New Delhi: The Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Gujarat for wasting judicial time, irked over the “lethargy and incompetence” of the state government in filing a petition before it after a delay of over a year.

A bench, headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, pulled up the state for approaching the apex court in a “casual manner” and dismissed the plea on the ground of delay.

It observed that such kind of “certificate cases” are filed with the only objective to obtain a quietus from the top court on the ground that nothing could be done because the highest court had dismissed the appeal.

The petition was filed in the the top court by the state government after a delay of 427 days against an order of the Gujarat High Court passed in March 2019 in a case.

“The objective is to complete a mere formality and save the skin of the officers who may be in default in following the due process or may have done it deliberately. We have deprecated such practice and process and we do so again.

“We refuse to grant such certificates and if the government suffers losses, it is time when concerned officers responsible for the same bear the consequences,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy.

“The irony, emphasised by us repeatedly, is that no action is ever taken against the officers and if the court pushes it, some mild warning is all that happens,” the bench said in its order passed earlier this week.

The plea also noted the explanation given in the application for condonation of delay.

“The aforesaid itself shows the casual manner in which the state government has approached this court without any cogent or plausible ground for condonation of delay. In fact, other than the lethargy and incompetence of the petitioner government, there is nothing which has been put on record,” it said.

“We have repeatedly discouraged state governments and public authorities in adopting an approach that they can walk in to the Supreme Court as and when they please ignoring the period of limitation prescribed by the statutes as if the limitation statute does not apply to them,” the bench said.

The apex court directed that amount of cost imposed on the state be recovered from the officers responsible for the delay in filing the plea and a certificate of recovery be also filed in the court.

“Looking to the period of delay and the casual manner in which the application has been worded, we consider appropriate to impose costs on the petitioner/state of Rs 25,000 for wastage of judicial time, which has its own value and the same be deposited with the Supreme Court Advocates On Record Welfare Fund within four weeks,” the bench said, dismissing the special leave petition.

It said that copy of its order be placed before the chief secretary of Gujarat “cautioning that any non-adherence with the aforesaid order within timeline would result in appropriate proceedings being initiated against the chief secretary himself”. 

Palghar: A 30-year-old man has been arrested from Palghar district of Maharashtra for allegedly killing a woman he was in relationship with and hiding her body in the walls of his flat, police said on Saturday.

The accused killed the woman (32) as she was pressuring him to marry her, an official release said.

The skeleton of the 32-year-old victim, who was prima facie killed in October last year, was recovered from the flat of the accused in Vangaon village, it said.

“The accused and the victim had been in relationship for the last five years. She was last seen with the accused on October 21,” it said.

When family members of the victim enquired about her whereabouts, the accused used to tell them that she had gone to Vapi in Gujarat. They finally approached the police as the victim never returned, the release said.

A case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder and other charges. 

New Delhi: No steel will be used in the construction of the Ram Temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya as it has a limited life span. The temple may be constructed without cement either to ensure the construction lasts for centuries. Trees that find mention in ancient texts will be planted in the area to replicate the pattern that existed there originally.

This information has been revealed in a rare interview by Nripendra Misra, a low-profile former civil servant who happened to hold some of the most high-profile assignments through his career, including serving as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

A 1967-batch Uttar Pradesh-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Misra also worked closely with two chief ministers of the state  — Kalyan Singh of the BJP and Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.

He was appointed chairman of the Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, which is overseeing the construction of the temple, last year. The trust was set up by the government following the Supreme Court’s decision on the Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute in November 2019.

Misra is known to be a backroom boy and doesn’t give any interviews. However, he spoke on a wide variety of issues in a detailed interview published in the latest special edition of the weekly magazine Panchjanya.

When asked how the trust is going to ensure that the temple at Ayodhya should last for 500-1,000 years, Misra said, “We are not using steel and some people have said the lifespan of cement is limited to around 100 years, so we still haven’t decided whether we should use cement.

“The ‘mix’ to be used in the foundation is being decided upon by various experts and companies such as Tata Consultancy. L&T has also done an agreement with Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai (sic) as they have experts on material management. We are also studying ancient temples,” he added. 

“We have given the responsibility to the largest construction company of India. Tata Consultancy also has at least 2,000 engineers.”

Misra said trees will be planted on around 70 acres of the area as part of the temple construction plan. 

