Goel meets Manmohan, seeks cooperation for Parliament's running
New Delhi, June 28: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel on Thursday called on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his party Congress' cooperation in smooth functioning of Parliament in the coming monsoon session beginning July 18.
He told Manmohan Singh that 68 bills are pending in the Lok Sabha and 40 in the Rajya Sabha, thus making it imperative for all political parties to cooperate in passing these important bills the 18-day monsoon session.
Goel, who will also be meeting a number of leaders from opposition parties as a part of this effort in the days to come, said that the government was ready to discuss "any issue" on the floor of the House and urged all political parties to extend their support for smooth running of the Parliament.
After the meeting, he told reporters that Manmohan Singh welcomed the initiative of reaching out to various opposition leaders and members for running the House and noted that it was the responsibility of both the ruling and opposition parties to let both the Houses work smoothly.
The last Budget session was a complete wash-out. The productivity of Rajya Sabha was only 8 per cent while that of Lok Sabha was only 4 per cent.
"For this upcoming session, accusations and counter-accusations need to give way to cooperation in letting the Parliament function constructively," Goel said after the meeting.
He added that important pending Bills such as the Muslim Marriage (Protection of Marriage Rights) Bill, 2017; the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017; and the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 need to be passed during the session "in the larger interest of the nation".
Goel also expressed hope that the election of a new Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha will be held in the House with consensus.
The government also needs to pass bills on six Ordinances -- the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018; the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018; the National Sports University Ordinance, 2018; and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
