Delhi Confidential: Here And There

The Supreme Court’s seven-judge constitution bench hearing sub-classification of Scheduled Castes witnessed some lighter moments this week when Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud asked a lawyer as to which side he was appearing for, petitioners or respondents. The counsel replied, “I am partly on this side and partly on the other side.” “So you are neither here nor there,” quipped Justice B R Gavai. Matters didn’t end there as the CJI upon noting the tone of the lawyer’s submissions said he seemed to have opened the batting for the respondents. The court was still hearing the petitioners when the lawyer took his chance. Responding to the CJI’s statement, the counsel said, “But my name is included in the list of petitioners.”

‘Licence’ To Study

The Centre for Policy Research (CPR), which has been in the Ministry of Home Affairs’ crosshairs for over a year for allegedly violating foreign funding rules, has been roped in by another ministry to evaluate one of its flagship missions. Along with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), the CPR is studying the functioning of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) of Smart Cities Mission of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. When questioned by a House panel on whether it had done any evaluation of the SPV model, the ministry said it had commissioned the CPR and NIUA study. The study is expected to be completed by March. Recently, the MHA had cancelled The think tank’s FCRA licence, cutting off its ability to receive foreign funds.