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| Saturday, February 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Lawyers demand probe by SC judge
Army didn’t consider crossing
LoC: panel Oppn walkout in LS on RSS Explain Budgets to people: PM Dhindsa invites Dosanjh |
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Jaya to stand trial in Tansi case NEW DELHI, Feb 25 (PTI) — In a major legal setback to AIADMK leader J. Jayalalitha, the Supreme Court today directed her to face trial in the multi-crore (Tansi) land scam case after staying the Madras High Court order which had discharged her from the case. Hearing an appeal against the high court order by the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice K.T. Thomas and Mr Justice M.B. Shah directed the Chennai Special Court, which had framed charges against her, N. Sasikala and others, to go ahead with the trial. However, the Bench asked the trial court not to pronounce its verdict during the pendency of the Tamil Nadu Government’s appeal before it. Mr Justice Thomas, while issuing notice to Jayalalitha on the special leave petition filed by the state government, said "reasons stated by the high court in the judgement for the discharge of Jayalalitha were prima facie not sufficient warranting interference by it (HC) in the trial of the accused former Chief Minister". The court posted the hearing of the matter after three weeks. It was alleged by the government that Jayalalitha as the then Chief Minister was legally barred from purchasing land belonging to state owned Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (Tansi) but by doing so she had caused a loss of over Rs 3 crore to the exchequer. The Supreme Court also observed that it would hear on Monday a petition by the state government challenging the Madras High Court order discharging Jayalalitha from the coal import scam case. In the Tansi case, the state government said the purchase was made on behalf of Jaya Publications in which she was one of the partners making her liable to be prosecuted under Section 169 of the Indian Penal Code. She was also charged under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly abusing her official position to make pecuniary gain for her and consequential loss to the state. Mr Justice S. Thangaraj of the Madras High Court had on January 13 discharged Jayalalitha from the case, saying that there was no prima facie material to frame charges against her. The Tansi land deal involved two transactions worth about Rs 3 crore each entered with the public sector body by Jaya Publications and Sasi Enterprises, both firms in which Jayalalitha and her close aide Sasikala were partners. In a separate order, the
high court also upheld another trial judge’s order
discharging Jayalalitha from the coal import deal case,
rejecting the Crime Branch-CID’s revision petition
against it. |
Lawyers demand probe by SC judge NEW DELHI, Feb 25 — The Lt- Governor of Delhi, Mr Vijai Kapoor, ordered a magisterial inquiry into yesterday’s police action against the agitating lawyers at the Parliament Street. The Lt-Governor directed Divisional Magistrate, S.P. Aggarwal to hold the inquiry and submit his report within three weeks. A group of lawyers were marching towards the Parliament House yesterday to submit a memorandum to Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee urging him to drop move to amend the Civil Procedure Code and the Advocates Act. In a separate memorandum to the Prime Minister, the All-India Lawyers Association demanded probe by a judge of the Supreme Court into the "police brutality" and action against ‘guilty’ policemen. Meanwhile, the lawyers’ strike which continued today paralysed work in the courts in the Capital. The Delhi High Court Bar Association’s (DHCBA) honorary secretary, Mr Anoop Bagai in a statement, claimed that no counsel appeared in the High Court, but some "proxy counsels" appeared to get their cases adjourned. Condemning yesterday’s beating up incident of several lawyers who were protesting against the central government move to enforce CrPC and AC, Mr Bagai demanded immediate penal action against the erring officials of the Delhi Police, besides a judicial probe. A large number of lawyers held a sit-in dharna in front of the High Court. At Tis Hazari and Patiala House district courts too, the lawyers abstained from work and held demonstrations against "merciless" police action. The counsel and the
President of the All-India Lawyers Forum, Mr O.P. Saxena,
resigned his post in protest against yesterday’s
police action. In a letter to the Union Law Minister, Mr
Ram Jethmalani, he regretted that although the minister
himself was a lawyer, he "is working against"
the interests of the advocates. |
Army didn’t consider
crossing LoC: panel NEW DELHI, Feb 25 — In the 50 days that the conflict with Pakistan continued in Kargil, the Indian Army did not consider crossing the Line of Control (LoC) to make an impact in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) from where the Pakistani army regulars occupying the heights were getting all the support. The Army also did not have any difference of opinion in regard with the government. This was stated by the members of the Kargil review committee during an interaction with the media, at the Press Club of India today. Mr K. Subrahmanyam, chairman of the Committee, stated that the Indian Army in its representations to the committee did not reflect anywhere that it wanted to cross the LoC nor did it represent at any time that it had any difference of opinion with the government. In another significant comment, which is contrary to the assessment of Defence Minister George Fernandes that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not in knowledge of the army’s plans, the committee chairman said that