So Retired Justice Aftab Alam has been appointed as Chairman of TDSAT. Any surprise ? Retired Justice Aftab Alam appointed as Chairman of TDSAT July 01, 2013 deshgujarat/2013/07/01/retired-justice-aftab-alam-appointed-as-chairman-of-tdsat/ As predicted, Aftab Alam, retired Justice of Supreme Court has been rehabilitated by the Congress-led UPA government in Delhi to a a plum post-retirement job. He has been made Chairperson of Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) with the effect of 17 June 2013. Here are some interesting pieces of information. __________________________________________________________ 1- SC bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam stays Sanjiv Bhatt’s trial April 20, 2012 deshgujarat/2012/04/20/sc-bench-headed-by-justice-aftab-alam-stays-sanjiv-bhatts-trial/ The Supreme Court Friday stayed the trial of Gujarat police officer Sanjiv Bhatt, facing charges of coercing his official driver to make a false statement in connection with the alleged inaction of the Narendra Modi government during the 2002 riots in the state. The Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai stayed the proceedings against Bhatt after he pleaded that the case against him was fabricated and was a consequence of political vendetta. Mr. Bhatt has sought investigation by an independent agency into the allegations. It was alleged that Mr. Bhatt had pressured his driver K.D. Pant to tell a court that he drove the Gujarat cadre Indian Police Service officer to the Chief Minister’s residence Feb 27, 2002. Mr. Bhatt had claimed that in the meeting held at the Chief Minister’s residence that day, Mr. Modi told senior administration officials not to act against rioters. Mr. Pant subsequently rejected the statement that he drove Mr. Bhatt to the Chief Minister’s residence and said he had made his earlier statement under pressure from the police officer. At present Mr. Bhatt is under suspension and lives in Gandhinagar. __________________________________________________________ 2- Email hacking case: SC bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam stays probe against Bhatt November 26, 2012 deshgujarat/2012/11/26/email-hacking-case-sc-bench-headed-by-justice-aftab-alam-stays-probe-against-bhatt/ The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the probe into a case of alleged hacking of emails of state’s Additional Advocate General Tushaar Mehta by Gujarat-cadre’s suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai stayed the probe on Bahtt’s plea that he is being targeted for accusing Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi of misusing the state machinery against Muslims during 2002 post-Godhra riots. A case was registered against Bhatt in Vastrapur police station here on August 5 last year on Mehta’s complaint. Mehta had alleged in his complaint that Bhatt had hacked into his e-mail account and had passed the information to others. “These communications contain my personal, official, and legal correspondences which were not only unauthorisedly seen by Bhatt but also shared with others for ulterior motive, which, apart from being a criminal offence, violates my right of privacy,” Mehta had said in his complaint. Incidentally, Sanjiv Bhatt and Tushar Mehta had long been family friends. __________________________________________________________ 3- SC gives relief to Teesta in illegal exhumation case February 21, 2012 deshgujarat/2012/02/21/sc-gives-relief-to-teesta-in-illegal-exhumation-case/ The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam on Tuesday questioned the Gujarat government for initiating a probe against social activist Teesta Setalvad for her alleged role in a case of illegal exhumation of the bodies of the 2002 riot victims, saying it is a “spurious” case to victimise her. The bench said: “This is a hundred percent spurious case to victimise the petitioner (Setalvad).In other cases against petitioner, there may be something. This type of case does no credit to the state of Gujarat in any way.” On Gujarat government’s other criminal proceedings against Teesta in other riot-related cases, the bench was of the view that it was not correct on the part of the Gujarat government to go ahead with the case. Justice Aftab Alam headed bench asked senior advocate Pradeep Ghosh, who appeared for the Gujarat government, “You advise your client not to proceed with this type of case. You should show some responsibility and tell the government not to proceed with the case,” the bench said adding that the senior counsel go through the FIR “passionately” and tell the court as to what does he feel about it. The bench also asked Gujarat government’s standing counsel Hemantika Wahi to go through the FIR. While posting the matter for March 23, the bench said its interim stay, imposed on July 29, 2011 on criminal proceedings against Setalvad in the case would continue till the next date of hearing. Responding to the apex court notice, the state government had in its affidavit justified its probe against Setalvad in the case saying she actually planned and executed the digging of the graves without any permission in 2006. It had claimed that during the probe into the case, it has emerged that “Teesta Setalvad, the petitioner herein, was the main accused, who actually planned and executed this operation of digging of graves near Pandarwada through her staff.” The government had said the other accused have claimed innocence and had blamed Setalvad for instigating them to carry out the exhumation, which is a penal offence. “Exhumation of the dead bodies without prior permission of the competent authorities constitutes an offence under sections 192 (fabricating false evidence), 193 (punishment for false evidence, 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120-B