S.O.S e - Voice For Justice - e-news weekly
Spreading the light of humanity & freedom
Spreading the light of humanity & freedom
Editor: Nagaraja.M.R..
Vol.07..Issue.47........19 / 11 / 2011
“There is a higher court than the court of justice and that is
the court of conscience It supercedes all other courts. ”
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mahatma Gandhi
Editorial : JUDGES MURDERING JUSTICE
SHAME to
Chief Justice of India
& Others
Indian
Corrupt Judges
The need for a Judges Accountability Bill
By Vicky Nanjappa
Off late there have been reports galore regarding judges being offered sites or houses under the discretionary quota of the Chief Minister. Recently there was an expose at the Orissa High Court. Prior to this there were reports from Karnataka and also another report which spoke about how the Narendra Modi government had offered prime lands to judges of the High Court.
The big question is whether judges deserve such treatment from the state government considering the fact that the government is the biggest litigant before any court in the country? Is this an illegality or is it corruption?
Justice Santhosh Hegde, former judge of the Supreme Court of India says it is illegal to accept sites under the discretionary quota. Judges ought to know that while accepting such sites they are succumbing to temptation. They have to examine any such offer and find out properly whether it is in accordance with law or not. It is very dangerous to accept such favours since in the days to come it would hold against themselves.
Speaking of a judges accountability bill, well there is one but it has not come out as yet. This has been loitering around for some years now and it is time that something is done about it. In fact while we were discussing the Lokpal bill this was one of the primary contentions during the debate. Either the government had to include it into the Lokpal Bill or make functional the judges accountability bill. However there was a lot of misunderstanding regarding this. All I said was it was not right to leave out the judges when we are fighting corruption. They should include this portion into the Lokpal bill. However once the Judges Accountability Bill is made functional then it could be deleted out of the Lokpal bill. There was no need to keep this in abeyance until that happened. When this issue is being argued and fought for the past 44 years then it is impertive for the government to include it.
Senior Advocate in the Karnataka High Court, Navkesh Batra is of the view that taking sites under the discretionary quota is nothing but corruption. First and foremost Judges are not entitled for a site under this quota. This quota is meant for poor people, outstanding people including judges. It cannot be given as a bul allotment as it amounts to nothing but a sop. When the government is the biggest litigant before any court in India then such a sop does not instill confidence in the public and it would be better if both the government and the judiciary abstains from such an act. Here I would like to quote the incident involving the great Justice R A Jagirdhar of the Bombay High Court. In fact he was the only judge who refused to apply for a site despite a request by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He even went one step further and at a public function when the CM sought to shake his hand he publicly rebuked him by saying, ” Mr CM your cases are pending before the high court. As a high court judge I refuse to shake your hand.”
http://vickynanjapa.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/the-need-for-a-judges-accountability-bill/
LAND SCAM IN TAMILNADU
One for my officer, one for my
boy...
Land and property are coveted
assets. So why are chief ministers allowed to give these away as favours? JEEMON
JACOB tracks how Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has been using his
quotas
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IN NOVEMBER, Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa almost lost his
job, due to the uproar over preferential allotment of land and property to his
sons and close associates. He has since cancelled the allotments, asked his
children to move out of his official residence, and retained his seat through
some deft political manoeuvring and muscle-flexing. At the height of the
campaign against him, as political opponents paraded on apparent moral high
ground, TEHELKA published details of plots similarly allotted by previous
Karnataka chief ministers, both of the Congress and the JD(S), to relatives,
servants, drivers, maids and partymen (LAND SCAM 2.0, 4 December). The purpose
was not to make Yeddyurappa’s wrongdoings look less shocking, but to show that
the problem was endemic and needed rooting out. The right given to chief
ministers to hand out public land to a favoured few — relatives, bureaucrats,
judges, police officers and others — smacks of nepotism and arbitrary feudal
power structures that should have no place in a modern democracy. (Though there
is no immediate proof of this, some of these allotments could also be benami
transactions, in which the ultimate ownership remains with the distributor of
the largesse, camouflaged by a stack of fake documents.)
