Monthly Archives: August 2018

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 10

The government today introduced a contentious Bill in the Rajya Sabha that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a Cabinet Minister in the panel for selection of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, in a move that will allow the Centre to have more control in the appointments of members of the poll panel.

The Bill was introduced amid an uproar by the Opposition, including the Congress and AAP that accused the government of “overturning” a Constitution Bench order. The Supreme Court had in March ruled that a three-member panel, headed by the PM and comprising the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) and the Chief Justice of India, will select the CEC and ECs till a law was framed by Parliament on the appointments.

Overturning SC order on appointments?

• The SC in March ruled that a three-member panel comprising the PM, LoP and CJI would select the CEC and ECs
• The arrangement was to be in place till a law was framed by Parliament on the appointment of poll commissioners
• The apex court had aimed to insulate the appointment of the CEC and the ECs from the Executive’s interference
• PM-chosen Union Cabinet Minister to replace CJI in panel

The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, was moved by Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal in the Upper House. According to the Bill, future CEC and ECs will be selected by a three-member panel headed by the PM and comprising the LoP and a Cabinet Minister.

it’s Black day for indian democracy

A black day for Indian democracy today as the Modi government seeks to reconstitute ‘Election Commission of India’ as ‘Modi Election Commission’! —Randeep Surjewala, Cong

again shows PM doesn’t obey SC

I had already said the PM does not obey the SC. His message is clear— he will bring a law in Parliament to overturn any apex court order that he does not like. —Arvind Kejriwal, AAP

The first vacancy will arise in the Election Commission early next year when Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on February 14 on attaining the age of 65 years. His retirement will come days before the likely announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

According to the Bill, the CEC and ECs shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the panel with the PM as its chairperson, LoP and a minister nominated by the PM. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “As we objected to the brazen assault on India’s democracy and bulldozing of the Constitutional independence of the ECI, the Bill was deliberately introduced in the din, bypassing all sense of parliamentary procedures and constitutional propriety.” Predicting that since the BJP was faced with “imminent defeat in the five election-going states as also the 2024 Lok Sabha elections”, Surjewala said, “The Bill is a sinister ploy to hijack democracy by constituting a puppet Modi Election Commission.”

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also attacked the Prime Minister claiming the Bill would influence the fairness of elections. “I had already said the PM does not obey the Supreme Court of the country. His message is clear—he will bring a law through Parliament to overturn whichever SC order he does not like.”

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, August 9

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said once the Instrument of Accession (IoA) signed by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1948 got subsumed in a post-Constitution document indicating transfer of power, the IoA can’t act as a fetter on Parliament’s powers.

Accession means J&K is intrinsic part of india

Once accession takes place, there are certain fetters that he (Maharaja) unconditionally recognises the sovereignty of India, but he retains certain exceptions. But what accession means is that J&K becomes an intrinsic part of India.

-DY Chandrachud, CJI

On the fourth day of hearing on petitions challenging nullification of Article 370, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud wanted to know if the IoA ceased to exist after Jammu and Kashmir became a part of India.

“The reason I asked this was that it could possibly be that the fetter on powers of Parliament under clause (d) of Article 370(1) was also a limited transitional provision which would operate so long as the IoA held the field as an independent document,” the CJI said.

The Bench – which also included Justice SK Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant – posed several questions to senior counsel Gopal Subramanium and Zaffar Shah on the IoA, sovereignty and the constitutional relationship between the Union of India and Jammu and Kashmir. It asked about the status of the IoA once the Constituent Assembly of J&K adopted its Constitution “Would it (IoA) be subsumed in the state Constitution?”

Subramanium answered in the affirmative. “Yes, because the state Constitution itself recognises the accession in 1948. The IoA was for a very limited purpose at that time. But later on, there was the Constituent Assembly, the accession was complete and the Constitution of J&K itself declared that integration was complete,” he said.

Subramanium, however, sought to emphasise that bilateralism was in the very nature of Article 370 and it contemplated limitations on powers of Parliament which could not be obviated by taking recourse to imposition of President’s rule under Article 356.

“What seems to have happened in the IoA is that sovereignty seems to have transferred to India but the power of legislation – one part of sovereignty – is not with Parliament,” the CJI said.

Shah said, “If we look at Article 370(a) it seems to subsume within itself the power that the Maharaja had. He had retained the entire residuary sovereignty with himself. Sovereignty is the power to make laws… Article 370 subsumes the sovereignty which was retained by Maharaja. At the same time, its finality could not be determined – not of 370 but of the State itself.”

Shah said, “Article 370 sub-sumes the sovereignty which was retained by the Maharaja. At the same time, its finality could not be determined – not of Article 370 but of the state.”

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 8

Parliament today passed a Bill that provides disciplinary powers to the Commander heading tri-services organisations — like theatre commands. The Rajya Sabha green-lighted the Bill which had earlier been passed by the Lok Sabha on August 4. The Bill shall now go for Presidential assent before getting implemented.

Called the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control & Discipline) Bill-2023, it is a long-awaited reform, especially after the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff. Theatre commands are expected to be announced soon and entail having a single commander leading the men and officers from three armed forces.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report on July 21 okayed plans to bring in the law. Initiating the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the Bill as necessary to strengthen the armed forces in view of the global security scenario, emphasising that only through better jointness and integration can the military move forward towards securing national interests.

