Legopolis

The High Court of Gujarat on Friday quashed the 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), which had directed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), along with the Gujarat University and the Delhi University to ‘provide’ information regarding graduation and post graduation degrees in the name of Narendra Damodar Modi to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav, while allowing the appeal filed by Gujarat University against the CIC order, observed that the PMO need not furnish the graduation and postgraduation certificate of the Prime Minister. The Court further imposed costs of Rs 25,000 on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who sought details of the PM’s degree certificates. As per Modi, he had completed his graduation from Gujarat University in 1978 and post graduation from Delhi University in 1983. On February 9, the High Court had reserved its judgment over the CIC order that had directed the public information officer (...

The Supreme Court of India has received two separate lists of judicial officers which has been sent by the Kerala High Court collegium as recommendation for elevation as High Court judges. The Collegium of High Court collegium comprises of the three senior most judges which includes the Chief Justice. The collegium that forwarded the two lists comprised of Chief Justice of Kerala S Manikumar, Justice SV Bhatti and Justice K Vinod Chandran. Justice Vinod Chandran was recently transferred and appointed as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court. As per a media report the reason for two lists can be traced to difference in opinion between the members of the Collegium . Chief Justice Manikumar and Justice Bhatti agreed on seven judicial officers and sent a list accordingly. Chief Justice Manikumar and Justice Bhatti’s list had following names PJ Vincent MB Snehalatha C Krishnakumar G Girish Johnson John C Pratheep Kumar Justice Chandran however sent a d...

The Supreme Court of India has received two separate lists of judicial officers which has been sent by the Kerala High Court collegium as recommendation for elevation as High Court judges. The Collegium of High Court collegium comprises of the three senior most judges which includes the Chief Justice. The collegium that forwarded the two lists comprised of Chief Justice of Kerala S Manikumar, Justice SV Bhatti and Justice K Vinod Chandran. Justice Vinod Chandran was recently transferred and appointed as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court. As per a media report the reason for two lists can be traced to difference in opinion between the members of the Collegium . Chief Justice Manikumar and Justice Bhatti agreed on seven judicial officers and sent a list accordingly. Chief Justice Manikumar and Justice Bhatti’s list had following names PJ Vincent MB Snehalatha C Krishnakumar G Girish Johnson John C Pratheep Kumar Justice Chandran however sent a d...

The Supreme Court, while applying the principle of restitution and the principle of actus curiae neminem gravabit, has directed two individuals to return the money disbursed to them from the sale proceeds of Unitech’s land sold to Devas Global Services LLP, pursuant to an Apex Court order. The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice M.R. Shah recently took in view the principle enshrined in Indore Development Authority vs Manoharlal and Ors, which said that no party should be unfairly advantaged by an order of the court.  It reiterated that the act of the Court shall prejudice no one and in such a fact situation, the Court was under an obligation to undo the wrong done to a party by the act of the Court. It said any undeserved or unfair advantage gained by a party invoking the jurisdiction of the court must be neutralised, as the institution of litigation could not be permitted to confer any advantage on a suitor by the act of the Court. Noting that t...

The Supreme Court has held that despite the stringent conditions provided under Section 37, the undue delay in trial can always be a ground for granting bail to an accused who had been charged under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 (NDPS Act). The Court as per Section 37 NDPS Act, can grant bail to the accused person only after being satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. A division bench comprising of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Dipankar Dutta said that laws which impose stringent conditions for grant of bail, may be necessary in public interest; but incase the trials are not concluded in time, the injustice wrecked on the individual is immeasurable. The Court said that the grant of bail on ground of undue delay in trial, cannot be said to be fettered by Section 37 of the Act, given the imperative of Section 436A...

A dedicated section containing judgments/orders of the Supreme Court translated to Gujarati using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools shall be the new feature in the Gujarat High Court website. The High Court’s Registrar General on Thursday issued a circular announcing this decision. The facility was launched under the guidance of the Artificial Intelligence Assisted Legal Translation Advisory Committee of the apex court, with the approval of the Acting Chief Justice AJ Desai, and other judges of the High Court’s IT Committee. The circular said that under this new section on the homepage of the High Court website, the Translation Cell of the High Court of Gujarat would be directly uploading the Gujarati version of the orders/judgments through a software mechanism developed by the IT Cell of the High Court. The Circular also added that the English version would also be directly accessible from this section for ready reference of the users. To begin with, six Supreme Court order...

