Mangaluru: One of the pilots flying planes in ‘Operation Ganga’ with rescued Indians from war-torn Ukraine is a man from Mangaluru. Captain Michael Saldahna who flew two flights to Mumbai with evacuated Indian citizens is a resident of Valencia in Mangaluru.

According to the reports, Michael commanded two flights with evacuated flights that landed in Mumbai, one from Bucharest in Romania and the other from Budapest in Hungary with 182 and 185 passengers onboard respectively.

Reports further added that the flight carried Indian passengers who had crossed the border and entered Bucharest and Budapest.

Michael, who hails from Mangaluru has over 13 years of flying experience and had also operated during the repatriation flights of Indian citizens from Dubai when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the contents of the class 8 NCERT textbook referring to corruption in the judiciary and termed it a matter of "grave concern."

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was urged by senior advocate Kapil Sibal that "children of class 8 are taught about corruption in the judiciary. This is a matter of grave concern."

The CJI said, "I will not allow anybody to defame the institution. Law will take its course."

He added, "As head of the institution, I have done my duty and have taken cognisance … This seems to be a calculated move. I won't say much."

Justice Bagchi said the book seemed to be against the basic structure of the Constitution.

The CJI said, "Please wait for a few days. Bar and Bench all are perturbed. All high court judges are perturbed. I will take up the matter suo motu. I will not allow anybody to defame the institution. Law will take its course."

Later, Justice Kant said that the top court has taken suo motu cognisance of the matter.

Corruption, massive backlog of cases, and lack of an adequate number of judges are among the "challenges" faced by the judicial system, according to the new social science NCERT textbook for class 8.

The section "corruption in the judiciary" in the new book states that judges are bound by a code of conduct that governs not only their behaviour in court, but also how they conduct themselves outside it.