Octogenarian moves SC for defining 'religion', plea dismissed
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea of an octogenarian seeking that "religion" be defined as it would bring peace in the country.
Eighty-seven-year-old Rameshchandra Vithaldas Sheth, who appeared before a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde through video-conferencing, said that there are a number of articles in the Constitution which deal with religion but nowhere it has been defined.
The bench also having Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said that it respects the age of the petitioner but added that courts cannot enter into the domain in which it is not entitled.
During the hearing, Sheth told the bench that if the court defines the word "religion", there will be no communal riots and it will ultimately bring peace in the country.
The CJI asked Sheth why he was raising the issue at this stage.
To this, the octogenarian replied that he has taught about religion to the people for 50 long years, and what he has understood is that defining this word would bring peace.
The bench said that it does not have the expertise to deal with the issue and it would be better if he makes a representation before the central government.
Sheth said that he has already made the representation but no answer has been received. The bench asked Sheth to withdraw the petition or it would dismiss it.
Sheth replied that it would not like to withdraw the petition, after which the court dismissed it.
"The writ petition is dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of accordingly," the bench said.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
