Month: April 2022

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that a Hindu father or any other managing member of a Hindu undivided family has the power to make a gift of the ancestral property only for a ‘pious purpose’.

The top court also clarified that a deed of gift in regard to the ancestral property executed ‘out of love and affection’ does not come within the scope of the term ‘pious purpose’.

A bench of Justices Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said, “It is well settled that a Hindu father or any other managing member of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) has the power to make a gift of the ancestral property only for a ‘pious purpose’ and what is understood by

the term ‘pious purpose’ is a gift for charitable and/or religious purpose.”

“Therefore, a deed of gift in regard to the ancestral property executed ‘out of love and affection’ does not come within the scope of the term ‘pious purpose’, ” the top court said.

The Court also said that it is irrelevant if such gift or settlement was made by a donor, that is the first defendant, in favour of a donee who was raised by the donor without any relationship that is the second defendant.

The Court held that the gift deed in the instant case is not for any charitable or religious purpose.

KC Chandrappa Gowda filed a suit in Trial Court against his father KS Chinne Gowda and one KC Laxmana for partition and separate possession of his one third share in the suit schedule property and for a declaration that the gift/settlement deed dated March 22, 1980 executed by the first defendant China Gowda in favour of the second defendant KC Laxmana as null and void.

According to the plaintiff, the scheduled property belongs to the joint family consisting of himself, the first defendant and one KC Subraya Gowda.

The plaintiff further contended that the first defendant had no right to transfer the scheduled property in favour of the second defendant as he is not a member of their family.

The trial court had dismissed the plea of Chandrappa Gowda, who moved the Appellate Court challenging the order of the trial court. The Appellate Court had set aside the order of the trial court and passed an order in favour of Chandrappa Gowda. Thereafter KC Laxmana, the second defendant in the matter approached Karnataka High Court against the order of the Appellate Court. But Karnataka High Court dismissed KC Laxmana, who later moved to Supreme Court. The top court dismissed the plea of KC Laxmana.

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court order and said, “We are of the view that the settlement deed/gift deed dated March 22, 1980 executed by the first defendant in favour of the second defendant was rightly declared as null and void by the first Appellate Court and

the High Court. (ANI)

National Security Act (NSA) was on Tuesday imposed against five culprits involved in the clashes that took place in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri that erupted between members of two groups during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on April 16, top government officials said.

NSA has been imposed against Ansar, Salim, Imam Sheikh alias Sonu, Dilshad and Ahir for their involvement in the Jahangirpuri violence, officials said.
The action was taken a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana to take strict action over Jahangirpuri violence.

Shah had given his direction in a telephonic conversation with Asthana followed by a report presented before him by senior Delhi Police officials on the incident.

On Saturday, the Home Minister also talked to Asthana and Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Depender Pathak over the incident and asked them to maintain law and order.

The situation turned tense in the north-west Delhi’s Jahangirpuri soon after stone-pelting and chaos ensued following clashes between members of two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in the evening.

The FIR, registered on the complaint filed by a police officer at the Jahangirpuri police station, mentions that there was a peaceful Shobha Yatra procession to mark Hanuman Jayanti and an argument escalated. It led to stone-pelting.

Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana on Monday informed in a press briefing that 14 teams of police are investigating the Jahangirpuri violence case.

So far, 21 people have been arrested and two juveniles detained in connection with the incident that left nine people injured including eight police personnel and one civilian.

The Delhi Police Commissioner said that a close watch was being maintained on the social media platforms and assured legal action against those attempting to spread misinformation.

“Four teams of forensics examined the spot today. 14 teams of police are investigating the case from different angles. The investigation is in the initial phase. A total of 21 people were arrested and some others are on remand,” Asthana told ANI on Monday.

A total of 14 accused in the case were produced before the Rohini court on Sunday, which sent two prime accused – Ansar and Aslam – to police custody for a day. The remaining 12 were sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

“We are monitoring social media closely, and legal action will be taken against those who are found spreading misinformation,” Asthana said when asked about reports that flags were installed at a mosque. Three firearms and five swords have been recovered from the possession of the accused persons, said police.

“As of now, three firearms recovered. A forensic examination will be done on the recovery. Restrictions in the Jahangirpuri area were imposed to create a sense of safety. The police deployment will be decreased after the situation gets better,” the Delhi CP said.

On the violent clashes, the Delhi top cop said, “An altercation between the two groups erupted, now what was the altercation and why it happened, saying anything on this before concluding the investigation will not be right.”

