Page 3 - Gujarat High Court

Guj HC to deliver verdict on Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking stay on conviction

The Gujarat High Court will deliver on Friday its verdict on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark. As per the cause list issued by the HC on Thursday, the court of Justice Hemant Prachchhak will deliver the verdict at 11 am. A stay on conviction would pave the way for Gandhi's reinstatement as a Member of Parliament (MP). In May, Justice Prachchhak, while hearing Gandhi's plea, had refused to grant any interim relief saying it will pass a final order after the summer vacation, which ended three weeks back. During a hearing on April 29, Gandhi's lawyer had argued that a maximum punishment of two years for a bailable, non-cognisable offence meant his client could lose his Lok Sabha seat "permanently and irreversibly", which was a "very serious additional irreversible consequence to the person and the constituency he represents". A metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat sentenced the former .

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Guj HC rejects Setalvad bail plea, says she tried to unsettle elected govt

The Gujarat High Court Saturday rejected the regular bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad and directed her to surrender immediately, observing she made attempts to unsettle a democratically elected government and sully the image of the then chief minister and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tried to send him to jail. Rejecting Setalvad's plea in a case of fabricating evidence to implicate innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riots cases, the court of Justice Nirzar Desai said that enlarging her will send a false signal that everything in a democratic country is lenient. The court directed Setalvad, who is currently out on interim bail, to surrender immediately. It also rejected her lawyer's request to give her 30 days to surrender. Setalvad was arrested in June last year along with former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in an offence registered by Ahmedabad crime branch police for allegedly fabricating evidence to

Gujarat HC rejects bail plea of Teesta Setalvad, asks her to surrender

The Gujarat High Court on Saturday rejected the regular bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad and directed her to surrender immediately in a case pertaining to the alleged fabrication of evidence to frame innocent people in 2002 post-Godhra riots cases. The court of Justice Nirzar Desai rejected Setalvad's bail plea and directed her to surrender immediately as she is already out of jail after securing interim bail. As the applicant is out on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court, she is directed to surrender immediately, the court said in its order. Setalvad and co-accused and former Director General of Police R B Sreekumar were taken into custody by Gujarat police on June 25 last year and a court sent them in judicial custody on July 2 after their police remand ended. She walked out of jail in September 2022 after being granted relief by the apex court. The Ahmedabad crime branch registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Setalvad, Sreekumar and jailed former

Election Commission takes stock of EVMs ahead of general elections in 2024

The EC issues a calendar for such exercises and there are standing instructions that are to be followed by state chief electoral officers

Gujarat HC judge sites Manusmriti in rape survivor's abortion plea hearing

It was once normal for girls to marry at a young age and deliver a child before they turned 17, a judge of the Gujarat High Court has remarked while hearing a minor rape survivor's plea for permission to terminate her pregnancy. While indicating that he might not allow the petition if both the girl and foetus were healthy, Justice Samir Dave of the high court also referred to the Manusmriti during the hearing on Wednesday. The rape survivor is 16 years and 11 months old and carrying a seven-month-old foetus. Her father moved the HC seeking permission for abortion as the pregnancy had crossed the 24-week threshold up to which abortion can be performed without a court's leave. On Wednesday, his lawyer sought an early hearing, saying the family was concerned because of the girl's age. Justice Dave said there was anxiety because "we are living in the 21st century". "Ask your mother or great-grandmother. Fourteen-fifteen was the maximum age (for marriage), and girls used to give birth

SC to hear Gujarat judicial officers' plea whose promotions it stayed

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear in July a plea of several Gujarat judicial officers whose promotions were stayed by it. A bench headed by Justice M R Shah, now retired, on May 12 had stayed the promotion of 68 Gujarat lower judicial officers, including Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Hasmukhbhai Varma who had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the judicial officers, that they have been reverted back to their original lower cadre by the Gujarat High Court in pursuance of the apex court's decision of May 12. Several judicial officers are suffering humiliation due to the demotion and moreover, six states in the country follow the principle of seniority-cum-merit for promotion, said the senior lawyer. We will list it after the summer vacation in July, the CJI said, adding

Trial against Delhi L-G in abeyance to add to pendency of cases: Court

A court here has rejected Delhi L-G VK Saxena's plea to keep the trial against him in abeyance in an assault case till he is in office, saying it doesn't want to increase the pendency of cases in Gujarat courts. The court of additional chief judicial magistrate PN Goswami had on May 8 refused to grant relief to Saxena in the case registered against him for allegedly assaulting Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar when she was holding a peace meet at Gandhi Ashram against Gujarat riots in April 2002. A copy of the order was made available on Friday. This case has been going on since 2005, that is, 18 years, and will take more time ... If the trial against the accused is suspended, naturally this case will remain pending for many more years. This will only increase the pendency of old cases existing in Gujarat judiciary, the court said. It noted that the trial against Saxena was going on since last year, and during this period, he did not request the state government to put i

Ayurveda practitioners not entitled to same pay as MBBS doctors, says SC

From Gujarat HC's order on Ayurveda practitioners to same-sex marriage case, here are the important cases that the Supreme Court heard today

