02/08/2019

 EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on August 01 CURRENCY

TT BUY

TT SELL

US Dollar.

.68.86

.69.18

Euro.

.76.01

.76.36

British Pound.

.83.42

.83.82

Japanese Yen (100).

.63.22

.63.52

Chinese Yuan.

.9.98

.10.02

Swiss Franc.

.69.20

.69.53

Singapore Dollar.

.50.07

.50.31

Canadian Dollar.

.52.08

.52.32

Malaysian Ringitt.

.16.61

.16.70

Source:Indian Bank

SC transfers Unnao cases to Delhi court
02/08/2019

Sunday’s ‘accident’ killed two of her aunts accompanying her in the car and left her and her lawyer critically injured. The victim is on ventilator support at King George’s Medical College and Hospital in Lucknow. The CBI is investigating suspicions of foul play.

The court ordered the CBI to complete its probe into the ‘accident’ case in the next seven days. As an exception, it said, the CBI could take another week. But under no circumstance should the probe extend beyond a fortnight.

The agency, represented by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, initially sought a month’s time to complete the probe. “A month? You have seven days… you do what you have to do within that time,” CJI Gogoi said.

The court also ordered protection for the girl and her family by personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force at the urging of its amicus curiae V. Giri.

Mr. Giri said the girl was in the hospital with just her mother to attend to her. The family was not financially well off. The State should pay her an “exemplary” compensation, he said.

But the Uttar Pradesh government protested that it would pay a compensation only “as per statute”.

“What is happening in this country? You want the Supreme Court to follow statutes to order compensation?” the CJI said.

The court finally fixed ₹25 lakh as the interim compensation and ordered the U.P. government to pay the amount on August 2.

The court insisted on getting a complete low-down on the Unnao cases and the status of the CBI probe.

Further, the court directed Mr. Mehta to have a team of doctors check the medical condition of the victim and her lawyer to see if they could be airlifted to Delhi for advanced treatment.

At 2 p.m., Mr. Mehta informed the court that both were medically fit to be shifted. The court said it would pass the necessary orders whenever their families gave their consent to shifting both to Delhi.

In a separate order, the CJI Bench directed Sanjeev Sudhakar Kalgaonkar, Secretary General of the court, to conduct an enquiry within seven days into whether any lapse or negligence on the part of Registry officials caused the Unnao victim’s letter to reach the CJI late.

Thursday’s first hearing began with the CJI asking Mr. Mehta to have a responsible officer of the CBI present in the court by noon with the entire case detail. The CJI was not swayed when Mr. Mehta asked the court to reschedule the case for Friday. “Tomorrow is another day, Mr. Solicitor. We want this to happen today,” he responded.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

02/08/2019

A wake-up call?

The death of billionaire entrepreneur and the founder of Café Coffee Day, V.G. Siddhartha, is extremely saddening. The market capitalisation of the company has taken a nosedive in the last few days, which would force the creditors to take a serious haircut. Had he been part of the U.S. system, there is a very high chance that he would have found a way to deal with the creditors and, most importantly, he would have been alive. His death just shows how nascent the corporate debt markets are in India, and how private equity firms operate in the country. Access to capital markets is key for entrepreneurship and for businesses to thrive and grow. Hence, this should be a wake-up call for the government to see that capital is made available to the firms with good growth prospects, if it is serious about making India’s GDP reach $5 trillion and beyond ( Front page, “Siddhartha cremated in family estate,” August 1).

Varad Seshadri,

Sunnyvale, California, U.S.

Criminalising talaq

Marriage is a civil contract and criminalising what is obviously a civil issue is a step in the wrong direction. The Centre’s logic that the Triple Talaq Bill will act as deterrent to the abhorrent practice of instant talaq is hard to digest. However, the fact that Muslims take recourse to this detested form of divorce, even after the 2017 Supreme Court verdict, is a worrying development and one cannot but share the government’s concerns over this. Religion should not be a factor when it comes to the irresponsible desertion of spouses and children. Herein lies the need for a common divorce law, which the Bill fails to address (Editorial, “Beyond talaq,” August 1).

Abdul Assis P.A.,

Thrissur, Kerala

Rather than addressing a social issue, the passage of the Triple Talaq Bill through both the Houses of Parliament gives rise to questions. The government’s reasoning that it was giving effect to the Supreme Court verdict declaring it unconstitutional is absurd, considering that the Bharatiya Janata Party was opposed to the same court’s verdict when it came to allowing entry to women in the Sabarimala shrine. The Centre’s claim that it is a step towards gender justice also sounds false. The Act may not be of much benefit as it expects the victim or someone from her family, in most cases women who come from the poorest sections of the society, to take up the issue against her husband with the concerned authority.

A.G. Rajmohan,

Anantapur

Unnao case

The Unnao case appears to be a tragedy from the medieval ages — a poor girl is raped by the local strongman, the state machinery doesn’t help and even the judiciary fails to protect her family. (Front page, “SC takes note of complaint by rape survivor’s family,” August 1). Instead, her alleged tormentors keep openly threatening her and get her family members and witnesses in the case eliminated. This is a fit occasion for the Supreme Court to step in. A thorough inquiry must be held under its aegis, all culprits arrested immediately and the trial conducted on a day-to-day basis. The victim and her family must be provided strong security. Let people like her tormentors know that rule of law does prevail. In this regard, the fact that the CBI has taken over investigation in the case surely comes as a welcome development.

