Advocate Kamal Kumar Pandey

LEGAL NEWS 24.02.2012

2012-02-24T00:15:00.000+05:30

http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/

Vijayakant moves court against suspension

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2920982.ece

Case posted for March 2

The Madras High Court on Wednesday admitted a writ petition byDesiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) president and Leader of the Oppositionin the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Vijayakant, challenging his 10-day suspension fromthe House by a resolution.

When the petition came up before Justice S. Rajeswaran, theGovernment Pleader took notice for the Assembly Secretary. The Judge orderedthat the matter be posted for March 2 to enable the respondent to argue thematter with regard to both maintainability of the writ petition and theapplication seeking stay of the operation of the impugned resolution.

Mr. Vijayakant sought a declaration that the resolution adoptedon February 2 by the Assembly was illegal and null and void.

In the petition, filed through counsel, S.Manimaran,Mr.Vijayakant said the Assembly Secretary by a letter dated February 3 informedhim that a resolution had been passed by the House that he should be suspendedfrom participating in the proceedings in the session that was under way andalso in the next session continuously for 10 days.

Also, during the suspension period, he would not be entitled topecuniary benefits, salary, concessions and other privileges in his capacity asthe Leader of the Opposition and MLA with effect from February 2.

He was directed to surrender the car allotted to him to theAssembly Secretary's office.

Mr. Vijayakant said he could not even receive and forwardpetitions regarding the legitimate grievances of the people of his constituency(Rishivanthiyam) to the government authorities for redressal.

He had been forbidden from attending any government meeting.

He said that by denying him his position as MLA, the people whohad elected him as their representative had lost their right and opportunity toredress their grievances through him. This would amount to penalising theelectors.

Even the copy of the privileges committee's report was notfurnished to him.

A copy was collected by him from the House Secretariat only afterhe was suspended.

Thus, all principles of natural justice had been violated.

He submitted that the resolution could not in itself seek toremove or prevent him from exercising his right as an elected representativeoutside the House.

When a person was elected as the Leader of the Opposition, it wasa post which carried with it high responsibilities and indeed the post enjoyeda Cabinet Minister rank.

This privilege could not be interfered with by the ruling partythrough a voice vote resolution as it would amount to interfering with theworking of the opposition party itself.

Nod to fill up Civil Judge vacancies

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nod-to-fill-up-civil-judge-vacancies/232595-60-120.html

ExpressNews Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a batch of writ petitionschallenging a GO and a subsequent notification relating to filling up of 185vacancies to the posts of Civil Judges in the State. “No case is made out tointerfere with the GO and the notification,” Justice K Suguna said on Tuesday.While the GO passed in January this year delegated power to the HC to make therecruitment directly, the subsequent notification inviting applicationsstipulated various conditions and concessions relating to experience, age andqualifications.
The main contention of the petitioners was that the government and the HighCourt could not usurp the power to make the recruitment, which vested with theTN Public Service Commission (TNPSC) alone, the constitutional body.
The judge, however, admitted a writ petition challenging a sub-clause of aparticular rule stipulated in the notification.

Court upholds detention of ex-councillor

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2921010.ece

The Madras High Court on Wednesday upheld the detention of K.Dhanasekaran, a former Chennai Corporation DMK councillor, under the GoondasAct.

The order was passed by the Chennai Police Commissioner onSeptember 16, 2011. The detenu is in Central Prison, Vellore.

Challenging the order, his wife D. Vijayakumari filed a habeascorpus writ petition.

The petitioner submitted that the grounds for detention did notreveal that the pre-detention representation of September 6 sent by the detenuto the Home Secretary. The police Commissioner was considered the detainingauthority. No order rejecting the representation was communicated to thedetenu.

Therefore, on this ground alone, the detention order was liableto be set aside.

In its order, a Division Bench, comprising Justices K. Mohan Ramand G.M. Akbar Ali, said admittedly the averments/allegations made in thepre-detention representation were found in the anticipatory bail petitionsplaced before the detaining authority.

The same had been referred to and considered by the detainingauthority in the grounds of detention. Therefore, non-placement of therepresentation would not amount to non-application of mind by the detainingauthority.

Therefore, on this ground, the detention order could not be setaside, the Bench said and dismissed the petition.

The Bench observed that when the personal liberty of the detenuwas being curtailed by the detention order, the detaining authority should takeproper care as to whether the pre-detention representation had been placedbefore him.

It was true that in view of the huge volume of correspondencereceived at the Commissioner's office, it would be difficult for the detainingauthority to remember the pre-detention representation received. But, thatcould not be an excuse.

The police Commissioner or detaining authorities should set up aseparate cell or a section to exclusively deal with the representationsreceived from persons who anticipated their detention or had been detained.

If such a facility was available and it maintained a register, itwould be possible for the Commissioner at the time of passing the detentionorder to call for details from such cell as to whether any pre-detentionrepresentation had been received from the detenu.

Ban on banners: Time to file counter granted

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ban-on-banners-time-to-file-counter-granted/232592-60-120.html

ExpressNews Service

CHENNAI: The government was granted time till February 27 to file itscounter-affidavit on a writ petition seeking ban on erection of banners andpandals in public places. Passing interim orders on a public interest writpetition from social worker ‘Traffic’ K R Ramaswamy on January 3 last, thefirst bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam hadgranted four weeks time to the government to file the counter giving detailsregarding the steps taken to regulate erection of banners and pandals in publicplaces.
When the matter was taken up today, no such counter was filed. Following a pleafrom Advocate-General A Navaneethakrishnan to grant more time, the bench directedhim to file the counter by that date stating specifically the steps taken forredress of the grievance of the petitioner.

Silicosis victims from M.P. meet Gujarat governor

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2920531.ece

Silicosis victims from Madhya Pradesh met Gujarat governor Dr.Kamla Beniwal on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum to her regarding the“insensitive and indifferent attitude” of the Gujarat government to theirplight.

Silicosis, the killer scourge, affects a substantial populationof migrant labourers from Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua, Alirajpur, Badwani and Dhardistricts who cross the border to work in quartz-crushing factories in Godhraand Balasinore in Gujarat.

In 2010, the National Human Rights Commission took cognizance ofthe death of 238 such labourers and directed the Gujarat government to providecompensation of Rs. 3 lakh to the families of the diseased. The NHRC also directedthe Gujarat government to rehabilitate 304 silicosis-affected labourers.

However, the Gujarat government has not abided by the NHRCdirectives till date and has maintained that the labourers are liable to becompensated either under the Employee State Insurance Scheme under the ESI actor under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

However, none of the affected has received compensation undereither law because of lack of “evidence” (for instance the ESI card or afactory issued identity card) of having worked in a silicosis-causing hazardousindustry.

The delegation of victims was led by the Silicosis Peedit Sangh(Silicosis Victims' Union) and NGO Shilpi Kendra.

“The governor took the matter seriously and assured the victimsof quick action on her part,” Amulya Nidhi of Shilpi Kendra , one of the feworganizations working with silicosis victims in the region, told The Hindu.

Khumsingh, a victim from Dhyana village of Alirajpur, told theGovernor that his three sisters had succumbed to silicosis and he had beenforced to sell his cattle and even his farm for treatment.

According to estimates provided by organizations working in theregion, over 1,100 labourers from 71 villages of Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur aresuffering from the disease which has no known cure.

Family of killed fisherman asks for 1 crore in court; India vs Italy rowcontinues

http://www.ndtv.com/article/kerala/family-of-killed-fisherman-asks-for-1-crore-in-court-india-vs-italy-row-continues-178501

NDTVCorrespondent, Updated: February 22, 2012 15:53 IST

New Delhi: The Italian ship involved in theshooting of two Indian fishermen cannot leave India till it provides a bankguarantee of 25 lakhs with a Kerala court.

The family of one of the two fishermen shot dead by Italian marines off thecoast of Kochi has asked for one crore as compensation in the Kerala HighCourt. The fisherman, Jelestine, was killed last week along with his friend,Pinku. The Italian navy men reportedly mistook them for Somalian pirates.

In response to the petition filed by Jelestine's family, the Kerala High Courthas said that the Italian ship involved cannot leave India till a bankguarantee of 25 lakhs is provided in court. However, this is an interim order -both parties will now file counter-affidavits.

The Enrica Lexie was sailing Singapore from Egypt when two of the six armedguards on board the merchant vessel shot the fishermen.(India vs Italy over fishermen deaths: 10 developments)

The deaths have led to huge anger in the large fishing community of Kochi. It'salso turned into an international confrontation, with Italy describing India'sdecision to arrest the marines as "unilateral" and"coercive." A talk between senior officials today did not pave theway for a compromise. Preneet Kaur, India's junior minister for Foreign Affairsmet Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan De Mistura this morning. "Twoinnocent lives have been taken," she said. "The law will take its owncourse."

Mr De Mistura said the incident took place in international waters "andinvestigation will ascertain the exact position" of the Italianship. "We are taking it seriously. We are definitely expressingterrible sadness and regret over the loss of lives," he said.

Italian officials have stressed that their laws require armed guards to be onboard their ships, ; they say the marines should be tried at homeaccording to international laws. But India says that the incident tookplace within its waters, and that the fishermen were shot at without anyprovocation. A case of murder has been registered against the two Italians.

HC asks ECoR to take a decision

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hc-asks-ecor-to-take-a-decision/232656-60-117.html

ExpressNews Service

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has directed the General Manager of EastCoast Railways (ECoR) to take a decision on having a scheduled stoppage of theRajdhani Express at Jajpur Keonjhar Road railway station in eight weeks.

Acting on a PIL filed by advocate Jeetendra Pratihari, thedivision bench of Chief Justice V Gopalagowda and Justice BN Mohapatra hasdirected the petitioner to submit a representation to the General Manager,ECoR, with all documents to support his claim.

The petitioner had approached the court seeking a direction forhaving a scheduled stoppage of Rajdhani Express at the Jajpur Road station,which is the only major station for the entire Jajpur and Keonjhar districtsand also home to the industrial hub of Kalinga Nagar.

The petitioner submitted that there has been continuous demand forstoppage of the Rajdhani Express there and a representation had been filedbefore the Member, Railway Board (traffic), in 2006. The petitioner wassubsequently informed by the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of ECoR thatthe matter was under consideration and the demand would be recommended to theZonal headquarters within a short period. However, no action had been takeneven after a lapse of more than six years.

Panel to re-examine Welukar’sappointment as vice-chancellor

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Panel-to-re-examine-Welukar-s-appointment-as-vice-chancellor/Article1-815605.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, February 23, 2012

A year-and-a-half after his appointment as vice-chancellorof the University of Mumbai, an aspect of Rajan Welukar’s eligibility will bere-examined by the Search Committee, set up for shortlisting candidates for thepost. The decision came in response to two public interest litigations challenging Welukar’s appointment as vice chancellor ofMumbai University.

The PIL petitioners, social workers Niteen Deshpandeand Vasant Ganu Patil, and AD Sawant, former vice chancellor of RajasthanUniversity, had questioned the appointment before a division bench last year,contending Welukar did not fulfill requisite eligibility, and therefore couldnot have been appointed as vice chancellor.
While chief justice Mohit Shah had found no fault withWelukar’s appointment and had rejected all the contentions, justice GirishGodbole had held that at least one of the mandatory qualifications was requiredreconsideration by the Search Committee — whether Welukar had to his creditminimum five research publications in peer-reviewed or referred internationalresearch journal after PhD.
Following the split verdict delivered on June 16last year, a reference was sent for determination to justice SJ Vajifdar. Thethird judge, on Wednesday, partly concurred with the view taken by justiceGodbole and held that the aspect of five research publications was required tobe re-examined by the Search Committee, headed by professor AS Kolaskar, vicechancellor, KIIT University, Bhubaneshwar and comprising of professor PBalaram, director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and JS Saharia,principal secretary, relief and rehabilitation.
The Search Committee had first shortlisted 20candidates from the list of 98 applicants, and ultimately recommended fivenames, including that of Welukar, to the governor for appointment as vicechancellor. Now, the court is likely to take the final decision about Welukar’sappointment after receiving the committee’s report on the issue.

Hiranandani cant construct on plot before making affordable homes: HC

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_hiranandani-cant-construct-on-plot-before-making-affordable-homes-hc_1653680

Published: Thursday, Feb 23,2012, 9:00 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

In a major setback to Hiranandani developers,the Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday restrained them from carrying out anyfurther development at their Powai township before constructing affordablehomes as contemplated under the tripartite agreement between the developer,state government and the MMRDA.
The court observed that they were issuingdirectives for corrective steps instead of punitive action against thedeveloper and government officials. The HC, however, granted liberty to thepetitioners “to take up the issue of corruption in a criminal prosecutionagainst any errant public officers and the developer”.
A division bench of chief justice Mohit Shahand justice Roshan Dalvi directed the petitioners, Hiranandani developers andMMRDA metropolitan commissioner, to prepare a statement of buildings andstructures put up by Hiranandani in Powai Area Development Scheme (ADS) alongwith the names, description and number of area and units/flats therein withinfour weeks.
While hearing two public interest litigations(PIL) by Rajendra Thacker and Medha Patkar respectively, the also directed themto prepare a plan of vacant areas of plots under the Powai ADS within fourweeks.
“The developer shall not put up any furtherconstruction whatsoever in the remainder of the plot before specifying vacantland and buildings that can be constructed,” the HC said in its order runninginto more than 30 pages.
The court said that the developer would beentitled to commence any further construction only after obtaining specificpermission from the court. The HC observed that the very purpose of thetripartite agreement was to construct smaller flats for affordable housing.
“The developer as well as the flat purchasersappear to have thrown this essential requirement to the winds,” the courtobserved. “Consequently, the land which was leased upon a pittance of Rs1 perhectare came to be developed as a goldmine realising from such investmentmillions of rupees worth of real estate.”
The developer has been directed to construct1,511 flats of 40 square metres and 1,593 flats of 80 square metres withoutamalgamating any flats. “No two flats shall be sold to the same person or twomembers of the same family,” the court ordered.
The direction came in the wake of allegationsin the PIL that in order to overcome some development conditions, the developerhad constructed amalgamated flats or sold adjoining flats to different membersof the same family. The PIL further alleged that the flats were converted forcommercial use, thereby breaching the terms of the agreement and conditionsimposed under the Urban Land Ceiling Act.

Another condition set by theHC for further construction is that the developer shall sell to the stategovernment 15% of the total FSI consumed in plot in form of constructedtenements at Rs135 per square feet.

Narendra Modis Sadbhavana aimed at goodwill: Gujarat HC

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_narendra-modis-sadbhavana-aimed-at-goodwill-gujarat-hc_1653526

Published: Wednesday, Feb 22,2012, 17:14 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

Gujarat high court on Tuesday rejected apublic interest litigation (PIL) challenging chief minister Narendra Modi’sSadbhavana fasts across the state and the huge expenditure made on them, saying‘Sadbhavana’ was launched for goodwill and in good faith.
A bench consisting of acting chief justiceBhaskar Bhattacharya and justice JB Pardiwala said: “If such questions areallowed to be raised before court, every expenditure of the state can be calledin question, both as to the nature and extent thereof, in which event thefunctioning of the government itself will be hampered.”
Regarding court’s jurisdiction, the benchsaid: “Judicial interference is permissible when the action of the governmentis unconstitutional and not when such action is not wise or that the extent ofexpenditure is not for good of the state. All such questions must be thrashedout in the legislature and not in courts.” The court also set aside thecontention of the petitioner that the Sadbhavana fasts were politicallymotivated. The court observed: “Assuming for the moment that a government isindirectly canvassing solely in the interest of the political ideology to whichit belongs, even then this court, in exercise of its power under Article 226 ofthe Constitution, would not undertake judicial review of such aprogramme.”
Defining the word ‘Sadbhavana’ the courtsaid: “Sadbhavana, as the name denotes, is a programme launched by the stategovernment for goodwill or in good faith.”
The court further said, “It appears thatunder the programme, the chief minister decided to visit different places allover the state and meet people at large.
As a part of the programme, the people ofdifferent regions within the state are being apprised of the work undertaken bythe government according to their political manifesto and also to apprise thecitizens as to what the state government intends to do in future for thewelfare of the people.”

One Rajesh Mota had filed thePIL challenging Sadbhavana fasts on the ground that, the government hadorganised such fasts to get political gain and huge expenditure had been madeon the events.The counsel for the petitioner, Ratna Vora, said: “We willchallenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.”

Plea challenging NCTC to be posted before First Bench

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2921000.ecehttp://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2921000.ece

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Registry to posta public interest litigation petition (PIL) challenging the validity of theNational Counter Terrorism Centre (Organisation, Functions, Powers and Duties)Order 2012, before the First Bench.

In the petition, filed through counsel Manikandan VathanChettiar, the petitioner Vijayalakshmi Shanmugam stated that the order wasissued by the Union Home Secretary.

The petitioner said that no consultations were held with thestakeholders before passing the order.

“Organisation stillborn”

The proposed organisation was stillborn.

It had no cadre of its own and proposed to borrow strength fromexisting entities.

The haste shown in fixing the date of March 1 and notifying thesame, when no cadre had been raised made the decision a highly suspicious one.

Nine Chief Ministers had raised objections to the NationalCounter Terrorism Centre.

“Quash the order”

The petitioner prayed the court to call for the records and quashthe impugned order as ultra vires the Constitution.

A Division Bench, comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and N.Kirubakaran, directed the Registry to post the matter before the First Bench.

Dont cut or prune trees for parking facility: Bangalore HC

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_dont-cut-or-prune-trees-for-parking-facility-bangalore-hc_1653407

Published: Wednesday, Feb 22,2012, 11:46 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore

The high court has directed the stategovernment not to cut or prune trees for constructing a multi-level car parkingfacility in the vacant space of the legislators’ home until the next hearing ofa public interest litigation (PIL).
Ramesh Babu, in his PIL, had sought directionfrom the court to stop the work for the parking facility to save trees in theCubbon Park from the axe.
Babu said that when he visited the premisesof the legislators’ home in the second week of January, he found that severaltrees had been cut for the project. He said that the government wanted theparking facility to come up.
On August 6, 2010, the state government hadfiled an application in the high court for the construction of the multi-levelparking facility in the vacant land around the legislators’ home. The court hadthen rejected the application to protect Cubbon Park’s green cover.
Despite this, the government startedconstruction work there by cutting several trees in violation of theconstitution, Babu said.
Cubbon Park is the city’s central lung space. The government is not applyingits mind for the proper development of the city nor is it giving any importanceto the maintenance of the eco system, the petitioner said.
A division bench headed by chief justiceVikramajit Sen, on Tuesday, directed the state government not to cut or prunetrees in the vicinity of the legislators’ home for the construction ofmulti-level car parking facility.

The bench issued notices tothe state government and directed it to file the counter affidavit within twoweeks.

Give report in stray dogs case: HC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Give-report-in-stray-dogs-case-HC/articleshow/11999304.cms

TNN | Feb 23, 2012, 04.25AM IST

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras highcourt has sought a status report from the authorities on a PIL seekingcompensation for seven students bitten by stray dogs, inside a governmentschool campus.

In the PIL, Anandharaj, an activist of EvidenceNGO, sought a direction to the district authorities to construct a compoundwall in AlanganallurGirls Higher secondary School and consequently to direct them to paycompensation to the girl students, who had taken treatment at the primaryhealth centre for the dog bite.

According to the petitioner, on 23 January, whenthe school assembly session was on, the stray dogs, which had entered theschool and were the fighting with each other. Seeing this, the scared studentsran helter-skelter. In the melee, the dogs charged on the girls and bit them.The students sustained injuries and were taken to the primary health centre fortreatment.

The petitioner said the government school issituated around five acres of area. As the school is not covered completely bya compound wall, straydogs roam around in the said school, freely. Plastic wastes and garbageare being dumped near the school and people who are living in the adjacent areause the school as a thoroughfare even during school hours distracting thestudents.

When the matter came up for hearing beforeJustice Chitra Venkataraman and Justice R Karuppiah, the government advocate,who appeared on behalf of the Madurai district collector was directed to file astatus report.

Don’t treat mentally-ill as lesser beings, stop bullying welfareinstitutions: HC to babus

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dont-treat-mentallyill-as-lesser-beings-stop-bullying-welfare-institutions-hc-to-babus/915631/0

Express News Service: New Delhi, Thu Feb 23 2012, 04:33 hrs

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said mentally-challengedpersons should not be treated as lesser human beings, and the bureaucracycannot be allowed to have its way with social welfare projects.

Adjudicating a PIL over construction of half-way homes formentally-challenged persons in the city, a bench headed by Acting Chief JusticeA K Sikri said: “These persons are equal human beings and they must be treatedon a par with others. We will do and make the government authorities dowhatever is best for their interests. We will not let them be thrown out on thestreets, but instead ensure that they get proper care and treatment.”
The court made these observations after Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, who runs ashelter for mentally-challenged persons in Kabir Basti, North Delhi, under thebanner of ‘Sudinalay’, complained against the non-cooperative attitude ofsocial welfare officials. Chaudhury said she would rather shut down the homeand hand over the inmates to the authorities.
In response, the bench said the court would ensure that the inmates aretaken care of. “Hold on to your patience. We will ensure that all the inmatesare treated like human beings, and the bureaucracy does not have its way withprojects of social welfare,” the bench said.
Earlier, an inspection report of the centre was submitted in court by theSocial Welfare department. Highly critical of the shelter’s functioning, thereport said: “Sudhinalaya is barely managing a shelter place for destitute andmentally-ill men and women. The services given to inmates, and thedocumentation, are below satisfaction... The inmates are living in a patheticcondition, without any recreational, counselling and rehabilitationfacilities.”
The court, however, said that it would go through Chaudhary’s response tomake sure that the adverse report was not part of the bureaucracy’s plan to“settle scores” with her.
During the hearing, the court was also informed by the state-run Delhi StateIndustrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) about plans toconstruct five half-way homes to provide social integration and rehabilitationfacilities to mentally-challenged patients.
The court, however, expressed displeasure over the laxity of the DDA inresponding to a query over relocating a power sub-station from one of the areasallotted for construction of half-way homes. If no response is received in thisregard by the next date of hearing, its vice-chairman shall have to personallypresent himself in court, it added.
The court will take up the matter on March 14.

City Cong chief quits aftercourt orders corruption probe

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/City-Cong-chief-quits-after-court-orders-corruption-probe/Article1-815586.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, February 23, 2012

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Mumbaipolice to register a FIR against Mumbai Regional Congress Committee presidentKripashankar Singh and his family members for possessing assetsdisproportionate to their known sources of income. Singh quit his post afterthe order.

“We can easily prima facie conclude that there iscognizable offence disclosed,” the court observed, while appointing Mumbai’spolice commissioner Arup Patnaik as investigation officer of the case, with adirection that all the movable and immovable properties held by the Congressleader and his family members be attached.
The court has also directed the commissioner totreat the memo of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city residentSanjay Dinanath Tiwari in this connection as an FIR, and submit a report ofinvestigation by April 19, 2012.
During the course of hearing on the PIL, theMaharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had conducted an inquiry and came tothe conclusion that 11.59 per cent of the assets held by Kripashankar Singh andhis wife Maltidevi were disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Karnataka Lok Ayukta appointment: PIL withdrawn

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_karnataka-lok-ayukta-appointment-pil-withdrawn_1653409

Published: Wednesday, Feb 22,2012, 11:48 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

A PIL filed in the high court seeking speedyappointment of the Lok Ayukta was referred to another bench, while another PILon the same issue was withdrawn, on Tuesday.
The case came up for hearing before adivision bench headed by chief justice Vikramajit Sen which referred it toanother bench.

Siddanagouda C Patil ofBelgaum filed the PIL, contending that the post of Lok Ayukta has been vacantfor the last six months. Due to this, people are put to hardship. It isimportant to fill such an important post as soon as possible so that corruptioncan be looked into.Another PIL, on the same issue, was withdrawn after it camefor the hearing. A Bangalore resident, Gajendra, had filed the PIL in January.

Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh quits as HC orders probe intoassets

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com//articleshow/11999801.cms

MUMBAI:Mumbai Congress received a major jolt on Wednesday after the high court orderedthe police to carry out an investigation into allegations of criminalmisconduct by city president Kripashankar Singh. The court ordered the Mumbaipolice commissioner to collect documentary evidence regarding all movable andimmovable properties owned by Singh. Chief minister PrithvirajChavan later said KripashankarSingh had resigned from his post.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by activist Sanjay Tiwari, who alleged thatthe Congress MLA had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources ofincome. The court while keeping the PIL pending, has directed the police tofile a compliance report on April 19.

"The commissioner of police shall obtain sanction from the government toprosecute Kripashankar Singh for criminal misconduct under the Prevention ofCorruption Act," a division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justiceRoshan Dalvi said.

The bench said CP Arup Patnaik shall collect documentary evidence regarding allmovable and immovable properties of Kripashankar and his family, including hiswife, son and daughter-in-law, who will also be prosecuted for aiding thecrime.

"...We do not want to pass any directions regarding the bank accounts ofthe respondents as it is alleged that the money might have been washed out. ThePIL shall be treated as an FIR and the report submitted by the stateanticorruption bureau in March 2011 showing Kripashankar's income andexpenditure shall be treated as investigation," the court said.

Taxi, auto drivers beingcheated by moneylenders, credit societies: PIL

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Taxi-auto-drivers-being-cheated-by-moneylenders-credit-societies-PIL/Article1-815584.aspx

MohanK Korappath, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, February 23, 2012

The Mumbai Taximen Sangathan has filed a public interestlitigation (PIL) in the Bombay high court (HC) seeking the implementation ofthe Hire-Purchase Act, 1972, and a notification to that effect by the centralgovernment.

According to the petition filed by the association and twolaw students, taxi and auto drivers are being cheated by the moneylenders andcredit co-operative societies due to the non-implementation of the act.

With the transport commissioner and regionaltransport authorities failing to check the hire-purchase agreement and moneylending licences, the moneylenders and credit co-operative societies arerunning a taxi and auto permit mafia in the city, states the petition.
Hire purchase is a type of installment credit underwhich the hire purchaser, called the hirer, agrees to take the goods on hire ata stated rental, which is inclusive of the repayment of principal as well asinterest, with an option to purchase. Under this transaction, the hirepurchaser acquires the property (goods) immediately on signing the agreement,but the ownership or title of the same is transferred only when the lastinstallment is paid.
The Sangathan points out that the moneylendersalways keep the copy of the original registration book of the vehicle withthem, along with the duly signed RTO Forms.
The lenders also snatch the vehicle forcibly fromthe loan borrower and hand it over to other taximen on rent, without theconsent of the owner of the vehicle, adds the petition.
The petition further claimed that black moneyamounting to more than Rs2,500 crore is involved in the taxi and auto rickshawpermit system, which is being ignored by the government.
The petitioners stated that it is to regulate thesediscrepancies that a central government notification to that effect isnecessary.
The petitioners have urged the court to direct theunion government to issue the notification and to declare all the hire-purchaseagreements until now as null and void.

