"Virat was important on that pitch…", RCB skipper Faf after win over PBKS 2
Following his side’s win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) game, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf Du Plessis lauded Virat Kohli for his knock, saying that his stay was important at that playing surface and he is still passionate about the sport. The ‘Chasemaster’ Virat roared out loud and Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik delivered fine finishes to help RCB secure four wicket win over PBKS at their home turf of Chinaswammy Stadium on Monday.
Following the match, Du Plessis said about Virat, “Virat was important on that pitch. He is still enjoying himself, very passionate about playing cricket. Fresh and motivated to do well.” On his feelings throught the tense run chase, Faf said, “On the outside, not as much on the inside (was he calm?). Early in the competition you want to make sure you get over the line. Felt we were in the position to do that sooner. With the new Impact Player rule, we knew we had Mahipal Lomror coming in – has lot of power. Now with the extra batter you feel like even 14-15 rpo is gettable.”
He praised Dinesh for his finishing, saying, “Really pleased for him (DK). I said it the other night – really important for him to get his IPL going with confidence.” Coming to the match, put to field by RCB, Punjab Kings (PBKS) saw their batters getting starts but none of them could convert it into something big. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (45 in 37 balls with five fours and a six), Jitesh Sharma (27 in 20 balls with a four and two sixes) and Sam Curran (23 in 17 balls) played decent knocks, but on a batting friendly Chinnaswammy, PBKS could muster only 176/6 in 20 overs.
Mohammed Siraj (2/26) and Glenn Maxwell (2/29) took two scalps each. Yash Dayal and Alzarri Joseph took a wicket each. In the chase of 177, RCB continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, but Virat (77 in 49 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes) held the ship steady at the other end. After his dismissal, things got tricky for RCB, but finishing from Dinesh Karthik (28* in 10 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Mahipal Lomror (17* in eight balls, with two fours and a six) guided the team to a four-wicket win with four balls left.
Harpreet Brar (2/13) and Kagiso Rabada (2/23) were the pick of the bowlers for PBKS. Virat was crowned the ‘Player of the Match’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time that “radical Islamists” were responsible for last week’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow. However, he suggested that Ukraine was also somehow involved, Al Jazeera reported. Russian authorities have detained 11 people in connection with the March 22 attack on Crocus City Hall.
In a televised meeting on Monday, Putin said, “We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries.” “This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime,” he said, referring to Ukraine, according to Al Jazeera report.
Putin stressed that it was necessary to respond to that question. He asked, “Of course, it is necessary to answer the question, ‘Why after committing the crime the terrorists tried to go to Ukraine?’ Who was waiting for them there?” Putin said the planned terrorist attack hoped to sow panic but it was met with unity and resolve to counter this evil, according to the transcript released on the Kremlin website. He did not mention ISIS which claimed responsibility for the Moscow attack.
He said, “We know whose hands were used to commit this atrocity against Russia and its people. We want to know who ordered it.” Since Friday, the Islamic State in Khorasan Province has said several times that it was behind the attack, and ISIL-affiliated media channels have released graphic videos of the gunmen during the attack. After ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, US intelligence has backed up its claims.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to assign blame and asked reporters to wait for the results of the probe in Russia, Al Jazeera reported. He even refused to comment on reports that the US warned authorities in Moscow on March 7 about a possible attack and said that any such intelligence is confidential. ‘On Sunday, a Moscow court charged four men with carrying out a “terrorist” attack. At their court appearance, the gunmen showed signs of being severely beaten.
The four suspects, named by Russian authorities as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizodu, Shamsidin Fariduni and Muhammadsobir Fayzov were tried in Basmanny Court in Moscow. All four are to be held in detention until at least May 22, the court said. One of the men charged with committing the terror attack is a Tajik national, TASS reported. All four are from Tajikistan and have been in Russia on either temporary or expired visas, CNN reported.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said the investigation is being conducted. However, he promised that “the perpetrators will be punished. They do not deserve mercy.” Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, asked authorities to “kill them all.”
