Punjab: SAD leader Majithia surrenders before trial court in Mohali

 Facing charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia applied for regular bail and the trial court started arguments over his plea

Facing charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Thursday surrendered before a trial court in Mohali near here following directions of the Supreme Court. Majithia applied for regular bail and the trial court started arguments over his bail plea, it is learnt. The court, however, allowed the Special Investigation Team to interrogate Majithia for about an hour in the court complex.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli had directed Majithia to surrender before the trial court after the Punjab Assembly polls on February 20. His interim bail had ended on Wednesday night. Majithia, the brother-n-law of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, was in fray for the February 20 assembly polls from Amritsar (East). In a 49-page FIR filed by the state police Crime Branch at the Mohali police station, the SAD leader has been booked under sections 25, 27A and 29 of the NDPS Act….Read More

Electoral bonds: FinMin knew serial number could reveal donor’s identity

Ministry was reluctant to assign serial numbers initially, but relented after SBI raised concerns about internal control and reconciliation

The finance ministry was initially reluctant to put up serial numbers on electoral bonds, saying they had the potential to reveal the identity of the donors, but agreed later on, after concerns were raised by State Bank of India (SBI).

After being entrusted with the task of issuing electoral bonds, SBI had raised certain concerns with the finance ministry, according to official documents accessed through the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activists Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired) and Anjali Bhardwaj. This was after the Union government issued the framework for electoral bonds, a financial instrument for making anonymous donations to political parties, on January 2, 2018.

In a letter dated January 19, 2018, SBI said that though the bonds will not carry the name of the buyer they “will necessarily need a serial number” as it will leave no audit trail for internal control and reconciliation and identifying the genuineness of the electoral bonds will become difficult at the branch level.

To this, the finance ministry drafted a clarification saying “putting a serial number would establish a link between the donor and the political party. This could discourage them to use such bonds. Hence, SBI may think of other security features, including holograms, to establish the genuineness of electoral bonds.”