Archives for July 2021

New Delhi: The Income Tax Department on Thursday conducted raids against the media group Dainik Bhaskar in multiple cities over alleged tax evasion, official sources said.

They said the searches are being conducted in Bhopal, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and some other locations in the country.

While there was no official word from the department or its policy-making body, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), official sources said the action also involves the promoters of the major Hindi media group with operations across multiple states.

Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh said on Twitter that tax officials “are present” at half-a-dozen premises of the group, including at its office at Press Complex in state capital Bhopal.

New Delhi: A 108-year-old man did not live to see that the Supreme Court has admitted his appeal in a land dispute case he had been pursuing since 1968 and had remained pending before the Bombay High Court for 27 year before being dismissed.

On July 12 this year, the apex court agreed to hear the appeal after Sopan Narsinga Gaikwad’s counsel pleaded that the delay in filing the appeal may be viewed from the perspective that the aged petitioner belonged to a rural area of Maharashtra and learned of the high court verdict much later, and after that he got stuck due to the onset of Covid-19 pandemic.

The petitioner’s counsel Viraj Kadam told PTI, Unfortunately, the man, who pursued his case right from trial court to Supreme Court was not alive to hear that his matter has been agreed to be heard.

“He had expired before the court took up the matter on July 12 but the information about his demise from the rural area came just after the hearing. He will be now represented through legal heirs.”

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hrishikesh Roy has issued notice on the application for condonation of delay of 1,467 days and 267 days in moving the top court against the high court orders dated October 23, 2015 and February 13, 2019.

The top court also sought response from opposite parties in eight weeks.

Justice Chandrachud said, We have to take note of the fact that the petitioner is 108-years-old and moreover the High Court had not dealt with the merit of the case and the matter was dismissed due to non-appearance of the advocates .

The bench said that as the person is from rural area the lawyers concerned may not have been able to trace him after the case was dismissed in 2015.

It took note of the submission made by Kadam for the petitioner that the decree which was passed by the trial court was reversed by the first appellate court and the second appeal before the Bombay High Court was pending since 1988.

Kadam submitted that on August 19, 2015, the second appeal was adjourned, and, thereafter, both sets of counsel appeared before the high court on August 22, 2015 and sought an adjournment to seek instructions.

The Second Appeal was adjourned to September 3, 2015, but was eventually taken up on October 23, 2015 and was dismissed in default, Kadam said.

The bench asked whether the petitioner had moved a restoration application to which Kadam said that they had filed an application for condonation of delay caused in filing application for restoration of Second Appeal but it was also dismissed in February 13, 2019.

Gaikwad and others had filed second appeal before the high court challenging the judgment dated December 17, 1987 passed by trial court in first appeal at Latur where the decree given to him by the trial court on September 10, 1982, was reversed.

Gaikwad had purchased a plot of land in 1968 through a registered sale deed after which he came to know that it was already mortgaged to a bank in lieu of the loan taken by the original owner.

When the original owner defaulted on a loan, the bank issued a notice to Gaikwad for attachment over the property.

Gaikwad moved the trial court against the original owner and the bank saying that he is a bona fide purchaser of the land and the bank may be asked to recover the loan by selling other properties of the original owner.

The trial court accepted the contention of Gaikwad and passed a decree in his favour on September 10, 1982. The original owner moved the first appeal after which the decree was reversed in 1987.

Thereafter, Gaikwad moved the high court in the second appeal in 1988, which was dismissed in 2015.

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that around 50 lakh Indians died during the second wave of COVID-19 infection due to “wrong decisions” of the Union government.

India has officially reported around 4.18 lakh Covid deaths in the country so far.

Gandhi shared on his Twitter handle a new study by the Centre for Global Development which reported excess mortality estimates from three different data sources from the start of the pandemic through June 2021.

“The truth. GOI’s wrong decisions during Covid second wave killed 50 lakh of our sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers,” he tweeted while sharing the study.

In another tweet, Gandhi talked about the central government saying no to any compensation to those who lost their lives during the farmers’ protest.

“Everything is recorded in the tears of those who have lost their loved ones,” he said in a tweet in Hindi using the hashtag ‘farmers protest’.

Bengaluru: Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday cautioned the party leadership against removing B S Yediyurappa as the Karnataka Chief Minister as he brought the party to power in the State.

“It was Yeddiyurappa who first brought BJP to power in Karnataka. Some conspired to remove him since he would not be a ‘chamcha’. Without him, the party cannot return to power in the State. Only upon his return to the BJP could the party win again. Why repeat the same mistake?,” the 81-year-old Rajya Sabha member tweeted.

