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Destruction of Amenity Spaces Is Suffocating Pune: How Open Land Is Being Sacrificed for Concrete Profits

2026-02-26T11:15:00.001+05:30

Pune is literally beginning to suffocate today, and yet all of us are conveniently ignoring it. Once known for its pleasant climate and clean environment, the city has now been pushed into a growing air pollution crisis. In winter, especially, a hazy atmosphere has become the norm. Continuous construction activity, an enormous increase in the number of vehicles, exposed soil, emissions from industrial areas, and incidents of garbage burning in the suburbs frequently push the city’s Air Quality Index to “moderate” or even “poor” levels. Respiratory illnesses are increasing, children get breathless while playing, and senior citizens struggle to breathe.

Yet one fundamental cause behind this crisis—the systematic assault on public “amenity spaces,” or reserved open spaces in the city—rarely becomes the centre of discussion.

Gardens, playgrounds, sports fields, land reserved for schools, green belts, and open spaces set aside for public use are not meant merely for beautification. They are the lungs of a city. Trees absorb fine particulate matter from the air. Open spaces allow air to circulate. Green cover reduces heat, enables rainwater to percolate into the ground, and lowers noise pollution. When these spaces shrink, pollution increases, heat intensifies, and air becomes trapped between concrete walls. Pune’s skyline may be rising, but the city’s capacity to breathe is diminishing.

In this context, the Supreme Court’s judgment dated 12 October 2011 in the case of *Girish Vyas vs. State of Maharashtra* becomes particularly significant. In that case, there was an attempt to de-reserve land in Pune that had been earmarked for public amenities and use it for private construction. The Court clearly stated that public amenities and open spaces are essential for civilized urban life. Under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, such spaces are given special importance and cannot be easily cancelled. The Court warned that if urban land is allowed to be consumed entirely by residential construction, cities would turn into “concrete jungles.” Looking at Pune’s current situation, that warning no longer appears theoretical—it feels real.

Within the jurisdictions of Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, and PMRDA, changes to Development Plans, pressures to increase FSI, proposals to remove reservations without acquiring the land, and attempts to change land use have been consistently observed. Viewed individually, each case may seem minor; collectively, however, it amounts to a systematic strangulation of public spaces. Grounds are opened up for construction, land reserved for schools is made available for residential projects, and green belts are converted to commercial use. It increasingly appears that short-term economic gains are being prioritized over long-term environmental balance.

Air pollution is not limited to construction dust, vehicles, or industrial emissions. When buildings replace open land, local temperatures rise, air circulation reduces, and pollutants linger longer in the atmosphere. Fewer trees mean less absorption of fine particulate matter. Dense construction blocks the natural escape routes for emissions. As a result, the city becomes hotter, more humid, and more polluted. Protecting amenity spaces, therefore, is not merely a land-use issue—it is a matter of public health, environmental justice, and the quality of life of future generations.

In the *Girish Vyas* judgment, the Supreme Court clarified that once land is reserved for public amenities, any attempt to de-reserve it must follow a strict legal process, invite public objections, and prioritize public interest over private interest. The Court observed that there were “systematic assaults” on public spaces. Considering recent developments in the Pune Metropolitan Region, that observation appears even more striking today.

Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad were once cited as examples of planned urban development. Development Plans reserved adequate land for schools, hospitals, gardens, sports grounds, cultural centers, and other public facilities. The vision was that as the city and its population grew, essential services and amenities would remain accessible to citizens. However, what has unfolded over the past two to three decades has undermined that vision.

There was already a backlog in acquiring reserved lands. Many plots shown in Development Plans were never actually acquired. Due to lack of funds, administrative apathy, or political interference, land reserved for public amenities remained on paper for years. Citizens’ rightful spaces were trapped in files, while the cities expanded in an uncontrolled manner.

Simultaneously, the trend of altering and cancelling reservations increased. Some plots were opened up for residential or commercial use; in other cases, reservations were completely removed. Though “boosting development” was the official justification, the real impact was on public interest. Land meant for gardens, schools, or hospitals was transformed into high-rise buildings. The percentage of open space steadily declined as concrete expanded.

Adding to this were decisions to dilute planning standards. Earlier, there were specific norms for open spaces, educational facilities, and health services per thousand population. Over time, these standards were relaxed. The meaning of “minimum requirement” itself was redefined downward. What was once considered essential is now treated as optional.

Institutional backing for this shift came through the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR). Under the banner of uniform regulations across the state, construction capacity was significantly increased. Provisions such as higher FSI, premium FSI, and TDR gave developers greater opportunities. However, the enforceability and strength of requirements regarding amenity spaces and public facilities weakened in comparison. The result: taller skylines, but shrinking ground-level open spaces.

This issue is not confined to Pune or Pimpri-Chinchwad. In many rapidly growing cities across the state, numerous proposals to change or remove reservations have been approved in recent years. While populations continue to grow rapidly, the land reserved for public amenities is decreasing. In planning language, this may be called “rationalization,” but in social terms, it amounts to injustice toward future generations.

If children in a locality lack safe playgrounds or the elderly have no accessible parks for a walk, it is not merely a local inconvenience—it is a symptom of long-term planning failure. The quality of urban life is not measured only by tall buildings or wide roads. It is measured by the availability of public spaces, environmental balance, and shared civic facilities.

If the current trajectory continues, a serious question arises: will meaningful amenity spaces even remain in future Development Plans? Once land is built over, reclaiming it for public use becomes nearly impossible. Every planning change may offer temporary economic gain, but its social cost is long-lasting.

Balancing development and public interest is the responsibility of governance. Transparency, citizen participation, and a long-term vision are not mere policy buzzwords—they are fundamental principles tied to the future of cities. Otherwise, we risk bequeathing to the next generation cities devoid of greenery, public spaces, and breathable air—cities made only of concrete.

Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad are no longer just cities; they are rapidly expanding metropolitan regions. Development, investment, and infrastructure are necessary—but not at the cost of the city’s breath. The fight against pollution must begin with vehicles on the road and extend all the way to urban Development Plans. Protecting open spaces is not opposition to development; it is the foundation of sustainable development. Otherwise, the warning of “concrete jungles” may soon become reality. Ultimately, the pollution crisis will force us to decide: will we allow our cities to breathe, or will we let them suffocate?

Vijay Kumbhar

RTI Resource Person, RTI Columnist

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SBUP Releases India’s First ‘Indian Media Barometer 2025’ to Assess Health of Print, TV and Digital Media

2025-12-08T06:22:00.000+05:30

Sri Balaji University Pune (SBUP) on Saturday released the Indian Media Barometer 2025, becoming the first educational institution in the country to undertake a comprehensive health assessment of India’s print, television and social media landscape. The event brought together senior journalists, social activists, armed forces veterans, academics and students for a detailed, data-backed review of the state of Indian media.

Chief Guest Mahesh Zagade, Former Principal Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, described the Barometer as a crucial diagnostic tool to assess the media’s current condition. Warning that journalism’s democratic role has eroded, he said media—once a watchdog—was increasingly functioning as a commercial product. He cautioned that both traditional and digital platforms were drifting toward “manufactured content”, misleading audiences and weakening democratic discourse.

“There is an urgent need to reorient the media if it is to regain its role as the fourth pillar of democracy,” he said, adding that this pillar has been severely weakened.

Vinita Deshmukh, Editor of Corporate Citizen magazine, which co-hosted the event with SBUP’s School of Liberal Arts, said journalism had historically been rooted in public service, but over the past 15 years, commercial interests had overshadowed the reader. While digital and social platforms have democratised information, they have also blurred the lines between fact, opinion and sensationalism, she noted. Deshmukh said the Media Barometer 2025 Conclave—attended by more than 20 senior journalists and communication professionals—was designed to examine these issues in depth.

Dr Preeti Joshi, Principal of SBUP’s School of Liberal Arts and School of Humanities and Social Sciences, said the report would aid both academia and industry.

“This report shows how today’s media is performing. It will not just inform us, it will help us introspect about where we are headed,” she said.

Veteran journalist and editor Anand Agashe, who presented the report, highlighted that shrinking editorial space had become a critical concern. He said the study evaluated media outlets on 57 parameters, using an anonymous rating system to ensure neutrality.

“A thorough health scan of present-day media is necessary to understand where the shoe pinches,” he noted, adding that similar studies across different regions of India would offer a more holistic picture and strengthen media literacy among citizens.

SBUP Vice Chancellor Dr G. K. Shirude underscored the importance of analysing news with both content and context. He said media often operates under various pressures, and the Barometer offers a structured appraisal of India’s media ecosystem.

He added that the study identifies institutional strengths, ethical gaps and commercial pressures that shape news production, offering valuable insights for students, researchers and media professionals.

Following the launch of the report, a panel discussion on “Journalism in the Age of Media Explosion” explored the challenges of shrinking newsroom capacity, rising digital content volumes and changing audience expectations. Panelists included Dr Sameeran Walvekar, senior journalist and filmmaker; Siddharthya Roy, investigative journalist and author; Radhesham Jadhav, Senior Deputy Editor at The Hindu Group; and Triveni Goswami Mathur, media educator, who moderated the discussion.

The programme concluded with a vote of thanks and an informal interaction over high tea. Participants described the Media Barometer initiative as a timely effort to examine the future of journalism and the role media must play in a functioning democracy.

Vijay Kumbhar

RTI Resource Person, RTI Columnist

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Ethical Concerns and Financial Surge: Nitin Gadkari, CIAN Agro, and India’s Ethanol Policy

2025-08-30T11:09:00.007+05:30

India’s ambitious push for ethanol blending under the E20 policy aims to reduce fossil fuel dependence and cut emissions. However, the involvement of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, along with his family’s businesses CIAN Agro, led by his son Nikhil Gadkari, and Manas Agro, linked to his brother Sarang Gadkari raises serious ethical questions about conflict of interest and the potential misuse of public office. Adding to these concerns is the meteoric rise in CIAN Agro’s share price, which surged from ₹42 in July 2024 to ₹701 by August 28, 2025 a 520.88% gain in just over a year. This article examines the interplay between policy influence, family business interests, and financial performance, assessing whether the situation reflects legitimate growth or unethical profiteering.

Nitin Gadkari

The E20 policy, mandating 20% ethanol blending in petrol, is a cornerstone of the National Policy on Biofuels (2018, amended 2022). Championed by Nitin Gadkari, the policy aims to save ₹30,000 crore annually in oil imports, support farmers, and reduce carbon emissions. Gadkari’s ministry has pushed initiatives such as promoting biofuel vehicles and ethanol production from innovative sources like CO₂ and bamboo, aligning with national energy goals. However, the policy’s benefits to ethanol producers, including CIAN Agro and Manas Agro, raise questions about impartiality.

CIAN Agro, under the leadership of Nikhil Gadkari, has capitalized on this policy. In January 2024, it signed an MoU with the Chennai-based Ram Charan Group to produce ethanol from distillery byproducts, positioning itself as a leader in sustainable fuel production. Manas Agro, associated with Sarang Gadkari, also operates in the ethanol sector, reportedly supplying ethanol to government channels—though this claim remains unverified. The alignment of these family-linked businesses with a policy heavily promoted by Nitin Gadkari creates a perception of conflict of interest, where public decisions may favor private gains.

A conflict of interest arises when a public official’s decisions could benefit personal or family interests. Gadkari’s influence over fuel and transport policies, combined with his family’s stakes in ethanol production, fuels skepticism. Indian ministers are bound by the Code of Conduct for Ministers, which requires transparency and recusal from decisions involving personal interests. No evidence suggests Gadkari recused himself from ethanol policy decisions. Moreover, the lack of public disclosures about these companies’ government contracts or subsidies undermines trust.

The E20 policy is a national initiative benefiting multiple stakeholders, not just Gadkari’s family. Companies like BCL Industries and Gokul Agro have also thrived in the ethanol market, and the policy’s environmental and economic goals are undeniable. Yet, the Gadkari family’s deep involvement—Nikhil as CIAN Agro’s Managing Director and Sarang’s ties to both CIAN Agro and Manas Agro—creates an appearance of impropriety. The high promoter shareholding in CIAN Agro (67.67%, with 44.33% pledged) and limited transparency about its financial surge further amplify concerns about favoritism.

CIAN Agro’s stock price soared from ₹42 in July 2024 to ₹398 on August 8, 2025, and to ₹701 by August 28, 2025—a 60% jump in just 20 days and a 520.88% gain over a year. This surge coincides with exceptional financial performance. In Q1 FY26 (June 2025), CIAN Agro reported a net profit of ₹52.21 crore, up 52,110% from ₹0.0979 crore in Q1 FY25, and revenue of ₹510.80 crore, a 2,824% increase from ₹17.47 crore. For FY25, annual profit rose 740% to ₹41.16 crore, and sales grew 502.78% to ₹1,029 crore. These figures reflect CIAN Agro’s expansion into ethanol production and its acquisition of Manas Power Ventures, which turned a 270 MW coal-based power project (Ideal Energy Projects) into its subsidiary.

The E20 policy has created a lucrative market for ethanol, with oil marketing companies mandated to procure it for blending. CIAN Agro’s innovation in producing ethanol from CO₂ has aligned well with this demand, boosting investor confidence. Its trailing twelve-month P/E ratio of 13.30–20.05, compared to a sector P/E of 21.20, suggested the stock was undervalued, attracting buyers. However, the rapid 60% surge in just 20 days, an overbought RSI of 88.5, and the Bombay Stock Exchange’s classification of the stock under ASM Stage 4 all signal speculative trading. High trading volumes (53,000 shares on August 29, 2025, vs. a two-week average of 35,000) and a market cap of ₹2,061.30 crore reflect market exuberance.

A claim that Chaitanya Constructions and Builders, linked to Sarang Gadkari, bought 1,87,16,821 shares at ₹20.50 in May 2025—now valued at ₹701, implying a profit of ₹1,275 crore—raises serious concerns about insider trading or preferential deals. However, this transaction remains unverified and contradicts reported share prices (e.g., ₹549.70 on August 20, 2025), making the allegation speculative.

The situation is ethically troubling. The Gadkari family’s stakes in ethanol production, combined with Nitin Gadkari’s policy influence, create a strong perception of nepotism—even if the E20 policy serves national interests. The lack of transparency about CIAN Agro’s contracts and revenue sources, coupled with its rapid financial and stock market success, fuels suspicion of profiteering. While CIAN Agro’s growth aligns with market opportunities, the absence of clear disclosures and Gadkari’s failure to address conflict-of-interest concerns undermine public trust.

