HC seeks time-frame in fodder scam trial

The High Court also asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) why it preferred to refer the prosecution in the fodder case to Bihar Governor A R Kidwai while the agency was free to file a charge-sheet against the accused under the Indian Penal Code Act. Though the CBI counsel tried to clarify that Governor’s permission was resorted to as a precautionary measure, the court said, “What precaution? If any authority tries to delay, the court will be well within its jurisdiction to give the direction”. “We are not drawing any inference. But we simply want a yes or no from them. Don’t keep the issue pending for long,” the court said.

A division bench comprising Justice S N Jha and Justice S K Mukhopadhyaya observed that any authority trying to delay the investigation was answerable to the court. Justice Jha asked the CBI counsel, “Suppose if tomorrow the Governor refuses to give sanction, what will you do?”

The court also dropped contempt proceedings against CBI director Joginder Singh in the fodder case. “We have gone through the necessary documents and have arrived at the conclusion that no contempt of court case can be made out against Singh,” the division bench observed.

The court also ordered that no official attached to the investigation or monitoring of the fodder scam case should be removed without the consent of the court. The matter was raised by the counsel of the Samata Party who sought to know the view of the court on the rumours that moves are afoot to remove the CBI chief.

The High Court also asked CBI DIG R N Kaul to investigate the mysterious death of Harish Khandelwal, an accused in the fodder case, in Dhanbad on May 6. The court directed him to submit the report within two weeks. Earlier the State Government had come out openly saying that Khandelwal died because of CBI torture.

The court today witnessed a heated exchange between the CBI and Bihar assembly counsels. The CBI counsel charged the Bihar assembly secretariat with not cooperating with the investigation, while the assembly counsel stuck to the stand of privilege. The court, however, wanted to know why the Assembly was unwilling to furnish the records when they were aware of the nature and importance of the case.

Meanwhile, replying to certain queries of the court on the agency’s procedures, CBI joint director (East) U N Biswas, said that according to the “government orders” the agency had to seek sanction from the State and Central Governments, besides the union public service commission and the Central vigilence commission for prosecuting officials belonging to the Indian administrative service.

The judges, however, disagreed with Biswas’ submission saying “it may be the government’s order to CBI but law does not carry any such provisions and it (them order) requires an examination.’ The court directed additional advocate-general of the state Shashi Anugraha Narayan, to inform who was the “competent authority” to accord sanction for prosecution of a public servant.

The judges moinitoring the investigations into the multi-crore scam also said they would sit even during the summer vacation to review the progress of the scam.

Ravi Shankar Prasad appearing on behalf of the petitiner, Sushil Kumar Modi, sought to impress upon the court that according to the Apex Court’s order if a prima facie case existed against anyone, it should be sent for retrial.o¬Ut›$B¼Tt› parents to choose the sex of their child or to have identical twins.

While less than 20 per cent of IVF treatments are successful people still spend thousands of pounds in order to have their “own” child. The case of women in their 50s who have had children through such treatments, and of a woman who carried eight foetuses, none of which survived, have focused attention on the extent to which women are willing to go to have children.

And while Britain has comparatively strict regulations, there is nothing that can prevent women from going abroad to receive treatments that they would not receive here. Advances in medical science, it appears, have only assisted the traditional beliefs which treat childlessness as a tragedy, and lays great emphasis on “natural motherhood”. Adoption, as an alternative to childlessness, hardly figures in the debate over the ethics of surrogacy, and different forms of fertility treatments. But, in societies so dominated by the right to buy this is no surprise.

ive ¬Ut›>¬Ut› by the military, officials said. The operation code named “Sure Victory” is aimed at capturing a 75-km highway through rebel territory to link the northern peninsula of Jaffna with the rest of the country.

As ferocious battles raged in the north of the country, security has been tightened in Colombo and its suburbs for fear of Tiger reprisal attacks, police said

.They said there were reports of at least five women Tiger suicide-bombers infiltrating the Capital to stage attacks. More road blocks and checkpoints have been set up in the city to deal with the problem, police said. The LTTE said civilians were being targeted by the Air force as well as the Navy, which was shelling coastal areas of the north-eastern district of Mullaitivu where the LTTE has its main command and control centre.

The Tigers also accused the military of arresting 45 Tamil civilians following the capture of Nedunkerni. “None have been seen since,” the Tigers said.yy