Rahul slams Modi for silence on probe into Panama Papers

April 9, 2016

Kamalpur (Assam), Apr 9: Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of making ‘big promises’ on bringing back black money and asked him to explain why he has not instituted a probe into the matter of the Chattisgarh chief minister’s son’s name featuring in the ‘Panama Papers’.

“The Panama Papers have been leaked and many names have been mentioned about black money kept in Panama. It has also mentioned that Chattisgarh chief minister’s son Abhishek Singh has account in Panama,” Gandhi said while addressing a Congress poll rally here for the second phase of Assam Assembly election on April 11.

“Modi makes big promises to you about bringing back black money kept abroad. He should have at least said why no investigation has been ordered into the featuring of the chief minister’s son name in them,” Gandhi said. He said he had asked Modi in Parliament why former IPL chief Lalit Modi, who had escaped from the country, had not been brought back.

“Modiji did not utter one word in response.” Claiming that the Modi government was not taking action against black money hoarders, Gandhi said, “Recently Jaitley brought a new ‘Fair and Lovely scheme’ whereby any gangster, goon, drug dealer can make their black money white by just taking it to the government and paying minimal tax on it.”

Modi, he said, only made false promises during Lok Sabha elections about bringing back black money. “None of the Indians have received the Rs 15 lakh of that money in their bank accounts as assured by Modi.”

Addressing another election rally at Dhamdhama, the Congress Vice President said this time two parties with diametrically opposite ideologies were contesting in the Assam Assembly elections.

“Congress believes in working for peace and development with feelings of brotherhood. On the other side is the BJP, RSS which indulge in divisive politics and talk only about violence, make one Indian fight with another Indian, Hindus with Muslims”, Rahul said.

Stating that 15 years ago when BJP’s present poll alliance partner AGP was in power in the state and the saffron party was at the Centre, he said, “there was only sad news, violence till Congress came and restored the peace”.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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