india legal 30 april 2016

24

NDIA EGAL L April 30, 2016 `100

www.indialegalonline.com

I STORIES THAT COUNT

6856Grabbing Enemy PropertyRamesh Menon

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The Supreme Court has come down heavily on Jalikattu in the name of religious celebrations, then why not fireworks which consume human lives?

—Justice V ChitambareshNaveen Nair reports on the

avoidable tragedy

Th S C h d

UNHOLY INFERNO

KERALA TEMPLE FIRE

Dinesh Sharma Goodbye to E-Waste 64

Kalyani Shankar Mehbooba’s Mission 42

Ramasubramanian Judiciary in the Dock 18

Ajith Pillai’s special report on the real players behind the tax havens 36

PANAMA PAPERS

The Art of FakingShobha John

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

ensured that the stories kept coming. In fact, allthe major stories we broke—ranging from mis-feasance and malfeasance on benches, the judi-cial appointments controversy, executive vsjudiciary, rape and dowry laws, the beef ban,intolerance and sedition debates, dismissal ofstate governments, judicial activism in the crick-et and tele-spectrum scams, the first interviewwith former telecom minister A Raja after hisrelease from prison, animal sacrifice, actorSanjay Dutt’s legal tangles… were solid law-ori-ented stories which we reported and analyzed inour own special format.

Our covers reflect vigor, dynamism and cur-rency. The appreciation from the general publicwas hugely encouraging. But what about thelegal community? Why should lawyers andjudges and law students read India Legal if theycould get the same news elsewhere and unlessthere was something exceptional within its pageswhich was of special interest to them?

We expanded our reach by adapting our sto-ries to the needs of our sister concern, APNNews TV (Tata Sky 481) and added special pro-grams like the daily half-hour Courts and thehour-long India Legal talk show in Hinglish thatairs Saturday nights at 8 pm. Coming Soon: AnEnglish language 24X7 India Legal TV channel.

That our editorial formula, partly planned,partly self-materializing, is working is evidentfrom an agreement signed on April 13 between

HEN we re-launched India Legalas a fortnightly magazine sometwo years ago, dubbing it “India’sfirst politico-legal fortnightly”,we were unsure how long we

could maintain this special niche identity andhow soon it would be before we ran out of goodstory ideas and writers and reporters who couldprovide focused, exclusive content.

Would we turn into a plodding legal tome ora law gazette or a me-too Lex Witness orLegally India or Bar & Bench or a law review?We did not know because ours was a novelexperience. We knew what we wanted—a jour-nalistic magazine and not a handbook or anacademic paper for lawyers. We wanted to tellfast-breaking news, current affairs, investiga-tive and features stories within their legal andconstitutional framework.

The idea was not only to attract lay readersto a novel concept of reporting and editing butalso to hook the legal profession and communi-ty to the product and to make it our core targetaudience. Deft and nimble-footed editors

W

COMING OF AGEINDERJIT BADHWAR

The idea was not only to attract lay readers to a novel concept of reporting

and editing but also to hook the legal profession and community to the product.

4 April 30, 2016

the moot court on their campus which will beaired on our TV channels via campus-based stu-dios and broadcast facilities.

I have already tried to explain the USP ofIndia Legal. Dr BS Bajpai, NLU’s registrar,explained his institution’s USP beautifully: “Wedo not treat our students like inmates. Weencourage them to set creative agendas.”

Bringing the two institutions together, Ihope, will create editorial magic.

India Legal and the iconic NationalLaw University in Delhi. I cannotdescribe its significance, its uniquenessbetter than I did in my pithy Facebookpost that same evening:

“This is a great moment for mynews organization India Legal/APNNews-TV. We just signed an MOUwith one of the world's most renownedlaw colleges, NLU, Delhi, for a jointventure in involving students/faculty/journalists/foreign law schoolslike Columbia and Harvard and visit-ing professors to bring powerful legalnews and opinion to the world. BTWNLU is to law what IIT is to scienceand technology. This month NLUreceived 80,000 applications for 80student (full strength) openings. What a rocketscience campus!

“This is truly a Make-in-India success story(without political showmanship) producingRhodes Scholars and faculty/student exchangessought after by Colombia and Harvard andPrinceton and Oxford. Vice-Chancellor ProfRanbir Singh is a legend in his own lifetime. Itwas an honor to shake his hand.”

Not only will students and faculty participateand help in moving forward the content of IndiaLegal magazine but also participate in seminars,discussion groups, reconstruction of trials from [email protected]

PROUD MOMENT(L-R) NLU registrar Dr BS Bajpai, APNeditor-in-chief RajshriRai, NLU VC Prof RanbirSingh and India Legaleditor Inderjit Badhwarafter inking the pact

(Below) The sprawlingcampus of NLU Delhi

Anil Shakya

INDIA LEGAL April 30, 2016 5

APRIL 30, 2016

Taxing Times Twenty-one years after notices were issued to the Congress and the JanataParty for not filing I-T returns, the Delhi High Court has slammed them andasked them to cough up the money. JAGDEEP S CHHOKAR

Temple Tempest Will the Kerala government have the will to ban fireworks in temples after thedeadly blast in Putingal which killed many and injured scores? NAVEEN NAIR

24LEAD

14

Judiciary in the DockThe Madras High Court suspended a judicial magistrate for graft, sending out a strongmessage to the subordinate judiciary in Tamil Nadu. R RAMASUBRAMANIAN

18

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VOLUME. IX ISSUE. 16

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Editor Inderjit Badhwar

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Executive EditorAjith Pillai

Associate EditorsMeha Mathur, Sucheta Dasgupta

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Chhavi Bhatia Technical Executive (Social Media)

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Anubhav Tyagi

6 April 30, 2016

A Sprawling WebThe Panama leak has exposed heads of state, criminals and celebrities fromacross the world. A report by The International Consortium of InvestigativeJournalists. ProPublica

COURTS

PROBE

A “loyalty form” by an Urdu language council has said that adversecomments against the government by authors and editors in theirbooks could invite legal action. VENKATASUBRAMANIAN

Yet Another Muzzling

REGU

LARS

Cover Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE

Edit............................................................................... 4Quote-Unquote........................................................... 8Ringside.....................................................................9Supreme Court........................................................... 10List of Cases................................................................13Courts......................................................................... 22National Briefs............................................................ 41International Briefs.................................................47Campus Update......................................................... 51Wordly Wise................................................................ 81People......................................................................... 82

The Himachal CM is facing the heat on IT returns and disproportionate assets but blames it all on vendetta politics. VIPIN PUBBY

EDUCATION

The Rajya Sabha recently passed a bill which seeksto debar half of eligible Sikhs from voting for theSGPC. VIPIN PUBBY

Baptism BarRELIGION 78

Follow us on Facebook.com/IndiaLegalMagazineand Twitter.com/IndiaLegalMag


7448

The Panama Papers have brought the focus back on black money, but with the interests of powerful nations involved, can theIndian government successfully investigate it? AJITH PILLAI

36The World of Tax Havens

Virbhadra’s Asset Test

The new E-WasteManagement Rules 2016will ensure that usedproducts are returned to manufacturers who will then be responsible for recycling them safely. DINESH C SHARMA

ENVIRONMENT

Goodbye to E-Waste 64

The center has promulgated an ordinance that lets it seize some 16,000 “enemy properties” even if their heirs are Indian citizensand has also barred courts from hearing their cases. RAMESH MENON

SPOTLIGHT

Govt’s Land Grab 56

Mehbooba’s Mission 42Heading an uneasy alliance with the BJP, J&K’s first woman CM has an unenviable task at hand—keeping the flock togetherand handling trouble on the border. KALYANI SHANKAR

STATES

The Kolkata flyover tragedy has brought to the fore the administration’s apathy and the insensitivity of politicianswho tried to milk the situation for electoral gains. SUJIT BHAR

Deadly Collapse 52

The booming art markethas led to the works offamous painters beingforged and sold byunscrupulous dealersand galleries for crores,with some even beingtaken to court. SHOBHA JOHN

Fakes andFortunes

ART 68

QUOTE-UNQUOTE

“Fire crackers are usedonly for the happiness ofpeople and not god. Godis not deaf. So I wouldsay that it is best to banit completely.”

—Mata Amritanandamayi, spiritual leader from Kerala,

following the firecracker tragedyin Kerala, to CNN-IBN

8 April 30, 2016

“You know what’s the meaning ofTMC? T means terror, M meansmaut (death) and C means corruption.”

— Prime Minister Narendra Modi at anelection rally in Siliguri, West Bengal,

in The Telegraph

“I know I should have handledthis better. I could have handled

this better. I know there arelessons to learn and I will

learn them. Blame me.”—British PM David Cameron,

on his late father’s inclusion inThe Panama Papers, to Tory

activists in London, in The Independent

“You have to be true to yourselfand have a personality thatreflects who you are and unless Iam true to yourself (sic), I cannever be true to others.”

—Priyadarshini Chatterjee, answering her final question: What it

takes to be Miss India, on her way tobeing crowned Femina Miss India

World 2016

“Now they talk of ‘Make inIndia’, ‘Start-up India’ and‘Stand-up India’, but willultimately take the nation to‘sit down, lay down andsleep India’ stage.”

—Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar, referring to NDA

government at the center, in The Times of India

“All these senseless suicides achieve nothing!Life is god’s gift for us to live.”

—BJP MP Hema Malini’s tweet, referring to TV actress Pratyusha

Banerjee’s death

“CBI bothered me a lot. Itsearched my house andalso of my relatives for disproportionate assets.Fields and cattle were alsocounted but they got nothing. In such scenario Ican say that now I am CBI-certified honest.”

—SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav,addressing a gathering at party

office in Lucknow

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot ofthat comes from bad judgment.

—Will Rogers, actor, humorist and newspaper columnist

VERDICT


Aruna

SUPREME COURT

10 April 30, 2016

Karisma Kapoor’s divorce deal

Bring Mallya backThe Supreme Court observed

that liquor baron Vijay Mallyawho owes `9,000 crore taken asloans from various governmentbanks must come back to India.He must initiate a purposeful dia-logue with lenders on the schedulefor repayment. It directed Mallya’scounsel to report the exact date ofhis arrival in India by the next hear-ing on April 26. Mallya is currentlyin London.

The Court also asked Mallya todeclare truthfully all assets ownedby him and his family in India andoverseas, as well as the amount he

is willing to offer in an affidavit by April 21 to prove that he means business.

The directive came after thebanks had turned down Mallya’soffer to pay `2,000 crore upfrontand another `2,000 crore bySeptember this year. However, theywere ready to enter into a freshdiscussion with him on the pay-back issue. But for that they want-ed the Kingfisher Airlines boss tobe brought back to the country. Ifthat was not done, they expresseddoubts about the chances ofrecovering their money.

The protracted divorce processbetween actor Karisma Kapoor and

Sunjay Kapur finally reached a conclu-sion in the apex court recently. Bothsettled for divorce by mutual consentand also ironed out all vexed issuesthat had come in the way of their separation. The Supreme Courtendorsed the deal.

The terms of agreement for divorcewere recorded in the Court which was

also told that Karisma will no longer pursue the domestic violence caseagainst Sunjay and his mother. Theactor said that she will withdraw it withintwo weeks. Based on her testimony, theapex court struck down the FIR filedagainst them.

The couple will now move theBandra court in Mumbai on June 13 fortheir divorce. Karisma and Sunjay gotmarried in 2003.

The apex court gave a clean chit to theReliance Group owned by Mukesh Ambani

in the allocation of 4G spectrum. It struckdown a PIL filed by the NGO, Centre for PublicInterest Litigation (CPIL), that had opposed thegranting of 4G license to Reliance JioInfocomm (RJIL) on the ground that it wasundervalued and resulted in a loss to the exchequer.

The government had in 2013 allowed RJILto offer voice services on 4G spectrum. Theapex court noted that the RJIL was awardedthe license on the basis of a proper auction in2010, attended by reputed companies and noobjections had so far been raised in courts onthe allocation process. It observed that thedecision was based on experts’ view andendorsement from TRAI.

The top court ruled there was no need for ajudicial review on policy matters unless thesewere found “arbitrary, based on irrelevant con-siderations or mala fide or against any statu-tory provisions.”

Clean chit for RJIL


While hearing objections raised by the BCCI over theLodha Committee suggestions to overhaul the

world’s richest cricket body, the apex court made astinging observation. It noted that BCCI did not do any-thing for cricket in India and was only fulfilling its owninterests.

The Court did not budge from its stand that it wastime the BCCI adhered to the recommendations and feltthat it could be done easily. It pulled up the BCCI over itsbiased fund disbursal policy. It noted that states likeGujarat and Goa got huge funds but several others,including Bihar were starved of money. Cricket should bedeveloped uniformly throughout India, the Court noted.

Smelling foul play in money allocation, the Courtdirected that BCCI accounts be vetted by three compa-nies of international standing.

BCCI pulled upfor nepotism

A relook atNirbhaya caseThe Supreme Court was on the same page as the

convicts in the gruesome 2012 Nirbhaya murdercase. The convicts had pleaded that they did not getadequate chance to defend themselves either in the trialcourt or in the Delhi High Court. The Court observedthat there was a need to take a fresh look at all anglesof the case and lawyers well-versed in criminal lawshould take it up for their defense to ensure that therewas no denial of justice.

Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran will representconvicts Mukesh and Pawan while Sanjay Hedge willfight for Vinay and Akshay. All four of them were award-ed capital punishment by the trial court and the deci-sion was later supported by theDelhi High Court. The convictspleaded before the apex courtagainst the verdict whichput on hold the executionin 2014.

Refuting the argu-ment of the convictsagainst the appoint-ments, the apex courtfelt that it had thepower to decide on“amicus curiae” to helpit in any case.

The next hearing is onJuly 18.

The ongoing water crisis in India wastaken up earnestly by the apex court,

with the states as well as the centerreceiving a dressing down from it overapathy in addressing the drought scenarioin the states. It was adjudicating on a PILfiled by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan.

When the center pleaded for anadjournment on the ground that its Addi-tional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand

dealing with the case was not present incourt, the Court was livid and pointed outthat it amply reflected the center’s don’t-care-a-hoot mindset. The ASG hadto quickly present herself at the hearing.

Then it was the turn of Gujarat andHaryana to be in the firing line. The Courtobserved that they had presented “poor”data on drought-affected areas. Gujarattried to put up a defense by citing infor-mation on the villages declared drought-hitand apprising the Court that the NationalFood Security Act was notified from April1. That irked the Court further which

sought an explanation on why the Actcame into force so late when drought con-ditions had emerged last September.

In another hearing, the apex court feltthat there was laxity on the center’s partto implement welfare schemes, like MGNREGS in the right manner in areas hitby drought. It observed that wages weretaking inordinate time to reach workersunder MGNREGS. The Court directed thecenter to place before it the funds slatedfor states under such welfare schemes.

Later, the center released `12,230crore to states under MGNREGS.

Be seriousabout drought

SUPREME COURT

12 April 30, 2016

The Special Investigation Team(SIT) probing into the role of

former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha inthe coal scam probe indicated inits report that there were solidgrounds to believe that Sinha didtry to “derail” the investigationsinto critical coal scam cases.

The SIT was formed by theapex court in July 2015 underformer special CBI director MLSharma. The report was tabledin the apex court in a sealedenvelope.

Advocate Prashant Bhushanhad alleged that Sinha met sev-eral people accused in the coalscam at his residence withoutany investigating officer accom-

panying them. The meetings tookplace when the CBI was filingcharge-sheets. The visitors’diary was cited as evidence.

The probe team’s findings arebased on a threadbare examina-tion of the charge-sheets filed bythe CBI related to the scam whenSinha was in office. It has askedthe court to allow it to scan thepreliminary enquiries that werenot considered for action,allegedly on Sinha’s instructions.

The cases up for scrutinyinclude the allocation of Talabira-II coal mine to Hindalco.Former PM Manmohan Singhname was also dragged in by thetrial court in the case.

SIT report accusesRanjit Sinha

The apex court expressed its concern forsenior citizens and asked the center

about its plans for their shelter, food and healthcare.

The Court took note of a PIL filed byCongress leader Ashwani Kumar whichpointed out the neglect and apathy the elderly

faced from their children as well as their mis-erable existence. The PIL underlined the mea-ger budgetary funds allocated by the centerfor the aged and its sluggish approach towork for the community as several welfareschemes for senior citizens are yet to take off.

No concern for the aged

—Compiled by Prabir BiswasIllustrations: UdayShankar

Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, undergoingtrial for his links with Maoist ultras was granted

immediate bail by the apex court. The Court also blamedthe Maharashtra government for its rigidity in opposinghis bail when all critical witnesses in the case had beenheard and interrogated by the trial court, terming it as “unfair”.

The Court overlooked the objections of theMaharashtra government which pleaded that Saibabamay take to subversive activities that hurt national inter-est. It observed that there is no point in keeping the pro-fessor behind bars, especially when he is physicallychallenged and afflicted by ailments.

However, the apex court ordered that Saibaba must present himself before the trial court wheneversummoned.

Bail for Saibaba

13INDIA LEGAL April 15, 2016

Hearing on the Akshardham Temple case in Gujarat.

The apex court will examine the reference under Article 143 pertaining to the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act,2004 passed by Punjab, terminating all water sharing agreements with the neighbouring states.

The apex court will take up a PIL challenging the ban on theentry of women to Sabrimala Temple in Kerala.

Hearing of a PIL on the constitutional validity of the ScheduleTribes and other traditional forest dwellers (Recognition ofForest Rights) Act, 2006 and also questions on preservationof forest in the context of the above Act.

The apex court will hear a PIL on the prolonged detention ofundertrial prisoners and their condition.

Hearing of a PIL on the large number of Indians being killedby Manipur Police and other security forces while they are injudicial custody, or in stage-managed encounters.

The apex court will take up an appeal challenging directionspassed by the NGT on taxi vehicles plying on the RohtangPass. NGT had asked the concerned government to provideCNG buses for Rohtang Pass. The present limit is 500 vehicles per day.

Hearing a PIL on bad loans advanced by HUDCO and otherbanks to few companies. The Court had made RBI a party tothe case and directed it to provide details of companies whohave defaulted loans of more than `500 crore.

SLP to recover `6,963 crore debts from Kingfisher Airlines filedby consortium of banks. The Court had directed Vijay Mallya todisclose assets and liabilities and rights of his wife and chil-dren. The Court will also want to know the amount he deposits.

Hearing on a PIL in which SC issued directions to the center,state governments, and UTs to implement the provisions ofPersons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection ofRights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

DATE

Supreme Court WP(Crl) 25/2015Adambhai Sulemanbhai Ajmeri & Orsvs State of Gujarat

April 18

April 18

April 18

April 18

April 19

April 22

April 25

April 26

April 26

April 26

Supreme Court Spl Ref 1/2004U/A 143(1) of the Constitution of India[Reg: The Punjab Termination OfAgreements Act, 2004]

Supreme Court WP(C) No 373/2006Indian Young Lawyers Association &Ors vs State of Kerala & Ors.

Supreme Court WP(C) NO 109/2008Wildlife First & Ors vs Union of India & Ors

Supreme CourtWP(C) 769/2013Suma Sebastian (Advocate) vs Unionof India & Ors.

Supreme Court WP(C) 129/2012Extra Judicial Execution Victim FamiliesAssociation (EEVFA) vs Union of India & Ors.

Supreme Court Civil Appeal D 17731/2015Himachal Taxi Operators Union andAnr vs State of Himachal Pradesh and Ors.

Supreme Court WP(C) 573/2003Centre for Public Interest Litigation vsHousing & Urban Development Corp.Ltd & Ors.

Supreme Court SLP(C) 6828-6831/2016State Bank of India and Ors vsKingfisher Airlines Ltd and Ors.

Supreme Court WP(C)116/1998Justice Sunanda Bhandare Foundationvs Union of India.

COURT, CASE NO. & NAME DETAILS

COURT HEARINGS

List of cases to come up from April 16-30, 2016

IN a surprising and rare develop-ment, a division bench of the DelhiHigh Court, passed strictures agai-nst two political parties—the Cong-ress and the Janata Party—21 years

after notices were issued to them by theincome tax department for not filing their IT returns.

On March 23, 2016, a bench comprisingof Justices S Muralidhar and Vibhu Bakhru,passed separate judgments on the same dayagainst these two parties on this issue. Rarelyare political parties pulled up by courts. Thecoincidences don’t end there.

It was on September 20, 1995, that theAssessing Officer (AO) issued a notice to theCongress Party asking it to file its IT return

COURTS/ Delhi/Political Parties

In a surprising development, the High Court here hasslammed theCongress and theJanata Party for tryingto evade income taxand asked them tocough up the required amountBy Jagdeep SChhokar

Taxing Times forCongress, Janata Party

14 April 30, 2016

MONEY MATTERSPoliticians crisscross thousands of kilometers inchoppers during elections,thus spending crores

Photos: UNI

for Assessment Year 1995-96. And it was onSeptember 21, 1995, a day later, that the Ja-nata Party case began with the AO issuing anotice asking it to file its IT return for Ass-essment Year 1995-96.

TAX EVASIONThe notices by the AO were issued, presum-ably, after a PIL was filed by a civil societyorganization, Common Cause, in 1995 alleg-ing that the political parties were not filingIT returns but were enjoying 100 percent ex-emption. The case was heard in 1995 anddecided by the apex court on April 4, 1996.

The apex court had then passed criticalobservations about the functioning of the ITdepartment. Inter alia, it said: “It is obviousthat there has been total in-action on the partof the Government to enforce the provisionsof the Income Tax Act relating to the filing ofa return of income by a political party.” Oneof its conclusions said “that the Income-taxauthorities have been wholly remiss in theperformance of their statutory duties underlaw. The said authorities have for a long peri-od failed to take appropriate action againstthe defaulter political parties”.

