Terming the Uttrakhand High Court order setting aside President’s rule in the state as a “huge embarrassment” to the Narendra Modi Government, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said the Prime Minister should stop “interfering with elected governments and respect democracy”.
“This is a huge embarrassment to Modi Govt. He shud stop interfering wid elected govts and respect democracy (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted.
The Uttarakhand High Court today quashed the imposition of President’s rule in the state and revived the Congress government headed by Harish Rawat, who has been asked to prove his majority on April 29.
Coming down heavily on the Centre for the March 27 proclamation under Article 356 of the Constitution, a division bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice K M Joseph said the imposition of the President’s rule was contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court.PTI
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has thanked his admirers for the overwhelming response his recently released thriller “Fan” has been receiving.
In a video post on Twitter, the 50-year-old actor said the Maneesh Sharma-directed film was special to him.
“On behalf of Aryan Khanna, Gaurav, Maneesh, Adi and everyone, who has made ‘Fan’, thank you for the overwhelming response.
“We are extremely thankful that you liked it so much because it’s a very different film. We never expected it to be embraced so lovingly and so universally. Thank you so much all around the world for liking it. Normally, I won’t do this but this film was special as you made it even more special. Love you all and keep watching ‘Fan’ again and again. Baar baar nhi dekha toh kya dekha,” he said.
“Fan”, produced by Aditya Chopra, features Shah Rukh in double role of a superstar Aryan Khanna and his lookalike admirer Gaurav Chandna.
The film released on April 15.
Introduction of time limit for arbitration proceedings in the new ordinance in this regard will help in quick resolution of disputes, according to former Delhi High Court judge Mukul Mudgal.
“This will help in quick resolution of disputes. If the counsel could prepare the claim in advance and present it in the first sitting itself, a lot of time and sittings can be saved,” he said during a panel discussion on ‘Changing landscape of arbitration in India’ here.
According to the new Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill 2015, an arbitral tribunal is required to render an award within 12 months from the date of appointment of arbitrators, which can be extended for a further period of 6 months by agreement of the parties.
Justice Mudgal also said if an award is not made within this time period, the mandate of the arbitrators automatically terminates and an extension can only be granted by courts.
He termed the amendment well-intended saying it sends a positive message regarding arbitration in India.
Besides him, senior advocate Amal Kumar Ganguli; Devdas Baliga, vice president (legal) Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia; and Sanjeev K Kapoor, partner (dispute resolution) at Khaitan and Company took part in the discussion.
Ganguli said an arbitration is as good and as bad as an arbitrator.
“But unfortunately, certain arbitrators nominated by the parties act as their counsel,” he added while discussing the new aspects of the legislation.
Baliga said capping of fees in the amended act is a boon to clients as it helps in managing the budget.
“Disputes affect the business. It takes away the focus of the firm as without capping, we would have no idea how much to pay,” he said.
The ordinance provides a cap on the fees to be paid to an arbitrator, barring international commercial arbitrations and institutional arbitrations.PTI
A massive rally of the Patel community at Mehsana town in Gujarat demanding reservation and release of their jailed leaders today turned violent as police used lathicharge and fired teargas shells on the agitators who allegedly engaged in stone-pelting.
Patel protesters had gathered at Modhera crossroad as part of the `Jail Bharo’ agitation announced by the Sardar Patel Group (SPG), one of the prominent groups seeking OBC quota for the Patel community.
SPG chief Lalji Patel received head injury during the face-off with the police.
While the police claimed they resorted to lathicharge only after some persons started throwing stones at the police vehicles, Lalji Patel alleged that Patel agitators were targeted without any provocation.
“Our protest was peaceful as announced earlier. However, police suddenly hit me and some of our members when we were walking ahead of the procession. I was hit on head. You can see the blood on my face. We were beaten up without any provocation,” said Patel, who along with some other agitators were detained by the police subsequently.
