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Judev, Jogi, Mayawati, Madhumita keep CBI busy in 2003

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: From Judev to Jogi, Mayawati to Madhumita, Laloo to Jayalalithaa, Taj to Ayodhya and the Cat paper leak scandal to Stamp paper scam, 2003 kept the Central Bureau of Investigation on tenterhooks with criminal and corruption cases hogging the frontpage of newspapers every day.

Economic scams having links in power corridors, political murders, organised crimes and sex scandals propelled the country’s premier investigating agency into a household brand status.

Some of the high-profile cases which the agency probed during the year include the Judev cash-on-camera scandal, Jogi cash-for-MLAs scandal, poet Madhumita Shukla murder case, Taj Heritage Corridor Project, disproportionate assets case against Mayawati, Cat paper leak case, multi-crore Stamp paper scam, Bofors scandal, Haren Pandya murder case, the CBSE Medical Exam-2003 paper leak, the Uttaranchal sex scandal, extradition cases of underworld don Abu Salem and wife Monica Bedi, Satyendra Dubey murder case and Haryana teachers recruitment scandal.

Even as old cases drag on, new cases were referred to the agency almost every day from all over the country. The country’s premier investigating agency registered about 1200 cases this year with the number of cases involving people holding public offices being on the rise.

Having functioned under the stewardship of Mr P C Sharma for about 30 months, the agency got a new Director at the fag end of the year when Mr U S Misra took over on December 6.

The investigation agency, the Centre’s main arm to probe the most intricate corruption and crime cases against the country’s TDP politicians, bureaucrats and master criminals, found its job more challenging with every passing day, though not without the allegation that it functions as per the diktats of the political bosses.

The CBI Director, however, denied that the agency is under pressure from any quarter. "We deal with each case according to its merit and there is no question of our being under pressure. Judge us by our actions and not by perceptions," he said.

His predecessor P C Sharma while handing over the charge to Mr Misra added, "notwithstanding the allegations that the CBI works under pressure or carries out investigation into sensitive cases at a snail’s pace, the fact remains that we are still the most trusted agency and every time a new scandal breaks out everybody wants a CBI probe."

Extradition and deportation of fugitives was the focus during the year with India handing over the list of 20 fugitives to Pakistan as a pre-condition for initiation of talks between the two countries. This is likely to continue in 2004 as well.

India’s request for extradition of fugitives like Bombay bomb blasts accused Dawood Ibrahim, his family and Abu Salem, Gulshan Kumar murder suspect Nadeem and controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, wanted in the Bofors case, is pending with various countries.

The agency during 2003 had major success in certain high-profile cases like the Haren Pandya murder case, the Christian Missionary Graham Staines murder case and Purulia arms dropping case in which the prosecution case was upheld and the accused were convicted.

However, the year also had its share of setbacks for the agency. Cases relating to the Bofors gun deal and the HDW submarines are still pending trial for want of witnesses, suspects and evidence despite passage of more than 15 years. The agency’s extradition plea against Quattrocchi was rejected by Malaysian High Court earlier this year and the Italian businessman is now absconding.

A statewise scrutiny of cases being handled by the CBI reveals that almost every state earned the dubious distinction of coming under the CBI scanner.

Some of the states gave an assortment of crime and corruption cases to CBI with Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh topping the list.

Judev and Jogi bribery scandals could arguably be described as the two most high-profile cases this year.

In the midst of campaigning for the December 1 assembly polls in the Hindi heartland states, then Union Minister of State for Environment Dilip Singh Judev was caught in a major controversy when a video tape showed him taking money, allegedly for granting mining rights to an Australian firm. Judev had to resign from the Vajpayee council of ministers.

The controversy snowballed into a major election issue with the Congress highlighting it in the four states which went to polls, particularly Chhattisgarh. However, the BJP sprung a surprise and won Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan elections.

Even before the dust of the assembly polls could have settled, the BJP left the country stunned by producing an audio tape in which then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was heard offering money to a BJP MLA to motivate the newly elected BJP MLAs to break away and form a Government with the support of the Congress.

