Sunteți pe pagina 1din 19

SCAM/CORRUPTION – 2010

(January to May 2010)

Compiled By
K. Samu
Human Rights Documentation,
Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi

164 corruption cases registered in 2009: Dhumal (5)


Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Saturday said that the state vigilance bureau and
anti-corruption bureau had registered 164 cases against government officials and functionaries last year.
'The vigilance bureau saw an increase in registration of cases last year. It registered 164 cases, which
were 71.06 percent more as compared to the previous year (2008),' Dhumal said while launching the
website of the vigilance bureau and anti-corruption bureau. He said that 44 of the total cases were related
to bribery. 'A sum of Rs.38,69,640 has been recovered from the bribe-seekers.' Director General of Police
(Vigilance) D.S. Manhas said that the website would be an interactive site and would also enable people
to file complaints. However, no anonymous complaints would be entertained, he added. The vigilance
bureau last year arrested Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board's chief engineer (operations) Litesh
Malhotra while accepting a bribe of Rs.425,000 from a contractor. Senior Indian Administrative Service
(IAS) officer Sanjay Gupta, who was managing director of the General Industries Corporation, was
arrested in July from a hotel in the state's Parwanoo town with Rs.200,000 in cash. Similarly, the bureau
registered corruption cases against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife were registered
Aug 3, 2009, under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complaint against Singh alleges misuse of his
official position and criminal misconduct when he was chief minister of the state in 1989. According to
police, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD released by Singh's political adversary Vijai Singh
Mankotia in 2007. In the CD, Singh was heard referring to some monetary transactions on the phone with
IAS officer Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. The CD also contained recordings of his wife and some
industrialists. (Sify News 2/1/10)

Lokayukta angry over official apathy (5)


Bangalore: Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has expressed anger over the “apathy and disregard” shown by
the State Government with regard to taking action following his report on mining in the State. “The 1,600-
page report, which exposes the involvement of powerful political leaders and their lobbies in illegal mining
activities, appears to have been shelved after the initial two-day noisy session in Belgaum,” Mr. Hegde
said. It has been over a year since the report was submitted and Andhra Pradesh has since called for a
CBI enquiry on “illegal mining”. “However, our Government has chosen to sweep this under the carpet.
What can one do in such circumstances?” he asked. Mr. Hegde was delivering a lecture on “Controlling
corruption” at the Institution of Engineers here on Saturday. Pointing to the fact that all the major political
parties had promised in their election manifestos to increase the powers of the Lokayukta, he asked:
“Two years have gone by, and nobody has done anything. The first day of every Assembly section,
barring one, has deliberated for an entire day on this. But on day two, it is conveniently forgotten,” he
said. Further, even appeals to appoint more number of staff to the Lokayukta’s office have failed to evoke
any response. . “Unfortunately, today corruption is not limited to politicians and bureaucrats. It is
spreading to the private sectors, the doctors and the private establishments,” he said. (The Hindu 4/1/10)

Graft rows overshadowed brilliant verdicts by judiciary in ’09 (5)


NEW DELHI: If ever professional brilliance of an institution got overshadowed by the murky personal
doings of a few individual players, then the dubious honour must surely go to the higher judiciary,
especially the Supreme Court, in Year 2009. The apex court’s brilliant judgments in diverse fields — from
ethics of medical profession to rights of condemned prisoners; from children’s right to education in safe
schools to protection of the ecologically sensitive Aravali Hills — were all virtually eclipsed as its
reputation got sucked into a black hole called corruption. The ignominy of impeachment motions in Rajya
Sabha against two judges of the high courts, one a Chief Justice, in a span of 10 months did not improve
a wee bit the fidelity of the judiciary, which mercifully still enjoys the faith of litigants. The impeachment
motion against Justice Soumitra Sen was virtually on the suggestion of the Chief Justice of India, Justice
K G Balakrishnan, who wrote to the government to initiate steps for his removal as Justice Sen stubbornly
refused to resign despite an in-house committee finding him involved in corruption. But, it was the stinging
allegations of corruption against Karnataka high court chief justice P D Dinakaran that dented the image
of the judiciary and put in focus the need for a transparent process for selection of judges instead of the
present body — a collegium headed by the CJI. The sharp campaign against the recommendation for
elevation of Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme Court and the pingpong game on the issue between the
collegium and the government blew away all the credit that the CJI and SC judges legitimately deserved,
when they took the historic decision in making public their assets and liabilities on November 2. Big
issues put up for adjudication — UP chief minister Mayawati’s fetish for statues, legalisation of gay and
lesbian relationships and the high-stake fight between the Ambani brothers over supply of gas — kept the
Supreme Court in news. But, its rulings, though shadowed by other developments, were no less
important. The first of the significant rulings came on February 7, when the SC held that ‘‘the courts and
consumer fora are not experts in medical science, and must not substitute their own views over that of
specialists’’, giving a huge relief to thousands of medical practitioners. It did reflect popular perception by
saying that the ‘‘medical profession has to an extent become commercialized and there are many doctors
who depart from Hippocratic oath for their selfish ends of making money’’. But, it clarified: ‘‘The entire
medical fraternity cannot be blamed or branded as lacking in integrity or competence just because of
some bad apples.’’ It also said that if a condemned prisoner was kept on death row for a long period, that
itself gave him grounds to seek commutation of the extreme punishment to life sentence. The SC said it
would ‘‘be open to a condemned prisoner, who has been under a sentence of death over a long period of
time, for reasons not attributable to him, to contend that the death sentence would be commuted to one of
life’’. The new year promises a lot of significant rulings from the SC with the feud over gas between the
Ambani brothers being the most awaited one. (Times of India 4/1/10)

IAS Pradeep Sharma arrested in land scam (5)


Ahmedabad: The arrest of senior IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, municipal commissioner of Bhavnagar, in
a Rs70 crore land scam has shocked the state bureaucracy. The CID crime arrested Sharma on
Wednesday morning for irregularities in the allotment of land for Bheed Bazaar, a wholesale market in
Bhuj which was destroyed in the 2001 earthquake. The police arrested Sharma from his residence in
Bhavnagar and took him to Bhuj. The state government had allotted 17 acres of land on the foothills of
Bhujiya hillock to the traders of Bheed Bazaar who had lost their shops in the earthquake, said a source.
The traders were, however, asked to procure a G-5 certificate from the district collector of Kutch before
they could lay claim to the land. But many traders, who were not even affected by the calamity, managed
to get land by presenting fake certificates. A complaint in this regard was also filed by Henry Chako,
Kutch secretary of All India Anti Corruption Crime Preventive Council, an NGO. (dna 6/1/10)

Now, CBI will pool in NGOs, whistleblowers in Maharashtra (5)


Mumbai: In an attempt to throttle corruption at the grassroot levels, particularly in rural areas, the CBI has
come up with an innovative idea: to identify whistleblowers from across 35 districts in Maharashtra and
coordinate with them to get clues on corrupt practices by government departments. Besides, the
investigative agency has also tied up with local NGOs to tackle corruption and will send its officers to all
these districts and villages to strike a rapport with people. “We also plan to publish advertisements in local
newspapers inviting people to come forward with their complaints and meet the CBI superintendent,” said
Rishiraj Singh, joint director, CBI. Until recently, the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) used to
concentrate mostly in urban areas. They now plan to expand their base to semi-urban and small towns.
The ACB has already contacted several NGOs and other different agencies that have a strong network
and presence in the rural areas, said CBI officials. (DNA 9/1/10)

Change jurisprudence to fight corruption: Lok Ayukta (5)


Bangalore, Jan 10 (PTI) Dubbed an iconoclast for his pro-active pursuit of cases against powerful
politicians, police and bureaucrats, Karnataka Lok Ayukta Santosh Hegde, a former Supreme Court
judge, wants a change in laws that presume a person to be innocent till proved guilty to effectively fight
corruption and official misdemeanour. Santosh HegdeHe says corruption has not come down in the
country despite the fact that tough laws have been made because "nobody is serious about fighting
corruption". "Let us forget the concept of jurisprudence that says it is better that nine guilty men are
acquitted rather than make one innocent suffer. All these concepts are not relevant today. We have to
change them," Hegde, who demitted office as Supreme Court judge in 2005, said. "We have changed the
laws when it comes to terrorism and corruption is definitely equal to if not not worse than, terrorism. But
nobody wants to do it," he lamented. Hegde recently created flutters when he brought to the fore the case
of an IAS official, who allegedly sought sexual favours from a widow, and was not only not acted upon but
had gone up the bureaucratic ladder. "In corruption who is involved -- the one who makes the law or
administers the law. So anything you do to strengthen fight against corruption is going to boomerang, it
could come back," says the 70-year-old former judge. Hegde's recent expose to the media of the officer
promoted despite complaints of sexual harassment by a widow for transferring a plot of her deceased
husband in her name has sent ripples in administrative circles, forcing the government to order a probe. "I
went to the media because I found nothing was happening. I waited for long as I tried to work within the
system," said the anti-corruption watchdog who thought that media glare will get some punitive action
against the official. Not the one to look helpless, he has through media pressure got teeth and claws to
his statutory body, for which he has relentlessly been demanding suo-motu powers and making its
recommendations "compulsorily implementable".Rubbishing claims of being publicity hungry, he said, "I
go to the media because there is a lacuna in the Act". In 90 per cent of the cases the government does
not act at all, he said. The judge, who has currently 19,000 cases pending before him, said he had
received oral complaints of similar nature but many do not pursue them owing to social ostracism and
fear of victimisation. He cited an example of two girls who had come to him accompanied by a former
head of the state women's commission with a complaint. Hegde said he had agreed to cooperate by
providing equipment to record the actions, to lay the trap and arrest, but the girls did not come back. As a
former judge, he said following the steps laid down by the Supreme Court in the Vishaka case would
suffice to address these problems. "If that is put in place, that is enough. It is not that systems are not
there, but systems are not working or not allowed to work, though they exist on paper," said Hegde.
His pursuit to cleanse the system has also seen him recommend setting up an internal vigilance cell in
every state department. The cell could take cognizance of complaints by residents and aggrieved
employees. "Apart from keeping record of rules, it could maintain a confidential record of all officers. We
have recommended officers whose characters are suspect, their moral character, integrity, working style,
all records should be maintained, which may come in handy." This would instill a sense of responsibility,
fear and accountability in officials, he said. Though his quest for truth remains unquestionable and his
pursuit for justice an uninterrupted journey, the Lok Ayukta said that sometimes he was called upon to go
beyond the calling of his post and render humanitarian aid. "I have stories that I hear everyday that could
bring tears to your eyes," he said, recounting one such tragic tale when a handicapped tailor and his wife
approached him with a baby that had a deformed intestine. (Deccan Herald 10/1/10)

