The National Logistics Policy unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will substantially reduce transportation costs across the entire supply chain and has the potential to usher in "ease of moving" in the country, by PTI

While the new policy addresses challenges of the logistics sector, it together with the infrastructure augmentation plan PM GatiShakti will address gaps, he said.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said besides improving ease of doing business and ease of living, the policy along with other pillars of the PM Gati-Shakti has the potential to usher in an unprecedented era of 'ease of moving' in the country, ensuring the speedier and seamless movement of cargo and people across various modes of transport.

He said the reduced logistics cost and increased efficiencies will energise the economy across sectors in multiple ways and take us many steps closer to emerging as a global manufacturing powerhouse.

Assocham secretary general Deepak Sood described the National Logistics Policy as a major structural transformative initiative which will substantially reduce transaction costs across the entire supply chain.

"It (the policy) will facilitate India being embedded across global value chains, as we move ahead on the path towards Bharat@100," Sood added.

The Union government has been working on the National Logistics Policy for three years. The commerce ministry released a draft logistics policy for consultation in 2019, but it was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Logistics Policy was once again announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget for 2022-23.

 Ahmedabad, Sep 13 Aam Aadmi Party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal will hold a town hall meeting with sanitation workers in Ahmedabad on Tuesday and also make a "guarantee" announcement, an AAP functionary said.

Kejriwal will also hold meetings with local AAP leaders and welcome new members to the party on the second day of his visit to Gujarat where the Assembly elections are due later this year, he said.

The AAP claims to have emerged as a prominent challenger to the ruling BJP in the state.

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal held town halls with auto-rickshaw drivers, lawyers and businessmen in Ahmedabad.

He also had dinner at an auto-rickshaw driver's house in Ghatlodia area of the city.

During his multiple visits to Gujarat in the recent past, Kejriwal had announced a slew of "guarantees", including free electricity up to 300 units per month, allowances for women and unemployed youth, free and quality healthcare and education and creation of jobs.

Source:- PTI

New Delhi, The Supreme Court has deprecated the tendency of making allegations against judicial officers when adverse orders are passed against a litigant and said if this continues it will ultimately demoralise the judges.

The apex court dismissed the pleas seeking transfer of proceedings pending before a court in Rajasthan's Dhaulpur to a court in Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice Krishna Murari noted that one of the grounds on which the proceedings are sought to be transferred is that the petitioners believe they are not getting a fair trial and the respondents, being "local bigwigs", can influence the court there.

"We deprecate such a stand and the ground on which the proceedings are sought to be transferred. Merely because some orders are passed on the judicial side (in the present case in the execution proceedings) which may be against the petitioners, it cannot be said the court, which passed the order was influenced," the bench said.

It said if the petitioners are aggrieved by any judicial order, the proper remedy would be to challenge it before a higher forum.

The top court said merely because some adverse orders are passed against the petitioners by the court, it cannot be said that orders on the judicial side are passed under influence.

"Nowadays, there is a tendency to make such allegations against the judicial officers whenever the orders are passed against a litigant and the orders are not liked by the concerned litigant. We deprecate such a practice," the apex court said in its order passed on September 2.

"If such a practice is continued, it will ultimately demoralise the judicial officer. In fact, such an allegation can be said to be obstructing the administration of justice," the bench said.

It said another ground raised was that when the warrant issued by the executing court was sought to be carried out, a false criminal FIR was filed and therefore there is apprehension on the life of the petitioners.

The bench noted that if the petitioners are aggrieved by the FIR, the remedy would have been to approach for quashing the same. "No ground is made out to transfer any of the proceedings as sought to be transferred," the bench said

Bhopal,  Eight cheetahs will be brought to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno-Palpur National Park by helicopter on September 17 morning, a senior official said on Monday.

 
Ayodhya (UP),  An estimated cost of Rs 1,800 crore will be incurred to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, officials of the trust responsible for the construction of the structure has said.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, formed on the Supreme Court's orders for the construction of the temple, approved its rules and manual after a marathon meeting here on Sunday.

At the meeting held at the Faizabad Circuit House, the trust members also unanimously decided to make space for idols of prominent Hindu seers in the temple complex.

The trust has estimated an expenditure of Rs 1,800 crore for the construction of the Ram temple only, based on a report filed by experts.

The general secretary of the trust, Champat Rai, said after long contemplation and suggestions from everyone concerned, the rules and bye-laws of the trust were finalised at the meeting.

The trust has also decided to make space for idols of prominent Hindu seers and the main characters from the Ramayana period in the temple complex, he added.

Rai said 14 of the 15 trust members attended the meeting.

