Bantwala: Novel idea to protect house from flood water
Owner decides to lift his house using jack!
Bantwala, September 4: Normally, during rainy season, people face lot of problems. The people living in low-lying areas have to prepare for facing the worst situation. When the rain water gushes into the houses, the people have to shift themselves elsewhere temporarily. Along with the electronic gadgets, they have to shift other materials too.
Riyaz of Bylaguttu in Sajeepanadu village who encounter such a situation every year, has come out with a novel idea ‘House lifting’ to protect his house from flood water and subsequent problems. During heavy rains, the Netravati river water gushes into some houses in the village. Bylaguttu and Bolame residents have to face this problem every year. They would not have road connectivity. Without any alternative, the residents have to shift themselves temporarily. Depressed over this problem, Riyaz got information on ‘house lifting’ and based on this, he contacted Delhi-based Hari Om Shiva House Lifting and Construction Private Limited and got information. With the help of this company, he has planned to lift his house during flood situation.
So far, the jacks were being used to lift vehicles and now, using these jacks, the entire house can be lifted without allowing the walls to collapse. The house will be constructed along with the walls by digging the ground base.
“I have decided to do this adventure depressed over the flood situation every year. I have got information from the local people and contacted the company which developed a jack to lift my entire house. Already, the work has started and it will be completed in a few days. Around 1000 sq ft house would cost Rs 2.5 lakh for adopting this mechanism”, Riyaz said.
Currently, the house was lifted around one foot above and two more feet should be lifted. Total 180 jacks will be used systematically in all the four corners to lift the house. As and when the house is lifted, the jacks would be removed and bricks would be placed”, he said.
The company is working in Karnataka for the first time. Other construction companies have done such house lifting or shifting works in some places. So far, it was seen in other states. But now, it has entered the coastal region as well to find a solution to the people residing in low-lying areas.
“Earlier, I had the fear of losing the wall. But now, I have to adopt the technology to avoid flood water gushing into the house. We have also decided to adopt this technology to my brother’s house and the work has started. It would cost around Rs 3 lakh”.
- Muhammad Riyaz, House Owner
“This work is being taken up in Karnataka for the first time. The company has done such works successfully in other states including Kerala. It will require one month time. After starting the work of Riyaz’s house, he asked us to lift another house of his brother. The work has already started”.
- Rahul Chauhan, Owner, Hari Om Shiva House Lifting and Construction Company
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SC refuses review of decision against confiscating funds received via electoral bonds
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea seeking the review of its decision rejecting the petitions for confiscating Rs 16,518 crore received by political parties under the 2018 electoral bond scheme.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dismissed the review plea filed by one Khem Singh Bhati against the top court's decision of August 2, 2024.
The apex court had then rejected the petition seeking confiscation of money received under the scheme.
The bench on March 26 held, "The review petition is dismissed in terms of the signed order. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of."
The top court's order, made available recently, also refused to accept Bhati's prayer for an open-court hearing in the matter.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by former CJI D Y Chandrachud on February 15 last year scrapped the electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding introduced by the BJP government.
Following the top court's judgement, the State Bank of India, the authorised financial institution under the scheme, shared the data with the election commission which made it public.
The electoral bonds scheme, which was notified by the government on January 2, 2018, was pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of its efforts to bring in transparency in political funding.
The top court, on August 2 last year, rejected a batch of pleas including the one filed by Bhati for a court-monitored probe into the electoral bonds scheme and observed it couldn't order a roving inquiry.
The review plea, filed through advocate Jayesh K Unnikrishnan and settled by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, said on February 15, 2024 the apex court in Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) v. Union of India held the scheme unconstitutional for violating Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
"The effect of declaring the electoral bond scheme and the various statutory provisions as unconstitutional is that the said scheme never existed and is void ab-initio and it is a settled position of law that the court only finds law and it does not make law," it argued.
The verdict in the ADR case, the plea said, rendered the EBS void since inception, and therefore, the subsequent pleas seeking confiscation of the amount collected by political parties could not have been dismissed.
"In the absence of any declaration by this court in the ADR case that the judgement would apply prospectively, the existence of the electoral bond scheme on the date of purchase could not have been the basis for dismissal of the present writ petition. The scheme stood wiped out for all purposes from the date of inception and the necessary consequences must follow,” it added.
The plea said the previous bench's reliance on the existence of parliamentary legislation permitting electoral bonds to dismiss the writ petition constituted an "apparent error on the face of the record".
The ADR judgment did not declare its findings to be prospective, which means the statutory framework supporting electoral bonds should have been treated as invalid from the outset, it contended.
The applicant claimed the verdict had a retrospective effect, rendering the scheme null and void since its inception.
The review plea claimed the August 2, 2024 verdict "indirectly modified the ADR judgment".
The plea said evidence disclosed under court directions indicated a quid pro quo between donations made through the scheme and the benefits received by corporate donors, contradicting the bench's conclusion on the claims being speculative.
"Disclosure of information regarding electoral bonds in terms of the direction of this court clearly establish that there was quid pro quo between the donations made to the political parties and benefits received by the corporate houses and the observation...that the writ petition is based on assumption about quid pro quo between the donor and donee and the petitioner is seeking a roving inquiry, suffers from apparent error," it added.
