In a successful exercise designed to avoid judicial delays, Delhi’s electricity distribution company (discom) BSES has settled a large number of power theft cases with a value of around Rs 39 crore through special Lok Adalats, it announced on Monday.

The computerised Lok Adalats organised over the weekend as a paperless process by BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and its sister discom in the capital, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL), settled around 4,000 cases, according to a BSES release.

The special courts on December 9-10 were organised by the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and BSES at three premises – the District Courts at Karkardooma, Saket, and Dwarka.

“The last over 20 Special Lok Adalats, including the ones held over the weekend, have resolved around 34,000 cases with a value of around Rs 270 crore getting settled on the spot,” it said.

BSES said the special courts provided customers in east, central, south and west Delhi a one-time opportunity for an amicable and on-the-spot settlement of cases relating to direct theft and meter tampering.

“Besides being an unprecedented hit, the Lok Adalats are also a great leveller. People from various walks of society made a beeline. From flashy cars to cycles – consumers arrived at the venues in every conceivable means of transport,” a BSES spokesperson said.

Cases that are either pending in any court of law, or are yet to be filed in any such court, were taken up by the Lok Adalats, he added.

Besides, these Lok Adalats were an environment-friendly affair.

“BSES and DSLSA took special care to make the Lok Adalats paperless and managed to save over 30,000 A4 size sheets,” the statement said.

All case documents and files were accessible from computers deployed at the 32 courts set up for the purpose, it added.

BSES also said that customers were given sufficient time to pay up in all the settled cases.

“In fact, BSES has adopted a very humane approach in this regard. The exercise was a win-win for everybody. For the customers, it meant an opportunity to amicably settle their cases. For an over-worked judiciary, it meant some burden off their courts. For BSES, it meant more people coming into the billing net,” it said.

IANS

Agusta middleman extradited to India, CBI takes custody

 British national Christian Michel James, the middleman wanted in Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, was extrdited to India on Tuesday night from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was taken straight to the CBI headquarters from the airport here.

The extradition comes as a major boost to the Indian agencies investigating the bribery angle in the contract.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took James, 57, under its custody as soon as he arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here around 11 p.m in a special aircraft, accompanied by a team of CBI, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Ministry of External Affairs officials.

Once the immigration process was over at the airport, James went through a medical examination in the presence of customs and other officials.

Subsequently, he was escorted by a Delhi Police team to the CBI headquarters in south Delhi’s Lodhi Road area for interrogation over his alleged role in the purchase of 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland.

James would be confronted with documents recovered during raids by the Swiss authorities and shared with the CBI through Letters Rogatory (LRs) — documents used for making request through a foreign court to obtain information from specified person/s within the jurisdiction of that court — indicating the bribes paid by James to the Indian authorities for securing the contract for the supply of VVIP helicopters.

James, who had been avoiding criminal proceedings in India, is likely to be presented at a special CBI court in Delhi’s Patiala House court on Wednesday afternoon.

The central probe agency in a press note said the entire extradition operation was conducted under the guidance of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, with the coordination of interim CBI Director M. Nageswara Rao.

A team led by Joint CBI Director A. Sai Manohar was in Dubai during the extradition process, the note said.

The action comes after the Court of Cassation in the UAE in November upheld a lower court order which said that Michel could be extradited to India.

According to the report, James was kept under detention at the Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), as per the Indian government’s request. The extradition was undertaken in coordination with the Interpol and the Dubai CID.

James is one of the three middlemen being probed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged scam.

In January, the ED had lodged a request with the UAE authorities for extraditing James. Both ED and CBI had filed chargesheets in bribery cases in Indian courts and non-bailable warrants had been issued against the accused.

Last year, a Red Corner Notice (RCN) was issued against James by the Interpol on a request by the CBI. RCNs were also issued against two Italians — Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke — for their role in the case.

According to the Indian investigative agencies, James had received at least Rs 235 crore for ensuring that the chopper contract went to AgustaWestland. He was a frequent visitor to India, having undertaken 300 trips to this country between 1997 and 2013.

Earlier, the ED officials had said that bribes to James were paid through a web of companies located abroad and in India on the pretext of payment for consultancy work. James also used his Dubai-based firm Global Services FZE as a conduit for receiving money.

A CBI chargesheet in the case also named four Indians — former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie, then Vice Chief of the Air Staff J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan.

The chargesheet mentioned Khaitan as the “brain” behind the deal.

Others named in the chargesheet included Giuseppe Orsi, the former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen James, Haschke and Gerosa.

On January 1, 2014, India cancelled the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying the VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and on charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore.

The CBI, which registered an FIR in the case on March 12, 2013, had alleged that Tyagi and other accused received kickbacks from AgustaWestland to help it win the contract.

IANS

The Supreme Court was Tuesday informed that there were 4,122 criminal cases pending, some for over three decades, against present and former members of Parliament and legislative assemblies.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will Tuesday take up the issue relating to the criminal cases against the present and former legislators on a Public Interest Litigation.

The apex court had sought detailed data on the pending criminal cases against the present and former legislators from the state and various high courts so as to enable the setting up of an adequate number of special courts for expedited trial in these cases.

Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter along with advocate Sneha Kalita filed the data received from states and high courts and submitted it to the apex court.

The data compiled stated that in 264 cases, the trial has been stayed by high courts.

Further, the report said in several cases which have been pending since 1991, charges have not yet been framed.

The court will hear the PIL filed by lawyer and BJP leader Aswhini Upadhyay seeking a lifetime ban on politicians convicted in criminal cases besides setting up of special courts to expeditiously try such cases involving elected representatives.

PTI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its nod to a two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the former Delhi High Court Judge S.N. Dhingra to probe 186 anti-Sikh riot cases that had been declared closed.

