High Court Judges

Meghalaya govt to provide free electricity, petrol for retired HC judges

The Meghalaya Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to provide free electricity, mobile recharge and petrol to retired chief justice and judges of the state's high court, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said. The approval to the Retired Judges' Secretarial Assistant and Domestic Help Rules 2013 which include enhancement for electricity of up to 1000 units per month to be reimbursed, mobile connectivity Rs 4,200 per month plus taxes and petrol expenses of 100 litres a month, Sangma told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet has also approved an amendment to the Meghalaya State Language Act 2005, making Khasi and Garo associate official languages for various exams to be conducted at the district level. The Cabinet also gave its nod to a law to protect the witnesses according to the new criminal laws - the BNS, BNSS & BSA. The chief minister said a complete mechanism has been included to protect witnesses as mandated under the Meghalaya Witness Protection Scheme, 2025. The

SC proposes relook at rejected, deferred Delhi HC senior designations

The Supreme Court on Friday suggested a Delhi High Court panel to conduct a fresh exercise for conferring senior designations to lawyers whose applications were either rejected or deferred. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan asked senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, representing the Delhi High Court, to seek instructions and posted the hearing on April 15. "We are suggesting that deferred candidates and rejected candidates, committee will do the fresh exercise in terms of Indira Jaising judgement. This is the understanding. Fresh process has to be conducted by reconstituting the committee," it said. The top court was hearing a plea challenging the Delhi High Court's decision to confer senior designations on 70 advocates in November, 2024 on the ground of alleged irregularities. While Rao said the high court could take up the remaining applications for consideration in a full court, the counsel appearing for the aggrieved petitioners said the entire marking procedure was .

PIL filed in Allahabad HC to stop Justice Yashwant Varma from taking oath

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench on Wednesday seeking a directive to its Chief Justice to refrain from administering the oath to Justice Yashwant Varma, court sources said. The PIL cited the ongoing in-house inquiry ordered by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) into the recovery of "four to five semi-burnt sacks" of Indian currency notes from the residence of Justice Varma following after a fire incident last month. Justice Varma was recently transferred from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court in the midst of the cash stash row. The PIL, filed by Vikash Chaturvedi, is expected to be heard on April 4, the sources said. Advocate Ashok Pandey, representing Chaturvedi, argued that since the CJI has reportedly "directed the Allahabad High Court Chief Justice not to assign any judicial work to Justice Varma during the ongoing inquiry, there is no justification for proceeding with the oath ceremony". The petitioner h

Police team visits Delhi HC Judge's residence over cash allegations

A team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) on Wednesday visited the residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma in connection with the investigation into the alleged discovery of cash, official sources said. Police sources said the police team will carry out an inspection of the place where the fire occurred and may question staff working in the judge's residence. On March 22, the CJI constituted the three-member committee to conduct an in-house inquiry into allegations and decided to upload the inquiry report of Chief Justice D K Upadhyay of the Delhi High Court in the incident. It included photos and videos of the alleged discovery of a huge stash of cash. Justice Varma denounced the allegations and said no cash was ever placed in the storeroom either by him or any of his family members.

'No cash found' at Justice Varma's residence, says Delhi Fire chief

Earlier in the day, media reports said a large stash of cash was recovered from Delhi HC Justice Yashwant Varma's residence during the course of fire-fighting a blaze at his residence

Misinformation on Justice Yashwant's official home incident: SC clarifies

The Supreme Court on Friday said misinformation and rumours were being spread over the incident related to Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, from whose official residence a large stash of cash was allegedly discovered after a fire. The proposal for Justice Varma's transfer to Allahabad High Court, the court statement said, was independent and separate from in-house enquiry procedure. The apex court said upon receiving information, the Delhi High Court Chief Justice commenced an in-house enquiry procedure collecting evidence and information. The high court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, who had commenced enquiry prior to March 20 collegium meeting, would submit a report to Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna today itself, it added. Following its examination, the court would proceed for "further and necessary" action.

'We are not a trash bin': Allahabad bar slams Justice Varma's transfer

The Supreme Court Collegium decided to transfer Justice Yashwant Verma back to Allahabad High Court after hoards of cash were recovered in his New Delhi home

Corruption in judiciary: Sibal seeks 'transparency' in judges' appointment

Senior Supreme court advocate was also critical of the Allahabad High Court's observation that had said "Holding breast, breaking pyjama's string is not a crime of rape"

Cash found at judge's house after fire: Who is Justice Yashwant Varma?

Supreme Court Collegium has ordered the immediate transfer of Delhi High Court Judge Justice Yashwant Varma after discover of cash hoard at his residence

Fire at Delhi HC judge's residence leads to discovery of large cash stash

Calling an emergency meeting, the Supreme Court collegium issued an immediate transfer of the judge from the Delhi High Court

SC overturns termination of two women judges in MP, orders reinstatement

The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the orders terminating the services of two women judicial officers in Madhya Pradesh in 2023, terming the action as "punitive, arbitrary and illegal". A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh directed that the two officers be reinstated in service within 15 days. "The termination of these two judicial officers is punitive, arbitrary and therefore illegal," Justice Nagarathna said while pronouncing the verdict. Justice Nagarathna said the verdict also discusses issue of women in Indian judiciary. On December 17, 2024, the top court had reserved its verdict in the matter pertaining to the termination of two women judicial officers by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. On November 11, 2023, the top court had taken a suo motu cognisance of the termination of six women civil judges by the state government over their alleged unsatisfactory performance. However, a full court of the Madhya Pradesh High Court reconsidered its earlier resolu

