Decide bail petitions uninfluenced by media: SC

 The Supreme Court on Tuesday muffled its anger over media distorting its simple query about CBIs stand in the trial court on the bail pleas of Kanimozhi and four others in the 2G scam case and said the special CBI judge would decide the petitions ignoring the newspaper reports. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and H L Dattu said,We express our serious anguish over the distorted and misleading versions of the proceedings reported in newspapers,which is most unfortunate and regrettable.There is also an attempt to tarnish the CBI. Someday,they will get into trouble. The reporting in the print media shall not influence the adjudication before the trial court.

Special CBI judge O P Saini had reserved verdict on the bail pleas of DMK MP Kanimozi,Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar,directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agrawal and film producer Karim Morani and is likely to pronounce the order on November 3. Giving the clarification on CBIs stand on these five bail petitions,additional solicitor general Harin Raval told the bench that though the agency had not opposed their pleas,it had made it clear that the trial court had the inherent discretion in deciding whether or not to grant bail.The bench said no one could possibly question the discretion of the prosecuting agency and the special public prosecutor to make a submission before the trial court.As the bench also reserved its orders on the bail pleas of Unitech Wireless MD Sanjay Chandra,Swan Telecom MD Vinod Goenka and Reliance ADAG executives Gautam Doshi,Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair,Chandras counsel Ram Jethmalani made an unusual request to the court.
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(Source-toi)

Increase frivolous litigation cost by 3,000%,says SC

The Supreme Court has suggested a 3,000% increase in the cost imposed on a person indulging in frivolous and vexatious litigation,saying unless it was hiked from Rs 3,000 to Rs 100,000, the system would fail to control false cases being foisted to victimize innocent citizens. A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik,in a judgment delivered last month but made available on Tuesday said. At present,the courts have virtually given up awarding any compensatory costs as award of such small sum of Rs 3,000 would not make much difference.We are of the view that the ceiling in regard to compensatory costs should be at least Rs 100,000.

It referred to Section 35A of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) which provided for compensatory cost in respect of false or vexatious claims or defence.The maximum amount to be levied on a person indulging in false litigation was amended in 1977 from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000. Justice Raveendran,who has since retired,expressed dismay at the cost remaining unchanged for the last 34 years and said, Unless the compensatory cost is brought to a realistic level,the present provision authorizing levy of an absurdly small sum by present day standards may,instead of discouraging such litigation,encourage false and vexatious claims.

Times View : We have consistently maintained that the judiciary needs to take a tough stance against frivolous litigation.The observation of SC should go a long way towards curbing the menace,at least as far as individual litigants are concerned. It remains to be seen whether the much stiffer monetary penalty becomes a serious deterrent also for organisations out to earn cheap publicity. If this too fails to rein them in, the court should think in terms of going beyond just monetary fines for dealing with the problem.That step, however, can wait till the current measure has had a fair trial.
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Apex Court wants normal litigation cost as penalty
The bench also did not approve the present day tendency of courts not to award even normal litigation cost,different from exemplary cost,to the litigant who wins a case.Prosecution and defence of cases is a time consuming and costly process. A plaintiff /petitioner /appellant who is driven to the court by the illegal acts of the defendant/ respondent,or denial of a right to which he is entitled,if he succeeds,to be reimbursed of his expenses in accordance with law.

The court said it was talking of normal litigation cost and it should not be calculated on the basis of actual cost of fighting a case.For,a wealthy person may engage five senior advocates with fees running into lakhs of rupees per day and other side cannot be asked to reimburse such astronomical amounts, it said. Appreciating assistance rendered to court by Dr Arun Mohan and Sr advocate A Mariarputham, the bench said there was a misconception among people that the court fees for litigation were high.It said in Supreme Court,the maximum court fee payable was Rs 250, whether it was a suit or a special leave petition. But it said the time had come for courts to ask for fees commensurate with that spent by the courts on highvalue litigation.

