Page 14 - Bombay High Court

Gautam Navlakha granted bail: who is he? What are charges against him?

Navlakha is a journalist and a human rights activist, who was formerly an editorial consultant with EPW. The NIA took over his case from the police In January 2020

Bombay HC grants bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in Elgar Parishad case

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. A division bench headed by Justice A S Gadkari said Navlakha's plea seeking bail was "allowed". The National Investigation Agency (NIA) urged the court to stay operation of the order for a period of six weeks so that it could file an appeal in the Supreme Court. The bench stayed the order for three weeks. Navlakha, who was arrested in August 2018, was in November last year permitted by the Supreme Court to be placed under house arrest. He is residing in Navi Mumbai at present. The high court granted Navlakha bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh. He is the seventh accused in the case to be granted bail. In April this year, a special court had refused to grant bail to Navlakha, noting that there was prima facie evidence to show that the activist was an active member of banned outfit CPI (Maoist). In his appeal filed in the high court, Navlakha said the special court

Bombay HC: Can't deny maintenance to 2nd wife, while still married to first

Husband allegedly lied about legally separating from his first wife when marrying his second wife in 1989 and attempted to evade support based on this technicality

SC says unstamped agreements enforceable, overrules its April judgment

Stamping means when a stamp duty is paid on the value of the agreement as per the Stamps Act

Freedom of speech & expression can't go beyond limits of reasonableness: HC

Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to go beyond the limits of reasonableness otherwise it could lead to disastrous consequences, the Bombay High Court has said. A single bench of Justice Milind Jadhav made the observation on Tuesday while upholding the termination of service of an employee with Hitachi Astemo Fie, an auto parts manufacturing company. The employee was terminated after he uploaded two posts of Facebook against the company. The company had approached the HC challenging an order of a labour court reversing the termination of the employee for putting provocative posts against Hitachi. Justice Jadhav in the order said the posts were directed against the company with a clear intent to incite hatred and were provocative. "A strong message needs to be sent out against such acts," the court said adding such acts should be nipped in the bud. "Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to be transgressed beyond reasonableness. If that is allowed, it c

Maharashtra govt woke up only after court order: HC on fire safety rules

The Maharashtra government did not take any step and woke up only after the court issued an order, the Bombay High Court censured it on Friday, after it was informed that the notification for fire safety rules and regulations would be issued by May 2024. The high court earlier this week came down heavily on the state government for dragging its feet on the implementation of fire safety rules and regulations despite a report submitted by an expert committee in February this year. The court had sought to know from the Principal Secretary of the State Urban Development Department a timeline by when the notification would be issued. On Friday, additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan submitted to a division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor that by May 2024 the mandated procedure would be completed and the final notification would be issued. The bench, while accepting this statement, remarked that had the government acted on the committee's report in ...

HC raps Maharashtra govt for letting budgetary allocation for drugs lapse

The Bombay High Court on Friday pulled up the Maharashtra government for not releasing or spending the entire budgetary allocation for procurement of drugs and medical equipment, citing that it was letting the amount lapse at the cost of the healthcare system. A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor sought to know from the government what steps have been taken to spend the budgetary allocation, the reasons for not releasing the amount entirely in the past and for not using the released sum. The court was hearing a bunch of petitions, including one initiated suo motu (on its own), raising concerns over the high number of deaths at government hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar districts. Advocate General Birendra Saraf informed the bench that as per earlier orders, the government has now appointed a chief executive officer for the Maharashtra Medicines Procurement Authority, and the process of issuing tenders to procure drugs and equipmen

Sebi must act in public interest: HC raps body order non-compliance

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is required to act in the public interest, the Bombay High Court said on Friday castigating the regulatory body for not complying with an order passed by the court in October. A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said such an approach by the SEBI would cause a dent in the confidence reposed in the public body by investors. The HC had in October directed the SEBI to provide certain probe documents to the minority shareholders of a company. The company and the SEBI challenged this order in the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeals in November. The petitioners are minority shareholders of Bharat Nidhi Limited and had made various complaints to SEBI accusing the company of violation of securities laws. The SEBI had then initiated investigations into the same, issued a show cause notice to the company and later passed a settlement order, which has now been revoked. The petitioners' case is that neither the investiga

