Quote:Some startling pronouncements, orders, and judgments by the Supreme Court in recent times necessitate urgent scrutiny of the definition of ‘justice’ which seems to have undergone a strange metamorphosis without national debate or consent. There is also a danger that judicial overreach is transcending the constitutional scheme of separation of powers between the executive, legislature, and judiciary, thereby eroding a basic feature of the constitution.



It is astonishing that the Centre has meekly agreed to comply with the Supreme Court’s order of Dec. 14, 2010, to furnish the ‘complaint’ that led to tapping of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia’s telephone by income tax, and possibly other, agencies. Such court intervention in the work of intelligence-gathering agencies can have a corrosive impact on their confidentiality and operating procedures, and must be discouraged. If the Union Home Ministry found merit in a warning that a person residing in India was indulging in espionage and anti-national activities, it was duty-bound to investigate the same.



From a public perspective, the Radia tapes disclosures have exposed the murky underbelly of high finance - corporate lobbying to make Andimuthu Raja the Telecommunications Minister; the unprecedented loss to the exchequer in allocation of 2G spectrum; corporate fixing of the judiciary, etc. The real issues of tax evasion and money laundering are yet to be exposed.



Editing of the Radia tapes makes it difficult to know which judge allegedly received Rs nine crores. But there is a clear reference to a squabbling corporate family. In this context – and the crushing Rs. 3/litre rise in petrol prices – it may be fair to ask the court to suo moto revisit its judgment in the pricing dispute between the Ambani brothers, specifically, the critical issue of ownership of national resources.



In the dispute between Mr Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Mr Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, (RNRL), the public interest pertains to the cost of natural gas. During the settlement of late Mr Dhirubhai Ambani’s estate in 2005, ICICI managing director K.V. Kamath negotiated a purchase price for RNRL at US$2.34 per mmBTU from RIL-operated KG-D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin. RIL made a profit from this deal.



Yet two years later, the government fixed US$ 4.20 per mmBTU for National Thermal Power Corporation to buy gas from the same firm; this prompted Mr Mukesh Ambani to insist RNRL pay the higher price.



The Supreme Court upheld the contention of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora that gas is a natural – and national – resource, and government has the right to fix its price. But can government fix a price higher than that agreed to by two parties in the free market, and can the benefit of this differential be pocketed by one private party, that too at the cost of a public sector undertaking?



The issue affects all who will pay for the power generated by NTPC and other firms. Experts estimate RIL will earn an extra Rs 23,000 crores from this verdict. Had the Supreme Court awarded this as royalty to the Petroleum Ministry, it could have been used to buffer the public against sharp jumps in prices. The apex court should revisit this verdict.



Equally astounding was the Supreme Court decision in February 2010, to stay the trial of 64 members of the Indian Mujahideen in Ahmedabad, for alleged involvement in several terror attacks from 2005 onwards in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Jaipur and Lucknow. The accused pleaded they would not get a fair trial in Gujarat and demanded transfer outside the state, adding they were being ill-treated in jail.



By staying the trial just three days before its commencement, the Supreme Court virtually declared ‘no confidence’ in the entire Gujarat High Court. The question arises, what kind of judgment must certain types of accused get in order to accept that justice has been done? And does the Indian judicial system allow open ‘shopping’ of judges and courts, which is what the demand for transfer to another state amounts to?



Has the Supreme Court learnt nothing from the manner it which it allowed ideologically biased activists to make it transfer the Gujarat riot cases to a state where they felt they could conveniently monitor them? Once the Supreme Court learnt that the National Human Rights Commission had recommended this transfer on the basis of an unsigned affidavit submitted by controversial activist Teesta Setalvad, did it retreat from brinkmanship? Now that the mass manufacture and doctoring of affidavits by Setalvad’s NGO has been exposed, and cases are falling apart, has Supreme Court revisited its operational procedures?



We may legitimately ask if court intervention has effectively derailed the trial of the Indian Mujahideen men. It is now December 2010, and Indian Mujahideen has executed a bomb blast in Varanasi, causing the death of an infant. Won’t judicial activism demoralize the intelligence agencies and police who risk their lives in umpteen unknown ways to nab such criminals? If ill-treatment in jail leads to calls to transfer a case outside a state, why didn’t the battering of Sadhvi Pragya in a Mumbai jail result in the transfer of her case to another state?



This brings us to the myth of ‘Hindu/saffron terror’ propagated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her cohorts in the government and party (WikiLeaks says US thought her politics ‘unprincipled’). The Mumbai ATS has been unable to stick any charge against Sadhvi Pragya and her co-accused, yet some cussed mentality denies them bail, though Pragya is allegedly suffering from cancer. Now WikiLeaks has exposed that Rahul Gandhi told American envoy Timothy Roemer that ‘radicalised Hindu groups’ were a greater concern than Islamic groups like Lashkar-i-Toiba! Surely this is a wake-up call to the Indian judiciary - to do justice, and to be seen to be doing justice.



