VEEKAY’S NEWSLETTER -2019
Dear Friends,
The year 2019 has
been full of trials and tribulations, interspersed with moments of joy and
bliss. It started on a sombre note and promises to end in a similar fashion. As
I had mentioned in my last newsletter, the whole family was in Jaipur during
Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, my daughter in law, Jasmine fell ill and
was diagnosed with Swine Flu which was then raging in Jaipur. As a
precautionary measure everyone else started the treatment for H1N1 virus. The
New Year celebrations were on a subdued note, though the kids danced to their
heart’s content. We had to cut short our trip and returned to Gurgaon on 2nd
January.
The year 2019 has
been hectic. Apart from the court case that has taken an unexpected turn, there
have been several other developments that have kept me busy this year. On 6
March I came to know that my Facebook account has been hacked by someone called
Hoang Annh from Vietnam. He removed my photo from the profile and replaced it
by his own. Apparently he did it by using my old e-mail account on hotmail,
which I have not used for over 10 years. Of course, I immediately blocked the
Facebook account and opened a new one, with the name vinay singh, linked to a
different e-mail account. I also informed all my contacts on e-mail and WhatsApp.
In my last newsletter
I had mentioned that the case filed against me by
the CBI at the behest of RAW in 2007 in connection with my book India’s
External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW)
was on the verge of closure, since arguments had been closed and the judgement
reserved on 11th August 2017 in the case filed by us in the High
Court in 2008 to quash the proceedings. I had been browsing the website of the
High Court on a daily basis to check if the judgment had been issued. In mid
February I was surprised the find that the case had been listed on 22 Feb 2019
for directions/clarifications. Due to short notice, my counsel Captain (IN) Dr
BK Subbarao could not come from Bombay and I appeared in person. The judge said
that in our original prayer in the petition filed in 2008, we had prayed for
quashing of the FIR and charge sheet, but there was no mention of the complaint
filed under the Official Secrets Act. Before I could open my copy of the
petition, the CBI counsel opened the page from his copy and showed it to me. Obviously,
he was privy to the reason for the case being listed for clarification. I then asked the judge if we should amend the
prayer. She asked me to consult my counsel and adjourned the matter to 15
April.
During the next hearing, the judge made the
same observation. When my counsel wanted to submit a written note, he was asked
to amend the prayer and file it. We filed the application for amending the
prayer which was heard on 13 May. Since the CBI counsel was not present, the
case was adjourned to 22 Aug. On that day the CBI counsel was again not present
and a proxy counsel appeared. The judge asked him if he had any objection to
the amended prayer. When he said they had no objection she said she would like
to hear this from the main counsel. After several telephone calls, the CBI counsel
came and said that he had no objection. We thought the matter would end here.
But the judge then asked us to amend the petition containing the amended prayer
and file it within 4 weeks. The case was adjourned to 22 Nov. On that day, the
CBI counsel again had to be called and came only after lunch. When the judge
asked him if he had any objection to the amended petition, he said that he had
still not received instructions and wanted more time. The case has now been adjourned
to 7 Feb 2020.
Seeing the way things
are going, I am doubtful if this case will ever end. According to guidelines issued
by the Supreme Court, a reserved judgment must be issued within six months. In
this case the judgment was reserved on 11 Aug 2017 i.e. more than two years
back. If we submit an application to the Chief Justice, he will just transfer
the case to another judge, who will start hearing the arguments from the
beginning. So, there is not much one can do except wait. These endless hearings
are causing considerable stress, along with wastage of time and resources. It
has also now started affecting my health. I wonder when it will end.
Apart from the case
in the high Court, there are several others in various forums. The case filed
by me in connection with the Nissan Terrano that I had bought in 2016 has still
not been decided. This year, I have already made four trips to Chandigarh, to
appear in the appeal filed in the State Consumer Redressal Commission. In the previous
hearings, no one from Nissan Motors appeared, so the judge had said that he will
decide it ex-parte in the next hearing on 6 Dec. Surprisingly, on that day a
lawyer appeared and filed his vakalatnama. I objected that since he was
appearing more than 30 days after receiving the notice, this should not be entertained.
But the judge adjourned the case to 8 April 2020 and told me that I can argue
on this point in the next hearing. It appears that neither the lawyers nor the judges
want the cases to end. This seems to be the main reason for the backlog of
cases in various courts, rather than shortage of judges as often claimed by the
judiciary.