Punjab HC seeks to fast track cases against Badals, Amarinder (5)


Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court last week asked the Punjab and Haryana governments
to furnish a list of pending cases involving bigwigs so that these could be sent to fast track courts. Apart
from chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy Sukhbir, and former chief minister
Amarinder Singh, 20 IAS and 10 IPS officers in Punjab have corruption cases pending against them.
Among the IAS officers is chief secretary of Punjab SC Agrawal. Parkash and Sukhbir Badal have
disproportionate assets cases pending in a special court in Ropar for five years. A similar assets case
against them is being investigated by the Vigilance Bureau, but no charge sheet has been filed yet. The
IPS officers facing criminal cases, disciplinary action or investigation are former directors general of police
(DGP) SS Virk,KK Attri and Mohammad Izhar Alam, additional directors general (ADG) SS Saini and GD
Pandey, senior officers RP Singh, SS Sodhi, Paramraj Singh, Rajinder Singh and Devinder Singh
Garcha. Virk is accused of having assets disproportionate to income, while Attri and Alam face charges of
financial irregularity. Saini is accused of abducting and killing three people. The IAS officers are, largely
accused of financial embezzlement. They include SarveshKaushal, Jagjit Puri, Mandeep Singh, B Sarkar,
GS Pirzada, CS Srivastava, HIS Grewal, Khushi Ram, JS Maini, Dr Swarn Singh, RN Gupta, Dharam Vir,
Harjit Singh, Kirpa Shanker Saroj, Shruti Singh and DS Grewal. Another list of IAS officers with criminal
cases include SC Agrawal, who is chief secretary of Punjab. KBS Sidhu and GS Grewal face proceedings
in a CBI case on developing a hill resort at Karoran village in Mohali. R Venkatraman and SS Dhillon face
corruption charges. (DNA 11/1/10)
CBI files chargesheet against Buta Singh's son (5)
MUMBAI: CBI today filed a chargesheet against Sarabjot Singh, son of National Commission for
Scheduled Castes Chairman Buta Singh, and three others in a case of alleged corruption. The 31-page
chargesheet was filed against Sarabjot alias Sweety, Anup Begi, Madan Solanki and Dhoop Singh
Chauhan in a designated CBI court here, official sources said. While Sarabjot and Begi have been
booked for corruption and hatching the criminal conspiracy, the two others face charges under money
laundering act for being allegedly involved in Hawala racket, they said. However, there was no mention of
the statement of Buta Singh in the chargesheet for which the agency had fought a prolonged legal battle
to record his statement. The sources said that they were not relying on his statement. Buta had moved
the Delhi High Court challenging CBI's move to question him but withdrew the petition later when the
agency informed that he was being summoned only as a witness. Sarabjot was arrested on July 31 last
year for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs one crore from Nashik-based contractor Ramrao Patil for
closing a case pending against him before the Scheduled Castes panel headed by his father. Though
Solanki and Chauhan have been named as accused in the case, they can later turn approver if the court
allows, the sources said. The chargesheet includes telephonic interceptions involving Sarabjot, Patil and
other accused bargaining for the bribe amount. (Express Buzz 13/1/10)

Corruption costs India Rs 2.5 lakh cr, says Prahalad (5)


The cost of corruption to the country could exceed Rs 250,000 crore, management guru C K Prahalad
said today. Delivering the Seventh Nani A Palkhivala Memorial Lecture here, he highlighted the funding of
election campaigns by politicians and the return they try to achieve after they win as one of the basic
reasons for corruption in the country. The 2009 Lok Sabha elections are reported to have cost the country
Rs 10,000 crore. Of this, Rs 1,300 crore was spent by the Election Commission and Rs 700 crore by the
Centre and state governments. The remaining Rs 8,000 crore were spent by political parties and
individual candidates. If the cost of state elections were also covered, this could easily exceed Rs 25,000
crore, he said. “I cannot but assume that private funding of elections of this magnitude is predicted on
making an appropriate return,” said . “Given the risky nature of the investments in elections, politicians as
venture capitalists, we can assume, will not settle for less than a 10n-fold return,” he pointed out.Chalking
out a road map for the country, he called for reducing the irregularity of information, reduce the number of
points of interpretation of laws and asked for an increase in accountability. He called the unique
identification programme of the government as the building block of social justice and asked to focus on
massive education so that inequality of opportunity is eradicated. “India is at an interesting crossroad,”
said Prahalad. “It must choose. The path to progress needs significant innovations and a discarding of the
old and acceptance of the new,” he added. He said the crisis in India is one of leadership. “There is no
one who is willing to articulate a view of India and Indianness with clarity and force so that the country can
come together and make the sacrifices needed to build a new India that the framers of the Constitution
imagined,” he said. (Business Standard 15/1/10)

Rs 2,500 cr corruption alleged in rice export (5)


THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP national secretary Balbir Punj alleged that the rice export from the
country during 2008-09 had involved a corruption amounting to Rs 2,500 crore. He told a news
conference here on Friday that it was through one export house in New Delhi that 100 lakh tonnes of rice
had been exported to 21 African countries. But it was not sure whether the rice reached the poor African
countries. He alleged that the rice exported at a subsidised rate was diverted to multinational
corporations. Balbir Punj said that the UPA coalition at the Centre was increasingly displaying the
arrogance of power on one hand and incompetence on the other. Spiraling inflation, especially of food
items, had become a grave issue across the country. He said that in stark contrast to the party’s promise
of curbing inflation in 100 days, prices of essential commodities such as rice, sugar and pulse
skyrocketed by 100 to 300 percent. While the paddy farmers are paid Rs. 8.50 per kg, it is reaching the
consumers at the rate of Rs.40 per kg. This scenario has been evolved after the Government allowed
export of 100 lakh tonnes of rice at Rs.18 to Rs.20 per kg, he said. He said that during 2008-09, 48 lakh
tonnes of sugar were exported at Rs.12.50 per kilo with an export subsidy of Rs 1.44 per kg. But now the
country is importing sugar at Rs.40 to 42 per kg after the huge shortfall of sugar, he said. Referring to the
Telengana issue, he said that the Government had not taken the people, the opposition parties and even
the leaders from Andhra Pradesh into confidence. “Some ministers are taking decisions sitting in a dark
room and thrusting it upon the 10 crore people of Andhra Pradesh. At least, the Cabinet or the Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh should be taken into confidence”. He said that the BJP was for the state of
Telangana. He pointed out that the NDA Government had created three states in a peaceful manner as
they took the people into confidence. BJP state president V Muralidharan said that Sobha Surendran had
been appointed state president of the Mahila Morcha, the women’s wing of the party. P O Noushad has
been appointed as the state president of the BJP’s Minority Morcha. B Gopalakrishnan is the new
district president and A M Nagesh is the general secretary in Thrissur.(Express Buzz 30/1/10)

Sukhna scam an aberration, cannot be tolerated: AK Antony (5)


New Delhi: Terming the Sukhna land scam allegedly involving a top army officer as an "aberration",
government today said it will not tolerate even a single instance of corruption in the armed forces. "What
happened in Sukhna and in some other cases are aberrations. Already, the Army has taken strong action.
I do not want to say anything further. We cannot tolerate even a single instance of corruption," defence
minister AK Antony said on the sidelines of an awards ceremony to honour the best tableaux of the
Republic Day here. Antony's statement comes days after he asked army chief General Deepak Kapoor to
initiate disciplinary action against Lt Gen Awadesh Prakash, military secretary in the army, who has been
indicted in the Sukhna land scam. Disciplinary action could lead to a court martial against Lt Gen
Prakash, who is in the dock in the scam along with two other lieutenant generals and a major general.
The minister downplayed corruption in the Army saying, "armed forces have a much better system of
correcting things and punishing the guilty." The defence minister said, "You should compare what is going
on around. Compared to many other institutions, armed forces and army are doing much better to take
action and correct aberrations in the system." The defence minister asked to look at the positive aspect of
the armed forces and its traditions, saying the sacrifices made by jawans and the officers must also be
looked at. "Our jawans and officers are sacrificing their life, their blood, their health to protect every inch
of our territory, to safeguard border security. We must salute them and protect their honour," he said. Lt
Gen Prakash, considered close to the army chief, retired today. Eastern army commander Lt Gen VK
Singh, the army chief designate, had recommended tough action against Lt Gen Prakash and other
accused officers on the basis of a Court of Inquiry which indicted them for issuing a no-objection
certificate (NOC) for sale of a 71-acre land adjacent to Sukna military station in West Bengal's Darjeeling.
The Army Chief had earlier ordered only administrative action against Lt Gen Prakash wherein the court
martial was not a requirement. Prakash was issued a show-cause notice to which he had replied.(DNA
31/1/10)

