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Archives for April 2016

BCCI faces criticism from SC for resisting reforms

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bcci

New Delhi: BCCI faced scathing criticism for maintaining that any judicial interference in its functioning would compromise its autonomy, with the Supreme Court saying the cash-rich sports body was resisting recommendations to reform and make its working “transparent and visible”.

The apex court also expressed its displeasure over BCCI’s stand that being a private and autonomous body, it cannot accommodate a nominee of CAG in it as suggested by the Justice R M Lodha Panel on the ground that it would be derecognised from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“You are discharging public function… how best your functioning can be improved? It has to be transparent and visible .. the way you are doing (discharging your function) and how you are doing,” a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice F M I Kalifulla said.

Taking note of the submission made by BCCI counsel and senior advocate K K Venugopal, the bench said “what we understand is that you are suggesting that I am answerable to Registrar of Societies. I will be accountable only to Registrar of the society. I will be amenable to criminal law but I will not reform. Don’t ask me to reform. Is it possible?

“What have you done? We have seen the allegations of match fixing and betting.

You have no control over these. But you give money in crores. The Lodha committee has said something. It has been said to make the functioning more transparent and visible and the effort is to reform the BCCI.”

“You are dealing with hundreds of crores of rupees. Do you say that you have complete immunity over it and you can’t be questioned? Do you say that you can’t be questioned how you spend hundreds of crores of rupees if not thousands that you collect from the public. Can we record that statement,” the bench observed.

Venugopal replied in affirmative to the bench’s suggestion that collection of funds by selling tickets and through advertisements, BCCI has total control over it and it cannot be questioned.

The bench said it was going into the issue but made it clear that it was not comparing BCCI with other sporting associations like wrestling, table tennis or kho-kho.

The senior advocate also replied in affirmative that the funds coming from the broadcasters through advertisements cannot be questioned by the court.

The bench was also not happy with the apprehension expressed by BCCI that presence of the government nominee or that of CAG will violate ICC rules and attract derecognition.

“How the presence of government nominee or CAG would violate ICC rules and attract derecognition? You are opposing the nominee of the CAG on the board as it would make you vulnerable to derecognition, but you are all advocating involvement of ministers and bureaucrats. Does it not create government influence or presence,” the bench asked.

The bench said the public money that BCCI was holding as Trust was for the promotion of the game of cricket.

“The money that you have is in your trust. Are you not accountable to the beneficiaries? This money is in trust with you for whose benefit. It is for the benefit of the people who watch matches. Are you not accountable to them?”BCCI said instead of following all the recommendations, “let us see whether there is another way” the Board can be reformed.

“We are now going to appoint a consultant for better management of our affairs,” Venugopal said, stressing that any attempt by the court to interfere would violate Article 19(1) (C) on fundamental right to form associations.

He reiterated BCCI’s position that they would account for their actions before the statutory authorities and said the board was implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations, but would not accept some of them, in respect of which the cricket body was protected by Article 19(1)(c).

The BCCI is averse to the Lodha Committee recommendations which puts a ceiling of maximum of two terms for office- bearers, one state-one vote, presence of CAG representative on the BCCI board and fixing 65 years as upper age limit of office bearers.

Senior advocate Ashok Desai, appearing for the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), told the court that there could not be uniform rules for all cricket associations and neither a cap on age limit of office bearers.

While the Lodha Committee has recommended an age limit of 65 years, the PCA has an upper age limit of 70 years.

At this, the bench asked,”should there be an upper age limit at all? What is the age at which players retire?”

When the court was getting different type of answers, it asked at what age did Sachin Tendulkar retire.

“The Bharat Ratna retired at the age of 40,” the court said.

During the hearing, Venugopal complained that the press was giving a one-sided story on the development.

“You address a press conference and tell them you are not writing the things properly. We are not addressing press conference,” the bench said.

Venugopal said,”I don’t address press on the matter, I am arguing. These people are very cynical about BCCI.”

However, after he concluded his argument, the bench said “don’t think that everything is negative in BCCI.”

(PTI)

Teenager in rash driving case charged with culpable homicide

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Mercedes

New Delhi: The 17-year-old boy who allegedly knocked dead a man with his father’s Mercedes in Civil Lines here has now been charged with culpable homicide considering his past record of negligent driving, police said today.

“On examination of CCTV footage, the possibility of knowledge to the accused juvenile offender that his extremely fast driving in a residential area can cause a death cannot be ruled out,” DCP (North) Madhur Verma said.

