New Delhi, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the INX Media money laundering case.

ED officials grilled the former Union Minister on several issues, including Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media in 2007, soon after he arrived at the agency’s office around 11 a.m.

The agency had issued summons to Chidambaram in November asking him to appear before it for the ED to record his statement.

The Delhi High Court had given Chidambaram interim protection from arrest in the case till October 25.

The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were also probing how the UPA minister’s son Karti Chidambaram managed to get the FIPB clearance.

The junior Chidambaram was arrested on February 28 by the CBI for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media when his father was part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. He was later granted bail.

The son’s Chartered Accountant S. Bhaskararaman was also arrested later granted bail.

The ED probe so far showed that for the FIPB approval, INX Media’s Peter and Indrani Mukerjea met P. Chidambaram, so that there was no hold-up or delay in their application.

“P. Chidambaram asked for his son’s business interests to be kept in mind. The ED identified payments of Rs 3.09 crore by Peter Mukerjea to ASCPL and associated entities controlled by Karti P. Chidambaram through manipulated debit notes. 

“During the investigation, it was admitted that debit notes were raised on the directions of Karti to show some transactions which in fact did not occur,” the agency has alleged.

The ED has said that the money so received by associated entities was channelled back into the ASCPL.

The ED has attached properties worth Rs 54 crore belonging to Karti Chidambaram and a firm in connection with the case. The ED has also attached properties belonging to the Mukerjeas in connection with the same case.

 The Delhi High Court on Friday set aside a Central Government order restraining private companies from manufacturing and selling oxytocin drug.

A Bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A.K. Chawla observed that the order was “unreasonable and arbitrary” and did not seem to be based on any scientific study.

The court also observed that oxytocin was an essential life saving drug.

The court heard the pleas of Mylan Laboratories’ subsidiary BGP Products Operations GmbH, Neon Laboratories and the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), an NGO, challenging the government decision.

Earlier this year, the government had restricted the manufacture of oxytocin formulations for domestic use to public sector only. The State-run Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL) was solely allowed to produce the drug for domestic use.

The decision taken under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 is aimed at checking the misuse of oxytocin, a reproductive hormone found in mammals that increases the contraction of the uterus during labour and stimulates ejection of milk into the ducts of the breasts.

IANS

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ response on a petition seeking his disqualification for allegedly not disclosing in his 2014 election affidavit the two cases that were then pending against him then.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph issued notice to Fadnavis on a petition by a lawyer Satish Ukey, contending the Maharashtra Chief Minister had held back information on two cases of alleged cheating and defamation that were pending against him in 2014.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Ukey, told the court Fadnavis did not disclose two cases that were pending against him, which as per the law, he had to disclose as a court had taken cognisance of them.

Ukey has moved the top court against Bombay High Court order rejecting his plea challenging the election of Fadnavis to Maharashtra Assembly for not disclosing the cases.

 The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Friday its verdict on four petitions seeking court-monitored probe into the deal for acquiring 36 Rafale fighter jets in a ready-to-fly condition from French company Dassault Aviation.

The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph had reserved the verdict on November 14.

The Centre had defended the deal to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets in a ready-to-fly condition while it admitted that there was “no sovereign guarantee from France (government), but there is a letter of comfort…”

The petitioner counsel Prashant Bhushan and former Union Minister Arun Shourie had questioned the circumventing of the procedure for aborting the earlier process for procuring 126 (18 in a ready-to-fly condition and 108 to be manufactured by HAL) fighter jets in favour of procuring 36 aircraft in ready-to-fly condition and unloading HAL as an offset partner.

The four petitions seeking probe into the deal were filed by Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, advocates M.L.Sharma and Vineet Dhanda, and AAP lawmaker in Parliament Sanjay Singh.

All the petitioners had broadly assailed the pricing of 36 fighter aircraft and the induction of an offset partner replacing the HAL.

The Centre had defended the deal on the grounds of “urgent requirement” of national security and had justified the scrapping of the earlier deal for 126 aircraft as it was taking long to reach conclusion.

IANS

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 The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Thursday after two brief adjournments during Question Hour amid unrelenting protests by the opposition, which raised the Rafale deal among other issues, while NDA ally Shiv Sena demanded an ordinance to pave the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya at the earliest.

Soon after the House resumed its proceedings at noon following two adjournments, Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Shiv Sena members raised slogans in support of their demands and came near the Speaker’s podium.

The Congress members were keen on a discussion on the Rafale fighter jet deal under rules that entail voting; DMK raised the Cauvery water distribution issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and TDP members sought special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed the Shiv Sena members to raise their issue during zero hour.

