Wing Commander Pooja Thakur sues IAF

Wing Commander Pooja Thakur sues IAF

Wing Commander Pooja Thakur has moved the armed forces tribunal after being denied permanent commission by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Thakur's lawyer Sudhanshu Pandey told ANI it is wrong on part of the Air Force to deny her permanent commission for which she is entitled.

"The Air Force has on the basis of a policy stated that she is not entitled for permanent commission. The policy is their own local policy as the government did not give any decision about it. They did not offer her permanent commission in 2006 which they should have, but when the High Court passed the order in 2010 they offered her the same," said Pandey.

"At that time, her personal situation was such that she could not decide and that is why she requested the Air Force to change her option. They denied it to her and that is why we have filed a petition," he added.

Thakur's lawyer expressed hope that the court understands their stand and pronounces a favourable judgement.

Responding to the poser as to what does the present policy state, Pandey said, "HRP3 of 2011 states that for permanent commission, you have to show your willingness for once and if you don't give your willingness that time, there is a gap in the policy.

"According to the policy, you will be given chance only once, whereas the HRP of male officers does not have any condition like that," Pandey explained.

When asked about the Centre's stand on the issue, Pandey responded, "The Central Government can always take a decision for officers, who have represented the Air Force, India Army as well as nation. Women like her should be given importance in the nation for her achievements. And according to me, the government should ensure that she is given the permanent commission."

The officer says in a petition that the IAF's decision to deny her permanent commission is "biased, discriminatory, arbitrary and unreasonable".

The Air Force has been asked to respond in four weeks.(more)

Indian worker in Australia tells court his pro-ISIS post was 'sarcastic'

Indian worker in Australia tells court his pro-ISIS post was 'sarcastic'

An Indian-origin aviation worker in Australia who was sacked last year for posting pro-Islamic State messages on Facebook has told a court that his comments were "sarcastic".

Nirmal Singh was facing the 'Fair Work Commission' to argue that his dismissal was 'unfair' by his previous employer Aerocare and was seeking $7,000 in lost wages.

The Commission heard Singh had written "We All Support ISIS" above a shared post from HT (Hizb ut-Tahrir) Australia about the shooting of police account Curtis Cheng by Islamic youth Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar in Sydney.

There were five posts in total that concerned Aerocare, two of which included pictures of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Under cross-examination by solicitor Stephen Hughes for Aerocare, Singh said he made the posts on Facebook under a different name and believed he was conversing with a "secret group".(more)

How Apple and big publishers pushed e-books toward failure

Apple suffered a final defeat in its legal fight with the Justice Department over e-books Monday, when the Supreme Court refused to hear the company's appeal. When the case was filed in April 2012 it was seen as a fight over the future of the digital book industry, with Apple Inc. and the five biggest publishers aligned against Amazon.com Inc. While Apple and its allies lost in court, their vision for the industry won out. It hasn't been good for e-books. Read More.

Delhi diesel car market shrinks after court orders

Car buyers in this city, one of the country’s top car markets, are showing less interest in purchase of diesel vehicles after the twin orders by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court this month.

Dealers say there’s been a 20-25 per cent drop in demand for diesel vehicles with an engine capacity below 2,000cc. Earlier, for two weeks, they'd been unable to sell any diesel vehicle after the NGT order, leaving unsold stock of 8,000 units.

“The action against diesel passenger vehicles is fresh in the mind of buyers. Some also apprehend restrictions on use of diesel vehicles in the future. On an average, the share of diesel-run cars in our daily sales used to be about 20 per cent before these developments. It is now 15-16 per cent,” said an executive with a company owning multiple Maruti Suzuki dealerships in the capital.

business-standard.com

Read More.

Arvind Kejriwal ko gussa kyon aata hai?

After day-long raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation at the Delhi Secretariat, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal looked directly into the television cameras, struck an aggressive pose, pointed his index finger and sent out a warning to the Prime Minister: “Modiji, others might get scared of your strong arm tactics – CBI raids etc. I’m not intimidated. You don’t know as yet what mettle I am made of. I will fight for the country till my last breath.”

Earlier in the day, he had taken to Twitter to label PM Modi a “coward and a psychopath”, later refusing to retract his invective. 

The histrionics on display did enough to project a CBI raid as a direct confrontation between Modi and Kejriwal. The Chief Minister had successfully upped the stakes and grabbed the national headlines.

He then went a step further and levelled a direct accusation against one of the most important ministers in the Modi Cabinet: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a charge that was bound to make the government squirm.

Kejriwal alleged the CBI raids were aimed at getting hold of an inquiry committee file relating to the functioning of the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), of which Jaitley is a past president. “Yeh file hai DDCA ka file jiske andar Arun Jaitley phas rahe hain (This file pertains to the DDCA probe in which Arun Jaitley is getting trapped),” Kejriwal said.