On Monday, Ravindra Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch informed that the Delhi Police Crime Branch and the district police are jointly probing the incident. (ANI)

World Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday that he and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva will hold talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal on April 21 during the World Bank/IMF Spring meetings in Washington.

“We are going to have an important meeting where we will talk with Ukraine’s Prime Minister and the Finance Minister [Serhiy Marchenko] who will be in,” Malpass said.
The World Bank president also said that representatives of several countries who are providing support to Ukraine will participate this meeting as well.

Malpass noted the World Bank has been very quick in its response to address Ukraine’s needs, but pointed out the importance of continuing providing humanitarian assistance, including to hospital workers.

Malpass also urged focusing on providing re-building support to Ukraine as well. (ANI/Sputnik)

China hopes that the US will remain committed to its promises regarding military actions in outer space, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.

On Monday, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced the decision to ban the country’s anti-satellite weapon tests as “destructive.”
“We hope that the American side will truly assume the obligations of a major power, revise a number of its own negative actions in outer space, stop the hypocritical practice of expanding its military superiority under the pretext of arms control, and stop blocking the process of coordinating legal documents on arms control in space,” Wang said.

He added that the US is the first country in the world to test anti-satellite weapons, and has conducted the largest number of such tests.

The diplomat stressed that China has always advocated the peaceful use of outer space, noting that China and Russia in 2008 jointly submitted a draft treaty to the Conference on Disarmament which explicitly prohibits the deployment of weapons in space.

The Biden administration’s decision to impose a ban is reportedly in part due to Russia’s successful anti-satellite weapon system test in November 2021, when Moscow destroyed its old spacecraft Celina-D.

Moscow said the test was not directed at anyone and was carried out in accordance with international law, including the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. It also said because of the satellite’s location, the debris poses no threat to other spacecraft, including the International Space Station. (ANI/Sputnik)

After a two-year restriction due to the COVID pandemic, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has recently allowed 100 per cent of passengers capacity in domestic and international airports.

But several airports in the country have reported long queues during peak hours of flight operations.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture submitted its reports in the parliament during just concluded the budget session and recommended non-intrusive screening entry inside the airports.

“The Committee during its deliberations with the Ministry has often pointed out that a few of the airports, there are long passenger queues during peak hours. In view of the government guidelines for avoiding public gatherings in the context of the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, more steps may be taken to resolve the issue. The Committee also notes that the Ministry proposes to increase the number of flights. The Committee observes that at most of the airports in the country, Door Frame Metal Detectors (DFMDs), Hand Held Metal Detectors (HHMDs) and physical frisking are done on a random basis,” the report of parliamentary panel said.

The Committee is of the opinion that the present system of DFMD or HHMD, besides being obsolete technology, is intrusive on the privacy of passengers.

“In this context, the Committee recommends that in addition to steps taken to ease queues, the Ministry may also expedite its proposal for installation of Full Body Scanners at airports, which would enhance the technology of frisking of passengers and lead to faster clearance of queues at frisking points. Besides, the number of frisking counters may also be increased at airports and adequately trained personnel should be posted to man these counters effectively,” said the report.

In view of the increasing crowd at airports across the country, the parliamentary panel in its report suggested introducing biometric facility and retinal scanners for identification of passengers to avoid crowding.

“Ministry should explore the feasibility of biometric screening of passengers at airports, using tools such as facial recognition, fingerprint and retinal scans which are presently being used at many airports worldwide. The Committee desires that the Ministry may examine the feasibility of retinal scans for frisking passengers, as the retinal scan data of most of the domestic passengers are available in the Aadhaar database,” the report said.

“Biometric security is non-intrusive and faster than conventional screening, which leads to faster screening of passengers and leads to less crowding at airports and is therefore being introduced in many airports abroad. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the global best practices for biometric scanning and screening of passengers should be introduced in the country,” it added.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday expressed confidence about India’s aviation industry getting back to the normal pre-pandemic level.

The aviation industry of India touched over four lakh domestic passengers in a day on Monday.

Terming the development as “historic” Scindia, while speaking to ANI, said, “It was a very difficult time in the previous years due to the covid pandemic. We have seen over 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9 lakhs passengers in a day over the last 10 days. I’m confident that travelling–both domestically and internationally, in India is coming back strong.” (ANI)

The national capital on Tuesday reported as many as 632 fresh COVID-19 infections with a positivity rate of 4.42 per cent, the Delhi Health Department informed.