Undertrial prisoners should be produced via video-conferencing : Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has said undertrial prisoners should be produced before courts via video-conferencing (VC) whenever permissible, as bringing them physically to courts for every hearing was a cumbersome procedure. A single bench of Bharati Dangre directed the Maharashtra government to make necessary funds available to ensure that every court is provided screens and other video-conferencing facilities. The court order dated November 10 was made available on Friday. The issue was raised in a bail plea filed by one Tribhuvansing Yadav, who had claimed that his application for bail in the lower court was adjourned on 23 occasions, as he was not produced before the court physically or through video-conferencing. The bench noted that as per a report submitted by the inspector of prisons and correctional services in September, 39 prisons in Maharashtra have 329 sanctioned video-conferencing units, of which 291 were functional. The court, in its order, stated that if the facility is

Info gathered from social media cannot be part of pleadings in PIL: HC

Information gathered from social media cannot be part of the pleadings in a public interest litigation, the Bombay High Court said on Tuesday while hearing a petition claiming that 1,500 to 2,000 people lose their lives in unsafe water bodies in Maharashtra every year. A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor refused to hear a PIL filed by advocate Ajitsingh Ghorpade seeking a direction to the Maharashtra government to take measures to safeguard waterfalls and water bodies in the state. Ghorpade's lawyer Manindra Pandey claimed that around 1,500 to 2000 persons lose their lives at such unsafe waterfalls and water bodies every year, and the bench sought to know from where the petitioner had got the information on the deaths. Pandey then said they had procured the information from newspapers and social media posts. The court then said that the petition was vague and did not contain many details. "Information gathered from social media cannot be part of

Don't be so narrow-minded: SC dismisses plea seeking ban on Pak artists

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking a complete ban on artistes from Pakistan to perform or work in India, and asked the petitioner not to be "so narrow-minded". A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said it was not inclined to interfere with the Bombay High Court order which junked the plea filed by Faaiz Anwar Qureshi, who claims to be a cine worker and artiste. "You should not press this appeal. Do not be so narrow-minded," the bench said. The top court also refused the submission to expunge certain remarks made by the high court against the petitioner. The petition had sought the court's direction to the central government to impose a complete ban on Indian citizens, companies, firms and associations from employing or soliciting any work or performance, taking of any services, or entering into any association and so on with any Pakistani artiste, including its cine workers, singers, musicians, lyricists and technicians. The Bombay High Court had ...

Bribery case: HC extends Wankhede's protection from action till Jan 10

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday extended till January 10 the interim protection from any coercive action granted to IRS officer Sameer Wankhede, who is named as an accused by the CBI in an extortion and bribery case related to the Cordelia cruise drugs case. A division bench of Justices P D Naik and N R Borkar said it would hear Wankhede's petition seeking to quash the FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on January 10 and 11, 2024. Advocate Kuldeep Patil, appearing for the CBI, told the court on Tuesday that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta would argue on behalf of the CBI on January 10 or 11. Wankhede's counsel Aabad Ponda said he would argue on January 10. The CBI in May lodged the FIR against Wankhede, former Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, and others on the basis of a written complaint issued to them by the NCB. The central agency's case is that Wankhede and four other accused allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore bribe from actor Shah Rukh K

Details of Bhopal gas tragedy already in public: HC refuses to stay series

The Bombay High Court has refused to stay the release of the web series "The Railway Men The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984", citing that the details of the event were already available in the public domain. A vacation bench of Justice Arif Doctor on November 15 dismissed the petitions filed by two erstwhile employees of Union Carbide India Limited, who claimed that the series' depiction of the events leading to the tragedy and its cause may cause prejudice to them. One of the petitioners was in charge of the MIC plant as production manager, and the other was in charge of the pesticides factory of the UCIL. The petitioners Satya Prakash Choudhry and J Mukund were convicted in the case. They later filed appeals against the conviction, which is pending. The high court, while refusing to stay the release of the series, noted that the petitioners have failed to make out a very strong and compelling prima facie case that the web series contains defamatory, slanderous or libellous ...

