In a unanimous judgement, a three-judge bench headed Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the admissibility of the three documents and said the review pleas will be heard on merits.
“We deem it proper to dismiss preliminary objections and hold and affirm the review petitions will be adjudicated on the basis of relevance of the three documents whose admissibility was questioned by respondents,” Justice Gogoi said.
The bench said the date of hearing the review pleas will be decided later.
The review petitions were filed against the apex court’s December 14 judgement refusing to order a probe into the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.
Arun Shourie, who is among the petitioners seeking review of the Rafale verdict, said, “Our argument was that because the documents relate to defence, you must examine them. You asked for the evidence and we have provided it. So the court has accepted our pleas and rejected the arguments of the government.”
The Centre had claimed “privilege” over the Rafale documents and their admissibility as evidence in the case.
The bench had said that it will take a decision first on the preliminary objections of the Centre on admissibility of “stolen” privileged documents annexed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan in their review petition against the apex court’s December 14 verdict.
The documents have already been published in the media. The Centre had also claimed that the documents were “unauthorisedly accessed” from the originals kept in the Ministry of Defence and leaked into the public domain.
The government had contended that the documents were protected under the Official Secrets Act and their disclosure was exempted under the Right to Information Act as per Section 8(1)(a).
However, the court had said Section 22 of the RTI Act gave an overriding effect over the Official Secrets Act.
(ANI)
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The film was scheduled for release on Thursday, coinciding with the start of the Lok Sabha polls.
“Any biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiography sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or individual connected to it, which is intended to, or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections, should not be displayed in the electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of MCC”, the Commission said in a statement.
PM Narendra Modi, the biopic was initially scheduled for release on April 5 but its release date got postponed to April 11, which falls in the first phase of polling of Lok Sabha elections.
The poll body also stated that any complaints on this matter will be examined by a panel headed by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge.
This statement from the Election Commission came after receiving complaints against movies ‘NTR Laxmi’, ‘PM Narendra Modi’ and ‘Udyama Simham’.
Modi’s biopic helmed by Omung Kumar has also been criticised by the opposition parties, which believe that the biopic may give an undue advantage to BJP in the polls.
On Tuesday the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking stay on the release of the Vivek Oberoi-starer biopic stating that it is for the Election Commission (EC) to take a call whether the movie violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) or not.
(ANI)
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For the second consecutive time, Rahul will contest against Union Textile Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani from Amethi. The District Collector’s office was decorated with flowers for Rahul’s arrival.
Prior to filing his nomination accompanied by a throng of Congress workers, Rahul Gandhi held a road show here. He was accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra alongwith their children Raihan and Miraya.
This comes after Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Wayanad in Kerala on April 4, a move that set off a controversy with the ruling BJP alleging he had done so because he was unsure of his win from Amethi.
The Congress chief filed his nomination papers at the district collectorate in Kalpetta in Wayanad. He was accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Polling will be held in Amethi on May 6 during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election 2019 and in Wayanad on April 23, in the third phase of election. The votes will be counted on May 23.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha election will start from Thursday and will end on May 19. The result will be announced on May 23.
(ANI)
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“We have information of BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi, his driver and three PSOs were martyred in Shyamgiri of Dantewada,” DIG (Anti-Naxal Ops) P Sundar Raj said.
“Mandavi’s vehicle was attacked using a powerful IED blast. Bodies are being evacuated for identification,” he told reporters in Dantewada.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and condemned the attack saying that their sacrifices of will not go in vain.
“Shri Bhima Mandavi was a dedicated Karyakarta of the BJP. Diligent and courageous, he assiduously served the people of Chhattisgarh. His demise is deeply anguishing. Condolences to his family and supporters. Om Shanti,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
“Strongly condemn the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh. My tributes to the security personnel who were martyred. The sacrifices of these martyrs will not go in vain,” he said in another tweet.
Superintendent of Police, Dantewada, Abhishek Pallav said: “BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi was advised by police not to visit the area. After the attack, firing from both sides continued for half-an-hour. There were five more security personnel in a car following the BJP MLA’s car, we are locating them.”
Chhattisgarh will witness Lok Sabha polls in the first three phases – April 11, April 18 and April 23 for its 11 Parliamentary constituencies.
(ANI)
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“They are doing this as they know they are going to lose elections and these are the only tactics left. I am not worried, nobody can suppress me,” Nath told the media.
Meanwhile, Income Tax raids were over. The raids at the premises of Ashwin Sharma, an associate of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s OSD Praveen Kakkar are over, informed CRPF Commandant MS Verma on Tuesday, adding that a SHO and DSP of the state police misbehaved with the paramilitary force.
Raid was also being carried out at the residence of Praveen Kakkar who is also the private secretary to the Chief Minister. Raids started on Sunday at the residences of Kakkar in Indore and Nath’s former advisor RK Miglani in Delhi, on charges of alleged tax evasion.
Officials conducted searches at 50 locations including Indore, Bhopal, Goa and Delhi, according to sources.
(ANI)
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