In Athgarh Context, What was Expected of the Speaker and the Supreme Court?

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Athgarh Constituency is not just one of the 147 constituencies of Orissa Assembly.In the context of Indian democracy, it has tremendous significance.

Indian democracy is not as strong we believe. Anybody can gain over a junior officer under threat or by bribe and can debar any sure-winning candidate, even a sitting Prime Minister from contesting the polls by tampering with his nomination papers kept in his custody under election laws. This had happened in Athgarh in 2009 general election. Both the top Courts – The Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court of India – have nullified the election; but the crux of the issue has not been solved. This is why Athgarh deserves specific attention.

In the general elections 2009, its sitting MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain of ruling BJD, seeking fresh mandate, was disallowed to contest by the Returning Officer(RO).

The reason was the RO’s observation that Swain had not submitted ink signed original documents of candidacy and election symbol issued by his party.

Orissa High Court, in deciding the resultant election petition preferred by Swan, held that the rejection of his nomination papers by the RO was blatantly wrong and hence nullified the election with direction for fresh poll in the constituency.

The dispute reached the Supreme Court where the High Court order has been endorsed.

As such the election in Athgarh constituency has been finally and irrevocably nullified.

On receiving the Supreme Court Judgement, the Speaker of Orissa Assembly has terminated the membership of Ramesh Raut, the beneficiary of the RO’s illegal orders and the occasion for India’s Election Commission has arisen to conduct a fresh election there.

But behind this catena of events, significance of Athgarh remains unread on the slates of the two most relevant bodies. They are the Speaker of Orissa Assembly and the Supreme Court of India. I will discuss this

Fault with the Speaker

Orissa’s Assembly Speaker has terminated the membership of Raut after receipt of the Supreme Court verdict. The SC has refused to intervene with the High Court Order and rejected the appeals seeking quashing thereof. This means, the Apex Court verdict has made the High Court order absolute and entirely binding. It would therefore be wrong to do anything that does not comply with the High Court order.

The High Court had nullified the orders of the RO rejecting Swain’s nomination and therefore, had declared the election null and void. This makes it clear that the 2009 election results in respect of Athgarh constituency were struck down and Raut’s existence as the elected representative from that constituency has been legally obliterated with effect from the very day of the election.

In view of this, the Orissa Assembly Speaker had no other way than terminating Raut’s membership with retrospective effect from the day of his oath taking as a member. But the Speaker has not done this. His entire participation in the Assembly stands obliterated with retrospective effect because a legally non-existent person can have no records of participation in the House. Besides, the entire amount of money spent from the exchequer towards his pay and perquisites must be recovered, because for a non-existent member the Assembly cannot spend any money.

The Speaker ought to understand this phenomenon. But the money already paid to Raut may not be recovered from him, as he has received the payments for performances before being unseated.

So, the loss caused to exchequer must be recovered diligently.

Legally looking into the matter, there should be no doubt that no drainage from the exchequer on his accounts is permissible. Hence, the exchequer must be compensated by recovery of the amount spent on Raut from the RO, because of whose wrong decision the money is misspent.

While terminating the membership of Raut, the Speaker should have thought of this and issued a ruling to this effect. But he has not done it.

It was expected of him that he should do it in interest of democracy.

What was expected of the Supreme Court?

In this context, the other august body – the Supreme Court of India – could have created a law to save democracy from the type of danger from dishonest bureaucratic design of the likes seen in Athgarh.

In these pages, when the case was pending before the Supreme Court, we had raised the issue and opined that the Athgarh instance should prompt the Apex Court to issue a mandamus, even though not sought for in the case, making provisions by way of the case law for making publication of final list of candidates legally dependent on time bound disposal of an appeal against the orders of the RO in cases of rejection of nomination papers, as otherwise democracy could be derailed by any mischief maker by gaining over the RO – a junior official – causing even Prime Ministerial candidates debarred from contesting the elections by tampering with nomination papers, as happened in Athgarh, kept in his custody.

It was expected of the Supreme Court to take into accounts the danger of the carte blanche given to a RO to reject any candidate, as the RO did in Athgarh, sans any possibility of immediate intervention by the Election Commission.

It is gainful to recall that Swain, immediately after illegal rejection of his papers, had moved the Orissa High Court for intervention. But the High Court had refused to intervene, as to it, the EC was the competent authority in this matter.

The EC did not buzz, because the powers in the matter of acceptance or rejection of nomination papers were delegated to the RO.

