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Key posts vacant as government wants to 'grab' land from common people: Rahul Gandhi

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Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Stepping up his attack on the Modi government, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today questioned why it was keeping the posts of RTI commissioner, Lokpal and Chief Vigilance Commissioner vacant.

Gandhi also reiterated his “suit-boot” barb, saying the government kept the posts vacant as it wanted to “grab” land from common people on behest of its “industrialist friends”.

“Our government fought for transparency. The appointments to the post of RTI commissioner, Lokpal and CVC are not being done by the government and the posts are lying vacant.

“That’s because the ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ wants to grab land from the people on the behest of its few industrialist friends and give entire power to them,” he told reporters outside the Parliament.

His attack came on a day Congress President Sonia Gandhi accused the government of making a “blatant U-turn” on the issue of transparency and charged it with “deliberately” keeping the posts of Chief Information Commissioner, CVC and Lokpal vacant.

“Information delayed is information denied. This is simply not acceptable. Protecting wrongdoers cannot be part of any government ethos,” she said, recalling Modi’s promises of transparency and good governance.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: Lokayukta files FIRs against Yeddyurappa, Kumaraswamy

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This Nov. 2007 photo shows Kumaraswamy and Yeddyurappa coming out of Raj Bhavan after meeting the then Governor Rameshwar Thakur. File Photo: Bhagya Prakash K, The Hindu

This Nov. 2007 photo shows Kumaraswamy and Yeddyurappa coming out of Raj Bhavan after meeting the then Governor Rameshwar Thakur. File Photo: Bhagya Prakash K, The Hindu

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Lokayukta Police has filed FIRs against former Chief Ministers B S Yeddyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy in a land denotificaton case, charging them under the Prevention of Corruption Act and several IPC provisions, including criminal conspiracy and cheating.

Both leaders have been accused of denotifying land at Matadahalli Layout in R T Nagar here, with Vimala, the mother-in-law of Kumaraswamy, and her son T S Channappa, also being named in the FIRs, Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang said here.

Sections 13 (i) (c) and (d) and 13 (ii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, pertaining to criminal misconduct by public servants have been invoked against Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy, Narang said.

Denotification is a process of returning government land acquired for a project to private parties.

The process gathered pace after Kumaraswamy put up the files, and the land was denotified by Yeddyurappa as Chief Minister in 2010, social activist Jayayakumar Hiremath, who is the complainant, charged.

JDS leader Kumaraswamy, predecessor to Yeddyurappa, had headed a BJP-JDS coalition government.

Yeddyurappa had denotified one acre and 11 guntas (1/40th of an acre) of land, which was originally owned by Thimmareddy, Nagappa and Muniswamappa, Hiremath charged.

He also alleged that Bangalore Development Authority had acquired the land for forming a layout Mathadahalli for which it issued the preliminary notification in 1976.

The land was taken into possession in 1988 after final notification and compensation paid to land losers subsequently, Hiremath said.

Besides these, charges under Sections 401 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect), 420 (cheating), and 120 B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code have also been slapped against them.

(PTI)

I still watch Salman Khan’s movies; No benefit for me if he is punished, says victim

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abdullah-rauf-shaikh

Mumbai: “Compensation matters more than conviction,” say the victims of the 2002 hit-and-run case in which Bollywood star Salman Khan has been sentenced to five years in jail.

Abdullah Rauf Shaikh, who lost a leg in the accident, said, “Nobody came to visit me in the last 13 years. I am forced to do petty jobs to support my family and face a lot of problems.” “However, I have no hard feelings for him (Salman).

I still watch his movies,” he said, adding they were not pressurised by anyone. “Compensation matters more than conviction, my health and work suffered,” Shaikh said.

“If Salman is punished, I will not be benefited in any way as neither my leg will heal nor my problems would go away. Instead if they compensate us then we do not have any problem,” he said, recalling that he was 22 years old when he lost his leg in the incident.

The wife of Nurullah Mehboob Sharif, who died in the accident, said, “We were told we will get a compensation of Rs 10 lakh, but what will we do of that amount at this time of inflation.” She said that she would be benefited if her son gets a job.

(PTI)

SC orders Bengaluru civic body polls in three months

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BBMP-BUILDING

Bengaluru: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Karnataka government to conduct elections to the Bengaluru civic body within three months.

Setting aside the Karnataka High Court’s April 24 ruling, which ordered that the civic polls be held in six months (by October), the apex court told the state election commission to conduct elections in 198 civic wards across the city by July 18, as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was superseded on April 18, four days before its five-year term was to lapse.

