President Droupadi Murmu conferred the coveted Padma awards on 68 eminent personalities, including former Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar, dancer Shobana Chandrakumar, actor Anant Nag, and Vice Chancellor of King George's Medical University Soniya Nityanand. The awards were given in various disciplines and fields, including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, and civil service. The Padma Vibhushan was awarded to Justice (retd) Khehar for public affairs, while nine individuals received the Padma Bhushan. The Padma Shri was awarded to leading immunologist and KGMU VC Nityanand, footballer Inivalappil Mani Vijayan, singer Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, actor Ashok Laxman Saraf, mask maker Reba Kanta Mahanta, and musician Ricky Gyan Kej, among others.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday approved 139 Padma awards including seven Padma Vibhushans, 19 Padma Bhushans and 113 Padma Shris.
A bench headed by CJI asked the petitioner to approach the high court.
His name was cleared by a three-member selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as members.
'If you were to say today that the government should appoint judges to the high courts and Supreme Court, then I think that even those few good judges that we are getting today we would not get them.'
Johri is the one who has been accused in the Sohrabuddin-Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case. However, the special Central Bureau of Investigation court discharged her from the case in March 2015, as the prosecution failed to obtain sanction for her prosecution from the state government.
President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Kehar at the Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Justice J S Khehar will be sworn in on January 4 and will hold the tenure for over seven months till August 27, 2017.
Kharge was part of a three-member panel headed by Modi that had selected Verma last year to head the CBI.
While seeking response from former Union minister and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing AIMPLB, the bench said, "Don't infer anything from our side."
Landmark judgments follow new CJI's assumption of office.
Justice Khehar, 64, will be the first Chief Justice from the Sikh community and he will succeed CJI Thakur who will be demitting office on January 3, 2017.
'While appreciating the cultural significance of Jallikattu, the PM observed that the matter is presently sub judice,' the PMO tweeted.
The Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid title dispute case, the Sebi-Sahara payment row, the Aadhaar privacy issue and the Cauvery water dispute are only some of the legal puzzles he will have to deal with.
'Some BJP old timers have remarked that the BJP is now driven by its own high command, the way the Congress was under Mrs Gandhi, says Subir Roy.
Admittedly, EVMs too have a UID number and any convergence of data can make the secret ballot system a party of history, warns Dr Gopal Krishna in the 5th part of his series against Aadhaar.
Unless the judges factor in the ungovernability of technologies and their beneficial owners, present and future Presidents, prime ministers, judges, legislators and officials handling sensitive assignments may become redundant with reference to their age-old roles for securing 'national resources and assets', warns Dr Gopal Krishna.
The plan of UID/Aadhaar-based surveillance does not end with the collection of fingerprints and iris scan, it goes quite beyond it and poses a lethal threat to the idea of India, says Gopal Krishna.
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