The Common Cause judgment describes

the mechanics of the election in very realisticterms: “The general elections—to decide whorules over 850 million Indians—are stagedevery 5/6 years since independence. It is anenormous exercise and a mammoth venturein terms of money spent…The political par-ties in their quest for power spend more thanone thousand crore of rupees on the generalelection (parliament alone), yet nobodyaccounts for the bulk of the money so spentand there is no accountability anywhere.Nobody discloses the source of the money.There are no proper accounts and no audit.From where does the money come no-bodyknows. In a democracy where rule of law pre-vails this type of naked display of blackmoney, by violating the mandatory provi-sions of law, cannot be permitted.”

IT DEPARTMENTIt is likely that the Common Cause case stir-red the IT department into action, resultingin it issuing notices to the Congress and theJanata Party. Both cases were heard over ti-me and the respective Assessment Officers(AOs) passed their orders on March 21, 1997,for the Congress, and March 31, 1998, for theJanata Party. Appeals were filed to the

THE MORE THEMERRIERVoters queuing upto cast their votes.Political parties dealwith huge sums ofpublic money during elections


After going intothe nitty-grittyand pinpointingexactly how theparties took shelter behindutterly irrelevantand baselessarguments, theCourt held thatthe Congressand the JanataParty were liableto pay IT on`25.12 crore and`1.23 crorerespectively.

Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) inboth cases and rejected in July 1998 for theCongress and in February 2000 for theJanata Party. Both parties then filed appealsto the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).The ITAT upheld the appeals in April 2001for the Congress, and in November 2001 forthe Janata Party. The IT department thenfiled appeals in the High Court in January2002 and January 2004 respectively for theCongress and the Janata Party. And the judg-ment of that was given this March.

The two-judge bench of the Delhi HCexhibited great sensitivity about the impor-tance of the case and the issue, stating itclearly in the judgment itself: “The signifi-cance of this case, which has had a chequeredhistory, lies in it being symbolic of the gener-al lack of transparency and accountability ofpolitical parties in this country. By a separatejudgment today the Court is disposing of asimilar case involving the Janata Party for AY 1995-96.”

The 71-page elaborate judgment refers tosome seminal cases and legislations on elec-toral reforms such as the KanwarLal Guptavs Amar Nath Chawla (1975) case, theCommon Cause (1996) case, the Guidelineson Transparency and Accountability in PartyFunds and Election Expenditure issued bythe Election Commission of India on August29, 2014, and the 255th Report of the LawCommission of India submitted in March

2015. The judgment opens with a quotationfrom the KanwarLal Gupta vs Amar NathChawla case: “More than four decades ago,while noting the distortion that large contri-butions of money made to political partiesand candidates could bring about to the elec-toral process, the Supreme Court (made sig-nificant observation) in the KanwarLalGupta vs Amar Nath Chawla case.”

TOUGH OBSERVATIONSAfter going into the nitty-gritty of the currentcases, pinpointing exactly how the politicalparties took shelter behind utterly irrelevantand baseless arguments and ambiguities, theCourt ruled that the Congress and the JanataParty were liable to pay income tax on `25.12crore and `1.23 crore respectively. The “Su-mmary of conclusions” itself runs into 17 points!

The essence of the judgment is capturedeloquently in its concluding paragraph:“Considering that political parties are anessential part of our democracy and are deal-ing in large sums of public money, much ofwhich is unaccounted, the proper auditing ofthe accounts of the political parties is bothimperative [and] critical to the conduct offree and fair elections. The above recommen-dations of the LCI should receive serious andurgent attention at the hands of the executiveand the legislature if money power shouldnot be allowed to distort the conduct of free

“…political parties in theirquest for power spend morethan one thousand crore of

rupees on the general election (parliament alone),

yet… there is no accountability anywhere.

Nobody discloses thesource of the money. Thereare no proper accounts and

no audit.” —SC in Common Cause case

16 April 30, 2016

COURTS/ Delhi/Political Parties

UNDER SUSPICIONCongress, with Narasimha

Rao (right) as PM, wasslapped an IT notice in

1995, seeking its returnsfor the assessment

year 1995-96

IL

INDIA LEGAL April 30, 2016

and fair elections. This will in turn infusetransparency and accountability into thefunctioning of the political parties therebystrengthening and deepening democracy.”

Whether this judgment will “receive seri-ous and urgent attention at the hands of theexecutive and the legislature” is debatablethough it seems reasonably clear that theissue will go to the Supreme Court as boththe Congress and the Janata Party are unlike-ly to accept the verdict.

Notwithstanding that, the Income Taxdepartment seems to have vindicated itselfby persisting with these cases for over 21years. Let’s hope they continue to perseverein their efforts to contribute to the “strength-ening and deepening (of) democracy”.

The judiciary is equally worthy of com-mendation for upholding the rule of law, asclearly enunciated in the Common Causecase. “The political parties are not above lawand are bound to follow the same,” said thisjudgment.

AUDITORS SLAMMEDThe two-judge bench has also commented insome detail on how the chartered account-ants who audited the accounts of theCongress and the Janata Party performedtheir jobs. These comments are far fromlaudatory and specific instances of derelic-tion of their professional duties have beenpointed out. The judgment makes observa-

tions which need to be noted by the Instituteof Chartered Accountants of India who needto take appropriate action.

While considering the estimation of theincome of a political party “with a degree ofcertainty”, the bench observed: “This kind ofan exercise would require collating a vastamount of data which as of now does notexist in the public domain particularly withpolitical parties resisting attempts at bring-ing them within the ambit of the Right toInformation Act, 2005.”

This is a very significant observationgiven the fact that the Central InformationCommission declared six national politicalparties to be public authorities under the RTIAct as far back as March 2013 but none of theparties complied with that decision. Thematter is now under consideration of theSupreme Court.

On the whole, this is a very significantjudgment. One hopes it will be upheld by theSupreme Court if and when it comes upthere, and that the IT department will con-tinue to perform its duty with the same dili-gence it has done in these two cases.

—The writer is a former Professor, Dean,and Director In-charge of IIM, Ahmedabad

LONG DRAWN CASESubramanian Swamy (L) was the Janata Party president till 2013 when he merged it withthe BJP in August 2013 in the presence of party leaders including Rajnath Singh (R)


� As per Section 13A of the Income Tax Act 1961, political parties regis-tered with the Election Commission need not pay income tax. However,this incentive is only applicable if the parties file their income tax returnsevery assessment year along with their audited balance sheet.� Aam Adami Party, Congress and 48 other entities had received notices last February from the IT department for getting funds from "dubi-ous" sources.� Congress had received an IT notice in the National Herald case in 2014.It was asked to explain its tax-free funds to The National Herald and fromthere to Young Indian.� In 2012, the CPM came under spotlight when a national daily allegedthat it was one of the biggest beneficiaries of corporate donations andthe identities of such companies were not revealed. However, the partydenied such insinuations.

—Prabir Biswas

Tax connection

THESE are tough days for thesubordinate judiciary in TamilNadu as the whip has beencracked against erring judicialofficers. On April 1, in a deci-

sive move, the Madras High Court sus-pended KV Mahendra Bhoopathy, judicialmagistrate, Melur (in Madurai district).This was after Bhoopathy passed orders infavor of granite baron PR Palanichamy orPRP as he is popularly known. In fact, theHigh Court had earlier appointed anenquiry committee headed by IAS officer USagayam, which had passed scathing com-ments against PRP for destroying naturalwealth and illegally looting granite. Thecommittee pegged the loss to the stateexchequer at over `1 lakh crore due to thisillegal quarrying.

The issue created a huge furore in thestate and the local media went to town overit. “The huge pressure generated by the

COURTS/

In an unprecedented move, the High Courthere has suspended a judicial magistrate

for corruption. Will this send a message to the subordinate judiciary in Tamil Nadu

embroiled in various controversies?By R Ramasubramanian

Watch Out forBig Brother!

Madras/Corruption Complaints

PULLING NO PUNCHESThe Madras High Courthas declared an all-out

war on corruption within the lower judiciary

18 April 30, 2016

media coverage and protests by a few envi-ronmental groups resulted in the MadrasHigh Court appointing the Sagayam com-mittee. It is against this background thatthe suspension of the magistrate has to belooked at. Though the Madurai Bench ofthe Madras High Court had framed guide-lines for the concerned magistrate to dealwith this matter, he threw caution to thewinds,” said J Sekar, an advocate practicingin Madurai.

The immediate provocation for the sus-pension was not only the magistrate givinga clean chit to PRP but also his direction tothe government to take action against thenMadurai collector for initiating actionsagainst the granite baron. “This challengedthe very authority of the High Courtbecause it was under its directions thatprosecution was initiated against PRP,”added Sekar.

TAKE ACTIONImmediately after PRP got a clean chit, agroup of lawyers met Chief Justice SanjayKishan Kaul of the High Court and made arepresentation. He directed that an enquirybe conducted and two district judges ofMadurai did so and submitted their reportto the CJ. On April 1, the High Court sus-pended Bhoopathy.

In fact, the Madras High Court hadstarted tightening the screws on erringsubordinate judges a year ago. A fewmonths back, a lady special judge of a FastTrack Mahila Court was suspended on theday of her retirement and was not allowedto retire. The High Court directed theCrime Branch Criminal InvestigationDepartment or CBCID of the Tamil Nadupolice to look into the allegations againsther. Accordingly, the CBCID registered anFIR and started an enquiry. Legal circlessay that this is the first time a serving dis-trict judge was facing a CBCID enquiry inTamil Nadu.

District judges are supposed to retire at58. Usually, the practice is that they will begiven a two-year extension. But in the pastone year, the Madras High Court hasrefused to extend the services of at least

IN THE LINE OF FIREJudges return after probingMelur judicial magistrate KVMahendra Bhoopathy (aboveleft) who had favored PRPalanichamy (above right) in the`1 lakh crore granite scam

half-a-dozen district judges. The reason:corruption charges against them.

STRICT ACTIONIn one case, though the administrative com-mittee of the Madras High Court favored anextension for one male judge, it was overruledby a Full Court. In February this year, anotherdistrict judge—TS Nandakumar—was sus-pended following several corruption charges.The suspension would not have received hugepublicity if not for his suicide attempt inTrichy district. In March, another judge wasforced to take compulsory retirement becausehe granted interim bail to a doctor who wasarraigned as one of the main accused in a kid-ney racket. Another lady sub-judge is facingthe heat of the vigilance wing of the MadrasHigh Court for simply under-reporting theactual value of her total assets.


who prayed to the SC to fix decent salariesand establish proper working conditions forsubordinate judicial officers right up to thelevel of district judges. Accepting the plea, theSupreme Court then appointed the KJagannath Shetty Commission and a formalnotification was issued in this regard onMarch 21, 1996.

“The Shetty Commission filed its reportlong ago, and most of the state governments,including Tamil Nadu, implemented its find-ings. Decent salaries were paid to subordinatejudicial officers. Laptops were given. Skill-upgradation courses were conducted at periodi-cal intervals, three office assistants, a vehicleand housing and medical requirements toowere given. In spite of this, there are cases ofcorruption,” said N Ramesh, a former magis-trate and now a practicing advocate in theMadras High Court. “There are several checksand balances to curb the rot. To a large extent,subordinate judicial officers are not allowed toserve in one place for more than three years.”

Interestingly, there is a vigilance cell inthe Madras High Court campus headed by anadditional deputy superintendent of the statepolice. It has a skeletal staff and looks intocorruption complaints against the subordi-nate judiciary. “But in over 99 percent of thecases, FIRs are not filed because there are nofirst-party complainants. They usually getanonymous letters and the matter ends there,”said B Ramanathan, a lawyer in the HighCourt. Even in the suspension of Bhoopathy,no official reason was cited. It’s not clear howlong he will be under suspension and whetheran enquiry will be conducted against him.

To top it, there is the Judges ProtectionAct which is like a shield for judges and pro-tects them against all sorts of complaints.The framers of the Act felt that subjectingjudges to allegations would not only demor-alize them but also destabilize the justice sys-tem of the country. But in the process, all-pervasive corruption has crept into the judi-ciary. In fact, Justice Markandey Katju wrotein his blog that 50 percent of the judiciarywas corrupt.

The action of the Madras HC has sent out astrong message to the over 2,000 subordinatejudicial officers in Tamil Nadu. It is hoped thatthey will reform their corrupt ways. IL

So, how did the subordinate judiciary inthis state become so corrupt? “The role ofadvocates is very crucial in this matter,”revealed a retired district judge from south-ern Tamil Nadu. “If there is a corrupt judge ina subordinate court or in a district court, itmeans that there are many corrupt advocatesin that court. It is these practicing advocates,to a large extent, who not only function asconduits but also nudge and perhaps instigatejudges to accept bribes. During my work inover six districts, the offers mainly camethrough lawyers practicing either in my courtor from the same district.”

Further, he said that cell phones, laptops,television sets, other consumer durables, hardcash and land would be offered as induce-ments. The lawyer “touts” are smart and knowthe personal likes and dislikes of concernedjudges and can gauge their psychology, hesaid. “They are totally focused in this endeav-or. With regard to corruption in the lowerjudiciary, 99 percent responsibility lies withthe lawyers and 1 percent with the concernedjudges,” he added.

SHETTY PANELCorruption in the lower judiciary is an age-old problem in the Indian judicial system andthe Supreme Court had taken steps to rectifythis. One such step was appointing the ShettyCommission to look into the working condi-tion of subordinate judicial officers. It wasinstituted while hearing a case filed by the AllIndia Judges Association and a few others

COURTS/Madras/Corruption Complaints

VOICES AGAINST GRAFT(L-R) Justice Markandey

Katju believes 50 percent ofthe judiciary is corrupt; Chief

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaulwho ordered the probe

against Bhoopathy

20 April 30, 2016

NO HOLDS

BARRED

NDIA EGAL EEEL March 31, 2016

`100

www.indialegalonline.comNISTORIES THAT COUNT

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s cult fest on the Yamuna floodplains has strangulated the riverbed and stirred a legal storm. Dinesh Sharma 10

Marketing Mantras and Mantris

1834

Do intelligence reports have any legal value? by Ajith PillaiJudicial reform: The appeal of National Court of Appeal by Venkatasubramanian

NEETA KOLHATKAR Bohra activists battle against a primitive ritual 54

NAVEEN NAIR Will Kerala’s liquor policy

47

NAVANK S MISHRA Vishnu Sahai Report on Muzaffarnagar riots keeps all politicians happy 40

VIPIN PUBBY Jat violence creates a legal mess

24

ART OF LIVING JAMBOREE

NDIA EGAL EEELMarch 15, 2016

`100www.indialeg

alonline.com

NI STORIES THAT COUNT

A reservations-linked civil war in Haryana has damaged this model state and made

Bharat bleed. Inderjit Badhwar, Vipin Pubby and Venkatasubramanian dissect the

legal, political and social consequences of quota blackmailingReaping a Violent Harvest

12

28To Hell & Back: The Return of Sanjay Baba

Critical analysis of his case by Ramesh Menon

Ajith Pillai recalls an interview with the late Sunil Dutt after his son’s arrest

VIJAY MALLYA Legal Turbulence

Ahead? 56

UNION BUDGET What Jaitley

Really Wants 38

OPEN LETTER Lawyers Condemn Lawyers 42

CS KARNAN

The

Judge 22

Army patrolling

the streets of Jind

JAT REBELLION

12

NDIA EGAL EEL April 15, 2016 `100

www.indialegalonline.com

NI STORIES THAT COUNT

74RELENTLESS ONSLAUGHT

Yamuna flood plains turn an endangered zone

Inderjit Badhwar: Trampling on FederalismAjith Pillai: The Conquering GameMary Mitzy and Navank Mishra: Drama in the Courtroom

Playing with FireUTTARAKHAND CRISIS

TMC Narada Scam Gets Murkier 24

Punjab vs Haryana Fishing in Troubled Waters 29

Medical Malpractice Physician Heal Thyself 66

STATE ELECTIONS: The Battles Begin

Kerala: Scam Politics 32Tamil Nadu: Amma’s Hopes 38Assam: Skirting the Issues 44

K K Paul, governor , Uttarakhand

Amit Shah, president, BJP

Harish Rawat, former CM,Uttarakhand

Vijay Bahuguna, former CM and leader of rebel MLAs

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COURTS

It is a typical case of justicedelayed but not denied. A SpecialCBI Court in Lucknow awardedlife imprisonment to 47 police-men for killing 10 Sikhs in a“fake encounter” in the Pilibhitdistrict of UP and passingthem off as Khalistani mili-tants in 1991.

The CBI, which wasdirected by the SupremeCourt to probe the incident,had chargesheeted 57cops but 10 of them diedduring the protracted trial

period.The policemen held guilty

were from different grades andthe Court slapped different slabs on

them as fines. The station officerswere asked to cough up `11 lakheach, sub-Inspectors `8 lakh, whileconstables needed to pay `2.75lakh each. Incidentally some are nolonger in service.

The Court, however, did not feelthe need to go for capital punish-ment even though the crime washeinous and the CBI had stronglypleaded for it.

The Sikhs were brutally killedafter being forced to get off a luxurybus filled with pilgrims, around 100km from Pilibhit in July 1991. Theywere later shot dead.

The incident took place at a time when Punjab militancy was atits peak.

Justice at last

Acourt in Jammu and Kashmir held awell-known milk manufacturing

company of the Kashmir Valley respon-sible for selling “impure” milk andslapped a `9 lakh fine on it.

The order came in after it found that“detergent, urea and other dangerouschemicals” had been mixed with milk. Italso directed the Commissioner of FoodSafety to stop the company from pro-ducing any milk and have its productsremoved from the market.

Taking a serious view of the matter,the lower court also sent the operationshead of the concerned company,Khyber Agro Farms Private Ltd, to jail for sixmonths. It observed that the sentence wasnecessary as various sections of the FoodSafety and Standards Act, 2006 had beenbreached.

The Court was also convinced that the

Food Analyst of Kashmir, Hamidullah Dar, hadbeen approving the quality of milk produced bythe company, and ordered that he be sacked. Itobserved that there was hardly any doubt overthe offense committed by the company as alle-gations of adulterated milk produced by it hadsurfaced in other courts as well.

Contaminated milk

22 April 30, 2016

The Special Court formed by theSupreme Court for hearing all cases

in the coal block scam that jolted theUPA government, came out with its firstconviction and sentence recently. It heldJharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL) and itsdirectors RC Rungta and RS Rungtaguilty of cheating the government byobtaining the allotment of North Dhaducoal block in Jharkhand by furnishingfalse and forged documents. They weresentenced to a four-year jail term andasked to pay `5 lakh each as fine. JIPLtoo was slapped a fine of `25 lakh.

The Special Court, formed aroundtwo years ago, is handling 21 cases inthe coal block allocation scam. Nine-teen of these have been probed by theCBI while the ED had investigated theother two.

First conviction in coal block scam

The request of Saritha S Nair,accused in the solar scam in Kerala

for a CBI probe into the alleged role ofChief Minister Oommen Chandy wasturned down by the Kerala High Court.

The Court observed that it was apolitically motivated plea consideringthat the state goes to polls on May 16.It also questioned Saritha’s right toseek a CBI probe considering that sheherself had been accused in more than30 cases of amassing crores ofrupees from the public in the name ofsetting up solar panels in the state.

Saritha in her plea had trained herguns on the SIT formed by the state government for probing the solarscam, insinuating that it did not focuson the role of Chandy despite strongevidence and wanted the CM to bemade a respondent in the case.

Shift IPL matches After coming down hard on BCCI and

cricket associations in Maharashtraand Mumbai for using huge amount ofwater for maintaining cricket pitches forthe money-making IPL 2016 matches indrought-hit Maharashtra, the BombayHigh Court ruled that all matches post-April 30 be shifted out ofMaharashtra. In its earlier order, theCourt had allowed the first IPL match inMumbai, on April 9.

The Court observed that the financiallosses accruing out of the decision wasnot as serious as the harm caused tothe people due to misuse of water in astate reeling under drought. It had earlierasked the authorities to think seriously ifmatches could be shifted.

The orders came in response to aPIL which had raised objection to 60lakh liters earmarked for keeping pitchesmatch-ready for IPL at the three venuesin the state.

Observing that it was the responsibil-ity of courts to ensure that the

exact compensation amount decided byclaims’ tribunals in road accidentsreached the victims or claimants, theMadras High Court ruled that theamounts be electronically transferred totheir bank accounts from August 1.This process, it observed, will be muchless time consuming and insure the vic-tims against “delayed compensation” orgetting less than what was actuallyawarded to them.

While citing a clutch of rules andregulations for all motor accidentclaims’ tribunals, the court asked the tribunals to get all bank details (includ-ing IFSC code), address and PAN num-bers of the claimants or victims at thetime of trial.

The Court asked the tribunals tomake sure that once the concernedinsurance company or similar bodiesare held liable for compensation, theamount must be transferred to theaccount of the tribunal through NationalElectronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) or RealTime Gross Settlement (RTGS). It fur-ther held that the tribunal should thentransfer the amount to bank account ofthe victim or claimant through NEFT orRTGS. It asked the tribunals to explicitlymention all bank account details in theircompensation order.

No CBI probeinto CM’s role

Pay compensationthroughRTGS/NEFT

— Compiled by Prabir Biswas; Illustrations: UdayShankar


LEAD/ Temple Tragedy

With more than 110 dead in thePutingal fireworks explosion and

scores injured, will these illegal festivities be stopped or continue to

pander to the majority communityas the state heads for polls?

By Naveen R Nair inThiruvananthapuram

Kerala’s Deadly Inferno

24 April 30, 2016

BY the sheer number of lives lost—110 dead and more than 350 injured—it isundoubtedly the second largest tragedyto hit Kerala. The temple tragedy inPutingal in Paravoor, Kollam district, seta new benchmark in horror as badlyburnt bodies were discovered and people

with grievous injuries rushed to nearby hospitals. Only the2004 tsunami might be a bigger tragedy in terms of thenumber of lives lost.

