In a fresh notification issued on Friday, the Department of Justice in the Union Law Ministry said the Supreme Court Judges Rules have been amended again to extend more post-retirement facilities to retired CJIs and judges of the top court. The rules were earlier amended on August 23.
The benefits of the amended rules will be extended to all living former CJIs and retired Supreme Court judges.
As per the latest changes in the rules, a retired chief justice of India will also be entitled to a security cover round-the-clock at their residence in addition to a 24X7 personal security guard for a period of five years from the date of retirement.
A retired Supreme Court judge will be entitled to 24X7 security cover at his or her residence in addition to a round-the-clock personal security guard for a period of three years from the date of retirement.
If a retired CJI or a retired judge of the top court is already provided a "higher grade" security on the basis of threat perception, "the higher grade security already provided shall continue".
A retired CJI will be entitled to a rent-free Type-VII accommodation in Delhi (other than the designated official residence) for a period of six months from the date of retirement. Type VII accommodation is usually provided to sitting MPs who have been former Union ministers.
The accommodation facility was extended to retired CJIs earlier this month.
A retired judge of the Supreme Court will get a domestic help and a chauffeur for lifetime from the day of retirement.
The ceremonial lounge facility at airports extended to retired CJI and retired Supreme Court judges announced earlier this month would also continue.
Retired chief justices of the high courts were also extended the VIP lounge facility by amending the High Court Judges Rules.
A retired CJI or a retired Supreme Court judge will be entitled to a residential telephone "free of cost" and reimbursement of telephone call charges of residential telephone or mobile phone or broadband or mobile data or data card not exceeding Rs 4,200 per month, plus taxes.
"The post-retirement benefits under this rule shall be admissible to the retired Chief Justice (of India) or the retired Judge (of SC) if no such facilities are availed from any High Court or from any other government body where the retired Chief Justice or a retired Judge has taken up any assignment after retirement," the notification explained.
The expenditure on domestic help, chauffeur, secretarial assistant and telephone reimbursement will be borne largely by the Supreme Court or a high court establishment.
Till recently, retired CJI and top court judges were given monthly monetary benefits to hire guards, domestic helps and chauffeurs. The amount given would be discontinued, a functionary said. While a retired CJI was entitled for Rs 70,000 per month for the purpose, retired Supreme Court judges were provided Rs 39,000 per month.
On August 23, the government had amended the Supreme Court Judges Rules to provide chief justices of India rent-free accommodation for six months after demitting office and round-the-clock security for one year upon superannuation to CJIs and retired Supreme Court judges.
For one year after retirement, CJI and Supreme Court judges were also given chauffeur facility and secretarial assistant.
The sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court is 34 judges and on an average, three retire annually, a functionary pointed out.
On August 23, the government had amended the rules to provide a retired chief justice or retired Supreme Court judges security cover round the clock at their residence in addition to a 24X7 personal security guard for a period of one year from the date of retirement.
According to sources, the truck on its way to Baripada from Jamshedpur, lost balance and fell off the bridge. On getting information, a team of cops reached the spot and rescued the driver with the help of locals. Later, the injured driver was admitted to Bishoi hospital.
Eyewitnesses said that the truck veered off the bridge after ramming into the damaged safety pillars of the bridge. A police investigation is currently underway.
The 19-year-old girl alleged that she jumped from the ambulance out of fear as the driver was talking about some deal of Rs 2 to Rs 3 lakh over phone. The girl was returning to Angul after admitting one of her ailing relatives at a private hospital in Cuttack.
“I panicked after the driver started staring at me and was talking about some game and a deal of money. I thought he might sell me off to someone,” said the injured victim.
Later, few locals rescued the girl and admitted her to the hospital.
Sukumar Tripathy, officer-in-charge of Angul police station informed that the girl reportedly jumped off the ambulance out of suspicion and fear as the driver was talking about some Rs 2 lakh deal over phone.
Meanwhile, the driver has been detained and further investigation in connection with the incident is on, he added
Maheswar is a resident of Badamba area.
The Commissionerate police on Monday night told the media that the ownership of the vehicle, which ran over the Suchismita, is still in the name of Sidharth Construction though it was sold out in 2009.
Though the construction company had sold out the vehicle to former Speaker of Odisha Assembly, Kishore Mohanty, in 2009, the ownership of the vehicle is still in its name, sources in police said.
On Monday, the police had served a notice to the construction company to furnish details of the concerned vehicle.
The Commissionerate Police had also raided the office of the Siddharth Construction and verified the documents of the vehicle which had run over the girl student.
