Tag: direction

SC dismisses plea seeking direction to issue public apology to relative of Narayan D Apte

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed with a cost of Rs 25,000 a plea which sought a direction to the Centre to issue a public apology to a relative of Narayan D Apte, who was hanged in November 1949 for his role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, for being responsible for his “custodial murder”.
The plea also challenged the constitutional validity of a law which granted ex-post facto powers to a special judge to grant pardon to an accused saying it was used to “falsely implicate” Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in the Gandhi murder trial.
“Everybody can just walk-in in this court and file whatever they want?” a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A Amanullah wondered.

The bench also referred to one of the prayers made in the petition, filed by Abhinav Bharat Congress’ through its founding president Pankaj K Phadnis, which said in “partial atonement of injustice” done to Savarkar, the Centre may be directed to form an empowered committee of eminent persons for giving overseas scholarship to meritorious students for undertaking post graduate studies as envisaged by Savarkar in 1944.
“I think we should impose cost,” the bench told the counsel who was appearing for the petitioner.
“You cannot waste our time like this,” the apex court observed, adding, “The habit of walking in this court without anything….we will not allow this”.
The counsel said the petition is not for either Nathuram Godse or Savarkar and it was only for Apte.
The bench dismissed the plea with a cost of Rs 25,000 to be deposited in the lawyers’ welfare fund.

The petition had challenged the constitutional validity of the Bombay Public Security Measures (Delhi Amendment) Act, 1948, which amended section 13 of Bombay Act 6 of 1947 by introducing sub section 2 (A).
It said this granted ex-post facto powers to a special judge to grant pardon to an accused and the powers were used to falsely implicate Savarkar in the Gandhi murder trial and “eliminate him as contender for being Prime Minister in independent India.”
“The murder trial of such an esteemed person (Mahatma Gandhi) had to be conducted in a manner that ought to have set standards for criminal trials in Republic of India. Respondent failed to do so to promote his own vested interests” it claimed.
The plea alleged that the three victims of the “legal mistrial” were Savarkar, D S Parchure and Narayan D Apte.
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#dismisses #plea #seeking #direction #issue #public #apology #relative #Narayan #Apte
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 21, 2023
SC rejects pleas seeking direction to Centre to enact gender, religion-neutral laws

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New Delhi: In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday thwarted an attempt to get a direction to the Centre to frame uniform religion and gender-neutral laws governing subjects such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and alimony by refusing to entertain a batch of petitions, saying it cannot direct Parliament to legislate.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala took note of the submissions made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the issue falls under the domain of the legislature and hence, the pleas cannot be entertained.
Disposing of a total of 16 petitions, including those filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shazia Ilmi and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, the top court said, “After taking a considered view of the pleadings and submissions, we are not inclined to entertain the petitions under Article 32. The grant of relief in these proceedings necessitates a direction for enactment of laws — gender-neutral and religion-neutral legislation as the petitioner has described it.
“This lies exclusively within the domain of the legislature. It is an established position that a mandamus cannot be issued to the legislature to enact laws,” it said.
The bench also refused to direct the Law Commission to prepare a report on such laws as sought in the petitions. “As far as a direction to the Law Commission to prepare a report is concerned, we see no reason to entertain the request. Ultimately, the issue of making a law will fall under the legislative domain…. The petitions are disposed of,” it ordered.
The bench, however, allowed Upadhayay, the lead petitioner, to take the recourse available to him to seek the framing of such laws.
It, however, kept a petition moved by a Muslim woman, having individual grievances, alive.
The bench was hearing petitions seeking a direction to the government for enacting uniform religion and gender-neutral laws on a wide variety of issues.

