RTI Act governs stock exchanges : HC

Allowing public scrutiny of the functioning of stock market, the Delhi high Court today held that stock exchanges are public authorities and are bound to disclose information under Right To Information (RTI) Act. The court dismissed the plea of National Stock Exchange and Jaipur Stock Exchange which submitted that they cannot be forced to reveal information to public under the transparency law as they are autonomous bodies incorporated under Company Act and not controlled by the government.
Justice Sanjeev Khanna dismissed the petition of the stock exchanges and upheld the decision of the Central Information Commission which had declared stock exchange as a public authority.

The CIC had in 2007 held that stock exchanges are "quasi" governmental bodies which are bound to disclose information to the public under the Right to Information Act. "A stock exchange being a quasi governmental body working under the statute and exercising statutory powers has to be held to be a public authority under the Act," the Commission had said while directing the NSE to put in place a mechanism for the purpose. NSE had then approached the Delhi High Court. Interestingly, market regulator Sebi had opposed NSE stand and favored to bring stock exchanges under the purview of the Act. Challenging the CIC order, NSE had contended that bourses did not come within the definition of the state and cannot come under the purview of RTI Act.

"Information under RTI can be sought only against the government or its agencies and not against a company. NSE is a company incorporated under the Companies Act," the stock exchange had contended. "Organisations which come within the ambit of RTI Act should be constituted, controlled and substantially funded by the central or the state government. Stock exchanges do not fit in the definition and their board of directors are not appointed by the government," it had said.

The CIC had directed NSE and Jaipur Stock Exchange to put in place mechanism to comply with RTI rules on a plea of investors who approached the Commission after the exchanges refused to reveal information under the Act.

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Tharoor cheated and violating the Representation of People Act

As if Shashi Tharoor didn’t have enough to worry about after the controversy over his alleged stakes in the Kochi IPL team erupted, the Communist Party of India (CPI) is planning to move court against him for allegedly forging documents to include his name in the electoral rolls of the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.

Speaking to Express, P Ramachandran Nair, CPI Thiruvananthapuram district secretary said, “Tharoor got his name in the voters’ list in the constituency using fake documents. We have decided to approach the High Court against Tharoor for cheating and for violating the Representation of People Act.” 

  

Nair said, “He submitted the application for enrolment the same day (October 27, 2008) he rented a house in Thiruvananthapuram, which means he is not an ordinary resident”. The EC stipulates that only an ordinary resident, one who has resided in a place for a considerable amount of time, can be included in the voters’ list.

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Laptops not luxury but necessity for students

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has said the nationalised banks disbursing educational loans for students cannot take into consideration the fee charged by colleges for providing laptops to their students, as the laptops were not a luxury gadgets, but a necessity for the students in the present era.Delivering the judgement on the petition, filed by A Mahendran of Virudhunagar, Justice P Jyothimani directed the Indian Overseas Bank to advance educational loan of Rs 2 lakh to the Dalit student, whose father was a daily wage labourer.

According to the petitioner, he had joined the MBA course at a private college in Coimbatore in August 2009 and he had to pay Rs 1.63 lakh in the first year of the course and Rs 1.33 lakh in the second year. The amount, included tuition and hostel fees and Rs 30,000 towards a laptop. He applied for an education loan in IOB at Narikkudi in Tiruchuzhi taluk of Virudhunagar district on October 28, 2009, but so far no steps were taken to disburse the loan by the bank and sought a direction from the court to sanction the entire amount of Rs 2.9 lakh.

The bank in its counter claimed that it could sanction only Rs 1,40,990 for the two years course, on the basis of the recommendations made by a committee constituted by the state government for fixing fees to be charged by private colleges for self-financing professional courses. It said the committee headed by former High Court judge Justice N V Balasubramanian had said the colleges could charge a maximum of Rs 47,655 for the first year MBA course and Rs 45,325 for the second year and further to this Rs 24,000 per annum was fixed as hostel fees. The committee also recommended that a reasonable amount could be charged for books, laboratory and examination fees.

