Month: November 2019

The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s apology for wrongly attributing his infamous “chowkidar chor hai” remark in Rafale case to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opined that a person holding a place of importance in political spectrum should have been more careful.

The apex court closed the contempt petition filed by BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks.

“Rahul Gandhi needs to be more careful in the future. It was unfortunate,” a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph said in their verdict.

Lekhi had accused Gandhi of misquoting the April 10 order of the apex court in which it had allowed additional leaked documents to be put on record as an evidence in the Rafale case.

Gandhi, who was then the president of the Congress party, allegedly said that the apex court had accepted that ‘chowkidar’ (a reference to Prime Minister Modi), is a “chor’ (thief).

Pursuant to this, the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice against him. Chief Justice Gogoi was categorical that Gandhi had to either offer a clear-cut apology or face criminal contempt.

Subsequently, Gandhi tendered an unconditional apology to the top court and sought closure of the contempt proceedings against him.

During the course of proceedings, former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Lekhi, had argued that Gandhi’s apology should be rejected and action must be taken against him.

“He (Gandhi) has only expressed regret. The law is clear in contempt cases that the line starts with an unconditional apology,” he had submitted before the court.

(ANI)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is “public authority” under the purview of the transparency law, Right to Information Act (RTI) and observed that the transparency does not undermine judicial independence.

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the apex court gave the verdict while upholding the 2010 judgment of the Delhi High Court which ruled that office of the CJI comes under the purview of the RTI.

“Public interest demands that transparency is maintained,” the apex court said, adding that transparency strengthens the judicial independence.

The top court ruled that the right to privacy and confidentiality is an important aspect and it has to be balanced. The bench said that there has to be a balance between the right to information and the right to privacy as well as confidentiality and independence of the judiciary.

The five-judge Constitution Bench comprises Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice NV Ramana, Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

The court had reserved the order in the case on April 4.

The issue arose from an appeal filed by the Supreme Court Secretary-General against the January 2010 judgment of the Delhi High Court that declared the CJI’s office a “public authority” within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Subhash Chandra Aggarwal, who had sought details under RTI, had argued that the court has favoured transparency, through various judgments, even before the RTI Act was brought in. But when it comes to cases relating to transparency of the court itself, the “court has not been very forthcoming,” Bhushan said.

He added that disclosure of the information is the best safeguard to ensure the right people get appointment and disclosure must be in the public and has to be for the public.

Bhushan had stressed on the need for transparency in the appointment and transfer of judges.

“Process of appointment and transfers is shrouded in mystery. It remains a sacred ritual and its mystery confined to a handful of people,” Bhushan said, adding that the possibility cannot be ruled out that the process may result in “wrong appointment or transfer and may lead to nepotism”.

ANI

The overall air quality of Delhi and NCR region entered the ‘Severe’ category again on Wednesday with not much improvement expected for the next two days.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the overall air quality of the national capital docked at 467 at 7:00 AM on Wednesday morning.

Besides Delhi, the air quality in the NCR region too remained severe at 472 in Noida, 458 in Greater Noida and 441 in Faridabad.

The effective stubble fire counts estimated by Safar-integrated multi-satellite methodology have shown decreasing trend and were 740 on November 11, but the transport level wind direction is forecasted to be highly favorable for plume intrusion for the next two days, SAFAR stated.

No sudden recovery is expected under this condition at least for the next two days and AQI is likely to deteriorate further towards ‘Severe+’ category by Thursday’, SAFAR said.

The condition may slightly improve by November 15. (ANI)

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Executive Committee has announced a roll-back on the hike of hostel fees and other stipulations after massive protests by the students of the varsity that escalated over the past few days.

The university’s committee also proposed a scheme for economic assistance to the financially backward students, Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam said on Wednesday.

“#JNU Executive Committee announces major roll-back in the hostel fee and other stipulations. Also proposes a scheme for economic assistance to the EWS students. Time to get back to classes,” Subrahmanyam tweeted and tagged the HRD ministry in the post.

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JNU students have been protesting against the fee hike and the draft hostel manual approved by the Inter-Hall administration which also includes provisions on dress code and curfew timings.