Slain RTI activist's brother moves high court (5)


Mumbai: Slain RTI activist Satish Shetty's brother Sandip Shetty today said that he wanted to intervene in
the PIL being heard by the Bombay High Court in connection with his murder. Satish, a Talegaon-based
Right To Information (RTI) activist and an anti-corruption crusader, who had unearthed several land-
related scams in the area, was murdered last month by unidentified assailants while on a morning walk.
The high court took suo motu (own its own) notice of the incident, and initiated a PIL. Sandip, Satish's
younger brother, was today present in the court. His lawyer said that he wanted to intervene in the PIL, as
he had a lot of documents pertaining to Satish's RTI queries. "He has no confidence in the police,"
Sandip's lawyer said. The division bench of Justices F I Rebello and JH Bhatia said that it would allow
him to become a party. The state government today informed the court that out of six persons who are
suspected to be involved in Satish's murder, five have been arrested so far, and police have sought
magistrate's permission to subject them to lie detector test. Senior advocate D Madon, appointed as
amicus curie to assist the court, said that countries such as Mexico and Columbia have special systems
for providing protection to activists, and authorities are studying them. Adjourning the hearing for one
week, the high court sought a reply from the government about progress in Shetty murder case, and
about the proposed steps for protecting social activists. The court also sought a reply from Mumbai police
commissioner about investigation into six cases of threats or assaults on local social activists. Mitra, an
umbrella organisation of NGOs which has intervened in this PIL, had submitted list of these cases to the
police commissioner. (DNA 4/2/10)

Corruption not possible without political patronage (5)


Bhopal, Feb 5: Expressing sharp reaction over property worth crores of rupees unearthed in the Income
Tax Department raid conducted on residences of senior officers State Congress president Suresh
Pachouri said that corruption at such large scale was not possible without patronage of politicians in
power. He added that owing to this corruption development of State is obstructed while the government is
making progress. He reasoned that merely by suspending Joshi couple entire episode of corruption
cannot be hidden behind veil. He maintained that Chief Minister should reveal the names of those
ministers towards whom publicity medium is pointing finger and detailed probe of their office should be
done. He further said that possibly the publicity medium are hinting towards those ministers under whom
Joshi couple were working. Pachouri argued that with these raids Congress allegations are being proved
true that Congress led government at the Centre has given crores of rupees for various development
schemes whose benefit is not being availed by the needy. There is no law and order and everything is in
a mess. (Central Chronicle 5/2/10)

SEZ scam: CIU team begins probe (5)


NELLORE: The Central Investigation Unit (CIU) officials who are probing into the irregularities on
Krishnapatnam SEZ visited three villages in Gudur division in the district on Sunday and interacted with
the land owners whose lands were acquired by the government. The CIU Joint Director K. Sampath
Kumar and Nellore Anti-Corruption Bureau DSP G. Narasimhan accompanied by the Revenue officials
visited Siddavaram, Vanjaravaka and Karlapudi villages and enquired the villagers about the survey
numbers of the lands taken, compensation paid and any bribe demanded by the officials for paying
compensation. Later, the officials seized the records from the revenue officials and verified them. The JD
and the DSP questioned the revenue officers on how much land was acquired for the Special Economic
Zone in each village and the total compensation paid. However, the investigation officials could not meet
Gudur RDO Y. Ramachandra Reddy against whom the villagers made complaints to the ACB officials, as
the latter was on leave, it is learnt. Kota Deputy Tahsildar Ravindranath, Village Revenue Officer
Bhaktasavastala Reddy and others accompanied the special team. Meanwhile, following the allegations
against the Revenue officials that less compensation was paid to the land owners and the names of some
benami persons were mentioned in the land owners’ list, Joint Collector Saurabh Gaur started
investigation into the matter. (The Hindu 8/2/10)

CBI did not seek sanction to prosecute Justice Yadav: CJI (5)
Delhi, February 10, 2010: Chief Justice of India (CJI) KG Balakrishnan on Wednesday said the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not seek his permission to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav of the
Punjab and Haryana High Court on charges of corruption. The Supreme Court's secretary general MP
Bhadran made the statement on behalf of the chief justice, reacting to the Punjab and Haryana High
Court Bar Association's resolution condemning Justice Balakrishnan and former attorney general of India
Milon Banerjee for giving a clean chit to the controversial high court judge. Referring to news reports
based on the condemnation by the bar, apex court secretary general said, "This is to clarify that no such
request for sanction to prosecute a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has been made by the
CBI to the CJI regarding the alleged delivery of cash at the judge's doorstep." Bhadran said the CBI has
not shown to the CJI even the final report, submitted to the Chandigarh special CBI court, seeking closure
of the case against Justice Yadav. "Even the final report in this regard has not been shown to the CJI,"
said Bhadran, adding, "So, it is incorrect to say that the CJI has denied sanction to prosecute the judge."
The high court's bar association condemned the CJI for allegedly "willful and palpable abdication of his
duty" in denying sanction for prosecution of Justice Yadav based on the opinion of the attorney general
for India. The attorney general was condemned for his opinion, which held that no case is made out
against Justice Yadav. The scam broke out in August 2008, when the clerk of former additional advocate
general of the Punjab and Haryana High Court delivered a bag containing Rs.15 lakh in cash at the house
of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. Later, it was found that the money was meant for another judge, Justice Nirmal
Yadav. However, the CBI, which investigated the case, filed a closure report in December last year
saying that the it had not got clearance from the CJI to continue with the case.(Hindustan Times 10/2/10)

Handover corruption cases to CBI: Govind Singh (5)


Bhopal, Feb 9: Former minister and senior Congress MLA Dr Govind Singh demanded to handover the
corruption cases committed by the chief minister, ministers and IAS officers. He accused that in water
resources department alone there was corruption of over Rs 1000 crore. Apart from this corruption to the
tune of Rs 5000 crore was committed during the last three years in other departments like mines and
minerals, health, women and child development, panchayat and rural development and transport. Dr
Singh has demanded to make pubic the relationship between the Sangh Parivar and IAS officers Arvind
Joshi, his wife HM Joshi. According to Dr Singh former IPS officer HM Joshi was organization committee
chairman for Hindu Samagam. Seizing of more than Rs five crore from Joshi's residence points out the
relation between him and the RSS. Dr Singh said that investing of more than Rs 50 crore in ICICI Bank
through an ordinary insurance agent, Seema Jaiswal within a short period indicates that the money
belong to the chief minister, ministers and IAS officers. He said that full details about corruption to the
tune of Rs 1000 crore was given to the chief minister in July last year. But the chief minister took it lightly
because the corruption started from his residence. (Central Chronicle 10/2/10)

Army land scam: HC refuses to intervene (5)


New Delhi, Feb 15: The Delhi High Court has said that officers found guilty of corruption by an army
inquiry cannot appeal to the court for help. Lieutenant General PK Rath had appealed to the High Court
against his indictment in the multi-crore Sukna land scam in West Bengal. He wanted the court to stop
the army's court of inquiry against him. He had also objected to the army's decision to recall his posting
as Deputy Chief of Army Staff because of his alleged corruption. The court, however, said it does not
have the jurisdiction to hear this case, and asked Rath to approach the Armed Forces Tribunal instead.
The controversy revolves around a piece of land next to the army's 33 Corps Headquarters in Siliguri in
West Bengal. In May 2008, the Army officially wrote to the West Bengal government, stating that it
wanted to acquire this land. In October 2008, Lt General P K Rath took over as the 33 Corps Commander
and reiterated the Army's decision to buy the land. A few days later, Military Secretary Lt General
Avadesh Prakash visited Chumta tea estate during his official tour to 33 Corps, and referred businessman
Dilip Agarwal, who wanted to buy the land, to General Rath. In March this year, 33 Corps under General
Rath granted the land to Agarwal with a no-objection certificate. After the evidence is presented against
Rath in the army's court of inquiry, he may face a court martial. So far, the internal report states that his
decision was "hasty and top-driven action." He's also blamed for "not seeking the concurrence of the
Eastern Command." Under pressure from the Defence Minister, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor has
already ordered a court martial against Prakash. (Read: Court martial for Military Secretary Avadesh
Prakash) The Army's inquiry found that Prakash misused his position as Military Secretary to help the real
estate developer who ultimately got the army's ok to buy this land. Prakash is the country's most-senior
army officer to ever face a court martial. (Central Chronicle 15/2/10)

Twenty20 'ripe for corruption' says players' union head (5)


LONDON: International players' union FICA chief executive Tim May has warned that Twenty20 cricket is
"ripe for corruption" and urged the sport's administrators to exercise extreme care. "Twenty20 is just ripe
for corruption -- the shorter the game the more influence each particular incident can have," the former
Australia off-spinner said in an interview in the March issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine which
goes on sale this Friday. "So I think it opens up a great deal of opportunities for the bookmakers to try and
corrupt players into providing various different outcomes in the game, if not the result itself. Cricket needs
to be very, very careful." May was also critical of the way the Indian Premier League's (IPL) dealings with
players. "The refusal to grant players the ability to review the security arrangements and the decision of
the IPL and its franchises not to recognise or deal with any players' managers or agents, is self-
defeating," he said. "Its decision-making is very arrogant. The attitude is that they're the only game in
town, they're the biggest game in town and, as long as they pay these huge amounts of money, they can
do what they like. That may not always be the case." (Times of India 16/2/10)

Awareness campaign on corruption launched (5)


