Main Page                                                 Archive

No SC intervention in Jharkhand

     New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ruled out any fresh intervention into the Jharkhand Assembly matter as the ongoing political developments in the state have overtaken the status of the petition filed by current Chief Minister Arjun Munda. The apex court had advanced the trial of strength of Shibu Soren government to Mar. 11 after Munda filed a petition challenging Jharkhand Governor's decision to invite Soren to form the government. But the assembly proceedings couldn't take place properly on that day and the pro-tem Speaker postponed the assembly session. After the oath of Munda, the trust vote was scheduled to take place on March 14 but would be held now on Tuesday. The state Assembly has been adjourned till Tuesday after the announcement of Karia Munda, the senior most BJP leader, as the pro tem Speaker of the House. As soon as the House assembled, the Assembly Secretary read out the Governor's proclamation announcing the name of Karia as the pro-tem Speaker. Meanwhile, the candidates of UPA and NDA have filed their nominations for the Speaker post. The election for the Speaker post would take place on Tuesday. The apex court in its earlier decision had come down heavily on Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi for committing a "fraud" on the constitution by swearing in Shibu Soren as the state's chief minister. The Court's decision of dictating legislature proceedings was widely criticised as a clash between parallel power centres.

NDA, UPA candidates for Jharkhand speaker post (Go To Top)

     Ranchi: The nominees of NDA and UPA for the Jharkhand Assembly Speaker post have filed their nominations and the stage is set for a tough battle tomorrow with both of them expressing confidence of a win. Former speaker Inder Singh Namdhari is the candidate of the ruling NDA, while the UPA has declared Annapoorna Devi, a RJD MLA, as its candidate. Namdhari, after filing nomination, urged the legislatures to keep the Speaker's post out of controversy and hoped that the UPA candidate would withdraw her candidature leading to him becoming the consensus choice. "I am still hopeful that better sense would prevail, said Namdhari. He further said that Annapoorna Devi could withdraw her nomination till tomorrow. But in clear indication of a tough showdown, convenor of UPA coordination committee Stephen Marandi said that the alliance would "fight it out" during the Speaker's election tomorrow. Girinath Singh, senior RJD leader and Parliamentary Affairs Minister in Shibu Soren's government, Girinath Singh, also said that there was no possibility of "going back" on this issue. Earlier, NDA leader Arjun Munda had taken oath as the Chief Minister of the state as the 10-day-long political drama ended with UPA leader Shibu Soren stepping down from the Chief Minister's post after failing to prove his majority in the state assembly as directed by the Supreme Court.

SC asks CVC opinion in Taj case against Mayawati (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to give its opinion whether former UP chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati should be prosecuted or not in the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam case. A three-judge bench comprising of Justice Ruma Pal, Justice SB Sinha and Justice SH Kapadia,directed that all the evidence collected by the CBI in the case should also be given to the CVC to make an opinion. The investigation had come under confusion as the Investigating Officer and five others had felt that prosecution could be launched against the Mayawati but the Director Prosecution and Director of CBI had felt that the available evidence were not sufficient enough to file a chargesheet against the BSP supreme. The Bench, however, instructed that only the evidence collected by the investigation agency should be handed over to the CVC within a week. The case file wouldn't be sent to the three-member CVC and the Court gave two weeks time to the Commission to form its opinion after scrutinizing 18-volume evidence. The case had triggered a huge controversy and many bureaucrats including former Chief Secretary of the State DS Bagga, former Union Environment Secretary KC Mishra, former State Environment Secretary RK Sharma, former Secretary to Mayawati PL Punia have been made accused.