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SC orders CBI probe against Yeddyurappa NEW DELHI: In a setback to former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the allegations that the Prerana Trust managed by members of his immediate family received a huge donation from the mining company favoured by him. An apex court Bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia also stayed all the proceedings relating to the matter before any court in Karnataka. Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Swatanter Kumar said that upon completing the investigation, the CBI will file its report before the competent court and that all agencies of the state will extend their cooperation to the investigating agency. The apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which investigated the allegation of quid pro quo, had recommended the CBI probe. It had alleged irregularities in the grant of mining leases and that donations were made to the Prerana Trust by the mining companies so favoured. The Supreme Court last week on the recommendation of a green panel sought a CBI probe into donations by the mining firms to an NGO owned by relatives of Yeddyurappa. The apex court's Forest Bench of Chief Justice S.H .Kapadia, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Swatanter Kumar had given time till Saturday evening to Yeddyurappa's Senior Counsel V. Giri to submit documents on court proceedings in cases recommended by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on environmental matters for a CBI probe. The court had sought the documents after Giri said that all the aspects on which the CEC recommended a CBI probe were already under investigation on the direction of a special judge. He said the CEC recommendation should not be acted upon. The court said if it had documents pointing to a strong prima facie case for investigation, it could not shut its eyes to these. The documents before it clearly pointed to the violation of the Karnataka land acquisition act, the court said. Giri said the CEC recommendation in respect of Yeddyurappa was similar to the one made earlier demanding a probe by the former Karnataka Lokayukta. The plea seeking a Lokayukta probe was quashed by the Karnataka High Court. The same issue could not be resurrected by another agency for investigation by the CBI, Giri said. The court was told that the country worked under a federal system and law and order was a state subject. The court could step in only if the state abdicated its responsibility. Reiterating the earlier observation made by Chief Justice Kapadia, Justice Alam told Giri: "Don't invite us to make adverse comments." He asked Giri: "Has the high court said that this matter can't be investigated at all by any investigating agency?" Justice Swatanter Kumar had said that all the issues raised in the CEC report were interlinked and had to be investigated. Chief Justice Kapadia had said: "If documents come before us, then under the law, we are obliged to hear the accused. (If we afford him a hearing) we would be setting a precedent that would be against the law and dangerous." "Should we hear you then we will ask you many questions," Chief Justice Kapadia had told Giri. "Leave aside ... the CEC report, what you have to say about these documents. Can't we on the basis of these documents proceed and direct investigation?" he asked. Pointing to the documents, Justice Alam had said, "These are prima facie offences under the state Land Acquisition Act". The court said this when Giri repeatedly referred to the CEC report and to the plea of petitioner NGO Samaj Parivartan Samudaya's counsel Prashant Bhushan. Bhushan had told the court that the NGO sought the CBI probe because the institution of Lokayukta in the state was in a shambles as it was headless and the head of the police team working in it too had been moved out. The CEC in its report recommended investigation by the CBI in three cases. These involved the sale of land to M/s South West Mining Corp after its land use was changed from agriculture to non-agriculture (residential) and the link between the receipt of Rs 10 crore donation made to Prerana Educational Society by Jindal Group's M/s South West Mining Ltd. for alleged receipt of illegal minerals by the M/s JSW Steel Ltd. The committee, in its recommendation in the third case, sought investigation to find out if there was a link between payment of Rs 2.5 crore to M/s Bhagat Homes Private Ltd. and Rs 3.5 crore to M/s Dhavalgir Property Developers Ltd. and the grant of mining leases to Praveen Chandra, during Yeddyurappa's tenure. The CEC wanted the investigating agency to look into the allegation that there was a quid pro quo in these payments and allotment of mining leases to Chandra. — IANS
NCERT
