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Should Former Judges Join Politics? What Ex Chief Justice DY Chandrachud Said

by | Nov 24, 2024 | top-stories


DY Chandrachud retired earlier this month as the Chief Justice of India. (File)

New Delhi:

The society continues to view former judges as custodians of the law and their lifestyle must accord with the sense of faith the society has in the legal system, said DY Chandrachud, former Chief Justice of India when asked if retired judges should join politics.

Asked if he would ever join politics himself, he asserted he would not do anything after the age of 65 which would cast an element of doubt on his work and the integrity of the judicial system.

“The society continues to look at you as a judge even when you lay down office. Therefore, things that are alright for other citizens, the society expects would not be alright for judges to do, even when they cease to be in office,” he said at NDTV’s Samvidhan@75 conclave.

Read: Judiciary Has No Exclusive Role In Collegium System. DY Chandrachud Explains

Justice Chandrachud, who retired earlier this month after serving as the country’s top judge for two years, clarified he was not casting an aspersion on judges who joined politics in the past.

“It is for every judge to take a call on whether a decision that they take after retirement will have a bearing on how people assess the work they did as a judge. If you join politics right after retirement, it may give rise to a certain perception on the members of the society on what was the extent to which his judicial work was influenced by the politics he adapted,” he added.

Acknowledging the role that the judicial institution has played in his career, he said, “Whatever a former judge does – his behaviour or personal lifestyle – must accord with the sense of faith the society has in your institution.”

Read: “Always Stable, Always Solid”: DY Chandrachud Praises This Retired Cricketer

He said judges are also private citizens and are entitled to the same rights that any other citizen gets, but society expects a higher standard of behaviour from them. “There should be some element of consensus within the judiciary on what is acceptable and what not is acceptable. That consensus has still not evolved,” he added.

He also suggested that sitting judges may discuss with former judges what is most appropriate for retired judges to do.



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For Sharad Pawar, This Maharashtra Assembly Election Defeat Is Personal

by | Nov 23, 2024 | top-stories


Mr Pawar’s faction of the NCP is leading in only 12 seats in Maharashtra.

New Delhi:

One of Indian politics’ most resilient figures, Sharad Pawar, has hinted that he will quit active politics after his Rajya Sabha term ends in 2026. If the 83-year-old goes ahead with the plan, his retirement will come after his last Maharashtra Assembly elections at the helm of his party proving to be one of the biggest blots in an otherwise stellar career.

As things stood on Saturday evening, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP was ahead in only 10 of the state’s 288 seats after contesting 87 – a strike rate of 11.49%, which is the veteran leader’s worst ever. What will add to this ignominy is that the party had a strike rate of 80% in the Lok Sabha polls just six months ago.

For Sharad Pawar and his NCP, the thing that will probably hurt even more is the fact that it is 31 seats behind the Ajit Pawar faction in what was seen as an existential battle for both parties. The first contest between the Pawars after Ajit Pawar split the party last year was the Lok Sabha election and Sharad Pawar had achieved a decisive victory there, laying claim to his group being the real NCP despite the rival faction getting the original name and symbol. In the second – and arguably more important – bout in the Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar’s group is set to emerge the victor, leading in 41 seats against the Sharad Pawar faction’s 10.

In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the undivided NCP had won 54 seats, more than its ally Congress, which managed to clinch 44, but even that has changed in these elections. This year, Sharad Pawar’s NCP is set to have the lowest number of Assembly seats among major political parties in the state, behind the Congress and even Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, whose party had also suffered a split following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde in 2022. 

Political Chops

Sharad Pawar has been in politics for nearly six decades, and has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra four times, even becoming the youngest person to hold the post at the age of 38 in 1978. He has also held various portfolios in the Union cabinet, including defence and agriculture, and was seen to have lost out to PV Narasimha Rao for the Prime Ministership in 1991.

After being expelled from the Congress in 1999 for contesting the right of Sonia Gandhi, who was born in Italy, to lead the party, Mr Pawar formed the NCP and went on to establish it as one of the four key players in Maharashtra – along with the Congress, the BJP and the Shiv Sena. He also joined the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and served as the agriculture minister for 10 years. 

Known for having relationships across party lines, Mr Pawar was also the architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in 2019, forging an unlikely alliance of the Congress and the NCP with the Shiv Sena, which was one of the founding members of the BJP-led NDA. Most experts said the Maha Vikas Aghadi would not last, but the alliance survived even the fall of its government in Maharashtra and the successive splits of the Shiv Sena and the NCP. 

Earlier this month, Mr Pawar had told people in his stronghold of Baramati, from where he has been an MLA and MP 14 times, that he was considering hanging up his boots.

“I am not in power… and my tenure in the Rajya Sabha has one-and-a-half years left. (After that) I will not contest any election in the future. I will have to stop somewhere,” he had said.



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“Thousand Times Better…”: Delhi Lt Governor's Surprise For AAP's Atishi

by | Nov 22, 2024 | top-stories



New Delhi:

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena – for so long at odds with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party – suddenly offered words of praise for Chief Minister Atishi Friday, calling her “a thousands times better” than her predecessor and AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal, with whom the Lieutenant Governor has had several tempestuous run-ins – on legal, administrative, and governance issues – over the past months.

Speaking at the convocation of the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women this afternoon, Mr Saxena said he is pleased that the current Chief Minister is a woman.