This power — euphemistically called
“discretionary quota” — has even been used to favour allegedly corrupt army
officers like General Deepak Kapoor (AT EASE WITH GREASE, TEHELKA, 20
November), who was given a large 500 sq yd plot in Haryana by the Hooda
government, which then faced the embarrassment of refusing him permission to
sell it off before five years had elapsed, as per rules. The plot was given to
him by the government as preferential allotment in recognition for his
‘outstanding achievement’.
This week, continuing its campaign
against out-of-turn allotments of land and property, TEHELKA has an exposé on
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB)
which commands a large land bank, has a government discretionary quota (GDQ)
under which 15 percent of all allotments can be recommended by the CM.
Eligibility for allotment under GDQ is as follows: single/deserted women;
widows; social workers; physically handicapped persons; defence personnel;
ex-servicemen; eminent persons in the field of science, arts, literature,
economics, public administration and sports; freedom fighters; government
servants with unblemished service records; employees of PSUs, central
government undertakings and nationalised banks; PF institutions; journalists;
university staff; and employees of local bodies and municipalities.
While some of these categories sound
kosher, most of them raise a fundamental question: why should the government
have the power to give coveted land to select employees and journalists over
others? The only rationale could be proximity — which is an untenable reason
for being the beneficiary of political favours, often worth several crores.
Setting this aside, even within the
legal ambit of the GDQ, TEHELKA’s investigation shows that many of the
allotments in Karunanidhi’s tenure have violated the rule book. Many
bureaucrats and their relatives have been given plots or flats under the
category of “social worker”. Some of these last did social work when they were
in college; many of them claim to be volunteers in such routine activity as
helping in blood donation or eye camps. Many have issued certificates to
themselves; some have acquired letters from the Lions and Rotary Clubs with
vague endorsements. In other violations, the rules say that no one who has any
other land or property in Tamil Nadu or any other capital city, in either their
own or spouse or minor children’s name, can apply for GDQ allotments. TEHELKA
found this is routinely violated.
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The other brazen violation lies in
the claim of “unblemished” service records as a qualification for allotment.
When RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan sought a list of such bureaucrats, Additional
Secretary S Solomon Raj said, “As no unblemished government servant
certificates are issued, the question of furnishing a list of names does not
arise.” The additional secretary also clarified that the home department didn’t
have such a list. This is the phantom category under which many public servants
like Jaffar Sait, 1986 batch IPS officer, now Inspector General of
Police–Intelligence, got large allotments of land in prime locations. Why them
more than hundreds of others? That’s a democratic question the chief minister
will have to answer.
jeemonj@gmail.com
PHOTOS: THE HINDU, JEEMON
JACOB
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‘GDQ is a way of making you part of the syndicate’
BY JEEMON JACOB
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A1990 batch IAS officer, C Umashanker shot to fame during
the AIADMK regime when he exposed a scam in the construction of sheds in a
cremation ground under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana when he was additional
collector in Madurai. His brush with AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s partymen
resulted in his transfer out of the district.
Later, when the DMK came to power,
he was appointed managing director of the state-run Electronic Corporation of
Tamil Nadu and put in charge of procuring colour television sets for free
distribution to the poor in the state, in keeping with an election promise of
the DMK. He was transferred with immediate effect after he exposed corporate
fraud committed by the joint venture promoter ELNET Technologies Ltd.
Later, he was posted as managing
director of the state-run Arasu Cable TV Corporation. In this capacity, he
opposed the monopoly of Sumangali Corporation run by Kalanidhi Maran. He also
took steps to nationalise Sumangali Cable Vision. By that time, Maran had a
patch-up with the Karunanidhi family and Umashanker was transferred with
immediate effect.
Later, the anti-corruption and
vigilance department registered a case against him for disproportionate assets.
The government suspended him for claiming fake caste certificate as a Dalit
when he is a practising Christian.
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He lodged a complaint with the
National Backward Commission against his suspension and got a favourable order from
the High Court. At present, he is managing director of Tamil Nadu Small
Industries Corporation.
Umashanker was allotted a plot
(under government order 2D 325) on 3 April 2008 at Thiruvanmiyur Extension when
he was in charge of the free colour television for the poor programme. For
this, he would have had to pay 55.12 lakh. He wrote to the chief minister that
he could not afford to pay such a huge amount. Later, his allotment was
cancelled without stating any reason.
