Whispers Forum

Yeh nahi sudhryen ge -the cracker bursters.This time one was looking forward to less noisy,less polluted Diwali though the Supreme Court order did not inspire much hope for the same.Who would check the two hour limit? who will enforce whether the crackers were 'green' or not.That is what happened.People went on with their merciless spree of cracker bursting in Delhi and NCR the places already choked with smog and severe pollution level.In Noida where I live the crackers started as soon as the lights went up by 6.30 p.m in total disregard for the decibel limit or the type of crackers as stipulated by the Supreme Court.The massive joint crackers or the Larhis were so noisy that even with windows closed one was so much disturbed.Ours is an army sector where majority of residents some retired at Brigadier and even higher levels reside.Nobody gave a thought to the plight of these senior Citizens.One waited for 10 pm when this nuisance would stop so that some peace prevails.But no! the cracker bursting went on past this deadline.The authorities miserably failed to enforce the SC order.No plan was made to do so.While it is difficult for police to go from door to door to check the authorities should have taken up with RWAs and tell the office bearers of the same that they would be responsible for implementation of this order .The in-charge of each Ward in the area could have galvanised some action to see that the S.C order is strictly followed.The pollution and the misery that Diwali festival brings with it, it has become a most dreaded festival instead of a joyous occasion one looked forward to in younger days.
Aarti Khosla

The National Day Of Green Hills Govardhan Pooja it is called but it celebrates Green Hills. Is there any other country among the member states of the UN which celebrates the Day Of The Green Hills? Perhaps not. Those familiar with the ecology of the Brijpradesh or territory of Brijbhoomi would vouch for its fragility and need for protection, preservation and conservation of the hills. They are the life line of the area, with land quality not the best and forests not dense enough. The Mahabharat serial locations are from some parts of the region. Visitors to Jaipur by road would note the slaughter to which lovely green hills have been subjected out of ignorance. May be, fear of getting branded anti-secular deters even the leaders and civil society members from acknowledging the great value Hindu thinkers had attached to mountains (Kailash Mansarovar, Himalaya, Arunachal, Sabrimala, Samvetshikhar and scores others granted the status of being “sacred”) and hills. Are we not a more environment conscious society?
M L Gupta

There are 3 organs of the State, the judiciary is only one of them. There is well laid down separation of powers and each organ has to ensure the line is not breached by it. The principle of checks and balances ensures that the balance is maintained and checks are in place to deter encroachments. But if one violates the line and acts arbitrary, is there any remedy? Yes, the remedies are there. But applying those checks to maintain balance and lawful exercise of power assigned separately to each organ may be painful and thus needs to be avoided. The parliament is supreme. The judiciary can subject laws passed by the parliament to judicial scrutiny to ensure that the constitutional provisions are not violated. This is how one organ exercises check on the other. Who checks the judiciary if it violates the doctrine of separation of powers and the principle of checks & balances? The parliament has that responsibility to check the judiciary when it acts unconstitutional or arbitrary; violates the constitution relating to separation of powers and the principle of checks & balances. The executive is accountable to the parliament and comes under its authority for separation as well as checks & balances purposes. The judiciary is entitled to scrutinise government decisions when challenged before it and in exceptional cases on its own also. But it can’t behave like the supreme council of ministers. I draw authority for this conclusion from Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer: “The doctrine of independence is not to be raised to the level of a dogma so as to enable the judiciary to function as a kind of super-legislature or super-executive”. Many more legal luminaries have held the same opinion. Even Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India, held similar views. Quoting them all here would make it a long article, but interested readers ought to study the subject without getting carried away by shallow, superficial, inane and paid opinions in the print and electronic media. The constitution of India has not made any one organ “SUPREME”; they are all EQUAL and are obliged to respect that constitutional mandate. It is disturbing to note that the supreme court of India has been indulging in repeated violations of these principles, ordering the government of India left and right in a highly peremptory tone (complete inquiry in 10 days; file affidavit in 10 days). If the court shows same urgency in cases before it, there would be no pending court cases and the figure of 3.5 crore pending cases will come down drastically, may be, even zero. Judges are wise because they are learned and this has to be reflected in their language, honest, fair and unbiased orders, opinions, views, remarks, observations. Democracy in India will suffer if the judges act as judicial officers of the state and lawyers and journalists at the same time. Let them show restraint in the Rafale deal between France & India. Also, judicial reforms must start right away and completed in the next 3 months. This business of affidavit, notary etc. has stymied even a healthy legislation like the Consumer Protection Act, which was envisaged to be a system free of lawyers, but has turned into a legal complexity dominated by all the ills of a decadent and corrupt justice dispensation system.
M L Gupta