Arbitration matters,company matters,tax matters,for example,may involve huge amounts. There is no reason why a nominal fee should be collected in this regard to such cases. While we are not advocat-ing ad valorem fee with reference to value in such matters,at least the fixed fee should be sufficiently high to have some kind of quid pro quo to the cost involved, said Justice Raveendran,who authored the judgment.
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(sourcee-toi)

Practice by Lawyers - entitled as of right to practice throughout the territory of India

Government has said that it has notified Section 30 of the Advocates Act, 1961 recently enabling the lawyers to practice in courts across the country irrespective of their enrolment in any Bar Council without the need to transfer license to their desired States. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Law & Justice, said that subject to provision of the Advocates Act, 1961, every advocate whose name is entered in the State roll shall be entitled as of right to practice throughout the territories to which this Act extends. He informed the House that this section has come into force with effect from the 15th June, 2011.

(source - PIB)

(Source-andhra jyothi)

83 Complaints Against JS Level and Above Officers

As per information provided by CBI, it has registered 83 complaints against the working officers of the rank of Joint Secretary and above during the period 2008 and 2011 (till 30.6.2011).

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS

(SOURCE - PIB)

NRI seeks Rs 5000 crore compensation from CBI

The Delhi high court has asked the CBI to respond to an NRI's plea seeking compensation of Rs 5,000 crore for implicating him in a criminal case for 25 years. Justice Ajit Bharihoke issued notice to the CBI and sought the reply by September 27 on N S Hoon's plea, which also seeks action against the erring officials of the investigating agency for harassing him for such a long time.

Seeking a compensation of Rs 5,000 crore, Hoon, who had acquired British citizenship, said the then senior officers of the probe agency had acted against him at the instance of some influential persons and they should be prosecuted as per law. Hoon claimed he has undergone mental agony and physical sufferings in the past 25 years and he should be financially compensated.

"I was arrested on May 14, 1987, despite an anticipatory bail order in my favour from Delhi high court and they seized my passport for such a long time causing huge losses to my business abroad," Hoon said. He said the trial court had acquitted him from all the charges under the Foreigners Act in January.

According to CBI, Hoon had concealed his identity as a British citizen during his stay in two different hotels, during 1986-1987, which constituted an offence under the act. The CBI alleged during his stay in Delhi's Ambassador Hotel, the petitioner had paid the hotel tariff of Rs 400, which he should have paid in British pounds for being the citizen of the UK. Similarly, he had stayed at Hakman's hotel in Jaipur and cleared the hotel bills to the tune of Rs 8,000 in Indian rupees which constituted an offence under the Foreigners Act, according to the prosecution.

(SOURCE- PTI Jul 31, 2011, 10.18AM IST)

"THE MORE LAWS, THE LESS JUSTICE" : THE BURDEN OF TOO MANY LAWS

In the wake of the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai, an interesting point has come up which needs careful attention.  "He also stressed the need for setting priorities for the police. He said the basic function of the police was to protect life and property, but there were other things that kept them busy. On police officials being more concerned about moral policing than maintaining law and order, he said that once a law had been enacted, it was the duty of the police to enforce it." [Indian Express]

It is not merely the laws that have been enacted, or are being proposed everyday by the likes of the NAC and Team Anna but also the laws that have existed for centuries and have not been repealed. The Commission on Review of Administrative Laws in a 1998 report had identified 1,300 outdated statutes. Of these, only 200 were repealed. Among these, Bibek Debroy tells us, that the two earliest (Bengal Indigo Contracts Act and Bengal Districts Act) are from 1836. In the vintage category, there are six from the 1830s, nine from the 1840s, 34 from the 1850s, 21 from the 1860s, 33 from the 1870s, 37 from the 1880s, 34 from the 1890s, 18 from the 1900s, 27 from the 1910s and 31 from the 1920s.

Most of these colonial-era laws are plain ridiculous. Here is an example.

