Page 12 - High Court

SC to consider SpiceJet's plea against Delhi HC order grounding 3 engines

The Supreme Court said Thursday it will consider listing low-cost airline SpiceJet's plea challenging a Delhi High Court verdict grounding three aircraft engines for defaulting on payments to lessors. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the counsel for the airline to send an e-mail seeking an urgent hearing of its plea against the high court verdict of September 11. "Please circulate the e-mail," the CJI said, adding that the appeal may be listed. A division bench of the Delhi High Court on Wednesday held that the carrier had violated an agreed interim arrangement for payment of dues and upheld an order of a single-judge bench asking the low-cost airline to ground the three engines for defaulting on the payments. The single-judge bench of the high court had on August 14 directed SpiceJet to ground three engines by August 16 and hand them over to their lessors -- Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS. A high court

HC refuses to interfere with order directing SpiceJet to ground 3 engines

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with an order directing low-cost airline SpiceJet to ground three aircraft engines for defaulting on payment to engine lessors. A bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Amit Bansal said the appeals of SpiceJet challenging a single judge's order to ground three aircraft engines and hand those over to the lessors was accordingly not entertained. "We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order. The impugned direction has not been interfered with by us. The appeals are accordingly not entertained," the bench said while pronouncing its verdict on the appeals. SpiceJet has challenged a single judge's August 14 order directing it to ground three engines by August 16 and hand them over to their lessors within 15 days. The judge had directed the airline to offer prior inspection of the engines to the lessors -- Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS -- through their authorised representative at the Delhi airport within seven

Flights grounded at Kenya's main airport as workers protest over Adani deal

Hundreds of workers at Kenya's main international airport demonstrated on Wednesday against a planned deal between the government and India's Adani Group. Planes have remained grounded, with hundreds of passengers stranded at the airport. The government has said that the build-and-operate agreement with Adani Group would see the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport renovated, and an additional runway and terminal constructed, in exchange for the group running the airport for 30 years. Kenya Airport Workers Union, in announcing the strike, said that the deal would lead to job losses and inferior terms and conditions of service for those who will remain. Kenya Airways on Wednesday announced there would be flight delays and possible cancellations because of the ongoing strike at the airport, which serves Nairobi. Last week, airport workers had threatened to go on strike, but the plans were called off pending discussions with the government. The spotting of unknown people moving aroun

Strike at Kenya's airport causing flight delays as Adani deal suspended

The biggest union of Kenya's aviation workers said they would take industrial action on Wednesday over a proposed deal for India's Adani Group to lease Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)

Evergrande founder's ex-wife wins limited access to frozen funds in UK

The troubled developer's liquidators are pursuing legal action to recover approximately $6 billion from seven defendants

Kerala HC slams state govt for inaction on Justice Hema Committee report

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Left government in the state saying its inaction on the Justice Hema Committee report was "alarming." A special division bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and C S Sudha said the government got the report years ago and ought to have immediately responded and directed that the full report be handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take requisite action. It also asked why the state was silent for so long. The bench said women are more in number in Kerala and asked what the state was doing about the problems being faced by them in society. It said the government took action only more than four years after it got the report. It directed the government to hand over the full report of the committee to the SIT constituted to look into the complaints of sexual harassment and assaults by female actors against some of their male counterparts and others in the film industry. The bench said the SIT can take action based on

Renukaswamy murder case: HC restricts media from publishing chargesheet

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued an ex-parte interim order barring media outlets from broadcasting, printing, or publishing any information from the chargesheet against Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is accused along with 16 others in the Renukaswamy murder case. 'The restriction will remain in place until the next hearing. Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, presiding over a single-judge bench, passed the order following a plea by the 47-year-old actor, who requested the court to restrain media organisations from disseminating confidential details contained in the chargesheet and other materials gathered during the investigation. The case is pending before a Magistrate court. The High Court noted that despite an injunction issued by a lower court on August 27 in a suit filed by Darshan's wife Vijayalakshmi, media outlets continued to share confidential information. Finding merit in the petitioner's arguments, the court ordered media outlets, identified as respondents 3