Umashanker revealed he had an MIG flat
in his name when the plot was allotted and he was not aware about the rule of
Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) that he can’t claim a plot when he has another
flat in his name.
It certainly seems commendable that
Umashanker turned down a chance to own a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension, one
of the poshest areas of the city. The plot is just 300 metres from the beach.
Though the entire colony has been
parcelled out to those close to the ruling establishment, it is the nouveau
riche and the industrialists who dream of owning a house in Thiruvanmiyur,
where they can rub shoulders with former judges, bureaucrats and political
power brokers. If and when the allottees decide to sell their plots, they can
demand extremely high prices.
In a frank chat, Umashanker talks
about how the government discretionary quota has been misused. Excerpts:
Why are bureaucrats, judges, former
judges and politicians given housing plots in posh localities under government
discretionary quota?
Who can refuse a good piece of land in Chennai city? It’s a way of rewarding people for good work done. No inquiry has been conducted in this matter so far. Discretionary quota is the prerogative of the government. After RTI came into existence, several activists are taking up the matter in court. Basically, there is no control mechanism or checks and balances. There is little transparency while awarding the GDQ — the plots are allotted without formal applications.
Who can refuse a good piece of land in Chennai city? It’s a way of rewarding people for good work done. No inquiry has been conducted in this matter so far. Discretionary quota is the prerogative of the government. After RTI came into existence, several activists are taking up the matter in court. Basically, there is no control mechanism or checks and balances. There is little transparency while awarding the GDQ — the plots are allotted without formal applications.
You were also allotted a plot in
2008 under the ‘unblemished government servant’ category. What happened to the
allotment?
Yes, I was allotted a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension. Initial payment for the plot was Rs. 25 lakh. I never had that much money. So I requested the government to reduce the price. But there was no response. I did not want a house to compromise my integrity. So I never took possession. Later, in 2009, the government ordered a vigilance inquiry against me and cancelled the allotment. Frankly, I was not aware about the TNHB rules that bars a person having a plot, a flat or a house from claiming another plot.
Yes, I was allotted a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension. Initial payment for the plot was Rs. 25 lakh. I never had that much money. So I requested the government to reduce the price. But there was no response. I did not want a house to compromise my integrity. So I never took possession. Later, in 2009, the government ordered a vigilance inquiry against me and cancelled the allotment. Frankly, I was not aware about the TNHB rules that bars a person having a plot, a flat or a house from claiming another plot.
Do you think the GDQ quota is a way
of silencing people, buying them out?
Yes, it is a way of making you a part of the syndicate. Plots or flats are given to those civil servants, judges or relatives of the bureaucrats or politicians for complying with certain requirements. There is no procedure for IAS or IPS officers to get a land or plot or flat in a transparent manner. So everybody uses short cuts.
Yes, it is a way of making you a part of the syndicate. Plots or flats are given to those civil servants, judges or relatives of the bureaucrats or politicians for complying with certain requirements. There is no procedure for IAS or IPS officers to get a land or plot or flat in a transparent manner. So everybody uses short cuts.
Why The Armed Forces Special Powers Act Should Be Lifted From
India’s Northeastern Region
By Madhu Chandra
By Madhu Chandra
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is a draconian and xenophobic law. It is draconian law because section 4 (a) of the AFSPA gives power to armed forces personnel to shoot at anyone suspicious, section 4 (b) to destroy the shelter of the armed rebels and section 4 (c) to search and arrest without warrant. This means that any army personnel can shoot at anyone suspected to have a gun. The section 6 of the AFSPA protects armed force personnel who carry out such actions from prosecution, suit or legal proceedings unless there is previous sanction from the Central Government.
After theThangjamManoram case in 2004, over 100 Manipuri women protested by stripping themselves naked in front of Kangla Fort Assam Rifle camp in order to challenge this section of the Act. Thereafter, the Central Government of India granted permission to prosecute army personnel involved in raping and killing. However, there is not even a single case where prosecution was carried out against any armed forces personnel under AFSPAwithout somewhat of a public outcry.