Jogi was suspended from the Congress and removed as the Congress legislature party leader.

Apart from these two scandals, Chhattisgarh also shot into news when Jogi wrote to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in March alleging that the intelligence bureau was conducting "operation Black sea" into the assets of Congress leaders to tarnish their image.

He supported his claim with a copy of an IB document indicating the existence of such an operation. The copy of the document, attached with the letter to the Prime Minister, was referred by Mr Vajpayee to the CBI, which concluded that the document was fake.

The CBI filed a charge-sheet in a Delhi Court against Jogi for "dishonestly and fraudulently" using a forged IB note as genuine.

The year witnessed one of the country’s biggest education scandals. Aspirants for India’s top management institutions were left in the lurch when the papers of the Common Admission Test (CAT) for the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMS) were leaked. The examinations were subsequently cancelled.

The agency later also registered cases into the leak of question papers of the AIIMS post graduate entrance test, judicial services examination in Bihar and CBSE pre-medical and pre-dental examination in Patna.

If the CAT question leak stole the limelight, a major economic scandal captured the frontpage of newspapers for the larger part of the year. Abdul Karim Telgi became a household name all over the country when he was charged with masterminding the Rs 30,000 crore stamp paper scam having roots in the length and breadth of the country.

The scam broke out in Maharasthra, but surfaced in all the states. CBI registered cases in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka has decided to transfer the case to the agency.

The investigation of the case in Maharashtra, however, generated a lot of controversy with the Central Government favouring a unified investigation by the CBI and the Maharashtra Government persisting with the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Bombay Commissioner of Police R S Sharma had to resign following allegations of involvement in the case. When the State Government agreed to transfer the case to the CBI, the Bombay High Court refused to allow it saying the SIT was doing a fine job.

The agency is formulating its strategy to investigate the case on a national level.

After having struggled to make a breakthrough in the Bombay bomb blast case for years, the agency’s efforts yielded major success when its extradition proceedings against Abu Salem and his wife Monica Bedi received favourable response in Portugal Court.

While the Portugal High Court has cleared the extradition of Monica Bedi, wife of underworld don Abu Salem, the legal proceedings related to Abu Salem’s extradition are still in progress before the High Court. The extradition of the two is vital for the investigation into the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts case in which Salem and Dawood Ibraham Kaskar and his family are prime suspects.

Uttar Pradesh remained under focus for a larger part of the year with the Ayodhya demolition case, Madhumita Shukla murder case in which former Uttar Pradesh Minister Amarmani Tripathi was allegedly involved and the controversial Taj Heritage Corridor Project scandal.

The Ayodhya demolition case was back in the news this year when the CBI in its latest chargesheet dropped the charges of criminal conspiracy against Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

The trial Court subsequently acquitted him from the case and ordered framing of charges against Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati and five others.

Poet Madhumita Shukla, who was involved with Tripathi, was murdered in her paper mill residence in Lucknow on May 9 allegedly by two goons of Tripathi after she refused to abort her child.

The case first probed by the state CID was transferred to the CBI by the then Chief Minister Mayawati. Tripathi had to resign.

The CBI after investigation arrested Tripathi on charges of complicity in the case. The DNA analysis of the blood sampales of Tripathi and Madhumita’s foetus had proved that the former BSP minister had fathered the unborn child.

The CBI is now on the hunt for Tripathi’s wife Madhumani who is said to be the Chief conspirator of the murder as she was jealous of Madhumita’s relationship with her husband. The agency arrested four others, including an Inspector, in the case.

Just a few months after having ordered a CBI probe in the murder case, Mayawati found herself in trouble. The Supreme Court ordered a probe into the Taj Heritage Corridor Project case, sanctioned by her in violation of rules and regulations.

The CBI charged her with indulging in corrupt practices while sanctioning the project and amassing wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income. She resigned and recommended dissolution of the assembly, but Tripathi and party ditched her and formed a seperate group before merging it with the Samajwadi Party.

The year was no better for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Two cases — one relating to the receipt of three lakh US dollars under the Centre’s immunity scheme and the other relating to Spic disinvestment — are being probed by the agency. She was questioned by the agency in connection with the Spic case.

Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav has also not got any respite from the agency as well. He was jailed in connection with the 1996 Rs 721 crore animal husbandary "Fodder" scam case. His wife and Bihari Chief Minister Rabri Devi is a co-accused in the case for encouraging and abetting Yadav for amassing wealth of nearly Rs 46 lakh which were more than his known sources of income.

The trial against Yadav and 540 persons is continuing. Eight IAS and IRS officers, former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, former Union Minister Chandra Deo Prasad Verma and former AHD ministers Vidya Sagar Nishad and Bhola Ram Toofani are the other accused in the case.

A large number of other high-profile cases are also being probed in Bihar. Among them are Bitumen scam, Leprosy scam, Engineering Enterance Examination scam, Ajit Sarkar murder case, Brij Bihari murder case, Butan Singh murder case and the recent murder of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) engineer Satyendra Kumar Dubey at Gaya.

Dubey was murdered allegedly at the behest of the contractors’ lobby for trying to highlight corruption in the project, being carried out under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Among the other high profile cases are the Harpreet murder case involving the victim’s mother and former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur, Citi cable television sex scandal, Judges corruption case (all Punjab), Ruchika molestation case in which former Haryana Director-General of Police S P S Rathore has been charge-sheeted, Haryana teachers recruitment scam, Rs 1200 crore Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank (MMCB) scam involving big-bull Ketan Parikh, Rs 150 solvent mixing scam (both Gujarat) and Harak Singh Rawat-Jenny case (Uttaranchal). (UNI)

Govt examining illegal trial issue, says it is a serious issue

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: Government is examining the reports of an anti-cancer drug being tried illegally on women for fertility problems and will initiate action "as per the law" against the offenders even as experts accused offical machinery of not doing the needful.

"Government is seized of the matter and is examining the reports. Drug rules should be observed," highly placed sources in the health ministry told PTI.

"The matter is serious and if the reports are found to be true, action as per the law would be taken against the offenders," they said.

However, the ministry had not received any formal complaint in the matter, they clarified.

Over 400 women were allegedly used as "guinea pigs" by some researchers to test the anti-cancer drug, letrozole, for curing infertility in women through induction of ovulation. The clinical trials allegedly took place without the permission of the Drug Controller General of India at private clinics in places like Delhi, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Jodhpur.

Based on these clinical trials, the pharmaceutical companies had brought out a booklet and were promoting this drug for ovulation induction, Dr C M Gulati, former who drug expert and editor of the monthly index of medical specialities, said.

Government should have initiated legal action against the people concerned, Gulati said, adding conducting clinical trials without Government approval is a criminal offence. Government should have at least sent notices to the doctors who conducted the trials.

However, Drug Controller General of India maintained that the incident could not be called a case of clinical trial. It was only "off label" use.

"We have already sensitised the industry to prevent off label use of the drug," Kumar said adding "researchers have used a drug for a purpose for which it is not approved in their own capacity in their clinics. It is not clinical trial."

Agreeing that off-label use was not common in the world, he said sometimes it happened in India. But, Government was looking into the matter. In this particular case, this happened because of the promotionhe company.

Gulati, however, said that off-label use is when a doctor uses a drug in his/her own capacity on a patient informing him/her of its advantages and disadvantages. In this case, the drug was used on many patients in different places, he added. Even promotion of a drug for a purpose for which it is not meant is a criminal offence, he said.

"It should be found out whether this drug has been tried in other countries for fertility problems," Dr Umesh Kapil from the AIIMS said. Such incidents of "illegal trials" are possible only in India, he said. (PTI)

Flop films outnumber hits at box office in 2003

MUMBAI, Dec 28: Flops outnumbered hits at the box office and financers shied away from putting money in films -2003 was a bad year for Bollywood.

However, the only silver lining for the cash-starved Hindi film industry was the phenomenal success of ‘Koi Mil Gayaa,’ replete with special effects and technical wizardry.

