Page 19 - High Court

Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh sworn in as new chief justice of Orissa HC

Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh on Wednesday took oath as the 33rd chief justice of Orissa High Court. Governor Raghubar Das administered the oath of office to the new chief justice in a swearing-in ceremony held on Orissa High Court premises here. Born on January 20, 1963, Justice Singh was enrolled as an advocate in 1990 after completing a law degree from the University of Delhi (Campus Law Centre). He was appointed as additional standing counsel in the central government in 1998 and continued as such till October 2001, official sources said. Singh also served as additional advocate general in Bihar and continued as such till his elevation as an additional judge, Patna High Court, in April 2012, they said. He assumed charge as acting chief justice of Patna High Court in February 2023. Last week, President Droupadi Murmu appointed him as the chief justice of Orissa High Court after consultations with the Chief Justice of India, they added.

Arrest of Chanda Kochhar, husband in ICICI-Videocon loan case illegal: HC

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday held as "illegal" the arrest of ICICI Bank's former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar and her businessman-husband Deepak Kochhar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in an alleged loan fraud case. A division bench of Justices Anuja Prabhudessai and N R Borkar confirmed a January 2023 interim order passed by another bench granting the duo bail soon after their arrest in the case. The couple was arrested by the CBI on December 23, 2022, in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case. They immediately moved the HC challenging their arrest and sought it to be declared as illegal. By way of an interim order, they also sought to be released on bail. On January 9, 2023, the HC, in its interim order, granted bail to the duo after coming down heavily on the CBI for making the arrest in a "casual and mechanical" manner and without application of mind. On Tuesday, the bench led by Justice Prabhudessai allowed the

Just 6 CT scan machines in Delhi govt hospitals for 30 mn people, HC notes

Delhi High Court on Monday expressed anguish that there are only six CT scan machines in all Delhi government hospitals for three crore citizens and stressed the need to ramp up infrastructure and fill vacancies in the health sector. The high court pointed out that people are losing lives because they are not being attended to at government hospitals due to a shortage of facilities and staff. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora noted that Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, in a status report, has admitted that there are a lot of shortcomings, including shortage of doctors, paramedics and medicines, and also given his suggestions. Bharadwaj, who inspected several government hospitals, claimed that whenever he convened meetings with hospital staff, Delhi Health Secretary SB Deepak Kumar remained absent. However, Kumar, who was present in the court, denied the allegations and said he attended all the meetings. "I have accompanied the minister in vari

ED moves Jharkhand HC over FIR filed by Hemant Soren under SC/ST Act

Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on Wednesday evening after seven hours of grilling in an alleged money laundering case

Monthly GST mop-up from online gaming companies jump 400% since Oct 1

Monthly GST collections from online gaming companies have jumped over 400 per cent to about Rs 1,200 crore since October 1 when the 28 per cent levy on e-gaming platforms has come into effect, a senior official said on Friday. The GST Council had in August last year clarified that online gaming companies will have to pay 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the full face value of bets placed on their platforms. Foreign e-gaming companies were mandated to register with the GST authorities, failing which their portals will be blocked. The amendments to GST law came into effect from October 1, 2023. "There has been a jump in GST revenues from online gaming companies post October 1. From monthly revenue of Rs 225 crore, the aggregate tax paid by the sector now stands at about Rs 1,200 crore," the official told PTI. GST officers had last year sent around 71 show cause notices to online gaming companies for alleged GST evasion of over Rs 1.12 lakh crore during financial years 2022

Gyanvapi management moves HC on ruling to allow 'puja' in mosque's basement

The Gyanvapi management committee moved the Allahabad High Court on Thursday challenging a Varanasi court order that has allowed Hindu prayers before idols in a cellar of the mosque. The counsel for the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, S F A Naqvi, said they have requested an urgent hearing in the matter. The mosque committee moved the high court within hours of the Supreme Court refusing to hear its plea against the Varanasi district court's order and asking it to approach the Allahabad High Court. In the appeal filed before the high court, it has been pleaded that the Hindu side's suit itself is barred by order 7 rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code, Naqvi said. The plea has also alleged that the main purpose behind filing the suit was to create a controversy over the functional Gyanvapi mosque where regular namaz is offered. A caveat was also filed by the Hindu side regarding the matter. The Varanasi court ruled on Wednesday that a Hindu priest can perform prayers before the

