Jammu, April 4: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir from April 6 to hold security review meetings and inaugurate development projects.

The Home Minister will chair two important security review meetings and will also virtually inaugurate some developmental projects.

HM Shah, as per sources, will hold a meeting with the BJP MLAs in Jammu on April 6. He will take feedback from the BJP MLAs, especially about the budget session of the Legislative Assembly, which will resume on April 7 after a 12-day break. The session is scheduled to adjourn sine die on April 9.

The performance of the BJP MLAs in the Assembly during the first budget session of the present government will come up for review during the meeting.

He will review the political situation in the union territory with the party MLAs. Shah will be in Jammu till the afternoon of April 7 and then proceed to Srinagar. He will return to Delhi on April 8. Minister of State (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh will join the home minister in Jammu.

Amit Shah is scheduled to undertake a tour of the International Border in Jammu. He will meet the family members of police martyrs.

Two terrorists were killed, and four police personnel were martyred in the Kathua encounter last week.

In Srinagar, the home minister will chair two separate security review meetings of Unified Headquarters and the annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Yatra.

He will be dedicating a number of multi-crore projects to the people of the UT through virtual inauguration and a foundation stone laying ceremony.

During Shah’s Unified Headquarters meeting, a strategy for ensuring zero infiltration and the elimination of terrorists from the mountains and forests of the Jammu region besides the Kashmir Valley will be reviewed, sources said.

Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, MHA officials dealing with Jammu and Kashmir, heads of Intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces will also join Amit Shah in security review meetings.

The second security review meeting will be held exclusively for security and other arrangements for the annual Shri Amarnath Yatra, scheduled to start on July 3 and end on August 9.

The Home Minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multi-crore projects virtually from Srinagar.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will also be joining the function for the dedication of developmental projects by HM Shah.

The CM is likely to have a separate meeting with the Home Minister.

Mumbai, April 3: Shiv Sena social media chief Rahool Kanal has urged Big Tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd (which owns the online ticketing portal BookMyShow) to refrain from providing a platform for stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra’s show.

In a letter dated April 2, Kunal said that continuing to facilitate ticket sales for his events could be perceived as an endorsement of his divisive rhetoric which may have serious repercussions for public sentiment and order in the city.

Kanal said that BookMyShow has previously facilitated ticket sales for shows featuring Kunal Kamra, an individual with a documented history of habitual criminal behaviour. “Kamra has been observed to engage in a sustained campaign of vilification and defamation, targeting the Prime Minister of India, Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, and other public figures. These actions appear to be part of a broader criminal conspiracy, driven by ulterior motives that extend far beyond the realm of humour or satire,” he claimed.

He further stated, “Kamra’s premeditated, scripted, provocative, and malicious statements have consistently crossed ethical and legal boundaries. Such remarks not only hurt the sentiments of the public at large but also have the potential to incite public mischief and disrupt social harmony. By providing a platform for his performances, BookMyShow inadvertently lends credibility and reach to an individual whose actions threaten public order, particularly in a vibrant and diverse city like Mumbai, where your company is headquartered.”

Against this backdrop, Kanal has requested that Big Tree Entertainment and BookMyShow refrain from publishing or promoting Kunal Kamra’s shows on their platform moving forward. “I trust that, as a responsible organisation committed to the well-being of its audience and the community. BookMyShow will take this matter into serious consideration and act in the larger interest of maintaining peace and harmony,” he said.

Kanal’s letter comes amid raging controversy over Kamra referring to Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief leader Eknath Shinde as a “traitor”.

The Mumbai Police have filed three cases against Kamra, though the Madras High Court has granted him temporary protection from arrest. Police are currently recording statements from the cameraperson and other staff present during the show’s filming. They have also assured Kamra’s safety when he appears for questioning. However, Kamra has yet to appear before the Mumbai Police to record his statement despite three summons served on him.

New Delhi, April 3: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Calcutta High Court’s order cancelling 25,753 appointments in teaching and non-teaching posts made by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016.

Disposing a batch of petitions, including the West Bengal government’s appeal, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar made certain modifications in the directions issued by the Calcutta High Court.

“The credibility and legitimacy of the selection procedure is denuded. Accordingly, we have proceeded to made some modifications in the directions issued by the Calcutta HC,” the apex court said.

It added that the challenge to the CBI probe into the creation of super-numeric posts by the West Bengal government will be listed for hearing on April 4.

On May 7, 2024, a Bench headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud stayed the operation of the impugned order passed by the Calcutta High Court cancelling school jobs.

The then CJI Chandrachud-led Bench had allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to continue with its investigation into the alleged scam but restricted the agency from taking any coercive action against the candidates or officials.

In an order passed in the third week of April 2024, the Calcutta High Court nullified the appointment of the candidates selected from the expired panels and asked them to return the entire salary drawn during their tenures, along with an annualised interest of 12 per cent, within the next four weeks.

Besides directing the WBSSC to initiate the recruitment process afresh, a Division Bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi of the Calcutta HC also directed the probe agency to carry on with its investigation into the matter.

Taking cognisance of the state Cabinet’s decision for the creation of super-numeric posts, it had said that the CBI, if necessary, can question the masterminds behind the creation of the seats in excess of the vacant posts.

These super-numeric posts, which have remained under the cloud since the beginning, are perceived to provide room for ineligible candidates recruited illegally.

In July 2023, the apex court had set aside an interim direction passed by the Calcutta High Court terminating the service of 32,000 primary teachers and asking the West Bengal authorities to complete the recruitment process for the newly-created vacancies within three months.

Asking the Calcutta High Court to decide the appeal pertaining to the school-jobs-for-cash scam at the earliest, the Supreme Court had stressed that the opportunity for a hearing has to be given to all concerned.