Newsletter 7 March

Top 5 News

1. Delhi Riots: Death toll raised 53 as Condition is Normal but dead bodies are recovered so far
2. Delhi Riot went beyond national boundaries and echoes appeared in most other countries
3. RBI Imposed Moratorium on Yes Bank, caps withdrawals at Rs 50,000, Raid at home of suspended CEO
4. Corona Virus Rows….Govt on high Alert
5. SC to delivered verdict in land acquisition compensation case
6. Seven Congress MPs suspended from Lok Sabha by Speaker Om Birla for throwing paper at Speaker
7. No Passport for Corrupt ‘Babus’: Government

Saturday’s Briefs

NGOs Supporting Public Causes Can’t Be Penalised, Says Supreme Court
- Last month, while reserving its order, the court said dissent could not be throttled and people should be encouraged to question the government as this was an important facet of democracy.
- Non-governmental organisations, or NGOs, supporting public causes via recognised means of protest and dissent cannot be deprived of funds from foreign contributors and sources, the SC said y’day in a potentially key verdict.
- The top court said organisations that did not have a political goal could not be penalised by declaring them “an organisation of political nature”.
- “It is clear from the provision itself that bandhs, hartals, rasta rokos, etc. are treated as common methods of political action.
Lok Sabha Passes Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code (2nd Amendment) Bill
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought the cooperation of the members to pass the Bill in the House.
- The bill seeks to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) so that successful bidders of insolvent companies are ring-fenced from any risk of criminal proceedings for offences committed by previous promoters of the companies concerned.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought the cooperation of the members to pass the Bill in the House.
- The Bill was declared passed by Rajendra Agarwal, who was in the chair, amidst continuous protests by Congress members, who have been demanding a discussion on the riots in Delhi.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suspends broadcast of two Kerala based news channels for 48 hrs for their reporting of Delhi Violence which was allegedly communally insensitive.
Jammu & Kashmir: Pakistan initiated an unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and shelling with mortars along LoC in Mankot, Poonch district today at about 1330 hours. Indian Army is retaliating.
CBI vs CBI alleged graft case: A special court takes cognizance of the filed CBI chargesheet which gave a clean chit to former CBI officials Rakesh Asthana and Devender Kumar in a bribery case. Court has also issued summons to Manoj Prasad, Someshvar Prasad and Sunil Mittal.

The Court said as far as two public servants are concerned, the then Special Director Rakesh Asthana and the then DSP Devender Kumar, the court concurs with CBI finding that there is no sufficient material against them.

Delhi Riots: Death toll raised 53, Condition is Normal but dead bodies are recovering so far

North East Delhi Riot-2020, one of most discussed riot in global platform, responsible for death of 53 persons including Muslims and Hindus and some unidentified persons, with injury incurred to 350+ and nearly 600 arrests have been done against 1060 FIRs. Still, no any final official information available about how and why it happened but media have its own results. However, more worrisome is selectivity in picking the story of crisis by individual media. Interestingly, a free encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’ which is ever open for editing, locked on this topic. Meanwhile, various unverified videos surfaced in media as well as in which faces of rioters are clearly appearing, and now it’s up to investigating agencies how they use it.

Uproar among both houses, continues since it started on Monday for second phase of budget session to an extentthat Lok Sabha speaker Om Bilra has suspended 7 congress MPs, as they were demanding discussion on Delhi Riot first in both houses. For which Govt Set date of Mar 11^th and 12^th for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. Meanwhile, investigation agencies, are at work and facts (?) are coming out, but conclusive statement is yet to come.

North East Delhi riots
Date	23 February 2020 – 1 March 2020 (7 days)^[1]
Location	North East Delhi, India 28.682°N 77.274°E Coordinates: 28.682°N 77.274°E
Caused by	· Hate speech ^[2] provocation ^[3] confrontation ^[3] CAA Protests mass mobilization ^[4] religious nationalism ^[2]^[5]
Goals	· Preventing Citizenship Amendment Act protests ^[3]^[4] · Ethnic and religious persecution ^[6]
Methods	· Rioting, arson, burglary, shooting
Casualties
Death(s)	53^[8]
Injuries	350+^[7]
Arrested	600 (including detained)^[9]

