Supreme Court speaks: law takes its course, Sanjay can’t contest

The Supreme Court put Sanjay Dutt’s political debut on hold today, rejecting the actor’s plea to suspend his conviction and sentence under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

The court agreed that Dutt was a “well known cine artiste” with many fans, and that he wasn’t a habitual criminal, but said this did not add up to a case for suspending his conviction.

“In view of the serious offence for which he has been convicted by the Special Judge, we are not inclined to suspend the conviction and sentence awarded by the special Judge in the present case,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan said.

Dutt has been sentenced to six years in prison, and is currently on bail granted by the apex court.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com

A footnote to Aman tragedy: anti-ragging Bill pending since 2005

He alleged ragging death of 19- year-old Aman Kachroo in a Himachal medical college has once again high- lighted the limits of deterrence, either through university rules or even court guidelines. In fact, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has never shown eagerness to come up with a law at the national level.

The Home Ministry too didn’t act on a suggestion of the Supreme Court which, in May 2007, wanted a section to be added to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), making ragging a punishable offence on the lines of Section 498-A which deals with cruelty towards women.

Calling ragging a violation of human rights, a bench of the apex court had said that apart from ragging, abetment to ragging, criminal conspiracy to rag, causing injury, wrongful confinement, use of force, assault as well as sexual offences should also be included in such a section of the IPC. It also wanted the burden of proof in ragging cases to lie on the accused — not the victim.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com

Pak politics boils over: Nawaz barred from polls, brother ousted

Protests erupted across Pakistan today after the Supreme Court barred opposition PML-N chief and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting polls and declared the election of his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab province, as null and void, effectively dismissing him and setting the stage for renewed political confrontation in a country grappling with rising militancy.

Describing the verdict as a “diktat”, Sharif accused President Asif Ali Zardari of hatching a conspiracy against him and challenged him to hold a referendum on the judgment. Within hours of the ruling, Zardari imposed Governor’s rule in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, for a period of two months.

Supporters of the Sharifs took to the streets in hundreds, grappling with police and tearing down Zardari banners and posters.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com/

To Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes add another Scheduled Castes, raise job quota over 50%: Ministry

The Ministry of Social Justice is piloting an amendment in the Constitution to add denotified tribes as a new beneficiary of reservation with the job quota ceiling raised beyond 50 percent — the limit fixed by the Supreme Court — to accommodate them.

In a Cabinet note to the Ministry of Home Affairs this month, the Ministry has asked it to consider the proposal of the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes to provide reservation to them by adding a new Article 342A defining the tribes as a ‘Scheduled Community’.

“Once a denotified tribe is notified as a scheduled community, delete it from the list of scheduled tribe, scheduled castes or Other Backward Castes, as the case may be... Reserve 10 percent of Government jobs for DNTs even if the ceiling of 50 percent is exceeded,” the Ministry restates the recommendations while pushing the First Stage Proposals for Action.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com

OBC quotas in, OBC well-off out

Almost three decades after the Mandal Commission report on affirmative action called for it, the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling today, up- held the UPRs law providing 27 per cent quota for OBCs in IITs, IIMs and other Central educational institutions but said it would not apply to the "creamy layer".

Headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, the fivejudge Constitution Bench unanimously ruled in the Ashoka Kumar Thakur versus Union of lndia case that the "creamy layer" must be excluded from the socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) and continuance of quota under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 should be periodically reviewed after five years.

The Bench upheld the validity of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005, empowering the Centre to come out with the special law for OBC quota in institutions of higher learning. With today's order, reservation in these institutions will go up to 49.5 per cent.

Members of the Bench, which delivered four separate judgements, were unanimous that the 93rd Amendment and the 2006 legislation providing for the quota were "not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution".

The only divergent view was on the constitutional validity of the 93rd Amendment in the case of private unaided institutions. Four judges left the issue open since none of those institutions had approached the court. But Justice Dalveer Bhandari that "imposing reservation on unaided institutions violates the basic structure by stripping

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com

Financial year ends in three Years, Arjun wants Government to release Rs 867 crore today

Despite opposition by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and a Supreme Court stay on more quota in higher education institutions, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh wants the Cabinet to release Rs 867 crore at the fag end of the fiscal year.

With three days left for the fiscal year to come to a close, Arjun Singh has insisted that the money be released in the current financial year so that IITs and medical institutes can be expanded as promised in the 2007-08 Budget.

This is despite a "strong rebuttal" by the Finance Ministry which said that it did not have money to spare during the current fiscal ending March 31. It also said that any approval would violate the fiscal prudence norms (to rein in expenditure) that were circulated to all ministries last November.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper. visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com