There is huge controversy over the appointment of Indian Police Service office Rakesh Maria as Mumbai Police Commissioner. Ahmad Javed, a senior IPS officer, has gone on leave instead of taking charge as Director General, Home Guard.
Javed, who had called Maria’s appointed unjust and pointed out that he was the top contender for the post, handed over the charge to KL Bishnoi before proceeding on leave.
Javed had said that the delay in naming Mumbai Police Commissioner cost him the position that would have come to him automatically due to his seniority. Javed, who was holding the Additional Director General of police (law and order) post and promoted as the DG, said that had the decision been taken in April 2013 when former CP Satyapal Singh was due for promotion, he would have been the natural choice.
Meanwhile, Vinita Kamte, the wife of slain IPS officer Ashok Kamte who was killed by Pakistani terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, too lashed out at Maria.
Vinita Kamte told that she feared Maria would influence the investigation into lapses which led to her husband’s death during the 26/11 attacks. She had earlier alleged discrepancies in crucial call records of wireless conversations between the Police Control Room and Ashok Kamte’s van on the day of his death.
She said she feared Maria may not be transparent in the case. Earlier in 2009 she had questioned Maria’s claims that he did not direct Ashok Kamte to the Cama Hospital where he died.
Rakesh Maria had been in charge of the police control room at the time of the carnage in November 2008.
Denied Mumbai Police chief’s post, IPS officer Javed goes on leave
Congress, NCP may swap Raigad and Amravati seats
Having finalised the 26:22 seat sharing formula, Congress and NCP in Maharashtra are likely to swap Raigad and Amravati Lok Sabha constituencies in the coming general elections.
NCP will most probably field Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare, a close aide of Ajit Pawar, from Raigad, while PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal will test waters from Nashik parliamentary seat, replacing his nephew Sameer. NCP will give the Amravati seat to Congress in return for Raigad.
NCP had proposed that as Congress was unable to wrest the Raigad seat from Shiv Sena for the three consecutive terms, it should be given a chance, sources said. Similarly, NCP could not win Amravati seat, which was unsuccessfully contested by Rajendra Gavai of RPI last time with its’s support.
However, Congress sources said that the swap was not yet finalised. NCP sources said party supremo and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will meet ministers and office-bearers deputed to tour the 22 constituencies on Tuesday. “He will take stock of the political situation in the 22 constituencies and discuss finalisation of candidates. It is likely that both Congress and NCP will announce their list of candidates after February 21,” party sources added.
Home Minister R R Patil has toured the Maadha constituency and interacted with the local party leaders to discuss who would replace Sharad Pawar. Pawar has been elected to the Rajya Sabha and has announced quitting electoral politics. “The local unit of NCP is divided between senior leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and Suresh Shinde, brother of local MLA Baban Shinde,” sources informed.
Despite the local unit in Satara demanding that senior leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar be given the ticket, it is likely that sitting MP Udayanraje Bhosale will be fielded again, sources added. After some delay, Congress and NCP decided to continue with 26:22 formula (26 for Congress and 22 for NCP) for the 48 seats in Maharashtra.
NCP has already said that it will not part with Kolhapur seat, and has decided to field Dhananjay Mahadik. The sitting MP, Sadashiv Mandlik, had contested as an independent after being denied ticket by NCP in 2009, and has since joined Congress.
Sources said Congress was not demanding Hingoli for Indian Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav, as he had decided not to contest. Sitting NCP MPs Supriya Sule (Baramati), Padamsinh Patil (Osmanabad), Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North East), Sanjeev Naik (Thane), Praful Patel (Gondia) will get tickets again.
Laxman Jagtap (Maval), Anand Paranjpye (Kalyan), Suryakanta Patil (Hingoli) have been finalised. Ministers Jaidutt Kshirsagar and Suresh Dhas are vying for the Beed Lok Sabha seat, against BJP leader Gopinath Munde.
High Court quashes case against Salman Khan; to impose costs on complainant
In a relief to actor Salman Khan, the Bombay High Court on Monday quashed proceedings against him in a magistrate’s court on a private complaint seeking contempt action for posting court orders on his website concerning his criminal cases.