“… and I can confidently say she is a thousand times better than her predecessor,” Mr Saxena said, throwing a glance at the Chief Minister, on stage with him, as he did so.

Atishi was sworn in on September 21 after a brief tussle within the AAP over who would replace Mr Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal resigned days earlier – a statement move after securing bail in the controversial and alleged liquor policy scam case and before the next year’s election.

Mr Kejriwal declared he would seek a “certificate of honesty” from the people of Delhi.

READ | Arvind Kejriwal Resigns After Choosing Atishi As His Replacement

Mr Saxena didn’t always have kind words for Atishi.

In April, while Mr Kejriwal was in jail, he ripped into her and party colleague Saurabh Bhardwaj for “a lack of seriousness” when summoned to his office to discuss “routine works of governance”.

READ | “Lame Excuses”: Delhi LG Slams AAP After Ministers Snub Meetings Call

Also on the LG’s firing list on that occasion was former Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot; Mr Gahlot, who was on the shortlist to succeed Mr Kejriwal, has since jumped to the BJP.

READ | BJP, With Kailash Gahlot At Fore, Launches ‘Sheeshmahal‘ Protest

As recently as last month the Lieutenant-Governor slammed Mr Kejriwal for not implementing the centre’s flagship health insurance scheme – the Ayushman Bharat – during his term as Chief Minister.

Dismissing the Delhi government’s own scheme – which he called “a web of illusion” – Mr Saxena also accused Mr Kejriwal of suppressing reports by central auditors.

The two also traded multiple barbs while Mr Kejriwal was jailed on corruption charges connected to the liquor policy case; this included battles over the nomination of aldermen to the Municipal Corporation and claims Mr Saxena was “stalling” the budget for no reason.

In fact, Mr Kejriwal’s government has long argued the BJP, in power at the centre, has a stranglehold on Delhi via the Lieutenant Governor, who was nominated by that party.

READ | AAP “Fishing In Congress’ Waters” As Arvind Kejriwal Plots Re-Election Bid

The AAP is widely seen as facing as stern test to win a third consecutive Assembly election, particularly after persistent attacks from the BJP (and on-paper allies Congress) over issues like the air quality crisis and the ‘sheeshmahal‘ controversy swirling around the ex-Chief Minister.

With input from PTI

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.



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Indian Student In US Accidentally Shoots Himself Dead While Celebrating Birthday

by | Nov 22, 2024 | top-stories



A 23-year-old student from India died in the US after he accidentally fired his hunting gun and shot himself on his birthday. The incident took place on November 13, when the student, Aryan Reddy, was celebrating his birthday with his friends at his home in Atlanta, Georgia.

During the celebration, Reddy reportedly took out his new hunting gun to clean it. However, he ended up accidentally firing a bullet that hit his chest, officials said.

On hearing the gunshot, Reddy’s friends – who were in another room – rushed to his room and found their friend in a pool of blood, officials said.

They immediately rushed him to a nearby hospital, but he was declared dead.

Reddy was a second-year student at Kansas State University, Atlanta, studying Master of Science. He was from Telangana’s Bhuvanagiri district but his family currently lives in the Uppal district.

 Aryan Reddy’s body will be flown to his hometown later tonight, the officials said.




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Drugs, Mega Land Deal: Ahmedabad Builder Duped Of Rs 1 Crore In 'Digital Arrest' Scam

by | Nov 21, 2024 | top-stories


Police officials said the fraudsters appeared to have been keeping tabs on the builder.

Ahmedabad:

A builder in Ahmedabad lost Rs 1 crore after he fell prey to a ‘digital arrest’ scam in which some people posing to be from the police and the Narcotics Control Bureau told him that 550 grams of a drug was found in a parcel in his name. 

Police officials said the fraudsters appeared to have been keeping tabs on the builder and also cited a Rs 50-crore land deal concluded by him to gain his confidence.

On July 3, the builder got a call from a man who claimed to be a representative of a popular international courier company. The man told the builder that 550 grams of the drug MD were recovered from a parcel in his name and said he was transferring the call to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which had registered a case against him.

In his police complaint, filed recently, the builder said he then got a video call from a man wearing a police uniform, who claimed to be an NCB officer and asked him to record a statement online. The ‘officer’ also pointed to alleged suspicious transactions in the builder’s bank accounts and threatened that agencies like the police, CBI, Enforcement Directorate and NCB would investigate him.

Officials said that, after sufficiently scaring the builder, the man convinced him to transfer Rs 1 crore, returnable in 10 days, to avoid being prosecuted. The scammer also spoke about a recent Rs 50-crore land deal in which the builder was involved to make him believe that he was speaking to someone in law enforcement. 

The scammers made no contact with the builder after that and, when his attempts to reach them failed, he realised that he had been conned. He approached the Ahmedabad cyber crime cell recently, over four months later, to file a complaint. 

Ahmedabad Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Lavina Sinha said a case has been registered and also laid out a list of steps that people can take to avoid falling for such frauds. 

“The police or any other agency will always carry out a physical arrest. There is no provision for digital arrest under Indian law. To prevent such frauds, people should follow this three-step process: Stop, think and then take action. If anyone asks for money to be transferred, one must stop and think whether the call is authentic and only then take action. And if money is transferred to fraudsters, people should call 1930 immediately and lodge a complaint,” she added.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)



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