criminal conspiracy), 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 297 (trespassing on burial places) of IPC,” the affidavit had said. It was alleged that in 2002, about 28 unidentified bodies of the riot victims from Pandarwada and surrounding villages in Khanpur taluka were buried in the graveyard. Earlier, the high court had declined to scrap the FIR, but had quashed the summons, which had termed her as absconding. __________________________________________________________ 4- Remove Justice Aftab Alam from Gujarat cases:Justice Soni to CJI July 27, 2012 deshgujarat/2012/07/27/remove-justice-aftab-alam-from-gujarat-casesjustice-soni-to-cji/ Former Judge of Gujarat High Court and former Lokayukta of Gujarat state Justice S.M.Soni has written a letter to the Chief Justice of India to keep ‘communal mindset’ justice Aftab Alam away from Gujarat cases. Justice Soni has submitted facts and quotes showing communal mind set of Justice Aftab Alam, and has requested to transfer all matter related to Gujarat before any other bench. Justice Soni has in his 10-page letter to CJI S H Kapadia requested that the letter should be treated as a Public Interest Litigation(PIL). He has also requested to stay the further hearing of all criminal cases in which Gujarat government is a party and are being heard by Justice Aftab Alam. __________________________________________________________ 5- Rais Khan seeks Justice Aftab Alam to opt out of his case February 20, 2013 deshgujarat/2013/02/20/rais-khan-seeks-justice-aftab-alam-to-opt-out-of-his-case/ As per the PTI report, former aide of controversial NGO operator Teesta Setalvad has moved the Supreme Court seeking that Justice Aftab Alam recuse himself from the bench hearing a matter relating to alleged “fabricating” of evidence in a post-Godhra riots case in which both of them are accused. Rais Khan Pathan, who was accused of fabricating evidences along with the activist in the Naroda Gam case in which 11 people were killed in 2002, has contended that there is “a reasonable likelihood of bias” in hearing the matter by Justice Alam. He said the reason why the judge should recuse is that he had delievered a lecture in London on “Promoting Pluralism Knowledge Program(PPKP)” with which his daughter is associated. Pathan referred to an article titled, “The Idea of Secularism and the Supreme Court of India” authored by Justice Alam and presented by the judge at the annual lecture on October 14, 2009 in London. “The tone and tenor of the article depicts the strong believe of his Lordship, as regards to the victimisation of the minority community,” he said, while also making reference to his daughter who is associated with PPKP’s India initiative and was part of some NGOs working for the 2002 riots victims in Gujarat. It should be mentioned here that in July last year, former Judge of Gujarat High Court and former Lokayukta of Gujarat state Justice S.M.Soni had written a letter to the Chief Justice of India to keep ‘communal mindset’ justice Aftab Alam away from Gujarat cases and had requested to transfer all matter related to Gujarat before any other bench. Justice Soni had in his 10-page letter to CJI S H Kapadia requested that the letter should be treated as a Public Interest Litigation(PIL). He had also requested to stay the further hearing of all criminal cases in which Gujarat government is a party and are being heard by Justice Aftab Alam. About Justice Aftab Alam(from Supreme Court of India website) -Hon’ble Mr. Justice Aftab Alam was born in Patna on April 19th, 1948 where he completed his School and College Education. Enrolled as an Advocate on 27.03.1973. -He practiced in the Patna High Court mainly in Labour, Service and Constitutional Law Cases. Worked as Additional Central Government Standing Counsel in Patna High Court from September 7, 1981 to September 6, 1985. He was designated as Senior Advocate by the Patna High Court at a relatively young age, on February 1, 1984. -He was appointed as Judge of the Patna High Court on July 27, 1990. Was transferred to the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, where he was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice on 06.06.2007. -He was elevated to the Supreme Court and assumed office on 12.11.2007. -Besides Law, Justice Alam is deeply interested in Classical Urdu and Persian Poetry and studies in Sufism. -Due to retire on 19th April, 2013 (F.N.) __________________________________________________________ 6- SC bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam suggests name of a former SC Judge to head Gujarat encounter probe panel February 27, 2012 deshgujarat/2012/02/27/sc-bench-headed-by-justice-aftab-alam-suggests-name-of-a-former-sc-judge-to-head-gujarat-encounter-prob-panel/ The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam today suggested the name of a former apex court judge for appointment as the Chairman of the monitoring authority which is looking into the probe of 22 encounter killings between 2002 to 2006 in Gujarat. The apex court had disapproved a decision of the Gujarat government appointing former Bombay High Court Chief Justice K R Vyas to the post. During the resumed hearing today, a bench headed by justices Aftab Alam suggested the name of another former apex court judge to the Gujarat Government as a replacement for Justice Shah who quit as the head of the panel on personal and health grounds. Though the bench had mentioned the name of the former judge as replacement for Justice Shah, it asked the media not to report the proposed name of the chairman as no formal order has been passed and consensus was yet to be arrived on his name. “This (suggestion of the judge’s name) is not part of the order. Don’t mention his name. Don’t embarrass the judge,” the