Karnataka skills chief quits after being chargesheeted in INX Media Case by CBI
Bengaluru: Former secretary of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Anup K Pujari, who was recently chargesheeted by the CBI in the INX Media case, has resigned from his current job as chairman, Karnataka Skill Development Authority.
Pujari has said that he has learnt through the media that he has been chargesheeted by the CBI in the case and thus his continuation in the post would not be “in conformity with the best traditions of the civil services” and that it may “cause undue embarrassment to the government”.
Pujari has addressed his resignation letter to Secretary, Department of Skill Development and Enterpreneurship and Livelihood of the Karnataka Government. He had retired from the services in January 2016, following which he took up an assignment to teach at Harvard. On his return, he was appointed by the Karnataka government as Chairman of the Skill Development Authority.
Pujari is among six bureaucrats, including former NITI Aayog CEO Sindhushree Khullar, who have been booked by the CBI in connection with the INX case. All of them were then posted in the Ministry of Finance under P Chidambaram, who, along with his son Karti, is being prosecuted by the CBI in the case.
According to the CBI chargesheet, Pujari was among the bureaucrats who processed the application of INX Media for foreign direct investment of over Rs 350 crore and downstream investment of its funding into INX News despite “glaring irregularities”.
The CBI chargesheet mentions Pujari as accused number A-11 and says that his statement was recorded by the agency on November 6, 2017.
According to the chargesheet, when the proposal for FDI inflow into INX media was put up before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its 98th meeting held on May 18, 2007, the amount of inflow was mentioned as Rs 4.62 crore. But after the approval, the company brought in more than Rs 350 crore. It further made a downstream investment of 26% in INX News. The 98th meeting, whose minutes were prepared by Pujari along with other bureaucrats and approved by Chidambaram, had held that a separate approval was required for downstream investment in INX News.
When a flag was raised on this by the Income Tax department and a communication was sent to the Finance Ministry by CBDT member Sunita Kaila, the ministry decided to send a DO letter to her explaining the whole affair.
According to the chargesheet, Pujari “put up a note dated 29.08.2008 to Smt. Sindhushree Khullar justifying therein the excess FDI received by M/s. INX Media to be within the approved percentage and also opined as long as the inflow is within the percentage approved, there is no violation, nor any fresh FIPB permission is required. On this note of Sh. Anup Pujari, Ms. Sindhushree Khullar instructed to add the approval letter dated 31.05.2007 already sent to the company. Accordingly, a letter dated 02.09.2008 was sent to Ms. Sunita Kaila, Member CBDT,” the chargesheet has said.
It also alleged that in the 128th meeting of the FIPB, Pujari and other bureaucrats held back information that INX Media had made an unauthorised downstream investment.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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SC to hear on May 4 PIL seeking stringent guidelines for issuing Aadhaar to adolescents, adults
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Unique Identification Authority of India to issue new Aadhaar cards only to citizens up to the age of six years, and frame stringent guidelines for its issuance to adolescents and adults to stop infiltrators from masquerading as Indian citizens.
As per the apex court's causelist of May 4, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has also sought a direction to the authorities to install display boards at common service centres stating that the 12-digit unique identification number is only a "proof of identity" and not a proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
Besides all the states and Union Territories, the plea has made the UIDAI -- which is the authority that issues Aadhaar -- and the Union ministries of home, law and justice, and electronics and information technology as parties.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, said Aadhaar, originally intended as a proof of identity, has increasingly become a "foundational document" enabling individuals to obtain other identification documents, such as ration cards, domicile certificates and voter identity cards.
"The UIDAI has issued 144 crore Aadhaar and 99 percent Indians have been enrolled. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this writ petition as a PIL under Article 32, seeking a direction to UIDAI to issue new Aadhaar to children only and frame new stringent guidelines for adolescents and adults, so as to stop infiltrators from getting it and masquerading as Indian citizens," the plea said.
It said the need to file the plea arose when the petitioner came to know the manner in which infiltrators are able to procure Aadhaar through a verification process that is weak and can be easily manipulated.
"Foreigners apply for Aadhaar under the 'foreign' category. But infiltrators apply for Aadhaar under the 'Indian citizen' category and get it easily made. Thereafter, they obtain a ration card, birth and domicile certificate, driving licence, et cetera, essentially becoming indistinguishable from Indian citizens…," it said.
Besides seeking other directions, the plea has raised legal questions, including whether the Aadhaar Act 2016 has become "temporally unreasonable" for failing to keep up with the legislative intent of distinguishing foreigners from Indian citizens.
It said the alleged misuse of Aadhaar undermines targeted welfare delivery and leads to diversion of public resources.
