Page 22 - High Court

Set up special bench to monitor criminal cases against MP, MLAs: SC to HCs

In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court Thursday directed all high courts to set up a special bench and register a suo motu case to monitor criminal matters pending against MPs and MLAs to ensure their early disposal. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud issued a slew of directions to high courts and trial courts on a PIL filed by Ashwini Upadhyay seeking early disposal of pending criminal cases against lawmakers. The top court said it would be difficult for it to give uniform guidelines for trial courts for speedy disposal of cases against lawmakers. The judgement said the high courts will be setting up a special bench, presided over either by the chief justice, or by a bench designated by the chief justice, to monitor criminal trials against the lawmakers. The high courts may call upon special lower courts for reports on status of trials against the lawmakers in criminal cases, it said. "The trial courts shall not adjourn hearing of the cases against the Member of

Chit fund case: Jharkhand gets time from HC to challenge order in SC

The High Court of Jharkhand has granted time to the state government to challenge its order in the Supreme Court in connection with a case related to the return of money to investors by chit fund companies. A PIL was filed by the Non Banking Abhikarta Ewam Niweshak Suraksha Samiti through its president Javed Akhtar to seek a direction from the High Court to ensure the return of funds. A bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen on September 11 had ordered the government to ensure that a high-level committee headed by a former chief justice of the high court and two other members be appointed and look into the procedure for the return of funds to the investors. The state counsel informed the high court on Wednesday that it intends to challenge the order of the bench on the formation of a committee and return of funds in 45 days. The bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen while accepting the plea of the government adjourned the mat

Manipur HC asks state to lift mobile internet ban in peaceful areas

The Manipur High Court has directed the state government to operationalise mobile towers, on a trial basis, in all those district headquarters which have not been affected by ethnic strife. The ruling by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Golmei Gaiphulshillu Kabui came after the Manipur government extended the mobile internet ban in the northeastern state till November 8. "The state of Manipur is directed to open and operationalise mobile towers, on a trial basis, in all those district headquarters which have not been affected by violence," the court said while hearing a PIL. The November 6 order also asked the Manipur government to extend the services thereafter to other areas if the law and order situation permits. The court directed the state to upload on its official website copies of all the orders issued in relation to the suspension or curbing of mobile internet data services. The next hearing for compliance of the matter has been schedu

SC collegium recommends 3 HC Chief Justices as Supreme Court judges

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Monday recommended the names of three high court chief justices as Supreme Court judges. The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, recommended the names of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Augustine George Masih and Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta as top court judges. If cleared by the Centre, the top court will have the full strength of 34 judges. The collegium in its resolution stated that the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and is currently functioning with 31 Judges. The Supreme Court has a huge backlog of cases. "In view of the ever-mounting pendency of cases, the workload of judges has increased considerably. Bearing in mind the above, it has become necessary to ensure that the Court has full working judge-strength leaving no vacancy at any point of time. .

Meghalaya HC directs govt, AAI to complete inspection for Shillong Airport

The Meghalaya High Court asked the state government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to complete the inspection of Shillong Airport for extending the runway within the next couple of months. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice B Bhattacharjee on Monday while hearing a PIL said AAI has informed that a cost estimate for carrying out the feasibility of extending the runway at the Shillong Airport at Umroi town has been submitted to the state and the state is yet to respond. "It is hoped that the AAI and the state work out the modalities and complete the necessary inspection within the next couple of months," the bench said while directing that the matter will appear after 10 weeks. On October 15, Minister in-charge Transport Sniawbhalang Dhar had informed that the state government is waiting for the feasibility report on whether bigger aircraft can operate from Umroi Airport. "The new consultants have requested us to give them two months (to submit th

1984 riots: Delhi L-G gives nod for filing plea in SC against HC order

Saxena perused the file concerning the proposal to move the SLP which stated that the High Court had not taken into consideration the merits of the case

Manipur HC allows appealing against order on ST status for Meitei community

The Manipur High Court has allowed tribal organisations in the state to file an appeal against the controversial March 27 order which directed the state government to send a recommendation on ST status for the Meitei community. A division bench of Justice Ahanthem Bimol and Justice Guneshwar Sharma in its October 19 order allowed the tribal bodies to appeal against the order, saying, "the main grievances raised by the applicant is that they will be prejudicially affected if they are not given a chance to have a say or to raise objection in the matter of granting ST status to the Meitei community." A single judge bench had passed the controversial order on a petition filed by members of the Meitei Tribes Union, seeking that the state government be directed to act on their pleas for inclusion in the ST list. The March 27 order by then acting Chief Justice MV Muralidharan led to widespread objections from Kuki Zo bodies which was followed by a rally, organised by the All Tribal Student

