National News - MAY

While discussing the question of including the higher judiciary under the proposed anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, government representatives on the joint draft committee on Saturday pointed out that two former Chief Justices, M.N. Venkatachaliah and J.S. Verma, had opined in a public consultation that the higher judiciary should be kept out of the ambit of the bill.

Members of the civil society cited instances where applications to look into charges of corruption against High Court judges had been denied by Chief Justices. With no agreement on the issue, it was earmarked for discussion at a later stage. The matter of inclusion of the Prime Minister under the ambit of the bill was also put off.

“On general principles enunciated and placed before the committee, we identified areas of agreement and those that required further discussions, not necessarily disagreement. The question of including the office of the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary will be discussed later,” Union Human Resources Development Minister and committee member Kapil Sibal told journalists after the meeting.

“We had good discussions and decided that areas of agreement should be looked into first. Areas which have impact on existing laws and constitutional provisions, where there are legal or constitutional hurdles that need to be thought about and discussed further, will be taken up later,” he said, adding that “this is a bill with tremendous implications for the Centre and the States.”

Mr. Sibal said it was agreed that there will be a body independent of the government, an autonomous body with financial independence. The process of appointment of the Lokpal will be transparent involving “men of unquestionable integrity.”

On the issue of a uniform system of Lokayuktas in the States, he said the Centre would have to consult the States.

Civil society members Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal told journalists that it was agreed that the chairperson and members under the bill shall not be eligible for appointment to any position in any organisation that is directly or indirectly funded by the government, nor will they be eligible to contest elections. After retirement, they will not accept government-financed positions.

The process of selection of the chairperson of the Lokpal/Lokayukta will be done by a board-based selection committee that includes representatives from the judiciary and bureaucracy. They may be assisted by a search committee.

Mr. Kejriwal said the model on which the financial independence of the independent body would be based was yet to be decided.

“Various models were discussed, including from other countries and of institutions like the Supreme Court, the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and the Central Vigilance Commission,” Mr. Kejriwal added.

Next meeting on May 23

This was the third meeting of the panel, which proposes to draft a bill by June 30. The next meeting is slated for May 23.

A CBI special court on Saturday dismissed an application moved by the 2G spectrum scam accused, Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar, seeking exemption from personal appearance in court on May 9 and 10, citing “preparations” needed for the Enforcement Directorate summons issued to them.

Mr. Kumar and Ms. Kanimozhi told Special Judge O.P. Saini that they had been summoned by the ED, which is probing money laundering aspects of the 2G scam, to appear before it on May 12 and 13 respectively. They had to sit with their auditors in Chennai on May 9 and 10 to make preparations and identify the documents the ED had directed them to submit, said counsel Shanmugasundaram. However, the CBI's senior public prosecutor, A.K. Singh, raised objections, stating their bail applications were pending before the court and, if necessary, only one of the two applicants could be given exemption, an offer declined by their counsel.

The information the ED has sought from Ms. Kanimozhi and Mr. Kumar includes details of bank accounts in their and their family members' names; names of companies in which they or their family members have a financial interest or possess shares or are directors, partners or proprietors; and details of movable and immovable property held or acquired or disposed of by them or their family members since January 1, 2007.

Other information, sought for the period after January 1, 2007, pertains to details of remittances sent outside the country, remittances received from abroad, details of foreign visits, and copies of Income Tax returns filed by them and their family members.

The former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, on Saturday ended his fast, which he began on May 1.

In the Morabadi ground here, a “people's court,” organised by his party workers, urged him to end the hunger strike.

The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha chief began the fast, demanding that a special Assembly session be convened to pass a bill to protect those displaced or face the threat of displacement following encroachment of the government land.

Mr. Marandi was given a glass of juice by a member of a family that had lost its house in the anti-encroachment drive. Over 5,000 illegal structures were demolished in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro and other districts in the last one-and-half months on the directives of the Jharkhand High Court.

Chief Minister Arjun Munda had appealed to Mr. Marandi to end his hunger strike.

Mr. Marandi said the first round of meeting between his party representatives and Mr. Munda had “failed.”

The decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to dissolve the Board of Directors of the Maharashtra Cooperative Bank has not gone down well with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.

“The State Council of Ministers acts as guarantors to the bank. The RBI should have taken the Ministers into confidence before taking such a decision. The loan recovery for the last year has been normal. There is no corruption in the bank; the decision has been taken on the basis of complaints,” Mr. Pawar said at a function here. The bank is alleged to have been controlled by the NCP.

Chavan allays fears

However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said there was no need to worry as the RBI step was towards inculcating transparency in the functioning of the bank. Ruling out any political involvement, Mr. Chavan, who was in Satara on Saturday, said: “This step is to make the bank stronger. This will improve the bank's situation.”

Merely because the loan dues of a bank or a financial institution have been repaid, the accused cannot be exonerated from criminal liability if the charge against them is that they obtained the loan by fraud or forged documents, the Supreme Court has said.

A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and H.L. Dattu rejected the contention that the full amount in question having been re-paid to the bank, there was no monetary loss to the bank and, therefore, continuation of criminal proceedings against all the accused, including the appellant, would not only be an exercise in futility but an abuse of the process of law as well.

