Gujarat high court on Friday said the EC’s directive to randomly search and seize ‘in-transit’ cash above `2.5 lakh in poll-bound Gujarat was “unconstitutional” and directed it to immediately stop such operations. Upholding the “right to be let alone”, a bench of the high court said, “The instructions by the EC which empower its officers to randomly search any vehicle and seize cash above `2.5 lakh is ultra vires (beyond powers) being violative of Article 21 of the Constitution, and also beyond the powers conferred on the EC.”
“Right to be let alone is recognised to be a right which would fall under Article 21,” division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J.B. Pardivala said, citing a Supreme Court order that a person, as long as he does not break the law, would be entitled to enjoy life and liberty.
“We direct the EC that (such) instructions shall not be implemented and there shall not be any indiscriminate or random search or seizure of any vehicle, unless there is any reliable or credible information with the EC,” it said.
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Naxals plan to strike Bastar?
Age Correspondent
raipur, Nov. 9
Intelligence has sounded a warning that Maoists are preparing for a big strike in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region in near future, police sources said on Friday. The rebels have begun mobilising jan militias (armed ultras), who have so far remained busy in agriculture activities in their respective villages, in interior Bastar to executive their plan of carrying out a couple of big operations against security forces to reclaim their ground, ceded to forces during the outgoing monsoon, a senior police officer told this newspaper here quoting intelligence reports. The rebels signalled their regrouping on Thursday.