A petition in Bombay High Court on Thursday sought criminal action against Akbaruddin Owaisi, Telangana MLA and brother of All India Majlis-e-Ittihad Muslimeen (MIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, for allegedly making objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during electioneering in Bihar.

The petition, filed by Conscious Citizen Forum, is slated to come up for hearing tomorrow before a bench headed by Justice Ranjit More.

The Forum alleged that Owaisi had defamed Modi by calling him names in an election speech beamed by a television channel and also alleging that he was involved in Gujarat riots in the past.

The petition said that the Forum had approached Mumbai police to file an FIR against Akbaruddin Owaisi but no action had been taken so far. Aggrieved, the Forum had filed a writ petition in the High Court.

The petition contended that the remarks of Owaisi had hurt the sentiments of the people and that politicians should be restrained from making personal attacks against each other during election campaigns.

It also urged the court to lay down guidelines for the politicians who address gatherings during election campaign.

The Bombay High Court asked Maharashtra government to take corrective steps towards improving the condition of Yerwada central prison in Pune and providing better facilities to inmates lodged there.

A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi was hearing a petition filed by one Shaikh Ibrahim Abdul, who is lodged in Yerwada central prison, raising the issue of poor condition of the jail.

The court had last week directed the Principal District judge of Pune to appoint a judicial officer to conduct inspection of Yerwada prison and submit a report.

Accordingly, a report was submitted today which said that while the food quality in the jail was fine there was space constraint.

As per the report, while the capacity of Yerwada jail was 2,323 there are over 6,000 inmates (convicts and undertrials) lodged there at present. There are over 125 women inmates and 16 children belonging to these inmates.

“There are 529 toilets in the men’s barracks. There are no bathrooms and the male inmates take bath in the open. In the women’s cell, there are 19 toilets and two bathrooms,” the report said.

The court, after perusing the report, asked the government to take corrective steps towards improving the conditions.

The bench has now directed the Principal Judge of the sessions court in Mumbai to appoint a judicial officer to inspect Arthur Road central prison here and submit a report in four weeks.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s lawyer on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that the prosecution had brought the evidence against the superstar in the 2002 hit-and-run case at the fag end of the trial as a last resort after other evidence fell apart.

The HC is hearing an appeal filed by Salman against the five-year sentence awarded to him by a sessions court on May 6 for ramming his car into a shop in suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four people who were sleeping outside. The mishap had occurred on September 28, 2002.

Amit Desai, arguing for 49-year-old actor, said “the only way to resurrect the case against Salman was to place the statement of late Ravindra Patil, the former police bodyguard of the actor, recorded by a magistrate.”

In the statement on October 1, 2002, Patil had alleged that Salman was driving the car under the influence of liquor although in the FIR three days before that he had not uttered a word about the actor taking drinks, said Desai.

“The prosecution decided to bring in the evidence of Patil – who died in October 2007 – when it saw that witnesses have been discredited during the cross-examination and serious doubts have been raised on the medical report,” Desai alleged.

Desai argued that the Criminal Procedure Code lays down that the evidence recorded before a magistrate cannot be treated as an evidence before a sessions court. Yet, Patil’s statement was treated as evidence before the sessions court.

The prosecution knew that Patil was no more and that he would not be available to defence lawyers for cross-examination but still it decided to rely on his statement, he said. The trial court had erred in allowing the statement of Patil to be used as evidence, argued Desai.

“Previous statement of a witness, not appearing before court, cannot be taken on record,” the lawyer argued.

Citing Supreme Court and Bombay High Court verdicts, Desai also elaborated in detail section 326 of the CrPC, which deals with “conviction or commitment on evidence partly ecorded by one judge or magistrate and partly by another.” He also referred to section 33 of Indian Evidence Act, which is about “relevancy of certain evidence for proving, in a subsequent proceeding, the truth of the facts therein stated”. Arguments would continue on Friday. The high court has granted bail to Salman after admitting his appeal.

The Maharashtra government decided to hike the Dearness Allowance (DA) of state government employees by six per cent with effect from January 1, 2015.

The DA is now 113 per cent from the existing 107 per cent.

DA is calculated on total of basic pay and grade pay.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the arrears would be given from October 1, 2015. Separate orders would be issued for payment of arrears from January 1, 2015 to September 30, 2015.

He said the decision was government’s Diwali gift to the employees. The decision will benefit 18 lakh officials and employees as well as 6.5 lakh pensioners.

The Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government to take a decision by December 11 on a proposal sent by its administration seeking allotment of 25 acres of land in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) for setting up a high court building.

The high court administration had on October 14 sent a proposal to the state government seeking 25 acres of land in BKC and another 25 acres in nearby area.

Advocate Sanjay Udeshi, appearing for the administration, told the court that in a meeting held recently it has been decided to seek a total of 50 acres of land for the high court in the suburbs.

A division bench of justices A S Oka and V L Achiliya today asked the government to consider the proposal and take a decision by December 11.

The court was hearing of a PIL filed by advocate Ahmed Abdi seeking directions to government to have a new high court building due to paucity of space in the present Grade I heritage structure at Fort area in South Mumbai.

The historic structure, construction of which was initiated in 1871, was completed in 1878.

