Archives for June 2018

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hold an urgent hearing of a PIL seeking a direction to the Delhi High Court to expeditiously hear a plea for declaring the sit-in protest at Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal’s office by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others unconstitutional and illegal.

The vacation bench comprising of Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice Indu Malhotra said the matter would be heard on the opening day when court reopens after the summer break even as lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi, appearing for the PIL petitioner, told the court that there was a constitutional crisis and a vacuum, and the administration was paralysed.

Sudhi appeared for PIL petitioner and advocate Hari Nath Ram, who told the vacation bench that the matter was listed before the Delhi High Court on Monday (June 18) but was directed to be heard next on June 22.

Seeking a direction to the High Court to hear the matter urgently, Sudhi told the bench that politicians were not above the law and there was a threat to the rule of law.

He referred to earlier court pronouncements by which the strikes were held to be illegal.

The lawyer said before the High Court they have prayed that perjury proceedings be initiated against the Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister for making conflicting claims on the strike by the bureaucrats serving in the Delhi government.

Kejriwal along with Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Transport Minister Gopal Rai has been camping at the Raj Niwas, the official accommodation-cum-office of Lt. Governor Anil Baijal, since June 11.

Kejriwal has said he and his colleagues would not leave Baijal’s office until their demands, which include direction to IAS officers to end their “strike”, action against officers who have struck work for “four months” and approval to his government’s proposal for doorstep delivery of ration to the poor, were met.

During Monday’s hearing, the High Court had sought to know from the AAP government who has authorised Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues to hold a sit-in protest at the Lt. Governor’s office as it was not the place to hold a demonstration.

The bench had said the protesters cannot go inside someone’s office or house and go on strike and as such the strike cannot be held inside the Lt. Governor’s office.

The High Court has been hearing three separate petitions related to Kejriwal’s sit-in protest at the Lt. Governor’s office.

One petition was filed by Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly, Vijender Gupta seeking direction to Kejriwal to return to work.

Another petition was filed by Hari Nath Ram through his advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi seeking to declare the sit-in protest at the Lt. Governor’s office unconstitutional and illegal.

The third plea was filed by advocate Umesh Gupta who sought to end the alleged ‘informal strike’ by the IAS officers.

 
The leader of BJP Karnataka Backward Classes Morcha, B J Puttaswamy, resigned from his post, disappointed at his inability to secure party’s nomination to the post of the member of legislative council.

“I have the satisfaction of ably discharging responsibilities entrusted to me. I worked for the whole array of in backward classes without confining myself to a particular class. I effectively sorted out the Morcha and effectively held traditions. Notwithstanding when I was made the minister, I worked hard within a short time that was available to me. In any case, I fail to understand as per which yardstick I failed to get nominated to the post of MLC.  Not just me, even the people of the state have neglected to absorb this decision,” he expressed.

Puttaswamy said he is certainly not a dissent however his name has been added to this list. He demanded that he will never be in help of dissenters or dissatisfied leaders. “I don’t know why my part in dynamic politics was abruptly stopped amid the last period of my political life. I am grateful to everybody who has helped me till today. I have sent in my resignation to state BJP president, BS Yeddyurappa, with a request to acknowledge the same with quick effect. I never longed for selfish needs,” he expressed.

Even as the ruling BJP and its senior leaders have repeatedly attacked the Congress for leaving behind a legacy of “governance failure”, “policy paralysis” and “economy in shambles”, the Central government can no more use this as an excuse and will have to take ownership of not only its accomplishments but also its failures from now on, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said.

He said while it was necessary to look at the last four years of the Narendra Modi government in the context of the legacy it inherited from the UPA regime in 2014, the economy has now overcome those issues and henceforth, the government should be judged on its own merit.

“Now the economy has come out of those inheritance issues. No more should they be used as an excuse for anything. Whatever happens now is the government’s own (doing) completely,” Kumar told IANS in an interview.

“After all the government has done so much despite all of it (legacy issues). It took huge structural reforms like demonetization, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Benami Act, RERA and recapitalization of banks to overcome those legacy issues. I think we have finally overcome those and henceforth, the government should be judged on its own merit,” he added.

