QBullet: K’taka CM Seeks Trust Vote; Hafiz Denies Terror Charges
Here’s your latest news round-up for the day.
1. Karnataka Crisis: CM Kumaraswamy Seeks Trust Vote, Says ‘Not Ready to Misuse Position’
In a surprise move amid the crisis faced by his government, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday, 12 July, sought time from the Speaker of the state assembly to seek a vote of confidence.
Kumaraswamy, whose JD(S)-Congress coalition is tottering after 16 MLAs resigned since 6 July, said it would be inappropriate for him to continue without a majority.
“I have decided to seek a trust vote. I am requesting you to fix a time for it at the earliest,” Kumaraswamy told the Speaker in the course of condolence messages at the opening of the state assembly session.
“Only when I have the support of this House, I can continue in this position. I am not ready to misuse this position in any way. So voluntarily I have decided to seek trust vote,” he added.
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Let Founder Hafiz Saeed Challenges Terror Cases in Pak HC
Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) organization on Friday, 12 July challenged terror financing cases lodged against him in a petition filed in the Lahore High Court.
Saeed, along with Amir Hamza, Abdur Rehman Makki, M Yahya Aziz and four others filed a plea at the LHC, naming the federal government, Punjab government and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) as respondents.
The petition asked the court to declare the FIR registered against the petitioners null and void. It further adds that Saeed has no relation with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al-Qaeda or any other similar organisations.
Earlier this month, Punjab’s CTD, in a major crackdown against terror financing, registered 23 cases against the JuD chief and 12 aides for using five trusts to “funnel funds to terror suspects”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. PM Modi to Visit NYC, Houston in September
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting New York and Houston in the third week of September, continuing New Delhi's tradition of engagement with the Trump administration and the Indian-American community in the US on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meet.
The Prime Minister will attend the UNGA session in New York City between 20-23 September and take a day off to visit Houston to meet and greet the large Indian-American community in Texas, according to community organisers who have been apprised of his program.
It is not known yet if he will visit Washington DC, but it is more than likely he will meet President Trump and other world leaders on the sidelines of the UN meet.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Pak Won’t Open Airspace Until India Pushes Back Fighters from Forward Airbases
After extending its eastern airspace ban on commercial flights to and from India four times in two months, Pakistan has turned down India’s request to lift the restriction, linking the use of its airspace with the removal of fighter planes from Indian forward airbases.
Pakistan aviation secretary Shahrukh Nusrat, who is also director general of the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, told the Senate’s standing committee on aviation on 11 July, that New Delhi has been intimated that Pakistani airspace would remain unavailable for India until war jets were removed from its forward airbases.
“The Indian government approached us asking to open the airspace. We conveyed our concerns that first India must withdraw its fighter planes placed forward,” Nusrat was quoted by local media as telling the lawmakers.
(Source: Times of India)
5. SBI Waives Charges for Electronic Fund Transfers
SBI has waived charges on most electronic fund transfer modes to encourage customers to make digital payments.
The charges that have been completely withdrawn include those on Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) using internet and mobile banking as well as on the bank’s YONO app. In addition to this, charges on Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) have been fully waived on all digital channels with effect from 1 August2019.
IMPS is also free for branch transactions for amounts up to Rs 1,000. For those wanting to initiate electronic fund transfers at the branch, the bank has reduced charges by 20 percent.
6. Maratha Reservation Not Retrospective, Says SC, Sends Notice to Maharashtra
The Supreme Court on Friday, 12 July, said that Maharashtra government’s order giving reservation to the Maratha community in education and jobs will not be with retrospective effect even as it issued notice to the state government in the case.
Petitioners in the case had said that the government had notified the reservation policy with retrospective effect from 2014. The Bombay High Court has upheld the reservation given to the Maratha community but brought down the quantum of reservation from 16 percent, as determined by the state assembly, to 12-13 percent.
The top court also issued notice to the state government and said that all actions taken pursuant to the High Court order shall be subject to the outcome of the proceeding before the Supreme Court.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Supreme Court Refuses a Stay on Delhi School CCTVs
The Supreme Court on Friday, 12 July, refused to put on hold the Delhi government’s move to install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in its schools, including classrooms, a move aimed at making schools safer and more accountable.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, however, asked the Delhi government’s counsel to file a response to the PIL that wants the court to stop installation of 1.46 lakh CCTV cameras in classrooms and laboratories of government schools.
A 20-year old law student from the National Law University Delhi, Amber Tickoo, contended in her PIL that the installation of CCTV cameras would lead to constant surveillance and have a disconcerting effect on teachers and students.
She also claimed in her petition that live streaming from classes would impact privacy of the students, especially girls.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. Mehul Choksi’s Latest: Typhoon in Antigua Delayed Courier, Letter to Court
Fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi has blamed an “untimely typhoon” in Antigua and Barbuda for his inability to send legal documents to his lawyer in India to challenge a 31 January special court order in the Bombay High Court within the mandated 30-day period.
On 31 January, a special court in Mumbai had rejected Choksi’s plea seeking examination of witnesses, based on which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wanted to declare him a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
Choksi now wants to challenge this order in the High Court.
Choksi, who took up citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in June last year and currently resides there, moved the Bombay High Court on 4 July, requesting it to pardon the delay and admit his appeal.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Staggered Patrols, Meetings, New Drills Lower Sino-Indian Border Tensions
Tensions on the Sino-Indian border, which snowballed into a crisis at Doklam in 2017, have come down dramatically after the informal summit between the leaders of the two countries at Wuhan in April 2018.
The new rules of engagement between the two sides, following the “strategic guidance” provided to the two militaries by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Wuhan summit, have meant that face-offs between soldiers on both sides of the disputed boundary have reduced significantly.
Top government officials said that even though minor differences still remain, particularly in eastern Ladakh near the strategic Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road, “50 percent of the friction areas between the two militaries on the contentious border have been reduced”.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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