The court however has allowed a prayer by the Thackeray faction to allow an Election Commission interim order allotting it the name ‘Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’ and symbol ‘Flaming Torch’ to “continue to remain in operation”.
“We cannot stay an order of the Election Commission at this stage. They have succeeded before the EC,” Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud told the Uddhav Thackeray camp.
In an oral mentioning before the Bench senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Thackeray, had sought a stay of the Election Commission order of February 17. The Thackeray camp expressed apprehensions about the Shinde faction taking over the party offices, property and bank accounts.
It sought protection from any “precipitate action” the Shinde faction would take against the Thackeray group by the next date of the Supreme Court hearing. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and A.M. Singhvi, appearing for Thackeray, sought some “interim relief” from the court.
However, the Supreme Court chose to remain non-committal. The CJI said the case before it was confined to a challenge to the EC order allotting Shinde faction the party and name, and nothing more.
“Ultimately, that is a contractual relationship within a political party. Any further action is not based on the Election Commission decision. If there is any action, then you [Thackeray] will have to exhaust your remedies under the law,” the CJI said. It meant that any further action taken by the Shinde-led Shiv Sena has to be challenged by Thackeray separately.
The court gave the Shinde-led Shiv Sena two weeks to file their counter affidavit to Thackeray’s challenge of the February 17 Election Commission order. Thackeray would get a week to file his rejoinder. The case would be listed subsequently.
Previously, when Thackeray had approached the Supreme Court he had alleged that the EC was “unfair”, “biased” and failed in its duties as a “neutral arbiter of disputes” under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968.
“They stole everything from me. The name [Shiv Sena] and symbol [bow and arrow] of our party have been stolen, but the name ‘Thackeray’ cannot be stolen,” the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra had said. “The 2024 Lok Sabha election may turn out to be the last election in the country, as after that dictatorship will start, and there won’t be any elections,” he added.
Home Ministry sanctions prosecution of Manish Sisodia in ‘collection of political intelligence’ case
The Union Home Ministry has granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the alleged “snooping on political opponents through a specially designed feedback unit (FBU)”.
The sanction has been granted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the MHA said in a letter to the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
In response to the development, Sisodia said, “To file false cases on your opponents is a sign of a weak and cowardly person. As the Aam Aadmi Party grows, more cases will be filed against us.”
The CBI earlier this month said a preliminary inquiry showed that the FBUs set up by the Delhi government to monitor corruption were allegedly gathering “political intelligence”. The agency recommended an FIR be filed against Sisodia.
The Aam Aadmi Party proposed the constitution of the FBU in 2015 to gather relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of the various departments and autonomous bodies, institutions and entities falling under the jurisdiction of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and also to do “trap cases”, the CBI said.
The unit started functioning in 2016 with a provision of ₹1 crore for secret service expenditure, it said. The CBI alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the proposal in a Cabinet meeting in 2015, but no agenda note was circulated. No sanction from the Lt. Governor was taken for appointments in the FBU, it claimed.
“The Feedback Unit, in addition to collecting the mandated information, also collected political intelligence/intelligence qua miscellaneous issues,” the CBI said in its preliminary inquiry report. The CBI registered the preliminary inquiry on a reference from the Delhi government’s vigilance department, which had allegedly detected irregularities in the FBU.
Delhi MCD mayoral polls: AAP’s Shelly Oberoi is new Mayor, Aaley Iqbal is Deputy Mayor
AAP candidate Shelly Oberoi was elected the new Mayor of Delhi on February 22, 2023. Oberoi secured 150 votes while BJP candidate Rekha Gupta secured 116 votes in what was the fourth attempt at conducting the polls.
Later in the day, AAP candidate Aaley Mohammed Iqbal was elected Delhi’s new Deputy Mayor, defeating the BJP’s Kamal Bagri by a margin of 31 votes. Iqbal bagged 147 votes against Bagri’s 116.
Starting tomorrow, all our councillors will start their work officially. The city’s landfills will also be inspected tomorrow itself,” Oberoi said following her election to the post.
“The 10 guarantees that CM Arvind Kejriwal has given to people, and the dreams that he has foreseen for Delhi, we will work on them,” the AAP leader said.
“Although my term as a Mayor will be short [one month], I am going to give my best to address the issues,” Obeoi said in response to The Hindu, when asked about how she plans to fix the MCD’s legacy issues.
Oberoi, a Delhi University teacher, is the first mayor of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Immediately after his win as Deputy Mayor, Iqbal said he is committed to the people of Delhi and will work for their betterment.