Allowing Salman’s petition for quashing the complaint, Justice Sadhana Jadhav said she was inclined to impose Rs 2,000 cost on the complainant, Hemant Patil, for wasting the time of the court as the case for contempt was not made out.
Salman’s lawyer Ravi Kadam argued that the complaint was frivolous and urged that costs should be imposed. However, the complainant’s lawyer Wajed Khan submitted that his client had moved the court against the actor in public interest.
Justice Jadhav observed that prima facie it appears that the complaint was filed to gain publicity in the media and hence the court was inclined to impose costs.
Salman’s lawyer pleaded that the 2002 hit-and-run case involving the actor had been committed to a sessions court for trial and hence the magistrate had no jurisdiction to issue notice to him on the contempt complaint.
Salman pleaded that he had created the website only to ensure that there was no incorrect reporting by the media.
The Bandra magistrate had issued notice to the actor on July 10, 2013, while hearing a complaint filed by Patil alleging contempt of court action against Salman for allegedly posting court proceedings on website–www.salmankhanfiles.com.
The complaint alleged that Salman was embroiled in legal cases including the 2002 hit-and-run case and said that by posting court matters on the website, the actor had committed contempt of court as the matters were sub judice.
Salman, however, pleaded that he had created a website only to ensure that there was no incorrect reporting by the media and that the website gave factual information about his cases and nothing beyond that. He said that no contempt had been committed by him.
The actor pleaded that the complaint and the summons issued to him may be quashed and set aside. He said the magistrate had not applied his mind on the complaint filed against him as he did not arrive at a prima facie conclusion that a case of contempt of court had been made out.
HC seeks committee to hear cases of medical negligence
The Bombay High Court today asked Maharashtra Government to form a committee, which would hear the cases of medical negligence, by March 31.
The order was passed by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah while disposing of a public interest litigation.
Under Section 7 of Maharashtra Medicare Service, Persons and Medicare Service Institution (MMSPMSI) Act, establishment of such a committee is mandatory.
The court had earlier directed the Additional Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to issue a circular within two weeks asking the police to invoke provisions of MMSPMSI Act in the cases of assault on doctors.
A copy of the circular was today submitted to the bench by government pleader Prajakta Shinde.
The court had taken a suo motu (on its own) notice of an incident in Solapur where three policemen allegedly thrashed a government doctor for refusing to attend to a woman in labour pains on December 31.
Initially, they were booked under Indian Penal Code for bailable offences and obtained bail. However, the High Court, after viewing CCTV footage, directed the government to book them under MMSPMSI Act under which offences are non-bailable.
The incident had also led to a strike by 4,000 resident doctors in Maharashtra on January 2.
Zaibibi Suleman Peerzade, the woman who was allegedly not attended to by the doctor, had intervened in the High Court case. Her lawyer, advocate Pandurang Pol, said the state was yet to form the committee as contemplated under the MMSPMSI Act.
Ferreira’s interim protection from arrest extended till Feb 24
The sessions court extended the interim protection from arrest granted to former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira till February 24 in connection with Rs. 425 crore QNet case.
“The court extended his interim protection till February 24,” said Chief Public Prosecutor Kalpana Chavan.
Ferreira had approached the court on January 22 seeking pre-arrest bail.
In the second week of December, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police, probing the QNet case, had served summons to the 75-year-old Ferreira as they wanted to quiz him about his association with the scam-hit company.
However he did not turn up.
The EOW has so far arrested nine ‘team leaders’ of the QNet for allegedly duping investors by offering to sell products such as magnetic disks, herbal remedies and holiday schemes through fraudulent practices.
QNet has also been accused of using the banned ‘binary pyramid’ business model for their multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes to entice investors.
The accused have been charged with cheating and forgery under the Prize, Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978.
Is post more important than service?
