Legal Current Affairs

If you’re preparing for CLAT, Current Affairs play a significant role in securing a good score. So, you need to be updated with the daily current affairs and current happenings across the globe. Here is a list of some legal current affairs that took place this week.

Centre to constitute National Road Safety Board

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways was notified to set up a “National Road Safety Board” recently.

Key Facts

• The National Safety Board will be responsible for the promotion of road safety, innovation, and adoption of new technology.
• It will also regulate traffic and motor vehicles.
• The notification also specifies provisions for the composition, eligibility for Chairman & Members of the Board, term of office, selection process, powers & functions of the board, the procedure of resignation & removal, meetings of the board, etc.

Head office of the board

The Head Office of the National Road Safety Board will be established in the National Capital Region. The board might establish offices at other places as well in India.

Members of the board

The road safety board will comprise the Chairman. Apart from that, there will be 3 to 7 members. All the members will be appointed by the Central Government.

Functions of the board

Board will perform the following functions:

1. Board will be responsible for the promotion of road safety, innovation, and adoption of new technology.
2. It will also regulate traffic and motor vehicles.
3. To regulate traffic & motor vehicles, Board will formulate:

• Specific standards for traffic management, road safety, and road construction in hilly regions
• Guidelines for capacity building and development of skills for highway authorities, traffic police, hospital authorities, educational & research organisations, etc
• Guidelines to establish and operate trauma facilities and para-medical facilities

4. Board will also provide technical advice and assistance to Central, State, and local authorities on road safety & traffic management.

UP: Judicial Commission for Lakhimpur Kheri probe

The Uttar Pradesh government has set up a one-member Commission for probing “The Lakhimpur Kheri Incident” that took place recently in the state.

Highlights

• In the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, eight people were killed.
• The Judicial Commission has been given two months’ time to probe the incident.
• Governor has appointed the judicial commission by exercising the powers conferred by section 3 of the Commissions of Enquiry Act, 1952.
• The single-member commission will be headed by Justice High Court, Allahabad (retd) Pradeep Kumar Srivastava.

Lakhimpur Kheri Violence

Lakhimpur Kheri violence took place on October 3, 2021. In the incident, eight people were killed. Out of eight people, four were farmers. They were allegedly stroked down to the ground by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The arrest of the accused

Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested two accused, namely Ashish Pandey & Luv Kush, in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri case. Police have recovered two missed cartridges of .315 bore bullets from the spot of crime in Lakhimpur. Both the arrested individuals are among the total of seven accused who were named in the FIR. Out of seven, three have died. Uttar Pradesh Police have also issued notice to Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra & asked his son Ashish Mishra to appear before it on 8th October. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has stepped in and registered a suo motu case.

Telangana to test Mobile-based e-voting system

The Telangana State Election Commission has planned to conduct a dry run of a “Mobile-Based e-voting system”.

Highlights

• The development of this system is guided by the necessity of holding polls in India amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
• This system, if successful, will facilitate voting using smartphones from home.
• The dry run will be held in the Khammam district of Telangana on October 20.
• It will be India’s first smartphone-based e-voting process.

Registration procedure

Voters can register themselves for the dry run using the smartphone application between October 8 and 18.

Implementing Agency

The state election commission of Telangana is implementing the system in association with the emerging technologies wing of IT Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) department of Telangana government and technical development by ‘Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)’.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

A mobile-based e-voting system will make use of Artificial Intelligence for a three-factor authentication of the valid voter. The system will match the voter’s name with the Aadhaar, detect individual liveness, and match images using an EPIC database comprising around 20-year-old records.

Blockchain (Distributed Ledger) technology

This technology has been used to secure de-identified and encrypted votes in order to maintain them as immutable records.

TSEC eVote App

TSEC eVote App follows a minimalist design approach, supporting both English and Telugu languages. It comprises a detailed help section for tutorial videos and a helpline number to aid the citizens. It is a security-hardened mobile application that will prevent any type of tampering. The system cannot be misused because it binds a device ID and phone number to a specific citizen registration process. Only that device can be used during voting.

Stay tuned for more updates on legal current affairs and tips on CLAT preparation. 

References:

1. https://www.gktoday.in/current-affairs/telangana-to-test-mobile-based-e-voting-system/ 
2. https://www.gktoday.in/current-affairs/up-judicial-commission-for-lakhimpur-kheri-probe/ 
3. https://www.gktoday.in/current-affairs/centre-to-constitute-national-road-safety-board/