5 November 2026
The Union Government told the Supreme Court that a special committee is being formed to look again at the 2026 equity regulations the University Grants Commission made for higher education institutions.
The Solicitor General said the government is examining measures to address the concerns raised by students.
The 2026 Regulations were notified in January and replaced the framework that had been in force since 2012.
The Supreme Court had stayed the 2026 Regulations and restored the 2012 rules in the interim.
The batch of petitions before the court dates back to 2019.
The court adjourned the matter for four weeks to let the committee's work proceed.
The University Grants Commission is the statutory body that frames such regulations for universities and colleges.
Regulations under review:
UGC 2026 equity regulations
Framework restored in the interim:
The 2012 rules
Why it matters for exams: Names the regulator of higher education, the University Grants Commission, and fixes that its 2026 equity regulations stand stayed with the 2012 framework restored in the interim.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
UGC University Grants Commission — The statutory body that sets standards and frames regulations for higher education in India.
5 November 2026
A two-judge bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar decided Sujit Das v Union of India, SLP(Crl) No. 12451-12453/2026.
The question was whether Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act can keep a person in custody when the constitutional safeguard on production before a magistrate was not kept.
The bench held that where Article 22(2) is violated, the strict twin conditions of Section 37 give way.
It said rights under Article 21 are fundamental and are not to be tinkered with lightly even under a special statute.
The same bench recorded reservations about State of Punjab v Sukhwinder Singh @ Gora, which had held that the right to a speedy trial cannot override Section 37.
It suggested that ruling may be per incuriam in view of the three-judge decision in Union of India v K.A. Najeeb.
Because Sukhwinder Singh came from a bench of equal strength, the court did not say more and made no reference to a larger bench.
Case:
Sujit Das v Union of India, SLP(Crl) No. 12451-12453/2026
Precedent relied on:
Union of India v K.A. Najeeb
Why it matters for exams: Fixes the durable rule that Section 37 of the NDPS Act, 1985 is not absolute once Article 22(2) is breached, and names the controlling precedent Union of India v K.A. Najeeb.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
NDPS Act Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act — Its Section 37 sets twin conditions that make bail hard in commercial quantity cases.
per incuriam decided in ignorance of binding law — A ruling given without regard to a binding precedent or statute loses authority.
5 November 2026
The Ministry of Culture has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Google Arts and Culture. The aim is to put the country's cultural heritage before the public using digital tools.
The work covers monuments and archaeological sites protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, holdings of the national museums, manuscripts documented under Gyan Bharatam, and crafts, performing arts and living traditions supported by the Ministry's institutions.
It also provides for a lasting digital record of the buildings and artefacts that the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum will house.
The museum is being built inside New Delhi's North Block and South Block, and will trace the country's history across the ages.
Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said heritage is a living inheritance that belongs to every citizen and speaks to the whole world.
Amit Sood, Vice President and Founder of Google Arts and Culture, said the partnership shows a shared commitment to preserving India's heritage with advanced technology.
The Ministry said the arrangement will let heritage be explored in Indian languages and on any device.
Museum under construction:
Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, North and South Blocks, New Delhi
Manuscript programme:
Gyan Bharatam
Why it matters for exams: Names the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum and its site, the Gyan Bharatam manuscript programme and the Archaeological Survey of India as the protector of monuments.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ASI Archaeological Survey of India — The body under the Ministry of Culture that protects centrally notified monuments and sites.
Gyan Bharatam the Ministry of Culture's manuscript heritage documentation effort — It documents and surveys India's manuscript collections.
5 November 2026
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar decided Sau. Kamalbai Waman Patil v. State of Maharashtra, reported as 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 1139.
Four accused had been charged under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 498A, 342 and 406 read with Section 34.
The High Court acquitted the others but convicted the appellant under the substantive offence of Section 302 by itself.
The Supreme Court held that this cannot be done unless an independent charge under Section 302 was framed against that accused.
Convicting her on a charge she never faced would prejudice her defence, the bench said.
The court also faulted reliance on an uncorroborated dying declaration when other dying declarations were inconsistent.
The conviction was set aside and the appellant was acquitted.
Case:
Sau. Kamalbai Waman Patil v. State of Maharashtra
Citation:
2026 LiveLaw (SC) 1139
Why it matters for exams: States a durable rule of criminal procedure: a conviction needs a charge, and Section 34 of the IPC fixes liability only for acts done in furtherance of a common intention.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IPC Indian Penal Code — Its Section 34 makes each person liable for a criminal act done by several in furtherance of a common intention.
5 November 2026
The Centre has named Rajesh Bindal, a former judge of the Supreme Court, to head the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) as its Chairperson. He left the Supreme Court on retirement on April 15 this year, having served there for a little over three years. Before his elevation in February 2023 he was Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. The post had been held by former Supreme Court judge Ashok Bhushan, whose tenure ended on July 4, 2026. Since July 5, judicial member Yogesh Khanna had been officiating chairperson, and the Centre extended his tenure in October. The NCLAT hears appeals in corporate insolvency, restructuring and competition law cases, which puts it at the centre of India's corporate dispute system.
New Chairperson:
Rajesh Bindal
Tribunal:
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
Previous Chairperson:
Ashok Bhushan
Why it matters for exams: NCLAT, the appellate tribunal over the NCLT and the Competition Commission, and the person who heads it are common appointment and economy questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSCBank
In plain words
NCLAT National Company Law Appellate Tribunal — The tribunal that hears appeals from the NCLT, the IBBI and the Competition Commission of India.