BharatPe fraud: Ashneer Grover, wife move HC challenging lookout circular

Payment app BharatPe's former MD Ashneer Grover and his wife on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against them in connection with the investigation in a cheating and forgery case. Justice Subramonium Prasad, before whom the matter came up for hearing, listed it for May 8 saying the investigation in the case registered by the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is at a nascent stage. It is too hot in the day for this court to intervene now. Come after sometime. The investigation is at a nascent stage and they will take some time to investigate, the high court said. It further said that at this juncture, it will not be correct to say that the LOC is completely unjustified. As an interim relief, Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover have sought suspension of the LOC issued against them with a further direction to the authorities not to interfere with or prevent their right to travel abroad. The court asked the ..

HC seeks administration's response on AAP's plea for fresh mayoral polls

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Chandigarh administration and the municipal corporation on the AAP's petition seeking fresh elections under the supervision of a retired HC judge. The court gave the respondents three weeks to file their replies in the matter. The BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls on Tuesday in a shock defeat for the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress alliance, which alleged foul play and moved the high court seeking fresh elections. The petition was filed by AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar, who was the candidate for the post of mayor, against the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the Union Territory administration, among others. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, the petitioner's counsel Gurminder Singh said the court has given three weeks to the Chandigarh administration, the municipal corporation, and others to file their replies. Senior standing counsel Anil Mehta said the court did not give any interim relief to the ...

Chandigarh mayor polls: High court issues notices, refuses to stay result

Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar on Tuesday moved the high court to challenge the results of the mayoral elections

Relaxation in development rules can't be allowed public safety is affected

Relaxation of development rules cannot be permitted if it adversely affects public safety, the Bombay High Court has said while ordering the removal of seven mechanised cantilever car parking spaces (stack parking) constructed in a residential building here. A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata noted that the stack parking system in the premises of the housing society in Borivali completely undermined the fire safety and public safety not only of members of the society but also of children, senior citizens, and perhaps even passersby. The order dated January 18 was made available on Tuesday. The bench noted that no fire tender or ambulance can go past the stack parking in case of emergencies in the society. The court passed the order in a petition filed by Rahul Jain, an ophthalmologist, challenging the decision to set up seven mechanised cantilever (stack) car parking spaces at his housing society in the western suburb of Borivali, as it was blocking the entra

Delhi HC asks WhatsApp, Telegram to suspend fake VC firms' accounts

The court also directed the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Telecommunications to issue appropriate directions to curb these identified scams

Delhi HC upholds validity of anti-profiteering provisions under GST

The court held that anti profiteering provisions pertain to commensurate reduction of prices when gst rates are reduced or due to input tax credit and hence these provisions are in public interest

Defamation plea filed by ex-business partners not maintainable: Dhoni to HC

Former Team India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday submitted before the Delhi High Court that a defamation plea filed against him by his two ex-business partners was not maintainable. The high court refused to pass any interim order, at this stage, against Dhoni and several media houses and social media platforms to injunct them from posting or publishing any alleged false defamatory content against the plaintiffs on any platform which could tarnish their goodwill and reputation. Plaintiffs and former business partners Mihir Diwakar and his wife Soumya Das have approached the high court seeking a permanent injunction and damages against Dhoni, several social media platforms and media houses and thereby restraining them from making, publishing, circulating per se defamatory, ex facie false and malicious statements against them. Dhoni's counsel appeared before the court and submitted that the plaint against him was not maintainable and he has just filed a case against th

Instances when Supreme Court held special sittings on non-working days

The Supreme Court on Saturday held a special sitting after taking suo moto cognisance of an order passed by a single bench of the Calcutta High Court that termed as "illegal" a division bench order in a case of alleged irregularities in admission of MBBS students in West Bengal's state-run medical colleges and hospitals. A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose stayed all proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in the matter and issued notice to the West Bengal government and the original petitioner in the case. This is one of the many instances when the apex court has held a special sitting on a non-working day. The past few years have witnessed the top court constituting special benches to hear during the weekend cases dealing with matters of personal liberty, political crisis in states and pollution in the national capital, among other things. On July 1 last year, the Supreme Cour

