August10th 2011

ALB20110803

Abhyaas Law Bulletin

For the quintessential CLAT aspirant
The Scoop Of The Month The Editors Column Dear Student, Welcome to the August edition of the Abhyaas Law Bulletin. Like last month, this month is also an important month from a legal & policy stand point. Supreme court and Various High courts delivered important judgments, the government has introduced important bills in the current session of parliament. The supreme court took serious note of the mining mafia in bellary and ordered that only NMDC can do mining in bellary. In an other judgment that may have far reaching consequences on the way major govt recruitments are done, the supreme court ruled that students have the right to seek a copy of the evaluated answer scripts. Karnataka saw a change of guard with Sadananda Gowda replacing B S Yeduyarappa after the Loakyuktha report indicted him on the mining mess in the state. Sheila Dixit is facing the heat after the CAG report on the CWG games pointing a finger at her. In AP, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is in problems as the high court of AP ordered a full CBI investigation into his illegal assets case. The historic tripartite agreement was signed between the Central Govt, State govt of West Bengal and GJM. Happy Reading! - Editor Index: Page 2: National Page 3: Business Page 4: Spotlight

Lokpal Bill introduced in Lok Sabha

The controversial anti-corruption Lokpal Bill 2011 that provides a mechanism for dealing with complaints on corruption against public functionaries in high places was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 4th. A serving Prime Minister will be outside the ambit of the proposed legislation, according to the Bill introduced. Simply put, the Lokpal cannot inquire into allegations of corruption against the Prime Minister during his tenure. Allegations of corruption can be inquired only after he has demitted office. At the introduction stage, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Ms Sushma Swaraj, objected to the exclusion of the Prime Minister from the purview of the Bill. My objection is not with regard to mandate of Government. My objection is with regard to violation of Constitutional provision. The Constitution provides equality to all. Under our criminal system, he or she cannot enjoy immunity. Under the Indian Penal Code, the Prime Minister has not been given immunity. But the Prime Minister is not included in the Lokpal Bill. Where is the logic? Nobody can be a holy cow, Ms Swaraj said. ( Contd .)

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National: However, her objection was negatived and the Bill was introduced by Mr V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) after voice vote. This is the ninth Lokpal Bill that has been introduced in Lok Sabha. The earlier eight Bills on Lokpal were introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1968, 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998 and 2001. However, these Bills had lapsed consequent upon the dissolution of the respective Lok Sabha except in the case of 1985 Bill which was withdrawn after its introduction Recommended reads, Full Text of the Govt Lokpal Bill Lokpal Bill Summary Lokpal Bill Timeline Darjeeling tripartite pact signed for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration A tripartite agreement on the Darjeeling hills was signed on July 18th between the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) and the West Bengal and central governments. At the core of the pact is the formation of a new autonomous, elected Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), a hill council armed with more powers than its predecessor Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) formed in the late 1980s. Terming the agreement as the new beginning for Darjeeling, union home minister P Chidambaram said the central government will keep a watch on the path of the GTA and offer all kinds of help to the newly-formed administrative body. "This is a historic day. This is a day to step into the future and a new beginning for Darjeeling. We know you had faced lot of problems. This is a time to keep aside those sufferings and look into the future. You (GJM leadership) have to show that you can govern," said Chidambaram at the signing function in Pintail village in Kurseong sub-division of Darjeeling district. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee lauded the accord and ruled out any possibility of the division of Bengal. Supreme Court: allow students to inspect evaluated scripts under RTI The Supreme Court on August 9th allowed the disclosure, under the Right to Information Act, of answer sheets of students of any examination conducted by any agency in India. A Bench of Justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik gave this ruling, upholding a Calcutta High Court order permitting students to inspect and photocopy their answer sheets in any educational or professional examination. The Bench held that evaluated scripts would come under the definition of information' and reiterated the duty of the public authority to allow maximum disclosure as envisaged by the RTI. Explaining the scope of the fiduciary relationship' of the agency holding the examination, the Bench held that bodies conducting examinations could not retain evaluated answer sheets in any fiduciary capacity and contend that they would not disclose the same. The exemption under Section 8 (1) of the RTI Act would not apply to disclosure of answer sheets. The Bench was disposing of appeals filed by the Central Board of Secondary Education, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, the West Bengal Council for Higher Education, the University of Calcutta, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the West Bengal Central School Service Commission and the Assam Public Service Commission. The Human Rights Law Network filed an intervention application, on behalf of the applicants, the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and Join Operation for Social Help. They argued that such disclosure would open the floodgates for information-seekers and the magnitude of the demand would be overwhelming. If answer scripts were made available to each examinee, it would lead to an unworkable situation. The Supreme Court, however, rejected these arguments. Welcoming the judgment, the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, said: The NCPRI believes this ruling would positively affect the transparency rights of lakhs of students of all kinds across the country including examinations conducted by school boards, universities and public service commissions.

