Delhi Confidential: Making A Point

Not Ready, My Lord

Rigorous legal arguments gave way to hearty laughter in the Supreme Court on Wednesday as the lawyer appearing for Hindu Mahasabha president, when called to argue, ‘confessed’ to the Constitution bench that he had not come ready with all the documents since he was not expecting his turn to come today. The bench had called upon the Mahasabha’s counsel to argue after cutting short the lawyer who appeared immediately before him for Ram Janmabhoomi Punarudhar Samiti and asked him to come better prepared.

On Fast Lane

Nitin Gadkari’s Road Transport Ministry has written to state governments and asked them to provide space for banks to open counters at Regional Transport Offices to sell Fastags, the RFID sticker for contact-less digital payment of toll on highways. After nudging people to get these tags installed in cars for the last few years, the proliferation of Fastags has now assumed urgency, as the government has decided that all lanes in toll plazas will be designated as Fastag lanes starting December 1. Moreover, the ministry had earlier made it mandatory for commercial vehicles such as trucks to get Fastags to obtain national permits from October 1 this year.