National
What the law says and what is the possibility of Kejriwal governing from jail: Legal experts speak
New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) The inescapable hold of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as it took the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal into custody on Thursday evening, has left the curious lot with a number of questions answered about the AAP supremo’s arrest and what comes next.
Kejriwal, who now stands to be the first sitting Chief Minister arrested from the Opposition INDIA bloc, was questioned at his official residence for more than two hours in connection with the money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam before he was taken to the probe agency’s office on A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Road at 11 p.m. on Thursday.
The Chief Minister will remain in the ED jail on Thursday night before he will be produced before the Rouse Avenue Court on Friday after a medical examination.
It is highly likely that the federal agency will seek for Kejriwal’s remand from the court to question him in the case.
Notably, Kejriwal’s name in the matter came up for the first time in the remand application filed by the ED against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K. Kavitha while she was presented in the court on March 16.
It is also important to know that, so far, Kejriwal remains the biggest name to be arrested in the alleged scam, after K. Kavitha, former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, among others.
Well, going back to question one that is if Kejriwal will run the government from behind the jail or will he resign, let’s look at what happened when recently Jharkhand’s leader Hemant Soren and years ago various former Chief Ministers like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Bihar’s Lalu Prasad, Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu, Haryana’s Om Prakash Chautala and Jharkhand’s Madhu Koda were arrested.
Rashtriya Janata Dal National President, Lalu Prasad, was convicted in the fodder scam in 2013 along with former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra. He and his son Tejashwi Yadav are currently being probed in a land-for-jobs case. Lalu was the Chief Minister of Bihar twice between 1990 and 1997.
Jayalalithaa, who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu several times between 1991 and 2016, was arrested in a corruption case in 1996. She was convicted and jailed in 2014.
What the legal experts are saying:
“As per the law, Arvind Kejriwal does not need to resign from his post as Delhi Chief Minister. There is no provision in the law by which he can be forced to resign. Resignation can be a moral decision of a sitting Chief Minister. He can also run his government from jail as Chief Minister. He can hold meetings of the cabinet and sign files by taking prior approval from the court as per the jail manual,” Advocate Vineet Jindal told IANS.
Of course, running the government from inside the jail sounds absolutely unreal and to back this thought, Advocate Rudra Vikram Singh told us that though the Chief Minister is only an accused at this stage and can’t be barred from running the government from inside the jail, technically, it will be very tough as he has to follow the rules of jail and as per the rules, he cannot be available every time for the meetings, to sign the files.
“Some specific time may be allowed to him to do all these work,” he said.
Whether a Chief Minister can run a state government from jail largely depends on the legal provisions and constitutional norms of the specific country or state.
“Immunity from criminal or civil proceedings only extends to the President of India and Governors of states as per Article 361 of Constitution of India. However, a Chief Minister can only be disqualified or removed from office in case of conviction,” Advocate Adeel Ahmed said.
He added: “The arrest is for furtherance of investigation. It doesn’t impede his functioning as an Assembly member and Leader of the House by virtue of which he holds the post of the Chief Minister in our parliamentary democracy.”
In many jurisdictions, there are no explicit provisions allowing a Chief Minister to govern from jail if they are under arrest for investigation or any other reason.
However, in some cases, there might be legal loopholes or interpretations that could potentially allow a Chief Minister to continue governing from jail temporarily, such as if they have not been convicted of any crime and are able to delegate their powers to another individual within the government structure.
That being said, Advocate Suresh Choudhary said: “Allowing a Chief Minister to continue governing from jail could raise significant ethical and practical concerns, as it could undermine the rule of law, the principle of accountability, and the public’s trust in the government. Therefore, it’s crucial for legal systems to have clear guidelines and mechanisms in place to address such situations, ensuring that the governance of the state remains stable and legitimate.”
Moreover, the AAP leaders and supporters firmly believe and stand by it that Kejriwal has been running, is running the government and will continue to do so from inside the jail, too.
Scores of people, including the party leaders, supporters and even Congress leaders, gathered outiside the Chief Minister’s residence after the ED arrested him on Thursday evening. Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Minister Gopal Rai also announced that AAP will surround BJP headquarters at 10 a.m. on Friday.
Tons of reactions from various political leaders have poured in and protests against his arrest are likely to intensify with time.
Now, while the AAP and the opposition parties, including the Congress, the BRS, the Samajwadi Party, the CPI-M, the DMK, and others, criticised the government over the Chief Minister’s arrest, the BJP welcomed it.
