Explore Business Standard
Bombay High Court
The Supreme Court on Friday slammed a petitioner for filing a plea under Article 32, which gives citizens the right to seek constitutional remedies from the top court over violation of fundamental rights, despite a petition pending before the Bombay High Court. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said Article 32 is being misused by filing petitions even on adjournments in high courts. "Article 32 is being misused. The number of cases filed under Article 32 are exponentially being increased. For everything, one adjournment, file Article 32 here. Especially those surrounding Delhi are filing Article 32 petitions. What is this? It is a misuse," the bench said. The top court said the petition filed under Article 32 is a gross misuse of the process of the court and of law, and dismissed it.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has said that it shocks the conscience that mobile charging points were installed inside the Central Jail at Colvale in North Goa without the knowledge and consent of the prison authorities. In a recent order, Justice Shreeram V Shirsat took cognisance of the smuggling of mobile phones and contraband into the jail premises and asked prison officials to install a robust jammer network. The HC gave the directions while hearing a petition against Chandu Patil, who is in jail for allegedly murdering a child. Patil allegedly had called up the victim's family from the jail, issuing them veiled threats. Some swift, comprehensive, remedial and stringent measures are required to be taken by the jail authorities to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future, the judge said. The court order, which has sought a reply from the jail administration on January 20, 2026, has also pointed out that several cells inside the jail have mobile charging points, which
The Goa bench of Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane at Arpora, where a devastating fire on December 6 killed 25 persons, into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) observing "someone has to be held accountable in such kind of cases". The HC also asked the state government to file a reply on permissions granted to the ill-fated nightclub. The petition was filed by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, owners of the land on which the nightclub stood. Converting it into a PIL, the division bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Prithviraj Chavan said "someone has to be held accountable in such kind of cases". It observed that the local panchayat had failed to take suo motu cognisance of the club and had taken no action despite complaints. Commercial operations were going in the structure despite it being served a demolition order, the HC bench pointed out. Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing Amonkar and Divkar, was made amicus .
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court refused to grant relief to a mosque seeking permission to use loudspeakers, noting it was not entitled to use the device to practise religion as a matter of right. The court, while relying on Supreme Court judgments, said that no religion mandates prayers to be offered through voice amplifiers or beating drums. A bench of Justices Anil Pansare and Raj Wakode said that the issue of noise pollution was recurring and took suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the same and asked the Maharashtra government to come up with an effective solution. The court, in an order dated December 1, dismissed a petition filed by Masjid Gousiya in Gondia district seeking permission to use loudspeakers to offer prayers. The bench noted that the petitioner was unable to submit any material to show that the use of loudspeakers was mandatory/necessary to practice their religion. "The petitioner, therefore, is not entitled to seek relief for the installation of a ...
The Bombay High Court on Thursday said authorities cannot blame ash clouds from the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia for air pollution in the metropolis and said the air quality index here has been poor much before that. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad was urged to take up hearing into a bunch of pleas from the year 2023 on the issue of air pollution in the city. Senior counsels Darius Khambata and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the petitioners, said the AQI in the city has been consistently poor and above 300 this month. Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan said air pollution has worsened due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia two days back. The court, however, discarded this and said air pollution has been bad much before the eruption of the volcano. "Even before this eruption, if one stepped out visibility was poor beyond 500 metres," the court said. The bench, while referring to the situation in Delhi, which is witnessing alarming
The Bombay High Court while upholding an order of the State Bank of India (SBI) classifying the accounts of industrialist Anil Ambani and Reliance Communications as fraud has said it was a reasoned order, and did not have any legal flaw. A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale on October 3 dismissed a petition filed by Ambani, challenging the SBI order. The judgment, a copy of which was made available on Tuesday, said there was no merit in Ambani's plea as there was no "infirmity" in the SBI order of June 13, 2025. The court did not entertain the industrialist's contention that the order should be held as null and void because he was not given a personal hearing, and relevant documents were not furnished to him. The right available under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Master Directions, under which the SBI passed its order, is that of making a representation and not of personal hearing, the high court noted. Ambani had submitted his response to the show-cause .
The Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by industrialist Anil Ambani challenging the State Bank of India's (SBI) decision classifying his and Reliance Communications' accounts as fraud. A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale said there was no merit in the plea. A detailed copy of the judgement was not available immediately. The SBI had last year classified the accounts as fraud, alleging misappropriation of funds by entering into transactions that violated the terms of loans extended by it. Ambani moved the HC, arguing that the bank had not followed the principles of natural justice as it did not grant him a hearing. Certain documents, based on which the classification orders were passed, were not provided to him initially, and furnished only after six months, the petition claimed. The bank this year lodged a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which searched premises linked to Reliance Communications and Ambani's ...