The unveiling Of Statue Of Sardar Patel by Prime Minister on October 31st was such an unusual and spectacular show. It was unlike any other unveiling of statues which proliferate in many states. This was something different apart from its becoming the tallest statue in the world. The use of technology in its unveiling and the sights that followed took one's breath away. Prime minister deserves all the praise in conceiving and conceptulizing this idea. As for Mayawati's criticism of BJP criticising her attempt at statues to her mentor Kashi Ram and Dr. Ambedkar at Noida and elsewhere while themselves going on this big project in Gujarat, my answer is that while her project in Noida swallowed thousands of trees and destroyed the best green belt of the town there was no destruction of any type for Statue of Unity. Instead the whole area around has been developed into beautiful gardens and parks which will please the visitors.
Aarti Khosla

In the budget 2018-19, Govt. of India gave relief to Sr. Citizens that no TDS will be deducted from the interest up to Rs. 50,000/- in a year on FD and Sr. Citizens account in post offices and banks but post offices are deducting TDS even if the interest is Rs. 20,000/ in a year. They do not take any responsibility citing the reason software is not taking care of this aspect. Every post office in its sweet will deducting TDS making the case taxable knowing fully well that the interest in a year is less than Rs. 50,000/. Secretary, Department of Post is fully responsible for getting this directive implemented through centralise software modification. Now TDS has been deducted and Sr. Citizens will fae difficulty to claim it back from Income Tax department. More than six months have passed after budget presentation but the correct action has not been taken. Who is responsible for such lapses? Govt. has to fix such slips in the system otherwise real benefit of the scheme is not passed to the concerned persons. It is appreciated if Secretary, Department of Post make sure that software take care of not deducting TDS from Sr. Citizens if interest rates are less than Rs. 50,000/ in a financial year from FD and Sr. Citizen accounts and modification is done at the earliest so Sr. Citizens are not put to inconvenience. Deducting TDS from the permissible limit give the wrong image of Govt. like getting Rs. 15 lakhs. Wishing for correcting it early.
Naveen

