CHENNAI  TUESDAY  OCTOBER 27, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION POLLUTION LAW IN THE WORKS, SC PUTS LOKUR PANEL ON HOLD Monday’s decision by the apex court came after Centre said it’s creating a permanent body to tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR NEW LEGISLATION IN THREE-FOUR DAYS: CENTRE PEOPLE ARE CHOKING, SAYS CJI BOBDE Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the Centre will come out with a comprehensive legislation to address air pollution in Delhi, including the issue of stubble burning in neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and UP. He didn’t spell out details of the new law, but said it will be brought in three to four days, and will put in place a permanent body to tackle air pollution P7 ■ ■ Welcoming the proposal, CJI S A Bobde said, “The only issue is people are choking because of pollution, and it must be curbed” On October 16, the court had appointed a one-man panel comprising retired SC judge Madan B Lokur to monitor steps taken by govts of Punjab, Haryana, UP to prevent stubble burning Oct 29 WHEN THE COURT WILL HEAR THE MATTER AGAIN CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI India, US to ink 2 key deals today Jaishankar, Rajnath hold talks with Pompeo, Esper ahead of the 2+2 ministerial dialogue P U S H K A R B A N A K A R & M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi SETTING the stage for the signing of two crucial defence and information-sharing deals in the third 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper held bilateral talks with their respective counterparts, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, here on Monday . “The two ministers (Singh and Esper) reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning military to military cooperation, secure communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues and also discussed ways to take bilateral cooperation forward. The two ministers expressed satisfaction that agreement of BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for geo-spatial cooperation) will be signed during the visit,” read a Ministry of Defence statement released after the meeting. Mike Pompeo Mark Esper The top US officials are in India for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue during which BECA and MISTA (Maritime Information Sharing Technical Arrangement) will be signed. While BECA gives India access to accurate US satellite data for navigation and precision military targets, MISTA will help in enhanced information and intelligence sharing between the two countries. The 2+2 dialogue comes amid border tensions with China. The US has condemned China’s aggressive actions along the LAC and the South China Sea and the two US officials will likely be canvassing their antiChina stance when they visit Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia on their way back to CONTINUED ON: P7 the US. Allahabad HC calls out cow slaughter ban law’s abuse, framing people in UP S A N A S H A K I L @ New Delhi THE Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act is being “misused” to implicate innocent persons, the Allahabad High Court recently observed, putting the state’s law enforcement machinery under intense scrutiny . In a recent order, the single judge bench of Justice Siddharth observed, “Act is being misused against innocent persons. Whenever any meat is recovered, it is normally shown as cow meat (beef) without getting it exam- ined or analyzed by the Forensic Laboratory .” In most cases under this law, meat is not sent for analysis and accused persons continue to be in jail for an offence they may not have committed, Justice Siddharth said. He added that offences under this law have a maximum sentence of seven years. The court was hearing a bail application of one Rahmuddin, accused of cow slaughter and sale of beef under sections 3, 5 and 8 of the Act. The judge made the scathing remarks after learning that the accused had been in jail for over a month even when there was no allegation against him in the first information report. Rahmuddin’s lawyer also claimed that his client was not arrested from the spot of the alleged crime. The court granted bail to Rahmuddin on certain conditions such as not tampering with evidence. In its order on October 19, the court also made observations on the menace of abandoned cattle and stray cows in Uttar CONTINUED ON: P7 Pradesh. SC rejects TN’s plea for 50% OBC quota in medical entry EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai/New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday rejected Tamil Nadu’s interim prayer seeking implementation of 50 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in the State’s medical colleges on seats contributed to the All-India Quota this academic year. Both the Dravidian parties had approached the apex court after the Centre made it clear that it was not possible to implement the quota for OBCs this year. A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and Ajay Rastogi dismissed the pleas. In July, the Madras High Court directed the Centre to constitute a panel – with representatives from State and Central governments apart from the Medical Council of India – to decide on the issue of providing OBC reservations in the AIQ seats. Regional parties have expressed disappointment over the ruling, and urged the State to take immediate steps to secure reservations. The DMK attacked the ruling governments at State and Centre for “jointly shattering” WHAT WILL BE THE NEXT MOVE? DMK president Stalin called upon the State government to exert political pressure on the Centre to implement the reservation. The SC decision comes at a time when TN Governor has sought 3-4 weeks time to decide on the 7.5% horizontal reservations Bill of State govt the dreams of several backward caste candidates. “The rights of over 10,000 students have been affected,” he said, while calling upon the State government to exert political pressure on the Centre to implement the reservation. This comes at a time when the Tamil Nadu Gover nor has sought 3-4 weeks time to decide on the 7.5 per cent horizontal reservations Bill of the State government. Previously, the OBCs were being provided reservation only in central universities. However, several activists and politicians had argued that since the States were allotting such a large margin of seats to the AIQ, the OBCs were losing out on seats that they could avail in non-central universities. It was estimated that the OBCs had lost out on over 10,000 seats in the last three years because the Centre had failed to implement reservation in the AIQ.