Page 45 - West Bengal

Army Agniveer goes on two months leave, forms robbery gang with brother

Ishmeet Singh was recruited by the Indian Army in November 2022 as an Agniveer and was posted in West Bengal but ditched his job to become a gang robber

Bengal govt passes resolution against NEET-UG, calls it 'education scam'

The West Bengal Assembly proposed reinstating the state's previous Joint Entrance-Medical examination, which was formerly administered by the state government

Pvt operators seek Bengal govt nod to run state-owned buses via PPP model

A body of private bus operators in West Bengal has urged the state transport department to allow its members whose 15-year-old vehicles need to be scrapped by August to opt for a public-private-partnership model in which they can run state-owned buses against a monthly payment. The association sent a letter to Transport Minister Snehasis Chakraborty on Tuesday to allow such operators to opt for the PPP model, known as Bus Franchise Operators (BFOs), on a bigger scale and save them from financial losses, Joint Council of Bus Syndicate General Secretary Tapan Banerjee told PTI. In compliance with a Calcutta High Court order, 15-year-old buses and other commercial vehicles are required to be phased out from city roads. The buses, which hit roads in 2009 or 2010 will stop running in 2024 or 2025. Banerjee said that as part of the PPP model, private operators can run non-operating state-owned buses and pay Rs 14,000 a month to the transport corporation concerned. Already private operat

WBJEE 2024 seat allotment: Round 1 result announced at wbjeeb.nic.in

The WBJEE 2024 has announced the seat allotment round 1 result. Candidates who had applied for the WBJEE round 1 counselling can view their result through the official website at wbjeeb.nic.in

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Preliminary inquiry dismisses molestation charges against Bengal Governor

An in-house preliminary inquiry report by a Raj Bhavan panel has dismissed molestation charges against West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose by a former woman staffer. The report, made public on Saturday, claimed the complaints were "ill-motivated." The report, prepared by the former district judge of the Pondicherry Judicial service, D Ramabathirani, stated that the alleged sexual misconduct against the Governor on April 24 and May 2 was "ruled out as baseless." Besides taking into consideration multiple newspaper clippings between May 3 and May 7 this year which reported the alleged incident at Raj Bhavan, the one-man inquiry committee also examined eight Raj Bhavan staff as witnesses, including two ADCs and the OSD to the Governor, to reach its conclusion. "The timing of the alleged incident on May 2, 2024, coinciding with the Prime Minister's visit to Raj Bhavan, creates a cloud of suspicion regarding the truthfulness and indicates a sinister motive behind the allegations," the .

SC to examine governor's immunity in molestation case: What is Article 361?

West Bengal molestation row: Raj Bhawan staff member has accused Governor CV Ananda Bose of sexual harassment, filed plea challenging immunity

'Accident in waiting': Report blasts Railways for Kanchenjunga collision

Loco pilot was given incorrect authority document, finds Railway safety commissioner

Cal HC restrains Mamata from making defamatory statement against Guv

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday restrained West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and three others from making any defamatory or incorrect statement against Governor CV Ananda Bose in an interim order till August 14. Bose had moved a defamation suit against Banerjee, two newly-elected TMC MLAs Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Hossain Sarkar and party leader Kunal Ghosh. He also prayed for an interim order restraining them from making any further comment in connection with alleged incidents at Raj Bhavan. Speaking on an imbroglio over oath-taking of the two new MLAs, Banerjee had made certain comments, over which the governor moved the defamation suit before the high court.

WB school jobs row: SC gives last chance to file responses against HC order

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a last opportunity to file responses to pleas challenging a Calcutta High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in government and aided schools in West Bengal. The pleas challenging the high court order also include the one filed by the West Bengal government. The top court, which has been hearing 33 petitions pertaining to the high court's April 22 judgment on the matter, has fixed them for a final hearing after three weeks. At the outset, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra were informed that the response affidavits have not been filed by many parties. The West Bengal government has also not filed its reply in cases where it is made a respondent. "Alright, we will give them one opportunity... no counter (affidavit) filed till date. In the event that any of the respondents seek to file they shall file on or before two weeks, if no .

