Too much power to EC? Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna finds fault with 'One Nation, One Election' provision
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
23 minutes ago
- The Hindu
24-hour span to produce accused before magistrate begins when the person is detained: HC
The Kerala High Court has said the 24-hour period to produce an accused before a magistrate commenced from the time the person is effectively detained or his/her liberty curtailed, and not from the time of arrest that the police recorded. A Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas said the non-recording of arrest under one pretext or another was often resorted to under the guise of investigation. Police brutalities generally occured during these periods of uncontrolled authority. Unless there was a check, such unrecorded periods of custody could be the source of human rights violations, the court observed. The Constitution mandates that the person arrested be produced before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours of the arrest. Other than the time needed to reach the magistrate court from the place of arrest, there is a peremptory prohibition that the person arrested shall not be detained beyond the said period without the magistrate's authority, it said and granted bail to Biswajit Mandal of West Bengal, who had been arrayed as accused in a drug case. Mr. Mandal contended that he was detained beyond the 24-hour period, in violation of constitutional and statutory prescriptions and had sought bail. To decide the legal issue regarding when the 24-hour period began, the court had appointed Nikhina Thomas and Neha Babu, second-year students of Ramaiah College, Bengaluru, as amici curiae for providing assistance.
Hindustan Times
23 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
'Electoral rolls can never be static': SC says Bihar SIR 'voter-friendly'
Observing that electoral rolls cannot remain "static" and there is bound to be a revision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the expanded list of acceptable documents of identity from seven to 11 for Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list was in fact 'voter-friendly and not exclusionary.' The Supreme Court also said that the EC had residual power to conduct an exercise like the SIR as it deemed fit.(ANI/File) As the row over the SIR which has been challenged in the top court escalated, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the Election Commission(EC) had the residual power to conduct such an exercise as it deemed fit. The bench also disagreed with a submission by a petitioner that the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar had no basis in law and ought to be quashed. Leaders of opposition parties including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress and the NGO Association of Democratic Reforms(ADR) have challenged the electoral roll revision drive in Bihar. During the hearing of arguments, the ADR submitted that the exercise should not be allowed to be carried out pan-India. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the NGO, said the EC notification on the SIR ought to be set aside for want of legal basis and never being contemplated in law. He, therefore, contended it couldn't be allowed to go on. The EC can never conduct such an exercise since inception and it is being done for the first time in history and if allowed to happen only God knows where it will end, he added. "By that logic special intensive revision can never be done. One-time exercise which is done is only for the original electoral roll. To our mind, the electoral rolls can never be static," the bench noted. "There is bound to be revision," the top court said, "otherwise, how will the poll panel delete the names of those who are dead, migrated or shifted to other constituencies?" The bench also told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, that despite their arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, it appeared that the large number of acceptable documents was "actually inclusionary". "The number of documents in summary revision conducted earlier in the state was seven and in SIR it is 11, which shows it is voter friendly. We understand your arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar is exclusionary but a high number of documents is actually inclusionary." The bench then went on to tell Sankaranarayanan that the EC had residual power to conduct an exercise like the SIR as it deemed fit. It referred to Section 21(3) of the Representation of the Peoples Act (RP Act), which says "the Election Commission may at any time, for reasons to be recorded, direct a special revision of the electoral rolls for any constituency or part of a constituency in such manner as it may think fit." Justice Bagchi further asked Sankaranarayanan, "When the primary legislation says 'in such manner as deemed fit' but the subordinate legislation does not... will it not give a residual discretion to EC to dovetail the procedure not completely in ignorance of rules but some more additives than what the rules prescribe to deal with the peculiar requirement of a special revision?" Sankaranarayanan submitted that the provision only allowed revision of the electoral rolls for "any constituency" or "for part of a constituency" and the EC couldn't wipe out the rolls of an entire state for fresh inclusion. "Actually, it is a battle between a constitutional right and a constitutional power," Justice Bagchi said. The residuary power of the EC flows from Article 324 of the Constitution and the RP Act mentions both summary revision and special revision and the EC in the instant case has only added the word "intensive", that's all, the judge noted. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, also appearing for the NGO, alleged the EC played "mischief" and removed the search feature from the draft roll and the list of 65 lakh people whose names were deleted for being dead, migrated or shifted to other constituencies. "This happened just a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did a press conference pointing out that over lakh people(in an Assembly segment in a Lok Sabha constituency in Bengaluru) were fake voters," he added, arguing that an ordinary person was denied the right to search their name on the draft roll whether dead or alive or migrated to another place. Justice Kant said he was unaware of any such press conference but when it comes to the Registration of Electors Rule of 1960, Section 10 mandates the EC to publish a copy of the draft rolls at the office in the constituency. "They have to publish the draft rolls at the office in the constituency. That's a minimum threshold under the law. However, we would have liked it if it was published on the website for wider publicity," Justice Bagchi said. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the EC, said the petitioners claimed the rural population of Bihar was not tech savvy and now they were talking about the inability of the same people in searching online. On August 12, the top court said inclusion and exclusion of citizens or non-citizens from the electoral rolls was within the remit of the Election Commission and backed its stand to not accept Aadhaar and voter cards as conclusive proof of citizenship in the SIR of voters' list in Bihar.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
23 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Karnataka Assembly passes bills to simplify real estate use for MSMEs
The Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday passed nine bills, including Karnataka Land Reforms and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill. Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who piloted the Karnataka Land Reforms and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill for the consideration of the House said, "There will be auto-conversion." It permits the use of up to two acres of agricultural land for new micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) without the need for a formal conversion process. The bill also proposes doing away with conversion of agricultural lands if they are used for renewable energy projects. It proposes a penalty of Rs 1 lakh for selling any agricultural land for nonagricultural purposes, without getting such land converted or without obtaining prior approval of the competent authority. It has therefore removed a three-year imprisonment clause, because so far, this violation carried an imprisonment for three years and fine of Rs 10,000. The Assembly also passed the Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Bill aimed at simplifying the property registration process, while also allowing the use of technology. It proposes to reduce human intervention, and provides for digital signatures to approve property registrations. The bill mandates that Sub-Registrars conduct due diligence during property registration to protect public interests. It will ensure that property software is integrated to prevent illegal registration of properties in urban areas and to simplify property registration. The Assembly also passed Bills related to the development authorities of Basavakalyan, Kaginele, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Heritage Area, Kittur, Kudala Sangama, Banavasi, and Sarvajna Kshetra -- to make the Chief Minister or Revenue Minister or any other Minister as chosen by the Chief Minister as the chairman of these authorities. Noting that the CM is the chairman of all these authorities at present, the Revenue Minister said, "Due to work pressure and other reasons it is difficult for Chief Minister to pay attention towards the functioning of these authorities, so an opportunity is being provided now for Chief Minister or Revenue Minister or any other Minister to be the chairman and over see their functioning." Also, the Greater Bengaluru Governance (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was tabled in the Assembly, which is said to be aimed at giving clarity regarding the functions of the Greater Bengaluru Authority. It is likely to be taken up for discussion and passage in the days ahead.
