Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Rahul Gandhi acquitted

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Editor

In a stunning blow to the Narendra Modi government, which focused on celebrating the overall verdict that saw no ground for initiating prosecution, against Anil Ambani in the Rafale deal, Justice K M Joseph said in a concurrent but separate judgment that the dismissal of the petitions on the judicial side would not be a constraint to the investigative agency to investigate the case. Justice Joseph, who as chief justice of Uttarakhand High Court had quashed President’s rule recommended in the state by the Modi government in 2016 and whose elevation to the Supreme Court was delayed by the Centre in 2018 did not differ with the overall view of the bench on the review petitions.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday closed the contempt plea against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the Rafale case. The bench referred to the affidavit filed by him tendering unconditional apology and said, “Gandhi enjoys an important position in political spectrum and no court should be dragged to political discourse, whether valid or invalid.” It may be recalled that the court had on May 10 reserved the judgment on Meenakshi Lekhi’s contempt plea filed against Gandhi for the ‘chowkidar chor hai’ remarks against Modi, which the top court had said were incorrectly attributed to it.

It may be pertinent to note that Rahul Gandhi, in his explanation filed in the court  earlier, had said that his statement was made in the ‘heat of political campaigning’ and there was not the ‘slightest intention to insinuate’ anything regarding the Supreme Court proceedings in any manner. Thus, the court closed the contempt plea against Rahul Gandhi giving much relief to the already disconcerted Congress party leaders and its rank and file.

Yours etc.,

TK Nandanan,

Via email

Kerala Govt’s internet freebie

Editor

The Kerala government has to be lauded for its declaration recently to provide  free internet access to 20 lakh poor households and to others at an affordable rate. The state government sees  internet connection as one of the  basic human rights and also as a window to the world. Kerala cabinet gave it’s final nod for Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) Project and is taking all measures to see that it is completed by Dec 2020. The state government will set up the Kerala fibre optic network (KFON) to provide free and low-cost internet connectivity to residents. It will be a joint-venture of the Kerala state electricity board (KSEB) and Kerala state IT infrastructure Ltd.
A new optic fibre network, and Wi-Fi transmission centres across the state will be set up to accomplish this task. The Internet no doubt has become part of our daily lives as without it life becomes isolated and mundane. The state government’s gesture in helping it’s citizens, especially helping the poor to access the digital world and to be very much a part of the nation’s progress is something that other states can follow. This also helps improve and achieve one   of our nation’s ambition – cent percent digital literacy.

Yours etc.,
M Pradyu,
Kannur

Disqualification of Karnataka MLAs

Editor

The Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday ( November 13) upheld the plea of 17 MLAS without interfering with the Speaker’s right to disqualify MLAs. The verdict delivered by the three-judge bench of justices NV Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari was based on facts and circumstances of the particular case.

Commenting on the growing trend of Speakers against constitutional mandate the bench said that ‘Citizens are denied stable governments’. In fact the people of the state who elected the representatives i.e., those MLAs suffered in terms of total logjam of administration, stoppage of development activities and were deprived of governance  because of the greed of the elected MLAs  for getting ministerial berths with sinister designs of bargaining and floor crossing ambitions. The verdict of the Apex Court allowing those legislatures to contest assembly by-polls of December 5, may provide a relief for those identified tainted politicians, but how to assure the electorate that after getting re-elected those politicians would not resort to repeating the same feat!

Recommendation of the Governor of Maharashtra for imposition of Article 356 to the President of India before the expiry of the deadline given to the Shiv Sena for formation of government appears to have been made in an unnecessary hurry, overlooking/sidelining impartiality and justice. The action has opened the doors for “horse-trading” by all political parties endangering survival of true democracy in the country. Whether the modus operandi of the state Governor is in keeping with the constitutional mandate needs examination by the Apex Court.

Yours etc.,

Samares Bandyopadhyay

Advocate, Kolkata High Court

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