SCAM/CORRUPTION – 2010 - Indian Social Institute

of the judiciary and put in focus the need for a transparent process for selection of judges instead of the
present body — a collegium headed by the CJI. The sharp campaign against the recommendation for
elevation of Justice Dinakaran to the Supreme Court and the pingpong game on the issue between the
collegium and the government blew away all the credit that the CJI and SC judges legitimately deserved,
when they took the historic decision in making public their assets and liabilities on November 2. Big
issues put up for adjudication — UP chief minister Mayawati’s fetish for statues, legalisation of gay and
lesbian relationships and the high-stake fight between the Ambani brothers over supply of gas — kept the
Supreme Court in news. But, its rulings, though shadowed by other developments, were no less
important. The first of the significant rulings came on February 7, when the SC held that ‘‘the courts and
consumer fora are not experts in medical science, and must not substitute their own views over that of
specialists’’, giving a huge relief to thousands of medical practitioners. It did reflect popular perception by
saying that the ‘‘medical profession has to an extent become commercialized and there are many doctors
who depart from Hippocratic oath for their selfish ends of making money’’. But, it clarified: ‘‘The entire
medical fraternity cannot be blamed or branded as lacking in integrity or competence just because of
some bad apples.’’ It also said that if a condemned prisoner was kept on death row for a long period, that
itself gave him grounds to seek commutation of the extreme punishment to life sentence. The SC said it
would ‘‘be open to a condemned prisoner, who has been under a sentence of death over a long period of
time, for reasons not attributable to him, to contend that the death sentence would be commuted to one of
life’’. The new year promises a lot of significant rulings from the SC with the feud over gas between the
Ambani brothers being the most awaited one. (Times of India 4/1/10)
IAS Pradeep Sharma arrested in land scam (5)
Ahmedabad: The arrest of senior IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, municipal commissioner of Bhavnagar, in
a Rs70 crore land scam has shocked the state bureaucracy. The CID crime arrested Sharma on
Wednesday morning for irregularities in the allotment of land for Bheed Bazaar, a wholesale market in
Bhuj which was destroyed in the 2001 earthquake. The police arrested Sharma from his residence in
Bhavnagar and took him to Bhuj. The state government had allotted 17 acres of land on the foothills of
Bhujiya hillock to the traders of Bheed Bazaar who had lost their shops in the earthquake, said a source.
The traders were, however, asked to procure a G-5 certificate from the district collector of Kutch before
they could lay claim to the land. But many traders, who were not even affected by the calamity, managed
to get land by presenting fake certificates. A complaint in this regard was also filed by Henry Chako,
Kutch secretary of All India Anti Corruption Crime Preventive Council, an NGO. (dna 6/1/10)
Now, CBI will pool in NGOs, whistleblowers in Maharashtra (5)
Mumbai: In an attempt to throttle corruption at the grassroot levels, particularly in rural areas, the CBI has
come up with an innovative idea: to identify whistleblowers from across 35 districts in Maharashtra and
coordinate with them to get clues on corrupt practices by government departments. Besides, the
investigative agency has also tied up with local NGOs to tackle corruption and will send its officers to all
these districts and villages to strike a rapport with people. “We also plan to publish advertisements in local
newspapers inviting people to come forward with their complaints and meet the CBI superintendent,” said
Rishiraj Singh, joint director, CBI. Until recently, the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) used to
concentrate mostly in urban areas. They now plan to expand their base to semi-urban and small towns.
The ACB has already contacted several NGOs and other different agencies that have a strong network
and presence in the rural areas, said CBI officials. (DNA 9/1/10)
Change jurisprudence to fight corruption: Lok Ayukta (5)
Bangalore, Jan 10 (PTI) Dubbed an iconoclast for his pro-active pursuit of cases against powerful
politicians, police and bureaucrats, Karnataka Lok Ayukta Santosh Hegde, a former Supreme Court
judge, wants a change in laws that presume a person to be innocent till proved guilty to effectively fight
corruption and official misdemeanour. Santosh HegdeHe says corruption has not come down in the
country despite the fact that tough laws have been made because "nobody is serious about fighting
corruption". "Let us forget the concept of jurisprudence that says it is better that nine guilty men are
acquitted rather than make one innocent suffer. All these concepts are not relevant today. We have to
change them," Hegde, who demitted office as Supreme Court judge in 2005, said. "We have changed the
laws when it comes to terrorism and corruption is definitely equal to if not not worse than, terrorism. But
nobody wants to do it," he lamented. Hegde recently created flutters when he brought to the fore the case
of an IAS official, who allegedly sought sexual favours from a widow, and was not only not acted upon but
had gone up the bureaucratic ladder. "In corruption who is involved -- the one who makes the law or
administers the law. So anything you do to strengthen fight against corruption is going to boomerang, it