“Further, during investigation it emerged that it was not the first offence of rash and negligent driving by this accused juvenile. In the past too he was found driving in a rash and negligent way, thereby causing a road accident with another vehicle,” he said. Last year, the minor was also challaned thrice — for over-speeding in April and June and wrong parking in February.

“In view of these facts, the death of Siddharth Sharma is a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and, hence, section 304 of IPC has been added in the FIR,” said Verma.The last time Delhi Police booked someone under culpable homicide in such a matter was in the Sanjeev Nanda BMW case 17 years ago, a senior official said.

On January 10, 1999, six persons, including three policemen, were killed by a speeding BMW car allegedly driven by Nanda in the wee hours in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony area.Similar stand was also taken by Mumbai Police in the Salman Khan case.

Delhi Police yesterday arrested the juvenile’s father, an Old Delhi-based businessman who lives with his family at a posh apartment in Civil lines area, under Sections 109/304 (abetment to culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC.

“There has not been a single step taken by the father of the accused in prohibiting him from taking the vehicle. This is an act of criminal omission, thereby abetting the crime of the said juvenile,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the investigating officer of the case was also changed after the victim Siddharth Sharma’s sister met Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma yesterday and urged him to take strict action against the perpetrators.

The incident took place on Monday when Sharma was trying to cross a road near Ludlow Castle School in Civil Lines and the speeding Mercedes hit him.

The car was being driven at a speed of at least 80 km per hour and Sharma was flung several feet into the air by the impact of the crash and landed around 15 metres away from where he stood. After the incident, a group of youths stepped out of the vehicle and fled the spot, abandoning the car there.

(PTI)

Rahul slams Modi for silence on probe into Panama Papers

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Rahul-Gandhi

Kamalpur: Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of making ‘big promises’ on bringing back black money and asked him to explain why he has not instituted a probe into the matter of the Chattisgarh chief minister’s son’s name featuring in the ‘Panama Papers’.

“The Panama Papers have been leaked and many names have been mentioned about black money kept in Panama. It has also mentioned that Chattisgarh chief minister’s son Abhishek Singh has account in Panama,” Gandhi said while addressing a Congress poll rally here for the second phase of Assam Assembly election on April 11.

“Modi makes big promises to you about bringing back black money kept abroad. He should have at least said why no investigation has been ordered into the featuring of the chief minister’s son name in them,” Gandhi said. He said he had asked Modi in Parliament why former IPL chief Lalit Modi, who had escaped from the country, had not been brought back.

“Modiji did not utter one word in response.” Claiming that the Modi government was not taking action against black money hoarders, Gandhi said, “Recently Jaitley brought a new ‘Fair and Lovely scheme’ whereby any gangster, goon, drug dealer can make their black money white by just taking it to the government and paying minimal tax on it.”

Modi, he said, only made false promises during Lok Sabha elections about bringing back black money. “None of the Indians have received the Rs 15 lakh of that money in their bank accounts as assured by Modi.”

Addressing another election rally at Dhamdhama, the Congress Vice President said this time two parties with diametrically opposite ideologies were contesting in the Assam Assembly elections.

“Congress believes in working for peace and development with feelings of brotherhood. On the other side is the BJP, RSS which indulge in divisive politics and talk only about violence, make one Indian fight with another Indian, Hindus with Muslims”, Rahul said.

Stating that 15 years ago when BJP’s present poll alliance partner AGP was in power in the state and the saffron party was at the Centre, he said, “there was only sad news, violence till Congress came and restored the peace”.

(Agencies)

After men barge in, Shani temple trust allows women to enter inner sanctum

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Shani Shingnapur

Nashik: Shani Shingnapur temple trust has decided to lift restriction on women from entering the sanctum sanctorum soon after over 100 male devotees brazenly stormed into sanctum sanctorum on the occasion of Gudi Padwa on Friday, according to reports.

Bhoomata Brigade activists who had forced entry into the inner sanctum of the temple were assaulted and prevented by villagers even after Bombay High Court had backed the activists’ right to enter the temple’s sanctum.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis also had assured that the court’s order will be implemented in true spirit.

Details are awaited.

(PTI/Agencies)

Panama Papers: David Cameron admits profiting from fund

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British PM says he sold stake in his late father’s offshore investment fund four months before taking office in 2010.

Cameron has claimed to be leading efforts to clamp down on offshore havens, but the leak has led to criticism [Stefan Wermuth/Reuters]

Cameron has claimed to be leading efforts to clamp down on offshore havens, but the leak has led to criticism [Stefan Wermuth/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

British Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted he benefited from the offshore investment fund set up by his late father.

