Mumbai: The assembly on Monday passed Maharashtra Land Revenue Code (Amendment) Bill. Revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said it will pave the way for thousands of hectares of uncultivated grazing land (gairan) in municipal corporation and municipal council areas to be used for public works.He asserted that commercial use of these grazing lands will not be permitted. “Gairan land is generally protected and cannot be diverted or leased for other purposes, except for public projects or if no other suitable land is available, subject to strict regulations,” said the bill. The legislative council will need to clear the bill too, which will then need the governor and the President’s ratification. Bawankule said around 7,700 hectares of land can be made available for public works. He said according to the new rules, such land will be registered as collector’s land. “It will be mandatory to take the district collector’s permission for any use of these lands. Also, the land will be measured and after removing encroachments, it will be taken over by govt.”Officials said this decision is likely to make uncultivated land in 29 municipalities and many smaller towns in the state available for development works. The assembly also passed Maharashtra Stamp (Amendment) Bill, 2026, aimed at speeding up disposal of stamp duty refund applications by decentralising financial powers in the revenue department. Officials said under existing provisions, refund of stamp duty paid on stamps or through challans—when stamps are spoiled, misused or not required—can be granted by authorities under Chief Controlling Revenue Authority (CCRA) only up to Rs 20 lakh, while applications for higher amounts must be referred to CCRA. —Chaitanya Marpakwar

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday described a father’s claim that his minor daughter accused him of rape simply out of anger as “too far-fetched.”Upholding the man’s life term, a division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram Shirsat dismissed the father’s plea challenging a March 2020 judgment of a special Pocso court sentencing him to life imprisonment for raping his minor daughter on several occasions. The accused argued his daughter implicated him because he had forced her to discontinue studies, a move he framed as a parental disciplinary measure that sparked her resentment. The HC insisted his theory could not be accepted. “But it would be far-fetched to accept that only for this reason the daughter made such serious, drastic, and far-reaching (rape) allegations against her father,” the bench observed. In 2018, the minor had reported years of abuse during a counselling session.

Hardik Pandya (ICC Photo)

NEW DELHI: Hardik Pandya reflected on his journey from battling personal struggles to lifting back-to-back T20 World Cup trophies for India. The star all-rounder said winning the 2026 title in Ahmedabad was a validation of a promise he made to himself — to play every tournament with the aim of winning trophies for India.Pandya had earlier spoken about seeking redemption during the 2024 T20 World Cup, when he staged a strong comeback and helped India end a 17-year wait for the title.

“When we won the T20 World Cup in 2024, I was facing a lot of difficulties personally. Many things had happened before that tournament, and things were not going my way. Before the 2024 World Cup started, I had made up my mind that I was going for redemption. I wanted to make a dominating comeback. I did that and helped my team win the trophy after 17 years. Coming to this T20 World Cup victory in Ahmedabad, this is something I have always lived for. I play cricket to do well for my country and win trophies. I want to win all the trophies for India,” Hardik Pandya said on JioStar.“After the win in Barbados, I promised myself that whichever tournament I play, I will play to win, and I will lift the trophy. This win against New Zealand in Ahmedabad is a validation that the promise I made to myself has become a reality. And this is just the start,” he added.India defeated the Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand national cricket team by a massive 96-run margin to successfully defend their T20 World Cup title. With the victory, India became the first team to win the T20 World Cup on home soil, the first to win it back-to-back after triumphing in the 2024 edition, and the first team to lift the trophy three times — in 2007, 2024 and 2026.Pandya enjoyed an impressive campaign in the 2026 tournament. The 32-year-old scored 217 runs in nine innings at an average of 27.12 and a strike rate of 160.74, including two half-centuries. He also contributed with the ball, picking up nine wickets in nine matches, with best figures of 2/16.

NEW DELHI: Continuing with its humanitarian approach towards acid attack survivors, the SC on Monday asked the states and Union Territories to explain whether these physically disfigured people can be rehabilitated through preferential employment in govts and PSUs through a policy decision.Dealing with a PIL by acid attack survivor Shaheen Malik, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi in its order said, “If they encountered logistic problems with regard to providing for preferential treatment in employment to acid attack victims in govt and PSUs, they should pay a honorarium or subsistence allowance to the needy among them. We are providing one last opportunity to the states and UTs to submit their views.“It asked the govts to submit “brief particulars of each victim of acid attack, their academic qualifications, current employment status, marital status, medical treatment and details of the expenditure incurred or committed to be incurred by the states/UTs on such treatment.”The bench noted that the HCs have already issued instructions to district courts to prioritise acid attack case trials and said the chief justices concerned would apprise respective supervising HC judges to regularly monitor the progress in these trials to ensure their expeditious completion.The petitioner has requested the SC to include the cases of people, who were forcibly ingested acid and other corrosive substances and suffer internal damage to their organs, to be considered as physically disabled persons like those physically scarred by acid attacks.When additional solicitor general Archana Pathak Dave said the govt is deliberating on this issue, the bench said, “BNS equates both acid attack and acid ingestion as similar offences. The same similarity should be introduced in the Rights of People with Disabilities Act.”

Bhiwandi: Two rickshaw drivers, both residents of Bhiwandi, were killed after an unidentified vehicle rammed into their auto from behind on the Mumbai-Nashik highway near Bapgaon on Monday morning, police said. The deceased have been identified as Rajkumar Gupta (40) and Mahendra Kesarwani (39). According to officials, the two friends were travelling towards Bapgaon, when a speeding vehicle hit the auto from behind. Due to the impact of the collision, both men were thrown onto the road. Passersby and motorists rushed the injured duo to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival. Police said the bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination.

Gupta’s younger brother said he had been driving an autorickshaw for 20 years and was survived by his wife and two children. Police have registered a case and launched a probe.

NEW DELHI: Ex-IAS officer Anil Tuteja, a powerful bureaucrat in the then Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress govt who is an accused in several major scams, on Monday requested the Supreme Court to direct the investigating agencies to interrogate him continuously in all the cases and then allow him bail till the completion of trials.Appearing for the former bureaucrat, senior advocate Shoeb Alam told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that agencies have shown an uncanny knack of arresting him in a different case when Tuteja is close to getting bail in one.Alam said Tuteja has been in jail since April 2024 and has volunteered for continuous custodial interrogation by the Economic Offences Wing of Chhattisgarh Police and ED. Once that is done, he should not be arrested in one case or another merely to keep him behind bars, he argued.The bench said that as a powerful bureaucrat, Tuteja had wielded significant power and the cases against him involve alleged siphoning of huge sums of public money. “You have been granted bail by courts in cases where discretion was exercised. But we cannot pass a peremptory order granting bail in all present and future cases,” the CJI-led bench said.SC listed the cases against Tuteja – the Rs 175 crore rice milling scam, Rs 600 crore District Mineral Foundation (DMF) scam, Rs 540 crore coal levy scam, Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam, Nagrik Apurti Nigam (PDS) scam and Mahadev Betting App scam – and said he could seek bail after arrest or anticipatory bail if he apprehends arrest.The bench said the Chhattisgarh HC was right in declining to entertain Tuteja’s omnibus bail plea but added that if he files a bail plea within a week, the HC should decide it on priority within two to four weeks.