Over-ruling the registrar of the Supreme Court, who had turned down a constitutional petition by the suspended chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry against the President, a three-member Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday admitted it for regular hearing in an open court.

The Bench set April 24 for hearing of the petition and issued notices to all respondents including the President, the federation, the Prime Minister and the Supreme Judicial Council for submitting their response.

The petition titled Chief Justice Vs President is the first of its kind in constitutional history pitching two highest state offices in a legal dual with the chief justice seeking justice from his own institution.

The 150-page petition raises 132 constitutional issues challenging the validity of the presidential reference filed against, the competence, jurisdiction and composition of the Supreme Judicial Council to proceed against the chief justice, his removal/ suspension and forced leave as well as the mode and manner of the proceedings before the SJC.

Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, who is presiding over the Bench, informed the lead counsel of Justice Iftikhar that the registrar of the SC had rejected his petition raising three key objections:

a) The case is sub-judice and already being heard in the Supreme Judicial Council;

b) Some of the points raised in the petition are not maintainable and

c) The hearing of the case would scandalise three judges of the SJC.

Aitzaz submitted his arguments against the objections after which the Bench set aside the registrar’s objections and decided to take up the case.

Aitzaz requested the court to issue a restraining order halting the proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Council but the Bench decided to hear the other side on April 24 before passing such an order. The SJC has also set April 24 to hear objections and government response.

Aitzaz made it clear that under Article 209 of the constitution, the Chief Justice could neither be made non-functional nor could the SJC be formed in his absence. The government’s move to send the chief justice on forced leave was ‘absolutely wrong and illegal’. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had personal reasons to advise the President to file the reference.

He said the Supreme Court was a higher forum than the SJC and the council was bound to obey the SC decisions. “The council is only an inquiry commission and it can’t give any kind of ruling.”

He said the Supreme Court’s judgment in the 1996 Al-Jihad Trust case barred an acting CJ from heading the SJC.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Wasi Zafar has said that the constitution laid down provisions for the accountability of all holders of constitutional offices, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan. He advised Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahson not take political advantage out of the case. 

New York, April 19
The Massachusetts police are looking into a series of robberies that appear to specifically target Indian households in the Greater Boston area.

Though no concrete leads to a possible suspect have emerged, information shared between police departments revealed the mode of operation of the gang or gangs to be remarkably similar.

In all cases, the suspects took away only jewellery and left everything else in the household untouched. From one home, jewellery worth $22,000 was stolen.

Another pattern the cops found was that only Indian families were targeted, according to India New England, an ethnic Indian newspaper.

"All cases occurred on the second Saturday and the robbers opened every single jewellery pouch, but stole only gold jewellery. Silver and artificial jewellery were left behind, as if the intruder knew the difference well and had all the time to review the items before pocketing them," said a victim, Navpreet Singh, of Chelmsford.

"It does appear to be that some Indian families have been targeted," said Frost Roy of the Billerica police department. "There were no other break-ins in any other condos in that time frame. There were no signs of forced entry at first, but evidence later revealed that someone filed out the internal mechanisms of the lock," Roy said. The residents were gone for the weekend and the jewellery was located in closets.

"Nothing else was disturbed in the apartment other than the closet being open and jewellery being stolen - very unique type of jewellery of Indian nature," he added. — IANS

Dhaka, April 19
After barring the entry of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the country, the Bangladesh security forces arrested two of her close aides besides a leader of her archrival Khaleda Zia's party.

The security forces also intensified hunt for the absconding political secretary of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who has reported to have struck a ‘deal’ with the interim government that she would leave the country provided her two sons were allowed to join her there.

The police today said Awami League (AL) presidium member and former privatisation commission chief Kazi Jafarullah, AL’s assistant publicity secretary Asim Kumar Ukil and BNP leader and former chief of the state-run road transport corporation Taimur Alam Khondokar were arrested last night.

Security forces also raided different places to track down Khaleda Zia's absconding influential political secretary Haris Chowdhury.

The developments came hours after the interim administration in emergency-ruled Bangladesh ordered a temporary ban on Hasina’s return home from the US. Her archrival Zia had reportedly ‘packed up and is ready to fly out’ under a negotiated deal with the government. — PTI

Dubai, April 19
The new amendments in the India-UAE tax treaty, which will allow taxation on investments back home, is causing concern among the Indian community here.

The situation has caused panic since details of the amendments are yet to be made public.

India and the UAE signed several agreements, including amending the agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect of taxes on income, during the visit of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, PM of the UAE, to India on March 25-26.

Amendments are being made to the UAE Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) as per which UAE-based NRIs will be taxed for future capital gains (income) earned from investments in India.

The amendments will directly hit not only individual investors, but also investment companies that use UAE as a base to make investments in Indian 
stock markets.

“We are very keen to know the outcome of the newly-signed Indo-UAE Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement,” said K.V. Shamsudin, director of Barjeel Securities, a UAE-based brokerage house.

As per the DTAA that India has with the UAE, capital gains earned in India will be liable to tax only in the UAE.

However, since there is no tax in the UAE, the capital gains go tax-free 
altogether.

The amendments now also define an individual who resides in UAE for at least 183 days in a calendar year as the ‘resident’ of 
that country. — PTI