For filmmaker Rakesh Roshan it was a re-run success story of the year 2000 when his film ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ became an all-time hit. ‘Koi Mil Gayaa’, featuring his son Hrithik Roshan, celebrated 100 days at over 50 centres in the country and registered tremendous business overseas.

In the role of a mentally challenged boy, Hrithik has given a significant performance to bounce back into strong contention after a string of flops. After the success of his debut film, ‘Kaho Na Pyar Hai’ Hrithik became a star sensation but his subsequent films did not work at the box-office and critics described him as a one-film wonder.

Commenting on his son’s performance, Rakesh Roshan said, "I will not be surprised if he bags all the major awards in the best actor category."

The filmmaker’s passion for cinema is exemplary as he has experimented with his every movie — ‘Kaamchor’, ‘Khudgarz’, ‘Karan Arjun" and "Khoon Bhari Maang", industry sources said.

‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, starring Shah Rukh Khan (recovering from a back surgery), released at the fag end of the year, was emerging as another successful film, which collected 160,832 dollars from 43 theatres in three weeks in the United States and crossed the million pound mark at the box office in UK, registering collections of 1,73,073 pounds in 36 cinemas there.

Shah Rukh, who commands the highest remuneration in Bollywood, had another winner in his own production ‘Chalte Chalte’, described as a semi-hit by financiers.

The year saw the release of 140 movies, including some dubbed ones. Barely ten films, including B R Chopra’s ‘Baghbaan’, ‘Andaaz’, ‘Tere Naam’, ‘Qayamat’, ‘Bhoot’, ‘Gangajal’ and ‘Jism’, could be included in the semi-hit category, recovering costs for producers and earning good commission for all sectors of the trade.

Along with Hrithik, Shah Rukh, Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan impressed the viewers with their performances. Among the heroines, Preity Zinta connected with the audience in a big way with good performances in ‘Koi Mil Gayaa’ and ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho. In fact, she emerged at the top slot to displace Aishwarya Rai.

The first half of 2003 saw disappointments like ‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon’, ‘The Hero’, ‘Armaan’, ‘Dil Ka Rishta’, ‘Karz-The Burden Of Truth’, ‘Talash’ and Khushi’, while the second half was witness to debacles like ‘Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost’, ‘Footpath’, ‘Zameen’, ‘Boom’, ‘Raja Bhaiya’, ‘Pinjar’, ‘Kagaar’, ‘Khel and ‘Stumped’.

Thespian Amitabh Bachchan was the busiest actor during the year signing new films and celebrated his 61st birthday in style. He also re-launched his company ABCL in the form of ‘AB Corporation Limited’ on October 11.

Bachchan’s new film, ‘Ranveer’, produced by AB Corporation was launched on the occasion in the presence of bigwigs from the film and corporate world. The actor was appointed as the ‘Brand Ambassador of ‘Uttar Pradesh’ by the State Government with a view to improving the state’s image and attract investments in the field of tourism and industry.

Showman Subhash Ghai celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary on October 24 and announced two films to mark the celebrations. It was a great moment for Bollywood Wen Prince Charles gave the muhurat shot for ‘The Rising’ in Mumbai and time magazine featured popular actress Aishwarya Rai on the cover, describing her as the ‘Crossover Queen’.

Lata Mangeshkar was honoured on her 75th birthday, on September 28, with a special tribute concert ‘Tum Jiyo Hazaar Saal’ at the Andheri sports complex, where various singers sang songs, rendered by her. The day also marked the completion of Lata’s 60 years of singing career.

Anupam Kher was appointed the new chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification, replacing Arvind Trivedi. Producer-director Sawaan Kumar was elected president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPAA) for 2003-2004, while Amit Khanna was unanimously elected president of film producers guild.

Noted writer-director Gulzar’s daughter Meghna came out with a biography of her father, revealing rare facets of his life and his contribution to the film industry. (PTI)

Stalemate on labour reforms continued in 2003

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: The Government’s failure to introduce the much-hyped unorganised sector bill, 2003 in Parliament, stalemate on labour laws reform and the trade unions’ stiff resistance to the Supreme Court’s order on right to strike were the major features in the labour sector during the year.

