SC won't interfere with first round of CLAT-2018 counselling
New Delhi, June 13 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the first round of CLAT-2018 counselling for admissions to 19 national law universities and colleges.
The first round of counselling that commenced on June 10 will be over by Friday.
A bench of Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice Deepak Gupta directed Kochi-based National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) to complete by June 15 the exercise of compensating students who faced technical glitches in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2018.
It also asked NULAS, which conducted the CLAT-2018, to come up with a revised list by June 16 based on the formula suggested by two-member Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) and include qualified students in the second round of counselling.
On June 11, the apex court had refused to issue order to re-conduct the CLAT-2018 or stop the counselling process for admissions over complaints of technical glitches during the May 13 examination, and asked the GRC to go through the complaints of time lost by students during the test.
Headed by former Kerala High Court Judge M.R. Hariharan Nair and comprising Professor Santosh Kumar, the GRC -- set up by the court on May 25 to look into the complaints -- has to complete the task of evaluating 400 complaints and deciding, based on normalisation formula linked to time lost due to technical glitches, the compensation of marks by June 15.
The committee has suggested that students, who suffered time loss due to technical glitches, can be awarded compensatory marks after taking note of the data of total correct and incorrect answers given by them during the online test.
The court's order came on a batch of petitions by students who sought scrapping of the CLAT-2018 online test.
They said there were technical glitches during the exam. There were also allegations of cheating as some centres gave excess time to some students to make up for the lost time on account of the glitches in operating the computers.
The online CLAT-2018 examination was held on May 13 in which more than 54,464 candidates appeared aspiring for admission to 19 law university colleges.
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Criticism of PM Modi, repeated mentions of guarantees to be highlights of K’taka Budget: LoP Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka on Thursday took a dig at CM Siddaramaiah ahead of the state Budget presentation, claiming that the government is expected to borrow Rs 1.15 lakh crore and is likely to impose fresh taxes on the people.
He said the Budget would have nothing new, adding that its highlights would be criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and repeated mentions of the five guarantee schemes ('Shakti', 'Gruha Lakshmi', 'Gruha Jyoti, 'Yuva Nidhi' and 'Anna Bhagya').
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, is scheduled to present the 2026–27 Budget on March 6. This will be his record 17th budget.
“Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s budget will be presented tomorrow. While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reduced the tax burden in the Union Budget, Siddaramaiah is known for imposing taxes on people. He imposes about four taxes a month and has already introduced 36 taxes, and is now looking for ways to impose more,” Ashoka said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the Congress had promised people before coming to power that the guarantee schemes would be implemented without imposing any burden on them.
“By the end of the chief minister’s term, the state’s total debt will probably exceed Rs 6 lakh crore. The government has already breached financial discipline. Siddaramaiah and his government are somehow managing the situation,” Ashoka claimed, adding that his borrowings as CM equal those of 12 or 13 former chief ministers combined.
Stating that the Budget should create higher revenue sources, ensure that no burden is placed on people, and take the state away from debt, the opposition leader said this could be ensured only by a “clever and intelligent finance minister.”
“Anyone can run a government by pushing the state into debt,” he said, accusing Siddaramaiah of “increasing the state’s debt and failing to meet the expectations of the people.”
Highlighting that Siddaramaiah blames the previous BJP government for everything, Ashoka said Basavaraj Bommai, the chief minister during the previous BJP government, had presented a “surplus budget,” without excessive borrowings.
“Despite having the opportunity to borrow more while staying within the parameters of financial discipline, he (Bommai) did not do so, as it would burden the people,” he said, accusing Siddaramaiah of borrowing crores of rupees every year.
“I feel that this time too, he will take a loan of Rs 1.15 lakh crore,” he claimed.
The BJP leader said he had written to the CM requesting an allocation of Rs 15,000 crore annually for the development of backward taluks, as recommended by the High Power Committee on Redressal of Regional Imbalance (HPCRRI), chaired by economist Prof M Govinda Rao.
Claiming that the government appears “inactive” due to internal rifts, Ashoka pointed to an ongoing power struggle between factions led by Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar over the CM’s post.
“Amid all this, we cannot expect anything new from this Budget. The CM will repeatedly speak about the guarantee schemes and target the central government and PM Modi. Criticising Modi and repeated mentions of the five guarantee schemes will be the highlight of this Budget. Other than that, there will be nothing new,” he added.
He also dismissed the CM's claim that the government had achieved 90 per cent of the promises made in the previous Budget. “The fact is that not even 9 per cent has been achieved. I have evidence for it,” he said.
Ashoka further alleged that the government had also failed in tax collection, achieving only 48 per cent of the target, and had released less than 40 per cent of the allocated funds to some departments.
