Archives for April 2022

Udupi: Three engineering students hailing from Kerala who were on a tour to Coastal Karnataka, drowned at Malpe St. Mary’s Island on Thursday afternoon.

The students have been identified as Allen Reji, Amal C Anil, and Antonio Shenoy. Dead bodies of two of the victims have been recovered while search operations are underway to locate the third body.

According to the reports, about 42 students and two lecturers of Mangala Engineering College of Kottayam had come to St. Mary’s Island for picnic when the incident took place.

New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate Thursday in connection with the purchase of a building by the J&K Bank about 12 years ago, officials said here.

The National Conference leader arrived at the federal probe agency’s headquarters this morning where his statement in being recorded, they said.

The case was registered by the ED earlier this year, they said JKNC Vice President Omar Abdullah was called by the ED to Delhi to appear before it today on the grounds that his attendance was necessary in connection with an investigation. Even though this exercise is political in nature he will cooperate as there is no wrongdoing on his part

Mumbai: When the fight is between a lion and a lamb, the lamb has to be protected, the Bombay High Court said on Thursday while directing the striking workers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to resume duty by April 22, and also asked the corporation to not take any action against these employees.

Thousands of MSRTC workers have been on strike since November 2021 demanding that they be treated on par with the state government employees and that the cash-strapped transport corporation be merged with the government.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik had on Wednesday said it would give the workers time till April 15 to resume duty. But on Thursday it extended the time for another week.

“We will keep our constitutional ideals in mind that when it is a fight between the lion and the lamb, the lamb has to be protected,” Chief Justice Datta said.

“We are extending the date till April 22. The workers should not repeat the offences in future. The court is also striving to arrive at a situation where there are no further deaths either by suicide or natural causes just because someone has lost their livelihood. We don’t want that. We want all the employees to return to work, the court said.

By the extended date, those workers who resume duty remain protected, but those who don’t, do so at their own risk and peril, the court said.

MSRTC counsel Aspi Chinoy told the high on Thursday that the corporation would take back all the striking employees and would not initiate any action against them except a warning.

The MSRTC will also reinstate those workers against whom FIR was filed for resorting to violence and destruction of property during the strike, Chinoy said.

The Maharashtra government had earlier this week told the court that it has accepted the report submitted by a three-member committee by which the demands for merger of the MSRTC with the state government and for the corporation employees to be treated as state government employees have not been accepted.

The government would, however, provide financial assistance to the MSRTC for a period of four years.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by the MSRTC seeking contempt action to be initiated against the striking workers for not resuming duty despite court orders.

NEW DELHI: Amid speculation about a state cabinet expansion or reshuffle, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday met BJP president JP Nadda at his residence here and believed to have discussed about the state’s political developments.

Earlier during the day, Bommai had a brief one-on-one interaction with Nadda on the sidelines of the BJP’s 42nd Foundation Day event here, sources added.

Pressure has been mounting on the chief minister to expand or rejig his cabinet soon, after the recent assembly elections in five states.

Some legislators have even been advocating a Gujarat-like overhaul of the Karnataka cabinet to make way for new faces ahead of the assembly election next year.

There are currently 30 ministers in the State Cabinet, including the chief minister, against the sanctioned strength of 34.

Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who recently visited the state, had given a target to Karnataka BJP leaders to ensure the party’s victory in 150 seats out of the total of 224 in the 2023 assembly elections.

The BJP is eyeing a second consecutive term in the state.

On the second day of his Delhi visit, Bommai met several Union ministers, including Nirmala Sitharaman and Rajnath Singh, and discussed various issues of his state.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the state government orders making Kannada a compulsory subject in higher education as part of implementing the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 from the academic year 2021-22. 

A division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice S R Krishna Kumar passed the interim order, staying the operation of two orders by the state government dated August 7, 2021 and September 15, 2021. The court order came after hearing two separate petitions filed by the Samskrita Bharathi Karnataka Trust and KG Shivakumar and others, studying at Vijaya College at Basavanagudi in Bengaluru, against the government orders, making Kannada compulsory at the undergraduate level. 

Referring to the stand of the Union government that there is no mention of any compulsory language under NEP, the court said, “We prima facie find that the impugned government orders cannot be implemented or put into operation. Both the orders are stayed till further orders.”The Kannada Development Authority had filed an impleading application and the court asked it to file objections if any. The court orally observed that it is not against any language and is only looking at whether any regional language can be made compulsory under NEP.

On December 16, 2021, the court observed, “We are of the view that the matter with respect to implementation of Kannada language as a compulsory subject in higher studies on the basis of implementing the NEP is a question which requires consideration and as such, the State Government at this stage should not insist to make the language compulsory. The students who have already taken Kannada on the basis of their choice may do so, but all such students who do not wish to take Kannada should not be compelled to pursue it till further orders.”

Contending that students coming from other states who have not learnt Kannada are bound to fail as they cannot study the language at the graduation level, the petitioners claimed that the government orders would affect over 1.30 lakh students and 4,000 language teachers.

The state government contended that making Kannada compulsory was a policy decision in tune with the recommendations of the VK Gokak Committee report. Already, four lakh students have taken admission opting Kannada as a subject and admissions are almost over and the petitioner-students have already studied Kannada up to class 12. As such, they cannot have any objection in studying Kannada language in higher studies, the government argued. 

INDORE: A 30-year-old man was allegedly abused and thrashed for sporting a moustache in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, police said on Wednesday.

The man, Ravi Tirodia (30), lodged a complaint at Malharganj police station in connection with the incident that occurred late on Tuesday night, a police officer said.

The accused in the case, Bunty Godha, his brother Naveen Godha and an accomplice Tarachand alias Bam, were agitated over Tirodia’s moustache, and used abusive words against him, the policeman said quoting the complaint.

When Tirodia opposed the abused hurled at him, one of the accused thrashed him with a stick, he said.

“When Tirodia raised an alarm, two of his brothers reached the spot and intervened, following which the accused fled after threatening the victim,” officer said.

He said that the police is investigating the matter in detail and the accused have not been arrested so far.

NEW DELHI:  A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached the property of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise the issue of central agencies targeting opposition leaders. 

The ED had on Tuesday attached property worth `11 crore belonging to Raut’s wife and his associates in a money-laundering investigation. In another development, the CBI on Wednesday took custody of former Maharashtra home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh from Arthur Road Jail in connection with corruption allegations raised against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Deshmukh was in judicial custody following his arrest by the ED in connection with a money laundering case. To a question on the possible impact of such raids on the coalition government in Maharashtra, Pawar said the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will complete its full term. “The MVA will also return to power in the elections in 2024,” he said.

During the 20-minute meeting, Pawar and Modi discussed other issues related to Maharashtra. Pawar also flagged the delay on the part of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari regarding nominations to the state Legislative Council.