The Calcutta High Court declined interim relief in a petition challenging West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose’s decision to recognise expelled Trinamool Congress MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of Opposition. The plea had been filed by TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who argued that the speaker had ignored the party leadership’s decision to nominate him as leader of Opposition.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 28. Read on.

Messaging platform Telegram was becoming the new “dark web”, enabling illegal activities and linking criminals, the Union government claimed before the Delhi High Court. The claim was made in an affidavit filed to oppose Telegram’s petition challenging an order restricting access to its services in India until June 22, ahead of the NEET-UG re-examination for seats in medical colleges.

The court had asked the government about the extent of the alleged illegal activities on Telegram. The bench reserved its order in the matter. Read on.

Six of the nine Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) skipped a meeting of its parliamentary party amid speculation that they may defect to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led rival faction. The meeting was attended by the other three Lok Sabha MPs of the Uddhav Sena and the party’s lone Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.

Uddhav Sena MP Anil Desai said that the members who skipped the meeting will be issued a show-cause notice. Raut said that action will be taken against them if they do not respond to the notice within seven days.

The meeting was held a day after the Uddhav Sena alleged that its MPs were being offered Rs 15 crore each to join the Shinde-led faction. Read on.

Trinamool Congress leader Aroop Biswas on June 12 wrote to HDFC Bank seeking a freeze on the party’s account, citing uncertainty about the control of its affairs and assets, NDTV reported. In the letter, Biswas identified himself as the party’s treasurer and said he was acting in that capacity.

However, unidentified persons in the party told NDTV that Biswas had been removed as treasurer on June 5 after he lost the Assembly elections. He was replaced by Subhashish Chakravarty.

The June 12 letter came amid internal divisions in the TMC following its defeat in the state polls. Read on.

West Bengal to Maharashtra, party absorption threatens to disintegrate India’s opposition, write Niladri Chatterjee and Arild Engelsen Ruud.

The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi retained its place as India’s top-ranked university in the 2027 QS World University Rankings. It is ranked 118th globally, the highest for an Indian university. Fifty-two Indian universities were featured in the global rankings.

However, the rankings noted that the “academic reputation” scores of Indian universities remained “modest”. The indicator measures the reputation of the universities and their programmes by asking more than 1.2 lakh academics to nominate institutes based on their subject area of expertise.

The low levels of international faculty and students “suggest the system’s strengths are still under-recognised internationally,” it added. Read on.

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