Is KCR's Honeymoon With Telangana Over?

True, all honeymoons are meant to last for a short. Therefore, the honeymoon with the separate state of Telangana too, has had to be a shortlived affair. After a great struggle of the people of Telangana the statehood for the region of Telangana was granted by the Parliament on June 2, 2014, though in a surreptitious manner. By the expression 'surreptitious' we mean quid pro quo between the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Congress. The latter was ruling at the Centre then. According to the sources and available literature in the media, TRS suprimo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) had assured Digvijay Singh, then General Secretary of the Congress Party that he would merge TRS with the Congress soon after grant of statehood to Telangana. And this was not done by KCR; though Digvijay Singh himself had reminded him publicly about his promise.

This is one aspect of heartburning of the Congress party. Coming to the recent times, a leader of high stature of YSR Congress party has publicly demanded the 'merger' of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a variety of reasons. And this statement has not been contradicted or confirmed by AP Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy who is also the president of YSRCP. This very fact speaks volumes and keeps the political observers indulging in political polemics.

Added to the above mentioned two factors, now comes the news of TRS'migration to BRS i.e., from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi. Though it may be premature to guess about the consequences of such a makeover, it is certain that the BRS in order to become a political party of any significance will have to give greater attention to rest of India than Telangana. In other words, in the new scheme of political dispensation, Telangana will get a back seat and rest of Bharat will be in the fore front for KCR in order to make the new political party a real success.

Indeed, the ruling NDA with BJP in command has a reason to celebrate the culmination of TRS to BRS because the BJP too, has a proclaimed policy of supporting the smaller States. Several years back, before the demand for separate Telangana was raised, the predator of BJP called, Bharatiya Jansangh party at its Kakinada conference had extended its support to the smaller States. The idea of supporting smaller States had its roots in the faster socio-economic development of Haryana State which was carved out from Punjab State. Without its support in the parliament Telangana would have been a distant dream. From the above graph of Telangana statehood and thereafter, it becomes crystal clear that different political parties either extend or deny their support to a public cause, but not necessarily in public interest.

The football called Telangana has become a classic example of dirty game called politics. In their game, people are no-where in the picture; it is only the personal or partisan interests that dominate all other factors. In short, whatever is not in the interest of the people or whatever 'is managed to suit the leaders' interests' is undemocratic and deserves to be condemned lock, stock and barrel. Therefore, the political leaders who played the pivotal role in achieving the statehood for Telangana should bear in mind that any neglect of Telangana by them will tantamount the betrayal of the people of Telangana who put complete faith in them to ultimately achieve the statehood for Telangana.

SC SETS ASIDE CONVICTION BASED ON SUSPICION

In a case titled, Ram Pratap v/s State of Haryana, a division bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath set aside an order of conviction of the appellant u/s 302 of IPC along with other sections. Citing the case law of Sharad Birdhichand Sarda v/s State of Maharashtra, the apex court held that suspicion, howsoever strong, cannot substitute proof beyond reasonable doubt, and added:

"...this court has held that there is not only a grammatical but also a legal distinction between 'may' and 'must'. For proving a case based on substantial evidence, it is necessary for the prosecution to establish each and every circumstance beyond reasonable doubt, and further, that the circumstances so proved must form a complete chain of evidence so as not to leave any reasonable ground for the conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show, in all human probability, that the act has been done by the accused."

SAUDAMINI PETHE: COUNTRY'S FIRST DEAF LAWYER

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) enrolled recently Saudamini Pethe, 45, as the first deaf advocate in the country. Pethe wants to work for the rights of the hearing impaired and help them gain access to education, healthcare and justice. Senior advocate, K.K Manan, Chairman of the BCD said, "We have given the licence to her to practice, which is rarely given in such a situation. But we would like to settle her so that she can stand on her own feet."

Pethe has done her masters in English from Mumbai University in 2000 and learnt the Indian Sign Language (ISL) in 2008.

AMENDMENT CHANGING VERY NATURE OF SUIT CAN'T BE ALLOWED: BOMBAY HC

Justice Sandeep V Marne of the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court while setting aside a trial court order which allowed amendment to prayers in a property dispute through the amendment observed that the decision of the lower court was completely erroneous.

In a W.P titled, Damodar Das Govind Prasad Sanghi Vs. Fateh Singh &Others the court relied on Supreme Court Judgment in LIC of India Vs. Sanjeev Builders Pvt. Ltd & Another and noted that there was complete absence of pleadings in the suit regarding plaintiff's right of pre-emption.

J&KL-HC ON AGE RESTRICTION

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has termed the age restriction of 45 years for the photographers of the state tourism department as "Unreasonable, illogical and violative of Article 19 (1) of the Constitution of India."

Justice Moksha Kazmi Khajuria in a case titled Javid Ahmed Akhoon & Ors. Vs. UT of J&K& Others observed that "skill cannot be restricted to a particular age specially in today's advanced era and it does not further appear to be achieving any kind of object, not to speak of a reasonable object."

SC NOT TO WORK IN WINTER VACATION

The Supreme Court of India closed for winter vacation (from December 17 till January 1) even when Union Law Minister Kiran Rijiju's statement in Rajya Sabha made on December 15 indirectly criticising long court vacations echo has yet to subside.