Rahul moves Gujarat HC against Surat court's verdict in 'Modi surname' case

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has moved the Gujarat High Court challenging the Surat Sessions court verdict that rejected his plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case

HC quashes CIC order on PM Modi's degree, imposes Rs 25k cost on Kejriwal

The Gujarat High Court on Friday set aside the seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), asking the Gujarat University to provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Allowing the Gujarat University's appeal against the CIC order, Justice Biren Vaishnav also imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal and asked him to deposit the amount within four weeks to the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority (GSLSA). Justice Vaishnav also refused to stay his order as requested by Kejriwal's lawyer Percy Kavina. In April 2016, the then CIC M Sridhar Acharyulu had directed the Delhi University and the Gujarat University to provide information to Kejriwal on the degrees that Modi received. Three months later, the Gujarat High Court stayed the CIC order after the varsity approached it against that order. The CIC order came a day after Kejriwal wrote to Acharyulu, saying he has no objection to government records about

Deposited 50% of interim compensation for Morbi bridge victims: Oreva in HC

Oreva Group has deposited 50 per cent of the interim compensation amount for the victims of the Morbi cable bridge collapse tragedy, the Gujarat High Court was told on Monday. The company told the division bench of acting Chief Justice A J Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav that the first instalment (50 per cent of the total amount) was deposited on March 14, and the rest would be paid on or before April 11. Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd) was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the British-era bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi that collapsed on October 30, 2022, killing 135 people and leaving 56 others seriously injured. The high court is hearing a suo motu (on its own) Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the tragedy. On Monday, the HC took on record the affidavit of Oreva Group and granted the company time it had sought to deposit the remaining amount. The bench kept the matter for further hearing on April 18. During an earlier hearing, the HC had dir

RoDTEP benefits: Gujarat HC asks Centre, tax authorities to file responses

The matter will be heard next on March 23

Morbi bridge case: HC asks Oreva to pay Rs 10 lakh to kin of each deceased

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday directed clock manufacturing firm Oreva Group, the company that maintained the Morbi suspension bridge which collapsed killing 135 people in October last year, to pay Rs 10 lakh as "interim" compensation to the kin of each deceased and Rs 2 lakh to each injured within four weeks. A division bench of Chief Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice Sandeep Bhatt gave this direction to the company. The British-era suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi town collapsed on October 30 last year, killing 135 persons and injuring 56 others. The court ordered the company that the kin of each deceased and every injured person be paid interim compensation of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively, within four weeks. On Tuesday, during a hearing of a suo motu (on its own) PIL admitted last year following the tragedy, Ajanta Manufacturing Ltd (Oreva Group) had offered to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to the kin of those who died and Rs 1 lakh to the injured ...

Hardik Patel fails to appear before court, arrest warrant issued

A court in Gujarat's Surendranagar district has issued an arrest warrant against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Hardik Patel for failing to appear before it in a 2017 case in which he is accused of violating a government order. Patel had made a political speech in violation of a government order at a village in the district ahead of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections. Additional chief judicial magistrate D D Shah at Dhrangadhra issued the arrest warrant against Patel for failure to appear the court. Through its order dated February 2, the court directed the Dhrangadhra taluka police station officer in Surendranagar district to arrest Patel and produce him before the court without fail. The order was received by the police station on February 11, an official confirmed. A first information report (FIR) was registered at Dhrangadhra taluka police station on January 12, 2018 after Patel and a co-accused Kaushik Patel were found to have violated the condition of the permission grante

Justice Sonia Gokani sworn in as Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court

Justice Sonia Gokani was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on Thursday, becoming the first woman judge to be elevated to the post at the high court, just a few days before her retirement on February 25. Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office to Justice Gokani at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, Judge of Supreme Court Justice Bela Trivedi, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and state Law and Justice Minister Rishikesh Patel were present on the occasion. Justice Gokani's appointment was approved by the Centre on February 12, and she had been serving as Chief Justice (Designate) since February 13. Her appointment came as Justice Aravind Kumar was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Gokani, who joins as the 28th Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court, will retire on February 25, making her tenure the shortest. Born on February 26, 1961, in Gujarat's Jamnagar, she was elevated as the additional judge of the ...

Director have to face criminal trial: Gujarat HC on Morbi bridge collapse

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday said that even if Oreva Group pays compensation to kith and kin of Morbi bridge collapse victims, criminal trial against its director will continue

Morbi bridge collapse: Gujarat govt to pay Rs 10 lakh each to kin of dead

An additional compensation will be paid to the families of each of the dead in the Morbi bridge collapse incident in October, the state government said

Gujarat HC holds Morbi civic body officer responsible for bridge collapse

Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Arvind Kumar on Thursday held civic body officer responsible for bridge collapse

SC asks Guj HC to hold periodical hearings in Morbi bridge collapse

Terming the Morbi bridge collapse an "enormous tragedy", the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Gujarat High Court to take up the suo motu matter on a periodical basis