The event was scheduled on Saturday, on the occasion of Vajpayee's birth anniversary, at a sports complex in suburban Kandivali.
Tag: Maharashtra government
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Param Bir Singh not whistleblower, flagged corruption after transfer: Maharashtra to Supreme Court
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh cannot be considered as a “whistleblower” under the law as he chose to speak out against alleged corruption involving former home minister Anil Deshmukh only after his transfer, the Maharashtra government has told the Supreme Court seeking dismissal of his plea.
A bench headed by Justice S K Kaul had granted a major relief to Singh on November 22 by directing the Maharashtra Police not to arrest him in criminal cases lodged against him and had wondered if he was being hounded for filing cases against police officers and extortionists, “what could happen to a common man”.
Seeking dismissal of Singh’s plea for a CBI probe into the entire matter and against any coercive action by the state, the Maharashtra government has filed a reply affidavit in the apex court and said that the ongoing probe in criminal cases against the former top cop not be interfered with.
ALSO READ | Enforcement Directorate records statement of suspended Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh
In the affidavit, Joint Secretary of Maharashtra Home Department Venkatesh Madhav said, “Petitioner (Singh) cannot be considered a whistleblower. I state and submit that, contrary to what is stated in the SLP (special leave petition), I deny that petitioner is a whistleblower as contemplated under the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 or that the ratio laid down in the case of….applies to the facts of the present case.”
“As evident from the petitioners own letter dated March 20, 2021, the petitioner cites instances of alleged corruption that took place few months prior to March, but only sought to expose these allegations on March 20, that is three days after he was transferred. Thus it is denied that the petitioner’s letter dated March 20 was issued in public interest or for a bonafide purpose and therefore it is denied that the petitioner is a whistleblower.”
In the 83-page reply, the state government said Singh who was recently suspended from the Mumbai Police over allegations of misconduct is indirectly trying to seek a stay on the criminal investigations pending against him through the petition and has failed to disclose material and relevant facts.
“At the outset, I say that this court in a catena of judgements….has observed that it must be left to the discretion of the investigating agency to decide the course of investigation and that a court should interfere with an investigation only in rare cases.
“The Petitioner has filed the SLP against the impugned judgement dated September 16, 2021, passed by the Bombay High Court , but is really seeking a stay of further proceedings into various criminal complaints registered against him and this, with great respect, ought not to be permitted by this court,” the state government said.
The state government said that various enquiries against the suspended police officer are pending and being conducted.
“The following instances of negligence in performance of service by the petitioner were to be enquired into….Whether the petitioner failed to control and supervise his subordinate Mr Sachin Waze (who was appointed as the head of the Crime Investigation Unit despite the opposition of the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), against whom a case has been registered by the NIA in view of his involvement in parking an explosive-laden car near the Antilia building , Mumbai, which was found on February 25, 2021,” it said.
The affidavit said that the state government has accorded approval to initiate the disciplinary proceedings against him under the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules , 1969.
“The statement of articles of charges framed against him along with the statement of imputations of misconduct or misbehaviour and a list of documents….are issued,” it said.
The affidavit stated Singh should approach the Central Administrative Tribunal to challenge the departmental enquiry and his plea was rightly dismissed by the Bombay High Court on the grounds of non-maintainability and availability of alternate remedies.
“The validity of the order dated April 1 and April 20 including the alleged malafides in issuance of the said order clearly fall within the ambit of ‘service matters’, which can be agitated before and adjudicated by the CAT…..,” it said.
It said the plea of Singh has become infructuous as the CBI has already issued summons to Sanjay Pande, a police officer, on September 18 and it is evident that the CBI is investigating the conversations that took place between Param Bir Singh and Sanjay Pande.
The apex court has fixed the plea of Singh for hearing on December 6.
The matter involving Singh and former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, facing probe over corruption allegations levelled by Singh, has become “curiouser and curiouser”, the top court had said, issuing notices to the Maharashtra government, its DGP Sanjay Pande and the CBI on the plea of the former top cop of Mumbai.
