Tell govt about fee hike after applying pay commission: HC to schools

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that capital’s private unaided schools will be allowed to intimate their revised fee structure with the Department of Education (DoE) midsession, if the 7th central pay commission recommendation is implemented after the commencement of the session.

The high court said the private unaided schools, both on government and private land, can intimate their revised fee structure with the DoE within two weeks of the implementation of the pay commission and it will be considered to be intimated before March 31.

As per Delhi Schools Education Act, private schools are required to intimate any change in fee structure during the ensuing academic session with the DoE before the commencement of each academic session by March 31.

Justice Manmohan gave the directions after the DoE said that if a decision is taken to implement the pay commission recommendations in private schools, then the bar of March 31 will not come in the way.

Vaid said the “neighbouring country” was also using social media platforms such as WhatsApp to egg youth into stonepelting. Police had apprehended many youth who “were instigating and paying for pelting stones’’.

“During the Padgampora encounter on March 10, in no time WhatsApp messages urging youth to assemble near the encounter site to save militants became viral. We later found out the messages were uploaded in Pakistan,’’ Vaid said.

A 15-year-old boy was killed when a “stray bullet” hit him near the gunfight spot.

Protesters rushing to gun-battle sites and attacking security forces is a growing concern in the border state.

“A bullet does not know whom it will hit. My appeal to all the young boys is that they should remain in their homes. The youth must understand that they are being used by people for their short-term political gains,” Vaid said.

“In spite of great provocation, we have been able to minimise collateral damage and civilian casualties.”

This year, several civilian deaths have been reported during gun battles between militants and security forces.

Army chief Bipin Rawat had in February warned of tough action against those attacking security forces during anti-militancy operations.

The state government has declared three-kilometre area around an encounter site as a no-go zone in Srinagar, Budgam and Shopian districts. lem with electoral bonds. “Then you can see how many people donate to them,” he quipped.

The finance minister said the government will maintain status quo on taxation-related amendments. As a matter of “abundant caution” aimed at protecting whistle-blowers, the government has specified in the bill that the “satisfaction note” or reasons for initiating a search or survey will only be shared with the court – not with the person or entity in question.

Earlier, the Opposition had accused the government of riding roughshod, and violating the procedures of the house. It also charged the ruling side with opening doors to “political extortionism” and passing draconian provisions in the finance bill.

Initiating the discussion, Congress member Deepender Singh Hooda said this was a “historic” occasion because the Rajya Sabha had never amended the finance bill in the past. “There has been widespread criticism of the government misusing parliamentary procedure, thereby infringing on the rights of parliamentarians. How can (a legislation on) electoral funding and transparency be a money bill?” he asked, observing that the finance minister has made the Rajya Sabha “incidental” through these amendments.

Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy said powers given to taxmen under the finance bill were “draconian”, and went against the rights of individuals. “Procedures of the house are being violated, and the finance bill is being made a compendium... Just because they have a majority in the house, they should not run roughshod,” he added.

Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJD also voiced an objection. “Since when has the provision for revealing the reason of search to the affected party been there in the Income Tax Act, 1961?” he asked. “The government’s primary objective should be to protect citizens, not just whistleblowers… This will open the floodgates of corporate funding for political purposes.”

The Shiv Sena, a constituent of the ruling NDA, took a divergent stand yet again. Party leader Anandrao Vithoba Adsul insisted that there be transparency in political funding, besides a ceiling on the funds being given to a party. lication of an exit poll after the first round of voting in Uttar Pradesh during the February-March assembly elections in five states, including Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand. Exit poll is banned as it could influence voting in later rounds.

Besides, a leading news channel aired a show on March 8 in which an astrologer, tarot card readers and political analysts predicted possible poll outcomes, three days before the official results were declared.

The commission barred publication and broadcast of exit poll till March 9, a day after all seven rounds of polling were over in UP.

“Such attempts merely to score brownie points against competitors for merely commercial reasons do not behove well,” the poll panel said in a strong statement directed at media houses.

The law says any offender found guilty can be fined, or imprisoned for up to two years, or both. The newspaper editor was arrested for publishing the firstround exit poll. But no action could be taken against the television channel for its clairvoyant show as “adequate evidence” was not available, according to a source in the commission.

“They have been let off with a warning, but similar action will invite penal action in the future,” the source said.

Justice Khehar’s move was unprecedented as the court had never heard simultaneously cases involving constitutional questions, senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan told HT.

He said rules must be followed and such decisions taken with the consent of the counsel.

“In my view before reaching the end of his career, the CJI wants to show he has done more work than possible. This is unwarranted,” he said.

Justice Khehar’s eight-month tenure ends August 28. His predecessor, justice TS Thakur, had managed to get some high courts to work during the summer break but no special benches sat in the Supreme Court because of lawyers’ reluctance.

“Many Jan Dhan accounts have been used to convert black money into white, investigations will be carried out and notices will be sent,” a senior official said on Thursday.

The government had asked people not to allow anybody to use their Jan Dhan accounts to park undisclosed cash.

“We will track the flow of funds and based on our findings, appropriate steps will be taken,” the official said. “Genuine cases need not worry.”

There were more than 230 million Jan Dhan accounts last August. That went up to more than 250 million in November and currently stands at 280 million.