Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, July 15: Jammu and Kashmir Government has extended the timeline for conduct of elections to the post of Mayor, Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to three months in view of prevailing Covid -19 pandemic.
As per an order issued by the Housing and Urban Development Department, the election timeline has been extended as per the sub-section (2) of section 36 of J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, notified vide SO 219 Dated 15-07-2020.

“Whereas ,the second proviso to sub-section (2) of section 36 of J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, notified vide SO 219 Dated 15-07-2020 provides   that the Government may, if the circumstances so warrant, on account of reasons of internal security, public health including health pandemic, natural calamity such as floods, earthquake, snowstorm or an event of a similar nature or  any other reason which is a hindrance to the conduct of election of the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor, by reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the time limit of conducting the elections up to a maximum of three months from the date the office of the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor falls vacant. Now, therefore, in terms of the above proviso of Section 36 (2) of J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000, and in view of the difficulty in the conduct of the election to the post of Mayor, SMC due to health pandemic-COVID-19 and management protocol related to it issued by District Magistrate, Srinagar (Chairman, District Disaster Management Authority, Srinagar), the Government hereby extends the time limit for the conduct of said election to three months from the date the office of the Mayor fell vacant,” the order stated.

It also stated that the post of Mayor, Srinagar Municipal Corporation had fallen vacant on 16th of June 2020 and was to be filled up within a period of one month, in terms of Section 36 of the Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Corporation Act, 2000.

New Delhi: In a move meant to reduce its number of employees, the board of Air India has allowed the airline’s Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) to recommend that a non-performing staff member be compulsorily sent on leave without pay for a period of up to five years.

Employees will be assessed by a board in the following categories: Suitability, efficiency, competence, quality of performance, health of the employee, instance of non-availability of the employee for duty in the past as a result of ill health or otherwise and redundancy.

Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal can now send employees on leave without pay “for six months or for a period of two years extendable upto five years,” an official order said.

The departmental heads in the headquarter as well as regional directors are required to assess each employee “on the above mentioned factors and identify the cases where option of compulsory LWP can be exercised”, the order said.

“Names of such employees need to be forwarded to the General Manager (Personnel) in headquarter for obtaining necessary approval of CMD,” it added.

The move comes at a time when the government is attempting to sell off the airline, a process which has been delayed because of the outbreak of coronavirus.

The aviation sector has been badly hit due to travel restrictions in India and other countries amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All airlines in India have taken up cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts and laying off employees.

India resumed domestic passenger flights from May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

However, the airlines have been allowed to operate only a maximum of 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. Occupancy rate in Indian domestic flights has been around 50-60 per cent since May 25.

International passenger flights that have been suspended since March 23, will stay banned till at least July 31. (Agencies)

New Delhi, July 15: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition challenging the legal provisions which provide 100 per cent reservation to domicile of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir in public employment following the abrogation of article 370.

The Petitioner, in the case, Nazam Ul Huda had moved the Apex Court seeking appropriate directions and orders from the top court with respect to domicile in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

A Bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao, refused to entertain the plea filed by Nazam Ul Huda.

“We are not inclined to hear the present petition. It is devoid of merits,” the Apex Court today said, and asked the petitioner to approach the J&K High Court.

New Delhi, July 15: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit to Ladakh on July 17 to take stock of current situation, wherein troops of India and China engaged in disengagement process along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

“The minister will visit to Leh on July 17 while Srinagar on July 18. He will be accompanied by Army Chief Gen MM Naravane,” sources in the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The decision to visit Ladakh came a day after India and China concluded fourth Corps Commanders-level talks, which lasted for over 15 hours.

The Corps-Commanders’ level talks between India and China that started at 1130 hours on Tuesday went on for over 15 hours and ended at around 0230 hours on Wednesday.

The meeting took place at Chushul on the Indian side in Eastern Ladakh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited Leh on July 3 and interacted with soldiers of ITBP, Army and Air Force posted there in Nimu Valley.

He also visited the Base Hospital in Leh and met the soldiers, who were injured in a violent face-off with the Chinese troops on June 15 in the Galwan Valley.

After the violent Galwan valley clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred and the Chinese side also suffered casualties, both sides had decided that talks will continue to effectively continue the disengagement process.

New Delhi, July 15: Hours ahead of the India-EU Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Summit will further strengthen India’s economic as well as cultural linkages with Europe.

“Will take part in the India-EU Summit at 4:30 PM today. I am confident this Summit will further strengthen our economic as well as cultural linkages with Europe,” the prime minister in a tweet said.

A day ahead of the virtual summit, India and the European Union signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement after 13 years of negotiations.

The Summit is aimed at further broad basing ties on a range of areas including trade, investment and defence, officials of the 27-nation bloc said.

During the Summit, the two sides are also expected to kick off a process for effective cooperation between the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Europol, unveil a five-year roadmap to further expand ties and are likely to launch a separate dialogue on maritime security and for boosting trade and investment, the officials said.

The Indian delegation at the summit will be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while the European side will be headed by President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Both sides are also expected to launch a maritime security dialogue as part of efforts to expand defence and security cooperation.

The officials said the summit will be an opportunity to strengthen the EU-India strategic partnership.

The leaders will discuss how to further develop their trade and investment relations and support sustainable growth and jobs on both sides, the officials said.

As the world is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, the leaders will discuss global cooperation and solidarity to protect lives, to mitigate the socio-economic consequences and to strengthen preparedness and response capacities, they added.

The European Union is of great strategic importance to India and was New Delhi’s largest trading partner in 2018.

India’s bilateral trade with the EU in 2018-19 stood at $115.6 billion with exports valued at $57.17 billion and imports worth $58.42 billion