Singh’s lawyer had said Singh needed protection as he had shown the courage to come to this court and raise the issue of corruption against the former state home minister.
The lawyer had said as many as six FIRs have been lodged against Singh for the alleged offences pertaining to years like 2015 and 2016 and submitted as to how a police officer will act if they are hounded at the behest of state for the actions done as police officers on the complaints of bookies and extortionists.
The Bombay High Court had dismissed Singh’s petition seeking to quash inquiries initiated against him by the Maharashtra government, and said he can approach the Central Administrative Tribunal.
After he was shunted out as Mumbai Police commissioner in March 2021 in the aftermath of the Antilia bomb scare case, Singh, in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, levelled corruption allegations against Deshmukh.
In his petition, Singh had also alleged that DGP Pande told him that the inquiries were the fall-out of his allegations against Deshmukh, an NCP leader.
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Maharashtra government considering revision of air travel guidelines: Chief Secretary
By PTI
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Secretary Debashish Chakravarty on Thursday said the state government was considering a revision of its air travel guidelines, a day after the Centre wrote to the state saying its order was in divergence with the COVID-19 SoPs and guidelines issued by the Union government.
In view of global concerns over the Omicron variant, Maharashtra has mandated seven-day institutional quarantine for travellers arriving in the state from ‘at-risk’ countries, under the guidelines issued by the State Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday night.
Such passengers will also undergo RT-PCR test on the second, fourth and seventh day of arrival.
If found to be COVID-19 positive, the passenger will be shifted to a hospital.
In case the test is negative, the passenger will still have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday, in a letter addressed to Maharashtra Health and Family Welfare Department’s Additional Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Vyas, asked the state to align its order with the SOPs issued by the Centre.
When contacted, state Chief Secretary Chakravarty said, “The revision of guidelines is being considered and the picture will be clear by this evening.”
Under the new guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry on November 28, passengers originating or transiting from at-risk countries will have to undergo RT-PCR testing post-arrival and will be required to wait for the results at the airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight.
Travellers from countries excluding those countries at risk will be allowed to leave the airport and shall self-monitor their health for 14 days post-arrival but five percent of the total flight passengers shall undergo post-arrival testing at random at the airport on arrival.
However, according to the Maharashtra government guidelines, passengers from other than ‘at-risk’ countries will have to undergo a compulsory RT-PCR test at the airport.
Even if found negative, they will have to undergo 14-day home quarantine.
On Wednesday, the Mumbai civic body mandated all domestic passengers landing at the city airport to carry a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours.
In a circular, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) asked the Mumbai airport operator to communicate this new rule to all the domestic airlines.
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Shiv Sena needs to think differently even as it leads MVA, says Sanjay Raut
By PTI
AURANGABAD: The Shiv Sena will have to think differently for itself even as it remains part of and steers the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said here on Friday.
Speaking at an event to felicitate party workers, he also expressed confidence that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray would lead the country someday.
“Politics is changeable. What is today, may not be tomorrow. So while we are with the MVA, we also have to think differently. While the party is changing, we must work to gain the faith of every community,” he said.
Against the backdrop of the party winning the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha bypoll recently, Raut said the Sena was late in moving out of Maharashtra but expressed confidence that “one day (Chief Minister) Uddhav Thackeray will surely lead the nation”.
“We will now go to Gujarat, Goa and Uttar Pradesh. We were late to go out of the state but the step was powerful. One day, Uddhav Thackeray will lead the nation. At that time, Maharashtra should be with us,” he said.
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MSRTC suspends 542 more employees as strike continues
By PTI
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) on Wednesday suspended 542 more employees across the state for joining the ongoing “illegal” strike, an official said.
With 376 employees suspended on Tuesday, the number of staffers who have been suspended so far rose to 918. The 542 employees who were suspended are from 63 bus depots excluding regional workshops.
The highest number of 58 employees were suspended from bus depots in the Sangli district in western Maharashtra, followed by 46 employees from Nagpur and Yawatmal districts on Wednesday, the official said.