The appointment of the new Police Commissioner has already run into controversies. Questions were raised over Maria’s appointment and officials also alleged that the decision was politically motivated. A question which arises in my mind is why every senior police officer wants to become the police chief as only one person will be appointed for the coveted post. What is the big deal if any official doesn’t become the Mumbai Police Commissioner? Maria was deserving candidate hence he was appointed as the new police chief and there is no need to make a hue and cry over it. In fact those officials who were overlooked for the post of police commissioner have been offered promotions. So they need not get disappointed about it and should resume their duties.
It’s the responsibility of the police officer to tackle crime. It doesn’t matter what post is assigned to cops as it’s their duty to resolve crime case and make the city safe for residents. Questions are being raised about the intention of the senior level officials who are eyeing the lucrative job about whether they are greedy. It doesn’t matter if an official is appointed as the Police Commissioner or the post of Director General. At the end of the day, they have to control crime in the city.
Let’s talk about the officer’s who are upset with the government’s decision to appoint Rakesh Maira as Police Commissioner. Vijay Kamble who was in fray for being appointed as the police chief has been alloted the post of Thane police Commissioner should not feel disappointed. Another police officer, Ahmad Javed too was not pleased with Maria’s appointment as the new police chief as he felt that he was more eligible for the post. He has been appointed as the Director General, Home Guard which is a higher post as compared to Mumbai Police Commissioner.
The reason why every police official dreams wants to become the Police Chief of Mumbai is because it’s a metropolitan city and the nation’s financial capital.
Ahmad Javed has gone to leave instead of taking charge as Director General, Home Guard and Vijay Kamble is also expected to follow his footsteps which is setting a bad precedent and malign the image of the police department. Finally, I can say that instead of eyeing for the coveted post police officers needs to beef up the security of the city security and make it a better place to live.
No policy, no paralysis – Interim Budget 2014
After taking over as Finance Minister in August 2012, Chidambaram had drawn up a financial amalgamation road map to lower the fiscal deficit to 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2013-14, 4.2 per cent in 2014-15 and 3.6 per cent in 2015-16. He said the government’s objectives included fiscal consolidation, reviving the growth cycle and enhancing manufacturing. The Minister had on several occasions said he had drawn a red line for the fiscal deficit and it would not be breached. As per current indications, the fiscal deficit has come down mainly on account of expenditure compression and higher realisation from the 2G spectrum auction. GDP growth has improved and will be 4.9 per cent for the current financial year.
Economic growth had slowed to a decade’s low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13. Congratulations to Finance Minister for controlling fiscal deficit and lowering it down by 0.3 per cent than the previous financial year. It is the notable achievement of UPA Government. Many such things are said and done but after this interim budget people are confused, they don’t know whether to congratulate UPA or just see the fun of postponing all responsibilities to the new government to be formed in 2014.
In these nine years, UPA has taken the country to a primitive state, giving too many subsidies, paying less attention to education and health sectors. The next government will have to do something to reduce or do away with these freebies. No one can deny that Congress Party has got great economist minds like P. Chidambaram, Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia but they are surrounded by dirty minds which has disease of corruption. I don’t think, currently any other party in India have talented economists like them. However, why they are not leaving corruption and working for the progress of the country? One cannot be 100 per cent corruption free. We Indians are still good if you eat 20 per cent and develop with remaining 80 per cent but today, the trend is going in reverse direction; we see 80 per cent corruption and 20 per cent development. Political parties should forget its differences and think for the progress of the country and its people. Manmohan Singh and P. Chidambaram never had free hand to frame the budget as they might have wanted. And it is a fact, a very bitter fact. Cars should be made costlier by increasing taxes and reduce the direct tax on income. Honestly, people will not be impacted as they do not buy a car every year. Increase in car cost will be set off by rebate on tax on income. Finance minister himself said luxury car sales (more than 50 lacs) is more than people declaring income above 1 crore. Congress is making auto and real estate a hub of black money.
Indirectly, it will lead to more pollution, more traffic on roads and more burdens due to fuel import cost. People with black money are rewarded. Only 2 per cent people pay tax on income in India. Increasing the lowest tax slab to 5 lacs and increasing the tax on cars by 1% is a win win situation for all honest people.
