary, Gulbarga, Davangere,Dharwad, Haveri, Shimoga and Kolar.
“These are the places where the MCB has its offices and staff in each district,which will coordinate to make sure the children have a home,” said theofficial, adding that suitable NGOs that are already working with children willbe given the responsibility of coordinating with the MCB in the project.
The official added that such a projectalready exists in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “We felt the need for such a projectin the state, considering that a number of infants are found in the garbage incities like Raichur, Mysore and, to a large extent, in Bangalore too. As astart, we are beginning the project in all the cities where the MCB has anoffice.”

Although the project wasinaugurated recently at Gadag, it currently has no funds. “We are looking at ITcompanies and so on to sponsor the cradles that we will put up. The infantswill then be handed over to the CWC, who will, in turn, take care of theeducation of the child,” he said.

Revisit RTI provisions you framed: CIC to Rajasthan HC

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/revisit-rti-provisions-you-framed-cic-to-rajasthan-hc/905109/

NEERADPANDHARIPANDE : Mumbai, Sun Jan 29 2012, 02:25 hrs

The Central Information Commission (CIC) in New Delhi has asked theRajasthan High Court to revisit a number of provisions framed by it pertainingto the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The commission passed the order in response to an appeal by a Mumbai-basedRTI activist, Sunil Ahya. Ahya sought to know the reasons why the Rajasthan HCframed certain rules under the Rajasthan Right to Information (High Court andSubordinate Courts) Rules, 2006, which he contended, were contrary tosignificant provisions of the original act. Significant regulations which werebrought to light stipulate that the applicant has to attach a self-attestedphotograph to the application and has to make several declarations in his plea,including a statement that the “motive for obtaining such information is properand legal.” Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra noted that theserules are “not in conformity with the provisions of the Right to Information(RTI) Act, 2005.”
Further, the rules of the Rajasthan HC in Section 5 (1) hold that “if therequested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorisedperson, it shall be conveyed to the applicant in Form C as early aspracticable.” The original rules, however, stipulate that if the information isnot available with public information officer, he should transfer theapplication to the relevant public authority.
Goregaon resident Ahya approached the commission after he was deniedinformation regarding the reasons for framing these rules. The panel noted,“Section 28 of the RTI Act vests the power to make rules in the competentauthority in order to carry out the provisions of the Act; it does not give anypower to the competent authority to frame rules to restrict the rightsconferred by the Act.”

Adopted daughter seeking rly job gets solace from Tribunal

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-29/chennai/30675577_1_amul-southern-railway-compassionate-appointment

Karthika Gopalakrishnan, TNN Jan 29, 2012, 05.24AM IST

CHENNAI: After turning a deaf ear to 33-year-old T Amul's request forcompassionate appointment following her father's death seven years ago,Southern Railway authorities cited technicalities to reject her plea in March2010.
Setting aside the rejection order, B Venkateswara Rao, judicial member,Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has now directed the railways toreconsider Amul's claim and "pass a reasonable order" within threemonths.

Amul's father A Thirumalai was a compound gangman - a group Dpost - in theoffice of theSection Engineer (Works) in the city. In 1987, he had adopted two children,Amul and Thennarasu, when they were nine and two years old respectively.

Due to medical reasons, he was terminated from service on October 23, 2003.
After he was discharged, Thirumalai sought an appointment for his son in anygroup D post but this was rejected through a communication dated February 17,2004 as his son did not possess the minimum qualification of passing standardVIII.
However, Thirumalai was advised to apply for an appointment for any otherward who was suitably qualified. Before he could do so, he passed away inDecember, 2004. His wife, Rajeshwari, submitted an application on Amul's behalfon June 24, 2005, but there was no reply. Another representation was made inFebruary, 2009, but still got no response.
Following a direction from a bench of CAT, Southern Railway authoritiespassed an order in March 2010 rejecting Amul's claim for compassionateappointment saying the adoption deed was registered only in November 2004 andthat certain documents such as Amul's transfer certificate did not support herstance that she was Thirumalai's daughter.
Amul contended that as per Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908, anadoption deed need not compulsorily be registered.
Passing orders, judicial member Venkateswara Rao observed that the generalmanager and divisional railway manager, personnel branch, Southern Railway werenot justified in rejecting her claim.
"Had they ever doubted the genuineness of composition of family membersfurnished by Thirumalai, they could have taken appropriate action against himfor such misconduct in accordance with rules in 1992 itself," he observed.

State cannot act arbitrarily, tender should be judged on merit, says court

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2840792.ece

It is a well settled law that presumption has to be drawn thatofficial work has been done according to legal procedure unless provedotherwise.

Also, the government has a right to enter into a contract withany person, but the State or its instrumentalities cannot act arbitrarily astender should be judged on its own intrinsic merits as per the terms andconditions of the tender notice, the Madras High Court has said.

Justice Vinod K.Sharma said this while allowing writ petitionsand quashing a tender and the subsequent act of granting work order to 16persons for laying highway roads in Villupuram district.

He held that the facts and circumstances of the case showed thatthe authorities had not discharged their duty in accordance with rules byoffering the tender at a much higher rate. They had denied right ofparticipation of the petitioners in the tender.

It is the case of the petitioners, V. Devagi, S. Rama and S.M.Elumalai that in spite of the court order, tender schedule was not issued tothem till the threat of contempt proceedings was issued.

The petitioners said no fair procedure had been followed in theentire tender process. The process was stage-managed to show that the tenderwas awarded in a fair and lawful manner. The petitioners sought to quash theproceedings in the tender advertisement of November 28 last year by theDivisional Engineer (Highways), NABARD and Village Roads, Cuddalore Division,and all acts done pursuant to the impugned order.

The authorities said once it was not admitted that thepetitioners were prohibited from submitting the tender application, thepetitioners had no locus standi to challenge the grant of tender, having notparticipated in the process.

Mr. Justice Vinod K. Sharma said the Divisional Engineer had notbeen able to give any justification as to why the tender applications were notsold to the petitioners and it was sold only pursuant to a court direction. Itcould not be believed that a person who approached the court to get the tenderapplication would not submit the form within the stipulated time. Thepetitioners stand was further fortified from the postman's report.

An attempt was made by the authorities to file a counter to denythat the postman came to their office to deliver the tender applications; butthe postman's positive report left no doubt that the petitioners' standdeserved to be accepted.

The Judge said it had been proved that the acceptance of tendersof 16 persons was illegal.

Act in film on sports? Sure!: Bhaichung Bhutia

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_act-in-film-on-sports-sure-bhaichung-bhutia_1643297

Published: Sunday, Jan 29,2012, 9:59 IST
By Sneha Mahadevan | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Bhaichung Bhutia, considered the torchbearer of Indian football, announced his retirement from international football at the age of 34. Ever since, he has been involved with causes close to his heart, one amongst them being to help the victims of the Sikkim earthquake. He has joined hands with actor Rahul Bose’s NGO, The Foundation, which will host a sports auction on February 11. Bhutia has donated five items that include former Italian football star, Roberto Baggio’s jersey to the auction, the proceeds of which will go to the victims of earthquake hit-areas of Sikkim.
Talking about the initiative, he says, “Last year when Rahul came to me for the auction, I gave him one of my jerseys. This year, he approached me and said that he would have a special fund for the proceeds that he gets for my jerseys and I have donated five items this time. With the money, I am hoping to build a football ground in Sikkim.” Talking about his farewell match in Delhi against Bayern Munich, he says the turnout was unexpected. “Around 35,000 people watched the match at the floodlit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. I didn’t expect so many people to turn up in Delhi. All Bayern Munich stars were also kind. After playing for 15 years for the country, I guess it was my moment,” he smiles.
The football icon does enjoy things beyond football. “I watch a lot of sports on TV.I watch F1 if there is any Grand Prix being held. I am not into Bollywood films. I rely on my friends’ suggestions about films that I should go for,” confesses Bhaichung. But he knows Rahul who’s from Bollywood? To whichhe adds, “Besides Rahul,I know John Abraham who’s a huge football fanatic. I’vealso met Shah Rukh Khan. All of them seem genuine.” And what about taking up any film offers? “No plans at the moment, but I am not saying an outright ‘No’ to it. If there is anything that has something to do with sports or football, that would be interesting,” he signs off.

Act against attackers of Times office in Mumbai: Katju to Chavan

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-28/india/30673312_1_press-council-maharashtra-cm-shiv-sena

PTI Jan28, 2012, 10.09PM IST

NEW DELHI: Condemning the attack on Times of India's office in Mumbai as"unacceptable", press council chief Markandey Katju has written toMaharashtra Chief Minister Prithvi Raj Chavan asking him to ensure that actionis taken against the hooligans who were part of the act.
"I have come to know through various sources about the attack andvandalism in the Mumbai office of Times Of India. This is totally unacceptablein a democracy," Katju wrote in his letter to the Maharashtra CM.
"Under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India, the mediaenjoys freedom, and under section 13 of the press council of India Act, it isthe duty of the Press Council to maintain the freedom of the Press," Katjuadded.
He said when mediapersons or media offices are physically attacked, itconstituted a gross violation of the media's Constitutional right.
The press council chief said it was Maharashtra Government's duty is tomaintain law and order and also uphold the Constitution.
Addressing the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Katju demanded that action betaken against the perpetrators of the attack.
"Please therefore let me know at the earliest what action have youtaken against the hooligans who committed this outrage. In particular, pleaseinform me whether the delinquents have been arrested and any criminalproceedings launched against them," Katju said in the letter.
He said it was not the first time that such an incident has happened inMaharashtra.
"I had written to you earlier also about such assaults and harrassmentof journalists.. I therefore must tell you now that the press council may nowhave to take a serious view of the matter and take suitable action if suchincidents are not curbed in your state," Katju wrote.
Apparently irked by a report in Marathi daily 'Maharashtra Times' whichspeculated that a sitting Shiv Sena MP wason his way to NCP, alleged Sena workers today vandalised the reception area ofTimes of India (TOI) building in Mumbai.

LEGAL NEWS 28.02.2012

2012-01-28T22:31:00.001+05:30

http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/

Supreme Court panel report on Bellary illegal mining in early February

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/supreme-court-panel-report-on-bellary-illegal-mining-in-early-february/articleshow/11644878.cms

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt-appointed committee investigating illegal iron ore mining in Karnataka istying up loose ends in Bellary district and will be submitting its final reportearly next month. The court's forest bench is to hear the case again onFebruary 3.

The CentralEmpowered Committee (CEC), whose investigations prompted the SupremeCourt to suspend mining in iron ore-rich areas of the state,affecting nearly a fourth of the country's production, has looked into everyaspect of the ore's mining in the state. Investigations have been on for ayear.

Of the 150-odd mines in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tunkur, only a fifth, or 26leases, have so far been found blameless. The court's interim mining ban sinceJuly applied to all, except state miner NMDC, which was asked to supply amillion tonne a month to sustain state steel and sponge iron plants.

Sources close to the panel said it could recommend allowing some more mine toresume operations. Meanwhile, Karnataka has already recommended cancellation of24 mines based on the interim reports of the Lokayukta and CEC.

The current report will not cover the role played by corporate houses JSW andAdani, as had been sought by the court, as it could take another six months, anofficial said. The CentralBureau of Investigation, which is yet to submit its chargesheet inthe Karnataka matter, has also been asked to look into a boundary dispute of amine owned by NMDC.

The CEC's current trip to Bellary was to review certain complex boundarydisputes. For example, it went looking for a worn out land record document inthe sub-registrar's office, which was too delicate to be moved. The documenthas a map and a line on it, which is missing in subsequent documents.

This reference line could determine the fate of mines belonging to RamgadMinerals, a sister concern of miner MSPL, and that of its neighboursTrident Mineral, P Vengannashetty & Brothers and SB Minerals. Incidentally,Bellary's first collector was Thomas Munroe, who laid down the Ryotwari systemunder which the state could collect revenue directly form individuallandowners.

The team was to also visit a mine belonging to MSPL in the Vyasanakere area ofBellary and the mines of SB Minerals, with whom it has an ongoing legaldispute. It also stopped by three mines-Vibhuti Gudda Mines, Tumti and YMahabaleshwarappa-which are close to the border with Andhra Pradesh.

Thus far, the CEC has conducted a survey of lease boundaries and encroachmentswith the Lokayukta and state officials and submitted several interim reports.It has also initiated auction of 25 million tonnes of mined iron ore, of which18 million tonnes have already been auctioned for Rs 3,500 crore. The committeehas also sold 700,000 tonnes of overburden, which is produced as waste dumpduring mining, averaging Rs 1,187 a tonne, compared with Rs 15-150 that theywere fetching earlier.

Between November and end-December, the panel also heard individual miners,including NMDCand SesaGoa, who had contested the findings of the joint survey. Theyappeared at CEC's courtroom in Delhi with bags full of documents and sometimesteams of lawyers to make their case.

The panel, assisted by Karnataka's forest and mines officials, will bedifferentiating between miners who are blameless, the irregular who could belet off with a penalty, and the big violators whose licence could be revoked.Earlier, the CEC had suggested a fine equal to five times the normative marketvalue of looted mineral, but it could be rethinking the penalty on lines ofcontributions towards an environment development fund.

Finance Ministry may dangle threat of service tax levy on AC travel if railfares are not hiked

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article2834808.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

New Delhi, Jan. 26:

The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, may have finally founda way to get Ms Mamata Bannerjee to toe the Centre's line on Railway finances.

Although Ms Bannerjee relinquished the Railway Minister's job tobecome West Bengal Chief Minister, her writ continues to run in Rail Bhawansince a Trinamool Congress appointee is the Railway Minister.

And the Trinamool Congress chief has been implacably opposed toincreasing railway passenger fares, despite the deteriorating financialposition of the Railways.

The bargaining tool this time round is the Centre's plan to usherin a ‘negative list' approach to taxation of services in the upcoming Budget.The Finance Ministry could slap a service tax on AC passengers, in effectraising the fares, if the Railways does not directly hike passenger fares.

NEGATIVE LIST

Simply put, a negative list of services implies: First, a list ofservices that will not be subject to service tax. Second, it is implicit thatall services other than the ones mentioned in the negative list will becometaxable.

If Ms Bannerjee does not relent on a fare hike in the RailwayBudget, there is always the prospect of the Finance Ministry using the UnionBudget to indirectly increase rail passenger fares.

By bringing the air–conditioned train travellers under theservice tax net (10 per cent tax rate), the Finance Ministry can mop up anestimated Rs 720 crore. This is a drop in the ocean when seen against theoverall service tax kitty of nearly Rs 80,000 crore.

But from the standpoint of rail passengers, this would amount toa rail fare hike of 10 per cent, if implemented.

FREIGHT FIASCO

However, this has to be seen in the context of the FinanceMinistry's unsuccessful attempts in implementing service tax on rail freightearlier. Since April 1, 2010, when the service tax was originally proposed tocome into force, the levy on rail freight has been deferred six times.

The latest date when service tax on rail freight is proposed tocome into effect is April 1, 2012. This move would have translated intorevenues of Rs 1,500-2,000 crore for the exchequer, at an effective service taxrate of 3.5 per cent of the freight earnings.

No mixed land use in residential areas

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article2832200.ece

Staff Reporter

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the authorities tostop issuing permission forthwith for mixed land use (including commercial) asper the Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015 for Bangalore city in areas that wereclassified as ‘residential zones' in the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP)1995.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen andJustice B.V. Nagarathna passed the interim order while hearing a publicinterest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Citizens' Action Forum (CAF) in2008 challenging the RMP 2015.

“We direct that in the following areas of the city — Malleshwaram,Richmond Town, Vasanthnagar, Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, V.V. Puram, Rajajinagar,R.T Nagar, etc., — wherein purely residential use was permitted as per the CDP,no further permission shall be granted for redevelopment or reconstruction,except for residential use,” the Bench said.

“This order shall not be construed in any manner as conveying theapproval of the court for other uses,” the Bench said, adding that it wouldpass orders on the next date of hearing (February 3) on permission alreadygranted for non-residential uses in residential areas as per the RMP 2015.

The CAF, in its application before the court in July last year,pointed out that granting permission to use residential buildings forcommercial purposes as per “mixed residential area classification” of the RMP2015 must be stopped immediately because the State Government itself had“doubts on the credibility and implementation of the RMP 2015”.

The application said that the Government had appointed acommittee headed by the former Chief Secretary A. Ravindra in December 2009 toscrutinise the negative aspects of zoning regulations with specific referenceto the impact of the RMP 2015 on residential areas.

Modifications

Pointing out that the Ravindra Committee, in its recommendations,had discussed modification of the RMP, the CAF had claimed that zonalregulation, if not stayed, would have an adverse impact on residential areassince the authorities were permitting commercial activities as per the RMP,which came into force in mid-2007.

The Bench took note of an observation in the Ravindra Committeereport, which states, “Change of land use has been curtailed for smallproperties on small roads. The notion of ancillary use of a property has alsobeen done away with. These two provisions have caused much pain to communitiesby mixing commercial development in what should be residential areas only.”

Economic reforms confined to the corporate sector only

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/smb/economic-reforms-confined-to-the-corporate-sector-only/articleshow/11645766.cms

By Madhu Purnima Kishwar,Founder, Manushi Sangathan

Poverty is concentrated in the informal sectors of the Indianeconomy, with people in these occupations amongst the worst affectedfrom the pernicious Licence Quota Raid Raj. This is illustrated by the sarkaricontrols that trap the livelihoods of some of our nano entrepreneurs -cycle-rickshaw owners and pullers - in a web of illegality. Cycle-rickshaws arean inexpensive mode of commute in many cities, and do not cause any air orsound pollution.