The bill, envisaging social security scheme for over 370 million informal workers, was reportedly dropped at the last minute in the December 23 meeting of the Union Cabinet, which forced Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma to reportedly say that the Centre did not seem "too keen" on passing it in the winter session.

Earlier, the cabinet referred back the bill to the Labour Ministry for "more details".

The Group of Ministers headed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani was proposing a cess on petrol and diesel to collect Rs 1000 crore for creating a corpus to run the scheme.

The difference of opinion surfaced from the very beginning when the labour department sought to introduce the bill as the Finance Ministry raised objections against the scheme for its "duplicacy and involvement of huge funds."

The draft bill sought to provide three basic necessities of the universal health insurance scheme, under which each worker would get medical cover for himself and five members of his family for up to Rs 30,000 a year on payment of an annual premium of Rs 548 or three members at an annual premium of Rs 365, insurance cover of Rs 1,00,000 and an old age pension of Rs 500 a month on attaining the age of 60.

The Central trade unions including the INTUC and the BMS welcomed the scheme and demanded that adequate funds should be made available to run it. The Government should spend at least three per cent of the GDP towards social security and other welfare schemes for the informal sector, they demanded.

The Government also failed making any headway into the grey areas of rationalisation of labour laws during the year because it and the employers did not see eye to eye on this issue.

In a way Government tried to facilitate ‘hire and fire’ policy but the employers wanted that labour rules should be relaxed in case of their contribution and other controls.

They wanted similar concessions as were provided to Special Economic Zones.

While the trade unions opposed the Government’s moves on ‘hire and fire’ vehemently, they also opposed the Government’s move to do away with the section 9 of the industrial disputes act, which would give a free hand to the employers to change the service conditions of the employees.

They also opposed the Government’s move to amend the contract abolition act to facilitate the employers to deploy contract workers on jobs of regular nature. The move to amend the industrial employment standing orders to introduce fixed-term employment system was also opposed.

The year witnessed workers’ country-wide agitation and courting of arrest on January 8 against the Government’s ‘anti-worker’ economic and labour policies they protested against the policy of privatisation, disinvestment and the shrinking employment opportunities. The agriculturists and the workers from the unorganised sector also participated.

The central trade unions including the INTUC organised a march to Parliament on February 26 and called an All India Strike on May 21 on similar issues. While the INTUC joined the March it stayed away from the strike, the BMS stayed away from both.

They also organised demonstrations and public meetings against the Apex Court’s order on right to strike on August 6. More than 300,000 oil workers observed a nation-wide 24 hours strike on December 16 to protest against the Government’s move to privatise the profit making and cash rich oil PSUs.

However, the Labour Ministry succeeded in fixing the rate of interest at 9 per cent on EPF for 2003-04 even as it came under pressure from the Finance Ministry to reduce it to at least 8 per cent in line with the soft interest regime in the country.

The ministry also decided to pay a bonus of 0.5 per cent for 2003-04 to those subscribers whose basic pay is Rs 6,500 per month in the wake of RPF Golden Jubilee Celebrations during the year.

It launched a unique social security number for over 3.2 crore members of EPF and reducing the processing time for subscriber claims from the stipulated time of 30 days to two to three days. It spent Rs 180 crore in developing model ESI hospitals.

The employees state insurances scheme, first introduced at two centres in 1952 with an initial coverage of 1.20 lakh workers, today covers 71.59 lakh workers in about 678 centres in the country benefiting over 3.12 crore beneficiaries through large network of 140 hospitals, 43 annexes and 1451 dispensaries. (UNI)

Bold moves to improve Indo-Pak ties

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: Indian diplomacy touched new heights in a year that saw bold moves to normalise relations with Pakistan and a fresh dimension being given to engagement with important countries including the US, China, Russia and the European Union.

Sino-Indian relations moved to qualitatively higher levels after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to China.

Putting behind past disappointments, Kargil episode and and the Agra summit, Vajpayee extended his hand of friendship to Pakistan on April 18.

