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Dec 112012
 

The Supreme Court of India has dismissed Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s petition for review of its verdict clearing Finance Minister P Chidambaram of all charges in the 2G spectrum allocation scam .

The apex court said the decision does not “warrant any reconsideration.”

“We have perused the averments contained in the review petition and have gone through the record of Special Leave Petition and are satisfied that order dated August 24, 2012 does not suffer from any error apparent which may be warranted its reconsideration.

“The review petition is accordingly dismissed,” a bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan said.

Swamy had sought review of the August 24 decision by which his plea for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry against Chidambaram was rejected by the same bench, which had said there was no material to establish that he abused his official position as the then finance minister.

It had also said neither had Chidambaram conspired nor had he colluded with former Telecom Minister A Raja to obtain any pecuniary advantage for himself or any other persons.

Aggrieved by the order, Swamy had filed the review petition, which was dismissed by the same bench on December 4.

Dec 112012
 

Former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin on Tuesday backed the selectors’ decision to drop Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh from the team for the fourth and final Test against England but hoped the two will soon stage a comeback in the squad as they are good players.

“The selectors’ decision to keep non-performing players out of the team is proper,” the former skipper told reporters when asked about the axing of the off-spinner and the stylish batsman.

“Not only these two but all those who are not performing should be rested,” he said.

The cricketer-turned-politician, who is currently a Congress MP, was here to campaign for his party in the Gujarat Assembly election.

He, however, said Harbhajan and Yuvraj are good players and they would surely come back in Team India. “They have plenty of cricket left in them and would surely come back in the national side.”

Asked about Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, Azharuddin said “Sachin is a great player and let him and selectors decide about his future.”

“The selection committee is the proper body to decide about who should play and who should retire,” said the veteran of 99 Tests and 334 ODIs.

Dec 112012
 

The demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into disclosures by retail giant Walmart on lobbying in India was made by several members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

SP, which had bailed out the government during the vote on a motion against FDI in multi-brand retail , also pressed for a judicial probe into the issue.

RJD, which also supported the government on FDI issue, demanded a JPC probe into WalMart’s disclosure .

Terming as shameful the company’s disclosure before the US Senate that it had spent Rs 125 crore for lobbying in India, members said only an independent probe can find out who actually took the money from the retail giant.

While several members demanded setting up a JPC, some others favoured a judicial probe which is time-bound.

Yashwant Sinha (BJP), who demanded a time-bound judicial probe, said the government should announce on Tuesday itself whether it wanted to set up a JPC or order a judicial probe.

Demanding an early response from the government, members from BJP, Trinamool Congress, Left parties, AIADMK and JD(U) trooped into the Well forcing adjournment of the House for 30 minutes and later for the day.

SP members did not join the protest in the Well but were on their feet demanding a probe. BSP members were not seen in the House.

“Lobbying is not illegal in the US, but it is called ‘commission’ here. It is illegal. It is bribery,” Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) said.

Dec 112012
 

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued an order stalling the attachment of fixed deposits worth Rs 822 crore belonging to software giant Mahindra Satyam by the Enforcement Directorate as part its investigation into the money laundering case involving disgraced former chairman of Satyam Computers B Ramalinga Raju and his family members.

Justice P.V Sanjay Kumar, while staying the provisional order of the ED on the attachment of fixed deposits, sought to know whether the investigating agency had any evidences to prove that the amount of Rs 822 crore constituted proceeds of the financial irregularities committed by Raju and his family members under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The high court also stayed a notice issued by the adjudicating authority of the ED to Mahindra Satyam asking company officials to appear before it with regard to the case.

The ED issued a provisional order on October 18, attaching Rs 822-crore fixed deposits in the name of Satyam Computer Services Limited in Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank and ING Vysya Bank, stating that the deposits constituted proceeds of crime derived out of the scheduled offences under the PMLA, 2002 committed by Raju and his family members.

