The amicus curiae has earlier pointed out that States like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka have sought to withdraw criminal cases against politicians.
Tag: Uttar Pradesh government
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Aligarh district panchayat unanimously passes proposal to rename city ‘Harigarh’
By PTI
ALIGARH (UP): The city of famous Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh may soon have a new name Harigarh if a proposal of the district panchayat is accepted by the Uttar Pradesh government.
A proposal for changing Aligarh’s name was unanimously passed at a meeting of the newly elected district Panchayat on Monday.
District panchayat chairman Vijay Singh told reporters on Tuesday that the district panchayat’s resolution to rename Aligarh as Harigarh was forwarded to the state government for further action.
Earlier on Sunday, the president of the district unit of Uttar Pradesh Kshatriya Mahasabha, Shailendra Pal Singh, had handed over a resolution to the district panchayat, demanding the change of name of Aligarh.
The final decision for renaming a place is taken by the state government.
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Adityanath govt cannot hide ‘plight’ of farmers by giving full page ads: Priyanka Gandhi
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Attacking the Uttar Pradesh government, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said it cannot hide the “plight” of farmers by giving full page advertisements and asked what it had done about the “black agri laws”.
The Congress general secretary’s attack came over a media report on a farmer allegedly committing suicide in Pichaura village under Kanpur Dehat after his crops were ruined due to floods in the village.
“Farmers are the soul of this country. The UP government cannot hide the plight of the farmers by giving full page advertisements. Tell me what did you do — With regard to stray cattle? Compensation for crop loss? Payment of sugarcane dues? About black agri laws? Regarding inflation and the price of electricity?” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November last year in protest against the three laws.
Out of them, a small group of 200 farmers are now staging a protest at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi after getting special permission.
The Congress and several other Opposition parties are demanding a repeal of the farm laws.
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Akhilesh Yadav hits out at Uttar Pradesh government over inflation, increasing crime rate
By PTI
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday claimed that ever since the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh, the people have been suffering due to inflation and increasing crime rate in the state.
He said the prices of vegetables are skyrocketing and a sharp increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders has severely affected the middle-income group.
“Ever since the BJP government came to power, there has been no move to reduce the sufferings of the people and they have been forced to go through the pain of inflation and crime every day.
Only after the formation of a Samajwadi Party government in the state, the pain and suffering of the people will be removed,” Yadav was quoted as saying in a party statement.
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“There is no end to cases of robbery and kidnapping. The chief minister’s claim of zero tolerance has become a mere claim,” he said.
Having not even the slightest realisation of people’s pain or what they are going through is a sign of “insensitivity” on the part of the BJP government and its leadership, the SP chief alleged.
“The chief minister, who is thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for distributing free ration, does not see how much difficulty people are facing in getting ration and how they are becoming victims of under-weighing of ration at the fair price shops,” Yadav said.
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Allahabad High Court seeks UP govt’s reply over Dr Kafeel’s suspension
Express News Service
LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court, on Monday, asked the Uttar Pradesh government as to why Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan of BRD medical College, Gorakhpur, is on suspension for the last four years. The court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a reply in connection with a writ petition filed by Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan by August 5.Dr Khan had filed the writ petition challenging his suspension from BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur on August 22, 2017 following the death of around 60 children within a span of 2-3 days due to the lack of oxygen supply.
Hearing Dr Kafeel’s petition, Justice Yashwant Varma, on July 29 had directed the court authorities to list the matter on August 5 for the next hearing. In the present writ petition, petitioner Dr Kafeel Khan has challenged his suspension.
Earlier, the petitioner had approached the High Court by filing a writ (no-3511 of 2019) on the ground that although he had been suspended way back in the year 2017, yet the inquiry proceedings had not been concluded till the filing of that petition.
Acting on this writ petition, the court, by an order dated March 7, 2019, disposed the writ petition with a direction to the respondents to conclude the enquiry within three months. In the wake of the High Court order, the enquiry officer probing into the charges against Dr Kafeel Khan submitted his report on April 15, 2019. Thereafter, the disciplinary authority chose to pass the order after almost 11 months.
