Setback for SP as U.P. Lokayukta nominee withdraws from race

A Little Less Litigation

Plea to call Manmohan dismissed

The case relates to the allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd. (GSIPL) in an illegal manner. The CBI has charge-sheeted the accused persons for criminal conspiracy, cheating and misusing their official position to allot the block to two companies, and the court has taken cognisance of it.

Counsel for Mr. Koda argued that if as per the charge-sheet all the accused persons hatched a conspiracy to secure the allocation of the coal block to the two companies, then the final objective of it could not have been achieved without the active connivance of Dr. Singh.

The Special Public Prosecutor opposed the application, submitting that if Dr. Singh wanted to favour any company specifically then he would not have referred the matter for reconsideration to the Ministry of Coal.
The same Judge had in March this year summoned Dr. Singh as an accused in the coal block case related to the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco, owned by the Aditya Birla Group, in an illegal manner.

The CBI had sought closure of this case against Dr. Singh but Mr. Parashar had rejected it and summoned Dr. Singh, besides former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh, industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla and others as accused.

At present, there is a stay on their summoning by the Supreme Court.

Congress says court distrusts government

The Supreme Court’s verdict on Friday scrapping the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), a legal entity with powers to appoint and transfer judges, evoked mixed response across the legal and political spectrum. 

While the ruling BJP expressed its “surprise” over the verdict, the Congress showed “respect” for the judgment as it felt the constitutional amendment pushed by the NDA with an approval of both the upper and lower Houses of Parliament posed a threat to judicial independence. 

“Independence of judiciary is a key fundamental of our democracy,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. “There can be no compromise on the same. The NJAC judgment implicitly reflects lack of confidence in the government which has eroded institutional autonomy and constitutional safeguards over the last 17 months.” Expressing his disappointment, senior lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi said except in India nowhere in the world “judges appoint judges.”

‘Idea of primacy flawed’

In an introspective judgment, Justice J. Chelameswar disagreed with his four fellow judges on the Constitution Bench which delivered its judgment on the NJAC, saying that their understanding that the judiciary was the only constitutional organ protecting the liberties of the people was wrong. 

Upholding the 99th Constitutional Amendment, and the only judge to do so on the Constitution Bench, Justice Chelameswar wrote in his separate judgment that the idea of “primacy of judiciary” was flawed. He said there was nothing of the sort in the Constitution.

SC Bench strikes down NJAC Act as ‘unconstitutional and void’

The collegium system remains operative

 

Declaring that the judiciary cannot risk being caught in a “web of indebtedness” towards the government, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment which sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts. 

“It is difficult to hold that the wisdom of appointment of judges can be shared with the political-executive. In India, the organic development of civil society, has not as yet sufficiently evolved. The expectation from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country, can only be ensured, by keeping it absolutely insulated and independent, from the other organs of governance,” Justice J.S. Khehar, the presiding judge on the five-judge Constitution Bench, explained in his individual judgment. 

The Bench in a majority of 4:1 rejected the NJAC Act and the Constitutional Amendment as “unconstitutional and void.” It held that the collegium system, as it existed before the NJAC, would again become “operative.” 

But interestingly, the Bench admitted that all is not well even with the collegium system of “judges appointing judges”, and that the time is ripe to improve the 21-year-old system of judicial appointments. 

“Help us improve and better the system. You see the mind is a wonderful instrument. The variance of opinions when different minds and interests meet or collide is wonderful,” Justice Khehar told the government, scheduling further debate for November 3 on bettering the working of the collegium system.

Every judge on the Bench, comprising Justices J. Chelameswar, Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Goel, has written separate judgments explaining the debate, reasonings and individual conclusions they arrived at about the NJAC and the Constitutional Amendment. 

The entire bulk of the series of judgments and orders run to about 1,000 pages.

