What is wrong with ordering CBI probe: HC

Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur of the AP High Court on Wednesday asked what is wrong in the court ordering the CBI to conduct a preliminary probe into allegations against former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his alleged conduits. The CJ also sought to know the way forward, without the preliminary probe to find out whether there is any truth in the allegation by Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, wife of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy against Mr Naidu and others.

The CJ was hearing arguments along with Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar on pleas by Mr Naidu, media baron Ramoji Rao and others seeking vacation of interim orders granted against them. Mr. Anil Divan, senior Supreme Court advocate, appearing for Mr Ramoji Rao, said that the court cannot order a probe based on pleadings. "The court has to hear both sides and then come to a conclusion in such matters," he said. He said the court erred in ordering a CBI inquiry without even being convinced of the charges and pointed that the petitioner sought an interim order of preliminary probe by the CBI, but the court ordered the enforcement directorate, the state government and the state police to conduct an independent probe and urged the court to vacate the interim order.

Mr. Divan complained to the court that the CBI is hounding his clients by slapping notice on them to furnish audit reports, financial statements and bank statements from 2007 onwards. He submitted a copy of the notice. Meanwhile, Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt Ld owner Ramoji Rao submitted an affidavit that the CBI has issued notice to it to furnish the annual repots containing balance sheet, profit and loss accounts, auditor reports and statement of bank accounts of the company from 2007 onwards.

RIL moves court on CBI probe
The Reliance Industries Ltd on Wednesday moved the AP High Court seeking a direction to implead it as one of the parties in the petition by Y.S. Vija-yalakshmi, wife of former chief minister Y.S. Rajase-khar Reddy against TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu and others. Vice-president of the company P.B.M. Rao filed the application contending that the petitioner leveled wild allegations the company and deliberately omitted to make it as one of the respondents in the plea.

Refuting Ms Vijayala-kshmi's allegations that Mr Naidu extended undue favour to the RIL in bagging KG Basin Exploration contract, he said that the company has won the oil exploration block in the basin in a competitive bid as per the New Exploration and Licensing Policy, 1999. He urged the court to suspend the interim order of conducting the CBI probe and grant order to implead the company as a respondent in the plea.

Karunanidhi case quashed
The AP High Court quashed criminal proceedings pending in a lower court at Adoni in Kurnool district against former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi. Justice R. Subhash Reddy, allowing a plea by Mr Karunanidhi, challenging the criminal proceedings pending against him in the lower court, ruled that there are no ingredients to maintain the complaint under Section 298 (uttering words with deliberate intention to wound religious feelings) of the IPC.

The Judicial First Class Magistrate of Adoni town had issued summons to Mr Karunanidhi to app-ear before the court after a practicing advocate of the town, V. Mallikarjun, had filed a complaint against the former Chief Minister over his alleged remarks against Lord Rama in the wake of controversy surrounding Ra-masethu project in 2008. Mr Karunanidhi had approached the High Court challenging the lower court's decision and also seeking a direction to dispense with his presence before the lower court.

The High Court had granted interim relief by granting dispensation of his appearance. Justice Subhash Reddy heard the arguments on Wednesday and ruled that there were no ingredients to maintain the complaint. The judge also pointed out that there was no prior sanction either from the Centre or the state government to prosecute Mr Karunanidhi, who was in public office at the time of filing the complaint.

Sentence against Babu stayed
A division bench of Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the High Court on Wednesday stayed the operation of punishment imposed on an assistant commissioner of endowments, Medak district for violating the orders of a single judge in administering oath of board trustees of a temple of the district despite court orders. The officer had earlier been sentenced to undergo imprisonment of one month.

Chidambaram must quit: Opposition in Parliament

Two days after a compromise on the FDI in retail, the UPA government was once again driven to the wall in the parliament on the opposition demand for resignation of the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G scam.

 

Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned repeatedly today as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stalled proceedings demanding the resignation of Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G scam.

 

A dismissive government says there is no question of a resignation.

 

The Houses were initially adjourned till 12 pm and then till 2 pm. They re-convened at 2 pm to begin a crucial discussion on price rise, the NDA is allowing the House to function for the debate but has made it clear that it's only so that the House can discuss food inflation.

 

As part of her speech on price rise, the BJP's Sushma Swaraj maintained that Chidambaram is as guilty as Raja in the 2G case. So we want the PM to accept his resignation as well. The PM did not do so. Today Pranabda called me in the afternoon and I assured him that our opposition would continue, but we will talk about this issue." 

 

Before the Winter Session began, the NDA had announced that it would boycott Mr Chidambaram in Parliament over his alleged role in the 2008 2G scam during his tenure as Finance Minister. Today, they picked as context a Delhi court order of this morning that allowed Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy to testify and present his case against the Home Minister in the 2G scam case. 

 

But the government is clear that Mr Chidambaram will not resign. Till now the Parliament has seen just one day of business being transacted, yesterday, in this Winter Session, which has all of 10 working days left. The first two weeks were lost to the Opposition demanding adjournment motions and vote first on price rise and black money, and then stalling Parliament all of last week over the government's decision to allow foreign direct investment in retail. That logjam ended with the government agreeing to suspend its reforms move. 