With a positive response coming from Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the two sides moved in the direction of first restoring full diplomatic ties. Shiv Shankar Menon, India’s Ambassador to China and Aziz Ahmed Khan, an old India hand and Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman, took charge of their respective diplomatic missions in Islamabad and New Delhi.

On July 11, the Delhi-Lahore bus service was re-started and brought with it a flood of emotions from people on both sides.

On board the inaugural run was two-and-a-half year-old baby Noor with a heart ailment, who earned the love and affection from all over India. Weeks later, after a successful surgery in Bangalore, she returned to Pakistan with her grateful and happy parents.

India quickly announced that it would offer medical treatment to 20 ailing Pakistani children and meet all costs. Government later announced that anothldren would be given this facility.

Barring the war of words at the UN general assembly that saw new lows, the two sides treaded cautiously while moving in the direction of restoring snapped links.

Choosing to adopt a step-by-step approach aimed first at enhancing people-to-people contacts rather than go in for summit-level talks, India followed up its peace initiatives with far-reaching proposals which were announced on Oct 22.

These included restoration of cricketing and other sporting links, bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), bus or rail link between Khokrapar in Rajasthan and Munnabao in Sindh province, issuance of visas in cities other than the two capitals, permitting citizens above 65 years of age to cross Wagah border on foot and launching of a ferry service between the port cities of Mumbai and Karachi.

While the first round of technical level parleys for resumption of civil aviation links held in August in Islamabad came a cropper, the second meeting in Delhi in December ended on a positive note with the sides agreeing to restore direct flights as well as overflights from January 1.

Indian Airlines and Pakistan International Airlines are planning to resume their flights in the new year which were suspended in the aftermath of terrorist attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

This paves the way for Prime Minister Vajpayee to fly directly to Islamabad for the SAARC meet from January 4 to six instead of taking a long detour.

Staff strength of the two diplomatic missions, which had been slashed by 50 per cent in the wake of the December 13 attack and further reduced to 48 after tit-for-tat expulsions, has been raised to 55. (PTI)

SC imparts lessons to political bigwigs in 2003

NEW DELHI, Dec 28: For the Supreme Court, 2003 was a year of imparting lessons to political bigwigs and it did it with firmness — be it the trial cases linked to Gujarat riots, the assets of Jayalalithaa or the Taj scandal during Mayawati’s tenure as Chief Minister.

In line with the dictum "howsoever high you may be, the law is above you," each one of them was told by the Apex Court that the justice delivery system would not be allowed to tinker with — whatever be the situation.

In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court upheld the stringent Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) but said mere expression of moral support did not amount to terrorist activity. It also held that POTA detenues in jail could apply for bail after a year’s detention.

Not only did it ask the Narendra Modi Government about its "Rajdharma," but it also observed that the Chief Minister should quit if he could not ensure that those guilty in the riots cases were prosecuted in accordance with law.

A petition filed by National Human Rights Commission brought out the Court’s anguish and anger as the State Police Chief conceded in a rare cross-examination by the Chief Justice of India that witnesses in sensitive riot cases could have been influenced or coerced to change their statements leading to largescale acquittal of the accused in the Best Bakery case.

It had the desired effect. The Gujarat Government moved the High Court challenging the acquittal of all 21 accused in the case. It also sought a fresh inquiry into the incident in a bid to bring the guilty to book.

However, the Gujarat High Court on Friday dismissed the State Government’s appeal for retrial and upheld the trial Court order acqutting the accused.

But, an NGO spilled the beans. There are several other cases in which acquittals have not been challenged and raised serious allegations on the selection of Public Prosecutors. On the submission of Amicus Curiae Harish Salve, the Court asked Gujarat Government as to why the trial of riot cases be not shifted outside the state.

The Apex Court solved the tussle between the Tamil Nadu Government and its striking employees minimising the damage of the sacking to a few of the three lakh employees who had protested against alleged withdrawal of certain pensionary benefits.

But the high-profile case had a bigger fallout - the Court declared that Government employees have no fundamental, legal, statutory or moral right to go on strike. It shook every trade union and even the Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee criticised the judgement.

In a matter of two months, the Apex Court agreed to have a fresh look at the judgement banning strike by Government employees.