Instead of encouraging this ecofriendly mode of transport, government agencieswage a daily war against them. It took Manushi 15 years and a PIL before the DelhiHigh Court declared, in February 2010, the existing cycle-rickshawlaws as unconstitutional. But the MunicipalCorporation of Delhi and Traffic Police have challenged the order inthe SupremeCourt so that they can continue with the corruption-friendly LicenceQuota Raid Raj.

In Delhi, the rickshaw quota began at 600 during the 1960s, which rose to52,000 in 2007. But according to MCD's own admission, there are more than 6lakh rickshaws plying in the city. Almost all licensed rickshaws carry the"illegality" stigma, because of absurd restrictions that govern thetrade. No person can ply a rickshaw without two licenses-a puller's and anownership license. Plying one without them invites confiscation and destructionof the vehicle.

Possessing more than one rickshaw or allowing another to ply yours are alsopunishable . The ostensible justification for this law is to protect pullersfrom exploitative fleet owners. But its real intent becomes clear if weconsider that the overwhelming majority of rickshaw pullers (over 95%) areseasonal migrants who find it impractical to own their own vehicle.

But the "owner must be puller" regulation ensures that almost everyrickshaw puller and owner becomes illegal. The police make a killing byimposing unrealistic and arbitrary bans on rickshaw entry, including banningthem from all arterial roads in Delhi, ensuring that pullers cough up dailybribes. As per calculations made by Manushi in 2001, the rickshaw trade losesat least Rs 360 crore a year by way of bribes and fines in Delhi alone. Inresponse to a sustained campaign by Manushi, then Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee announced a rational policy framework for the cycle-rickshaw trade inAugust 2001.

Instead of implementing the policy, the government machinery went to greatlengths to sabotage it. That is why we appealed to the high court, whichscrapped the licensing regime. The court ruled that the city government mustprovide equitable road space for non-motorised vehicles, or NMVs. It orderedthe government to appoint a task force for evolving a new transport policy thattreats NMVs as an integral part of city traffic.

The task force has replaced the arbitrary licensing system with registration ondemand and mandated the creation of dedicated NMV lanes. However, our effortsto get the new legislation implemented are being met with stiff resistance. Thegovernment clearly prefers the pretense of 'mai baap sarkar' withcorruptionfriendly and wasteful schemes for the poor such as NREGA even whileit goes about actively wrecking livelihoods and depressing incomes of the poor.The poor need no subsidies, no concessions. All they need is the freedom toearn a dignified living through their own enterprise and hard work.

Age row: Supreme Court likely to hear Army Chief's plea on Feb 3

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/age-row-supreme-court-likely-to-hear-army-chiefs-plea-on-feb-3-170669

NDTVCorrespondent, Updated: January 26, 2012 20:22 IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to hearArmy chief, General VK Singh's plea, who is battling the government over hisage.

Last week, the court had dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) thatwas filed in support of the Army chief. The PIL was filed by an association ofex-army officers.

General Singh took the government to court last week - the first servingmilitary chief to do so - in the hope of establishing that he is correct inclaiming that he was born in 1951, not 1950. Documents with the Army reflectboth dates.

In a petition filed in the Supreme Court last week, he has asked for anexplanation of why his claim that he was born in 1951 and not 1950 has beenrejected by the Ministry of Defence.

The government says that documents that list the date of birth as 1950 trumpthe others. It also says that many promotions granted to General Singh used1950 to establish his seniority. Going by 1950 as the year of birth means theGeneral has to retire at the end of May; accepting 1951 as his birth date wouldqualify him for another year in office, though he has said in his petition thatit is the government's prerogative to determine his tenure.

The Army Chief had met with Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju who hadpublicly criticised him for setting an "unhealthy precedent" bytaking his dispute to court. Defence Minister AK Antony had said he is"sorry and sad" about the government's dispute with the army chiefabout how old he really is.

Now Anna seeks law to make gram sabhas “above parliament”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2834441.ece?homepage=true

AP File photo of activistAnna Hazare during his fast for a strong Lokpal Bill in Mumbai. Theanti-corruption activist now seeks gram sabha law reforms.

Decrying the failure of Rajya Sabha to pass the Lokpal bill, AnnaHazare on Thursday made a curious suggestion to bring a law to empower gramsabhas that will be above Parliament.

In a video address to Team Anna’s seminar ‘Rebuilding theRepublic’, he said people will have to be ready for a big agitation like theone for Jan Lokpal Bill if the government does not bring a law for empoweringvillage sabhas.

“Lok Sabha thinks it is above everyone. This is wrong. Peoplehave made you. So they are above you... It is the sacred temple of democracy.In such a sacred place, what has happened in Rajya Sabha in the last day (ofthe Winter Session) on Lokpal Bill.

“550 people were giving their own suggestions. Nobody has askedpeople. So we need another law. Assemblies and Lok Sabha think that they areabove gram sabhas. But gram sabhas are above you. We need a new law which givessuch a power to gram sabhas,” he said in his 30-minute address.

Asserting that the incidents during the last day of Rajya Sabha’sWinter Session was wrong, Mr. Hazare added, “The elected members were givingtheir views on their own. This is not right democracy. Why this happened?Because the masters were sleeping.”

He said there should be provisions in the new law that apanchayat can be dismissed if it spends money without consulting the gram sabhaand getting their consent.

Arguing for strong gram sabhas, Mr, Hazare cited the acquisitionprocess for Special Economic Zones saying the owners in the villages and thevillage sabhas do not know when the government acquires their land straightawaywithout their permission.

“We the masters were sleeping when the servants were looting ourtreasuries. Now we have awakened. If the government does not bring a law, wewill have to organise an agitation similar to the August 16 (Ramlila Maidan)agitation for a strong Lokpal Bill,” he said.

Claiming that today’s democracy is not for the people, by thepeople, and of the people but that of officialdom, Mr. Hazare said corruptionincreased because of exclusion of people from the law making process.

“Those who are to safeguard the treasuries are the ones who arelooting it. The responsibility lies with people as they fell asleep aftersending elected representatives to Parliament and Assemblies.

“We sent them as our servants but they are behaving like ourmasters...The laws being made are weak because you are not consulting themasters,” he said.

Mr. Hazare said there is no difference between the British ruleand the present system if the government does not take the opinion of peoplewhile making laws.

He also made a fresh demand for Right to Recall and Right toReject laws.

Taking on from what Mr. Hazare said, his close aide ArvindKejriwal said, “If a bill is passed in Parliament, our representatives shoulddistribute them to people and ask their opinion.”

He said they were being asked to have faith in Parliament but“how do we do that."

“When we close eyes to visuals of Parliament, we see the faces of(more than) 163 other criminals sitting there. I don’t remember there was amovement such big where people came to streets in such numbers for a law. ThenLalu Prasad says no MP wants Lokpal. How do we believe that they represent us?”

“Parliament has become hostage to ruling party rather than rulingparty being accountable to Parliament. This situation of ruling party HighCommand becoming virtual kings is dangerous,” he said.

On the Lokpal Bill, he said the law that went to Parliament was“useless“.

“97 amendments were introduced by opposition. Their speeches weredifferent from the amendments they moved. The ruling party had the majority andthey did what they wanted.

Was it just a formality? Was it just a show? The people whom wesent turn to their High Command for orders,” he added.

Another Team Anna member Shanti Bhushan said the reason for theestablishment of Republic was to give power to people for lawmaking.

“But something has gone wrong. To bridge the gap, a people’smovement is needed and its bugle has been sounded.

There will be a peaceful movement that will stretch to the nookand corner of the country,” he said.

Justice Bhandari is nominee for ICJ post

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2831946.ece

By-election scheduled for March

The government of India has officially nominated Justice DalveerBhandari, a sitting Supreme Court judge, as India's candidate for the post ofJudge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the casual vacancy causedin Asia following the resignation of Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh from Jordan inOctober 2011 after his appointment as the Prime Minister of that country.

Being a casual vacancy the term is for the reminder period of sixyears. In September, 2011 a regular Asian vacancy (for a nine-year term) hadarisen due to the retirement of Japanese Judge Hisashi Owada. But, despitestrong expectation, India missed the opportunity and did not nominate itscandidate. However, now India is perceived as a strong candidate in the comingby-election in March 2012 to fill the casual vacancy.

Having missed an opportunity to contest in the normal vacancy,India can now seek the support of other countries to get elected at least inthe casual vacancy.

In the past, Justice B.N. Rao (1950s), Dr. Nagendra Singh(1970-80s) and Justice R.S. Pathak (1988-90), former Chief Justice of India,had served as Judges of the ICJ. In 1991, Justice Pathak, who was re-nominated,lost the election and thereafter India did not contest. Two persons served asad hoc Judges namely: M.C. Chagla in a dispute with Portugal in the 1950s andJeevan Reddy in a dispute with Pakistan in 2002. The list of sitting judges orthe past judges of the ICJ reveal that most of them had been law professors ordiplomats.

Taking all these factors into consideration, India has nownominated Justice Bhandari as its official candidate and it remains to be seenwhether he will be elected unopposed. There will be election if Jordon alsodecides to contest for the reminder of its term.

The ICJ is the Principal Judicial Organ of the United Nations. Itconsists of 15 Judges who serve for nine years. At present, among the 15 Judgeson the Bench of ICJ, two representatives from Asia are: Hisashi Owada fromJapan, who is also the president, and Xue Hanqin from China.

Supreme Court advocate Mohan Katarki, familiar with the workingof the ICJ, said: “Though there is no formal provision for distribution ofJudges, in practice, distribution among the principal regions of the worldexists. Out of 15 Judges, the distribution is 3 for Africa, 2 for LatinAmerica, 3 for Asia, 5 for Western Europe and other States and 2 for EasternEurope. Another practice is that, a national of each of the 5 permanent membersof the Security Council is always represented on the Bench. The principlebehind such selection is that the ICJ does not decide disputes based on hardand fast rules, but brings out a solution to the dispute to achieve peace.”

Justice Bhandari (64), who has vast experience in internationallaw and is familiar with the working of the U.N. organisations, is thepreferred candidate of the Indian government. He is due to retire in Septemberthis year. Justice Bhandari was the chairperson of the Delhi Centre of theInternational Law Association for several years. He was invited to deliver akeynote address in the International Conference organised by the United Nationson “Intellectual Property” at Auckland (New Zealand). He was elevated as aJudge of the Supreme Court on October 28, 2005.

On March 13, 2006, he was invited to address the InternationalConference on “Judicial Education on Equality Issues in South Asia: What wehave accomplished Together,” organised by the Asia Pacific Advisory Forum atKathmandu (Nepal). On January 13, 2007, he was invited to deliver a keynoteaddress on “Gender Justice & Sensitisation of Judiciary – An Overview,”organised by the Asia Pacific Advisory Forum on Judicial Education on EqualityIssues at Karachi (Pakistan).

He has been selected as one of the 15 most illustrious anddistinguished alumni in the 150 years history of the Northwestern UniversitySchool of Law, Chicago, U.S. He was unanimously elected president of the IndiaInternational Law Foundation.

Unsound mind defence may save Santosh Mane: Lawyer

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_unsound-mind-defence-may-save-santosh-mane-lawyer_1642526

Published: Thursday, Jan 26,2012, 20:30 IST
By Manasi Saraf Joshi | Place: Pune

Although a driver who causes the death of aperson due to rash and negligent driving faces maximum punishment of lifeimprisonment and/ or fine under section 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, 1960,Santosh Mane, who claimed 8 lives may be go scot free if he succeeds in provingthat he had an unsound mind at the time of commission of the offence.
Senior lawyer, SK Jain, said such casesattract charges under section 304 (A). The quantum of punishment depends oncircumstances like number of deaths and damage to property.
However, he added, if the accused claims hewas suffering from unsound mind, the trial cannot commence until he recoversenough to understand what is going on. In such cases, he is sent to a mentalhospital for treatment.

Even on conviction, such person is likely tobe sent to a mental hospital for treatment, according to Jain.

No legal help for Pune rogue driver

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/No-legal-help-for-Pune-rogue-driver/articleshow/11644742.cms

PTI | Jan 27, 2012, 03.39AM IST

PUNE: SantoshMane, the state transport driver who went on a rampage mowing downeight persons and injuring 27 others, was on Thursday remanded in policecustody till February 3 by a local court with lawyers refusing to appear forhim.

There was no sign of remorse on 30-year-old Mane, who was produced in the courtof judicial magistrate V B Borha, has been charged under sections 302 (murder),307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 324(voluntarily causing hurt), and 381 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code inaddition to offences related to damage to public property.

The district government pleader Ujwala Pawar, who sought 14 days police remandof Mane, submitted to court that the accused had committed a heinous crime andit was necessary to investigate matters related to his behaviour in the statetransport department prior to the act. She said police would also require timeto gather necessary evidence in the case. Magistrate Borha, however, remandedthe accused in police custody till February 3.

Why not ban asbestos, HC asks Centre

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/why-not-ban-asbestos-hc-asks-centre/224383-60-122.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday held that the government of Indiashould think of prohibiting the import, manufacture and use of asbestos toprevent health hazards. “Asbestos, including the fibre and its products, isbanned in all developed countries as it is known to be hazardous to health andis one of the causes of lung cancer. So India should think of its prohibition,”the court said. The court also asked the Central Government and the CustomsCommissioner to file a report in this regard.

A Division Bench comprising Justice C N Ramachandran Nair andJustice Babu Mathew P Joseph passed the order while considering a petitionfiled by C Muthuswami of Bangalore against the detention of a consignment ofasbestos fibre at the Walayar check-post.

“Of course the raw material with which asbestos sheets and pipesare made are cheap and affordable to common man. This may be the reason thatprevents developing countries like India from banning it,” the court observed.

The court pointed out that John Varghese, counsel for Customs,informed that there was no ban on the import of asbestos fibre and relatedmaterials though they are hazardous to health. The government should considerthe prohibition of asbestos to save people from health hazards, the Benchobserved and directed the registry to post the case before the Acting ChiefJustice’s court which hears PILs.

Ruling buoys parole seekers

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Ruling-buoys-parole-seekers/articleshow/11644285.cms

AbhinavGarg, TNN | Jan 27, 2012, 02.32AM IST

NEW DELHI: Prisoners awaitingdecision on their appeals in Delhihigh court can now benefit from an HC ruling where it has broughtthem on a par while seeking bail, with convicts who have lost their case andseek parole.

HC has clarified the legal position on grant of interim bail to prisonersawaiting their appeal and said their bail pleas should be considered on thesame grounds taken into account while granting parole.The court said nothingstops such convicts from seeking bail for maintaining social ties, seriousillness of a family member, critical condition among others.

Man-animal conflict: Karnataka HC sets up task force

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_man-animal-conflict-karnataka-hc-sets-up-task-force_1642354

Published: Thursday, Jan 26,2012, 15:32 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Karnataka high court has set up a task forceto help in resolving the man-animal conflict in the state, responding to a suomotu public interest litigation seeking steps to prevent elephant deaths inKarnataka.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen set up the task force,which will be headed by Dr Raman Sukumar of Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore.
Other members of the taskforce are Ajay Desai, member of Project Elephant,Sharat Chandra Lele, sociologist and member of Ashoka Trust for Research inEcology and Environment, Dr CH Basappanavar, retired forest officer, Dr SSBisht, former director of Project Elephant, N Ravindranath Kamath and BRDeepak, advocates, and MK Madhusudhan, elephant expert and Green Oscar awardee.The division bench of the high court asked the taskforce to present its reporton April 15.
The division bench gave the following directions to the task force:• Look intothe entire gamut of issues related to human-elephant conflict in Karnataka withspecial reference to Hasan–Kodagu area and make recommendations to bring abouta more effective conservation and management regime for the species and itshabitat in Karnataka with focus on participation of local communities.• Studythe composition of the elephant population in Kattipura area and its movementpattern.• Examine a report on feasibility of providing a proper corridor orhabitat, if need be, by acquiring private land and recovering the encroachedland within the periphery of forest lands.• Consider the need or feasibility oftranslocation of elephants or local inhabitants from the relevant habitats.•Examine and report on the present status or steps taken by forest authoritiesin respect of electric fencing and trenching or any other corridor formationwithin and outside the forests in Hassan–Kodagu area and whether such steps areill-advised or improperly implemented. • Examine and report on the achievementsmade or present status of or implementation of short- and long-termcomprehensive action plan submitted to this court.

HC: Rectify Defects Within 7 Weeks

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hc-rectify-defects-within-7-weeks/224484-60-116.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted seven weeks’ time torectify the defects pointed out by the Pollution Control Board (PCB) on theinstallation work at the Kureepuzha waste treatment plant in Kollam. A DivisionBench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P RRamachandra Menon passed the order while considering a petition filed by KollamCorporation seeking police protection for installing a waste treatment plant.

The petitioner submitted that Manushyavakasha ParisthithiSamrakshana Samiti and some residents of Kureepuzha were

obstructing waste-carrying vehicles and the employees weremanhandled several times.

