The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty starts with the Mughal man named
Ghiyasuddin Ghazi. He was the City Kotwal i.e. police officer of Delhi prior to the uprising of 1857, under the Mughal rule. After capturing Delhi in 1857, in the year of the mutiny, the British were slaughtering all Mughals everywhere. The British made a thorough search and killed every Mughal so that there were no future claimant to the throne of Delhi. The Hindus on the other hand were not targeted by the British unless isolated Hindus were found to be siding with the Mughals,due to past associations. Therefore, it became customary for many Mohammedans to adopt Hindu names. So, the man Ghiyasuddin Ghazi (the word means kafir-killer) adopted a Hindu name Gangadhar Nehru and thus saved his life by the subterfuge. Ghiyasuddin Ghazi apparently used to reside on the bank of a canal (or Nehr) near the Red Fort. Thus, he adopted the name ‘Nehru’ as the family name. Through out the world, we do not find any descendant other than that of Gangadhar, having the surname Nehru.
The 13th volume of the “Encyclopedia of Indian War of Independence” (ISBN:81-261-3745-9) by M.K. Singh states it elaborately. The Government of India have been hiding this fact. City Kotwal was an important post like today’s Commissioner of Police. It appears from Mughal records that there was no Hindu Kotwal employed. It was extremely unlikely for a Hindu to be hired for that post. Compulsorily only Mohammedans of foreign ancestry were hired for such important posts.
Jawaharlal Nehru's second sister Krishna Hutheesing also mentions in her memoirs that her grandfather was the city Kotwal of Delhi prior to 1857’s uprising when Bahadur Shah Zafar was still the sultan of Delhi. Jawaharlal Nehru, in his autobiography, states that he have seen a picture of his grandfather which portrays him like a Mughal nobleman. In that picture it appears that he was having long & very thick beard, wearing a Muslim cap and was having two swords in his hands. Jawaharlal Nehru also states in his autobiography that on their way to Agra (a seat of Mughal influence) from Delhi,the members of his grand father’s family were detained by the British. The reason for the detention was their Mughal features. They however pleaded that they were Kashmiri Pandits and thus got away.
The Urdu literature of the 19th century, especially the works of Khwaja Hasan Nizami, are full of the miseries that the Mughals and Mohammedans have to face then. They also describe how Mughals escaped to other cities to save their lives. In all probability, Jawahar Nehru's Mughal grandfather and his family were among them.
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Jawaharlal Nehru was a person that India adores. He was undoubtedly a very sound politician and a gifted individual. But, the Government of India has not built a memorial of Jawaharlal Nehru at his birth place 77 Mirganj in Allahabad, because it is a brothel. The entire locality is a well known red light area since long. It has not become a brothel recently, but it has been a brothel even before Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth. A portion of the same house was sold by his father Motilal Nehru to a prostitute named Lali Jaan and it came to be known as “Imambada”. If you have some doubt, you may visit the place. Several dependable sources and also encyclopedia.com & Wikipedia say this. Motilal Nehru along with his family, later shifted to Anand Bhawan. Remember that Anand Bhawan is Jawaharlal Nehru’s ancestral house and not his birth place.
M. O. Mathai of Indian Civil Service served as the Private Secretary to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Mathai has written a book “Reminiscences of the Nehru Age” (ISBN-13: 9780706906219).In the book Mathai reveals that there was intense love affair between Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten (wife of the last Viceroy to India, Louis Mountbatten). The romance was a source of great embarrassment for Indira Gandhi, who used to seek Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s help in persuading her father to be little discreet about their relationship.
Nehru with lady Mountbatten
Also Nehru had love affair with Sarojini Naidu’s daughter Padmaja Naidu, whom Nehru got appointed as the Governor of Bengal. It is revealed that he used to keep her portrait in his bed room, which Indira would often remove.It caused some tension between father and daughter.
Apart from these ladies, Pandit Nehru had an affair with a sanyasin from Benares named Shraddha Mata. She was an attractive Sanskrit scholar well versed in the ancient Indian scriptures and mythology. When she conceived out of their illicit relationship, in 1949, in a convent in Bangalore, she insisted that Nehru should marry her. But, Nehru declined that because it could affect his political career.
A son was born and he was kept at a Christian Missionary Boarding School. His date of birth is estimated to be 30th May, 1949. He may be in his early sixties now. Convents in such matters maintain secrecy to prevent humiliation of the child.
Though Mathai confirmed the existence of the child, no efforts have ever been made to locate him. He must have grown up as a Catholic Christian blissfully ignorant of who his father was.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee were competitors of Jawaharlal Nehru for the post of Prime Minister of India and both of them died under mysterious circumstances.
Knowing all these facts, is there any meaning of celebrating Nehru’s birthday as Children’s Day? Presenting him as a different person to our children and hiding the truth, amounts to denying education to them.
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As per the book “The great divide: Muslim separatism and partition” (ISBN-13:9788121205917) by S.C. Bhatt— Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister Vijaya Lakshmi eloped with her father’s employee Syud Hussain. Then Motilal Nehru forcefully took her back and got her married with another man named Ranjit Pandit.
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Indira Priyadarshini perpetuated immorality in the Nehru dynasty. Intellectual Indira was admitted in Oxford University but driven out from there for non-performance. She was then admitted to Shantiniketan University but,Guru Dev Rabindranath Tagore chased her out for bad conduct.
After driven out of Shantiniketan, Indira became lonely as father was busy with politics and mother was dieing of tuberculosis in Switzerland. Playing with her loneliness, Feroze Khan, son of a grocer named Nawab Khan who supplied wines etc to Motilal Nehru’s household in Allahabad, was able to draw close to her. The then Governor of Maharashtra, Dr. Shriprakash warned Nehru,that Indira was having an illicit relation with Feroze Khan. Feroze Khan was then in England and he was quite sympathetic to Indira. Soon enough she changed her religion, became a Muslim woman and married Feroze Khan in a London mosque. Indira Priyadarshini Nehru changed her name to Maimuna Begum. Her mother Kamala Nehru was totally against that marriage. Nehru was not happy as conversion to Muslim will jeopardize her prospect of becoming Prime Minister.
So, Nehru asked the young man Feroze Khan to change his surname from Khan to Gandhi. It had nothing to do with change of religion from Islam to Hinduism. It was just a case of a change of name by an affidavit. And so Feroze Khan became Feroze Gandhi, though it is an inconsistent name like Bismillah Sarma. Both changed their names to fool the public of India. When they returned to India, a mock vedic marriage was instituted for public consumption. Thus, Indira and her descendants got the fancy name Gandhi. Both Nehru and Gandhi are fancy names. As a chameleon changes its color, this dynasty have been changing its name to hide its real identity.
Indira Gandhi had two sons namely Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. Sanjay was originally named as Sanjiv that rhymed with Rajiv, his elder brother's name. Sanjiv was arrested by the British police for a car theft in the UK and his passport was seized. On Indira Gandhi’s direction, the then Indian Ambassador to UK, Krishna Menon misusing his power, changed his name to Sanjay and procured a new passport. Thus Sanjiv Gandhi came to be known as Sanjay Gandhi.
It is a known fact that after Rajiv's birth, Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi lived separately, but they were not divorced. The book “The Nehru Dynasty” (ISBN 10:8186092005) by K. N. Rao states that the second son of Indira (or Mrs. Feroze Khan) known as Sanjay Gandhi was not the son of Feroze Gandhi. He was the son of another Muslim gentleman named Mohammad Yunus.