Justice Jain writing the judgment did not agree with the contention that since the loan amount had been repaid, the charge sheet against the appellant, Sushil Suri, should be quashed at a preliminary stage when he had only been summoned to stand trial.

On the contention that the High Court should exercise its inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash criminal proceedings at the preliminary stage, the Bench said inherent powers should not be exercised to stifle a legitimate prosecution.

The Bench said: “Although the power possessed by the High Court under the said provision is very wide it is not unbridled. It has to be exercised sparingly, carefully and cautiously, ex debito justitiae to do real and substantial justice for which alone the court exists.

“The High Court should normally refrain from giving a prima facie decision in a case where all the facts are incomplete and hazy, more so, when the evidence has not been collected and produced before the court and the issues involved, whether factual or legal, are of such magnitude that they cannot be seen in their true perspective without sufficient material.”

In the instant case, the Bench said the accused not only duped a bank but also availed himself of depreciation on the machinery, which was never purchased and used by them, causing loss to the exchequer, a serious economic offence against society.

“In the present case, having regard to the modus operandi adopted by the accused, as projected in the charge sheet, we have no hesitation in holding that it is not a fit case for exercise of jurisdiction by the High Court under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. as also by this Court under Article 142 [to do substantive justice] of the Constitution. In the instant case more than sufficient circumstances exist suggesting the hatching of criminal conspiracy and forgery of several documents leading to commission of the offence. We refrain from saying more on the subject at this juncture, lest it cause prejudice to the appellant or the prosecution.

“The gravamen of the allegations against the appellant, as also the co-accused is that the company hatched a conspiracy by forging and fabricating a number of documents, like photographs of old machines, purchase orders and invoices showing purchase of machinery in order to support their claim to avail hire purchase loan.”

Dismissing the appeal against the Delhi High Court judgment, the Bench asked the trial court to proceed with the case registered in 1999 as expeditiously as possible without being influenced by any observation made by the High Court or in this judgment on the merits of the charge sheet.

The farmers' agitation in Uttar Pradesh over land acquisition spread to Agra and Aligarh on Sunday. Saturday witnessed clashes between farmers and police at Bhatta-Parsaul village in Greater Noida and the death toll in the violence went up to four on Sunday. Two policemen and a farmer were killed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the State government, in a bid to play down the episode, denied that the incidents were related to land acquisition. A government spokesman claimed that land acquisition at Bhatta-Parsaul, which was part of the “normal development process,” began in March 2009 and ended in July 2010.

“No dispute”

Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said, “Even compensation amounting to about Rs. 300 crore for about 450 hectares of land was settled; there was no dispute.”

With the Opposition parties launching an onslaught on the issue, Chief Minister, Mayawati has blamed them for “misleading the gullible” farmers into creating a law and order situation.

The government said the media and the Opposition had got their facts wrong. They were creating misconceptions about the causes of Saturday's violence in Greater Noida, it alleged.

The government reaction came after Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh and about 500 party workers were stopped from going to Bhatta-Parsaul and subsequently arrested on Sunday, and farmers' violence was reported from Agra and Aligarh. Mr. Ajit Singh was later released.

Anti-socials blamed

At a hurriedly arranged press conference, the Cabinet Secretary accused anti-social elements of inciting the farmers to resort to violence and arson.

Three UPSRTC employees were taken hostage by the villagers and the administration, but police exercised great restraint in dealing with the situation. The transport employees were called by the villagers for developing a bus route, he said.

Reward announced

Confirming the death toll at four, the Cabinet Secretary said 22 persons were arrested and a reward of Rs. 50,000 was announced for information on the whereabouts of farmers' leader Manveer Singh Tewatia.

As for the dharna at Bhatta-Parsaul, he said it was to protest the delay in the development process. He admitted that land for the Yamuna Expressway project was acquired in the village. “But land for the project was taken much beyond these villages,” he noted.

Violence was reported from Chaugan village in Agra and Ghagholi village at Tappal in Aligarh district, where farmers torched a camp office of the builder of the expressway project. A generator and a machine, reportedly belonging to the developer, were destroyed.

Reports said four policemen and some farmers were injured in a clash in the Etmadpur police station area in Agra. There were no casualties.

The Cabinet Secretary said the Agra incident was not related to land acquisition. “In fact, it was the fallout of a dispute over building the terrace of a temple in the area.”

Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here on Sunday that the Union government had approved two more tiger reserves in Karnataka and the formalities would be completed in a few days.

Mr. Ramesh told reporters that B.R. Hills in Chamarajanagar district and Kudremukh in Chikmagalur district would become the 40th and 41st tiger reserves in the country. The total number of tiger reserves in Karnataka would go up to six, he noted.

The Minister, who visited Muthodi on Saturday to see the release of a captured tiger into the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, expressed satisfaction that Karnataka had the most number of tigers in the country. He commended all those who had contributed to this achievement.

Observing that shifting of the 700 families living in the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary was one of the most successful examples of relocation in the country, he said 1,300 families in Nagarhole and 300 families in Kudremukh, who were living in the core area, needed to be rehabilitated. He reiterated that there would be no forcible eviction.

