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investment scam
AFT stand on pension cases under HC lens
India, France to co-develop military equipment: Envoy
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Action likely against ‘erring' RLD MLAs
Govt eyes ordinance route for anti-graft Bills
Paternity suit: Rohit rejects Tiwari’s mediation offer
IRS 2013 kept in abeyance
Mining scam: Fresh affidavit filed in HC
Cong moves
no-confidence
motion against Modi govt Eye on AP gains, BJP supports Telangana Bill
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SC asks SEBI to sell Sahara’s properties, summons Subrata
R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent
A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar also asked SEBI to start selling Sahara’s properties, the documents of which the group had given as security for the funds it had raised from small investors in the form of fully convertible debentures since 2008. As the Bench was asking SEBI’s senior counsel Arvind Datar to sell the properties, Roy’s senior counsel Aryaman Sundaram said this was not possible without the consent of the companies from which these had been collected and given to SEBI to be used only as security. Taking strong exception to this contention, the Bench said the group and Roy had not bothered to honour any of the court’s directives issued after its August 31, 2012 verdict, upholding the ruling of the SEBI Appellate Tribunal that the group’s debenture issue was illegal and as such the investments should be returned through the market regulator. At this stage, it ended the hearing and passed an order asking Roy and three directors - Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary - facing contempt of court proceedings for non-compliance of the 2012 verdict of the SC. SEBI has filed the contempt case against the four. Two Sahara companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIREC) and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHIC) - had raised about Rs 25,780 crore from over three crore investors. Following the SC verdict, Sahara gave Rs 5,120 crore to SEBI, contending that it had directly returned the remaining amount to the investors. Arguing for Sahara, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani contended that since the bonds issued to the investors had been collected back and submitted to SEBI, it should be presumed that the funds had been returned to the investors. As such, neither the SC nor SEBI should insist on production of ledger books or bank statements as proof for the refund. The average investment made by each investor was less than Rs 8,500 and since most of them did not have bank accounts, Sahara had to mobilise funds in cash to return the investors in cash, Jethmalani pleaded. The Bench, however, said the apex court had rejected similar contentions several times in the past.
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AFT stand on pension cases under HC lens
Chandigarh, February 20 In a series of recent decisions by the AFT, many pensionary matters of disabled soldiers and military widows have been dismissed on the ground of delay despite the fact that last year the High Court had opined that such an approach of the Chandigarh Bench of AFT was not tenable and that pension was not a bounty. Even the Delhi High Court had overturned many such decisions of the AFT based on Supreme Court judgments where it had been held that pension was a recurring cause of action and hence was unaffected by the concept of limitation. The Chandigarh Bench had similarly held that delay or principles of limitation would not affect matters of pension which gave rise to continuing wrongs. Several litigants were of the opinion that most of the cases in the AFT relate to pensionary benefits and such dismissals were detrimental to the concerns of military veterans since the AFT was primarily created to redress their grievances. In the past, many decisions of the AFT rejecting claims of pension of defence veterans have been overturned by High Courts. In the case of Maj Arvind Suhag, the Delhi High Court had termed the AFT’s narrow interpretation of war-injury pension as “unwarranted” and had stated that the “cavalier manner” in which the claim for war injury pension was rejected by the respondents was “deplorable”. While setting aside the order of the AFT, the High Court had also awarded costs of Rs 50,000 to the officer.
Now, AFT benches in Jabalpur, Srinagar
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday cleared the proposal for setting up regional benches of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in Jabalpur and Srinagar. The Jabalpur Bench will deal with the cases of ex-servicemen of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The AFT has presently regional benches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Jaipur while its principal Bench is at Delhi.
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India, France to co-develop military equipment: Envoy
Chandigarh, February 20 “We are looking at jointly developing a new generation short-range surface-to-air missile. It is something that does not exist but both countries need this technology,” he said while interacting with The Tribune here today. A former Adviser for Strategic and Security Affairs at the Presidency of the French Republic, this is his first visit to Chandigarh since he was appointed Ambassador in October 2011. On the much-hyped $ 10 billion deal for procuring 126 Rafale fighter jets, which has been hanging fire apparently for want of funds, the Ambassador stated he was sure that the deal would go through. Some negotiations still needed to be done. Issues and differences that had cropped up over the setting up of a production plant for the fighter jets in India have been largely resolved and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and French manufacturer Dassault have reached an agreement, he elaborated. France is also a major competitor for supplying 1,800 artillery guns for the Indian Army and 197 light helicopters for use in the high-altitude areas. While admitting that France has not been a key supplier of military equipment to India, Richier said the situation had been changing over the past 10 years and France was ready for transfer of technology. On the impact of India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, a legislation that aims at providing a civil liability for nuclear damage and prompt compensation to the victims in the event of a nuclear incident, Richier said while France could not impinge on the sovereignty of the Indian Parliament, it would work and cooperate with the country within the framework of the law.