VIJAYAWADA: The Forum for Legal, Ambulance, Social and Health Services (FLASH), a service
organisation floated by a group of advocates, launched an awareness campaign on corruption in the city
on Tuesday. The organisation published pamphlets with details of addresses and telephone numbers of
authorities concerned, such as deputy superintendent of police of the Anti-Corruption Bureau,
superintendent of police of the CBI, assistant controller of legal metrology and the Chief Justice of the
Andhra Pradesh High Court, and began distributing them to the public. Releasing the pamphlets,
president of the Bezwada Bar Association (BBA) Pilla Ravi observed that corruption was becoming
rampant in all fields. “Unfortunately, courts too are no exception,” he said. Comparing the spread of
corruption with that of HIV, Mr. Ravi said it was hampering the nation’s development. Mr. Ravi felt that the
Right to Information (RTI) Act would in some measure contribute to minimising corruption. P. Sai Babu of
FLASH and senior advocates were present. (The Hindu 17/2/10)

Mining scam: Save Odisha Forum seeks CBI probe (5)


BHUBANESWAR: A delegation comprising activists of Save Odisha Forum on Tuesday submitted a
memorandum to Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare seeking a CBI probe into the multi-crore
mining scam. The activists met Mr. Bhandare at Raj Bhavan here and apprised him of the mining scam
allegedly involving the mines mafia, multinational companies, politicians, bureaucrats and Maoists.
Although a vast majority of the people in the State were passing through abject poverty and fighting
malnutrition, the State government was busy handing over land, water, forests and mineral resources to
multinational companies at throwaway prices, they said in the memorandum. The activists, who signed
the memorandum include convener of the Forum Bhabani Parija, and members of the Forum Dillip
Mallick, Bijay Parida, Krushna Chandra Nayak, Ramesh Barik and Soumyakanta Samantasinghar. The
activists said in the memorandum that they would organise an indefinite dharna before Parliament if the
mining scam cases wee not handed over to the CBI for investigation. The cases pertaining to illegal
mining of various minerals in Keonjhar and other districts are now being investigated by the Vigilance
Department of the State government. (The Hindu 17/2/10)

Corruption rampant in RGICD, say patients (5)


Bangalore: Poor people with chronic ailments have to put up with a diseased system. They may not have
problems with the doctors treating them in a government hospital. But they definitely have to pay money
to the ward boys and other group D employees to access free healthcare. Even as a gathering of doctors
and experts in chest diseases at a programme in Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) on
Wednesday discussed the increasing multi-drug resistance (MDR) in tuberculosis patients and the
problems faced in eradicating the disease, patients admitted at the hospital used the opportunity to
highlight their problems before the media. The programme was organised by the Karnataka State
Tuberculosis Association (KSTBA) in coordination with SDS TB Research Centre and RGICD to
inaugurate the anti-TB week in the run-up to World TB Day on March 24. G. Nagaraj, an in-patient from
Gauribidanur, said he had to pay even for the hot water supplied in the ward. “The ward boys demand
money for everything here. Recently, I paid Rs. 20 to get an x-ray done. If we have to spend at least
Rs.50 every day, why should we come to a government hospital?” Prakash T. from Chitradurga alleged
that the ward boys harassed the patients if they were not paid. “The food served to us is tasteless. The
rice is usually overcooked and the milk watery. Most of the time we buy food from outside,” said N.
Murthy, another patient. R. Nirmala, whose husband Ramanna was admitted a month ago, and Soganna
from Pavadaga, another patient, said the hospital pharmacy was short of medicines too. “Sometimes we
have to buy medicines from outside,” Ms. Nirmala said. Shashidhar Buggi, RGICD Director, said stringent
action was being initiated against corrupt ward boys and some of them had even been suspended.
“Whenever such complaints are brought to my notice, I have punished them. But as we are short-staffed,
it is difficult to monitor properly,” he said. On complaints about food, he said: “Although we don’t have a
nutritionist in the hospital, I ensure that the food cooked in the hospital is of good quality. Along with
proper meals, each patient is given bread, milk and two eggs every day. We will soon get a nutritionist to
improve the quality of food.” Earlier, during the programme, Japananda Swamy, founder of Swami
Vivekananda Integrated Rural Health Centre, said there was an increase in MDR TB cases because
people discontinued treatment. “Although they are provided free medicines, they don’t have food to eat as
they are poor. They discontinue [medication] because taking the medicine without proper food causes
them acidity.” He said people had the wrong notion that being infected with TB meant the end of the
world. “There is a lot of ignorance and people from all sectors, including the media, should spread
awareness.” While Professor and Head of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine C. Nagaraj presented a
paper, RNTCP Evolution: Objectives and Role of Medical Colleges, Senior Specialist (Pulmonary
Medicine) S.S. Revadi spoke on Diagnosis and Management of TB under RNTCP Guidelines.. The
former Family Physicians Association president S. Subramanyam spoke on the role of private-public
partnership in controlling the disease. (The Hindu 18/2/10)

Maharashtra Chief Post-Master General held for taking Rs 2 crore bribe (5)
Mumbai, Feb 25 (PTI): The Chief Post-Master General of Maharashtra and Goa has been arrested by
CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore for issuing a no objection certificate (NOC) for construction
of a post office in neighbouring Thane district. The Chief Postmaster General of Maharashtra and Goa,
Manjit Singh Bali, apprehended by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore for issuing a No
Objection Certificate (NOC) for construction of a post office. PTI Manjit Singh Bali, a 1978 batch officer of
the Indian Postal Services, was caught on Wednesday by the sleuths of the Anti Corruption Bureau of the
CBI while allegedly accepting the bribe amount. The CBI has recovered a sum of Rs 34 lakh, USD 10722,
3050 UK Pounds and 3470 Euro from his South Mumbai residence.Bali, who is one of the senior-most
officers in the postal department across the country, had demanded the bribe to issue a NOC for the
development of land at Mira Bhayendar in Thane district. "The 2000 sq mt land is owned by a private
builder who had agreed to allot 25 per cent of the land for the construction of a post office. This, however,
required a NOC from the postal department," CBI Joint Director (Western Region) Rishiraj Singh told
reporters. A father-son duo, who own a consultancy firm in South Mumbai have also been arrested along
with Bali. Arun Dalmiya and Harsh Dalmiya were the middlemen who were dealing with Bali and the
complainant. According to CBI, the complainant Rita Shah, an ex-corporator of Mira Bhayendar had
approached Bali in January this year requesting him to expedite the issuance of NOC for the construction
of a post office in the area. (Deccan Herald 25/2/10)

Managing director of Adani group arrested (5)


Ahmedabad: Managing director of Adani group Rajesh Adani was today arrested by the CBI in
connection with a custom duty evasion case involving Rs 50 crore. A team of CBI officials from Goa
arrested him at the airport here before he was about to leave for the coastal state, sources here said.
Central Bureau of Investigation today said it has arrested Rajesh Adani, managing director of Adani
Enterprises, a part of the Rs 26,000 crore Adani group, on charges of evasion of customs duty to the tune
of Rs 80 lakh. "CBI arrested Rajesh Adani, one of the directors of the Adani Exports (now named Adani
Enterprises)," agency spokesperson Harsh Bahal told PTI, adding that the anti-corruption branch of CBI
Goa had registered a case against him and nine customs officials. The case was also registered against
Adani Exports and Ganesh Benjoplast. Adani was arrested yesterday from Ahmedabad and would be
produced before a magistrate for a transit remand for taking him to Goa. "Adani had in the year 2006-07
imported naptha, a petroleum product, and did not pay customs duty in Goa," CBI joint director (Western
Region) Rishiraj Singh told PTI in Mumbai. A case was registered in January 2008 by the Goa Anti-
Corruption Bureau of the CBI. The CBI is looking into whether any other employees of the diversified
group are also involved. No immediate comments could be obtained from Adani group spokesperson
could be obtained. Rajesh is younger brother of group chairamn Gautam Adani, who recently completed
a successful initial public offer of another group company Adani Power. The Adani Group deals with
commodities trading, distribution of natural gas and port operations. Double click an English word for
Macmillan Dictionary definition (DNA 27/2/10)

VP for 'Judicial intervention' to check corruption (5)


Patna, Feb 28: Vice President M Hamid today expressed his concern over the emerging phenomenon of
corruption in public life and said 'judicial intervention' and 'political example' were principal instruments in
curbing it with strong hand. While addressing a function organised on the occasion of 47th death
anniversary of first President Dr Rajendra Prasad in sequence to commemorating the 125th year of his
birth anniversary here, Mr Ansai said corruption in public life, especially in high places was a disturbing
trend which should be curbed with iron hand. Recalling the quotes of the first President made during his
second term, Mr Ansari said,''It is high time the government from the highest level downwards, take
serious notice of corruption and take some action which would convince even as scoffers and doubters of
its earnestness to eliminate and suppress with strong hand whenever found and in whatever form seen.''
Underlining the importance of good governance, Mr Ansarai said Dr Prasad was of the firm opinion that
good elected people could even make best of a defective constitution. Quoting Dr Prasad, he said, ''If the
people who are elected are capable and men of character and integrity they would be able to make the
best even of defective Constitution. It they are lacking in these, constitution can not help the country.'' ''It
is up to us to preserve and protect the independence that we have won and to make it bear fruit for man
on the street. Let us launch on this new enterprise of running our Independent Republic with confidence
with truth and non-violence and above all with heart within the God over head,'' he added. (Central
Chronicle 1/3/10)

Petition challenging suspension of government servant dismissed (5)


