SC to hear Goa defection pleas today
Two petitions for disqualification of 10 Congress MLAs and two MGP (Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party) for defecting to the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party are listed on Tuesday before the 3-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde. Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar has challenged the Assembly Speaker, Rajesh Patnekar, for sitting over his party's plea to disqualify 10 MLAs under the disqualification law as spelled out under Schedule 10 of the Constitution.
The second petition is of lone MGP member Sudin Dhavalikar, challenging defection of his party colleagues. Only July 20, the Apex Court had issued notices on his petition to the Goa Assembly Speaker as also to Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar (62) and PWD Minister Deepak Prabhu Pausar (46) who had deserted his party.
In the last hearing, the Bench, which also included Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, had ordered clubbing of both the petitions because of the similarity of grounds and the issues.
PIL CLAIMS BIAS AGAINST DISABLED IN UPSC EXAMS
The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Union Public Service Commission to give details about the method of computing vacancies in the All India Civil Services for which it carries out the recruitment process.
The query was posed to UPSC by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan while hearing a PIL which has challenged this year's notice announcing the details of the civil services preliminary examination, which is to be held in October 4.
The challenge is on the ground that the notice neglects the minimum reservation to be provided to disabled persons.
The high court issued notices to the Centre, UPSC and concerned ministries of the various services, like IAS, IPS and IFS, to which the successful candidates are recruited, seeking their stand on the plea by NGO
Sambhavana which has alleged that under the exam notice only expected approximate vacancies for the disabled are mentioned and not the four per cent mandatory reservation mandated under the law.
PETA SEEKS RULES TO END ANIMAL CRUELTY
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Monday moved the Delhi High Court to seek directions to the central government to prohibit inhumane animal husbandry procedures and cruel methods used to euthanise animals.
The petition pointed to the use of hot irons, knives, or wires for dehorning animals, physical and chemical methods for castration, hot iron-branding for identification, and piercing of cattle septum by using iron rods, which caused tremendous pain to the animals.
"Euthanasia is carried out inhumanely. Injection of chemical agents to arrest the functioning of the heart without a preceding anaesthetic overdose results in an extremely painful death and is often done by veterinarians and veterinary technicians in India," the animal welfare organisation said.