LEGAL NEWS 11.01.2009

CJI urges NRKs to invest in Kerala
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/475058/National/1/20/1
Published: January 11,2009
Kollam , Jan 10 : Chief Justice of India, Justice K G Balakrishnan today said Non-resident Keralite entreprenuers should play a crucial role in creating jobs and opportunities for youth by making investments within the state.
"By dint of their hard work and entreprenuerial spirit, many Keralites have made it big in different parts of the world and now they should make investments in their home state,"he said, after presenting the V Gangadharan memorial award to leading Gulf-based NRI entreprenuer Ravi Pillai here.
Kerala was a state with high unemployment. Getting more investments would mean generation of jobs. This would help the youth, who, if left without gainful engagement, stood the chances of being spoilt. Such a scenario could have a harmful impact on the law and order situation in society, he said.
Justice Balakrishnan also wanted the Union and the state governments to extend required support to NRKs coming forward to invest in promising areas like tourism.
Kerala was not behind any other state in general progress. But it required more investments for making further strides, he said.
The award was instituted in memory of the late V Gangandharan, a former speaker of the Travancore-Cochin legislative assembly, by Kadappakkada Arts and Sports Club.
Pillai was chosen for the honour in view of his success as an entreprenuer and creator of job opportunities. PTI COR NM apr
Source: PTI




CJI measures to address unemployment
http://keralaonline.com/news/cji-seeks-address-unemployment_16413.html
Kollam, Sunday 11 Dec 2008: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said necessary measures should be taken to attract investments that provide employment to educated youth in the State. He said while Kerala was still a model to other States in the country in many respects, unemployment, especially among the educated youth, remained a problem. This was in spite of the fact that a good number of Keralites were doing extremely well outside the State.
He called upon non-resident Keralites to contribute towards solving the unemployment problem in the State. The government and the people should co-operate by extending help to expatriate Malayalis who come forward to invest in the State.





Dawood's sister can't be issued passport: Govt to HC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Dawoods_sister_cant_be_issued__passport_Govt_to_HC/articleshow/3963331.cms
11 Jan 2009, 1138 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: The Centre has justified its move to deny a passport to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's sister, Haseena Ibrahim Parker, by claiming before the Delhi High Court that she cannot be allowed to go abroad in view of extortion charges against her. "She cannot be issued a passport as she is being tried for criminal offences in Mumbai. We have got a detailed report from Mumbai police and we would file our response on her plea," advocate Sanjeev Kumar Dubey, appearing for the Centre, contended before Justice S Ravinder Bhat of Delhi High Court, while seeking time to file its response. The Government's response came on a petition filed by Haseena Ibrahim, seeking the court's direction to it to issue her a passport. She had applied for a passport but Regional Passport Office in December 2006 had refused her plea on the ground that she might not come back to India if she travels abroad using a passport. Haseena, who has been booked by Mumbai police on extortion charges, contended in her petition that it was her fundamental right to get a passport and travel abroad. The Mumbai police had registered an FIR against Haseena on April 21, 2007 on the complaint of an real estate agent alleging that she had kept for herself one crore rupees which was given by him for slum rehabilitation. The trial court later granted bail to Haseena and her associate in May 2007.





