Subramanian Swamy

The ED had closed investigation against the Gandhis in August after claiming that no case was made out against Sonia and Rahul. The ED had decided to close the case citing technical reasons.

Payments Banks are allowed to collect deposits (initially up to Rs 1 lakh per individual), offer Internet banking, facilitate money transfers and sell insurance and mutual funds. Besides, they can issue ATM/debit cards, but not credit cards.

In New Delhi, the over 70-day-long agitation for 'One Rank One Pension' aggravated yesterday with one more veteran, who was on fast-unto-death, got hospitalised, even as two more joined the protests amid speculation that implementation of the scheme may be announced this week.

The BJP government is following Congress' "outdated" China policy, senior party leader Subramanian Swamy said as he termed Beijing's backing to Pakistan in the UN on the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi as a "wake up call" Swamy said.

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting ways to bring the black money back, and the present measures were not enough.

Subramanian Swamy, who had filed a PIL in 2013, had also alleged that the seat sharing agreement was against public interest as it involved wastage of public resources and was done in order to favour the Jet-Etihad deal.

Manohar Parrikar's comments came a day after India ordered 36 ready-to-fly Rafale fighters to modernise an ageing fleet apace with neighbours China and arch-rival Pakistan, which are fast upgrading military hardware.

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy termed the new Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France a case of arbitrariness. Swamy is yet to decide on what action to take over Modi government's decision to purchase 36 aircraft from France.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu posted the matter for final hearing next month on Swamy's petition seeking to quash the deal on the ground that it was against public interest as there has been squandering of natural resource, that is the sky and airspace.

A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra said it would hear the CBI to decide whether the transfer was necessary and then take a call whether to ask the agency to re-transfer the officer concerned.

The sources said during questioning of suspects arrested by the agency and phone intercepts available with it, it has emerged that the Rs 2,058 crore Jet-Etihad deal was one of the many crucial deals whose records were leaked to middlemen.

Undoubtedly, from the very nature of office held by him, the Prime Minister of a country can not personally look into the minute details of each and every case placed before him and has to depend upon his advisors and other officers.

"The government is saying that the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) which India had signed with other countries prevented it from revealing the names of the foreign account holders, which is not a valid reason", Swamy told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

Jaitley said that the list will be given to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope. However, he refrained from commenting whether the government is ready open to make the names public.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Justice S Mridul also issued notice to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and renotified the matter for March 12 to be heard with BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea challenging clearances granted to the airline.

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam sought response from government and Income Tax Department on a plea seeking direction to them to place the transcript of tapped telephonic conversation of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia in which she allegedly had talked about the civil aviation sector.

Raising objection to the maintainability of the plea, Parasaran said a PIL cannot be maintained on such issue like AirAsia as the policy does not affect general public.

The former coal secretary PC Parakh today said, “Prime Minister could have overruled my decision; everyone was equally responsible in the matter”, adding that he was not sure why the CBI had named him.

In the first-ever investment by a foreign airline in an Indian carrier, Jet Airways had on April 24 announced plans to sell 24 per cent equity to Etihad Airways for about Rs 2,058 crore, as part of a strategic alliance that would lead to a major expansion in their global network.

Mittu Chandilya, AirAsia India's CEO clarified to media in Chennai that the airline is awaiting necessary approvals and the launch may be pushed to year-end. It is prudent to wait then hurry up the launch, he said.