The arrest has led to political uproar, with AAP supporters and leaders protesting, and opposition parties accusing the BJP of political vendetta, especially with upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
While several Congress leaders opposed Kejriwal’s arrest calling it the “death of democracy” and “unconstitutional”, the BJP hailed it as the victory of truth.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said: “Today the truth has won. Delhi’s most corrupt CM Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested by the ED. I want to say to the people of the country that this marks the end of corruption in Delhi. He is being punished for his misdeeds.”
Calling ED’s action against Kejriwal a “process of law”, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the arrest has been done with a view to take appropriate action against corruption.
The opposition parties accused the BJP of indulging in vendetta politics, saying that the Chief Minister’s arrest shows how “jittery” the ruling BJP at the Centre is with less than a month left for the Lok Sabha polls.
“Clearly, Modi and the BJP are in panic over people’s rejection in the ongoing elections,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said, adding that he strongly condemns Kejriwal’s arrest.
“All opposition leaders who defected and joined the BJP are protected and patronised. They are the ‘Satya Harishchandras’! These arrests will only cement people’s desire to defeat BJP, defend democracy and Indian Constitution,” the Left leader said.
Moving ahead, Kejriwal has sought an urgent hearing on his plea filed before the Supreme Court challenging High Court’s order, which had refused to grant any interim protection to him from any coercive action by the ED.
The top court is very likely to hear it on Friday.
–IANS
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Bhubaneswar, July 26 (IANS) In a significant development, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday announced 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers of his state.
Speaking to mediapersons at Lokseva Bhawan before leaving for Delhi to attend the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting, CM Majhi said: “All the soldiers of Indian armed forces are our pride. The Agniveers, who are trained by our defence forces, are qualified to serve the nation in various security-related sectors.”
He further said that Agniveer Scheme is a historic initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“This initiative has made our youth able and fearless so that they can face various challenges in life. That is why, the Odisha government has decided to recruit Agniveers in the state’s uniformed services.
“The state government will provide up to 10 per cent reservation in its Uniformed Services for those Agniveers from the state who are not absorbed in the defence forces. There will also be 5 years of age relaxation for them,” the CM announced.
The uniformed service of the state includes the police, fire services, forest department, etc.
–IANS
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Hyderabad, July 26 (IANS) The Telangana government on Friday announced that it will bring a new comprehensive legislation to overcome problems regarding land ownership and find a permanent solution to the issues created by the Dharani portal introduced by the previous BRS government.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said that the new legislation will be formulated after an all-party meeting and extensive consultations.
At a review meeting on the Dharani portal with his Cabinet colleagues and senior officials, he called for suggestions from people for a system to address land-related disputes. He asserted that a detailed study needs to be conducted to find a permanent solution to every problem which is being faced in the use of Dharani.
The Chief Minister wanted officials to formulate a comprehensive Act in view of the increasing land ownership problems every day in the state. He observed that after the introduction of the Dharani portal by the previous government, the land records which were once available at the village level were shifted to the state headquarters, and all powers to solve land issues were delegated to the district Collectors in the place of village and mandal authorities. Further, the Collectors ‘ decisions have become unilateral and the land issues are not being solved in the Dharani portal. To overcome all such challenges, the Chief Minister asked the officials to hold extensive consultations with people and seek their suggestions.
The Revenue officials have been asked to select a mandal where Bhudan, Poramboku, Bancharayi, Inam, and Kandishika land issues have been pending and prepare a comprehensive report to get clarity on each land-related issue.
The CM also said that if required a debate will be taken up on Dharani in the ongoing budget session of the Assembly and a final decision taken.
The Congress, in its election manifesto, had promised to scrap Dharani and replace it with the ‘Bhumata’ portal by amending the Record of Rights (ROR) Act.
During his Budget speech on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka accused the previous government of having brought in Dharani with a mala fide intention of robbing some of the rightful owners of their land. The illegalities, and errors committed during the feeding of land information in the portal have resulted in hardships for innumerable landowners and farmers, he said.
He mentioned that as per the assurance given to the people, the government constituted a committee to study the problems that arose due to Dharani. As per the recommendations of the committee, in the first phase, a special drive for resolution of grievances was taken up from March 1 to 15, 2024 under the supervision of District Collectors. A total of 2,26,740 applications were pending as on March 1 and 1,22,774 were received during the drive taking the total to 3,49,514.
He said since March 1, a total of 1,79,143 grievances have been resolved.
“We have brought in 10 informative modules pertaining to 35 types of transactions in the Dharani portal. These modules will solve the field-level problems to some extent. We are reviewing the status of these grievances with Collectors from time to time. After a complete study by the Dharani committee, a final decision will be taken for a permanent resolution of the problem,” he had said.
