The Evening Wrap: Arvind Kejriwal granted bail in Delhi Excise policy case

A Delhi court on June 20 granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy of 2021-22. Vacation judge, Rouse Avenue Court, Niyay Bindu passed the order after hearing Kejriwal and the ED at length. The bail order was dictated by the judge in an open court on June 20 evening. The detailed court order is awaited. Soon after pronouncement of the order, ED’s counsel Zoheb Hossain prayed if the signing of the bail bond could be deferred by 48 hours so that the central agency may be challenged before the appellate court. The prayer was rejected by the court, and announced that bail bond will be produced before the duty judge on June 21. The Delhi Chief Minister was arrested by the ED on March 21. The agency had alleged that Kejriwal was the ‘kingpin’ was the Delhi Excise policy scam. After remaining in jail for weeks, he was released on May 10 by the Supreme Court to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. He returned to jail on June 2 as the apex court denied him further relief. Kejriwal, earlier this month, had filed two bail applications in the Rouse Avenue Court, one for a seven days bail for treatment which was denied on June 5. The second application was of regular bail which was granted on June 20. The case against the Kejriwal was based on the FIR initially filed by the CBI on the complaint of the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi alleging multiple irregularities Delhi Excise policy-2021-22, which was subsequently withdrawn by the State. After the CBI case, the ED filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that the money earned through the excise policy was diverted through “hawala” channels to be spent on the AAP’s campaign in Goa ahead of the Assembly elections there in 2022. The CBI and ED have made multiple arrests in this case including of former deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia and AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh and BRS leader K Kavitha. While Ms. Kavitha and Mr. Sisodia are languishing in jail, Singh was granted bail earlier this year. The ED while opposing the bail plea of the Delhi CM had submitted in the court that the accused had stayed in a seven-star hotel in Goa whose bill was paid through kickback money. The ED also maintained that Kejriwal may not have committed the offence but he is responsible for the affairs of the AAP and if AAP is guilty of an offence then he is guilty of the offence as well. Responding to ED’s claims, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary, who represented Kejriwal said that ED had drawn all its conclusions based on hypothesis and that there is no money trail, as alleged by the agency. Bhartruhari Mahtab appointed pro tem Speaker of Lok Sabha Seven-term parliamentarian Bhartruhari Mahtab was on June 20 appointed pro tem Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said. He said Mahtab, a BJP member from Cuttack, was appointed as pro tem Speaker by President Droupadi Murmu under Article 95(1) of the Constitution to perform the duties of the Lok Sabha presiding officer till the election of the Speaker. The newly elected members of the 18th Lok Sabha will make oath or affirmation before the pro tem Speaker, who will be assisted by a panel of chairpersons comprising Congress leader K. Suresh, DMK leader T. R. Baalu, BJP members Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste and TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadyay. Mahtab quit the BJD ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to join the BJP. The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will begin on June 24. The newly elected members will take oath/affirmation on June 24-25. The election of the Speaker is scheduled to take place on June 26. NEET, NET paper leaks are institutional failures of NTA, responsibility will be fixed: Education Minister Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on June 20 said that back to back paper leak cases affecting lives of at least 35 lakh students is an institutional failure of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The Education Minister was referring to the paper leak cases of National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), that paves way for medical admissions, and UGC-NET, which is administered to choose PhD candidates. Pradhan in a press briefing said that on June 19 at 3 p.m. information was received by Ministry of Education (MoE) by Home Ministry’s I4C committee which works on cyber crime, that the dark net had leaked questions of the UGC NET exam. Later that evening, MoE decided to scrap the examination and issued instructions that a retest will be held for at least eleven lakh NET aspirants. Pradhan has said that a reform committee will be formulated which will consist of technocrats, bureaucrats, and scientists to suggest improvements to NTA’s working. Pradhan said that while an anti-cheating bill had been passed in both houses earlier this year, the Law Ministry is working on firming up the rules. “We don’t have any weapon right now to face these kind of challenges,” he said. “These days software like Telegram are used to leak questions. When we are conducting exams of PhD students we have to maintain quality and with full pain we are taking responsibility to rectify the system, and very soon we will come with new dates,” Pradhan further added. On NEET 2024 paper leak, Pradhan said that