A similar thing has
happened in the two cases filed by me in RERA. Several years back, my daughter and son in law
had booked two flats in a condominium called Paras Dews in Sector 106 Gurgaon.
They have already paid more than 90% of the cost. Early this year, the builder
offered possession of the flats. When we went and saw the flats, we found that
they are not in a liveable condition. Moreover, according to the statements of
accounts being sent by the builder, only about Rs. 9 lacs was the balance about
to be paid for each flat. The builder was now demanding Rs 15 lacs. The agreement
had many other clauses that were contrary to the RERA Act. For instance, in case
of delay in completion by the builder, his liability was just 5% interest. In
case of delay in taking over, the buyer was to pay interest at 18%. Naturally
this was unacceptable. Since my son-in-law had to leave to take over a new
ship, I undertook to look after the case. We filed two cases in RERA in March
2019. Since there was no reply to the notice sent to the builder, the cases
were listed for ex-parte decision on 24 Sep by the Adjudication Officer. When I
went to the court room, we were told that he will not be hearing any case
today. I went and met him in his office. When I asked him the reason for not
hearing the case, he told me that there are orders from above. He could not
give any indication of the next date. Suddenly, towards the end of November, I
received an e-mail informing me that the status of the case had been changed
and it would now be heard on 27 Nov in the main court room. I went to the court room on the scheduled date
along with my daughter. We were informed that all cases would be heard on 23
Jan 2020. No reason was given for the adjournment. Also, the format of the
complaint had been changed and we have now to submit a fresh complaint. It appears
that RERA has still to get its act together. I think it would have been better
to file the complaint in the National Consumer Commission directly, where laid
down procedures are followed properly.
Of course, these
cases are not the only ones I am involved in. Just for the record, in 2019 there
were 9 hearings in the High Court; 6 in the CMM’s court in Tis Hazari; 3 in the
CBI court in Rouse Avenue; 2 in the Consumer Forum in Gurgaon; 4 in the Consumer
Commission at Panchkula; and 4 in RERA in Gurgaon. This makes a total of 28,
which is almost the same as in previous years. Apart from the hearings, I have had
to make many more trips for sundry jobs such as inspection of files, obtaining
certified copies etc.
I think now that we have
spent enough time on the legal matters, we can turn to more pleasant memories.
This year there were three weddings in the family, two in Jaipur and one in
Lucknow. It started with the wedding of Nainika, who is the granddaughter of
Kumud’s elder sister, which was held in Jaipur in July. Like most weddings in
Rajasthan, it lasted all of five days. Since one has to wear a different set of
clothes for every function, we had to carry at least ten changes of clothes,
two for each day. Because of the baggage, we had to take three cars – my Maruti
Ertiga, Abhimanyu’s Skoda and Mauravi’s Captiva. Leaving Gurgaon on 6th
July, we returned on the 11th.
I had thought that we
would all get a few days rest. But I had to fly down to Jodhpur on the 16th
to attend the centenary celebrations of Gen Sagat Singh, organised jointly by
Southern Command and Maharaja Gaj Singh. It began with the inauguration of a
bust of the General in the Jal Vatika in the evening, followed by a dinner hosted
by the Army Commander in the Konark Mess. Next morning there was a seminar in
the Konark auditorium. There were two sessions with 4-5 panellists in each. I
was asked to speak about the leadership qualities of Gen Sagat, whose biography
I had written many years ago. In the evening there was a dinner hosted by the Maharaja
in Umaid Bhawan Palace. Apart from guests from the Services, there were many prominent
civilians, some of whom spoke about him. Gen Sagat’s son, Col Ranvijay Singh
also spoke about his memories about his father. I spent the next morning going
round the Jodhpur cantonment, accompanied by the CSO, Brig DK Tiwari. I had
held this appointment in 1992-1993 and found it difficult to recognise the
buildings and roads that had come up since then. The same evening I flew back
to Delhi.