In-charge DGP of Gujarat P P Pandey claimed the situation deteriorated only after some people resorted to violence.
“Police always work to establish peace. The gathering was peaceful initially. However, the situation deteriorated only after some persons resorted to violence and damaged property. I have already sent additional force to handle the situation,” Pandey said.
Meanwhile, SPG as well as Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) have given a call for `Gujarat Bandh’ tomorrow.PTI
Senior BJP leader Vijay Goel has sharpened his attack on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the odd-even scheme alleging that “huge” amount of public money was being spent on advertisements in the name of the car rationing initiative.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who declared that he would violate the odd-even rule to protest against the “political posturing” by AAP, asked the Delhi government to disclose the amount spent on advertisements.
“There is not a single commercial hoarding in Delhi without Kejriwal’s photo under the garb of odd-even scheme.
The same scenario resonates in newspapers, TV channels and radio,” he said in a statement.
“I will leave my residence on 10 Ashoka Road tomorrow at 10 am in my odd-numbered vehicle and pay fine for violation of the scheme,” he said.
Goel said his protest was against “political posturing” by AAP which he alleged is using odd-even scheme’s advertising budget to “plaster Kejriwal’s photo everywhere”.
Noting that BJP is “never” against any good scheme, he said, “I am for any endeavour that reduces pollution and congestion or brings relief to the people of Delhi.”
With a section of auto and taxi unions threatening a strike on Monday, Kejriwal had yesterday alleged BJP wanted the odd-even scheme to “fail” but people will foil their designs.PTI
Government will on April 28 consider two new proposals, including from Infosys, for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
The proposals will be taken up by the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ, chaired by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia.
Infosys Ltd has proposed to set up an IT/ITeS zone in Bengaluru over an area of over four hectares.
Chhindwara Plus Developers Ltd has proposed to set up a multi-product SEZ in Madhya Pradesh over an area of 1,320 hectares.
Further, as many as 19 developers and units have sought more time to complete their projects which are under different stages of completion.
Wipro Ltd has requested for further extension of its letter of approval for setting up an IT SEZ in Bengaluru.
“The developer has been granted two extensions, validity period of which is upto May 26. The developer has requested for further extension so as to implement the project,” the agenda of the BoA meeting said.
Similarly, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd has sought extension of the validity period of formal approval, granted for setting up an SEZ for manufacture and export of aluminium in Odisha, beyond May 22.
Others who have sought more time include Brooke Bond Real Estate, Avash Logistic Park, Sealand Ports and Indofil Industries.
SEZs are exports hubs which contribute to about 23 per cent to the country’s total outbound shipments.
The commerce ministry is taking steps to revive investors’ interest in these zones.
Exports from such zones in 2014-15 stood at Rs 4,63,770 crore as compared to Rs 4,94,077 crore in the previous fiscal.PTI.
Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India tightened its grip in terms of best selling cars with six of its models featuring in the the top-10 list for the just concluded fiscal.
The company, which had five models in top-10 selling cars in 2014-15, saw compact model Celerio enter the list at the seventh position in 2015-16.
Besides, volume share of the company in top-10 models has shot up to 73 per cent with six of its models accounting for 10,29,639 units out of a total of 14,19,768 units sold in the fiscal.
The company’s volume share in top 10 stood at 68 per cent in 2014-15 with sales of 9,12,415 units.
As per the data, the company’s Alto, Dzire, Swift and WagonR were the first, second, third and fourth biggest selling models during the fiscal.
The company sold 2,63,422 units of Alto during 2015-16 compared with 2,64,492 units in 2014-15.
It was followed by compact sedan Dzire, with 2,34,242 units sold. The company had sold 2,10,649 units of the sedan in 2014-15.
Compact hatchback Swift continued to hold on to the third position during the fiscal with 1,95,043 units. Swift sales stood at 2,01,338 units in the previous fiscal.