SC asks Centre, states to give details on pending mercy pleas in three days

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-asks-Centre-states-to-give-details-on-pending-mercy-pleas-in-three-days/articleshow/11998233.cms

TNN | Feb 23, 2012, 02.05AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courton Wednesday took exception to the delay in getting information relating topending mercy pleas by condemned prisoners before the President and thegovernors and asked the Centre and states concerned to provide details aboutsuch pendency within three days.

Expressing anguish over the casual approach of the governments, a bench ofJustices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhyay said this was the final opportunityto the governments concerned and posted petitions on this issue for finalhearing on March 1.

The court asked home secretaries concerned to supply required data to theoffice of the additional solicitor general in Supreme Court dealing with thecase. The court also asked advocate Siddharth Dave, who appeared for theCentre, to bring all details about pending mercy pleas on the next date ofhearing.

A petition by condemned prisoner DevenderPal Singh Bhullar about inordinate delay in consideration of his mercy plea bythe President had persuaded the apex court to take note of the plight ofsimilarly placed death row convicts who were living in jails with an uncertainfuture.

Bhullar, who was convicted for masterminding a bomb blast that killed ninepeople in Delhi, has been on death row since August 25, 2001. His mercypetition was pending with the President for eight years and was finallydismissed late last year.

Since January 2011, he has been undergoing treatment for depression at theInstitute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) for mental trauma andhe had moved the apex court for clemency on the ground of delay.

Finding no reason for the Centre and states to inordinately delay decision onmercy petitions, the bench said, "We want to know from the date mercypetitions reach the competent authority, what is being done."

There is no time limit to consider mercy petitions, but the delay by thegovernment is viewed as a serious violation of right to life and liberty ofcondemned prisoners.

Ramlila crackdown: SC blames cops, pulls up Ramdev

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/sc-verdict-in-ramlila-ground-crackdown-case-today_760026.html

Last Updated: Thursday, February 23, 2012, 15:38

New Delhi:In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Thursday held Baba Ramdevand Delhi Police guilty of negligence in connection with the midnight crackdownon yoga guru’s followers at the Ramlila Maidan on June 4-5 last year during hisanti-corruption agitation.

The apex court, while stressing that the authorities could have avoided theviolent incident, said that both Baba Ramdev and the police acted in an irresponsiblemanner.

“There was abuse of power by the Delhi Police and there was violation offundamental rights of people,” the apex court bench of Justices BS Chauhan andSwatanter Kumar said.

“The incident shows might of the state which strikes at the foundation ofdemocracy. It is a glaring example of trust deficit between people governingand people being governed,” the bench said.

The Supreme Court also directed the Delhi government and the Delhi PoliceCommissioner to register a case against officers who caused injury, and thosewho used lathicharge and tear gas in the crackdown.

The court further asked the authorities to give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh tothe family members of Rajbala, the woman who died due to the injury suffered inthe police crackdown.

Besides, the court also ordered a compensation of Rs 50,000 for those whosustained serious injuries and Rs 35,000 for those with minor injuries duringthe incident.

Importantly, the apex court asked the yoga guru to share 25% of the totalcompensation to be given to the victims.

Meanwhile,the family members of Rajbala have refused to take any compensation from theyoga guru’s trust, saying that he was not responsible for the unfortunateincident.

The apex court had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports purportedlyshowing brutality of police action against the sleeping followers of Ramdev,including women and children.

Ramdev had alleged the police action was carried out on the instructions oftheir political masters and demanded action against all people who had directedthe mid-night crackdown.

Ramdev was agitating along withhis followers against corruption and demanding that the UPA government mustmake sincere efforts to bring back black money illegally parked in secretforeign bank accounts by tax evaders.

Delhi Police, however, claimed Ramdev had instigated his followers to indulgein violence, forcing the police to act at that time of the night.

Court rejects NIA plea seekingsuspect's custody

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Haryana/Court-rejects-NIA-plea-seeking-suspect-s-custody/Article1-815493.aspx

BharteshSingh Thakur, Hindustan Times
Panchkula, February 22, 2012

In a setback to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), aPanchkula court on Wednesday rejected its application seeking 15-day remand forSamjhauta train bombing suspect Lokesh Sharma.
The February 2007 train blasts close to Diwana railway station near Haryana'sPanipat town killed 68 people, most of them Pakistanis.

The court of additional district and sessions judgeKanchan Mahi was hearing the case on Wednesday as NIA judge Subhas Mehla was onleave.
The NIA submitted in the court, through specialpublic prosecutors RK Handa and Rajan Malhotra, that due to the arrest of RSSmember Kamal Chauhan, the case had taken a new turn.
The NIA said Chauhan had named Lokesh Sharma — sothe latter's intensive interrogation was required to know about the preparationand procurement of explosives, their planting and how the people were trainedin handling explosives and arms.
Sharma, who has been made an accused in thechargesheet, was also required for identification of various places wheremeetings of the blasts executers had taken place, the agency said.
According to the chargesheet, he was one of theconspirators as he participated in the main conspiracy meeting at Valsad,Gujarat, in June 2006. But the arrest of Chauhan and revelation that Sharma wasallegedly one of the four bomb planters has turned the focus towards identifyingthe other two planters.
Sharma's counsel Ajay Kaushik said he was"interrogated briefly outside the court" when he was brought toPanchkula on June 18, 2011. "After that he was sent in judicialcustody," Kaushik said. "There is no association between Sharma andChauhan as is being alleged by the NIA."

Statement not recorded
The NIA is yet to record the statement of Kamal Chauhan, whose remand ends onFebruary 24. The investigating agency is likely to seek to interrogate himfurther. His house had been searched and some material reportedly seized byNIA.
On February 14, while coming out of the courtChauhan told mediapersons that he had carried out the blasts out of his ownaccord.
The NIA says he underwent extensive training inhandling of weapons and explosives. He reportedly took training at Karni Singhshooting range in Faridabad (Haryana) and Bagli in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh). Hewas arrested as a witness Shivam Dhakkar had named him.
Chauhan's counsel Shailendar Babbar, however, saidthey had moved the National Human Rights Commission against his arrest."He had been interrogated earlier by the CBI too," Babbar said."He (Chauhan) was under their watch for about a year."
The case was listed for framing of charges onWednesday but the hearing was adjourned.
While coming out of court, Aseemanand, key accusedin the case, while replying to a question, said that he did not know Chauhan,and alleged this was a "conspiracy" of the NIA.
Aseemanad had given a confessional statement in thecase but later backtracked.
Who is Lokesh Sharma?
Sharma, a close associate of Sunil Joshi (the suspected 'mastermind' behind theblasts who was later murdered), allegedly planted a bomb on Samjhauta Express.
The Indore resident's name has cropped up in the Ajmer blasts and Mecca Masjidblasts of Hyderabad as well Sharma was arrested on June 17, 2010 for the Ajmerblasts and on June 18, 2001 for Samjhauta blasts.

Court orders trial in illegal tele exchange case

http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/court-orders-trial-in-illegal-tele-exchange-case_759908.html

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 15:55

New Delhi: ADelhi court has ordered trial of a man for allegedly running an illegaltelephone exchange to mask international calls as local ones and causing lossof over Rs two crore to the public exchequer.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Narinder Kumar upheld the magisterial court'sorder on framing of charges against Naveen Grover for cheating and violatingprovisions of the Indian Telegraph Act on maintaining and using unauthorizedtelegraphs.

"Fromthe material available on record, prima facie it appears that by receiving andswitching international calls on the lines obtained from the complainant andothers (service providers), Grover used to run a telegraph, otherwise, than aspermitted by law. Therefore, prima facie he made himself liable for offencespunishable under the act," the ASJ said.

The FIR against Grover was lodged in 2004 on a complaint by Videsh SancharNigam Ltd (VSNL) vigilance manager to the Special Cell of Delhi Police.

VSNL was renamed as Tata Communications Ltd after Tata Group acquired acontrolling stake in it from the government in February 2008.

A separate vigilance report bythe Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had stated that Grover had caused atotal loss of Rs 2.13 crore to the exchequer.

The magisterail court had framed charges against Grover and put him on trial inOctober 2009 but the same had been challenged by Grover in the sessions court.

Grover had argued that no charges of cheating or breach of the Indian TelegraphAct was made out against him.

The prosecution, however, defended the charges levelled against him. Moreover,it said, another section of the Act dealing with 'intentionally damaging ortampering with telegraphs' is also attracted against Grover.

On prosecutor's allegation that Grover also damaged and tampered withtelegraphs, the sessions court said the additional charge of violating Section25 of Indian Telegraph Act by tampering with telegraphs, could be added by thetrial court on a plea by the police.

"Having regard to provision of Section 216 CrPC (court's power to altercharges) state shall be at liberty to make application and trial court shallalso be at liberty to consider such prayer for alteration of charge so as toadd provisions of Section 25 of Indian Telegraph Act," the ASJ said.

The sessions court, however, held that no case of 'breach of condition of(telegraph) license' is made out against Grover as he used to run telegraphwithout any permission.

The court also directed Grover to appear before the magistrate court to facetrial.

The trial court had held that prima facie it appeared that Grover was runningan illegal telephone exchange at his premises in Delhi and Gurgaon.

Grover ran his business in the name of ACE Polyvaricon Electronics Pvt Ltd andapplied for telephone connections from various service providers includingReliance, Dishnet, DSL, MTNL and BSNL without disclosing that the connectionscould be used for the purpose of running illegal telephone exchanges, themagistrate had said.

There have been several cases across the country, of 'masking' of internationalcalls as local ones to avoid paying revenue to the government.

In few of these cases, top officials of several telecom companies have alsobeen booked.

Lawyer alleges harassment by Traffic Police

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lawyer-alleges-harassment-by-traffic-police/915665/0

Express NewsService : Chandigarh, Thu Feb 23 2012, 05:19 hrs

An advocate in the District and Sessions Court has lodged acomplaint with the Police and the Administration regarding harassment at thehands of the Traffic Police as they were allegedly sending traffic violationslips in his wife's name without a reason.

According to complainant Ajay Sood, he had lodged a complaint against threepolice personnel: constable Kaptan Singh, Sub-Inspector Gurdev Singh and DSPJagbir Singh in the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).
The PCA had passed an order on December 2, 2011, where it made arecommendation for suspending and departmental action against Kaptan Singh andGurdev Singh. The Authority had also recommended disciplinary action againstDSP Jagbir Singh.
In his complaint, Sood had written that his wife Babita Sood had received atraffic violation slip few days ago in which she was shown to be driving a carwithout wearing a seatbelt on June 14, 2011. He has further said that he andhis wife do not own any car by that number and own an Activa scooter. Hefurther mentioned that even if the the police had erred in writing down thenumber of his wife's scooter, the challan had been done for a wrong trafficviolation (not wearing a seatbelt).
He further stated that the car was registered in the name of a Sector 41resident who he or his family members were not associated in any professionalor social way, “Even if Babita was driving the car, the challan should havecome to the address of the vehicle owner and not to his house.”
He has requested the authorities to investigate the matter and wantsappropriate action to be taken against the erring police officials who weretrying to harass his family.
DSP (Traffic) Vijay Kumar, who was out of the city, said , “I am not awareof the complaint, but appropriate action will be taken if anyone is foundguilty.”

Justice Katju’s latest: He wants Maharashtra govt dismissed

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/justice-katjus-latest-he-wants-maharas.../915590/

Expressnews service : New Delhi, Thu Feb 23 2012, 03:11 hrs

Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju today sent a show causenotice to the Maharashtra government warning it of dismissal for “failing touphold the Constitution”.
The provocation was attacks on 800 journalists over 10 years in the state,including the “most shocking” murder of J Dey.
In a letter to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Katju said his two previousletters had gone unanswered. “...Why I should not recommend to the President todismiss your State Government under Article 356 of the Constitution...,” Katjuasked.
The former Supreme Court judge gave the CM three weeks to respond, failingwhich he “will take such action as is fit”.
“The Maharashtra government has failed in upholding the Constitution as ithas failed to uphold the freedom of the press,” Katju said. “...It seems to methat your government is neither able to maintain law and order nor preventattacks on journalists.”
Katju told The Indian Express he had sent the first letter to Chavan over amonth ago. “I sent the third letter today after... eight journalists fromMaharashtra made a representation to me.”
A Maharashtra subcommittee is reported to have concluded recently that thereis no need for a law to protect journalists. But Chief Minister Chavan is yetto take a final decision.
The CM was in Nashik on Wednesday and could not be reached for his response.

Saif Ali Khan says he was assaulted by nose he broke

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_i-am-a-law-abiding-citizen-and-justice-will-be-done-saif-ali-khan_1653679

Published: Thursday, Feb 23,2012, 9:45 IST | Updated: Thursday, Feb 23, 2012, 10:00 IST
By Somendra Sharma | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Saif Ali Khan was embroiled in a controversyafter Iqbal Sharma, an NRI from South Africa, alleged that the actor assaultedhim during an altercation at Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant at the Taj MahalPalace in Colaba, around 12.30am on Wednesday. The police on Wednesday eveningarrested Saif and two others — Bilal Amrohi and Shakeel Ladak — in connectionwith the incident, but immediately granted bail to the trio for Rs15,000 each.
“I am a law-abiding citizen. All allegationsagainst me are false and justice will be done,” Saif told a bevy of onlookerswhile leaving the Colaba police station. He was accompanied by his lawyer MohanJaikar.
The police failed to trace Saif or establishcontact with him despite visiting his residence and offices in Bandra, Juhu andKhar on Wednesday afternoon. Saif, who was in an office in Raheja Towers atNariman Point, reached the police station around 8pm in a black SUV.
Sharma said the incident occurred when Saifaccompanied by girlfriend Kareena Kapoor, her sister Karisma Kapoor, MalaikaArora-Khan, Amrita Arora and others, was having dinner at Wasabi.
“Sharma and his family were seated close tothe table where Saif and 10 of his friends were having dinner. Saif’s group wasmaking a lot of noise and therefore, Sharma requested them to lower theirvoice. This led to a heated argument and a scuffle between Saif and Sharma,”said Iqbal Shaikh, assistant police commissioner, Colaba division.
“Saif and two others from his group thenbashed up Sharma, resulting in the Johannesburg businessman suffering a nasalbone fracture,” Shaikh said.
The police said Sharma was very upset withthe incident. “He consulted his friends and first went to GT hospital. He thencame with his medical report and lodged a complaint against Saif and twoothers,” senior inspector Vinod Sawant said.
"Since Sharma is an NRI, we asked himwhether he wanted to pursue the case as he will have to be present for furtherlegal procedures. He said he will fight till the end,” Sawant said. “He told usthat he would also come to court for the proceedings. The punishment accordingto section 325 (Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the IndianPenal Code is maximum seven years imprisonment or fine. The trial can takeplace in a magistrate court.”
Lawyer Mahesh Vaswani, who represented Amrohiand Ladak, said: “He (Sharma), hurled abuses first and initiated the fight. Healso used bad language against the girls in the group. My clients never assaultedhim.”

The incident involving anactor came weeks after Shah Rukh Khan slapped director Shirsh Kunder lastmonth.

AFT staff seek pay arrears, work

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/aft-staff--seek-pay-arrears-work/232602-60-118.html

ExpressNews Service

UDUCHERRY: Workers of the Anglo-French Textile (AFT) mills gathered on thefactory premises on Tuesday, seeking salary arrears and reopening of the millat the earliest. Owing to severe funds crunch, the employees have been on‘leave with salary’ for the past 51 days. At present, only the tailoring unitand the showroom of the factory are open.
Led by AIADMK MLA A Baskar, the workers met AFT’s joint managing director S DSundaresan and other top officials to press for their demands.
The AIADMK leader urged the mill officials to take steps to immediatelyrenovate the infrastructure of the mill and resume production in its threeunits.
The MLA also urged them to disburse the salary arrears.
According to a source in the factory management, the employees would be given thesalary arrears for a month, on Wednesday.
The staff were earlier given the salary arrears on December 29, a day beforecyclone Thane struck, causing widespread destruction to the factory premisesand other infrastructure.
At present, the factory employs 1,962 persons including all the officials,staff and workers in its three units.
A sum of Rs 3.7 crore is needed to meet the salary requirement of a month.

Gujarat riots: Rahul Sharma to file reply to charge sheet till March 1

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gujarat-riots-rahul-sharma-to-file-reply-to-charge-sheet-till-march-1_1653531

Published: Wednesday, Feb 22,2012, 17:19 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

IPS officer Rahul Sharma, on Tuesday, gottime till March 1 to file a reply in response to the charge sheet issued to himfor not handing over controversial mobile call data CDs that becameinstrumental to nab many riot accused in the state, including former ministerMaya Kodnani and former VHP leader Jaideep Patel.
The government agreed to grant more time tothe IPS officer during hearing before the Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT), where he challenged the charge sheet issued by the state government lastyear. The CAT has posted the hearing for March 1.
Sharma’s counsel Mukul Sinha and KG Pillaitendered long arguments on the line that the officer was being victimised fordeposing before the Nanavati Commission probing the 2002 communal riot cases.They further said he should have full immunity under section 6 of theCommissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 from all civil and criminal proceedings exceptfor perjury.
Meanwhile, government counsel Bhaskar Tannasought time from CAT bench of Ashok Kumar and Chameli Majumdar to refer to somemore documents before making final submissions on admission of Sharma’spetition.
However, Sinha submitted before the CAT thatSharma’s deadline to file reply is ending today and it should be extended asthe state has sought time and it can take any action against the officer. Tannaagreed to this after consulting home department officials present in the courtroom.

The government has issuedcharge sheet to the officer for not handing over original CDs to investigatingofficials who are probing the Naroda Patia, Gulbarg Society and other riotcases. Sharma has though claimed that he had sent the CDs in question through apolice messenger to the then JCP PP Pande after which the CDs becameuntraceable.

HC notice to CBI on Balwa's plea

http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/hc-notice-to-cbi-on-balwa-s-plea_759989.html

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 23:08

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the CBI's response to plea by SwanTelecom Promoter Shahid Usman Balwa seeking quashing of charges against him inthe 2G A bench of Justice M L Mehta issued notice to the CBI and sought itsreply by March 13, the next date of hearing.

Balwa, outon bail now, has moved the high court for quashing of the charges framedagainst him by Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

"There is no circumstantialevidence of conspiracy, to be proved either directly or indirectly against thepetitioner, and thus, the alleged accused could not be held responsible evenfor the offences of criminal conspiracy punishable under section 120 B ofIPC," Balwa said in its petition.

"There is no evidence on record to prove these facts that the accused hadobtained for himself or for any other person any valuable things or pecuniaryadvantage," it added.

The trial court had framed charges against Balwa under various provisions ofthe IPC, including the criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery, besidesvarious other offences under Prevention of Corruption Act.

Pay Rs 25 lakh to leave port, HC tells Italian crew

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/pay-rs-25-lakh-to-leave-port-hc-tells-italian-crew/232726-3.html

New Delhi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday said that the Italianship Enrica Lexie, whose crew members had killed two Indian fishermen nearKochi port, could leave Kochi after paying Rs 25 lakh. The court maintainedthat the ship could not leave the port without paying the guarantee.
The High Court further said that the ship could leave only after getting aclearance from the probing agencies.
Wife of one of the fishermen who were killed by the Italian guards had movedthe Kerala High Court demanding that the ship should not be allowed to leavewithout paying the compensation.
Meanwhile, according to sources, Italy has demanded a joint probe into thekilling of the fishermen, reiterating that the incident occurred ininternational waters.
The demand was made by the Italian Consul General in a meeting with KeralaDirector General of Police (DGP) Jacob Punnose. The Italian envoy requestedPunnose for adequate facilities to be made for the accused in the jail.
Punnose responded by saying that the points could be mentioned in the court,following which the court would take a decision, said sources.
This came even as a five-member Italian delegation, led by deputy foreignminister Staffan De Mistura, met Home Ministry officials in Delhi to secure therelease of the two naval officers.
The Italian Deputy Foreign Minister said that his country "wants toisolate the firing incident from wider bilateral relations".
He is now slated to meet Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and thefamilies of the victims to personally express his regret over the incident. Ahigh level meeting is also expected between him, Chandy, DGP Punnose and othertop officials at Kottayam on Wednesday night at 10.30 pm.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, who himself will visit the country onFebruary 29, has instructed De Mistura to continue, at the political level, thework already carried out by the delegation of Italian experts from the Foreign,Defence and Justice Ministries.
After the meeting, the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister said that thesituation needed to be analysed. "This tragic incident needs to be analysed.A proper dialogue was needed to have a proper solution to this," DeMistura said.
He also said that it was important to find out the exact location of theincident. "We do sadly recognise that two Indian citizens died. Theincident happened in international waters, but the exact location needs to befound out. We all want the truth to come out," De Mistura said.
However, India remained firm and said that law would follow its course.Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs Preneet Kaur said, "Bothsides have a different interpretation of the law, we will go by our law."
"We assured them that our judiciary is free and it will take a rightdecision," she added.
Italy wants the two accused to be investigated by Italian authorities intheir country.
India has said that there is no diplomatic immunity for the accused and theymust be tried in an Indian court. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandyreiterated that the case came under the state government's jurisdiction andthat the government was very serious about the probe.
Chandy said his government would ensure that the guilty "are brought tobook".
He said, "Police is seriously questioning the culprit. We will continueto take all actions under the IPC."
"There is a lot of concern about the safety of fishermen... will notlet the guilty escape from here," said Chandy.

MP dumper scam: HC asks for records

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mp-dumper-scam-hc-asks-for-records/915636/

Expressnews service : Bhopal, Thu Feb 23 2012, 04:37 hrs

The alleged dumper scam on Wednesday returned to haunt Shivraj Singh Chouhanwhen the Madhya Pradesh High Court called for records from a Special Court thathad given a clean chit to the Chief Minister in the case of alleged corruption.
The Bhopal-based Special Court had on August 11, 2011 accepted the closurereport filed by the Lokayukta Police, which said no case of corruption could bemade against Chouhan for misuse of office.
In a criminal revision before the HC’s Jabalpur-based principal bench,petitioner Ramesh Sahu challenged the Special Court’s decision to accept theclosure report.
When the 29-page criminal revision came up before a division bench onWednesday, the petitioner said he had not been provided annexure that were partof the probe report, and requested the court to call for records and the case diaryfor reference.
Additional Advocate General Naman Nagarath said the court accepted the pleathat the records were needed for reference before arguments could commence ornotices could be issued.
The bench of justices Rakesh Saxena and M A Siddique said the matter belisted immediately after the documents were received.
Taking cognizance of a private complaint filed by Sahu in 2007, the SpecialCourt had ordered the Lokayukta’s Special Police Establishment to probe theallegation and submit a report to it.
Sahu had alleged that a private industrial group had favoured Chouhan andhis wife Sadhna Singh in exchange of a mining lease he allotted to it.

Italian authorities move Kerala HC to quash FIR

http://zeenews.india.com/news/kerala/italian-authorities-move-kerala-hc-to-quash-fir_759927.html

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 17:30

Kochi:Questioning the jurisdiction of Indian courts and police, the Italiangovernment and two naval guards of an oil tanker on Wednesday moved the KeralaHigh Court seeking quashing of the FIR charging the marines with murder of twofishermen while firing from the ship off the state coast.

As thediplomatic row between the countries continued since the February 15 incident,Italian Consul General in Mumbai Gian Paolo Cutillo and the two accused –Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone - filed the petition seeking to quashthe FIR registered by Kollam police in Kerala.

The petitioners submitted thatKerala Police have no authority to conduct investigation in the case and courtsin India have no jurisdiction as the incident occurred beyond its territorialwaters.

The marines, suspected to have shot dead the fishermen, took the legal recoursetwo days after they were arrested by the state police capping four days ofhectic negotiations between Indian and Italian officials on the issue ofsubmitting them to Indian authorities.

Italy has been maintaining that the incident occurred outside Indianterritorial waters and the marine’s action was taken assuming the fishingvessel to be carrying pirates.

In a related development, the court admitted a petition by the family of one ofthe deceased fishermen seeking Rs 1 crore compensation and directed the ownersof Italian vessel Enrica Lexie to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakh.

Justice Harun-UL-Rasheed admitted the petition by Doramma Valentine, wife ofValentine alias Jelstine (45), and issued notices to the ship owners, accused,and Cochin Port authorities.

The high court directed the port authorities to ensure that the ship isarrested in the port till the bank guarantee was furnished.

Valentine's counsel insisted on a bank guarantee for Rs 1 crore but the courtturned it down and limited it to Rs 25 lakh. He complained that the in the eyesof the ship owners, Indian citizen will not have much value.

The petitioner, who sought the compensation from the ship's owners, captain andthe two marines, had submitted she did not have Rs 8, 18,400 to pay as courtfees required under section 22 of the Kerala Court Fee and Suit Valuation Actand should be declared as pauper.

The shipping company objected to the petitioner's plea to waive the stamp dutyafter declaring them as pauper. Valentine also filed an application seekingexemption from appearing in the court to present the petition.

The petitioner's counsel informed the court that the last rites of her husbandwere underway and the family was in a state of shock and was not in a positionto appear today.

The ship owners' counsel contended that they had to pay Rs 30 lakh per day forthree days as demurrage charges to the port. The vessel is berthed in the outerport area with Coastguard and Police keeping a close watch.

HC summons trial court records on Yahoo's plea

http://zeenews.india.com/news/net-news/hc-summons-trial-court-records-on-yahoo-s-plea_759978.html

Last Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012, 22:36

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court today allowed internet portal Yahoo India's plea forcalling of the records of the trial court which has summoned it for allegedlyhosting objectionable content.

A bench of Justice Suresh Kait directed the registry to produce the records ofthe trial court. The matter is listed for hearing in the high court on March 1.

"Registry of this court is directed to produce the records of the case insealed cover," Justice Kait said.

Senior advocate Arvind Nigam, appearing for the website said no prejudice wouldbe caused to any party as the matter is listed before the trial court on March13.

Yahoo Indiahas moved the high court challenging a lower court order summoning it forallegedly hosting objectionable content on its web pages. The high court,however, has refused to stay the criminal proceedings against Yahoo India.

Yahoo India had said the complaint and the order of the magistrate dealt withalleged objectionable material retrieved from various websites includingZombie, Orkut, Youtube, Facebook, Blogspot and none of them pertained to Yahoo.

The magisterial court had on December 23 issued summons to 21 websites forallegedly committing offences of criminal conspiracy, sale of obscene books andobjects to young people.

The Centre had earlier filed a report before the lower court saying, there wassufficient material to proceed against the 21 websites for alleged offences ofpromoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integrity.

Out of the 21 websites, GoogleIndia and Facebook India had also moved the high court against the magistrate'sorder, saying the summons be quashed as they did not commit any offence.

