Latest news with #State
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Unduly hasty': Telangana High Court cancels BRS government's free land allotment to IAMC
Underlining that bona fide intentions do not justify illegal means, the Telangana High Court on Friday struck down the state government's allotment of 3.7 acres of land to the International Arbitration and Media Centre (IAMC) set up by former Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana. 'It is axiomatic that in order to achieve a bona fide end, the means must also justify the end. This Court is of the opinion that bona fide ends cannot be achieved by questionable means, especially when the State is involved. This Court has not been able to get any answer from the State why on a request by the allottee to the Hon'ble Minister for Urban Development, the Government granted the allotment with remarkable speed and without considering all aspects of the matter,' the court said. The IAMC was established in 2021 in Hyderabad to promote alternative dispute resolution. As a sitting CJI, Justice Ramana authored the trust deed for setting up the 'charitable public trust'. Former Supreme Court judges R V Raveendran and L Nageswara Rao were named as life trustees, while a Telangana state minister and the Telangana High Court Chief Justice were named as ex-officio trustees. A bench of Justices K Lakshman and K Sujana criticised the government for the arbitrary allotment of land with 'undue haste'. 'We would also like to point out that the conduct of the government in allotting the land was unduly hasty. It is noteworthy that possession certificate was issued in favour of the IAMC even before formulating and communicating the terms of allotment. Such hasty decisions do not bode well and often result in exercise of power contrary to the procedure. Discretionary exercise of power shall not only be fair and transparent, but also should be seen to be fair and transparent,' the court said. The land, allotted free of cost by the Bharat Rashtra Samiti government, is in Serilingampally, a revenue sub-division that also houses tech corridors, including HITEC City and Gachibowli. However, the current Congress government also defended the allotment. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is on the three-member board of trustees. The court cancelled the land allotment on the grounds that the IAMC was not eligible for free allotment of land as a 'private body'. The court held that the allotment was contrary to the rules of the Telangana Urban Areas Development Act, 1975, which provides that government land can only be disposed by way of sale or exchange or lease or public auction. The court said that the rules provide that allotment in favour of a private body can only be made if such a body is registered under the Companies Act. It then noted that, as on the date of allotment, the IAMC was not registered as a company. The court also held that, as per a 2012 government land allotment policy, land can be allotted only on market value, with free allotment contemplated only for state government departments and below poverty line families. While the IAMC argued that it was a 'public charitable trust,' the petitioners challenging the allotment argued that the body was making profits and earning remuneration. 'A private body like the IAMC can only be done for a public purpose and after collecting the applicable market value,' the high court said. Apurva Vishwanath is the National Legal Editor of The Indian Express in New Delhi. She graduated with a B.A., LL. B (Hons) from Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. She joined the newspaper in 2019 and in her current role, oversees the newspapers coverage of legal issues. She also closely tracks judicial appointments. Prior to her role at the Indian Express, she has worked with ThePrint and Mint. ... Read More
New Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
ECBC building inaugurated in Vizag
VISAKHAPATNAM: Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar inaugurated Andhra Pradesh's first Super ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Code) compliant building at Sagar Nagar in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Terming it a landmark in sustainable infrastructure, he emphasised the government's commitment to energy efficiency and green design in public facilities. The facility will serve as a national-level training hub for power sector staff. He urged power utilities to expedite 20 lakh rooftop solar connections, targeting 10,000 in each Assembly segment. He reaffirmed nine-hour uninterrupted power for agriculture under PM-KUSUM and noted that 180 compassionate appointments were made in 18 months. Chief Secretary K Vijayanand said the building, equipped with SCADA, RMU, transformer, and meter labs, would serve as a model for energy efficiency. He suggested a governing body for its optimal use. Despite peak demand of 13,000 MW, the State supplied 254 MU daily. MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao, MP Sribharat, and MLC V Chiranjeevi Rao praised the solar initiatives. APEPDCL CMD I Prudhvi Tej reported reduced AT&C losses and high complaint resolution.
6 hours ago
- Politics
New Hampshire lawsuit seeks to stop politicization of youth center abuse victims' fund
CONCORD, N.H. -- Lawyers representing hundreds of men and woman who claim they were abused at New Hampshire's youth detention center filed a class action lawsuit Friday seeking to prevent the independent administrator of the state's settlement fund for victims from being replaced with a political appointee. Lawmakers created the settlement fund in 2022, pitching it as a 'victim-centered' and 'trauma-informed' alternative to litigation that would be run by a neutral administrator appointed by the state Supreme Court. But the Republican-led Legislature changed that process through last-minute additions to the state budget approved Thursday and signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte on Friday. Under the new provisions taking effect July 1, the governor will have the authority to hire and fire the fund's administrator, and the attorney general — also a political appointee — would have veto power over settlement awards. In affidavits filed with their complaint, the lead plaintiffs said the change amounts to a bait and switch that reignited the skepticism they initially felt about the settlement process but tried to put aside. 'I never would have shared the full story of what happened to me if I did not think I would be heard by someone impartial,' said a woman identified only as Jane Doe, who said she ran away from home to escape sexual abuse only to be further abused in state custody. 'I feel incredibly betrayed by the state's actions, but this is just the latest in a long list of betrayals by the state, so maybe I should not be surprised,' she said. 'This also makes me wonder whether the state will next betray the promise of confidentiality, because it seems like their word does not mean anything to them.' Another plaintiff, Andrew Foley, described being diagnosed with PTSD, not from his time as a combat soldier in Iraq but from the physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child. 'As I understand it, the State will now decide for itself how much my claim is worth. That is the opposite of a fair process,' his affidavit said. 'As I always believed, the state cannot be trusted.' Neither Ayotte nor Attorney General John Formella responded to requests for comment Friday. More than 1,300 people have sued since 2020 alleging that they were physically or sexually abused in state custody as children, most of them at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Only one case has gone to trial, resulting in a $38 million verdict, though the state is trying to slash it to $475,000. Two other cases have been settled for $10 million and $4.5 million. The state also has brought criminal charges against former workers, with two convictions and two mistrials so far. Many of the alleged victims put their lawsuits on hold and applied to the settlement fund, which caps payouts at $2.5 million. As of March 31, 296 cases had been settled, with an average award of $543,000, according to the most recently available statistics. The lawsuit filed Friday seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent the governor from firing the current administrator, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick.
