New Delhi [India], March 27 (ANI): In a case where the Indian Air Force officials were not allowing jawans who had cleared the UPSC civil services examinations and state level civil services exams, to quit service and join as a class I officer, the Armed Forces Tribunal has asked the IAF to let them leave and join the civil service within two weeks.

New Delhi Feb 26 PTI The guidelines issued by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to regulate and control ground water extraction in the country is only a new cover provided to the old scheme with minor variations alterations and modifications the National Green Tribunal has said A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said the 2020 guidelines broadly do not satisfy directions given by it repeatedly and persistently We do not find much improvement in Guidelines 2020 Virtually it is only a new cover provided to the old scheme with minor variations alterations and modifications here and there but having no substantial consequences to the root cause and central issue ie protection and preservation of ground water prevention of not only further depletion but a serious and effective attempt for recharge and restoration the bench said The NGT said there is a twist when the guidelines says that NOC shall not be granted to new packaged water industries in over-exploited areas even if they belong to MSME category In Guidelines 2015 no NOC was to be given to any water intensive industry even if it is MSME in over exploited assessment areas Now it is restricted to packaged water industries Apparently a drastic relaxation has been given in respect of water intensive industries for no reason and that too in flagrant defiance of order of Tribunal it said The critical and semi-critical areas have been left untouched and there is no such restriction at all the tribunal said The green panel said unfortunately the ministry concerned and the Central Ground Water Authority have acted in haste and have published Guidelines 2020 wherein most of the infirmities irregularities and failures pointed out on the part of CGWA in earlier guidelines as such are present Though there are minor variations and alterations but the same are wholly inconsequential looking to the gravity of the situation arising due to consistent depletion of ground water The notification issued by UP ground water department shows that in the State of UP almost every district and some districts as a whole are in serious stressed condition having depletion of water to the extent of critical and over-exploited level and a very few are exceptions the bench said The NGT said the condition of NCT of Delhi with regard to ground water is already seriously alarming In this grim situation continuous laxity on the part of Authorities and CGWA in particular is a matter of serious concern We have to opt now for some stringent measures else we also would be failing in our duty of dedicated vigilant to protect environment it said The tribunal also imposed an environmental compensation of Rs 185 crore on Moon Beverages Ltd located at Greater Noida Rs 1324 crore on Moon Beverage Ltds Sahibabad unit and Rs 971 crore on Varun Beverages Ltds Greater Noida unit The NGT also constituted a joint committee comprising officials from the Environment Ministry Ministry of Jal Shakti CGWA UPGWD and District Magistrates of the districts concerned The committee shall prepare restoration plan within two months execute the same in next six months and submit compliance report to it We also constitute a joint Committee of CPCB CGWA UPGWD and UPPCB to conduct survey in UP and prepare data of various categories drawing ground water for commercial purposes study impact assessment suggest ways and modes to reduce ground water extraction in OCS areas and how ground water level can be improved it said The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Ghaziabad-resident Sushil Bhatt raising the issue of extraction of ground water in an indiscreet and arbitrary manner even in areas where availability of ground water is in extreme scarcity The plea filed through advocate Rohit Kumar Tuteja alleged that the units mentioned above have not obtained any No Objection Certificate from Central Ground Water Authority for extraction of ground water PTI PKS SMN SMN

New Delhi Jan 26 PTI A 42-year-old man who allegedly cheated a vehicle finance company to the tune of over Rs 218 crore was arrested three years after he went into hiding police said on Wednesday They said a case was registered against the accused Pramod Singh a resident of Gurugram in 2018 following a complaint by the finance company According to the police Singh initially borrowed Rs 275 lakh from the firm to purchase a Mercedes Benz car and paid the initial installments After gaining the financers trust he took four more loans and continued to pay the installments for some time only to abruptly stop them later Police said some officials in the transport department were hand in gloves with Singh According to the complainant Singh owes the firm Rs 21834853 He was absconding for the last three years and non-bailable warrants were issued against him He was arrested from Gurugram recently after a long chase and surveillance Chhaya Sharma Joint Commissioner of Police Economic Offences Wing said It is also alleged that the accused removed the name of the complainant company as financier from registration certificates of the vehicles by forging the documents despite the vehicles being hypothecated and financed by the complainant company she said The officer said Singh purchased five Mercedes cars over three years and all of them were financed by the same firm She said some officials in the transport department got the hypothecated status of the vehicles deleted from the records after which he could fraudulently sell the cars to second-hand car dealers Hypothecation is the practice of pledging an asset cars in this case to the financer while applying for a loan The financer keeps the asset as collateral until the dues are cleared Such vehicles cannot be sold without a No Objection Certificate from the lender Police said Singh was running a business of providing transportation services to call centres in Gurugram and hence owned a fleet of luxury cars However he suffered losses as several call centres were shut down and hence forged the vehicle documents in order to recover his money PTI AMP CJ CJ