Construction committee chairman Nripendra Mishra, trust chairman Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, treasurer Govind Dev Giri, member Udupi Peethadheeshwar Vishwatirtha Prasannacharya, Dr Anil Mishra, Mahant Dinendra Das, Kameshwar Chaupal and ex-officio member District Magistrate Nitish Kumar were among those who were present physically, while Keshav Parasharan, Yugpurush Parmanand, Vimalendra Mohan Pratap Mishra and ex-officio member state Principal Secretary, Home, Sanjay Kumar participated virtually.

The construction of the temple is expected to be completed by December 2023 and Lord Ram is expected to be seated in the sanctum sanctorum by the Makar Sankranti festival in January 2024, Rai said.

Thiruvananthapuram :The Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the second day in Kerala on Monday, amid an encouraging turnout of people who have been lining up the streets of the state in thousands to extend support to Rahul Gandhi who has embarked on the 3,500 km Kanyakumari-Kashmir footmarch

The 150-day yatra had been launched from Kanyakumari in neighbouring Tamil Nadu on September 7

Gandhi commenced his walk from Vellayani junction here on Monday morning

Besides those turning up to join the yatra, scores of people lined up on both sides of the road to witness the 'padayatra' led by Gandhi, who is also the MP from Wayanad in Kerala

On Monday, the yatra will halt at Pattom around 11 am and resume at 5 pm to reach Kazhakuttom, where the journey will end for the day, according to an itinerary of the yatra released by the Congress

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Kerala on Saturday evening, will traverse through the state covering 450 kilometres, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1

On Sunday, when the day's yatra ended at Nemom here, Gandhi had said Kerala respects everyone and does not allow itself to be divided or hatred to spread, and that the Bharat Jodo Yatra, in a sense, was an extension of these ideas

"Standing together, working together in harmony is natural and normal for the people of Kerala and you have shown this to the rest of the country," he had said

"Kerala respects everyone in Kerala. It does not allow itself to be divided nor does it allow hatred to spread in the state. So in a sense, Bharat Jodo Yatra is just an extension of the ideas that prevail in Kerala," Gandhi further said

The first day of Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala, where the party has a significant cadre base and followers, had also seen a huge turnout which increased during the day as the journey progressed from Parassala to Nemom in the southernmost district of the state

The yatra will cover 12 states and two Union territories, and a distance of 3,570 km from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Jammu and Kashmir over a period of 150 days

There will be mega rallies in 22 major cities.

New Delhi, Sep 10 India logged 5,554 new coronavirus infections, raising the tally to 4,44,90,283, while the active cases further declined to 48,850, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The death toll climbed to 5,28,139 with 18 fresh fatalities, which included two deaths reconciled by Kerala, data updated by the ministry at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprises 0.11 per cent of the total infections.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.70 per cent, the health ministry said.

A decline of 786 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours, it said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.47 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 1.80 per cent, the ministry said.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,39,13,294, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent, it said.  According to the ministry, 214.77 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive. 

New Delhi: A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court began hearing a petition concerning the row over control of administrative services in Delhi Wednesday A five-judge bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said ir will  fix the schedule for the hearing of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government’s plea on the contentious issue on 27 September. 

The issue concerns the scope of the legislative and executive powers of the Centre and the Delhi government over control of administrative services, which include appointments and transfers, in the national capital. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) U.U. Lalit had said Monday that the  matter required urgent examination.A constitutional bench is one that comprises at least five judges of the Supreme Court and decides matters of substantial importance, related to the interpretation of the Constitution.

  This is the second time that a constitutional bench has been set up to decide on issues between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and Delhi’s lieutenant governor — the Centre’s representative in the capital — in the past four years.

 What gave rise to the Delhi dispute?

 Delhi enjoys special status in India, being a Union territory with the feature of a state, having an elected legislature.

 Article-239 of the Constitution empowers the lieutenant governor (L-G) of any Union territory to act independently of the council of ministers. But in 1992, through the 69th constitutional amendment, the Parliament  inserted  Article 239AA in the Constitution, which mandated an elected assembly for Delhi. However, in the past few years, governance in the national capital has often been a subject of conflict between the Delhi government and the L-G. In 2015, Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal got embroiled in a conflict with then L-G Najeeb Jung over the appointment  of the chief secretary and  institution  of corruption enquiries. The matter had reached the Delhi High Court, which had ruled that Delhi continued to be a Union territory despite the enactment of Article 239AA, which rendered all commissions of enquiries set up without the concurrence of the L-G illegal. The concurrence of the L-G was mandatory for decisions, the Delhi HC had said.The Kejriwal government had then challenged the Delhi High Court decision in Supreme Court, which had referred it to a constitutional bench.

