Stockholm, April 17: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Monday evening to a warm welcome on the first leg of his three-nation tour of Europe that will also see him going to Britain and Germany.
Breaking protocol, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven received Modi at the airport here with a warm handshake.
This is the first prime ministerial visit from India to Sweden in 30 years after the visit of Rajiv Gandhi in 1988.
On Tuesday, Modi will hold a bilateral summit with Lofven following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed.
This apart, Modi and Lofven will attend a round table of Swedish CEOs.
India and Sweden will on Tuesday also co-host the first ever India-Nordic Summit, where, apart from Modi and Lofven, the Prime Ministers of the other four Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway will also be present.
Modi will hold separate bilateral meetings with the leaders of the other four Nordic countries on the sidelines of the summit.
From Sweden, Modi will leave for Britain where he will hold a bilateral summit with British Prime Minister Theresa May on April 18.
On April 19-20, he will attend this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.
While returning from Britain on April 20, he will stop over in Germany where he will a meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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SC says no to plea against selection of Delhi Waqf Board administrator
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday refused to examine a plea against the appointment of Delhi government’s Principal Secretary (Home) Ashwani Kumar as the Delhi Waqf Board administrator on January 10.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal asked the petitioner to move the Delhi High Court.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by one Zameer Ahmad Jumlana seeking directions to restrain and prohibit Kumar from discharging functions as the administrator of the Delhi Waqf Board and to vacate the office with immediate effect.
Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena, who approved Kumar's appointment, also okayed the appointment of IAS officer Azimul Haque as Delhi Waqf Board's CEO on January 3.
The petition alleged the term of the Delhi State Waqf Board expired on August 26, 2023, and since then no board was constituted.
The plea contended in the absence of the board, its powers were taken over by the LG by appointing Kumar purportedly using the powers under Section 99 of the Waqf Act, 1995.
"When the tenure of the board has lapsed on August 26, 2023, there is no question of exercise of any power of the state government under Section 99 of the Waqf Act 1995 to take over the board. Thus, the respondent number 1 is an usurper of the power of the Delhi State Waqf Board,” it said.
According to the petition, Kumar was not eligible under the Waqf Act of 1995 and took advantage of the fact that the Delhi Waqf Board was in an indefinite abeyance due to the negligence of the respondents.
On May 28, the Delhi High Court dismissed a similar plea filed by one Yasmin Ali and imposed Rs 10,000 costs.
The high court said the plea was publicity-oriented and an abuse of the process of law as it did not give any valid reasons for quashing the appointment of the city government officer as the administrator of the board.
