TMC, Governor spar over ‘prosecution of former Ministers’
The Hindu
I was was their appointing authority: Dhankhar. Only Speaker is competent, says ruling party
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday said he has accorded sanction to a Central investigating agency for “prosecuting Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra & Sovan Chatterjee as they were Ministers and he was their appointing authority. “Governor accorded sanction for prosecution of Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra & Sovan Chatterjee, being appointing authority of Ministers @MamataOfficial under Article 164 & thus competent authority. Media reports that sanction was for being MLA is incorrect,” Mr. Dhankhar said in a tweet, sharing a detailed press statement issued by the Raj Bhavan. The matter pertains to the Narada sting videos which is being probed by the CBI. The tapes had come to the fore in 2016 where several Ministers and leaders of the Trinamool Congress were purportedly seen accepting cash on camera. The Governor said the sanction was because they were Ministers and were appointed by the Governor.“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.