NEW DELHI, June 10:
A Government official can be made to face departmental disciplinary proceedings and trial for his alleged role in a criminal case simultaneously, the Delhi High Court has ruled, rejecting the plea of an IFS officer, facing the twin trouble.
“The employer should not wait for the decision of the criminal court before taking any disciplinary action against the employee and that such decision on the part of the employer does not violate the principles of natural justice,” said a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and V K Jain, rejecting the plea of the IFS officer, allegedly involved in trafficking nine persons to Germany in 2005.
“It would, thus, be seen that there is no legal bar on disciplinary proceedings and criminal trial proceedings simultaneously, against the same person,” the bench added, citing various apex court’s decisions.
Rakesh Kumar, a 1972-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, had moved the high court for stay on the disciplinary proceedings against him till conclusion of the criminal trial against him saying that it would cause “grave” prejudice to him.
A local court yesterday framed charges for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and corruption against Kumar and three others in the human trafficking case.
Kumar, the erstwhile director general with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, had allegedly facilitated the trafficking of nine individuals to Germany under the guise of fake cultural group ‘Mehak Punjab Di’ by misusing his official position for extraneous considerations.
Justice Jain, writing the verdict, said “We… Find no reasonable possibility of any prejudice being caused to the petitioner, on account of the departmental proceedings being held simultaneously with the criminal trial.
The court clarified the legal position saying that “the findings in the disciplinary proceedings are not binding upon the criminal court and the standard of proof required for conviction in a criminal case is much higher than the standard of proof required to prove the charge in disciplinary proceedings.”
It said no prejudice would be caused if departmental and criminal trials are being carried out simultaneously as “neither the findings rendered in disciplinary proceedings are binding on the criminal court nor does the acquittal in criminal trial ipso facto lead to termination of disciplinary proceedings, which should ordinarily not be stayed during the pendency of the criminal trial.”
It also said that a criminal case drags for several years and “instances are not uncommon where some of the witnesses either die or become untraceable on account of reasons such as change of address, during the pendency of the criminal trial.”
It is neither in the interest of the employee nor of the administration to stall the disciplinary proceedings pending decision in a criminal trial, the court said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 10:
A sentence lesser than life term cannot be awarded to convicts for heinous offences like dowry death where the victim is killed in a brutal manner, the Supreme Court has ruled.
A bench of justices Swatanter Kumar and Ranjan Gogoi rejected the plea of a victim’s husband and brother-in-law for leniency on the ground that they are young, their mother was of advancing age and the incident occurred in 1996, hence a lenient view of the sentence should be taken.
“When the offence of Section 304B is proved, the manner in which the offence has been committed is found to be brutal, it had been committed for satisfaction of dowry demands, particularly, for material goods like television or cooler and furthermore the accused takes up a false defence before the court to claim that it was a case of an accidental death and not that of dowry death, then the court normally would not exercise its judicial discretion in favour of the accused by awarding lesser sentence than life imprisonment,” Justice Kumar, writing the judgement, said.
The apex court upheld the life sentence imposed on Mukesh Bhatnagar (husband), Kailasho alias Kailashwati (mother-in-law) and Rajesh Bhatnagar for setting ablaze Renu to death on February 17, 1996 after she failed meet their dowry demands at Roorkee in Uttarkhand.
The bench also rejected the plea of Mukesh that Renu died after the cooking stove burst and he had sustained injuries while trying to rescue her.
“The arguments of the defence are strange because if the accused had attempted to save the deceased, then he would have suffered some burn injuries.
“But as per the above details of injuries, there was not even a single burn injury found on the body of the accused Mukesh,” the bench said.
According to the prosecution, the trio subjected Renu to severe mental and physical torture as she failed to bring additional dowry—a TV set and cooler.
The sessions court at Haridwar had awarded life sentence to the trio which was affirmed by the Uttarkhand High Court. Mukesh and Rajesh then appealed in the apex court.
The apex court said there was definite ocular, expert and documentary evidence to show that the deceased died an unnatural death.
“There was persistent demand of dowry by the accused persons and they had killed her by sprinkling kerosene on her and putting her on fire.
“There can be no dispute that the deceased died an unnatural death within seven years of her marriage.
“Thus, the ingredients of Section 304B(dowry death) are fully satisfied in the present case,” the bench said while dismissing the appeal of two of the convicts. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 10:
Expressing grave concern over the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the capital, a Delhi court has said that immediate steps are required at all levels for the safety and security of citizens.
