Archives for 2023

LUCKNOW:  The three assailants of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, were sent to four-day police custody till April 23 by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Prayagraj on Wednesday. Meanwhile, five police personnel were suspended in connection with the double murder of the gangster brothers on Saturday night in full public view.

The three attackers – Lavlesh Tiwari, 22, Sunny alias Mohit Singh, 23, and Arun Kumar Maurya,18, lodged in Pratapgarh jail, were taken by the Prayagraj police to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) amid tight security arrangements on early Wednesday morning. As per local sources, the cops were seen racing on the court premises while escorting the three attackers owing to security reasons. All three had covered their faces with a cloth. 

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by Prayagraj Police Commissioner Ramit Sharma, had sought seven-day remand of the attackers from the CJM court which approved only four-day police custody remand. Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead by the three  using sophisticated weapons when the gangsters, accused in Umesh Pal murder case, were being taken for routine medical check-up in police custody.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday said lawyers cannot go on strike or abstain from work and directed all high courts to constitute a grievance redressal committee at the state level headed by the chief justice, where advocates could make representations for redressal of “genuine problems”.

A bench headed by Justices MR Shah and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said that a separate grievance redressal committee be constituted at the district court level to provide a forum, where lawyers could seek redressal of their genuine grievances related to procedural changes in filing or listing of cases or misbehaviour of member of the lower judiciary.

“We once again reiterate that no member of the bar can go on strike. Time and again this court has emphasised that advocates going on strike or abstaining from their work hampers judicial work”, the bench said.

The court disposed of an application filed by the District Bar Association of Dehradun seeking an appropriate forum for the redressal of their complaints and directed the registry to send a copy of this order to the registrar general of all high courts for taking steps in accordance with the order.

Justice Shah, who pronounced the order, said if members of the bar have some genuine grievance or face difficulty because of the procedural changes in filing and listing of matters or any genuine grievance pertaining to the misbehaviour of member of the lower judiciary, they can very well make a representation for redressal of genuine grievance by some forum so that such strikes could be avoided.

It said the forum should be a place where members of the bar can vent their grievances.

“Therefore, we request all high courts to constitute a grievance redressal committee in their respective high courts which may be headed by the chief justice and such a grievance redressal committee should consist of two other senior judges–one each from the judicial services and one from the bar–to be nominated by the chief justice as well as the advocate general of the state, chairman of the bar council of the state and the president of the high court bar association”, it said.

The bench said the high courts may also constitute a similar grievance redressal committee at the district court level.

“It is observed that the grievance redressal committee will consider the genuine grievances related to the difference of opinion or dissatisfaction due to procedural changes in filing and listing of the matter in respective high courts or any district courts in their respective states and any genuine grievance pertaining to misbehaviour of any member of lower judiciary provided such grievance must be genuine and not to put any pressure on any judicial officer”, the bench said.

NEW DELHI: India recorded 12,591 new Covid cases in a day, the highest in around eight months, while the active case burden increased to 65,286, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll has increased to 5,31,230 with 40 fatalities, which includes 11 reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The total tally of Covid cases was recorded at 4.48 crore.

The daily positivity rate was 5.46 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 5.32 per cent.

Active cases now comprise 0.15 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.67 per cent, according to the health ministry website.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,42,61, 476 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent.

According to the ministry’s website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

In first 100 days, 4 shown the door from CM’s office
In the first 100 days of Bhupendra Patel’s administration, four officials have been removed from his office. According to sources, his personal assistant Drumil Patel was the first to be fired, on direct orders from PMO. Then additional PRO Hitesh Pandya resigned due to his son’s alleged connection with Kiran Patel, an alleged thug. Naimesh Dave, an officer on special duty at the CM’s office has been transferred and appointed as Sabarkantha collector. Recently, CM’s close VD Vaghela was removed from the post, after a complaint was filed against him with the PM’s office.y 

State BJP leaders to campaign in Karnataka
State BJP leaders have been tasked with campaigning in the Karnataka elections. The party has planned to send 150 workers from Gujarat for the campaign. Aside from that, six government and BJP organisation leaders will be on a continuous tour of Karnataka, according to sources, Gujarat BJP leaders will camp in Karnataka beginning April 15. General Secretary, BJP Gujarat, Pradip Singh Vaghela, former ministers Ganpat Vasava, Pravin Mali, Jeetu Vaghani, Purnesh Modi, and CM Bhupendra Patel have all been named for the campaigning.