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, a total of 137 people died in the March 22 terror attack at the Crocus City Hall music venue and the death toll is likely to go up further. The Moscow Region Health Ministry reported 182 people injured.A total of 11 people involved in the attack were apprehended, including four suspected attackers, who sought to flee towards the Ukrainian border, TASS reported.
During his televised address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine prepared a “window” for the attackers to cross the border and vowed to identify and punish everyone behind the attack. He also declared March 24 a national mourning day. Putin had said, “We will investigate this terrorist attack and we already have some results. All the four perpetrators, who were directly involved who were gunning people down, killing people.”
“They were found and apprehended. They tried to escape. They were moving towards the border with Ukraine and we have data that suggests that they were about to be moved towards the territory of Ukraine by those in Ukraine,” he added. The concert venue, with an estimated capacity of 7,500, was almost full when the terrorists struck and the assault took place ahead of a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic, RT news agency reported earlier.
According to the mobile phone footage and eyewitness accounts, at least five gunmen wearing military-style gear and carrying assault rifles first opened fire at unarmed security guards at the main entrance to the venue. They then proceeded to shoot indiscriminately at the fleeing crowd of panicked visitors. Once the terrorists reached the concert hall, they appeared to set fire to rows of chairs inside, with the blaze quickly engulfing much of the building, including its roof.
According to a CNN report, the US warned Moscow that ISIS terrorists were determined to target Russia in the days before assailants stormed Crocus City Hall in an attack that killed scores of people, but Vladimir Putin rejected the advice, calling it “provocative.” US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the US government had “shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy.”
Days after Ambedkar snapped ties with Shiv Sena (UBT), Raut says MVA hasn't lost hope in VBA chief 6
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said Maha Vikas Aghadi has not lost hope in Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar, days after the latter called off the tie-up with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party in Maharashtra.
Raut claimed public support is with MVA whose electoral victory would have been grand had VBA come along.
Talking to reporters, Raut said Ambedkar should have accepted MVA’s proposal of four seats for Lok Sabha elections, but the Opposition camp has not lost hopes on the VBA.
”There is public support for MVA. Our victory would have been grand had Balasaheb (Prakash) Ambedkar been with us. But this does not mean we are dependent on them,” he said.
Noting that Ambedkar is a respectable leader with a good party organisation, Raut said MVA leaders held discussions and kept requesting him. ”He should have accepted the (MVA) proposal. But we still have not lost hope on him,” he added.
Ambedkar on Saturday said he was calling off the alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) and would declare his next move on March 26.
”I am giving back their four seats,” he said on Monday. Contesting the MVA’s claim, the Dalit leader said VBA was officially offered only three seats including Akola.
Ambedkar had virtually blamed Uddhav Thackeray for the break down of the 14-month-old alliance.
”I had asked Uddhav Thackeray that Shiv Sena (UBT) and VBA should first sit together and chalk out strategy for a joint political path, but that didn’t happen. The VBA alliance with Sena (UBT) doesn’t exist any longer,” he had said. Ambedkar had also claimed that the internal strife in MVA allies- Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), and Congress- doesn’t seem to end. The VBA had affected the prospects of UPA candidates in Nanded, Solapur, Hatkanangale, Beed, Parbhani and Sangli seats, to name a few, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which ultimately helped NDA.
North Korea says Japan's prime minister proposed summit with leader Kim Jong Un 8
North Korea said Monday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has proposed a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, made the comments in a state media dispatch. She said Kishida used an unspecified channel to convey his position that he wants to meet Kim Jong Un in person at an early date.
Kim Yo Jong said whether to improve bilateral ties hinges on Japan. She said if Kishida sticks to his push to resolve the alleged past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea, he cannot avoid criticism that he would only pursue talks to boost his popularity.
Some experts say North Korea is seeking to improve ties with Japan as a way to weaken a trilateral Tokyo-Seoul-Washington security partnership, while Kishida also wants better ties with North Korea to increase his declining approval rating at home.
The US and South Korea have been expanding their military drills and trilateral exercises involving Japan in response to North Korea’s provocative run of weapons tests since 2022.