The Bill will ensure better coordination among the three services and bolster the integrated structure, he said, assuring the House that it will prove to be a milestone in the path to India’s military reforms. “The Bill is to empower the Commander-in-Chief or the Officer-in-Command of Inter-services Organisations in respect of service personnel,” say the objects of Bill. Personnel of the Indian Air Force, Army and the Navy are, respectively, governed under the Air Force Act, 1950, the Army Act, 1950 and the Navy Act, 1957.

The Bill does not propose any change to the existing Service Acts, rules and regulations. Service personnel when serving in an Inter-Services Organisation will continue to be governed by their respective Service Acts. However, the Bill will empower heads of Inter-Services Organisations to exercise all the disciplinary and administrative powers as per the existing Acts of the three services.

IIMs amendment bill passed

• Rajya Sabha has also given its nod to a Bill which seeks to entrust the management accountability of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) with the President
• The Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023, aims to empower the President to audit IIMs’ functioning, order probes and appoint as well as remove directors

Nod to nursing Commission Bill

The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023, and the National Dental Commission Bill, 2023, which are aimed at further improving the quality of education in the healthcare sector, also got the Rajya Sabha’s approval.

Charge it with ‘obstructing search operations’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 8

In a rare instance, the Manipur Police have registered an FIR against the Assam Rifles accusing the force of blocking their vehicle after an altercation between the two groups last week.

Sources in the security establishment, however, termed the FIR a “travesty of justice” and said the Assam Rifles was undertaking a task given by the command headquarters of ensuring sanctity of the buffer zones between Kuki and Meitiei areas. The FIR, a copy of which is with The Tribune, was filed on August 5 when the state police alleged that the Assam Rifles blocked police vehicles on the Kwakta Gothol road in Bishnupur district.

In the FIR, the police claimed that the Assam Rifles stopped its personnel from proceeding when “they were moving on Pholjang Road along Kwakta to conduct search operations in an Arms Act case in search of Kuki militants.”

The police also claimed that its personnel were stopped by 9 Assam Rifles, which parked their ‘Casper’ vehicle blocking the road. Sources in the defence establishment said: “Assam Rifles was undertaking a task given by the command headquarters of ensuring sanctity of the buffer zones between Kuki and Meitiei areas.”

Sources in the Imphal secretariat are reported to have said the Army was taking up the issue with the state government strongly at a high level.

Meanwhile, Assam Rifles personnel, posted at Moirang Lamkhai checkpoint in Manipur’s Bishnupur district, where fresh violence erupted last week, have been withdrawn and substituted with the CRPF and police forces, the state government said in a notification.

The withdrawal of Assam Rifles comes at a time when several groups of women in valley districts launched a demonstration on Monday, demanding the removal of the paramilitary force from the strife-torn northeastern state.

Detrimental to regional peace: Gen Munir

PTI

Peshawar, August 7

Amidst a spike in terror strikes in Pakistan, army chief General Asim Munir on Monday voiced concern over banned militant groups enjoying safe haven in neighbouring Afghanistan and asked them to submit to the writ of state or get decimated.

“Terrorism has no place in Pakistan. The involvement of Afghans in terrorist incidents in Pakistan is detrimental to regional peace, stability and deviation from the Doha Peace Agreement by the interim Afghan government,” he said. During a visit to the headquarters of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Frontier Corps (FC) here, he said: “Pakistan will spare no effort to dismantle terrorist networks and protect its citizens at all costs.”

PTI

Chandigarh, August 8

A seven-member inter-ministerial central team on Tuesday visited flood-affected areas of Mohali and Patiala districts of Punjab to assess the damage caused by it, officials said.

The team led by Ravinesh Kumar, financial advisor, National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) visited several flood-hit areas.

Several parts of Punjab were affected by the heavy downpour in the state between July 9 and July 11, flooding vast expanse of agricultural fields and other areas, besides paralysing normal life.

The inter-ministerial team first went to Mohali where it visited Dehar, Alamgir, Tiwana, Khajur Mandi and Sarasini areas of Derabassi sub-division to take stock of the devastation caused by the Ghaggar river.

The central team took the details about the damage from local officials. Flood-affected farmers also gave details about their crop damage and demanded compensation for it.

Krishna Kumar, principal secretary, Punjab water resources department, spoke about the widespread damage caused by the floods in the state and also apprised the team about the relief work carried out by the state government.

During an interaction with the central team, Mohali Deputy Commissioner (DC) Aashika Jain gave detailed information about the damage caused by Ghaggar river in the district.

The DC said due to several breaches in embankments along the Ghaggar river, several feet of thick layer of silt has been deposited in hundreds of acres of fields. In many places, fields and soil have been washed away due to a change in the course of the river, turning them into ditches which will require labour and finance to make them cultivable again, the DC said.

The DC added that silt has deposited over 659 acres of land in the area.

She said Derabassi and Kharar sub-divisions were more affected in the floods.

Later, the team visited flood-hit areas of Patiala district.

In Patiala, the team visited several areas, including Rohar Jagir, Badshahpur, Rampur Parta in Patiala and spoke to farmers and other people affected by the flood.

Patiala DC Sakshi Sawhney gave detailed information about the damage caused in the district.

Speaking to reporters in Patiala, Ravinesh Kumar, who led the team, said the team will assess the damage caused by the floods and will submit a report on it.

The central team will visit flood-hit areas of Rupnagar and Jalandhar on Wednesday.

The Punjab government had earlier estimated a loss of Rs 1,500 crore because of floods in the state.