CJ recuses self in Naidu case

HYDERABAD: In an unexpected turn of events, Chief Justice Madan B Lokur of the AP High Court on Thursday recused himself from hearing the case pertaining to the alleged illegal assets of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and his associates, transferring the hearing to another division bench. Entry of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) in the case was cited as the reason behind the recusal as the jurist said he owned shares in the Mukesh Ambani-owned company.

Later in the day it was decided to list the case before a bench headed by Justice V Eswaraiah who will hear the matter on Friday.

RIL had filed a petition on Wednesday urging the court to implead it as a party to the case as certain allegations had been leveled against the company by petitioner YS Vijayamma. In her petition, the widow of late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy and the Pulivendula YSR Congress MLA said she had sought a thorough probe into the alleged 'omissions and commissions' that took place during the Naidu regime.

She also alleged that RIL was unduly allowed to access gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin by the Naidu regime and that the company, in a quid pro quo deal, had made investments to the tune of Rs 2,600 crore in Ushodaya Enterprises. Ushodaya Enterprises is the group that publishes Eenadu newspaper. Claiming that the newspaper group's owner Ch Ramoji Rao was a close friend of Naidu's, Vijayamma made the media baron and Eenadu respondents in the assets case. Naidu and his associates have challenged the preliminary probe ordered by HC.

Although the petitioner did not make RIL a party to her petition, the bench had indeed made a prior observation as to why the company had not been included in the litigation when serious allegations about proxy investments in Eenadu newspaper had been leveled against it. In response, RIL impleaded itself in the case on Wednesday.

During Thursday's hearing, Naidu's counsel urged the CJ to stay the ongoing CBI probe till a new bench was constituted. But the CJ assured him that he would entrust the matter to a new bench immediately and ensure the resumption of the hearing by Friday, thus declining to pass any interim order as sought by the counsel.

సోనియా గాంధీపై మళ్లీ వైయస్ జగన్ కామెంట్

గుంటూరు: గత కొంత కాలంగా కాంగ్రెసు అధ్యక్షురాలు సోనియా గాంధీపై
వ్యాఖ్యలు చేయడం మానేసిన వైయస్సార్ కాంగ్రెసు పార్టీ అధ్యక్షుడు వైయస్
జగన్ రూటు మార్చారు. ఆమెకు వ్యతిరేకంగా వ్యాఖ్యలు చేయడాన్ని మళ్లీ
ప్రారంభించినట్లే ఉన్నారు. తాజాగా గుంటూరు జిల్లా ఓదార్పు యాత్రలో
గురువారం ఆయన సోనియాపై వ్యాఖ్య చేశారు. వైయస్ రాజశేఖర రెడ్డి రెక్కల
కష్టంతోనే కేంద్రంలో సోనియా గాంధీ రాజ్యమేలుతున్నారని ఆయన అన్నారు.
మరణంచిన నేత వైయస్సార్‌ను ప్రజలు ఎప్పుడూ గుండెల్లో పెట్టుకుంటారని ఆయన
అన్నారు.

తెలుగుదేశం పార్టీ అధ్యక్షుడు నారా చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు కాంగ్రెసుతో
కుమ్మక్కయి రాజకీయ విలువలను నాశనం చేశారని ఆయన విమర్శించారు. వైయస్
రాజశేఖర రెడ్డి జీవించి ఉంటే తమకు కష్టాలు ఉండేవి కావని ప్రజలు
తలుచుకుంటున్నారని ఆయన అన్నారు. పొన్నూరు ఐలాండ్ సెంటర్ నుంచి ఆయన
గురువారం ఓదార్పు యాత్రను ప్రారంభించారు. గుంటూరు జిల్లాలో ఆయన ఓదార్పు
యాత్ర గురువారంనాడు 36వ రోజుకు చేరుకుంది.

Andhra Pradesh HC sets aside detention of TRS leader

Hyderabad, Dec 8 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh High Court today set aside
the detention of Telangana Rastha Samithi (TRS) leader Cheraku
Sudhakar. A Division Bench comprising Justices A Gopal Reddy and R
Kanta Rao allowed a writ petition challenging the detention of the
50-year-old TRS politburo member under a stringent Act. The Bench
observed that the cases pending against Sudhakar are petty in nature
and they do not call for his arrest under the National Security Act
(NSA). Sudhakar, a medical practitioner, was detained last month on
orders from the Collector on the ground that he was causing serious
law and order problems and spoiling the peace in Nalgonda district.
The State Government on Tuesday last confirmed his detention for one
year under the NSA. The Nalgonda Collector had taken the action
because of Sudhakar's "repeated involvement in acts affecting peace
and tranquility and acts prejudicial to maintenance of services
essential to the community in contravention to the provisions of the
said Act". The move had sparked protests in Telangana. PTI COR RAO RSY

Case filed against three ex-CMs for facilitating illegal mining

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and two other former Karnataka
chief ministers, HD Kumaraswamy and Dharam Singh, are in trouble as
the Lok Ayukta police on Thursday filed an FIR against the trio on a
complaint accusing them of facilitating illegal mining during their
tenure in the state.