Delhi HC rejects plea of former managers of Chanakya cinema http://www.zeenews.com/states/2009-01-12/497773news.html
New Delhi, Jan 11: The wish of former managers of now-shut Chanakya cinema to be associated with the new avatar of the theatre is unlikely to be fulfilled. The Delhi High Court has rejected their plea to direct the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to let them participate in a global tender floated for building a mall and multiplex at the site of the theatre which was a major attraction for Capital's college students and cinegoers for decades. Dismissing a petition filed by M/s Aggarwal and Modi Enterprises (Cinema Project Pvt Ltd) seeking a direction restraining NDMC from floating the global tender for the multiplex, a Division Bench of Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Manmohan imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the hall owners. In a judgment on Friday, the Bench gave a green signal to NDMC to float the global tender and said "NDMC by following the two bid system has attempted to ensure that there is real competition between the best qualified firms so that world class infrastructural facilities can be created." "...Petition is without any merit and is dismissed with cost of Rs 50,000 to be paid to Prime Minister's relief fund," the Bench said in the judgment. Challenging the NDMC's tender through a petition, the former managers of the theatre sought the court's intervention in their bid to participate in the auctioning and submitted that NDMC should put the two-acre plot for public auction. It was alleged that the NDMC has violated its own Act by floating a global tender and inviting only reputed real estate developers for the construction of the multiplex. The NDMC, after a Supreme Court nod, on December 19, 2007 through an advertisement had invited real estate developers to place a request to building a multiplex-cum-commercial facility on design-build-operate-and-transfer basis, in view of the 2010 Commonwealth Game. In August 2005, the Supreme Court had dismissed the theatre management's plea seeking a direction restraining the NDMC from constructing the multiplex at the Chanakya cinema site in Chanakyapuri. The theatre's lease agreement with the former managers expired in 2003. Bureau Report



HC notice to Lanji MLA, others
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/HC_notice_to_Lanji_MLA_others/articleshow/3961070.cms
11 Jan 2009, 0000 hrs IST, TNN
JABALPUR: The Madhya Pradesh high court has served a notice on Ramesh Bhatere, newly-elected first-time BJP MLA from Lanji in Naxal-infested district Balaghat, after admitting a habeas corpus petition. Notices have also been served on the state's home secretary, the DGP and others. In his petition, Parasram Jamure, a tribal, said his teenage daughter studying in Class XII was abducted two days before Diwali Deepawali. When he tried to lodge an FIR about it with the local police, he was spurned. His request was turned down even after he approached senior police officers, who apparently were influenced of the ruling party MLA. The girl, the petition said, was studying in a school run by Bhatere. Jamure alleged that the MLA was instrumental in abducting his daughter. While taking the matter seriously, the division bench comprising Justice R S Garg directed the SP, Balaghat, to search for the girl and produce her before the court on January 29 when the matter would be taken up for the next hearing. Besides this, the court expressed its unhappiness over the manner in which the police refused to register the FIR and directed the police to conduct a fair probe into the matter.



ESMA invoked against the striking truckers in Gujarat
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/ESMA_invoked_against_the_striking_truckers_in_Gujarat_/articleshow/3964287.cms
11 Jan 2009, 1747 hrs IST, PTI
VADODARA: Gujarat government has invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) declaring the services of the truckers as essential. A notification to this effect was already issued two days ago and the government was monitoring the situation, Gujarat, home secretary, Balwantsingh said. The declaration of ESMA notification prohibits truckers from continuing their strike which has entered its seventh day on Sunday. "Action will be taken against them if they tried to disrupt the supply of essential commodities and if need arose, NSA can also be used against them," Balwantsingh said. Also, care is being taken to ensure that the general public does not suffer because of the shortage of essential commodities, he said. Moreover, the government is keeping a close watch on the situation to deal with the complaints of shortages. So far there has been no complaint of shortages, he said. About more than four lakh truckers in the state have been on strike since January 5, as a part of a nation-wide strike of transporters. The strike has led to the soaring prices of essential commodities like vegetables besides badly affecting the sectors like food and fastest moving consumer goods in the state.



Advocate commissioner denied entry
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Hyderabad/Advocate_commissioner_denied_entry/articleshow/3961691.cms
11 Jan 2009, 0000 hrs IST, TNN
HYDERABAD: AP High Court-appointed advocate commissioner K S Murthy was denied entry into the Bhimrao Wada near Nampally on Saturday morning. The High Court had directed him to study and submit a report on January 19. At around 9 am, K S Murthy went to the basti as part of his investigation along with around 30 members, including some former residents, and members of the media. Police personnel deployed at the site refused entry to him on the grounds that they did not have orders from higher-ups. "His mandate was done and he had no business to visit the site again and again. In case, he wanted to visit, he requires a special permission from the court. As per the order, he had limited purpose to find out whether demolition was completed or not, which he has already completed," Hyderabad district collector Navin Mittal told STOI. Bhimrao Wada basti was demolished in the wee hours of December 27 and nearly 100 families were shifted to a government housing project at Afzalsagar.




