Gujarat school faces backlash after asking students to write postcards congratulating PM Modi on CAA
Ahmedabad, Jan 9: A private school in the city had to face angry parents after it asked students to write congratulatory postcards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The trustee of Little Star School in Maninagar area said later that it was only a writing exercise, and the cards were not meant to be posted.
The school is affiliated to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board.
A video on social media showed parents protesting against the school's initiative, and tearing up a few postcards themselves.
One of the postcards read, "I, a citizen of India, congratulate honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). I and my family support this act".
After facing backlash from parents, Jinesh Parasram, the school trustee, said the purpose was merely to improve English writing skills of class IX and X students, and the postcards were not going to be sent to the prime minister.
The school had no intention to force students to write a message in favour of the CAA, he said.
"We conduct many essay and composition exercises in the class to improve language skills of our students and this was part of such exercises," the trustee said.
"When some parents learnt about it, they came to us saying this may give the wrong impression that they were supporting the CAA. They wanted to make sure that nothing in favour or against the Act is written by students. So as per their wish, we destroyed all the postcards," he added.
The act, which offers citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 2015, had led to protests across the country.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
