NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Friday witnessed a sharp exchange of words between a bench headed by Justice Abhay S Oka and senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani after the lawyer alleged that Chhattisgarh govt’s plea against former IAS officer Anil Tuteja was not being heard because of adjournments. The bench passed an order asking him to move the CJI for transfer of the case to another bench and reminded him that the govt itself had sought deferment of hearing on a few occasions.
At the outset of hearing, Jethmalani told the bench that the state wanted custodial interrogation and pressed for an early hearing. The court, however, said the main case was still pending and hearing on vacation of interim order could be heard with it as the accused had already been directed to cooperate with the probe. Senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Meenakshi Arora also briefed the court that the accused were appearing on every date.
Jethmalani thereafter questioned the court’s jurisdiction in granting interim relief and said “this is not the province of the court”. Not accepting his submission, the bench said the court was not “powerless” to grant relief. “If you are making grievances against the bench, then you can go before the Chief Justice. This is not the way to behave,” the bench said.
Countering Jethmalani’s submission that the accused had sought adjournments, Sankaranarayanan challenged him to spell out the dates when hearing was deferred due to the accused and told the bench that the state itself had taken adjournment three times in the case.
Jethmalani clarified that he was not making any allegation against the bench. “Your lordships are misunderstanding what I said. I did not say anything about the bench. I pointed out the conduct of the parties,” he added.
The court, however, went on to pass an order allowing the state to ask the CJI to transfer the case to another bench. “If we start adopting this approach – which advocate has taken adjournment how many times – it will be impossible for us to function,” the bench told Jethmalani.
A bench headed by Justice Oka had on April 15 granted Tuteja bail in a money laundering case arising out of the Chhattisgarh liquor scam, noting that Tuteja had been in custody for over a year and charges had not been framed against him and more than 30 prosecution witnesses were to be examined in the case.
Based on allegations of ED‘s “high handedness” and “inhuman conduct” in interrogating a person for almost 15 hours which went beyond midnight, SC had in Jan pulled up the agency and expressed concern over its approach in conducting probe.
ED denied the charge and accused Tuteja of influencing witnesses with the help of Chhattisgarh Police and the ex-advocate general under the previous Congress govt. It also produced documents in support of its charge in a sealed envelope, which is said to have led to the transfer of an important judicial officer outside the state.

NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented step, Supreme Court appears to have vetted a bill pending consideration in Parliament. On Friday, it “urged” the law ministry to take a “serious look” and make changes in it, keeping in mind the arbitration regime in India.
Constitutional courts are empowered to test the validity of laws enacted by Parliament and state legislatures and interpret the law. The Constitution under Article 141 provides that a law declared valid by the SC shall be binding on all courts. But these courts have never entertained a petition challenging the validity of a bill.
Though the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2024, proposing major changes in the 1996 law on the same subject, was not under challenge before SC, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan decided to scrutinise it. They concluded that the bill suffered procedural lacunae and vacuum similar to the 1996 Act.

‘Even after 30 yrs, procedural issues dog arbitration regime’

The bench’s comments came in a case involving arbitration between two parties.
Giving a brief background of arbitration laws in India, starting with the 1940 Act, followed by the 1996 Act and the changes proposed to be effected through the 2024 bill, the bench said, “It has been almost 30 years since the 1996 Act has remained in force. Various amendments to the 1996 Act have been made over the years to ensure that arbitration proceedings are conducted and concluded expeditiously. It is indeed very sad to note that even after these many years, procedural issues such as the one involved in the case at hand, have continued to plague the arbitration regime of India.”
Writing the judgment, Justice Pardiwala said, “Unfortunately, even the new bill has taken no steps whatsoever for ameliorating the position of law as regards the power of impleadment or joinder of an arbitral tribunal. What is expressly missing in the 1996 Act is still missing in the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2024, despite a catena of decisions of this court as well as various high courts, highlighting the need for statutory recognition of such power in order to obviate all possibilities of confusion.”
He further said, “We urge the department of legal affairs, ministry of law and justice, to take a serious look at the arbitration regime that is prevailing in India and bring about necessary changes while the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2024, is still being considered.”
The same bench had raised eyebrows in political and legal circles with its verdict setting a deadline of three months for the President to give assent to bills sent to her by governors, and by suggesting that she might consider it prudent to take the opinion of the apex court to determine the validity of bills.