Arya orphanage case: HC orders in-camera hearing

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Arya-orphanage-case-HC-orders-in-camera-hearing/articleshow/11998630.cms

TNN | Feb 23, 2012, 02.57AM IST

NEW DELHI: Informing the Delhi high court that Arya Anathalayadoesn't have adequate residential accommodation for children, the administratorof the orphanage recommended that further admissions be put on hold.

Submitting a report outlining the progress of the probe into the alleged sexualassault and harassmentof children, the administrator P P Dhal said he has banned the entry of thethree accused into the orphanage and ordered installation of CCTV cameras.After going through the report, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice A KSikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw decided to conduct in-camera hearings fromThursday. "Some stray incidents shouldn't result in other children livingunder fear. We have to look for a solution. Our order should not have adverseimpact on the psychology of the children who will appear for their examinationssoon," the bench observed while refusing to stop the city government fromsetting up any other committee to inquire into the matter.

In his report, the administrator said, "It has been felt that theorphanage does not have a proficiently qualified officer-in-charge andcounsellors. In a plea to HC, the orphanage argued that the government shouldbe restrained from setting up any other panel. Orphanage president V PChaudhary said more than 1,600 children have been staying at the 95-year-oldhome and the whole organization cannot be blacklisted on the basis of strayincidents.

The court said that no other committee has been set up so far and askedChaudhary to approach the court if he has objections to any other panel set upby the government. HC took cognisance of the matter by way of an email receivedby Justice Sikri. The email alleged that children were subjected to sexualabuse and other sufferings at the orphanage. The court had then sought a reportfrom the administrator. The Delhi government had appointed an administrator onFebruary 13 after several TOI reports alleged sexual exploitation of children.

Chaudhary said that all allegations against the children's home were baselessand it had no objection even if the court appointed a judicial officer toconduct an inquiry . During the last hearing, HC indicated it will look intothe larger prospect of the issue, including of running NGOs without registeringunder the relevant laws.

Privacy doesn't confer right on consenting adults to do illegal act'

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2921135.ece

High Court verdict erroneous, argues Delhi child rights panel

The Delhi High Court judgment, declaring ultra viresSection 377 of the Indian Penal Code relating to unnatural sex between twoconsenting adults and holding that it is violative of the right to privacy, isclearly erroneous, Amarendra Saran argued in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Making his submissions before a Bench of Justices G.S. Singhviand S.J. Mukhopadaya, the senior counsel appearing for the Delhi Commission forProtection of Child Rights, said the right to privacy did not confer any righton consenting adults to commit an act which was illegal. It “does not conferany immunity to crimes committed by consenting adults in private.”

Counsel noted that the High Court, while reading down Section 377had held that it was constitutional morality alone that could pass the test ofcompelling state interest and public morality had no role to play. But “publicmorality has been a very important consideration in framing a law as is evidentfrom the provisions contained in Articles 19, 25 and 26.”

The Bench intervened and wanted to know from counsel whether therewas any data to show that Section 377 of the IPC had actually been used toharass the gay community and whether the risk of HIV/AIDS was higher amongthose people. Mr. Saran said the community had a higher risk of contractingHIV/AIDS and that was all the more reason to ban such behaviour.

The Bench asked counsel: “How many cases have been registeredunder Section 377 after 1947? Has it been enough to prove harassment?”

The Commission opposed the High Court decision on the ground thatthis provision, which had stood the test of time for about 150 years, wasrequired to check exploitation of children. Mr. Saran told the court: “Tomorrowdowry-seekers can say that they are being discriminated [against] by non-dowryseekers. Can they be allowed to challenge the validity of Section 304 B IPC(dealing with dowry deaths)?”

Justice Singhvi asked counsel “whether there was data to back its[commission's] claims. Is there any scientific study to show this? Has thegovernment or the National Aids Control Organisation done anything on this?”

Additional Solicitor-General P.P. Malhotra, appearing for theCentre, said several studies had been conducted and there was enough data.

Justice Mukhopadhyay wondered how the gay community could comeunder the sweep of the Section when it did not make carnal intercourse perse an offence.

Justice Singhvi said a member of the younger generation mightwant to run naked on the street. That could be a natural right “but is it afundamental right? In such cases what happens to the right of dignity ofothers, or the right of privacy? What about exchange of wives?” the judge askedand said the court must envisage all these scenarios.

Decision on Sec 377 could affect other sexual offences in IPC: SC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Decision-on-Sec-377-could-affect-other-sexual-offences-in-IPC-SC/articleshow/11998419.cms

TNN | Feb 23, 2012, 02.30AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courton Wednesday said its final decision on the correctness of the Delhi HighCourt judgment -- which decriminalized Section 377 ofIndian Penal Code covering a sexual act in private between consenting adults --could have far reaching impact on several sexual offences listed in the penallaws.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya requested the counsel forparties to keep in mind the evolving social ethos as the key words in the HCjudgment -- "consenting adults committing a sexual act in private" -could have a bearing on several other sexual offences enumerated in the IPC.

"Though the focus of our judgment would remain on Section 377, but keep inmind that it could have bearing on provisions relating to other sexualoffences. Obscenity could be one such provision," the bench told senioradvocate Amarendra Saran, who was arguing against the HC verdict on behalf ofDelhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR).

The court was possibly hinting at offences like adultery and obscenity inpublic, mostly misused by police to harass couples in parks.

Section 497 defines adultery. According to it - "Whoever has sexualintercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe tobe the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, suchsexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of theoffence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of eitherdescription for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or withboth. In such case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor."

In this case, the consent of the woman is immaterial and the consenting sexualact still would constitute an offence if the consent of her husband was nottaken.

Saran said NGOs had challenged the legality of Section 377 before the HC on theground that it targeted homosexuals as a class and hence violated the LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) group's right to equality guaranteedunder Article 14, right to privacy under Article 21 and the constitutionalguarantee under Article 15 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexualorientation of such persons.

He argued that right to privacy did not confer right on consenting adults tocommit an act in private which was illegal. "In other words, right toprivacy does not confer immunity to crimes committed by consenting adults inprivate. Hence, the reasoning of the HC that Section 377 is violative of rightto privacy is clearly erroneous," Saran said.

He said Section 377 did not suffer from class bias. "It applies uniformlyto any man or woman if such person indulged in carnal intercourse which isagainst the order of nature," he said and cited a 1990 Supreme Courtjudgment to back his argument that all "non penile-vaginal" intercoursewould fall within the meaning of "carnal intercourse against the order ofnature", which has been classified as an offence under Section 377.

The DCPCR counsel said "there was a vast cultural difference in the Indiansociety and other societies of the world" and faulted the Delhi HCjudgment for basing its reasoning on foreign court rulings.

LEGAL NEWS 23.02.2012

2012-02-23T00:26:00.003+05:30

http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/

Beni to appear before EC on Feb 24

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2916816.ece

Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma was on Tuesday granted personalhearing by the Election Commission to explain his minorities sub-quota remarksfor which the poll body slapped a notice and he is likely to appear on Friday.

The Commission, which met here this evening, decided to grantpersonal hearing to the minister following his request in this regard.

“The Minister had sought a personal hearing before the ElectionCommission on the matter and the poll body granted him so. He will explain hisposition either in person or through his lawyer on February 24 now,” a top ECofficial told PTI.

During his hearing on Friday, Mr. Verma is expected to explain tothe Commission on why action should not be initiated against him for violationof model code of conduct, sources said, adding that he had made a request tothe EC in this regard to explain his position with regard to the minoritysub-quota remarks.

Mr. Verma, in his reply to the Commission on Monday, expressedregret over his sub-quota remarks but has contended that he did not violate themodel code of conduct and that his remarks were made as a Congress leader inline with the party’s manifesto and not as a minister.

The Election Commission had on Saturday issued notice to Mr.Verma over his remarks on sub-quota for minorities, holding that prima facie itwas a violation of the Model Code of Conduct and had sought his reply by Mondayevening.

While addressing a poll rally on Wednesday night in Farukkhabadin the presence of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Union LawMinister Salman Khurshid, Mr. Verma had said, “Reservation for Muslims will beincreased and if the EC wants, it can now issue a notice to me.”

Mr. Verma is the second Union minister after Law Minister SalmanKhurshid to get an EC notice for poll code violation over the sub-quotaremarks.

Sources in the EC said that Mr. Verma is toeing the line taken byLaw and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who was also issued a noticeby the poll body over the minorities sub-quota remarks.

Sources said the Election Commission had taken serious note ofhis comments, particularly for daring the poll body to take action against him.

Govt says no move to curb powers of Election Commission

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-says-no-move-to-curb-powers-of-Election-Commission/articleshow/11983694.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 02.00AM IST

NEW DELHI: A political storm broke out onTuesday over reports that the Centre is considering a proposal to givestatutory status to the electoral model code of conduct and remove it from thepurview of the Election Commission with the opposition accusing the governmentof trying to undermine the poll panel's authority.

Faced with the charge that it is keen to reduce EC to a "toothlessbody" after several Congress leaders were pulled up by the poll watchdog,the government sought to put a lid on the controversy saying it was notconsidering any such proposal but admitted that "in course of discussions,incidental references were made to the code of conduct".

However, a note for the meeting of the group of ministers on corruptionscheduled for Wednesday says, "It was also suggested that the legislativedepartment may also look into the aspect where executive instructions of the ECwill be required to be given statutory shape." The reference seems fairlydirect.

Interestingly, the note indicates that law minister Salman Khurshid - whorecently apologized to the EC over his advocacy of minority quotas - sought areview of the code. "The chairman (finance minister Pranab Mukherjee) wasalso of the view that code of conduct was one of the biggest excuses to stalldevelopment projects and thus agreed with the request of the law minister toflag this issue and its inclusion in the agenda paper," the note says.

Senior ministers denied that the government was mulling changes over who willadminister the code of conduct although Khurshid said giving legal status to itcould be discussed if political parties wanted a debate. The minister mighthave been calculating that most political parties have been red flagged by theEC and might want the code's operation to be reviewed.

It is also intriguing that the proposal on the code of conduct was to bediscussed by the GoM on corruption with the note stating that the secretary ofthe legislative department has been requested to make a presentation on theprogress made in the matter regarding giving legislative backing to the code.The department of personnel and training, however, argued that "statefunding of elections" was a key mandate given to the GoM and the code wasrelated.

Opposition parties were quick to latch onto the proposal, saying that once aviolation of the code became a matter to be settled by the courts, hauling up offenderswould take years.

The EC did not officially react to reports, but sources said the code was themain instrument by which the panel enforced free and fair polls. "If thepower to implement the code is taken away, then the EC's hands will betied," an official said. It ensures that correctives are applied while anelection is still in progress.

The code is a voluntary compact political parties agree to adhere to and hasthe backing of the Supreme Court. The EC is a quasi-judicial body that issues noticesto those who flout the code, hears them, looks at evidence and takes adecision. It can reprimand and censure offenders.

The code prevents governments and ministers from making policy and financialannouncements and misuse of official machinery for electioneering. Some in thegovernment feel there is a case for shortening the duration of the policyfreeze that comes into effect when elections are announced.

A number of ministers on the GoM on corruption -- Pranab Mukherjee, KapilSibal, Salman Khurshid and M Veerappa Moily -- denied there was any proposal torein in EC by giving statutory backing to the code.

"The contents of the report are totally misconceived as there is no suchmove under contemplation of the government or the GoM," the ministry ofpersonnel and training said in an official statement. "The GoM has notmade any recommendation to make the MCC statutory or to take it outside thepurview of the commission," it added.

Mukherjee said, "There is no such thing. I don't know from where this ideahas come. But in the GoM agenda, there is nothing."

Khurshid said the issue of giving statutory shape to executive instructionsissued by the EC was not on the draft agenda. "But if it is raised by anypolitical party during the course of discussion, we will take it as and when ithappens," he said.

The government said, "The GoM, in its last meeting held on September 30,2011 considered a presentation made by the secretary, legislative department onthe viability of various alternatives on the question of state funding ofelections. In the course of discussions, incidental references were made to theissue of code of conduct."

It added, "The subject has, accordingly, been receiving the attention ofthe GoM at its deliberations from time to time and the legislative departmentof law ministry has been updating the GoM on the several initiatives taken bythat ministry and by the Election Commission on issue of state funding ofelections along with other electoral reforms."

NCW's intervention sought in Indore gangrape case

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/ncws-intervention-sought-in-indore-gangrape-case/966399.html

PTI | 01:02AM,Feb 22,2012

Indore, Feb 21 (PTI) Accusing to police of adopting a casual approach in thecase related to the gangrape of two women here, the Madhya Pradesh Congress'women wing today urged the NCW to intervene and ensure justice to the victims."I have written to the chairperson of National Commission for Women MamtaSharma to take cognisance of the case and ensure that the victims getjustice," Archana Jaiswal, who heads the women wing, said. She allegedthat a video clipping of the crime was made on a mobile phone which wasdistributed. "But the police took no action and remained a mute spectatortill the victims themselves walked to the police station." According topolice, the two women were gangraped by 18 persons in Betma area on February 10and a case was registered on the women's complaint on February 18. They said 15people have been arrested in the case, including Vikas Bharti, the son of a BJPcounsellor Rajni Bharti and grandson of a Congress councillor Dilip Kushwah.The BJP has expelled Rajni from the party.

Court: foreign lawyers must fulfil norms of Advocates Act to practise

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2917323.ece

No bar on their visits on a ‘fly in and fly out basis' for cases

Foreign law firms or foreign lawyers cannot practise on thelitigation and non-litigation side unless they fulfil the requirements of theAdvocates Act and the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules, the Madras High Courtsaid on Tuesday. However, there was no bar either in law or the rules on thefirms or lawyers visiting India on a ‘fly in and fly out basis' for givinglegal advice to their clients regarding foreign law or their own system of lawand on diverse international legal issues.

The First Bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S.Sivagnanam was disposing of a writ petition by A.K. Balaji, who sought adirection to State and Central authorities for taking action against foreignlaw firms or foreign lawyers who practised illegally in India.

The petitioner also sought a further direction to them to forbearfrom having any legal practice either on the litigation or in the field ofnon-litigation and commercial transactions in any manner in India. The courtalso said that having regard to the aim and object of the InternationalCommercial Arbitration introduced in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,foreign lawyers could not be debarred from coming to the country and conductingarbitration proceedings in respect of disputes arising out of a contractrelating to international commercial arbitration. Business process outsourcingcompanies providing a wide range of customised and integrated services andfunctions to their customers did not come within the purview of the AdvocatesAct or the BCI Rules. However, in the event of any complaint against thesecompanies violating the Act, the BCI may take appropriate action against sucherring companies. The petitioner contended that law practice by foreign lawfirms or any foreign lawyer was illegal and impermissible. The Bench observedthat it had been categorically stated that foreign lawyers visited India forgiving advice on their own system of law or on English law. It found force inthe submission by counsel for foreign law firms that if the firms were notallowed to take part in negotiations for settling documents and conductarbitrations in India, it would have a counter-productive effect on thegovernment's aim to make India a hub of international arbitration.

International arbitration was growing big-time in India and inalmost all countries. India was a signatory to World Trade Agreement.

Monitor liquor probe, HC urged

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Monitor-liquor-probe-HC-urged/articleshow/11983290.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 01.24AM IST

HYDERABAD: Expressingapprehensions that the ongoing ACB probe intothe liquor syndicate-politician nexus may not reach its logical end, acitizen's activist filed a petition in the A P high courton Tuesday urging it to monitor the probe on a regular basis and also providefunctional independence to ACB.

O M Debara, member of Forum for Better Hyderabad, filed the writ pleacontending that the court should supervise the probe. He said the court shouldfacilitate unearthing of the full magnitude of the liquor scam. He said excise,police and other departments, besides politicians, had a big role in theracket.

He said the liquor syndicate was destroying scores of poor families in thestate and time had come to put an end to this menace. He said ministers in thestate cabinet were trying to settle scores and save their men involved in thescam.

The petitioner also mentioned in his plea that as many 450 requests of ACB toprosecute corrupt public servants were turned down by the state since 2003. Healso sought the quashing of a government memo issued in 1999 restraining ACBfrom booking cases against the errant members of legislature in this regard.

The matter was posted to Friday for further hearing.

Official charged in teachers' test scam moves HC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/Board-secy-moves-HC-in-TET-scam/articleshow/11986145.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 06.42AM IST

ALLAHABAD: Secretary, Board of SecondaryEducation, PrabhaTripathi, has approached the Allahabad High Court seeking stay of herarrest in connection with the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) scam.

Tripathi, through a writ petition, has raised apprehension of her arrest inconnection with the TETscam and submitted that she had nothing to do with it.

A division bench of the Allahabad High Court, though has not granted herinterim relief, but asked the state government counsel to seek instructions inthis case. The bench of Justice D P Singh and Justice V P Pathak has directedto hear the case on February 24. It is believed that soon after the arrest ofBoard director, Sanjay Mohan, in connection with the TET scam, the petitioner wasalso apprehending her arrest and therefore she approached the High Courtseeking stay of her arrest.

Pointedly, the secretary has not been attending her office and her whereaboutswere not known since last Sunday. The Board officials were also ignorant abouther current whereabouts and were not in a position to tell if she was on leave.

Appointments quashed: The Allahabad High Court has quashed the appointment ofthree persons as stenographer in judgeship Moradabad, holding that theirappointments were against the statutory rules. The order was passed by JusticeSudhir Agarwal, allowing the writ petition filed by Kumari Minakshi and others,challenging their appointment.

The writ petition was filed on the allegation that all the three persons werefound extremely inefficient in typing test and had performed below theprescribed minimum limit but they were given appointment as stenographer bymeans of order dated June 5, 1990 on their assurance that they will improvetheir typing.

The high court after hearing the counsels quashed the order of appointment andallowed the writ petition with a cost of Rs 25,000 against
the then district judge of Moradabad.

Plea on recruitment of judges dismissed

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Plea-on-recruitment-of-judges-dismissed/articleshow/11986102.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 06.38AM IST

CHENNAI: Clearing the decks forthe recruitment of 185 civil judges for the subordinate judiciary, the Madras highcourt on Tuesday dismissed a batch of public interest writ petitionsagainst the exercise.

A specially constituted division bench of Justice K Suguna and Justice M MSundresh dismissed the PILs saying there were not enough reasons to interferewith the January 21 notification calling for applications.

The matter pertains to writ petitions filed by various bar associations andindividual advocates on the grounds that the TamilNadu Public Service Commission and the stategovernment ought not to have ceded their recruitment powers in favour ofthe high court even as a one-time measure.

The January 21 notification sought to recruit 185 civil judges for the statejudiciary. At least eight writ petitions were filed raising several issuesconcerning the advertisement. While some petitions say the TNPSC could not beundermined in the selection process, others demanded filling up backlogvacancies meant for SC/ST first, besides relaxation of upper age limit forSC/ST candidates.

A clause that law graduates in Madras high court service and employees of thehigh court are ineligible to participate in the selection drive too had beenquestioned.

Notice to Centre, Bihar on MPLAD scheme guidelines

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2917450.ece

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and theState of Bihar on a public interest writ petition questioning the guidelinesframed by the Bihar government for implementation of the MPLAD scheme, contraryto the guidelines formulated by the Centre.

A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and Anil R. Dave issued notice returnablein four weeks on the writ petition filed by Capt. Jai Narayan Prasad Nishad,Member of Parliament, after hearing senior counsel Jayant Bhushan and counselRavi Shankar Kumar challenging the guidelines of the State government datedNovember 10, 2011.

The petitioner said “the question that arises in the present writpetition is as to “whether the State Government is justified in framingindependent guidelines contrary to those of the Central Government framed forimplementation of its fully funded Government of India's Schemes under “Membersof Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.”

He said the Principal Secretary of the Department of Planning andDevelopment, Bihar, by an order dated November 10, 2011, had framed a newguideline for implementation of the “MPLADS” within the State of Bihar and madea separate procedure for Selection of Plan, Allocation of fund, Selection ofAgency, Procedure and method for implementation, approval of Schemes etc.

He said that due to the framing of new Guidelines, the progressof implementation of the “MPLADS” for the year 2011-12 “is very poor in theState of Bihar, and till December 2012, a very minimal amount had been spentand the development works under “MPLADS” are badly affected. The public atlarge are on the verge of deprivation of basic amenities under the CentralGovernment Development Schemes.”

He said “the public of the State have equal rights andopportunities for development under the Central Government's fully fundedSchemes to be implemented under the “MPLADS”. For the schemes covered under theCentral List, the Central Government is only empowered to frame rules for itsimplementation while the State Executive has no power under Rule of ExecutiveBusiness to frame Guidelines.” Hence, he sought quashing of the guidelinesdated November 10, 2011 by holding them as ultra vires the Constitution.

Declare Adarsh a security threat: Army

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Declare-Adarsh-a-security-threat-Army/articleshow/11983867.cms

RajshriMehta, TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 02.22AM IST

MUMBAI: With the Maharashtragovernment shying away from implementing the 2011 ministry of environment& forests order to demolish Adarsh, the defenceministry has opened another front to reclaim land on which thecontroversial 31-storey building stands in Colaba.

The local army unit has filed awrit demanding that Adarsh be declared a security threat to the Colaba militarystation. Calling it a 'private' society, the petition said Adarsh being thetallest building overlooks military establishments like the Electrical andMechanical Engineering (EME) workshop, a storage and disbursal depot forpetrol, oil and lubricants, within 27 metres to a maximum 400 metres.

"The entire top decision-makingechelons-the General Officer Commanding (GOC) window being clearly visible-atthe headquarters of the Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa (MG&G) area can beeliminated with sniper rifles and other hand-held weapons with the buildingbarely 200 metres away,'' the petition filed through Deepak Saxena, majorgeneral (chief of staff) of MG&G area, said.

Citing the case of US president Barack Obamawatching live in Washington the operation to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladenin Pakistan,the petition pointed out that it may be possible for residents of the buildingto observe numbers and types and movement of personnel, specialist and generalpurpose vehicles that may be parked in the workshop, from which theiravailability/serviceability can be analyzed.

"...potential residents of Adarsh and theirguests, who could be foreign nationals, will not be under the jurisdiction ofthe Indian Navy or Indian Army authorities and hence not amenable to securitychecks,'' army officials added, detailing a range of hand-held weaponsavailable with terrorists that can be smuggled into Adarsh.

The army pointed to violations in provisions ofdevelopment control regulation 16, which states the municipal commissioner canreject a building proposal if he considers it to be source of danger to thehealth and safety of inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

The role of five GOCs from 1999 to 2010 as beingresponsible for the security risk arising from the building was also pointedout. "Each successive GOC, be it A R Kumar, V S Yadav, T K Kaul, TejinderSingh and R K Hooda, or their family members, were given a flat and thus, noneobjected to the land under occupation and owned by the army to Adarsh,'' officialssaid.

To buttress security concerns, the army citedthe example of Pakistani American national DavidColeman Headley, currently in US custody, who surveyed sites across thecity before the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.

The army said that to ensure a Adarsh-likesituation is not repeated, they (in addition to the Western Naval Command) havesent a proposal to the defence ministry to restrict the construction and heightof private buildings around 500 metres of the military station.

It added that as early as June 2003, the thendefence estate officer has raised the issue of a security threat with thecollector of Mumbai. In fact, it mentioned that the occupation certificate (OC)was issued to Adarsh despite a written request to the MumbaiMetropolitan Region Development Authority ( MMRDA) to withholdits issuance, citing security concerns in 2010.

Aarushi murder case: CBI opposes Talwars' plea for trial in Delhi

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/Aarushi-murder-case-CBI-opposes-Talwars-plea-for-trial-in-Delhi/articleshow/11984230.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 03.02AM IST

SC wants to know whatis the harm in transfer

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday wondered why the CBI was objecting to Rajesh and NupurTalwars' plea for transfer of the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case trial fromGhaziabad to Delhi and asked what the agency's objection could be when most ofthe witnesses were in Delhi.

The Talwars, who had unsuccessfully moved the apex court against the trialcourt's decision to summon them as accused despite the CBI filing a closurereport in the case, had sought transfer of the trial from Ghaziabad to Delhi onthe ground that they feared for their safety. In January last year, a personhad attacked RajeshTalwar with a cleaver, inflicting serious cuts on his face and neck.

When additional solicitor general Harin Ravalsought time for the CBI to file reply to the transfer petition filed by theTalwars, a bench of Justices B S Chauhan and J S Khehar wanted to know whatpossible objections the agency could have to such a plea. Raval said the CBIwas prepared to provide security to the accused couple in the Ghaziabad courtand sought time to file a comprehensive reply. The bench posted hearing onMonday and asked the agency to file its reply by then.

What was virtually given up as a perplexing blind murder case was revived onJanuary 6, when the SC cleared the decks for the dentist couple's trial for themurder of their 14-year-old daughter Aarushi and theirservant Hemraj.

The SC upheld the trial court's decision to summon the Talwars as accused inthe case. The SC was apparently convinced by the evidence and argumentspresented by the CBI that there was indeed a prima facie case against thecouple. The two-judge bench of Justices A K Ganguly (since retired) and J SKhehar, however, had allowed the couple to remain on bail till their appearancebefore the trial court and refused to comment on the merits of the case.

The murder of Aarushi, a Class IX student of Delhi Public School, Noida, on May16, 2008, and the subsequent discovery of Hemraj's body the next day on theterrace of the Talwars' flat not only developed into a bizarre whodunnit butalso led to heated debate on the ethics of media reporting about the UPpolice's allegations against the couple and the alleged motive behind thekilling.

CWG: District judge sends file back to trial court

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cwg-district-judge-sends-file-back-to-trial-court/232459-3.html

New Delhi: The Delhi district judge on Tuesday sent the file of acorruption case releated to the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) to the trialcourt for hearing on February 23 and deferred the proceedings on a defencecounsel's allegation doubting a fair trial.
District Judge Sunita Gupta listed the matter for March 5 for hearing thesubmission of prosecution over allegations of defence counsel.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Talwant Singh onFebruary 16 adjourned the hearing of the CWG case and sought directions fromthe district judge after defence counsel Ramesh Gupta, appearing for formerCommonwealth Games Organising Committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot raiseddoubts over getting a fair trial.
Counsel Gupta along with former CWG Organising Committee's chief SureshKalmadi's counsel Siddharth Luthra told the district judge that the submissionwas made to point out the daily proceedings of the case affecting the life ofthe accused and others.
"Since date of scrutiny is fixed on February 23, so there is no needfor the accused to be present in court on every day in between as the scrutinyis to be done in the chambers of the advocates and not in court," Guptahad said before Judge Singh.
Judge Gupta sent the file to the trial court to take up the matter onFebruary 23.
Judge Singh also denied Gupta's allegation and termed it false. He refusedto hold any proceedings till a direction was given by the district judge towhom he sent the case file.
The special court was hearing a case against Kalmadi, Bhanot and nine othersin a corruption case related to alleged financial irregularities in awarding aRs 141 crore contract for the time scoring and records system for the 2010 megasporting event held in New Delhi.