A dedicated section containing judgments/orders of the Supreme Court translated to Gujarati using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools shall be the new feature in the Gujarat High Court website. The High Court’s Registrar General on Thursday issued a circular announcing this decision. The facility was launched under the guidance of the Artificial Intelligence Assisted Legal Translation Advisory Committee of the apex court, with the approval of the Acting Chief Justice AJ Desai, and other judges of the High Court’s IT Committee. The circular said that under this new section on the homepage of the High Court website, the Translation Cell of the High Court of Gujarat would be directly uploading the Gujarati version of the orders/judgments through a software mechanism developed by the IT Cell of the High Court. The Circular also added that the English version would also be directly accessible from this section for ready reference of the users. To begin with, six Supreme Court order...

Justice Revati Mohite Dere of Bombay High Court on Thursday recused herself  from hearing the default bail petitions of Mahesh Raut and three others, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Elgar Parishad Maoists links case of 2018. Earlier on March 1, the High Court had issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the default bail plea of Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Rona Wilson, who were arrested on June 6, 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Division Bench of Justice A.S. Gadkari and Justice P.D. Naik directed the Central agency to file its response within three weeks. On December 31, 2017, an event was held in Shaniwar Wada of Pune under the banner of Elgaar Parishad to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima, during which several people delivered speeches.  Pune Police later filed an FIR, alleging that provocative speeches delivered during the event led to violent clashes in the area, i...

The Gauhati High Court directed the Chief Secretary to the Government of Mizoram to constitute a Committee on Traffic Management to be headed by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Mizoram, which should also include the DGP, Mizoram Police, who shall have periodical sittings, preferably once in every 2 (two) months, with regard to steps to be taken to decongest traffic within Aizawl city and implementation of the same. The Aizawl Division Bench of Justice Michael Zothankhuma and Justice Marli Vankung further directed that the Committee should also keep in view the fact that the Transport Department has apparently made guidelines to ensure that vehicle owners should have Garage/s for their vehicles/s. It is further directed that they should also see whether the rules/guidelines/regulations etc being applied for providing parking space for vehicles various institutions, offices, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, business premises is sufficient and/or whether a new rules/g...

The High Court of Bombay on Thursday disposed of a private complaint filed against actor Salman Khan filed by a journalist in 2019 alleging criminal intimidation. The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere quashed the private complaint filed by journalist Ashok Pandey, which alleged that on April 24, 2019, Salman had snatched his mobile phone while cycling on a Mumbai street when some media persons started clicking his photos. The actor argued with him and also threatened him, the journalist alleged. Justice Bharati Dangre asked Advocate Fazil Hussein, appearing for the journalist, whether the due procedure was followed before the process was issued. She said the petitioner had claimed that force was used, but for what reasons, was not specified in the complaint. The actor had moved the High Court against the summoning order passed by Metropolitan Magistrate at Andheri R.R. Khan in April last year. The MM Court had ordered a police investigation under Section 202 of the C...

The appeal by Google against Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a ₹1,337.76 crore fine on it for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile ecosystem has been rejected by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday. The Bench comprising of NCLAT Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Dr Alok Srivastava, Member noted that that the investigation conducted by CCI was not in violation of principles of natural justice as claimed by Google. However, it set aside certain directions issued by the Commission. The order has been reserved by NCLAT  in the matter on March 20. The Appellate Tribunal had earlier refused to grant any interim relief to Google. It was then that the matter was escalated to Supreme Court, which also denied relief to the company. However, it is important to mention that the apex court requested the NCLAT to decide the matter by March 31. In addition to the pena...