“There has been a demand that those specific trees should be planted that have found mention in Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsi Das’ Ramcharitmanas. National Botanical Garden, Lucknow, had done research on this particular subject a few years ago,” he added. “We would try our best to honour the sentiments of the nation and execute this plan accordingly.”

Replying to a question about how he recalls 6 December 1992 — when the Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished — Misra, who was a serving civil servant in Uttar Pradesh at the time, said it was “a justified step”. 

“I had become chairman of Greater Noida three months before December. When this incident happened, I wasn’t present in Lucknow. But earlier, also, incidents related to Ayodhya had happened. In a sense, everyone had that belief that a Ram temple has to be reconstructed here,” he added. 

“This was a justified step. That is why whoever would evaluate this would evaluate it in the context that it was the nation’s desire to build a temple here… the dream of the people has been realised.”

New Delhi: All the three members of the election committee, set up to conduct the polls for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) this year, have resigned.

The chairman of the Election Committee for the SCBA Elections 2020-2021 was senior advocate Jaideep Gupta and the other two members were Harin P Raval and Nakul Dewan.

In a joint letter to SCBA Acting Secretary Rohit Pandey, the election committee members said they had decided to hold the election on a digital platform and entered into discussions with NSDL, a digital firm, to conduct the polls.

The letter stated that the draft agreement entered with NSDL and the estimated cost of expenses for holding the polls digitally was sent to the executive committee of the SCBA on January 14.

“We have received a resolution, taking certain decisions, passed by the executive committee on January 14. We consider these events as a ‘REFUSAL’ by the executive committee of the SCBA to carry out our directions which in terms of Rule 17A of the Rules of the SCBA are final and binding,” panel members stated.

They further said it was not possible for them to continue to discharge their duties as members of the panel to hold elections.

The Executive Committee of SCBA on December 4 last year had decided to constitute the election committee headed by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta to hold the polls in the second week of January.

Some of the bar association leaders were opposed to virtual election and want a hybrid system where lawyers are allowed to cast votes through physical and virtual modes both.

SCBA president Dushyant Dave had resigned from his post with immediate effect on Thursday saying he has forfeited his right to continue.

The SCBA holds elections annually for selecting its members to the executive committee.

They were speaking at a webinar “Covid-19 and Beyond: LGBTI in the Media” organised by the High Commission of India in association with India Writes Network.

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the discrimination being faced by the LGBTQ community in India, experts working for the welfare of queer people said on Friday. Activists, journalists and gender experts emphasised on the need to have a greater representation from the community in the media. They were speaking at a webinar “Covid-19 and Beyond: LGBTI in the Media” organised by the High Commission of India in association with India Writes Network.

Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to India Deirdre Kent said the media can play a key role in ensuring equal rights for all and Canada is committed to improving the rights of LGBTI community, not just in Canada but across the world, and to combat all acts of violence that are targeting the community.

CEO of India Writes Network Manish Chand said many members of the community were reduced to utter penury and starvation. Rights activist and actor Rudrani Chhetri, who identifies herself as a transgender woman, stressed upon the urgency to highlight issues being faced by the community but lamented that the community was “totally neglected” by the media during the pandemic.

“I worked with the community. These people had nowhere to go. I have seen people losing hope and 1-2 even committed suicide,” Chhetri said. Former journalist and communications consultant Sharif Rangnekar said the press is largely driven by high caste people and that this is reflected in the way the press looks at people. “There are sensitive journalists but there aren’t enough who are aware. The press doesn’t really understand the diversity within our community and that’s problematic,” Rangnekar said.

A single bench of the HC of Justice Rohit Arya has summoned the case diary and has fixed the next date of hearing tentatively on January 25.

BHOPAL: The Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday adjourned for the next week, hearing of application filed by Mumbai-based stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui for bail in a January 1, 2020 case pertaining to alleged derisive remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home minister Amit Shah.

A single judge HC bench of Justice Rohit Arya adjourned the hearing of bail plea filed by Munawar Faruqui and Indore resident Nalin Yadav, as the Tukoganj police failed to produce the case diary of the case in which Faruqui, Yadav and four others have been arrested and their pleas rejected by the lower courts.

“We had moved bail applications on behalf of Munawar Faruqui and Nalin Yadav and the matter was listed for hearing before the HC for hearing. Senior Supreme Court advocate and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha appeared on behalf of the bail applicants. But since the local police could not produce the case diary, the hearing in the matter was adjourned for next week,” Faruqui’s counsel Anshuman Srivastava told in Indore.

