No action from Modi on 40% commission: Siddaramaiah
Ballari, Oct 15: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi with inaction on the letter sent to him by a contractors association accusing the BJP government in Karnataka of charging 40 per cent commission on public work.
Addressing a public meeting in Ballari as Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra completed 1,000 km, Siddaramaiah said the association president Kempanna wrote a letter to Modi a year ago stating that the BJP government has been demanding the commission.
"Today which government is called 40 per cent commission government? It's only the BJP government. It's not me who is saying this but the Contractors' Association president Kempanna who wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the BJP government in Karnataka has been demanding 40 per cent commission on every project," Siddaramaiah said.
The Congress leader's charge was a part of the party's campaign against the alleged corruption. The party recently launched the PayCM campaign with a QR code showing the image of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. It is a copy of the digital payment platform 'PayTM'.
"It's been one year since Kempanna wrote the letter but Narendra Modi did not take any action. Whenever we raise the issue he says, "Na Khaunga, Na Khane Doonga" (I will not eat and will not allow others to eat.)," the Congress stalwart alleged.
"Where are you Mr Narendra Modi? For the past one year you did not taken any action on the letter written by Mr Kempanna. Aren't you ashamed?" the former chief minister said.
The Congress leader said the only contribution by the BJP government in Ballari was looting natural resources by the mining barons.
"Who was part of the illegal mining? Who encouraged it? Because of our padayatra in 2010 from Bengaluru to Ballari, a situation was created to send former BJP minister G Janardhan Reddy to jail. Today also they (Reddy brothers) are facing many criminal cases," Siddaramaiah charged.
He launched an attack on the Ballari district-in-charge minister B Sriramulu for questioning the contribution of the first Prime Minister of the country Nehru by saying he has no right to question the Congress, which sacrificed too much right from the time of pre-independence.
Siddaramaiah claimed that the BJP started its Jana Sankalpa Yatra' after seeing the response to Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
"Due to the enormous support to Rahul Gandhi's march, these people (BJP) are trembling with fear that they will lose power. That's the reason that they are blabbering gibberish. The people of Karnataka have resolved to throw away your government and bring back the Congress government in Karnataka in 2023," he claimed.
The Congress leader said the BJP government in Karnataka amended the Land Reform Act to allow big corporates to directly purchase land from farmers.
Siddaramiah alleged that the RSS and the Sangh Parivar were politicising religions.
Not only in Karnataka but also across the country, the RSS is involved in the despicable work of dividing people on communal lines, he said.
"Today the RSS and its affiliate organisations are opposed to the national flag, national anthem, democracy and constitution of India.
Today the constitution and democracy are in danger," Siddaramaiah said as he called upon people to join the Congress party's effort to fight against them.
He said Rahul Gandhi's march was aimed at saving the Constitution.
"Today I kneel before Rahul Gandhi for his bold decision of taking out a march. Let us all join hand in hand," he said.
The Congress in Karnataka turned the Bharat Jodo Yatra into a major show of strength ahead of Assembly polls which is less than seven months away.
A large number of people turned up at the Municipal grounds in Ballari dotted with banners, posters, cutouts, flags and festoons. Elaborate security arrangements were made to ensure law and order though the event passed off peacefully.
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SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