Interestingly Sanjay Gandhi's marriage with the Sikh girl Menaka took place in Mohammad Yunus’ house in New Delhi. Apparently Yunus was unhappy with the marriage as he wanted to get him married with a Muslim girl of his choice. It was Mohammad Yunus who cried the most when Sanjay Gandhi died in plane crash. In Yunus’ book, “Persons, Passions & Politics” (ISBN-10: 0706910176) one can discover that baby Sanjay was circumcised following Islamic custom.
It is a fact that Sanjay Gandhi used to constantly blackmail his mother Indira Gandhi, with the secret of who his real father is. Sanjay exercised a deep emotional control over his mother, which he often misused. Indira Gandhi chose to ignore his misdeeds and he was indirectly controlling the Government.
When the news of Sanjay Gandhi's death reached Indira Gandhi, her first question was “Where are his keys and his wrist watch?”. Some deep secrets about the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty seems to be hidden in those objects.The plane accident was also mysterious. It was a new plane that nosedive to a crash and yet the plane did not explode upon impact. It happens when there is no fuel. But the flight register shows that the fuel tank was made full before take-off. Indira Gandhi using undue influence of PM’s office prohibited any inquiry from taking place. So, who is the suspect?
Indira and Sanjay Gandhi
The book “The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi” (ISBN: 9780007259304)
by Katherine Frank sheds light on some of Indira Gandhi’s other love affairs.
It is written that Indira’s first love was with her German teacher at Shantiniketan.
Later she had affair with M. O. Mathai (father’s secretary), then Dhirendra Brahmachari (her yoga teacher) and at last with Dinesh Singh (Foreign Minister).
Former Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh made an interesting revelation about Indira Gandhi's affinity to the Mughals in his book “Profile and Letters” (ISBN: 8129102358). It states that- In 1968 Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India went on an official visit to Afghanistan. Natwar Sing accompanied her as an IFS officer in duty. After having completed the day's long engagements, Indira Gandhi wanted to go out for a ride in the evening. After going a long distance in the car, Indira Gandhi wanted to visit Babur's burial place, though this was not included in the itinerary. The Afghan security officials tried to dissuade her, but she was adamant. In the end she went to that burial place. It was a deserted place. She went before Babur's grave, stood there for a few minutes with head bent down in reverence. Natwar Singh stood behind her. When Indira had finished her prayers, she turned back and told Singh “Today we have had our brush with history.” Worth to mention that Babur was the founder of Mughal rule in India, from which the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty have descended.
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It is difficult to count how many institutes of higher education are named after Rajiv Gandhi but, Rajiv Gandhi himself was a person of low calibre. From 1962 to 1965, he was enrolled for a Mechanical Engineering course at Trinity College, Cambridge. But, he left Cambridge without a degree because, he could not pass exams. Next year in 1966, he joined Imperial College, London but, again left it without a degree.
K. N. Rao in the above said book alleges that Rajiv Gandhi became a Catholic to marry Sania Maino. Rajiv became Roberto. His son's name is Raul and daughter's name is Bianca. Quite cleverly the same names are presented to the people of India as Rahul and Priyanka.
In personal conduct Rajiv was very much a Mughal. On 15th August 1988 he thundered from the ramparts of the Red Fort: “Our endeavor should be to take the country to heights to which it belonged about 250-300 years ago. It was then the reign of Aurangzeb, the ‘jeziya’ master and number one temple destroyer.”
The press conference that Rajiv Gandhi gave in London after taking over as prime minister of India was very informative. In this press conference, Rajiv boasted that he is not a Hindu but a Parsi. Feroze Khan’s father and Rajiv Gandhi's paternal grandfather was a Muslim gentleman from the Junagadh area of Gujarat. This Muslim grocer by the name of Nawab Khan had married a Parsi woman after converting her to Islam. This is the source where from the myth of Rajiv being a Parsi was derived. Mind that he had no Parsi ancestor at all. His paternal grandmother had turned Muslim after having abandoned the Parsi religion to marry Nawab Khan. Surprisingly, Parsi Rajiv Gandhi was cremated as per Vedic rites in full view of Indian public.
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Dr. Subramanian Swamy writes that Sonia Gandhi’s name was Antonia Maino. Her father was a mason. He was an activist of the notorious fascist regime of Italy and he served five years imprisonment in Russia. Sonia Gandhi have not studied beyond high school. She learnt some English from a English teaching shop named Lennox School at the Cambridge University campus. From this fact she boasts of having studied at the prestigious Cambridge University. After learning some English, she was a waitress at a restaurant in Cambridge town.
Sonia Gandhi had intense friendship with Madhavrao Scindia in the UK, which continued even after her marriage. One night at 2 AM in 1982, Madhavrao Scindia and Sonia Gandhi were caught alone together when their car met an accident near IIT Delhi main gate.
When Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were Prime Ministers, PM’s security used to go to New Delhi and Chennai international airports to send crates of Indian treasures like temple sculptures, antiques, paintings etc to Rome. Arjun Singh as CM and later as Union Minister in charge of Culture used to organize the plunder. Unchecked by customs, they were transported to Italy to be sold in two shops named Etnica & Ganpati, owned by Sonia Gandhi’s sister Alessandra Maino Vinci.
Indira Gandhi died not because her heart or brain were pierced by bullets, but she died of loss of blood. After Indira Gandhi was fired upon, Sonia Gandhi strangely insisted that bleeding Indira Gandhi should be taken to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, in opposite direction to AIIMS which had a contingency protocol to precisely deal with such events. After reaching Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Sonia Gandhi changed her mind and demand that Indira Gandhi should be taken to AIIMS, thus wasting 24 valuable minutes. It is doubtful whether it was immaturity of Sonia Gandhi or a trick to speedily bring her husband to power.
Rajesh Pilot and Madhav Rao Scindia were strong contenders to the Prime Minister’s post and they were road blocks in Sonia Gandhi’s way to power. Both of them died in mysterious accidents.
There are circumstantial evidences pointing to the prima facie possibility that the Maino family have contracted LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi. Nowadays,Sonia Gandhi is quite unabashed in having political alliance with those like MDMK, PMK and DMK who praise Rajiv Gandhi’s killers. No Indian widow would ever do that. Such circumstances are many, and raise a doubt. An investigation into Sonia’s involvement in Rajiv’s assassination is necessary.You may read Dr. Subramanian Swamy’s book “Assassination Of Rajiv Gandhi — Unasked Questions and Unanswered Queries” (ISBN : 81-220-0591-8).
It contains indications of such conspiracy.
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In 1992, Sonia Gandhi revived her citizenship of Italy under Article 17 of the Italian Citizenship Law. Under Italian law,Rahul and Priyanka are Italian citizens because Sonia was an Italian citizen when she gave birth to them. Rahul Gandhi’s Italian is better than his Hindi. Rahul Gandhi is an Italian citizen is relevant
from the fact that on 27th September 2001 he was detained by the FBI at Boston airport, USA for traveling on an Italian passport. If a law is made in India that important posts like that of President and Prime Minister should not be held by a person of foreign origin, then Rahul Gandhi automatically disqualifies to contend for the post of Prime Minister.