-------Let’s assume you are a male, more than 14 and live in Delhi. Do you know the collector can requisition your services to destroy locusts and if you refuse, you can be fined Rs 50 or imprisoned for 10 days? You will know locusts have arrived because there will be a beating of drums. This is by virtue of the 1949 East Punjab Agricultural Pests, Diseases and Noxious Weeds Act, applicable to Delhi. A vintage car must have been built before 1930, so this isn’t a vintage statute.---------[India Today]

Another one here:

--------Under the rules of the Factories Act of 1948, there has to be earthen pots filled with drinking water. Water coolers won’t do. There has to be red-painted buckets filled with sand, in case there are fires. Fire extinguishers won’t do. Factories must be whitewashed. Distemper isn’t good enough.-----[Telegraph]

It isn’t that the government of India is not aware of the need to repeal obsolete laws. In 1958, the Law Commission examined all the British statutes then in force as applicable to India. The Law Commission then forwarded a comprehensive report in 1984 on the repeal of certain obsolete central laws. In 1993, the Law Commission again undertook the question of repeal of central laws passed before 15 August 1947. And the last such report from the Law Commission on Repeal and Amendment of Laws was issued in 1998. Incidentally, the primary term of reference of the current Law Commission, which was established in 2009, still remains the Review/Repeal of obsolete laws:

•To identify laws which are no longer needed or relevant and can be immediately repealed.

•To identify laws which are in harmony with the existing climate of economic liberalization which need no change.

•To identify laws which require changes or amendments and to make suggestions for their amendment.

But this Law Commission’s tenure ends in 2012 and it is highly unlikely that any progress will be made on that front in the one year remaining now.

Getting back to the original issue. India doesn’t have sufficient policemen and policewomen for its vast population. The quality of the existing police leaves a lot to be desired. Overburdening them with too many laws dilutes their focus from their primary duties. They end up doing too many things, and doing all of them badly. As Cicero said: “The more laws, the less justice.”

What is the way out?

One, a time-bound one-time public review of all existing laws must be undertaken by the government immediately. Laws which have not been invoked for last 10 years should automatically be deemed to have been repealed. Laws which haven’t seen any conviction for 20 years must also follow suit.

Two, there must be a serious cost-benefit exercise before any new law is proposed to be enacted. In fact, every new law must repeal one or more existing laws in the statute.

Three, there should be a sunset clause for all laws unless there is a need for continuation. Alternatively, the principle of desuetude, allowing lapse of non-enforceable or non-enforced legislation, even if not specifically repealed should be brought into play by the courts.

Yes, we need better police. And we need more police. But we need to unburden the police that we have right now. Let us start with rationalising and reducing the laws in our statute books please. Now.

P.S. – This doesn’t in any way dilute the pressing need for police reforms and judicial reforms in this country.

(SOURCE - PRAGMATIC )

LEGAL ORDER MUST CONSTANTLY ADAPT ITSELF TO CHANGE : PM

Developing countries needed a legal system that was conducive to rapid economic development and one that had a bulit-in mechanism to promote equitable distribution of gains from development, P M Minister Manmohan Singh said while inaugurating 17th Common wealth Law Conference in Hyderabad on Sunday. "A sound legal system based on the rule of law and effective and speedy contract enforcement are a major determinant of a favourable macro economic development.” "It is my firm belief that meaningful solutions to the problem of mass poverty that prevails in developing countries can be found only in the framework of a rapidly expanding economy,"  PM said at the conference at Hyderabad International Convention Centre.

Dr Manmohan Singh said the legal order must constantly adapt itself to change in a fast-changing world.
"That is the only way it (legal system) can retain its relevance. The role courts and judges in making law an instrument of social stability and progressive change cannot be over-emphasised," he added. The PM urged jurists and thinkers to reflect on ways and means that would ensure continuing strength and resilie-nce of liberal institutions of democracy and rule of law in the framework of rapidly expanding economy.

Noting that rule of law was an instrument of progressive change, social and political stability and economic development, the PM said constitutional democracy with an unwavering commitment to the rule of law was the best choice for emerging economies that sought justice political, economic and social for all. "Considering the reality and scale of conflict, deprivation and exploitation that affect the lives of millions of people in the developing countries, they need to take bold and imaginative measures to pursue the path of development with a human face. Any political system must ensure equality of opportunity and access to fair and neutral processes and empower citizens to respect, protect and fulfil human rights," the prime minister said.

