The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday defended the electoral bonds scheme, struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, saying it had a laudable objective of bringing transparency in poll funding.
Holding that the electoral bonds scheme was not fool-proof, the Supreme Court said on Thursday that information about funds received by a political party is essential for voters to exercise their freedom to vote effectively.
According to the cause list for December 11, Monday, uploaded on the apex court website, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud would deliver the verdict.
"But the BJP wants it to be done after Lok Sabha elections. The tenure of this Lok Sabha will end on 16th June and SBI wants to share the data by 30th June," Kharge said.
The government on Monday decided to call off the strategic divestment of Pawan Hans as the successful bidding consortium Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd was disqualified in view of pending legal cases. Pawan Hans is a 51:49 joint venture of the government and ONGC. The government had in April last year decided to sell the helicopter service provider for Rs 211.14 crore to Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd -- a consortium of Big Charter Private Ltd, Maharaja Aviation Private Ltd and Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC.
Leaders of several opposition parties on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court verdict striking down the electoral bonds scheme and termed it an important step in ensuring transparency in electoral funding.
'Isn't it obvious? Do you have a doubt? There is so much data that shows that there is quid pro quo.' 'There are many instances of donations being given after the raids, donations being given before the award of a contract and many other permutations and combinations.'
Sarma said his government will take further steps based on the suggestions of the home minister.
In a landmark judgment that delivered a big blow to the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday annulled the electoral bonds scheme, saying it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.
The communication was clear, transparent and worded in a manner that did not induce any fear in the minds of the people, point out A K Bhattacharya.
'My suspicion is that most of the bonds were given by companies who had got contracts or who had benefited from policy changes by the government.'
'It's not really going to bring about purity in the election process.'
Was the decision taken by the Centre on August 5, 2019 to abrogate the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which bestowed a special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, constitutionally valid? The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Monday on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, and directed that a panel appointed by the state government will have to decide the OBC quota related issues for the local bodies poll by March 31, 2023.
A five-judge constitution bench of Justices SK Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, A S Oka, Vikram Nath and J K Maheshwari had reserved its judgement on September 29, 2022.
The economy is likely to log in a tepid 6 per cent growth next fiscal, in line with the consensus estimates, rating agency Crisil said on Thursday. The agency also sees the economy averaging a growth rate of 6.8 per cent over the next five fiscals. Crisil further said it expects the corporate revenue to log in double-digit rise again next fiscal.
Led by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, India will seek to showcase its ascendency as a sporting power at the Asian Games, which opens formally on Saturday after an unprecedented one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A division bench of Justice D K Upadhyay and Justice Saurav Lavania also annulled the draft notification issued by the Uttar Pradesh government on December 5 for reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the urban local body elections.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's children -- Isha, Akash and Anant -- on Monday were appointed on the board of his energy-to-technology conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, in what is seen as a clear path of succession planning at India's most valuable company.
After hearing the case, the chief justice reserved the judgment without giving a date for its announcement.
The state assembly unanimously passed a bill in this regard.
The court issued its reserved ruling, upsetting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which claimed the arrest was illegal and that the IHC would rule in favour of party chief Imran Khan.
The top court's remark came while setting aside an order of the Madras high court which directed the Tamil Nadu government to create the posts under the designation.
Assuring a fair probe and strict punishment to those involved in the alleged scam, he said the government is also thinking of bringing stricter laws to control such malpractices.
The Election Commission of India has annulled the appointment of actor Sonu Sood as Punjab's 'state icon.'
In a setback to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, a Rampur court on Thursday rejected his petition challenging his conviction in a hate speech case that led to his disqualification from the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Monday passed a bill that penalises religious conversion through marriage or any other fraudulent means and provides for a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
As new OTT release Bawaal tackles the lives of a terribly unhappy couple, and Satyaprem Ki Katha about a young wife with a tragic secret is a box-office success, here's pick of ten (out of a considerable number) of relatively recent films about troubled marriages.
A French court has ordered freezing of an Indian government property in Paris on a plea by Devas shareholders who are seeking to enforce a USD 1.3 billion arbitration award over a cancelled satellite contract, according to the court order copy.
Pakistan cricket on Monday plunged into crisis as the Islamabad High Court, which had restored Zaka Ashraf as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, declared in its detailed judgement all decisions taken by the Najam Sethi-led management committee since February as "null and void".
In the first formal disqualification of a Tokyo Olympics athlete for doping, Russian Igor Polyanskiy has been banned for three years, World Triathlon said on Thursday.
Devas Multimedia has seized $87,457.47 cash that ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation held in the US as it looked to enforce a $1.2 billion compensation it had won over a cancelled satellite deal, its lawyer said on Wednesday. Devas Multimedia America Inc had sought seizure of $145,000 but the actual recovery was $87,457.47 (a little less than Rs 70 lakh). This came after it secured a favourable order from the Eastern District Court of Virginia, Matthew D McGrill said.
After his failed misadventure in Kargil, Musharraf deposed the then Prime Minister Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 in various positions.
Asserting that the dharma yudham is on, Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS said he and his followers would go to the people to seek justice.
Gandhi said avenues of employment for the average young person in rural India are largely restricted to seeking government jobs but the government is employing less than before in every sector be it defence, police, railways or education.
These self-appointed well-wishers of AMU are basically for the control or police model of university governance. They have no faith whatsoever in the democratic functioning of the universities, observes Faizan Mustafa, former dean, Faculty of Law, and Registrar, Aligarh Muslim University.
'Seven hundred farmers lost their lives.' 'The protesting farmers were demonised and called names like andolanjiwi, Khalistani, anti-national.'
Both prime ministers believed in crafting schemes to help the common man. Modi used quite effectively the instruments Dr Singh introduced. In assessing Modi's success with many schemes, Dr Singh's fundamental work should not be ignored, points out A K Bhattacharya.
November 8 marks 6 years after demonetisation. A K Bhattacharya reveals how the prime minister and the RBI worked together for months before Modi's 8 pm speech. A riveting excerpt from The Rise Of Goliath: Twelve Disruptions That Changed India.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed no citizen can be prosecuted under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which it had scrapped way back in 2015.
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