A Delhi court has suspended the sentence awarded to social activist Medha Patkar in a criminal defamation case filed by former Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena. The court also granted Patkar bail and issued a notice to Saxena seeking his response on September 4th.
Heavy rains in Delhi led to widespread flooding, including at Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s residence. Tharoor shared a video of his flooded home and criticized the clogged drainage system. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena responded to the situation, pledging to address the issue. The floods also caused a roof collapse at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, resulting in one fatality and several injuries.
In a landmark decision, New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal has ruled that while it is desirable for the province’s lieutenant-governor to be bilingual, the Constitution does not impose such a requirement. This reverses a lower court ruling that found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated language protections when he appointed unilingual anglophone Brenda Murphy as lieutenant-governor in 2019. The Acadian Society of New Brunswick had challenged Murphy’s appointment, arguing that it violated the right to communicate with and receive services from the government in either official language. However, the Court of Appeal panel held that while residents of Canada’s only officially bilingual province have that right, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not obligate the appointment of a bilingual lieutenant-governor.
The Supreme Court has indicated that it will consider listing a plea filed by the Delhi government challenging the central government’s law establishing pre-eminence of the lieutenant governor over the elected dispensation in controlling services in the national capital. The plea will be considered after the conclusion of a currently ongoing hearing by a nine-judge bench on a separate matter.
