Corporatocracy in Gujarat

Earlier this year, Gujarat Congress had submitted to the Governor Dr Kamla and the president a detailed list of '17 scams' that had allegedly taken place under the Modi government. It demanded probe by an independent agency. Last week, when it was getting apparent that a Lok Ayukta for the state was close, the state government set up an enquiry commission to be headed by retired Justice MB Shah. The following is the list of alleged scams submitted by the Congress to the Gujarat governor and the president: 

Land for Nano plant at low rate 
The state government allotted 1100 acres of land to Tata Motors Ltd (TML) to set up the Nano plant near Sanand. The land was allotted allegedly at Rs900 per square metre while its market rate was around Rs10,000 per square metre. Simply put, the government gave Tata Motors total monetary benefit of Rs33,000 crore. 

Land sold cheap to Adani Group 
Land was allotted to Adani Group for the Mundra Port & Mundra Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Re1 per square metre. This is grossly lower than the market rate. 

Cheap land for ind, not for airforce 
The Gujarat government allotted 3,76,561 square metre of land to real estate developer K Raheja at Rs470 per square metre, while the South-West Air Command (SWAC) was asked to pay Rs1100 per square metre for 4,04,700 square metre land. 

Agricultuure University land allotted for hotel 
State government allotted 65,000 square metres of land belonging to Navsari Agriculture University in Surat to Chatrala Indian Hotel Group for a hotel project despite objection from the institute. This deal was allegedly brokered by the chief minister through his office causing a loss of Rs426 crore. 

Border land for chemical firms 
A huge plot of land near the Pakistan border was allotted to salt chemical companies said to be close to BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu. 

Essar Group's encroachment 
State government has allotted 2.08 lakh square metres of land to Essar Steel. Part of the disputed land is CRZ and forest land that cannot be allotted as per Supreme Court guidelines. 

Land given to Bharat Hotel 
Prime land was allotted to Bharat Hotels without auction on Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway in Ahmedabad. The company has been allotted 25,724 square metre land. 

Corruption in allotment of lakes 
State government, in 2008, awarded contracts for fishing activities in 38 lakes without inviting any tenders; bidders were ready to pay Rs25 lakh per lake. 

Land given to L&T 
Larson & Toubro (L&T) was allotted 80 hectare land at Hazira at the rate of Re1 per square metre. 

Land allotted to other industries 
Instead of auctioning prime land in the major cities of the state, the Gujarat government had allotted the land to some industries and industrialists who had signed MoUs in the five editions of VGGIS. 

Cattle feed fraud 
The Gujarat government had purchased cattle feed from a blacklisted company at Rs240 per 5 kg whereas the market rate is just Rs120 to Rs140 per 5 kg. 

Scam in Anganwadi centres 
Two bidders apparently formed a cartel and bid for supplying supplementary Nutrition Extruded Fortified Blended Food (EFBF) to Anganwadi centres of the state. One company bid for three zones, while the other for only two. Guidelines were violated, causing the state exchequer a loss of Rs92 crore. 

GSPC 
Despite an investment of Rs4933.50 crore, GSPC has been able to earn only Rs290 crore from the 13 out of 51 blocks of oil and gas discovered by the company. Contractual relations of Geo-Global and GSPC deserve investigation since Geo-Global is to be hired for a higher fee, above profit-sharing. 

Luxury aircraft used by CM 
Instead of using commercial flights or state-owned aircraft and helicopter, chief minister Narendra Modi had used private luxury aircraft for around 200 trips in five years. The cost had been borne by the beneficiary industries. 

Cyber Laws in India

Objectives: 

This chapter presents the meaning and definition of cyber crime, the legislation in India dealing with offences relating to the use of or concerned with the abuse of computers or other electronic gadgets. The Information Technology Act 2000 and the I.T. Amendment Act 2008 have been dealt with in detail and other legislations dealing with electronic offences have been discussed in brief.