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After finishing school education, Rahul Gandhi got admission at the St. Stephens College in New Delhi, not on merit basis but on sports quota of rifle shooting. After a brief stay there in 1989-90, he did his BA from Rollins College, Florida in 1994. Just for doing BA one need not go to the US. The very next year, in 1995 he got M.Phil. degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. The genuineness of this degree is questioned as he has done M.Phil. without doing MA. Amaratya Sen’s helping hand is thought to be behind. Many of you might have seen the famous movie “Munna Bhai MBBS”.
In 2008 Rahul Gandhi was prevented from using an auditorium of the Chandra Shekhar Azad University in Kanpur for a students’ rally. Subsequently, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, V.K. Suri, was ousted by the UP Governor. During 26/11 when the whole country was tense about how to tackle the Mumbai terror, Rahul Gandhi was lavishly partying with his friends till 5 AM.
Rahul Gandhi advises austerity for all Congress members. He says it is the duty of all politicians to be austere. On the other hand he has a ministerial bungalow with a fully equipped gym. He is a regular member of at least two of the Delhi’s poshest gyms, one of which is 5-star rated. Rahul Gandhi’s trip to Chennai in 2009 to campaign for austerity cost the party more than Rs 1 Crore. Such inconsistencies show that initiatives taken by Rahul Gandhi are not his own but, workout of his party men only.
During the 2007 election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi said that “if anyone from the Nehru-Gandhi family had been active in politics then, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen”. It doubtlessly shows his Mohammedan affiliation as a loyalty to his ancestors. On Dec 31, 2004, John M. Itty, a retired college professor in Alappuzha district of Kerala, contended that action should be taken against Rahul Gandhi and his girlfriend Juvenitta alias Veronica for staying together for three days at a resort in Kerala. It is a criminal offense under Immoral Trafficking Act as they are not married. Anyway, one more foreigner daughter-in-law is waiting to rule the tolerant Indians.
Rahul Gandhi withVeronica
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The Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte’s 11th November 1991 issue revealed that Rahul Gandhi was the beneficiary of accounts worth US $2 billion controlled by his mother Sonia Gandhi. A report from the Swiss Banking Association in 2006 revealed that the combined deposits of Indian citizens are far greater than any other nation, a total of US $1.4 trillion, a figure exceeding the GDP of India. This dynasty rules greater than half of India. Ignoring the center, out of 28 states and 7 union territories, more than half of them have Congress government at any point of time. Upto Rajiv Gandhi there was Mughal rule in India, with Sonia Gandhi, the Rome rule on India have started.
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The objective behind writing this article is to acquaint the citizens of India with their national leaders and show how a dynasty has misused the democracy of this country. Several prestigious national assets and schemes are named after these lose-character people to immortalize them. Many other shocking facts are not presented in this article because of lack of supporting evidence.
Vande mataram.
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Extracts from other sources-
There are allegations that in the night of 3rd December 2006,Rahul Gandhi along with his foreigner friends gang raped then twenty four year old Sukanya Devi at a VIP Guest House in Amethi. She is the daughter of Balram Singh & Sumitra Devi of 23-12 Medical Choke, Sanjay Gandhi Marg, Amethi, Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh. Police refused to register complaint; the National Commission for Women headed by Dr. Girija Vyas acted as a Congress party office. The victim and her family is missing since then.
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MOTILAL married and his first wife and son died at childbirth.
MOTILAL and his second wife THUSSU (name changed to SWAROOP RANI) had three children
THUSSU with MOBARAK ALI (Motilal's Boss) was the first son JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU (he was circumcised)
MOTILAL AND THUSSU had two daughters by name NAN (also called Vijaya Lakshmi) & KRISHNA
MOTILAL had also two bastard sons out of Muslim women by name SHEIK ABDULLA &SYUD HUSSAIN
__________
VIJAYA LAKSHMI eloped with SYUD HUSSAIN (half brother and sister) and had a girl CHANDRALEKHA
VIJAYALAKSHMI MARRIED R.S. PANDIT and had two more girls NAYANTARA & RITA
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU married KAMALA KAUL (marriage never consummated)
JAWAHARLAL had an affair with SARADDHA MATA (assumed name) and had a son given away to an orphanage in BANGALORE
JAWAHARLAL had an affair with LADY MOUNTBATTEN but no children
JAWAHARLAL HAD MANY AFFAIRS and in the end died of SYPHILIS
KAMALA KAUL had an affair with MANZUR ALI (who is son of Mobark Ali who fathered Nehru also) and their daughter is INDIRA PRIYADARSINI NEHRU
KAMALA KAUL had an affair with FEROZ KHAN (son of Nawab Khan who supplied liquor to their house) but no children
__________
INDIRA was found in the bed with her GERMAN TEACHER at Shantiniketan
INDIRA PRIYADARSINI nikhahed as per Islamic rites FEROZ KHAN after
converting herself to Islam. Her new name was MAIMUNA BEGUM and
both had changed their name to fool the public of India on the advice of
Gandhi by an affidavit in a court to INDIRA GANDHI and FEROZ GANDHI
INDIRA and FEROZ had one son by name RAJIV GHANDHI
(as per Islamic rites he was circumcised)
INDIRA had an affair with MOHAMMED YOUNUS and had a second son
SANJIV GHANDI (later the name changed to SANJAY GHANDI to escape
prosecution in UK for car theft. He was circumcised as per Islamic rites)
INDIRA had an affair with M.O. MATHAI (Nehru's steno) and a son was aborted
INDIRA had an affair with DHIRENDRA BRAMMACHARI but no children
INDIRA had an affair with DHINESH SINGH but no children
FEROZ had an affair with TARAKESWARI SINHA
FEROZ had an affair with MEHMUNA SULTANA
FEROZ had an affair with SUBHADRA JOSHI and many others.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Why Aruna should be on some body's mercy.
Rejection of Aruna's euthanasia plea by SC may be totally correct from legal point of view as addressed in our constitution and defined by our judicial system. Court might be right in its decision from legal point of view, but here human aspect is totally ignored. Law may be blind, but it should not be so blind also. Court may be expert in legal matters but what about the things which comes under medical science. Decision on euthanasia should be taken by medical board. Like court there can be three to four level to prevent misjudgment. If docs can't take right decision so judge also. No one other than god can give a good life to Aruna, which medical science know very well. She can never come to normal life, then why she should be made to suffer only because our constitution does not or not proficient to address such type of problem. Now it is high time to rethink on restructuring of our constitution so that needy people can get justice. People should not live at the mercy of legal system or any body who is not properly qualified to deal with the thing.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Disoriented or poor PM.
