The Supreme Court today rules that the Chief Justice of India is the ‘Master of Roster’ and that he alone has the power to assign cases.

This is the third time in eight months that the top court reiterated that Chief Justice of India is first among equal. The ruling came during the hearing of a petition filed by senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan in connection with the judge roster system. The court rejected the plea and said that the CJI is the roster boss.

The judgment was passed by Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan. It should be noted that the apex court also stated at the outset that it is not treating Shanti Bhushan’s petition as an adversarial litigation, and is not doubting the bonafides of the petitioner.

The ruling comes months after a Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra reasserted his own authority, in the face of criticism from fellow judges, and said he is the first among equals and cannot be distrusted.

MUMBAI: China, UAE, Cyprus and significantly, Mauritius, along with 21other countries have been tagged as “high-risk jurisdictions” by global banks acting as custodians for foreign funds which comprise the largest group of investors in the Indian stock market. 

Large investors and beneficial owners of these funds entering India through these high-risk jurisdictions will face close scrutiny while non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin will run into new hurdles in participating in funds set up in these countries for trading on Indian exchanges. 

A week ago, the main custodian banks shared a list of 25 countries with the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), two persons aware of the development told ET. HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Citi, Standard Chartered and JP Morgan are among the banks that compiled the list. 

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday successfully carried out a flight test for a newly-designed Crew Escape System, meant for saving lives of astronauts in an exigency. The space agency said it was the first in a series of tests to ascertain the trustworthiness and efficiency of the Crew Escape System.

The system is an emergency measure designed to quickly pull away the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle if the mission gets aborted. The first ‘Pad Abort Test’ demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad, the Indian Space Research Organisation said in a release.

After a smooth five-hour countdown, the Crew Escape System along with the simulated crew module lifted off at 7.00 am from its pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota today, it said. The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the Escape System and the module soared skyward, before arching out over the Bay of Bengal and floating back to earth using its parachutes, about 2.9 km from Sriharikota, it added.

Payments Council of India (PCI), an apex body representing the companies in the payments and settlement system, has announced the appointment of Vishwas Patel,CEO of Infibeam Avenues, as its new chairman.

It has also announced the appointment of Loney Antony, Managing Director, Hitachi Payment Services, as its new co-chairman.

He has been associated with PCI ever since its inception in 2013 and was serving as the co-chairman of PCI. He takes over from Naveen Surya, who has been elevated to the post of Chairman Emeritus.

In a unique ruling, the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday accorded the status of a "legal person or entity" to animals in the state, saying "they have a distinct persona with corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person".

A division bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Lokpal Singh bestowed the unique status on the animal kingdom while issuing a series of directions to prevent cruelty against animals.

The bench said the order was aimed "to protect and promote greater welfare of animals, including avian and aquatic, [and for this] animals are required to be conferred with the status of legal entity/ legal person".

The entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic ones, are declared as legal entities having a distinct persona with corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person.

The Uttarakahnd High Court in the past had given a similar right to river Ganga when it ordered that the river is a human entity and will enjoy all corresponding rights.

The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018. The primary intended purpose for enactment of the "DNA Based Technology (Use and Regulation) Bill 2018" is for expanding the application of DNA-based forensic technologies to support and strengthen the justice delivery system of the country.

 The utility of DNA based technologies for solving crimes, and to identify missing persons, is well recognized across the world.

By providing for the mandatory accreditation and regulation of DNA laboratories, the Bill seeks to ensure that with the proposed expanded use of this technology in the country, there is also the assurance that the DNA test results are reliable and the data remain protected from misuse or abuse in terms of the privacy rights of our citizens.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has issued a notification with a list of fuels permissible for industrial use within the NCT of Delhi, a move which has been hailed by the Centre for Science and Environment.

All existing industrial units and commercial establishments who are currently using fuels that are not approved under the notification have been asked to switch over to approved fuels within 90 days.

“All other fuels will deemed unapproved and so disallowed for use in NCT of Delhi,” the notification read.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advocacy, CSE, said, “Dust particles in the air get coated with toxic substances from combustion and can go deep into the lungs. Cleaner fuels for combustion are an important step forward to reduce the toxicity of emissions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Europe on Wednesday to take a harsher stance against Iran after an Iranian diplomat was arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack an Iranian opposition group in France.

An Austria-based Iranian diplomat was held in Germany, one of four people arrested on suspicion of plotting to bomb a meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

"It was no coincidence that this attack was thwarted," Netanyahu said during a speech in northern Israel.

"I call on the leaders of Europe: stop financing the terrorist regime that is financing terrorism against you on your soil. Enough with the policy of appeasement and weakness regarding Iran."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday appointed Uttam Dhillon as the new head to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Mr. Dhillon took up the role of acting administrator after Robert Patterson retired after 30 years with the agency.

“With one American dying of a drug overdose every nine minutes, there can be no doubt that we are facing the deadliest drug epidemic in our history,” Mr. Sessions said in a statement. “The work of the Drug Enforcement Administration is critical to fighting this crisis, and President Trump and I are committed to continuing to give it the strong leadership it deserves.”

Mr. Dhillon has previously worked as the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement and as an associate deputy attorney general for the Justice Department.

Mr. Dhillon also worked in the White House as deputy counsel and deputy assistant to the president.

The Centre on Wednesday raised the minimum support price (MSP) at which the government will buy all Kharif crops for the 2018-19 season. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), at its meeting, approved the MSP of 14 Kharif (summer-sown) crops.

The government has raised the MSP of the common rice variety by 13 percent. The government had fixed last year’s rice purchase price for the common variety at Rs 1,550 ($22.63) per 100 kilogrammes.

It also raised the support price for a superior rice variety to Rs 1,770, up from Rs 1,590 last year, home minister Rajnath Singh told reporters on Wednesday.

The hike in support prices will not impact food inflation and the government is confident in reining in rising consumer prices, Singh said.

The cabinet also raised the minimum support price for soybean and long staple cotton by 10.3 percent and 20.7 percent, to Rs 3,399 and Rs 5,450 respectively, Singh said.