Daily News Dose: Kerala High Court asks NHAI to fill potholes within a week | Aug 8, 2022

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. Kerala rain: Water level of Idukki, Mullaperiyar reservoirs on the rise despite opening shutters

2. Double delight for India as Sindhu, Lakshya Sen win singles gold at Commowealth Games

3. JEE-Main results out; Keralite among 24 who scored perfect 100

4. Kerala High Court asks NHAI to fill potholes within a week

5. Won't sign on ordinances blindly, not desirable for democracy, says Kerala Governor

Let's get into the details:

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1. The water levels in Idukki and Mullaperiyar reservoirs in Kerala are on the rise despite the shutters being opened. The water level in Idukki has risen to 2,385.18 feet while the water level in Mullaperiyar dam has touched 138.75 ft.

The shutters of Idukki dam were raised further by 80 cm on Monday to release more water. All ten shutters at Mullaperiyar dam were also raised by 1 metre each on Sunday to release 4,957 cumecs of water.

The development came in view of the India Meteorology Department predicting more rain in the region.

One shutter of the Banasura Sagar Dam, which impounds the Karamanathodu tributary of the Kabini River in Wayanad, was raised at 8 am on Monday to release excess water. The development came after the water level surpassed the upper rule curve level of 774 metres. The shutter was raised by 10 cm.

A low-pressure formation over the North Western Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Odisha and Bengal, is likely to intensify in the next 24 hours, warns the India Meteorological Department.

The low-pressure trough that stretches from the southern coast of Maharashtra to the northern coast of Kerala, the cyclonic circulation laying over the East Central Arabian sea and the monsoon trough that remains active south of its normal position, are all likely to bring isolated heavy rains in Kerala until August 10, predicts the weather office. 

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2. It was double the delight for India as shuttlers P V Sindhu and Lakshya Sen emerged champions in the Commonwealth Games here on Monday.

Sindhu added a Commonwealth Singles gold to her wide array of medals with a convincing straight-game win over Canada's Michelle Li, while Sen rallied to down Malaysia's Tze Yong 19-21, 21-9, 21-16 in a thrilling men's singles final.

World No. 7 Sindhu outplayed her 13th-ranked opponent 21-15, 21-13 in front of a packed crowd at the NEC arena.

Michelle had to produce something special for her first win against Sindhu in eight years but the Indian did not give her a window.

Sindhu was clinical in her short game and pounced on the slightest of attacking opportunities.

Michelle had beaten the 2019 World Champion way back in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

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3. The JEE-Main results were declared on Monday. According to the National Testing Agency, 24 candidates scored a perfect 100. Among them is Keralite Thomas Biju Cheeramvelil, who featured 15th on the list.

Thomas is a student of Vishwa Prakash Central School at Thirumala, Thiruvananthapuram. He plans to pursue Computer Science at an IIT.

Of the 24 canidates who scored a perfect 100, 5 each are from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 4 from Rajasthan, and one each from Haryana, Maharashtra, Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, and Jharkhand.

The results of five candidates were withheld on account of using unfair means.

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4. The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the National Highway Authority of India to complete the maintenance works on all roads managed by it in the state within a week.

The high court instructed the district collectors to take appropriate action against engineers and contractors responsible for potholes on the roads.

The National Highway Authority of India is an autonomous agency of the central government. It is responsible for the management of a network of over 50,000 km of National Highways. It is a nodal agency of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Justice Devan Ramachadran asked if the authorities were waiting for a death to occur to act. The court also made it clear that the district collectors also have a responsibility for ensuring safety on the roads as heads of the District Disaster Management Authority. 

The high court's observation comes close on the heels of the police registering a case against the National Highway Authority of India and a contractor for causing the death of Hashim, a Manjali native, who fell into a pothole while riding his two-wheeler at Nedumbassery on the Edapally-Mannuthi National Highway stretch.

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5. Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday said that he was against blindly signing ordinances and that ruling through ordinances was not desirable for a democracy.

The Kerala Governor had expressed dissent over renewing the 11 key ordinances, including the Kerala Lok Ayukta amendment bill, without presenting them in the assembly. The Governor demanded that the Chief Minister or the respective ministers must elaborate on the reasons for continuously renewing the ordinances.

Khan said he was not going to approve their repromulgation without going through the ordinances.

He added that 13-14 ordinances were sent to him on the day he was leaving the state for Delhi to attend a meeting of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' committee and did not have the time to go through all of them.

He reiterated that he would not be taking a decision regarding the ordinances without properly applying his mind and for that he required time to go through them.

Khan further said that Governors were there to ensure that business of a state was carried out in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and that if he did not behave in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, how could he expect others to.

He also said even the Supreme Court has passed strictures against continued promulgation of ordinances.

Recently, the Government had decided to curb the Chancellor's powers of the Governor in the appointment of Kerala University Vice Chancellor by bringing out an ordinance. Provoked by this, the Governor, in turn, swiftly constituted a search committee for the Vice Chancellor's appointment challenging the Government’s move.

It is suspected that Khan left for Delhi without signing the renewal of ordinances following this incident.

The Governor, however, said there was nothing like that and clarified that there was no fight between him and the state government.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.