CIAN Agro’s share price surge from ₹42 to ₹701 reflects strong financial performance and ethanol policy tailwinds, but speculative trading and ethical concerns cast a shadow. The Gadkari family’s deep involvement in ethanol production, alongside Nitin Gadkari’s policymaking role, creates a perception of conflict of interest that demands greater transparency. The lack of disclosures and unanswered questions about share purchases and revenue sources necessitate further investigation. For investors, CIAN Agro’s volatility warrants caution; for policymakers, ensuring impartiality and public trust is paramount.

20 Years of RTI Act: A Legacy of Struggle, Stalled Reforms, and an Urgent Call for Revival

2025-06-14T11:49:00.001+05:30

On June 15, 2025, India marks the 20th anniversary of one of its most transformative legislations—The Right to Information (RTI) Act. Enacted in 2005, the RTI Act was a beacon of hope for transparency, accountability, and participatory democracy. It empowered every Indian citizen with a simple yet revolutionary tool: the right to seek information from public authorities. Yet, two decades later, the journey of the RTI Act is as much a story of courage and breakthroughs as it is of betrayal and systemic neglect.

The Early Challenges and the File Noting Controversy

Soon after its enactment, the RTI Act faced its first major challenge. In July 2006, the Union Cabinet attempted to dilute the Act by excluding "file notings"—the comments and decisions made by government officers on official files—from its purview. This move was widely condemned by transparency activists. Veteran journalist late Prakash Kardaley, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, and I (Vijay Kumbhar) worked in close coordination to mount resistance. Anna Hazare launched a fast unto death in Alandi on August 9, 2006, and ended it ten days later when the government withdrew the proposed amendment. This episode not only showcased the strength of civil society but also laid the foundation for future collaborations—albeit uneasy—among leading RTI activists.

The 2007 Pune Convention: A Forgotten Milestone

The most significant yet least remembered moment in the RTI movement’s history occurred on May 12–13, 2007, when my organization, Surajya Sangharsh Samiti, organized the first national convention of RTI activists in Pune. The convention brought together 137 activists from 27 states, including prominent figures like Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Aruna Roy, Medha Patkar, Nikhil Dey, Manish Sisodia, and Prashant Bhushan.

This was a rare moment of unity in an otherwise fragmented movement. Although all these individuals were stalwarts in their own right, their ideological and strategic differences kept them from working together thereafter. Despite these differences, three detailed resolutions were passed at the convention: one urging the government to adopt crucial reforms, another demanding accountability from the Central and State Information Commissions, and a third focusing on the proactive disclosure provisions under Section 4 of the RTI Act.

Shockingly, 20 years later, none of these resolutions have been implemented.

What the Resolutions Demanded

The resolutions were practical, well-reasoned, and aimed at strengthening the RTI regime:

Eliminate unnecessary procedural barriers like mandatory forms and appeal fees.

Ensure monthly reporting and audits by public authorities.

Penalize officers for non-compliance or harassment of RTI applicants.

Mandate the proactive disclosure of information as per Section 4.

Safeguard RTI users under a comprehensive whistleblower protection law.

Video-record all Information Commission hearings and prohibit conflicts of interest among Commissioners.

Make RTI a part of school and college curriculums to foster civic engagement.

If implemented, these measures would have made the RTI framework more citizen-centric, transparent, and accountable.

Two Decades On: Successes Shadowed by Setbacks

In the last 20 years, RTI has played a vital role in exposing scams, corruption, and inefficiencies in governance. It has empowered citizens, journalists, and whistleblowers. However, the price has been steep: more than 100 RTI activists have lost their lives, and countless others have been harassed, attacked, or silenced.

The government, instead of bolstering the act, has often tried to weaken it. Amendments to dilute the autonomy of Information Commissions, non-compliance with Commission orders, and increasing hostility towards transparency are telling signs of the state’s intent.

RTI implementation remains dismal across several states, with huge backlogs, insufficient staffing in Information Commissions, and a general reluctance by public authorities to disclose information. Section 4, which was envisioned as a proactive tool to reduce the burden of individual applications, is perhaps the most ignored section of the Act.

The Path Forward: A New Strategy for Revival

As India witnesses political shifts and generational changes, this is a pivotal moment to revive and reinvigorate the RTI movement. The original goals of the 2007 convention are still relevant—and urgent. We need:

1. A national RTI strategy uniting activists, legal experts, and citizen groups.

2. A review and implementation plan for the 2007 resolutions.

3. Stronger pressure on governments and political parties to commit to transparency.

4. Public demand for implementation of pending reforms, including whistleblower protection.

5 The government must recognize that transparency is not a threat to governance but its backbone. Citizens must reassert their right to know as a non-negotiable pillar of democracy.

The RTI Act was not a gift from the government—it was won through relentless struggle. Two decades later, its survival and effectiveness depend once again on collective will and persistent advocacy. The torch has passed from the hands of the pioneers of 2007 to a new generation of citizens. Let us hope they will not let the flame die out.

RTI Inquiry on UPSC’s Handling of Forgery Allegations: A Call for Accountability

2025-03-08T10:15:00.000+05:30

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) plays a crucial role in selecting candidates for India’s prestigious civil services. However, recent revelations in ‘The UPSC Files: A Saga of Forgery’ expose several cases of misuse of reservation benefits through forged certificates. Such fraudulent activities not only undermine the principles of meritocracy but also raise serious questions about the UPSC’s vigilance in ensuring fairness in its selection process.

To seek accountability, I filed a Right to Information (RTI) application under Section 6 of the RTI Act, 2005, on February 2, 2025, requesting the status of my complaint regarding the alleged misuse of reservation benefits by selected candidates. The response received from the UPSC raises serious concerns about the Commission’s handling of such complaints and its adherence to RTI norms.

Summary of “The UPSC Files: A Saga of Forgery”

The document highlights cases of forgery and misuse of reservation certificates (EWS, OBC-NCL, SC/ST, and PwBD) in the UPSC Civil Services Examination. It details how fraudulent candidates have exploited loopholes in the system, gaining undue advantages and depriving genuinely deserving aspirants of their rightful opportunities.

Key points

1. Cases of Forged/Misused Reservation Certificates

- Lists 22 instances where candidates allegedly misrepresented their eligibility to claim reservation benefits.

- Includes cases of false disability claims and affluent candidates misusing the EWS quota.

2. Impacts of Such Malpractices

- Violates constitutional principles, burdens government resources, and erodes public trust.

- Calls into question UPSC’s impartiality and effectiveness in verifying candidate credentials.

- Demoralizes hardworking candidates and distorts the level playing field.

- Causes economic and psychological distress to deserving candidates while fueling societal resentment.

3. Suggestions & Reforms

- Stricter verification of reservation claims before and after selection.

- Creation of an independent regulatory authority for fair exam conduct.

- Revision of EWS criteria to prevent misuse by affluent candidates.

- Strict penalties for fraudulent claims.

RTI Inquiry and UPSC’s Response

RTI Filed Under Section 6 of the RTI Act

On February 2, 2025, I filed an RTI application seeking an update on my complaint filed on August 16, 2024, regarding forged reservation certificates in UPSC selections. Given the seriousness of the allegations, I expected a prompt and transparent response.

UPSC’s Delayed & Deflective Reply

On March 3, 2025, I received the following response from the UPSC:

- The UPSC stated that its role is limited to conducting examinations and recommending candidates as per government rules.

- It claimed that verification of candidates’ credentials falls under the purview of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoP&T) and other concerned authorities.

- The UPSC further redirected my RTI application to the DoP&T for further response but was silent on the date of forwarding the application.

Why This Response is Problematic?

1. Violation of RTI Act Principles:

- The UPSC cannot shy away from its responsibility to ensure the integrity of its selection process.

- If the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the UPSC intended to transfer my RTI request to another authority, it should have been done within the first five days, as per Section 6(3) of the RTI Act.

- The UPSC's response fails to mention the exact date of forwarding my application to DoP&T, raising doubts about its efficiency and transparency.

- I am yet to receive any response from DoP&T.

2. Lack of Accountability:

- The UPSC is duty-bound to ensure that only deserving candidates are recommended for public service.

- Passing the responsibility to DoP&T without tracking the progress of the complaint shows an unwillingness to take responsibility.

Demanding Policy Reforms

- The UPSC must take a more proactive role in verifying the authenticity of reservation claims.

- RTI requests concerning corruption and malpractice should be given priority.

- The government must enforce stricter verification mechanisms before allocating reservations.

Public Awareness & Advocacy

- Raising awareness through social media and mainstream media about such malpractices.

- Encouraging other aspirants and stakeholders to demand accountability from UPSC and DoP&T.

- Seeking intervention from judicial and parliamentary bodies to expedite action against fraudulent selections.

The UPSC’s reluctance to take responsibility for verifying reservation claims and ensuring fair selection processes raises critical concerns. The RTI response I received not only fails to address the core issue but also violates the transparency principles laid down under the RTI Act.

To protect the integrity of India’s civil services and ensure justice for deserving candidates, immediate reforms are needed. The government, UPSC, and DoP&T must act decisively to eliminate the misuse of reservation benefits and uphold the credibility of the selection process.

As concerned citizens, it is our duty to hold institutions accountable and demand a fair and transparent system that truly serves the nation’s best interests.

The Puja Khedkar Controversy: Allegations of Fraud, Forgery, and Misuse of Quotas

2025-01-15T09:44:00.000+05:30

The controversy surrounding Puja Khedkar highlights allegations of fraud, forgery, and the misuse of reservation benefits in her application to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Chronology of Events

2019

- Puja Khedkar secures a visually impaired certificate from the Ahmednagar District Hospital.

2021

- She obtains a combined disability certificate for visual impairment and mental illness from the same hospital.

- Earlier, during her admission to an MBBS program, she was declared completely fit.

February 2022

- Khedkar's application for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) is denied due to procedural discrepancies.

- She files an affidavit claiming visual and mental disabilities but fails to attend scheduled medical examinations, resulting in no relief from the tribunal.

Later in 2022

- Khedkar applies for a locomotor disability certificate at Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, Pimpri, citing an ACL tear in her left knee.

- Discrepancies emerge, including the use of a fake ration card and a false address linked to a private company.

2023

- Khedkar clears the UPSC examination with an all-India rank of 821 under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD-5) category.

- She is appointed as an Assistant Collector in Pune.

- March: Files an application with the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for relaxation under the disability category, providing inconsistent age details that contradict earlier affidavits.

July 2024

- Accused of demanding unauthorized VIP privileges, including using a private car with sirens, a government sticker, and special number plates.

- Demands luxury accommodations, a separate cabin, and personal assistants, exceeding probationary entitlements.

- Removes a senior officer’s nameplate from the Pune Collector's office.

- Transferred to Washim district due to mounting complaints.

- The Union Government establishes a one-member committee to investigate her selection under the PwBD and OBC quotas.

- Khedkar levels allegations against Pune Collector Suhas Diwase.

- Files a writ petition in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, seeking the transfer of an inquiry pending before Ahmednagar district authorities. The court refuses to entertain the plea, leading her to withdraw the petition.

July 31, 2024

- UPSC cancels her candidature, permanently debars her from future examinations, and accuses her of faking identity details (name, parental details, photograph, and address) to exceed the permissible number of attempts.

August 2024

August 1: A Delhi court denies anticipatory bail, citing the need for custodial interrogation.

-August 12: The Delhi High Court grants interim protection from arrest.

- August 21: Delhi Police oppose her bail, alleging a well-planned conspiracy involving others.

- UPSC promises to provide her with the official order canceling her candidature.

September 2024

- UPSC accuses Khedkar of perjury, claiming she made false statements regarding biometrics collection.

- The Delhi High Court seeks her response and extends her interim protection from arrest until October 4.

December 23, 2024

- The Delhi High Court dismisses her anticipatory bail plea.

- Highlights her actions as a serious fraud against the UPSC and society.

- Denies her anticipatory bail in a related forgery case, citing strong evidence.

Key Allegations and Misconduct

1. Forgery of Documents

- Disability certificates (visual impairment, mental illness, locomotor disability).

- OBC non-creamy layer certificate despite exceeding income thresholds.

- Use of multiple identities (e.g., Khedkar Puja Deeliprao, Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar), altered parental names, photos, signatures, and contact details to exceed UPSC attempt limits.

2. Misuse of Power

- Demands for undue privileges during probation.

3. Fraud, Forgery, and Perjury

- Misuse of reservation quotas.

Role of Her Parents

Deelip Khedkar (Father)

- Accused of amassing disproportionate assets worth around ₹40 crore, undermining her claims for OBC non-creamy layer benefits.

- Contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Ahmednagar on a Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ticket.

- Faced allegations of threatening public servants and involvement in criminal intimidation.

Manorama Khedkar (Mother)

- Arrested for threatening farmers with a gun over a land dispute, charged under various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act.

- Served as the sarpanch of Bhalgaon village, adding to the family's influence.

The Puja Khedkar controversy underscores systemic vulnerabilities in the UPSC verification process. The case has led to calls for stricter scrutiny, questioning public trust in the merit-based civil services examination system.

Smart Cities: Politics of implementation

2022-10-13T13:58:00.000+05:30

The politics of implementation that characterizes the smart city are laid bare when the Mission is seen in the wider context of urban development in India. For example, if the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the modernization of cities was already there, then why the idea of the smart city was coined? What is the difference between modern and smart cities? This act is symptomatic of wider, underlying politics that not only influenced the initiation of the smart city mission (SCM) but influence its implementation until today.

Be it nationwide or citywide, politics in the implementation of smart cities can be divided into two parts: pre and post-approval of smart cities. As far as Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is concerned, all the political parties and administration also played a key role in supporting or opposing the implementation of the smart city project. However, it was not for the benefit of the city at all, other political goals and motivations were the main drivers of these political games.

On the 5th of June 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Smart City Mission. As per the Central Government's instructions, the State Government of Maharashtra selected ten Municipal Corporations to be part of the Smart City Mission. The State Government considered Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad together for the smart city. However, both Municipal Corporations (their elected representatives) initially opposed the idea. Now, there are multiple reasons why they were initially opposed to the Mission but why they opposed the idea of considering both cities together is an open secret. You can call it the politics of development. Such development, they think, can attract vote banks as well as increase the bank balance.

After four rounds of competitions, the Central Government selected 98 cities for the Smart City Mission. Pune was included and came second in the nationwide competition. However, there was no answer as to why Pimpri Chinchwad was excluded.

Pune city was earlier included in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), a large-scale city modernization scheme launched in 2005. This was then succeeded by AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme, which aimed to provide basic services (e.g., water supply, sewerage, urban transport) to households and build public amenities in cities, designed to improve the quality of life for all. It's surprising that in ten short years Pune was urbanized under JNNURM, it was able to provide all basic services through AMRUT and now, it was ready to be smart.

