Corrupt members of subordinate judiciary should be thrown out: Supreme Court

Holding that corrupt members of the subordinate judiciary should be "thrown out", the Supreme Court today came down heavily on a woman judge calling her a "super Supreme Court" for defying its order.

"You can't take the Supreme Court as a joke. People are looking at judges with suspicion. Today, all sort of things like 80 per cent of the subordinate judiciary are corrupt are being said, which is very shameful", fumed a two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Markanday Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra.

The bench directed disciplinary action against Delhi's additional district judge Archana Sinha for defying its order and stayed the eviction proceedings against the tenant Udham Singh Jain Charitable Trust, Central Delhi, despite the fact that the Supreme Court in an order on October 6, 2010, had dismissed the tenant's plea.

"Archana Sinha had no business to defy our order and she has become a super Supreme Court", the bench said.

The apex court said it was constrained to say that a certain section of the subordinate judiciary in the country is bringing the whole judiciary of India into disrepute by passing orders on extraneous considerations.

"We do not wish to comment on the various allegations which are often made to us about what certain members of the subordinate judiciary are doing but we do want to say that these kind of malpractices have to be totally weeded out.

"Such subordinate judiciary judges are bringing a bad name to the whole institution and must be thrown out of the judiciary," Jusice Katju, writing the judgment, said.

At one stage, the bench threatened to send the judge to jail and suspend her but after Sinha profusely apologised and pleaded for mercy, after which the apex court decided to refer the matter to the Delhi high court Chief Justice for necessary action.

"We will send you to jail. We will suspend you," the bench remarked orally. But later it relented and referred the judge's case to the Chief Justice of the high court.

The packed court also witnessed the spectacle of the tenant vacating the disputed premises within one hour of the deadline fixed by the apex court at 11.25am and the warning that if the tenant failed to vacate forthwith he would be sent to jail.

The counsel, appearing for the tenant exactly after an hour, told the court that the tenant has vacated.

The apex court had on October 6, 2010, dismissed the tenant's appeal against the high court direction asking the trust to vacate the premises. The tenant gave an undertaking that he would would vacate the premises within six months by April 6, 2011.

However, thereafer, the tenant filed a proxy petition through another person claiming to be a sub-tenant and managed to obtain a stay on the eviction proceedings from the court of Archana Sinha on April 23.

Aggrieved, the landlord filed the contempt petition.

Reacting sharply to the defiance of its order, the apex court said "it seems to us that in this country certain members of the subordinate courts do not even care for orders of this Court. When this Court passed an order dated 6th October, 2010, granting six months' time to vacate, the contemnor Archana Sinha, additional district judge, had no business to pass the order dated 23rd April, 2011, but instead she has stayed the warrants of possession, meaning thereby that she has practically superseded our order and overruled us."

The apex court said that in India often litigations between the landlord and tenant often reach the Supreme Court.

"And when the tenant loses in this Court, then he starts a second innings through someone claiming to be a co-tenant or as a sub-tenant or in some other capacity and in the second round of litigation the matter remains pending for years and the landlord cannot get possession despite the order of this court.

"The time has come that this malpractice must now be stopped effectively, the bench said.

The apex court also regretted that the counsel appearing for the tenants also do not give proper advise to the clients in such matters.

"After our order dated 06th October, 2010, the counsel of the tenant should have advised the tenant to vacate the premises in question like a gentleman before or on the expiry of six months from 06.10.2010 but unfortunately they advised the tenant to put up some other person claiming independent right against the landlord as a sub-tenant and start a fresh round of litigation to remain in possession.

In this manner, our order dated 6th October, 2010, was totally frustrated," the bench remarked.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_corrupt-members-of-subordinate-judiciary-should-be-thrown-out-supreme-court_1541735

Gujarat HC slaps contempt notice against Balwant Singh, add chief secretary,Home Dept of Gujarat 4 alleged breach & non-compliance of its Order.

While handing over the investigation to the CBI, the Gujarat High Court had called for all the minute details and action taken reports on the request of a member of the SIT to transfer the officials PP Pandey, GL Singhal and Tarun Barot out of the department to facilitate the investigation.

The court has asked the state government to submit all the files with the noting to the court and submit the affidavit before the court. The SIT had sought for transfer of the officers so that they don't influence the subordinate officers who can provide vital evidence and information in the investigation.

