NEW DELHI:  The Supreme Court today rejected a new law that gives the government a role in appointing judges, in a verdict that sets up a potential confrontation between the judiciary and politicians. The people's will has been struck down, said the government, calling the verdict a "setback for Parliament."

Here are 10 developments in the story:

1. In a 4:1 verdict, a five-judge Constitutional bench declared as "unconstitutional" the law that created a National Judicial Appointments Commission of six people, including members of the government and the opposition.
2. The court said the two decades-old system of judges being appointed or transferred by a collegium - a group of five senior judges - would continue.
3. The top court also said it would consider suggestions to improve the collegium system on November 3.
4. Law Minister Sadananda Gowda expressed "surprise" at the verdict and said: "The will of the people has been brought to the court. Will consult senior colleagues and the PM and take a decision. The law was completely supported in Parliament so it had the 100% support of the people."
5. Petitions filed by a Supreme Court advocates' group among others argued that the new system demolished the independence of the judiciary by giving the government a big role in the selection of judges.
6. "The judges ruled that the independence of the judiciary is a basic structure of the Constitution and cannot be tampered with," said advocate Suraj Singh, one of the petitioners.
7. During arguments before the Constitution bench, the government's top lawyer, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had said that many underserving persons were appointed as judges and there was no accountability.
8. The National Judicial Appointments Commission was passed in Parliament and notified by the government even as the Constitution bench was hearing petitions challenging it.
9. The National Judicial Appointments Commission was to have six members - the Chief Justice of India, the two most senior judges of the Supreme Court, two eminent persons, and the Law Minister. The two eminent Indians would be chosen by the Chief Justice, the PM and the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
10. Days after the appointments panel was put in place, the Chief Justice of India, HL Dattu, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he would not be a part of it until the Supreme Court decides on its validity.

 DELHI: Apple CEO Tim Cook has thanked Indian customers for queuing up to buy Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus during the phones' mid-night launch on October 16.

He expressed gratitude via a tweet posted through his official account that said, "Thanks to all our customers in India who queued at midnight for the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus!"

It's worth mentioning that this is the fastest iPhone rollout in India with the phones being made available less than a month after being going on sale in the US.

NEW DELHI: Swiss food giant Nestle has received test results from all three designated laboratories mandated by the Bombay High Court to test Maggi noodles samples. All the 90 samples, covering 6 variants, tested by these laboratories were found safe with lead much below the permissible limits. 

Nestle India has conducted over 3,500 tests representing over 200 million packs in both national as well as international accredited laboratories and all reports are clear.

READ ALSO: Uncertainty, tension among workers, retailers as Maggi case in U'khand HC put off to Nov 2 

In addition to these, various countries including USA, UK, Singapore, Australia and others have found Maggi noodles manufactured in India safe for consumption. 

Nestle will continue to collaborate with the FSSAI, the apex food regulator and other stakeholders. In compliance with the orders of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court, it will now commence manufacture and will start selling only after the newly manufactured products are also cleared by the designated labs. NEW DELHI: Swiss food giant Nestle has received test results from all three designated laboratories mandated by the Bombay High Court to test Maggi noodles samples. All the 90 samples, covering 6 variants, tested by these laboratories were found safe with lead much below the permissible limits. 

Nestle India has conducted over 3,500 tests representing over 200 million packs in both national as well as international accredited laboratories and all reports are clear.

READ ALSO: Uncertainty, tension among workers, retailers as Maggi case in U'khand HC put off to Nov 2 

In addition to these, various countries including USA, UK, Singapore, Australia and others have found Maggi noodles manufactured in India safe for consumption. 

Nestle will continue to collaborate with the FSSAI, the apex food regulator and other stakeholders. In compliance with the orders of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court, it will now commence manufacture and will start selling only after the newly manufactured products are also cleared by the designated labs. 

In May, regulators reported some packets Nestle's popular noodles, sold at roadside stalls across India, contained unsafe levels of lead. 

The company had to order a recall of the product a month later, which cost it about 66 million Swiss francs ($67.42 million). 

Stay updated on the go with Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.

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In May, regulators reported some packets Nestle's popular noodles, sold at roadside stalls across India, contained unsafe levels of lead. 

The company had to order a recall of the product a month later, which cost it about 66 million Swiss francs ($67.42 million). 

Stay updated on the go with Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.

Post a comment

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invited him for his marriage, scheduled later this month. A photo of an excited Harbhajan shaking hands with the head of the state was posted on the PMO handle with a caption 'Cricketer Harbhajan Singh met PM'

DELHI:  Seeking to position India as global provider of talent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pressed for mapping of human resources to develop region specific talents and making the nation a services exports hub.
   
He also pitched for making India a hub for global arbitration and asked lawyers not to be scared of foreign competition.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating the Global Services Exhibition in the national capital

"There is immense scope in the services sector...India's human resource is our biggest strength," the Prime Minister said, stressing that the "brain drain" has now become a "brain gain".

Observing that in the coming days India is going to get younger, Mr Modi said: "We need to focus on this aspect while thinking about our development journey."

As a country, he said, there was a need to think of "multiple layers of services" which can be exported to the world.

Elaborating on mapping of services, Mr Modi said people of different regions have different talents and the effort could be made to develop those specific skills to take advantage of the requirement of the global community.

Seeking to allying fears that opening of legal services would result in dominance of foreign lawyers; Mr Modi said that they were unfounded.

He further said that India could become a hub for global arbitration with changes in the legalisation.

The government has already introduced amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 in the Lok Sabha to encourage the international business community to settle commercial disputes in India.