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Fake degree row: Delhi Law Minister Tomar resigns after court remands him to 4-day police custody

June 10, 2015

New Delhi, Jun 10: Under immense political pressure in a case involving his educational qualifications, Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday submitted his resignation to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hours after a Delhi court remanded him to four-day police custody.

Fake degree"Jitendra Singh Tomar has put in his papers a while back. CM Arvind Kejriwal has accepted the resignation," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told Zee News late Tuesday evening, adding that the resignation letter will be forwarded to L-G Najeeb Jung on Wednesday morning.

Forty-nine-year-old Tomar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Navneet Budhiraja within hours of his arrest in the case, which took place in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The Delhi Police had sought his five-day custody claiming that his educational certificates relating to law degree were "fabricated" and he was required to be taken to Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and Bhagalpur in Bihar to ascertain his educational qualification.

An FIR was registered against Tomar on Monday night in Hauz Khas Police Station and he was slapped with charges under various sections of the IPC including those related to cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Tomar was interacting with a group of people in his office in Trinagar when about 30-40 policemen took him away on the pretext of getting some documents and then drove him to the Hauz Khas police station, according to his staff.

What happened inside court

The Delhi Police told the court that the educational certificates which Tomar claims to be true were fabricated and during their initial probe, the authorities who signed those certificates have denied their genuineness.

"Everything (documents) is something which either is denied by the institution or we don't know as to how these documents came into light. For this we need Tomar's interrogation," the police said, adding, that "according to him (Tomar), all these documents (educational certificates) are allegedly true but all those who allegedly signed these documents say they have not signed it."

The investigating officer (IO) told the court that on the basis of a complaint given by Bar Council of Delhi (BCD), a preliminary enquiry was conducted and after taking reports from concerned universities, an FIR was lodged in the case.

During the hearing, the court asked the Delhi Police, "You (police) have served the notice on Tuesday. What was the need to arrest him on Tuesday itself?"

"He has the power to fabricate documents within minutes", the police said, when the defence counsel asked the court to grant Tomar interim bail.

Is Tomar a mafia man, asks AAP

Terming the arrest "totally unconstitutional", Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said it was an attempt by the Modi government to "teach AAP a lesson" and asserted that no one involved in corruption will be spared.

"Attempts are being made to create an Emergency-like situation in Delhi through dictatorship as we have come down hard on those involved in corruption," said Sisodia.

Accusing police of treating Tomar as a "mafia", Sisodia said they forcibly put him into a car without giving any specific reason and seized his vehicle before bringing him to the police station.

"Tomar was arrested as if he was a mafia. Was he running away? Did he set off a bomb? What was the emergency, especially when a scam is being reopened? There's a deep underlying reason behind his arrest.

"This is an attempt to teach AAP a lesson. We would not spare anyone who will come in the way of our fight against corruption. His college affidavit clearly states that he has passed his law degree," Sisodia said.

Don't fight with everyone, BJP tells Kejriwal

After the arrest of Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar and AAP alleging political vendatta, BJP asked CM Arvind Kejriwal to respect the law and not pick up a fight with everyone.

"Kejriwal has got a decisive mandate. He should work. Mr Kejriwal, governance is a serious business. Please govern. He should respect the law," Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He said Kejriwal is picking up fights with everyone, be it within his party, with his officers, with BJP leaders and now with Prime Minister Narendra Modi since morning ever since his Law Minister was arrested.

"What is the point of fighting with everyone, you should do work instead, which is more important," he said.

No political vendetta behind complaint, says BCD chief

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) Chairman on Tuesday claimed there was no 'political vendetta' behind the complaint lodged by the organisation against Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar for allegedly obtaining fake degree and his subsequent arrest.

BCD Chairman K K Manan alleged that Tomar's law degrees were forged and they had given a complaint to Delhi Police on 11 May in this regard and the police, after taking cognisance of it, lodged an FIR and arrested the minister this morning.

He also raised questions as to why Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was favouring Tomar, instead of getting verified the Law Minister's claim that his degrees were genuine.

"Instead of shunting out this person, the chief minister and the party are creating 'halla gulla' (ruckus). Why the CM has not got Tomar's claim verified, he has all the infrastructure to get it done," Manan said, adding that "there is no political vendetta in this (behind Tomar's arrest)".

At a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Delhi Police said K S Saket Post-Graduation College in Ayodhya have told the investigators that no B Sc degree and marks sheets were issued in the name of Jitender Singh Tomar.

The police said the Tilkamanjhi University in Bihar's Bhagalpur also termed Tomar's law degree fake. Law College in Bihar's Munger from where Tomar claimed he studied law is affiliated to Tilkamanjhi University.

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Agencies
June 19,2020

Srinagar, Jun 19: Suspended Jammu and Kashmir DSP Davinder Singh, arrested while ferrying two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists in a vehicle on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway earlier this year, was granted bail by a Delhi court on Friday, his lawyer said.

Singh and another accused in the case - Irfan Shafi Mir - were granted the relief by the court in a case filed by special cell of Delhi Police, noting that the probe agency failed to file charge sheet within 90 days from his arrest, as prescribed under law, their lawyer M S Khan said.

The bail was granted on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of like amount.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: India’s Finance Ministry has delivered a challenge to its revenue collectors: meet tax targets despite $20 billion of corporate tax cuts.

Through a video conference on Dec. 16, officials were exhorted to meet the direct tax mop-up target of 13.4 trillion rupees ($187 billion), a government official told reporters. Collection in the eight months to November grew at 5% from a year earlier, against the desired 17%.

The missive shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s urgent need to buoy public finances in a slowing economy where April-November tax collections were half the amount budgeted. Authorities withheld some payments to states and have capped ministries’ expenditure as the fiscal deficit ballooned beyond the target.

The government’s efforts to maintain its deficit goal goes against advice from some quarters, including central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, who urged more spending to spur economic growth.

It’s uncertain though how much room Modi’s administration has to boost expenditure, given that it may already be borrowing as much as 540 billion rupees through state-run companies, a figure that isn’t reflected on the federal balance sheet. Uncertainty about public finances pushed up sovereign yields in November and December, compelling Das to announce unconventional policies to keep costs in check.

“This is not a time to conceal the fiscal deficit by off-budget borrowing or deferring payments,” said Indira Rajaraman, an economist and a former member of the Reserve Bank of India’s board. “If they were to stick to the target, that would be catastrophic because there is so much pump-priming that is needed right now.”

GDP grew 4.5% in the quarter ended September, the slowest pace in more than six years as both consumption and investments cooled in Asia’s third-largest economy. Only government spending supported the expansion, piling pressure on Modi to keep stimulating.

S&P Global Ratings warned in December it may downgrade India’s sovereign ratings if economic growth doesn’t recover. Government support seems to be waning now, with ministries asked to cap spending in the final quarter of the financial year at 25% of the amount budgeted rather than 33% allowed earlier. This new rule will hamstring sectors including agriculture, aviation and coal, where not even half of annual targets have been disbursed.

As the federal government runs short of money, it’s been delaying payouts to state administrations.

Private hospitals have threatened to suspend cash-less services to government employees over non-payment of dues, while a builder informed the stock exchange about delayed rental payments from no less than the tax office itself.

India is considering a litigation-settlement plan that will allow companies to exit lingering tax disputes by paying a portion of the money demanded by the government, the Economic Times newspaper reported Saturday.

The move will help improve the ease of doing business besides unlocking a part of the almost 8 trillion rupees ($111 billion) caught up in these disputes. The step, which is being considered as part of the annual budget, could also bridge India’s fiscal gap.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has refused to comment on the deficit goal before the official budget presentation due Feb. 1.

A deviation from target, if any, “will need to be balanced with a credible consolidation plan further-out,” said Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 23: Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked the Centre to give the states authority to give clearances for manufacturing masks, gloves and sanitisers.

In a letter addressed to prime minister Narendra Modi, Vijayan said during the crisis, masks and sanitisers are needed in large numbers.

"As an interim, states must be given authority to give clearances of manufacturing of items related to medical devices, sanitisers, chemicals, etc. which are needed for fighting Covid-19," Vijayan said in the letter.

He also sought permission for the state home department to use drones for the relevant applications related to Covid-19.

"In China and elsewhere in the world, drones have been used extensively in minimising human contact, disinfection, etc. Unfortunately, with the current laws pertaining to the use of drones, none of these is possible in India," the chief minister said.

He also sought permission to access and use facilities available with all central institutions and research labs operating in the state.

The chief minister shared the letter on his Twitter handle.

With 15 new positive cases of Covid-19, the total number of infected persons in Kerala had gone up to 67, including the three who were discharged after recovery last month.

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