Kerala govt moves apex court against HC order quashing Rs 20 crore Nava Kerala programme
New Delhi (PTI): Kerala government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Kerala High Court order that set aside its decision to allocate Rs 20 crore for the Nava Kerala Citizen Response Programme.
The move came a day after the high court described the decision as a "colourable exercise of executive power" that violated the Rules of Business, delivering a setback to the ruling CPI(M).
In its appeal, the state government submitted that while exercising its Public Interest Litigation (PIL) jurisdiction, the high court has set aside a policy programme approved by the Council of Ministers of the State and further set aside consequential financial sanction and budgetary proceedings.
It said the court erred in failing to appreciate the constitutional scheme under Articles 202 to 205 of the Constitution.
Kerala government stated that the high court granted reliefs in the PIL that were not even sought, thereby transgressing the settled limits of PIL jurisdiction.
"It is submitted that the high court interfered with the government's power to implement governance and development outreach programmes and seriously prejudiced the ability of the state to take policy decisions involving public expenditure and thus disturbed the constitutional balance between the executive and judiciary," the plea said.
A high court bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M on Tuesday held that the expenditure incurred for implementing the programme is in violation of the rules of business.
The court's order came on two pleas, one of them by Kerala Students Union (KSU) state president Aloshious Xavier, seeking to quash the order launching the programme and restrain the government from "misusing public funds for personal and political gain of the ruling party or front".
The opposition Congress has criticised the Kerala government over the matter, also known as the Nava Kerala Survey initiative, alleging that it was an attempt to channel government funds to the ruling CPI(M) and its youth wing, the DYFI, for election campaigning.
The party claimed that the survey was being conducted to further the CPI(M)'s electoral prospects.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