Divorce cases dip in Chennai

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Divorce-cases-dip-in-Chennai/articleshow/11986051.cms

KarthikaGopalakrishnan, TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 06.30AM IST

CHENNAI: Married couples in thecity appear to be getting more tolerant of each other's differences withstatistics showing a decrease in the number of divorce cases filed at thefamily court last year.

The four family courts in the city recorded 3,742 cases of divorce and divorceby mutual consent in 2011. In 2010, as many as 3,803 cases had been filed inthese courts.

Statistics available with TOI for the period from 2000 to 2011 indicate aslowdown in the rate of growth of divorce cases that are being filed as well.While the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) stood at 12.4% from 2001 to 2006,it tumbled to 4.9% from 2006 to 2011.

Lawyers say this could be due to the efforts made by the court in gettingcouples to settle their differences; even reunite, by sending them formediation and counselling.

"Once a petition for divorce is filed, the couple are immediately referredto counselling. In the mofussil areas, they are sent to the Lok Adalat if thereare no family courts there. If the couple do reunite, the case is dismissed aswithdrawn. Perhaps these cases were not taken into account when the statisticswere compiled. This could explain thefall in the growth rate," an advocate said.

Lawyers add the slow down in the city should be matched by other areas of thestate as well. "There is an increase in matrimonial cases from suburbanareas. Thursday has been reserved for matrimonial matters at the Tambaramsub-court. We can get an idea of whether there divorce cases are reducing if wecan get statistics from family courts in Coimbatore and Madurai along with datafrom the mofussil courts," said advocate AdhilakshmiLogamurthy.

Pointing out cases continued to stagnate for years on end, lawyers said thatconcerted efforts had to be taken for speedy disposal of cases.

"Why does a person have to wait for eight years and why should his/herlife hinge on the orders on a divorce petition? Close to 200 petitions relatingto various issues are filed at these family courts every day. During thesession between 10.30am and 1pm, the judges just call the cases and adjournthem. Matters are taken up for final hearing only during the later half of theday. A better system needs to be worked out so that cases are taken up fordisposal in the morning itself. The process has to be simplified," advocateSheilaJayaprakash said.

Jamia students' union polls; HC seeks varsity's response

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/jamia-students-union-polls-hc-seeks-varsitys-response/966307.html

PTI | 07:02PM,Feb 21,2012

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today sought response fromJamia Milia Islamia (JMI) on a plea seeking a direction to the universityadministration to conduct polls to the students' union which remains dissolvedsince 2006. A division bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Rajiv Shakdherdirected the university to file a detailed affidavit within four weeks to theplea of Hamidur Rehman, a final year BA student, for a direction to hold theelections. Directing Atyab Siddiqui, the counsel for Jamia, to file theresponse, the bench fixed March 18 for further hearing of the petition. Thepetition alleged JMI was not conducting the students' union election since 2006on the ground that the atmosphere is not conducive despite severalrepresentations made in this regard before the administration. Alleging thatJamia administration had dissolved the elected body in March 2006 withoutgiving any reason, the petitioner said, "Jamia was not conducting andallowing the students' union election since 2006 onwards till date despiteseveral representations and request made by students to various authoritiesincluding the vice chancellor." The request for conducting the electionwas made time and again but no action has been taken, said the PIL, filedthrough lawyer Sitab Ali Chaudhary. "There is nobody in the campus toaddress the students' grievances and problems and that is why they are beingharassed frequently," the lawyer submitted. It also claimed the HRDMinistry and the UGC have also asked the university to hold polls. Jamia hasbeen charging Rs 50 annually from each student as union fee since 2006 but theauthorities have "no intention to hold the election," the petitionsaid. (More)

Lawsuit on offensive content motivated, says Yahoo India

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/lawsuit-on-offensive-content-motivated-says-yahoo-india/articleshow/11985809.cms

NEW DELHI: Yahoo India onTuesday said in a reply to a Delhi Courtthat the lawsuit against it on 'objectionable' content was motivated andreflects an "abuse of the power of law".

"The suit is a complete abuse of the process of law," Yahoo Indiasaid in a reply to the lower court's direction to file a compliance report to21 websites to remove objectionable content from their web pages. Yahoo hadasked for the removal of its name as a party in the case.

"The present proceedings are somewhat akin to a publicinterest litigation (PIL), wherein the plaintiff has sought certainreliefs, which do not directly concern the plaintiff and without there beingany actual existing interest in the subject matter," the website said inits written submissions to the court of Additional Civil Judge (ACJ) PraveenSingh. The Delhi High Court has refused to quash summons against Yahoo India,despite its plea that it is not an online social network.

Yahoo is asking for the removal of its name as a party in the lawsuit. Thewebsite pleaded that it should not be clubbed with Google andFacebook.

The website said in its written submissions that "it has been made a partyin the case on the patently mistaken assumption that it is a social networkingwebsite and thus there is no cause of action against it". Yahoo India'slawyer Arvind Nigam further argued that since it is not a necessary party inthe case, striking out its name would not affect the proceedings (againstGoogle and Facebook).

The case in the lower court was filed last year by Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi,founder of fatwaonline.org, against 21 websites for carrying 'objectionable'content. The government has sanctioned prosecution of the websites, on grounds,that they declined to come out with a mechanism to remove content. Government'smeetings with Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and Facebook, lastyear on the issue, failed to draw a conclusion.

Don't cut trees for legislators' parking lot: HC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Dont-cut-trees-for-legislators-parking-lot-HC/articleshow/11984099.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 02.48AM IST

BANGALORE: Construction of a multi-levelcar parking facility near the Legislators' Home (LH) is in limbo now. The high court onTuesday issued an interim direction to the authorities not to prune or felltrees without the court's permission.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen ordered notice to thegovernment and the BBMP, asking them to file replies within two weeks on a PILfiled by advocate Ramesh Babu.

"You (government) have to show how it doesn't form part of Cubbon Park,''the division bench observed when the government advocate said the earlierapplication seeking permission was withdrawn as it was found that the area inquestion isn't part of Cubbon Park. The government advocate said the projecthas been taken up to set up parking facilities for visitors to Vidhana Soudhaand the LH. The petitioner complained that though the government had withdrawnits application in October last year seeking the court's permission forconstruction of the facility, work was going on and eight trees had been cut.

CID arrests 4 constables for custodial death

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_cid-arrests-4-constables-for-custodial-death_1653321

Published: Wednesday, Feb 22,2012, 8:00 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

The state Crime Investigation Department(CID) has arrested four constables attached with the Ulhasnagar police fortheir alleged role in the custodial death of Narayan Rathod in March 2011, thestate government told Bombay high court.
Public prosecutor Pandurang Pol told thedivision bench of Justice SA Bobade and Justice R Dhanuka that the CID haslodged an offence against seven and is investigating the case.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by HardasTharwani, a social activist from Ulhasnagar, seeking an independent probeagainst the alleged killing of Rathod in custody.
As per the PIL, Ulhasnagar residentsGovardhandas, 70, and Kavita Dalwani, 65, were killed on February 25, 2011.Govardhandas was a retired CRPF official. After two days, the police called intheir son-in-law, Rathod, for questioning. He was called on three otheroccasions.

On March 1, 2011, however,the constables beat him during questioning, which caused his death, the PILclaimed.

HC declines to hear PIL

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-declines-to-hear-pil/966336.html

PTI | 08:02PM,Feb 21,2012

Patna, Feb 21 (PTI) Patna High Court today declined to hear a publicinterest litigation seeking quashing of land allotment by the Bihar Industrial AreaDevelopment Authority to the relatives of politicians and bureaucrats allegedlyin irregular manner. A division bench comprising Justices T Meena Kumari andGopal Prasad disposed of the PIL filed by a Samata Party leader P K Sinha andasked him to submit a representation to the chief secretary raising all hisgrievances about the alleged irregularities in the land allotment.

Court quashes PIL seeking recovery of expenditure on Modi fast

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2916456.ece

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL seekingrecovery of the expenditure incurred on the three-day fast observed by ChiefMinister Narendra Modi under ‘Sadbhavna Mission’ here last year.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya andJustice J B Pardiwala rejected the PIL filed by one Rajesh Mota on the groundsthat the expenditure on functions was decision of the executive government andthere was no need for the judiciary to interfere into the matter.

The petitioner’s counsel Ratna Vora, who is also state presidentof the Women’s Cell of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said they wouldchallenge the high court’s decision in the Supreme Court.

In the PIL, the petitioner had alleged that Modi’s three-daySadbhavana fast, held between September 17 and September 19, 2011, was neitherpart of any government programme nor it served any public cause.

Dubbing the Sadbhavna mission as a ‘drama’, Ms. Mota furthercontended that the fast was aimed at deriving a political mileage, and hence,the expenses incurred on the event should be footed by the ruling BJP or thechief minister himself.

The petitioner had also sought directions from the high court forrecovery of over Rs 100 crore, which was reportedly spent on the event, eitherfrom BJP or Mr. Modi’s personal account.

This petition was the third such PIL filed with regard to theSadbhavana fast and the expenditure incurred on it.

Last year also Mr. Mota had moved the court questioning the hugeexpenditure incurred on the much—publicised programme but later withdrew itwhen the judges pointed out certain technical flaws in the petition.

Another litigation on the same issue was filed by advocate K.G.Pandit who had cited newspaper reports in his prayer seeking recovery of theexpenditure.

However, the high court rejected his petition for lack of anyevidence.

Mr. Modi had undertaken the three-day fast in September last yearfor promoting peace, unity and harmony in the state.

He recently concluded a series of one-day fasts in all districtsof Gujarat. In all, he held 33 one-day fasts in various districts and cities ofthe state, during which he also announced huge financial packages fordevelopment.

The opposition Congress had dismissed the fasts as a politicaldrama and a drain on public exchequer.

PIL on land distribution: Last call for counters

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/pil-on-land-distribution-last-call-for-counters/232524-60-119.html

BANGALORE: The High Court on Tuesday gave the final adjournment to fileobjections to the state government, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA),the Department of Urban Development (UDD) and other beneficiaries of ‘G’category sites in connection with a public interest litigation petition (PIL)alleging irregularities in the distribution of sites.

The petitioner and a city-based advocate S Vasudeva, submitted tothe court, that since 2003, the state government acted arbitrarily whileallotting G category sites by violating the provisions of the BDA Act. Hestated that G category sites were allotted to 316 persons including sevenministers, five MPs, 143 MLAs and MLCs from February 2, 2006 to October 8, 2007in violation of the Bangalore Development Authority Site Allotment Rules, 1984.

Earlier, the High Court had issued notices to all these 316respondents.

However, only six have filed objections so far. Looking into thematter, the division bench comprising Justices K L Manjunath and Govindarajuludirected all the respondents who have not yet filed their objections to filethe objections within a week’s time.

The bench further stated that if respondents fail to fileobjections, the Court will start hearing the case and adjourned the case forfurther hearing .

SC slams Guj over ‘spuriouscase’ against Teesta

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/SC-slams-Guj-over-spurious-case-against-Teesta/Article1-814635.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 21, 2012

The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Gujarat governmentfor “victimising” social activist Teesta Setalvad and initiating a “spuriouscase” against her over her alleged role in illegally exhuming the bodies of the2002 riot victims.
“This is a spurious case to victimise the petitioner.This type of a case does no credit to the state of Gujarat in any way,” said abench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai while hearing Setalvad'sappeal challenging the Gujarat High Court order which declined to quash the FIRagainst her.

A case was lodged against Setalvad at the Panchmahaldistrict police station after she got bodies of post-Godhra riots victimsexhumed from a graveyard near Panam river. The Gujarat HC had on May 27 lastyear declined to give the activist relief from facing prosecution.
The SC, on the other hand, said it wasn’t correct onthe Gujarat government’s part to go ahead with the case. “You may be right inother cases. But not in this one,” the bench said.
It asked senior advocate and state counsel PradeepGhosh to go through the FIR and advise the government not to proceed with it.The bench said: “You advise your client not to proceed with this type of acase. You should show some responsibility and tell the government not toproceed with the case.”
The bench added that its interim stay — imposed onJuly 29, 2011 — on criminal proceedings against Setalvad in the case wouldcontinue till the next date of hearing.
The Gujarat government justified the registration ofthe case against her. The state said the activist had planned and executed thedigging of graves without any permission in 2006. The government had said theother accused have claimed innocence and had blamed Setalvad for instigatingthem to carry out the exhumation, which is a penal offence.

Lawyer's plea to renounce faith quashed

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thane/Lawyers-plea-to-renounce-faith-quashed/articleshow/11983819.cms

NitinYeshwantrao, TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 02.16AM IST

THANE: Karl Marx'sfamous line about religion being the opium of the people appears to have beentaken too literally by a local lawyer, whoseunusual petition in the Thane sessions court to declare him as 'non-religious'was struck down by the Justice SS Todkar here recently.

ShrirangBalwant Khambete, a practicing advocate here pleaded that he was no longereager to be identified with any particular traditions or faith and wished toabandon his religion.

The 50-year-old advocatesaid in his petition that the present day strife and struggle was a result oftraditions rooted in religious faith. He said a value system based onprinciples of secularism or non-religious traditions is the key to spread peacein the region and therefore sought the court's orders to be henceforth referredto as 'non' religious' just like the constitution of India.

Religion and caste arepurely man- manufactured. People will be happy and content only when theybreak-free of all man-made traditions of faith. Animals are not governed by anyreligious practices and so they lead a peaceful life. If man sheds hisself-made beliefs of religion and instead accepts the larger humanity as hisreligion, it will put an end to disputes,'' Khambete said.

The one-of-its kindpetition, filed way back in 2009, invited attention among the legal fraternityas also the citizens here who were anxious about the fate of this plea giventhe fact that religion, caste and creed are considered as integral part of theIndian society

Khambete, who was bornin a Marathi-speaking Brahmin family here, argued further that, religion cannotbe imposed on a person merely due to the fact that he was born into a familywhere the parents preached a particular faith. If politicians can be referredto as Independens and the Constitution be called secular then by the same logicI wish to be non-religious,'' he said.

Arguing his case in thecourt debate, advocate VP Patil told the court that the petitioner intends toabandon his caste and religion as per rule 13 (1) (ii) of the Hindu MarriagesAct and that he does not want to take up any other religion after that. If thecourt can sanction change of religion then the person should legally be allowedto give up religion entirely,'' Patil said in his petition.

Justice Todkar in hisorder stated that the view about religion and faith are purely the personalopinions of the petitioner and cannot be imposed on others. Quoting Article 25of the Right to Freedom of Religion, the court observed that any person is freeto embrace or give up his religion and if t the petitioner intends to give uphis case and religion then he is within his rights to do so.

Justice Todkar saidshould the court sanction the title of non-religious'' it could possiblycomplicate matters for the family members of such a person as after his deaththey would be caught in a legal trap on several issues of heir to the propertyor rituals etc.

Businessman faces trial for forging US mission letters

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/businessman-faces-trial-for-forging-us-mission-letters/915184/

Expressnews service : New Delhi, Wed Feb 22 2012, 05:32 hrs

Upholding a magisterial court order, Additional Sessions Judge Rajeev Bansalhas directed a businessman to stand trial on charges of cheating and forgery.
Ranjan Sukhani has been accused of forging letters of the United StatesEmbassy and of officials of the United Nations to avail a substantial bankloan.
Sukhani had appealed against the magistrate’s 2004 order, and the sessionscourt has now asked him to appear before the former.
“I do not find any infirmity in the order assailed by the petitioner inthese proceedings. The present petition is thus devoid of merits and is herebydismissed,” said ASJ Bansal.
The case was registered against Sukhani the Vijaya Bank wrote to theEconomic offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, claiming that he hadapproached them for a loan of Rs 45 lakh.
Along with other loan documents, Sukhrani had submitted three letterspurportedly written by the chief travel coordinator of the Embassy of USA,travel coordinator of an organisation of the UN and Videocon International Ltd.The bank had approached the police after it grew suspicious of theirauthenticity.

Adarsh probe: Maharashtra govt seeks interim report

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Adarsh-probe-Maharashtra-govt-seeks-interim-report/articleshow/11983919.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 02.28AM IST

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has filed anapplication before the Adarsh commission seeking an interim reporton the scam inquiry. The commission of Justice (retired) J A Patil and member PSubrahmanyam will hear the application on February 24.

The state, represented by senior advocate A YSakhare along with advocates R Vasudev and Uday Nighot, sought the report ontwo of the 13 issues before the commission--who owned the land that wasallotted to Adarsh and whether the plot was reserved for housing Kargil warwidows.

The application says that it may take time for afinal report on the 13 issues the commission is probing. The state has pointedout that the notification appointing the commission has a provision for aninterim report.

The commission will decide on February 24 whento call former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh,SushilkumarShinde, AshokChavan and other high-profile politicians named in the scam.

The commission's other terms of referenceinclude, whether reduction of width of the Capt Prakash Pethe road and changeof reservation to residential was in accordance with law, was the deletion ofreservation of plot reserved for BEST and conversion to residential in accordancewith law, did the state violate MRTP provisions to allow Adarsh to build a31-storey tower, who approved non-eligible persons to become society members,did Adarsh obtain CRZ and MoEF clearance and the persons who were involved inthe scrutiny of applications. --Shibu Thomas

Lokpal, lokayuktas face challenge from private complainants post SC order

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-21/india/31082275_1_prosecution-lokayuktas-lokpal

Sanjay Sharma, TNN Feb 21, 2012, 06.16PM IST

CHANDIGARH: The recent Supreme Court judgment on the petition of SubramanianSwamy in the 2Gscam has posed a big challenge to lokpal and lokayuktas in states whileseeking prosecution of a public servant from the levels of a constable to achief minister.
Now, a person can seek prosecution of chief minister from the governor ofthe state on the basis of a complaint supported by credible evidence withoutthe governor being allowed to inquire into the complaint through some otherprobe agency and the accused being given an opportunity to be heard, experts inprobe agencies and legal fraternity told The Times of India seekinganonymityThe only stumbling block in the direct prosecution through this routeis that the appointing authority, which also has the power to remove any publicservant, can refuse prosecution on the basis of its own assessment and thedecision of the prosecuting authority is not open for judicial review, theysaid.
Now anybody in the government could be directly prosecuted if the petitionerapproaches the authority that can appoint and remove a "publicservant".
The judgment allows the prosecution to be sent directly to a trial courtthat will further work on the trial on the basis of the application of theprosecution.
As soon as the prosecution is sanctioned, it carries the same status as achargesheet filed by investigating agencies after a tedious process ofgathering evidence through arrest and police coercion.
Sources said all prosecuting authorities do not have professional skills andinfrastructure of the level of investigating agencies - police and CBI - togather evidence.
Courts will now have a challenge to proceed on the basis of the quality ofevidence collected by a private person who does not have coercive power of aninvestigating agency. Now, a lot of RTI information may lead to seekprosecution against a suspected public servant.
Conviction in large number of these cases will be difficult as very rarelycan a private person's quality of evidence be matched with that ofinvestigating agencies to prove a corrupt act, sources said.
Another interesting development that may emerge after the judgment is that alarge number of people will seek prosecution of chief ministers from thegovernors, especially in those states in which non-Congress parties are ruling.
Punjab and HimachalPradesh may be immediately affected by the judgment.
This judgment has made the private complaint even more powerful than thelokpal or lokayukta as it can only recommend prosecution to the governor andthe legislature but they might refuse the same to the lokayukta to furtherproceed.

Let the verdict speak

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/let-the-verdict-speak/914933/

The IndianExpress : Wed Feb 22 2012, 03:13 hrs

2G case is on, Justice Ganguly should avoid commenting on the ‘meaning’of his judgment
The recently retired Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly can look back on hisinnings with satisfaction — in his own words, he always played “with a straightbat”. He has always upheld the highest ideals of the judiciary — in hisinterview with this paper, he said he didn’t want any holidays when he died, areference to the many delays and holidays that hold up the system and clog thecourts. He capped his career with the 2G case, which he and Justice G.S.Singhvi had presided over from Court 11 since 2010. Right before he retired, hedelivered some ringing judgments in the case — first, ordering that sanctionsto prosecute public officials must be granted within four months, and second,cancelling the 122 licences awarded by then telecom minister, A Raja, in 2008.
In a recent interview, Ganguly clarified and nuanced certain aspects of thejudgment. He explained that the court had not recommended auctions as the onlyway to allocate all natural resources and that the criticism of thefirst-come-first-serve method was confined to the context of the 2G case. Healso explained why the judgment has drawn a distinction between the primeminister and his office, why the focus was on Raja’s dodgy decision-making,rather than the cabinet’s collective responsibility.
Ganguly was scrupulous about not going into the “nitty-gritties of thejudgment”. He repeatedly underlined that his judgment would not have an impacton the ongoing criminal proceedings against Raja in the trial court. But giventhe saturation coverage of the 2G case, his most recent comments on the verdicthave been splashed everywhere. So, with all due respect, even this trickle ofcommentary is perhaps avoidable, given that the 2G case is still under judicialconsideration. There is a trial on in the lower court and some of the partiesaffected by the cancellation order have said they intend to file a review orseek the court’s clarification. While Justice Ganguly is free to reflect on hisown decisions — and such reflection does richly add to public discourse — itwould be advisable to refrain from any commentary while the legal process ison. For, the verdict and only the verdict should speak for itself.

I want younger lawyers to join the judiciary: CJI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/I-want-younger-lawyers-to-join-the-judiciary-CJI/articleshow/11979495.cms

PTI | Feb 21, 2012, 07.58PM IST

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice ofIndia S H Kapadia today expressed concern over many younger lawyers notpreferring to join judiciary and asked them to enter the profession to servethe country.

"Today the problem is that many of the young people would like to go fornon-litigation matters. They prefer to sit in cozy air conditioned chambers. Iam not blaming them. They prefer to draft documents. Economic circumstances aresuch so I am not blaming anyone. But I want the younger people to join theprofession. I want younger people to join the judiciary so that they can servethe country and the people," Justice Kapadia said.

The CJI, who was speaking at the convocation function of the Indian Law Institute,also praised the younger generation for their objective view in dealing withtheir jobs.

"I am putting this in public domain today. Today in most complicatedcases, very eminent senior lawyers are appearing in the Supreme Court but atthe end of the day we find that it is the material by the young junior lawyerswho are working very hard.

"I am proud of the younger generation because they think objectively and Iam sure that all of you will take my advise and focus on clarity, confidenceand commitment," he said.

Vodafone case: PIL claims conflict of interest by CJI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Vodafone-case-PIL-claims-conflict-of-interest-by-CJI/articleshow/11982851.cms

DhananjayMahapatra, TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 12.53AM IST

NEW DELHI: A petition filed in the Supreme Courton Tuesday has sought a reconsideration of the apex court's judgment quashingthe Rs 11,000 crore tax demand on Vodafone, saying that ChiefJustice of India S H Kapadia whogave the lead verdict should have recused from hearing the case.

The petitioner, advocate M L Sharma, said that while ruling in favour of thetelecom major, the Justice Kapadia-led three-judge bench considered a duediligence report filed by Ernst and Young-- the global consultancy firm with which the CJI's son Hoshnar Kapadia hasbeen working as senior manager since 2008.

In a prompt response to the "conflict of interest" charge, SupremeCourt's deputy registrar H K Juneja confirmed that Hoshnar was employed withErnst and Young (India) but said he was not part of the tax department of thefirm which was engaged by Vodafone.

Juneja, also principal private secretary to the CJI, further emphasized thatthe Vodafonetransaction predated Hoshnar joining Ernst and Young, and that he was notworking for the UK chapter of the consultancy that provided the advice toVodafone. "The Vodafone transaction is dated February 11, 2007. At thattime, his lordship's son was not in Ernst and Young (India). Further, the duediligence report dated February 11, 2007 has been given by Ernst & Young(UK) and not by Ernst and Young (India)," Juneja said.

The CJI's response to Sharma's charge will be keenly awaited. In an earlierinstance, while hearing a case relating to Vedanta, Justice Kapadia hadvoluntarily disclosed that he had shares in the aluminum major's sisterconcern. He continued hearing the case only after no "conflict ofinterest" objection was raised.

In November 2009, Justice R V Raveendran had withdrawn from hearing a highstakes legal battle in the Supreme Court between the Ambani brothers over KGBasin gas because his daughter worked with a law firm that had advised one ofthe parties to the dispute.

Sharma said if it was true that the CJI's son was working in E&Y at thetime of hearing of the Vodafone case, then it resulted in "an unexpectedscenario" warranting setting aside of the January 20 judgment. Herequested the apex court to post the Vodafone case for fresh hearing before aconstitution bench.

The Centre has already sought recall of the Vodafone judgment on the groundthat it was "erroneous" as well as "contradictory". If the266-page concurrent judgments -- one by Justices Kapadia and Swatanter Kumarand the other by Justice K S Radhakrishnan -- had miffed the government, notonly on account of losing out on Rs 11,000 crore in revenue but also on beingmisunderstood on factual aspect, then it found expression in the hard-hitting100-page review petition filed jointly by the Centre and the I-T department.

The government listed 121 grounds, each pointing to an error in judgment, toseek review of the January 20 order and said it was surprised by the apexcourt's decision to give relief to Vodafone on the ground that its offshoretransaction was a structured foreign direct investment into the country when inreality not a single penny came as investment into India.

CIC files charges against Viquar & his associates

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/CIC-files-charges-against-Viquar-his-associates/articleshow/11983182.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 01.11AM IST

HYDERABAD: Over two and halfyears after the arrest of the founder of TahreekGhalba-e-Islam (TGI) Viquar Ahmed,the police framed charges against him on Tuesday in cases related to attacks oncops on two different occasions.

Viquar with the help of his associates had formed the militant organization TGIreportedly to avenge the killing of Muslims in police firing following the bombblast in Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007. The State Counter Intelligence Cellsubmitted the charges in the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge atNampally in cases pertaining to the killing and attacking of cops. Viquar wasbrought to Nampally courts premises amidst tight security on Tuesday.

The CIC also filed charges besides Viquar, against Syed Sulaiman alias Amjad,Dr. Haneef, Zakir, Riyaz Khan, Sayeed, Izhar Khan and Vinod Kumar Sahu.

CAT adjourns hearing on Sharma’s petition against chargesheet till March 1

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/CAT-adjourns-hearing-on-Sharma-s-petition-against-chargesheet-till-March-1/915162/

Express NewsService : Ahmedabad, Wed Feb 22 2012, 04:04 hrs

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) bench in Ahmedabad on Tuesdayadjourned the hearing on a petition moved by Gujarat-cadre IPS officer RahulSharma against the departmental chargesheet issued against him by the stategovernment till March 1.

