A constitution bench of the Supreme Court declared the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) unconstitutional. The NJAC Act interferes with the independent functioning of the judiciary, the court said.

Judicial appointments now will again be made through the collegium system. However, appointments made under NJAC will remain valid.

The apex court was hearing pleas challenging the constitutional validity of NJAC which ended the decades-old collegium system in which sitting judges themselves appoint judges in the higher judiciary. NJAC was brought into effect by the Narendra Modi government in April.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the 10th anniversary of Central Information Commission, asked government departments to focus on three Ts- timeliness, transparency and trouble free approach in addressing the RTI applications.

He said that such an approach would help in reducing the errors and prompting openness in the governance.

Haryana Chief Minister Mahohar Lal Khattar has sparked fresh controversy after he stated that Muslims can live in India if they give up eating beef. Speaking to the Indian Express, the CM stated that the cow is an article of faith in India, and that the Geeta and Sarawati were articles of faith for a majority of Indians.

Khattar, who has been associated with the RSS for nearly four decades now, also commented on the Dadri lynching, and claimed the incident was a byproduct of misunderstanding between the two sides.

According to media reports, suspected Bajrang Dal followers have lynched a Muslim man named Noman who hails from Uttar Pradesh at a village near Shimla. They allegedly suspected that the truck driver was smuggling cattle.

The incident came into light when a seriously injured Noman was found by Himachal Pradesh Police on the morning of 13 October inside his truck stationed near Nahan. He was rushed to a nearby hospital after which he was reported dead.