The other member of the SIT is Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Abhishek Dular.

A bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur approved the two member Committee modifying the top court’s January 11 order after former IPS officer Rajdeep Singh expressed personal difficulties about being on the SIT.

Earlier, a three member SIT comprising Justice Dhingra, and two IPS officers — one serving Dular and the other Singh was set up.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra (since retired), Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had set-up that three member SIT.

The SIT was set up after a report by a supervisory committee said that of the 241 cases closed by an earlier SIT, 186 were closed without “further probe”.

These 241 cases were scrutinised by the Supervisory Committee comprising former Supreme Court Justices J.M. Panchal and K.S. Radhakrishnan.

Rampaging mobs had killed around 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere across India in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by two of her Sikh security guards on October 31, 1984, in the national capital.

The official figures of Sikhs killed was around 2,800. The top court, by its order of September 1, 2017, had set up the supervisory panel to examine the justification for closure of the anti-Sikh riot cases probed by the earlier SIT.

The Committee was given three months to examine the closed cases and submit its report. The earlier SIT had examined 293 cases.

Of the 241 cases, 55 were closed and no further investigation took place in 186 others.

The court’s order to set up the new SIT came on a petition by Gurlad Singh Kahlon, a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

Kahlon had contended that the SIT set up in February 2015 to investigate the cases closed earlier for lack of sufficient evidence had utterly failed in carrying out the probe.

IANS

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has reacted to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statements.  On Imran Khan’s statement that if France and Germany can stay together why not India and Pakistan, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that for Pakistan to stay together with India, it will first have to become a secular state. He said, ” Pakistan has made its state an Islamic State. If they have to stay together with India, then they’ve to develop as a secular state. We are a secular state. If they’re willing to become secular like us, then they seem to have an opportunity.”
General Rawat made the statement while interacting with the media on the sidelines of the Passing Out Parade of 135th course of National Defence Academy in Pune, which he reviewed on Friday morning.
“They’re (Pak) saying you take one step, we’ll take 2. There is a contradiction in what they’re saying. 1 step from there should come in a positive manner,we’ll see if the step has an effect on the ground. Till then our nation has a clear policy- terror and talks can’t go together,” stated the General as a matter of fact.

 The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed over the investigation into all the 17 cases of sexual abuse and exploitation of children at shelter homes in Bihar to the CBI.

Handing over the investigation, the court said: “If the state government had done its job properly, the cases may not have gone to the CBI.”

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Deepak Gupta directed the Bihar government to provide all the manpower, resources and logistical support to the Central Bureau of Investigation even as counsel for the state government made a last ditch bid to keep the investigation with the Bihar Police.

Permitting the CBI to expand its existing team of investigators that was already probed the Muzaffarpur horror, the court said that none of the member of the investigating team would be withdrawn without the permission of the court.

IANS

Two militants were killed and three soldiers injured in a gunfight on Wednesday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Badgam district, police said.

Security forces had started a cordon and search operation in Kuthpora village after receiving specific information about militant presence.

As the search party was closing on the hiding militants they fired triggering an encounter. The identity of the slain militants were yet to be ascertained, a police officer said.

Authorities have suspended mobile Internet services in Badgam and Pulwama districts.

 A majority of the population is still unaware of the Good Samaritan Law which provides legal protection to bystanders who come to the aid of road accident victims, a national survey revealed on Monday.

SaveLIFE, a non-profit organisation, said 84 per cent are still unaware about their new rights even after two years of the Supreme Court judgement bringing into force the Good Samaritan Law.

The survey also revealed that though there has been an increase in the general willingness to help the victims, from 26 per cent in 2013 to 88 per cent in 2018, “in terms of concrete actions, the willingness to help the victims is still low”.

“Out of the respondents willing to help, only 29 per cent were willing to escort the victim to a hospital, 28 per cent were willing to call an ambulance and only 12 per cent said they would call the police,” the report by SaveLIFE said.

The study was conducted by MDRA across 11 cities — Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Varanasi, Ludhiana, Bengaluru Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Indore and Kolkata. The sample size included 3,667 respondents including from the police, hospital administration, medical practitioners and trial court lawyers.

The survey also found that in total violation of the Supreme Court judgement, none of the hospitals surveyed had displayed a good Samaritan charter at their entrance, enumerating the rights of the people who bring or accompany the injured to the hospital.

“State and Central governments, Transport Ministry and hospitals need to create awareness about the law. Hospitals should put stickers on their entrance and schools should teach children about the law,” said Ajai Chowdhry, a recipient of Padma Bhushan and the HCL founder.

The report revealed that 96 per cent of the surveyed medical professionals admitted to not having a Good Samaritan law committee in their hospitals and 64 per cent of the surveyed police personnel admitted that they still take personal details of the Good Samaritan.

Commenting on the research report, Piyush Tewari, Foundation of the Good Samaritan Law citizens and CEO, SaveLIFE Foundation said, “It is quite evident from the study that even two years after the institution of the Good Samaritan Law, citizens are unaware of their new rights. So, people are still hesitant to help. Moreover, implementation of the SC judgement, even at the official level, has been remarkably low.”

Tewari suggested that the need of the hour is for states to translate the SC judgment into a State Good Samaritan Law.

IANS

A writ petition has been filed in Karnataka High court against the state government decision to conduct Ambareesh’s funeral at Kanteerava studio.

The petitioner, RLN Murthy, a high court lawyer himself has also written a letter to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and Governor of state in this regards.

Murthy in his letter contended that Kanteerava studio is meant for shooting films and not for performing funeral of the actors.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy had earlier said that the last rites of Ambareesh would be held beside Dr. Raj Kumar memorial at the Kanteerava Studio and the government would develop a memorial for Ambareesh.

PTI