1. Ground Report | Commuters take up to one hour to cover four kilometres on Hebbal flyover
It was 9.45 a.m. on a rainy Monday morning and the busy Ballari Road was chock-a-block with vehicles near Esteem Mall. It is from this point that the pace of traffic starts to slow down before motorists hit the infamous Hebbal flyover in north Bengaluru. Amidst blaring horns, the sirens of ambulances could be heard every 10-15 minutes.
The Hindu team commuted from Esteem Mall to Hebbal Police Station on a two-wheeler to assess the time it takes to cross the flyover, between 11.10 a.m. and 11.40 a.m. It took around 13 minutes to commute a mere 900 metres and climb the ramp of the flyover. The time taken to reach Hebbal Police Station, covering a total distance of four kilometres, was 27 minutes. Read the full report here.
2. Supreme Court rejects D.K. Shivakumar’s plea to dismiss CBI corruption case
The Supreme Court on July 15 dismissed a plea by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation accusing him of corruption linked to a disproportionate assets case.
Appearing before a Bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and S.C. Sharma, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Vipin Sanghi, for Mr. Shivakumar, said the CBI’s case was ”completely illegal” as it cannot start a simultaneous investigation on the same issue the Income Tax department was already probing.
Justice Trivedi said these were two different investigations, dismissing Mr. Shivakumar’s contentions to quash the CBI case .The Karnataka High Court had in October last year had similarly refused to quash the CBI case registered in 2020.
3. FIR against Kannada actor Rakshit Shetty and his production house for copyright violation
Kannada actor-filmmaker Rakshit Shetty is in legal trouble yet again. The Yeshwanthpur police have registered a case of copyright violation under Section 63 of Copyright Act, 1957, against him and his production company, Paramvah Studios, for using two Kannada songs in Bachelor Party — bankrolled by his banner — without permission. The film hit the screens on January 26, 2024.
The complainant, Naveen Kumar M., partner and authorised signatory of MRT music, said that Rakshit had approached the music label seeking permission to use two songs — Nyaya Ellide and Omme Ninnannu — for Bachelor Party in January this year but the permission wasn’t granted. Naveen reportedly realised the copyright violation after watching the movie on Amazon Prime Video.
4. Belthangady MLA Harish Poonja demands withdrawal of notification disadvantageous to farmers
Belthangady MLA Harish Poonja has asked the Karnataka government to withdraw the recent notification that takes away the privilege of farmers of Dakshina Kannada and other districts from cultivating rubber, coffee, tea, pepper and cardamom on government land.
In March 2024, the State Government issued a notification under Section 94 (E) of Karnataka Land Revenue Act, to lease for a period of 30 years the extent of government land in which farmers are cultivating horticulture crops. This withdraws the privilege granted to farmers under the Karnataka Land Reforms Act to cultivate on government land, which is called kumki in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
5. First phase of ₹1,800 crore white-topping initiative launched in Bengaluru with projects worth ₹200 crore
Despite controversy surrounding the white-topping project, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar kickstarted white-topping of 157 kilometres of roads across Bengaluru on July 15. The cost of the project is ₹1,800 crore.
The first phase of the project covers 19.67 km of roads at Chamarajpet, Gandhinagar, Malleswaram, and Mahalakshmi Layout at a cost of ₹200 crore.