Finally, we have the ‘uncle’ judge syndrome. Without casting aspersions on the integrity or calibre of former Supreme Court judge Shivraj V. Patil, appointed by telecom minister Kapil Sibal to probe the 2G scam, his qualification seems to be close family ties with former union home minister Shivraj Patil. And former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan has also been exposed for claiming that the CJI-Madras High Court did not name A. Raja as the minister who tried to influence a judge in a murder case. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive…

Quote:The Opposition BJP on Friday threatened legal action against a former aide of Nira Radia, whose claims about “close links” between the corporate lobbyist and BJP leaders were prominently carried by an English news channel. The party would also start legal action against the TV channel for broadcasting allegations by a person who had “spent two years in jail and has a personal score to settle”.



Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told newspersons here on Friday evening, “Merely because someone else is making these allegation does not dilute the channel’s responsibility… It treated as gospel truth the allegations against prominent BJP leaders (which were) made by someone who not only spent two years in jail but is close to a senior Congress member and has a personal score to settle.”



Radia’s close aide Rao Dheeraj Singh, who was in jail for two years after she accused him of kidnapping her son, told news channel Headlines Today that the lobbyist got hugely benefited out of her close links with BJP leader Ananth Kumar (then Civil Aviation Minister).



He had also accused Ananth of facilitating a Eurocopter deal with the BJP Governments in Karnataka and Maharashtra in 1998, in which Radia was also involved. In an apparent reference to Nitin Gadkari (now BJP chief), Singh claimed the lobbyist also met a BJP leader in Nagpur to facilitate the deal.



“There was no BJP or NDA Government in the two States during the period mentioned by Singh. And Gadkari was Leader of the Opposition in the legislative council (from where he could not have influenced the State Government’s decision on purchase of helicopters),” Jaitley said, adding that Gadkai did not even know Radia before the news about her phones being tapped broke out.



On Singh’s claims about the BJP Government “allotting a huge piece of land” to Radia’s trust in Vasant Kunj in 2002 and LK Advani attending the foundation stone-laying ceremony, the BJP replied that Advani had never attended the said programme.



“The only function he attended in Vasant Kunj in 2002 was that of the trust run by Pejawar Swami, who has himself clarified that the land was allotted to his trust by the United Front Government,” Jaitley claimed.



He also disputed Singh’s claim that Ananth Kumar used to leak Cabinet papers to Radia who, in turn, would pass these on to her clients. “Which Cabinet papers and relating to which issue? We all are oblivious of it,” Jaitley asked. He also strongly rejected the allegation that Ananth Kumar had any bank account in Zurich.

Quote:New Delhi: Commonwealth Games Chairman Suresh Kalmadi has reportedly shipped out incriminating documents related to the Games to the USA. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources have told CNN-IBN that the documents are reportedly with Kalmadi's nephew Rajender Rao in Minnesota, US.



The sources claimed that Kalmadi and his close aide BK Ratnakar Rao are involved in shipping out Commonwealth Games documents.

However, Kalmadi claimed that he did not ship out any document saying that he was open to any enquiry.



Kalmadi and BK Ratnakar Rao, currently President of Squash Federation of India and former RAW officer, reportedly shipped out incriminating documents to Rajender Rao, who lives in 10619 Maple Boulevard, Woodbury Minnesota, MN 55129, USA.



Rao had been a Reserve Bank investigator of commercial fraud and was a security advisor to Commonwealth Games. Rao's residence in Bangalore - 425, 10th Main Road, Banasankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560070 -[color="#FF0000"] might be raided soon by the CBI[/color].



Rao's connections in London with Ash Patel was made during the time he was the minister of coordination and visa in Indian High Commission at London between 1989-92.

He used his contacts in the London High Commission and informed them that CWG would make the arrangements for Queen's Baton Relay and deal directly with local contractors, hire equipment, rent accomodation and deal with security arrangements.



He visited UK in August 2009 and contacted contractors like Ash Patel to set up shell companies with false accounts and prepare false invoices for the overlays.

In April 2009 Rao was asked to squeeze £250,000 of CWG money by over-invoicing for overlays. Darbari was asked to hand over the CWG money to Ash Patel in Oct 2009 for the Queen's Baton Relay.



Darbari was told to collect his share of 10 per cent of the deal with a diamond ring at the duty free airport in Dubai. Darbari, apparently, never suspected he had walked into a trap and would be charged under FEMA/FERA for money-laundering and non-declaration of customs duty on imported jewellery.

Quote:"Under the Lok Sabha Rules, PAC cannot call a Minister, much less the Prime Minister. (The) Prime Minister's offer therefore, has no meaning," she tweeted.