bench said before adjorning the matter for March 3. However, when Justice Alam suggested the name of a former apex court judge as replacement for justice Shah, Gujarat’s Additional Advocate General Tushar Mehta sought deferring of the hearing till Friday on the ground that he has to seek instructions. He said another senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who is representing the state government in the matter, was not available and he was not in a position to give any commitment to the bench. Mehta, however, said that the monitoring authority was created by the state government and it had appointed the Chairman on its own. Agreeing with the submission that the agency (monitoring authority) was created by the state government, the bench said it had agreed with its continuance as it had appointed the former apex court judge as its chairman. “Exactly, when you intimated us about the agency and told about Justice M B Shah we agreed that the committee will look into the issue. More in the name of Justice M B Shah than the monitoring authority, we passed the order,” the bench said. However, the state government counsel said there were other names suggested on the issue and he would like to make submissions on it. “Nothing will happen in four days,” Mehta said and sought adjournment on the hearing till Friday. However, the bench said it has already stated what it wanted on the matter. “What we had in our mind we have told you,” the bench said. During the last hearing on February 24, the bench had expressed anguish that Gujarat Government appointed Justice Vayas as the Chairman without consulting it and complicated the entire matter. “We should also have been told about the proposal for the appointment of new chairman,” the bench had said. “We shall not change the basic structure as to who will be the monitoring person,” the bench had said in an apparent reference to giving the slot to a former High Court judge instead of a former apex court judge. The bench was hearing two PILs filed by veteran journalist B G Verghese and poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, who had sought a direction for a probe by an independent agency or CBI so that the “truth may come out”. The bench had on January 25 asked the monitoring authority to place before it a preliminary report within three months on the killings in alleged fake encounters between 2002 to 2006 in Gujarat purportedly showing a pattern that people from the minority community were targeted as terrorists. Gujarat government had on April 7 and September 18, 2010, come out with the notifications for constituting the STF to investigate the cases of encounter killings and appointment of Justice (Retd) M B Shah as the chairman of the monitoring authority respectively. The bench had said it will be open for the chairman of the monitoring authority to constitute an independent team either with officer from Gujarat Special Task Force (STF) or from outside “considering the sensitivity of the matter” as some senior officers of the state police force have been accused of killing people in fake encounters. However, the bench clarified that the monitoring authority will not go into the cases which are being investigated by other agencies on orders of the apex court. Verghese had said the pattern of killings showed there was a need for investigation and sought a direction to the Centre and Gujarat government to order an inquiry into the encounter killings and compensation to the next of the kin. Akhtar, in his petition, had cited news reports and a sting operation done by a news magazine into the killing of an alleged criminal Sameer Khan in October 2002. The bench in its order had noted his allegation that it was a fake encounter and that there was an attempt for its “cover up” by Gujarat government. Khan, who was in police custody, was killed on the intervening night of October 21-22, 2002, when he snatched the revolver of a policeman who had accompanied him with a team to a spot where he had allegedly murdered a constable. An FIR was registered alleging that Khan was involved in a conspiracy hatched by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi and other leaders. Akhtar, who jointly filed the petition along with social activist Shabnam Hashmi, had alleged it was the same team of Gujarat police which allegedly killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh in the fake encounter and later murdered his wife Kauser Bi. Their petitions, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, had contended there were other media reports of alleged killings of innocent persons in fake encounters by the same team of Gujarat police and sought investigation by an SIT into the “cover-up”. __________________________________________________________ 7- Supreme Court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Tarun Chatterji orders a CBI Probe into Sohrabuddin Encounter January 12, 2010 deshgujarat/2010/01/12/supreme-court-orders-a-cbi-probe-into-sohrabuddin-encounter/ The Supreme Court has ordered a CBI probe into the 2005 gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Aftab Alam pronounced the verdict. Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed in an encounter by the Gujarat Police. An inquiry is already going on in this case. The Gujarat Government had opposed a CBI probe, saying the investigation is underway. The SIT has been probing the gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case and the Gujarat Government argued that the probe was being conducted in an impartial manner and a CBI probe was not required. However, Justices Aftab Alam and Tarun Chatterjee thought otherwise.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:17:00 +0000
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