BEML Chief in Land Scam: PMO Linked

Now, BEML in trouble for land scam by Arun Dev & Prashanth GN, TNN Apr 28, 2012, 05.44AM IST BANGALORE: BEML, whose supply of Tatra trucks to the Army is being investigated by the CBI, has landed in a fresh controversy as its top officials and their kin have been accused of benefiting from an out-of-turn allotment of 63 sites by the BEML Employees Co-operative Society. The beneficiaries allegedly include a former PMO official's relative.
Three BEML employees - Martin Luther, C Umesh and S Vishwanatha - have moved the Karnataka HC, alleging they were transferred from Bangalore to Kolar Gold Fields as they formally complained to the registrar of co-operative societies against the BEML society's out-of-turn allotment of 63 sites in the city.
A top BEML official, currently facing CBI heat, was allegedly allotted two sites, No. 795 and 796, in Thubarahalli, Varthur, Bangalore South taluk for a sum of Rs 8,58,000. The out-of-turn allottees include 32 non-applicant members, three non-applicant top officials, four non-applicant society directors and 24 outsiders/non-members.
The petitioners have alleged that the allotment of sites to outsiders/non-members or non-applicants was in violation of the society's bye-laws. Only functional directors are eligible to get sites, while directors who are part of the board are not considered to be employees.They said owing to this out-of-turn allotment, many applicants including the petitioners, all genuine members, who had paid the entire sale consideration, were deprived of sites.
The allotments violated bye-law No10 (Clause b) which states that a BEML employee who has put in five years of service would become eligible for allotment of sites.The high court is expected to hear the petition after the summer vacation. Lawyer for the petitioners Subramanya Bhat told TOI: "While the case in the high court is about their arbitrary transfer, we have also noted in the petition that there is a land allotment issue that was the cause of the transfer. The order in this case will have a bearing on the land allotments too and this includes some of the top-most officials of BEML."
Meanwhile, BEML management said they have nothing to do with the society and that the petitioners' claims could be placed before the registrar of co-operative societies that is a quasi-judicial body empowered to deal with co-operative society matters.
BEML Employees Co-operative Society president N Munnagappa said: "Since the society's formation in 1972, not a single site has been given to anyone illegally. Top officials of BEML in the management and board have been given sites under 5% discretionary quota, under which they are eligible. Associate members too have been given sites as associate membership is allowed under the law. We have allotted 8,000 sites in Bangalore so far and that includes sites to directors, and chairmen from 1972 onwards. Some top officials have got sites of 50 ft x 80 ft dimension. We are only continuing a tradition that has been in place."
BEML Chief in Land Scam

Will the Government Kill the RTI Act?

RTI applications now expensive and difficult; will the move kill the act? Reported by Sidharth Pandey Updated: April 29, 2012 16:00 IST
New Delhi: It was hailed as the UPA's big achievement when the Right to Information Act was passed in 2005. Now it seems like state governments and public authorities across the country are making it increasingly expensive and at times a virtually impossible task for people to seek information.
In states like Chhattisgarh, the Vidhan Sabha or state assembly has recently hiked the fees for information to Rs500 for each query. This means, that anyone asking questions like details of how many days their elected representatives have attended the assembly, or the expenditure on their foreign trips, will have to shell out 500 rupees each time. That's 50 times the price as envisaged under the original 2005 RTI Act. The Uttar Pradesh assembly has been asking 500 rupees for years now.
It doesn't stop there; in fact citizens should avoid asking for any photocopied documents from the Chattisgarh assembly unless they are ready to pay 15 rupees per page as charges to the assembly. That's 15 times the market rate for photocopying.
Will the move to make RTI applications expensive kill the act?
RTI applications now expensive and difficult
So while in some states the cost of applying for information has become expensive, other states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh have set a word limit to just 150 words.
It now seems that Madhya Pradesh too is about to set a word limit and also double the fees for seeking information from Rs. 10 to Rs. 20.
The justification to hiking fees and limiting queries given by various authorities is that the move is aimed at curbing frivolous applications that end up over burdening government officers with answering frivolous applications. But these changes in the rules have not gone too well with activists who have been fighting to strengthen it.
Shekhar Singh, the coordinator for the non profit organisation, National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), says the present and proposed changes may be ok in the letter but not in the spirit of the law. Singh, who was a key player in drafting the 2005 landmark information act, says that citizens should challenge the change in rules.
"Even if we agree to the Rs. 28 income a day, as the line that divides the poor according to the planning commission that means a person will have to save his entire months income just to file one RTI. It in effect takes away a person's fundamental right indirectly" explained Singh.
But changing rules is one thing, changing the act is another.
"More and more exemption provisions are being made than what are there are in the original law and this is not acceptable," said Satyanand Mishra, India's Central Information Commissioner (CIC).
As the CIC, it's Mishra's job to ensure that the RTI is implemented across the country. He also plays the role of chief referee between information seekers and public authorities, often ruling on appeals filed by citizens who have been denied information by officers.
But increasingly he's had to pass orders asking public authorities to not only give information to citizens but also re-look at the changes made by them which have altered the nature of the law.
The RTI is heralded as one of the most important laws since independence, by civil rights campaigners. It's allowed ordinary citizens get a host of basic services from water connections to passports. But now with many states and authorities making this process difficult and expensive, the RTI could soon be a mere act in government books.
Government intent to kill the RTI Act