Madras HC rejects HRD Ministry's appeal

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/madras-hc-rejects-hrd-ministrys-appeal/956379.html

PTI | 10:01PM,Jan 26,2012

Chennai, Jan 26 (PTI) The Madras High Court has upheld a single judge'sorder directing the Centre to consider a deemed university's proposal of 2007to set up an off-campus centre in Tiruchirappalli by applying the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) guidelines which existed prior to 2010. A benchcomprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam in their recentorder said that as noticed by the single Judge, though Section 26(3) of the UGCAct conferred power to make a regulation, including with retrospective effect,no retrospective effect should be given to any regulation so as toprejudicially affect the interest of any person to whom it may be applicable.The Bench was dismissing an appeal by the Human Resources Development Ministrychallenging the single judge's order on a petition by SRM University (Deemed)near here directing the Ministry to consider its application in the light ofthe UGC's recommendations of September 2009 to the Centre clearing theproposal. The Ministry claimed that the single Judge was wrong in directing theuniversitys application to be considered under the old guidelines after thesame had been superseded by the 2010 regulations. The university, however,submitted that grave prejudice was caused to it on account of the ministry'sdirection to apply afresh under the 2010 regulations as the news rules cameinto force during the pendency of its proposal. The university said the powerunder the regulation itself was prospective and could not prejudice anyone.MORE PTI GR VS

Gujarat HC had opted for CBI in 2 cases

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gujarat-hc-had-opted-for-cbi-in-2-cases_1642404

Published: Thursday, Jan 26,2012, 17:06 IST
By Nikunj Soni| Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

The Gujarat high court had earlier refused tohand over the investigation of two encounter cases to the special task force(STF) headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice MB Shah.
The Gujarat government had sought aninvestigation by the STF in the Sadik Jamal and Ishrat Jahan encounter cases.The government's argument was heard by the high court during the hearing of twodifferent petitions filed by the kin of Sadik Jamal, Ishrat and Pranesh aliasJaved Shaikh. However, the high court had rejected a probe by the STF andhanded over the cases to the CBI.
Mukul Sinha, who was lawyer of the victims'kin in both the cases, had expressly opposed a probe by the STF headed byjustice MB Shah.
The high court had ultimately asked the CBIto investigate the Sadik Jamal encounter case and find out whether theencounter was genuine or not. The Ishrat Jahan encounter was found to be fakefollowing an investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constitutedby the high court bench of justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari.
Justice Shah is already in charge of amammoth task. He is chairman of the enquiry commission set up by the CentralGovernment to investigate charges of illegal mining of coal. Last year, he wasappointed vice-chairman of the special investigation team set up by the SupremeCourt for investigation of black money parked abroad.
In addition, justice Shah is the head of theenquiry commission set up by the state government to investigate corruptioncharges levelled against the government by the Congress.
When contacted, justice Shah said he hadalready started work on the probe into corruption charges levelled against thestate government by the Congress. "I am not aware of the Supreme Courtorder on the encounter cases. Hence I can not comment on it," he said.

Meanwhile, reacting to theSupreme Court judgment, Nitya Ramakrishnan, counsel for petitioner BG Verghese,said, "We are very happy that a Supreme Court judge will probe and monitorthe encounter cases."

HC judgment on age limit innursery today

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/HC-judgment-on-age-limit-in-nursery-today/Article1-802618.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 27, 2012

The Delhi high court will on Friday pronounce its crucialjudgment on a PIL seeking banning private schools from admitting children belowfour years of age in nursery classes. The PIL by NGO Social Jurist also urgedthe court to fix uniform age pattern for nursery and KG classes in all schools. The court had reserved its order on January 19 afterhearing the petitioner, schools and the government.

The NGO accused the government of not enforcing thecourt's September 2007 order, which had asked it to implement Ashok GangulyCommittee's recommendations that favoured fixing of four years as the minimumage for admission in pre-primary classes and disfavoured considering nursery aspart of formal schooling.
"KG should be considered as entry level whilemost schools treat nursery as an official start to schooling, leaving littlescope for fresh admissions in KG," Agarwal submitted. He also demandedthat nursery class should not be considered as "feeder for KG class".
During the hearing, the court asked the governmentto frame guidelines for admission to pre-primary classes that will beapplicable to all schools in the Capital.

MP HC restrains AICTE from derecognizing tech colleges

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/MP-HC-restrains-AICTE-from-derecognizing-tech-colleges/articleshow/11645215.cms

Joseph John, TNN | Jan 27, 2012, 04.54AM IST

BHOPAL: MadhyaPradesh High Court on Wednesday passed interim orders, directing theAll India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) not to cancel recognition ofany institution for not complying with its new policy which prescribedmandatory subscription of foreign e-journals by technical institutions.

Admitting a petition moved by Private TechnicalColleges Association (Feprotech), the bench comprising justice K K Lahoti andJustice Mrs Vimla Jain granted interim relief to the petitioners, directing AICTE not tocancel recognition of any technical institute for non-compliance of itsguideline for mandatory subscription of foreign e-journals.

The court also issued notice to AICTE, directingthe technical education regulator to file its reply by February six.

The petitioners had challenged AICTE's revisedpolicy on journals in which for the first time it had prescribed mandatorysubscription of foreign e-journals on computers, engineering management,pharmacy, architecture, bio-technology and hotel management. The annualsubscription costs of these foreign e-journals varied from 1000 to 6000 USdollars.

In its petition, Feprotech challenged AICTEdirection on e- journals arguing that such a policy would put tremendous financialburden on technical institutions which otherwise would not be so high insubscribing e-journals from Indian companies.

During the hearing, Petitioner's counsel SiddharthRadhelal Gupta argued technical institutions per se were not opposedto the idea of subscribing foreign e-journals. "However, AICTE had onlykept foreign e-journals in its list hence technical institutions, affiliated toAICTE, would not be in a position to subscribe e-journals from Indian companieswhich doesn't figure in the list. " AICTE cannot keep Indian companies outof this list", he argued.

Supreme Court stays probe against SM Krishna

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/supreme-court-to-hear-sm-krishnas-plea-today-170727

Indo-AsianNews Service, Updated: January 27, 2012 15:23 IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today stayed thelokayukta police probe against External Affairs Minister SM Krishna. Mr Krishnahad challenged the registration of an FIR by the Karnataka Lokayukta(ombudsman) police on allegations that he had illegally de-reserved forestblocks for mining when he was chief minister 1999-2004.

A bench of Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar and JusticeGyan Sudha Misra heard the matter today and said since the further report bythe lokayukta has to be submitted, they feel the "FIR is premature."

Mr Krishna's petition had said that that policy decision of the governmentcould not be looked into by the courts and the Cabinet decision was acollective decision of the Council of Ministers for which no one individualcould be singled out for probe.

The FIR was registered by police on the order of Lokayukta court judge NKSudhindra Rao directing a probe in the wake of private complaint by a Bangalorebusinessman TJ Abraham. Mr Krishna's two successors, N Dharam Singh and HDKumaraswamy and 11 serving and retired senior officials will also be probed.

In his complaint, Mr Abraham had alleged that during his tenure as chiefminister, Mr Krishna "illegally amassed wealth in the name of his familymembers, including his children and in-laws, and also in the names of hiserstwhile close cabinet colleagues in return for de-reserving forest land forprivate companies".

Mr Krishna is facing a probe for de-reserving 34 forest blocks in Bellary andother places and allegedly allowing 10 private companies to mine in the area,despite opposition from the then state forests minister and the secretary ofthe forests department.

Reply to RTI queries or face penalty: CIC warns AI

http://zeenews.india.com/business/companies/reply-to-rti-queries-or-face-penalty-cic-warns-ai_37744.html

Updated on Thursday, January 26, 2012, 11:52

Zeebiz Bureau

New Delhi: The Chief Information Commissioner has sent notice to Air India forrefusing to reply to specific RTI queries pertaining to the use of carrier forformer Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter Poorna Patel and someIPL players.

Allegedly, a scheduled Delhi-Coimbatore flight that was cancelled on April 20,2010, was used to ferry these people on the request from Poorna Patel.

The official documents accessed through RTI, show the request was made by IndiaCements Limited, Chennai owners of Chennai Super Kings.

RTI activist Subash Chandra has filed another RTI this time seeking copy ofcomplete documents/correspondence/file etc which the Air India has refused toserve citing commercial confidentiality..

Taking cognisance of the issue the Chief Information commissioner has put AirIndia on notice by asking them to reply to the RTI or face a penalty.

Traders' body seeks to defer Food Safety Act

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Traders-body-seeks-to-defer-Food-Safety-Act/articleshow/11645065.cms

TNN | Jan 27, 2012, 04.31AM IST

MADURAI: The merchant community in Madurai hastermed the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 as detrimental to the interestsof farmers and self-help groups in its present form and urged the Centre topostpone the enforcement of the Act.

Hoisting the tricolour to mark the Republic Day,S P Jeyapragasam, president of the Madurai-based Tamil Nadu FoodgrainMerchants' Association said the Act that has come into force from Septemberlast year would curtail farmers' opportunity to sell products at remunerativeprices. "According to the Act, farmers who grow the food products andtraders are liable for action for deficiency in the products. The deficiency inquality of agro products due to changes in weather should also be taken intoaccount,'' he said.

Jeyapragasam noted that the government wasselling liquor while admitting that consuming liquor was injurious to health."Similarly, cigarette and beedi packets are sold with the warning that smoking isinjurious to health. The government that permits sale of these injuriousproducts tends to penalise heavily traders if the product they sell issubstandard without taking into account the quality change due to weather. Itis not fair on the part of government,'' he said.

He also noted that the products made by SHGmembers cannot be brought under the purview of the act. "They will beforced to stop production," he said, urging that the government shouldpostpone enforcement of the Act by at least three years to hear grievances offarmers and traders.

The association demanded that food testinglaboratories be established in all districts before the Act is implemented.

The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce president NJegatheesan in his Republic Day address demanded that foreign direct investmentin retail sector should not be allowed. "The chamber welcomes foreigninvestment in infrastructure sector but not in retail. Though the Centre hasdropped the proposal for now, the government may start a campaign soon afterthe assembly elections in few northern states claiming that FDI in retail wasgood for farmers. It should not be allowed,'' he said.

LEGAL NEWS 26.01.2012

2012-01-27T00:59:00.000+05:30

http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/

Conversation with VodafoneCounsel Anuradha Dutt

http://barandbench.com/brief/2/2002/conversation-with-vodafone-counsel-anuradha-dutt

Bar & Bench spoke to Vodafone CounselAnuradha Dutt, Partner at Dutt & Menon. Anuradha has been representingVodafone in this matter since 2008. She spoke on her involvement in the matter,initial reactions on the decision, impact of the decision on investor communityand revenue department, important principles of law brought out by the SupremeCourt in this decision.

Bar & Bench: Your initial reactions on the decision . You havebeen involved in this matter since 2008.

Anuradha Dutt: Actually, I have beeninvolved since the first round in Supreme Court in December 2008 when on 23January 2009 the Supreme Court remanded the matter to the Assessing Officer andthen to the Bombay High Court and then to the Supreme Court who remandedVodafone back to the Assessing Officer for quantification from which the SLPwas pending. So we have had a long journey and three years of my life I don’tthink I did much of any other work. I was involved in it quite deeply. So apartfrom the sense of relief, it’s a joy. When you work hard and get a good rewardat the end, that’s the feeling that one gets.

I think it’s an important judgement as the certainity in law hasbeen created. I think what is important is that when Multinationals take adecision to invest, one of the main factors they consider is what is the ruleof law and the state of the judicial system in that country. I think whenVodafone decided to come, it obviously did not envisage such a situation,because not only there was no law but there was no practise of tax departmentassessing such offshore transactions. Law and practise are very significant fora person outside this country to see what this country is all about. AfterVodafone came in and the way Vodafone had to fight the court case which hadbeen dragging for the past three years it impacted the foreign investors andhad created lot of anxiety among the potential investors.

I think that this judgment has shown that the rule of law isreally supreme and we are a very mature judicial system. The judgement saysthat these are policy decisions, and if India wants a piece of the cake when aninvestor is making money when he is exiting, it should make laws. To my mindthat is really important to uphold the rule of law and allow the potentialinvestor to know that there is a very mature judicial system in place in thiscountry unlike many other developing countries.

Bar & Bench: Impact of the Vodafone decision on the investorcommunity and of course the revenue department.

Anuradha Dutt: Theforeign investors consider various factors like infrastructure, governmentdelays etc before investing in a country. But I think one of the key factors isa judicial system and the rule of law. This decision has definitely given apositive message to the world and I think that is what we really need tocelebrate.

This decision has settled a three year long litigation that hadcreated a lot of uncertainty for foreign companies. This decision will reposeconfidence in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and further boost suchinvestment coming to India.

The point is the tax department started something which theyshould not have, without amending the law. I think they took their chances,they even held out the first round when Vodafone lost in the Bombay High Courtthat this is a ‘test case’. The concurring judgement has stated it very wellthat this demand of Rs.12000 crore is like giving a capital punishment to acapital investor. It is really the sentiment that was being felt by not onlyVodafone but lot of other similar cases.

Bar & Bench: Who were the Senior Counsels involved in thematter? What were the main arguments put forth by Vodafone before the SupremeCourt?

Anuradha Dutt: Webriefed Mr. Harish Salve and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi. There were fourgrounds that we had raised in the matter. The first ground was that thistransaction was not taxable at all and second was, even if the transaction istaxable because it is a payment from one Non Resident to another Non Residentoutside India, Section 195 of the Income Tax Act will not apply. These wereargued by Mr. Salve.

We had two other issues, that the amendment in Section 201 ofIncome Tax Act which came in after the Vodafone matter started in Bombay HighCourt in 2008 and was given retrospective effect was also challenged. Lastly, we challenged that under Section 191 of the Income Tax Act unless Hutchis given a notice, you can’t come against Vodafone. These two aspects were tobe argued by Dr Singhvi, but in the end only gave written submissions on thesetwo issues because the Bench said that they would really hear first only thetaxability issue and the applicability of Section 195.

So, we had Mr. Salve argue on the aforesaid two aspects and Dr.Singhvi on the latter two aspects. The entire groundwork, pleadings andarguments before Assessing Officer were handled by our firm and principally Iand Fereshte Sethna (Partner, Mumbai Office) handled it.

Bar & Bench: Important Principles of law brought out by theSupreme Court in this decision.

Anuradha Dutt: The first importantaspect is that the Supreme Court has said that the provisions of Section9 of the Income Tax Act relate only to a capital assetsituated in India. Only if there is a transfer of such a capital asset thenSection 9 can be invoked. The Revenue argued that Section 9 is a ‘look through’and even if there is an indirect transfer i.e. if two foreign companies enterinto an agreement and buy shares of a foreign company which has an effectof transferring the control of the Indian company then Section 9 can beinvoked. The Court has rejected this argument and observed that Section 9is not a ‘look-through’ provision and indirect transfers are not covered.

Second aspect they have dealt is to do with the MauritianTreaty. The Revenue argued that the Mauritian Treaty would nothave been available to Vodafone which argument has been rejected. What is moreimportant is that the Court has made a distinction between genuine investorslike Vodafone and round tripping (where Indian investor takes money abroad thencirculates it and bring it back). The Supreme Court has held that the benefitsof the India-Mauritius tax treatycould not bedenied in the absence of a ‘Limitation of Benefits’ provision, even if theinitial investment did not initiate in Mauritius. However, minority concurringjudgment has held that the existence of a tax residency certificate (TRC) doesnot prevent enquiry into a tax fraud like round tripping or other illegal activities.

Therefore, Essar or such other companies who have Indianinvestment companies and Mauritian Investments and Mauritian Entities, theywill really have to show to the tax authorities, when they claim any MauritianTreaty benefit you know that this is not round tripping. So it is significantfor Indian investors who think that they can set up Mauritian Entities.

Another important aspect is, the majority judgement is saying isthat the investment was a bonafide structured investment intoIndia. In fact the Court has not frowned upon tax havens the way the Revenueargued. They have said Mauritius or Cayman Islands are tax neutraljurisdictions, which can be used by Multinationals for their investments tovarious developing countries including India and they can route it throughMauritius or such other countries which provide Treaty benefits. Theyhave said that it’s a policy decision which the Government of India has taken.And till today Mauritian Treaty is unamended and various other treaties whichwe had shown to the Court like Singapore, UAE, etc they have brought inlimitation of benefit clauses are missing in Mauritius Treaty. InIndia-Australian Treaty, an indirect transfer is discussed. So, the themajority judgement says these are policy decisions and the government shouldenact the law. This is not what court is supposed to do. So they have basicallysaid take policy decisions and have the courage to amend the law.

The Supreme Court has also held that taxplanning is legitimate because revenue had tried to arguethat Azadi bachao is bad law. The Supreme Court has held that the judgmentsin Azadi Bachai Andolan and McDowell werenot conflicting and both adopted the correct interpretation of the law.In McDowell theSupreme Court had upheld tax planning as legitimate as long as it was withinthe framework of the law; colourable devices though could not be said to belegitimate. The AzadiBachao Andolan case is good law in the context of theIndia-Mauritius Tax Treaty and there is no conflict between the Azadi Bacho Andolan caseand McDowell caseconcerning tax evasion/avoidance.

The apex court has listed the hostof factors namely, duration of time during which the holdingstructure existed, the period of business operations in India, generation oftaxable revenue during the period of business operation in India, the timing ofthe exit, continuity of business on such exit, etc. which one is required toconsider to reach a finding that the transaction evidences are a preordainedtransaction or investment to participate.

The Court has laid down a businesspurpose test which is new to Indian jurisprudence. The ruling alsoacknowledges that use of holding companies and investment structures are drivenby business/commercial purpose and the use of these entities in internationalstructures does not imply tax avoidance.

These are the key issues you know that come out from themajority judgement and the concurring judgement is almost similar. One of theaspect different is that the majority judgement says that you should bring in alaw for ‘round -tripping’ but does not go to the extent of saying that in taxfraud and round tripping you can go behind the TRC which the concurringjudgment upholds. So let’s see whether that will be the next issue that the Revenuewill be raising in future cases.

Bar & Bench: The SC has enunciated the principle of the ‘lookat’ approach and the importance of looking at the transaction as a whole. Whatare your thoughts on the concepts of 'look through' and 'look at' and how willit affect future the cross border transactions?