From Wikipedia dated Mar 7^th 2020 at 1416 hrs IST

Please note, everything is concluded without any official statement from any agency.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly being involved in the killing of an employee of a sweet shop in northeast Delhi during the communal violence, police said. Dilbar Singh Negi’s decapitated body was found in Brahmpuri on Feb 26. He belonged to Uttarakhand and was working at a sweet shop in the area.
The Crime Branch, which is probing the murder cases registered during the riots, has arrested Shahnawaz for allegedly killing Negi and are trying to identify the other suspects.
Yesterday, Delhi Police met with IG Meerut Zone, and Commissioner Ghaziabad and other UP Police officers, amid the doubt that most of rioters have come from Meerut and nearby areas.
Workers of National Students Union of India (NSUI: Congress Student Wing) take out a protest march against Delhi Violence. On Thursday, former, Congress President Rahul Gandhi visited selected area which are affected in violence.

On Mar 1^st G Kishan Reddy MoS (Home) said on Sun that Modi govt is determined to go to the bottom of the truth to unveil conspiracy, if any, to trigger riots. I will reiterate, CAA is not to take away citizenship of any Indian but to give citizenship to persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
- Some 1300 mobile numbers, 13000 WhatsApp no, 1346 tweeter accounts, 4639 Facebook numbers are under scanner, as these numbers have been MHA shared with Ministry of Telecom.
- On Sun evening, some rumors spared regarding further violence in certain part of Delhi, which has been controlled well before time by security forces. Delhi Police: action has been initiated against 18 persons and 2 cases have been registered under relevant sections. 2 people arrested from the Central district, 21 people arrested from the North West district and 1 person arrested from Rohini district, total of 24 persons arrested, in connection with rumor-mongering on 2nd Mar.

For more details see last Sat Newsletter.

Delhi Riot went beyond national boundaries and echoes appeared in most other countries

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at Global Business Summit in Delhi, replied certain questions

On being asked ‘are we losing our friends (in the world)? Maybe we are getting to know who our friends really are.
If India has not been able to explain position on CAA or has been misunderstood: There are sections of the world outside the media. I engage Govts. I was in Brussels, I had 27 foreign ministers in a room to whom I was talking.
Point we make on CAA is that it can’t be anybody’s case that a Govt & Parliament doesn’t have the right to set terms of citizenship. We have tried to reduce the large number of stateless people we have in this country. Everybody when they look at citizenship has a context
On UN Human Rights Council Director doesn’t seem to agree with you (on CAA): Sure, she has been wrong before. I have seen reports on J&K by the same body, how carefully they skirt around the cross border terror problem as if it’s nothing to do with country next door.
Please understand where they are coming from; look at UNHRC’s record how they handled Kashmir issue in past,” he added.
“We have tried to reduce the number of stateless people through this legislation. That should be appreciated,” he said when asked about the CAA. “We have done it in a way that we do not create a bigger problem for ourselves.”

Last week few external Organizations have expressed their concerned over CAA and violence happened amid suspiciously over it.

On Mar 2^nd, UK’s House of Lords debates CAA, expresses concern over impact

The peers in the Upper-House of the UK-Parliament held a debate over the impact of India’s CAA and sought representations by the UK government to counterparts in India over arising concerns around minority-rights. The UK government, in response, said it has been closely monitoring the situation as the act has “clearly been divisive in India” and there are some concerns over its full impact.