Earlier Monday, North Korea’s state media that Kim Jong Un supervised a tank exercise and encouraged his armored forces to sharpen war preparations in the face of growing tensions with South Korea.
JNUSU gets its first Dalit president from Left after nearly three decades 10
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) on Sunday elected its first Dalit president from the Left-backed groups after nearly three decades.
The United Left panel on Sunday effected a clean sweep in the JNUSU election, defeating its nearest rival the RSS-affiliated ABVP.
In the polls that happened after a hiatus of four years, Dhananjay from the All India Students’ Association (AISA) won the JNUSU president’s post by securing 2,598 votes against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Umesh C Ajmeera who secured 1,676 votes.
Dhananjay hails from Gaya, Bihar, and is the first Dalit president from the Left after Batti Lal Bairwa, who was elected in 1996-97.
Speaking to PTI after the win, Dhananjay said, ”This victory is a referendum by the students of JNU that they reject the politics of hate and violence. The students have once again shown their trust in us. We will continue to fight for their rights and work on issues that concern students. ”The safety of women on campus, fund cuts, scholarship hike, infrastructural and water crisis are among the top priorities of the students union to begin with,” he added.
Amid cries of ‘Lal Salaam’ and ‘Jai Bhim’, the winning students were hailed by their supporters. Red, white and blue flags were waved by the students to celebrate the victory of the candidates.
Avijit Ghosh from the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) trounced ABVP’s Deepika Sharma by 927 votes to win the vice-president’s post. Ghosh received 2,409 votes as against 1,482 votes by Sharma.
Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) candidate Priyanshi Arya, who was supported by the Left, won the general secretary post’s by defeating ABVP’s Arjun Anand by 926 votes. Arya polled in 2,887 votes while Anand received 1961 votes.
The United Left extended its support to Arya after the Election Committee cancelled the nomination of its candidate Swati Singh when her candidacy was challenged by the ABVP.
The Left’s Mohammad Sajid won the joint secretary’s post by defeating ABVP’s Govind Dangi by 508 votes. His was the lowest victory among all the four winners.
With the Left panel sweeping the polls, the JNU lived up to its reputation of being a Left bastion. The ABVP gave a neck-and-neck fight and was leading on all the four central panel posts in the initial trends.
The United Left panel comprises AISA, Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students’ Federation (AISF).
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union polls on Friday witnessed a voter turnout of 73 per cent, highest in the last 12 years.
13 priests injured in fire in 'garba griha' of Mahakal Temple in MP's Ujjain 12
Thirteen priests were injured in a fire that broke out in the Mahakal Temple in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on Monday during ‘bhasma aarti’, an official said.
The blaze took place in the ‘garba griha’ (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple, Ujjain Collector Neeraj Kumar Singh said.
”Thirteen priests suffered burn injuries and are being treated in the district hospital here. A magisterial probe has been ordered,” Singh added.
Eyewitnesses said the fire broke out while ‘gulal’ (coloured powder used during rituals ands Holi) was being thrown as part of a religious ceremony.
Congress like well-established company with fluctuating market cap; BJP startup: Jairam Ramesh 14
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh likened his party to a ”well-established company” whose market capitalisation keeps fluctuating and asserted that it will stage a comeback.
In an interaction at the PTI office, Ramesh also dismissed suggestions that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma that was responsible for the BJP’s electoral performance and stressed on the importance of organisational strength.
The idea of a charismatic leader was a ”dangerous concept” to believe in as one doing so, automatically believes in a ”demagogue”, the Congress general secretary in charge communications asserted.
Talking about the need for bringing in new faces, Ramesh, however, noted that this was difficult in the Congress because people have been in the party for long.
”It’s easier for the BJP. Because, you know, the BJP is a startup in many states. You look upon the BJP as a startup. The Congress is not a startup. The Congress is a well-established company whose market cap (market capitalization) keeps fluctuating. But the BJP is a startup,” he said.
”So, a startup can absorb a lot of people. The guy who does not get a ticket in the Congress joins the BJP. So in many of the states, I would say, the Congress’ disadvantage is that it has been entrenched for decades,” he said during an interaction with editors and journalists of the news agency on Friday.
