National Herald case: Will appear before Delhi police next week, says Shivakumar
Belagavi (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday said he will appear before the Delhi police next week to provide them the required information, as part of its probe into the National Herald case.
The Delhi Police had issued a notice to Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress chief, seeking financial and transactional details as part of its probe into the National Herald case.
"I had told them, I will come next week after the legislature session. I will go," Shivakumar told reporters in response to a question.
The notice issued by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) states that Shivakumar is “supposed to have vital information” pertaining to the National Herald case registered on October 3 this year, against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
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In the notice dated November 29, the EOW asked Shivakumar to appear before it or provide the requested information by December 19 latest.
Shivakumar, a couple of days ago, had sought the FIR copy from the Delhi police.
In response to a query on state BJP President Vijayendra calling him "Pitamaha of corruption", the Deputy CM said that time will come to respond to the former.
"Will reply to Vijayendra... He called us (state Congress government) ATM of the Congress party. He has to prove it. So I have said whatever I have to. How can he say that this is an ATM and allege that coffers are being emptied and money is being sent (to Congress high command)? Time will come and will respond to him," he said.
Vijayendra had hit back at the Deputy CM for calling him "king of collection", for accusing the Congress government of corruption to fund the party high command.
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SC stays UGC regulation pertaining to definition of caste discrimination
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a recent University Grants Commission (UGC) regulation after various pleas were filed contending that the Commission adopted a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination and excluded certain categories from institutional protection.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Centre and the UGC on the pleas challenging the regulation.
The new regulations mandating all higher education institutions to form "equity committees" to look into discrimination complaints and promote equity were notified on January 13.
The University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, mandated that these committees must include members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), persons with disabilities, and women.
The new regulations replaces the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which was largely advisory in nature.
The pleas assailed the regulation on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is defined strictly as discrimination against members of the SCs, STs and OBCs.
It said that by limiting the scope of "caste-based discrimination" only to SC, ST and OBC categories, the UGC has effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redressal to individuals belonging to the "general" or non-reserved categories who may also face harassment or bias based on their caste identity.
Protests were held at various places against the regulations, with student groups and organisations demanding its immediate rollback.
