Daily Briefing: What Supreme Court’s landmark verdicts mean for Delhi, Maharashtra; Express impact: NHRC issues notice to sport bodies; and more

🚨Big story

Yesterday, the Supreme Court delivered verdicts in two crucial cases — the Delhi government’s tussle with the Centre over the national capital’s bureaucracy, and the Maharashtra political crisis that followed the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray government. So, what are the implications? 

👉🏻 Well in the Delhi government vs Centre tussle, the Supreme Court verdict ended an eight-year-long legal battle between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. The Supreme Court ruled that the Kejriwal-led government has legislative and executive powers over administrative services in the national capital. But what tilted the scales in Delhi govt’s favour? We explain

👉🏻 Meanwhile, in the Sena vs Sena row, the apex court order essentially guaranteed the continuation of the BJP-Shiv Sena government. But the court noted that the then-Governor did not act in accordance with the law. Here are the key takeaways from the verdict

While the apex court upheld the continuity of the Shinde-Fadnavis government, its verdict is still a big morale booster for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition. Here’s how. 

⚡Only in the Express 

Express Impact: A week after the Indian Express highlighted non-compliance of provisions under Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) law by national sports federations, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the erring sports bodies along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

On a related note, in today’s opinion section, Derek O’Brien writes on how the adversities faced by sportspersons in India is a book waiting to be written. “There are many examples of sportspersons who did India proud, but ended up in penury,” he says.

📰From the front page

🔴In a major relief for Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared his arrest “illegal” and ordered the immediate release of the former prime minister after he was produced before a bench on its orders. 70-year-old Khan will appear before the Islamabad High Court today to secure a pre-arrest bail in the Al Qadir Trust case. 

🔴The second reshuffle of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin’s Cabinet saw the removal of Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), widely regarded as one of the best performing finance ministers in the country, from his portfolio. His removal comes after the release of an audio tape, which purportedly featured him speaking about corruption by Stalin’s family members.

🔴Promising a “massive administrative overhaul” post the SC verdict which ruled in favour of the AAP government, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal replaced IAS officer Ashish More, who was the Secretary of the Services Department, with by IAS officer Anil Kumar Singh.

👩🏽‍💻Must Read

👉🏻With their parents unable to afford private schools, and middle- and high schools too far away from the resettlement camps, many children have been forced to drop out of school following eviction from their homes in November 2021. Read Tora Agarwala’s ground report for more

👉🏻As violence erupted in Manipur on May 3, the future of a young couple, a Meiti man and a Kuki woman, seems uncertain. Sukrita Baruah and Jimmy Leivon write about their interrupted love story here.

⏱️And Finally

In an exclusive interview with Sandeep Dwivedi, PCB chief Najam Sethi says the Asia Cup can be staged in a hybrid model, which he also proposes for the World Cup to be hosted in India. He further raises questions over Ahmedabad as a possible venue for India-Pakistan World Cup game.

🤫Voting may be over in Karnataka but “Bajrang Bali” found space in Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s address at the National Technology Day event on Thursday. Read more in today’s Delhi Confidential!

🎧In the latest edition of the 3 Things podcast, we dissect Congress’ campaign for the Karnataka polls 2023, discuss why Imran Khan was arrested, and why the Indian army is making changes to its uniforms.

Until tomorrow, 

Varsha Sriram and Arushi Bhaskar