&w=3840&q=100)
SC refuses to stay HC order restraining DMK from using OTP verification
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar dismissed the appeal filed by the DMK, saying the issue is sensitive. The whole process is suspect, it said.
"The court has to protect the citizens. Go back to the high court. We are not inclined to interfere in the matter. Dismissed," the bench said.
Senior advocate P Wilson, appearing for the DMK, submitted that the party was not collecting Aadhaar details.
He contended that the high court had wrongly passed the order as there was no injunction sought in the matter.
"My whole programme has come to a standstill. 1.7 crore members have come and offered thematic. I am doing what other parties like BJP and Aam Aadmi Party are doing. I am not collecting Aadhaar details," Wilson said.
On July 21, the high court issued an injunction restraining the DMK from using OTP verification messages for its enrolment drive, saying the matter involves aspects of data protection and privacy which are to be examined by the court.
The HC said since personal data is being collected from people, the PIL raises serious concerns about the right to privacy and the infrastructure available for data protection.
It passed the order while hearing a plea filed by S Rajkumar, a resident of T Athikarai village in Sivaganga district.
The plea said DMK cadres and functionaries are collecting the personal and Aadhaar details from the public in his locality under the guise of 'Oraniyil Tamil Nadu'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
18 minutes ago
- The Hindu
National Task Force to address discrimination and student suicides in universities; launches surveys, website
The National Task Force (NTF) constituted by the Supreme Court to address student suicides and mental well-being in higher education institutions on Friday (August 8, 2025) launched a website hosting five surveys to gather inputs from stakeholders, including students, parents, faculty, mental health professionals, and members of the public. The NTF was set up earlier this year in the context of student suicides across premier institutions, after parents of several students who had died by suicide — including those of IIT Delhi's Ayush Ashna and Anil Kumar, both from Scheduled Caste backgrounds — approached the court seeking directions on caste discrimination, institutional support mechanisms, and administrative responses. The petitioners also included the families of Dalit students Rohith Vemula (2016) and Payal Tadvi (2019). The court constituted the task force in March. Members of the NTF told The Hindu that the panel is conducting institute visits, stakeholder and expert meetings, alongside the newly launched surveys. One member said the NTF had so far visited six institutes in Delhi and Bengaluru, including AIIMS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Ramjas College, the Indian Institute of Science, and Bangalore Medical College. On future visits, the member said, 'The NTF will also visit private universities. There are over 50,000 institutes across the country. It is not possible to visit all of them. The task force is yet to decide on whether to visit institutes like IITs, given that the incidents in those institutes have already been investigated by multiple committees.' The 12-member NTF is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ravindra Bhat, with experts in development studies, psychiatry, and civil society, and the Joint Secretary of Higher Education as Convener. Secretaries of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Education, Social Justice, Health, Women and Child Development, and the Department of Legal Affairs are ex-officio members. Its mandate includes identifying 'predominant' causes of student suicides - including ragging, discrimination, academic pressure, financial burden, and stigma around mental health - analysing existing regulations to assess institutional and systemic shortcomings, and recommending steps to improve student mental health and prevent suicides. An NTF member said that during visits, the panel holds interactions with all stakeholder groups, including closed-door sessions with students to enable them to share grievances freely. The surveys, available at include separate questionnaires for students, parents, institutional representatives, mental health professionals, and the public. The site, accessible in English and Hindi, also provides student support resources with helpline numbers and a platform for institutes to share data. While the matter was being heard, the University Grants Commission issued a draft regulation for promoting equity and addressing discrimination on campuses, after petitioners argued that the 2012 regulations were inadequate. Following the draft's release, the petitioners submitted that the 2025 version diluted earlier provisions. The court permitted the UGC to proceed with the notification process, noting that the NTF's mandate covered the subject and that the regulation could be amended based on the task force's recommendations, if required. An interim report is expected in September, following which the NTF is scheduled to submit the final report by the end of this year. Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies could also seek help from Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health suicide prevention by calling 011-40769002 or any of the numbers found in this link.
