Excelsior... Nation

BALCO, Jogi’s tribal
status court cases figure
in an eventful year

RAIPUR, Dec 21: Controversies over the disinvestment of the public sector Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and the tribal status....more

Picture this an art gallery scene in the Pink City

JAIPUR, Dec 21: They stared and stared but failed to get the picture. Then the elderly couple, who had walked into the art gallery at the Jawahar..more

BJP split group merges
with Cong in Chhattisgarh

RAIPUR, Dec 21: The Congress in Chhattisgarh received a shot in the arm with 12 MLAs, who broke ranks with BJP yesterday, joining the party....more

Harshad, 2 brothers get
JC till Jan 4 in scam case

MUMBAI, Dec 21: A special court today rejected the bail plea of ‘big bull’ Harshad Mehta and his brothers Sudhir..more

Ram Janmabhumi
continued to rock UP

LUCKNOW, Dec 21: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders forced entry into the disputed Ram Janambhumi-Babri Masjid complex in Ayodhya, sacking of ..more

SC cautions HC judges against cancelling bail granted to accused

NEW DELHI, Dec 21: The Supreme Court has cautioned High Court judges against cancelling bail granted to an accused by....more

EC directs State Govt
to take action against
officials

NEW DELHI, Dec 21: The Election Commission (EC) has asked the Punjab Government to take action against officials .....more

Rastogi brothers
including Virender
chargesheeted again

NEW DELHI, Dec 21: CBI has filed another chargesheet against influential London-based Non Resident Indian .....more

BALCO, Jogi’s tribal status court cases figure in an eventful year

RAIPUR, Dec 21: Controversies over the disinvestment of the public sector Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and the tribal status of Chief Minister Ajit Jogi dominated the social and political scene in Chhattisgarh during the year coming to a close.

In a major jolt to the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the Congress-ruled state, 12 MLAs left the BJP and formed the Chhattisgarh Vikas Party here yesterday. Jaipur Mayor Tarun Chatterjee, MLA was declared president of the new party. Later, all the MLAs, along with Congress Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, met the speaker at the latter’s residence before announcing to the media about the split.

This was the second shock for the party which earlier this year suffered a jolt with its Legislator Ramdayal Uike vacating the Marwahi (ST) seat to enable Mr Jogi to seek entry into the 91-member Assembly.

However, it was the disinvestment of BALCO that grabbed the headlines. The profit-making PSU was privatised by the Centre by handing over 51 per cent of its shares to sterlite industries for Rs 551.5 crore on March 2, triggering nationwide protest. Employees of BALCO launched an indefinite strike from March 3 and the manufacturing facilities were closed down. The 67-day-old strike was finally called off following an agreement between the employees and the new management.

The Chief Minister led the tirade against the disinvestment and approached the Supreme Court alleging lack of transparency and offering to buy the 51 per cent shares for Rs 552 crore. The apex court, however, upheld the transfer stating that transparency was maintained in the deal.

Mr Jogi began the year on a positive note when he was elected to the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Dabha in a byelection from Marwahi (ST) on February 22 with a record margin of more than 50,000 votes. The seat was vacated by BJP MLA Ramdayal Uike, who later joined the Congress.

Subsequently, the year saw him caught up in legal tangles, including one questioning his tribal identity. On the complaint of a tribal Mr Sant Kumar Netam, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes led by Mr Dilip Singh Bhuria rejected Mr Jogi’s claim of being a tribal. This led to clamour for Mr Jogi’s resignation but Chhattisgarh High Court stayed the operation of the Commission’s order and the case is still pending.

The annual budget of fiscal 2001-02 was presented in the Vidhan Sabha on March 22 and the budgetary demands of all departments were passed only after a discussion, setting a precedent at the initiative of Speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla. During the just-conclued winter session, about 25 BJP MLAs attracted automatic suspension just two days after the house approved a resolution on action against those members who enter the well of the house. However, their suspension was revoked immediately.

The Assembly also passed a non-official resolution seeking the Centre’s approval for recognition of Chhattisgarhi dialect as a national language. Mrs Ingrid Kristen Maclaud representing the Anglo-Indian community was nominated a member of the Assembly, taking the strength of the house to 91.

Traders protesting against tax hike were lathicharged in front of the Vidhan Sabha on March 27 and it was followed by a lathicharge on BJP demonstrators heading for a gherao of the Chief Minister’s residence on April 28. Leader of the opposition Nand Kumar Sai was among those seriously injured in the police action.