Kudos to Apex court’s interim order on CBI muddle. Let country wait for final verdict . But, the buck cannot stop here, irrespective of whether the two accused get clean chits or not.
The damage done to public morale due to internal war within CBI, is irrevocable, irreversible . It would be premature and inappropriate to comment on the culpabilities of the alleged offenders ,the matter being sub-judice and under court-monitored investigations.
But, it needs to be clearly understood that since both the accused are identified , brazenly supported by different political parties, they stand compromised. Hence, rendered automatically ineligible for re-instatement in CBI. Further still , in order to be just and fair, it would be unethical to give them sensitive assignments in CBI,IB,RAW even after getting clean chits.
The pathetic case of CBI conundrum, is out of the ordinary . Nationwide ramifications impacting peoples’ morale, across the board.
Rahul Gandh’s hypocrisy
Let us probe the dirty role of Congress party. The public was amazed to see the dynast, brazenly leading his protesters for laying the siege around CBI Hq in Delhi. Same drama was enacted by the hired goons outside the CBI regional offices, in States’ capitals across the country. A pre-meditated plan by throwing open the Congis’ dirty-tricks department to create mayhem and paralyse offices. Rahul Gandhi in his youthful , dynastic arrogance led the gherao march to CBI Hq, staging the tamasha of court arrest for sadistic pleasures. Extreme immaturity of a wayward dynast.
Public services offices’s failed to deliver
Officers and staff of Central, States’ governments, their public sector undertakings ,the PSBs, local bodies wasted precious office hours watching the ugly spectacle on TV sets and internets.
After existing vertical split of CBI into two lobbies, position has gone from bad to worse.
Public services offices came to a standstill.
Officers in ministries are gradually losing fear of CBI. A bad signal.
Misplaced confidence in private sector
Executives in private sector and corporate business houses felt more cocky, vainglorious and confident in manipulating government decisions in their favour.
CBI became a punching bag
Officers and Staff of CBI were the worst affected. Utterly de-motivated ,not due to guilt pangs,but due to loss of institutional credibility of CBI.
NSA’s off-the-cuff remark
Worse was yet to follow. National Security Advisor to PM added fuel to fire by adding his political pearls of wisdom : "Weak coalition is bad for country ". Was it a panic reaction ?He behaved more like a Political Advisor to PM than his Advisor on matters of National Security. Strange for a bureaucrat to cross the Lakshman Rekha of Statutary Conduct Rules. Most ill-timed and loaded political statement from a responsible officer at a public platform..
Delhi Police’s faux pas
Detaining four IB’s sleuths caught outside Verma’s home led to their manhandling by Delhi police personnel. Their identifications cards failed to convince the Delhi police.This further reinforced suspicions of distrust between two vertically divided sub-groups within CBI, owing respective loyalties to former Director and Special Director in CBI. Alok Verma was former CP ,Delhi with no exposure to CBI functioning. Asthana had been on deputation to CBI for decades.
CBI, more abused than used
As skeletons keep tumbling out of the cupboards, institutional faith in CBI built over several decades cannot be restored easily .The so-called premier investigative agency has been besieged with several issues starting from (i) political pressures on IOs, (ii) acute shortage of staff and officers,(iii) animosity among the promotee officers, IPS regulars coming on deputation from different States’ cadres and CBI’s home-grown cadres.
Worse, CBI’s home-grown cadre (insiders ) has been getting a raw deal for decades in promotion matters vis-a-vis the deputationists. Squabbling between the Prosecution and Investigative wings,is common. Each wing is more eager in achieving one-up-manship over each other rather than in case solving.
CBI Re-structuring is overdue
All above shortcomings have been detrimental to CBI’s professional efficiency. After vertical split of CBI into two lobbies, position has gone from bad to worse. Time to re-structure the CBI.
Some Questions
• Alleged leakage of information is considered CBI’s enemy No-1
• Is Indian Police Service a divided house. Two vertically divided groups.
• A move is reportedly gaining ground to put an IAS officer as head of organization.
• Clearly demarcated duties and functions. No dual command structure . Plugging all loopholes which were allegedly being misused by the IOs and top officers for leaking critical information to the media and the accused. All officers and staff under IB’s scanner.
Regrettably ,DOP&T, headed by successive Prime Ministers have never bothered to attend to these concerns.
Some corrective steps must be taken immediately to arrest further deterioration of a competent, professional premier investigation agency.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

According to income tax department data for the first half of financial year 2018-19, while the direct tax collection was 4.9 crore, refunds amounted to as high as Rs 1.1 crore or 22% of the collection. While collections registered a 15% rise, refunds were 31% higher than in the previous year. This shows the futile work that the department is doing in needlessly resorting to indiscriminate tax deduction at source and making citizens file returns just to get back the money forcibly taken from them. There is also the gross injustice to the citizens in that while the department extracts interest @ 1% for every day of delay in tax and advance tax payment from the tax payers, the department does not pay any interest for the first three months of delay on the refund payment. Such unfair extortion is made possible by the arbitrary and citizen-unfriendly law amendments like reducing the threshold limit for TDS on interest income further and further to just Rs 5000 now, abolition of the provision for excluding casual and non-recurring income or even Rs 5000 which was there in the statue earlier. All these steps are not against the big fish but against the small income earners. If the government wants to prove its bona fides to the citizens, they should immediately amend such draconian provisions which are only counter productive and waste of time for the tax payers as well as for the department officials who are only happy because they get paid in wasting their time for such futile work and can also harass the citizens with impunity. Even computerisation has not served to reduce this needless burden on the citizens but has only increased their work in having to file returns unnecessarily for getting back their refunds, while the income tax department is making empty claims about the number of return-filers having increased.
M S Krishnan