A section of the MSRTC employees has not been reporting for duty since October 28 seeking a merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government.
The Bombay High Court had deprecated the “adamant stand” of the employees for not withdrawing their stir despite the government extending full cooperation and setting up a panel to address their merger demand.
On Wednesday, bus operations at all 250 depots of the MSRTC remained shut due to the strike, officials said.
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Nearly all MSRTC depots shut as strike enters 13th day despite HC rap; 376 employees suspended
By PTI
MUMBAI: Bus operations at 247 of the 250 depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation remained suspended on Tuesday as the MSRTC employees continued their strike on the 13th day over the demand for a merger of the corporation with the state government despite the High Court expressing displeasure over the protest and the state government appealing them to resume their duty.
Lakhs of passengers were facing hardships as buses of the state-run corporation remained off roads and they were now dependent on private vehicles for travelling.
As the employees refused to budge even after the intervention by the Bombay High Court and the state government set up a high-level panel to address the demands, the MSRTC has suspended 376 employees across the state for allegedly instigating others to join the stir, officials said.
The move to suspend the employees came after the high court deprecated their “adamant stand” of not withdrawing their stir despite the government extending full cooperation and setting up a panel to address their merger demand.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab had said a contempt petition was being filed over the ongoing strike.
A section of the MSRTC employees has not been reporting for duty since October 28 seeking a merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government.
In the wake of the strike, the Maharashtra government has already permitted private buses, school buses, goods vehicles and contract carriage buses to ferry passengers from Monday evening.
An official of MSRTC said only three depots – Gargoti and Kagal in the Kolhapur region and Igatpuri depot in the Nashik region – were functional on Tuesday.
The Kagal depot was operating partially.
The MSRTC employees intensified the agitation from Sunday after the Diwali festival concluded.
Meanwhile, the striking employees invited the wrath of the HC for not falling in line.
A vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade in the order made available late Monday night said the Maharashtra government complied with everything that the MSRTC workers had demanded withdrawing their strike/agitation.
We do not understand why the employees of the MSRTC have now backed out from what they wanted the government to consider, the bench said, adding the state government has cooperated fully concerning the demand of the MSRTC workers.
Advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the MSRTC workers, however, told the high court on Monday evening that the government resolution (GR) was not in line with the one issued in October 2020 in the case of reservations pertaining to the promotion of employees from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories.
Sadavarte said several employees of the MSRTC have committed suicide and some of them in their suicide notes blamed the state chief minister for the same.
He said the workers were hence, not willing to withdraw their strike.
The MSRTC is one of the biggest state transport corporations in the country with a fleet of more than 16,000 buses and around 93,000 employees, including drivers and conductors.
The corporation used to ferry over 65 lakh passengers daily before the coronavirus outbreak last year.
Meanwhile, Parab said an Industrial Court had earlier declared the strike illegal and later the Bombay High Court too declared the stir as illegal when some other unions gave the call.
“The high court, in its order, had dubbed the unions’ stand as adamant. Despite this, the strike is on. When yesterday we brought this to the notice of the HC, it suggested that you can file a contempt petition. Hence the MSRTC is filing a contempt petition,” Parab, who is chairman of MSRTC, told reporters.
The HC is likely to hear the contempt of court plea on Wednesday, he added.
“From our side, we have done everything that was to be done,” he said, adding that decision about the demand of the merger of the MSRTC will be taken by the committee set up on the directive of the HC.
Appealing to unions to call off strike, Parab said MSRTC is under a huge financial burden.
“In the last two years of COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has further worsened. Currently, the cumulative loss is Rs 12,000 crore,” he said, adding that the government has fulfilled all the demands of the unions except salary increment, and he had assured that it would be resolved after Diwali.
The merger decision cannot be taken in one day, he added.
Meanwhile, an official said the employees who were suspended are posted in 45 bus depots of the MSRTC.
The highest number of 58 employees each were suspended from Sangli and Nanded divisions, followed by 57 from the Yavatmal division, the official added.
As the MSRTC buses remained off roads, passengers at some places complained that they were being fleeced by private bus operators.
