Archives for 2020

Pune: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank’s enhanced regulatory role will deter malpractices and make the nation’s financial system more credible.

“Regulatory oversight of the RBI has also brought greater stability of banking operations,” the president said in his address at the golden jubilee celebration of the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) here.

He said recently the role of RBI as regulator has been enhanced, and “We trust that this will deter malpractices and make our financial system more credible”.

Banks are fulcrum of the country’s economic ecosystem, and have played a sterling role in fuelling India’s growth over the years, he stated.

Through financial inclusion, we have taken rapid strides to cover the unbanked population, and the increase of deposit insurance from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh is a positive step in assuring our savers, he added.

New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal is likely to be sworn in as the chief minister of Delhi on February 16 for the third time at the Ramlila Maidan, sources said on Wednesday.

Kejriwal’s oath-taking ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan also assumes significance as it was from this ground that he along with Anna Hazare led a massive anti-corruption agitation.

He has taken oath as the chief minister twice before at the same venue.

The Aam Aadmi Party swept the Delhi Assembly polls bagging 62 out 70 seats and decimating its rivals BJP and Congress. The BJP bagged eight seats.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday expressed displeasure over the CBI’s investigation into a bribery case involving its former Special Director Rakesh Asthana and asked why the accused with a bigger role in the case were roaming free while the CBI arrested its own DSP.

Asthana and DSP Devender Kumar, who was arrested in 2018 and later got bail, were named in column 12 of the charge sheet in the case since there was not enough evidence to make them accused.

The CBI registered the case against Asthana on the basis of a complaint from Hyderabad-based businessman Satish Sana, facing probe in a 2017 case involving meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

“Why are certain accused who seem to have a bigger role in the case were roaming free while the CBI arrested its own DSP,” asked Special CBI Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal.

The court put up the matter for further consideration on February 19.

Sullia: Subrahmanya Police on Tuesday arrested four people in connection with the rape of a 17-year old minor girl hailing from Subrahmanya. The victim had named the four arrested persons as the accused in her complaint.

The victim was reportedly impregnated by the accused and was later given tablets for aborting the child which the victim consumed resulting in excessive bleeding. Parents of the victims after noticing excessive bleeding of the victim had lodged complaint in local police station.

The girl had initially named two persons as the accused and later came up with four more names taking the total number of accused in the case to six. All the six accused were then booked under POCSO Act by the police.

The arrested accused have been identified as Sanketh, Venkatesh, Deekesh and Ashok while two other alleged accused Chandrashekhar and Durgaprasad are still on run and the investigation team has launched manhunt for the duo.

New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice M M Shantanagoudar on Wednesday recused himself from hearing the plea filed by Sara Abdullah Pilot challenging the detention of her brother and NC leader Omar Abdullah under the J-K Public Safety Act.

Pilot’s plea came up for hearing before a three-judge bench comprising justices N V Ramana, Shantanagoudar and Sanjiv Khanna.

“I am not participating in this matter,” Justice Shantanagoudar said at the outset without citing any specific reason for his recusal.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Pilot, urged the bench to list the matter for tomorrow. The bench said the plea would be heard on Thursday.

Pilot had on Monday moved the top court challenging her brother’s detention under the J-K Public Safety Act, 1978, saying the order of detention is “manifestly illegal” and there is no question of him being a “threat to the maintenance of public order”.

The plea has sought quashing of the February 5 order detaining Abdullah under the PSA and also sought his production before the court.

Pilot has said that exercise of powers by authorities under the CrPC to detain individuals, including political leaders, was “clearly mala fide to ensure that the opposition to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution is silenced”.

Her plea said the intent of exercise of power was to “incarcerate not just him (Omar Abdullah) but the entire leadership of the National Conference, as well as the leadership of other political parties, who were similarly dealt with including Farooq Abdullah, who has served the state and the union over several years… stood by India whenever the situation so demanded.”

It said that on the intervening night of August 4-5, 2019, Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was put under house arrest and it was later learnt that section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 was invoked to justify such arrest.

“There has been a grave violation of Articles 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution,” the plea said, adding, “similar orders of detention have been issued by respondents (authorities of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir) over the last seven months in a wholly mechanical manner to other detenues, which suggest that there has been a consistent and concerted effort to muzzle all political rivals”.

It said there could be no material available to detain a person who has already been detained for previous six months and the “grounds for the detention order are wholly lacking any material facts or particulars which are imperative for an order of detention”.

“In fact, a reference to all public statements and messages posted by the detenue (Omar Abdullah) during the period up to his first detention would reveal that he has kept calling for peace and cooperation – messages which in Gandhi’s India cannot remotely affect public order,” it said.

The plea said Omar Abdullah was not even served with the material that formed the basis of the detention order and its non-supply vitiates the detention, which is liable to be quashed.

It said that at no point of time in his “prolific political career”, he has resorted to or indulged in conduct unbecoming of a “conscientious public figure”.

The grounds of detention against Omar Abdullah, who was chief minister of the state from 2009-14, claims that on the eve of reorganisation of the state he had allegedly made attempts to provoke general masses against the revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A.

Omar Abdullah, who has been junior foreign minister and commerce minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Cabinet in 2000, was served with a three-page dossier in which he was alleged to have made statements in the past which were “subversive” in nature.

The Congress in Bihar had enjoyed strong electoral base till 1985, when it represented the SC, ST, OBC’s Dalits, upper castes and the Muslims.

PATNA: The day the Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections on Tuesday, Bihar party in-charge Ajay Kapoor hinted it could ditch the RJD-led ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar and possibly fight alone in the next Bihar Assembly elections.

Kapoor was discussing the party’s strategy for the Bihar assembly polls, due this year, with state leaders and district Congress heads. Kapoor motivated party leaders to start preparations on all seats for the polls this year and highlight how the NDA government had failed to meet expectations of the people.

Party insiders said, Kapoor was advised by a majority of district presidents to fight the polls alone as people disliked the party’s alliance with the RJD, which many take as the symbol of backwardness of the state. The Congress in Bihar had enjoyed strong electoral base till 1985, when it represented the SC, ST, OBC’s Dalits, upper castes and the Muslims.

“Weak party leadership and our association with RJD is what has set us back,” said a senior leader.Later, Kapoor told media that the Congress would prepare for all seats and would start an extensive political outreach programme immediately. Asked for his comments, senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary said, “No one has stopped Congress from going alone.”

He, however said, “Has the Congress Party taken cognizance of its washout in Delhi? … Had it been the other way, it would not have ended on zero.”

Tiwary said, “Congress unfortunately has no strategy. If it indeed wants to go alone, no one can stop them but would it be worthwhile?” he wondered.

Congress has had a long association in Bihar with RJD and even formed governments together. However, its alliance dulled its political clarity with its vote base strongly migrating to the RJD.

Leader of opposition in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav played down the role played by election strategist and former JDU leader Prashant Kishor in shaping up Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Delhi.

Terming Prashant Kishor as a mere professional, Tejaswi ruled out the possibility of taking his services for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

“Prashant Kishor is just a professional and offers his services to any political party he thinks is likely to win elections”, said the RJD leader.