Municipal council to move court
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chandigarh/Municipal_council_to_move_court/articleshow/3961738.cms
11 Jan 2009, 0000 hrs IST, Rajinder Nagarkoti, TNN
PANCHKULA: The municipal council here surely wants to be taken seriously as far as its drive on road maintenance is concerned.
While it strictly prohibited residents to throw water on roads, many people not just flouted this rule but also refused to pay penalty when caught red-handed. Earlier, the MC issued fine slips to the violators but many of these have now turned into fine defaulters too. In order to tackle this, the MC has now decided to move court against the defaulters. After the decision came into effect on November 1, Panchkula MC issued fine slips to around 240 residents but many did not come forward to pay the fine. MC officials said the civic body was charging Rs 1,000 from first-time violators who were found guilty of letting water on the roads. If someone again harms roads due to any reason, we charge a double fine, that is Rs 2,000, MC official said. MC executive officer OP Sihag said, In this campaign, we noticed that some people are not taking the instructions seriously and do not bother to pay their fines. Even as MC sent repeated reminders for the payments, many did not turn out. To tackle such violators, we decided to take the legal course of action. Instructions to gas agencies MC has sent letters to gas distribution agencies operating in Panchkula for taking due care while delivering LPG cylinders to customers. MC has asked the agencies to not to fling cylinders recklessly as it could damage the roads. Those found violating the new rules will be fined by the MC. In this campaign, MC has decided to take help from residents as well as welfare associations to keep a check on delivery of gas cylinder




Instant justice claims four lives
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Lucknow/Instant_justice_claims_four_lives/articleshow/3962133.cms
11 Jan 2009, 0330 hrs IST, TNN
LUCKNOW: In two cases of brutal instant justice on Saturday four persons were killed in Sitapur and Lucknow. While three family members of a rape accused were shot dead by the victim's family in Sitapur, a man lynched a youth after he found him in a compromising position with his daughter in the Thakurganj area of the state capital. Inspector General of police (IG), Lucknow Zone, AK Jain, said that the Sitapur incident was reported from Leharpur police circle where armed miscreants riding motorcycles and an SUV arrived at the house of Ram Bahadur Singh (50) in Kesariganj locality. They dragged Ram Bahadur and his son Lalla (16) out of the house and took them away. Next the miscreants stopped at the sweet-meat shop of Ram Bahadur located in the main-market and dragged his second son Vinod (22) from there. The miscreants then took the trio away from the market and shot them dead from a point blank range, IG Jain said. All three of them died on the spot. The miscreants then left the site unresisted. Later, Ram Bahadur's family members claimed that his youngest son Subodh was also forcibly taken away by the miscreants and had been missing since then. There were unconfirmed reports that Subodh was held hostage by the assailants to mount pressure on the victims not to pursue any stringent action against them. Police have also not ruled out the possibilities of Subodh being kidnapped and murdered elsewhere. Initial investigations, police said, revealed that the mass murders were fallout of the January 1 incident reported from Leharpur police circle itself where a domestic help Pramod was arrested on charges of raping the five-year-old daughter of his employer. Police sources, quoting eye-witness accounts, said that the Saturday shootout was led by the family members of the rape victim. As the rape accused Pramod, son of Ram Bahadur, was himself in jail, the rape victim's family shot dead his father and at least two of his brothers. In Lucknow, Lala Ram, a guard at an under-construction house in Hayat Nagar locality lost his cool and lynched a youth Ram Gulam Lodh when he found the latter in a compromising position with his 18-year-old daughter. Lala Ram attacked Ram Gulam with bricks and repeatedly bashed him till he died. Lala Ram also attacked his daughter as well who had to be admitted to the Trauma Centre where her condition too was stated to be critical. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Akhil Kumar said that Ram Gulam had an affair with the girl in question for quite some time. On Saturday evening, while the couple was together, Lala Ram came to know about it and caught them in a compromising position. Lala Ram has been detained by the police.