Taking note of this, the court observed, “The delay in taking further action on the part of the disciplinary authority is not explained. The respondents are also obliged to justify the continuance of the order of suspension which has continued for more than four years”.
The petitioner also mentioned in his plea that as many as eight persons were suspended along with him in this oxygen shortage case but all of them had been reinstated except the petitioner.
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PM’s ‘certificate’ cannot hide Yogi govt’s cruelty, negligence during Covid 2nd wave: Priyanka Gandhi
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for praising the Uttar Pradesh government for its handling of the Covid crisis, saying his “certificate” cannot hide the truth of the Yogi Adityanath dispensation’s “cruelty, negligence and mismanagement” during the second wave of the coronavirus.Modi, during his visit to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Thursday, praised the Uttar Pradesh government for its handling of the Covid crisis and said the way it had controlled the second wave was “unprecedented”.
“Modi ji’s certificate cannot hide the truth of Yogi government’s aggressive cruelty, negligence and mismanagement during the second wave of coronavirus spread in Uttar Pradesh,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
“People faced enormous hardships, helplessness alone. This truth can be forgotten by Modi ji, Yogi ji, but not by those who suffered the pain of coronavirus,” the Congress general secretary in-charge UP said.
Describing the efforts of the Uttar Pradesh government in combating COVID-19 as “commendable”, the prime minister had said the state’s population is more than a dozen big countries but the way “it has controlled the second wave of coronavirus and stopped its spread is unprecedented”.
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Adityanath govt hid COVID-19 death figures in Uttar Pradesh, says Akhilesh Yadav
By PTI
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of hiding the COVID-19 death figures, and claimed the state government did not want to give the statistics as it did not want to help the people.He also highlighted the issue of teachers dying during panchayat poll duty in the state.
“The government did not give the statistics pertaining to the COVID-19 deaths, nor any help was given to them. They (UP government) did not give the statistics of COVID-19 deaths, as they did not want to help (the people),” he told reporters.
“When the teachers went on (panchayat poll) duty, it was said that only three teachers died (on poll duty due to COVID-19). Later, when organisations and we raised questions, the government had to admit that actually how many lives were lost,” the SP chief said.
A teachers’ body had earlier claimed that over 1,600 teachers and workers of the Basic Education Department have died in Uttar Pradesh since the first week of April due to COVID-19, and said that 90 per cent of them were on panchayat polls duty.
However, Satish Chandra Dwivedi, the UP minister of state (independent charge) for basic education, had said that all these deaths cannot be attributed to election duty and according to government data, only three teachers had died due to COVID-19.
On May 31, the UP Cabinet had approved a financial assistance of Rs 30 lakh for the kin of government personnel who died on duty during the recently-held panchayat election, including those who succumbed to COVID-19 within 30 days of poll duty, a spokesperson said.
The Cabinet had also approved increasing the ex-gratia amount from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.
“The duration of duty as defined by the Election Commission of India was the basis on which the State Election Commission had formed the guidelines, in which the duration of COVID-19 infection and death was not considered.
Hence, for the ex-gratia, death due to COVID-19 within 30 days from election duty has been made the eligibility criteria,” a state government spokesperson had said.
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CAA protest: SC asks Uttar Pradesh government not to act on earlier notices for recovering losses
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government not to take action on earlier notices sent to the alleged protestors by district administration for recovering losses caused by damage to public property during the anti-CAA agitations in the state.The apex court stated however that the state can take action as per the law and in accordance with new rules. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said, “Don’t take action as per the earlier notices. All action should be taken in accordance with new rules.”
Senior additional advocate general Garima Prashad, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, said the state has proceeded since the last date of hearing and has constituted tribunals and framed all the requisite rules. The bench asked Prasad to file a counter affidavit giving details of rules and tribunals constituted and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by Parwaiz Arif Titu seeking quashing of notices sent to alleged protestors by district administration for recovering losses caused by damage to public properties during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) agitations in Uttar Pradesh and asked the state to respond to it.
