New Delhi, Nov 14: Gold prices plunged by Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,29,400 per 10 grams in the national capital on Friday tracking weak global trends after comments from Federal Reserve officials indicated that the absence of fresh economic data could delay further rate cuts.

The precious metal of 99.5 per cent purity declined by Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,28,800 per 10 grams (inclusive of all taxes) from Thursday’s closing of Rs 1,30,300 per 10 grams, according to the All India Sarafa Association.

In the local bullion market, gold of 99.9 per cent purity had finished at Rs 1,30,900 per 10 grams in the previous market session.

“Gold softened at the end of the week as uncertainty regarding the Federal Reserve’s next rate cut increased,” Saumil Gandhi, Senior Analyst – Commodities at HDFC Securities said.

He noted that more Fed officials have turned cautious due to a lack of fresh economic data as government agencies remain affected by shutdown related delay since October 1.

Silver prices also tumbled by Rs 4,200 to Rs 1,64,800 per kilogram (inclusive of all taxes) on Friday. The white metal had closed at Rs 1,69,000 per kg on Thursday.

In the overseas market, spot gold fell by USD 33.58, or nearly 1 per cent to USD 4,137.88 an ounce while spot silver was trading 0.49 per cent lower at USD 52.03 per ounce.

“Gold prices stayed weak, as comments from Federal Reserve members suggesting that the lack of fresh economic data could delay further rate cuts dampened sentiment in bullion. The dollar index strengthened, adding additional pressure on gold,” Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst – Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities, said.

New Delhi, Nov 14: The Delhi High Court on Friday said it would conduct in January a preliminary hearing on a plea by jailed Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh against costs to be paid for attending Parliament while in custody.

The matter was placed before Justice Ravinder Dudeja by the chief justice following a split verdict by a division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Anup Jairam Bhambhani on Rashid’s plea seeking modification of an order asking him to deposit approximately Rs 4 lakh with jail authorities to attend Parliament in custody.

Justice Dudeja listed the matter for January 14 to conduct a preliminary hearing after the counsel for Rashid and National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted that the judge has to decide whether he should deliver the verdict or the appeal is to be re-heard and decided by a larger bench of judges.

“This bench needs to conduct a preliminary hearing on this aspect. List for consideration on January 14,” the judge said.

As per Section 433 of BNSS, if two or more judges on the bench are equally divided on an appeal, the case is referred to another judge of the same court. The proviso states that if either the original judges or the new judge believes it is necessary, the appeal can be re-heard and decided by a larger bench of judges.

On November 7, the bench of Justices Chaudhary and Bhambhani delivered the split verdict with one of the judges, saying Rashid does not have any right, entitlement or privilege to attend Parliament proceedings while in lawful custody and the other holding him liable to pay only reasonable costs towards transportation and not charges for police officers accompanying him.

While Justice Chaudhary, the senior judge on the bench, had rejected Rashid’s plea seeking modification of an order asking him to deposit approximately Rs 4 lakh with jail authorities to attend Parliament in custody, Justice Bhambhani allowed it.

The two judges had said they could not concur with each other and passed two separate judgments and they referred the matter to the chief justice for appropriate orders.

The high court was hearing a plea by Rashid seeking modification of an order passed by a coordinate bench on March 25, asking him to deposit around Rs 4 lakh with jail authorities to attend Parliament while in custody. Justice Bhambhani was also part of the previous division bench.

The Baramulla MP, who defeated Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing trial in a terror funding case with allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

A Delhi court had allowed him to attend the Monsoon session of Parliament between July 24 and August 4 with a police escort.

Justice Chaudhary had said that the sole circumstance placed is ‘to attend Parliament sittings in regular course’, which cannot be termed as an emergent situation comparable to death, marriage or serious illness in the family or to the applicant.

Justice Bhambhani, on the other hand, had held that being an elected member of Parliament, Rashid owes a solemn obligation to his constituents to represent them in the Lok Sabha.

“I would emphasise, that in a Parliamentary democracy, an elected Member of Parliament owes a solemn obligation to his electors, and it is his bounden duty to represent his constituents in parliamentary proceedings… The importance of that role is highlighted by the fact that when a Parliament session is convened, no less a person than the President of India calls upon Members of Parliament to attend its proceedings,” he had said.

The judge had held that the only legitimate expense which Rashid can be asked to bear is the cost of transportation for taking him from prison to Parliament and back.

“… And the State’s demand that he must foot the charges for all police officers, who are public servants, and who the State says are required to accompany the appellant, is wholly unjustified and deserves to be quashed,” Justice Bhambhani had said in his verdict.

The State asked Rashid to pay Rs 1.45 lakh as the per day cost for travel and other arrangements to avail custody-parole. Aggrieved by the demand, Rashid sought modification of the order by waiving off the costs portion.

Justice Bhambhani had clarified the March order by saying as per the break-up given by the State in its report, the costs payable by Rashid would only be towards jail van and escort vehicle expenses at Rs 1,036 and Rs 1,020 per day respectively.

Rashid has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in the 2017 terror-funding case.

After listing him in a charge sheet in October 2019, a special NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others in March 2022 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government), and 124A (sedition) of IPC and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under UAPA.

Patna, Nov 14: The BJP-led NDA appeared to register a landslide victory in Bihar, opening up impressive leads in more than 180 of the state’s 243 assembly seats, with early trends also indicating that the saffron party was on track to post its biggest tally with an excellent strike rate.

According to trends available on the Election Commission’s website by noon, the BJP was set to emerge as the single-largest party with a lead in more than 80 assembly seats out of 101 it contested, a performance that would further cement its position as the numero uno political force in the country, offsetting whatever setback that might have been caused by last year’s Lok Sabha polls.

The NDA’s tally in Bihar comes in the backdrop of the BJP’s back-to-back stupendous performances in Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana.

Firm backing to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team also appeared to have paid rich dividends for the JD(U), which seems poised to drastically improve its tally since 2020, when it had won only 43 seats, but was now leading in more than 70.

The LJP(RV), headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, the self-declared “Hanuman” of the Prime Minister, was leading in over 20 seats, a stellar show taking into consideration the fact that it had contested only 29.

The RJD, which has been priding itself on being the “single largest party” despite being in the opposition, seems to be putting up a dismal show, with a lead in fewer than 40 seats, though it had contested more than 140.

The Congress, which had contested 61 seats, engaging in “friendly fights” with allies in many of these, has lived up to its reputation of being dead wood in Bihar, with a lead in less than 10 seats.

If trends are converted into results, the BJP will be outperforming the JD(U) in a second consecutive election, which may give rise to a clamour from within the cadres for having their “own chief minister”.

The PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, however, have so far been ambivalent on the issue, insisting that the NDA was “led by Nitish Kumar in Bihar”, a strategy that may have been adopted in view of the fact that the BJP, which does not have a majority in Lok Sabha, and is dependent on allies like JD(U), and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP for survival in power.

Among the prominent BJP candidates leading in their seats were Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary (Tarapur) and Vijay Kumar Sinha (Lakhisarai).

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc’s Chief Ministerial candidate, was trailing behind BJP rival Satish Kumar by a slender margin of about 100 votes.

His elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav, who was expelled from the party a few months ago by their father Lalu Prasad, was placed a distant fourth in adjoining Mahua.