Freedom of expression basis of RTI, says Aruna Roy

“The right to freedom of expression is of utmost importance as it is the foundation of the Right To Information [Act],” RTI pioneer and social activist Aruna Roy said here, on Friday while expressing her support for the writers who are protesting to protect the right to freedom of expression.

Several writers across the country have returned their Sahitya Akademi Awards to protest against the increasing instances of religious intolerance in the country and the killings of writers to curb freedom of expression.

Condemning the killing of social activist Govind Pansare, and rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and M.M. Kalburgi, Ms. Roy said the Central government’s inaction over the killings was shameful.

“With the growing intolerance it seems that the future of this country will be bleak and the rights that have been given to us by the constitution will cease to exist,” Ms. Roy said while addressing the media here.

Extending her support to the writers’ protests and condemning the Dadri lynching Social activist and national convener of National Alliance for People's Movement (NAPM) Medha Patkar, who also addressed the media, said: “We condemn the acts by which the minorities are being victimised.”

Religion, not sex, a touchy issue among TV viewers

Regulatory body says most complaints are with regard to ‘harm and offence’

 Are Indian television viewers getting more tolerant of sex and nudity and less tolerant of insults to religion and community? Are they becoming more aware of gender stereotypes and portrayal of the minority communities? 

The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), an independent self-regulatory body mandated by broadcasters to look into complaints on general entertainment channels, has found that the highest number of complaints have to do with a category called ‘harm and offence’ which accounted for 39 per cent of the total complaints, covering a swathe of issues like portrayal of persons with disabilities, ill-treatment of animals and stereotyping of women. 

Complaints on ‘religion and community’ came second, with 28 per cent. In some ways, both categories represented a departure from the earlier years when viewers took offence to sex, obscenity and nudity.

The figures were culled from a total of 4,545 specific complaints received between July 3, 2014, and August 22, 2015. 

In its second report since 2012, the BCCC said sex, obscenity and nudity now attract only eight per cent of the complaints and a large number of these were forwarded by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. The BCCC addresses complaints from 350 entertainment channels. 

Viewers’ objections under the ‘religion and community’ category, the BCCC found, varied from the treatment meted out to epics like the Mahabharata or when serials portrayed gods. “Viewers, mainly religious groups, object to slight departures in treatment of the epics and Gods and send in their complaints,” a BCCC official said, adding that the self-regulatory body erred on the side of creativity. At the same time, the official pointed out that a large number of viewers, mostly women, have also complained about the portrayal of women as serial schemers. 

The seven categories under which complaints are received are ‘crime and violence’, ‘sex, obscenity and nudity’, ‘horror and occult’, ‘drugs, smoking and tobacco, solvents and alcohol’, ‘religion and community’, ‘harm and offence’ and ‘general restrictions’.

For the BCCC, it is not uncommon to receive 20-25 complaints every day. “The body is an alternative to interference from the government,” says its chairperson Mukul Mudgal, the former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. 

The BCCC examines 2-3 complaints of specific nature daily and depending on the complaint and examination of contents, the broadcaster is given a chance to explain its position when the council members meet once a month. In the hierarchy of punishments, a fine of up to Rs. 30 lakh and an apology repeated five times in the course of a single programme is the rarest of rare punishment. The maximum fine levied so far has been Rs.7.5 lakh. 

Often, on receipt of a complaint and after examination, channels are asked to shift their content, especially if the programmes are found unsuitable for general viewing, to a later time slot, or asked to change the content or even drop them from future telecast. 

Of the complaints received from the 350-odd channels, the BCCC found that in language channels, the maximum complaints have come from viewers of Tamil channels, mostly on the portrayal of women, followed closely by Telugu and Kannada channels. 

The council’s achievement till date has been the 100 per cent compliance with its directives, sufficient proof that self-regulation works, says Mr. Mudgal, who heads the committee comprising 14 members, of whom four are broadcasters. Its decisions are made by a majority of members. 