“We know that 80 days have been wasted by BJP but we will cover this in eight days. We have a lot of work to do and fulfilling the 10 guarantees by the Delhi chief minister will be our priority. We are committed to the people of Delhi and will work for the betterment of people and very soon that will be visible on the ground,” he told PTI after the results were announced.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shakar Kapoor congratulated Oberoi on her election, and also added: “It is regrettable that the woman Mayor will get a very short term of just 38 days and so all parties should come together to elect a woman Mayor for full one year term in April 2023.”
With Oberoi’s election, presiding officer Satya Sharma’s role will come to an end. The Mayor will preside over the remainder of the day’s meeting and conduct the elections of six members to the MCD’s standing committee.
Hijab row: SC to consider listing students’ plea
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday agreed to consider listing an application by Muslim students claiming they are not being allowed to wear hijab and take exams scheduled on March 9 in government colleges across Karnataka.
Advocate Shadan Farasat, for the students, urged the court to list and hear the case urgently as their academic future was at stake.
“They have already lost a year. Though they are private college students, the exams are held in government institutions. Allow them to take part in the exams,” Farasat submitted.
“Why are they not being allowed to take their exams?” the Chief Justice asked.
“Because they are wearing head scarves...” Farasat replied.
A Supreme Court Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta (now retired) and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had delivered a split verdict in October last year on whether or not students had a fundamental right to wear hijab in government institutions. On Wednesday, it was argued that the State authorities are continuing with their prohibition of hijab in classrooms.
On January 23, the CJI, in an earlier mention, had assured the students to list the main hijab case before a larger Bench of three judges. At that time, the students were about to have their practicals on February 6.
In the October judgment, Justice Gupta had upheld Karnataka’s prohibitive government order, saying “apparent symbols of religious belief cannot be worn to “secular” schools maintained from State funds. He had said ‘secularity’ meant uniformity, manifested by parity among students in terms of uniform.
The judge had held that adherence to the uniform was a reasonable restriction to free expression. The discipline reinforced equality. The State had never forced students out of state schools by restricting hijab. The decision to stay out was a “voluntary act” of the student.
In his divergent opinion, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia had said secularity meant tolerance to “diversity”. Wearing or not wearing a hijab to school was “ultimately a matter of choice”. For girls from conservative families, “her hijab is her ticket to education”.
“By asking the girls to take off their hijab before they enter the school gates, is first, an invasion of their privacy, then it is an attack on their dignity, and then ultimately it is a denial to them of secular education… There shall be no restriction on the wearing of hijab anywhere in schools and colleges in Karnataka,” Justice Dhulia had held.
Morbi bridge collapse: Gujarat HC directs Oreva Group to pay ₹10 lakh compensation to kin of each deceased
Gujarat High Court on February 22 directed the Oreva Group to pay compensation of ₹10 lakh to kin of each deceased of the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy, and ₹2 lakh to each injured within four weeks. The Morbi-based Ajanta Manufacturing Limited (Oreva Group) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era suspension bridge on the Machchu river that collapsed on October 30 last year.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice Sandeep Bhatt asked the company to pay the interim compensation.
In a recently released report based on the preliminary probe conducted by the Gujarat government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) several lapses were found in repairs, maintenance and operation of the bridge, that led to the collapse of the suspension bridge in Morbi last year in which 135 people were killed. These included corrosion on nearly half of the wires on a cable and welding of old suspenders with new ones.
The Managing Director of Oreva Group, Jaysukh Patel, had been arrested on January 31, after he surrendered before a court in Gujarat.
In the chargesheet running in more than 1,200 pages and filed in the court of chief judicial magistrate M.J. Khan by Deputy Superintendent of Police P.S. Zala, Mr. Patel was shown as the tenth accused.
On Tuesday, Oreva Group had made an offer before the high court to pay an ‘interim’ compensation totalling ₹5 crore to the kin of those who lost their lives and people left injured when a British-era suspension bridge collapsed in October last year. The court had, however, said the compensation offered by the company was not “just”.
In Brief:
The Union Cabinet on February 22 extended by one-and-a-half years the term of the 22nd Law Commission which is mandated to identify laws which are “no longer relevant” and recommend for their repeal. According to an official release, the term of the panel has been extended up to August 31, 2024. The Commission’s three year term ended on February 20. The 22nd law panel was constituted for a period of three years on February 21, 2020 and its chairperson, Justice Rituraj Awasthi (retd), assumed office on November 9, 2022.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
