Page 31 - High Court

Defamation Case: Guj HC to resume hearing Rahul Gandhi's appeal on May 2

If the high court allows his plea, it could pave the way for Rahul Gandhi's reinstatement as a Member of Parliament

Gujarat HC to hear Rahul Gandhi's appeal in defamation case on April 29

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal challenging the order of the Surat sessions court declining a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark will now be heard by a new judge of the Gujarat High Court on April 29. As per the cause list published on Thursday by the High Court, Gandhi's appeal will be heard by Justice Hemant Prachchhak on April 29. Earlier on April 26, when Gandhi's lawyer P S Champaneri mentioned the case before Justice Gita Gopi, she recused herself from the hearing by saying "Not before me." The development came a day after Gandhi moved the HC. A metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat on March 23 sentenced the former Congress president to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) in a 2019 case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Gujarat MLA Purnesh Modi. Following the verdict, Gandhi, elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019, was

Kiren Rijiju announces appointment and transfer of judges in High Courts

Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju announced the appointment and transfer of judges in the High Courts on Thursday

HC judge recuses from hearing Rahul Gandhi's appeal against court order

A Gujarat High Court judge on Wednesday recused herself from hearing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal challenging the order of the Surat sessions court that declined to stay his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark. Gandhi's lawyer P S Champaneri mentioned the case before the court of Justice Gita Gopi, seeking an urgent hearing. But after a brief hearing, the court said, "Not before me." The development comes a day after Gandhi filed the appeal in the high court. Champaneri said the court earlier granted him permission to circulate the matter for Wednesday, but when it came up for hearing, it recused itself from hearing the case. Now, a note will be sent to the Acting Chief Justice to place the matter before any other court, he said. The case was requested to be taken up in the court of Justice Gita Gopi because her court deals with the subject of criminal revision, Champaneri added. A metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat on March 23 .

Karnataka HC upholds seizure of Rs 5,551 cr from Xiaomi for FEMA violation

Xiaomi had challenged the Competent Authority's order in the HC

HC reserves verdict on Twitter plea against govt's account blocking order

Twitter challenged the government orders claiming that they are arbitrary, and procedurally and substantively not in consonance with Section 69A of the IT Act

Supreme Court Collegium recommends new chief justices for 5 high courts

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday recommended the appointment of chief justices of five high courts including Justice Augustine George Masih for the Rajasthan HC. The four other high courts for which the Collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph, proposed new chief justices are: Madras HC, Kerala HC, Bombay HC, Himachal Pradesh HC. Justice S V Gangapurwala, the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay, has been proposed to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. The Collegium noted that the office of the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan HC fell vacant recently due to the elevation of Justice Pankaj Mithal to the Supreme Court, and proposed the name of Punjab & Haryana HC judge Justice Augustine George Masih as the next CJ of Rajasthan HC. It said that Justice Masih was appointed as a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 10, 2008 and he has acquired experience of ...

SC sets aside HC order acquitting Saibaba, others in alleged Maoist link

A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar remanded the matter to the High Court for fresh consideration and directed that the case be decided within four months

Karnataka HC sets aside NCLT order regarding windmills on forest land

The Karnataka High Court has quashed the order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that had passed an order allowing the operations of windmills on forest land in the state to a Mumbai-based company. The HC said the tribunal did not have jurisdiction over the matter of setting aside a government order. "The company could not have knocked at the doors of the Tribunal as it completely falls beyond the purview of the Code, being in the realm of public law, since the State has exercised its jurisdiction in drawing up the proceedings and directing forest clearances to be submitted by the corporate debtor, the petitioner, in exercise of powers conferred under the Statute. Therefore, they are in the realm of public law," Justice M Nagaprasanna said in his judgment. The tribunal had no jurisdiction to direct functioning/continuing of the windmill without the forest clearance, merely because the state had granted such permission at an earlier point in time, the court stated. The ...

Widowed daughter-in-law need not pay maintenance to her parents-in-law: HC

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that a daughter-in-law need not pay maintenance to the parents of her deceased husband. A single bench of Justice Kishor Sant on April 12 passed its order on a petition filed by a 38-year-old woman, Shobha Tidke, challenging an order passed by the Nyayadhikari Gram Nyayalaya (local court) at Latur city in Maharashtra directing her to pay maintenance to the parents of her deceased husband. "By reading of section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it is clear that the father-in-law and mother-in-law are not mentioned in the said section," the HC said in its order. Shobha's husband, who used to work with the MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation), had died, after which she started working at the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai. Kishanrao Tidke (68) and Kantabai Tidke (60), the in-laws of Shobha Tidke, claimed they have no source of income after the death of their son and therefore sought maintenance. The woman

Appeal by firm can be heard even without certified copy of order: HC

Earlier, an appellate authority under the GST regime had rejected the appeal on the ground that it was not accompanied by a certified copy of the order against which the appeal was filed

EC can't search, seize goods before polls are declared, says Karnataka HC

Ordering the release of rice bags seized from a social worker here, the Karnataka High Court has clarified that the election officers have the authority to search and confiscate materials only after the elections are announced. Justice M Nagaprasanna in his recent judgement on a petition filed by Isthiyak Ahmed, held that the Returning Officer or the election officials do not have any jurisdiction to search or seize any material before the announcement of elections. Merely because they are appointed as officers for conduct of elections, they cannot use the said power before the declaration of elections, the court noted. "After the declaration of elections, the entire domain would be open, but not till then. Seizure is to be exercised by the authority/officers under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, under normal circumstances. The Returning Officer and the Inspector of Police, who have conducted the search in the case at hand were not vested with such authority and their action is