Mr. Mudgal spends half-an-hour surfing general entertainment channels when time permits. Unlike the close watch on news channels, where transgressions called forth show-cause notices, the entertainment channels enjoy an autonomous run.

Sex ratio falls to 898 girls per 1,000 boys.

Activists say law against prenatal gender determination not working.

Despite the 2011 census setting alarm bells ringing about India’s worsening sex ratio, the gap between male and female registered births in India fell further in 2012 and 2013, new official data suggest.

India’s Civil Registration System (CRS), administered by the office of the Registrar General of India, which also conducts the decadal census, comprises all officially registered birth and death data. It is mandatory to register all births and deaths within 21 days of their occurrence.

Official registration of these events has been improving across the country, and in 2013, the RGI estimated that 85.5 per cent of all births are now registered, with 17 States estimated to be registering all births, but Bihar and Uttar Pradesh struggling with only 57.4 per cent and 68.6 per cent registrations. “As the level of registration improves, we would anticipate that the sex ratio also should improve, because people are normally less likely to register female births,” a senior census official said.

However, since 2011, when the census found India’s child sex ratio at birth to have fallen to 910 girls for every 1,000 boys, the situation may have worsened. Newly released CRS data show that the sex ratio of registered births fell from 909 in 2011 to 908 the next year and 898 in 2013. Manipur and Haryana do particularly badly, as do Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

There are, demographers caution, problems with using CRS data on the sex ratio. For one, it counts registered births only and since girls are less likely to be officially registered than boys, the sex ratio derived from the CRS is artificially depressed. Secondly, the RGI’s Sample Registration System (SRS), which selects a nationally representative sample to derive data on births and deaths, is considered to be more rigorous than the CRS which relies on local authorities. A comparison of the data does indicate a small difference between CRS and SRS for the same years, and large differences at the State level between CRS and census data. CRS data are also at times prone to wide year-on-year variation at the State level.

However, the new CRS data too should alert governments to the fact that India’s law against prenatal sex determination-driven terminations is not working, activists say. “There is a lot of resistance among doctors and in many places, the Act is simply not being implemented,” says Dr. Sabu George, India’s leading campaigner against sex-selective abortions.

“Moreover, what’s happening now is that gender determination for even the first pregnancy has started to happen,” Dr. George says. Others agree; as families get smaller, the pressure for one of the family’s two children to be a boy escalates.

Practice Management (Plan to Grow)

Plan to Grow

By

Ed Finkel
(Source: Illinois Bar Journal)

Do you plan or merely react? Do you manage your practice or does it manage you? Lawyers and practice advisers preach the importance of strategic planning to long-term success.

While nothing is guaranteed in life or law, attorneys and firm management consultants say taking a step back and looking at the big picture, whether you're a solo practitioner or at a large firm, is essential to knowing where you've been, where you're going - and how you will keep growing. And such a strategic planning process is the best way to achieve success in the long run, even if it seems like you've been doing just fine dealing with the day to day.

 
Managing change. "The world is complicated. It doesn't stay the same forever," says Craig Caldwell, department chair in marketing and management at Butler University and a speaker on strategic planning for law firms at the April 16 Solo & Small Firm Institute program in Peoria (see sidebar). "Firms can get blindsided by getting too down into the weeds of their business. It's necessary at times, for the livelihood and success of the firm, to pop your head up, see what's going on in the marketplace, and see whether your firm needs to make some changes."

Lack of strategic planning might not negatively impact a law firm as quickly as another type of business - say, a technology firm - because of the highly regulated legal environment, which provides a buffer of sorts from economic and other changes, Caldwell says. "But if there are aspirations for growth, or skill sets within the law firm that simply aren't as in demand as they used to be, you're going to find yourself in a scenario where strategic planning is going to be critical," he says.

One current scenario that's affecting consumer-oriented firms in particular is the trend toward websites that help people handle some of their own legal matters, Caldwell says. "They have a choice to make - do we find other ways to get those dollars that we've lost to law.com, or do we join that site?" he says. "If we decide the Internet's the thing, let's chase that business."

