Page 69 - Supreme Court

President Murmu appoints SC judge B R Gavai as 52nd Chief Justice of India

Justice Gavai will be the second-ever Dalit to hold the elusive post

SC asks CBI to probe 'unholy nexus' between builders & banks in Delhi-NCR

'Homebuyers are made to cry', observes the Supreme Court. Homebuyers' complaints prompt top court to mandate seven investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation, starting with Supertech

Why interfere in academic affairs, leave it to experts: SC raps BCI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday grilled the Bar Council of India for "interfering in academic affairs of law colleges" and said the task should be left with academicians. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was hearing pleas challenging the BCI's 2021 decision to scrap the one-year LLM course in the country and de-recognise foreign LLMs. "Why are you interfering in academic affairs? Why should BCI decide curriculum, etc., of law colleges. Some academic expert should take of these things. In this country there is a very big class of lawyers. You have an onerous statutory responsibility of updating their knowledge and organising training programmes for them," the bench said. The top court added, "You can have training on art of drafting, understanding case laws, etc., and it should be part of your statutory responsibility. The curriculum has to be entrusted to the academicians." When senior advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for the BCI, said it was the "existing system",

'Nothing wrong in country using spyware': Supreme Court on Pegasus row

The top court said it will have to examine to what extent the report of the technical panel on the Pegasus case can be shared with individuals

C'garh liquor scam: SC says govt virtually penalising accused in custody

The Supreme Court, hearing two bail pleas in the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor scam in Chhattisgarh, on Monday pulled up the state government and asked how long it will keep an accused in jail. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that three chargesheets were filed in the matter and the investigation was still underway. "Investigation will go on its own speed. It will go on till eternity. Three chargesheets have been filed. You are virtually penalising the person by keeping him in custody. You have made the process a punishment. This is not some case of terrorist or triple murder," the bench remarked orally. Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the state, opposed the bail pleas and submitted that the accused need to be confronted with the other accused in the case. Appearing for the accused, senior advocate Siddharth Agarwal argued that three chargesheets have been filed in the case and charges are yet to be framed. "I (petitioner) was arrested with t

Centre must do something to regulate obscene content on OTT platforms: SC

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said that he also shared some of the concerns raised by the petitioners after going through the list of programmes submitted by them

SC says regulation of explicit content on OTT 'falls in executive's domain'

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih noted that the petition raised an important issue, which falls under the executive or legislative domain

Supreme Court orders release of YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia's passport

The bench directed the release of Ranveer Allahbadia's passport, noting that investigations in the FIRs filed against him in Maharashtra and Assam have been completed

Demolition near Somnath: Compound wall should be 5-6 ft, SC to Gujarat govt

The Supreme Court on Monday told the Gujarat government that a compound wall, being constructed to prevent encroachment at a demotion site near Gir's Somnath Temple, should be five to six feet height. The observations came from a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih which was informed by the state that they were constructing a compound wall to prevent encroachment. Contesting the petitioner's claims on the height of the compound wall, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing Gujarat, said the authorities could always protect a government land by constructing a compound wall. "Don't have a 12 feet wall. If you are protecting it, five feet, six feet is enough," Justice Gavai observed. Mehta said the claims about a 12-feet compound wall was only an "oral assertion" of the petitioner's counsel. "We are not putting up a fort so that nobody can enter inside. It is to prevent it from unauthorised encroachment," he added. The bench observed the compound wall should

SC refuses to entertain fresh plea challenging Waqf (Amendment) Act

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a fresh plea challenging constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, saying it cannot entertain "hundreds" of petitions on the issue. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar asked the counsel for petitioner Syed Alo Akbar to file an intervention application in pending five cases which will be taken up on May 5 for passing interim orders. You withdraw this. We passed an order on April 17 saying only five petitions will be taken up for hearing, the CJI said, adding, It will be open for the petitioner to file an application in the pending petitions if so advised. On April 17, the bench decided to hear only five of the total number of pleas before it and titled the case: "In Re: Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025". About 72 petitions, including those by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Anwar Basha .

Rank states based on case-clearance rate for faster dispute resolution: CII

CII on Sunday called for "urgent reforms" to address the burgeoning pendency of cases across India, suggesting that the National Judicial Data Grid could report real-time automated rankings of states on the basis of case-clearance rate to encourage faster dispute resolution. With over 5 crore cases pending across various courts and case disposal rates lagging behind the new admissions in many jurisdictions, urgent reforms are required to address the burgeoning pendency of cases, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) stated. It termed the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) an an important initiative towards reducing pendency by enabling data-driven policy interventions. With a view to fostering competitive spirit among states, NJDG could report real-time automated rankings of states based on the data collected on grid, the industry body said. Ranking could subsequently be considered at more disaggregated levels, like for commercial and non-commercial cases, separately. "To beg

