Gujarat snooping scandal reaches the Supreme Court

November 19, 2013

New Delhi, Nov 19: The Gujarat snooping controversy today reached the Supreme Court with a suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma urging it to take cognisance of audio tapes aired by news portals saying it contains proof of how the state government had tried to frame him in "frivolous" cases.

snooping

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam asked Sharma to file an affidavit after the Gujarat government counsel submitted that no oral arguments should be allowed to be made till something is placed on record.

At the outset, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Sharma, submitted that an important development has taken place (referring to audio tapes) since the last hearing and the case needs to be heard urgently.

The bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjajan Gogoi, then asked Sharma to file affidavit and posted the case for hearing in the first week of December.

Two investigative portals, Cobrapost and Gulail, had claimed on November 15 that Amit Shah, the former home minister of Gujarat and Modi's close aide, had ordered illegal surveillance of a woman at the behest of one "saheb" and they had released taped conversation between Shah and an IPS officer to back up their claim.

Sharma, a 1984 batch IAS officer, is facing five criminal cases including a case for alleged irregularity in land allotment to private firms in Kutch district in 2008.

In his petition, he had made some references to the personal life of Modi but the court on on May 12, 2011 had directed him to remove those portions, which was accepted.

Sharma, who last served as Bhavnagar Municipal Commissioner, was arrested on January 6, 2010 in a case involving alleged irregularities in Kutch earthquake rehabilitation.

The IAS officer in his petition, however, alleged that he is being targeted by Modi government because his younger brother Kuldip Sharma, a senior IPS officer in the state, has "unmasked" many misdeeds of Modi since Godhra riots. Sharma sought that probe in these cases be handed over to CBI.

"The petitioner happens to be the brother of Kuldip Sharma who has unmasked many misdeeds of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, the ex-Home Minister, since the 2002 Godhra riots.

"The two siblings have been very close to each other right from childhood and share very strong fraternal bonds. In order to cause prejudice to Kuldip Sharma, the petitioner has been victimised by Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah," the petition said.

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News Network
February 4,2020

New Delhi, Feb 4: The investigation into the incident of violence at Jamia Millia Islamia during an anti-citizenship law protest was at a crucial stage, the Centre told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday.

The submission before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar was made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta while seeking more time to file a report regarding the probe.

Taking note of the submission, the bench granted the Centre time till April 29 to file a reply.

During the hearing, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for some students of Jamia, said 93 students and teachers filed complaints about alleged attacks on them by police but no FIR has been filed against the agency till date.

The other lawyers for the petitioners alleged that the government has not complied with the court order to file a response within four weeks of the last date of hearing on December 19.

The bench, however, declined to pass any interim order and granted time till April 29 to the government to file a reply.

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News Network
January 3,2020

New Delhi, Jan 3: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Thursday said the homegrown payments technology RuPay will offer 40 per cent cashback for its international card users for transactions in select countries.

Indians travelling to the UAE, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UK, the US, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand will be able to earn up to Rs 16,000 cashback per month by getting their RuPay International Card activated, the NPCI said in a release.

With RuPay International cards --JCB, Discover and Diners Club--customers using multiple cards can earn more cashbacks under the 'RuPay Travel Tales' campaign.

To avail the cashback benefit, customers will have to do a minimum transaction of Rs 1000 and the maximum cashback is capped at Rs 4,000 for a single transaction.

The offer can be availed by customers using RuPay International Card four times a month that can give them a chance of earning up to Rs 16,000 as cashback.

Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, "We always aim to create an end-to-end value proposition for RuPay International cardholders to make their overseas travel experience seamless and memorable. The campaign is not only providing an exciting platform for travelers to earn cashbacks but also motivating them to migrate towards digital transactions nationally and globally".

Apart from earning cashbacks, RuPay International cardholders can access to RuPay affiliated domestic/international airport lounges.

They also can avail attractive offers on booking international fights and hotels in association with Thomas Cook and Make My Trip, the release said.

RuPay has a partnership with Discover Financial Services (DFS) and Japan based JCB International, allowing RuPay users the access to across 190 countries.

As on date, there are over 1,100 banks live on RuPay platform including SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis bank, among others.

RuPay card base has crossed 600 million, half of which are in the mid and premium segments, NCPI said.

NPCI was incorporated in 2008 as an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. An initiative of RBI and IBA under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, NPCI was initiated for creating a robust payment and settlement infrastructure in the country.

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News Network
March 16,2020

New Delhi, Mar 16: A total of 110 cases of coronavirus, including 17 foreign nationals have been confirmed across India, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Sunday.

The maximum positive cases have been reported from Maharashtra (32), followed by Kerala (22).

The total number of passengers screened at airports is 12,76,046, the ministry said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that Europe has become the new 'epicentre' of the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 15 lakh people with over 6,000 deaths globally.

The virus had first emerged in China's Wuhan city in December last year.

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