Harjas Bains,

Bassi Pathana, Punjab

Medical college planned at Dayanand Hospital

02/08/2019,NEW DELHI

Standing Committee of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation on Thursday passed a resolution to set up a medical college at Swami Dayanand Hospital. The hospital gets the most number of daily patients in East Delhi and is planned to be expanded to a 500-bed hospital, the resolution stated. Hospitals with more than 400 beds are suitable for setting up medical colleges and since the hospital meets all other criteria, the move is being undertaken to help train skilled doctors and deliver affordable health care, it said.

Free electricity for Delhiites using up to 200 units

Move will encourage power saving, says Kejriwal; BJP, Cong. call announcement ‘election gimmick’
02/08/2019, STAFF REPORTER,NEW DELHI

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.Sushil Kumar Verma Sushil Kumar Verma

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced free electricity for people consuming up to 200 units under a domestic connection. The decision, which came into effect from August 1, has been taken barely six months before Delhi Assembly elections due in February 2020.

“In Delhi, people who consume up to 200 units will not have to pay electricity bills. Their bills [will be] waived,” Mr. Kejriwal said while addressing a press conference. Those consuming 201-400 units of electricity will get about 50% subsidy, he added.

“Now people using 210 or 300 units will think that if they use under 200 units, their bill will be zero. We believe this will encourage them to save electricity,” the Chief Minister said.

Attacking the move, both the BJP and the Congress termed it an “election gimmick”. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said the Delhi government has “looted” ₹8,500 crore from the people as fixed charge and load charge and demanded that Mr. Kejriwal refund it or else his party will “initiate a movement” against it.

The Chief Minister said around 35% of the total consumers use less than 200 units during summer and in winter, the percentage goes up to around 70. Terming the move “historic”, he claimed Delhi has the cheapest electricity rate in the country.

The Delhi Congress, however, claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party government was misleading the people on power tariff. “It is a lie that Delhi has the cheapest rates of electricity and I challenge Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders who are misguiding people. When Congress was in power, even then power tariff in Delhi was lowest in the country,” senior Congress leader Haroon Yusuf said.

Asked about the timing of the move, Mr. Kejriwal said: “When we took over, the power sector was in a bad state. We worked and slowly improved it. Since then, the DERC has been reducing rates... It was not possible earlier, as power companies’ financial state was bad. At that point, there was no question of making it free.”

(With PTI inputs)

Sheela Priya to head Bharathiar University VC search panel

02/08/2019, STAFF REPORTER,COIMBATORE

The State government has replaced the convener of the three-member search committee to recommend names for the post of Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University following the resignation of K. Ganesan, former Higher Education Secretary, as the government nominee.

According to a Government Order issued on Wednesday, M. Sheela Priya, retired Additional Chief Secretary and former State Chief Information Commissioner, will be the new government nominee.

She has been also appointed as the convener of the search committee replacing Mr .Ganesan, who had resigned within days of his nomination.

Panel members

In the panel, C. Subramaniam, former Vice-Chancellor of Tamil University in Thanjavur, continued as the senate nominee and S.P. Thyagarajan, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras, continued as the syndicate nominee.

The varsity remains without a Vice-Chancellor for more than one-and-a-half years.

Coimbatore siblings’ murder: SC confirms death sentence

2:1 decision concludes that crime is in rarest of rare category

02/08/2019, KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL,NEW DELHI

Manoharan

The Supreme Court, in a 2:1 majority judgment, confirmed the death sentence of a man accused of the gruesome rape and murder of a 10-year-old child and the murder of her seven-year-old brother in Coimbatore nine years ago.

The majority decision of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Hemant Gupta on Thursday concluded that the convict, Manoharan, showed no remorse for the heinous crime and found it to be a case of the “rarest of rare category”, deserving the death penalty. Manoharan had come in appeal.

Justice Sanjeev Khanna, while confirming the guilt of Manoharan, dissented with the majority decision and awarded the accused life sentence without remission/commutation till his natural death. Justice Nariman, writing for the majority, said the trial court and, subsequently, the Madras High Court had correctly balanced the mitigating and aggravating factors for and against Manoharan to find that the “crime committed was cold-blooded and involves the rape of a minor girl and murder of two children in the most heinous fashion possible”.

The majority judgment said Manoharan falsely retracted only those parts of his earlier confessional statement which implicated him of the rape of the young girl and the murder of both children. “Consequently, we confirm the death sentence and dismiss the appeal,” Justice Nariman wrote.

Justice Khanna held that the retraction of the confession should not be treated as absence of remorse or repentance but as “an afterthought or on advice propelled by fear that the appellant (Manoharan), in view of his admission, may face the gallows, and that the earlier confession made seeking forgiveness would be the cause of his death”.

Justice Khanna said the retraction should not be held against Manoharan.