Centre

The Centre has extended the tenure of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh by one year, till October 31, 2027, according to an official order issued on Saturday. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the extension of Singh, a 1989-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, beyond his scheduled tenure ending on October 31, 2026. "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved extension in the service of Rajesh Kumar Singh, IAS (KL:89) as Secretary, Department of Defence, Ministry of Defence, for a period of one year beyond 31.10.2026, i.e. up to 31.10.2027 or until further orders whichever is earlier," the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) read. The extension was granted in relaxation of the provisions of Fundamental Rule 56(d) and Rule 16(1A) of the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958, the order said.

The Union home ministry has extended for the second time the deployment of 273 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies in the national capital till October 31 in view of the possibility of "flash protests" by political and other groups, official sources said on Friday. The companies were brought to Delhi for the protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) earlier this month. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed the Delhi Police and the respective CAPFs on October 22 to coordinate the deployment, the sources told PTI. The extension was approved at the request of the Delhi Police, they said, adding that a similar extension had been sanctioned in mid-October. Officials said the Delhi Police had informed the ministry that there was a possibility of flash protests being undertaken by political and other outfits in various "sensitive" locations of the city. The extension of the deployment was essential in order to ensure proper law and order, they said. The MHA has approved

The Union law ministry has come out with a set of rules to set up a framework to handle violations related to court fees and stamp rules in the Union territories. The Union Territories Court Fees (Adjudication of Penalties and Appeal) Rules, 2026, issued on Saturday operationalise sections 34A and 34B of the Court Fees Act, 1870, which were recently added following amendments under the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2026. Instead of changing the court-fee system, the rules focus on administrative enforcement, accountability and time-bound conflict resolution. The amended Jan Vishwaas law tweaked the Court Fees Act to replace criminal punishment with financial penalties for minor, non-fraudulent violations of stamp-sale rules. Under the newly-notified rules, revenue officers, licensed stamp vendors and members of the public can report violations to the designated adjudicating officers empowered to investigate and levy penalties under the Court Fees Act. The rules prescr

The Supreme Court has sought the Centre's response to a plea seeking age-based social media restrictions and safeguards to protect children from online exploitation and harmful content

Senior bureaucrat Prakash Rajpurohit has been appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Saturday. Rajpurohit, a 2010 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed to the post for a tenure up to April 8, 2030, in place of Sanjay Kumar, according to a Personnel Ministry order. Vivek Khare, a 1996 batch Indian Telecom Service officer, will be Joint Secretary, National Testing Agency (NTA), it said. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved appointments of 27 civil servants at joint secretary and equivalent levels. Ravi Shankar, Chittaranjan Dash, P Manoj Kumar and Abhishek Bhagotia have been appointed as joint secretaries in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mohammed Y Safirulla K and Ritu Sharma will be joint secretaries in the Department of Health and Family Welfare. Varnali Deka, a 2009 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, National Health ...

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre on the proposed relocation of the 135-year-old Central Secretariat Library in Delhi, which houses over 8.5 lakh books, amid reports that no space has been allocated for it in the new Central Vista Plan. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva issued notice to the Centre and asked it to file an affidavit giving full details of the area which would be allotted for the library along with the actual layout plan. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the Centre. The top court was hearing a suo moto case titled 'In Re: 135-yr-old library, 8.5 lakh books-and no room in the new Central Vista plan'. This comes in the wake of recent media reports highlighting that the library, currently spread over four floors in Shastri Bhawan since 1969, was facing uncertainty as the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had allotted only two rooms in the Kartavya Bhawan-2 complex. The Union housing ministry ...

The Centre will provide all possible support to farmers reeling from drought and floods in various states, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said, noting that the country is witnessing adverse effects of climate change. Contingency plans had been prepared and shared with states to guide farmers on suitable crops to grow in a shorter time during low rainfall, with seed banks and alternative arrangements in place, along with advisories issued to state governments, Chouhan told PTI Videos in Nagpur on Saturday. The Maharashtra government has declared drought in 74 per cent of the state. Chouhan said his ministry was in constant touch with the Maharashtra government over the drought situation. He said contingency plans for the affected districts were ready. "We will provide every possible support to the farmers in coordination with the state government," he said. While some states in the country were dealing with floods, others have drought, the minister noted, addi

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond whether it was contemplating a policy to regulate addiction-causing design features on social media platforms like infinite scroll and autoplay. A bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Amit Sharma said it would hear after three weeks a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking constitution of an expert committee to examine engagement-maximising and addiction-causing design features on social media platforms. On being asked by the court whether the Centre was contemplating framing a policy on the issue, additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma said he does not have specific instructions on this. To this, the bench orally said, "you take instructions whether you are contemplating framing of a policy and we will have the matter after three weeks". Sharma also said that the PIL does raises some issues but it will be in the domain of the policy makers to consider and suggested that the petition could give a representati

More than Rs 5,100 crore has been generated through disposal of scrap in the last five years as part of special campaigns in government offices, the Centre said on Tuesday. The campaigns seek to institutionalise "swachhata" in all government offices. Since 2021, through five annual editions of the campaign and monthly secretariat reforms monitoring (up to July 2026), more than 24.20 lakh sites have been covered, over 180.48 lakh files have been weeded out or closed, generating revenue of Rs 5,102.91 crore through scrap disposal, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry said. In Campaign 5 alone, 11.6 lakh sites were covered, 29.52 lakh files were weeded out, 233.75 lakh sq ft of office space was freed, and around Rs 833.92 crore was earned from scrap disposal, it said. Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh will launch an online portal (https:cdpm.nic.in/SCDPM26) to check the progress of Campaign 6 scheduled to be held between October 2 and October 31 on ...

