‘We shouldn’t seek Kohinoor’
The petitioner, the All India Human Rights and Social Justice Front, is seeking directions to the British Indian high commissioner for returning the diamond among other treasures — belonging to kings such as Tipu Sultan, Bahadur Shah Zafar and Rani of Jhansi.
The Chief Justice reminded Kumar about Tipu Sultan’s sword which was brought back to India by liquor baron Vijay Mallya.
The solicitor replied in lighter vein: “The man who bought the sword has left the country.” This prompted the court to ask whether Mallya left the sword behind or took it with him when he left the country last month.
A similar petition filed at the Lahore high court by a Pakistani lawyer said the British snatched the diamond from Ranjeet Singh’s son Duleep Singh.
In 1976, Britain refused a request to cede the diamond, citing the terms of the AngloSikh peace treaty.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has also said that he would oppose returning the diamond.
“If you say yes to one you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty,” he told NDTV in 2010. “It is going to have to stay put.”
Congress rebels — constituted the majority view, he said. “The state government fell that very day.”
But the court asked if the “mistake” committed by the speaker warrant such a drastic step by the Centre.
The attorney general accused the former chief minister Rawat of horse-trading and coercion, citing the arrest of BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi for allegedly breaking police horse Shaktiman’s leg at a demonstration and giving another rival party legislator a plum post to remain absent from the assembly.
Rohatgi admitted that the speaker’s decisions can be challenged in court if he or she is carrying out unconstitutional tasks.
The matter will be heard again on Tuesday, the day when the court’s deadline for staying the floor test would expire.
On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a PIL challenging President’s rule in Uttarakhand and seeking a CBI probe into alleged horsetrading of MLAs.
A bench questioned petitioneradvocate ML Sharma how he was affected by central rule in the state. “Something should happen somewhere and Mr Sharma will file a PIL. Your credibility gets affected if you file such type of PILs… Whenever a situation arises and the Constitution needs to be examined, we will look into it.”
WITH AGENCY INPUTS
for cab fares to go down.
“From Vasant Kunj to my office it takes me around `400 but today they were charging me around `2100,” he said.
While Twitter and Facebook were flooded with complaints against rising fares, online petitions against surge pricing got over 18,000 signatures.
“To make government’s oddeven initiative a success, Ola has temporarily pulled out peak pricing in Delhi NCR. We have also rolled out an on-ground campaign where volunteers are spreading the message of ride-sharing and car-pooling,” said Deep Singh, an Ola official.
Uber defended surge pricing but said it was suspending it because of Delhi government’s threat.
“Without surge pricing, there would be no car available when people need it. Consumers always have a choice to take a surged trip. Not surging is saying we should be just like a taxi and be unreliable when people need us most,” an Uber statement said.
Sources said Uber officials have sought an appointment with Kejriwal and Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai to discuss the issue.
the AAP government’s round two of the odd-even scheme, which started on April 15 for a fortnight.
A traffic police official said 15 buses of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) broke down across the city, counteracting the benefits of pressing additional buses to augment the Capital’s inadequate public transport system.
Delhi government has a fleet of 4,705 DTC buses and 1,500 private buses while 680 additional buses were deployed during the odd-even period.
“Most breakdowns were reported from south Delhi. Four buses broke down in the cantonment area alone, slowing traffic movement along that stretch. These buses can be removed only by specialised cranes. So snarls continued till a crane arrived and towed away the bus,” a traffic officer said.
Jams choked arterial stretches such as Akshardham, South Extension, Bhairon Marg, Azadpur, ITO (towards Vikas Marg), India Gate, Dhaula Kuan, Patel Nagar, Punjabi Bag, DelhiGurgaon Road, and the Ashram intersection in the morning rush hours.
Road diversions in south Delhi’s Moolchand and Lajpat Nagar because of the BRT demolition work created long snarls too. “The whole excitement of jam-free rides because of the odd-even rule vanished today,” said Sahil Sinha, a businessman in west Delhi’s Janakpuri.
The overburdened Delhi Metro bore the additional burden of over 100,000 more passengers than it carried last Monday, when it recorded a ridership of 22,53,000.
Queues at Metro stations, especially Kashmere Gate, Rajiv Chowk, Yamuna Bank, and Anand Vihar, ran from entry gates to the roads outside. “I stood 20 minutes to reach the ticket counter. There was no space inside the train,” said Madhusudhan Ram, who works in Noida Sector-18.