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Order
reserved on MUMBAI, Mar 28: Three accused in the Gulshan Kumar murder case today urged the Sessions Court to discharge them.....more
‘Fernandes
sincere NEW DELHI, Mar 28: George Fernandes, who quit as Defence Minister following......more
10
fold increase in interim NEW DELHI, Mar 28: In the year of empowerment of women, the Government is planning to enhance the interim maintenance....more |
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Laxman
had been made LUCKNOW, Mar 28: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) vice-president Mayawati today said former BJP president Bangaru Laxman had been made a "scapegoat" in the Tehelka issue and urged him to leave the party if he had some "self-respect".....more BSF-BDR talks NEW DELHI, Mar 28: India today conveyed its concern to Bangladesh over illegal migration of Bangladeshis and trans-border crimes and emphasised the need for concerted efforts........more HC quashes Manipur IMPHAL, Mar 28: The Gauhati High Court (Imphal bench) has quashed the February 13 order of.......more No water, power NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Water, electricity and sewage connections will not be forthcoming for newly .....more SC: Change in offence NEW DELHI, Mar 28: An accused granted bail earlier for a minor offence made out in the FIR but .....more |
Order reserved on discharge plea of 3 in Gulshan murder MUMBAI, Mar 28: Three accused in the Gulshan Kumar murder case today urged the Sessions Court to discharge them as there was no sufficient material with the prosecution to frame charges against them. The Sessions Judge M L Tahilyani reserved his order on the plea of Javed Kalia, Rafiq Ansari and Wasim Khan alias Wasim Babu charged with conspiracy to kill the audio king. The prosecution opened its case on January 25 before Tahilyani. It has already filed chargesheets against 19 accused facing trial. Besides them, one has turned approver. Prior to framing of charges, three accused today filed discharge plea under Section 227 of CrPC. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam vehemently opposed the discharge applications of the accused saying they were deeply involved in the conspiracy which was hatched in Dubai to eliminate Gulshan Kumar due to business rivalry. He relied upon confessions of approver and accused Jalil Ahmed Fakih to harp on the conspiracy angle. The prosecutor said there was prima facie evidence for framing of charge against the accused. At this stage it would be inappropriate to discard the confession of the approver on the ground that he had retracted his statement, Nikam alleged. Defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi argued that except for the approver’s confession and statement of another accused there was nothing on record to implicate them. The approver had sought withdrawal of pardon and also declared his intention to be treated as an accused. Hence, his statement could not be relied upon, he submitted. (PTI) |
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‘Fernandes sincere in
bringing transparency
NEW DELHI, Mar 28: George Fernandes, who quit as Defence Minister following corruption charges in defence deals, was "sincere" in his attempts to bring about transparency in defence acquisition matters, Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal said today. "As far as I know George Fernandes, my impression is that he was sincere about it. His intentions were good and he was trying to bring in greater transparency in the system and had made efforts with good intention," Vittal said in a discussion on corruption on Doordarshan news channel’s breakfast show. According to a release issued by programme producers ‘Independent Media Pvt Ltd’, Vittal said Fernandes brought in a new rule that all deals worth above Rs 75 crore would be examined by the CVC and Comptroller and Auditor General of India within one month of being clinched. Fernandes, as the Defence Minister, had asked the CVC to probe four areas, Vittal said, adding about 400 files were sent on these issues to the CVC to facilitate the enquiry. These included the issue of whether there were any middle men despite the "no middleman" policy in any of the deals, he said, adding that the CVC would submit its report on this aspect to the Government by April. The other issues which Fernandes sought to be inquired into were allegations of corruption in Parliament made by Jayant Malhotra MP, corruption charges in navy purchases made by Rear Admiral Purohit and the defence deals worth over Rs 75 crore, Vittal added. (PTI) |
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10 fold increase in interim maintenance on anvil: Govt NEW DELHI, Mar 28: In the year of empowerment of women, the Government is planning to enhance the interim maintenance limit for an estranged wife from the existing Rs 500 to Rs 5000, Law Minister Arun Jaitley said today. "A proposal to enhance outer limit of the interim maintenance from the existing Rs 500 to Rs 5000 by means of an amendment to Section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code is being given final shape by the Law Minstry and the Home Ministry and a draft of this would soon be prepared for the cabinet," Jaitley told PTI. The Law Ministry is also working on the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act, to amend it suitably so that the women facing divorce proceedings were granted interim maintenance within 60 days of filing an application. "We are looking into the personal laws and would bring in amendments to the provisions dealing with interim maintenance so that the same is granted to the needy women within 60 days," the Law Minister said. Jaitley said "in the year of women empowerment, the award of interim maintenance has to be made expeditious and the quantum made realistic keeping in view the present inflation level." The proposal was almost ready to go before the cabinet, he said adding this was recommended by the Law Commission sometime back. There have been numerous cases across the country where divorce proceedings have dragged on for years and the question of interim maintenance had also remained undecided for number of years increasing the misery of the women deserted by her husband. However, Jaitley said the stalling of the business of the house in Parliament had led to a standstill to introduction of several important bills, which were pending with the standing committees. He said the reforms planned on the civil procedure code, after the violent protests against the amendments to the code by the advocates, was still lying with the parliamentary standing committee. Another important bill proposing amendments to the Christian Marriage Act is also pending with the standing committee as also the proposal for delimitation of the constituencies, Jaitley said. The amendments proposed to the Registration Act, making registration mandatory in case of transfer of possession of properties, which would fetch a substantial revenue to the Government, was also with the standing committee, he said. The Law Minister said if and only when Parliament resumed its normal business, these issues could be taken up. (PTI) |
