Assam govt to move SC against HC order on 'scam-tainted' officers' reinstatement: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Guwahati: The Assam government will move the Supreme Court against a Gauhati High Court order, directing it to reinstate 52 officials dismissed in the cash-for-job scam in the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) conducted by APSC, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.He also termed the high court order "painful" at a time when the state government was ensuring only merit-based recruitments.The Gauhati High Court had on Friday asked the state government to reinstate 52 of the 57 dismissed civil, police and allied service officials of 2013 and 2014 batch, who were involved in the cash-for-job scam in the Combined Competitive Examination conducted by the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC).The court directed that the dismissed officials, who had completed the probation period, be reinstated within a period of 50 days while allowing the state government to not assign them any duties for the next 30 days and conduct any departmental inquiries if required.Talking to reporters at Baksa on the sidelines of an International Day of Yoga event, Sarma said, "The judgement by the division bench on the APSC matter is painful and has led to disappointment for us."He maintained that the order has come at a time when only merit-based recruitments are being done in the state."I haven't seen the judgment but from what I have read in newspapers, if it is correct, it (the judgement) is unfortunate," Sarma added."We will definitely appeal before the Supreme Court and will try the last moment to ensure that no one who had got their job through the wrong way are reinstated," the chief minister added.The APSC's cash-for-jobs scam came to light in 2016 and over 70 persons, including its former chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul and 57 civil service officials , were arrested during the course of investigation by the police.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Contempt petition filed in Madras High Court against Tamil Nadu Government for failing to start RTE admissions
Marumalarchi Makkal Iyakkam president V. Eswaran has filed a contempt petition in the Madras High Court against the Tamil Nadu government for not commencing admissions under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act for the academic year 2025–26, despite a recent High Court order. The High Court directed the State government on June 10 to reimburse private schools for RTE admissions and observed that non-receipt of funds from the Centre cannot be used as a reason to delay its statutory obligation. The court also asked the Union Ministry of Education to consider delinking the RTE component from issues related to the National Education Policy. Following the ruling, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi recently said the State would approach the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) over the order. In response, Mr. Eswaran said he had filed a caveat petition in the Supreme Court to ensure the matter was not decided without hearing his side. He said the continued delay in opening the RTE admission portal had prompted the contempt plea. 'The State cannot keep six lakh underprivileged children waiting while it decides whether or not to follow a court order,' he said.
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
‘Abuse of process of law', Telangana HC quashes dowry harassment charges against in-laws of Hyderabad woman in absence of specific details
The Telangana High Court Friday quashed criminal proceedings against the aged parents and married sister of a man accused of dowry harassment and cheating. Justice Juvvadi Sridevi noted that the allegations against the in-laws were vague and lacked specific details, amounting to an 'abuse of process of law'. However, the primary accused, the husband, will face trial for the alleged offences. The case pertains to a wife's complaint alleging offences under Sections 498-A (cruelty by husband or relatives of husband), and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 4 and 6 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. The couple has been married since 2009 and has two children. According to the wife, the husband subjected her to physical and mental harassment at the instigation of his family members. The wife alleged that the children were taken away from her to Gurgaon without her knowledge or consent by the husband. The petitioners (the husband, his parents, and sister) sought to quash the proceedings against them in a case on the file of XV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Hyderabad. The counsel for the petitioners argued that there were no specific allegations against them, and they never interfered in the marital issues or demanded dowry. They also highlighted that the parents are aged (70 and 60 years) and that the in-laws reside in Gurgaon, Haryana, away from the couple's home. Referencing a Supreme Court decision in 'Dara Lakshmi Narayana and others versus State of Telangana and another', the high court stated, 'Making vague and generalised allegations during matrimonial conflicts, if not scrutinized, will lead to the misuse of legal processes and an encouragement for use of arm twisting tactics by a wife and/or her family.' The court noted that 'Sometimes, recourse is taken to invoke Section 498-A of the IPC against the husband and his family in order to seek compliance with the unreasonable demands of a wife.' The Court stated that there are no specific allegations of dowry demand, dishonesty, or fraudulent intention attributable to the parents and sister. It noted that the primary allegation revolved around the husband's conduct of taking the children, which the court stated does not fall under Sections 420 or 498-A of the IPC. The court further observed that despite allegations of physical assault by the husband, there was no medical evidence or statement from a competent medical practitioner to substantiate the claims. Rahul V Pisharody is an Assistant Editor with the Indian Express Online and has been reporting from Telangana on various issues since 2019. Besides a focused approach to big news developments, Rahul has a keen interest in stories about Hyderabad and its inhabitants and looks out for interesting features on the city's heritage, environment, history culture etc. His articles are straightforward and simple reads in sync with the context. Rahul started his career as a journalist in 2011 with The New Indian Express and worked in different roles at the Hyderabad bureau for over 8 years. As Deputy Metro Editor, he was in charge of the Hyderabad bureau of the newspaper and coordinated with the team of district correspondents, centres and internet desk for over three years. A native of Palakkad in Kerala, Rahul has a Master's degree in Communication (Print and New Media) from the University of Hyderabad and a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. Long motorcycle rides and travel photography are among his other interests. ... Read More
The Wire
3 hours ago
