Adultery can’t be decriminalised for armed forces,
govt. tells SC
The Supreme Court on Wednesday admitted a petition
filed by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) seeking to exempt armed forces personnel
from the ambit of a Constitution Bench judgment of 2018 that decriminalized
adultery.
About:
A three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohint on Fali
Nariman said the plea had to be considered by a Constitution Bench because the
original verdict, striking down Section 497 (adultery) of the Indian Penal
Code, was pronounced by a five-judge Bench in September 2018.
The court referred the case to the Chief Justice of
India to pass appropriate orders to form a five-judge Bench to clarify the
impact of the 2018 judgment on the armed forces.
The government said in the petition that personnel
of the Army, Navy and the Air Force were a “distinct class”. They were governed
by special legislations, the Army Act, the Navy Act and the Air Force Act.
Adultery amounted to an unbecoming conduct and a
violation of discipline under these three Acts.
These special laws-imposed restrictions on the
fundamental rights of the personnel, who function in peculiar situation
requiring utmost discipline.
The three laws were protected by Article 33 of the
Constitution, which allowed the government to modify the fundamental rights of
the armed forces personnel. The judgment of 2018 created “instability”.
It allowed personnel charged with carrying on an
adulterous or illicit relationship to take cover under the judgment.
Special Marriage Act1954.
Allahabad High Court ruled that Couples can choose
to not publish 30-day notice under Special Marriage Act.
Court stated that provision for mandatory
publication of notice would invade in the fundamental rights ofliberty and
privacy.
Special Marriage Act deals with inter-caste and
inter-religious marriages, and allows people to get married without giving
uptheir religion.
It requires couples intending to marry under the law
to give a 30-day notice period to a marriage officer of thedistrict in which at
least one of the parties has resided in last 30 days.
Difficult four
countries.
On January 11, Chatham House published a report
titled “Global Britain, Global Broker”, the report sketches a bold path ahead
for the UK.
The Chatham House report groups India on the other
side of a “new divide in international affairs — between open societies where
citizens have the capacity to fight for their rights and those where these
rights are denied”.
Along with Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, India is
classed as one of the “difficult four” countries, destined to count among the
UK’s “rivals” or “awkward counterparts” as it pursues its global goals.
The report also states that India is a reluctant
supporter of liberal democracy, is “ambivalent” about human rights abuses
within other states, and possesses “a long and consistent record of resisting
being corralled into a ‘Western camp’”.
New Foreign Trade Policy to come .
Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that
India’s new Foreign Trade Policy 2021-2026.
It will come into effect from April 1, 2021, for
five years and will strive to make the country a leader in international trade.
The Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry held a meeting on the subject New Foreign
Trade Policy 2021-26.
It was chaired by the Minister of State for Commerce
and Industry, and attended by Members of Parliament (MPs) and senior officers
of the ministry.
It was informed that the District Export Hubs
Initiative will form an important component of the new FTP.
The Department of Commerce through the Regional
Authorities of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has engaged with
state/Union Territory governments to take forward this initiative in the
districts and enable its implementation in a phased manner, with the objective
of mobilizing the potential of each district of the country to achieve its
potential as an export hub.
Income-Tax department
brings out ‘faceless penalty scheme’
The income-tax department has come out with a
‘faceless penalty scheme’.
Under the scheme national and regional centres will
be set up to facilitate conduct of faceless penalty proceedings in income tax
cases.
National Centre will facilitate conduct of faceless
penalty proceedings in a centralised manner and hasbeen vested with the
jurisdiction to impose penalty.
As part of tax reforms, government last year
launched faceless tax assessment scheme.
It aims to make tax administration free of any bias and to remove any subjectivity that personal interface between taxpayer and officials could introduce.
National Innovation
Foundation
Union Science and Technology. Minister dedicated to
the country an innovation portal developed by the National Innovation
Foundation (NIF).
The NIF, an autonomous body of the Department of
Science and Technology (DST), is currently home to about 1.15 lakh innovations
scouted from common people of the country.
In terms of domain areas, presently the innovations
cover energy, mechanical, automobile, electrical, electronics, household,
chemical, civil, textiles, farm/cultivation practice, storage practice, plant
variety, plant protection, poultry, livestock management, nutraceuticals.
Union Minister emphasised on the growing importance
of traditional knowledge, particularly herbal practices which stem from tribal
areas, and is one of the key highlights of the innovation portal.
He said that this innovation portal will help
institutionalise new ideas by common people towards finding solutions to local
problems.
The innovation portal will create an ecosystem where
the institutions will stand behind all those who can convert their ideas and
innovations into entrepreneurship.
The innovation portal will help create local
entrepreneurs out of grassroots ideas and will help bring ideas to the market.
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