Centre opposes commuting sentence of Rajiv Gandhi's assassins

Madras high court on Friday extended the stay on the execution of death sentence on three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case even as the centre stuck to its stand that the trio should be hanged. 

Strongly opposing the petitions by three Rajiv Gandhi assassins challenging their death sentences, the Centre on Friday said the delay in the disposal of the clemency pleas was not a valid ground for commutation of capital punishment.

"However long it may be, is not a mitigating circumstance or can be construed as a valid ground for commutation of death sentence and in any event does not reduce the gravity of the crime," the Centre said in its counter-affidavit in response to the petitions filed by Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.

On August 30, a division bench comprising justices C Nagappan and M Satyanaryanan, had stayed for eight weeks the execution of the trio.

When the petitions came up today, the judges adjourned the hearing on the petitions to November 29 as the Supreme Court was hearing a plea for transferring the petitions to another High Court.

CAG to audit rural development expenditure: Ramesh

All expenditure incurred in rural development works would come under the CAG's scrutiny from next week because people have a right to know how the money was being spent, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

"This is absolutely essential when hundred thousand crore of rupees are spent by the government all over the country for rural development. The people have a right to know...So the expenditure has to be subjected to CAG audit," the Union Rural Development Minister said.

"An announcement to this effect will be made next week," Ramesh told reporters in Guwahati.

Stating that he had three rounds of discussions with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Ramesh said special accountant generals would be assigned for auditing rural funds.

The CAG would also conduct a performance audit of NREGA scheme in eleven states irrespective of the political party in power there, Ramesh said.

"I will demand the highest standards of transparency and accountability in the expenditure of rural development funds," the minister said.

Ansari in Perth for CHOGM summit

Leaders of over 50 commonwealth countries will begin their three day deliberations on Friday on the major challenges confronting the world besides seeking to make the commonwealth more responsive to the concerns of member countries.

Ansari and his wife Salma were received at the airport in Perth by Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Brenden Grills, the Regional Development Minister of Western Australia.

On demands by a section of members to reconsider Sri Lanka as the host of the next CHOGM summit, Ansari a decision to hold the next CHOGM in Sri Lanka was already taken in 2009.

"Well, as far as we are concerned, the decision to have the next CHOGM in 2013 was taken at the meeting in Port of Spain. That is a decision and that is the end of the matter," Ansari told reporters accompanying him to Perth.

The demands for change in venue of the next summit in Sri Lanka has been raised by an influential section of members who have questioned the island nation's record on alleged war crimes during it's fight against LTTE.

Ansari also pitched for an international mechanism to check the scourge of terrorism.

Grand plan to solve euro crisis in doubt

A grand plan to resolve Europe's escalating debt crisis is once again in doubt after officials decided that key parts of the package will not be ready in time for a leaders' summit on Wednesday.

A meeting of European Unions finance ministers, which was to be held just before the summit, was called off.

A summit of EU and eurozone leaders planned for Wednesday evening will still be held, but its conclusions on the grand plan may remain vague without the technical work concluded.

The euro and stocks on both sides of the Atlantic took a dive on the news amid fears that Europe would prove unable, after two years, to get a grip on its debt crisis.

The 17 eurozone countries have not reached final agreement on the details of two key elements of the plan reducing Greece's massive debts and boosting the firepower of the bailout fund, two European officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential. Because of that, the 10 EU countries that do not use the euro won't sign off on a plan to force banks across the continent to raise billion of euros in capital and insisted the meeting of finance ministers be called off, the officials said.

One of the officials said that the eurozone was also still waiting for Italy to take concrete action to control its debts and kick start growth.

"It's a real mess once again," the other official said.

The eurozone is locked into negotiations with banks and other private investors to take losses of as much as 60 per cent on their Greek bond holdings, but negotiators for the banks have indicated that they will no accept losses of that magnitude.

Forcing losses onto banks could trigger big payouts of credit insurance and cause huge turbulence in global markets, analysts warn. At the same time, two schemes to give the USD 612 billion European Financial Stability Facility more firepower by using it to guarantee bond issues from shaky countries like Italy and Spain also still lack detail.

India asks Australia to withdraw travel advisory

Taking serious note of the travel advisories against it, India on Wednesday raised the issue with Australia, asking it to withdraw issuance of such notices which have "disproportionate" language and were contrary to the current tourist trend.

Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna, who is in Perth to attend the CHOGM Foreign Ministers Meeting, held talks with his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd and raised the issue in detail.

Krishna asked Rudd to withdraw issuance of travel advisory for tourists travelling to India.

"The language in these advisory is rather disproportionate and contrary to the current trend of tourism to India," he told Rudd.

Responding to Krishna, Rudd said such advisories were "routine" advice and "we do not have any information of any specific threat to share with India."

According to officials, Krishna is also expected to raise the issue with his other counterparts including Canada and New Zealand.

In the wake of many countries, including US and Australia, issuing travel advisories to their citizens, New Delhi has taken a serious note of the issue, maintaining such notices do not reflect the reality and have adverse affect on the tourism to the country.

India beat England by 95 runs in fifth and final ODI

India win the fifth and final ODI of the five match series against England by 95 runs to clinch a 5-0 win at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday. 

Earlier, Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 75 off 69 balls to power India to 271-8.

England, hoping to avoid a 5-0 series

whitewash after losing the first four games, grabbed wickets at regular intervals after skipper Alastair Cook asked India to bat in the day-night match.

India were reduced to 123-4 before Dhoni hit his way out of trouble, pounding four sixes and three boundaries, to help the world champions put up a challenging total on a sluggish wicket.

The late flourish led by the captain saw India plunder 84 runs in the last eight overs, including 39 off the final 12 balls.

Left-arm seamer Samit Patel claimed three for 57, while Steven Finn took 2-47.
Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane put on 80 runs in 17 overs when England hit back with three wickets without a run being added.
Finn, England's most impressive fast bowler in the series, bowled Gambhir (38) and the in-form Virat Kohli with the first and last deliveries of his sixth over.
In the next over, Tim Bresnan forced Rahane (42) to edge a ball to wicket-keeper Craig Kieswetter, who dived to his right to pick up a superb catch.
Kolkata local Manoj Tiwary, making his first appearance in the series in place of opener Parthiv Patel, scored 24 with the help of four boundaries when he was caught behind off Stuart Meaker.
Suresh Raina helped Dhoni lift the total to 162-4 in the 37th over, before he was run out for 38 by a direct throw from Ravi Bopara.
Patel dismissed Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in successive overs, but Dhoni stepped in to steer India to a competitive total.
England gave seasoned batsman Ian Bell his first game in the series in place of Kevin Pietersen, who has a fractured thumb.

Wheat MSP hiked by Rs 115/qtl, pulses by up to Rs 700

In a Diwali bonanza to farmers, the govt on Tuesday hiked the support price of wheat by Rs 115 per quintal to Rs 1,285 per quintal for the 2012-13 procurement season.

"This decision has been taken after a thoughtful consideration. We hope that this will be a good news to all our farmer friends at the time of Diwali," Law Minister Salman Khurshid told mediapersons after a meeting of the the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in New Delhi.

The minimum support price (MSP) for wheat was Rs 1,170 per quintal (inluding the Centre's bonus of Rs 50 a quintal) in the 2011-12 procurement season (April-June).
The support price of other rabi crops such as barley, gram, masur, mustard seed and safflower has also been hiked by up to Rs 700 per quintal.
Khurshid said the government raised the MSP of rabi crops in a bid to offset the impact of higher input cost, like the hike in labour wages and increase in fertiliser and electricity prices.
He said that the government has attempted a "difficult balance" while fixing the MSP in the wake of high food inflation which is in double digits (10.6 per cent) for the week ended October 8.
"We cannot be completely blind to the fact that there is inflationary pressure. While we balance to farmers, we also ensure that inflation does not get out of hand. This is also the very serious concern for us," he said.
The government increased wheat MSP, notwithstanding opposition from ministries of food and finance which had said the hike could lead to a rise in retail prices.

2G case: CBI does not oppose bail of Kani, 4 others

Bail prospects of DMK MP Kanimozhi and four other accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case appeared to have brightened with the CBI not opposing their being freed by a Delhi court which has reserved its orders for 3rd Nov.

Kanimozhi, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Asif Balwa, Rajiv Agarwal and Bollywood producer Karim Morani, on Monday moved their bail plea in the wake of framing of charges against them in the case.

CBI, which did not oppose the plea of the five accused, however, chose to raise objections on the bail plea of Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa and former telecom minister A Raja's former private secretary R K Chandolia, saying specific charges framed against them carry seven years jail term as maximum sentence.

Giving reasons for not opposing the bail, Special public prosecutor U U Lalit said Kanimozhi and four others faced "specific" charges, apart from the "umbrella section" of 120-B (criminal conspiracy) IPC, which entail only five years sentence as maximum punishment.

"Lets put Shahid Balwa and Chandolia in different category at this stage...I submit, one can make distinction so far as those for whom maximum punishment can be five years and those against whom maximum punishment can be seven years.

"At this juncture, I am opposing the bail pleas of accused Chandolia and Shahid Balwa," Lalit told Special CBI Judge O P Saini on Monday.

Regarding Kanimozhi and four others, Lalit said, "Of course, bail should be granted to them subject to discretion of the court which may impose certain conditions to ensure their presence during the hearings."

On the charges framed against Kanimozhi and four others under section 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC, which carries life term sentence as maximum punishment, Lalit said it was accompanied by the charge of criminal conspiracy as well.

CBI is categorising the five accused as distinct from Shahid Balwa and Chandolia on the basis of maximum sentence carried by the specific charges framed against them apart from the "umbrella section" of criminal conspiracy, Lalit said.

He said the specific charges framed against Kanimozhi and four others, includes offences under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, which carries five years as maximum sentence.

"As a public prosecutor, this is my duty to see that the offences for which these accused (Kanimozhi and four others) are charged carries a maximum punishment of five years. We have no objection. We are not opposing their bail pleas.

"I would humbly submit and request the court to consider the bail pleas of these five accused," Lalit said.

He added, "I do not know how much time each accused has spent in custody but they have at least spent 5-6 months. This court might consider their bail pleas."

The court would pronounce the order on all the seven bail pleas on 3^rd November after advocate Vijay Agarwal, appearing for Shahid Balwa and Chandolia, wrapped up his arguments on their bail pleas.

Senior advocate Altaf Ahmed, appearing for Kanimozhi and Kumar, said as per the 22^nd June order of the Supreme Court, both of them could approach the special court seeking bail after framing of charges.

"As per the Supreme Court order on June 22 in the case of Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, liberty was given to them to file fresh application for bail before the special court after framing of charges," Ahmed said, adding, even the CBI has not apprehended that they could tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses.

Senior advocate Sidhartha Luthra, appearing for Morani, said his health condition is not good, the probe against him is complete and charges too have been framed, so there is no requirement for keeping him in custody.

Chandolia's counsel pressed for his bail saying there is a "social stigma" and if he is kept in jail for long, it might affect the marriage prospects of his two daughters.

Rajeev Agarwal and Karim Morani too endorsed the same plea that their daughters are of marriageable age.

The defence counsel said that after framing of charges, the circumstances have changed as section 420 (cheating) of the IPC has been diluted and after considering this aspect, court should grant Chandolia bail.

The counsel, arguing for Shahid Balwa, Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal, said, "Earlier the court had rejected their bail pleas by citing the reason of magnitude of crime but now the charges have been framed against them and the bail cannot be opposed on this ground."

The counsel said when charge sheet was filed, Shahid Balwa was booked for forgery but the court while framing charges against him has dropped this charge.

Balwa also said he was willing to deposit his 55 percent share in Etisalat DB with the court as prerequisite condition for bail.

"The allegation against me (Shahid Balwa) is that I had off-loaded 45 per cent of my share in Etisalat DB. My equity in the company is much more than that i.e 55 per cent and I am ready to deposit it with the court. Then where will I flee?," he said.

Arguing on bail pleas of Asif and Rajeev, the counsel said these are two persons who are in custody for the longest time as far as supplementary charge sheet is concerned.

"Considering their (Asif and Rajeev) period in custody and that the charges are already framed, court... should grant them bail," he said.

Cash-for-vote scam: HC releases Amar Singh on bail

In a relief to Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, the Delhi High Court on Monday granted bail to him in the 2008 cash-for-vote case but restrained him from leaving the country without its permission.

While granting bail to 55-year-old Singh, who was undergoing treatment at AIIMS under judicial custody, the court asked him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

Justice Suresh Kait also asked Singh to surrender his passport before the trial court which is hearing the cash-for-vote case. The court passed the order on an appeal filed by Singh challenging the lower court's order rejecting his bail plea.

The lower court had granted interim bail to Singh on 15^th September on medical grounds, which continued till 28^th September when the judge ordered his re-arrest while dismissing his regular and interim bail pleas on the ground that he was "stable".

Singh has been booked under under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code in the cash-for-vote case.

(AKS-24/10)

HC stays summoning order against SP MP Rewati Raman Singh

The Delhi High Court has stayed a trial court order issuing summons to Samajwadi Party MP Rewati Raman Singh to appear as an accused in 2008 cash-for-vote scam case.

"The proceedings before the trial court shall be stayed till the next date of hearing that is November 15," Justice Suresh Kait on Monday said while allowing Rewati Raman's plea that he be not forced to appear as an accused before the trial court.

The court, which issued a notice to Delhi police after taking note of the petition, said the "audio-video CDs of the sting operation" be also submitted to it on the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the lower court had brushed aside the clean chit given to Singh in the scam and issued a summon as an accused to him for 3^rd November, saying "there was sufficient material to show that he was a part of alleged criminal conspiracy."