According to the ED authorities, Raju had conspired with the others during 2001-2008 and lured investors into buying the shares of the company by continuously publishing falsified books of accounts, thereby projecting a very rosy financial picture of the company for keeping the share prices of the Satyam Computers inflated.

They said all the shares held in the name of Raju, his wife Nandini Raju, brother Rama Raju and the latter’s wife Radha Raju were transferred to SRSR Holdings Private Ltd in which they were all directors. In turn, the SRSR Holdings pledged the inflated shares with various the NBFCs and raised loans to the extent of Rs 2,171.45 crore based on the inflated value of shares of the Satyam Computers.

These loans were circuitously transferred among the 327 front companies floated by Raju, his relatives and his associates to disguise the true source of funds. The front companies used these loans to buy properties in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Further trail of these loans derived from the front companies revealed that Rs 822 crore out of Rs 2171.45 crore found their way to the Satyam Computers and were used up for day-to-day expenses like payment of salaries etc.

“Since this amount subsists with Satyam Computers and constitutes a part of the loans that were derived or obtained by pledge of inflated shares of Satyam, they fall within the mischief of proceeds of crime under PMLA and are liable for attachment,” the ED order said.

Mahindra Satyam, which subsequently took over Satyam Computers and has been showing the fixed deposits in a suspense account, challenged their attachment by the ED by moving the High Court early this month.  

The Mahindra Satyam maintained that it had revived the scam-hit IT company and brought in strategic investors like Venturbay Consultants, a subsidiary controlled by Tech Mahindra, to infuse Rs 2,900 crore into it after they took over. The attachment of the fixed deposits would affect the functioning of the company, it argued.

Dec 112012
 

The government will raise the cap on supply of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) to nine cylinders per household in a year from current restriction of six, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said on Tuesday .

“I think it is likely to go up definitely from six (cylinders) to 9 (cylinders),” he told reporters here.

The government had in September capped supply of subsidised LPG to six cylinders per household in a year. Any additional requirement is to be bought at market price of Rs 931 per 14.2-kg bottle.

Subsidised LPG costs Rs 410.50 per cylinder at present.

Moily said the decision to raise the cap will be taken by the Cabinet “very shortly”.

The original decision to cap supply at 6 cylinders was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on September 13 and the decision to raise it would also have to be taken by the Cabinet panel, he said.

“I think as early as possible,” he added.

Moily said he has had two rounds of discussions with Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the impact of the decision to raise the cap.

The government will have to provide an additional Rs 9,000 crore annually if the cap is raised.

“We are working on that,” he said on ways to mitigate the additional subsidy requirement. “We are working on certain formula to neutralise it.”

Dec 112012
 

Can a six yard splendour turn into a controversy? Yes, sporting a saree with the images of Ram, Krishna and Hanuman has landed Kushboo, popular actor of yesteryears and DMK politico, in trouble. A fundamentalist Hindu outfit has demanded an apology from her for ‘insulting Hindu gods’.

Controversies are not new to the film star, though they are not always entirely of her own making. At a recent function in Hyderabad, the former glamour doll of Kollywood, was seen wearing a designer saree prominently displaying the three mythical figures.

Though it had not raised any ripples in Andhra Pradesh, back home the Hindu Makkal Katchi (Hindu People’s party) has threatened to launch an agitation if she failed to tender an apology for hurting the sentiments of Hindus.

“The saree prominently displays images of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, dearer to the Hindus while its border had the images of Sri Hanuman, who was a bachelor. This is not the first time that she has shown wanton disrespect to Hindu beliefs. With her, it has been a habit hence we demand an apology,” fumed Arjun Sampath, HMK president.

“In a society like ours, wedded to religion and steeped in tradition, showing scant regard to religious icons could not be tolerated or brushed aside as personal liberty,’ was his response to a question. ‘

Earlier, Hindu oufits were up in arms against Kushboo for sitting cross legged, close to the statue of a Hindu deity kept on the dais at a film function. And prior to that, her outspoken remark on chastity enraged pro-Tamil parties and she was hounded out. Protests were orchestrated and cases were filed in various district courts against her. However, in the end she secured justice in the Supreme Court.

