Author: LokMarg

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on July 21 in the National Herald case.

Official sources said that Sonia Gandhi has been asked to be deposed before the investigators at its headquarters here around 11 am on July 21.
The fresh summon was issued as Sonia Gandhi could not join the ED investigation in the case due to COVID-19.

The agency had earlier issued similar summons to Sonia Gandhi as she did not appear before the investigators on June 8 and then June 21 due to COVID-19.

The Congress leader had developed a mild fever on June 1 evening and was found COVID-19 positive upon testing the next morning.

The ED had on June 1 summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case for the first time in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald.

The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi’s statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED last month questioned Rahul Gandhi on several occasions in the case.

The case to investigate alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

Swamy had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each.

The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.

Congress argued that YIL was a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders.

Calling it a case of political vendetta, senior Supreme Court advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had said, “This is truly a very weird case — an alleged money laundering case on which summons are issued with no money involved.”

The federal agency’s move followed the questioning of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal in April this year in New Delhi in connection with its money laundering probe into the National Herald case.

The agency then recorded the statements of both the Congress leaders then under the PMLA. The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by YIL. While Kharge is the CEO of YIL, Bansal is the Managing Director of AJL.

The ED is currently investigating the shareholding pattern and financial transactions as well as the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL. (ANI)

Putting an end to the dual-leadership structure in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) was on Monday elected as the party’s interim General Secretary at its General Council meeting held here today.

The development follows Madras High Court allowing Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party to hold its General Council meeting and comes as a setback to party’s former coordinator O Pannerselvam (OPS) who had petitioned the court for a stay.
The HC order was passed at 9 am and the GC meeting led by E Palaniswami at the party office in Vanagaram, which was chaired by the presidium chairman A Tamil Mahan Hussain. The meeting passed as many as 16 resolutions, including one that squashed dual-leadership and created the post of deputy general secretary and to ensure electing a person for the post by the primary members of the party. The party election will be conducted in four months.

The second resolution sought a Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour for E V Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ and C N Annadurai and the later chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

After the demise of Jayalalithaa in 2016, the party has been following a dual-leadership formula with EPS as co-coordinator and OPS as coordinator. The clamour has been growing louder for a single leader in the party since the district secretary meeting on June 14 this year.

Meanwhile ahead of today’s court’s ruling supporters of the EPS and OPS factions clashed on the streets of Chennai. Some people were injured in the clash.

OPS supporter, Kolathur District Secretary, Krishnamurthy got hit by a stone thrown by EPS supporters at the party headquarters. The supporters of OPS and EPS pelted stones against each other and also burnt posters and banners ahead of the meeting. OPS supporters protested outside AIADMK’s headquarters in Royapettah.

Visuals showed OPS supporters hitting E Palaniswami’s photo with slippers. Some of OPS supporters were seen breaking open the door of AIADMK office. (ANI)

The Supreme Court on Monday sentenced fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to four months jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 2000 on him. Mallya was found guilty of contempt of court in 2017 for withholding information from it.

The court also directed Mallya to return USD 40 million with interest within four weeks failure of which would lead to the seizure of his properties.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2000 on Mallya.

Earlier on July 9, the apex court, during the hearing, had noted that Mallya behaves like “a free person” in the United Kingdom and no information was forthcoming about the proceedings concerning Mallya there.

Amicus curiae, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, assisting the bench in the case had submitted that Mallya was held guilty on two counts – for not disclosing assets and violating expressive orders of restraint passed by the Karnataka High Court.

Last year, the top court while saying that it has waited “long enough” and cannot “wait longer now” for Mallya to get extradited from the United Kingdom to India, decided to go ahead with the hearing on the quantum of punishment in the contempt case against him.

The top court had held Mallya guilty of contempt of court for transferring USD 40 million to his children in violation of the court’s order and sought his presence before it on various occasions.

