SC clears way for CVC's trial in Palmolein Oil Case

Source : Indlaw

The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for the trial of Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) P J Thomas by the Kerala government in the Rs 2.8 crore palmolein oil import case. 

A bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha ruled that the appeal filed by former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran stands 'abated' with his death on December 23 last year. 

Karunakaran, one of the eight accused in the case, had challenged his prosecution on the grounds that there was no sanction obtained for it. 

With his having passed away, the stay granted by the Supreme Court against the trial court proceedings in Kerala also stands vacated. 

The Supreme Court had stayed proceedings on August 3, 2007. The Kerala government had subsequently moved the apex court and sought vacation of its stay on the trial. 

The case relates to the alleged loss of Rs 2.32 crore in the import of palmolein oil in 1991-92 when Karunarakan was the chief minister and Thomas the food secretary and a member of the Board of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation. 

The case pertains to the import of palm oil from a Singapore firm, which was allegedly done at prices higher than the international rate. 

The Karunakaran Cabinet had approved the import of 15,000 tonnes of palm oil at a rate of 405 dollar per tonne, whereas the market price was 392.25 dollar a tonne. 

Thomas figures as the eighth accused in the charge sheet filed by the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau in 2003. 

Petitions challenging the appointment of Thomas as CVC are already pending in the Supreme Court. 

The apex court has already raised questions about his appointment. 

The alleged scam came into light in 1993 and the Left Front government in Kerala ordered the registration of the case in 1996 and the Supreme Court had refused to quash the FIR in 2003.

Need To Be Aged Four for Nursery, Five for Class I : Delhi HC

Source : Sify

The Delhi government informed the Delhi High Court Tuesday that the cut-off date for the calculation of age of a child seeking admission to a school should be March 31 of the year of admission. A child should have completed four years on or before March 31 of the year of admission to be eligible for admission to pre-primary, or nursery, it added.

'A child should have completed a minimum of five years on or before March 31 of the year of admission to be considered eligible for gaining admission to Class 1,' the affidavit said.

The Delhi government said its department of education will establish a monitoring mechanism in each district to ensure that all recommendations were effectively implemented.

'While one-year class of early childhood education would be offered by all recognised schools immediately prior to Class 1, the schools which have infrastructural facilities may be allowed to open pre-school classes for children below the age of four years,' the government said.

'However, these pre-school classes will not be part of the main school nor shall these be treated as feeder school to pre-primary class of the school,' the government said.

The government said that the children in pre-school should be from the immediate neighbourhood. 'There should be no school bag for carrying any prescribed books in all such pre-school classes,' the affidavit said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by parents and rights group Social Jurist's lawyer Ashok Agarwal, who contended that the guidelines issued by the Delhi government Dec 15, 2010 and by the central government Nov 11, 2010 were contrary to the right to education law and violated the fundamental rights of a child.

The government cannot violate its own provisions and formulate another set of rules to favour some people for commercial benefits, Agarwal added.

Contempt Petition against Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal

Source : Indlaw

Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy today filed in the Supreme Court a contempt of court petition against Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal for making a statement that the CAG report had presented 'erroneous figures' on alleged losses caused in the 2G spectrum sale. 

Mr Sibal had stated at a press conference last week that the figure of 1.76 lakh crore loss to the exchequer in the spectrum sale in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report was erroneous as actually, there was 'zero loss'. 

Dr Swamy claimed that the Minister' statement amounted to interference in the CBI investigation in the spectrum allocation case which is being monitored by the Supreme Court. 

The petitioner has submitted that the statement of the Minister was an attempt to influence the CBI investigations. It amounted to 'deliberate and wilful disobedience and interference with the orders of the apex court.' The application is likely to come up for hearing along with the main petition filed by Dr Swamy for cancellation of 122 licenses given to 11 companies.

New Page : Bare Acts : Now Available

Dear Readers,

We are pleased to announce a new page addition to our blog. We have added a bare - acts page, which enlists all the prevalent central acts, as amended up to date.

The bare acts have been sourced from Commonlii and are intended to be used for purely educational purposes. Readers would be driven to the Commonlii servers when they click the links.

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The Legal Blog