Page 25 - High Court

Nitin Desai's death: No relief to Edelweiss officials, hearing on Aug 18

The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to pass any order granting urgent interim reliefs to Edelweiss company officials, accused of abetting the suicide of renowned film art director Nitin Desai, and said it would hear their pleas against the FIR on August 18. A division bench of Justices N W Sambre and R N Laddha also issued a notice to Desai's wife, who is the complainant in the case. Senior counsel Amit Desai, appearing for Edelweiss Financial Services Chairman Rashesh Shah, Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company's MD and CEO Raj Kumar Bansal and two other company officials urged the court to grant them interim protection from any coercive action and also sought quashing of the first information report (FIR) registered against them. Public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai told the court that the FIR in the case was registered only last week and that the probe in the case was still on. The bench then said it would hear the petitions on August 18. "Wait for a week. We will hear the ..

Excise scam: HC grants bail to Raghav Magunta in money laundering case

The Delhi High Court has granted bail to Raghav Magunta, son of YSR Congress Party MP, in connection with a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, who had earlier granted interim bail to the son of MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, recorded that the relief was granted as the Enforcement Directorate did not oppose his bail plea. The ED, in its reply, submitted that since the accused is cooperating in the investigation and assisting in tracing the Proceeds of Crime, which would have been otherwise difficult, he may be granted bail. In view of the statement made and the facts narrated herein above, the interim bail granted vide order dated 18.07.2023 for four weeks on medical grounds is made absolute, said the court in an order dated August 10. Let the petitioner be released on regular bail furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 2,00,000 with two sureties of like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial court , the court said. The court a

HC admits Mukhtar Ansari's appeal against life term awarded by lower court

The Allahabad High Court has admitted mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's appeal against life term awarded to him by the Varanasi sessions court in the 1991 Awadhesh Rai murder case. A division bench comprising Justice K J Thaker and Justice U C Sharma summoned the lower court record and fixed September 13 as the next date of hearing. In the court proceedings on last Thursday, Mukhtar Ansari's counsel Upendra Upadhya had pleaded on his behalf but the state counsel opposed his appeal. Ansari was on June 5 awarded life imprisonment by the court of special judge (MP-MLA) for the murder of Awadhesh Rai in Varanasi in 1991. The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 1.20 lakh on him. This was Ansari's fifth conviction since September 21, 2022, and the biggest so far in terms of quantum of the sentence. Mukhtar had appeared before the court from the Banda jail through video-conferencing.

Karnataka High Court stays order imposing Rs 50 lakh fine on X Corp

A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday stayed a single judge bench order that had imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on X Corp (formerly Twitter) for not complying with IT Ministry orders -- subject to the company depositing 50 per cent of the amount (Rs 25 lakh) within one week. The deposit is for X Corp to show its bonafides, the court said. The order of the single judge who had directed X Corp to deposit Rs 50 lakh by August 14 will be stayed till the next date of hearing. As such, on deposit of Rs 25 lakh, the order of the single judge bench is stayed until the next hearing date, the HC said. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice MGS Kamal was hearing a petition by the micro-blogging site against the order of Justice Krishna S Dixit which had dismissed its petition challenging the take-down orders on tweets (posts), URLs and hashtags. The single judge bench had also imposed a cost on the company in its judgment on June 30. On .

Indian statistical system among best, firms should share data: K'taka HC

Underscoring the ramifications that data gaps have a cascading effect on the economy, the Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition filed by a company that did not provide statistics of its operations for the year 2011. Action had been initiated against M/s Masturlal Pvt Ltd, which manufactures technical units of textiles used in industries, under the Collection of Statistics Act in 2015. The company approached the HC in 2022 against it. In a recent judgement, Justice M Nagaprasanna said any negligence on the part of any company will undoubtedly have a spiralling effect on the economic policies of the nation, which is the driving force of any nation among others. On the significance of the data collection, the HC said: "It is in public domain that Indian statistical system is one of the best systems in the world. The country participates in all the international and regional organisations of the United National Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on statistic