Justice Jyothimani, after going through the recommendations made by the committee said in the present case, the bank could not restrict its liability only to tuition and hostel fees. It should also consider the amount towards book, examination and laboratory fees. He directed the IOB to sanction a loan of Rs 2 lakh to the petitioner within two weeks and to consider the amount charged by the college for providing a laptop as fee charged for books.

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Kerala HC restrains Kerala govt from participating in Islamic Bank

The Kerala High Court issued an interim order restraining the state Government or any other instrumentalities of the Government from participating, financially or otherwise, in the functioning of a bank popularly known as Islamic Bank. The interim order was issued by a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice J Chelameswar and Justice C N Ramachandran Nair.

The court made it clear that Al-Barak company could function on its own according to the law of the land after obtaining the necessary clearances.

The interim order was issued by the High Court while considering writ petitions filed by former Union Law Minister Dr Subramanian Swamy and R V Babu, State Secretary of the Hindu Aikya Vedi.They had challenged the Government Order directing the KSIDC to have 11 per cent equity participation in the bank by Al-Barak private company.

The Government order was challenged by writ petitioners on the grounds that it was against the basic tenets of secularism as enshrined in the constitution. So the petitioners raised that the functioning of the bank would be against the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines. The court also directed the Union Government and RBI to file counter affidavits in the case.

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Delhi HC allows lawyer to argue in Hindi

The Delhi High Court for the first time allowed a lawyer to bypass the official English language and argue in Hindi as he was more competent in his mother tongue. Allowing lawyer Das Goninder Singh to argue in his mother tongue Hindi, Justice Rekha Sharma for the first time responded to his arguments and put the questions to him in the same language.

Singh in his written submissions to the court, though in English, said he has had Hindi as the medium of his education throughout his educational career. He will be able to express himself more effectively about the facts of law if he is allowed to argue his case in Hindi, he stated. When asked why he did not write the application in Hindi itself, Singh replied that if I would have done so, my application would have been rejected at the outset at the filing counter itself. This is just the beginning he said. There is already a petition pending in court to allow Hindi to be used as official language in the court.

Some other High Courts like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan have recognised Hindi as official language of the courts, but Delhi is still lagging behind, he said. So much so that many Hindi newspapers are not on the subscription list of the Delhi Courts, Singh said.

Since many lawyers are not well versed in English they have to seek the help of English speaking lawyers, the cost of which has to be borne by the litigants, making litigation very expensive, Singh said. ‘I am sure allowing Hindi to be used as official language in High Courts will reduce the cost of litigation too as many Hindi speaking lawyers who till now are reluctant to appear in the courts will get a chance to practise,’ he added.

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HC sends notices to IIT’s against its selection process

The Delhi High Court sent notices to 15 IITs across the country and to the HRD Ministry to clarify their selection process which is through the annual Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).

Aggrieved by the selection process, one Rajeev Kumar, who is a professor at IIT-Kharagpur, filed a Public Interest Litigation in the court stating that ‘the entire IIT-JEE selection process is an eye wash. The system is neither transparent nor has any set norms. No one knows what is the criteria for selection,’ the petitioner alleged.

The petitioner claimed that he has been fighting against the system for the last four years, finally the Delhi High Court has agreed to issue notices to the respondents, he said.

The Court has issued notices to the Ministry, the IIT council and the Joint Admission Board that conducts the entrance exams, the petitioner said.

‘The entrance in its current format is not transparent. No one knows how they select the candidates,’ he said.

India is known for the brilliant students 15 IITs across the country produce but many eligible’s are still left out for reasons not known to them, the petitioner alleged.

Eight new IITs have started operation in the last two years, the petitioner stated.

Since this year over 400,000 students will appear in the IIT-JEE, scheduled for April 11, they should have a right to have a transparent system, the petitioner added.