The tribunal adjourned the hearing after the state government made astatement that Sharma may file his reply by March 1 to the departmentalchargesheet.
The departmental chargesheet has been issued to Sharma by the stateGovernment for not submitting the original CDs containing mobile call dataduring 2002 riots to the concerned authorities.
Sharma has challenged the proceedings while inter alia claiming immunityunder the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act.
He has stated that since he deposed before the Nanavati Commission relatedto the CDs, he cannot be made subject to any criminal or civil proceedings inthat regard under the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act.
However, the state government has opposed this saying its action to initiatedepartmental proceedings against him are independent and have nothing to dowith his deposition before the Nanavati Commission.
On Tuesday, Sharma’s lawyer Mukul Sinha completed arguments. The stategovernment sought time to give a reply to Sharma’s rejoinder.
Sinha said that the state government has been granted time by the tribunalwhile considering the state government’s statement that Sharma would get timetill next date of the hearing which is on March 1 to file his reply to thedepartmental chargesheet.
The tribunal is presently hearing the petition on the limited aspect ofwhether Sharma has got immunity against any government action in connectionwith his deposition before the Nanavati Commission.

Hasan Ali’s anticipatory bail rejected

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Hasan-Alis-anticipatory-bail-rejected/articleshow/11983451.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 01.36AM IST

HYDERABAD: A local court onTuesday rejected the anticipatory bail petition moved by Pune stud farm owner Hasan Ali in thePassport Act case booked by the CentralCrime Station (CCS) of the Hyderabad police.

On Tuesday, the VIII Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge of NampallyCriminal Courts Complex rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Hasan Ali in thecase.

Based on information provided by the Enforcement Directorate, the CCS policehad booked cases against Hasan Ali under sections 177 (Furnishing falseinformation), 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 12 (1)(B) of the Passport Act.

The allegation against Hasan Ali was that when his passport was impounded, heapplied for a new one on September 30, 2000 by giving his Banjara Hills addressand naming his divorced wife Mehbubunnisa Begum as his spouse and secured asecond passport (No. Z1069986).

Hassan Ali is currently lodged at the Arthur Road jail, Mumbai.

J Dey murder: Journalist Jigna Vora charge-sheeted

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_j-dey-murder-journalist-jigna-vora-charge-sheeted_1652990

Published: Tuesday, Feb 21,2012, 13:12 IST | Updated: Tuesday, Feb 21, 2012, 13:35 IST
Place: Mumbai | Agency: PTI

The Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesdaycharge-sheeted journalist Jigna Vora under stringent provisions of MaharashtraControl of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and various other penal offences for heralleged role in the sensational murder of senior crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey.
Vora has been charged under various sectionsof the Indian Penal Code including murder, criminal conspiracy and destructionof evidence, besides stringent provisions of MCOCA and the Arms Act.
The special MCOCA court took cognisance ofthe charge sheet and extended the custody of all accused till March 12. Jignahas been shown as the 11th accused in the case.
The Crime Branch, which is investigating themurder of MiD-Day journalist J Dey, had on December 3 filed its first chargesheet in the case against against 12 accused including fugitive underworld donChhota Rajan which did not name Vora, who was arrested on November 25.
Vora, deputy chief of bureau of Asian Age wasarrested under the MCOCA on charges of supplying licence plate number of themotorcycle and address of the slain journalist to Rajan.
Dey was claimed to have been shot dead on theorders of Rajan, who allegedly gave Rs5 lakh to the accused for the contractkilling that took place in suburban Powai on June 11.
The chargesheet had described the role ofeach accused but did not mention that of Vora who has now been named in thesupplementary charge sheet.
The police had seized her mobile phones andcomputer records.
According to police sources, Vora's name hadfigured in the telephonic conversations between the accused and Rajan.
The accused against whom charge sheet hadbeen filed were Rohee Thangappan Joseph alias Satish Kalya, Abhijeet Shinde,Arun Dake, Sachin Gaikwad, Anil Waghmode, Nilesh Shendge, Mangesh Agawane,Vinod Asrani, Paulson Joseph and Deepak Sisodia. All of them are in custodyunder MCOCA charges.
Chhota Rajan and his aide Nayan Singh Bishtwere shown as absconding.
According to police, two articles written byDey against Rajan on May 31 and June 2 could have cost the journalist his life.
Though the first charge sheet filed in thecase had not named Vora, police suspected that her professional rivalry withDey could have led her to get involved in the sensational killing. Crime branchsources said Vora had spoken to Rajan over phone quite a few times before thecrime.
The charge sheet had named 176 witnesses andhad on record the statements made by them.
Three of the arrested accused -- PaulsonJoseph, Deepak Sisodia and Arun Dake -- had also given their confession inkeeping with provisions of MCOCA.
The charge sheet said Satish Kalya, AnilWaghmode, Arun Dake, Abijeet Shinde, Nilesh Shendge, Sachin Gaikwad and MangeshAgawane were at the scene of the crime.
According to the charge sheet, Kalya hadfatally shot Dey, while Vinod Asrani had shown the target to Anil and Dake.Absconding accused Nayan Singh and Sisodia had supplied weapons to the accused,while Paulson had given Rs5 lakh contract money to the killers.

The 3055-page charge sheetran into three volumes.

Anti-north Indian tirade: HC quashes FIR against Raj Thackeray

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/antinorth-indian-tirade-hc-quashes-fir-against-raj-thackeray/914895/

Agencies: Mumbai, Tue Feb 21 2012, 19:44 hrs

In a major relief for Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray,Bombay High Court today quashed a 2008 case registered against him fordelivering a speech against north-Indians which allegedly led to violence inthe city.
Raj had been accused of "promoting enmity between two groups", undersections 117, 151 and 153 (a) of the Indian Penal Code. He had been arrested bysuburban Vikhroli police and released on bail the same day.
Raj had approached the High Court, seeking that the case be quashed, as thepolice had not taken the mandatory sanction from the state government beforeinitiating action.
Accepting the arguments of Thackeray's lawyers Rajendra Shirodkar andShayaji Nangare, the division bench of Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode todayset aside the FIR.

Italy works back channels, sea law to get marines off Indian hook

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2917143.ece

Sandeep Dikshit

Two sides keen to ensure incident does not affect ties

The New Delhi-Rome standoff over the killing of two Indianfishermen off the Kerala coast is not over yet with the detention of twomarksmen, although the two sides are trying to isolate the incident from their“multi-faceted'' bilateral ties.

Besides engaging diplomatically, Italy is working the Catholicchannels via the Vatican to allow the two marines to leave for Rome afterpaying some compensation to the families of the killed fishermen. “But India isfirm. Their case will be investigated here. And then, unless the courts decideotherwise, they should be tried here,” said highly placed sources, whiledisputing all the three legal approaches Italy is taking to secure the releaseof its two citizens.

The Italian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister will meet hiscounterpart Perneet Kaur on Wednesday and the Foreign Minister arrives nextweek on a prescheduled visit to convince New Delhi that any of their nationalsinvolved in criminal activity anywhere are subject to Italian law.

“This is their main approach,” said the sources while pointingout that Section 4 of the Indian Penal Code says that any crime committedagainst an Indian or on an Indian vessel “wherever it may be'' can be tried inIndia.

“So there is extra-territorial application of both Indian andItalian laws. As representatives of India, we will go by the legal processhere. There are differences with Italy on facts, procedure and processes but weare willing to engage with them. If they so desire, we will provide consularaccess to the two detained by the Kerala Police,'' said official sources.

The second approach Italy is taking is to argue that the UNConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) permits prosecution only by the statewhose flag the ship is flying or the state of which the citizen is a national(in both cases Italy). The third is that their ships have the right to take onpirates.

“We think Italy is overdoing this. According to us, Article 97 ofUNCLOS to which they are referring deals only with collision of vessels andother such incidents. Italy also feels it has the right to take action againstpirates. In this too they are in the wrong. This right is given only to navalvessels and not merchant ships,'' said highly placed sources, basing theirexplanation on the advice given by the MEA's legal cell.

Officials here also confessed that both sides are facing an issuelike this for the first time.

Asked if there were precedents of this nature, official sourcespointed out that an Indian fishing vessel was attacked by nationals of anothercountry in 2008 and “we know what happened after that in Mumbai.''

They also felt whether the ship was in India's exclusive economiczone (EEZ) or not shouldn't be an issue. “Italy and India have the same clausespertaining to extra-territorial jurisdiction. The ship was over 5,000 km awayfrom the Italian coast. Don't make an issue of the EEZ aspect.''

“Our goal is to isolate this incident. That's why we explainedthe legal framework on Sunday to the Italian delegation. Besides law and orderis a state subject,” added the sources.

NMA clears way for HC complex expansion

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nma-clears-way-for-hc-complex-expansion/915189/0

Utkarsh Anand :New Delhi, Wed Feb 22 2012, 05:53 hrs

Rapped by the Delhi High Court for “stalling and delaying”the development and expansion of the court complex, the National MonumentAuthority (NMA) on Tuesday submitted in the court the approval of the heritagebylaws pertaining to Sher Shah Suri Gate and Khair-ul-Manazil. The HC complexfalls within the regulated area (101-300 metres from a protected monument) ofthe heritage structures.

The bylaws will be a first for any monument in India. The bench, headed byJustice Pradeep Nandarajog, had earlier this month ordered all NMA members tobe personally present in court with an explanation, if they failed to notifythe bylaws by Tuesday.
The bylaws have proposed a maximum height of 21 metres for new constructionsso that they do not affect the view of the monuments or the angle of vision.
While the bylaws will not apply to the court’s main building or its twoexisting blocks — which are more than 30 metres in height, the upcoming Block Cwould have to abide by the fresh rule and will be restricted to four-stores.
Additional Solicitor General A S Chandhiok, who appeared for the High CourtBar Association, contended that the court had recorded that the recentlyacquired 2.74 acre of land abutting the court complex and the area where BlockC is being constructed did not fall within the regulated area of the monumentsand, hence, did not require any cap on its height. The court had put this onrecord after the official concerned from the ASI had agreed to the position.
Block C has been planned as a multi-storey building with 44 court rooms,including eight rooms for the joint registrars. The court complex currently has36 court rooms, out of which two are makeshift rooms.
During the hearing, the ASG told the bench that with the bylaws in place andin the wake of a recent Supreme Court verdict prohibiting construction ofmulti-storey buildings within 100 metres of protected monuments, they had noobjection in going ahead with the construction of the building. He said the Barwould still try to have 44 court rooms in the proposed four-storey structure.
Chandhiok, however, objected to a regulation in the bylaws that stipulatedmaximum permissible coverage on ground as 25 per cent of the area of the siteand maximum permissible Floor Area Ratio (FAR) as 125 per cent of the sitearea. He referred to the Delhi Master Plan 2021, which allowed 30 per cent ofthe site area to be earmarked as integrated office complex and FAR as 200 percent.
Justice Nandarajog then directed the NMA to consider the anomalous positionand resolve it.
In November 2011, the bench had directed the Central government to notifythe NMA within 30 days under the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites andRemains Act, 2010. The order was passed since only the NMA could sanction planspertaining to regulated areas. A delay in notification held up theinfrastructure and expansion plan of the court.
Subsequently, a competent authority under the Act apprised the bench inJanuary that the draft heritage bylaws pertaining to Sher Shah Suri Gate hadbeen submitted to the NMA and it now required their sanction.
The bench then posted the matter to February first week, asking the NMA totake a decision on the proposla by then. However, the court was informed thatbylaws were yet to be finalised, compelling the court to pass the order: “Ifwithin two weeks, the heritage bylaws pertaining to Sher Shah Suri Gate are notnotified, all members of the NMA shall be personally present in the Court at10.30 am on February 21.”
Also, it was a nudge by the bench that more than nine Central and stategovernment authorities had “put their heads together” that led to a clearancefor the construction of an underground multi-level automated parking lot nearthe High Court. The fully automated six-level underground parking with acapacity to accommodate 1,500 cars on Sher Shah Suri Marg had been mired incontroversy since its began in 2008 with conservationists expressing fears thatit threatened a tomb in the vicinity. Thanks to the bench, the parking facilityis currently having its trial run and is expected to be operational soon.

Bombay HC: Pvt persons cant impose fine on citizens

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bombay-hc-pvt-persons-cant-impose-fine-on-citizens_1653278

Published: Wednesday, Feb 22,2012, 8:00 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Mumbai

The Bombay high court on Tuesday once againquestioned the authority of Clean-Up marshals to impose fines on citizens foundlittering and engaging in non-civic behaviour. “If allowed to punish citizens,then private persons might even be allowed to jail people in future,” adivision bench of justices SA Bobade and RD Dhanuka observed.
“Show us the clause that allows you to allowprivate persons to collect fines," the bench said, while refusing to liftits earlier oral curb on Clean-Up marshals from collecting fines. The courtmade the observations during its hearing of a plea by ESS Infra Projects, abody of ready-mix cement truck owners that has challenged the marshals' rightto fine truck owners “for dirtying the roads with mud”.

As per its plea, Clean-Upmarshals have been levying a fine of Rs10,000 on the ready-mix cement trucksfound to have mud around their wheels. Failure to pay ends up in the vehiclesbeing detained for hours, leading to a loss worth Rs30,000, as once mixed thecement must reach its destination within three hours or else it dries up. Thenext hearing of the plea will come up after vacation.

HC quashes extension to retired official, fines Punjab govt

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/HC-quashes-extension-to-retired-official-fines-Punjab-govt/articleshow/11984436.cms

AjaySura, TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 03.24AM IST

CHANDIGARH: Weirdgrounds preferred by Punjabgovernment in retaining a 78-year-old retired Lt Colonel asdistrict Sainik welfare officer (DSWO), Jalandhar, failed to impress the Punjaband Haryana high court, which on Tuesday not only quashed the appointment, butalso imposed an exemplary cost of Rs 50,000 on the state.

Lt Col Manmohan Singhwas retained in service by the state in complete contravention of service ruleson grounds that he is "drawing a salary of Rs 1 per month only", his"name was recommended for Padma Bhushan award" and he has done an"excellent job". This was the plea of the state government as well asLt Col Singh before the court.

Quashing theappointment, a division bench headed by Justice M M Kumar also directed thechief secretary, Punjab to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances underwhich the retired army officer was given extensions, flouting all rules andalso to fix responsibility for making illegal appointment of Singh. The courthas also held that government would be at liberty to recover the cost of Rs50,000 from the officer found guilty in the inquiry.

The matter was raisedthrough a PIL filed by H S Rathi, who contended that the appointment wasviolative of Punjab Defence Services Welfare Officers (Group A) Rules, 1986,which provided the upper age limit as 55 years for the said post. Thepetitioner alleged that the Lt Colonel was given appointment as DSWO for the last 24years, purely on pick-and-choose basis, without issuing any advertisement orinviting applications from eligible persons, and without making regularappointment to the said post through Punjab PublicService Commission (PPSC).

Illegal construction: HC rejects plea of 44 traders

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Illegal-construction-HC-rejects-plea-of-44-traders/articleshow/11984877.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 04.14AM IST

NEW DELHI: Saying the menace ofunauthorized construction is "eating into our city", the Delhi highcourt on Tuesday said that such constructions shouldn't be tolerated. A benchcomprising Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv SahaiEndlaw made the observation while dismissing a batch of petitions filed by44 shopownersof Diamond Mall, Karol Bagh.

The owners had approached HC, challenging the decision of the MCD to seal their shops. Theyhad argued that they were subsequent purchasers of their respective shops, notthe owners of the plot or developers of the construction on the plot. Accordingto the MPD 2021 and the zonal development plan, the MCD is required to frameredevelopment plans and schemes for these areas, they further argued. The shopowners accused the MCD of adopting double standards.

According to the MCD, the building plans for the construction over three plotswas sanctioned in 2004 and the property was permitted for commercial purposes.MCD alleged, unauthorized constructions in the shape of deviations excesscoverage of basement and other floors with projections on municipal land led todemolition action by the civic agency. Sealing action was also taken and someof the floors were sealed in the last few years. "The petitioners even assubsequent purchasers owed a duty to satisfy themselves of the illegality ofthe title which they were seeking to require...the present is a clear casewhere the entire construction of Diamond Mall by illegally amalgamating threedistinct plots is unauthorized," the bench observed, dismissing the plea.

HC rap for Clean-Up marshals

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/HC-rap-for-Clean-Up-marshals/articleshow/11984105.cms

RosySequeira, TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 02.49AM IST

MUMBAI:"You'll put people in jail also," the Bombay HighCourt said on Tuesday in response to a complaint by Clean-Upmarshals that they were being restrained from collecting fines fromoffenders.

A division bench of Justice Sharad Bobde and Justice Ramesh Dhanuka was hearinga petition filed by an association of ready-mix concrete truck owners, allegingthat Clean-Up marshals appointed by Sulabh Security were detaining its vehiclesand releasing them on the payment of a Rs 10,000 fine for littering roads withmud.

On February 7, the judges had questioned under what powers had the BMC allowed a privateparty to collect fines; it had orally directed that no fines should becollected till the next hearing.

Advocate Sunil Dighe, appearing for two intervener security agencies, said theBMC had directed them to stop collecting fines following the court order."The burden is on the private agencies. We cannot collect fines from thedefaulters,'' he added.

BMC's advocates Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and Jernold Xavier said the agencies mightbe permitted to collect fines and the amount should be deposited in court."If fines are not collected, it will lead to littering," arguedKumbhakoni.

The judges reiterated it was for the BMC to collect fines and not privateparties. "We are equally concerned about cleanliness. That does not meanyou (BMC) authorize private persons to collect fines," said Justice Bobde."You'll (marshals) put people in jail also. Once you have the power topunish people, there is no end to punishment." The matter was adjourned bya week.

HC dismisses plea by jewellers seeking relief from sealing

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hc-dismisses-plea-by-jewellers-seeking-relief-from-sealing/915190/0

Expressnews service : New Delhi, Wed Feb 22 2012, 05:55 hrs

Favouring a stern approach against the menace ofunauthorised construction in the city, the Delhi High Court on Tuesdaydismissed a petition by jewellers whose shops in Karol Bagh-based Diamond Mallwas sealed for being in breach of municipal bylaws.

Also handing out a word of caution for all those who purchase suchproperties, the court held that illegality in the form of unauthorisedconstruction could not be condoned and it was the purchasers’ duty to enquirewell about a property before buying it.
“The menace of unauthorised construction is eating into our city and cannotbe tolerated. Merely because the petitioners claim to be innocent subsequentpurchasers cannot be a ground for this court to allow them to retain theillegality,” said a bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice RajivSahai Endlaw.
A petition by owners of 44 jewellery shops in Diamond Mall at Karol Bagh hadmoved the court against a sealing order passed by the Municipal Corporation ofDelhi (MCD) in August last year. The jewellers submitted that they were justsubsequent purchasers of shops and not the owners of the plot or developers ofthe construction on the said plot. The petition further disputed the fact thattheir shops was situated on residential plot and also sought a court directiveto the MCD to first framing redevelopment plan for the area and defer actiontill then.
The MCD’s affidavit in the court, however, disclosed that the mall was builtup after merging three different plots, out of which only one was permitted tobe used for commercial purposes and the remaining two were for residentialpurposes. It further said the redevelopment plan for the said area was stillunder preparation and, hence, commercial activities could be allowed only onthe plots designated under the Delhi Master Plan 2021.
The MCD also referred to a Supreme Court’s order holding that no court otherthan the Supreme Court will have any jurisdiction to order a de-sealing ofpremises sealed under its orders.
Finding substance in the MCD’s submissions, the court noted that thoughpetitioners claimed to be subsequent purchasers of the shops, the fact remainsthat their claim was steeped in illegality. It dismissed the petition sayingthe construction of Diamond Mall was done illegally by amalgamating threedistinct plots.

HC asks govt why illegal banners aren't removed

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/HC-asks-govt-why-illegal-banners-arent-removed/articleshow/11986057.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 06.31AM IST

CHENNAI: With chief ministerJ Jayalalithaa's birthday just two days away and the city witnessing a spurt indigital banners and hoardings on main roads, the Madras high court has askedthe authorities to spell out action taken against those who put up unauthorizedbanners.

The firstbench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam gavethe directions on Tuesday, on a public interest writ petition of social activistK R 'Traffic' Ramaswamy.

Pointing out that the bench had adjourned the matter on January 3 with adirection to the government pleader that a counter-affidavit be filed in fourweeks, the judges expressed dissatisfaction when informed on Tuesday that thecounter-affidavit was yet to be filed. Describing it as 'unfortunate', theysaid: "The counter-affidavit must be filed stating specifically as to whatsteps the authorities had taken for redressal of the grievances of thepetitioner (Ramaswamy)." They, however, acceded to the request ofadvocate-general A Navaneethakrishnan who wanted more time to file acounter-affidavit. The matter has now been posted to February 27 for furtherhearing. In this regard, they pointed out that when the matter came up forhearing on January 3, the bench had given four weeks for the authorities tofile an affidavit narrating the action taken to regulate the erection ofbanners and pandals in public places.

In his PIL, Ramaswamy had stated that authorities were indifferent tolargescale violation of court orders and the relevant law by party men who putup huge digital hoardings and also damage roads. He said most of the policestations were not ready even to acknowledge complaints about such violation.

Pay 5L to ragging victim: HC to TTD

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Pay-5L-to-ragging-victim-HC-to-TTD/articleshow/11983651.cms

TNN | Feb 22, 2012, 01.56AM IST

HYDERABAD: The TTD found itself in anembarrassing situation when the AP high court on Tuesday directed theauthorities to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to a student of TTD's Veda Pathasalaat Tirumala in connection with the ragging and physical abuseby senior students.

The victim, a junior student, was sexually assaulted by his seniors in theschool. The court ordered the authorities to pay the compensation to the boy'sfamily for the trauma they had undergone all these months. The court's ordercomes close on the heels of its earlier directive in which it had ordered theauthorities to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to another boy who was also abusedphysically by seniors.

After the issue rocked the state, the court took the matter suo motu andappointed amicus curiae Naveen Rao to probe the activities in the VedaPathasala. It also directed the authorities to provide medical assistance toanother boy of the school, who was allegedly abused by his seniors.

In another case, the High Court imposed Rs 5,000 fine on the state governmentfor not filing its counter to a petition that charged the state with inactionin controlling the mushrooming of statues in public places in an unlawfulmanner.

A bench comprising chief justice Madan B Lokur and Justice P V Sanjay Kumarwhile dealing with a petition filed by TDP leader Ch Ayyanna Patrudu orderedthe state government to submit a report within two weeks on the erection ofstatues of late political leaders without permission in busy public places inVisakhapatnam.

LEGAL NEWS 22.02.2012

2012-02-22T00:23:00.003+05:30

http://advocatekamalkumarpandey.wordpress.com/

Finance, law ministriesdiffer on top tax tribunal

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Finance-law-ministries-differ-on-top-tax-tribunal/Article1-814476.aspx

NagendarSharma, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 21, 2012

In a setback to the government's efforts to stem the rot inthe allegedly scam-tainted country's top income tax tribunal, the finance andlaw ministries differ on who should be appointed to head the troubledinstitution.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), which deals with appealsagainst the orders of income tax commissioners, has been in news for wrongreasons. Faced with complaints of judgments being allegedly outsourced forwriting by some ITAT members, the government wants a course correction, but thetwo key ministries are unable to reach a common ground.

Former law minister M Veerappa Moily, had in lastMay asked finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to amend the Income Tax Act so thatserving or retired high court judges could also be appointed to head thetribunal. In his reply, Mukherjee assured Moily that the issue has beenaddressed in the Direct Taxes Code Bill, introduced in Parliament in August2010.
"The Direct Tax Code proposes to replace theIncome Tax Act of 1961 and the issue has been adequately addressed,"Mukherjee wrote.
The finance ministry informed the law ministry thatthe Direct Taxes Code Bill states, "The central government may appoint aperson, who is, or has been a chief justice of a high court to be the presidentof the ITAT." The law ministry did not agree with the proposal to restrictthe eligibility of the post only for judges.
"While making the request to widen the zone ofconsideration of persons eligible for appointment to the post by includingserving or retired judges was not to exclude others," the legal affairsdepartment informed the appointments committee of the cabinet last month.
Khurshid, in a letter to Mukherjee on January 10,asked for reconsideration of the matter. "The relevant clause of the billshould be substitiuted to state that a person who is or has been a high courtjudge or a judicial member of the tribunal shall be eligible to head it,"he wrote.
The government is under pressure to improve thetirbunal's image following a letter from the chief justice of India.

Did SIT ignore Haren Pandyatestimony?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Gujarat/Did-SIT-ignore-Haren-Pandya-testimony/Article1-814396.aspx

MaheshLanga, Hindustan Times
Ahmedabad, February 20, 2012

Former Gujarat minister of state for home Haren Pandya wasone of the important witnesses who had accused the Modi administration ofallowing the 2002 anti-minority riots in which 1,200 people were killed. He hadeven testified before the Concerned Citizens Tribunal (CCT) on 2002 Gujarat riots.

Pandya, then juniour revenue minister, had told thetribunal that chief minister Narendra Modi had convened a meeting on theevening of February 27, 2002 after the train burning incident at Godhara andreportedly told the police to go slow on Hindus who were angry as 59 kar sevakshad been killed in Godhra.
"The tribunal received direct informationthrough a testimony from a highly placed source of a meeting (on February 27,2002) where the CM, two or three senior cabinet colleagues, the Ahmedabadpolice commissioner and an IG police were present. The meeting had a singularpurpose: the senior-most police officials were told that they should expect a"Hindu reaction" after Godhra. They were also told they should not doanything to contain this reaction," the tribunal noted in the reportreferring to Pandya’s testimony.
Now, former Bombay high court judge Hosbet Suresh,who was a member, along with former Supreme Court judge PB Sawant, of the bodyheaded by justice Krishna Iyer, has revealed that even audio recording ofPandya’s testimony exists. Justice Suresh had told the SIT about Pandya’s testimony,which can be treated as evidence against Modi.
However, SIT officials claim Pandya’s testimony didnot qualify as admissible evidence to seek somebody’s prosecution. "Onecannot take the testimony on face value because Pandya himself was not presentin meeting and secondly, he did not disclose his source who told him whattranspired in the meeting," said a senior SIT official. "What Pandyastated before the tribunal are mere allegations without any corroborativematerial," the official added.
Justices Sawant and Suresh had visited Gujaratshortly after the anti-Muslim riots broke out in 2002 and recorded theirstatements before the SIT in 2009. Their evidence was based on what was told tothem by Pandya on May 13, 2002. Pandya was later murdered on March 26, 2003.