Adani, JSW Cement, and ArcelorMittal eyeing Vadraj Cement in IBC Sale

The Bombay High Court ordered the winding up of Vadraj Cement in August 2018, leading to the decision to sell the company under the IBC process

I-T appellate tribunal rules in favour of HDFC Life in Rs 3K cr litigation

In the regulatory filing, the company said that it has received the copy of the order along with relevant details on November 9, 2023

BMC chief urges Mumbaikars to follow HC directive on Diwali firecrackers

Mumbai civic chief Iqbal Chahal on Friday appealed to citizens to follow the Bombay High Court's directive and burst firecrackers only between 7 pm and 10 pm during Diwali. Earlier this week, the high court ordered to limit fireworks between 7 pm and 10 pm during the festival. I request that you all, with folded hands, follow the court's directive and do not burst the crackers that will add to the air and noise pollution, Chahal urged in a video message. He said that citizens had responded positively to his appeals during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this time too he hopes that they will follow the court's directive. Air pollution has become an issue in the city due to dust from construction activities and other factors, he said, adding that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken various steps to improve the situation. Though the chief minister has made it a people's movement, it will not succeed unless all citizens of Mumbai participate in it, the civic chief said.

HC orders tax refund of Rs 1,128 cr to Vodafone Idea; pulls up I-T dept

The Bombay High Court has directed the Income Tax department to refund Rs 1,128 crore to Vodafone Idea Limited paid by the telecom operator in taxes for the assessment year 2016-2017. The assessment order passed by the department in August this year was time barred and hence cannot be sustained," the HC noted in its judgement on Wednesday. A division bench of Justices K R Shriram and Neela Gokhale also took a strong view against the assessing officer for showing laxity and lethargy in not passing the final order within the mandated 30-day time and thus causing a huge loss to the exchequer and public. The court passed its judgment on a petition filed by the Vodafone Idea Limited claiming the I-T department failed to refund the amount paid by it for the assessment year 2016-2017 which, it said, was in excess of the legitimate tax due on its income. The bench in its order noted the case of Vodafone was quite elementary and that it was constrained to observe the complete apathy and ...

HC seeks Maha govt's response to pleas against order increasing OBC quota

The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to submit its reply to a bunch of petitions challenging a March 1994 government resolution (GR) increasing reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor on Wednesday gave the government time till December 10 to file its affidavit and posted the matter for next hearing on January 3, 2024. The petitions claimed the reservation for OBCs was increased in 1994 without following due procedure. Incidentally, the issue of OBC reservation has come to the fore in recent months with some activists seeking reservation for the Maratha community in the OBC category. Some OBC leaders have been opposing the demand. According to one of the petitioners, Balasaheb Sarate, the OBC reservation in the state exceeds 42 per cent of the total reservation. Since 1994, more than 150 communities have been included in the OBC category without adhering to due procedure and

HC dismisses Jet founder Naresh Goyal's plea against 'illegal' arrest by ED

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal challenging his "illegal" arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to bank loan default. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse said the petition cannot be entertained and hence is dismissed. The court said it was open for Goyal to avail other statutory remedy like bail plea. Goyal had filed a habeas corpus (produce the person) petition in which he claimed he was illegally arrested by the ED in the case. In his plea, Goyal claimed his arrest was illegal as it was done without following provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He also challenged orders of a special court which had first remanded him in the ED's custody and thereafter in judicial custody. The ED opposed the plea and said the arrest was done after following the due process of law. Goyal's custody was required as he was evasive and not cooperating

HC refuses bail to Sanjay Chhabriaa in YES Bank money laundering case

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant default bail to realtor Sanjay Chhabriaa in the Yes Bank money laundering case, observing that money laundering involves intricate processes to make illegally-obtained money appear legitimate and hence require in-depth investigation. A single bench of Justice M S Karnik on October 9 dismissed Chhabriaa's petition seeking default bail on the ground that though the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted its prosecution complaint against him within the mandatory 60-day period, it had also sought permission from the special court to carry on further probe in the case. The ED's case was that while the probe against Chhabriaa was complete, the investigation regarding the case was still on. The high court in its order agreed with the agency and said the offence of money laundering involves multiple interconnected transactions and the same demands cumbersome investigation, and that the ED in the present case was investigating an economic offence ..