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BJP's attempt to compromise the independence of the judiciary :
The letter of Gopal Subramaniam to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) withdrawing his consent for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court has created quite a furore in the country.People are getting reminded of 1973 when Indira Gandhi directed Mohan Kumaramangalam to take steps to have a committed judiciary.
It is quite clear that the CBI and the IB have been induced to do a hatchet job for the BJP which was angry with Gopal Subramaniam as an Amicus appointed by the Supreme Court for taking a tough stand in the Sohrabuddin, Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases, in which Amit Shah the blue eyed boy of Narendra Modi has been chargesheeted.
The BJP has always insisted that the CBI was always a tool of the congress government. We had also seen this repeatedly in the corruption cases against Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav. The CBI and the IB have raised two questions about the suitability of Subramaniam.
The first reason given by the government for opposing Subramaniam's appointment is ridiculous. The government says that a conversation between Radia and some third person shows Subramaniam in a poor light. On the contrary, the conversation between Radia and Ratan Tata where his name is mentioned shows him in a very favourable light, since Radia says "I am not sure that he (Subramaniam) will agree to what they say. He is an upright person. I think Raja will be trying to get the AG (Vahanvati)".
In fact, the Radia tapes contain a deadly conversation between Radia and the former Finance Secretary N.K. Singh who was then a member of the Rajya Sabha and is now a prominent member of the BJP is found acting as an agent of Mukesh Ambani and conspiring with her about how to get a provision introduced in the Finance Bill to give a retrospective Tax concession to Mukesh Ambanis's company passed. He tells Radia about how he has managed to get the BJP leadership to replace Arun Shourie who was going to oppose the bill, by Venkaiah Naidu (former President of the BJP), who was found to be close to the Reliance President and who was told to support this bill. Arun Shourie in his interview with Karan Thapar confirmed the truth of these events. Instead of taking action against those in the BJP leadership who are caught in the Radia tapes as being agents of Ambani, the government has targeted an independent lawyer by using the bogey of his name being merely mentioned in the Radia tapes.
So far as the other reason given by the government is concerned, ie meeting the lawyer of Raja in his chamber, I do not think that there is anything unprofessional in such a meeting in the presence of CBI officers. An allegation of this type is absurd.
I have observed the career of Subramaniam since the beginning with considerable intellect and I have found him to have the highest professional rectitude, a keen interest and a capacity for hard work. It is indeed unfortunate that the country has lost the opportunity of having a great judge in the Supreme Court and the BJP needs to be roundly condemned for this. If this government continues in this vein, they will have the same fate as Mrs. Gandhi's 1971 government.
Shanti Bhushan
   NIA appoints Rajdhani's three leading lawyers as their Special Prosecutors
Apex Investigation agency of India ,NIA (National Investigation agency ) appointed shree Ajay Gupta, Deepesh Joshi and Sashank Shekhar as their Special Prosecutors in the State . Home Ministry has issued a list of 31 leading advocates to be appointed as the Special Prosecutors of NIA .
POTA
(amend) bill approved
The President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam Ajad has given his consent to
the POTA (amend) bill passed by the Parliament for prohibiting the ill-use
of it.
No Penalty In Place
of Punishment
A bench of three Supreme Court judges has
made a provision that a court cannot impose penalty on the companies in
place of punishment. Nor can it charge a company only with fine in case
when both, the punishment & penalty are to be inflicted.
The provision was made taking
into account that courts always keep trying to wash their hands off the
responsibility of accusing the companies of any guilt, on the ground that
they can not be put behind the bars.
Governor's Privilege to Pardon Confines
By its newly issued decision, the Supreme
Court has prohibited the governor of the state to carry on his privilege
to pardon, if the concerned prisoner/ prisoners are not accused by the
court/courts of his own state.
However, if he practises the privilege, it will be taken as an unlawful
act.
Four More Languages enters as official
The 100th Amend Bill envisaging
the inclusion of four more languages named Santhali, Dogri, Bodo, &
Maithili in the 8th schedule, has been endorsed unanimously by the Parliament.
After this development the total number of the languages in the 8th schedule
will lead the 22 from the present number of 18.
Marriage Law (amend) Bill approved
President APJ Abdul Kalam has given his consent
on the Marriage Law (amend) Bill- 2003 enabling the victimized married
women to resort to district courts for justice & relief. According
to the Bill, the women will be able to sue their petitions in district
courts.
Drug cosmetic (amend) bill presents in
LS
A Drug & Cosmetic (amend) bill envisaging
death sentence for the feigned medicines manufactures was presented in
the Lok sabha by the Central government.
At present, the Act pronounces at least 5 years imprisonment likely to
turn in to imprisonment for life & Rs 10,000 financial penalty for
the formulation & sale of the counterfeit medicines.
The proposed bill demands for at least 10 years imprisonment likely to
turn into imprisonment for life along with death sentence.
Pension bill approved
A Pension bill hoping pension for former MPs & on the death of working
MP to his wife & children has been passed unanimously by the Lok sabha.
As the custom goes on, on the one-year extension in the Lok sabha term,
the pension amount gets an increment of Rs 600. However, the request from
the former MPs to assume nine months as one year has been accepted.
Double citizenship to Bharatvanshis
In an effort to see India standing
in the first row of the developing countries & name the 21st century
as 'India's century', the Government of India has opened its gates to
Bharatvanshis by providing them double citizenship.
In this connection, the bill giving this privilege to Bharatvanshis living
in eight countries has been approved by the Lok sabha after the Rajya
sabha's endorsement on the bill.
The child has right to hold property
The Supreme Court has voiced an
important decision that any under-age young one can accept a property
gifted to him. The court also quoted the Article 127 (property transference
act), which pronounces that an immature young one can accept present.
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