The court’s observation came while sentencing two youths to 10 years in prison each for robbing a man last year whom they had also grievously injured.
“The deteriorating law-and-order problem in the capital of the country is a matter of serious concern and immediate steps are required to be taken at all levels for ensuring security and safety of the citizens,” Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said.
“Under these circumstances, the courts are required to find answers to the new challenges facing the society and to mould the sentencing system to meet these challenges,” the judge said.
The judge refused any leniency to 26-year-old Yamin and Vikas, 24, who are also involved in several other cases of robbery, theft and dacoities, saying any undue sympathy shown to them would harm the justice system.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the convicts while sentencing them for robbing and grievously injuring Braham Dev Singh when he returning home on the night of April 16 last year at an underpass in North West Delhi.
Prosecution said Yamin, Vikas and their juvenile aide had hit the victim due to which he fell down and they attacked him with fist blows and robbed him of Rs 3,500, a mobile phone, an ATM card and several other documents.
The court, in its judgement, said that in the recent past Delhi has experienced a spurt and rise in the incidents of robbery, dacoity, murder and other kinds of crime.
The court said the instances of young persons getting involved in criminal activities of robbing innocents by putting them under threat of death, are also on rise.
“Criminals are unhesitatingly and indiscriminately using dangerous weapons on helpless victims who may or not offer any resistance thereby spreading terror in the society and adversely affecting social order and the faith of people in the system,” the judge said.
The convicts sought leniency on the ground that they are young and any harsh view would be detrimental not only to them but also to their families.
The court, however, said the convicts are professional robbers and habitual criminals who have a large number of criminal involvements against them and have also been convicted earlier. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 10:
Homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will be increasing the monthly production of its hot-selling sports utility vehicle XUV500 to 5,000 units by around September-October.
The firm that had increased output of the model to 4,000 units a month in May is trying to meet the increased demand after it opened bookings of the vehicles across India this month.
“We have been gradually increasing the production of XUV500. It has touched 4,000 units a month now and the next step is to take it to 5,000 units by September-October,” M&M Chief Executive, Automotive Division, Pravin Shah told.
The company re-opened bookings for XUV500 from this month and said the vehicle would be made available across the country, including the 19 cities where it had been launched earlier.
M&M had said nine months production capacity has been sold out for the XUV500.
After launching the vehicle on September 29 last year, the company had temporarily suspended new bookings in October as four months production of over 8,000 units was sold out within just 10 days. The vehicle was available only in five cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune then.
In the second phase, M&M re-opened bookings for a limited period of 10 days from January 25 this year in 19 cities in India and had received over 25,000 applications but only 7,200 were selected through a lottery.
The XUV500 is priced between Rs 11.58 lakh and Rs 14.11 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
Commenting on the sales growth for this fiscal, Shah said the company is looking to do better than the industry, which SIAM pegged at 10-12 per cent for the overall automobile sector.
“In the next couple of months, we will have our compact SUV and by the end of the year, we will launch the sub-four metre Verito. These new products will enable our sales grow further this fiscal,” Shah had said earlier.
In the April-May period this fiscal, the company sold a total of 79,237 units against 62,508 units in same period last fiscal, up 26.84 per cent. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 10:
The Indian Mission in Dubai has spent over Rs five crore in extending help to distressed countrymen, including housemaids and victims of trafficking, working in the UAE in the past three years.
According to information received from Ministry of Overseas Affairs in reply to an RTI query, about Rs 5.33 crore of the over Rs 17 crore were collected through surcharges on different consular services under the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) by Consulate General of India in Dubai.
The ICWF is a fund in perpetuity (which is a collection arising from a surcharge on every consular, passport, visa and attestation services rendered by any India Post or Mission overseas) meant for contingency expenditure to carry out welfare activities.
“Total collection under ICWF (from inception) till March 31, 2012 is UAE Dirhams 1,22,92,055, equivalent to Rs 17,31,27,536.90,” the reply said.
Advocate Vivek Garg had sought details of Indian Community Welfare Community (ICWC) and ICWF, including their activities from the Indian Mission.
About 1.3 million Indians live in Dubai and Northern Emirates. According to the reply, 466 women, including 134 victims of trafficking, were accommodated in the women’s shelter home run by the Consulate since 2005. Of the total, 332 were housemaids, the reply said.
“Since February 2009, a total of Rs 5,33,65,548 have been spent on stipulated welfare activities under the charter of ICWF,” it said.
