Black money: Govt files review petition in SC - Chandigarh Tribune

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC
Opposed to SIT headed by judges & inclusion of RAW chief in it
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 15
The government today filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking recall of the court?s July 4 order for setting up a 13-member Special Investigation Team to probe all aspects of the black money issue as part of efforts to bring back massive amounts illegally stashed in secret bank accounts overseas.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy (now retired) and SS Nijjar had passed the order specifying that former apex court judges BP Jeevan Reddy and MB Shah would be the chairman and vice-chairman of the SIT that would include the chiefs of the CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Revenue Intelligence and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) that deals with external intelligence.

The government?s review petition has taken specific exception to the inclusion of the RAW chief as operations of the wing were not generally disclosed. The petition also maintained that handing over the investigations to persons and agencies that did not have the mandate under law had disturbed the delineation of powers ensured under the Constitution.

In fact, some legal experts had already questioned the wisdom of appointing former Supreme Court judges to head the investigations and prepare the chargesheet, as this would result in a peculiar problem -- the trial court would have to sit in judgment over a chargesheet vetted by former apex court judges.

The SC Bench had slammed the government for conducting the investigations ?at a laggardly pace? even in case of ?named individuals,? including Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, against whom the Income Tax Department had issued a demand notice for payment of Rs 70,000 crore in tax arrears and penalty.

The Bench had passed the order on a bunch of PILs seeking steps to bring back black money to the tune of over $1 trillion taken out of the country illegally by individuals and entities to evade tax.

Among the petitioners are former law minister Ram Jethmalani and Punjab Police former chiefs KPS Gill and Julio F Riberio.

Then Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium had argued for the government in the case. He had put in his papers on July 9 after feeling insulted by his replacement in the 2G case for a specific hearing. His resignation was accepted yesterday.

In the review plea, the government has also maintained that the high-power committee set up with the Revenue Secretary as its head was sufficient to conduct investigations as it had the chiefs of all relevant agencies as its members. The apex court had directed the government to convert this committee into a SIT, with the addition of the RAW chief and the two former judges. 

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC - Chandigarh Tribune

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC
Opposed to SIT headed by judges & inclusion of RAW chief in it
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 15
The government today filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking recall of the court?s July 4 order for setting up a 13-member Special Investigation Team to probe all aspects of the black money issue as part of efforts to bring back massive amounts illegally stashed in secret bank accounts overseas.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy (now retired) and SS Nijjar had passed the order specifying that former apex court judges BP Jeevan Reddy and MB Shah would be the chairman and vice-chairman of the SIT that would include the chiefs of the CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Revenue Intelligence and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) that deals with external intelligence.

The government?s review petition has taken specific exception to the inclusion of the RAW chief as operations of the wing were not generally disclosed. The petition also maintained that handing over the investigations to persons and agencies that did not have the mandate under law had disturbed the delineation of powers ensured under the Constitution.

In fact, some legal experts had already questioned the wisdom of appointing former Supreme Court judges to head the investigations and prepare the chargesheet, as this would result in a peculiar problem -- the trial court would have to sit in judgment over a chargesheet vetted by former apex court judges.

The SC Bench had slammed the government for conducting the investigations ?at a laggardly pace? even in case of ?named individuals,? including Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, against whom the Income Tax Department had issued a demand notice for payment of Rs 70,000 crore in tax arrears and penalty.

The Bench had passed the order on a bunch of PILs seeking steps to bring back black money to the tune of over $1 trillion taken out of the country illegally by individuals and entities to evade tax.

Among the petitioners are former law minister Ram Jethmalani and Punjab Police former chiefs KPS Gill and Julio F Riberio.

Then Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium had argued for the government in the case. He had put in his papers on July 9 after feeling insulted by his replacement in the 2G case for a specific hearing. His resignation was accepted yesterday.

In the review plea, the government has also maintained that the high-power committee set up with the Revenue Secretary as its head was sufficient to conduct investigations as it had the chiefs of all relevant agencies as its members. The apex court had directed the government to convert this committee into a SIT, with the addition of the RAW chief and the two former judges. 

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC - Chandigarh Tribune

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC
Opposed to SIT headed by judges & inclusion of RAW chief in it
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 15
The government today filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking recall of the court?s July 4 order for setting up a 13-member Special Investigation Team to probe all aspects of the black money issue as part of efforts to bring back massive amounts illegally stashed in secret bank accounts overseas.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy (now retired) and SS Nijjar had passed the order specifying that former apex court judges BP Jeevan Reddy and MB Shah would be the chairman and vice-chairman of the SIT that would include the chiefs of the CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Revenue Intelligence and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) that deals with external intelligence.

The government?s review petition has taken specific exception to the inclusion of the RAW chief as operations of the wing were not generally disclosed. The petition also maintained that handing over the investigations to persons and agencies that did not have the mandate under law had disturbed the delineation of powers ensured under the Constitution.

In fact, some legal experts had already questioned the wisdom of appointing former Supreme Court judges to head the investigations and prepare the chargesheet, as this would result in a peculiar problem -- the trial court would have to sit in judgment over a chargesheet vetted by former apex court judges.

The SC Bench had slammed the government for conducting the investigations ?at a laggardly pace? even in case of ?named individuals,? including Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, against whom the Income Tax Department had issued a demand notice for payment of Rs 70,000 crore in tax arrears and penalty.

The Bench had passed the order on a bunch of PILs seeking steps to bring back black money to the tune of over $1 trillion taken out of the country illegally by individuals and entities to evade tax.

Among the petitioners are former law minister Ram Jethmalani and Punjab Police former chiefs KPS Gill and Julio F Riberio.

Then Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium had argued for the government in the case. He had put in his papers on July 9 after feeling insulted by his replacement in the 2G case for a specific hearing. His resignation was accepted yesterday.

In the review plea, the government has also maintained that the high-power committee set up with the Revenue Secretary as its head was sufficient to conduct investigations as it had the chiefs of all relevant agencies as its members. The apex court had directed the government to convert this committee into a SIT, with the addition of the RAW chief and the two former judges. 

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC - Chandigarh Tribune

Black money: Govt files review petition in SC
Opposed to SIT headed by judges & inclusion of RAW chief in it
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 15
The government today filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking recall of the court?s July 4 order for setting up a 13-member Special Investigation Team to probe all aspects of the black money issue as part of efforts to bring back massive amounts illegally stashed in secret bank accounts overseas.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy (now retired) and SS Nijjar had passed the order specifying that former apex court judges BP Jeevan Reddy and MB Shah would be the chairman and vice-chairman of the SIT that would include the chiefs of the CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Revenue Intelligence and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) that deals with external intelligence.

The government?s review petition has taken specific exception to the inclusion of the RAW chief as operations of the wing were not generally disclosed. The petition also maintained that handing over the investigations to persons and agencies that did not have the mandate under law had disturbed the delineation of powers ensured under the Constitution.

In fact, some legal experts had already questioned the wisdom of appointing former Supreme Court judges to head the investigations and prepare the chargesheet, as this would result in a peculiar problem -- the trial court would have to sit in judgment over a chargesheet vetted by former apex court judges.

The SC Bench had slammed the government for conducting the investigations ?at a laggardly pace? even in case of ?named individuals,? including Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, against whom the Income Tax Department had issued a demand notice for payment of Rs 70,000 crore in tax arrears and penalty.

The Bench had passed the order on a bunch of PILs seeking steps to bring back black money to the tune of over $1 trillion taken out of the country illegally by individuals and entities to evade tax.

Among the petitioners are former law minister Ram Jethmalani and Punjab Police former chiefs KPS Gill and Julio F Riberio.

Then Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium had argued for the government in the case. He had put in his papers on July 9 after feeling insulted by his replacement in the 2G case for a specific hearing. His resignation was accepted yesterday.

In the review plea, the government has also maintained that the high-power committee set up with the Revenue Secretary as its head was sufficient to conduct investigations as it had the chiefs of all relevant agencies as its members. The apex court had directed the government to convert this committee into a SIT, with the addition of the RAW chief and the two former judges. 

Black widows sniff out cannibals

6 July 2011 Last updated at 12:43 By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature The female black widow spider is much larger than the male Male black widow spiders can sniff out a well-fed female simply by walking on her web, according to researchers.

The males appear to use this technique to avoid hungry females, which are more likely to cannibalise them.

This habit of eating the male after mating earned the spiders their name.

But this research shows that males can mitigate that risk by sniffing the silk to find out if a female is ravenous and therefore too risky to mate with.

The study is published in the journal Animal Behaviour, and is the first to show that the spiders are able to pick up "chemical cues" from each others' silk.

James Chadwick Johnson from Arizona State University, US, who led the study, hand-fed female black widow spiders to make sure he had a well-fed group of females for the experiment.

Continue reading the main story

By waving his legs and plucking the web, he's providing vibrations to tell the female, 'I'm not prey'”

End Quote James Chadwick Johnson Arizona State University "Strictly speaking, it was forcep-feeding," he told BBC Nature. "We held a cricket in the forceps and left it sitting on the female's web. Eventually the female would run over and start throwing silk and wrapping up the cricket."

The team gave these females one cricket per week.

"By the fourth week, it was difficult to convince her to eat it," he said. "But we wanted to get as much cricket into her as possible."

The other group of females in the test were starved for several weeks. This did not endanger their lives, but they were "visibly smaller".

In the test, the researchers placed male spiders onto the different females' webs to see how they would react.

To make sure the males were only taking cues from the female spiders' silk, they also put males onto a small bundle of clean silk - with no debris from consumed prey - taken from the webs of both well-fed and hungry females.

"We also swapped the females," recalled Professor Johnson, "tricking the male into thinking he was with a starved female when he was with a well-fed one."

The male spiders, which pick up scents through their feet, were able to tell the difference just by walking on the silk. They carried out their typical courtship dance much more actively when they were on the silk of a female who had been force-fed on an ample diet of crickets.

"This courtship display is a long drawn-out process," explained Professor Johnson. "Before the male mounts the female, he will spend an hour or two walking around plucking and tapping the web.

"It's like spider tai chi; by waving his legs and plucking, he's providing vibrations that are very distinct to tell the female, 'I am not a prey item'.

"This continues until he eventually climbs onto the abdomen of the female. Then he'll transfer sperm and get out of town as quickly as possible."

One aim of Professor Johnson's studies of spider behaviour is to understand more about animals, including spiders, that share our urban, human-dominated environment.

He told BBC Nature: "We change the world like no other species and so it seems to me the onus is on us to understand what happens when we change environments.

"It's not just an altruistic goal either. For example, we are finding a lot of cannibalism in urban infestations of widows compared to desert populations and understanding this... could tell us whether a population is likely to grow or not."