Mining banned

The Minister pointed out that the biggest threat to forests was from mining. He said he had written to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa that permission would not be granted for mining in the reserve forests. Fresh applications for mining in Bellary district were not being considered.

Mr. Ramesh said 250 million people in the country depended on forests for their livelihood. The Indian Forest Act, 1927 envisaged that people and cattle were enemies of the forest. This would not work because of demographic pressure and the Forest Department personnel would have to change their mindset.

To a question, he said the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 superseded the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Disclosing that 11 lakh individual forest rights and 3,000 community forest rights were granted so far, he said gram sabhas would become the instrument of control for minor forest produce wherever community forest rights had been granted.

Good model

He said the Forest Department had distributed 30,000 LPG cylinders to families living on the periphery of the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary to discourage them from collecting firewood. This was a good model for emulation in other parts of the country.

Permission would not be given to either the military or the police to set up an academy in the Kudremukh township built by Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. The township would be used to promote wildlife and other ecological issues.

The All India Power Engineers' Federation (AIPEF) and the National Confederation of Officers' Associations of Central Public Sector Undertakings (NCOA) have come out strongly against the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant.

Terming it a “dangerous nuclear version of the Enron's Dhabol fiasco,” they said the Centre agreed to the French reactor even without design and safety features being presented to and approved by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

The Jaitapur plant would cost upwards of Rs. 22 crore a MWe against Rs. 8 crore in an indigenous equivalent nuclear plant, the two organisations said.

In a joint statement, AIPEF president Padamjit Singh and NCOA president K. Ashok Rao, said: “While the Dhabol power plant left losses of a few thousands of crores, the Jaitapur nuclear power plant will in addition leave behind a few lakhs dead, injured and displaced.”

Rationale questioned

They also questioned the rationale behind the government's plans to increase the installed capacity of nuclear power in the country from 3.8 GWe to 655 GWe in the next four decades.

“Such a large expansion would be impossible without compromising quality and safety.”

It also meant a “summary rejection” of the three-stage development plan conceived by Homi Bhabha, founder and prime architect of the Indian atomic energy programme. “No sane power engineer, anywhere in the world, would envisage an almost 200 times increase in nuclear power within 41 years.”

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani on Sunday said that Pakistan has been lying to India on the whereabouts of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the way it kept feeding to the U.S. the “lie” that Osama bin Laden was not present on its soil.

Mr. Advani also pointed out that Osama's hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad was constructed when the former President, Pervez Musharraf was “in total command of the situation in Pakistan.”

In his blog, the veteran leader said that when Gen. Musharraf (retd.) came for the Agra summit in 2001, he said “a lie” about Dawood, when his extradition was sought.

The BJP leader wrote: “It was the same kind of lie that the Pakistanis have been feeding to Americans all these years about Osama.”

Recalling Gen. Musharraf's first visit to India on the invitation of the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP leader said the General's face “suddenly turned red and unfriendly” when Dawood's extradition was demanded and he “replied assertively” that “Dawood Ibrahim is not in Pakistan.”

Mr. Advani, the then Home Minister, was the first to call on Gen. Musharraf at the Rashtrapati Bhavan where he had been put up.

“Later, one of the Pakistani officials who was present during the meeting, said to me, ‘What our President said about Dawood Ibrahim on that day was a lie',” Mr. Advani said, recalling the conversation between him and Gen. Musharraf at Rashtrapati Bhavan on July 14, 2001.

Quoting reports, Mr. Advani said the three-storeyed hideout for Osama and his family in Abbottabad was built in 2005. “It would thus be reasonable to believe that the decision was taken when Gen. Musharraf was in total command.”

As violence continues to rock Uttar Pradesh with the farmers clashing with the police and agitating against the State government's decision to acquire their land, Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav has urged Chief Minister Mayawati to suspend land acquisition till Parliament enacted a new law to sort out such issues.

Mr. Yadav, who is also the convenor of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), told journalists here on Sunday that the State government was “hand in glove with the land mafia.” Not only in Greater Noida (in U.P. near Delhi) where the farmers were agitating, there was a nationwide resentment against land acquisition being carried out on the basis of an outdated legislation. He sought a CBI probe into the violence in Greater Noida.

He warned that the way farm land was being acquired, it would soon threaten the country's food security.

Famous around the world for being the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize, Rabindranath Tagore has now been honoured by the Indian government with a prize instituted in his own name. But will the Tagore Award ever gain the renown of the Nobel? Or even be awarded annually, as it is meant to be?

The question is pertinent given the fate of the other international awards that India is supposed to hand out every year. The Tagore award is meant “to recognise distinguished contributions towards the promotion of international brotherhood and fraternity.” India has not just one or two, but three other major international awards with similar mandates, named after Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, which carries a cash award of Rs. 25 lakh, has been annually awarded from its inception in 1986 till the 2010 award was presented to former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

However, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, which also carries a cash award of Rs. 25 lakh, has not been awarded since 2007. This is not the first big gap in its history. Since it was founded in 1965, the award was not given in 1986 and completely went missing between 1996 and 2002.

As for the International Gandhi Peace Prize, which was instituted in 1995 and carries a cash prize of Rs. 1 crore, it has not been awarded since 2005.