Though there was publicly announced and promoted competition for the selection of cities under the Smart Cities Mission, evidence suggests that the cities selected under the Mission were predominantly pre-decided, as well as many decisions regarding the implementation of the Mission in each city. As far as Pune is concerned, a lack of transparency and confidentiality, one-sided agreements, conflict of interests, and the lack of democracy during the implementation, has arguably adversely affected Pune's future as a Smart City.

Local Political Games

With a BJP-led government coming into power in the State and Centre in 2014, and an NCP-Indian Congress-led alliance in power in Pune, the PMC was initially in the dark about the SCM and its implementation. Due to political rivalry, the support of the ruling elected representative in the implementation of Smart City PMC was doubtful, and as the number of seats of the Bharatiya Janata Party in PMC was limited, they put pressure on PMC from State or Central Government. The role of Congress-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was opportunistic and Shivsena representatives were mere spectators at it.

Earlier, Congress, NCP, and MNS had decided to adjourn the General Body meeting and postpone the approval of the Pune Smart City Proposal. However, with BJP in power at the State level, PMC representatives were pressured to approve the proposal for submission under the SCM competition. Under section 450(A) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, the State Government has powers to issue general instructions to the Municipal Corporation, as matters of policy to be followed by the Corporation in respect of its duties and functions, and in particular, it may issue directions in the larger public interest or for implementation of the policies of the Central Government or the State Government and the National or the State level programs, projects, and schemes. Upon the issue of such instructions or directions, it shall be the duty of the Corporation to give effect to such instructions or directions. It was through issuing this notice that the State Government was able to ensure that the PMC complied with and approved the Smart City proposal in the General Body meeting.

This was nothing but a political game. It is extremely rare for the State Government to intervene in city politics in this way, especially for urban development programs. By doing so the State government was suggesting that elected representatives of PMC were not serious about the development of the city, in contrast to the BJP who wanted to bring development for all.

Amendments in contradiction

After receiving this notice, the smart city proposal was approved in a thirteen-hour-long General Body meeting. Despite the apparent unanimous approval of the proposal, the General Body failed to finalize the accountability structures of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) - a particular point of contestation among the political representatives.

Nevertheless, the proposal was finally agreed upon after giving five amendments to the original proposal. These amendments were designed to curb the rights of the SPV and its CEOs, so as to maintain democratic structures and decision-making in relation to the Smart City Mission. Firstly, they recommended that the mayor of the city should become the CEO of SPV, to improve accountability. Secondly, if in the following two years the SPV fails in its role as implementing body, it would be suspended and the work would continue under the PMC. Finally, it was decided that the CEO would not be given the right to pledge any property of the Municipal Corporation.

The most surprising part of this meeting was that the then Municipal Commissioner was convincing PMC representatives to approve the proposal as if it was his personal agenda. Later on, it was revealed that the processes and proceedings adopted in the race to emerge winners in the competitive federalism agenda paid scant regard to any rules and regulations or democratic practices.

For example, initially, the PMC commissioner had refused to put the Smart City proposal in the public domain or show it to elected representatives, apparently afraid ULB copy the proposal. This a strange excuse in light of some of the core tenants of the Mission being inclusivity and transparency.

To demonstrate that PMC's smart city proposal was contradictory in nature, one or two examples are sufficient. In the proposal, the PMC states, 'Capitalizing on Pune's water abundance, one of the strategic goals will be to ensure at least 150 lpcd of water to 100% of citizens on a 24x7 basis. However, the equitable distribution of this abundance is still a matter of question. What is the guarantee that this abundance will lead to equitable distribution for all sections of society and covers all geographic areas? Furthermore, where is that abundant water? For many years now, Pune is facing water shortages for almost six months a year. Furthermore, the smart city proposal says it would raise Rs. 1000 crores from selling 10 acres of land in the ABB area (i.e., it would fetch 100 crores per acre.) This remains a distant dream and PSCDCL has not taken the initiative forward. [ready reckoner reference details to be cited to prove the point]

Furthermore, despite the contentious approval process, in the end, none of the amendments were implemented. For example, despite the apparent failure of SPV to implement the Mission in a timely, effective and transparent way, it has not been suspended. The rights of the CEO or SPV were not curbed as suggested. And most revealing of all, instead of selecting the Mayor as CEO to maintain a democratic representation of the city citizens, a bureaucrat remains in the powerful position.

Corporate influence and democratic processes

The General Body also failed to enact proper control over the involvement of companies or organizations in the SCM. Therefore, companies that had been involved in the preparation of the proposal remained legible for participating in tendering for projects in the smart city. That is against tender process guidelines at the national and international levels.

Doubts were also raised on PMC's decision to select Aundh, Baner, Balewadi (ABB) for Area Based Development (ABD) initiatives. This area was already considerably developed under JNNURM and for the Common Wealth Youth Games (CWYG). It is therefore arguable that the ABB was selected to achieve maximum visual or aesthetic impact in five years, to perform an image and feeling of success.

When it came to the appointment of the project consultant, the process lacked transparency. After only four days of presentations and consideration, the Standing Committee of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) passed a proposal to appoint McKinsey and Company as a consultant to prepare the draft smart city plan (SCP). Interestingly, almost all the cities under SCM have not spent more than 40 lac rupees on a consultant. However, PMC spent more than 2.40 crore rupees.

It was not the case that McKinsey and Co's work has always been reliable or successful. This was the company that had advised the world-famous telephone company, AT&T, that mobile phones have a future. This was the company whose former director Rajat Gupta was sentenced two years jail term for insider trading by U.S. District Judge in New York.

Whilst Standing Committee said that it was necessary to call tenders from the list finalized by the government, this was in fact case. The Ministry of Urban Development technically qualified panel consulting firms and States/UTs were at liberty to draw this However, the States had also the option of appointing a consulting firm outside following transparency and procedures. These firms to a selected selection (LCS) basis. In this case, the proposal among those passed the minimum technical score. And here lies the trick. The scoring numbers are PMC officials and of McKinsey got the proposal Committee doesn't speak to any LCS

Inclusivity, transparency, and Secrecy

Initially, making governance citizen-friendly was one of the key objectives of smart cities, and participation was said to be the core tool to achieve However implementation, instead transparency, 'secrecy' became the buzzword for Smart Cities Mission. And Pune is arguably at forefront of this mission. From the beginning, the SCM defied the principles of the amendment to the constitution of India that was brought to strengthen Local Bodies. 'Secrecy clause' in Smart City Mission has taken the soul out of Right Information Act

To maintain secrecy around the activities of smart city projects, they introduced 'code conduct' directors and management personnel of the company Pune Smart Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL) the company formed the Special Purpose (SPV) implementation of smart city projects in Pune. This code of conduct prevented directors’ senior management personnel PSCDCL from disclosing anything with any member of the press media matters connected with the company business unless specifically permitted Board Directors of the company or the Chairman/Managing Director of the company

Article association (AoA) PSCDCL requires every Director, Manager, Secretary, Auditor, Trustee, member committee, officer, servant, agent, accountant any other person employed business of the company to sign a declaration pledging to observe strict secrecy respecting transactions and affairs of the Company with customers and the state the accounts individuals and matters relating thereto, and by such declaration pledge not reveal any matters which may come knowledge the discharge his duties except when required so Directors or by law or by the person to whom such matters relate and except so far as necessary in order comply with any provisions in these presents

Further as per AoA, the member is entitled to visit or inspect any works of the company without the permission of the directors to require the discovery of any information respecting any details company's trading, or any matter which is maybe the nature of trade secret, mystery secret process or any other matter which may relate the conduct the business the and which in the opinion of the directors, it would inexpedient the interest the company discloses.

In short, the Smart City Mission gave the rights to collect taxes, use charges, sell, lease properties, take loans, and earn profit for shareholders, the company formed confiscated all the rights conferred upon common citizens Constitution of India.

The then would be Chief Executive Officer of the SPV and then Municipal Commissioner of PMC had already encroached upon the General Body's and Standing Committee's rights. Though he had not revealed any of PMC's correspondence with whom it has signed the so-called non-financial, non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), he has gone further to assure reimbursement of the amount to an institute without knowledge of a General Body and Standing Committee. It seems that he had assured reimbursement as CEO of the proposed SPV.

In a letter to the Principal Director of Symbiosis, the then Municipal Commissioner writes,

"I welcome our collaboration wherein MBA-IM students from SCMHRD, Symbiosis would work with us as interns for Smart Cities Mission. This is a path-breaking partnership that brings together academia with the Government in mission mode to find solutions for real-life issues faced by the city.

Further, with reference to your email regarding the budget proposal based on 60 days of engagement, we convey our agreement with the same. We would, however like you to undertake the expenditure upfront and thereafter let us reimburse the amount to you.

We believe this engagement will go a long way in enabling the transformation of Pune city under the Smart City Mission."

Interestingly, SCMHRD's name doesn't appear in the list of PMC's so-called nonbinding, nonfinancial MoUs it has signed. No one knows how many such agreements he has signed on behalf of PMC. However, as far as nonbinding nonfinancial MoUs that PMC has signed are concerned, the Commissioner has categorically said that they will be allowed to participate in the tendering process of SPV, and therein lies the threat of manipulating the proposed transparent tendering process.

As described in the letter above, SCMHRD conducted a public participation initiative required under the Smart City Mission in collaboration with the SPV and other external partners. The Standing Committee of PMC then reimbursed the amount without asking any questions on the legality of awarding that work to SCMHRD.

Keeping pace in a smart city

The pace of project implementation in Pune is slow due to difficulties with funding allocation and a lack of efficient communication and decision-making in implementation. Pan city projects like Smart Street Lighting, E-Buses, Adaptive Traffic Control Systems, Bus System ITMS, Total Smart Parking Intelligent Road Management as well as area-based projects like 100 Electric buses, junction and road redesign for fourteen junctions, non-motorized transport (NMT) and street development, BRT, e-rickshaws, wastewater recycling, storm-water management, adequate water supply, rainwater harvesting, smart water metering, river water cleaning, etc. either haven't started yet or are only partially complete.

When the Pune Municipal Corporation submitted the proposal for the Smart City Mission, it had given a detailed plan for the implementation of projects under the smart city. However, the situation after four years is not only disappointing but raises serious doubts about the future completion of projects.

A total of forty-one projects were proposed in the Pune smart city proposal document. Among them will be the all-around development of river banks in the ABD, LED street lights, rainwater harvesting, classical disposal of wastes, 100 e-buses, etc. Thirty out of these forty-one projects should have been completed or begun by December 2018 and the remaining eleven projects were expected to be completed in 2019 and 2020. The work has also been hampered as the PSCDCL is yet to receive a total of over Rs. 400 crores from the State and Central governments pertaining to the dues of the last two consecutive years. Due to this delay, various projects such as the smart grid project, the riverfront development program of the river Ramnadi in Baner, and the placemaking project, are facing delays.

'Pune Smart City' - who for and who decides?

Despite these problems in implementation, Pune has been awarded several awards by several national agencies. For example, Business World Digital India Summit & Awards 2018, the Smart SPV 2018 award, the SKOCH Order-of-Merit Award for Smart Cities, four National Smart City Awards by the Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, and the Best Smart City India Award

Even as the government and its agencies proceed with inefficient and problematic implementation of smart cities the stakeholders lie. citizens, civilian planners, architects, and social workers. academics, people's representatives) are asking the question of what the smart city exactly means. There is no specific definition of a 'smart city' and cities have to self-define their understanding of 'smartness'. Information and communication technologies (ICTS) play a prominent role in the development of smart cities. Technology is increasingly being used to avail basic facilities like transport, water supply, etc. However, before applying ICT, basic infrastructure should be in place.

If the cities have to self-define their understanding of 'smartness' then it is actually the citizens who have to define it - they should have a say in what smartness in their city means to them. However, when politicians in collusion with the administration and corporate entities make a mockery of public participation then how can citizens define or decide what they want? And most importantly, do have they any liberty to decide what they want?

In Pune, more than 40% of people live in slums. The situation may not be much different in any other city in India. What would their idea of a smart city be? Has anybody asked them? Forget about the smart city, has anybody ever asked them what their basic expectations and needs are? Mere conferring awards for public participation and implementation of the smart city on urban local Bodies will not help provide for the needs of people, nor will it lead to the development of a fantasy smart city.

To provide even the basic services like water, sanitation, healthcare, education, and healthcare, etc. for a growing Indian population, which is expected to be around 170+ crore by 2050, the government and its agencies need a better understanding and planning of the current infrastructure and services. Paying lip service to public participation will not help understand citizens' problems and will therefore not lead to inclusive, sustainable development. Without careful, just, and inclusive citizen engagement, missions like JNNURM, AMRUT, or the SCM will not help any city become smart and it will forever remain a political game.

Resolutions Passed by RTI Movement 14 years ago are still awaiting justice

2021-05-13T17:00:00.001+05:30

Almost 14 years back I had organized the Right to information crusaders convention through my organization ‘Surajya Sangharsh Samiti. It was attended by about 137 activists from 27 states. I had to organize this event because the veteran activists of the country could not agree on where to hold the convention. In the end, no one objected to me organizing the convention.

The initiative was attended by veteran journalist Late Prakash Kardale. Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Aruna Roy, Medhatai Patkar, Nikhil Dey, Prashant Bhushan and many others. None of these came together after that meeting. This is how I came in contact with many social activists in the country. Some resolutions were passed in this convention regarding the strengthening of the RTI act. However, to date, RTI community is still struggling for proper implementation of the Act.

There is no doubt that all the congregation in this photo are veteran social workers. They are masters in their respective fields. But they never got along. For various reasons they often came either way but their opinions never matched. No one will doubt the motives of these social workers. Even if their achievements or goals are the same, they have differences over the tools and they are so extreme that it creates distance from them.

Before this convention in July 2006, the Union Cabinet amended the Right to Information Act 2005 to exclude the file noting by the government officials from its purview. Till this date, Anna and Arvind Kejriwal were in contact only on phone or through me. Arvind insisted that Anna should begin his fast at Jantar Mantar but anna didn’t agree and went on his fast unto death on 9 August 2006 in Alandi against the proposed amendment. He ended his fast on 19 August 2006, after the government agreed to change its earlier decision.

