Legal Cases #26: The building of Arogya Setu App, Rajasthan High Court order upholding the death sentence, President signs ordinance

The building of Arogya Setu App: IT ministry clarifies it was a public-private partnership

In compliance with the order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), the Ministry of Electronics, and Information technology has finally come out with a clarification that it was a government initiative, built on a public-private partnership, on the issue of obstructing information on an RTI request for information on the development of an Aarogya Setu app.

In order to get the entire file relating to Aarogya Setu app’s creation with sources, firms, file notes, minutes of the meetings held during the app’s creation, laws in accordance with which the application was developed, and other relevant information, the Information Commissioner Vanaja N. Sarna passed the order on an RTI application submitted by Saurav Das.

The Minister stated that the “Arogya Setu App was built with the goal of providing a Made in India Contact Tracing App with the best of Indian minds from industry, the academy, and the government, working all around the clock to create an effective, scalable and safe app in a record time of about 21 days, to address the requirements of the pandemic. 

Supreme Court stays Rajasthan High Court order upholding the death sentence of the person involved in the gruesome murder

In the horrendous murder case, the Supreme Court has stayed the death penalty of the prisoner. A woman was not only raped to death during the gruesome massacre but her limbs were amputated. 

The case brought against Singh in 2019 has been appealed by the Supreme Court of Rajasthan, on August 7th, and it upheld the death penalty handed down by the lower court.

In May of last year, an FIR was reported according to police. In a bag attached with wires was found the woman’s body. Singh had said during the hearing he did not commit the assassination and that the case was misrepresented. In February this year, he was sentenced to death by a lower court.

President signs ordinance to tackle air pollution, improve air quality in Delhi (NCR) region

President Ram Nath Kovind gave his approval to the regulation on air pollution in the Delhi area (NCR). 

A permanent Commission for air quality management is set up in Delhi-NCR to organize, examine, and recognize issues with air quality in this regard. The Executive Order is implemented in this regard.

The Eighteen Committee, known as the “National Capital Region and Next Areas Air Quality Management Board” will be headed by a central administration chairman. It is empowered to provide guidance for air pollution control and to take notice of complaints.

The Commission is also allowed to impose fines and to define parameters to curb pollution and regulate air quality. In particular, the committee will track steps taken by States to avoid pollution causes such as stubble burning, factory emissions, road pollution, vehicle pollution, and other major sources.

The Commission shall include a Chairman serving on the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of Forestry and Climate Change as Government Secretary or State Government’s Chief Secretary, and five representatives from Environmental Protection Department from Punjab, Delhi, and Haryana State, as well as a central government secretary.

For more details, check out https://youtu.be/Evxc9bBubsw, you can also reach out to me here or email – chenoyceil@gmail.com.