Anuradha Dutt: The Revenue had arguedthat you have to look through a transaction, go behind the transaction and seewhat is the commercial purpose and then tax it. The majority judgementsays you cannot dissect a transaction. Transaction has to be ‘looked at’holistically and the legal effect of it has to be seen to consider whether atransaction is taxable. The Supreme Court pronounced the principle of 'look at'approach and emphasized the importance of ‘looking at’ the transaction in itsentirety and then see whether there is some fraud or what is the timing or whatis the legal effect. The transaction could not be dissected into transfer ofshares outside India and of the transfer of some assets within India.

If the Government wants to apply the ‘look through’ principle,they must bring the changes in the laws or amend the tax treaties. If the taxtreaties don't have the limitation of benefits then they cannot look throughthose entities and lift the corporate veil to look at the beneficial owners.The decision makes it very clear that government needs to look into the policyreforms and bring in certainty in the tax policies. The government doesn’t wantto make policy changes and instead wants judicial pronouncements to help them.

This will definitely have an impact on the cross bordertransactions. Today there is clarity; people know what is the rule of law inthis country and what is the judgement which is the law of the land. Till now,the law was that outside transfers, outside India even if they had an indirecteffect of controlling the company were not being taxed, suddenly one bigtransaction in the country comes with big numbers and the government startschanging its practise and that too without bringing in legislation.

Bar & Bench: Do you think the Government will file a reviewpetition?

Anuradha Dutt: I am hearing that theGovernment is going to file a review petition. To my mind the Government ofIndia should accept this verdict and bring legislative changes or Treatychanges if they want and not again find means and ways to whittle down thisjudgement in any manner because that definitely will be a bad signal to theworld.

Bar & Bench: According to media reports, the Government islikely to amend tax laws in this coming budget session to ensure that overseassale of a foreign company with assets in India is subject to capital gainslevy. Your views.

Anuradha Dutt: I don’t think anyMultinational or any foreign government or anybody else can say that Indiashould not have legislative changes. Let me tell you in Australia they have inall their Treaties and law that if there are any transfer that takes placeoutside Australia but has the effect of transferring a domestic company’scontrol which is in mining sector, it will be taxed in Australia. Similarly, UKhas it for Oil and Natural Gas.

So, India can either across the board or find whichever sectorthey want to have a piece of the pie, amend laws or treaties, accordingly.However, there has to be express legislation and it has to be prospective andthat really is the way to go about according to me.

Bar & Bench: How will this decision have an impact on similarcases under scrutiny?

Anuradha Dutt: The decision will havefar-reaching implications as it clearly states that the rule of law willprevail. The Court held that this is a bona fide structure. The decision haslaid down certain tests like look at the transaction and not dissect it.Bonafide genuine transactions, continuity, the person who has sold has notwound up the next day etc. are tests that will be applied to a host of casesthat are pending in court and wherever these tests are crossed successfully,such cases will escape the tax net and if there is any one of these cases onfacts where there is an issue that will have a problem.

Bar & Bench: So now what will be your advise to your foreignclients?

Anuradha Dutt: As of now, my advise isthat we have a mature democracy and mature judicial system and prefer that thisshould be the country you should invest in. At least today we can tell themthat these are the tests and if you fulfil the tests definitely this is thelaw as of today and in future when the law changes of course the advisechanges.

Child labour: Centre pulls up state govt

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Child-labour-Centre-pulls-up-state-govt/articleshow/11621957.cms

RajivShah, TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 01.57AM IST

GANDHINAGAR: In a sharply-worded letter toGujarat chief secretary A K Joti, the National Commission for Protection ofChild Rights (NCPCR), the Centre's child rights watchdog, has asked the stategovernment to provide to the commission a complete action taken report (ATR)within a month on large number of cases of violation of child labour laws inGujarat submitted to it by different voluntary agencies.

The letter was in response to a communicationfrom principal secretary, labour, P Panneervel, seeking postponement of theNCPCR's public hearing, which was to take place in Ahmedabad on January 27 to28.

The public hearing, which was to take place onmatters related to child labour, right to education (RTE) and child rightsissues, has been put off for a month, but not without objecting to the reasonsgiven by the state officialdom seeking postponement. Hiding behind proceduralissues, the government, apparently, did not want public hearing, wonderingunder which law the NCPCR was seeking to carry it out in Gujarat, even whileinsisting that the NCPCR follow National Commission for Human Rights (NHRC) inseeking details on child rights issues.

The letter to the chief secretary warned, duringthe one-month period till the public hearing takes place, the State governmentshould ensure that "nobody (the child, parents / family members / NGOrepresentative) involved in the referred cases are harassed by anybody directlyor indirectly." It also wanted the state government to inform"concerned departments and district magistrates/ district collectors"to remain present during the hearing, now to take place in February-end.

The complaints to the NCPCR range from existenceof child labour in cotton fields of North Gujarat and plight of migrantworkers' and fishermen's children, to the state government decision to closedown 3,000 primary schools on the ground that their strength is less than100each. Then, there are complaints on closure of five schools in Rajkot city,some of them a century old; a dilapidated school in Akbarpur in Khambhat townwhere children cannot use the class rooms; a school in Vadodara city where 300children are forced to sit in a single room; and lack of school for slumdwellers in the Kandla special economic zone.

13/7 Mumbai blasts: Naqi Ahmed's family wants Delhi police testimony

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/news/30659188_1_naqi-ahmed-mumbai-blasts-serial-blasts-case

PTI Jan24, 2012, 07.50PM IST

NEW DELHI: The family of Naqi Ahmed, arrested by the Maharashtra ATS as theman behind 13/7Mumbai blasts, today said it would ask for the testimony of Delhi PoliceSpecial cell officials whom the 22-year-old was helping to solve a terror caseby remaining undercover.
Naqi's brother Taqi Ahmed (24) told reporters here that he and hisassociates have approached the NationalHuman Rights Commission (NHRC), NationalCommission for Minorities, Delhi Police Commissioner and Union HomeMinister P Chidambaram to obtain help for his "innocent" brother whohas been wrongfully framed by the ATS in the serial blasts case which claimed27 lives.
"My brother is innocent. He was helping the Special Cell (of Delhipolice) from December 9, 2011 to January 9 recently after they had approachedhim for help in a case they were pursuing. We will go to the court and otherforums to get justice for my brother," Taqi said at a press conferencehere.
Taqi was flanked by the representatives of Jamia Teacher's solidarityassociation and social organisation-- ANHAD.
Taqi, during the conference, also claimed that he met the two officials ofSpecial Cell, with whom Naqi had gone to Mumbai, two days back and they haveassured him that they would stand by his brother's "innocence".
"The two Special cell officials assured me that they would go to thecourt and testify that my brother Naqi was indeed helping in their investigationand that he is innocent," he said.
Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Mariahad yesterday announced in Mumbai the arrest of Naqi and said he wasindoctrinated by IM head Yasin Bhatkal and also that Naqi helped the IM mastermind torent the third floor flat in Habib Building at Byculla last year

Godhra riots: HC reserves order on treating sting footage as evidence

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/godhra-riots-hc-reserves-order-on-treating-sting-footage-as-evidence/903391/

Agencies: Ahmedabad, Tue Jan 24 2012, 10:31 hrs

Gujarat High Court reserved the order on the petition by Salim Zarda,sentenced to death in the Godhra train burning case, seeking that CDs of a TVsting operation be brought on record as evidence in the case.
A Division Bench of Justices Jayant Patel and Paresh Upadhyay reserved theruling after hearing both the sides on Monday.
Zarda, who was awarded death sentence along with 10 others in the Godhracase, has also sought examination of journalist Ashish Khaitan, who had carriedout the sting operation in 2007. The sting footage shows a person admittingthat he gave a false statement against some of the accused.
Senior counsel Nitya Ramkrishnan, representing Zarda, submitted that SpecialInvestigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court which had probed the Godhracase had taken on record the CDs of the sting operation as evidence in theGulberg and Naroda Patiya riot cases. But, in the Godhra case itself it was nottreating the same CDs as evidence, she said.
She further said the trial court, which gave the verdict in the Godhra case,erred by not calling Khaitan as a witness.
Senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for SIT, however opposed demand tocall Khaitan as a witness, now that the trial court had given its verdict andthe matter was before the high court.
Kumar said that SIT had applied for the cross-examination of Khaitanregarding his CD, but trial court did not allow that.

Eunuchs can access justice like any citizen'

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Eunuchs-can-access-justice-like-any-citizen/articleshow/11622481.cms

RosySequeira, TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 03.08AM IST

MUMBAI: Eunuchs are equal under the law and canaccess justice like any citizen, said the Bombay High Court on Tuesdayy, whilehearing a PIL byeunuchs for better conditions.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah andJustice Roshan Dalvi was hearing a petition filed by the NGO, Salvation ofOppressed Eunuchs, whichh, among others has sought amendments in criminal law,particularly sections 375 (rape), 376 (punishment for rape) and 377 (unnaturalsex) of the IPC, to include transgenders as a separate category.

The NGO's chairperson, Piyush Saxena, said,"When we call them chakka or hijra, it is very humiliating for them."He added that provisions of the Atrocities Act should be made applicable insuch cases.

"You are equal under the law. In a givencase, when a particular offence occurs, you can always access justice,"said Justice Dalvi. Saxena said, "We have tried but did not get success.Calling an eunuch a hijra is not an offence under the law." Justice Shahsaid, "You basically want to be under a third category."

Additional government pleader G W Mattossubmitted that as per news reports, the Centre was contemplating amendment tocriminal laws to incorporate the neuter gender.

Central government advocate Rui Rodrigues soughttime to take instructionsin the matter.- Rosy SequeiraThe heaing is adjournedto March 8, 2012 for the State and Centre to make their stands clear.

TDSAT reserves order on telcos' plea against DoT penalty

http://zeenews.india.com/business/technology/tdsat-reserves-order-on-telcos-plea-against-dot-penalty_37643.html

Updated on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 18:42

New Delhi: Telecom tribunal TDSAThas reserved order on operators' plea to stay the penalty imposed on them bythe government for failing to complete the directive to reverify prepaidconnections in Assam and North East service areas.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) bench, headed byits Chairman Justice S B Sinha, reserved the order on Monday.

Operators had sought stay on the penalty imposed by the DoT's TelecomEnforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cell.

Dishnet Wireless, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular also questionedDepartment of Telecom's circular to reverify their existing prepaidconnections.

Earlier, GSM industry lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India(COAI) had approached TDSAT on the issue. However, on January 13 the tribunalasked the operators to file individual petitions as well.

COAI said the government circular for re-verification of subscribers wasprepared "without any application of mind" and "in a totallycasual manner".

According to them, DoT has simply extended the guidelines of J&K servicearea to Assam and North East.

COAI has said that as per the circular issued last year by the Department ofTelecom, certificates by Village Panchayat Head or its equivalent authority aswell as caste and domicile certificates with photographs provided by stategovernments, were not treated as ID proof.

Moreover, Voters Identity Cards issued before 2008 were also kept outside thelist.

The DoT move came in view of apprehensions raised by the security establishmentwhich said that militants were using pre-paid connections for subversiveactivities as they were made available easily.

The telecom companies fear that it may result in loss of a huge chunk of their20 million-odd customer base in the Northeastern region.

"It is submitted that while extending such guidelines DoT failed to noticethat these guidelines had been issued keeping the peculiar conditionsapplicable only to J&K in mind. They could not therefore, without propermodification, be applied in case of Assam and North East Service Areas,"said COAI.

Supreme Court slams Centre over Pak prisoners

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/supreme-court-slams-centre-over-pak-prisoners-170004

AVaidyanathan, Updated: January 24, 2012 18:06 IST

New Delhi: The government today came in forsevere criticism from the Supreme Court for keeping the foreign nationals,especially Pakistanis, in jail even after completion of sentence. The courttermed it as "infraction of human rights of the worst order."

"There is total inaction and laxity on the part of the government. We aremore concerned about the liberty of the persons who continue to be in jailsdespite serving their sentences," said a bench of justices R M Lodha and HL Gokhale while observing that some prisoners had been kept in detention evenwithout having any case registered against them.

"Please show us the procedure under which you have detained and kept themfor prolonged incarceration. We are more concerned with the question ofsubstantial justice which should prevail over the procedures," thejustices said.

Observing that "liberty is precious", the court told the government,"We don't want your bureaucrats to sleep over the files and go intoslumber. We don't want clarifications from section officers, please give uscomprehensive details as to whether there is any bilateral policy.

"Don't compel us to summon the presence of a senior officer forclarification," the bench said.

The government informed the court that 286 foreign prisoners, mostly fromPakistan, are in jail at present. Of these, the nationality of 46 persons areyet to be verified. The government also informed the court that aPakistani delegation was in New Delhi for the verification process.

The Supreme Court has directed the government to deport five Pakistaniprisoners, who have completed their sentence, within one month. Other foreignnationals in Indian jails are also to be deported to their countries within onemonth of their finishing their jail terms. The court also asked the governmentto submit a compliance report by the February 28.

The court said, "We disapprove the adhoc manner in which the wholeexercise is done by the Government of India concerning the foreign nationalswho have served out their sentence."

The court wanted to know details of those who had completed their sentence andwhy those inmates were still in jail. The government has also been asked fordetails of the verification process being carried out by Pakistan and othercountries, and how long that would take.

The court also observed that an "agreement between India and Pak forcounsellor access to their inmates has not been followed which has resulted ingross delay."

The Supreme Court made these observations while dealing with two separatepublic interest litigations (PILs) relating to alleged prolonged incarcerationof Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals in Indian jails.

Supreme Court pulls up Army in Pathribal encounter case

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2828773.ece

Legal Correspondent

“You don't allow the criminal justice system to go ahead”

The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Army for stalling theprosecution in the 2000 Pathribal encounter case in Jammu and Kashmir,initiated by the CBI against five officers, by not taking action under the ArmyAct and not allowing the criminal courts from proceeding with theirprosecution.

Responding to the court's query on January 20 on the stand of theArmy, Additional Solicitor-General P.P. Malhotra told a Bench of Justices B.S.Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar that the Army was not interested in taking over thecase and court-martialling the officers under the Army Act.

The Bench is hearing petitions relating to the Centre's claim ofimmunity and applicability of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers)Act (AFSPA) in the North East and Jammu and Kashmir. The CBI, on the otherhand, registered cases against Army men, treating some of the killings asencounter deaths, and filed charge sheets in the courts concerned. Shocked tohear this response from the Army, Justice Swatanter Kumar told the ASG: “You[the Army] don't want to take over the case and initiate court martialproceedings against them. You don't allow the criminal justice system to goahead.”

Justice Chauhan observed: “The victims cannot be remedy less. Noperson can be harassed. No jawan should exceed limits. You cannot interpret andmisinterpret the law and expect citizens to wait.”

“We cannot take over the case,” Mr. Malhotra said. “The ArmedForces are bound to protect their men.”

The Army contended that in a disturbed area, where the AFSPA wasin force, no inquiry could be initiated against armed forces personnel calledin to assist the civilian police, without the government's sanction let alone acharge sheet being filed.

“They are protected under Section 6 of the AFSPA,” Mr. Malhotrasaid. This had vitiated the entire CBI inquiry into the episode. The Armypersonnel shot dead seven alleged militants in the incident. The Army had thenclaimed that they were responsible for killing several Sikhs in an earlierencounter in Chhattisinghpora during the former U.S. President Bill Clinton'svisit to India. But the J&K government later sought sanction for theirprosecution after some evidence came to light that it was a fake encounter.

Not satisfied with the ASG's response, the Bench sought Armyrecords to show whether these cases had been put up before the CommandingOfficer (CO) of the area for his decision. The CO was the authority to decidewhether to court martial the men or allow civilian courts to try them.

The Bench also suo motu impleaded the Union Home andDefence Secretaries and asked them to explain their position on whethersanction was a must even for filing an FIR. The Bench said: “These officerswill now have to protect themselves. But the Union of India has a dualresponsibility. It has to ensure that the innocent are acquitted and the guiltypunished.”

The Bench wondered why the Army was reluctant to try these caseswhen it did not have to take any sanction from the government to act againstthem. “Article 21 of the Constitution [right to life] is for both the accusedand the victims,” The Bench said. It wanted to know from the Army whether inany prior case sanction from the government had been sought for investigatingany case.

The Bench directed that the matter be listed for further hearingon February 3.

Attack on Rajkot Cong leader: Court summons cops

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/attack-on-rajkot-cong-leader-court-summons-cops/903815/

Expressnews service : Rajkot, Wed Jan 25 2012, 05:11 hrs

Rajkot Chief Judicial Magistrate V D Barot on Tuesday summoned Pradhyumannagarpolice with details of the threat case against Congress city PresidentJaswantsinh Bhatti after he accused police of violating human rights byarresting him without evidence.

Bhatti, who had refused to apply for bail and instead opted for jail custodyafter being arrested by Pradhyumannagar police on Monday, had filed a plea withRajkot court alleging he had been arrested without any evidence on a “false”charge of threatening BJP leaders against him, which is “violation of humanright laws”.
In response to his plea, the court on Tuesday summoned investigating officerof Pradhyumanagar police Ajitsinh Zala with all details.”
“The officer has submitted details and the hearing is scheduled forWednesday,” said Bhatti’s counsel Ashok Vaghela.
Meanwhile, Rajkot Bar Association, in a general board meeting held onTuesday, passed a resolution to file a writ petition in Gujarat High Court toquash complaint against Bhatti, who is also a lawyer.
Representatives of Rajkot Bar Association also met Bhatti at jail requestinghim to take bail. “Bhatti has maintained that he will not opt for bail untilRajkot police apologise for ‘false’ case against him,” said Congress leaderKashmira Nathwani.
The Congress also staged a dharna in front of Commissioner of Police GeethaJohri’s office on Tuesday.
Bhatti, on complaint filed by former Rajkot Mayor and BJP councillor UdayKangad, was booked for issuing life threats and causing property loss.