The most common strategic issue facing firms in recent years has been how to respond to the economic shift in the legal market since the Great Recession, with fewer clients and a tighter bottom line, says John Olmstead, principal at St. Louis-based consultancy Olmstead & Associates.

"The process doesn't change. The need for strategic planning doesn't change," he says. "Sometimes what changes is the fundamentals and what's going on, and what firms need to develop strategies to deal with. In recent years, most of the challenges firms are having are the same, everything from pressure on the economics, to resistance from clients to fee increases."

Don't just react - plan. It's easy for firms to lose sight of the big picture as they're working through day-to-day matters, says Terrence Truax, managing partner at Jenner & Block in Chicago.
"You have your nose to the stone, you're working flat out as hard as you can, and it's difficult to step back and ask those important questions: What is my priority? Where do I want to be in 24, 36 months?" he says.
"That doesn't mean you don't react to the moment," Truax adds. "Every day is filled with new opportunities and new curveballs."

For smaller firms and solos, there's always a temptation to do nothing but react to the moment, says Bill Wilson, principal at The Law Offices of Wilson & Wilson and The Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law, based in west suburban LaGrange.

"But then you're just going to work each day and letting your environment dictate to you how you're going to manage and work your law firm," Wilson says. A strategic plan provides "a guidebook where you're intentionally doing things to get you to a certain point, instead of having clients or other external forces dictate to you where you're going," he says.

When it comes to planning, firm size matters

Olmstead figures that probably three quarters of large firms have strategic plans, while mid-sized firms in the 50-attorney range are closer to 50-50, with the likelihood shrinking to 15 percent or less of firms with 10 attorneys and fewer. "Different approaches to strategic planning [for different-sized firms] would be appropriate," he says. "The challenges and issues are different."

Big firms hire big help. In larger firms, top partners typically sit down, figure out where their practice has been growing and where it's become stagnant, and decide whether and how to recast lines of business that fall into the latter category, Caldwell says. His talks aren't tailored to large firms because "they have a lot of their own educational systems - they hire some hotshots and bring them in and pay them a lot of money to walk them through the strategy," he says.

Jenner has its practice broadly divided between litigation and business transactions groups, with several disciplines in each, and at the beginning of each year each group develops its own strategic plan. Those are then "vetted and cross-examined, and people are being encouraged and challenged in a positive way," Truax says.

"We ask all the basic questions any business enterprise would be asking. What do we look like today? What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? Where do we want to be in 12 months, and in five years?"

The plans are revisited throughout the year iteratively, Truax says, which "requires focus and discipline, making sure everybody stays on message. They're refined throughout the year; we ask people to pull together their plans and test them."

Smaller firms - breaking out of crisis-management mode. In smaller firms, there are fewer people involved and fewer decisions to make but also less time, Caldwell says. "People don't engage with the same discipline because they're doing work," he says. "They're fighting fires, meeting deadlines, getting things filed in court." Plus, he adds, "They don't have the resources to hire an expert to do it for them."

Small firm attorneys need to pick out a time and day, on a regular interval, to pop their heads out and look around, Caldwell says. "It requires the discipline to say, Friday afternoon, from noon to 5, we're going to sit down, and not be billable, and work through some stuff about what we're going to be when we grow up," he says. "Three to five years from now, what are we going to be doing?"

Wilson finds it very important to "disconnect" when he creates his strategic plans, "meaning I get off premises," he says. "I need to do that where the phone isn't ringing, or I'm tempted to look at my e-mails.
"I go off site and hibernate. Then I come back and talk to the people I need to talk to, my bookkeeper, marketing person, other attorneys, to figure out how are we going to get there, and what do we need to do? I start soliciting some advice. I have my own ideas, but they're more down in the trenches and know a lot of things I don't know, or forgot, or need to keep in mind."

