Morning Brief: Centre Blocks SC Collegium’s Recommendations; Karti Chidambaram Sent To Five-Day CBI Custody; Two Pakistani Soldiers Killed

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

SC Collegium’s Recommendations Blocked By Centre

Citing breach of ‘seniority’, the government has blocked recommendations sent by the Supreme Court Collegium to appoint Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph as a judge of the apex court and Justice Surya Kant of Punjab and Haryana High Court as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. The recommendations were reportedly sent to the Centre on 10 January.

According to reports, the government believes that Justice Joseph is “too junior” for appointment to the Supreme Court. Law Ministry sources have said that Justice Joseph was 12th in the list of seniority of chief justices of 24 High Courts and at the 45th position in the all-India judges’ seniority list. The collegium’s recommendation also breached the apex court’s two judgments of the 1990s, which say that “a High Court judge has the legitimate expectation to be considered for appointment to the Supreme Court in his turn according to his seniority”.

CBI Gets Five-Day Custody Of Karti Chidambaram

Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, has been sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s custody for five days a day after he was arrested in the INX Media case. Karti Chidambaram’s custody was extended after Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, told the court that there were “very shocking evidence” against him.

The CBI had arrested Karti Chidambaram in connection with the money laundering case on Wednesday. Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, had admitted before the Enforcement Directorate of having paid Rs 3.10 crore to his firm for the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance. She has also named P Chidambaram in the money laundering case.

Two Pakistani Soldiers Killed In Indian Retaliation

Two Pakistani soldiers were killed as the Indian Army retaliated to ceasefire violation along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Bhimber Gali sector. India had retaliated after the Pakistan resorted to shelling, firing of small arms, automatics and mortars. Increased shelling by Pakistan since 14 February has left 19 Indians dead, of whom 10 are security personnel. Pakistan Army refuses to share the number of soldiers it has lost to Indian retaliations, even to the country’s Senate, fueling the speculation that the number is higher than that reported.

According to an intelligence official, ceasefire violations are being used by Pakistan to provide cover fire to nearly 300 terrorists who were waiting to infiltrate into Kashmir and as a method to keep the Indian Army psychologically engaged.

India To Consolidate 35 Overseas Branches of PSBs

To streamline the operations of state-run banks in the aftermath of the Rs12,636 crore scam that hit Punjab National Bank, the Finance Ministry has ordered the consolidation of their overseas operations. Under this plan, the state-run banks will consolidate 35 overseas branches, representative offices, joint ventures, subsidiaries and remittance centres without affecting their international presence. Additionally, the ministry will look at all existing 216 operations of state-run banks in other countries to examine if consolidation would help improve efficiency in those cases. Overseas branches of state-owned banks were involved in the PNB fraud case.

Cabinet Clears Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill

The government has approved a stringent Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill that seeks to treat economic offenders as criminals and would provide for confiscation of assets without conviction in cases where economic offenders flee the country. According to reports, the bill will have a list of scheduled offences. If a person commits an offence on the list and leaves the country to avoid arrest, the court could deem him or her a fugitive economic offender. The law will be applicable to those who have an outstanding of Rs 100 crore or more. The main aim of the bill is to sell assets of Nirav Modi-type escapees to quickly recover dues.

Trump To Impose 25 Per Cent Tariff On Steel Imports

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would impose heavy tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium “for a long period of time”. Trump is expected to sign an order next week, imposing tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium. Trump didn’t elaborate on the details, including whether any products or countries will be exempted from the high tariffs. The US is the world’s largest importer of steel. Canada accounted for the largest share of US steel imports in 2017, followed by Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, and Russia. Contrary to popular perception, China is not the largest sources of steel for US-based manufacturers.

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SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Modi’s Education Minister Is Harming India’s Future By Pushing For Syllabus Dilution: Many have tolerated Javadekar’s acts of omission in cleaning up the Augean stables of sectarian mess stacked up by Sibal and company. But his latest move to dilute syllabus is an act of commission. We will ignore it at our own peril.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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