The agitating OUAT students had staged a road blockade at Siripur Square on Monday morning. They alleged that police are not taking action against the driver as Siddharth Construction is owned by the kin of BJD MLA Debasish Samantray. Claiming that the case was a not accident, rather a pre-planned murder, they had demanded a fair probe.
However, the students later withdrew the blockade after the intervention of additional DCP, who assured them of action against the guilty.
Also read: Police notice to BJD MLA’s kin over OUAT student death
Notably, a third year MCA student of the varsity, Suchismita Biswal died after being hit by a Tata Safari SUV owned by Siddharth Construction on Siripur-Fire Station road on Saturday night. Another girl, Pragyna Tiwari, sustained injuries in the accident and is undergoing treatment.
According to sources, two people of Phalikia slum, including a woman, sustained serious burn injuries in a stove explosion. Some people of the slum brought them to Capital hospital.
When the condition of the woman worsened, the hospital authorities referred her to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. However, the family members of the victim asked the ambulance driver to take them to a private hospital.
When the ambulance driver refused to shift the patient to a private hospital, the kin of the victim ransacked the ambulance and thrashed the ambulance driver. Besides, they also attacked some private ambulance drivers, sources added.
Sabir Khan, an ambulance driver, said, “The family members of the victim and some locals attacked us and ransacked the ambulance. When some police officials tried to restrict them they attacked the cops too. As many as four to five police officials sustained injuries in the clash.”
Gopinath Nanda, a police official, said, “Around 100 people had a face-off with the ambulance drivers. When we tried to restrict them they also attacked us.”
One platoon of police force has been deployed at the Capital Hospital to avoid any untoward incident.
Biswaranjan Rath, Nodal Officer of the Static Surveillance Team at Biramitrapur, who was present at the spot said, "As the Audi car was brand new, it did not have registration number. While the squad was carrying out inspection, the driver threw the cash bag and fled with his vehicle. The amount recovered was Rs 27,49,500."
Later, the squad informed the matter to police who immediately lauched an investigation to identify the miscreants.
Earlier today, the Election Commission's flying squad seized unaccounted cash worth Rs 2 lakh from the vehicle of Pradeep Dishari, BJD’s candidate from Lanjigarh Assembly constituency, near Jayapatna area in Kalahandi district.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Surendra Kumar today informed, "Liquor worth over Rs 2 crore and cash over Rs 1 crore have been seized so far. Persons carrying more than Rs 50,000 cash will be stopped and if no satisfactory answer regarding source and purpose of cash is received, person concerned will be interrrogated further."
The 83-year-old former MLA of Phulbani is now staying in a kutcha house in Harbhanga area in Boudh district along with his son, the sole caretaker.
“We are receiving Rs 15,000 as pension but the total amount is spent on medicines as he is suffering from paralysis and diabetes. We are in a difficult condition,” said Rudra Pratap Behera, son of Prahlad.
And in such a dire situation, no helping hand has been extended by the government and the administration.
Prahlad, while he was a driver, had driven former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri to Puri in his car during the latter’s visit to Odisha. Later, Biju Patnaik recruited him as his driver. With passing of time, Biju Patnaik became aware of his talents & hunger for staying abreast with politics and public affairs. Biju Patnaik once asked him to address a public gathering and Prahlad seized the opportunity to prove his mettle. Such was his performance that Biju Patnaik urged him to join politics and he contested elections on a Janata Party ticket in the year 1977 from the Phulbani Assembly seat, which he eventually won.
“After knowing about his skills, Biju babu had asked him to contest elections from Phulbani in which he came out with flying colours,” Batakrushna Pradhan, a Harabhanga resident, said.
"Prior to a crash, drivers can be easily distracted by an alert from a collision avoidance warning -- a popular feature in new vehicles -- and we feel this could be a growing problem in distraction-related vehicle crashes," said researcher Jung Hyup Kim, Assistant Professor Fom University of Missouri in the US.
"Therefore, a two-way communication channel needs to exist between a driver and a vehicle. For instance, if a driver is aware of a possible crash, then the vehicle does not have to warn the driver as much," Kim said.
However, if a vehicle provides an alert that, by itself, creates a distraction, it could also lead to a crash, said the researcher.
For the study, the researchers watched how people's pupils changed in response to their physical reactions to a collision avoidance warning by a vehicle-assisted safety system.
Researchers believe they have enough data to begin the next step of developing a two-way communication model.
A person's pupil could also help scientists find a way to decrease distracted driving crashes through a first-hand perspective into a driver's behaviour, said the study.
Using a driving simulator, the researchers evaluated a driver's physical behaviour in real-time by focusing on the driver's eyes as the crash happened.
"We saw the size of a person's pupil changed depending on the behavioural response to the severity of the accident," Kim said.
The study was presented at 2019 International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics in Washington.