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Follow ‘true spirit’ of Constitution, not individuals: Justice AK Goel at HP LSA lecture series
The day, people of India would be able to understand that instead of following the politicians or political figures, people should follow the spirit of the Constitution, they will realize its power.
Shimla: The Supreme Court judge, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, on October 7, 2017, inaugurated the fifth lecture in the series of lectures titled “Different Facets of Indian Constitution” being organized by the Himachal Pradesh Legal Services Authority (HP LSA).
The event was held at the new auditorium of the State High Court. It was attended by over 300 students of law and teaching faculties from various law universities.
The purpose of this series is to spread legal awareness among all sections of the society and to empower them.
In his welcome address, Justice Sanjay Karol, acting Chief Justice of the High Court, said Justice Goel is a great scholar, a jurist who is also known for his simplicity, and a sage who is full of knowledge and wisdom.
He has delivered several landmark judgments taking into consideration the ground realities. He is also one of the two judges in SC division bench hearing the case related to Vijay Mallya.
Along with showering appreciation over Shimla city, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel spoke over a very sensitive topic – allegiance to the true spirit of the Indian Constitution instead of following individual figures as heroes.
One must not follow or treat any individual as a hero; rather we must understand and follow the true spirit of the Constitution,
Justice Goel said in his inaugural speech.
This statement holds the key to the healthy democracy and dream of corruption free India. The day, people of India would be able to understand that instead of following the politicians or political figures, people should follow the spirit of the Constitution, they will realize its power.
However, first the people need awareness about their constitution and this is the purpose of the State Legal Authority.
As a reminder to the government, he said the first and foremost duty of the State is to ensure the “welfare of its people” and to secure “justice for all”, which is the guiding spirit of the Constitution.
A great debate is going on among the great jurists in the Constituent Assembly as to how the principals of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity can be achieved and how justice can be secured for all, he said.
He praised Shimla city of its great attractions and simplicity of the inhabitants.
Himachal Pradesh is one of the unique places on the Earth,
he said
He referred to the concluding speech delivered by Dr. B R Ambadker in the Constituent Assembly and said,
Dr. Ambadker was the greatest Jurist that India has ever had.
The ultimate aim behind the adoption of the Constitution is to secure “justice for all” enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution. The Preamble is the soul of the Constitution of India, he said.
Justice Goel said that there are several incidents described in the great epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana which shows us how the “Rule of Law”, was maintained in the society at that time.
Referring to “Chanakya”, he said that almost in every age, India had well-defined sets of laws as a mean to maintain good governance.
During the British rule in India, there was a so-called rule of law, but there was no justice for the common people,
said Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel.
Justice Goel appreciated the initiative of the HPSLS A for the organization of the lecture series and said it is rendering a great service to people in providing “access to justice for all”.
The lecture was also attended by Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Justice Sureshwar Thakur, Justice Vivek Singh Thakur, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Justice Sandeep Sharma, Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia, Judges of HP High Court, Former Judges,. V.K. Sharma, Chairman, H.P. Administrative Tribunal, P.S.Rana, President State Consumer Commission, Assistant Solicitor General of India , President High Court Bar Association, Senior Advocates and Bar Member.
Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Government employees working in different departments before January 3, 2022, would be given a higher scale at par with other employees on completion of two years tenure of regular service. A higher pay scale was also announced for the Junior Office Assistants (IT) on completion of two years of regular service.
Chief Minister Jairam Thakur made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at the hotel Peterhof on Sunday.
He appreciated the role played by the employee especially frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.
He said most of the government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, every employee has got the benefit of a 12 to 15 percent salary hike. There has also been an increase in the pension of about 1.50 lakh pensioners of the state. The financial benefits of Rs. 7801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners from the year 2018 to 2022. The pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20 percent increase in the pension while around 40 thousand pensioners who retired after 2016 would be benefitted soon, he said.
He said the daily wages were Rs. 210 in the year 2017 which has been increased by the present state government to Rs. 350. Similarly, 12 per cent interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. He said the Himachal government has provided Dearness Allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and Central governments from the due date. The Punjab government has given only 5 percent interim relief to the employees while the Himachal government has provided 21 percent interim relief to its employees.
“Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about Rs. 6500 crore, Rs. 3500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government” added the Chief Minister.
He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 percent to 14 percent benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
The Chief Minister said the state government has also increased the honorarium of para-workers working in various departments. The salary of outsource workers has been hiked by Rs 1,500 per month.
Non-Gazetted Employees Federation President Ashwani Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for providing various financial and other benefits to different categories of government employees.
New Delhi-The Centre has issued a notification to the States informing that the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005 will not be invoked in the country after March 31. The Union Health Ministry said that the use of face masks and following hand hygiene will continue.
It implies that most of the Covid-related rules and restrictions would end.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the notification which said that the decision was taken following the overall improvement in the situation and the preparedness of the government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, local authorities and State police can still invoke fines and criminal cases against persons violating COVID-19 norms under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a senior government official said.
The DM Act was invoked on March 24, 2020, due to the pandemic
“Over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases. The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28%. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered,” the notification said.
“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at a local level, as advised by MoHFW (Health Ministry) from time to time,” the notification said.
The Indian government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.
India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.
Shimla-A meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was held on March 20, 2022, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The excise policy for the financial year 2022-23 was approved. Approval was also given for the renewal of retail excise vends in the state for the financial year 2022-23 at the renewal fees of 4% of the value of unit/vend.
The State Government said that wants to enhance the government revenue and curb the smuggling of country liquor from the neighbouring states by a reduction in its price.
The brands of Country Liquor will be cheaper as license fees have been reduced. This will help in providing good quality liquor at a cheaper rate to the consumers.
In the new excise policy, the 15% fixed quota of country liquor for manufacturers and bottlers to be supplied to the retail licensees has been abolished. According to the government, this step will give the retail licensees to lift their quota from the suppliers of their choice and further assure the supply of good quality country liquor at competitive prices. The MRP of country liquor will be cheaper by 16% of the existing price.
In this year’s policy, the Gaudhan Vikas Nidhi Fund has been enhanced by Re.1/- from the existing Rs.1.50 to Rs.2.50.
The fixed annual license fee of Bars has been rationalized by abolishing the area-specific slabs of license fee. Now throughout the State, there will be uniform license slabs based upon the room capacity in hotels.
Rates of the annual fixed license fee of Bars in the tribal areas has been reduced considerably.
Further, all the above stakeholders will have to install CCTV cameras at their establishments as it was made mandatory for them.
Wholesale vends and retail vends, the penalty provisions under the H.P. Excise Act, 2011 have been made more stringent.
An end to end online Excise Administration System would be established in Himachal Pradesh, the government said.
HP Government estimates a collection of Rs 2131 crore revenue during the year, which will be Rs. 264 crores higher than the financial year 2021-22 – growth of 14% in state excise revenues.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to amend Himachal Pradesh Disaster Relief Manual-2012 to include deaths due to biting of honey bees, hornet and wasps, accidental drowning and deaths due to accidents of vehicles (including land, water and air) under this Manual.
The Cabinet gave its approval for filling up 11 posts of ‘A’ Class Tehsildar in Revenue Department through direct recruitment on regular basis through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
HP State Toll Policy 2022-23
The HP Cabinet also gave its nod to HP State Toll Policy for the year 2022-23 which envisages auction cum tender for all the toll barriers in the State. During the year 2021-22, toll revenue has registered a growth of 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue.
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