Leaving direct taxes untouched, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday slashed excise duty on cars, SUVs and two-wheelers, and capital goods and consumer durables to boost manufacturing and growth. Presenting the interim Union Budget for 2014-15, he also provided service tax exemption for storage and warehousing of rice like it was done in case of paddy last year. Also, blood banks have been exempted from its purview. The 1 per cent surcharge on ‘super-rich’ having income above Rs. 1 crore in a year, and the 5 per cent surcharge on corporates imposed last year, has been allowed to lapse . The budget document does not give figures of the indirect tax concessions, which are valid up to June 30, 2014 and could be reviewed later. They will be notified later in the day.
He justified the excise duty relief saying, “However, the current economic situation demands some interventions that cannot wait for the regular Budget. In particular, the manufacturing sector needs an immediate boost. To encourage domestic production of mobile handsets, he restructured the excise duty for all categories fixing it at 6 per cent with CENVAT credit or 1 per cent without CENVAT credit. Customs duty structure on non-edible grade industrial oils and its fractions, fatty acids and fatty alcohols has been pegged at 7.5 per cent to encourage to domestic production of soaps and oleo chemicals. Similarly, a concessional customs duty of 5 per cent on capital goods imported by Bank Note Paper Mill India Pvt Ltd has been provided to encourage to indigenous production of security paper for printing currency notes. Giving budget estimates, the minister said the current financial year will end on a satisfactory note with the fiscal deficit at 4.6 per cent; below redline of 4.8 per cent, and the revenue deficit at 3.3 per cent. The fiscal deficit for 2014-15 has been pegged at 4.1 per cent, which will be below the target of 4.2 per cent set by the new fiscal consolidation path. Revenue deficit is estimated at 3 per cent.
Plan expenditure for the coming fiscal has been fixed at Rs. 555,322 crore, unchanged from current year, and non-Plan expenditure at Rs. 12,07,892 crore, marginally higher than 2013-14. Chidambaram said excise duty has been reduced from 12 to 10 per cent on capital goods and consumer non-durables falling under Chapter 84 and 85 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act. Small cars, motorcycles, scooters and commercial vehicles will attract a lower excise duty of 8 per cent from the current 12 per cent, while SUVs will see a 6 per cent reduction in duty from 30 to 24 per cent. Large and middle segment cars will enjoy an excise duty of 24/20 per cent, down from 27/24 per cent. Outlining a 10-point vision for the future, the finance minister said India must achieve the target of fiscal deficit of 3 per cent of GDP by 2016-17 and remain below that level always. On current account deficit, he said there is no room for any aversion for it since the country will run a CAD every year for some more years and it can be financed only by foreign investments – FDI, FII or ECBs or any other foreign inflow. As a part of the vision, he said a developing economy must accept that when the aim is high growth, there will be moderate level of inflation.
Chidambaram always says the right things rightly and then goes on to take the wrong decisions, wrongly. They are sure, they will not be elected this time. In order to contain the fiscal deficit within the budgeted 4.8 per cent of the GDP, you are leaving a huge burden of unpaid bills for the next government.
Jagan slams Sonia, says Andhra bifurcation a ploy to make Rahul Gandhi PM
Continuing his tirade against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday accused Sonia Gandhi of dividing the state with the sole aim of making Rahul Gandhi the next prime minister.
Sitting on a dharna along with a large numbers of supporters at Jantar Mantar, Jagan charged that the ruling party came up with the idea of bifurcating Andhra as it hoped to win some seats by aligning with TRS in Telangana and strengthen chances of Rahul Gandhi becoming the next PM.
Referring to Sonia Gandhi’s Italian background, he dubbed the Indian National Congress as “Italian National Congress” and said, “Even Britishers did not do what she did to my state of Andhra Pradesh”.
He said the use of a pepper spray by a Congress MP in Parliament to protest the state’s division was a Congress conspiracy to suspend Seemandhra MPs.
“Congress has engineered the chaos. They have plotted it… Knowing very well that their fortunes are down to practically zero, these people have ignited passions. Months before elections they have broken my state,” he charged.
