Consider stable tenure while deciding DGP’s extension: Bombay HC

By

-

January 9, 2019

The Bombay High Court directed the Centre on Wednesday to take a reasoned decision on whether the tenure of Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Dattatray Padsalgikar needed to be extended. Padsalgikar, who has been granted two short extensions of three months each in the past, will complete his tenure as DGP on February 28.

The state’s proposal to grant him further extension, to enable him to serve as DGP for at least two years, is pending before the Union government.

A bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar questioned the Centre’s decision to grant him short- term extensions. They said that considering the nature of a DGP’s job and his seniority, it is important the officer has a stable tenure.

The High Court also noted that a previous judgement of the Supreme Court on a similar issue of extension of tenure suggested that senior bureaucrats should serve in one post for at least two years to grant them some stability, and to enable them to take and implement decisions.

“What is the purpose of such short extensions? What will an officer do in three months? Your DGP does not know whether he is going to be there next month, so how can he plan anything for the state,” it asked.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by Thane-based lawyer RR Tripathi, claiming that the state had “shown favouritism” towards Padsalgikar by granting him such extensions of tenure.

Padsalgikar was due to retire on August 31 last year but was granted an extension of service for three months at that time. On November 30 last year, the Chief Minister granted another three months’ extension to him. Both times, the Maharashtra government had urged the Centre to grant the extension for up to two years.

On Wednesday, both the Centre and the state, through their counsels, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and Advocate General Ashtosh Kumbhakoni respectively, opposed the PIL.

Both the lawyers urged the court to dismiss the PIL arguing that the decision to grant an extension to Padsalgikar had been taken in “public interest”.

Kumbhakoni told the High Court that the state was only trying to ensure that he served at least for two years as DGP, and as a consequence, police commissioner Subodh Jaiswal, the senior-most officer in the state after Padsalgikar, also served as the commissioner for at least two years.

He also told the court that the state had decided to ask the Centre for a clear answer on whether or not Padsalgikar was going to be granted a longer extension.

“If the Centre says no, then as per procedure, we will ask the Maharashtra government and Union Public Service Commission to intervene, and if we don’t get any relief there, then as per procedure, the officer next in line for the post will be made DGP,” Kumbhakoni said.

At this, the bench directed the Centre to take a decision on Padsalgikar’s tenure within the next four weeks.

“We understand such decisions need time and you must give it much thought. Go through all requirements but keep in mind that a senior officer must be granted a stable tenure. Therefore, take a decision, back it with good reason,” the bench said.

Maharashtra: Businessman hurt in robbery bid

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

A businessman was shot at and injured allegedly by two motorcycle-borne men in a failed robbery bid near his house in Dahanu in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said Wednesday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday night in Buddhadev Nagar locality in Dahanu, around 135 kms from here, when Bhavesh Desai (54) was walking to his residence with a bag containing Rs 3 lakh in cash, he said.

Desai was followed for some distance by the robbers riding a motorcycle before they tried to snatch his bag, a police official said.

When Desai resisted and held on to the bag, one of the assailants shot at him and sprayed some chemical while fleeing the spot, the official said, adding that the bullet grazed Desai’s stomach.

Desai was rushed to hospital by loal people, the official said, adding that he is out of danger.

2 arrested with endangered pangolin worth Rs 40 lakh

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

Two men were arrested on Tuesday and an endangered pangolin worth around Rs. 40 lakh in the illegal wildlife market was recovered from them in Maharashtra’s Thane district.

Senior police officer Deepak Deoraj said the two men – Virar-resident Sagar Pawar (33) and Abdul Jalil Yunus Mahamrut (54) of Raigad – were picked up on a tip off from Mumbra-Panvel Highway.

A case under the Wildlife Protection Act has been registered, he added.

Pangolin scales are used in traditional Asian medicine, particularly in China and Vietnam.

The animal’s scales are made of keratin, the same material that makes human fingernails and hair, and they have no proven medicinal value, and are also used as jewellery and decorations for rituals.

