New Delhi, June 7
Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, who heads the Bench hearing the black money case, is among the seven Supreme Court judges who will retire within a span of four months from July to October.

Justice Reddy will be the first to retire on July 8, shortly after the apex court reopens on July 4 at the end of the summer vacation. His Bench, which also includes Justice SS Nijjar, has reserved its verdict on a PIL petitioners’ plea for setting up a special investigation team to probe all aspects relating to generation of black money and its flight to secret bank accounts abroad, particularly Switzerland. This Bench is also hearing the cases relating to Naxalite violence in Chhattisgarh.

Justice VS Sirpurkar will be the next to retire on August 22, followed by Justices HS Bedi on September 5, Mukundakam Sharma on September 18, Markandey Katju on September 20, JM Panchal on October 6 and RV Raveendran on October 15.

At present, the apex court has 29 judges, including Chief Justice SH Kapadia. After the retirements, the number of SC judges will come down to 22 against the sanctioned strength of 31, including the CJI.

The spate of retirements will necessitate the reconstitution of almost all SC Benches, including the Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly that is hearing cases relating to the 2G scam and anti-Dalit violence at Mirchpur. Justice Ganguly, who is presently at no. 16 on the seniority list, will move up the ninth spot and is likely to head a Bench.

Meanwhile, the exercise to elevate high court Chief Justices to the Supreme Court in order to maintain its strength has been set in motion, official sources said.

Nine high court judges became Chief Justices in 2010. They are: Justices Kurian Joseph of Himachal Pradesh HC (February 8), Nisar Ahmad Kakru of Andhra Pradesh HC (February 19), Jasti Chelameswar of Kerala HC (March 17), V. Gopala Gowda of Orissa HC (March 25), MY Eqbal of Madras HC (June 11), Rekha Manharlal Doshit of Patna HC (June 21), Madan B Lokur of Gauhati HC (June 24) and JN Patel of Calcutta HC and Ferdino Inadio Rebello of Allahabad HC (both June 26). The other high courts either have CJs elevated this year or acting CJs.

While HC Chief Justices and judges retire at the age of 62, their SC counterparts retire at 65.

Lucknow, June 7
The Congress today announced that it would contest the 2012 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh on its own. While there would be no pre-poll alliance with the BSP, the SP or the BJP, the party has authorised AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to hold discussions with smaller parties.

Sharing the decisions at the state election committee meeting with the media AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh also hinted at the land acquisition issue being the major poll plank in the forthcoming elections. According to him, Rahul Gandhi would hold a Kisan panchayat at Bhatta-Parsaul or any place near it in the next 3-4 weeks where he would hear out grievances of farmers from various parts of the state.

“With the input of farmers, Rahul will help introduce a comprehensive land acquisition and rehabilitation Bill, which would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament,” claimed Digvijay. Cancelling the Bhatta-Parsual land acquisition would also be one of the demands of the Congress, he said. Commenting on the newly introduced land acquisition policy of CM Mayawati, Digvijay said it was largely based on the Haryana land package as presented by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a public meeting at Dadri.

New Delhi, June 7
The fiery sanyasin Uma Bharati, thrown out of the BJP twice within a matter of one year in 2004-2005, returned back to the party, with president Nitin Gadkari spreading the red carpet for her and guaranteeing good behaviour on her part in future.

To avoid any apprehensions on the part of her old Madhya Pradesh associates, specially chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan objecting to her reentry, Gadkari predicated this home-coming announcement with the rider that she would concentrate only on UP.

But he refused to project her or any other party leader as BJP chief ministerial candidate in the assembly elections next year saying, “There is no commitment on who will lead in the assembly elections. There are several leaders. There is no dearth of leaders in the BJP.”

Gadkari mentioned that Uma is currently on a dharna at Gangotri for the “Clean Ganga” campaign and added that from Ram Mandir movement she would move to bring Ram Rajya in Uttar Pradesh.

Uma said, “I am very happy to return home. I had joined the Jana Sangh at the age of eight and have since remained committed to the BJP ideology. Last five years I realised that if I have to do anything for the nation then the BJP is the only party which is committed to the nation. Last five years I realised, BJP mera kinara hai, BJP mera sahara hai (BJP is my anchor.)

Uma’s return signifies the firm grip of Gadkari on the party and his good rapport with the RSS, because there were any number of Uma baiters in the BJP. Additionally, MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan apprehends trouble for himself and the party, the moment she returns to the BJP fold.