CHENNAI: When a government servant is arrested and being tried in a criminal case he cannot be
allowed to discharge his duties as it may not inspire public confidence in the government, the Madras
High Court has said. When the arrest is in a corruption case and where the government servant has
demanded and accepted a bribe, the question of his being kept in service before trial is concluded is
unthinkable, the court observed. Dismissing a petition challenging the suspension of a government
servant and seeking to declare Rule 17(e) (2) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal)
rules ultra vires and unconstitutional, Justice K. Chandru held that the power to place a government
servant involved in a criminal case and creating a deemed clause for suspension had its aim and
purpose. It was in consonance with Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Since the rule had been made
in public interest and for efficiency of civil service, the question of impugning it as ultra vires or
unconstitutional may not arise. K. Balachandar was appointed on compassionate grounds as a Junior
Assistant in October 1986. In January 1992 he was brought under regular establishment and was working
in the office of the District Elementary Education Officer at Coimbatore. He was arrested in a case in
October 2009. The charge was that he demanded Rs.1 lakh to get a job for Stella Mary and received
Rs.20,000 as advance. He was released on bail six days later. He was placed under suspension, which,
he contended, was unjustified. His counsel said that as rule 17 (e) (2) provided automatic suspension
without giving power to the authority, who could suspend any government servant only on account of
detention beyond 48 hours, it was arbitrary. (The Hindu 2/3/10)

Vigilance Commission booked 54 officers for corruption in 2009 (5)


New Delhi, Mar 10 : Union Government on Wednesday revealed that the Vigilance Commission filed
corruption related cases against 54 officers in 2009. Replying a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister
of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Prithviraj Chavan tabled the number of vigilance
cases initiated against All India Service Officers (AIS) during the year 2008 and 2009. In 2008, the
Central Vigilance Commission has filed cases against 38 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers,
eight Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, four IFS officers, while in 2009, 35 IAS, 10 IPS and nine IFS
officers were booked. Chavan informed the House that the CVC does not issue sanction for prosecution,
however, the Commission advised sanction for prosecution in the year 2008 and 2009 in 107 and 131
cases respectively. In pursuance of the Commission's advice, the competent authorities have imposed
penalties, Chavan added. He also informed that promotion of Government Servants including AIS officers
against whom disciplinary or court proceedings are pending or whose conduct is under investigation is
governed by the ruling given by the Supreme Court. Therefore, pendency of vigilance case except as
provided in the ruling is not a bar on promotion, Chavan said. (New Kerala 10/3/10)

500 Delhi cops held in past 3 yrs for crimes (5)


NEW DELHI: Delhi Police may claim to be a "clean force" but figures tell a different story. Replying to a
question in Parliament, the minister of state in the ministry of home affairs (MHA), Mullappallay
Ramachandran, on Tuesday said 500 officers of Delhi Police had been arrested for various crimes in the
past three years. Though the minister claimed number of crimes committed by police personnel is not
rising, he refused to provide details of action taken by the government against tainted cops. "The data is
still being collected," he said. According to the written reply, a copy of which is with Times City, 116 police
personnel were arrested in 2007. This number saw a huge 54% rise in 2008, with 251 personnel being
arrested for various crimes. In 2009, 133 tainted cops were arrested. A large number of policemen were
arrested on graft charges. In 2007, a total of 51 personnel were arrested for being involved in corruption,
while another 124 were arrested on similar charges in 2008. Last year, 30 policemen were arrested after
they were found involved in corruption. However, the more disturbing news was that of these, 12 were
middle-level officers holding ranks of ACP and inspector. The data reveals at least six personnel were
found to be involved in murder or attempt to murder cases in 2008. Four others were found involved in
the same offence in 2009. This includes six constables, three head constables and one assistant sub-
inspector. Another 30 personnel, including 21 constables, were found to be involved in various cheating
cases in the past three years. It is often alleged that beat officers are involved in extortion cases. At least
16 cops, including two inspectors, have been found to have involved in extortion in the last three years.
Six others, including two sub-inspectors, have been booked for rape charges. Senior police officers
admitted there might be some more tainted cops inside the force. "There are several others who are
under temporary suspension or undergoing internal enquiries on various charges levelled against them. It
is therefore, not surprising if these numbers see a significant rise in the coming days," said an officer at
the vigilance wing. The police claimed they have adopted a "zero-tolerance" towards corruption and other
crimes. "The numbers provided by MHA prove that we are not trying to hush up crimes," claimed a senior
officer at the police headquarters. (Times of India 10/3/10)

House adjourned thrice over CBI probe into Koda scam (5)
RANCHI: With the new government coming to power, the priorities of both the Treasury Bench and the
Opposition seem to have changed. Congress and RJD, which once supported the Madhu Koda
government, created a ruckus in the Assembly here on Wednesday, demanding a CBI probe into the
multi-crore scam of fraudulent withdrawals and money laundering that Koda has been embroiled in.
Ruling ally BJP that once insisted on a CBI probe and even questioned the capabilities of the state
vigilance department during President's Rule, now finds the agency competent and a CBI probe
"unnecessary". These differences of opinion led to a huge uproar and three adjournments during the day.
The House plunged into pandemonium as soon as Speaker C P Singh turned down the adjournment
motion moved by seven members of the Opposition. The motion was placed by Vinod Singh of CPI(ML)
who said the state vigilance department was not competent enough to investigate a scam that has links in
other states and even abroad. Calling for the adjournment of the entire business and the government's
reply over the issue, the Opposition stormed the well of the House as soon as its motion was rejected.
Led by JVM's Samresh Singh, the Opposition raised anti-government slogans and squatted on the floor
which continued for nearly an hour. The Speaker finally adjourned the House initially for 40 minutes and
then till lunch. But pandemonium prevailed after the Assembly reconvened as there was no change in the
mood and the situation when the legislators gathered after lunch. So, the Speaker had to adjourn the
House again for the third time. Order was restored as the Assembly after 3.45 pm when a special debate
over the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) was conducted. Both ruling and Opposition leaders
convened separate press conferences in between the adjournments. While parliamentary affairs minister-
cum-deputy chief minister Raghubar Das accused the Opposition of creating unnecessary disturbances
to stall the government's important work, Vinod Singh of the CPI(ML) and RJD's Annapurna Devi said the
government's stand over corruption was just an eyewash. "Had the government been really serious about
corruption, it should not have hesitated in ordering a CBI probe into the biggest scam of the country,"
Annapurna said. JVM's Pradeep Yadav denied the government charge that the Opposition was doing
everything that was not parliamentary to stall the functioning of the government. "If our friends in the
ruling alliance could read out a parallel speech when the then governor was addressing the House during
Madhu Koda's reign, there is no violation if we have brought an adjournment motion," he argued. (Times
of India 11/3/10)

Cabinet secretary cracks whip on corrupt bureaucrats (5)


New Delhi: Embarrassed by increasing number of corruption cases involving civil servants, the cabinet
secretary has sent a note to all chief secretaries and secretaries in central ministries and departments to
stay vigilant and take stringent action against officers found guilty. KM Chandrasekhar wants all
disciplinary proceedings against erring officers to be expedited, so that the issue of corruption is
addressed “fairly and squarely”. A total of 54 vigilance cases against all India service officers were
registered in 2009. Of these, 35 were against IAS, 10 against IPS and 9 against IFS officers. In 2008, the
numbers were 38, 8 and 4. “Of late, there have been disturbing incidents which call for serious
introspection by civil servants. It is important that we ponder over the manner in which we discharge our
duties and fulfill our responsibilities and what we need to do to refurbish our image,” Chandrasekhar said.
He said since civil servants were appointed on the basis of a fair and open competition, they must
respond in full measure to the faith that citizens repose in them and meet people’s hopes and aspirations
of good governance. “Integrity, honesty, objectivity, impartiality, transparency, accountability and devotion
to duty are the core valueswhich civil servants should cherish and which should form an integral part of
our decisions and actions. The issue of corruption needs to be addressed fairly and squarely.” He
stressed the government’s policy of zero tolerance to corruption must be implemented fully and
effectively. (DNA 12/3/10)
World Bank says Bihar worse than Ghana: RJD (5)
Patna: RJD today assailed Bihar's NDA government for allegedly "befooling and misleading the people"
by showing a growth rate of 11.04% and claimed that the World Bank has said Bihar's economic condition
was "worse than Ghana". "The World Bank has said the economic condition of the state is worse than
that of Ghana," RJD spokesman Shakeel Ahmed Khan said at a press conference with general secretary
Ramkripal Yadav, without specifying the report of the World Bank. Stating that the claim of growth rate by
the government was not only "incorrect but also brought to the fore the real face of the state government",
Khan said according the World Bank's report, Bihar lagged behind all other states in the country on the
fronts of primary health, drinking water and education. The report had also held that the governance in
the state was poor and the gap between the poor and rich was growing, he said. "Eighty per cent of funds
meant for development for the poor are being siphoned off as rampant corruption prevails. The
contractor, officials and politicians enjoying patronage from the state government are the most benefited
lot," Khan alleged. Khan said even noted economist of Mumbai R Nagraj in a recent article said there had
been contradictions in the growth rate being claimed by the state government and the real growth rate.
The actual growth rate in Bihar stood at 7.5% against the national average of 8.5% and according to a
survey conducted by the India Today magazine, Bihar performed poorly, he said. "Bihar has not
increased in any sector and the only sector where the state has progress is corruption," he said adding
the Nitish Kumar government was on its out. (DNA 3/4/10)

Top KDMC officials called to court in corruption case (5)


