Centre hides looters

15/04/2011 Centre hides looters behind rules
New Delhi: The Centre on Friday declined before the Supreme Court to make public names of the people who have stashed black money in foreign banks, saying it is not possible to disclose information received from foreign governments under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAT).
The Centre, however, agreed to reveal the names of six persons who had deposited money with the Liechtenstein Bank in Germany and who are being prosecuted by the government authorities.
Appearing before a bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that the information received by the Centre from foreign banks and foreign governments cannot be disclosed as it is not allowed under DTAA.
He also informed the court that the government has no problem in making names public once judicial proceedings are initiated against them for tax evasion.
"We have launched prosecution against some persons and there is no difficulty in disclosing their names. But as far as others are concerned their names cannot be disclosed until the prosecution begins," he said.
The Court, however, was not satisfied and asked the government to explain on the next date of hearing as to which law bars it from making such information public.
The court was hearing a petition filed by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani seeking direction to the government to bring back black money stashed by Indian citizens in the foreign banks which, he said, amounted to around $1 trillion.
Besides Jethmalani, five others, including former Punjab DGP K P S Gill and former Secretary General of Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap who are petitioners, have alleged that the government was not taking action to bring the back black money stashed in foreign banks.
NGO People's Political Front and former top cop J F Riberio are also among the petitioners.
The apex court had earlier expressed displeasure over the government's reluctance in disclosing the names of Indians having black money in foreign banks.
"What is the difficulty in disclosing the information," the bench had asked, when Mr Subramanium told the bench that the government has got the details but did not want to reveal it.
The court's remarks had came after the Government contended that it has got the information from the German government pertaining to the bank accounts of Indian citizens in Liechtenstein Bank there. Source: PTI
Centre hides looters behind rules
Related Reading
ED to question Puducherry LG, UP babu over Hasan Ali links
Do not protect corrupt judges: CJI to politicians

Why Jan Lokpal Bill? Chief Ministers families running amuck

Big rewards for companies that hired Ashok Gehlot's son
Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Updated: April 15, 2011 01:27 IST
New Delhi: In never-seen-before numbers and volume, India spent the early part of April marching on its streets, rallying behind Gandhian Anna Hazare, demanding that a new law be introduced to check corruption.

The outpouring of public anger came after a maze of scams tumbled out of governmental files. In each case, there was careful collusion between politicians, bureaucrats and other practitioners of power. The most serious of these swindles - the spectrum scam which lodged former Telecom Minister A Raja in jail - has been declared India's largest-ever scam.

What Anna Hazare captured was the mood of a country that is keen to see zero tolerance of corruption and of politicians abusing their privileges.

Documents accessed by NDTV now suggest that in the Congress government in Rajasthan, there was a clear conflict of interest in multi-crore rupee contracts being awarded to companies which employed Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot's son.
Read more at: Big rewards for companies that hired Ashok Gehlot's son
Vigiliantism: Citizens welcome Political Parties controlling Criminals Vandalising Footpaths
MNS attacks snack vendors after one caught peeing in the serving vessel

Tamilnadu- a world leader of freebies and Cash for Vote syndrome- A true banana state- Full Fledged Fake Democracy Model
Giving a thumbs up to the Election Commisison for holding the elections in a commendable manner, former chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu Naresh Gupta told IANS: “Cash for votes is a major problem in three southern states - Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.” According to him, the one sure way to stop the cash-for-votes is the postponement of elections in constituencies where the issue is serious.
“Elections could be postponed even twice or thrice and the political parties will understand the cash payment will not work,” Gupta said.
According to officials, the unaccounted cash seized will be deposited with the district treasury and the claimants can recover this after accounting for the cash.
“We have just crossed the half-way mark,” Praveen Kumar said, citing the May 13 counting of votes.
More at : 78 percent polling in Tamil Nadu
Comments: Commendable work done by Election Commission in spite of heavy odds perpetuated by ingrained corruption at all levels- no graffati- no cut outs- no party flags- no posters- no noise pollution. Citizens only wish there is permanent elections in Tamilnadu for citizen safety! Kudos to the Election Commission and Compliments.

Pennies from heaven by Karan Thapar

Pennies from heaven by Karan Thapar, Hindustan Times
April 09, 2011 First Published: 22:47 IST(9/4/2011)
I've done a little test to see how right or wrong my views can be, and I'm delighted to tell you that, at least in this one instance, I'm almost spot on. I sent some 50 different people — journalists, politicians, authors, ambassadors, civil servants, doctors, elderly aunts, etc — an sms outlining my response to the way state governments have competed with each other to shower gifts on our World Cup winning cricketers. To my pleasant surprise, almost everyone responded readily, if not also immediately. So, now, I'm pretty confident I know how most people think!
The sms I sent read: "What do you make of this competition to give money or land or houses to the team? I find it questionable if not distasteful. What's your view?"
Three things stand out about the responses I received. First, practically everyone replied. This has rarely happened before. So, clearly, this is a subject that struck a universal chord. Second, not one person defended this gratuitous money-giving. Third, several responded with passion, even anger. I don't recall any replies that suggested mild or lukewarm concurrence.
Let me, therefore, draw a few conclusions. No doubt we all want to acknowledge, applaud and, even, reward our World Cup winning cricketers but doling out cash, land or houses is both morally wrong and demeaning. One of my respondents, not inaptly, compared the outpouring of crores to the way maharajas used to throw gold coins at courtesans. By that token cricketers are today's nautch girls! Others pointed out, again quite justifiably, that this suggests the team was only playing for money.
The second conclusion is possibly more damning. This behaviour betrays our own twisted set of values. Is money the only way of saying thank you? Is it the most meaningful way of doing so? Our chief ministers should think carefully about this. Their gifts reflect their thinking.
The third conclusion is actually a question: whose money did they gift away? Not their own but the tax payers. Yet in a country where hundreds of millions live in miserable poverty — even if you don't want to accept Arjun Sengupta's figure of 77% living on Rs 20 a day or less, you can't dispute this — should we be giving crores to those who already have several, in some cases hundreds? Is that responsible government? And is this how the aam aadmi is best served?
I wish just one of our cricketers had politely declined the cash or, better still, announced he would donate it to charity. Even if the new players could not be expected to do so, what about Sachin or Dhoni or Yuvraj? They don't need this largesse but the respect they would have earned from a polite refusal to accept would have catapulted them to moral stardom. Instead, we've ensured they remain only cricket heroes.
Let me, however, end with a thought that was not part of my sms. If the team deserves Rs 1 crore each from the BCCI why should their coach, Gary Kirsten, without whom they all acknowledge they would not have won, get less?
I can think of sound arguments for giving him more. But that did not happen. The only case for giving him half what his team got is either he wasn't very good — but the team dispute that — or the BCCI doesn't believe in generosity to people who aren't Indian.
Once again, that raises a whole set of disturbing questions. But where do we get the answers?
The views expressed by the author are personal.
Pennies from heaven by Karan Thapar
Comment: Cricket has become a money spinner for Politicians- Cricketeers are their tools- BCCI, ICC and ICL are all suckers who steal the sweat of the tax payers!