Karnataka increases water discharge from Almatti dam
Mumbai: Karnataka has so far discharged 4.50 lakh cusecs water from the Almatti dam, a move which is expected to ease flood situation in Kolhapur and Sangli districts of Maharashtra.
An official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) here said at present the discharge from the dam on the Krishna river in Bijapur district of neighbouring Karnataka was 4,50,000 cusecs (cubic foot per second).
The discharge from the dam was 4,30,352 cusecs at 10 am on Friday which was later raised to 4,50,000, he said.
The official said by Friday evening, the discharge would be 5 lakh cusecs as demanded by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from his Karnataka counterpart B S Yediyurappa.
Fadnavis had said on Thursday that he had requested his Karnataka counterpart to discharge 5 lakh cusecs, a demand which he has agreed to.
The CM had said discharge from the Almatti dam will result in drop in water level in Kolhapur and Sangli district in western Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Fadnavis on Friday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the flood situation in the state.
A statement from the CMO said the Prime Minister took detailed information on the situation, rescue and relief measures and assured all assistance from the Centre.
An Indian Air Force helicopter has landed in Sangli, where it will be deployed to distribute relief material, the statement said. A total of 34 teams are working in Kolhapur and 36 in Sangli. These include teams of the NDRF, Navy, Coast Guard and SDRF, it added.
Besides Sangli and Kolhapur, Satara, Pune and Solapur districts are also reeling under floods.
As of Thursday, over two lakh people have been evacuated to safer places in these five flood-affected districts.
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CCI probe order on Amazon, Flipkart: SC transfers all pending cases to Karnataka HC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday transferred to Karnataka High Court petitions of Amazon and Flipkart, challenging a Competition Commission of India order for a probe into the e-commerce giants for alleged malpractices.
A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said if pleadings in some of the transferred petitions were not completed, the judge seized of the matter would grant reasonable time to complete the pleadings.
"It will be appropriate if all the petitions which are the subject matter of this transfer petition are transferred for hearing to the High Court of Karnataka," the bench said.
During the hearing, Attorney General R Venkataramani informed the apex court that, after filing of the present petition by fair trade regulator the Competition Commission of India (CCI), five pleas had been filed in different high courts.
The top court directed that these petitions be transferred to the High Court of Karnataka.
"If similar petitions are hereafter instituted in any other high court, the same shall be also covered by this order," the bench said.
The apex court had earlier issued a notice on the plea filed by the CCI, which sought the transfer of the petitions filed by the e-commerce giants from the high courts to the top court or Delhi High Court.
In its plea before the top court, the CCI sought directions to transfer either to the Supreme Court or Delhi High Court the cases pending before the high courts of Allahabad, Madras, Telangana, Punjab and Haryana, Delhi, and Karnataka.
The fair trade regulator ordered the probe into Flipkart and Amazon following allegations of malpractices, including deep discounting and tie-ups with preferred sellers on their platforms.
The CCI's probe order came after a complaint by the Delhi Vyapar Mahasang, whose members comprise many traders of smartphones and related accessories.
Amazon and Flipkart filed separate petitions in various high courts, challenging the CCI's probe order.