BJP to undergo major changes before LS polls
There is a major upheaval in the BJP politics, with district and city presidents being replaced quickly along with the removal of state general secretary Bhargav Bhatt.The speculation is that the Gujarat BJP will undergo significant changes before the Lok Sabha elections. The position of state general minister is regarded as the most important in the BJP, after state president. According to party sources, after the local elections, the municipal elections, and then the assembly elections, the party high command was receiving complaints against Bhatt, and there is a speculation within the party that he was removed thereafter.

PUNE: Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday said he cancelled his programmes for Friday as he was unwell after long tours across Maharashtra over the past few days and asked the media to not speculate on such issues as it caused confusion.

“I was unwell so I cancelled tours and events scheduled for Friday. Over the past few days, I have travelled across Maharashtra and have not got enough rest. Due to lack of proper sleep, pulmonary irritation was also on the rise. I took medicines and took rest at home as advised by the doctor,” he said.

“I too am human and might face health issues. The media must stop speculating during such times and verify before publishing any news. We are public figures but it is wrong to defame us in this manner,” he added.

He was speaking after inaugurating a jewellery shop in Pimpri in Pune district on Saturday along with his wife.

When NCP chief Sharad Pawar was asked by media about Ajit Pawar’s “absence” and not being reachable on phone, he said, “What does that mean? Supriya Sule may not be reachable to you but she is at home.”

Pawar’s cancellation of programmes and the fact that he was unreachable on phone gave rise to speculation on Friday about his next move among some political circles.

MUMBAI: Rohit Sharma will like to get his act together both as a batter as well as skipper, when his star-studded Mumbai Indians take on an astute Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in what could be safely billed as a Saturday night IPL blockbuster.

Rested well for a week after their their crushing loss against RCB in season-opener, Mumbai Indians will certainly be under additional pressure in front of their passionate home fans here at the Wankhede Stadium.

More so, given how ruthlessly they were blown away by Royal Challengers Bangalore in a one-sided game with Virat Kohli taking the MI attack to cleaners.

But to their advantage, inexperience of Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Tushar Deshpande, both warned by their skipper Dhoni for bowling wides and no-balls, will find the batting-friendly Wankhede track very challenging.

How well spinners Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner bowl will also decide CSK’s fate against the five-time champions.

There will be however be a case for Sisanda Magala, who is known to nail wide yorkers for South Africa might replace Santner in the playing XI.

The focus will be a little extra on Mi skipper Sharma, who hasn’t exactly set the IPL stage on fire for a few seasons.

The Indian skipper has had his share of blazing starts but a big knock has eluded him for quite some time now.

In a small ground with short side boundaries, how well Jofra Archer bowls will hold key for MI as the likes of Arshad Khan, Cameron Green could be lambs for slaughter for in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad or Devon Conway.

Sharma has fronted questions over Bumrah’s absence consistently but Mumbai Indians have also looked to plug in the holes by roping in Australian quick Riley Meredith in place of the injured Jhye Richardson, and Sandeep Warrier replacing the Indian star gives them another option.

The fresh track at the Wankhede can be expected to have some initial assistance for fast bowlers and as home team, Mumbai Indians would certainly want to make the most of it, especially given that CSK themselves have struggled in this department in their last two games.

MI will also be anxious about how their other batting star Suryakumar Yadav front up against an inexperienced attack.

Young Tilak Verma waged a lone battle to save the blushes against RCB for MI with the bat and Punjab lad Nehal Wadhera was also impressive on debut.

But the team will look to put up a collective batting effort starting from the top-order.

In Chennai line-up, Gaikwad’s imperious form with the bat and his pairing with the indomitable Convway is best attack weapon for the ‘Yellow Brigade’.

With two fifties in as many games, Gaikwad has lit up the IPL stage in the best way possible and his side would only wish that the right-hander is able to carry the momentum from one game to the next.

Conway missed out on a half-century against Lucknow Super Giants but he put on a century stand with Gaikwad to announce his return to form.

Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali are vital cogs for CSK in the middle-order, for whom the venerable Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni have also fired at important junctions, making them look like a better batting line-up in comparison to MI.

In bowling department, Deepak Chahar has looked subdued on comeback following a long injury lay-off but the India and CSK seamer will hope to make the most of conditions if some underlying moisture is there on offer.

For what it is worth, Mumbai Indians can also draw confidence from the fact that they have 20 wins in 34 meetings against Chennai Super Kings in a head-to-head battle in 13 out of the 15 editions where the two teams locked horns.

Squads: Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Tristan Stubbs, Vishnu Vinod, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Riley Meredith Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Sisanda Magala, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Mahesh Theekshana, Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Shaikh Rasheed, Tushar Deshpande.