On April 10 at 3.30 am, Kerala woke up to a macabredance of death as a fireworks display at a local temple wenthorribly wrong. One of the lighted crackers fell into a depot

UP IN FLAMESThe Puttingal Devi Temple premises

moments before the explosion

where unused and high intensity explosiveswere stored. What followed was a loud explo-sion, heard at least two kilometers away, asleaping balls of fire charred to death dozensthat stood in its way. Many others werecrushed beyond recognition by flying con-crete and debris.

As the sun rose, a shell-shocked districtadministration was quick to reveal that thetemple had been denied permission to con-duct the fireworks display. It soon becameclear that what took the lives of so many peo-ple was flouting of laws by the governingbody of the temple which went ahead with the fireworks ignoring all safety concerns.

GROSS NEGLIGENCEMany questions have been raised—why didthe fireworks display which started at 10 pm the previous day go on till the weehours of Sunday morning? Why was it notstopped in spite of policemen being presentat the spot? Why did the district administra-tion turn a blind eye despite denial of permission?

As always, politics came in the way. Withelections hardly a month away, the Hinduvote bank was too precious to be antago-nized. The sitting MLA from the CPI andthe Congress candidate for the upcomingpolls would obviously not wantto intervene as a BJP-backedbacklash would have hurt theirelectoral fortunes. It is believedthat politicians coaxed thepolice to stay silent as the deadly show unravelled. Eventhe district collector’s letter had little value when comparedto the rich electoral haul to be gained.

It wasn’t as if there wasn’tenough resistance to the show.An elderly woman living some60m from the temple had runfrom pillar to post trying tomake the authorities ban thefireworks which had nearlydestroyed her house and othersthe previous year. All her pleasto the police, the district admin-

istration and the state government fell ondeaf ears.

JUDICIAL INTERVENTIONFinally, the judiciary stepped in as thistragedy shook its collective conscience.Justice V Chitambaresh of the Kerala HighCourt wrote a letter to the court registrarseeking to admit a PIL on banning high deci-bel explosives from fireworks display. Thiswas an extraordinary situation as it is rare fora sitting judge to do this. (See Box)

Chitambaresh wrote in his letter: “Life isthe most precious creation on this planet


OFFERING SOLACEModi visits victims of thetragedy at a hospital

� “The Supreme Court has come down heavily on Jalikattu in the name of religious celebrations, then why not fireworks which consume human lives?”

� “The right to profess, practice and propagate the religion of one’s choice under the Art 25 of the Constitution of India does not take in the freedom to use dangerous crackers.”

� “The time is more than ripe for immediate judicial intervention to stop such manmade tragedies by banning the use of high decibel explosive fire crackers.”

� “Rituals and festivals must give way to changing times and the lavish use of dangerous fireworks in the festival-centric state has to be stopped sooner than later.”

Strong indictmentExcerpts of Justice V Chitambaresh’s letter to the Kerala HighCourt registrar:

which cannot be replacedby money and right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of theConstitution of India isvery valuable.” The judici-ary had woken up to evils that need to be doneaway with.

It was obvious that thePutingal temple authori-ties grossly violated theExplosives Act 2008. TheAct clearly states that“there should be no hous-es, schools or hospitalswithin 100 meters radiusof the fireworks display.

Potassium chlorate which is banned in Indiashould never be used”.

The fireworks display was planned on anopen ground belonging to the temple, butwas hardly 50 m away from a colony nearby.This was gross negligence. What’s more,forensic analysts have now confirmed thatpotassium chlorate was used, given theintensity and havoc the blast caused.Annamma John, former assistant director atthe forensic department, Government of

26 April 30, 2016

Playing with fire

Year Location Casualties 1952 Sabarimala 521978 Thrissur Pooram 81987 Thalaessry Jagadnath 27 Temple 2006 Thrissur Pooram 92012 Thrissur Pooram 6

In last three years across Kerala, 213 accidentsinvolving fireworks have been reported and451 people have lost their lives. Some of thefirework tragedies in Kerala:

In 1987, 1998, 1999, 2011, 2012 and 2013,Palakkad saw 50 deaths

Kerala, said: “It is beyond doubt that thetemple had flouted all norms of the ExplosiveAct 2008. Preliminary investigation clearlyshows the presence of potassium chlorateand that too in high quantities. Also the placeis so close to a residential area that any explo-sion can be fatal. It is unbelievable that sucha thing happened.”

TRADITION VS RULESThis is not the first time that temple adminis-trators in Kerala have openly flouted rules inthe name of protecting local traditions. Everyyear when the temple festival season arrives,the debate kicks off. By the end of the season,a few people would have lost their lives duringsome of these pyrotechnic displays which gohorribly wrong. But these issues are hardlyever addressed as the political class in Keraladoesn’t have the will to do it, fearing a back-lash from the majority community.

However, the Paravoor tragedy is certain-ly a rude awakening. That Prime MinisterModi came all the way from Delhi with anarmy of doctors to take stock of the situationtakes the dimension of this tragedy to a dif-ferent level. Some would argue that Modimay have had an eye on the forthcomingassembly elections in the state when he made

LEAD/ Temple Tragedy

IL

the flying visit. But with national and inter-national media picking up the news, post thePM’s visit, this could just be the catalystneeded to stop this malaise forever. Thepolitical class in Kerala may finally have thecourage to act against such festivities, whatwith the season of temple festivals gettingunder way. If the existing rules are notenforced in letter and spirit, more lives couldbe lost.

Kerala is known as God’s Own Country,and it is baffling that God takes predomi-nance over plain logic in India’s most literatestate. The list of such festivities is long in tra-ditional Kerala. Thrissur Pooram tops thelist. (See Box) It is a festival that is touted inalmost all record books for parading the max-imum number of caparisoned elephants,another cruelty that is still under debate. Butperhaps the darker side is the huge fireworksdisplay organized every year to mark the clos-ing of the Pooram, leaving the government,judiciary and the common man mute specta-tors in spite of a number of accidents that havetaken place in the past. And this year too, workis in full swing there to put up yet anothergrand and potentially dangerous show.

SC RESTRICTIONSIt was after the 2006 accident there that theSupreme Court placed fresh restrictions onthe use of firecrackers at temple festivals. Butthe order, jurists now say, had fallen short ofaddressing the fundamental issue of safety. Itonly talked about the permissible decibel lev-els and the use of crackers between 10 pmand 6 am.

Senior high court lawyer Kaleeshwar Rajsaid: “The court seems to have looked at thesound pollution and timings only, not thesafety aspect. Regulation alone won’t help.What is needed is total prohibition of the useof high-grade explosives.’’

A Thrissur-based NGO has now petitionedthe chief and home secretaries of the state tocompletely ban the use of firecrackers duringThrissur Pooram, something the governmentis unlikely to do in an election year. However,there are many devotees who now questionthe spiritual value behind the use of fireworks.As no religious texts call for such extravagantuse of gunpowder and dangerous chemicals,

one wonders what the purpose is. With the judiciary finally cracking the

whip, the state government can heave a sighof relief. The government has wasted no timein declaring a judicial probe and a thoroughinvestigation by the crime branch.Meanwhile the police is conducting raidsacross the state and has seized explosives andgunpowder from various locations. Thesewere meant to be used for temple festivals inthe coming months.

What is now needed is strong politicalwill from the next government to stop thesefireworks during festivals. If not, moreKollams will hit the headlines again andinnocent lives lost.

DANGEROUS COCKTAIL(Above) Unused fireworksstacked outside the templepost the tragedy

(Facing page) Rescue workers and police cleardebris of buildings whichcollapsed in the blaze

It is believed that politicians coaxed the policeto stay silent as the deadly show unravelled.Even the district collector’s letter had little value vis-â-vis the rich electoral haul to be gained.


Giant Leak ofOffshore FinancialRecords ExposesGlobal Array of Crimeand Corruption

AMASSIVE leak of docu-ments exposes the offshoreholdings of 12 current andformer world leaders andreveals how associates ofRussian President Vladi-mir Putin secretly shuffledas much as $2 billionthrough banks and shadow

companies. The leak also provides details ofthe hidden financial dealings of 128 morepoliticians and public officials around the world.

The cache of 11.5 million records showshow a global industry of law firms and bigbanks sells financial secrecy to politicians,fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as bil-lionaires, celebrities and sports stars.

These are among the findings of a yearlonginvestigation by the International Consortiumof Investigative Journalists, German newspa-per Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100other news organizations.

The files expose offshore companies con-trolled by the prime ministers of Iceland andPakistan, the king of Saudi Arabia and thechildren of the president of Azerbaijan.

They also include at least 33 people andcompanies blacklisted by the U.S. governmentbecause of evidence that they’d been involvedin wrongdoing, such as doing business withMexican drug lords, terrorist organizationslike Hezbollah or rogue nations like NorthKorea and Iran.

One of those companies supplied fuel forthe aircraft that the Syrian government usedto bomb and kill thousands of its own citizens,U.S. authorities have charged.

“These findings show how deeplyingrained harmful practices and criminalityare in the offshore world,” said GabrielZucman, an economist at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley and author of TheHidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge ofTax Havens. Zucman, who was briefed on themedia partners’ investigation, said the releaseof the leaked documents should prompt gov-ernments to seek “concrete sanctions” againstjurisdictions and institutions that peddle off-shore secrecy.

World leaders who have embraced anti-corruption platforms feature in the leaked

PROBE/ Panama Papers/ Global Investigations

WORLDWIDE WEB OF FRAUD(L-R) Ramón Fonseca and Jürgen Mossack,co-founders of the Panama-based firm

Millions of documents show heads ofstate, criminals and celebrities usingsecret hideaways in tax havens

28 April 30, 2016

documents. The files reveal offshore com-panies linked to the family of China’s topleader, Xi Jinping, who has vowed to fight“armies of corruption,” as well as UkrainianPresident Petro Poroshenko, who has posi-tioned himself as a reformer in a countryshaken by corruption scandals. The filesalso contain new details of offshore deal-ings by the late father of British PrimeMinister David Cameron, a leader in thepush for tax-haven reform.

The leaked data covers nearly 40 years,from 1977 through the end of 2015. Itallows a never-before-seen view inside theoffshore world—providing a day-to-day,decade-by-decade look at how dark moneyflows through the global financial system,breeding crime and stripping nationaltreasuries of tax revenues.

Most of the services the offshore indus-try provides are legal if used by the lawabiding. But the documents show thatbanks, law firms and other offshore playershave often failed to follow legal require-ments that they make sure their clients arenot involved in criminal enterprises, taxdodging or political corruption….

The documents make it clear that majorbanks are big drivers behind the creation ofhard-to-trace companies in the BritishVirgin Islands, Panama and other offshorehavens. The files list nearly 15,600 papercompanies that banks set up for clients who

want keep their finances under wraps,including thousands created by interna-tional giants UBS and HSBC.

The records reveal a pattern of covertmaneuvers by banks, companies and peo-ple tied to Russian leader Putin. Therecords show offshore companies linked tothis network moving money in transactionsas large as $200 million at a time. Putinassociates disguised payments, backdateddocuments and gained hidden influencewithin the country’s media and automotiveindustries, the leaked files show....

The leaked records—which werereviewed by a team of more than370 journalists from 76 countries—

come from a little-known but powerful lawfirm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca,that has bran-ches in Hong Kong, Miami,Zurich and more than 35 other placesaround the globe. The firm is one of theworld’s top creators of shell companies, cor-porate structures that can be used to hideownership of assets. The law firm’s leakedinternal files contain information on214,488 offshore entities connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories. ICIJ will release the full list ofcompanies and people linked to them inearly May....

Mossack Fonseca’s fingers are in Africa’sdiamond trade, the international art mar-

ket and other businesses that thrive onsecrecy. The firm has serviced enoughMiddle East royalty to fill a palace. It’shelped two kings, Mohammed VI ofMorocco and King Salman of SaudiArabia, take to the sea on luxury yachts.

In Iceland, the leaked files show howPrime Minister Sigmundur DavidGunnlaugsson and his wife secretly

owned an offshore firm that held millionsof dollars in Icelandic bank bonds duringthat country’s financial crisis.

The files include a convicted moneylaunderer who claimed he’d arranged a$50,000 illegal campaign contributionused to pay the Watergate burglars, 29 bil-lionaires featured in Forbes Magazine’s listof the world’s 500 richest people and moviestar Jackie Chan, who has at least six com-panies managed through the law firm.

As with many of Mossack Fonseca’sclients, there is no evidence that Chan usedhis companies for improper purposes.Having an offshore company isn’t illegal.For some international business transac-tions, it’s a logical choice….

The files contain new details aboutmajor scandals ranging from England’smost infamous gold heist to the briberyallegations convulsing FIFA, the body thatrules international soccer.

The leaked documents reveal that thelaw firm of Juan Pedro Damiani, a mem-ber of FIFA’s ethics committee, had busi-ness relationships with three men whohave been indicted in the FIFA scandal—former FIFA vice president EugenioFigueredo and Hugo and Mariano Jinkis,the father-son team accused of payingbribes to win broadcast rights to LatinAmerican soccer events. The records showthat Damiani’s law firm in Uruguay repre-sented an offshore company linked to

HALL OF SHAME: Kin of Chinese President Xi Jinping and British PM David Cameron are named inthe Panama files

Mossack Fonseca’sfingers are in Africa’sdiamond trade and

other businesses thatthrive on secrecy.


the Jinkises and seven companies linked toFigueredo….

The world’s best soccer player, LionelMessi, is also found in the documents. Therecords show Messi and his father wereowners of a Panama company: Mega StarEnterprises Inc. This adds a new name to the list of shell companies known to be linked to Messi. His offshore dealingsare currently the target of a tax evasion casein Spain.

Whether they’re famous orunknown, Mossack Fonsecaworks aggressively to protect its

clients’ secrets. In Nevada, the recordsshow, the law firm tried to shield itself andits clients from the fallout from a legalaction in U.S. District Court by removingpaper records from its Las Vegas branchand having its tech gurus wipe electronicrecords from phones and computers.

The leaked files show the firm regularlyoffered to backdate documents to help itsclients gain advantage in their financialaffairs. It was so common that in 2007 anemail exchange shows firm employees talk-ing about establishing a price structure—clients would pay $8.75 for each month far-ther back in time that a corporate docu-ment would be backdated.

In a written response to questions fromICIJ and its media partners, the firm said it“does not foster or promote illegal acts.Your allegations that we provide sharehold-ers with structures supposedly designed to

hide the identity of the real owners arecompletely unsupported and false.”

The firm added that the backdating ofdocuments “is a well-founded and acceptedpractice” that is “common in our industryand its aim is not to cover up or hide unlaw-ful acts.”....

The law firm’s co-founder, RamónFonseca, said in a recent interview onPanamanian television that the firm has noresponsibility for what clients do with theoffshore companies that the firm sells. Hecompared the firm to a “car factory” whoseliability ends once the car is produced.Blaming Mossack Fonseca for what peopledo with their companies would be likeblaming a carmaker “if the car was used ina robbery,” he said.

Until recently, Mossack Fonseca haslargely operated in the shadows. But it hascome under growing scrutiny as govern-ments have obtained partial leaks of thefirm’s files and authorities in Germany andBrazil began probing its practices.

In February 2015, Süddeutsche Zeitungreported that German law-enforcementagencies had launched a series of raids targeting one of the country’s biggestbanks, Commerzbank, in a tax-fraud inves-tigation that authorities said could lead tocriminal charges against Mossack Fonsecaemployees.

In Brazil, the law firm has become a tar-get in a bribery and money launderinginvestigation dubbed “Operation CarWash” (“Lava Jato,” in Portuguese), which

has led to criminal charges against leadingpoliticians and an investigation of popularformer president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.The scandal threatens to unseat currentPresident Dilma Rousseff….

Reporters at Süddeutsche Zeitungobtained millions of records from a confi-dential source and shared them with ICIJand other media partners. The news outletsinvolved in the collaboration did not pay forthe documents.

Before Süddeutsche Zeitung obtainedthe leak, German tax authorities bought asmaller set of Mossack Fonseca documentsfrom a whistleblower, a move that triggeredthe raids in Germany in early 2015. Thissmaller set of files has since been offered totax authorities in the U.K., the U.S. andother countries, according to sources withknowledge of the matter.

The larger set of files obtained by thenews organizations offers more than asnapshot of one law firm’s business meth-ods or a catalog of its more unsavory cus-tomers. It allows a far-reaching view intoan industry that has worked to keep itspractices hidden—and offers clues as towhy efforts to reform the system have faltered. The story of Mossack Fonseca is,in many ways, the story of the offshore sys-tem itself.

Before dawn on Nov. 26, 1983, sixrobbers slipped into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse at London’s

Heathrow Airport. The thugs tied up the

BELLIGERENTPOSTURE

((L-R) Iceland PMSigmundur DavidGunnlaugsson is

defiant even inresignation; the

establishment ofRussian President

Vladimir Putin isvehemently

defending him


30 April 30, 2016

security guards, doused them in gasoline,lit a match and threatened to set them afireunless they opened the warehouse’s vault.Inside, the thieves found nearly 7,000 goldbars, diamonds and cash.

“Thanks ever so much for your help.Have a nice Christmas,” one of the crookssaid as they departed.

British media dubbed the heist the“Crime of the Century.” Much of the loot—including the cash reaped by melting thegold and selling it—was never recovered.Where the missing money went is a mys-tery that continues to fascinate students ofEng-land’s underworld.

Now documents within MossackFonseca’s files reveal that the law firm andits co-founder, Jürgen Mossack, may havehelped the conspirators keep the spoils outof the hands of authorities by protecting acompany tied to Gordon Parry, a Londonwheeler-dealer who laundered money forthe Brink’s-Mat plotters.

Sixteen months after the robbery, therecords show, Mossack Fonseca set up aPanama shell company called Feberion Inc.Jürgen Mossack was one the company’sthree “nominee” directors, a term used inthe business for stand-ins who control acompany on paper but exercise no realauthority over its activities.

An internal memo written by Mossackshows he was aware in 1986 that the com-pany was “apparently involved in the man-agement of money from the famous theftfrom Brink’s-Mat in London. The company

itself has not been used illegally, but it couldbe that the company invested money thr-ough bank accounts and properties thatwas illegitimately sourced.”

Mossack Fonseca records from 1987make it clear that Parry was behindFeberion. Rather than help authorities gainaccess to Feberion’s assets, the law firmtook steps that prevented U.K. police fromgaining control of the company, the rec-ords show.

After police obtained the two certifi-cates that controlled the company’s owner-ship, Mossack Fonseca arranged forFeberion to issue 98 new shares, a move

that appears to have effectively wrestedcontrol away from investigators, the leakedrecords show.

It was not until 1995—three years afterParry was sent to prison for his role in thegold caper—that Mossack Fonseca endedits business relationship with Feberion.

A spokesman for the law firm said anyallegations the firm helped shield the pro-ceeds of the Brink’s-Mat robbery “areentirely false.” ….

The offshore system relies on a sprawl-ing global industry of bankers, lawyers,accountants and these go-betweens whowork together to protect their clients’secrets. These secrecy experts use anony-mous companies, trusts and other paperentities to create complex structures thatcan be used to disguise the origins of dirtymoney.

“They are the gasoline that runs theengine,” says Robert Mazur, a former U.S.drug agent and author of The Infiltrator:My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Beh-ind Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel.“They’re an extraordinarily important pieceof the formula of success for criminalorganizations.”

Mossack Fonseca told ICIJ that it fol-lows “both the letter and spirit of the law.Because we do, we have not once in nearly40 years of operation been charged withcriminal wrongdoing.”

The men who founded the firmdecades ago—and continue today asits main partners—are well-known

figures in Panamanian society and politics.Jürgen Mossack is a German immigrantwhose father sought a new life in Panamafor his family after serving in Hitler’sWaffen-SS during World War II. RamónFonseca is an award-winning novelist whohas worked in recent years as an adviser toPanama’s president. He took a leave ofabsence as presidential adviser in Marchafter his firm was implicated in the

Most of the servicesthe offshore industryprovides are legal if

used by the lawabiding.

IT GETS MESSIER(Extreme left) JackieChan has at least six companies managed throughthe law firm

(Left) Soccer starLionel Messi and hisfather also own aPanama company


Brazil scandal and ICIJ and its partnersbegan to ask questions about the law firm’spractices.

From its base in Panama, one of theworld’s top financial secrecy zones,Mossack Fonseca seeds anonymous com-panies in Panama, the British VirginIslands and other financial havens….

An ICIJ analysis of the leaked filesfound that more than 500 banks, their sub-sidiaries and branches have worked withMossack Fonseca since the 1970s to helpclients manage offshore companies. UBSset up more than 1,100 offshore companiesthrough Mossack Fonseca. HSBC and itsaffiliates created more than 2,300....

In its efforts to protect Feberion Inc., theshell company linked to the Brink’s-Matgold heist, Mossack Fonseca used the serv-ices of a Panama-based firm, CharteredManagement Company, run by Gilbert R.J.Straub, an American expatriate who playeda cameo role in the Watergate scandal.

In 1987, as U.K. police were investigat-ing the shell company, Jürgen Mossack andFeberion’s other paper directors resigned,with the understanding they’d be replacedby new directors appointed by Straub’sChartered Management, the secret filesshow.

Straub was eventually caught in a U.S.Drug Enforcement Administration sting

that was unrelated to the Brink’s-Mat case,according to Mazur, the former undercoveragent. During one of his deep-cover stints,Mazur built the case that led Straub toplead guilty to money laundering in 1995.Believing Mazur was a well-connectedmoney launderer, Straub tried to establishhis own criminal bona fides, Mazur says, bydescribing how he’d illegally channeledcash to President Nixon’s 1972 re-electioncampaign.

