The Delhi High Court today asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad to file their written statements in a civil defamation suit of Rs 5 crore filed by DDCA for their alleged remarks against the cricket body regarding its functioning and finances.
Joint Registrar Anil Kumar Sisodia directed Kejriwal and Azad to submit their statements within 30 days after they failed to file it today on the ground that the two had not received the fully copy of the suit.
“The counsel for the defendent number 1 and 2 (Kejriwal and Azad) appeared on the summons issue to them and submitted that they have not received the full documents. Plaintiff (DDCA) is directed to supply the copy to the defendants within a week from today.
“The defendants shall file their written statements (to the suit filed by DDCA) within 30 days after receiving the full documents. The DDCA will file replication (the response of a plaintiff to the defendant’s plea in an action at law, or to the defendant’s answer in a suit) within four weeks thereafter. The parties shall file the original documents from ten weeks from today after exchanging the same,” the court said.
It also directed that the affidavit of admission/ denial of documents shall be filed within 12 weeks from today and put up the matter for completion of pleadings and admission/denial of documents on July 7.
The court’s direction came during hearing of Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA)’s civil defamation suit in which Kejriwal and Azad were issued notice on January 15 for filing their written statements.
DDCA, through its counsel advocate Sangram Patnaik, had said that Kejriwal “with prior motive, indulged in certain false, shocking, scandalous, defamatory, baseless, slanderous, malicious, disgraceful and outrageous statements which are defamatory against them”.
The counsel had said that Azad also indulged in making such statements, “which were made solely with an agenda to defame and cause harm to the plaintiff(DDCA), for self-serving and motivated reasons”.PTI
El Nino – a phenomena which sparks global weather extremes – could be transporting and spreading waterborne diseases such as cholera thousands of miles across oceans, with significant impacts for public health, a new study has found.
Researchers from the University of Bath in UK found that illnesses caused by waterborne bacteria reported in Latin America seem to be moving in tandem with when and where warm El Nino waters make contact with the land.
El Nino describes the unusual warming of surface waters along the tropical west coast of South America. These events tend to occur every 3-7 years; something many suggest have become more regular and extreme in recent years, as a result of climate change.
Most significantly, drawing on new data derived from whole genome sequencing of bacterial strains, they suggest there are links between organisms that are causing illnesses in Asia with those that emerge in Latin America.
Over the past 30 years, coinciding with the last three significant El Nino events in 1990/91, 1997/98 and 2010, new variants of waterborne pathogens emerged in Latin America.
These included a devastating cholera outbreak in Peru in 1990, leading to over 13,000 deaths, as well as two instances in 1997 and 2010 where new variants of the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus led to widespread human illness through contaminated shellfish.
“Through our findings we suggest that so-called vibrios – microscopic bacteria commonly found in seawater – can attach to larger organisms such as zooplankton to travel oceans,” said lead author Jaime Martinez-Urtaza, from the University of Bath.
“Numerous previous studies have shown how such vibrios bind to and use these larger organisms as a source of energy and through this mechanism, we suggest, they are essentially able to piggyback to travel such enormous diseases, driven by ocean currents,” Martinez-Urtaza said.
“The effects of El Nino events and their impacts on local weather, fisheries and the risk of more extreme meteorological events are already well-documented,” he said.
“Now understanding the role the ocean currents are also playing in transporting these disease has huge significance for public health campaigns in those countries,” he said.
“An El Nino event could represent an efficient long-distance ‘biological corridor’, allowing the displacement of marine organisms from distant areas,” said Craig Baker-Austin from the UK Cefas Weymouth laboratory.
“This process could provide both a periodic and unique source of new pathogens into America with serious implications for the spread and control of disease,” said Baker-Austin.
The study was published in the journal Nature Microbiology.PTI
Intense Russian air strikes battered rebel bastions across Syria today, a monitor said, just hours before a midnight deadline for a landmark ceasefire in the country’s five-year civil war.
With the ceasefire due to take effect at 2200 GMT, US President Barack Obama has warned Damascus and key ally Moscow that the “world will be watching”.
Both President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the main opposition body have agreed to the deal — which allows fighting to continue against the Islamic State group and other jihadists.
The agreement brokered by Russia and the United States marks the biggest diplomatic push yet to help end Syria’s violence, but has been plagued by doubts after the failure of previous peace efforts.
Members of the 17-nation group backing the process were to meet in Geneva today to work out further details of the so-called “cessation of hostilities”, which is then expected to be endorsed by the UN Security Council, diplomats said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Russia and the regime had launched a wave of attacks on non-jihadist rebel areas ahead of the deadline.
“It’s more intense than usual,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Russia launched air strikes in Syria last September saying it was targeting “terrorists” but critics have accused Moscow of hitting rebel forces in support of Assad, a longtime ally.
The Observatory said there had been Russian strikes overnight on rebel bastions including the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus, the north of Homs province and the west of Aleppo province.
There were at least 26 air strikes on Eastern Ghouta including 10 on its main city of Douma which was facing heavy regime shelling, he said.
One Douma resident told AFP that “the bombing is very heavy” while another described “very big explosions” in the city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Moscow would continue targeting “terrorist groups”.
“The decisive fight against them will, without doubt, be continued,” Putin said in televised remarks.
“We understand fully and take into account that this will be a complicated, and maybe even contradictory process of reconciliation, but there is no other way,” Putin said.
The intensified attacks prompted Turkey, a key supporter of opposition forces, to express worries over the viability of the ceasefire.
TERI Executive Vice Chairman R K Pachauri, facing sexual harassment allegations by an ex-woman colleague, today moved Delhi High Court seeking action against some media houses for “deliberately” disobeying its earlier orders restraining them from publishing averments against him.
The contempt petition, which also sought directions to ensure compliance of two orders passed in February last year, will be heard by a bench of Justice J R Midha on March 3.
In his petition, Pachauri referred to some recent media reports claiming “he is being subjected to unfair and illegal media trial” and in these circumstances his fundamental right to get a fair trial would be violated.
“The present case is one of such glaring examples wherein one party to the proceedings before this court is deliberately and contemptuously flouting the orders of this court. It is submitted that in order to maintain the majesty of this court the respondents deserve to be dealt firmly for deliberate and wilful violation of the injunction granted by high court,” the plea, filed through advocate Ashish Dixit, said.
It alleged these media houses were repetitively flouting the directions of high court and were publishing incorrect and misleading reports with some ulterior motives.
The plea claimed that contents of the articles which were being published and aired by these media houses, were highly defamatory and prejudicial to Pachauri’s case.
The FIR in the case was registered on alleged charges of sexual harassment under the IPC sections 354, 354(a), 354(d) (molestation) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s mother today launched a no holds barred attack on HRD Minister Smriti Irani, accusing her of resorting to “blatant lies” while talking in Parliament about her son’s suicide and that “life imprisonment” will not be enough for her and others “responsible” for his death.
Radhika Vemula, flanked by her other son Raja, said BJP will be “decimated to the ground” if Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not take any action against Irani and her ministerial colleague Bandaru Dattatreya who had written multiple letters to her seeking action against Rohith, alleging anti-national activities.
The first look of Akshay Kumar in upcoming film “Rustom” has been unveiled and the actor looks impressive dressed up as a Navy officer.
In the photo, the “Airlift” star also dons a moustache for the role of a Parsi character Rustom Pavri.
Akshay, 48, took to Twitter to share the first look of the film, which will release on August 12, just in time for India’s Independence Day on August 15.
“Decorated officer. Devoted family man. Defending his honour. His name RUSTOM. Know his story on 12 Aug #RustomFirstLook,” the actor wrote alongside the picture.
The thriller, which marks the directorial debut of Tinu Suresh Desai, has been produced by Neeraj Pandey, who has earlier worked with Akshay in “Special 26” and “Baby”.PTI
Delhi High Court today said that no untoward incident should occur in any school in future like the ones in which the two kids died after falling into water tanks of their respective institutions here even as it sought suggestions to frame guidelines to prevent such incidents.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath further said the authorities concerned should give suggestions to the court so that it can give an order to prevent such kind of incident.
“We would like to invite suggestions from the authorities concerned, so that on basis of which a court direction can be given to avoid such incidents in future,” the judge said.
It also said that on basis of the suggestion it will make an order, which has to be complied by all the schools of the national capital, so that no further untoward incident happen with the children of schools in future.
The court’s direction came during hearing of a PIL by Col (retd.) Devinder Sehrawat, MLA from Bijwasan constituency, through advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, who has sought judicial inquiry into the deaths of the children and also called for disaster management assessment of all schools here.
Divyansh Kakrora, a six-year-old Class I student of Ryan International School in Vasant Kunj here died after falling in a tank in his school on January 30.
In a similar incident on January 27, five-year-old Ankit died after falling into an open septic tank in an MCD school in Kapashera area of south Delhi.
Sehrawat also sought direction for payment of Rs 50 lakh each as compensation to families of the children, which was complied by the Delhi government.
The plea urged that urgent steps be taken to “ensure that such ghastly incidents do not reoccur” in future.
Meanwhile, Delhi police informed the court that it was the case of negligence and the people have been arrested.
It, however, told the court that the postmortem reports of two boys can not be made public as it can harm the probe into the case.
Haryana government today told the Supreme Court that the army has taken control over all the three points from where water is supplied to Delhi and it has resumed supplying approximately 1200 cusec water to the national capital.
Taking note of the submission, a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit disposed of the PIL, filed by Delhi Jal Board, that had sought a direction for ensuring uninterrupted supply of water which was hit owing to violent Jat quota stir in Haryana.