New Delhi experienced its second-highest single-day rainfall in May since 1901, with 77 mm recorded at Safdarjung between 2:30 am and 8:30 am on Friday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The record remains 119.3 mm on May 20, 2021. The torrential downpour, driven by converging moisture from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, resulted in widespread disruptions, including four deaths in Najafgarh, traffic chaos, and major flight delays.
“Moisture and wind convergence over the region – fed by both the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal – along with persistently favourable synoptic conditions in the lower and middle tropospheric levels, triggered the heavy rain,” the IMD said.
The rainfall was accompanied by strong southeasterly winds and storm conditions that peaked at 80 kmph at Safdarjung. Other weather stations in the city also saw high wind speeds: Pragati Maidan recorded 78 kmph, and Palam 74 kmph.
Temperatures across Delhi plummeted sharply following the storm. “At Lodhi Road, the temperature dropped from 28.2°C at 5:15 am to 20.7°C at 5:30 am. Similarly, at Jaffarpur, it fell from 28.4°C to 19°C,” said IMD scientist R.K. Jenamani. The city had seen only 10.2 mm rainfall since January 1, making Friday’s weather an extreme event. The monthly average for May stands at just 30.7 mm.
Rainfall totals from other parts of Delhi included 78 mm at Lodhi Road, 71.5 mm each at Pragati Maidan and Pitampura, and 67.5 mm at Jaffarpur.
The severe weather turned fatal in Najafgarh’s Kharkhari village, where four members of a family — Jyoti and her three children — died after a tree collapsed on a tubewell structure during the storm. Despite rescue efforts, all four were declared dead at Rao Tula Ram Memorial Hospital. The chief minister’s Office announced Rs 25 lakh in ex-gratia relief to the family. “The relief would be given to victim’s family head Ajay,” it said in a post on X.
Over 100 flights were delayed and at least 40 diverted as a result of the storm, while traffic in several parts of Delhi was disrupted due to waterlogging. Affected areas included Dwarka, Khanpur, South Extension, Minto Road, and Lajpat Nagar.
In South Delhi, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road near Tughlaqabad and Sangam Vihar’s Neem Chowk Road were submerged, adding to traffic snarls. Waterlogging at ITO, one of Delhi’s busiest intersections, led to major traffic congestion.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited Majnu ka Tilla to inspect the situation and expressed dissatisfaction with the response. “Things won’t work like this,” she told officials, urging immediate action to address waterlogged spots. PWD Minister Parvesh Verma also visited Minto Bridge to assess the conditions.
According to Skymet Weather’s Mahesh Palawat, the rainstorm was a result of pre-monsoon thundercloud formation triggered by recent high temperatures above 40°C and rising moisture levels. “These phenomena generally occur during the early morning or late evening hours,” he said. Similar weather is expected to continue for about a week, with no heatwave forecast and maximum temperatures likely to stay below 40°C.

Ajinkya Rahane (ICC Photo)

NEW DELHI: Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane has reaffirmed his unwavering determination to return to the Indian team, saying he still harbours the “desire and hunger” to represent the country again. The 36-year-old last featured in a Test match in 2023 and has been out of India’s white-ball plans for nearly a decade, but his focus remains clear.
“I would love to be back in the Indian set-up again. The desire, the hunger, the fire is still there. Fitness-wise, I am right up there. I just want to take one game at a time, thinking about this IPL right now, and then, let’s see what happens in the future,” Rahane said during Star Sports’ Press Room interaction on Friday.
“I am a guy who will never give up. (I) always try and give my best on the field; give more than 100 per cent. It’s always about that, focusing on controllable things. I have been playing domestic cricket as well and I am really enjoying my cricket at this moment,” he added.
Rahane’s most celebrated chapter in Indian colours came during the 2020–21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where he led an injury-depleted side to a historic 2-1 Test series win. Despite that high, he soon found himself sidelined as younger talent emerged and took centre stage.

“Every day when I wake up, it’s always about what goals I want to achieve. For me, there is nothing higher than representing your country,” he reiterated.
“I want to represent my country. I want to wear those Indian colours again. During (the) off-season, I train for two-three sessions a day. I feel at this moment, for me, keeping myself really fit is really important, recovery is really important,” he said.
“(I am) focusing on my diet as well…the motivation to do well for India, it’s still there. I am enjoying my cricket, that is the important thing. I am still passionate. I still love the game.”
As the conversation shifted towards IPL 2025 and KKR’s campaign, Rahane expressed full support for out-of-form vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer, who has struggled for consistency. With the defending champions needing to win all four of their remaining games to stay in playoff contention, pressure is mounting.
Iyer, the franchise’s costliest buy at Rs 23.75 crore, has only managed scores of 60 and 45 of note this season. In the last four games, he has accumulated just 28 runs. But Rahane is backing his deputy to bounce back.

“Every player goes through that phase where he is trying his best but the performance is not coming. He is a quality player. We all know that he has done well for the franchisee in the past, (he has) won the matches for the team as well,” he said.
“It’s important from management (and) leadership group point of view (that) we back him. He has been working really hard. People generally only see about the results and the outcome. But the hard work which all the players are doing, that is really important.”
“From my point of view, we are completely backing Venkatesh Iyer. He is just one innings away. You can probably see one good innings from him in next four games,” he added.
Rahane also admitted that the team’s opening combinations haven’t clicked consistently.
“Sunil Narine has done well in the past for us. This year, we started with Quinny (Quinton de Kock). Quinny played a very good knock. But again, he couldn’t capitalise on that. He is trying hard. He is trying his best. But now, we have to look at the positives rather than what is not working for us,” he said.
“Obviously, the errors (have) happened and that can happen in this format. You want your players to play with freedom, play sometimes with high-risk cricket, so we are bound to make errors.”
“I don’t like to pinpoint on any players or any particular number. Everyone has to contribute…It’s not happening, yes. I accept that.”
Looking ahead, Rahane emphasized the importance of focusing one match at a time, especially with upcoming games against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, both already eliminated from the playoff race.
“When teams are out, they have got nothing to lose and they come with a different mindset to play the game. For us, it’s important to go out there with the right mindset (and) right attitude on that particular day and give our best,” he said.