Parliamentary panel supports increasing retirement age of SC, HC judges

A parliamentary committee on Monday recommended a performance appraisal system for extending the tenure of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts beyond the existing retirement age. At present, while Supreme Court judges retire at the age of 65 years, judges of the 25 high courts demit office at 62. The Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, in its report on 'Judicial Processes and their Reforms', also said that the practice of post-retirement assignments to SC and HC judges in bodies or institutions financed by public exchequer may be reassessed to ensure their impartiality. It noted that many stakeholders had raised objections to the post-retirement assignments given to judges. During the UPA-II, a bill was introduced in Lok Sabha to bring the retirement age of HC judges on par with SC judges. But the bill never came up for consideration and lapsed. "... the Committee feels that the age of retirement of judges needs to be increased in sync with the increase in the longevi

SC to hear pleas against order on removal of Haldwani encroachment tomorrow

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a matter in which it had stayed the Uttarakhand High Court directions for the removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land that has been claimed by the railways in Haldwani. According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, the pleas challenging the high court order are listed for hearing on August 7 before a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia. The apex court had on May 2 said that its interim order staying the high court's December 20 last year directions will continue during the pendency of appeals before it. "The interim order(s) is made absolute during the pendency of the appeals," the top court had said in its May 2 order. On January 5, the top court had in an interim order stayed the high court's directions for removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land, terming it a "human issue" and saying 50,000 people cannot be uprooted overnight. According to the railways, there are 4,365

2002 riots: HC grants bail to ex-DGP in case of fabricating evidence

The Gujarat High Court has granted regular bail to ex-DGP RB Sreekumar in a case of fabricating evidence to frame people in connection with the 2002 riots, nearly two weeks after the Supreme Court allowed the bail plea of social activist Teesta Setalvad in the same case. The court of Justice Ilesh Vora on Friday gave relief to former director-general of police (DGP) Sreekumar, who is already out on interim bail, on a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and directed him to surrender his passport. An interim bail is granted for a short period before the hearing for the grant of regular bail. The HC had earlier rejected the bail plea of Setalvad, one of the three accused in the case registered by the Ahmedabad city crime branch under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections, including 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offence). The Supreme Court (SC) granted her regular bail on July 19. Granting bail to ..

Manipur HC orders status quo on burial site, over 25 injured in violence

Hours before a planned mass burial of Kuki-Zomi people killed in Manipur's ethnic violence, the states high court on Thursday ordered that the status quo be maintained at the proposed burial site in Churachandpur district, while ITLF, an apex tribal body, said it was postponing the funeral service plans by seven days following requests from the Union home ministry. Meanwhile, over 25 people were injured in clashes as Army and RAF personnel fired tear gas shells in Kangvai and Phougakchao areas in Bishnupur district on Thursday to stop processions from proceeding to the proposed burial site violating restrictions on gatherings, officials said. The district magistrates of Imphal East and Imphal West withdrew curfew relaxations earlier announced, imposing day curfew as a precautionary measure, throughout the Imphal valley. The Kuki-Zomi organisation, Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum, had planned the burial of 35 people, who were killed in ethnic riots in the state, on Thursday at a sit

Go First moves SC against HC order granting lessors' access to aircraft

lessors informed high court that future aircraft leasing would be jeopardized if DGCA fails to deregister aircraft whose leases they have terminated

After 2016 attempt, no proposal yet to change names of high courts: Govt

There is no proposal at present to change the name of various high courts, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. In July 2016, the government had brought the 'High Courts (Alteration of Names) Bill to change the names of the high courts of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras as high courts of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai respectively. Later, some fresh names were added to the list. But amid divergent views, the bill could not be taken further and lapsed due to dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply. Giving out the history of the proposal to alter the names of some of high courts, he said with the enactment of the city of Madras (Alteration of Name) Act, 1996, the city of Madras was renamed as Chennai, following which the Tamil Nadu government sent a proposal for changing the name of the Madras High Court to the High Court of Chennai in 1997. Since the names of the cities of Bombay and Calcutta were also changed to Mumbai and Kolkata, and th

Manipur HC orders status quo on proposed burial site for Kuki-Zomi killed

The Manipur High Court on Thursday directed that the status quo be maintained at the proposed burial site in Haolai Khopi village of Churachandpur district where the Kuki-Zo community had planned a burial service for 35 people who were killed in the ethnic strife. The HC order was passed by Acting Chief Justice MV Muralidharan after a hearing at 6 am. Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), an organisation of the Kuki-Zo community, also agreed to conditionally postpone the burial for five days after requests from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. They said Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga also requested the same. We had a marathon meeting last night till 4 am due to a new development. The MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) requested us to delay the burial for five more days and that if we comply with that request, we will be allowed to bury in the same location and the government will legalise the land for the burial. The Mizoram CM had also made a similar request, the IT

