below the line . Clean political funding?

Yes, going by BJP’s Piyush Goyal. While the electoral bond is anonymous, the money is clean.

Companies fear backlash from political parties that they have not adequately funded, said Goyal at a CII event.

“I accept the bonds – as a political party – and deposit the funds”. Some firms may want to give donations to one party, some to more than one party, some “more funds to a party”.

That said, Goyal let out that anonymity has encouraged more people to fund elections, before stating BJP’s political funding mantra: “no cash”. “We as a party have decided to accept donations through cheque, or bonds, or less than ₹2,000. Even for less than ₹2,000, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said we should accept through digital means like BHIM app.”

Friday took employees of erstwhile Cairn India, now Vedanta, by surprise. Sudhir Mathur, the man at the helm, had quit. Though there is no official communication, internally everyone confirms this. Cairn India has witnessed many changes at the top since 2012. Rahul Dhir, the first MD and CEO, quit in 2012. After Dhir came P Elango, from 2012 to 2014, followed by Mayank Ashar in 2016. Mathur had taken over after Ashar left.

A question that comes to mind is the frequency of exits in the company since Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta took over in 2011.

Though Cairn India has till date not elaborated on why the previous CEOs quit, the buzz in the industry circles is that a company that has had a Scottish DNA since inception was finding it difficult to adapt to the workings in a family-owned business environment.

But, of course all quit for “personal reasons”.

Now that Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank no longer exist — post the three-way mega amalgamation with Bank of Baroda from April 1, the top honchos of these two erstwhile banks are keeping their fingers crossed as regards their future postings. Reason: The government orders on postings of the two Managing Directors and three executive directors of these two banks are yet to be issued. While critics decry this delay, supporters of the current dispensation feel that this is not a serious issue.

Their argument is the issue will get sorted out in coming days and it may not be right to lay the blame for the delay on the government!

In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav asked why important decisions in the country these days are being taken by the Gujarat cadre officers.

Talking about the extension being granted to the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) Chairman Ashim Khurana after alleged paper leak, Yadav asked, “What is PM’s direct interest in the matter”?

He went on to say that there is group of officers whose loyalty is not towards the country, government or Constitution but are only loyal to one person and Khurana — also a Gujarat cadre officer — is also part of that group.

An advisory by the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court caught the attention of Twitterati this week. The office order sternly directed officers to ensure that they pay the highest respect High Court judges as they pass through galleries.

The order dated April 3, stated, “It has often been noticed that while Hon’ble Judges pass through the galleries ... the officials/officers passing in the way do no stop to wait for the Honb’le Judges to cross them, which is clearly an act of disrespect.”

“It is, therefore, directed that the officers/officials while passing through the galleries meant for the movement of the Hon’ble Judges shall stop whenever they see that the Hon’ble Judges are passing and pay highest respect to Their Lordships,” it added.

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