AFSPA is a xenophobic law because it is selectively imposed upon seven North East Indian states - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and extended to Jammu and Kashmir, but does not apply to the rest of the country.
There is no need to repeat the debate that AFSPA has failed to solve insurgency challenges; rather, it has only intensified the problem. Not much ideological debateis possible on the subject of why youngsters take up arms. How can we solve the problem without using armed violence? It will be worth focusing on other alternative to solve the five decades old socio-political crisis of North East India region.
The nation observed the 27th anniversary of India’s Prime Minister - Indira Gandhi’s assassination on October 31. The Ministry of Development for North East Region (DoNER) had an advertisement in The Times of India about the message of development initiated by Indira Gandhi in North East India!
Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi initiated the negotiation between Government of India with Mizoram’s separatist insurgents in 1971. Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 before she could present a solution to the problem. Thereafter, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi carried on the negotiations and achieved a solution in 1986.
The chapter of insurgency in Mizoram finally came to an end on June 30, 1986 with the signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord between the underground government of the Mizo National Front and the Government of India. Under the terms of the peace accord, Mizoram was granted statehood in February 1987.
The continuous negotiations and honest initiative from the Central Government of India brought a solution to the insurgencies in Mizoram, which lasted for 25 years from 1961 to 1986.
In dealing with the challenges of insurgency in North East India, could adopting the solutions that the Government of India arrived at with the insurgents of Mizoram be a means of solving insurgency problems in North East India as a whole?
Mizoram’s Problem Solved, AFSPA NOT Lifted
The problem of insurgency in Mizoram came to the end after singing the Mizoram Peace Accord in 1986. Since then Mizoram has been a peaceful state. Mizoram has highest literacy rate in whole of India today and it would have never been possible without solving the insurgency problem. It was not guns but honest, on-the-table negotiations that made this possible.
Interestingly, there was no attempt from the Government of India to lift AFSPA from Mizoram after the end of insurgency! Such a move might have conveyed to the whole region the message that AFSPA is not a permanent law and it will not remain in effect once the states become normal.
Winning people’sconfidence is the need of hour. So the best gesture at this moment could be lifting AFSPA from those states which have returned to normal life.
My Personal Observation
The people of Mizoram have returned to a peaceful life, but they are still under this draconian law. I have recently travelled from Aizwal, the state capital, to Champhai, a small town at Indo-Burma boarder. In all honesty, I did not see a single armed forces personnel except one or two police officers in uniform at check posts. Peaceful life has returned to Mizoram, but the shadow of AFSPA still hangs over the state.
The Mizoram State Assembly must pass a resolution to recommend to the Government of India to lift the AFSPA from entire territory of Mizoram. Once AFSPA isremovedfrom Mizoram, it will send out a message to the region that negotiations initiated by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi led to a permanent and long lasting solution in Mizoram.
Last but not the least, after the fake encounter killings at Imphal on July 23, 2009,Tehelka exposed the dictatorial nature of Manipur police commandos in the state of Manipur. The state kept burning for months; the Central Governmenttook notice, and gave strict orders to law-enforcing agencies to refrain from any form of human rights violation. Since then, the killing has abated in Manipur and AFSPA has been lifted partially from the Great Imphal areas. But it still remains for the Union Home ministry to monitor the situation and consider the sentiment of the people of this peaceful state in favor of lifting the AFSPA from the entire state.
Madhu Chandra is a research scholar and social activist based in New Delhi. He works as Spokesperson of North East Support Centre & Helpline (www.nehelpline.net).