Punjab, Haryana HC dismisses plea of Cong MLA's son against ED arrest

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a petition seeking quashing of criminal proceedings and arrest of a Haryana Congress MLA's son by the ED, citing 10 judicial pronouncements made by the Supreme Court on these issues. The Court of Judge Mahabir Singh Sindhu in Chandigarh on August 27 held that prima facie, the offence of money laundering was "clearly made out" against the petitioner Sikandar Singh Chokker and that his plea was "nothing but complete misuse of the process of Court as well as law." Sikandar Chokker is the son of Dharam Singh Chokker, sitting Congress MLA from the Samalkha (Panipat district) seat of Haryana. Dharam Singh Chokker has been recently given a ticket by his party for contesting the forthcoming assembly polls in the state from the same seat. Sikandar Chokker was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on April 30 from a hotel in Haridwar, Uttarakhand on the basis of a special PMLA court issued arrest warrant against him in a money laundering

Nearly 62,000 cases pending in High Courts over 30 years old, shows data

There are nearly 62 thousand cases pending in various high courts, which are more than 30 years old, including three awaiting disposal since 1952. According to official data, there are four cases pending since 1954 and nine since 1955 in high courts. Out of the three cases pending since 1952, two are in the Calcutta High Court and one in the Madras High Court. Addressing the national conference of district judiciary here earlier this week, President Droupadi Murmu had called for a change in the "culture of adjournments' in the judiciary. She said long-standing pendency and backlog of cases is a big challenge before the judiciary. "All stakeholders have to find a solution by giving priority to this problem," she said. As many as 58.59 lakh cases, including 42.64 lakh of civil nature and 15.94 lakh of criminal nature, are pending across high courts. According to the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), nearly 2.45 lakh cases are pending in high courts which are 20 to 30 years ...

SC dismisses plea of ex-principal of RG Kar Hospital in irregularities case

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea filed by former principal of Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh challenging the Calcutta High Court order dismissing his plea to be added as a party to a petition alleging financial irregularities at the institute during his tenure. On August 23, the high court ordered the transfer of the probe into the alleged financial irregularities from a state-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said as an accused Ghosh has no locus to impleaded in the plea. "As an accused you have no locus to intervene in the PIL, where the Calcutta high court is monitoring the investigation," the bench said. The murder and alleged rape of a junior doctor at the state-run hospital has sparked nationwide protests. The medic's body with severe injury marks was found in the seminar hall of the hospital's ch

Singapore's Indian-origin ex min fails to get witness statements

Singapore's Indian-origin former transport minister S Iswaran on Tuesday failed to secure the statements of prosecution witnesses for a third time as his trial for alleged corruption starts next week. The 62-year-old faces a total of 35 charges, two of which are for corruption involving about SGD 166,000. Another 32 counts are for obtaining items worth more than SGD 237,000 as a public servant, while one is for obstructing the course of justice. Iswaran made two previous bids to obtain all the prosecution witness statements before his case goes to trial. These attempts were rejected by an assistant registrar at a criminal case disclosure conference and a High Court judge. Iswaran's charges relate to his dealings with hotel and property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, and Singapore Exchange-listed Lum Chang Holdings' managing director David Lum. The defence lawyers, led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, based their arguments on their interpretation of Section 214(1)(d) of the Criminal Proced

After 24 hours, Kolkata police allows protesting junior doctors to proceed

The doctors, who were joined by several common people as well as students from other educational institutions, spent the entire Monday night on BB Ganguly street

SC seeks Himachal govt's reply on Adani Power plea for Rs 280 cr refund

The bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Aravind Kumar, however, refused to stay the Himachal Pradesh High Court order overturning a single-bench's decision

K'taka HC extends stay on trial court proceedings against CM in MUDA case

The Karnataka High Court on Monday extended till September nine the interim stay on trial court proceedings against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case. The Court adjourned for a week the hearing on Chief Minister's petition challenging the legality of Governor Thaawarchand's sanction for his prosecution in the case. Appearing for the Respondent number 4 (R-4) Snehamayi Krishna, senior advocate K G Raghavan made submissions when the hearing resumed. "Heard the learned senior counsel K G Raghavan, the learned Advocate General seeks a week's time to make his submissions. List the matter on September 9 at 2:30 pm. Interim order granted on August 19 shall continue till the next date of hearing," Justice M Nagaprasanna said. The Governor on August 16 accorded sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for the commission of the alleged .