  

Introduction: 

Crime is both a social and economic phenomenon. It is as old as human society. Many ancient books right from pre-historic days, and mythological stories have spoken about crimes committed by individuals be it against another individual like ordinary theft and burglary or against the nation like spying, treason etc. Kautilya’s Arthashastra written around 350 BC, considered to be an authentic administrative treatise in India, discusses the various crimes, security initiatives to be taken by the rulers, possible crimes in a state etc. and also advocates punishment for the list of some stipulated offences. Different kinds of punishments have been prescribed for listed offences and the concept of restoration of loss to the victims has also been discussed in it. Crime in any form adversely affects all the members of the society. In developing economies, cyber crime has increased at rapid strides, due to the rapid diffusion of the Internet and the digitisation of economic activities. Thanks to the huge penetration of technology in almost all walks of society right from corporate governance and state administration, up to the lowest level of petty shop keepers computerizing their billing system, we find computers and other electronic devices pervading the human life. The penetration is so deep that man cannot spend a day without computers or a mobile. Snatching some one’s mobile will tantamount to dumping one in solitary confinement! Cyber Crime is not defined in Information Technology Act 2000 nor in the I.T. Amendment Act 2008 nor in any other legislation in India. In fact, it cannot be too. Offence or crime has been dealt with elaborately listing various acts and the punishments for each, under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and quite a few other legislations too. Hence, to define cyber crime, we can say, it is just a combination of crime and computer. To put it in simple terms ‘any offence or crime in which a computer is used is a cyber crime’. Interestingly even a petty offence like stealing or pick-pocket can be brought within the broader purview of cyber crime if the basic data or aid to such an offence is a computer or an information stored in a computer used (or misused) by the fraudster. The I.T. Act defines a computer, computer network, data, information and all other necessary ingredients that form part of a cyber crime, about which we will now be discussing in detail. In a cyber crime, computer or the data itself the target or the object of offence or a tool in committing some other offence, providing the necessary inputs for that offence. All such acts of crime will come under the broader definition of cyber crime. 2 Let us now discuss in detail, the Information Technology Act -2000 and the I.T. Amendment Act 2008 in general and with particular reference to banking and financial sector related transactions. Before going into the section-wise or chapter-wise description of various provisions of the Act, let us discuss the history behind such a legislation in India, the circumstances under which the Act was passed and the purpose or objectives in passing it. 

The Genesis of IT legislation in India: Mid 90’s saw an impetus in globalization and computerisation, with more and more nations computerizing their governance, and e-commerce seeing an enormous growth. Until then, most of international trade and transactions were done through documents being transmitted through post and by telex only. Evidences and records, until then, were predominantly paper evidences and paper records or other forms of hard-copies only. With much of international trade being done through electronic communication and with email gaining momentum, an urgent and imminent need was felt for recognizing electronic records ie the data what is stored in a computer or an external storage attached thereto. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted the Model Law on e-commerce in 1996. The General Assembly of United Nations passed a resolution in January 1997 inter alia, recommending all States in the UN to give favourable considerations to the said Model Law, which provides for recognition to electronic records and according it the same treatment like a paper communication and record. 

Objectives of I.T. legislation in India: . It is against this background the Government of India enacted its Information Technology Act 2000 with the objectives as follows, stated in the preface to the Act itself. “to provide legal recognition for transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as "electronic commerce", which involve the use of alternatives to paper-based methods of communication and storage of information, to facilitate electronic filing of documents with the Government agencies and further to amend the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” The Information Technology Act, 2000, was thus passed as the Act No.21 of 2000, got President assent on 9 June and was made effective from 17 October 2000. The Act essentially deals with the following issues:

•  Legal Recognition of Electronic Documents  
• Legal Recognition of Digital Signatures  
• Offenses and Contraventions Justice Dispensation 
• Systems for cyber crimes. 

Amendment Act 2008: 

Being the first legislation in the nation on technology, computers and e commerce and e-communication, the Act was the subject of extensive debates, elaborate reviews and detailed criticisms, with one arm of the industry criticizing some sections of the Act to be draconian and other stating it is too diluted and lenient. There were some conspicuous omissions too resulting in the investigators relying more and more on the time-tested (one and half century-old) Indian Penal Code even in technology based cases with the I.T. Act also being referred in the process and the reliance more on IPC rather on the ITA. 3 Thus the need for an amendment – a detailed one – was felt for the I.T. Act almost from the year 2003- 04 itself. Major industry bodies were consulted and advisory groups were formed to go into the perceived lacunae in the I.T. Act and comparing it with similar legislations in other nations and to suggest recommendations. Such recommendations were analysed and subsequently taken up as a comprehensive Amendment Act and after considerable administrative procedures, the consolidated amendment called the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 was placed in the Parliament and passed without much debate, towards the end of 2008 (by which time the Mumbai terrorist attack of 26 November 2008 had taken place). This Amendment Act got the President assent on 5 Feb 2009 and was made effective from 27 October 2009. 

Source: Book on “IT” Security of IIBF Published by M/s TaxMann Publishers