The Karnataka High Court. (PTI, file)Bengaluru highlights, June 28: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the chargesheet filed against Congress leaders including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and party’s state president D K Shivakumar, accused of violating COVID-19 protocol. The chargesheet was filed in the case pertaining to the padayatra led by the two leaders demanding construction of the Mekedatu dam across the river Cauvery.
Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar, who is slated to appear before a Delhi court later this week in connection with a money laundering case, on Tuesday said he is not aware about the contents of Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) charge sheet against him and is yet to receive a copy of it. A Delhi court last month summoned him and others in a money laundering case registered against him in 2018.
The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) Karnataka chapter has demanded the immediate release of journalist and social activist Teesta Setalvad, describing her arrest as a “strangle of justice”. In a press statement, the APCR termed Teesta Setalvad an indefatigable defender of human rights and strongly condemned the arrest of Teesta by Gujarat ATS on dubious grounds citing the recent judgement of the Supreme Court. “It is unacceptable that a person who has been fighting for the justice of the citizens should be accused of fabricating evidence and misleading the special investigation team,” Advocate Muhammad Niyaz, General secretary of the APCR Karnataka Chapter, said in a statement. The APCR demands her release, withdrawal of the false case and cessation of harassment.
Anirudh Sharma and his team were pleasantly surprised after Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself announced their much-awaited first space mission during his monthly Mann Ki Baat episode Sunday.
Founders of ‘Digantara’, a Bengaluru-based space startup, Sharma, Rahul Rawat and Tanveer Ahmed are all geared up to launch their satellite on PSLV C53 on June 30 to understand radiation in space.
Incubated out of Society for Innovation and Development (SID), Digantara found its mention by PM Modi in his latest monthly radio programme where he was impressed with their idea to map the space and also track space debris. Read more
Karnataka reported 968 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, with 887 fresh infections in Bengaluru alone. The state also witnessed one virus-related fatality on the day.
Currently, there are 4,918 active cases in Karnataka (Bengaluru – 4,682). As many as 337 patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate has now reached 5.44 per cent.
Just days after Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Girinath tried to end the Idgah maidan ownership controversy by stating that the property belonged to the Wakf board, BJP leader NR Ramesh Tuesday alleged that Congress MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan ‘arm-twisted’ the civic body over the issue.
Ramesh met with special commissioner V Ramprasath Manohar and handed over documents, claiming that the Maidan was Palike property and the then mayor held his oath-taking ceremony at the ground in 1964. Read more
Left embarrassed after a portion of a Bengaluru road caved in barely a day after it was asphalted ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has penalised the contractor and submitted a ‘positive’ report to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), saying the road was not on his travel route.
After holding a meeting for better coordination between agencies, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath said that the civic agency has sent a four-page report to the PMO saying that the roads on which PM Modi travelled were intact. The report states that the road that caved in was near Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics University (BASE) and not on the PM’s travel route. Read more
Researchers of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a new Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)-based machine learning algorithm that can help scientists better understand and predict connectivity between different regions of the brain.
The algorithm, called Regularized, Accelerated, Linear Fascicle Evaluation, or (ReAl-LiFE), can rapidly analyse the enormous amounts of data generated from diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) scans of the human brain.
Using ReAL-LiFE, the team was able to evaluate dMRI data over 150 times faster than the existing state-of-the-art algorithms. The study was published in the journal Nature Computational Science. Read more
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the chargesheet filed against Congress leaders including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and party's state president D K Shivakumar, accused of violating COVID-19 protocol.
The chargesheet was filed in the case pertaining to the padayatra led by the two leaders demanding construction of the Mekedatu dam across the river Cauvery.
The 10-day padayatra that had begun on January nine, from Mekedatu, the confluence of rivers Cauvery and Arkavathi, was supposed to end here, but it was suspended on January 13, due to the High Court cracking the whip as the Congress ignored the restrictions imposed by the State government in view of surge in COVID cases and possible third wave. The march was relaunched in February from the place it was suspended to reach the destination - Bengaluru. (PTI)
A record 7,65,077 cases were settled in the Lok Adalats held across courts in the state, the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) has said in a statement.
The National Lok Adalat was conducted on June 25 in 20 benches of the High Court and 964 benches of the District Judiciary. These include the disposal of 2,64,464 pending cases and 5,00,613 pre-litigation cases. The highest single day disposal of cases by Lok Adalats was 6,16,715 on October 8, 2016.
Among the success stories in the recent Lok Adalats was the the reconciliation of a couple who were living separately for 50 years. The wife aged 80 and husband aged 85 reconciled in the Lok Adalat at Civil Judge Senior Division, Kalaghatagi. After conciliation, both parties settled the matter by way of reunion. (PTI)
A bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, credited to be the founder of Bengaluru, will be unveiled soon at the premises of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), situated on the outskirts of the city.
Also, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that a Kempegowda statue will be installed inside the Vidhana Soudha premises within a year.
