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Keralam Excise Minister M Liju on Monday said bar licences would not be renewed for hotels whose applications for star classification had been rejected by the Union Tourism Ministry. The state government would also take the same stand before the Kerala High Court in cases pending before it, he said. He was speaking to reporters amid queries over bar licences being issued to some hotels whose applications for star classification were still pending before the Union Ministry. Explaining the issue, Liju said a star classification was mandatory for renewing bar licences and the classification was granted by the Union Tourism Ministry. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic, there had been delays in processing applications for star classification, forcing the state government to renew bar licences with the approval of the state Tourism Department, he said. The minister said he had directed officials to obtain a list of hotels whose applications for renewal of star classification had been
Building contractor Vijayakumar is keenly awaiting the return of his expert worker, a native of Murshidabad district in West Bengal, after he left for home to celebrate Durga Puja. Only, the worker's return remains uncertain now. The uncertainty stems from an appeal by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari asking workers to stay back, citing livelihood opportunities under the VB-G RAM G scheme, which guarantees 125 days of work and enables them to earn a livelihood while living with their families. His employee in question has been working in the construction sector in Keralam for years. He left for his native village a few weeks ago to celebrate Durga Puja. He is an expert in building houses in the traditional Keralam style, according to Vijayakumar, from Veliyanadu village in this district. The West Bengal government's announcement has triggered anxiety in Keralam, which depends heavily on migrant workers across several sectors, particularly construction, where their service
Observing that independence of the judiciary is not a matter of "political convenience", the Supreme Court on Friday issued a contempt notice to all office bearers of the Keralam unit of the Congress over a social media post targeting Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi said the Constitution is supreme and no individual or political organisation stands above it. "Judgements are always open to criticism. Freedom of expression can't be a shield of intimidation to interfere with the administration of justice. Howsoever high position a person occupies, any attempt to undermine the authority of the court needs to be dealt with an iron hand. "Authority of the court doesn't require political endorsement; it rests on the rule of law. Where administration of justice is established, the law must take its course," the bench said. Independence of judiciary is not a matter of political convenience, the court said, adding that judicial restra
Keralam Public Works Department Minister P K Basheer on Thursday said a preliminary inquiry by the VACB ordered in connection with allegations of corruption in a road project undertaken two decades ago when CEC Gyanesh Kumar was the PWD secretary was ongoing and its report is not yet available. Basheer was responding to queries, during the question hour in the state Assembly, by BJP MLAs B B Gopakumar, V Muraleedharan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar regarding the status of the vigilance probe initiated in the matter. The minister also said that the preliminary enquiry was ordered as there were certain discrepancies in the probe conducted into the matter in 2006 by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB). He also told the House that a loss of Rs 700 crore was caused to the government due to the alleged irregularities committed by officials in connection with the project. The minister was referring to the alleged corruption in the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), undertaken in
Keralam Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, as part of a major gubernatorial reshuffle effected by President Droupadi Murmu on Monday. Om Prakash Mathur, Governor of Sikkim, will be the new Governor of Keralam in place of Arlekar, a communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. Dushyant Gautam has been appointed the Governor of Sikkim, it said. Senior BJP leader from Jharkhand, Braj Mohan Ram, has been appointed as the Governor of Odisha. Sudha Yadav has been named the Governor of Karnataka and Dhal Singh Bisen will be Uttarakhand Governor, the communique said. These appointments will take effect from the dates they will assume charge of their respective offices, it added.
Keralam under the new UDF government is looking to build an integrated port-based logistics network in a way that the entire state becomes one single port city, Chief Minister V D Satheesan has said. In an interview with PTI Videos here on Friday, Satheesan laid out an elaborate vision for energising the state's economy with a series of projects and investments in aviation, maritime infrastructure, tourism, MSMEs, education and others. Some of his priorities include expanding the state's aviation and maritime sectors, while ensuring that the proposed share transfer involving Vizhinjam Seaport does not compromise the Keralam's interests or lead to a monopoly, he said. He said the UDF government had started work on a plan to connect the state's ports and make better use of its 600-km coastline. "We want to integrate all these ports and make the entire Kerala into a port city," he said, adding that work was progressing with the help of maritime and shipping experts. Referring to ...
Keralam Minister Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the state would press for the exclusion of inhabited areas, agricultural lands and plantations from the Ecologically Sensitive Area proposed in the Centre's latest draft notification. Speaking to reporters, Joseph said the state was finalising its response to the draft notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 27 and would submit its recommendations within the stipulated timeframe. "The Government of Keralam is committed to studying and submitting amendment proposals and protecting the best interests of the state," the Environment minister said. He said the state had recently held detailed discussions with a five-member high-level team of scientists appointed by the Union Environment Ministry to consult states on the issue. The discussions were held under the leadership of Chief Minister V D Satheesan and attended by Joseph, Forest Minister Shibu Baby John, Revenue Minister AP ...
Ministers in Keralam on Friday backed Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi amid a controversy over the publication of her memoir, 'Belonging: A Journey of Love', in India. The reactions came after Penguin Random House India said it was not the publisher of Sonia Gandhi's memoir. Earlier this month, American publisher Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced that the book would be released on November 10. The statement came after a report in The Indian Express claimed that the publisher had backed out after Gandhi refused to make "editorial changes" to the manuscript. Higher Education Minister Roji M John, in a Facebook post, praised Sonia Gandhi for refusing to alter her memoir and recalled the personal tragedies she had faced, including the assassinations of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. John said Sonia Gandhi had initially sought to stay away from politics but later took up the leadership of the Congress due to ...