the accused will be punished but before that we need to gather all evidences and proofs. “Patna police is working hard on cracking the case, senior police officials of Bihar are in touch with central government officials,” he said. Pradhan also said, “I take responsibility for NEET paper leak and whoever is responsible will not be spared.” He side-stepped questions on the allegations that politician Tejashwi Yadav’s personal assistant had been named in NEET leak case and had alleged connections with the accused. NEET-UG row: Supreme Court notice to govt, NTA on plea seeking independent panel to probe allegations The Supreme Court on June 20 decided to examine pleas questioning the Centre’s appointment of National Testing Agency (NTA) chairman Prof. Pradeep Kumar Joshi to the high-powered committee which recommended a re-test for 1563 undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) candidates who were given grace marks. NTA, which conducts the NEET-UG exam, is facing allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities. Petitions against the NTA and the Union Government have been piling up in the past two weeks. The petition argued the likelihood of bias or a case of judging one’s own cause. “The chairperson of this high-powered committee is the head of the NTA. The head of the NTA has given a pat on his back and says there is nothing wrong but we are withdrawing the scores of 1563 candidates,” a counsel, appearing in one of the petitions, submitted before a Vacation Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SV Bhatti. The petitioners sought an investigation into the NEET 2024 imbroglio by an independent panel formed by the Supreme Court. The lawyer referred to the last time the court had formed such a committee headed by a former apex court judge in the Adani-Hindenburg short-selling case. “The Securities and Exchange Board was asked to investigate, but this court also constituted an independent panel,” the lawyer argued. Petitions numbering nearly 10 listed on Thursday also questioned the method used by the NTA to arrive at the figure of 1563 candidates for retest scheduled on June 23. “How did the NTA arrive at the figure of 1563… What criteria was followed? The list of these students have not been made public on the website or anywhere… Absolutely arbitrary,” the petitioners submitted. The petitioners include a cross-section of aspirants, relatives and even a coaching centre, submitted. Over 24 lakh students had appeared in the NEET-UG 2024 exam held on May 5. One of the petitioners have also challenged the validity of holding the re-test itself, arguing that the law has only prescribed for one NEET a year. “There can’t be two in a year?” he submitted. However, the court listed the petitions for July 8, while repeatedly denying pleas to postpone the date for counselling, which is likely to be held on July 6. “We will not stay the counselling. After all, if the exam eventually goes, the counselling will also go,” Justice Nath observed orally. The Bench, nevertheless, stayed proceedings linked to the NEET case in Rajasthan, Calcutta and Bombay High Courts on the basis of petitions filed by litigants to transfer them to the Supreme Court to be heard along with other pending pleas on July 8. The many petitions pending in the Supreme Court, and scheduled for hearing on July 8, include prayers for a CBI investigation and even re-examination. The petitioners have alleged irregularities like students receiving different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets; unprecedented inflation of cut-off and average marks resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720; six of these toppers were from the same exam centre in Haryana; students having scored 718 and 719 marks, which is “statistically questionable”; no disclosure of method/criteria adopted for grant of compensatory marks for loss of time, etc. Rahul Gandhi accuses RSS-BJP of capturing educational institutions Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 20 launched a scathing attack on the government over the alleged irregularities in NEET and cancellation of UGC-NET and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “psychologically collapsed” post-election and will struggle to run a government like this. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he also said educational institutions are being captured by the RSS and the BJP and paper leaks will not stop unless that is reversed. “It was being said Prime Minister Modi stopped the Ukraine-Russia war and Israel-Gaza war, but he is either not able to stop exam paper leaks or doesn’t want to,” Gandhi said. He claimed that during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, thousands complained about paper leaks. “There has been an expansion of idea of Vyapam to rest of country,” he said of the recent controversy while referring to the Vyapam examination and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh. “Nothing should be done in arbitrary manner, rules that apply to one paper should apply to another,” Gandhi said. He also said that the Opposition will raise the exam paper leaks issue in Parliament. A massive row has erupted on the medical entrance exam NEET over alleged irregularities, with the issue now before the Supreme Court. On Wednesday night, the Union education ministry ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET following inputs that the exam’s integrity may have been compromised and handed over the matter to the CBI for an investigation. Patna High Court strikes down hike in Bihar’s reservations for deprived castes The Patna High Court on June 20 set aside the amendments passed by the Bihar legislature in 2023 to increase the reservation for Backward Classes (BC), Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) from 50% to 65% in educational institutions and government jobs. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed in the Patna High Court on November 27, 2023, challenging the decision of the Bihar Government to increase reservation in the State from 50% to 65%. Following the caste-based survey report, the government of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar decided to increase the reservation for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). The PIL plea has been filed by Gaurav Kumar and others. In this case, after completing the hearing on the petitions filed by Gaurav Kumar and others, the decision was reserved on March 11, 2024, which was pronounced today. A Division Bench of Chief Justice K.V. Chandran had a long hearing on the petitions of Gaurav Kumar and others. Advocate General P.K. Shahi argued on behalf of the State Government. He had told the court that the State Government had given this reservation due to a lack of adequate representation of these classes. The State Government had not given this reservation on a proportionate basis. In these petitions, the law passed by the State Government on November 9, 2023, was challenged. In this, 65% reservation was given to SC, ST, EBC and OBC, while only 35% of posts could be given to general category candidates in government service. Advocate Dinu Kumar had told the court in previous hearings that cancelling 10% reservation for EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) in the general category is against Article 14 and Article 15(6)(b) of the Indian Constitution. Dinu had said that after the caste survey, this decision of reservation was taken on the basis of the proportion of castes, and not on the basis of adequate representation in government jobs. He had argued that the Supreme Court had imposed a restriction of 50% on the limit of reservation in the Indira Sawhney case. The case of caste survey is currently pending for hearing in the Supreme Court. In this, the decision of the State Government was challenged in the Supreme Court on the basis that the State Government had increased the limit of reservation in government jobs from 50% to 65%. The Bihar Assembly on November 9, 2023, unanimously passed a Bill to increase reservation for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes from the existing 50% to 65%. Together with the 10% Economically Backward Class (EWS) quota, the Bill had pushed reservation in Bihar to 75%, well past the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court. According to the legislation, named the Bihar Reservation Amendment Bill, quota for Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) was raised from the existing 18% to 25%; for Backward Classes (BC) from 12% to 18%; for Scheduled Castes (SC) from 16% to 20%; and for Scheduled Tribes (ST), the quota has been doubled, from 1% to 2%. The existing 3% reservation for BC women has been scrapped. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar approved the Bills on November 18, 2023, followed by the State Government issuing its notification in the gazette on November 21, 2023. Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked whether the State Govt will now immediately appeal in the Supreme Court against the Patna High Court’s order on Bihar’s reservation policy. “The Patna High Court has just struck down an act passed by the Bihar Assembly last year that provided 65% reservation for SC, ST, OBC and OBC categories in government jobs and educational institutions. The High Court said that this was violating the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court. Will the Bihar Government now immediately appeal to the Supreme Court? Will the NDA Government at the Centre put all its effort behind this appeal with seriousness? Will the Parliament get a chance to discuss this issue as soon as possible?” Ramesh posted the message on his social media X. French journalist forced to leave India as MHA refuses to renew his work permit A second French journalist, working in India since 2011, said he had been forced to leave the country after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) denied the renewal of his work permit without providing any reason. Sebastien Farcis, who is married to an Indian and has the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status since 2021, said he was deeply attached to India, which had become his second homeland. “But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out of India without explanation, and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason,” Farcis said in a post on social media platform X. When asked to comment on the matter, there was no response from the MHA. Earlier this year, French journalist Vanessa Dougnac, who had been living in India for 22 years, left the country after the MHA sent a notice citing “malicious reportage” and visa violations, asking why her OCI card should not be cancelled. Farcis was the South Asia correspondent and bureau chief of Radio France, a national public broadcaster, and its world service, Radio France Internationale, a government-funded, independent broadcast organisation. He