The peers in the Upper House of the UK Parliament held a debate over the impact of India’s CAA and sought representations by the UK government to counterparts in India over arising concerns around minority rights.
The House of Lords debate in London on Tue evening, tabled by crossbench peer John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich, called on the UK government to urge PM Narendra Modi to conduct a review of the CAA and its effects on Indian society amid the deaths associated with mass protests against the act in the country.
- The UK government, in response, said it has been closely monitoring the situation as the act has “clearly been divisive in India” and there are some concerns over its full impact.
- “Ongoing protests against the act across India leave no doubt that this legislation is divisive. I know that people in this country – including in this House as has been made clear today – feel strongly about it.
- For our part, the UK government has concerns about the impact of the legislation,” said Baroness Liz Sugg, the parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
- “Its full impact remains unclear. We hope and trust that the government of India will address the concerns and protect the rights of people of all religions, in keeping with India’s Constitution, its democratic values and its inclusive traditions,” she said, adding that the government would continue to “follow and monitor events closely” and raise any concerns with “close friend and partner” India.
- The debate was opened by the Earl of Sandwich with references to his own time spent in India, as he also called for an assessment of the CAA’s impact on UK citizens given the strong India-UK relationship.
- “The CAA 2019, which passed through the Lok Sabha in Dec, granted an amnesty to illegal immigrants from three neighboring countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh – but not to Muslims from those countries. Unsurprisingly, there have been riots and protests in New Delhi, Aligarh and all over the country, and not only from the Muslim community,” Montagu said.
- “The regular migration of families between our two countries suggests that there is more sensitivity to discrimination than ever within our Asian minorities. This hits the Muslim community hardest,” he said.
- Indian-origin peer Lord Meghnad Desai sought to highlight that the reactions to the act reflect a “conjectural fear” because neither the act nor the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) have been implemented.
- “It is said that the act is unconstitutional, but we do not know that yet because the Supreme Court of India has not yet heard on that issue People are saying that the CAA has been passed for no other reason than to let the Hindus with dubious papers to go through but not anyone else. This has not yet happened – it is a conjectural fear,” said Lord Desai, who also informed the House of his regular newspaper columns in India on the subject.
- Fellow Indian-origin peer Lord Raj Loomba stressed that the CAA was passed through an “open, transparent and fully democratic process“.
  - “The government of India has repeatedly clarified that the CAA is to grant citizenship on a one-time basis to a group of persons with no alternative options and not to take away the citizenship of anyone, much less an Indian Muslim,” he said.
  - However, another Indian-origin peer Lord Indarjit Singh warned that the new act could offer a legal route to discrimination against Muslims and, ultimately, against all non-Hindus.
  - “I appeal to our own government to work directly, and through the Commonwealth, to add to this positive momentum for tolerance and respect for all people, in a wonderful country,” he said.
  On Mar 3^rd UN body moves Supreme Court over CAA, India says our internal matter
  What India has to Say;
  - MEA Stated: Our Permanent Mission in Geneva was informed yesterday evening by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that her Office had filed an Intervention Application in the Supreme Court of India in respect to 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
  - The CAA is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian Parliament to make laws. We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India’s sovereignty.
    - We are clear that CAA is constitutionally valid and complies with all requirements of our constitutional values. It is reflective of our long-standing national commitment in respect of human rights issues arising from the tragedy of the Partition of India.
    - India is a democratic country governed by the rule of law. We all have utmost respect for and full trust in our independent judiciary. We are confident that our sound and legally sustainable position would be vindicated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
    - The government said that the CAA was aimed at protecting minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the UN body noted that the law “does not extend the same protection to Muslims, including minority sects”.
    What UN said:
    - A new law in India which expedites citizenship for certain religious minorities has been criticized by the UN human rights office for being “fundamentally discriminatory in nature.”
      - The amendment to the Citizenship Act gives priority to Hindus, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians resident in India before 2014, but excludes Muslims, including minority sects.
      - “Although India’s broader naturalization laws remain in place, these amendments will have a discriminatory effect on people’s access to nationality”, Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said on Fri.
      - We understand the new law will be reviewed by the Supreme Court of India and hope it will consider carefully the compatibility of the law with India’s international human rights obligations.
      - The amended law would appear to undermine the commitment to equality before the law enshrined in India’s constitution and India’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to which Indian is a State party, which prohibit discrimination based on racial, ethnic or religious grounds. Although India’s broader naturalization laws remain in place, these amendments will have a discriminatory effect on people’s access to nationality.
      - In the meantime, we are concerned at reports that two people have died and many including police officers have been injured in the Indian states of Assam and Tripura as people protest against the Act. We call on the authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly, and to abide by international norms and standards on the use of force when responding to protests. All sides should refrain from resorting to violence.
      - OHCHR has urged the authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly, while all sides should refrain from resorting to violence. [2]
        A video surfaced on social media, showing protest outside the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva by Pashtun, Baloch and Sindhi activists against the ongoing genocide by Pakistan. Looks like UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is fast asleep or blind towards their plight. ‘Where is the United Nations?
        On Mar 3^rd Iranian Ambassador to India, was Summoned today by MEA
        Ali Chegeni, Iranian Ambassador to India, was summoned today by MEA and a strong protest was lodged at the comments made by Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif on matters (Delhi violence) internal to India.
        MEA said as per media “totally uncalled for and unacceptable”,
        Zarif commented-
        The minister had condemned what he described as a “wave of organized violence against Indian Muslims”.
        “For centuries, Iran has been a friend of India. We urge Indian authorities to ensure the wellbeing of ALL Indians & not let senseless thuggery prevail. Path forward lies in peaceful dialogue and rule of law,” Zarif said on Twitter on Mon night.
        On Mar 4^th In House of Commons, India faces fire for CAA, Delhi riots
        As per some media reports, India came under fire in the House of Commons comprises, 650 MPs, on Tue with Labor, SNP, Liberal Democrats and Conservative MPs, including Indian-origin MPs, queuing up to criticize the Indian government for the recent violence in Delhi and the CAA and urging the UK government to take stronger action.