Tiger Reserve judgement protects forest dwellers' rights, Cong slams BJP

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Patkar on Sunday addressed a press conference and lambasted Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane for trying to misguide people and also the court

Over 71,000 cases pending in high courts for more than 30 years: Centre

Over 71,000 cases are pending in various high courts for more than 30 years, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. The House was also told that over 1.01 lakh cases which are more than 30 years old are pending in lower courts. In a written reply to a question, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that as on July 24 this year, 71,204 cases were pending in high courts for more than 30 years. Similarly, 1,01,837 cases were pending for over 30 years in district and subordinate courts. On July 20, he had told the Upper House of Parliament that cases pending in various courts in the country have crossed the five-crore mark. Meghwal had said over 5.02 crore cases were pending in various courts -- the Supreme Court, 25 high courts and subordinate courts. "As per data retrieved from the Integrated Case Management System (ICMIS) by the Supreme Court of India, as on July 1, there are 69,766 cases pending in the Supreme Court. "Total number of cases pending in the high courts and the district and

HC grants bail to ex-MP Vijay Darda, his son Jayaswal in coal scam case

The Delhi High Court on Friday gave interim bail to former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devender and businessman Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, who were sentenced to four years in jail in a case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued notice and sought the Central Bureau of Investigation's response on appeals filed by the three men challenging their conviction and sentence in the case. The high court also asked the CBI to file its response to the convicts pleas seeking suspension of their four-year jail term. The Dardas and Jayaswal, who were on bail during the trial, were taken into custody on July 26, immediately after the trial court passed the sentencing order. The CBI counsel opposed the plea for suspension of the sentence and said they will file a detailed reply. The high court has listed the matter for further hearing on September 26.

HC resumes hearing Gyanvapi mosque committee's appeal on ASI survey

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday resumed hearing a plea against a district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi was built upon a temple. After hearing arguments in the matter on Tuesday, Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker had posted it for further hearing on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which manages the mosque, moved the high court, a day after the Supreme Court halted the ASI survey till 5 pm Wednesday, allowing time for the mosque management committee to appeal against the lower court's order. The counsel for the committee, senior advocate SFA Naqvi, prayed for early hearing of the case before Chief Justice Diwaker stating that there is an urgency as the apex court's order will expire on Wednesday. The Chief Justice said he will hear the matter if the parties have no objection. Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel for the respondent (Hindu side), submitted that in the Ram .

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Karnataka HC to hear petition seeking CM Siddaramaiah's disqualification

The petition filed by a voter from the Varuna constituency, KM Shankara, which came up for hearing on Friday, alleges that the Congress party promised freebies for luring voters

K'taka HC to hear petition seeking Siddaramaiah's disqualification July 28

The High Court of Karnataka has said that it will hear on July 28 a petition challenging the election of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to the Assembly from Varuna constituency. The petition blames the election manifesto of the Congress party which promised five 'guarantees' as corrupt practices amounting to bribery and also undue influence under Section 123(2) of the Representation of the People Act. The petition alleges that Siddaramaiah had breached the provisions of the Constitution and the rules and guidelines under The Representation of the People Act. The petition claims that the The said guarantees are in the nature of offer and promises made by the candidate and by the Indian National Congress party. This was done with the consent of the respondent (Siddaramaiah). They are in the form of gratification to the electorate of Varuna Constituency and with the object of directly inducing the electorate to vote for the Congress party candidate namely the respondent. The consideratio

HC to hear on Monday plea seeking immediate measures at flood relief camps

The Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to hear on July 24 a plea seeking direction to authorities for immediate steps to provide free rations, medical assistance and essential medicines at the flood relief camps in the city. The plea was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula which listed the matter for hearing on Monday. The plea stated that around 25,000 people were affected by the recent flood in the national capital and complained of a lack of proper sanitation facilities and food at the relief camps. "Flood management being a state subject, the primary onus is upon states to take steps to deal with it," petitioner Dr Akash Bhattacharya, a former assistant professor of Azim Premji University, said. The plea, filed through advocate KR Shiyas, said the unprecedented flood rendered hundreds of people, who reside on the Yamuna floodplains, homeless. "In the alarming and unprecedented situation, the state machine