Pangolin meat is also considered a delicacy in some countries.

Two species of pangolins, ”Manis crassicaudata” and ”Manis pentadacytla”, found in India have been accorded highest protection with both being listed on Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Congress, NCP leaders to criss-cross Maharashtra ahead of LS polls

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

Aiming to halt the ruling BJP’s juggernaut in the 2019 general polls, the opposition Congress and NCP would undertake separate mass contact programmes in Maharashtra from Thursday to highlight “failures” of the central and state governments.

NCP leaders have planned to visit parts of Konkan region, including Raigad, Thane and Palghar districts, besides Navi Mumbai, under the ‘Parivartan Yatra’ programme till January ..

The tour would begin with party leaders visiting the Raigad Fort followed by two rallies at Mahad (Raigad district) and Guhagar (Ratnagiri) on Thursday.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar will attend both the rallies along with other senior leaders like Ajit Pawar, party’s Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil, general secretary Sunil Tatkare and others.

Former chief minister Ashok Chavan will lead Congress’ ‘Jan Sangharsh Yatra’ to cover parts of Vidarbha, including Nagpur, Bhandara, Gondia, Cha ..

This would be the party’s fifth leg of its tour in the state.

Senior Congress leaders Prithviraj Chavan, Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe- Patil and others will also be a part of the yatra, the party said in a statement.

“People are fed up of these governments. They are now seeking a parivartan (change) in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and Assembly polls in Maharashtra,” NCP’s national spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

Another NCP leader Sanjay Tatkare said the party’s tour will highlight “failures” of the central and state governments.

Both the Congress and NCP had suffered a drubbing at the hands of the Narendra Modi-led resurgent BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, winning only two and four parliamentary seats respectively.

The Congress had won Nanded and Hingoli seats, represented by Ashok Chavan and Rajeev Satav respectively.

The NCP had emerged victorious in Baramati (represented by Supriya Sule), Kolhapur (Dhananjay Mahadik), Madha (Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil) and Satara (Udayanraje Bhosale).

Madhukar Kukde became NCP’s fifth parliamentarian after winning the Bhandara-Gondia bypoll in May last year.

The Congress and NCP are currently holding talks with other anti-BJP parties to share 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

According to sources, both the opposition parties reached a consensus on sharing 20 seats each, but a decision was yet to taken on the remaining eight constituencies.

“Both the parties want to accommodate like-minded parties. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Pawar saheb will give a final shape to seat-sharing later this month,” a NCP leader said.

Amid Sahgal invite row, Marathi literature body’s chief quits

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

The president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal, Shripad Joshi, resigned on Wednesday.

The resignation came amid a controversy over withdrawal of invitation to writer Nayantara Sahgal for the annual Marathi literary meet by the event’s organisers.

Opposition parties in Maharashtra have alleged that the invitation was cancelled at the behest of the ruling BJP.

The 92nd All-India Marathi Literary Meet (‘Sahitya Sammelan’), held every year under the aegis of the Mahamandal, is to start at Yavatmal in eastern Maharashtra on January 11.

Secretary of the Mahamandal Dr Indrajit Oraker said Joshi sent the resignation to the president of the Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh. Joshi himself was not available for comments.

The organisers of the literary meet rescinded their invite to Sahgal, a noted Indian English writer, after protests on January 6.

Sahgal was to inaugurate the meet.

The Mahamandal, which is an umbrella body of Marathi literary organisations, had said the decision to withdraw the invitation was taken by the organisers and it had nothing to do with it.

The Shiv Sena had claimed that the invitation was rescinded after the organisers learnt about Sahgal’s intent to speak on issues such as violence by cow vigilantes and lynchings.

Sahgal was at the forefront of the ‘award-wapsi’ (returning of awards) campaign earlier. She was to inaugurate the literary meet in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Meanwhile, secretary of the organizing committee Dhanshyam Dharne said a meeting of the executive committee of the Mahamandal will be held on Thursday, where it will be decided who will inaugurate the meet.