On February 10, the Supreme Court granted the last opportunity of two weeks for Mallya to personally present or through counsel in the contempt case against him and if he fails to do so the court will take the matter to the logical conclusion.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that it’s not the Government of India’s stand that something confidential is going on in the case in the United Kingdom but it is what the government has been informed by the UK that there is something going on which can’t be shared.

Earlier, Mehta had furnished a document of Deputy Secretary (Extradition) Ministry of External Affairs, to which the bench had said the proceedings for extradition of Mallya to India from the United Kingdom has attained finality but certain “confidential proceedings” are pending in the UK, details of which are not known.

The Centre had also said that Mallya has already exhausted all his avenues of appeal in the UK.

Previously the Centre had informed the top court that legal complexities in the United Kingdom are preventing the extradition of fugitive Mallya, but the government of India is making all efforts and doing its best to extradite him.

The apex court had dismissed a plea filed by Mallya seeking a review of its May 2017 order holding him guilty of contempt.

Mallya is accused of a bank loan default case of over Rs 9,000 crore involving his defunct Kingfisher Airlines and is presently in the United Kingdom.

The Supreme Court had issued its May 9, 2017, order on a plea by a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), claiming he had allegedly transferred USD 40 million received from British firm Diageo to his children in “flagrant violation” of various judicial orders.

Earlier, the apex court had asked Mallya about the “truthfulness” of his disclosure of assets and the transfer of money to his children.

At that time, the top court was dealing with pleas of lending banks seeking contempt action and a direction to Mallya to deposit USD 40 million received from offshore firm Diageo to the banks respectively.

The banks had then accused Mallya of concealing the facts and diverted the money to his son Siddharth Mallya and daughters Leanna Mallya and Tanya Mallya in flagrant violation of the orders passed by the Karnataka High Court. (ANI)

Electricity in the national capital is likely to get costlier with the increase in the Power Purchase Adjustment Charge (PPAC) by around 4 per cent.

The PPAC has been increased by around 4 per cent with effect from June 11, 2022, as per the approval of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).
As per the power distribution company (DISCOM) officials, the PPAC is levied to balance the increase in fuel prices.

The increase in PPAC has come ahead of the inflated prices of imported coal by the central coal generating stations, increased prices of gas, and high prices of power exchanges, which had reached almost Rs 20 per unit before being capped by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to Rs 12 per unit.

According to officials, since 2002, the cost of buying power for Delhi DISCOMS has increased by around 300 per cent, a cost over which DISCOMS have no control, whereas the retail tariff has risen by around 90 per cent in the corresponding period.

As per DISCOM, timely review of the PPAC is a requirement under the Electricity Act, DERC’s own tariff orders and Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) orders.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission allows the central public service power generation companies like the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation (NHPC), and transmission companies to review the PPAC on a monthly basis.

On the other hand, Delhi DISCOMS review the PPAC on a quarterly basis.

Power Purchase Adjustment Charge (PPAC) is an additional charge given to production companies by DISCOMS to compensate for variations in the market-driven fuel costs, on account of increases in coal and gas prices. (ANI)

Twitter is contemplating legal action against Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk over his decision to terminate a USD 44 billion takeover deal.

As per The Hill, the microblogging site has hired a large New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP as it prepares to sue Musk.
Twitter will file its lawsuit in Delaware next week. Meanwhile, Musk is being represented by the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

On Saturday, Bret Taylor, Twitter’s chairman said, “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”

Musk announced the termination of a USD 44 billion Twitter purchase deal in a letter sent by Musk’s team to Twitter earlier on Saturday.

Musk decided to suspend the deal due to multiple breaches of the purchase agreement.

The Tesla CEO’s team strongly believes that the proportion of spam and fake accounts is “wildly higher” than 5 per cent, according to the letter.

“As further described below, Mr Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that Agreement,” the letter said on Friday. “

“In short, Twitter has not provided information that Mr Musk has requested for nearly two months notwithstanding his repeated, detailed clarifications intended to simplify Twitter’s identification, collection, and disclosure of the most relevant information sought in Mr Musk’s original requests.”

In April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at USD 54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. However, Musk put the deal on hold in May to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter’s claim that less than 5% of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.