The HC had however, on April 8, ordered the state government to transfer the officers immediately. But the government transferred them, on April 19, a day before submission of the report.

The court had observed that until the visit of the members of Central Forensic Laboratory and team of All India Institute of Medial Sciences, the transfer orders were not passed. Prima facie, the said action on the part of the state can be said to be in breach and non-compliance of the direction of the court.

The court had issued notice to Balwant Singh, additional chief secretary, Home Department, and directed him to submit a reply and explanation, if any, as to why proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act should not be initiated for alleged breach and non-compliance of the directions by the court.

Singh had accordingly filed an affidavit. However, dissatisfied, the court on Thursday asked the state to submit papers with the noting of concerned officers and authorities on the file. The hearing on the issue is now scheduled on January 20.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ishrat-jahan-case-high-court-asks-gujarat-to-submit-files-notings_1620337

Ishrat case: CBI files charges against 20 Gujarat cops

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday registered a case of murder against 20 policemen in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case in Gujarat, adding to the pile of legal troubles of Narendra Modi government.

The fresh FIR was registered by the probe agency after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) gave its complaint to the CBI on December 15, saying that the encounter was staged.

The cops named accused in the case range from Ahmedabad police chief to constables. Besides murder, they have also been charged with destruction of evidence.

The Gujarat High Court had on December 1 directed the CBI to take over further probe in the case in which Ishrat (19), Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter in Ahmedabad. The directives came as the SIT, constituted by the HC, had concluded in November that the encounter was staged by police. A judicial inquiry report by metropolitan magistrate S P Tamang report had alleged that 21 police officers, including then crime branch chief JCP P P Pande, suspended DIG D G Vanzara, then ACP G L Singhal and ACP N K Amin were involved in the conspiracy regarding the encounter. Vanzara and Amin are also accused in the fake encounter killing of `gangster' Sohrabuddin Sheikh and the murder of his wife Kausar Bi. Both are in jail.

The HC had ordered CBI to probe the claims made by the state police after the encounter that Ishrat and three other persons were LeT terrorists on a mission to kill Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.

CBI sources say they will question all the police officers involved in the case very soon after taking over the files from the Gujarat police. "A dedicated team would only look at Ishrat case now," said a CBI official. The agency, however, on Saturday refused to give details of the fresh FIR registered in the case.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ishrat-case-CBI-files-charges-against-20-Gujarat-cops/articleshow/11150242.cms

Azim Premji to start two free schools in every district

MUMBAI/ BANGALORE: After chipping in for the country's educational system for a decade, the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), run by the third richest Indian on his own money, is all set for a generous initiative. The foundation plans to start 1,300 schools across the country- two per district - which will be free, impart education in the local language and be affiliated to the state board.

If the idea succeeds, it could shame India's dysfunctional public education system - and perhaps inspire other wealthy tycoons to look beyond their personal status-building.

The APF schools, from preschool to class 12, will be on the lines of government ones. The difference will be in quality. "Quality education is fundamental to our becoming a developed nation. And the final crucible of learning is the classroom," says Azim Premji.

Wipro's idea of starting 1,300 schools came after the Azim Premji Foundation recently reviewed its work from 2001, the year in which it was set up. "We felt the need to graduate from programme interventions to institution-building," says Dileep Ranjekar, APF's CEO. "One of our ideas was to set up a separate educational board like the ICSE/ CBSE. But most of us...felt that change would be better felt and seen by actually setting up schools."

Those associated with the planning of this Rs 9,000-crore project say that the schools will focus on the overall development of their students, including their health and nutrition. "The attempt is also to establish schools in corners that are currently educationally under-served and not to compete with existing schools, whether public or private," says Ranjekar, adding that seven schools will start within a year-and-a-half in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. If things go as forecast, all the 1,300 schools should be up and running by 2025.

The aim behind the schools is two-pronged. "One is to build social pressure for other schools to follow suit and provide quality education. Two, we want to test ourselves, understand what it takes to deliver quality teaching and learning. One cannot tell the world to improve unless one actually leads by example," says Ranjekar.

A focal aim of the foundation is to get each school to evolve, over time, as a development centre integrated with the community. Thus, the schools will be staffed with teachers from the rural areas, but appointed after written tests and an interview.