www.madhuchandra.org
Ever Suffering Dalits
By Rahul Kumar Balley
No doubt ,India is making progress by
leaps and bounds in every sector but the condition of the Dalits in India is
deteriorating day by day in the society .Development of any nation has no
meaning when a particular section of the society such as the downtrodden are
socially & economically segregated from the mainstream . The situation is
critical when we measure the overall development of the country in absence of
equal opportunity for the minorities . Article 17 of the Indian constitution
forbids the practice of untouchability .It runs as “Untouchability is abolished
& its practice in any form is forbidden .The enforcement of any disability
arising out of :untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance
with law .Dalits are barred from temple entry in many states of the country
even after independence .The District officers ignore the sufferings of the
Dalits. Caste discrimination has made the life of the Dalits miserable and
intolerable . They are ill treated by the upper caste officers in each
department of the government .Dr B.R.Ambedkar was of the view that “caste has
ruined the Hindus ***the reorganisation of the Hindu society on the basis of Chaturvarna
is impossible because the varna Vyavastha is like a leaky pot or
like a man running at the nose (Ambedkar ,B,R. Annihilation of Caste
;Appendix –II:A reply to the Mahatma ;Jalandhar ,Bheem Patrika
Publications ,1987 P144)
It has been observed that successive governments at the centre
as well as at the state largely ruled by the upper caste Brahmins are to be
blamed for their worsening condition on all fronts . Data given by the Ministry
of Home Affiars says that the country is on the rise in the crime against
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes .The report says ,in the recent years
40,000 cases were registered during 2008 about 3600 more that the previous year
.Uttar Pradesh has the highest registered cases in the country followed by
Madhya Pradesh and Bihar .The data by the National Crime records Bureau (NCRB)
, a nodal agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs indicates a total of 49,810
people were convicted out of 1,90,857 arrested between 2006-08 under various
sections of the Act .
There has also been an alarming increase of violence against
women. A study of 500 Dalit women's cases of violence across AP, Bihar, Tamil
Nadu and UP between 1999 and 2004 revealed that the majority of the women faced
several forms of violence from either or both perpetrators in the general
community and the family . The most frequent forms of violence were verbal
abuse (62.4%), physical assault (54.8%), sexual harassment and assault (46.8%),
domestic violence(43.0%)andrape(23.2%).
Thousands of cases of atrocities against the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes are found to be unreported & unregistered due to political clot of the upper caste Brahmins who exercise money power as well muscle power to nip such cases in the bud In the existing atmosphere of deep rooted prejudice I am of the opinion that even a Dalit Prime Minister can not prevent atrocities against the Dalits in India unless or until mentality of the larger section of the people is not changed in favour of the Dalits in India . The Dalits have rightly nursed serious apprehensions and insist that Hinduism played a role in their social oppression. Sections of the secular lobby have rejected Hinduism as irrational and unscientific. The cultural nationalists have given it a bad image through their strident advocacy of a militant and aggressive Hindutva. Many feminists are shocked by patriarchal texts like the Manu Shastras. These are enough reasons for the liberal intellectual to consider throwing the baby out with the bath water. With all these serious anomalies would it not be better that Hinduism is at least ignored, insofar as that is possible, since it is unlikely to die a natural death in the near future ? Dr Ambedkar embraced Buddhism ,a religion of peace and p rosperity and adviced millions of so called Dalits to follow suit to lead a dignified life .
Thousands of cases of atrocities against the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes are found to be unreported & unregistered due to political clot of the upper caste Brahmins who exercise money power as well muscle power to nip such cases in the bud In the existing atmosphere of deep rooted prejudice I am of the opinion that even a Dalit Prime Minister can not prevent atrocities against the Dalits in India unless or until mentality of the larger section of the people is not changed in favour of the Dalits in India . The Dalits have rightly nursed serious apprehensions and insist that Hinduism played a role in their social oppression. Sections of the secular lobby have rejected Hinduism as irrational and unscientific. The cultural nationalists have given it a bad image through their strident advocacy of a militant and aggressive Hindutva. Many feminists are shocked by patriarchal texts like the Manu Shastras. These are enough reasons for the liberal intellectual to consider throwing the baby out with the bath water. With all these serious anomalies would it not be better that Hinduism is at least ignored, insofar as that is possible, since it is unlikely to die a natural death in the near future ? Dr Ambedkar embraced Buddhism ,a religion of peace and p rosperity and adviced millions of so called Dalits to follow suit to lead a dignified life .
On Nov 2, 2006 , addressing the annual conference of the
minorities commissions, the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh had said
“It is essential that communal peace and harmony should be maintained and the
minorities get a fair share in Central and State Government and private sector
jobs”. He also stated that the minority youth should be trained with skills
which will enable them to get their legitimate share both in public and private
sector. It seems these are talks and talks only nothing substantial is being
done to ameliorate the worsening condition of the Dalits .