had earlier received permits from the MHA to visit restricted areas, had reported from Sikkim on organic farming, and attended a G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. He had previously been granted a journalist permit on September 1, 2022 for a period of one year. Upon applying for its renewal on August 9, 2023, he was informed on March 7, days before the recently concluded General Election was announced, that his application had been denied. No reasons were cited. His appeal against the decision in April did not elicit a response from the MHA. “On 17th June, I was forced to leave India, a country where I had lived and worked as a journalist for 13 years. Three months ago, on March 7, MHA denied the renewal of my journalist permit, preventing me from practicing my profession and depriving me of all my income. No reason has been provided to justify this work ban, despite formal and repeated requests made to the MHA. I have tried to appeal also, but to no avail so far,” Farcis said in a statement on X. He added that he had been working as a journalist in India since 2011, and obtained all the necessary visas and accreditations. “I have respected the regulations imposed in India for foreign journalists and never worked in restricted or protected areas without a permit. On several occasions, the MHA even granted me permits to report from border areas. Therefore, this work ban comes as a big shock: it was communicated to me on the eve of the Indian general elections, the largest democratic elections in the world, which I was hence forbidden to cover. This appeared to me as an incomprehensible censorship,” he stated. “This denial comes in a worrying context of increasing restrictions on the work of foreign journalists: after Vanessa Dougnac, I am the second French journalist in four months having to leave India under these conditions. At least five OCI foreign correspondents have been banned from working as journalists in less than two years. I have now applied for a new work permit, and hope it will be accepted. In the meantime, as I am not able to work, I am forced to return to France,” Farcis said. ECI receives 11 requests for EVM and VVPAT memory verification post results The Election Commission of India has received 11 requests for memory verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) from the recently concluded Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. These requests essentially mean rematching the votes polled in 5% of the EVMs in each of these constituencies. This is the first time that such requests have been received since the Supreme Court order of April 24 allowing verification on the request of the runners-up in any election. While eight requests were received for the Lok Sabha elections, including three each from the BJP and Congress, three requests were for the Assembly polls, according to a statement from the Election Commission. Among Lok Sabha constituencies, three applications came from the BJP candidates in Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), Vellore (Tamil Nadu), and Zahirabad (Telangana); three came from the Congress candidates in Kanker (Chhattisgarh), Faridabad (Haryana), and Karnal (Haryana); and one each from the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) candidate in Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu) and the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) candidate from Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh). Two of the Assembly poll requests for verification came from Biju Janata Dal candidates in Odisha, while one came from a YSRCP candidate in Andhra Pradesh. Following the Supreme Court’s April order, the ECI had issued a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the application process on June 1. According to this, the checking and verification process can be initiated by State Chief Electoral Officers within four weeks of the verification of status of the election petitions filed in the respective constituencies by the Registrars of the respective High Courts. For the current election cycle, the deadline to file the petition is July 19, that is, 45 days from the date of declaration of results. “The technical Standard Operating Procedure enumerating the methodology and steps for checking and verification of burnt memory/microcontroller of EVM units will be issued by the Commission in due course before the end of election petition period,” the ECI said. In brief At least 38 persons have died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor at Karunapuram in Kallakurichi district on June 19 and June 20. The victims included two women and a transperson. A total of 82 others are undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, over 2,000 police personnel drawn from various districts have been deployed in Kallakurichi. In the wake of the tragedy, the T.N. government transferred District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath and placed under suspension the Superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena. While Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has expressed shock over the incident, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has constituted a one-man commission headed by Justice B. Gokuldas, former High Court judge, to conduct a thorough inquiry into the tragedy. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 20 June 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Arvind Kejriwal granted bail in Delhi Excise policy case A Delhi court on June 20 [granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal]( who was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy of 2021-22. Vacation judge, Rouse Avenue Court, Niyay Bindu passed the order after hearing Kejriwal and the ED at length. The bail order was dictated by the judge in an open court on June 20 evening. The detailed court order is awaited. Soon after pronouncement of the order, ED’s counsel Zoheb Hossain prayed if the signing of the bail bond could be deferred by 48 hours so that the central agency may be challenged before the appellate court. The prayer was rejected by the court, and announced that bail bond will be produced before the duty judge on June 21. The Delhi Chief Minister was arrested by the ED on March 21. The agency had alleged that Kejriwal was the ‘kingpin’ was the Delhi Excise policy scam. After remaining in jail for weeks, he was released on May 10 by the Supreme Court to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. He returned to jail on June 2 as the apex court denied him further relief. Kejriwal, earlier this month, had filed two bail applications in the Rouse Avenue Court, one for a seven days bail for treatment which was denied on June 5. The second application was of regular bail which was granted on June 20. The case against the Kejriwal was based on the FIR initially filed by the CBI on the complaint of the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi alleging multiple irregularities Delhi Excise policy-2021-22, which was subsequently withdrawn by the State. After the CBI case, the ED filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that the money earned through the excise policy was diverted through “hawala” channels to be spent on the AAP’s campaign in Goa ahead of the Assembly elections there in 2022. The CBI and ED have made multiple arrests in this case including of former deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia and AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh and BRS leader K Kavitha. While Ms. Kavitha and Mr. Sisodia are languishing in jail, Singh was granted bail earlier this year. The ED while opposing the bail plea of the Delhi CM had submitted in the court that the accused had stayed in a seven-star hotel in Goa whose bill was paid through kickback money. The ED also maintained that Kejriwal may not have committed the offence but he is responsible for the affairs of the AAP and if AAP is guilty of an offence then he is guilty of the offence as well. Responding to ED’s claims, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary, who represented Kejriwal said that ED had drawn all its conclusions based on hypothesis and that there is no money trail, as alleged by the agency. Bhartruhari Mahtab appointed pro tem Speaker of Lok Sabha Seven-term parliamentarian Bhartruhari Mahtab was on June 20 [appointed pro tem Speaker of the Lok Sabha]( Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said. He said Mahtab, a BJP member from Cuttack, was appointed as pro tem Speaker by President Droupadi Murmu under Article 95(1) of the Constitution to perform the duties of the Lok Sabha presiding officer till the election of the Speaker. The newly elected members of the 18th Lok Sabha will make oath or affirmation before the pro tem Speaker, who will be assisted by a panel of chairpersons comprising Congress leader K. Suresh, DMK leader T. R. Baalu, BJP members Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste and TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadyay. Mahtab quit the BJD ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to join the BJP. The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will begin on June 24. The newly elected members will take oath/affirmation on June 24-25. The election of the Speaker is scheduled to take place on June 26. NEET, NET paper leaks are institutional failures of NTA, responsibility will be fixed: Education Minister Union [Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan]( on June 20 said that back to back paper leak cases affecting lives of at least 35 lakh students is an institutional failure of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The Education Minister was referring to the paper leak cases of National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), that paves way for medical admissions, and UGC-NET, which is administered to choose PhD candidates. Pradhan in a press briefing said that on June 19 at 3 p.m. information was received by Ministry of Education (MoE) by Home Ministry’s I4C committee which works on cyber crime, that the dark net had leaked questions of the UGC NET exam. Later that evening, MoE decided to scrap the examination and issued instructions that a retest will be held for at least eleven lakh NET aspirants. Pradhan has said that a reform committee will be formulated which will consist of technocrats, bureaucrats, and scientists to suggest improvements to NTA’s working. Pradhan said that while an anti-cheating bill had been passed in both houses earlier this year, the Law Ministry is working on firming up the rules. “We don’t have any weapon right now to face these kind of challenges,” he said. “These days software like Telegram are used to leak questions. When we are conducting exams of PhD students we have to maintain quality and with full pain we are taking responsibility to rectify the system, and very soon we will come with new