Kumar’s remarks hold significance since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Arun Jaitley, have repeatedly ripped into the Congress for leaving behind an “economy in a shambles” which the government was still bringing on track.

Be it the crisis relating to non-performing assets, the Nirav Modi-linked PNB scam, the sorry state of the banking sector, the slow GDP growth rate, the fiscal deficit situation and even the rising oil prices, the BJP leaders have used every opportunity to blame it all on the legacy it inherited from the erstwhile UPA government.

Even the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman has often talked about the legacy inherited by the current government and how it has affected its performance.

“For a government which had inherited the most terrible economic situation and inherited a situation where there was a complete paralysis in governance and decision making, and also a situation where world economy was also not very good… given the legacy, given the world economy and given the breakdown of governance, I think this government has done very well,” Kumar said.

He added that when the BJP took over in 2014, the inflation had crossed the 9 percent mark and growth rate had slumped to below six percent.

“What (then Finance Minister P.) Chidambaram had done was to allow the fiscal deficit to run from 2.8 at one time to as far as 6.4 percent. From there to come to a situation where we have now achieved a growth rate of 6.7 percent last year and 7.7 percent in the last quarter with inflation at 3.8 percent, I think that’s just remarkable,” he said.

The fiscal deficit for 2017-18 was 3.5 percent and the government has set the target of bringing it down to 3.3 percent in the current fiscal.

The noted economist added the economy was much more balanced than it was before and had been pulled out of a crisis — a “crisis of complete private sector investment having been stopped because of the NPAs and the twin-balance sheet” problem.

“Not only has this government maintained the macroeconomic balance and brought back growth on its track but along with it, it has made the economy far more cleaner and much more formalized, while also doing a lot to improve inclusion,” he said.

Asked if there are any areas where the government could have performed better, Kumar responded: “One clear role which the government has recognized is farmer’s income. I think this focus has now been brought into the budget. The agriculture sector remains a backward sector and it requires a lot of reforms.”

He added that performance in the export sector was a cause of concern while the water sector, which was turning into a crisis situation, was another area which needed attention along with the quality of education.

“These are chronic issues. They take time to be figured out. But the credit should be given to the government that they have recognized these problems and is not trying to hide them or brush them under the carpet. Also they are trying new approaches to improve the performance like ranking states on education quality, water conservation, health,” Kumar said.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is stuck in an unfortunate situation after a court coordinated to enroll criminal case and an FIR against him and four others over a 25-year-old land case here on Monday June 18.

Mysuru second additional district and sessions court on Monday ordered to record FIR against Siddaramaiah and others for professedly possessing a land illegally amid his tenure as deputy Chief Minister.

The complaint was documented 25 years ago by a promoter named N Gangaraju in which he expressed that Siddaramaiah, former chairman of Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) V Basabegowda, MUDA chairman D Dhruvakumar and MUDA commissioner P S Kantharaju had snatched a land illegally.

The complainant asserted that the MUDA had procured 535 acres of land under Hinkal gram panchayat limits, to build up a layout in Vijayanagar II stage in 1988. In 1997, after finishing of site appropriation, the then gram panchayat president Papanna, his relatives Sakamma, Annaiah and Sunanda had connected to the MUDA to denotify 30 guntas of land having a place with them and MUDA had denotified the land. Siddaramaiah who was deputy chief minister at that point had obtained 10 guntas having a place with Sakamma and built a house on the site estimating 120 X 75 sqft.

Basavegowda who was filling in as MUDA chairman issued a no objection certificate (NOC) and endorsed the house plan. The house was sold by Siddaramaiah in 2013. In December 2017, Sakkamma again applied to MUDA to endorse a 60 X 40 site to her, as a beneficiary had built his home on a part of her 30 guntas land. MUDA had affirmed a site illegally thus the court guided police to record case against Dhruvakumar and Commissioner Kantharaju.

At the point when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minisetr, the complainants Gangaraju and Sangamesh had looked for the minister’s approval to make a move. But, the governor denied permission to record an FIR against the former Chief Minister.

The court has ordered to record an FIR under IPC areas 120B, 197, 166, 167, 169, 200, 417, 409, 420 and 468 at Laxmipuram police station.