Meanwhile, Praksh kardaley had requested Arvind Kejriwal to meet anna personally. Kardaley sent this letter to anna on 15 August 2006. Arvind came to meet anna 0n 19 August 2006. However, before we ( I and Arvind Kejriwal) reach Alandi then MoS in PMO and in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions had reached there and Anna had ended his fast. Hence, we had to return from midway. Then after some days, we went to meet Anna Hazare

Three resolutions were passed in that convention first was resolution with respect to demands from the government; another was regarding the functioning of CIC and SIC and the third was about the implementation of section 4 of RTI. Dignitaries like Veteran social worker Anna Hazare, Aruna Roy, Aravind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan had signed on these resolutions. Since then in many such conventions activists have made the same demands. However, the government didn’t give any heed to these demands.On the contrary, the government made every effort to kill the RTI act and movement. Hence On the background of change of guard in the country, there is a need to work on the strategy to revive RTI movement.

Resolution passed by the national convention of RTI activists in Pune held on 12th and 13th May 2007 with respect to the demands from the government

1. There ought not to be any mandatory forms for requests for information and forms if any must only be a directory. The non-compliance with the forms must not and cannot result in the rejection or return of the requests.

2. There ought to be no fee for appeal and such prescription is ultra virus and the act does not permit such imposition. Wherever such impositions are made by the Governments, they should be immediately withdrawn.

3. Many public authorities are prescribing their own rules, which is totally illegal, and they are bound to follow the rules made by the competent authorities. Strict action must be taken against the public authorities that framed rules without jurisdiction for violating the provisions of the Act.

4. A revolutionary sunshine act like the RTI can only be handled and effectively implemented by an independent department. The responsibility of implementing the act shall not be vested on the Department of Personnel and Training or Personnel Department of any State. As an interim measure the responsibility should be withdrawn from the DoPT or any other State Personnel Departments and vested with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and similar departments in States.

5. Every month the Secretary in Charge of the implementation of the RTI Act should ensure that the Public Authorities file analyzed reports including information demanded under S. 25 and the same must be analyzed and action taken against any aberration or deviation from the An act which is so noted.

6. It must be mandatory that the first appellate Authority records independent findings and reasons and gives speaking orders while disposing of the appeals.

7. Central Government must correct the mistake in S. 19(6) by notification under S. 30 by replacing the words “or subsection (2)” as “or subsection (3)” and thus provide for a time limit to dispose of the second appeals. By prescribing a time limit in rules, the Complaints also must be ensured to be disposed of in a time-bound manner by the commissions.

8. Every head of the public authorities must be made responsible for ensuring effective and complete Section 4 disclosures and strict disciplinary action must be taken against those defaulting this paramount duty.

9. When compensation or costs are ordered by Information Commissions or when free information is to be given due to delay, the loss caused to the Public authority must be recovered from concerned officers if it is seen after a proper inquiry that he is responsible for the loss. In In all such cases an inquiry ought to be made.

10. The first appellate authority that does not bonafide and properly dispose of appeals must be penalized.

11. Call Centre’s as in Bihar for effective use of RTI must be made available by the Central Government and the State Governments. In the interim, there must be one APIO in every state who will be able to accept and forward requests for information with respect to all Public Authorities in the State.

12. All Public Authorities must make rapid computerization making more and more available information in the public domain.

13. The RTI Act must be included in the curriculum at the School level by all the State Governments, the CBSE, and the NCRTE and also at the college level.

14. A special stamp for giving fee under RTI The act must be released by the State Governments and they shall be made available through the Post Offices.

15. We urgently need the law to protect the requestors of information in the form of the Whistle Blowers Act.

16. Government is bound by the orders of the Information Commission and they shall be respected and implemented. We note with concern to the flagrant violation of the orders of the Commissions by the Government and also the frequent and frivolous challenges of the pro disclosure orders of the Information Commissions by the Government before legal forums.

Resolution passed by the national convention of RTI activists in Pune held on 12th and 13th May 2007 with respect to the functioning of CIC and SICs

1. If any PIO says that information cannot be provided because the files are missing, the following action should be taken in all such cases:

a. Public authority should be asked to provide a list of officials who were supposed to be the custodians of that file before it went missing.

b. An FIR should be registered against those officials by name

c. Simultaneous the departmental inquiry should be ordered by the Commission to fix responsibility within a week.

d. Commission should direct the public authority to impose a penalty on guilty officials within the next 7 days of fixing responsibility.

e. The The commission should direct reconstruction of file and the information should be provided to the citizen.

f. For every case of loss of file, the Commission should also enquire whether it was some deficiency in record maintaining systems of the department which led to loss of files. If so, they should direct appropriate changes in systems under section 19 (8)

2. If files are reported lost at Information Commission itself, the Commission should take all the steps listed above for loss of files by PIO.

3. Show cause notice must: If there has been any delay in responding to an RTI application, a show-cause notice should compulsorily be sent to the PIO to explain the reasons for delay or denial of information. If it relates to denial of information under section 8 or any other section and the citizen alleges malafide, then the Information Commission must compulsorily issue a show cause notice. There should be an open hearing thereafter the issue of show cause notice in which both the parties should be called. An order for either imposing penalty or dropping penalty should be passed in open court rather than behind the back of the parties.

4. Case should not be closed till complete information is received and the citizen reports satisfaction.

5. If any public authority does not receive RTI application does not accept fee or harasses citizen in any other manner in submitting an application or providing receipt or acknowledgment, such complaints should be directly accepted under section 18.

6. For every second violation by any PIO, Information Commission should invoke section 20 (2) in addition to section 20 (1)

7. Information Commissions should ensure that the penalties imposed by them are recovered and are entered in the ACRs of the officials.

8. If a citizen invokes life and liberty clause, the Commission should directly entertain such complaint under sec 18 and should dispose of it within 48 hours.

9. “Life and liberty” should be defined as provided under article 21 of the Constitution.

10. It has been seen that some Information Commissioners are accepting the hospitality of public authorities whose cases, they are hearing. This is being done under the garb of holding RTI workshops in those public authorities. Information Commissioners should immediately stop doing this. The Commission should come out with a model code of conduct on the lines as it exists for judges.

11. If any state has more than one Information Commissioner, they should be spread out in the state rather than holding hearings from only one city.

12. No Information Commissioner should be allowed to deal with any Department where he/she served any time in the past, as there is a direct conflict of interest.

13. Both parties should be treated equally. Often, the officers from public authority are seen to be having tea with the Commissioner before hearing. This severely affects the independence of the commissioner and his ability to act against the officials.

14. Both parties should be heard in every case. Principles of natural justice should be respected.

15. Many Commissioners do not pass orders in open court, which is a violation of rules. Every order should be passed in open court.

16. All Information Commissions should themselves abide by section 4 disclosures.

17. No format should be insisted upon for filing an appeal. Similarly, only one copy of appeal should be asked rather than three or five copies as is being done today.

18. Many Information Commissions have not submitted their reports under section 25 of the RTI Act. It is requested that they submit it soon.

19. Some information commissions are providing orders for a cost. This should be stopped forthwith. Orders should be provided free of cost.

20. Every case in which a decision is passed in favor of the citizen should lead to appropriate compensation for costs incurred and for mental harassment. This should be recovered from the salary of the responsible officer as in the case of Chhattisgarh.

21. PIO and AA should not be allowed to be represented by anyone including lawyers. They should appear in person.

22. All orders should be in a format so that the basic information about that case is reflected in every case. We are developing such a format through consultations and will make our suggestions soon.

23. Acknowledgement no should be given to the complainant/ appellant on the spot, if he is filing by hand or should be dispatched within 24 hours of receipt by post.

24. The Commission should ensure that the first hearing in every matter should take place within 30 days of receipt of complaint/ appeal and there should not be a gap of more than 10 days between two hearings.

25. “Human Rights” should be interpreted to mean a defined in various international treaties to which India is a signatory.

26. The offices of Information Commissions should be made disabled-friendly and should be at such places where they are easily accessible to the public.

27. All hearings at Information Commissions should be video recorded.

28. The Information Commissions may like to create awareness, but they should do it themselves rather than sub-letting funds to NGOs or other agencies.

Resolution passed by the national convention of RTI activists in Pune held on 12th and 13th May 2007 with respect to the implementation of Section 4

1. For the implementation of Section 4 state/central Government should take audits of every public authority. Public Authorities that do not comply with Section 4 should be enquired upon by the Govt.

2. CIC or SIC should dispose of complaints against non-compliance of Section 4 on a priority basis.

3. CIC or SIC should recommend necessary action against the erring Public Authority to the concerned governments

4. If applications are made for information under Section 4 then the information should be supplied at actual cost and not at the prescribed charges of Rs.2 per page.

5. CIC, SIC, and government should treat non compliance of Section 4 as a refusal of information and accordingly take action on the erring Public Authority

6. In every state NGOs should frequently take an audit of compliance of Section 4 in various Public Authorities’.

This is high time; youth should take politics seriously ………

2021-03-29T17:37:00.000+05:30

“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participate in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of living, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.” This quote of the famous German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht has been doing rounds on social media for many years. I don't understand the reason for posting this quote over and over again. I haven't read any of Brecht's literature, so I don't know in what context it was said. But the thoughts are agreeable.

Image courtesy Star of Mysore

Given the current situation in India, everyone needs to take politics seriously. Youth, in particular, should take it seriously, study it and get involved in it, if possible. The situation is changing rapidly. If the youth do not take control of the situation in time, they will have no choice but to be bonded labour in the future. Taking politics seriously doesn't just mean joining a political party, but those who can - must join the politics. I say that young people should take politics seriously because hardly any of the people we call seniors have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Most seniors - either due to their upbringing or the environment in which they grew up, do not want to adapt to the changes that are taking place in the world. I don’t blame them. But the sooner these facts are accepted, the better. Young people, however, can no longer afford to ignore politics. They have to make the change they want.

But before entering politics, the youth must understand what democracy actually is. Until now, while chanting 'the rule of the people for the people, we have accepted democracy as the dictatorship of the people's representatives. This happened because we did not understand the true meaning of democracy. We did not understand it because we never tried to assimilate the language of democracy.

If you want to learn and understand any language, you have to understand its grammar. The language of democracy also has grammar. It should be studied by every citizen, in fact, we should have studied this grammar a long time ago. We see the current state of the country and democracy because of not doing it because we didn’t study the grammar of Democracy. If we want to improve this situation, not only the youth but everyone who believes in a democracy need to understand the grammar of democracy. And to understand it, one should read the book 'Grammar of Democracy' written by former Supreme Court Justice Late PB Sawant.

As far as elections are concerned, according to Sawant, unless there is an electoral system that truly represents all sections of the society, restricts the use of money and power, gives opportunity to every aspirant, eliminates socio-economic inequality and prevents others from ruling, true representative democracy cannot exist. He has also given a blueprint for a new electoral system for the establishment of a democratic system. Of course, no system is perfect, so he insisted on adopting the least flawed method. According to Sawant, democracy in our country has been narrowly viewed as a political structure since its inception. It also includes the economy of the country. By expressing his views on the existing economy, he has also welcomed a new economy.

Similarly, he has deliberated on the issues of representative discipline in democracy, political parties, the judiciary, media, population, human rights, foreign relations and accountability, etc. and he has also suggested measures. Moreover, while doing so he has also welcomed the necessary reforms in his grammar of democracy

However, the existing democratic system will not allow the democracy expected by Justice Sawant to come into existence. Therefore, the youth will have to enter into this system and make the necessary changes. That will be a true tribute to Late PB Sawant.

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DSK Groups fallout started way back in 2004 says Forensic Audit Report

2020-10-27T09:43:00.001+05:30

Three years back on this day victims filed FIR against D S Kulkarni and others. Once upon time D S Kulkarni was blue eyed boy of investors and bankers. DS Kulkarni blames demonetization and recession for his fallout. However forensic audit report in Kolhapur case submitted by S. M. Sonalkar and Co alleges that DSK’s fallout was started long back in 2004 – 2005 itself. The report throws a light on several illegalities of banks, arm length dealings, early warning Signals of financial illness of DSK group companies. The report also alleges that banks excessive illegal lending, obtaining illegal Public Deposits, investing in non-core businesses and thus making diversion of funds and use of Public Deposits and loans for personal benefits put DSK Group in a position of bankruptcy.

As per report D S Kulkarni developer’s sale started declining in 2010. Even then they started diverting funds in multiple businesses like Toyota Car Selling outlet Agency, luxury two-wheeler production with foreign collaboration, education sector by establishing International Animation College etc. The banking industry started lending him. Many times, they exceeded the norms and prudent financial appraisal criteria. Thus, the Banks, Non-Banking Finance Companies and Housing Finance Companies jointly provided more funds than those to be invested. The borrowings were more than the project cost. Plus utilizing the name and fame, illegal deposits were collected from the investors.

RBI Act bans the uncontrolled entities like individuals, proprietary concerns, partnership firms and Association of persons to collect Public Deposits. To get out of the clutches of SEBI, knowingly and under design, the Public Deposits were accepted below Rs. 100 Crores. So many firms were established by using the brand name DSK. The similar names were used like DSK and Associates, DSK and Asso., D S Kulkarni Construction Pvt. Ltd. As the RBI Act puts ban on advertising so advertising was made in the name of D S Kulkarni Developers Limited. The offices of all entities were situated in same building DSK House at Shivaji Nagar , all had same Phone and Fax numbers and all used same logo.

Chronology of early warning signals of DSK Group’s Fallout

· 2004-2005

Used TDS collected from payees instead of depositing in Govt account

2007-2008

Started using TDS collected, instead of depositing in Govt account

Since 2010 Onwards

No Project except Megh Malhar could be completed as scheduled & promised to Flat Holders.

2010-2011

Almost all TDS was retained instead of depositing with Govt.

2014 September

Contractors, Suppliers & Amount Payments started being paid indefinitely late.

2015 April

DSK, Vidyanagar, Phase II, Baner, was promised delivery, dates were extended to December 2015, then to March 2016, not honored.

2015 August

Bank of Maharashtra Loans were categorized as SMA-2

2015 23rd September

Company Secretary N V Gopal in diligence report to Syndicate Bank mentioned that company has diverted funds to its subsidiaries Rs. 97.71 Crores.

2015 November

DSK Sadaphuli, Talegaon's possession was promised, was not honored. As promised in December 2013, not honored.

2015 December

Employees’ Salaries could not be paid as scheduled/ was delayed.

2016 13th March

The Kalyan Janata Sahakari Bank Limited sanctioned Quasi-Equity Unsecured Loan Rs. 6 crores.

2016 10th June

Immediately on, as interest & instalment due was not paid, Bank filed Dispute application

2016 30th April

Punjab National Bank's Loan Rs. 4.62 Cr. became overdue/ unpaid.