Firms should not confuse strategic planning with crisis management, Olmstead says - and the latter is more urgent. "In some of the smaller firms, especially, I've run across some where I've advised them, 'You guys have so many tactical issues going on in the swamp; you're trying to survive day to day. Until you do some things as far as operations in the short term, maybe you shouldn't think about strategic planning,'" he says. "It's hard to think long term when you can't think through the current day."

For example, Olmstead has worked with firms who have legal accounting software but need to hire a consultant to pull reports for them. "If they're not using technology right, and they can't even pull any basic reports to know how they're performing financially, they can't pull together reports as far as what they're paying their people, if they don't have a website or some of those basic things - and you'd be surprised how many don't. If they've got 14 or 15 attorneys and don't have an office manager in place," they should take care of that first, he says.

The challenge intensifies for solos. Sole practitioners face particular challenges, Olmstead says, because figuring out what they are trying to do and where they want to take their practice - and what steps they need to take to get there - ideally should not be a solo activity. "It's hard to do a long-range strategic plan by yourself," he says. "It's not something you do in one sitting, and you need somebody looking over your shoulder, whether that somebody might be your spouse or your staff person."

Olmstead worked with a solo practitioner in Iowa who did not realize he was only paying his associate of 10 years a $60,000 salary - or that he himself had only cleared $20,000 the previous year. "He sent me his numbers, and I'm looking at the financials, and they're terrible," he says. "When I say I ought to be seeing $300,000 in fee revenue per year, that's an achievable number, and I've got some who are barely doing $100,000. I told one guy, 'I hate to say this, but your effective rate is $45 per hour.' It involves internal analysis and benchmarking."

The importance of implementing - and measuring results

Because attorneys tend to enjoy discussion and debate, the process of putting together a strategic plan can seem natural and appealing, Olmstead says. "The bigger challenge is getting them to implement anything. [The plans] go into books, they go on shelves, and very little happens as a result," he says.
A plan that isn't implemented is only a list of suggestions. Here's how to increase the odds that strategic planning will lead to real progress.

Don't bite off too much. It's important to keep things manageable, Caldwell says. He cautions smaller firms not to take on more than one or two significant strategic initiatives at one time. "To take on more is simply not tenable because there are not enough horses," he says.

That goes for the planning document, too, Olmstead adds. "Most of the [plans] I've done for 15 and 25 attorney firms and under, particularly even smaller ones, will typically be 10 pages or less," he says. "To me, if you can keep them briefer and to the point, as opposed to carrying on and making these things too elaborate, they've got a much better chance of implementation."

Define goals clearly. "If you're going to get into family law going forward, you have to have some ideas about what success is going to look like before you launch it," Caldwell says. "If you're wanting to grow your corporate law practice, maybe it's the snagging of three to five major accounts, something that will let you know you're getting a little bit closer to what the plan had set out for you."

Make people accountable. Be sure to assign responsibility for specific planks of the strategic plan, Caldwell says. "To the extent you can reduce implementation down to metrics that let you know how much progress you're making, that's critical," he says. "And then also, it's important to get back to people in the organization with feedback about how things are going."

Olmstead agrees. "I want to know: When are we going to do it, and whose name am I putting in the box, and when is this task going to start," he says. "It needs to get down to the nitty-gritty, hold people accountable for some of the action items you're going to get done. Otherwise, it's just one of those non-billable activities."

Move quickly. While a larger firm might take six months from the kickoff meeting to the presentation at the end, smaller firms can get such plans finished in a month - and that's probably wise given that they don't have the professional administrators and other support staff in place to help out, Olmstead says.
"They may only have one shot at doing it," he says. "They're not going to have the patience for a time commitment over a period of months. It might have to happen in a retreat setting. You do the pre-work, financial review and analysis, beforehand. And then we lock ourselves up for a day or two in a retreat-type setting and basically work through the whole process."