‘LG bound by aid & advice of elected govt, council of ministers’

The SC verdict was contrary to that of the Delhi HC.   In 2018, a constitutional bench of apex court in the  Government of NCT of Delhi v Union of India ,had held that the chief minister is the executive head of Delhi.The L-G was bound by the aid and advice of the elected government or the council of ministers, it said.“The limited issue that has been referred to this Bench relates to the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and NCT Delhi with respect to the term services. The Constitution bench of this court, while interpreting Article 239AA(3)(a) of the Constitution, did not find any occasion to specifically interpret the impact of the wordings of the same with respect to Entry 41 in the State List (sic),” the apex court had said in 2018.After laying down the broader principles, the constitutional bench asked a two-judge bench to look into the individual and specific issues raised in the appeals, while keeping these principles in mind.Following this verdict, the matter was taken up by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which dealt with control over administrative services. 

Control over administrative services

 However, in 2019, the bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice A.K. Bhushan (now retired), delivered a split verdict on the aspect of who controls administrative services in Delhi.   The bench gave a unanimous opinion on the remaining five issues, except for the control over administrative services, which include appointments and transfers. For instance, they ruled  that the NCT government was empowered to appoint a special public prosecutor. And, if the L-G wanted to appoint a special public prosecutor, then he should act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers.  On the issue of revision of minimum rates of agricultural land, the two-judge bench agreed that the Delhi government can take a decision on circle rates. But in case of a difference of opinion, the L-G may refer the matter to the President. 

The bench also ruled that the central government holds exclusive authority over the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the power to set up commissions of inquiry.  On the subject of transfers in services, Sikri opined that it can be done only by the Centre, whereas Bhushan said the Centre had no power at all to rule on administrative services.

The two-judge bench had recommended that a three-judge bench be set up to decide the issue of control of administrative services.

However, at the Centre’s request, the plea  was refered  to a five-judge constitutional bench in May this year. The reference was done when the bench noticed that the five-judge bench decision of 2018 did not rule on the issue of “control of services”.  Keeping in view no decision on the limited question of services, they referred the issue of control of services to a constitutional bench.

Arguments and counter-arguments  The Centre has consistently maintained that because Delhi is the national capital and the face of the country, it must have control over administrative services, which include appointments and transfers. “The world views India through Delhi… the models of governance, provided for other Union territories were not considered appropriate for NCT of Delhi and a committee called the Balakrishnan Committee was set up to suggest an appropriate governance model, which could balance the need of the Union’s role and at the same time provide platform for democratic aspirations of the people,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said

in April On the other hand, the Delhi government has argued that in the interest of federalism, the elected representatives must have power over transfers and postings.The Kejriwal government had also contended that the recent amendments to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, violate the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution.

 Labour minister keeps bureaucrats on toes 

New Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav has kept his bureaucrats on toes. Used to a laid-back working style during Yadav’s predecessor, Santosh Gangwar’s tenure, senior bureaucrats and department heads now have to attend an informal meeting with Yadav every Wednesday, when the minister reviews the status of the work assigned to them and also discusses new ideas.Not only this, ministry babus are also keeping alert nowadays just in case there is a surprise inspection by Yadav. Last Wednesday morning, around 9.45 am, Yadav caught many ministry officials unawares when he took a surprise inspection of the different floors where labour ministry officials sit to see if they have reported to work and the cleanliness in their rooms.Yadav also ensures that his junior minister Rameshwar Teli is in the loop. He assigned Teli to inspect one floor of the ministry with senior bureaucrats Wednesday. Yadav has also given instructions that Teli should be informed about every ministry meeting and takes him along whenever the latter is present in office. Teli also holds the additional charge of Minister of State in the petroleum ministry.

Being the former private secretary to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is not the only interesting aspect from 2006 batch IAS officer Ravi Kumar Arora’s profile. Arora, who is from the Gujarat cadre, joined as director in the Union housing and urban affairs ministry, as in charge of Directorate of Estates that deals with sensitive issues related to allotment of Lutyens’ bungalows to ministers, judges and bureaucrats. But he has another interesting aspect to his career.

The Union Public Service Commission had originally disqualified Arora despite the fact that he cleared the civil services exam because of his partial blindness. He took the UPSC to the Supreme Court for rejecting his candidature. He eventually won the case with the apex court directing the Commission to reinstate him in the IAS under the disabled category. Arora has not looked back since. He was appointed PS to Jaishankar in July 2019.

Private secretaries of external affairs ministers are usually chosen from the Indian Foreign Service. Jaishankar made an exception by appointing a Gujarat cadre IAS as his PS. A great believer in destiny, Arora is busy these days finding bungalows for the three dozen new ministers who were inducted in the Narendra Modi cabinet in July.

 Trinamool MP suffers consecutive bereavements

Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has had two consecutive bereavements. Dastidar, who is an avid dog lover, lost both her dogs Pluto and Jesse — a retired CISF dog that she had adopted couple of years back — to an infection that was apparently a result of global warming, her vet told her.

Devastated, she spent a few miserable weeks before adopting another German Shepherd, Plutus- named after Pluto. Plutus too has now contracted the same infection but is doing well with medication.