Both awards make it clear that if none of the proposals merit recognition, the jury is free to withhold the prize for that year. However, the question then arises that if the government has been unable to find deserving candidates for two other international peace prizes for the last few years, why is it instituting yet another award for similar achievement to gather dust?

In fact, the criteria for the Jawaharlal Nehru Award say that it “need not go only to a person holding a high public office. A person who has quietly worked for peace and international understanding and friendship between peoples of different countries may well be deserving of the Award.” In that case, why has the government – or the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, which administers the Award – not been able to find a deserving candidate?

Many of the winners of the three existing Awards are well-known names. A quick comparison with the Nobel Peace Prize shows an interesting pattern over the last decade. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan won the Nobel in 2001 and the Indira Gandhi Prize two years later. Kenyan activist Wangari Muta Mathai won the Nobel in 2004 and the Indira Gandhi Prize two years later. International Atomic Energy chief Mohammed El Baradei won the Nobel in 2005, and unsurprisingly enough, won the Indira Gandhi Prize three years later.

This coincidence – or lack of imagination – seems to be a product of the last decade only, with the Indian prize honouring Jimmy Carter, Mohammed Yunus and Medecins sans Frontieres in the 1990s, well before the Nobel Committee did the same. Mother Teresa was given the Jawaharlal Nehru Award a decade before the Nobel Committee got around to it.

The Tagore Award has been announced with fanfare, and carries a treasure chest of Rs. 1 crore along with it. Its credibility and resilience, however, will depend on how regularly and imaginatively it is awarded in the years to come.

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Allahabad High Court verdict that directed division of 2.77 acres of land of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya into three parts among Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara.

A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R.M. Lodha, admitting a batch of appeals from both Hindu and Muslim organisations, stayed the September 30, 2010 judgment of the Lucknow Bench of the High Court and directed the parties to maintain the status quo at the site.

Those who filed the appeals included the Sunni Central Wakf Board, U.P.; the Nirmohi Akhara; the All-India Hindu Mahasabha and Bhagwan Shri Ram Virajman.

Senior counsel P.P. Rao, Anoop Chaudhary, Ravi Shankar Prasad, M.N. Krishnamani, Ranjit Kumar, K.N. Bhatt and C.S. Vaidyanathan appeared for various parties.

They unanimously urged the apex court to stay the High Court verdict and restore the status quo order passed by the Supreme Court in 1994 and March 2002 in respect of the activities on the 67.703 acres of government land acquired in January 1993.

This prompted Justice Alam to tell counsel: “At least on one issue, all of you are unanimous. The High Court has granted a new relief, which nobody has asked for it. The High Court has done something on its own. It has to be stayed.”

New dimension

Justice Lodha told counsel: “The High Court's judgment is something strange. A new dimension has been given by the High Court as the decree of partition was not sought by the parties. It was not prayed for by anyone. It has to be stayed. It's a strange order. How can a decree for partition be passed when none of the parties had prayed for it? It's strange. Such kind of decrees cannot be allowed to be in operation. It is a difficult situation now. The position is that the High Court verdict has created a litany of litigation.”

The Bench said the status quo at the disputed site would remain as directed by the 1994 Constitution Bench and the order passed on March 13-14, 2002.

Except puja, no religious activity

The Bench, taking note of the 2002 order, directed that on the 67.703 acres located in various plots detailed in the Schedule to the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993, “which is vested in the Central government, no religious activity of any kind by anyone be permitted or allowed to take place.” The Bench, while directing the status quo to continue, made it clear that the existing “pujas” in the make-shift Ram Lala temple at the disputed site would go on as usual.

In its appeal, the Wakf Board assailed the High Court judgment. It contended that the suit was decided on the basis of belief/faith of a section of the Hindu community for which there was no admissible evidence. The court had wrongly held that a temple existed at the site in dispute before the construction of the Babri Masjid, while there was no evidence to prove the existence of any such temple or demolition thereof in or around 1528 AD.

It argued that the claims of Muslims, Hindus and the Nirmohi Akhara over the disputed site were mutually exclusive and could not be shared.

The All-India Hindu Mahasabha sought endorsement of the September 30, 2010 minority verdict by Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, who favoured handing over of the entire land to Hindus.

It said: “The judgment by Justice S. U. Khan and Justice Sudhir Agarwal should be set aside to the extent that one-third of the property in dispute has been declared in favour of Muslims and to allot the share to them.”

The former Bharatiya Janata Party president, Rajnath Singh, and Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Shivpal Singh Yadav were arrested when they tried to visit the violence-hit Bhatta Parsaul villages in Greater Noida on Monday.

They were later freed.

The situation in the villages was said to be under control. Separate First Information Reports were filed in Agra and Aligarh districts, where farmers, up against land acquisition, resorted to violence and arson.

Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) A.P. Maheshwari said here that three FIRs were filed in the Aitmadpur station in Agra against the farmers who indulged in violence.

But reports from Agra said four FIRs were filed in the station: three by the construction company and one by the police.

Mr. Maheshwari said no arrest was made.

In Aligarh district, an FIR was filed against 40 persons, including 15 who were cited as accused in violence and arson at Ghangholi near Tappal. They were demanding better compensation for the land acquired for the Yamuna Expressway project.