Decks cleared for CHB scheme draw of lots

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/decks-cleared-for-chb-scheme-draw-of-lots/903752/0

Express NewsService : Chandigarh, Wed Jan 25 2012, 01:21 hrs

In a sigh of relief for Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) andthe Chandigarh Administration, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has cleareddecks for the draw of lots for over 160 flats under the Self-Financing HousingScheme of 2010 in Sector 51, Chandigarh. The draw was deferred in March lastyear after the High Court had ruled that the final outcome of the draw of lotswill be subject to outcome of three petitions which had challenged the draw oflots.

The decks have been cleared since the three petitions challenging the drawwere withdrawn today. The petitions were withdrawn after the Chandigarh HousingBoard (CHB) filed a detailed affidavit stating that a lawyer had orchestratedthe filing of writ petitions and had “threatened” the officials of ChandigarhHousing Board (CHB) to not go ahead with the draw of lots since the case waspending before the High Court.
Arguing on behalf of CHB, Advocate Sanjay Kaushal contended that an effortwas made to intimidate the officials by the lawyer who had got the petitionsfiled. Kaushal added that the grievance of the said lawyer was that he (lawyer)was not considered at the time of draw of lots.
Vehemently contesting this claim, Advocate Sanjay Kaushal averred that thecontention of the lawyer was factually incorrect since the lawyer had neverfiled his application with the CHB. last year CHB had put the draw of lots onhold.
CHB, in its affidavit, also produced the details and contents of SMSes sentby the lawyer to the CHB officials. The High Court took serious note of theallegations levelled by the CHB.
The petitioners later withdrew the petitions. Last year the High Court,while making the outcome of draw of lots subject to the decision of the writpetitions, had ruled that “ the procedure adopted by the Housing Board primafacie appears to be an attempt to confine the draw of lots to a particulargroup of candidates”.

Krishna moves SC for quashing of complaint on illegal mining

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_krishna-moves-sc-for-quashing-of-complaint-on-illegal-mining_1641739

Published: Tuesday, Jan 24,2012, 19:26 IST
Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna onTuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of private complaint and probeby Lok Ayukta police against him over alleged illegal mining during his tenureas Karnataka Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004.
The petition by Krishna challenged theJanuary 20 decision of the Karnataka High Court by which his plea for quashingthe private complaint and proceedings ordered by the Lok Ayukta Special Courtagainst him was declined.
He termed as erroneous the high court verdictthat held that investigation will continue into a Cabinet decision on dereservingof forest area.
The petition, filed through advocate VijayLakshmi Menon, contended that the Cabinet decision was a collective one takenby 34 ministers and an individual cannot be held responsible for it.
Further, the policy decision of the governmentcannot be challenged in the court of law, the petition said.
The high court had ordered that investigationshould continue into offences relating to dereservation of forest area inmineral-rich fragile zones.
Krishna, Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004,however, had got some relief as the high court had quashed the charges ofmismanagement of state-owned Mysore Minerals Limited by him on the ground itdoes not constitute any cognisable offence and do not call for investigation.
In the high court, it was submitted on behalfof Krishna that there was a minister incharge of Forest Department and also forMines and Geology Department in his government, which was not the case withsuccessive governments.
The proceedings by a Lokayukta Special Courtwas initiatedon December 8, last year on a private complaint against him.
Krishna had challenged the Lokayukta courtorder in the high court which had on December 15 last stayed the FIR againsthim.
Social activist TJ Abraham had filed aprivate complaint against Krishna, HD Kumaraswamy and another former ChiefMinister N Dharam Singh, seeking action against them for allegedly facilitatingillegal mining.
Singh, however, had withdrawn his petitionfrom the high court, seeking quashing of the proceedings against him in thewake a PIL pending against him on the same issue.
In a seperate order, the high court had alsorefused to grant any relief to Kumaraswamy.
The decision of the Cabinet led by Krishna indereserving forest for mining had also reached the Karnataka High Court in 2003as an advocate had filed a PIL challenging it.
It was dismissed on July 18, 2004 on theground that there was no public interest involved in the petition.

The court hadthen held that the petitioner has not been able to show the government has nopower to issue such notification.

Panchkula to Court: 487 stray cattle caught since November

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/panchkula-to-court-487-stray-cattle-caught-since-november/903762/0

Express NewsService : Panchkula, Wed Jan 25 2012, 02:08 hrs

The Panchkula administration on Tuesday informed a localcourt that action is being taken for removal of stray cattle, but as per law,“statutory time” and “proper opportunity” is to be given to defaulters, whichdelays complete eradication.

In a joint reply filed by Deputy Commissioner, Additional DeputyCommissioner, and Municipal Council Panchkula before Chief Judicial Magistrate(CJM) Gurvinder Kaur, pleaded that action is being taken for getting rid ofstray cattle nuisance.
The reply was filed on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed PankajChandgothia and his wife Sangeeta Chandgothia on getting rid of stray cattlemenace in Panchkula. The authorities informed the court that 487 stray cattlewere captured between November 2 last year and January 21 and only nine havebeen released after a fine was paid.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Panchkula, Maneesh Chaudhry filed hisseparate reply stating therein that “he is doing his duty in accordance withlaw.”
He further said that it is the “prime responsibility of the MunicipalCorporation to catch stray cattle and to take them to a proper cattle shelter”.
Chandgothia contended that the authorities must take strict and expeditiousaction to rid the city of stray cattle so that the pedestrians and commuters donot face any risk to life and property. “The administration is turning a blindeye to the menace and woke from its slumber only after the court orders andeven then its actions were incomplete and intermittent,” he pleaded.
Acting upon a PIL the CJM on October 20, 2011 had issued orders to theDeputy Commissioner, Panchkula; Municipal Council, Panchkula; ADC, Panchkulaand DCP Panchkula “to take all necessary measures and steps to ensure thatmenace of stray cattle is completely eradicated to ensure public safety.”
However, when authorities failed to check the menace, Chandgothia filed acontempt petition alleging disobedience of the court orders.
Taking cognizance of the contempt petition, the CJM had asked all theconcerned officials to file a detailed status report about the action taken toimplement court orders. The case will come for hearing on February 13.

Army refuses to destroy explosives seized by Punjab Police

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/chandigarh/30658751_1_punjab-police-rdx-and-other-explosives-bomb-disposal

TNN Jan24, 2012, 04.08AM IST

CHANDIGARH: Army's Western Command has made it clear that it has nointentions to destroy the huge stocks of RDX and other explosives lying inmalkhanas of Punjab police at various police stations of the state because ithas already trained the to destroy such ammunition.
The response has come in the wake of a public interest litigation (PIL)seeking directions for disposing off huge stocks of RDX stocks and otherexplosive materials lying as "case properties" in police stations allover Punjab. In an affidavit placed before the HC on Monday, ColonelRajiv Khanna of Western Command headquarters, Chandimandir, stated that the ministry ofdefence (MOD) has made several requests to Punjab governments that theyshould raise their own bomb disposal squads because Army resources for disposalof explosives are limited and mostly committed operationally; and to deal withsuch kind of situations is not the primary task of the Army. "The onlypractical way to resolve this matter is that Punjab police should develop itsown capability in the field of destruction/disposal of explosives. Army couldprovide further necessary training for this purpose on specific request fromthe police," he informed.
Colonel Khanna further stated that Army has given training to 59 Punjabpolice personnel from constable to inspector rank in bomb disposal tasks andthese officials can be deployed to destroy the seized material. He alsodisclosed that selected personnel were also provided on training with the Armybomb disposal team involved in Operation Sanyam (where huge stocks ofexplosives lying at Dhadari Kalan Dry Port, Ludhiana were destroyed by theArmy), thereby these personnel are fully competent to deal with the situation.
Petitioner in this case had alleged that the Army authorities were notresponding to the pleas of Punjab police for destroying the huge stocks of RDXand other explosives lying in police malkhanas. After placing on record Army'saffidavit, HC adjourned the matter for January 27 for further hearing.

Government defends merger of Kannada schools

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/government-defends-merger-of--kannada-schools/223718-60-115.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

BANGALORE: The state government on Monday defended its action to mergeschools with less than five and 10 students and submitted an affidavit beforethe High Court saying the decision would help students develop competitiveness.
The state filed this reply in connection with a public interest litigationfiled by litterateurs and Jnanpith award winners G S Shivarudrappa, GirishKarnad, Chandrashekar Kambar and U R Ananthmurthy, seeking to quash the gazettenotification to close Kannada schools across the state.
The state, while filing a reply said, “The decision to merge those schools withless than five and 10 students with bigger schools nearby would favour studentsand is aimed at developing competitiveness.”
While giving information on the strength, it said that 131 primary schools hadzero strength, 551 had less than five students and 2,480 schools enrolled lessthan 10 students. Among higher primary schools, there were no students in 74schools and there are less than 10 students in 380 schools.
The affidavit also said the state will merge these schools with those 3 km awayand will provide Rs 300 a month to each student of schools that are beingmerged.
The government, which has already merged 370 Kannada schools having less thanfive children, prayed to the court to dismiss the PIL. The division benchcomprising Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna adjourned thepetition for further hearing.

SC relief for doctors, lawyers

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/SC-relief-for-doctors-lawyers/articleshow/11622265.cms

AniruddhaGhosal, TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 02.41AM IST

NOIDA: Commercial activity may have beendisallowed by the December 5 Supreme Court order, however, thousands of professionalswere given relief by the apex court on Monday. In a hearing held on January 23,the apex court said that 25 per cent of the Floor Area Ratio of the totalresidential area would be permissible for professional use as opposed to theprevious order wherein it had been stated that only 30 per cent of theresidential area on the ground floor could be used.

Professionals, including doctors, lawyers,architects and chartered accountants, had previously said that displacing themfrom residential areas would deny residents easy access to essential publicservices. "Professionals such as doctors, who operate from residentialareas, provide valuable public services to residents at nominal prices and itis very convenient for residents to avail to these services. Displacing themwould have an adverse effect on the social life in the city," said Dr NKSharma of the Noida Doctors' Association.

The SC's decision to make permissible the use 25per cent of the FAR of residential areas for commercial use has come as a welcomerelief for professionals operating in the city. "As per the order, doctorswill be allowed to run OPDs in residential areas. But any nursing homesoperating in the area will have to shift out," added Sharma.

"What this means is that professionals likeadvocates, architects, doctors, etc will be allowed to use a part of theirresidences," said Captain SK Diwedi, CEO, Noida Authority. "Theseprofessionals need to make sure that they shall use the premises for no otherpurpose other than the practice of their professions," added the CEO.

While the Authority has started brainstorming tocome up with policies to accommodate around 76 bank branches and 50 odd nursinghomes displaced by the SC order, it has also shot off notices to such plotowners who have rented out their residential properties to the commercialunits. According to the Authority, this has been done to ensure that the lattershut operations within a maximum of 15 days. The Authority has warned theseplot owners that in case of non-compliance, their lease deeds would becancelled.

However, the plot owners in the city are stillapprehensive about the Noida Authority's claims that they have sufficient landto accommodate banks and nursing homes. "While our hands are tied for atleast six weeks, the Authority needs to understand that the displaced unitscan't simply be flung to vacant plots. A number of factors like the cost andtime of construction of suitable buildings need to be taken into considerationby the Authority," said Rohit Sapra, a plot owner.

Graft case: HC upholdsdismissal of court staff

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Graft-case-HC-upholds-dismissal-of-court-staff/Article1-801776.aspx

HarishV Nair, Hindustan Times
New Delhi: New Delhi, January 25, 2012

The Delhi high court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of afemale court staffer, who took bribe from an accused, promising to influencethe judge and secure him bail.
“We have no hesitation in holding that such acts bring disrepute to the entirejustice administration system and have the dangerouspotential of tarnishing the image of those who are manning the system,” said abench of justices BD Ahmed and VK Jain.

Kanta Rani, who demanded Rs 1 lakh for “managing”the bail, was arrested while accepting the first part payment of R55,000, was workingas a reader in the court of an additional sessions judge.
Rani was arrested on January 20, 2001 on thecomplaint of one VP Gulati, who was the accused in the case and whom she hadpromised to help.
A trap was laid by the CBI, who arrested her whenshe came to the house of the accused to collect Rs 55,000.

Court: Bangla immigrant votes hamper eviction

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Court-Bangla-immigrant-votes-hamper-eviction/articleshow/11622875.cms

TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 03.58AM IST

NEW DELHI: A trial court hascriticized the government for indulging in "petty votebank politics"and preventing action against three crore Bangladeshi nationals, who areillegally staying in the country and enjoying the benefits meant for thecitizens of this land.

"It is unfortunate that while genuine citizens of this country continue tosuffer in abject poverty, it is petty votebank politics which prevents a firm,resolute and intense government action against the three crore Bangladeshinationals staying illegally in our country, enjoying the benefits whichotherwise are the entitlements of citizens, thereby compelling the courts tostep in," additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said.

The court's remarks came while awarding a four-year jail term to aBangladesh-based man, who was convicted for illegally staying in the nationalcapital. The court said Fazlu, who was also involved in various other criminalcases in the national capital, was maintaining a family in Bangladesh buthad taken advantage of the "porous border" to frequently come toIndia.

"I may observe that convict Fazlu is a foreigner being a Bangladeshi.

"He is maintaining a family in Bangladesh but in an attempt to create hisrights in India, is also maintaining a family consisting of two wives (whosecitizenship he has withheld from the court) and seven children in India.

"Further, as per information from the investigating officer, Fazlu, takingadvantage of the porous border frequently crosses over and while in India hasinvolved himself in a number of criminal cases," it said while directingthe authorities to deport Fazlu to Bangladesh after his jail term ends.

The court said the 47-year-old man placed before it a "fake" rationcard in order to prove himself a citizen of this country.

The judge also referred to a Delhi high court order saying even the divisionbench had wondered how ration cards were being issued to illegal migrantswhereas foodgrains were to be supplied to the needy.

Fazlu was arrested on January 9, 2004, at Haiderpur along with five others forallegedly preparing for dacoity.

Out of the six accused, four were Bangladeshi nationals.

Two of them were declared proclaimed offenders during the trial while one diedduring the pendency of the case.

The court, which convicted Fazlu under the provisions of the Indian ForeignersAct, acquitted him and one Mohan of the charge of preparing for dacoity, as theprosecution failed to prove its case against the accused.

Property grab: Court upholds conspiracy charges against man

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/property-grab-court-upholds-conspiracy-charges-against-man/903732/0

Expressnews service : New Delhi, Wed Jan 25 2012, 01:01 hrs

A city court has upheld the order of another court that hadcharged a man with involvement in the conspiracy to grab the property of Hindiwriter, the late Vishnu Prabhakar.

Dismissing Sanjay Sabharwal’s revision petition, Additional Sessions JudgeIlla Rawat at the Rohini courts complex last week upheld a May 2011 order,charging him with criminal conspiracy to cheat and commit forgery along withhis brother, who was Prabhakar’s tenant.
The case has its origins in an April 2000 petition, which Prabhakar filedagainst his tenant of 10 years, Deepak Sabharwal. Deepak had failed to pay the rentfor the writer’s Pitampura house, and did not honour an undertaking he hadgiven before the Delhi High Court, saying that he would vacate the premisesbefore March-end. Prabhakar also secured an order to recover the unpaid rent.
In April 2010, Deepak went to court with an objection, claiming he hadpurchased the property from a man to whom Prabhakar had sold it to. Sanjayclaimed to be the witness to the deed, which said that a man named Om Pal Singh— who purportedly purchased the property from Prabhakar — sold it to Deepak. Inhis contention, Prabhakar told the court that his tenant had connived withofficials of the DDA and sub-registrar’s office, and conspired with Sanjay andSingh to grab his property.
Charges were framed against the co-accused, including the forger DeepakBhargava, but, Sanjay went absconding and was declared a Proclaimed Offender.He was later arrested.
Judge Rawat upheld the trial court’s order, but suggested some changes:“However, the learned trial court is directed to modify, amend or reframe thecharge framed against the accused to specify the sale transaction(s) ordocuments pertaining to petitioner Sanjay Sabharwal.”
Padma Bhushan Vishnu Prabhakar died in April 2009 at the age of 96.

RUSHDIE-LD REAX 2

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/rushdield-reax-2/955086.html

PTI | 08:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Zafaryab Gilani, legal advisor of Personal Law Board, Zafaryab Gilani, legaladvisor of Personal Law Board, said, "We had only demand that he shouldnot be allowed to come to India because he, according to us, has committed anoffence under Indian Penal Code." BJP said the entire episode exposed the"worst communal vote-bank politics" of Congress. "Rushdieepisode has exposed Congress for its worst communal vote-bank politics...themove to ask four authors to pack up and leave Jaipur was also an attack onfreedom of speech," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said. "Theattempt to block the video link also must be viewed from vote-bank politicsangle. It also exposed Congress of its real intentions to impose censorship oninternet communication," he added. Rubbishing BJP charge that it was"match fixing" by the Congress and the intelligence agencies,Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said, "there is no question ofmatch fixing. Satanic Verses has been banned by the Government of India and theban continues. "To quote rom a banned book whether it violates any law hasto be seen by the state government." Janata Party president SubramanianSwamy said the Central government should be thoroughly condemned for theepisode. "The fight for democratic freedoms can succeed only when there iseternal vigilance and a commitment to defend even those with whom we do notagree," he said. The Rushdie affair at the five day meet and the way itended sparked a flurry of emotions and wide ranging reactions from people whowitnessed the events at what is billed at Asia's largest literature festival.While journalist-author Tarun Tejpal termed it a momentary setback in the fightagainst bigotry, lyricist Javed Akhtar said it was a wakeup call for people whohave been selective in their protest against it. "I don't think it is asetback. It is rather a wakeup call," said Akhtar. "You should havewoken up much earlier. You are sitting in a state where a film Jodha Akbarpassed by the censor board was not allowed to be released and there was noprotest. You are sitting in a country from where its most popular painter wasthrown out without much protest," he said. PTI WAJ SDA RBL EKA

CWG scam: Three more granted bail

http://zeenews.india.com/sports/others/cwg-scam-three-more-granted-bail_736375.html

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 20:57

NewDelhi: A CBI special court has granted bail to former Commonwealth GamesOrganising Committee (OC) officials ASV Prasad and Surjit Lal and a privatefirm`s promoter, PD Arya, in a corruption case related to the games.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge Talwant Singh, in an order madeavailable Tuesday, granted bail to foremr OC joint director general (sports)Prasad, former OC director general (procurement) Lal and Faridabad-based GemInternational`s promoter Arya.
"After hearing both sides, without going into the merits of the case, I aminclined to grant bail to all the three accused...on ground of parity as otherfour accused persons are already on bail," the court said Monday.
With this, seven of the nine people, including former OC chief Suresh Kalmadi,also booked in the case, have been released on bail.
Two companies have also been booked for irregularities in the award of acontract for timing, scoring and result (TSR) equipment for the 2010 Games
The two accused now left in jail are A.K. Madan, another promoter of GemInternational, and A.K. Reddy, official of Hyderabad-based companyA.K.RConstruction.