2016 31st May

ICD Crown Securities Loan became overdue/ unpaid.

2016 31st May

Bank of Baroda Loan to H. D. Kulkarni became Overdue/unpaid.

2016 25th July

ICICI Bank granted Term Loan Rs. 75 Crores for DSK Nabhangan Phase VII of Township DSK Vishwa.

2016 31st July

Punjab National Bank, FDOD, Loan Rs. 4.62 Crore turned NPA on 31st July 2016.

2016 31st August

Bank of Baroda. Loan to H. D. Kulkarni, Rs. 4.40 Crores turned NPA on 31st August 2016.

2016 30th September

ICICI Bank Term Loan 75 Crore was classified as NPA on 30th September, 2016

2016 October

All Projects' Development Work was completely Stopped for want of funds

2016 October

Employee’s Salary payment was delayed by 2 months.

2016 6th \ October

ICICI Bank Term Loan 75 Crore was recalled

2016 11th November

The Syndicate Bank MID corporate Branch Navi Peth Pune Sent letter, "Only second floor slab is completed as against G+ 8 Floors and there is no progress since last visit 23.05.2016."

2016 15th November

ICD Crown Securities, DSK Milkotronics Private Limited. Loan Rs. 2 Crores turned NPA on 15th November 2016.

2016 November

Project DSK Sadaphuli's Flat Holders were promised Possession, could not be completed till this date.

· Related Stories

DSK Scam

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Officials rejecting RTI pleas should be shown doors, Madras HC

2020-09-08T09:43:00.002+05:30

Recently contrary to the preamble of Right to Information (RTI) act the practice of rejection of RTI applications by quoting section 8 of RTI had become a norm. The Public Information Officers (PIO) all over India is rejecting RTI applications without applying mind. However, It appears that the Madras high court has come to the rescue of the bedridden RTI act. The Madras High Court yesterday passed severe strictures on Public Information officers who mechanically reject the application under RTI. The court was hearing an appeal filed by Time Nadu Public service commission (TNPSC) against the order given by Tamil Nadu State information commission (TNSIC). It further directed the Tamil Nadu Government to issue a circular to all its departments, PSUs & corporations warning about legal consequences of not furnishing information under the RTI Act.

Image courtesy pildat.org

Here are some major observations of the court

1. Nowadays, Officials are used to adopting a tactic answer in a mechanical manner that the information sought for is exempted in the light of Section 8(1)(d) of the Act, without actually ascertaining as to whether the information sought falls within the ambit of the said provision.

2. Such PIO’s are unfit to hold the post of Public Information Officer or any other post in connection with the discharge of duties under the RTI Act and they should be shown the doors

3. Mere pendency of the matter is not a bar to furnish details even if it pertains to the very same case pending before the Court. Unless or otherwise there is an interim order, then the information need not be given for the present till the disposal of those matters

4. The purpose of enactment of the RTI Act itself is to ensure transparency in all respects. Moreover, a reading of section 8(1)(d) shows that it relates to commercial confidence, trade secrets, etc., and it does not strictly prohibit the authority concerned from providing other detail.

5. TNPSC had first decided not to give details and thereafter, searched for relevant provisions.

In the year 2008 Mr P.Muthian from Trichirappalli had sought information on the following points

a) Total number of vacancies called for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008;

b) Number of seats allocated to the Backward Community out of the total number of vacancies called for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008;

c) Number of seats allocated to the Most Backward Community out of the total number of vacancies called for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008;

d) Out of seats allocated to the Backward Community, the list of the selected candidates from the sub-castes of Muthuraja and Muthriyar;

e) Out of seat allocated to the Most Backward Community, the list of selected candidates from the sub-castes Ambalakarar;

f) Out of seat allocated to the Most Backward Community, the list of selected candidates from Vanniya Kula Shatriar sub-castes (Vanniyar, Vanniya, Vanniya Gounder, Kandar, Padayachi Palli and Agni Kular Shathriar)."

Except for point ‘C’ TNPSC refused to part with the details citing Section 8 (1)(d) of the RTI Act. It held that since the caste-wise breakup of the selected candidates have got nothing to do with the public activity and such disclosure would amount to an invasion of the privacy of individuals, apart from the creation of communal discontent and strife.

However, following an appeal, the TNSIC had ruled that every citizen is entitled to a transparent view of the functioning of public authorities and the trepidation shown by the Public Authority to the demand will not be ground in denying details to the public in contra to the provisions of the RTI Act. TNSIC also ordered to information sought to be provided free of cost.

The court observed that” On close scrutiny of the Preamble and the object of the Act, it is manifestly obvious that the scope of freedom of information has been widely spread with the object and purpose to give the right to information to its citizens in order to ensure transparency in government dealings. From a bare reading of Section 6 of the Act, it is abundantly clear that any person, who desires to obtain information under the Act shall have to make a request in writing to the authority prescribed under the Act. It is not necessary that a person seeking information is a citizen of the country or has a direct interest in the matter. As a matter of fact, the provision of Section 6 confers right to information to any person for the obvious reason that right to information flows from the right to the expression”

The court rejected the contention of TNPSC that the details sought for by the respondent are not at all warranted and that it would amount to an invasion of privacy, saying it, cannot be accepted, especially when the selection itself is based on caste wise quota. The disclosure of caste wise breakup will certainly inure to the benefit of candidates to ascertain as to whether they actually fall under the reservation quota or not. When the general list itself has already been published for public view, as stated in the petition, there is nothing wrong in disclosing the details to the respondent. In the list, the details of caste, including sub-caste have to be necessarily mentioned and the contention that such revelation would create communal disharmony is not acceptable. As long as there is a provision for appointment on the basis of reservation, what prevents the authorities in unearthing those details to the public and when the details sought for by the respondent are furnished, it will throw a clear light / picture as to under what category, a candidate was placed.

The court also observed that the apprehension of TNPSC, that in-depth description of castes will create communal unrest, is only an illusion and imaginary. The court also passed remark that ‘ if it is the real concern of TNPSC and the Government, they should think of abolishing the quota system as well as the removal of a column regarding caste particulars in the school certificate itself, so that the people of Tamil Nadu could stand united under one roof irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc. at least in the year 2050 and our State will be a model State for the whole of the country’

Coming down heavily on the PIO’s who avoid providing information under the RTI Act (Right to Information Act), the High Court observed that such officials are unfit to hold the post and should be shown the doors.

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Special MPID court rejects bail applications of 3 accused in DSK financial scam

2020-07-07T09:32:00.001+05:30

The special MPID court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of 3 accused in DSK financial scam, However, the court allowed bail to D.S.Kulkarni’s brother Makarand Kulkarni. It has been more than 2 years since the real estate developer DS Kulkarni has been in jail along with his wife, son, sister-in-law. Son-in-law, daughter-in-law and others in connection with the Rs. 2,043 crore fraud case filed by the Economic Offences Wing. The special court rejected bail application of Dhananjay Pachpor ( Chief Operating Officer) Anuradha Purandare ( Sister-in-law ) and Kedar Vanjape ( son-in-law). Special Public Prosecutor Pravin Chavan strongly opposed bail applications.

Dhananjay Pachpor who was working with D.S. Kulkarni Developers Ltd. (DSKDL) on various Posts had applied for bail. While rejecting his bail application Special court observed that though, no proceeding is filed by Directorate of Enforcement (ED) against any of the accused till todate it cannot be said that, E.D. has exonerated the present applicant. Even on the basis of the statement of witness Chaitrali, at this stage, it cannot be concluded that there is no evidence against the present applicant. This cannot be considered a change in circumstances. During the investigation by Pune police, the applicant prima facie appears to have been involved in the deal of land at Fursungi. Apart from this, the statement of investors demonstrates that it was the applicant who induced them for investing in the various projects of the DSK group

While rejecting D.S.Kulkarni’s Sister-in-law Anuradha Purandares’ s bail Court Observed that, it is an economic offence having huge magnitude. Thousand of investors have deposited the amount in the DSK group of companies, in which the applicant was working in a high position. Though some accused in this case namely Mr. Ghatpande and Mr Nevaskar are already released on bail. However, the case of the applicant cannot be compared with them as role assigned to the accused released on bail is a different one and the case of the present applicant is more serious than the case of accused who released on bail.

Kedar Vanjape another accused in DSK Scam has also filed temporary bail as per the directions of the High Power Committee. Rejecting his bail application Court observed that, the alleged offence is an economic offence. In view of guidelines issued by Hon'ble High Power Committee, the serious economic offences and offences punishable under the MPID Act are not covered by the said guidelines.

Considering that the investigation related to Makarand Kulkarni D.s.Kulkarni’s Brother is completed and considering the role assigned to him in the commission of the offence and his age, keeping him behind the bars for a further period will not add anything more to the prosecution court allowed bail to him.

Makarand Kulkarni contended that his bank account was operated by Anuradha Purandhare or Hemanti Kulkarni as authorized signatories. He was unaware of the transactions happening in his bank account as they were operated by coaccused Anuradha Purandhare and Hemanti Kulkarni as a power of attorney. Makarand Kulkarni further contended that he signed few cheques only at the instance of main accused and he had blind faith on his brother.

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Maharashtra Government invites consent of SIC applicants as per amended rules of RTI

2020-02-25T11:51:00.000+05:30

The Government of Maharashtra has now invited consent as per the amended rules of RTI from the applicants who have already applied for the post of State information commissioners. The general administration department (GAD) had invited applications from candidates for the three posts in Nashik, Pune and Nagpur benches of the State Information Commission (SIC) in June 2019. Accordingly, some have applied for the post of SIC. The state government had also appointed a search committee to shortlist the names of the candidates to be sent to the appointment committee

However, meanwhile, the rules pertaining to Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of the Information Commissioners) were amended. And the entire process of appointment of SICs stopped.

Now the government of Maharashtra has asked all the applicants to furnish the consent letter in the following format as per amended rules.

1. According to the advertisement dated 7th June 2019, I have applied for the post of State Information Commissioner in Maharashtra State Information Commission.

2. Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of the Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission, State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission) Rules, 2019. Notification on this subject has been published by the Central Government on October 24, 2019. As per the notification dated 24.10.2019, the Central Government has modified the salary, allowances, term of office and other terms and conditions of service of the State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission.

3. I have taken note of these changes and I agree to maintain the application made and will impress for the post of State Information Commissioner.

The candidates have to send a letter mentioning “Willingness for the post of State Information Commissioner" superscribed on the envelope to Secretary (O&M), General Administration Department, 1st Floor, Mantralaya, Mumbai - 400032 as well as through e-mail to sic-application@gov.in within 15 days from the date of publication of advertisement.

The advertisement in this regard is yet to be published in the newspapers. If the government publishes this advertisement in next 3-4 days it will receive consent letters by 15th March. Then the Search Committee will follow objective criteria for shortlisting of applicants and prepare a panel of such short-listed candidates, along with the criteria applied. It will take suppose month or so i.e. 15^th April. And after that, the same shall be notified on the website for the appropriate time. Say about a month or so i.e. 15^th May.

Then the short-listed the panel shall thereafter be placed for consideration by the Committee led by the chief minister and this committee make its recommendations to the Governor. It will take say another month. That means if all goes well SIC’s will be appointed by the June end in Maharashtra.

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Slovenia amended the constitution to protect 21st-century liquid Gold, Water is the fundamental right of the citizens!

2019-06-13T11:43:00.000+05:30

Slovenia, the small country in the European Union has incorporated water into the Constitution as the basic right of all. Two years ago, the Parliament of the country amended the Constitution, saying ‘the country's abundant availability of 'water is a public goods under a country's system and not a product of market' country's abundant clean supply are 'a public good managed by the state' and 'not a market commodity’. Slovenia has the basic right to all citizens of drinking water in the Constitution and to stop its commercialization. This resolution was accepted by a number of 64 against the number of 0. The then prime minister, Miro Cerar, had urged lawmakers to pass the bill saying the country of two million people should “protect water – the 21st century’s liquid gold – at the highest legal level”

Image Courtesy www.slovenia.info

A couple who come s to me for some guidance on their work. Wife is Indian and the husband is Slovenian. According to them one reputation in Slovenia is of immense importance. This couple has travelled almost across the world. After that, they decided to do something good in India and came. According to the girl, she received a lot of honour in her husband's country.

“Article 70a

(Right to Drinking Water)

Everyone has the right to drinking water.

Water resources shall be a public good managed by the state.

As a priority and in a sustainable manner, water resources shall be used to supply the population with drinking water and water for household use and in this respect shall not be a market commodity.

The supply of the population with drinking water and water for household use shall be ensured by the state directly through self-governing local communities and on a not-for-profit basis.”

Laws regulating the matters referred to in the new Article 70a of the Constitution must be brought into conformity with this Constitutional Act within eighteen months of it entering into force.

This Constitutional Act shall enter into force upon its promulgation in the National Assembly.

Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No. 75/16 of 30 November 2016

Same the behaviour she was expecting from the people of India for her husband. But unfortunately, when they landed in India very first experience with a builder was a nightmare for them. She also had to face a lot of harassment for herself as well as for her husband. But when the builder realized that the couple is not going to succumb to any pressure, he was ready to take back the house and refund the money. But That is not enough for the couple they are expecting an unconditional apology from him. Nothing has happened yet. Now both are experiencing the Indian system in different offices

Read This also: Potable water, a richness of Slovenia

After complaining to the Chief Minister and Food and Drug Administration about packaged purified water two days ago they both came to me when I was talking to the Reporters. They were surprised to hear the matter of privatization of packaged water and privatization of dams in the state. They told me that in their country even if the water reservoir is private it cannot be closed and access to water cannot be restricted, anybody.

The quality of water in Slovenia is very good and, in the future, it will gradually become more valuable good. Due to its increasing value, in the future, foreign countries and international corporations may target it and increase the pressure on Slovenia. To protect water from such pressure Slovenian parliament has made it the fundamental right of citizens. Apart from Slovenia, more than 15 countries have taken such a decision. Slovenia is the first European Union country to include water rights in the Constitution.

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Validity of penal provision in case of wrong complaint against EVM’s deviant behavior challenged in SC

2019-04-27T13:05:00.001+05:30

Is a threat of FIR in case of a wrong complaint against EVM’s deviant behavior justifiable? Can a person accused of any offence be compelled to be a witness against himself? We will get answers to these question after hearing of a petition in the Supreme court. Mumbai based Lawyer and RTI activist Sunil Ahya has challenged the validity of the penal provision in case of mismatched voting. Ahya mentioned this petition before Chief Justice on 24 April. Court ordered to list the matter On 26 April however on that case was not listed hence Ahya again mentioned it on 26th and court ordered to list it on 29th. So petition may be admitted on 29th of April.