The banned Naxalite organisations Peoples War and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) were active in Chhattisgarh and six of the 16 districts were declared as Naxalite-affected.

During the first week of December, the PWG attacked six police stations in South Bastar, which was repulsed by Police, while the MCC Naxalites killed three criminals in Sarguja district at a people’s court charging them with indulging in criminal activities posing as Naxalites.

The capital Raipur got an air link with Jabalpur and was also provided with the Rajdhani Express link to the national capital in November.

The State’s Public Service Commission was formed on May 23. Three new agriculture colleges were started at Jagdalpur, Bilaspur and Ambikapur, while a new medical college was started at Bilaspur.

The newly formed state, which celebrated its first anniversary on November 1, experienced severe drought during the year. Relief works on a massive scale were launched to provide relief to the drought-hit people. The centre provided foodgrains worth Rs 550 crore for drought relief.

While various measures were taken to increase power generation in the energy-surplus state, efforts were also on to make Chhattisgarh a herbal state by promoting cultivation of medicinal plants.

During the year, the fate of a joint venture prospecting of the diamond deposits in Raipur district became uncertain. The State Government finally cancelled the licence granted to Messrs B Vijaykumar Chhattisgarh Exploration Private Limited for violation of the terms of the agreement on various counts.

Corruption charges were levelled against several Government functionaries. During the inquiry into the corruption in the purchase of furniture for the Tribal Welfare Department-run schools, the three-member committee of the Vidhan Sabha indicted Industries Minister Mahendra Karma, Tribal Welfare Minister Madhav Singh Dhruv and about ten officers.

The committee is also probing the corruption charge in the purchase of medicines and tubewell pipes.

After years of severe drought, the state received sufficient rainfall this year though several areas were affected by floods. The state had bumper paddy crop this year posing a problem of plenty for storage and marketing. (UNI)

Picture this an art gallery scene in the Pink City

JAIPUR, Dec 21: They stared and stared but failed to get the picture.

Then the elderly couple, who had walked into the art gallery at the Jawahar Kala Kendra here, decided to take the bull by the horns — in this case, the tousle-haired artist Rameshwar Singh.

Spotting the man talking softly to someone in one corner, they went upto him boldly and asked "sir, could you please explain what you have tried to depict here?"

"Oh yes" he replied, "this is actually a woman..." and the couple looked at the painting once more, a bit harder.

After a moment’s pause, which looked like an eternity, the old man found the message sinking in finally. "Ah I like your use of colours. They’re bright, beautiful, wonderful..."

But of course this was just an aberration.

You could walk into a room full of Rameshwar Singh’s works and instantly fall in love with his use of colours, or with the shadow lines that cut across the canvas.

Maybe, like him, you could imagine birds with breasts, women with wings. Maybe you too have seen horses smile, waited for your lover’s return while ghazal played on a gramophone?

Maybe your memory too is flooded with images of freshly bathed Ganeshas, Durga, animals, birds, poetry and songs. Maybe you too have tried, once in a while, to tear out moments of bliss from your palimpsest of memories...

Peel off the sepia scrolls affixed on Singh’s canvas and peep inside the bioscope. There — along with Rajput men and women, horses, camels, elephants and parakeets — is a day-dream retold, history and memories lived down generations.

The clock is turned back and back and back. The past lives in tight embrace with the present.

Words fill up every space — the bodies of men and women, of animals, a fish that rests on a woman’s lap, of memory itself. The dice on the board is coloured, like the tiny glass windows through which the sun smiles brightly into his world.

The 54-year-old artist, a veteran of over 40 solo exhibitions in India and abroad, has used block printed cloth and burnt them at the edges, as if the women of mewar had committed Jauhar on his canvas.

Singh says this is an innocent world of the past, where time is not held hostage to the rythms of industrial life. Layers upon layers of carefully assembled images tell the story of a village brimming with the colours of life.

It could be his village or yours, but walking out — after admiring the works of an artist who has been honoured in at least seven states — one could overhear one last question from the elderly couple "so, this is water-colour, isn’t it?"

"No," the artist said politely. "This is acrylic, cloth..."