The Seemandhra MPs were “undemocratically” suspended by Parliament to muzzle their voice. “The ruling party wanted to push through the Bill to create Telangana without any debate,” he said.
The YSR Congress leader said that he would support anybody, including BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, if they support the move to keep Andhra united.
Jagan has met leaders from various political parties, seeking their support for keeping the state united.
Opposition should fix date to pass anti-corruption bills: Rahul Gandhi
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that after the budget had been passed, the Parliament should focus on the anti-corruption bills.
Talking to reporters in the national capital Rahul asked the Opposition parties to fix a date to pass the bills on which there was a general consensus.
The Congress VP had recently accused the main Opposition, the BJP of blocking passage of six anti-graft bills at a public rally at Belgaum, Karnataka. He had said that his party wanted to pass them but were being stopped in Parliament. He had also said that the BJP leaders don’t allow functioning of Parliament and at the same time reminded the crowd that the RTI Act and the Lokpal Bill was brought by the Congress.
The Parliament passed the Lokpal Bill in the last session of Parliament. The Congress leaders have said time and again that Rahul was instrumental in getting the anti-graft bill passed.
The BJP, however, hitting back at Rahul said that it was Congress MPs who were creating ruckus in the House. Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley clarified that his party was ready to support most of the anti-corruption legislations once the UPA government restored order in the House.
Taking a dig at the Congress VP, Jaitley had written in his blog, “Not having spoken even once on major scams such as 2G spectrum allocation, coal block allocation, Commonwealth Games, he has only belatedly realised that corruption is a major issue in Indian politics.”
Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the Interim Budget today amidst din in the House. Leaving direct taxes untouched except for continuing the income tax surcharge on ‘super-rich’ individuals and corporates, he slashed excise duty on cars and two-wheelers, and capital goods and consumer durables to boost manufacturing and growth.
Presenting the Interim Budget for 2014-15 along with a vote-on-account for spending up to July, Chidambaram also provided service tax exemption for storage and warehousing of rice like it was done in the case of paddy last year. Also, blood banks have been exempted from its purview.
Rejecting the argument of policy paralysis, Chidambaram enumerated the path-breaking decisions of the government in 2013-14 which included decontrol of sugar, gradual correction of diesel prices, rationalisation of railway fare, starting the process of issue of new bank licenses and restructuring of power distribution companies.
Referring to the GDP growth rate, Chidambaram said the slowdown began in 2011-12 and in nine quarters it had declined from 7.5 per cent in Q1 of 2011-12 to 4.4 per cent in Q1 of 2013-14.
Parliament to debate Telangana Bill on Tuesday: Kamal Nath
Given the spirited opposition to the passage of the Telangana Bill in Parliament, the UPA government on Monday announced that it will be debated in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
“Telangana Bill will come up for discussion in Lok Sabha on 18th. Those who want to oppose can do so in a parliamentary manner,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said.
The announcement comes on a day when the YSR Congress is organising a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi against the division of Andhra Pradesh. As many as eight train full loads of party workers have arrived in Delhi from various parts of AP, reports said.
The forum for protection of integrated AP, led by the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGOs) Association, would also be organising a protests this week in Delhi. The forum plans to hold a public meeting at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi against division.
The APNGOs and other protagonists of integrated Andhra Pradesh have been camping in Delhi to campaign against the proposed division.
Meanwhile, the separate statehood supporters have been making efforts for the passage of the Telangana Bill.
TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, his party MLAs and the leaders of other pro-Telangana parties and outfits have also been camping in Delhi to drum up support for the Bill.
Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in Delhi has been the venue for many a protest and clashes over the contentious issue during the last couple of weeks.
In a new low in India’s parliamentary history, pepper spray was used in the Lok Sabha on February 13 resulting in hospitalisation of three MPs following a ruckus over introduction of the Telangana bill after which 16 Andhra Pradesh MPs were suspended.
Some Union ministers from Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh have met LK Advani seeking BJP’s support for a package for the region following the decision to create a separate Telangana state.