Strange that in a state where fans once erected a temple for her in Trichy and women still remain glued to her shows only to keep track of her dress code, her attire should evoke such a reaction.

However, Kushboo, is least concerned about the threat and retorts, “Who are these self-styled guardians of culture?”

Asked about the demand for an apology, she termed it as absurd. “I am not going to answer every Tom, Dick and Harry. Why should I? There is no need at all. Why are they worried about what a woman sports. Don’t they have any other worthwhile work?” was her response. “There are so many issues that a party needs to address rather making a issue where none exists,” she argues.

Well, her voice seems to be bold battle-hardened. In the past, she was a mere actor but now, a prominent DMK politico and the party’s emerging mass face as well as its crowd puller. It also shows a determination that she could no more be kicked around by culture vultures.

Dec 112012
 

Hours before the end of campaigning for the first phase of election in Gujarat, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi took charge of his party initiating a slugfest with Narendra Modi . Rahul addressed three public meetings on Tuesday. Out of the three, two were in Jamnanagar and Amreli in the volatile Saurashtra region and one at Sanand in the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

Adhering to the development agenda, which has largely acquired the status of being official theme of this election, Rahul claimed Mahatma Gandhi to be his guru in politics and launched a scathing attack on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi without ever naming him in all the three meetings.

Rahul took Gujarat BJP to task for the scant days of the functioning of the state assembly.

“The assembly in this state functions for 20 to 25 days in a year,” Rahul said, adding that even in these few days if the opposition raises its voice in the house they are thrown out.

Coming down heavily on claims of development of the state, Rahul at Jamnagar said that  while more than 10 lakh youth in the state are without jobs, Gujarat is shining for the world. “While you all are working for the state, you are being told that Gujarat is being run by one man,” Rahul said in Sanand. “This is marketing,” he added.

“Gujarat cannot be run by one man and one man does not run Gujarat. Gujarat is being run by Gujaratis,” he said in Jamnagar.

Reacting sharply to Rahul’s attack, Modi claimed at Surendranagar that there is no dearth of employment in Gujarat. In a subsequent public meeting at Dholka in rural Ahmedabad, Modi referred to Rahul’s poor attendance record in Parliament and asked how could he dare question him on the days of functioning of Gujarat assembly with his own poor personal record of attending Parliament.

Modi renewed his allegations of Centre banning cotton subsidy and subsidising cotton and beef export.  He even mocked Congress at a meeting at Dhrangadhra and said that the talk of technology does not befit Congress. While people in Gujarat get 24 hours of electricity, the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi need to keep generator sets at their homes.

It may be mentioned that Saurashtra, rural Ahmedabad and South Gujarat is going to polls on Thursday in the first phase of the election and Tuesday 5 p.m is the time when campaign for the first phase has to conclude.

Dec 112012
 

Union Minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday slammed the way the case of Indian nurse Jacintha Saldhana’s death was being handled by England and Australia.
 
Moily has written to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid saying that no appropriate steps were being taken to make a fair investigation or to bring back Saldhana’s body to her native place.
 
The Petroleum Minister said that the people of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka were particularly agitated over Saldhana’s death and the way her case was being handled by the two countries involved.
 
“People from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, where I hail from, are very agitated over the handling of the matter… I am told no appropriate steps are being taken to make a fair investigation or to bring back the body to her native place. This is a matter of grave concern… Please consider intervening in the matter for a fair investigation to ensure speedy repatriation of the body,” Moily is said to have written to Khurshid.
 
Saldhana’s worked as a nurse in London and she had allegedly committed suicide last week after fell prey to a prank call by two Australian radio presenters who pretended to be the queen and Prince Charles. They elicited sensitive information about Duchess Kate Middleton’s pregnancy.