SC asks Puducherry Assembly Speaker to allow nominated BJP MLAs to function
New Delhi, July 19: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Speaker of Puducherry Assembly to allow the three nominated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs to participate in the Assembly proceedings, and sought the Centre's response to pleas challenging their nomination.
A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan asked the Centre and Puducherry governments to file their responses to the pleas of Congress leaders in Puducherry and posted the matter for August 28.
"It needs consideration. These are pure legal questions... We expect the Speaker of the Assembly to allow MLAs to function till the petitions are adjudicated," said the bench while refusing to stay the Madras High Court judgement which had upheld the nominations of the three BJP members.
The issue of the Centre "unilaterally" appointing the three MLAs without the consultation of the elected government in the Union Territory requires authoritative pronouncement, the bench said.
The Union Home Ministry had appointed BJP Puducherry unit chief V. Saminathan, its treasurer K.G. Shankar, and educationist S. Selva Ganapathy to the Assembly in June 2017, and they were inducted as nominated MLAs by Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi on July 4, 2017.
However, Assembly Speaker V. Vaithilingam had refused to recognize their appointment, saying they were not nominated by competent authority. He had denied them permission to enter the Assembly, in spite of the Madras High Court order upholding their nomination.
Congress MLAs K. Lakshminarayanan and S. Dhanalakshmi have approached the apex court against the Madras High Court order of upholding the nomination of BJP MLAs.
During the hearing, the top court said the administrator is a representative of the central government in the Union Territory and "a delegatee of the Centre, which does not mean that the delegator cannot exercise power at its own discretion."
Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, contended that Puducherry is a territory of the Union of India which has no autonomy and "it's the Central government, which exercises control through its representative or administrator."
Every union territory shall be administered through the President and its delegatee, who can be administrator or the Lt. Governor, he added while defending Centre's move to appoint three BJP MLAs in the Assembly without consulting Chief Minister or council of ministers.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Congress leaders in the apex court, contended that the nominations were made by the Centre to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly without taking Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy into confidence and obtaining his recommendations.
"We are under the federal structure of governance and there is a concept of co-operative federal structures. Despite the Constitutional scheme and there being an elected government in the Union Territory can the central government nominate members to the Assembly without consultation?" he asked.
Sibal said there are constitutional issues and complicated questions that need to be adjudicated at the earliest and it should be dealt by the Constitution bench.
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Commercial LPG hike: Delhi restaurant owners warn of higher menu rates, job losses
New Delhi (PTI) A day after a 50 per cent rise in commercial LPG cylinder prices, Delhi's food business, with restaurant owners and street vendors have warned of higher menu rates, financial strain and potential job losses if the trend persists.
The price of commercial LPG was hiked by a steep Rs 993 per 19 kg cylinder, marking the third consecutive monthly hike amid rising global energy prices linked to the West Asia conflict.
For many in the restaurant industry, the spike has been both sudden and steep.
Manpreet Singh, honorary treasurer of the National Restaurant Association of India, said that eateries are already grappling with supply challenges alongside rising costs.
"There is a huge difficulty in getting these cylinders, and black marketing is also increasing in many unregulated sectors," he said, noting that prices that were once around Rs 1,600, often dropping to nearly Rs 1,300 with discounts, have now surged to between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000 per cylinder.
He further added that a medium-sized restaurant typically uses between two and five cylinders daily, making the increase particularly burdensome as costs mount.
Singh further said that as costs mount, smaller establishments could struggle to stay afloat. Instead, the association has advised restaurants to shift towards piped natural gas connections through Indraprastha Gas Limited as a more sustainable alternative.
"If this problem continues, PNG is the only long-term solution," he said, adding that temporary measures like coal offer limited relief due to slower cooking times and that it can largely be used only for tandoors.
Echoing similar concerns, Kabir Suri, owner of Mamagoto in Khan Market, said the impact is already visible across the industry. "There has been almost a threefold increase in cylinder prices for restaurants," he said, adding that rising fuel and logistics costs are compounding the pressure.
"If this continues, it will become a significant financial burden, and food prices will inevitably go up. Adding to this burden, higher fuel costs are also affecting logistics and transportation, making a price rise unavoidable. The extent of the impact will vary between small eateries and large chains depending on their scale," he said.
Global oil prices have surged nearly 50 per cent following disruptions in energy supply chains due to the West Asia conflict, pushing up commercial fuel costs and transport expenses.
A West Delhi-based restaurateur said they are trying to manage rising costs while keeping their staff secure. "We are trying to ensure that our staff, from kitchen workers to waiters, are paid on time and do not face immediate hardship," the owner said.
"We are a small restaurant with seating for about 20 to 25 people at a time. But if this continues for long, we will have to take difficult calls. There is only so much we can absorb, and menu prices will have to go up. We hope this does not continue for a longer period," he said.
Another restaurant owner in North Delhi, who did not wish to be named, said operational adjustments alone may not be enough. "We are checking our costs very carefully and trying to cut wherever possible, but if fuel prices remain high, it will eventually affect how we run the business," the owner said.
"Coal helps in tandoor cooking, but it takes more time," the owner further added.
The strain is even more acute among street vendors, many of whom operate on thin margins. A vendor in Saket said he had recently expanded his business, moving from a mobile cart to a rented outlet.
"I have a family to feed and more responsibilities now. Earlier, I managed with a moving cart, but after renting the place, expenses increased," he said. "Whenever cylinders were unavailable, I had to buy them at higher rates in the black market. Now even regular supply is too expensive, and if this continues, we may have to shut down," he added.
In Laxmi Nagar, another vendor said they are struggling to keep the business running. "Sometimes we even used domestic cylinders from home when supply ran out because we had to keep the stall running," he said, adding that rising costs leave little choice but to increase prices or bear losses.
On April 1, the rates of commercial LPG cylinders were hiked by Rs 195.50 per cylinder, followed by a Rs 114.5 hike on March 1, taking the total increase over the past three months to Rs 1,303. With the latest revision, a 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder now costs Rs 3,371.5 in Delhi, up from Rs 2,078.5 earlier.
The prices of domestic LPG cylinders used for household cooking have remained unchanged. They were last increased by Rs 60 per 14.2 kg cylinder on March 7 and currently cost Rs 913 in Delhi.