Who was Kempagowda, what are BJP’s political calculations behind the statue plan? Read Full Explainer Here
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The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) with a fleet of about 6,700 buses is staring at an impasse over fuel supply as oil companies have asked its retailers not to provide diesel in bulk to it, which is in violation of rules.
The BMTC has a stock of diesel only for a week in its depots, according to a senior official. In a few places its buses were seen queuing up at petrol pumps in the city to buy fuel at retail prices.
The BMTC has been buying diesel from retail outlets which supplied it in tankers to depots where BMTC buses are refilled, as bulk purchase rate of diesel is around Rs 30 per litre more than retail prices. The oil companies have hiked the price for bulk users following a rise in crude oil price in the international market, BMTC sources said. (PTI)
Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar, who is slated to appear before a Delhi court later this week in connection with a money laundering case, on Tuesday said he is not aware about the contents of Enforcement Directorate's (ED) charge sheet against him and is yet to receive a copy of it.
A Delhi court last month summoned him and others in a money laundering case registered against him in 2018.
Special Judge Vikas Dhull had directed Shivakumar to appear on July 1, taking cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the ED through its Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana against him and others in the case. (PTI)
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has ordered Bengaluru-based Dreamz Infra India Pvt Ltd to complete construction of its long-pending building project within a year, hand over possession of flats to 18 aggrieved apartment buyers, and pay them compensation.
The NCDRC on Monday heard a petition filed by 18 flat buyers saying that they were cheated by Dreamz Infra India Pvt Ltd. In the order, NCDRC president Justice R K Agarwal and NCDRC member S M Kantikar said, “The opposite party developer is directed to complete the construction of the project within a period of one year and obtain occupancy certificate and provide possession to respective flats to the complainants.
Mild tremors were felt in many parts of Sullia taluk of Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district on Tuesday morning, PTI reported.
Similar to the earthquake on June 25 that shook parts of the taluk, the tremor was felt at around 7.45 am on Tuesday, officials said. The residents of Sampaje, Aranthodu, Peraje, Jalsoor, Ubaradka, Thodikana and Mittur felt the tremors. The tremor lasted four seconds.
Diesel is available at Rs 88 per litre at retail outlets in Bengaluru but its bulk purchase rate is Rs 119 per litre. BMTC had tied up with private retail outlets but oil companies have now objected to this arrangement.
The disparity in diesel prices for retail customers and for bulk buyers could soon result in thousands of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses queueing up outside private fuel stations across the city. Read more.
A sessions court in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi has rejected the bail pleas of a key agent, the headmaster of a private school, a government clerk, and a police inspector who facilitated the altering of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets of as many as eight candidates selected for recruitment as sub-inspectors in the state police this year. Read more.
Gundlupet MLA CS Nirajan Kumar clarified that his letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting for the widening of the National Highway 766 is limited to the stretch that falls outside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
The MLA in a letter dated June 20 requested the PM’s intervention to not only widen the NH 766 but also put a divider to avoid accidents.
A copy of this letter was shared widely on social media since June 27 with conservationists expressing concern since a part of this highway falls cuts across the core habitat of Bandipur Tiger Reserve and the project if implemented would impact the wildlife. Read more.
A bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, credited to be the founder of Bengaluru on the premises of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) situated on the outskirts of the city will be unveiled soon, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced recently.
Ahead of assembly polls due next year, Bommai on Monday also announced that a statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda will be installed on the Vidhana Soudha premises within a year.
This move is widely seen as an attempt by the BJP to gain leverage with the Vokkaliga community, which has shown little inclination to support the BJP. Kempegowda is from the dominant agricultural Vokkaliga community in south Karnataka.
Indian Administrative Service officer Supriya Sahu has shared a clip showing two elephants charging at a car as the driver tries to hinder their movement. As she called the behaviour of onlookers “totally unacceptable and barbaric”, many on social media agreed with her. Read more.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai left for Chandigarh on Monday night to participate in the 47th GST Council meeting to be held on June 28 and 29.
The GST Group of Ministers, which is headed by Chief Minister Bommai has already held 3 meetings and it is expected to submit its interim report at the meeting. The Chief Minister is set to return to Bengaluru on June 30.
The Karnataka government has ordered authorities to start work to redevelop a temple site at Koppal district’s Anjeyanadri Hill, believed to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Hanuman.
State tourism minister Anand Singh has said that a blueprint for the development work is ready with Rs 100 crore set aside for the project.
The announcement has come at a time when Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are engaged in a tussle over the “real” Hanuman Janamsthal. Read more.
The representatives of the real estate sector during a recent meeting of the Central Valuation Committee (CVC) urged the government to extend the scheme by providing a reduction of 10 per cent on property guidance value for another three to six months. Notably, the government announced the guidance value discount for three months starting in January and later extended it till July 25.
Real estate developers argued that potential customers might not prefer to buy properties during Ashada Masa, which is considered inauspicious for making investments or buying property by a section of society. Read more.