Page 21 - High Court

Police nor criminal court can seize passport, says Karnataka High Court

The High Court of Karnataka has reiterated that "neither the police nor the criminal court invoking powers under Sections 102 or 104 of the Criminal Procedure Code can seize or impound a passport." The court, therefore, recently quashed the order of the Debt Recovery Tribunal-1, Bengaluru, which had impounded the passport of Nitin Shambhukumar Kasliwal, a businessman from Mumbai. The court said the Tribunal has the powers of a civil court and when the civil court itself cannot impound a passport, the DRT too cannot. The facts of the case date back to 1999 when Kasliwal had executed an agreement in favour of various lenders for loans secured. In 2015, the lender banks initiated a case before the Debt Recovery Tribunal seeking repayment and in default attachment and sale of properties of Kasliwal and his businesses. The banks filed an application for the surrender of Kasliwal's passport. On April 16, 2015 the Tribunal passed an order retaining his passport. Subsequently, Kasliwal fi

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HC collegiums yet to send recommendations for 201 judges' vacancies: Govt

Eighty-one of the 123 proposals sent by high court collegiums for appointment of judges are at various stages of processing with the government, Parliament was informed on Friday. The remaining 42 proposals are under the consideration of the Supreme Court Collegium, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. He also said recommendations are yet to be received from the high court collegiums regarding the remaining 201 vacancies. "As on December 12, 123 proposals are at various stages of processing. Out of these 123 proposals, 81 proposals are at various stages of processing in the government. Forty-two proposals are under consideration with the SC collegium," Meghwal said. According to the law ministry's website, as on December 1, of the sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges for the 25 high courts, there were 324 vacancies. According to the established mechanism, the chief justice of a high court initiates a proposal to fill vacancies of ..

Prepare plan to build new High Court building: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy

Earlier on Thursday, the Telangana Assembly unanimously elected Gaddam Prasad Kumar as the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly

Karnataka HC grants 2-week parole to convict in church blast case

A convict serving life imprisonment in the church blast case has been granted parole by the High Court of Karnataka for two weeks. The detenue, Mohammed Akhil, is one of the convicts in the July 2000 church blast case in Bengaluru. Twenty four accused belonging to the Deendar Anjuman sect were found guilty of the blasts that were triggered in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. Akhil was one of the 13 handed a life sentence. Mubeen Unnissa Begum, wife of Akhil, had filed the petition, which was heard by Justice M Nagaprasanna. "The convict, as of today, has undergone 23 years of imprisonment without remission and has not been granted parole throughout 23 years. The wife of the convict is now before this court seeking enlargement of her husband on parole on the score that she is suffering from ailments and, therefore, pleads that the presence of her husband is very much required in the family as other family members are also aged and suffering from ailments," the court noted in its ..

FEMA violation: HC upholds reduction in penalty on Rajasthan Royals owners

The Bombay High Court has upheld an order passed by a tribunal reducing the penalty imposed on the owners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise Rajasthan Royals from Rs 98 crore to Rs 15 crore for alleged financial irregularities. A division bench of Justices K R Shriram and Neela Gokhale in its judgement on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the July 11, 2019 order passed by the tribunal. The high court in its order noted the tribunal arrived at its conclusion based on evidence and analysis of the same. "The findings are far from being perverse. Thus, no question of law arises in the case. We find that in fact no justification has been recorded by the special director (ED) to impose maximum penalty as opposed to the tribunal having considered relevant material has interfered and reduced the penalty," the court said in its order. "We find that the special director has completely failed to apply the doctrine of ...

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

Tax on expat salaries: Japan firm's India unit gets interim relief on GST

The GST authorities had issued a show cause notice to Kanematsu India, demanding over Rs 2.6 crore on reimbursement of expat employees salaries made by the company to the Japanese parent

Delhi HC asks Centre to respond to AAP's plea to allot land for its offices

Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the Centre's response on a plea by the AAP seeking allotment of land in the national capital for construction of its offices, having been recognised as a national party. Justice Subramonium Prasad issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Land and Development Officer, asking them to file their replies to the petition. The court listed the matter for further hearing on March 23. According to the Centre's policies and the fact that land has been allotted to all other national parties for construction of office premises in central locations of New Delhi, it is incumbent upon the respondents to ensure that a similar allotment is made in favour of the petitioner, as per its entitlement, the AAP said in its petition. The AAP claimed it is entitled to a total area of 1,000 square metres for construction of offices for its national and Delhi units in view of the policies issued by the Union ministry. "The memorandum (of t