Upadhyay had filed five separate petitions seeking directions to the Centre to frame such laws on divorce, adoption, guardianship, succession, inheritance, maintenance, marriageable age and alimony.
Earlier, the top court had asked whether it could hear a range of pleas, including PILs, seeking a direction to the Centre to frame uniform religion and gender-neutral laws governing issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and alimony.
“The question is to what extent the court can intervene in these matters as the issues fall under the legislative domain,” it had said.
Upadhyay, in August 2020, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) matter seeking “uniform grounds for divorce” for all citizens, in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution and international conventions.
He filed another PIL through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey seeking uniform “gender and religion-neutral” grounds for maintenance and alimony for all citizens.
In another PIL, he sought the removal of anomalies in the laws governing adoption and guardianship and to make them uniform for all citizens.
He also filed a petition seeking the removal of anomalies in the succession and inheritance laws and making them uniform for all.
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#rejects #pleas #seeking #direction #Centre #enact #gender #religionneutral #laws
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 29, 2023
GOP senator: ‘Vast majority’ want ‘a different direction’ than Rick Scott on Social Security

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“We’re never going to not fund defense. But at the same time we — every single year, we look at how we make it better,” Rounds said. “And I think it’s about time we start talking about Social Security and making it better.”
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Joe Biden highlighted Scott’s (R-Fla.) “Rescue America” agenda released during the 2022 campaign, which would sunset all federal programs including Social Security and Medicare. Those programs don’t currently require ongoing congressional approval, so the plan puts benefits in jeopardy, Biden asserted.
Some Republicans — a handful of whom heckled the president for the statement in his address Tuesday — have characterized the threat as dishonest. The plan’s text online states: “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
“We should be saying, let’s plan now, so that Social Security has a long run ahead of it, more than 75 years. And why don’t we start talking about the long-term plans, instead of trying to scare one another?” Rounds said Sunday.
He said he did see ways to make Social Security and Medicare better.
Possible reforms to Social Security could include “moving up by a couple of months” the time when full benefits start, or changing the amount of income subject to Social Security-related taxes, Rounds said.
“Simply looking away from it and pretending like there’s no problems with Social Security is not an appropriate or responsible thing to do,” Rounds said. He added: “Republicans want to see Social Security be successful and be improved.”
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#GOP #senator #Vast #majority #direction #Rick #Scott #Social #Security
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 13, 2023
Hyderabad Cricket has become a banana republic; no sensibility, no direction except losing matches

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Hyderabad cricket is in a pitiable state. It has recently recorded its worst ever performance in the Ranji Trophy Championship. In the past Hyderabad used to be known for it’s daredevilry. Its batsmen never hesitated to play their shots. The bowlers used to be very crafty – especially the spinners who were among the best in India. They could break the spine of the strongest batting line ups. Hyderabad also used to be a rival that the big guns took very seriously.
Now Hyderabad has declined to unprecedented depths in the Ranji trophy. The six defeats are testimony to the team’s abject failure. Hyderabad finished with just one point from seven matches and was demoted to the Plate group for the next season. This is the third time that Hyderabad has faced this ignominy.
Those who love Hyderabad cricket passionately are in despair. How long will this torture go on? How many defeats and humiliations will it take to shake the HCA administration out of its slumber?
The famous basketball coach of the USA, John Robert Wooden once said something that applies very aptly to Hyderabad’s present condition. He said: “Failure against rivals is not fatal. But failure to change one’s methods can be fatal.” Meaning, the best of teams may fail from time to time. But as long as they learn from that failure and change their methods, they are safe. Success will come one day. But in Hyderabad, no lesson has been learnt from failures and nothing has changed.
Year after year we see the same story being repeated. The internal squabbling between administrators continues endlessly. The local league cricket is not being conducted in a systematic and progressive manner. Recently the media exposed how the increase in the number of teams has led to a further increase in malpractices.
A former well experienced state player who is now a top official in one of the cricket clubs told this correspondent that in 2019-2020 the number of teams in the A-1 Division 3-Day league was suddenly increased from 18 to 35 without any rhyme or reason. Now the number has risen further.
“This has brought down the standard at the topmost level of the Hyderabad leagues. Because players can now score a century or take five wickets against obscure rivals and thereby stake a claim for a place in the state side. In the season of 2021-2022 the same story was repeated. And this season has started badly again. Things are going wrong because rules are being flouted regularly with utter impunity,” he pointed out.
“When so many teams are playing, obviously there is a lack of top quality grounds. What is the standard of the pitches and outfields on which league matches are played? Does anybody pay any attention to these important aspects of the game? On poorly maintained grounds, players cannot show their skill. There is enough money in the game to improve infrastructure. But it is not being done. If the conduct of league tournaments does not improve, it logically follows that there will be no improvement in Hyderabad cricket,” he lamented.

