High Court stays transfer of ED officer who grilled Majithia

Chandigarh, January 21

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the implementation of transfer orders of the Enforcement Directorate officer, who had questioned Punjab minister Bikram Majithia in the drugs case. A Division Bench of the High Court also called for the record pertaining to the officer’s transfer.

The Bench of Justice Satish Kumar Mittal and Justice Deepak Sibal fixed February 2 as the next date of hearing. The plea against the transfer has been filed by advocate Navkiran Singh in the drugs case pending adjudication before the High Court. Navkiran Singh, on behalf of the Lawyers for Human Rights International, contended that the transfer at this juncture would hamper investigations into the Rs 6000-crore money-laundering international drug racket. The probe, he said, was at the final stage.

He said ED official Niranjan Singh’s transfer was neither in public interest, nor in the interest of justice. The case was being supervised by the High Court for more than a year and status reports were being filed by state and central agencies.The transfer of an investigating officer, playing an important role in the investigation, was not beyond suspicion.

“In situations where the investigating officers of two important cases, the coal scam and 2G scam, were transferred and the Supreme Court found the same not to be in the interest of justice, it stayed the transfer orders and ordered that the particular investigating officers would remain as investigating officer till the completion of the trial.

“In the present case, since the Enforcement Directorate has interrogated more than 50 important witnesses and the investigation is at fag-end, changing the investigating officer would be sending the investigation directionless…,” he claimed. The father of alleged kingpin in the drugs case Jagdish Singh Bhola has also moved the High Court demanding a probe into the transfer.

What the petitioner said

• Lawyers for Human Rights International said ED officer Niranjan Singh’s transfer was neither in public interest, nor in the interest of justice
• They said the case was being supervised by the High Court for more than a year and status reports were being filed by state and central agencies

Chinese daily scoff at reports of India's GDP overtaking China

Beijing: Peeved over IMF's forecast that India's growth rate would surpass that of China by 2016, a state-run daily on Wednesday said that having overshadowed by the Communist giant for long, India is seeking evidence to show that "it is not inferior to China".

"It's different in India. Long overshadowed by China, it is keen to become the best in some aspects. It is in dire need of evidence to show that it is not inferior to China," state-run Global Times said in its editorial, a day after IMF forecast that Chinese economy would continue to slowdown even next year and would fall behind India's growth rate.

Besides posting its lowest growth of 7.4 per cent last year in two decades, during which China became the world's second largest economy, it also missed the official target of 7.5 per cent for the first time in recent years, fuelling concerns about a prolonged slowdown.

The IMF report said China's growth rate would further decline to 6.8 this year and 6.3 next year, falling behind India's projected 6.5 per cent growth rate for 2016. Chinese economy however will continue to be big in size as its gross domestic product reached $10.4 trillion this year compared to India's $1.877 trillion in 2013.

"Even if the Indian economy does outstrip China's one day, the impact on the Chinese public will be far less than on its own people, since India has been waiting for the outcome for so long. Some Western media attach more significance to India's overtaking China than Chinese people do," it said.

"When China's GDP growth was above 10 per cent, many voices expounded that such a high rate would be harmful. However, just as China is committed to economic restructuring and a turn to the "new normal," there appears to be more scary predictions for the future. We have to be unswerving in our commitment not to return to the GDP-oriented path," it said.

"GDP figures are so favoured by the media as they are easy to grasp. But China has passed the era of GDP-fixation. Despite continued pursuit of wealth, we highly value safety, environmental protection, equal opportunity and explicit rules. With money, there should also be dignity," it said.

"China's GDP growth is unlikely to always rank top of the global list and we won't modify our set direction in social and economic development," it said. The "new normal" in the Chinese economy doesn't mean stagnation nor recession, but a strategic adjustment toward quality and sustainable development, it said.

"China's growth of seven per cent maintained in the period of economic and social restructuring is no less significant than 10 per cent in the past times of extensive development. While the Chinese government is capable of achieving higher growth, its choice of lowering the rate deserves more praise.

"China has never been applauded by the West in its development since the end of the Cold War. We have grown used to this. We need to stay firm to achieve our target of deepening reform," it said.