What's the problem with our PM. Why he is getting disoriented. Sometimes he feels shame for corruption and someties he says that prices are rising due to increase in income of common people. Being economist how he is reacting like this. I can understand his position. He is unable to bear pressure.He is right to say that income of people has increased, but not of common people, it is of Raja's, Kalmadi's, political leaders and sarkari babus. Since their income has increased in manifold, that's why prices are rising. With money of 2G scam only there can be interest free budget, huge subsidy for farmers, petrol and on many essential things. There will not be fight between state and centre for share of booty(taxes). PM wants state to abolish/reduce local taxes, why centre can not do same in the best interest of public. He feels shame due to corruption. Actually he is feeling shame that even small babus are also able to do corruption and going scot free. In his view leaders and bureaucrat are not involved in corruption, they are shaping the nation. Now small babus must be cautious, because for image improvement they will be made bakra. Raja is arrested but Kalmadi is still enjoying his life outside jail. Why, because his is from congress. So, again Raja is made bakra. Criminal like Sohrabuddin's killer in jail but 1984 killer is enjoying monarchy. May God bless our PM with some wisdom.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2010: Year of Corruption
Year 2010 have passed but many things have gone unnoticed. Year 2010 will be remembered for disclosures of many corruptions, Year 2010 will be remembered as year of corruption for thousands of years. But here I have fearness that the way Sonia and party is involved in appeasement to safeguard throne, Year 2011 may not become history as year of corruption.Corruption in India has not only become multi billion dollar industry but become somewhat legal with Thomas as CVC, even the world is aslo recognising India as legally corrupted country. Whatever like Aadarsh housing society, CWG, 2G, etc we know is only the tip of the iceberg. You go in any office for any work without greasing the hands of from peon to head of department or even local leaders to ministers your work will not be done. You will be forced to pay. If you try to disclose this matter your job will be struck in legal proceeding, ultimately you will be sufferer. Here my suggestion is that government should legalize by making law and fix the bribe amount and time of job, at least people will have some relief.
If you go by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which is not accepted by Kapil Sibal like god of honesty like leader has said that the Indian exchequer has lost anywhere between $22 billion and $45 billion in the 2G Scam - an amount which could have fed every destitute Indian for the for the next 10 years or funded some of the employment programs for at least five years and could have reduced every citizen's tax rate by 15% for a year or so. And while we are concentrating on just a handful of incidents, there could be tens of thousands of incidents of bribery that go unnoticed - be it while giving an industrial licence or even while issuing a SME loan! You can not imagine the magnitude. How less it is na for our country? If we go by what Management Guru C.K.Prahalad has to say, then the cost of corruption to the country might well exceed Rs. 250,000 crore.
Corruption have not only damaged the brand image of India, but also stands to hamper the country's growth story. Ogranisation like FICCI have started calling for "summary punishment in a fast-track process for anybody found indulging in corrupt practices," but it is a distant dream. The chamber "to preserve India's robust image and keep the growth story intact" has called "for transparency, accountability and probity in our system of governance. We urgently need rules and regulations that do not allow rent-seeking." The question however is: 'Who will take the task of weeding out the rotten apples from the good ones?' CVC Thomas or our PM who is involved in the act of wooing leaders like M Karunanidhi or Sharad Pawar or Mamta to safeguard his chair.
While these gory facts of continuous corruption are for everyone to see, a possible solution to this massive problem seems to elude us all. If you have any suggestion on how this rampant corruption in the country can be arrested, do share with us. Also tell us if you have encountered with any corrupt official while doing business.
If you go by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which is not accepted by Kapil Sibal like god of honesty like leader has said that the Indian exchequer has lost anywhere between $22 billion and $45 billion in the 2G Scam - an amount which could have fed every destitute Indian for the for the next 10 years or funded some of the employment programs for at least five years and could have reduced every citizen's tax rate by 15% for a year or so. And while we are concentrating on just a handful of incidents, there could be tens of thousands of incidents of bribery that go unnoticed - be it while giving an industrial licence or even while issuing a SME loan! You can not imagine the magnitude. How less it is na for our country? If we go by what Management Guru C.K.Prahalad has to say, then the cost of corruption to the country might well exceed Rs. 250,000 crore.
Corruption have not only damaged the brand image of India, but also stands to hamper the country's growth story. Ogranisation like FICCI have started calling for "summary punishment in a fast-track process for anybody found indulging in corrupt practices," but it is a distant dream. The chamber "to preserve India's robust image and keep the growth story intact" has called "for transparency, accountability and probity in our system of governance. We urgently need rules and regulations that do not allow rent-seeking." The question however is: 'Who will take the task of weeding out the rotten apples from the good ones?' CVC Thomas or our PM who is involved in the act of wooing leaders like M Karunanidhi or Sharad Pawar or Mamta to safeguard his chair.
While these gory facts of continuous corruption are for everyone to see, a possible solution to this massive problem seems to elude us all. If you have any suggestion on how this rampant corruption in the country can be arrested, do share with us. Also tell us if you have encountered with any corrupt official while doing business.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Why Karkare called Digvijay.
Today Diggi Raja cleared doubt by producing evidence of Karkare call to him. But I am unable to understand that why Karkare called Digvijay Singh. What relation he had with Diggi Raja. In what capacity Karkare called Digvijay Singh. Hemant Karkare was Maharashtra ATS chief. As a bureaucrat he was supposed to report his boss, DGP of Maharashtra or if he was highly ambitious than he would have reported directly to Maha home minister or Maha Chief minister. If he was fearing his life then he would have shown his concern to either Maha home minister or Maha Chief minister or he would have contacted Home ministry through proper channel. Sometimes it creates doubts that why Karkare called Digvijay Singh. This also indicates nexus between politician and bureaucrat. Many high level bureaucrat are involved in seeking blessings of political leader. Was Karkare also involved in this game of appeasing his political boss to get appreciation or promotions. Was this affecting or influencing the cases he was investigating. If this is true then it is shocking. Every body know how Karkare was dealing with hindu terrorists. I read in news paper that Karkare threatened Purohit for dire consequences and spoiling life of his daughter. The way ATS dealt Malegaon blast or other blasts done by hindu terrorists, he never dealt same way with Mumbai blast terrorists. Why such type of nefarious appeasement. With this way government is trying to create rift between communities so that they can rule even without proper majority support of people. But wrong things never lasts long. I hope these types of things will never create rift among common people for longer time. Definitely people will understand all these misdeeds and respond in a way, the Bihar responded.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Are Gurjars nexalite or terrorist?
Since eight days Delhi Mumbai rail route has been jammed by Gurjars. Till now neither Gurjar leaders are thinking about the inconvenience caused by their unjustified (court has already rejected their demand)to common people nor government is doing any thing to remove this blockade. This is nothing less than terrorism. Constitutionally their demand are wrong that's why court has ruled out, still they are forcing government and troubling common people. They should be booked for contempt of court. They have damaged railway track, who has given them authority to do this. These acts are done by either terrorists or nexalites. Gurjars must be dealt severely. But I believe in giving first chance to negotiation. Bainsla is most selfish and stubborn leader. Actually he is not a leader. He has started loosing ground so to make his ground he has involved in terrorist act. If he were a great leader then he would not have made his wife another Rabri Devi.
In democracy how few handful of people are allowed to take whole nation for a ride. I also believe in right to strike for lawful and justified demands. But right to strike does not mean troubling other especially innocent and common people. Since there is no organisation of common people, otherwise they would have been thrown from railway tract for taking whole nation for a ride. Bainsla must be punished severely. He is trying to fulfill his selfish desires for that he does not mind to trouble lakhs of common people. If he has got problems with government then he should stop government from work, but he is stopping railways. Presently our country is facing with the problems of terrorism. Think about this, there is terrorist attack and we are unable to mobilise our forces due to strike by Gurjars or terrorist may take advantage of this situation and may go with their nefarious design smoothly. In any case communication should be stopped, because it slows down whole nation and sometimes it may cause grave danger to security of our nation. There must be provision in our constitution to declare such type of leader as gaddar should be punished severely and immediately. They are playing with national security. I request Gurjars to reject those psycho leaders and go Bihar way. If they think that their demand is genuine then either prove in court or to country and get it fulfilled. I hope god will give them little wisdom.