That the RO was blatantly wrong in his decision over Swain’s papers was determined by the same High Court in subsequent days on deciding the election dispute which has, on 9 December 2011, been established with finality by the Supreme Court verdict. But around three long and precious years have been lost for this.

Had a forum to intervene before publication of the final list of candidates by the RO, possibly prejudiced against the candidate, been available, the case that consumed these years of valuable litigant time and debarred the people of Athgarh from having appropriate representation, could have been credibly disposed off on or before 8 April 2009, the last date fixed for withdrawal of candidature there.

So, we were not wrong in expecting such a judicial law or mandate from the Supreme Court for creation of a forum to immediately review the RO’s order in case of rejection of nomination papers in the style Athgarh witnessed, and to save democracy from derailment by mischief makers or the Country’s enemies hand-in-glove with a dishonest or treacherous Returning Officer.

But it did not happen.

To us, the Supreme Court should pay serious attention to this suggestion, if someone staying in or around New Delhi someday files a Public Interest litigation on this issue, as the political government or political opposition in our country, unfortunately, are too self-seeking to foresee this danger to democracy.

Kalinga Prize Messed Up: Election Code Raped on the Podium of Indian Science Congress at Bhubaneswar

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The Kalinga Prize could not be presented to Dr. Rene Raul Drucker Colin, selected for the Award 2011, as he did not come to receive the same.

The explanation churned out is that, he was not informed of award ceremony sufficient ahead of time.

But in reality, this happened, because the UNESCO was not permitted under the Rules to present the Kalinga Prize at Bhubaneswar on the publicized date.

The Kalinga Prize is awarded under and controlled by a set of Rules framed and promulgated for the specific purpose. No deviation is permitted.

Under these Rules, administered by the Director General of UNESCO, after receiving the funds from the Kalinga Foundation Trust, the Government of Orissa and the Government of India in the preceding year of the Prize, shall officially invite member countries for submission of nominations to the Secretariat of the Prize, by 15 May of the year of the Prize.

Then, under Article 5 of the Rules, the Juri shall examine the records submitted along with the nominations and “shall send an assessment on nominations and accompanying recommendations to the Director- General of UNESCO no later than 31 August of the year of the Prize”.

Then the person nominated for the Prize shall be declared and the Prize shall be awarded by the Director-General at an official ceremony held for that purpose “in the place where UNESCO celebrates World Science Day, on 10 November”.

In view of this stipulation on venue and date laid down under Article 7 of the Rules, in absence of any amendment thereto, the UNSCO had no authority to award the Prize to the selected person at Bhubaneswar on 4 January 2012. The word “shall” connotes to “must” under the Rules and hence, it is mandatory for award of the Kalinga Prize “in the place where UNESCO celebrates World Science Day, on 10 November”.

The day, 4 January, was not 10 November and the venue of the session of Indian Science Congress was not “the place” where UNESCO was celebrating “World Science Day”.

Therefore, there is no surprise in absence of the awardee and awarder of Kalinga Prize.

No wonder that the Union Minister for Science and Technology, Bilas Rao Desmukh, despite being present at inauguration of the 99th Session of Indian Science Congress on 3 January, did not stay on at Bhubaneswar to attend the Kalinga Prize ceremony even though he was advertised to address the event. Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal who was also advertised to address the prize giving ceremony as guest of honor did not thought it proper to come. Had they participated, they would have attracted punishment for violation of Election Codes, as the entire drama of Kalinga Prize was coined for the stage with the sole purpose of dazzling Panchayat voters by Biju Patnaik’s posthumous blaze created through propaganda in his favor flowing from the mouths of national and international celebrities in the sphere of science and politics.

Yet, there was no end to misuse of the official venue of Indian Science Congress for this political purpose.

As Dr. Colin did not come to receive the Prize, because he was not supposed to, a new contrived Kalinga Chair was given to co-winner of the 2009 Prize, Mr. Trinth Xuan Thuan by Sri Naveen Patnaik on the occasion, in clear contravention of Article 2 of the Rules.

It was not made clear that the Chair has no link to Biju Patnaik.

In 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in order to please his Haryana supporters, had availed the opportunity of the 50th anniversary of Kalinga Prize to bag a global recognition for Ruchi Ram Sahni, a great but unrecognized scientist of pre-independence India, by annexing to it a chair in his name, to which the UNESCO, after enough pressure, had agreed over specific terms and condition to the extent that the Government of India would “offer” a recipient of Kalinga Prize the proposed chair on he/she being honored with the Prize, with a certificate and a token cash to help him/her to travel to India, where, on arrival a foreign awardee or an Indian on submission of tour program, shall be treated as Government of India’s guest for two to three weeks to interact with Indian scientists in Universities and lecture venues. This “offer”, however, has neither any retrospective effect nor any life after closing of the Prize chapter.