Who said what?

At one point, when SNP’s David Linden said they had seen Modi and Trump embracing “in their scramble to get a trade deal” and asked for assurances that the UK would raise these cases “at the highest levels of government” and not ignore human rights when it came to trade deals.
Junior minister in the FCO Nigel Adams, standing in for foreign secretary Dominic Raab who was in Turkey, said: “Whilst trade is absolutely vital for our economy and future prosperity, this in no way compromises the UK commitment to holding human rights at the core of our foreign policy, and I can guarantee we will not pursue trade to the exclusion of human rights.”
Adams said the events in Delhi were “very concerning”, the UK was monitoring the violence and developments around CAA “closely” and the UK condemned targeting of people based on religion. “Any allegation of human rights abuses is deeply disturbing and we have made it clear these must be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently,” Adams said.
Tory MP Richard Graham said videos showed “shocking orchestrated sectarian violence” and asked the minister to invite the UK Indian high commissioner to his office to share with him the “deep concerns” of so many constituents. “If there is one silver lining it is what one Gujarati Muslim said to me — he and his family now value more than ever the plurality and safety across faiths that this country provides.” Adams said he would ask Lord Ahmad to meet with the Indian high commissioner.
Labor MP Stephen Timms said the CAA was “a decisive move away” from Ambedkar’s Constitution which was admired around the world for its commitment to equality.
Labor MP and PIO Tan Dhesi said “incited mob violence in Delhi on the basis of someone’s faith” brought back painful memories of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots when he was studying in India.
He said that the “persecution of Indian Muslims”, many of whom have been peacefully protesting against CAA, is “utterly intolerable” and the police cannot stand by “or worse still be complicit as is alleged by many victims and social activists”. He said the perpetrators must face the full force of law.
Many of the MPs referred to a BBC broadcast on Mon night which said the police had been complicit in the violence against Muslims.
Mirpur-born Labor MP Mohammad Yasin said: “As the BBC recently reported, there is evidence the police are complicit in the latest outbreak of violence in Delhi and encouraging violence against Muslims.”
Tory MP Nusrat Ghani asked the minister to make sure the concerns of MPs are relayed to the Indian authorities, “including the brutality that seems to have (been) meted out by those who should be enforcing the law which was covered by the BBC on Monday night”.
PoK-origin Labor MP Zarah Sultana said the violence in Delhi had been “whipped up by BJP politicians” and was “the latest targeted assault on Muslims by the Modi government.”
PIO Labor MP Nadia Whittome said it was time to reject the language of “clashes and communal violence ” when describing the riots as it was actually “a continuation of sustained and systemic Hindutva violence waged on Muslim and many minority ethnic communities in India that is sanctioned by Modi’s BJP government”.
Liberal Democrats MP Alistair Carmichael said the CAA and the violence it has precipitated was not an isolated act and came on the heels of the implantation of the NRC in Assam and “Modi government actions in Kashmir”. “It begins to look like part of a course of conduct designed to marginalize Muslims in India. India is in the Commonwealth. What are we doing through the Commonwealth?” Carmichael asked.
All such statements are based on reports published in BBC, Washington Post and New York Times, written by some Indian Journalist which only mentioned atrocities against a particular community but ‘intentionally’ not the other face of coin?
Some of them, compared to Anti-Sikhs Riot of Delhi in 1984, which is factually incorrect in which more 3000 lives have lost. But the authors of aforementioned media have underlined this line of thought.

RBI Imposed Moratorium on Yes Bank, caps withdrawals at Rs 50,000, Raid at home of suspended CEO

ED raids Yes Bank Director Rana Kapoor’s Mumbai residence: he has been taken to ED office for questioning.

Vadodara Smart City Development Company withdrew Rs 265 crore from Yes Bank a day before RBI imposed a moratorium

₹2,450 crore: SBI needs to invest to revive Yes Bank

‘The survival of the bank is a must,’ SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar told, Kumar said SBI was not in talks with any of Yes Bank’s current shareholders about the investment.