Congress party having ruled the country for larger period has
not made sincere efforts to ameliorate the conditions of the Dalits in India .
Welfare schemes launched by the central government as well as the state
governments proved to be ineffective to improve the pathetic conditions of the
Dalits since a large chunk of the funds earmarked for the welfare of the poor
Dalits are eaten away by the upper caste Brahmins who control the government
machinery . It has also been observed that some unscrupulous Dalits in
connivance with the corrupt officials of the government are also involved in
looting the welfare funds meant for the needy,poor Dalits .Fake NGOs in the
name of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes being run by greedy Dalits
need to be exposed .A new trend has been witnessed in the coming days that some
of the upper caste Brahmins found to be running such NGOs and getting funds
from different government ministries . The central as well as the state
government should bar such fake NGOs running across the country and stop the
loot .
Eminent social scientists have been warning the respective
governments to take care of the minorities before a volcano of discontentment
engulfs the country .Abraham Lincoln said You may fool all the people
some of the time: you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you
can't fool all of the people all the time.
Cleanup
Indian Politics Of Criminal MPs
By Syed Ali Mujtaba
Corruption and Criminalization are
two distinctive features of the Indian politics. The crusade against corruption
was loudly articulated by the social activist Anna Hazare however, there is
little noise being made by the civil society about the criminalization of
Indian politics.
As a matter of fact, one out of four MP in India face criminal
charges. There are 162 MPs in the current Lok Sabha, the lower house of the
Parliament that has criminal records. Out of these, there are 76 MPs having
serious charges against them.
The total number of criminal cases against the MPs is 522 and
out of these 275 MPs face
serious IPC sections charges against them.
The Bhartiya Janta Party has the highest number of criminal MPs
that is 43, out of which 19 have serious criminal cases against them.
The Congress party comes next with 41 MPs having criminal
cases, out of which 12 MPs face serious charges against them.
As compared to 2004, the number of MPs with pending criminal
cases has gone up. There were 128 MPs with pending criminal cases against them
in 2004 Lok Sabha out of which 58 had serious pending criminal cases. There is
an increase of about 26% in MPs with pending criminal cases and 31% increase in
the number of MPs with serious pending criminal cases.
Obviously, these are not the type of people that should
represent we the people of India, but some how these heavy weight crooks have
got themselves elected into the Parliament and have become part of the
governing apparatus of the country by default.
The comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) have
lambasted the government on this declining trend. "Governance is at its
lowest ebb. The morale of civil servants is low. The situation is too
deleterious for the nation. There is too much at stake for too many in such a
situation," CAG reportedly has said.
There has been an erosion of people's faith in government.
Their confidence in public institutions has declined. National trust in
bureaucracy including the police force has collapsed. The integrity and
professionalism of civil servants is being questioned," it adds.
"We have chief ministers who have had to vacate their
positions allegedly for graft, on whom courts and other judicial bodies have
made adverse pronouncements. We have Members of Parliament who are being
indicted by the judiciary for various acts including accepting cash for
exercising their vote in Parliament." CAG concludes.
So in such a situation the principal issue is how to make it
harder for those with criminal cases to contest elections. Obviously, there is
an urgent need of electoral reforms in this country that bars any convicted
person from holding office till they are finally acquitted by a court of law.
The current legal position relating to a person convicted of
criminal charges is that if the criminal charge, and not just the sentence, is
suspended on an appeal, he has the right to contest elections.
One has to understand the nuance in the law and that depends on
what order the court gives. If the conviction is suspended, then one can fight
elections, if the sentence is suspended, which means no jail, but conviction
stands, until such time that the appeal is heard, then one can not fight
elections.
Union Law Minister Salman Khursheed has drafted a bill that
plugs the loopholes and it could make it impossible for any convicted
politician to run for office.
At the moment, those convicted of criminal charges have three
months to appeal but that will not be available if the structure of amendments
prepared by the Minister goes through the motion and get passed. In such a case
the convicted members will be immediately excluded from Parliament.
According to the draft bill if one is convicted, then he can
not fight elections, irrespective of what the appeal order is, until he is
finally acquitted by the court of law.
