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Sena Minister to SC: Probe NCB, Aryan Khan’s ‘fundamental rights breach’

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In a significant development, a senior Shiv Sena leader urged the Supreme Court to order a probe by a sitting judge of the apex court into the affairs of Narcotics Control Bureau and violation of fundamental rights of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan.

Making the plea under Article 32 of the Constitution, Kishore Tiwari, accorded the Minister of State (MoS) status, has urged Chief Justice N.V. Ramana’s ‘top priority’ intervention into the manner in which the ‘biased’ NCB is hounding film personalities, models and other celebs since the past nearly two years with ‘malafide motives’.

He said that under Article 32, the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) are duty-bound to take cognisance of every matter pertaining to the fundamental rights violation, as guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution, which the NCB is flouting.

Referring to the Special NDPS Court (Mumbai) deferring the verdict in the bail plea of Aryan Khan and other accused till October 20 citing public holidays, the plea said this has subjected the accused “to big humiliation and kept in jail in an undemocratic and illegal way” for 17 nights.

This is in utter disregard to the fundamental Right to Life and Liberty as enshrined in the Constitution and the question of ‘bail is the norm, jail is the exception’, which has been upheld and settled by SC many times, as reiterated by former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi.

Accusing the NCB and its officials of ‘vendetta’ by targeting select celebs, Tiwari demanded a probe into the role of the central narcotics agency and the Mumbai Zonal Director (Sameer Wankhede), whose wife is a well-known Marathi filmstar, in direct competition with the other stars and celebs being hounded.

Pointing a needle of suspicion at Wankhede, the plea said the officer’s wife is trying to make big in Bollywood, and that’s why only leading names in the film industry, their families, national-international models, producers-directors are brought under the NCB lens.

“Starting with the probe into the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, the probe has been ‘totally diverted in an unrelated direction’ … The alleged NCB seizures are ‘miniscule jokes’ compared to the Mumbai Police achievements, or the DRI which last month seized 3000-kgs drugs from Mundra Port in Gujarat,” Tiwari said in the plea.

When the law has been settled by the highest court of the country, the NCB and the Special NDPS Court have “failed to give due regards” by depriving Aryan Khan and others bail, which could be done right away, even on public holidays, and thus there is ‘total miscarriage of justice’.

“With the recent shocking exposure on NCB by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik, its high time the NCB Mumbai and all-India must be probed by an SC judge to unravel the rackets and the truth…It’s a fit case for immediate intervention by the SC,” Tiwari demanded, among other things.

Contending the NCB’s grudge and autocratic style are even more glaring, the Sena leader added that no contraband drugs were recovered from Aryan Khan, there was no medical examination proving consumption, etc., yet he has been shunted into different types of custody since October 3, echoing former Attorney General of India Rohatgi.

After the NCB swooped on a luxury cruise ship to bust an alleged rave party on October 2, Aryan Khan, along with 7 others were detained, arrested on October 3 and have remained in NCB and judicial custody since for the past 17 days, with their bail order likely be delivered by Special Judge V.V. Patil on Wednesday (October 20).

Maharashtra

Mumbai News: BMC Struggles To Find Contractors For 153 ICU Beds In 12 Peripheral Hospitals Amid High Penalties

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Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is currently struggling to find contractors to operate 153 ICU beds across its 12 suburban hospitals. Due to the lack of bidders, the civic body has had to extend the tender deadline four times.

The main reason cited for contractors’ reluctance is the steep rise in penalty clauses introduced in the tender, where the penalty amount has been increased by 100 times.

BMC has decided to outsource the management of 153 ICU beds in its 12 suburban hospitals to private operators. Accordingly, a tender was issued on July 25. In the first round, only one company showed interest. Since there was just one bidder, BMC extended the deadline. However, no further interest was shown by contractors, forcing the civic body to extend the tender date four times within just two months.

In the new tender, the BMC has increased the penalty amount by 100 percent. Earlier, if a doctor was absent in a shift, the contractor not only faced salary deductions but also had to pay a fine of Rs 1,000. Now, the fine has been raised to Rs 10,000 per shift. If the same mistake occurs more than 10 times, the penalty will further increase to Rs 1 lakh per shift.

Under a two-year contract, the BMC plans to spend Rs 3,367 per ICU bed per day. For operating 153 ICU beds in 12 suburban hospitals with the help of specialists, the administration will incur a total expenditure of Rs 33 crore 5 lakh 5 thousand 200.

Earlier, the Health Department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) instructed four peripheral hospitals to manage their Medical Intensive Care Units (MICU) and Surgical Intensive Care Units (SICU) with internal resources after the outsourcing contract expired on August 30, despite being granted an extension.

A senior health department official confirmed that the ICU beds reserved at these hospitals will now be operated by the hospital staff themselves.

According to a senior civic official, this is only a temporary measure, as the process of appointing a new contractor is expected to be completed within the next one to two months.

However, several health experts, including doctors from BMC-run hospitals, have questioned the need for outsourcing ICU services altogether.

“For the last two weeks, hospitals have been managing ICU beds with their own resources. This can continue, and there is no real need to outsource them,” said a doctor on condition of anonymity.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: SIWS Junior College Staff Protest Against Vice-Principal In Wadala, Alleging Harassment And Misconduct

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Mumbai: Several staff members of the SIWS Junior College, Wadala, staged a demonstration in front of the institution’s gate on Wednesday demanding action against the vice-principal Sheela Krishnan.

A memorandum with signatures of 30 staffers has been submitted to the principal. Among other things, the vice-principal has been accused of body-shaming a woman and passing comments against a male staff member, which resulted in ten teachers submitting a complaint against her.

Instead of dealing with the issue, the vice-principal has allegedly been targeting the ten teachers concerned.

The signatories also pointed to an incident last year when seats were surrendered during FYJC admissions. The vice-principal reportedly blamed the teachers for the same and threatened action against them.

Also, Hindi as an option has been removed from the admission form and Marathi has been added in its place which could reduce admissions. The signatories stated that they have lost confidence in the vice-principal and demanded her removal.

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra: 50-Year-Old Man Slips While Alighting Train In Akola, Rescued With Gas Cutter

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Akola: A 50-year-old man sustained injuries after he slipped while alighting a train and got trapped under it in Maharashtra’s Akola district, the Railway Police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at the Murtijapur railway station around 4.20 pm on Monday, an official said.

Mushtaq Khan Moin Khan was alighting from the Pune-Amravati train on platform no. 2 when he lost his footing, slipped and got trapped under the train, he said.

The official said the Railway Police had to extricate the injured passenger with the help of a local rescue team, and a gas cutter was used to remove the footboard of the train and pull him out safely.

Khan suffered serious injuries to his legs and was rushed to a local government hospital, where he is undergoing treatment, he added.

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