Mangaluru: MRPL celebrates Constitution Day
Mangaluru: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) marked Constitution Day on 26 November 2025 with a day-long programme organised by its Legal Department at the company’s Training Centre.
Hon’ble Justice N. K. Sudhindra Rao, retired Judge of the Karnataka High Court and Chairman of the Karnataka State Police Complaints Authority, Bengaluru, attended as Chief Guest. The event was presided over by Nandakumar V. Pillai, Director (Refinery). Senior officials, including Ganesh S. Bhat, IFS, CVO; several GGMs; officers; and employees, were present.
Welcoming the gathering, Krishna Hegde Miyar, GGM (HR), spoke about the core principles of the Constitution. The Preamble was read in Kannada, Hindi and English by Sathyanarayana H. C., GGM (TS); Deepak Prabhakar P., ED (Marketing & BD); and N. Anandha Kumar, ED (Refinery).
Al Rafeeq Moideen, CGM – Legal, traced the evolution of Constitution Day from its earlier observance as National Law Day in 1979 to its formal designation in 2015. In his remarks, Nandakumar V. Pillai described the Constitution as a living document shaped by global democratic practices and reiterated MRPL’s adherence to integrity, ethical conduct and public responsibility under its CSR framework.
Justice Sudhindra Rao, addressing the gathering, spoke on the Supreme Court’s role in safeguarding Fundamental Rights and noted that these rights gain relevance when citizens also uphold their Fundamental Duties. He said the social, secular and democratic character of the Constitution forms its basic structure, which cannot be amended. He discussed Articles 14, 19 and 21—often termed the Golden Triangle—and outlined the scope of constitutional writs, referring to landmark cases including A.K. Gopalan, Maneka Gandhi and ADM Jabalpur.
Two books compiled by the MRPL Legal team—An Overview of Arbitration Cases: Learnings from Past Experiences and Strategies for the Future and Gist of the Factories Act & Rules Regarding Safety Aspects and the Punishments Provided Thereunder—were released by Justice Rao.
Prizes were distributed to winners of quiz competitions held as part of the programme. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Praful Mohan, GM – Legal. The proceedings were compered by Ms. Kavitha.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