Justice eludes Captain Sinha
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Patna/Justice_eludes_Captain_Sinha/articleshow/3961341.cms
11 Jan 2009, 0215 hrs IST, Ravi Dayal, TNN
PATNA: The Supreme Court (SC) upheld a Patna High Court (HC) verdict to count 10 years service in Army Education Corps of Captain D N P Sinha in his Central government service in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan (KVS) for payment of full pension, but implementation of the courts' verdict by the KVS is yet awaited. Despite his valuable service in imparting education in Army schools and KVS schools, justice eludes him. The septuagenarian Sinha has decided to observe hunger strike near India gate in New Delhi. Talking to TOI, Sinha recounted his spotless career as teacher-mentor of the students in Army schools and KVS schools. He has to be given full pension for 37 years of service from 1957 to 1994, the year when he retired as education officer, KVS Patna. The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Patna bench, had directed the KVS to give Sinha benefit of 10 years of services rendered in the defence forces (Army) to fix his full pension under Section 19(2)(a) of the Central Civil Services Pension Rules. Against this, the KVS moved Patna HC which upheld the CAT verdict directing KVS to pay Captain Sinha his full pension counting the Army service with eight per cent interest on the difference of arrears of his pension accruing from the date the CAT had given the verdict. The SC upheld Patna HC verdict dismissing special leave petition of KVS/Central government challenging the verdict. Having joined as non-commissioned officer in Army Education Service in 1957, Sinha was commissioned in 1963 and got release from the Army in 1967 to join Sainik School, Gujarat, which was under Central government. Thereafter, he was principal of KVS Schools in Manipur, Neemuch, Patna and Jabalpur and retired as education officer at KVS in Patna in 1994. Sinha feels neglected by the KVS, despite court orders and an office order of KVS, New Delhi, dated October 21, 2008, issued by the deputy commissioner, personnel, S S Sehrawat, mentioning that the commissioner, KVS, has approved the counting of Sinha's service in Army Education Corps from September 8, 1957 to September 30, 1967. A senior KVS official at Patna told TOI that the KVS headquarters is yet to send the particulars of payment of full pension to Captain Sinha.



FIR against Raje likely on Monday
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Jaipur/FIR_against_Raje_likely_on_Monday/articleshow/3961445.cms
11 Jan 2009, 0420 hrs IST, TNN
JAIPUR: The city police are likely to register an FIR in the Deen Dadayal Upadhyay Trust land scam against former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and fiver others on Monday. The police said on Saturday that they had not yet received the court orders and the case could be lodged only after they received the documents. A local court here on Friday had directed the police to register a case against Raje and five others in the case. Others against whom the court directed the police to file FIRs are former Jaipur mayor and MLA Ashok Parnami, former Rajasthan BJP president Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, former minister Pratap Singh Singhvi, former housing board chairman Ajaypal Singh and then Jaipur Development Authority commissioner D P Gupta. "We have not yet received the court orders yet and they are likely to reach us on Monday after which the case would be registered," said SP (East) Mohan Singh. The land, measuring 7,693 sq. metre, was allotted by the previous BJP government at a 5% concession over the prevailing market price in prime location near Civil Lines to Deendayal Trust headed by Vaundhara Raje much before the trust was formed. The land was allegedly sought on behalf of the trust in March 2006, while it came into existence on April 14, 2005. He alleged even applica-tion charges were also not deposited by the trust with JDA. The matter came to light in December 2006 after opposition raised the issue.