Nick Kgopa’s father died when Nickwas 14. His father’s workmates at agold mine in northern South

Africa said Nick’s dad had been killed bychemical exposure.

Nick and his mother and his youngerbrother, who is deaf, survived thanks tomonthly checks from a fund for widowsand orphans of mineworkers.

One day the payments stopped.His family was one of many that lost out

because of a $60 million investment fraud

pulled off by South African businessmen.Prosecutors alleged that a group of individ-uals connected to an asset managementcompany, Fidentia, had schemed to lootmillions from investment funds—inclu-ding the mineworkers’ death benefits poolthat was supporting some 46,000 widowsand orphans.

Mossack Fonseca’s leaked documentsshow that at least two of the men involvedin the fraud used the Panama-based lawfirm to create offshore companies—andthat Mossack Fonseca was willing to helpone of the fraudsters protect his moneyeven after authorities publicly linked him tothe scandal.

Ponzi schemers and other fraudsterswho bilk large numbers of victims often useoffshore structures to pull of their schemesor hide the proceeds. The Fidentia case isn’tthe only big-ticket fraud that appears in thefiles of Mossack Fonseca’s clients.

In Indonesia, for example, smallinvestors claim a company incorporated byMossack Fonseca in the British VirginIslands was used to scam 3,500 people outof at least $150 million.

“We really need that money for our son’seducation fee this April,” one Indonesianinvestor emailed Mossack Fonseca in April2007 after payouts had stopped. “You cangive us any suggestion something we cando,” the investor asked in broken Englishafter seeing Mossack Fonseca’s name onthe investment fund’s advertising leaflet....

Mossack Fonseca also created offshorestructures for Steven Goodwin, a man thatprosecutors later claimed had played an“instrumental role” within the Fidentiaswindle. As the scandal broke in 2007,Goodwin flew to Australia, then to the U.S.,where a Mossack Fonseca lawyer met withhim at a luxury hotel in Manhattan to dis-cuss his offshore holdings, the firm’s inter-nal records show.

The firm official later wrote that he andGoodwin “spoke deeply” about the Fidentiascandal and that he had “convinced Good-win to better protect” his offshore compa-ny’s assets by passing them to a thirdparty….

In April 2008, the FBI arrested

There was a patternof covert maneuversby companies and

people tied toRussian leader Putin.


LONG TRAIL OFCRIME

Brazilian policecrack down on

Mossack Fonsecaoffice as part of

Operation Car Wash

32 April 30, 2016

Goodwin in Los Angeles and sent him backto South Africa, where he pleaded guilty tofraud and money laundering. He was sen-tenced to 10 years in prison.

A month after Goodwin’s sentencing, anemployee at Mossack Fonseca suggested aplan for frustrating South African prosecu-tors who were expected to start digginginto assets linked to Goodwin’s offshorecompany, Hamlyn Property LLP, whichhad been set up to buy real estate in SouthAfrica.

The employee proposed having anaccountant “prepare” audits for 2006 and2007 “to try to prevent the prosecutor fromtaking actions against the entities behindHamlyn.” He set off “prepare” in quotemarks in his email. It’s unclear whether theproposal was adopted.

Mossack Fonseca did not answer ques-tions from ICIJ about its relationship withGoodwin. A representative for Goodwintold ICIJ that Goodwin “had nothing what-soever” to do Fidentia’s collapse “or any-thing directly or indirectly to do with the46,000 widows and orphans.”

On Feb. 10, 2011, an anonymouscompany in the British VirginIslands named Sandalwood

Continental Ltd. loaned $200 million to anequally shadowy firm based in Cypruscalled Horwich Trading Ltd.

The following day, Sandalwood assig-ned the rights to collect payments on theloan—including interest—to Ove FinancialCorp., a mysterious company in the BritishVirgin Islands.

For those rights, Ove paid $1. But themoney trail didn’t end there. The same day,Ove reassigned its rights to collect on theloan to a Panama company called Inter-national Media Overseas. It too paid $1. Inthe space of 24 hours the loan had, onpaper, traversed three countries, two banksand four companies, making the money allbut untraceable in the process.

There were plenty of reasons why themen behind the transaction might want itdisguised, not least of all because themoney trail came uncomfortably close toRussian leader Vladimir Putin.

St. Petersburg-based Bank Rossiya, aninstitution whose majority owner andchairman has been called one of Putin’s“cashiers,” established Sandalwood Conti-nental and directed the money flow.

International Media Overseas, whererights to the interest payments from the$200 million appear to have landed, wascontrolled, on paper, by one of Putin’s old-est friends, Sergey Roldugin, a classical cel-list who is godfather to Putin’s eldestdaughter.

The $200 million loan was one ofdozens of transactions totaling at least $2billion found in the Mossack Fonseca filesinvolving people or companies linked toPutin. They formed part of a Bank Rossiyaenterprise that gained indirect influenceover a major shareholder in Russia’s biggesttruck maker and amassed secret stakes in akey Russian media property.

Suspicious payments made by Putin’scronies may have in some cases beendesigned as payoffs, possibly in exchangefor Russian government aid or contracts.The secret documents suggest that much of

the loan money originally came from abank in Cyprus that at the time was major-ity owned by the Russian state-controlledVTB Bank.

In a media conference call, Putinspokesman Dmitry Peskov said the govern-ment wouldn’t reply to “honey-wordedqueries” from ICIJ or its reporting part-ners, because they contain questions that“have been asked hundreds of times andanswered hundreds of times.”

Often, Mossack Fonseca appeared notto realize who its customers were. A 2015internal audit found that the law firm knewthe identities of the real owners of just 204of 14,086 companies it had incorporated inSeychelles, a tax haven in the Indian Ocean.

British Virgin Islands authorities finedMossack Fonseca $37,500 for violatinganti-money-laundering rules because thefirm incorporated a company for the son offormer Egyptian President Hosni Mubarakbut failed to identify the connection, evenafter the father and son were charged withcorruption in Egypt. An internal review bythe law firm concluded, “our risk assess-ment formula is seriously flawed.”

In all, an ICIJ analysis of the MossackFonseca files identified 61 family mem-bers and associates of prime ministers,

presidents or kings.The records show, for example, that the

family of Azerbaijan President IlhamAliyev used foundations and companies

Mossack Fonsecaworks aggressivelyto protect its clients’

secrets—be theyfamous or not.

ERASING EVIDENCEFonseca tried to prove

that its Las Vegas office wasn’t its branch

office at all


in Panama to hold secret stakes in goldmines and London real estate. The childrenof Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifalso owned London real estate throughcompanies created by Mossack Fonseca,the law firm’s records show.

Family members of at least eight cur-rent or former members of China’s Polit-buro Standing Committee, the country’smain ruling body, have offshore companiesarranged though Mossack Fonseca. Theyinclude President Xi’s brother-in-law, whoset up two British Virgin Islands companiesin 2009.

Representatives for the Azeri, Pakistaniand Chinese leaders did not respond torequests for comment.

The list of world leaders who usedMossack Fonseca to set up offshoreentities includes the current presi-

dent of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, whowas director and vice president of aBahamas company managed by MossackFonseca when he was a businessman andthe mayor of Argentina’s capital, BuenosAires. A spokesman for Macri said the pres-ident never personally owned shares in thefirm, which was part of his family’s busi-ness.

During the bloodiest days of Russia’s2014 invasion of the Ukraine’s Donbasregion, the documents show, representa-tives of Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko

scrambled to find a copy of a home utilitybill for him to complete the paperwork tocreate a holding company in the BritishVirgin Islands.

A spokesperson for Poroshenko said thecreation of the company had nothing to dowith “any political and military events inUkraine.” Poroshenko’s financial adviserssaid the president didn’t include the BVIfirm in his 2014 financial disclosuresbecause neither the holding company nortwo related companies in Cyprus and theNetherlands have any assets. They said thatthe companies were part of a corporaterestructuring to help sell Poroshenko’s con-fectionery business.

When Sigmundur David Gunnlaugssonbecame Iceland’s prime minister in 2013 heconcealed a secret that could have damagedhis political career. He and his wife sharedownership in an offshore company in theBritish Virgin Islands when he entered par-liament in 2009. He sold his stake in thecompany months later to his wife for $1.

The company held bonds originally

worth millions of dollars in three giantIcelandic banks that failed during the 2008global financial crash, making it a creditorin their bankruptcies. Gunnlaugsson’s gov-ernment negotiated a deal with creditorslast year without disclosing his family’sfinancial stake in the outcome.

Gunnlaugsson has denied in recentdays that his family’s financial interestsinfluenced his stances. The leaked recordsdo not make it clear whether Gunnlaugs-son’s political positions benefited or hurtthe value of the bonds held through the off-shore company.

In an interview with an ICIJ mediapartners, Reykjavik Media and SVT, Gunn-laugsson denied hiding assets. When hewas confronted with the name of the off-shore company linked to him—WintrisInc.—the prime minister said “I’m startingto feel a bit strange about these questionsbecause it’s like you are accusing me ofsomething.”

Soon after, he ended the interview.Four days later, his wife took the matter

public, posting a note on Facebook assert-ing that the company was hers, not his,

and that she had paid all taxes on it.Since then, members of Iceland’s parlia-

ment have questioned why Gunnlaugssonnever disclosed the offshore company, withone lawmaker calling for the prime minis-ter and his government to resign.

The prime minister has fought back,putting out an eight-page statement argu-ing he wasn’t required to publicly report hisconnection to Wintris because it was reallyowned by his wife and because it was“merely a holding company, not a companyengaged in commercial activities.”

In 2005, a tour boat called the EthanAllen sank in New York’s Lake George,drowning 20 elderly tourists. After the

survivors and families of the dead sued,they learned the tour company had noinsurance because fraudsters had sold it afake policy.

Malchus Irvin Boncamper, an account-ant on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts,pleaded guilty in a U.S. court in 2011 tohelping the con artists launder proceeds of

ICIJ analysis of thefiles identified 61 kins

and associates ofprime ministers,

presidents or kings.

MINING TRUTH State heads arefound to haveheld secretstakes in goldmines


34 April 30, 2016

IL

their frauds.This created a problem for

Mossack Fonseca, because Bon-camper had served as the frontman—a “nominee” director—for30 companies created by the lawfirm.

Once it learned of Boncamper’scriminal conviction, MossackFonseca took quick action. It toldits offices to replace Boncamper asdirector of the companies — and tobackdate the records in a way thatmade it appear the changes hadtaken place, in some cases, adecade earlier.

The Boncamper case is one of the exam-ples in the leaked files showing the law firmusing questionable tactics to hide its ownmethods or its customers’ activities fromlegal authorities.

In the “Operation Car Wash” case inBrazil, prosecutors allege that MossackFonseca employees destroyed and hid doc-uments to mask the law firm’s involvementin money laundering. A police documentsays that, in one instance, an employee ofthe firm’s Brazil branch sent an emailinstructing co-workers to hide recordsinvolving a client who may have been thetarget of a police investigation: “Do notleave anything. I will save them in my car orat my house.”

In Nevada, the leaked files show,Mossack Fonseca employees worked in late2014 to obscure the links between the lawfirm’s Las Vegas branch and its headquar-ters in Panama in anticipation of a U.S.court order requiring it to turn over infor-mation on 123 companies incorporated bythe law firm. Argentine prosecutors hadlinked those Nevada-based companies to acorruption scandal involving an associateof former presidents Néstor Kirchner andCristina Fernández de Kirchner.

In an effort to free itself from the Ame-rican court’s jurisdiction, Mossack Fonsecaclaimed that its Las Vegas office, MFNevada, wasn’t in fact a branch office at all.It said it had no control over the office.

The firm’s internal records... indicatethat the firm controlled MF Nevada’s bank

account and the firm’s co-founders andanother Mossack Fonseca official owned100 percent of MF Nevada.

To erase evidence of the connection, thelaw firm arranged to remove paper docu-ments from the branch and worked todelete computer traces of the link betweenthe Nevada and the Panama operations.....One big worry, an internal email said, wasthat the branch’s manager might be too“nervous” to carry out the effort, making iteasy for investigators to discover “that weare hiding something.”

Mossack Fonseca declined to answerquestions about the Brazil and Nevadaaffairs, but denied generally that it hadobstructed investigations or covered upimproper activities….

In 2013, U.K. leader David Cameronurged his country’s overseas territo-ries—including the British Virgin

Islands—to work with him to “get our ownhouses in order” and join the fight againsttax evasion and offshore secrecy. He couldhave looked no further than his late fatherto see how challenging that would be.

Ian Cameron, a stockbroker and multi-millionaire, was a Mossack Fonseca clientwho used the law firm to shield his invest-ment fund, Blairmore Holdings, Inc., fromU.K. taxes.

The fund’s name came from BlairmoreHouse, his family’s ancestral country estate.Mossack Fonseca registered the investmentfund in Panama even though many of its

key investors were British. IanCameron controlled the fundfrom its birth in 1982 until hisdeath in 2010.

A prospectus for investorssaid the fund “should be managedand conducted so that it does notbecome resident in the UnitedKingdom for United Kingdomtaxation purposes.” ....

Ian Cameron’s tax-haven his-tory is an example of how deeplyoffshore secrecy is woven into thelives of political and financialelites around the world.... Theweight of that self-interest has

made reform difficult.In the U.S., for example, states like

Delaware and Nevada, which have allowedcompany owners to remain anonymous,continue to fight against efforts to requiregreater corporate transparency….

In April 2013, after ICIJ released its“Offshore Leaks” stories based on confiden-tial documents from the British VirginIslands and Singapore, some MossackFonseca customers emailed the firm look-ing for reassurance that their offshore hold-ings were safe from scrutiny.

Mossack Fonseca told customers not toworry. It said its commitment to its clients’privacy “has always been paramount, andin this regard your confidential informa-tion is stored in our state-of-the-art datacenter, and any communication within ourglobal network is handled through anencryption algorithm that complies withthe highest world-class standards.”

(This story was reported and writtenby Bastian Obermayer, Gerard Ryle,

Marina Walker Guevara, Michael Hudson,Jake Bernstein, Will Fitzgibbon, Mar

Cabra, Martha M. Hamilton, FrederikObermaier, Ryan Chittum, Emilia Diaz-

Struck, Rigoberto Carvajal, Cécile Schilis-Gallego, Marcos Garcia Rey, Delphine

Reuter, Matthew Caruana Galizia, HamishBoland-Rudder, Miguel Fiandor and

Mago Torres)

—Courtesy ProPublica

NO SANCTITY FOR LIFEThe sinking of the boat,

Ethan Allen, in New Yorkbrought to light a big

insurance fraud perpetratedby the firm


PROBE/ Panama Papers/Money Trail

While these papers havebrought the focus back on

black money, the harsh factis that big countries are

involved. So how successfulwill the Indian government be

in pursuing a probe?By Ajith Pillai

ThePowers Behind TaxHavens

WILL the sensation-al revelations offinancial fraud inthe Panama Pa-pers bring to bookIndians guilty ofstashing away

black money in the tax haven strategicallylocated between North and South America?The Modi government’s initial reaction to thedisclosures was almost immediate. It quicklyset up an expert team to investigate thePanamanian link after the story broke last

The Cayman Islands

United States of America

36 April 30, 2016

fortnight in the international media. The team drawn from officials of different

arms of financial intelligence, the tax depart-ment and the RBI has been directed to fast-track their probe and report directly to theprime minister. However, a question markhovers over whether the team will make muchheadway given the obstacles before it andwhether it will end up as another exercise inthe selective naming and shaming of politicalrivals and, perhaps, even dispensable friends.

In fact, Union finance minister ArunJaitley almost gave a preview of the shape of

investigations to come when he revealed tothe media in Kolkata that the Congress will beon the backfoot once the probe gets underway. “An impartial multi-agency probe isgoing on. When the details will come out, theCongress will not have many reasons to cele-brate,” he said. Jaitley may have been refer-ring to the fact that the Panama Papers coverthe period from the 1970s to 2015 when theCongress was largely in power and, therefore,its leaders were more likely to be guilty of fun-neling monies abroad.

However, investigators may not be able

United World of Tax Havens

LuxembourgGermany

Lebanon

Switzerland

UAE

Bahrain

Hong Kong

Singapore


to ferret out information easily. A revenueintelligence official told India Legal thatPanama has no tax treaty with any country,including India. So access to documents relat-ing to financial transactions would be virtual-ly impossible.

TOUGH TASKAccording to the official: “If the investigationshave to make any headway, they will have toexamine the method employed to take themoney out of India. Was it through hawala orthrough over-and under-invoicing exports orimports? It will be a tedious and long-drawn-

out process at best. Tracing thepaper trail will not be easy sincetax havens are interlinked andmoney is often parked in oneunder one name and then routedto another in an entirely newaccount in a new name. To add tothe confusion, there are also gen-uine or legally tenable cases offirms opening offices and acc-ounts in Panama or Mauritius.”

Those who have been identi-fied as having accounts in bankdocuments in tax havens can out-right deny it. “If someone saysthat his or her name has beenmisused, the trail will go cold. Itmay make news but without

proper documentation, the case will fall flat.To source documents in this case would bedifficult,” said the official.

The other major obstacle that investiga-tors face is that despite all the internationalposturing on action against tax havens, thetruth is that the developed world is not keento root out black money. This is because taxhavens, according to an estimate by ProfessorJason Hickel of the London School ofEconomics, collectively hide one-sixth of theworld’s private wealth. Also, financial marketsthe world over thrive on hot money or fundstransferred from one country to the other for

Finance MinisterArun Jaitley saidin Kolkata thatan impartialmulti-agencyprobe intoPanama revelations wason and theCongress maynot be pleasedonce the detailscame out.

According to an estimatedone byProfessor Jason Hickel of the LondonSchool ofEconomics, tax havens collectively hide one-sixth of the world’s private wealth.

THE NERVECENTERMossack

Fonseca's officein Panama


38 April 30, 2016

short-term profits. Flow of capital from taxhavens is a major source of financial infusionsinto the stock markets, be it India or the US.

An official in the know of earlier crack-downs on black money told India Legal thatat the root of the problem is that big interna-tional banks and financial institutions thriveon funds from tax havens. In 1992, India allo-wed the use of participatory notes (p-notes)by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) toinvest in the stock market and this led towidespread use of tax havens.

BLACK MONEYP-notes facilitate overseas clients to partici-pate in the Indian stock market but theiridentities are kept a secret even from SEBI,the market regulator. Any dividends or capitalgains collected go back to the anonymousinvestors on whose behalf the FIIs invest instocks. “The P-notes have led to black moneybeing routed to tax havens and then pumpedinto the stock market. Everybody knows whatis happening but no government wants to act.No one demands that the FIIs reveal the iden-tity of the anonymous investors. ManyIndians use this route to pump black moneyinto the stock market and take it out as laun-dered money to deposit in accounts abroad,”says the official.

Rashmin Sanghvi, a Mumbai-based char-tered accountant and a leading tax expert,told a news channel that any crackdown onblack money and tax havens would requiremore than lip service from the internationalcommunity. “Many large international banksand financial institutions thrive on blackmoney. They are the ones that float trusts,participatory notes and other instruments tofacilitate black money inflows and outflows. Itis in their interest that the tax havens contin-ue to flourish.”

Sanghvi pointed out the banks and finan-cial institutions are getting away with thismode of business because they have the sup-port of their governments, be it in Britain orthe US. “Whenever the Indian governmenthas threatened action against P-notes, there isa threat to pull out of the market. That wasthe case in 2010 and it was the case in 2015.Since these financial institutions control themarkets, should they withdraw, there will

India and Panama PapersSome of the prominent persons who figure are:

Harish Salvelawyer, Supreme CourtHe and his family members registeredthree companies in theBritish Virgin Islands(BVI). Salve admits thisbut maintains that hehas made all necessary disclosures in his 2013 IT returns.

Sameer GehlautOwner, India Bulls Acquired London properties through family entities in India,Bahamas, Jersey andUK. Gehlaut, however,says that he paid fulltaxes in India for theseinvestments and alloverseas remittanceswere disclosed to RBI and the Income Taxauthorities.

KP SinghPromoter, DLF: Acquired a companyregistered in the BritishVirgin Islands. He isalso associated withtwo more firms. Aspokesperson for DLF,however, said that allremittances and utilisation of funds weredone in accordancewith FEMA and theIncome Tax Act.

Gautam AdaniChairman, Adani Group His name came upbecause his brotherVinod Adani set up afirm in the Bahamas in1994. The Adani grouphas said that the medialinking its chairman tooffshore entities was adeliberate attempt todraw his name, misleadreaders and to sensa-tionalize the matter.

Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood actorBig B was appointeddirector in at least fouroffshore shipping companies, one in BVIand three in theBahamas. However,Bachchan has deniedthat he was ever adirector in any of them.

Aishwarya RaiBollywood actorShe, her father, motherand brother were registered as directorsof an offshorecompany. The actordenies this and hasquestioned the authenticity of the evidence.


be a crash.”According to Professor Arun Kumar, for-

merly of Jawaharlal Nehru University and anexpert on black money, “the very financialarchitecture of the world is driven by moneythat flows in from tax havens. The big coun-tries and their governments are involved. Forinstance, a large number of tax havens werepromoted by the British after colonizationended in the 1940s to facilitate the flow ofmoney from the rich in the developing worldto the developed world.” He said that disturb-ing this architecture may not be easy since ithas the tacit support of the richer nations andtheir governments.

VAIN EFFORTEven international cooperation in a crack-down on black money may not amount tomuch, although it is being widely discussed inthe context of monies being routed throughtax havens by terrorist organizations.However, despite this concern, almost all theinformation on offshore accounts and shellcompanies, including those in Panama, havecome from whistleblowers rather thanthrough official channels. Therefore, Indianinvestigators would have to establish the papertrail largely on their own steam—they may notmake much headway by rushing off to Panama.

