Kerala HC dismisses PIL on dropping assembly proceedings against Mamkootathil
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking directions to the state legislative assembly to consider a representation to drop further proceedings against expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil by the ethics panel of the House on a complaint by CPI(M) MLA D K Murali.
A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M held that the petition, by an advocate, was not maintainable as the court cannot direct the Speaker of the assembly on how to conduct proceedings in the House.
The detailed order is awaited.
The petitioner, Kulathoor Jaisingh, stated that Murali filed a complaint with the Speaker regarding Mamkootathil’s allegedly unbecoming conduct as an MLA, seeking permission to raise the issue in the House.
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The petition, filed through advocate M R Sarin, claimed that the complaint was filed with "malafide intention due to political reasons".
"The Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly, without considering allegation in the complaint, has forwarded the same to the ethics committee with an endorsement to examine it," the plea said.
It further said that the petitioner had sent a representation to the Speaker to drop the proceedings against Mamkootathil, the MLA from Palakkad assembly constituency, in connection with the complaint by the CPI(M) MLA.
The petitioner had also sent a reminder representation to the Speaker. However, no action has been taken till date, the petition said.
Hence, Singh was constrained to move the High Court seeking directions to the ethics panel to consider his representation to drop proceedings against the Palakkad MLA.
Mamkootathil is facing investigation in three cases of sexual assault by three different women and is currently out on bail in all of them.
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Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.
"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.