In democracy how few handful of people are allowed to take whole nation for a ride. I also believe in right to strike for lawful and justified demands. But right to strike does not mean troubling other especially innocent and common people. Since there is no organisation of common people, otherwise they would have been thrown from railway tract for taking whole nation for a ride. Bainsla must be punished severely. He is trying to fulfill his selfish desires for that he does not mind to trouble lakhs of common people. If he has got problems with government then he should stop government from work, but he is stopping railways. Presently our country is facing with the problems of terrorism. Think about this, there is terrorist attack and we are unable to mobilise our forces due to strike by Gurjars or terrorist may take advantage of this situation and may go with their nefarious design smoothly. In any case communication should be stopped, because it slows down whole nation and sometimes it may cause grave danger to security of our nation. There must be provision in our constitution to declare such type of leader as gaddar should be punished severely and immediately. They are playing with national security. I request Gurjars to reject those psycho leaders and go Bihar way. If they think that their demand is genuine then either prove in court or to country and get it fulfilled. I hope god will give them little wisdom.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The New Nababs or vultures.
The new nawabs
By Priya Sahgal and Kaveree Bamzai | India Today – Wed, Dec 15 12:32 PM IST
When Ratan Tata moved the Supreme Court, claiming his right to privacy had been violated, he called Harish Salve. The choice was not surprising. The former solicitor general has been topping the legal charts ever since he scripted a surprising win for Mukesh Ambani against his brother Anil. That dispute set the gold standard for legal fees. On Mukesh's side were Salve, Rohinton Nariman and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The younger brother had an equally formidable line-up led by Ram Jethmalani and Mukul Rohatgi.
The lawyers' fees alone, at a conservative estimate, cost the Ambani brothers at least Rs 15 crore each in their famous war over natural gas. -
India Today
The dispute dated back three-and-a-half years to when Anil filed a case against his brother for reneging on an agreement to supply 28 million cubic metres of gas per day from its Krishna-Godavari basin fields at a rate of $2.34 for 17 years. The average legal fee was Rs 25 lakh for a full day's appearance, not to mention the overnight stays at Mumbai's five-star suites, business class travel, and on occasion, use of the private jet. Little wonder though that Salve agreed to take on Tata's case pro bono. He could afford philanthropy with one of India's wealthiest tycoons.
Welcome to the world of new nawabs. The lawyers' fees alone, at a conservative estimate, must have cost the Ambanis at least Rs 15 crore each. Both the brothers had booked their legal teams in the same hotel, first the Oberoi and, after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Trident. "Well, if you're going to write all this, then you can also add that Mukesh bought me a pair of pyjamas as well," laughs Salve, recalling how he was called to Mumbai suddenly from Orissa where he had gone for a day's hearing. "I told Mukesh I had packed nothing. He insisted on buying me the essentials."
It's not the essentials as much as the frills that raise eyebrows. The veteran Jethmalani is surprisingly the most modest in his fees since he does not charge rates according to the strength of the client's purse. But as the crises have multiplied, lawyers' fees have exploded.
**************************************************
Harish Salve, 54- Landmark case: Won the gas dispute for Mukesh Ambani, though what he enjoys most is being amicus curiae in the Forest Case of T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India and Others.- Legal Style: Is a master strategist. Gives a balanced argument rather than an aggressive, one-sided view.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. For a full day, it's Rs 25 lakh.- The indulgence: Drives a Bentley.
**************************************************
Ram Jethmalani, 87- Landmark case: Got the Jain Hawala case against L. K. Advani squashed; is currently defending former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah.- Legal Style: Argues forcefully. Has an acerbic wit.- Fee per appearance: Rs 5 lakh.- The indulgence: Has an indoor badminton court built in his MP bungalow that is the envy of Lutyens' Delhi.
**************************************************
Mukul Rohatgi, 55- Landmark case: Represented Anil Ambani in the gas dispute.- Legal Style: Is a slogger. Argues aggressively and goes straight to the point.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for a full day.- The indulgence: Drives a black Bentley, has Souza on his walls, a holiday home in Goa.
**************************************************
Majid Memon, 55- Landmark case: He represented Yakub Memon but could not set him free.- Legal Style: He argues in the court with his right leg on a chair.- Fee per day: Rs 10 lakh. Charges Rs 2 lakh for a bail application.- The indulgence: Likes to travel, makes frequent trips to exotic locations.
**************************************************
Satish Maneshinde, 50- Landmark case: He secured bail for Sanjay Dutt in the Bombay blast case and for Salman Khan who allegedly killed one person while driving drunk.- Legal Style: Argues calmly in court and looks straight into the judge's eyes.- Fee per day: Rs 10 lakh.- The indulgence: His Mercedes and a passion for Page 3 parties.
**************************************************
Aryama Sundaram, 53- Landmark case: Represented the West Bengal Government against Haldia Petrochemicals and UBS Securities against sebi.- Legal Style: Persuasive speaker, argues his case in a measured tone.- Fee per appearance: Rs 3.5 lakh
**************************************************
Arvind Datar, 53- Landmark case: Was one of the lawyers in the Vodafone vs Income Tax case.- Legal Style: Says one lesson he learnt is to never antagonise a judge. It's not only your bread and butter but your client's life.- Fee per appearance: Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.- The indulgence: His first car was a Toyota Corona in 1990. Now he drives an Audi. Has penned a three-volume commentary on Constitutional law.
**************************************************
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, 51- Landmark case: Won the right to fly the tricolour for Navin Jindal.- Legal Style: From logical in court to rhetorical flourish in Parliament to snappy sound bites for the media on tv.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. For a full day, it's Rs 25 lakh.- The indulgence: A limited-edition Visconti pen with a custom-made nib and watches from every luxury brand.
**************************************************
The 50 court hearings in the Haldia Petrochemicals vs the West Bengal Government cost the former a total of Rs 25 crore in lawyer fees and the 20 hearings in the Bombay Mill Case, which dragged on for three years, cost the mill owners almost Rs 10 crore. Large corporate firms, which engage star counsels on behalf of the client, also need to know their quirks.
For instance, Salve will only accept the first brief. He will never be the second counsel in a case. Some lawyers prefer to be paid partly in cash but the best are content with cheques. Some expect the client not to blink while picking up a dinner tab of Rs 1.75 lakh at a Chennai five star. A lawyer is known to carry his home linen and curtains with him while travelling on work. A firm may even have to pick up a hot Vertu phone of the moment or a Jaeger-LeCoutre watch of the hour to keep a lawyer in good humour.
Some are even paid to not appear at all for the other side - Aryama Sundaram was retained by Anil Ambani in the gas feud but he did not fight the case. Or take Raytheon when it was fighting the Jindals. Raytheon had paid seven top lawyers a retainer fee of Rs 2.5 lakh each just to ensure that the Jindals would not be able to make a proper case on a taxation issue.
They miscalculated when a star lawyer fought the case at the last minute. "I don't take negative retainers," shrugs Rohatgi, former additional solicitor general. "A lawyer's job is to appear for any client that comes to him. It's not for the lawyers to judge if a client is good or bad but the court." Indeed. He is, after all, the lawyer who argued so famously in court that B. Ramalinga Raju did not fudge any account in the Satyam Case. All he did was "window dressing".
