Posts Tagged ‘Gandhinagar’
Written by admin on 18 January 2012
Gandhinagar, Jan 18 (IANS) The Gujarat government Wednesday said it will approach the Supreme Court against the high court order upholding the appointment of R.A. Mehta as the Lokayukta or ombdusman by Governor Kamla Beniwal.
“The way forward is to study the judgment and after having the competent legal advice we shall challenge it before the honourable apex court of this country,” Gujarat government spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas told reporters here.
“We will move to the Supreme Court for further remedy because we believe that the issue raised by us is fundamental to the safety of the federal structure and also very central to provisions of the Constitution of India,” he said.
In a setback to the Narendra Modi government, the Gujarat High Court Wednesday upheld the appointment of Mehta as the Lokayukta.
“This is an issue which touches constitutional provisions and if governors are permitted to work outside the ambit of the constitution then you can’t work in this country because you are having a federal structure,” said Vyas.
Vyas said the government’s plea was that since Modi has written a letter to the chief justice of the Gujarat high court on the matter, the appointment is unconstitutional.
“The letter was not replied and a process of consultation was pending. Under that circumstances, saying that it has resulted in a deadlock and therefore move unilaterally and appoint a Lokayukta was not within the provision of the constitution, which requires the office of governor to consult the council of ministers before any such appointment,” he added.
Tags: Gandhinagar
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Written by admin on 30 September 2011
Gandhinagar, Sep 30 (IANS) Senior Indian Police Service officer Sanjav Bhatt, in the eye of storm after he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court implicating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 communal riots, was arrested Friday for allegedly threatening a policeman and making him sign a false affidavit.
Deputy Inspector General of Gujarat Police Sanjiv Bhatt was arrested in connection with an FIR filed in June for allegedly threatening a police constable and making him sign a false affidavit.
On June 24, K.D. Pant, a constable working with Meghaninagar police station, lodged an FIR at Ghatlodiya police station in Ahmedabad against IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt.
He alleged that Bhatt threatened him and forced him to sign a false affidavit regarding a meeting called by Narendra Modi on Feb 27, 2002. That affidavit supported Bhatt’s claim that he was present at the meeting of the chief minister where Modi allegedly asked police officers to go slow during the 2002 riots.
The Ghatlodiya police had registered an FIR against Bhatt for threatening a public servant, fabricating false evidence, wrongful confinement, and initiated investigations agaist him.
The arrest comes within 48 hours of Bhatt filing an additional affidavit in the Gujarat High Court implicating the chief minister and the then minister of state for home Amit Shah in connection with a report pertaining to the murder of Haren Pandya, another former minister of state for home and BJP leader.
Bhatt has stated in his affidavit before the Supreme Court that he was present at the meeting the Gujarat chief minister called on Feb 27, 2002, where his driver constable Pant was also with him.
Pant subsequently went back on his earlier stand and said in his FIR that on June 16 he was threatened by Bhatt and forced to sign an affidavit to the effect that he had accompanied him to the meeting at the chief minister’s residence.
Pant stated in the FIR that he had protested, pointing out that he had already stated before the Special Investigation Team on April 5 this year that he was on leave in February 2002 when the communal riots broke out in the state.
Bhatt was served a charge sheet Sep 18 by the Gujarat home department for his alleged unauthorised absence from duty for the last ten months.
Tags: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
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Written by admin on 30 September 2011
Gandhinagar, Sep 30 (IANS) Senior Indian Police Service officer Sanjav Bhatt, in the eye of storm after he filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court implicating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 communal riots, was arrested on Friday, an official said.
Bhatt had been served a chargesheet Sep 18.
Tags: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
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Written by admin on 26 September 2011
Gandhinagar, Sep 26 (IANS) The political spat between Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Kamala Beniwal has intensified with the latter seeking details from the state government on expenditure incurred on his three-day fast.
The letter dated Sep 22, copies of which were circulated to the media Monday, is addressed to the additional chief secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), and sent by Beniwal’s principal secretary Arvind Joshi.
It says that members of the Maha Gujarat Janta Party (MJP) had met the governor Sep 19 and submitted a memorandum pointing out ‘wasteful expenditure’ incurred at state cost on the fast.
MJP president Gordhan Jhadapia, Modi’s minister of state for home during the 2002 riots, who subsequently rebelled and left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and other office bearers are on a protest fast against Modi here.
Jhadapia said that he had met the governor and urged her to seek an explanation from the chief minister on his ‘unauthorised and illegal splurging of public money’.
‘The chief minister has no business of spending money which is not authorised by the assembly,’ he added.
Modi ended his three-day sadbhavna (goodwill) fast Sep 19.
The chief minister had on Sunday organised a rally in Ahmedabad demanding the recall of the governor.
Modi has been miffed with the governor for long, but matters came to a head when she appointed retired high court judge Justice R.A. Mehta as the Lokayukta after the Gujarat High Court chief justice recommended his name.
Beniwal overlooked Modi’s objections and filled up the post which had been lying vacant for the last seven years. The state government has challenged the appointment in the high court.
Tags: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
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Written by admin on 18 September 2011
Gandhinagar, Sep 18 (IANS) In the eye of storm after he submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court implicating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 communal riots, senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt was Sunday served a charge sheet.
The charge sheet is in respect of the accusations for which he was to appear before the inquiry officer for a preliminary probe at 11 a.m. Monday.
