30 NEW JOINT SECYS APPOINTED IN VARIOUS DEPTS

NEW DELHI: In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the government on Monday appointed as many as 30 joint secretaries (JS) in various central government departments. IAS officers Piyush Goel and Nidhi Khare will be JS in the Union home ministry for five years, an order issued by the department of personnel and training said. Nidhi Mani Tripathi has been appointed JS in the department of commerce, Anand Mohan Bajaj will be JS in the department of economic affairs and Mandeep Bhandari has been named JS in the department of health and family welfare. Among others, IAS officer V Vidyavathi has been moved from the cabinet secretariat to replace Gyanesh Bharti as JS in environment ministry.

SC seeks CBSE response on plea over exorbitant fees

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday for its response to a contempt petition accusing the board of disobeying its earlier order and allegedly charging a fee of ₹1,200 from students who want to obtain their evaluated mark sheets. A bench, led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, gave six weeks to the board to reply. The petition accuses the CBSE for “willfully” and deliberately disregarding top court’s two verdicts — one of 2011 and the other of 2016 — saying students had a fundamental right to access answer-sheets under the RTI Act.

‘Can we ask Parl to pass law against false poll affidavits?’

NEW DELHI: Agreeing with the principle that filing of a false affidavit during an election would be a “corrupt practice,” the Supreme Court on Monday wondered whether the Parliament could be directed to enact a law disqualifying a candidate indulging in such a practice. A bench, led by Justice SA Bobde, made the remark while hearing a petition filed by BJP leader and advocate AK Upadhyay who wants a direction to the Centre to take appropriate steps in the matter. Upadhyay said the Centre should be asked to take steps to increase the punishment for filing a false affidavit to two-year impris-