The counsel for Haryana said that though Munak Regulator and barrages at Khubru and Mandora village in the state had been hit by the violence, but engineers and others are working to to get back to the earlier situation so that the water supply becomes normal.
The repairing of damaged Munak canal, which supplies water to Dwarka here, may take a fortnight, he said adding that efforts are on get it done as early as possible.
The bench rejected the submission of Haryana that Delhi government be asked to contribute in the repair work.
“Why should Delhi pay for it. Your people damaged them then you tell, who will pay for them?,” the bench, which later asked both governments to co-operarate and resolve, said during the hearing.
The bench, while disposing of DJB’s PIL, said that it was not an “adversarial” litigation and asked Haryana government to take efforts to ensure resumption of normal and usual supply of water to Delhi.
“We hope and trust that the Governments of Haryana and NCT of Delhi co-operate with each other and make a joint effort to ensure supply of water to Delhi at the earliest to avoid any inconvenience to the people living in Delhi. We are indeed happy to note that there is no adversarial element in this litigation as both the Governments appear to be willing to cooperate with each other in every respect,” it said.
Earlier, the court had asked the Centre to take “steps to ensure that the proper security is provided to the three barrages at Munak, Mandora and Khubru to prevent any further mischief affecting supply of water to Delhi at the three points.PTI
The proposal to set up India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai announced in today’s Railway Budget will provide a big support to the automobile industry, facilitating transportation of vehicles from manufacturing plants to respective destinations, say carmakers.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu while presenting the budget for 2016-17 today in Parliament said, “To capture the automobile traffic, we will soon inaugurate India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai.”
Reacting to the announcement, Hyundai Motor India Ltd Senior Vice-President (Sales & Marketing) Rakesh Srivastava told PTI, “Last mile connectivity, reduced logistic costs and time, (are) addressed in one big infrastructure move enabling mass transportation of vehicles with the Auto Hub at Chennai giving a big support to the auto industry.”
Expressing similar views, Renault India Operations Country CEO and Managing Director Sumit Sawhney said India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai will facilitate transportation of cars from manufacturing plants to respective destinations as the city is “a growing automobile hub and is being regarded as ‘Detroit of the East'”.
Welcoming the proposal to develop rail side logistics parks and warehousing in PPP mode, he said, “This is indeed a welcome move as it will bring in significant efficiencies and reduction in logistic costs for many automobile OEMs in and around the Chennai region, including us.”
In his speech, Prabhu said inadequacy of warehousing and transportation facilities was also one of the causes that kept potential customers away from the railways.
“In order to complete the chain of transportation, it is proposed to develop rail side logistics parks and warehousing.
These logistic parks and warehouses would be created in PPP mode to bring the required efficiency and investment but also help attract greater traffic to the railways,” the minister said.
He further said, “With the coming in of TRANSLOC, the Transport Logistics Company of India, we will be witness to a paradigm shift in our role as a national logistics provider.
The focus will be on providing last mile connectivity for freight business and significant reduction in logistic costs.
At least 10 goods sheds will be developed by TRANSLOC in 2016-17.”
Nissan India Operations President Guillaume Sicard said the announcement to create a rail auto hub in Chennai is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to the Make in India initiative.
“Chennai is one of major auto hubs in India and needs efficient and cost-effective infrastructure and logistics support. Now, with the rail auto hub, it will be a much-needed shot in the arm for economical, timely and efficient transportation of our cars to the port and will aid our export strategy immensely,” Sicard said.
Nissan India is one of the largest exporters of passenger cars and has reached the landmark export figure of six lakh cars recently.
“We welcome all initiatives to provide better and efficient infrastructure,” Sicard added.PTI
Maharashtra Postal Circle is hosting the 31st All India Postal Table Tennis Tournament 2015-16 which will be held from 25.02.2016 to 29.02.2016 at Mumbai University Sports Pavilion, Marine Lines, Mumbai – 400 020. This is the first time All India Postal Table Tennis Tournament is being held in Mumbai. Last year the tournament was hosted by West Bengal Circle.
Around 142 players (including 47 women) from 16 postal circles (except Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, North-East, Orissa, and Uttarakhand Postal Circles) are participating in the tournament.
The 31st All India Postal Table Tennis Tournament 2015-16 will be inaugurated by Shri Kamlesh Mehta, International Table Tennis player and recipient of Arjuna Award at 10.00 AM on 25.10.2016.
The valedictory function will be held at 04.00 PM on 29.02.2016. Shri Dilip Vengsarkar, Former Captain of Indian Cricket Team will be the Chief Guest.
Renowned Table Tennis players from Maharashtra who were honoured with Shiv Chhatrapati Awards viz Smt. Divya Deshpande, Ms. Ashlesha Bodas and Shri Mahendra Chiplunkar are invited as chief guests to witness the final matches on 26.02.2015 (Men and Women Championship), 27.02.2016 (Women and Mixed Doubles) and 28.02.2016 (Men Doubles) respectively.
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