CBI raids Jain's residence, AAP cries foul
New Delhi, May 30: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday raided the residence of Delhi Health and Power Minister Satyendra Jain in connection with hiring of creative teams for Mohalla clinics, schools and other such programmes.
"CBI raids my house for hiring creative team by PWD (Public Works Department). Professionals were hired for different projects. All were forced to leave by CBI," Jain said.
Last year, CBI had initiated a preliminary enquiry related to the hiring of 24 architects without following the laid-down rules and norms.
Reacting to the raid on Jain's residence, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: "What does PM Modi want?"
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia while quoting a report said that NITI Aayog favoured these creative teams.
"The Aam Aadmi Party is not going to stop with these practice," he said.
On Monday, CBI closed a case against Jain related to the hiring of his daughter for Mohalla Clinic.
In August last year, a corruption case was filed against Jain.
The raids were going on till 10 a.m.
The case has been registered against Jain, S.K. Srivastava, the then Engineer-in-Chief in PWD and others, a CBI official said here.
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Bombay High Court strikes down Centre's plan to set up Fact-Check Unit
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has struck down the central government's plan to establish a fact-checking unit (FCU) under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023. The decision comes in response to a petition filed by standup comedian Kunal Kamra, challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's move.
Justice A.S. Chandurkar, delivering the final verdict, declared that the proposed IT Amendment Rules violated key provisions of the Indian Constitution, namely Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression), and 19(1)(g) (right to profession).
“I have considered the matter extensively. The impugned rules are violative of Articles 14, 19, and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India,” Justice Chandurkar said in his judgment. He further remarked that terms like "fake, false, and misleading" in the IT Rules were "vague" and lacked a clear definition, making them unconstitutional.
This judgment followed a split verdict issued by a division bench of the Bombay High Court in January. The bench, consisting of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, was divided in their opinions. While Justice Patel ruled that the IT Rules amounted to censorship and struck them down, Justice Gokhale upheld the rules, arguing that they did not pose a "chilling effect" on free speech, as the petitioners had claimed.
The matter was then referred to a third judge, leading to today's decision. The Supreme Court had previously stayed the Centre's notification that would have made the fact-checking unit operational, stating that the government could not proceed until the Bombay High Court ruled on the case.
Kunal Kamra and other petitioners had argued that the amendments posed unreasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. They contended that the provisions would lead to government-led censorship, effectively granting the government unchecked powers to determine what constitutes 'truth' online. The petitioners further claimed that such powers would turn the government into "prosecutor, judge, and executioner" in matters of online content.
With the Bombay High Court’s ruling, the Centre's move to create fact-checking units has been effectively halted, reaffirming the importance of protecting freedom of speech and expression in the digital space.