The Consulate, however, declined to give further information on the beneficiary of fund saying it would “disproportionately divert government of India resources for extended durations”.
The almost 12-year-old ICWC is a community-led umbrella welfare organisation whose members include Indian associations, social groups and some Indian companies.
“The Indian Consulate offers its patronage to Indian business associations in the Dubai and the Northern emirates,” the RTI reply said.
The ICWF help distressed overseas Indians, besides providing expenditure on incidentals and airlifting the mortal remains to India in cases where the sponsor is unable or willing to do so as per the contract and the family is unable to meet the cost.
The collected amount is also spent on providing emergency medical care to the needy Indians, providing air passage to stranded countrymen and providing initial legal assistance to them in deserving cases among others.
“The Consulate General of India, Dubai as a patron is not the custodian of ICWC accounts, its members are. If the petitioner can establish that Indian community bodies overseas recognised and working under the laws of the host country are liable for scrutiny under RTI, then we can forward your request for the accounts of that body to it,” it said when asked to give details of fund collected under the ICWF. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 10:
The Delhi Police has submitted to a court here the Lok Sabha speaker’s sanction for prosecution of former BSP MP Raja Ram Pal in the infamous cash-for-query scam which had rocked Parliament in 2005.
Pal is now a Lok Sabha MP from the Congress party.
The Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi Police filed the sanction before the court of Special Judge B R Kedia.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had granted sanction to try Pal, a Congress MP from Uttar Pradesh, in 2010 and the court had directed the police to file the original copy of the sanction letter before it.
A private news channel, in a sting, named Operation Duryodhan, had caught Pal and ten other MPs on camera, purportedly taking money for posing queries on the floor of Parliament.
Pal was one of the 11 MPs who were found guilty by a lawmakers’ panel of accepting money to ask questions.
In 2005, the Parliament’s Ethics Committee, which was asked to look into the matter, held 11 MPs guilty. The MPs were expelled from the Lok Sabha by then speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Pal, who was a BSP MP in the previous Lok Sabha, was among those expelled. He, however, won the 2009 general elections from Akbarpur in UP as a Congress candidate. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 10:
With Dimple Yadav elected to the Lok Sabha, the issue of dynastic politics has again come to the fore.
Dimple, wife of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, will be the sixth member from the family of Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in politics and holding elective posts.
While Mulayam is himself a Lok Sabha member, his nephew Dharmendra Yadav is also a member of that House while his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav is in the Rajya Sabha and younger brother Shivpal Yadav is a senior minister in Uttar Pradesh.
But the fact is that sons and daughters and daughters-in-law are no longer an issue in Indian politics.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the most powerful leader in the country, is the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi.
Similar is the case with Maneka Gandhi, former Union Minister and BJP MP who is the second daughter-in-law of the late Prime Minister but is in the rival camp.
There are two other Gandhis in the Lok Sabha—Rahul and Varun.
“Why you are pointing fingers towards us and not others?”, a visibly annoyed Sonia Gandhi had shot back at reporters when asked whether she was not promoting the family by giving her son Rahul a ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
It was over eight years ago and Sonia’s reference was to the several kith and kin of leaders of all parties who were already in politics.
They included Rabri Devi, wife of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad; M K Stalin and M K Alagiri, sons of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi; Chandrababu Naidu, son-in-law of N T Rama Rao; A Ramdoss, son of PMK chief Dr Ramadoss; Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and H D Kumaraswamy and H D Revanna, sons of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.
After 2004, Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozi too entered politics and the former is now a member of the Lok Sabha and latter is in the Rajya Sabha.
While Congressmen refute the charge of their party practising dynastic politics, the Gandhi-Nehrus are regarded not only the ‘first family’ of the Congress, but the most successful political family in the democratic world having given three Prime Ministers.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has often accused the Congress of practising “dynastic” politics, is itself practising it in many ways.
However, regional parties take the cake when it comes to “son-strokes”. The Mayawati-led BSP only appears to be a bit different.
In BJP, the late Vijayaraje Scindia’s two daughters are in politics. While Vasundhara Raje is a former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Yashodhara Raje is a member of the Lok Sabha. So is Vasundhara’s son Dushyant Singh (an MP).
Vijayaraje’s grandson Jyotiraditya Scindia is in Congress and a Union Minister representing Guna in Lok Sabha, a seat represented by his father late Madhavrao for several terms.
BJP’s Chief Minister in Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur too is a Lok Sabha member. The controversial B S Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra too is also in the Lower House. (PTI)