The university had hiked the rate of a student single room rent from Rs 10 to Rs 300 per month, for student double room from Rs 20 to Rs 600 per month and increased one-time refundable mess security deposit from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000.

The matter blew out of proportion last week after a clash broke out between the students and police during the students’ protest. (ANI)

Maharashtra came under the President’s Rule on Tuesday and its assembly was kept under “suspended animation” after the recommendation from state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari that it is not possible to form a stable government in the state and the government cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of Constitution.

President Ram Nath Kovind gave his approval to the proclamation for President’s Rule following the recommendation of the Union Cabinet which acted on the report from the state Governor.

Opposition parties slammed the Centre’s move to impose the President’s Rule, which came on a day the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was to convey its willingness to form the government in accordance with the letter given by the Governor.

A Home Ministry spokesperson said the Maharashtra Governor in his letter on Tuesday made a recommendation to the President that he made attempts to explore the possibility of formation of Government by having appropriate communication with all the political parties, who could have formed the government in alliance with other political parties.

“Unfortunately his attempts to do so have failed so far,” the spokesperson said, adding that “keeping in view the situation, circumstances and ground realities, the Governor was satisfied that the situation has arisen in the state in which it is impossible to constitute and/or form a stable government.”

The Governor was also satisfied that the government in the state “cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution”.

Officials said that the Governor was constrained to send his report under the provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution as he was left with no other alternative. He recommended that the assembly be kept under suspended animation.

The results of assembly polls, in which BJP and Shiv Sena got an absolute majority, were declared on October 24. However, differences between the two allies over power-sharing prevented the formation of a new government.

While Shiv Sena insisted on having the post of chief minister for two-and-a-half years, the BJP said there was no such pre-poll agreement between the two parties.

The Governor on Sunday asked the Shiv Sena to express its intention and ability to form the government and on Monday, the party sought extra time to give letters of support from the Congress and the NCP.

The Governor then asked the NCP about its willingness to form the government.

The declaration of the President’s Rule came even as a team of senior Congress leaders comprising Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal reached Mumbai to have talks with the NCP on government formation.

The Congress and the CPI-M were among parties that condemned the imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra. (ANI)

There will be no hearing in Supreme Court on Tuesday on plea filed by Shiv Sena challenging Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision of denying it three days to submit letter of support from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress for government formation in the state.

Shiv Sena’s lawyer Sunil Fernandes said that a second petition by the party challenging the imposition of President’s Rule is being readied and will be filed after the discussion on it within the party.

“Supreme Court registry has said they may mention the matter tomorrow before the court, for urgent hearing. Fresh/second petition challenging the imposition of President’s Rule is being readied. The decision on when to file it will be taken tomorrow,” Fernandes said.

Meanwhile, President’s Rule has been imposed in Maharashtra after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his approval to the requisite notification.

The President signed the notification following the recommendation of the Union Cabinet which acted on the report from the state Governor Koshyari.

Sena filed a petition in the apex court against Koshyari’s decision not to extend the time given to it to prove its ability to form the government in the state.

Shiv Sena-led by Uddhav Thackeray has emerged as the second-largest party in last month’s Maharashtra assembly elections, after the BJP.

The petition said that the Governor worked in “hot haste” on Monday in refusing to “grant even three days time to the petitioner to demonstrate that it has the requisite majority to form the government in Maharashtra”.

The party, in its petition, said that the BJP used “the Governor’s office in an attempt to prevent it from forming the government”.

Shiv Sena, through its plea, said that as per the constitutional conventions and practice, the Governor is duty-bound to allow a reasonable time for political parties to conclude their negotiation on government formation and not act as an agent or mouthpiece of the central government.

“It is submitted that the instant is a classic case where these constitutional conventions which have the force of law have been followed by the Governor in sheer breach,” it said.

BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra assembly polls with 105 seats, declined to form the government following differences with Shiv Sena on sharing power.

The majority mark in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly is 145. The NCP has 54 MLAs in the state assembly while the Congress has 44. (ANI)

President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday greeted the nation on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti.

