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Bombay HC orders shifting of IPL matches outside Maharashtra

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ipl-drought

Mumbai: Bombay High Court ordered on Wednesday shifting of all IPL matches scheduled after April 30 in Maharashtra.

The order affects 13 IPL matches scheduled to be held in Maharashtra after April 30.

Earlier, BCCI had told the Bombay High Court that it would not be feasible to shift IPL matches out of Pune.

It had also said that franchises of Mumbai and Pune teams are willing to contribute Rs five crore towards the Chief Minister’s drought relief fund.

The BCCI spelt out its stand before a bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Karnik, hearing a PIL by NGO Loksatta Movement challenging use of large quantities of water in stadiums at a time when the state was reeling under severe drought conditions.

(PTI)

Temple entry row: HC asks Maha govt to protect ‘fundamental right’ of women

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Bombay High Court

Pune: The Bombay High Court today directed Maharashtra government to take pro-active steps for ensuring compliance of law to prevent discrimination against women on entry to places of worship, saying “it is the fundamental right of a woman” and the government should protect it.

The court, which disposed of a PIL challenging the bar on entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in the state’s Ahmednagar district, said that it can only pass a general direction to the government and cannot go into individual and specific cases.

The Maharashtra government assured the High Court that it is completely against gender discrimination and the provisions of Maharashtra Hindu Place of Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act shall be scrupulously implemented.

“Secretary of Home Department, Maharashtra, will ensure due compliance and enforcement of the provisions of the Act, and in order to ensure that the policy and purpose of the Act is fully carried out, they (Home department) will issue directions to all superintendents of police and collectors in each district of Maharashtra,” a division bench of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice M S Sonak said.

“The government shall take all necessary steps to implement the Act,” it further said.
“Ultimately it is the fundamental right of a woman and the government’s fundamental duty to protect their (women) right,” Chief Justice Waghela said.

The state’s acting Advocate General Rohit Deo, in a submission to the high court, said that a circular or a directive shall be issued to all district collectors and Superintendents of Police, making them aware of the provisions of the Act.

The accepted the government’s statement.
The government’s submission was made following high court’s rap to the government on Wednesday on the issue, during the hearing of a PIL challenging the prohibition of entry of women in the Shani Shingnapur temple.

“The acting Advocate General has assured the court that the state government is against gender discrimination and keeping in view Articles 14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution. The government can take pro-active steps to ensure that the fundamental rights are fully realised and not allowed to be encroached upon by any authority,” he observed.
The high court further said that it can only pass a general direction to the government and cannot go into individual and specific cases.

The court said if any person has any grievance that the Act is not being implemented, then he or she can approach local authority with their complaint.

Under the Maharashtra Hindu Place of Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act, 1956, if any temple or person prohibits any person from entering a temple then he or she faces a six-month imprisonment.

The acting AG, however, clarified to HC that if a temple in the state does not allow any person, irrespective of their gender, inside the sanctum sanctorum, then this Act and its provisions will not be of any help.

“However, if a temple allows men in the sanctum sanctorum but prohibits women, then this Act and its provisions can be used,” Deo said.

(PTI)

Autos driven by non-Marathis ‘will be set on fire’, says Raj Thackeray

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raj thackeray

Mumbai: Claiming that 70 per cent of new autorickshaw permits were given to non-Marathis, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday threatened that his party workers will set on fire these autos if they are seen running on roads.

“If any such auto with a new permit is seen plying on the road, those sitting inside will be asked to come out and the auto will be set on fire…Since Shiv Sena holds the state Transport portfolio, I want to ask how much is it getting in the deal,” he said addressing a gathering of party supporters on the occasion of MNS’s 10th foundation day.

Thackeray claimed that around 70 per cent of those given new permits are non-Marathi and demanded that only sons of the soil should be given licences.

“The government has done away with norms like asking for a domicile certificate and a letter from the CID before handing out auto permits to those seeking it, so that they can anyhow grant 70,000 permits in the coming days,” Thackeray said.

“The cost of each auto is Rs. 1.7 lakh and Rahul Bajaj’s company (Bajaj Auto) has the lot of 70,000 autos ready. It means that this is a business of Rs. 1,190 crore,” he said.

Thackeray alleged that there was no difference in the functioning of the erstwhile Congress-NCP government and the present BJP-Sena government as “corruption continues unabated.”

“Only faces have changed in the new government, but the corruption and style of working has remained unchanged,” he said.

In a bid to boost the morale of his party workers, Thackeray said ups and downs are a part of life and they should remember the purpose for which their party was formed.