Money Laundering Cycle of Tatra and 2G Scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation is inquiring into the irregularities, if any, in the purchase of the all-terrain Tatra vehicles by the Indian Army from the Bharat Earth Movers Limited.

The serious charge of corruption in purchase of Tatra vehicles was made by Army Chief General V K Singh in a recent interview. Since 1986, the Indian Army has bought over 7,000 Tatra trucks.
Rediff.com on the basis of first hand information accessed from the multiple sources tries to give answers to the frequently asked questions about the tainted deal.
What are the allegations of corruption regarding the purchase of Tatra trucks?
The allegation is about the very high cost of the Tatra trucks to the Indian army. Tatra AS is a Czech company who manufactured the world-class trucks. Tatra AS has undergone a change of ownership. (Those details a little later).
The alleged dubious route though which trucks reached the Indian Army is the focus of the investigation by the CBI. If, what the sources in the army claim are true, then it is a serious allegation involving corruption worth crores of rupees.
The allegation is that the deal worked like this:
1. The Czech company sold the trucks to Venus Projects of Hong Kong, the trading arm of Vectra Worldwide, at a 35 per cent discount. (This is the first stage of loss to the Indian Army. The discount would have come to the purchaser, that is Indian Army, if a direct deal was struck with the manufacturer or a part of the discount could have been passed on to the Indian Army by the dealer/seller.)
2. Venus Projects sells the trucks to Tatra Sipox (United Kingdom) Ltd. This UK-based company is the holding company of Vectra Worldwide, owned by controversial businessman Ravi Rishi. He need not pay tax on the deal because there is a no taxation treaty between the two countries. But the price of the Tatra trucks goes up by 30 per cent.
3. Tatra Sipox then sells the inflated-priced trucks to BEML, the government owned company, after adding its profit of around 15 to 20 per cent.
4. BEML sells these trucks to the Indian Army after adding 25 to 35 per cent.
So, if you take into account the addition of transaction cost, commission, profit whatever you say at the four stages quoted above the Indian Army was getting the Tatra trucks paying 100 to 120 per cent higher than the factory price. This is what General Singh was complaining about. The CBI is, also, focusing on these dubious dealmakers at every stage.
How does the Indian Army get spare parts?
That is, probably, another scam. The Indian Army places orders through BEML for the spares. Tatra Sipox gets the intimation and forwards it to a company called Jupiter Slovakia, which is a holding company of Vectra Worldwide.
Jupiter contacts the suppliers of the Tatra spare parts but it does not go to the original Czech company. Thus, the pricing of the spare parts is arbitrary and mostly exorbitant. The Indian Army ends up paying 200 to 300 percent more than the actual cost. Since, the spare parts are not acquired from Tatra AS one is not even sure of the quality. Is there any other such dubious deal?
Yes. Brahmos, the Indian-Russian missile joint venture, needs cranes. BEML procures Atlas Cranes from Tatra Sipox. The same modus operandi is used by the Ravi Rishi. He gets it at around 35 per cent discount from Atlas Machinen GMBH, the German company that makes the cranes.
Tatra hikes the cost by some 25 per cent or more and sells to BEML who in turn gives it to the Brahmos after adding its own margin. India pays some 75 per cent plus higher cost by not buying straight from the Germans.
Ravi Rishi Money Laundering cycle
Govt denies money laundering cycle of 2G Scam: P Chidambaram and his son Kartik being protected- A Tango Duo