Hence it was ultra vires of Kalinga Prize Rules to present the said chair – wrongfully described as Kalinga Chair – to 2009 Prize co-winner Mr. Thuan by the Chief Minister of Orissa on 4 December 2012 when the offer of the Chair had legally lapsed.

This makes it clear that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik used the official platform of Indian Science Congress for his personal political gain that he dose always by spreading his father’s name.

While presenting the lapsed Sahni Chair wrongfully projected as Kalinga Chair, he not only kept the community of Scientists in dark about Sahni in whose honor the Chair is created, by not saying anything on him as expected, but also tried to hijack the entire venue into memories of his father by shedding tears on the podium in trying to take full emotional benefit of the event to his personal political advantage when Panchayat Polls are already on the anvil. There was no necessity for telling on the podium that he was the second son of Biju Patnaik, but he did. His party’s political agenda was complete with Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra singing the expected glory to Biju, thus using the most important official platform of the day – the official platform of Indian Science Congress as well as the podium officially given to UNSCO for award of the Prize – for nasty political benefit when Panchayat Election process has already started and posthumous political use of Biju’s name forms the pivot for election campaign of the CM’s party in Orissa.

So, not only the Kalinga Prize has been messed up, but also the Election Laws in force now in context of Panchayat polls are raped on the official podium of Indian Science Congress at Bhubaneswar.

Will the State Election Commissioner look into this rape of Election Codes? One shall not be surprised if he does not take any action.

Absolute honesty, in reality, must a man be possessing if he, rehabilitated after retirement, acts against the rulers of the day.

So, it would be a rare phenomenon if the SEC acts in this case.

Science Congress Starts in Bhubaneswar: Despite Weaving Utopia, Prime Minister Stresses on Traditional Wisdom of Orissa’s Mayurbhanj

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

(Pictorial input from Piyush Mohanty)

The 99th Annual Session of the Indian Science Congress commenced here at Bhubaneswar on January 3, 2012 on the theme: “The role of Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation with special reference to the role of women”.

Matching the theme, in his inaugural address, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh informed that his government is providing “large number of scholarship” in science sector, “most notably, in the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research or INSPIRE scheme which gives awards to one million science students” out of which, “49.6 per cent are women”.

He maintained that, “more than 60per cent of INSPIRE fellows pursuing doctoral research happen to be women”.

Yet, the hard reality that glared through his speech was that, “60 per cent of nearly 2000 Indian women Ph.Ds in science who were surveyed (in a study published last year) were unemployed. The main reason cited was lack of job opportunities”.

He, however, claimed that, “Public investment in Research and Development has been growing at 20-25per cent per year during the 11th Plan period”.

“Over the last few years, the number of scientific publications by Indian scientists working in India has increased at more than 12 per cent per annum against the global average of 4per cent. India has moved from the 15th rank in 2003 to the 9th rank in 2010 with respect to the number of publications in peer-valued journals”, he claimed.

But, there was no escaping from the reality that “over the past few decades, India’s relative position in the world of science had been declining and we have been overtaken by countries like China”.

Brooding loudly over the question as to “what is the role of science in a country like India?”, he said, though “there is no simple answer”, yet, “for a country grappling with the challenges of poverty and development, the over-riding objective of a comprehensive and well-considered policy for science, technology and innovation should be to support the national objective of faster, sustainable and inclusive development”.

Pointing out that “there is much that the scientific community can do to achieve these objectives”, he said, “research should be directed to providing ‘frugal’ solutions to our chronic problems of providing food, energy and water security to our people. Science should help us understand how to give practical meaning to the concept of sustainable development and green growth. Science should help us shift our mindsets from the allocation of resources to their more efficient use.”

Science, in India, has stayed far away from age old wisdom, as a result of which, its relevance to people at the grassroots has remained obscure. He therefore stressed on attention to traditional knowledge. “Explore and rejuvenate traditional knowledge systems found all over our country in areas such as agriculture, architecture, handicrafts and textiles” he said.

Look at Mayurbhanj and Koraput of Orissa

“One need go no further than the tribal communities of the Kharia, Santhals, Gonds and Kolhas who live in the deep forest areas of Mayurbhanj and have a reservoir of knowledge on medicinal usage of locally available plants”, he said while congratulating “the tribal community of Koraput for the global recognition they have received for their contribution to conserving bio-diversity and developing climate-change resilient farming systems” and exhorted the scientists to look at these phenomenon in right earnest so that “technology and process engineering should help us reach the benefits of development to those who need it most”.