The Indian experience of ensuring unity of its people amidst diversity could be of use to other countries that faced the challenge of establishing a national identity despite cultural and religious diversities in their societies,he said. Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Nisar Ahmed Kakru and others also spoke on the occasion. The Prime Minister left for New Delhi after inaugurating the conference.
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(source- DD News)

(source-andhrajyothi)

(source-saakshi)

Alternative Dispute Resolution, preferred mode of settlement- Dr. Veerappa Moily, India will be the most preferred destination for Alternative Dispute Resolution

Law and Justice Minister, Dr. Veerappa Moily has said that Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, will be the preferred mode of settlement of disputes in the future. India is spearheading the ADR movement and has caught up the attention of Courts in the country. He said, India is in the process of amending the Act of 1966 and a very comprehensive consultations have taken place at different parts of the country involving all the stakeholders. The endeavour is to make India the most preferred destination for ADR.

Inaugurating the International Conference on Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR – Conciliation and Mediation organised by International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in New Delhi, he said there are 52592 cases pending in the Supreme Court, 3955224 cases in High Courts and 26752193 cases in subordinate courts. To reduce pendency of cases in courts ADR would work as a key tool. He said, towards this endeavour, the legal services authorities’ act 1987 has been amended from time to time to facilitate use of ADR methods. Amendent to Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure in 2002 is to introduce conciliation, mediation and pre-trial settlement methodologies for effective resolution of dispute. The Minister said, ADR centres are already functioning at Delhi, Madras, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana High Courts.

The ICADR has been trying to spread awareness regarding settlement of disputes, commercial or otherwise, through Arbitration, Conciliation and Mediation outside the Courts. It has from time to time organized several Seminars, Conferences, Workshops, Training programmes and Educational Prgrammes to popularize and propagate ADR all over India. The conference was attended by H.E.
Dr. H.R. Bhardwaj, Governor of Karnataka and Chairman, ICADR, T.K. Viswanathan, Secretary General, Lok Sabha and member, Governing Council, ICADR. Supreme Court judges Hon’ble Mr. Justice Cyriac Joseph, Mr. Justice Deepak Verma, Mr. Justice Dalveer Bhadari, Mr. Justice Swatanter Kumar also attended the conference. The U.S. was represented by Mr. Richard W. Naimark, Senior Vice President , American Arbitration Association.
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(source-lawyer club of india)

SC TO LAWYERS Dont drag cases, look for mediation

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked advocates to follow Mahatma Gandhi and persuade their clients not to go in for litigation and instead resolve the disputes through arbitration & mediation. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra said court cases drag on for years ruining both parties.Lawyers should advise their clients to try for mediation for resolving disputes,especially where family and business relationships are involved, it said.The Bench asked two brothers, BSKrishna Murthy and B S Nagaraj, who had appealed in the highest court,to appear before Bangalore Mediation Centre for a fresh shot at settlement.A few passages of Mahatma Gandhis book My Experiments With Truth on the futility of litigation impressed the Bench.It quoted Gandhi The lesson was so indelibly burnt into me that a large part of my time during the twenty years of my practice as a lawyer was occupied in bringing about private compromises of hundreds of cases.I lost nothing thereby not even money,certainly not my soul. The Bench pointed out that this was also the purpose of Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The provision in the code says: Where it appears to the court that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties,the court shall formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after receiving the observation of the parties,the court may reformulate the terms of a possible settlement and refer the same for arbitration,judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat.
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(source-TOI)

Law Ministry's draft proposal for right to justice ready to be sent to cabinet

Amidst its keenness to tackle the menace of corruption in an expeditious manner, the Law Ministry has sought opinion of various ministries on the proposed Lokpal Bill. "There is absolute clarity. (There is) no confusion," Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters in New Delhi when asked about the fate of the Lokpal Bill. He said the draft legislation has been circulated to various ministries to elicit their opinion. However, he did not speak further on the issue saying it was now under the consideration of the Group of Ministers recently set up to consider various administrative and legislative measures to deal with corruption in high places.
While underlining the government's keenness to tackle the problem of corruption, Moily said Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia has recently written to the Chief Justices of all the High Courts to fast-track such cases. The government recently demonstrated its seriousness to take steps against corruption when it formed the GoM. The terms of reference include relinquishing of discretionary powers enjoyed by the union ministers, State funding of elections, ensuring full transparency in public procurement and contracts and enunciation of a new public procurement policy and introduction of open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources.

