Indian airlines have cancelled around 26,000 international flights till July 20 besides flight diversions and delays due to airspace restrictions in the wake of the US-Iran conflict, according to the government. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that airlines are incurring significant revenue losses due to the ongoing crisis. “As informed by Indian carriers, re-routing of flights has led to increased flight durations and higher fuel consumption, resulting in additional operational costs for airlines…Further, as informed, airlines are incurring significant revenue losses due to the ongoing crisis,” Mohol said in a written reply.

TBEA Energy India allowed to bid for projects  

TBEA Energy India and Nanjing Electric India are among the four companies with substantial stakes held by entities from neighbouring countries that have been allowed to bid for power projects for two years, Parliament was informed Thursday. The names of the other two companies are New Northeast Electric India Private Limited and Taikai Electric (India) Pvt Ltd, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Power Shripad Naik said in the Lok Sabha.

India plans to build Phase-II strategic oil reserves at ₹14,527 cr 

India plans to develop the second phase of its strategic petroleum reserve programme at an estimated cost of ₹14,527 crore under a public-private partnership model, with government viability gap funding capped at 60 per cent of the total project cost, the government said on Thursday. The Phase-II expansion, approved in July 2021, will add 6.5 million tonnes (mt) of commercial-cum-strategic crude oil storage capacity through two facilities in Odisha (4 mt) and Karnataka (2.5 mt), Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. 

The government is also continuously assessing new sites for establishing additional strategic petroleum reserves, the minister said.

SC has over 96,000 pending cases; 26 over 30 years old 

The Supreme Court has more than 96,000 pending cases, with over 10,000 awaiting disposal for more than a decade, the Rajya Sabha was told on Thursday. Collectively, 56,400,000 cases are pending across courts, including the top court, the 25 high courts and district and subordinate courts. 

Citing data available on the National Judicial Data Grid, Law Minister Arjun Meghwal said in a written reply that as many as 80,660 cases are pending for more than 30 years across high courts. 

In the top court, while 26 cases are pending for more than 30 years, 558 are awaiting disposal for over 20 years, the minister said. 

The disposal of cases, Meghwal said, is within the exclusive domain of the judiciary.