Apart from the three political leaders, the Lok Ayukta police have
also named 11 senior government officials in the FIR filed under
various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Forest
Conservation Act, the Forest Act and the Minerals and Metals
Regulation and Development Act (MMRDA) and the Indian Penal Code.

The accused officials include IAS and IPS officials who served as
managing directors of state owned Mysore Minerals Ltd (MML) — Mahendra
Jain, Jija Madhavan Hari Singh (IPS), DS Aswath, KS Manjunath, IR
Perumal,V Umesh and Basappa Reddy, the then director of mines and
geology department.

The complaint was filed by TJ Abraham on December 3. Lok Ayukta court
judge NK Sudhindra Rao then directed the police to investigate and
submit the report by January 6.

The complainant has alleged that Krishna, who was chief minister from
October 1999 to May 2004, and Dharam Singh and Kumaraswamy permitted
illegal mining for pecuniary gains.

Abraham, a Bangalore-based social activist and a businessman,
submitted that his complaint was based on the report on illegal mining
presented to the government by the then Lok Ayukta, Santosh Hegde, in
August 2011.

The complainant has further alleged that Krishna illegally amassed
wealth in the name of his family members, including his children and
in-laws, as also in the names of his erstwhile close cabinet
colleagues.

Kumaraswamy has been accused of recommending grant of mining licence
for Jantakal Mining Company with intentions of seeking pecuniary
benefits. As for the case against Dharam Singh, the then governor
Rameshwar Thakur had dropped action against him when the state was
under the President's rule in 2007.

Reacting to the developments, former chief minister and JD(S) leader
HD Kumaraswamy expressed confidence that he would come clean from the
case. "I have been waging a war against corruption. This is a
conspiracy to stop me from continuing this battle against corruption,"
he said.

Former chief minister Dharam Singh said he was ready to submit an
explanation to Congress high command if he was asked to explain.

Sehwag, the gladiator

He was expected to be the first man to breach the 200-run barrier in
the ODIs. However, Sachin Tendulkar beat him to the mark last year.

Not to be left behind, Virender Sehwag overtook his idol's perfect 200
with a 219, which is now the highest individual score in the ODIs,
against West Indies on Thursday. Little wonder that India won the
match by 153 runs.

The first double hundred took more than three decades to happen, the
second took less than two years.

After Tendulkar's masterpiece in Gwalior last year, Sehwag sprinkled
the achievement with a dash of coincidence by scoring it in the same
state — Madhya Pradesh — both venues within 500kms of each other.

Off the third ball of the 44th over, Sehwag, batting on 197, cut Andre
Russel through the point. While turning to take a second run, the
batsman saw the ball cross the rope and celebrated by punching the
air.

A spectator ran down the pitch to present a bouquet to Sehwag, who
politely refused to take it. However, he graciously accepted the
standing ovation by about 30,000 strong crowd present at the Holkar
Stadium and raised his bat to show his gratitude and share his joy
that the second man in the exclusive 200-run club is also an Indian.

Though Sehwag made the whole innings look effortless, it was hardly
so. He had come into this game under severe criticism for his recent
poor run. His last century was the 175 — in the World Cup opener
against Bangladesh in February. Since then, the Sehwag brand of
batting had seen a slump.

However, on Thursday, when he took the guard, he was his usual self —
seemingly casual, carefree and classy. He had promoted his pal Gautam
Gambhir to open the batting with him.

While not many would have imagined of a double hundred, most wanted at
least a half-century to get his magical touch back before the
Australia tour. The openers enjoyed a 176-run stand and rubbished all
the criticisms.

Sehwag was simply murderous and unapologetic towards his opponents.
Whatever opportunity he got was either caressed through the covers or
hammered over the long on for sixes. He cut, drove and pulled with
sheer elegance. He bludgeoned 25 boundaries and seven sixes.

Luck seemed to have deserted Sehwag off late as most of his favourite
shots like the square cuts and lofts landed straight into fielders'
hands, however, on Thursday, the Delhi Dasher saw his shots sail over
long on boundary three times and one over the third man fence.

He even got his big slice of good luck when Darren Sammy dropped a
sitter at extra cover of Rampaul in the 38th over over. If the rival
captain had held on to the catch, Sehwag would have walked back with
his score at 170.

Having got a life, Sehwag made it count and went on plundering runs
before he miscued one to the long on. However, by then he had provided
the best possible entertainment.

Though Sehwag appeared tired in the latter stages of his knock, he was
as agile and fit as he was on the first ball he faced.

With this knock, Sehwag has lived up to his billing as the most
dangerous batsman and demolished criticism about his batting in the
ODIs. All the doubting Thomases cantake a walk!