State Bank of India said it will need to invest 24.5 billion rupees ($331 million) if it were to buy a 49% stake in Yes Bank as part of a rescue deal of the troubled lender.

“Why did the alarm bells not ring when Yes Bank reported its first ever quarterly loss?”: Former finance minister P Chidambaram asked in media.

Yesterday

RBI unveils ‘Scheme of Reconstruction’ for crisis-ridden Yes Bank.
- “Since 2017, RBI has been continuously monitoring Yes Bank. It noticed that there were governance issues and weak compliance in the bank”: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
- Earlier in the day, sources said SBI along with some other financial institutions would bail out capital-starved Yes Bank, with the government giving the go-ahead.
- The Reserve Bank on Thursday imposed a moratorium on the capital-starved Yes Bank and capped withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account till further orders.
- The board of Yes Bank has also been superseded with immediate effect, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a late evening statement. Former SBI CFO Prashant Kumar has been appointed as administrator for Yes Bank.
- The latest development comes six months after the regulator did the same with the city-based cooperative lender PMC Bank after a large scam was unearthed.
- Yes Bank has been grappling with mounting bad loans.
  - PM Narendra Modi “must convince the nation, not merely through words but by deeds, that he is cognizant of the dangers we face and reassure the nation that he can help us tide over this as smoothly as we can,” the former PM writes, describing what he calls a “grim and morose” situation in the country.
  - Congress slams the Centre over the YESBANK crisis. ‘The Govt has completely failed to address any problems in our economy. Who is to be held accountable?’
  - Moody’s said the moratorium was credit negative as it affected timely repayment of depositors and creditors and added that the lack of coordinated action highlighted continued uncertainty over bank resolutions in India.
  - Finally, RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das came in media and stated that matter will resolved very soon, as 30 days is maximum limit.
  - The RBI Governor said that the central bank have a scheme to revive the beleaguered lender. “Your Money Is Safe,” Sitharaman Assures Yes Bank Depositors.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra CM Udhav Thackeray has instructed chief secretary to ensure govt funds are deposited only in nationalized banks and not private lenders: Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

Corona Virus Rows…. Govt on ‘high Alert’

Total no Raised to 33 so far, including 3 recovered earlier

Yesterday

Corona Virus….Govt on High Alert

Sanjeeva Kumar, Special Secretary (Health), Union Health Ministry: One more COVID19 case in Delhi (resident of Uttam Nagar) has been confirmed, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 31. The patient has a travel history from Thailand and Malaysia.
Airlines globally are set to lose in passenger revenues of up to $113 billion, if the Corona Virus spreads further, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said today.
Indian Army: In consonance with various advisories issued by the Government, Indian Army HQ has issued detailed instructions with respect to preparations & emergency response in tackling the COVID-19 virus.
University Grants Commissions (UGC) issues advisory to universities on Coronavirus; says, “Avoid large gathering on campus, any student/staff with travel history to COVID-19 affected countries or in contact with an infected person in last 28 days should be home quarantined for 14 days.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri announced that the first flight from Iran is expected to land in the country late on March 6 and would bring around 300 swabs of Indians for testing.

On Mar 4^th

Corona Virus Row…..

As per Min of Health, total 29 cases of corona virus reported so far in India, out which 3 earlier cases in Kerala have been cured properly. So 25 remain positive. He also informed that 39 labs have facility to testing the Corona Virus. Another case in Jaipur, wife of the already confirmed Italian patient, has been confirmed for COVID-19.

In addition, two cases with high viral load have been detected in Telangana.

14 out of 21 Italian nationals have found positive for coronavirus. They have been sent to at Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s (ITBP) quarantine facility in Chhawla.

He added, From now on, all flights and passengers will be part of universal screening, not just the 12 countries which we had listed earlier. 589 K people have been screened so far.

If Iran Govt supports our efforts, then we have an intention to establish a test lab there as well. This will let us bring back our citizens from Iran after a thorough screening.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare: Cabinet Secretary held a review meeting through video conference in Delhi today, with the Secretaries of concerned Ministries, Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of the States to review and assess action taken for containment of #COVID19.

Govt has issued advisory on y’day night to all media that they pay due attention on corona virus, its prophylaxis and others related issues.

Amid, all these conditions, WB, CM Mamata Banerjee alleges that “some people and channels” are trying to create panic over corona virus in country to divert attention from Delhi communal riots.