The top court’s ruling came on a bunch of petitions filed by the state election commission, NGO Namma Bengaluru Foundation, two former BJP corporators C.K. Ramamurthy and B. Somashekar and Rajya Sabha independent member Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

“The state government was using both its trifurcation proposal and dissolution of the civic body as a brazen excuse to delay the elections by six months,” Chandrasekhar said in a statement in Bengaluru.

The legislative assembly on April 20 passed by voice vote a bill to amend the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 2015 to bifurcate or trifurcate the BBMP.

Terming the apex court order a victory for democracy and the nine million denizens of Bengaluru, Chandrasekhar said the state government’s attempt to split the BBMP and delay its polls was against the constitutional provision of Article 243-U that mandates urban local bodies to conduct elections every five years.

The state government also assured the apex court of not splitting the BBMP till elections were held in the next three months.

The amended bill was, however, referred to a select committee of the state legislative council (upper house) by its chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy on April 27 as demanded by the opposition BJP and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) members.

The BBMP was expanded in 2007 by including seven city municipal councils and one town municipal council and 111 surrounding villages to increase civic wards to 198 from 100 earlier.

(With inputs from IANS)

Karnataka to hold two-phase panchayat polls

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Karnataka-poll

Bengaluru: Election to 5,844 rural local bodies (gram panchayats) will be held in two phases on May 29 and June 1 in Karnataka, an official said on Wednesday.

“As new rural local bodies have to be constituted following the expiry of their previous five-year tenure, polling will be held on May 29 and June 1 in 15 districts,” state election commission chief P.N. Srinivasachari told IANS.

Counting of votes for both phases will take place on June 5.

Ahead of notification for the first phase, the model code of conduct will come into force from May 10 and prevail till June 7 in all villages, taluks (sub-districts) and zilla (districts) including urban local bodies.

“Though the government has made voting in the local body poll compulsory by amending the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, the offenders will not be penalised,” Srinivasachari said.

As the rural local body election is held on a non-party basis, 28 million voters will be eligible to elect 94,458 members. Half the seats are reserved for women.

“Polling, however, will not be held in 229 local bodies as their tenure is up to August,” Srinivasachari added.

On a pilot basis, the poll panel will use electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time in the rural local bodies across Bidar district, about 690 km from here.

(IANS)

Salman Khan gets two days interim bail

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salman-khan

Mumbai: Supreme Court lawyer Harish Salve, who represented Salman, challenged the sessions court order of a five year sentence, in the High Court. “Have received only operative part of the order. You cannot put someone in jail without a proper court order,” Salve argues.

Bombay High has now granted a 2-day interim bail to Salman.

Salve argued that a convict cannot be put in jail without a proper order. Salve argued his client has not got the complete order yet. He argued that Salman had received only the operative part of the order.

This means Salman Khan can stay out of jail till Friday, May 8, which is also when the Bombay High Court goes on vacation.

Huge relief for Salman Khan, his family and friends. Salman is still at the sessions court. His sisters Alvira and Arpita are at the Bombay High Court.

Salman Khan gets 5-year rigorous imprisonment in hit-and-run case

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salman-khan-mumbai-court

Mumbai: Salman Khan was today sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment by a Mumbai sessions court, which convicted him of culpable homicide in the 2002 hit-and-run case, dealing a big blow to the Bollywood superstar.

Judge D W Deshpande, who held the 49-year-old actor guilty of “all charges”, including driving under influence of liquor and not possessing a driving licence, pronounced the sentence after a 45-minute adjournment of the proceedings.

A big crowd, mostly of Salman’s fans, thronged around the court located in Fort area of south Mumbai.

The actor, who had fought back tears after being convicted, looked calm and composed as the judgement was read out to him in the presence of his close family members.

The superstar’s brothers Arbaaz and Sohail and sister Arpita were present in the court on the judgement day, which came after a long drawn legal process.

Dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans, the actor arrived in the jam-packed courtroom minutes before the proceedings began in the morning.

Sessions court judge D W Deshpande ruled “all charges” against the actor have been proved, including the stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, besides various other offences, including rash and negligent driving and driving under influence of liquor.

The judge held that the actor also did not have a driving licence. The prosecution had alleged that Khan was driving without holding a licence and, to buttress its charge, produced RTO records to show that the actor had procured a licence only in 2004, two years after the tragedy.

The court, while pronouncing the judgement, drew parallels with the Alistair Pereira and Sanjeev Nanda BMW cases.
Asked if he had to say anything about the verdict, Salman denied the charge that he was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Salman had earlier been tried for the lesser offence of causing death by rash and negligent driving which attracts a lighter punishment of imprisonment upto two years.

After examining several witnesses, a Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate had called off the trial midway in 2012 and slapped the serious charge of culpable homicide against the actor before committing the matter to the sessions court.

