Congress workers to show black flag to PM on his arrival at Hubballi

Bengaluru, Feb 14: In a major embarrassment to the police, the Karnataka High Court has termed as illegal the prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC by the City Police Commissioner in December 2019 in the light of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Bengaluru.

The orders were passed “without application of mind” and without following due procedures, the court noted. Giving reasons for upholding the arguments of the petitioners that there was no application of mind by the Police Commissioner (Bhaskar Rao) before imposing restrictions, a division bench of the High Court said he had not recorded the reasons, except reproducing the contents of letters addressed to him by the Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs). 

The state government had contended that prohibitory orders were passed based on reports submitted by the DCPs who expressed apprehension about anti-social elements creating law and order problems and damaging public property by taking advantage of the anti-CAA protests.  

The High Court bench said the Police Commissioner should have conducted inquiry as stated by the Supreme Court to check the reasons cited by the DCPs who submitted identical reports. Except for this, there were no facts laid out by the Police Commissioner, the court said.

“There is complete absence of reasons. If the order indicated that the Police Commissioner was satisfied by the apprehension of DCPs, it would have been another matter,” it said.  

“The apex court has held that it must record the reasons for imposition of restrictions and there has to be a formation of opinion by the district magistrate. Only then can  the extraordinary powers conferred on the district magistrate can be exercised. This procedure was not followed. Hence, exercise of power under Section 144 by the commissioner, as district magistrate, was not at all legal”, the bench said. 

“We hold that the order dated December 18, 2019 is illegal and cannot stand judicial scrutiny in terms of the apex court’s orders in the Ramlila Maidan case and Anuradha Bhasin case,” the HC bench said while upholding the arguments of Prof Ravivarma Kumar, who appeared for some of the petitioners.   

Partly allowing a batch of public interest petitions questioning the imposition of prohibitory orders and cancelling the permission granted for protesters in the city, the bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar observed that, unfortunately, in the present case, there was no indication of application of mind in passing prohibitory orders.

The bench said the observation was confined to this order only and it cannot be applicable in general. If there is a similar situation (necessitating imposition of restrictions), the state is not helpless, the court said.

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Life is a journey that cannot be imagined without traveling but the prevailing COVID-19 situation has made the whole world come to a standstill.

This pandemic has not only limited the modes of transportation for people all across India but also forces them to look for safer, convenient, and comfortable travel options. Private charter services are thus seen as the best alternative.
This is the reason the demand for availing charter services has risen dramatically over the last couple of months and encouraged airlines to either start or expand their charter services business further.

Many airlines have revamped their business strategies keeping charter services in mind and entered into this optimist business segment recently.

Star Air, the aviation arm of Indian business conglomerate - Sanjay Ghodawat Group, has entered into the charter services business to fulfill private air travel requirements.

The group previously has an experience of over six years of running helicopter charter service operations successfully under Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt Ltd.

The airline, Star Air, with its world-class fleet of three Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft (50-seater), two helicopters - Airbus H130 (6-seater) and Airbus H135 (5-seater), has the capacity to fly one anywhere at any point in time as per one's convenience that too with great comfort, luxury and complete privacy.

Star Air is a known name in the Indian aviation industry that is recognized for its unmatched safety, comfort, and on-time performance records.

It was praised in the past for connecting the unconnected by commencing commercial flight services to many Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India that were not graced with airline services before.

And now, after gaining the trust of over 1,00,000 customers from all across India and serving countless prominent VIP's, it has launched its charter service business.

It holds a valid license for charter service business and operates as per the protocols defined by the DGCA. The company has a team of experienced pilots, technicians, and staff that assures one gets a best-in-class charter service with complete safety and without any hassles.

"We are delighted to expand our airline operations by opening this private charter services. Like our scheduled commercial airline services, we are offering a world-class charter service keeping your comfort, safety, and overall flying experience in mind, said Sanjay Ghodawat, Chairman - Star Air.

This company had started its operations in January 2019 to connect the unconnected by providing world-class flight services at an affordable cost.

Since then it is continuing on its endeavour and gaining immense trust nationwide. It provides services to many Indian cities like Bengaluru, Belagavi, Indore, Kalaburagi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Ajmer (Kishangarh).

Bengaluru, Jul 4: Karnataka Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Saturday that he and his family would get tested for COVID-19 after one of his security persons tested positive for the infection.

Rao's family will also be in-home quarantine for the stipulated time.

"One of my police security person has tested positive for COVID yesterday. My family members and I are getting tested now and will be in-home quarantine for the stipulated time period. None of us are showing any symptoms," he said.

The total number of cases in Karnataka stands at 19,710. Out of them, 8,805 have recovered and 293 patients have lost their lives, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Across the country, the total number of cases stands at 6,48,315. As many as 3,94,227 patients have recovered so far and 18,655 have lost their lives due to the virus.