Mr. Maheshwari said eight FIRs were filed in the Dankaur station in Noida and 22 persons arrested.

Farmers' leader Manveer Singh Tewati, who has been accused by the Mayawati government of inciting the farmers to violence, continues to evade arrest. The government has announced a reward of Rs. 50,000 for information leading to his arrest and Rs.15,000 for his associates Neeraj Malik, Gaje Singh and Kiranpal.

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday opposed the applications moved by Etisalat DB promoter Shahid Usman Balwa and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables co-owners Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal seeking that the probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam be monitored by the special court here, noting that the plea under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code was “infructuous and liable to be rejected”.

In its reply to the application, the CBI said the investigation was carried out in accordance with the law and “under the constant monitoring of the Supreme Court”. Noting that there was no scope for any direction from the court under Section 156(3), the CBI said: “The accused may be directed/advised to advance all their contentions before this court. The grounds mentioned in the application are infructuous and liable to be rejected.”

The CBI said after the charge sheet had been filed — copies of which have been provided to the accused — their “contentions are of no significance”. Stating that the charge sheet was the result of an in-depth and thorough investigation, the agency claimed that “the material collected during investigation, oral as well as documentary, is more than sufficient to establish/prove the allegations against the accused persons”.

Cineyug Films promoter and noted Bollywood producer Karim Morani, who was named in the supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI on April 25, is slated to appear before the special court on Tuesday. He had on May 6 sought exemption from appearance in court on medical grounds, following which Special Judge O.P. Saini issued fresh summons for this Tuesday.

The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved orders on the bail applications of five top executives of private companies facing prosecution in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Justice Ajit Bharihoke reserved the orders after hearing counsel for the accused and the Special Public Prosecutor.

The accused had sought bail, mainly on the grounds of the futility of keeping them in judicial custody as the investigating agency had charge-sheeted them after the completion of the probe into the charges against them.

Their counsel submitted that the accused had cooperated with the investigating agency as and when they were summoned.

Further, they had played no role in the devising of the mechanism for the allotment of 2G spectrum, so they could not be charged with conspiracy to cause a loss to the exchequer and make gains for themselves.

Opposing the bail applications, Special Public Prosecutor U.U. Lalit said there was an apprehension that the accused would try to win over witnesses and tamper with the evidence if they were released on bail.

The accused had conspired with the then Communications Minister, A. Raja, and got the 2G spectrum allotted to their companies at a very low prices by manipulating the first come, first served policy.

The five executives — Unitech Managing Director Sanjay Chandra, DB Realty Managing Director Vinod Goenka and Reliance ADA Group officials Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair — had approached the High Court last month for an urgent hearing of their bail applications after their pleas were rejected by the special court for the 2G spectrum allocation case.

The designated court had said: “The charges against them are of the highest magnitude and gravity.”

But the High Court rejected their request and heard the pleas on a routine basis.

James Bevan has been appointed British High Commissioner to India. He will take up his appointment in November. He succeeds Richard Stagg and, like his predecessor, has not served in the subcontinent.

Mr. Bevan came to limelight in Britain when he took over as the Foreign Office's Chief Operating Officer to lead its modernisation programme. He also supervised its global operations, migration and consular work.

To stamp out the barbaric and feudal practice of ‘honour killings,' the Supreme Court on Monday directed the trial/High Courts to award the death sentence to the convicted in such crimes.

Delivering the judgment, a Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha said: “In our opinion, honour killings, for whatever reason, come within the category of rarest of rare cases deserving death punishment. It is time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices which are a slur on our nation. This is necessary as a deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilised behaviour. All persons who are planning to perpetrate ‘honour' killings should know that the gallows await them.”

Writing the judgment, Justice Katju said: “‘Honour' killings have become commonplace in many parts of the country, particularly in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Often young couples who fall in love have to seek shelter in the police lines or protection homes, to avoid the wrath of kangaroo courts. There is nothing ‘honourable' in ‘honour' killings, and they are nothing but barbaric and brutal murders by bigoted, persons with feudal minds.”

The Bench said: “Many people feel that they are dishonoured by the behaviour of the young man/woman, who is related to them or belonging to their caste because he/she is marrying against their wish or having an affair with someone, and hence they take the law into their own hands and kill, or physically assault, such person[s] or commit some other atrocities on them. This is wholly illegal. If someone is not happy with the behaviour of his daughter or other person, who is his relation or of his caste, the maximum he can do is to cut off social relations with her/him, but he cannot take the law into his own hands by committing violence or giving threats of violence.”

In the instant appeal, the prosecution case was that the motive of the appellant, Bhagwan Dass, in murdering his daughter was that, after the marriage, she was living in adultery with one Sriniwas, who was the son of the maternal aunt of the appellant. The appellant felt humiliated by this and, to uphold the family honour, he murdered his daughter. The trial court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment, and this was confirmed by the Delhi High Court. The present appeal by Bhagwan Dass is directed against this judgment.

The Bench dismissed the appeal and confirmed the life sentence in this case, and directed that in future all trial courts and High Courts should treat honour killings as rarest of rare cases and award the death sentence. A copy of the judgment should be sent to the registrars general/registrars of all High Courts, who should circulate the same to all judges of the courts.