Apex court to hear plea for action against striking truckers
http://www.bombaynews.net/story/451799
Bombay News.NetFriday 9th January, 2009 (IANS)
The Supreme Court Friday decided to hear a public interest lawsuit (PIL) which sought directions to the government to take stern action against the striking truckers.A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam decided to hear the PIL Monday after petitioner Sunder Khatri, a Delhi-based advocate, apprised the bench of his petition pending in the apex court registry since Jan 7.In his petition, Khatri has sought the apex court's direction to the union government to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act and the National Security Act against the striking truckers.Seeking cancellation of the permits of the striking truckers, Khatri argued in his petition that such strikes serve as a convenient excuse to jack up the prices of essential commodities.He said transporters' strikes will have an adverse impact on the country's economy, already reeling under global recession.Khatri said in his petition that the truckers, led by All India Motor Transport Corporation, have resorted to strikes violating their own agreement with the government in July last year that they would not seek any increase in toll rates for one year.Yet the transporters' organisation raised the demand Nov 17 last year for reduction in prices of diesel and tyres and service taxes and eventually went on strike Jan 5, he said.



Update law to be stringent on sexual offences: NCW http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2009-01-10/497662news.html
Allahabad, Jan 10: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Saturday pitched for comprehensive changes in the existing legal system to put an effective check on incidents of sexual assault and said "inadequacies" in law should be plugged to be tougher in cases of eve-teasing and molestation. "We have sent the draft for the proposed Sexual Assaults Bill to the Government, wherein stringent punishment for offences other than rape has been advocated," NCW Chairperson Girija Vyas told reporters here. The proposal underlines inadequacies in existing laws, which are not adequately tough on offences like eve-teasing and molestation -- both traumatising for women as any other crime. "Besides, even in cases of rape, the severity of punishment needs to be much higher, if the victims are of tender age and the perpetrators belong to law-enforcing agencies," Vyas said. One of the main reasons for growing incidents of rape cases was reluctance of victims to lodge complaint. Realising that it might be due to "insensitivity" to which they are subjected to during investigation and trial, the NCW has suggested remedies in the draft. "There should be just one in-camera recording of statement after which the victim/s must not be asked to narrate trauma again." "We need to understand that murder kills a person only once. But, a rape victim is often condemned to die every moment of her life, a view expressed even by the apex court," she added. Demanding speedy justice for the MBA student who was recently gang-raped in Noida, Vyas said, "we receive the maximum number of complaints from Uttar Pradesh, though the state does not rank first in the total number of crimes against women. This is, primarily, due to the insensitive approach of the state police in handling such cases." "The state police has been insensitive towards female crime victims. It was witnessed during the Nithari episode. Even more disgusting was the manner in which Aarushi murder case was handled." The draft also calls for training of police force in states as they are found to be "casual" about crimes against women. "This is one of the reasons why there has been an increase of about 15 per cent in total incidents of crime against women between 2003-2007," the NCW chairperson said. "Besides, we have suggested that there must be a mechanism for rehabilitation of rape victims, so that they are not made to suffer the consequence of a crime that they have not committed." The public should be sensitised about various laws framed to protect the rights of women. As part of it, the Commission would launch a campaign on January 16 under which rural women would be introduced into women-specific laws. Bureau Report
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Raju and the law: Steps and mis-steps
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200901111421.htm
Hyderabad (PTI): By giving himself over to the police, Satyam Computer's former Chairman B Ramalinga Raju may have pre-empted an extradition to the US, where several law suits have been filed against him, says a section of legal experts.
However, the decision to stay away from the SEBI authorities and send his lawyer instead may create more problems for B Ramalinga Raju, including a one-year jail term and a fine of Rs one crore. SEBI summoned Ramalinga Raju to appear in person before its investigating officials and present the records related to the Satyam scandal.
"His lawyer can appear only before the Appellate Tribunal and not the investigating authorities," they added.
Had he appeared before the SEBI investigating team, Raju would have escaped arrest because the SEBI Act has no provision to nab a person. But, Raju chose to get "arrested" by the police and charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code in what is being described by legal luminaries as "legal match-fixing."