The extent to which tax havens—officialand unofficial—have embedded themselvesinto the mainstream financial system (see box)was revealed in a BBC report last week.According to it, the state of Delaware in theUS has been in the news for being home to9,45,000 firms! The state boasts of easy finan-cial regulation and the “ghost companies” aresaid to be a favorite with those wishing to parkfunds. Similarly, the states of Nevada, Arizonaand Wyoming have been identified in mediareports as so-called tax havens.

The sub-text is that if all this is happeningin the United States, will it be too much toexpect Uncle Sam to help in the global crack-down on black money?

As for the Indian government’s effort, onewill have to wait and see if it will act or will berestrained to act. Immense international pres-sure will bear upon it as and when larger dealscome into focus. There will also be domesticconsiderations.

One damning revelation already in themedia is that kickbacks for certain defensedeals during the United Front, NDA and UPAgovernments were routed through the samemiddleman firm set up in Panama. Any deeperprobe into this would leave many across thepolitical spectrum red-faced. It seems blackmoney like blood circulates through the entirebody of the Indian system. IL

TAX Justice Network isan international advoca-cy group of researchers

and activists who focus onthe problems of tax avoid-ance and tax havens. Itreleased its FinancialSecrecy Index in 2015 onplaces around the world thatprovide safe havens for taxevaders. The countries andterritories are ranked accord-ing to the secrecy providedand scale of activities. Thetop ten tax havens are:Switzerland, Hong Kong,USA, Singapore, TheCayman Islands,Luxembourg, Lebanon,

Germany, Bahrain, UnitedArab Emirates.

Panama is 13th on the listand the UK 15th. Incidentally,the Panama Papers referredto the dealings of just onecompany— MossackFonseca. There are severalother such firms in PanamaCity. According to reports inseveral international financialjournals, many accountshave of late moved fromSwitzerland and other tradi-tional tax havens to trustsand secret accounts inSingapore, the US and Dubai(left). These are believed tobe far safer and secure

Top 10 tax havens

“If someone saysthat his or her

name has beenmisused, the trail

will go cold. It maymake news butwithout proper

documentation,the case will fall

flat. To sourcedocuments in this

case would be difficult.”

—A revenue intelligence official


40 April 30, 2016


NATIONAL BRIEFS

Facilities for Pakistaniminorities in India

Former Punjab and Haryana HighCourt Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal

has been appointed to oversee thework of the Delhi District CricketAssociation (DDCA) for the IndianPremier League 2016. He had servedas a supervisor to the DDCA for the2016 T20 World Cup.

The bench of Justices S Murali-

dhar and Vibhu Bakhru, whichappointed Mudgal in his supervisorycapacity, also directed that formerIndia cricketer Sunil Valson will be the“single point of contact” betweenJustice Mudgal and the DDCA, toensure smooth functioning. The benchhad appointed Mudgal after observ-ing that the stadium did not matchcompliance requirements and didnot have clearance fromvarious civic agencies.

The Delhi government hasdecided to exempt women

from the second phase of odd-even, its vehicle rationingscheme to control pollution inthe capital, which starts onApril 15. This was decided at ameeting of the odd-even coor-dination committee and the

cabinet on April 6, chaired byChief Minister ArvindKejriwal.

The exemption granted to

certain VIPs as well as two-wheelers would also continuein the upcoming phase. OnApril 12, the chief minister will

administerthe “oath ofodd-even” toschool stu-dents and thenext day, civildefense vol-unteers willtake the samepledge.

Union Minister YS Chowdary(left) was issued a non-bailable

warrant on April 7 in connectionwith a complaint filed by MauritiusCommercial Bank Ltd. The warrantagainst the minister of state for sci-ence and technology was issued by

the additional chief metropolitanmagistrate (Nampally, Hyderabad),after he failed to appear before thecourt on three successive occasions.The matter has been posted forhearing on April 26. MauritiusCommercial Bank Ltd had filed acomplaint, accusing Chowdary andothers of “defaulting in repaymentof a loan of `106 crore”.

BSP MP heldin dowry deathcase

BSP MP NarendraKashyap, along with

his wife Devendri and sonSagar, was arrested inGhaziabad on April 7 underanti-dowry laws in connec-tion with the death of hisdaughter-in-law.

Himanshi (below),Kashyap’s 29-year-olddaughter-in-law, was founddead with a gunshot injuryto her head around 11am onApril 6. She was the daugh-ter of ex-BSP ministerHiralal Kashyap and mar-ried Sagar three years ago.The couple have a one-year-old son. HariomKashyap, Himanshi’s uncle,has alleged that she used tobe tortured for not payingenough dowry.

— Compiled by Sonal Gera

NBW againstunion minister

Justice Mudgal tooversee DDCA work

Women, VIPsexempted againfrom odd-even

The Indian government has pro-posed to grant religious minori-

ties from Pakistan staying in Indiafacilities to ease their stay on a long-term visa (LTV). They may soon beissued an Aadhaar card, a PAN cardand driving lisenses. The Pakistaniminorities will also be allowed toopen bank accounts and purchase ahouse in India without prior

approval of the Reserve Bank ofIndia. The home ministry also pro-poses to allow them to move freelywithin the state or union territorywhere they are staying. The fee forregistration of Pakistani minoritiesas Indian citizens will be broughtdown from ` 5,000 (under registra-tion) or `15,000 (under naturaliza-tion) to a uniform amount of `100.

STATES/J&K

This state’s first woman chief minister has hertask cut out. With an uneasy alliance with the

BJP and constant trouble from across the bor-der, she will have to walk a tightrope

By Kalyani Shankar

Mehbooba’s Crown of

Thorns

42 April 30, 2016

FOURTEEN years ago, soonafter Mufti MohammadSayeed took over as thechief minister of J&K, heinvited a few scribes forlunch to his Delhi resi-dence. While the rest of us

sat in the lawns sipping kehwa after lunch,Mehbooba Mufti sat inside the house with hermother. When I asked her why she was notjoining us, she said: “Today belongs to myfather and rightfully so.” Now Mehbooba her-self has become the CM on April 4, the secondMuslim woman to do so after Anwara Taimoorwho headed Assam for six months between1980 and 1981.

Mehbooba was groomed carefully by herfather since 1996 when she contested electionsfrom Bijbehara assembly constituency on aCongress ticket. Mufti was in the Congressthen. It was the height of militancy and people,especially women, were scared to step out oftheir homes.

WOMAN OF THE MOMENTMehbooba Mufti is thefirst woman CM of J&Kand the second Muslimwoman to head anyIndian state

Photos: UNI

FIREBRAND POLITICIANShe became the Congress Legislature Partyleader and was a firebrand politician who eventook on then chief minister Farooq Abdullah.In 1999, when 151 people signed a “vision doc-ument” to launch the People’s DemocraticParty, few people took note of the foundermember, Mehbooba, who was overshadowedby her father. The party which was launchedwith the blessings of Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee grew fast because it was seenas a viable alternative to the Congress and theNational Conference. However, in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, she lost the elections to National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah.

Mehbooba’s political rise was in tune withthe growth of the PDP and she became its facesoon. She was instrumental in the party gettingsupport from south Kashmir. Her pragmatismhelped her project the PDP as a mainstreamalternative to secessionist outfits which func-tioned outside electoral politics. Within threeyears, the PDP came to power with theCongress as its coalition partner.

As per the arrangement with the Congressfor a rotational chief ministership, Mufti hand-ed over the reins to Ghulam Nabi Azad in2005. However, the Amarnath land row thatclaimed over 70 lives in 2008 clinched theissue and the PDP parted ways with theCongress on a bitter note.

But it went from strength to strength. ThePDP increased its tally from 16 seats in 2002 to21 in 2008 to now become the single-largestparty in J&K with 28 seats in the assembly (27after the demise of Mufti Sayeed). The BJP has26 seats.

WOMAN OF SUBSTANCEMehbooba’s political career too was on an up-swing. She became an MP from the prestigiousPahalgam assembly constituency from 2002 to2004 and as vice-president of the party, wasinstrumental in clinching the coalition issuewith the Congress when the PDP-Congressgovernment was formed. She took the initiativeand made that one important call to SoniaGandhi to solve this issue. Again, it was shewho decided that the PDP should pull out ofthe Ghulam Nabi Azad government in 2008.In January 2009, she was elevated as president

of the PDP. Presently, she is an MP from Anantnag.

As for the alliance with the BJP in 2015, shewasn’t much in favor of it but went along andparticipated in finalizing the agenda for gover-nance. Though she dilly-dallied for threemonths after the death of her father in January2016 to show that she was not hankering after power, she finally took the plunge tobecome CM.

Mehbooba articulated this in an address toparty workers recently when she said in achoked voice: “Whether I become the chiefminister or not, the party has to be kept alive.That is the biggest tribute we can give to MuftiSahib who founded the party for the peopleand not for any personal benefit.” She claimedthat her father’s last words during his illnesswere not about the properties he would be leav-ing behind, but about strengthening the party.

Mehbooba knows it is not an easy job for awoman to rule in a male-dominated societylike J&K where even educated women remainin the shadows of their men. But she claimed ina newspaper interview recently: “I don’t thinkgender has anything to do with your capabilityto govern… People will judge you by youradministrative acumen and not gender.”

A DIFFERENT STATENonetheless, J&K is different from otherstates. This is evident from the first


“Whether Ibecome the chiefminister or not,the party has tobe kept alive.That is thebiggest tribute we can give toMufti Sahib whofounded the partyfor the peopleand not for anypersonal benefit.”

— Mehbooba in anaddress to party

workers

HER FATHER’S DAUGHTERMehbooba was groomed carefully by Mufti MohammadSayeed since 1996 when shecontested her first assembly election

assembly election held there in 1951 whenthere were no women registered as voters.The lone woman who contested lost herdeposit. It was only in the 1972 assemblyelections that four women, for the first time,entered the J&K assembly. Since then, thepercentage of women in the assembly hasnever been more than three percent but thenumber of women contesting elections hasbeen on the rise.

Among them, some stand out. AS Dulat, aformer RAW chief, pointed out that duringKashmir's “freedom” struggle, Madre-e-Meharban (Begum Akbar Jahan, wife ofNational Conference founder SheikhMuhammad Abdullah) was catapulted intopolitics and continued to play a key role in theparty up to her dying days. Likewise, ZainabBegum, (leader GM Sadiq’s sister), was a min-ister in Syed Mir Qasim's government, not to

A quarrel between students over a WT20cricket match result inside Srinagar’s

National Institute of Technology (NIT) has snow-balled into the first major crisis for the newJammu & Kashmir government.

The NIT Srinagar campus witnessed unrestwhen Kashmiri and non-resident students had aconfrontation after India lost the WT20 semi-finalcricket match to West Indies on March 31.Some Kashmiri students had reportedly cele-brated the exit of India from the tournament,leading to the clash which left a few injured.

The next day, there were protests and sloga-neering with non-Kashmiri students waving thenational flag on the campus while shouting“Bharat Mata ki Jai”, “Hindustan Zindabad” and“Pakistan Murdabad”. Their opponentsresponded with shouts of “Hum Kya Chahte,Azadi”. Police had to fire tear gas shells and use a baton charge to disperse the groups. The unrest forced the NIT authorities to suspend classes.

Following an assurance from NIT directorRajat Gupta, classes resumed on April 4 with

Mehbooba willneed to manage

the PDP-BJPcoalition. Will the

BJP cooperatewith her and giveher respect? TheBJP is ambitious

and wants to takecredit for

everything doneby the state

government.

Mehbooba’s first test

44 April 30, 2016

OLD TIESGhulam Nabi Azad

resigned after the PDPwithdrew support from

his government in 2008

STATES/J&K

mention Sakeena Itoo, Khemlata Wakhloo,Asiya Nakash and others.

With Mehbooba catapulted to the chiefminister’s chair, the challenges before her aremany. She is wearing a crown of thorns andhas many critics within the party and out-side. Plus, there are many players, on bothsides of the border, who would want to createtrouble for a promising woman leader.Establishing her credibility as an effectiveleader is a huge task but if she succeeds, shewould emerge as a tall Muslim leader.

TOUGH TIMESShe faces several problems. Firstly, she willhave to consolidate her position within theparty and contain dissidence. Then, she willneed to manage the PDP-BJP coalition.Many prophets of doom doubt whether thealliance will sustain till the end of the term.Will the BJP cooperate with her and give herrespect? The BJP is ambitious and wants totake credit for everything that is done by thestate government. The question is whetherMehbooba can implement the Agenda ofAlliance, the pact between both parties, inthe next five years and whether the BJP willfulfill its commitments.

Mehbooba is aware of the magnitude of

the political and economic security in thestate as well as the ambitions of some PDPministers and rising radicalization. The BJPtoo has apprehensions about Mehboobabecause she has built her political career byechoing the narrative of the separatists. Shehas spoken about human rights excesses thattook place there in the 1990s and this haswon her popularity. At a time when legisla-tors were afraid to move freely even in securepockets of J&K, Mehbooba fearlessly trav-elled to the interiors affected by militancy.She visited families of militants and sepa-ratist activists hit by the security forces. In1999, she went to the home of then Hizb-ul-Mujahideen operations chief Aamir Khanwhose teenage son had allegedly been killedin custody by security forces. She can nowdon the role of peacemaker if she can facili-tate dialogue with them.

But the going may not be easy. Her style offunctioning is different from her father’s,

BREAKING NEW GROUNDSheikh Abdullah’s wifeBegum Akbar Jahan wasone of the first women politicians in the Valley


heavy deployment of police and CRPF per-sonnel. But the non-Kashmiri students contin-ued to boycott classes.

On April 5, protesting students tried toleave campus, leading to confrontation withthe police. The students alleged that thepolice lathicharged them, leaving severalinjured. The police, however, said that theywere compelled to use mild force.

On April 6, the central government sent atwo-member panel to the campus to assessthe situation. Union home minister RajnathSingh spoke over phone to chief ministerMehbooba Mufti, enquiring about the situa-tion. Two CRPF companies have beendeployed for the security of the students.

This invited tweets from Mehbooba’sadversaries. “Rushing in a team from HRDministry coupled with the CRPF replacingJ&K police speaks volumes about Delhi'sconfidence in Mehbooba Mufti,” tweetedNational Conference leader Omar Abdullah.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also tooka jibe over this situation.

IL

46 April 30, 2016

Also, Mehboobabelieves in good relationswith Pakistan. Theresumption of Indo-Paktalks is somethingMehbooba can use to bol-ster her own reputationjust as her father did in2005 for starting cross-LoC trade and the Lahorebus service. Any forwardmovement in the dialogueprocess would presentitself as a great opportuni-ty to Mehbooba to firm up her position as a state leader with a nation-al voice.

GRASSROOTS POLITICIANHer main strength is her

connect with the people, particularly women.She has her own identity as a grassrootspolitician and is not just Mufti Sayeed’sdaughter. Whether in power or out of power,she has worked on the ground, voicing theproblems of people. She was humble whenshe addressed legislators after her election asPDP chief ministerial candidate. “Youreposed faith in me. Mehbooba Mufti has nopower. Her strength is you people. Thesewere difficult times, a tough examination. Iexpress my gratitude to all of you for keepingfaith in me.”

There is no reason to believe thatMehbooba will not be successful. The veryfact that she has been unanimously electedleader by of her party despite recent mur-murs of dissent is a tribute to her growingstature and the party’s respect for Mufti Sayeed.

Mehbooba certainly needs support fromall sides—from the BJP, the media, sepa-ratists, the center and above all, her ownparty. It also depends on how she reinventsherself as a ruler. Will she be more flexible?Will she be able to get everyone on board?Will she strive to become a national leaderinstead of confining herself to J&K?

There are interesting times ahead for J&K.

who had more administrative and politicalexperience. He was patient and knew the artof managing things. He was able to convincepeople about the coalition with the BJPbecause of his stature in state and national politics.

HANDLING MODIMehbooba will have to be on the right side ofthe center just like other chief ministers of thestate have done in the past. Also, in the lastone year, she has learnt that the PDP’s sup-port base has shrunk because of this coalition.Not just that, the huge sum of money prom-ised by Prime Minister Modi has not beenforthcoming. Nor did he show common cour-tesies to the ailing Mufti in Delhi. So she willhave to improve her relationship with thecenter. Also, unlike her father, she hasn't suc-ceeded in reaching out to Jammu and Ladakhregions and it will be difficult for her to bal-ance the aspirations of all three regions in thestate—Jammu, Ladakh and the Valley.

The task ahead for her will be to delivergovernance. Victims of the 2014 floods stillawait rehabilitation as funds were not com-ing from the center. The shawl trade in theValley has been hit hard. No industry hascome forward to invest. And the youth arebeset by unemployment.

FRIEND IN NEEDMehbooba Mufti with the

family of PDP sarpanchMohammad Amin Pandit, whowas killed in 2014 by militants

STATES/J&K

UNI

After much deliberation,France will finally make the

purchase of acts of sex from asex worker illegal. The Frenchparliament started debatingthe bill in 2013 but the votingon it got delayed due to con-flicts between the lower parlia-mentary chamber and thesenate. It was finally approvedby MPs. Under the new law,

offenders will be fined andrequired to attend classes onthe ills of prostitution. Initially,a fine of €1,500 for a firstoffense is to be imposedwhich could be raised to€3,750 for a second, and maybe pinned on a person’s criminal record. The law waspassed by 64 votes to 12 withmany MPs absent.

France bans prostitution

INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

Colin Willett, the State Department’s DeputyAssistant Secretary in the Bureau of East

Asian Affairs, has urged China to abide by the international ruling on its territorial claims inthe South China Sea. Bloomberg reports that in a statement made to reporters in Singapore,the diplomat hoped China would uphold itsinternational legal obligations. The ruling is regarding the disputed SpratlyIslands that are too dangerous for habitation.

Philippines, a US treaty ally, has asked the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague to disallow rights to exploit surrounding resources.

The Austrian government is inthe process of drafting a law

enabling the transfer of owner-ship of Adolf Hitler’s birthplacein Braunau am Inn in Austria tothe state.

For the last five years, localresident Gerlinde Pommerrefused to sell the property tothe Austrian government, whosemotive behind this acquisition is

to prevent the site from becom-ing a shrine for the neo-Nazicommunity. Interior ministryspokesman Karl-HeinzGrundboeck told AFP: “We arecurrently examining the creationof a law, which would force achange of ownership and passthe property to the Republic ofAustria. We have come to theconclusion over the past few

years that expropriation is the only way to avoid the building being used by Nazi sympathizers.”

As a protest against anew state law barring

transgenders from choosingbathrooms according totheir discretion, musicianBruce Springsteen canceleda weekend concert in NorthCarolina. Springsteen,known for his low-key politi-cal activism, said in an

online statement: “Somethings are more importantthan a rock show and thisfight against prejudice andbigotry—which is happen-ing as I write — is one ofthem.” Fans will receiverefunds for tickets to theconcert that was scheduledin Greensboro.

Springsteen cancels show over LGBT law dispute

US urges China to abide bylaw over sea dispute


Hitler’s house to be seizedIndians in US fakeuniversity scam

US federal agents have expo-sed a major immigration scam

by creating a fake University ofNorthern New Jersey more thantwo years ago. They have arrested21 middlemen who were illegallyrunning “pay to stay” enterprisesfor foreign students, enablingextensions to their stay in the USbeyond their allotted study time.

According to The Guardian,these touts promised them studentvisas and visa extensions or for-eign worker visas in a system offees and kickbacks that nettedthem as much as $1,000 per student. The conspiracy aidedmore than 1,000 foreigners tofraudulently keep or obtain studentor work visas.

These overseas students facebeing deported from the US forbuying visas.

—Compiled by Tithi Mukherjee

STATES/ Himachal Pradesh

48 April 30, 2016

FOR the last 23 years, the hillystate of Himachal Pradesh hasseen only two chief ministers—Virbhadra Singh of the Congressand Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal

of the BJP. Both have been swapping the toppost in the state after every assembly electionsince 1993. Virbhadra Singh is senior toDhumal because he first occupied the post in1983 and is currently into his record sixthterm as chief minister.

The rivalry between the two, therefore,goes back a long time and has, in fact, sharp-ened over the years. The two are known toopen up inquiries or institute new casesagainst each other to set the record straight.The inquiries as usual take years and most ofthese get a quiet burial when the accusedreturns to the top post.

OLD ENEMYThis time, however, thesituation has altered abit for the currentincumbent, VirbhadraSingh. For one, itappears that the stakeshave gone up muchhigher, but themost importantdifference is thathe is now facedwith a BJP-led

Raja Sahib’sTroubles

Virbhadra Singh’s disproportionate assetsand IT returns could landhim in hot water. While heclaims this is vendettapolitics, he himself hasnot shied away from taking on former CMPrem Kumar DhumalBy Vipin Pubby

TAXING TIMES AHEADHimachal CM VirbhadraSingh is facing the heat

from the CBI, the ED andthe IT department

government at the center which is out to cor-ner him. And the man who is in a command-ing position there is an old political rival andcounter-strategist Union finance ministerArun Jaitley who had remained in charge ofBJP affairs in the state.

The changed circumstances may lead to asituation where Virbhadra may be taken inremand for a custodial interrogation by oneof the agencies probing him—the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI), theEnforcement Directorate (ED) or the IncomeTax (IT) Department. If this happens, itwould perhaps be the first instance when asitting chief minister is placed behind barswithout being convicted (unlike the case ofTamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa whowas convicted and had to resign). Virbhadrahas already made known that he would keepfunctioning from behind bars if it came tothat eventuality.