“The registrars general/registrars of the High Courts will also circulate copies of the same to all the sessions judges/additional sessions judges in the State/Union Territories. Copies of the judgment shall also be sent to all the Chief Secretaries/Home Secretaries/Directors General of Police of all States/Union Territories in the country. The Home Secretaries and Directors General of Police will circulate the same to all S.S.Ps/S.Ps in the States/Union Territories for information.”

Social activist Medha Patkar on Monday expressed her support for the farmers' agitation against land acquisition in Uttar Pradesh, saying that the serving of “private purposes in the name of public purpose” was the trigger for the unrest.

Indicating that she would join the movement in Noida, Ms. Patkar said the agitating farmers must be called for dialogue that should be decisive. “Till then, there should be a moratorium on the construction of the Yamuna Expressway,” she said.

The farmers are demanding not just enhanced compensation for the land taken to construct the 165-km Yamuna Expressway between New Delhi and Agra, but also a share in the adjoining developed area.

“Land acquisition has become a critical issue. It has become a move to serve private purposes by diverting agricultural land for industrial purposes. The rights of rural people are sacrificed in the name of development, and every time there is state repression, farmers agitate as there is no channel for redressal of their grievances,” Ms. Patkar said while addressing a press conference here with farmers of Kanjhawala in the National Capital Region of Delhi.

“Repeal the Act”

Asserting that amendment of the Land Acquisition Act was not a “magical solution” to the problem, she favoured repeal of the archaic Act.

“The farmers of Noida, Aligarh, Nandigram, Jagatsinhpur and the Narmada Valley have all raised questions regarding the purpose which indicates private interest when politicians too behave like profiteers. The time has come not for amending the Land Acquisition Act but to repeal it. Local communities [gram sabhas] should get primacy for planning development,” she said.

“This is yet another challenge for the UPA government. If people can protest against corruption, they can also raise their voice against looting of natural resources,” she added.

Ms. Patkar said the government must halt forcible acquisition of land and eviction of people from land, water, forests, rivers and seashores or for aquatic wealth and minerals.

Lawyer and co-chairman of the joint draft committee on the Lokpal Bill, Shanti Bhushan, has urged Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to make public the report prepared by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, on the controversial CD containing his purported conversation with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh and former SP leader Amar Singh.

The Chandigarh CFSL report said the CD was a “cut-and-paste” job, contradicting the Delhi lab report that said it was genuine.

In a letter to Mr. Chidambaram on Sunday, Mr. Bhushan said it was necessary to make public the Chandigarh CFSL report to remove the perception — which he said he did not share — that “perhaps an effort might be on to try to pressurise the Chandigarh CFSL to change its report and [that] this is the reason for keeping the report under wraps for so long.”

Mr. Bhushan added: “The Director of the CFSL, Delhi, was an ad hoc appointee, and to get confirmed, he would have to be in the good books of those in the Appointments Committee, of which the Home Minister is a member. Since I know that the CD is a fabricated one, he appears to have given this totally incorrect report to ingratiate himself to them. The people of India may easily guess as to which persons are behind this smear campaign against civil society members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee.”

Mr. Bhushan, in an earlier letter to Mr. Chidambaram, sought copies of both the CFSL reports as well as the statements of Mr. Mulayam Singh and Mr. Amar Singh, if recorded.

He said that in reply to his request, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) said that he had been directed to inform him that at the initial stage of investigation, divulging any information may hamper the probe.

Mr. Bhushan said it was strange that while the report of the Delhi CFSL, “signed by four experts,” was doing the rounds in the media, the Chandigarh report was being kept in a “double-key safe.”

The 150th birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was celebrated on Monday across West Bengal amid recital of his songs and through a series of programmes that included cultural functions and exhibitions.

The doors to Jorasanko Thakurbari — the ancestral home of the Tagore family in central Kolkata where Tagore was born — were thrown open from 6 a.m. for admirers to come in and pay tributes to the national poet.

While a large section of the house is a museum, some rooms usually closed to the public were made open to visitors during the day. An exhibition of photographs of the poet was put up for view on the pavement just outside the building.

Celebrations and prayers at Vishva Bharati — the university founded by the poet at Shantiniketan — began at dawn with the Boitalik — a procession of the University's students going around the campus singing songs penned by the poet.

Keenly anticipated is a piano recital on the instrument used by the poet himself scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

Governor M.K. Narayanan presided over a function here that was a part of the joint-celebration by India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh State Minister for Cultural Affairs Promod Mankin was present at the occasion, in which artists from both countries had gathered.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee were also in attendance.

Cultural events and concerts, reprising Tagore's works, including dance dramas, plays and songs were held across the State. Exhibitions of paintings, whether of his works or those of artists inspired by him, were also organised.

The sound and fury generated by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after the board of directors of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank was superseded last Saturday signifies nothing, especially when one goes by the record of the 100-year-old apex bank.

On the directive of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the State government superseded the 44-member board and appointed two administrators for the next five years: Dr. S.K. Goyal, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, and Sudhir Shrivastav, Principal Secretary, Planning. The bank, beset with many problems, was controlled by the NCP. Manikrao Patil was its chairperson, with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, among other politicians of all hues, on the board of directors.

