Judge, who wrote to PM on nepotism, denied farewell party
Lucknow July 4: Justice Rang Nath Pandey of the Allahabad High Court was Thursday denied an official farewell on his retirement, days after he reportedly wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on deficiencies in the collegium system of appointing judges.
Justice Pandey retired Tuesday from the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. A full court farewell reference by the Lucknow bench of the court, held traditionally for high court judges on their retirement, was scheduled to take place Thursday.
But the July 1 notice issued for the farewell reference was withdrawn by the senior registrar of the Lucknow bench of the high court Thursday.
The registrar attributed the withdrawal of the notice to "unforeseen circumstances".
"Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the notice dated July 1, 2019 regarding Full Court reference (farewell) is hereby withdrawn, said another notice on Thursday, signed by Senior Registrar Manvendra Singh of the high court's Lucknow bench.
It has been the high court practice to extend farewell reference to retiring judges and the high court administration had on July 1 issued an official notice for according the farewell reference.
The notice about the farewell was also forwarded amongst others to Lucknow-based Oudh Bar Association (OBA) and it’s president and general secretary, besides the state government's advocate general, the Lucknow-based additional solicitor general of India and other law officers.
The Oudh Bar Association, however, welcomed Justice Pandey in the Bar and accorded him the farewell.
On the occasion, Justice Pandey condemned the present process of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.
The farewell function was attended by OBA president A M Tripathi, senior vice president S P Singh, joint secretaries Rishabh Tripathi and Ashok Sahu and Assistant Solicitor General S P Pandey amongst others.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