–IANS
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Aizawl, July 26 (IANS) The Chief Ministers from all the eight northeastern states will attend the 9th NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting in the national capital on Saturday, officials said on Friday.
Officials in different northeastern states said that all the eight Chief Ministers would attend the NITI Aayog meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre on Saturday.
The Chief Ministers include Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Lalduhoma (Mizoram), Conrad Sangma (Meghalaya), Neiphiu Rio (Nagaland), N. Biren Singh (Manipur), Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh), Manik Saha (Tripura), and Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim).
An official from the Mizoram Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that Lalduhoma, President of the ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), left for Delhi on Friday afternoon.
He said the Chief Minister is expected to highlight the issues related to the state’s financial needs at the meeting.
The ZPM is neither an ally of the BJP-led NDA, nor a partner of the Congress-led INDIA bloc.
–IANS
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Bengaluru, July 26 (IANS) In an embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, party leader and former state Cabinet minister Arvind Limbavali said the BJP has “totally failed as an opposition”.
“It is regrettable that there has been no harmony and understanding between our party’s state president (B.Y. Vijayendra) who is also an MLA and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly (R. Ashoka),” he said.
Taking to X, Limbavali, considered close to RSS, said: “MUDA scam, Valmiki Development Corporation scam, misuse of grants reserved for SC-ST for guarantee scheme money… Our party has not been able to take any issue to a logical conclusion.
“The opposition leaders also failed to present effectively on these issues. Because of this, people have started to wonder whether the opposition party was involved with the ruling party!” Limbavali said.
The BJP leader said that the heat over the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam matter was seen as an eye-wiping strategy.
“The Monsoon Session of the State Legislature has concluded. The BJP, which was supposed to be the voice of the people by pointing out the failures of the state government, has totally failed in doing it as an opposition party,” the former minister said.
He said although “the BJP had an opportunity to highlight the government’s row of scandals, mismanagement and failures in the House, our leaders have completely failed to seize this opportunity”.
“Dengue is rampant in many districts, including Bengaluru, which is known as the IT-BT capital and is a model for the country in the field of science. In many districts of the state, lakhs of people have lost their households due to heavy rains and floods. It is unfortunate that our party leaders did not feel that they should shed light on this and represent the sufferings of the people of the state!” Limabavali said.
“The action of our party leaders, who did not utilise the opportunity and time in the House adequately, spent the whole session in vain and joined hands with the ruling party in curtailing the proceedings of the House when there was still one day left, is questionable,” he further said.
“Overall, the BJP has completely failed as the opposition in this session. Given the behaviour of the leaders in the session, it has turned out to be a big question to all sincere and hardworking ‘karyakartas’ how the BJP headed by these leaders can engage itself in major struggles in the coming days.
“I am very worried and disappointed to see this condition of our party, which was once roaring in the sessions and responding to people’s aspirations even when we had a very low number of seats,” he added.
The party had denied a ticket to Arvind Limbavali in the 2023 Assembly elections for the Mahadevapura assembly seat in Bengaluru.
The party had issued a ticket to his wife, Manjula Arvind Limbavali, and she won with a margin of 44,501 votes.
–IANS
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New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Indian Railways has achieved a “remarkable expansion” of 31,180 km from 2014 to 2024, with an average commissioning rate of 8.54 km per day for new lines, gauge conversions, and doubling sections, according to information provided to Parliament on Friday.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha, in a written reply, that presently 651 surveys of new line, gauge conversion, and doubling having a total length of 49,983 km have been taken up on Indian Railways under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) for the development of multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various Economic Zones.
The objective is to have integrated planning, enhanced logistics efficiency, and remove gaps for seamless movement of people, goods and services including connectivity to industrial clusters, ports, mines, power plants, tourist and cultural places and agricultural zones, the minister added.
An average annual Budget allocation of Rs 68,634 crore for new line, gauge conversion, and doubling projects across Indian Railways has been made in 2024-25, Vashnaw stated.
As of April 1, 2024, across Indian Railways, 488 Railway Infrastructure projects (187 new line, 40 gauge conversion and 261 doubling) of total length 44,488 km, costing approx. Rs 7.44 lakh crore are in the planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 12,045 km length has been commissioned and expenditure of approximately Rs 2.92 lakh crore has been incurred up to March 2024, the minister said.
Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway-wise and not state/area-wise/district-wise as the railway projects may span across state boundaries. Furthermore, railway infrastructure projects are taken up on the basis of remunerativeness, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon liabilities of ongoing projects, overall availability of funds and competing demands, Vaishnaw added.
–IANS
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