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NDA govt's first year in office saw many challenges before SC

Last Updated 24 May 2015, 19:33 IST

The NDA government faced several challenges before the Supreme Court in its first year in office. 

Though it reiterated stand taken by the previous UPA government on major policy fronts, including “Aadhaar”, the government suffered setback after its ratification of extending OBC status to politically-dominant “Jats” community and upholding validity of Section 66 A of the Information Technology Act was rejected by the apex court.

During the year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion to the judiciary not to be driven by “five-star activists” did not go down well with the civil society.

Within a couple of months after assuming office in May, the Modi government faced criticism from then Chief Justice of India Justice R M Lodha for “unilaterally” segregating name of senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam from three others to be elevated as the apex court judges on the recommendation of collegium.

By August, the SC declared that coal blocks allocations made between 1993 and 2010 were illegal, in a victory of sorts for the BJP, which came to power raising the issue of corruption involved in the process. Finally, the government was able to auction the coal blocks after the court nod, and raked in over Rs 2 lakh crore from bids for a few mines, which is now touted as a major achievement.

However, in October, the issue of black money came to haunt the government. Notwithstanding, the fact that the Centre revealed eight names for stashing ill-gotten money in foreign banks, its stance against non-disclosure of the list received from France was disapproved of by the court. Eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani, a petitioner in the matter, went on to accuse the government of failing in fulfilling its poll promise.

Even though the court decided against passing any direction to reveal names of black money holders, the issue continues to take a toll on the image of the government. In the same month, the Centre’s failure to take a decision on the fate of Delhi Assembly then put under suspended animation was also not appreciated by the court.

In the later months, the government was dragged to the apex court for introducing Sanskrit in class VI to VIII in place of German in third language category. In the period, the government had to bear strong remarks by the SC over its plan for cleaning river Ganga, which will remain in spotlight in the time to come.

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(Published 24 May 2015, 19:33 IST)

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