Some high profile cases have continued for years, providing a steady source of income, from the Scindia succession battle which dates to 1989, to the JetLite Sahara battle now in taxation arbitration to the BCCI which is currently in litigation with Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.
Think of the large law firms as the big Hollywood studios and the senior counsel as the superstar. There are a few familiar faces to be found in most of the big ticket cases, whether it is the Ambani gas case, Vodafone taxation or Bombay Mills case.
Explains Salve, "There is a reason why we have more than one senior advocate on a case. When you're arguing, he's reading the court. He picks up a point or a vibe that you may have missed." Says Raian Karanjawala whose firm has prepared the briefs for cases ranging from the Tata's recent right to privacy case to Karisma Kapoor's divorce, "The four jewels in the crown today are Salve, Rohatgi, Rohinton Nariman and Singhvi.
They have replaced the old guard of Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, Ashok Desai and K.K. Venugopal." He adds, "The one person who defies the generational gap is Jethmalani who was India's leading criminal lawyer in the 1960s and is so today."
The demand for superstar lawyers has far outstripped the supply. So a one-man show by, say, Rohatgi can run up billings of Rs 40 crore, the same as a mid-sized corporate law firm like Titus and Co that employs 28 juniors. The big law firms such as AZB or Amarchand & Mangaldas or Luthra & Luthra have to do all the groundwork for the counsel, from humouring the clerk to ensure the A-lister turns up on the hearing day to sourcing appropriate foreign judgments in emerging areas such as environmental and patent laws. "We are partners in this. There are so few lawyers and so many matters," points out Diljeet Titus.
As the trust between individuals has broken down, governments have questioned corporates and corporates are questioning each other, and an array of new issues has come up. And as the government has weakened, the courts have become stronger. The lawyer, says Sundaram, with the flourish that has seen him pick up many Dhurandhares and Senakas at pricey art auctions, has emerged as the modern day purohit.
Each purohit is head priest of a particular style. Says Karanjawala, "Harish is the closest example in today's bar to Fali Nariman; Rohinton has the best law library in his brain; Mukul is easily India's busiest lawyer while Manu Singhvi is the greatest multi-tasker." Salve has managed a fine balancing act where he has represented Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh, Lalit Modi and Subhash Chandra and even the Ambani brothers, of course in different cases. Singhvi is Sonia Gandhi's go-to-guy on most legal issues, whether it is citizenship or filing a case against a publication.
Jethmalani is the man to call for anyone in trouble. In judicial circles he is known as the first resort for the last resort. Even Jethmalani's junior Satish Maneshinde, who came to Mumbai in 1993 as a penniless law graduate from Karnataka, shot to fame (and wealth) after he got bail for Sanjay Dutt in 1996. Now he owns a plush office in Worli and has become a one-stop shop for celebrities in trouble, from getting bail for Rakhi Sawant when a youth committed suicide after she called him namard (impotent) to representing Salman Khan in a drunken driving case.
With wealth come perks. In 1992, Karanjawala and Desai were chatting in the Supreme Court car park when former law minister Ashoke Sen zipped by in his Fiat. "What Ashoke, small car?" asked Desai to which Sen replied, "In Bangla we have a saying: known Brahmins need not wear the sacred thread." Now the car park is filled with Bentleys, Mercedes and at the very least, an upmarket Toyota. The symbols of success include a holiday home in Goa, Souzas on the office walls, shopping expeditions to Bond Street (where they can expect to bump into other lawyers). As Salve says, "Only Brioni and Canali make boring suits for lawyers, the blacks and dark greys." Also the pens, the watches, and in Arun Jaitley and Rohatgi's case, the jamewars. Then there is the public profile, amplified by talking head status on tv channels every other night.
Most of the prized lawyers such as Salve, Jethmalani, Sundaram and Rohatgi do some pro bono work as well, if the cause is right. But in all this, the pil bar has come crashing down, upheld only by men such as Rajeev Dhavan and Prashant Bhushan. "I subsidise my pil work by taking on commercial cases, which I needed when I had to send my daughters to study in the US," says Dhavan. In many cases, it's the take-off point for a job in the government like Indira Jaising's work with Mumbai's homeless pavement dwellers which has got her the additional solicitor general's job. As Dhavan notes, the dense gravity of private marketing lawyering has created black holes in activist lawyering.
Says an angry Sorabjee, "To charge Rs 30 to 40 lakh per day is nothing short of extortion. It is no excuse to say that the client can afford it. Lawyers are professionals, not tradesmen in a market place. I get mad if a client says fees are no question. You think you can buy me? You can charge heavy fees but not extortionist fees." The octogenarian constitutional expert charges Rs 2 lakh per appearance as opposed to the going rate of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh charged by younger lawyers. Sometimes, if the court breaks for lunch at 1 p.m. and the matter has come up for hearing at 12.45, the lawyer even bills the client for two separate appearances.
In Mumbai, for instance, veteran criminal lawyer Majid Memon charges Rs 2 lakh simply for securing bail in a sessions court. There are those who recall him coming to the tada court in 1996 on an old scooter. He now drives a Mercedes. In Chennai, Arvind Datar charges anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh per appearance.
As for the chartered flights, they all claim that this is a necessity rather than a privilege. "The advocates come to us with that offer (of chartered flights). It's not flaunting of power but the idea is to return the same day from a badly connected destination, says Singhvi, putting on his most earnest expression. Rohatgi complains of being claustrophobic on small planes. "During peak hours, chartered flights don't get preference over commercial," he adds with the jaded fatigue of a seasonal traveller.
There is a reason for this exorbitant fee structure. In recent years, the stakes in corporate litigation have hit the roof, as in the Rs 12,000-crore Vodafone vs the Income Tax department case. Moreover, the legal fraternity argues that when clients don't mind paying investment bankers fees worth millions of dollars, then why are only lawyers coming up for censure? The fate of several crucial corporate battles hangs on the slender thread of which matter is listed before which court and which lawyer would work there. "Why should we earn less than the CEO of a big corporation?" asks Sundaram. Except that this CEO often goes on to become a minister in the government-law as a profession offers immense mobility-and deal with the same organisations he once represented.
Most corporate bosses also have their legal favourites. For instance, Nusli Wadia's favourite lawyer is Fali Nariman who hates "skullduggery"; ITC's was Desai but he has since been replaced by Salve; the late Madhav Rao Scindia's family favours Singhvi. Of course, the Ambani brothers too have their chosen legal soldiers: while Anil's first choice is usually Rohatgi, his brother opts for Salve. As does Ratan Tata. The Birlas go with Sen. Many have created mini-dynasties, whether it is Singhvi, Salve or Rohinton Nariman.
"Sometimes, it's the thrill of the forensic complexity that counts, not winning or losing," says Singhvi. He recalls how during the Ambani gas case, a friend called and asked him, "The stocks are fluctuating wildly. You're the oracle: which way will it go?" Singhvi laughed and said he had no idea. Salve agrees. "Mukesh called me that morning and said we have done our best. The rest is up to God," he recalls.
However, Rohatgi who appeared for Anil says, "I had a premonition we would lose. But Anil thought otherwise." Salve adds, "After the judgment, Mukesh was too choked to speak. Nita said they had one more request. I should handle the media. She said, Harish bhai bahut negativity ho gaya. There should be no loose comments." Clearly a lawyer's brief is not just limited to courtrooms.