Her comments come a day after Singh wrote to PAC chairman Joshi expressing his readiness to appear before the panel, which is probing the 2G Spectrum scam.



Joshi, who does not seem to be very enthusiastic about the campaign for a JPC, yesterday said that the PAC will take an "appropriate decision at an appropriate time" on Singh's offer after going through rules and procedures and in accordance with them.



Swaraj said the "scope of PAC is totally different from that of JPC. While PAC deals with accounts, JPC deals with accountability and governance."



Under Speaker's Direction 99 under the rules of procedures and conduct of business in Lok Sabha, the 22-member PAC cannot call a minister to give evidence or for consultations in connection with the examination of accounts by it.



The chairman of the committee, however, may have an informal talk with a minister on the subject under consideration by the committee.

Quote:CHENNAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the multimillion 2G spectrum scam would not yield desired results. He favoured a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigation stating that a JPC probe would only lead to the ouster of the Prime Minister.



Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Swamy said if a JPC was constituted, it would have more members from the ruling Congress and the probe would not be fair. Moreover, it would lead to the ouster of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, only to be replaced by someone who is acceptable to party chief Sonia Gandhi.



Stating that he was for a PAC probe, Swamy claimed that BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, who heads the PAC, is very knowledgeable.



The Janata Party chief wanted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to interrogate four prominent politicians and one former minister of State, who recently became a chief minister of a State, whose names figure in the diaries of A Raja.



The 2G spectrum issue was also a threat to national security. He said both the DMK and the Congress were "corrupt" and "antinational".



Swamy said he was happy that the Prime Minister had accepted his suggestion to write to the US government to release information on the money trail in the 2G spectrum scam, which caused a loss of `1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.



Swamy alleged that DMK chief M Karunanidhi would not act against Raja, as "some of the politicians from the State were beneficiaries of the scam." They, he alleged, amassed money and moved it out of the country through illegal electronic financial transactions.



He said he had moved court to become the Public Prosecutor in a corruption case he had filed in connection with the 2G scam. It will decide on his plea on January 7.



Chidambaram's resignation sought



Swamy sought the resignation of home minister P Chidambaram, who, he alleged, wrote a letter to LTTE chief Prabhakaran towards the end of the Lankan civil war, asking him to give up arms "at the behest of Sonia Gandhi."



Chidambaram, he said, had committed an antinational act by writing to the leader of a banned organisation and action should be taken against him under the National Security Act (NSA).



He demanded a commission of inquiry to probe India's role in the 20082009 antiLTTE terrorist operations in Sri Lanka. He claimed that he had accessed information from very highlevel sources in India and abroad that a sixmember delegation was secretly sent to Colombo to prevail upon the Lankan President to save Prabhakaran from annihilation during the last four days of "antiterrorist" operations in May 2009.

Quote:Continued efforts of the Congress to reiterate the importance of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in probing the `1.76 lakh crore 2G Spectrum scam is a desperate attempt to divert attention from the demand of a majority of parliamentarians for a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry and divide the Opposition on the issue. On the back foot and faced with another round of House disruption once Parliament meets for the Budget Session in 2011, the Congress has thrown in the Opposition’s face what it sees as a ‘master stroke’ — the Prime Minister’s letter to the PAC offering to appear before it. The fact that Mr Manmohan Singh is willing to appear before one panel but steadfastly refuses the constitution of another is because the JPC has the mandate to cast its net far and wide, unlike the PAC which cannot question policy issues. Considering that faulty policies of the UPA Government are at the root of the scam, the Congress obviously does not want to take a chance by setting up a JPC. If the JPC is formed and it decides to summon the Prime Minister, he will have some answering to do because he presided over those policies. At the best, he would have to extricate himself by pointing out that he had called for a freeze on spectrum licence allocation until the contentious issues were sorted out. But then, he would have to explain how his then Telecom Minister, Mr A Raja, got away with flouting his directive. This is an uncomfortable question for Mr Singh, and it will expose his helplessness as the head of the Government. Coalition dharma cannot be cited by him for explaining his inaction that has caused massive loss to the public exchequer. Nor can he afford to suggest that the need to sustain the Congress’s alliance with the DMK, to which Mr Raja belongs, was reason enough for him to turn a Nelson’s eye to the open loot in the Telecom Ministry. The Opposition has fortunately seen through the game and remains united on the demand for a JPC probe. Apart from harping on the PAC, the Congress had hoped to dent that unity by suggesting a special session of Parliament to discuss the demand for a JPC inquiry. But the party knows there is nothing to discuss. So why did Mr Pranab Mukherjee offer a special session? Was he hopeful of using his persuasive skills to soften the stand of some Opposition parties?



