CURRENT AFFAIRS
08 May 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Supreme Court upholds High Court order on quantum of oxygen supply to Karnataka.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Karnataka High Court order of May 5 directing the Centre to supply 1,200 MT of oxygen every day to the State. A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah described the interim order of the High Court as a careful, calibrated and judicious exercise. The top court pointed out that even the Karnataka government had projected the need for 1,800 MT oxygen if cases climbed to 3.95 lakh. The cases, the Bench noted, had gone up to 4.95 lakh on May 5, and the minimum requirement was 1,100 MT. Hence, the HC order shows an extraordinarily well-calibrated approach. Prima facie, the government is under an obligation [to provide the oxygen], Justice Chandrachud addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Mehta, who represents the Centre which has challenged the HC order, said the issue was not about the supply of oxygen to Karnataka. The Centre is not and cannot be averse to that. I am only sharing a concern about a national problem. This is a pan-India issue. If every HC starts ‘judiciously’ examining what amount of oxygen should be supplied, etc, where would it lead to… The Centre and State should decide the allocation of oxygen. If every HC starts entertaining petitions for allocation of oxygen under Article 226, COVID management would become unworkable. There will be a complete lack of pandemic management, Mehta argued. Justice Chandrachud said the judges, including Karnataka Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar, who passed the order in question, were human beings sensitive to what was happening around them. They have seen the deaths in Chamarajanagar and Kalburgi.
B) Legal counsel of Election Commission resigns citing conflict in values.
An advocate on record on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) panel of counsel in the Supreme Court, Mohit D. Ram, on Thursday resigned from the position, citing a difference in values with the functioning of the Commission currently. Ram wrote to the ECI, saying that he had been one of its panel counsels since 2013, but could no longer continue. He have found that my values are not in consonance with the current functioning of the ECI; and hence he withdraw myself from the responsibilities of its panel counsel before the Supreme Court of India, the letter stated. He added that he would ensure a smooth transition on the matters pending with his office. Ram’s letter comes in the wake of the ECI moving the Supreme Court against remarks by the Madras High Court that it was responsible for the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, where Assembly elections were concluded on May 2, and that ECI officials should be charged with murder. The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to restrain the media from reporting the observations.
C) SC declines to hear plea to stop Central Vista work amid COVID surge.
While acknowledging the extremely urgent concerns raised by two Delhi residents over the ferrying of labourers to and from the Central Vista redevelopment site amid a devastating public health crisis, the Supreme Court ordered them to go back and approach the Delhi High Court Chief Justice on Monday with a request to hear their case as early as possible. The petitioners, Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi, had moved the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court adjourned the hearing of their case to May 17, ostensibly to study a judgment of the Supreme Court pronounced on January 5, allowing the Central Vista project. However, a Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari said that since the case was already pending before the High Court, it did not want to enter into its merits. It added that the mention for an urgent hearing before the Delhi High Court Chief Justice could even be made jointly by the petitioners’ lawyer, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Centre. Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the Union government over the Central Vista project, terming it a criminal wastage and asked the dispensation to focus on people’s lives. Central Vista is criminal wastage. Put people’s lives at the centre not your blind arrogance to get a new house, he said on Twitter. Gandhi and his Congress party have been asking the government to shelve its plans on the Central Vista project and give priority to improving medical infrastructure during the Covid-19 pandemic to save people’s lives. It has also criticised the government for according the construction work of the Central Vista project essential services tag and accused it of having its priorities wrong.
D) Supply 700 MT oxygen to Delhi every day, we mean business: SC tells Centre.
The Supreme Court on Friday underlined the obligation of the Centre to comply with the order to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi every day, saying we mean business. A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah warned the Centre of forcing the court into taking coercive action against it by reneging on its assurance in court to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi, which is battling a devastating second wave of the pandemic. The court’s comments came after it went through a tabulated chart detailing the Centre’s comprehensive plan for the allocation, supply and distribution of oxygen to the national capital. Justice Chandrachud said he and Justice Shah had a discussion before the hearing on the issue and had agreed that the court in its previous orders intended that Delhi should get 700 MT every day. They did not mean that they supply 700 MT on one day. They meant to do it every day until they further examine the modalities. Please do not drive us to a situation where we have to be firm and take the coercive way. It is 700 MT every day, every single day, Justice Chandrachud emphasised. Mehta said he would convey the court’s observations to the authorities concerned during the day. On May 5, the Supreme Court had ordered the Centre to burn the midnight oil and prepare a comprehensive plan for the supply of 700 MT of life-saving oxygen to Delhi on a daily basis. The court had noted that the lack of oxygen was causing tremendous anxiety in the capital.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) CPJ sends letter calling on EU to address press freedom during summit with India on May 8.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent non-governmental organisation that champions press freedom around the world, has written to the European Union (EU) urging it to emphasise the importance of press freedom and call for the release of all imprisoned journalists in India during the upcoming EU-India summit on May 8. As India grapples with an astounding Covid-19 surge, the government has responded in part by attempting to clamp down on criticism and reporting. Unfortunately, this is not a new reaction. Last year, CPJ documented dozens of cases of journalists who were arrested, threatened, assaulted, and served legal notices over their coverage of the pandemic, the letter stated. As leaders from both sides discuss the pandemic, trade, and the environment during this important summit, EU leaders should ensure that press freedom concerns are not sidelined, but prioritised, and make public and robust calls for India to release all journalists in detention, the letter said.
B) WhatsApp scraps May 15 deadline for accepting privacy policy terms.
WhatsApp has scrapped its May 15 deadline for users to accept its controversial privacy policy update and said not accepting the terms will not lead to deletion of accounts. WhatsApp had faced severe backlash over user concerns that data was being shared with parent company Facebook. A WhatsApp spokesperson told PTI that no accounts will be deleted on May 15 for not accepting the policy update. No accounts will be deleted on May 15 because of this update and no one in India will lose functionality of WhatsApp either. We will follow up with reminders to people over the next several weeks, the spokesperson said in an emailed response to a query on Friday. The spokesperson added that while a majority of users who have received the new terms of service have accepted them, some people have not had the chance to do so yet. However, the company did not clarify the reason behind the decision and did not divulge the number of users who have accepted the terms so far.