NCLT National Company Law Tribunal — The tribunal that decides company law and insolvency cases at the first level.
4 November 2026
The Supreme Court has upheld Regulation 7(2) of Uttarakhand's 2004 service regulations for the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission, a rule that lets the State deduct service pension from the salary of retired government servants appointed Chairman or Members of the Commission. The Uttarakhand High Court had struck the rule down in 2010 as violating Article 14 read with Article 39(d), the principle of equal pay for equal work. Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and N.V. Anjaria reversed that view, holding that the pension is only kept in abeyance during the tenure and restored afterwards, so it is not withdrawn. The Court said the question of breaching equal pay for equal work does not arise. It added that a government servant who accepts a post cannot later turn around and question the service conditions attached to it. The case was brought by a retired Lt. General of the Indian Army who had been appointed Chairman of the State PSC.
Rule upheld:
Regulation 7(2)
Principle:
pay minus pension
Article invoked by High Court:
Article 39(d)
Why it matters for exams: Article 39(d), the Directive Principle of equal pay for equal work, and the service conditions of State Public Service Commission members are regular Polity questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Directive Principles Directive Principles of State Policy — Guidelines for the State in Part IV of the Constitution that courts cannot enforce directly.
Pay minus pension Pay minus pension — Paying a re-employed pensioner the post's salary less the pension he already draws.
5 November 2026
The widow of Ramakant Tripathi has got back the freedom fighter's pension (Samman Nidhi) from the Supreme Court. Her husband was jailed for 25 days in the Maihar Praja Mandal Movement of 1945-46. Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe overturned a ruling of a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had found the claim, made after 25 years, barred by delay, laches and estoppel. It restored the Single Judge's order granting the pension from April 6, 1991 with 6% interest. The Court said Samman Nidhi is a mark of honour rooted in the Constitution, not a bounty or dole. Such claims are to be decided on probabilities rather than the standard of a criminal trial, and old claimants cannot be expected to produce records half a century old. Since the jail registers, police files and gazettes are in the State's hands, it is the State that must search them. The claim arose under the Madhya Pradesh Swatantrata Sangram Sainik Sammannidhi Rules, 1972.
Pension:
Samman Nidhi
Movement:
Maihar Praja Mandal Movement
Interest:
6% interest
Why it matters for exams: Praja Mandal movements in the princely states and the freedom fighters' pension scheme are modern history and welfare questions; the standard of proof the Court fixed is the new legal point.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Praja Mandal Praja Mandal — People's associations that campaigned for responsible government in the princely states.
Laches Laches — Unreasonable delay in bringing a claim, which can bar relief.
Background
The ISTRAC Advanced Radar Research Facility (IARRF) is being established by the space agency as a multidisciplinary platform to advance research in the radar technologies of the next generation. Radar of that kind matters to ionospheric and atmospheric science, to weather monitoring, to cloud studies and to space weather studies. The facility is meant to let scientists observe processes in the atmosphere and in the near-Earth space environment, which supports better weather prediction, space-weather assessment, communication and navigation studies, and future missions. Its stated societal uses run from flash-flood and urban-flood warnings, and lightning and thunderstorm nowcasting, to aviation and airport safety, and to advisories that help farmers plan irrigation, harvesting and crop protection. More radars are to be set up at the facility after due approvals by the government, as and when the need arises, and they are to serve regional as well as national requirements. IARRF is also planned as a shared research platform for students, universities, research institutions, start-ups, industry and young scientists, where experiments can be run and radar technology developed and validated. The idea is to bring academia, national laboratories and industry together, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and develop expertise. The facility will also house a space exhibition on the achievements of the Indian space programme.
Facility:
IARRF
Set up as:
multidisciplinary platform
Science areas:
ionospheric and atmospheric science
Also planned:
space exhibition
Why it matters for exams: IARRF is the space agency's new radar research platform, and what an atmospheric radar is used for - ionospheric science, cloud studies, space weather, flood and lightning warning, aviation safety and farm advisories - is the examinable content behind it.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
IARRF ISTRAC Advanced Radar Research Facility — A radar research platform the space agency is establishing.
Nowcasting a forecast for the next few hours rather than days — Used for thunderstorms, lightning and sudden flooding.
Background
The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) is a framework that makes specified projects use domestically approved solar module manufacturers. It is run by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and it is extended from time to time rather than being open-ended. For solar PV cells the framework was last extended until December 31. The government is yet to settle whether to extend it further, and the Minister has said industry stakeholders will be consulted over the next 10-15 days because views within the industry differ. India's solar cell manufacturing capacity stands at 41 GW, and makers have committed another 70 GW of capacity by the close of the year. The ALMM question came up alongside the Bharat Renewable Energy Summit and Expo, where the Minister said preliminary investment commitments worth $400 billion had been made in renewable energy, green hydrogen, energy storage and transmission among them. Those commitments were made at a CEO roundtable of global investors and fund managers, and the Minister described the figures as preliminary, with final details still being worked out. So the headline number is an expression of interest rather than money received.
Framework:
ALMM
Solar cell capacity:
41 GW
Committed addition:
70 GW
Preliminary commitments:
400 billion
Why it matters for exams: ALMM is the domestic-content tool of India's solar programme, it sits with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, it works by periodic extension, and the 41 GW cell capacity is the figure behind the argument over extending it.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
ALMM Approved List of Models and Manufacturers — Specified projects must use solar modules from makers on this list.
Solar photovoltaic cell the unit that converts sunlight into electricity, assembled into a module — Cells and modules are listed separately under the framework.