Submit list of corporates with dues of over Rs 500 crore: SC
New Delhi, January 3 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to place before it within four weeks a list of corporate entities with outstanding debts in excess of Rs 500 crore and details of cases pending before Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) for more than 10 years. The court sought latest details on cases pending before the DRTs and DRATs and the amount involved. The apex court noted that "more than 70,000 cases involving approximately Rs 5 lakh crore are pending before the Debt Recovery Tribunals, of which many are pending for more than 10 years". The Supreme Court directed the Centre to file an affidavit furnishing information on five counts, including infrastructure and manpower of the DRT and DRAT. The bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that the filing of the affidavit will not impede the functioning of a committee set up by the government in the matter.
Budget session likely from Jan 31
New Delhi, January 3 (IANS): The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) on Tuesday recommended starting the budget session of Parliament from January 31, official sources said here. The CCPA met on Tuesday morning and decided that the first half of the budget session should be held from January 31 to February 9. This is around a month earlier than the usual time for the Budget session. The recommendation will now be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for his consent.
Informed sources said the general budget is likely to be presented on February 1, which would be a first. The budget so far has usually been presented at the end of February. In another first, the Railway Budget is likely to be merged with the General Budget this time. The Finance Ministry had constituted a five-member committee comprising senior officials of the ministry and the Indian Railways to work out the modalities for the merger.
Fmr Puducherry speaker hacked to death
Karaikal, January 3 (PTI): Former Puducherry Agriculture Minister VMC Sivakumar was hacked to death by an unidentified gang here today, police said. Sivakumar was on his way to inspect construction work when his car was blocked by the gang at Neravy-TR Pattinam near Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district and attacked with sickles, police said. He was rushed to government hospital, where he was declared brought dead, they said.
67-year-old Sivakumar is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters. He was the speaker of Puducherry Assembly from 1996 to 2000. Sivakumar was MLA for five terms - four times on DMK ticket and once as independent - since 1980 representing Neravy-TR Pattinam constituency.He is now with AIADMK.
Tibetan parliament-in-exile asks UN to restart Sino-Tibet talks
Dharamsala, January 3 (IANS): The Tibetan parliament-in-exile on Tuesday appealed to the United Nations to reaffirm its commitment and conviction on the resolutions adopted by its general assembly on Tibet and restart the Sino-Tibet dialogue. In a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, it said: "The situation inside Tibet continues to remain grim and alarming despite China's lofty claims of having liberated and developed Tibet for the past 66 years."
"Since 2009, over 145 Tibetans in Tibet have resorted to self-immolation in protest against China's rule in Tibet... Therefore, we are optimistic on the resumption of Sino-Tibet dialogue and the resolution of the Tibet issue during your term," the letter added. The UN General Assembly has passed three resolutions on Tibet and the last one was on December 18, 1965. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule in 1959. The government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala but has not won recognition from any country.
99% pensioners will get OROP benefits by January-end: Parrikar
New Delhi, January 3 (IANS): Defence Minster Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said that around 20 lakh pensioners have been paid the benefits of One Rank One Pension so far, and more than 99 per cent of cases will be settled by January-end. "So far, we have already paid the benefits to more than 19,70,000 pensioners. Around 68,000 pension cases were in scrutiny in the month of December. The targeted time schedule was end of December and 13,000 cases are sent to pension dispersing authority," Parrikar said at a press conference.
"With that I think almost 99 per cent of the eligible cases will be settled probably by January. One per cent is not being able to trace them, probably dead," the minister said. Parrikar said he has "instructed all the agencies to go and find out such cases". OROP for retired armed forces personnel was announced on September 5, 2015. The scheme took 2013 as the base year to calculate pensions and date of implementation was July 1, 2014. The period for review was kept at five years.