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response of the Centre, city government and Delhi University on a plea by the NSUI president seeking hostel facility in all the colleges of Delhi University. The public interest litigation (PIL) raised the issue of "acute and long standing shortage of affordable and adequate institutional hostel accommodation for students studying in the Delhi University. The plea by National Students' Union of India (NSUI) president Vinod Jakhar has been filed in the wake of the collapse of a Satya Niketan building, which was being used as a private paying guest accommodation by students, on September 6 resulting in the death of seven persons and several injured. A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the Central government, Delhi government and Delhi University and asked them to file their replies on the petition. The court listed the petition for September 25 and tagged it with another similar matter ...

The elections in all four states are due early next year

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the state government on a plea seeking an independent, time-bound probe by the CBI into alleged malpractices in the Jharkhand Combined Civil Services Preliminary Examination. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought a response from the Union of India, the Jharkhand government, the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and others. Senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the plea seeks a CBI inquiry or an inquiry by a former judge of this court. The top court was hearing a petition filed by activist Harisharan Devgan, through advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, for a hearing. "The present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India is being preferred in public interest seeking urgent intervention of this court in relation to serious and substantial concerns regarding the integrity, fairness, transparency and credibility of the ...

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that it has fast-tracked the framing of rules under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, which is aimed at modernising India's aviation sector, and that the same would be finalised within three weeks. The government placed the draft rules before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta in a sealed cover, and said some final discussions are going on. "You publish this within seven days," the bench said, adding, "If airlines are not complying, ground them." Additional Solicitor General Anil Kaushik, appearing in the matter for the Centre, told the bench that the rules would be finalised within three weeks. "We have fast-tracked the framing of rules. Give us three weeks, we will come out with the finalised version," he said. The court was hearing a plea filed by social activist S Laxminarayanan, who has sought a robust and independent regulator that ensures transparency and passenger protection across the civil aviation sector an

Government departments are constituting Quick Response Teams (QRT) to ensure a timely response to misleading or fake contents on social media, an official said. There is a need to engage with people through social media in a constructive manner and to ensure that responses to rumours, misinformation, fake content, and misleading posts are issued in a timely manner, the official said. The objective is to promptly scrutinise, coordinate and respond to such content, while effectively monitoring matters related to the works and functions of government departments on social media. The functions and responsibilities of the respective teams include responding to fake/misleading content on social media. Departments such as power, agriculture and commerce have already constituted their QRTs. "Ideally, the response from the ministries should go in two hours of noting such content," the official said, adding that the monitoring of social media and relevant digital platforms would be undertak

The Centre on Friday notified 40 questions - caste, place of Covid vaccination being two of them - to be asked of respondents during the population enumeration phase of the Census, set to begin from September 1 in snow-bound areas, a government order said. The order from Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan notifies questions such as whether the person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and their caste. The population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, will take place from September 1 to 30, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month. "For the conduct of the above Census, there shall be an option for self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 just before the start of house-to-house population enumeration," it said. In the rest of the country, the population enumeration (PE) will begin next year.

The Supreme Court has sought responses of the Centre, the Bar Council of India and the CBI on a plea seeking a probe into alleged fake advocates, fraudulent law degrees and the activities of persons associated with the Cockroach Janta Party. The CJP came into being following a remark made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant during a court hearing in May and later it led a Gen-Z protest against NEET-UG paper leak. A bench comprising the CJI and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana on Tuesday took note of the petition filed by advocate Raja Choudhary, who appeared as a party-in-person. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has also been made a respondent. The plea also raises a broader issue concerning the alleged commercial exploitation, trademark appropriation and monetised circulation of oral observations made during judicial proceedings. It alleged that portions of the May 15 proceedings were selectively edited and subsequently circulated as memes, vid

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking directions to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking, including a time-bound probe and trial of narcotics cases, confiscation of properties of traffickers and creation of a uniform investigation protocol. Observing that the problem is "very serious", a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said coordinated efforts by expert agencies were required to deal with the menace. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has filed the petition, told the bench that a similar issue is already pending before the apex court. "The problem is very serious," the bench observed, adding that some kind of a solution has to be there by the expert agencies. Upadhyay said some of the countries, including Singapore, have taken several effective steps to deal with the problem of drug trafficking. The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, has sought directions to th

The government has slashed the online content takedown time for sensitive matters to 2 hours from the earlier 24 hours given to social media platforms, an official statement said on Thursday. According to the statement, amendments were made on February 10, 2026, in the IT Rules 2021 to strengthen the regulatory framework to address harms arising from synthetically generated information (SGI), including deepfakes and AI-generated content. "Strengthening of timelines for compliance, including reduced timelines for removal of unlawful information upon actual knowledge upon valid reasoned intimation from the Appropriate Government or court orders (timeline reduced from 36 hours to 3 hours) and for grievance redressal (including special categories such as nudity/impersonation etc) (timeline reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours and 24 hours to 2 hours for sensitive matters, respectively)," the statement said. IT Rules mandates the significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs), platforms wi

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it has undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) to eliminate paper leaks and systemic failures. In a compliance affidavit filed before a bench headed by Justice P S Narasimha, the Ministry of Education said the reforms are aimed at creating a robust and institutionalised system that preserves institutional memory, strengthens examination security and prevents future incidents of paper leaks or other malpractices. The affidavit was filed in response to the apex court's May 29 direction asking the Union government to explain how future NEET examinations would be conducted and how regulatory authorities would build and retain institutional memory to improve examination processes over successive years. The government said that while the Ministry of Education oversees the National Testing Agency, NEET is conducted by the NTA on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the

Senior executives are likely to be questioned on child sexual abuse material, synthetic content, impersonation risks and safeguards for prominent and verified accounts