Delhi excise scam: HC denies bail to Mahendru in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court has denied bail to liquor businessman Sameer Manendru in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, saying his right to healthcare cannot be allowed to overshadow the pressing need to investigate fairly. The high court observed that Mahendru, whose one of the grounds for seeking bail was his bad medical condition, was not suffering from any life threatening condition or sickness or infirmity which involves danger to his life and for which treatment cannot be provided to the applicant in jail. While the applicant's right to healthcare and medical treatment is a fundamental consideration, it cannot be allowed to overshadow the pressing need to investigate fairly and ensure that due legal processes are followed, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said. Mahendru was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on September 28, 2022, in the money laundering case. The high court said the allegations against the businessman were that he was one of t

BCI approaches HC on direction to process S Korean's enrolment as advocate

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

High Court grants interim bail to Former Punjab FM Manpreet Badal

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday granted interim bail to former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal in connection with alleged irregularities in the purchase of a property in Bathinda. Badal had moved the high court after a court in Bathinda rejected his anticipatory bail plea on October 4. His counsel Arshdeep Singh Cheema said the bench of Justice Vikas Bahl granted interim bail to Badal, who is now with the BJP. The detailed order is yet to be released. In his anticipatory bail plea, Badal contended that "the FIR is a malafide exercise of power and has been done at the behest of the chief minister who intends to settle his personal scores rather than allowing the state agencies to work independently." The petitioner also submitted, "The present FIR is one of the links in the chain, that the present AAP government in the State of Punjab is trying to fasten around all the person, be it political leaders, people closely associated with them or common person who

Recording conversations without person's knowledge violates privacy rights

The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that recording the mobile phone conversation of a person without the latter's knowledge amounts to violation of the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution. The HC was earlier this month hearing a petition moved by a 38-year-old woman challenging a family court's order allowing her husband's application in a maintenance case pending since 2019. The HC observed that the husband recording his wife's phone conversation without her knowledge amounts to violation of her right to privacy and also the petitioner's right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. The woman had moved an application for grant of maintenance from her 44-year-old husband at the family court in Mahasamund district. The man moved the family court seeking re-examination of his wife on the ground that certain conversation was recorded on the mobile phone and he wanted to cross-examine the petitioner and confront her with the conversation recorded on the ...

Perform community service to restore criminal case: MP HC asks lawyer

Judge Anand Pathak asked a lawyer to visit Mercy Home at Gwalior with some food items and spend one hour with those who have been housed there

SC gives split verdict on allowing woman to terminate her 26-week pregnancy

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

SC seeks MP govt response on plea challenging HC order to rise OBC quota

The court was hearing a petition filed by politician Jaya Thakur through his counsel Varinder Kumar Sharma and Varun Thakur

Govt pushing poor to send children to private schools: Karnataka HC

The High Court of Karnataka has observed that the government's failure to provide basic infrastructure in schools is pushing people who cannot even afford three meals a day to send their children to private schools. "Is education reserved for the privileged," the HC bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit questioned while hearing a public interest litigation initiated by the court in 2013 based on media reports about children who were left out of the schooling system. The court said that the deficiencies in government schools regarding the lack of restrooms and drinking water facilities were brought to its notice in 2013 but action has been lacking. Till date, 464 government schools lack restrooms and 32 do not have drinking water facilities, the court pointed out. Expressing its displeasure at the government's inaction, the court directed that an affidavit on providing basic facilities in all schools should be filed within eight weeks. "Is it for us

Andhra HC rejects anticipatory bail petitions of Naidu in 3 other cases

"Andhra Pradesh High Court has dismissed the TDP chief and former CM Chandrababu Naidu's bail petitions in Inner Ring Road, Fiber Net and Angallu 307 cases," Advocate Krishna Murthy said

Credit Suisse, Mozambique secure out-of-court 'tuna bond' settlement

The settlement included most of the creditors involved in funding a 2013 loan to ProIndicus, a state-owned Mozambican company, UBS said

HC orders deactivation of some mobile numbers for copyright infringement

The Delhi High Court has ordered the deactivation of certain mobile numbers from WhatsApp found to be distributing educational materials belonging to 'Apna College' without authorisation on the instant messaging platform. Hearing a lawsuit by Jainemo Private Limited, which offers course materials and trains candidates to obtain placements through the 'Apna College' platform, Justice Prathiba M Singh restrained several entities from downloading, uploading, sharing and selling the plaintiff's content on any electronic or digital platform. The judge held that the plaintiff holds ownership over the course materials under the copyright law and directed that one of such WhatsApp groups dealing in infringing material be "disbanded" and a YouTube channel containing "only infringing copyrighted works" be taken down. The messaging platform Telegram was also asked to block the offending channels and disclose the details of individuals or entities operating them for the purposes of the case. T

Delhi HC issues notice to govt on plea against NEET percentile reduction

The petition has been moved by three doctor candidates protesting against the Union Government's decision

India demands $150 mn in taxes from Tiger Global-backed gaming firm Dream11

Dream11 has filed a lawsuit in the High Court in Mumbai challenging the notices, court papers showed. The case is likely to be heard in coming days