For that to happen, the Delhi High Courthas directed the investigation agencies toseek the court’s consent. Thus, there is areprieve for the CM but he still faces theprospect of custodial interrogation. There isno bar on arresting a CM or any other minis-ter except that the governor’s consent has tobe taken. That should not come in the way ofthe central government as a former RSSpracharak is in the Raj Bhawan—Acharya Devvrat.

INCOME TAX RETURNSInterestingly, all the three agencies arelooking at different aspects of a single trans-action which came to light when Virbhadrawas the Union steel minister in the UPAgovernment. This pertained to revised ITreturns filed by him to claim an income ofabout `6 crore from his apple orchard in thestate. He had claimed that he had given theorchard on lease to a contractor and thatthe additional income was from the farm income.

The ED case against him pertains to dis-proportionate assets as compared to hisknown sources of income. It is probing“unaccounted wealth” after his contractor,Anand Chauhan, who is also an insuranceagent, subsequently purchased 19 insurancepolicies in the name of Virbhadra Singh, his


Virbhadra’s old political rival

Arun Jaitley is incharge of the BJP’saffairs in Himachal

Pradesh.

Himachal governorAcharya Devvrat’s nodis a must in the eventof Virbhadra’s arrest inthe disproportionate

assets case.

wife and children. The ED has described itas a “textbook case of money laundering”.The CBI case pertains to the same moneybut is looking at the criminality angle. TheIT department has opened up investiga-tions into the returns filed by him over theyears, including the revised returns.

Virbhadra Singh has been claiming thatit was all part of political vendetta and wasdone only to harass him. Yet, he too has notshied away from instituting cases and open-ing up inquiries against Dhumal and hisson, Anurag Thakur, MP, and powerful sec-retary of the Board of Cricket Control ofIndia. The recent shifting of the World T20match between bitter rivals India andPakistan from Dharamshala in HimachalPradesh to Kolkata was part of the same“warfare”. The chief minister obviously didnot want Thakur to steal the thunder. Hetook the plea that the local people wereagainst holding an India-Pakistan match inview of the recent terrorist attacks inGurdaspur and Pathankot. Ironically, hehad inaugurated an India-Pakistan matchat the same venue a few years ago.

IL

UNPARALLELED RIVALRYIn fact, one of the first tasks undertaken byVirbhadra when he took over in 2012 was totake over the picturesque cricket stadiumconstructed by Anurag Thakur inDharamshala and lodge a case against himfor land grab, encroachment and misuse offunds. Overnight, teams were sent to seal thestadium. It was only after Thakur moved thecourts that the government was directed toremove the seal.

Continuing with his rivalry, Virbhadra

also ordered vigilance inquiries againstDhumal. The latest notice by the vigilancedepartment to Dhumal has asked him to listall the purchases made by him during hisprevious tenure as CM, including pens and garments.

Dhumal, too, did his bit when he becamethe CM in 2007. Cases pertaining to corrup-tion and nepotism were instituted againstVirbhadra and a mysterious audio tape sur-faced as evidence against him.

The veteran Congress leader, also calledRaja Sahib because of his royal lineage, obvi-ously enjoys a lot of clout with the party highcommand. This was proved when he insistedon leading the party to the elections in 2012.The party had another state chief and therewere at least four chief minister aspirantswho were staking their claim to lead theparty. There was a juncture when he con-veyed to the party leaders that he may form aregional party if the Congress did not givehim a free hand. He finally prevailed andeven though the Congress had been losingelections in other parts of the country duringthat period, he led it to a comfortable victoryin the state.

Even now, the Congress is backing him ashe is heading one of the seven states still heldby it in the country. If it loses Assam andKerala, it will be left with just five states torule. Given the support Virbhadra enjoys inthe state, it can ill-afford to project anotherleader in the eventuality of a consent by thecourts to arrest him.

Interesting developments are on thecards.

50 April 30, 2016

Virbhadra haslodged cases

against arch-rivalPrem Kumar

Dhumal (right) andhis son AnuragThakur who is

BCCI secretary.

The CM alsoplayed his part in

shifting a WT20match from the

Dharamshala stadium (top), built

by Thakur (right).

STATES/ Himachal Pradesh

Kh. Manglembi Devi

CAMPUS UPDATE

The School of Law in ChristUniversity, Bangalore,

organized its 4th annualInternational Model United NationsConference recently. The eventfocused on various moot points,ranging from global politics, juve-nile justice, international law,human rights and the right to self-determination. At the valedictory

ceremony, a debate was conducted on the situation inSyria and Iraq, with focus ondeveloping measures to counterISIS and the effects of foreignintervention in international andnon-international armed conflicts.Chief guest Dr Joanne Katz gave aspeech to broaden the perspectiveof the students.

Jindal Global Law School (JGLS),Sonepat, is holding its first annual

Technology Law and Policy mootcompetition from April 28-May 1.The moot topics will be based onareas concerning intellectual proper-ty and competition law. Recently, thelaw school conducted an interactive

session with the Supreme Courtjudges of Hawai, Justices Michael DWilson and Sabrina S Kenna, on inti-macy, desire and law in India.Admissions for the 1-year residentialLLM program and the 1 year LLMwith global exposure are open forthe year 2016.

The Corporate Law Society ofNational Law University,

Jodhpur, organized a seminar fordeveloping a conducive legalframework for enhancing tradeand economic cooperation amongBRIC (Brazil, Russia, India andChina) nations. Issues like cross-

border taxation, law and policy forBRIC nations, liberalization oftrade in the service sector werediscussed at the meet. The col-lege also arranged a series of lec-tures on introduction to capitalmarkets followed by an interactivesession with the participants.

— Compiled by Deepti Jain

NLUJ holds meet on BRICS cooperation

JGLS to conduct moot competition

MUN conference held in Christ University


Symbiosis Law School,Pune, is launching a

new capsule course onlegal control of emergingconcerns in cyber space.Issues such as cyber-ter-rorism, freedom of speech

and expression, freebasics and net neutralitywill be analyzed in detail.Recently , the institutealso organised a competi-tion on criminal trial advo-cay from march 18 to 20.

Symbiosis Law Collegeintroduces new course

STATES/ West Bengal/Flyover Collapse

This tragedy has shown the sheer apathy of the administration and the

insensitivity of politicians as hundredslay trapped under the

crumbling structureBy Sujit Bhar in Kolkata

Kolkata’s Death Trap

52 April 30, 2016

TRUST political parties to get mileageout of anything, even a tragedy. OnMarch 31, 2016, over 20 meters of anunder-construction flyover in theheart of Kolkata collapsed, killing 26and injuring nearly 100. While therewas shock and grief over this catastro-

phe and the shoddy planning of the flyover, politiciansmade the most of it.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s firstcomment was that the flyover was initiated during the LeftFront rule. That it hardly has any bearing on the tragic inci-dent makes little difference. If that wasn’t enough, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi at a rally much later lashed out atMamata by saying: “It is an act of god in the sense that it

WHEN DEVELOPMENT CAME CRASHING DOWN(Above) Rescue workers and locals

look for victims at the site of the collapsed Vivekananda flyover. The construction accident took place on March 31

Photos: UNI

happened during election time so that peoplemay know what kind of government she hasbeen running.” And in an earlier statement,AGK Murthy, director (Operations), IVRCLLimited, the Hyderabad-based companyconstructing the flyover, said: “It is for thefirst time in the history of the company thatsuch an incident has occurred... It is beyondour thinking. It is like an act of god.”

CONFUSION GALOREAnd with assembly polls coming up, politi-cians are even more concerned about theirimage. Even as the army responded withlightning speed by sending 300 troops tohelp in the rescue work, politicians tried tointerfere. It was alleged that they instructedpolicemen not to cooperate. This led to con-fusion among the army as its men were notsure whether their help was welcome.

To top it, even the media did not helpmatters. A leading vernacular channel triedto do an analysis by calling members of theopposition party as panellists. In all thesenseless ranting that followed by theCongress and the CPM, no one thought ofcalling a technocrat.

Meanwhile, at the site people were dyingand relatives searching frantically for theirloved ones. Shabana Bano, 28, was trappedunder debris, writhing in pain, with deathstaring her in the face. Using herlast weapon, her cell phone, shedesperately called her husband,Serajuddin Faroque, and anoth-er person for help. The familysearched desperately but werehampered by lopsided rescuework. This meant that therewere no barricades and the hugenumber of volunteers onlyadded to the confusion and ris-ing decibel levels. This drownedout the cries of Shabana andmany others who could havebeen saved.

Shabana’s body was recov-ered 24 hours later. She leavesbehind two kids, Nausheen 11and Abdul 7. And when thegrief-stricken family wanted acopy of her post-mortem report,

the police brusquely told them it would taketwo to three months and they should forgetit. However, when this was flashed in themedia, the police produced the report within24 hours.

UNWANTED FLYOVERThis flyover at Burra Bazar, estimated to cost`166 crore, was seen as a curse by locals.Manoj Agarwal, a paan shop owner, close tothe site of the crash, told India Legal: “Lookat the flyover. It is a disgusting sight. Thearms of the pillars jut into people’s balconies.What kind of structure was being built? Wedon’t want this flyover. It has been forcedupon us by politicians.”

When Jitesh Tiwary, a timber merchantin Nimtala, came to the area to make somepurchases, he was stunned. “There werescreams everywhere and it was chaotic. Howdifficult is it to get the design of a flyoverright? You are building a flyover, not a rocket.It is not only the fault of the builder, but theadministration and the government forallowing such shoddy work.” PrashantDalmiya, a shopkeeper in Canning Street,who lives near the site, said: “If you are build-ing on such a busy road, all precautions haveto be taken. You cannot use sub-standardmaterial. The government had been playingwith the lives of thousands who pass


DESPAIR AND DISTRESSA woman mourns for herkin who died in the mishap

under the flyover. Now, nobody is takingresponsibility. This is a fascist administrationagainst which nobody dares utter a word.”

RULES FLOUTEDSubsequent reports have revealed shockingdetails: �IVRCL had been blacklisted thrice, onceeven by the Railways, for not being able todeliver as per required quality. It had restruc-tured itself from bankruptcy and had evenlacked funds for the current project. Itworked on the project for 60 months when itshould have been completed in 18 months. �The collapse was due to three primary rea-sons: (a) A major design flaw where the later-al arms meant to hold up the main structurewere poorly built and did not have therequired strength. They collapsed under theweight of fresh concrete being poured into thecasing, crushing people and vehicles. (b) Thematerial used was sub-standard, an indicatorof major cost-cutting. (c) The bolts were wel-ded, a no-no for such projects.�There was a major rush to finish the stretchthat was under construction. Last November,Mamata had said at a rally in Burra Bazarthat it would be ready in February. This was a

Sudip Bandopadhyay(TMC leader and MP):

“Yes, we knew of thedodgy credentials of the

firm, but already 60-70percent of the work had

been done, a hugeamount of money hadbeen poured into theproject, how can you

stop it then?”

Who is responsible?

54 April 30, 2016

TANGLED WEBArmy personnelwork alongsidepolice to clear

the debris of thecollapsed flyover

Sadhan Pande (TMCMinister for ConsumerAffairs & Self-HelpGroup & Self-Employment): “Thenuts and bolts werewelded, these shouldhave been replaced.To do this work hur-riedly is extremelysad... The welding wasdone in a rush... Thestate government orthe KMDA should havechecked the designissues.”

Firhad Hakim(Kolkata MetropolitanDevelopment Authoritychairman): “Two KMDAengineers have beensuspended and a probeis on.”

Sanjay Bakshi (TMC leader): “What ismy role? Prove this, I will leave Kolkata andwill never be in politics.”

Comments by various government functionaries to themedia and at rallies are revealing:

STATES/ West Bengal/Flyover Collapse

IL

technical impossibility considering the stageat which the flyover was at that point.�The Kolkata Metropolitan DevelopmentAuthority (KMDA), entrusted for critical andtechnical oversight, did not bother to evenlook into what went into building the flyover.KMDA’s chairman, incidentally, is Firhad‘Bobby’ Hakim, the urban development min-ister, who was seen in a recent sting takingwads of cash from the reporter. Shockingly, inthis case, the consultant for the project (acompany technically assigned for oversight)was owned by IVRCL. How can a companyneutrally oversee its own work? How was it allowed?�Men and material for the flyover were main-ly supplied by “syndicates” close to the rulingTrinamool Congress. Sandhyamani ProjectsPvt Ltd was one of them and owned by RajatBakshi, nephew of TMC leader Sanjay Bakshi.Sanjay’s wife Smita is the MLA fromJorasanko, the area where the flyover wasconstructed.�These syndicates not only over-invoice thematerial supplied, but these are sub-standardand the labourers unskilled. Bakshi’s menwere all working atop the flyover when it col-lapsed. Some died, many are in hospital.

MAFIA-LIKE SYNDICATES While Mamata Banerjee flatly denies the exis-tence of these syndicates, her own party lead-

ers have openly accepted it. In a sting,Sabyasachi Dutta, the mayor of neighboringSalt Lake City, said: “I cannot provide them(people in the syndicates) daily earnings. If20,000 youth die of starvation, the govern-ment will collapse. And if among those dead,2,000 goons die, it will be a big problem.”

Amit Banerjee, a resident of the area, said:“These syndicates remind one of the mafiasyndicates of America, long time ago. In NewYork, especially, they forced house owners,municipalities and government contractors tobuy material from them and charged themthe moon. If they did not listen, they wouldend up in landfills, dead. The difference isthat the American government was willing totackle the mafioso, but was weak. In this case,the government itself is the mafia. Wheredoes the common man go?”

What is sad is that hardly any action hasbeen taken against the guilty. Four employeesof IVRCL were arrested and murder chargesslapped on them. Mamata has announcedstatutory compensation for the families ofthose dead and injured. She has made this apoll issue, shifting the blame to the CPMwhich had initially allotted the project to thiscompany. KMDA suspended two employees.

Also, four PILs were admitted by theCalcutta High Court. The litigants want a CBIinquiry, but Mamata has staunchly refused toagree to that. Chief Justice Manjula Chellurheard all petitions and has given the state gov-ernment three weeks to submit to a report onthe collapse. What remains, other than thesheer apathy of the administration, is thecrumbling edifice of the flyover with huge steelstructures and broken concrete slabs. Majorparts of the road have been blocked and busi-ness affected. People still shiver when theylook at the flyover and many are scared thatthe rest of it will also come crashing down.

Is this what Mamata’s “paribartan” was allabout?

NEEDED, ANSWERS!(Left) Chief Justice ManjulaChellur has given the WestBengal government threeweeks to submit a reporton the flyover collapse

While IVRCL had been blacklisted thrice, therewere major design flaws, the material wassub-standard and there was a rush. Mamatahad said that it would be ready in February.


NEARLY seven decades afterthe Partition and five decadessince the 1965 war with Pak-istan, the NDA government isbrusquely trying to rewrite a

law giving it control over 16,000 propertiesworth thousands of crores belonging to In-dian Muslims. It is called “enemy property”as it was once held by someone who opted forPakistani citizenship and is vested with thegovernment. This is irrespective of the factthat the property is presently held by theirlegal heirs who are Indian citizens.

After the 1965 war with Pakistan, the In-dian government designated some propertiesbelonging to nationals of Pakistan and Chinaas “enemy properties” during the 1962, 1965

LEGAL EYE/ Enemy Property

The Modi government haspromulgated an ordinancethat allows it to take oversuch property even if it haslegal heirs who are Indiancitizens and bars civilcourts from entertainingsuch cases By Ramesh Menon

Govt’sLand Grab?

56 April 30, 2016

and 1971 conflicts. It vested these propertiesin the “Custodian of Enemy Property for In-dia”, an office created for this purpose. Then,in 1968, the Enemy Property Act came intobeing (see box: Then and Now). Some legalheirs went to court and won the case, gettingback their property.

MOTIVATED MOVE?But early this year, the Modi government,which has constantly been in the crosshairsof various controversies involving minorities,promulgated an ordinance amending theEnemy Property Act 1968. This allows it totake over enemy property even if it has legalheirs who are Indian citizens. It also allowsthe government to dispose of the property as

it thinks fit. It prohibits the transfer of thisproperty before and after the 1968 Act cameinto being, declaring them void. More thananything else, it bars civil courts from enter-taining cases against the enemy properties oractions taken by the custodian of the enemyproperty, which is the government. In short,it shears the basic rights of those who own orlive on the property that their forefathers be-queathed to them as they moved into Pakis-tan. What is crucial is that this is being donewith retrospective effect.

However, on March 30, 2016, the cabinetrecommended repromulgating the ordinanceto amend the Enemy Property Act. This wasdone as the government’s ordinance wouldhave expired in early April. It was passed

UNCERTAIN FUTUREThe statelyMahmudabad Fort inSitapur district, UPmay be again takenover by the NDA government


by the Lok Sabha but in the Rajya Sabha, theopposition demanded that it be sent to a 23-member committee headed by BJP MP Bhu-pender Yadav. As it would take time for itsreport to come out, the ordinance would havelapsed as it has to be replaced by an act ofparliament within six weeks.

The government’s amendment early thisyear was designed to negate earlier court ver-dicts that gave the property to the legal heirs.It was in 2005 that a Supreme Court judg-ment specified that the takeover of such pro-perties must not violate the rights of Indiancitizens. The government may be talking ofamending the act, but what they are doing isactually rewriting it.

PAKISTAN’S EXAMPLEAfter the conflict with Pakistan, the TashkentDeclaration of January 10, 1966, clearly indi-cated that India and Pakistan would discussthe return of property and assets taken overby both governments after the conflict. But

OWNERSHIP CRISISThe Butler Palace inLucknow classified asEnemy Property

“I have waged alegal battle for 43

years to get justice.My father died a

broken man inLondon….Why do I

have to suffer forhaving opted to

stay back in Indiaand even serve the

nation as an elected

representative?”—Raja Mohammed

Amir Mohammad Khanof Mahumudabad

� The Enemy Property (Amendment andValidation) Bill, 2016 seeks to amend theEnemy Property Act, 1968, and the PublicPremises (Eviction of UnauthorisedOccupants) Act, 1971. It will replace theEnemy Property (Amendment andValidation) Ordinance, 2016. � Several of its provisions will come intoeffect from the date of commencement ofthe 1968 Act. Consequently, divestments(i.e., returning of property from the custo-dian to the owner or other person) andtransfers of enemy property, which hadtaken place before January 7, 2016, and are in contravention of the Bill, will be void. � The 1968 Act defined “enemy” as acountry (and its citizens) that committedexternal aggression against India (i.e.,Pakistan and China). The new Bill seeks

Then & Now

58 April 30, 2016


of the bill which said that no civil court or other authority shall entertain any suit or any other proceeding in respect to enemy property.

DUAL PURPOSEDuring the two wars with Pakistan in 1965and 1971, the Indian government took overmany properties owned by those who hadopted for Pakistani citizenship. At that time,this was done with a dual purpose. One wasto secure the property as it could be attacked,looted or destroyed as emotions usually runhigh in such situations. The second was toensure that profits accruing from that prop-erty or business were not channeled toPakistan to help it fight the war. Looked at inthis light, the term enemy prop-erty made actually made sense.

But today, it does not as

Pakistan in 1971 chose to dispose all proper-ties that were left behind by those who mig-rated to India. Now, India seems be followingin Pakistan’s footsteps.

Pinaki Mishra, Biju Janata Dal MP toldIndia Legal: “It is so typical of this govern-ment to stereotype everything through a nar-row prism. Look at the way it has expandedthe definition of enemy to even include In-dian Muslims. How can a bill have provisionsthat don’t allow citizens to have a recourse? Itwill be challenged and will be immediatelystruck down in any court. This move has onlyexposed the myopic way in which the govern-ment thinks.”

Former minister and Congress MP ShashiTharoor was equally harsh on the govern-ment in parliament when he said that the billwould adversely affects the rights of lakhs ofIndian Muslims and that it was against thebasic principles of natural justice.

In the Lok Sabha, all opposition partiesbarring the AIADMK wanted the bill to besent to a standing commit-tee before being passed. Butit was passed with a voice vote. OppositionMPs were not comfortable with Section 18B

During India's war with Pakistan in 1965 and1971, “enemy property” made sense and acquiring them was logical. But now internationalrelations demands subtlety and tightrope walking.

to expand this definition to include: (i)legal heirs of enemies even if they arecitizens of India. (ii) nationals of anenemy country who subsequentlychanged their nationality to that ofanother country.� The 1968 Act allowed for vesting ofenemy properties with the custodianafter the conflicts with Pakistan andChina. The new bill seeks to amend theAct so that even in these cases, theseproperties will continue to vest with the custodian. � The Bill further provides that vesting ofenemy property with the custodian willmean that all rights, titles and interests inthe property will vest with the custodian.No laws and customs governing succession will be applicable to theseproperties.� The 1968 Act provided that the centralgovernment may order for an enemyproperty to be divested from the custodi-

an and returned to the owner or otherperson. The new Bill replaces this provi-sion, and allows enemy property to bereturned to the owner only if anaggrieved person applies to the govern-ment, and the property is found not tobe an enemy property. � The 1968 Act permitted the sale ofenemy property by the custodian only ifit was in the interest of preserving theproperty, or to secure maintenance ofthe enemy or his family in India. The newBill allows the custodian to sell or dis-pose of enemy property. The custodianmay do this irrespective of any courtjudgments to the contrary. � The 1968 Act prohibited transfer ofenemy property by an enemy if: (i) it wasagainst public interest, or (ii) to evadevesting of property in the custodian. Thenew Bill seeks to remove this provision,and prohibits all transfers by enemies.Further, it renders transfers that had

taken place before or after the com-mencement of the 1968 Act as void. � The Bill also seeks to bar civil courtsand other authorities from entertainingcases against enemy properties oragainst actions of the central govern-ment or the custodian under the Act.� The 1968 Act authorized the custodianto take measures to preserve enemyproperty, and maintain the enemy andhis family if they are in India, from theincome derived from the property. Thenew Bill seeks to remove the duty tomaintain the enemy and his family.