The court, while convicting the hugely popular actor, upheld the prosecution’s contention that he was at the wheel when his Toyota Land Cruiser ran over five people sleeping on the pavement outside American Express bakery in suburban Bandra, killing one person and wounding four.

(PTI)

Greenpeace says it may shut India operations in a month

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Greenpeace says the government restrictions are an "attempt to silence criticism"

Greenpeace says the government restrictions are an “attempt to silence criticism”

The environmental group Greenpeace has said it may be forced to shut down in India in a month because the government has frozen its bank accounts.

The pressure group said it had only about 30 days’ worth of funds with which to pay office costs and salaries.

India blocked the group’s accounts last month, accusing it of violating tax laws and working against its economic interests.

Greenpeace says the restrictions are an “attempt to silence criticism”.

The group, which says it is being targeted because of its campaigns on issues such as pollution and harmful pesticides, is preparing a legal challenge.

“We have one month left to save Greenpeace India from complete shutdown, and to fight MHA’s [ministry of home affairs] indefensible decision to block our domestic accounts,” Greenpeace India official Samit Aich said in a press release on Tuesday.

The group has been present in India for 14 years and employs 340 people.

An official in India’s home ministry told the BBC they had not seen the Greenpeace release and hence could not comment on it.

In April, while freezing its bank accounts for six months, the government accused Greenpeace of not fully declaring the amount of foreign funds it brings into the country.

Greenpeace India rejected the charge – it said it had complied with the law governing foreign contributions.

In a long-running dispute India has accused the environmental group of “stalling development projects” by protesting against large infrastructure plans.

Since coming to power in May last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pushed through a series of long-awaited reforms and new policies making it easier for companies to win approval for new projects.

Greenpeace activists have accused him of watering down environmental rules after the government allowed industries to operate closer to protected green zones.

(BBC)

'Modi govt unaware of Dawood Ibrahim's whereabouts'

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Dawood Ibrahim

New Delhi: The central government is unaware of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s whereabouts, the Home Ministry has stated.

Ever since Narendra Modi became the prime minister, reports have been emerging that the BJP government at the Centre is trying its level best to locate Dawood and bring him to justice.

Dawood Ibrahim is an underworld don who is also the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts. On March 12, 1993, serial bomb blasts rocked the western metropolis at various places, killing more than 250 and injuring over 700.

Last year a media report had said that the underworld don had changed his location and shifted his base to the Af-Pak border.

The report stated that Dawood was apprehensive of Modis intention and feared a commando style operation, similar to the US raid in Abbottabad, which killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Fearing this, the underworld don had changed his base and asked Pakistans ISI to enhance his security.

D-company is a reference to Dawood Ibrahim. D Company is involved in a variety of criminal activities, including narcotics trafficking, extortion, smuggling, and contract killings.

Dawood Ibrahim and other leaders of D Company are the subjects of Interpol Red Notices for their suspected involvement in the 1993 terrorist bombings in Mumbai, India in which 257 people were killed.

In October 2003, the US Treasury Department named Dawood Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and in June 2006, the United States named both Dawood Ibrahim and D Company as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act.

Additionally, in May 2012, Treasury designated two senior D Company lieutenants, Chhota Shakeel and Ibrahim ‘Tiger’ Memon, under the Kingpin Act.

(PTI)

Nitin Gadkari says he uses his urine to grow his plants faster

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Nitin Gadkari's ‘gardening tip’ has fuelled a frenzy of jokes and comments on Social Media, icluding this from the ever-humorous 'SusuSwamy' Facebook page.

Nitin Gadkari’s ‘gardening tip’ has fuelled a frenzy of jokes and comments on Social Media, including this picture, from the ever-humorous ‘SusuSwamy’ Facebook page.

New Delhi: Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that he uses his urine to grow his plants faster, a revelation that may not impress his neighbours, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

In a video uploaded on YouTube, Gadkari is heard revealing that he once used his own urine on plants in his lawns at his 2, Motilal Nehru Marg residence, a bungalow that used to be the office of the former National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi and is just across the road from her 10, Janpath home.

Gadkari was at a workshop organized by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on tackling drought.

“I collected my urine in a small plastic can. And after collecting all of it in a 50-litre can – I have a big bungalow in Delhi. It used to be Madam Sonia Gandhi’s bungalow. I have some one acre of farming land in my compound in the bungalow,” he said.

“I am just telling you about urine, I’m not going any further than that. This is manure. You keep a 50-litre can in your house. You can try this out. This has urea and nitrogen. And, if you water an orange tree with this, you observe its growth rate. You observe the growth and number of flowers, fruit — this is very good manure. To save money is to earn money. Being industrious and innovative is important,” he was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

The BJP leader’s ‘gardening tip’ has fuelled a frenzy of jokes and comments on Twitter.

(PTI)

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