Back in June, Musk had openly accused the microblogging website of breaching the merger agreement and threatened to walk away and call off the acquisition of the social media company for not providing the data he has requested on spam and fake accounts.

Musk alleged that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights” as outlined by the deal, CNN reported, citing the letter he sent to Twitter’s head of legal, policy and trust, Vijaya Gadde.

Musk demanded that Twitter turn over information about its testing methodologies to support its claims that bots and fake accounts constitute less than 5 per cent of the platform’s active user base, a figure the company has consistently stated for years in boilerplate public disclosures. (ANI)

Amarnath Yatra, which was partially suspended after a cloudburst incident near the holy cave, resumed on Monday morning.

A fresh batch of Amarnath pilgrims has started to move from the Jammu base camp.
“We are filled with energy and will not go back without the ‘darshan’ of Baba. We have full faith in Bhole Baba and are waiting for the darshan of Baba. We are happy that the Yatra has resumed. CRPF and other personnel have guided us to move ahead safely,” said the pilgrims.

Amarnath Yatra, which was partially suspended after a cloudburst incident, will resume on Monday from the Nunwan Pahalgam side, informed the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board on Sunday.

The pilgrims were waiting at the Baltal Base camp for the yatra to recommence.

Sixteen people were dead and at least three dozen were missing after a cloudburst triggered flash floods near the cave shrine of Amarnath occurred on Friday.

Choppers from both sides, Baltal and Nunwan will be available.

An additional 34 injured pilgrims were evacuated by IAF Mi-17 V5 and Cheetal helicopters today. IAF helicopters also airlifted 20 NDRF personnel along with six canines to search for missing persons stuck under debris.

The Indian Army on Sunday inducted radars to trace survivors under the debris which was laid after a cloudburst struck the area near the holy shrine of Amarnath on Friday.

“Xaver 4000 radar has been inducted and has been operational at Amarnath since late noon for finding any survivors under the debris,” said Indian Army officials.

Earlier, Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha on Sunday visited a base camp in Pahalgam and met pilgrims.

“The security personnel and administration have carried out an efficient rescue operation. We pay condolences to those who lost their lives. Efforts are underway to resume the Yatra along with repairing the path. Pilgrims should come, we will provide them with all facilities,” Sinha assured.

Earlier, Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha on Sunday visited a base camp in Pahalgam and met pilgrims.

“The security personnel and administration have carried out an efficient rescue operation. We pay condolences to those who lost their lives. Efforts are underway to resume the Yatra along with repairing the path. Pilgrims should come, we will provide them with all facilities,” Sinha assured.

The Amarnath yatra was temporarily suspended on Friday, till further notice.

As many as 35 pilgrims were discharged following treatment, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) Officials informed on Saturday.

“35 pilgrims have been discharged following treatment. 17 people are getting the treatment and are likely to get discharged tonight. All safe and healthy,” said SASB Officials.

The critically injured patients were airlifted to Srinagar. “Critically injured people were airlifted to Srinagar. 2 people who were buried but were alive were rescued. We’re taking all precautionary steps. 41 missing as per Jammu and Kashmir police out of which some were rescued. Yatra may resume within a day or two,” said Kuldiep Singh, DG, CRPF.

As per the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) data on Saturday, at least 16 people died in the cloud burst incident near the holy shrine of Amarnath.

Meanwhile, four Mi-17V5 and four Cheetal helicopters of the Indian Air Force were deployed for rescue and relief efforts at the Amarnath shrine on Saturday.

The Cheetal helicopters flew 45 sorties, carrying five NDRF and Army personnel and 3.5 tonnes of relief material while evacuating 45 survivors from the holy cave.

The Indian Army informed that they have pulled up “critical rescue equipment” to speed up the rescue operations in the affected areas.

