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The Gujarat snooping controversy on Tuesday reached the Supreme Court, with suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma urging it to take cognisance of the audio tapes aired by news portals, saying it contains proof of how the state government had tried to frame him in "frivolous" cases.
Yadav had moved the top court challenging the decision of Returning Officer to reject his nomination papers from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, saying it was intended to "give walkover" to PM Modi.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi upheld the 2010 Delhi high court verdict and dismissed three appeals filed by Secretary General of the Supreme Court and the Central Public Information officer of the apex court.
Aam Aadmi Party rebels Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday stopped short of announcing the creation of a new political outfit even as they said they were starting a new "movement" while slamming the lack of scope for dialogue within the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
The SC said it appeared that the entire test and the system was tainted.
The Aam Aadmi Party is looking at taking a plunge into the political cesspool of Uttar Pradesh, where state assembly elections are to be held in 2017.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday issued notice to Union Health Minister J P Nadda on a petition seeking a CBI inquiry into various cases of alleged irregularities and corruption in AIIMS raised by then Chief Vigilance Officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
Former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir says he's being wrongly indicted by his successor CJI P Sathasivam and demands an apology. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, the former CJI also denies any leak of the National Eligibilty cum Entrance Test judgment.
Centre objected to the review petition and said that the basic grounds for seeking review of the verdict are the same as they were in the main petition.
While the Centre said that the amendment bill is pending in Parliament to include the leader of largest opposition party, a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said that Parliament, by not amending the law, cannot frustrate the mandate for appointment of Lokpal.
The government said that the massive amount of political donations were earlier made in cash by individuals or corporates using 'illicit means of funding'.
The decision has been taken as it would lead to opening another front, diverting the party's energy from the campaign, AAP sources said.
'This puts the national security in jeopardy,' the Centre said.
The centre had opposed the plea, saying Asthana had an outstanding career and had supervised over 40 high-profile cases like coal scam, AugustaWestland scam, blackmoney and money laundering cases.
Sensitive cases like the validity of the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution, the Citizenship Act, and states challenging perceived assault on federalism were on the back burner. An analysis of the judgments delivered in the past months would show that it was acting more like a court of appeal rather than a Constitutional court, observes M J Antony.
The rebel leader has been a vocal critic of AAP leadership since he was removed as leader of opposition in Punjab assembly in July last year.
'No judge can take up a matter on its own unless allocated by the CJI as the CJI is master of the court,' the top court said.
'Mr Kejriwal has played it cool in distancing himself from Delhi's hotspots, adroitly pandering to the BJP's Hindu vote.' 'He neither visited the scene of JNU violence nor has he dropped by at Shaheen Bagh,' notes Sunil Sethi.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on a petition filed by an NGO questioning the entire selection process for appointment of chairperson and members of the Lokpal and seeking its stay.
The arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on Friday.
The pattern came up a few times during Kejriwal's 40-minute-long speech, where he highlighted his government's "achievements", punctuated with loud cheers from the students.
In the wake of an attack on Aam Aadmi Party headquarters on Wednesday, a plea was hurriedly made in the Delhi high court for directions to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not refuse security offered to him.
The CBI today registered three FIRs and a preliminary enquiry to probe alleged irregularities in Indian Airlines-Air India merger and purchase of 111 aircraft, leasing of planes and giving up of profit-making routes by Air India, causing a loss of thousands of crore of rupees.
Expelled members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan will lead a meet which aims to 'explore future course for alternative politics'
'A climate of impunity is created when the fascistic hate-mongers reckon they can get away with anything because 'this is our regime' and this is going to be a 'Hindu Rashtra'.'
It is too early to say whether the Aam Aadmi Party's transformation from a watchdog of Indian politics to the lapdog of the political elite is complete. But it seems to be heading in that direction, says Bharat Bhushan
AAP lashed out at "disgruntled" former party MLA Rajesh Garg saying there was nothing "illegal and immoral" being in touch with Congress MLAs.
The Lokpal can't be appointed in the current scenario as amendments regarding the definition of the Leader of Opposition in the Lokpal Act was pending in Parliament, AG said.
The top court also expressed pain over certain people trying to give its order a political colour, after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for one of the parties, referred to certain statements made by some political leaders.
Contempt should be restricted to the disobedience of orders and rulings. Any failure to obey the court in a dispute that doesn't involve it should alone invite contempt proceedings, observes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Khetan, who did not deny the resignation, said he was not involved in "active politics at the moment" and was not interested in rumours.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to convene a meeting of chief secretaries of all the states within 10 days to find out the steps taken by them so far to provide shelter to homeless persons.
'Traders have been the worst hit because of the government's policies, but for some unknown reason, many continue to support the BJP.'
The government didn't call a meeting of the selection committee deliberately to facilitate the appointment of a junior officer to the post, the committee's Congress member told the PM.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to interpret Leader of Opposition provision for the purpose of appointment of Lokpal in which LoP is a selection committee member and asked the Centre to make its stand clear within two weeks, saying the legislation cannot be put in "cold storage".
The former IPS officer had also sought impleadment of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah, the then MoS Home in the state government and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary S Gurumurthy as parties in his petition, which was also rejected.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily on Bihar government for not placing facts before the Patna High Court which granted bail to controversial Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Mohd Shahabuddin in a murder case.
The government is mulling moving the Supreme Court for cancellation of his bail even as opposition National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday demanded his arrest in the journalist Rajdeo Ranjan murder case.
'You can never say never in politics.' 'We may still see the return of AAP, but hopefully not of the same abusive politics again,' says Shekhar Gupta.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it is true that rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution are available to all the persons who may or may not be citizens but the right not to be deported, is "ancillary or concomitant" to the right to reside or settle in any part of India.