“Personally I believe that it is negligence on part of the police that they could not produce the case diary in the HC on time. We further requested the HC to direct the police authorities to produce the case diary, particularly since the Tukoganj police station in Indore is located just in front of the court. But since the matter was already adjourned, the HC listed it for hearing on the next date after a week,” Srivastava added.

Faruqui along five others, including Indore based stand-up comedian siblings Prakhar and Priyam Vyas, Nalin Yadav, event coordinator Endwin Anthony and Sadaqat were arrested by the Tukoganj police in Indore on January 1, 2021 in connection with a New Year Day comedy show at a popular café, where derisive remarks were allegedly made about Hindu deities and also union home minister Amit Shah. They were also booked for violation of COVID-19 safety protocol as the New Year Day show was organized without permission of local administration-police.

The arrested were booked Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to spread disease), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.

The arrests were made by Indore’s Tukoganj police on the complaint of local saffron outfit head Eklvaya Singh Gaur, who is also the son of local BJP MLA and ex-Indore mayor Malini Gaur.

Eklaviya Gaur along with other members of his right wing Hindu outfit was present among the audience at the New Year Day comedy show at the popular café at Indore. Gaur and his supporters had stopped the show, alleging that a stand-up comedian performing there had hurt religious sentiments of a community by making derisive remarks about Hindu deities and union home minister Amit Shah.

UP Police seeks Faruqui’s custody in April 2020 case lodged in Prayagraj district

Meanwhile, in a related development, the Prayagraj district police of Uttar Pradesh have submitted a production warrant to the Indore Central Jail and also the CJM court in Indore for Faruqui’s production in a April 2020 case lodged against him at George Town police station of Prayagraj district.

The case registered on April 19, 2020 at Prayagaraj’s George Town police station on the complaint of Prayagraj-based advocate Ashutosh Mishra pertains to videos uploaded on the Youtube by Faruqui in which insulting remarks have been made about Hindu deities Ram-Sita and also linking Union Home Minister Amit Shah with the 2002 Godhra violence.

The case at George Town police station in UP’s Prayagraj district was lodged under Sections 153-A, 295-A of IPC and Section 65 and 66 of Information and Technology Act 2008 on April 19, 2020.

When contacted in the matter, official sources in Prayagraj police confirmed that a Production Warrant has been submitted before the Indore Central Jail authorities and Indore CJM court on January 7, 2021 for Faruqui’s custody for production before the court in Prayagraj district in connection with the April 2020 case.

AURANGABAD: Samples of dead hens found in two villages in Parbhani and Beed districts, both in Marathwada region, of Maharashtra have tested positive for bird flu, following which culling of over 2,000 birds is being carried out on Saturday, officials said.

These samples were taken from Kupta village in Selu tehsil of Parbhani district and from Lokhandi Sawargaon village in Beed district.

“These spots have been declared as a prohibitory area and culling process has begun there.

They said transportation of poultry products has been stopped in these areas.

Culling is basically the mass slaughter of domestic poultry birds, such as chickens and ducks, to contain the spread of bird flu.

During the culling process, all domestic birds in an infected area, where cases of bird flu have been reported, are slaughtered and their remains are buried.

“Earlier, samples of hens found dead in Kupta and Lokhandi Sawargaon were sent for testing. Their results confirming bird flu returned on Friday night,” officials told.

“In Kupta, culling process will be undertaken on Saturday, and around 468 birds will be culled,” Collector Deepak Muglikar said.

In Lokhandi Sawargaon village, about 1,600 birds are expected to be culled, said Dr Ravi Surewad of the Animal Husbandry department “We have formed two teams to carry out culling of birds in Lokhandi Sawargaon village. As the birds to be culled are not from poultries, it will take time to carry out the process. A 2-metre pit is ready. Calcium Carbonate is spread on the bed of this pit. Cervical dislocation of hens is done by our teams and they are placed in this pit,” he said.

In Maharashtra, 3,949 birds have been found dead since January 8, officials said on Friday.

Earlier, more than 3,400 poultry birds were culled at Murumba village in Parbhani district after bird flu was confirmed as the cause of death of hundreds of hens there.

In Kendrewadi and Sukni villages of Latur district, also in Marathwada region, over 11,000 birds were culled earlier to stop the spread of bird flu infection.

Cases of the avian influenza have been reported from Mumbai, Thane, Parbhani, Latur, Beed and Dapoli (Ratnagiri).

The State government has made elaborate preparations for the launch of vaccination drive across 161 session sites.

