Bhandari meets CBI chief, demands speedy probe into Chamling’s corruption charges

BJP meets Chief Secy, demands CBI investigation

Sikkim Observer Jan 8-14, 2010

By A Staff Reporter

Gangtok, Jan 7: The State Government’s reported refusal to allow the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into charges of corruption against Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and his Cabinet colleagues is proof enough that the accused are guilty and are trying to save their skin, according to former chief minister and Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC) President Nar Bahadur Bhandari.

Bhandari now wants Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take the initiative and grant permission to the CBI to investigate into the corruption charges.

 “The State Government is not allowing the CBI to investigate. This proves that the Chief Minister is trying to save himself,” the former chief minister said here before leaving for Delhi to pressurize the UPA Government and the party high command to give green signal to the CBI.

On his return from Delhi on Thursday, Bhandari said he met the CBI Director, who has sent another reminder to the State Government to allow the CBI to come to Sikkim for investigation. Bhandari threatened to bring the State under President’s rule if the Chamling Government refuses to oblige the CBI.

The CBI recently approached the State Government to allow it to probe into corruption charges against Chamling and others after it found prima-facie case following its preliminary investigation.

Bhandari also appealed to Governor BP Singh to use his special power under Article 371F of the Constitution and dismiss the Chamling Government for gross economic misconduct and also to ensure free and fair investigation.

State Congress leaders approached the CBI against Chamling after the Supreme Court dismissed their petition in March 2010. The apex court directed the petitioners to approach investigating agencies with the “incriminating material.”

State Congress leaders have threatened to move the Supreme Court if the authorities are not responsive.

BJP for CBI probe

On Tuesday, the State unit of the BJP approached the Chief Secretary TT Dorji to allow the CBI to begin investigation against Chamling and others, including former ministers.

Meanwhile, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front said corruption allegations against Chamling was “baseless.”

Defending the Chief Minister, State’s Lok Sabha MP P D Rai and former LS MP Bhim Dahal said corruption charges against members of the ruling party were “politically motivated.”

 

Resign and face probe, former Sikkim Guv tells ex-CJI

Sikkim Observer, Jan 8-14, 2011

Observer News Service

New Delhi, Jan 7: Former Sikkim Governor Sudarshan Agarwal has urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman KG Balakrishnan to resign and face probe following allegations that his relations are involved in multi-crore corrupt practices.

 Agarwal, who is also a former member of the NHRC, in a letter written to Justice Balakrishnan on December 29, 2010, said: “It is with deep pain and anguish — nay, with a deep sense of shock — that I read in the national dailies a news item about your son-in-law's assets growing over 120 times in a short span of four years — ironically during the period you served as Chief Justice of India.”

He said: “Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, who is a role model for probity in public life, has appealed to the President of India to politely advise you to resign as chairman of the NHRC and offer yourself for an inquiry to be conducted by a panel of three eminent judges. This is the only way you can redeem your reputation. The litigant public would take this news with a sense of shock.”

Agarwal said  rumours afloat in the corridors of the Supreme Court and elsewhere were indeed disturbing.

“Corruption to my mind is a serious violation of human rights, and surely the chairman of the NHRC must not be perceived to be a violator of human rights. It is therefore necessary to clear your name,” he said in the letter to Justice Balakrishnan.

Agarwal said: “I have served with three former Chief Justices of India, all of whom have brought added glory, dignity and respect to the highest judicial office. One of them is the late Justice M. Hidayatullah, who served as Vice-President of India when I served as Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha. The other two were Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah and Justice J.S. Verma, both of whom served as chairman of NHRC while I served as a Member of the Commission.

“All three were role models of probity in public life apart from their exceptional erudition. If people lose faith in the judiciary, it will be a sad day for the country and a big blow to our democratic polity.”

He said: “I am a strong votary of probity in public life. When you were Chief Justice of India, I had written to you expressing my concern about retired Supreme Court Judges engaging in arbitration cases while holding office as chairman of various commissions, as also appearing in foreign courts on behalf of private parties. I did not receive any reply even though two of your predecessors did write back to me agreeing with what I said, but they too did not take any steps to stem this unhealthy practice.

“I would earnestly appeal to you to consider resigning from your present office and offer to face an inquiry to clear your name from any whiff of wrongdoing. This will restore your credibility and also strengthen public confidence in the institution of judiciary — the bulwark of democracy,” the letter added.

KARMAPA’S RETURN The Controversy Continues

Sunday’s (Sept 26) ‘Peace Rally’ by thousands of Buddhist devotees in the State capital of Sikkim heralds a significant change in the campaign for early return of the 17th Karmapa, who many believe is the Dharamsala-based Ugyen Thinely Dorjee, to Sikkim. Ugyen Thinley is not only recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa – who  lived in the former kingdom of Sikkim and died in Chicago in 1981 – but  also by leading Buddhist monks of Tibetan Buddhism. Now that the common people are actively involved in the demand for early return of the Karmapa to his rightful place at Rumtek Monastery, regarded as the seat-in-exile of the Gyalwa Karmapa, head of Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, both the Central and State governments are now forced to take a second look at the ‘Karmapa controversy’, which has refused to die down since the recognition of Ugyen Thinley as the heir to the Karmapa throne nearly two decades back.
Ever since the Dalai Lama conferred official recognition to the Tibet-born Karmapa Ugyen Thinley in June 1992, the controversy revolved round the identity of the 17th Karmapa and the Government of India’s delay or reluctance to allow him to visit Sikkim. Shamar Rinpoche, one of the most powerful of the existing three of the four Regents of Rumtek Monastery, proposed his own candidate, Thinley Thaye Dorjee, as the real Karmapa. This led to many petty feuds between the followers of Shamar Rinpoche and Situ Rinpoche, one of the Regents who backed Ugyen Thinley. Social and religious organizations and political parties in Sikkim and elsewhere added to the controversy with their support to the two parties. Meanwhile, the dramatic escape of Ugyen Thinley from Tibet into India in 2001 added a new dimension to the already existing controversy with the Indian Government and the national media taking note of Situ Rinpoche’s alleged Chinese connection and China’s perceived role in the whole Karmapa affair.
It is also significant to note the Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader the Dalai Lama’s recent pronouncements regarding his proposal for Ugyen Thinley to step into his shoes. Despite Chinese crackdown on Buddhist practitioners in Tibet Buddhism is growing there and in the Himalayan region, which was once under Tibet’s temporal and spiritual control in various degree. If Ugyen Thinley is allowed to take charge of Rumtek Monastery the former kingdom of Sikkim will, once again, be under international focus. How will he – if ever he is allowed – be able to look after the Tibetan exiled government in Dharamsala and at the same time take charge of his seat-in-exile in Sikkim?  Added to these crucial factors is China’s opposition to Sikkim being part of India during the time of the merger and its reluctance to accept it afterwards. Officially, Beijing has said that the 17th Karmapa left Tibet to collect his religious articles. Where could these articles be if not in Rumtek Monastery? Is this part of the reason why New Delhi is reluctant to allow Ugyen Thinley to visit Sikkim? If the Karmapa wants to take back the articles, including the sacred Black Hat, to Tsurphu Monastery, his traditional seat in Tibet, who can stop him? The complexities of the Karmapa controversry must be looked into without any prejudices and involvement of vested interests, who have their own hidden agenda, if the concerned authorities are inclined to take a more positive view of the whole situation.

JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY India Is On Trial In Sikkim, Not Justice Dinakaran

The controversy over Justice PD Dinakaran’s recent transfer to the Sikkim High Court by the Supreme Court Collegium, despite widespread opposition to the transfer and his continued place in the judiciary, is looking at one side of the coin only. Justice Dinakaran’s elevation to the Supreme Court was put on hold as he was facing allegations of corruption and land grabbing following exposures made by an NGO on judicial accountability. The controversial transfer has taken place even as the committee set up by the Rajya Sabha Chairman, Hamid Ansari, India’s Vice-President, to look into the allegations against Justice Dinakaran in an impeachment motion is yet to finalise the chargesheet against him. If and when the chargesheet is served on him another controversy will erupt in the sub-continent’s legal and political fraternity. The law will surely take its own course and if Justice Dinakaran is not found guilty he will be acquitted.

The other side of the coin is the right of the people in a democracy to speak out their mind even if their views are critical of the high and mighty, including the guardians of the judicial system in the country. Those in Sikkim, particularly BJP’s Padam Sharma and unemployed youth leader, Nawin Kiran Pradhan, who promptly, openly and  critically opposed the transfer deserve our congratulation and salute not because they opposed the transfer but because they, while others hesitated, freely expressed their views on a very touchy and sensitive issue. It is from heroic acts of individuals such as these who, mindless of consequences, make their stand clear and effectively on such sensitive issues such as Justice Dinakaran’s transfer that will help kindle the flame of freedom and justice in a State, where people continue to live in fear and fail to exercise their fundamental democratic and human rights promised to the Sikkimese people during the ‘merger’ in mid-seventies. “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”(Dante)

Justice Dinakaran is not on trial in Sikkim. For all the allegations hurled on him by so many legal luminaries and political pundits he may not be as bad as he is made out to be. Is the judicial system in the entire country above reproach? Are all our judges clean and upright and courts fair? It is pertinent to state that the Sikkimese people, who were promised an “independent judiciary” during the “merger”, have, by and large, lost all faith in the judicial process. And this is not because of any single act of a particular individual in the courts in the State. The blame must surely be placed on a system that thrives on lies, deceit and corruption. What is to be seen is not whether we, including the media, have committed contempt of court while trying to expose and clean up the system, but whether we, as a people, have together shied away from our duties and thereby committed contempt of justice.

The concerned authorities, including the Supreme Court, President, Prime Minister and Law Minister, were aware of the views and sentiments expressed by the people of Sikkim in the past so many months and  years against their State being made a dumping ground for unwanted elements who are rejected by the rest of the country. The phrase “dumping ground” was first coined by Sikkimese Parliamentarian, Nandu Thapa, who in a memorandum in the early ’90s, warned New Delhi of further neglecting Sikkim and treating it as a dirty backyard. If New Delhi is still only interested in taking over the former kingdom and then pumping enough money to buy peace then here is a stern warning that should be taken very seriously: sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. It is naïve to think that the Sikkimese people’s reaction to Justice Dinakaran’s transfer will be confined to the judiciary. In Sikkim it is a live political issue which has the potential of becoming a catalyst for political instability in the State if not handled carefully. Justice Dinakaran is not on trial in Sikkim, India is.