Page 260 - Supreme Court

SC says Gujarat Morbi Bridge collapse incident was 'an enormous tragedy'

The Supreme Court on Monday said that the Morbi Bride collapse incident which claimed over 140 lives was an 'enormous tragedy' and asked the Gujarat High Court to hold periodical hearings

Morbi bridge collapse: SC asks Gujarat HC to monitor probe periodically

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Gujarat High Court to periodically monitor the probe and other aspects related to the Morbi bridge collapse incident which claimed over 140 lives. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said that as a division bench headed by the Gujarat High Court Chief Justice has already taken a suo motu note of the incident and has passed several orders, it will not hear the petitions as of now. It, however, permitted a PIL petitioner and another litigant, who lost his two relatives in the incident, to move the high court with their pleas seeking independent probe and award of dignified compensation to those who lost their family members. The top court also said that the petitioners may approach it later. The British-era bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30 leaving over 140 dead including 47 children.

Congress to file review petition in SC on release of Rajiv case convicts

The Congress will file a review petition in the Supreme Court challenging the decision to release the convicts of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, party sources said on Monday. The petition challenging the grounds set out in the order will be filed this week, they said. The Centre has already filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the release of the convicts.

SC seeks Centre, Delhi govt replies on plea of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and the Delhi government on plea of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar seeking that he be shifted from the Mandoli jail here to any other prison in the country. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar, which was hearing two separate petitions of Chandrashekhar, asked him to move a representation to jail authorities on increasing the visiting hours with his lawyers. Chandrashekhar, through his lawyer, claimed that he was assaulted in Mandoli jail, which is evident from his medical records and said that he is facing a threat to life in the prison. He said 28 cases are pending against him in six cities across the country and for that he needs to meet his lawyers for 60 minutes every day as against the 30 minutes each twice a week provided under the Delhi Prison Rules. Chandrashekhar's counsel said after his disclosure statements that Rs 10 crore was allegedly extorted by Delhi's Jail minister Satyendra Jain, he is facing

SC to hear plea seeking probe into Morbi bridge collapse on Nov 21

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking the constitution of a judicial commission to probe the Morbi bridge collapse incident in Gujarat which claimed over 130 lives. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli will hear the PIL filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, which said that the accident depicted the negligence and utter failure of the authorities. On November 1, Tiwari had mentioned the matter for urgent listing, and the top court had said it would take up the matter soon. According to reports, the death toll in the collapse of the British-era bridge on October 30 on the Machchhu river in Morbi in Gujarat has gone up to 134. "From the past decade, various incidents have taken place in our country wherein due to the mismanagement, lapse in duty, and negligent maintenance activities, there have been cases of huge public casualties which could have been avoided," Tiwari has said in his PIL. The more than a century-old bridge, located aro

Mumbai court orders release of activist Gautam Navlakha from house arrest

Gautam Navlakha, an accused in Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, is likely to walk out of the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai on Saturday, as a special court here issued a release memo to facilitate his month-long house arrest. The special court hearing cases related to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) issued the release memo around 2.15 pm on Saturday. On Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court had rejected the NIA's application and ordered that Navlakha be placed under house arrest "without fail" within 24 hours. The investigating agency on Saturday submitted to the special court here the compliance report about completing the release formalities of the activist, after which the court issued the release memo, which will then be mailed to the jail authorities and the Navi Mumbai police commissioner. After his release from the jail, Navlakha will be taken to premises selected for his house arrest in Navi Mumbai. The 70-year-old activist who claims to be suffering from multiple ...

SC says rising trend to scandalise courts; issues contempt notices

There is a rising "trend" to scandalise courts, the Supreme Court said on Friday while issuing contempt notices, including to two advocates, for allegedly attributing motive to a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge in a matter related to lease of fishing rights. Taking strong exception that the endeavour is to allegedly scandalise the court, the apex court said a judge is not "infallible" and may have passed a wrong order which can be set aside later, but attributing motives to the judge cannot be permitted. "There is a trend to scandalise the court which is rising," a bench of justices S K Kaul and A S Oka orally observed. "You have attributed motive to the chief justice of the high court for passing an order which may be right or may be wrong," the top court observed. The Supreme Court was hearing a plea against the order passed in August by a Madhya Pradesh High Court division bench of which its chief justice was a part. It also issued notices including to an advocate-on-record (Ao

Language of this court is English, SC tells litigant who argued in Hindi

The Supreme Court on Friday told a litigant, who appeared in person and started arguing his case in Hindi, that the language of this court is English. A bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy provided petitioner Shankar Lal Sharma, who is an elderly man, with a legal-aid counsel after finding that he was not able to understand what the court was saying. As soon as his matter was called up, Sharma started arguing in Hindi, saying that his case has travelled to different courts, including the top court, but he has not got any relief from anywhere. "We have read the case file. This is a very convoluted matter, but we are not able to understand what you are saying," Justice Joseph told Sharma. "The language of this court is English. If you wish, we can provide you a lawyer who will argue your case," the judge said. Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, who was appearing in another court, rushed to the help of Sharma and translated to him what the bench was saying. After

