Plan priorities while allocating funds: Jhalsa chairman to DLSA
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Ranchi: Jharkhand high court judge and executive chairman of Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority (JHALSA) Justice S N Prasad on Saturday directed the district legal services authorities (DLSA) to plan their priorities while allocating funds for various welfare activities.
Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day training programme on accounts and audits for DLSA secretaries, he said that it is the prime responsibility of secretaries to have an estimate-based on priorities including ensuring access to justice and various state govt schemes like victims' compensation act to people and also make payment to para legal volunteers.
Justice Prasad stated that the expenditure of fund should be according to allocations under different heads adding that any diversion should be after approval of the competent authorities. HC judges including Justice A K Rai and Justice P K Srivastava, JHALSA secretary Ranjana Asthana, HC officials and DLSA secretaries were also present on the occasion.
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Indian Express
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‘No national security, privacy involved in Bengaluru cricket stampede report,' Karnataka HC says while rejecting state government's plea for sealed cover status
The Karnataka High Court last week ruled that a report presented by the state government to the HC regarding the June 4 stampede at the Bengaluru cricket stadium – where 11 fans of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were killed during a celebration of the team's Indian Premier League (IPL) championship victory – does not have to remain a sealed cover document as sought by the government. The Congress government in Karnataka had presented a report to the HC in a sealed cover on June 12 about the stampede after the HC took up a suo motu case on June 5 and posed nine questions to the government regarding the responsibility for the tragedy. The state government had argued against revealing the contents of the sealed cover report to several litigants, who also filed petitions in the HC regarding the tragedy, on the grounds that the revelation of the preliminary findings may influence three separate inquiries – a judicial probe, a magisterial probe and a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) police probe initiated by the state. After hearing arguments, including the version of an amicus curiae appointed to assist the court in the case, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court ruled that the state government's report on the stampede tragedy does not involve national security, public interest or privacy rights and that it does not warrant consignment to a sealed cover. The HC division bench of Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice C M Joshi ruled in an oral order that the case of the Bengaluru stampede deaths does not fall in the category of cases where the Supreme Court has ruled that sealed cover reports can be given. The HC rejected the plea of state Advocate General K M Shashikiran Shetty and special counsel Uday Holla for retaining the state report on the stampede in a sealed cover in the HC. 'Having noted the position of law, it must be stated that, in the facts of this case, the plea of Sri. Shetty and Sri. Holla does not appeal to the Court. This we say so because, the law governing the sealed cover is no more res integra (untouched matter in law) in view of the judgments referred to above and the same will not help the plea advanced by Sri. Shetty and Sri. Holla,' the bench noted. The HC said that the argument that the magisterial inquiry/judicial commission may get influenced by the facts in the status report is without merit because 'surely a retired High Court judge and an all India service officer' dealing with the inquiries 'cannot be susceptible to influences emanating from the status report of respondent No.1.' 'In fact, such arguments have no factual basis. That apart, these proceedings have been initiated suo motu by this Court to know the reasons that led to the tragedy; whether it could have been prevented and what measures to be taken to prevent such tragedies in future. The finding on those issues has to be on factual foundation,' the HC stated. 'Moreover, we are of the view that, if the sealed cover is opened and the report is shared with the respondents, they can assist the court to understand the facts in a better perspective including the reasons which led to the incident and also how it could have been prevented,' the high court further noted. The HC said that the report would contain facts as perceived by the Government, which would not change after reports are submitted by the judicial commission/magisterial inquiry. The HC also said that objections raised by the state to the sharing of some documents regarding deployment of police personnel and arrangements made for regulating traffic during earlier events, and on June 4, do not benefit from claims of confidentiality made by the state. 'So we accordingly direct that, the status report dated 12.06.2025 with translations filed by the State shall be part of the file and a copy thereof shall be furnished by the State to the respondents No.2 to 4 within four days from today (July 8),' the HC ruled. The HC posed nine questions to the Karnataka government with regard to the June 4 stampede at the M Chinnaswamy cricket stadium in Bengaluru. Among the questions posed by the HC are – 'When and who has taken the decision to hold the victory celebration and in what manner?' 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New Indian Express
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Discrimination against SC community remains: Kerala High Court
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Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
Surat district tops in disposal of cases at Lok Adalat
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