When court faced the music

On Tuesday, the typically staid proceedings took a hilarious turn. The Delhi High Court was conducting a virtual hearing of a petition filed by Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla against the rollout of 5G.

But the routine court proceedings were rudely interrupted by an unidentified fan, who began singing songs from Juhi Chawla movies.

While first asked to mute and then removed, the fan managed to join the virtual hearing thrice and kept singing different songs till the court declared the action as contempt of court. On Monday, Chawla had tweeted about the first hearing and put out the link for it on her Instagram.

Not a level-playing field

Recently a group of SMEs from Mangaluru met a Karnataka Minister. They were seeking some relaxation in the lockdown for MSMEs. During the discussion with the Minister, they said when liquor shops could be open during the lockdown, why not some relaxation for MSMEs. Quick came the reply: A major portion of the Karnataka government employees’ salary is being met by revenue from this source. Point well taken. But as one entrepreneur was quick to point out, just as salaries of government employees depend on keeping liquor shops open, so also the livelihood of MSME employees depends on keeping the units running.

Guided missile?

A ‘guided missile’ is how a financial services industry veteran described the RBI’s recent circular on appointment of auditors in commercial banks, NBFCs and urban cooperative banks.

That such a policy prescription — which can impact on so many aspects of the financial services world — should come without any consultation with the public, or even the audit regulator, has irritated the fraternity. So much so that it left the industry wondering if trust in reporting by financial companies is so low that such draconian rules were needed. Else, why are they throwing the book, wondered this veteran. Maybe, time for some soul searching by the captains of India’s financial services industry, including banks.

Tick tock

Zerodha’s Co-Founder Nithin Kamath may have had made provisions to take home ₹100 crore annual salary but his request to get the sought-after ‘blue tick’ on Twitter was turned down by the micro-blogging company last week. While Kamath preferred to see the funny side of it by saying that he was “almost always rejected” even at school and college, Cred’s founder Kunal Shah, who had earlier sulked at his ₹3 lakh salary compared to Kamath’s ₹100 crore, added to the fun by tweeting “In status driven societies, people with blue ticks secretly want a good salary.

Hire me Nithin Kamath.” Kamath joined the banter, “Done, we are looking for a social media influencer with a blue tick. 10% hike over your last drawn okay?” Soon after, Kamath did get the blue tick for which Shah claimed credit.

“Got you verified. Without the job or salary,” Shah said.

Eddy in Karnataka

There seems to be no end to the troubles for Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa who, apart from battling rising Covid cases in the State, has to manage increasing dissident activity in his party.

Sources say that his tenure at the top may end once Covid cases start to dip in the State. So, once the lockdown is lifted, it could also see an increase in State BJP leaders heading to Delhi in a bid to unseat Yeddyurappa.

To make matters worse for him, last week saw two women IAS officers posted in Mysuru indulge in a catfight accusing each other of mismanaging Covid duties.

Both have now been shunted out of Mysuru but it more or less mirrors the state of affairs in Karnataka, much to the delight of CM’s rivals.

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