HC initiates contempt proceedings against Kanpur Bar Association officers

A seven-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court has initiated contempt proceedings against office-bearers of the Kanpur Bar Association and the Kanpur Nagar Lawyers' Association for going on an indefinite strike in the district court and "paralysing judicial work". "You, by your conduct, have willfully and deliberately committed the contempt of court by interfering in the administration of justice calling illegal strike since March 16, 2023 and thereby paralysing the judicial work at the District Judgeship at Kanpur Nagar," the bench observed. The bench comprised Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justices Sunita Agarwal, S P Kesarwani, Manoj Kumar Gupta, Anjani Kumar Mishra, K J Thaker and M C Tripathi. During the court proceedings on Friday, the bench asked Kanpur Bar Association president Naresh Chandra Tripathi why the strike had not been called off, but he did not give a satisfactory response. The court then observed, "When certain further questions were put to the president

With Covid cases on rise, Madras HC to opt for virtual hearings

With effect from April 10, lawyers have been asked to electronically file all types of cases as well as argue their cases in virtual mode

Stay on 'black money' notice to Anil Ambani to continue: High Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday continued till further orders an interim stay on show-cause notice and penalty demand issued to industrialist Anil Ambani by the Income Tax department under the Black Money Act. A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale posted Ambani's petition challenging the notice and penalty demand for hearing on April 28, and gave time to the IT department to file its reply. The HC had in September 2022 granted an interim stay to the show-cause notice pending hearing. In March this year, Ambani's lawyer Rafique Dada informed the court that the department later also issued a penalty demand notice to his client. The court then granted interim stay to the demand notice too. On Wednesday, when the petition came up for hearing, advocate Akhileshwar Sharma, appearing for the IT department, sought two weeks to file a "comprehensive affidavit" in response to the amended petition. "The petition has been amended adding some more IT officials as ...

Not taking due care while overtaking also amounts to rash: Delhi HC

Rash and negligent driving does not necessarily mean excessive speed and will include not taking due care while driving, particularly overtaking either a stationary or moving vehicle, the Delhi High Court has said. The court's observation came on a petition by the family of a motorcycle rider who died after colliding with a DTC bus parked in the middle of the road without any signal or light indicator on the night of July 22, 2012. The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal had granted more than over Rs 17 lakh to the family but ordered a deduction of 20 per cent towards contributory negligence by the deceased. The claimants were also awarded interest of 7.5 per cent per annum from the date of filing the plea till payment is made by the insurance company. The family sought enhancement of the compensation amount before the high court. Justice Gaurang Kanth, in a recent order, observed that from the account of the eyewitness, there was no doubt that the accident occurred due to the ...

To assess worldwide view on bail in case of assault, HC turns to ChatGPT

In what could probably be a first-of-its-kind instance in an Indian court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took help of ChatGPT to assess the worldwide view on bail in a case of assault "laced with cruelty". The court sought aid of ChatGPT -- an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot -- while hearing the bail plea of an accused in a murder case. Justice Anoop Chitkara, in his order on Monday, however, made it clear that any reference to ChatGPT and any observation made is neither an expression of opinion on the merits of the case nor shall the trial court advert to these comments. "This reference is only intended to present a broader picture on bail jurisprudence, where cruelty is a factor," the judge observed. While dismissing the bail plea, the judge observed "causing death itself is cruel but if the cruelty causes death, the tables turn". "When the physical assault is done with an element of cruelty, the parameters of bail also change," he further observed. "...when the offenc

Pakistan's media watchdog bans live coverage of rallies in Islamabad

Pakistan's electronic media watchdog banned the live coverage of rallies and public gatherings in the federal capital on Monday, hours before former prime minister Imran Khan was scheduled to appear before a top court here seeking interim bail in seven cases. The PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) issued this communique after law enforcement agencies said Khan's appearance before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) could lead to a possible law and order situation in and around the federal capital. The watchdog observed that satellite television channels run live footage/images of violent mobs attacking police and law enforcement agencies. Such footage or images were seen on TV without any editorial oversight during the recent standoff between political party workers and law enforcement agencies in Lahore and Islamabad wherein, the violent mob used petrol bombs, injuring armless (sic) policemen and blazing (sic) police vehicles," it observed. It said that airing foota

Gauhati HC grants bail to Rakesh Paul, prime accused in cash for jobs scam

Former chairman of Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) Rakesh Paul, prime accused in the cash for jobs scam, has been granted bail by the Gauhati High Court. The single bench of Justice Devashis Baruah granted bail to Paul on Friday in connection with a case registered at the Bhangagarh police station here related to taking bribe for giving jobs for the post of agricultural development officer. The bail was granted on the ground that he had already served one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment for the offence. Justice Barua directed Paul's release subject to certain conditions which include surrendering his passport, not to leave Guwahati without prior intimation and permission of the Special Judge, Assam and not to tamper with the evidence of the case. He has also been directed not to contact the charge sheeted witnesses, not to directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any of the witnesses. The judge also directed him to appear before the Specia

RaGa may have to vacate official bungalow unless he gets relief from HC

Following his disqualification as an MP, Rahul Gandhi may have to vacate his official bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi within a month if he does not get relief from a higher court in the criminal defamation case, an official said on Friday. Gandhi was allotted the 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow after his election as a Lok Sabha MP in 2004. On Friday, the Lok Sabha Secretariat disqualified him as an MP, effective March 23, after he was convicted by a Surat court in an 2019 criminal defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail. Giving immediate bail, the court allowed the former Congress president 30 days to appeal in a higher court. "As he has been disqualified from Lok Sabha, he is not entitled to a government accommodation. According to rules, he will have to vacate his official bungalow within a month since the date of disqualification order," an official of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had to vacate her offic