HC strikes down Centre's proposal on quota for minorities

May 28, 2012

High-Court


Hyderabad, May 28: In a setback to government, the Andhra Pradesh High Court today struck down its proposal to give 4.5 per cent reservation to minorities within OBC quota in central educational institutions and jobs, saying that the decision was based on religious grounds and not on any other consideration.

Slamming the Centre for handling the issue in a "casual" manner", a division bench conspiring Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Sanjay Kumar set aside the Office Memoranda (OM) for carving out the quota from the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs issued in December 2011.

"In fact, we must express our anguish at the rather casual manner in which the entire issue has been taken up by the central government.

"No evidence has been shown to us by the learned Assistant Solicitor General to justify the classification of these religious minorities as a homogeneous group or as more backward classes deserving some special treatment," the bench said.

"We must, therefore, hold that Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) do not form a homogeneous group but a heterogeneous group," the court observed.

According to K Ramakrishna Reddy, senior counsel who argued for the petitioner R Krishnaiah-- a backward caste leader from Andhra Pradesh, the High Court judgement may affect the admissions that have already been made in central educational institutions such as IITs.

The first OM states that the 4.5 per cent sub-quota is carved out of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens "belonging to minorities" as defined in Section 2(c) of the NCM Act.

The resolution and the second OM created a sub-quota "for minorities".

The very use of the words "belonging to minorities" or "for minorities" indicates that the sub-quota has been carved out only on religious lines and not on any other intelligible basis, the bench observed.

"We have, therefore, no option but to set aside the carving out of a sub-quota of 4.5 per cent in favour of backward classes belonging to minorities out of the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in both the OMs dated 22.12.2011 and the Resolution dated 22.12.2011. We do so accordingly," the court said.

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Agencies
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured audit of donations made to the PM-CARES Fund, and to share the details and the money spent with the people.

"The PM-CARES Fund has received huge contributions from PSUs and major public utilities like the Railways. It's important that the Prime Minister ensure the fund is audited and that the record of money received and spent is available to the public," he tweeted.

The #PmCares fund has received huge contributions from PSUs & major public utilities like the Railways.

It’s important that PM ensures the fund is audited & that the record of money received and spent is available to the public.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 9, 2020
His remarks came amid reports that the central government is accumulating a huge sum of money in the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund set up as a corpus to fight novel coronavirus and that the amount spent will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The CAG office had clarified that since the fund is based on donations, it has no right to audit a charitable organisation.

On Friday, Rahul Gandhi told the media that the PM-CARES Fund should be audited and people of the country should know about the donors and the donations made.

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Agencies
June 19,2020

Kota, Jun 19: In a shocking incident, a COVID-19 patient in Rajasthan's Kota district died after his family disconnected the ventilator to plug in the air cooler to combat the scorching heat.

The incident happened on June 15 in the Maharao Bhimsingh Hospital (MBS) hospital.

A committee was formed soon after the death was reported, which will submit its report on Friday at 4 p.m., hospital Medical Superintendent Naveen Saxena told media persons.

He said, "We have set up the committee to investigate the incident based on the primary information. The committee includes deputy superintendent of the hospital, nursing superintendent and CMO. We will look into the matter and then shall explore further action for a need to go to the police."

The family members of the COVID-19 patient, who came to meet him in the MBS hospital unplugged the ventilator and had put on the cooler switch which they had brought from outside. The ventilator worked for some time on the battery but later it collapsed and the patient turned critical.

The doctors were reported of the patient's critical condition who came rushing and did all they could do to save his life, but the result was unfavourable and the patient died.

The doctors were reported of the patient's critical condition who came rushing and did all they could do to save his life, but the result was unfavourable and the patient died.

The relatives, on the other hand, attacked the resident doctors after the patient died.

Doctor Varun, on duty, submitted a written complaint to the officials, alleging that the patients' relatives misbehaved with the staff. Other resident doctors also supported him and boycotted work very briefly, but then later resumed work.

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News Network
March 7,2020

Mar 7: Two Malayalam news channels, Asianet News and Media One, which were banned by the information and broadcasting ministry for their coverage of the recent violence in Delhi on Friday evening, were allowed to resume telecasting on Saturday morning.

While Asianet News appeared to have begun operations around 7am on Saturday, Media One was screening content by 9.30am.

The ministry of information and broadcasting had imposed a 48-hour ban on Asianet News and Media One for their coverage of the Delhi violence for 48 hours from 7.30pm on Friday. Both Asianet News and Media One were barred under Rule 6(1 c) and Rule 6(1e) of the Cable Television Networks Act, 1994.

The ministry of information and broadcasting alleged Asianet News and Media One were "biased" and critical of the RSS and Delhi Police.

The ban on Asianet News and Media One triggered a torrent of criticism of the move. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asked how "Malayalam channels inflame communal passions in Delhi?" and alleged some English news channels were continuing "their brazen distortions" with impunity.

In a statement issued on Friday after the ban, Media One termed the move "unfortunate and condemnable" and called it a "blatant attack against free and fair reporting". Media One called it "an order to stop free and fair journalism".

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