Gujarat Confidential: Courting Controversy

Senior BJP leaders said that the party had “taken serious note” of the incident and that an explanation would be sought from the MLA. After Khabad’s two sons were arrested in multiple, multi-crore MGNREGA ‘scams’ in May last year, he was dropped from the Cabinet during the reshuffle last year.

Home-bound

Union Minister for Labour & Employment and Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya’s native village Hanol in Palitana tehsil of Bhavnagar district witnessed a three-day ‘Atmanirbhar Hanol Mahotsav – 2026’ from January 13. The event was organised by a group of people of Hanol village under the guidance of Mansukh Mandaviya.

Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, noted retired sportspersons like Kapil Dev and P T Usha, who is also president of Indian Olympic Association, visited the village during the event, apart from Mandaviya, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Nimuben Bambhaniya and Gujarat minister Jitu Vaghani, among others. Mandaviya is the Lok Sabha MP from Porbandar constituency. During the festival, various programmes such as seminar on natural farming, a kite festival and ‘rural olympics’ were organised.

From white coat, to black coat

The Gujarat High Court Tuesday bid farewell to Justice Mauna M Bhatt, who retired on January 14 at the age of 62. Speaking at her formal farewell, Justice Bhatt recollected her career transition from microbiology to law and also shared advice for the young members of the bar. Justice Bhatt said, “I never intended to pursue law. After completing my graduation in microbiology, I had envisioned my life to be surrounded by white lab coats. However, as fate would have its way, I entered this august institution after my marriage in 1990 and suddenly realised that a black coat looks better on me than white…” Justice Bhatt thanked her father-in-law, and senior advocate of the Supreme Court RP Bhatt for the “change of coat colour”, while also remembering her late parents and grandmother.

Justice Bhatt said, “When my mother sat me down to study, she always told me to live a life that is not wasted… My father believed in me…” Justice Bhatt said as an advocate, and a senior standing counsel of the Income Tax department, she learnt not only taxation laws, integrity and demeanour from the “finest judges” but also that “intellectual honesty, institutional discipline and collective responsibility is the paramount requirement to be maintained.” Justice Bhatt advised the young members of the Bar to look at “a world outside your mobile phone” and to approach even “complex and forbidding subjects” with discipline.