Top ranking officials of the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) were summoned by the local
court on Saturday after an advocate complained that they had illegally revoked the suspension of a
deputy municipal commissioner who had been booked in a case by the Anti-Corruption Bureau last year.
In July 2009 DMC Suresh Pawar was booked for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2.5 lakh from a
contractor for an advertising project. Pawar was released on bail, but suspended for six months. The
inquiry in the case is yet to be completed. Rathod (l) and Mayor Ramesh Jadhav were present in court on
Saturday. (Pics: Santosh Shinde) However, advocate Ganesh Gholab has alleged that the officials under
question - including Mayor Ramesh Jadhav, Municipal Commissioner Govind Rathod, secretary Shridhar
Thalla, House leader Sachin Bansre, opposition party leader Shashikant Mhatre, corporator and
Republican Party of India party leader Prahalad Jadhav - sanctioned the revocation of Pawar’s
suspension before the expiry of six months. In his plea filed at the Kalyan Judicial Magistrate First Class
Court, Gholab said that the officials sanctioned the revocation at a general body meeting of the municipal
corporation held on October 13, 2010. “While the subject matter of the meeting was another official, these
officials included Pawar’s name in the case and passed the revocation of his suspension in a hurried
manner, without confirming the minutes and following procedure,” Gholab says. He has stated in his
criminal complaint that Bansre, Mhatre and Jadhav even signed the papers. Gholab first sent a legal
notice to all the parties and when he got no response, he filed a case in the court in February. After
Gholab filed an affidavit, show cause notices were issued to all the parties on March 6. As per court
orders, they were all present in court on Saturday. Magistrate S Lokhande presided over the case.
Arguing on behalf of the six officials, Advocate S R Kulkarni said Gholab had not followed proper
procedure. “Proper sanction from the Home Department and Town Planning Department is required for
initiating prosecution against the officials, which wasn’t done,” submitted Kulkarni. Gholab submitted that
he followed procedure and had judgements to support his case. The court has now asked Gholab to hand
over these papers to Kulkarni, so that the defence can prepare its case. (Mumbai Mirror 5/4/10)

137 witnesses turn hostile in Parkash Singh Badal corruption case (5)
Chandigarh: With almost 137 witnesses turning hostile, the corruption case against CM Parkash Singh
Badal, his wife Surinder Kaur and son deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal is likely to fall flat. In the last
round, four witnesses will appear in the special court in Mohali on April 20, after which the much-hyped
case is expected to see a quiet burial The case was registered by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) during
Congress chief minister Amarinder Singh’s term in 2003. During the initial investigations the Badals were
reported to have amassed properties worth Rs2,300 crore, disproportionate to their sources of income.
However, in the challan it was bought down to Rs73.69 crore. The case started wilting after Badal took
over as chief minister in 2007. Making a turn-around in his stance that he had taken during the Congress
rule investigating officer (IO) Surinder Pal Singh told the court that he had filed the challan at the bidding
of his senior officer BK Uppal, the then DIG (VB). Uppal, while deposing in the court, said that the entire
case was prepared by the IO and that he just had a supervisory role. Earlier, eight eight engineers (six of
them have retired) said in the court that the investigating officer and the then DIG (Vigilance) BK Uppal
got their signatures under duress. They said the evaluation of the Badal’s properties was conducted by a
privately-engaged agency and the government engineers were asked to sign on the dotted lines without
seeing the contents of the reports. The VB officials who worked so assiduously for 5 years in the case say
there was nothing they could do if the witnesses (dna 10/4/10)

Tainted Dinakaran shifted; Sikkim (5)


New Delhi: After weeks of high drama that exposed the murkier side of high judiciary, Karnataka High
Court Chief Justice PD Dinakaran has finally been transferred to Sikkim. Facing serious corruption
charges and impeachment motion, Dinakaran had refused to proceed on leave defying a
recommendation by the Supreme Court collegium. Left with few options, the collegium has now decided
to transfer him to Sikkim High Court as chief justice. The Chief Justice of India along with his four senior
most brother judges considered the matter at length and decided to transfer Justice Dinakaran to Sikkim,
much to the chagrin of the Sikkim High Court Bar Association, which has registered a strong protest
against Justice Dinakaran's transfer. Speaking from Gangtok, the Sikkim High Court Bar Association
president DR Thapa said, "How can a person who is unfit to discharge judicial duties in one State be
found worthy of doing the same in another State?" The Bar Association even held an emergency meeting
and unanimously resolved to boycott the swearing-in and the court hearings presided over by Justice
Dinakaran. The decision to post Justice Dinakaran at Sikkim has rather come as a reward considering the
fact that he was not assigned any judicial work in Karnataka. Even his decisions on the administrative
side were quashed by high court judges, refusing to accept his legitimacy to continue pending an
impeachment motion against him. With his new posting, Justice Dinakaran would hear judicial matters
and hold sway over administrative functioning of the court with only three judges (including him) being the
HC strength. The desperation of the collegium to act against Justice Dinakaran became evident last week
when it decided to send him on forced leave and instead post Justice Madan B Lokur of Delhi High Court
as Acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. This created an anomalous situation with one high court
practically having two Chief Justices in office. What underscored the fact that the collegium acted in haste
stood proved by an April 1, 2010 notification issued by the Union Law Ministry announcing Chief Justice
of Jammu and Kashmir Barin Ghosh as Sikkim Chief Justice. He was to take charge before April 13. With
the last minute adjustments, subject to Law Ministry's clearance, the collegium has now decided to
accommodate Justice Ghosh as Uttarakhand Chief Justice and transferred the incumbent Uttarakhand
CJ to Karnataka, thus completing the circle. It was on October 10 last that the Supreme Court collegium
decided to put on hold the elevation of Justice Dinakaran as a Supreme Court judge in the wake of a
discreet inquiry conducted by the Tiruvallur Collector which found him guilty of amassing rural property in
excess of his income. The District Collector's scathing report concluded that Justice Dinakaran
encroached 197 acres of land in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district. An impeachment motion against him is
pending in the Rajya Sabha and a Committee headed by a Supreme Court judge for framing of charges is
examining the allegations. (Pioneer 10/4/10)

Won't resign over IPL controversy: Tharoor to NDTV (5)


New Delhi: In an exclusive interview to NDTV's Barkha Dutt, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi
Tharoor says that his party has not left him out in the cold, and that "resigning would mean I've given up."
(Read: Exclusive - Full transcript of Tharoor's interview to NDTV) Tharoor says he will convey the details
of his relationship with the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) to Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister. "I
have done nothing wrong, I stand with my head held high," he said. The minister has been accused first
by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and then by the BJP and Left of inappropriate links to the Kochi IPL team
bought last month for Rs 1,530 crores. The Opposition has demanded that Tharoor be sacked, and his
party has distanced itself from the minister, describing this as a personal matter and one that the minister
should explain. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said he will examine the facts before deciding
whether any action is required. (Read: Need facts first: PM on action against Tharoor) Sonia Gandhi met
with senior party leaders on Wednesday evening to discuss the Tharoor controversy. The BJP has
confirmed it will bring up the issue in parliament on Thursday. (Read: Sack Tharoor, says BJP; Congress
keeps distance | Sonia meets Congress leaders) Tharoor tells NDTV, "I'm still reeling...I've spent a
lifetime in international public life without the slightest taint...on my integrity... It's the one thing I never
thought anybody would ever have any excuse to say against me. So I'm pretty angry. I've gotten to the
point, it seems, where I can do nothing without being attacked." Tharoor explained that he "wanted to see
cricket coming to life in Kerala." He said, "As an elected representative of my state, I said 'let me try and
help get an IPL team to my state. I've mentored a group of business people of which I am not a part...and
they have participated in a fair and transparent manner." When asked about charges of quid pro quo -
that he used his ministerial office to lobby for the team that won the bid and that in return, his close friend,
Sunanda Pushkar was rewarded with a gift of 70 crores in equity - Tharoor said , "How on earth can any
minister use influence to get an outcome guaranteed from a closed envelope process? I didn't even know
the amount this team was going to pay... that wasn't part of my help for them. There were 5 bidders after
all...no minister can guarantee the numbers of the other bidders. How could I use my ministerial power to
guarantee the outcome?" (Read: I am not a proxy for Tharoor: Sunanda Pushkar) Referring to Pushkar,
he said, "Our media cannot accept the notion of an attractive woman as a capable professional in her
own right...it's insulting to say she must be there as a proxy for me... that she cannot be there in her own
right." He added, "She is one of several people in the consortium. She is somebody who has been a
senior business professional who has worked in brand management, event management. I'm not part of
this business arrangement but this is sweat equity...she has to earn it over the years if the franchise
succeeds. Right now, nobody is making any money...there may be profits later." …….. (NDTV 14/4/10)

MP industry minister accused of land scam (5)


Indore, April 15, 2010: Madhya Pradesh Industry Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has been accused of
having a role in the illegal lease sale for a plot of land owned by Indore Municipal Corporation. An Indore
court asked the state Lokayukta on April 6 to probe the allegation made by Congress leader and former
minister Suresh Seth. The Lokayukta is the highest body in states to investigate allegations of corruption
in government. Seth alleged that in 1980, the municipality leased out the three-acre land in downtown
Indore to Dhanalaxmi Chemical Industries for 30 years. But in 2004, when Vijayvargiya was the mayor,
Dhanalaxmi sold the lease to Nanda Nagar Sakh Sahkari Sanstha Maryadit, a credit cooperative society
— headed by one of his associates, Ramesh Mendola — for Rs 1.28 crore, although the prevailing
market price was more than Rs 65 crore. Mendola was then a member of the mayor-in-council of the
municipality. The lease deed had a condition that the housing cooperative would hold the land for 30
years from November 12, 2010, the day Dhanalaxmi’s lease deal was supposed to expire. Soon after the
sale, Mendola applied to the IMC for transferring the lease in his name and changing the character of
land use from industrial to educational, health and residential. Seth said since Dhanalaxmi was a mere
tenant, it had no right to sell the lease. Also, the IMC had no right to allow the sale or the change in land
use. In 2007, the state government shot down the lease sale. But by then, Mendola had taken possession
of the land. At present, there is a multi-storey building with 22 flats on the land. Vijayvargiya, who
organised the BJP’s national executive meeting in Indore in February, told HT tersely that he welcomed
the probe and the truth would soon be out. Seth, who lost the Indore mayoral election to Vijayvargiya in
1999, told HT: “The IMC did not take back its land although it knew all about the issue.” (Hindustan Times
15/4/10)