the evidence with it clearly pointed out that he had all the knowledge. He said Mr Nawaz Sharif was in knowledge of Pakistan’s forward deployment at the time Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Lahore bus trip. Mr Subrahmanyam said the Pakistan’s Chief Executive, Gen Pervez Musharraf, had gone on record on a number of occasions that he had discussed the Kargil plan with Mr Sharif first in November 1998 and then he had visited the areas of the Pakistan army’s forward deployment in early February 1998, before Mr Vajpayee undertook the bus diplomacy trip to Lahore. The defence analyst admitted that there had been a delay in air action in aid of the ground troops and the reasons for it had been deleted from the 226 page report by the government. He, however, clarified that although the Indian Air Force responded to all the Army’s demand as far as the transportation of troops was concerned, it pointed to the possibility of escalation when the use of fighter aircraft was suggested. It wanted to get a clearance from the government in this regard. Referring to the suggestion of making a "declaratory policy for LoC", Mr B.G. Verghese, one of the members of the committee, said Pakistan had repeatedly been indulging in firing from across the border and also undertaking intrusions like Kargil. This gave India the right to make a declaration, in view of defending its sovereignty and territory, that in response to the cross-border terrorism in furtherance of proxy war would meet with prompt retaliation in a manner, time and place of India’s choosing. On another specific query whether the committee considered that cases of criminal prosecution could be undertaken against the officers aiding the various agencies which had failed in their duty, Mr Subrahmanyam said the committee could suggest that criminal offences could be brought out against any of the chiefs of the agencies which failed. "It is for the government to do so," he said. On why the committee had only named Brig Surinder Singh and no other army officer in its report, Mr Subrahmanyam said that his petition to the army headquarters (AHQ) on lapses in Kargil had been specifically referred to the committee by the AHQ. The committee again
stressed on the need to have coordination between various
intelligence agencies in the country. There had been no
real sharing of information between the Army and the
other agencies, the members pointed out. |
Oppn walkout in LS on RSS NEW DELHI, Feb 25 — For the second successive day, the controversial decision of the Gujarat Government allowing its employees to take part in RSS activities rocked both Houses of Parliament today, with the Opposition staging a walkout in the Lok Sabha and forcing an adjournment in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, angry opposition members walked out after the Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi rejected their adjournment motion while allowing a full discussion on Monday. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day by the Chairman, Mr Krishan Kant, after opposition members protested and raised slogans demanding a decision on their notice for a discussion on the RSS issue. As soon as the House assembled, a Congress MP, Mr Suresh Pachouri, wanted to know what decision was taken on the notice. Most opposition members were up demanding a discussion and suspension of question hour. The Chairman adjourned the House after opposition members trooped into the well of the House raising slogans pressing for their demand. Mr Balayogi, who
yesterday rejected notices from members, including Mr
Madhavrao Scindia and Mr Vilas Muttemwar of the Congress,
on the adjournment motion, said he received three similar
notices today, including one from Mr Scindia, Mr Basudeb
Acharia (CPM) and Mr G.M. Banatwala (Muslim League). He
rejected them. |
Explain Budgets to people: PM NEW DELHI, Feb 25 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today advised the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to educate the people about the pro-people thrust of the Railway and forthcoming Union Budgets and not pay heed to the "misleading" campaign of the Opposition. Addressing members of Parliament of the NDA, he said the government was pursuing an ambitious agenda for the country’s development "they (Opposition) have no agenda, except to create noise and to mislead people by raking up non-issues." Expressing confidence that the Union and Railway Budgets would significantly take the NDA’s agenda of development forward, he said that it would not be "a very easy task" for the Finance and Railway Ministers. Hinting at a tough Budget, the Prime Minister said "when a patient suffering from a serious illness is to be cured, the doctor sometimes has to administer strong medicine." Referring to the
accumulated problems, particularly in areas of physical
and social infrastructure, Mr Vajpayee said "if the
medicine is right, it will have the desired effect of
bringing the patient back to health. But if the medicine
is not right, or if the treatment is postponed for too
long, the doctor will be guilty of worsening the
condition of the patient." |
Dhindsa invites Dosanjh NEW DELHI, Feb 25 — The Union Minister for Urban Employment, Poverty Alleviation and Sports, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, today congratulated Mr Ujjal Dosanjh on his election as the Premier of British Columbia in Canada. Mr Dhindsa spoke to Mr Dosanjh, who hails from Punjab, on becoming the first Indian to assume the high office in a Canadian State. He also wrote a letter
inviting Mr Dosanjh to visit India and Punjab at the
earliest. The Minister said it was a big achievement and
honour for India, especially Punjabis, a spokesman for Mr
Dhindsa said today. |
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