Shiv Sena’s Anand Rao Adsul demanded that the government bring an ordinance before the next general elections for the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Adsul also reminded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of its promise on the construction of the Ram temple made in its 2014 election manifesto.

“The government should take initiative to bring an ordinance and pave the way for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya before the next general elections,” Adsul said.

He said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not take the initiative for the construction of the temple as he was running a coalition government of 25 political parties.

“But here is a government which has absolute majority. They had mentioned it in their manifesto, too.

“Four-and-a-half years of this government has already passed but nothing has happened. Our alliance with the BJP is based on Hindutva but it seems the BJP has forgotten it,” he said.

Adsul also said the results of the five state assembly elections were an indication and the government should get the message.

TDP member Venkateshwara Rao sought to put a poster over the mike installed near the Speaker’s podium but was reprimanded by the Speaker who said she will be forced to name him. Once a member is named, he or she has to leave the House.

As soon as Adsul concluded his speech, Mahajan adjourned the House for the day as sloganeering continued.

Shiv Sena members had also protested in the Parliament complex in support of their demand.

BJP MP B.Y. Raghavendra, who won the by-poll from Shimoga, earlier took oath as a new member of the House.

IANS

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 12 December, imposed a ban on the online sale of medicines by e-pharmacists across India, T

The order was passed after a PIL was filed by Delhi-based dermatologist Zaheer Ahmed. The PIL said that lakhs of medicines were being sold online everyday without proper regulations.

The PIL also highlighted that online sale of medicines is not allowed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Pharmacy Act, 1948.

According to the PIL, three years ago in 2015 the Drug Controller General of India had directed all state drug controllers to restrain online sale without prescription media reported.

The PIL also trained guns at the government saying it failed in its responsibility to protect public health which is its Constitutional obligation under Article 21.

The plea also said unregulated sale of medicines online will lead to substandard drugs being sold, some of which have psychotrphic substances that can be misused for criminal activities.

The order passed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao directed the centre and the Delhi government to immediately implement it.

News Agencies

The Union Home Department has rejected the request made by Karnataka government for use of Kannada language in the High Court said Law and Parliamentary affairs minister Krishna Byregowda on Tuesday, December 11.

Krishna Byregowda further added that not only Karnataka but other states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu had also made a similar request for using local languages in the High Courts but the union government had rejected all such proposals.

An ordinance to this effect had been passed by the Karnataka government, but even the High Court circuit bench in Karnataka had opined that it was not workable, the minister added.

High Court sessions and verdicts routinely come up before the Supreme Court and other courts in the states and if regional languages are used it becomes difficult to carry out court proceedings. Hence it cannot be allowed stated the union government.

PTI

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  The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended till December 31 the deadline for filing claims and objection by around 40 lakh people who were left out of Assam’s draft National Register of Citizens (NRC)

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said that issuance of notice to those who filed claims and objections will commence on February 1, 2019, and the verification would done from February 15.

Earlier, the deadline was December 15, while issuance of notice was to start on January 15, 2019, and the verification process on February 1.

The court changed the deadline on an application by the Assam government which had sought one month extension for filing claims and objections.

IANS

 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi Police to file its response to a petition by a convict in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, challenging the capital punishment awarded to him.

The court was hearing Yashpal Singh’s plea against the conviction and the death penalty for killing a man in South Delhi’s Mahipalpur area on November 1, 1984.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, which has listed the matter for further hearing on December 19, has also asked Singh to file his response to the police reference seeking confirmation of the death sentence.

The court will also hear Singh’s bail plea on the next date of hearing.

In November, a court convicted Singh and Naresh Sherawat for murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapons.

Sherawat was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The two had killed Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh in Mahipalpur area during the riots that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The violence claimed hundreds of lives, mostly in Delhi.

On a complaint by the victim’s brother Santokh Singh, the police lodged a case. But in 1994, the police wanted to close the case citing lack of evidence.

The case was reopened by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

IANS

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the identity of rape victims has to be protected at all stages of the case including during trial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) reports and other documents related to such cases would be handed over to the trial court in a sealed cover without disclosing the identity of the victims.

Speaking for the bench, Justice Gupta advised the media to avoid sensationalising rape cases for the purpose of increasing the TRP and ordered that identity of minor rape victims cannot be disclosed even by their families.

The court verdict came on a PIL by advocate Nipun Saxena who had moved the court seeking steps for the safety of women in public places.  The petition was filed in the aftermath of the 16 December, 2012, Delhi gangrape case.  “The media has not only the right but also duty to report” the cases of sexual assault but “should refrain from interviewing the victim”, it said.

PTI