The Opposition has been demanding action against the directors, including Mr. Pawar. It raised the issue in the budget session of the legislature. NCP president Sharad Pawar and his nephew have reacted adversely to the government's action, and the younger Pawar who feels he is the target, has blamed the move on the Congress' central leadership. Words have flowed thick and fast once again between the two coalition partners, and it was only last week that the two parties had a coordination meeting to sort out their differences.

However, a look at some documents indicates that the RBI directive came after much perseverance with the Bank, with net non-performing assets (NPA) pegged at 7.5 per cent. The annual inspection report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has found several shortcomings in the bank's functioning, which was not helped by a negative net worth of minus Rs.144.22 crore on March 31, 2010, down from Rs 44.2 crore in 2009. Eknath Khadse of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) points out that even today, the bank does not have a licence under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. He says the NABARD report has charged the bank with misuse of power, fudging of accounts, and fiscal and administrative irregularities.

The bank gave loans to units with negative net worth and stacked up losses amounting to Rs. 775.98 crore. The managing director's Honda Accord number plate cost Rs.7,500, and for the chairperson's Skoda's number plate, the cost was higher — Rs.75,000. Despite the NABARD recommending that the number of directors be reduced to 28, a 44-member board was elected in 2010. The maximum number of NPAs stemmed from exposure to sugar cooperatives followed by cotton mills, he said.

A statutory audit report for the financial year 2009-2010 points to issues raised in the past audits — the high level of NPAs, deficiencies in credit proposals, inordinate delay in loan recovery and non-introduction of audit, stock audit and concurrent audit, among other serious things. The report found that the bank had violated rules and regulations of the Banking Regulation Act and the Maharashtra State Cooperative Societies Act. For all its flaws, the bank secured a D grade on the audit classification scale.

The RBI had issued eleven modified directions to the bank in a May 29, 2001 letter, but it has not complied with six of them so far. The bank's system of credit appraisal is inadequate as also its monitoring, and follow-up of the credit portfolio is below average. This has led to the high level of NPAs and higher credit risk, the report said.

In addition, the audit found that Vishwajit Patil, son of the bank's chairperson, Manikrao Patil, was given a housing loan in 2006, of which the outstanding on March 31, 2010, was Rs.11,74,166. Mr. Patil's wife and daughter are directors of another private company to which a term loan and cash credit facility was advanced. Nrupal Jayantrao, son of another director Jayantrao Patil, was granted a counter guarantee limit of Rs. 75 lakh and Rs. 2376.02 lakhs for two private limited companies. The bank has also granted loans and advance to units in which directors or their relatives had a stake.

The report noted that the bank did not have any laid-down procedure to process credit applications. The bank's branches forward the loan application to the head office, and the sanctioning authority for loans is a loan committee comprising 14 directors appointed by the Board of Directors. There is poor monitoring and follow-up of loans, and credit is sanctioned to sugar factories or spinning mills having negative net worth. The bank continues to have a large exposure to sugar factories though the performance of the sugar sector is poor and unsatisfactory, the audit report said.

While the move has led to a fresh round of hostilities between the two ruling partners, the Congress is at pains to insist the move is not political and is based on ground realities. State Congress president Manikrao Thakre even suggested that Mr. Ajit Pawar and the Chief Minister sort out their differences by sitting together and clarifying all doubts. The Pawars have been accusing the Congress leadership of deliberately maligning the party and targeting its leaders. The State's cooperative sector has for long been strained by nepotism, poor financial management and irregularities. An inquiry is pending against the Nanded district cooperative bank run by the former Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan's brother-in-law and MP Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar. The NCP leaders should use this as an opportunity to clean up the sector, which has propelled them into politics and power instead of pointing the finger.

The United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress are trying to convert the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) into a “captive committee” to be run on their directives, PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi said here on Tuesday.

“It is an insult to the parliamentary system of democracy and a big impediment to probe into issues related to corruption,” he told journalists.

Bipartisan panel

While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that public opinion on corruption had changed and that people wanted quick action, his Ministers tried to stall the probe into corruption cases. Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, P. Chidambaram, V. Narayanasamy and Pawan Kumar Bansal met in the Congress Parliamentary Party office and sent a letter with their “directives” to their party MPs on the committee. “The PAC is a bipartisan panel and is above party lines; directives should not be given to the panel,” Dr. Joshi said.

Dr. Joshi said the PAC was formed to track the money trail in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, and it would unravel its source and beneficiaries. “It is the taxpayers' money, and the people want to know where their money is going. If expenditure [by departments] was not curbed, the government would become autocratic.”

“BSP, SP must clarify”

Criticising the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party for bailing out the government when the PAC report was tabled, Dr. Joshi said that despite differences, the Congress joined hands with these parties to scuttle the probe. The BSP and the SP were against each other in Uttar Pradesh, but sank their differences outside the State. “The BSP and the SP should spell out their stand on corruption — whether they want a probe or they want to create hurdles. The people also want to know which party supported corruption and which one was opposed to it.”

Probe “very sensitive”

He said the probe into the 2G spectrum scam was “very sensitive.” In his report, he had pointed to the possibility of money being transferred for terror acts. Doubts were raised about the antecedents of some companies and people.

