New Delhi, November 30
The Supreme Court today observed that Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) PJ Thomas would find it “quite difficult” to monitor the CBI probe into the 2G scam as he had been the Telecom Secretary.

Since the probe relates to the decisions taken by the Department of Telecommunications, some of them when Thomas was Secretary, “it would be quite difficult for him” to oversee the CBI investigations, a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly remarked.

The observations by the Bench came after CBI counsel KK Venugopal contended that the CBI investigations could be monitored only by a statutory authority, which happened to be the Central Vigilance Commission.

Last week, a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia had expressed similar views while hearing a plea for quashing the appointment of the CVC.

Venugopal suggested that the two Vigilance Commissioners, one of them R Shree Kumar (former DGP of Karnataka), could be asked to monitor the probe. Counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for a PIL petitioner who has sought apex court supervision of the probe, agreed to the name of Sree Kumar.

During today’s arguments, the DoT appeared to have distanced itself from some of the actions taken by then Telecom Minister A Raja for allocating 2G Spectrum to telecom companies.

Some of the decisions, including advancing of the cut-off date from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007, for submitting the applications for telecom lincenses through a statement issued on January 10, 2008, required to be gone into, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said while arguing for the DoT.

However, the SG defended DoT’s decision to allot Spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices, citing the need for providing a level-playing field to the late entrants on a par with the existing service providers. He also sought to justify the issue of licenses to real estate houses, stating that the telecom regulator and the Planning Commission had suggested that the DoT should not insist on previous experience in telecom services in order to encourage competition.

New Delhi, November 30
Equating corruption with pollution, the Supreme Court today sought the government’s response to a plea for preserving the tapes containing the intercepted conversations corporate lobbyist Niira Radia had with top bureaucrats, parliamentarians and journalists, which have reportedly exposed a nexus.

A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly passed the order after observing that the reported details of the conversations were “mind-boggling”. The Judges were hearing the arguments on two PILs relating to the 2G spectrum scam.

“We have often talked about pollution of rivers, including the Ganga. But this pollution is mind-boggling,” the Bench remarked after counsel Prashant Bhushan, arguing for one of the petitioners (Centre for PIL), read out a media report on the details of the tapped conversations.

The telephonic talks, intercepted by the Income Tax Department for checking tax evasions, had reportedly revealed how business houses used bureaucrats, ministers, judges and journalists to get their jobs done even if it came to paying bribes.

One such talk had allegedly exposed a tax concession amounting to a staggering Rs 81,000 crore allowed in the 2009 Union Budget in favour of a leading industrial group with retrospective effect. Another intercepted message had revealed how a judgment was bought for Rs 9 crore. In another message, a person had claimed that even the Supreme Court could be managed.

At this, the Bench observed that people no longer lived in a “world of illusion” believing that everything was hunky-dory about the country’s democratic system. Such illusion was restricted to far-flung villages and forest areas these days, it remarked.

The I-T Department had shared the tapped conversations with the CBI, which is probing the 2G scam. 

New Delhi, November 30
Amar Pratap Singh, a 1974 batch Indian Police Services officer, took over as Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), country’s premier investigating agency, today. A P Singh replaces Ashwani Kumar.

The Appointments' Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier cleared the name of 58-year-old Singh, an IPS officer from Jharkhand cadre, to head the CBI where he was serving as senior most Special Director.

Speaking to media persons after taking over the new responsibility, Singh said he would look into the Arushi murder case on a priority basis and investigation in the case would be completed within the next two months.

“A major decision will be taken in Arushi murder case in the next two months,” said Singh hinting that he would personally monitor the progress in the infamous double murder case of Noida in which CBI’s shoddy investigation received flak from media and court. Arushi, a student of DPS Noida, was found murdered along with her family servant at her residence in Sector 21, Noida, on May 16, 2008. 

Hyderabad, November 30
After a bitter stand-off with Congress leadership, YS Jaganmohan Reddy had to contend with a family face-off today following a spit in his family over the issue of political allegiance.

A day after Jagan quit Congress and his Lok Sabha seat, fissures surfaced in the family with his uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy pledging unflinching loyalty to the Congress and its President Sonia Gandhi. He also denied his nephew’s allegation that the party was trying to divide the family.

Vivekananda, a soft-spoken younger brother of former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy and presently a member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council, has come into the limelight following reports that the party high command was trying to lure him with promise of a Cabinet berth.

“I will continue in the footsteps of my elder brother who remained a hardcore Congressman till his last breath,” he told reporters in Kadapa after paying homage at YSR memorial in the family estate at Idupulapaya. His meeting with Jagan lasted barely a couple of minutes when he informed the latter of his decision. They found that their differences were irreconcilable.

In fact, Vivekananda’s comments suggested that this could be the beginning of a bitter battle in the family to claim YSR’s political legacy. “I am ready to contest as a Congress candidate, if the party High Command so desires, from Pulivendula Assembly constituency.”

Jagan is expected to contest as an independent candidate from Pulivendula seat which fell vacant after YSR’s widow Vijayalakshmi quit the post along with her son yesterday.

Mumbai, November 30
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has announced setting up of a commission to probe allotment of land to the controversial Lavasa hill station project. The Chief Minister gave this assurance to noted social worker Anna Hazare, who had threatened to go on a hunger strike to protest “illegal allotment of land to the project”.

Hazare told reporters in Nagpur that he was deferring his hunger strike by three months so that Chavan could set up the probe panel. He said the panel would probe initial allotment of 145 hectares of land belonging to the Krishna Valley Irrigation Project to the Lavasa project and subsequent allotment of 372 hectares.

Land belonging to local tribal communities was originally acquired for the Krishna Valley Irrigation project.

New Delhi, November 30 
The Supreme Court today sought a response from Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyuruppa and Assembly Speaker on an appeal filed by four of the 11 disqualified Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs against the High Court order upholding the Speaker's decision.

A Bench of Justices Altams Kabir and Cyriac Joseph, while seeking the response by December 7, posted the matter for further hearing to December 9. The Bench passed the direction after senior counsel Rohinton Nariman raised the issue during the mentioned time.

In their special leave petition, the MLAs Gopala Krishana Belur, Shivanagaouda Naik, Shanker Linge Gowda and Bellubbi said their disqualification raised substantial questions of constitutional and administrative law involving an interpretation of the provisions of the Xth Schedule and the Rules made under para 8 thereof, for giving effect to it. — PTI