Measure results. To measure success financially and otherwise, Jenner uses a range of metrics and compares performance throughout the year against the strategic plan, monthly, biannually, and annually, Truax says. "That will guide us as to whether we're moving forward with respect to that strategic objective," he says. "There may be all kinds of reasons why your performance deviates from the plan, but we measure that on an ongoing basis."

What sort of metrics? Wilson's strategic plans go out five years and attempt to project for each year the gross revenue, net income before taxes, the number of people he will employ, and numbers of matters he expects to handle. He measures his marketing success in terms of numbers of articles published, newsletters contributed to, seminars delivered, and new contacts and referral sources. "From that, we would also try to back in the number of new clients we would get each year," he says. "These obviously are all projected goals."

Wilson considers his plans living documents that he revisits continuously to see how well the firm's efforts are matching the vision laid out. "If my plan is to increase estate administration and asset planning, and I see we're putting too much time into real estate, I'm not adhering to my plan," he says. "The reason it's important is because it's a guide for a firm to keep on topic and on goals, so we can always look back and bring it up at a monthly meeting."

Ed Finkel is an Evanston-based freelance writer.

SC puts J&K ban on hold for two months

The Supreme Court on Monday kept in abeyance for two months an order passed by the Jammu Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to ban cow slaughter and sale of beef in the State.

Putting the ban on hold, a Bench of Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy asked the High Court Chief Justice to set up a three-judge Bench to consider the issues afresh and take a decision.

On September 8, the High Court in Jammu had sought strict implementation of certain provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code under which the intentional killing or slaughter of cow or a like animal is a non-bailable offence.

The order had led to widespread anguish and protests in the State.

Subsequently, on September 16, the High Court’s Srinagar Bench issued notice on a separate petition to strike down the very same Ranbir Penal Code provisions banning bovine slaughter.

Transfer BCI functions to expert panel: High Court

In a bid to “purify” the legal profession, the Madras High Court on Monday directed the Union government to consider positively to entrust the functions of the Bar Council of India (BCI) to an Expert Committee headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge.

The Expert Committee, which would comprise academics , legal luminaries, prominent social workers, retired IAS and police officers and doctors shall be entrusted with the functions of BCI permanently or till the Advocates Act is suitably amended, the court said. The court proposed the change noting that the election process failed to elect appropriate persons as members of the BCI resulting in making the Council incapable of handling issues properly.

Besides the suggestion for change of guard, Justice N. Kirubakaran passed a significant order directing the BCI to abolish the three-year law degree course at the earliest and retain only five-year law degree on a par with other professional courses such as medicine and engineering, as the court found that the criminal elements would opt to get or try “purchasing” only three-year law degree as they would normally have crossed the age of 21.

The Judge passed the order while hearing a criminal original petition moved by S.M. Anantha Murugan praying to prevent intrusion of persons having criminal antecedents without legally studying law degree.

Holding that extraordinary situations demand extraordinary remedies, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said, “While dealing with an unprecedented case, the court has to innovate the law and may also pass an unconventional order keeping in mind that an extraordinary situation requires extraordinary measures.” Making antecedent verification mandatory for all law graduates, from their native place and from the place of study, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran said, “The BCI shall not enrol any law graduate with pending criminal cases except bailable and compoundable [ones].”

Persons facing charges punishable with up to three years of imprisonment shall be given only provisional or conditional enrolment, he added.

The court also directed the BCI to direct law institutions not to admit candidates with criminal cases pending, except minor offences.

A blanket ban was also issued to enrol anyone who had been convicted, dismissed or removed from service.

“The BCI shall not conduct the next Bar Council election after the expiry of the present term in 2016 without prescribing minimum qualification like 20 years standing in the Bar, who does not have any criminal background for candidates to contest the Bar elections,” the court said.

Considering the enormously increasing advocate population year after year, Mr. Justice Kirubakaran directed the BCI to reduce the number of seats in law colleges drastically and also the number of colleges.