HIT BY LAWJinnah House inMumbaiPhotos: UNI

sands of crores. The bill will adversely affectthe rights of lakhs of Indian Muslims whohold this property and also those who havebought the properties from them.

DISILLUSIONED MANRaja Mohammed Amir Mohammad Khan ofMahumudabad, better known as Sulaiman,and a former MLA in UP, is just one of thethousands affected. He has some 900 prop-erties sprawled in Hazratganj, Sitapur andNainital. These properties were taken over in2010 by the UPA ordinance. These proper-ties were given back by the government in2005 following the Supreme Court order andtaken back by the UPA government in 2010by an ordinance that was promulgated thatyear. If the present bill is passed, it can have

international relations and diplomacy are allabout subtlety and tight-rope walking.

Enemy Property Act 1968 defined the en-emy only as those who were nationals ofthose countries who had committed aggres-sion against India and not Indian citizens asthe new bill proposes. It also permitted saleof enemy property by the government only ifit was to preserve the property or to securethe family of the enemy in India. It rightlypermitted transfer of the enemy property bythe enemy to an Indian heir or relative or his family.

However, the new bill does not allowthese, thereby creating a window for the gov-ernment to take it over, sell it or rent it out.There are over 16,000 enemy propertiesidentified by the government worth thou-

Pinaki Mishra, BJDMP, said the center’smove has onlyexposed the myopicway in which it thinksand courts won’tapprove the bill.

Congress MP ShashiTharoor said the billwould adverselyaffect the rights ofIndian Muslims and was against natural justice.

Firoz Bakht Ahmed,the grandnephew offreedom fighterMaulana Azad hopesthat sanity prevailsand the law takes itsnatural course.

60 April 30, 2016


serious consequences as it gives blanket pow-ers to the custodian which is the government.It was seen as enemy property as his father,Raja Mohammad Amir Ahmed Khan, tookup Pakistani citizenship ten years after Par-tition but was soon disillusioned as Pakistanwas ravaged with anachronisms he had notexpected. He was very upset seeing the atroc-ities committed on freedom fighters in Bang-ladesh by the Pakistan army. He then decidedto leave Pakistan to live in London.

His son, Raja Mohammed Amir Moha-mmad Khan who had chosen to stay back inIndia, said to India Legal: “I have waged alegal battle for 43 years to get justice. Myfather died a broken man in London. He keptwondering if Partition was worth it as broth-er was killing brother. Why do I have to suffer

for having opted to stay back in India andeven serve the nation as an elected represen-tative? I am not going to ever give up myfight for justice.”

After The Enemy Property Act was enact-ed, the Raja’s estate was declared enemy pro-perty and taken over with the justificationthat he was a Pakistani citizen. When heembraced Pakistani citizenship, his wifechose to stay back with her children. She hadthe power of attorney to take over all theproperty he had left behind, but as her hus-band was alive, she said she would not do it.

CONSTANT PLEADINGBut after his death in 1973, his son, RajaMohammed Amir Mohammad Khan peti-tioned the government to release these


RIGHT TO USURP?Under the new enemyproperty law, government may takeover some 900 properties of RajaMohammed AmirMohammad Khan ofMahumudabad

properties taken over under the Defence ofIndia Rules (1962) in September 1965. Butthere was no response despite numerouspetitions. In 1977, he met Prime MinisterMorarji Desai to plead his case. Desai report-edly said that he was surprised that this hadhappened. He ordered it to be examined bythe Ministry of Commerce. But nothing hap-pened thereafter.

When Indira Gandhi was elected in 1980,he petitioned her too. A year later, he wastold by the Custodian of Enemy Property andDirector Vigilance of the Ministry of Com-merce that the cabinet had decided to releaseonly 25 percent of his father’s property to himprovided legal proof of his being the legalheir was provided. In accordance with thisrequest, in 1984, he filed a suit in the civilcourt in Lucknow. A judgment was deliveredin 1986 declaring him the sole heir. The gov-ernment did not appeal against the judg-ment. But, neither did it act or respond interms of action. Whenever the Raja raisedthe issue, officials would repeat that it wasbeing examined.

In 1985, when he met Rajiv Gandhi andagain pleaded his case he was asked to con-test elections from UP. He did that and wontwice as a Congress MLA from Mahmu-dabad. But there was no movement as far ashis plea was concerned.

By 1994, he realized that the only way outto secure the property was to take legalrecourse. He filed a writ petition in 1997 inthe Bombay High Court as the office of theCustodian of Enemy Property was in thatcity. A year later, his wife, Vijay Khan, metthen commerce minister P Chidambaram toplead the property case. He wanted to see theearlier judgment of the civil court ofLucknow. When it was given to him, he said:“You will get a decision by the end of themonth.” Nothing happened.

POSITIVE JUDGMENTIt was only years later on September 21,2001, that a judgment came from theBombay High Court in this regard. It saidthat the properties of the Raja of Mahmu-dabad were illegally held by the governmentand they should be returned.

Soon after, the central government filed

Respecting the provisions in theHague Conventions 1899 and

1907, many countries compensatedenemy nationals for property seizedduring war

Bangladesh

In 2011, theBangladeshi parlia-ment passed alandmark bill that

will enable the return of propertyseized from the country’s Hinduminority under a law enacted in the1960s. This law, initially known as theEnemy Property Act, allowed EastPakistan authorities to take over landand buildings of Hindus who migrat-ed to India.

United Kingdom At the outbreak ofWorld War II, assetsof all residents ofGermany and cer-tain German nationals were placedunder the control of the Custodian ofEnemy Property. The total propertywas estimated to be around 15 mil-lion pounds. After the war, the assetsof the occupied countries werereleased from British governmentcontrol. An exception was made forvictims of Nazi persecution and soonafter the war, Nazi victims or theirheirs could claim the return of theirassets.

Canada The Office of theCustodian ofEnemy Propertywas established

in 1916 and existed until 1985. In theearly 1980s, the National Associationof Japanese Canadians (NJAC)mounted a vigorous compensationcampaign directed at the federal gov-ernment. On September 22, 1988,Prime Minister Brian Mulroney deliv-ered a formal apology and a packagewas presented to Japanese

Canadians who had been interned incamps and their properties in Canadaseized. The package included $24million for the development of humanrights projects and anti-racism edu-cation to the NAJC. All those who hadbeen deported to Japan and strippedof Canadian citizenship also had theircitizenship returned to them.

Germany After World War II,according to thePotsdam confer-ence held between

July 17 and August 2, 1945, Germanywas to pay the Allies $23 billion main-ly in machinery and manufacturingplants. Since 1951, Germany haspaid more than 102 billion marks,about $61.8 billion at 1998 exchangerates, in reparation payments to Israeland Third Reich victims. In the mid-late 1990s, Germany paid nearly 1.8billion marks on the basis of specialbilateral agreements concluded in1991 and 1993 with Poland and threesuccessor states of the former SovietUnion—the Russian Federation,Ukraine and Belarus—even though in1953 Poland and the Soviet Unionrenounced any further reparationspayments from Germany.

Poland Poland was underGerman occupationduring WWII.According to someobservers, it wasplundered so severely that after thefirst raid, it never contributed to theGerman war effort again.Subsequently, Poland was placedunder a communist regime institutedby the Soviet Union which continuedtill 1990. Poland remains the only ex-communist country in the EU yet tomake substantial reparations to theformer property owners.

—Sucheta Dasgupta

Sterling ExamplesHow enemy property around the world was dealt with:


62 April 30, 2016

IL

AT GOVERNMENT’SMERCY(Left) One of the majesticproperties bequeathed byRaja Mohammed AmirMohammad Khan ofMahumudabad in UP

(Below) Pakistan flouted theTashkent Declaration in 1971which had involved both thecountries in deciding thefuture of “enemy property”

an appeal in the Supreme Court. And in ahistoric judgment in October 2005, aSupreme Court bench of Justices AshokBhan and Altamas Kabir ruled in favor of theson and said that the government had beenin illegal possession of the property since1973 which revealed its high-handed atti-tude. The court asked the government tohand over vacant possession of the property.

After that, most of the properties werereturned and there were a flurry of courtcases challenging the government’s right intaking over these properties.

As for Raja Mohammed Amir Moha-mmad Khan, things started looking up. “Westarted developing the properties between2005-06. We enjoyed restoring some of theold heritage properties,” remembered VijayKhan painfully. Her son, Ali Khan Mah-mudabad, an assistant professor at AshokaUniversity in Sonepat, said: “Although myfather is an Indian, the 2016 bill now seeshim and thousands like him as strangers intheir own country.”

On July 2, 2010, the UPA governmentcame up with an ordinance annulling thejudgments from 1968 to 2010 on enemyproperty which had deprived Indian citizensof their right to succession.

Firoz Bakht Ahmed, the grandnephew offreedom fighter Maulana Azad, told IndiaLegal that the apex court had declared in

2005 that a claimant had the right to inheritan “enemy property” provided he or she is anIndian citizen and a natural legal heir or suc-cessor. The court had also observed that thegovernment charged with the task of main-taining the properties had no right over theassets. “One hopes that sanity prevails andthe law takes its natural course,” he said.

Thousands of Muslims all over India aredesperately nursing the same hope.


retail industry, this trend is causing environ-mental problems in the form of e-waste orelectronic waste.

MAJOR HAZARDDiscarded phones, batteries, chargers andcables find their way into our dustbins andfrom there to junkyards and waste dumps. Inaddition to phones, e-waste also includes oldtelevision sets, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)monitors, printed circuit boards, power sup-plies, printers, cables and electrical products.Then, there are old and discarded whitegoods--washing machines, refrigerators, airconditioners, vacuum cleaners–which toofind their way into waste dumps. No wonder,

THE use of electrical andelectronic products in ourdaily lives has increasedmultifold in the past twodecades. With close to abillion mobile phones,India is one of the largest

markets for wireless products in the world.As prices fall and smart phones becomeaffordable, more and more people tend todiscard their old phones and acquire newones. The “replacement market” for phonesand other digital devices is growing constant-ly. That’s why close to 260 million new hand-sets are sold in India annually. While this isgreat for handset manufacturers and the

ENVIRONMENT/ Laws for E-waste

UNSIGHTLY PILES(Right) Discarded phones,

TV sets, batteries, chargersand cables form e-waste

in India

A NewSpark of

LifeUnder E-Waste Management Rules 2016, manufacturers of electronic itemswill have to take back used products and ensure they are recycled properly

By Dinesh C Sharma

64 April 30, 2016

rules in June 2015 and has now published thefinal set of rules. Several changes have beenincorporated based on the experience ofimplementing the 2011 rules and suggestionsreceived on the 2015 draft rules.

A major change is inclusion of CFL andother mercury containing lamps in the defini-tion of e-waste. According to an estimate byToxics Link, a Delhi-based NGO working onenvironmental issues, in Delhi alone,

While the new e-waste management Ruleshave been formulated based on feedbackfrom various stakeholders, much depends onhow they are enforced.

India now ranks among the five leading pro-ducers of electronic waste by volume.

Besides domestic e-waste, India alongwith China, is also an importer of electronicwaste. In the absence of effective buy-backmechanisms or strong legislation for wastehandling in India, it is estimated that over 90percent of 17 lakh tons of e-waste generatedannually lands in municipal waste dumps orin unorganized, backyard recycling units.This is a great hazard to the environment aswell as workers engaged in dismantling thewaste for recycling.

However, this situation may change withthe notification of a new regulation—E-Waste Management Rules 2016—by the cen-tral government under Section 6, 8 and 25 ofthe Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.The new rules will replace E-waste(Management and Handling) Rules, 2011.The Ministry of Environment, Forests andClimate Change notified a draft of the new

NEGATIVEGROWTH(Above and left)The burgeoning wireless equipmentsmarket has ledto unbridled e-waste generation too


GREENPEACE

about 14 million pieces of CFL lamps landedin the waste in 2014, resulting in the releaseof 74.65 kg of mercury. If these lamps arerecycled properly, this mercury can be recov-ered and reused. But in the absence of anybuy-back arrangement by lamp manufactur-ers, used lamps are simply thrown away.

MANUFACTURERS’ RESPONSIBILITYHowever, this is set to change. Under thenew regulation for Extended Producer

Responsibility (EPR), manufacturers will beobliged to take back used products andensure that they are recycled properly. Theycan do so in multiple ways. First, the manu-facturer can make an arrangement for collec-tion of used products themselves. Otherwise,various manufacturers can join hands tofloat separate Producer Responsibility Orga-nizations (PRO) to facilitate the collection ofe-waste and its disposal in an environment-friendly way. They can also make use of a newmechanism—Deposit Refund Scheme—where the producer can charge an additionalamount as a deposit at the time of sale of elec-trical and electronic equipment and return itto the consumer along with interest when theproduct is returned at the end of its life.

Every manufacturer of products coveredin the rules will have to prepare and submitan EPR plan. But they will have the flexibilityto implement EPR in a phased manner, asper targets prescribed in Schedule III of theRules. The phase-wise collection target for e-waste, which can be either in number orweight, shall be 30 percent of the quantity ofwaste generation as indicated in the EPRplan during first two years of implementa-

“Implementation will depend onthe capacity of pollution controlboards, state and municipal agencies and the industry. Asmany responsibilities have beenplaced on state and municipalagencies, they will also need financial and technical support.”

—Chandra Bhushan, deputy director-general, Centre for Science

and Environment

Rules Hailed

“The new rules can address the challenge of e-waste to a greater

extent than the previous rulesbecause of penal clauses and otherfeatures like inclusion of CFL. But I

am not sure if these rules will be successful without responsibility of

the state to push waste generators.”—Bharati Chaturvedi, director, Chintan

Environmental Research and Action Group

“The revised rules will plugsome key loopholes in the2011 rules. This will help andleave little room for excuse forthe industry not to implementEPR, which it has been resisting citing one problems or the other.”

—Ravi Agarwal, director, Toxics Link

RESPONSIBLE USAGE(Below) Under the new regulation for EPR, manufacturers will be obliged to take back usedproducts and ensure that they are recycled

ENVIRONMENT/ Laws for E-waste

66 April 30, 2016

tion of rules, followed by 40 percent duringthe third and fourth years, 50 percent duringthe fifth and sixth years and 70 percent fromthe seventh year onwards.

The regulation also envisages setting upof e-waste exchanges as an independent mar-ket instrument offering assistance or servicesfor sale and purchase of e-waste generated

from products of different companies.Manufacturers will be responsible for collect-ing e-waste generated during manufacture ofelectrical and electronic equipment andchannelize it for recycling or disposal. Theprocess of dismantling and recycling hasbeen simplified through a single system ofauthorization with the Central PollutionControl Board as the authorization agency.

Separate rules have been framed fortransportation of e-waste as well. State gov-ernments have been entrusted with theresponsibility of ensuring the safety, healthand skill development of workers involved indismantling and recycling operations.

While the new rules appear to be strin-gent and have been formulated based onfeedback from various stakeholders, muchdepends on how they are enforced. The roleof state governments is also going to be criti-cal. Since a bulk of collection, dismantlingand recycling of e-waste currently takes placein the informal or unorganized sector, theirrole can’t be undermined. Waste-pickers andbackyard recyclers should be involved in theprocess after proper skill development andeducation about proper recycling.

Old vs New Rules E-waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2011

Applied only to producer, consumer or bulk consumer,collection centre, dismantler and recycler

Expanded to include manufacturer, dealer, refurbisher andProducer Responsibility Organization (PRO)

Covered only Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) aslisted in Schedule I

Extended to components, consumables, spares and parts of EEEin addition to equipment as listed in Schedule I, including CFL

Collection centers can be set up by producer, any person oragency or association for the purpose of collecting e-waste

Collection is now exclusively producer’s responsibility, whichcan set up collection center or point or arrange to buy backmechanism for such collection

No provision for flexibility in implementing EPR Option given for setting up of PRO, e-waste exchange, e-retailer, Deposit Refund Scheme as additional channel forimplementation of EPR by producers

No target for collection under EPR Collection and channelization of e-waste in EPR authorization shallbe in line with the targets prescribed in Schedule III of Rules

Bulk consumer defined as bulk users of electrical and elec-tronic equipment such as central government or state gov-ernment departments, PSUs, educational institutions etc

Bulk consumer redefined by adding “and health care facilitieswhich have turnover of more than `1 crore or have more than 20employees”. All bulk consumers will be required to file annualreturns of e-waste.

E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016

It’s estimatedthat over 90percent of the17 lakh tons of e-waste generatedannually landsin municipalwaste dumpsor in unorganized,backyard recycling units.

IL


AS you admire a ManjitBawa painting, you takein the vibrant colors, thegraphic figure and theclean and simple lines.The yellow, white and redcolors in this untitled

painting are so typically Bawa’s. And so itcomes as a shock to know that it was proba-bly a fake which was going to be auctioned inMumbai on March 21-22. But then, this isnot the first time an attempt was made to sella fake artwork in the booming Indian artmarket, estimated to be around `1,500 crore.

With paintings of senior artists being sold

ART/ Fakes

The art market in our country is booming and isworth crores. This has ledto works of senior artistsbeing forged and sold asoriginals, raking in hugeprofits for unscrupulousdealers and gallery owners By Shobha John

IMITATION AS FLATTERY?A fake artwork that was being passed off as thelate Manjit Bawa’s work

The GreatIndian Rip-off

68 April 30, 2016

for lakhs and in some cases, crores, fakes tooare raking in good amounts. With so muchmoolah to be made, duplicity and forgery arecommon and usually done by unscrupulousgalleries and auction houses. The more ren-owned an artist, the greater the chance thathis style will be copied. These include cele-brated painters such as MF Husain, SHRaza, FN Souza, Jagdish Swaminathan, RajaRavi Varma, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose,Ganesh Pyne, Ramkinkar Baij, Anjolie ElaMenon and Arpana Caur to name a few.

But how much of the art being bought isfor the love of it is a moot question. In anincreasingly materialist world where wanna-bees want to showcase their acquisitions, artis hot property, understanding be damned.

SUSPICIONS RAISEDAttempts to sell fake paintings have oftenbeen challenged, with claims and counter-claims being thrown around. In the presentcase, an attempt was made to sell this Bawapainting (facing page) and this was chal-lenged by art dealer Asif Kamal, CEO ofAlturaash, a Dubai-based art house. Whataroused his suspicion, he claimed, was thatthe posture of the body in the painting wasall wrong. “The hands and the fingers and theturban are not typical Bawa,” Kamal toldIndia Legal from Dubai.

Aggrieved over this duplicity, he sent alegal notice to Tushar Sethi, CEO of AstaGuru, the auction house selling the painting.The notice said that the art work in question

was “misleading and fabricated” and henceshould be withdrawn from the auction. Itadvised Sethi to apologize to the public forputting up a fabricated and fake art work forauction. Though no apology was forthcom-ing, Lot 45 (the catalogue number) whichhad Bawa’s painting—“Untitled, 41x30Inches, year 2001”—was withdrawn.

In some cases, auction houses themselveslack knowledge about art works, Kamal said.“But as they are pretending to sell an originalpainting, their prices will be equal to it unlikethe grey market where one can get a paintingcheap. I would like Indian art to reach thelevel of European art so that our art worksget the right prices.”

PAPER TRAILKamal said that an original Manjit Bawacould fetch anything between `80 lakh to`1.2 crore. But in 2014, when he was offereda fake for `5 lakh, he was shocked. “After2000, a Manjit Bawa painting is like gold.When I asked the seller for the painting’s his-tory, paper trail, receipt, etc, he said hecouldn’t provide it but if I paid him money,he could get a letter of authenticity and pro-venance (history of ownership). This

ART OF FORGERYRaza’s 1983 work “Bindu” (left) and J Swaminathan’s untitled 1988 work(below), both of which were allegedly faked


clearly shows there is a nexus between galleryowners and those making these fakes. Also, Icould actually smell the paint, which meansit was new. But the seller assured me that aspecial treatment could be done to make theart work look old and authentic. I said I was-n’t interested.”

Tushar Sethi, on his part, admitted toIndia Legal that he had got a notice fromKamal. “As a doubt was raised, we withdrewthis Bawa painting. I am in the process ofverifying Asif ’s claims of it being a fake bygetting it authenticated by one of Bawa’sassistants. And I am also sending a notice toKamal’s lawyer.”

Unfortunately, famous international auc-tion houses too have tried to sell fakes. Kamalalso challenged Christie’s when he foundfakes in their December 2015 auction of SHRaza’s “Bindu” and an untitled work byJagdish Swaminathan. “The matter is incourt,” Kamal said. However, Christie’s hadthen said it stood by the painting.

Similarly, on June 18, 2007, two works ofJamini Roy were to be auctioned by Bon-ham’s auction in San Francisco, but theywere withdrawn when Mukul Dey Archives“Chitralekha” told them these were fakes. In2006, Christie’s again withdrew six works ofIndian contemporary artists due to doubtsabout their authenticity. Sotheby’s too with-drew some works in an auction that year.

Renu Modi, the owner of Gallery Espace,one of the leading art galleries in Delhi, saidthat she kept getting fakes all the time. “I get2-3 every month. Whenever I am doubtfulabout a painting, I either ask the artiststhemselves, collectors or experts on variouspainters to authenticate it. Earlier, theBengal School of Art had many fakes, espe-cially Jamini Roys which flooded the market,leading to a crash but now it is gettingrevived again,” she said.

DIFFERENT METHODSSo how are fakes actually done? Key ele-ments from an original painting or many ofthe same artist are taken and placed in diffe-rent parts of a new canvas or an original iscopied without the signature of the artist oranother medium is used in a new canvas.

