New Delhi
Govinda Agrees to Pay Rs 5 Lakh, Apologise to Fan
Bollywood actor Govinda on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that he was ready to apologise and pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation for slapping his fan Santosh Bateshwar Ray in 2008 during a film shoot. The actor’s offer has come in the light of a directive by supreme court advising the actor to go for a negotiated settlement. The court gave Govinda two weeks time to personally go and apologise to the fan. At the last hearing in November 2015, the Bench had rejected his contention that the TV channel’s video clip on the incident was morphed. Govinda was a Lok Sabha MP at the time of the incident.
Govt Nod to UGC Proposal on Deemed Universities
In a relief to several deemed-to-be universities with off campuses, the government has relaxed norms, allowing private-run ones to set up six such centres beyond their approved geographical boundaries. The restrictions will not apply to government-run institutes. The proposal has been cleared by the HRD Ministry after the UGC made necessary amendments in its regulations. Most of these campuses were at loggerheads with the UGC which had slapped a notice on them on November 9 last year, directing them to close down their off campuses as they had no prior approval of the government. They have moved the court challenging the decision. The universities include the prestigious Homi Bhabha National Institute in Mumbai besides nine others and NISER Bhubaneswar, the approval for which was granted just days ahead of the PM’s visit to the campus.