SC to delivered verdict in land acquisition compensation case

SC to delivered verdict in land acquisition compensation case yesterday.
A five judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, will delivered the judgment on Fri in a case concerning the grant of compensation under Section 24 of the land acquisition law of 2013.
SC said that landowners who refuse to accept compensation can’t press for cancellation of acquisition.
Last year, Justice Arun Mishra, heading the Bench, had refused to recuse himself from hearing the case related to the interpretation of Section 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation, Transparency in Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013.
The bench began hearing five matters related to the land acquisition case from Oct 15 last year. As the constitution bench began hearing the matters, a farmers’ association had sought the recusal of Justice Mishra, alleging conflict of interest.
The association sought Justice Mishra’s recusal on the ground of judicial propriety saying that the bench is examining the correctness of a judgment, which was also authored by him.
Recently, Justice Mishra was accused of ‘conflict of interest’ by farmer associations, who wrote to the Chief Justice of India objecting to his presence on the five-judge bench hearing the matter.

Importance of Friday’s verdict

The Friday verdict was on the interpretation of Section 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. It aimed to clear the air over two contradictory judgements, delivered in 2014 (Pune municipality case) and 2018 (Indore development case), over whether land acquired by the government would lapse if it fails to deposit the compensation within five years in the bank account of the landowners.
The top court held that landowners cannot insist that the amount should be deposited in court, so as to sustain the land acquisition proceedings under the old act on the commencement of the new land acquisition law with effect from 1 Jan 2014.
The five-judge bench also had Justices Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, M.R. Shah and S. Ravindra Bhat, and said its verdict would ensure, for example, that no one can reopen the acquisition of land on Raisina Hill, the seat of the government of India.
“Deposit in treasury in place of deposit in court causes no prejudice to the landowner or any other stakeholder as their interest is adequately safeguarded by the provisions contained in Section 34 of the Act of 1894, as it ensures higher rate of interest than any other government securities,” the court ruled.

Seven Congress MPs suspended from Lok Sabha by Speaker Om Birla for throwing paper at Speaker

Yesterday Rahul Gandhi led a protest of senior Congress leaders on the Parliament premises on Friday against the suspension of seven party MPs from the Lok Sabha.
Seven Congress MPs have been suspended from Lok Sabha allegedly for unruly behavior in the House for the present session.
MPs includes, Gaurav Gogoi, TN Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, R Unnithan, Manickam Tagore, Benny Behnan and Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
The MPs had allegedly torn some paper and thrown it at the sitting Speaker in Lok Sabha.
Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, asked to Govt in media, “Is this a dictatorship? It seems Govt doesn’t want Delhi violence issue to be discussed in Parliament that is why this suspension. We strongly condemn this.”
- Suspend us for a year, but discuss Delhi riots and heal wounds of people: said Cong MP Gaurav Gogoi
- Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi on 7 Congress MPs suspended for rest of session commented, they reached the height of indiscipline and arrogance. Some pieces of paper were directly thrown at Speaker’s chair (in Lok Sabha). This is highly condemnable & unpardonable.
Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha continue to protest against Delhi violence. Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu says, “No slogans to be raised because this is Parliament not a bazaar”.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in Rajya Sabha: Since the govt has decided to hold a discussion on Delhi Violence on March 11, we request that if govt puts a statement on the floor of the house, the discussion should be confined to it only.
Lok Sabha adjourned till 12 noon, Uproar by Opposition in Lok Sabha over the issue of Delhi violence; slogans of “We want justice” being raised.

No Passport for Corrupt ‘Babus’: Government

Government employees under suspension or granted sanction of prosecution over corruption charges will not be able to get a passport, according to an official order.
The move follows a review of the existing guidelines by the Personnel Ministry, in consultation with the Central Vigilance Commission and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
It is required to check the vigilance clearance of such government servants for grant of passport, said the order issued by the Personnel Ministry to secretaries of all central government departments.
Accordingly, it has been decided that vigilance clearance can be withheld if an officer is under suspension or a charge-sheet has been filed in a court by the investigating agency in a criminal case, it said.
The section allows authorities to refuse passports to an applicant if his/her presence outside India may prejudice the friendly relations of India with any foreign country, or if the central government is of the opinion that the issue of travel document to the applicant will not be in the public interest, among others.
Passports can also be refused in case a warrant or summons for appearance or a warrant for arrest of the applicant has been issued by a court under any law for the time being in force or that an order prohibiting the departure from India of the applicant has been made by any such court, according to the Act.