SC extends stay on notices issued by LS privileges panel to WB officials

The Supreme Court on Monday extended till July 19 the stay on notices issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat summoning the West Bengal chief secretary, DGP and others in a matter related to alleged breach of privilege of the House by them. On April 15, the top court had granted two weeks to the Lok Sabha Secretariat and others to file their replies to the plea moved by top bureaucrats of West Bengal against their summoning by the privileges committee of the Lok Sabha. They were summoned by the Committee of Privileges of the Lok Sabha over a complaint of "misconduct" filed against them by BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar when he was trying to visit the violence-hit Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of the state. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra adjourned the hearing on the plea of the bureaucrats to July 19 after it was informed by a lawyer appearing for the Lok Sabha Secretariat that Solicitor General Tushar Meht

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TMC steamrolls Oppn in Bengal Assembly bypolls, continues LS victory streak

The Trinamool Congress continued its winning streak from the recent Lok Sabha elections by sweeping the West Bengal assembly bypolls on Saturday, wresting Raiganj, Bagda, and Ranaghat Dakshin seats from the BJP and securing a record victory margin in Maniktala. Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates Krishna Kalyani, Madhuparna Thakur and Mukut Mani Adhikari won the Raiganj, Bagda, and Ranaghat Dakshin seats respectively, while Supti Pandey won in the Maniktala segment in Kolkata. The bypolls in the four assembly seats were held on July 10. The BJP secured the second position in all four seats, while the Left-Congress alliance was a distant third and also lost deposits in two assembly segments. In Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur district, Kalyani won by a margin of 50,077 votes over his nearest BJP rival Manas Kumar Ghosh. Kalyani got 86,479 votes, while Ghosh bagged 36,402. Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of TMC Rajya Sabha MP and Matua leader Mamatabala Thakur, won by a margin of 33,455 vote

Dairy firm Heritage Foods looks East in line with pan-India ambition

In Odisha, Heritage launched its products about six to nine months back

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From Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Austria visit to Mumbai's hit-and-run case, and from Bihar's bridge collapse to bypolls in seven states, catch all the latest news updates here

SC holds maintainable WB's suit challenging CBI probe without consent

The apex court rejected preliminary objections of the Union government on the maintainability of the suit

TMC, BJP ready for bypoll battle in 4 Bengal assembly seats on July 10

Four assembly seats in West Bengal are going for bypolls on Wednesday with the BJP seeking to leverage its Lok Sabha election leads in three of these segments to boost morale and the TMC aiming to capitalise on its recent electoral success. Three of the four constituencies - Maniktala in Kolkata, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagdah in North 24 Parganas - are in south Bengal. The BJP bagged Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagdah seats in the 2021 assembly polls. The fourth, Raiganj, is in north Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur district and was won by the saffron camp in the last assembly elections. The Maniktala seat was secured by the TMC in 2021 but it became vacant after former state minister Sadhan Pandey died in February 2022. Despite the BJP winning the other three seats in 2021, the MLAs later switched to the TMC. The Trinamool Congress nominated Supti Pandey, wife of the late party leader. Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Biswajit Das from Bagdah and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin resigned f

SC rejects WB's plea against CBI probe into allegations in Sandeshkhali

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by the West Bengal government challenging the Calcutta High Court's order which directed a CBI investigation into the allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali. "Why should the state be interested in protecting someone?" a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan observed, adding that on the last date of hearing, the counsel appearing for the state said the matter be adjourned after the apex court asked this specific query. "Thank you. Dismissed," the bench said. The top court was hearing the state government's plea challenging the Calcutta High Court's April 10 order. While hearing the plea on April 29, the apex court asked the West Bengal government as to why the state should come in as a petitioner for "protecting the interest" of some private individuals. In its plea before the apex court, the state government said the high court's order demoralised the entire state machinery, including the .

Females outnumber males in applications for admission to WB UG courses

Female candidates outnumber males in the number of applicants to West Bengal's central undergraduate courses admission portal, a higher education department official said on Monday. The portal which was opened on June 24 for admission to seats in 461 colleges and 16 universities closed on July 6 midnight. The portal was launched for the first time this year by the higher education department. "Of 5,27,673 applicants which were validated after scrutiny, 2,99,800 were women," the higher education department official told PTI on Monday. The official said there were 50 applicants from 'others' category. The 'others' in the parlance belong to the LGBTQ+ community, he said. Altogether 34,64,918 applications were filed with 98,089 coming from outside Bengal. Welcoming the trend as an encouraging sign, the Principal of Lady Brabourne College Siuli Sarkar told PTI, "It has been a trend in recent times that more girls are opting for higher education." However, another factor is the minds

Centre initiates action against Kolkata CP, DCP for 'maligning' Raj Bhavan

The Union Home Ministry has initiated disciplinary action against Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and a DCP for allegedly maligning the office of the West Bengal Governor by promoting and spreading canards, a central government official said. The Union ministry action came after West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose submitted a report to it regarding Goyal and Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner (DCP) Central Indira Mukherjee, alleging that they were "functioning in a manner which is completely unbecoming of a public servant", he said. Bose, in his report, submitted to the Home Minister in the last week of June, has highlighted the issues of Kolkata Police officers not allowing the victims of post-poll violence to meet him despite him giving them the requisite permission, he said. "The Union Home Ministry has initiated disciplinary action against IPS officers based on a detailed report submitted by Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose," the official told PTI. The copies of the lett