Year of judicial milestones: Landmark SC verdicts, policy shifts in 2024

From taking a strong stance against 'bulldozer justice' to overruling past judgment on legislative immunity for bribery, the top court set several precedents during the year to uphold the constitution

Govt says no plans for law requiring SC, HC judges to disclose assets

The government on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that it had no plans to bring a law mandating Supreme Court and high court judges to furnish their property returns, as recommended by a parliamentary committee. In a written reply, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal also said that details of the declaration of assets by the judges of high courts and the Supreme Court were not centrally maintained. The minister replied in the negative to a sub-question on "whether the government is contemplating to enact a law mandating judges of the higher judiciary to furnish their property returns as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report titled 'Judicial Processes and their Reform' of August, 2023". At the same time, the minister said the "Restatement of Values of Judicial Life", adopted by a "full court" meeting of the Supreme Court on May 7, 1997, laid down certain judicial standards to be followed by the Supreme Court and high court judges. The full bench on August

HC judge, journalists among 161 applicants for 8 vacancies at CIC

The government has received 161 applications for eight vacant positions of Information Commissioners at the Central Information Commission with applicants from varied backgrounds including a sitting Delhi High Court Judge expressing interest in the job, according to a DoPT list. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has given the list of 161 applicants in response to an RTI query filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd). The list contains names of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta of Delhi High Court, Special Commissioner Delhi Police Rajender Pal Upadhyay, serving and retired officers from armed forces -- Lt Gen Jaiveer Singh Negi, Group Captain Praveen Shukla, Capt (IN) Abhay Kumar Paluskar, Lt Gen Paramjit Singh Minhas, Lt Gen Manoj Kumar Mago, Lt Gen Harsha Gupta, Lt Gen PR Venkatesh, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh Salaria among others. Journalist GK Suresh Babu associated with Janam TV from Thiruvananthapuram, retired Professor of Political Science from Mysore University Muzaffar ...

Karnataka HC grants interim bail to actor Darshan citing medical grounds

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is an accused in Renukaswamy murder case, on medical grounds, to undergo spine surgery. The bench of Justice S Vishwajith Shetty granted interim bail for a period of six weeks to undergo medical treatment. The court had reserved the order on Tuesday on the bail application after hearing detailed arguments from the actor's legal representative, senior advocate C V Nagesh, and State Public Prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar. The state had presented medical reports in a sealed cover from doctors at Ballari Central Prison, where he is lodged, and the Head of the Department of Neurology at a government hospital in Ballari. Darshan was arrested on June 11 and is lodged in Ballari Prison. His bail application, submitted on September 21, was rejected by a sessions court. Following this, he petitioned the High Court and requested interim bail to receive treatment. According to police, 33-year-old Renukas

Decide on protection for petitioner against freebie schemes of govt: HC

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the city police commissioner to decide on protection to an activist who filed a petition against Maharashtra government's "unregulated freebie" schemes, including the Ladki Bahin Yojana. A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Abhay Mantri on Tuesday said it was the duty of the state to protect the life and liberty of every citizen. The bench directed the Nagpur police commissioner to decide on the applications filed by social activist Anil Wadapalliwar, seeking police protection expeditiously. Wadapalliwar had filed a public interest litigation against distribution of freebies by the state government. The PIL sought that the HC declare as illegal the distribution of state largesse in nature of "unrestricted freebies and unregulated and irrational doles" to a particular section of the public at large. Such schemes were a derogation of fundamental rights and cast a heavy burden on the state exchequer which in furtherance .

SC collegium recommends judges' names to Centre for appointment in 3 HCs

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has recommended to the Centre the names of three advocates for appointment as judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The three-member collegium, which also comprised Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, held the meeting on Tuesday and also decided to recommend the names of four senior judicial officers as judges of the Kerala High Court. It, by way of a separate resolution, recommended to the Centre the name of Justice Siddaiah Rachaiah, an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court, as a permanent Judge of the same high court. "The Collegium resolves to recommend that S/Shri (i) Maheswara Rao Kuncheam @ Kuncham, (ii) Thoota Chandra Dhana Sekar @ T C D Sekhar, and (iii) Challa Gunaranjan, advocates, be appointed as Judges of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. Their inter se seniority be fixed as per the existing practice," the October 15 resolution said. They all are practising as lawyers in the Andhra Pradesh

Only 13% of high court judges declare assets, Kerala leads disclosure rates

Out of 749 judges serving across 25 High Courts nationwide, only 98 have made their asset declarations publicly available on their respective High Court websites

SC closes proceedings initiated over comments made by Karnataka HC judge

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed suo motu proceedings initiated over alleged objectionable comments made by a Karnataka High Court judge during court proceedings. A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud noted that Karnataka High Court judge Justice Vedavyasachar Srishananda, who had made those observations, had on September 21 tendered an apology for his comments in the open court there. "We can't call any part of the territory of India as Pakistan," the CJI observed. The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy, observed that courts have to be careful not to make comments in the course of judicial proceedings which may be construed as being misogynistic or for that matter prejudicial to any segment of the society. "Casual observations may well reflect a certain degree of individual bias particularly when they are likely to be perceived as being directed to a particular gender or community," the bench said. The

Jharkhand files contempt petition over delayed High Court appointment: CJI

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud informed Attorney General R Venkataramani of the petition while discussing the appointment of eight judges