The Supreme Court allowed on Wednesday a petition filed by the Central government, seeking allocation of Rs 5,000 crore out of Rs 24,000 crore deposited by the Sahara group with market regulator Sebi to repay more than 1.1 crore investors, who had put their life savings in four multi-state cooperative societies run by the Sahara Group. The Bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice C.T. Ravikumar directed the Union government to disburse the amount to the depositors, who were duped by the Sahara group of cooperative societies. It added that the entire process would be monitored by former Supreme Court judge, Justice R. Subhash Reddy. The Union of India had filed an application on a petition by one Pinak Pani Mohanty, seeking directions to repay the depositors, who had invested in several chit fund companies and Sahara credit firms. The application filed by the Central government sought money from the SEBI-Sahara Sahara-Sebi escrow account that was formed after the in August 2012 verdi...

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against a Bhim Army leader who has been accused of making hate speech against Yogi Adityanath the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Bageshwar Baba, Dhirendra Shastri. The Division Bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Narendra Kumar Johari passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Deepak. The petition has been filed by the petitioner- Deepak, seeking a writ of certiorari to quash the impugned F.I.R dated 23.02.2023 registered as F.I.R/Case under Section 505 (2) of I.P.C, Police Station Shivratanganj, District Amethi with a further prayer to stay the arrest of the petitioner in pursuance of the impugned FIR. It has been argued by the counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner, who is working as Operator in Richa Global Export Pvt Ltd, has been falsely implicated in the case with malafide intention. He further argued that earlier on 22.02.2023, an FIR i.e FIR has been lodged again...

The Tripura High Court passed some directions for protecting the future of an orphan girl. The present Suo Moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was disposed of earlier by the High Courton 24-10-2017 and in view of the subsequent development; the matter has been again listed. In view of the present condition of the child ( orphan girl ) and after hearing the Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee, who is the guardian of the said child and also D. Bhattacharjee, G.A., the High Court directed the Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee in consultation with the concerned authorities to get the child admitted in hospital either in Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences, a Government Hospital or in a Private Hospital in Delhi, at her discretion. In this regard, the High court deputed security officer, shall be deputed to look after the security of the child on behalf of the State of Tripura. The Director of Social Welfare and Social Education Department, Governme...

The Bombay High Court has dismissed plea by the Chief Minister (CM) of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee for quashing of the criminal complaint filed against her, for the disrespect to the National Anthem which was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. The order in the case was passed by a Justice Amit Borkar. In her plea, the CM Banerjee had also sought quashing of the summons issued to her by a metropolitan magistrate at Sewree in Mumbai, when the complaint was filed against her by BJP Mumbai Secretary Vivekanand Gupta. CM Banerjee has also challenged an order passed by Special Sessions Judge RN Rokade, who had set aside the summons issued by the magistrate and had asked the magistrate to consider the complaint afresh. As per the complaint Banerjee alleged that during a public function at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium at Cuffe Parade in Mumbai, Banerjee had started singing the National Anthem in the sitting position and later stood up and sang two verses of the Anthem...

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued a notification stating that the disqualification of Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal has ceased to operate in view of the Kerala High Court suspending his conviction on January 25. The notification by Lok Sabha came ahead of the Supreme Court hearing that had to take place later in the day,in the petition filed by the NCP MP challenging the refusal to revoke his disqualification despite the stay on his conviction. The matter was listed before a bench comprising of Justice KM Joseph and Justice BV Nagarathna today. As per the notification order dated 25.01.2023 of the High Court of Kerala, the disqualification of Shri Mohammed Faizal P. P., notified vide Gazette Notification no. 21/4(1)/2023/TO(B) dated the 13 January, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)c) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has ceased to operate subject to further judicial pronouncements. It was on January 1...

The Supreme Court has disposed of a petition that sought secret ballot in elections to the Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Councils, observing that the open ballot system was needed to prevent cross voting and maintain party discipline. The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala further upheld the validity of sub-section of 1 of Section 33 of Representation of the People Act, 1951, which stipulated that if a candidate contesting for either Rajya Sabha or state Legislative Council, was not proposed by a political party, he was required to have subscription by 10 elected members. Noting that there was nothing per se discriminatory in the provision, the Apex Court ruled that Parliament was entitled to regulate the manner in which the nomination was presented.  While dismissing the petition filed by NGO Lok Prahari, challenging the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 and Representation of the People (RP) Act, the top ...

