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In a significant order, the Rajasthan High Court has barred the use of more than 86,000 dilapidated classrooms in government schools across the state, directing that the rooms be locked and children not be allowed to enter them. A bench of Justices Mahendra Kumar Goyal and Ashok Kumar Jain passed the order on Friday in the wake of a government survey conducted in the aftermath of the Jhalawar school roof collapse incident in July in which seven students died and eight were injured. According to the report, Rajasthan has 63,018 government schools with 5,26,162 classrooms. Of these, 86,934 were found to be completely dilapidated. The survey further showed that 5,667 schools were entirely unsafe for use. In terms of toilets, 17,109 were marked as dilapidated while 29,093 were repairable. The court also asked the state to make suitable alternative arrangements so that studies of affected students are not hampered. The findings are part of a preliminary survey conducted by teachers ...
Drishti IAS coaching institute founder and social media influencer Vikas Divyakirti has moved the Rajasthan High Court to get a defamation complaint filed against him in the subordinate court dismissed. The complaint pertains to a video in which certain comments were allegedly made by Divyakirti regarding the functioning of the legal system and the judiciary. The matter came to light when an advocate filed a petition in an Ajmer court. The local court took cognisance of the complaint and summoned him on July 22. The case before the high court is listed on July 21 and would be heard by Justice Sameer Jain.
Three judges, including two high court chief justices, were appointed to the Supreme Court on Thursday. Once they take oath, the apex court will regain its full working strength of 34 judges, including the chief justice of India for a brief period. Supreme Court judge Justice Bela M Trivedi is set to superannuate on June 9, which means a fresh vacancy will arise in the top court. The Supreme Court collegium on Monday recommended the appointment of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice N V Anjaria, Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi, and Bombay High Court judge Justice A S Chandurkar as judges of the top court. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal announced their appointment on X. Their names were recommended against the three existing vacancies of judges in the top court following the superannuation of ex-CJI Sanjiv Khanna, and Justices Abhay S Oka and Hrishikesh Roy. Justice Anjaria took oath as the chief justice of Karnataka High Court on February 25, 2024. Earlier, he was
The Supreme Court on Thursday said a sexual harassment case cannot be closed after a compromise is reached between the rival parties as such offences have serious impact on the society. The observation came while setting aside an order of the Rajasthan High Court which had quashed the FIR against a teacher who was accused of sexually molesting a 16-year-old girl at school in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district. A bench of justices C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar said the high court has misread and misapplied the law laid down to quash the subject FIR and all further proceedings. "The commission of such offences against the children should be viewed as heinous and serious. Needless to say, that commission of such offences cannot be taken lightly as offences of private nature and in fact, such offences are bound to be taken as offences against the society... "We are at a loss to understand how the High Court arrived at the conclusion that in the case on hand a dispute to be resolved .
The Rajasthan High Court issued notices to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Centre on Monday, asking them to respond to petitions seeking the cancellation of the medical entrance exam NEET-UG amid allegations of irregularities. The court scheduled the hearing in the matter on July 10, two days after the Supreme Court is set to hear similar petitions, including those seeking cancellation of the NEET-UG 2024 exam and a court-monitored investigation. Justice Ashok Kumar Jain of the high court issued the notices to the NTA and the central government and sought their response. The court considered the matter to be serious and scheduled the hearing on July 10, counsel for petitioners Rampratap Saini said. He said a hearing was held on four petitions in the high court during the day. The petitioners have demanded the cancellation of the entrance exam and a retest, citing alleged irregularities reported in the conduct of the test held on May 5.
The Rajasthan High Court on Thursday directed the state government to provide compensation to the dependents of people who died due to heatwave, and said there was a need to declare heatwaves and cold waves "national calamities". Taking suo motu cognisance regarding environment protection and climate change, the high court directed the chief secretary of Rajasthan to constitute committees of various departments to take immediate and appropriate steps for effective implementation of 'Heat Action Plan' prepared under the Rajasthan Climate Change Project. The state government was directed to pay suitable compensations to the dependents of those who died due to heatstroke. The single-judge bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand also directed the state authorities to sprinkle water on the roads with huge public movement, to provide cooling spaces, shades at the traffic signals where required, all possible facilities at the health centres for treatment of heatwave patients and issue advisory
The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL challenging the "swearing-in" of Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa as deputy chief ministers by claiming that the Constitution does not recognise this post. Petitioner Om Prakash Solanki, a lawyer, had also sought cancellation of the appointments. A bench headed by Acting (designated) Chief Justice MM Srivastava held that there was no substantial material in the PIL and it was only a publicity stunt by the advocate. The court dismissed the PIL and also imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 to be paid by the petitioner to the state government. The PIL was filed on December 16, a day after Kumari and Biarwa took oath along with Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma.
The Rajasthan High Court on Friday directed the state's Special Operations Group not to arrest Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in connection with the Sanjeevani Credit Cooperative Society case without previous approval of the court. The HC also barred the agency from filing any charge sheet against him sans previous approval of this court. Justice Farjand Ali granted relief to Shekhawat here while observing that there were submissions to be made on behalf of both parties which required the matter to be heard at length and deferred the hearing till January 8. While providing liberty to the agency to continue to investigate the matter, the court directed it to issue notice to Shekhawat at least 20 days before if he is required for investigation as he is a sitting Member of Parliament and a public figure who may have several professional commitments. The direction came during the hearing of an application by Shekhawat seeking a stay on further investigation as well as filing o