NEW DELHI: The central government on Monday appointed chairperson and members of the Law Commission over two and a half years after it was constituted.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to announce the appointment of retired high court chief justice Rituraj Awasthi as the chairperson of the commission.

The Law Commission is constituted for three years and the 22nd Law Commission was notified on February 24, 2020.

Though the official notification announcing the appointments was not immediately available, going by the date of its constitution, its term will end in February next year.

The government has said that the issue related to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) may be taken up by the 22nd law panel.

Justice KT Sankaran, Professor Anand Paliwal, Professor DP Verma, Professor Raka Arya and M Karunanithi have been appointed as members of the commission.

“The central government is pleased to appoint Justice Rituraj Awasthi, retired HC chief justice as chairperson, Law Commission of India, and Justice KT Sankaran, Prof. Anand Paliwal, Prof. DP Verma, Prof.(Dr) Raka Arya and Shri M. Karunanithi as members of the commission,” Rijiju tweeted.

BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey had raised the issue of the importance of having a UCC in a Zero Hour reference in December last year.

Responding to the issue, Law Minister Rijiju wrote to Dubey in January, saying Article 44 of the Constitution provides that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a UCC throughout the territory of India.

“In view of the importance of the subject matter and sensitivity involved and it requiring in-depth study of the provisions of various personal laws governing different communities, a proposal to examine issues relating to uniform civil code and to make recommendations has been forwarded to the 21st Law Commission of India,” he said.

However, the term of the 21st Law Commission ended on August 31, 2018.

“The matter may taken up by the 22nd Law Commission of India,” Rijiju had said.

In June 2016, the Union law ministry had asked the 21st law panel to examine matters in relation to the UCC.

After detailed research and a number of consultations held over the course of two years, the commission had issued a consultation paper on reform of family laws in India.

The law panel advises the government on complex legal issues.

The UCC has been a part of the BJP’s successive election manifestos.

NEW DELHI, Nov 8: India saw a single-day rise of 625 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest since April 9, 2020, while no death was reported in a span of 24 hours in first such instance since March 2020, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.
The country’s infection tally has climbed to 4,46,62,141, while the active cases have declined to 14,021, the ministry data updated at 8 am stated.
The death toll has remained at 5,30,509.
On April 9, 2020, a total of 540 new cases were reported in a day.
No deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours in the first such instance since March 2020. A 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi in Karnataka was the first victim of coronavirus in India.
The active cases comprises 0.03 per cent of the total cases, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.78 per cent, according to the health ministry website.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,41,17,611, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.
According to the ministry’s website, 219.74 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore cases on May 4, 3 crore on June 23 last year and 4 crore on January 25 this year. Two deaths — one each from Delhi and Odisha — have been reported in a span of 24 hours. (Agencies)

New Delhi, November 8

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday greeted people on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

“May his noble teachings continue to guide us in our endeavour of building a just and compassionate society,” Modi said.The prime minister had on Monday addressed a function to celebrate the Sikh guru’s 553rd birth anniversary. He said that inspired by the Guru’s thoughts, the country is moving ahead with the spirit of welfare of 130 crore Indians.

The Uttar Pradesh government has recommended a CBI inquiry into the Ayush admission scam.

Confirming the development, an official spokesperson said: “Following orders from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the case of anomalies in Ayush colleges admission has been referred to the CBI.”

At least 12 per cent admissions in Ayush colleges of the state for the academic session 2021-22 could be bogus with a scam around the counselling process surfacing.

There are 7,338 seats in various government and private Ayush colleges in the state, of which 891 have come under the lens.

The anomalies were flagged by the Union Ayush ministry last week.

After an internal probe, director, ayurvedic services, UP, Prof S.N. Singh lodged an FIR on Saturday.

In his FIR, the department named UPTRON Limited, Gomti Nagar, its vendor company Soft Solution Private Limited and the company’s representative Kuldeep Singh, who were booked for the anomalies.

Charges of criminal conspiracy (section 120 B), dishonesty (420), forgery for the purpose of cheating (468), fraudulently or dishonestly used as genuine any document (471) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were pressed on the three parties.

Four officials were suspended by the state government in connection with the Ayush admission and counselling scam.

The UP Police formed a special task force to probe the matter.

The complainant alleged that the designated organisation/ persons were asked to conduct the online counselling, based on National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) merit. But the representative reportedly fiddled the data they obtained from the directorate which led to admission of undeserving candidates, he alleged.

A departmental probe revealed that the natural order of the merit was not followed in many cases. Also, in some cases, the selected students had not even appeared for the NEET.

They believe that the company worked upon a doctored merit list to accommodate its candidates.

Meanwhile, trusting the counselling records provided by the designated agency, the Director General of Medical Education and Training (DGME) went ahead with the admission of the candidates.

But eventually when the anomalies surfaced, the DG office summoned the company to probe the matter. He alleged that the company resorted to dillydallying and corrupted the database to escape trouble.