Another amendment that is proposed in the draft bill is; crimes
committed under section 153 (A), which pertains to creating enmity between
communities to be put under the category of heinous crimes, and if that
happens, politicians convicted under this clause will not have the right to
contest elections.
All this is fine. The big question is will these proposals be
acceptable to all the political parties. In fact, there is already a law in
place to rein in the corrupt MPs, but many of them have found loopholes into it
and have got stay order on their conviction to contest election.
Even the proposed amendment bill is being challenged by some
unscrupulous MPs. They have threatened to derail the new bill, if and when, it
comes for discussion at the all party meeting.
It’s an argument by those who have something to hide and they
will use all kinds of tactics to continue their domination in power.
What is needed is to build consensus around the proposed
amended in the electoral process initiated by the Union Law Minister. We have
seen with the Jan Lokpal movement that people power can force the government to
sit up and make changes.
We need to use the same strategy and generate massive public
opinion to clean up Indian politics of its criminal crooks.
Unlike the herculean task of weeding out corruption from the Indian
system, the task of getting rid of politician facing criminal charges is much
easy.
The redemption of Indian politics from all its banes is long
haul and cleaning Indian politics of criminal MPs could be a way forward for
good governance and betterment of the country.
We have to watch every move about this bill as it gets drafted,
placed before the all party meeting and discussed in the in the Parliament.
Even all this happens we have to built a momentum on the lines
of Jan Lokpal movement and send a strong signal to the political party bosses
to have a consensus on the draft bill and pass it in this winter session of the
Parliament.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
Advocates want CJI to probe corruption
charges against Judge
The Advocates Association of the
Madurai High Court Bench has appealed to the Chief Justice of India to probe
charges of corruption against Justice C S Karnan as also the latter's complaint
that some of his colleagues on the bench practised untouchability against him.
A resolution seeking setting up of a body to probe corruption charges levelled
by some advocates against him as well as his complaint about untouchability was
passed at a meeting of the Madurai Branch of the Madras Advocates Association
here last night, a release said. After complaining to the National Commission
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes about being "harassed on caste
grounds", Karnan had last week claimed that some former judges had also
faced similar ordeal. "Since April 2009 I faced harassment but remained
silent to maintain the decorum of the court. I am a self respecting
person," he had told reporters. He had said there was no need for him to
complain to the Chief Justice of the High Court as the Commission, functioning
directly under the President, had been set up to look into problems faced by
the SCs and STs.
……………………..DECLARATION………………………
Name : ...........................NAGARAJA.M.R.
Address : ...................LIG-2 / 761 , HUDCO FIRST STAGE , OPP
WATER WORKS OFFICE , LAKSHMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL , MYSORE - 570017 INDIA
Professional / Trade Title : S.O.S - e – Voice For Justice
Periodicity : WEEKLY
Circulation : FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION ON WEB
Donations : NOT ACCEPTED. Self financing . Never accepted any donations , subscriptions either for ourselves or on behalf of other organizations / individuals .
Monetary gains : nil , never made any monetary gain by way of advertisements on my websites or web news paper or otherwise.
Owner/editor/printer/publisher : NAGARAJA.M.R.
Nationality : INDIAN
Body Donation : Physical Body of Nagaraja M R , Editor , S.O.S- e – clarion of Dalit & S.O.S-e-Voice for Justice is donated to JSS Medical College , Mysore ( Donation No. 167 dated 22 / 10 / 2003 ) , In case of either Unnatural death or Natural Death at the hands of criminal nexus , my body must be handed over to JSS Medical College , Mysore for the study purposes of medical students.
Eye Donation : Both EYES of Nagaraja M R , Editor , S.O.S- e – clarion of Dalit & S.O.S-e-Voice for Justice are donated to Mysore Eye Bank , Mysore , In case of either Unnatural death or Natural Death at the hands of criminal nexus , my eyes must be handed over to Mysore Eye Bank , Mysore WITHIN 6 Hours for immediate eye transplantation to the needy.
