INDIAN POLITY
TELANGANA PLEA AGAINST KRISHNA TRIBUNAL AWARD DISMISSED
Why in News?
· The SC dismissed Telangana government petition against a decision of the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal-II to limit the re-allocation of the river water only to the two successor States of Andhra and Telangana, and not dabble with the share of water enjoyed by the other two riparian States — Maharashtra and Karnataka.
· A Bench categorically refused — without prejudice to any other writ or special leave petitions filed by Telangana in the Supreme Court — to intervene in the decision of the Water Dispute Tribunal-II to confine the question of re-allocation of river water, post bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, to the two successor States of Telangana and Andhra and not all the four riparian States.
· The tribunal had decided that the details of the re-distribution would be decided as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act of 2014 by an apex council headed by top officials
What Telangana says:
· Telangana contended that, on its formation, it was confronted with the situation of “inadequate utilization of Krishna water out of the en bloc allocation of 811 TMC of 75 per cent dependable water, made by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I.
· The projects identified and allocations made by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II in Telangana region of erstwhile A.P. is also woefully inadequate being just 9 tmcft of 448 tmcft of surplus water among the riparian States
SC ORDERS AUDIT OF 30 LAKH NGOS
· The SC directed the government to audit nearly 30 lakh NGOs which received public funds but consistently failed to explain how they spent the money.
· It ordered that any NGO found to have cooked its books or indulged in misappropriation should be subject to immediate criminal prosecution. Besides, the government should initiate civil recovery proceedings against such rogue organizations.
· The government should also frame guidelines for their accreditation, the manner in which these organizations should maintain their accounts and the procedure for recovery in case they fail to submit their balance sheets.
· Fact of the case:Though public funds to the tune of thousands of crores are spent on NGOs and voluntary organizations annually, the CBI submitted that only about three lakh of about 32 lakh NGOs file their balance sheets with the government.
· The government seemed to be unaware that General Financial Rules, 2005 mandate a regulatory mechanism for them.
· Bench ordered the Rural Development Secretary and Director of Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), which comes under the Rural Development Ministry, to be present before it at 2 p.m.
· There can be no doubt that the amounts disbursed by CAPART is public money and needs to be accounted for... the only exercise so far against those who have failed to file their balance sheets is blacklisting. It is necessary to start criminal and civil action by the Central government and CAPART
LACK OF POLITICAL WILL HOLDS INDIA'S BIG PROJECTS
· India is not moving fast enough on major scientific projects because of “political and legal delays,” David Gross, physicist and 2004 Nobel laureate, told an audience at a prelude to the Vibrant Gujarat summit here.
· He was referring to the stalled India-based Neutrino Observatory, a massive underground detector of subatomic particles, proposed to come up in Tamil Nadu.
· It is to come up in an ecologically fragile zone, and has run into criticism from activist groups.
· Scientists have asserted that the detector is not an environment threat, but it is yet to get clearances from the State.
· He also referred to the approval given by the government last year for an India-based arm of an observatory to detect gravitational waves, called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).
o The decision came after signs of gravitational waves, resulting from the collision of two massive black holes 1.3 billion light years from the earth, were announced last year by a large team of scientists across the world, including several from India.
TAX BREAKS FOR PARTIES LEGAL, SAYS SC
What is the news?
· SC dismissed a petition seeking to lift “100 per cent tax exemption” granted to political parties.
· The SC said political parties require donations from followers to project their political ideas and represent the people.
· Every political party needs funds to project their political regime and politically represent the people who follow them
· The court observed that it was up to the government of the day to decide what tax regime they need to impose.
Challenges I-T Act
· The Bench did not find any merit with a writ petition challenging certain provisions in the Income Tax Act and the Representation of the People Act.
· PIL challenged the constitutionality of Section 13A of the I-T Act of 1961 and Section 29 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Political parties registered with the Election Commission of India are 100 per cent exempted from paying Income Tax as long as they file their Income Tax returns every assessment year,” the petition said.
SET UP MECHANISM TO HEAR COMPLAINT ABOUT TV CONTENT: SC
· The SC asked the government to set up, streamline and publicize a complaint redressal mechanism under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act to deal with citizens’ complaints about content telecast or aired by private TV channels and radio.
· SC refrained from making any comments about the functioning of the self-regulatory mechanism put in place by the media.
· It refused to pass any judicial orders directing the government to monitor content aired or telecast.
· It said the issue pertained to the right of media enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) on freedom of speech and expression.
Limitation period
· The Bench asked the government to frame formal guidelines on the limitation period for filing such public complaints, procedure to be followed, etc, under the Cable Network Act.
· The court sought a response from the Centre on a plea made by NGO, Common Cause, to allow private FM radio stations, including community radios, to broadcast news like television channels. The apex court asked the government to reply by four weeks.
· Common Cause, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Kamini Jaiswal, contended that private radio stations and community radios should be allowed to broadcast news as they were more accessible for the masses.
· The plea said unlike television channels, none of the 245 private FM channels and 145 community radio stations were allowed to broadcast their own news and current affairs programmes, which was the monopoly of government broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
· India is perhaps the lone democracy where dissemination of news and current affairs programmes on radio remains a monopoly of the government-owned broadcaster, which owns and operates All India Radio/Akashvani