And at that moment, the man with big eyes seemed to look through them. Something in the distance might have caught his eye. (UNI)

Harshad, 2 brothers get JC till Jan 4 in scam case

MUMBAI, Dec 21: A special court today rejected the bail plea of ‘big bull’ Harshad Mehta and his brothers Sudhir and Ashwin and remanded them to judicial custody till January four in a case of misappropriation of funds worth about Rs 250 crore from 27 lakh ‘missing’ shares of 90 blue chip companies.

Harshad and Sudhir were produced before Justice S H Kapadia who remanded them to judicial custody for two weeks.

Harshad’s another brother, Ashwin, could not be produced in the court as he is admitted to the J J Hospital since November 22 following complaint of giddiness. He was also remanded to judicial custody by the judge who directed CBI not to interrogate him until he was discharged from hospital.

CBI counsel V C Gupte and Raja Thakre sought judicial custody of the accused on the ground that new material concerning the scam had come to light and therefore it was necessary to carry out custodial interrogation. The accused were arrested on November nine and remanded to police custody on two occasions. They were remanded to judicial custody on December seven till today.

Harshad and his brothers contended that it was on the basis of their complaint that the court had earlier ordered CBI to probe the ‘missing’ shares, while CBI argued that these shares were sold fraudulently in the market by the accused. Mahesh Jethmalani, counsel for Harshad and his brother Sudhir, pleaded that the accused should be granted bail because they had been in custody for more than a month and were ready to cooperate with investigating agency.

Shirish Gupte, counsel for Ashwin, urged for his bail on the ground that he was in hospital and had already been interrogated for the first 14 days in custody. He said Ashwin would cooperate with investigations as and when required.

The court, however, rejected their plea for bail and also turned down Ashwin’s request for transfer to a private hospital as he had developed cardiac problems and had been shifted to cardiac unit of the Government-owned J J Hospital.

CBI prosecutors sought their custody for a further period of 14 days on the ground that associates of the accused had yet to be traced. They also pleaded that new facts had come to light during investigations and the accused had to be confronted with that material.

Harshad and his two brothers are charged with various offences under IPC such as 120-B IPC (Conspiracy), 467 (Forgery of Valuable Security), 468 (Forgery for the Purpose of Cheating) and 471 (using as genuine forged documents). (PTI)

Ram Janmabhumi continued to rock UP

LUCKNOW, Dec 21: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders forced entry into the disputed Ram Janambhumi-Babri Masjid complex in Ayodhya, sacking of three of his ministers by the Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, the en-masse resignations by the opposition parties to force early Assembly elections, riots in industrial city of Kanpur, multi-crore century scam and the scare of criminal tribe ‘Kachha Baniyan Gang’ were the main events in Uttar Pradesh during the year gone-by.

The forceful entry by the VHP President Ashok Singhal along with other activists into the ‘isolation zone’ of the disputed complex in Ayodhya evoked condemnation from all quarters leading to tension in the temple town and both the centre and Rajnath Singh Government had to face bitter criticism of the opposition on this count.

The incident led to suspension of a magistrate and a police officer posted at the disputed site while CRPF lodged an FIR against the VHP leaders for causing breach of peace and creating law and order problem.

The BJP-led coalition Government was installed four years ago with the support of Energy Minister Naresh Agarwal-led 19-member legislature group of Loktantrik Congress Party. Agarwal was unceremoniously dismissed by Chief Minister Rajnath Singh for his tirade and utterances against the BJP-led State Government.

Naresh exit led to split in the LCP with majority (17) of the party MLAs forming breakaway group and decided to support the Rajnath Singh Government and former later merging with the Samajwadi Party. Ashok Yadav, the BJPPminister, who held the tourism portfolio was also sacked for criticising Chief Minister for his decision to provide reservation for most backwards’ and most dalits’ while Amar Mani Tripathi, another LCP Minister of State had to face wrath of the Chief Minister for his alleged criminal links and harbouring of a kidnappers gang.

The legal wrangling in Ayodhya case continued to hog the limelight this year too with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court finding the notification issued for the setting up of a special CBI court to try the accused, as ‘technically defective’.

The werdict gave a repreive to the three union ministers— Home Minister L K Advani, Uma Bharti and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi— in the case which awaited further order with the apex court admitting a couple of public interest litigations during the year.

During the year, there was also a murderous attack on the Ram Janambhumi Trust Vice President, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and four others in Ayodhya when miscreants hurled crude bombs on them. They escaped with minor splinter injuries.