Separate law for CBI

Dr. Joshi felt that the CBI should be governed by a separate law; it should report to Parliament every six months on the status of the cases it handled.

He criticised the Mayawati government for the violence in Greater Noida. Quoting from the Union Commerce Ministry's report on special economic zones, he argued that arable land should not be acquired for industrialisation. This trend enabled industrialists to make money at the cost of farmers.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar were on Tuesday granted exemption from personal appearance in the CBI special court hearing the 2G spectrum case here on May 12 and 13. This followed a plea that their presence was required by the office of the Income Tax Department at Nungambakkam in Chennai, which had issued notices to them for May 12.

The CBI did not object and Special Judge O. P. Saini granted the exemption, but ordered that they should not try to contact or influence any witness or tamper with evidence while in Chennai. He also directed them to return to Delhi and appear before the court on May 14 when the court is scheduled to pronounce its order on their plea to enlarge them on bail.

Earlier, the duo had sought exemption from court appearance on May 9 and 10 to prepare for an Enforcement Directorate summons served on Mr. Kumar for May 12 and Ms. Kanimozhi for May 13, which was rejected after the CBI opposed the plea.

The arguments on the bail application moved by Etisalat DB promoter Shahid Balwa saw his lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, asking Special Public Prosecutor U. U. Lalit if he was “holding a brief for Tata.”

Mr. Lalit had in his submissions referred to the charge sheet which noted that Tata Teleservices was at the losing end in the grant of UAS licences and allocation of 2G spectrum to Swan Telecom.

Rebuttal

Mr. Aggarwal rebutted by quipping: “Was it the counsel for the CBI arguing or was it someone holding a brief for Tata?” He also referred to a letter written to Mr. Karunanidhi by Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata praising the former Union Telecom Minister, A. Raja, wondering why this was done despite the Tata Teleservices supposed to be an aggrieved party in the grant of licences and spectrum.

Mr. Balwa's counsel also referred to submissions made in the Supreme Court by advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the Centre for Public Interest Litigation questioning the “clean chit” given by the CBI to the Tata Teleservices and why Niira Radia was made only a witness.

Mr. Lalit said he could only go by the CBI's charge sheet.

After a gap of four years, India and Pakistan will on Thursday resume talks in Islamabad on the Tulbul navigation project, also known as the Wular Lake project, in Jammu and Kashmir.

Work was suspended in October 2007 after Islamabad imposed it as a pre-condition for talks at the government-level. Before that, the matter was being handled at the level of the Permanent Indus Commission.

According to informed sources, India will seek an early resolution so that it can resume work on the project, which is located on the Jhelum river in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramullah district.

Water Resources Secretary D.V. Singh will lead India's delegation for the two-day secretary-level talks. Others in the delegation will include chairman of the Central Water Commission A.K. Bajaj and Indus Commissioner G. Aranganathan.

Eight rounds of secretary-level talks have been held since work was suspended on the project, followed by five more meetings in 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 under Composite Dialogue between the two countries. In the last meeting in August 2007, it was decided that technical-level talks would form part of the officials' dialogue.

The Tulbul navigation project is located just below the exit of the Wular Lake, a natural lake. India envisages controlled release of water from the lake during the lean-season months of October to February to facilitate year-round navigation for commercial trade, employment and tourism.

New Delhi maintains that the regulating structure is permitted under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 for the non-consumptive use of navigation. Moreover, it holds that the project is beneficial for Pakistan as well as to firm up lean-season water supplies for its proposed projects and the Mangala dam in the PoK region.

Pakistan, however, contests it as a “storage project” and charges India with violation of the provisions under the Treaty. In 1986, Pakistan threatened to resolve the issue through a neutral expert as was done in the case of the Baglihar dam, or through an arbitration court as in the Kishanganga project.

A joint press statement is expected to be released in Islamabad on Friday.

With a crucial meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on fuel price hike postponed by a week, a decision on increasing the prices of diesel and domestic LPG prices will be taken only by May 17 or 18. However, petrol prices, which were deregulated by the government, can go up in next few days. The EGoM is headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee

“The EGoM was to meet on Wednesday evening [May 11]…it has been put off. It has been postponed to accommodate some Ministers...It could be anytime on [May] 17 or 18,” Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S. Jaipal Reddy told journalists here on Tuesday. The EGoM was to meet to consider hiking the diesel price by Rs.3-4 a litre and domestic LPG rates by Rs.20-25 a cylinder.

However, the government-owned oil marketing companies may raise petrol prices by up to Rs.3, which has been not revised since January, in the next two-three days.

Though the government had freed petrol prices in June 2010, the oil sector PSUs continue to be guided by informal advice from the government.

The PSUs are now losing about Rs.9 a litre on petrol, Rs.16.17 a litre on diesel, Rs.29.69 a litre on kerosene and Rs.329.73 a 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder.

Mr. Reddy said the day EGoM met, a Group of Ministers (GoM) that is vetting London-listed Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India, may also meet.

“I think when the next date is fixed, on that day itself we will deal with both questions — the question of under-recoveries of oil companies and the question of government approval to Cairn-Vedanta deal,” he said.