Uma returns to BJP almost immediately after its leaders felt in the two-day national executive in Lucknow last week the need to urgently inject some charge into the moribund UP unit and Uma could be trusted with that.

But she has her critics in the party. A leader when asked whether Gadkari was willing to undertake a guarantee on Uma’s behalf related an anecdote saying that sometime after Madan Lal Khurana was expelled he started going to Vajpayee (Atal Bihari) seeking revocation of his expulsion and Vajpayee urged the leaders to revoke Khurana’s expulsion. To which some leader asked him if he would guarantee that Khurana would behave in future and Vajpayee replied, “I guarantee that he would again misbehave but take him.”

Mumbai, June 7
A plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question alleged hawala operator Hasan Ali Khan was put off by the sessions court today till June 17.

The ED had sought custody of Khan for three days in order to question him in connection with the money laundering probe against him. The agency told the court that Khan was not cooperating in the matter.

Khan's lawyers however have sought time for him as he is currently undergoing treatment at St George Hospital. The court has also postponed the hearing of Khan's bail plea till June 17 as the government is yet to formally appoint a public prosecutor in the case. Ujjwal Nikam, who is slated to take over as public prosecutor is still awaiting the formal notification from the government to do so.

New Delhi, June 7
Pressure seems to be building on Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, chairing the Telecom ministry from 2004-07, to put in his papers, with the CBI probing the two-year delay in issuing telecom licences to Aircel company, while Maran was at the head.

The disclosures by CBI about Maran saw some heated moments in the JPC probing the 2G scam and the distribution of Spectrum to private telecom companies when JPC member from Maran’s party DMK T.R. Baalu blew his top at CBI Director A.P. Singh and his deputy Palsani and asked them to skip the news reports about Maran and stick only to their investigations.

The event demonstrated that the DMK was clearly on the edge since Maran would be the third DMK man who is coming under the 2G cloud after former Telecom Minister A Raja and Rajya Sabha MP and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi have been sent to Tihar jail on this count.

Maran has been accused of forcing the original owners of Aircel to sell their stakes in the company to a Malaysia based company Maxis which in turn invested in his family concern Sun Network after Maran helped it in securing Aircel from its original owners. 

Guwahati, June 7
The Gauhati High Court today issued a stay order on execution of the death sentence of a murder convict, Mahendra Nath Das, till June 17 and asked the Centre as well as the Assam Government to file affidavits in the court by June 17, explaining why it took 12 years for disposal of his mercy petition.

The court order came in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by convict’s mother Kusumbala Das under Article 21 seeking to know why the President took 12 years to dispose of the mercy petition.. One of the petitioner’s counsels Arup Kumar Borbora said after hearing the petition a two-member Division Bench of the HC stayed execution of the death sentence till June 17 by which both Union and the state governments filed explanation before the court for the delay in disposal of the mercy petition.—TNS

Haridwar, June 7
After his stinging attack, Baba Ramdev mellowed down today saying he “forgave” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the crackdown on his agitation even as the Congress accused him of being a “mukhota” (mask) of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar.

Ramdev, who has resumed his agitation against black money, corruption and the police action on his supporters, however, said history would not forgive the PM for the “political sin” he has committed. “The PM termed it (the police action) unfortunate. In a way he has accepted his sin. Since he has accepted his sin, I have forgiven him,” Ramdev said. “I have personally forgiven him but the history of not only India but the whole world will never forgive him for the political sin he committed. He has tainted democracy,” he added.

Ramdev said, “I am still on agitation and will carry on till the Centre agrees to my demands of bringing black money back and declaring it as a national asset.” Informing about his being in regular touch with Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kezariwal and other members of civil society in the Jan Lok Pal Draft Committee Ramdev said his thousands of supporters would be attending the agitation of Hazare at the Rajghat in Delhi as well as staging a silent protest in all 600 odd districts around the country where the Bharat Swabhiman Trust centres are situated.

“The intention of the Centre doesn’t seem much supportive as it is creating hindrances in both agitations but they should understand that our fight is not targetted to any single party but it is against the system for which if we have to face prison we are ready to do that even,” remarked the yoga guru. On the issue of support pouring in from the BJP, the RSS and the VHP, Ramdev urged the media not to give the agitation a political touch as he cited people from different sections and religions present at the agitation venue though in a lighter mood welcomed even Congress activists who agree with his mission.

Ramdev now also faces heat from the ED and the Income-Tax Department, which are examining operations of several companies dovetailed into two flagship trusts- Patanjali yogpeeth and Divya Yog Mandir.