Daily Bulletin: Supreme Court to conclude hearing in Ayodhya case today; ED to question P Chidambaram in Tihar jail; day's top stories

Supreme Court to conclude hearing in Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute today

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it looks forward to concluding the hearing in the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case on Wednesday and asked the parties to wrap up their arguments.

On the final day of the hearing, the chief justice, who heads the five-judge bench hearing the case, has allocated initial 45 minutes to Hindu parties followed by one hour to Muslim side, and then four slots of 45 minute each to assorted parties involved in the matter.

File image of the Supreme Court of India. Reuters

Giving the time frame to the concerned parties, the apex court said it would extend the hearing duration and sit till 5 pm on Wednesday to give time for final submissions and rejoinders to the Hindu and Muslim parties. The court also sat till 5 pm on Tuesday.

The judgment will be reserved by the bench if the arguments conclude. The bench, also comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer will have to pronounce the ruling by 17 November as the CJI will retire on that date. If the judgment is not delivered before his retirement, the entire matter would have to be heard afresh.

The CJI has previously said the bench will have only four weeks to write the judgment and it will be a "miracle" if the court delivers the judgment in this time frame.

ED to question P Chidambaram in Tihar jail today

A Delhi court Tuesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate former finance minister P Chidambaram in Tihar jail on Wednesday, and arrest him if necessary, in connection with the INX Media money laundering case.

The senior Congress leader's judicial custody in the INX Media corruption case, which was filed by the CBI, ends on 17 October. Since his arrest on 21 August, he has till Tuesday spent 55 days in custody — both of the CBI as well as judicial — in nine spells.

The court said three ED officials can interrogate Chidambaram on Wednesday after 8:30 am and asked the jail superintendent to make arrangements in this regard.

Special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar, who allowed the plea of the ED seeking permission to quiz Chidambaram, also rejected the Congress leader's plea seeking to recall the production warrant issued against him.

BS Yediyurappa, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah to address rallies in poll-bound Haryana, Maharashtra today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address three rallies Akola, Partur in Jalna district and Panvel in Navi Mumbai district today for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

According to reports, the BJP has roped in Karnataka chief minister BS Yediruppa who is going to address public meetings at Sangli, Solapur, Akkalkot, Chakur and Latur. Sources say Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has planned to call on Yediyurappa to attract the support of over one crore Lingayat voters residing in his state. After Karnataka, Maharashtra, is the second-biggest state in the country and has the highest Lingayat population.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah will also address public rallies in Etamadpur in Faridabad, Samalkha in Panipat, Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar and sector 47 Gurugram in poll-bound Haryana for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Both Haryana and Maharashtra are slated on 21 October in a single-phase election and the results will be declared on 24 October.

Govt to formulate policy in two weeks to attract foreign investment in coal mining sector

The government expects to have formulated a policy within the next two weeks to attract foreign investment to its coal mining industry, the country’s Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Tuesday.

Sources told Reuters last month that the country planned to invite bids for coal mining blocks by the end of 2019. It is also creating a coal price index as part of plans to open the sector to outside investment.

“We are formulating various policies within the coal ministry to attract foreign investment. Hopefully, within a fortnight or a month’s time we will come out with a policy,” Joshi said at the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek.

India’s recently concluded thermal coal mine auctions received a tepid response, with 15 out of 21 attracting fewer than three bidders. An industry source told Reuters none of 6 coking coal blocks received interest from at least 3 bidders, the minimum required for a mine to be allocated.

Google Pixel 4 won't be launching in India

The next-generation of Pixel phones including Pixel 4 and 4 XL won't be coming to India since it couldn't acquire permission to use the frequency band of its onboard Soli chip. The Soli radar chip is used for face unlock on the Pixel 4 and there's no alternative of a fingerprint reader for security on the device. It uses the 60 GHz frequency band that isn't available for public use in India and while developing the radar hardware, Google failed to consider this was going to be an issue.