Another official pointed out that many questionable decisions were made in Hyderabad’s participation in domestic tournaments. Many choices were haphazard and irrational. For the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament, seven different opening pairs were tried out. Eleven new players made their debut. Players with immense potential were overlooked and players with little experience and poor scores were selected. Players who succeeded in one match found themselves dropped for the next match. There was not even a semblance of stability in the side. The coaching staff consisted of only one head coach without any assistant coach or fielding coach.
As the saying goes in all sports, the grassroots level is where the talent takes root. That organisation which can improve cricket at the lowest level will rise to great heights at the topmost level. But in Hyderabad nobody seems to care. The HCA seems to have developed a skin so thick that the worst humiliation cannot bring about a sense of shame.
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#Hyderabad #Cricket #banana #republic #sensibility #direction #losing #matches
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 29, 2023
Plea in SC seeks direction to empower citizens to petition Parliament

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New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and others to take steps to create an appropriate system which empowers citizens to petition Parliament and seek initiation of deliberations on issues highlighted by them.
The plea came up for hearing on Friday before a bench comprising justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna.
The bench asked the counsel appearing for petitioner Karan Garg to serve a copy of the plea to the Centre’s lawyer and posted the matter in February.
Advocate Rohan J Alva appeared for the petitioner.
The plea has sought a declaration that it is the fundamental right of citizens under Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution to directly petition Parliament to seek initiation of a debate, discussion and deliberation on the issues highlighted by them in their petitions.
“The present writ petition prays that it is imperative for the respondents (Centre and others) to take substantive steps in order to ensure that citizens can have their voices heard in Parliament without facing undue barriers and difficulties,” it said.
The plea said as an ordinary citizen of the country, the petitioner felt “disempowered” when it came to participation in the democratic process and after people cast their votes and elect representatives, there is no scope for any further participation.
It said there is a complete absence of any formal mechanism by which citizens can engage with the lawmakers and take steps in order to ensure that issues which are of vital importance are debated in Parliament.

“The absence of this mechanism creates a void between elected representatives and the citizens. The people are disconnected from the law-making process. This distancing of the citizens to their inherent rights to fully participate in Indian democracy is a matter of grave concern and is an issue which needs to be immediately addressed,” the plea said.
It said a system by which the citizens can directly petition Parliament is already in place in the United Kingdom and it has been working well for several years.
It also said that if citizens have the ability to engage with the Centre and Parliament at a deeper level, it may reduce the burden on the apex court and high courts “since there may exist an effective and alternative remedy for espousing and pursuing public interest causes”.
The plea said citizens have a fundamental right to participate in democratic affairs and are constitutionally entitled to present workable and constructive suggestions to Parliament on matters of national importance so that public interest is appropriately safeguarded.
“The current system does not fully allow citizens to initiate discussions in Parliament by moving appropriate petitions,” it added.
The petition said formulation of well-reasoned and reasonable rules which allow citizens to directly petition Parliament will usher in a transformative era of democratic governance and create an environment for robust engagement between the people of the country and the members of Parliament.
It has sought a direction to the Centre and others to expeditiously take steps to create an appropriate system or reasonable rules and regulations which empower citizens to petition Parliament and seek initiation of a debate on the issues highlighted by them.
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#Plea #seeks #direction #empower #citizens #petition #Parliament
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 28, 2023