Thecourt directed the accused who were granted bail not to intimidate any witness.They were also restrained from leaving the country without court permission.
Bail was granted to Arya on a personal bond and two sureties of Rs.5 lakh each,while bail to Prasad and Lal was granted on a personal bond and sureties ofRs.2 lakh each.
Kalmadi was given bail by the Delhi High Court Jan 19 along with his aide V.K.Verma. Former OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot and former treasurer M.Jayachandran were granted bail two days later by the trial court.
The CBI in its first charge sheet in the case against Kalmadi and 10 othersdescribed him as a prime accused and the mastermind in the corruption caserelated to financial irregularities in awarding the Rs.141 crore contract forthe TSR system.
The officials and two companies were charged under various sections of theIndian Penal Code for cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery and under thePrevention of Corruption Act.

Man gets 7-year RI for killing brother

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Man-gets-7-year-RI-for-killing-brother/903777/

Express NewsService : Pune, Wed Jan 25 2012, 02:29 hrs

Additional sessions judge A P Kurhekar sentenced 27-year-old Devaram KuparamChauhan of Rajasthan to seven years rigorous imprisonment for murdering hisyounger brother Rajaram (22) allegedly for eying his wife.

The Wadgaon Maval police had charged Devaram, a resident of Pimple Gurav ,under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court, however,convicted him under Section 304 (ii) (culpable homicide not amounting tomurder) of IPC. Inspector Maruti Ingawle and sub-inspector Deshmukhinvestigated the case.
The prosecution said Devaram, who worked at a provision store in Bopodi, wasmarried to a woman who stayed opposite the store. They have a five-year-olddaughter and two-year-old son. Devaram has six brothers and two sisters.
Rajaram often visited Devaram’s house when he was not at home. Rajaramallegedly molested Devaram’s wife many times and was trying to have illicitrelations with her. She had complained to Devaram and his family and Rajaramwas let off with a warning three-four times, said additional public prosecutorVikas Shah.
On October 18, 2010, Rajaram, who had come from Mumbai, told Devaram that hewanted to visit Lonavala. Both of them had boarded a train to Lonavala, butalighted at Vadgaon station after Rajaram said that he had hidden money inshrubs.
Rajaram took Devaram to a compound along the railway track near the station.
Devaram’s complaint stated that once they had entered the compound, Rajaramtook out a knife and attacked him. However, Devaram grabbed the knife andstabbed him instead. He then surrendered before the Vadgaon Maval police.

Law Commission's new draft wants khap panchayats on marriages declaredillegal

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2829231.ece

Aarti Dhar

According to its Bill, such offences will be cognisable, non-bailable

Rejecting the government's proposal to amend Section 300 of theIndian Penal Code to include ‘honour killings' within the definition of murderon the ground that the existing provisions are adequate to take care of thesituations leading to such killings, the Law Commission has drafted freshlegislation that seeks to declare such panchayats unlawful.

The Prohibition of Unlawful Assembly (Interference with theFreedom of Matrimonial Alliances) Bill, 2011 proposes no person or any group ofpersons shall gather with an “intention to deliberate on, or condemn anymarriage, not prohibited by law, on the basis that such marriage hasdishonoured the caste or community tradition or brought disrepute to all or anyof the persons forming part of the assembly or the family or the people of thelocality concerned.”

Marriage, according to the draft law, includes a proposed orintended marriage. The Collector or the District Magistrate has been entrustedwith the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the persons targeted in caseany illegal decision is taken by the khap panchayat and he/she shall takenecessary steps to prohibit the convening of such illegal gatherings.

Any violation of the Bill will attract imprisonment up to threeyears and a fine of up to Rs 30,000. All offences under the proposed Act willbe cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. The cases will be tried inSpecial Courts presided over by a sessions judge or additional sessions judge.The Special Court can take suo motu cognisance of the cases.

Illegal intimidation

There has been a spurt in illegal intimidation by self-appointedbodies for bringing pressure against sagotra (same gotra) marriages andinter-caste, inter-community and inter-religious marriages between twoconsenting adults in the name of vindicating the honour of family, caste orcommunity.

In a number of cases, such bodies have resorted to incitement ofviolence and such newly married or couples desirous of getting married havebeen subjected to intimidation and violence which has also resulted into theirbeing hounded out of their homes and sometimes even murdered.

“Although such intimidation or acts of violence constituteoffences under the IPC, yet, it is necessary to prevent assemblies which takeplace to condemn such alliances,” the proposed Bill says, adding it seeks tonip the evil in the bud and prevent spreading of hatred or incitement toviolence through such gatherings. Criminal intimidation will have the samemeaning as is given in Section 503 of the IPC.

The Bill further says that any member of an unlawful assembly whoalone or in association with other such members counsels, exhorts or bringspressure upon any person or persons so as to prevent, or disapprove of themarriage which is objected to by the said members of the unlawful assembly, orcreates an environment of hostility towards such couple shall be deemed to haveacted in endangerment of their liberty.

The Law Commission's consultation paper says panchayats gatheredon caste lines assume to themselves the authority to deal with “objectionable”matrimonies and exhibit least regard for life and liberty and are not deterredby the processes of administration of justice. The penal law lacks directapplication to the illegal acts of such caste assemblies and needs to beamended.

Pointing out that the same gotra marriages are not prohibited bylaw, whatever may be the view in old time, the Law Commission says the HinduMarriage Disabilities Removal Act, 1946 was enacted to dispel any doubts inthis regard.

Vindicating honour

The Act expressly declared the validity of marriages betweenHindus belonging to the same gotra, different sub-divisions of the same caste.“The view of village elders or family elders cannot be forced on the willingcouple and no one has the right to use force or impose far-reaching sanctionsin the name of vindicating community honour or family honour,” it says.

Drawing attention to the proposals to amend Section 300 of theIPC, the Commission says the motive behind killing a person did not furnishreal justification to introduce a separate provision in this Section, as theaddition of such a clause may create confusion and interpretationaldifficulties.

Reading 'The Satanic Verses' not a punishable offence, say legal experts

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/salman-rushdie-the-satanic-verses-jaipur-authors-legal-experts/1/170439.html

In a surprising move, the legal community has come out insupport of the four authors who read out from controversial author Salman Rushdie's book at the Jaipur Literary Festival recently.

The experts opined that downloading The Satanic Verses from the internet was not banned,nor reading the book was a punishable offence.

Addressing the fest on January 20, author Amitava Kumar had said: "TheSatanic Verses was banned in this country. The publication of the book SatanicVerses was central to this controversy, sadly. It is a book that has neverbeen read publicly in this country. So we are going to do that."

A chasm of trouble had opened when Kumar and Hari Kunzru organised this jointsession reading passages from Rushdie's banned book. In a separate session,writers Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi also did the same.

Criminal complaints followed against the four authors seeking police action forwhat was seen as the acts of defiance. They were also advised to make a hastyexit from the festival.

In a new twist, however, legal experts say the writers have nothing to fearbecause they have not broken the law at all.

They said that in September 1988 only the import of the book was banned underthe Customs Act. The ban became effective nine days after the book was releasedin the United Kingdom. Hence, the copies of the book that already existedbefore that could be possessed and read.

Importantly, the four authors who were threatened prosecution did not even readout from the book. They actually read from print-outs of select passages from TheSatanic Verses.

Legal experts confirmed that there was no ban on downloading copies of the bookfrom the internet.

Delhi-based cyber law expert Pavan Duggal said, "Even if the book is physicallybanned, in the physical world, that still does not really impact the saidinformation being made available on the internet. There is nothing under theIndian mother legislation being the Indian Cyber Law, which actually bans thereading of the extracts of a book which is physically banned in the world.Technically speaking there is nothing wrong if you go ahead and read suchcontents on the internet."

However, the organisers of the festival chose to play it safe.

The organiser of the fest, Sanjoy Roy, said, "We have not received a copyof the law under which this particular book was banned. Whoever may give youthis opinion, if we are able to receive a copy of what law it was banned under,all of this would be clear. But right now it's not."

The state government can prosecute the authors under Section 153B of the IndianPenal Code (IPC), which bans hate speeches. But that will mean having to provethat the passages they read out might have inflamed communal passions.

For now, the action plan remains unclear. The legal community though has beensure that mixing misunderstood law with freedom of speech is just a bad ideafor everybody.

CIC issues show cause notice to Alliance Air

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/cic-issues-show-cause-notice-to-alliance-air/955124.html

PTI | 08:01PM,Jan 24,2012

New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) The Central Information Commission has issued a showcause notice to Air India subsidiary Alliance Air for not disclosinginformation about a flight which was pulled out of its scheduled departure toferry an IPL cricket team, despite its orders. The Delhi-Coimbatore flight wasaborted on April 20, 2010 and the aircraft was reportedly used to ferry IPL playersand Poorna Patel, daughter of the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patelfrom Chandigarh to Chennai. Based on these news reports, activist SubhashAgrawal had sought details about this flight from Alliance Air which informedthat owner of Chennai Super Kings, India Cements, had requested for thechartered flight and the payment was also made by them in advance. However, theairlines did not give complete file notings and other details. InformationCommissioner Sushma Singh on February 23, 2011 ordered the Airlines to disclosecomplete information. But within a month Alliance Air replied saying that theinformation is "commercially sensitive" and cannot be disclosedaccording to exemption clauses of the RTI Act. Agrawal filed a fresh applicationseeking details but was denied again after which he filed case ofnon-compliance before the Commission. In the recent hearing, Singh ordered,"The CPIO is hereby directed to provide complete information to theappellant and to show cause why a penalty of Rs 25000 under section 20 of theRTI Act should not be imposed on him for causing a delay of more than 100 daysin providing the information to the appellant."

Orissa High Court bar association suspends Advocate General

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/orissa-high-court-bar-association-suspends-advocate-general/955197.html

PTI | 10:01 PM,Jan24,2012

Cuttack, Jan 24 (PTI) In an unprecedented move the Orissa High Court BarAssociation today passed a unanimous resolution putting the State AdvocateGeneral (AG) Ashok Kumar Mohanty under suspension from the association andissued a show-cause notice to him. "The bar association in anextraordinary general body meeting on the day passed a resolution suspendingthe Advocate General for his alleged misbehaviour and showing disrespect to theoffice bearers of the bar," said the bar association secretary Piyush KumarMishra. It was also decided by the Association that a show-cause notice wouldbe issued to the AG as to why he conducted himself in such unbecoming manner,Mishra said. Sources said some office bearers ofthe Association, including its secretary had gone the AGs residence on Mondayevening to seek his consent for inaugurating the January 26 inter-bar crickettournament as chief guest of the occasion. "But without any provocation,the AG misbehaved with the office bearers and asked them to go away," saida member of the association executive body. Whencontacted, the AG refused to comment on the issue saying he was yet to knowabout the allegations against him. "I would be in a position to comment onthe issue only when I am informed about the allegations against me,"Mohanty told this correspondent over telephone.

Court seeks details on Bombay Dyeing new construction

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Court-seeks-details-on-Bombay-Dyeing-new-construction/articleshow/11622497.cms

RosySequeira, TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 03.10AM IST

MUMBAI: The Bombay HighCourt on Tuesday asked Bombay Dyeing to give details regarding the status of itsconstruction on over 10 hectares of mill land in Naigaum, Dadar (E) and LowerParel.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah andJustice Roshan Dalvi was hearing a petition by Bombay Dyeing and ManufacturingCompany Limited, seeking to differ handing over one-third of its mill land to BMC and anotherone-third to Mhada for construction of recreation grounds and housing for millworkers and transit accommodation. To submissions by its counsel, NavrozeSeervai, stating the the firm would anyway hand over the land after completing30% of the proposed construction, the court asked what good it would do todiffer transfer of land.

"Whether it will take two years or fifty,will you also differ handing the land to these authorities," asked JusticeShah. Raising concerns that such activity could be differed indefinitely,Justice Dalvi intervened to ask Seervai how much of the construction has beencompleted till date. Seervai said he had to take instructions. The judges alsoasked him to state the time-frame by when they would complete 30% of the work.

(Additional government pleader G W) Mattos tookumbrage to the conduct of Bombay Dyeing who, before the monitoring committee,had promised to hand over the land once their plans were amended."Subsequently, they changed their stand, saying they would have to lookinto the aspect of construction of the mill workers' houses on site," hesaid. He also argued that permission for closure of the Bombay Dyeing Mills wasconditional to the handling over of the requisite land to BMC and Mhada. Thejudge, on suggestion by Mattos, directed BMC to furnish particulars for theproportion of construction on site by the firm, and adjourned the matter toFebruary 3.

Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked Bombay Dyeingto give details regarding the status of its construction on over 10 hectares ofmill-land at Naigaum, Dadar (East) and Lower Parel and the time-frame for itscompletion.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah andJustice Roshan Dalvi were hearing a petition by Bombay Dyeing and ManufacturingCompany Limited seeking to differ handing over one-third of its mill-land toBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and another one-third to Maharashtra Housingand Area Development Authority for construction of recreation ground andhousing for mill-workers and transit accomodation. To submissions by itscounsel Navroze Seervai that it would anyway hand over the land aftercompleting 30 percent of the construction, the court sought to know what goodwould it do differ transfer of land.

Whether it will take two years or fifty years,will you also differ handing the land to these authorities?'' asked JusticeShah. Raising concerning that such activity could be differed indefinitely,Justice Dalvi intervened to ask Seervai how much of the construction wascarried on till date. Seervai said he had to take instructions.The judges alsoasked him to state the time-frame by when they will complete 30 percent of theproposed construction.

Mattos took umbrage to the conduct Bombay Dyeingwho before the monitoring committee had promise to hand over the land oncetheir plans were amended. Subsequently they changed their stand saying theywould have to look into the aspect of construction of the mill-workers houseson site,'' he said. He also argued that the permission for closure of theBombay Dyeing mills was conditional to the handing over of the requisite land toBMC and MHADA. The judges on suggestion by Mattos directed BMC to furnishparticulars for the proportion of the construction carried on site by BombayDyeing and adjourned the matter to February 3, 2012.

Amit Shah moves court to let him return to Gujarat

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2828795.ece

Legal Correspondent

The former Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, anaccused in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, moved the Supreme Court onTuesday seeking a direction to relax the bail condition that he should notenter Gujarat.

Soon after the Gujarat High Court granted him bail, the CBI filedan appeal for cancellation of the bail and the matter was being heard by aBench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai. The Supreme Court in October2010 restrained Mr. Shah from entering the State. The present application seeksto relax that condition.

Mr. Shah said he had complied with all the bail conditions,including marking presence before the CBI every month, as stipulated in theorder of grant of bail i.e. for a period of one year.

He said: “It is not even the CBI's case that the applicant has,in any manner, interfered with or influenced the investigation in any mannerwhatsoever.”

He said he had kept his assurance given to the court and neverentered Gujarat since October 30, 2010 though he represented one of the largestAssembly constituencies in the country and was holding several responsiblepositions in various organisations.

He said he was in active public life for about 25 years and had ablotless political career to his credit with no criminal antecedents. He waselected MLA from the Sarkhaj constituency for the last four consecutive termswith increased margin of votes that showed the faith of electorate in him, hesaid.

A section comprising vested interest political groups had beenalleging that many police encounters were taking place in Gujarat and thevictims belonged to a particular community, he said. The allegation wasdeliberately misleading as per records.

Gujarat, which had the longest coastal border and land borderwith the neighbouring country, faced a potent threat of infiltration ofterrorist groups and the number of encounters was minimum as compared to otherStates. He said tremendous hardship was caused to him and others owing to hislong absence from the constituency and the condition not to enter Gujarat“deprives him of discharging several important responsibilities.”

He prayed for a modification of the order passed by the court.