WB rape: Govt's response premature, says NCW

http://zeenews.india.com/news/west-bengal/wb-rape-govt-s-response-premature-says-ncw_759646.html

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 00:24

New Delhi:Terming as "premature" the West Bengal government's response to thePark Street car rape case, the National Commission for Women on Monday saidChief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that the incident was fabricatedcould influence the investigation process.

"NCW is concerned of the reported statements of the West Bengal governmentsaying the claim of the woman was fabricated. The reaction should have beengiven after a thorough investigation of the matter and such premature reactioncan influence investigation," NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma said in astatement here.

Banerjee hadsaid the rape of the Anglo-Indian woman was a "fabricated story"intended to malign her government and blamed some TV channels for projectingit.

The NCW also slammed Kolkata Police for purportedly not cooperating with thevictim and pulled them up for the delay caused in her medical examination.

The Commission has also sought response from the state government on theprogress made in the investigation and the relief provided to the victim.

On February 5, five man picked upthe woman, in her mid-30's and a mother of two children, in a car from outsidea night club on Park Street in central Kolkata and raped her at gunpoint.

She alleged that the police ignored her complaints when she mustered courage toreport the incident four days later at Park Street police station.

Supreme Court ruling on 2G will affect other sectors: Kapil Sibal

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/supreme-court-ruling-on-2g-will-affect-other-sectors-kapil-sibal/articleshow/11962463.cms

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courtjudgement cancelling 122 telecom licencesallocated on first-come-first serve basis has ramifications for other sectorslike mining where the same principle is adopted, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibalhas said.

"I have been saying this repeatedly that the impact of the judgement isfar-reaching. It has implications not only on the (telecom) sector but on othersectors as well," Sibal said.

The apex court, cancelling licences allocated by the then Telecom Minister ARaja, had stated that auction was the best way for allocation of scarce naturalresources. The court had also defined natural resources as both renewable andnon-renewable.

Sibal added that the government is studying the implications of the judgementand would take a view on the way how it should proceed.

"We will do that. As and when we do that, we take that decision, it willbe placed in public domain," he said.

Sibal cited example of the Mines and Minerals Regulation and Development Actthat governs mineral resources in the country and auction of these resourcescan pose challenges.

"Suppose we want to mine a particular mineral and we find that for theprospecting of that mineral because you don't know what are the quantities ofthat mineral embedded in earth and you don't know where it is embedded sonaturally you will request entrepreneurs to come and prospect," Sibalsaid.

After entrepreneurs spend $ 600 million on prospecting, and find the mineral,should it be the policy to auction it. These are the questions which need to belooked into, he said.

Telecom Minister said that the Supreme Court judgement would have impact on thefuture of investments in the country.

"We have to study all those things and then come to a considered view asto what extent it will impact and how we have to deal with it. So, we have nottaken a position on it but these are all issues that need to beaddressed," Sibal said.

SpeakAsia panellists accuse EOW of harassment, move court

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_speakasia-panellists-accuse-eow-of-harassment-move-court_1652796

Published: Tuesday, Feb 21,2012, 8:00 IST
By Shahkar Abidi | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

A group of over 15 lakh panellists ofSingapore-headquartered SpeakAsia Online company has moved the Bombay HighCourt, claiming that officials of the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the citypolice are harassing them with repeated attempts to extort money.
The panellists have in their writ filed incourt claimed being threatened of being booked in a criminal case if theydidn’t cough up the money demanded by the police. While over 150 panellistshave so far been called in for questioning by the city police, a senior EOWofficial denied the charge saying it was aimed at derailing the ongoing probe,sources said.
Represented by Melwyn Crasto and AshokBahirwani, president and secretary respectively of the All-India SpeakAsiaPanellists Association (AISPA), the association with a 15-lakh members,including over 3.5 lakh in Mumbai alone, has charged the police of using thecompany’s seized records to target members of the general public, whoconstitute the panellists.

One of the paragraphs in thecriminal writ plea points to the unabashed means of police officers, who openlydemand a certain amount from the panellists or ask them to face arrest. “It ispublic knowledge that Rs5,000 is the going rate for avoiding police harassment.If these corrupt officers are able in collect the sum from every panellist,they would end up with a total of Rs1500 crore,” it adds. Demanding an inquiryby the CBI into the case, the petitioners’ counsel Ahmed Abdi claimed that sofar no probe by any investigating agencies in the country has found anythingwrong with the company.

Father seeks CBI probe in son’s murder

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Father-seeks-CBI-probe-in-sons-murder/articleshow/11969959.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 03.15AM IST

MADURAI: Alleging that his sonwas brutally murdered by his wife under the pretext of self defence, the fatherof Veeranan alias Jothibasu has filed a writ petition seeking a CBI probe intothe incident. Usharani, the woman, had assaulted her husband with a cricket batwhen he allegedly attempted to molest their daughter.

Later, she was let off by the investigation officer citing that she had actedin self defence. In his petition, Veeranan's father S Samayamuthu said sinceself defence was the only possible way to escape criminal action, the womancleverly fabricated a false statement saying the deceased tried to rape his owndaughter.

According to the petitioner, on February 9, his son Jothibasu was murdered byhis daughter-in-law Usharani, who was assisted by her father, brother, heremployer and two others. Even after receiving the complaint from him, theinspector of police, Oomatchikulam, did not conduct a proper enquiry by takinginto account the previous animosity between the couple. He said the inspectorhad only accepted his daughter-in-law's version. The father alleged that theinjuries which were identified on his son's body, clearly revealed multipleinjuries and seemed to be caused by several persons. Samayamuthu also pointedout that his daughter-in-law, on earlier occasions, with the intention tomurder his son, had attacked him and later he was admitted in hospital. Thematter is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday.

The Tamil Nadu government had filed a writ appeal in the

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/the-tamil-nadu-government-had-filed-a-writ-appeal-in-the/966128.html

PTI | 12:02 AM,Feb21,2012

Madurai Bench of Madras High Court seeking to stay the order of the singlejudge. R Anbalagan, Superintendent of Prisons, Madurai, submitted that in theearlier occasions, Ravichandran was released on leave for a total of 14 days onthree different occasion along with heavy police escort party headed by theDeputy Superintendent of Police, Surveillance. But now, the High Court haddirected to grant at least two weeks ordinary leave, which was a "verylong duration," he said. The state government said that the prisoner wasinvolved in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and hispresence outside the prison may be dangerous or prejudicial to public peace andtranquility and the security of the prisoner also would not be safe. Thegovernment pointed out the prisoner had also not paid escort charges to thetune of about Rs 1.3 lakh that had been spent when he had gone on leave. In theevent of his release further, he had to pay a large amount as escort charges,it said. The deployment of a large number of policemen in Virudhunagar districtas escort for the prisoner, would also affect the normalcy in the area, itadded. PTI SSN ARP

High Court dismisses six writ petitions

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article2912376.ece

The petitions challenged land acquisition for National Highway

The Karnataka High Court has dismissed six more writ petitionschallenging the Government for acquiring land for widening the National Highway66 (former NH 17) to 60 m (right of way) in Dakshina Kannada and Udupidistricts.

Sources in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told TheHindu that the petitions were dismissed on January 13, 16, and 23, 2012.Earlier last year, the court had dismissed/ disposed of seven writ petitionswhich had challenged the Government's land acquisition for the wideningproject.

With this, of the 20 writ petitions before the High Courtchallenging the land acquisition to 60 m (right of way), the court haddismissed/ disposed of 13 petitions till February 16. Many petitioners wantedthe highway to be widened to 45 m and acquire land only to that extent, thesources said.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had taken up thewidening of the highway stretch between Kundapur and Surathkal, and NanthoorJunction and Talapady under phase III of the National Highways DevelopmentProject (NHDP) under build, operate, and transfer (BOT) basis.

The single judge of the court who dismissed the writ petitionslast month observed that he was dismissing them on the same grounds of thecourt's judgment of October 17, 2011 while dismissing the writ petition nos.27610-27627/2010 and 28088-28097/2010 which had challenged the land acquisitionfor the same project.

In the October 17, 2011 judgment the court observed: “…The NHAIcannot be charged with excessive acquisition with any rate of success. Somechunks of the land figuring in the preliminary notification do not figure inthe final notification implying that they are dropped from the acquisitionproceedings. It shows that the NHAI has not indulged in reckless,indiscriminate or excessive acquisition…''

The court said the manual prepared by the Indian Road Congresscontained only the guidelines or norms. “It can always be modified to suit therequirements of a given situation…''

“…Further the court takes the judicial notice of the rolling outof lakhs of new vehicles on the roads everyday in the country. If the futurerequirements are anticipated by the decision-maker, he cannot be blamed for thesame. Any road widening project has to be in the perspective of the long termrequirement…”

In the judgment, a copy of which is with The Hindu, thecourt took note of the fact that the petitioners' lands constituted only fiveper cent of the totally acquired land for the project.

Of the six writ petitions dismissed last month included the onefiled by T. Sukumar, former Secretary, State Public Works Department,Ajjarakadu, Udupi; and others (W.P. No. 4988-5070/2011 (LA-RES)). It wasdismissed on January 13, 2012. Two writ petitions were dismissed on January 16,2012. They were W.P. No. 13929-14007/2011 (LA-RES) Ashok Raj and others, andW.P. No. 14888-14956/2011 (LA-RES) Lakshmindra Bhat and others.

The remaining three writ petitions were dismissed on January 23,2012. They included W.P. No. 25910/2011 by Anasuya, W.P. No. 25911/2011 by N.Jayaram Shetty, and W.P. No. 18198/2011 by Nagaraja Shetty.

Apex court to hear appeal in case against Jayalalithaa

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2913934.ece

The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a special leave petitionfiled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging a Madras HighCourt judgment setting aside the ‘three lakh US dollars case' against TamilNadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on the ground of inordinate and unexplaineddelay in the investigation and trial stage.

A Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir will hear the appealagainst the impugned judgment dated September 30, 2011 pronounced on thepetition filed by Ms. Jayalalithaa praying for quashing the FIR.

The CBI's allegation against Ms. Jayalalithaa was that whilefunctioning as Chief Minister, she accepted 89 demand drafts worthRs.2,00,00,012 drawn in her favour from various banks in Tamil Nadu in thenames of 57 persons on the occasion of her birthday in 1992 and received Rs.15lakh in cash, totalling Rs. 2,15,00,012 and disclosed the same in her IncomeTax returns as gifts.

She also received remittance of $3 lakh by way of demand draftdated December 23, 1991 issued by Bankers Trust Company, New York, drawn on ANZGrindlays Bank, St. Halia, Jersey.

Investigation revealed that there was no evidence in respect ofthe first offence and investigation was continued regarding the receipt of $3lakh.

Acting on a petition from Ms. Jayalalithaa that there wasinordinate delay in the investigation and trial, the High Court quashed theproceedings. The appeal is directed against this judgment.

The CBI in its appeal contended that though the alleged offencetook place in 1992, it came to the notice of the Income Tax Department only in1996 and was communicated to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary for taking action.There was no delay.

The High Court ought to have seen that as per the allegation inthe FIR, detailed investigation was to be conducted in various countries, whichtook considerable time. In the light of the material available, without testingthem at the trial, proceedings could not be quashed merely on the ground ofdelay, the CBI said and prayed for quashing the impugned judgment and interimstay of its operation.

85-year-old man let off in secrets case after 30 yrs

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11968986.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 01.18AM IST

NEWDELHI: A trial court has let off an 85-year-old man, who was chargesheeted by CBI three decades agounder Official Secrets Act for procuring a classified document about agovernment contract for setting up an ammonia plant, after he pleaded guilty.

JawandSingh Khurana, who worked as a liaison assistant with a private firm,pleaded guilty years after he was chargesheeted by CBI under the OSA forprocuring the document related to the contract.

Four of the seven accused are already dead during the pendency of the trial.

Facing trial since 1983, Khurana, earlier, had settled for plea bargainingwith the CBI to win his freedom. "Considering the mutually satisfactorydisposition arrived at between the CBI and accused Jawand Singh and in view ofthe submissions made on the point of sentence, Jawand Singh is hereby fined Rs5,000 for various offences under Official Secrets Act and IPC," saidadditional sessions judge Kaveri Baweja, while letting off Khurana.

While working as a liaison assistant with a private firm in 1979-80, Khuranaand six others, including the personal assistant of a director in thedepartment of chemical and fertilizers, then under Union ministry of petroleum,were involved in leakage of a government tender document for setting up of anammonia plant in India.

The CBI case dates back to 1979 when the Centre had given the contract ofsetting up of ammonia plants at Thal-Vaishet in Maharashtra and Hazira inGujarat to US-based M/s C F Braun and Company.

The CBI had registered the case in March 1981 and its probe found K L Arora,the personal assistant of a director in chemicals and fertilizers department,responsible for leaking out secret information for monetary considerations.

Khurana won his freedom after he moved an application for plea bargainingsaying he was willing to confess his guilt in exchange for lesser punishment.

Court asks commissioner to explain ‘shoddy theft probe’

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Court-asks-commissioner-to-explain-shoddy-theft-probe/articleshow/11969531.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 02.27AM IST

NEW DELHI: A trial court hassought an explanation from the Delhi Policecommissioner on why no action was taken against two cops for an alleged shoddyprobe in a theft case even as a vigilance enquiry found them to be"unprofessional".

"Report be called from the commissioner of Police in respect of the factas to on what ground no action was taken against SI Dharmendra and IO inspectorKhanduri though the preliminary vigilanceinquiry has found both of them to be unprofessional," MetropolitanMagistrate Ekta Gauba said.

The report was called for on a plea by RTIactivist Vivek Garg complaining police inaction in a case of theft lodgedby him in June 2010 with the Daryaganjpolice station. Garg had reported a case of theft of crucial information,cash and books by three of his employees at his publishing house.

Adnan, Sabah still married'

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Adnan-Sabah-still-married/articleshow/11969058.cms

SwatiDeshpande, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 01.27AM IST

MUMBAI: The Adnan Sami-Sabah Galadari divorcedispute drama is like them playing a game-now we are married, now we are not. Afamily court judge at Bandra said on Monday that they still are, as it heldthat a divorce certificate issued by Darul-Qaza, an Islamic body, invalid as itis contrary to the provisions of a codified 1939 law that governs dissolutionof Muslim marriages.

With this, the judge dealt Sami a blow andrejected his objections to the maintainability of a divorce petition filed in2009 by Sabah and pending before the family court. The court's order is likelyto have "widespread ramifications on the resolution of disputes by a Kaziand parallel institutions under provisions of the Muslim law," said Sami'slawyer, Vibhav Krishna.

Syed Noorie of Raza Academy questioned thefamily court order that renders illegal the certificates issued by Darul Qazaand similar institutions.

Sami would have benefitted and the latter wouldhave suffered if the divorce petition in the family court were to be heldinfructuous as argued by him. That's because a wife can file a domesticviolence (DV) complaint in the family court where a divorce petition is filed.Sabah had filed a DV plea to protect her residence rights in their Andheriflats and got an order in her favour, which is being battled in appeal beforethe HC, as Sami lives there with his latest wife.

This is the second time that the Pakistanisinger's attempt to question Sabah's divorce plea has come to a naught. Aftertheir divorce in 2004, they remarried in April 2007. When Sabah filed fordivorce in 2009 and demanded over Rs 5 crore, Sami sought to slide the secondmarriage in the "null and void" slot, as he said Sabah did notperform the mandatory 'halala' (marry another man, consummate it and divorcehim) practice. The Bombay HighCourt saw no merit in it and upheld the 2007 marriage.

In March 2011, Sabah who also approachedDarul-Qaza with identical allegations of cruelty and alcoholism against Sami,as in her divorce plea, was given a faskh-e-nikah or "abrogation ofmarriage", said her lawyer Mrinalini Deshmukh. The resolution waspublished in a prominent Mumbai newspaper. In September 2011, Sami seized itsimportance and through his lawyer argued that since Sabah had obtained thecertificate and he has not challenged it, the divorce is accepted as finalunder Islamic law and that the case before the family court no longer stands.The divorce she obtained is valid, he said.

But Deshmukh said the certificate was "notrelevant" in wake of the Dissolutionof Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, that empowers a Muslim woman to seek divorcefrom a court. She said she had "merely sought to strengthen the hands ofthe family court by placing additional documents from an independent body thatsupported her case, to show why a divorce should be granted by the court."

She said since their 2007 marriage wasregistered at the sub-registrar's office, it needs to be dissolved by a civilcourt under the 1939 law.

Sami applied for a stay of the order to enablehim to challenge it. The family court will hear his plea on Friday.

Water Board’s STP project in Lingam Kunta kicks up row

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Water-Boards-STP-project-in-Lingam-Kunta-kicks-up-row/articleshow/11968637.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 12.45AM IST

HYDERABAD: After Hussainsagarand Taj Banjara Lake, it is now the Lingam Kuntain Chanda Nagar in Ranga Reddy district that has fallen prey to a stategovernment-backed Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) project. And much like in thecase of the others, here too the STP is being constructed right in the middleof the lakebed __ on its full tank level (FTL). While the Andhra Pradesh HighCourt had issued a directive restraining authorities from going ahead with theproject in November last year, local activists from the area rue how work atthe site is still on. The STP is being built by the Hyderabad MetropolitanWater Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB).

"Only last week, we had noticed some dumping activity near the water body.The workers admitted they were deployed by the water board," said RajkumarSingh who had, in 2010, filed a petition against the government department fortampering with the lake. The court order of 2011 was issued against his PIL.Now, with waterboard officials refusing to move out of the area and even claiming that theHigh Court judgment was in fact passed in its (HMWS&SB) favour, Singh hasdecided to file a contempt of court case against the department on Tuesday.

Originally spread over a massive area of 20 acres, the water body has now beenreduced to half over the last few years. Apart from illegal residentialcomplexes, even religious structures have been erected on the lake area, saylocals. Predictably, this new project that is part of a Rs 200 crore-worthventure undertaken by the HMWS&SB would further eat into the water spread,they add.

"And this is being constructed when there is no need for a STP here. Alesser expensive sewerage diversion pipe would have been enough to resolve theissue of sewage flowing into the lake," said Jasveen Jairath, founderconvener of Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL) pointing out how the Taj Banjara Laketoo has been `killed' by the water board the same way. "Here also, thedepartment has unnecessarily undertaken a STP projectwhen there is also a pipeline being laid to drain the sewage out of the area.Just because there is a certain amount earmarked for such projects does notmean you build STPs that too on the FTL of lakes for no reason," Jairathadded. She also stressed on how the `custodians' of safe drinking water (thewater board) were themselves working towards further reducing the water tableby encroaching on lakes.

S Jeevanand Reddy, well-known environmentalist from the city is, however, notsurprised. Noting how the government has ruined the Hussainsagar by allowingcommercial activity not just on the FTL of the lake but also on the 30 metre(from the FTL, which is also supposed to be remain untouched as per a SupremeCourt order) buffer zone, he said that the government offices have always beennegligent towards Hyderabad's water bodies.

When contacted HMWS&SB officials, however, claimed that all was well at theLingam Kunta and they had committed no contempt of court. "The STP is nearthe lake not on it. Also, the court order was in our favour. It is only beingmisinterpreted by the petitioner," said Y Anjani Kumar, general manager,project division (VIII) passing the blame of filling the water body, on thelocals of the area. "It is the people of the neighbouring area who want toconstruct a community hall at the site where the STP is set to come up, tryingto rake up a controversy over the issue. By turning this into a court case,these people want to win back this land from the government," Kumar said.

MP backs tourism in tiger reserves

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mp-backs-tourism-in-tiger-reserves/914531/0

Milind Ghatwai: Bhopal, Tue Feb 21 2012, 00:25 hrs

Making a pitch for tourism in tiger reserves, Madhya Pradeshhas told the Supreme Court that people living in reserves pose more danger tothe big cats since both compete for the same resources.

As the hearing on a PIL seeking a ban on tourism in core areas of tigerreserves enters a crucial phase, the state has stuck to its stand that runscontrary to the position of the NTCA and the Centre that says core areas aremeant to be kept inviolate. The Wildlife Trust of India has also backedactivist Ajay Dubey’s plea, saying there is no control over hotels and resortsaround the reserves.
The state told the court that tourism does not exploit resources on whichwildlife depends for survival and propagation, and can’t be kept in the samecategory as other human activities.
The government argued that states have allowed tourism in core areas bydeveloping necessary safeguards to regulate tourism and minimise the adverseimpact on the habitat. It claimed that reserves where tourism has been allowedfor the past 40 years continue to support highest wildlife densities.
It also argued that buffer areas don’t get the same level of legalprotection as core areas and will never be able to satisfy the visitors due toa lack of “high density of wild animals and pristine wilderness’’. Also, localcommunities are given the nistar rights over forests in buffer areas.
“The court’s decision is likely to have national and internationalimplications on wildlife as well as people and businesses dependent on wildlifetourism,” the state’s affidavit said, requesting the court to hear all statesand UTs before passing any order.
Those opposed to tourism told the court that allowing it will further thesense of injustice among local people who will think that while they are beingdriven out, the rich are being let in.

Plea to detain anti-KNPP activist moved to Chennai

http://zeenews.india.com/news/tamil-nadu/plea-to-detain-anti-knpp-activist-moved-to-chennai_759638.html

Last Updated: Monday, February 20, 2012, 23:59

Madurai: TheMadras High Court Bench here on Sunday transferred a PIL seeking invoking ofNational Security Act agsint SP Udayakumar, who is spearheading the protestsagainst the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP), to Chennai.

R Sivakumar, a Madurai-based hotelier, had filed the PIL seeking to direct thedistrict authorities of Tirunelveli, where the plant is located to takedeterrent steps to put down the "violent activities" of Udayakumar,the coordinator of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMA), and detainhim under NSA.

Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and P Devadass said there was an administrativeorder issued by the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to transfer casesrelating to KNPP to the principal seat, and transferred the case.

Thepetitioner's counsel M Patturajan said unless the High Court intervened in thematter and directed authorities to take deterrent steps to put down the"violent activities" of Udayakumar and apprehend him under NSA,"this agitation will not come to an end in the near future".

In the PIL, the petitioner said a Peace Committee, made of members of the localpopulation living around the plant, also came to the conclusion that thevillagers who are agitating against the KNPP were being "thoroughly misled".

Udayakumar was instigating thepeople to siege KNPP and he was "intimidating" the scientists andauthorities at the Plant to remove uranium from the site, he alleged.

Taxi union moves court, wants Centre to implement Hire-Purchase Act, 1972

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/taxi-union-moves-court-wants-centre-to-implement-hirepurchase-act-1972/914681/0

Expressnews service : Mumbai, Tue Feb 21 2012, 02:38 hrs

Claiming the involvement of black money to the tune of Rs2,500 crore in the auto and taxi permit system in the city, the Mumbai TaximenSangathan (MTS) has filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeking theimplementation of the Hire-Purchase Act, 1972, by the Central government.

Money lenders and credit co-operative societies are cheating the taxi andauto drivers in the city due to the non-implementation of the Act, the PILclaimed. It is further alleged that the money lenders and the creditco-operative societies are running a taxi and auto permit mafia in the city.
The MTS said that the transport commissioner and the regional transportauthorities do not check the illegalities in the hire-purchase agreement or thevalidity of the money lending license of those selling the vehicles. Thepetitioner stated that under hire-purchase installments, the hire- purchaser orthe hirer agrees to take the goods on hire at a stipulated rental costincluding the repayment of principal as well as interest, with an option topurchase. Under this transaction, the hire-purchaser acquires the propertyimmediately on signing the hire-purchase agreement, but the ownership or titleof the vehicle is transferred only when the last installment is paid, thepetition said.
The MTS pointed out that the money lenders always retain the copy of theoriginal registration book of the vehicle along with the RTO forms. They alsoallegedly take away the vehicle from the loan borrower and hand it over toother taximen on rent, without the consent of the owner of the vehicle, thepetition says.
In order to regulate the alleged discrepancies, a Central governmentnotification to that effect is necessary, the MTS contended. The petitioner hasurged the court to direct the union government to issue the notification and todeclare all the hire-purchase agreements till date as null and void. The PIL islikely to be heard on March 1.

SC quashes Colonel's court martial

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-quashes-Colonels-court-martial/articleshow/11970234.cms

PTI | Feb 21, 2012, 03.47AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courthas quashed a generalcourt martial (GCM) proceeding against an Army Colonelthat was initiated for alleged financial irregularities committed by him inmaking some purchases. The Supreme Court though rued the acquittal of severalother officers involved in the scam.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad set aside the GCM proceedings,ordered against ColonelRajvir Singh for alleged financial irregularities committed by him during2005-2007, causing a loss Rs 60.18 lakhs to the exchequer. In 2005-07, asofficiating commandant of the Central Ordnance Depot, Chheoki, Singh hadprocured materials worth Rs 2.2 crore, allegedly violating rules and causingwrongful loss of Rs 60.18 lakhs to the state exchequer.

Singh had moved the SC challenging an August 19, 2011 ruling of the ArmedForces Tribunal, rejecting his plea that direction to court martial him wastime-barred as section 22 of the Army Act, 1950 provides that the trial must beconcluded within three years from the date of its cognizance.

SC Vodafone verdict may hamper tax transparency, says govt

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sc-vodafone-verdict-may-hamper-tax-transparency-says-govt/914666/0

Expressnews service : New Delhi, Tue Feb 21 2012, 02:27 hrs

The review petition filed by the Centre against the SupremeCourt judgment on the overseas deal between Vodafone International Holdings(VIH) and Hutchison Group says the verdict will have “consequences” on thegovernment’s measures to promote tax transparency.

The petition contends the judgments suffered errors on the face of therecord, and refutes the court’s finding that “the question involved in thiscase is of considerable public importance, especially on Foreign DirectInvestment”.
The Government says the case did not involve any inflow of monies into Indiabecause the sale consideration was admittedly paid outside India by VIH, aBritish Virgin Island Company to Hutchison Telecommunications Int (Cayman)Holdings Ltd a Cayman Island company.
The Government says that the FDI policy was in no way under challenge orscrutiny in the instant case. Besides FDI policy of the government and theinterpretation of taxing statutes operate in two different realms, it added.
It argues that it was a patent error in the finding that the offshoretransaction, which gave the Vodafone holding company a 67 per cent stake inHutch-Essar, was “bonafide,” “structured FDI” into India.
A three-judge Bench on January 20 declared that both Vodafone and Hutch werenot “fly by night” operators or short-term investors and had contributedsubstantially — Rs 20,242 crore — to the exchequer between 2002-03 and 2010-11,both by way of direct and indirect taxes.
The review finds fault with the court relying on the provisions of theDirect Tax Code Bills of 2009 and 2010 as one of the reasons to base itsjudgments on. The petition questions why the court relied on Direct Tax CodeBill 2009, when the Bill has not even been presented in Parliament, but wasonly a draft put up for public discussion.
The Centre said the court had failed to appreciate that Vodafone had apresence in India at the time of the transaction; it was a joint venture withBharti Airtel.
Court ruling to affect other sectors: Sibal
New Delhi: The Supreme Court judgement cancelling 122 telecom licencesallocated on first-come-first serve basis has ramifications for other sectorslike mining where the same principle is adopted, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibalhas said.
“I have been saying this repeatedly that the impact of the judgement isfar-reaching. It has implications not only on the (telecom) sector but on othersectors as well,” Sibal said. “We will do that. As and when we do that, we takethat decision, it will be placed in public domain,” he said.