Ironically, it was during the Battle of the Brothers last year that Salve told the Supreme Court how Mukesh Ambani had told him about the millions of dollars demanded by laptop consultants just to create holding companies, resulting companies and other such complexities. Quick to retort, Rohatgi had quipped, "Is this how Salve justifies his high fees?" Grinning, a sheepish Salve said, "I plead guilty on my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues." But it was Justice R.V. Raveendran who had the last word, "The only difference between Salve and the consultants is the laptop." And perhaps the Bentley, the BMW and the Mercedes.
By Priya Sahgal and Kaveree Bamzai | India Today – Wed, Dec 15 12:32 PM IST
When Ratan Tata moved the Supreme Court, claiming his right to privacy had been violated, he called Harish Salve. The choice was not surprising. The former solicitor general has been topping the legal charts ever since he scripted a surprising win for Mukesh Ambani against his brother Anil. That dispute set the gold standard for legal fees. On Mukesh's side were Salve, Rohinton Nariman and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The younger brother had an equally formidable line-up led by Ram Jethmalani and Mukul Rohatgi.
The lawyers' fees alone, at a conservative estimate, cost the Ambani brothers at least Rs 15 crore each in their famous war over natural gas. -
India Today
The dispute dated back three-and-a-half years to when Anil filed a case against his brother for reneging on an agreement to supply 28 million cubic metres of gas per day from its Krishna-Godavari basin fields at a rate of $2.34 for 17 years. The average legal fee was Rs 25 lakh for a full day's appearance, not to mention the overnight stays at Mumbai's five-star suites, business class travel, and on occasion, use of the private jet. Little wonder though that Salve agreed to take on Tata's case pro bono. He could afford philanthropy with one of India's wealthiest tycoons.
Welcome to the world of new nawabs. The lawyers' fees alone, at a conservative estimate, must have cost the Ambanis at least Rs 15 crore each. Both the brothers had booked their legal teams in the same hotel, first the Oberoi and, after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Trident. "Well, if you're going to write all this, then you can also add that Mukesh bought me a pair of pyjamas as well," laughs Salve, recalling how he was called to Mumbai suddenly from Orissa where he had gone for a day's hearing. "I told Mukesh I had packed nothing. He insisted on buying me the essentials."
It's not the essentials as much as the frills that raise eyebrows. The veteran Jethmalani is surprisingly the most modest in his fees since he does not charge rates according to the strength of the client's purse. But as the crises have multiplied, lawyers' fees have exploded.
**************************************************
Harish Salve, 54- Landmark case: Won the gas dispute for Mukesh Ambani, though what he enjoys most is being amicus curiae in the Forest Case of T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India and Others.- Legal Style: Is a master strategist. Gives a balanced argument rather than an aggressive, one-sided view.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. For a full day, it's Rs 25 lakh.- The indulgence: Drives a Bentley.
**************************************************
Ram Jethmalani, 87- Landmark case: Got the Jain Hawala case against L. K. Advani squashed; is currently defending former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah.- Legal Style: Argues forcefully. Has an acerbic wit.- Fee per appearance: Rs 5 lakh.- The indulgence: Has an indoor badminton court built in his MP bungalow that is the envy of Lutyens' Delhi.
**************************************************
Mukul Rohatgi, 55- Landmark case: Represented Anil Ambani in the gas dispute.- Legal Style: Is a slogger. Argues aggressively and goes straight to the point.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for a full day.- The indulgence: Drives a black Bentley, has Souza on his walls, a holiday home in Goa.
**************************************************
Majid Memon, 55- Landmark case: He represented Yakub Memon but could not set him free.- Legal Style: He argues in the court with his right leg on a chair.- Fee per day: Rs 10 lakh. Charges Rs 2 lakh for a bail application.- The indulgence: Likes to travel, makes frequent trips to exotic locations.
**************************************************
Satish Maneshinde, 50- Landmark case: He secured bail for Sanjay Dutt in the Bombay blast case and for Salman Khan who allegedly killed one person while driving drunk.- Legal Style: Argues calmly in court and looks straight into the judge's eyes.- Fee per day: Rs 10 lakh.- The indulgence: His Mercedes and a passion for Page 3 parties.
**************************************************
Aryama Sundaram, 53- Landmark case: Represented the West Bengal Government against Haldia Petrochemicals and UBS Securities against sebi.- Legal Style: Persuasive speaker, argues his case in a measured tone.- Fee per appearance: Rs 3.5 lakh
**************************************************
Arvind Datar, 53- Landmark case: Was one of the lawyers in the Vodafone vs Income Tax case.- Legal Style: Says one lesson he learnt is to never antagonise a judge. It's not only your bread and butter but your client's life.- Fee per appearance: Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.- The indulgence: His first car was a Toyota Corona in 1990. Now he drives an Audi. Has penned a three-volume commentary on Constitutional law.
**************************************************
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, 51- Landmark case: Won the right to fly the tricolour for Navin Jindal.- Legal Style: From logical in court to rhetorical flourish in Parliament to snappy sound bites for the media on tv.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. For a full day, it's Rs 25 lakh.- The indulgence: A limited-edition Visconti pen with a custom-made nib and watches from every luxury brand.
**************************************************
The 50 court hearings in the Haldia Petrochemicals vs the West Bengal Government cost the former a total of Rs 25 crore in lawyer fees and the 20 hearings in the Bombay Mill Case, which dragged on for three years, cost the mill owners almost Rs 10 crore. Large corporate firms, which engage star counsels on behalf of the client, also need to know their quirks.
For instance, Salve will only accept the first brief. He will never be the second counsel in a case. Some lawyers prefer to be paid partly in cash but the best are content with cheques. Some expect the client not to blink while picking up a dinner tab of Rs 1.75 lakh at a Chennai five star. A lawyer is known to carry his home linen and curtains with him while travelling on work. A firm may even have to pick up a hot Vertu phone of the moment or a Jaeger-LeCoutre watch of the hour to keep a lawyer in good humour.
Some are even paid to not appear at all for the other side - Aryama Sundaram was retained by Anil Ambani in the gas feud but he did not fight the case. Or take Raytheon when it was fighting the Jindals. Raytheon had paid seven top lawyers a retainer fee of Rs 2.5 lakh each just to ensure that the Jindals would not be able to make a proper case on a taxation issue.
They miscalculated when a star lawyer fought the case at the last minute. "I don't take negative retainers," shrugs Rohatgi, former additional solicitor general. "A lawyer's job is to appear for any client that comes to him. It's not for the lawyers to judge if a client is good or bad but the court." Indeed. He is, after all, the lawyer who argued so famously in court that B. Ramalinga Raju did not fudge any account in the Satyam Case. All he did was "window dressing".
Some high profile cases have continued for years, providing a steady source of income, from the Scindia succession battle which dates to 1989, to the JetLite Sahara battle now in taxation arbitration to the BCCI which is currently in litigation with Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.
Think of the large law firms as the big Hollywood studios and the senior counsel as the superstar. There are a few familiar faces to be found in most of the big ticket cases, whether it is the Ambani gas case, Vodafone taxation or Bombay Mills case.