One of the disadvantages of being entrenched is that one is not able to give opportunities to new people to come in, Ramesh noted.
Asked about the central leadership, he said the Congress is the only party to have an elected president.
”We tend to ascribe far too much importance to individuals… If you read the bible of Indian political science by Rajni Kothari, one of the points Rajni Kothari makes in that book is that there was a Congress system and that system first got broken in 1969 with the first split and then it got broken in 1978 with the second split,” Ramesh said.
He said, ”You can have all the charismatic leadership on the top, but if at the district level, at the block level and at the state level you don’t have these systems of mediation, of conflict management and of bringing people into the fold, then no individual is going to make a difference.” ”I am not a great believer in the charismatic leader business… it is a very dangerous concept to believe in. That is why I don’t believe in it. If I start believing in a charismatic leader then I am automatically believing in a demagogue, then I am believing in a Mussolini (Italian dictator),” he said.
Ramesh rejected suggestions that about 40 per cent of the country believes in the charismatic leader concept, saying that out of the 36 per cent vote share of the BJP, as per his analysis, at least 22-23 per cent is attributable to the organization.
So, at least 70 per cent of the support is about the organizational reach, strength and capability. Modi may have added a few percentage points, he added.
On whether Prime Minister Modi’s charisma and oratory were making a difference for the BJP, Ramesh said, ”No, I think it is the organisation that makes a huge difference. You can have all the charisma you want but if you are not going to be able to translate that charisma on the voting day, charisma is going to be of no use.” ”I think we shouldn’t be chasing charisma, we should be chasing systems,” he said. ”To ascribe everything to one individual that there is a super charismatic leader in the BJP and we don’t have that super charismatic figure in the Congress is simplifying a very complex set of realities,” the Congress general secretary said.
Asked if the Congress could hit a ”circuit breaker” when the Lok Sabha poll results are announced on June 4, Ramesh said the BJP is doing the damnedest to make sure the Congress hits the circuit breaker.
”They have frozen eight of our 11 accounts and this would continue,” he said, adding the Congress tax books from 1994-95 have been opened and fines are being imposed on them.
”After Kejriwal, they will, I am sure, target some leaders of the Congress… the opponent we are facing today follows no rules, no convention, no tradition and is ruthless,” Ramesh said.
Refusing to speculate on the number of seats the Congress would get in the Lok Sabha, Ramesh said he would not put it past the realm of possibility that people would be in for a big surprise. He asserted that the party would surely stage a comeback.
The Congress had suffered a setback in the latest round of assembly polls when it lost power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and also suffered a crushing defeat in Madhya Pradesh. The party, however, won the Telangana Assembly polls.
Talking about the two Bharat Jodo Yatras, Ramesh said it had never entered his calculus as to what their impact on elections would be as that was not the intent of taking out the yatras.
”It just so happened that we won in Telangana and Karnataka but we lost in Madhya Pradesh and lost in the areas where we travelled in Rajasthan. In politics, it is virtually impossible to establish causation. You can have a correlation and that correlation is spurious… I look upon the yatra initiative more as giving connectivity for the leader and the organisation,” Ramesh said.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will be held between April 19 and June 1. The results will be announced on June 4.
Russia arrests suspected gunmen as concert toll soars to 115 16
Russia has arrested 11 people including four suspected gunmen in connection with a shooting rampage that killed at least 115 people in a concert hall near Moscow, the Kremlin said on Saturday. Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, the deadliest in Russia for 20 years. But there were indications that Russia was pursuing a Ukrainian link, despite a statement from Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak that Kyiv had nothing to do with it.
The FSB security service said “all four terrorists” had been arrested while heading to the Ukrainian border, and that they had contacts in Ukraine. It said they were being transferred to Moscow. “Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from pursuit – Ukraine,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.
A senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Kartapolov, said that if Ukraine was involved, then Russia must deliver a “worthy, clear and concrete” reply on the battlefield. Russia’s Investigative Committee said the death toll had leapt to at least 115 from the attack, in which camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers in the Crocus City Hall near the capital
It said some died from gunshot wounds and others in a huge fire that broke out in the complex. Reports said the gunmen had lit the blaze using petrol from canisters they carried in rucksacks. People fled in panic. Baza, a news outlet with good contacts in Russian security and law enforcement, said 28 bodies were found in a toilet and 14 on a staircase. “Many mothers were found embracing their children,” it said.
The Kremlin said FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov had reported to President Vladimir Putin that those detained included “four terrorists” and that the service was working to identify their accomplices. Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said the attackers had fled in a Renault vehicle that was spotted by police in Bryansk region, about 340 km (210 miles) southwest of Moscow on Friday night and disobeyed instructions to stop.
He said two were arrested after a car chase and two others fled into a forest. From the Kremlin account, it appeared they too were later detained. Khinshtein said a pistol, a magazine for an assault rifle, and passports from Tajikistan were found in the car. Tajikistan is a mainly Muslim Central Asian state that used to be part of the Soviet Union.
GUNFIRE AND SCREAMS
Verified video showed people taking their seats in the concert hall, then rushing for the exits as repeated gunfire echoed above screams. Other video showed men shooting at groups of people. Some victims lay motionless in pools of blood.
“Suddenly there were bangs behind us – shots. A burst of firing – I do not know what,” one witness, who asked not to be identified by name, told Reuters. Long lines formed in Moscow on Saturday for people to donate blood. Health officials said more than 120 people were wounded.
“The death toll is expected to rise,” the Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes in Russia, said on Telegram. The Moscow city and regional governments said they would provide financial support for families of the victims and those injured, as well as paying for funerals.
Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s Amaq agency said on Telegram. Islamic State said its fighters attacked on the outskirts of Moscow, “killing and wounding hundreds and causing great destruction to the place before they withdrew to their bases safely”. The statement gave no further detail.
U.S. INTELLIGENCE
The United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the shooting, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official said Washington had warned Moscow in recent weeks of the possibility of an attack.
“We did warn the Russians appropriately,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, without providing any additional details. The attack on Crocus City Hall, about 20 km (12 miles) from the Kremlin, happened two weeks after the U.S. embassy in Russia warned that “extremists” had imminent plans for an attack in Moscow.
Hours before the embassy warning, the FSB said it had foiled an attack on a Moscow synagogue by Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-Khorasan or ISIS-K, which seeks a caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran. Putin changed the course of the Syrian civil war by intervening in 2015, supporting President Bashar al-Assad against the opposition and Islamic State.
“ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years, frequently criticizing Putin in its propaganda,” said Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center. The broader Islamic State group has claimed deadly attacks across the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Europe, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
WORLD REACTION
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said it was a “bloody terrorist attack” that the world should condemn.
The United States, European and Arab powers and many former Soviet republics expressed shock and sent their condolences. The United Nations Security Council condemned what it called a “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack”. Russia tightened security at airports, transport hubs and across the capital – a vast urban area of over 21 million people. All large-scale public events were cancelled across the country.
Putin, who was re-elected on Sunday for a new six-year term, sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and has repeatedly warned that various powers – including countries in the West – are seeking to sow chaos inside Russia.
AAP seeks urgent appointment with ECI, says "responsibility of poll body to ensure level playing field" 18
The Aam Aadmi Party has sought an urgent appointment with the Election Commission to ensure a level playing field in the Lok Sabha elections, Delhi Minister Atishi said on Saturday. Atishi claimed that despite the representation made to the ECI by the INDIA bloc leaders on Friday, Income Tax conducted a raid on one of the AAP MLAs and further claimed that their party office has been sealed in the national capital.
In a post on X, Atishi said, “Aam Aadmi Party has sought an urgent appointment with the Election Commission, to ensure a level playing field in the Lok Sabha elections. Despite the representation made yesterday. Today, the Aam Aadmi Party office was sealed. Lok Sabha candidates and party leaders could not come to the party office for campaign meetings. There was an IT Dept raid on the home of one of our MLAs. It is the responsibility given by the Indian Constitution to the @ECISVEEP to ensure a level playing field.” The Income Tax Department (IT) is conducting searches at the premises of Delhi AAP MLA Gulab Singh Yadav on Saturday. Gulab Singh Yadav is the AAP MLA from Delhi’s Matiala seat. He is a two-time MLA.