“Indian Army pulls up critical rescue equipment to speed up the process of rescue operations and route maintenance in view of recent cloudburst of Amarnath in which 16 people lost their lives while several are assumed missing,” said the Indian Army. (ANI)

Amid speculation of some Congress legislators walking over to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa, Congress on Sunday removed party MLA Michael Lobo as the Leader of the Opposition in the Goa Assembly alleging that he along with Digambar Kamat hatched a conspiracy to engineer defections in “total coordination” with the BJP.

Addressing a press conference today, AICC Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said that a conspiracy was hatched by some of our own leaders with the BJP to see that the Congress party in Goa is weakened and to engineer defections.

“This conspiracy was led by two of our own leaders, Leaders of Opposition Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat. Both these people had been working in total coordination with BJP. One person- Digambar Kamat- did it to safeguard his own skin because so many cases are against him and the other person- Michael Lobo- for the sake of power and position. BJP wants to finish Opposition,” he said.

Rao said that a new leader will be elected for the post of Leader of Opposition.

“A new leader will be elected. Whatever action has to be taken by law against this kind of defection, anti-party work will follow. Let’s see how many people will stay/move. Five of our MLAs are here, we are in touch with some more MLAs and they’ll be along with us,” he said.

Rao asserted that the Congress party will not be disheartened or weakened. “We will take up this issue in a more aggressive manner. We will inform the people that this betrayal is being engineered by two people for the sake of power and personal gain,” he added.

Amid rumours that some Congress MLAs may cross over to the ruling BJP, Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Ramesh Tawadkar on Sunday cancelled the notification announcing elections for the post of Deputy Speaker.

The order withdrawing notification of election for the post of Deputy Speaker was withdrawn on Sunday morning. The election was scheduled to be held on July 12 during the upcoming monsoon Assembly session.

Legislature Secretary Namrata Ulman has said that the notification issued on July 8 under Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Goa Legislative Assembly stands withdrawn.

“Hence the notice of nomination for election of deputy speaker issued under 9(2) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Goa Legislative Assembly stands withdrawn also,” the order reads.

“All the Hon’ble members may note the same. No nomination shall be accepted for the aforesaid Election,” it adds.

The two-week-long Assembly session will begin on Monday.

The withdrawal comes amidst rife rumours claiming that a group of Congress MLAs may split to join the BJP. There was no formal confirmation even as the Congress MLAs held a series of meetings in the Margao town on Sunday.

In the Goa Assembly elections held earlier this year, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, winning 20 seats in the 40-member state Assembly and reducing Congress to 11 seats. (ANI)

With an aim to spread clarity about the Agnipath scheme, the Defence Minister will chair a consultative committee meeting which will include the presence of Minister of State Ajay Bhatt, the three service chiefs and the Defence Secretary.

Sources aware of the development say that it was a personal initiative taken by the defence ministry to allay the fears of the opposition on Agnipath so that it could lead to a clear political solution.

The meeting holds importance in terms of laying out facts before various members of Parliament just before the upcoming Monsoon Session.

“We have the Parliament session coming up and opposition parties are going to raise this particular issue and try and create a ruckus so in order to iron out whatever their issues or regarding the scheme and clarity can be provided this initiative has been taken by the Raksha Mantri,” sources told ANI.

Notably, Rajnath Singh also took on personal initiatives to brief senior opposition leaders on issues like India’s relationship with China and the LAC issue. Even then Singh had made personal calls and clarified the issues with former defence Minister Sharad Pawar and AK Antony amongst the others.

Indian Army and Navy have begun accepting registrations for the Agniveers programme, according to a July 2 Defense Ministry announcement. Agniveers will be enlisted for four years in the Army, Navy, and Air Force under the plan.

Based on merit, willingness, and medical fitness, up to 25 per cent of them could be retained or re-enlisted in the regular cadre after four years.

75% of the population will be qualified for “Seva Nidhi” packages of 11-12 lakh rupees. Additionally, they will be given bank loans and skill certificates for their second career.

The Air Force has received 7,49,899 applications for recruitment

Several senior members of Parliament including Mallikarjun Kharge, Manish Tiwari, Supriya Sule, P Wilson amongst those who are part of this committee that will hold the meeting tomorrow. (ANI)

Amid the Sri Lankan crisis, Trinamool Congress MLA from West Bengal Idris Ali on Sunday made a controversial remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the latter will meet the same fate that of his Sri Lankan counterpart.