To ensure smooth functioning of the Bar Associations, the court directed the BCI to withdraw recognition given to various Bar or Advocates Associations for the past 20 years maintaining one court-one Bar Association policy.

“Immediate need to amend obsolete Lokayukta legislation”

Terming corruption as the biggest stumbling block in national and social progress, Rajasthan Lokayukta Justice Sajjan Singh Kothari on Tuesday said there was an immediate need to amend the obsolete Lokayukta legislation.

Stressing the need for zero tolerance towards corruption, he said, the Lokayukta needs more teeth to justify its mandate and provide relief to the complainants.

“Corruption is today the biggest obstacle in development and is pervasive in all the sectors, be it public, private or administrative,” he said, adding, its complete eradication was the only way to ensure good governance in the country.

Mr Kothari said a report of Lokayukta amendment draft had been submitted to the government which formed a committee headed by the Advocate General.

“But even after one and a half years, we are awaiting his report,” he said.

In a meeting with NGOs and voluntary organisations at Jalore, he called upon them to hold camps to spread awareness and sensitise people about corruption and motivate them to combat it.

“Meanwhile, we are soon opening the offices of Lokayukta on divisional level and have also submitted a proposal to further take them to the district level in order to improve the functioning of the Lokayukta and reaching out to the large chunk of the people aggrieved by the corruption in the system,” he said.

Mr Kothari also said unless serious work is done for establishing high standards of public administration and developing fresh values in the system, India cannot attain the coveted place of the world leader. - PTI

Rajasthan Lokayukta stresses the need for zero tolerance towards corruption

Modi will bring uniform civil code, says Vaidya

Senior RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya on Sunday regretted that there had not been a single step in the direction of bringing a uniform civil code in the country even 65 years after the enactment of the Constitution but expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would do it.

Reacting to the recent religious census, the former RSS spokesperson said, “I am not worried about it. But the people, who are worried about it, have reasons to be so. People change religions for marriage. It is incorrect.”

On the concerns of the minority community that their religious rights would be hampered if the uniform civil code is applied, Mr. Vaidya asked if the Hindu Code Bill hampered the religious rights of Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs who were covered under the Bill.

“Have the places of worship of Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs closed after the Hindu Code Bill? They have their religious freedom intact. There is no need to be scared of the uniform civil code. It is there as a Directive Principle of state policy in Article 44 of our Constitution,” stated Mr. Vaidya and appealed to the Muslims to take the lead on this issue.

Mr. Vaidya also questioned the distinctions between the majority and minority communities.“What is the need of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and Minority Commission? Can the Human Rights Commission not take care of the human rights violations of minorities? India is the only country where the majority is branded communal but remember one thing. India is secular because it is a Hindu nation,” he said.

‘People change religions for marriage. It is incorrect.’

Court issues summons to firm officials on American woman’s complaint

A Magistrate of a City Court has issued summons to the chairman, managing director and three directors of a Kolkata-based infrastructure finance company on basis of the allegations of criminal defamation by a former manager of the company, an America-born woman. The complainant has alleged that the highest officials of the company had “sexually harassed” her. The solicitors of the company, SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited, has denied the complaints and claimed that the woman-complainant and her senior had “work related friction.” The officials of the company have been asked to appear before the Metropolitan Magistrate, [20th] Court, on October 6. 

 

The complainant, a 34-year-old Economics graduate, told The Hindu that she expects to get justice as she is following the due processes of law. “I have pleaded for help from the government officers in this time of critical need; I must not give up hope, doing so equates to succumbing to the violations inflicted upon me….I trust the judiciary of this country and I know that the authorities will expedite and bring me justice,” she said. She has obtained the copy of the “court documents” for her “sexual harassment case” against the top management of the company. She claimed to have “proof” against the top management to establish that they are “absconding” and “avoiding facing charges.”

The woman had earlier approached SREI’s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) followed by the first information report at a city police station.