For a party and Prime Minister who claim there is nothing to hide, it is strange that they should continue to duck the demand for an overarching inquiry that will also cover the period when the NDA was in power. Besides the issue of faulty policies, there are other matters such as the role of the corporate sector and Mr Raja’s links with some lobbyists who assured him that the Telecom Ministry was his for the asking when the Government was being formed that need to be investigated. These are not matters that the PAC can handle. In any case, the Opposition has not objected to the PAC doing its job. Let that continue within the prescribed format. But the PAC scrutinising the CAG’s report is not the same as a JPC inquiry. There are already several probes going on: The Telecom Ministry has set up a panel to review its functioning on the issue; the CBI is inquiring into the scam under the Supreme Court’s supervision; the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate too are in the picture. None of them precludes a JPC inquiry.

Quote:Janata Party leader Shri Subramaniam Swamy today in his speech at Ahmedabad said that 2G spectrum scam could have 35% commission involved from which then central minister Raja got only 10%, while Karunanidhi got 30% and Sonia Gandhi got 60% money.



Swamy said “Raja(A.Raja) ke pichhe Rani hai” and “Manmohan Singh remained silent because Rani had made him the Prime Minister.”



“The 2G scam involves Rs. 1,76,000 crore Rupees, but not all this amount went to kickbacks. In New Delhi the current rate of kick back is 35%. Out of this only 10% went to A.Raja, while Karunanidhi got 30%, and Sonia Gandhi was the highest gainer with 60%,” Shri Swamy said.



He said, “Sonia has already made so much money that her stomach is full. And therefore the 2G scam money was sent to Anushka and Nadia, her two sisters settled in foreign land. The sisters have deposited the money to an account in Macaw.”



Swamy said he has told the court in Delhi recently that though he has named A.Raja only in court case against 2G scam at this point, he would add two more names in 2G scam case, and one of the names would be of Sonia Gandhi.



Swamy said the judge was honest and to his this intention he reacted that “yes it is your right to add more names in future.”



Meanwhile during question answer round after his speech in the programme on Wednesday Dr. Swamy said, “In Commonwealth scam Rs. 16000 crore went to Rahul Gandhi and Rs. 10000 crore to Vadra. But let me first complete the fight against 2G scam, and then there will be a turn of Commonwealth.”



“The good thing is that we can file corruption case even after years have passed,” he added.

Quote:The Indian economy is headed for a major crisis by March 2011 due to the vast liquidity in the economy caused by corruption and compounded by ill-advised financial derivatives such as Participatory Notes.



As a consequence of the rise in money supply caused by black money generated by Corruption such as arising from 2G Spectrum allocation, CWG, and IPL, hoarders have played havoc with cereals, fruits, vegetables and processed foods, with prices skyrocketing. The core industries especially oil refining, steel, cement and coal have also undergone declines in output due to inadequate new investments.



With the Central Budget nearly bankrupt and depending solely on loans from public sector banks to balance the books, there will be a further spurt in inflation and cut-backs in real investment.



Money stashed away abroad by Indian politicians and business houses, in illegal secret accounts, is expected to enter the stock market through the Participatory Notes, to earn quick capital gains. Thus I predict the BSE will have a crash in March when the PNs will be withdrawn after short-selling, in the stock market for windfall profits.



The Prime Minister, despite being an economist, is a politically impotent person. Already, despite the mild rebuke of the Supreme Court on his inaction on the 2G Spectrum orgy, his Ministers Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid are busy white-washing the crimes committed in the licence allocation, by settling for minor fines and looking for loopholes to exonerate the Telecom companies.



The solution therefore lies not in Dr.Manmohan Singh resigning, but in a mass upsurge against the UPA and its patron of corruption Ms.Sonia Gandhi.



This however cannot be done by those opposition parties whose leadership is also tainted by the same scandals as the UPA.

Quote:So why did Raja resign, asks BJP

January 08, 2011 2:07:40 AM

PTI | Guwahati

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/309107/So-why-did-Raja-resign-asks-BJP.html"] link[/url]

Rubbishing the Government’s claim of “nothing wrong” in 2G spectrum allocation, the BJP on Friday asked why A Raja was forced to quit as Telecom Minister if the estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer was not a fact.



“If the entire argument is that there was no loss to the exchequer, then why did Raja resign?” asked senior leader Arun Jaitley. <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />



“Kapil Sibal’s entire argument is fallacious. He is just playing with statistics... Confusing the position...(he is playing) PAC +JPC+CBI rolled into one...And contending there is no loss as far (in) revenue,” said Jaitley, who was in the city for the national executive meeting beginning on Saturday.



The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said Sibal had ‘missed the basic point’. “When spectrum was allotted in 2008, why was it done at 2001 prices?” he asked.



Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad described as “reprehensible” Sibal’s comments against the CAG.