Page 16 - Indian Judiciary

153 high court judges appointed this year; more appointments likely: Report

A total of 153 judges have been appointed to the various high courts in this calendar year so far, with sources on Thursday hinting at more appointments to the higher judiciary in the coming days. Six additional judges were appointed to the Bombay High Court on Thursday. It is learnt that the government is also set to take a call on the elevation of Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta to the top court shortly. If he is appointed to the apex court, its working strength will go up to 30. The sanctioned strength of the top court is 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). The government is also set to initiate the process of appointing the next CJI, most likely this week or early next week. As part of the procedure, the Union law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her successor. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit retires as the CJI on November 8. Justice D Y Chandrachud is the senior-most judge after the CJI. As per practice, the CJI names the senior-most judge as hi

Can reducing 'state-litigation' solve half of the judiciary's problems?

Yes, the government is the biggest litigant in the country, but this is not the whole truth

What is a constitution bench?

You can watch the Supreme Court proceedings live now. Last week, the apex court started live-streaming proceedings of Constitution benches. But what is a Constitution bench. Our next report tells

Even Ajmal Kasab had fair trial in our judiciary: Satyendar Jain's counsel

Even the Mumbai 26/11 attacker and convict Ajmal Kasab had a fair trial; it is the fairness of our judicial system, argued senior counsel for Delhi Cabinet Minister Satyendar Jain

SC live-streams constitution bench proceedings for the 1st time in history

In a first, the Supreme Court on Tuesday began live-streaming its constitution bench proceedings. On September 27, 2018, the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had delivered the landmark judgement on the live telecast or webcast of important proceedings in matters of constitutional importance, saying sunlight is the best disinfectant. The proceedings can be accessed at webcast.gov.in/scindia/, said an official. On Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said the top court will soon have its own platform to live-stream its proceedings instead of having to use the YouTube. In a unanimous decision taken at a recent full court meeting headed by the CJI, the apex court decided to live-stream proceedings of all constitution bench hearings from September 27, four years after the path-breaking announcement by Justice Misra. The apex court may live-stream proceedings through YouTube and later host them on its server, sources had said. People will be able to access th

Half of judiciary's problems due to state-sponsored litigation: NV Ramana

Former Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana on Saturday termed the government as the 'biggest litigator' and said half of the judiciary's problems will be resolved if it decides to put a halt to the state-sponsored litigations. Speaking at ISB Leadership Summit 2022, he rued that the state of judicial infrastructure in this country even after 75 years of independence was 'disturbing' and a nationwide study that he had commissioned revealed certain hard truths about the poor state of judicial infrastructure in this country. During the chief ministers and chief justices conference last April, I had the occasion to highlight my understanding of these problems. As I told in the presence of the honourable Prime Minister, one of the major concerns is that the government is the biggest litigator, he recalled. The number of inter-departmental disputes, service matters and those relating to interaction of authorities clogging the system is appalling. Half of the judiciary problem would be solve

BS Number Wise: India's justice system picks up some speed, shows data

Dedicated commercial courts can serve as an example for reducing pendency

SC Registrar declines to register over 13,000 matters with uncured defects

In a notification, the top court Registrar, Chirag Bhanu Singh observed that "a bunch of 13,147 unregistered but diarized cases have been registered prior to the year 2014"

Gyanvapi mosque: Court says Hindu suit maintainable; all you need to know

Five women, in their plea in April, said that they have the right to worship Maa Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of Gyanvapi Mosque, near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Assam govt to close around 300,000 petty crime cases for less judicial load

The Assam government has decided to withdraw around three lakh petty crime cases to reduce the load on the judiciary, a minister said. Addressing a press conference after a Cabinet meeting here on Sunday, Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said lakhs of petty cases are pending across the state. "We have decided to withdraw around three lakh of the 4.19 lakh petty crime cases, invoking Section 321 of the CrPC. This will reduce the backlog of cases and decongest jails," he said. The government will soon issue instructions and detailed standard operating procedures to the public prosecutor for filing appropriate petitions on the next dates of the respective cases, a Cabinet communiqu said. The Cabinet also approved the Assam State Policy for Transfer of Development Rights for streamlining the process of land acquisition for the redevelopment of inner-city zones. The government also gave its nod to the Assam State Transit Oriented Development Policy to build planned sustainable urb

Assam govt to create 100 new posts in lower judiciary, says CM Sarma

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that around 100 new positions would be created in the lower judiciary by the Assam government as a step towards faster dispensation of justice in the state. The Centre has approved Rs 9,000 crore for improvement of judicial infrastructure and Assam would receive around Rs 300 crore as its share, Sarma said while addressing the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim here. In addition to that, the state government will provide another Rs 300 crore in this regard, the chief minister said. The state government is also contemplating various welfare schemes for those who retire from active practising, Sarma added. The chief minister also pointed out the need to expedite the justice delivery mechanism. Many people, despite being victim of circumstances, hesitate to seek legal help, as chasing justice often becomes an expensive affair, owing to the long process involved wi

Story in numbers: 3 in 4 prisoners in Indian jails await trial, shows data

Globally, India ranks sixth, after Liechtenstein (91.7 per cent), San Marino (88.9 per cent), Haiti (81.9 per cent), Gabon (80.2 per cent), and Bangladesh (80 per cent)

SC drops contempt case on Prashant Bhushan, Tarun Tejpal after 13 years

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dropped a contempt case against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan and journalist Tarun Tejpal filed in 2009 over their remarks against the judiciary. A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee, Surya Kant and M M Sundresh closed the proceedings after senior advocate Kapil Sibal informed that an apology has been tendered. "In view of the apology tendered by the contemnors, we do not deem it necessary to proceed with the contempt. The contempt proceedings are dropped," the bench said. The top court had in November 2009 issued contempt notice to Bhushan and Tejpal for allegedly casting aspersions on some sitting and former top court judges in an interview to a news magazine. Tejpal was then editor of the magazine. In response to the 2009 contempt case, Bhushan had told the apex court that making corruption charges against the judges would not amount to contempt of court and mere utterance of corruption charge could not be contempt of court.

Time taken to resolve commercial cases in India down nearly 50%: Report

Even though India's overall ranking in 'Ease of doing business' had improved from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2020, on the 'enforcement of contracts' it improved marginally from 186 in 2014 to 163 in 2020

Govt committed to further empower Armed Forces Tribunal: Rajnath Singh

He said people knock on the doors of the judiciary when all other options were closed to them and sound judiciary delivery systems were the basis for good governance.

Judiciary, legislature, executive need to work in tandem: Kiren Rijiju

Judiciary, legislature and executive face unique challenges but they will have to work together to solve the problems of a vast country like India, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said

10 days left in office for CJI Ramana, five important cases await decision

Justice Ramana has been vocal about non-filling up of judicial vacancies and not improving the judicial infrastructure as the main reason for pendency of cases in the country.

Unfortunate that people 'blindly aping' glamourised way of life: CJI Ramana

Driven by the winds of globalisation, people are moving towards a culture which is emerging as a threat to local cultural identities, even as social media, television and pop culture glamourise this

Out of the box ideas needed to unclog jails, cut criminal cases burden: SC

Some "out of the box" thinking is required to unclog jails and reduce the burden of criminal cases in courts, observed the Supreme Court on Friday while stressing that some steps should be taken

SC to hear PIL on 1991 law prohibiting lawsuits to reclaim place of worship

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on September 9 a plea challenging certain provisions of the 1991 law which prohibit filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship