Veekays Newsletter 2010

VEEKAYS NEWSLETTER – 2010

Dear Friends,

The year is coming to an end and it is time for the annual ritual of connecting with friends, acquaintances, comrades and colleagues. I do not recall the last time I sent a New Years card or a hand written letter. Ever since we started using e-mail, letters have become passé. Until a few years ago, very few people had a computer and one had to write a letter. The advent of mobile telephony has put paid to the art of letter writing altogether. What a pity.

I have begun to relish the advantages of being a senior citizen. One can buy rail tickets at a 30% discount. (Women get 50%, but Kumud is still to qualify. Even when she does, I think she would rather pay the full fare than be classified as a senior citizen!). Youngsters, especially girls, sometimes offer you a seat in the Metro. Shopkeepers, parking attendants and handymen address you as uncle, though hardly anyone calls Kumud an auntie, and woe be tide anybody who dares.

Coming to the serious stuff, the case filed against me by the CBI at the behest of RAW is still on. They filed a charge sheet in April 2009. After that I withdrew my application for anticipatory bail that was still pending and applied for regular bail, which fortunately was granted. I then applied to the court for copies of documents listed in the charge sheet as evidence to be given to me (I already have copies of some of them, which pertain to appointment, salary, extension and re-employment etc). The court granted the request, but the CBI has gone in appeal against that order in the High Court. However, after the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Brigadier Ujjal Dasgupta earlier this year, the CBI will now have to give the documents. That is, when the case is heard and argued in the High Court. In the last 4-5 hearings, only adjournments have been given.

As most of you know, Ujjal was granted bail after spending more than four years in jail The other two co-accused, SS Paul and Commander Mukesh Saini, had been given bail a few months earlier. This was made possible by the use of the RTI Act. In UD’s case, the Forensic Lab told him that the file containing the slides of Anveshak, a software that he is accused of having passed on to the American diplomat Rosanna Minchew in 2006, was last accessed in 2004. There were several others discrepancies, which conclusively proved that the whole case was fabricated. It was only after this that he was given bail. The day he came home, we celebrated the occasion with champagne. Thankfully, his health has improved. A year or so back, I was really worried about him. Apart from his heart condition, for which had to be admitted in AIIMS, he had problems with his skin and teeth, losing a few during this period. Thankfully, things are looking better. But charges have still to be framed. God knows when the trial will begin, or end.

Reverting to my own case, I had filed a case in the High Court about two years back for quashing the FIR and charge sheet. This is still to be decided. Then there are five cases which I have filed in the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under CrPC 156 (3), asking that the CBI be directed to register FIRs and investigate the complaints I have made to them. One relates to the instances of corruption that I have reported to them and the CVC. The other four concern disclosures in other books written about RAW and several articles, some of which I have used as reference material. Hearings are still being held, without a decision so far.

In addition, I had filed RTI applications with several departments, such as the Cabinet Secretariat, NSCS, MHA, Law Ministry, PIB, National Archives, CBI and the CIC itself. Since most of them refused to give the information requested, appeals were filed with the CIC. Some have produced interesting results. In a case involving the NSCS, which was asked to give me a copy of the GOM Report on National Security, they ‘arranged’ another hearing at short notice, about which I was not informed, and obtained an order which was favourable to them. Using the RTI route, when I asked the CIC for proof of the intimation sent to me, they could not do so. They claimed to have sent it on Fax to a couple of others (Praveen Swami of Frontline and Swati Chaturvedi of Hindustan Times who had published extracts from the Report, which NSCS says is classified). The Fax numbers were tried and found to be wrong. When I confronted the CIC, Mr Wajahat Habibullah, he agreed that there had been a slip up in his office. He advised me to file a review application, which I did the same day, in April 2009. It was finally heard in June 2010. By this time, I had filed a complaint with the Press Council of India. In response, the Editor of the Hindu had confirmed that they have a copy of the full GOM Report. I produced this during the hearing. The CIC telephoned Shri Thyagarajn, the Associate Editor of the Hindu, who confirmed that they have a copy of the original report, including the edited portions. The CIC accepted that there has been an error in his earlier order, but did not review his decision, on the grounds that he did not have the powers to do so!

I then filed a petition in the High Court, asking that the order of the CIC be set aside, and a copy of the GOM report be given to me, since it was already held by The Hindu, among others. The case was heard on 8 December 2010. Unfortunately, the judge did not agree with my plea. He felt that the NSCS was the agency best qualified to decide whether the report should be made public or not, and the court or the CIC did not have the required knowledge or expertise in matters concerning national security. I argued that there was nothing in the report that violated national security, and he should at least have a look at it to confirm this. But to no avail. If this is not abdication of judicial responsibility, I don’t know what is. In fact, the lawyer for the NSCS did not have to open his mouth even once. The judge did all the arguing on his behalf. Incidentally, I had downloaded the report, minus the deleted portion, from the web site of the MOD. Only the chapter on intelligence was deleted and some words and sentences from some other chapters. There are no deletions in the chapter on defence, which is presumably more sensitive than intelligence. After all, the punishment for passing on military secrets in the Official Secrets Act is 14 years, while for all others it is only three years. I am still looking for the order or regulation which permits part of a document i.e. a word or sentence to be graded secret while the rest is unclassified!

I have always felt that one of the reasons for false cases being lodged or fake encounters is that the persons concerned get gallantry awards, out of turn promotions and monetary awards. When I asked for information of this point from the Special Cell of Delhi Police for the period 2001-08, they provided the information in respect of gallantry awards and out of turn promotions. The list shows 25 instances (mostly encounters) in which gallantry awards were given. In some cases 4-6 persons got an award for the same encounter. Some have been awarded more than once, like Rajbir Singh (6), Mohan Chand Sharma (6) etc. The gallantry awards carry a monthly gallantry allowance of 1500 for PPMG and 900 for PMG. There were 34 cases in which out of turn promotions were given, many involving 6-7 persons. Most of these cases were the same for which gallantry awards were given. In almost every case, the ‘dreaded terrorist’ was eliminated/neutralised, after the police fired in self defence. There is not a single case of death or injury to the police personnel. This gives rise to suspicion that the encounters were fake. Information regarding monetary awards was not been provided, on the grounds that it will endanger the life or physical safety of those police personnel who have arrested and/or neutralised hard core criminals and terrorists.

A similar query was raised with the CBI. I was impressed with their response, which was prompt and to the point. But it revealed that almost every employee gets a monetary award periodically. The reasons cited are interesting – doing good work during VIP visit, keeping the office clean, driving the car well and so on. Effectively, it amounts to an increase of 10 to 20 percent of the salary. I suppose a similar situation prevails in the IB, para military forces etc. No wonder they do not agitate much about pay commissions etc. They have found an unique method for each man to get the salary of a higher grade than the one which he actually holds. I think the Army should think about something on similar lines.

Of course, the most interesting case relates to the AWHO. As I had indicated in my last newsletter I had filed a complaint in State Consumer Commission in Delhi in 2003 for the shortfall in the area of the flat allotted to me in Devinder Vihar, Sector 56 Gurgaon. According to HUDA, the super area of the flat was 1269 sq ft, whereas the AWHO had been claiming that it was 1412 sq ft. Vide an order passed on 20 Jan 2009, the AWHO was asked to pay me Rs 75,000 within one month. Copies of the order were given on 18/3/2009. As expected, the AWHO did not pay up. In October 2009 the AWHO filed an appeal in the National Consumer Commission. I wondered how this was possible, since the time limit was one month. When I went through the copy of the order that had been attached to appeal by the AWHO, I discovered that the date was different from what was given in my copy. The date of issue written in hand in my copy was 18/3/2009. In the copy submitted by AWHO, it was 18/8/2009. The figure 3 had been altered to look like 8! I brought this to the notice of the Registrar, he raised a query with the State Commission which confirmed that copies had been given to both parties on 18/3/2009. It was a clear case of forgery. The final hearing in the case was held in July 2010. However, no order was passed. When I tried to find out if the order had been issued, I was informed that one of the two members had reserved the order. Finally, I filed an RTI application in November. Soon afterwards, I received a copy of the order. The order of the State Commission awarding me Rs 75,000 had been dismissed. The issue of the delay in filing the appeal by AWHO and the forgery had been glossed over. I have now filed an application for review on 20th December. In the meantime, AWHO has written to all residents in Devinder Vihar, telling them that some money is to be refunded to them. But they must give an undertaking that they will have no further claim on the AWHO. A smart move, but I don’t think many will fall for it.

There are many other interesting cases but I do not want to turn this newsletter into a law journal. As you can imagine, a lot of my time and energy is spent in drafting petitions and attending hearings. For the record, in 2010 I had to attend 7 hearings in the High Court, 21 in the CMM’s court, 8 in the consumer forum/commission, and 14 in the CIC. These add up to 50, which is a little more than the total last year (42). At one time I had misgivings that I would not be able to complete the third Volume of the Corps History, on which I have been working for about three years now. Providentially, it was completed in September. However, publication has still not commenced since it is still awaiting MI clearance. If it received by the end of the year, we might just be able to produce at least some copies, so that it can be formally released during the Reunion.

This summer we had gone to Chakrata, after a gap of three years. As usual, there were 14 of us (eight 10 adults and six kids) in three cars - an Innova, a Captiva and a Swift. We did some trekking, with a bit of golf on the five-hole course that doubles as the training area for the SFF. Chakrata is wonderful little place tucked away in the Hills. I recall going there in the fifties with my parents, while I was in school. There was a Gorkha Training Centre there at that time. After 1962 the area was closed to civilians, once Establishment 22 came up there. In recent years, the ban has been lifted, and tourists have begun to discover the place, though it has very little in the way of entertainment. Of course, we did not suffer on that score – the kids kept us amused and provided more than enough entertainment.

By the time you get this, we will hopefully be in the Hills again. Everyone wanted to see some snow, so we are heading for Joshimath to ring in the New Year. With my son dropping out, due to a mishap, the party is a bit smaller. We are still taking two cars, and I will have to drive one myself. I had driven on the same route more than 25 years ago, when I used to participate in the Himalayan Rally. We then did about 600-700 Km in a day, in 14 to 15 hours. But I always had a co –driver. In 1982 and 1984 it was Sukesh Jain, and in 1983 it was RK Nair. I hope my back does not give me trouble, as it does sometimes. But there are two standby drivers – Kumud and Mauravi.

Last month my grandson had a compound fracture in his elbow which had to be put together with steel wires. He had a fall from his bicycle, which he rides like competitor in the Tour de France. Coincidentally my son also had a narrow escape on the same day. He got a severe electric shock and fell in the bathroom when he touched the outlet pipe of the geyser, to check if it was hot enough. Thankfully, both father and son are well on the way to recovery. Our family priest tells us it is due to the effect of Shani (Saturn) and has advised a Puja. We will get it done soon, when I go to Ayodhya, where he lives.

We are still staying in Gurgaon, in Palam Vihar. My son Abhimanyu, his wife Jasmine and their two children, Bhuvanyu (8) and Khushi (6) live on the first floor. They have shifted from DPS to Sun City School. My daughter Mauravi is still in Ikon Tower opposite the DLF Golf Course. Her two daughters, Mriggya (8) and Eshaana (6) go to the American Excelsior School which is located nearby. Her hubby, Vaibhav is in the merchant navy and has just returned after five months at sea. All of them usually come over to Palam Vihar on Friday evening after the children return from school and go back on Sunday. With four kids in the house for two days, by Monday morning the house looks as if it has been hit by a Tsunami.

There is little change in our routine. I go to the gym in the DSOI, which is a stone’s throw from my house, at 0645, returning at 0745 or so. Kumud goes at 0830 and returns only when the gym closes at 1000. By this time I have gone through my newspapers, had my bath and my breakfast and am ready to leave for Signals Enclave, where the Corps History Cell is located. On the days I have a hearing in Tis Hazari or the High Court, I have to give the gym a miss. The Ansal Plaza is next door and Kumud does not miss a movie. She is usually accompanied by my daughter in law or one of her gym buddies. They go for the morning show, when the children are at school and the tickets are cheaper. Twice a week, I too get a chance to go to the mall – it has a Reliance Fresh outlet and buying vegetables is one of the chores entrusted to me.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Vinay and Kumud Singh
G-31, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon – 122017
Tele: 0124- 4074077, 9873494521, 9810618599, 9899110913
25th December 2010