Like any politician leading a plutocracy, he churned out wishes such as “we must ensure creation of a new innovation ecosystem”, “we must achieve greater alignment of the Science and Technology sector with the inclusive development needs of our nation” etc etc. But it looked like weaving utopia, because, on his own admission, “while it is true that science and engineering continue to attract some of our best students, many of them later opt for other careers because of relatively poorer prospects in science”.

According to his further admission, “science is often pre-occupied with problems of the rich, ignoring the enormous and in many ways more challenging problems of the poor and the under-privileged”.

“It is in some ways ironic”, he confessed, that, foreign firms such as “General Electric and Motorola have created world-class technology hubs in India, while our own industry has not done so”.

And, against this backdrop, the Science Congress commenced its 99th session.

WESCO COLLABORATES WITH HOUSEBREAKERS AND POWER HIJACKERS IN SAMBALPUR

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

It is well known that the Western Electricity Supply Company of Orissa Ltd.(WESCO) is infested with corrupt personnel. But it was not yet known that it also collaborate with housebreaking and power hijacking by the housebreakers!

Several of its employees and officials have been captured redhanded in different places on different days by the State Vigilance while taking bribes and also have been subjected to raids for accumulation of wealth beyond known sources of income.

Authorities are of the view that, it also is a mismanaged organization.

In analyzing its performance for 2010-11, the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has not only noted it to be “really shameful” , but also has arrived at “the inescapable conclusion” that “stealing of electricity by high end consumers with active connivance of the employees at different level” is going on with “the top management sitting as silent spectator”(OERC Report on Review of Performance of WESCO for the FY 2010-11, taken up on 26.05.2011).

Sadly, the Government run by Naveen Patnaik is also sitting nonchalant over such specific observation of OERC.

Encouraged by the State Government’s collaboration with corruption, the WESCO officials have become so very emboldened that they have started even collaborating with housebreakers in having energy connections at their criminally trespassed sites. One such instance has come into light in the town of Sambalpur.

Owner of ‘Asharani House’ behind Misra Lodge at Fatak, Sambalpur, Smt Asharani Misra, who resides with her family at Bhubaneswar, was, shocked to see that two illegal trespassers into her house were using electricity illegally dragged into by “wire-hooks connected to the street electric pole”.

In a complaint dated 23 Nov 2011, duly acknowledged by the SDO of the concerned electrical sub-division of WESCO, she wanted instant disconnection of the illegal line and corresponding actions against the miscreants.

But to her surprise and shock, to neither Sri Satpathy, the Junior Engineer to whom the complaint was addressed, nor Sri Tanuram Behera, the SDO concerned to whom copy of the complaint was given, this was a matter to merit attention.

A shocked Smt. Misra, in a complaint before the Chairman of WESCO filed on 30 Nov.2011, wanted her house to be free from illegal power connection failing which she would seek redressal in appropriate courts and make WESCO liable for the damage.

The illegal hook was then removed on 2 Dec. 2011, but despite Smt. Mishra having named the illegal users of hook to drag energy into her house, no action was taken against the hijackers of electricity.

Yet, to her surprise, Sri Behera, the SDO, gave her alarming threats over phone that if any hooking is found in future, she shall be prosecuted against for the same.

Smt. Mishra immediately informed the WESCO Chairman of this telephonic threat in her communication dated 6 Dec 2011.

To her horror, she found on 20 Dec 2011 that illegal connections are given to the trespassers by the WESCO officials on permanent basis sans any meter and inspection of wiring!

This being a potential threat to safety of her house, as she contacted the area JE, she was informed that, he had to give the connections under orders of Behera, the SDO as well as of the area Executive Engineer Sri Bibhudendu Padhi. This information was to her hand on 28 Dec 2011 and instantly she apprised the WESCO CEO of this illegality in her written complaint.

But yet, no action is taken against the illegal users of energy and their collaborators in WESCO!

The WESCO chief is unable to throw any light on this scenario.

It is apparently clear that WESCO has started collaborating with housebreaking by miscreants in absence of legal owners and helping the housebreakers in power hijacking too.

What next!

YOU ARE TO MARCH AHEAD

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Welcome, Transformer of Time, 2012, welcome!

You have made 2011 a history. But the past Year has handed you over a world, where, happily, capitalism is crumbling. You are to march ahead towards its total extermination.

