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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
The government on Monday introduced a Bill to replace British era legislation with the objective to include digital and virtual records as admissible evidence in the court of law in sync with digital dependence of the banking system. The Bill was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha. The new law to be called the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 2026 is going to repeal or replace the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891. "With the advancement of technology and growth of digital banking, bank records are increasingly created, stored and maintained using contemporary technology (instead of physical record). It has, therefore, become necessary to modernise and strengthen the existing legal framework to meet the requirements of the present banking system," the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said. The bill proposes to expand the scope of the definition of 'bankers' books' to include all forms of records maintained by banks, whether in physical, ...
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to ensure that wherever there is a road, there is a properly demarcated, encroachment-free space for pedestrians. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe asked Additional Solicitor General K M Nararaj, appearing for the Centre, to instruct the authorities concerned to make sure that the space meant for walking is not encroached upon and is properly separated from motor vehicle lanes. "Without any big investment and construction, just ensure that proper demarcation is done of walkers' space. Wherever there is a road, there should be a walkers' space. Do it with a rope or anything and ensure it is not encroached," the bench told Nataraj. The bench gave him two weeks to instruct the authorities while emphasising that pedestrians should have confidence that the space is meant for them and they can walk freely without any threat of moving vehicles. The top court posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. On June 19,
The government has proposed to extend the validity of the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) for up to six-year-old BS-VI-compliant private vehicles to three years instead of the current one year to ease the burden on owners. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in a draft notification, has said that BS-VI vehicles aged between six and ten years will be required to renew their PUCC certificate and those above 10 years every six years. According to the draft notification, while all motor vehicles complying with BS-IV emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every six months, all motor vehicles complying with BS-I, BS-II and BS-III emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every three months. BS, or Bharat Stage, refers to India's vehicle emission standards that set limits on pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate matter (PM). The standards are aligned with European emission norms and are enfor
Keshav Chandra on Monday assumed charge as the Mines Secretary, the mines ministry said. Chandra, a 1995-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the AGMUT cadre, succeeds Piyush Goyal, who has been appointed as the Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Before taking charge as mines secretary, Chandra served as chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council. Soon after assuming charge, Chandra chaired a meeting with senior officials and reviewed key initiatives of the mines ministry. The secretary emphasised the importance of coordinated efforts and effective implementation of the ministry's key initiatives to strengthen India's mineral sector. The ministry is treating critical minerals as a strategic sector as it seeks to secure minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, titanium and rare earths that are essential for electric vehicles, renewables, electronics, defence and other high-tech industries. India depends heavily on impor
A crucial meeting between the representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the government was underway at the Vithalbhai Patel House here on Friday as part of efforts to find an amicable solution to the outfit's demands related to exam irregularities. While the government was represented by Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh, the CJP was represented by its national spokesperson Saurav Das and another youth. This was the third official meeting between the CJP and the government. Nadda and Das, along with another CJP spokesperson, Ashutosh Ranka, had attended two back-to-back meetings on July 20 at the minister's residence. The meeting is taking place hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike late on Thursday night following government assurances on his key demands. The CJP had earlier declined the government's invitation to hold talks at a minister's residence or office, insisting that discussions should ta
The government and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) are set to hold talks on Friday at the Constitution Club of India here after the Centre "agreed" to the outfit's request that the meeting be held at a neutral venue. There was no official confirmation from the government on it so far. The development comes hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike late on Thursday night following government assurances on his key demands. The meeting is likely to be held around 12.30 pm. CJP national spokesperson Saurav Das said the outfit welcomed the government's decision to "accept its request for a neutral venue". "A discussion has been called. We are very happy that the government has agreed to our request that the meeting should be held at a neutral venue, and the Constitution Club of India has been chosen," Das told reporters. "I hope the government comes with an open mind and listens to the people," he said. The CJP had earlier declined the government's invitation
The government on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that it is willing to hold a discussion on the NEET paper leak issue, and urged Speaker Om Birla to convene a meeting of all parties to decide on the rule, date and duration of the debate. As soon as the House reassembled at noon after an earlier adjournment, Birla asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to make a statement but Congress leader K C Venugopal intervened to assert that the Opposition is also seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Rijju said the government is willing to hold a discussion on NEET paper leak issue but the Speaker will have to meet floor leaders of all parties to decide on the rule under which the discussion will be held, its date and duration. Amid Opposition sloganeering, the House was adjourned till 2 pm. The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the NEET paper leak issue and is also seeking the resignation of Pradhan over the handling of the controversy over th
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the Centre's decision to not extend its Production Sharing Contract with Vedanta for an offshore oil block in Gujarat and hand over the operations to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC). Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav dismissed a petition by Vedanta Ltd seeking to set aside the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas's direction passed on September 19, 2025, which rejected its 2021 application to extend the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) dated June 20, 1998, for the Suvali oil block. The petition also sought setting aside of the direction to ONGC to immediately take over the assets and operations of the petitioner over the PSC contract area. The original term of the PSC -- between the Centre, the petitioner, ONGC and Invenire Petrodyne Ltd-- was for 25 years, i.e. from June 30, 1998 till June 29, 2023, and was extendable for a specified period under certain circumstances. The petitioner was the designated operator under the ...
The Centre has ordered deployment of 20 additional companies of the CRPF in Delhi to strengthen security measures in view of the CJP protests and demonstrations by various political parties, officials said on Wednesday. The forces, all drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), are being airlifted from West Bengal after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) ordered their immediate deployment in the national capital on Tuesday night. A total of 20 CRPF companies are being airlifted from Kolkata to be deployed in Delhi to strengthen the law and order in view of the CJP protests, demonstrations by various political parties and the ongoing Parliament session, official sources in the security establishment told PTI. Multiple instances of violent clashes during the latest protests have necessitated this immediate deployment, they said. They said these companies were deployed in West Bengal for the conduct of assembly elections held there a few months back and were asked to stay put
Provisions under Semicon 2.0 to provide incentives to Indian chip-making firms against equity are expected to drive largescale investment required for the development of advanced chips for technology such as artificial intelligence, a senior government official has said. Under Semicon 2.0, which has a budget of Rs 1.27 lakh crore, the central government has prioritised chip design by Indian companies. In an interview to PTI on Saturday, Ministry of Electronics and IT Secretary S Krishnan said advance chip design may need thousands of crores of investments. "We intend to provide more funding. Otherwise, under design-linked incentive scheme, you get only about Rs 15 crore. Now, to design high-end chips you need Rs 1,000 crore or more. "At the same time, the government can't give everything. This is why you have this combination saying that you get investment from a venture capitalist or somebody who believes that you will be able to bring out this chip, and we will co-invest," he ...