Irish Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dangerous driving conviction overturned after 'passenger seat' Snapchat video
A young man has had his conviction for dangerous driving overturned after a court viewed a Snapchat video which he argued proves he was actually in the passenger seat of the car as it was pursued by Gardaí. Myles Smith, 22, had his conviction quashed at the District Court Appeals Court on Thursday despite the State submitting that other video footage presented as evidence in the case had been edited. Mr Smith, with an address at Mount Symon Lawn, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, had pleaded not guilty in the District Court to dangerous driving contrary to section 53.1 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, and had also denied counts of driving with no insurance, driving without a licence, two counts of failure to produce documents and failure to produce information contrary to section 107 4b of the same act. Garda Andrew Burlingham told the appeals court that he was on patrol in the Blanchardstown area on April 12, 2021 at around 9pm when he observed a car drive from the left lane to the right lane without indicating and crossing over another vehicle. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week He said that he saw the car fail to indicate and turn back into Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, where his Garda colleague activated his lights and sirens to indicate for the car to stop. Garda Burlingham said that the vehicle failed to stop and that he observed it driving at high speed, forcing other road users to take evasive action. He said that in the following pursuit, he saw the car driving extremely fast over speed bumps, ignore a red light and drive the wrong way around a roundabout. He said he pursued the car as it approached Aldemere Drive in Clonsilla, where he said it mounted a green area in an estate and was abandoned by the occupants. Garda Burlingham said that he saw Mr Smith exit from the driver's side of the car, that he pursued him to where he was hiding in a wooded area and arrested him. On the count of dangerous driving, Mr Smith was disqualified from driving for two years and given a fine of €450 in the District Court. He also got a two-year driving ban and a €400 fine for his charge of driving with no insurance and a fine of €300 for his charge of driving without a licence. Defence counsel for Mr Smith, Aoife McNickle BL, submitted that her client was not driving the car during the incident. Counsel said that he was sitting in the passenger side of the vehicle at the time, and presented a Snapchat video taken by Mr Smith during the pursuit, which she said proved he was in the passenger seat. The footage, which was played to the court, showed Mr Smith sitting in the car while flashing lights from the Gardaí could be seen through the rear window and wing mirrors. She also presented a second video, taken by Mr Smith after the event, in order to prove his position in the car was in fact the passenger seat, not the driver seat. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Clare Barry, put it to Mr Smith that she believed the second video had been edited between the moments when the camera flipped between front-facing and back-facing angles. She said that 'even the most digitally illiterate people can do that'. Mr Smith denied that the footage was edited and maintained that he was in the passenger seat and not driving the car. Mr Smith also claimed that Garda Burlingham was not the Garda member who arrested him at the scene. Ms Barry said it was the State's case that Mr Smith was driving the car during the chase and that the second video, which he said proved he was in the passenger seat, was not authentic. Mr Smith denied this claim in court. Judge Jonathan Dunphy said that after 'numerous viewings' of the video evidence, he had doubt over who was driving the car. He said that although Mr Smith's behaviour as a passenger of the car was 'a disgrace', he must give him the benefit of the doubt and found there is no satisfactory evidence that he was the owner or driver of the car. He decided to allow the appeal of Mr Smith's conviction on these grounds.
The Hindu
14 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Uttarakhand HC clears path for panchayat polls
New Delhi The Uttarakhand High Court on Friday vacated its interim stay on the upcoming panchayat elections, allowing the electoral process to move forward while directing the State government to respond to allegations regarding irregularities in the reservation roster. A Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Narendar and Justice Alok Mahara passed the order while hearing multiple petitions challenging the reservation allocations for the rural body elections. The stay, originally issued on June 23, just two days after the State had announced the election schedule, had stalled polls that were set to take place on July 10 and 15, with results scheduled for July 19. Over a dozen petitions were filed by residents from various districts, raising concerns about repeated allocation of seats to the same social groups over successive terms. The petitioners alleged that such practices violate Article 243 of the Constitution and go against various Supreme Court judgments. They contended that seats for block pramukh and district panchayat president were not being rotated fairly among different categories. In response, the state government informed the court that it had revised the previous reservation roster following observations made by the National Commission for Backward Classes, necessitating a new list for the current elections. After examining submissions from both sides, the court noted that while there were some instances of repetition in reserved seats, the number was negligible when compared to the total number of seats. It also observed that new panchayats had been created following delimitation, contributing to the apparent irregularities. 'Petitioners have raised various contentions, including the validity of Rule 4(4), and argued that even general category seats reserved for women should fall within the 50% reservation ceiling. Prima facie, this argument does not appeal to the Bench,' the court noted in its order. The court has directed the State Election Commission to release a revised election schedule, extending the previously announced dates by four days. It also ordered the state government to file its response to the allegations within three weeks. The matter will next be heard on July 28.