The over 150-year-old Bombay High Court in Fort was constructed essentially to meet the requirements of 15 judges.

However, over the last 135 years, the strength of judges has increased to 75 in 2007. It is soon set to reach a figure of 94.

The Mumbai Metro has witnessed a steady increase in the number of passengers as well as revenue through fares since it commenced operations in June last year, with the transportation mode being preferred by long distance commuters in the metropolis.

In reply to an RTI query, the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), which operates the Metro, said that in its second quarter last year (July- September 2014) a total 2.33 crore commuters availed the Metro services, through which it collected a revenue of Rs. 35 crore.

However, just after an year, the number of commuters went up to 2.34 crore and the revenue collected through fares jumped to Rs. 48 crore, a whopping 37 per cent hike over the corresponding quarter in 2014.

Interestingly, in the third quarter of previous year (October-December 2014) about 2.42 crore commuters travelled in the Metro, fetching it Rs. 37 crore as revenue from fares, the official said responding to the query made by RTI activist Vihar Durve.

However, in the next quarter, from January-March 2015, the numbers of commuters dipped to 2.05 crore, though the fare revenues swelled up to Rs. 42 crore, according to RTI figures.

“The number of passengers and fare box collection is constantly going up, partly due to longer destination passengers more often availing our services,” said Debashish Mohanty, director of MMOPL.

The Metro service in Mumbai began on June 8 last year with a flat fare of Rs. 10 for 11.4 km long corridor. After a few months, MMOPL introduced a revised fare band of Rs. 10-40 using provisions of the Central Metro Act, against the previous fare notified by the state government Rs. 9 to 13 calculated according to the clauses in the concession agreement.

Now MMOPL has, following a fare fixation committee recommendation, proposed to levy Rs. 10 to 110 for entire stretch, which has been opposed by not only the commuters but also by the state government, prompting Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadvavis to ask for a CAG report to get an audit of the firm.

RTI figures show that since the inception of the Metro service, it has received Rs. 215 crore revenue through fares (which have been revised thrice) but it has spent Rs. 668 crore on operating expenses, employees cost, finance cost, depreciation and other heads so far.

Commenting on the RTI query, an MMOPL spokesperson said, “It is a worldwide phenomenon that ridership decreases with an increase in fares. However, it is to the credit of Metro One’s excellent operations and services that the commuters have returned to Mumbai Metro and the ridership figures have gone up to the earlier levels. Accordingly, the revenues have also increased.

A 50-year-old man who was mistakenly declared dead by doctors but was found to be alive when brought to mortuary of a Mumbai hospital on Sunday, died on Tuesday night.

According to sources at the civic body-run Sion Hospital, after realising that the man, identified as Prakash, was alive, he was shifted to ICU, however he didn’t survive for long.

The case unfolded on Sunday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to address an event in the city and there was a heavy police security and patrolling on city roads.

The police on patrolling duty near the hospital found Prakash “dead” and took to the hospital.

Dr Suleman Merchant, dean of the hospital, had said at a press conference that “when the patient was brought in, he was on a stretcher and his face and ear were infested with maggots which are normally found in decomposed bodies. He was apparently picked up from a bus stop at Sion.

“During preliminary checking his pulse and heartbeat were found missing completely, additionally the policemen who brought the patient reaffirmed saying that they have brought a dead body, which could have led the doctors to believe that the patient was dead,” Merchant had added.

But a mortuary attendant found signs of life in him, and informed the doctors. Finding him alive, doctors shifted him to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he died.

The Shiv Sena on Thursday said that since every person who arrives here from Pakistan is “a messenger of peace”, so the three terrorists who have reportedly sneaked into the country should also be treated similarly.

According to recent intelligence reports, three Pakistani terrorists have sneaked into Mumbai and preparing to carry out attacks similar to 26/11.

The central government has warned Maharashtra and a red alert has been sounded for the terrorist trio who could strike in the crowded festivals like the ongoing Navratri or the forthcoming Diwali, the Shiv Sena said in an edit in the party mouthpiece Saamanatoday.

However, it assured that people of the state have no cause for worry as a new “Pakistan-loving ambassador of peace” has taken over responsibility to protect the nation from them, referring to its latest bête noire, Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of think-tank, Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

“Since every person who arrives here from Pakistan is ‘a messenger of peace’, these three terrorists must also be treated similarly. We lay out the red carpet for them and accord them highest security,” the Sena sarcastically demanded.

It warned that in case anyone them happened to be a “human bomb” and exploded, taking hundreds of innocent lives, nobody should term it as an attempt to spoil cultural and political ties between the two countries (India-Pakistan).

“In the past, such hullabaloo has brought a bad name not only to Maharashtra but entire India… We should adopt ‘a spirit of sacrifice and tolerance’ towards these three terrorists and welcome their attacks with a smile,” the edit said, referring to the debates in the past few days.

In order to ensure peace with Pakistan, Indians should chant ‘Om Shanti Om,’ and follow the principles of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava‘ to welcome our own death with folded hands, as our prime duty, the party urged.

“So, the state government must give a warm welcome to these sneaky terrorists – sorry, ambassadors of peace – ensure no stone left unturned in treating them well as it could spoil the image of Maharashtra… never mind if our nationalistic sentiments go for a toss,” the edit concluded.