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CAG pins 700-page medal of shame on Delhi, Centre In a severe indictment of the Organising Committee (OC) headed by Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, the Delhi government and other State and Union agencies, the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG) has said hundreds of crores of rupees were wasted because of lax supervision and a deliberately created siege-like situation in the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In its 700-page audit report on CWG 2010 tabled in Parliament on August 5th, the CAG stated: The modus operandi observed over the entire gamut of activities leading to the conduct of the Games was: inexplicable delays in decision-making, which put pressure on timelines and thereby led to the creation of an artificial or consciously created sense of urgency. Providing an insight into the mentality with which the OC, the Delhi government and other agencies were approaching the conduct of games, it said: Since the target date was immovable, such delays could only be overcome by seeking, and liberally granting, waivers in laid-down governmental procedures. In doing so, contracting procedures became a very obvious casualty. Many contracts were then entertained based on single bids, and in fact, some of them were even awarded on nomination basis. Taking liberties with governmental procedures of the aforementioned kind led to elimination of competition. A conclusion from such action which seems obvious is that this could indeed have even been an intended objective! Eliminating competition led to huge avoidable extra burden on the exchequer, the CAG said in its report. It further stated that there was a seven-year window from the award of CWG-2010 to Delhi in November 2003 to its hosting in October 2010, which was not appropriately utilised. The time window from November 2003 to mid-2006, which could have been effectively used for planning, clearances and approvals, was wasted. The OC itself was registered only in February 2005, it said. It said overall planning for the Games, including the general organisation plan, the Games Master Schedule, and the operational plans for different functional areas, was also substantially delayed. Business: U.S. House approves debt ceiling bill The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan bill to avert a massive debt default and reduce trillions in government spending, paving way for the austerity measure to face a Senate vote. The Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed by the House of Representatives by 269-161, a day after leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties and the White House reached an agreement. The voting in the House was marked by the dramatic appearance of Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in January. Ms. Giffords voted yes for the bill, receiving a standing ovation from her colleagues in the House. Once passed by the Senate, it would go to the White House for U.S. President Barack Obama to sign into law, which would prevent the government from defaulting on its debt. The measure seeks to raise the debt ceiling from $ 14.3 trillion and cut deficit by $ 2.4 trillion over 10 years. Following the vote, the House of Representatives went into the long summer recess and is slated to resume again in the first week of September. This bill is a good step, but its just a first step in the effort to fundamentally change the way Washington does business. This does not balance the budget, but it does make it more difficult if not impossible to continue to increase spending, Republican Congressman Joe Barton said. This bill caps discretionary spending. Now we need to immediately begin efforts to reform entitlements and create enough jobs to increase revenue so that we can reduce the deficit and balance the budget which is the true bottom line, he said. House Democratic Whip, Steny H Hoyer, said it should not be about partisan politics and ideological extremes. It ought to be about responsibility. It ought to be about understanding that our oath of office is to preserve and protect the United States of America. This bill does that. Vote yes, he said.

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This month in pictures:

Sadananda Gowda of BJP is the new CM of Karnataka

D Subba Rao is given a 2 year extension as the governor of RBI

Y Kishore Chandra Deo is the new tribal affairs and Panchayat Raj minister from AP

Dronavalli Harika is the second woman from India to become a Grandmaster

Hina Rabbani Khar is the new foreign minister of Pakistan

Yingluck Shinawatra is the first woman Prime Minsiter of Thailand

Spotlight: NLU Delhi National Law University, Delhi (University of Law), abbreviated to NLUD is a specialised law university offering courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. NLUD is one of the elite national law schools in India built on the five-year law degree model proposed and implemented by the Bar Council of India. NLUD was established in 2008 in the National Capital Territory of Delhi with the initiative of the High Court of Delhi. The University has state of the art infrastructure with all facilities for the best of learning and research. The University initially offers a 5-year integrated B.A., LL.B (Hons.) degree programme with effect from the Academic Year 2008-09 starting in August, 2008 Admission to the First Year of the 5-Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Degree Programme is made strictly on merit, based on the All India Entrance Examination. National Law University, Delhi is the newest addition to the existing network of National Law Universities throughout the country. NLU, Delhi also shares the broader vision of providing quality legal education to produce a new generation of lawyers that are competent and humane. The academic curriculum is designed to enable prospective lawyers to deal with the legal systems of India and other countries. Feel free to write to: lawprep@abhyaas.in We dont wish to print this journal, save paper, avoid printing.

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