Ahya has prayed Supreme Court to set aside Rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 except for the procedure prescribed for purpose of creating a statistical record of the complaints; and to register the complaint of any deviant behavior of the electronic machines/equipment used in the process.

There may be counter arguments on the complaint that ‘Press Any EVM Button and vote go to an unintended candidate”. But the political leaders like Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal, sushilkumar Shinde, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayavati and thousands of other people across India have complained outside polling booths about EVM VVPAT vote mismatch. However, not sure if machine’s behavior during test vote & scared of facing FIR, no one except one in Sangli of Maharashtra challenged mismatched vote under section 49 (MA) of election rules.

Even ex DGP of Assam alleged EVM tampering after casting vote but didn’t dare to complain. This needs to be changed. The person casting vote should be sure of his vote has gone to the intended candidate only. If there is doubt in his mind it should be cleared immediately.

Rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 mandates elector to give declaration in case of mismatched voting. This rule read with section 177 of the Indian Penal Code, criminalizes the reporting of deviant behavior of EVM & VVPAT. After complaint of mismatched voting the presiding officer if an elector after having recorded his vote under rule 49M alleges that the paper slip generated by the printer has shown the name or symbol of a candidate other than the one he voted for, the presiding officer has to obtain a written declaration from the elector as to the allegation. And after such declaration is obtained the Presiding Officer then permits the elector to record a test vote in the voting machine in his presence and in the presence of the candidate or his representative.

Also, is it fair and just to charge an elector for reporting such deviant behavior and to ask himself to be a witness against himself? As per article 20(3) of the Constitution. No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.

This all system puts the burden of proof on the elector, who has to face the criminal charges irrespective of whether that reporting is truthful and honest. This deters an elector from coming forth and making any complaint. This system also gives clean chit to the machine against which complaint has been made. Faulty machines sometimes may also record correct results. And that is the reason people don’t dare to complain even if they are sure of deviant behavior of EVM. Hence should be allowed to complain without fear of any action against him.

अनियमित ठेव योजना बंदी अध्यादेश २०१९ वरील चर्चेचा वृत्तांत

2019-02-24T16:36:00.001+05:30

List of all the properties submitted to court for auction in DSK investment scam

2019-01-31T16:01:00.004+05:30

Recently special public prosecutor Pravin Chavan in DSK Investment fraud moved a plea before the special MPID court for public auction of 143 freehold immovable assets belonging to jailed developer D S Kulkarni (DSK) and his group of companies. Here are the list of all the properties submitted to the court.

Maha Govt allows inspection of files under RTI , here are some guidelines for officers and citizens

2018-12-10T11:56:00.000+05:30

To reduce number of applications under Right to Information Act (RTI) and to bring transparency in functioning of official works Pune Municipal Corporation ( PMC) had started ‘open day’ in 2009. Under this scheme every Monday between 3.00 to 5.00 PM all the documents of every department are made available for inspection to citizens. On the same line Government of Maharashtra has started open day in all district and subordinate offices. The GR regarding this effect has been issued on 26 November 2018.

Though now Maharashtra government has started ‘open day’ in district and subordinate levels journey to it was not easy. Convincing government officials about proactive disclosure was huge task. However, I had privilege to talk to discuss various sections of RTI with late Prakash Kardalay. The former Editor of Indian express pune . He played crucial role in formation of RTI act. People used to call him ‘ masterjee ‘.

One day we were discussing section 4 of RTI act. When I drew his attention to explanation given to section 4 (3) and (4) of the act. This explanation clearly says that dissemination of information under section 4 includes inspection of offices of any public authority. We both were curious about how to implement ‘inspection of office of public authority. As per our discussion next day I went to Pune municipal corporation to inspect the files .

In PMC I demanded a file to inspect. The file was regarding TDR (Transferable Development Rights), which comes under 4 (a) of RTI. Initially I went to concerned Public Information Officer (PIO) and asked for that file. The PIO demanded a application. I denied and told him that information disclosed under 4(a) of RTI was public one and as it was already published there was no need of application. Then he told me that the file I was demanding was under police investigation. I told him that how can you conceal the information that was already published, or required to be published under RTI ? . Then there were lot of arguments and counter arguments. Finally, he confessed that they had not published anything under 4(a) of RTI. My argument was whether you publish it or not it has become public information on 12th October that is when RTI came to an existence. However, he didn’t show me the file and thus first attempt of inspection of office under section 4 of RTI act was failed.

Then we decided to give this exercise a legal format. We prepared an intimation format for inspection. ( This was not an application under section section 6 of RTI).Draft of that intimation is reproduced below.

Then finally after lot of augments and counter arguments and after consultation with legal department PMC allowed me inspection of office and showed files related to TDR. Then we campaigned in various offices for disclosure under section 4 of RTI act.

Then a meeting with then state information commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar was organised in PMC. Along with kuvalekar, then PMC commissioner Mahesh Zagade, City engineer Prashant Waghmare and 40 other officers were present for this meeting. I was also Part of that meeting. As per discussion in this meeting PMC started open day. since then Files are being made available to the citizens without any formal application.

The English translation of the circular issued by then Municipal Commissioner for open day is reproduced here.

Municipal Commissioner Office

Pune Municipal Corporation

OW No. MA/MAJ/427

Date - 16/07/2009

Office Circular

Subject: making records available for citizens of Pune Municipal Corporation.

Under the Right to Information Act 2005, information is sought from many citizens in Pune Municipal Corporation. As per law it is mandatory to give this information within one month. However, in most cases, the information is delayed or partially provided. This is very inappropriate. Due to this, there is an increase in the number of appeals and inconvenience is caused to the citizens and they are compelled to visit corporation office to obtain the information.

Transparency is the main object of the above law. It is necessary to provide all the requested information accurately and quickly to the citizens. To achieve this all employees are required to work pro-actively. The following procedures should be implemented for this.

on every Monday or in case of holiday next working day the records of all departments should be made available to citizens for inspection between 3 pm to 5 pm. At this time all the concerned officers / employees of all the departments must be present in the office. If the citizen wants a copy of the documents, then after application and payment of the necessary fee’s documents should be provided. The information regarding this procedure should be displayed prominently in every office.

All Heads of every department are required to implement above procedure in their respective offices.

Mahesh Zagade

Municipal Commissioner
Pune Municipal Corporation

For implementation of open day rules need to be formed. Accordingly, city engineer Prashant Waghmare issued a circular. In this circular responsibilities and precautions while implementation of open day are mentioned. English Translation of this circular id reproduced here

City Engineer's Office

Pune Municipal Corporation

OW No. 1265

Date - 19/07/2009

Office Circular

Subject: making records available for citizens of Pune Municipal Corporation.

Reference - The official circular issued by the municipal commissioner, Municipal Corporation, No. MA / NJA / 427 dated 16/7/2009

As per above referred circular it has been ordered to make available official records for inspection to citizens on every Monday or in case of holiday next working day between 3 to 5 PM. Accordingly following procedure need to be adopted

Every public information officer must maintain a separate register for it. In this register, it is necessary to mention the serial number, date, the name and address of the citizen, the subject of the record requested for the inspection, the documents sought, total pages, the fees charged for documents, the signature of the citizen, etc.
While inspection only the applicant and the representative of concerned office should be present.

3. The identity of citizen should be checked before inspection i.e PAN card, passport, bank passbook, voter ID card, ration card etc.

While inspection Blade, scissors, bag, pen, camera, erasers are not allowed
Representative of the concerned office should take precautions so that there should not be any changes in documents while inspection

6. If the applicant asks for copies of the documents after inspection, then the challan of charges should be given and the copies of the documents should be made available immediately after the payment is made.

7. On the last Monday of every month or in case of holiday the holiday, the next working day will be observed as 'Right to Information Day'. On this day if the information under the Central Right to Information Act, 2005 has not been given, then it should be complied with. It is also necessary for all the public information officers to keep an separate register for it also

8. Every Public information officer should submit monthly report above procedure to this office

9. This procedure should be adopted from 1^st august 2009

Prashant Waghmare

City Engineer

Pune Municipal Corporation

Though Government has started open day the experience regarding inspection of office is not much satisfactory in various offices. Often they give excuse that concerned file is with some other department. While it is not mandatory to write a letter to request inspection of files it is nice to be courteous and give them prior intimation.

There are certain things to be remembered while inspection of files. As These files belongs to citizens and citizens are owners of these files they should not to feel awkward, guilty or hesitate to demand file for inspection.

Remember, once citizen give them intimation, they should not have to wait for a reply from the officer. Simply because, a citizen has a right to inspect files during designated working hours of the public authority. The intimation is just for convenience purpose and to avoid excuses by officials.

Once citizens have gone through the documents they can ask for the copies of the inspected documents. To obtain this copies one need not give application under section 6 of the RTI act. Mere giving a list of document on plain paper is enough. However, they need to pay fees required for photocopying.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Intimation of inspection under Section 4 should be addressed to the top authority of the government department (meaning the municipal commissioner, if it is a municipal corporation) unlike an application under Section 6 which is addressed to the public information officer (PIO).

Draft Of intimation

To,

The Head of The Department

Subject – Intimation for inspection of files related to xxxxxxxxxx

Dear Mr.Head of the Department

As per circular sankirn2018/ pra.kra. 45/ karya 6, dated 26/11/2018 the Government of Maharashtra has allowed inspection of files in every department. Please note that as per section 4 of RTI act and as per the said circular there is no need to give any intimation for inspection of files in any public authority. However, being responsible citizens, we thought it preferable to intimate you beforehand.

I intend to exercise my right as a citizen to inspect documents related to xxxxxx. I will visit your office on Monday xx/xx/2018.

Thanking you

With Regards

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Declare Bank of Maharashtra innocent without investigation trial or hearing…..

2018-10-19T11:11:00.000+05:30

Proving that the banking industry is a criminal business all the agencies hand in glove are now are coming forward to declare, the Bank of Maharashtra (BOM) officers innocent without any investigation, inquiry or hearing in the DSK scam case.
According leading daily, Pune Mirror Pune police have moved an application under Section 169 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), to release the accused BoM top officials who were arrested in DSK scam case.
According to Pune Mirror, the Pune Police have claimed that they have failed to find evidence against the top three officials. Interestingly, in the first charge sheet filed in the Pune court, the police have made serious allegations against the bank officials.

The said paragraph is reproduced here .

It is unusual and astonishing that the Chairman and Chief Managing Director of the Maharashtra Bank, taking interest of visiting the site. And not taking any action after noticing that entire funds of the Bank were not used in the project.

In this same charge sheet, the police have made a serious claim that this officer sanctioned a loan of Rs. 100 crores to the DSK Dream City and then sanctioned another Rs. 10 crores in April 2017. Specially, instead of acting when it comes to the fore more loans were given.

Is not it serious? There are many other serious allegations against these bank officials too.

Then what happened suddenly, on the basis of which the Pune police are saying that there is no evidence against the bank officials?

Actually, Pune Police has conducted a special forensic audit of all transactions in the DSK scam. The forensic auditor's report has highlighted a serious scandal involving not only the Bank of Maharashtra but also by many other banks. And that is why banks and his political supporters do not want any investigation, trial or hearing of the matter.

That is why they are struggling to exclude the names of the officials in this case.

It is also reliably learnt that one of these accused recently had a meeting with finance minister Arun Jaitley.

It is also pertinent to note here that after BoM officials arrest in DSK Scam prime minister Modi’s had announced zero tolerance towards corruption in banks. However immediately after his announcement, amendment to Prevention of corruption was made and babus were fully protected from arrests in case of corruption. Not only that swift efforts were also made to get all BoM accused out of police and magistrate Custody.

The way and procedure with which these officers have been released on bail has been challenged by Fix Deposit ( FD) holders of DSK in High Court.

Let us see now how drama unfolds. It is true that no political party in India has come forward to protect interest of victims of investment scams or bank frauds. But it seems that every political party is in favour of protecting fraudsters and scammers

Scammers want to enjoy ‘Roger Lifestyle’ with public money !

2018-07-13T12:30:00.000+05:30

Scammers like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi are known for their luxurious lifestyle. More than their business they are known for luxurious bungalows, villa’s, costly Cars, page 3 culture

However, they enjoy such a lifestyle with public money.

It is not the case that all the business personals including builders and others involved in many other businesses are scammers or cheaters.

The businesses personal that enjoy their lifestyle with their own hard earned money nobody will complain about them.

However, there are some criminals who pretend themselves as businessmen, builders or Investment bankers. Under the garb of business, they cheat gullible investors and banks.

Scammers in Pune are also not far behind. They have learnt the ideal of cheating public.

Some of these cheaters are already behind bars and others are on the waiting list!

When I first heard of ‘Roger lifestyle’ of some of the Pune builders, I couldn’t get it properly.

Roger Federer's Glass Villa

Then I tried to search that word even then I didn’t find anything much useful.

However, in all this exercise I came to know about world-famous tennis player Roger Federer’s lifestyle, his luxurious cars, private jet, glass house etc.

Roger Federer's Private jet

No doubt Roger Federer enjoys the super luxurious lifestyle, but he has earned on that through his hard work. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), he has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles.

Roger Federer's 70 crore rupee glass mansion on the shores of Lake Zurich in Switzerland, His private jet, his collection of luxurious cars.

Roger Federer enjoys his lifestyle with his hard-earned own money.

However, criminals enjoy Roger lifestyle with common people’s money. And that is the real cause of concern.

DSK Jallosh

One such builder, whose behaviour after selling the flats is appalling. Had promised possession in 2 years took 8 arduous long years to build. All public spaces swimming pool clubhouse is locked with no access for residents, staircase, lift owned by the builder, terrace sold to outsiders.

This builder calls himself santhanik (chief of princely state) of Pune.

This person when travelling with fellow builders flies in a class higher than the super luxurious class. Enjoy presidential suites in luxurious hotels.

Devidas Sajnani of Temple Rose In a party

Another builder stunned with the police action on D S Kulkarni one builder has started returning investors’ money slowly. He had also tried to help D S Kulkarni recently.T his builder who has been cheated various investors is famous for his diamond-studded watches and luxurious farmhouse.

One another such controversial builder in Pune is known for his super luxurious office.

Since last 10 years, he is advertising the same schemes under the completion stage.

Among other luxurious things, he is known for his world-class automatic personal toilet. Sensor operated touchless toilet seat. Without touching, the lid cover lifts up automatically when one approaches it.

He even advertises it as his status symbol.