Begun on 17 September 2011 in the heartland of capitalism, at Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district of New York City, the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement has generated world awakening against Economy of Inequality and the apt slogan of the movement – WE ARE THE 99% – has started echoing in every heart that love the fellow beings. The past Year has handed you over the responsibility to carry forward this epoch making movement. You are to march ahead.

Anti-people elements in different parts of the globe have used all means to strengthen religious fundamentalism in order to keep Economy of Inequality continue giving them their desired advantage; but happily, the toiling majority has refused to be misled, as a result of which, religions, everywhere, have lost their primordial positions. The past Year has handed over to you the responsibility of furthering this relegation of religions in order to ensure evolution of humane values addressed to extinction of societal exploitation. You are to march ahead.

Despite State Terror, progressive people have everywhere strengthened their solidarity in order to wipe out exploitation of every type. The past Year has handed over you the responsibility of furthering this solidarity. You are to march ahead.

When everywhere the agents of capitalism have suffered setbacks last year, mass movements have so very distinctly gathered momentum against plutocracy that fellows in power have been forced to make their repressive laws more stringent, which indicates, how mad have they become in seeking refuge from the doom of their hegemony. The past Year has handed over to you the responsibility of expediting their doom, so that the world shall be a better place to live in. You are to march ahead.

We are sure, the responsibilities handed over to you by the past year would be best discharged by making the world adopt Economy of Equality for which you shall have to transform plutocracies into democracies by unmasking the agents of the rich that represent the poor in almost all houses of representatives. And, in systems of single person hegemony, you shall have to enkindle determination for democracy, so that, Economy of Equality becomes the Political Economy of the entire world.

With this hope, we welcome you, transformer of Time, 2012, to our midst. You are to march ahead.

Oriya Language created Orissa and therefore Orissa must be ruled by Oriya Language

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seems to have developed a wrong notion that governance of Orissa in Oriya depends upon his mercy. His press-note of December 17 and full page display advertisement in major broadsheets of today force us to arrive at this apprehension.

In his December 17 press note it was declared that he had held a meeting with the five members of the ministerial committee on that day for the purpose of “strictly implementing the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 in official and non-official level” to facilitate which a website has been floated by the government. In the full page multi-color advertisement in broadsheet dailies today, this is intriguingly missing.

The advertisement is designed to tell the people that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has taken historical steps to save and develop Oriya language, and has enumerated the steps he has taken. This is blatant lie. Neither he nor his government has executed any single item claimed to be “historical” in the official advertisement. The entire advertisement is nothing but false propaganda. What a shame it is, that, the people of Orissa are taken for granted by their Chief Minister! Read more →

Navakalevara: Legends and reality

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Legends are the most misguiding mischief aimed at superimposing lies on reality so that indigenous people of an occupied land are kept too dazzled to see the dark face of the rulers and the class of exploiters can keep its victims subjugated to its authority, while forcing them to forget the heroic history of evolution of their own philosophy of life, their own splendid spiritual realizations, their own socio-economic uniqueness, their own ancient culture, their own valorous past, their own way of social integration and their own civilization.

We see this mischief galore in the context of Navakalevara of SriJagannatha.

So, here, we are to rip apart the legends and bring the reality of the Navakalevara to light, as thereby alone we can reach the lost uniqueness of the people of Orissa.

We will use Puri Sankaracharya’s self-proclaimed authority over Navakalevara to proceed with our purpose.

  Read more →

Samaja in Maze of Forgery: Two former Ministers of Orissa – Lingaraj Mishra & Radhanath Rath forged the WILL of Gopabandhu; Both benefitted till their death; SoPS continues to Loot

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The Oriya daily SAMAJA founded by late Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das, to which, out of their love and reverence for the great humanitarian leader, the people of Orissa had and have been giving their financial and moral support, is in a menacing maze of forgery and loot.

Sadly, two of Gopabandhu’s trusted men – Lingaraj Mishra and Radhanath Rath – who, because of being known so, had the opportunity of becoming cabinet ministers in Orissa, were the masterminds and/or makers of the forgery from which the paper is yet to be salvaged.

Both of them – Lingaraj and Radhanath – had partnered with each other in forging the last WILL of Gopabandhu to grab the Samaja, which being Gopabandhu’s paper was of superb credibility and the greatest political instrument of the day. They had performed this crime behind the screen of and in nexus with Servants of the People Society (SoPS), of which, while breathing his last, Gopabandhu was the Vice-President. Read more →