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US Court issues summons to Kamal Nath for his role in the 1984 Sikh genocide

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a U.S. based non-profit national human rights advocacy group, has filed a civil lawsuit against India’s Union Minister for Road and Transport, Kamal Nath, for his participation in the 1984 genocide of the Sikhs in Delhi. SFJ filed the suit along with two individuals who were directly affected by the November 1984 Sikh genocide. The lawsuit has been docketed (10 CV 2940) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and has been assigned to Honorable Judge Sweet. The District Court has issued summons, and the Minister has to now respond to the summons before April 28.

The lawsuit against Kamal Nath has been filed under both the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and The Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) because of the alleged failure of the Indian government to enforce human rights protection and hold violators accountable.

SFJ’s attorney, G.S. Pannun, said “U.S. law provides a remedy to victims of human rights violations that have been committed abroad and allows the victims to bring a lawsuit against the perpetrator in the U.S. Federal District Court”. Pannun added “Despite several witnesses who saw Kamal Nath inciting and leading the mob, Nath has been successfully escaping justice under the Indian system for more than 25 years using his influence and position in the ruling Congress party”.

SFJ has a strong legal team that is advising the non-profit organization. G.S. Pannun is their counsel in the United States and is being supported by several Indian Supreme Court and High Court lawyers. Senior Advocate and Sikh rights activist Harvinder Phoolka is also advising SFJ on the legal issues. Other Congress leaders who are still facing the heat of Sikh riots cases are Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. 

SFJ is holding a Justice Rally against Kamal Nath’s U.S. visit today in front of the McGraw Hill Building in New York where Kamal Nath will be attending a gathering of the U.S.- India Business Council.

SFJ maintains that the genocide of India’s Sikh population was State orchestrated because two Sikh bodyguards had killed Indira Gandhi.

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Indian origin male nurse sentenced in Australia for sex with patient

An Indian-origin nurse, Kennedy Swamy, has been jailed for a maximum of three years for having sex with a patient with bipolar disorder at a Melbourne hospital last month. Swamy, who migrated to Australia from India in 2006, had pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to two charges of sexually penetrating a person with a cognitive impairment. He must serve a minimum of 15 months' jail before being eligible for parole.

Swamy was employed as a division two nurse at the health service at a Melbourne youth mental health service last year where he met an 18-year-old woman admitted with bipolar disorder. According to reports, the 29-year-old had sex with the patient in the bathroom on March 7 and again after two days. Judge Wendy Wilmoth at the Victorian County Court said the victim disclosed the sexual activity while participating in a therapy session the following day, saying at first she thought it was okay, but then realised it was wrong.

Judge Wilmoth said that due to her illness the victim's decision-making ability would have been severely impaired, and Swamy should have been aware from his training that sexual indiscretions were a breach of his duties.  "You breached the trust placed in you as a carer of a vulnerable person who was in a fragile state," News.com.au quoted Judge Wilmoth, as saying.

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Death sentence to 17 Indians challanged before Higher Court

An appeal was filed on Thursday on behalf of the 17 Indians who were recently found guilty by a Sharjah court of killing a Pakistani national and injuring three of his compatriots. The appeal was filed in a Sharjah Court of Appeals, India's Consul-General Sanjay Verma has said.

The Consulate had earlier said that they have hired a Dubai-based law firm, Mohamed Salman Advocates and Legal Consultants, to represent the Indians. Consulate officials had met all 17 Indians earlier this week and said that they were in good health. The convicted, 16 from the Punjab and one from Haryana, were recently found guilty by the Sharjah Court of killing a Pakistani national and injuring three of his compatriots allegedly during a clash in an illegal alcohol business in January 2009.  About 50 people were involved in the attack, in which the Pakistani man was beaten to death with metal bars. The men on death row are accused of being the gang leaders.

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High Court rejects premature release plea of Nalini

The Madras High Court on Tuesday held that the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination-case life-convict Nalini Sriharan who had committed the crime in a cunning and meticulous manner cannot seek premature release.A Division bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and K K Sasidharan dismissed a plea of Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking premature release under the general amnesty scheme.

While rejecting her petition, the bench observed that 44-year-old Nalini had committed the crime in a cunning and meticulous manner which killed the former Prime Minister in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. “So she cannot seek premature release as a right, though she does have the right to seek consideration of her plea,” the Bench said.