SC to hear plea on April 28 to ban explicit content on OTT, social media

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to take appropriate steps to prohibit streaming of sexually explicit content on over the top (OTT) and social media platforms. The plea has sought laying down of guidelines constituting a National Content Control Authority to prohibit sexually explicit content on these platforms. According to the top court's cause list of April 28, the petition is slated to come up for hearing before a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih. The plea claimed there were pages or profiles on social media sites that were disseminating pornographic materials without any filter and various OTT platforms were streaming content that also has potential elements of child pornography. "Such sexually deviant material pollute the minds of youth, children and even grown up persons which gives rise to perverted and unnatural sexual tendencies thereby leading to an increase in the crime rate," it said. The p

Panchayat poll candidates obligated to disclose info on pending cases: SC

The Supreme Court has upheld a decision of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, which said the candidates contesting panchayat elections were obligated to disclose information about the pending cases against them. A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh made the remarks while affirming the decision of the Himachal Pradesh High Court to uphold the dismissal of the 'pradhan' (head) of the Pangna village panchayat in Mandi district. The high court on October 16, 2024, held that the concealment of material facts by the petitioner amounted to "corrupt practice" under the provisions of Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, and was another valid ground to declare his election null and void. The top court said, "We fail to find any merit as far as the petitioner's challenge to the impugned order(s) and judgment(s) of the high court are concerned. We say so for the reason that the regulations framed by the State Election Commission have rightly been held by the high court to be

Pune Porsche crash: Accused teen's mother gets interim bail from SC

The mother of a 17-year-old boy involved in the Pune Porsche crash, in which two persons lost their lives, walked out of jail on Saturday, four days after the Supreme Court granted her interim bail. She is the first among the 10 accused arrested in the alleged blood sample-swapping case to be released on bail. The others in custody include the teenager's father, Sassoon Hospital doctors Ajay Taware and Shrihari Halnor, hospital staffer Atul Ghatkamble, two middlemen, and three others. A Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy in an inebriated state fatally knocked down two IT professionals on a two-wheeler in Pune's Kalyani Nagar in the early hours of May 19 last year. The boy's mother is accused of swapping her blood sample with that of her son to conceal his inebriation at the time of the accident. While granting the mother interim bail, the Supreme Court had directed a Pune court to set the bail conditions. Accordingly, the district and sessions court heard arguments from

Over 20 lakh acre waqf land added post 2013 amendment: Centre to SC

The Centre on Friday claimed an addition of 20 lakh acre waqf land post the law's 2013 amendment and flagged "misuse" of waqf provisions to encroach upon private and government properties. In a preliminary affidavit in the Supreme Court, the Centre urged the bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna to dismiss the pleas challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The government termed it "really shocking" that after the amendment brought in 2013, there was a 116 per cent rise in the auqaf area. "Right before even Mughal era, pre-independence era and post-independence era, the total of wakfs created was 18,29,163.896 acres of land in India," it claimed. The Centre, however, said, "Shockingly after 2013, the addition of wakf land is 20,92,072.536 acres." The affidavit claimed the figures were uploaded by the respective waqfs and waqf boards voluntarily on Waqf Management System of India portal. The government said it has been the consistent experience that every waqf an

Waqf row: Centre opposes SC blanket stay on law with presumed validity

The Centre on Friday defended the amended Waqf Act in the Supreme Court and opposed any "blanket stay" by the court on a "law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament". In a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit, the Centre urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the validity of Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, pointing out a "mischevious false narrative" surrounding certain provisions. "While this court would examine these challenges when the cases are heard, a blanket stay (or a partial stay) without being aware of the adverse consequences of such an order in a generality of cases (even on members of the Muslim community itself) were the petitions to be unsuccessful, would be uncalled for, especially in the context of the presumption of validity of such laws," it argued. The Centre, as a result, urged a bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, set to hear pleas for passing interim directions on May 5, not to stay the law's provisions. The government ...

'Interim stay violates separation of powers': Centre to SC on Waqf Act

The Centre tells the Supreme Court that it will defend Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, saying an interim stay would violate the separation of powers and that the law was passed after thorough debate

Kerala's Pala Bar Association makes history with all-women executive panel

In a historic move, the Pala Bar Association in Kerala has elected an all-women executive panel, setting a new precedent for gender-inclusive leadership in the legal profession

'Irresponsible': Supreme Court raps Rahul Gandhi for remarks on Savarkar

The Supreme Court warned Rahul Gandhi against making derogatory remarks on freedom fighters, calling his comments on VD Savarkar 'irresponsible'

Suspects can't contest CBI probes once FIR, investigation ordered: SC

The direction for a CBI probe after the registration of an FIR and subsequent investigation is not open to challenge by prospective suspects or accused, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. The significant observations were made by a bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra in a judgement by which it upheld a Karnataka High Court order directing the CBI to conduct a thorough investigation into alleged murder of Bengaluru-based realtor K Raghunath in 2019. The apex court dismissed criminal appeals filed by several accused parties challenging the high court's decision. We are of the considered view that once an FIR is registered and investigation has taken place, direction for an investigation by the CBI is not open to challenge by the prospective suspect or accused. The matter for entrusting investigation to a particular agency is basically at the discretion of the Court, Justice Mishra, writing the judgement for the bench, said. The bench reaffirmed the ..