Central Government

The bench noted that the line of separation of powers between judiciary and executive is sought to be crossed by summoning the officers and in a way, putting pressure on them to pass an order as per the whims and fancies of the court. "Summoning of officers frequently is not appreciable at all. The same is liable to be condemned in the strongest words," it added.

This is a significant development after the new Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw made it crystal clear within minutes of taking charge that "law of the land is supreme" and no one can afford to disrespect it. A vacation bench of Justices Anup J. Bhambhani and Jasmeet Singh had said, "We do not consider it appropriate to stay the operation of impugned notice dated June 4, 2021 at this stage."

Following the Union Cabinet meet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar declared that the new farm laws "do not have any provisions to end markets controlled by the APMCs." The Minister said the APMCs will be strengthened, and will be supported by the Centre's infrastructure fund for their development.

New Education Minster Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi, the first time MP from Koderma, was present during the interaction via video conferencing in which Prime Minister lauded the Research and Development work done by these institutions towards meeting the challenges posed by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

A bench comprising Justices R.F. Nariman, Justice K.M. Joseph, and Justice B.R. Gavai adjourned the matter for two weeks following submissions of Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, seeking time to file the counter-affidavit. Justice Nariman said: "This is a very important point on Section 9 (of Hindu Marriage Act)."

New Cabinet entrant Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the new Railways, Communications and IT Minister. Earlier, Ravi Shankar Prasad was axed as the Communications and IT Minister, while the Railways portfolio was with Piyush Goyal. Newly-promoted Cabinet minister Anurag Thakur has been made the new I&B Minister, besides holding the Sports portfolio

In his first term, Modi persisted with around 58 ministers in the Council of Ministers when the slogan was "Minimum Government, Maximum Governance". It also marks the realisation that multiple portfolios with one minister may not be a very efficient ploy and representation needs to be given to different regions and for administrative efficiency, adequate numbers are required.

Kiren Rijiju, who was elevated to Cabinet rank, and Rameswar Teli are the incumbent ministers from the region in the Narendra Modi ministry. For Sonowal, the former Assam Chief Minister, it is his second innings as a Union minister. Teacher-turned-politician Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, a BJP Lok Sabha member from Inner Manipur, and Pratima Bhowmik, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tripura West, are first-time ministers.

While 12 ministers were axed, seven junior ministers have been promoted as Cabinet ministers. Minister of State in the Finance Ministry, Anurag Thakur, took oath as a Cabinet minister on Wednesday. MoS for Home, G. Kishan Reddy, and MoS for Agriculture, Parshottam Rupala, also got a promotion. Before the massive reshuffle, several heavyweight ministers had resigned, while 43 new faces joined the government.

In the new Council of Ministers, there are four former Chief Ministers, 18 former state ministers, 39 former MLAs and 23 MPs who have been elected for three or more terms. This demonstrates the wealth of experience in the new Cabinet as the government has been criticised for lack of bench strength and not having enough heft in administrative experience.