“Every big person has encountered failure. So there is nothing new if we, too, have failed in the past. But, I assure you that the party will not stop now,” he said.

(PTI)

Women have right to pray; hold talks to end temple row: Fadnavis

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Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maintaining that women have right to pray, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday favoured a dialogue between authorities of Shani Shingnapur temple and activists to find a way out over the ban on entry of female devotees into the inner sanctum of the shrine.

He urged the temple authorities to hold a dialogue with the women’s group that is campaigning for entry of female devotees into the inner sanctum of the shrine in Ahmednagar district.

“Indian culture and Hindu religion gives women have the right to pray. A change in yesterday’s traditions is our culture. Discrimination in praying is not in our culture. The temple authorities should resolve the issue through a dialogue,” tweeted Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio.

Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde said the government will facilitate talks between the temple authorities and women activists to arrive at an amicable solution.

“If there is a dispute between activists and temple authorities over allowing women access to the (Shani Shingnapur) temple, the state government will act as facilitator for talks between them so that the issue can be resolved amicably,” Shinde told PTI.

“The activists (members of Bhumata Brigade) were detained as they had violated the law. CrPC Section 144 had been imposed by police (banning Assembly of people) which they did not adhere to.

“As far as their religious views are concerned, it is the government’s duty to ensure that the issue is resolved,” he said.

(Agencies)

Maharashtra Civic Polls: Congress tops the table, BJP-Sena suffer setback

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congress

Mumbai: Congress registered an impressive performance, leading the seat tally by winning in 105 wards in the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls and bypolls for 345 wards held across Maharashtra.

While NCP and Shiv Sena finished second and third, the BJP had to be content with only 39 seats, finishing fourth in the overall seat tally.

The results of the polls held on Sunday were declared late yesterday.

The final tally showed Congress on the top with 105 wards, followed by the NCP that won 80 wards and Sena that bagged 59 wards.

The polls were held in Raigad, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Nanded, Osmanabad, Hingoli, Washim and Chandrapur councils and nagar panchayats. The by-elections were conducted in Ratnagiri, Jalgaon, Latur, Yavatmal, Wardha and Bhandara.

A major setback for the BJP has come at Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district, which is the home turf of Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde, and at Chandrapur, which is represented by Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.

Congress-NCP leaders described the outcome as a reflection of the people s disillusionment with the ruling party.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said, “The results show the people’s confidence in the Congress is back and that people are disillusioned with the BJP led regime.”

The results come ahead of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit on January 15 and 16.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhanajay Munde of NCP said, “The results show failure of the BJP-Sena-led government in Maharashtra.”

During elections to 59 nagar panchayat and municipal councils in November 2015, BJP was in the lead with 254 wards, followed by Congress with 239, NCP with 201 and Shiv Sena with 126 wards.

(PTI)

After Delhi, Maha govt may adopt odd-even car plan

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delhi-traffic-pollution-cars

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government is examining the odd-even car plan presently underway in Delhi and may emulate the formula in Mumbai if it proves to be a success.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar was responding to NCP’s demand for a similar formula in Mumbai.

“We need to implement the even-odd car number formula on roads of Mumbai as is being done in Delhi to make Mumbai pollution free. If this plan is successfully implemented, plying of as many as 50 per cent vehicles per day on the roads will be reduced.

This will also help in reducing the city’s carbon footprint as 26 per cent of green house gas emissions are caused by using petroleum products. In addition to that the city is also seeing an increase in number of tankers, trucks, buses each day,” NCP Mumbai Unit President Sachin Ahir said.

In response, Mungantiwar said the results of Delhi’s experiment will take time to show and if successful, the state government will consider implementing it in Mumbai as well.

“We will do whatever it can and take in all ideas to reduce traffic and pollution levels in Mumbai. Delhi has started with this experiment. The results will take time to show. It has just been 4 days now and we can’t judge the effects in four days.

We will later know how beneficial the scheme was for Delhi,” Mungantiwar said.
“If we feel the experiment is successful, it can be applied anywhere in the country.

Accepting good things is the specialty of 21st century. We should be open to new ideas while remembering that we do not get overboard before knowing the results of new ideas,” he added.

He further said that the government is open to accepting new ideas from other state governments if it can prove beneficial for Maharashtra.

“We are examining the scheme, if it is successful, it can be applied to Mumbai as well so that traffic congestion and pollution reduces in the city. We will accept all that is necessary. We do not have to pay a royalty to Delhi government if we borrow their scheme. We can apply it whenever we want to,” Mungantiwar said.

