Court acquits Chandraswami in FERA case

June 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, June 5 — A Delhi court, on Saturday, acquitted self-styled godman, Chandraswami, in a 14-year-old Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had accused the godman of violating the FERA terms in a defamation suit filed by him 26 years ago.

Additional Metropolitan Magistrate A.K. Pandey said the ED failed to establish that the “accused Nemi Chand Jain alias Chandraswami had the knowledge about deposit of the money (6,000 Euros) in a defamation suit filed by him in 1986 in London against Lakhu Bhai Pathak.” Counsel for Chandraswami, Santosh Chauriah, said, “They did not know exactly who paid the money on his behalf.

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Mumbai Customs detain four persons under FERA Act

March 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Mar 22 (ANI): The Mumbai Customs Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) has detained four persons at the Mumbai Airport for violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) norms as they carried digital phone memory cards worth Rs 52 lakhs.

The four passengers, who arrived here from Hong Kong, were attempting to walk through the green channel at the Mumbai International Airport without declaring their goods.

The custom officials, who were alerted about the four passengers, later detained them and recovered the memory card after a thorough search.

The four will be taken to the Mumbai sessions court today, where the police would be seeking their custody for further interrogation.

The investigating agencies suspect the four persons of working for some organization, which deals in smuggling and are attempting to find out the mastermind behind the racket.

FERA Act, 1973, is an act to consolidate and amend the law regulating certain payments, dealings in foreign exchange and securities, transactions indirectly affecting foreign exchange and the import and export of currency, for the conservation of the foreign exchange resources of the country and the proper utilisation thereof in the interests of the economic development of the country. (ANI)

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Virbhadra Singh assumes charge of Steel Ministry

May 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 29 (ANI): Minister for Steel Virbhadra Singh assumed charge here on Friday.

He was welcomed by Steel Secretary P.K.Rastogi and other senior officers.

Talking to reporters after taking charge, he said that one of his key priorities would be to ensure that the expansion programmes of the public sector giants the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is completed in time in a cost effective fashion.

“While the capacity of SAIL will go up to 26 million tons that of RINL will go up to six million tons after the expansion. Both the expansion programmes will involve an expenditure of over Rs.70, 000 crore,” he said.

He added that steel sector in India and China have recorded positive growth during the first quarter of this calendar year while the global steel production has contracted by 23 per cent during the same period.

“Another focus area will be to bring in a rational, seamless and transparent regime for allocation of raw material resources to existing and prospective steel producers,” he said. He further said, the Ministry of Mines would be requested to undertake consequential amendments to Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 to bring amendments to force.

“There is a need to restructure some of the smaller steel PSUs and for attempting mergers to capture the benefits of improved synergies. The companies under restructuring/merger mode include the Bird group of companies, the HSCL, the BRL and the SIIL,” he said (ANI)

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Apex court allows Chandraswami to travel abroad

May 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday allowed controversial guru Chandraswami – who is facing a number of criminal charges – to travel abroad after depositing a sum of Rs.1 million in cash with the government.

A bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice R.M. Loha, while granting Chandraswami permission to travel abroad, also asked the government to return his passport after renewing it.

Restrained from going abroad for his alleged role in a clutch of criminal cases, including Lakhu Bhai Pathak cheating case involving former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, Chandraswami will be going abroad after a gap of 14 years.

The spiritual guru had been seeking permission to go abroad to Britain, United Arab Emirates and Mauritius to perform ‘yagnas’ (special prayers) at the residences of some of his disciples.

The apex court allowed Chandraswami to go abroad after dismissing the Enforcement Directorate’s objection to the rulings of a trial court and the Delhi High Court subsequently, which had allowed him to go abroad.

Chandraswami faces prosecution by the Enforcement Directorate in 11 cases of allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA).

The directorate challenged the trial court’s order granting him permission to travel abroad. The Delhi High Court too eventually allowed him to go abroad, dismissing the directorate’s fears that he might not come back to face trial.

Allowing Chandraswami’s plea to go abroad, the high court had asked him to pledge Rs.1 million per case as surety.

The Supreme Court subsequently on Feb 12 had suspended the high court order, which the apex court restored Thursday with a slight modification.

On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate counsel Wasim Ahmed Qadri, while opposing Chandraswami’s plea, had told the court that he is also suspected to have a role in funding the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.

This prompted the court to ask him: “If he has funded the assassination, then why did you not proceed against him?”

Earlier on Feb 26, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian had told an apex court judge B.N. Agrawal that Chandraswami owes penalty to the tune of Rs.80 million for violation of various foreign exchange control laws.

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Slum children stage a protest in Patna against exploitation

January 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Patna, Jan 12 (ANI): Scores of slum children here took to the streets on Sunday protesting against child labour demanding right to education.

Children, under the aegis of ‘Prayas Bharti Trust,’ a voluntary group, raised slogans against those who engage child labour.

“Child labour must be stopped. Every child should be enrolled in schools so that he would become a doctor or engineer,” said Santosh Kumar, a protester.

Despite the 1986 Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, child labour is still rampant in India due to extreme poverty.

Organisers said the purpose of the protest was to spread awareness on child education.

“The main purpose behind organising such protest is to spread awareness regarding child education. Instead of sending these slum children to brick kilns, restaurants and other places, parents must send them to schools so that they would become good citizens. These slum children are normal like our kids and have full right to receive education,” said Dipika, a counsellor with Prayas Bharti Trust.

There are about 18 million street children and 22 million labourers in India. Nearly 20 per cent of the children between the age group of 6-14 years have no access to primary education.

According to human rights groups, many children have been working since the age of four or five, and by the time they reach adulthood, they may be irrevocably sick or deformed.

International agencies contend that there are far too many loopholes in the law on trafficking in children, making it difficult to root out child labour. (ANI)

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