‘No point delaying Lokpal, Lokayukta appointments’
the scheme.
The PM announced that the next flight to take off under the scheme would operate on the Mumbai-Nanded sector.
“Earlier it was believed that air travel was meant only for the “Raja-Maharaja and elite class”. Even the mascot of Air India was a maharaja,” he said.
The PM recalled that he had raised the issue with Rajiv Pratap Rudy, civil aviation minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, and said cartoonist R K Laxman’s Common Man should be the mascot of the airline.
“The Delhi-Shimla flight is cheaper than a taxi ride. A taxi will take at least nine hours and is available for a fare of ₹10 per km. A flight will now cost you Rs 6-7 per km on the same route and will also save you time,” he added.
The Supreme Court said on Thursday there was no justification in delaying the appointments of Lokpal and lokayuktas, virtually rejecting the Centre’s stand that it cannot nominate the anti-corruption ombudsman for want of a leader of opposition.
A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the 2013 law that came into force in 2014 is an “eminently workable legislation”.
The court also said, in selecting eminent jurists as members of the search committee, the Chief Justice of India’s view will have primacy over the other members including the Prime Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker.
During a hearing last month, the government said that it was not possible to appoint a lokpal as there was no leader of the opposition.
Parliament approved a law to create an independent anti-corruption agency after a delay of almost 50 years but the hiring of a lokpal to run it has been stuck on the question of who should be on the appointment panel.
Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said the amendments to the definition of the leader of opposition in the Lokpal Act were pending with Parliament.
As the present Lok Sabha does not have a leader of the opposition, the government moved an amendment allowing the leader of the largest opposition party to be part of the panel.
But the opposition called for a closer scrutiny of other changes and the bill was sent to a parliamentary committee that gave some suggestions last year. The government is yet to take a call on them.
The Congress, the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, didn’t have enough members for one of its MPs to be named the leader of the opposition. The Congress has 45 MPs, while the requirement is 55
Rajasthan cabinet on Thursday approved a loan of ₹3,291 crore to repair and renovate the Indira Gandhi Canal project.
“(It is) for the first time that such a big amount is approved for repair and renovation of the canal,” state PWD minister Yunus Khan told reporters after the cabinet meeting, chaired by chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
He said the irrigation department and the IG Nahar Board for the renovation and repair, which the chief minister had approved in-principle, and Thursday the cabinet had given formal assent.
A detailed project report has been prepared and the loan will be taken from New Development Bank, he said, adding that the work, which would cover 60 km of the main canal and 52 km of feeder for renovation and strengthening, and 800 km for repair, would commence by October and would completed in two years.
Leakage had reduced the capacity of the canal from 17,500 cusec to 9,000 cusec. “Due to leakage water was not reaching the tail end. In monsoon the excess water was flowing to Pakistan. After the repair these issues will be resolved,” he said.
Some of the funds will also be used for semi-affected areas such as Hanumangarh and Ganganagar, where around 7,000 hectares are affected, and excess water would be drained to make the land fertile, he said.
Khan said the employees’ promotion and assured career programme for employees with more than two children had been relaxed from five years of joining to three years for those who have joined after June 1, 2000.
DURING A HEARING LAST MONTH, THE BJP GOVERNMENT SAID THAT IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO APPOINT A LOKPAL AS THERE WAS NO LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION