A day after an impromptu meeting of the breakaway group of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar with the party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday, the party’s legislators in the government paid a second visit to the NCP supremo at Mumbai’s Y.B. Chavan Centre on Monday.
During the meeting, Ajit Pawar and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel urged the patriarch to ensure the party stayed united under his leadership. “In today’s [Monday’s] meeting with Sharad Saheb, we again asked him to ensure that the NCP stays united. Although he attentively listened to us, like yesterday, even today, he refrained from offering a reaction,” Patel said following a half-hour meeting with Pawar Senior.
Those MLAs (of the Ajit Pawar faction) who could not meet Sharad Pawar during the meeting held on Sunday were present on this occasion, he said. “After learning that Pawar Saheb was heading to Chavan Centre, we immediately rushed here from Assembly to meet him. Since some of the MLAs couldn’t attend the meeting yesterday as they were in their respective constituencies due to Sunday, they came to meet him today under the leadership of Ajit Pawar. We came here to have the darshan of Pawar Saheb and seek his blessings,” the former Union Minister said.
Patel said that he and Ajit Pawar would attend the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. Speaking to The Hindu, a senior leader from Sharad Pawar’s camp said the top leader was not aware of his nephew and other legislators’ visit to the Chavan Centre to meet him.
“He was on his way to the Chavan Centre when Ajit Pawar and other MLAs came. He was not expecting them today. It was a surprise visit,” he said.
He said that Pawar Junior and Patel reportedly discussed with Sharad Pawar the disqualification petition filed by the latter’s camp against nine rebel MLAs, who are now ministers in the Eknath Shinde Cabinet. “They are requesting Pawar Saheb to join the NDA,” the leader said.
Following the surprise visit of the splinter group legislators, NCP State President Jayant Patil, a staunch loyalist of Pawar Senior, who was at his residence after having met with Governor Ramesh Bais, hurried to the Chavan Centre. “I was informed about their arrival and asked to reach the Chavan Centre without delay. Pawar Saheb told me that he would only meet them in my presence. During the meeting, the MLAs sought Pawar Saheb’s guidance, asking him to show them a way forward,” he said.
Though Sharad Pawar skipped the Opposition parties’ meeting held in Bengaluru on Monday, he would join the meeting on Tuesday. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has left for Bengaluru on Monday evening to attend the meeting on Tuesday.
Supreme Court fixes Bilkis Bano’s case against remission to convicts on August 7
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 17) fixed petitions filed by Bilkis Bano and others against the premature release of 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for gangraping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots for hearing on July 7.
A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan recorded that service of notice of the case to the various released convicts and other parties have been completed.
This is the second time the case is coming up before a Bench led by Justice Nagarathna. The previous time was on July 11, when it was posted for directions on July 17.
The case had come up repeatedly before an earlier Bench led by Justice (retired) K.M. Joseph. However, successive hearings kept getting adjourned due to a maze of procedural objections raised by various lawyers representing the released men. On the last day of such a hearing, on May 9, Justice Joseph had orally remarked that time was running out for him with his retirement now just days away. His last working day was May 19.
“I think it should be more than clear to you what is happening… So, the problem for me is I am retiring on June 16, but my last working day is May 19 [last working day before court closed for summer vacation till July 2]… It is obvious they do not want us to hear the matter. It is more than obvious,” Justice Joseph had said on May 9.
The oral remark from Justice Joseph was prompted by a clamour of objections raised by the lawyers for the 11 released convicts, who claimed that they were not served notice of the case. Some of them had wanted the case to be adjourned, giving them time to file their counter affidavits to Bano’s petition challenging the decision of the State of Gujarat, endorsed by the Centre, to remit their life sentences.
The hearing, at one point, had seen the Supreme Court even wonder whether some of the released convicts were making a “mockery” of or even “playing” with the court by either going incognito to hamper the service of notice of the case or seeking time to file counter affidavits.
Justice Nagarathna was the senior Associate Judge on the Bench at the time. The case had come to her Bench following the retirement of Justice Joseph. In one of the hearings, advocate Shobha Gupta, for Bano, had mapped the long trajectory of the case in the apex court. She said her petition was filed in November 2022.
It came up for hearing before a Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela Trivedi on December 13. But Justice Trivedi had recused. There was a hiatus of over three months during which Gupta said she had repeatedly mentioned the case before the Chief Justice of India for a listing.
The case was finally referred to Justices Joseph and Nagarathna and came up for hearing on March 27, 2023. The Bench had issued notice on the same day and directed the government to be ready with the official files concerning the remission. On April 18, both Union and the Gujarat governments said they may seek a review against a March 27 order in which the court had asked them to be “ready with the files”.
The government had even hinted that they would claim privilege over the remission records. Meanwhile, the released convicts had raised similar objections regarding the service of notice and sought adjournment to file their counter affidavits.