dates,” Pradhan further added. On NEET 2024 paper leak, Pradhan said that the accused will be punished but before that we need to gather all evidences and proofs. “Patna police is working hard on cracking the case, senior police officials of Bihar are in touch with central government officials,” he said. Pradhan also said, “I take responsibility for NEET paper leak and whoever is responsible will not be spared.” He side-stepped questions on the allegations that politician Tejashwi Yadav’s personal assistant had been named in NEET leak case and had alleged connections with the accused. NEET-UG row: Supreme Court notice to govt, NTA on plea seeking independent panel to probe allegations The [Supreme Court on June 20 decided to examine pleas]( questioning the Centre’s appointment of National Testing Agency (NTA) chairman Prof. Pradeep Kumar Joshi to the high-powered committee which recommended a re-test for 1563 undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) candidates who were given grace marks. NTA, which conducts the NEET-UG exam, is facing allegations of question paper leaks and other irregularities. Petitions against the NTA and the Union Government have been piling up in the past two weeks. The petition argued the likelihood of bias or a case of judging one’s own cause. “The chairperson of this high-powered committee is the head of the NTA. The head of the NTA has given a pat on his back and says there is nothing wrong but we are withdrawing the scores of 1563 candidates,” a counsel, appearing in one of the petitions, submitted before a Vacation Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and SV Bhatti. The petitioners sought an investigation into the NEET 2024 imbroglio by an independent panel formed by the Supreme Court. The lawyer referred to the last time the court had formed such a committee headed by a former apex court judge in the Adani-Hindenburg short-selling case. “The Securities and Exchange Board was asked to investigate, but this court also constituted an independent panel,” the lawyer argued. Petitions numbering nearly 10 listed on Thursday also questioned the method used by the NTA to arrive at the figure of 1563 candidates for retest scheduled on June 23. “How did the NTA arrive at the figure of 1563… What criteria was followed? The list of these students have not been made public on the website or anywhere… Absolutely arbitrary,” the petitioners submitted. The petitioners include a cross-section of aspirants, relatives and even a coaching centre, submitted. Over 24 lakh students had appeared in the NEET-UG 2024 exam held on May 5. One of the petitioners have also challenged the validity of holding the re-test itself, arguing that the law has only prescribed for one NEET a year. “There can’t be two in a year?” he submitted. However, the court listed the petitions for July 8, while repeatedly denying pleas to postpone the date for counselling, which is likely to be held on July 6. “We will not stay the counselling. After all, if the exam eventually goes, the counselling will also go,” Justice Nath observed orally. The Bench, nevertheless, stayed proceedings linked to the NEET case in Rajasthan, Calcutta and Bombay High Courts on the basis of petitions filed by litigants to transfer them to the Supreme Court to be heard along with other pending pleas on July 8. The many petitions pending in the Supreme Court, and scheduled for hearing on July 8, include prayers for a CBI investigation and even re-examination. The petitioners have alleged irregularities like students receiving different marks on their scorecards compared to their OMR sheets; unprecedented inflation of cut-off and average marks resulted in an unprecedented 67 candidates achieving a perfect score of 720/720; six of these toppers were from the same exam centre in Haryana; students having scored 718 and 719 marks, which is “statistically questionable”; no disclosure of method/criteria adopted for grant of compensatory marks for loss of time, etc. Rahul Gandhi accuses RSS-BJP of capturing educational institutions Congress leader [Rahul Gandhi on June 20 launched a scathing attack on the government]( over the alleged irregularities in NEET and cancellation of UGC-NET and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “psychologically collapsed” post-election and will struggle to run a government like this. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he also said educational institutions are being captured by the RSS and the BJP and paper leaks will not stop unless that is reversed. “It was being said Prime Minister Modi stopped the Ukraine-Russia war and Israel-Gaza war, but he is either not able to stop exam paper leaks or doesn’t want to,” Gandhi said. He claimed that during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, thousands complained about paper leaks. “There has been an expansion of idea of Vyapam to rest of country,” he said of the recent controversy while referring to the Vyapam examination and recruitment scam in Madhya Pradesh. “Nothing should be done in arbitrary manner, rules that apply to one paper should apply to another,” Gandhi said. He also said that the Opposition will raise the exam paper leaks issue in Parliament. A massive row has erupted on the medical entrance exam NEET over alleged irregularities, with the issue now before the Supreme Court. On Wednesday night, the Union education ministry ordered the cancellation of the UGC-NET following inputs that the exam’s integrity may have been compromised and handed over the matter to the CBI for an investigation. Patna High Court strikes down hike in Bihar’s reservations for deprived castes The Patna High Court on June 20 [set aside the amendments passed by the Bihar legislature in 2023]( to increase the reservation for Backward Classes (BC), Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) from 50% to 65% in educational institutions and government jobs. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed in the Patna High Court on November 27, 2023, challenging the decision of the Bihar Government to increase reservation in the State from 50% to 65%. Following the caste-based survey report, the government of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar decided to increase the reservation for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). The PIL plea has been filed by Gaurav Kumar and others. In this case, after completing the hearing on the petitions filed by Gaurav Kumar and others, the decision was reserved on March 11, 2024, which was pronounced today. A Division Bench of Chief Justice K.V. Chandran had a long hearing on the petitions of Gaurav Kumar and others. Advocate General P.K. Shahi argued on behalf of the State Government. He had told the court that the State Government had given this reservation due to a lack of adequate representation of these classes. The State Government had not given this reservation on a proportionate basis. In these petitions, the law passed by the State Government on November 9, 2023, was challenged. In this, 65% reservation was given to SC, ST, EBC and OBC, while only 35% of posts could be given to general category candidates in government service. Advocate Dinu Kumar had told the court in previous hearings that cancelling 10% reservation for EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) in the general category is against Article 14 and Article 15(6)(b) of the Indian Constitution. Dinu had said that after the caste survey, this decision of reservation was taken on the basis of the proportion of castes, and not on the basis of adequate representation in government jobs. He had argued that the Supreme Court had imposed a restriction of 50% on the limit of reservation in the Indira Sawhney case. The case of caste survey is currently pending for hearing in the Supreme Court. In this, the decision of the State Government was challenged in the Supreme Court on the basis that the State Government had increased the limit of reservation in government jobs from 50% to 65%. The Bihar Assembly on November 9, 2023, unanimously passed a Bill to increase reservation for Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes from the existing 50% to 65%. Together with the 10% Economically Backward Class (EWS) quota, the Bill had pushed reservation in Bihar to 75%, well past the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court. According to the legislation, named the Bihar Reservation Amendment Bill, quota for Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) was raised from the existing 18% to 25%; for Backward Classes (BC) from 12% to 18%; for Scheduled Castes (SC) from 16% to 20%; and for Scheduled Tribes (ST), the quota has been doubled, from 1% to 2%. The existing 3% reservation for BC women has been scrapped. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar approved the Bills on November 18, 2023, followed by the State Government issuing its notification in the gazette on November 21, 2023. Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked whether the State Govt will now immediately appeal in the Supreme Court against the Patna High Court’s order on Bihar’s reservation policy. “The Patna High Court has just struck down an act passed by the Bihar Assembly last year that provided 65% reservation for SC, ST, OBC and OBC categories in government jobs and educational institutions. The High Court said that this was violating the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court. Will the Bihar Government now immediately appeal to the Supreme Court? Will the NDA Government at the Centre put all its effort behind this appeal with seriousness? Will the Parliament get a chance to discuss this issue as soon as possible?” Ramesh posted the message on his social media X. French journalist forced to leave India as MHA refuses to renew his work permit A second French journalist, working in India since 2011, said he [had been forced to leave the country]( after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) denied the renewal of his work permit without providing any reason. Sebastien Farcis, who is married to an Indian and has the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status since 2021, said he was deeply attached to India, which had become his second homeland. “But with no more work nor income, my family has been pushed out of India without explanation, and uprooted overnight for no apparent reason,” Farcis said in a post on social media platform X. When asked to comment on the matter, there was no response from the MHA. Earlier this year, French journalist Vanessa Dougnac, who had been living in India for 22 years, left the country after the MHA sent a notice citing “malicious reportage” and visa violations, asking why her OCI card should not be cancelled. Farcis was the South Asia correspondent and bureau chief of Radio France, a national public broadcaster, and its world service, Radio France Internationale, a