SC slams Uttarakhand govt. for filing “frivolous” appeal, warns of penal action
The Hindu
The top court dismissed the petition with a warning to the State that any other attempt of frivolous litigation in the court may be visited with penalisation of the officers responsible for sanctioning.
The Supreme Court has slammed the Uttarakhand government for filing a “frivolous” appeal challenging reduction of sentence of a man in a case of attempt to murder.
A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vikram Nath noted that the counsel for the accused did not challenge the conviction before the Uttarakhand High Court and only argued for the reduction of sentence, and the lawyer for the State did not oppose such a prayer for the reduction of sentence.
The top court dismissed the petition filed by the Uttarakhand government with a warning to the State that any other attempt of frivolous litigation in this court may be visited with penalisation of the officers responsible for sanctioning.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.