“She had committed a crime which was cunning in conception, meticulous in plans and wreckless in execution, taking away the life of the former prime minister,” the judges held. In 2008, the High Court had rejected Nalini’s plea for release on the ground that her case was investigated by CBI under 435 of Cr PC, which says all cases probed by the central agency cannot be decided by the state without consulting the Central government. Nalini had filed her appeal contending that the Governor had powers under Article 161 of the Constitution, which the court rejected. She had filed the plea for her premature release in 2006, when 421 prisoners were released by the Governor exercising his powers under Article 161, contending she had already served 14 years in prison and was eligible for release.

The bench held that the governor had then exercised the powers granted to him under Article 161 judiciously.

Nalini had argued that just because CBI investigated her case, her plea for premature release was rejected. Noting that the nature of offence also played a major role in considering a case of premature release, the court said she could not claim equality with other life convicts.

"As a citizen of India the convict colluded with foreign terrorist out fit (LTTE) and killed the former Prime Minister of this country was unforgettable", the bench observed and said, once the capital punishment awarded to her by the trial court was confirmed by the Supreme Court and on a mercy the same was commuted to life is notable.

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No Adverse Impact on Society by Legalising Gay Sex - Gay rights activists say

Gay rights activists today argued before the Supreme Court that decriminalising gay sex has not made any negative impact on society as apprehended by people opposing homosexuality.

"Almost nine months have passed since the judgement was announced and no harm has been caused to Indian society or culture or traditions," Naz Foundation, an NGO on whose petition the Delhi High Court had legalised gay sex, said in its reply.

The NGO opposed the contention that legalisation of gay sex would result in spreading of AIDS in the society and submitted that there is no scientific basis for it.

The NGO filed its response against various petitions filed by anti-gay rights activists and religious organisations seeking quashing of July 2 landmark verdict of the High Court legalising gay sex between consenting adults in private, which was earlier a criminal offence punishable with up to life imprisonment.

"Homosexuality is not a concept alien to Indian culture. In fact, it has been an inherent part of the Indian culture and civilisation," the NGO claimed, adding "criminalisation of sexuality, on the other hand, including homosexuality, is alien to Indian culture."

The apex court had earlier issued a notice to the Centre on a petition filed by a Christian body, a disciple of Yoga guru Ramdev and a astrologer Suresh Kumar Kaushal seeking a stay on the High Court verdict legalising gay sex on the ground it will have a catastrophic effect on the society's moral fabric.

All the petitioners have sought setting aside of the July two High Court verdict legalising gay sex between consenting adults in private.

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I found naked body of battered Scarlett - Statement of policeman before the court

A policeman told a murder trial yesterday how he found the body of British teenager Scarlett Keeling half-submerged in water on a tourist beach. The Indian officer said he discovered the lifeless 15-year-old face down on the shore after she had been raped and left for dead.

Fighting back tears, Police Constable Gurunath Naik said: 'The sea was splashing at the body and she had no clothes on apart from a shirt which was around her right shoulder. 'She was lying on her stomach and her eyes and mouth were partly open.' The body of Scarlett, from Bideford, Devon, was found on Goa's Anjuna beach in February 2008. Post-mortem examinations found a cocktail of drink and drugs in her system and suggested she may have died by drowning. Mr Naik was the first of more than 70 witnesses who will give evidence in the trial of two men accused of killing the teenager. 

The officer told the Goa Children's Court in Panaji that he was on duty at Anjuna police station when he received an anonymous phone call saying a person had been found lying by the water. 'I got to the beach within ten minutes, and noticed the body of a young lady,' he said, adding that he saw Scarlett's orange sandals strewn on the sand 'two to three metres' from where she lay. He told the court that he dragged the teenager's body away from the sea and covered her with a sheet while waiting for other officers to arrive. 

As Mr Naik gave evidence, the two accused sat calmly at the back of the court. Samson D'Souza, 30, and Placido Carvalho, 42, were arrested a month after Scarlett's death, but are currently on bail and their trial has been delayed repeatedly.