SC to consider plea seeking cross verification of EVM vote count with VVPAT
The Supreme Court on Monday asked petitioner NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), to serve the Election Commission of India with a copy of their petition seeking a direction to cross-verify the vote count in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with votes separately “recorded as cast” in the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
A Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna however made a preliminary oral remark that the petitioner, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, may be over-suspicious”. The court agreed to list the case after three weeks.
The present petition said the apex court had directed in its reported judgment of 2013 in the Subramanian Swamy v. Election Commission of India case that the election process should “have fullest transparency in the system and to restore the confidence of the voters”. The court had held that “paper trail” was an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections” and directed the ECI to introduce VVPAT in EVMs.
It is the satisfaction and verification of the voter that is at the heart of electoral democracy and not just that of the ECI, domain experts, political parties, or candidates. ‘Voter verifiable’ means that each voter must be able to verify: firstly, that their vote has been ‘recorded as cast’; and, secondly, that their vote has been ‘counted as recorded’,” the petition noted.
Though the requirement of the voter verifying that her vote has been ‘recorded as cast’ is somewhat met when the VVPAT slip is displayed for about seven seconds after pressing of the button on the EVM through a transparent window, there is a “complete vacuum in law as the ECI has provided no procedure for the voter to verify that her vote has been ‘counted as recorded’ which is an indispensable part of voter verifiability”, the petition contended.
38 parties have confirmed participation in NDA meeting on Tuesday: J.P. Nadda
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, BJP president J.P. Nadda said.
Addressing a press conference on Monday (July 17), Nadda said NDA’s reach and scope have increased over the years. He said the NDA constituents are upbeat due to the positive impact of the Narendra Modi government’s schemes and policies.
The meeting of the BJP-led coalition is scheduled to be held on a day several Opposition parties are set to hold deliberations in Bengaluru to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The NDA meeting here will see the presence of a host of existing and new BJP allies as the ruling party has worked overtime in recent weeks and months to seal fresh alliances and win back those who had quit the ruling combine.
Congress holds closed-door meeting on Uniform Civil Code even as Law Panel extends the deadline
An eight-member group, set up to advice Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Uniform Civil Code (UCC), felt that uniformity on personal laws of different communities was not necessary even though there is scope for reforms of personal laws.
On July 15, members of this group held a closed door meeting at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in which the overwhelming sentiment was to reject any “uniformity that doesn’t respect India’s diversity”.
Sources said the eight member group included eminent lawyers P. Chidamabaram, Abhishek Singhvi, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha and K.T.S. Tusli. Other members include Lok Sabha member from Odisha and a tribal leader Saptagiri Ulaka and Rajya Sabha member, L Hanumanthaiah, who is from a scheduled caste (SC).
So far, the Congress has stated that it will wait for a draft of the proposed UCC before taking an official stand. “Though nothing is final yet and we will wait for a draft but most of us felt that there was no need for a UCC at this stage. In 2018, the 21st Law Commission had said in its report that the UCC is neither advisable nor feasible,” said a member of the advisory group.
“There may be a case to reform personal laws of different communities and that can be done after consultation with the stakeholders and the concerned community,” he added.
The Congress chief had made this advisory group after Prime Minister Narendra Modi — at a meeting of BJP workers last month in Bhopal — had made a strong pitch for the uniform civil code. The Prime Minister’s push came just days after the 22nd Law Commission, headed by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, had started the process of public consultations in mid-June.
Asking for opinions and feedback from the public and organisation, the Law panel had put July 15 as the last for public consultations. However, the law panel has now extended the last date to July 28.
With the Monsoon session of Parliament scheduled to start from July 20 and end on August 11, the government may not be able to bring in legislation in the forthcoming session. “The government may think it’s about one community but it’s not. Tribals have their own customary law and the BJP’s former ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, has given strong arguments why UCC isn’t required,” said another leader.
In Brief:
The Supreme Court Monday hinted that it was contemplating referring to a constitution bench for adjudication the Delhi government’s petition against the Centre’s recent ordinance on control of services. The top court had recently issued notices to the Centre and the lieutenant governor on the plea while refusing to grant an interim stay on the ordinance on control over services in Delhi. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra, at the outset, indicated since the ordinance was issued by taking recourse to Article 239AA, it will be in the fitness of things if the matter is decided by a constitution bench.
The Centre will sell tomatoes at ₹80 per kg from July 16, as against ₹90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets. On Friday, the Centre started to sell tomatoes at a discounted rate of ₹90 per kg in Delhi-NCR through mobile vans. More cities were added on Saturday. “There has been a decrease in the wholesale prices of tomatoes due to the intervention of the government to sell it at a concessional rate of ₹90 per kg, at several locations in the country where the prices were ruling exceptionally high,” an official statement said. “After a re-assessment of the situation from across 500 plus points in the country, it has been decided to sell it at ₹80 per kg from today Sunday July 16th, 2023,” it added.
Russia said on July 17 it has halted an unprecedented wartime deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced halting the deal in a conference call with reporters, adding that Russia will return to the deal after its demands are met.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