“Whatever happened with the President of Sri Lanka, will happen with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. Looking at the things in India, I say that Prime Minister Modi is a total failure. It will be even worse here. Prime Minister Modi will also resign and flee,” TMC MLA Idris Ali told ANI.

Reacting to Ali’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tibrewal said the TMC does not have respect for Constitution and federalism.

“I believe it is not required to comment on the statements of the illetrate people. TMC MPs and MLAs have crossed all the limits. We have seen how Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is silent after the remarks of MP Mahua Moitra on Goddess Kali that hurt the sentiments of Hindus. It suggests that Chief Minister’s consent is there in these things. Such remarks about Prime Minister show the mentality of these people. It means they do not have regard for Constitution and federalism,” Tibrewal told ANI.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that India stands with the people of Sri Lanka as they seek prosperity and progress through democratic means and constitutional framework and continue to follow the development in the island country.

In pursuance of the central place that Sri Lanka occupies in our Neighbourhood First policy, India has extended this year unprecedented support of over USD 3.8 billion for ameliorating the serious economic situation in Sri Lanka, added the External Affairs Ministry.

Earlier on Saturday, protesters stormed into Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official home and later broke into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence and set it on fire.

Both President Rajapaksa and PM Wickremesinghe have announced to step down from their posts amid the ongoing protests.

However, the protesters who have occupied the residences of the President and Prime Minister have cleared that they will continue to occupy their houses until they resign from their posts.

The worsening economic situation in the country has led to increasing tensions and over the last few weeks, there were reports of several confrontations between individuals and members of the police force and the armed forces at fuel stations where thousands of desperate members of the public have queued for hours and sometimes days. Police have used tear gas and water cannons at times in a disproportionate manner. On occasions, armed forces have also fired live ammunition.

Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development and severely undermining the country’s ability to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice.

Reduced domestic agricultural production, a lack of foreign exchange reserves, and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortages. The economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty – some for the first time – adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic. (ANI)

The Indian Army has recently obtained requisite approvals to induct Mandarin-trained personnel in the Territorial Army for which notification for inviting applications for Mandarin experts into the Territorial Army has been issued on Sunday.

With recalibration of the Indian Army’s strategic outlook toward Northern borders, the Indian Army has upscaled its Chinese language training and has synergistically enmeshed appropriate scaling of Chinese linguists within its overall strategy.
A slew of measures has been undertaken to improve its in-house Mandarin expertise. The aim is to empower junior and senior military commanders to engage with PLA personnel as and when the situation arises. With improved Mandarin skills, Indian Army personnel will be better empowered to convey their points in a much more cogent manner.

Chinese language experts are a functional requirement at tactical level and are required for providing analysis at the operational and strategic level while catering for futuristic needs and maintaining adequate redundancy at all levels.

More Mandarin experts are required for better exchange of their own viewpoints and understanding of the PLA version of their activities during various interactions such as Corps Commander level talks, Flag meetings, Joint Exercises, Border Personnel Meetings and others, the Indian Army official statement said.

The Indian Army has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU), Central University of Gujarat (CUG), Shiv Nadar University (SNU) for imparting Mandarin proficiency to its personnel. Simultaneously, in-house efforts include increasing the vacancies at the Army’s Training School at Pachamari and the School of Foreign Languages, Delhi.

Proficiency level testing of trained soldiers is being conducted through civilian institutes like Langma School of Languages, New Delhi to assess the competence level of linguists as per international standards.

Apart from these, various Mandarin language courses are being run at the Language Schools at the Northern, Eastern and Central Command.

Indian Army is also using Artificial Intelligence-based solutions for the translation of various scripts or literature. As per inputs, the Indian Army now has a significant pool of Mandarin-qualified personnel drawn from all ranks i.e Officers, JCOs and NCOs. (ANI)