Counsel's refusal to examine witness due to strike constitutes contempt: HC

Taking a serious note of delay in criminal trials especially on account of non-examination of witnesses, the Allahabad High Court on Friday ruled that any act of a counsel to prevent examination of a witness or refusal to examine a witness due to a strike call constitutes professional misconduct and contempt of court. The observation was made by Justice Ajay Bhanot while hearing the third bail application moved by an accused in a criminal matter, Noor Alam on grounds that in spite of directions to conclude the trial the same is not being concluded. The status report on the case sent by the trial court was to the effect that the lawyers repeatedly struck work. The striking lawyers prevented the examination of witnesses who had appeared before the trial court on the dates fixed. Non-examination of witnesses on various dates derailed the court process and delayed the trial. Consequently the order of this Court was not complied with. "In case examination of a witness is prevented by ..

HC gives interim relief to BMW over GST notice on salaries paid to expats

However, salaries directly paid by Indian companies to expat employees without reimbursement won't attract GST, as expats are then perceived as employees of the Indian company alone

Orissa HC grants bail to honey trap scandal accused Archana Nag in ED case

The Orissa High Court has granted bail to honey trap scandal accused Archana Nag in an ED case registered against her. A single judge bench of Justice G Satapathy on Monday allowed the applicant to furnish a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh. The accused has been warned to not commit any offence while on bail and asked to deposit her passport with the court. She has also been asked to appear before the courts as and when required. With the granting of bail in the ED case, Nag, who was arrested in October last year, has received bail in all cases registered against her and is likely to walk out of prison. The high court had earlier granted her bail in two other cases registered against her by Bhubaneswar city police. Nag and her associates had allegedly extorted crores of rupees from affluent people by blackmailing them of releasing their intimate videos, captured by the accused after honey trapping them. Cases were registered against Nag with Nayapalli and Khandagiri police stations in ...

Clear stand on plea against use of officials to highlight work: HC to govt

The plea claimed that it's a political propaganda and that these communications are for the benefit of the ruling party at the Centre

To Lord or not to Lord: Justice's retort in a recent hearing revives debate

There have been several instances where judges have acknowledged this practice as feudal and not discouraged anyone from using the term "Sir"

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

HC rejects I-T reassessment proceedings beyond four-year limitation period

The ruling was given on a writ petition filed by an assessee challenging the reopening notice on capital gains issued by the income tax authorities

CM's signature not enough to appoint lower cadre officer to higher post: HC

The High Court of Karnataka has said that a transfer order bearing the signature of the Chief Minister does not become licit, till there is a reasoning recorded to post a lower cadre officer to a higher post. We are constrained to opine that, even though such transfer orders bear the chief ministers signature on it, but such orders cannot be said to be a licit order as we find absence of reasons to enlighten the Chief Minister as to non-availability of eligible persons to be posted to said post and as to why a person of a lower cadre is posted to the said encadred place, it said. A bench of Justices K Somashekar and Rajesh Rai K said this in their recent judgement on a petition filed by Karnataka Administrative Service (Senior Scale) officer Dr Prajna Ammembala. Ammembala had challenged a Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal order of August 2, 2023, allowing an application filed by Patharaju V, Additional Director of Department of Food and Civil Supplies and set aside the transfe

No concept of gated community; roads not exclusive to residents: K'taka HC

Landowners or developers of a layout will not have any right over roads and other services once they relinquish control over it to the civic bodies, the Karnataka High Court said, upholding a judgement of a single judge bench. The Upkar Residences had filed a petition before the single judge bench against Pabba Reddy Kodandarami Reddy of Sree Lakshmi Venkateshwara Towers, Outer Ring Road, Bellandur seeking right of ingress and egress of the public in the approved layout. Reddy had contended that it was a gated community and the roads were meant for exclusive use of the residents. The single judge bench in its order passed on November 29, 2022 held that there was no concept of gated community and Reddy cannot interdict the use of roads by the public. Reddy had challenged this by way of an appeal which was heard by a division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit. Dismissing the appeal, the division bench said, We decline indulgence in the matter being

Tribunal under Gauhati HC judge to decide ban on Meitei extremist groups

The MHA on November 13 declared several Meitei extremist organisations, their factions, wings and front organisations as unlawful associations under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for 5 years

Karnataka HC overturns wife's RTI request to access husband's Aadhaar info

'Marriage does not eclipse the right to privacy which is the right of an individual and the autonomy of such individual's right stands recognised and protected,' stated the Court