Bhatt, who recently responded to Modi’s open letter addressed to the people, said he had received an official communication to be present before the inquiry officer for the preliminary enquiry relating to his alleged acts of misconduct.
However, at 2.45 p.m. Sunday, he was served a charge sheet.
On Friday, retired additional Director General of Police (DGP) R.B. Sreekumar submitted an affidavit before the Nanavati-Mehta Commission, corroborating what Bhatt had stated before the special investigation team, the Supreme Court, the Nanavati Commission and the amicus curiae.
Bhatt, in his affidavit before the apex court, had said he was present at a meeting called by Modi on the night after the Godhra train carnage where the chief minister urged police officers to look the other way — to enable the majority community vent their anger against the minorities.
Tags: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
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Written by admin on 17 September 2011
Gandhinagar, Sep 17 (IANS) Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day ‘sadbhavana’ fast beginning in Ahmedabad Saturday was poised to be a grand affair with the BJP state government making all arrangements, including five-tier security, for the event that will see the BJP top brass attending. AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has extended her support by sending two of her ministers.
Meanwhile, Modi, in a late evening statement, expressed gratitude to all those who had pointed out his ‘genuine mistakes’ during the past 10 years.
An official press release, issued on the eve of his three-day fast, stated that the chief minister has said that ‘India and Gujarat have realized that casteism and communal fanaticism does not serve anybody. Gujarat has risen over the distortions in society and national life to march on to the path of progress, peace, unity, harmony and brotherhood.’
‘..no State, society or individual can claim to be perfect. I am grateful to all those who pointed out my genuine mistakes during last 10 years. I seek your blessings to serve the people with devotion free from all human shortcomings.’
Modi said that the Constitution of India is supreme for him. ‘There could be no favourite, no foe of a state’. As the chief minister, he said, ‘anybody’s suffering is my suffering. Providing justice to all is the state’s duty’.
He sought everybody’s blessings ‘on this occasion to serve the people better’.
A galaxy of BJP leaders will be present on the first day of Modi’s fast. Those arriving include senior party leader L.K. Advani, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Premkumar Dhumal, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, BJP national vice-presidents Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Kalraj Mishra, general secretaries Vijay Goel, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Pratap Rudi and Mahila Morcha President and MP Smriti Irani among others.
Jayalalithaa has sent her greetings for the success of the mission, while her cabinet colleague Mantriyan and AIDMK MP Thambidurai will be present on the occasion. According to reports, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will also be present Saturday.
Modi had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Jayalalithaa as chief minister this May as a special invitee.
Modi’s bete noire Shankersinh Vaghela of the Congress is also going on a three-day fast to counter him, outside Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram here.
Modi’s fast is part of his ‘mission sadbhavana’ after what his party claims is the clean chit given by the Supreme Court to him in the charges of conspiracy preferred by Zakia Jaffri, widow of late Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri who perished among the 69 people in the massacre at Gulberg Housing Society in Ahmedabad in the communal rioting that followed the 2002 Godhra train carnage. ‘It (the fast) is for communal and social harmony,’ Modi stated announcing his decision.
Meanwhile, Advani in his blog backed a US Congressional report that termed Modi a prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections.
Advani quotes from the Congressional report, stating that Modi is the best example of good governance in India.
He also quotes from an article on website Firstpost.com, and says the US is ‘being primed’ for the BJP returning to power.
Modi and Vaghela are not the only ones going on fast. The pastoralists – the Maldhari Ekta Samiti – which has already served an ultimatum to the Modi government will fast to protest cow slaughter. Praful Vaghela, whose son and nephew, students of the Asaram Gurukul, were found mysteriously killed leading to large scale protests and violence in Ahmedabad in 2008, will also be on fast, as will be members of the Gandhi sena out to counter the Modi fast.
Jagrutiben Pandya, wife of slain BJP leader Haren Pandya, said Friday that Chief Minister Narendra Modi has shown no sadbhavana (goodwill) towards Haren’s family. ‘I will garland Haren’s statue in Ahmedabad at 11.30 a.m. and will then go to the chief minister to remind him,’ she added.
Mallika Sarabhai, daughter of well-known space scientist late Vikram Sarabhai who is an activist in her own right, has announced that she will be feeding slum children on all the three days to voice her disgust at Modi’s ‘gimmickry’.
Though initially the Gujarat chief minister was supposed to fast at the Mahatma mandir in the state capital here, the venue was changed to the Gujarat University’s plush convention hall in Ahmedabad.
A five-tier security ring is being put in place for the chief minister and the venue of the fast has been ringed with cops and turned into a fortress. Ahmedabad is already reeling under a terrorist threat and the fast is expected to lead to the weaning away of a lot of policemen for VVIP security duty, said a top police officer.
However, DGP Chittranjan Singh said that since the chief minister has Z-plus security, 36 NSG commandoes will be on round-the-clock duty. According to one estimate, about 1,000 policemen, both in uniform as well as in plain clothes, are being deployed in and around the chief minister’s fast venue.
If Modi’s fast is largely seen as a political move being undertaken with the twin political objectives of the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections in Gujarat and the 2014 general elections in his sights, the Congress led by Vaghela, who has recently been made the chairman of the Gujarat Congress election committee, has joined battle with the same objective in mind.
Tags: Gandhinagar, Gujarat
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