Taking to Twitter, the President said, “On the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, greetings to all fellow citizens, especially to our Sikh brothers and sisters in India and abroad.”

In another tweet, he also stated that the life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji inspires us to build a society based on his teachings of “equality, compassion and social amity.”

Vice President Naidu also wished people through micro-blogging site and wrote, “I extend my warm greetings and good wishes to the people of our country on the auspicious occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. #550YearsOfGuruNanakDevJi.”

Calling Guru Nanak Devi ji a shining apostle of the sublime spiritual ethos of India, the Vice President was of the view that Nanak truly democratized religion by making spiritual truths easily understandable for the common man. “He rejected rituals and superstitions and kindled devotion to the Supreme God.”

“Guru Nanak Dev Ji taught ethical and compassionate ways to lead a life of satisfaction and fulfillment. He was an icon of truth, compassion, and righteousness. On this joyous occasion, I pray that the light of wisdom and humanity lit by Guru Nanak Dev Ji will guide us to build a more harmonious, peaceful and compassionate world,” Naidu said in another tweet.

Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees flocked to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib in New Delhi on the occasion of Guru Purab to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. The Gurudwaras have been decorated with lights on the occasion.

The day is celebrated on the full moon day of the Kartik month as per the Hindu calendar. Hence, it is also known as Kartik Poornima.

(ANI)

The political uncertainty continued in Maharashtra after a day of hectic political developments on Monday though there was some movement towards forming a non-BJP government in the state with the Shiv Sena talking to NCP, and the Congress holding a meeting of its working committee in the national capital.

At the end of the day, Shiv Sena, which is keen to have its chief minister in the state, did not get additional time from Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to submit letters of support from the NCP and the Congress.

The Governor, instead, called the NCP, which finished third in the assembly polls, and asked it to indicate its willingness to form the government in the state.

In another development, Arvind Sawant, the lone representative of Shiv Sena in the BJP-led government at the Centre, resigned from his post as part of his party’s efforts to get the backing of NCP.

The political chess-game in the state started after BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party in the results declared on October 24 by getting 105 seats, declined to form the government following its differences with its ally Shiv Sena over power-sharing.

The Shiv Sena insisted on getting the post of chief minister for two-and-a-half years but the BJP said there had not been any such understanding between the two parties ahead of the polls. Shiv Sena emerged as the second-largest party in the polls and got 56 seats.

Both the NCP and the Congress held meetings in the morning over the developments as the Shiv Sena expressed its desire to form a non-BJP government. The NCP made it clear that it will not make a decision without its ally Congress spelling out its stance. The NCP has 54 MLAs in the assembly while the Congress has 44.

Sources said that there was a meeting between Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

The Congress Working Committee discussed the developments in Maharashtra and decided to have a meeting with its leaders from Maharashtra before taking a decision.

However, at the end of deliberations, the party issued a statement which talked of further consultations with the NCP and made no mention of the Shiv Sena.

“The Congress Working Committee met this morning and had a detailed discussion on the situation in Maharashtra after which consultation was held with Maharashtra Congress leaders. The Congress president has spoken to Sharad Pawarji. The party will have further discussion with NCP,” said the statement issued by party general secretary KC Venugopal.

Extending support to the Shiv Sena is not an easy proposition for the Congress, not only because the two parties have been adversaries in Maharashtra but also because of its implications on the electoral prospects of Congress in other states.

However, a section of the newly-elected MLAs is in favour of joining hands with the NCP and the Shiv Sena to form a non-BJP government.

Koshyari on Monday asked NCP leaders including Ajit Pawar to indicate willingness and ability of his party to form the government in Maharashtra. He had on Sunday asked Shiv Sena legislative party leader Eknath Shinde about the government formation in the state.

NCP leader Jayant Patil told reporters after meeting with the Governor that as per the procedure, the party had been given the letter. “We suggested to him that we will have to talk to our allies and we will get back to him as early as possible. The deadline is 8.30 pm tomorrow,” he said.

Patil said the party will hold consultations with the Congress and convey its views to the Governor.

NCP leader Nawab Malik had said earlier that non-BJP government cannot be formed in the state without NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena.

(ANI)