The December six Shaurya Diwas celebration to mark the demolition of the Babri mosque anniversary, proved a damp squib like any other year with usual rhetoric by both the VHP and Babri Masjid Action Committee leaders.

The scene in Ayodhya is likely to hot up as March 12 deadline set by the ‘Dharma Sansad’ to start the Ram Temple construction, draws close next year.

The issue of the exact term of the 13th Vidhan Sabha remained a topic of debate throughout the year with opposition parties namely the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress demanding Assembly elections on the plea that Assembly term expired in October.

While SP took the lead in announcing en-masse resignation of its party MLAs, the BSP and Congress followed suit later leaving BJP and its allies alone in the 403-member Vidhan Sabha.

While the issue remained pending with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court and the Apex Court, the Election Commission made it clear that it would abide by the ruling of the Speaker Vidhan Sabha that the term of the Assembly would be counted from the date of its first sitting thus paving the way for elections by March next year.

The BJP on the other side had decided that its MLAs would stop taking their salary from October onward and deposit it in the CM’s Discretionary Fund.

On the political front, BSP suffered a jolt with party’s national vice president Mayawati expelling three MLAs including former Speaker Barkhu Ram Verma and R K Chowdhry for opposing the reservation to most backwards and most dalits, a bill which had the support of BSP when the same was passed in the Vidhan Sabha. (PTI)

SC cautions HC judges against cancelling
bail granted to accused

NEW DELHI, Dec 21: The Supreme Court has cautioned High Court judges against cancelling bail granted to an accused by another judge of their own High Court.

"It is not open to the other judge of the High Court to sit in appeal against the order passed by another judge of the same High Court," the court observed.

The ruling was given by a bench of Mr Justice M B Shah and Mr Justice B N Agrawal while allowing an appeal by a murder accused, against an order of a single judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court cancelling his bail, granted earlier by another judge of the High Court.

The bail of accused Harjeet Singh alias Seeta had been cancelled by the other judge on the ground that it was obtained on misrepresentation of facts.

"If the accused had obtained bail order by misrepresentation or by suppression of facts, it was for the state or the aggrieved party to approach the appropriate higher forum," the apex court judges observed in their judgement.

In any case, for cancellation of the bail on the ground of misrepresentation or mis-statement, the judges said, the matter ought to have been placed before the same judge.

They pointed out that longstanding convention and judicial discipline required that subsequent bail application ought to have been placed before the same judge, who had passed the earlier order.

"Placing of such a matter before the same judge has its roots in principle as it prevents abuse of process of court in as much as an impression is not created that a litigant is shunning or selecting a court depending on whether the court is to his liking or not and is encouraged to file successive applications without any new factor having cropped up," the judges cautioned.

Setting aside the order of cancellation of bail of the accused, the judges said that it would be open to the state or the aggrieved party to approach the court for cancellation of bail on the ground of any objectionable conduct on the part of the accused or by pointing out that the bail had been obtained by suppression of materila fact and in such case the mater may be placed before the same judge, who granted bail earlier. (UNI)

EC directs State Govt to take action against officials

NEW DELHI, Dec 21: The Election Commission (EC) has asked the Punjab Government to take action against officials charged with dereliction of duty and committing irregularities in revising the electoral rolls.

The EC has also directed the Chief Secretary not to let the erring officials including the Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar, the Naib Tehsildar of Giddarbha and the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Taran Taran be associated with any work relating to the Assembly elections to be held early next year.

The Commission has given directions on the basis of the report submitted by its Secretary K R Prasad who was deputed to inquire into the allegations of irregularities committed by Government officials.

The Commission had received complaints from Taran Taran and Naushera Pannun Assembly constituencies in Amritsar and Giddarbha and Lambi constituencies in Mukteswar district.

The inquiry revealed that gross irregularities were committed by the concerned officials while preparing the electoral rolls. They had ignored the directions of the EC and the Supreme Court ruling in 1995, the Commission said.

The other officials against whom the ec has sought action are Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Returning Officer (RO) of the Lambi constituency, the election Kanungo of Taran Naran and the ERO and RO of Nushera Pannun Assembly constituency.

The Commission has called for the transfer of the Taran Taran SDM. The Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar and the Naib Tehsildar of Giddarbha should also be transferred, the Commission said.

The EC has asked the Chief Secretary to apprise it of the follow-up action being taken on its recommendations. (UNI)