Explains Salve, "There is a reason why we have more than one senior advocate on a case. When you're arguing, he's reading the court. He picks up a point or a vibe that you may have missed." Says Raian Karanjawala whose firm has prepared the briefs for cases ranging from the Tata's recent right to privacy case to Karisma Kapoor's divorce, "The four jewels in the crown today are Salve, Rohatgi, Rohinton Nariman and Singhvi.
They have replaced the old guard of Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, Ashok Desai and K.K. Venugopal." He adds, "The one person who defies the generational gap is Jethmalani who was India's leading criminal lawyer in the 1960s and is so today."
The demand for superstar lawyers has far outstripped the supply. So a one-man show by, say, Rohatgi can run up billings of Rs 40 crore, the same as a mid-sized corporate law firm like Titus and Co that employs 28 juniors. The big law firms such as AZB or Amarchand & Mangaldas or Luthra & Luthra have to do all the groundwork for the counsel, from humouring the clerk to ensure the A-lister turns up on the hearing day to sourcing appropriate foreign judgments in emerging areas such as environmental and patent laws. "We are partners in this. There are so few lawyers and so many matters," points out Diljeet Titus.
As the trust between individuals has broken down, governments have questioned corporates and corporates are questioning each other, and an array of new issues has come up. And as the government has weakened, the courts have become stronger. The lawyer, says Sundaram, with the flourish that has seen him pick up many Dhurandhares and Senakas at pricey art auctions, has emerged as the modern day purohit.
Each purohit is head priest of a particular style. Says Karanjawala, "Harish is the closest example in today's bar to Fali Nariman; Rohinton has the best law library in his brain; Mukul is easily India's busiest lawyer while Manu Singhvi is the greatest multi-tasker." Salve has managed a fine balancing act where he has represented Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh, Lalit Modi and Subhash Chandra and even the Ambani brothers, of course in different cases. Singhvi is Sonia Gandhi's go-to-guy on most legal issues, whether it is citizenship or filing a case against a publication.
Jethmalani is the man to call for anyone in trouble. In judicial circles he is known as the first resort for the last resort. Even Jethmalani's junior Satish Maneshinde, who came to Mumbai in 1993 as a penniless law graduate from Karnataka, shot to fame (and wealth) after he got bail for Sanjay Dutt in 1996. Now he owns a plush office in Worli and has become a one-stop shop for celebrities in trouble, from getting bail for Rakhi Sawant when a youth committed suicide after she called him namard (impotent) to representing Salman Khan in a drunken driving case.
With wealth come perks. In 1992, Karanjawala and Desai were chatting in the Supreme Court car park when former law minister Ashoke Sen zipped by in his Fiat. "What Ashoke, small car?" asked Desai to which Sen replied, "In Bangla we have a saying: known Brahmins need not wear the sacred thread." Now the car park is filled with Bentleys, Mercedes and at the very least, an upmarket Toyota. The symbols of success include a holiday home in Goa, Souzas on the office walls, shopping expeditions to Bond Street (where they can expect to bump into other lawyers). As Salve says, "Only Brioni and Canali make boring suits for lawyers, the blacks and dark greys." Also the pens, the watches, and in Arun Jaitley and Rohatgi's case, the jamewars. Then there is the public profile, amplified by talking head status on tv channels every other night.
Most of the prized lawyers such as Salve, Jethmalani, Sundaram and Rohatgi do some pro bono work as well, if the cause is right. But in all this, the pil bar has come crashing down, upheld only by men such as Rajeev Dhavan and Prashant Bhushan. "I subsidise my pil work by taking on commercial cases, which I needed when I had to send my daughters to study in the US," says Dhavan. In many cases, it's the take-off point for a job in the government like Indira Jaising's work with Mumbai's homeless pavement dwellers which has got her the additional solicitor general's job. As Dhavan notes, the dense gravity of private marketing lawyering has created black holes in activist lawyering.
Says an angry Sorabjee, "To charge Rs 30 to 40 lakh per day is nothing short of extortion. It is no excuse to say that the client can afford it. Lawyers are professionals, not tradesmen in a market place. I get mad if a client says fees are no question. You think you can buy me? You can charge heavy fees but not extortionist fees." The octogenarian constitutional expert charges Rs 2 lakh per appearance as opposed to the going rate of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh charged by younger lawyers. Sometimes, if the court breaks for lunch at 1 p.m. and the matter has come up for hearing at 12.45, the lawyer even bills the client for two separate appearances.
In Mumbai, for instance, veteran criminal lawyer Majid Memon charges Rs 2 lakh simply for securing bail in a sessions court. There are those who recall him coming to the tada court in 1996 on an old scooter. He now drives a Mercedes. In Chennai, Arvind Datar charges anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh per appearance.
As for the chartered flights, they all claim that this is a necessity rather than a privilege. "The advocates come to us with that offer (of chartered flights). It's not flaunting of power but the idea is to return the same day from a badly connected destination, says Singhvi, putting on his most earnest expression. Rohatgi complains of being claustrophobic on small planes. "During peak hours, chartered flights don't get preference over commercial," he adds with the jaded fatigue of a seasonal traveller.
There is a reason for this exorbitant fee structure. In recent years, the stakes in corporate litigation have hit the roof, as in the Rs 12,000-crore Vodafone vs the Income Tax department case. Moreover, the legal fraternity argues that when clients don't mind paying investment bankers fees worth millions of dollars, then why are only lawyers coming up for censure? The fate of several crucial corporate battles hangs on the slender thread of which matter is listed before which court and which lawyer would work there. "Why should we earn less than the CEO of a big corporation?" asks Sundaram. Except that this CEO often goes on to become a minister in the government-law as a profession offers immense mobility-and deal with the same organisations he once represented.
Most corporate bosses also have their legal favourites. For instance, Nusli Wadia's favourite lawyer is Fali Nariman who hates "skullduggery"; ITC's was Desai but he has since been replaced by Salve; the late Madhav Rao Scindia's family favours Singhvi. Of course, the Ambani brothers too have their chosen legal soldiers: while Anil's first choice is usually Rohatgi, his brother opts for Salve. As does Ratan Tata. The Birlas go with Sen. Many have created mini-dynasties, whether it is Singhvi, Salve or Rohinton Nariman.
"Sometimes, it's the thrill of the forensic complexity that counts, not winning or losing," says Singhvi. He recalls how during the Ambani gas case, a friend called and asked him, "The stocks are fluctuating wildly. You're the oracle: which way will it go?" Singhvi laughed and said he had no idea. Salve agrees. "Mukesh called me that morning and said we have done our best. The rest is up to God," he recalls.
However, Rohatgi who appeared for Anil says, "I had a premonition we would lose. But Anil thought otherwise." Salve adds, "After the judgment, Mukesh was too choked to speak. Nita said they had one more request. I should handle the media. She said, Harish bhai bahut negativity ho gaya. There should be no loose comments." Clearly a lawyer's brief is not just limited to courtrooms.
Ironically, it was during the Battle of the Brothers last year that Salve told the Supreme Court how Mukesh Ambani had told him about the millions of dollars demanded by laptop consultants just to create holding companies, resulting companies and other such complexities. Quick to retort, Rohatgi had quipped, "Is this how Salve justifies his high fees?" Grinning, a sheepish Salve said, "I plead guilty on my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues." But it was Justice R.V. Raveendran who had the last word, "The only difference between Salve and the consultants is the laptop." And perhaps the Bentley, the BMW and the Mercedes.
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