March 23

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice N. Paul Vasanthku
mar and justice M. sathyanarayanan, said that right of government servants to re
ceive pension is not a bounty but a statutory right conferred under the pension
rules applicable from the date when the government servant was appointed, either
on daily wage, temporary or permanent basis. The court was upholding a Central
Administrative Tribunal order. It dismissed a writ petition filed by IGCAR (Indi
ra Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research) against the CAT order.
* Earlier CAT had allowed the original application filed by the 16 employees to
extend the benefit of pension under old Pension Scheme, Central Civil Service (P
ension) Rules, 1972 as they were granted temporary status with effect from Decem
ber 31st 1999 on conditions, among others, that 50% of their service rendered un
der temporary status would be counted for the purpose of retirement benefits aft
er their superannuation.
* This was challenged by IGCAR (Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research), stati
ng that persons who joined in service on or after January 1st 2004 were governed
by the new pension scheme.
At least seven people were burnt alive and 16 others injured, when a tanker fil
led with highly inflammable material caught fire after overturning. The mishap t
ook place near Chaori check post on the Mumbai-Ahmadabad Highway at around 3 pm.
* The vehicle, belonging to Reliance, was carrying 35,000 liters of diesel, whic
h started leaking after it turned turtle, leading to a major blast. The blast al
so damaged a towing van, three six-seater auto rickshaws, a bike and a car which
were parked near the accident spot.
The HRD ministry is seeking the ordinance route to establish a womens university
in Rae Bareli. This week HRD ministry asked the law ministry to clear an ordina
nce to set up a national womens varsity in Rae Bareli, Congress president Sonia G
andhis constituency. If the law ministrys legislative department does clear the or
dinance, the HRD ministry intends to take it to the Cabinet for its approval.
* A Bill to set up the university to be named after former Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi was to be taken up by Lok Sabha on February 21st the last day of the win
ter session.
March 24
The Supreme Court directed the Government of India to withdraw all orders, whic
h make the Aadhaar card mandatory for availing any service. The court also direc
ted the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) not to share any inform
ation pertaining to an Aadhaar card holder with any government agency without th
e prior permission of the card holder.
* The Supreme Court was hearing the petitions challenging the Constitutional val
idity of Aadhaar card with those opposing the mega project saying it was not bac
ked by any statute and compromises with national security.
* Further, a three-judge bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan was also told that t
he project not only violates the right to privacy but the "biometrics", which is
the foundation of the project, is an unreliable and untested technology.
The Fertilizer Ministry is gearing to move the Cabinet Committee on Economic Af
fairs (CCEA) seeking approval to reduce subsidy on potash nutrient for 2014-15 f
iscal, a move aimed at reducing the subsidy component by Rs. 900 crore.
* The nod from the EC was received this past week and the Cabinet note for this
was ready following completion of inter-Ministerial consultations. The Ministry
is looking forward to putting up the Cabinet note before the next meeting of the
CCEA to fix subsidy of P&K (Phosphatic and Potassic) fertilizers for next fisca
l.
Residents of the Mumbai can now buy water from an ATM, that too at an affordable
price of Rs. 1 per liter. In a first-of-its-kind for Mumbaikars, non-profit grou
p Vandana Foundation started AQUATM, a water vending machine. It can be operated t
hrough prepaid cards.
* The ATM can vend up to 1,000 liters per day, Vandana Foundation and another non
-profit group Aquakraft come together for the water ATM. The vending machine has
been set up at Mankhurd where there are water contamination problems.
The National Green Tribunal cancelled the clearance given by the environment mi
nister to Parsa East and Kante-Basan captive coal blocks in Hasdeo Arand forests
of Chhattisgarh, overruling the statutory Forest Advisory Committee.
* The forest clearance was given by the then Union environment and forests minis
ter Jairam Ramesh in June 2011, overriding the advice of the ministry's expert p
anel on the two blocks for mining by a joint venture between Adani and Rajasthan
Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited.
The government is keen to sign the long-pending agreement for Unit III and IV o
f Kudankulam nuclear plant before its term ends in May and is planning to approa
ch the Election Commission for clearance. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS
) recently gave financial clearance for the two units.
The government is keen to sign the agreement at the earliest and is planning to
approach EC (Election Commission) for clearance as the Model Code of Conduct is
in force ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The government already has the Cabinet's
approval which gives a go-ahead to sign the agreement.
March 25
Gail (Gas Authority of India) India announced that it has joined hands with Chu
bu Electric Power Co, Japan (Chubu) to explore possibilities for collaboration i
n the area of joint LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) procurement. This MoU with Chubu
is yet another effort by Gail towards bridging the gap in demand-supply of natu
ral gas in the Indian market.
* The MoU was signed during the Gastech Conference being held in Seoul, South Ko
rea. Chubu and Gail are large LNG importers having considerable synergy between
their LNG business profiles.
Sahara group made a fresh proposal to the Supreme Court to pay market regulator
SEBI in a span of one year Rs. 20,000 crore of the money it has to return to th
e investors collected through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD).
* According to the proposal submitted to the apex court bench of Justice K.S. Ra
dhakrishnan and Justice J.S. Kehar, the Sahara group said they will deposit Rs.
2,500 crore within three working days of the acceptance of its proposal and thre
e installments of Rs. 3,500 crore each would be deposited with SEBI June 30th, S
ep 30th and Dec 31st. The balance of Rs. 7,000 crore would be deposited March 31
st 2015.
* The Sahara group said its proposal to deposit Rs. 20,000 crore to the market r
egulator in five installments would be backed by an irrevocable bank guarantee.
* The court on March 4 sent Sahara chief Subrata Roy and his two directors to Ti
har jail for failing to deposit the said amount to the market regulator.
The chief of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM), Tehseen Akhtar alias Monu, c
onvicted in a number of terror attacks has been arrested by the Special Cell of
the Delhi Police from the Naxalbari district of West Bengal.
* The arrest of Akhtar comes days after the Delhi Police nabbed another top IM o
perative Zia Ur Rehman alias Waqas from Ajmer in Rajasthan, along with three of
his associates.
* Akhtar was heading the Indian Mujahideen after the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, co
-founder of the terror outfit.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has taken exception to the Election
Commission's decision to defer the government's proposal on gas prices. It woul
d go against the stated government policy.
* The decision to revise prices of natural gas was taken by the Cabinet Committe
e of Economic Affairs on June 27th 2013, almost nine months ago.
*CII President: Kris Gopalakrishnan.
March 26
It will now be mandatory for all election booths in Jammu and Kashmir to displa
y the 'No Smoking Area' warning. Chief Electoral Officer of J&K Umang Narula iss
ued a circular, directing that all election booths in the state shall be 'No Smo
king Zones'.
* With this, Jammu and Kashmir became the first state in the country to declare
all election booths in the coming Lok Sabha polls as no smoking zones.
GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, will develop a network of 25
cancer care centers in India in partnership with Cancer Treatment Services Inte
rnational (CTSI). Together, the two companies will invest $120 million (Rs. 720
crore) within five years to establish these centers, through a hub-and-spoke mod
el.
As the Char Dham yatra is all set to begin in May, Uttarakhand Chief