government-funded, independent broadcast organisation. He had earlier received permits from the MHA to visit restricted areas, had reported from Sikkim on organic farming, and attended a G20 meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. He had previously been granted a journalist permit on September 1, 2022 for a period of one year. Upon applying for its renewal on August 9, 2023, he was informed on March 7, days before the recently concluded General Election was announced, that his application had been denied. No reasons were cited. His appeal against the decision in April did not elicit a response from the MHA. “On 17th June, I was forced to leave India, a country where I had lived and worked as a journalist for 13 years. Three months ago, on March 7, MHA denied the renewal of my journalist permit, preventing me from practicing my profession and depriving me of all my income. No reason has been provided to justify this work ban, despite formal and repeated requests made to the MHA. I have tried to appeal also, but to no avail so far,” Farcis said in a statement on X. He added that he had been working as a journalist in India since 2011, and obtained all the necessary visas and accreditations. “I have respected the regulations imposed in India for foreign journalists and never worked in restricted or protected areas without a permit. On several occasions, the MHA even granted me permits to report from border areas. Therefore, this work ban comes as a big shock: it was communicated to me on the eve of the Indian general elections, the largest democratic elections in the world, which I was hence forbidden to cover. This appeared to me as an incomprehensible censorship,” he stated. “This denial comes in a worrying context of increasing restrictions on the work of foreign journalists: after Vanessa Dougnac, I am the second French journalist in four months having to leave India under these conditions. At least five OCI foreign correspondents have been banned from working as journalists in less than two years. I have now applied for a new work permit, and hope it will be accepted. In the meantime, as I am not able to work, I am forced to return to France,” Farcis said. ECI receives 11 requests for EVM and VVPAT memory verification post results The Election Commission of India has [received 11 requests for memory verification of Electronic Voting Machines]( (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) from the recently concluded Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. These requests essentially mean rematching the votes polled in 5% of the EVMs in each of these constituencies. This is the first time that such requests have been received since the Supreme Court order of April 24 allowing verification on the request of the runners-up in any election. While eight requests were received for the Lok Sabha elections, including three each from the BJP and Congress, three requests were for the Assembly polls, according to a statement from the Election Commission. Among Lok Sabha constituencies, three applications came from the BJP candidates in Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), Vellore (Tamil Nadu), and Zahirabad (Telangana); three came from the Congress candidates in Kanker (Chhattisgarh), Faridabad (Haryana), and Karnal (Haryana); and one each from the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) candidate in Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu) and the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) candidate from Vizianagaram (Andhra Pradesh). Two of the Assembly poll requests for verification came from Biju Janata Dal candidates in Odisha, while one came from a YSRCP candidate in Andhra Pradesh. Following the Supreme Court’s April order, the ECI had issued a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the application process on June 1. According to this, the checking and verification process can be initiated by State Chief Electoral Officers within four weeks of the verification of status of the election petitions filed in the respective constituencies by the Registrars of the respective High Courts. For the current election cycle, the deadline to file the petition is July 19, that is, 45 days from the date of declaration of results. “The technical Standard Operating Procedure enumerating the methodology and steps for checking and verification of burnt memory/microcontroller of EVM units will be issued by the Commission in due course before the end of election petition period,” the ECI said. In brief At least [38 persons have died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor]( at Karunapuram in Kallakurichi district on June 19 and June 20. The victims included two women and a transperson. A total of 82 others are undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, over 2,000 police personnel drawn from various districts have been deployed in Kallakurichi. In the wake of the tragedy, the T.N. government transferred District Collector Sravan Kumar Jatavath and placed under suspension the Superintendent of Police Samay Singh Meena. While Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has expressed shock over the incident, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has constituted a one-man commission headed by Justice B. Gokuldas, former High Court judge, to conduct a thorough inquiry into the tragedy. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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