The Supreme Court on Monday listed for April 10, a petition filed by the government of Telangana, seeking directions to State Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her assent to 10 key bills passed by the State legislature pending before her. Appearing for the State of Telangana, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave said that since September, the Bills have remained pending. In Madhya Pradesh, the Bills get passed in a week. Dave requested the Apex Court to list the matter for March 29, so that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta could get instructions from the Governor. He added that this sent a very very wrong message. After the SG apprised the Bench that he has spoken to the Governor, the CJI listed the matter for further hearing on April 10. Earlier on March 20, the Apex Court had issued notice to the Union government on the matter. The Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala, while noting that the Governor was a constitutio...

The Supreme of India has seen 80 crore deposit from L’oreal India Private Limited in the matter challenging the Delhi High court order whereby the court directed Loreal to deposit the principal profiteered amount after deducting the GST imposed on the net profiteered amount in 6 equal instalments. The bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and  Justice M.M. Sundresh shall be  hearing the matter in the month of September 2023.before which the parties are directed to file their reply. The Apex Court had earlier put a stay on the Delhi high court order directing Loreal to deposit 80 crores within 60 days. As per the order, there was an increase in customs duty to the extent of Rs. 16.26 crores and an increase in additional grammage to the extent of Rs. 22.85 crores. The matter is still lying pending before the bench of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Manmohan and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Delhi High Court and listed next on 1st of May, 2023. In the petition,it is contended that ...

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the National Green Tribunal’s order in the JSPL Raigarh blast case, which directed that the heirs of the deceased would be entitled to Rs 20 lakh each, and the injured would be entitled to Rs five lakh each, payable by the JSPL within one month. Proceedings were initiated in the matter suo motu based on a media report in Business Standard dated February 9, 2023, to the effect that two workers died and two were injured on account of a blast at M/s Jindal Steel & Power Limited, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh (JSPL). The incident took place on June 10, 2020. The Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice M.M. Sundresh issued notice and directed the appellant to deposit a further amount of Rs 10,00,000 each to the families of the deceased within six weeks, which will be converted into FD for the period of six months, and FDR will be renewed from time to time.  The Apex Court further directed the Counsel to examine the proceedings under the Work...

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition filed by Bilkis Bano, challenging the Gujarat government order that granted premature release to 11 people, convicted to life imprisonment for gangraping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven members of her family during the Gujarat riots 2002. The Bench of Justice K.M. Joseph and Justice B.V. Nagarathna, while observing that the crimes committed by the convicts were ‘horrendous,’ said that it would not be ‘overwhelmed’ by emotions. The top court of the country listed the petitions for further hearing on April 18. Earlier on March 22, the Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala had agreed to constitute a Special Bench to hear the petitions. Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bano, had mentioned the matter before the Apex Court, seeking urgent hearing and constitution of a new Bench in the case. Earlier on January 24, the Apex Court could not take up Bano’s plea as ...

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA), under the Chairmanship of Justice P.S. Teji, former judge of the Delhi High Court, has disposed of 978 (40.08 percent) cases out of the total 2440 complaints received in 2021-2022. As per its third annual report 2021-22, of the total 2440 complaints received in 2021-22, 334 were pending at initial stage, report was awaited from Delhi Police in 666 complaints, while 462 cases were currently under inquiry.  Extending his good wishes for the annual report 2021-22 and future endeavours as well, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena said the Police Complaints Authority was working as a reform institution, aiming to address the grievances of common people, society at large and the citizens of Delhi. The association was striving hard in its task and has managed to generate confidence among the people, he added. Delhi Government Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar said PCA was working in the best possible way to deliver to society and had won the confid...

There are more than 10 criminal cases against the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi which remain pending against him in various parts of the country however, he has never filed any defamation case against anyone in his career so far. The opponents of the Gandhi family have made some controversial statements against him along with labelling him ‘Pappu’ but the Congress leader is yet to file any defamation suit against any of them. In the year 2015, Rahul Gandhi had challenged the criminal defamation law itself before the Supreme Court alleging that the same was being misused to gag political opponents and the media. The plea top court had, however, dismissed the plea. A Magistrate court in Surat has recently convicted Gandhi for criminal defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for his remark, “Why all thieves have Modi surname?” Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha consequent to his conviction. Below are the   defamation cases pending against Rahul Gandhi across the ...