In the first week of November,
there was another wedding in Jaipur, that of Aditya, the grandson of my cousin,
Dr RP Sahi, who lives in Lucknow. His wife, Jaya, is Kumud’s cousin. Jaya is
the daughter of Late Lt Gen K. Umrao Singh. He was GOC 33 Corps in 1962, when
the Sino-India conflict commenced. He had disagreed with the COAS (Gen Thapar)
and the Army Commander (Gen Sen) when the Govt’s orders to ‘throw out the Chinese’
were conveyed to him. To get him out of the way, NEFA was taken out of his jurisdiction
and a new Corps – 4 Corps - was raised under Gen BM Kaul to control operations
in NEFA. Incidentally, it was Gen Umrao who was instrumental in arranging my
marriage with his niece Kumud. Like the previous wedding in July, this too was
an elaborate affair, lasting about five days. Once again we travelled by road,
returning on 11th November.
The third wedding was
in Lucknow from 22nd to 25th Nov. Due to an important
hearing in the High Court on 22nd, I could leave only next morning,
by air. I had to fly back on the 25th since there was a hearing on
the 27th in RERA. As it turned out, I had to rush back for nothing,
since there was no hearing and all cases listed that day were adjourned to 23rd
January. I had to postpone my plans to spend a few days with the rest of the
family in Lucknow and visit our ancestral village in Sultanpur, where I have
not been able to go for more than three years.
In my previous
newsletters I had mentioned about the problems associated with my back and my
eyes. In 2019 there were some new ones. One was insomnia that has been going on
for over a year. But a more serious one is BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). For the
last couple of months I had been noticing that I felt giddy when I got up from
a chair or the bed, or turned my body suddenly. The medical specialist in the
ECHS advised me to consult the ENT specialist as well as the Neurologist. I did
this just a week ago. Sure enough, both have diagnosed it as BPPV which
occurs due to displacement of a crystal of calcium carbonate in the inner ear.
I have been asked to do the Hall Pike maneuver which helps in moving the
crystal to its correct place. I understand that this form of vertigo goes away
on its own, but one has to be careful while it lasts.
This year, we again
missed our annual holiday in the hills. Now that the grandchildren have grown
up, I find that they have very little time and spend almost all their time
preparing for some exam or the other. In fact, my grandson Bhuvanyu was a very
keen cricketer and had reached the state level in the under 16 team. But he has
had to give up cricket because of his tuitions. I sometimes feel sorry for the
present generation of kids, who are missing out on so many things that our
generation enjoyed, such as outdoor games and sightseeing trips.
On 29th
June I also joined the “75 club”. In fact a large number of my course mates
also celebrated their 75th birth anniversary this year. Instead of
an elaborate celebration, we had a small get together at home, with our children
and grand children.
This year also marks
the 25th anniversary of our NDC course. Ever since the end of 1994
when the course ended, we have been having a monthly get together, hosted by
one of us in turn in his home or any other venue of his choice. Considering our
age – most of us are around 75- we decided to meet at lunch on the first or
second weekend of the month. Instead of their homes, most members now prefer an
officers’ mess or a club. We have maintained this tradition without a break for
25 years now. For the silver jubilee, we are planning to go to Jaipur for two
days in February and stay in a five star hotel. During the day, we intend visiting
Samode Palace, followed by a picnic lunch at Samode Bagh.
We are still staying
at Abhimaur Vikum in Palam Vihar in Gurgaon. With two malls – Ansal
Plaza and Global Foyer –located nearby, the traffic situation has become
chaotic. The only consolation is that the DSOI next door has an excellent gym,
which Kumud and I visit every morning. My son Abhimanyu lives on the first
floor with his wife Jasmine and their two children Bhuvanyu (17) and Khushi (15),
who go to the Sun City School. Mauravi and Vaibhav are still living in Trinity
near the DLF golf course, where they moved in 2016 from Hextex Commune. Their
two daughters, Mriggya (17) and Eshaana (15), study at the Kunskapsskolan
School. Vaibhav, a Captain in the Merchant Navy is presently on the high seas
and will be coming home only in February-March. Nowadays, he has to schedule
his breaks to coincide with the kids’ holidays or exam schedules.
There are so many
other things that one can talk about but I think I have already written more
than I should have. This is my thirteenth newsletter. Those who wish
to read the previous newsletters can do so by logging on to my blog veekaysnewsletter.blogspot.com.
My second blog that
contains chapters from my books and articles on military history is veekay-militaryhistory.blogspot.com.
The third blog that has most of my articles is http://veekaysarticles.blogspot.com.
Wishing all of you a
Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Vinay and Kumud Singh
Tele: 0124-4074077
Mob: 9873494521, 9899110913
20th December
2019
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