Moily said the government is working to enact a law to make right to justice a fundamental right for Indian citizens. "We (the law ministry) are already working on a system to make right to justice a fundamental right. We need to have efficient legal system in the country to achieve inclusive growth. I will try to work on the system where we could have an efficient band of lawyers to provide aid especially to the weaker section of the society," he said adding that bill was being readied by his ministry.

Referring to the National Litigation Policy, he said states have been asked to frame their own litigation measures on the lines of the national policy."The new policy is expected to reduce average pendency time of cases from 15 years to 3 years," he said, adding that it focuses on core issues like managing and conducting litigation in a cohesive manner. The policy also ensures that "bad cases" are not needlessly pursued while "good cases" are won. Several thousands of cases are pending in courts where government employees, both serving and retired, have challenged decisions of their departments with regard to promotions and benefits.
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(Source-DD News)

Pendency of cases will be curtailed from 15 to 3 years says Dr. Veerappa Moily. Under E-Courts projects timeline has been drawn for computerisation of courts - Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 will be amended to make India an international hub

The Ministry of of Law and Justice embarked on a Mission Mode Programme for Delivery of Justice and Legal Reforms. Addressing a Press conference here today Minister of Law and Justice, Dr. M. Veerappa Moily said, under this umbrella, various plans to curtail the pendency in the Courts from the present 15 years to 3 years have been drawn and are at various stage of implementation. One of the programmes which has been successfully implemented in this direction is the consideration of the cases of the under trials who were not only languishing in the jail without their cases being taken up but were also straining the capacity of the jails. He said, with a Mission Mode Programme which started on 26th January to 31st July last year, cases of over 2.5 lakh under trials, out of an estimated 3 lakh under trails were decided. Sh. Moily said, the programme has not ended on 31st July but is continuing. On this occasion a booklet containing the innovations that have been brought in during the past one and half years and vision ahead was also released. The Minister stated under E-Courts project, computerisation of courts has been approved. Timeline has been revised to March 2012 for computerizing 12000 courts and March 2014 for the remaining 2249 courts.

Sh. Moily further stated that his Ministry wants to bring comprehensive amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1966 in order to make arbitration more popular make India as a hub of inter-national arbitration and overcome problems due to certain judgements of Supreme Court and High Courts. In addition, the Ministry has convened national consultations at various places wherein all the stakeholders like Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, legal experts, advocates and representatives of the arbitration institutions.
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(source-PIB)

Netas defraud India thanks to spineless babus - Civil Services Survey Shows How,For Officers,It Pays To Be Corrupt

A recent survey commissioned by Centre confirmed what has been suspected for long. The admission, by civil servants themselves, is that political corruption happens only because some bureaucrats collaborate with the political leaders. Corrupt officers get the most soughtafter postings and also get away without being punished,admitted the babus. Also highlighting that honesty does not pay,the first ever Civil Services Survey-2010 revealed that clean officers get harassed through baseless complaints and investigations.The survey was conducted by the Centre for Good Governance,Hyderabad, in collaboration with AC Nielsen ORG-MARG at the behest of the Union ministry of personnel.It was conducted between August 2009 and April 2010.

That bureaucrats play a key role in political corruption and it pays to be corrupt was endorsed by 80%  of the babus who were surveyed.In all,of the total 18,432 officers belonging to 10 select services such as IAS,IPS,IA&AS,IRS,IFS,IFoS,IPoS,IRPS,IRTS and IRS (TT),4,808 officers responded to the survey. The questionnaire given to them elicited the insiders perception on 11 areas such as job satisfaction, work environment,work-life balance,integrity,and discrimination etc.Perhaps trying to score a point over their cadre rivals,93.1 per cent of the IPS officers claimed that political corruption happens because there are always willing civil servants to collaborate.In the IAS,87.5 per cent agreed with this view while 80 per cent of IFS officers felt so.In the revenue service,74 per cent of the officers concurred with this view.
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YES MINISTER