Shirish Kulkarni

D S Kulkarni and his entire family are in judicial custody. But people know how D S Kulkarni used to fly fursungi from chatushringi in the helicopter. His son’s flat in trump tower and love for bikes and cars are not hidden things.

Another builder and long-time associate of D S Kulkarni , Vinay Phadnis is also in judicial custody for yet another investment scam. He was also known for luxurious cars.

Yet another scammer in Temple Rose plotting scam, Devidas Sajnani is behind the bars since last one year. He was known for foreign tours. He used to throw parties regularly for pity reasons.

It is now peoples turn to teach such a lesson to scammers so that they will never think of using others money for personal enjoyment!

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Are BoM employee’s union agitations sponsored by the Bank itself?

2018-07-09T14:52:00.000+05:30

Are BoM employee’s union agitations sponsored by the Bank itself?

Yes, there is the reason to believe this statement. Bank of Maharashtra ( BoM) has asked one advertising agency to collect all the news items regarding BoM union’s agitations.

It appears that BoM officials instead of asking bank employees to go to work are keeping watch on the outcome of agitation.

Calling such reports is not normal practice at least in BoM.

If at all it was, then they would have taken cognisance of news item appeared in 2016 in leading daily “loksatta” about DSKDL Fixed deposit schemes and stopped further disbursal of loans.

Then why BoM officials are keeping the close watch on news items of agitations?.

The reason is simple.

They want to see whether some union leaders’ who have assigned with the job of supporting management are doing their job well or not!

There is long past of hand in gloves of BoM top executives and some union leaders.

Some union leaders instead of doing their job of protection of workers interest take more interest in supporting wrongdoing of top executives.

And in lieu of that these top executives avoid action on wrongdoings of such union leaders.

Such two leaders are more vocal in agitations after the arrest of 3 top executives in DSKDL investment fraud.

Banks has given one of these leaders a charge sheet in 2013 and show cause notice to another leader way back in 2004.

However, no further action has been taken for the reasons best known to them only.

One such leader was also director of the bank and charges levelled on him by BoM were very serious and are reproduced here.

Your act of concealment of the facts of aforesaid cases pending against you in the respective Court of Law and knowingly making a false statement in the said forms submitted by you to the Bank pertaining to or in connection with your employment as Director in the Bank is an act of gross misconduct under clause 5 (m) of Chapter XIX of the Bipartite Settlement dated 19.10.1966 as amended from time to time.

The above-mentioned acts committed by you. are offences involving moral turpitude for which you are liable to conviction and sentence under the various provisions of law which is misconduct under the provisions of Bipartite Settlement dated 19.10.1966 as amended from time to time.

It has been, therefore, decided to conduct the departmental inquiry against you for the above-mentioned acts of gross misconducts alleged to have been committed by you and charges levelled against you

Another union leader was mere a computer operator in Bank. While in service he was engaged in the private job also.

The show cause notice given by the bank to him is reproduced here.

An explanation was sought to vide letter no, xxx dated 16.4.2-004 in respect of payments made to you on various dates from Current. a/c. no. xxx of Ms .xxx systems with our Deccan Gymkhana branch and also in respect of transactions in your SB a/c. no. .xxxx , SB a/c. no. xxx and CC account no. xxx with our Bajirao Road branch. You have submitted your reply dated 23.4.2004. Your explanation is not found satisfactory for the following reasons

The current account no. xx of Ms .xxx was opened with Deccan Gymkhana branch on 9/6/1994. At the time of opening of the account, Mrs.xxx was the proprietor. However, on 17.4.!997 Mr, xxx took over as new proprietor of Ms. Xxx systems. Your claim that you withdrew payments on behalf of Mrs.xxx is not tenable because after 17.4,1997 also you received Payments from the said account, details of which are informed to you In letter dated I6.4.2004 moreover, if at all Mrs.xxxx had sought your services as a staff member there was no reason for transfer of amount through cheques from the account of Ms. Xxx systems to your own account.

As regards transactions in SB a/c no xxx with Bajirao Road you have simply mentioning that both transactions pertain to the investment made by your father. However, you have not given any specific details particularly regarding credit of Rs. 50,000 /- on 1.6.1996 by way of transfer. Regarding transactions in SB a/c no xxxx you have given the explanation about only two entries dated 9/12/2000 and 1.10.2001. you have not given explanation rest of the entries mentioned in letter Dated 16.4.2004.

You have not given any explanation regarding turnover of Rs.12 lakh in S/B a/c no xxx from 17.7.1995 to 9.1.2004. Regarding turnover of Rs 39 lakhs in your SB a/c no xxx from 5/8/1995 o 10.4.2004 and regarding turnover of Rs. 3,79.0000 in your CC account no xx from 24.2.2003. It was expected of you to have submitted your explanation with exact and complete details in respect of each of the major transactions appearing in these accounts.

In absence of a satisfactory explanation from you, the details of transactions from. .a./c of XXX System and from. ,SB a/c. no.xxx , SB a/c. no. xxxx- and CC a/c no . xx Show that you have income other than salary income from The Bank. As per provisions of B.P. Settlement, the staff member cannot, engage himself in any trade or business without prior permission and also cannot engage in any speculative activities.P lease, therefore, show cause as to why disciplinary' action should not be initiated against you for earring income other than salary income; without the Permission of the Bank as appearing in above referred accounts and from the account of m/s. xxx Systems: You have not obtained the permission of the Bank for engaging in any trade/business. Your-. The reply should be submitted within 7 days from the date of receipt of this letter failing which it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in the matter.

However, no action has been taken on these union leaders and hence they are supporting top management of BoM.

Now one can understand why BoM is keeping watch on their agitations.

There are few questions being asked after the arrest of top 3 executives of the bank of Maharashtra

1. Is Bank of Maharashtra being singled out among a dozen lenders for bad loans of DS Kulkarni Group?

2. Did police overstep of their jurisdiction while arresting top executives of BoM?

3. Are BoM unions’ agitations justifiable?

Now we will deal with these questions one by one.

Is Bank of Maharashtra being singled out among a dozen lenders for bad loans of DS Kulkarni Group?

The answer to this question is ‘certainly not’.

Other banks are also in the queue.

However, BoM was the first bank to provide loans to DSKDL since 1989 and hence biggest responsibility was on BoM’s shoulders to check the credibility of the company.

If you look at the statement made by Rajiv Gupta ( ED BoM) and others in the bail application.

It Clearly says that “It is most respectfully submitted by the applicants the bank has already been declared D.S. Kulkarni i.e. Principle borrower and other 4 directors as a willful defaulter i.e. way back in 2011. Moreover, Bank has also initiated E-Auction with respect properties Mortgaged.”

What does this statement indicate?

When they were aware that the principle borrower DSKDL and 4 other directors were will defaulter in 2011 then why did they provide consortium loan in 2016 and other loans after that?

Wasn’t it all the executives and other official’s responsibility to check the facts?

In the third week of March 2017, Chairman and Chief Managing Director [CMD] of the Maharashtra Bank, Ravindra Marathe along with Mrs Nalini Sriram visited the site of DSK dream city, for which the consortium loan was granted.

Marathe, Chairman and CMD should have noted and assessed the work was completed only 10% to 20% of the funds disbursed.

Normally the authority of the stature of Chairman and CMD do not visit the site financed. As the visiting officer has to take stock of the work done and has to access the work completed out of the loan. This is the job of responsibility.

Isn’t it unusual that the Chairman and Chief Managing Director of the Maharashtra Bank, taking the interest of visiting the site?

Even after noticing that entire funds of the Bank were not used in the project no action was taken.

The money was used from the loan for the purpose other than it was taken.

Here are few examples on which expenses were made from the project loan taken. (Consortium Loan BoM))

Investors Rs . 55,02,366 , Rs 24,85,000, Rs 14,05,550,Rs 4,75,000 ,Rs. 3,17,960 and so on....

Vegetable supplier Rs 75,79,025

Spa Extravagance Rs. 13,26,522

Loan Repayment Tata capital Rs . 1,53,23,653

Loan Repayment SKS Fin cap Rs . 14,58,857

SBI Employees co-op HSG Soc. (Donation?) Rs. 21,12,000

Footwear and shoes Rs 12,91,305 and Rs 39,952 respectively

Garments Rs . 30,00,000

Embroidered Fabrics, Stoles, Skirts, Scarves, Ladies Tops, Ladies Skirt etc Rs. 14,00,000 ,

Hoteling & Entertainment Rs Rs 3,13,311

Cateres Rs. 12,04,293 and Rs 3,00,000 respectively ,

Fashion Designer Rs 63,000

Glass ( automobile Glass) Rs 5,24,30,000 ,

Tailoring Rs. 88,704 ,

Broker Rs. 1,92,090,

Flower Decorators Rs 74,895 and Rs. 28,840

Now one can imagine how the loans were used.

Not only that even after DSKDL disclosing the Fixed Deposits( Taken on group companies without RBI Permission) not paid/outstanding, Bank of Maharashtra sanctioned the new loan of Rs 20 Crores outside the consortium.

The DSKDL gave List of Fixed Deposits Matured and Not Renewed mentioning the names of each depositor is written. In spite of such failure to repay on time and default made, surprisingly the Bank granted the fresh loan.

The list of Fixed Deposits was not certified by the chartered accountant of the DSKD. It is shocking that the Bank did not insist the certification of the auditor chartered accountant.

From the information sought and submitted to Police it was clear that the loan was granted for repayment of Matured Fixed deposits, which the entities failed to pay and honour its commitment.

It appears that the Loan was granted to the DS Kulkarni and Developers Limited to repay deposits accepted by its group partnership firms without RBI permission.

Top executives who are responsible for the loss of national wealth due to bad loans or frauds in Public sector banks are suddenly feeling betrayed after the arrest of top executives of BoM.

All these top executives want all the authority without any responsibility.

When they claimed bonus on performance parameter they are happy, but these persons do not want to share national loss. They are unprepared for hardships arising out of their own decisions.

Accountability Policies approved by the Board favour the powerful only.

In the instant case one should not forget that Ravindra Marathe was not the only CEO of BoM, he was also a member and chief of a committee to monitor serious fraud cases in BoM.

Other banks also have also defaulted in giving the loan to DSKDL and it’s so-called group companies.

But as the BoM was the major and old banker to DSKDL and as arresting all the people at the same time was not possible to police may have arrested BoM officials First.

Now did the police overstep of their jurisdiction while arresting top executives of BoM?

The answer to this question is also “no!”

Whether Marathe and others arrest was right or wrong that will be decided in the court of law.

However supreme court of India in a civil writ petition 38 of 1997 (Dr.Subramanian Swamy vs Director, Cbi & Anr) and other cases on 14 may 2014 held that

“Section 6- A(1), which requires approval of the Central Government to conduct any inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed under the PC Act, 1988 where such allegation relates to (a) the employees of the Central Government of the level of Joint Secretary and above and (b) such officers as are appointed by the Central Government in corporations established by or under any Central Act, government companies, societies and local authorities owned or controlled by the Government, is invalid and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. As a necessary corollary, the provision contained in Section 26 (c) of the Act 45 of 2003 to that extent is also declared invalid.”

Thus it is clear that police didn’t require any prior approval before arresting of the employees of the Central Government of the level of Joint Secretary and above.

Now we will see whether the BoM unions’ agitations justifiable or not?

The basic object of any workers or trade union is to protect the interest and improve the conditions of workers.

To achieve these objects normally such unions lock horns with management or top executives.

But here some union leaders of BoM always supported management.

Before supporting top executives these union leaders should first self-analyse the problems that persist in the functioning of BoM.

In 2016 Electronic Clearance Service (ECS) service for DSKDL was withdrawn.

Then Cheques given by DSKDL and their associate companies started bouncing.

Bank worker instead of putting remark “Insufficient Funds “on cheque use to put remark as “refer to drawer”.

That caused the legal problem to cheque holder to lodge a complaint under section 138 of the negotiable instruments act.

Sometimes bank workers use to return the cheques without any remark and ask depositor to go to DSKDL or its other associated companies.

Despite knowing such situation, BoM used to provide thousands of cheques to DSKDL and associate companies.

Weren’t union leaders aware of these situations?

Had they raised any objection about this to anybody?

Isn’t this a help or direct involvement of bank workers and top management in DSKDL’s fraud?

It had been rumoured that CCTV connection at the residence of then executive director had been disconnected. Being whole time director his residence is a very sensitive location. Many visitors like persons involved in Siddhi Vinayak logistic scam may have tried to meet him.

In this case why the use of CCVT was discontinued?

Has any union leader raised any concern about this thing? Isn’t it related to Banks reputation?

These leaders should also find out why some staff especially ladies staff is happy with the arrest of one of the top executives?

In the year 2016 – 2017 around 440 crore rupees provision was made on account of frauds In BoM. There are several big frauds in this 440 crore rupee list.

However, one provision was made for fraud of Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

UPI is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an RBI regulated entity. UPI is built over the IMPS infrastructure and allows you to instantly transfer money between any two parties' bank accounts.

However, instead of using this BoM introduced own UPI app and allowed it to use.

Due to the lack of sufficient security features bank lost around 30 crores.

Provision of the amount was made by the bank on account of fraud for this loss.

But who was responsible for this loss? Have any of BoM union leaders raised any question about this?

Then what kind of loyalty towards bank these union leaders are talking about?

In the nutshell, these union leaders are nothing to do with bank’s image.

They are supporting top executives for their personal interest and fear of action against cases on them only.

They should now stop agitating and allow the law to take its own course.

Is appointment of Maharashtra Chief info commissioner real misuse of RTI Act ?

2018-06-11T13:25:00.000+05:30

For the privileged few, the rule has always been "you tell me the person and I shall tell you whether the law is to be applied". Thus there has always been a violation of the law in the appointment of Information Commissioners. In Mantralaya corridors, these posts are treated as retirement gift s to the chosen babus for the ‘out of the way’ work done by them for politicians. Earlier also, the post of chief information commissioner was kept vacant for months for the post-retirement rehabilitation of retiring chief secretaries. In the present case, however, information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI ) Act, has revealed that several violations while appointing the former chief secretary of Maharashtra Sumit Malik as the State Chief Information Commissioner ( SCIC).

During Sumit Malik's tenure as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, the process of appointing him as the SCIC was initiated and completed. Not only this, after his appointment as SCIC, Sumit Malik worked as the Chief Secretary for four months. It is now revealed that the Governor had signed on the recommendation made by the committee headed by the Chief Minister on 30 December 2017 itself. After the Governor’s signature, a notification to that effect was kept on hold for 4 months until Sumit Malik retired. Three days before his retirement i.e on 27 April 2018, his appointment was notified.

