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3G: Centre restrained from taking steps against Vodafone, Idea

April 12, 2013

3G_Centre_restrained

New Delhi, Apr 12: In a breather for Vodafone and Idea Cellular, the Delhi High Court today restrained the Centre from taking any "coercive steps" against the telecom majors which have been asked to pay penalty of Rs 550 crore and Rs 300 crore respectively for providing 3G services outside their circles without requisite licences.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher, referring to a Supreme Court order on a plea of Bharti Cellular Ltd in a similar case, asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) not to take any coercive steps in pursuance of its notices issued to the telecom companies asking them to stop providing 3G services to mobile users in the circles for which they lacked licences.

"Meanwhile, the petitioners (Vodafone and Idea Cellular) are directed not to add new customers for providing 3G services," Justice Shakdher said and issued a notice to the DoT to file its reply to two separate petitions of the telecom service providers.

Senior advocates A M Singhvi and Maninder Singh, appearing for Idea Cellular and

Vodafone respectively, sought the stay on the operation of DoT notices asking the telecom majors to pay the penalty and stop providing 3G services outside their licence areas by entering into intra-circle roaming pact with other telecom firms.

Distinguishing between the case of Bharti Cellular Ltd and that of Idea and Vodafone, Singhvi said, "In our case, no committee was constituted to hear us and not only the order of the division bench but the principle of natural justice was violated. Our case is different from that of Bharti Cellular Ltd."

Meanwhile, the court allowed the plea of another senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi that Reliance Communication Ltd be impleaded as a party to the petitions filed by Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre not to take any coercive steps against Bharti Cellular Ltd. The apex court had asked the telecom company not to extend its roaming services to new customers in seven circles where it does not have licences for 3G spectrum.

Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL) had moved the apex court after the division bench of the High Court vacated its stay on the operation of a DoT notice against BCL for providing 3G services outside its licenced circles.

Subsequent to the high court order, the DoT issued similar notices against Vodafone and Idea Cellular. Aggrieved by the notices, the two telecom firms moved the High Court and simultaneously sought intervention in the apex court in the hearing of the BCL plea against the DoT notice.

The DoT had issued notices to Vodafone and Idea Cellular asking them to pay penalties of Rs 550 crore (11 circles) and Rs 300 crore (six circles) respectively for providing 3G services to customers outside their circles where they did not get the requisite licences in the spectrum auction held in 2010.

The DoT notices asking them to stop 3G mobile phone services in circles where they did not win spectrum in the 2010 auction of the radio waves were issued days after the Delhi High Court set aside a stay on a similar notice served on BCL.

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News Network
April 15,2020

New Delhi, Apr 15: The Union Health Ministry has identified 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as potential hotspots, officials said on Wednesday, reiterating that there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.

Addressing the daily briefing to provide updates on coronavirus situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said that states have been asked to classify districts which have reported a higher number of cases as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported.

"Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high," Agarwal said, adding a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilise this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.

"Cabinet secretary held a video conference today with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hotspots were discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given.

"They were told about large outbreak containment strategies, cluster containment strategies. Delineation of buffer and containment zone, parameter mapping, defining of entry and exit points were also discussed in detail," he said.

The joint secretary said movement of people will not be allowed in containment zones except for those related with essential services and special teams will search for new cases and samples will be collected and tested as per sampling criteria.

The officials said that health facilities in buffer zone outside the containment zone will be oriented and people facing SARI and influenza-like symptoms will be tested there.

"Special teams have been formed which will work in containment zone and do contact tracing and house-to-house surveys. Cases of fever, cough and breathlessness will be identified in the survey and requisite action will be taken as per protocol," Agarwal said, adding that there has been no community transmissions so far but some local outbreaks.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 11,439 with 1,076 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours while the death toll stands at 377, the ministry official said.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: India's count of positive coronavirus cases reached 18,985 after 1,329 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.

Out of the total cases, 15,122 are active cases, 3,259 have been discharged or cured and one has migrated. With 44 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the toll stands at 603.

As per the evening update by the ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state with 4,669 cases, out of which 572 patients have been discharged and cured and 232 deaths.

Delhi's total count of confirmed cases stand at 2,081, which includes 431 cured or discharged cases and 47 deaths.

Gujarat has reported a total of 2,066 positive COVID-19 cases, out of which 131 patients have recovered or discharged, while 77 patients have lost their lives.

Madhya Pradesh's count of COVID-19 cases stand at 1,540, including 127 cured or discharged cases and 76 deaths.

Rajasthan has so far reported 1,576 positive cases, out of which 205 patients have recovered or discharged and 25 people have lost their lives.

Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 figure has risen to 1,520, with 457 patients recovered and 17 fatalities. Uttar Pradesh has reported 1,294 cases, out of which 140 patients have recovered and 20 are dead.

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