(PTI)

Defending champs Karnataka knocked out of Ranji Trophy

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Robin Uthappa

Pune: Defending champions Karnataka crashed out of the Ranji Trophy after losing to Maharashtra by 53 runs in their final league match of the season here today.

Karnataka, resuming the day at 61/1, ended their second innings at 239 all out after having set a 293-run target. The winners of the prestigious competition for the last two years were on the backfoot ever since their first innings folded up for 180, in reply to Maharashtra’s 212.

Maharashtra were anyway not in the race for the quarterfinals but they certainly played party poopers to Karnataka, who finished fifth in the points table with two wins, a loss and five draws from eight games. The home team finished seventh with a win, couple of losses and five draws in eight games.

Vidarbha, Bengal, Assam qualified from Group A with 29, 28 and 26 points respectively.
The famed Karnataka batting failed to deliver in the crunch situation and there was not much positive apart from the contributions from Robin Uthappa (61) and wicket-keeper CM Gautam (65 not out), who ran out of partners in the end.

Maharashtra medium pacers Anupam Sanklecha and Nikit Dhumal did the maximum damage, snaring up four and five wickets respectively.

Brief scores:

Maharashtra 212 and 260
Karnataka 180 and 239 all out in 72 overs (Robin Uthappa 61, CM Gautam 65 not out; Anupam Sanklecha 4/64, Nikit Dhumal 5/78).

Uddhav Thackeray calls BJP ‘arrogant’, threatens to withdraw support from Maharashtra government

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uddhav thackeray

Mumbai: After Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis compared Shiv Sena to a drama company, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday threatened to bring down the state government.

“People taught lesson to Indira Gandhi then what is BJP? If the government keeps behaving in this way, then we will have to bring it down. I will ask all my ministers to resign from the government,” Thackeray, whose party is a junior ally of the BJP-led government in Maharashtra and at the Centre, said.

Earlier, addressing a public gathering in Dombivali, Fadnavis compared Shiv Sena to a drama company while referring to Eknath Shinde’s resignation. Shinde had publicly tendered his resignation from the government in a rally in presence Uddhav Thackeray. However, Thackeray refused to accept his resignation.

Referring to the incident, CM Fadnavis described it as mere theatrics by Shiv Sena to attract attention of the people ahead of local body elections.

riday was the last day of campaigning for the upcoming Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections. BJP and Shiv Sena are fighting the polls separately.

Relations between the Sena and the BJP have deteriorated rapidly ever since the Ghulam Ali concert was cancelled under pressure from Sena activists and then ink was smeared by Sena activists on former Vajpayee aide Sudheendra Kulkarni.

The BJP believes that this is a deliberate attempt by the Sena to embarrass the BJP amid of the all important Bihar assembly elections, where the BJP is locked in a dead heat with the Grand Alliance led by Nitish Kumar.

BJP’s opponents are harping on the cancelation Ghulam Ali concert and the Kulkarni ink attack incident in a big way and highlighting this as proof of the intolerant face of BJP’s friends and the PM’s inability to rein in the fringe.

(Agencies)

Maharashtra CM relief fund sponsors dance troupe’s Thailand visit

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Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis approved Rs 8 lakh for a government employees dance troupe to participate in a competition in Bangkok in December.

Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: The sanction of Rs eight lakh from Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for a dance troupe’s visit to Thailand has sparked a row with the opposition questioning the BJP-led government’s “priorities” at a time when the state is reeling under severe drought.

An RTI query filed by activist Anil Galgali found that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis approved Rs 8 lakh for a government employees dance troupe to participate in a competition in Bangkok in December. He sanctioned the sum that was transferred to Sachivalaya Gymkhana for the dance contest.

However, an official of the CMO said there is no wrongdoing in disbursing of the fund.

Registered in 1967 with the charity commissioner, the CM’s relief fund can be used for funding cultural activities, the official said, amid mounting criticism of the move.

Maharashtra Congress General Secretary Sanjay Dutt said the government’s priorities are flawed. “It attaches more importance to funds for dance than funds for drought,” he said.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik told PTI that the state government “which does not have funds to help cancer and heart patients, was very prompt in giving money for the dance troupe’s visit to Thailand”.

The government should recover the money and if it fails to do so, Fadnavis should pay from his pocket, he said.

The Gymkhana had sought aid to send its 15-member team of government employees to enable them to participate in a dance competition in Bangkok from December 26-30.