Following the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the INDIA bloc on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India urging its intervention in the “targeting of opposition leaders” by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party through the “misuse of central agencies”. The representation to the ECI was made by Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, Abhishek Singhvi, NCP (SCP) leader Jitendra Awhad, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, TMC MP Derek O Brien and several other leaders.
The INDIA bloc in its memorandum, has urged the poll body to ensure that any further raids, investigations, and arrests are first vetted and approved by the Commission or a committee set up under it. It also urged the Election Commission to take immediate action, including the launch of investigations against all those individuals and officers who have misused their offices to harass the leaders of the opposition.
“Take any other steps necessary to ensure the constitutional mandate of a level playing field and to prevent political parties in power from misusing the State machinery against the leaders and political parties contesting elections in a democratic setup,” the memorandum submitted to the poll body read. Delhi CM Kejriwal was arrested by the central agency after he skipped multiple summons by the investigation agency, nine in total, calling them “illegal”. He has been remanded to ED custody till March 28.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities and money laundering in framing and implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2022, which was later scrapped.
Kerala moves SC against Governor's decision to reserve 7 bills for President's assent 20
The Kerala Government has moved the Supreme Court against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s decision to reserve seven bills for the assent of President Droupadi Murmu stating that his conduct is “manifestly arbitrary.” In the plea, the Kerala Government has sought to declare the act of the Governor of Kerala in reserving the seven bills—University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021; University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022; the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022; and The University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022 for the consideration of the President was illegal and lacks in bona fides.
“The conduct of the Governor in keeping Bills pending for long and indefinite periods, and thereafter reserving the Bills for the consideration of the President without any reasons relatable to the Constitution is manifestly arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Constitution. Equally, the aid and advice rendered by the Union of India to the President to withhold assent from the four bills which are wholly within the domain of the State, while disclosing no reason whatsoever, is also manifestly arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Constitution,” the Kerala government said. “Additionally, the actions impugned defeat the rights of the people of the State of Kerala under Article 21 of the Constitution, by denying them the benefits of welfare legislation enacted by the State Assembly,” it added.
In the plea filed through advocate CK Sasi, the Kerala Government said that the matter relates to the acts of the Governor of Kerala, in reserving the whole seven bills, which he was required to deal with himself, to the President of India, though no single one among the seven bills relates to Centre-state relations. “These 7 bills had been pending with the Governor for as long as about two years. The action of the Governor in keeping the bills pending for as long as two years has subverted the functioning of the legislature of the State and rendered its existence itself ineffective and otiose. The bills include public interest bills which are for the public good and even these have been rendered ineffective by the Governor not dealing with each one of them “as soon as possible” as required by the proviso to Article 200,” Kerala Government said.
The state government called the act unconstitutional, ex-facie illegal, lacking in bona fides, in violation of the federal structure of our Constitution, and manifestly arbitrary. The state government submitted that the Governor has often been addressing the media and making public criticisms against the State Government and the Chief Minister, in particular, and whether the reservation for the President is as a result of this or not, to refer Bills which have been pending before the Governor for as long as two years to the President is a grave injustice to the post that the Governor holds and to his constitutional duties as well.
“One can only say that at no cost was the Governor prepared to allow the Government of Kerala and the State Legislative Assembly to function by the Constitution and the laws,” the state government said. Earlier, the Kerala Government approached the top court over the Governor’s inaction over pending bills.
The top court then took strong exception to the governor’s action and also observed that the Kerala governor, after the institution of these proceedings, had exercised power by granting assent to one bill sent by the state government and seven bills have been reserved for consideration of the president. The top court then reiterated its judgement on the Punjab government and said that the power of the governor cannot be utilised to pause the law-making exercise of the legislature.
That time, the Kerala government filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for inaction on his part regarding eight Bills passed by the state legislature and presented to him for his assent under Article 200 of the Constitution.
