The Brave Pedestrian

Dirty Tricks of Developers, Managing Committees and Project Management Consultants Mumbai, 8 September 2015: Some residents of a cooperative housing society in Mulund have painstakingly documented step-by-step how builders, project management consultants and society office bearers work together to hijack the flats of even intelligent and educated flat-owners, and hand them over to third parties. In a letter sent to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta last week, seven residents of Shree Gurukrupa Nagar Co-operative Housing Society Limited on Nahur village road have alleged that their society's Secretary and other managing committee members have abused their power and influence to confer the society’s development rights on a business entity called “Concrete Siresukan Realty LLP” which did not even bid in the society’s tender. “Neither this LLP nor its designated partners, Mr Anuj Desai and Mr Nilesh Dalal, participated in the tender/bidding for the society’s redevelopment project. ...

Is Supreme Court shielding INSANE JUDGES? Did a bench headed by CJI Dattu rule against giving RTI information about judges' medical expenses on Thursday, to prevent the public from knowing which judges take prescription-drugs for MENTAL ILLNESSES? These judges may arguably be impeached on grounds of being unable to discharge their duties because of "unsound mind". Image: http://tinyurl.com/Insane-Judge-RTI Here's a list of High Court judges in India: http://tinyurl.com/HC-Judges-list Are we saying that out of these 650-odd judges, not even one is taking treatment for Schizophrenia? Or Alzheimer's disease? Or Bipolar Disorder? It is statistically impossible to have a 100% perfect population of judges. Not having a mechanism for weeding out the nutty ones means inflicting defective judgments on the unsuspecting and defenseless citizens of India! Warm Regards, Krishnaraj Rao 9821588114 Mumbai

3 July, 2015: "BUS KYA, DATTU? DAWA-DAARU ke liye public se paise leneka, lekin public ko hisaab nahin  denaka. Tum judge-log bhi na... " That's what the man-on-the-street will be saying today. Many of CJI Dattu's brother-judges in High Court and Supreme Court are presenting INFLATED OR COOKED-UP MEDICAL BILLS for getting reimbursement from taxpayers' money. Surely he knows this? It's an open secret. And that's really why the Supreme Court bench presided over by Chief Justice H L Dattu yesterday rejected a plea for disclosing medical expenditures of judges and their family under RTI. “There should be some respect for privacy and if such information (is) disclosed, there will be no stopping,” the bench told advocate Prashant Bhushan. Prashant Bhushan, representing RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, argued that the public felt that judiciary was not willing to follow the standards of transparency and accountability that it expects from other autho...

Justice (Retd) Swatanter Kumar is like MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN – amazing wizardry, plus massive legal muscle acting like bouncers to protect him from media glare. On 10 January 2014, former Supreme Court Judge Swatanter Kumar was named by the media as accused of sexually exploiting a law intern. The intern, with the help of senior counsel Harish Salve and Indira Jaising, and advocate Vrinda Grover, filed a PIL on 14 January. The prayer: Supreme Court must reconsider its policy of not inquiring into the allegations against judges. With lightning speed, WITHIN SIX DAYS, Delhi high court passed a temporary order in the Rs 5 crore defamation suit (CS(OS) 102/2014) slapped by Swatanter Kumar against Indian Express, Times Now and CNN-IBN (and, for good measure, the anonymous intern, the Indian Express reporter and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting). The order restrained the media from publishing or telecasting the allegations levelled on Swatanter Kumar, or even using his photos. A...

26 June, 2015, Mangalore: Nestle's Maggie Noodles isn't the only dangerous goods in the Indian market. Have you noticed that Hyundai cars catch fire ever so often – whether on the road or in parking? Is our government neglecting to safeguard the lives of Indian vehicle-owners by pampering multinational companies? Why is the Transport Commissioner of each state passing such cars – proven dangerous on Indian roads -- to be sold to unwary customers? In a scathing open letter to Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari sent on Monday, Mr Prakash Rao (98452 13305, pkrao51@hotmail.com), former managing director of Bhutan-based Tashi Group, says, "Recall of goods due to manufacturing defects is unheard of in India. Multinationals like Hyundai Motor India Ltd. are knowingly selling faulty products to Indian customers, putting our lives at risk. They believe that the Indian government does not take action to protect its citizens – and earlier governments ha...

“MY LORDS SHOULD WEAR A BURQA and roam in the court corridors to hear the way lawyers talk about the judges of this court. You will get first-hand account of the rotting justice delivery system. The kind of lawyers who are being appointed as judges is a disgrace,” senior advocate Dushyant Dave, arguing for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), told a Constitution Bench led by Justice J S Khehar. “It is a shame how every court is going an extra mile to protect politicians and film stars, and ordinary citizens are deprived of justice,” he added. Read  http://tinyurl.com/ burqa-judges Image: http://tinyurl.com/SC-Judges-burqa Warm Regards, Krish 9821588114

Judges selected by the collegium for higher judiciary are sometimes worse than useless, according to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi. Rohatgi gave the instance of Justice Cyriac Joseph. As a judge of Delhi High Court, Justice Joseph performed miserably. He reserved more than 100 judgments and went out on being transferred without delivering the judgments, so that all the cases had to be reheard. Later, as Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court, Cyriac Joseph delivered 162 judgments of which 89 "cannot be even called orders as they did not decide rights of the parties. These are merely stating that the petition has become infructuous or allowing the petition to be withdrawn. Of the 162, only two could be called judgments... But both these were authored by the other judge who was part of the bench," the AG said. Justice Cyriac Joseph was very successful at climbing the career ladder. Only one month after being appointed as permanent judge of Kerala High Court in July 19...