- The Wire
RSS Leader Hosabale's Call to Omit ‘Socialist', ‘Secular' from Preamble is an Attack on Constitution Itself
The statement by Dattatreya Hosabale, the general secretary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that a decision must be made to remove the words "socialist" and "secular" from the preamble of the constitution after a debate constitutes an attack on the Indian constitution – something which RSS and BJP find difficult to accept. They have expressed their intent, from time to time, to review it or change in toto. However, Hosabale advanced an absurd argument that it was during the Emergency period of 1975-1977, that the two words were added to the original preamble and that the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar on November 26, 1949, never contained those words. Vice president Jagdeep Dhankar and Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitender Singh have also joined the call for removal of the two words from the preamble. Clearly, such a concerted move expresses their intent to assail the constitution which BJP and RSS has recurrently done. What BJP's constitution says Article II of the BJP's 2012 Constitution, dealing with its objective, states: 'The Party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.' So, it is rather strange that the RSS and BJP leaders, who accept the above provision, are demanding the removal of the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the constitution. Supreme Court's validation of the words 'secular' and 'socialist' On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the constitution on November 25, 2024, the Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the inclusion of the words 'socialist' and 'secular' in the preamble and held that the addition of these terms could not be invalidated merely on the ground that the preamble in the original form did not contain them at the time of the adoption of the constitution. The apex court upheld the constitutional validity of the insertions of those words after a prolonged and detailed hearing based on arguments of the petitioners who challenged such insertions and the written and oral counters filed against them. Therefore, Hosabale's call for debate to decide the fate of the two words in the preamble is a call to reject the Supreme Court's judgement. 'Secular' mentioned in fundamental rights Notably, part of Hosabale's argument that the word 'secular' was not there in Ambedkar's constitution is also false. His argument collapses when seen in the context of one of the fundamental rights enshrined in Article 25, dealing with the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. In this very article, the word 'secular' is mentioned under clause (2)(a). If he has no trouble with the word 'secular' in the chapter on fundamental rights and he only wants a debate on the word 'secular' enshrined in the preamble, he should also turn to Union home minister Amit Shah who displayed his intense love for the word 'secularism' in the preamble during the Lok Sabha election campaign in 2024. Shah had faced country-wide concerns arising out of strident claims of some BJP MP candidates contesting the elections that the constitution would be changed if the party won 400-plus seats. The concerns around this gained huge traction and Shah could sense that BJP would confront massive electoral loss for such a boastful claim. Amit Shah's new found love for the word 'secular' The entire BJP leadership and cadre was banking on the firm articulations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, that ' Ram is Rashtra ' (Lord Ram is the State) and ' Dev is Desh ' (A Hindu deity is the country) for winning 400 plus Lok Sabha seats. Those articulations were certainly contrary to the constitutional vision of India and Indian State, which is deeply rooted in secularism, held by the Supreme Court as the basic structure of the constitution. Amit Shah was shaken by the mood of the electorate shaped by the opposition parties that by securing a huge majority in the parliament, the BJP would alter the entire constitution. So, he denied the removal of the word on more than one occasion in his election campaign speeches. He desperately tried to negate the campaign that BJP would change the constitution and categorically said that the word 'secular' in the preamble would not even be touched. So, what prompted Dattatreya Hosabale to generate a debate on the words 'secular' and 'socialist' in the preamble to create a public opinion for their eventual deletion? The only possible answer can be found in RSS and BJP's visceral hatred for the Constitution itself. Indira Gandhi's farsighted vision Insertions of the two words in the preamble of the constitution during the Emergency of 1975 testified to the vision of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to protect the constitution itself from those forces who were mobilised by RSS against her under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan. Harish Khare in his article, 'The Emergency's True Legacy: How JP's Naivety Empowered the RSS', writes, 'Thanks to JP, the RSS, the very organisation that created the eco-system for Nathuram Godse to fire those fatal shots at the Mahatma, has worked its way to a 'respectable' place in our national imagination. Not just respect, it now has clout, patronage and veto power in our national affairs.' Intent of Constituent Assembly on secularism All members in the Constituent Assembly worked for establishing the Indian State anchored in secularism. Two exemplary statements to that effect are quoted here to flag the legislative intent of the assembly. RSS and BJP, while vainly appropriating Sardar Patel as their icon, should be mindful of his sensible words uttered in the Constituent Assembly on October 14, 1949: "I made it clear that this Constitution of India, of free India, of a secular State will not hereafter be disfigured by any provision on a communal basis." Another eminent member of the Assembly, T.J.M. Wilson outlined the importance of the secular state on November 23, 1949, and flagged the escalating dangers to it. "The greatest achievement, however, of our Constitution," he said, "is its secular character, and the secular State that emerges therefrom". He added, "We have achieved this secular character of the State and we have provided for it in the Constitution." He cautioned, "But the clouds are gathering and are threatening to darken the secular character of the State and obliterate it". "I only pray and trust," he affirmed, "that the progressive forces of this country, under the guidance and leadership of our great and beloved Prime Minister(Jawaharlal Nehru) will clear away those clouds and shall not allow our country to pass once again through that destruction and misery which most of the nations of Europe and Asia had to pass before they could accomplish this great achievement of a secular State." That legacy of the Constituent Assembly and Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi constitute a categorical imperative to save the constitution and secularism. S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan.
