Election Commission of India’s panel counsel in the Supreme Court, Advocate Mohit D Ram has tendered his resignation from the post.

According to LiveLaw, Advocate Ram stated, “It was an honour to represent the Election Commission of India. I had a cherishing milestone of my career, in the journey which began with being part of the office of Standing Counsel of ECI and progressed as one of the panel counsels of ECI (since 2013). However, I have found that my values are not in consonance with the current functioning of the ECI; and hence I withdraw myself from the responsibilities of its panel counsel before the Supreme Court of India.”

In related news, the ECI’s plea seeking restraint on the media from reporting oral observations made by judges during court proceedings was dismissed by the Supreme Court on May 6.

The plea by ECI was prompted by certain strong remarks made by the Madras High Court Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy against the Commission officers for failing to curb the abuse of Covid-19 protocols during election rallies. The Bench had said that they should probably be booked for murder and that the EC is responsible for the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.  

The Supreme Court, while hearing the ECI’s appeal, held that “freedom of speech and expression extends to reporting the proceedings of judicial institutions as well” and that the judges views and remarks while hearing a matter is “intrinsic to a process of open and transparent judging.”

However, Mohit Ram was not part of this matter.

Related:

Election Commission officers should probably be booked for murder: Madras HC
We cannot gag reporting of proceedings: SC dismisses EC’s plea against Madras HC’s ‘murder’ remark

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After days of speculation and a trip to New Delhi for meetings, Trivendra Singh Rawat, has resigned as Uttarakhand Chief Minister on Tuesday. He was in Delhi on Monday, where he is said to have met with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership. The endorsement of his exit seems to have been made obvious, and the 60-year-old Rawat handed in his resignation to Governor Baby Rani Maurya. He would have completed four years as CM, in a few days.

“I have submitted my resignation as the chief minister to the Governor today. BJP legislature party meeting is scheduled to be held at 10 AM tomorrow at the party office,” Rawat told the media. According to Indian Express, accepting his resignation, the Governor has asked Rawat to be the caretaker CM till a new candidate is selected for the post.

According to NDTV, state minister Dhan Singh Rawat, is likely to be appointed the new Chief Minister, he reportedly flew down from to the state capital Dehradun in a private helicopter this afternoon.

Trivendra Singh Rawat’s resignation, stated NDTV is a part of “the BJP’s course-correction in the state a year ahead of polls.” According to news reports it was Rawat’s own colleagues from the state who told the  BJP leadership in Delhi that his “below par performance would cost the party” in the next polls.

However, changing a CM, barely a year before elections may also send a message to the voters that the BJP does not trust its senior member, who has been heading the state government for nearly four years.

It is being speculated that Rawat’s “handling” of the Chamoli flash flood was the final blow. Now the news is also abuzz on how yesterday, the  BJP chief JP Nadda met with Home Minister Amit Shah and senior BJP leader BL Santosh, before he met Rawat. According to NDTV, the party also sent Raman Singh and Dushyant Gautam, to Dehradun on Saturday “for an assessment.” The report added that these two leaders met with MLAs, as well as and leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and submitted a report to the BJP president “recommending change and damage control”. More meetings will now be held before the state’s next Chief Minister is appointed.

According to the Hindustan Times “the BJP has already drafted its new blueprint in which there will be a deputy chief minister — a tested model of BJP governance.” A strong contender of the deputy CM post is Khatime constituency MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami, while Dhan Singh Rawat, Ajay Bhatt and Anil Baluni (both MPs) are in the race to be CM. The IE reported that “senior MLAs have also been demanding the expansion of the State Cabinet where three berths have been lying vacant for two years”. The BJP has to prepare for the state elections due in 2022, in 2017, the party came to power winning 57 out of 70 seats.

It has been reported that Rawat has been accused of not taking others along in key decision making. The IE reported that some MLAs from Uttarakhand “had conveyed their dissatisfaction with the functioning of Rawat’s government to the central leadership and the RSS.” 

Related

BJP begins to pay a political price as farmers’ struggle completes three months
Punished the Glacier
Uttarakhand lost over 50,000 hectares of forest land since 1991: MoEF data
Around 170 still missing in the tragedy in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli

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Banaras Hindu University (BHU) vice-chancellor (V-C) Girish Chandra Tripathi went on leave on Monday citing personal reasons, according to varsity sources. Tripathi and BHU Registrar did not respond to calls and an SMS left by this reporter. As first reported by The Indian Express on September 28, the government had sounded out the V-C on the option of going on leave. Tripathi is learnt to have put in his application on Monday, less than two months before he retires as the head.

The functioning of he BHU, criticised over some years had reached an all time low under his tenure that began on November 2014.

The rest of the story may be read here:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/banaras-hindu-university-vc-girsh-chandra-tripathi-goes-on-leave-4871346/

Related Stories:
1. Another Example of the Undemocratic Functioning of VC Girish Tripathi, Minutes of BHU-IIT ‘Doctored’
 

The post VC Girish Tripathi ‘Goes on Leave, BHU reports The Indian Express appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Different things hit different people. Not known for sober or responsible journalism, when Arnav Goswami launched the Republic channel, backed by funds from the BJP politician, many journalists joined his venture. One of them has, yesterday, resigned. Disgusted with his coverage of senior journalist and activist, Gauri Lankesh’s brute murder, Sumana Nandy has not merely resigned but has made her decision public on Facebook, also saying quite clearly that she will not put her tenure with the Repubic on her CV! That is saying something for a journalist, especially today.

While some on social media have criticised her for joining the Republic in the first place, we salute her decision.

Here is what she says on her FB post. Sumana Nandy of the Republic, who resigned says:
 
” I have always been proud of the organisations I have worked with in my extremely small career in journalism. But today I am ashamed! An ‘independent’ news organisation is now batting for a rogue government. And openly so. 
 A journalist is murdered in cold blood days after receiving death threats from the BJP-RSS cadres. And instead of questioning these murderers, you question the opposition? Where is the integrity? Where are we heading? Some ‘journalists’ are even celebrating the massacre (that she brought it on herself.) Well, yes! This is what happens in Saudi Arabia and North Korea. We are just a few more deaths away from catching up with these countries. 
 If the fourth pillar sells its soul, where will the society go? 
 We have failed you, ma’am. All I know, you are probably in a much much better place. 
 P.S.: For whatever it is worth and whatever significance it has, I have decided to not put Republic TV as one of my employers on my CV and on social media. I regret my association with this rogue organisation. 
 #GauriLankesh
 

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