New Delhi: With Lok Sabha elections due next year, newly appointed Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said he would strive to achieve objectives in the run up, including making legal procedures help fuel economic growth and appointment of judges through a transparent process. Outlining his "broad objectives", Sibal said, "Legal processes and procedures should not be an impediment to economic growth, but must fuel it."
He said simplification and transparency of legal processes and procedures were necessary to achieve this objective. Sibal, who assumed the additional charge of the Law Ministry on Monday morning, also said appointment of judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court should be a through a transparent process which ensures that persons of impeccable integrity and high competence are appointed.
Referring to the legal procedures to boost economic growth, sources later said they could be achieved through not only laws, but also by simplifying procedures and subordinate legislations to reduce hurdles. They said a dialogue will be initiated with various ministries, including the Finance Ministry, which has already flagged the issue.
On the appointment of judges through a transparent system, the sources said that a "short-term" method could be to change the present system through an "institutional dialogue". They said the present system was opaque and the long-term method to change it was through a law....
more
02:19 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: Attorney General Ghoolam E Vahanvati issued a clarification on Wednesday and said he never interfered with the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) status report on coal block allocation scam. He also denied he has a copy of the report. Vahanvati has been accused by former ASG Harin Raval of having tampered with the CBI coal status report. Raval had written in his letter to Vahanvati, "Certain suggestions were...
07:28 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: Samajwadi Party on Tuesday declined to comment on BJP's demand for the Prime Minister's resignation over the coal scam issue, saying "every party has its own opinion". "We have said it earlier also. The CBI director himself has admitted it so what is there to say?" SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters outside Parliament. He was asked to give his party's view on BJP's demand for resignation...
03:15 PM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: Left parties on Tuesday termed as "meaningless" the demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the coal allocation issue but asked him to face Parliament as he "owes an answer" to the country. CPI(M) also dubbed the disruption of Parliament as "match fixing" between BJP and Congress. "Demanding resignation of the government is meaningless and it does not happen," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters outside Parliament....
02:59 PM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: BJP on Tuesday said the "public spat" between the Attorney General and the Additional Solicitor General reinforces its view that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should own up "responsibility" in the coal scam and step down. "The public spat between the Attorney General and the Additional Solicitor General on how, who pressurised whom on the CBI report on coalgate is not only saddening but also very, very regretable," BJP...
02:20 PM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: As the Supreme Court expressed deep concerns over the CBI affidavit on the coal block allocation scam, Lok Sabha on Tuesday was rocked by the issue with the Opposition leaders lambasting the government and accusing it of being corrupt. "I want to tell the country that this government is the most corrupt government in independent India. Parliament is being disrupted because of the corrupt government, not because of...
01:49 PM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: Terming it a "massive breach of trust" and a matter that has "shaken its foundation", the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday took a very serious note of the CBI affidavit on the coal block allocation scam and asserted that the probe agency must be "liberated" and should not be controlled by "political masters". The apex court also slammed the probe agency for having kept the court in...
01:08 PM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: Terming it a "massive breach of trust" and a matter that has "shaken its foundation", the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday took a very serious note of the CBI affidavit on the coal block allocation scam and asserted that the probe agency must be "liberated" and should not be controlled by "political masters". The apex court also slammed the probe agency for having kept the court in...
12:07 PM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will tell the Supreme Court on Tuesday that changes were made in the status report on the coal block allocation scam after a meeting between the probe agency and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, sources said. The probe agency is not going to hide anything from the apex court, according to CBI sources. The CBI had on Friday filed its affidavit on the...
10:56 AM, Apr 30, 2013
New Delhi: Two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its affidavit on the coal block allocation scam report with the Supreme Court; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly met Attorney General Goolam Essaji Vahanvati on Sunday to discuss the affidavit. Sources said that the Prime Minister and the Attorney General discussed what the Supreme Court may say on the affidavit. The CBI had on Friday filed its affidavit...
06:43 PM, Apr 29, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is expected to file its affidavit in the Supreme Court on Friday on whether the government misled the apex court on the status report on the coal block allocation scam. While pressure had been building on the CBI to file the affidavit, the government had asserted it did not vet the the probe agency's status report. All eyes are on whether the...
07:30 AM, Apr 26, 2013
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not ask for any intervention on the coal scam affidavit issue, according to sources. Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday clarified that it is not under any pressure in the probe into the coal allocation allegations. The CBI reiterated that it is yet to file the said affidavit. "The CBI will strictly abide by the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme...
08:10 PM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has clarified that it is not under any pressure in the probe into the coal allocation allegations. The CBI reiterated that it is yet to file the said affidavit. "The CBI will strictly abide by the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and is not under any pressure from any quarter," CBI said. This comes more than 96 hours after reports that...
02:18 PM, Apr 16, 2013
A Delhi court on Saturday asked the city police to 'further investigate' the three cases lodged against Arvind Kejriwal and other members of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for alleged rioting and unlawful assembly. ...
05:54 PM, Mar 30, 2013
The CBI on Monday carried out searches in five cities after registering a fresh case against Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited for alleged irregularities in the allotment of coal blocks. CBI sources said that Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited, a company of RC Rungta Group, was allotted North Dhadu coal block on January 13, 2006 for its sponge iron plant. ...
03:46 PM, Mar 11, 2013
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday questioned Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren in connection with the coal block allocation scam. Soren was questioned in the capacity of having been the coal minister in 2006. ...
10:50 AM, Feb 08, 2013
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh was granted bail by a court in Delhi on Friday in connection with a defamation case filed by BJP President Nitin Gadkari against him. Digvijaya had accused Gadkari of having business links with BJP MP Ajay Sancheti, who allegedly pocketed large sums of money in the coal block allocation Scam. ...
10:54 AM, Dec 21, 2012
New Delhi: There is more trouble for BJP President Nitin Gadkari's aide Ajay Sancheti. Sources in the coal ministry say that the Inter Ministerial Group has deallocated a coal block in Chhattisgarh where Sancheti was a mine developer and operator. The block belonged to the Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation. Of all of the 19 blocks in the government sector, eight have been deallocated. This is a significant considering Chhattisgarh is...
03:48 PM, Nov 07, 2012
New Delhi: BJP on Monday said it has no reservations on the CVC's order asking CBI to probe coal allocations 1993 onwards and alleged this was a "delaying tactic" of Congress as it does not want truth to come out. "We are not worried about the CVC asking the CBI to probe coal block allocations from 1993 as the NDA has nothing to hide. The issue here is who is...
07:55 PM, Sep 24, 2012
New Delhi: In a new development in the coalgate issue, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe all coal block allocations since 1993. The CVC has also forwarded a letter by Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal that coal block allocations since 1993 be probed. Jaiswal had earlier forwarded a letter by some MPs seeking a probe. Reacting to the reports, BJP leader Prakash...
06:24 PM, Sep 24, 2012