WBBSE to decide on representation for Class 10 exams timing change today

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) to decide on a representation seeking cancellation of a change in the timing of the class 10 examination announced by it. The bench of Justice Biswajit Basu also asked the WBBSE to inform it about the decision on Thursday, when the matter will be heard again. The timing of the class 10 examinations of the West Bengal board, which will be held in February, was advanced by two hours, but no reason was cited. After the revision, the exams will begin at 9.45 am instead of the usual 11.45 am. A teacher moved the court challenging a January 18 notification of the board rescheduling the time of commencement of the examination from 11.45 am to 9.45 am, claiming that it will inconvenience lakhs of students who will be appearing for the examinations at numerous centres across the state. The petitioner submitted that with the examination scheduled to begin from February 2, such advancement of ..

Gyanvapi mosque row: HC judge recuses from hearing plea against court order

Allahabad High Court judge Justice Manish Kumar Nigam on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea challenging the Varanasi district court's refusal to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake a survey of the 'wazukhana' area except the 'Shivling' inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The court said the matter be placed before the court of chief justice for nomination of another judge and fixed January 31 as the next date of hearing. The revision petition was filed by Rakhi Singh, who is one of the plaintiffs in the Shringar Gauri worshipping suit which is presently pending before the Varanasi district court. In her application before the Varanasi court, which was rejected on October 21, 2023, the primary contention raised by Singh was that the survey of the wazukhana, excluding the 'Shivling' is necessary to ascertain the religious character of the property in question. However, while rejecting her application, the district judge had observed in his order tha

Soumya Vishwanathan case: HC asks police to respond to convicts appeals

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the police to respond to appeals filed by four convicts in the case of murder of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan challenging their conviction and life sentence. A bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain issued notice to the police on the appeals by Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla, Baljit Singh Malik and Ajay Kumar. The high court also asked the authorities to file reply to the convicts' interim application seeking suspension of their sentence. It listed the application for hearing on February 12. Soumya was shot dead on September 30, 2008 while she was returning home in her car from office. The police had claimed robbery as the motive behind the killing of Soumya.

Act in accordance with law, not on oral instruction: SC to TN officials

Here's a lowdown on the important cases heard in the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court today

Pakistan's top poll body to challenge HC's remarks on poll symbol case

Pakistan's top election body has decided to file an application in the Lahore High Court seeking to expunge the court's remarks against it in the verdict in connection with the election symbol case, a media report said on Saturday. Pakistan is to hold general elections on February 8. A five-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the order after conducting a hearing (on the matter) and reviewing the Lahore High Court (LHC) order of January 17, The News International newspaper reported. Calling it as an unusual move, the newspaper said, The ECP has decided to file a civil miscellaneous application in the LHC to expunge the court's remarks against the commission in the verdict on the election symbol case. Earlier, the Bahawalpur bench of the LHC, in response to writ petitions seeking a change of poll symbols, had criticised the election commission and a returning officer for violating the law and not performing their duties accordingly. The court had issued

HC sends summons to TATA SIA Airlines on minor's plea for Rs 2.5 cr damages

The Delhi High Court has issued summons to TATA SIA Airlines, which operates Vistara, on a plea by a minor and her parents seeking more than Rs 2.5 crore damages for bodily injuries the child suffered after a hot beverage was allegedly spilled on her by a flight attendant. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said summons be sent to the defendant, TATA SIA Airlines Ltd, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, by all permissible modes and it shall file a written statement along with an affidavit of admission or denial of the documents filed by the plaintiffs within 30 days. "Upon a prima facie conspectus of the matter, let the plaint be registered as a suit. Issue summons in the suit," the court said. It listed the plea for March 6 for hearing the interim application in which the plaintiffs have sought a direction to the airline to remove the official statement relating to the incident and to restrain it from publishing any defamatory contents against them or ...