On Tuesday night, private bus operators appealed to their members to not overcharge the passengers and give them better service.
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MSRTC strike: Bombay HC directs Maharashtra govt to set up panel to address employees
By PTI
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to set up a special committee to address the issue raised by staffers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) seeking to be treated as state government employees.
The court directed the state to issue a government resolution by Monday evening for setting up the special panel.
A section of the MSRTC employees is not reporting for duty since October 28 seeking merger of the cash-strapped corporation with the state government, according to union sources.
The HC last week directed the corporation’s employees to refrain from going on strike and later had also rapped a union of the workers for going ahead with its strike despite the court’s order restraining it from doing so.
On Monday, a vacation bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade on Monday, while hearing a plea filed by the MSRTC against the strike, noted that though in its earlier orders it had directed the workers to resume their duties, an attempt is now being made to amicably resolve the issue by requesting the state government to sympathetically consider the demand of the MSRTC workers.
The court said the committee shall hear the parties concerned and submit its recommendations to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
“The Chief Minister, State of Maharashtra, will consider the recommendations and submit the same to the court with his views/opinion on the said recommendations,” the bench said in its order.
The HC said the state government shall set up a three-member committee on Monday itself, comprising additional chief secretaries of the state finance and transport departments and principal secretary of the finance department.
“The MSRTC’s managing director shall act as a coordinator and assist the committee, but he shall have no powers in the decision-making. The committee shall hear representatives of the 28 unions and representatives of the MSRTC and thereafter, submit their decision/recommendations to the chief minister,” the court said.
“The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of 12 weeks from today,” the HC said.
The court said the committee shall hold its first meeting at 4 pm on Monday, and the minutes of the meeting shall be placed before the court at 5 pm.
Advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the MSRTC workers, said the employees were not willing to end the strike till the government resolution is issued and the first meeting is held.
The HC said once the minutes of meeting are submitted to the court and all the advocates concerned go through them, “the unions representing the MSRTC employees shall forthwith withdraw the strike/agitation and resume their duties”.
Bus operations at 223 depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) were shut on Monday morning due to the strike of employees, officials said earlier in the day.
Maharashtra Transport Minister Anil Parab last week said a discussion on the demand for merger of the MSRTC with the state government and other issues related to the loss-making corporation will take place after Diwali.
The MSRTC employees last month started a “spontaneous” agitation over their various demands, including those related to salary.
A majority of them returned to work after the state government accepted most of their demands, but the issue of merger remains unresolved.
The MSRTC is one of the biggest state transport corporations in the county with a fleet of more than 16,000 buses and around 93,000 employees, including drivers and conductors.
The corporation used to ferry over 65 lakh passengers daily before the coronavirus outbreak last year.
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Maharashtra government allows all fully-vaccinated people to board Mumbai local trains
By PTI
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday issued an order allowing the common people, irrespective of the nature of their jobs, who are vaccinated fully against COVID-19 to board suburban trains in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
In this order, the state government has extended the definition of fully vaccinated people to cover even those people who are working in non-essential sectors.
This means people who have taken both the doses of vaccines against COVID-19 and completed 14 days after inoculation can travel in local trains.
The government also stated that the people working in essential sectors must be fully vaccinated and should have completed the 14 days post-inoculation before they can be allowed to board local trains.
Currently, the Central Railway and the Western Railway have been issuing a monthly pass to vaccinated commuters instead of daily tickets to curtail the crowd.
Notably, both the railways on Monday said suburban services in Mumbai will be operated at the 100 per cent capacity of the pre-pandemic level from October 28, but the existing travel restrictions for the general public will remain unchanged.
This decision was taken considering the increased flow of commuters, an official said on Monday.
Central Railway and Western Railway will run 1,774 and 1,367 services, respectively, on their suburban network from October 28.
The zonal railways used to operate these many services before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, Central Railway and Western Railway are operating 1,702 and 1,304 suburban services, respectively, which is 95.
70 per cent of the total suburban services in the normal period.