Home page :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naghrw ,
http://groups.google.co.in/group/hrwepaper/ ,
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/ ,
http://evoiceofhumanrightswatch.wordpress.com/ ,http://indiapolicelaw.blogspot.com/ ,
, http://naghrw.tripod.com/evoice/ , http://e-voiceofhumanrightswatch.blogspot.com ,
Contact : naghrw@yahoo.com , naga...@hotmail.com ,
http://groups.google.co.in/group/hrwepaper/ ,
http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/ ,
http://evoiceofhumanrightswatch.wordpress.com/ ,http://indiapolicelaw.blogspot.com/ ,
, http://naghrw.tripod.com/evoice/ , http://e-voiceofhumanrightswatch.blogspot.com ,
Contact : naghrw@yahoo.com , naga...@hotmail.com ,
UID
Aadhaar No : 5703 5339 3479
Cell : 91 9341820313
I ,NAGARAJA.M.R. hereby do declare that information given above are true to the best of my knowledge & belief. If i am repeatedly called to police station or else where for the sake of investigations , the losses i do incurr as a result like loss of wages , transportation , job , etc must be borne by the government. prevoiusly the police / IB personnel repeatedly called me the complainant (sufferer of injustices) to police station for questioning , but never called the guilty culprits even once to police station for questioning , as the culprits are high & mighty . this type of one sided questioning must not be done by police or investigating agencies . if anything untoward happens to me or to my family members like loss of job , meeting with hit & run accidents , loss of lives , death due to improper medical care , etc , the jurisdictional police together with above mentioned accussed public servants will be responsible for it. Even if criminal nexus levels fake charges , police file fake cases against me or my dependents to silence me , this complaint is & will be effective.
If I or my family members or my dependents are denied our fundamental rights , human rights , denied proper medical care for ourselves , If anything untoward happens to me or to my dependents or to my family members - In such case Chief Justice of India together with the jurisdictional revenue & police officials will be responsible for it , in such case the government of india is liable to pay Rs. one crore as compensation to survivors of my family. if my whole family is eliminated by the criminal nexus ,then that compensation money must be donated to Indian Army Welfare Fund. Afterwards , the money must be recovered by GOI as land arrears from the salary , pension , property , etc of guilty police officials , Judges , public servants & Constitutional fuctionaries.
date : 12/11/2011…………………………..your's sincerely,
place : India…………………………………Nagaraja.M.R.
Cell : 91 9341820313
I ,NAGARAJA.M.R. hereby do declare that information given above are true to the best of my knowledge & belief. If i am repeatedly called to police station or else where for the sake of investigations , the losses i do incurr as a result like loss of wages , transportation , job , etc must be borne by the government. prevoiusly the police / IB personnel repeatedly called me the complainant (sufferer of injustices) to police station for questioning , but never called the guilty culprits even once to police station for questioning , as the culprits are high & mighty . this type of one sided questioning must not be done by police or investigating agencies . if anything untoward happens to me or to my family members like loss of job , meeting with hit & run accidents , loss of lives , death due to improper medical care , etc , the jurisdictional police together with above mentioned accussed public servants will be responsible for it. Even if criminal nexus levels fake charges , police file fake cases against me or my dependents to silence me , this complaint is & will be effective.
If I or my family members or my dependents are denied our fundamental rights , human rights , denied proper medical care for ourselves , If anything untoward happens to me or to my dependents or to my family members - In such case Chief Justice of India together with the jurisdictional revenue & police officials will be responsible for it , in such case the government of india is liable to pay Rs. one crore as compensation to survivors of my family. if my whole family is eliminated by the criminal nexus ,then that compensation money must be donated to Indian Army Welfare Fund. Afterwards , the money must be recovered by GOI as land arrears from the salary , pension , property , etc of guilty police officials , Judges , public servants & Constitutional fuctionaries.
date : 12/11/2011…………………………..your's sincerely,
place : India…………………………………Nagaraja.M.R.
Edited, printed , published owned by NAGARAJ.M.R. @ #LIG-2 / 761,HUDCO FIRST STAGE ,OPP WATER WORKS , LAXMIKANTANAGAR , HEBBAL ,MYSORE - 570017INDIA… cell :09341820313
home page : home page : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naghrw , http://groups.google.co.in/group/hrwepaper / , http://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice / , http://evoiceofhumanrightswatch.wordpress.com / , http://indiapolicelaw.blogspot.com / , http://naghrw.tripod.com/evoice/ ,
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