Congress attacks BJP for not taking action in corruption cases (5)
New Delhi: After the resignation of Shashi Tharoor as union minister in the wake of the IPL Kochi
controversy, Congress today said it has always taken a high moral ground and attacked the BJP for never
taking action in cases of alleged corruption, including that of Karnataka mining barons Reddy brothers.
"Congress has always taken a high moral ground. BJP has never done this whether it was Tehelka,
George Fernandes or the demolition of the Babri mosque," party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told
reporters outside Parliament House. Asked whether the BJP would feel vindicated after the resignation of
Tharoor as it had been consistently demanding so, Natarajan said, "BJP is quick to criticise but has never
taken action." She referred to the Reddy brothers in Karnataka as an example of the BJP not taking
action against alleged corruption. (dna 19/4/10)

Accused in MPSC scam moves Bombay high court (5)


Mumbai: Six months after the Bombay high court quashed the charge sheet against Dr Tukaram Shiware,
principal of Hinduja College, in the MPSC scam case, Shiware moved court once again seeking quashing
of the second first information report (FIR) lodged against him in the case. Taking a stand that a second
FIR is “impermissible in law”, Shiware urged the court to quash the FIR dated January 25, 2006. At the
hearing of the case on Wednesday, Shiware’s lawyer Samir Vaidya told the court that proceedings in the
second charge sheet had been merged with the first one that was quashed by the court and therefore
would not survive. The multi-crore MPSC scam was unearthed in 2002 and the Anti Corruption Bureau
(ACB) arrested 29 persons in the case. The scam centred around the 1999 MPSC exams for the post of
sub-inspectors, sales tax inspectors and assistants. ACB claimed answer papers of 398 candidates were
replaced, after they allegedly paid bribes between Rs3 lakh to Rs5 lakh to the accused. The court has
adjourned the case till May 6, Vaidya said. (DNA 22/4/10)

Shashi Tharoor chapter closed, probe on into IPL scam: Congress (5)
New Delhi, Apr 21 : Asserting that former Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor's
resignation is a closed chapter, the Congress today said an inquiry into the corruption in IPL is underway
and once it reaches its conclusion the law will take its own course. The party also denied that the IPL
controversy has created a divide between the Congress and its ally NCP. Congress spokesman Manish
Tewari told mediapersons here that as a political party the Congress was more concerned about the BPL
than IPL. He said the party was concerned about the serious problems confronting the country, while as
far as IPL is concerned an inquiry process was underway. ''The unfortunate contours of Shashi Tharoor is
a closed chapter. The Minister has already resigned and addressed the Lok Sabha twice on the issue.
There is an inquiry process in IPL underway and if the process yields anything incriminating, the law will
take its own course.'' Asked Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel reportedly complaining that the Congress
had promoted his name in the IPL controversy, Mr Tewari said he had spoken to the Minister and the
latter had denied making any such statement which alluded or inferred that the Congress was dragging
his name in IPL controversy. He also denied that the IPL controversy has divided the Congress and the
NCP and said there was no problem between the two allies. ''What happens in the field of cricket remains
there only as there is a Chinese wall between the field of cricket and politics,'' he said. Mr Tewari refused
to divulge any details about the progress of the probe and the meeting that Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram had with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on the IPL
controversy. The Congress sources indicated that the government could set up an Independent Regulator
for Commercial Sports which could regulate various leagues organising competitive sports be it cricket,
football or any other sports. The regulation and clearance by the regulatory body would reduce corruption.
The party has also advocated stopping monopoly of IPL and recognising ICL and other leagues to
promote competitive sports and also give respite to players who were not getting any time now. (New
Kerala 22/4/10)

PPSC scam back to haunt 11 babus, others (5)


CHANDIGARH: The ghosts of the sensational corruption case involving the then Punjab Public Service
Commission (PPSC) chairman, Ravi Inder Sidhu, are once again threatening to emerge from the
shadows and haunt those allegedly involved in shady deals involving the state’s elitist services. On
Friday, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) will present a challan (chargesheet) against 21 persons,
including 11 serving government officials, of whom at least five are serving PCS officers, in a Patiala court
on charges of having offered bribe money to the selectors. Out of these, two officers are currently serving
as district transport officers (DTO), while two others are posted as assistant excise and taxation
commissioners (AETC) in Punjab. The case has been registered under sections 8, 12, 13(1)(d) of
Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and sections 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 471 (using as
genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Significantly, the presentation of
chargesheet would signal the revival of those cases which had been put into cold storage soon after they
were registered in 2002, against candidates involved in the alleged bribing of the PPSC chairman.
Besides the corruption case against Ravi Sidhu, the VB has lodged nearly five-six separate cases against
these candidates according to the categories of services of selection, including the PCS, Judicial and
Executive, besides the block development officers (BDOs) selections. Earlier, in December 2009, the VB
had presented challan against eight candidates from the PCS (Judicial) services in a Patiala court. The
case, popularly known as PPSC scam, had caught the attention of the nation when currency notes had
tumbled out of the lockers of then chairman Ravi Sidhu, who had allegedly charged lakhs of rupees from
prospective candidates to ‘sell’ the seats of the prestigious PCS, Executive and Judicial services, among
others. It had also put at least two judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court under scanner because
of their alleged involvement in the case, following which the then chief justice of high court, Justice A B
Saharia, had also ordered an inquiry into their role. It was alleged that apart from money, Sidhu had also
recruited wards of some influential persons, following ‘strong recommendations’. The list of names
includes former PPSC member T C Gupta, whose son, Rahul Gupta, now serving as a PCS officer, was
one of the candidates. Both the father and son are being charged in the case. “These challans do not
signal the end of the investigations, though there is enough strong evidence against these people even at
this stage. The investigations are continuing as this is just the beginning, and the area under investigation
is vast,” said highly placed sources. It is learnt that investigators are finding more and more incriminating
evidence as they dig deeper into the case, going though individual cases and tracing their connections
with the high and mighty. Interestingly, the case comes at a time when the VB is headed by ADGP S S
Saini, who, as the then intelligence chief, had been instrumental in getting the initial case registered
against Sidhu and others, by assisting the then VB chief A P Pandey. However, soon afterwards, Saini
was booted out of his post after names of some influential people started coming out in the open. (Times
of India 23/4/10)

CBI gets 200 complaints against Abhay Chudasama (5)


Ahmedabad: The CBI investigating Abhay Chudasma's alleged role in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake
encounter case has received close to 200 complaints of extortion and corruption against the deputy
commissioner of police. Sources close to the development said that these complaints were sent by
victims who allegedly suffered at the hands of Chudasama. The sources also said that these complaints
pertained to extortion demands made by Chudasama and huge amounts of money he sought from people
for favours. In fact, sources said that an FIR was also likely to be filed against Chudasama very soon.
DNA had reported on Sunday that sources close to the CBI had revealed that they had received a large
number of complaints written in Gujarati by Chudasama's victims. Sources said that the CBI would not
start investigations into the complaints which did not directly deal with the Sohrabuddin case. Meanwhile,
the CBI has denied reports saying that it had seized an AK-47 and an Italian Mouser gun, along with
cartridges, during raids at the office and house of Chudasama late on Friday evening. In a press release
issued by the police, it has been said that the CBI has not recovered any such weapons. The police have
also said that Chudasama'sofficial vehicle had been secured by the motor transport department of the
police commissioner's office. The press release also refutes news reports saying that drivers of
Chudasama are missing. It says that both the drivers are on duty. (DNA 3/5/10)

Supreme Court to hear Jayalalithaa's plea on May 11 (5)


New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on May 11 a special leave petition filed by AIADMK general
secretary Jayalalithaa challenging the trial court's order refusing to discharge her in the disproportionate
assets case pending in a Bangalore court. The trial court has posted the case for May 7. When senior
counsel Mukul Rohatgi and counsel A. Navaneethakrishnan made a mention on Tuesday before a Bench,
comprising Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar, for early listing, the Bench said it would
come up for hearing on May 11. In her special leave petition, Ms. Jayalalithaa stated that the entire
proceedings against her under the Prevention of Corruption Act were a tool of harassment. She
maintained that the object of Section 17 of the Act was to safeguard a diligent public servant from undue
harassment. If the investigation itself had been done by an officer who was not competent to do so, then
no prosecution could be maintained against the accused. She said the investigation was without
jurisdiction and further trial thereon was non est in the eye of the law and that by itself was clear proof of
miscarriage of justice. The petitioner was greatly prejudiced as she had been mulcted with these
proceedings out of political rivalry. (The Hindu 5/5/10)

Lokayukta raids uncover assets worth Rs 7 crore (5)