After days of pressure following the publication of the Panama Papers leak, Cameron said on Thursday he owned a stake in the Blairmore trust, which he sold in 2010 four months before taking office.

“We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000 ($42,000),” Cameron told Britain’s ITV television.

“I sold them all in 2010, because if I was going to become prime minister, I didn’t want anyone to say you have other agendas, vested interests,” the Conservative leader added.

“I paid income tax on the dividends. There was a profit on it but it was less than the capital gains tax allowance, so I didn’t pay capital gains tax.”

Refusing to comment

Cameron’s late father, Ian, was among the tens of thousands of people named in the leaked documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca.

The revelations showed how the world’s rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes.

After having at first described it as a private matter, Cameron’s office said on Tuesday that he and his family did not benefit from any such funds at present.

Cameron also said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds.

But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in the future only intensified media speculation the following days, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday.

“There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future,” the spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Cameron has cast himself as a champion in the fight against tax evasion, particularly in British-linked territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands.

However, the opposition Labour Party has said the Panama Papers show the government has failed to tackle the issue.

Panama Papers

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit group in the US, said the cache of 11.5 million records detailed the offshore holdings of a dozen current and former world leaders, as well as businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars.

On Tuesday, Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson stepped down hours after thousands of protesters gathered outside parliament to demand his resignation following the Panama Papers investigation.

Elsewhere among sitting world leaders named in the leak are Argentine President Mauricio Macri and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko.

The documents link at least 12 current and former heads of state and 143 other politicians to illicit financial transactions.

Syria civil war: ISIL kidnaps ‘300 factory workers’

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Staff at cement plant near town of Dumayr abducted by ISIL fighters and moved to unknown location, reports say.

ISIL fighters reportedly moved the abducted workers to an unknown location [File pic: The Associated Press]

ISIL fighters reportedly moved the abducted workers to an unknown location [File pic: The Associated Press]

by Al Jazeera

More than 300 staff at a cement factory east of Damascus have been kidnapped after an attack earlier this week by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), Syrian state TV said on Thursday.

Hundreds of employees at the Al Badia Cement company were taken by ISIL fighters from a factory in the town of Dumayr, 50km east of the Syrian capital, the report quoted the industry ministry as saying.

It added the workers’ employer had lost all contact with them.

However, there were conflicting reports on Thursday about the number of people missing, with local sources telling Al Jazeera that the number was far less than 300.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said rebels belonging to a rival group managed to secure the release of most of those kidnapped.

“Sources said ISIL initially killed or beheaded 10 of those who were taken, accusing them of espionage, and that less than 100 of them remained in captivity. The conflicting reports show the lack of clarity on the ground,” Elshayyal said.

Residents in the nearby area of Giraud, however, said they saw ISIL vehicles carrying nearly 125 workers and heading to the town of Tel Dkoh that is controlled by the group, local official Nadeem Krizan told Syria’s official news agency SANA. He did not account for the other workers reportedly seized.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “dozens” of staff had disappeared, while a plant administrator put the figure at 250.

The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria for information, added the ISIL attack on Dumayr killed at least 20 Syrian soldiers and allied paramilitary fighters.

A resident of Dumeir, 50km east of the Syrian capital, told the AFP news agency that contact with family members had been lost “since noon on Monday”.

“There is information that the workers might have been kidnapped by Islamic State (ISIL) and taken to an unknown destination,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the Observatory’s head, told the DPA news agency.

The cement factory lies outside Dumayr, which has seen fierce battles between government forces and ISIL fighters inside the town.

A Syrian security source told AFP that ISIL also tried to seize a nearby airbase and power plant from the government, without succeeding.

ISIL’s latest attacks near Damascus are seen as retaliation for military setbacks suffered by the group elsewhere in Syria.

Last month, Syrian regime forces – backed by Russian warplanes – drove ISIL from the strategic and ancient city of Palmyra, which the fighters had controlled for 10 months.

 

Pakistan film producers seek Bollywood ban

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Motion filed in Lahore High Court because Indian film industry’s influence is hurting local productions, producers say.

Rocky-Handsome

by Imran Khan, Al Jazeera

A group of Pakistani film producers and distributors has filed a motion in Lahore High Court seeking a ban on Bollywood films being shown in the country.

The distributors say Bollywood films are a threat to local productions.

In Pakistan, the studios and cinema houses are often owned by the same company that uses the proceeds from ticket sales to fund new films.

In recent years, going to the cinema has become more popular across Pakistan. Four years ago, there were only 12 screens in Lahore. Now, there are 32.

