Mayawati’s Statues, Supreme court verdict ready

Mayawati’s Statues, Supreme court verdict ready

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will pass an order on Thursday on the row relating to construction of various memorials and statues of Dalit icons by Mayawati government in Lucknow. It would also pass an order on contempt proceedings against the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary in connection with the row. As Reported by India Today

A bench of Justices H S Bedi and A K Patnaik also asked the UP government to file an affidavit on maintenance works it proposed to undertake at the site though no further construction activities would be permitted at the site until the state High Court decides on the issue.

The apex court said it would ask the Allahabad High Court to consider on a bunch of petitions filed by NGO Gomti Nagar Kalyan Sanstha and other individuals challenging Mayawati government's decision on the making of the memorials.

The two-judge bench decided to pass the orders after hearing at length for the past one week the arguments put forward by the rival sides.

While the UP government had insisted that it had every right to construct the memorials, the petitioners opposed the same on the ground that public money can't be squandered to pander towards the political interests of ruling BSP.

Amitabh Bachchan gets clean chit in land scam

Lucknow, Dec 11 - The Allahabad High Court Tuesday gave a clean chit to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan in the Barabanki farmland scam.

Bachchan had challenged the order of the Faizabad additional commissioner who had dismissed his petition relating to purchase of government farmland at Daulatpur village in Uttar Pradesh`s Barabanki district by claiming to be a farmer.

The Uttar Pradesh government had alleged that Bachchan had committed fraud by claiming that he was a resident of 17, Clive Road, Allahabad, while filing his application for allotment of farmland.

The Faizabad additional commissioner had ruled that the 1993 Barabanki land transfer in Bachchan's name was illegal. - IANS

CBI probe into irregular allotment of Noida plots upheld

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday upheld an order for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the irregular allotment of 1,250 residential plots in Noida to a host of prominent personalities in 2005.

Upholding an October 2005 ruling of the Allahabad High Court, a bench of Justices H.K. Sema and Aftab Alam also endorsed the cancellation of plots and holding of a fresh draw.

In late 2004, the Noida Authority had mooted a housing scheme for common citizens of the country and had invited applications for the allotment of 1,250 plots - of various sizes ranging from 100 sq m to 500 sq m in various sectors in the satellite town on the outskirts of the national capital.

The application fee for the applicants was fixed at Rs.100,000 or more depending upon the size of the plot. There was overwhelming participation with a million applicants.

The draw for allotment was supposed to be held within three months of the last date of application, Dec 31, 2004. But when it was eventually held after repeated postponements, only the influential from amongst the executive, the legislature and the judiciary and a few from the media could make it.

People who were allotted the plots included former chief justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal's daughter-in-Law Sheeba Sabharwal, Samajwadi Party MPs Toofani Saroj, Rewati Raman Singh, Rasheed Masood and Jai Prakash.

Others included state legislators, senior bureaucrats, police officers and lawyers.

Following a hue and cry in the media, Noida Authority cancelled the entire allotment. On some public interest lawsuits, the Allahabad High Court ordered a CBI probe into the matter to fix the criminal liability of officials and politicians in the scam.

Giving bribe equally unlawful: Allahabad High Court

Lucknow, Nov 3 (IANS) While hearing a petition against the greasing of palms for securing a government job, the Allahabad High Court said that giving and accepting bribe are equally illegal.

"Succumbing to the demand for bribe is as unlawful as the demand itself. Those who give bribe in exchange of some favour were as much responsible for the committing of crime as those who accept bribes," Justice A.P. Sahi observed while hearing the bail petition of an accused in a bribery case Friday.

The judge directed the principal home secretary as well as the director general of police to issue necessary instructions to all concerned police officers to also take bribe givers into the ambit of their investigations.

In a joint petition, four people alleged that they had paid Rs.90,000 each to one Tapas Kumar Chakravarty and his wife Gopa who had promised to get them government jobs.

However, the petitioners - Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Jitendra Singh, Shailendra Singh and Kuldeep Singh - said they neither got the jobs nor was the money returned to them.

Sahi directed the police to take action against the petitioners in the same manner as they had done against the accused.

"People who gave bribe to get a job clearly motivated others to adopt the same means as those who took the bribe. This disease needs to be checked or else it would play havoc with the lives of helpless unemployed youth as well as their families," he said.


Related links : Prevention of Corruption Act 1988

High Court halts Mayawati demolition plan

Lucknow, July 10 (IANS) In an extraordinary sitting held at 3 a.m. Tuesday, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court temporarily halted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's plan to demolish a 50 acre sports complex here and expand the Ambedkar Park.

Senior judge Pradeep Kant stayed the eviction of the people staying in the sprawling Ambedkar Sports Complex in posh Gomti Nagar - home to about 500,000 people - and stopped all demolition activity during the sitting held at his residence.

The judge, who constituted a special bench comprising himself and Justice D.P. Singh, fixed 12 noon for a detailed hearing in which all top officials connected with the issue have been summoned.

There was a huge crowd of sportspersons and concerned local residents outside the judge's house to hear his ruling.

The dramatic story began to unfold around 12 midnight when senior government officials landed up with bulldozers and asked the people inside - the hostel houses many national and state level players and other sportspersons - to vacate by 4 a.m. or face demolition.

People from the neighbourhood came out and shouted slogans against Mayawati. Some then got in touch with their lawyers, resulting in the extraordinary court sitting.

The chief minister wants to add the land on which the sports complex stands to the adjoining Ambedkar Park, which is already 108 acres. Architects from Delhi are being consulted and a sum of Rs.3.26 billion sanctioned in the state budget for the job. - IANS