The Hindu
18 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Akshaya entrepreneurs in Ernakulam suspend K-Smart services over low service charges
Akshaya entrepreneurs in Ernakulam district, affiliated to the Akshaya Welfare Association, have unofficially suspended K-Smart services in protest against what they allege is an abysmally low service charge unilaterally fixed by the State government without any consultation. On Friday (August 8, 2025), the association laid siege to the district project office and submitted a representation, along with their charter of rates, to the district project manager, who assured them that it would be forwarded to the State project office. The government had issued the order fixing service charges for K-Smart services on Wednesday (August 6, 2025). 'Unless the government decides to revisit the rates, we will go ahead and start charging service charges as per our charter from Saturday (August 9,2025). We cannot continue causing inconvenience to the public by suspending the delivery of K-Smart services,' said G.K. Sreeraj, secretary, Akshaya Welfare Association. Meanwhile, Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh clarified that K-Smart, the digital platform developed by the Information Kerala Mission for the Local Self-Government department, was designed to be user-friendly, enabling anyone with basic computer skills to access it. However, people continue to rely on Akshaya centres. There have been complaints about service charges varying across centres, with some allegedly collecting exorbitant fees. The K-Smart service charges were fixed in this context, Mr. Rajesh said. Since the launch of Project Akshaya 23 years ago, service fees have been revised only once—in 2018. Akshaya entrepreneurs have been up in arms ever since, citing the negligible revision, which they said did not reflect rising operational costs or the stiff competition from private citizen service centres. 'The sad part is that even the revised service charges for K-Smart services were fixed unilaterally and kept abysmally low,' said Mr. Sreeraj. He cited the example of the charge for changing building ownership—a process that involves scanning and uploading the title deed, possession certificate, consent letter from the previous owner, death certificate (if applicable), two pages of the Haritha Karma Sena register, and entering building details in both English and Malayalam. 'This laborious process takes up to 30 minutes, yet the service charge is just ₹50,' he rued. A similar situation exists with the service charge for marriage registration, said Mr. Sreeraj. The process involves entering the one-time password received by the bride, bridegroom, and two witnesses, uploading the Aadhaar cards and SSLC books of the couple, feeding in their personal details in both English and Malayalam, uploading the marriage certificate, and completing a video verification of the newly-wed couple. 'The entire process takes up to 45 minutes, yet the service charge is just ₹70 for the general category and ₹50 for the scheduled category—while the government fee for marriage registration itself is ₹120,' he pointed out.
NDTV
18 minutes ago
- NDTV
Top Court Refuses To "Gag" Media From Covering Dharmasthala Mass Burial Case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to gag media from reporting on the Dharmasthala mass burial case in Karnataka. A bench of Justices Rajesh Bindal and Manmohan, however, directed a trial court in Karnataka to decide afresh the plea filed by the secretary of the Dharmasthala Temple seeking removal of what he alleged was defamatory content targeting the family managing the temple. The top court noted gag orders were passed only in extremely rare cases and asked the petitioner to place all materials before the trial court. The bench clarified it hadn't expressed opinion on the merits of the matter The high court on August 1 set aside a gag order issued by a Bengaluru civil court restraining reportage on the burial case. The gag order was over reports on the alleged murders of women in Dharmasthala in the state's Dakshina Kannada district. The petitioner's lawyer alleged around 8,000 YouTube channels were running defamatory material against the temple. Harshendra Kumar D, Secretary of the Dharmasthala Temple body, moved the apex court seeking removal of the alleged defamatory content. On July 23, the CJI-led bench declined to hear another petition filed by YouTube channel Third Eye challenging a sweeping gag order that restrained media houses from reporting on matters related to the brother of Dharamadhikari D Veerendra Heggade of Dharamsthala in Karnataka. The plea, filed against an ex parte interim order of a local court, questioned the legality of the directive which directed as many as 390 media houses to remove nearly 9,000 links and stories related to the Dharamsthala burial case. The gag order was passed in Kumar's defamation suit alleging spread of false and defamatory online content, despite the absence of specific allegations against him or the temple authorities in any FIR. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara recently said a thorough investigation must precede any conclusions regarding the alleged murders of women in Dharmasthala. The state government has constituted a special investigation team to probe the allegations.
