SC to examine plea on Adani issue

down on the global rich list.

Fear for deposits of people in banks, post offices and LIC, says Mamata

Police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in a village here here, officials said. According to police, the incident occurred on Wednesday night when the minor girl had gone out to attend nature’s call.The mother of the victim filed a complaint regarding the incident in which she accused Kumar of raping her daughter. Both the victim and the accused are of the same village, police said. Man held for killing wife

NEW DELHI, FEB 9 (AGENCIES): The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine a plea on Friday seeking a direction to set up a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to investigate the Hindenburg Research report.

The Adani group has rubbished the allegations made by the Hindenburg Research.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala.

in Virar

PALGHAR, FEB 9 (PTI): A man has been arrested along with one more person for allegedly killing his wife in Virar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, a police official said on Thursday. The body of Priyanka Patil, in her mid-30s, was found from her home in Shankar Pada on February 1, and a murder probe began after the post mortem report put the cause of death as strangulation, Virar police station senior inspector Rajendra Kamble said.

Application process for CUET-UG begins

NEW DELHI, FEB 9 (PTI): The application process for second edition of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG will begin on Thursday night and will remain open till March 12, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said. The exam is scheduled to be conducted from May 21-31.

15 kg heroin recovered from juvenile CHANDIGARH, FEB 9 (PTI): A boy was apprehended with 15 kg of heroin on him in Amritsar, the top official of the state police force said on Thursday. Police also found Rs 8.4 lakh cash on the minor who was detained at a police checkpoint on Ram Tirath Road in Amritsar.

Nearly 60 lakh cases pending in HCs, over 69,000 in SC: Govt

NEW DELHI, FEB 9 (PTI): Over 69,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court while there is a backlog of over 59 lakh cases in the country’s 25 high courts, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Citing details available on the SC website, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply that 69,511 cases were pending in the top court as on February 1.

Tiwari contended before the bench that a separate petition has been filed on the issue, which is listed for hearing on February 10, and requested to hear his petition along with that petition.

Tiwari’s plea sought directions to set up a special committee to supervise the sanction policy for loans of over Rs 500 crore given to big companies.

The other PIL filed by advocate M.L. Sharma contended that the US resident Nate Anderson of Hindenburg Research and his Indian entities “hatched a criminal conspiracy, did short sale in hundreds of billion dollars prior and thereafter on 25th January 2023, they released a concocted news as research report qua to the Adani Group of the companies, got crash share market and squared up their short sell position at the lowest rate.”

American short seller Hindenburg Research’s report about Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has led to a stock rout, erasing over $ 100 billion from his empire and pushing him

Bombay Court rejects request seeking action against Vice Prez, Law Minister

lous, a waste of the court’s time and nothing but a publicity stunt. Exemplary cost should be imposed,” he said.

“We are not against debate and criticism but it should be held in Parliament and not in such public domain. This is lowering the judiciary’s reputation and image and affecting the faith people have in judiciary,” Abdi said.

MUMBAI, FEB 9 (PTI):

The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation filed against Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for their remarks on judiciary and the collegium system for the appointment of judges,.

The plea filed by Bombay Lawyers Association had claimed Mr Rijiju and Jagdeep Dhankhar showed lack of faith in the Constitution with their remarks and conduct. It had sought for orders to restrain Dhankhar from discharging duty as the vice president, and Rijiju from discharging duty as cabinet minister for the central government.

The PIL claimed the “frontal attack not just on the judiciary but the Constitution” by the two executive officials has lowered the prestige of the Supreme

Court in public. A division bench of Acting Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne briefly heard the petitioner’s lawyer, Ahmed Abdi, and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh for the respondents.

“We are not inclined to grant any relief. The petition is dismissed. Reasons would be recorded later,” the court said. While Abdi argued that Dhankhar and Rijiju had lowered the reputation of the judiciary with their remarks, ASG Singh said the plea was frivolous and a publicity stunt.

Singh said the respondents (Dhankhar and Rijiju) respect the Constitution of India which is the supreme and there was no question of them attacking the Constitution.

“The petition is frivo-

This was a very dangerous trend that would ultimately lead to anarchy, he claimed.

“Respondent 1 (Dhankhar) and Respondent 2 (Rijiju) as constitutional functionaries are supposed to have faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India,” the PIL had said.

“The Vice President and the Law Minister are attacking the collegium system as well as the doctrine of basic structure openly in a public platform. This kind of unbecoming behaviour by respondents who are holding constitutional posts is lowering the majesty of the Supreme Court in the eyes of the public at large,” claimed the petition, filed through advocate Eknath Dhokale.

Rijiju recently said the collegium system of appointing judges was “opaque and not transparent”.

Sharma’s plea further added, “They secured billions of profits by butchering citizens of India. However, SEBI did not suspend trading in the stock specially qua to the Adani group of the companies and allowed short sellers to exploit innocent investors.”

The plea said, “Issue writ of mandamus to the respondents to conduct inquiry to prosecute & register F.I.R. u/s 420 & 120-B of IPC r.w. S.15HA SEBI Act against the short sellers (Mr. Anderson and his associate (in India / USA) for exploiting innocent investors via short selling under the garb of artificial crashing via a short selling couple with further direction to recover their turnover of short selling with penalty to compensate investors in the interest of justice.”

HOWRAH, FEB 9 (PTI):

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed concern over the plight of people’s deposits in banks, post offices and the LIC, claiming that the existence of such institutions might be at stake in future.

Banerjee’s comments come in the wake of the Hindenburg Research report that made a slew of allegations of wrongdoing against the business conglomerate led by industrialist Gautam Adani, in which stateowned lender SBI and Life Insurance Corporation have exposure.

“Some day, they will say wind up LIC, banks and post offices; so where will the people go?” she said, in an indirect reference to the BJP-led central government.

Banerjee was speaking at a programme at Panchla here for laying the foundation of various projects, and extending government services to people.

The general public make investments in life insurance and bank deposits, which are provided as loans to various business houses, the CM claimed.

She reiterated that the Centre has not released funds for the 100-day job guarantee scheme to West Bengal. “We are yet to get Rs 7,000 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National

Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),” Banerjee said.

Raising concern over proper utilisation of funds granted in the past, the BJPled NDA government has withheld money for various welfare schemes in the state.

“I urge the central government not to deprive poor people and provide the dues,” she said. The chief minister also claimed that her government has created 10 lakh workdays and made payments form the the state’s funds.

“Funds for 11 lakh houses (under Prime Minister Awas Yojana) are also pending,” Banerjee said.

The Trinamool Congress supremo said though the state government bears 40 per cent share of the funds meant for the scheme, the Centre claims bulk of the credit.

HP Excise inspect Adani Group warehouse

HIMACHAL, FEB

9 (PTI): The Himachal Pradesh Excise and Taxation Department inspected an Adani Group company, scrutinising records and checking the stock at the Adani Wilmar warehouse in Parwanoo, officials said on Thursday.

The department was apparently investigating possible Goods and Services Tax violations by the company, a 50:50 joint venture between the Adani conglomerate and Singaporebased Wilmar.

The inspection on Wednesday evening in the Congress-ru n state comes when the group finds itself in the middle of a political row at the Centre, triggered by a scathing report by US-based Hindenburg Research.

But a Himachal Pradesh excise department official told PTI that it was a “routine” exercise, a point also made by an Adani Wilmar statement later.

Adani Wilmar sells cooking oil and other food products like rice, wheat flour, sugar, besan and soya chunks under the Fortune brand. In Himachal Pradesh, it is a major source of these products for the Civil Supplies and police departments.

A state excise department official said the company’s entire GST input was