After 13 years, charges to be framed in Chennai jail riot case

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/After-13-years-charges-to-be-framed-in-Chennai-jail-riot-case/articleshow/11969674.cms

KarthikaGopalakrishnan, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 02.44AM IST

CHENNAI: Thirteen years afterone of the worst prison riots in Tamil Nadu's history broke out at the Centralprison in Chennai, charges will be framed against 41 accused next week.Twelve prisoners and two jail officials were killed in the incident on November17, 1999.

The case, which came up for hearing on Monday, has been adjourned to February28 for further hearing by fourth additional sessions court judge S Rajagopalan.M Prabavathi, additional city public prosecutor, said close to 165 witnesseswould be examined in the course of trial.

According to documents furnished by the police department, the unprecedentedviolence was triggered by the news of the death of 'Boxer' Vadivelu, a gangleader from Power Kuppam near Kasimedu. Detained under the Goondas Act, thehistory-sheeter was suffering from diarrhoea and admitted to the GovernmentGeneral Hospital. However, he died in the early hours of November 17, 1999.

"Around 7am, his associates created a ruckus saying none of the prisonersshould eat as they claimed Vadivelu was beaten to death. About half an hourlater, a riot broke out in the prison. Rahamatullah, one of the wardens fromthe Tower Block where the prisoners were housed, ran out and warned deputy jailorJayakumar about it close to 20 minutes later," said V Kannadasan, formercounsel for prisons department, who was part of the Justice David ChristianCommission of Inquiry that probed the incident.

When police lathi-charged the mob, the prisoners dispersed, only to regroup awhile later. They climbed the roofs of the jail buildings as well as trees inthe compound, throwing stones, pieces of tiles and other objects they could laytheir hands on while shouting slogans, a report by the People's Union for CivilLiberties (PUCL) said.

"After the warning, Jayakumar walked towards the remission office whererecords are stored when he was hit by a stone. By then, some of the prisonershad run to his office near the main gate and taken his pistol from the desk andwere searching for him. Another group looped a thick metal hook into warderNatarajan's thigh and dragged him out. He died on the spot. More than 20 prisonofficials were attacked. The prisoners proceeded to the record room where theyfound Jayakumar. They chopped off his fingers, put hooks in his stomach and hithim, before setting the documents in the room on fire," Kannadasan said.

Now, runaway couple on the run from police for fake wedding

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-runaway-couple-on-the-run-from-police-for-fake-weddding/914554/0

Navjeevan Gopal :Amritsar, Tue Feb 21 2012, 00:49 hrs

Runway couple Sumit Sharma and Shivani Arora, who hadapproached the court of Amritsar District and Sessions Judge for policeprotection, are now running for cover — not from their families but from thepolice after a case of forgery was registered against them for producing fakedocuments in court to secure police protection.

Besides Sumit — a resident of Sector 11 in Panchkula — and Shivani, aresident of Rudrapur in Uttrakhand, the police have also booked five members ofSumit’s family, including his parents and a maternal brother for connivance inthe case.
The case was registered on the directions of Amritsar Session JudgeHarminder Singh Madaan. On June 15, 2011, during vacations, in-charge SessionsJudge P P Singh had ordered that police protection be given to the couple inAmritsar and Uttrakhand. The couple had alleged in their petition Shivani’sparents and two other families could harm them.
In July, Shivani’s father, a lawyer by profession, moved an application inthe court stating that the couple had submitted fake documents in court andprayed that the June 15 order be set aside. Following a probe into the matter,the marriage certificate and the employment letter provided by the coupleturned out to be fake.
The couple had produced a marriage certificate purportedly issued by headpriest of Durga Mata Mandir on Majitha Road. The head priest, duringinvestigation, denied having performed their wedding ceremony. A certificateissued by a telecom company also proved to be fictitious.
The court has now ordered to revoke the protection order. “A case has beenregistered against Sumit and Shivani, besides Sumit’s family,” said AmritsarCommissioner of Police R P Mittal.

Trial in Radhakrishnan assault case commences

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/trial-in-radhakrishnan-assault-case-commences/965990.html

PTI | 09:02 PM,Feb20,2012

Chennai, Feb 20 (PTI): Trial in an assault case in which Kanchi Mutt SeerJayendra Saraswati is the prime accused, commenced at a sessions court heretoday. The case is being heard by the First Additional Sessions Judge SKalavathi. The complainant Radhakrishan was examined-in-chief. The examinationwill continue on March 9. According to the prosecution, Radhakrishnan, a muttemployee and his wife and brother were assaulted at their city residence onSeptember 20, 2002 and sustained serious injuries. They had undergone treatmentat a private hospital. Acting on a complaint by Radhakrishnan, policeregistered a case against 12 persons and arrested the Seer in 2005. Thechargesheet was filed in 2006. All the accused, including the Sankaracharya havebeen granted bail in the case. Except for the seer, all other accused werepresent in court today. Meanwhile, the Judge rejected a bail application by PRavisubramanian, an accused turned approver in the case and also in theSankararaman murder case,being tried by Puducherry Principal District andSessions Judge and the Seer is also an accused. Stating that he has been injail for over seven years, Ravisubramanian pointed out that all accused wereout on bail. He claimed that his aged mother was in ill health and requiredconstant attention. Besides he too was suffering from various ailments, he hadsubmitted. Claiming he was in no way connected with both cases, he chargedpolice with keeping him in illegal custody in the murder case.

Raj Khurana in trouble even before Swamy judgment

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-20/chandigarh/31079344_1_prosecution-sanction-prosecution-in-corruption-cases-ak-ganguly

Sanjay Sharma, TNN Feb 20, 2012, 03.42PM IST

CHANDIGARH: The former BJP chief parliamentary secretary of Punjab RajKhurana, who should have been the first to have been affected by the SupremeCourt judgment in the 2Gscam on the complaint of SubramanianSwamy on Tuesday, has already lost immunity against sanction of prosecutionin the bribery case he is facing.
"There is no need of seeking prosecution sanction from the Punjabgovernment against Khurana as per Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act(PCA) which says there is no need for the sanction of prosecution if a personis booked for demanding a bribe to get a work done from a governmentservant," sources in the CBI told The Times of India.
If Khurana was booked under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act(PCA) for demanding a bribe to do some job himself, the prosecution sanctionwas required, he said.
Khurna loses the immunity even due to another reason of his term in publicoffice during which he was accused of committing a crime has come to an end.Even if he is elected again, Khurana is not protected against prosecutionsanction for the term that has ended, the sources said.
Now, his situation is similar to that of Parkash Singh Badal and speakerNirmal Singh Kahlon, both of whom did not get immunity against prosecution incorruption cases, as the charges they faced related to a previous term.
Sources in the CBI said the clarification on Raj Khurana has recently beenmade clear.
The recent judgment by the division bench of justice Ak Ganguly and justiceGS Singhvi is also fraught with dangers for Khurana as, if the other provisionsdid not work, then the government would have been forced to decide on grantingsanction in a hurry.
Sources said Raj Khurna was one of the rarest minister level functionariesof the government who has attracted section 8 of (PCA as a large number oflawyers who demand money for income tax officials attract the provision.
Legal experts say though the court has fixed the time limit for deciding onprosecution sanction, there is another fight for bringing the denial ofprosecution sanction under judicial review and allowing the investigatingagency inquiry against an officer of joint secretary and above rank without aprior permission. On the contrary, vigilance bureau of Punjab is free to holdinquiry against officer of any level.
The judgment of justice Ganguly and Singhvi has placed Prime Minister Manmohan Singhin a peculiar situation as he may be forced to order an inquiry to find out asto who in PMO lapsed on the issue of 2G scam prosecution sanction.

74 Andhra women rescued fromGB Road

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/74-Andhra-women-rescued-from-GB-Road/Article1-814488.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 21, 2012

Seventy-four women from Andhra Pradesh, including 16 minors,were rescued from brothels in central Delhi’s GB Road area on Monday, policesaid. The operation, one of the biggest in the last six months, was conductedby a joint team of the Delhi Police and CBCID of Andhra Pradesh state police. It was carried out between 11am and 11:30am.

“We conducted the operation after we wereintimidated about the presence of a large number of women, who had beenforcibly trafficked from their homes in Andhra Pradesh and were being pushedinto prostitution, by NGOs,” said a senior police officer.
According to the police, the parents or relatives ofmany women, who have been rescued, had registered missing complaints back home.
At least a dozen people, who were present at thebrothels while the raids were conducted, have been detained.
“As per information, many victims were lured to theCapital by acquaintances, on the pretext of jobs or marriage, and forced intoprostitution. Detentions have been made to ascertain the relationship of thesepeople with the victims,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, as those detained were whisked away tothe Kamla Market police station for questioning, the rescued minors wereproduced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) before being taken to a juvenilehome.
“The adult women who were trafficked have been takento Nari Niketan in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar area. A case has been registered,”the officer said. Monday’s operation is the fourth this year.
On January 18, two girls, including a minor, whowere allegedly trafficked from West Bengal, were rescued.
Just a week before that, nine girls, all from westBengal, had been rescued by a DelhiPolice team. More than 130 such victims fromdifferent parts of the country had been rescued last year.

Two accused released on bailin case

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Two-accused-released-on-bail-in-case/Article1-814437.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 20, 2012

On Tuesday, the warden, Ramesh Maurya, and chief warden,Surendra Singh Chauhan, of Arya Orphanage were released on bail. The two hadbeen arrested on Saturday for ignoring the complaint of the mother of a10-year-old sodomy victim of the orphanage. An orphanage spokesperson said thetwo have already been suspended.

The guard Navrattan, who has been arrested forraping an 11-year-old resident, however, continues to be in jail.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has decided toconduct a medical examination of those children who had complained about beingsexually abused first. This move comes when the government has barely a dayleft to submit a report to the high court over the alleged sexual abuse in theorphanage, The Child Welfare Committee will be getting in touch with the DelhiPolice to get the names of all those children. “Due to holidays in this week,we have not been able to start the medical examination. We will be starting themedical examination from tomorrow,” said Sushma Vij, chairperson of ChildWelfare Committee, Mayur Vihar.
CWC members and the government appointed administratorwill discuss the issue in a meeting on Tuesday.
To strengthen their case Delhi Police have alsodecided to include statements of more children in the chargesheet. “We will goto the orphanage on Tuesday with the counsellors to convince other children torecord their statements. A number of them are now very scared and don’t want tosay anything” said a senior police official.
One of the girls, who had given her statement to thepolice, has also been shifted out of the orphanage.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit onMonday ordered an inquiry into the case asked officials to go “deep down” toissues being faced by inmates to prevent their recurrence.
An 11-year-old girl, a resident of the Aryaorphanage, had died on December 24 after being raped over a period of time.

Court relief for former postal chief

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Court-relief-for-former-postal-chief/articleshow/11968957.cms

RosySequeira, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 01.14AM IST

MUMBAI: In some relief for former chiefpostmaster general (Maharashtra & Goa), who was arrested while receiving abribe in February 2010, the Bombay HighCourt recently upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal's order quashinghis suspension and directing his reinstatement.

The allegation against Manjit Singh Bali wasthat he had demanded Rs 1.5 crore for issuing an NOC no-objection certificatein respect of development of a Thane plot reserved for a post office in Thane.

A division bench of Justice D K Deshmukh andJustice R Y Ganoo was hearing an appeal filed by the Centre challenging CAT'sOctober 14, 2011 order. CAT set aside Bali's suspension on the grounds that itwas not reviewed within 90 days from the effective date of suspension. TheCentral government's contention was that review within 90 days from the date ofBali's release from custody was sufficient compliance with the Central CivilServices Rules, 1995.

The Centre's advocate Heena Shah contended thateffective date of suspension was irrelevant but date of release from custodywas relevant. Rejecting her contention, the judges observed that Bali was notin custody on the expiry of 90 days and therefore the date of his release isirrelevant.

February 19, 2012

Mumbai: In a relief for former Chief Post MasterGeneral (Maharashtra and Goa) , who was arrested while receiving a bribe inFebruary 2010, the Bombay High Court has upheld Central AdministrativeTribunal's order quashing his suspension and directing his reinstatement.

The allegation against Manjit Singh Bali wasthat he had demanded Rs 1.5 crores for issuing a no objection certificate inrespect of development of a plot reserved for a post office in Thane.

A division bench of Justice D K Deshmukh andJustice R Y Ganoo on February 15, this year heard an appeal filed by theCentral government challenging CAT's October 14, 2011 order. Bali was arrestedby CBI on February 25, 2010. He was suspended on March 3, 2010 but effectivefrom February 25, 2010. He was released from custody on March 12, 2010.

CAT set aside Bali's suspension on the groundthat it was not reviewed within 90 days from the effective date of suspension.The Central government's contention before HC was that review within 90 daysfrom the date of release of Bali from custody was sufficient compliance withthe CentralCivil Services Rules 1995.

Bali's advocate Sandeep Marne argued that theeffective date of suspension of Bali was from the date of his arrest. Accordingto the Rules, the suspension automatically becomes invalid if it is notreviewed and extended within 90 days from the effective day of suspension,''said Marne.

Central government's advocate Heena Shahcontended that effective date of suspension was irrelevant but date of releasefrom custody was relevant. Rejecting her contention, the judges observed thatBali was not in custody on the expiry of 90 days and therefore the date of hisrelease is irrelevant.

Marne also informed the court that CAT's orderto reinstate him was implemented and Bali was appointed CPMG of West Bengalcircle for a day and again suspended. Bali has challenged the second suspensionbefore CAT.

Maj Gen Rathore Army's new Judge Advocate General

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/maj-gen-rathore-army-s-new-judge-advocate-general_759542.html

Last Updated: Monday, February 20, 2012, 19:49

New Delhi:The Defence Ministry has cleared the appointment of Maj Gen Prabhu SinghRathore, a veteran military law expert, as the Judge Advocate General (JAG) ofthe Indian Army.

The JAG isthe top law officer of the service and the chief legal adviser of the Armychief in matters pertaining to the force's laws.

The appointment of the JAG was cleared on Friday and the officer will take overin the next few days, Defence Ministry sources told .

The top legal post in the Army has been lying vacant after the retirement ofprevious incumbent Maj Gen B V Nair, who superannuated on January 31.

The appointment was delayed as aLieutenant Colonel had approached the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) alleging thatRathore had attempted to adversely impact his career.

After admitting the case, the Kolkata Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal hadstayed Rathore's promotion but vacated it last month.

The case is still on in Kolkata.

Rathore was earlier serving as the Deputy Judge Advocate General (D-JAG) in theJaipur-based South Western Army Command before proceeding to Army Headquartershere after promotion recently.

With his appointment as JAG, Rathore will have to look after several importantongoing cases in the Army courts including the final outcome in the Sukna landscam where Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash has been recommended for dismissal.

Insurance Co rebuked by consumer forum for 'high handedness'

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/insurance-co-rebuked-by-consumer-forum-for-high-handedness/966258.html

PTI | 04:02PM,Feb 21,2012

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) The National Insurance Company Ltd has been tickedoff by a district consumer forum for its "high handedness" ofdismissing an insurance policy holder's claim for compensation for his car,damaged in a road mishap, on the ground that his documents were not valid.Holding the insurance company to be "highly negligent," the DelhiDistrict Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed it to pay a compensation ofRs 20,000 to complainant Raghunath Prasad Tyagi for harassing him. The benchalso directed it to pay him a compensation of Rs 1,70,598 as recommended by thecompany's surveyor saying the "insurance company was highly negligent anddeficient in service in not considering his claim." The district consumerforum's order came on a plea by Tyagi, accusing the state insurance firmdenying him the compensation for damages sustained by his car in a mishap, inwhich its driver and a passenger had lost their lives. Relying upon thevalidity of the driver's driving licence, the firm had awarded compensation tokins of both the driver and the passenger, but it has rejected his claim forcompensation against damages to the vehicle, saying the driver did not have avalid licence, Tyagi had said in his complaint. The forum also held thatdocuments, which the insurance firm was not considering for the claim, werealready validated by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here as thecompany itself had agreed before the tribunal that the driving license wasvalid. "The deficiency in service on the part of the respondent (insurancefirm) in this case is writ large. In the MACT case, driving license verificationreport was filed by the insurance company itself showing that driving licensewas found valid on the date of accident. (More)

J Dey murder: Crime Branch to file supplementary chargesheet

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dey-murder-police-to-file-supplematary-chargesheet/232106-3.html

Mumbai: The Crime Branch is likely to file a supplementarychargesheet detailing the role allegedly played by journalist Jigna Vora in themurder of Mumbai-based journalist J Dey.
"We are likely to file a supplementary chargesheet against Voratomorrow (Tuesday). We have gathered enough evidence against her to make acase," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Devendra Bhartisaid.
Vora has been accused of criminal conspiracy in the case and was arrested onNovember 25, 2011. The police believe the murder may be related to Dey'sreporting on the oil mafia.
Sources said that she will be charged under the stringent MaharashtraControl of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
J Dey, a senior crime journalist with MiD Day, was shot dead in Mumbai onJune 11, 2011 by four bike-borne assailants.
Mumbai Crime Branch had filed a chargesheet against 10 other accused onDecember 3, 2011.
The chargesheet filed in the special Maharashtra Control of Organised CrimeAct (MCOCA) court runs into 3,055 pages and has described in detail the role of10 men involved in Dey's murder.
Fugutive don Chhota Rajan has also been named in the chargesheet. However,police mention that Rajan and another accused, Nayan Singh, are still untracedand ion the run.
Though Bharti did not give further details on the evidence against Vora, sourcesin the crime branch said that police have enough reasons to support theirtheory that it was Vora's professional rivalry with Dey that claimed his life.
According to police, Vora had allegedly provided Dey's mobile number and hisexact location to Rajan.
With Additional Inputs from Agencies

FIR against Rahul Gandhi for violating model code of conduct

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/fir-against-rahul-gandhi-for-violating-model-code-of-conduct-178079

NDTVCorrespondent, Updated: February 20, 2012 23:56 IST

Kanpur: An FIR has been filed against RahulGandhi for alleged model code of conduct violation in Kanpur.

Mr Gandhi's road show allegedly did not take the route for which they hadpermissions for causing traffic snarls in the city.

"The district administration had allocated time till noon and fixed a20-km route for Rahul Gandhi's road show. This was done as today is Shivratriand there could be a traffic problem," District Magistrate Hari Om said.

"But this road show completely violated the election code of conduct as itstarted at 10.30 AM continued till 3 PM It did not stick to the prescribedroute and instead covered a stretch of 38 kms. Therefore, the organisers of theroad show will be booked for violating the election code," he added.

Mr Gandhi and 39 others have been booked under sections 188 (violation ofprohibitory orders under 144), 283 (causing public inconvenience and nuisance)and 290 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

However, state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was part of the roadshow, denied there was any violation of the model code of conduct and accusedthe district administration of trying to stop Rahul's mass contact programme atthe behest of the Mayawati Government.

According to the District Magistrate, the road show organisers had soughtpermission for a 38-km stretch but they had been informed last night about theconditions. "Still they violated the rules and chose to follow the routefor which permission had not been granted," he said, adding, "Therecould have been a security breach or there could have been a clash".

Ms Joshi, however, countered that the detailed programme of the Congressgeneral secretary, including the route, was handed over to the districtadministration by the district unit well in advance and was also cleared by theSPG.

"The administration, however, revised the programme last night and sent itto the SPG," she claimed. She said that as the people had already beeninformed about the entire programme, it was not possible to carry out lastminute changes.

"During the entire mass contact programme neither Rahul Gandhi addressed ameeting, nor did he take out any procession. Therefore, he has not violated themodel cone of conduct," the state Congress president claimed.

She alleged that the Mayawati government was "nervous and shaken"after the "success" of Rahul's roadshow in Lucknow. Jaiswal said,"Rahul Gandhi has not violated any election code. Was there curfew in thetown, that he should not have visited those areas?"

Rahul's road show began at the Circuit House this morning and crossed throughall the five assembly segments here with people standing on both sides of theroads to greet the leader.

In Muslim-dominated Chunnigang area, people welcomed him by showering flowerswhile the Congress leader garlanded an Ambedkar statue in Bajaria area.

Kanpur will go to polls in the fifth phase of February 23.

The state Congress said that Rahul received a tumultuous welcome during hisroad show, creating "a new atmosphere in favour" of the party.

UP Media Campaign Committee chairman Raj Babbar said the road show witnessedlarge crowds with the youth, women and children particularly eager to meet theCongress leader.

CVC to review 2G probe with CBI, ED, I-T dept

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CVC-to-review-2G-probe-with-CBI-ED-I-T-dept/articleshow/11969821.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 03.02AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission willhold detailed review of the probe into the 2G scam by various agencies in thewake of the SupremeCourt order asking it to regularly monitor investigations into the case.

The Supreme Court had on February 2 asked the CVC to carry outregular review of the probe by agencies like CentralBureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax.

"Keeping in view the nature of the case and involvement of a large numberof influential persons, we feel that it will be appropriate to require thecentral vigilance commissioner and the senior vigilance commissioner appointedunder Section 3(2) of the 2003 CVC Act to render assistance to the court ineffectively monitoring further investigation of the case," an SC bench ofJustices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly had said in its order.

Sources said the CVC is now drawing up plans for review meetings with theinvestigation agencies. First off the block will be the ED, which is set tocarry out a detailed briefing for the CVC on Wednesday. Two days later, onFebruary 24, the income tax department will hold a detailed briefing.

A meeting of the CBIchief with the CVC was yet to be scheduled, sources said. However, a PTI reportsaid the CBI would make its presentation on the progress in its investigationson Tuesday.

"The officials have been called to discuss the probe in 2G matter. Theywill be giving a detailed presentation before the commission," PTI quotedsources as saying.

The SC had tasked the CVC to regularly monitor investigations into the 2G case,after a petition was moved seeking setting up of a Special Investigation Teamto oversee the 2G case.

The CVC will be reviewing the progress in investigations into the 2G case on aregular basis, sources said. The trial in the 2G case is already underway, involving17 accused, including three companies -- Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom andUnitech Ltd. All the 17 accused are charged under variousprovisions of Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust, conspiracy,cheating, forgery and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Former telecomminister A Raja,his former private secretary R K Chandolia, former telecom secretary SiddharthBehura, DMK MP Kanimozhiand Kalaignar TV's MD Sharad Kumarare among those facing trial.

Also facing trial in the 2G case are six corporate executives - Reliance ADAGGroup managing director Gautam Doshi, its senior vice-president Hari Nair,group president Surendra Pipara, Shahid Usman Balwa, Vinod Goenka and SanjayChandra. Also facing trial are Bollywood producer Karim Morani, Asif Balwa andRajiv Aggarwal.

No security threat to Taloja jail: Govt to HC

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_no-security-threat-to-taloja-jail-govt-to-hc_1652801

Published: Tuesday, Feb 21,2012, 8:00 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

The state government has informed the Bombayhigh court that there is no security threat to Taloja jail near Alibaug asexpressed by an inmate.
Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the 2008Malegaon blast case, had written a letter from the jail stating that there is asecurity threat to the prison and the inmates from the high rises around thejail.
The HC had taken suo moto cognisance of theletter and converted it into a petition asking the government to file itsreply.
Additional government pleader Ajey Gadkariinformed the court that the threat claim made by Upadhyay was uncalled for. Theprison is built by latest hi-tech material and there is proper security insideand around the jail.
The buildings, including the high rises, havecome up as per the sanctioned plans by the concerned authorities, addedGadkari.

An affidavit was filed by thehome department stating that “outer walls of the jail are constructed usingultra-modern technique wherein the movements and activities of the prisonerscannot be viewed from outside”.

Bombay HC grants reprieve to bank facing eviction

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-20/mumbai/31079386_1_bombay-hc-security-deposit-ing-vysya-bank

Swati Deshpande, TNN Feb 20, 2012, 06.29PM IST

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has granted a reprieve to INGVysya Bank against being immediately dispossessed of its Opera House rentalpremises. The bank filed a Suit in the Bombay high court and sought interimreliefs against the Landlord M/s Modern Reality Private Limited and Mr BhaveshP Seth from dispossession.
Through its lawyers Nishit Dhruva and others it accused the bank of forciblychanging the locks on its branch premises on February 12, 2012 and refusing tohand over the bank's security deposit.
The Bank contended that under the Leave and License Agreement simultaneouslyupon handing over possession to the Landlord, the Bank was entitled to receivethe security deposit.
The bank said it was "compelled" to file a police case and movethe court to restrain the landlord from entering the bank premises. The HC willnow hear the matter on February 21.

Eligibility of 1,000 MCA students questioned by HC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Eligibility-of-1000-MCA-students-questioned-by-HC/articleshow/11970978.cms

RamendraSingh, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 05.15AM IST

BHOPAL: An order by the Madhya Pradesh highcourt with regards to eligibility norms for Masters in Computer Application(MCA) has dashed the hopes of almost 1,000 students from different colleges ofthe state. All the students were admitted after undertaking the entrance examconducted by the MP Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) and throughcounseling. The court order has termed their admissions illegal.

The issue started in September 2011 after MCA colleges refused to giveadmissions to the candidates who were BCA degree holders butdid not have mathematics as a subject at the 10+2 level. These students movedcourt and got an interim relief from the high court in December.

However, last week, the high court termed their admission illegal saying thatthe court cannot interfere in the rules framed by AICTE.

"Whose mistake is this", asked a dejected student. "We studentsor the Board that conducted the exam or the colleges. Who should beblamed", he said.

Hailing from Jhansi, Nikita said that MPPEB conducted thepre-MCA exam in March 2011. "We appeared and cleared the exam. The boardshould have, in fact rejected our applications for the entrance test if therewas any problem about our eligibility," she added.

First they admitted us and now they say the admission is illegal. They shouldhave not admitted us," another MCA student, Vandana Kumari, said. Now,it's a trauma for me and my family," a dejected Vandana who hails from Patna said.

When contacted, public relations officer of MPPEB, Sunil Shrivastava, said thatthe board conducts exam on the basis of rules and regulations framed by therespective department and in this case, it is director of technical education."Our job is to conduct exam. We put everything on our official websiteabout the eligibility criteria for respective exams," Shrivastavamaintained.

Now, the aggrieved students plan to move the SC.