Scarlett's mother's lawyer, Vikram Verma, welcomed the start of the trial but questioned the decision to keep the accused on bail. He said: 'Now the trial has started there is the possibility of them putting pressure on the witnesses. I hope the prosecution will move the application to have them remanded in custody.' From her home in north Devon, Scarlett's mother Fiona MacKeown-said she hoped the trial would go 'smoothly'.

She added: 'It is really strange because you want it to go ahead but it drags everything back up again. 'I feel quite nervous because we have waited for so long for this and the end means I can finally bury Scarlett.' Miss MacKeown, 43, fought for a full investigation into her daughter's death after police initially suggested the teenager had drowned by accident. But allegations of negligence have been levelled at her for leaving Scarlett alone in Goa while travelling to the neighbouring state of Karnataka.

Miss MacKeown is currently waiting to be sentenced after admitting benefit fraud last month at Exeter Crown Court. She is also expected to give evidence in the Goan trial in the next few weeks, possibly via a video link.
This week, the Goa Children's Court will hear from four more police witnesses and four bar owners who all saw Scarlett's body on the beach.

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Indian Govt. hired top lawyer in Dubai to file an appeal

The Centre has hired a top lawyer in Dubai to file an appeal against the death sentence to 17 Indians, minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur said on Monday. She assured a delegation of families of the convicts here that the government would do its best to ensure justice in the matter.

Preneet Kaur said the Indian consulate in Dubai had been sounded on the matter. The families interested in visiting their wards in Dubai would be granted visa relaxation, she said.

Sukhwinder Kaur, whose son Taranjeet (23) is among the 17 convicts, said the minister had assured them that special secretary, foreign affairs, would be sent to UAE to meet the convicts. “The government is making all efforts to help us,” she said.

Her son left for Dubai around one-and-a-half years back. “We only knew that Taranjeet was arrested on suspicion. Now he is facing death,” she said. Parminder Kaur, whose husband, Kashmir Singh, figures in the list of the 17 convicts, said they were shattered with the harsh sentence.

“We are exploring all options to save them and that’s why we met the minister. I am satisfied with the outcome of the meeting,” she said. Meanwhile, prayer meetings were held in Ludhiana and Jalandhar for the convicts’ well-being.

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Delhi HC to hear first petition under Right to Education

A class VI girl has moved the Delhi High Court against her school’s decision which chose to expel her because she failed in her final examinations and has asked for the court’s intervention to get her studies resumed in the same school.

Accusing St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School for violating her fundamental Right to education, the VI class student Suman Bhati has alleged that the school expelled her on the grounds that she failed in her final examination. Now she has no place to go her father Naresh Bhati alleged.

The writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution in the Delhi High Court yesterday by the lawyers Ashok Agarwal and Ms Kusum on behalf of Bhati against St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School for violating the child’s fundamental rights as well as violating the law of Right to Education and also against the Director of Education, GNCT for failing to take action against the school in accordance with law to allow the girl to continue her studies in the school.

The petition has alleged that the action on the part of the Xavier’s Senior Secondary School against the student for expelling her from the school on March 17, 2010 is illegal, anti-child, arbitrary, unjust, punitive in nature, unethical discriminatory, unconstitutional, violative of the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, hit by the provisions of Article 14 (right to equality), Article 21 (right to life with dignity), Article 21-A (right to education) and Article 38 (right to social justice) of the Constitution of India read with UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

The petitioner has submitted that she has been a regular student of the respondent-school since KG. While the petitioner was studying in class IV, she failed in the examination and was detained in the same class. Thereafter, she qualified the Class IV examination and promoted to Class V.

On March 27, 2010, the Principal handed over the marks-sheet of Class VI to the petitioner’s father with the following remark: detained and withdrawn. It was also told to the parent verbally that the student had been removed from the school from now on. Mr Bhati requested the Principal of the school to not to remove his daughter as it would ruin the future of his child. He also submitted in written to the Principal with a request to permit her child to continue her studies in the school.

However, the principal remained adamant throughout and declined to accept the request of the parent.

