Page 190 - Supreme Court

SC collegium recommends 5 additional permanent judges for Madras HC

The Supreme collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday recommended the names of five additional judges for appointment as permanent judges of the Madras High Court. The collegium, which also comprises Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, met today. The collegium's decision was uploaded on the apex court's website later in the day. The five additional judges whose names have been recommended are --Justices A A Nakkiran, Nidumolu Mala, S Sounthar, Sunder Mohan, and Kabali Kumaresh Babu. On June 20, 2023, the collegium of the Madras High Court had unanimously recommended their appointment as permanent judges of that high court. The chief minister and the governor of Tamil Nadu have concurred in the above recommendation, the apex court collegium said in a statement. "In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, we have consulted a judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the functioning of the Madras High Court with a view to ascertain the ..

SC questions convict of Bilkis Bano rape case for depositing fine

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned one of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots for depositing the fine imposed on him when the hearing on the pleas challenging his remission was underway before it. Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for convict Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana, told a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan that convicts have approached the trial court in Mumbai and have deposited the fine imposed upon them. "Does non deposit of fine has a bearing on the remission? Did you apprehend that non deposit of fine would have a impact on the merits of the case. First you ask for permission and now without permission you have deposited," the bench said. Responding to the court's query, Luthra said non-deposition of fine does not affect the decision on remission but he had advised his clients to deposit the fine to "reduce the controversy". "According to me, this has no legal

Speedy trial can become effective tool to address overcrowding in jails: SC

The lodging areas of prisons across the country presented a "pitiful state of affairs", the Supreme Court Committee on Prison Reforms has said, underlining that speedy trial can become an effective tool to address the issue of overcrowding in jails. In its final synopsis of reports filed in the Supreme Court, the committee headed by former apex court judge Justice (retd) Amitava Roy has said living conditions in jails are not comparable to those envisaged under the Model Prison Manual, 2016 and require urgent and result-oriented attention. It said the occupancy rate of a total of 1,341 jails in India, including 644 sub-jails, 402 district jails and others prisons stood at 122 per cent as on November 30, 2018. The panel has referred to some commonly experienced factors contributing to overcrowding in jails, including stagnancy of prison infrastructure against steady increase in inmate flow, lack of initiative and drive of expansion or improvement in prison infrastructure, avoidable .

Adani Group, Hindenburg, Supreme Court and OCCRP: All you need to know

Just months after the Hindenburg report led to a sharp sell-off of Adani Group shares in the Indian share market, another report has come up with similar allegations. Here is all you need to know

Article 370 case: Ready for election but cannot give timeframe, says Centre

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta said that the exact timeframe for the conduct of elections cannot be provided as there are repeated law and order disturbances in the Valley

CJI warns lawyers, litigants about fake SC website created for phishing

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday warned lawyers and litigants about a fake website of the Supreme Court created for phishing attacks and asked them to be careful with monetary transactions. The top court has also issued a public notice and asked the public to neither click nor share any website links they receive without verifying their authenticity. "Please be careful. Don't click on that link. Don't use it for monetary transactions," said Chandrachud, who was sitting in a constitution bench hearing pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370. The notice said, "The Registry, Supreme Court of India, has been made aware of a phishing attack. A fake website, impersonating the official website has been created and hosted on the URL." "The attackers through the URL are soliciting personal details and confidential information. Any visitor on the above URLs is strongly advised not to share and divulge any personal and confidential information, as the same shall enab

Karnataka begins releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu following CWMA order

Karnataka has started releasing water from its reservoirs to Tamil Nadu in compliance with the directives issued by the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), official sources said. The CWMA had directed the Karnataka government to ensure that 5,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water reaches Biligundlu in Tamil Nadu everyday for the next fortnight up to September 12. Karnataka was earlier asked to release 10,000 cusecs of water but the state appealed against the verdict saying that there was inadequate rainfall in the catchment areas of Cauvery basin. Taking Karnataka's concerns into consideration, the CWMA ordered releasing 5,000 cusecs. The water was released from Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam and Kabini reservoir in Mysuru, the sources said on Wednesday. Various farmers' organisations staged protests against the release of water from KRS dam and Kabini reservoir. Overnight protests took place in Mandya and Srirangapatna in the Cauvery belt.

SC wants Centre to tell when electoral democracy will be restored in J&K

The five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370, asked the Centre for the first time on Tuesday to specify a time frame for restoration of electoral democracy in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, saying the present arrangement "has to come to an end". Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, told the bench the union territory status of Jammu and Kashmir is not a permanent thing and that the government will make an elaborate statement on the vexatious political issue in the court on August 31. The bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandradhud, which was hearing Mehta's submissions defending the Centre's decision to do away with the special status of the former state and its reorganisation, said, Democracy is important, although we agree that in view of the national security scenario, reorganisation of the state can be done. The court said lack of electoral democracy cannot be ...