Most of the time, fakes are art works

ARTIST’S CALLArpana Caur made

out the fake“Nanak” (below)

because of thefacial expression

70 April 30, 2016

ART/ Fakes

which copy the style of famous artists ratherthan an actual painting of theirs, said SunitaBudhiraja, CEO, Kindlewood Communi-cations, who deals with art dealers. Forexample, some years back, a Mumbai-basedart dealer rejected an MF Husain paintingbecause the legs and knees of the horsesseemed awry and the shape of the manes wasso unlike Husain’s style. Others judge a mas-ter by his brush strokes or even the thicknessof the paint. Another sign of a fake is if the

work is being sold for far less that an artist’scurrent rate. In some cases, even the signa-ture of the artist raises suspicions. There isthe reported case of businessman HarshGoenka, chairman of RPG Enterprises andone of the biggest art collectors in India, whowas being sold a Husain painting. He report-edly asked art dealer Dadiba Pundole tocheck it, who told him that while Husain’sEnglish signature on the painting matched,his signature in Hindi didn’t.

SIGNATURE STYLEA painting by Anjolie Ela Menon

� On March 9, 2008,Shyamsunder Desai, theowner of Sahil Art Gallery,Colaba, was arrested fortrying to sell a fake paint-ing of Subodh Gupta. � In 2004, Hamid Safi,assistant of Anjolie ElaMenon, was arrested forproducing fakes of herwork.� In 1998, an art collectorbought a Ganesh Pynefrom a gallery in Mumbai.When the artist was con-tacted by the buyer, heconfirmed it was a fake. � In 1998, two of AjoyGhose’s “Chaitanya”paintings were listed in aChristie’s catalogue asNandalal Bose’s, with hissignature being replacedwith a scrawl that readNando. Their sale wasrevoked later.

It’s a Fake World

LICENSE TOCOPY? Jamini Roy’swork is notonly popularbut also easyto imitate

Instances of art beingfaked:


“When painters find a fake,they should report to thepolice. Some dealers are

hand-in-glove with fakers.” —Artist Anjolie Ela Menon

So how does the art world function? Canartists sell their works directly?

Budhiraja said that it is not possible forartists to get into the time-consuming busi-ness of selling their paintings directly. Sothey get into contracts with galleries to selltheir paintings. Galleries then sell the paint-ings to private collectors or auction houses.

Auction houses usually don’t take paint-ings which have no proper paper work. “Thisincludes when it was painted, how manytimes it changed hands, etc. They also emp-loy experts to authenticate paintings,” saidKamal. Charges for authenticating a paintingcan go up to `10 lakh in some cases.

FAKE WORLDThere have been many cases of fakes surfac-ing (see box “It’s a Fake World”). There was acase in 2006 when auction house Osians pro-duced a work of Bikash Bhattacharjee, whichturned out to be fake. It was withdrawn.There was also the case of Arpana Caur andher “Nanak” painting which was faked andbeing sold for `4 lakh. Caur reportedly saidabout this painting which showed Nanakwith his head tilted and a rosary in his hand:“The forger got everything right, except theface. The expressions are flawed.” There wasalso the case of Raza going to Dhoomimal

The prices at whichsome paintings weresold:

� SH Raza’s 1973acrylic “La Terre”(right): `8.17 crore� JehangirSabavala’s “TheFlight into Egypt” (far right): `3 crore� A rare untitledpaper work by TyebMehta: `1 crore� Untitled oil paintingby VS Gaitonde:`29.3 crore

Priceless Works

“I get 2-3 fakes every month.Whenever I am doubtful, I

either ask the artists themselves,

collectors or experts.” —Renu Modi, Gallery Espace owner

GUARDING AUTHENTICITYAn art work at Renu Modi’s

Gallery Espace

72 April 30, 2016

ART/ Fakes

Dhoomimal, Bid & Hammer and Christie’s.Though Raja Ravi Varma has often been

faked, it is interesting to note that his broth-er, C Raja Raja Varma, who was his secretaryand assistant, kept a diary of their travels andactivities. This gives a good idea of his paint-ings and can be used to figure out how auth-entic a work is. Each artist’s work is judgedover a period of time. And a buyer would dowell to study the style of the artist whosepainting he wants to buy lest he gets duped.

Unfortunately, the legal remedies for suchforgery are few. While there is the CopyrightAct to tackle the issue of paintings which arecopied, in the case of a totally new art mas-querading as an original, it will come un-der forgery.

Kamal, like Menon said it would be best ifthere was a regulatory body comprising arthistorians, curators and other such expertswho can authenticate paintings and whereartists can register their works. “Buyers arebecoming more aware of this issue and arelearning more about the paintings they wantto buy. They should also take expert adviceand even contact the artist if possible,” hesaid. Also, it would be in the artist’s bestinterest if he documents his art works.

After all, better safe than sorry.

STROKES OFFORTUNE(Right) VS

Gaitonde’sworks are

priced veryhighly in the art

market

IL

Gallery in 2009 to open an exhibition of hisworks and being shocked to see that all theworks, except a couple, were fakes. In 2011,Kolkata-based Government College of Arthad an exhibition of Tagore paintings whereall were alleged to be fake. The principal ofthe college was suspended.

Some of the fakes are done by assistants ofsenior painters who break the trust reposedin them. When these painters ask their aidesto do some bits of it, they end up learning thestyle and technique of the painter, forge hissignature and make a killing through fakes.For example, in 2004, Anjolie Ela Menon’sassistant Hamid Safi was found selling hiswork as hers. He was arrested.

Anjolie Ela Menon told India Legal thatthe main recourse left to painters when theyfind a fake of theirs is to report to the police.“There is no specific law dealing with fakeart, though there should be one. Thereshould also be a regulatory body which dealswith these issues,” she said. Also, auctionhouses should put in more rigor to study var-ious painters and their style. “But that is notreally happening. Some dealers are hand-in-glove with the fakers,” she added.

The fact is that very few artists keep a tabon what they have done over the years. Sowhen a fake surfaces, few go to courts to set-tle the issue. But, when independent dealersand collectors ask them to authenticate apainting of theirs, most do. “And that is whybuyers trust big galleries such as Vadehera,bCA Galleries and Gallery Espace to sell gen-uine paintings. Often, artists are officiallyassociated with these galleries,” saidBudhiraja. Some galleries which have comeunder the scanner in recent years are


URDU authors andeditors are outragedand up in arms. Thisis because the Natio-nal Council for Pro-motion of UrduLanguage (NCPUL),

which does bulk purchase of their works,has come up with a “loyalty form” for them.According to media reports, this form has tobe filled up so that they qualify for purchase

EDUCATION/ National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language

A “loyalty form” by this organization to Urdu authors and editors says thatadverse comments about the government in their books can invite legalaction. This brings into question freedom of speech and expression By Venkatasubramanian

No Criticism, Please!

74 April 30, 2016

by the NCPUL and in it they have to declarethat their books are not critical of the gov-ernment or its policies.

LEGAL ACTIONThe NCPUL is an autonomous body underthe Department of Higher Education of theMinistry of Human Resource Development(HRD). It was set up in 1996 and is recog-nized as a nodal agency for the promotion ofUrdu. Its functions include production of

Photos: UNI

literature in Urdu, including books on science and other branches of modernknowledge, children’s literature text books,reference works, encyclopedias, dictio-naries, etc.

HELP FOR WRITERSAccording to NCPUL’s website, to encour-age writing of valuable books by a bona fideauthor/editor/translator, etc, the Councilpurchases a maximum number of 100copies of a book or a journal in one year,subject to a maximum of `20,000 for apoetry book, `30,000 for the rest of thebooks and `35,000 for periodicals and jour-nals. If the price of the book is less than`100, then the Council may purchase amaximum of 200 copies of it. The booksand periodicals are acquired directly fromthe authors and editors for free distributionto Urdu libraries all over India. In 2013-14,the Council purchased copies of 319 booksand 53 journals in bulk, and distributedthem to 280 libraries in 17 states. It incu-rred an expenditure of `35.08 lakh on this.

The bulk purchase function of theCouncil may appear to be minuscule, com-pared to its other functions such as publica-tion of manuscripts, Urdu press promotion,support to organizations forselect Urdu promotion activi-ties, financial assistance to var-ious NGOs for such activities,academic projects, etc.

But the introduction of a“loyalty form” only for the ben-eficiaries of the bulk purchaseof books causes concern as towhether it indicates a policyguiding the Council’s otherfunctions as well. Is there anundeclared policy which sus-pects only minorities’ loyalty tothe nation and the govern-ment? Worse, such a policy, ifthere is one, erroneously assu-mes that to be eligible for anybenefits from the government,the potential beneficiaries can-not express their disagreementwith it or its policies, even in an

academic manner. Specifically, the “loyalty form” reportedly

stated (it appears that the contents of theform have since been somewhat diluted)that:

“I, son/daughter of --- do hereby declarethat my book/journal/booklet---, which hasbeen accepted by the NCPUL’s scheme forfinancial assistance for bulk purchase, doesnot contain anything which goes against thepolicies of the Indian government, or any-thing that is against national interest, oranything which promotes disharmonybetween the various communities.”

LEGAL ACTIONThe declaration was apparently backed by awarning that legal action may be pursuedagainst the writers if they do not abide bythe declaration. In such cases, monetaryassistance, if already granted, has to bereturned. If challenged legally, the “loyal-


LAME EXCUSEThe controversial form wasostensibly introduced afteran error in a book aboutlate APJ Abdul Kalam

The “loyalty form” requirement suffers fromvagueness because it does not specify whatconstitutes “going against” policies of thegovernment and “national interest”.

ty form”, in all likelihood, may be struckdown as unconstitutional by the courts.This is because the right to criticize hasbeen recognized as an integral part of theright to freedom of speech and expression ina catena of decisions by the Indian judiciary.

The freedom of speech and expression,guaranteed by the constitution, is howevernot absolute, and is subject to reasonablerestrictions under Article 19(2) of the con-stitution. However, courts will not permitany restrictions, which cannot be locatedwithin the boundaries of Article 19(2). Thegrounds mentioned in Article 19(2) are sov-

RICH REPOSITORYBook fairs and exhibitions

go a long way in popularizing Urdu works

Then & now

76 April 30, 2016

“Loyalty form”, March 2016“I, son/daughter of --- do hereby declare that my book/journal/booklet---, whichhas been accepted by the NCPUL’s scheme for financial assistance for bulkpurchase, does not contain anything which goes against the policies of theIndian government, or anything that is against national interest, or anythingwhich promotes disharmony between the various communities.”

Revised form, April 11“I/We certify that the contents of the books/periodicals/journal/ are not againstof the policies or interest of the Government of India. Further I/we certify thatthe particulars given above are correct to my/our best knowledge and belief.”

ereignty and integrity of India, security ofthe state, friendly relations with foreignstates, public order, decency or morality orin relation to contempt of court, defamationor incitement to an offense. Clearly, criti-cism of the government or its policies can-not be construed as being implied in any ofthese grounds. Moreover, as required underArticle 19(2), the government or its agenciescannot on their own deprive a citizen of hisfreedom of speech or expression without theauthority of law.

The NCPUL has reportedly clarified thatthe form was introduced because of a bookwhich was found to contain incorrect infor-mation about late President APJ AbdulKalam. Normally, in the publishing busi-ness, a simple declaration by the author/editor regarding the factual veracity of con-tent is considered sufficient. However, thefact that this is not applicable to beneficiar-ies of the government’s largesse in otherlanguages is not a happy situation. But thecourts need not go into the question ofwhether it violates the right to equality asthe move is unsustainable.

VAGUE WORDSThe “loyalty form” has words like “anythingthat promotes disharmony among variouscommunities” which might suggest that itenjoys constitutional protection under

Is there an undeclared policy

which suspectsonly minorities’

loyalty to thenation and thegovernment?

EDUCATION/ National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language

Changes introduced in the loyalty form

Article 19(2), which justifies restrictions onthe ground of public order or even incite-ment to an offence. But the form alsoincludes grounds like “going against thepolicies of Indian government” and “nation-al interest” which are outside the scope ofArticle 19(2), and therefore, will invite thecharge of overbreadth.

Such a restriction will also be considereddisproportionate because there is a widegap between the constitutionally permissi-ble grounds under Article 19(2) and theextent of restriction sought to be imposed.A restriction on free speech and expressionmay also suffer from vagueness when persons of ordinary intelligence have noreasonable opportunity to know what isprohibited.

As the Supreme Court explained in ajudgment in 1971, vagueness prevents citi-zens from having a fair warning of what ispermitted and what is not, leaving theminstead “in a boundless sea of uncertainty”.

The “loyalty form” requirement suffersfrom vagueness because it does not tell thebeneficiaries of the government’s largesse,what constitutes “going against the policiesof the Indian government” and what wouldbe considered as against “national interest”.

However, when India Legal saw the formon April 11, it was modified: “I/We certifythat the contents of the books/ perio-dicals/journal/ are not against of the poli-cies or interest of the Government of India.Further I/we certify that the particularsgiven above are correct to my/our bestknowledge and belief.”

Clearly, the outrage over the initialrequirement, as reported in the media, hasforced the government to abandon wordslike “national interest” and “anything thatleads to disharmony among communities”etc. But the retention of the phrase “notagainst the policies or interest of theGovernment of India” would still make itvulnerable for legal challenge. It could bealso argued that despite the deletion ofwords like “national interest” and “anythingthat leads to disharmony among communi-ties” from the loyalty form, these could beimplied in the “policies and interest of theGovernment of India”, criticism of which isclearly barred.

Thus the NCPUL may be well-advised towithdraw the loyalty form requirement toavoid facing judicial strictures, besides suf-fering the loss of credibility and trust of itsbeneficiaries and stakeholders.

Objectionable grounds in Article 19(2) are actswhich impinge on the

sovereignty andintegrity of India,

security of the state,friendly relations withforeign states, public

order, decency ormorality or in relationto contempt of court,

defamation or incitement to an

offense.


IL

READERS’ DELIGHTA few publications broughtout by NCPUL

RELIGION/ Sikhs

ALMOST at the fag end of the Budget Sessionin the Rajya Sabha, on a day when attendancewas thin, a bill was passed without a discus-sion. This bill will debar half of eligible Sikhsfrom voting for their mini-parliament—the

Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).The bill—Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016—

was passed unanimously as the Speaker said it concernedSikhs and only they may like to speak on it. A couple ofSikh members belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) present in the House chose not to say anything andit was passed by a voice vote. Whether the absence of otherSikh members was deliberate is not known.

The bill, which was pushed through at the insistence ofNDA partner SAD, seeks to take away the voting rights of

A new bill passed in theRajya Sabha seeks to debar

half of eligible Sikhs fromvoting for the SGPC, whichis under SAD’s hegemony

and gives it more powerover gurdwaras and clergy

By Vipin Pubby inChandigarh

Baptism by Fire?

78 April 30, 2016

Photos: UNI

non-Amritdhari (baptized) Sikhs in Sikh reli-gious institutions, including the SGPC. TheSAD has been controlling the SGPC and theamendment is aimed at maintaining its hege-mony over the powerful committee whichmanages major gurdwaras and appoints cler-gy, including the head priests.

MANY DEBARREDAs per the 2011 census, there are 1.75 croreSikhs, out of which nearly 50 lakhs are ineli-gible to vote due to age and other factors. Outof the remaining, roughly 70 lakh won’t beeligible to vote if the amended bill is enacted,as per the president of the Sehajdhari SikhFederation (SSF) president Dr ParamjeetSingh Ranu.

For the uninitiated, it is important tounderstand the various categories of Sikhs.The Amritdhari Sikhs are baptized Sikhs,who are administered amrit (holy water) andabide by the strict code of Sikhism. It includesthe five ‘K’s—kesh (unshorn hair), kara(bracelet), kirpan (ceremonial dagger), kach-

ha (extended shorts as undergarment) andkangha (comb).

On the other hand, the Sehajdhari Sikhsare those who abide by Sikh tenets but are notbaptized and don't follow the strict code ofSikhism. They believe in Guru Granth Sahib,the Sikh holy book, and perform ceremoniesaccording to Sikh rites but may trim or shavetheir beard and hair.

There is another category called the PatitSikhs who may have flouted the tenets ofSikhism but have returned to the fold afterundergoing religious punishment and arereinstated through baptism. There is yetanother category called Keshadhari Sikhs, asper the Sikh Gurdwara Election Commission,but they are akin to Amritdhari Sikhs.

SMOOTH SAILING?The controversy has its roots in the 1944amendment to the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925,under which Sehajdhari Sikhs were given vot-ing rights in the SGPC elections. The Akaliswere not in favor of the amendment and

ARTICLES OF FAITH (Facing page) SGPC chiefAvtar Singh Makkar givingsiropas to newly-appointedgranthis at Shri Akal Takht in Amritsar

(Below) The Sikh community participating in a nagar kirtanprocession in Jammu

The SikhSehajdhariFederation saysthe bill is anattempt by theRSS to dividethe Sikhs.


pressurized the center in 2003 to issue a noti-fication to bar Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting.Subsequently, the notification was challengedand the issue is pending in the Supreme Court.It is to bypass any adverse comments or theSupreme Court declaring the notification null and void that the center is now seeking tochange the law. With a majority in the LokSabha, it hopes to sail through with the bill.

The Sikh Sehajdhari Federation now proposes to petition the President to ask

the Rajya Sabha to again move the bill and open it for discussion in the House. TheFederation would be submittinga memorandum to the Punjab governor next week in thisregard. Its president says displayof external religious symbolsalone does not make a true Sikhand claims that it was an attemptby the RSS to divide the Sikhs. Infact, some Hindu groups havealreadyinvited Sehajdhari Sikhsfor “ghar wapsi”.

The Punjab unit of theCongress, including its presidentCapt Amarinder Singh, has expressed itself in favor ofvoting rights to all Sikhs, includ-ing the Sehajdhari Sikhs.

Surprisingly, even the radical Akali leaderSimranjeet Singh Mann has favored votingrights for them.

This contentious issue is likely to come up during the run-up to the assembly elec-tions in Punjab due in another 10 months. The danger is that the extremist elements may try to fish in troubled waters.That certainly would have serious portents in the state which gets on the edge whenever Sikh religious issues are involved.

80 April 30, 2016

IL

RELIGION/ Sikhs

DIVIDED THEY STAND(Clockwise from right) Deputy

CM of Punjab Sukhbir SinghBadal and Union minister

Harsimrat Kaur Badal supportthe bill, while Simranjit Singh

Mann of the SAD andCapt Amarinder Singh of

the Congress are opposed to it

1. To eighty-sixA: To vomitB: To rejectC: To manipulateD: To insult

2. TowelheadA: Wears turbanB: Stupid personC: Departmental headD. Powerless leader

3. Up the duff A: In trouble B: Pregnant C: BankruptD: Promoted

4. A beefer always A: ComplainsB: LaughsC: SingsD: Advises

5. Velodrome A: Unused aerodromeB: Massive stadiumC: Cycle racing trackD: A narcotic drug

6. Lame duckA: Scapegoat B: Lazy employee C: Easy target D: Unsuccessfulperson/thing

7. Sanguinary A: Humane B: ExperiencedC: Bloody

D: Jovial

8. Andropause A: End of virilityB: RetirementC: Long pauseD: Severe asthma

9. Three sheets to thewind A: Cool breezeB: Very drunk C: Atop a mountain D: Crazy

10. Zip it!A: Shut up!B: Gulp down!C: Hurry up!D: Relax!

11. Philadelphia lawyer A: Shrewd lawyerB: Jobless lawyerC: A compulsive liarD: Rich lawyer

12. You’re toast! A: I love you!B: Congratulations!C: You bore me! D: You’re in trouble!

13. DweebA: Dull personB: Boring personC: Tough questionD: Computer glitch

14. Stonking A: Galloping

B: DirtyC: ReprimandD: Impressive

15. SlapperA: Strict teacherB: Promiscuous womanC: CriticD: Jobless person

16. Cock-a-hoopA: Death trapB: ExultantC: Bird-watcherD: A kids’ game

17. SwishA: Effeminate manB: SourC: Native of SwitzerlandD: Saltwater fish

18. Talk a blue streakA: Talk rapidlyB: Talk businessC: Talk nonsenseD: Speak the truth

19. Gentlemen of therobeA: PriestsB: JudgesC: Philosophers D: Lawyers

20. Cul-de-sac A: A Zulu village B: Fishermen’s bagC: Street open at onlyone endD: Claustrophobic room

1. To reject2. Wears turban3. Pregnant4. Complains5. Cycle racing track 6. Unsuccessful

person/thing7. Bloody8. End of virility 9. Very drunk

10. Shut up! 11. Shrewd lawyer12. You’re in trouble!13. Boring person14. Impressive 15. Promiscuous woman16. Exultant 17. Effeminate man18. Talk rapidly19. Lawyers 20. Street open at onlyone end

SCORES

0 to 7 correct—Youneed to do this more

often. 8 to 12 correct—Good,

get the scrabble board out.

Above 12—Bravo! Keep it up!

ANSWERS

Have fun with English. Get the right answers. Play better scrabble.

By Mahesh Trivedi

WORDLY

WISE

[email protected]


PENSION BLOCKADE: Retired employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation holding up traffic demandingimmediate release of their dues.

ARTY PROTEST: A local performance artist ties himself with a rope, against disappearance of booksellers in Hong Kong.

PEOPLE /

TUNES OF PEACE: A musician strums for harmony in Guwahati.

RAIDING ACT: A demonstrator, dressed as a symbolic banker, stands nextto empty chairs that were stolen from bank offices in France to protestagainst the banking system and tax fraud.

MASKED PROTEST: A man holds a sign after a gas leak in thePorter Ranch area of Los Angeles.

— Compiled by Kh Manglembi Devi Photos: UNI

CHAINED REBEL: A protestor chains herself as a statement against the blockadeimposed by the Houthi rebels.

Voices of Protest

82 April 30, 2016

india legal 30 april 2016

News & Politics