Wagon R with 1,69,555 units sold during the last fiscal, retains the fourth position in passenger car segment. MSI had sold 1,61,250 units of the hatchback in 2014-15.
Its compact model Celerio also made it to the top 10 for the first time. It stood at 7th position with sales of 87,428 units during the fiscal.
It dislodged Hyundai’s compact car Eon from the seventh position. MSI’s van Omni retained its ninth position with sale of 79,949 units in 2015-16. It had sold 74,686 units in 2014-15.
Rival Hyundai’s two models — Grand i10 and Elite i20 also made it to the top ten list. Grand i10 sold 1,26,181 units during the fiscal. i20 stood at sixth position with 1,04,841 unit sales during the 2015-16 fiscal.
Mahindra’s SUV Bolero stood at 8th position with 81,559 units while Honda Cars mid-sized sedan City stood at 10th slot during the fiscal with 77,548 units.PTI.
A dominant India registered their biggest victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in six years when they coasted to a 5-1 win in a round-robin league match of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, here today.
This was India’s biggest win since their 7-4 triumph against Pakistan in the 2010 Commonwealth Games at New Delhi.
Playing their best game of the tournament, Manpreet Singh opened the scoring for India in the fourth minute but Pakistan equalised in the seventh through captain Muhammad Irfan.
But thereafter it was all India as the Sardar Singh-led side controlled the proceedings with SV Sunil scoring two opportunistic field goals in the 10th and 41st minutes.
Talwinder Singh then capitalised on a rebound to score India’s fourth goal in the 50th minute before Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner in the 54th minute.
India’s victory would have been bigger had Rupinder converted a penalty stroke in the 55th minute and an deflection into the net by Ramandeep Singh in the 69th was not disallowed after the umpire initially blew for a goal.
The victory took India to the second spot in the round-robin league standings with nine points from four outings. The table is being led by world champions Australia on 12 points from four straight wins.
Australia took one step into the final when they prevailed 1-0 over Oceania rivals and defending champions New Zealand, who now have eight points from five matches.
The all-important goals for Australia was scored by captain Jamie Dwyer, who capitalised on a rebound to shoot into the open goal with the goalkeeper at his mercy.
Later in the day, in an exhibition of the sub-continental style of hockey, India lifted their game by leaps and bounds to dominate the match, forcing Pakistan to crowd their territory in the second half to deny Sardar’s men more goals.PTI
Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has won the ‘Global Indian of the Year’ award.
Aishwarya was honoured at NRI of the Year award function held here last evening.
The actress, 42, dedicated the award to her daughter Aaradhya.
“I was very passionate about making it more than a perceived beauty pageant. For me, I all along believed that it was the opportunity to represent an Indian woman on the international platform. I believe that from then until today, in 2016, it continues,” Aishwarya said in a statement here.
“I am glad to have been chosen to be a feature film artist and a career woman. I have had so many opportunities, personally, professionally, socially,” she said.
The “Dhoom 2” actress will be seen next in “Sarabjit” alongside Randeep Hooda and Richa Chadha
Besides Aishwarya, noted tennis player Sania Mirza was also honoured at the NRI of the Year Award 2016.
Altogether 17 individuals were given the awards under different categories like entrepreneur, professional, academics, arts & culture, philanthropy, special jury award, global icon of the year and India’s global icon award.
The NRI of the Year Award recognises outstanding achievements of the Indian diaspora globally.PTI
The Kerala High Court today banned the use of high-decibel crackers and fireworks display after sunset in places of worship across the state in the wake of the temple tragedy in Kollam that has claimed 110 lives.
The court asked the state government to examine whether a CBI probe is necessary into the Paravur Puttingal Devi temple fireworks display tragedy on Sunday.
Treating a judge’s letter seeking a ban as a PIL, the bench of Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman banned the use of sound-generating fireworks between sunset and sunrise across places of worship.
It, however, said that during day time, the sound of explosives cannot exceed the permitted limit.PTI
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