Harm done to environment can't be reversed, SC defers hearing on GM mustard

The undertaking was made before a bench headed by Justice Dinesh Maheshwari who has since retired

Union Territory status of J-K is not permanent thing: Centre tells SC

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the union territory status of Jammu and Kashmir is not a permanent thing and that it will make an elaborate statement on the vexatious political issue in the court on August 31. The central government's response was conveyed to the court by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, after a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, hearing the pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370, asked it to set a specific time frame for restoration of electoral democracy in the erstwhile state. "The union territory status of Jammu and Kashmir is not a permanent thing. So far as Ladakh is concerned, its UT status is going to remain for some time," Mehta said. The top government law officer said he will make an elaborate statement on the future of the union territory status of J-K and Ladakh before the bench, which also comprises Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, on August 31. The bench,

Article 35A took away fundamental rights of non-residents of J&K, says CJI

Article 35A, which was scrapped in August 2019, allowed the legislature of the erstwhile state to define "permanent residents" and provide them with special rights and privileges

By enacting Article 35(A), you virtually took away fundamental rights: CJI

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Monday observed that by enacting Article 35A, fundamental rights of equality, liberty to practice profession in any part of the country and others were virtually taken away. He made the remarks after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, referred to the contentious provision in the Indian Constitution, saying it gave special rights to only permanent residents of the erstwhile state and was discriminatory. Without naming the two mainstream political parties of the erstwhile state, the Centre told a five-judge bench headed by CJI Chandrachud that citizens have been misguided that the special provisions for Jammu and Kashmir were "not discrimination but a privilege". "Even today two political parties are before this court defending Article 370 and 35A," the solicitor general told the top court on the 11th day of hearing the litany of pleas challenging the abrogation of the constitutional provision which bestowed special stat

Census Act empowers only Centre to conduct census: Govt informs SC

The Central Government on Monday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court and said that the Census Act,1948, empowers only the Central Government to conduct the census

Lawyers can solemnise 'self respect marriage' under in Tamil Nadu: SC

SC on Monday said lawyers can solemnise 'self respect marriages' between two consenting adults under a Hindu Marriage Act provision amended by Tamil Nadu govt in 1968

Fair share: Children born of invalid marriages are treated as legitimate

Court judgments have said they are entitled to rights in both self-acquired and ancestral properties of parents

SC to hear plea on illegal construction near Krishna Janmabhoomi on Monday

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea relating to the demolition drive to clear alleged illegal constructions near the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura. As per the cause list of Monday uploaded on the apex court website, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench comprising justices Aniruddha Bose, Sanjay Kumar and SVN Bhatti. The matter pertains to demolition of settlements near the Krishna Janmabhoomi. While hearing the matter on August 16, the apex court had halted for 10 days the demolition drive being carried out by the railway authorities to clear the alleged illegal constructions. It had issued notices to the Centre and others seeking their responses on a plea filed by petitioner Yakub Shah. "Let there be an order of status quo as regards the subject premises for a period of 10 days from today. List after one week," the bench had said in its August 16 order. Later on August 25, the matter again came up for hearing before the top court

SC agrees to hear plea of NGO challenging reduction of age of consent

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by an NGO against any reduction in the age of consent, saying it jeopardises the interest of a large number of child victims of sexual abuse, especially girls. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra issued notice to the Centre and tagged the plea of 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan' with a pending petition filed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The NCPCR had challenged last year's order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which said that a minor Muslim girl can marry a person of her choice. The apex court on Friday sought the Centre's response on the issue. The plea of the NGO, besides seeking a slew of directions and guidelines, has also sought a directive to the courts to refrain from making observations regarding the minor victim's casual relationship and promiscuous attitude while dealing with the criminal proceedings under the POCSO Act. It has said that the ...

No CrPC provision requires CBI to file charge sheet in court language: SC

The Supreme Court has held there is no specific provision under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which requires the investigating agency to file a charge sheet in the language of the court. Section 272 of the CrPC, which deals with language of courts, says the State Government may determine what shall be, for purposes of this Code, the language of each Court within the State other than the High Court. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal gave the ruling while allowing the CBI's appeal challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court order, which asked the probe agency to provide a copy of the charge sheet to two Vyapam scam accused in Hindi. The Vyapam or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam broke out in 2013, wherein candidates had bribed officials and rigged exams by deploying imposters to write their answer sheets. The probe into the scam that began in 1995 was taken over by the central agency following an order of the Supreme Court in 2015. The racket ..

SC issues circular declaring holiday on September 8 in view of G20 Summit

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a circular stating that it will remain closed on September 8 in view of the G20 Summit in the national capital

Adani-Hindenburg case: Sebi concludes 22 probes, submits report to SC

Sebi stated that 22 out of 24 investigations are now complete, with the remaining two at an interim stage