Can diarrhoea could be grounds for absence from court? Judge on Subrata Roy

Setting the grounds for absence  

Last month, a special trial court was miffed with Sahara chief Subrata Roy (pictured) when he missed his court appearance because he was said to be suffering from gastroenteritis. When Roy turned up in court on Wednesday, proceedings took an amusing turn as the judges, lawyers and the doctor present discussed the matter. The judge had a series of gastro-related queries to decide whether diarrhoea could be grounds for absence from court.

Prickly problem

Some government officials from Bihar who went to Mexico made sure they were not photographed near a cactus. “They learnt from somewhere that cactus is used to make tequila,” said a person with knowledge of the visit. Actually, tequila is made from a kind of agave, native to Mexico and the South-west US. Different kinds of cactus can also be made into liquor. “Thankfully, (Chief Minister) Nitishji doesn’t know that, else he would have banned its cultivation in the state,” said an official, recalling how people with palm trees in their gardens were pulled up by the police after total prohibition was imposed in the state. Along Patna’s upscale Aney Marg, cactus can be seen in the gardens of the official residences of several senior officials. If the CM learnt of the plant’s potent powers, they might land in a prickly problem, said one of the officials.

A ‘demanding’ task

There have been reports that public sector undertakings (PSU) in various sectors were asked to organise events marking three years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. In line with this, a Delhi-based PSU in the infrastructure sector was asked to set up hoardings. The catch was that these hoardings would have to be put up at the PSU’s headquarters, its state-level office as well as district centres across India. Officers at the PSU’s headquarters are baffled as to how they would carry out the order. According to them, the order was issued to other PSUs as well.