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No water, power connections for
non NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Water, electricity and sewage connections will not be forthcoming for newly constructed buildings in the capital unless the application form is accompanied by an undertaking that earthquake resistant technologies have been adhered to. As per the amended Delhi Building By-laws, 1983, notified by the Union Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Ministry on March 21 this year, such a certificate, signed by the building owner, architect and structural engineer, has been made mandatory while submitting ‘Form D’ for water, electricity and sewage connections, official sources told UNI. According to the amended by-laws, a certificate stating that the building has been constructed in accordance with structural plans incorporating earthquake-resistant technologies, will have to be apended either with "Form D" or the completion certificate, whichever is applied for earlier. "As very few people in the capital apply for completion certificates for their buildings, it means that they would have to attach the necessary certificate while submitting ‘Form D’, the sources said. "This is a major development," they added. With the introduction of the amended by-laws, Delhi has become the first place in the country to amend its municipal laws to incorporate compulsory safety features against earthquakes and enforce responsibility of owners, engineers and architects for this. As per the amendments, three major clauses have been incorporated in the building by-laws, 1983, to provide for compulsory quake-proof safety features and to enforce accountability. In the first place, it has been made mandatory to provide a certificate alongwith building plans, undertaking that the plans submitted for approval satisfy the safety requirements, as stipulated by the National Building Code (NBC) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This certificate, as also the building plans, would have to carry the signatures of the building owner, the architect and the structural engineer. A similar undertaking, also signed by these three, would have to be given at the time of obtaining the completion certificate or submitting ‘Form D’, whichever is earlier. Any subsequent change from the construction design would be the responsibility of the owner. The urgency for such an amendment was felt by the Urban Development Ministry in view of the large-scale damage wreaked in Gujarat by ill designed and poorly constructed high-rises, built in complete disregard of structural safety requirements. In the case of Delhi, the matter required even greater attention as the capital is known to be located in a highly seismic area, the sources said. (UNI) |
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SC: Change in offence could disentitle accuse from bail NEW DELHI, Mar 28: An accused granted bail earlier for a minor offence made out in the FIR but could be disentitled to bail if after investigation he was charged with a graver offence, the Supreme Court has ruled. "With the change of the nature of offence, the accused becomes disentitled to the liberty granted to him in relation to a minor offence, if the offence is altered for an aggravated crime," a bench comprising Justice K T Thomas and Justice R P Sethi said in a recent judgement. Justice Sethi, writing the judgement for the bench, said "the mere initial grant of anticipatory bail for lesser offence, did not entitle the respondent to insist for regular bail even if he was subsequently found to be involved in the case of murder." A case was registered against a person on charges of dowry related crimes and he obtained an anticipatory bail. Later, a chargesheet was filed against the accused under Section 302 but the Magistrate still released him on bail. The Magistrate’s order was upheld by the Delhi High Court. Justice Sethi said even though there was no bar on a Magistrate from considering grant of bail to a person arrested for an offence exclusively triable by a Sessions Court, generally the Magistrate should direct the accused to approach the Sessions Court. Justice Sethi said "generally speaking, if punishment prescribed is for imprisonment for life and death penalty and the offence is exclusively triable by the court of sessions, Magistrate has no jurisdiction to grant bail unless the matter is covered by provisos attached to Section 437 of Indian Penal Code." He said the limitations circumscribing the jurisdiction of the Magistrate were evidence and apparent. "Assumption of jurisdiction to entertain the application is dictinguishable from the exercise of jurisdiction," Justice Sethi said. On the instant case, the Apex Court said the Magistrate while granting bail did not even refer to the grounds on which the same was being given. "The Magistrate adopted a wrong approach to confer him the benefit of liberty on allegedly finding that no grounds were made out for cancellation of bail," the bench said. Turning its attention to the High Court order, it said despite involvement of important question of law, the High Court failed in its obligation to adjudicate the pleas of law raised before it and dismissed the petition of the appellant by a one sentence order. While setting aside the order of the Magistrate and that of the High Court, the Apex Court allowed the accused to apply for regular bail before the trial court saying the same would be disposed on its merits keeping in view the ruling. (PTI) |
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