HC refuses to stall release of 5 on bail

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/mumbai/30662387_1_sessions-court-perusal-nashik

Rosy Sequeira, TNN Jan 25, 2012, 02.47AM IST

MUMBAI: Merely because the injured is a doctor or medical officer, theaccused cannot be treated differently, the Bombay high court said on Tuesdaywhile directing the release of five persons on bail.
They allegedly beat up the doctor and ransacked Wockhardt Hospital in Nashikafter a patient turned critical.
Justice J H Bhatia was hearing the hospital's application for cancellationof bail by the sessions court to Babanrao Tile and four others. Tile's wifePushpa was referred by an ESIC hospital in Nashik to Wockhardt for balloonmitral valvuloplasty (a minimally invasive procedure done to fix a heartvalve). Dr Sunil Sonawane had taken the relatives' consent and informed them ofthe high risk in performing the procedure. But during the procedure, she didnot respond and was shifted to the intensive care unit.
When the doctor called Tile to discuss further treatment, the five allegedlyassaulted him and dragged him into a car. But the cops stopped them and tookthem to the police station. Pushpa subsequently died.
Wockhard's advocate Subodh Desai said their bail must be cancelled as theiracts were intended to cause death. Justice Bhatia said after perusal of medicalrecords and CCTV footage that it was impossible to make that conclusion.

HC notice to C’garh govt on poem advt

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/HC-notice-to-C-garh-govt-on-poem-advt/903643/

Expressnews service : Raipur, Wed Jan 25 2012, 00:09 hrs

The Bilaspur High Court Tuesday issued a notice to the Chhattisgarh government,asking whether it had paid local newspapers to carry poems by some BJP leaders.It also asked the newspapers if the government had ordered them to do so.

The Indian Express had first reported about poems by some unidentified BJPleaders that were published as a government advertisement — Nai Duniya andHaribhoomi mentioned they were released by Samvad, the government’s PR agency —on November 9, 2011.
Government spokesman N Baijendra Kumar claimed the newspapers mentionedSamvad’s name by mistake. A bench asked the newspapers to explain who paid themfor the advertisement.
CWG: Court cites parity, 3 get bail
A special CBI court granted bail to three accused, including two former CWGOrganising Committee (OC) officials, in the Commonwealth Games case on groundsof parity. The court granted bail to OC’s former joint director general(Sports) A S V Prasad, former director general (Procurement) Surjit Lal andpromoter of Gem International P D Arya, observing that four other accused,including former OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi, were already out on bail.

HC directs probe by Mum police commissioner in assault case

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-directs-probe-by-mum-police-commissioner-in-assault-case/955176.html

PTI | 09:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) The Bombay High Court today directed the cityCommissioner of Police to personally conduct an inquiry against three of hisofficers accused of assaulting two social workers from suburban Mumbai, whoreported a water theft case to the police. A division bench of Justices AMKhanwilkar and SS Jadhav was hearing a petition filed by the social workers -Avinash Joshi and Sunder Singh Bisht - who have claimed that they wereassaulted by Ghatkopar police on September 28, 2011. According to the petition,the duo on the day of the incident saw water tankers filling water illegallyfrom the municipal corporation's water pipe. The petitioners called up thepolice control room and soon policemen arrived at the spot. "Instead oftaking cognisance of the water mafia filling up the tankers, the police startedassaulting the petitioners. They were taken to the police station where fourpolice officers Ashok Mahale, Govind Jadhav, Santosh Pawar and KaustubhMithbawkar assaulted them further," the petition alleges. Advocate PrakashWagh, appearing for the social workers, told the court that instead of registeringFIR against the water mafia, the police lodged a complaint against thepetitioners for assaulting a public servant and not allowing him to dischargehis duty. "Law abiding citizens go to jail and illegal activities will beallowed to continue. Such matters should be personally looked into by thepolice commissioner," the court said directing the matter to be posted forfurther hearing on February 7. Additional public prosecutor Jayesh Yagnik toldthe court that the deputy commissioner of police of that zone had taken aserious note of the allegations and assigned a senior police officer toinvestigate. The court, however, directed for the police commissioner toconduct the inquiry. PTI SP VKV

HC orders FIR against BMC men for graft

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/mumbai/30662554_1_hc-orders-fir-bmc-officers-civic-staff

Shibu Thomas, TNN Jan 25, 2012, 07.00AM IST

MUMBAI: Taking a serious view of allegations of corruption against BMCofficers who demanded protection money from a shopkeeper, the Bombay High Courton Tuesday ordered the police to lodge an FIR against the civic staff.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Juhu resident Baldev Gupta, whoclaimed that three BMC officers had demolished a portion of his shop as he didnot meet their demand for Rs 50,000.

"The complaint reveals a cognizable offence," said abench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Sadhana Jadhav.

HC directs TN police to hand over sexual abuse case to CBI

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-directs-tn-police-to-hand-over-sexual-abuse-case-to-cbi/955074.html

PTI | 08:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Chennai, Jan 24 (PTI): Dissatisfied with investigation by Tamil Nadu policeinto alleged sexual abuse of a four-year-old girl by a teacher and principal ofa private school,the Madras High Court today handed over the case to the CBI."We have noticed the manner in which the investigation has proceeded andalso recorded our dissatisfaction.Therefore,this is a fit case whereinvestigation has to be transferred to the CBI,' the First Bench comprisingChief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam said The bench passed theorder on a petition by A Ramalingam, a member of Villupuram district 'HumanRights Protection Centre', in connectin with the abuse of the girl. The matterrelates to alleged sexual abuse of the UKG girl at a private school inKallakurichi in Villupuram district by an LKG teacher and the Principal. Acomplaint had been preferred by the childs mother on August 3 last and a caseregistered by police for wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt,criminal intimidation and unnatural offences. Directing the crime branch-CID ofstate police to hand over all records pertaining to the case to CBI, the Benchdirected the central investigation agency to file the final report within 60days of receipt of today's order. The bench reiterated its earlier assertionthat the girl should not be subjected to any more medical tests and thatinvestigation should proceed on available medical opinion. "The repeatedinsistence by CB-CID to subject the girl to further medical examination createsa serious doubt in the minds of this court as to whether CB-CID is serious inprosecuting the matter or it is an attempt to shield the accused," thebench said.

HC allows Koda, ex-cabinet colleague to be examined at AIIMS

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-allows-koda-excabinet-colleague-to-be-examined-at-aiims/955090.html

PTI | 08:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Ranchi, Jan 24 (PTI) The Jharkhand High Court today directed the stategovernment to allow former Chief Minister Madhu Koda and his ex-cabinetcolleague Bhanu Pratap Sahi, currently in judicial custody, to get examined inDelhi's AIIMS at their own cost. Responding to a petition of Koda and Sahi, adivision bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Chandra Tatia and JusticeApresh Kumar Singh directed the government to get them examined within onemonth at the hospital at their cost and if necessary allow them to get treatedthere. The court, however, directed the government to provide physiotherapiststo treat Koda inside the Birsa Munda Jail here prior to his visit to AIIMS. Thepetition was filed by Koda and Sahi in the wake of doctors at the NamkumMilitary Hospital declaring them fit enough to be treated in the Birsa MundaJail here. Koda had suffered a fracture on October 31 last, while Sahi ishaving other health problems. The petitioners claimed that the militaryhospital had no proper apparatus and its report on their health contradictedthat of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here. The two, whowere in the RIMS till December 28, returned to the jail the next day after amedical team declared that they did not require admission. The court'sdirection to get them checked by the military doctors came after a PIL bysocial activist Durga Oraon accusing them of using their political clout tostay in RIMS on the pretext of being ill instead of staying in jail. Koda wasarrested on November 30, 2009 in connection with disproportionate assets case,while Sahi surrendered to a court last year in connection with a medical scam.PTI COR PVR PR

2G scam: Delhi HC notice to CBI on Goenka’s plea

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2G-scam-Delhi-HC-notice-to-CBI-on-Goenkas-plea/articleshow/11622680.cms

TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 03.32AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Tuesday issued notice to the CBI and sought its response on theplea of D BRealty MD Vinod Goenka challenging the order on framing of charges againsthim by the trial court in the 2G scam.

Goenka was arrested on April 20, 2011, for his `role' in the scam and wasgranted bail on November 23 by the Supreme Court. So far, of the 17 accused, 10have moved the HC challenging the trial court's October 22 order.

Goenka, former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, Reliance ADAG officials -Group MD Gautam Doshi, Senior VP Hari Nair and Group President Surendra Pipara- and Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Rajeev Agarwal and Asif Balwa,directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Private Ltd have moved the HC.Telecom firms, Reliance Telecom Ltd and Unitech have also challenged the lowercourt's order.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini had framed charges against the 17 accused foroffences of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and abuseof official position under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Special Judge had said Goenka along with Swan Telecom promoter Shahid UsmanBalwa and others, was prima facie involved in the money trail and "createdfalse documents to show the bribe amount of Rs 200 crore (from DB Group toDMK-run Kalaignar TV) as a loan and with a view to use them in any stage ofjudicial proceedings and thereby committed offence punishable under Section 193(giving false evidence) along with 120B IPC (criminal conspiracy)".

CBI had alleged the accused had conspired and caused a loss of Rs 30,984 croreto the state exchequer in the grant of 2G licences to various telecom firms in2008.

HC upholds Tis Hazari staffer’s dismissal

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-upholds-tis-hazari-staffers-dismissal/903730/0

Expressnews service : New Delhi, Wed Jan 25 2012, 00:59 hrs

Being found at the house of an accused has cost a courtemployee dear. Describing Kanta Rani’s conduct as one that could tarnish theimage of those manning the justice administration system, the Delhi High Courton Tuesday upheld her dismissal from service.

A bench of Justices B D Ahmed and V K Jain said that the charges againstRani, who was at the time posted as a reader in a trial court, was “grave” innature and amounted to gross misconduct and, hence, her dismissal from the jobwas not disproportionate to the accusations proved against her.
Rani was apprehended by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on January20, 2001, from the residence of one V P Gulati, whose trial in a corruptioncase was being held in a Tis Hazari court. Rani was working in the same court.Gulati had lodged a complaint with the CBI, alleging that she demanded Rs 1lakh as bribe to get him bail. A trap was laid and Rani was caught fromGulati’s house in Old Rajinder Nagar, allegedly with bribe money amounting toRs 55,000.
Following an inquiry, the District and Sessions judge concluded that eventhough accepting bribe could not be established beyond reasonable doubts, herpresence at Gulati’s house connoted that she had failed to maintain absoluteintegrity and had compromised the position of trust and confidence reposed in acourt official. The judge dismissed Rani from service by an order in July 2009.
She subsequently filed a petition before a single judge bench, which foundno merit in her plea and maintained the disciplinary authority’s order.
Rani filed a petition before a division bench and contended that the chargeagainst her pertained to accepting the bribe and, hence, penalty for visitingthe complainant’s house was an erroneous decision. She claimed that she had visitedGulati’s house because she knew him through a common acquaintance.
The bench discarded her plea and said she knew it very well that Gulati wasfacing prosecution in the court where she was posted as a reader and, moreover,it was established that she handled the tainted money.
“We are in full agreement with the inquiry officer and the disciplinaryauthority that the act of the petitioner in visiting the house of a person, whowas facing trial in the court in which she was posted as reader, and being foundpresent there, constituted an act which clearly exhibited lack of absoluteintegrity,” noted the bench.

HC flays railways for ignoring disabled

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/mumbai/30662564_1_railway-stations-railway-facilities-separate-toilets

Rosy Sequeira, TNN Jan 25, 2012, 02.34AM IST

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday lambasted the Railways for notimplementing its own circular of 1998 for providing general commuter amenitiesincluding separate toilets and low height ticket windows at every station forthe disabled.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Roshan Dalvi werehearing a public interest litigation filed in 2007 by the Disability RightsInitiative for for making railway facilities accessible for the disabled. TheNGOs advocate Kranti L C said though by its own circular dated December 30,1998 the Railways were to provide one accessible toilet and one ticket windowat every station, it has taken a stand that it is not possible. Western Railwayadvocate said that this circular was not pointed out before.If you have yourown guidelines, then why do you need someone else to tell you?'' asked JusticeShah to Western Railway advocate Beni Chatterji.
Kranti also pointed out that a meeting was taken by Additional SolicitorGeneral Darius Khambatta on the court's instruction but even his recommendationsthat the Railways should provide at least one accessible toilet and oneticketing window at every station as a start was not complied with. Chatterjisaid the NGO must give details of the deficiencies. According to us , all is inplace,'' he added. Kranti said the last audit in May 2011 shows that basicfacilities are missing at the railway stations.
The judges directed the chairperson of the committee to be present in court.When Chatterji sought court's order to have a railway officer to assist thecommittee, the judges were perturbed at his request. Why do you want the courtto pass such orders? This is a bureaucratic approach,'' said Justice Shah. Intheir order, the judges accepted the request of the Railways to have theAdditional Divisional Railway Manager (Operations) to assist the committee.
The judges have directed the Railways to submit an action plan forimplementation of amenities within four weeks. Additionally, they also directedthat the railways should forthwith take steps to build accessible toilets andticket windows at every station.
The matter will be heard on March 1, 2012.

HC reserves order on plea to bring Modi before Nanavati panel

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-reserves-order-on-plea-to-bring-modi-before-nanavati-panel/903813/

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a petition demandingto summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi and three others at the Nanavati-MehtaCommission for their cross-examination.
A division bench of HC comprising Justices Akil Kureshi and Sonia Gokanireserved the order on the application moved by one Amrish Patel from JanSangharsh Manch (JSM), which is representing some of the 2002 riots victims atthe Commission.
According to petitioner’s lawyer Mukul Sinha, they had originally demanded adirection to summon Modi. However, the petition was subsequently amended and adirection was sought to the Nanavati-Mehta Commission to summon Modi and fourothers, which include the then minister of state (home) Gordhan Zadaphia andthe three former staff members of the Chief Minister’s Office, Omprakash Singh,Tanmay Mehta and Sanjay Bhavsar. The three were ordered by the Commission tofile their affidavits over certain issues but their cross-examination was neverallowed by others. The Commission has not summoned Modi at all.
Zadaphia has been summoned and cross-examined.
Originally, the petitioner had moved an application in this regard beforethe Nanavati-Mehta Commission, which turned it down. The petitioner then movedthe HC, where a single-judge bench upheld the Commission’s order.
The petitioner then challenged the order before a division bench comprisingthe then Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhaya and Justice Akil Kureshi, which heardthe petition and kept the order reserved. However, following elevation ofJustice Mukhopadhaya to the Supreme Court, the petition was heard afresh by thedivision bench comprising Justices Akil Kureshi and Sonia Gokani.

HC grants bail to five who beat up Nashik doctor

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/nashik/30662812_1_hc-grants-doctor-wockhardt-hospital

TNN Jan25, 2012, 04.42AM IST

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to five persons who hadallegedly beaten up a doctor and ransacked Wockhardt Hospital in Nashik afterone of their relatives turned critical. The high court said merely because theinjured was a doctor or a medical officer, the accused cannot be treateddifferently.
Justice J H Bhatia was hearing application by the hospital for cancellationof bail granted by the sessions court to Babanrao Tile and four others. Tile'swife Pushpa was referred by an ESIC hospital in Nashik to Wockhardt for balloonmitral valvuloplasty (BMV) procedure. Dr Sunil Sonawane had taken consent from therelatives and also informed them of the high risk in performing the procedure.
However, during the procedure she did not respond and she was shifted to theintensive care unit. When the doctor called Tile to discuss further treatmentand course of action, they allegedly assaulted him and dragged him into a car.The police stopped them and took them to the police station. Pushpasubsequently died.
Wockhard's lawyer Subodh Desai urged that their bail be cancelled pointingout that the acts of Tile and others were intended to cause death of the doctorand therefore, an offence of Section 307 (attempt to murder) was registered.
But Justice Bhatia said after perusal of medical records and the footagefrom closed circuit television camera, it was impossible to come to aconclusion that they attempted to murder Sonawane. He said it was a"simple assault" by persons who were agitated and annoyed with thedoctor and "gave him blows and another or two with the chair".
Justice Bhatia said fracture of the nasal bone could not be life threateningby any stretch of imagination and could fall within sections 323 (simple hurt)and 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous), which are bailable.Justice Bhatia said while it is true that the act of patient's relative isabsolutely improper in assaulting the doctor,but
the accused cannot be treated differently than other accused in similarcircumstances. Just because the injured doctor was from a big hospital likeWockhardt, this court cannot interfere, the judge added.

HC raps bank for stopping old staffer's pension

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/HC-raps-bank-for-stopping-old-staffers-pension/articleshow/11622367.cms

SwatiDeshpande, TNN | Jan 25, 2012, 02.55AM IST

MUMBAI: Stating that depriving former employeesof their pension rights was an arbitrary move, the Bombay HighCourt has directed Allahabad Bank to restart the fund of an 87-year-old man.

"Pension constitutes an important source ofwherewithal for senior citizens so that they can live the twilight years indignity," the HC said. Criticizing the nationalized bank's conduct inwithholding the pension of an old employee, the court said service conditionsset by the state authorities could not be modified arbitrarily.

"The deprivation in the present case hastaken place patently in violation of law and flouts the guarantee of equalprotection under Article 14 of the Constitution," said a bench of JusticeD Y Chandrachud and Justice Amjad Sayed on January 19, while deciding in favourof Shapoor Mehta who retired from Allahabad Bank in 1986 after working therefor 39 years.

Last October, the bank discontinued the pensionscheme in lieu of gratuity pending amendment to the Officers ServiceRegulations and stopped paying Mehta a monthly pension of Rs 5,660. In HC,Mehta's counsel K J Presswala said retirement benefits were not a largesse andsudden stopping of pension of an 87 year old who was an "awardstaff", was blatantly unlawful, unconstitutional and against naturaljustice. Pension was governed by the Pension Rules that were in force even priorto nationalization of banks and the same terms were to continue later, he said.

Opposing the petition, bank's counsel AshishMehta said as the bank, following a Supreme Courtorder, had to pay gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 only, it waswithin its rights to stop paying pension. Finding "no merit" in theargument, the HC said, "As a matter of first principle,

Retirement benefits, including pension andgratuity, constitute a valuable right in property.... Where the employer is apublic sector firm, the rights are constitutionally protected and theirdeprivation must stand scrutiny. Employers cannot grant or withhold retirementbenefits at their whim and caprice."