All SC benches to hear 10 matrimonial cases, 10 bail pleas every day: CJI

Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Friday said the Supreme Court, in its full court meeting, has decided that all the 13 benches will hear 10 transfer petitions pertaining to matrimonial disputes and equal number of bail petitions daily in a bid to lessen the pendency of cases. At the start of the proceedings, the bench said the decision has been taken at a meeting of all apex court judges. "After a full court meeting, we have decided that each Bench will take up 10 transfer petitions, which are family matters, followed by 10 bail matters every day to dispose of all such matters before the winter vacation," the CJI said, adding bail matters needed to be given primacy as they pertained to personal liberty. The bench said as of now there were 3,000 petitions pending in the top court pertaining to matrimonial cases where parties are seeking transfer of cases to a place of their liking. The bench said if every bench takes up 10 transfer cases every day then 13 benches will be able to dec

SC refuses to entertain pleas on two-child norm for controlling population

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a batch of pleas, including one seeking steps for enforcing a two-child norm to control the rising population, saying it is for the government to look at the issue. Citing media reports about India's population stabilising despite the rise in births, the apex court said it is not an issue where the court should interfere. "Population is not something that one fine day it stops," a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka observed orally. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, one of the petitioners, said a report from the Law Commission on the issue is very important. Upadhyay had filed a petition in the top court challenging an order of the Delhi High Court dismissing a plea seeking certain steps, including a two-child norm, to control the rising population. After the apex court said it was not inclined to entertain the plea, he withdrew it. Besides his plea, the bench also refused to entertain some other petitions filed on the issue, ...

SC grants 4 more weeks to CBI to file reply on Subramanian Swamy's plea

The Supreme Court on Friday granted four-week extension to the Central Bureau of Investigation and Reserve Bank of India to file reply on a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy seeking probe into the alleged role of the central bank officials in various banking scams. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath said it will hear the matter after six weeks. The top court had issued notices to the CBI and ED on October 17. Swamy has alleged that the involvement of RBI officials in scams involving various entities such as Kingfisher, Bank of Maharashtra and Yes Bank had not been probed. He contended that despite playing a key role in the allocation of funds to various projects, RBI nominees have not been touched by CBI enquiries from 2000 till today. "Not a single RBI official has been brought to justice despite RBI retaining the power to monitor, regulate, supervise, audit and direct the functioning of all banking companies in India," the plea submitted. The plea also alle

SC rejects NIA plea, orders Navlakha to be placed under house arrest

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the NIA's application and ordered social activist Gautam Navlakha to be put under house arrest within 24-hours after shifting him from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai. Navlakha is lodged in the jail in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case. The anti-terror probe agency had sought recall of the SC order of November 10 for placing Navlakha under house arrest, citing his links to Maoists and Pakistan's ISI. The bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy, however, ordered some additional security measures to be put in place where Navlakha will be kept.

SC issues notice on Chhattisgarh govt plea against HC order over jobs quota

The Supreme Court Friday sought response on an appeal challenging a Chhattisgarh High Court order which set aside the state government's 2012 decision to raise the quota to 58 per cent in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath issued notices to Guru Ghasidas Sahitya Avam Sanskriti Academy against the September 19, 2022 order of the high court. The state government, in its plea filed through advocate Sumeer Sodhi, contended that the Chhattisgarh High Court passed the order without examining the facts of the case and the figures supplied. The high court had set aside the state government's 2012 decision to raise the quota to 58 per cent in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions and held that reservation exceeding the 50 per cent ceiling is unconstitutional. The HC had delivered the verdict on petitions challenging the state government's decision to amend reservation rules in 2012. According to the

Not getting enough lawyers to serve in higher judiciary: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed disappointment over not getting enough eligible lawyers for lateral entry into higher judiciary as additional district judges across the country. Lawyers with a minimum of seven years experience can take a competitive examination for lateral into Higher Judicial Services (HJS) as ADJs. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud was hearing a plea of several unsuccessful candidates of the higher judicial services (HJS) examination held recently in Rajasthan. Refusing to entertain the plea, the bench, also comprising Justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala, asked the candidates to approach the high court instead. The court said it is of the considered view that such a challenge can be raised under Article 226 of the Constitution in the Rajasthan High Court. The counsel, Prashant Bhushan, submitted that the answer sheets be evaluated by a former judge... We leave it open to the petitioners to move the Rajasthan High Court. We request the Chi

Centre files review petition against Rajiv Gandhi convicts' release

The Centre filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the November 11 order allowing the release of all convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case

GM mustard row: Supreme Court will only examine 'judicial aspects'

The next hearing will be on November 29

The uplink-downlink puzzle

The new policy for satellite television channels is a move in the right direction. But for a sector facing existential questions, it doesn't mean much

Won't allow stalling of proceedings before SIAC in Amazon-Future case: SC

The Supreme Court made it clear on Thursday it will not allow stalling of the arbitral proceedings pending before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) pertaining to the ongoing legal tussle between US e-commerce major Amazon and the Future Group, saying the sanctity of such proceedings needed to be maintained. You (Future group and others) cannot keep stultifying the proceeding before the arbitral tribunal and this is just a ploy to delay the proceeding. These are all ploys by well-heeled parties to delay the arbitration proceeding. Your client is trying to be too clever by half, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala said. Justice Chandrachud said he was concerned as the CJI due to the claim made that there was rule of law prevailing in the country. You can in any case challenge the final award to be passed in the arbitral proceedings, the bench said, making clear we will make sure that the arbitral proceedings go

EPFO to appoint actuary firm for its pension and insurance schemes

The approved consultant will be empanelled with the EPFO headquarters in New Delhi for a tenure of three years

Future Group trying to stall proceedings amid legal row with Amazon: SC

The Supreme Court said it 'was concerned' that the Future Group was trying to stall the proceedings before the Singapore Arbitral Tribunal