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Action likely against ‘erring' RLD MLAs
Lucknow, February 20 First-time MLA from Rohania in Varanasi 33-year-old Anupriya Patel has requested the Speaker to take action against RLD MLAs from Modi Nagar Suresh Sharma and Chaprauli Veerpal Rathi, who had taken off their kurtas in the House while protesting against some issues. Describing it as "misconduct" under the rules, she has asked the Speaker to set an example so that such conduct is not repeated in future. Principal Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, Pradeep Dubey said Patel's application had been examined by the Speaker and tomorrow he might announce to refer the matter to the conduct committee of the House that could recommend suspension of the
MLAs.
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Govt eyes ordinance route for anti-graft Bills
New Delhi, February 20 Throughout the day, the government kept pressurising the BJP to agree to an extension of the current session to pass the pending anti-corruption Bills in Parliament. The BJP was clearly not interested with the government already hinting at the executive route to make the Bills a reality. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has been pushing for a comprehensive anti-corruption code comprising six Bills of which two have been passed, including the Lokpal. Four bills are pending in Parliament. These are the Whistleblowers Protection Bill, Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organizations Bill 2011, Public Procurement Bill and the Right of Citizens for Time-bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill 2011. Asked what the Congress strategy would be if the anti-graft legislations are not passed, Congress spokesperson Shashi Tharoor said, “We are extremely keen to see these Bills passed. We invited the BJP to agree to the extension of Parliament session. There has been no agreement. If the Bills are not passed all options would have to be explored. We are not ruling out the Ordinance route.” The Congress is, in fact, all set to project Rahul as an anti-corruption crusader by projecting the principal opposition BJP as the villain in the process. Rahul had at the beginning of the session appealed to the Opposition to “rise above political interests and pass the anti-corruption code of the UPA.”
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Paternity suit: Rohit rejects Tiwari’s mediation offer
New Delhi, February 20 Tiwari has filed an affidavit in the high court expressing his willingness for mediation. Asked about the offer, Rohit said there was no point in going for mediation when the suit was slated for final arguments on February 28.
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IRS 2013 kept in abeyance
Chandigarh, February 20 All subscribers and members would be "immediately contacted" by the Readership Studies Council of India
(RSCI), MRUC and the Audit Bureau of Circulations to hold off the usage of the study until revalidation process is completed. An MRUC press release said the process of revalidation was being developed which would be finalised by March 31, 2014. The observations and recommendations from the process would be presented to the RSCI by early April, 2014. Once adopted, the recommendations will be formally incorporated into future architecture of the IRS. The decision to hold the survey report came after MRUC Board and the managing committee of the RSCI met on Wednesday.
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Mining scam: Fresh affidavit filed in HC
Cuttack, February 20 Petitioner Rini Rath through her counsel Narasinhga Mishra, a senior Congress leader, filed the fresh affidavit.
—PTI
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Cong moves no-confidence motion against Modi govt Gandhinagar, February 20 Leader of the Opposition Shankarsinh Vaghela said the speaker Vajubhai Vala had accepted the notice and was expected to place it for discussion in the House on Friday. The notice was given on the first day of the short budget session of the Assembly today after the entire Opposition disrupted the Governor’s address by thumping desks demanding CBI inquiry into the alleged "employment fraud." A person, believed to be a senior BJP leader, and a deputy section officer in the state secretariat have been arrested for allegedly demanding Rs seven to 10 lakhs per candidate for "assured jobs" as "talatis" (a revenue department official) in the state.
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Eye on AP gains, BJP supports Telangana Bill New Delhi, February 20 Apparently, party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi also wanted it to "discard the tricky Telangana baggage now and here". Notably, the BJP's key demands were that the Bill should not be passed in din or without a structured debate. Sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appealed to senior BJP leaders to ensure smooth passage to the Bill without pressing for changes, assuring that their concerns on Seemandhra would be looked after. Tomorrow is the last day of the session and had the BJP insisted on amendments the Bill would have had to be sent back to the Lok Sabha. The BJP had already made clear its opposition to extending the session. Apart from the fact that the government would have had a very short window to get it cleared, to make the matters worse suspended Lok Sabha MPs too would have returned to the House. According to BJP leaders, by conceding to division of Andhra the Congress and TRS can be rest assured of doing well on the 17 Telengana seats. However, the remaining, a major chunk of 25 seats, belong to Seemandhra. TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, who had been pressing for a united Andhra, is keen on a pre-poll pact with BJP. Sources say the saffron party's attention on Seemandhra today was directed in that direction. Apparently, at a recent meeting with Modi the TDP chief had sounded a warning that the BJP could end up antagonising people of Seemandhra by its insistence that it favoured Telengana. The sources say after the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha it had appeared as if the BJP had given in to Telengana without putting up a fight for Seemandhra. Besides, addressing the Seemandhra region also suit the needs of YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy who too is warming up to the
BJP.
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New Delhi, February 20