Current Affair 1:

North Eastern Council (NEC)

 

North Eastern Council (NEC) was constituted as a statutory advisory body under the NEC Act 1971 and came into being on the 7th November, 1972 at Shillong.

The Union Home Minister is ex-officio Chairman.

The NEC Act was amended by the Parliament in 2002.

 

Current Affair 2:

Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)

 

One of the most notable developments in the S&T sector in the XI Plan has been the setting up of the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) through an Act of Parliament, viz. the Science and Engineering Research Board Act, 2008.

 

 

Current Affair 3:

Indian scientists have theorised a concept called ‘ergotropy’

 

News:

Experiments with entangled photons, and establishment of pioneering quantum information science that received the Nobel Prize in physics this year, also saw a new theoretical concept by Indian scientists exploring connections between the laws of thermodynamics and Quantum Information Theory (QIT). This new concept could facilitate harnessing quantum entanglement for futuristic energy storage technology.

The scientists have theorised a concept called ‘ergotropy’ that represents the amount of extractable work from a system by keeping its entropy (measure of randomness of a system) constant. The idea if harnessed can open pathways for putting quantum batteries to use in a way that is much efficient than its classical counterpart.

Don’t go much into this topic. Just remember ‘it is related to’.

Current Affair 4:

Does A High Court's Order Staying A Central Law Or Rule Apply Throughout The Country?

 

The normal rule is that an order or a judgment of the High Court will operate only within its territorial jurisdiction. Article 226(1) of the Constitution says that a High Court shall have powers "throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction".

However, when it comes to a High Court's judgment against a Central law or a rule, the situation might be different.

In 2004, the Supreme Court in Kusum Ingots and Alloys Ltd. v. Union of India held that an order passed on a writ petition questioning the constitutionality of a Parliamentary Act, whether interim or final, will affect the territory of India subject to the applicability of the Act.

It is relevant to note that Article 226A inserted in the Constitution by the 42nd amendment provided that a High Court cannot consider the constitutional validity of a Central legislation. However, Article 226A was repealed shortly thereafter by the Forty-Third Amendment a year later.   That the High Courts can consider constitutional challenges against Central legislations has been clarified by the Supreme Court in many instances.

 

Few examples:

The Madras High Court in Textile Technical Tradesmen Association v. Union of India (2011), held that a judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which declared Section 17-A of the Industrial Disputes Act as unconstitutional, will have effect throughout the territory of India. The Madras High Court expressly referred to the observations in Kusum Ingot case.

Likewise, in Shiv Kumar v. Union of India (2014), the Karnataka High Court held that a judgment of the Kerala High Court which read down Section 10A(1) of the Indian Divorce Act will apply throughout India.

Just remember: It shall apply across the whole country.

 

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