During the day, Justice Kait granted bail to Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, a co-accused, after taking note of his critical health conditions.

Senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for Rewati Raman, said the order of the trial court amount to review of its 24^th August order, which is beyond its jurisdiction.

Opposing the trial court order, he said Rewati Raman is an MP and prior sanction of the Speaker is required to prosecute him, which has not been done in this case.

He further said that as he has been summoned only on the charge of criminal conspiracy under Section 120-B, prior sanction of the state government was also a must.

Challenging the order, he said the court can make a person an accused during the trial or investigation if there was sufficient/substantial evidence against him or her.

However, in the present case, no evidence is available after taking cognisance of the offence.

Rohtagi also said that in the earlier order of trial court and in the charge sheet he was not an accused and only on the basis of the statement of co-accused, a person cannot be summoned as an accused by the trial court.

"When the impugned order was passed, there was no additional material," Rohtagi said citing various provisions of the law and said that in such a case the trial court cannot summon a person.

However, opposing the plea, the probe agency said the court order was not a review as it has not at any stage said that Rewati Raman Singh was not an accused.

He further said the sanction of the state can be obtained at any stage as Singh has not been charge sheeted by the probe agency but the court has taken cognisance of it.

He also said, citing various apex court judgements, that a court can issue summons against a person whose name is not an accused in the charge sheet or he has not been summoned earlier.

PM calls for co-ordinated action to calm global financial and capital markets

Cautioning that the Eurozone crisis could affect the developing countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked Europe and other advanced economies to take "effective and early steps" to prevent the global economy from slipping into a double-dip recession.

He also said that India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA), three leading emerging economies, were united in their efforts to address the deficit in global governance and pressed for enlargement of the UN Security Council to reflect the present day reality.

"The sovereign debt crisis in Europe and recessionary trends in the traditional engines of the global economy - the US, Europe and Japan-- are sending negative signals to world financial and capital markets which are showing signs of distress," Dr Singh said addressing the plenary session of the IBSA Summit in Pretoria.

"Developing countries cannot remain untouched by the negative impacts of these developments. Their ability to address their developmental challenges has been adversely affected," he said.

"We hope effective and early steps will be taken by Europe and other advanced economies to calm the capital and financial markets and prevent the global economy from slipping into a double-dip recession," Dr Singh added.

With G-20 summit in the offing in Cannes early next month, Dr Singh said IBSA countries should cooridnate their positions in the run-up to it to ensure that priorities of the developing economies are adequately reflected in the deliberations of the grouping.

The economic and financial crisis being witnessed in the West was one of the main issues of discussion at the 5th IBSA summit along with reform of the international institutions of governance and the UN.

"We stand united in our efforts to address the deficit in global governance. The United Nations Security Council must be enlarged in order to reflect present day reality and to make it representative and effective in responding to global challenges," Dr. Singh said.

Noting the special salience of the fact that IBSA countries were at the same time non-permanent members of the UNSC, Dr. Singh said the three nations had demonstrated their "cohesion and coordination" on various issues under discussion in the UN, particularly in the context of the developments in West Asia and North Africa.

The visit of an IBSA delegation to Damascus in August this year and their interaction with the Syrian leadership demonstrated the political role which IBSA can usefully play, Singh said, adding "we should build upon this experience."

Talking about the synergies in the three countries, he said despite the global economic slowdown, the three economies have registered a steady growth rate with intra-IBSA trade almost touching the 20 billion dollar mark.

"This augurs well for realising our target of 25 billion US dollar by 2015, and for being even more ambitious," Dr. Singh said.

The Prime Minister described IBSA Trust Fund, to which each country of the grouping contributes USD one million, as a novel initiative through which IBSA countries have been able to share developmental experience with other developing nations in the true spirit of SouthSouth cooperation.

"We should strengthen IBSA's ownership of the projects executed under the Trust Fund and bring their focus back to what was originally envisaged i.e. hunger and poverty alleviation," he said.

"We could consider new projects in areas such as agriculture and agro-processing, environment and energy, including new energy resources. These will help our partner countries in addressing the challenges of food and energy security," he said.

The IBSA Trust Fund projects could also usefully focus on education and skill development, which is a key requirement of almost all developing countries, Dr. Singh said.

The early conclusion of India-SACU-Mercosur Trilateral Trade Arrangement would give a boost to South-South trade and Africa could emerge as a bridge linking South Asia and Latin America, he said.

Underscoring the significance of the IBSA cooperation on environment and climate change issues, Dr. Singh said the BASIC Group comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China has proved to be an effective forum for projecting the viewpoint of the developing world.

"We should maintain the momentum of coordination and consultation in the run up to Durban" climate meet from 28^thNovember to 9^th December, he said.