For God’s sake, don’t try to defame the judiciary, anguished CJI says

August 12, 2014

New Delhi, Aug 12: It was an anguished cry by Chief Justice of India RM Lodha against "attempts" to bring the judiciary into disrepute. "For God's sake, do not shake the people's confidence in the judiciary. If there is a concerted campaign to bring judiciary to disrepute and defame it, then it is a big disservice to the nation," he said in court on Monday.cji

Justice Lodha also reacted sharply to the demand to junk the "failed" system of judges appointing judges, or the collegium system. "Everyone says collegium system has failed. I was among the first batch of judges selected under the collegium system. Justice RF Nariman is the last batch to be selected through the collegium system. If the system has failed, then the products have also failed," he said.

Hearing a PIL requesting the SC to "unlock the secrets of judges' appointment process and put each of its future recommendations on the Supreme Court's website", a bench of Justice Lodha, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Nariman said judges were not perfect as they, like all others, came from the same imperfect society. The CJI said: "No one is perfect. The society is not perfect. And we came from the same society. We too are not perfect."

The CJI's outburst followed former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju writing a second blog highlighting instances of judicial corruption and alleged compromises with it by the apex court. It also came in the wake of the Centre bringing a bill to recast the process of judicial appointments by doing away with the collegium system.

Referring to the allegations of instances of corruption in the higher judiciary and the perceived failure of the collegium system to detect these "black sheep" and prevent them from gaining entry into the upper echelons of judiciary, the CJI said: "We are most concerned about the image and integrity of the system. But we too have our limitations (in verifying antecedents of the people)."

Justice Katju's disclosures of corruption in high courts and the Supreme Court's unenergetic efforts to deal with it have triggered a countrywide debate. While the judiciary feels this could damage its reputation, some former judges and senior legal officers have come to his support and said requisite reforms will only enhance the judiciary's reputation.

The PIL to whose context Justice Lodha's remarks were made referred to a series of newspaper reports about the collegium reiterating its recommendation to appoint Karnataka high court judge KL Manjunath as chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court after the Union government sent the name back for the collegium's reconsideration.

"There is a misleading campaign going across to defame the judiciary and repeated attempts have been made to spread incorrect information," said Justice Lodha. "Who told you that his (Manjunath's) name has been recommended for elevation? Because I am the Chief Justice and I head the collegium I am sure and I don't know whether there is any other collegium."

The CJI said, "Merely because repeated attempts are being made to spread a falsehood, a chorus gets started against persons against whom allegations are being made. We are more concerned about the reputation of the judiciary than anyone else. Yes, we do have our limitations. But, that does not mean falsehoods will carry on."

When the petitioner said every newspaper reported it and the common man had a right to know who was getting selected as judge, the bench said: "We have not made any recommendation. Do you want us to dispense justice or respond to every newspaper article that gets published?" The bench dismissed the PIL saying the petitioner had got his facts wrong.

After the collegium recommended Justice Manjunath's name to the government for appointment as chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court, a series of allegations casting aspersions on his integrity reached the government.

Keeping in view the seriousness of the allegations, the Centre returned Justice Manjunath's name to the collegium along with the allegations for reconsideration in last week of June. The collegium has since then kept the matter under consideration and is yet to take a decision.

The collegium system has operated since 1998 after the Supreme Court in two judgments, one in 1993 and the other in 1998, wrested from the executive the prerogative to select persons for recommending to the President their appointment as judges of the high courts and the Supreme Court.

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Agencies
May 1,2020

New Delhi, May 1: The Centre has finalsed the criteria for delimitation of various zones after May 3. It has identified at least 130 districts as red zones, 284 orange zones and 319 green zones.

According to a letter written by Health Secretary Preeti Sudan to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, all the states have to delineate the containment areas and buffer zones in the identified red and orange zone districts and notify the same.

The letter said, the national capital has at least 11 red zones, Uttar Pradesh 19 red zones, 36 orange zones and 20 green zones while, the state of Haryana has 2 red zones, 18 orange zones and 2 green zones.

The Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh has been identified as a red zone district while, Ghaziabad has been designated as an orange zone. The national capital has no orange and green zone; there are only red zones according to the letter.

In Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik come in the red zone.

In West Bengal, Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Parganas -- both North and South have been identified as red zones while Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad etc have been marked as orange zones.

In the southern part of India, Kerala has 2 red zones and 10 orange zones, while Tamil Nadu has 12 red zones and 24 orange zones.

The Health Secretary said that the list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to states for further follow-up action in consonance with the directions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 based on field feedback and additional analysis at state level, states may designate additional red or orange zones as appropriate.

However, states may not relax the zonal classification of districts classified as red or orange as communicated by the Ministry. This classification is multi-factorial and takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback to classify the districts.

A district will be considered under green zone, if there are no confirmed cases so far or there is no reported case since the last 21 days in the district.

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News Network
January 29,2020

Mumbai, Jan 29: Unfazed by his suspension from flying on Tuesday, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Wednesday claimed that he once again approached television journalist Arnab Goswami, who he said was his co-passenger on a flight from Lucknow, for an "honest discussion" but was turned away.

Kamra tweeted in the morning that "Arnab Goswami was again travelling in his flight while returning from Lucknow". "I again asked him politely if he wants to have a honest discussion he with his verbal arrogant hand jester he asked me to move away & I did that (sic)," he tweeted.

The comedian was suspended from flying by IndiGo and Air India on Tuesday after he allegedly heckled Goswami aboard a Mumbai-Lucknow plane and posted a video clip on his Twitter handle.

While IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months, Air India banned him until further notice.

In a statement released on Twitter after he posted the video, Kamra said he did "exactly what Republic TV journalists do to people in their private/public spaces". Kamra stated he had not done anything criminal by allegedly heckling Goswami.

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News Network
May 7,2020

May 7: Two people, including a child, were killed and nearly 70 hospitalised after a gas leak at a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam in the wee hours of Thursday, officials said.

People in Gopalapatnam area, where the chemical plant, LG Polymers, is located, complained of irritation in eyes, breathlessness, nausea and rashes on their bodies.

District Collector V Vinay Chand said two people were killed due to the gas leak, while some are in a critical condition.

Close to 70 people have been admitted to the King George Hospital after for treatment, he said.

TV channels showed people lying unconscious on roads.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have rushed to the spot.

Reports said the gas leak has been contained.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy enquired about the incident and directed the Visakhapatnam district collector to ensure proper medical care for the affected people.

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