asked to remove Ambedkar cartoon NEW DELHI: Seeking to put a lid over the Ambedkar cartoon row, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today said he has asked the NCERT to remove the offending picture and stop distribution of the textbooks. Making a statement in the Lok Sabha, Sibal said he had written to the NCERT in April asking it to withdraw the offending cartoon from the Political Science textbook of Class XI. Sibal said distribution of these textbooks has been stopped and a review has been ordered not just of the cartoons but also of the content of the textbooks. Next year we will remove all such contents from the textbooks, Sibal said. Earlier, the issue led to the Lok Sabha being adjourned for the day shortly after MPs reassembled at 2 p.m. following earlier disruptions. The Rajya Sabha was also repeatedly disrupted. The cartoon, first published in 1960s by renowned cartoonist Shankar in his weekly magazine and reproduced in NCERT Class XI political science textbooks depicts Jawaharlal Nehru with a whip in his hand chasing Ambedkar, who is seated on a snail. In the cartoon, Nehru is asking Ambedkar to speed up the work on the Constitution. The issue was raised by Dalit activist Thol Thirumavalavan, the Lok Sabha MP who heads the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi of Tamil Nadu, where protests were staged over the row. Thirumavalavan, supported by members cutting across party lines, flashed a placard highlighting the issue and walked towards Speaker Meira Kumar's podium. He said the cartoon was "insulting to Ambedkar, Nehru and the whole nation". At one point, an agitated Thirumavalavan even sought the resignation of Sibal over the issue. Leader of House Pranab Mukherjee, responding to the issue, said the printing of the cartoon in the textbook was "totally wrong" and that he "entirely" agreed with the sentiments of all sections of the House. Mukherjee said it would not have been possible for the Constitution to be ready in the short span of three years without the tireless work of Ambedkar. In the Rajya Sabha, members of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) raised the pitch over the cartoon row, calling it an "intolerable insult" to their icon. Halfway through the Question Hour, as Sibal rose to answer a question, BSP member Brajesh Pathak raised the issue, displaying a copy of the cartoon. Sibal offered to issue a clarification. But BSP members rushed towards Chairman Hamid Ansari's Chair, forcing him to adjourn the House. When the House met again, uproarious scenes continued, resulting in the adjournment till noon and then till 2.30 p.m. BSP members raised slogans and said the government was "anti-Dalit". They were joined by Rashtriya Janata Dal's Ram Kripal Yadav. Outside the House, Communist Party of India member D. Raja, who had given a notice to raise the issue in the Zero Hour, expressed surprise over the cartoon finding a place in the book and not coming to the notice of the government for long. "It (the cartoon) is being published in this book since 2006," Raja told IANS. RJD leader Ramkripal Yadav said they were not satisfied with the minister's assurance. "Not only did this cartoon continue to be published for so long, the minister is still saying it will be removed, we want immediate action," Yadav told IANS. A livid BSP supremo Mayawati said the matter was "serious" and that the cartoon will not be "tolerated". She demanded an immediate probe to fix responsibility and strong action against those responsible for printing the cartoon in the textbook issued by the National Centre for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). — Agencies
2G: CBI court reserves order on Raja's bail plea NEW DELHI: A special CBI court on Friday reserved its order on bail plea of former Telecom Minister A. Raja till May 15. Raja is in custody since his arrest on February 2 last year and is facing trial in the 2G Spectrum allocation scam case. The CBI opposed Raja's bail plea in the court, who had moved his first bail application on Wednesday after over 15 months of his arrest. The DMK MP had filed the bail plea on the ground of parity with other 13 accused who all have been granted the relief by the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court and the special court trying the case. Raja had filed the application soon after former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, who was arrested along with him on February 2 last year, was granted bail by the Supreme Court. Raja, in his bail plea, contended that he is "innocent" and the case against him is "false and fabricated". "The case against the petitioner (Raja) is false and fabricated and is not sustainable on law or on facts. The petitioner is innocent and is likely to get acquitted. "All the individual accused persons in this case, except the petitioner, have been released on bail .... The petitioner is entitled to bail on the grounds of parity," Raja had said. Raja is the only accused yet to secure bail in the case. Besides him, DMK MP Kanimozhi, Behura, Raja's former private secretary R. K. Chandolia and corporate executives Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Limited MD Sanjay Chandra and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group executives Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair are facing trial in the case. Kalaignar TV MD
Sharad Kumar, filmmaker Karim Morani and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables
Pvt Ltd directors Rajiv Aggarwal and Asif Balwa are also facing trial
along with three telecom firms Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Reliance Telecom
Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd under various penal provisions
of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. — PTI
Industrial production goes down by 3.5 pc in March NEW DELHI: Indicating sharp slowdown in the economy, industrial production declined by 3.5% in March mainly on account of contraction in manufacturing and mining output.
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