The survey was conducted by the Centre for Good Governance,Hyderabad,in collaboration with AC Nielsen ORG-MARG at the behest of the Union ministry of personnel  Of the 18,432 officers belonging to 10 services such as IAS,IPS,IA&AS,IRS,IFS,IFoS,IPoS,IRPS,IRTS and IRS (TT),4,808 officers responded to the survey.The questionnaire given to them elicited an insiders perception on 11 areas such as job satisfaction,integrity,harassment
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Corrupt officials get plum posts


On the perception that corrupt officers manage plum postings,84.4 per cent of IPS men agreed with it while it was 75 pc among IAS officers.With regard to corrupt officers getting away unpunished,79 pc IPS officers agreed while 60 pc IAS officers seconded it. Political interference has been widely cited as a major reason for the poor performance of the services.Though the survey did not cover this issue explicitly,influence of political considerations in various aspects of administration was brought out through the comments offered by a number of civil servants.Lure of post-retirement assignments is a major reason for spinelessness of senior civil servants, says the report.

Officers remarked that discrimination is rampant based on caste,religion,region and service.Some women officers stated that there definitely is a glass ceiling and that female officers are denied good service postings.The survey shows that women officers are posted in development sector and not given postings in departments that deal with infrastructure,power etc. Regarding the disparity between officers belonging to the IAS and other services,most non-IAS respondents considered it unfair to perpetuate the entry-level advantage of IAS officers for the entire duration of their service spanning two to three decades, the report added.Many non-IAS respondents resented the IAS hegemony in all senior positions in government,which gave them the authority to undertake cadre management and planning of all services.While each service has its own perception about corruption,the views expressed by the members of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) are a bit interesting.Among the services dealing with revenue collection,to derail an honest assessing officer by making anonymous complaint against him is reportedly a common practice.
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(source-toi)

Why prior nod must for probe against top babus: SC To Decide On Single Directive Which Says CBI Must Get Prior Nod To Probe Against Officers Of Jt Secretary & Above

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to go ahead and test the constitutional validity of the controversial seven-year-old single directive provision that prevents CBI from probing corruption charges against officers of joint secretary rank and above without the Centres prior consent. This clarification came from a five-judge constitution Bench,which practically brushed aside the Centres assertion that it was in the process of reviewing the single directive provision in the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act. Right at the beginning of the hearing,additional solicitor-general Vivek Tankha informed the Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices M K Sharma,K S Radhakrishnan,Swatanter Kumar and A R Dave that the government had referred Section 6A of DSPE Act to an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) for a comprehensive review.

When did you refer it to the EGoM was the prompt question from the Bench.Tankha said that it was done three days back.The Bench said: So,the matter was referred when the petition was listed for hearing before the Supreme Court. Without wasting time on the timing of the governments decision to review the single directive,the Bench asked amicus curiae senior advocates Anil Divan and A K Panda to proceed with the arguments on the petition filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy challenging the validity of Section 6A. It resulted in digging of a lot of dirt relating to the Rs 1,418-crore loan scam involving Indian Bank,its chairman and managing director and the latters alleged proximity to Tamil Maanila Congress leaders to stick on to the post despite opposition from then finance minister Manmohan Singh.

Not interested in going into past and political link-ups,the Bench again came up with a clarification, We will decide only the validity of section 6A of DSPE Act and rest of the related matters mentioned in the petition,if necessary for further adjudication,will go before a regular Bench. Interestingly, Divan narrated how the apex court in the Vineet Narain judgment,on December 18,1997,had struck down an administrative avataar of the single directive.He said the government in 1998 came up with a modified version saying that officers of joint secretary rank and above could not be investigated under the Prevention of Corruption Act without prior permission of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). But,this was again shot down by then Attorney General when the SC questioned the motive behind it.Finally,it was the NDA government which brought it in through an amendment to the DSPE Act.
Further,the amicus curiae said that the defence of the government then was that if the judges of the higher judiciary enjoyed a similar protection,as enumerated in the Veeraswamy judgment,why deprive the higher bureaucracy of protection from harassment.
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SC rings in paradigm shift in telecom arena


