Subramanian Swamy withdraws from SC his 2013 plea against Jet-Etihad Airways deal
New Delhi (PTI): BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday withdrew from the Supreme Court his 2013 plea seeking quashing of an alliance between Jet Airways and the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.
"I wish to withdraw this, it is the Jet-Etihad matter. Now there is no Jet, no Etihad," Swamy told a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar.
The bench then remarked in a lighter vein, "We do not know who is responsible for that."
Taking note of his submissions, the top court allowed Swamy to withdraw his plea.
"The petitioner seeks permission to withdraw in view of subsequent developments.
The petitioner stands dismissed as withdrawn," the bench said while granting him liberty to file a fresh application, if there is any new cause of action.
The apex court had issued notices to the Centre, Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of External Affairs, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Directorate General of Civil Aviation and others in the case.
Swamy had submitted that the deal was against public interest as there has been squandering of natural resource i.e. the sky and air space.
He claimed that the deal was cleared against the advice of the Parliament Select Committee and other advisory bodies.
Swamy had also submitted that even the CAG has found that there has been reckless allocation of air space to foreign airlines.
Jet Airways had on April 24, 2013 announced plans to sell 24 per cent equity to Etihad Airways for about Rs 2,058 crore as part of a strategic alliance that would lead to a major expansion in their global network.
Swamy had in his PIL sought "a direction to set aside and revoke any action or decision or grant of any further approvals/permissions/permits, etc. by the respondent(govt) authorities, based upon, relying upon or in furtherance of the impugned bilateral dated April 24."
"The petitioner challenges such arbitrary, irrational and malafide act of grant of largesse in the form of bilateral/MoU dated April 24 and by way of the present petition seeks an investigation under the supervision of this Court into the matters of national and public interest," he had said in his petition.
He had also sought a CBI probe against government officials who had cleared the deal.
Swamy had questioned the Centre's decision to execute the agreement in favour of Abu Dhabi under the existing air service agreement between the governments of India and United Arab Emirates.
"The actions of authorities from execution of the bilateral to the unprecedented haste in order to assist the realisation of wrongful gains by the facilitator are writ large with acts of collusion and abuse of position," the petition had contended.
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Woman died post delivery after Pune hospital refused admission over Rs 10 lakh deposit
Mumbai (PTI): BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe on Thursday claimed a Pune-based hospital refused to admit the pregnant wife of his personal secretary due to non-payment of advance deposit of Rs 10 lakh.
The woman, Tanisha Bhise, later died at another hospital after giving birth to twins, he said in a video message.
Her husband Sushant works as a personal secretary to Gorkhe.
The hospital refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
"Despite an assurance to pay Rs 3 lakh immediately, the hospital denied admission to the patient. Even a call was made from Mantralaya to the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, but it did not yield any response from the hospital," Gorkhe alleged.
"The woman was later taken to another hospital, where she gave birth to twin girls but passed away. This is a serious issue. I request the chief minister to take strict action against the hospital. I will also raise this matter in the upcoming legislative session," Gorkhe said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare also took to social media and asserted the hospital sought Rs 10 lakh as deposit despite the woman's kin agreeing to arrange Rs 2.5 lakh immediately and the rest in a short period.
"Even after a call from Mantralaya, the hospital did not change its stand. The patient had to be shifted to another hospital, where she delivered twins but did not survive. Had the hospital administration shown some humanitarian consideration, Tanisha Bhise might have been alive today," Andhare stated.
BJP leader and MLC Chitra Wagh also criticised the hospital's action and sought strict action, including revoking licences of doctors or hospitals found guilty of such behaviour.
"If this is the treatment meted out to someone close to a legislator, one can only imagine the plight of ordinary patients," Wagh said.
Wagh in her post on X said, "The doctors were supposed to offer support to the woman but they showed their commercial interest only. If such type of treatment is offered by the hospitals operated by charitable trusts, then the doctor's license should be cancelled and hospital should be closed. One strong step would give a message to others who practice in such way."
The hospital, meanwhile, refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
"We will prepare a detailed report about the incident and will submit it to the health department of the state. The report will have detailed medical information about the incident which was concealed by the kin of the deceased woman,” said Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital medical director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar said.
