BJP government in Uttarkhand spent Rs. 68 lakh on tea, snacks in 9 months: RTI
Dehradun: The state government in Uttarakhand, headed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, has spent over Rs. 68 lakh in nine months on tea and snacks revealed a Right To Information (RTI).
The RTI request was sent by an activist, Hemant Singh Gaunia, to the BJP government in Dehradun on December 19, 2017, asking for details on the money spent on tea and snacks ever since the new government was sworn in on March 18 last year.
The state government, in its response, said "68 lakh, 59 thousand and 865 rupees have been spent".
The money has been spent by the ministers and other officials in entertaining guests, specifically on tea and snacks, it said.
Trivendra Singh Rawat was sworn-in as the ninth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand after the BJP's landslide win in the assembly polls last March. The party had won 57 of the 70 seats in the Uttarkhand assembly.
A similar RTI enquiry in 2016 had revealed that the then chief minister Harish Rawat's government had spent nearly Rs. 1.5 crore between February 2014 and July 2016 on tea and breakfast.
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HC dismisses Abu Salem’s plea seeking immediate release after completing '25 years' in jail
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed gangster Abu Salem’s plea for immediate release, claiming he had served 25 years in jail in India mandated under the terms of his extradition from Portugal.
In his plea, Salem had contended that if remission for good behaviour is included, then his 25-year jail term is complete and hence he ought to be freed.
A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata said it cannot hold that the 25-year jail term is complete, as it would be premature to say anything at this stage on the point of remission.
The court relied on a Supreme Court judgment wherein it was held that remission of a prisoner would need to be calculated a month before the applicant’s release.
“Therefore, the present petition (filed by Salem) is dismissed,” the court said.
A copy of the detailed order is yet to be made available.
Salem’s plea, filed through advocate Farhana Shah, had said that when he was extradited from Portugal in 2005, India had assured that he would not be handed over the death penalty in any case and that he would not be imprisoned for more than 25 years.
The government had opposed his plea, noting that Salem has spent only 19 years in jail and that a decision on his premature release was pending.
Salem was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case and sentenced to life imprisonment.