The Supreme Courts issue of notices to 11 telcos,DoT (department of telecom) and telecom regulator Trai on Monday is expected to have major ramifications on the telecom landscape.The SC notice is in response to a fresh PIL filed by Prashant Bhushan,seeking recovery of lost revenue and cancellation of licences in addition to his earlier petition seeking supervision of the CBI probe of the 2G scam. In normal circumstances,the DoT,which had issued show cause notices to erring companies,would have received replies from them,which were either allegedly ineligible for 2G licences or those that failed to meet their rollout obligations or both.These replies would then have been evaluated by DoT,which would then reach its own conclusions on whether these were correct or not, a DoT official told TOI.

This is a bilateral process where DoT uses its discretionary powers under licence conditions to judge every reply without any involvement of a third party. However,after the SC notices,all the show cause notices and the replies filed by the companies will become a matter of open discussion and evaluation by the SC. This outcome suits the petitioners perfectly since they do not trust the DoT to make final decisions on the matter behind closed doors.DoT has already been accused of collusion with private operators by the CAG in section 4.6.3 of its report as well as criminal conspiracy in the CBI FIR.

So,what would have been a closed exchange between DoT and private operators,is now in front of the Supreme Court,with the DoT fending for itself,telcos having to explain why they should not be acted against and Trai having to prove why the licences deserve to be cancelled. With this,the prospect of penalties and cancellations has become far stronger than if the normal process of DoT evaluating such replies had been followed.The court will also see at least 14 lawyers fighting it out for various clients all in bid to defend their actions or lack of. Additionally,the DoT will now be busy defending its failure to adhere to its statutory obligation to issue these show cause notices in time,which it was duty-bound to do without prompting by the Trai.

The telcos will also have to face the bench and explain why their licences should not be cancelled,rather than have DoT decide the merits of their reply.Moreover,Trai will have no option but to defend its letter of November 15,2010 recommending cancellation of licences,which now pitches the regulator against private telcos in the open court.
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Rape charges against impotent BSP MLA found true

Lucknow: The BSP MLA from Naraini in Banda,Purshottum Naresh Dwivedi,who had claimed impotence on account of diabetes has been found guilty of raping a minor girl.The CB-CID team,which investigated the allegations against the MLA,has found all the charges against him to be prima facie true. According to sources,the charges levelled by the victim before the probe panel include gang rape,torture,illegal confinement,arrest on false charges of burglary and subsequent recovery of stolen goods which were planted on her. Senior officials sent the report back with instructions to add details about the role of local cops,jail officials and doctors,who allegedly connived with the MLA,in order to provide a clear picture of the sequence of events.
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(source-toi)

Kerala Bar demands inquiry against ex-CJI

Thiruvananthapuram: Adding to the woes of NHRC chairman K G Balakrishnan,the Bar Council of Kerala on Sunday adopted a resolution demanding comprehensive probe into the charges against the ex-Chief Justice of India. A general body meeting of the BCK held in Kochi unanimously resolved to appeal to the President of India to order a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations which have risen against K G Balakrishnan and other family members, council chairman advocate Jayarajan K said.

The inquiry, he said, should cover all aspects as would be necessary to restore the faith of the people in the judiciary,he said. Why we took it seriously is because the Chief Justice of India is the highest judicial officer in the country. It is not a simple matter that fingers have been pointed at a person who once decorated the high office.As a statutory body,we felt it was our duty to call upon those responsible to do the needful and cleanse the legal system, Jayarajan said.