The plea has alleged that such notices have been sent in an “arbitrary manner” against a person, who had died six years ago at the age of 94, and also to several others including two people who are aged above 90.
On January 31 last year, the top court had issued notice to the state government and asked it to respond to the plea.
Titu had contended that these notices were based on an Allahabad High Court judgement delivered in 2010 which “is in violation of the guidelines” laid down by the top court in a 2009 verdict, and re-affirmed in a 2018 order.
He submitted that the state government has appointed additional district magistrate to deal with the process of notices for recovering damages for loss of public property during protests against the CAA whereas the guidelines laid down by the apex court stipulated that retired judges should deal with the matter.
The plea has sought stay on these notices claiming they have been sent to persons who have not been booked under any penal provisions and no details of FIR or any criminal offences have been made out against them.
“The contradiction is that while the Supreme Court in 2009 put the onus of assessment of damages and recovery from the accused on high courts of every state, whereas the Allahabad High Court had issued guidelines in 2010 judgement that let the state government undertake these processes to recover damages, which has serious implications,” said the plea, filed through advocate Nilofar Khan.
“The judicial oversight/judicial security is a sort of safety mechanism against arbitrary action. This means that there is every chance that the ruling party in the state could go after its political opponents or others oppose to it to settle scores,” it said.
It also sought a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government to follow the procedure as per the 2009 and 2018 guidelines of the apex court while claiming damages to recover the losses caused to public property during such protests.
The plea sought setting up of an independent judicial inquiry to probe into the incidents which happened during the protests against the amended citizenship act and the National Register of Citizens in Uttar Pradesh, as has been done by the Karnataka High Court.
It claimed that the BJP-led Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is “moving ahead on the chief minister’s promise of avenging loss to public property” by seizing assets of protestors in order to “take revenge for political reasons from one community who is in minority”.
The plea further alleged that around 925 people, who have been arrested so far in connection with the violent protests, may not get bail easily in Uttar Pradesh till they pay up for the losses as they have to be given “conditional bail” only after they deposit the amount.
“The government of Uttar Pradesh and its administration and police are no longer behaving like the arm of a democratic government as it cracked down on protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019/NRC. The police on the instructions of the Uttar Pradesh administration used disproportionate force and denied public accountability,” it alleged.
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Uttar Pradesh to allow Kanwar yatra this year with Covid guidelines in place
By PTI
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government will allow the annual Kanwar Yatra in the state from July 25 and officials have been asked to coordinate with neighbouring states to ensure Covid guidelines are followed, a senior official said on Wednesday.‘Kanwariyas’ (devotees of Lord Shiva) collect water from River Ganga at Haridwar to offer at Shiva temples in their areas as part of the yatra.
Uttarakhand has cancelled the yatra this year citing the pandemic.
Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary, Navneet Sehgal told PTI that “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked to coordinate with neighbouring Bihar and Uttarakhand and ensure Covid guidelines are following during the yatra,” Sehgal said that detailed guidelines regarding the Yatra will be issued soon and a meeting of senior officials will be held to discuss the matter.
Uttrakhand has appealed to officers of neighbouring states to ask devotees not to come to Haridwar this month for the annual pilgrimage to collect water from the Ganga.
The Kanwar yatra was not held in Uttar Pradesh last year due to Covid restrictions.
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In jungle raj, safety of women in God’s hands: Priyanka Gandhi slams UP government
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the issue of crime against women, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that in “‘jungle raj’ women’s safety is in God’s hands”.The Congress general secretary alleged that such crimes are being committed against women in Uttar Pradesh which would make “one’s soul tremble”, but the government is “sleeping”.
“In Mathura, goons who had been harassing a girl for a year entered her house and threw her from the terrace.
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A girl, troubled over being teased, ended her own life in Hamirpur,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
“In jungle raj, the safety of women is in God’s hands,” Priyanka Gandhi added.
Her attack on the government came after three men barged into the house of a 17-year-old girl on Tuesday and allegedly threw her off the second floor of the building.
The girl is battling for life in a hospital.
The district police has lodged an FIR in the case and arrested two of the three accused.