But Jayalalithaa continued to dominate the newspapers for judgements that were delivered either in her cases or the cases relating to her Government.

First, it was the 15 day imprisonment given to five journalists of prestigious newspaper "The Hindu" for breach of privilege of the Tamil Nadu assembly, which was stayed by the Apex Court by an interim order welcomed across the country.

Secondly, the Apex Court raising serious doubts about the fairness of trial at a Chennai Court of the disproportionate case against the Tamil Nadu, transferred it to a Bangalore Court and asked the Chief Justice there to appoint a special Public Prosecutor.

But, she had the last laugh in another case. Her acquittal by the Supreme Court in the infamous Tansi land scam case, despite being held to be morally guilty of violating the code of conduct for ministers, came as a shot in the arm removing all political uncertaininties.

If one Government that was given a long rope by the Supreme Court to come clear on the Rs 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor Project, it was the Mayawati Government in Uttar Pradesh.

But it failed to recognise the reach of the long arm of justice as its ministers and officials even allegedly indulged in tampering with the records to make them look innocent.

It did not work. The Court, after getting prima facie evidence from the preliminary inquiry conducted by CBI into the alleged siphoning of funds, asked the agency to register FIRs against Mayawati, her ministers and top officials.

Political developments in the wake of developments before the Apex Court got better of her and she was forced to n from the post of Chief Minister.

Another major ruling by the Apex Court came when it upheld the Haryana Panchayat Raj Act amendment barring members from becoming Sarpanchs and Upsarpanchs if he or she had more than two children. The message was loud and clear - India needed stringent laws and equally stringent implementation of them for control of the burgeoning population. (PTI)

A stormy year for Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI, Dec 28: The acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the Tansi land deal cases by the Supreme Court and the DMK’s revolt against the controversial POTA, culminating in that party’s exit from the National Democratic Alliance were the climax of a stormy political year in Tamil Nadu.

In a year marked by ups and downs of two dominating personalities in the state politics— Ms Jayalalithaa and DMK chief M Karunanidhi—the state assembly’s arrest warrant against the editor of ‘The Hindu’ and five other journalists in a breach of privilege case also hit the centrestage.

Another issue which caught the nation’s eye was an unprecedented en mass dismissal of about 1.76 lakh State Government employees by the Jayalalithaa Government, by promulgating an ordinance, amending the already stringent Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) for striking work.

What would have led to social turbulence, was averted when the Supreme Court stepped in and ordered for the Constitution of a panel to adjudicate the matter, but the Apex Court’s remarks against the right to strike by Government employees has itself become a subject of nationwide debate.

The Apex Court’s verdict in the Tansi land deal cases, provided a fresh lease of political life to Ms Jayalalithaa, but its strictures that justice was being subverted in the state and the direction that she hand over the land back to Tansi, was a rap on the knuckles for her.

The opposition, led by the DMK, demanded the resignation of Ms Jayalalithaa owning moral responsibility, but the Chief Minister remained unmoved.

If her acquittal in the Tansi land deal cases marked the end of more than a decade-long legal battle, Ms Jayalalithaa suffered a major blow when the Supreme Court transferred to Karnataka, the disproportionate wealth case against her.

In the political arena, while the entire opposition, including the Left parties, the PMK and the Congress which fought the last assembly elections in alliance with the AIADMK, started distancing themselves from Ms Jayalalithaa, the BJP appeared to be moving closer.

In a politically significant event, Ms Jayalalithaa began the year with a resounding victory in the Sathankulam byelection on March 1, proving wrong the opinions of political pundits.

Facing the bypoll in the Christian-dominated assembly constituency in the backdrop of the controversial anti-conversion ordinance, political observers said that Ms Jayalalithaa could bite the dust, but she emerged victorious.

Ms Jayalalithaa drew widespread criticism when she declared on the floor of the assembly in March that she would build a new secretariat complex after demolishing the century-old Queen Mary’s college off the Marina.

Though she had reasons to shift the secretariat from the historic fort St George, citing lack of space, her decision to takeover the college premises for the purpose, triggered protests from almost all sections, from politicians to academicians.

