DK, Udupi districts get Rs 3 crore each: RV Deshpande

Emergency relief for natural calamity

Relief works in Someshwara, Uchila, Ullal sea erosion inspected

Vartha Bharati | 14-06-2018 | 18:43:00 IST

Mangaluru, June 14: Revenue and Skills Development Minister RV Deshpande said that Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts which incurred heavy damage in the recent rains were released Rs 3 crore each to take up emergency relief works.

After inspecting the damages caused to a number of houses due to rain related incidents and consoling the affected people at Anegundi in Bijai of the city on Thursday, the Minister disbursed the cheques for Rs 1,01,900 each for house owners Bhavani and Anuradha.

Later he said that both Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have incurred heavy loss due to rains. All deputy commissioners were directed to reserve Rs 5 crore for taking up relief measures during natural calamities and take up relief measures on war-footing. Hundreds of houses were damaged due to rain and falling of trees. Government and private properties were also damaged. In order to take a stock of the situation, he has visited these districts, he said.

If a house is partially damaged in the rain-related incident, the compensation amount to be given to the victims is too less. But the government is thinking on how to increase this amount. Some people are in rented houses. But as per the norms, they would not get any relief. So, the government is thinking in all directions to help them on humanitarian ground, he said.

Problem was cropped up in Charmadi Ghats yesterday. Deputy Commissioner has already banned vehicular movement on the road. The restriction would be lifted soon after the road is cleared for movement, he said.

Minister inspected sea erosion retention works

Later, the Minister also visited Someshwara, Uchila and Ullala coastal area where retention works were taken up to check sea erosion. Urban Development Minister UT Khader, Mayor Bhaskar Moily, MLC Harish Kumar, DC Sasikumar Senthil, City Corporation Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer and others were present.

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SC refuses to entertain plea against deletion of names from WB voter list, terms it ‘premature’

13-04-2026 ¦ 13-04-2026 IST

PC: NDTV

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea by a group of 13 people seeking its intervention in the deletion of their names from the voter list during the Special Institutional Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, where polling for the first phase of the assembly election will be held on April 23.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi termed the petition "premature", directing the aggrieved parties to approach the established appellate tribunals instead.

"Since the petitioners (Quaraisha Yeasmin and others) have already approached the appellate tribunals… in our considered view, the apprehensions expressed in the petition are premature. If the plea is allowed, then necessary consequences will follow,” the bench said in its order, adding that it has not expressed any views on the merits of the plea.

The plea alleged that the Election Commission was summarily deleting names without following due process, and that appeals against these deletions were not being heard in a timely manner.

The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has set up as many as 19 tribunals headed by former HC chief justices and judges to decide appeals against deletions of names of persons from the voters’ lists.

Senior advocate D S Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, informed the court that there are approximately 30 to 34 lakh appeals currently pending. "Every tribunal now has over one lakh appeals to handle," the bench said.

The petitioners’ counsel argued that the EC had failed to place necessary orders before the relevant judicial authorities and that the "freezing date" for the electoral rolls should be extended.

"If I am not allowed to argue, then what is the use? Will these appeals be decided within a timeframe or just kept extending?" the counsel asked.

Justice Bagchi, during the hearing, referred to the sanctity of the electoral process and said the right to vote is not merely a constitutional formality but a "sentimental" pillar of democracy.

"The right to vote in a country you were born in is not just constitutional, but sentimental. It is about being part of a democracy and helping elect a government," he said.

He, however, said that the tribunals, manned by former judges, cannot be overburdened by fixing the timelines for adjudications.

"It is not the end justifying the means, but the means justifying the end," Justice Bagchi said.

"We need to protect due process rights. The voter should not be sandwiched between two constitutional authorities," he said, adding that it would not interdict the election process at this stage.

Justice Bagchi noted that the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice had already formulated the manner and mode for appeals, which began on Monday.

"Unless and until an enormous number of voters are excluded or it materially affects the election... the election cannot be cancelled," the bench said, adding that judicial intervention is intended to "promote elections, not interdict them."

The CJI emphasised that the petitioners must exhaust their remedies before the appellate tribunals.

Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.