Pointing to the flaw in the bank's argument, theHC said the SC held that "pension and gratuity were separate retirementbenefits and so, the statutory right to paying gratuity could not be withheldon the grounds that the employees received pension". The HC said the SCjudgment "has been met with a reprisal by depriving employees their rightto a pension. Nothing more arbitrary can be conceived of." Stopping suchpayment unilaterally by an executive act was arbitrary as the SC had held thatthe employees were entitled to gratuity in addition to pension as gettinggratuity was a statutory right.

Govt waived Village EWS clause, so floor area ratio cut: DDA to HC

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-waived-village-ews-clause-so-floor-area-ratio-cut-dda-to-hc/903717/0

Utkarsh Anand :New Delhi, Wed Jan 25 2012, 00:51 hrs

In a spot over calculation of the floor area ratio (FAR) atthe Commonwealth Games Village complex, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)has told the Delhi High Court that the complex was to have a provision of 15per cent of the FAR for the economically weaker section (EWS) but the totalpermissible area was reduced when Emaar MGF was given a waiver by the Centralgovernment.

DDA counsel Ajay Verma told the court he had to disclose this fact sinceEmaar had been claiming that the total permissible FAR was 2,20,000 sq metresand not 2,05,000 sq metres as was being said by the civic body.
The counsel said that Emaar, under the Master Plan 2021, was obligated toreserve 15 per cent of the FAR built in a group housing residential colony forthe EWS but the DDA had to bear this responsibility after the builder wrote tothe Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) to get this condition waived. “Emaarwrote a letter to the Central government to waive the condition of 15 per centEWS and also density criteria, following which the MoUD asked the DDA tosanction the plan accordingly. We thus calculated it as 2,05,000 sq metres inaccordance with the relaxation given to them. That is why they (Emaar) cannotnow claim that the total permissible area was 2,20,000 sq metres,” Verma said.
The DDA response came after Emaar’s counsel, senior advocate Arvind Nigam,said that as per the Master Plan, 2,20,000 sq metres was the permissible limitand if the DDA calculated 5 per cent of this as compoundable area, nodemolition would be required.
“Under the rules, DDA can compound excess FAR to the extent of 5 per cent ofthe total area. Therefore, 5 per cent of 2,20,000 sq metres would cover theentire excess construction of around 12,000 sq metres and no demolition wouldbe required,” Nigam said.
Appearing for the MoUD, Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok alsoemphasised on the Master Plan stipulating 2,20,000 sq metres as the permissibleFAR and said that if the facts stated were correct, the Ministry would not evenhave to intervene. “Moreover, the DDA itself sanctioned 2,20,000 sq metres aspermissible FAR in their agreement with Emaar,” the ASG said.
At this, the DDA counsel said Emaar cannot now take refuge under the MasterPlan or the sanctioned plan when the civic body was asked to relax the EWScondition and consequently the DDA took it upon itself to provide for 15 percent EWS in the complex. Justice Hima Kohli decided to go through thesanctioned plan and noted that while the DDA claimed that Emaar earned therelaxation owing to MoUD’s intervention, the documents did not mention thesefacts or a stipulation.
“It seems you (DDA) took your chances when you did not mention in theagreement that Emaar will not contest the permissible FAR in view of therelaxation they got with respect to the EWS and density,” Justice Kohli said.
The DDA counsel said that at the next date of hearing, he would produce thecommunication between the MoUD and the DDA on the basis of which the civic bodyassumed the responsibility of providing houses to the EWS and restricted theFAR to 2,05,000 sq m.
Emaar’s counsel contended that the EWS issue was unnecessarily being raisednow.
Justice Kohli asked the MoUD to take into account all the aspects and take adecision on the excess FAR by the next date of hearing in February.

VLS Finance moves HC for CBI probe against hotelier S P Gupta

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/vls-finance-moves-hc-for-cbi-probe-against-hotelier-s-p-gupta/955062.html

PTI | 07:01PM,Jan 24,2012

New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) VLS Finance, which is enganged in a legal battlewith hotelier S P Gupta, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking a CBI probeinto the case relating to theft of documents from the Ministry of CorporateAffairs (MCA). The private firm, a non-banking-finance-corporation, was thecomplainant in the case alleging fraud, forgery and deceit by the hotelier whoattracted attention after reports that an FIR against him was withdrawnallegedly at the behest of Home Minister P Chidambaram, his former lawyer. VLSFinance filed a petition before the high court saying Gupta had createdpressure on the probe agency and "was interfering in the investigation byseeking closure of the investigation in the FIR by misusing governmentmachinery". The firm said the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Policehad "hurriedly" filed the chargesheet against Gupta "in order tohelp the accused and avoid transfer of probe of the case to CBI for properinvestigation into all aspects including under the Prevention of CorruptionAct". It alleged the Delhi Police had conducted the probe in a"shoddy and tardy" manner under the pressure of Gupta. "It ispertinent to note that not a single accused was arrested nor put to custodialinterrogation in such a serious case, where government of India's files hadbeen removed by the accused from the MCA and recovered from the residence ofthe accused, which files were initiated to take action against theaccused," it said. The company said Gupta had made complaints to theCentral Vigilance Commissioner against officials of the probe agency, thepublic prosecutor and even the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate who waspresiding the lower court conducting trial in the case.

HC quashes four cases against DMK Rajya Sabha member

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-quashes-four-cases-against-dmk-rajya-sabha-member/955121.html

PTI | 08:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Chennai, Jan 24 (PTI):The Madras High Court today quashed four cases againstDMK Rajya Sabha member Vasanthi Stanley,who had been charged withoffences,including cheating and forgery. In his order,Justice T Mathivanan saidthat from a perusal of Stanley's submissions and 'no due' certificates issuedby respective banks,it could be seen that all dues had been fully paid by wayof final settlement and so was allowing her prayer to quash the proceedingsagainst her. In her petition, filed through counsel Abudu Kumar Rajarathnam,Stanley submitted her husband had been accused of obtaining loans fromSyndicate Bank, the then Centurion Bank (later merged with HDFC Bank), Bank ofIndia and Vijaya Bank. She said she was the guarantor/co-applicant in the loantransactions. Her husband and some other accused were said to have submittedforged documents. After her husband's demise, she had come to know cases werepending against her due to his alleged involvement, she said, adding she hadsettled all dues totalling about Rs 54 lakh with the banks and obtained 'nodue' certificates from them. Hence she sought quashing of the criminalproceedings against her. PTI GR APR

HC to hear DA cases against Sorens separately

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-to-hear-da-cases-against-sorens-separately/955037.html

PTI | 07:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Ranchi, Jan 24 (PTI) Jharkhand High Court today rejected a petition seekingto tag cases of disproportionate assets cases against Deputy Chief MinisterHemant Soren and his father JMM president Shibu Soren along with ex-CM MadhuKoda and other ex-ministers to hear them simultaneously. Dismissing thepetition filed by social activist Durga Oraon, the division bench of ChiefJustice Prakash Chandra Tatia and Justice Apresh Kumar Singh observed that itwas not appropriate to tag the two sets of DA cases as hearing of cases againstKoda and others were in advance state. The court said it would hear DA casesagainst the Sorens separately. The court has been hearing DA cases againstKoda, former ministers Kamlesh Singh, Enos Ekka, Harinarayan Rai and BhanuPratap Sahi after Oraon had filed a PIL in 2008 accusing them of amassingwealth disproportionate to their known sources of income during theirministerial terms between 2005 and 2008. Koda, Singh, Rai and Ekka are injudicial custody after their arrest in 2008, while Sahi surrendered before acourt last year in connection with a medical scam.

Post HC rap, govt agrees to help CBI

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_post-hc-rap-govt-agrees-to-help-cbi_1641682

Published: Tuesday, Jan 24,2012, 16:59 IST

The Gujarat government has decided to provideinfrastructure facilities and security to the team of Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) which is probing Sadik Jamal and Ishrat Jahan fakeencounter cases.
Government pleader PK Jani, on Monday,furnished details of a meeting conducted by the top brass of the stategovernment in connection with providing infrastructure and security to the CBIteam camping in the state, to comply with Gujarat high court order.
Jani furnished the details during the hearingof an application moved by the CBI alleging non-operation by the government tothe team entrusted with the probe of Sadik Jamal encounter case.
During the hearing, Justice MR Shah asked thestate government why it had failed in providing proper infrastructure totheinvestigating agency in the last six months. "You have not doneanything else, except for exchange of correspondences in this period," thecourt observed.
Following criticism from the high court,government pleader Jani said that all the required infrastructure facilities,including 2,500 square feet office space in Gandhinagar with internet andtelephone connection and security guards, would be provided within 10 days.
Jani also said that six personnel of theState Reserve Police (SRP) would be provided to the CBI.
Sadik was killed in an encounter by citycrime branch officials in Naroda area on January 12, 2003.
The high court had transferred the probe ofthe case from Gujarat police to the CBI on June 16, 2011 and had directed theCBI to complete the investigation within six months.
But last week, the CBI, in its application tothe high court, had sought six months' extension in the case, citingnon-availability of proper infrastructure for carrying out the investigation.The CBI had stated that it was conducting investigations from the Circuit Houseand Vishram Gruh (government rest house), as there was no infrastructurefacility provided by the state government, "which was one of the causes ofthe delay in the probe".

Further date of hearing inthe case is fixed on February 7.

Frame guidelines to allot subjects: HC

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-25/delhi/30662677_1_frame-guidelines-commerce-stream-special-classes

TNN Jan25, 2012, 03.57AM IST

NEW DELHI: Slamming a private school for shifting a student from science tocommerce stream in the middle of an academic year, the Delhi high court onTuesday directed the Central Board of Secondary Education to frame properguidelines for schools in this regard.
Justice Hima Kohli directed the education body to frame the guidelines andcirculate it within six weeks for the compliance of schools. She also issued aslew of directions to the New Era Public School, Mayapuri for the"mistake" of allocating science stream to one Karan Raj Singh,despite his marks being ineligible for the stream.
HC accepted the school's argument that Singh was ineligible to be admittedin science stream as he had scored the grade point of 5.8, which was less thanthe required grade point of 6.7 for the science stream. It allowed the schoolto rectify its mistake and make loss of classes suffered by Singh due to itsaction. The school must ensure that Singh comes to terms with the syllabus andif required, given special coaching, the court said.
"The school shall make good the loss of classes in the commerce streamsuffered by him by giving him special classes without burdening him or hisparents with additional fee", it said, asking it not to charge any feefrom him for next six months. The school must foot the bill of books and studymaterial purchased by Singh for the commerce class, HC added.

HC stays poll violation cases against DMK MP

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-stays-poll-violation-cases-against-dmk-mp/955182.html

PTI | 09:01PM,Jan 24,2012

Madurai, Jan 22 (PTI) The Madras High Court Bench here today stayed thetrial court proceedings of two cases relating to alleged election codeviolation filed against DMK MP Ritheesh Kumar during the assembly electionslast year and the Parliament elections in 2009. Justice T Sudanthiram stayedthe trial proceedings for two weeks. Police had filed a case against RitheeshKumar and nine others for allegedly taking a large number of people to theelection office on Mar 23, 2011 in the run up to the assembly elections lastyear when the DMK candidate Suba Thangavelan filed his nomination papers atTiruvadanai. The Ramanathapuram MP was also charged with providing two lorryloads of sand for a local temple during the Lok Sabha polls, in which hecontested. The cases had been filed based on the complaint given by the policeinspectors of Thiruvadanai and R S Mangalam (in Ramanathapuram district). Thepetitioner submitted that the complaint had not been given by the competentperson, and said the police inspector could not give a complaint regardingelection violation. Only election officials could give the complaint and hencethe cases registered against him should be quashed, he contended. The Judgegave interim stay to the trial court proceedings and posted the case forhearing after two weeks.

Allahabad HC upholds EC order on covering statues

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/allahabad-hc-upholds-ec-order-on-covering-statues_754580.html

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 15:16

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday rejected a Public InterestLitigation (PIL) challenging the Election Commission's order to cover statuesof elephants installed at various parks and memorials across Uttar Pradeshwhere Assembly polls are due next month.

The DivisionBench comprising Justice Amar Saran and Justice Ramesh Sinha had earlierreserved its order on the PIL on January 16.

The petition was filed by onelocal businessman Dheeraj Singh.
Singh had moved a similar petition earlier which was "dismissed aswithdrawn" by the court on January 11 as the Public Interest Litigationwas found to have "technical shortcomings".
It was submitted by Singh's lawyer Anil Bisen that the petitioner was "adevout Hindu who has felt hurt by the Election Commission's order as the figureof an elephant represented the venerable Lord Ganesha".
The Election Commission had passed the order for covering of statues ofelephants as well as those of state Chief Minister Mayawati on January 7,saying it wanted to ensure no political party was allowed to "derivepolitical advantage".
Elephant is the election symbol of the state's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)and has protested the EC's order.
Mayawati, who is also the BSP supremo, had described the EC's order asone-sided and claimed her sympathisers were likely to view it as a"casteist" move.

HC extends stay on probe against Kannada producer

http://www.ndtv.com/article/karnataka/hc-extends-stay-on-probe-against-kannada-producer-170033

PressTrust of India, Updated: January 24, 2012 15:39 IST

Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court todayextended the stay till January 30 on the investigation by Bagalur policeagainst a Kannada film producer arrested in a murder case.

Justice Subhash B Adi extended the stay when film producer Govardhan Murthy'spetition challenging the order of Director General and Inspector General ofPolice (DG and IGP) Shankar Bidari to transfer the case to the CID came up forhearing.

Vinod Kumar, an upcoming Kannada actor, was allegedly murdered by GoverdhanMurthy in a guest house in Bagalur on October 6, 2008.

A charge-sheet was filed and a trial began soon thereafter. Murthy thenchallenged the criminal proceedings in the high court as well as the SupremeCourt.

Both petitions were dismissed. After two-and-a-half years, the trial hadreached its fag end.

Last month, Bidari issued an order for transferring several cases, includingMurthys, to the CID for further investigation and when the case came forhearing earlier this
month, the court granted stay till today (Jan 24) on the re-investigation.

HC dismisses PILs on splitting UP

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/news/30659336_1_pils-allahabad-high-court-judgement

PTI Jan24, 2012, 08.59PM IST

LUCKNOW: The AllahabadHigh Court today dismissed two PILs challenging the Uttar Pradeshgovernment's proposal regarding division of Uttar Pradesh into four states anda resolution adopted by the legislature in this regard.
The Lucknow Bench, comprising justices Pradeep Kant and Shabihul Hasnain,pronounced the judgement on the PILs filed by M P Singh and two others.
In its judgement, it said "both the petitions are based onmisapprehension of the fact that the state legislature has decided to dividethe state of UP into four parts and that the procedure prescribed from doing soshall not be followed. They are accordingly dismissed."

HC tells BDA to remove land encroachment

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hc-tells-bda-to-remove-land-encroachment/223714-60-115.html

ExpressNews Service , TheNew Indian Express

BANGALORE: The High court on Monday directed the Bangalore DevelopmentAuthority (BDA) Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena remove the encroachment on thesite which is under challenge over denotification of the land acquired by BDAduring 1979 for the formation of Nandini Layout extension at Jarakabandekavalvillage.
Mahalakshmi Layout MLA N L Narendra Babu, in a PIL, had alleged that formerChief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and BDA officials were involved in grantingapproval to drop the acquisition of the land to benefit an applicant. He hadalleged that the land in question was acquired for public purpose with schemebeing fully executed as per the provisions of the BDA Act, 1975, and thedenotification order is without any application of mind and with malafideintention.
Earlier, the government had submitted that it was reconsidering the issue ofwithdrawing the denotification of the land acquired. The court had earlierordered to maintain status-quo in respect of one acre of land denotified inNandini Layout, till further orders.
Hearing the petition, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Senand Justice B V Nagarathna directed the BDA Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena toevict the board in 48 hours and adjourned the matter for further hearing.

Will Gujarat HC order on fixed wages impact state budget?

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_will-gujarat-hc-order-on-fixed-wages-impact-state-budget_1641689

Published: Tuesday, Jan 24,2012, 17:09 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

The high court's direction to the stategovernment to pay wages as per the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations toemployees drawing fixed wages, is giving sleepless nights to the authorities.
It is feared that the state government'sbudget could go for a toss in view of the order, which is expected to lead to aburden of anywhere from Rs2,800 crore to Rs3,900 crore.
"The amount involved is huge and candisturb all calculations," said a senior government official. Minister ofstate for finance, Saurabh Patel, said that they were studying the judgment ofthe high court, and working out its financial impact.
The official said that the state governmentplanned to approach HC for certain clarifications with regards to its order.
"The high court has used the term'Minimum of pay scale' and also the term 'Total pay' in its judgment. We planto file an application seeking clarification in this regard from thecourt," said a finance department official. The official said that wagerevised as per 'Minimum of pay scale' would lead to an additional burden ofRs350 crore per annum on the government, while the implication of the term'Total pay' was estimated at Rs1,400 crore per annum.
"We feel that further clarity is neededin the matter," the official said. Officials also said that the arrearsthat would have to be paid to fixed wage earners were still being worked out."Preliminary estimates show that the arrears payable would be in theregion of Rs2,500 crore. However, this figure is not final," said an official.
An official pointed out that the massiverecruitments announced by the chief minister last year would lead to furtherstrain on government resources.

"The CM had announcedthat the government would recruit 50,000 persons in a year. Fulfilling this promisealone would lead to an annual burden of around Rs1,000 crore on the stategovernment," said an official. He, however, pointed out that freezingrecruitments was also not feasible as a large number of government employeeswere slated to retire in the next couple of years.