The move comes close on the heels of similar resolutions passed by the bar associations of Kozhikode,Thrissur and Chavakkad.While lawyers in Kozhikode have demanded a judicial inquiry,the Thrissur Bar called for an independent inquiry to unravel the allegations against KGB,whose sons-in-law P V Sreenijan and M J Benny have been accused of amassing wealth.
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(source-toi)

HOODA GOVT HOUNDS WHISTLE-BLOWER OFFICER

Twelve transfers in five years, an illegal suspension order, a fabricated charge sheet, denial of promotion and a spoiled ACR. This is what Sanjiv Chaturvedi,a young forest service officer,was awarded by the Haryana government.His crime He unearthed a multi-crore scam involving senior officials, implemented Supreme Courts orders preventing a wildlife sanctuary from being destroyed  and stopped government money from being spent on private land of politically influential people.For three years, the PMO, state information commission,environment ministry,Central Administrative Tribunal and the cabinet secretariat tried to stop the relentless harassment of the young officer,but the Haryana chief minister B S Hoodas office paid no heed.Ministers,officials in the CMs office and senior bureaucrats continued to hound Chaturvedi at every possible chance.

Now a report prepared by two Central government officials A K Srivastava,inspector general of forests,and Shally Ranjan,assistant inspector general of forests,at the instance of the cabinet secretary has uncovered the tale of how the Haryana government hounded this whistleblower. Recommending that the Centre revoke the chargesheet against the official and provide him immediate relief,the inquiry panel has noted that the persecution was overseen by the then forest minister Kiran Chaudhary,two OSDs in Haryana CMs office,and senior state government officials. TOI first reported on his case three years ago when his victimisation and fight with corruption in the state had just begun.

The two-member committee has noted in the report that,It is a classic case of the state government itself breaching the law,protecting the violators and punishing the officer who tried to uphold the rule of law. The committee has recommended action against the then forest minister Choudhary;the then principal chief conservator of forests of Haryana J K Rawat;finance commissioner and principal secretary Keshani Anand Arora;another finance commissioner and principal secretary (Forests) H C Disodia,and the then conservator forests M M Joshi. The committee has also recommended a CBI enquiry into the roles of politicians like Chaudhary and their appointees,like the two OSDs in CM Hoodas office B R Beri and R D Sheokand.

The committee members have concluded that Chaturvedi tried to prevent destruction of the Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary by politically influential people.The committee underlines the lengths to which the Haryana authorities went to harass the IFS official.All the powers available with the vested interests in the state government,including suspension,issuing charge-sheet & keeping it pending for more than three years, frequent transfers, slapping false cases,etc. were applied on the officer. The environment ministry is now expected to take action on the report.
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(SOURCE-TOI)

NEW GUIDELINES SOON - Adoptions to get tougher

New Delhi: Hoping to tighten adoption norms in the country including verifying the source of each child placed for adoption the Central Adoption Resource Authority has proposed stringent monitoring of international and domestic adoptions.These guidelines aim to streamline the adoption process,facilitate speedy adoption of children and ensure that the source of each child is verified prior to placement for adoption. Long plagued by problems like illegal,irregular and premature adoptions,the government is making fresh attempts to bring in a comprehensive system.Amongst the immediate initiatives is establishment of a centralised dossier system for all children placed for adoption along with their details.The website Carings is expected to be launched in mid-January and can be accessed by prospective parents and authorised officials.

Women and child development minister Krishna Tirath says: The proposed guidelines are under the ministrys consideration.We are working on making the process of adoption transparent and cut down on the waiting period for parents. Other proposed guidelines include discontinuing international adoptions to countries that are not signatories to the Hague convention on child protection with the exception of Indian nationals living in non-Hague ratified countries.The government is also looking at cutting down the number of children placed for international adoptions from 50% to 20% of the total number of children.At present,agencies can place equal number of children for domestic and international adoptions.

The guidelines also propose norms for children with special needs to ensure more efficient placements and will make it mandatory that orphan,abandoned and surrendered children be allowed to be adopted internationally under the Juvenile Justice Act. Sources said, a majority of children are adopted under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA) and Guardianship and Wards Act (GAWA).
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CARA mulls post-adoption monitoring

This means that an adopted child is only a ward and does not have legal rights until specifically granted these by the guardian or adopted parent.To bridge this lacunae,postadoption monitoring is may be strengthened with follow-up in domestic adoptions for 2 years,and for international adoptions till such time as the child is given legal rights.Other measures are setting up a fixed deposit of $5,000 for a repatriated child in case the adoption is disrupted.

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(source-toi)

(source-saakshi