Kovind completes 100 days as president

Agencies

November 1, 2017

New Delhi, Nov 1: Efficient management of time and speedy decision-making have been the focus of President Ram Nath Kovind who completed 100 days in office today, according to officials of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Kovind, who took over on July 25 as the 14th president, has also sought to reach out to the states, which form a crucial part of the federal structure of the country, by undertaking visits there.

He has already visited several states and the target is to cover almost all the states by the year-end, the officials said.

The states which Kovind visited included those ruled by non-NDA parties, like Karnataka and Kerala, they pointed out, seeking to underline that the president was being non-partisan as he ought to be.

In fact, he travelled to Kerala twice.

In some states, the president travelled to rural and interior areas, the officials said.

But in all these travels, he mostly did not stay overnight and returned the same evening, as part of his thrust on efficient time management, the officials said.

As president, Kovind also undertook his first foreign visit to Djibouti and Ethiopia from October 3 to 6.

"It was a tightly-packed visit involving lot of travel and no rest," an official said.

The officials said Kovind has also ensured speedy decision-making.

Giving an example, they said the waiting time for presentation of credentials by foreign ambassadors and high commissioners has been reduced to the maximum of two to three weeks, which earlier used to be up to months.

So far, he has received credentials from 12 ambassadors and high commissioners, including the Russian ambassador and the Pakistan high commissioner, the officials said.

Kovind is also making the Rashtrapati Bhavan more accessible to the public. One of the steps taken in this direction is making the Rashtrapati Bhavan's library accessible to common people online.

Recently, the Rashtrapati Bhavan also became a venue for the culmination of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi's 'Bharat Yatra', a movement to spread awareness about child abuse and trafficking.

A highlight of the event was a special gesture by the president to make a Dalit girl sit next to him.

This gesture touched Satyarthi and he recorded it in hand-written letter to Kovind, the officials said.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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Al Hind Air, FlyExpress secure govt nod; more airlines lined up for 2026

News Network

December 24,2025

New Delhi: Two new airlines - Al Hind Air and FlyExpress - are set to take to the skies, with the carriers receiving their no objection certificates from the Civil Aviation Ministry.

In 2026, apart from these two carriers, Uttar Pradesh-based Shankh Air, which already has a No Objection Certificate (NOC), is likely to start operations.

Al Hind Air is being promoted by Kerala-based alhind Group.

The ministry is keen to have more airline operators in the country, which is one of the world's fastest growing domestic civil aviation markets.

Currently, there are nine operational scheduled domestic carriers in the country. Fly Big, a regional airline, suspended scheduled flights in October.

IndiGo and Air India Group - Air India and Air India Express - together have over 90 per cent of the domestic market share.

Concerns about apparent duopoly in the fast-growing domestic airlines' industry got amplified this month in the wake of the massive operational disruptions at IndiGo, which has a market share of more than 65 per cent.

"Over the last one week, pleased to have met teams from new airlines aspiring to take wings in Indian skies- Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress. While Shankh Air has already got the NOC from the Ministry, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress have received their NOCs this week," Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said in a post on X on Tuesday.

According to him, it has been the endeavour of the ministry to encourage more airlines in Indian aviation which is amongst the fastest growing aviation markets.

Schemes like UDAN, have enabled smaller carriers Star Air, India One Air and Fly91 to play an important role in the regional connectivity within the country and there is more scope for further growth, he added.

Apart from Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and state-owned Alliance Air, other scheduled carriers are Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Star Air, Fly91 and IndiaOne Air, as per latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

In the past years, many airlines, including Go First and Jet Airways, stopped flying amid debt woes.

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