Sahgal had said that even if a fresh invitation was sent to her, she would decline it.

Major fire in under-construction Nagpur hospital; none hurt

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

A major fire occurred on Wednesday in an under-construction hospital building located in a residential area close to the Nagpur railway station, officials said.

No casualties have been reported so far but one person was admitted to a nearby hospital for inhalation of smoke.

A major tragedy was averted as labourers working inside the under-construction building rushed out using staircases immediately after the blaze erupted, a Fire official said.

Though he didn’t specify the exact number of workers present in the building at the time of the incident, eye-witnesses said around 300 labourers were inside.

The blaze occurred in the third floor of the ten-storey building at around 2 PM when interior works were underway, said Nagpur Municipal Corporation fire officer Rajendra Uchke.

It didn’t spread to upper floors.

After the fire broke out, eight labourers got stuck inside due to heavy smoke for some time before they were rescued by fire personnel, he said.

“No casualty has been reported so far. One person was admitted to hospital for inhaling excessive smoke,” he said.

Uchke said the building interior work was going on when the fire started from the third floor auditorium where chairs were being fixed.

He said sparks from welding might have triggered the blaze.

A total of eight fire tenders were pressed into service for dousing fire. Meanwhile, as thick smoke enveloped the area, staffers of a high school adjacent to the building evacuated students as a precautionary measure.

Residents of nearby residential buildings also rushed out as smoke billowed out from the third floor of the under-construction building.

The flames were put out completely at around 3:30 PM.

Inclusion of castes in OBC group: HC seeks Maha response on PIL

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought to know if the Maharashtra government had conducted any study or survey before issuing a notification in 1967 inducting several castes in the OBC category for reservation.

A division bench of Chief Justice N H Patil and Justice N M Jamdar was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist B A Sarate challenging the inclusion of several castes in the Other Backward Class (OBC) group.

Sarate’s counsel V M Thorat told the HC that out of the 96 castes included in the OBC category, nearly 40 per cent were not even eligible for reservation.

“Inclusion of these castes is unconstitutional. There is a procedure laid down while deciding which caste should be included in a particular category for reservation. The government is not following this procedure,” Thorat said.

The bench then sought to know if the government had carried out any study or survey before issuing the Government Resolution (GR) in 1967 inducting a particular caste in the OBC category.

The petitioner has challenged the GR enlisting 180 castes and sub-castes for inclusion in the OBC category, and also another GR, dated March 1994, which increased the OBC quota percentage from 14 per cent to 32 per cent.

The petition claimed that various castes or communities were included in the OBC category without any survey, quantifiable data, investigation to determine the social, educational and economic backwardness.

“There has to be a comprehensive commission to carry out study and collect data. This is what the petition also seeks,” Chief Justice Patil said.

The bench then directed that the petition be placed for hearing before an appropriate bench next week.

Hockey India sacks men’s hockey coach Harendra after disappointing 2018

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

Indian men’s hockey coach Harendra Singh was Wednesday sacked from the position following a disappointing 2018 and offered the task of helming the junior squad by the national federation.

Constant chopping and changing of coaches is a frequent phenomenon in Indian hockey and Harendra, who was appointed in May, is the latest casualty.

“Though the year 2018 was very disappointing for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team with results not going as expected, Hockey India believes investing in the junior program which will reap long-term benefits,” HI said in a statement explaining the reasons behind Harendra’s axing.

The Junior World Cup-winning coach took charge after India’s medal-less showing at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games but was unable to change the team’s fortunes.

India were also below-par in the Asian Games in Indonesia, settling for a bronze after going into the tournament as the defending champions. They ended the year with a quarterfinal loss in the World Cup in Bhubaneswar.

“Hockey India will shortly be advertising and will invite applications for the position of the Chief Coach of the Indian Men’s Hockey Team which will be returning to training camp in February 2019 for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup scheduled to commence from 23 March 2019.