Till now, only government employees and essential services staffers are allowed to travel on suburban trains, apart from the fully-vaccinated citizens, who have completed the 14 days after the second dose and those who are below 18 years.
After the outbreak of the pandemic, the suburban services were completely stopped from March 22, 2020.
Later railways began suburban services for essential service categories as identified by the Maharashtra government and approved by the Ministry of Railways from June 15, 2020.
Suburban locals are considered the lifeline of Mumbai.
Nearly 80 lakh passengers used to travel on the suburban locals before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 graph is also slowing down in Maharashtra.
The state on Monday reported 889 COVID-19 cases, the lowest number in a day since May 5, 2020, and 12 fresh fatalities, the least number of one-day death count in more than 18 months, a health department official had said.
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Uddhav government to double hike for Marathi degree holders in BMC
By Express News Service
MUMBAI: Ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, the Maharashtra government has cleared the proposal of the Shiv Sena-run civic body for giving double increment to the employees of the civic body who are graduates in Marathi.
The BMC wants to promote Marathi at the workplace. The urban development ministry of Eknath Shinde approved this decision recently to woo the Marathi voters ahead of the BMC elections. In BMC, more than one lakh people are engaged in various departments.
The Corporation will go polls in February next year. In 2017, the BJP gave a close fight to the Sena which managed to retain power, even though it failed to win a simple majority in the house of 227 In 2011, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had tabled a proposal to give double increments to the civic employees who cleared their post-graduation in Marathi literature. The then BMC commissioner, Jairaj Pathak, had passed the proposal that aimed to make the civic body’s functioning ‘100% Marathi’.
However, with the proposed implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission putting a strain on the civic body’s resources, the BMC had no option but to scrap Pathak’s plan. The civic body had to roll back its decision in 2012 to award double increments to postgraduates in Marathi. The withdrawal of these special pay-hikes affected over 1,000 employees who had enrolled in correspondence courses to avail of the special offer.
After the announcement of the scheme, all the engineers, doctors and fourth-class employees had also enrolled themselves for post-graduation in Marathi literature. The double increment decision was halted again in 2018. However, it has again been proposed ahead of the BMC polls in 2022.
Resource crunchThe civic body had to roll back its decision in 2012 to award double increments. The withdrawal of these hikes had affected over 1,000 employees
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Maharashtra govt intensifies NCP minister Nawab Malik’s security after threat calls over his ‘NCB expose’
Express News Service
MUMBAI: Following a big expose on the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) by Nawab Malik, the Maharashtra government on Thursday intensified the security cover of the NCP minister.
Confirming the development, Malik stated that he started receiving threat calls soon after he revealed the involvement of private citizen KP Gosavi and BJP leader Manish Bhanushali in the NCB’s cruise party raid. “I am getting calls on my office phone where they threaten to murder me. After bringing this to the notice of the home department, my security cover was increased,” Malik said.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik has been at the forefront to expose the alleged misconduct of the NCB during the Cruise Party raids. The NCB and its officers have been in the spotlight ever since Malik has made big revelations with documents, videos and CCTV footage in the last few days. He has alleged that the NCB has been targetting people with malafide intentions and are working on the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier, Malik had revealed that Rishab Sachdeva, the brother-in-law of former Mumbai Youth BJP president Mohit Kamboj aka Bhartiya had also attended the cruise party. Sachdeva along with two others was detained but later released after phone calls were received from Mumbai and Delhi.
The NCB director Sameer Wankhede, however, has denied all the charges and clarified that the raids were carried out as per prevailing protocol.
Referring to his son-in-law Sameer Khan, who was recently granted bail in a drugs case, the NCP spokesperson said that the bail order exposes NCB’s false claims. “It (NCB) said ganja was seized (in the case involving Sameer Khan), but there was none. The news channels also maligned us. but the chargesheet and the Panchanama report mentioned nothing like this. I just had to make things clear today after the bail order, since the BJP was targeting me over my son-in-law when I raised issues about the NCB’s fake case of the cruise drug party,” the NCP leader said.