The 5th Cultural Olympiad of Performing Arts 2015 is being held in Bangkok by Global Council of Art and Culture.

In 2008, former CIC Shailesh Gandhi had revealed through RTI that public money collected between 2003 and 2005, when Congress-NCP regime was in power, went to the organisers of a kabaddi competition, a women’s football match, a ghazal contest, a Marathi actor’s fan club and a Congress MLA’s religious congregation.

“The disbursement of the fund is made at the discretion of the Chief Minister, and in accordance with the Chief Ministers directions,” said the official.

The official from CMO said the funds were granted for government employees and were not for any commercial performance. “There is no wrongdoing while disbursing the funds,” he said.

Galgali, who had sought details about the funds, claimed it “is clear violation of rules governing the CM Relief Fund at a time when the state is facing the severe brunt of drought, which has fueled a spate of suicides amongst farmers in the state”.

“Common man from all walks of life including students are chipping in their best to the CM Relief Fund so as to enable the CM and the government to provide maximum relief to the population hit by the calamity,” he said.

The Public Information Officer (PIO) of the CM Relief Fund Desk, in response to the RTI query, informed Galgali that the Sachivalya Gymkhana had sought assistance from the CM Relief Fund through a letter on August 25 this year to send its dance troupe to Thailand in December.

On August 27, the application was put up before Fadnavis as a special case and the assistance of Rs 8 lakh was immediately sanctioned by him. The fund was transferred to the account of the Sachivalaya Gymkhana (which is headed by the CM) on September 11, 2015.

The dance troupe is slated to participate in the competition being held at Akshara theatre in Bangkok, which is organised by private bodies like Akhil Bhartiya Sanskrutik Sangh and the Global Council of Art and Culture comprising 15 artists for which Rs 50,000 each has been sanctioned totaling Rs 7,50,000.

Another Rs 50,000 has been additionally sanctioned to cover other miscellaneous expenses during the trip taking the overall total to Rs 8 lakh.

A PIL is pending before the Mumbai High Court against the adhoc functioning of the CM Relief Fund, due to which the government had taken a policy decision to keep on hold the applications of personal nature and also of Institutions seeking assistance.

The purpose of the CM Relief Fund is to provide immediate help to those effected by disaster within the Maharashtra state or anywhere in the country. The victims or survivors of disasters such as floods, drought, accidents due to fire or any other major natural calamities are provided immediate assistance from the CM Relief Fund.

Assistance is also provided to economically backward sections among the communities in cases of medical treatment for various critical ailments, Galgali said.

Meanwhile, clarifying on the fund misuse row, a CMO official said, “this money granted has nothing to do with drought donations since that money is secured in Mukhyamantri Sahaayta Nidhi-Jalyukta Shivar, CM Relief Fund-Dushkaal Nidhi, Corporate social responsibility-CM Relief Fund and CM Earthquake Relief Fund…all these other accounts are operated but called as CM Relief Fund.

“Whatever donations are received are deposited in these concerned accounts… so there can’t be misuse of drought donation. This particular cultural and medical assistance is given from the general contributions.”

“It wasn’t a commercial event but was performing cultural/art competition. CM Relief Fund has separate accounts for drought relief, Jalyukt Shivar and others. The fund used here is neither from drought relief nor Jalyukt Shivar,” he said.

He said Government employees are not entitled for any other private aid for cultural activities and “this is the only way they can get the aid. This aid is as per the GR followed since years. 25 per cent funds can be spent on cultural activities. There’s no change done in it by this government.”

(PTI)

Cash reward for Maharashtra, Karnataka police teams for nabbing accused in SI murder

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SI Jagadish

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today announced a cash award of Rs 5 lakh each for Maharashtra and the state police complimenting them on the arrest of two persons in connection with the murder of Sub-Inspector S Jagdish.

Nagpur police in coordination with Karnataka police had yesterday arrested two persons from Andhra Pradesh Express train, on a tip off that they were trying to flee to Delhi.

Congratulating the Police, Siddaramaiah said police had kept watch on the movements of the culprits from the very first day.

Asserting that law and order situation in the state was “good”, he reiterated that the state government will provide compensation to Jagadish’s family at the earliest.

Jagdish (34) was stabbed to death on October 16 allegedly by burglars whom he was chasing at Nelamangala town in Bengaluru Rural district.

The incident happened when Jagdish, attached to Doddaballapur police station, along with four other constables had gone to Nelamangala town to catch two burglars involved in various crimes including motorcycle thefts.

(PTI)

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