Bangalore, May 4, DHNS: Lokayukta officials on Tuesday raided residences of seven lower middle grade
officials in different parts of the State and ferreted out assets worth around Rs 7.89 crore disproportionate
to their known sources of income. The raids were carried out on the premises of S T Devaraju, Managing
Director, Karnataka ST Development Corporation, Bangalore, Narendra Govindaraya Nayak Hittalamakki,
Assistant Conservator of Forests, Ankola, B Laxminarayana Shetty, Assistant Director of Land Army,
Hospet, Ayub Khan Ghori, police constable, Hirebagewadi police station (Belgaum), S Shanthakumar,
ARTO, RTO Check Post, Humnabad (Bidar), K Dasegowda, Food Shirastedar, Yelahanka (Bangalore)
and TN Bettaswamaiah, AEE, BBMP, Bangalore. Giving details of the 20th raid of the year, Lokayukta
Justice Santosh Hegde said: “We decided to concentrate on lower rung officials this time around as
people would often ask us why the Lokayukta zeroes in only on top rank officials. That a constable with a
meagre salary can earn property worth more than Rs 33.28 lakh indicates the rampant corruption even
among lower rung officials. “All the seven officials have put in around 15 years of service and have
earned property worth twice or thrice their total income by way of salaries.” A few of the officials owned
property in their wives’ names. The Lokayukta was planning to consider the wives as abetting partners in
view of the recent observation made by the Mumbai High Court in connection with a corruption case. The
value as per the registered records would be around Rs 7.9 crore, but if the present market price was
taken into consideration, it would be around Rs 12 crore, Hegde added. One of the targets of the raids, K
Dasegowda, fled from the rear door of his house as soon as the sleuths appeared. S T Devaraju had
completed 12 years of service and earned Rs 20.65 lakh through salaries, but owned property worth over
Rs two crore. Narendra G Nayak owned a bar and restaurant and a house in his brother’s name worth Rs
one crore. The brother had submitted papers to the tahsildar’s office in 1993 stating that his annual
income was below Rs 8,000! Mining row: Govt loses Rs 8,000 cr Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said
the government incurred losses up to Rs 8,599 crore only from 10 mining companies, reports DHNS from
Bangalore. (Deccan Herald 5/5/10)

Public urged to register complaints against corruption, misuse of power (5)


CHENNAI: Chief Commissioner of Income Tax-II, G.C. Jain on Sunday released Anti Corruption
Committee (ACC) stickers urging people to register complaints against corruption, atrocities, irregularities,
illegalities and misuse of Government funds, post and power to representatives of ACC offices in
Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Krishnagiri. He asked people to be more vigilant and to co-operate
with Non-Government Organisations and institutions to fight corruption. Presiding over the ‘felicitation and
ACC stickers release function organised' by the ACC Tamil Nadu, he said that ever since independence,
the greatest challenge faced by India was eradication of corruption. Everyone gave a special definition to
it. Corruption was present everywhere be it social life, corporate world, political or education systems.
“We have developed some sort of resignation or acceptance. Some consider it as a national phenomenon
or as part of our life that cannot be eradicated. Though we take pride in saying that we are the biggest
democracy in the world, we have not given best service to our citizens. Due to the presence of
middlemen, the benefits of Central Government's schemes and programmes do not reach the poor. We
have to be vigilant to rein in corruption,” he said. He also felicitated M. Balamurali, Joint Engineer –
division 100 (Chennai Corporation), N. Thirunavukarasu, Assistant Divisional Engineer – zone 3 (Chennai
Corporation), R. Anantharaman, Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (retd), Guruji C. Prem
Chand Doshi, yoga specialist and Neeraj Joshi, ENT specialist. ACC National president Rabindra Dwivedi
asked the participants to lodge complaint against those who promise out of turn treatment in return for
money. (The Hindu 10/5/10)

333 corruption complaints pile up at CTE (5)


Bhopal, May 8: Chief Technical Examiner (Vigilance) is not a very happy man today as he is lurking with
2333 complaints of irregularities against senior officers in the state. Pendency at different levels in the
state government for investigation approvals leaves the CTE sitting idle waiting for approvals. Senior
bureaucrats and politicians are to blame for these piling files for approval even when cases of corruption
turn rampant in state. Sources at the CTE office believe that most of these complaints are against Public
Works Department, Water Resources Department, Public Health Department officials. The CTE
(Vigilance) Madhya Pradesh office has forwarded these complaints for approvals to the state government,
but even after years, permissions are yet to be received. According to sources, 72 complaints are
pending against chief engineers in these departments. As per information 1582 complaints are pending
against divisional level officer, 43 are pending at government level, 24 at General Administration
Department and 612 at the chief engineer levels. PHE, PWD and WRD have turned into hubs of
irregularities and in most of the senior level posts, junior officers have been given charge. Surprisingly this
is not due to dearth of senior officers, as a large number of senior officers are sitting idle at the
headquarters and doing clerical jobs. Junior officers with political patronage are holding charge in senior
posts. SDO level officers are working as executive engineer posts while EEs are holding charge as
superintendent engineers. Delays in justice is denial in justice, likewise, these tainted officers facing
charges of corruption are still posted on pivotal positions in the divisions. The same situation continues in
the bureaucracy, a large number of bureaucrats (IAS, IPS and IFS) officers in the state are facing
charges of corruption with different agencies, but remain immune to action due to political and
administrative pressures. (Central Chronicle 9/5/10)
'Greedy, corrupt IPS officers got plum Maha posts' (5)
Mumbai Former Mumbai Police Commissioner, Julio Ribeiro, has dashed off a letter to state government
expressing surprise over the appointment of four 'tainted' senior IPS officers. The letter written on April 15
and addressed to Home Minister R R Patil not only questions the appointment of Joint Commissioner of
Police Himanshu Roy, Additional CP (North Region) Ramrao Pawar, Deputy CPs Ajit Patil (Zone 12) and
Sanjay Banerjee (Zone 11) to sensitive posts but also alleges that they have a reputation for "greed and
corruption". Ribeiro, who runs Public Concern for Governance Trust, an anti-corruption NGO, said that he
had written the letter keeping police reforms and operational freedom in mind. "I read in the newspapers
that in Maharashtra Assembly these four policemen were criticised for their professional misconduct. Still
they managed to get key postings which is very surprising and unfortunate," he said. "Many people came
to me and levelled corruption allegations about these four tainted policemen. I have brought this issue to
the notice of Home Department and we as an NGO would continue to do this," said Rebeiro, who was
Director General of Punjab Police during its worst years of terrorism. "The chief of crime branch should be
unquestionable but the politicians and police are taking people for a ride," Ribeiro added. Politicians were
interfering in appointing each and every police official, he said adding even junior level officers were also
appointed with blessings of politicians. "The four cops, whom I named in my letter have godfathers
following which they became untouchable," Rebeiro alleged and demanded that the appointments should
be done in a free and fair manner so that citizens get right police officer to protect them. When contacted
Jt CP (Crime) Himanshu Roy said, "I do not even have the knowledge about the letter and nobody told
me about it. Home Department has not informed me anything about it." Additional CP RamRao Pawar
said, "I do not know what the allegations are. So I do not want to say anything on the matter." The other
two DCPs refused to comment. (Express India 17/5/10)

Action only if corruption proved: Badal (5)


CHANDIGARH: Acknowledging candidly that corruption was prevalent in Punjab, the state chief minister
Parkash Singh Badal said action could be taken only when concrete evidence was presented in these
cases. Speaking to mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting here on Monday, the chief minister
dismissed talks of allegations of corruption against Cabinet member Laxmi Kanta Chawla, saying making
allegations against someone was one thing, and proving them, quite another. "Former chief minister
Amarinder Singh made wild allegations against us of having amassed property worth Rs 3,500 crore.
Action can be taken in corruption cases only when concrete evidence is presented," he said, albeit
without making any mention of how government planned to control corruption. Responding to further
queries on Laxmi Kanta Chawla-Jagdish Sahni spat, the chief minister said he had received a three-page
resignation letter from Sahni. (Times of India 18/5/10)

Maharashtra cites corruption, wants to take over temples (5)


MUMBAI: State law minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil has mooted a proposal to take over two lakh-odd
temples across the state, citing rampant corruption and irregularities in the management of the temples
as his reason. "There are complaints of misuse of funds in many prominent temples in Maharashtra. The
competent authorities under the Public Trusts Act have evidently failed to monitor their activities properly.
Therefore, Vikhe Patil has now mooted a proposal for their takeover," a senior official told TOI on
Monday. However, critics point out that the government is not a model of rectitude itself and the
Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi, which it runs, is equally plagued by corruption charges. Currently,
two temples—Siddhivinayak and Shirdi's Saibaba temple—are controlled directly by the state.
Siddhivinayak, built in the 19th century, was run by a private family, and later registered with the charity
commissioner. However, when A R Antulay became CM in 1980, the temple was taken over by the state
by an act of legislature. Ever since, it has an officer of the rank of deputy collector as the chief executive
officer, and a five-member trust headed by a person, mostly a politician, appointed by the CM. The
Saibaba Temple too was similarly taken over by the government nearly a decade ago. "We are keen on
following the pattern followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where the management of
all temples is directly supervised by the endowments department headed by an officer of the rank of
principal secretary," the official said. "Once the temples are taken over, the government will be in a
position to draft a comprehensive strategy for setting up adequate infrastructure near them. At the
moment, the massive amounts of money donated by devotees are not being utilised properly." Vikhe Patil
has now asked the charity commissioner, who is the guardian of the trusts under the Public Trusts Act, to
submit a comprehensive list of all the temples registered with his office. "We expect that the law and
judiciary department will get this information within a month. Then we will initiate the process for the
enactment of a new law," the official said. Senior Congress leader Kishore Joshi, a former trustee of the
Siddhivinayak temple, has welcomed Vikhe Patil's proposal, saying it was high time the state government
brought in a comprehensive legislation for taking over all temples. "We feel that the Siddhivinayak and
Saibaba temples are now better managed," he said. According to Joshi, the charity commissioner's office
was probably unable to monitor the temples properly "because of inadequate staff". Incidentally, this
office is among the most notorious in the state for corruption. (Times of India 18/5/10)

S-ar putea să vă placă și