"Emphasis will be placed on their expertise in the subject, their understanding of pedagogy and their social orientation. Parents of the children will be important partners in the process of development," says Ranjekar.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/azim-premji-to-start-two-free-schools-in-every-district/articleshow/10536528.cms

Journalist attacked

Shahina K.K., a journalist from Kerala, who visited the Somwarpet tahsildar's office in Kodagu district on Friday in connection with a case, was allegedly attacked by a Hindutva organisation despite being under police protection.

According to Ms. Shahina, she was inside a van along with over a dozen policemen when activists of the Hindu Jagran Vedike stopped and surrounded the vehicle.

Shouting slogans

“Initially, they only shouted slogans. But, when the police did nothing to disperse them, they started throwing stones at the van,” she said.

Ms. Shahina, who is facing charges of criminal intimidation, interviewed K.K. Yogananda, one of the eye-witnesses in the Bangalore bomb blast case in which People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Maudany is an accused. After the interview was published, Mr. Yogananda accused Ms. Shahina of criminal intimidation.

She also alleged that the local police in Somwarpet refused to provide any protection earlier. “I had to call a senior police official in Bangalore to get protection,” she said.

Confirming that protection was provided to Ms. Shahina on his insistence, Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) Mohan Das told presspersons that he could not comment on the attack as he was not at the spot.

Charges

Stating that the police had been treating Ms. Shahina badly ever since they filed the charges, her lawyer B.T. Venkatesh said: “We will lodge a complaint and also make the circle inspector a party in the case.”

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2705644.ece

Media must provide leadership to society, says Katju

Stating that 90 per cent of the people in India are at a poor intellectual level, Justice (retd.) Markandey Katju, Chairman of the Press Council of India, emphasised here on Monday the role of the media in giving leadership to society in the realm of ideas.

“But how can the media give leadership to the people in the realm of ideas unless it is itself of a high intellectual level,” he asked, advising journalists to carefully study the social sciences, history and literature.

“The media is not justified in giving 90 per cent of its coverage to entertainment leaving only 10 per cent to real issues which are basically socio-economic in nature. Doubtless, the media should provide some entertainment. But the thrust of its coverage should be in public interest. You have lost your sense of proportion,” he said, referring to journalists, at a lecture on ‘The Role of Media in India,' organised by the Calcutta Chapter of the Public Relations Society of India.

He said that the argument that the media was also a business and must give the people what they wanted “is degrading the media. The media is not an ordinary business that deals with commodities, it deals with ideas.”

“The intellectual level of most of our people is very low. Is the media going to go down to that level and perpetuate it or should it seek to uplift it,” he said. Although he said that 90 per cent of the people in the country were at a poor intellectual level, going by the comments he had seen on the Internet and networking sites like twitter, 90 per cent of the people supported his views on the media.

On paid news, he said that there had been pressure to suppress the 71-page report on the phenomenon prepared by the two-member committee of the Press Council comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy.

Justice Katju had passed an order within an hour of taking over as Chairman of the council to publish the report on the official website.

Transition phase

He said that India was passing through a transitional period of her history from a feudal agricultural society to a modern industrial one — a painful and agonising period in history.

“In this transitional period, ideas become very important. You have to promote rational ideas, scientific ideas, and modern ideas, in order to help society get over this transitional period faster and with minimum pain,” he said ruing the fact that a large section of the media was promoting regressive ideas like astrology.

He pointed to Europe, which underwent its own transition from the 17th to 19th century, and the role of great writers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Thomas Paine and Junius in this period.

On the other hand, a large section of the Indian media was actually acting in “an anti-people manner” by diverting attention from real issues, creating rifts in a diverse country like India and promoting superstition.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2689794.ece

Court anguished at Soni Sori's medical report

A report submitted by a Kolkata hospital, which examined tribal teacher Soni Sori, who was allegedly tortured by the Chhattisgarh police, has said two stones were found in her private parts and rectum.

Anguished at the report, a Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and S.S. Nijjar of the Supreme Court on Friday sought the Chhattisgarh government's response. It also directed the State government to shift her to the Raipur jail after senior counsel Colin Gonsalves told the court that the teacher's life was in danger in the Jagadalpur prison.

Ms. Sori was arrested for her alleged links with Maoists.

She moved the court alleging police torture. On the directions of the Bench, she was shifted out of the State and examined by doctors at the NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata for the injuries she sustained in police custody. Counsel wanted Ms. Sori taken out of the Jagadalpur prison.

The Bench posted the matter for final hearing in January next.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2681984.ece