HC asks for Centre's stand on plea over 'misbranding' of Patanjali product

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Centre's stand on a petition seeking action against the alleged misbranding of Patanjali's "Divya Dant Manjan" as a vegetarian product. The petitioner's counsel claimed that though the dental care product was being sold with a "green dot", symbolising that it was a vegetarian commodity, it contains fish extract, a non-vegetarian ingredient. Justice Sanjeev Narula issued notice to the Centre, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as well as Patanjali, Divya Pharmacy, Yoga guru Ramdev and other related parties on the petition by lawyer Yatin Sharma. The law does not mandate declaration of a "drug" as vegetarian or non-vegetarian but the packaging of "Divya Dant Manjan" wrongly carries a "green dot", which qualifies as "misbranding" under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the petitioner's counsel argued. The matter would be heard next in November. Represented by advocates Swapnil Chaudhary and Prashant Gupta, the petitioner stat

Badlapur case: HC seeks Maha govt's reply over suspended edu officer's plea

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to respond to a plea filed by an education officer from Thane district seeking a stay on his suspension following the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur. The officer, Balasaheb Rakshe, urged the high court to stay the suspension order pending a final hearing of his petition before the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT), which refused him interim relief on August 26. He requested the high court to restrain the state government from appointing any other officer in the post. Rakshe moved the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on his suspension order, claiming the government order was "politically motivated" and he had been made a "scapegoat". A division bench of Justices A S Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil directed the government to file an affidavit by September 6 when it would hear the plea. Rakshe's advocate, S B Talekar, sought the court to order a status quo until then, but the court said

Record 83,000 cases pending in Supreme Court despite higher judge count

Despite an increase in judges, the Supreme Court's case backlog has grown eightfold in the past decade, reaching a record high of nearly 83,000 cases

Singapore Indian-origin Oppn leader seeks HC trial over alleged lies

Singapore's Indian-origin leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh has applied to have his case heard in the High Court instead of the State Courts. Singh, 48, faces two charges of lying to a parliamentary committee that was convened in November 2021 to look into the lying controversy involving his party's former MP Raeesah Khan. Khan has resigned from Parliament. He applied to have the case heard in the High Court on Monday, according to a Channel News Asia report. Singh's lawyers, Andre Darius Jumabhoy and Aristotle Emmanuel Eng, relied on the case of former transport minister S. Iswaran which has been rescheduled for hearing in the High Court next month. Citing the Iswaran case, the lawyers said in the arguments that there was also "strong public interest" for Singh's case to be heard in the High Court. This is the first prosecution of its kind, the Channel cited Jumabhoy as having said. "This case goes to the very essence of our democracy, and this is not my characterisation,"

In relief for commuters, Dhaka Metro resumes service after over 30 days

The Dhaka Metro resumed services on Sunday over a month after it was shut for passengers during the unprecedented anti-government protests in Bangladesh. Two stations -- Mirpur 10 and Kazipara -- will however remain closed, according to an official notification. Commuters, especially students and office-goers heaved a sigh of relief as they had to travel through Dhaka's notorious traffic congestions daily to reach their destinations. According to the official notification, the services resumed in the morning around 7 AM. Mirpur-10 and Kazipara stations were vandalised in July during the anti-government protests. The Dhaka Metro services were shut for passengers in the third week of July. "We are planning to make the metro rail infrastructure a key point installation with enhanced security for its protection from any kind of vandalism," Road Transport and Communication Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said. Khan said the interim government also plans to declare metro rail operat

Govt made petitioner approach HC to derail MVA bandh: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday alleged that the Maharashtra government used its favourite petitioner to approach the court to stop the bandh called by the Maha Vikas Aghadi against the Badlapur sexual assault. Talking to reporters, Raut said the bandh called by MVA partners was going to be 100 per cent successful and it would not have portended positively for the BJP-led Mahayuti government. The Bombay High Court on Friday restrained political parties or individuals from proceeding with a Maharashtra bandh on August 24 or any future date over the Badlapur school sexual assault incident. The government made its favourite petitioner file a petition in the court against the bandh, Raut said. He was referring to activist and lawyer Gunaratna Sadavarte, who approached the court against the bandh. Where is democracy in the country if our voices are going to be suppressed? The bandh was a manifestation of the anger in the minds of people, he said. It will be the ...