It is indeed a very serious matter that after the Governor’s signature the notification was kept on hold for 4 months.

In an RTI reply given to Dr Vikram Gaikwad, the Government has confessed that no advertisement was issued for the post of SCIC. As per the judgement in Namit Sharma review petition, the Supreme Court has said that a person holding an office has to discontinue holding any office of profit. However, in this case, Sumit Malik kept holding on to his post even after his appointment as SCIC by the Governor.

The Supreme Court has further direct ed that the Committees under Sections 12(3) and 15(3) of the RTI Act , while making recommendations to the President or to the Governor, as the case may be, for appointment of Chief Information Commissioner s and Information Commissioners , facts to indicate his eminence in public life, his knowledge in the particular field and his experience in the particular field must be mention ed against the name of each candidate recommended and these facts must be accessible to the citizens as part of their right to information under the Act after the appointment is made.

However in this case, as no advertisement was issued, the question of applications for that post or recording the eminence of the applicant did not arise at all.

The RTI applicant had also asked for copies of applications made for the post of SCIC. However forget about copies of all the applications, the government has not even provided the copy of Sumit Malik’s application. Does that mean Sumit Malik was appointed without having applied for the post? This raises doubt s regarding the functioning of the Government.

Congress MLA Mr Sanjay Dutt had demanded in the Legislative Council on March 2018 that the Chief Information Commissioner should be appointed. The Chief Minister then replied that the Chief Information Commissioner will be appointed within next four weeks. In fact, the Chief Information Commissioner was appointed in December 20 17 four months before the incumbent's retirement.

Can we call this real misuse of RTI act?

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DSK SCAM: HC Postpones hearing on MD & CEO Shirish Kulkarni’s anticipatory bail to 4th may ..

2018-05-02T16:59:00.000+05:30

Shirish Deepak Kulkarni's anticipatory bail application case in Bombay High Court is now postponed to 4th May 2018. Shirish is one of the accused in DSK Scam.

After Bombay High Court withdrew interim protection from arrest granted a multi-crore cheating case Deepak and Hemanti Kulkarni of D S Kulkarni Developers Ltd are already arrested by Pune police and are in judicial custody for more than 2.5 months.. The Kulkarnis have been charged with cheating over 9000 investor and Banks for around Rs3000 crore and were booked by the EOW.

Earlier Pune special court had rejected anticipatory bail application filed by Shirish Kulkarni. The special court has categorically observed that ‘ in this case protection of the interest of depositors if of prime consideration and investing officer has to see how to the said interest is to be protected . It prima facie appears that hundreds and thousands of depositors of DSK goup have become panic for not getting their amount of deposits and therefore their interest can be safeguarded by conducting a proper investigation.

After that Shirish Kulkarni had moved to Bombay High Court.

Meanwhile, there is another hearing that will be conducted in Kolhapur sessions court tomorrow i.e 3rd May 2018.

An FIR has been lodged in Rajarampurri police station of Kolhapur against Deepak, Hemanti and Shirish Kulkarni under Maharashtra Protection of interest of Depositors Act.

DSK Scam: No relief for accused, special court rejects bail allows invocation of section 409, NCLAT refrains from alienating or transferring any rights

2018-04-28T10:58:00.000+05:30

On Friday ( 27th March) special court rejected Deepak and Hemanti Kulkarni’s bail application and application challenging invocation of section 409 of Indian penal code ( IPC ) in this case.

Earlier ( on 20th March) National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ( NCLAT) stayed its own order and refrained DSKDL and its Directors and officers from alienating or transferring any rights.

Initially, Deepak and Hemanti Kulkarni of D.S.Kulkarni developer’s ltd (DSKDL) successfully managed to avoid their arrest in by deceiving various agencies in a multi-crore investment scam. However now, it has become very difficult for them to convince or fool any agency.

While rejecting bail applications of accused, Justice Utpat observed that, if the applicants ( Deepak and Hemanti) could not raise any amount when they were not under any restraint, it is very difficult to ascertain, how they would raise the funds for returning the amounts of depositors. Even the applicants have not put forth any viable proposal before this court to ascertain their intention of returning the amounts of depositors.

Justice Utpat Further observed that the facts on record further prima facie show that during the period granted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and Hon'ble High Court, the accused could not furnish the amount of Rs.50 crores as directed by the Hon'ble High Court. Not only that, the evidence on record prima facie shows that the accused put forth sham proposals showing that they were depositing the amount of Rs.50 crores as directed by the Hon'ble High Court.

image Courtsey Financial Express

Deepak and Hemant's advocate Shivade also claimed bail on health ground to Deepak Kulkarni.

However justice Utpat observed that, there is no any recent medical report filed on record which shows that the physical condition of Deepak Kulkarni is not well. On the contrary, when hearing of bail application was going on, the presence of accused was secured on video conferencing and he was raising some problems before the court in very nice manner.

At his juncture, PP Pravin Chavan claimed that the doctor who gave a report of a clot in Deepak Kulkarni's brain was arrested for anti-superstition activities in Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital. FIR against him has been filed under section 3 of The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.

Earlier defending accused Deepak and Hemanti advocate Shrikant shivade claimed that since the applicants are in jail, they cannot raise money for returning the amounts of depositors.

He further showed the inability of the applicants to raise the funds as all the properties of the applicants have been attached by the Investigating agencies as well as the accounts have been seized.

Shivade also submitted that the applicants should be granted bail for six months, so as to generate funds to return the amount of depositors and in case, they fail to do the same, the situation should be reviewed after six months.

Confronting Shivade’s argument Special Prosecutor Shri Pravin Chavan put following Points

1. There is siphoning of huge amounts by DSKDL Company and its subsidiaries. For that purpose, he relied on the statement of one employee of DSKDL (name not disclosed on the oral request of PP ) and submitted as to how the applicants and their relatives started different companies i.e.DSK and Company, DSK Associates, DSK & Sons, DSK & Associates, DSK Brothers, D.S.Kulkarni and Brothers, DSK Constructions, DSK Enterprises, D.S.Kulkarni & Associates and D.S.Kulkarni & Sons and accepted various amounts from public, loan amount from banks and siphoned off the said amount.

2. Some of the firms established by the applicants and their relatives were not even registered and no permission was sought from SEBI for collecting money from the public. In spite of that, Shri Chavan submitted that the accused have collected huge funds.

3. The applicants have obtained Rs.1374 crores by way of loan from various banks, Rs.1153 crores by way of deposits from various persons, Rs.470 crores from flat holders, Rs.110 crores by way of debentures and Rs.123 crores by way of Totoya Finance. He further submitted that there was a large conspiracy between applicants and their relatives and they have siphoned off the said amount and the said aspect is under Investigation

4. The applicants do not have any property in their names to be sold and therefore, their release for the said purpose is out of the question. He further submitted that even if all the flats in the housing schemes launched by the applicants/accused are sold, it cannot generate the necessary funds to repay the amount of depositors as it requires a huge amount to complete the construction work.

5. Applicants are in arrears of Rs.61 crores towards Sales Tax payment and are also in arrears of some amounts towards Income Tax and they have to pay salaries of their servants.

6. After the rejection of anticipatory bail of the applicants by this court, the applicants had moved the Hon'ble High Court and Hon'ble Supreme Court for anticipatory bail and the Hon'ble Bombay High Court had granted sufficient time to the accused to collect money. However, during that time, the accused have not collected any amount. There is no possibility that the accused would generate the funds if released on bail.

7. If the applicants are released on bail, they may tamper with the evidence or they may abscond. He further submitted that the investigation of such a serious crime is at a very sensitive stage and as such.

Upholding Chavan’s point Justice Utpat rejected Deepak and Hemant's bail application

Rejecting application challenging invocation of section 409 of Indian penal code ( IPC ) in this case. Justice Utpat upheld argument PP Pravin Chavan that Directors of DSKDL company i.e. Deepak and Hemanti by accepting the amount in the fixed deposits from the public at large, have become the agents of those persons and therefore, they fall within the purview of sec.409 of I.P.C.

Earlier on 20^th April National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ( NCLAT ) gave one more shock to Deepak Kulkarni and his family. NCLAT stayed its own order and refrained DSKDL and its Directors and officers from alienating or transferring any rights.

On 13^th March National Company Law Tribunal ( NCLT) had directed DSK Kulkarni Developers Ltd (DSKDL), Deepak Sakharam Kulkarni (DS Kulkarni), his family members as well key managerial persons and directors in the DSK Group to disclose their all assets, including bank accounts owned by them in India and anywhere in the world.

The Tribunal had also directed stock exchanges to restrain trading in DSKDL while asking depositories to freeze securities owned by the Kulkarni family and key managerial persons and other directors of the company.

The Tribunal had barred them from mortgaging or creating a charge on any immovable and movable properties owned by them anywhere. Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had filed the petition.

However, NCLAT had ex-parte stayed abovementioned order on the application of Shirish kulkarni.

Serious fraud investigation Organisation ( SFIO) has appealed against said order and NCLAT then stayed its own order and refrained DSKDL and its Directors and officers from alienating or transferring any rights.

DSK Scam: D S Kulkarni continues to fool everybody with blatant lies .. .

2018-01-24T08:01:00.000+05:30

With his dirty tricks, exaggerated facts and blatant lies DSK and his wife always fooled FD holders, flat buyers and investors.

They never put plain facts before anybody.

Not even before the courts!

Image courtsey Mumbai Live

Everybody was surprised when hearing on D S kulkarni and his wife’s anticipatory bail application (ABA) was adjourned and interim protection was extended for three days on 22nd January 2017.

At every hearing of DSK’s bail application in HC there was always some surprising element.

22nd January’s hearing was also not an exception to that!

This time Bombay High Court (HC) granted another three day DSK to escape arrest after they told that about Rs 51 crore is scheduled to come from abroad.

They also claimed that money has been deposited on 17th January in bank in Singapore and it requires 72 hours to credit it in their accounts.

To prove their claim they also submitted two documents in HC.

Sources confirmed that one document was showing successful transaction of 40 lac US dollars was made on 17th January through Telegraphic transfer from a bank in Singapore.

Another document was showing two successful transactions of 40 lac US dollars each made on 20th January.

Surprisingly the company Prabhune International Pte Ltd ( PIPL)that is said to be sending money to DSK digital technologies pvt ltd is facing closure in Singapore.

PIPL is registered with Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). It was set up on 28 February 2013 as local company .

However, according to a First Gazette Notification issued on 8 January 2018 by ACRA, the company is scheduled to be struck off from the Registrar of Companies.

You can that gazette notification here

Striking off is one of the ways of closing down a local company in Singapore.

There are certain conditions to strike of companies in Singapore.

The company must have stopped business activities or not have commenced activities from the date of incorporation.

Company should not have current or contingent assets or liabilities

Finalised accounts drawn up till the date of cessation must be attached to an application to the ACRA to strike the company’s name from the Register of Companies.

If PIPL is closing down its business, then how can it send 80 lac dollars (51 Crore rupees) to DSK in India?

And how much money is PIPL to DSK Digital 80 lac dollars or 1.20 crore dollars?

Because both documents show three transactions of 40 lac each ?

Any sources confirm that none of the money was received by bank in India till 23rd January .

And if at all PIPL is sending money why didn’t DSK inform it to court on hearing that was on 18th January? When first transaction was shown on 17th .

Answer is simple when it was agreed that extension given by apex court will end on 22nd January . There was no point in wasting another option left.

So DSK kept that option open for next hearing and used it on 22nd january.

DSK’s surpises do not end here.

Earlier.

DSK and his wife’s ABA were rejected by Pune special MPID court on 9th November 2017.

Then they filed ABA in Bombay High Court (HC).

At first hearing on 17th November in HC they were given interim protection from arrest because Investigating Officer had not reached in time and Public Prosecutor had requested for time to take instructions and peruse the record.

Confident (?) of repaying investors’ money DSK addressed a press conference on 21st November and said that they will submit a detailed report of repayment in the court on 23rd November .

Many people always term DSK’s lies as his confidence.

Then on 23rd November hearing was adjourned at the request of learned Senior Counsel for DSK and he was asked to furnish a plan or scheme to repay FD holders money.

On 30 November DSK submitted a list of six properties for sale to the IO and brought the same to the notice of the court.

However these properties are mortgaged with banks and later on two of these properties were seized and auction procedure was initiated by banks.

Then HC asked DSK to file an affidavit by 4th December with an undertaking to deposit 25% ( Around 50 Crore) of the depositors' dues with the court's registry in two weeks.

HC also warned DSK failure of compliance will automatically lead to the vacation of the interim protection granted to them and he will have to surrender immediately in front of the investigating officer.

Accordingly on 4th December DSK filed an affidavit in HC and committed to deposited 50 crore rupees within two weeks.

And hearing was postponed till 19th December.

However DSK didn’t deposit 50 crore rupees in court nor did he surrender.

On 19th December due to paucity of time the matter was adjourned but HC clarified that the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is free to initiate action against DSK and his wife.

Due to Christmas vacation matter in HC was postponed till 18th January 2018

Meanwhile DSK remained untreatable and filed special leave petition in Supreme Court.

On 22nd December Supreme Court (SC) extended time given to DSK to deposit 50 crores by 4 weeks.

However Supreme Court had also made it clear that no further extension will be granted.

However there was some surprising confusion on counting four weeks from Supreme Court order on extension.

According to cause list of HC dated 18th time is extended as per Supreme Court's order dated 22.12.2017 was up to 19.1.2018.

However in HC order on 18th January says that ‘On 22.12.2017, the Hon'ble Apex Court had extended the time for depositing the amount by four weeks. That would be till 22.1.2018.”

HC also mentioned in its order on 18th January that “This Court had extended the interim relief. However, it was made clear that if the applicants fail to deposit the said amount within the stipulated period, the interim relief granted vide order dated 10.11.2017 would automatically stand vacated. Since it was a self-speaking order, the interim relief was deemed to be vacated in view of the fact that the amount of Rs.50 crores was not deposited within the stipulated time.”

As it was holiday on 20th and 21st January 2018 matter was postponed to 22nd January.

Now everybody is waiting for 50 crore rupees that are supposed to be deposited in DSK’s account.

Now what will be the scenario on 25th January.

Chances of PIPL depositing money in DSK Digital’s account are remote.

However, Even if that money is deposited it will be under Enforcement Directorates and Income Tax departments’ scanner.

Income tax has already sent notices to all the government authorities for recovery of 20 crore rupees TDS that DSKDL has deducted and not deposited with it.

Hence it will not be easy for DSK to deposit 50 crores on 25th January.