It is gratifying to see that the government at last has acted against renegades, who were conspiring against a democratically elected government. The government now needs to crack down on other officers also in senior and sensitive positions, who are leaking information to the opposition, which is clear from various actions of opposition. Nothing short of a purge is required, and action has to be ruthless. There are enough honest, sincere and effective officers available, only they have to be located through internal enquiry,. It is often that if a wrong person is asked, a wrong person is recommended, and we find that indeed this is happening. The bunch of officers who wrote open letter to the PM on selective issues, are also believed to be very much part of those who ensure that wrong people are recommended. Their hope is that if congress returns, they will again be rewarded. Today they are feeling like fish out of water, as they are not getting any patronage.
S Chatterjee

The appellant sought information on three points pertaining to his bank account no. including copies of withdrawal/deposit vouchers/slips of certain transactions. The appellant filed a second appeal before the CIC on the grounds that certified copies of the vouchers related to the transactions have not been provided by the CPIO, Indian Overseas Bank, and that the FAA did not respond to his appeal. The appellant requested the CIC to direct the CPIO to provide complete information as sought by him. The Bank submitted that point wise information was furnished to the appellant vide letter dated 25.04.2017. Further, the FAA vide his letter dated 05.06.2017 had provided copies of the vouchers as sought by the appellant vide his RTI application. The Bank, however, admitted that the copies were not certified and perhaps only copies of the front side of the vouchers had been provided to the appellant. The CIC directed the respondent to provide certified copies of the vouchers/slips (both sides - front and back) of transactions mentioned in the RTI application to the appellant within a period of four weeks.
Comments
The certified copies of documents provided under the RTI Act have evidentiary value in a court of law.
Citation:Meghnath Prasad v. CPIO, Indian Overseas Bank in Second Appeal No. CIC/IOVBK/A/2017/147091 Dated: 25.10.2018
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

Apropos Whispersinthecorridor’s query on Oct 17,2018 : Will there be an emergency in the country before Lok Sabha polls ?
India needs emergency in the interest of peace and stability.
PM Modi seems mostly focussed on foreign affairs alone. Domestic politics is not in his hands
Administration is left in the hands of bureaucracy and economy under the care of arm-chair Finance minister, a good orator but with zero administrative experience.
Polarisation of politics,Sabrimala face-off and growing violence, Women’s right to pray threatened, Ram temple conundrum, States like West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala - behaving like independent nations within a Republic.
Incessant incursions by China's PLA, Infiltration by Pak's terrorists in J&K on daily basis, the secret club of separatists' and seditionists going strong.
Rahul Gandhi and his chaatukaars have unleashed their dirty tricks department, hell-bent on creating chaos in the country having covert links with proponents of Khalistan, China and Pakistan. Slow or no action by CBI on UPA scamsters.Worsening law &order situation in States which may escalate as we move closer to general elections. More violence is anticipated in the coming days.
Growing insurgency,Congress leaders inciting Police and the Armed forces against the discharge of their duties and normal functioning,
Why not impose national emergency to restore peace and stability in the country?One wonders whether the ruling political dispensation would agree to it, having experienced the rigours of their pre-dawn arrests on June 25,1975 and tortures in jails.
The political correctness or otherwise of the above suggestion should be analysed keeping in view the national security, internal disturbance, insurgency and an undeclared war-like situation on borders.
No restrictions on freedom of Press. But, steps like immediate arrests for indulging in anti-national activities must be enforced.
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)