Previously, Delhi’s COVID-19 positivity rate on Monday stood at 7.72 per cent as the city recorded 501 fresh cases.
With the cases logged in today, the city’s total COVID-19 cases rose up to 18,69,683 of which 1,947 are active cases.

Moreover, as many as 414 patients recovered from COVID-19 thereby taking the total recoveries to 18,41,576 in the city.

The city health department further informed that no fatalities from Coronavirus was reported on Tuesday. With this, the death toll stood at 26,160. The case fatality rate also stands at 1.4 per cent.

As far as the COVID-19 vaccination’s progress is observed, the city health department informed today that as many as 34,480 beneficiaries have been vaccinated in the last 24 hours. Cumulative doses provided so far in the city touched 3,29,53,424.

To contain the spread of the virus, the total number of containment zones in the city as of date is 625.

Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Thursday said it will hold a meeting on April 20 to discuss the current situation in wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the national capital. (ANI)

The death toll from explosions in western Kabul has exceeded 20, the 1TV News broadcaster reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

Earlier in the day, a local source told Sputnik that an explosion occurred at the Abdul Rahim Shahid High School in the capital’s Dasht-e-Barchi district, with six people killed and dozens injured. The city’s security department said later that three explosions occurred on school grounds.
Before that, another explosion occurred on the territory of the Mumtaz school, also in the western part of Kabul.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions yet. (ANI)

Huma Qureshi has bagged a new project titled ‘Tarla’.

In the film, she will be seen essaying the role of India’s famous chef Tarla Dalal.
Excited about bringing the achievements of Tarla Dalal to the big screen, Huma said, “Tarla Dalal reminds me of my childhood. My mom had a copy of her book in the kitchen and would often try many of her recipes for my school tiffin. I also clearly remember the time when I helped mom make Tarla’s homemade mango ice cream. This role has taken me back to those sweet childhood memories and I am very thankful to Ronnie, Ashwini and Nitesh for having faith in me to play this awe-inspiring character.”

‘Tarla’ is being directed by Piyush Gupta and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, and Nitesh Tiwari.

For the unversed, Tarla Dalal was an Indian food writer, chef, cookbook author, and host of cooking shows.

She was the first Indian to have been awarded a Padmashree in the culinary skills category in 2007. Her “desi nuskhe” are still a topic of conversation in every Indian household, often given credit for refashioning vegetarian food in India. (ANI)

The Central government’s insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 has been extended for another period of 180 days.

“The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP): Insurance scheme for Healthcare Workers Fighting COVID-19 has been extended for a further period of 180 days from 19th April, 2022. It has been decided to extend the policy so as to continue to provide the safety net to the dependents of health workers who are deputed to take care of COVID-19 patients,” the government said in an order.
A letter dated 19th April 2022 to this effect has been issued to Additional Chief Secretaries (Health)/Principal Secretaries (Health)/ Secretaries (Health) of all States/UTs for giving wide publicity amongst the health workers in their respective States/UTs.

The PMGKP was launched on March 30, 2020 to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs 50 Lakh to 22.12 lakh healthcare providers, including community health workers and private health workers, who may have been in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and may be at risk.

Further, on account of the unprecedented situation, private hospital staff/retired/ volunteer/local urban bodies/contract/daily wage/ad-hoc/outsourced staff requisitioned by states/central hospitals/autonomous hospitals of central/states/UTs, AIIMS and Institute of National Importance (INI)/hospitals of Central Ministries specifically drafted for care of COVID-19 patients are also covered under the PMGKP, the government said.

Since the launch of the scheme, so far, 1905 claims of health workers who died while being deployed for COVID-19 related duties have been settled.

Meanwhile, India recorded 1,247 fresh COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, registering a huge drop of nearly 43 per cent from yesterday.

Active cases now constitute 0.03 per cent of the country’s total Positive Cases. According to the ministry, 928 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,25,11,701 with which the country’s Covid recovery rate stands at 98.76 per cent.

The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.34 per cent and the Daily Positivity rate is also reported to be 0.31 per cent. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar.

He laid the foundation stone in the presence of the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO).
Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) will be the first and only global outpost centre for traditional medicine across the world. It will emerge as an international hub of global wellness.

PM Modi is on a three-day visit to Gujarat. Earlier in the day, he dedicated to the nation a new dairy complex and potato processing plant at Diyodar, Banaskantha district, built at a cost of over Rs. 600 crores. (ANI)