Mr Bhati then approached Social Jurist, A Civil Rights Group with a request to help the child. It is submitted that the Social Jurist sent a phonogram on March 31 to the school followed by a representation requesting the school to forthwith allow the petitioner to continue her studies in the school. However, no response has been received so far, Mr Agarwal said.

Mr Agarwal in the petition said, it is unfortunate that in a time when the Government is coming up with laws, schemes and policies to encourage the girl child to study more, here is a school that is trying to jeopardize a class VI girl’s future by expelling her from the school. It is highly unjust as well as illegal to expel a student who wishes to study further and make her career, he said.

The petition will come up for hearing before Justice Kailash Gambhir on Arpil 5.

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Stop taking trainee pilots or face legal action

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) Accusing Air India management of adding to the airline's financial woes, its pilots' body has opposed the recruitment of trainee cockpit crew in large numbers at a time when the company was reeling under a financial crunch.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) also warned of legal action if the management did not stop the process of recruiting trainee pilots, saying the services of those already on the rolls could be used as they were "underutilised".

In a letter to Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav, ICPA General Secretary S Sabu said the ICPA had in 2006 agreed to fly up to 90 hours per month and 240 hours each quarter.

However, the average flying hours of pilots dropped to 60 hours per month and even 40 hours in some bases, he said, adding "this clearly proves that we are underutilised".

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Appeal against the death sentence to 17 Indians

The Indian Consulate in Dubai, in collaboration with Indian Association Sharjah an apex body of Indian welfare organisations will file an appeal within the next three days in the Sharjah Estinaf Court against the death sentence handed over to 17 Indians by a sharia court. The appeal process will be filed through Indian lawyers practising in the UAE.

Hashik PK, an Indian advocate closely associated with the appeals process, expressed confidence in saving the convicts from the gallows. “I am sure we can save our people. As some of the convicts had already confessed to the crime in the sharia court, we can get the death sentence converted to life imprisonment or even less. In the Estinaf Court, which is equal to our High Courts in India, the matter will be governed under criminal laws,” Hashik said over the phone.

“The death sentence was delivered by a religious court. In the appeal court, the rules are different. We will appeal the matter on question of fact and law, arguing that the incident was not at all a ‘rarest of rare’ case. Moreover, now we came to know that some of the persons had confessed. It is a mystery as to how a person who confesses can be given the death sentence. We will raise all these matters in the appeals process,” he added.

Explaining the legal process in Sharjah, Hashik said Estinaf Court judgements could be challenged in the Thamis Court, equivalent to a Supreme Court. “Only after the final legal battle and at the execution stage of the final verdict can the diplomatic channel act. Otherwise, it will be contempt of court. The diplomatic channel is out of the court’s purview and our Government has to appeal to the Ruler of Sharjah for the release of our citizens,” the advocate explained.

Describing the details of sharia laws, the advocate said the murdered Pakistani’s immediate relatives could also pardon the convicts with or without accepting “blood money”, which is considered a fine.

Indian Association Sharjah president YA Rahim, who is currently in India on vacation, also confirmed the developments in the appeals process. Rahim, who too is an advocate, squarely blamed the Indian Consulate for making things worse by not intervening when the Indians were jailed 15 months ago.

“These 17 persons were arrested on January 2009 and were in jail from day one. For the past 15 months, nobody from the consulate turned up. It was the duty of the Indian Consulate to intervene and provide legal assistance to them. The officials have started to act now, when things have gone out of control. Apart from Sharjah police, who informed them within 48 hours of the incident, we also informed them of the arrests. Moreover, this incident was widely reported in the media but nothing happened,” Rahim told The Pioneer.

The consulate failed to provide advocates and interpreters for the convicts in the trial stages. They were defended by a Government pleader provided by the court, where the proceedings were in the Arabic language, he pointed out.

Seventeen Indians 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana were awarded death on March 28 by the Sharjah sharia court for a street battle between bootleggers for supremacy in the area, leading to the murder of a Pakistani national. Nearly 70 Indians were arrested from the spot, but the others were let off from prison later.

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