The allowance would be to the tune of ?14,000 to hire one domestic help and a chauffeur and ?6,000 for telephone expenses.The benefits would also extend to their surviving spouses.These allowances would be in addition to the retirement benefits which are granted by the Union Law Ministry.

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A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia asked Setalvad to surrender her passport with trial court till the time the Gujarat High Court decides her regular bail plea.

The top court also asked Setalvad to cooperate with the probe agency in the investigation of the case of alleged fabrication of evidence to frame people in riots cases.

Appellant, a lady has been in custody since June 25. The offences alleged against her pertain to year 2002 and going by assertions, at best the concerned documents date to 2012. The investigating machinery has had the advantage of her custodial interrogation of seven days followed by judicial custody, the bench said while granting interim bail to Setalvad.

Referring to the sequence of events of the case, the bench said the high court, while issuing the notice to the state government on the regular bail petition, should have considered the plea for grant of interim bail to her.

The essential ingredient of custodial interrogation being completed, the matter of interim bail should have been heard,” it said, adding Setalvad was in police custody for seven days. The bench said since the high court is seized of the matter, it was not considering the regular bail petition.

We are only on during the pendency of such application, should the custody of appellant be insisted upon or be granted interim bail. We grant Teesta Setalvad interim bail, it said.

The top court had on Thursday wanted to know the reason for the delayed listing of Setalvad’s bail plea by the Gujarat High Court, wondering whether “this lady has been made an exception”.

It wondered why the high court listed the bail prayer for hearing on September 19, six weeks after it sent a notice to the state government seeking a response to her application.

Referring to the case against Setalvad, which was registered days after the June 24 verdict of the apex court in the Zakia Jafri case, the bench said, Today as the case stands, the FIR is nothing but whatever has happened in the (supreme) court (judgement).

The bench was apparently referring to the verdict by the apex court bench led by Justice (since retired) AM Khanwilkar who had blamed the petitioners in the Zakia Zafri case for “keeping the pot boiling” and showing the “audacity” to question the integrity of the Special Investigation Team, and observed that “all those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law”.

Setalvad was arrested on June 25, a day after the verdict was pronounced.

The Gujarat High Court had on August 3 issued a notice to the state government on the bail plea of Setalvad and fixed the matter for hearing on September 19.

The 2002 Gujarat riots were triggered by the torching of a coach of Sabarmati Express by a mob near Godhra station on February 27 that year.

Fifty-nine passengers, mostly Hindu Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were charred to death in the incident.

An Ahmedabad sessions court had on July 30 rejected the bail applications of Setalvad and former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar in the case, saying their release will send a message to wrongdoers that a person can level allegations with impunity and get away with it.

Setalvad and Sreekumar have been accused of fabricating evidence to frame “innocent people” in the post-Godhra riots cases.

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Justice Rajiv Shakdher also directed the schools, both in south Delhi, to pay salaries of staff and teachers at rates presently prevailing.

The directions came on the schools’ plea challenging the Directorate of Education’s (DoE) April 22 finding, that the two institutions had illegally hiked fees and compelled parents to pay that along with arrears, and its recommendation to lodge an FIR against the management and seal the premises.

The court issued notice to the Delhi government, the police and the DoE on the plea and sought their stand by June 8.

It asked the school management or officials to join the police investigation into authenticity of some e-mails sent to the two schools allegedly by the DoE allowing them to hike their fees.

The DoE has lodged a complaint with police regarding the e-mails, the court noted and directed the Cyber Cell to file a report with regard to genuineness of the e-mails.

The court further directed the police that, meanwhile, no coercive steps be taken against the schools’ management till the next date of hearing on June 8.

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The move comes after the Opposition attacked the BJP government over investments of more than Rs 2,600 crore of the UPPCL EPF in scam-hit housing finance firm DHFL.

Aparna U has been shifted to the irrigation department as secretary. M Devraj, who has returned from central deputation, will be the new power secretary and UPPCL managing director, a government spokesperson said.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress have demanded that Power Minister Shrikant Sharma and the principal secretary of his department be dismissed. The SP also demanded a probe by a sitting high court judge into the scam.

Congress workers held a protest demonstration over the issue in Lucknow and demanded dismissal of Sharma, saying that a scam of this size cannot take place without the “connivance” of the minister.

Last Saturday, the state government had recommended a CBI probe into the matter. The state government had on Sunday claimed that the “dubious” decision was taken by the previous government headed by Akhilesh.

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The Supreme Court was hearing the petitions demanding stay on the trees being felled in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony by a group of law students.

Meanwhile Section 144 of the IPC, that had been imposed around the site where trees were cut by Mumbai Metro authorities, has now been lifted. Roads leading to the colony were blocked and the entire area condoned off by police on Saturday after protesters reached the spot in large numbers as the metro authorities began cutting trees shortly after the Bombay High Court ruled in its favour.

 The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the tree felling in Mumbai’s Aarey colony and decided to hold a special sitting today after it converted a representation by a group of law students into a Public Interest Litigation. The top court has also formed a special bench for urgent hearing of the case. Supreme Court judges are on vacation for Dussehra.

The Supreme Court asked the Maharashtra government,”Tell us how many saplings you planted. How have they grown? What’s the status of your forests?” The top court’s questions come after Mumbai Metro on Sunday claimed that it had planted 24,000 saplings in to replace the trees that have been felled. The SC also asked the state government to produce a compulsory afforestation report.

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In a message posted on social media, Ms Bhide also referred to Friday’s Bombay High Court order on the Aarey trees and hit out at activists continuing to oppose the cutting of trees, insisting that it was their actions that were “illegal”.

“A new false propaganda is in the air that 15 days’ notice is required after tree authority order getting uploaded on website. This is absolutely baseless. Tree Authority order is issued on 13th Sept 19. 15 days r over on 28th Sept. Action awaited till Hon HC verdict was out,” Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) said.

On September 17, when the Bombay High Court began hearing petitions challenging the cutting of Aarey trees, the petitioners’ counsel made a similar observation, stating that the Tree Authority’s order dated September 13 is illegal. On Friday the court cancelled  petitions and the process to raze the trees began mere hours later.

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