Heritage byelaws to bepresented in HC

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Heritage-byelaws-to-be-presented-in-HC/Article1-814463.aspx

NiveditaKhandekar, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 21, 2012

Approved heritage byelaws for the ‘Sher Shah Gate andKhair-nul-Manazil’ — the first for any monument in Delhi and also in India —would be presented before the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.
The National Monument Authority (NMA) is set to submit it in connection withthe court’s expansion case. Following an amendment inthe Archaeological Act, the NMA can permit any building/repair/ renovation,etc, only as per the heritage byelaws.

The court intervention expedited the procedure forthe byelaws as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was going too slow withit since the amendment in March 2010.
“Byelaws would be finalised as per commitment beforethe high court,” said Pravin Shrivastava, NMA member secretary.
The final byelaws — touted as model byelaws — wouldset a precedent for allowing or disallowing construction of new buildings up tothe height of existing structure in the periphery of 101-300 metre among otherissues.
It includes heritage control matters such aselevations, facades, drainage systems, roads and service infrastructure(including electric poles, water and sewer pipelines) for areas aroundmonuments.
The amendment bans new construction within 0-100metre of an ASI-protected monument and puts restrictions on properties/ newconstruction within 101-300 metre of the same.
Sources said the first set of byelaws had witnesseda debate of sorts between the byelaw makers and the NMA. While the court’s mainbuilding is 15 metre tall, other buildings on the premises vary in height morethan it, with one reaching up to 30 metre.
“The byelaws submitted to the NMA proposes maximumheight of the new construction at 21 metres based on the fact that it does notaffect the view of the monument – Sher Shah Gate and Khair-nul-Manazil – andstudy of angle of vision,” sources said, adding, “NMA members had sought toknow the ‘rational’ for the proposed 21 metres height when the main buildingwas just 15 metres high.”
The high court complex is part of the Central Vista, which includes India Gate and surroundings. The Central Vista Committee hasnot yet defined any height restriction in tune with the master plan.

Tribal women not raped, TN govt tells HC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tribal-women-not-raped-TN-govt-tells-HC/articleshow/11969809.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 03.01AM IST

CHENNAI:More than two months after announcing a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to fourtribal women allegedly raped by policemen in Villupuram district, thegovernment on Monday told Madras highcourt it was not a case of rape.

The jurisdictional judicial magistrate who had begun an inquiry into the issueon November 26, 2011, is yet to submit her finding. Without her report, thepolice are unlikely to file the chargesheet.

The women lodged a complaint on November 26, 2011, stating that a group of Tirukovilurpolice officers took them into custody and raped them on November 22, 2011.When the issue became a controversy, the state government announced Rs 5 lakhrelief to each woman on December 2, 2011. The amount was put in fixed depositsin the names of the women on December 4, 2011. But now the government says acase of rape has not been made out.

When a PIL filed by advocate P Pugalenthi seeking transfer of case to CBI,besides criminal proceedings against those concerned, came up for hearingbefore the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T SSivagnanam on Monday, the state home secretary and the director-general ofpolice filed identical but separate counter-affidavits.

The officer investigating the rape allegation concluded that there werediscrepancies in the statements of the women. "Medical evidence did notindicate injury, either in the genital area or in any other part of the body,that could indicate rape or struggle or resistance," DGP K Ramanujam said,quoting the investigation report.

On the claim that the medical examination was conducted four days after theincident, the DGP said senior doctors were on record stating that it would takeeight to 10 days for complete healing of hymenal rupture.

R Rajagopal, principal secretary, home department, in his counter-affidavitsaid there was "no medico-legal evidence" to suggest a sexualassault. He said the sum of Rs 5 lakh each was given to the women onhumanitarian grounds.

Both the officials agreed that the women and children, who were not wanted inany case, should not have been taken into custody. It was an unwarranted act,and the government will not shield the guilty, they said.

M Radhakrishnan, counsel for petitioner, decried the government's stance asshameful and said Rs 5 lakh was the price fixed for the women's dignity. Thebench asked the petitioner to file a reply in three weeks.

Ex-MP knocks HC doors for pension

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Ex-MP-knocks-HC-doors-for-pension/articleshow/11968460.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 12.25AM IST

HYDERABAD: Kanety MohanRao, one of the members of the first Lok Sabha during1952- 1957, is now knocking thedoors of the AP High Courtfor revised pension. Mohan Rao, 87, was elected MP from the Rajahmundryconstituency.

Though the pensionof former MPs has now gone up to Rs 20,000 per month, only Rs 1,400 is beingcredited to the Andhra Bank account of the octogenarian. When it was Rs300, he received the pension through the treasury department. Though it wasenhanced to Rs 1,400 in 1982, he continued to get only Rs 300 for a long time.But things got better when the government started paying pension directly intothe account of the MP. But he never got his pension regularly, said Mohan Raoin his petition.

In spite of the amendments brought to the Act that governs the pensions ofParliament members and the enhancement of the monthly pension, only Rs 1,400 isbeing credited to his account at Tallarevu branch in East Godavari, the formerMP lamented. His counsel VVLN Sarma told TOI that the former MP was now in apathetic condition unable to make ends meet. The matter was posted to nextweek.

Why murder case not filed, HC asks Punjab Police

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/why-murder-case-not-filed-hc-asks-punjab-police/914732/0

RAGHAVOHRI : Chandigarh, Tue Feb 21 2012, 03:32 hrs

Two months after its own senior officer submitted an inquiryreport recommending registration of a murder case in the “mysterious” death ofThapar University (Patiala) student Gagandeep, Punjab Police is still awaitingreceipt of the inquiry report through “official channels” to register a murdercase. Earlier, Punjab Police had registered a case of “rash and negligentdriving” in the death of 21-year-old Gagandeep and his friend on September 28,2010, claiming it to be an accident. However, last December Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police (DIG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh had submitted a scathinginquiry report, stating that “custodial interrogation” of those allegedlyinvolved in the “accident” is required and recommended the registration ofmurder charges.

Till now the case has not been registered. When contacted, Amrik Singh, asub-inspector with Punjab Police posted at Rajpura, told Newsline, “We are yetto receive the inquiry report through an official channel, only after which wewill be able to register a case.” Peeved with this attitude of Punjab Police,Gurbax Singh Bains, father of the deceased, has moved the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court again seeking directions to the police for registration of a murdercase.
Taking note, the High Court has issued notices to Punjab asking why themurder case has not been registered till now. Also, the High Court, as demandedby the father, has asked Punjab Police why the investigation of the case shouldnot be not handed over to an independent agency, the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI).
Bains has submitted that he has no faith in Punjab Police and that the caseshould be handed over to an independent agency like the CBI. Days after DIGKunwar Vijay Pratap Singh had given his report, the Punjab Director General ofPolice (DGP) refused to accept the “recommendation” and ordered theconstitution of a special investigation team (SIT).
Taking strong note of this, Punjab Deputy Secretary (Home Affairs &Justice) O P Bhatia had ordered the immediate disbanding of the SIT. Opiningthat the constitution of the SIT would “lead to tampering with the evidence”,the deputy secretary had ordered the upholding of the “recommendation” ofregistration of a murder case by the DIG.
The developments had taken place as a fallout of a petition filed by GurbaxSingh Bains, a local lawyer who had alleged that his son had been “murdered” inan accident by three youths. One of the “assailants”, the father had allegedbefore the High Court, is the son of a former Patiala Sub Divisional Magistrate(SDM).
The father had alleged that since the then Patiala SDM is an influentialperson, he managed to save his son and his son’s friends and rather projectedthat his (SDM’s) son had suffered serious injuries in the accident. It has alsobeen alleged that with the help of the Rajpura police, a case of rash andnegligent driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registeredagainst a truck driver who was not at fault.
Personal enmity between his son and the SDM’s son has been alleged to be themotive behind the “murder”. Pursuant to directions from the Punjab HomeSecretary last year, the inquiry was got conducted by the DIG.

Writ to be filed in HC against new devices

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Writ-to-be-filed-in-HC-against-new-devices/articleshow/11969039.cms

SomitSen, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 01.25AM IST

MUMBAI: The MumbaiRickshawmen's Union plans to file a writ petition in the Bombay High Courton Thursday to oppose compulsory installation of e-meters in allautos.

Union leaders said they were not againste-meters if they were foolproof. "The state transport department has nottaken auto unions into confidence nor proved to us that the new meters will betamper-proof. This is in violation of Supreme Court guidelines, which stipulatethat any new meter introduced should be foolproof," said union leaderThampy Kurian, who will be a petitioner.

He stated that the union will not accept responsibilityif the e-meters are found to be tampered with after installation. "We aresuggesting in our petition that the state take a bank guarantee/deposit frommeter manufacturers. If any driver is caught for meter-tampering by the RTO, the fine should bededucted from the deposit," said Kurian, adding that the guarantee shouldbe of more than Rs 1 crore.

He stated that at a recent meeting organized bythe state-appointed committee on e-meters, which auto unions attended, themanufacturers had claimed that all e-meters post-2010 were tamperproof."We are made to believe that if we try to fiddle with the new meters, theywill display an 'Error' message and the system will hang. But the transportdepartment has not yet given us a demo or told us to check the new gadgets. Ichallenge them, I can tamper with the new devices too," he stated.

The petitioners plan to show the judiciary howthe electronic meters can be tampered with. They will also demand that thestate upgrade the model of autos in Mumbai and provide comfortable seating fordrivers and passengers, and then install e-meters.

"Unlike taxis, our meters are exposed tosunlight, dust and rain. How will we protect the electronic gadgets which areexpensive?" said a union activist.

A Mantralaya official said the union will begiven a month to put forward queries on the new meters. A transportcommissioner's office official claimed that the new meters were tamper-proof.Transport commissioner V N More was unavailable for comment.

HC refuses to quash case despite settlement with bank

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/hc-refuses-to-quash-case-despite-settlement-with-bank/965928.html

PTI | 07:02PM,Feb 20,2012

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea by anindustrialist, charged with fraudulently obtaining loan of more than Rs onecrore from a bank eight years ago, to quash a criminal case against him on theground that he had reached a settlement with the bank. Dismissing a petitionfiled by Faridabad-based Y N Kashyap and his father, Justice Suresh Kaitaccepted CBI's argument that the FIR should not be quashed as there was a lossof Rs 20 lakh to UCO bank despite their settlement and 'No Dues' certificateissued by the bank to them. "Though the petitioners have paid the agreedamount and settled with the bank. The bank has also issued 'No Dues Certificate.However, under the 'One Time Scheme', they have caused the net loss to thepublic exchequer. In such situation, I am of the considered view, where theparties have played tricks, documents were forged or adopted by illegal means,due to which the government/public sector undertaking has been duped andsuffered loss, the parties are not entitled for any favour or lenientview," the court said. The court rejected Kashyap's argument that matterwas settled amicably by paying a sum of Rs 68 lakhs on September 30, 2009 tothe bank against outstanding dues to the tune of more than Rs 87 lakh. Thecourt, however, relied on CBI's affidavit, filed through its counsel NarenderMaan, that the petitioners were hand in glove with the bank officer and forgedthe title deed of their property in sector 14 in Faridabad as the same wasalready mortgaged in a another bank and obtained loan from the UCO bank ofDelhi High Court complex under the One Time Scheme (OTS) in January 2005.

HC stays trial proceedings against Khushboo

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/HC-stays-trial-proceedings-against-Khushboo/articleshow/11969997.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 03.20AM IST

MADURAI: The Madurai bench ofMadras high court has stayed a proceedings at Nattham court against actor Khushboo in a caseregistered against her for an alleged poll codeviolation during the last assembly poll campaign.

Last week, she filed a petition in the Madras high court seeking to quash thecase registered against her. Justice T Sudnathiram, before whom the matter cameup for hearing, has granted a stay on the proceedings in the Nattham court.During the assembly poll campaign, she lobbied for DMK candidate Vijayan at apublic meeting on March 27, 2011 without permission of poll officials andthereby caused disturbance to public by creating a traffic jam.

Following the complaint lodged by the poll officials, the Nattham policeregistered a case against her and the candidate.

Last month, the star campaigner of the DMK appeared before Nattham JudicialMagistrate Court in the case.

HC to get new building, parking lot

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/HC-to-get-new-building-parking-lot/articleshow/11968322.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 12.08AM IST

HYDERABAD: The AndhraPradesh High Court will soon have a building on the premises of the old NayapulHospital next door.

The roads and buildings (R&B) department and the GreaterHyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have been asked by the high courtauthorities to workout plans for the proposed new building with multi-level parking facility.Official sources said plans for a seven-storied building have been prepared bythe R&B department. However, with some court officials expressingapprehension that the seven-storied building with cellar and sub-cellars mightnot be safe, the R&B and GHMC have been asked to work out another plan withtwo blocks, one for the courts and another exclusively for parking. Theexclusive multi-level car parking would be designed to accommodate 600 to 800cars.

The corporation had earlier requested the HC to part with about 4,500 squareyards towards Madina on the main road for a vertical parking complex in view ofthe heavytraffic flow near Charminar. GHMC officials feel that the traffic volume andtourists flow would increase once the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project (CPP)is completed.

The GHMC is working on two plans, one, a parking complex to be taken up on BuildOperate and Transfer (BOT) basis by private persons and another to be taken upby the civic body on its own. "In the multi-level parking complex, lawyersand petitioners can utilise the parking space during the day, while touristsand others can use it during night-time," an official of the GHMC said.

Meanwhile, construction of a multi-level parking complex near Khilwath on 2,150square metres area would begin in a month's time with the GHMC and the projectdeveloper, a consortium led by Futurage Infrastructure India Pvt Ltd, signingan agreement recently. The parking complex would have five floors andaccommodate over 400 four-wheelers and 200 two-wheelers. Conventional rampswould be in place for parking floors below the ground level, while an automatedmachine would take vehicles to floors above the ground.

Koda probe report in HC next week

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Koda-probe-report-in-HC-next-week/articleshow/11971795.cms

SanjayOjha, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 06.55AM IST

RANCHI: Three investigating agencies - the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI), income tax (I-T) and enforcement directorate(ED) - will submit the progress report in the multi-crore scam related toformer chiefminister MadhuKoda in the Jharkhandhigh court on February 29.

Sources in the CBI said they were preparing thereport on the status of investigation in the multi-crore scam of Koda and hisassociates. The former chief minister has been accused of amassing around Rs3,300 crore by misusing his office between 2006 and 2008.

A senior officer of the CBI said they had madesubstantial progress in the case and submitted a 200-page report a couple ofdays back to the UAE governmentto extradite SanjayChaudhary, a close associate of Koda. Chaudhary was arrested by the Interpol last yearin Dubai.

"According to extradition agreement withthe UAE, the language of extradition is English. A detailed report wassubmitted in English soon after the arrest of Chaudhary in Dubai. On therequest of the UAE government, we submitted the report in Arabic so that thecourt which is hearing the case of extradition does not find any difficulty inunderstanding the evidence against Chaudhary," said the officer.

The extradition of Chaudhary is important notonly for the CBI but also for the ED and the I-T departments because he is theperson who managed the foreign investments of Koda and his close aides.

An I-T officer said according to the presentassessment the total worth of assets of Koda and his aides was around Rs 3,300crore but it is likely to increase as they still don't have exact details ofChaudhary's assets.

"We expect that the local court will soongive permission for extradition as evidences submitted to the UAE governmenthas all details of misappropriation of funds and violation of the ForeignExchange Management Act," said the CBI officer.

HC asks East Coast Railway to consider stoppage for Rajdhani

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11970490.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 04.18AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa high court recentlyasked the East Coast Railway (ECoR) to examine if the NewDelhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express can have a stoppage at Jajpur-KeonjharRoad station. Acting on a PIL, the court asked the ECoR to take a decision onthe matter within eight weeks.

Petitioner J K Pratihari, in his petition, hadpleaded that the Rajdhani Express has stoppages at all district headquartersfrom its originating point besides Tata Nagar, Bokaro Steel City, Gomoh andKoderma, but not at Jajpur-KeonjharRoad station, which caters to two districts, Jajpur and Keonjhar.

The division bench of Chief Justice V GopalaGowda and Justice Biswanath Mohapatra asked Pratihari to send a representationalong with the court order to the chairman of Railway Boardand others within two weeks. The court told the Railways to take a decisionwithin eight weeks after submission of the representation, Pratihari said.

In 2006, Pratihari had filed a representationwith the Railway Board member (traffic) seeking the stoppage. The railwayauthorities had conveyed to him that the demand was under consideration but noaction was taken for over six years, following which he filed the PIL,Pratihari stated in his petition.

HC: Dying declaration has tobe corroborated before conviction

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/HC-Dying-declaration-has-to-be-corroborated-before-conviction/Article1-814511.aspx

HTCorrespondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, February 21, 2012

Reiterating its earlier stand on the admissibility ofuncorroborated dying declarations, the Bombay high court recently set aside atrial court's conviction of a father-son duo from Ahmednagar based solely onthe deceased's narration to a doctor.

"(A) dying declaration has to be proved beyond anyshadow of doubt whatsoever, it being a piece of evidence sought to be trustedwithout any scrutiny of cross-examination of its maker," justice AH Joshiobserved while acquitting the two on February 8.

The Ahmednagar police had charged Madhav Kharat, 64,and his son Shivaji, 34, for the murder of his brother Deochand on January 17,1997. They were arrested the day after Deochand succumbed to injuries sufferedin an alleged brutal assault.
While undergoing treatment at a Shirdi Hospital,Deochand had narrated the incident to a doctor and alleged that Kharat andShivaji had assaulted him. The trial court had convicted the duo primarily onthe basis of the dying declaration.
Kharat was convicted for culpable homicide notamounting to murder and sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment, whilehis son received a six-month jail term for causing grievous hurt to thedeceased.
Both moved the Aurangabad bench of the HC in appealin 1999. Their counsel SP Chapalgaonkar argued that the convictions cannot bemaintained since they are based solely on an uncorroborated dying declaration,in absence of any eyewitness or circumstantial evidence. However, assistantpublic prosecutor DR Kale justified the conviction contending the dying declarationwas trustworthy.
The HC found the prosecution had not even botheredto examine the doctor who had recorded Deochand's dying declaration in order toprove the deceased was in condition to give a statement. Justice Joshi setaside conviction of the duo stating that to maintain the convictions would meanto maintain them on suspicion, which cannot be done.
A division bench of the court had taken a similarview in December last year when it set aside the life sentence awarded to fourpersons by a Nashik sessions judge for the murder of a woman solely on thebasis of her dying declaration.

HC upholds dismissal of 'fake' AI trainee pilot

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11968993.cms

SwatiDeshpande, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 01.19AM IST

MUMBAI: The Bombay HighCourt has upheld the dismissal of a trainee AI pilot who had joined thenational carrier by producing fake results of his commercialpilot's licence (CPL) examinations.

Last June, the airlinehad nipped the flying career of Saurabh Lokhande, a 29-year-old Mumbairesident, before it could take off. AI dismissed Lokhande a month after theDelhi crime branch arrested him for allegedly using a fake CPL certificate tojoin the airline as a trainee pilot on a five-year contract in 2010. Lokhande,after three failed attempts to clear the examinations in India, had allegedlypaid Rs 3 lakh to a tout in 2008 and secured a fake licence to fly. He wasfinally arrested last year and though released on bail, faces a cheating andforgery case and his CPL has been suspended.

He flew into the longarms of law finally last year and though released on bail faces a cheating andforgery case and his CPL is suspended.

The worrying rise in thenumber of fake pilots across airlines last year had led to a crackdown by thetop brass as the Directorate general of Civil Aviation. Lokhande was the secondAI pilot to be arrested. The airline had earlier dismissed another pilot, J KVerma, for producing a fake CPL certificate. The HC, however, last Augustdirected the airline to hold an inquiry and keep him under suspension. LastNovember, the Supreme Court stayed the HC order.

Lokhande too moved theHC against AI. His lawyer, Mohan Bir Singh, argued that dismissal cannot stemfrom mere allegations. "There is no finding by any authority that the CPLdocuments are fake," said Singh. But AI, whose aircraft had crashed inMangalore in 2010 killing all on-board, took a tough stand through its law firmM V Kini & Co. "The safety of passengers is of paramount consideration,"it said.

"The lives ofpassengers would be in danger if Lokhande, whose qualification as a CPL holderis based on fake documents, is allowed to fly an aircraft," it said. As apilot, Lokhande was governed by the terms and conditions of contract which were

signed by him and AI.Clause 31 of the agreement is very clear, said AI, and it empowers terminationwith immediate effect without assigning any reasons, if it is found at anystage that the pilot relied on false documents.

A bench of Justices D KDeshmukh and R Y Ganoo last week had no sympathy either. In a brief order, thebench brushed off all arguments against AI.

The HC said, "Thepetitioner was merely a trainee pilot. It appears he was arrested forsubmitting a fake result card. In this situation, no fault can be found withthe order of termination."," and disposed of the matter

Lokhande is likely tochallenge the HC order, his lawyer said.

HC order for parole to Rajiv case convict challenged

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/HC-order-for-parole-to-Rajiv-case-convict-challenged/articleshow/11969906.cms

TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 03.10AM IST

MADURAI: The state government on Mondaychallenged a single judge order directing it to grant ordinary leave toRavichandran, a convict in the Rajiv Gandhiassassination case, for a period of 15 days.

P Ravichandran,who was cited as accused no 16, found guilty of participating in criminalconspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, was sentenced to death along with 25others by a Special Court for TADA cases on January28, 1998.

Later, the Supreme Court commuted his sentenceto life. Ravichandran is presently undergoing life imprisonment in the MaduraiCentral Prison. He has spent more than 20 years inside jail. His motherRajeshwari had filed a writ petition in the Madurai bench seeking release ofher son on 30 days' ordinary leave for settling family disputes and also tomake arrangements for maintenance of lands and properties.

On December 20, Justice V Ramasubramaniandirected the authorities to grant ordinary leave to Ravichandran at least for aperiod of 15 days and pass appropriate orders within two weeks. prescribing thedate, time and modality for the working out of other details.

While passing the order, the judge also pointedout that the prisoner had gone out only on three occasions for short spells. Onall those occasions, his conduct and character in society had not come toadverse notice.

Now, the state government has filed a writappeal in the Madurai bench of the Madras high court seeking to stay the orderof the single judge's order. On behalf of the state government, the writ appealwas filed by R Anbalagan, superintendent of prisons, Madurai.

The state government said that on earlieroccasions, Ravichandran was released on leave for 14 days in 3 different timesalong with strong police escort headed by a deputy superintendent of police(surveillance). But now, the high court in its order had directed to grant 15 days'ordinary leave to the convict. The government termed the leave very long andadded that had the prisoner been released on leave without police escort inearlier instances, the situation would have worsened.

As this prisoner is involved in the assassinationof a former prime minister, his presence outside the prison may be dangerous orprejudicial to public peace and tranquility. These points were not factoredinto account by the high court, added the state government.

Moreover, the state pointed out that theprisoner had not even paid escort charges totalling Rs 1,39,391 for having goneon leave. In the event of release of this prisoner further, he has to pay alarge amount as escort charges.

The government added that the deployment of alarge number of police personnel in the Virudhunagar district as escort wouldaffect normalcy in the area.

When the matter came up for hearing beforeJustices N Paul Vasanthakumar and P Devadass, the Additional Advocate General KChellapandian sought time to put forth the state government's furthercontentions in the matter.

The matter now has been adjourned to February 29for further hearing.

BMC can change transit camp for tenants: HC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/BMC-can-change-transit-camp-for-tenants-HC/articleshow/11968605.cms

RosySequeira, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 12.42AM IST

MUMBAI: There is nothing illegal in the BMCshifting tenants from one transit accommodation to another, said the Bombay HighCourt recently.

The court was hearing a petition by tenants of amunicipal chawl in Parel who are to be shifted to a regular transitaccommodation a decade after they were housed in a school.

A division bench of Justice Sharad Bobde andJustice Ramesh Dhanuka heard a petition filed by Harishchandra Sawant andothers after the BMC, on June 28, 2011, issued them a notice to shift to thetransit accommodation. The petitioners were residents of Bogdha Chawl on JerbaiWadia Road, Parel. They were among 205 tenants who were shifted to the transitaccommodation in 1998 at Baradevi Municipal School on Acharya Donde Marg, WaniChawl and Pratiksha Nagar. The petitioners occupy the third and fourth floorsof the dilapidated school.

An earlier bench had rapped the BMC for the delay.After seeing pictures of the new transit camp,the court had said, "Don't treat people as animals.'' According to thepetition, the tenants formed a cooperative housing society. In June 2005 BMCgave permission to Tejaswini Group to redevelop the chawl but in May 2010issued a show cause notice for termination for not beginning the work. BMC hasnow told the court that a new developer has been appointed and constructionshall commence within 36 months from the date of issue of commencementcertificate.

Petitioner's advocate P G Lad said thatreconstruction of permanent accommodation has taken a long time already and theaction of BMC in trying to remove them from the presenting temporary alternateaccommodation to shift them to another temporary alternate accommodation isneither legal nor proper. The judges at the hearing on February 10, 2012disagreed. Prima facie we do not see any breach of any particular state or GR(government resolution) in regard to the impugned action,'' they said, addingthat no interference is called for by the court.

At the request of Lad that the children'sensuing school exams are to take place in April, the judges in the interest ofjustice'' directed BMC not to effect the shifting till April 31, 2012.

Jelestines wife to move HC against captain

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/jelestines-wife-to-move-hc-against-captain/231938-60-116.html

AmrithaK R

KOCHI: Dora Jelestine, wife of Valentine Jelestine who was gunned down byItalian marines on board the oil tanker ‘Enrica Lexie,’ will file a case underAdmiralty Law against the Italian vessel in the Kerala High Court. The decisioncame at a meeting of various fishermen organisations, boat owners associationsand the Kollam Diocese held in Kollam on Saturday. The procedures for the casewill be undertaken under the supervision of the Quilon Social Service Society,an organisation under the Quilon Diocese. This is the first legal actionundertaken by the victims’ family after the incident that took place onFebruary 15. Apart from compensation, the petitioner will also demand thearrest of the captain and the ship owner.

“The two Italian Navymen are being made scapegoats and the rest ofthe crew members will go scot-free. This cannot be allowed,” said the directorof the Quilon Social Service Society, Fr Rajesh Martin. To protest against thegruesome incident, a massive rally will be taken out to the Kollam Collectoratewith the participation of various fishermen organisations, trade unions andmembers of the Kollam Diocese.

“We have a charter of demands. All measures must be taken toensure that such an incident will not be repeated on our waters. Fishermenshould be able to carry on with their livelihood without fear and duecompensation must be paid to the families of the victims,” said Fr StevenKayathil of the Quilon Social Service Society.

Speaking to mediapersons on Friday Ernakulam IG K Padmakumar hadsaid: “If the petitioner files a case under the Admiralty Law before the HighCourt, the ship can be released after the victims’ families are paid compensation.The Advocate-General can appear for the case.”