Passage 1
Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale took the oath of office as judge of the Supreme Court on Thursday, raising the Dalit representation on the Bench to three.
Supreme Court judges, Justices B.R. Gavai and C.T. Ravikumar, are the other two. Justice Gavai is in line to be the Chief Justice of India in accordance with the seniority norm.
Justice Varale’s appointment is also proof of the resolve of the court to function without even a single judicial vacancy, considering the workload and pendency.
“Bearing in mind that the workload of judges has increased considerably, it has become necessary to ensure that the court has full working judge strength all the time. The Supreme Court of India has operated almost throughout last year with a full strength of 34 judges and, therefore, could achieve the distinction of recording an unprecedented rate of disposal by disposing of 52,191 cases in the calendar year 2023,” the Collegium resolution had said while recommending Justice Varale as Supreme Court judge on January 19.
Source – https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/
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Passage 2
Sri Lanka has pledged to sustain its anti-drug operation — in which some 40,000 people have been arrested over the last month — despite serious concern expressed by the UN and international rights groups.
“They can issue statements, but I will not stop this operation,” Sri Lanka’s Public Security Minister Tiran Alles told a media conference in Colombo on Thursday. Rather than issuing “general statements”, the UN must come up with specific incidents, he said, amid growing concern over rapid arrests and detention, particularly of youth.
The Minister’s remarks came days after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged the Sri Lankan government to review the ongoing operation, while expressing concern over authorities opting for a “heavily security-based response” to the country’s drugs problem, “instead of public health policies grounded in human rights.”
Source- https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/