Bowing to pressure, she dropped the proposal but decided to build the new complex on land belonging to the Anna university, evoking protests from senior citizens and political parties once again. This time, she went ahead and laid the foundation stone for the Rs 300-crore project on October 30.

When she made an attempt to build the complex at QMC, former Union Environment Minister T R Baalu, belonging to her rival DMK, put the spokes in the wheel with his ministry issuing a notification, banning constructions off the coast under the coastal regulation zone.

When she moved to the Anna university, the ministry again issued a draft notification making environment impact assessment mandatory for all construction projects exceeding an investment of Rs 50 crore.

Ms Jayalalithaa banned sacrifice of animals and birds in temples, a tradition followed by the people of the state from time immemorial and knocked down the historic venue of public meetings ‘Seerani Arangam’ on the Marina in a midnight operation.

Her gift of a baby elephant to Guruvayur Temple on her resounding victory in the 2001 assembly elections and the critical remarks against this by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar also hit the headlines when the member of Parliament from Mayiladuthurai was attacked after a Government function in October.

In another move, she declared on the floor of the assembly that she would strive for the formation of a non-BJP and non-Congress Government at the Centre. She wanted the support of the Left parties, but the latter rejected the proposal.

As the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP was attracted towards the ruling AIADMK, much to the disgruntlement of the DMK, the strains between the DMK and the BJP, which fought against the AIADMK in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, widened and reached a point of no return when Mr Karunanidhi declared that the party was snapping ties with the BJP in Tamil Nadu, while maintaining relations with the party at the Centre.

After much dithering, Mr Karunanidhi announced the expected decision on December 20 that the party was quiting the NDA at the Centre and pulled out its two ministers from the Vajpayee ministry.

As Mr Karunanidhi confronted the Centre on the POTA issue, especially after the arrest of MDMK general secretary Vaiko, MP, under the act, the MDMK, another key constituent of the Vajpayee Government, was in a quandary to take a decision on its continuance in the coalition.

The Congress and the Left parties welcomed the DMK’s decision to quit the NDA and invited the party to head a secular front in the state.

The DMK had set the stage for a confrontation with the NDA Government, when it, for the first time, announced agitational programme in its Villupuram district unit conference in September, demanding the repeal of POTA. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee deputed NDA convenor and Defence Minister George Fernandes to pacify Mr Karunanidhi, but the latter would not budge.

As part of shaping up the party for the future, DMK youth wing leader and Mr Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin was elevated as one of the Deputy General Secretaries, clearing yet another hurdle for his rise in the party hierarchy. Mr Karunanidhi was elected as the president of DMK for the record ninth time, but the party suffered a severe blow when it lost its ideologue and Union Minister Murasoli Maran on November 23 after battling for life for more than a year.

Kanchi Acharya Jayendra Saraswathi made significant efforts to resolve the vexed Ayodhya tangle in June-July. But his efforts only proved futile with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board rejecting his "solutions."

The Shankaracharya’s suggestion that Muslims gift the land to the Hindus for the construction of Ram Temple was rejected outright by the minorities.

His attempt, nonetheless, was indicative of the influence religious leaders, particularly from Tamil Nadu, have on crucial national issues.

The Jayalalithaa Government came in for sharp criticism again when it entrusted the sale of Indian made foreign spirit to the state-owned Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation and Cooperative Societies in the state.

If the art and literary world lost Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the proverbial doyen of carnatic music when he died on October 31, the medical world lost eminent neurosurgeon B Ramamurthy.

On the agriculture front, with the northeast monsoon playing truant, farmers, especially those in the delta region, once again face the grave danger of losing their Samba crop for want of water. Both the Centre and the State Government incurred the wrath of the farmers for not convening the Cauvery River Authority and getting water from Karnataka.

The Government registered cases against Mr Karunanidhi, former TNCC working president E V K S Elangovan, CPI state secretary R Nallakannu and CPI(M) state secretary N Varadarajan under ESMA, on charges of instigating the Government employees to go on strike. (UNI)