BHUBANESWAR:   The D-day for the Covid-19 vaccine drive has finally arrived. As many as 16,100 healthcare workers and ICDS functionaries are likely to receive the shots on the first day as the State government is all set to kick off the drive across all districts. Excitement and apprehensions ran high among the frontline healthcare workers as the system generated SMS from the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN), centrally monitored by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, started landing on their cell phones on Friday.

“I am very excited to receive the vaccine. I have rendered my service all along the pandemic. Neither did I hesitate then nor will I in future. The vaccine I hope will give me the confidence to work without fear. This will mark the end of the pandemic,” said Biranchi Nayak, a safai karmachari at the Capital Hospital, here. Nayak is one among a few sweepers at the City hospital who have been selected to get the first jab of Covaxin.

The State government has made elaborate preparations for the launch of vaccination drive across 161 session sites, including the one at AIIMSBhubaneswar, which was added at the last minute. In the Capital city, every selected person will received Covaxin shots.

They will have to sign a consent letter for receiving the vaccine as per the stipulations of the Centre. Director of Family Welfare Dr Bijay Kumar Panigrahy said the required vaccine vials have already been dispatched to all the session sites. “We are fully prepared,” he said.

Once a vial is opened, vaccination needs to be completed within four hours, informed Dr Panigrahy. Districts have also made necessary arrangements for smooth conduct of the vaccination. “We have made different slots for the beneficiaries who will reach the session site as per their allotted time. Twelve members will be vaccinated in each slot,” said Balasore CDMO Dr Dulal Sen Jagdev. After the launching of the drive by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the national level at 10.30 am, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will interact with some beneficiaries through video conferencing.

Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said the Chief Minister will review the process and interact with HCWs from Capital Hospital and Sundargarh district headquarters hospital. Districts have been asked to remain prepared with required drugs for the adverse events following immunisation, if any, he added.

In case of usage of extra water by any of the consumers, whole bill have to be paid even if a single litre of water is used more than the prescribed limit

EHRADUN: Uttarakhand state government has decided to give 20000 liters of water per month free of cost to 18.5 lakh consumers in the state. 

Out of total consumers, 6.53 lakh are in urban areas while a majority of 12 lakh are based in rural areas of the hill state. 

Nitesh Jha, secretary, Uttarakhand government said, “The tariff on the drinking water supply is to be done by sub committe. The final decision in the matter will be taken by the states cabinet.”

The sub committe headed by Uttarakhand state cabinet minister Madan Kaushik has funalised the draft. According to the draft upto 20,000 liters of water will be free for domestic use while for commercial establishments, the limit has been powered to 10,000 liters.

In case of usage of extra water by any of the consumers, whole bill will have to be paid even if a single litre of water is used more than the prescribed limit. 

The move comes after many political parties including Aam Admi Party and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal have announced free power and water to the people of the state if they form a majority government in upcoming state assembly elections in year 2022. 

Earlier in July 2020, in a move to provide respite to remote and rural areas of Uttarakhand, the state government had announced that rural household will be provided with water connections at Re 1 instead of earlier Rs 2350. 

The sources in the state government said that Uttarakhand is probably the first country to provide water connection at such a nominal fee.

Till April 1, 2020 out of total 14,61,910 rural households in Uttarakhand state only 2,17,120 had water supply line according to the central government data.

The scheme was launched in August 2019 by Jal Shakti Ministry of the union government.

The union government has already allocated Rs 3.60 lakh Crore for the project. Out of total funding, Rs 2.08 lakh Crore will be provided by the Centre while Rs 1.52 lakh Crore will be be borne by the states.

One of the major revelations from the leaked chats seems to be Arnab’s knowledge about Balakot Air Strikes even before it were carried out. In a reported leaked chat of WhatsApp Arnab has sent a message to Parthi Dasgupta, former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) who is an accused in the TRP scam case.

In the purported leaked chats, Arnab on 23 February 2019, told Dasgupta that “Something big will happen”. When Dasgupta asked if it was something about “Dawood” Arnab replied, “No sir Pakistan. Something major will be done this time”. When Dasgupta further enquired if it was about “strike or bigger” Arnab replied “Bigger than a normal strike. And also on the same time something major on Kashmir. On Pakistan the government is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated. Exact words used.”

Another purported leaked chat of Arnab shows him claiming that they have “won like crazy” after the Pulwama Terror Attack that killed 40 soldiers of the Indian Army.