The Lingayat strongman that Yeddiyurappa is got support from Subramanian Swamy even as many seers of Lingayat Mutts have started rallying behind the Chief Minister amid speculation on his removal from the post.

Talks of change of leadership, which have been on for quite some time, gained momentum after Yediyurappa’s visit to Delhi last week. He has since strongly dismissed the talks as baseless.

New Delhi: A new generation of Akash surface-to-air missile was successfully flight-tested on Wednesday by the DRDO from an integrated test range off the Odisha coast in a boost to India’s air defence capabilities.

The defence ministry said the missile was test-fired at around 12:45 PM from a land-based platform and that the “flawless performance” of its weapons system was confirmed by the complete flight data.

“Once deployed, the Akash-NG weapon system will prove to be a force multiplier for the air defence capability of the Indian Air Force,” the ministry said in a statement.

It is learnt that the new variant of the Akash missile (Akash-NG) has a slightly better range compared to the original version that can strike targets at a distance of around 25 km.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO, the Indian Air Force and production agencies Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for the successful test-firing of the missile.

Separately, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) also successfully flight-tested an indigenously developed low weight man-portable anti-tank guided missile, paving the way for its production for the Army.

The missile is being developed to strengthen the combat capabilities of the Indian Army.

The ministry said the Aakash-NG missile was flight-tested at around 12:45 PM from a land-based platform.

“The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested the new generation Akash Missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off the coast of Odisha on July 21,” it said.

“The flight trial was conducted at around 12:45 PM from a land-based platform with all weapon system elements such as multifunction radar, command, control and communication system and launcher participating in the deployment configuration,” it added in a statement.

The Akash missile system has been developed by the DRDO’s laboratory in Hyderabad in collaboration with other wings of the premier defence research organisation.

In order to capture flight data, ITR deployed a number of monitoring mechanisms such as electro-optical tracking systems, radar and telemetry.

“The flawless performance of the entire weapon system has been confirmed by complete flight data captured by these systems. During the test, the missile demonstrated high manoeuvrability required for neutralising fast and agile aerial threats,” the ministry said.

DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy applauded the efforts of the team that was involved in the test-firing of the missile.

In December last year, the government approved the export of Akash missile system and set up a high-level committee to authorise sale of major platforms to various countries.

A committee comprising Defence Minister Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was set up to authorise exports of major indigenous platforms.

About the man-portable missile, the defence ministry described the successful trial as a major boost for the government’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) campaign.

“In a major boost towards ‘Aatmamirbhar Bharat’ and strengthening of Indian Army, the DRDO successfully flight-tested indigenously developed low weight, fire and forget Man-Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM) on July 21,” the ministry said.

It said the missile was launched from a man-portable launcher integrated with a thermal site and the target was mimicking a tank.

“The missile hit the target in direct attack mode and destroyed it with precision. The test has validated the minimum range successfully. All the mission objectives were met,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said that the missile has already been successfully flight-tested for the maximum range.

“The test brings the development of indigenous third-generation man-portable anti-tank guided missile close to completion,” the ministry said.

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday asserted that the concept of secularism needs to be defined in the context of `Indian civilisation’.

Attacking Leftist intellectuals, liberals and the media, Sarma said, at a function where RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat launched a book, claimed the country’s intellectual society is still dominated by the left-liberals with the media giving them more space while ignoring alternate voices.

“An intellectual terrorism has been unleashed and the Lefts in the country are more leftists than Karl Marx. There is no democracy in media….they have no space for Indian civilisation but there is space for Karl Marx and Lenin”, he claimed.

Mediapersons may agree in private to an alternative narrative but they prefer giving space to left -liberals saying that this reflects an independent view, Sarma alleged.

“The left thinking has to be challenged and more thought provoking books based on history, of our long struggle for existence must be documented in the right perspective”, he said.

The Chief Minister however did not specify how secularism would be defined in the context of Indian civilisation, though he asserted that India India has been a secular country since Rig Vedic times.

“We have given the concept of secularism and humanity to the world. Our civilisation is five thousand years old and we have accepted diversity of thought, religion and culture since ages”, the Chief Minister said.

Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Sarma said that there are two perspectives on this- for protestors outside Assam, the demand is why should only Hindus be given citizenship, Muslim migrants should also be covered.

In Assam, however, the protest against the Act was that neither Hindus nor Muslims from other countries should be given citizenship.

“It was the so-called secular protestors at the national level who tried to give a communal colour to the entire protests”, he said.

The CAA is for those “who are victims of partition and not beneficiaries of a communal country created on the basis of religion”, he said.