“In the interim the team will be overseen by Hockey India High Performance Director, David John and current Analytical Coach, Chris Ciriello,” said Hockey India in a statement.

Would love to see more challenging wickets for batsmen in FC cricket: Tendulkar

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

Legendary Sachin Tendulkar wants Ranji Trophy and other domestic matches to be played on “challenging tracks” which will test a batsman’s ability and also raised the “standard” of competition.

“Domestic cricket of course, I feel if we could keep more challenging wickets for batters, it would help the standard of playing. We have had a number of opinions on this but I have always felt that (if) you play on good, difficult tracks, your standard of playing automatically goes up,” Tendulkar said during a promotional event.

However Tendulkar made it clear that “challenging tracks” by no means should be under-prepared where the bowler just comes and takes wickets.

“That is what I would encourage the (custodians of) our domestic cricket to do — to keep surfaces which are challenging for the batters but that does not mean the bowler should just come and roll their arm over (to get wickets). For bowlers also, to be able to control their seam or spin, it is a skill and (it) should not happen on its own (with aid of surface),” he added.

Recently former Australian leg-spinner Kerry O’Keefe had made fun of India’s domestic cricket but Tendulkar said that no one should be bothered by what outsiders have to say.

“I am really not concerned about what XYZ in Australia or in England or in South Africa says. They have got nothing to do with Indian cricket and I don’t think we comment on Australian cricket or (for that matter) any other cricket (ing) (nation) in the world. Let us stick to our domain and have opinions related to our country. It is as simple as that,” he said.

IPL has made the transition from domestic to international cricket easier for the young Indian players, feels the icon.

This year, the 12th edition of the IPL will be held in India and will begin from March 23, though the detailed schedule is yet to be announced by the BCCI.

“Its given exposure to our youngsters, to believe that they can compete against anyone in the world. I think, we are in that fortunate position to go out and dominate world cricket,” added the legendary batsman.

According to Tendulkar, who played in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, if a player does well in the tournament, then everyone recognises him.

“The latest talent I would say would be Prithvi (Shaw). Mayank (Agarwal) has done well. We have the right balance but overall I feel you do well in the IPL, everyone takes notice. Those guys may have done really well in Ranji Trophy or (in the) Duleep Trophy but the rest of the world does not know about it.

In response to BCCI show cause, Pandya expresses sincere regrets

By

Web Team

-

January 9, 2019

Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya on Wednesday responded to the BCCI show cause notice by saying that he was “sincerely regretful” for the comments he made on a TV show, which were slammed as sexist and misogynistic.

In his response to the notice, which gave him 24 hours to explain himself, Pandya said he did not realise that his comments would be found offensive.

“I made an appearance on the chat show where I have made certain statements without realising that these could be disrespectful and offend sensitivities of viewers for which I am sincerely regretful,” he wrote in his response, which is in the news agency’s possession.

“I would like to assure you that there was no malice or any sort of ill-intent on my part to offend anyone or portray any section of the society in bad light. I made these statements in the flow of the show and had not comprehended the extent to which my statements would be found offensive,” he added.

The 25-year-old, who is here for the ongoing series against Australia, vowed never to repeat the behaviour.

“Rest assured I hold the BCCI in highest regard and will exercise complete discretion and prudence to ensure that such incidents are never repeated in future,” he said.

Pandya appeared on the show with teammate K L Rahul, who was a lot more restrained in his responses to questions on women and relationships.

It is learnt that Pandya has unreservedly apologised to the Indian team management and his teammates here.

Although seen in high spirits in celebratory videos circulating on social media after India’s 2-1 series’ win over Australia, Pandya has since laid low. He wasn’t part of the optional practice session at the SCG on Wednesday.

He is said to have spoken with coach Ravi Shastri and other senior members of the Indian ODI team, expressing his regret over those remarks made on “Koffee with Karan”, a chat show hosted by film-maker Karan Johar.

A source, close to the player, told agencies that Pandya was “drawn into making those comments as the show producers coaxed a carefree attitude” from him and Rahul.