“There is a need for these [Bollywood] films if you want to save the Pakistani cinema industry,” Nadir Minhas, director of PAF cinema in Lahore, told Al Jazeera.

“If these films don’t come here, it will go back to being a niche industry.”

But the group seeking a court ban said that Bollywood films were keeping the audience from watching Pakistani films, which is hurting local producers and distributors financially.

“The government says that Pakistani cinema is growing but the industry is only growing in middle-class areas and the middle-class doesn’t watch Pakistani cinema,” Choudhry Kamran, a film distributor, said.

“Because of Bollywood, we can’t make new films. That’s why we want the films to be banned.”

Panama Papers: Congress wants removal of Amitabh from ‘Save Tiger Project’

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Amitabh Bachchan

New Delhi: With actor Amitabh Bachchan’s name figuring in the Panama Papers leaks, the opposition Congress in Maharashtra on Thursday sought his ouster as state’s ambassador for the ‘Save Tiger project’ even as a BJP MLA objected to the ‘vilification campaign’ against the Bollywood megastar.

“Till Bachchan gets a clean chit in the Panama Papers case, he should be removed as tiger brand ambassador as well as from advisory panel on the development of part of the Bandra Kurla Complex as International Finance and Services Centre,” the Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said while raising the issue in Lower House.

Incidentally, Bachchan visited Mantralaya on Thursday to attend a meeting of the panel.

“It would be improper if Bachchan continues to occupy the two posts especially when his name has allegedly figured in the Panama Papers,” the opposition leader said.

The Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by corporate services provider Mossack Fonseca.

“Bachchan should be removed from the two posts till the inquiry launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard is complete,” the opposition leader said.

BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar objected to the ‘vilification campaign’ against a star of Bachchan’s repute.

Bachchan, whose name figured in the leaks as allegedly having links with offshore entities in two tax havens, had already denied any connection with those companies, saying his name may have been “misused”.

“I do not know any of the companies referred to by Indian Express – Sea Bulk Shipping Company Ltd, Lady Shipping Ltd, Treasure Shipping Ltd, and Tramp Shipping Ltd. I have never been a director of any of the above-stated companies. It is possible that my name has been misused,” he had stated after the Indian Express newspaper broke the story.

(Agencies)

Statements of witnesses in Malegaon blasts case go missing

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Malegaon

Mumbai: Confessional statements of some witnesses in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case are reported to be “missing” from the special MCOCA court here, prompting the authorities to mount a search for those.

The issue came to light earlier this week when staff of the special court approached former Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian to inquire about whether she had with her some of the confessional statements of witnesses in the case.

“I was surprised when such a query was made to me. The court staff asked whether I had confessional statements of six or seven crucial witnesses recorded before a magistrate.

“I conveyed that all documents had been handed over to the new Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal in presence of NIA officers and, in any case, the originals were in the court records only,” Salian said.

The witnesses whose statements have gone missing include those of a close aide of Ramji Kalsangra who had “confessed” before a magistrate about the criminal conspiracy hatched to plant explosives in Malegaon in Maharashtra.

Two low-intensity explosions in Malegaon on September 29, 2008, had left seven people dead. The Maharashtra police’s Anti Terrorist Squad, which investigated the case before it was handed over to CBI and later to NIA in 2011, arrested a dozen odd accused, including self-styled Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and serving Indian Army officer Lt Col Srikant Purohit.

Rasal, however, contended that the files were not missing and said, “They may have been misplaced and we are looking for them.

“You see, this case is being heard in various courts including Supreme Court of the country. There is a possibility that it could have been misplaced and it will be found,” he said.

If Worse comes to worst and the statements are not found, the NIA will take the permission of the court and lead the xerox copies of the same statements as “secondary evidence”.

Salian, however, contended that statements recorded under 164 are always primary evidence and the files going missing could have a bearing on the case.

(PTI)

BS Yeddyurappa is new president of Karnataka BJP

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Yeddyurappa

New Delhi: BS Yeddyurappa has been appointed as the new chief of the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while Keshav Prasad Maurya is the new party chief in UP.

Yeddyurappa is former chief minister of Karnataka and is currently the national vice president of the BJP.

Both Yeddyurappa and Maurya are Lok Sabha members.

The current president of Karnataka unit of BJP is Prahlad V. Joshi.

Yeddyurappa became the frontrunner to take up the post of the party’s Karnataka unit after the Supreme Court last year declined to intervene and revoke a Karnataka High Court order putting on hold his prosecution in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Yeddyurapa was forced to resign as chief minister in 2012 over corruption charges.

He later joined the party again in 2013 .

(Agencies)

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